Dewey's Readathon - October 2018

I am somehow always either in the midst of exams or buried under university essays when Dewey's readathon comes around every few months...but this time I am able to participate. It starts in about two hours (which is 11pm my time) and I officially signed up six minutes ago. Suffice to say it wasn't planned but that makes me think it was fated. Okay, maybe that's a bit of a stretch but I'm going to stick with that. It is written in the stars! I'm not sure if I'll be able to do the entire 24 hours as I have the sleeping habits of an old woman and need my 8 hours a night but I will try. And if not I will still have most of tomorrow! Now for my reading plans....

Since it is October and there is a thunderstorm happening outside of my window I will be reading as many gothic and/or horror stories as I can find amongst other books/texts I want to get to. This list is very much a living list that I may or may not follow depending on wherever the wind takes me. I won't just be reading straight books either. I may read academic articles, essays, poems, short stories, plays. I usually mix it up in general and tonight/tomorrow will be no exception.

Texts I plan to read before I inevitably fall asleep tonight: 

- Songs of Experience by William Blake
- Lazarus by Leonid Andreyev

- A Haunted House by Virginia Woolf
- Pyetushkov by Ivan Turgenev

Tomorrow's Mountain: 

- A Heavenly Christmas Tree by Fyodor Dostoyevsky 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Update: 7am / Hour 9:

I fell asleep about half an hour into the readathon last night which, let's face it, was bound to happen. I did manage to read Songs of Experience by William Blake and a Haunted House by Virginia Woolf though. Now I'm onto the Heavenly Christmas Tree by Fyodor Dostoyevsky which is only a few pages long and is like a caffeine shot before I get into other books I want to read today!

Update: 8.29 am / Hour 10:

I've had breakfast, coffee and finished the Heavenly Christmas Tree. I'm spoilt for choice but Daphnis and Chloe by Longus seems to be calling to me from my desk...

Update: 9.51 am / Hour 11:

I spent ten minutes looking at all my books and I have a pile next to me that for some reason or other are calling to me: Turgenev's First Love and Other Stories, The Norton Anthology of Poetry, Longus' Daphnis and Chloe, Fall of the Roman Republic by Plutarch, The Last Day of a Condemned Man by Victor Hugo, Three Gothic Novels, a collection of Dostoyevsky short stories and some Greek plays. I've decided to start reading Iphigenia in Tauris by Euripides and that should take me to midday at least! 

Update: 10.18 am / Hour 12:

For some reason I had an urge to look at a list of fragments of ancient female writers I wanted to read and I read Erinna's the Distaff and her Three Epigrams. So the texts I've read so far are:

• Songs of Experience by William Blake (18th century)
• A Haunted House by Virginia Woolf (20th Century)
• The Heavenly Christmas Tree by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (19th Century)
• The Distaff and Three Epigrams by Erinna (4th Century B.C)

Update: 12.15pm / Hour 14

I am currently reading Iphigenia in Tauris. I'm feeling fatigued today on account of staying up till midnight last night (early for some but I'm used to sleeping at 9/10) but I'm getting into this play. I love Euripides (one of my favourite writers) and when I get halfway I'm sure I'll read the rest pretty fast. I'm also contemplating reading a poem or two. My copy of the Norton Anthology of Poetry is calling me.

Update: 2.07 pm / Hour 16 

I am continuing with Iphigenia in Tauris and I took a little break to write a post on The Songs of Innocence by William Blake because with all of this reading I'm doing today I'll be writing posts for a fortnight! I also just read "On Shakespeare" by John Milton which a short but beautiful poem. I'll probably read a few more poems from my Norton Anthology before the day is over. Maybe some more William Blake as I am currently obsessed with his poetry.

Texts read so far: (updated) 

• Songs of Experience by William Blake 
• A Haunted House by Virginia Woolf 
• The Heavenly Christmas Tree by Fyodor Dostoyevsky 
• The Distaff and Three Epigrams by Eninna 
• On Shakespeare by John Milton
• William Blake: To the Muses, Song, To the Evening Star 

Update: 6.01 pm / Hour 20

Well....I fell asleep. I definitely need to plan the next readathon better because I didnt get enough sleep last night and I felt fatigued all day. I do feel better now and there's still a few hours left so I'll continue with Iphigenia in Tauris and hopefully get through some more of the Turgenev I'm reading and whatever is beyond that remains to be seen!