Mini-Challenge #7: Reading Train- March 2014: Rules and Questions

[JoLene, Mistress of the Challenge]

HF Mini-Challenge #7: Jump Aboard the Reading Train

Challenge length: March 1, 2014 until March 31, 2014
I recently took the train up to visit a friend. It was a great way to travel --- no driving and time to watch the scenery or read. This month’s challenge is inspired by my trip. The goal is for you to make a train through the books that you read during March.

RULES:

1) Books must be at least 200 pages long. Eligibility for this is determined by THE MOST POPULAR EDITION OF THE BOOK ON GOODREADS -- NOT the edition you actually read. If the most popular edition is 197 pages, it will not count, even if the edition read is 215 pages.
To determine the most popular edition on Goodreads, simply do a title/author search - the first result that matches your book is the most popular edition on GR. If the first book is an audio book or ebook without page numbers, then use the 2nd book shown in the editions.

2) The first book used for the challenge should be finished on or after March 1st.
Participants may join at any time during the challenge, but all of the books must be finished during March. NOTE: this is a change from our usual practice.
Any books that you read can also be claimed for other challenges (like HFU).

3) Re-reads, graphic novels, and audiobooks are accepted unless specified otherwise in the task. (Audiobook page counts will be determined by the most popular edition on Goodreads.)

Creating a Reading Train:

4) The idea for this challenge is to create a series of linked books. Using your first book as a starting point, the next book will need to link in some way to the previous book. Each book will link to the previous book and the book read right after. You do NOT need to link all books with each other.
Linking any 2 books:

- Genre: Same genre on main page
- Author initials: the authors of the two books have the same initials (they can be in any order)
- Title Words: the two books have a “main” title word (excludes prepositions, articles, pronouns)
- Cover Object: the two books have the same object on the cover (post covers)
- Same main character name: the two books have a character with the same name (first OR last)
- Subject Matter: if the two books have similar subject matter based on the GR description

5) Participation: Each person will create a post in the Railroad Thread (to be created) and edit as they grow their train.

This will be a non-scoring challenge, but I will post how long people’s trains are at the end.

NOTE: Right now, I’m too busy to score the challenge. If people want to use the normal scoring (page bonus, review + historical fiction), I would need a volunteer to score this challenge. Please indicate that you want scoring in the questions.

6) If you get stuck you can start another train….but the idea is that you are trying to get the longest connection. You do not have to read the books in the order of building the train, but all books should be finished by March 31 to count.

7) Have Fun!

Post for the Reading Train:
The Rosie Project
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time : main characters have autism
They Eat Puppies, Don't They? : dog on covers
Sacré Bleu: A Comedy d'Art by Christopher Moore: genre humor
Sunrise Destiny by Mark Terence Chapman - author initials
Ship of Destiny: same title word

NOTE: This is meant to be a challenge, so reading a series with the same author and main character for all your entries is frowned upon :-D

[JoLene, Mistress of the Challenge]

Reserved

[JoLene, Mistress of the Challenge]

Reserved

[Sandy from Alaska]

I would volunteer to score for you. Sounds like a fun challenge!

[Louise]

Sounds like fun!

[Jane]

Great idea!

[CassieV]

Doing a bit of my planning for this and I have a quick question: may we use the middle initial as well or only the first and last?

(I'm trying to link George RR Martin with Richelle Mead)

[Jane]

Basically what you're saying one book has to connect to the next one by some commonality and you gave an example of a reading train? I'll just read them as I read them and figure out connections as I go. I'm not going to try to plan; let the chips fall where they may.

[JoLene, Mistress of the Challenge]

@cassieV --- I will allow as long as the middle initial is used on book covers. In other words, you can't look up someone's middle initial in Wikipedia to use if they don't publish using it.

[Diana S]

Sounds like fun! - I'm in. :)

[CassieV]

JoLene wrote: "@cassieV --- I will allow as long as the middle initial is used on book covers. In other words, you can't look up someone's middle initial in Wikipedia to use if they don't publish using it."

Sounds good :)

[Becky, Moddess]

Do the initials need to be in the same order?

For instance, if I was trying to link Richelle Mead (R. M.) with Michael Rosen (M. R.)?

[JoLene, Mistress of the Challenge]

- Author initials: the authors of the two books have the same initials (they can be in any order)

[Melanie]

This sounds like a really neat challenge! I'll try. All aboard!

[Alicja]

"The first book used for the challenge should be finished on or after March 1st."

Does that mean we can start reading it before March? Are there restrictions on when it was started?

[JoLene, Mistress of the Challenge]

Yes -- you can start reading before March. No restrictions.

[Cindy]

Count me in too! Sounds fun ;)

[Cheryl]

JoLene, can the link be Pulitzer (or other) Prize winners? I am wanting to work on a bunch of Pulitzer and Nobel prize winners that have been on my TBR list for awhile.

[JoLene, Mistress of the Challenge]

Cheryl wrote: "JoLene, can the link be Pulitzer (or other) Prize winners? I am wanting to work on a bunch of Pulitzer and Nobel prize winners that have been on my TBR list for awhile."

I will allow the connection to be a literary award.

[Lesley]

JoLene, how creative are you!
I'll give this a go.

[Diane S ☔]

I'm going to try this one as well.

[Cindy]

Can the connection be an authors first or last name instead of initials or just the connections listed?

[Diane S ☔]

Can both main characters have sisters named Hannah? An two characters have the same profession? Both set I the same state?

[Louise]

Hi JoLene - would you allow the connection to be translation from the same language? Thanks!

[JoLene, Mistress of the Challenge]

Since this isn't a scoring challenge, I will allow some others than the ones listed.
@Cindy, I will allow authors first or last name as weel
@DianeS, I will allow set in the same state or main characters have same profession. Are the sisters main characters or at least secondary charcaters to the story? If they are only mentioned and don't really play a role, I would say no.
@Louise, translated from same language would be fine.