Chapter Crushers (Team C)

[Stephanie]

I figured I would get us started with a spot for our team to chat! Hi Team C!!! *waves*

Team C
Beth
Camilla
Casceil
Dawn
Debra
jaxnsmom
KimeyDiann
Lori
Melissa
Nicole
Peggy
Pragya
Roz
Stephanie
Tasha
Tejas Janet

This Toppler is one week long, and will begin on June 13th at noon EDT and end at noon EDT on the 20th.

As you know, there’s an award for just about anything these days. And many have overlapping divisions and a million subdivisions – literature, film and television especially. We’re going to participate in our own way. I’ve chosen some well known and some not so well known awards and assign a task to each one. There will be 10 points for every qualifying book read, plus 5 extra points as indicated with some tasks. As usual, there will be some surprise points at the end.

The usual rules:
1. Books must be started and finished in this time period to qualify.
2. You may read any format - paperback, hardcover, ebook, or audiobook. For the last two use the page numbers on the first edition that comes up on the GR page.
3. Each book must be at least 175 pages.
4. Toppler books can count toward the monthly challenge, the group theme read, and the yearly challenge if they qualify.
5. You may plan ahead and chose books for the challenge, but you are not restricted to those books. You may swap them out at will.


Nobel
The Nobel Prize is awarded in Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physics, and Physiology or Medicine, along with the related Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Read a Nobel Prize winning book, or a book about or by a Nobel Prize winner.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_...

John Nash died on May 23rd– Read a book about John Nash. 5 points for anyone who watches the movie, A Beautiful Mind,reading a book not required.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/25/sci...

Interesting trivia:
Due to its well-known nature, the Nobel Prize has been fictionally awarded or offered to many fake characters within popular media, including:
• Dr. Sam Beckett of Quantum Leap - presumably Physics
• Dr. Richard Daystrom of Star Trek 's "The Ultimate Computer" - presumably Physics
• Dr. Nathan Stark of Eureka - presumably Physics
• Krusty the Clown of The Simpsons' "Elementary School Musical" - Peace (hoax)
• Bugs Bunny of The Looney Tunes Show - field unknown

Pulitzer
We’ll skip the news related ones and the music one, and stick to the literature awards.
There are six categories in letters and drama:
• Fiction – for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life.
• Drama – for a distinguished play by an American playwright, preferably original in its source and dealing with American life.
• History – for a distinguished book on the history of the United States.
• Biography or Autobiography – for a distinguished biography or autobiography by an American author.
• Poetry – for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American poet.
• General Non-Fiction – for a distinguished book of non-fiction by an American author that is not eligible for consideration in any other category.
Read a book about or by a prize winner, or prize winning book.

http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/Fiction (1948 to present winners
http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/Novel (renamed Fiction starting with 1948 winners)
http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/Drama
http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/History
http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/Biograp...
http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/Poetry
http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/General...

Olympics – Read a nonfiction book about one of the Olympic sports, or a fictional athlete (a main character) that participates in one of the sports (doesn’t have to be the Olympics). I’m also going to allow baseball even though the IOC dropped it. And remember, in the Olympics football is soccer.
http://www.olympic.org/sports

Bruce Jenner has been in the news lately. 5 Extra points for reading a book about a real Olympic athlete.

5 extra points for anyone who watches Cool Runnings.

Golden Globe
The Golden Globe Award is for excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign. We’re sticking to film. The award is bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which reports on the entertainment industry in the US for information outlets predominantly outside the US.
Read a book that was made into a movie, and that has won a major film award in a country other than the US. It can be any award listed in the website other than the US. If you want to use an award not listed, ask me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_...

Academy Award (Oscar)
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are for achievements in the film industry. The first award ceremony was in 1929.

Read a book that was, or is being, made into a movie. 5 extra points if the book was published before 1929.

Emmy Award for Television
An Emmy Award recognizes excellence in the television industry.
Read a book that was made into a television show or made for tv movie (Game of Thrones follows the books), or has a show or movie based on the book (Bones is based on Kathy Reich's series but the only thing the same is that the main character is a forensic anthropologist).

Other Film Awards
AVN Award (Adult industry)
Read an erotic book. This will be good practice for post 19 ☺

Independent Film Awards
Read a book that’s self-published or Indie (a book published outside of mainstream publishing). https://www.goodreads.com/search?utf8...
It looks like all of these might not apply, so use a list with self-published or Indie in the list title, although you’re not required to use one of these lists.

Beauty
There are so many beauty pageants that I won’t list them. I had deleted this, but decided to put it back with a different task, especially since otherwise there would be no category just for this task. And some of us have to be able to read these books!
Read a book with a beautiful animal on the cover.

Humor
These are a few comedy awards:
British Comedy Awards
Canadian Comedy Awards
Mark Twain Prize for American Humor (John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts)
Anne Meara died on May 23, 2015. She was a well know American actress and comedian along with her husband, Jerry Stiller.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/25/art...

Read a humorous book. To make this easier on me, humor has to be one of the genres listed on the books GR home page.

Food and Beverage
Culinary
Cordon D'Or
James Beard Foundation Award
Michelin Star & Rising Star - Restaurant achievement

Read a nonfiction book about a chef, restaurant, or food. OR
Read a book where food plays a major part of the story.

Spirits
Los Angeles International Competitions for Wine, Sprits, Beer, and Olive Oil
I have no idea why olive oil is included. And why not any other oils? One of the mysteries of life, I suppose.

Read a book where drinking alcohol plays an important part.

Sports
Read a book about a non-Olympic sport. This doesn’t include baseball since I’ve included it in Olympics. The book can be about the sport or a fiction/nonfiction with an athlete as a main character.

[Stephanie]

Literature

The Man Booker Prize for Fiction (commonly known as the Booker Prize)
Read a book that has won the Booker Prize.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_Book...

The Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (previously called the Orange Prize for Fiction).
Read a book that has won the BWPfF/Orange Prize.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_...

Miles Franklin Literary Award
For a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases.
Read a book that has won the award.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_Fr...

Children's Literature
Newbery Medal and Newbery Honor
Carnegie Medal
Hans Christian Andersen Award
Read a book by an author that has won one of these awards (doesn’t have to be the winning book). For HCA Award use an author listed in the Writing section.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newbery_...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Chr...

Horror fiction
Bram Stoker Award for superior achievement in horror writing.
Read a book from one of these three lists.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bram_Sto...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bram_Sto...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bram_Sto...

Lord Ruthven Award for the best fiction on vampires.
Read a book from the fiction list.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Rut...

Mystery fiction
The task is to read a winning book (or other nominated book if on same list). If more than one list is in a linked site, then I'll indicate which list to use.

Agatha Award – For mystery and crime writers who write in the cozy mystery subgenre. Use the Best First Novel list.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatha_A...

Anthony Award - For mystery writers. You may use the Best Novel and Best First Novel for your options.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_...

Edgar Award - Honor the best in (for our purposes) mystery fiction and non-fiction, published or produced in the previous year.
Read a winning book, or a nominee when included. For the 2010’s a list of winners for all categories. These awards are nor included: Best Short Story, Best Television Teleplay, Robert L. Fish Memorial Award, Raven Awards, Ellery Queen Award, and Simon & Schuster MCH Award.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Aw...

Gold Dagger – Given by the Crime Writers' Association for the best crime novel of the year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Dag...

Left Coast Crime awards - A mystery convention sponsored by mystery fans, for mystery fans.
Lefty award - For the most humorous mystery published in a particular year. The winners are below the chart.

http://leftcoastcrime.org/history.html

I’m so disappointed. I found this award and thought it might be fun, but TOP is a brewery, and not odd mysteries: Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award

Science Fiction and Fantasy

Definition of Science fiction - A genre of fiction dealing with imaginative content such as futuristic settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, time travel, faster than light travel, parallel universes and extraterrestrial life. It usually eschews the supernatural, and unlike the related genre of fantasy, its imaginary elements are largely plausible within the scientifically established context of the story. Science fiction often explores the potential consequences of scientific and other innovations, and has been called a "literature of ideas”.

Definition of Fantasy - A genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary plot element, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic and magical creatures are common. Fantasy is generally distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror by the expectation that it steers clear of scientific and macabre themes, respectively, though there is a great deal of overlap between the three.

The task is to read a winning book (or other nominated book if on same list). If more than one list is in a linked site, then I'll indicate which list to use.

Hugo Award - For the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Awa...

Nebula Award - For the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States during the previous year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebula_A...

BSFA Award - for science fiction or fantasy that has been published in the UK for the first time in the previous year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSFA_Awa...

Mythopoeic Awards – For outstanding works in the fields of myth and fantasy. Use the Fantasy Award and Fantasy Award for Adult Fiction lists.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythopoe...

Sidewise Awards for Alternate History - For the best alternate history stories and novels of the year. Use the long form list.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidewise...

World Fantasy Award (for Best Novel) - For the best fantasy fiction published in or translated into English during the previous calendar year. Interesting note: Because of the small number of judges for the World Fantasy Awards, and because they usually try to read very comprehensively in the field, selections for the awards are often eclectic. For example, low-selling but high-quality works from small press publications, which may be overlooked by other awards, often receive a critical spotlight in the World Fantasy Awards.
Read a book on the list, by the winner or a nominee.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Fa...

I haven’t found any specific awards for apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic, dystopian, and cyberpunk fiction, although they are eligible for other scifi awards. If you want to read a book from one of these genres and it’s not a winner of any scifi award, ask me about it.

LGBT
Lambda Literary Awards (also known as the "Lammys") are awarded to published works which celebrate or explore LGBT themes.
Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction
Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction
Lambda Literary Award for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror
Read a book from one of the lists.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambda_L...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambda_L...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_...

Short Story or Novella Collection
The Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction is awarded annually to two winners for a collection of short stories or novellas. Interesting info: Flannery O'Connor will be honored by a new US postage stamp. But you won’t be using it much, it’s the 3 ounce, $.93 variety. The peacock feathers are an allusion to Andalusia, the family farm in Georgia where she raised peacocks.
The stamp will be issued June 5 during the Napex stamp show in McLean, Va.
photo flannery oconnor stamp_zpsavvlre2x.jpg
http://www.aleteia.org/en/arts-entert...

Read a book from the list. This might take a little effort. The list doesn’t indicate the number of pages, but I found some didn’t meet our page requirement (minimum 175).

http://www.ugapress.org/index.php/ser...

Classics
Well, there aren’t any awards specifically for classics, probably because they didn’t know at the time that the books would become a classic. Sorry, but I’ve had 4 hours of sleep and can’t stop myself. A lot of the classics have won other awards, but just in case, you can read a book from the list of Penguin Classics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_...

Historical Fiction
The Geoffrey Bilson Award - For the best work of historical fiction written for youth each year
The Walter Scott Prize - For historical fiction first published in the UK, Ireland or Commonwealth in the preceding year.
Read a winning book from one of the lists.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_S...

Western
Spur Awards - To honor writers for distinguished writing about the American West. Books are set in the American Old West frontier and typically set in the late eighteenth to late nineteenth century.
Read a book that has won the award.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spur_Awa...

Alex Awards
Annually recognizes ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults ages 12 through 18".
Read a book that has been recognized.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Awards

Michael L. Printz Award
Annually recognizes the best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit.
Read a book that has won or been designated an Honor book.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printz_A...

Romance
The RITA Award is to promote excellence in the romance genre by recognizing outstanding published novels and novellas.
Read a winning book from any of the categories except Novella and Short Contemporary.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RITA_Awa...


DISCLAIMER: There are many more awards for each genre, but I’ve only used some of them. This is due to the impossibility of using them all, some being too similar, and lack of easily accessible information on winners.

I apologize for not including awards from countries other than the US or the UK. A lot of the winners of awards from other countries are probably not easily available to most of us, and I admit I mostly stuck with ones I was at least slightly familiar with.

[Casceil]

Good work, Stephanie, on creating this thread.

[Stephanie]

Thank you :) I love copy and paste :)

[Canadian Dragon]

Hi team c

[Camilla]

Thanks Stephanie for putting up the thread!

[Peggy]

Good morning!!

[jaxnsmom]

Yay Stephanie!

And now it's good night for me.

[Debra]

Thanks, Stephanie!

[Stephanie]

No problem :) I can't wait to hear what this Toppler will be all about!!

[Canadian Dragon]

Thanks Stephanie for setting up the thread, now we just wait.

[Debra]

We need a catchy name, but I can't think of anything. Anyone?

[Stephanie]

Hmmmmm....

Chapter chicks
Cool girls read
Chillaxed Chaucer (I have no idea what this is but saw it on a site)
ChickLits
Chapter Chasers
Chapter Crushers

[Debra]

Good ones, Stephanie. I like Chapter Crushers. The Chaucer one is cool, tho.

[Casceil]

I like Chapter Crushers. The Chaucer variant doesn't seem appropriate, particularly if none of us can even explain what it means.

[Canadian Dragon]

I like chapter crushers too

[Peggy]

Chillaxed is a combination of chill and relaxed, and Chaucer probably refers to the author. I guess that's all there is to it.

I like Chapter Crushers too! :)

[Stephanie]

Maybe you this is too early? But who would like to be in charge of the spreadsheet that I'm going to guess that we will have?

[Stephanie]

And should I change our team name to Chapter Crushers?

[Canadian Dragon]

Sure lets change our name :). Hmm I am wondering if this toppler will be about travelling too

[Stephanie]

Cool! I will update the name then and we can change it if we think of something that goes better with theme (when we find out what it is).

Oooh! That would be fun to have a traveling themed Toppler! I can't wait till we find out the details of what the Toppler is:-)

[Pragya]

Hii! *waves*

[Stephanie]

Hi Pragya!!!!!!

[Peggy]

I'm leaving for London for a weekend (Foo Fighters concert!) on toppler Friday, and I have to finish my dissertation in June, so for me it would be really good if I could just do the reading this time, and no spreadsheets or tracking. I'm sorry, but I hope that's okay :)

[Stephanie]

That's ok, Peggy :) But I am super jealous in regards to the concert!! Foo fighters are awesome live!! My hubby took me to their concert in Council Bluffs, Iowa when we lived in Omaha, Nebraska. Council Bluffs is very close to Omaha :) and good luck with your dissertation :)
I'm not much of a know how in regards to spreadsheets. I may be taking classes starting in July. It is a professional skills track (word and excel) through Syracuse University that is available for post 9/11 veterans and their spouses at no cost. Hoping to learn more about word and excel and further my know how which will be a lot because I don't have a ton of experience with excel. I'm waiting to see if I get accepted (which can take up to 10 weeks :( ! )

[Camilla]

Hmph, still no information on the Toppler. I'm getting restless waiting!

[Peggy]

Me too! I've been checking several times a day ;-)

[jaxnsmom]

I'll probably post the theme this afternoon and the Toppler tomorrow.

Peggy, it sounds like you have fun and hard work coming up in June.

[Camilla]

jaxnsmom wrote: "I'll probably post the theme this afternoon and the Toppler tomorrow."

It's evening here already!

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Camilla wrote: "It's evening here already!"

Piffle. It's tomorrow already! ;)

[Nicole]

Okay so, weird question. I think I understand how it works but can someone tell me what we are doing? Lol sorry it's been a long week and I might not be processing what I'm reading correctly.

[Peggy]

We don't know yet! All we know is that we should read as many books as possible between June 13-20. What those books need to be about or how we can get as many points as possible we'll find out tomorrow :) Then we can also start finding fitting books, and plan which group member will reach which book(s).

[Nicole]

Ohhh! Okay awesome! Thanks, I can't wait now!

[Canadian Dragon]

I am excited to find out the theme, I work nights this weekend so I will have to wait to find out the details, I will probably be sleeping when the toppler activities are told to us..

I also work nights a lot during the toppler so I think I will just read and not do the spreadsheet for this one. It was really hard last time keeping up with everyone while working the night shifts

[Janice, Moderator]

Nicole wrote: "Ohhh! Okay awesome! Thanks, I can't wait now!"

jaxnsmom likes to drag out the suspense to make us squirm with anticipation.

[Canadian Dragon]

Yes I agree, I love the suspense though :)

[Casceil]

Jmom has posted some of the toppler criteria. (I really hope there are more coming, because these look HARD.) They are mostly prize winners. Looking at the lists, I discovered a) I've read a lot more Pulitzer Prize winning novels than I realized, b) pretty much all of them took me a long time to read. Certainly more than a week. I'm really hoping there are some lighter ones coming, like Hugos (science fiction), Edgars (mystery), RITA (romanaces). Even adding Man Booker would give it a lot more scope. Keeping my fingers crossed.

[Stephanie]

Fingers crossed here as well :) I will add the rules and such to the thread once it is all finalized :)

[Casceil]

For what it's worth, I listened to audio books for two of the Pulitzer winners, and both were outstanding. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and The Orphan Master's Son.

[Camilla]

I was planning on reading The Road for the June group read, that's a Pulitzer winner. But I agree with Casceil, I hope we get some "lighter" options as well.

[Roz]

I know what you mean, Casceil. I have a shelf of prize winners and any that fit the criteria given so far are long. I have Palace Walk that I've wanted to read for ages but it's over 500 pages, a chunkster.
But To Kill a Mockingbird, A Death in the Family, March, The Color Purple, are shorter more doable choices.

[jaxnsmom]

I just added some more tasks and there are many more to come :)

[Peggy]

Those literary awards sound hard to me too, but the ones with movies and beauty should make it a lot easier. It's going to be a great toppler!

[Peggy]

With the awards posted so far, I'm sure I have books fitting Academy Award, Golden Globes, Beauty, and Food and Beverage. I don't have Nobel or Pullitzer. For the other categories I'd have to do a more thorough search to see if I can come up with something.

I'll read 1 book for sure, I'll see during toppler-week whether I can fit a second book in.

[Debra]

I've got 1 Nobel Prize book picked, 2 Adult Industry, and 1 for humor. That means I'm committing to 3 or 4 books. Unless, there is a problem with me reading 2 in the same category.

[Stephanie]

I may need some help finding books..i will one maybe two depending what I can find. The books I read usually don't have an award attached..that I've noticed anyways ;-)

[Peggy]

The easiest one is probably Academy Award Stephanie. There is no requirement except that the book must have been made (or is going to be made) into a movie. No need for the movie to have won any award.

[Canadian Dragon]

I can do a book for The Independent Film category-- for an Indie book I have a lot that were on that list that I could read

[Canadian Dragon]

The Emmy and academy award category's are the type of books I like as well so lots of choices

[Peggy]

The good thing (so far at least!) seems to be that we can read whatever we feel like. No rules that certain awards are worth more than others, or that we need to cover all categories. If it stays like this, I think I'd go for The Silver Linings Playbook, fits with Academy Awards. It's quite short and I've been wanting to read it for ages.

Is anyone planning on watching one of the movies? I have A Beautiful Mind on dvd and have watched it several times, but I don't think I can watch it during toppler-week.