Caitlin’s Comments (group member since Jan 04, 2015)

Caitlin’s comments from the Pop Sugar's Annual Ultimate Reading Challenge group.

Sam wrote: "Caitlin wrote:
I haven't created the 2019 list yet, I'll see what I can do about that..."
The 2019 tab appears to be very different to the others. Did @Bonnie or @ Caitlin or another moderator upd..."

Hi Sam, the 2019 list should be almost identical to past years; at least at the beginning of the challenge. Is there something specific that has changed?

Additionally the 2019 countdown challenge >should be available already on the main page. You will have to make the shelf and assign it yourself.

Edit: I see the problem, the challenge will start January 1, as books read before then don't count. If you would like to get a head start on choosing the books for the challenge, make your shelf and get going. The challenge will require you to assign a shelf anyway and the shelf doesn't have to be new.

I am on vacation without my laptop personal computer until the 2nd and so I may be missing something obvious.

I will check again on January 2 from my computer and fix anything I notice as having gone away.

Lisa wrote: "I’d like to start in 2019 where do I start as I can’t see the spreadsheet as it says I’m not allowed access 😬"

I haven't created the 2019 list yet, I'll see what I can do about that...

Edited to add: the 2019 sheet is now available, please feel free to add yourself.

The permissions issue I retired to fix but am uncertain whether it worked. I will look into it more on January 2.

Fatima wrote: "I can’t edit the spreadsheet anymore. It says view only."

Make sure you're using the link in the group info page. That link should take you to an editable version of the spreadsheet.

I love this topic, Meg! I am a terrible Pop Sugar challenge user in that of all my book goals for the year this is my least important so I've never actually completed it!

Finding a way to fit the books I'm reading anyway into the challenge is interesting though. It can get me to bump things up or down my TBR.

I'm excited to hear what everyone else thinks.

I'll set the new goal, I just hadn't got to it yet this year. But I'm concerned hearing the spreadsheet is acting up. Would either of you be able to describe the problems you're having?

Edit: Goal is now available for 2018 but AHHH! I see the spreadsheet problem. I'm hoping to have that fixed by 11:59 p.m. CST. Thanks for the heads up.

Second edit: try this version of the spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Sarah McCracken wrote: "Can someone please explain to me how this all works? 2018 will be my first challenge, but I don't know where to post what I've read."

Hey Sarah, welcome!

First, full disclosure: there's an official group somewhere on Goodreads and this isn't it.

That being said, some people still get value out of this group. Possibly the most valuable aspect is a shared spreadsheet we use to keep track of our reads. There's a link in the group info.

Hop to the 2018 tab and add yourself to a column, You don't have to use your name but you should use an identifier you'll remember. Then you can list out the books you have read or plan to read for the challenge. Take a peek at 2017 to see how people are keeping track of things this week, but don't delete anything you didn't add!

If you want to rearrange things you can always make your own private copy of the spreadsheet.

Closer to 2018 I'll be adding a goal to this group. You'll be able to set a # of books for the goal and tie it to a shelf. For a book to count for the goal it will have to be read in the goal year and be on that shelf.

Does that help?

Christina wrote: "It says the poll is invalid type when I follow the link. In my opinion, I use it to look for books that others are reading. I love...love...LOVE ...LOVE the spreadsheet. Also if I'm stuck it's nice..."

Hmm... i will investigate what's up with the poll. Thank you for your feedback though! I went on a discussion board organization binge a week ago but would love any suggestions about how to improve them more.

Hey Everyone!

I created a poll for this group but didn't realize it would be hidden completely broken.

Here's a link to the poll, please give it a glance if you could:
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/1....

If you have any comments around whether this group is still useful to you and how it could be more useful, let me know here.

Also, if you haven't already noticed, I added a tab for the 2018 challenge to the spreadsheet.

Deborah wrote: "So, I have a suggestion. I listen to books on tape a lot. I find that when I'm alone in a car I'm more likely to actually cry. Like the freedom that you feel to sing at the top of your lungs when i..."

Good suggestion! I've also heard people say they cry more easily in airplanes. I know I've teared up at many a book or movie I'm reading while flying!

Audrey wrote: "
I also know that House of Leaves falls under a weird genre, but I forget what it's called...sorry!
"

House of Leaves is ergodic literature! Basically books that require the reader to actually work to understand our something like that. It's a pretty esoteric genre.

Bonnie wrote: "Stacey wrote: "So something happened to the original form of the spreadsheet. Is it going to be fixed or just move forward as it is now? I really enjoyed it calculating the percentage of each chall..."

I copied over the old percentage columns and modified them for this year's list.

If you already had a way to keep track of your % of the total completed I left it alone, but if you didn't you now have a % of the basic list completed and a % of the advanced list completed.

Anyone else have suggestions or comments?

Hi Deborah, the "bookshelf" is not what we're all using, talking about here. We tried to make that work in a previous year but it just wasn't practical.

Instead we use a spreadsheet Bonnie made for us in Google Sheets.

You can find that link in the extended description for the group, or you can find it here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Allison wrote: "Hi, I started late but actually read a book last week that fits this category. The story is kind of ghost/love/historical fiction but turned out to be an interesting mix. It's called In the Shadow of Blackbirds"

oh! I've read this one! Good suggestion as the war is definitely part of the narrative, but the plot is dealing with a lot of other things.

If anyone else wants a book set during wartime that has a setting affected by the war but is generally not really about the war, several of Gary D. Schmidt's books occur during the Vietnam war, and are sensitive to the ways the war affected life for grade schoolers and those in the US, but are otherwise devoid of war action.

I know for certain and would count.

Audrey wrote:

In the official list, actually. It specifies "novel" twice. Once for the..."

Ah, I'm glad you saw that because i was clearly not paying enough attention. I, like Kathryn, how your current book can fit into another category.

Zoe wrote: "Several columns got deleted. Is there anyway someone can fix it? Looks like the first 10 people or so."

Thanks Zoe, I'll take a look

Edited: I think I got it, thanks for being on top of this guys.

Audrey wrote: "Does anyone read the challenge differently if the challenge specifies reading a "novel" as opposed to a "book?" For example, would a nonfiction book not qualify for this section?"

novels = fiction so yes, I would not count non-fiction if it specifies novel. Where does it specify that?

I'm hoping to pick up The Nightingale which was highly recommended by Bonnie and is set in Vichy France.

If you want to read a steampunk book with pictures and knock out two categories, Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan trilogy is illustrated.

Stacey wrote: "So something happened to the original form of the spreadsheet. Is it going to be fixed or just move forward as it is now? I really enjoyed it calculating the percentage of each challenge accomplish..."

Hey Stacey!

I just saw the comments about this (THANK YOU FOR ALERTING US!) and I've gone in and reverted to the "correct" version of the spreadsheet.

I REALLY love the spreadsheet and I love being able to compare myself to everyone else BUT, in order to allow everyone to edit we run the risk of having things like this happen SO two things:

1) Let a mod (Bonnie or myself) know if you notice something has happened to the spreadsheet. If it's huge like this we can't always id a culprit (re: almost never) but we can usually restore an older version of the spreadsheet.

In this instance I saved the "new" additions to the spreadsheet and added them to the restored spreadsheet.

2) The best way to ensure no one will mess with YOUR list is to make a copy of the spreadsheet that you use yourself. (Short video of how to do that here: https://cl.ly/3N1e3J322Q32)

This way you can delete whomever you want and edit it as you see fit. In fact, I wonder if there's been some confusion about this group spreadsheet that caused the problem. If you want to delete anyone or anything that isn't you, you must make a copy of the spreadsheet for yourself!

I hope that helps. Thanks so much for being on top of this!

Christina wrote: "your not the only one. I was on there and I had a bunch of stuff saved and now it's all deleted so I don't know what happened but something got reset"

I'll see if something got messed up, usually I can reverse it.

EDITED TO ADD: Thank you to everyone for alerting me to this! I've reverted to the old, correct version of the spreadsheet and managed to save the new additions and add them to the previous spreadsheet so hopefully everyone is there properly now.

I've also written a little in a dedicated thread about this re: how to deal with it.

But most of all thank you to all of you for letting us know there's a problem. I try to keep an eye on this group and address problems like this within 48 hours whenever possible, but I don't keep as good an eye on the spreadsheet itself!