Well, I’ve made it to hour twelve! And unlike most other readathons, I have spent most of the past twelve hours reading (or “reading” in the case of audiobooks).
The first nearly six hours were devoted to listening to audiobooks while I walked to, up, and around a local mountain and back home. My tracking app was being temperamental but the total distance was 11.68 miles, more or less.
The hours since have been at home, reading and eating and lazing in the sunshine while my family were out running errands. They’re on their way home now, though, so we’ll see how much reading I get done in the next twelve hours.
Mid-Event Survey:
1. What are you reading right now?
I just finished Tablet IV of The Epic of Gilgamesh. I’m reading it in translation rather than in the original cuneiform.
2. How many books have you read so far?
I finished two audiobooks, The First Next Time by James Baldwin, which I started earlier this week, and all of The Call by Peadar O’Guilin. In addition to those and the bit of Gilgamesh I’ve consumed, I also listened to about two chapters of The Penderwicks on Gardam Street during lunch with my children.
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?
I don’t have much more on my list, but once I finish Gilgamesh, I’m looking forward to Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff. Although I might just grab my daughter’s copy of The Fault in Our Stars if I get too sleepy.
4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?
Not too many interruptions so far, but that’s about to change. Hopefully I can manage my expectations and keep my cool.
5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?
That I’ve read as much as I have. I really like the West Coast 5am start.
Imperfect Happiness 
If you start a book and you hate it (after some pages of tolerance…) do you give it up or do you press yoursel to read it no matter what?
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It used to be I’d make myself finish, but now it depends. I usually make myself finish a classic, but a pleasure-reading I’ll quit if it’s not a pleasure to read. What do you do?
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Actually, pretty much the same (classic vs leisure reading). But I get easily distracted and I find myself reading several books at the same time. And I keep notes (and underline, highlight, comment on the margin… like I’m talking with the writer). So, I think I couldn’t do this readathlon thing… and I’m a bit sad about it (like I’m sort of lacking)… But I have my own (chaotic) way of reading anyhow…:-)
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I hear you on the challenge of readathons. I have a similar problem with NaNoWriMo. I like the idea, the prolonged sprint is difficult for me to maintain.
I used to feel frustrated that I didn’t complete as many titles during a readathon as other participants did, but I’ve found some compromises that work for me. For example, one year I read the first ten pages of about ten different books and kept hopping through, reading the ones that really appealed to me. Didn’t finish any, but it was a fun reading day, anyway. Mostly I use the readathon as an excuse to clear my schedule of everything but reading for a day-ish, which is its own reward. 🙂
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Interesting idea (the first ten pages). 🤔
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