Showing posts with label Deweys Readathon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Deweys Readathon. Show all posts

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Bookish Saturday

This Saturday was a bit hectic, which is due in part to why for the second week in a row I was unable to make a post for #ReadingMyLibrary. It started with the Ohioana Book Festival and continued through the rest of the day taking part of the Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon. Both of these were a first for me, and both an awesome experience.


About a month ago I decided that considering at the time I was out of work I would get to know my city a little better. I had gone to school here for 4 years and never really went further than campus or downtown. It started with visiting museums and markets, and with research I found an event that interested me. The Ohioana Book Festival. The basic set up is a continual "book fair" where authors sit with their books and you can meet them and have them sign the books before you buy them, and then groups of authors would go to separate rooms to give panel discussions. Sadly, I was unable to make it to any of these, I traded in the panels to go home and read for the marathon.

My intentions when going was just to buy one book; "Everything I never told you" by Celeste Ng. The problem is I am weak, and I have problems getting the courage to go up to booths at these types of things as is so to have the author just sitting there made it even worse. I ended up buying another book "The Midwife's Tale" and instantly felt the guilt of my pocketbook. However, both authors were very nice, one seeming more nervous than the other (probably out of lack of experience or just shyness).

I'm not going to talk about how Jenna (@LostGenReader) was discussed with Celeste Ng as a mutual twitter friend because Jenna's head is big enough.

In all, I plan to go back next year when buying two books wont make my bank account hurt and I can stay for the panels.


This was my first read-a-thon. I know my own limits. I get that I'm a bit slower of a reader than most (at least it seems to me that I read slower than your average "avid reader") and I get my own attention span. Add in that sitting in one position starts to hurt after awhile (due to old sports injuries) and I didn't expect to get through half my stack of books but I wanted to have my options.

In all, I finished "Steven Eleven" and "The Great Gatsby" (I'm an anomaly of having made it through high school and an English degree without ever reading it), and started "Everything I never Told you" before I gave in. I feel like I would have gone longer if my stomach hadn't started feeling funny (I'm not sick, don't worry, it didn't amount to anything). 

I'd like to take part in this readathon again, and hopefully I'd be better prepared and not have anything else going on that day. I loved interacting with everyone over social media; seeing what they were reading, eating, where they were reading. It was fun just meeting new people. Not to mention the ego boost I got from my klout score going up from that one day alone.

Did anyone else take part in the Read-A-Thon? How'd your experience go?

Friday, April 24, 2015

Dewey's Read-a-Thon



Dewey's 24 hour Read-A-Thon is happening tomorrow, and I along with almost 1,700 other readers will be reading all day (as the name declares). There will be plenty of updates on social media so make sure to follow me on those (I'll provide at the end of the post) if you're interested. 

This is my first time every taking part in a read-a-thon, and I'm kinda curious if my attention can actually keep all the way through it. I will get off to a rocky start, I had already planned to attend the Ohioana Book Festival, so I will be getting a 2 hour break....to buy more books...

As it stands this is my current stack (you can also find it on my Goodreads account):

1.) The Greatest Traitor: The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer by Ian Mortimer (finishing)
2.) Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (finishing)
3.) The Prince by Nicoolo Machiavelli (finishing)
4.) Wit's End by Karen Joy Fowler
5.) The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
6.) Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
7.) Madam Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
8.) Wicked by Gregory Maguire (rereading)
9.) Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

Not pictured: Buried Giant, which is waiting on me at the library, and Everything I never Told You, which is waiting for me at the book fair.

I doubt I'll get through all 9 in 24 hours. I'm hoping the smaller books will get me through the rough patches. I've been working on The Greatest Traitor for awhile now and I'm hoping this will give me the push to finally finish it. 

Are you taking part in the marathon? What are you reading for it?

Social Media to follow along:
Instagram
GoodReads
Hashtags:
#Readathon #Dewey
#MiniChallenge #RahRahReadathon