Next Saturday commences Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon (and I'm so excited!!). I've been involved before, but I've never actually read for the Read-a-thon. That is, until now (And did I mention how excited I am??). Yesterday, I had a great time shuffling through my stacks picking a bunch of books at random. Isn't it nice how they arranged themselves artfully and took a picture for you guys? The ones that made the cut are decidedly waaay more than I'll get read especially considering I don't plan to be awake for all 24 hours, but I'll have a lot of options! I tried to mix it up and get a good variety, and I hope I'm not paralyzed by all the options come Read-a-thon day. This crazy bunch of books doesn't even include the two books that I'm currently reading, so, who knows? Those might get some play, too. Anyway , here's the list, with assorted commentary.
First up we've got the short story contingent. I don't have the best record with short stories, so it's kind of small...
> Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman (for R.I.P. too!)
> Imaginary Friends by Various Authors (hey, this one snuck into the pile after I'd finished picking!)
Next up, we have a category of books which I'll refer to as "Books Written in Unusual Fashion." You know, letters, news excerpts, interviews about the apocalypse, et cetera, et cetera. This category is made up of...
> The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty (I loved her Feeling Sorry for Celia, hope this one's as good)
> The Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger
> World War Z by Max Brooks (Would be an unplanned edition to my R.I.P. challenge list if I got to it)
Next up, "books for grown-ups that I felt sort of obligated to choose."
> The Aerialist by Richard Schmitt(in light of recent talk of circus books and all)
> The Song Reader by Lisa Tucker (one of her others was a speedy read for me, so what the heck?)
> My Pet Virus by Shawn Decker (This is the token non-fiction pick. It actually looks like an easy read despite it's heavy topic)
And last, but most certainly not least, a big bunch of YA!
> Black Angels by Linda Beatrice Brown
> The Sledding Hill by Chris Crutcher
> Intertwined by Gena Showalter (Lots of pages but otherwise looks pretty brain candy-ish)
> Indigo by Alice Hoffman (has the distinction of being one of the thinnest books on my shelves - a good morale booster, in other words!)
> Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer (Gosh, I've been meaning to read this for, like, ever)
> If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson (Seems like lots of bloggers I've been reading lately are very into Jacqueline Woodson, so I dug this one out of the pile)
> Trigger by Susan Vaught
> Wild Roses by Deb Caletti
> Freewill by Chris Lynch(to feed my innner Printz-aholic post-Fat Kid Rules the World)
There it is - my monster pile that's making me wish the Read-a-thon was going to start right now.
Have you read any of these? Are there any you think I should definitely ax? Do big book piles help you or hurt you on Read-a-thon day? (On one hand, it'll be nice to have the variety, on the other, I'm kind of worried about not being able to choose even of these few and losing time. LOL!) Do you start with a longer book or a shorter book or whatever takes your fancy when you sit down to read on Read-a-thon morning? Wow, isn't my mind inquiring today? ;-)
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And now - what a few of you have been waiting for! Here are the winners of the blogiversary giveaway...
In the Beauty of the Lilies goes to Hazra of Advance Booking
The Cactus Eaters goes to Debi of Nothing of Importance (Muahahaha! Guaranteed point, Debi! LOL!)
The Wednesday Sisters goes to Debilyn of Debilyn Reads
and
Don't Call Me a Crook! goes to Alyce of At Home With Books
Thanks everybody for entering (and for your blogiversary wishes, as well!) and congrats to the winners. I'll send out e-mails, but if you winners happen to see this before I get an e-mail out to you, do send me your address, and I'll mail out the prizes this week.
Now I must skulk off to catch up on my book reviews before catching up on them is totally impossible!
I think you've made a great selection for the read-a-thon, Megan. It's definitely better to have a good sized selection to choose from than not enough. :-)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to the winners!
I hope you have a great week, Megan!
Great picture!!! And I'm so happy you're reading this time! :) Fragile Things is fun, but it's pretty big, isn't it? lol @ your 'obligated' category-be careful about those during the read-a-thon! I haven't read any of your picks, though. Big book piles are a TOTAL help-they let me follow my whim, and I don't really feel paralysed by choice. (You could always have readers vote for your next read when you're halfway through your current one!) I usually start with a shorter book first thing to give myself some props. :D I'm thinking about Disquiet this time-it's one of the tiniest books ever! lol
ReplyDeleteWow...that's quite a bookpile! Even though I don't plan on participating this year, I'm really excited to see all the "goings on" during the read-a-thon.
ReplyDeleteYay! So excited I won The Wednesday Sisters!!! Obviously, you rock :) Thanks for the giveaway.
I love you Unusual Fashion book category! I quite enjoyed both Year of Secret Assignment and Last Days of Summer. I bought Last Days for my 11 yo son for Christmas and we both liked it. And I have World War Z here and I am cracking to get started on it. I've read a few pages and it looks fab! You could include Life as We Knew It in this category - it's diary entries and apocalyptic. Enjoy!!
ReplyDeleteYay read-a-thon! You'll have so much fun reading and have every right to be excited (I know I am!!).
ReplyDeleteI haven't read any of these, but YA is a great choice--usually short and easy to get through.
Have fun!
LOL...that's right, another point coming your way! Thanks Megan!!! I'm so excited...that sounded like a really fun read. :D
ReplyDeleteLOVE the pile! Life As We Knew It is a great one--fast read that you just won't want to put down for a second. And it sort of fits your unusual category, too...it's diary entries. I came so close to putting If You Come Softly in my pile, too. And of course, now that it's in yours, I'm tempted to go sneak it in. You know, because the 25 I have in my pile surely won't be enough...hahahahahahahahahaha.
Have a great time with the read-a-thon!
ReplyDeleteOMG that's like the best picture ever :) And I'm thrilled to see Fragile Things in your pile!! It has some really amazing stories in it!! You're going to have so much fun! Look forward to following along with your progress!
ReplyDeleteDebi took the, er, comment from my fingers :P Life as We Knew It is a PERFECT choice! It's impossible to put down (and terrifying too).
ReplyDeleteI'm not good with short stories, either. It seems like a lot of effort to get into them for just a little amount of fruit.
ReplyDeleteWild Roses is so so so so good! One of my favorite books of the year. I love Deb Caletti. It tore me apart, though, because I could relate to it so much.
ReplyDeleteyou've got an excellent pile! I hope you don't have any more readathon nightmares!
(Thanks for stopping by my blog, btw.)
Wendy - Thanks! My good sized selection is totally keeping me all excited for Read-a-thon day. Hope you're having a great week, too!
ReplyDeleteEva - Yeah, Fragile Things is a little chunky, but I don't think I'll be trying to read it from cover to cover, just using it to break things up a little. I think I've picked a shortish book to start with to give myself an early boost, too! =)
Debilyn - Read-a-thon day is such a blast! I hope you'll come play with us a little even if it's "unofficial". That's what I did for a few before I really got involved and even that way it's a great time!
raidergirl - Glad to hear that some of my "unusually written" choices are hits with you. Hmm...maybe I need to change Life As We Knew It's category!
Trish - Double yay Read-a-thon! Can you believe I actually *dreamed* about it last night? LOL! With the help of my YA I hope to actually finish a few books!
Debi - I hope you and Rich love The Cactus Eaters. I thought it had some definite moments of hilarity along with its more serious moments, just an all around neat read! And as for If You Come Softly? Sneak it innnn...what's one more on a pile of 25? LMAO! =D
ReplyDeleteKathy - Planning on it! Thanks! =)
Chris - Ha! Glad you like the pic, I actually worked uncommonly hard on that photo. Usually I'm strikingly lazy about such things, so you can tell I'm really trotting out the big guns for the read-a-thon. LOL!
Ana - That Debi. Stealing your comments, making you vlog. Someone needs to straighten her out. LOL. ;-) I'm definitely looking forward to Life As We Knew It.
Ronnica - I'm still working on my short story love, and actually I've found a few that I like, but it's still a work in progress. Here's hoping these two that I chose improve my short story track record!
Amanda - Oh, I'm so glad to hear that! I've heard good things about Deb Caletti, but nothing about this title in particular. Now I'm super looking forward to it! Here's hoping all our dreams about the Read-a-thon from here on out are sweet. =)
best of luck to you with your reading. I think that I'm going to wing it and not choose what to read until Saturday.
ReplyDeleteLife as we knew it looks good!
ReplyDeleteYou will LOVE Life as We Knew It and World War Z. Total page turners.
ReplyDeleteI don't have any real strategy for the readathon so I can't offer much advice. I pulled about 10 books off my shelf last time and finished 1. Then again, I was reading with my daughter and a friend and we did more talking and online stuff than reading. I set aside a similar amount of books this time, but I hope to stay away from the computer a little more this time.
ReplyDeleteHave a great time!
--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric