July 20, 2017

24in48 Readathon TBR

I worked really hard and finished next week's school work a week early. I did that so I could participate in this readathon. The idea behind this readathon is to read for 24 of the 48 hours between Saturday and Sunday. I still have some chores to do, but I don't have school, so I have freed up several hours. I don't imagine I will come anywhere near reading for 24 hours. Sleep is a thing. And so is family. Chris is coming home Sunday evening.

Also, it's so silly that I am making this TBR. The readathon is still days away. And who knows what I'll feel like reading this weekend. But the traditional modus operandi is to create a TBR and plan your reading. So that is what I shall do, with the caveat that I will not hold myself to these books exclusively. I have a zillion books to choose from. I think that's an accurate count.

So here we go.

Firstly, here's what I'm reading now:

The Serpent King

The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner - This is a Sequoyah book I have been waiting for for weeks. It finally came in at the library. The internet was wonky at work, so I started reading it. It's about a group of kids in rural Tennessee. One of them is the son of a local snake-handling preacher, who is in jail for child porn. Another boy is a 6'6" fan of epic fantasy whose father wants him to try out for football. The third is the daughter of the local dentist who runs a fashion blog and plans to go to NYU. This motley crew is starting their senior year of high school.

The Love Interest

The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich - I'm pretty sure I've described this one to you over and over, so I won't do it again here, but I've read about 4 chapters of it and I'm enjoying that immensely.

So those are the ones I will work on if I'm still reading them by the time the readathon starts. Who knows, though. I'm blowing through them pretty fast and I don't have homework anymore, just class.

In the event that I finish those two lovely books, I have a plethora of choices for what to begin next. Here are some books I might choose.

The Professor and the madman

The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester - I have been assured that I will love this book about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary. It's shortish which makes it prime readathon fodder.

I don't know why it makes a difference, because you're supposedly reading the same number of pages, but for some reason, it's harder to read long books during a readathon than short books. Maybe it's too easy to get bored with the story? Maybe watching the number of pages too read go down quickly is a motivating factor? I don't know, but I have found it to be true.

Evelyn Hugo

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid - I picked this from Book of the Month a couple of months ago. The cover might be part of what lured me. The story kind of reminds me of The Thirteenth Tale in that a famous movie actress decides to tell her story to an unknown journalist. Hopefully, it's as interesting.

The Jane Austen Project

The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen A. Flynn - This is the story of two time-travelers who go to London in 1815 to try to diagnose Jane Austen's final illness and steal the manuscript of an unfinished novel she mentioned obliquely in her letters. This could be a massive clusterfox, or it could be really entertaining. It's not particularly short, but if it's good, it won't take me long to read it.

American Fire

American Fire by Monica Hesse - This is a true crime book about a rural Virginia county that was beset with arson. Every night for months, another abandoned building would be set fire. Sometimes two buildings. After 67 fires, they finally caught the guy and his girlfriend who were setting the fires. This is very short, so it follows the readathon guidelines, and I'm fascinated by this sort of thing.

Annihilation

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer - This is a sci-fi book (?) about Area X. Area X has been abandoned by civilization. The land has been reclaimed by nature, and everyone who tries to go in has had a terrible fate. 11 separate expeditions have gone in and everyone involved has died tragically. One group committed suicide, one group killed each other, and one group died of cancer after returning. Now, the twelfth group is going in. Mike really enjoyed this one. So much so that he bought the whole trilogy in Denver this month.

Killers of the Flower Moon

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann - My friend got this book signed for me when the author was here for a couple of talks. The book is about the government taking land from the Osage tribe when oil was discovered there. It's set very near where I live, and I'm fascinated by the story.

Negroland

Negroland by Margo Jeffers - This is a slim memoir about the author's upbringing in upper crust black Chicago. She calls it Negroland. This should be a quick read and interesting.

A Natural History of Dragons

A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan - Here is a fantasy novel about Lady Trent who eschews marriage and motherhood to follow her dream of being a dragon scientist. Yes please.

And that is where I hit a wall. I'm looking at all my books and I just can't choose any more. I want to read them all!

These would be excellent options for readathon fare, but who knows what will happen. last year I woke up with an epic headache and could barely read at all. I'm just going to fly by the seat of my pants and read what I can.

Edited to add: I just got a copy of Mr. Rochester by Sarah Shoemaker from a library giveaway! I'm so excited! I think it sounds an awful lot like Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys at least story-wise. It's almost 450 pages so it's not really a good candidate for the readathon, but I may have trouble putting it off.