Bob’s Comments (group member since Jun 22, 2011)

Bob’s comments from the Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) group.

Challenge 6 - Group Reads, Buddy Reads, or Moderators Run Amok
The challenge is to read 12 total books/stories from this year's selected group reads. Your reads can come from this year's poll winners, the Buddy Read Requests, or the new Moderators Run Amok! There should be plenty of choices.

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Challenge #5 - Decade/Century/Millennium Challenge

Only one version of the challenge is required to participate. For those exceptional readers, over achievers, or competitive eating gluttons, feel free to increase the difficulty of the challenge by taking on 2 or all 3 versions. There are three ways to participate. First, read one book per year for 10 consecutive years, one-decade total. Second read one book from 10 consecutive decades, one century total. Third, read one book from 10 consecutive centuries, one millennium total.

The Decade Challenge: Read 10 books from any 10 consecutive years (1 book per year). The authors can only be used once in the challenge. You can use authors previously read by you. Or you can add a level of difficulty to your challenge by selecting only authors you've never read before.

Challenge Example: (Decade Challenge)

Decade Challenge
1920-Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
1921-The Narrow House by Evelyn Scott
1922-Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
1923-Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers
1924-A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
1925-The Professor's House by Willa Cather
1926-The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
1927-To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
1928-Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
1929-Passing by Nella Larsen


The Century Challenge: Read 10 books from any 10 consecutive decades (1 book per decade). Authors can only be used once in the challenge. You can use authors previously read by you. Or you can add a level of difficulty to your challenge by selecting only authors you've never read before.

Challenge Example: (Century Challenge)

Century Challenge
1850-1859 The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1850
1860-1869 Sylvia's Lovers by Elizabeth Gaskell, 1863
1870-1879 Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy,1874
1880-1889 Jack and Jill by Louisa May Alcott, 1880
1890-1899 Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling, 1896
1900-1909 The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, 1901
1910-1919 Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham, 1815
1920-1929 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie, 1926
1930-1939 Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, 1937
1940-1949 The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers, 1940

The Millennium Challenge: Read 10 books from any 10 consecutive Centuries (1 book per century). Authors can only be used once in the challenge. You can use authors previously read by you. Or you can add a level of difficulty to your challenge by selecting only authors you've never read before.

Challenge Example: (Millennium Challenge)

20th Century - 1952 The Far Country by Nevil Shute
19th Century - 1871 Middlemarch by George Eliot
18th Century - 1720 Captain Singleton by Daniel Defoe
17th Century - 1684 The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
16th Century - 1593 The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
15th Century - 1438 The Book of Margery Kempe by Margery Kempe
14th Century - 1353 The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
13th Century - 1298 The Travels by Marco Polo
12th Century - 1150 The Life of Merlin by Geoffrey of Monmouth
11th Century - 1001 The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu

Challenge #4 - Short Story Challenge
Read 18 short stories.

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Challenge #3 - Expand Your Horizon with New Authors

Seek out at least six (6) authors that you have never previously read, from any genre or era you want.

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Challenge #2 - Members Choice Challenge Choose one book per category/genre for a total of 9 books.

1. 19th Century or Older -
2. 20th Century -
3. 21st Century -
4. Nonfiction -
5. An Author never read before -
6. Diversity, read a book from a religion, culture, country, or race different than yours -
7. Members Choice Genre -
8. Members Choice Genre -
9. Members Choice Genre -

Science Fiction. Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Horror, Suspense, Young Adult, Nonfiction, Poetry, Romance, etc.

Challenge #1 - Old & New TBR Challenge

First started in 2015, this is our group's oldest challenge. It is designed to help/force us reduce our personal TBR's. This challenge commits you to reading 12 books next year from your oldest dust collecting TBR. Choose 12 books you want to read and list three alternates, to use as substitutes should one of your choices need to be replaced. You do not have to read all 15 books listed. 12 books read is a complete challenge. Any books read is a success, as you will have reduced your TBR. This 12 + 3 challenge will last all year, and you can read at your own pace. Once you create your reading thread, you and other members can comment on your book choices and progress.

Only six of the 12 books selected are required be Books based on the Groups date requirements, they do not have to come from the group's bookshelf . At least 3 old books (published before 1915) and 3 newer books (published from 1915-2005). The other six and your three alternates can be any genre or age you wish to read. Yes, even non-fiction and post 2005.

Starting today you can begin creating your challenge thread. The whole month of December is dedicated to planning your challenge. You can add your books and make edit adjustments till December 31st. No challenge reading can start till January 1, 2025. No changes should be made to your list once challenge starts

If you're a current Group Member, you have until midnight 12/31/2024 to finalize your list. You can post your list and make all the changes you want until then, but no changes after midnight 12/31/2024. If you join our Classics Group after that date, you may still participate by posting and editing your list within two weeks of joining the group, but you can't make changes after you post your list.

For New Members joining in 2025, in addition to the above rules, feel free to adjust your challenge according to the number of months left in the year. Example: If you join in March 2025 and wish to participate, list 9 books and 3 alternates. If your joined after June 2025 list the appropriate number of books according to the number of months left, but only pick two alternates. Remember to add your alternates to any challenge you set up.

Example of a Challenge:

My Dusty Musty TBR Clean-up Challenge
1914 and earlier
1. Les Misérables
2. Great Expectations
3. The Woman in White
1915-2005/New School
4. The Great Gatsby
5. The Red Pony
6. Of Human Bondage
Six Bookshelf Dust Collectors
7. The Return of the Soldier
8. The Pillars of the Earth
9. Ender's Shadow
10. 2001: A Space Odyssey
11. The Law
12. Sin Killer

Alternates
A-1. War and Peace
A-2. Gone with the Wind
A-3 Home

2025 CHALLENGE BUFFET

Another year, another Buffet. This year the chef has made some changes to the menu. A couple of entrees have been removed and a few added. Another change to the menu is that many dishes have been reduced in size. Hopefully this will reduce the stress that can occur when faced with a plate to full to comfortably finish. The chef is optimistic that there is still dish for everyone. As always feel free to pick as few or as many challenges as fits your appetite.

At this buffet gluttony is not a bad thing; take as much as you want and don't worry about not finishing all you take. This is for fun!

Remember every challenge created, every author and every book listed, becomes a resource for our members to learn about authors and books they haven’t heard of before.

Next Year's 2025 Buffet Menu:
Details See Messages 2-18

Challenge #1 - New & Old TBR
Challenge #2 - Members Choice
Challenge #3 - New Authors
Challenge #4 - Short Story
Challenge #5 - Decade/Century/Millennium
Challenge #6 - Group Reads, Buddy Reads, Moderators Run Amok
Challenge #7 - Series Books – Start, Continue, Complete
Challenge #8 - Travel the World One Continent at a Time
Challenge #9 – Rereading Some do Some don't
Challenge #10 - Most Popular Goodreads Books Listed by Year
Challenge #11 - Future Classics
Challenge #12 - Fiction/Non-Fiction
Challenge #13 - Old and New Linked Categories
Challenge #14 - Bestselling Novels in the United States
Challenge #15 - Award Winners
Challenge #16 - A-Z Author
Challenge #17 - A-Z Title

General/Helpful Challenge Information:
These challenges are personal. It is important that you enjoy your challenge/s; don't feel pressure to finish, this is for fun. Use your own creativity to make your challenge special. Select books that you truly have an interest in reading. It's your challenge your choices. Just stick to the basic challenge configuration.

Create your own separate thread to list the challenge/s you wish to participate in. If you plan on participating in several challenges, you will want to save/reserve several message/posts at the beginning of your thread to list each challenge you intend to try. Reserve 1-18 if you are going to try them all. Remember you can always delete the save posts if you don't need them.

To Create your challenge thread simply go to the top of this folder click on the title (Challenge Buffet). Then look to the right for the words (new topic), click that, a new screen will open. In the box (topic) type the name you wish to give your challenge. In the (comment) box list your books chosen for the challenge. Use the (add book/author) link so that others can link to your choices and learn more about the book you have selected.

Feel free to mark your finished books anyway you wish. After you have finished a book, you can strike it off your list. Directions are listed at the top of the comment box (some html is ok). You can list the date you finished or add the number of stars you though the book deserved.

Examples of marking books completed:
✓1. Les Misérables
2. Great Expectations 11/20/25
3. The Woman in White*****
4. The Great Gatsby Finished 1/25/25
5. The Red Pony 5 Stars, Finished

Welcome, Xaph

Welcome River

Top five moving forward to the poll
25 votes cast

8 votes - 476. The Long Rain by Ray Bradbury
4 votes - 285. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? by Horace McCoy
4 votes - 217. After Twenty Years by O. Henry
3 votes - 175. The Shadow Hans Christian Andersen
3 votes - 468. The Angel at the Grave by Edith Wharton
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2 votes - 427. Wunderkind by Carson McCullers
1 vote - 356. The Chase by Alejo Carpentier
0 votes - 382. Letter from Lord Chandos to Francis Bacon by Hugo von Hofmannsthal
0 votes - 444. The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber by Ernest Hemingway
0 votes - 424. The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacobs

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Welcome Seth

Welcome Matt

Sara and Lynn, thanks for reminding me of the depth of symbolism in this short story. Almost every passage can be thought about and interpreted in different ways. I was not unaware of the symbolism while reading, I just choose to focus on the solitude. It was so easy to imagine myself in Nicks place.

Terry wrote: "Bob, your post is very interesting with respect to terms “Old School” and “New School” with the dates currently associated with those names. Personally, to me, any book written more than 100 years ..."

Terry, I like your thoughts, but the group categories are pretty much set. We are working to streamline things a little. Time will tell if it works out. I like your potential classics idea and will work to add a buffet challenge based on newer books.

Sorry. you will have to check out the new buffet to see if I'm successful. By the way, the buffet is made up of individual challenges, pick none, one, or more the individual decides.

Katy wrote: "I will nominate Lincoln by Gore Vidal, 1984, 672 pages"

Second

What have I learned about my challenges? I am bad at challenges but love to plan them.

It seems that planning our challenges is a favorite task for most of us. I think it is the most important part. It is through our planning we find books that are of interest to us. I never pick a book that I don't think I will be interested in reading. When searching for books to fill a challenge. I end up looking at lists of books most I have never heard of. I only pick the ones that have a synopsis that I find interesting. Looking back over the completed books this year, I have no regrets, all have been good. Many were not known prior to my planning. Of course I have also picked some "academic books." Books I should have read in high school but didn't. Or books I might have read in college, if I had attended. Most have been ok, some have been really good, others have made me glad I didn't go to college.

From the efforts of others who plan, and attempt challenges, I learn about more books that I may never have heard of and become interested in them. Some of the best books I have ever read, I learned about from other members challenge planning. Another thing is that when another member has picked a book that I've read and liked, I can offer positive encouragement. If they are a friend and they have selected a book I didn't like I can offer a word of caution.

Another thing I noticed is that members seem to have a love/hate relationship with the Old & New TBR. It is arguably our hardest challenge and was planned that way. It has one of the highest participation rates and one of the lowest completion rates. We all have books we have bought that are sitting on our shelf, stacked on a table, or stuffed under the bed. We bought them because we were interested in reading them. Before we picked it up to read something else grabbed our attention. As time goes by it starts to gather dust and it becomes easier to leave it on the shelf.

As a group we deal with books that are date ranged. I set up the challenge to require three books that are old school and three books that are new school and six from any date the member wants. The three alternates were set up because as our TBR gathers dust the book doesn't change, we as people do change. A book purchased with the I can't wait to read this attitude, over time may become a book we end up wondering what happened, this is terrible.

My using the words old school and new school may have been a mistake. It is the time frame that I wanted to convey, pre-1900, now 1915 for old, and between 1900-1999, now 1915-1999 for new. By using terms old and new I am afraid that some thought it meant books from the group shelf must be used. I know that some of the challenges speak to books from the group's bookshelf but those are exceptions. Our challenges are about what members find interesting and want to read and sharing that with others. Not trying to force group reads on people. While our group shelf is not overly big some members have been around long enough to have read most or all of the titles that interest them. For many members that fall into this category finding six books from our shelf is not practical. This unfairly handicaps their ability to participate in the old and new tbr.

I will correct the language for next years old and new challenge.

I just finished this, an excellent way to spend an evening. Lynn, thanks for the info.

I have been missing for a few weeks but would like to say hello and welcome to all our new members.

The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe is our December 2024 Short Story/Novella Read.

This discussion will open on December 1

Beware Short Story Discussions will have Spoilers