Tag Archives: #24in48

readathon

24 in 48 Readathon Wrap-Up!

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I forgot to post a TBR or any updates, but this weekend I participated in the lovely 24 in 48 readathon; for more information, check out their site here.

Essentially, 24 in 48 is a fun, low-pressure readathon that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to participate in this round, seeing as how I just finished Bout of Books a few weeks ago. I just wasn’t sure that I’d be in the mood to readathon again so quickly! But it turned out that I was; I didn’t read an insane amount, or anything near the 24-hour goal (I never do; for me, a readathon is more just to read more than I normally would) but I picked up some lovely books and had a nice, partially bookish weekend in addition to seeing friends, working out, seeing The Shape of Water (I’m trying to see most of the Oscar-nominated movies), and making delicious enchiladas.

 

I kicked off the readathon with a YA novel, which is my favorite way to kick off a readathon. I had recently ordered Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia from BookOutlet, and it literally arrived the day before the readathon. Which was good, since it ended up being the perfect book for my mood. It’s a decent length but also has a lot of chat conversations and illustrations to break up the text, which makes it very readathon-friendly, and it’s a book you can quickly get absorbed in. I had also (luckily) gotten in my library hold just a few days before 24 in 48 for What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton after months on the wait list; I actually wasn’t anticipated doing a lot of audio listening during the readathon, but I got extremely absorbed in Clinton’s book and was able to actually do some cleaning and cooking with my hands free, so there was that.

I found myself in need of a shorter book when I felt my motivation lagging, so I picked up another new purchase, The Lost Child of Lychford by Paul Cornell. This is the second book in a novella series set in a small English town on the border between worlds and featuring three unconventional modern witches; I liked it just as much as the first novella. And I also was able to start reading (but definitely not get anywhere near finishing, since it’s over 500 pages long) The Tiger’s Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera, the first book in a new fantasy series.

Here are my stats:

Finished: 1 novel, 1 novella

Eliza and Her MonstersThe Lost Child of Lychford (Lychford, #2)

Read from, but didn’t finish:

The Tiger's Daughter (Their Bright Ascendency, #1)What Happened

Total number of pages read: 573 pages

Total audiobook time: 4.75 hours

readathon, reading challenges

24 in 48 Readathon Wrap-Up

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That’s a wrap on this round of 24 in 48! I had a great weekend of reading, even though I of course didn’t finish my TBR (I never do) or read for 24 hours (again, I never do). Here’s how my readathon went:

Books finished: 3

Books started, but not finished: 3

Audiobook time: 7 hours 35 minutes

Pages read: 400 pages

On Saturday, I had to work in the morning, so I kicked off my readathon with some audiobook time with Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell during my commute. Then I was able to grab some lunch and some time with The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson at a coffee shop before I got my hair cut.

After my haircut (yay, my hair looks decent again for a bit!) I read for a little while longer, did some cleaning, and met up with a friend for dinner. When I got back, I got completely sucked back into A Million Junes by Emily Henry and ended up finishing the book Saturday night.

On Sunday, I had a lot more free time to read, and I also had a lot of things I wanted to get done around my apartment, so I ended up finishing Eleanor & Park while doing tons of laundry. Because I still had some cleaning to do, I started another audiobook, Talking as Fast as I Can by Lauren Graham (Lorelai from Gilmore Girls!). After that, I started getting a bit distracted with my reading; I had trouble focusing on The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe (even though it was great!) until later on in the evening, but once I did, I really ended up loving the weirdness of the story. I was sort of at a loss for what to pick up next; I didn’t really feel like I had enough time to finish another book completely, even a novella, so at first I picked up Phantom Pains by Mishell Baker, which I’d gotten in the mail the day before and was totally tempted to pick up even though it wasn’t on my TBR.

Then, after only a few chapters, I was suddenly and totally in a short story mood. So I ended up finishing my readathon by reading the title story of Bloodchild by Octavia Butler, which was amazing and disturbing, and I’ve been thinking about it all day today.

Books started, but not finished: Talking as Fast as I Can, Phantom Pains, Bloodchild

Books finished: A Million Junes, Eleanor & Park, The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe

Amount read: 5 hours 20 minutes of Eleanor & Park, 165 pages of The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe, 175 pages of A Million Junes, 27 pages of Phantom Pains, 33 pages of Bloodchild, 2 hours 15 minutes of Talking as Fast as I Can

A Million JunesEleanor & ParkThe Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe

readathon, reading challenges, TBR

#24in48 Readathon TBR

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So this weekend is another round of the 24 in 48 readathon, which is one of my favorite bookish events. 24 in 48 is a readathon where you ostensibly try to read for 24 hours over the course of a weekend, although it’s really low pressure and a lot of people (like me) just read as much as they have time for without attempting the full 24 hours. You can find more information and sign up here.

I actually did really terribly during the last round of #24in48 in January, because I was in D.C. for the Women’s March on Washington. So, failing at the readathon for a good cause!

This time around, I do have to work on Saturday, and then I have plans to get my hair cut and get dinner with a friend. So I’m planning on squeezing in some audiobook time on Saturday when I can and maybe also sneaking in a few pages at night. Sunday will hopefully be a day full of reading, hopefully outside if it’s nice!

As far as my TBR goes, I’m currently reading two books that I’d love to either finish or make significant progress on during the readathon:

A Million JunesEleanor & Park

Emily Henry’s A Million Junes was my Book of the Month Club pick for June and I’m currently about halfway through; I’m absolutely LOVING it so far. I’m continuously surprised by how much I like this book, just because it’s not exactly my typical YA read: it’s more contemporary/realistic than scifi or fantasy, which is what I tend to go for in my young adult reads. But it’s just so well-written and it has ghosts and wonderful local mythology and a fantastic main character, and it’s becoming one of my favorite YA reads of the year.

I also recently started Eleanor & Park, which is actually the only published Rainbow Rowell novel that I hadn’t read yet. I’ve actually had this on TBRs for readathons before but never actually started it; my library had an audio copy available, though, and I’ve been dnf-ing audiobooks left and right so I was desperate for a new one. So far it’s sad and sweet, and a bit better than expected, but I’m very early in the story.

I also have three shorter books that I would love to get into during the readathon. Of course, I’d love to finish all three of them, but I don’t know that that’s super likely; we’ll see!

The Dream-Quest of Vellitt BoeDusk or Dark or Dawn or DayBloodchild and Other Stories

I have two Tor novellas that I found on Book Outlet, The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson and Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day by Seanan McGuire; I love novellas in general, but especially during readathons, since they’re short and generally pretty absorbing and faster-paced. And I also have set aside Bloodchild, a short story collection by Octavia Butler, one of my favorite authors.

 

Who else is participating??? Feel free to tell me what your TBR is or link me to your post!

readathon, TBR

Readathon TBRs: 24 in 48 and Diverseathon

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I’ve been having a REALLY hard time with TBRs this month; I’ve essentially completely ignored mine except to read all of the graphic novels on my TBR list for Bout of Books. Sometimes I just really get into the mood-reader zone and can’t focus on any lists I’ve made for myself; one of the things I’d really like to do in 2017 is feel less guilty about letting go of my TBR and not pressuring myself to #readmyowndamnbooks if I’m on a roll with library books or ebooks or whatever. Sometimes I just get reading slump-y and can’t focus, and that needs to be OK.

That being said, I also LOVE readathons, and especially creating TBRs for them. In these next few weeks before the end of January, I’m planning to participate in both the 24 in 48 readathon (this will my third time participating) and the Diverseathon (this will be my first time participating!). They sort of overlap, which is awesome: #24in48 takes place this weekend (Jan 21-22) whereas Diverseathon lasts a full week (Jan 22-29).

The 24 in 48 readathon focuses on attempting to read for 24 hours within a 48-hour period (something I’ve never been able to accomplish, and especially won’t this year); you can find out more information here: https://24in48.com/. I’m expecting my participation this round to be less than stellar because I’ll be in D.C. this weekend for the Women’s March on Washington, but I’m planning to grab reading time whenever I can and to keep checking in on everyone’s reading on Instagram and Litsy.

As far as my TBR goes, there’s definitely going to be some overlap with my #Diverseathon TBR (although really, when am I going to have time to read this weekend??), so the only book I really have set aside for #24in48 is Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit, which I think fits in well with both the Women’s March and is a short book that would actually be realistic for me to finish during my trip.

Men Explain Things To Me (Updated Edition)

Diverseathon is a week-long readathon that focuses on reading diverse books, particularly #ownvoices books, and it’s a readathon that began on BookTube but is open to anyone across bookish social media. I first heard about it from Joce’s channel @squibblesreads, and you can find more information on her announcement video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G50d6cQ_Cko&t=0s. (I don’t really use twitter, but you can also check out the Diverseathon account here: https://twitter.com/diverseathon).

I have a more solid readathon plan in place for this one as opposed to #24in48 (because hopefully I’ll have more time to read!): I’m planning on finishing the audiobook of Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng and reading the print editions of The Mothers by Brit Bennett and Kindred by Octavia Butler. I’ve been hearing AMAZING things about Everything I Never Told You–I just barely started the audio today, but since I listen to audiobooks so slowly, I’m sure I’ll still only be partway through by the time the readathon starts. I’ve also heard that The Mothers is an incredible read; I don’t think I’ve read a single review that was less than stellar. I’ve mentioned before on my blog that Octavia Butler is one of my favorite authors and that my goal is eventually to read all of her books; everything I’ve read by her so far has absolutely blown me away, and Kindred will be my fifth Butler book.

Everything I Never Told YouThe MothersKindred

 

Is anyone else participating in either of these readathons? Let me know!

reading challenges

#24in48 Readathon Wrap-Up

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And….my second #24in48 is done!

Honestly, this readathon was awesome. I enjoyed literally every book I read during the challenge, and I’d recommend them all. I went into this weekend with two goals, both of which I accomplished: to read for at least 12 hours, and to read at least 3 of the books on my TBR. I had so much fun on Bookstagram and Twitter seeing everyone’s reading progress and getting new TBR ideas; the social aspects of these readathons can really be the best part. Except that the books were also fantastic.

Here are my stats:

Books finished: 6

  • 2 graphic novels
  • 1 novella
  • 1 novelette (which to me seemed like a short story, but it’s referred to as a novelette, so I’ll go with that)
  • 1 book of poetry
  • 1 YA novel

Books read, but not finished: 2

  • 1 audiobook
  • 1 novel

Total time spent reading: almost 13 hours

I finished these:

Binti by Nnedi OkoraforSix Months, Three Days by Charlie Jane AndersSaga, Volume 6 by Brian K. VaughanBitch Planet, Vol. 1 by Kelly Sue DeConnickmilk and honey by Rupi KaurSecond Star by Alyssa B. Sheinmel

Favorite book of the readathon: Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur. This was so close to being a five-star read for me, but just missed the mark. I love this style of poetry – Kaur writes short poems in free verse that have a huge amount of emotional impact. I was close to crying throughout this poetry collection, and I reread each poem about two or three times to get the full effect.

Biggest surprise of the readathon: Second Star by Alyssa B. Sheinmel. I was nervous about this one since I have such a bad track record with YA (I’m picky! And usually I don’t like realistic/contemporary YA!) but it was absolutely what I was in the mood for, and I felt it was really well done. YA retellings of classic stories can be really good or really terrible, and I liked how this one was handled; it retained certain aspects of the Peter Pan story while still remaining its own thing.

(Longer reviews of both of these, and all my other #24in48 reads, to come in my July wrap-up post.)

And I’m still reading:

ConfessionsThe Jane Austen Book Club

My audiobook for the readathon, The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler, was a very last-minute addition that worked out better than I thought it would. I initially mean to start the audiobook of The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson during the challenge, but I had no idea that it’s written in this stream of consciousness style and I, having a hard time with audiobooks in general, was completely lost within the first few minutes. I absolutely will be returning to this book, but now I know that it will need to be read in physical form instead. Meanwhile, The Jane Austen Book Club is pretty good, if not amazing, and I’d like to watch the movie after I finish it (and possibly count this towards the Read Harder challenge).

I also started Confessions by Kanae Minato, which so far is AWESOME, and I wish I’d started it earlier in the Readathon–I feel like this would have been great to read in one sitting, but I started it way towards the end and was tired.

 

Now that the readathon is over, I’m getting excited about my August TBR and Bout of Books. How did everyone do with #24in48, if you were participating? Let me know and feel free to link to your wrap-up!

 

 

Book Challenges, reading challenges

#24in48 Readathon Day 1 Updates

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Honestly, the first day of #24in48 went a lot better than I thought it would. I went in with very low reading expectations because I knew I had to work this morning, and I also had concert tickets to an outdoor musical festival that lasted most of the day. However, I was still able to sneak in some reading (a little over 5 hours!). The books I finished were all shorter works (a novella, a graphic novel, and a short story) and I also started a new audiobook that I’m really enjoying. Tomorrow I’m expecting to read from some longer books compared to today; there are three in particular that I have my eye on, and I’ll have to see which I’m in the right mood for. I think I’m absolutely going to meet my tentative goal to read for 12 hours during the readathon (I knew going in I’d never hit 24, and that’s OK!) and I’m really looking forward to some quality reading/relaxing time after a crazy work week and crazy day today.

So here are my stats:

# of books finished: 3

Binti by Nnedi OkoraforSaga, Volume 6 by Brian K. VaughanSix Months, Three Days

Audiobook time: 2 hours

Total time spent reading: 5.17 hours

So here’s what I finished on Day 1 of #24in48:

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor – 4 stars

Saga, Volume 6 by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples – 4 stars

Six Months, Three Days by Charlie Jane Anders (short story) – 3.5 stars

And I read from these, but haven’t finished them yet:

The Jane Austen Book Club

The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler (audiobook)

 

How is everyone’s readathon going so far? Let me know!

readathon, reading challenges, TBR

24 in 48 Readathon: TBR and Game Plan

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It’s time for the 24 in 48 Readathon again!! *bookish party* You can sign up and get the details here: https://24in48.com/

I participated in #24in48 for the first time this winter and really enjoyed it; 24 in 48 is like a slightly extended and more flexible version of Dewey’s and it’s very low-pressure. The goal is to read for 24 hours within a 48-hour period, but really, you just read as much as you can and enjoy all of the social aspects of the challenge. I actually did pretty well last time; despite the fact that I entered the readathon on a whim, I finished The Just City by Jo Walton and read about 400 pages of The Wise Man’s Fear. You can find my post from last time here: https://beachesandbooks.wordpress.com/2016/01/19/24-in-48-reading-challenge/.

#24in48 runs from July 23-24, which has the makings of a great bookish weekend. This time around (of course) I have some obstacles: I’ll be working Saturday morning, and Saturday afternoon I have concert tickets to see several bands at a summer music festival. (Mostly I’m going to see AWOLNATION; I love them and have never seen them live.) So I’m planning on fitting in as much reading as I can Saturday evening and Sunday.

I tried to be strategic with my TBR stack by picking mostly shorter books, graphic novels, and YA, which seem to work better for me during readathons. I also threw in a of standalone short story that I have on my Kindle. My goal is to finish at least 3 of these during the weekend, but I think that depending on my choices I can definitely exceed that goal. One of the things I like about readathons is that if I don’t finish certain books during a given challenge, I carry them over to the next one. So the books I don’t finish here will likely be on my TBR for the next Bout of Books in August 🙂

Saga, Volume 6Six Months, Three DaysThe Complete PersepolisBinti (Binti, #1)Second StarEleanor & ParkBitch Planet, Vol. 1: Extraordinary Machinemilk and honey

So here’s what I’m going to attempt to read during the Readathon, ranked from most to least likely to actually read them:

Saga, Volume 6 by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples – if nothing else, this is the book I will finish during #24in48. Saga is the only graphic novel series that I follow regularly; I love its heart and creativity. Luckily, I was first in line to put a hold on this at my library, so I snapped it right up.

Six Months, Three Days by Charlie Jane Anders – Anders is the author of All the Birds in the Sky (which I read earlier this year) and the former editor of io9.com, one of my favorite sites. This is her Hugo-award-winning novelette that I broke down and bought on ebook after the price finally dropped. It’s very short and about two people who can both see the future, but in different ways.

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor – for some reason, they do not have this novella at my library, or I’d have already read it. I found it on BookOutlet.com, and it finally arrived today 🙂 It’s very tiny, which means very doable for the readathon. It won the Nebula and was nominated for both the Hugo and Locus awards, and it sounds like science fiction with a focus on interactions between diverse societies, which is my preferred type of scifi.

Second Star by Alyssa B. Sheinmel – So I used to be a big fan of the TV show Once Upon a Time, and during the Neverland season I started searching for Peter Pan-inspired YA to read. I stumbled upon Unhooked, which I wasn’t able to get into but may try again another time, and Second Star, which sounds like a retelling where all of the Peter Pan characters are surfers and there is a love triangle. I am really interested to see how the author pulls this off; it could either be great or really terrible.

Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur – this is a poetry collection that’s been getting a ton of buzz; I was inspired to snag this at Barnes&Noble after someone posted one of the poems on Bookstagram. The poems are very short yet full of emotion, which I like.

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi – I actually saw the movie version of this graphic novel a few years ago (in French, in college, at an indie movie theater. It was a very hipster time for me.) or I probably would have read it sooner. It’s about a girl growing up in Iran during the revolution, and the story was so well told in the movie that I felt I wanted another look.

Bitch Planet by Kelly Sue DeConnick – another graphic novel! I may or may not be in a graphic novel mood during #24in48, so we’ll see how many of these I end up reading. I keep hearing about this on different blogs; it’s a dystopian, feminist graphic novel set in a prison for noncompliant women.

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell – this is the only Rainbow Rowell book I have not read yet; I’ve been avoiding it because realistic YA isn’t usually my thing. But Rainbow Rowell is wonderful, and I’ve liked every book she’s written so far, even when I thought I wouldn’t (I thought I’d be really bored by Landline, but it was actually very sweet). Not sure if I’ll have time to get to this during the challenge; it may end up being a Bout of Books read instead, but it’s definitely happening this year.

 

I can’t wait to jump into all of these! I’m tempted to start reading some of them now, but I’m going to resist. Is anyone else participating in #24in48??? Feel free to link to your TBRs!