It’s time for my favorite readathon of the year, the Dewey’s 24-hour Reverse Readathon!! What is a reverse readathon, you ask? Where the normal readathon takes place from 8am Saturday to 8am Sunday (Eastern Time) in both April and October, the reverse readathon takes place from 8pm Friday to 8pm Saturday in the summer. Basically it moves the start and end time 12 hours. This is super helpful for people around the world in various time zones, and I like it because I start at 5pm instead of 5am, at the peak of my productive time.

Anyway, I will be updating my progress throughout the event on this post. I try to check in every 3-6 hours, depending on what’s happening. But first let’s look at my TBR and snack list.

TBR

I’ll be continuing with the books that I am already working on, including:

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (Audio 19%)
Shopaholic Ties the Knot by Sophie Kinsella (Audio 41%)
The Rebel’s Guide to Pride by Matthew Hubbard (Audio 7%)
The Black Witch by Laurie Forest (Audio 11%)
Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich (Audio 38%)

The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley (Audio 16%)
Loyalty in Death by JD Robb (Physical p3)
Adulting by Kelly Williams Brown (Physical p59)
Bookishly Ever After by Isabel Bandeira (Kindle 27%)
Build a Girlfriend by Elba Luz (Kindle 7%)

The Badass Blog Planner by Sarah Morgan (Physical p15)
Born to Blog by Mark Schaefer & Stanford A. Smith (Kindle 39%)
The Everything Blogging Book by Aliza Sherman Risdahl (eBook 4%)
Wordpress for Dummies by Lisa Sabin-Wilson (eBook 4%)
You Can Write for Magazines by Greg Daugherty (Physical p1)

I’m hoping to finish at least 2 of these during the event, hopefully a couple more. But I’m not stressing over completing books, just spending as much of my 24 hours reading

Snacks

I always try to do a mix of healthy snacks and treats, though I have cut back quite a bit on the amount of snacks I buy because I always go over the top. I also drink a lot more water than anything else.

Healthy Stuff

Salad
Fresh Fruit
Hummus w/ Veggies
Cheese & Crackers
Apple Chips

Treats

Pepperidge Farms Goldfish Crisps
Soft Pretzels
Little Debbie’s Snack Cakes
Mini Donuts
Chips & Queso

Drinks

Dr Pepper
Juice
Petey’s Bing (Energy Drink)
Water

Updates

Hour 1

With my crazy sleep schedule, I woke up just before the 5pm start and was pretty groggy, so I stuck to all audio, rotating chapters between my first 5 books.

Hour 2

Finished my cycle of audio books and stopped for dinner. I had salad with crispy chicken and blue cheese dressing.

Hour 3

Started the hour with a chapter each of a physical book and Kindle book, then went back to rotating audio books.

Hour 4

I continued rotating audio books this time around, but I was so incredibly tired I went back and forth on whether to take a nap or have my energy drink. Napping won, so I’m posting this update a little early.

Hours 5 & 6

I slept during this time.

Hour 7

I spent this hour reading physical and ebooks, moving back into audio books during the last 10 minutes.

Hour 8

This hour was all audio and an energy drink, plus a Twinkie.

Hour 9

The first half of the hour was dedicated to physical and ebooks again, before going back to audio. I also had some Slim Jims

Hour 10

While I am listening to audio books, I’ve been playing a computer game and working on my hourly updates and Discord.

Hour 11

I reversed hour 9 with the first half of the hour dedicated to audio and the second half to sight reading. I’m starting to feel the eye strain though, so I will be sticking to audio books until I sleep some more and rest my eyes. I also had a Snickers.

Hour 12

The final drive to the midway point was all audio. I think that I am going to sleep for a little while again soon, maybe not next hour, but definitely within the next couple.

Midway Status

Here’s my current status on each of the books that I’ve been reading:

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (Audio start 19%, midway 29%)
Shopaholic Ties the Knot by Sophie Kinsella (Audio start 41%, midway 65%)
The Rebel’s Guide to Pride by Matthew Hubbard (Audio start 7%, midway 24%)
The Black Witch by Laurie Forest (Audio start 11%, midway 19%)
Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich (Audio start 38%, midway 63%)

The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley (Audio start 16%, midway 32%)
The Badass Blog Planner by Sarah Morgan (Physical  start p15, midway p54)
Bookishly Ever After by Isabel Bandeira (Kindle start 27%, midway 30%)
Loyalty in Death by JD Robb (Physical start p3, midway p14)
Born to Blog by Mark Schaefer & Stanford A. Smith (Kindle start 39%, midway 43%)

Hour 13

This hour was all audio, with a side of melon and some cran-grape juice.

Hour 14

I am still awake and still listening to audiobooks.

Hour 15

The first half of the hour was devoted to audiobooks and mini donuts, the second half to sleep

Hour 16

More sleep.

Hour 17

I meant to sleep longer, but actually woke up, so it was back to reading physical and ebooks since my eyes were rested a bit. Then I spent the rest of the hour focused on the audiobook that was closest to done.

Hour 18

Still focused on the audio that’s almost done. I finished this book, and moved onto the next that was almost done. And snacking on BBQ Goldfish Crisps.

Hour 19

More audio this hour, focusing on finishing a second book. (I haven’t finished it yet, still a couple of hours to go).

Hour 20

I started this hour with some physical reading and finished a physical book. Then I had to go to sleep again, since I only slept for 90 minutes earlier. I’m hoping that I will wake up with some time left in the event, but can’t guarantee it since there’s only 4 1/2 hours left. I’m going to post this update early and will be back with one last update when the event is over.

Hour 21-23

Sleep

Hour 24

I slept for the first 30 minutes, then woke up with enough time to do my final updates and surveys to finish put the readathon. I actually think I may really be typing this in my sleep. Anyway, as soon as I am done with the updates, I’m going back to sleep.

Final Results

Books Completed:

Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich (Audio start 38%, midway 63%, final 100%)
The Badass Blog Planner by Sarah Morgan (Physical  start p15, midway p54, final p75)

Progress:

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (Audio start 19%, midway 29%, final 33% 13:25 remaining)
Shopaholic Ties the Knot by Sophie Kinsella (Audio start 41%, midway 65%, final 86% 2:03 remaining)
The Rebel’s Guide to Pride by Matthew Hubbard (Audio start 7%, midway 24% final 26% 6:14 remaining)
The Black Witch by Laurie Forest (Audio start 11%, midway 19% final 21% 14:19 remaining)
The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley (Audio start 16%, midway 32% final 41% 5:46 remaining)

Bookishly Ever After by Isabel Bandeira (Kindle start 27%, midway 30% final 30%)
Loyalty in Death by JD Robb (Physical start p3, midway p14 final p19 )
Born to Blog by Mark Schaefer & Stanford A. Smith (Kindle start 39%, midway 43% final 43%)

BINGO:

I did not get a blackout on my personal BINGO board, but I did get 4 BINGO lines. I had 4 squares remaining that did not get filled.

Overall:

I feel like overall it was a successful readathon, though with my current sleep cycle, it took away from the magic of the reverse readathon a little bit. (5pm feels like 5am right now). But I finished 2 books, which was my goal, and made some good progress on others. I also got a lot more sight reading done than I have been lately, though I was really feeling the eye strain (not as bad as it was the one night I had the major headache though). I am just so grateful for the invention of audio books!

I read for a total of 15/24 hours and slept for about 7 1/2 hours.

Covers link to Bookshop.org (*affiliate)