Good morning, good afternoon, good evening! Yes it’s that time of year again where hoardes of sleep deprived book lovers will be reading for 24 hours straight. Oh OK, I am probably going to sleep between 2am and 5am because we start at 1pm here and that’s just too long to stay awake AND be able to understand the words on the page.

I won’t be posting to the blog every hour but I will be on Twitter if you need to check I’m still alive. I’ll most likely be updating here once I’ve finished a book or if I see any interesting challenges going on.

Karen is reading in aid of the Scottish Assocation for Mental Health if you can spare a few pounds.

The location:

The books:

The snacks:

The secret weapon:

Instead of surviving on snacks all weekend, that lamb casserole is going in the oven now and should be ready by the time I need some real food. There’s also fizzy vitamins and minerals in the snack pile to help with the tiredness (and coffee of course, walnut and maple syprup infused coffee, mmmm).

Top Tips

Keep warm! This might not be so important for those of you in warm climates but it can still get chilly at night. Sitting down reading doesn’t generate much heat and it’s so easy for your hands to get cold and your nose to start running. Making sure the temperature is right for you will help so much; but don’t get too hot or you’ll become drowsy!

Having a snooze is not failure! If you are so tired that you can barely read, there is no point staying awake. Set your alarm for 2 hours’ time and give in. If you feel a bit better when the alarm goes off, pick your book back up and carry on. We’re all starting at different times of the day, so for many of us it’s more than 24 hours of staying awake, which is bloody hard once you get past a certain age.

You may think readathon is a good time to tackle that giant tome that’s been staring you down for months, but really, it isn’t. Short books or guaranteed page turners will do you the world of good. Include short stories to add variety between the full length novels. And don’t be afraid to put the book down and move on if it’s not grabbing your attention. You will have plenty of time to go back and finish it after you’ve had some sleep.

Introductory Questionnaire

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
Bournemouth, UK.

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
Pantomime by Laura Lam.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
Well not a snack but my casserole smells pretty amazing and it’s not even cooked!

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
I’m the sole blogger at Curiosity Killed the Bookworm and I read all sorts of books. I earn a living breaking software and live a very short walk from the sea. I like cake and ponies.

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?
Not be hungover! I was cheerleading last time and whilst that was fun, I didn’t get much reading done (and the hangover didn’t help either) so looking forward to hitting the books hard.

Have fun and see you on the other side!