My First Read-a-Thon!

I'm taking part in Dewey's 24 hour Read-a-Thon this Saturday, October 12, 2013. Start time 8am! What a great excuse to lay around and read all day. I am beside myself with anticipation.

Can't clean...reading.
Can't shop...reading.
Dishes?!?!?! Reading!

The day is devoted to reading, listening to audio books, reading to others, checking in on other readers' blogs, blogging and tweeting about our read-a-thon adventures, and participating in (or skipping) hourly mini-challenges. If you choose to participate in a mini challenge you can enter to win a prize. Who doesn't love a prize? The mini challenges are hosted by different book bloggers, they keep the readers engaged with the read-a-thon and with each other. They also help to break up the long day of reading. During the last read-a-thon there were also random prize winners announced every hour. Exciting!

I am going to take this week to gather up the books I'm going to read on Saturday. I will post a list on Wednesday along with all my other Read-a-Thon prep plans (this mainly involves food).

To this first timer Dewey's 24 hour Read-a-Thon seems to be a large book blogger community effort. I am so happy to have found it and I can't wait to spend the day reading like it's my job. But no, I will not stay up for a full 24 hours. There is no way I could do that. I need my Zs! It will be a miracle if reading all day doesn't lead to a mid-afternoon nap.

Here is the FAQ page if you are interested in participating and want to learn more.

Wednesday Book Links

Have you heard of blind book dates? You've heard of not judging a book by it's cover, but what if you also didn't know the author or the title? Would you buy the book if you only knew the price and a few themes and plot points? I honestly probably wouldn't, I'm too cheap and picky...I mean frugal and discerning. (HGTV)

Lovebird bookworms unite! Buzzfeed shows us how to throw a fabulous literary wedding. My favorites are the library card save the dates with their cute phrases and the dog-eared paperbacks as wedding favors. (Buzzfeed)

24 cats that love books almost as much as we do. (Flavorwire)

I am super psyched about this movie coming out in December staring George Clooney and Matt Damon. It is based on the book The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History.  The title pretty much says it all. This was an elite group of men, part of the U.S. military, that were charged with minimizing damage to the art and architecture of Europe during WWII. There is also an excellent documentary called The Rape of Europa that I highly recommend.
 
And last but certainly not least, the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 program honors five young fiction writers selected by past National Book Award Winners and Finalists and this year the honorees all happen to be women.