Krista’s Comments (group member since Jul 24, 2010)

Krista’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

In Msg 639 -- Norma wrote: "10.1 – Football Season?

A Catskill Eagle by Robert B Parker

Task Points - 10
+5 Series Points (Spencer #12)
Adjusted Total Points - 10 15

Welcome Norma! I've added 5 Series style points to your scoring of A Catskill Eagle. -Krista
-----------------------
10.2 – Literature Map

Charlaine Harris November 25 - Living Dead in Dallas (Sookie Stackhouse #2)
Task Points - 10
Second in a series - 5
Literature map - 5
Total Task Points - 20

Total Points - 50
Literature Map - JA Jance - Charlaine Harris
Shakespeares's Landlord
Task Points - 10
First in a series -m 5
Birthday in November - 5
Total task points - 20

Total Points - 30

Which author are you using for your Literature Map? It need to be an author that you read in June, July or August. You'll use the same author's map throughout this season. Each author found on the map can only be used once for this task.

You can only use one book by Charlaine Harris for this Task. Please let me know which which author you are using for your Literature Map -- and which of the Charlaine Harris books you are going to use for this task.

Thanks! -Krista
------------------------
Please double check your scoring. I see a couple more books in your subsequent posts that are books in a series but you haven't claimed Series points for them. I'll wait to tally your points until you've had time to review your posts and added the series points. It's easier to do it that way rather than to go back and forth with messages trying to get all the tallies correct.

I just noticed that in this message -- your last book in this message (#639) qualifies for Combo points with the Harvest Moon Task (10.8) since the book has a moon on the cover. Please adjust the score for this book also.

I've only added the first book from your first messge (#639) to your point tally. Post a new message to let me know when you've made the corrections and additions to your other books. Then I'll go back and tally up those points.

Cheryl, I haven't added these books to your score yet, but see my comments below about specific books. Thanks, -Krista

In Msg 623 - Cheryl wrote: "10.6 Author Memoirs

Now I See The Moon by Elaine Hall
+10 Task
+10 Combo Also fits 10.8, 20.8
Task Total 20
Grand TOtal 1020

Nine Parts of Desire The Hidden World of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks
+10 Task
+ 0 Combo
Task Total 10
Grand Total 1030

This book doesn't qualify for a Task 10.6. Task 10.6 needs to be a memoir about what a person does for work. I don't think that Geraldine Brooks is Islamic for her career.

10.7 Flashlight Worthy 7 Beach Reads You Can Grab Off OF Your Tween's Shelf
Fire by Kristin Cashore Lexile 870
+10 Task
Task Total 10
Grand TOtal 1040

10.8 Moon in the Title or On the Cover
Moon Over Water by Debbie Macomber
+10 Task
+ 0 Combo
Task Total 10
Grand Total 1050
You've already claimed this title once for Task 10.3 in your message #622. You can't claim it a second time for a different task.

10.10 Group Reads
Nine Parts Of Desire The Hidden World of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks
+10 Task
+ 0 Combo
Task Total 10
Grand Total 1060..."
You can use Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women for Task 10.10. In addition you can claim Combo points for Task 20.8 with it. Here's the updated scoring for this title:

+10 Task
+ 5 Task 20.8 (Just the Fact Ma'am)
Task Total 15

In Msg 622 - Cheryl wrote: "10.3 Author Birthdays

Death of a Stranger by Anne Perry 10/28
+10 Task
Task Total 10
Grand Total 920 ...
---------------------------
10.4 One Hit Wonders

Nine Parts of Desire The Hidden World of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks
+10 Task
+15 Combo ALso Fits 10.10, 20.8, 10.6
Task Total 25
Grand Total 1000
..."

Hi Cheryl:
Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women doesn't fit for Task 10.4 as it is not Geraldine Brooks only non-ficton book. I'm disallowing the points for this book in this message.

You have also claimed this book for a couple of different tasks in your next message. Per the challenge rules, a book can only be used for ONE task.

10.4 One Hit Wonders

Nine Parts of Desire The Hidden World of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks
+10 Task
+15 Combo ALso Fits 10.10, 20.8, 10.6
Task Total 25
Grand Total 1000

In Msg 619 -- Cheryl wrote: "10.2 Literature Map Original Author Was Cecily von Ziegesar--I forgot to tell you in the previous post

Alphas by Lisi Harrison Lexile Not Available
+10 Task
+ 5 Series
Task Total 15
Grand To..."

Hi Cheryl: I've scored your points up through Msg 617.

Message #618 & 619 -- the books posted are all for task 10.2 (Literary Map). One of the rules of this task is that the same author cannot be used twice.
Quoted from Task 10.2;
"Read a book by another author who comes up on the literature map. While you can repeat this task as many times as you like, you must continue to use the first literature map that you created. Additionally, you must select a different author to read each time you repeat this task."

I think at this point it will probably be less confusing for both of us if you go back to message number 618 and 619 and delete the duplicate books written by the same author. I'll wait to do any scoring for these message until you let me know you're done editing the posts.

I think that will help us avoid mulitple messages with books crossed out and different point tallies.

Thanks! -Krista

Task 10.9 Coralie's AKA - Little Bee by Chris Cleave (Also known as: The Other Hand)

I found this book to be really compelling. The words that each character spoke seemed to be so perfect for their role and/or life experience. It is hauntingly memorable to me, much more so than Horror genre books I've read for tasks this season.
+ 10 Task Points

Task 20.7 Unification Season: Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood (Australian author, book published 1989)
+20 Task
+ 5 Combo (10.1, "Blues" in title)
+ 5 Series (#1 Phryne Fisher series)

Task Total = 30
Grand Total = 540

In Msg 616 -- Cheryl wrote: "Ok so adding the 250 points for the Time Leaper and 10 points for the One-Hit Wonder Heat Wave by Richard Castle I come up with 350 + 260 = 610 Grand Total? (I hope--fingers crossed)"

Previous Grand Total = 350
+ 10 for Richard Castle book
+175 current points for Reading through Time (Task 15.7 uncompleted for series)

Grand Total as of message #616 = 535

In Msg 545 -- Cheryl wrote: "Readerboard: CHeryl TX

Reading Through Time
Traveler Type=Constant

15.1 Custer: The Controversial Life of George Armstrong Custer by Jeffry D. Wert ....

15.6 Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe

15.7 Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe

15.8 Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
..."

Hi Cheryl:

I have a couple of questions and/or observations about this message.

1) You've added here that you're a Constant Traveller --- but in a later message you said that you're a Time Leaper. I'm scoring these books using the Time Leaper reader type.

2) Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe doesn't work for Task 15.7. The date range for Task 15.7 is 1651 - 1700. This book was first published in 1593. You'll have to read a book published 1651 - 1700 in order to complete the whole Reading through Time (RtT) sub-challenge and earn the Time Leaper Completion Bonus of 60 points.

Grand Total through your message #545 -- AND with the addition of 10 points for "Heat Wave" by Richard Castle for Task 10.4 in Msg #543 = 535

(Review the scoring method for the Time Leaper if you have questions about how I got to this total. You get points for the individual books read for RtT as well as the completion bonus.)

In Msg 607 - colleen wrote: "RtT: Constant Traveler
Task 15.10 1501-1550: In Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (pub. 1511)

+15 Task
+10 Style

Task Total=25

+200 Mega Finish Bonus (I have completed all RwS and RtT tasks)

Grand Total= 1900
..."

Colleen, Congratulations! You are the first Mega Finisher this season. I've added your Mega Finish bonus points to your score. You are at 1900 points as of this post.

What a way to Read With STYLE!

In Msg 606 -- Liz M wrote: "20.1 – Monsterfest redux: Demons
by Fyodor Dostoevsky

+20 Task
+15 combo* (10.2 - Lit map of Lev Tolstoi; 10.3 - 11/11/1821; 10.9 - AKA: The Devils, ...

Task Total = 65 ..."

Wow --- Way to go Liz! That's the highest point score we've had for a single book to date. Gotta love your style. :-)

In Msg 604 - Rebekah wrote: "10.5 City Lights
Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik

+10 Task
+5 Combo (10.8 - Shine on Harvest Moon)

15 - Task Total
375 - Grand Total"

Liz is right, this also qualifies for Combo points with Task 20.8. (Just the Facts Ma'am)

+5 Combo 20.8

Adjusted Task Total = 20
Adjusted Grand Total = 380

In Msg 644 - Tobey wrote: "Krista wrote: "In Msg 597 -- Tobey wrote: "All right, I'm new here but am going to jump in and gear up for the next challenge starting in Dec. Please feel free to let me know if I screw this up! :...

Krista - Duly noted and will do in future posts! Twas my first time and I figured I screwed something up somewhere! :-) ...."

No worries Tobey. All things considered it was a great first post. Welcome to the Challenge!

Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "She told me to repost the question and I have."

Hi Jayme: Sorry if I wasn't clear in my earlier explanation. In the future -- if you don't get an answer about a book you need a ruling about, please repost your question on Task Help thread so it gets brought to the attention of the Task owners again.

Posting the question about this particular book won't change the ruling. It doesn't fit for Task 20.1. I wish we had a "Doesn't fit anywhere" task this quarter. You could plug it in there. But sorry, it doesn't work for task 20.1.

In Msg 597 -- Tobey wrote: "All right, I'm new here but am going to jump in and gear up for the next challenge starting in Dec. Please feel free to let me know if I screw this up! :-)

Task 10.1 - Football Season - [book:Dem..."

Hi Tobey:
Welcome to the Reading with Style Challenge! Your first points posting message looks really good. I just have a couple of requests:

1. When claiming Series points, please include the name of the series and the number this book is in the series.
2. When claiming Lost in Translation points, please provide the language the book was originally published in.

That reduces the time I have to spend qualifying the books when I'm tallying the scores. Thanks!

In Msg 596 - Liz M wrote: "Liz Vegas wrote: "20.9 Swedish Noir Faceless Killers

+5 Combo (20.7 published in 1991- Sweden)"

Ooh! I missed the 20.7 combo points when I posted this book waaaay back in Sept. (post #5).

New Grand Total: 770 ...."

Sorry, you can't steal this style. :-) See the message above re: date range for 20.7 books.

Grand Total back down to: 765

In Msg 595 - Liz Vegas wrote: "20.9 Swedish Noir Faceless Killersby Henning Mankell

+20 task
+5 Combo (20.7 published in 1991- Sweden)
+10 translation (Swedish)
+5 Series (#1 in Wallander series)

task total = 40

RwS total = 460 points
..."

Hi Liz:

This book doesn't qualify for Combo points with Task 20.7. It's outside the accepted book published date range for Task 20.7. (1961-1989)

Adjusted Task total = 35

Adjusted RwS total = 455 points 5>

In Msg 578 - Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "Krista wrote: "In Msg 573 - Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: I completed task 20.1 Monster Fest. I chose part A and read "Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters" by Rick Riordan. Monster is the word ...

I asked on the task thread and never received an answer. My question was there for a week.
..."

Hi Jayme:
I'm sorry your question wasn't answered on the Task Help thread. In the future please repost your message in the Task Help thread and let us know this is your second post about the question. Sometimes things do get overlooked. Unfortunately no answer to your question on the Help thread does not mean that your book is automatically approved. This book just doesn't work for the task.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Perhaps I should add there is an issue for me, personally. One of the reasons I like the challenge is because we are all hard core readers. I get to see what others are reading, click on the link, ..."

That's a different issue, and to tell you the truth Elizabeth --- it's easier for me to tally the scores if the books and authors are posted as links.

Here's a request to everyone: When you post your books, please use the "add book/author" link at the top of the message box to add both the book and the author.

Thanks! -Krista

I'm happy to post the points for Cheryl. I'm glad to see new group members and I want to encourage them to participate.

What I struggled with last season when someone flooded the Completed Tasks folder with lots of bulk points messages towards the end of the challenge was that I didn't think it was fair for everyone else's point tallies to languish un-updated while I worked through the "bulk" messages.

So in order to even the points posting field so to speak, when I start working on updating the scores tomorrow morning (Saturday AM) I'll catch-up all the long-term players scores first and then go back and work on Cheryl's posts.

I don't think that Cheryl was holding back on posting books, I think she just found the challenge late in the season and wanted to participate. We want to encourage participation and sometimes folks want to join late. I will have more of an issue with folks who wait all season to post any Completed Task messages and then flood this folder with tons of books. That's why I'm trying this new approach. If you've been posting all along I'll get your points tallied first and then work my way through the "bulk" points posting messages.

Thanks for your concern Elizabeth! It does take awhile to work through the messages but that's what goes with the territory when tallying the points. Cheryl, hang in there with us. I'll get your points caught up eventually. They probablby won't all be added to the point tally on Saturday though. I'll write a little explanatory note on the Readerboard Scores message that will explain which message numbers aren't included in the score totals.

Whew, I think that covers all the bases. If this approach works then this is what I'll do if other people join late, or wait to post their books until the end of the challenge period. It's a fine balancing act. Hang in there everyone, we'll work it out.

Cheryl wrote: "Krista wrote: "In Msg 550 - Liz M wrote: "Cheryl wrote: "oops I forgot to put the points in there
Task Total 150
Grand Total 440"

...

I was a Time Leaper-I was confused and thought that if I reported them all at the same time that was what you wanted, but I understand better now. Thanks
....."

Okay thanks. I can score the books you posted for the Reading Through Time tasks now.

Cheryl wrote: "Krista wrote: "In Msg 543 - Cheryl wrote: "Readerboard: Cheryl TX

10.4 One Hit Wonder

Donut Days by Lara Zeilin Lexile Not Available
+10 Task
Task Total 10
Grand Total 145
....
I did read it the first week of Spetmebr for a task in another challenge. it was read first because there was another book coming out by him
..."

Alrighty then! I'll adjust your total with the addition of this book next time I update the scores. Thanks! -Krista