2017 Group Bookshelf Challenge Reading Calendar

[Sarah]

Yes, thank you YouKneeK. I forgot to add a description at the top.

[Michael]

YouKneeK wrote: "Farhana wrote: "By the way, does the list contain only the books (from the group bookshelf) that have not been read already by the group in previous years?"."

Like.

[Farhana]

YouKneeK wrote: "Hi Farhana,
I think the point of confusion might be how the books get on the group shelf. All the books on our group shelf have previously been read by the group over the years. Each month two new books are voted on, added to the shelf, and read by anybody in the group who’s interested. ."

Aha! Thanks for taking the time to explain how books are added to this group's bookshelf. Being a new member it WAS confusing. I thought any books being planned To Be Read (future tense) are in the bookshelf. Some of the other groups I am in has a bookshelf that contains both READ and TBR books.

Thanks again.

[Farhana]

I went through the Bookshelf more minutely today as well. And I noticed that among the 223 books 219 are on the READ shelf. Unless one is using the Goodreads main site from a pc, it is a bit difficult to navigate groups with the mobile app.

[Hank]

Exactly right. Two are in the currently reading group and I think we have two more in the TBR group. The Polls for January will go up Dec 1 so look for them and help us choose the next two.

[Sarah]

We're up to 42 votes! Here is our current list of 7+

12 Votes
Gardens of the Moon
Red Mars
The Windup Girl

10 Votes
Ancillary Sword
Cloud Atlas
Dragonflight

9 Votes
Anansi Boys
The Anubis Gates
Childhood's End
City of Bones
The Color of Magic
The Day of the Triffids
The Forever War
The Girl with All the Gifts
I, Robot
The Lathe of Heaven
The Martian
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

8 Votes
American Gods
The Black Company
Blackout
Boneshaker
A Canticle for Liebowitz
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Doomsday Book
The Handmaid's Tale
The Killing Moon
Kindred
The Left Hand of Darkness
The Name of the Wind
Prince of Thorns
Ready Player One
The Road
Weaveworld

7 Votes
The Aeronaut's Windlass
Ancillary Justice
Assassin's Apprentice
The Caves of Steel
Consider Phlebas
The Diamond Age: or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer
The Dispossessed
Fahrenheit 451
The Final Empire
Flowers for Algernon
The Graveyard Book
The Mote in God's Eye
Neverwhere
Perdido Street Station
Red Rising
Seveneves
The Snow Queen
The Three-Body Problem
Watership Down
The Wise Man's Fear

[Sabrina]

Oh, only two out of my ten made it... but I'm looking forward (and being just a little bit scared) of finally reading Gardens of the Moon

[Sarah]

I have very few on there, too. I think we'll see a lot of fluctuation between now and Jan 15. That may help.

[David]

A good number that I voted for made it (but I voted for lots of books) and quite a few more that I didn't vote for but would be happy to read. I've only read five of the top 28 and would recommend any of those.

It looks like a very good list to me.

[Edwin]

Sabrina wrote: "Oh, only two out of my ten made it"

Me too.

Sabrina wrote: "but I'm looking forward (and being just a little bit scared) of finally reading Gardens of the Moon"

Uh, me too.

[Sarah]

Me three on Gardens of the Moon ;)

[YouKneeK]

Every time I look at that book, I look at the following page and proceed to back slowly and carefully away. :)

https://www.goodreads.com/series/4967...

[Bruce]

Sarah Anne wrote: "Me three on Gardens of the Moon ;)"

I tried listening to the Audible version. Don't make that mistake.

[Sarah]

Oh my goodness, YouKneeK! That's daunting!

Bruce, what was wrong with the Audible version? That was my plan.

[Sabrina]

YouKneeK wrote: "Every time I look at that book, I look at the following page and proceed to back slowly and carefully away. :)

https://www.goodreads.com/series/4967..."

It is scary!!! But supposedly it's also pretty good...?!

[YouKneeK]

Sabrina wrote: "It is scary!!! But supposedly it's also pretty good...?!"

What little I’ve heard about it has definitely made me want to read it! At one point I had planned to read it soon because I thought it was just one finished 10-book series. It got bumped way down on my priority list when I realized there were 20+ books with not one but two authors both actively still writing in the series. I still hope to get to it someday, though.

[Sarah]

Two authors?

[YouKneeK]

Yep. The original series was written by Steven Erikson but, in the above link, some of the subseries books are listed as being written by Ian C. Esslemont. I haven’t done any research on why/how that came about. It looks like both authors are currently in the middle of writing their own subseries.

[Silvana]

I got eight picks in that list including Red Mars. Not bad at all.
Gardens of the Moon is not bad, but I almost DNFed Deadhouse Gates. But I might come back.

[Sabrina]

YouKneeK wrote: "Yep. The original series was written by Steven Erikson but, in the above link, some of the subseries books are listed as being written by Ian C. Esslemont. I haven’t done any research on why/how th..."

Oh, I didn't know! I guess some authors just don't know when to stop. In my first read, I think I'll stick to the original series?!

[Sarah]

So we're up to 47 votes! Wow! There are still a lot of votes below the 8 shown below so keep voting, everyone. Things are fluctuating a lot. It's kind of amazing to watch these tallies.

13 Votes
Gardens of the Moon

12 Votes
Red Mars
The Windup Girl

11 Votes
Anansi Boys

10 Votes
Ancillary Sword
Cloud Atlas
The Color of Magic
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Dragonflight
I, Robot

9 Votes
American Gods
The Anubis Gates
Blackout
The Blade Itself
Boneshaker
Childhood's End
City of Bones
The Day of the Triffids
Doomsday Book
The Forever War
The Girl with All the Gifts
The Killing Moon
The Lathe of Heaven
The Martian
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

8 Votes
The Aeronaut's Windlass
The Black Company
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Fahrenheit 451
The Handmaid's Tale
Kindred
The Left Hand of Darkness
The Mote in God's Eye
Neuromancer
Prince of Thorns
Ready Player One
The Road
Seveneves
The Snow Queen
The Three-Body Problem
Weaveworld
The Wise Man's Fear

[Sarah]

Just a quick reminder that there are a lot of books with fewer votes than those I listed above. We got a couple more votes in overnight but they appear to be either only these ones or mostly so. There are a ton in the 5-7 range.

[Bruce]

Sarah Anne wrote: "Bruce, what was wrong with the Audible version? That was my plan."

Sorry, missed this comment earlier. I found that it's just too complex a book to grasp without having the prose in front of you. Maybe you can do better, but I was completely lost. I'll just have to try it again when I have the time to actually read it.

[Sarah]

That's good to know, Bruce. Thanks!

[Ellen]

6 on my list have made it so far.
American Gods I'll skip. I might be about the only one who doesn't like it but I couldn't finish it. May try it again one day but there are plenty of other books on the list

[David]

I remember I struggled with American Gods a lot, especially the first half. The characters and plot just didn't grab me.

For some reason I ended up giving it four stars anyways. I think it's partly because it picked up a bit later on, and partly because it's one of those books where the whole of its artistic merit is more than the sum of its parts.

[Mary]

Eh, the best I could say of American Gods was that I did finish it. More than I could say of Anansi Boys, albeit not much.

[Richard]

Hi, Sarah Anne,

Sorry, if I am dumb, are the reads being selected as 1 Sci-fi and 1 Fantasy per month? That would be 24, but I wasn't sure how they would be distributed. Also, I have not been reading as much in November, but I chose to write all month, in the National Novel Writing Month competition. I completed my first novel of 53,610 words on the 27th. I know that I have read several of those works in the running, Since intend to do a similar effort in 2017, I will attempt to read to November choices 1st to free up that time for me to write in NaNoWriMo 2017. Thanks for alll you do for us.

[Sarah]

The whole group does one scifi and one fantasy but this little part of the group just reads two books off the group bookshelf per month. Genre doesn't matter as long as it's already in the bookshelf.

[Richard]

Sarah Anne wrote: "The whole group does one scifi and one fantasy but this little part of the group just reads two books off the group bookshelf per month. Genre doesn't matter as long as it's already in the bookshelf."

Clearly that is about the best response to a post I have ever had. Thank you so much. I will be looking forward to the final list so that I can line up books that will fit the bill.

Richard Buro
Temple, TX USA

[Jim]

Good morning!

I would like to participate in this book challenge for 2017. I have a Goodreads shelf of books from 2014, most of which I've never read. I don't know how many books I need to vote for (I assume 24 if two books per month), but I was thinking of matching the 28 books from my 2014 sci-fi/fantasy shelf to those on the group bookshelf, and voting for those on both shelves that I haven't read. Thank you.

Jim

[Chris]

Jim, the challenge and the group reading are independent, though they can be done together. If some of the books you want to read don't get picked, you can read them on your own and have them count toward your challenge. Voting means that you want to read and discuss those books at the same time as others. In my mind, it is making a commitment: if I vote for a book and it makes the cut, then I feel obligated to read and contribute to discussion on the group's schedule. This is a little different from the two books-of-the-month because many more people are involved with those, so some slacking won't be noticed. For the group reading of past titles, however, a book might make the cut with only a dozen votes.

[Edwin]

Chris wrote: "Jim, the challenge and the group reading are independent, though they can be done together. If some of the books you want to read don't get picked, you can read them on your own and have them count..."

Thanks Chris. Nicely summarized.

Sarah and I are finalizing the first tally and will be releasing the Jan and Feb choices sometime next week. Read on!

[Michael]

Sarah Anne/Kim - And should we assume the reading challenge will continue with the same guidelines as the past three years? We could always do these bookshelf reads without the challenge of course, but it makes it more exciting...

[Sarah]

Yes, we're continuing the challenge :) Otherwise I would get bored and stop reading off the shelf. There's nothing quite like watching those numbers add up!

[Edwin]

Sarah Anne wrote: "Otherwise I would get bored and stop reading off the shelf."

Yeah, right...........like anyone of us would honestly believe that.

[Sarah]

As of this morning.

15 Votes
Gardens of the Moon

14 Votes
Blade Itself
Color of Magic
Red Mars
Seveneves

13 Votes
Anansi Boys
Day of the Triffids
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
I, Robot
Left Hand of Darkness
Windup Girl

12 Votes
Childhood's End
City of Bones
Cloud Atlas

11 Votes
American Gods
Ancillary Sword
Anubis Gates
Assassin's Apprentice
Doomsday Book
Dragonflight
Forever War
Girl with All the Gifts
Wise Man's Fear

---------------------------------------------------Current cut-off line

10 Votes
Aeronaut's Windlass
Blackout
Goblin Emperor
Kindred
Lathe of Heaven
Martian
Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Prince of Thorns
Red Rising

9 Votes
Ancillary Justice
Black Company
Boneshaker
Caves of Steel
City & the City
Diamond Age
Dispossessed
Dune
Fahrenheit 451
Final Empire (Mistborn #2)
Flowers for Algernon
Graveyard Book
I Am Legend
Killing Moon
Man in the High Castle
Master and Margarita
Neuromancer
Neverwhere
Nine Princes in Amber
The Road
Snow Queen
Three-Body Problem
Weaveworld

8 Votes
Algebraist
Black Prism
Canticle for Liebowitz
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
Eye of the World
Handmaid's Tale
Homeland
Martian Chronicles
Midnight Riot/Rivers of London
Mote in God's Eye
Name of the Wind
Night Watch
Perdido Street Station
Ready Player One
Time Machine
Wizard of Earthsea
Zodiac

7 Votes
1Q84
Accidental Time Machine
Alphabet of Thorn
Cat's Cradle
Consider Phlebas
Elantris
Ender's Game
Eyre Affair
Golem and the Jinni
Guards! Guards!
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
In the Night Garden
John Dies at the End
Pandora's Star
Rendezvous with Rama
Slaughterhouse-Five
The Stand
Station Eleven
Watership Down

6 Votes
Altered Carbon
Briar King
Dawn
Embassytown
Fire Upon the Deep
Furies of Calderon
Gunslinger
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
Kushiel's Dart
Long Earth
Natural History of Dragons
Nexus
Old Man's War
Oryx and Crake
Silent Tower
Snow Crash
Spin
Three Parts Dead
To Say Nothing of the Dog
Uprooted
Watchmen
Way of Shadows
Wizard's First Rule

Everything else has 5 votes or less and does not show up on our list.

[Michael]

For the six of you voting for Embassytown, we are currently reading that this month per our 2016 planning thread! So feel free to pick up a copy and join our discussions here (no spoilers) and here (spoilers) (discussions typically start around the 15th of the month). I am finishing up another book this week and then will be starting it December 12-ish. Looking forward to the discussion!

[Silvana]

only 2 made it to the 10+ votes group. Is there a minimum?

[Sarah]

A minimum of what?

[Silvana]

Of votes required to become selected.

I think you mentioned 24. What if there are ten books in the same group but not all of them could be selected - only some - since the quota is already full?

[Sarah]

At the moment we have 23 above the line so we would probably take those. If we do take part of a list we'll use the list randomizer on random.org and choose the top ones that come out of that.

I only have four above the line :(

[Silvana]

Yeah I wish I have more than five up there. I already read 14 of the top 23.

And thanks for the explanation. Good tip on that website.

[Sarah]

I use that randomizer for everything :) It's really handy for getting unbiased answers.

[Hank]

Only 2 of mine made it as well but that isn't a bad thing. I still have the 24 regular selections to attempt.

[Sarah]

I still have 66 books to read off the shelf (minus a few that I won't read) and I'm always willing to read with you guys if I haven't read it. And I'll pull up threads for anyone who wants to do a read with someone.

[Sarah]

Aeronaut's Windlass, Blackout, and Red Rising just bumped up to 11 votes.

[Sarah]

Okay, we're a few days early but we thought we would give you guys the Jan and Feb books.

January
Gardens of the Moon
I, Robot

February
Seveneves
The Color of Magic

We couldn't do our original idea of picking the highest and lowest because the bottom ones are too in flux. We went closer to Chris's idea by using slightly higher ranked books that are firmly on the list. However, we chose to match the quite lengthy high ranked book with a short medium ranked book.

[Valerie]

There are six that I haven't read. I am looking forward to it.

[Maggie]

Oh no! I will have to read Gardens of the Moon for a fourth time! dangit!
hehehehehe

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