24B4Monday - Introduction & Kick Off Questions

[Bryony]

Welcome to our very first 24B4Monday event.

This is a bit like a read-a-thon, the idea is to read as much as you can from Friday morning until Sunday night. The name is inspired by the idea of reading for 24 hours over the weekend, but of course you’re welcome to set your own smaller goal. Whether you’re aiming for 2 hours, 12 hours or 24 hours everyone is welcome to join in.

To get started please share your goals in this thread and then head over to the progress posts thread and grab a post to keep track of your reading.

At the end of each day you can post your total hours spent reading here and the mods will add everyone’s hours together to see how much time our whole group spent reading. Please also list any books you finish over the weekend and we’ll add them to the AtY cover collage.

And finally, we have a general discussion thread where you can chat with other members of the group - share book recommendations, ask for encouragement to help you reach your goal, or just chat about the weather where you are!

Happy reading!

Questions

1. How many hours are you aiming to spend reading this weekend?
2. Which books are you planning to read?
3. How are you doing with the Around the Year in 52 books challenge? Ahead, behind, right on schedule?
4. Tell us about the best book you’ve read so far this year.

[Brittany]

1. How many hours are you aiming to spend reading this weekend?
I’m going to try for all 24. I work Saturday though, so it might not happen.
2. Which books are you planning to read?
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
3. How are you doing with the Around the Year in 52 books challenge? Ahead, behind, right on schedule?
One book behind. I’m reading in order but didn’t finish the book for one week and need to make it up.
4. Tell us about the best book you’ve read so far this year.
A Court of Thorns and Roses

[Lieke]

1. How many hours are you aiming to spend reading this weekend?
4, not a lot, but I work today, have plans for saturday and it is Mother's day on sunday.

2. Which books are you planning to read?
I want to finish Nyckeln (about 300 pages left) and start Carry On.

3. How are you doing with the Around the Year in 52 books challenge? Ahead, behind, right on schedule?
Behind, I have read 14 books so far (4 books behind), Carry on is for ATY 2019 and Nyckeln is for ATY 2018 (haven't finished it still 10 or more to go).

4. Tell us about the best book you’ve read so far this year.
Hard question, I will go with Humans of New York: Stories I think is is imppressive how much impact a picture with sometimes only one sentence can have.

[Johanne]

1. How many hours are you aiming to spend reading this weekend?
12 hours is realistic I think (hope). I am going to a wedding tomorrow, and can´t really sneak out and read...

2. Which books are you planning to read?
Troldens hjerte/The Troll Heart and Krigens monstre/Monsters of Men. I am also listening to 4 3 2 1 - I guess those hours count as well?

3. How are you doing with the Around the Year in 52 books challenge? Ahead, behind, right on schedule?
I don´t really know, I haven´t kept count, I am going to need a status soon. But I think I am more or less on schedule or slightly behind.

4. Tell us about the best book you’ve read so far this year.
Probably a tie between two very different books: Ravnenes hvisken /Whisper of the Ravens, #3 (A book related to something cold. The Fimbul Winter has descended over Denmark and Ragnarok is coming) and Profeterne i Evighedsfjorden/The Prophets of Eternal Fjord (Indigenous people).

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I told myself that I wasn't going to do this, but I really just can't help myself. Plus, I have a surprise day off today!

1. How many hours are you aiming to spend reading this weekend?
- I'm going to aim for 10. I should get a solid 6 today, with the weather, but we have friends coming into town tomorrow and it's Mother's Day and Game of Thrones on Sunday, so I'll estimate 2 hours for each of those days in the morning.

2. Which books are you planning to read?
- I need to finish Severance, and I plan on starting (and possibly finishing?) Gold. If I manage to do both (only 90ish pages left in Severance and Gold is pretty short), I'll start One Day.

3. How are you doing with the Around the Year in 52 books challenge? Ahead, behind, right on schedule?
- Currently behind, but maybe this weekend will change that for me. Severance is for Week 17, Gold is for Week 18, and One Day is for Week 19. But summer is right around the corner, so I'm not stressing too much about being behind.

4. Tell us about the best book you’ve read so far this year.
Oh, the difficult questions. Books I've given 5 stars: Educated, Yes Please, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption (so many nonfiction!), and My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton. But I've had a lot of really great 4.5 star books as well.

[dalex]

1. How many hours are you aiming to spend reading this weekend?
14

2. Which books are you planning to read?

I have a few pages to finish in Milkman. Then I plan to read Five Children and It and The Black Tides of Heaven, both of which should be quick reads. I should be able to finish Euphoria as it only about 250 pages. And I also plan to read some stories from the anthology Worlds Seen in Passing.

3. How are you doing with the Around the Year in 52 books challenge?

I have completed 26 ATY prompts, 19 in order and 7 ahead-of-order. And I've read 18 books for my rejects challenge.


4. Tell us about the best book you’ve read so far this year.

My top three books from the ATY Challenge:
1. Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield (Week 17. A speculative fiction)
2. Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller (Week 18. A book related to an element on the periodic table)
3. Everything Under by Daisy Johnson (Week 13. A book that is included on a New York Public Library Staff Picks list)

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads)]

1. How many hours are you aiming to spend reading this weekend?
I'm going to aim for 8, but that may be overly optimistic considering how much family stuff is going on.

2. Which books are you planning to read?
Legend(audio),Unnaturally Green: One Girl's Journey Along a Yellow Brick Road Less Traveled, Lose the Weight You Hate and maybe Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery (audio, if I finish Legend quickly enough to get to this one)

3. How are you doing with the Around the Year in 52 books challenge? Ahead, behind, right on schedule?
I'm slightly behind because I've been restricting this challenge to books I own (until I get to the point that I just can't fill the prompts left with owned books), but I can still catch up easily

4. Tell us about the best book you’ve read so far this year.
There have a been a few really good ones. Right now Red Rising is standing out, but it's also one of the most recent five stars. We'll have to see how they settle in my memory toward the end of the year.

ETA: if you meant ATY challenge books specifically than probably Reamde has been my favorite.

[Pam]

1. How many hours are you aiming to spend reading this weekend?
I'm hoping for 8.

2. Which books are you planning to read?
The Lies of Locke Lamora - It's over 600 pp so that may be it for the weekend.

3. How are you doing with the Around the Year in 52 books challenge? Ahead, behind, right on schedule?
Ahead of schedule at 29.

4. Tell us about the best book you’ve read so far this year.
*My favorites that everyone is reading: Circe, Educated, and There There

*My favorite lesser known (but a prize winner): Montana 1948 by Larry Watson- What an excellent story (novella)! I would've never heard of it except for Anne Bogel's recommendation on her podcast.

[Traci]

1. How many hours are you aiming to spend reading this weekend?
I want to say 24, but going to aim for 12 and see if I go for more.

2. Which books are you planning to read?
I'm planning on finishing The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women and Under the Never Sky and start The Sympathizer and possibly The Sun Is Also a Star.

3. How are you doing with the Around the Year in 52 books challenge? Ahead, behind, right on schedule?
Technically behind, but that is by plan. I'm reading in order and the two I plan to finish this week are #17 and #18.

4. Tell us about the best book you’ve read so far this year.
Some of my 5 star reads: The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, The Island of Sea Women, The Sandcastle Girls.

[Sarah]

1. How many hours are you aiming to spend reading this weekend?
I am going to aim for 12 hours this weekend. But its a busy weekend for me so I am not sure that will happen.

2. Which books are you planning to read?
I have The Invited by Jennifer McMahon waiting on hold for me at the library so I hope to be able to pick it up and start it this weekend. But if not I have The Quintland Sisters by Shelley Wood and Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid to also try and read this weekend.

3. How are you doing with the Around the Year in 52 books challenge? Ahead, behind, right on schedule?
Right now I am 2 books ahead of schedule!

4. Tell us about the best book you’ve read so far this year.
Well some of my favorite books this year have been: Love, Lucy, The Death of Mrs. Westaway, The Graveyard Book, Live Long and...What I Learned Along the Way and Wild Country to name a few.

[Bryony]

1. How many hours are you aiming to spend reading this weekend?
I’m aiming for six hours but that might be too ambitious.

2. Which books are you planning to read?
I’d like to finish two books I’m currently reading - Educated and Calm Parents, Happy Siblings. I’d also like to start a book for prompt 14, I haven’t decided yet but it’ll be either An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, Artemis or A Closed and Common Orbit.

3. How are you doing with the Around the Year in 52 books challenge? Ahead, behind, right on schedule?
I’m five books behind but I’m hoping to finish two AtY books this weekend which will get me closer to being on schedule.

4. Tell us about the best book you’ve read so far this year.
I really enjoyed The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton. I'd Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life by Anne Bogel was also a fun and quick read which I really enjoyed.

[Kathy]

1. How many hours are you aiming to spend reading this weekend?
I'll say 6 hours and hope for more.

2. Which books are you planning to read?
Once Upon a River, Jamaica Inn, and Wives and Daughters. I hope to finish Once Upon a River.

3. How are you doing with the Around the Year in 52 books challenge? Ahead, behind, right on schedule?
Ahead, at 27 books

4. Tell us about the best book you’ve read so far this year. My two five-star reads were classics, Stoner and Independent People. Had several four-star reads including The Silent Sister and Hunting and Gathering.

[Deborah]

1. How many hours are you aiming to spend reading this weekend?
I am going to aim for 24, but with Mother's Day Sunday I'm going to lose a chunk of the day to that so we'll see.

2. Which books are you planning to read?
I am finishing up My Lovely Wife and then I have three due back to the library by Wednesday that I need to prioritize (The Silent Patient, The Last and Miracle Creek

3. How are you doing with the Around the Year in 52 books challenge? Ahead, behind, right on schedule?
I'm ahead of schedule (I've finished 31 books for the challenge), but have been a bit off track the last few weeks.

4. Tell us about the best book you’ve read so far this year.
Hard to narrow it down, but really enjoyed No Exit especially since it had been quite a while since I read a straight thriller.

[Betty]

1. How many hours are you aiming to spend reading this weekend? 8 - 12 hours

2. Which books are you planning to read?
I may change my mind though. I recently broke my shoulder and required surgery, so sitting around reading is working into my schedule well, but I've only been interested in super-light books (historical romances and such) so we will see!
UPDATE: Okay, I completely changed my mind this morning. I started reading and listening to The Hobbit. Using my Kindle unlimited membership, I downloaded both the text and the audible. I've been listening and reading at the same time, and thoroughly enjoying it! I don't usually enjoy audio books, but this reader is magnificent!

3. How are you doing with the Around the Year in 52 books challenge? Ahead, behind, right on schedule? I'm ahead with 32 prompts filled.

4. Tell us about the best book you’ve read so far this year. and

[Rachel]

1. How many hours are you aiming to spend reading this weekend?
It's really hard for me to predict a specific number of hours. This weekend is unfortunately a very busy one for me, so I doubt I'll have too much time to read. I had no idea this readathon was coming, so I didn't really plan for it.

2. Which books are you planning to read?
I'm currently reading Enduring Love, and what I choose next will end up depending on when I finish this one. I'm aiming to start reading the rest of the Throne of Glass series soon, but I'll probably end up reading a few other books before then.

3. How are you doing with the Around the Year in 52 books challenge? Ahead, behind, right on schedule?
I've currently read 13 out of 55 books that I have for ATY (I add my wild card instead of using it to replace a prompt, and my choice for the close call/polarizing prompt was three books from a trilogy, so my total went up a bit.

4. Tell us about the best book you’ve read so far this year.
Crooked Kingdom and Vengeful

[Vanessa]

1. How many hours are you aiming to spend reading this weekend?
6 - 8 hours

2. Which books are you planning to read?
I like to finish The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories (114 pages left) [Done] and start Like Water for Chocolate or La perla y otros cuentos

3. How are you doing with the Around the Year in 52 books challenge? Ahead, behind, right on schedule?
I'm 3 books behind

4. Tell us about the best book you’ve read so far this year.
Ship of Destiny and The Hero of Ages

[Joan]

1. How many hours are you aiming to spend reading this weekend? 12ish
2. Which books are you planning to read? I'm planning to finish up three books:
The President Is Missing
The Secret of Lost Things
Victoria The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire
3. How are you doing with the Around the Year in 52 books challenge? Ahead, behind, right on schedule? I'm behind which is why I want to finish those three for the challenge. I'm currently behind 4 so I want to read something else as well. But even is I complete 4 this weekend when Monday rolls around I'll still be 1 behind.
4. Tell us about the best book you’ve read so far this year. I really enjoyed Educated. I didn't know what to expect because I didn't know much about it and it was such an interesting book. I also enjoyed Rocket Men: The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man's First Journey to the Moon which is another one I didn't know much about. Sometimes I think when I read one I really want to it doesn't seem to live up to my expectations.

[Katie]

My goal is to listen to 24 hours worth of audiobooks. I usually listen to books on 3x speed, so it will really end up being 8 hours of listening.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

KATIE! How do you listen at 3x speed?! Sometimes I feel like 1.5x is too fast for me!

[Katie]

All my friends make fun of me for it! On some books I have to smore it down, especially if the narrator has an accent. But even then I'll try to get acclimated to the narrator and then slowly speed it up. I always think part of the reason I can do it is that I live in a part of the country where people speak fast, and I speak really fast myself. But it's funny because when I listen at normal speed now, it sounds like people are talking in slow motion to me, hahaha.

[Edie]

I just now read this thread, but I am in ... belatedly.

1. How many hours are you aiming to spend reading this weekend? 12 edited down to 8 hours. What was I thinking to say 12 hours on Saturday night?
2. Which books are you planning to read? Currently reading Dark Money, My Dear Hamilton, Riders of the Purple Sage, and on Friday finished Little Faith
3. How are you doing with the Around the Year in 52 books challenge? Ahead, behind, right on schedule? I'm well ahead of schedule, in part, because I have been prioritizing ATY over other challenges.
4. Tell us about the best book you’ve read so far this year. Where the Crawdads Sing is my favorite book so far. It has a great story, plot twists, a captivating setting and all those facts about nature,

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