My First Readathon!

I loved it. I was disappointed that it was so short, but that’s probably because of how loosely I held myself to the time constraints; not having planned it in advance, there was only so much I could put completely aside.

I basically spread out my twenty-four hours over the daytime hours of Saturday and Sunday (I have enough issues with sleep already, can’t afford to make it worse by pulling an all-nighter). These are my books completely finished over the weekend:

And, though I didn’t finish them, I either started or made progress in these books:

My Brilliant Friend, by Elena Ferrante—177 pages

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs—352 pages

Archie, Vol. 1: The New Riverdale, by Mark Waid and Fiona Staples—144 pages

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Vol. 2: Squirrel You Know It’s True, by Ryan North and Erica Henderson—120 pages

Ms. Marvel, Vol. 5: Super Famous, by G. Willow Wilson—144 pages

Blue Iris, by Mary Oliver—73 pages

They May Not Mean To, But They Do, by Cathleen Schine—about 30 minutes audio

If Beale Street Could Talk, by James Baldwin—started first 10 pages

Skeptic, by Michael Shermer—continued 19 pages

That’s 1039 pages, plus the audio which translates to 32 pages when I check it out on Overdrive, for a total of 1071 pages.

I started reading at 7 am with My Brilliant Friend, the book I’d already been reading for a few days. I finished at 10:30 am, at which time I started up my audiobook and went to get breakfast. I started Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and read at the public library from about 11 to 12:30, then continued reading while walking around outside—because the weather was gorgeous, FINALLY, even though we’re back up to the 80s this week and that is preposterous because why is it not fall yet, actually really fall. But I digress.

I went back home, lost a little time talking to Mike who had gotten off work early, and then read again from 3 to 6, finishing Miss Peregrine just in time for dinner. That’s when the aforementioned Muggle-hanging out occurred, and Mike was kind enough to let me read a few pages of Beale Street while we drove to Dallas. We stayed out later than usual, so even though I’d hoped to start and finish Archie before going to bed, I was barely conscious toward the end and had to leave the last issue for the morning. Sunday morning was graphic novels, working my way through Squirrel Girl and Ms. Marvel, then turning to Mary Oliver’s beautiful poems before pausing for grocery shopping and a movie at the dollar theater.

I didn’t do a very good job logging my hours, but I’m estimating 12 or 13 altogether, and that is pretty awesome when I think about it. The idea of a readathon wasn’t even that appealing to me before I tried this, honestly, but I had so much fun. I can’t wait for the next readathon; I think I’m hooked.