Dewey's 24-hour Read-a-thon Aftermath

I signed up to participate in Dewey's 24 hour Read-a-thon as a spur-of-the-moment whim. I've never participated before in the semi-annual event, though I've often followed along and enjoyed the tweets regarding the event. I love the idea of reading for 24 hours straight. I know. I'm a wild girl. However, I'm also a mother of five and a wife and it's not usually in the cards to devote an entire weekend day to books.

This year Utah Dad and Neal were going on an overnight scout camp. I could stay up as late as I wanted reading. Even though the read-a-thon didn't officially begin until 8am Saturday morning, I decided to sign-up and start early.

I began reading just after the other kids settled down for bed on Friday evening, around 7 pm. I started with A Place at the Table by Susan Rebecca White and I finished reading it around midnight. Beautifully written, I'll give it a full review later this week.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn has been sitting on my shelf for months. After all the hype of the book and the coming movie, I've really been wanting to read it. I read until I just could not keep my eyes open for another second. I ended up turning off the light around 3 am.

I woke up right at 8 am Saturday morning to the sound of steady rain on the roof. For a minute, I felt bad for the campers out in the cold and then I started reading. But the kids started getting out of bed around 8:30 so I took a break to get them breakfast. Then I spent some time cleaning the bathrooms. 

I got back to reading and was interrupted by a phone call from my brother. He was going to come over to pick some things up. I decided to take a shower. Then the campers got home with all their wet, stinky, muddy gear and a flat tire. I helped them clean up. I visited with my brother for awhile. I made the kids lunch. I sent the men back out to get a new tire and some new shoes. 

Between the interruptions, I did get some reading in. I went to bed Saturday night at 11pm with 75 pages left to read in Gone Girl. I finished the shocking and fabulous ending Sunday afternoon.

So, while I really didn't get to read for 24 hours straight during the read-a-thon, I did get in more reading than I normally do on a weekend. I finished 2 books (about 722 pages). I will definitely participate in another read-a-thon though next time I might plan to go away for the day.