So, as you may have divined from my title, I'm preparing for MotherReader's famous 48-Hour Book Challenge, this year taking place from June 3 - 5. One of the Kidlitosphere's most believed bits of masochism, this is MR's sixth foray into randomly declaring one weekend for everyone to read until their eyeballs fall out. And we totally do it, y'all. Last year, even the adult book bloggers got into it. Why? Because it's a great community-builder, because it's a a great way to kickstart or re-energize your blogging, because many people pledge money to charity, because you discover and connect with so many neat people and most of all, it's fun. I swear.I've fiddled with my work schedule, picked the charity to whom I will donate (local literacy organization Make Way for Books, in case you're interested), chosen my pizza toppings, written the first draft of my grocery list (how many flavors of Mountain Dew are there, anyway?). Now comes the most important . . . deciding what to read.
I am aware that there are people who just sort of dive in and grab books from their shelf and away they go. I contemplate this for myself and my brain breaks a little bit. I have to pace myself. I have to balance funny books with serious, long with short, realistic with books that require Golden-Gate-Bridge levels of suspension of disbelief. Y'all, I hafta select just the right audiobook, cuz I only get one, and what if it's the wrong one?!?
It's this whole thing, I tell you.
Last year I read books that I'd promised to read, and it wasn't entirely successful. There were some books I looooved and some I . . . didn't. So I've decided that this year I will only read books that make me jump up and down with excitement. This will ensure that when I'm starting my fourth book at 11 pm, I can still go, "Well, hey, I wanna read this, and not, y'know, sleep or anything."
So I'm trawling through my ~800-item LibraryThing wishlist, pulling out the books that make me go, "Oooooo!" and ordering them from the library. Bonus: several of them are in ebook form, so I can download to my Nook (favorite toy! Lub my Nook!).
Are you in? Have you done this before? What do you plan to read? Most importantly, do you have any suggestions that will make me go, "Hot damn!"?
5 comments:
I *heart* the 48-Hour-Book Challenge! The first year I did it, I tried to collect a bunch of short books, reasoning that they'd be easier to get through. That was a mistake for me. I do MUCH better when I'm reading the books I have been really looking forward to, no matter how long they are.
And I definitely make a special grocery trip for 48-Hour Book Challenge snacks. :) It's like a holiday in my house! :D
So true, Abby. My best year was the one where I picked the books that excited me to a fever pitch. By the way, was it you who loved Dark Life by Kat Falls so much? Because that's totally gonna get read that weekend!
How many books do you aim to read? While I love love reading, I am not a fast reader. I'm wondering how many books I could get realistically through in a weekend. This sounds like a fun challenge!
In the past, I've gone through 10 - 15 books in the weekend, depending on what else is happening. I'll be working all Saturday, so I expect it will be less this year. (I had to switch around to get out of working Sunday, too!) I don't push myself to read faster than usual, because I want to enjoy the books, and I don't force myself to stay awake to read for the same reason.
I know there are those who literally read for 48 hours (I have no idea how they do it!) but after the first year where I was pushing myself far too hard and comparing myself with everybody else, I said, "Heck with that" and concentrated on enjoying myself. That's my advice to you. Enjoy it and don't worry about beating anybody's score or time.
Join in, it is loads of fun! MR added a networking option a few years back, so you can count time spent blogging, Twittering, Facebooking, and connecting with others doing the same as part of your time.
Yep, I too had to say "heck with that" because I want to read for fun, for cyring out loud, even when I'm pushing the envelope!
My strategy now (this is my forth year, I think) is to have a range of books, including things outside the genre I usually read (sci fi/fantasy). Like a nice quick Agatha Christie. Preparing the book pile is a big part of the fun.
I've also realized that I can listen to a book on tape and work in the garden at the same time! unless, of course, its raining. Which it will probably be doing all the rest of the summer.
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