Exactly a year ago, while meandering over the book blogs of my friends, I wandered over to see what Brona was upto and accidentally discovered what was to be one of the most enriching and rewarding reading events – Dewey’s 24hrs Reading Marathon! Since that fateful day, I have been devoted to the cause of readathon and have been looking forward to it with much anticipation!
This year is especially important as I am volunteering as a host for the first time every – for hour 6. I am nervous about the whole thing and keep thinking I will blotch it up, but I have great experts to fall back on and therefore hope I will avoid making too much of a fracas. But I am very happy to be part of the league of the brilliant volunteers who keep this event going with such enthusiasm and generosity of time and spirit!
Now comes the agony and the ecstasy part – what to read and what not to read, that is the QUESTION!! I am sure I will not be able to read all of them, but I need a variety to keep me going and this exhaustive list, on which I have been ruminating over the best part of the month, would do that at the very least if not more. So here goes –
- Lady Susan by Jane Austen – The wise veteran souls of the Readathon tell me and correctly so, that we must start with short books of novella variety to get us going for the long reading hours; Austen is my all-time favorite feminist and Lady Susan brings this too combination beautifully! I was planning to re-read this for a while and October seems to be a perfect date!
- The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough – I was planning to read this with Brona for her #AusReadingMonth; but the book arrived early and I excitement anymore!
- Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery – I have been re-reading through the Anne series and I hope to make a significant progress on this one.
- The Semi-Attached Couple by Emily Eden – I randomly started reading The Semi-Detached House and am enjoying it immensely. I am hoping to finish it by today and it makes sense to include the sequel in the Readathon
- Land between the Two Rivers by Nitish Dasgupta – A History of Bengal, the region of East India where I ethnically belong from and whose History keeps fascinating me.
- The View from the Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman –This wonderful collection brings together ideas on arts, politics, culture and everything under the sun by one of the wittiest and insightful writers of our times. I had started reading this sometime back and hope to make substantial progress through the Readathon
- The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Through The Window and Disappeared by Jonas Johnson – Much before this book became a much hyped best seller with all the razzmatazz of a Hollywood adaptation, my flatmate had given me a enthusiastic review of the novel, recommending strongly that I read it. Somehow I never managed to do that but I am determined to let this Readathon pass, without atleast starting on this one!
- Open Book – Any bookworm worth his or her book will tell you that we readers like exploring and despite all reading plans, there will be that one odd book that we will pick up randomly and suddenly get completely absorbed in. I leave this slot open in the expectation of exactly such event!
So there is my list and I hope and I really hope that I am able to make some significant movement in my reading plans for this year. As most of you know this has been yet another crazy busy year with very limited reading time, but I hope to make most of it for these 24hrs.
As always, I will keep a running update post, sharing my insights and my reading progress and what I believe to be one of the best part of the readathon – food updates. Besides this I will be on Hour 6 with all the activity and abounding enthusiasm over at Dewey’s. Finally I am hoping, my longtime partner in all kinds of reading adventure, Cleo will be able to join me this time, for what promises to be a joyride!!
Thus, without further ado, let’s hop on when the ride arrives!! 29 hrs more to go!!!
Mockingbirds, Looking Glasses & Prejudices... 
Hour 6 is now noted so that I can cheer on you cheering on, although it will be 4am in Sydney, so my cheering on may be masked by heavy snoring!!😂
Well done for volunteering – you’ll be great. Even though I plan to be around for readathon every time, something always happens to derail part of the day.
Im also planning on (re)reading my copy of The Ladies of Missalonghi and my JA short stories (started but not finished during Austen in August). I also have Guy de Maupassant’s short story collection to finish (started for Pais in July but not finished … a theme developing here!)
Have fun, happy reading!
Awww…thank you Brona! I am grateful to you for introducing me to the Readathon. Please get some rest, and I know you are cheering me on through your sleep! I hope you are able to get as much reading time as possible! I am so looking forward to starting The Ladies of Missalonghi ! I can for sure see a theme developing for your Readathon!! Have oodles and oodles of fun and thank you again for being such an awesome reading adventure partner!
I am certain you will be a brilliant host! You have quite a wonderful pile of books to choose from. I hope you have some great snacks planned too! Have fun!
Thank You for the vote of confidence Stefanie! I will try for sure! I kept a diverse list incase I get bored with one or two or (horror! horror!) three! I should be keeping you posted on the snacks update as we go along!
I hope you enjoy the readathon – I’m sure you’ll be a great host! That looks like an interesting and varied list of books to choose from. I am not taking part this time but I have in previous years and always found it fun.
I am honestly not sure Helen how many I will actually end up reading, but the control freak me would want all kinds of variety available! Hope you are able to join the next time around….I totally agree with you, its a great fun!
Have fun, as a reader and as a host!
Thank You!!
Hurrah, you’ll be reading, too! 🙂 This is going to be my second Dewey readathon. I’m about to post my list… Five hours to go!
Yay!! Marian…we will have fun!! I will hop over to check out your TBR! I love these events…its a like global book club party where we all sit down to read, eat and be merry across oceans and mountains that physically separate us! Happy Readathoning!
All the best for the readathon and your list looks almost manageable!
Ian ..the key words “Almost Manageable!” LOL! Thank You for the kind words!
Argh! I wish I could have joined you! So sad!
I’m on the mend but my right wrist (sprained) is really quite bad so I’m having a hard time typing. But I wanted to give you a big virtual hug to say how much I appreciate your faithfulness to our new food blog. You are so awesome and I treasure your support more than you know!
Glad to be back reading …. now to work on the typing …. I’m so frustrated!
Hugs
~ Cleo ~
I am just glad you are on the mend! Readathon’s will come and go, but health first! Thank You for the virtual hug…I am a bit of a hugger and appreciate any that come my way! 😀 But on your food blog, you have nothing to thank me for…..I love the things you are sharing and it all helps me, as I love to cook! I am glad you are reading again! Please do take care!!