#24in48 Readathon TBR & Wrap Up

Dear everyone, 

Last night when I was lying in bed, ready to go to sleep, I decided to check my Twitter feed even though I know you're not supposed to do that just before going into dreamland. However, I'm happy I did because I realized that this weekend, the #24in48 readathon would take place. 

Basically, if you don't know already, the #24in48 readathon is a readathon that takes place during the span of 48 hours. You are supposed to read for 24 of those 48 hours (in other words, you're supposed to read as much as you can while still being able to get some sleep and have time for food and other things). I like this readathon exactly because it allows for room to breathe, and you don't feel forced to read all the time. 

That's why I decided to sign up immediately on 24in48.com, and here I give you my TBR for this upcoming weekend. 

First of all, I would love to finish the book I'm currently reading, which is "11.22.63" by Stephen King. I'm only 200 pages short of doing just that, and I've actually been doing a daily update on this blog this past week on my reading progress and reading experience of this 700-page-book. If you're interested, you can go check that out here. I plan on finishing "11.22.63" on Saturday. 

Afterwards, I have a Kindle book planned that I need to read before the sequel comes out in February. I'm talking about "You" by Caroline Kepnes which is a psychological thriller told in the second person narrative. This book is 422 pages long, and the cover looks like this: 

Last but not least, I would like to be optimistic and plan a third novel for this upcoming weekend. This is going to be a non-fiction book called "In Order to Live" by Yeonmi Park. I think it's going to be nice to mix up the genres a little bit so that I don't exclusively read psychological thrillers. 

If you're participating as well, let me know in the comments. I think my next blog post is going to be a wrap up of my weekend and of how many pages and books I managed to get through. 

Have a great weekend, everyone, and HAPPY READING!

Wrap Up: It is now Monday and the #24in48 readathon has ended. I had a pretty successful weekend, but I wouldn't say that I made it any close to reading for 24 hours in total. I must admit I didn't keep count, but all in all I think I read for about 4-5 hours. It doesn't seem like a lot, but I reached a point on Sunday where I didn't feel like reading, and so I didn't!

I managed to finished "11.22.63" by Stephen King, and I already did a review of it on this blog which you can read here. Afterwards, I picked up "You" by Caroline Kepnes, and I read 68% of that one before Sunday ended. That means that all in all, I read a total of between 350-400 pages. I don't have the exact number because I read one of the books on my Kindle.

Some years ago, I definitely would've read more pages and tried harder, but I've gradually come to the conclusion that to me, reading is only fun if you read when you want to. I don't think readathons necessarily work for me anymore, because I refuse to read if I'm not in the mood for it. I want to be able to enjoy my books and my time with them, and I also want to feel free to do other things besides from reading. That's why this may be one of the last readathons I participate in, just because they don't really work for me anymore.

HOWEVER, I did have fun with getting through these books this time around, and I definitely enjoyed tweeting with a lot of other people participating in this event. If you participated as well, let me know in the comments how you did - and until next time: Happy reading! 

Reading Big Books | A Daily Update

Today, I'm going to embark on a new and long journey. I'm going to start reading one of the bigger books on my shelves: "11.22.63" by Stephen King. I haven't looked at the actual page count yet because I'm afraid that will refrain me from actually picking up the book, but during the past week, I've been drawn to this novel that has been standing on my shelves for over 3 years, and I have felt like now was the perfect time to actually pick it up. 

On my YouTube channel, I have stated several times that I love big books. They inspire me to read, and they allow for me to dive into a story and stay there for several weeks, getting really connected with all of the characters. However, I'm like everyone else. Big books do intimidate me, and oftentimes I need to cheer on myself for a couple of weeks beforehand before I actually pick one up. 

This blog post is going to be a daily update on my reading progress of "11.22.63". I'm going to take you along on the journey and allow for you to follow my reading experience as well as my reading speed. How long is this going to take me to get through? Will I be enjoying the book throughout, or will I be bored towards the heavy middle? Those are some of the questions I hope to get answered during my journey. 

I expect for my reading of this novel to take about 2 weeks. In 2 weeks, I'll be receiving some review books that I need to read and review before a certain date, so hopefully 2 weeks will be enough to finish this heavy Stephen King novel. But let's see what'll happen. Let's start this journey now...

Saturday 9th: Today is the day that I'm going to start reading. The book is lying beside me on my bedside table, I have a cup of tiramisu coffee steaming beside me and my cat, Zeus, lying next to me. I'm eager to get started, but I don't have tons of time to read today, so I expect to get through a few chapters and get familiarized with this new world and these new characters. First page...

Sunday 10th: It is now 11 am and I'm now on page 107. Even though the font is very tiny and the pages take a while to get through, I pretty much flew through those first 100 pages even though I haven't had much time to read. The characters are interesting, the world is fascinating, and I'm finding myself eager to get back to reading. Today is Sunday, and I'm thrilled that I have all day to dive even more into this story.

Monday 11th: I'm on page 217 and still enjoying the book very much. During the weekend, I've been able to read an average of 100 pages a day, which goes to show that I'm flying through this story. However, today is Monday and I'm back to work, so it's going to be interesting to see how much I'll be able to read in the upcoming days.

Tuesday 12th: Page 279 and I must admit I've hit a part that's not as interesting as the rest of the novel has been, but that doesn't refrain me from picking up a book and continue reading. After all, it does help to know that I'm approaching the halfway point of the book (after only 3 days of reading!).

Wednesday 13th: I'm on page 358 and at the halfway point. Last night, I read some chapters that melted my heart and put a smile on my face, and I did not expect that from Stephen King. In other words, those chapters surprised me in a pleasant way and have now made me eager to get back home to continue reading.

Thursday 14th: Page 420 out of 740. I've hit a rather slow part of the book, and I'm finding it harder to pick it up. But once I do, I quickly become intrigued with the story. Also, today I craved and ordered six new books online which wasn't supposed to happen :D

Friday 15th: Last night I had a great reading night and read up to page 555. This story is pretty slow-going in general, but then suddenly Stephen King increased the tension and I was hooked! I'm approaching the end after only 6 days of reading, and I'm pretty confident I can finish this big novel this weekend.

Sunday 17th: It is now Sunday and I finished the book yesterday morning, minutes before I had to leave the apartment to go visit my niece. That means it took me exactly one week to read this 700-bage-book - an average of 100 pages a day. As I stated in the beginning, I was prepared to spend about two weeks on this gigantic novel, but the pages flew by and I simply couldn't stop myself from reading, so I didn't.

That means that this reading journey together with you has come to an end. All in all, I guess you can say that if you grab a big book that's actually to your liking, it doesn't have to take too long to read it. Obviously, it depends on how many hours you spend reading per day, but even with work and Netflix during the week I was able to finish this one pretty quickly.

I hope you enjoyed this daily update, and if you did I may do it again some other time with another big novel. A review of "11.22.63" will be up here on my blog very soon, and until then thank you so much for reading along with me and following me on this fictional journey!

"Hard Times" by Charles Dickens

Title: Hard Times

Author: Charles Dickens

Publication Year: 1854

Pages: 353

My Rating: 3/5 stars

This is the story of Louise and Tom, siblings who live in Coketown together with their parents. Their father, Thomas Gradgrind, is quite a peculiar man who is very set on facts. His children must be brought up with a proper education that relies on nothing but facts. 

One day, Gradgrind stumbles upon Sissy, a circus girl who becomes a student at his school. Things gradually evolve, and eventually Gradgrind decides to take Sissy under his wings and give her a proper education. Meanwhile, life goes on in Coketown, and we get to hear more both other characters, but also the hard times and hard conditions of the average working man. 

This book is another evidence of Charles Dickens' brilliancy when it comes to writing. He starts with one person and her destiny, but gradually the story becomes more and more intricate and complex, and in the end you end up with a completely different story from what you started out with. 

I have quite an ambivalent relationship to Charles Dickens and his books. Some of them I love, some of them confuse me or end up disappointing me. "Hard Times" was a good story, but I was mildly disappointed with the fact that it changes direction. I wanted to continue reading about Sissy and her destiny, but I was disappointed to realize that her story became kind of a parallel plot to the main plot. Nevertheless, the main plot was definitely full of surprises and at times kept you at the edge of your seat, and I liked that. 

However, I can't disregard the fact that I was quite bored during most of this novel. I felt like the story became more and more predictable, and I felt like it kept dragging on the same characters and their worries and views on life. Therefore, I ended up rating this one 3 stars, because it's definitely worth a read, but it's not my favourite of Dickens'. 

"The Group" by Mary McCarthy

Title: The Group

Author: Mary McCarthy

Publication Year: 1963 (republished in Danish in 2016)

Publisher: Virago Press UK (Danish publisher: Lindhardt & Ringhof)

Pages: 448

My Rating: 3/5 stars

This is the story of The Group, a group of ladies who all graduated from Vassar when they were in their early twenties and who are now living in and around New York City, becoming independent women. In this book, we meet The Group as they are attending the wedding of one of the ladies. Gradually, we get to know each and every one of the ladies as they go through their everyday lives in New York City. 

I thought that this was going to be a modern chick-lit novel about a group of women who had become friends, and who now once in a while gathered to have some fun. I knew, after all, that the story of Sex & the City has been inspired by this exact novel. However, I quickly realized that I was wrong. First of all, this book was first published in 1963 which makes it a modern classic. Second of all, it doesn't really read like a chick-lit, even though we do have a group of women living in fancy New York City. This story is more complex than that as it deals with each person's worries and problems in their everyday life. Worries that everyone can relate to because they are quite banal, however yet deeply interesting. 

I will say that this book is definitely targeted towards a more mature audience, simply because it deals with things like marriage, sex, quarrels and babies. Things that you are more able to relate to when you've been through them yourself. Nevertheless, I'm sure that a younger audience would benefit from it as well, because it gives you an insight into what it's like to grow up and how life doesn't necessarily become easier when you become an independent adult. 

The very first chapter contains a lot of name-dropping. We are briefly introduced to every member of this group, and it's hard to keep track of who everyone is and what their background and personalities are like. I was very pleasantly surprised to realize, that the rest of the book narrows down on each characters so that we get a more in-depth knowledge of them in each chapter - that definitely appealed to me and encouraged me to read on and get to know everyone of them very well. 

All in all, this is a highly interesting story about the everyday life of women in the 1930s New York. It is not an easy chick-lit read as it deals with heavy, serious, however relatable topics, but in the end it gives you a raw and honest insight into other people and their lives, and it makes you realize that all of us go through basically the same things in life - you're not alone. 

"Wildflower" by Drew Barrymore

Title: Wildflower

Author: Drew Barrymore

Publication Year: 2015

Publisher: Dutton

Pages: 288

My Rating: 3/5 stars

This is Drew Barrymore's autobiography on her life from she was a little child of 11-months, already auditioning, till she's a 40-year-old mom. In the beginning of the book, Drew writes that she's always dreamed of becoming a writer, so this is a dream come true for her. Furthermore, she claims that she was asked to write 'a memoir' on her life, but somehow she felt like that was too deep and too personal. Instead she decided to write what she call 'small anecdotes' on her life, and that turned into "Wildflower". 

This autobiography both gave me what I was hoping for, but it also disappointed me in some parts. I was interested to read this because I admire Drew Barrymore and think she must have had quite an extraordinary life so far. Also, I had to get it because of that stunning cover - let's be honest! 

This book was a mix of different chapters. They differ in length, content, honesty, and chronology. I didn't really mind because it kept the book fresh in a way, but I did feel like there was an inconsistency in how deep Drew goes into her emotions. Some chapters are bare anecdotes (which was also her purpose), while others are very emotional. For instance, there are two chapters that are letters for her two children, and for me that became a bit too personal. However, I loved her chapter about Flossy and her feelings for that dog. 

All in all, I do feel like I got an insight into Drew's life which has been nothing but ordinary. I love reading books like these that allow for me to look into a person's life which is so very different from my own, because they always leave an impact on me and widen my horizon. Despite my small disappointments, I still think that this is definitely worth a read; and once you've finished it, you can always stare admiringly at the cover :)

"Pet Sematary" by Stephen King

Title: Pet Sematary

Author: Stephen King

Publication Year: 1983

Publisher: Doubleday

Pages: 374

My Rating: 3.5/5 stars

"Pet Sematary" is the story of Louis and his family who move into a house near a pet cemetery. To begin with, Louis is unclear as to what this cemetery is all about and why it's there, but one night a friend of his, Jud, decides to take him there and show Louis the place and its capacity. From then on, strange things start happening in Louis' and his family's lives, and if you know of Stephen King and his books, you know that it's going to be scary...

Stephen King always delivers when it comes to scary story, scary behaviour and scary descriptions, and Pet Sematary is no exception. It actually took me quite some years to read this; not because it was bad or too scary, I just happened to read a little piece at a time and then put it down. However, the end of the book I devoured because I needed to know what was happening. Stephen King is excellent at creating a climax towards the end that glues your eyes to the pages. 

There is one brilliant twist in this book which I was very fascinated with. I'm obviously not going to say what it is, but to me it stood out as a gripping way of writing a story. King's prose is very straight-forward and might not be the most lyrical or beautiful of all, but he definitely knows how to come up with and deliver a story brilliantly. 

While this book was scary, it didn't at any point scare me as much as it seems to have scared other readers, hence my rating. I still very much enjoyed it, though, and I'm happy to say that even after having read this book, I still love my cat as much as I did before I read it :)

"The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend" by Katarina Bivald

Title: The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend

Author: Katarina Bivald

Publication Year: 2013 (republished Jan. 1st 2016 in trade paperback)

Publisher: Penguin Random House UK

Pages: 400

My Rating: 4/5 stars

"The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommends" deals with Sara, a Swedish girl who works in a bookstore and who loves and breathes books. During the past months, Sara has had a penpal in Amy from Broken Wheel, Iowa - an elder lady who loves books as much as Sara does. 

One day, Sara decides to go all the way to Iowa to visit Amy and finally be able to discuss novels with someone who shares her love for books. However, Sara quickly realizes that something is wrong when she arrives in Broken Wheel, and that's where the story takes off...

This is a story for any book lover! From the very first pages, I couldn't help but smile when reading about the adorable Sara who doesn't really know how to act in the real world; however, she's an expert when it comes to escapism in books. More than once, this cute story moved my book-loving heart, and I believe that if you love reading, you can't help but adore this story as well. Yes, it is very perfect and partly cheesy, but in this case I didn't mind because the novel was perfect that way. 

"The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend" contains a diverse cast of characters which I quickly grew attached to. Once again, they are very caricatured - you have the crazy woman, the insecure Catholic and even a bisexual - but in this case it simply worked, and I didn't feel like rolling my eyes at any point. 

I didn't expect to love this book as much as I did, but I simply couldn't help it. My only complaint is that is contains multiple references to other books (a good thing!) which are quite spoilery (a bad thing). But all in all, this cheesy, somewhat predictable story really worked, and I'll definitely be missing Sara, the other characters, Broken Wheel and Sara's inspiring love for books.