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

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

Hey everyone, I've created the next month's thread- November- Fantasy + Gothic: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Hello guys,

It's November already and now, finally, it is time to read one of the best genres of all time -Fantasy!
This month’s genres are Fantasy and Gothic Fiction
As always, there are absolutely no limits. Read what you want to in the broader sense of the genres.

Here are the definitions for each genre:

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 list of Fantasy books: https://www.goodreads.com/genres/fantasy

Gothic: Gothic fiction is a genre of literature that combines elements of both the uncanny and romance. As a genre, it is generally believed to have been invented by the English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto. Gothic fiction is considered to be the parent genre for both Horror and Mystery, among other genres.
Prominent features of Gothic fiction include terror (both psychological and physical), mystery, the supernatural, ghosts, haunted houses and Gothic architecture, castles, darkness, death, decay, doubles, madness, secrets, and hereditary curses.

The stock characters of Gothic fiction include tyrants, villains, bandits, maniacs, Byronic heroes, persecuted maidens, femmes fatales, monks, nuns, madwomen, magicians, vampires, werewolves, monsters, demons, angels, fallen angels, revenants, ghosts, perambulating skeletons, the Wandering Jew and the Devil himself.

Here's a list of Gothic books: https://www.goodreads.com/genres/gothic

***

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 feel free to announce the books you're planning to read along with the level you are targeting for.

All the very best and happy reading!

My updates NetGalley booklist:

#19 Ghostbusters: Who Ya Gonna Call?
#20 The Trap
#21 Security
#22 Friction
#23 The Things We Keep
#24 The Couple Next Door

Kensley wrote: "Sadly, I'll only have a a few (probably) knocked out on my NetGalley list, as I've been approved for 13 books and I just became a member yesterday (I just found out about this site a week or so ago..."

That's totally fine, Kensley. Even I didn't read a lot (a least not as much as I planned to anyway.) And 13 books are really good considering that you joined NetGalley yesterday!
I hope you'll finish at least a couple of them before the year ends :)
And the good thing is you can join the next year's challenge from the start :)

Hi, Kensley. Welcome to RMFAO! You are indeed a very cool mom! I see that you are an aspiring author... Good to meet another writer. ☺
I hope you'll make a lot of new friends here and get tons of new book reccomendations.
See you around.

Dagny wrote: "It really depends so much on the book. I've found series mysteries to work the best for me. Not the first book, but later books when you are already familiar with the characters. These were what I ..."

Lighter and shorter books. Got it! Thanks a ton, Dagny :)
If you have any specific Classic recommendation which is Short and Light and ideal for a first timer then please share. I'll start with your reccomendation only.

Cheryl wrote: "Heena,
I hadn't thought of an entire month of bonus challenges. But you could certainly do that.

I was thinking of just adding a bonus challenge occasionally during the year. For example: one month might be Romance and Westerns, with a Bonus Challenge of Audiobooks. That way, people who won't read either a Romance or a Western can "read" an audiobook of any genre. "

Yes, what you propose sounds a lot better than having an entire month for bonuses, plus it'll be really fun to have bonus challenges in random months. It'll keep everyone attentive and excited!
Thanks a lot, Cheryl. I love all your ideas <3 Olease keep on sharing more :)

Welcome to RMFAo, Avinash.
We have a few ongoing challenges, please visit the following links if you'd like to participate in them:
RMFAO 2016 Genre Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
RMFAO 2016 Classic Catchup: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Have a nice day!

Hahaha! I'm with you Cheryl. What a fantastic idea!!!

You think keeping a bonus month on the whole will be a good idea? Like mid year or something?
There we can list 3-4 challenges like you mentioned. What do you think?

Dagny, please give us some tips... :D

I love your suggestions! Thanks for sharing :)

And although short-story isn't a genre, I think we should have them for this genre because otherwise we tend to leave them out.

OMG! You guys are reading so many book!!!

I went to Crossword last week and, for the first time, bought classics. I got 7 for the price of 3 and they all are hardbacks (Penguin's vintage edition.) Finally, I have a few physical classic books, so I'm sure that I'll read them now :)

BTW, did you guys felt weird when you started listening to the audio books for the first time? I'm having a hard time following it, it's like I feel weird. So is it something that'll subside after a few chapters? I really want to listen to audio books as I want to listen to classics to read at least a couple before this year ends.
If you have any suggestions on how should I cope with this weirdness, then please share. :)

Cheryl wrote: "Heena and Dagny are quite amazing. I learn so much from them."

Thanks a lot for your compliments, Cheryl. We're lucky to have you as a part of RMFAO family. Your book reccs. are awesome and your enthusiasm is contagious. Thank you for being such a bright and lovely member of RMFAO <3

Hemangini wrote: "I love your enthusiasm so much Heena & Dagny.. I am amazed at the knowledge and reading you guys are able to do. I can't complete even half and just being part of this group, reading the updates an..."

Willing to be a part of this amazing challenge is more than enough, Hemangini. You've been a really important part of some of the discussions and you contribution means a lot.
Thanks a lot for your kind words. We try to do the best we can :)
Thanks for being an active member of RMFAO! :) <3

Dagny wrote: "I'm not necessarily campaigning for more sub-genres - just a bal..."

Yeah, I get your point. I guess we should really come up with a big genre list (the discussion thread will help) and then finalize 24 best genres. What do you say?
I'll email you tonight or tomorrow to discuss this :)

Cheryl wrote: "Cheryl wrote: "The genre New Adult is a hard one for me to find. My library doesn't have that as a search keyword on their catalogue, so I wouldn't even be able to find any to read. If it's "protag..."

I agree with you, Cheryl. the entire concept of New Adult is just flawed and I assure you that we won't have it in the next year's challenge :)

I love your reccomendations, Cheryl, especially Biography/Autobio. :)
Also, I get your point, we'll try to combine these genres :)

Meanwhile, if you come across some more new genres that can be added, please share with us.

I agree with Dagny :)

Hi everyone,

RMFAO Genre Challenge has been the most loved reading challenge in this group and has encouraged a lot of readers to read genres they wouldn't have read otherwise. This year we had 24 genres (two genres per month.) Some were main genres and some were popular sub-genres and as a result, the readers got the chance to read a lot of genres.

For next year we are planning to tweak the present genre list (the ones we had this year) and to improve the challenge over all.
We have decided to let the readers suggest us different genres that they would love to read next year.

Please come forward and share the genres you'd like to read for the next year's Genre Challenge.
Your suggestions mean a lot to us as this challenge is for everyone.

If you're new to this challenge, please visit the threads of the previous challenges to get an idea how this challenge works and feel free to share your genre recommendations as well.

We won't be setting up a voteing round to take the final decision because I don't want non-participants to vote for random genres and, hence, affect the final selection of genres.
The final decision will be made by the Moderators only - Dagny and myself.

Thank you.

Thanks a lot everyone for your valuable inputs :)

As Dagny rightly said that some of the sub-genres are so unique that they deserve their own place in the Challenge.

This is a really good discussion topic. I'll set up a thread under "Reading Challenges" folder as Cheryl suggested and then make a list of all the Genres that are mentioned there.

Then out of that list, the Mods - Dagny and I, will create the final list of Genres. We'll try to make it as diverse as possible :)
What do you say @Dagny?