48 Hour Book Challenge

MotherReader is hosting the 4th Annual 48 Hour Book Challenge on her blog. Go visit to see the other participants and add your name if you are interested.

Here are the basic guidelines:

1. The weekend is June 5–7, 2009. Read and blog for any 48-hour period within the Friday-to-Monday-morning window. Start no sooner than 7:00 a.m. on Friday the fifth and end no later than 7:00 a.m. Monday. So, go from 7:00 p.m. Friday to 7:00 p.m. on Sunday... or maybe 7:00 a.m. Saturday to 7:00 a.m. Monday works better for you. But the 48 hours do need to be in a row. That said, during that 48-hour period you may still have gaps of time in which you can’t read, and that’s fine. (In the middle of the three different challenge weekends I’ve had to go to work, attend a ballet recital, and drive for a Girl Scout event.)


2. The books should be about fifth-grade level and up. Adult books are fine, especially if adult book bloggers want to play. If you are generally a picture book blogger, consider this a good time to get caught up on all those wonderful books you’ve been hearing about. With the change in the way prizes are awarded, graphic novels can be included in the reading. One audiobook can also be included in your time and book total.


3. It’s your call as to how much you want to put into it. If you want to skip sleep and showers to do this, go for it. If you want to be a bit more laid back, fine. But you have to put something into it or it’s not a challenge. Twelve hours is the benchmark for winning prizes.


4. The length of the reviews or notes written in your blog are not an issue. You can write a sentence, paragraph, or a full-length review. The time spent reviewing counts in your total time.


5. New this year, you can include some amount of time reading other participant's blogs, commenting on participating blogs and Facebook pages, and Twittering about your progress. For every five hours, you can add one hour of networking. This time counts in your total time.


6. On your blog, state when you are starting the challenge with a specific entry on that day and leave the link to that post at the MotherReader sign-in page with the trusty Mr. Linky.


7. When you finish, write a final summary that clearly indicates hours - including partial hours - you spent reading/reviewing/networking, the number of books read, and any other comments you want to make on the experience. It needs to be posted no later than noon, EST on Monday, June 8th. Also, check-in at the Finish Line post on MotherReader that will be posted Sunday and please link to that post from your final summary post.

I plan to start on Friday June 5, 2009 at 8pm and finish Sunday June 7 at 8pm.
This gives me time to settle in after evening routine and also to get home on Sunday night after spending the day at my parents.

I will be out part of the day on Saturday for my son's end-of-baseball party and probably will catch up my Sunday blogging all at once that evening since I will be at my parents. I will be reading, but won't have as much access to a computer.

I'm excited. I haven't done one of these before, but I think it will be fun. Besides I seriously need to catch up on reading and reviews!