24in48 Recap (July 2019)

In case you missed it, I participated in the latest round of 24in48 last weekend. Because I don’t seem to care about my sanity, I took the challenge to read for 24 hours within a 48 hour period. It was difficult, stressful, and I didn’t get much sleep, but it was also a lot of fun. Did I manage to read for the full 24 hours? Read on to find out!

Luckily for me, the official readathon start time was midnight EST, which for me means 11:00 pm. I’m always awake at that hour anyway, so it was nice to not have to stay up later than usual just so I could kick things off. Armed with a Red Bull and the memories of the scary movie my husband had just made me watch, I was ready to go.

1 hour 22 minutes into things, and I finished my first book, They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera. I was already about 2/3 of the way into this one and didn’t want to start my readathon TBR until I had finished it.

I was really hoping I would be able to stay awake the entire night, but at around 3:00 am when I hit 3 hours 30 minutes I had to call it a night. Meaning to just take a quick nap, I woke 7 hours later ready to really dive in.

At the 5 hour mark I had completed my second book, Imposters by Scott Westerfeld, and an hour later I finished Gone Rogue by Marissa Meyer. It was now 2:20 pm on the first day and I was feeling very confident that I would hit the 24 hour mark and complete my 7 book TBR.

Popcorn, my favorite reading snack, was a must at this point. I really didn’t think I’d be able to read another word without it. My husband and son were napping, so the apartment was nice and quiet.

I started a re-read of Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, ending up disappointed with it this time around, and finished it right as the first day ended. I was really wanting to get in at least 15 hours of reading during the first half of the readathon, but I ended up with 12.

Hour 14 rolled around, and in an attempt to stop my cat from climbing the curtains, I almost broke one of my toes. I don’t have the highest pain tolerance, so I actually almost passed out from the pain and from being anxious. It ended up just being really bruised which was good, but it kept me from reading for a good amount of time.

The fourth book I read was Past Perfect Life by Elizabeth Eulberg at the 16 hour mark. I tried to start reading Blankets by Craig Thompson, but at this point it was 4 in the morning and I decided to tap out. Thankfully, I had enough sense left in me to set an alarm for the next morning.

After five hours of sleep I woke feeling incredibly groggy, but knew I needed to start reading. I only had 8 hours to go, but I didn’t want to leave them all until the very end of the day and stress myself out. The best reading buddy ever was also cheering me on, so that helped, too.

Blankets wasn’t anything like what I thought it would be, but I made it to the end. At 2:00 that afternoon I had been reading for 19 hours and 20 minutes and I could barely keep my eyes open any longer. I let myself take a 2 hour nap, and once I had woken up and drank a Red Bull, I again felt like finishing was possible.

I cut things pretty close, but at 9:42 pm I finally hit the coveted 24 hour mark right when I finished Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. Since there was still 1 hour 18 minutes left in the official readathon I decided to go ahead and start Season of the Witch by Sarah Rees Brennan.

25 hours and 5 minutes, 7 books, 3174 pages, 478 songs, 3 Red Bulls, 1 cup of coffee, and lots of popcorn later…..I was finished. I had so much fun during this round! It really pushed me to my reading limits and I loved the challenge. I’ll definitely be participating again!

The only book I didn’t manage to read from my planned TBR was The Summer of Jordi Perez (And the Best Burger in Los Angeles) by Amy Spalding. I’m disappointed I didn’t make it to this one because I’ve been wanting to read it for a while now, so I’m going to try and make it a priority.

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Did you take part in this round of 24in48 or do you think you’ll ever do it? Let me know in the comments!