The Great Read-a-Thon: 2013

We successfully completed our first Great Read-a-Thon! Hooray!

*UPDATE for 2013*: The Great Read-a-Thon for 2013 is over. . .and Ariana won! Scroll down to the bottom to see the book list!

As predicted, Kristen was the winner. I was going to include plays, but then I realized that reading a lot of plays is sort of cheating and cheating is strictly reserved for solitaire and competitive eating competitions in my book, so I disqualified myself. Besides, if I can read and count a bunch of plays, why couldn't Kristen just decide to count all 9485 papers she read on Hematodinium? If she did that then I wouldn't even have a fighting chance!

UPDATE from Ariana: (1-31-13)

I'm recently a DeFrancophile (A watcher/lover of the Philp DeFranco show) and as such, I saw the recent PDS on his Goodreads book club. Often finding the book to sit down and read is complicated and energy-zapping, so that's always been one of the reasons I tell myself I've been reading less. The great thing about the book club is that even if I never discuss a single novel, I'll have a whole list of great reading options at my fingertips. I went ahead and signed up for a book-reading challenge this year of 30 books. It isn't a resolution. It's just a goal. If I don't achieve it I won't result to self-flagellation or a hanging at dawn. I just want to track myself publicly outside this blog so I know I'm doing it and other people know it is being done.

UPDATE from Ariana: (4-9-13)
So I updated last about the Philly D Book Club and I'm sad to say that he hasn't been pulling his weight by selecting books and keeping up with the program. I'm disappointed because I was sure I was going to get some very interesting suggestions. 

I up'ed my reading challenge this year to 50 books. I'm currently at 12 books read, leaving me 1 behind if I want to finish in good shape this year. I imagine I might even get more behind, but we shall see. If you want to track that progress, find me on Goodreads.

Anyway, here are the slightly updated rules for the 2013 Great Read-a-Thon:

RULE NUMBER ONE: We have to have read the ENTIRE book. Example: I was assigned to read Ulysses by James Joyce for class but then our teacher had us read the last third and segments from Dubliners. I don’t get credit for either book because I didn’t actually read them in their entirety. That said, Kristen and I have both read Dubliners before in high school, so that wouldn’t count anyway. This leads me to. . .

RULE NUMBER TWO: You can’t list books you’ve already read unless you don’t remember reading them at all. AT ALL!
RULE NUMBER THREE: Academic papers, single short stories (an entire collection/book is OK) and plays don't count. 

*Final Update - 1/2/2014*

Ariana: 28

The Imperfectionists - Tom Rachman
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business - Charles Duhigg
About a Boy - Nick Hornby
Looking for Alaska - John Green
Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell
Sad Desk Salad - Jessica Grose
How to Talk to a Widower - Jonathan Tropper
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer
Shit My Dad Says - Justin Halpern
Dash and Lily's Book of Dares - Rachel Cohn
One Last Thing Before I Go - Jonathan Tropper
Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops - Jen Campbell
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick
Dog Days - Gene Gregorits
Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson
Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut
Language Myths - Laurie Bauer
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian - Sherman Alexie
A Dance With Dragons - George R. R. Martin
The Giver - Lois Lowry
Dog Days: Volume II - Gene Gregorits
The Fault in Our Stars - John Green
Remember Me? - Sophie Kinsella
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs
Attachments - Rainbow Rowell
Fury - Salman Rushdie
City of Bones - Cassandra Clare
City of Ashes - Cassandra Clare

Kristen: 14

Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
A Free Life - Ha Jin
East of Eden - John Steinbeck
Vamped - David Sosnowski
Micro - Michael Crichton
Snow - Orhan Pamuk
The Game - Neil Strauss
Among Penguins - Noah Strycker
Dreaming Water - Gail Tsukiyama
The Yiddish Policeman's Union - Michael Chabon
The Cellist of Sarajevo - Steven Galloway
The Bridges of Madison County - Robert James Waller
Educating Alice - Alice Steinbach
Kabul Beauty School - Deborah Rodriguez

Check back regularly to see if we’ve read anything else. Kristen will probably win. Again.