Dewey's October 2012 24-Hour Read-a-thon

So it's time for my first ever read-a-thon. In fact, it appears I'll be late, because I need to start reading in 18 minutes and I haven't even finished my morning blogging. :p I'm not as hardcore as some of the read-a-thoners out there...I am certain that I will eat, shower, and go to sleep tonight. However, I thought it would be fun to join anyway, since I will be spending much of today packing up my apartment while listening to an audiobook. That's close enough to reading, right? ;) I also want to get as far as possible in The Garden of the Evening Mists because it is one of the few Booker shortlisted novels that are available in the US, and the prize announcement is Tuesday!

Instead of creating a new post for every update, I will simply update THIS POST whenever I need a break. I'm not sure how regular those intervals will be. We'll see how intense I get. This is all new to me! ;)

Narcopolis, by Jeet Thayil

Format: Audio (from Audible)

Reason for reading: Booker shortlisted

Start position:  6hr 33min of 8hr 54min
Current position: COMPLETE (6:12pm)

The Poisoner's Handbook, by Deborah Blum
Format: audiobook (from library)
Reason for Reading: Halloween theme read at LibraryThing
Start Position: Part 2 of 11 (9hrs 27min total)
Current Position: Part 9 of 11 (9hrs and 27min total)






Blood and Other Cravings, ed. Ellen Datlow
Format: Hardback (from library)
Reason for Reading: Being considered for the World Fantasy Award 2012
Start Position: pg 195 of 317
Current Position: pg 282 of 317

7:56am (New York time--though, actually, I'm in Ohio). That means I have 4 minutes to prepare to read. :D

8:13am Update: I've been catching up on blogs this morning, which I hope counts as reading. It seems like it should. Here's the introductory questionnaire from the Read-a-thon blog. 

Introductory Questionnaire

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?

Ohio, USA

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?

I would really like to finish The Garden of the Evening Mists, but we'll see if I have time...I will do a lot of audiobook listening. 

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

I don't really snack except on pickles and popcorn. So I guess that's what I'm looking forward to. ;)

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

I'm a biomedical scientist and I do a LOT of reading. I'm currently in the process of moving from OH to MN, so I'll be packing up my apartment while listening to audiobooks for a good deal of the day.

5) 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?

This is my first read-a-thon, and I'm most looking forward to finding out how much I can ACTUALLY read in 24 hours if I put my mind to it. I'm skeptical, yet optimistic. :D

9:02am Update: I spent the first hour catching up on blog reading. I did my first Feature and Follow Friday yesterday and I had to check out all the other bloggers. I don't know how they do that every week? I suppose they get lazy at it after a while? PHEW! Ok, I'm now moving on to Narcopolis for a while. 

10:45am Update: I've finished packing up my books and 7hrs 43min in Narcopolis (1 hour and 10 minutes completed so far today). I'm hungry, so I'm going to walk to the Subway to get a sandwich. :) Unfortunately, the ipod that I have Narcopolis on is now very low on charge so I'll have to charge it up while listening to The Poisoner's Handbook. 

2:31pm Update: Ok, I wasn't actually at lunch that entire time. I came back and have continued listening to The Poisoner's Handbook while I did some monotonous work at my desk. But now my ears are buzzing and I'm going to take a "real" reading break. :D Currently, I'm on part 5 of 11 in The Poisoner's Handbook. That means I finished approximately 3 hours of audiobook in 4 hours. Hmmm. Very wasteful.

3:30pm Update: During the past hour, I read 16 pages of Blood and Other Cravings. Wow. 16 pages an hour. That's sad. The short story I read was called "Mrs. Jones." It was about a couple of old maid sisters who hated each other. And then a little bat-like man with a huge erection enters the picture. Wow. Sounds pretty bad when I put it that way. :D  

4:53pm Update: I've finished another two "parts" of The Poisoner's Handbook, having now moved up to part 7 of 11. While listening to that, I started sifting through my clothes with thoughts of what to keep and what to give to Goodwill before I pack it all up. Ah! Memories! Now my ipod with The Poisoner's Handbook needs to be charged, but my ipod with Narcopolis is ready to go. So I'm making the switch again! 

So far, I've listened to 5 hours of audiobook and read 16 pages. So what am I doing during all the rest of that time? To be honest, I don't know. It probably has something to do with the internet, though. 

6:12pm Update: I have now completed Narcopolis, by Jeet Thayil. The review will appear on my blog sometime next week. Hopefully before Tuesday (because that's when the Booker Prize is announced).

7:35pm Update: Fantastic news! I just read another 16 pages of Blood and Other Cravings! I'm really zipping along now!

9:07pm Update: I took a bit of a break for a while. And then I read another short story in Blood and Other Cravings. I'm now on page 248 (so I've moved another 20 pages). 

10:31pm Update: After a bit more sorting/packing (and playing with my cats) while listening to audiobook, I am now at part 9 of 11 in The Poisoner's Handbook. I'm going to do some "real" reading for a while, but I'm not sure how long I'll be able to keep my eyes focused.

11:17pm Update: Ok. I know this is really wimpy because it's only 11:17pm, but I'm tired and I'm going to have to go to bed if I want to have a productive day tomorrow. Perhaps if I'm lucky I'll get up in time to get another couple hours of reading one before the read-a-thon is over. (Might or might not happen. ;) )

6:39am Update: Well, I'm awake again and I'll try to get a few more pages read before the read-a-thon is over. :)

7:43am Update: Well, I guess this will be my final post, given that I don't think I'll get anything significant read in the next 17 minutes. This was a good first read-a-thon for me...it was fun knowing I was reading with people all around the world. I hadn't really planned on participating in the read-a-thon, and didn't plan ahead. Perhaps I'll be more organized next time around. ;) For instance, I'll plan on having both ipods and my Nook charged (I didn't get to read ANY of The Garden of the Evening Mists because my Nook was dead haha!). And, hopefully, the next time around I'll also have more time to just sit and read instead of doing housework the entire day. I might also try adding in some graphic novels next time. I'm not highly experienced with graphic novels, but a read-a-thon seems like an ideal time to try them out (as well as some exciting suspense novels). Non-fiction and literary novels aren't really meant for this type of intense reading, I think. :) 

Despite these issues, I finished around 8 hours of audiobook (thus finishing Narcopolis and getting a good way into The Poisoner's Handbook) and read 87 pages Blood and Other Cravings. That's good enough for a disorganized and distracted start at read-a-thoning. :D