A Photo of Jefferson and my tea taken from my Instagram.
February 6, 2021, 1:08 a.m.
I didn't intend to truly start this readathon until the morning, but because it officially started at 12:01 a.m. EST (9:01 a.m. PST), and because I got to my reading late earlier today, I unintentionally kicked my readathon off at the same time as everyone else. I started off by reading the first two chapters of Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin out of my Library of America edition of his early novels (see below for some links) and then read 100 pages of Jefferson while enjoying some nice Sleepytime Extra tea. It took a little longer for me to finish all this reading than I expected, though not as long as I feared. If I keep this pace up, I do believe I can finish Jefferson, Giovanni's Room, and The Light of the Jedi this weekend. But will I be able to finish Felix Ever After or Children of Virtue an Vengeance (let alone start it) this weekend? Doubt is creeping into my head. Hopefully I can, but I am going to get some rest now and truly dive into this in the morning.
February 5, 2021: The Day Before!
It's been a few months since I have done an honest to goodness readathon and if I am ever hopeful of whittling down my TBR, then readathons are my only hope. Fortunately, the wonder folks at the 24in48 Readathon have been working hard at organizing a great readathon and I am so happy to be joining them.
What is a readathon you ask? A readathon is where you try read for as long as you can in a certain time frame without stopping, sort of like running a marathon (read + marathon= readathon). One online place that is famous for organizing this is Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon. They famously choose 24 hour period to just read non-stop during that period (their next one is on April 24). There is also a bunch of social media done on Facebook, Instagram, Twitterm, etc. that folks can participate in as they are reading.
The 24in48 readathon is similar in that you try to read for 24 hours straight, but they break it up over two days. That means you can tackle your 24 hours of reading in any combination you like. Read all day Saturday or all day Sunday? Go for it! 12 hours on Saturday and 12 hours on Sunday? Absolutely! 8 on Saturday, 16 on Sunday? That works too! Any combination of 24 hours of reading you can think of works for this particular readathon.
One thing they are doing differently this year is that they have chosen two group reads for folks to participate in, one fiction and one non-fiction. Their non-fiction read is Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender, a YA Romance starring a trans male as the protagonist. The non-fiction read is White Negroes by Lauren Michele Jackson about cultural appropriation. I personally plan on reading Felix Ever After myself, but no one is obligated to read these books if they want to read something else.
On top of Felix Ever After, I have a few books I either want to finish or make progress on. First, I want to finish reading the Library of America collection Thomas Jefferson's writings that I have been working on since January 1. This has been an interesting read, but at 1600 pages it is huge! I had planned on finishing by the end of January, but life interceded. I also plan on making progress on Library of America's collection of James Baldwin's early novels. I just finished re-reading Go Tell It On the Mountain last night and I hope to have Giovanni's Room finished by the end of this readathon.
Next, I am going to finish reading Star Wars: The High Republic: The Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule. My reading obsession originated with my love of Star Wars novels (the pre-Disney original Expanded Universe novels that is) back in high school and college, but I haven't really read many Star Wars novels since then. However, this High Republic series sounds incredibly exciting. I've been enjoying this book very much and I plan on finishing it this weekend.
Lastly, I plan on at least starting Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi. This is the second book in her Legacy of Orïsha series, the first one being Children of Blood and Bone. I read that when it first came out and I loved it! I'm looking forward to diving back into this amazing YA fantasy world.
Of course, this is just the plan. I have no idea if I will be able to actually do any of this. Fortunately, like pervious readathons, I plan on live blogging this one. Just come back to this page throughout the day tomorrow, February 6, and Sunday, February 7. I'll be regularly adding updates to this page about my progress. And while you're at it, be sure to check out any one of these great books or authors I have mentioned. And if you want to join the 24in48 Readathon, head over to their website and fill out their online form. Happy reading everyone!
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