Yess! It’s that time of the year again, the spring 24hour readathon! You read that right, 24 hours, of reading. And books. And book chats. And of course some snacks, favorite beverages and a teeny tiny bit of sleep. Or, as I like to call it, a perfect introvert party! \o/
Preparations
I usually prepare by having all my house chores done, and food ready so I don’t have to spend too much time on cooking. This year however, I took a couple of days off, a short staycation of 5 days, with the last two being Deweys readathon. So lovely!
I’ve also tried making a book stack with books I want to read and prioritize for the weekend, but my head is all over the place. I can’t decide! I have so many still on my TBR, series to continue, books for the FNLC2022, unread books on my shelves… and what about all my ebooks? I only decided on my first two books, one to continue and one from the library.
Another thing I prepared are my breaks. I need to move more and a weekend of reading isn’t going to help that, so I am planning on taking a walk, and reading in the park, and prepared some yoga exercises for when this plan fails. And sometimes, I hate to say it, but sometimes my brain needs a break from reading too, so I’ve saved up on some of the booktube videos I want to watch, to watch them between the reading. It will be nicely on topic, right?
Oh yes, and snacks. There might be too many. These are just the unhealthy ones.
Hour 1 till 12
Well, 10 actually, because after that I went to sleep. The first part of the readathon went well! I read a total of 374 pages, in 6 of the 10 hours. Those pages were from the two books listed above: To Kill a Mockingbird, which was really captivating and a true classic, and IJslands Gambiet (only available in Dutch, this would be Icelandic Gambit if translated, a short thriller about a Russian spy and chess player murdered in Reykjavik, leaving a cryptic manuscript appointing his murderer). I did some yoga, enjoyed my dinner with booktube, only spend about a total 60-75 minutes reading up on twitter inbetween. And I had two other-related short breaks. The weather was bad, so I only read indoors, but at least an hour of that was in the tub!
I’ve really enjoyed this first day of the readathon. It was really relaxing!
Hour 12 till 24
I slept most of this, only had 6 hours of the readathon left after. Read about a 120 pages of short stories from Stephen King’s Everything’s Eventual in the garden while having breakfast and enjoying the sun. Waiting for the FNLC’s May bonus prompt to drop and feeling a bit jetlagged from a shifted sleep pattern. The bonus prompt didn’t arrive, so after reading two shortstories I continued and finished my non-fictional rambling essays by Tom Cox. It’s a perfect read to end a short holiday with!
The last hours flew by and suddenly the readathon was over. I read 574 pages from 4 books, plus 1 magazine, in 6 reading spots. Drank lots of tea, ate snacks, took a bath and even did yoga twice. I also slept about 8 hours and spend some time interacting with other readers and booktube. I had a great time restoring myself, and even some hours left in my day. Maybe another book, maybe some gardening? I don’t know yet, but I’ll be back again for Deweys during Fall!
