So, yesterday’s readathon focusing on books from my Classics Club list? It was a little too much of a good thing in the end.
I read a lot in the morning, slowed in the afternoon and felt like my brain was stuffed with too much information in the evening.
This was totally my own fault. I realised the pace with a classics themed event would be slower and require a bit more focus when I signed up for it but I saw it as a straight choice between reading a small stack of ‘easy’ classics – ‘modern’ in style and dialogue with a factual basis or a realist feel – or trying to tackle a huge work like Bleak House which I was never going to realistically finish in one day if I was reading it for pleasure.
I did enjoy the mini-pile of books I picked out for yesterday but ugh, the day felt so fragmented. All three books I finished led to reading more about them: digging into introductions and appendices and coming online to find out more about facts I’d jotted down, essays on their authors, looking at maps of the places they were set…
And I wish I had structured my day around that feeling instead of trying to switch from book/author/setting/themes a couple of times in the day.
I had expected it to be a readathon, only classics themed. Turns out that set up doesn’t work for me and what I want is almost a self-taught study day on one or possibly two books using the book itself, all the extra material provided in whichever edition it comes in, a book about the author or about the history of the specific book in question, essays and reviews…
Which is something I just hadn’t even thought about when I signed up for yesterday. Now that I’ve had time to think about it though, I can really see how this third option might work for me, deepening my knowledge of an author and a work, feeding my curiosity and yet not making me feel like I’ve binged on too many ideas and brain candy at the end of the day.
In conclusion, the day itself was about about a 6/10 but it has taught me more about myself as a reader and I have an exciting plan for the next Classics Club readathon. Definitely worth it.
January 6, 2013 at 16:19
Well, I think you deserve congrats for getting through the day! I can understand how you felt though – I rarely get through any book nowadays without going off on a search for more about the author, the context etc etc – so with a classic it must have been impossible!
January 6, 2013 at 18:03
Thank you, JP just chimed in and said I looked like a curious six year asking ‘Why this…?’ and ‘What about that…?’ throughout the day!
January 6, 2013 at 16:37
Goodness, it does sound like something of a marathon of a day. I didn’t sign up because I knew I didn’t want to dedicate a whole day – when I might feel like I had to rush through something I wasn’t in the mood for. As it happens I was reading Jane Eyre anyway – my fav book of all time, and in the end read about 250 pages of it over the course of thr day – finishing it about 2am. I saved the introduction though for this morning when I was less bleary eyed despite my late night.
January 6, 2013 at 18:04
I just read your review and loved the way you summed up your experiences with this much loved book. Sounds like a wonderful way to have spent the day. :)
January 7, 2013 at 17:01
Yes it was : ) thank you.
January 6, 2013 at 17:30
I learned a lot about myself as a reader, too, I can only concentrate on a classic for no more than an hour or two before my mind starts drifting. I ‘m glad you enjoyed the event — I did, too.
January 6, 2013 at 18:05
Seems like a couple of us found settling down for the full day to be a little harder than we were expecting. Maybe a longer, less intensive event like a reading week might suit the group better?
January 6, 2013 at 18:23
Enjoyed reading your wrap up comments. Interesting analysis and I’m sure it will be helpful in the future. Great accomplishment., too.
January 6, 2013 at 18:57
Fascinating insights alex. I had planned to participate but the plans we t out the window when I had to make an urgent trip to the chiropractor and then unexpected visitors arrived. Oh well next time around and I bet I will want to do the same as you and go off down literary by ways.
January 6, 2013 at 19:07
I found it too much and very hard on my eyes and have come to the conclusion readathons are not my thing. But I do like your study day idea – that would work for me too.
January 6, 2013 at 21:12
Hi Cat, that’s a shame. Glad you like the idea of a study day though, lots more natural breaks and flow to that. There’s also a couple of reading week type events that might work better for you though and they can be fun to take part in. You might like to take a look at http://boutofbooks.blogspot.co.uk – they’re just about to start a week long anything goes event and there’s lots of people signed up for it. :)
January 6, 2013 at 19:59
I like your ideas for future readathons. I chose just one book as I knew from experience that I read classics more slowly and need to sink into them properly. I also had to take lots of frequent breaks so the book didn’t overwhelm me!
January 6, 2013 at 20:45
I completely identify with what you write here. I find I do a lot of processing around books – I can’t just ingest without thinking about what I’m reading and following up ideas. So the most I’m really comfortable with is a couple of hours reading, and then I need an hour or so off to think and dream and cool down my brain. Classics are the kind of books that invite slow, close reading, and I would definitely find a whole day overstimulating. However, I love the idea of a kind of study day based around one book. You could read a book, watch the movie version, read some criticism and biographical information, even organise an online chat with someone else who’d been reading it too… yes, I think that would be really interesting!
January 6, 2013 at 21:19
Exactly! I can see it being easier on those who don’t want to spend an entire day in Middlemarch (I love it but I can sort of see why others might not see the attraction after six hours or so :)) and find the processing needs to be acknowledged and included in the experience… Hmmm. Perhaps this ideas has legs to become an event of it’s own… :)
January 6, 2013 at 20:47
You made me smile Alex. That’s one of the things I usually do with a book that counts as a distraction from actually reading it all the way through. Yesterday I was good and made myself not do any research….but I found other things to distract me instead!
January 6, 2013 at 21:13
Hahaha, I have merely re-classified the distractions as study – everyone wins. :)
January 6, 2013 at 22:18
I like the idea of an intensive reading week! And anything that deepens your understanding of a book, author or time period isn’t a distraction – it’s an enhancement! How lucky we are to have such resources literally at our fingertips in this modern age. Now, if you found yourself surfing celebrity gossip . . . well, that’s another story. :)
January 7, 2013 at 12:15
Your thoughts on a study day sound great, enough variety to keep you going – I didn’t take part on Saturday but sticking to classics I can see being difficult. It would still be a readathon after all.