And so we begin the October 2022 edition of Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon! I am participating this year from a hotel on the Oregon Coast in a little town called Otter Rock. I have a view of the stormy ocean, plenty of snacks to keep me going, and a huge stack of books waiting to be read. Start time for me is bright (dark?) and early at 5am.

I am planning to update this post every few hours with my reading progress, snacks, and feelings about how things are going. And whether or not I’m still awake, haha. I’ve only made the full 24 hours once, 2 years ago during the October event, so I’m hoping I can do it again this time. But if not, as long as I’m awake at the start and end of the event, I’m perfectly happy.

I will post a full recap of the event on Monday as well. (I plan to be napping most of the day on Sunday)

And away we go!

Starting books:

audio/digital/physical

Opening Survey:

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? The Oregon Coast
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? None more than others
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? None more than others… maybe Chewy Sweetarts
4) Tell us a little something about yourself! I’ve been participating in the readathons for 6 years. I did miss one of the April events when I was going through a rough time, but other than that have been faithfully participating 3 times per year.

Hour 1 5am

Audio: Call Down the Hawk Part 4 14:04-35:54
Kindle: In Ruins 72%-76%
Physical: Eat, Pray, Love pg 270- 275

Snack: Nothing
Drink: Water

Notes: I fell asleep early last night. but still struggled a little to wake up this morning. I’ve never been a morning person, so the early starts for readathon are tough! (That’s why I love the reverse readathon in the summer!). I’m off to a slow start since it’s so dark outside still and the lighting in my hotel room is not as bright as I would like it.

Hour 2 6am

Audio: Call Down the Hawk Part 4 35:54-59:48
Kindle: In Ruins 76%-82%
Physical: Eat, Pray, Love pg 275-278

Snack: Froot Loops
Drink: Pineapple Juice

Notes: It’s still dark here, which feels a little weird. It’s coming up on 7am and still completely dark.

Hour 3 7am

Physical: Eat, Pray, Love pg 278- 282
Audio: Call Down the Hawk Part 4 59:48- part 5 6:54
Kindle: In Ruins 82%- 84%

Snack: Banana
Drink: Water

Notes: It slowly got lighter during this hour… I could start seeing the waves at about 7:15. I am super sleepy, I know I didn’t get enough sleep last night. but I’m hoping some fresh morning air will help and have opened the slider part way to let some air in. If not, might be time for a quick nap

Hour  4 8am

Physical: Eat, Pray, Love pg 278- 284

Snack: Nothing
Drink: Nothing

Notes: Fell asleep in the middle of a page

Hour  5 9am

Physical: Nothing
Audio: Nothing
Kindle: Nothing

Snack: Nothing
Drink: Nothing

Notes: Slept

Hour 6 10am

Physical: Eat, Pray, Love pg 284-286
Audio: Call Down the Hawk Part 5 6:54- 9:26
Kindle: In Ruins 84%-85%

Snack: Nothing
Drink: Water

Notes: Woke up just after 10:30 to a beautiful day, feeling much more refreshed. The sun is actually out (we were supposed to have rain all day.

Hour 7 11am

Physical: Eat, Pray, Love pg 286- 289
Audio: Call Down the Hawk Part 5 9:26-15:39
Kindle: In Ruins 85%-88%

Snack: Bagel w/cheese
Drink: Dr Pepper

Notes: The rain has now started, but that’s fine… I love a moody ocean. I am definitely more awake now that I was earlier and am keeping this readathon more on the casual side. If I finish books, great! If I don’t, no big deal.

Hour 8 12pm

Kindle: In Ruins 88%- 89%
Physical: Eat, Pray, Love pg 289- 297
Audio: Call Down the Hawk Part 5 15:39- 31:51

Snack: Peppered Beef Jerky
Drink: Dr Pepper/Water

Notes: I’m moving pretty slowly through my books, but I think my environment promotes slowing down. And I can’t help but stop every few minutes to turn and watch the waves out the window. I thought about reading on the balcony for a while, but it keeps raining off an on, so I’m sticking indoors for now. I might step outside later this afternoon.

Hour 9 1pm

Kindle: In Ruins 89%-94%
Physical: Eat, Pray, Love pg 297-303
Audio: Call Down the Hawk Part 5 31:51- 54:30

Snack: Nothing
Drink: Dr Pepper/Water

Notes: I keep getting transfixed by the waves, especially when I’m listening to my audio book. My kindle book is at a very intense part as I close in on the ending and I am a little anxious to get back to it. But my OCD makes me need to rotate between the 3 formats after each chapter. It’s one of my weird quirks.

Hour 10 2pm

Kindle: In Ruins 94%-100%
Physical: Eat, Pray, Love pg 303-309
Audio: Call Down the Hawk Part 5 54:30-1:02:31

Snack: Chewy Sweetarts
Drink: Dr Pepper/Water

Notes: All of my batteries are starting to die. The only outlet that fits my chargers is by the bathroom, the other two are super loose and the plug just falls right out. I’m hoping that I can balance what needs charging and not end up charging everything at once. If I want to use something while it’s charging I’ll have to sit on the floor by the sink lol. It’s also gotten really cloudy so it seems darker in here again. It hasn’t rained a lot today, just off and on, so I’m hoping the sun will peak back out again.

Hour 11 3pm

Kindle: Charging
Physical: Eat, Pray, Love pg 309- 323
Audio: Call Down the Hawk Part 5 1:02:31- part 6 20:04

Snack: Smokehouse Almonds
Drink: Water

Notes: I finished In Ruins at the end of the last hour, and put my Kindle on the charger, so I won’t start my next Kindle book until next hour. The sun has peaked back out again, which is nice and makes it seem brighter in my room. I’ll need to put the laptop on the charger soon, so will probably do that in hour 12 and get it charged back up for the finish.

Hour 12 4pm

Kindle: The Future Tense of Joy pg 1-15
It Started With Goodbye 11%- 19%
Physical: Eat, Pray, Love pg 323-331
Audio: Call Down the Hawk Part 6 20:04- 33:58

Snack: Nothing
Drink: Water

Notes: We’ve reached the mid-point of the readathon and I’m feeling pretty good. I finally finished the re-read of Eat, Pray, Love that I started so many months ago. I also discovered that the Kindle version of my library book, The Future Tense of Joy was not available, so I’m reading it through the Overdrive app on my phone, so I picked another Kindle book as well, especially since it’s time to charge my phone.

Mid-Event Survey

• What are you reading right now? I’m in the middle of Call Down the Hawk, Just started The Future Tense of Joy and starting Start With Why
• How many books have you read so far? I’ve finished 2
• What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the readathon? None more than any other
• Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? I fell asleep unexpectedly early on, and occasionally get distracted by the waves, but I just get back to reading as I go.

Hour 13 5pm

Kindle: It Started With Goodbye 19%- 25%
Physical: Start With Why pg 16-18
Audio: Charging

Snack: Bell Pepper with Ranch Dressing
Drink: Raspberry Lemonade

Notes: The chapters are definitely longer on this Kindle book than the last one, but it also seems to be a shorter book since I’m already at 25%. It’s not raining at the moment and the sun is starting to set, so I’m hoping the cloud cover will stay gone enough for me to see a pretty sunset tonight, it’s been too cloudy the last couple of nights.

Hour 14 6pm

Audio: Call Down the Hawk Part 6 33:58- 1:01:36
Kindle: The Future Tense of Joy pg 15-19
It Started With Goodbye 25%- 31%
Physical: Start With Why pg 18- 20

Snack: Triscuits w/cheddar
Drink: Water

Notes: The temperature has dropped with the sun setting, so I had to close the slider door. It’s not quite fully dark yet, but will be soon. I’m starting to get a little tired, so another nap may be imminent… we’ll see how the next couple of hours go.

Hour 15 7pm

Kindle: The Future Tense of Joy pg 19-24
It Started With Goodbye 31%- 38%
Physical: Start With Why pg 20- 22
Audio: Call Down the Hawk Part 6 1:01:36- Part 7  00:00:06

Snack:  Nothing
Drink: Cherry Coke

Notes: My eyes are starting to fade, so the next hour is going to be all audio to give my eyes a bit of a break. I may need to do more than one audio hour, but we’ll see.

Hour 16 8pm

Kindle: paused
Physical: paused
Audio: Call Down the Hawk Part 7  00:00:06- Part 8 00:06:38

Snack:  Peanut Butter Cookies
Drink: Cherry Coke/Water

Notes: This hour was all audio to give my eyes some resting time. The lighting in here isn’t really conducive to reading at the moment. At least not for me… I need lots of light, especially when my eyes are fatigued, so I think another audio hour is needed, or a nap. I can hear kids playing down at the pool right now, but it’s closing time, so they should be heading back to their rooms. I’m also going to need to charge my laptop again soon.

Hour 17 9pm

Kindle: paused
Physical: paused
Audio: Call Down the Hawk Part 8 00:06:38- Part 9 00:08:13

Snack:  Nothing
Drink: Cherry Coke/Water

Notes: I’m trying to decide what I want to do for the next hour. Just more audio? Take a break and sleep for a bit? Add a physical and Kindle book back in? I’m really not sure, but think I will go with more audio. I just hit a heartbreaking moment in my current read and want to continue there. Plus it’s time to charge my laptop again…. and I’ve developed a bit of a sore throat and I’m not sure why.

Hour 18 10pm

Kindle: paused
Physical: paused
Audio: Call Down the Hawk Part 9 00:08:13- part 10 00:00:03

Snack:  Nothing
Drink: Cherry Coke/Water

Notes: Going to sleep for a bit now.