Read-a-thon Recommendations

-
I'm not able to participate in this year's Dewey's Read-a-thon tomorrow, as Saturdays are a working day for me, but I will be reading Meg Wolitzer's The Uncoupling a bit this morning before I go to work.

I do, however, have some helpful tips (and book suggestions) for those of you who are.

Tips:
1. Start small. Start with a short book. I highly recommend a graphic novel or middle grade title. I began my first read-a-thon with the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, which was perfect. Especially if you're not a morning person. Finishing a book in the first two hours is exhilarating.

2. Finish one. I never manage to finish a book before the read-a-thon, so I'm usually in the middle of one. When you pick it up next, it's a lovely sense of accomplishment to finish a second book (even though you didn't start it during the read-a-thon.)

3. Aim big in the early afternoon. Around this time, I start getting excited and wonder how many books it's possible to finish in one day. Usually I spend the afternoon indulging myself in whatever I feel like. It's often a mystery, as they hold my attention so well.

4. Finish small. After the sun sets, it gets harder to keep reading. It's a lovely time to return to lighter fare, graphic novels, and children's or young adult books. It's okay to stop.

Books that would be awesome during the read-a-thon:
1. Bad Marie by Marcy Dermansky (it's awesome and short: under 250 pages)
2. The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan (also awesome and also short: under 250 pages)
3. One Day by David Nichols (it's awesome and the structure--one day each year--makes it unputdownable.)
4. How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less by Sarah Glidden (deep but short graphic novel)
5. Special Exits by Joyce Farmer (beautiful, haunting graphic novel)
6. Room by Emma Donoghue (my favorite book of 2010; unputdownable)
7. Freakonomics by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner (fascinating, quick non-fiction read)

Also awesome: Plays

Happy reading!

As an Amazon affiliate, I receive a small commission when you make a purchase through any of the above links. Thank you!

Comments

  1. JennyApril 8, 2011 at 10:48 AM

    oooh great recommendations and tips!! This is my first "official" participation in the read-a-thon so I will definitely be keeping those in mind.

    ReplyDelete
  2. MelissaApril 8, 2011 at 11:42 AM

    I'm not able to participate either (house-hunting weekend, which requires a 6 hour car trip each way with me and the kiddos). Excellent recommendations, especially Bad Marie, Room, and Freakonomics! (Only because I haven't read the others.)

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousApril 8, 2011 at 12:20 PM

    I read Bad Marie for the last read-a-thon and I agree that it is a great choice. I will not be able to participate this time around either, unfortunately.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Melissa (Avid Reader)April 8, 2011 at 3:36 PM

    Great tips! This is my first read-a-thon so I'm crazy excited.

    ReplyDelete
  5. MeghanApril 8, 2011 at 4:15 PM

    Ooh, I have One Day, but didn't have it in my pile! I will have to add it on now.

    I'm sorry you're missing out! Hopefully you won't be working Saturday for the next one.

    ReplyDelete
  6. HeatherApril 9, 2011 at 7:54 AM

    Great advice and recommendations. We'll miss you!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thank you for taking the time to comment. Happy reading!

Popular posts from this blog

book review: A Dangerous Place by Jacqueline Winspear

-
Image
The backstory: A Dangerous Place  is the eleventh historical mystery featuring Maisie Dobbs. My reviews of the other eleven (plus Winspear's stand alone historical novel) are in my Book Review Database . The basics: Set four years after the last Maisie Dobbs novel, Leaving Everything Most Loved , in A Dangerous Place , we meet up with Maisie in Gibraltar in 1927 during the Spanish Civil War. She gets off her England-bound ship in Gibraltar because she's not quite ready to return. Note: this review contains spoilers about what happened in those four years of Maisie's life between books, all of which are revealed in this novel's first thirty pages.  My thoughts: Sunday I wrote about the Maisie Mail I received. These postcards appear in the book itself, along with many others. After setting the stage in Gibraltar in the opening pages (Maisie stumbles upon a dead body), Winspear recounts the last four years of Maisie's life in the form of postcards, letters, an...
Read more

book review: Run by Ann Patchett

-
Image
The backstory: After loving State of Wonder  ( my review ), I set out to read all of Ann Patchett's books. The basics: Run  is the story of the Doyle family: Bernard, an Irish Catholic ex-mayor of Boston, his deceased wife Bernadette, their adult son Sullivan, and their two adopted college ages sons, Tip and Teddy, who are biological brothers. My thoughts: I'm beginning to think Ann Patchett is my soul sister. Her writing reaches me deeply, and I've adored everything she's written. It was a special treat to read Run , the novel of hers I knew the least about going in. Although I had the framework of two of her novels and one memoir, I didn't know what to expect. Run  isn't as universally loved as some of her other works, so I was particularly curious to see how it measured up. Admittedly, Run  started off slowly for me. It took two chapters to really get into the heart of the story, but once it happened, I was hooked. One of the things I love most about ...
Read more

book review: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

-
Image
The backstory: Gilead  won the Pulitzer Prize in 2005, the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2004, and was longlisted for the Orange Prize in 2006. The basics: As Rev. Ames nears the end of his life in the 1950's, he begins a letter to his young son because Ames realizes his son is too young to really know him. Gilead  is that letter. My thoughts: Gilead  is a novel I'm been meaning to read for years. It's a character-driven, Midwestern narrative by one of our best contemporary writers. It should be a novel I love, yet I struggled to finish it and admit I was wowed by neither the story nor the writing. Gilead  seemed almost stream-of-consciousness at first. I appreciated that Robinson jumped right in: this novel is a letter from father to son; the reader's ignorance of these two characters is not the focus. As the novel progressed, more details began to be filled in, and the reader begins to understand the characters, setting and purpose. I enjoyed the ...
Read more