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[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I follow all of the threads in the Projects folder, but I definitely unfollowed some yesterday. It was all a bit too much for me haha! I agree with Zaz though... the making of the new list always gets a bit heated. Just unfollowed the mess I don’t want to read!

[Bana AZ]

Tracy wrote: "It hasn't been very long since I've been looking at or posting on the threads here due to personal circumstances. When I first came back, I noticed mention of conflict and people leaving the group ..."

I think you're the opposite of offensive and what you replied here for me was truly helpful.

--

I read some of those comments in the mini polls, too. They were intense. I didn't want to purposely add to that with my own drama here... it kind of just happened.

Even though this "Help Needed" thread was made mainly to help with technical issues, I gotta say this helped me. Just letting it out is very therapeutic. Did I say I felt attacked? Heh. That's what I get for commenting in the heat of the moment--exaggerated words. :/

[Ira]

I think the discussion get heated because we are a lot of people who are looking for very different things in this challenge and are doing it for differe reasons. Some are trying to take books of their TBR list, others are trying to expand their reading. Some are doing the challenge for the first time, others have done multiple yearly challenges. People get passionate about the project.

I personally try to expand my reading, and I have found some great books doing this challenge. I tend to get strict with how I interpret the prompts because I want to read outside of my comfort zone, but I like to have some weeks when I can read some books that have been on my TBR list for a long time.

My only problem is trying to fit it the next book in the different series I am reading and that means that I fall behind. I am reading The Dresden files by Jim Butcher, The legends of the first empire and The Ryiria Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan. I keep startin new series and never actually finishing them. On the other hand I have found a lot of great standalone novels in many different genres, and I got a reminder of why I loved historical fiction when I was little. I have no idea why I stopped reding from that genre.

[Kat]

Has anyone got suggestions for POC, LGBTQ or books set outside UK/USA? I have started tracking the books I have read this year on a helpful spreadsheet and found I'm lacking in diversity. I like most genres and will read almost anything (preferably not scary ones)

[dalex]

I very rarely question other's people choices for fulfilling a prompt. I will sometimes, however, point out that a book isn't quite right for the purposes of educating. Like, some books that people have chosen for the alternative history prompt actually do not have any sort of alternative twist. If someone wants to use that book for the prompt that is totally their choice but I like to inform them that what they may be thinking is an alteration of history is actually true fact.

[Jody]

Kat wrote: "Has anyone got suggestions for POC, LGBTQ or books set outside UK/USA?"

A Fine Balance (for POC) is incredible - one of my absolute favourites.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Kat wrote: "Has anyone got suggestions for POC, LGBTQ or books set outside UK/USA? I have started tracking the books I have read this year on a helpful spreadsheet and found I'm lacking in diversity. I like mo..."

These were goals for me this year!

I've read a few books set in Africa this year, which would cover POC and be set outside of the UK/USA. Homegoing was a particularly powerful one (although half of the book is set in the US, but the other half is Ghana). I also enjoyed Stay with Me.

For LGBT books, I read Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (which is POC too), They Both Die at the End (POC as well), and a few others that had more minor LGBT characters.

Two of my favorites of the year that were POC (but set in the US) are The Hate U Give and An American Marriage.

You can definitely check out the thread for "own voices" or for "book written or about a character who is a different sexuality, ethnicity, etc". Most of my suggestions were found on those threads. For outside of the US, there are some Around the World threads in the To Infinity and Beyond folder, and that would give you some suggestions too.

[Kat]

Thanks Emily for some great suggestions. I will have a look at the threads later as well.

[Katie]

I second The Hate U Give, An American Marriage & Homegoing. They all got 5 stars from me.

Here's a link to my list of diverse reads if you're looking for ideas, some I've read & some are TBR. I'm hoping this link works. I'm planning to do an entire diverse reads ATY challenge next year, so I'm trying to build up my list.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

[Tracy]

Thanks to the Mods for getting rid of the spell casting spammer so quickly!! I woke up to that message in every thread in both of my groups this morning. blew my mind😂

[Bryony]

Haha, it was really odd spam. They also posted a bunch of spam reviews so I reported them to Goodreads, hopefully they’ll get banned from the site before they bother anyone else.

[Tracy]

Any readers of scottish historical romance out there and/or book detectives who can help find this book for a friend? I'm going to copy and paste the description:


I’m looking for my moms favorite book. She can’t remeber the name but it is a Scottish Historical Romance book. It’s about a woman who gets kidnapped while out ridding her horse with her friend and teacher the man who taught her to defend herself. She is very skilled at defending herself. When she was a child she was there hiding when her family was slaughtered, her father(or step-father) ran away with his sons to save the boys not his daughters. She has horrible nightmares as. A scene that stands out is them in a cave and her having a nightmare and all the men around her are scared and worried for her. I have looked everywhere and asked 4 different libraries around us and two booksellers but they all say there isn’t enough detail to help find the book. Can you help? I want to get the book and it’s serious for her 60th birthday in October

[dalex]

The Library of Congress has a Ask a Librarian feature. You might try submitting your question there.

[Lieke]

There is also a Goodreads group: What's the name of that book?
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

[ELDEE]

What is a character?

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

I'm removing the topic you created since you are better off getting help in this folder.

Please read the first post of this thread carefully, as Zaz put together a really great intro there. If you still have *specific* questions then feel free to ask.

Your second comment is a bit confusing and makes me wonder if you're spamming us :P

[Silvia]

Is there a place where I can check the categories we have so far for the 2019 AtY Challenge?

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

If you look on the Announcements thread under the Projects folder, you will see the full list in the first post. I also have them on the Community Spreadsheet under the 2019 Plans tab!

[Silvia]

Emily wrote: "If you look on the Announcements thread under the Projects folder, you will see the full list in the first post. I also have them on the Community Spreadsheet under the 2019 Plans tab!"

Thanks :)

[Rachel]

Just wondering - are we still doing the quarterly awards posts? And is that something that needs to be initiated by mods, or is anyone free to start the thread?

[Tracy]

And are we done with read- a- thons for the year ? Do we do 3 or 4?

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

Yes, the quarterly awards are still happening. I can post the third quarter later today. But you can feel free to post it if you're wanting to get your own awards done before I get the main thread posted.

Tracy, there will be a final read-a-thon in December. We tend to do four, seasonal read-a-thons each year. It will be earlier in the month due to the holidays.

[Tracy]

Oh good, Im going to need a final push lol

[Johanne]

Tracy wrote: "And are we done with read- a- tons for the year ? Do we do 3 or 4?"

I came here to ask that exact question :) Thanks for the answer Laura. I also need a push (or several).

[Tracy]

I like how my computer changes it to read -a- TON.....because thats exactly what Im going to need to do ;-)

[Johanne]

Tracy wrote: "I like how my computer changes it to read -a - TON.....because thats exactly what Im going to need to do ;-)"

Me too.

[Lynn]

Tracy wrote: "Any readers of scottish historical romance out there and/or book detectives who can help find this book for a friend? I'm going to copy and paste the description:


I’m looking for my moms favorit..."

Tracy, did you ever find out the name of the book? Did you find a copy for your mother? Sorry to be nosy, but I'm hoping for a happy ending.

Helen

[Tracy]

Helen wrote: "Tracy wrote: "Any readers of scottish historical romance out there and/or book detectives who can help find this book for a friend? I'm going to copy and paste the description:


I’m looking for m..."

Oh Helen thanks for asking. I was asking for a friend in another group and I looked at about a million lists but I never found anything. I'm not sure if she did either :/

I brought the question over here because we read so widely in this group (not that the other group doesn't , they do as well) I thought maybe something might come up, but no luck.

[Jody]

Have you tried Reddit? There’s a subreddit called whatsthatbook with about 17k subscribers - you might have some luck there?

Although if you haven’t tried Reddit, maybe stay away ... it’s a rabbit hole and probably the main reason I don’t read as much as I used to. Too many cute videos of baby goats and elephants and pictures of cars and dogs.

[Peter]

I don't read that genre... but I do really like puzzles.

Is there anything else you can remember about the plot, characters, or author? The closest I could find right now is "Love with a Scottish Outlaw" by Gayle Callen. Sounds like the main character is injured and loses her memory when she is found by the male who is an outlaw living in caves and he keeps her identity a secret because their families are enemies.

[Tracy]

Jody wrote: "Have you tried Reddit? There’s a subreddit called whatsthatbook with about 17k subscribers - you might have some luck there?

Although if you haven’t tried Reddit, maybe stay away ... it’s a rabbit..."

I love cute baby goats :-)

I kind of gave up on looking for the book, I tried, I searched, I sent it out into the universe. I'm ok with that.

[Tracy]

Peter wrote: "I don't read that genre... but I do really like puzzles.

Is there anything else you can remember about the plot, characters, or author? The closest I could find right now is "Love with a Scottish..."

This was my main suspect Peter, but its not the right one :-(

Thanks for trying :-)

[Ann]

shoot now I want to read the book Peter found.

[Ann]

OK question. I would love to enter my books next year on the A to Z threads but, Man Oh Man, do you have to search thru 20 pages of books beginning with M, or whatever, to find out if your book is already in there? I would feel stupid to start a new thread if an old one existed, but it is so confusing. Isn't there an easier way to search for a book on that List? Maybe I missed it this year.

[Tracy]

Ann, on the right hand side of the page here theres a little search box that says "search discussion posts"...try typing the name of your books in there and see if you can find the post for it, it should narrow down your searching a little bit.

Okay edit... I tried it with Gone With the Wind and it brought up a bunch of threads however, at the top of that page theres another box where you can choose search by posts or topic. If you check off topic and there is a post for the book in the A-Z list it comes right up.

Hope that makes sense...good luck!

[Jody]

When you do that search, you can narrow it down to titles only. Then if there’s a specific thread for a book, it will come up. 😊

[Ann]

I tried it and it helped but I still fear I am missing something. I will try it next year. Thank you.

[Tracy]

Mods, Can anyone help me delete a post from the 2019 plans thread. I had an original one going but I tried to rearrange and ran out of room for the order I wanted. I started a new post and relabeled the old one "Tracy K...Mods please help delete" or something.... I just don't want to have 2 plan threads in there, I'll get confused, even though I deleted everything I could out of the original one.

[Bryony]

Tracy, I think only mods can delete whole threads so I’ve just deleted the one you renamed as please delete. Hope that’s all okay now. :-)

[Tracy]

Bryony wrote: "Tracy, I think only mods can delete whole threads so I’ve just deleted the one you renamed as please delete. Hope that’s all okay now. :-)"

Thats perfect Thank you :-)

( I don't know why I started with post, it was the whole thread I wanted to get rid of)

[Kerry]

I have a question concerning the Rejects challenge. What exactly is it? Do I make up my own prompts or are there prompts already to pick from and how do people decide how many they are doing? The reject prompt is all new to me and this was my first year doing the ATY challenge.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Kerry wrote: "I have a question concerning the Rejects challenge. What exactly is it? Do I make up my own prompts or are there prompts already to pick from and how do people decide how many they are doing? The r..."

Through the polling process when we are creating the 2019 official list, people fall in love with different prompts that may not make it on the final list. So they take the "rejected" prompts and make their own challenge out of them.

You can find the full list of rejects on the community spreadsheet. It's not required, but if you're looking for an extra challenge, you can make your own challenge out of the rejected prompts!

[Kerry]

Emily wrote: "Kerry wrote: "I have a question concerning the Rejects challenge. What exactly is it? Do I make up my own prompts or are there prompts already to pick from and how do people decide how many they ar..."

Thank you for the explanation. I am going to look at it now and decide whether to add it.

[Elizabeth]

question maybe you guys can help, so i have books picked out for challenges 1- 47 & challenges 51-52 , and i know i can use my wild card for one of the 3 challenges i can't and don't have books for which is challenges 48. A book that was a finalist or winner for the National Book Award for any year
49. A book written by a Far East Asian author or set in a Far East Asian country
50. A book that includes a journey (physical, health, or spiritual)
for the use of my wild card i'm using it on challenge 50 since i have mild depression and anxiety those types of books just make me uncomfortable, so i was wondering if there was a way i could switch out challenges 48 -49 for 2 different challenges that lost or should i just leave them along

[Johanne]

For no. 50 - do you feel uncomfortable because you are thinking of the spiritual type journeys? I am thinking of using any book where the characters are on a journey - and this includes a lot of fantasy for example Lord of the Rings, or it could be books like Carrying Albert Home: The Somewhat True Story of A Man, His Wife, and Her Alligator or The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared.
I am not saying you shouldn´t skip no 50, I just think it can be interpreted in many ways.

[Elizabeth]

Johanne wrote: "For no. 50 - do you feel uncomfortable because you are thinking of the spiritual type journeys? I am thinking of using any book where the characters are on a journey - and this includes a lot of fa..."

You know you could be right about that , and I do have some fantasy books I could use for number 50, and use my Wild Card for one of the others.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Elizabeth wrote: "question maybe you guys can help, so i have books picked out for challenges 1- 47 & challenges 51-52 , and i know i can use my wild card for one of the 3 challenges i can't and don't have books for..."

I think the answer from the mods would be that it's your challenge and you can complete it in any way that you choose (like using a wild card for all three, if you feel you need to).

I'm with Johanne though... I'd encourage you to look through other people's plans and see what they are reading (or follow the threads, since I think all of those are up right now). There is so much variety with those prompts (except maybe the National Book Award, but even then, you could do fiction, nonfic, YA...).

In the end, though, it's your challenge to do what you choose with it!

[Elizabeth]

Emily wrote: "Elizabeth wrote: "question maybe you guys can help, so i have books picked out for challenges 1- 47 & challenges 51-52 , and i know i can use my wild card for one of the 3 challenges i can't and do..."

Thanks guys for the help and I might just do that ,

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

I wouldn't set yourself against any of the prompts just yet. There's still time for a ton of inspiration as the rest of the weekly topics are posted and people really start diving into planning.

With that said, you couldn't technically say you completed the challenge if you use more than one wildcard. But it's your 2019 reading so if you want to fit in two extra wildcards then that's totally your choice.

[Elizabeth]

Laura wrote: "I wouldn't set yourself against any of the prompts just yet. There's still time for a ton of inspiration as the rest of the weekly topics are posted and people really start diving into planning.

..."

thanks
i was able to get books for challenges 49 and 50 , so the only one i can't do is 48 but i can use my wild card for that one ,since non of the books listed are ones i'm never picking up,