Friday, June 10, 2011

A Serious Challenge: Reading Fast


Since I enjoyed last week's 48 Hour Reading Challenge so much, I thought I'd try another challenge this weekend.  This one is much harder, so hard that I'm very dubious about my chances of making it through.

I'm going to try to go 48 hours without reading.  That's right -- the challenge isn't about swift reading, it's about a lapse in reading.  No books, no magazines, no internet.  Well, no text-based internet; maybe I'll play World of Warcraft for hours and just ignore the quest descriptions.  And if I drive places I'll read the traffic signs.  I've written up book reviews to post through the weekend, and recruited my younger son to handle pressing facebook game responsibilities (the Fish Wrangler Boat Must Roll!).

My older son has offered to join me on this dangerous voyage, with the helpful incentive that if either of us falls off the illiteracy wagon the penalty is providing breakfast in bed to the more successful contestant.

My sister has offered to sponsor me in this; I'm sure she's expecting a very small outlay after I crumble around 9:15 and fling myself into a book.  (I'm planning to go from 9:00 PM Friday -- 9 PM Sunday.) For obvious reasons, I do not plan on posting updates during the challenge, unless I fail.  Wish me luck!

2 comments:

Birgit said...

Oh I sooo could not do that... That's my idea of torture !

But I've got my fingers crossed for you :)

Even in Australia said...

I could never do it either. Since the births of my children I have gone more time than I'd like to admit without reading books but I read The New York Times (at least some of it) every day - in hard copy. When it hasn't arrived by breakfast, it's definitely a bad start to the day.