Impulsive decision! I will take part in the 24-Hour Readathon tomorrow! I will not in fact be reading for 24 hours, alas: one, I’ve learnt that my sleep is too important to lose, so that’s 7-8 hours gone already, and two, I have work. But when I’m not doing other pre-scheduled things, I will try to read.

A speculative reading pile:

• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (C.S. Lewis) [reread]
• The Silver Chair (C.S. Lewis) [reread]
• The Last Battle (C.S. Lewis) [reread]
• The Steerswoman (Rosemary Kirstein) [reread]
• Network Effect (Martha Wells)
• Digging Up Armageddon (Eric Cline)
• A Treacherous Curse (Deanna Raybourn)
• Think of England (K.J. Charles)

That’s probably enough to be going on with… and goodness knows I’m likely to pick whatever I feel like in the moment, which means I could end up reading almost anything.

Anyone else taking part?

Aaand it’s time:

13:37: I’m starting off with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, with the help of one very cuddly bunny…

And here’s the opening survey:

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? I’m in sunny(!?) South Yorkshire, UK.
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? Actually, it might be The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, because it’s so cosy and familiar. But Network Effect is pretty exciting too!
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? I don’t particularly have snacks lined up, but dinner will be pasta carbonara and that will be tasty.
4) Tell us a little something about yourself! My hair is supposed to be bright turquoise but it always fades to this green. If anyone’s a hairdresser or very experienced with dyeing hair, feel free to advise me on how to dye over it with my natural darkish brown! (I love my turquoise hair, but I leave it to hairdressers. And I have plans for my post-lockdown hair that mean going back to my natural colour anyway.)
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to? I’ve participated before but not for a while, because I don’t do well without sleep or with feeling obligated to sit down and read specific books. So I’m gonna be super flexible, and sleep plenty.

15:01: There, finished my first book. Not sure what next… but probably The Steerswoman, as long as Lisa doesn’t mind me getting on and finishing it without her!

16:15: I ended up reading The Silver Chair, and I’m finished with that. Now it’s work time, for around an hour!

18:07: I did an hour’s work and then I finished up The Steerswoman! I put A Treacherous Curse on today’s to-do list for the next book, so… maaaaybe that next? 2h35m reading, so far.

19:25: I’m about 30% of the way through A Treacherous Curse! Then I stopped for a stretch to admire my wife’s tidying efforts. It’s time for me to do some blog stuff now, and then probably dinner, and then back to reading as long as I still feel like it.

21:46: I’m now about 60% of the way through A Treacherous Curse, and I’ve read 3h49m in total.

22:53: It’s bedtime soon, but I did finish A Treacherous Curse! 4h35m reading in total, and four books read. Not bad, though two were short and I was already 60% of the way through The Steerswoman!

10:26: Well, I’ve slept and done my morning’s work, and now I’m going to start on Martha Wells’ Network Effect.

11:27: I read for half an hour and then got a bit fidgety — I’m only 14% of the way through the book, and I’m being so fidgety about books lately that “long” books daunt me… even when I love them. I’m going to see if I can settle for another reading stint, though!

Compared to prior readathons, this one has been really quiet in terms of interaction for me, though. It doesn’t really feel like as much of a community event. I miss that.

12:04: I got more into that reading session! 29% of the way through Network Effect now. I think I’m going to take a short break to do some of my to-do list for the day, and then rejoin for the last half hour.

12:47: I didn’t get back to it, so that leaves me at a total of four books finished, and 5h25m of reading. That’s a lot more than I’ve been managing lately, so yay!

I’m a sucker for a good readathon, and this version sounds awesome; there’s so much attention to detail! I shall be embarking on the Knight’s Quest first. Provisional reading choices:

• The first book of a series: Pantomime, by Laura Lam.
• A book with a verb in its title: Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple.
• A book with a weapon on its cover: Magic Binds, by Ilona Andrews.
• A book with a red cover: Chameleon Moon, by RoAnna Sylver.
• A book that has a TV/movie adaptation: Caliban’s War, by James S.A. Corey.

I plan to go on and try and do all the squares, but that’s where I’ll start… You can read up on all the rules here, and credit for the art goes to CW of Read, Think, Ponder.

Are we there yet!?

In an hour or so, the 24 Hour Readathon begins! We’re all ready here — me, my wife, and our bunnies.

Not sure how long any of us are going to be reading for, but the wife definitely isn’t staying up overnight. Much as I’d like to, I haven’t for a few years, so I might not make it through the night either. But even a few hours dedicated to reading are well spent. All my updates are going to be edited into this post, so it might get a little long, but at least I won’t be doing tons of posts!

13.59: About to start, but the wife isn’t home from groceries yet and we haven’t set up her update post on this blog (coming soon!) yet. Still, here’s the opening meme:

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? Cloudy Belgium!
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? Probably Waking Gods. It’s certainly the one my wife is most looking forward to me having read…
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? We don’t really have many snacks lined up. No doubt I’ll demand a mug cake at some point.
4) Tell us a little something about yourself! I’m taking this weekend for reading out of my exam revision time. Cell bio, human bio and ecology, coming up in early June. Save me.
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to? As always, I’m going to take it easy; read if I feel like it, stop if I don’t. I haven’t done the full 24 hours in a long time, and that’s fine by me.

Now I’ll just get laundry on and groceries in and then start — probably with The Soul of an Octopus, by Sy Montgomery. My stack is here, though I probably won’t be sticking to it very well!

14.58: I’m about 80 pages into The Soul of an Octopus. Paused for a bunny snuggle (with Breakfast, the brown bun pictured above; Hulk, our grey lady bun, is sulking on a shelf, appropriately enough) and to help the wife pick a new book. (Her update post is up here, by the way!)

15.28: We both just totally derailed to eat hummus and cheese doritos, and now the wife is off to get us cornbread, more hummus, and some chilli. If you’re in Belgium and within reach of Leuven, the hot dogs at Wurst are okay, but the hummus is amazing.

16.22: I read more while Lisa was out, but then she came back with a copy of the new volume of Saga, some cornbread still warm and fresh, and a pot each of chilli and a pot each of hummus. Om, nom, nom.

17.16: Almost teared up after the death of one of the octopuses mentioned in this book. Non-fiction is not normally so heartwrenching! And here’s a photo of me and the wife and Breakfast chillin’. Hulk is still on her shelf.

18.14: Just finished The Soul of an Octopus. Fascinating book. In the meantime, Breakfast and Hulk have been exploring the flat together without much supervision, for once. There’s been no violence, yet! I’m going to have a break now and play some Stardew Valley, and then I should get on with reading Waking Gods — before my wife explodes.

19.36: Reading Waking Gods now, have been for maybe half an hour. Annoyingly, my Kindle’s running out of charge, though.

21.07: I just took a break after getting to about halfway through Waking Gods, and we ended up taking the bunnies for a drive (the slight stress helps bunnies bond). Now they’re shockingly quiet…

23.17: Yeah, nope, not feeling it. Which is sad. Maybe I’ll be back tomorrow?

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

This is much lower-pressure than the 24-hour readathon, while still offering the social aspects and even some chances of prizes. I’m looking forward to participating again!

Time each day: 30 minutes minimum.
Number of books: 7 books.
What to read: At least four of the books should be books I’ve owned since before 2016, fulfilling the ShelfLove challenge too!

Yep, it’s that time again — the 24-hour readathon! Today, there won’t be a review post, to keep down the volume of posts, and this will be the only readathon post — I’ll update it with all my progress, rambling, etc. I’m being joined by my sister, so between us, I have high hopes of a) lots of reading and b) actually staying up the whole time, for the first time in a few years. Still, no pressure; I’ll read as long as it’s fun and healthy and sleep if I have to!

So what’s on my pile? Hmmm…

In Progress:

• The Last Argument of Kings, Joe Abercrombie. A reread I’ve been meaning to finish for a while.
• Murder on a Midsummer Night, Kerry Greenwood. I love this series to bits.
• All the Birds in the Sky, Charlie Jane Anders. I was reading this last weekend, and then moving got in the way!

Monthly TBR:

• Demon Road, Derek Landy. A review copy, and one I’ve been meaning to read for a while!
• Knight’s Shadow, Sebastien de Castell. Ditto.
• Passenger, Alexandra Bracken. Technically this is also in progress, though I haven’t read much yet.

Quick reads:

• Rat Queens vol. III: Demons, Kurtis J. Wiebe. This just arrived in the past couple of days, and it should be a quick/fun read.
• Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Squirrel Power, Ryan North & Erica Henderson. Ditto. Comics make a good palate cleanser for the readathon, in my experience!
• Bryony and Roses, T. Kingfisher. Because I’ve been meaning to read it for a while.

And who knows what else, given my grasshopper-mindedness?

12.49: Almost time to start, and here is the opening meme!

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? Britain, and I’m not sure it’s fine.
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? Uhhhhh. Bryony and Roses? I’ve heard good things lately.
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? Lightly salty popcorn from Graze. If I can find it. I can only see the “slightly sweet” variety…
4) Tell us a little something about yourself! I just found my lightly salted popcorn!
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to? I’ve participated a bunch of times. This time, I’m actually doing it with my sister, so we might be able to keep each other awake properly. Normally, I end up needing to sleep because I’m cold and ick. But with my sister to compete with… I mean, support…

13.40: Started with Murder on a Midsummer Night, by Kerry Greenwood. Love Phryne. <3

14.47: Finished my first book! Onto Rat Queens now, I think…

15.31: And now I’ve finished Rat Queens. Bit of a mess of a volume, though. Not sure what next — maybe something not from my list…

17.02: Read Bryony and Roses. I loved it! People do such a good job with the Beast’s character.

18.02: Now reading a book not on my original list, Lady of Mallow, by Dorothy Eden. I’m enjoying it! Very Heyer/Stewart-ish.

19.43: Just finished Lady of Mallow. Not sure what next — maybe a little break?

20.53: And now I’ve finished All the Birds in the Sky! This readathon is going better than I expected, really.

22.07: Yikes, it’s been ages since I finished my last book, and I haven’t even picked my next one yet. I think I’m going to go and lie in bed and read for a bit, and then sleep when I’m tired. I always talk about maybe staying up for the whole thing, but apparently I’m just not 22 any more! (I’m 26, so clearly past it.)

12.05: While I was offline, I read Forensics by Val McDermid and The Farthest Shore by Ursula Le Guin. Seven books total now! Almost my record.