James Madison College hosted its seventh annual Marathon Book Reading on Saturday morning. Vonnegut’s book was read cover to cover, with pizza, drinks and coffee provided near the conclusion of the reading.

Since the start of the event in 2004, the length of a typical read can last anywhere from 12 to 23 hours, said Rod Phillips, associate professor of humanities, culture and writing. Participants in the first reading, Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick” lasted through a 22 and a half hour read and discovered it was something that should be continued, Phillips said.

“I’ll see people from that ‘Moby Dick’ reading and it’s almost like you’re kind of blood brothers,” Phillips said.

“There’s kind of this secret handshake between each other.”

Madhouse, the James Madison College organization that began the marathon reading, originally was approached by professors and asked to create an open-mic night to showcase the creative works of students, international relations junior Olivia Courant said.

Madhouse’s members decide on which novel to read — with length as a non-issue.

“If we have a long book, we start early in the morning and hardly anyone shows up,” Courant said. “Who’s really going to show up at 6 a.m. on a Saturday?”

Previous works of the event include Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass,” Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” and Salman Rushdie’s “Midnight’s Children.”

Phillips said the event is meant to bring students and faculty of the college together where the pressure of testing on a novel is nonexistent.

“Part of it is hearing (the novel) out loud,” Phillips said. “It turns literature into a public act. Words on a printed page are transformed into human language in a real, meaningful way.”