Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon discussion

During my several years of reading with Dewey's, I have found that certain criteria works for me. The criteria are for a variety of books, not just one book. For Dewey's, I often want to include books that are
* comic/illustrated
* shorter novels, such as long short stories/novellas.
* intended for younger readers, such as Juvenile or Young Adult
* funky-funny, such as those written by Dr Suess or Roald Dahl or Neil Gaiman or now Angela Carter
* Shorter works on my various buddy read and group read and personal challenge lists.

Tell us how you select books that you will read at Dewey's. Almost everyone I know at Deweys has lotsa options, but sometimes different genres or ages or something-else will help for variety and enjoyment.

most of my dewey books typically revolve around the various reading challenges that I'm doing.

But I always make sure to have 1-2 audiobooks on my to-go pile - so i can keep reading/listening while I take the dog for a walk or have to be a responsible functioning adult and do chores.

I normally try to save a couple of books by favorite authors to dig into during the dog hours of the morning (that 2-5am time period when it starts getting hard).

I may have a non-fiction as a heavy goal - and i try to read a chapter or so an hour - to make me think

I try to include books that are for whatever challenges I'm doing that month but also:

1. There has to be a couple of short books to start and finish during the readathon.
2. There's normally a book I've been reading and almost finished - I like to have an early sense of achievement in finishing at least one!
3. A graphic novel to whizz through and make a change from wordy books (this also increases page count quite rapidly!)
4. An audiobook - I always see others including these and think its a great idea but I don't normally read them and I struggle to turn to it even if its waiting!
5. I like to have a couple of really well known authors in my TBR like Terry Pratchett or Agatha Christie. I often read older more obscure books So I feel its important to include some well known works so that others recognise them and are able to comment on my TBR!

I have found that I do not enjoy anthologies for Deweys. I like to have audio for down time when I'm not in the mood to physically read or have stuff to do and move around, but I like to have a variety of genres so I can base what I read on my actual mood that day.

I like to take my Goodreads TBR, sort by page length (shortest to longest), and then get 10-20 short books from the library. I get the buzz of finishing a lot of books, plus I don't have time to get worn out on one before BAM, time for a new one! For me, that makes the late night hours a lot easier. Especially considering that a lot of my shorter books tend to be comics. More pictures is easier on tired eyes.

I like to read romance or YA indeed.
And listening to audiobooks to get some walks or other chores in.

Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* wrote: "I have found that I do not enjoy anthologies for Deweys. I like to have audio for down time when I'm not in the mood to physically read or have stuff to do and move around, but I like to have a var..."

I have one anthology I'm working on that's long and the stories are not short, but mini novellas to me, and I do want to finish this week, so may be able to get the rest of the stories except one read this week to finish the last on Saturday. Hm, Who knows!

Inge (Inge1990) wrote: "I like to read romance or YA indeed.
And listening to audiobooks to get some walks or other chores in."

Yeah, I don't want things heavy on Read-a-thon day. I like easy and lighter fare for the most part. I will do horror and mystery as well but again nothing too dense or literary for the most part

How do we find a 5 star book? I found a few on goodreads, but they only have 1-3 reviews. I’m sure it’s flexible, but what do y’all do?

Belina, I would suggest to look through your read shelf and check the books you've already rated 5 stars. Then you can either ask for recommendations based on them or just do some digging (same author, same style etc)

Rating is highly subjective, so I would look at the shelf of people that you know and where you know that they read and like similar things than you do. Then have a look at their 5-star ratings…

These are good ideas Lamilla and Cathy share. As for another idea--I hope others share more ideas--When I look at the page for any book I might be interested in reading, I often find listings for similar books, other books that usually rated the same number of stars. I can also tap or click on the tags/genre types listed to see what other "fantasy" or "biographies" or "young adult" books (just examples) that I might also enjoy. The page about any book liked or book considering to read has useful information.

If it's for the square on the bingo card...I would pick a new-to-me book by one of my favorite authors. I usually rate my favorite authors' books 5-stars so it's usually safe for me to assume one of their other books will be a 5-star read.

Or read the next book in a favorite series especially if the previous books have been 5-star reads for you.

Another thing I would consider is rereading a book that you rated 5-stars in the past or maybe a favorite book from your childhood.

Thanks, everybody! Yes, for the Bingo board. I didn’t realize it was just a book that I felt was 5 stars. I thought it had to be a book that many people voted as 5 stars. But, even the best award-winning books tend to average under 5 stars, because there are always those who don’t like it. I’ll pick a great book to me, then!