Tomorrow is Dewey’s 24-Hour Read-a-Thon, and I’ve been excited about this for weeks. I decided to read only my own books tomorrow even though I have a loooong list of review books for April that I am making almost no progress on. I want to just be able to relax and not have to think to much about taking notes or what I might say reviewing the books. Plus, I have a lot of books on my shelf that I’m anxious to get to, and this seems like a good excuse.
Since I’m at home in Madison for this Read-a-Thon, I had the luxury of putting together two truly absurd piles of books for consideration. This first pile is all of the fiction and nonfiction I’m thinking about, and the second is the pile of graphic novels I checked out from the library this week.
Fiction, Nonfiction
- The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman, a loosely connected set of stories about a newspaper staff in Rome which is also my book club pick for this month.
- Love Drugged by James Klise, a YA fiction book about a young man who gets to choose whether to take a drug that would “cure” his homosexuality.
- Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart, a memoir set in New York in 1946 at Tiffany & Co that looks utterly charming (and quickly readable).
- I’m Sorry You Feel That Way by Diana Joseph, a memoir “about what it’s like to be a modern, smart woman making her way in the world.” I picked this one because it’s been on my shelf forever, and it’s pretty short.
- Complications by Atul Gawande, a narrative look at the life of a surgeon I got for Christmas from my mom. I’m not sure if this one will be high on my list, but it’s at least available.
- Nothing Left to Burn by Jay Varner, a memoir about a family connected by fire that has gotten a couple of rave reviews mentioning its readability.
- Talking to Girls about Duran Duran by Rob Sheffield, a memoir in songs about young man growing up in the 198s. The best part about having this book on the list is a suggestion I got from Cass (Bonjour, Cass!) — an ‘80s playlist of all the songs he mentions in the book! I anticipate rocking out to some Depeche Mode and the Go-Gos in the late hours of Saturday night (if I make it that far).
Graphic Novels
I snagged a bunch of Fables collected paperbacks from the library: Sons of Empire (#9), The Good Prince (#10), War and Pieces (#11), and The Dark Ages (#12). I think I’ve read #9 before, but ended up losing track of the series sometime last year and want to get back into it. I think these will be my very, very late night reads.
I also reserved the first three collections of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman — Preludes and Nocturnes, The Doll’s House, and Dream Country. NPR’s MonkeySee blog is doing a read-a-long of Dream Country, and I didn’t want to pick that one up without trying the first two. I’m sort of OCD in that way. I’m not sure I’ll get to these, but they’re here.
And the last one — possibly the one I’m most excited about — is a graphic novel version of The Odyssey, which Vasilly (1330v) mentioned on her blog a few weeks ago. Since I actually read Homer’s The Odyssey last year, I thought the graphic novel would be fun.
Other Excitement
The snacks! I went to the grocery store this week and got some of my favorite foods (and some healthy stuff too) — strawberries, Craisins, Wheat Thins, cheese, cheddar rice cakes, bananas, broccoli, pizza, chocolate, and tea. I am well-stocked. Plus, my good friend Erin might be come over for part of the day to do her own Homework-a-Thon while I’m reading.
So that’s my plan so far. Are you excited about the Read-a-Thon tomorrow? What are your big plans?
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I’m getting ready for the Readathon by taking today off from work so I can clean up the house and get the grocery shopping done, freeing up all of Saturday, and I have encouraged my husband and the kids to go out and do something fun without me tomorrow. But I haven’t settled on what I’m going to read yet, although YA fiction usually works really well for me during Readathons and I do have some in its own TBR stack. My alarm is set for tomorrow morning. I love Readathon days!
Florinda: That’s such a good idea. I wish I could have taken the day off… today was a very annoying work day. YA is a good choice — that’s why I pulled Love Drugged off my shelf yesterday.
I’m incredibly bummed that I can’t participate this time around – like others, I love, love, love the Read-a-Thon. Talking to Girls About Duran Duran is a GREAT choice. Having recently finished this one, it’s funny and moves quickly. A good one for the lagging afternoon hours, perhaps.
Enjoy!
Melissa: Bummer, it’s too bad you aren’t able to participate! I’m glad for the vote for Talking to Girls…, I’m pretty excited about that book too.
Looks like a wonderful day of reading! If I get organized enough, I’ll take book pile photos this afternoon, too.
Joy: I hope it will be! I’m not sure how many of the books I’ll get to — maybe 3 of the fiction/nonfiction and a few graphic novels — but it’s fun to have options!
I’m preparing snacks, cleaning, trying to part with my in-progress knitting projects for a whole day, and being indecisive on books. It’s so much fun though!
Marieke: I didn’t get to clean as much as I wanted to today, but oh well. The apartment is presentable enough.
Summer at Tiffany is such a cute book! You’ll enjoy it! I am officially not participating in the readathon because I have no idea what my plan is for tomorrow, but I’ll unofficially drop by to cheer you all on!
Aths: I think the cheering is my favorite part of tomorrow. I love the feeling of camaraderie it brings!
I can’t wait for the Read-a-Thon! I don’t have my snacks yet – I’ll have time to shop tomorrow morning as it starts 1 pm on this side of the pond – but I do have a nice big book pile all set to go. I hope you enjoy your choices!
Meghan: That’s nice it starts a little bit later, although it gets to be night a bit later too so I’m sure those middle legs are a stretch! Have fun tomorrow 🙂
I think you’ll like The Sandman series. I’m really enjoying it; although I haven’t picked one up in a while; my local B&N doesn’t carry them and I’ve been trying not to buy so many online. 🙂
Trisha: I got lucky — I think the entire series is available at the library (well, through ILL). I hope I like them!
I’m definitely excited about the read-a-thon! I can’t wait to get started. I hope you enjoy The Odyssey. Happy reading!
Vasilly: I hope so too! I think it will be fun to at least skim through.
I love your graphic novels stack! Fables and The Sandman are both wonderful. <3
Memory: That stack is going to be a winner, I can tell. I love Fables, and can’t figure out why I stopped reading them awhile ago — gotta get caught back up!
Wahoo!! Tomorrow will be a blast and you’re sounding very organized. I still haven’t pulled together my books, but not sure how much reading I’ll actually get done. 😉
Awesome snacks! That’s always my favorite part (well, one of).
Yay Readathon!
Trish: I had plans tonight (Friday), so I had to be sort of all set before I went to work this morning. I think I got everything prepped, but we’ll see tomorrow!
On Saturday, we have to have lunch at my mom’s and dinner at Mitch’s mom’s. So instead of a readathon, I get to have a forced foodathon.
So if I don’t make it by your blog tomorrow, have fun…and happy reading!
softdrink: Yum, foodathon! That would be a lot of fun too, but not as fun as reading 🙂 I did see you cheering a bit, which was awesome!
Good luck with the readathon, Kim. I’m also participating, from hour 5 onwards. First there is a lit fest to go to. 🙂
I’m stocked up on foodies too, but my reading list is a bit shorter than yours. I hope you get lots read!
Leeswammes: A lit fest sounds awesome. That’d be a good way to spend part of the day. I did get a lot of reading done, which was so much fun.
Sounds awesome! I’m a huuuuuuge fan of Neil Gaiman in general, but particularly the Sandman series – they’re amazing, I hope you enjoy them! I’m not doing the readathon this year, and I’m kind of annoyed with myself about it, but I just have soooo much else on!
Good luck! 🙂
Bex: I wish I’d gotten to the Sandman series, but I ended up reading Fables instead. But I have them out from the library for awhile, so I’m sure I’ll get there.
The weather in NC is kind of yucky as well. Overcast but good reading weather.
Dusky: I think overcast is the best reading weather. We had a nice afternoon, which made it hard to stay inside. Thank goodness for an evening walk.