Heena’s Comments (group member since Oct 13, 2014)

Heena’s comments from the RMFAO (Reading My Frigging A** Off) group.

Happy 2022, everyone (in advance!)

First off, congrats for having made it through another challenging year of the 21st century! While the world is now covered with the threat of the spread of Omicron, we need to keep moving in order to not let anything, not even a pandemic, stop us from living our lives. It can get difficult sometimes, but please know that we all are here for each other always!

I would like to open this year's genre challenge by saying a big THANK YOU to our wonderful and hardworking moderators, Dagny and Cheryl, who are always there to help us all navigate through the tricky waters of reading slumps and are always armed with great book recommendations! So, a big thank you to you both!

I would also like to thank each and every member of the RMFAO family who have made it possible for our little group, RMFAO, to be what it is today - a cosy corner for all book lovers and a place to freely discuss books. It is you, especially all the active members, who keep the spirit of this group alive. So Thank You <3
I hope this year brings with it a lot of books, happiness and reading time for you all!

At RMFAO we always begin our year with a Science-Fiction month and this year, keeping up with our tradition, we'll be starting 2022 with a month full of amazing science-fiction reads, old and new alike.

There are absolutely no limits so you can interpret this genre in its broader sense and include other similar genres and/or subgenres that you feel might have a wee bit of similarity with the main genre. You can also include books that are not particularly centred around the main genre but has their components or elements somewhere in the story.

The main intent of this challenge is to incorporate different kinds of books and genres in our normal reading routine to make the experience more fun and entertaining. Please do not lose yourself in the technicalities as we all know how literary genres can be confusing.
If you have any doubts or questions, then post them below and we'll be happy to answer/discuss them.

Here is the DEFINITION for this month's genre:

Science-Fiction: Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or scifi) is a genre of speculative fiction, typically dealing with imaginative concepts such as futuristic science and technology, space travel, time travel, faster than light travel, parallel universes, and extraterrestrial life. Science fiction often explores the potential consequences of scientific and other innovations, and has been called a "literature of ideas." It usually eschews the supernatural, and unlike the related genre of fantasy, historically science fiction stories were intended to have at least a faint grounding in science-based fact or theory at the time the story was created, but this connection has become tenuous or non-existent in much of science fiction.

If you want a list of some latest Science Fiction releases then check this page: https://www.goodreads.com/genres/scie...

Here's a quick summary of the levels:
Level 1: Casual Reader: 1 book (easy)
Level 2: Frequent Reader: 2 books (moderate)
Level 3: Bookworm: 3 books (mildly strenuous)
Level 4: Bibliophile: 4 books (strenuous)
Level 5: Bookiopath: 5 books or more (challenging)

Please mention what type of books you'd be reading:

PB: Paperbacks
HB: Hardbacks
EB: E-Books
AB: Audio Books

Please feel free to announce your to-read books along with the level you are targeting for below. Though it is not necessary as you can announce your reads as and when you decide or read them.

PLEASE READ (especially new members):
1. You can read any number of books for the respective genre every month.
2. You can join the challenge at any stage (in any month.)
3. You can drop out of the challenge any time you like.
4. You can select different levels every month.
5. Use this discussion board to share your reads with other members of the group.
6. Please be active and don't hesitate to ask questions or recommend books.
7. You can couple this challenge with any other challenge here (or anywhere else.) We all do it and it makes it all the more fun!

Happy reading!

Thanks, Dagny!

So I finally checked my last year's progress and turns out I read only 26 audiobooks last year! I was sure it was way more. Lol. Anyway, this year I am planning to go for Level 4 with at least 50 books. Hopefully, I'll be able to meet my goal! I know one thing for sure - you guys inspire me so much. SO many people read more than 50 and even 100 books!! I hope I can read 100 audiobooks sometime!

I am finishing at Level 3 though, I had hoped to read way more than 26 audiobooks. Hopefully next year I'll be able to do it.

Great going Lorraine, Fran and Dagny! You guys were on fire this year!!

Updating my list:

#22 9 Step Negativity Detox by Domonique Bertolucci - 4/5 (A nice book for a quick positivity fix.)
#23 Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Roony - 1/5 (Had to DNF as the book was literally making no sense, but I think it might have been because of the narration style.)
#24 Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman - 4/5 (what a marvellous dramatic narration this book had! Loved it.)
#25 The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling - 5/5 (A brilliant book! And what an amazing narration!)
#26 What to Say When You Talk to Yourself - Updated - 4/5 (A wonderful book to understand the concept of self-talk and how to implement it.)

Cheryl wrote: "I'll be preparing for my travels that start later this week, and next week I'll be away. Have a great holiday, everyone!"

Happy Holidays, Cheryl!!

Omg, I first need to update my count for 2021 and then figure out books for 2022!
Any gothic-horror/surreal mystery suggestions anyone?

Excellent ideaa, Dagny. This will help all of us!
I have a couple of names to share for good narrators but I'll just go through my reading list for this year again to make sure I get them all. Will share it once I am through.

I hope you'll be able to join us for more genres this year Beth! As Dagny said, even I sometimes read less or even entirely miss out on some months but then there are other months that have our favourite genre! Really looking forward to begin anew in this amazing new year!!

This is of great help, Dagny! And this makes this challenge feel a little less challenging. I was not aware of this, so thanks a lot for clearing this up. So basically what is important is a link and not the order - great! I can't wait to begin this challenge!!

Dear RMFAO members,

We have a new challenge for you all! Suggested by Cheryl and fine-tuned by Cheryl, Dagny and me, we bring to you the RMFAO 2022 Theme-Link Challenge.
It is a quarterly chain reading challenge and can be done with any number of books or as many times as you wish.

For this challenge, you can start with reading ANY book by ANY author. It will be counted as your first book in a chain. Then your next book must have a common link (or theme) with the previous book. When linking books, Book 1 and Book 2 must share one theme/link in common. Then Book 2 and Book 3 must share another link/theme in common and so on. So only 2 books share a single "link" in common at any time.

For example: If your first book is The Goddess then you can read The Only Good Indians linking these two books with the theme of ‘cultural taboo violation.’ Then The Only Good Indians can be linked to Beasts through the link of ‘disturbing hybrid animals’ theme. Then Beasts can be linked to Bel Ria with ‘animal on their own’ theme.

You can try to continue this pattern for as long as you can. This one unbroken chain will be one RUN.

RULES:
1) This is a quarterly challenge. The 'runs' will be reset every 3 months (every quarter) throughout the year. All the books read in each quarter are eligible for runs in that particular quarter only. You can begin fresh every 3 months. If you are in the middle of a run when a quarter ends, then you will have to abandon that run and begin a new run for the new quarter.
2) You can have as many 'runs' as you wish in each quarter. The minimum number of books in a run is 4. We don't have a limit for the maximum number of books in a run (so you can read a total of 4, 5, 6, 10, 12 books - totally up to you!)
3) Books can be repeated in multiple runs in the same quarter provided the themes linking the same book are different in each run.
4) Authors can be repeated in multiple runs as well as over different quarters.

Quaterly Levels:
Level 1: Frequent Reader: 1 Run (moderate)
Level 2: Bookworm: 2 Runs (strenuous)
Level 3: Bibliophile: 3+ Runs (challenging)
You can announce the level you'd be aiming for every quarter at the start of the quarter.

You can download this image here: https://heenarathorep.files.wordpress...

We understand that this is a new challenge and there are bound to be some confusion in the initial months, but that is okay. It is part of the fun, it is, after all, a challenge!
If you have any doubts or want to discuss anything with us, then simply drop a comment here and one of us will definitely get back to you regarding your query. Please remember even we, the moderators, are figuring it out as we go along.

Please share your progress on this thread, just like we do on the other challenge threads.

Other reading challenges that you can participate in:
✒︎ RMFAO 2022 Classics Catchup
✒︎ RMFAO 2022 Classics Catchup
✒︎ RMFAO 2022 Series Challenge
✒︎ RMFAO 2022 Audiobook Challenge
✒︎ RMFAO 2022 Author Alphabet Challenge

Happy Reading!

PS: This challenge was suggested by Cheryl who participates in Six Degrees Of Separation Challenge. This challenge is a variation of that challenge.

Hello dear members of RMFAO,

We all love reading series (how can we not, right?) There are so many amazing series that we simply can't have enough of. Reading about the familiar characters, following their lives one book after the other and exploring their worlds intimately is an entirely different experience than reading a standalone novel.

Reading a series is like living in different-different fictional worlds in a true sense. But so many times, much to our dismay, we fail to complete these series even the ones we love that were started long ago. Sometimes "real life" comes in the way and other times procrastination does, but in spite of everything we still think about reading those leftover books and completing those series, but to no avail.

This challenge is devised for this very problem, and we are happy to present the 8th instalment of this extraordinary challenge - RMFAO 2022 Series Challenge.

RMFAO 2022 Series Challenge is here to give you an opportunity to complete the series you've longed to complete for a long time (or maybe even recently)! You can even start with a fresh series and try to complete it within the year. Just pick a level you want to aim for and start reading.

Levels:
Level 1: Casual Reader: 1-2 series (easy)
Level 2: Frequent Reader: 3-5 series (moderate)
Level 3: Bookworm: 6-8 series (mildly strenuous)
Level 4: Bibliophile: 9-10 series (strenuous)
Level 5: Bookiopath: 11 series or more (challenging)

You can download this image here: https://heenarathorep.files.wordpress...

There are absolutely no rules for this challenge. All you have to do is complete as many series as you can, new and old alike.

Feel free to use this discussion board for recommending books, discussing the ones you're reading or really love and posting links to the books or your reviews.

Other challenges that you can participate in:
✒︎ RMFAO 2022 Classics Catchup
✒︎ RMFAO 2022 Classics Catchup
✒︎ RMFAO 2022 Audiobook Challenge
✒︎ RMFAO 2022 Author Alphabet Challenge
✒︎ RMFAO 2022 Theme-Link Challenge

Happy Reading!

Hello dear members of RMFAO,

With the evolution of technology, the book industry has also progressed by leaps and bounds. Where there were only physical books available at one time, there came ebooks and took the world by storm. As we progressed ahead in time, a new format introduced itself in which readers could enjoy stories in audio format. Audiobooks instantly won everyone's heart as not only were they easy to carry (like ebooks) but also one could listen to them while doing something else that was mundane, like driving or cycling or washing clothes or cooking, or anything really because now there is no need to hold the book physically in your hands to read.

Today, many readers prefer listening to audiobooks over other formats, but there are few who either don't like audiobooks or simply haven't got the chance to explore them enough. No matter which category you belong to, this challenge is meant to help you listen to more audiobooks!!

All you have to do is pick a Level, and try and listen to at least that many audiobooks in the entire year. Simple. No rules whatsoever.

Levels:
Level 1: Casual Reader: 1-10 books (easy)
Level 2: Frequent Reader: 10-25 books (moderate)
Level 3: Bookworm: 25-50 (mildly strenuous)
Level 4: Bibliophile: 50-100 (strenuous)
Level 5: Bookiopath: 100 books or more (challenging)

You can download this image here: https://heenarathorep.files.wordpress...

Feel free to use this discussion board for recommending books, discussing the ones you're reading or really love and posting links to the books or your reviews.

Other challenges that you can participate in:
✒︎ RMFAO 2022 Classics Catchup
✒︎ RMFAO 2022 Classics Catchup
✒︎ RMFAO 2022 Series Challenge
✒︎ RMFAO 2022 Author Alphabet Challenge
✒︎ RMFAO 2022 Theme-Link Challenge

If you are as crazy about reading as we are then go wild combining all or any challenges to spice up your reading lists!

Happy listening!

Hello all the dear members of RMFAO,

After a year full of various ups and downs both literal and metaphorical, we are yet again staring at the end of another year. I personally still feel kind of stuck in the year 2020 somehow, not being able to comprehend how the time went by and yet at the same time not able to bear the thought of being stuck in 2020 It is weird, to say the least. I am sure many of you might feel the same way or something similar to it. If you don't, then consider yourself lucky! For those of us who do feel this way though I think I speak for everyone here that books are one of those things that helped save our souls and sanity!

When I started RMFAO in 2014, it was only because I was obsessed with the idea of being a part of a book club. But looking back I now realize that I never thought that one day it will become a place of refuge for likeminded bookslovers where we will be able to find respite when the world around us would crumble. Through the thick and thins of life and having faced (and still facing) and dealing with the consequences of a calamitous epidemic, I would like to welcome you all with open arms and a warm smile to come join us for another year of finding ourselves by being lost in the various fictional, fantasy and even non-fictional worlds - wherever your mind and heart may find peace.

Dear readers, Moderators Dagny and Cheryl and I are here with the 8th instalment of one of our original reading challenges RMFAO 2022 Genre Challenge .

With 17 genres to be read over 12 months and a special game month in July, we are back with loads of adventures for the daring booklovers.

For those who are new here, in Genre Challenge we read one genre every month (two genres when we have the alternate-genre months.) We post the genre list in advance so that everyone can plan their reads in advance. The focus of this challenge is not only to read more books in the genre we love but also to explore new, long-forgotten, unfamiliar or lesser-known genres. As we don't want to burden or restrict the participants by specifying sub-genres because that creates a very different set of its own problems that will hinder the actual reading. Therefore, you can pick the sub-genres as per your convenience.
You do not have to buy new books to participate in this challenge; all you have to do is go through the books you already have and organise your TBR-list as per the genres for this challenge.
Another, one of the coolest things, about this challenge is that the modtoreras are super awesome and keep on sharing tons of resources and recommendations!!

In order to participate, simply announce your participation here (you can even blog about it if you want to.)

And now it's time to unveil the Genre List!

RMFAO 2022 Genre-List:
‣ January - Science-Fiction
‣ February* - Women's Fiction or Westerns
‣ March - Mystery-Thriller
‣ April* - Young Adult or Graphic Novels
‣ May* - Classics or Literary Fiction
‣ June - Non-Fiction
‣ July - Game Month**
‣ August - Contemporary Fiction
‣ September* - Humour or World Fiction
‣ October - Horror
‣ November* - Historical or Steampunk
‣ December* - Adventure or Fantasy

*Alternate-Genre Month - For these months, we will have 2 genre options to choose from. You can pick and do either of the two or both, it's totally upto you!

**Game Month - We will be sharing 4 Game Options with you and you will have to pick your reads according to the Game Options or Challenges. The Challenges/Options will be revealed 15 days before the Game Month begins on the Game Month Thread.

Monthly Levels:
Level 1: Casual Reader: 1-2 books (easy)
Level 2: Frequent Reader: 2-4 books (moderate)
Level 3: Bookworm: 4-6 books (mildly strenuous)
Level 4: Bibliophile: 6-8 books (strenuous)
Level 5: Bookiopath: 8 books or more (challenging)

You can announce the level you'd be going for each month on the respective discussion threads which we will share here every month.

Also, don't forget to mention what type of books you'd be reading:
HB: Hardbacks
PB: Paperbacks
EB: E-Books
AB: Audio Books

You can download this image here: https://heenarathorep.files.wordpress...

PLEASE READ (especially new members):
1. You can read any number of books for the respective genre each month in one particular month.
2. Take your time and go through your entire TBR-list before deciding the books to read.
3. You can join the challenge at any stage (in any month.)
4. You can drop out of the challenge any time you like.
5. You can select different levels every month.
6. Use this discussion board to share your reads with other members of the group.
7. Please be active and don't hesitate to ask questions or recommend books.
8. We encourage social shares, so if you'd be sharing or mentioning this challenge on your social media, don't forget to tag - #RMFAO and @thereadingbud

For any queries, you can post a comment or send a message to the group or the mods any time. We'd love to hear from you!

Other challenges that you can participate in:
✒︎ RMFAO 2022 Classics Catchup
✒︎ RMFAO 2022 Series Challenge
✒︎ RMFAO 2022 Audiobook Challenge
✒︎ RMFAO 2022 Author Alphabet Challenge
✒︎ RMFAO 2022 Theme-Link Challenge

If you're as crazy about reading and books as we are, then go wild combining all or any challenges to spice up your reading lists!

All The Best and Happy Reading!

Cheryl wrote: "Thanks for the info, Heena! It says on Goodreads this book was inspired by the movie Crimson Peak. I liked that movie, so I’m definitely going to try this book."

Yes, Cheryl, it was the main inspiration behind this book. I haven't watched the film, but now I will definitely watch it. Also, I loved the narration of this audiobook, so if you can get the audiobook I think it would be great. The narrator really made the character of Jane come alive!!

1) The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling - 5/5

This book has very polarised reviews, you will either love it or hate it. Fortunately for me, I absolutely loved it (and have no clue why someone might not like it.) This book is pretty heavy on emotions and at one point I felt that I was Jane and going insane. Talk about realistic! It gets very surreal towards the end and very tense too. I would highly recommend it to all gothic paranormal fantasy readers (not exactly fantasy more like surreal fiction with magic-realism.)
My review can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Thanks a lot Cheryl & Fran!

Oh, and I love some of the other books by Nora Roberts, so I'll also look out for this trilogy! Thanks for the rec!!

Sorry I finally got the time to show up here for more than 2 minutes! It had been a crazy month and now I have my exams. I doubt I'll be able to read anything as my exams will end on 24th and then I have a surgery planned for the month-end, so I will most likely be absent for the rest of the month/year.

All the best and happy reading to you all! I'll see you all next year for Sci-Fi month!!

Sorry, I forgot to share this earlier, here's the link to the December thread - Adventure Or Fantasy genre: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Sorry, I forgot to share this earlier, here's the link to the December thread - Adventure Or Fantasy genre: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Hello, dear RMFAO members,

We are at the end of another great year and keeping up with our tradition, we'll be embarking on some amazing adventurous and magical journeys to end the year on a high note. For December, we have options of 2 amazing genres (that can also be coupled together easily!) - Fantasy OR Adventure.
As always, you can choose to do either or both the genres, whatever suits you. You can join anytime during the entire month and read as many (or as few) books as you can manage, with no restrictions whatsoever!

If you are a regular fantasy or adventure genre reader then we request you to please recommend some awesome books to the other members. Others, please feel free to ask for suggestions and recs. Reviews of books are greatly appreciated and we are okay with anyone posting relevant links too.

There are absolutely no limits so you can interpret this genre in its broader sense and include other similar genres and/or subgenres that you feel might have a wee bit of similarity with the main genre. You can also include books that are not particularly centred around the main genre but has their components or elements somewhere in the story.

The main intent of this challenge is to incorporate different kinds of books and genres in our normal reading routine to make the experience more fun and entertaining. Please do not lose yourself in the technicalities as we all know how literary genres can be confusing.
If you have any doubts or questions, then post them below and we'll be happy to answer/discuss them.

Here are the DEFINITIONs for this month's genres:

Adventure: Adventure fiction is a genre of fiction in which an adventure, an exciting undertaking involving risk and physical danger, forms the main storyline. Adventure fiction often overlaps with other genres, notably war novels, crime novels, sea stories, spy fiction, science fiction, fantasy, and Westerns. Though, not all books within these genres are adventures. Adventure fiction takes the setting and premise of these other genres, but the fast-paced plot of an adventure focuses on the actions of the hero within the setting.

Fantasy: Fantasy is a genre that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting. Fantasy is generally distinguished from science fiction and horror by the expectation that it steers clear of technological and macabre themes, respectively, though there is a great deal of overlap between the three (collectively known as speculative fiction or science fiction/fantasy.)

Here's a quick summary of the levels:

Level 1: Casual Reader: 1 book (easy)
Level 2: Frequent Reader: 2 books (moderate)
Level 3: Bookworm: 3 books (mildly strenuous)
Level 4: Bibliophile: 4 books (strenuous)
Level 5: Bookiopath: 5 books or more (challenging)

Please mention what type of books you'd be reading:

PB: Paperbacks
HB: Hardbacks
EB: E-Books
AB: Audio Books

Please feel free to announce your to-read books along with the level you are targeting for below. Though it is not necessary as you can announce your reads as and when you decide or read them.

PLEASE READ (especially new members):
1. You can read any number of books for the respective genre every month.
2. You can join the challenge at any stage (in any month.)
3. You can drop out of the challenge any time you like.
4. You can select different levels every month.
5. Use this discussion board to share your reads with other members of the group.
6. Please be active and don't hesitate to ask questions or recommend books.
7. You can couple this challenge with any other challenge here (or anywhere else.) We all do it and it makes it all the more fun!

Happy reading!