National Readathon Day 2015!

 

Welcome to National Readathon Day! Wondering what it's all about? In a nutshell the aim is to get people all over the world reading for 4 hours from 12pm in their time zone. There's fundraising involved to help keep people interested in reading, more information can be found about this extremely new celebration day on The National Book Foundation website.

The Nayu bubble is a wonderful place to be!

Knowing that I live in a bit of a bubble by not always having my finger on the pulse of the latest book news (mostly due to the need to rest lots for my health and my personal enjoyment of 'switching off' from the world) I learnt about today from a mattress publicist. Yes it's a bit random, but I'm thankful to Casper, a new mattress company in the United States who have a mattress that I quote 'ships right to your door in a box the size of a mini fridge'. I don't benefit in any way by providing links to their site, nor have I tried their mattress out since I'm in the UK, but I love the concept of a mattress being that small when it arrives at my house. Maybe one day Casper will make it across the pond... 

I can see my magical cross-the-big-pond carrier doves winging their way with this sort of small box to me, or even imagine it bobbing about in the ocean...

Sorry for getting distracted! Casper contacted me because, as part of National Readathon Day, they are asking bloggers what books they have on their nightstand. Now, since I regularly state which books I read each week in the What Are You Reading? meme on Monday, I'm doing something a little different. I could talk about my nightly reading routine, but I can't. I don't have one. 

Say what???

Before you glare at me, these days my body runs out of energy way before bedtime, so reading is out of the question. And, even when I can muster the energy, reading before bedtime for me is fairly fatal in the sense that I'd lose track of time and finish the book...

I'd burn lots of candles!

...leaving myself too tired to function the next day.

Most days I go to work, sadly without a squirrel friend and such a funky outfit.

 I could talk about reading during the day, which I do a lot, 

 but that doesn't involve a bed unless I'm ill and need to rest in my room.

So instead I'm talking about my morning routine. 

Ah, reading over hot chocolate or herbal tea!

No, not that kind of morning reading! Early morning, before 6 am. 

In winter it's early and the stars are still out. In summer the sun can be awake before me.

 Sometimes I'm able to fit in a few hours of reading before I start my day. This happens when I wake super early - 3am starts are not uncommon for me, due to unconsciously worrying about something, or more frequently my pain waking me up. While I usually reach for anime to distract me at times like that, first thing after waking I often want as few of the 5 senses to be used as possible. Anime involves listening and watching and, if it's my usual non-English anime, engaging brain to translate the language used. I can't always handle being that much awake when my body simply wants to sleep but can't. 

Now this is an awesome 'bed' to sleep in!

Reading books means I can go at my own pace, I know that lots of bright colours and cheery music won't disrupt my super slow way of waking up.

When I wake that early, I frequently feel like an overtired toddler.

It's wonderful to snuggle under the covers with my favourite toys and discover new awesome reads.

Not quite in bed but the cute toy is there!

Books are magical, hugely distracting and it's kind of cool knowing that there won't be loads of people reading a book at 3am, since many are snoozing away, having their heads filled with dreams hopefully influenced by the books they read before bed. 

Books are one of many things which influence what we dream each night. I prefer peaceful dreams! Sadly the books which influence my dreams tend to be the scary ones...

I think promoting National Readathon Day 2015 is important because books open doors to new worlds, they can be a thrilling escape from a dull day or provide comfort when you're going through 'stuff'. Books are great at bed time, in the mornings, and in the day.

Where will your book take you?

Please feel free to share when and what you read, whether before you fall asleep or after you wake up, and all the times between!

Books rule!