MotherReader's 48 Hour Book Challenge: The Finish Line

As of 1:40 pm this afternoon, I finished MotherReader's 4th Annual 48 Hour Book Challenge. What a great experience!I read 8 books cover to cover, finished a 9th (in which I had 120 pages remaining at the start of the challenge) and read the first 95 pages of a 10th. I also finished one audiobook (though I'm not counting that time in the challenge) and started another. My total time spent was ... drumroll, please ... 29 hours. Quite a bit more than I expected - I was shooting for 24 out of the 48 hours. 

Here's how I managed to spend so much time:

• Mheir was away for the weekend. With no kids, and no social commitments for the weekend, and some food preparation ahead of time, I really didn't have anything that I had to do besides read, blog, eat, and sleep. Not sure if you all want to know to this level of detail, but I showered right before my 48 hours started, and right after it ended, and not in between. Same with exercising. I didn't make my bed, or read the paper.
• Each day, I took a few five minute breaks here and there to get the mail and things, and a half hour break fo dinner, but that was pretty much it. (I did not stop the clock for bathroom breaks, but the bathroom was about 10 feet away from the couch where I was reading, so those were very quick.) The only thing I didn't cut back on was sleep time. I'd read in bed until I fell asleep, like usual, but I was asleep by midnight each night.
• The audiobook allowance (a new rule this year, I think) helped a lot. I would listen to a book while preparing my meals, eating lunch, brushing my teeth, etc.
• The fact that a bit of social networking time counted helped a lot, too. It made for a change of pace from reading, and a bit of social interaction. I really appreciated the people who commented on my blog and Facebook page - I didn't feel like I was in it alone (in fact, a friend who was with Mheir was following along on Facebook, and reporting to him). 

Here's the detail of my time spent:

• Reading: 20 hours, 45 minutes to read 2434 pages (113 pages/hour)
• Reviewing: 5 hours, 50 minutes
• Social Networking (reading other blogs, responding to comments on blog and Facebook): 1 hour, 24 minutes
• Audiobooks: 1 hour, 13 minutes (Note, I had another 24 minutes from finishing my previous audiobook, but I decided not the count that once I read the rules a bit more carefully, and saw that only one audiobook could be counted).

Conclusions:

• You have to be pretty compulsive to read for 29 out of 48 hours. I enjoyed it, but I sure wouldn't want to do it every weekend. I missed watching baseball, exercising, and of course spending time with Mheir. I got the tiniest bit tired of reading near the end, when I was trying to make sure I could finish that one last book. But for the most part, the breaks to read other blogs and listen to an audiobook while walking around made this a pace that I could keep up.
• One important key for me for a challenge like this is reading relatively short books (200-300 pages). It's helpful to keep me going to have that sense of accomplishment of finishing another book. I tried starting a longer book, but had to put that one off until later. Of course not everyone would feel this way. Also, of course, the better the book, the faster the reading goes.
• This challenge reminded me that it really doesn't take that much time to read and review a children's or young adult book. Setting aside 3 hours on a Saturday afternoon is enough to read and review an average-length children's book (for me, anyway). Sometimes when I'm busy I let myself get behind in my reviewing, but there's really no excuse, when it can be done so quickly.
• As with previous challenges, this also helped me to tighten up my reviewing time a bit, which I think will help me to get more reviews done in the future.
• I really liked the increased sense of community this year.
• I pledged $3/hour to the Bridget Zinn fund, which means that I owe $87. I'll get that taken care of tonight.

I doubt I'll ever match this total time again (circumstances were in my favor this year). But it was a great experience! Now, I'm ready to watch a movie, I think. And then, you know I'll be doing some reading before I go to sleep.

© 2009 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved.

Comments

[Melissa Wiley]

Congratulations, Jen! 29 hours is pretty darn impressive! Well done, you. :)

[Amanda]

Awesome job!! I couldn't believe I read for as long as I did either, but I think having a charity to read for was my personal push needed to keep going.

My husband can't believe that I came home from church and cracked open another book today :)

[web]

I also did almost nothing else but sleep (one half hour spent playing with my kid) and also scored just about 29. And was very glad to have read more than 24!

I also realy enjoyed the increased sense of community this year. All the commenting was so fun.

[Mrs. V]

It was so fun to read about your experience. I was hoping to participate, but I went out of town with a lot of family time and no Internet access. I hope that next year circumstances will be as in favor as they were for you this year!

[Steph]

Congratulations!

[Abby]

Excellent, Jen! That's an impressive number of hours and books! And I agree, the sense of community was great - comments really help keep you going when you're feeling tired. And commenting on other blogs helps give you a little break from reading. Alrighty, I'm going back to try and finish one last book before I call it quits...

[MotherReader]

Amazing job, Jen! I loved the networking and used it to the fullest - often in 1/2 hr increments. I felt less isolated in my reading and it kept me going. Definitely keeping that in next year.

I did cut down on sleep, but I also allowed some decent breaks to watch a TV show and chat with a friend. I needed the human interaction more than the sleep. (I know, big surprise.)

[Amy @ My Friend Amy]

Well done!

I know whenever I finish the 24 hour read-a-thon the first thing I want to do is watch a movie or TV. ;) So silly!

[Rasco from RIF]

Jen, it was great (as always) reading your reviews. You and I overall tend to like different type books from one another, so I am delighted to read reviews of books I probably would not choose...and who knows, I might just start reading some books I would not have selected in the recent past. I am eager to read about Calpurnia as it does sound like my type book; several of you read it during the Challenge. Congratulations!

[beth kephart]

My word, this is impressive.

[Charlotte]

Congratulations! I'm particularly impressed that you were able to keep up the quality of your reviews. I felt myself babbling more than somewhat...

[Mary Lee]

Congrats on a successful reading weekend!

[Paige Y.]

Your reviews, as always, were stellar. I look forward to reading several of the books. And 29 hours -- my goodness! I was happy with my 21 hours.

[Liyana]

Great job, I hope to see you participating again next year! I know right? But now, like... 24 hours after the challenge, I'm already reading Eyes Like Stars. -.- LOL.

[Dawn Morris]

Wow, that's a lot of reading! If the weather was as beautiful there as it was where I live, I hope you spent some of this time outside. There's nothing like a great book, a gentle breeze, and a bit of sunshine...

[Lady-S]

I got about the same number of hours reading, but am very impressed at your keeping up the reviewing all the way through! I ended up pretty much hand-flapping...

[Maureen]

Congrats, Jen!

I noticed that too, about the reviewing. I always tell myself I don't have the time to review more than about four books a month, even though I read about ten times that, and there's more than four that I want to review.

But my average time for writing a review in this challenge was 20 minutes, and I'm chatty. Plus I go get links and pictures and everything. Hopefully I'll train myself to do more reviews.

Everyone is saying that about the community aspect. I *know* I've left more comments this weekend than I have in the past year, and twittered to more people as well. It's a nice feeling.

[Lenore]

Great job! I couldn't participate this year due to massive jet lag, but I hope to do 30+ hours next year.

[Jen Robinson]

Thanks, guys! Just reading through these comments makes the whole thing worthwhile. Those of you who participated in this year's challenge by commenting to support others -- you all rock. It really made a difference. And for those who wanted to participate this year but couldn't, well, I'll hope to see you in the challenge next year. (Though if this level of commenting keeps up, and more people participate, things might get out of hand - grin).

I'm not going to respond to each comment (having already been commenting all day, it seems like), but Amy, I don't think craving TV after a bout of intense reading is silly. It's like, we want entertainment, but in an a different form. I definitely found myself craving the more visual media. I watched "She's Not that Into You" last night, and while not award-winning or anything, it was the right thing. Thinking of rewatching Bridget Jones tonight.

For those who mentioned my keeping up the length of my reviews ... I actually try to scale them back during the challenge, but I just can't do it. The books, they just cry out for a fair representation, you know? I also love having that stack of reviews to show for the challenge. Anyway, thanks for noticing!!!

Liyana, I stayed up until 2:00am last night (after being done with the challenge) reading City of Glass. I hope I never tire of reading for long. And I'm sure we'll see you back next year.

Dawn, I did my reading indoors this year - I had a good routine going, and I stuck with it - but I am looking forward to doing some outdoor reading soon.

Thanks so much for stopping by, all!!

[Jules]

What a fabulous idea for the Bridget Zinn fund!

[Jennifer, Snapshot]

I love reading your report! I'd love to do it sometime if my husband was out of town -- but I think that's the only way I could swing it (I think I could even manage childcare).

I realized a few weeks ago how easy it was to read and review a child's or YA book as well. And there's something so satisfying about taking a couple of hours and finishing a whole book.

[Jen Robinson]

Definitely satisfying, Jennifer. I am going to work on finding more 2-3 hour windows for this.