Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon Wrap-Up

Hey all, Dani here.

Whew! It has been another highly successful readathon for me. This is the fourth readathon I’ve done so far this year, and it is definitely my most successful one. Thank you to everyone who liked and commented on my updates on Instagram and on Twitter. I definitely appreciate the support.

I started reading at 8:00am on Saturday, October 22, and I managed to finish my final book just as the clock struck 8:00am on Sunday, October 23. There were a few times I took a break during the 24 hours of the readathon, and I did even sleep for a few hours.

All in all, I finished reading NINE books, which in total amounted to 2026 pages. The readathon also brought me up to a total of 121 books read so far in 2016, which is great considering my original goal was 75…then 100…now 130. Hmm..if I wasn’t going to be occupied with NaNoWriMo next month I would probably need to increase my reading goal again.

Anyway, now I’m just going to give a rundown of the books I read over the course of this latest readathon and what I thought of them. Oh, and for anyone who’d like to join in on Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon in the future, it takes place in April and October, so add it to your calendar now.

Saturday, October 22

8:00 am – The Readathon begins and I start my first read: Saga, Volume 5 by Brian K Vaughan. I admit that it takes me a little bit to get into the story, but that’s because it has been a year since I read Volumes 1-4.

8:34 am – I finish Saga Volume 5 and immediately grab Saga, Volume 6 since I already had it ready to read. Both of these are lovely graphic novels so they really don’t take me all that long to read.

9:08 am – Just over an hour into the readathon and I have read two books already for a total of 304 pages. Things are going well but I’m not really feeling ready to jump into a lengthy book just yet.

9:11 am – I pick up Genrenauts, Episode 1: The Shootout Solution by Michael R Underwood. I have been wanting to read this series for a while, and now seems like the perfect time to dive in.

10:17 am – I finish my third book for the readathon and then have to debate what I’m going to read next.

10:21 am – Okay, fine, I guess I want to keep reading about the Genrenauts, so I pick up Genrenauts, Episode 2: The Absconded Ambassador. This is basically a series of novellas or short novels, and they are filled with different themes and such that fans of genre fiction will enjoy.

11:25 am – I have now finished four books for a total of 617 pages. The first two installments of Genrenauts are entertaining and have all the geekery I’ve come to expect from Michael R Underwood, but instead of continuing on with the rest of “season one,” I think it’s time to dive into another book.

11:30 am – After a quick bathroom break, I pick up Stardust by Neil Gaiman. I saw the movie when it came out years ago, but somehow never got around to reading the book. Considering that I’ve read a bunch of the Sandman comics this year, I’m just in the mood for more of Gaiman’s storytelling.

1:11 pm – Stardust had quite a few differences from the movie, differences that make it a little more of a mature read than I was expecting, but it was really good. I’m now up to 865 pages read for the readathon.

1:20 pm – Now’s the time when things really start slowing down. I decide to go grab lunch at my local pizza place, and start reading The Kiss of Deception by Mary E Pearson while I wait.

2:45 pm – I need to take a little break from reading, so I pop onto my social media accounts, and check in on the #readathon tag to see how other people are doing

3:30 pm – Back to reading, but not as quickly as in the morning

5:30 pm – My mom asks me to run a couple errands for her, and I see it as a chance to stretch my legs and grab a caffeine jolt, so I get an iced coffee to keep me going.

6:34 pm – I finally finish reading The Kiss of Deception. It was a really interesting book, and I’m glad that I already own book two and that the third and final book has been released as well. Now when I find some free time I can read those as well. I’m now up to 1351 pages read for the readathon.

6:45 pm – I pick up one of my new book purchases, a book whose release I’ve been anticipating: The Librarians and the Lost Lamp by Greg Cox. It is a tie-in novelization to the TV series, The Librarians, which is a show I dearly love.

8:00 pm – I can’t take it any more. The PBS documentary about Alexander Hamilton is just begging to be watched, and my Hamilton obsession is massive. So I take a break to watch it.

11:38 pm – After all of that, I have managed to finish another book. This readathon is going pretty darn well. My Librarians book was a new adventure that didn’t take place on screen, but the characters were written accurately and I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Total page count now at 1637 pages.

Considering the fact that I’ve read 7 books by this point and I’m pretty tired, I decide to go to sleep, setting my alarm for 5:00 am so I can try to squeeze in another book or two before this readathon ends.

5:15 am – I’m up and have done a quick check in on social media to see how everyone’s doing, and then I’m picking up A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. I’ve heard amazing things about this book and the movie is coming soon so it seems like a perfect time to read it.

6:24 am – Even with all of the hype and the movie trailer and such, I still didn’t quite know what to expect with this book, but it was great, and I don’t quite have the words to do this book justice, at least right now. Now my readathon page count is up to 1862 pages read.

Now, with only an hour and a half left in the readathon, I’m faced with a dilemma. I could start a book and not finish it, or I can finish a book I’ve started previously. Looking at my options, I decide that I really want to finish my read through of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Illustrated Edition.

6:28 am – I pick up my pretty illustrated book and get started, which means starting on page 95.

8:00 am – As the clock changes over to the hour, marking the end of readathon, I finish reading my Harry Potter book, which was all of 164 pages considering where I started.

I am very proud of my totals for the readathon, and even better, I really enjoyed all of the books I read, and I did a little more interacting on social media this time around. I’m already looking forward to April 29, 2017, which is the date for the next round of Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon.