48 Hour Book Challenge

I don't usually do non-review posts, but this weekend I'm making an exception. I've decided to try the 48 Hour Book Challenge. I have no idea how it's going to go. I don't even have a goal really, other than making a dent in the huge pile of books I have sitting in a chair beside me.

(That's kind of a blurry picture, eh? I might try to take a better one later. )

And that pile doesn't even include my overstuffed Kobo...

The challenge is hosted by MotherReader. Here's a list of people taking part. As soon as I post this I'm going to head over and add myself to that list.

The basic rules are to read as much as you can in 48 hours. No picture books, but middle grade, teen, adult, and graphic novels are fair game. You can also count the time you spend blogging, and for every five hours of reading you can spend one hour networking (commenting on other blogs, tweeting, etc.).

My challenge will run from Friday at 9pm to Sunday at 9pm (MT). I left work at 9pm tonight and started off by listening to an audiobook on the ride home.

I'll keep updating this post with the details of how it's going. Okay, I think that's it!

Update #1 - 9:50pm Friday
Time spent reading: 40 minutes
Time spent blogging: 10 minutes
Time spent networking: 0 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes

Books read: Something Like Fate by Susanne Colastani (audiobook) (40 mins)
Books finished: none yet

Update #2 - 12:08am Saturday
Time spent reading since last update: 1 hour, 53 minutes
Time spent blogging since last update: 17 minutes
Time spent networking: 0 minutes
Total time to update: 2 hours, 10 minutes
Total total time: 3 hours

Books read since last update: Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman (68 pages)
Books finished since last update: Robot Dreams by Sara Varon (258 pages), My Life, the Theater and Other Tragedies by Allen Zadoff (214 pages read during 48HBC)

So it's not going so badly so far. I think my math is right - the hours and minutes are starting to confuse me, so if I make any noticeable errors please let me know! Also, the date/time of the this post will keep changing because I had other posts scheduled to run this weekend, but I want to keep this at the top. So look below for my review of Hip, Hop by Catherine Hnatov.

I spend a lot of time reading (like many of us, I'm sure) but I can't remember the last time I actually sat down and focused so much on reading. It was a little intense, but in a good way. I was very aware that I was reading, almost like I was an actor playing someone who was reading.

I think I'm at about my limit before I need to sleep, so I'm going to move my reading into bed (too personal?). I'm torn; I've been reading the Murder She Wrote book before falling asleep, but it usually lulls me to sleep (and I say that in a fond way, because I love my Murder She Wrote novels). Should I try for something that might keep me reading for a bit more?

Update #3: 7:05am Saturday
Time spent reading since last update: 2 hours, 2 minutes
Time spent blogging since last update: 20 minutes
Time spent networking: 0 minutes
Total time to update: 2 hours, 22 minutes
Total total time: 5 hours, 22 minutes

Books read since last update: And Both Were Young by Madeline L'Engle (154 pages)
Books finished since last update: Murder She Wrote: Skating on Thin Ice by Donald Bain (170 pages read during 48HBC)

(I should also add that I wasn't sure if there was a standard way of reporting time spent, so I modeled mine on what I saw at Rebecca Reads, because it made a lot of sense to me! So thank you, Rebecca Reads!)

Maybe it was the excitement of the 48HBC coursing through my veins (or maybe it was the iced coffee drink I had around 7pm), but I read for another two hours after I headed in to bed. I decided to go with my Murder She Wrote book and when I finished that I started on the teen novel by Madeline L'Engle. Today I hope to finish some books I have on my Kobo, especially some from the Simon and Schuster Galley Grab that are set to expire very soon.

Update #4 - 11:38 AM Saturday
Time spent reading since last update: 3 hours, 20 minutes
Time spent blogging since last update: 10 minutes
Time spent networking: 60 minutes
Total time to update: 4 hours, 30 minutes
Total total time: 9 hours, 52 minutes

Books read since last update: All The Things You Are by Courtney Sheinmel (143 pages)
Books finished since last update: I'm Kind of a Big Deal by Stefani Wilder-Taylor (145 pages read during 48HBC), Between Here and Forever by Elizabeth Scott (262 pages)
Total pages read during 48HBC: 1414 (plus 40 minutes of audio)

All three of the books I read or started this morning are ones I picked up from the Simon and Schuster Galley Grab.They're either about to be published or have just been published.

Update #5 - 5:57 PM Saturday
Time spent reading since last update: 3 hours, 42 minutes
Time spent blogging since last update: 10 minutes
Time spent networking: 0 minutes
Total time to update: 3 hours, 52 minutes
Total total time: 13 hours, 44 minutes

Books read since last update: Something Like Fate by Susanne Colasanti (audiobook, 35 minutes), Science Fair Season by Judy Dutton (80 pages)
Books finished since last update: All The Things You Are by Courtney Sheinmel (115 pages), He's So Not Worth It by Kieran Scott (370 pages)
Total pages read during 48HBC: 1979 (plus 75 minutes of audio)

A late afternoon nap put be slightly off pace, but that's okay. I knew I wasn't going to be hardcore about this, with the no sleeping/no anything but reading style.

Update #6 - 10:03 PM Saturday
Time spent reading since last update: 3 hours, 37 minutes
Time spent blogging since last update: 14 minutes
Time spent networking: 43 minutes
Total time to update: 3 hours, 34 minutes
Total total time: 17 hours, 18 minutes

Books Read Since Last Update: Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman (55 pages)
Books Finished Since Last Update: Koko Be Good by Jen Yang (300 pages), The Unsinkable Walker Bean by Aaron Renier (192 pages), What I Wore by Jessica Quirk (79 pages read during 48HBC)
Total Pages Read During #48HBC: 2605 (and 75 minutes of audiobook)

My eyes are starting to feel tired. Not strained, but tired. I've only had a few moments where the books are starting to run together (when I was reading All The Things You Are, the main character goes to visit her grandmother, and I thought 'wait, I thought the mother's parents were dead?' and then realized that that was from the book I'd just finished, Between Forever and Always). I did wonder before starting this if it was somehow disrespectful to the books, in an abstract way - that I'd be whipping through them, not paying attention, only focused on finishing them so I could read more, more, more. I don't feel that way now. I think if anything, I am giving the the books more attention than I otherwise would (or at the very least, the same). I'm doing this because I love reading. Normally I have a lot of distractions - my TV is almost always on in the background, I'd be spending more time on Facebook - that happen while I'm reading. Today, though, the only time my TV was on was when I accidentally sat on the remote and turned it on by accident. I'm definitely not saying that I'm going to start watching no television, but maybe...a wee bit less?

Update #6 - 1:57 PM Sunday
Time spent reading since last update:5 hours, 6 minutes
Time spent blogging since last update: 16 minutes
Time spent networking: 30 minutes
Total time to update: 5 hours, 52 minutes
Total total time: 23 hours, 10 minutes

Books Read Since Last Update: Something Like Fate by Susanne Colasanti (36 minutes)
Books Finished Since Last Update: And Both Were Young by Madeline L'Engle (83 pages since last update), Fall for Anything by Courtney Summers (172 pages during 48HBC), Science Fair Season by Judy Dutton (145 pages read since last update)
Total Pages Read During #48HBC: 3005 (and 111 minutes of audiobook)

I'm just about 7 hours away from the end of my challenge. It's kind of nice to be so near the 24 hour mark. I know I said I didn't come into this challenge with any goals, but since I hit about 15 hours I've thought that 24 would be good. My next non-goal is 30 hours, so I'd have to spend almost all of the remaining 7 hours reading, blogging, and networking. Will I get there? Who knows.

I hate to say it, but I wish I'd chosen a different audiobook. It's been a long time since I've come up against a book that so was just not for me. It's not a bad book and I know there's an audience for it, but I'm just having a bad reaction to it.

One of my favourite parts about Fall for Anything was that I had no idea just how dark it was going to get. There were so many possibilities and they were all so possible and it kept me hooked and guessing.

Science Fair Season: I thought I would like it, and I ended up loving it. It's got a ton of crossover potential (adult/teen, fiction readers/nonfiction readers, science fans/non-science fans).

After I'm done blogging, I'm not sure where I'm going to head next. I still have a pile full of books so I'll likely just grab one but right now nothing is grabbing me.

Update #7: 9:00 pm - Finish Line!

I'll just make some notes here and then write up an actual finish line post.

Time spent reading since last update: 5 hours, 28 minutes
Time spent blogging since last update: 18 minutes
Time spent networking: 22 minutes
Total time to update:6 hours, 8 minutes
Total total time: 29 hours, 18 minutes


Books Finished Since Last Update: Wheels of Change by Sue Macy (96 pages), Too Bad by Robert Kroetsch (96 Pages), Full Frontal Feminism by Jessica Valenti (271 pages) Watching Jimmy by Nancy Hartry (152 pages), Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman (104 pages since last update)
Total Pages Read During #48HBC: 3724 (and 111 minutes of audiobook)

I made an error in my last update and overcounted by an hour, so my final total comes in at just over 29 hours.

List of Books Finished During 48HBC
Robot Dreams by Sara Varon
My Life, the Theater and Other Tragedies by Allen Zadoff
Murder She Wrote: Skating on Thin Ice by Donald Bain
I'm Kind of a Big Deal by Stefani Wilder-Taylor
Between Here and Forever by Elizabeth Scott
All The Things You Are by Courtney Sheinmel
He's So Not Worth It by Kieran Scott
Koko Be Good by Jen Wang
The Unsinkable Walker Bean by Aaron Renier
What I Wore by Jessica Quirk
And Both Were Young by Madeline L'Engle
Fall for Anything by Courtney Summers
Science Fair Season by Judy Dutton
Wheels of Change by Sue Macy
Too Bad by Robert Kroetsch
Full Frontal Feminism by Jessica Valenti
Watching Jimmy by Nancy Hartry
Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman