Book Events & Blog Events, Challenges

Dewey’s 24-Hour Read-a-Thon: Wrap-Up

I crashed shortly after crossing into hour 19 (which stinks, because I wanted to do Kate’s Book Sentence challenge. Sorry, Kate!).  I planned on just having a quick nap and rallying around hour 22, but once my alarm went off I knew it wasn’t going to happen.  Anyway, I’ve added the info for my last few hours (17-19) and the End of Event Meme.

Book(s) read since last update:
None finished

Thoughts on current read:

I started Blind Spot by Laura Ellen and although I didn’t get very far, it’s pretty cool so far!

Total books read:
None finished

Pages read since last update:
40

Total pages read:
236.  40 pages of Blind Spot and 196 pages of The Amber Spyglass.

Amount of time spent reading since last update:
1 hour 33 minutes

Total time spent reading:
8 hours 18 minutes

Mini-challenges completed (running total):

Opening Event Meme
Oldies But Goodies @ A Literary Odyssey
Turn to Page @ Reflections of a Bookaholic
Mid-Event Survey
End of Event Meme

Other participants I’ve visited (running total):
Abducted by Books
On the Wings of Books
Midnight Book Girl
The Fake Steph Dot Com
KT’s Reading Rainbow
Books Devoured
Books, Biscuits & Tea
The Betty and Boo Chronicles
Too Fond
Bonjour, Cass!

Prizes I’ve won:
Woohoo!  I won a door prize in hour 5!  Sweet!

Links:
Official Read-a-Thon page

I adapted this template from Irish at Ticket to Anywhere.  Thanks, Irish!

End of Event Meme

1.  Which hour was most daunting for you?

Hours 17-19 were pretty bad.  I was fading.  But I was reading really slowly at the beginning, as well.  I probably should have switched books earlier.

2.  Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
I actually don’t have any to suggest.  However, I will say that people should try NOT to do what I did this year–don’t have a whole bunch of books for review that you have to read during the readathon.  Try to stick with shorter books, or graphic novels, etc.  And make sure that you can switch easily and not feel guilty.  Because when you have scheduled books that you need to read, you don’t want to switch it up and with a readathon you kind of have to.

3.  Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
I don’t think so.  But I would like to know how people stay up the whole time.  Do they take naps midway?  Or do they somehow train for this?  I never can make it all the way.

4.  What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
Everything seemed to work well.

5.  How many books did you read?
I read from 2 books, but I didn’t finish either.

6.  What were the names of the books you read?
The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman and Blind Spot by Laura Ellen

7.  Which book did you enjoy most?
Blind Spot

8.  Which did you enjoy least?
The Amber Spyglass.  I don’t hate the book, but for some reason it’s been very hard for me to get into.

9.  If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
I was not a cheerleader.  But I appreciate all the people who came and cheered for me!

10.  How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
I will definitely participate again.  I’ll always be a reader, but next time I’ll try to do more, like be a cheerleader or host a mini-challenge if I can.


I had a great time, but I do wish I had read more.  I’m just such a slow reader and I obviously should have switched books earlier than I did.  Oh well, you live and learn!  Good job, everyone, and see you next time!


6 Comments

  1. Kimberly @ On the Wings of Books

    October 14, 2012 at 5:16 pm

    I totally agree about the switching books part. You want to make sure your reading books you're interested in and if your reading for review or read-a-long or whatever than it's more forced which is less fun!

    This was my first time being a cheerleader and I had a lot of fun visiting other blogs and it was a great break from reading.

    Congrats on the door prize!

  2. Laura

    October 14, 2012 at 5:28 pm

    Yep, switching books is kind of necessary, at least for me. I picked up 4 other books that I only read for a few pages before ditching them and moving on.

    I used to stay up the whole time, but lately it's been harder and harder for me to do it. This time I just caved and went to bed. :)

    You did a GREAT job, and I look forward to following you in April!

  3. Jane

    October 14, 2012 at 10:46 pm

    I also have no idea how people can stay up. I know I couldn't make it past 2AM, and that was with naps during the day.

    Jane

  4. fakesteph

    October 15, 2012 at 12:15 pm

    Number 2 for sure! I've only made it all the way through once. I was in California and it was 5am to 5am which is WAY better than 8am to 8am. I got up ten minutes before 5. When I got tired, I turned on an audio book and jumped on the elliptical. I switched books mercilessly.

    I only read two books this year and both were for review. Next time I'm only doing fun books!

  5. Kate Midnight Book Girl

    October 15, 2012 at 12:29 pm

    Please, I had trouble making it to my mini-challenge! I did take two naps (although the actual time spent asleep probably was less than an hour total) and that really did help- I made it to Hour 22! I wish I had actually listened to the audio short story that I had downloaded during the late hours, but I didn't. I forget how tired your eyes can get! I always think I can stay up the entire time, and I can be up 24 hours, but it's usually by accident- staying up 24 hours and read is near impossible! Plus, next time I am going to make sure I sleep good the two days leading up to Readathon (I totally did not sleep well Thursday or Friday), because I was already tired before Readathon started on Saturday. I think making it to Hour 19 doing Readathon by yourself is pretty impressive!

  6. Bittner

    October 15, 2012 at 7:26 pm

    My plans for next year are to definitely start off at IHOP because the bright lights and chilly atmosphere helped me wake up and get to work. I'm glad that I picked novellas this time and will probably continue to do so because I felt more productive. As far as how to make sure you stay up the whole time… that I'm not sure.I guess next time you could have a buddy system in place. Like have someone that you can call when it starts to get bad or when you want to take a nap. Like next time you can have me call you at one am and force you to get up and start reading.

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