Friday & Saturday, Aug. 7th-8th, is the second annual “Reverse” 24-hour Readathon. What’s reverse about it? Instead of starting (in the US) Saturday morning, it starts Friday evening. So, for me in Arizona, it will start at 5pm on Friday instead of 5am Saturday.
Will I end up reading more than I usually do during a 24-hour readathon? Probably not. I do like my sleep…
Hour 19 – 20
Finished House of M. Yeah, I know. I’m slow.
And my Deal Me In, Week 32 story: “Some Cupids Kill With Arrows” by Tansy Rayner Roberts. This story was a delight and a great pick-me-up after the heartbreak of House of M.
Hour 17 – 18
Still reading Draft No. 4. All those short stories yesterday made me feel like a speedy reader! Peanuts for a snack.
I have to put Draft No. 4 away for a while. There’s some heavy stuff to think about. And I’ve been sitting in the front room with the laptop and I think it’s finally gotten too hot for that. Time to adjourn to the office…
Finishing House of M and snaking more than expected. This time it’s a Nature Valley dark chocolate, peanut & almond granola bar.
Hour 15 – 16
Picking up Draft No. 4 by John McPhee at Ch. 4. Coffee and donuts (a powdered sugar and a plain Softee) for breakfast!
Hour 14.5
Mid-Event-ish Survey:
- What are you reading right now? Just woke up; coffee’s brewing.
- How many books have you read so far? Finished 5 short stories & 2 comic collections.
- What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? I still have Destroyer in my queue and finishing Draft No. 4 this morning.
- Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? No major interruptions aside from sleep.
- What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? I feel like I’ve already read more than usual, even though I’ve not going to log as many hours as a regular readathon.
Hour 9 – 14
I’m through the first two issues of House of M. Time to get a few hours of sleep.
Hour 7 – 8
Finished Planet X and Avengers: Disassembled.
Had a Pepsi-used-to-be-Max and a shot of vodka to alternately keep me awake and relax my neck/jaw which continuously give me problems.
Hour 5 – 6
I spoke too soon. Chambers tries my patience. Seriously, I think there are better things I could be reading. So, I think we’ll move on. To House of M. Also had second dinner: turkey sandwich and chips.
Okay, actually, I’m going to go back and read Avengers: Disassembled first… (And maybe Planet X…)
Hour 3 – 4
Starting Hour 3 with a Diet Dr. Pepper & Cream Soda. So tasty! Next on my reading list is my last King in Yellow digression – H. G. Wells’ “The Door in the Wall.” Good story! Enjoyed it.
Now back to Chambers… “The Prophets’ Paradise” was just weird… “The Street of the Four Winds” was good and creepy, so Chambers is redeemed for the moment.
Hour 1 – 2
Finished “Haïta the Shepherd” by Ambrose Bierce. I, uh, didn’t realize I only had like a page left. The peril of ebooks… “An Inhabitant of Carcosa” was also pretty short. On to “The Demoiselle d’Ys” by Robert Chambers. Honestly, Chambers has been a bit of a drag…
Nap! Took a little 20 min. post-dinner nap and then came back to finish “The Demoiselle d’Ys.” So far, so good on the note-taking plan.
Hour 0!
- What fine part of the world are you reading from today? Toasty Tempe, AZ. (It’s only 105F right now!)
- Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? Victor LaValle’s Destroyer. I’ve really enjoyed LaValle’s take on Lovecraft with The Ballad of Black Tom, so his Frankenstein should be great.
- Which snack are you most looking forward to? No snacks planned, but there are donuts for breakfast.
- Tell us a little something about yourself! I am 46 years-old and I still don’t know what Iwant to be when I grow up.
- 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 am going to try and make time for reading notes. We’ll see how long that lasts…
TBR
I’m going to try to finish The King in Yellow and a few other short stories related to it:
“Haïta the Shepherd” by Ambrose Bierce“An Inhabitant of Carcosa” by Ambrose Bierce“The Demoiselle d’Ys” (Robert W. Chambers, King in Yellow)“The Door in the Wall” by H. G. Wells“The Prophets’ Paradise” (King in Yellow)“The Street of the Four Winds” (King in Yellow)- “The Street of the First Shell” (King in Yellow)
- “The Street of Our Lady of the Fields” (King in Yellow)
- “Rue Barrée” (King in Yellow)
(I forgot, I also am reading Draft No. 4 by John McPhee. It’s been my morning reading, but I’ve been putting off morning reading in favor of the readathon!)
Also, I’ll have a Deal Me In story and I want to start Jane Yolen’s The Midnight Circus.
No 24-Hour Readathon is complete without some other media forms. For graphic novels/comics, I’m looking forward to Victor LaValle’s Destroyer (illustrated by Dietrich Smith) and House of M by Brian Michael Bendis, illustrated by Olivier Coipel.
If I need an audio book, I think I’ll check out In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Or maybe Stoker’s Wilde by Steven Hopstaken if I can get hoopla to work on my phone…
Simple Tricks & Nonsense 
Will you be updating here?
Yes! I never seem to manage doing the Twitter thread thing… (which is the only other place I might update).
Great. I’ll try to keep an eye out.
Enjoy your time reading! And stay cool (good grief…105?!)
This week has been so cool! (Yes, the heat has boiled my brain…)
In Cold Blood is so good. I listened to it as well. Scott Brick is my go-to for true crime narration. He also narrates Helter Skelter which is eerie and good as well. Happy reading!! Have fun! I love my sleep too, so I know I will not be making it 24 hours.
I listened to the preview and Brick seems very solid.