Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion
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Team Reading Competition Rules
That's just how it is by doing a competition with pages number. The mods did a fantastic job already in creating this with the set of rules that they set. However, if we really want to get technical on making the most accurate competition on "how much you've read?", I suggest the next competition be based on word counts. Pages are not the perfect device to measure how much you've read. For example: Red Rising has 416 pages, made out of 140k words. Emperor of Thorns has 430 pages, made out of 110k words. The Wise Man's Fear has 994 pages, Words of Radiance has 1080 pages, both are made out of 400k words. See what I mean? More pages don't always mean more words.
By doing a competition on word counts, it will eliminate all the problems that have been discussed several times on the number of pages being not the same on every edition because the number of word counts spread among ebooks, mm paperback, paperback, hardcover are all the same.
Unless of course, we're speaking of special editions like NotW 10th anniv (which have 50 extra pages of content) or we're speaking of different languages, which will be another matter. This is just an input too, I think we're doing well with the competition based on page numbers, it's just how it is.
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Also not sure if people even count words for graphic novels or not...
While I think certain people gain an advantage doing Buddy Reads with favorable page count to word count ratios, I don't think ebook readers are losing anything compared to paperback readers of the same book... they're reading the same amount of words (barring minor edits)... its just been formatted to the page differently...
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(last edited Feb 05, 2018 06:24PM)
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I also agree that there is no real loss ebook readers have because yes, the word count is the same. It just doesn't feel great when you feel like you've read 400 pages but it counts for 300.
I have a question I was going through the kindle to find A Shadow in Summer but I can only find Shadow and Betrayal which is an omnibus of the first 2 books so am I right in saying that we only count the popular edition of each book within the omnibus so if I finish the 2 books I only count Shadow in summer and A Betrayal in Winter as separate books instead of the full omnibus if that makes sense.
Yes, count Shadow in Summer and betrayal in winter, ignore the omnibus. I finished this series last month and that's what I did
This looks like a lot of fun. Too bad I can't join because I haven't commented enough. Maybe I'll join up later in the year.
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I think this is up to your honest opinion. Is it mostly a regular novel or mostly illustrations and a graphic novel?
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There are entire chunks of 100 pages in there that could fit in 5... but then, the rest is so dense and slow at times to more than make up for it, so maybe I'd list all 700... I spent most of a month reading that thing last summer... (around other reads...)
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There are entire chunks of 100 pages in there that could fit in 5... but then, the rest is so dense and slow..."
I would definitely count all the pages of that one. Because of the combined dimensions of the pages, font size, and spacing... the full pages more than make up for the blank ones. In fact, if the number of words were taken and converted to a typical YA novel format it would probably be 1000 pages.
Yeah, count them all. There are plenty of blank pages, but an equal amount of pages that are filled to the brim with text on what's a much larger page than standard books. So I wouldn't feel guilty about that. Googling around, people seem to put the word count at around 200,000 which is definitely enough to warrant a 700 page-count!
@Mods:Will there be added more/new team members after Q1 is finished?
Will there be an amendment of the rules regarding
1. Heavy word count books to count with the highest page count?
2. Children/primary/middle school books to count as Graphic Novels?
I’m trying to get on a team. I almost have the comments numbers.
Lena wrote: "I’m trying to get on a team. I almost have the comments numbers."Yay! Five more comments and you're good to go! That was fast :p
Scott made a suggestion that for page count we should take the highest of the most popular 5. So the first 5 that appear on the all editions list. I think that makes perfect sense as there is normally a higher option near the top. Niki said they will look at implementing something like this maybe after Q1 :)Fair enough with children's picture books counting as graphic novels, but most middle grade are perfectly text heavy, they just have less pages. So counting the pages should be fine right?
I think the highest page count of the five most popular editions makes sense. I don’t mind going back and adjusting all my numbers. Though I’ve only read 15 books so far. So I guess that makes it easier than others who are machines xD
This is my 100th comment! I want to play too!
Iain wrote: "If I was reading House of Leaves this year, I'd probably record 500 of the 700 pages...There are entire chunks of 100 pages in there that could fit in 5... but then, the rest is so dense and slow..."
The little footnotes alone make each page a longer, scarier, read.
I definitely think that middle grade books should count as regular page count. Most of those that I read are definitely word heavy and usually not any faster to read than other novels.
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There are entire chunks of 100 pages in there that could fit in 5... but then, the rest is so d..."
The "Labyrinth Chapter" alone earns the page count, I think... the one where you read the left half of the page for 20 pages, then turn the book upside down and read back 20 pages... then the squares through the middle... and the sideways notes...
That book was so long, that I would have missed tons if I hadn't done at least a little googling... like the fact that (view spoiler)
I’ll read it next year. I bought it when I came out but I was in college and all the footnotes made the whole thing too real. Now I wish I kept it because “obviously” nearly twenty years later I’d want to read it again.
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That it is... it's a book pretending to not be fiction... dissecting a fake documentary... while including some random guy's descent into madness... with occasional notes from the editors and accompanying material to explain the random guy more... it's easy to start dissecting and finding layers of meaning to it all... but it wasn't an easy read... I read it in a 3-man Buddy Read last summer... took us the whole month to finish...
I can remember when my mind started to go, the notes saying how the family didn’t have the money to make a fake video. Too much of my grabbed that practical “fact.”
C.P. wrote: "I definitely think that middle grade books should count as regular page count. Most of those that I read are definitely word heavy and usually not any faster to read than other novels."I agree with that too. Picture books for little children can maybe count for graphic novels, because there is more pictures than text, but books for older kids should count as normal reads.
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@Iain: you have a new partner in crime ;)
Saar wrote: "C.P. wrote: "I definitely think that middle grade books should count as regular page count. Most of those that I read are definitely word heavy and usually not any faster to read than other novels...."If I could include kids picture books my numbers would be through the roof. Kid bedtime reading for the win! lol
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We read also every evening to our son, so my points would be sky rocking :p But I also read children books (not picture books) just because I'm interested in them and those I add to my list.
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I feel your pain. I have a week old daughter. She’s currently keeping my wife and I up!! Lol.
If you're looking for a good bed-time book, Owl Babies has been a firm favourite with our guy! We do have a copy of the Go the Fuck to Sleep, as well as A Die Hard Christmas: The Illustrated Holiday Classic, which is fantastic!
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ah, the gassy stage. I found that bouncing on an exercise ball with baby held tight to my chest while listening to an audiobook/music to drown out the crying was a miracle solution. She'd stop crying within a minute..
Yes I’m so thankful for audiobooks right now!!!
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We do have a copy of the Go the Fuck to Sleep, as well as [book:A Die Hard Christmas: ..."
ooh, you know what.. I'm inspired to start an off topic thread about this, I want to check out some worthy kids books
Brian wrote: "I feel your pain. I have a week old daughter. She’s currently keeping my wife and I up!! Lol."Not to scare you, but isn't the first few weeks when they do nothing but sleep and eat...?
Diana Stormblessed wrote: "Brian wrote: "I feel your pain. I have a week old daughter. She’s currently keeping my wife and I up!! Lol."Not to scare you, but isn't the first few weeks when they do nothing but sleep and eat...?"
Niki Hawkes wrote: "Me too! We read like 4 books a night. I feel I should even get extra credit for Fox in Socks."
Diana Stormblessed wrote: "Saar wrote: "C.P. wrote: "I definitely think that middle grade books should count as regular page count. Most of those that I read are definitely word heavy and usually not any faster to read than ..."
I'm at the stage where I'm reading the 8th Harry Potter nightly though Julia just wants to read it herself, but my first grader wants to hear them too, so she semi-listens and reads her own book while I read aloud. So she just takes them after I finish reading them (I think I want a second career as a voice actor and want to share the HP experience with the two of them) to both. It used to be a non-stop-parade of Mo Willems and Magic Treehouse every night, though the latter may be returning soon as my 3-year old may be similar to Julia.
Iain wrote: "Time to start scheduling all my Buddy Reads with Julia for easier points ;P"Heck she's reading the Alcatraz series now Iain. I recall a bunch of people wanted to complete their Sanderson collection, so you could buddyread those and get your easiy points. Actually hitting myself for returning the first one to the library. Could've joined in myself :)
Rob wrote: "Diana Stormblessed wrote: "Brian wrote: "I feel your pain. I have a week old daughter. She’s currently keeping my wife and I up!! Lol."Not to scare you, but isn't the first few weeks when they do..."
My kids are still too young for the books I'd find interesting. We're still at Dr. Suess and The Little Red Hen, etc. If I hear about the Cat in the Hat going to space one more time... My 5 year old has started getting into fairy tales, so at least I'm getting a little more variety reading those to him.
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Heck she's reading the Alcatraz series now Iain. I recall a bunch of people wanted to complete their Sande..."
We actually just scheduled Alcatraz for August/September/October/November/December... and now we're doing Rick Riordon at the end of March/April/May/June/July...
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Fantasy Buddy Reads
Books mentioned in this topic
The Raven and Other Poems (other topics)Owl Babies (other topics)
A Die Hard Christmas: The Illustrated Holiday Classic (other topics)
Owl Babies (other topics)
Go the Fuck to Sleep (other topics)
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Thanks for the info. This is actually the reason we originally wanted to do it with "highest page count" as the page number, but when we tried to manage it all, it became a huge mess.