This past weekend, Saturday, Jan. 27, and Sunday, Jan. 28, I  participated in the 24 in 48 Readathon . On Friday, I told you about my preparation, “The Pregame,” for this weekend’s event; Saturday and Sunday, I told you about the event itself, “The Game,” with updates over the two days; and today, I’m giving you my reflections on the weekend, “The Postgame.”

The Postgame

If you are seeing this in a feed, you might not be able to see the embed above from Instagram, but what it said in the caption was that “I finished two, started two. I’ll take it.” It also shows that I read for 6 hours and 45 minutes over the two days, nowhere near the goal of 24 hours.

I started with a possibility of seven books:

1. The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Big Book of The Continental Op by Dashiell Hammett, edited by Richard Layman and Julie M. Rivett
3. The Ghosts of Galway by Ken Bruen
4. Life On Mars: Poems by Tracy K. Smith
5. Never Get Angry Again: The Foolproof Way to Stay Calm and in Control in Any Conversation of Situation by David J. Lieberman, Ph. D
6. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson
7. The Last Kashmiri Rose by Barbara Cleverly

I continued reading The Two Towers, finished Life on Mars and The Last Kashmiri Rose, both of which were good, and started Astrophysics for People in a Hurry on audiobook, which also was good even though I fell asleep while listening to it. I bailed on The Big Book of The Continental Op after seeing that the print was too small. Ironically, this isn’t the first time I’ve done that, only noticing that the print was too small after picking up a book for a readathon. Maybe next time I’ll look before checking out the book. I don’t know why I checked out Bruen’s book, because I’ve fallen out of love with the Jack Taylor series a few books back. That one will be going back to the library unread. The anger book, I might get to at another time.

Why didn’t I read for 24 hours? Looking back at both days, it was mainly one thing: friends. On Saturday, my neighbor Mike, whom I usually see only on weekends, invited me over to his “ManCave,” his garage that includes a large screen TV and projection screen. We ended up watching Baby Driver, which I have seen (and loved) and he had not. Then on Sunday, I remembered I was going to call my college roommate Joe for his birthday, which was on Friday, and also to check up on him because he has been going through a trying separation from his wife. He and I ended up talking up for two hours, which is not unusual for us since we only take every few months.

I also didn’t read as much because I ended up taking a couple of naps. While my job isn’t high pressure, working part-time at a small town library, I do get worried over little things and sometimes larger things, especially during the week. On the weekend, I try to let them go and also catch up mentally and physically from the lack of rest I have earlier in the week from thinking too much about work. It also is hard for me to unwind and read during the week, so usually I do most of my reading on the weekend when often I have larger stretches of time to devote to books, and not be thinking about work or trying to keep the thoughts at bay (which I usually do some when playing Solitaire and listening to music at night). I’m not one of those people that can sit down and read five to 10 minutes at a time, so all that said almost seven hours of reading in one- to two-hour blocks is more than good for me.

Do I regret not reading for 24 hours? Nope. I still had a good weekend: spending time with friends, resting, and reading. Like I said, I’ll take it.

How was this past weekend for you? Did you do any reading? If so, anything good? Or even over the last month, read anything good? Share in the comments.