Shaina Reads

It's the most wonderful time of year!* Books on the Nightstand Bingo begins over the long Memorial Day weekend. If you haven't already, go build yourself a card! (But be careful: every time you refresh that link, it'll generate a new card for you. Be sure to save your original!)

I gotta tell you, I couldn't be more excited for this summer's card. It's a great mix of genres I know I'll enjoy and a few challenges that will get me off the beaten path.

In an effort to get back to my #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks aspirations, I'm thinking about restricting some or all of my reading to physical/digital/audio books I already have. That'll be nearly impossible for some squares (pretty sure my shelves aren't teeming with plague- and holiday-themed books), but I'm already fantasizing about my options for others.

By a small press — The Red Parts by Maggie Nelson (Graywolf), Riverine: A Memoir from Anywhere but Here by Angela Palm (Graywolf)

Written by an author you've met — The Girls by Emma Cline, The Nix by Nathan Hill, Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger (loads of options here—thanks, BEA!)

Gifted to you — After Long Silence by Sheri S. Tepper (my boyfriend's mom), Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill (Julianne), Galileo's Middle Finger: Heretics, Activists, and the Search for Justice in Science by Alice Dreger (Shannon), Bohemian Gospel by Dana Chamblee Carpenter (Kerry)

With a child on the cover (gonna casually count cartoon children here) — Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

I also love how a few squares—"last book of an author before he/she died or retired," "steampunk," and "written for adult, but with illustrations"—are going to require some extra sleuthing.

*Well, besides Readathon time, of course.

1. The Monsters of Templeton, by Lauren Groff (finished 12/6/15) 

2. Nobody Knows My Name, by James Baldwin (finished 12/10/15)

3. The Tao of Pooh, by Benjamin Hoff (finished 12/12/15)

4. The Itch, by Benilde Little (finished 12/13/15)

6. A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving (50% finished)

1. The Monsters of Templeton, by Lauren Groff (finished 12/6/15) 

2. Nobody Knows My Name, by James Baldwin (finished 12/10/15)

3. The Tao of Pooh, by Benjamin Hoff (finished 12/12/15)

4. The Itch, by Benilde Little (finished 12/13/15)

6. A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving (50% finished)

1. The Monsters of Templeton, by Lauren Groff (finished 12/6/15) 

2. Nobody Knows My Name, by James Baldwin (80% finished)

3. A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving (18% finished)

Happy December! It's time to get down to some serious reading.

Naturally, I start off the month with about 50 pages left in a book I intended to finish last night. D'oh. I won't be counting it toward my 12, but if you have 100 or more pages left in a book you still need to finish, feel free to count it toward your total! I might have nutty reading goals, but let it not be said that I'm unreasonable.

I mentioned the other day that I'm combining this challenge with Andi's #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks resolution. Here are a few books I own that could be just the reads to kick off my month-long binge:

Tell me: which book is kicking off your Twelve Books of Christmas?

Before we get into the books, HI GUYS! I've missed you all so much. 

Since I last posted, I've submitted applications to my top-choice graduate schools and enjoyed a too-short-but-still-wonderful Thanksgiving vacation at home in sunny Florida. Unfortunately, I do still have some application work to get in before the new year, so posting might remain sparse (except, of course, for #12BooksOfChristmas) until 2016. I hope you'll bear with me!


With graduate school (hopefully!) on the horizon, I've been thinking about my personal library and how I may need to move it in the next eight months. Taking a walk around my apartment tonight, I counted no fewer than 50 physical books I would at least like to sample, if not read in their entirety, and I know for a fact that I'm lowballing here. Media mail might be affordable, but I don't know that these are all books I want to spend money to move.

As usual, Andi managed to put my feelings into fewer, more straightforward words than I could: in 2016, she wants to read her own damned books, and I'm going to join her.

My challenge rules:

I accept that I may fail at all of these rules. If I can get through even a tiny fraction of my book collection before I have to pack up the rest, I'll consider this project a success.

Heck, I'm already off to a decent start, and it isn't even 2016! Over Thanksgiving weekend, I read Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (physical) and Animal Liberation by Peter Singer (e-book), both of which I own. I'm excited to see what kind of dent I make during my Twelve Books of Christmas challenge, which you should totally partake in, by the way.

Ah, the holidays. The season of delicious food, quality family time and lots of leisure is nearly upon us. But who am I kidding? The season also brings overeating, bickering and stressing out over holiday shopping. Wouldn't it be nice if we had an excuse to take a break from it all and curl up with a good book (or... twelve)?

You're in luck! This December, I challenge you to read no fewer than twelve books of your choosing. There's no list or theme you have to adhere to. Want to build a stack? Go for it! Want to fly by the seat of your pants? Excellent! This challenge is all about getting those books off the shelves. After all, shouldn't you make some room for all the new books you'll get as gifts?

I realize that not everyone celebrates a white Christmas or Christmas at all, and this challenge is (of course!) open to anyone, whether December means the start of a long, lazy summer, or lighting a menorah, or, heck, just about anything else.

The challenge will run from Tuesday, December 1 through Thursday, December 31, 2015. To sweeten the deal (because, c'mon, it's the holidays!), I'll enter anyone who completes the challenge into a random drawing for a book worth up to $20 from The Book Depository.


What are you waiting for? Get yourself signed up! The Linky closes at 12 AM EST on December 1.

Pretty self-explanatory: watch a movie that gives you the heebie-jeebies. After an amazing audio experience with One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, I'm making it a priority to watch the film sometime over the next two months. It's critically-acclaimed, one of just three films to have ever won the Big 5 Academy Awards, and Jack Nicholson is real good at being unsettling.

Really.

Turn on all the lights in the house and hide under the blankets, because it's time to get freaked out, y'all.

Remember that time I signed up for Books on the Nightstand summer bingo? Me too. Look at how much reading I've done!



Although I'm sure you've been obsessively following my Twitter updates and don't need the refresher, here's what I have counting toward each of the completed squares:

• Published in 2015: The Beautiful Bureaucrat, by Helen Phillips


• Currently on the bestseller list: The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins


• With an ugly cover: Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie (seriously, guys, this cover is gross)


• A verse novel: Autobiography of Red, by Anne Carson


• About a religion with which you are unfamiliar: The Book of Strange New Things, by Michel Faber (as an atheist-leaning agnostic, I'm fairly uneducated about the inner workings of most religions, so I decided our protagonist's devout Christianity could count)


• About a subject that challenges you: Citizen: An American Lyric, by Claudia Rankine


• Free square: Bird Box, by Josh Malerman


• By a Canadian author: Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel


• Romance or love story: The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, by Natasha Pulley


• Historical fiction: The Wives of Los Alamos, by TaraShea Nesbit


• From the Harvard Classics 5 foot shelf: Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen


• An audiobook: The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway


• Science fiction: The Girl with All the Gifts, by M. R. Carey

The Austen in August event hosted by Adam over at Roof Beam Reader finally lit a fire under my butt and got me to pick up the very first novel on my Classics Club List, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Prior to this reading, the extent of my experience with the story was Colin Firth jumping in a lake and whatever this guy's name is looking brooding and mysterious.

Upon finishing, I realized I had no idea how one attempts to review "one of the most popular novels in English literature," so I made a list of a few of the things that surprised me while reading. Some more seasoned Austenites might roll their eyes at what I considered "unexpected" about the novel, but perhaps some of my fellow Jane virgins will learn something new and, maybe, feel inspired to pick up their first Austen!

1. It's short.

When I think about the classics, I tend to think of door-stoppers à la Tolstoy, Hugo and Melville. Thankfully, Jane must have recognized that we've (unfortunately) got other things to do besides read; my e-book from Project Gutenberg clocked in at a mere 253 pages. Speaking of Project Gutenberg...

2. The e-book is free!

All right, so this isn't about the book itself and I knew it before I even started reading, but it's worth mentioning for my thriftier readers. If you're a digital reader, you can snap up a well-formatted copy of the story from Project Gutenberg for your Kindle, Nook, or any e-reader that supports the ePUB file type. Did I mention that Project Gutenberg has nearly 50,000 other books for your reading pleasure? (I expect those non-profit, public domain dollars to start flooding my coffers for this endorsement.)

And, of course, if you're a dead-trees reader, you know where to go. Not a dig, by the way. I love me some dead trees.

3. It's got some super feminist moments (minor spoilers ahead):

I found a lot to connect with in Heather's post about how she once thought about Jane Austen. While I thought it unlikely that "tea parties and love letters" alone would have allowed this work to endure for as long as it has, I knew that marriage was an all-encompassing concern for women in nineteenth-century Britain. Austen clearly took issue with the expectations of the time, and Elizabeth's round rejection of Mr. Collins's proposal is a prime example:

"I do assure you that I am not one of those young ladies (if such young ladies there are) who are so daring as to risk their happiness on the chance of being asked a second time. I am perfectly serious in my refusal. You could not make me happy, and I am convinced that I am the last woman in the world who could make you so. ... You must give me leave to judge for myself, and pay me the compliment of believing what I say." - pg. 71, Pride and Prejudice

I love that Elizabeth puts herself first when she explains why they would be a poor fit, in a time when modesty and deference were the norm, and that she fully expects to be heard. You go, Lizzy.

4. Mr. Bennet is every curmudgeon lover's dream.

Elizabeth Bennet's father is the sassiest nineteenth-century gentleman around. You all know how much I love my cranky old men, and Mr. Bennet has taken top billing on my list of favorites. His sarcasm-laced love for his family was one of the highlights of my reading. Observe:

"Mr. Bennet, how can you abuse your own children in such a way? You take delight in vexing me. You have no compassion for my poor nerves."

"You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration these last twenty years at least." - pg. 2, ibid.

5. One of its most famous quotations is regularly taken out of context (again, minor spoilers).

You know the one I'm talking about, right? It's on bags, t-shirts, bookmarks and temporary tattoos (though, thankfully, I couldn't find anyone with a real tattoo of it).

Anyway, it's spoken by Miss Bingley, who's super into Mr. Darcy and wants him to be into her. After seeing him take up a book for pleasure, Miss Bingley grabs her own and utters her famous words and then some. Directly afterward:

"No one made any reply. She then yawned again, threw aside her book, and cast her eyes round the room in quest for some amusement..." pg. 35, ibid.

Yup, clearly a big reader right there. The Guardian noted this little-mentioned fact when the Bank of England printed the quotation on its new ten-pound note in 2013.

While undoubtedly an early nineteenth-century text in style, Pride and Prejudice was a remarkably swift and enjoyable read, and I'm thrilled to finally have some Austen under my belt. Thank you again to Austen in August and Adam of Roof Beam Reader for the motivation!

Before my post today, I wanted to take a moment to talk about the shooting in Charleston on Wednesday night. The victims and their families are in my thoughts, but I want to do more than think about it, even if what I do is small and can in no way erase the atrocity of their murders. In case any of you are interested in contributing, a donation page for the families of the victims is supposed to go live today at noon.

It's finally Friday, and guess what? I have a ridiculous stack of books to read this weekend! My book bingo plans, desire to tackle some chunksters and a buttload of holds all coming in at once conspired against (or for?) me. Shannon and I plan to combine forces and build a book fort. Come join us! I bake awesome cookies.

Uh, guys? I think we're gonna need another #flashreadathon. My stack is taller than my cat. pic.twitter.com/H9LU2nbm6x

— Shaina (@shainareads) June 17, 2015

In the interest of not getting crushed by this literary avalanche, I demanded threw out the idea of having another #flashreadathon. The first one was born last March out of Heather of Capricious Reader's need to make a dent in her reading pile. There were no rules and no set reading times; it was all about reading as much or as little as you like and using the hashtag to check in on other folks doing the same. It was an awesome, low-key way to get some social reading in, so I'm thrilled that we're about to have another! Many thanks to Monika of Lovely Bookshelf for whipping up an updated graphic for the event.

The only set plans I have for this weekend are to go see a (free!) talk by Claudia Rankine at our local art gallery about her use of mixed media to take on race relations. It couldn't be coming at a better time, since I just finished Citizen and have been struggling with how to talk about it. I'll be taking notes to share with you all and picking up my own copy of Citizen today, in case she's in a signing mood.

Other than that, it'll be all reading, all the time. Can you only join in for fifteen minutes? Do it, and hop on Twitter using #flashreadathon. I'd love to see what you're reading this weekend.

If you follow me on Twitter (and you definitely should), you know I'm taking part in a summer bingo challenge hosted by Books on the Nightstand. Their generator randomly picks 25 squares for you out of 140 possibilities and constructs a card designed to get you reading out of your comfort zone. In theory, you could keep generating cards until you get one that most closely fits your reading taste, but where's the fun in that?

Here's my card and the books I'm counting so far:


I've knocked out a bunch of the more general squares with books I was planning to read anyway, but others are forcing me to think outside my wheelhouse. I just learned what qualifies as a verse novel last week, and I'm excited to check out Autobiography of Red, a modern retelling of the myth of Heracles's tenth labor. Confession time: I've never listened to an audiobook (gasp!), and I'm finally going to break out the earbuds to enjoy a re-read (re-listen?) of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy or The Hobbit, thanks to solid recommendations from you lovely folks. I'm also on the hunt for a book about Islam for my "religion with which you are unfamiliar" square, if anyone has recommendations in that vein!

The challenge is also making me think a lot more about how I categorize my reads. I originally thought Claudia Rankine's Citizen: An American Lyric would count toward the "currently on the bestseller list" square. Upon finishing it this morning, I took a step back and realized just how much the book had challenged my understanding of the black experience in America. I know I'm going to be rereading this one for the nuance I missed the first time through, and so it ended up on my "about a subject that challenges you" square.
I'm enjoying the process of seeking out new books so much that I might just generate myself another card when I finish this one, seasonal challenge be damned.

As the title of this post makes painfully clear, it's been a while since I've posted anything about the 2015 TBR Pile Challenge, hosted by Adam over at Roof Beam Reader.

It's not that I haven't been reading; on the contrary, I have been doing a ton of reading but not nearly as much reviewing. And this is how we've come to the start of May, and I'm only just ready to talk about a book I read over a month ago.


On to the books!


In March, I read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick, probably better known by its movie adaptation, Blade Runner. My boyfriend made me watch Blade Runner with him once, but I fell asleep, so I really can't compare the two stories. I'll get back to you once I watch it again. See: above GIF.

The year is 2021. Earth has been plunged into the radioactive dust of World War Terminus; humans can control their emotions via a "mood organ" and use an "empathy box" to feel connected to each other. (I find that last note is especially interesting in the age of social media.) To own a single animal is to be a success in this world; those who can't succeed go for electric replicas.

Here we have the story of Rick Deckard, an "assassin" whose assignment is to hunt down humanoid androids and "retire" them. Assassin and retire get scare quotes because an ever-present theme of this book is what exactly it means to be human and why we're so desperate to destroy anything that is "other."

Here, Rick speaks with Phil, a fellow bounty hunter to whom he's going to administer his android test:

"'I'll give you my laser tube now. So you won't have to worry about my reaction to the test. In terms of your own personal safety.' He held out the tube and Rick accepted it.

'How'll you kill yourself without it?' Rick asked. "If you fail on the test?"

'I'll hold my breath.'

'Chrissake,' Rick said. 'It can't be done.'

'There's no automatic cut-in of the vague nerve,' Phil Resch said, 'in an android. As there is in a human. Weren't you taught that when they trained you? I got taught that years ago.'

'But to die that way,' Rick protested.

'There's no pain. What's the matter with it?'

'It's—' He gestured. Unable to find the right words." —pg. 121, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

The prose is spare and serious, mirroring the quiet desperation of life in the ruins of San Francisco. Two hundred sixteen pages flesh out this crumbling atmosphere, peppered with futuristic technology, and infuse it with age-old philosophy. What does distinguish a human from other creatures? Is it our DNA, our empathy, or could it be something much more basic? How can any of us really know it about ourselves?

I wasn't initially thrilled by the story, but it's grown more impressive to me over time. Any diehard sci-fi fans and/or armchair philosophers would do well to pick this one up.




Just a couple days ago, I finished Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. I originally intended it to be my February read for the challenge, but it took me much longer than expected to get through. This isn't to knock Bryson—he's a fantastic writer and an even better researcher—but man, this guy can pack a lot of information in a paragraph.

In just under 500 pages, Bryson tackles, well, everything: the tiniest parts of atoms, the forces that cause the earth to quake and spew lava, and all phenomena in between get their own chapters. He even ventures from our atmosphere to discuss supernovae, the shape of space, and the moons of Pluto (still a planet at the time this book was published!).

Bryson treats each of his topics with equal care, and he makes a concerted effort to bring the scientists he cites to life; this includes both those long-dead and those he met while researching his book. Here he describes the famed Isaac Newton:

"Newton was a decidedly odd figure—brilliant beyond measure, but solitary, joyless, prickly to the point of paranoia, famously distracted (upon swinging his feet out of bed in the morning he would reportedly sometimes sit for hours, immobilized by the sudden rush of thoughts to his head), and capable of the most riveting strangeness." —pg. 46, A Short History of Nearly Everything

And, here, a population geneticist he interviewed:

"[Rosalind] Harding is a small and chirpy Australian, from Brisbane originally, with the rare knack for being amused and earnest at the same time." —pg. 464, ibid.

I don't know about you, but I can totally imagine both of them.

There were parts that dragged, particularly the sections that discussed the classification of living things (hominids, animals, plants, etc.), but I really think mileage will vary depending on the scientific topics the reader finds most engaging. He also has a tendency toward gloom and doom—most of the sections on natural disasters seemed to edge toward doomsday predictions eventually—but perhaps this is a natural result from learning a hell of a lot about the planet we inhabit.

Overall, I highly recommend this book for anyone looking to learn a little bit about most things and who doesn't mind taking a couple of months to do it.

Whew, all caught up! It's been a science-y couple of months.

After my failure of a Week Three, I'm happy to report that Week Four was a wild success. I ended up finishing three whole library books this week!

Saturday's Readathon gave me an awesome boost; I got a full 5/6 of my reading done during the event.

@shainareads That's awesome!! #ReadingMyLibrary
— Stefani Sloma (@StefaniSloma) April 26, 2015

Here's what I done read:


By checking these out of the library instead of buying them, I saved $36.70 this week! Over the course of the challenge, I've saved a whopping $62.42. I was a regular patron of my library before this challenge started and very rarely bought books (and, when I do, not at sticker-price!), but I'd never thought to try to quantify the dollars I wasn't spending. It's been really satisfying!

This week, Stefani and Amy want to know how often I visit my library. I can be a bit of a sporadic visitor. Occasionally I'll go a couple of weeks without making a trip, but sometimes I'm there multiple times per week, especially when I'm hurting for some peace and quiet. Discovering that two of my libraries have e-book collections on Overdrive has definitely reduced the rate of my visits, but I don't see myself switching over to solely being a virtual library patron anytime soon.

Three more days left in the challenge! I'm hoping I can squeeze in one more library book before the end. Can I do it?! Tune in on Friday!

Happy #Readathon, bookworms!

Memes, Challenges & More

Hour 3.5 — Book #1 Complete!


This was a teeny-tiny collection of short stories about Arvid, a boy coming of age in Norway. Family dysfunction galore! I would say 3.5 to 4 stars.

Hour 7 — Readathon Goes Outside!



The weather was too pretty not to get outside after brunch and coffee. Those are cherry blossoms in the distance!

Hour 9.5-10.5 — Unexpected Readathon Nap

I definitely set an alarm for 20 minutes... and then promptly turned it off. Oh, and right after that, I made a doofus of myself in the Goodreads group. Clearly my finest Readathon hour!

Hour 12 — Mid-Event Survey

1. What are you reading right now? Right now I'm switching between The Complete Persepolis and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society!
2. How many books have you read so far? Just one—Ashes in My Mouth, Sand in My Shoes—but I have high hopes for the second half.
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? I'm not sure I'll end up starting more than what I've already begun, but I really would love to finish those up!
4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? No interruptions except those of my own making, which is better than last October—I had to work on Readathon Day! Taking an hour-long nap did put a damper on my reading... tough to do with your eyes shut.
5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? I had grand plans of getting way more reading done this time than I did last, and the Readathon gods are laughing at me! I think I might just be a slow reader.

Hour 13 — #FitReaders Mini-Challenge

Felicia at The Geek Blogger's Book Blog challenged Readathon participants to get up and move between Hours 13 and 17. I was starting to feel pretty sluggish, so I hopped on our elliptical for 25 minutes with The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. 

I feel so much better after getting my blood pumping, and I actually think my pages-per-minute rate was the best it's been all day!

EDIT: I won this one! Wahoo!

Hour 14 — Bookish Brews Mini-Challenge

Amanda at Fig and Thistle challenged us to post a picture of our current beverages and reads on our platform of choice. I posted about my delicious Foxon Park ginger ale on Twitter!

Hour 16 — Reading Story Mini-Challenge

The lovely blogger over at Fight Evil, Read Books challenged us to post our Dewey's Readathon story in six words. I tweeted some snark.

Hour 19 — Book #2 Complete!


I finally got a second book read! This one was an epistolary novel about a group of British friends who formed a literary society to weather the atrocities of World War II. Juliet Ashton, an author and columnist, gets in contact with them and soon becomes enamored of the charming, unlikely gaggle.

I really enjoyed this one at first—nothing better than epistolary for a quick-moving story!—but some of the characterization and the ending fell flat for me. This one is only about a 3 or 3.5-star read.

Hour 19.5-23.5 — Zzzzzz...




I think I stayed up for between 20 and 22 hours of the last Readathon, and I felt like such a traitor when I passed out at 2:30 AM. I have to be at work three hours early on Monday, so I forgave myself. Oh, and I met this goal, so it's all good!

Hour 23.5 — Back to Work on Book #3!



A graphic novel memoir of growing up in late twentieth-century Iran. This is GOOD, y'all.

Hour 24 — ALL DONE! Closing Survey

Which hour was most daunting for you? I would say Hour 19, when I really started to get sleepy.

Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? Definitely go short! I don't have any specific books in mind, but keep them compact. I would honestly say under 250 pages is key.

Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Not that I can think of! It was just as fun a romp as last October's. :)

What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? All the Twitter interaction! I didn't have a Twitter account last go around, and it worked wonders to keep me motivated and interactive.

How many books did you read? 2.5

What were the names of the books you read? See above! Read as: I'm too lazy to type it out and put links in again.

Which book did you enjoy most? The Complete Persepolis, though I didn't end up finishing it.

Which did you enjoy least? The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I enjoyed it a lot for 3/4 of the book, but toward the end I felt like some of the characters were a bit clichéd/not variable enough, and the ending was rushed and also too clichéd. Cute, but not great.

If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? I was! *\o/* It was just as challenging to balance between cheering/interacting and reading this go-around as it was my first time doing the Readathon, so I would say just know what you're getting yourself into! You definitely won't get as much reading done as a cheerleader, but, honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way. Engaging with other readers is the best part of the experience for me!

How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?

Read and cheer 'til I die!

Want more of my Readathon updates?

Here's my Twitter feed! Get all the live-streamed goodness you can stand.

Dewey's 24-Hour Readathon is finally upon us! This will be my second time participating, and this is how I feel about it.

As some of you might know from my About Me page, Dewey's Readathon is the entire reason I got into the online bookish community. There would be no Shaina Reads without it! (Go ahead and take a moment to think about how much emptier your life would be. I'll wait.)

Had I not participated, I also would never have met some of the loveliest people the internet has to offer, nor would I know that there's a bi-annual holiday that's all about reading. My life would definitely be a lot emptier.

Here's a quick and dirty list of how to prepare for the Readathon, whether you're a total newbie or a seasoned pro. First and definitely most important:

Know that you don't have to prep at all! 

Got a book you've been meaning to finish? Read that! Got a packed Saturday schedule and only a few minutes here or there to open a book? Do that!

Here's a short list of things the Readathon is not meant to be:

1. stressful 
2. a contest 
3. something you can fail at

Ultimately, the Readathon is meant to connect you with other book lovers and provide a great excuse to dive into some tasty, tasty reading. Here are two posts by Maree and Ellie that perfectly sum up the point that the Readathon is all about having a good time.

However, if you're one for more elaborate productions...

Make your stack! 

Readathon is the very best excuse for checking out far too many books from the library. When you're planning to read for 24 hours, know that the book that looks best at the start of the day might have you snoring by Hour 20. This definitely isn't the time for Les Mis (or, in my case, any chunksters at all).

Variety is great here, in form and genre. Grab some novellas, some short story collections, maybe even a graphic novel or two. I've heard the latter is great for when your eyes get tired. Also, don't be afraid to ditch your stack entirely. It happens!

From top to bottom: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

This is my current stack. Note the absence of my Kindle, which is currently juicing up and housing at least twenty other options.

Make some snacks!

What would spending all day reading be without some delicious munchies at your fingertips?

Last time, I went with homemade guacamole, Chinese take-out and some store-bought gelato. This time, I'm reprising the guac but decided to go homemade with my frozen treats. These fudge popsicles are currently firming up in the freezer and I couldn't be more excited.

Don't feel like cooking yourself? The grocery store and GrubHub are your friends.

Pick out your reading spot! 

It's going to be sunny and 60 degrees out on Readathon Day, so I know I'll be spending at least part of my time reading outside in the park near my apartment.

The bed, the couch, and the comfy chair in my reading nook are also strong contenders. I might try out some reading position yoga, too.

That's all, folks!

I'll probably update things here with some stats (or some mini-challenges, if I'm feeling saucy), but the best place to find me will be on Twitter. (EDIT: I'll also be helping to moderate the Goodreads group. Come hang out!)

The Readathon starts in 16 hours, wherever you are in the world.

#rahrahreadathon, y'all.

The #ReadingMyLibrary Challenge is run by Stefani of Caught Read Handed and Amy of Read What I Like. Sign-ups closed on April 15, so you'll just have to enjoy my posts about it instead. Speaking of those, here are my updates from Week 1 and Week 2.

Based on my last post, it probably goes without saying that I have not read any new library books since my Week 2 update. Adding insult to injury, I had to return every single one of my physical library books yesterday. Damn you librarians and your three-renewal-maximum! (Just kidding, I love you. Please don't take away my free books.) It all comes down to Week 4. More library books will be read, guys, especially if you help me out by participating in my poll at the end of the post!

Source: epl.org

This week, Stephanie and Amy want to know why I love libraries or being a librarian. I like to pretend I'm a librarian, but I don't think that's the question here.

I got my start in libraries early, when my grandmother used to take me to a local branch on the weekend. I was young, easily between preschool and mid-elementary school. I still remember the lobby of that library being enormous, though it was most likely a perspective issue (everything's big when you're tiny!). I broke up with libraries briefly in middle and high school when Barnes & Noble became my jam, but the love was rekindled when I discovered the Evanston Public Library, just a couple of blocks away from my college campus. It was huge and beautiful, and it had an amazing hanging art piece in its grand stairway (see left). EPL was one of my favorite havens from the stress of school, and I spent hours in the children's section more than once, hogging all the bean bags as I read. Let's not think about how gross those bean bags probably were. Fast forward to today,  and you all know how much I love my local library.

As an anxious person, nothing calms me down more effectively than setting aside a few minutes to peruse the new books section or wander among the fiction stacks. Not only is nearly any book at my beck and call, but it's an entire place dedicated to both a love for books and a love for the community that books (and sharing them) can provide. Book stores are similar, but I think the point about community is unique to libraries, as you don't have to return to a book store once you've made your purchase.

It isn't uncommon to hear someone ask what the "point" of a physical library is in the digital age. I've got a handful of answers: libraries offer tranquility to the stressed; they offer safe spaces for those with nowhere else to go; they offer resources, whether you're trying to write a paper for a class, update your résumé for a job application, or something else entirely; and, finally, they offer worlds upon worlds of information, adventures, and ideas that they can't wait to share, all at the cost of having a library card. These are the reasons I love libraries.

BONUS READATHON POLL

I'm in the process of building my stack for my second-ever Dewey's readathon, and I'm doing pretty well so far. (Our Endless Numbered Days is right at the tippy-top.) I'm hoping to make a pilgrimage to my library to round out my final list, but I'm at a loss for what to get. Here's where you come in!

Make your suggestions in the box below—all I ask is that they be 1. somewhat short (300 pages or less is ideal) and 2. not brand-new, so I have hope of finding them in the library!

Submit your responses here, book-pushers. Multiple suggestions highly encouraged.