Apoorv ’s Comments (group member since Nov 23, 2013)

Apoorv ’s comments from the The Perks Of Being A Book Addict group.

Lazy Days wrote: "Also I would like to say Apoorv's energy is hella infectious. Our awesome team cant go wrong with a captain that makes you smile and make you want to meet him when you are half way round the world ..."

Aw! I was literally doing this as I was reading this comment. Hehe! :P You are kind! :)
So, join in! Who said there can't be fun where there is a geographical divide?!

Lazy Days wrote: "Morning team, or afternoon/evening/night??? Looking forward to getting to know you, this is such a fun challenge!

I'm a kiwi from New Zealand, Chris and the Quokka's neighbour if you will ... we ..."

Oh my! The fact that you know darlin' Chris get you a brownie point, Lacey! Hehe! I mean, I am not even sorry for that! *hides behind the curtain* :P

I love the FFFs - I literally have Project Hail Mary and Red Rising on my library hold list to read, which may actually happen during this challenge. So super stoked to see them on your list.

Welcome aboard the madness train - brace yourself for a front and center impact of fun! :D

Jessica wrote: "Hi everyone! This is my 2nd time playing UNO and I look forward to working with you all! I am from upstate?/downstate? NY..I never know what to call it..between Albany and Poughkeepsie. I have been..."

Oh, I would definitely call that downstate of upstate New York. Haha! Lovely area though - I had spent a few days during peak Autumn showing my parents around in the Catskill mountains (which I guess is closer to you) in a beautiful old Inn by a lake. It was spectacular to see all the colors blossom with such abandon. Nature at its absolute best!

Speaking of beautiful colors, the covers of your best books from last year are literally part of a rainbow - not sure if you meant it to be so, but it looks fabulous!

And I read books in all the genres you mentioned, so don't mind if you mind me scouring through your bookshelves here for more recommendations. Haha!

Welcome, Jessica! Hope you enjoy this season of Uno! :)

April wrote: "I am the second co-captain. This is my second year playing UNO and being a co-captain. I am excited to start this year. If anyone is new welcome to UNO and if you have any questions don’t be shy to..."

HAHA, April! Apoorv is always excited to answer all the fun easy questions. You get the complicated, brain scratching ones! :P

As I mentioned earlier, glad to have you in the team and stoked to have you co-captaining this year, Let's make sure Year 2 of your UNO games is more memorable than Year 1. (Geez! I am already feeling competitive. Quokka ready to roll!) :)

Welcome again! :D

P.S. I lived in Texas for a couple of years for my gradschool. I was up north in the Dallas/Arlington area, but I have driven that Dallas-Austin-San Antonio stretch a few times, so I definitely passed closer to Fort Hood.

Amy wrote: "Hello, everyone!

I'm filling in my books on the spreadsheet and finding it a little hard to do because they're all going to be library holds that I won't have/be starting until after the start of..."

Hey Amy,

Sorry I wasn't able to answer your question earlier. Let's go question by question.

I'm filling in my books on the spreadsheet and finding it a little hard to do because they're all going to be library holds that I won't have/be starting until after the start of the challenge.
That is totally fine. You don't have to fill in all the details before hand since it is going to be difficult to know all the names of the characters. The slots I added to the spreadsheet were just incase some of the teammates know what they are going to read or need to plan their reads. It is absolutely fine to add in the details as you go about reading the book.
-----------------

With regard to placenames in nonfiction: do they count?
They don't, sadly. For non-fiction books, the things that can be counted are author names, titles, and series names.
-----------------

I asked earlier if Magic: The Gathering lore would be considered a book for the purposes of the Uno challenge.
I am trying to understand the book/books that fall under this category. I could find Magic The Gathering: Seven Clans on GoodReads and given that it is over 100 pages in length, it should work. Same with Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty.

Having said that, can you tell me if it is a graphic novel or a regular Fantasy book? If later, should be good. I was unable to confirm the word count on arbookfind, but just want to make sure that it doesn't fall into the former category.

According to the UNO Rules: Books must be more than 100 pages in length and Children's books, Graphic Novels, Manga, Cook Books, Plays and Poetry books can not be used unless by word count they can be verified as more than 25,000 words using arbookfind.com or more than 3 hours of audio using a reputable website (e.g. audible, overdrive)

So sorry for not welcoming everyone earlier, its been a madness-filled week (and still not over). But, I am delighted to have everyone come to the party. Massive welcome to each of you cute Quokkas! :)

Will do some administrative stuff and will come say hello to each one of you! :)

In the meantime, don't forget to request access to edit the Tracking spreadsheet - you need that baby for the next three months! :)

Okay, now that I have bombarded you folks with information, its time to say hello! Normally the hello's come first - but hey, we are the Quokka's! And our cuteness transcends all rules! :P

I am Apoorv (he/him) - the captain! (I know! I know! Sometimes the Mods mess up! :P)
I live in Boston, Massachusetts in The United States and my association with the game goes as far back as 2015, which was I think the first edition of UNO! This is my 8th year doing this - so, yeah - I'm the old horse in the barn! :P

I have been on the same team as Sharon before, but otherwise I am surprised how I have not crossed path with the rest of you. I am excited to make new friends and I can feel (call it my Quokka sense!) like this is going to be an absolute fun UNO season! I always end up finding some exciting new reads from everyone's read books, so my TBR is going to be happily fed by all of you! :)

I try and read almost everything (genre no bar), so it's always an exciting aspect of this challenge for me to see all the plethora of books my teammates read.
So, as an icebreaker, how about, if you don't mind, each of you share your top 5 books that you read in 2022?!

I'll start:
1. The Book of Accidents | Chuck Wendig
2. Razorblade Tears | S.A. Crosby
3. All That's Left in the World | Erik J. Brown
4. Tell Me How to Be | Neel Patel
5. The Good Girls: An Ordinary Killing | Sonia Faleiro

Please feel free to ask any questions that you may have.
As I like to say, I promise I'll answer all the easy ones, and make sure our wonderful co-captains, April and Natasha, answer the difficult ones! :P

SUPER-EXCITED! Let's do this! :D

APRIL AWESOMENESS!

I AM HAVING SO MUCH FUN RIGHT NOW - I SAY BRING IT ON, MARCHY MARCH!

I knooooow!!
So, here are our MARCH hands.
------------------------------------------

Required Reads
👉 0 : 3
👉 1 : 11
👉 2 : 5
👉 3 : 7
👉 4 : 7
👉 5 : 10
👉 6 : 6
👉 7 : 9
👉 8 : 8
👉 9 : 11
👉 Skip : 3
👉 Reverse : 7
👉 Draw 2 : 6
👉 Wild : 4
👉 Wild Draw 1 : 7

We also have fourteen (14) colored cards:

Required Reads
👉 1 Blue : 1
👉 2 Green : 1
👉 3 Red : 1
👉 4 Red : 1
👉 5 Blue : 1
👉 6 Blue : 1
👉 6 Red : 1
👉 6 Yellow : 1
👉 8 Yellow : 1
👉 9 Green : 1
👉 Skip Blue : 1
👉 Skip Green : 1
👉 Skip Red : 1
👉 Skip Yellow : 1

---------------------------------------------
Quick peek at what can be used for each of the cards:
(view spoiler)[
O (Zero)
(view spoiler)[Read a book that:
- has a 0 or Zero in the title
- has a title starting with Z
- has an author first name or surname starts with Z
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with Z
- is set in a place name starting with Z
- is a "stand-alone" book (i.e. not part of a series)
(hide spoiler)]
1 (One)
(view spoiler)[Read a book that:
- has a 1 or One in the title
- has a title starting with O
- has an author first name or surname starts with O
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with O
- is set in a place name starting with O
- is book 1 in a series
(hide spoiler)]
2 (Two)
(view spoiler)[Read a book that:
- has a 2 or Two in the title
- has a title starting with T
- has an author first name or surname starts with T
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with T
- is set in a place name starting with T
- is book 2 in a series
(hide spoiler)]
3 (Three)
(view spoiler)[Read a book that:
- has a 3 or Three in the title
- has a title starting with H
- has an author first name or surname starts with H
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with H
- is set in a place name starting with H
- is book 3 in a series
(hide spoiler)]
4 (Four)
(view spoiler)[Read a book that:
- has a 4 or Four in the title
- has a title starting with F
- has an author first name or surname starts with F
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with F
- is set in a place name starting with F
- is book 4 in a series
(hide spoiler)]
5 (Five)
(view spoiler)[Read a book that:
- has a 5 or Five in the title
- has a title starting with I
- has an author first name or surname starts with I
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with I
- is set in a place name starting with I
- is book 5 in a series
(hide spoiler)]
6 (Six)
(view spoiler)[Read a book that:
- has a 6 or Six in the title
- has a title starting with S
- has an author first name or surname starts with S
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with S
- is set in a place name starting with S
- is book 6 in a series
(hide spoiler)]
7 (Seven)
(view spoiler)[Read a book that:
- has a 7 or Seven in the title
- has a title starting with V
- has an author first name or surname starts with V
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with V
- is set in a place name starting with V
- is book 7 in a series
(hide spoiler)]
8 (Eight)
(view spoiler)[Read a book that:
- has an 8 or Eight in the title
- has a title starting with E
- has an author first name or surname starts with E
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with E
- is set in a place name starting with E
- is book 8 in a series
(hide spoiler)]
9 (Nine)
(view spoiler)[Read a book that:
- has a 9 or Nine in the title
- has a title starting with N
- has an author first name or surname starts with N
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with N
- is set in a place name starting with N
- is book 9 in a series
(hide spoiler)]
Skip
(view spoiler)[Read a book that:
- has a title starting with K or P
- has an author first name or surname starts with K or P
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with K or P
- is set in a place name starting with K or P
OR you can choose to "skip" reading a book for this cards (and get no points for this card)
(hide spoiler)]
Draw 2
(view spoiler)[Use the same book for two cards in this hand (and get points for both cards)
(hide spoiler)]
Reverse
(view spoiler)[One member of your team must read a book another team member has already read
(hide spoiler)]
Wild
(view spoiler)[Read a book that can fit for any of the cards in that SAME hand (i.e. you are duplicating one of the cards in that same hand)
(hide spoiler)]
Wild draw four
(view spoiler)[Read a book that can fit for any of the coloured cards you have that month (i.e. you are duplicating one of your coloured cards. Each coloured card can only be duplicated once)
(hide spoiler)]
Coloured cards
(view spoiler)[Special coloured cards will be randomly provided each month. for these cards you need to read for the card number (as above) and the book must also have a coloured cover for the colour specified (blue, red, yellow or green) (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

APOORV, SERIOUSLY SHUT UP!
YOU'RE YAPPING AROUND WAY TOO MUCH. GET TO THE POINT! :P

Eeks! Sorry!
So, here are our FEBRUARY hands.
------------------------------------------

Required Reads
👉 0 : 5
👉 1 : 5
👉 2 : 6
👉 3 : 7
👉 4 : 6
👉 5 : 5
👉 6 : 10
👉 7 : 7
👉 8 : 5
👉 9 : 7
👉 Skip : 8
👉 Reverse : 4
👉 Draw 2 : 10
👉 Wild : 5
👉 Wild Draw 4 : 7

We also have eight (8) colored cards:

Required Reads
👉 2 Red : 1
👉 2 Yellow : 1
👉 3 Yellow : 1
👉 6 Yellow : 1
👉 8 Green : 2
👉 9 Red : 1
👉 9 Yellow : 1

---------------------------------------------
Quick peek at what can be used for each of the cards:
(view spoiler)[
O (Zero)
(view spoiler)[Read a book that:
- has a 0 or Zero in the title
- has a title starting with Z
- has an author first name or surname starts with Z
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with Z
- is set in a place name starting with Z
- is a "stand-alone" book (i.e. not part of a series)
(hide spoiler)]
1 (One)
(view spoiler)[Read a book that:
- has a 1 or One in the title
- has a title starting with O
- has an author first name or surname starts with O
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with O
- is set in a place name starting with O
- is book 1 in a series
(hide spoiler)]
2 (Two)
(view spoiler)[Read a book that:
- has a 2 or Two in the title
- has a title starting with T
- has an author first name or surname starts with T
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with T
- is set in a place name starting with T
- is book 2 in a series
(hide spoiler)]
3 (Three)
(view spoiler)[Read a book that:
- has a 3 or Three in the title
- has a title starting with H
- has an author first name or surname starts with H
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with H
- is set in a place name starting with H
- is book 3 in a series
(hide spoiler)]
4 (Four)
(view spoiler)[Read a book that:
- has a 4 or Four in the title
- has a title starting with F
- has an author first name or surname starts with F
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with F
- is set in a place name starting with F
- is book 4 in a series
(hide spoiler)]
5 (Five)
(view spoiler)[Read a book that:
- has a 5 or Five in the title
- has a title starting with I
- has an author first name or surname starts with I
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with I
- is set in a place name starting with I
- is book 5 in a series
(hide spoiler)]
6 (Six)
(view spoiler)[Read a book that:
- has a 6 or Six in the title
- has a title starting with S
- has an author first name or surname starts with S
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with S
- is set in a place name starting with S
- is book 6 in a series
(hide spoiler)]
7 (Seven)
(view spoiler)[Read a book that:
- has a 7 or Seven in the title
- has a title starting with V
- has an author first name or surname starts with V
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with V
- is set in a place name starting with V
- is book 7 in a series
(hide spoiler)]
8 (Eight)
(view spoiler)[Read a book that:
- has an 8 or Eight in the title
- has a title starting with E
- has an author first name or surname starts with E
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with E
- is set in a place name starting with E
- is book 8 in a series
(hide spoiler)]
9 (Nine)
(view spoiler)[Read a book that:
- has a 9 or Nine in the title
- has a title starting with N
- has an author first name or surname starts with N
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with N
- is set in a place name starting with N
- is book 9 in a series
(hide spoiler)]
Skip
(view spoiler)[Read a book that:
- has a title starting with K or P
- has an author first name or surname starts with K or P
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with K or P
- is set in a place name starting with K or P
OR you can choose to "skip" reading a book for this cards (and get no points for this card)
(hide spoiler)]
Draw 2
(view spoiler)[Use the same book for two cards in this hand (and get points for both cards)
(hide spoiler)]
Reverse
(view spoiler)[One member of your team must read a book another team member has already read
(hide spoiler)]
Wild
(view spoiler)[Read a book that can fit for any of the cards in that SAME hand (i.e. you are duplicating one of the cards in that same hand)
(hide spoiler)]
Wild draw four
(view spoiler)[Read a book that can fit for any of the coloured cards you have that month (i.e. you are duplicating one of your coloured cards. Each coloured card can only be duplicated once)
(hide spoiler)]
Coloured cards
(view spoiler)[Special coloured cards will be randomly provided each month. for these cards you need to read for the card number (as above) and the book must also have a coloured cover for the colour specified (blue, red, yellow or green) (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

WELP! I FINISHED A BOOK.
WHAT DO I DO NOW?

YAAY! Well done, you qute Quokkas!
Now we make sure that we count that book.
Every book is precious and we do not want to miss tracking it.

So, three things:

1. Stop by here and make a quick post about the completed book with as much information you can provide.

Here is an example how:
--------------------------------------------
Completion Post

Book: This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance! |
Author: Jonathan Evison
Pages: 296
Date: 01-Feb-2021
UNO Cards it fits:

0: Standalone
1: Character O - Osier, Terrance
2: Title T
3: Character H - Harriet Chance
4: Character F - Fitsimmons, Charlie
6: Character S - Skip
8: Author E
9: Character N - Nathan, Harriet
Skip: Character K - Kurt Pikins

Cover Color : Blue (73.3%) (https://labs.tineye.com/color/50aeebd...)


-------------------------------------------

2. Hop over to your profile and make sure you have logged in that book in your respective UNO folder as "read".

This is important because at the end of the month, only books logged into the respective shelves can be counted. And these mods are pesky (shhh!), they like to sneak, I tell you! Oh, you'll see! :P
------------------------------------------

3. Take a minute to go to our planning/tracking spreadsheet (yes, the same one!) (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...) and put in the relevant information of your next read.

I mean, we can't stop at 1, or 2, or errm 6!

OMG! I AM SOOOO EXCITED NOW!
I CAN'T WAIT!! LET'S GO ALREADY! :D

I know! I know! Your excitement is palpable. I totally get it! :D
So, let's get started, shall we?

A couple of things:

1. You can read absolutely ANYTHING you want! The only request is you track every little thing that the book offers you! Names, locations - the works!

The best way, of course, is Team Quokka Tracking Spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...). You can start filling in information as you come across it in the "February" (and later "March", and "April" folders). The reason for having all that information is that we can then move things around to complete our hands without waiting on someone to finish a certain book.

2. Color Cards: This is a fun one! We can have folks claim certain color cards if they want, but irrespective of that, I would request you to note any cover color-related information from your book that would fit the bill.

Always better to have multiple books that may fit multiple options. Again, you don't have to read for a particular color, but you can if you so choose.

I AM LOOKING AT YOU! :P


Well, I mean that the cap and the co-caps see you. You are seen!
(Uff, this is turning into therapy. Eh, well! :P Two at the price of one!)

Team Spreadsheet
(https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...)

You don't have to worry about this one!
I got this (till I haven't - but then we have two awesome co-caps, so we are totally fiiiiiiine!)

Team Quokka Tracking Spreadsheet
(https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...)

Now, THIS is your playground! Bookmark this baby because you will be needing this one a lot over the next three months!

DO YOU KNOW THOSE SCARY MODS? THEY WARNED ME TO HAVE EVERYONE READ THIS. :P
Rules - UNO 2023

➦ Only books STARTED after the challenge begins can count.
The challenge starts on Monday 1 Feb, 2023 at 9am UTC

➦ Books must be more than 100 pages in length.
If it is a Children's book or a graphic novel, we need to verify it is more than 25,000 words on arbookfind.com (https://www.arbookfind.com/UserType.a...)

➦ Your finished books need to be on your Uno shelf
AND marked as "read" for them to count.

➦ Please make notes of how your book may count.
The more options we have the better!
(Letters used in UNO are Z, O, T, H, F, I, V, E, S, N, K, P and of course if another team member has read the book before. Please friend our team members!)

➦ For coloured cards, the cover needs to be 50% or more of the colour.
You can ask us in this thread for our opinion, or use xx to get an idea. If in doubt, ask me or a co-captain as we can check it and/or take to the captains group for another opinion.

➦ This is a social challenge, not a competitive one.
We'd love to get points, but the main aim of the game is to have fun, read lots and get to know each other :)
---------------------------------------------------------

Team Information (alphabetical)

✔ Alina | Uno 2023
✔ Alyana | Uno 2023
✔ Amy | 2023 BA Uno Challenge
✔ Apoorv | Challenge-PBBA-UNO2023
✔ April | Uno 2023
✔ Jessica | Uno 2023
✔ Lacey | Uno
✔ Natasha | Uno 2023
✔ Sharon A. | Uno2023

---------------------------------------------------------

COUNTDOWN!
(https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...)

We start February 1, 2023 at 9AM UTC.
---------------------------------------------------------

LEADERBOARD!
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

---------------------------------------------------------

Yes, we did! :D
Three months of reading some wonderful books and enjoying competing for this fun challenge! And what a wonderful group of folks you all were, who made it all just seem like the time flew by. I'm so glad I was part of this group for this challenge.

Real life took some time away towards the end for some of us, but I appreciate every single one of you for being such a cool team player for at times reading books probably out of your comfort zone just for the challenge.

YOU FOLKS ARE AWESOME!
I'm sure we will cross paths in this exciting maze of GoodReads. :D
THANK YOU SO MUCH!

So, this is what we need to acquire all our points so far, at the minimum.

- 2 Yellow
- 7 Yellow
- 9 Yellow
- Skip Yellow

I am reading a book that will for 2 and Skip Yellow.
If we can get the other three read, we can cash in all the points.

bamaace83 wrote: "I have 3 more books to add but for some reason my google pages have stopped letting me edit links. The little box won't pop up for me to do it so I'm putting the links but just can't fix them. Any ..."

I got you, Anna, no worries!

Anne wrote: "Apoorv,
Please could you give us an update as to where we are, since we are so close to the end of the month?"

I am going to move things around a bit since we have about 44 books to complete this month and since we can only skip one entire hand, need to make sure we don't loose any already acquired points.

Will drop in an update in a few hours.

Val wrote: "Hi all -- hope everyone who celebrates had a wonderful Easter or Passover.

Quick note - the version of Archer's Voice that I read is this one:


It doesn't work ..."


Ah, thanks for that, Val.
Would you be able to list some specific passages in the book so we can add that as supporting reason for any of the aforementioned tasks? Thanks! :)

I mean we built a house, decorated it - it's only fair we celebrate it!
Time for a PAAAAARTYYY!! :D

April Mini is here and I am already hungry! :p

Time for some fun book cues!