分类: - Smiling Shelves

24in48 - The Stack!

1/25/2018

This weekend is the 24 in 48 Readathon! It lasts from 12:01 a.m. Saturday to 11:59 p.m. Sunday. I have no delusions that I'm going to get a full 24 hours of reading in, but I am excited to spend as much time as I can reading away! I'm especially looking forward to this because it means my husband takes main charge of my son for the weekend - and I'm ready for a bit of a break. Over the past couple of weeks, my husband has gone on two business trips (this never happens!), for a total of almost seven days of single parenting. I can't wait to relax and escape into a book (or three) this weekend.

Here's the stack I'm planning to read from (which can always change). I intentionally picked books that I own (no library books!) so that I can keep chipping away at all the unread books on my shelves.

A Devil to Play: One Man's Year-Long Quest to Master the Orchestra's Most Difficult Instrument by Jasper Rees (I'm a band geek who loves the sound of a French horn, so I'm excited to read about playing one.)
Torrent by Lisa Tawn Bergren (The third in the River of Time series. I read the first two last year, but it got a bit too young-adult-angsty for me, and I had to take a break. I think I may finally be in the mood to read book three.)
Love Comes Calling by Siri Mitchell (Light Christian fiction. Perfect for a readathon.)
Mr. Lemoncello's Great Library Race by Chris Grabenstein (I bought this right when it came out last year, and I can't believe I haven't read it yet! This is the one I'm planning to start with on Saturday, so I'll remedy that soon.)

I don't have any special snacks planned, but I am going out to lunch (all by myself!) on Saturday. I can't wait for this weekend! Anyone else joining in the festivities?

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Bout of Books 20 Sign-Up

8/19/2017

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The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 21st and runs through Sunday, August 27th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 20 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

I'm signing up for next week's Bout of Books readathon at the last minute because I really don't have a reason not to. :) I'm not setting any goals; I'm just going to keep track of my reading for the week - and make sure I pick up a book instead of my phone at the end of the day. I have a couple of library books to finish before Friday, so this will help give me the push to do so. Anyone else participating in Bout of Books next week?

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24 in 48 Readathon - The Stack

7/20/2017

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The 24in48 Readathon is this weekend! There's not much better than a weekend devoted to books, and my amazing husband has once again offered to take care of our little guy so I can readathon (for Saturday, at least).

I was hoping that this readathon would help me get through my library books by their due date, but I somehow managed to finish them all already. So instead, I scoured my shelves to gather my stack for this weekend (plus one library book that I picked up from my local branch because I think I'll in the mood to read it). Hopefully I can use this readathon to get some of my own books read!

I'm planning to take myself out to lunch on Saturday (with a book or two, of course). And now I just need to visit the grocery store and pick up some snacks! Then I'll be all prepared for a bookish weekend!

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Bout of Books 19 Sign-Up

5/6/2017

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The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 8th and runs through Sunday, May 14th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 19 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Okay, I just couldn't resist. I wasn't planning to do Bout of Books this time around, because I just don't have extra time in my life right now to devote to reading. I'm happy if I get through thirty pages a day. But then I decided that Bout of Books is low pressure, and I don't have to read any extra to participate. It's just fun to be part of the community reading together. So here I am, signing up!

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Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon Coming Soon!

4/6/2017

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The next Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon is coming up at the end of this month - Saturday, April 29! I have been looking forward to this pretty much since the last one ended in October. My husband is absolutely amazing, and is going to take sole charge of our little boy that day - so I get the whole day to readathon! This is also perfect timing for a break because Friday the 28th, my school is hosting the area-wide Music Festival, and it's going to be a completely crazy, running-around kind of day. I'm going to need Saturday to recover, and what better way to recover than to spend the whole day reading?

Anyone else planning to participate? It's so much fun!

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24 in 48 Readathon

1/20/2017

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It's time for another 24 in 48 Readathon! I know I'm going to get nowhere near 24 hours read this weekend because my Saturday is pretty much already taken up with other plans. But hopefully I can get a good chunk of reading done on Sunday! I'll be updating this post with my progress, as well as sharing updates on Twitter. Hooray for readathon time!

First 24 Hours

Time spent reading: One hour and 8 minutes
Number of pages read: 46
Books read from: Hook & Jill by Andrea Jones; The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Second 24 Hours

Time spent reading: Three hours and 46 minutes
Number of pages read: 183
Books read from: Hook & Jill by Andrea Jones (ended up DNF'ing this one); Chronicles of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery (Love this one!)

Readathon Totals

Time spent reading: Four hours and 54 minutes
Number of pages read: 229

Nowhere near 24 hours, but still about as much as I could expect to fit in on a busy weekend with a little one crawling around. It was a lot of fun!

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Make Me Read It Readathon - Results & Updates

7/9/2016

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This readathon is hosted by Val at The Innocent Smiley and Ely at Tea & Titles.

After weeks of voting and anxiously checking the results, the Make Me Read It Readathon is finally here! Here are the books in the order I'll be reading them, thanks to your votes:

1. Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George
2. Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
3. Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics by Chris Grabenstein
4. The Midnight Rose by Lucinda Riley
5. Mastering the Art of French Eating by Ann Mah
6. The Lost Girls: Three Friends, Four Continents, One Unconventional Detour Around the World by Jennifer Baggett
7. The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin (My library had this one as an audiobook, so I'll be listening to this one throughout the week.)

I know it's unrealistic to get through all seven in one week, but I'm going to give it my best try!

Updates

1. Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George - finished Saturday at 10:12 p.m.

Thoughts - A fairy tale retelling with polar bears, which just happen to be my favorite animal. The perfect read to start out this readathon!

2. Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder - finished Monday at 5:35 p.m.

Thoughts - My favorite of the series so far. I enjoyed seeing the Ingalls family interact with so many other characters.

3. Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics by Chris Grabenstein - finished Tuesday at 3:27 p.m.

Thoughts - This book is just as AMAZING as the first one. I loved it!!

4. The Midnight Rose by Lucinda Riley - finished Friday at 4:21 p.m.

Thoughts - I couldn't put this book down. Such a good read!

5. Mastering the Art of French Eating by Ann Mah - on page 86 when the readathon ended.
7. The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin - halfway through listening to this one when the readathon ended.

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Make Me Read It Readathon - Vote, Please!

6/24/2016

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I discovered this readathon through Christine at Buckling Bookshelves, and it sounded like a lot of fun. Here are the basics:

Look at the books you own, either physical, e-book or ones you've borrowed from the library and pick out a few you really want to read, or feel like you should read. It’s up to you how many you pick, personally I'd pick a few more than you expect to be able to read in a week. Example: if you think you’ll only read two, pick out five books or if you think you can read seven, pick out ten.

Make a list of these books on your blog, or make a video, or a Goodreads shelf or post a picture on Instagram—whatever is easiest for you. Then get friends, other bloggers/booktubers etc. to vote on which books you HAVE to read.

When the readathon comes along, you read the books in the order of most votes. For example, if one book gets 10 votes—you read that first, then the one that got 7 and so on. If there's a tie, then it's your preference. The goal is to read as many as possible.

The readathon takes place July 9 - 16, which is right after my next Library Day - perfect! I'll probably only get through 3 books that week, but there are seven choices below to vote on. Vote for no more than 5, please. Voting ends July 6. And then I'll start reading your top picks on July 9!

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Bout of Books 16 Sign-Up

5/7/2016

6 Comments

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 9th and runs through Sunday, May 15th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 16 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Read-a-thons are one of my absolute favorite things about the book blogging world. Which is why I participated in Dewey's 24-Hour Read-a-thon, even though I had a tiny baby to take care of. That actually went better than I expected. So a week-long read-a-thon should be no problem. Bring on the multi-taskable audiobooks!

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Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon Sign-Up

4/9/2016

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Okay, I know I'm a little crazy for signing up for this one. By the time April 23 comes around, I'll be spending most of my time taking care of a couple-week-old baby. So I was just going to let this readathon go by. But I can't. Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon is my absolute favorite blogging event of the year. And even if I can't participate much, I can't pass it up entirely.

So I'm signing up and hoping to participate in whatever little ways I can. Any tips from those of you with little ones?

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