#24in48 Finish Line!

This weekend was the 24 in 48 Readathon and it was a blast. I ended up logging 24 hours of reading with about 10 minutes to spare Sunday night.

I finished 8 complete books, parts of 2 others, and listened to a couple of hours on my current audiobook.


Books I finished during the challenge:

Like a Love Story by Adbi Nazemian (Balzer + Bray, June 2019) - I had started this one previously and finished it up as my first book Saturday morning

The Miracle & Tragedy of the Dionne Quintuplets by Sarah Miller (Schwartz & Wade, August 2019)

Nightlights by Lorena Alvarez (Nobrow, 2017)

Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds (Atheneum, October 2019)

This Was Our Pact by Ryan Andrews (First Second, June 2019)

The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee (Putnam, August 2019)

Meal by Blue Delliquanti (Iron Circus Comics, 2019)

Dead Voices by Katherine Arden (Putnam, August 2019)

Bloom by Kevin Panetta (First Second, 2019)

And for my last book of the challenge, I got a little over halfway through Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse (Rick Riordan Presents, January 2020). 

My lovely audiobook companion while I was doing laundry and talking walks outside (despite the intense heat we got this weekend) was I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver (Scholastic Audiobooks, May 2019). 

You can look for more posts about these books in the weeks to come. 

Whew! What a GREAT weekend of reading! One of the 24in48 challenges along the way was to post about your favorite book of the challenge and I can't really do that because I chose absolutely excellent books. Seriously, they were all great. 

This time around I did plan ahead to have a stack of graphic novels to read in between longer prose novels and I think that really helped me. I felt better about how the challenge was going when my completed book count was going up and the graphic novels, being shorter reads, really helped with that. 

One thing that the challenge team did that I thought was so, so neat was that they asked participants to log any finished books in their spreadsheet, which were then added to a July 2019 24in48 Readathon Goodreads shelf. It's already got over 1600 different titles logged to it. I think it's really neat to be able to see what books were read over the weekend. 

The challenge hosts were phenomenal at posting all weekend, hosting giveaways and challenges, and responding to folks on social media. I want to send a huge thank you to the 24 in 48 Team! 

And they've set the dates for the January challenge - mark your calendars for 

 January 18-19, 2020 

for the next challenge!

#24in48 TBR

It's time for another 24 in 48 Readathon!

Starting Saturday, July 20 at 12:01am, participants will try to read 24 hours of the next 48 hours. I love this readathon and I haven't been able to participate in the past couple due to prior commitments, but this weekend remained free, so I'm really excited to jump in.

Of course, I've been working on a TBR pile of contenders. I've got a small stack of graphic novels (nice quick reads between longer books!) and some new books and galleys. This is a fraction of my actual TBR shelves, but some of the books I'm most excited to get to.

And I have a Kindle full of galleys, as well. Here are some of my top picks from my Kindle stash: 

SO WE'LL SEE. I definitely like to have lots of choices and that's not going to be an issue for this readathon. 

I'll mostly be posting on Twitter through the weekend, so follow me @abbylibrarian and check out the hashtag #24in48 if you're interested in following along. I will update with another blog post at the finish line, if not before. If you're participating in the readathon, good luck and I wish you many unputdownable books! 

Another Great #24in48

This weekend was the 24in48 Readathon, one of my favorite events of the year! My husband and I cleared our calendars (partially) and stocked up on books and snacks and we read, read, read all weekend long. One of the things I like about this readathon is that it allows some flexibility since it takes place over two days. We hosted an event for our friends and I took numerous naps and I still made it to 24 hours this weekend!

And I read some GREAT books this weekend! You can expect longer posts about some of these, but this was my list: 

• Love, Hate, and Other Filters by Samira Ahmed (Soho Teen, January 2018). I got halfway through this one last night. A Muslim Indian teen is caught between two boys she likes while she tries to figure out how to tell her parents she's going to NYU instead of the university they like. 
• I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo (Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2017). So cute and funny, this was un-put-down-able to me. Korean-American senior Desi has always succeeded when she has a plan, but can a plan to find love based on Korean drama shows work when she falls for brooding artist Luca? 
• The Night Diary by Veera Hinandani (Dial, March 2018). It's 1947 and Nisha and her family are forced to leave their home after India's partition divides the country into Muslim Pakistan and Hindu/Sikh India. The book is written in diary entries and reminded me of Anne Frank and The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney. 
• Dear Martin by Nic Stone (Crown Books for Young Readers, 2017). After prep school boy Justyce McAllister is arrested for trying to help an intoxicated friend (NOT carjacking her like the police assume), he starts to really notice the injustices happening around him and to write letters to Martin Luther King to sort out his thoughts about what's happening. Teens looking for a primer on privilege and the Black Lives Matter movement need look no further. 
• Hurricane Child by Khreyn Callendar (Scholastic, March 2018). Born during a hurricane, Caroline has always been able to see things no one else can. When a new girl comes to school and agrees to help her find her mother, Caroline finds herself swept up in new feelings. 
• American Panda by Gloria Chao (Simon Pulse, February 2018). Mei has always been the good Taiwanese American girl, doing just what her parents want. But as she starts pre-med at MIT she'll have to face the fact that she's a total germaphobe and that she's falling for a boy her parents would never approve of. 
• Chasing King's Killer by James L. Swanton (Scholastic, January 2018). In the tradition of his other books for young readers, Swanton has written a gripping true crime thriller about the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 
• Superb Vol. 1: Life After the Fallout by David F. Walker, Sheena Howard, and Ray-Anthony Height (Lion Forge, December 2017). A comic with a superhero with Down's Syndrome. Yes, please.
• And I listened to about 3 hours of my current audiobook, LaRose by Louise Erdrich.

My standout favorites of the Readathon were Chasing Martin's Killer and I Believe in a Thing Called Love. Both of those were un-put-down-able and the pages flew by as I was reading them.  But I really got to read a lot of fantastic books this weekend. 

I want to send a big huge

thank you!!!

to our Readathon hosts. This is such a fun weekend for me and I really appreciate the work that goes into making it happen! 

Mark your calendars for the next 24in48 Readathon, which will be happening July 21-22, 2018!

#24in48 Readathon

Friends, the 24in48 Readathon is coming up again this weekend and I have been getting ready!

With my recent change in position at my library, I have been reading so many adult books, which is great and I've read some awesome books. But I'm dedicating this weekend to getting caught up on the teen and middle grade titles I've had my eye on. I'm pretty excited about having a weekend of stellar reads to pick up, and a bonus of reading youth lit is that they're quicker reads. I love finishing multiple books and really getting a sense of accomplishment out of my readathons.

I always like to have a wide variety of books at my disposal for these events, and I choose way more books than I will actually be able to finish. I've been working on getting my To Be Read stacks ready, and here are some of the books I may pick up this weekend:

It's not too late to sign up and dedicate your weekend to reading, reading, reading!

Are you participating in the 24in48 Readathon this weekend? What's on your stack? 

#24in48 Wrap Up

Well, the 24in48 Readathon has come to a close and I hit my goal of reading 20 hours this weekend! I also finished 5 books and most of an audiobook. It was another great weekend of reading and I am super glad that I'm taking most of tomorrow off so I can get some freelance work done.

11 hours 10 minutes + 8 hours 50 minutes = 20 hours!!

Here's what I read today: 

I finished up The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco, which was fine if a little derivative and slow in the middle. After a long fantasy novel, I needed something a little quicker, so I picked up...

...One Trick Pony by Nathan Hale. I knew nothing about this graphic novel when I brought it home except that I love Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales. This is a really satisfying science-fiction adventure story that is STANDALONE (I was so afraid it was going to end on a giant cliffhanger!). Would hand to fans of Scott Westerfeld and it keeps Hale's style with some humorous asides throughout. Loved it. 

Next up was Crossing Ebenezer Creek by Tonya Bolden, which was so great and also very bleak. It's based on true events and explores what happens to slaves freed by Sherman's army as they march with the Yankees. There is a lot of description of the horrors of slavery and this would be great for mature teens who are interested to know what slavery was truly like. 

After that, I needed something lighter, so I picked up The First Rule of Punk by Celia Perez, which I am really enjoying even though I haven't finished it. Once I hit the 20-hour mark it was time for dinner and then Game of Thrones, so I decided to call it quits for this Readathon. 

So, my total list of books read for this weekend's Readathon is: 

This Side of Home by Renee Watson (Bloomsbury, 2015). 

Patina (Track #2) by Jason Reynolds (Atheneum, August 2017). 

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco (Sourcebooks, 2017). 

One Trick Pony by Nathan Hale (Amulet, 2017). 

Crossing Ebenezer Creek by Tonya Bolden (Bloomsbury, 2017). 

*More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera (Soho Teen, 2015) - audiobook still in progress. 

*The First Rule of Punk by Celia Perez (Viking, August 2017) - book still in progress. 

Total, I read 5 complete books (yay!) and part of 2 more.

Thanks so much to the team behind the 24 in 48 Readathon! 

I had a great time, as usual, and eagerly await the next one!

#24in48 Check-In

Good morning! I'm up and ready to start reading again for the second day of the 24 in 48 Readathon. I spent about 11 hours reading yesterday and I read some really great books. I'm hoping to do at least 9 hours today and maaaaybe 13 hours to make it to 24, but WE'LL SEE.

Here's what I read yesterday:

I read and LOVED Renee Watson's Piecing Me Together a couple of weeks ago, so I went back and picked up her YA debut, This Side of Home (2015), to read for the challenge. Friends, it is great. I have a new favorite YA author and you can be sure I will be reading anything else she writes. 

Last year I read and loved Jason Reynold's Ghost. When I was able to download an e-galley of the sequel Patina from Edelweiss, I did a happy dance and decided to save it for the Readathon. It is also great and I'm sure I will be revisiting it on audio when it comes out in August. 

After two contemporary novels (three, including my audiobook!), I needed to switch things up a bit, so I picked up some fantasy. I'm about halfway through The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco and really enjoying this one, as well. I have realized that I love fantasy about witches and magic, especially on the darker side of things, so this is pretty much right up my alley. 

And when my eyes need a break or I need to do some cooking or laundry, I've been putting on my audiobook, More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera, read by Ramon de Ocampo. Here's another case where I really enjoyed Silvera's more recent release and wanted to go back and read his debut. It's great, too. 

So, a great Readathon for me so far with a lot of diverse books that I'm really enjoying! It's thunderstorming outside this morning, so a perfect day to cozy up inside and read. Here's to more great books today! 

#24in48 Starting Line

Yaaaay! It's here! The 24in48 Readathon! The goal this weekend is to read for 24 of the 48 hours between midnight Friday and midnight Sunday.

I'm not much of a night owl, so I've scheduled this post and will begin reading whenever I wake up Saturday. It's been a beast of a week, so hopefully I will actually sleep in a little bit. I'd like to read for at least 20 hours this weekend; 24 hours will be a stretch goal for me. :)

Here's my reading pile:

And I've got tons of galleys on my Kindle, too:

Plus, I keep forgetting and then remembering with delight that I have Patina on my Kindle, too. I've been saving it for this weekend, so that's one I'll tackle for sure! 

I will NOT be reading all of these. I love to have lots of choices for Readathons, so I surround myself with great books. If I finish five books this weekend, I will be thrilled! 

My husband C will be reading this weekend, too, although probably less diligently than I. He's got his stack ready to go. Lots of anthologies, which are great for finding new authors. He just finished a massive Stephen King reading project, so he's ready to discover some new fantasy and horror.

I'll post a couple of times throughout the weekend, but I'll probably make more frequent updates on Litsy and Instagram, so feel free to follow along! If you're doing the Readathon this weekend, let me know! I love the camaraderie of everyone reading together, even though we're not physically together!

#24in48 is Coming!!

Friends, the next 24in48 Readathon is coming up THIS WEEKEND, Saturday, July 22 and Sunday, July 23. Will you join me?

The goal of the 24in48 is to read 24 of the 48 hours between 12am Saturday and 11:59pm Sunday. You don't have to read any certain number of book and you can set your schedule so that you can sleep and get other things done.

I have participated in the past 3 readathons and it's been a lot of fun. I'm going to spend some time before Saturday getting my reading piles all ready to go. And then you can catch me updating Litsy probably more frequently than I will update here (although I will try to update the blog at least a couple of times throughout the weekend).

Won't you join us??

#24in48 Wrap-Up

What a fun weekend for the 24 in 48 Readathon!

I ended up finishing five, almost six, books (two of which I had started previously) and had a great time doing it. I was a little more relaxed about it this time around, aiming for 20 hours of reading and ending up with 18.5 hours of reading.

After my update yesterday, I finished one more book:

See You in the Cosmos by Jack Cheng (coming in February)

And I spent quite a bit of time with my audiobook (almost finished it!) while...

...walking at the park and....

...doing a trial run of this beer cheese pretzel ring for entertaining next weekend. 

My audiobook was Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn, narrated by Bahni Turpin, and it's really great!

All in all, it was a great weekend!

#24in48 Check In

We're on Day 2 of the 24 in 48 Readathon and I wanted to take a few minutes to check in.

I've read for just about 12 hours total so far, and my goal is to get to a total of 20 hours before 11:59pm tonight. I think I can do it! Husband and I are definitely going to take a break tonight to catch the season premier of Mercy Street, but other than that I have nothing on the agenda but reading!

Yesterday, I finished both books I was in the middle of:

Allegedly by Tiffany Jackson and The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis.

I spent some time listening to my current audiobook, Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn, while doing some laundry and taking a long walk (it is WAY too warm for January, but it's nice for walks!). 

I started and finished The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon (wearing appropriate star leggings!) and took a break to attend a LuLaRoe pop-up hosted by a friend in my neighborhood. 

And I started last night and finished this morning Pointe by Brandy Colbert. Sure wish Howie could relax a little bit. ;) 

When I read over my 24 in 48 posts from last year, one note I made for myself is that I wished I had been less focused on the numbers of hours read and allowed myself more time for social media. I am definitely doing that this year and have been checking in on Litsy pretty frequently and taking photos to share along the way. Even though I'm not going to make it to 24 hours of reading, taking more time for social media has made this Readathon more relaxed and more fun!

Husband has been making his way through his Stephen King books and taking some breaks to run errands and pick up milkshakes for us periodically. I'm so lucky! <3 nbsp="" p="">

And now it's time for... more reading! I'll see you later tonight (or maybe tomorrow morning... are you tuning in for the I Love Libraries Youth Media Awards Pajama Party tomorrow morning? I am!) for a final check-in! 

#24in48 Readathon: January 2017!

It's time for another 24in48 Readathon! The readathon runs this weekend, starting at 12:01am Saturday, January 21 and ending at 11:59pm Sunday, January 22. The idea is to try to read 24 hours out of that 48-hour period. There are over 1000 people participating and it's possible to win some great prizes!

If you, like me, are ALA Left Behind (i.e. not attending this year's ALA Midwinter Meeting in Atlanta), this might be the perfect distraction!

So, what do I have on tap for this weekend? I pulled a huge pile of books because I like to have a lot of variety so I can read whatever suits my mood. But the books I'm most hoping to finish this weekend are these two:

Pointe by Brandy Colbert (on my TBR list for WAY too long!)
The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon (when my hold finally came in, I decided to save it for this weekend!)

And I've got this audiobook going: 

Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn, narrated by Bahni Turpin

And I've got a ton of great-sounding ARCs on my Kindle: 

American Street by Ibi Zoboi
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly

No One Can Pronounce My Name by Rakesh Satyal

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

And before I even start on any of those, I need to finish these two that I'm in the middle of: 

The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis (my book club book for February) and

Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson (OMG so good!)

As you can see, I have a very exciting weekend of reading ahead of me. I'm attending a LuLaRoe party on Saturday for a few hours, but otherwise I'm devoting the entire weekend to READING! I'll be updating periodically on here, but probably more frequently on Litsy (where you can find me @abbylibrarian as per usual!). 

Husband is joining in, too, and he's checked out a stack of thick Stephen King books from the library. He's reading through the extended Dark Tower series in this order suggested by The Truth Inside the Lie (pretty much all the Stephen King books connect back to the Dark Tower series with character appearances, etc.). 

Take that, GoodReads Challenge!

#24in28 Wrap-Up

This past weekend was the 24 in 48 Readathon where participants tried to read 24 hours of the 48 hours from 12:01am Saturday through midnight on Sunday. This was my first time participating in this particular readathon and I already have my calendar marked for the next one because it was a LOT of fun!

Here's what I ended up reading:

Plus about 2 hours of the adiobook Born with Teeth by Kate Mulgrew and about 1.5 hours of the audiobook The Fireman by Joe Hill (read by Kate Mulgrew). 

California Dreamin': Cass Elliot Before the Mamas and the Papas by Penelope Bagieu (First Second, coming March 2017)

We Will Not Be Silent: The White Rose Student Resistance Movement that Defied Adolf Hitler by Russell Freedman (Clarion, May 2016). 

Loving Vs. Virginia: A Documentary Novel of the Landmark Civil Rights Case by Patricia Hruby Powell (Chronicle, coming January 2017). 

Ten Days a Madwoman: The Daring Life and Turbulent Times of the Original "Girl" Reporter, Nellie Bly by Deborah Noyes (Viking, February 2016). 

Some Writer: The Story of EB White by Melissa Sweet (HMH Books for Young Readers, coming October 2016). 

Outrun the Moon by Stacey Lee (Putnam, May 2016). 

Falling Over Sideways by Jordan Sonnenblick (Scholastic, coming September 2016). 

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo (Flatiron Books, May 2016). 

Total, I read for 24 hours and I read 1881 pages (plus 3.5 hours of audiobook time). 

I had a blast checking in on Litsy throughout the readathon, which ended up being the easiest way for me to post quick updates. I wanted to use as much time for reading this weekend as I could, so quick updates were way easier than blog posts. I did have to take some time out on Sunday to deal with a work issue and to help deal with our AC going out (ack!). Having some good audiobooks to turn to allowed me to get some exercise this weekend and do some chores around the house (plus give my eyes a little break!). 

For future readathons, I will probably set my reading goal a little lower because I do enjoy taking some time to check in on social media and I would have liked to be blogging throughout the readathon. I think I did a good job at having a variety of genres and formats at my disposal, which makes it easier for me to switch things up and keep going. 

This was a really great way to delve into some books I'd been meaning to get to and books that I am really excited about sharing. I really want to thank everyone who made the 24in48 Readathon happen, especially our hosts Rachel and the folks at Litsy. 

My calendar is already marked for the next readathon weekend: January 21-22, 2017! Mark yours, too, and join in the fun!

24 in 48 Readathon!

The 24 in 48 Readathon is this coming weekend and I am getting excited! Since MotherReader's 48 Hour Book Challenge retired, there has been a readathon-shaped hole in my heart, so I'm super excited to join the community of readers who will be dedicating this weekend to reading!

I have LITERALLY hundreds of books on my TBR bookshelf, so I will not be at a loss for choices, but I have pulled out a few that I have been super looking forward to, which I hope to get to this weekend. There's no way I will finish all of these, but I've got some great titles to choose from!

My husband will be joining me in the readathon this weekend and he's picking out a stack of graphic novels to devour. I'm not sure if I'll make it to 24 hours, but I'm going to shoot for at least 20 hours with a stretch goal of 24 hours. We'll see!

I'll be posting updates here and also probably on Litsy (@abbylibrarian) and maybe Instagram, so feel free to follow!

Want to join in the fun? Head over to 24in48.com to sign up and follow hashtag #24in48 to see how everyone's doing!