Heey ! So, I got this conversation post’s idea by scrolling in one on my book/blogging discords actually !
First, we may need to know what a read-a-thon is.. Basically, it is like a “race” where the people taking part in it try to read as many pages or books that they can within a time period (Can be one day, a weekend, or a week) — Some read-a-thon may be within a theme, i’ve seen a harry potter one floating around, or freestyle.
The first time I went across a read-a-thon was when I was in the booklr community of tumblr, probably within the few months I had started.. I had wrote it on my calender and everything! (I actually messed up and was ready to start the day before 😂 when I noticed I was early..)
I think it was hosted by @books-and-cookies, one of the “bigger” booklr I was really looking upon at the time, and though I was still finishing about 1book/month back then (I am now at 3-4 a month, so definately improved since!), I managed to finish the book I was sluggering with; Which if I remember correctly was “The blackbird sings at dusk”. I had loved the book, it just was that I was still in the early state of trying to get my reading ability back from my mental illnesses and my concentration was really lacking.. so having that read-a-thon really gave me the push I needed to just push through and finish the remaining 30/40% of it. Which was a big thing for me ! I was so proud !
Not all read-a-thons works the same way though .. some counts the pages, some the books, some even go and time a whole 24hours of pure reading while I would just take the opportunity of “okay, it lasts all day so I wanna get as much done as I reasonnably can” and not “you HAVE to read for 24hours..” but that may be me xd
One of my major problem with thoses is .. I always feel behind in some way, which is why I don’t bother participating anymore; it’s even worst if it’s a specific theme.. Sure – I know that whatever progress that you can do is great ! I am just not able to finish a book cover to cover in a day, that’s literally impossible for me still, though I do had an improvement where my maximum read in a month was FIVE! Books!. I just feel like i’m the sluggy one besides all the others who would read maybe two/two and a half books within the read-a-thon.
Book blogging having improved my reading monthly by quite alot, I hope that some day I’ll be able to finish one (maybe multiple!!) book a day so I can feel comfortable participating and really pushing myself within the delay, but I just don’t feel the drive and excitement right now .. I mostly feel the jugement of myself and like i’m not quite ahead of my game.
Now tell me! ;
- Have you participated in one before?
- Do you participate in Read-A-Thons? Themed or not?
- Did you had a good experience?
- Would you be interrested in participate in one in the future?
I have not participated in one.
Right now, unless it was … I’m in drowning in a pool of ARCs… and I need a life raft I couldn’t…and that IS NOT me bragging. That is combination of stupidity and my hiatus from mom being sick and me being gome for three months. I don’t take advantage of the system so I take my responsibility very seriously. Unfortunately I also requested a ton not seeing this hiatus coming. So things kept getting approved DURING the hiatus…. but I mean they are a lot of GOOD titles so one one hand I really want to read them. On the other, there are very few that have been DNFs.
Now if someone wants to do one of those read-a-athons I would..I have not heard of a 24 hour straight reading read athlon lol. Mostly I have heard of a pick a genre off your TBR list per month kind of thing and list everything in it and that’s what you read all month. At the end of the month you count up what you knocked off your list.
Oh don’t worry.. it happened to me too *aherm* at one point when I started getting arcs I had like 8-9 to read xD it’s nice and awesome…. until you have a bunch to catch up and feel like you need a clone or something ahah specially if like me you can only read up to four book a month ..
Oh yeah, thoses.. Right now i’ve seen some over Discord and maybe tumblr ? I’m not too often on twitter so I couldn’t tell you if there are or no, I haven’t ran into any that I can think of..
Lol yeah… it is a reading blessing and a financial curse that the Mississippi River has flooded and I cant work for two weeks lol.
Most of the ones I see are through the word press notifications I get from blogs I follow. I know Howling Libraries hosts a monthly one via genre.
Oh damn .. I haven’t heard of that.
We’ve had some flooding, but not as bad – a road on a swamp kept flooding until they raised it, but we had other ways around. It just took forever in detours.
Aaaah, I see.
I’ve never participated in book-a-thons because I already always decide what to read beforehand🤣I plan to the miniscule point with my eARCs and library books that I wouldn’t change my plans to follow the rest (Sometimes I think I plan TOO MUCH), but I read relatively quickly too.
You definitely don’t have to feel pressured to read quicker! Everyone has their own pace and as long as you enjoy the book, I think that is all that matters!
Yeah I know.. ive seen one where the goal is only to finish ONE book.. but then I look at the brick i’m reading (Eleonor & parks) and im like errrrhm… maybe not 😂 Though I do love it and cant bring myself to stop reading, that’s a bit too much..
A good bunch of thoses i’ve seen are just free-reads though, so having your plan isn’t really an issue (unless of course you really wanna pick a themed one ?) Ive seen some by genre too and not like, one book strictly
Ooo, usually those I see are specific themed ones !
It’s cool, just read at your own pace 🙂
I love readathons! They’re fun and I love making tbrs for them. For the most part I almost never finish my whole tbr for them but that’s okay. It’s fun to just interact with everyone even if I’m not reading at the moment. I’m not a big follower of my tbrs in the first place so when a readathon comes along I try to use what I have checked out first to fit the prompts and if nothing works I just choose other books. I’ve never had a bad experience with a readathon. I hope you try one and have a good time.
Thank you ! I hope so too, Most of my problem is coming from myself … being too harsh on the juging x) Which I am aware it shouldn’t be, nobody else but me is juging my progress (or lack of..)
That’s how I feel about most life things so I totally understand.
I like Dewey’s 24-Hour Readathon and the 24in48 Readathon, because they are a little less daunting to me than week-long or month-long readathons. I enjoy that “pressure” of the clock and the spontaneity of it – there aren’t any set books or set categories to choose from. And like you, I always take the position of “get done what I can”. 😊
For me, I prefer the opposite. 24hours really isn’t that long, and if you happen to be working for 8hours or something you are basically screwed xD I like the wiggle room
I should have mentioned I only participate if they’re held on weekends – it’s impossible for me to take part during the week. 😆
yeah xD see, for me it doesn’t even matters as I work throughout the whole week.. my day offs switches around 🤷🏽♀️ two, sometimes three, this past week it has been monday/tuesday and saturday … so erm x)
i don’t think read-a-thons are for me. Too much pressure and i wouldn’t be able to enjoy the book the way i want to.
I’d agree with you. I specially don’t like the “24hours deadline”.
I just did my first one, an impromptu one that Sam did, it was nice, it was just a try and finish an eARC in 24 hours/read what you can. I got through nearly 1.5, and it was nice because I didn’t feel pressured and didn’t feel like I spent my weekend only reading. 🙂 But I don’t know if I’ll do more, I just don’t have that much time for them lol
Yeah, same! Though most people are doing it on weekends … i do work on weekends xD so erm.. that removes me like 10hours? (8hour shift + travelling and such)
I honestly love readathons because it pushes me to read more especially during the school season. I feel like I always fall behind and feel less motivated to read during the school months. Readathons have always been good experiences for me.
Oh that’s good!
I can see why.. studying and such are bad on reading for fun.. specially if you have mandatory reading to do.
I’ve never participated in one but it sounds like hell to me. The few times I’ve finished a book in a day was because I couldn’t move from the bed but my body would only sleep for so long.
If I read a whole book (even half a book) in a day I feel like crap. Not coz of the book. But coz it means I haven’t been active, I haven’t spoken to anyone, I probably haven’t showered etc. It’s just not my cup of tea unless I’m really sick.
I see,
I have that “need” to be productive also.. though you don’t need to do it all in the same sitting, you can take break to showet and stuff. To be fair I don’t even remember the last time I read a book in one day – must have been years ago..
I love signing up for things. Readathons, buddy reads, challenges, you name it, I am keen. But as soon as I do, I kind of lose all motivation to complete the task. It’s like my brain says “you joined in, yay you!” and then stops working. It’s weird. I am the worst buddy read person in the world. I’m always too far ahead or too far behind. And for readathons, whenever they are on I kind of just lose all motivation to read. Like, I’ll find 20 other things to do. Challenges I mostly forget that I sign up to them. Except this year I have a spreadsheet so I am keeping track!! (Until I forget to fill in the spreadsheet. And Goodreads.) Oops?!
ahahah oh my.. oops is right x)
I can be the same, be really pumped for it UNTIL it actually start and then “meh..”. Buddy read i’m a bit scared as iknow of slow I am, and I don’t like the feeling of always being behind and slow them… Challenges I just know I can’t keep up xD unless we are talking blogging challenges !! Which I’m in.
Same!!!! I love blogging challenges!! I think part of my problem is being a mood reader and also being scared of hype!! 😂😂
Ohh i second that fear. Me too ..
I took a part in my first one this weekend. Samathon was created by Sam and it’s a 24 h readathon from midnight to midnight and the goal was to finish one book. I finished one book and DNF’d another. I’d like to take part with readathons more.
I saw that one ! But having a brick and working I thought “eh. maybe not..” ahah If my book would’ve been smaller, I probably would’ve had participated
i really like longer ones bc i find shorter ones fall badly for me, on days im v busy ;;
yep, same !
though not really busy but I tend to game more.. XD 24hours is just too strict on the time for me.. longer ones gives me lot of wiggle spaces, which I do like.
I’ve participated in some of the themed and longer ones. Always wanted to do a 24 hour readathon but it never seems to work out date wise! Always seems like fun though 🙂
I personally feel restrained in the 24hours time limit, while some find it helping! So it depends on you. But as you said.. it gotta land on a good day you have no work or nothing planned xD otherwise it’s kinda gneh.
I have not participated in one but would like to. It sounds fun. I can’t do the 24 hour readathon though. I can’t finish one book in one sitting, forget more haha.
We have the same problem, then! ahah
😄
Ah readathons, either they work for you or they don’t. It’s rare to find a middle ground I feel with readathons, personally my maximum for a readathon is 48 hours. I usually take part in Dewey’s 24hr readathon and any other 24hr readathons, although once I’d try and stay up and read through the night. Now due to me altering my sleeping schedule, I’ll probably just spend most of my day reading.
Week long or monthly readathons don’t work for me, neither do themed ones I’ve realised. I just feel pressure to conform to the theme, and then I procrastinate on erm the reading part because it’s “a week” or “a month” long. I need short time frames to help get myself in the mood.
I see… yeah – less of a “read-a-thon” properly and more like… normal reading XD
If they fall onto a weekend i’m off, I don’t mind the 24h ones.. but mostly I usually works sunday and/or saturdays depending on the weeks so erm xD
I barely participate in read-a-thons and buddy reads because I always feel too pressured and then wind up not reading at all. Lol. I think it’s what works for you, whether something sparks your interest, whether the people involved are people you are comfortable discussing books and things with. For me, sometimes I won’t commit to a thing, but talk to the person in charge and read at my own pace, and try to be involved if there are discussions and stuff.
Ah, I agree. That’s a good point!