24in48 Readathon: Day One

The readathon started at 00:01am ET, but over here in the UK that means 5:01am. Needless to say I did not set my alarm for this ungodly hour. It's now 8:28am and I'm blearily awake and ready to start reading. Admittedly I'm still in bed.

My target was originally going to be 12 hours over the whole weekend, because I need to sort, pack and clean in order to move house as well as read! I now also have plans on the Sunday, so we're probably looking around the 6-8 hour mark. I'm going to leave my official target as it is, but I'm not going to worry about it too much and just aim to read more than I would normally, which is about two hours a day.

8:28am (Hour Four)

Time spent reading: 0 minutes
Books read from: 0 books
Pages read: 0 pages
Time spent blogging: 20 minutes 

Introduction Survey

1. Where in the world are you reading from this weekend?

I'm reading from West Yorkshire, England. I live a few miles away from Haworth, where the Brontes lived.

I haven't opened my curtains yet, but I can hear it's currently absolutely pouring with rain. Sounds about right for July.

 2. Have you done the 24in48 readathon before?

I have not! The timing has never been quite right. It's still not right, to be honest, but I figure that I'll just be relaxed about it and see how it goes.

3. Where did you hear about the readathon, if it is your first? 

 Weirdly, I actually just fancied doing a readathon so I googled it about Wednesday. This readathon came up and it sounded perfect, so here we are.

  4. What book are you most excited about reading this weekend?

Well we'll have to see how it goes. I'm currently reading The Dragon Reborn, the third book in the Wheel of Time series. I love it, but it's quite heavy going at times.

 If I need a break from that, I'm going to read either One of Us is Lying, which is a light YA, or The Super Mutant Magic Academy, a graphic novel.

     

5. Tell us something about yourself.

I collect different editions of Pride and Prejudice - I have 77 so far.

6. Remind us where to find you online this weekend.

Here, mostly, on this post. I'll also be rambling on my Twitter, which is @bookinginheels.com 

10:07am (Hour Six)

Time spent reading: 1 hour 1 minute

Books read from: The Dragon Reborn

Pages read: 62 pages

Time spent blogging: 28 minutes

Well that's a good start, at least! After setting up this post and completing the introductory survery, I spent a solid hour reading in bed. I'm up and dressed, and unfortunately I now have to do a bit of packing and other life admin.

The Dragon Reborn probably isn't ideal readathon fodder, to be honest. Whilst I do really enjoy this series, it's a little heavy and I'm beginning to get frustrated with the characters. After my break to deal with my real world responsibilities, I might try for a little more of it, but then switch over to Super Mutant Magic Academy for a while.

Hope your reading is going well!

11:47am (Hour Seven)

Time spent reading: 1 hour 13 minutes

Books read from: The Dragon Reborn

Pages read: 79 pages

Time spent blogging: 28 minutes
Time being Life Productive: 1 hour 12 minutes

Pfft, tired now. I've been packing up clothes and I've done a trip down to the Post Office, and now I'm wiped. I've not been that well, so I'm fatiguing easily at the moment. Probably a good time to get some reading done. Or I will when I clear up the pile of irritating stuff that I can see out of the corner of my eye, anyway.

Oh, and here's our first challenge!

Snap a Shelfie

 

 Here are some of my lovely bookshelves!

2:20pm (Hour Ten)

Time spent reading: 2 hours 8 minutes

Books read from: The Dragon Reborn

Pages read: 145 pages

Time spent blogging: 36 minutes
Time being Life Productive: 2 hours 7 minutes

It's weird how I keep spending almost exactly the same time reading as I do with my packing - it's unintentional but I'm happy with that.

I've read a little more and I'm happier with my book though. I'm still a bit frustrated with certain parts, but my grumpiness from this morning has worn off.

I had to go on a drive to a village a few miles away to return one of my Cub Scout's possessions (it's almost an end of year ritual, by this point) as well as stop for some lunch, but I'm home now and ready to read some more!

4:18pm (Hour Twelve)

Time spent reading: 2 hours 53 minutes

Books read from: The Dragon Reborn (176 pages)

                                      Super Mutant Magic Academy (37 pages)

Pages read: 213 pages

Time spent blogging: 41 minutes
Time being Life Productive: 2 hours 30 minutes

I've changed books for a little bit - I'm now reading from the Super Mutant Magic Academy, a graphic novel by Jillian Tamaki. I'm very achy and very tired, and my mind just wasn't able to deal with the dense prose of The Dragon Reborn anymore! I like it so far - it's drawn very basically and it has a dark sense of humour that's quite amusing at times.

My progress on packing has slowed somewhat as it hurts when I move. I'm still persevering, but perhaps not as enthusiastically as I was.

My original reading target was 12 hours which boils down to 6 hours per day. There's no reason that I shouldn't make that at this stage, so I'm quite pleased really :) 

9:17pm (Hour Seventeen)

Time spent reading: 4 hours 31 minutes

Books read from: The Dragon Reborn (266 pages)

                                      Super Mutant Magic Academy (104 pages)

Pages read: 370 pages

Time spent blogging: 48 minutes
Time being Life Productive: 2 hours 39 minutes

Every time I do a readathon, it amazes me just how much time there is for reading, if I only focus. It's not even particularly late and I've managed to read for 4.5 hours as well as running errands, milling about and spending thirty minutes looking for a viable Women's Institute that doesn't meet on a Thursday (there isn't one).

There's probably a lesson to be learned there - maybe I should spend less time faffing about and messing around on my phone, and more time reading.

I'm 56% into The Dragon Reborn now. I do like it, but probably not as much as the second book, The Great Hunt. I was hoping to finish the whole thing this weekend, but considering I have plans tomorrow, that's not likely now. 

11:52pm (Hour Nineteen)

Time spent reading: 6 hours

Books read from: The Dragon Reborn (352 pages)

                                      Super Mutant Magic Academy (142 pages)

Pages read: 494 pages

Time spent blogging: 55 minutes
Time being Life Productive: 2 hours 39 minutes

Well that's it for today. It's bedtime. I admit to getting a bit distracted towards the end - I kept checking to see if I'd reached six hours yet (halfway to my goal of twelve hours). I'd probably naturally have given up around 5.5 hours, so not that much earlier really.

I'm very unlikely to make twelve hours overall as I've ended up with plans tomorrow, but at least I reached my goal for today.