Saturday 28 July 2018

Reverse Readathon

The #reversereadathon is just what I needed this weekend. Hosted by our wonderful friends at the 24hour Readathon, the reverse readathon is a lowkey 24 hr reading event that 'reverses' the usual starting time. It's still a 24 hour thing, but, for me, instead of starting at 10pm on the Saturday evening, I get to start all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 10am on Saturday.


But of course, I'm not only on the other side of the world, I'm also in another hemisphere.

So I will reverse the seasons as well!

In Sydney, Australia, I will be celebrating the July Reverse Winter Readathon by rugging up in my coat, scarf and favourite throw blanket.
It may not feel very much like winter, though - the predicted temp for today in Sydney is a balmy 21℃, with a slight chance of an afternoon shower. July is already our warmest July on record (& sadly one of the driest, which is not a good sign for the summer ahead) and we still have four more days to go!


My plan?

To head off to my local cafe at 9:30am, position myself at a window table, order my coffee and settle down to read, read, read!

I hope to finish some of the half-read books by my bed -

  1. Last Stories by William Trevor
  2. Things a Bright Girl Can Do by Sally Nicholls  Finished at 6:35pm - 155 pgs in total
  3. Taboo by Kim Scott  - 36 pgs read
  4. Clock Dance by Anne Tyler  Finished at 2:45pm - 155 pgs in total
  5. Inglorious Empire by Shashi Tharoor  
  6. Basho the Complete Haiku
And complete this week's pages for the LesMis chapter-a-day readalong.   78 pgs

I also have a stack of kids books that I should/could read for work 
  1. The Bad Guys Episode 7 by Aaron Blabey  FINISHED - 156 pgs in total
  2. Louisiana's Way Home by Kate DiCamillo
  3. Sisters &  FINISHED - 201 pgs in total
  4. Smile by Raina Telgemeier  FINISHED - 218 pgs in total
I will pop back here and on twitter every now and again to update how many pages read and any cafe updates! 
#TeamANZ is also up and running on twitter.

What about you?
Where are you reading? 
What season is it and what time are you starting?

3pm UPDATE

5 hrs of #reversereadathon & I've just finished Clock Dance.
I've enjoyed a morning walk, coffee break, beauty appointment, mini-grocery shop, lunch with another cuppa & 155 pgs of reading. 


I finished Clock Dance sitting on the back porch in the afternoon sun.
The zygocactus is in its final days of bloom.
Feeling a little melancholy and nostalgic yet hopeful after being immersed in Anne Tyler's world all morning....now trying to work out what's next.


Thought I would go round and visit a few posts and check twitter before deciding...

5pm UPDATE

7hrs
All caught up (& now a little bit ahead cause it got very exciting) of my LesMis chapters.
233 pages read in total 

The sun is going down, streaky clouds cover the sky.
The coldness is creeping in; time to turn on the heating.

The renovating neighbours have finally stopped with the banging and scraping - on a Saturday!
New owners yet to move in & making themselves very unpopular before we've ever met them.
Two weeks of jack hammering, then two weeks of water-proofing and the most god-awful toxic smell, now weekend work as well!! Inner-city living sucks!

Just as well I can lose myself in a good book or two.
Time foe some YA

Midnight UPDATE

14hrs
After a dinner break with the family, I hit the graphic novels, whilst curled up in bed.
I finished Things A Bright Girl Can Do by Sally Nicholls and read Aaron Blabey's The Bad Guys Episode 7 plus Smile and Sisters by Raina Telgemeier.


That's five books FINISHED
963 pages read in total

But now it's time to sleep.

THE END

999 pages read
5 books finished
2 books part read

1hr break for an appointment
1 hr break for dinner with the family
8 hr break to sleep
another hour or so spent on social media throughout the day
which means I spent just over 12 hrs reading
#success

I enjoyed the reverse nature of this readathon. Starting bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on Saturday morning got me off to a flying start. Normally I would finish the 'thon late on Sunday night, making me tired for Monday morning work. I won't have that problem this time at all and I'd be delighted to join in a #reversereadathon again.

The hard part for me is that afternoon slump, whichever way the world spins.
4pm is always my danger zone.
I got through it with chocolate.

Reading the graphic novels late at night was a GREAT thing to do (& I would highly recommend Telgemeier's books for this).

14 comments:

  1. Have fun on your reverse readathon. I'm not in the mood for an all day reading fest but I will be cheering you on.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We’ve just had 2 super busy, tiring weekends away doing family stuff, so thrilled to have a quiet one at home just lazing around reading (&blogging).
      Enjoy your weekend however you’ll be spending Anne 😎

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  2. Have a great day of reading! I should pull out a couple kids books too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm saving mine for tonight when I start to get tired :-)

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  3. Glad to hear it will be getting quiet for you there...will be getting quiet for me here now too as I go get a little sleep, here in the eastern half of the U.S. (Pennsylvania). Good luck on the rest of your readathon.

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  4. Here I was patting myself on my back at how much I have done and then I come here and see you being your usual superwoman self! Lol! I am snowed that you managed to read so much and yet do so many many things!! You rock Brona!

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  5. I wasn't able to join in to this one, but I'm thrilled to see your progress and what you've been up to. Looking forward to a big finish this morning.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmmm, big finish? Not so much.
      After a super busy July with multiple trips away, this Sunday morning was a lazy lie-in, reading be damned!
      Although I did squeeze in 36 pages of Taboo over brunch!

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    2. Oh I think 999 pages is a pretty big finish! Were you tempted to read just one more?

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    3. When I added up the final amount, I was tempted to read one more page of something, but decided the 999 looked nice and rounded:-)

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  6. Bravo, bravo, bravo! You had a great mix to keep up the reading momentum!
    It was too hot here to concentrate and I had a bad night ‘sleeping on the floor’.
    I was exhausted and started to wilt in the heat!
    When is the next read-a-thon....? I'm ready for that one!

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  7. I believe the next one is on Oct 20.
    We had a hot one in Sydney today too - 25 degrees with a warm breeze that felt like early summer, not the middle of winter! Hope you've found a cool spot now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cool spot... cup of Sunday morning coffee....Les Mis!

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  8. Gosh that cafe looks lovely! Look at all the windows!

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