Update: Well, okay, I blew it. For some reason, I thought the Readathon starts on Saturday and ends on Sunday. It actually starts on Friday and ends Saturday. Ooopsie.  Numbers have never been my bag. It used to just be math that stumped me. Apparently now it’s also dates that confuse me. Oh well.

Dewey’s 24-Hour Readathon usually happens in the fall and in the spring. This summer hosts Andi and Heather have gone wild and added the first ever summer readathon. And to mix things up even more, it’s a reverse readathon. They’re flipping the start time. Each time zone has its own start time, so, for me, instead of starting at 8 am, I’ll start at 8 pm on Saturday 7/28  Friday 7/27 and end at 8 pm on Sunday 7/29 Saturday 7/28.

I love this time flip. It’s perfect for summer. I’ll have all day Saturday Friday to do my usual chores/work/kayaking and will sit down to read after dinner. Granted, that’s pretty much what I do every Friday & Saturday night, but I’ll be doing it with much more fanfare! I hope to read for 4 hours on Saturday Friday and at least that many hours on Sunday Saturday.

Some readers do try to read for the whole 24 hours, some are happy to squeeze in an hour. Its whatever works for you. Learn more & sign up HERE. You don’t have to have a blog to participate.

What will I be reading? Well, I’m currently reading both Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan and Middlemarch by George Eliot. I’ll probably finish CRA before Saturday, but there’s no way I can say the same for Middlemarch, so I’ll spend some time with that classic this weekend (in both paper and on audio).

Here are the books I’ll have next to my reading chair during readathon (although they’re shown here on a boulder in the backyard):

Middlemarch by George Eliot — I’m currently reading this one for The Classics Club and also for my friend Sue’s Big Book Summer Challenge. I’ll probably take a walk on Sunday morning and listen to the audio for an hour.

Ayiti by Roxane Gay — I just picked this one up the other day at Barbara’s Bookstore in Chicago’s O’ Hare airport. I stood in the bookstore and read the first story, which convinced me to buy the collection.

Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters by Anne Boyd Rioux — This is coming out on August 21st. The author & publisher send a review copy requested by the Book Cougars for our Summer of Little Women readalong. Emily & I were able to meet and record an interview with Anne last week at Orchard House in Concord, MA. That interview will come out next month around the release date of the book. In the meantime, I am reading chapters here and there and will no doubt read one over the weekend. If you love Little Women, you’ll want to get this book. It might even be good for those who need a little help getting into this classic.

Courageous Women of the Vietnam War: Medics, Journalists, Survivors, and More by Kathryn J. Atwood. I’ve read and enjoyed several of Atwood’s books about women of action during wartime. They’re written for a young adult audience. I always come away from reading her books both filled with awe at what these women have done and inspired.

The Prisoner in the Castle by Susan Alia Macneal — I recently reviewed the previous book in the Maggie Hope Mystery Series and was excited to receive an ARC of this next one which is coming out on August 7th. I may or may not start it this weekend, but I’m looking forward to getting to it.

Will you be joining the readathon? And more to the point, will you be joining it on the right date? LOL.