Your host for the next four hours is Trish, and Bethany will co-host for two hours, and then Shesten will take over for her. For the next 4 hours, I (Trish) will be typing up the hosts, and Bethany or Shesten will be checking Twitter, checking in with readers, making sure I don’t screw up, and being generally awesome. It’ll be so much fun!

Make sure you check out the Welcome post! It will give you a lot of information that you’ll need. Even if you’ve read it before, you might want to read it again…I mention some new buttons!

Our first mini-challenge for you is the Hour 1 meme that Darcy wrote up quite a few read-a-thons ago. I’d alter it but I’m all about traditions, man!

Where are you reading from today?

3 facts about me …

How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?

Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)?

If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, Any advice for people doing this for the first time?

Come back and sign the Mr. Linky below and we’ll draw 5 winners randomly. Each winner gets a book prize pack, and the first winner will also get the chocolate monkey you see on the right. Again, it’s tradition!

This will be open for two full hours, so no rush!

Have fun and let the reading begin!

Your hosts for the next sixteen hours are Hannah and Trish. Trish will be writing the posts for the first eight hours and Hannah will be tweeting, visiting Readers, keeping Trish from screwing up, answering any questions, checking email, and being fabulous.

This first hour, let’s start with the introduction meme Darcie wrote a few read-a-thons ago. It’ll help us all get to know each other a little bit. Here are the questions she asked:

Where are you reading from today?

3 facts about me …

How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?

Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)?

If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, Any advice for people doing this for the first time?

If you come back here and sign Mr Linky with the link to your answers to the meme, you’ll be eligible for a prize drawing that will be held Hour 4. The prize package will be:

1. Three books of your choice of three books from the prize list.
2. Pirate Booty! Here’s a little picture:

Have fun reading!