So this past weekend was my first time participating in Dewey’s Read-a-Thon. I have to be honest and let you all know that I mocked it relentlessly. C’mon REALLY??? Reading for 24 hours straight with a bunch of people you don’t know or even communicate with is pretty darn ridiculous. Ridiculously wonderful.
Prior to this weekend I wouldn’t have even call myself on the fringe of the book blogging community. I was sort of on the dangling loose string of it . I finally decided to participate in the read-a-thon late last week but had a hard time deciding if I wanted to be a cheerleader or a reader. I eventually signed up to be a reader in order to get motivated to get some reading done. Of course, when you decide to do something that you’ve never done before it’s like jumping into a pool without swimming lessons. I had read some of the preparatory blog posts and joked with my friends, “These people prepare meals a head of time it’s that big of a deal”.
Here is what I learned.
I wasn’t one of those people who READ READ READ. I read then… I’ was a cheerleader… then I’d take a walk around the block…. then I’d comment…then I’d read. I found myself at blogs I had never read before. I was excited by that and inspired. When it was all over my stats were as follows
# of Books Finished: 2 (one was my 9 year old’s book on the women’s movement and the other a Newberry winner)
# of Books Read: 3
Titles: America’s Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines by Gail Collins, …If you lived when Women Won Their Rights by Anne Kamma & The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Kushman.
Total Pages Read: 293
I’m perfectly happy with that. I have to tell you that this crazy, wonderful chica read over 5,000 pages. I’m not sure if I could have physically turned that many pages yesterday much less READ that many pages. I’m perfectly content with my 293 and I look forward to blowing that sucker out of the water next time.
I’m not even sure about the number of new blogs I started following on Google reader yesterday. That’s really the BIG news of the day. I’d find myself at a blog to leave a comment and add it to my Reader for later. So for me yesterday was all about connection and community. I found myself surrounded by others who think about books they way that I think about books. I found myself amidst a community of readers. Some more like me than others but everyone embracing the act of reading. Trust me I know who’s got my back in a battle of the books!!! BRING IT ON!
I encourage any of you who haven’t read the Newberry Award winning Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman to pick it up. The magic of reading is that you find yourself inside amazing stories and you are blessed with passages like this.
Beetle stood perfectly still. What a day. She had been winked at, complimented, given a gift, and now mistaken for the mysterious Alyce who could read. Did she then look like someone who could read? She leaned over and watched her face in the water again. “This face,” she said, “could belong to someone who can read. And has curls. And could have a lover before nightfall. And this is me, Beetle.” She stopped. Beetle was no name for a person, no name for someone who looked like she could read.
The Midwife’s Apprentice
Karen Cushman
1996 Newberry Award Winner
Filed under: book, bookshelf, quote, readathon, reading, reading challenge
Hahaha – your TMI on my blog almost made me pee my pants.
Seriously.
It’s a good thing that I’ve been doing my kegel exercises.
Ha, I’m glad! It’s the truth though! I read best unrestricted!
This reminds me of elementary school when we would have read in’s. *swoon* I loved those days. I read Gone With the Wind during my 6th grade read in. 8 hours of uninterrupted reading. Heaven.
I didn’t have the kids this weekend. Explains a LOT! When I think of a perfect vacation in always includes me on a beach with some HOT waiter serving me limitless fruity alcoholic drinks while reading uninterrupted. Except of course for the drinking part of it.
HEAVEN.
I like your idea of a perfect vacation, except you need to make time for pedicures and massage by someone even hotter than the waiter.
Congrats on finishing the read-a-thon. I love that you spent so much time out supporting and getting to know other participants.
I’m glad you did it! There is a lot to be said for the energy and momentum that builds during this kind of even. Just being around the rest of the group does it! Good for you!
I envy you books. They used to be my life. My crates of tomes have probably be sold by my family. Boo Hoo.