This coming weekend, from 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time (DST), Saturday, July 20, to 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (DST), Sunday, July 21, I am participating in the July 24in48 Readathon, with the idea being to read 24 hours over those 48 hours. Originally, I wasn’t going to participate because I work Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. but then I thought about it and decided that it wouldn’t affect my reading the rest of the time or my normal goal of 12 hours. I’ve never made it 24 hours, but am happy just to set aside whatever time I can for reading for much of the weekend, usually anywhere from eight to 12 hours.
I think I’ll set my goal at 10 hours, right in between eight and 12, over the two days. As for what I’ll read, I have choices (as of Sunday, July 14, when I’m drafting this post, but the list might change completely by the time this is published):
- The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt: My wife recently read and said I needed to read it. I borrowed this one on e-book from the Free Library of Philadelphia, because I didn’t want to see how little progress I was making if I had it in the print edition (if I even make it through it, to begin with, but more likely to finish if I don’t “see” how much I still have to go).
- Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck: Our library book club recently read Grapes of Wrath and my coworker who was running the group hated it. I told her she should try this instead, because it was shorter. I’m taking my own advice, although for the record, I loved Grapes of Wrath too.
- The Essential Haiku: Versions of Bashō , Buson, & Issa, edited by Robert Hass: I think I have checked this out from our library before, but didn’t get to. Maybe now I’ll get to it.
- Lessons from Lucy: The Simple Joys of an Old, Happy Dog by Dave Barry: I stumbled across this while shelf-reading at the library recently. I’m not a dog person, but I like Barry.
- The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne: I recently wrote about some of my favorite books over my last 50 years and mentioned this so I thought I’d see if I still would enjoy it.
- The Queen Con, the second Golden Arrow, by Meghan Scott Molin: I read the first one, The Frame-Up, the first in the series after buying it on a Kindle deal. It wasn’t great, but it was good and fun enough for me to want to try the second one, so when I saw this one also was available as a deal, I scooped it up. Sometimes I like to hope that a series will get better
- Meditations by Marcus Aurelius: Like the book on haikus, this is one I’ve always wanted to get to, but just haven’t. I’m now borrowing through Prime Reading. I have time to get to it, even if not this coming weekend.
- Like Lions by Brian Panowich: I read his debut, Bull Mountain, which was published in 2015, and it was one of my favorite books from that year. I just happened to see this on the new books shelf at our library and decided to pick it up. It is the sequel to Bull Mountain.
I’ll be lucky if I get through one and a half, but hey, it’s good to have goals.
Day 1
5:35 PM
I just got home from work and the store. Today was a b**** of a day, complications with a new DVD organization system at the library (that were worked out this morning, but still frustrating and not the best way to start the day). As a result, I have adjusted my plans for the readathon, which won’t start until 7:30 p.m. for me (here in northcentral Pennsylvania):
- I returned The Goldfinch because I need short books for this readathon so that I can feel like I have accomplished something, by the end of tomorrow. This is basically code for I’m padding my numbers with short books. 🙂
- The short books from which I’ll be choosing are in print: the collection of haiku, the Dave Barry, Travels with Charley, Like Lions; and on ebook: Meditations, The Queen Con, Bruno: Chief of Police by Martin Walker, and a graphic novel, Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere by writer Mike Carey and illustrator Fabry Glenn.
Day 2
8:30 a.m.: I’m up and ready to go. So what will be my first book of the day? I’m leaning toward Bruno, Chief of Police, but I’m not sure yet. I’ll keep you posted. Off to read some Sunday Salon posts. Hey, it counts as reading, right?
10:30 a.m.
So…I did decide to go to France with Bruno, Chief of Police, but my trip has been delayed, thanks to an accidental purchase of the audio version on Audible. I didn’t even get a pop-up. It just started downloading…
…and then I went to call Audible, they needed to send me a text for two-step verification to confirm that it’s me
…and then my phone wasn’t getting the texts and I hit it too many times to try to confirm so now I have to wait 24 hours for them to try to send me a text again…
…and then I might be able to cancel the transaction, which of course takes 7 to 14 business days to refund.
Now to try to get back into a relaxing frame of mind (shhh, mind, don’t think about the air conditioner continually freezing up…at least, you have one, pal….BREATHE!!!) and read. Right? Right.
Still an unfinished person... 
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