Team Hydrus

[Nicole B]

Yayyee! Starting with Leviathan! Been looking forward to this :D

[Alissa]

Completion Post

The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

[Caroline]

Alissa wrote: "Completion Post

The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun"

Congrats on getting your first book down Alissa! Going forward though, theres no need to make a new post when you finish a book. You just go back and edit your February post so all your books are in one place. Jenny's plan is a good reference point

[Alexa]

Hi everyone! I thought I'd post an update while I have a second. I'm currently reading Hunting Prince Dracula and Dime Store Magic.

Hunting Prince Dracula can work for: card 2 - #2 in series; card 3 - "Hunting" for H in title; and skip - Kerry is author's first name.

Dime Store Magic can work for: card 3 - #3 in series; card 6 - Savannah is one of main characters; skip - Paige is one of main characters.

If I catch anything else I'll update my post. Hopefully I'll finish reading both of these soon!

[Caroline]

Hey guys! I just wanted to give you an update now that our first week of UNO is down.

We`ve read 27 books and finished 39 UNO cards! Thats a card per book + 6 books that were counted twice + the 6 draw 2 cards. We currently have a total of 735 points :D

We`ve also finished 4 of our 7 colored cards. We still have the 0 blue, red 3, and green 8 to take care of, so let me know if you have a book to cover one or more of these cards (and what book that is).

Just as a reminder please put the date you finished the book in your reading comment when you update. Also, please make sure you write all the cards the book will cover, not just one or two. Having this extra information is really helpful in making sure we get all 98 cards covered.

[UNO Pixie, Our UNO Helper]

Please welcome new team member Megan!

replacing Sachin

[Megan]

Caroline wrote: "Reserved"

Hi there! I'm excited to join your team, this marks my first year playing UNO!

[[deleted user]]

Hi Megan - Welcome

[Jammin Jenny]

Welcome Megan! We are tracking our reading by posting a monthly reading plan, and then noting which cards each book works for. Our Captain, Caroline is great at explaining things. Probably the best place to start is to read through this thread and then let us know if you have any questions. We're an easy going group and are in this for the fun and meeting new people!

[Caroline]

Welcome Megan! We're happy to have you :)

[Megan]

Hello everyone!! I'm excited to join your team, I've never done UNO before on here so I'm looking forward to my first game (I'll try to keep questions to a minimum lol)! I've been looking through the rules and just want to check if there's a certain hand I should be playing off of? If so let me know, I want to start off on the right foot :)

Also, is this thread where I post what I'm reading and the date that I finish it?

[Jammin Jenny]

Yes it's pretty simple. Just create one post for your February reading plans. For each book you read, just list the title/author and post the cover, then list the items it works for.

Here's a sample from my post:
Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris read 2/4, 4 stars
cover 55% blue, 2 - C: Tanya, 3 - A: Harris, 6 - 6 in series, 8 - C: Eric, 9 - P: New Orleans, Reverse - read by Nicole B. - works for Blue 9

Also, here's a link to a sheet that describes what all the cards mean:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Just make sure to list all the possibilities because it makes it easier for Caroline to know where she can put the cards and gives her more flexibility to make sure we get the maximum points!

[Alissa]

Megan wrote: "Caroline wrote: "Reserved"

Hi there! I'm excited to join your team, this marks my first year playing UNO!"

Welcome Megan!

[UNO Pixie, Our UNO Helper]

A while ago, we asked you to head to THIS THREAD to post three (3) favourite books/series, up to a maximum of five (5) for those of us who have a hard time deciding ;-), you would recommend to others.

As some of you have already guessed, this will in some way be incorporated into an upcoming optional mini challenge. (Nope, our lips are sealed still, we are not going to tell you what it is :-p)

However, a surprisingly large number of players have not posted any recommendations yet. Unfortunately, that might make things difficult for your fellow players as well as yourselves.

Please, please, post 3-5 recommendations in the above mentioned thread. If you don't, we may be forced to take unwanted action as a result.

[Jammin Jenny]

I checked through the recommendations thread and I didn't see any recommendations from:

📓 Nicole - Co-captain
📓 Virna Pamela Odiver-Aricheta
📓 Alexa Carver
📓 Megan

Can you please head over to the thread and post at least 3 recommendations for books/series?

[Nicole B]

sorted :)

[Megan]

It was tough but I managed to narrow down favorites in the requested thread to 4 :)

[Megan]

February Reading Plan

I plan to read/have read the following in February:

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (I hope this book is acceptable)
Read 2/10

Cards: 8 (Character Name: Ebenezer Scrooge)

The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry

Cards: 2 (Title Name: The Templar Legacy), 6 (Author's Name: Steve Berry)

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Cards: 3 (Character Name: Hilly Holbrook), Skip (Author's Name: Kathryn Stockett)

[Alexa]

Jammin Jenny wrote: "I checked through the recommendations thread and I didn't see any recommendations from:


I just posted my recommendations! I went through the list to double check that my recommended books weren't on anyone else's list and there were a ton of great books recommended on there.

[Jammin Jenny]

I know - it's going to be an awesome mini-challenge I think!!

[Caroline]

Megan wrote: "February Reading Plan

I plan to read/have read the following in February:

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (I hope this book is acceptable)
Read 2/10

Cards..."

Sounds good Megan. A Christmas Carol is just over the 100 page minimum, so its fine.

[UNO Pixie, Our UNO Helper]

Yes, yes, you have guessed it already - the recommendations were not only for our pleasure but there was something more to it ;-)

Since some of you have already added a few of the recommendations to your TBR shelves, we figured that would be an ideal title for our February Mini Challenge. ;-)


All info for the mini challenge can be found HERE. Have fun!

(Co-)Captains, your spreadsheets will be updated with a new sheet for the mini challenge within the next 24 hours.

[Caroline]

This is where the real fun of UNO starts and (if you wanna be competitive) where the most important points are made. Its actually pretty rare for teams to not finish their UNO cards, so the mini-challenge is where the surprises happen in this game.

Your mini-challenge books count for BOTH one UNO card and one challenge task. Make sure to keep updating your regular February posts like normal.

First and foremost please go and read the rules in the link above provided by the UNO Pixie and check out the books for the challenge. Then if you have any questions please absolutely feel free to ask them here.

I am going to post two comments below this one to track how we're doing for both parts of the February mini-challenge. We're a quite bunch, but communication is key in this part of the game :D

There are 22 teams (-1 which is us). We can read 2 books per team for a grand total of 42 books. We've been on point so far with our reading, so I've got faith we can hit all 42 books.

Last, but SUPER important, do NOT start any books you want to count for the mini-challenge until after this timer is up which is in about 19 hours.

[Caroline]

Mini-challenge part 1 tracker!

As a team we can read 2 of the recommended books from 3 separate teams for a total of 6 books. Each book is worth 15 points with an additional 5 points if you tell the team what you thought of their recommendation in their team thread. Make sure to then report back to our own thread (here) and post a link to your comment in their thread. That is important because that is how we get the bonus 5 points.

For part 1 the book recommended must be the book read UNLESS it is in a series and you are further along in the same series. Then you may read the next book instead of the first one again.

Remember the teams for part 1 CANNOT be used in part 2.

Team Pyxis:
♥ Red Queen read by Alissa. Link to comment. Finished on: 19th

♥ The Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy read by Alissa. Link to the comment on [team name] thread here. Finished on:

Team Carina:
♥ The Girl with All the Gifts read by Jenny. Link to comment Finished on: 22nd

♥ The Stand read by Jenny. Link to comment Finished on: 17th

Team Neptune:
♥ Frostbite read by Jenny. Link to the comment on [team name] thread here. Finished on:

♥ Wool read by Jenny. Link to the comment on [team name] thread here. Finished on:

For part 1 the book recommended must be the book read UNLESS it is in a series and you are further along in the same series. Then you may read the next book instead of the first one again.

[Caroline]

Mini-challenge part 2 tracker!
First, you cannot use the books from a team used in part one of the challenge. Again we will be reading 2 books from each time.
Here we are connecting books.

There are two ways to do this:
1. You can match the book covers to each other. Example, both covers have a cat on the front.

2. You can match the characters, settings, plots or any other thing you can think of. This is pretty broad AND can include the same author or series as the connection. Books cannot be connected by having the same book specifications, for example genre, page numbers, publisher, date of publication, or Goodreads rating. If you have any questions about if your reasoning will work just ask :)

You can read the same book as the recommendations and that can be the connection.

Team Andromeda
♥ The Fifth Elephant read by Caroline.
Reasoning: They recommend Wyrd Sisters which is also in the Discworld Series.
Finished on:

♥ And Then There Were None read by Ricka
Reasoning: Same book as the recommendation
Finished on: 20th

Team Sculptor
♥ Naked in Death read by Ricka
Reasoning: Same book as the recommendation
Finished on: 16th

♥ 1984 read by Virna
Reasoning: Same author as recommended book Animal Farm
Finished on: 20th

Team Mensa:
♥ Unwantedread by Ricka
Reasoning: Same book as the recommendation
Finished on: 16th

♥ Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things read by Virna
Reasoning: Same book as the recommendation
Finished on: 18th

Team Pluto:
♥ Shopaholic Takes Manhattan read by Jenny
Reasoning: both it and recommended book Enchanted, Inc. take place in NY state.
Finished on: 19th

♥ Room read by Nicole
Reasoning: Same book as recommended
Finished on:

Team Grus:
♥ As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride read by Jenny
Reasoning: Both it and Traitor's Blade have swords on the cover
Finished on: 16th

♥ Tell No One read by Jenny
Reasoning: Both it and recommended book You Slay Me have red covers.
Finished on: 20

Team Mercury:
♥ The Rules of Magic read by Virna
Reasoning: Same book as recommendation
Finished on:

♥ I'm Thinking of Ending Things read by Ricka
Reasoning: Same book as recommended
Finished on: 17th

Team Venus :
♥ Yellow Crocus read by Nicole
Reasoning: Same book as recommended
Finished on: 17th

♥ A Curious Beginning read by Ricka
Reasoning: Same book as recommended
Finished on: 21

Team Milky Way:
♥ Moon Called read by Nicole
Reasoning: Same book as recommended
Finished on: 16th

♥ Stillhouse Lake read by Ricka
Reasoning: Same book as recommended
Finished on: 19th

Team Triangulum:
♥ Alone read by Jenny
Reasoning: Same book as recommendation
Finished on: 21

♥ Stay with Me read by Megan
Reasoning: Same book as recommendation
Finished on:

Team Haumea:
♥ Appealed read by Alexa
Reasoning: Both this book and this team's recommendation Burn For Me have hetero couples in romantic positions on the covers
Finished on: 15th

♥ The Dry read by Nicole
Reasoning: Same book as recommended
Finished on:

Team Ceres:
♥ The Name of the Wind read by Nicole
Reasoning: Same book as the recommendation
Finished on:

♥ Strange the Dreamer read by Nicole
Reasoning: Same book as the recommendation
Finished on:

Team Jupiter:
♥ Among the Bone Eaters: Encounters with Hyenas in Harar read by Jenny
Reasoning: Both it and the recommended Feral Sins have large carnivore predators on their covers.
Finished on: 15th

♥ The Husband's Secret read by Caroline
Reasoning: Same author as the recommended Big Little Lies
Finished on: 20th

Team Kuiper:
♥ The Wizards of Once read by Caroline.
Reasoning: They recommended Harry Potter, which also has a wizard as one of the main characters.
Finished on: 22nd

♥ Uprooted read by Ricka
Reasoning: Same book as the recommendation
Finished on: 15th

Team Saturn:
♥ The Viscount Who Loved Me read by Alexa
Reasoning: Squeal to the recommended book The Duke and I
Finished on: 21st

♥ Magic Bites read by Alexa
Reasoning: Same book as the recommendation
Finished on: 20th

Team Eris:
♥ Disclosure read by Jenny
Reasoning: Same author as the recommended book Prey
Finished on:

♥ The Telling read by Caroline
Reasoning: Both it and recommended book Hyperion take place on planets outside the Earth's solar system
Finished on:

Team Betelgeuse:
♥ Found read by Ricka
Reasoning: Same book as recommendation
Finished on: 22

♥ Carpe Jugulum read by Caroline
Reasoning: They recommended Blood Rights which also has vampires as main characters
Finished on: 19th

Team Tucana:
♥ Witch Is When It All Began read by Ricka
Reasoning: Both it and recommended Godhunter have witches as the main character
Finished on: 16th

♥ Perfume: The Story of a Murderer read by Ricka
Reasoning: Same book as recommendation
Finished on: 18th

Team Musca:
♥ The Help read by Megan
Reasoning: Same book as recommendation
Finished on:

♥ Midnight Riot read by Ricka
Reasoning: Same book as recommendation
Finished on: 21st

[Alissa]

Can I take one of the Part 1 teams?

Team Pyxis and the books will be and .

[Caroline]

Alissa wrote: "Can I take one of the Part 1 teams?

Team Pyxis and the books will be and ."

Absolutely Alissa! Thanks for being the first to step up and grab books :D

[Jammin Jenny]

I can finish out Part I with

Team Carina and

Team Neptune and (I already read #1 in the series).

[Nicole B]

I'll join in with part 2 with two books from the same team, both of which i've been meaning to read for a while now

Team Ceres and

[Caroline]

Nicole B wrote: "I'll join in with part 2 with two books from the same team, both of which i've been meaning to read for a while now

Team Ceres and [bookcover:Strange the Dr..."

The Name of the Wind is so good! I`m really thinking about rereading it myself XD

[Hiraya]

Shoot! I just got online. Sorry about missing the recommendations post. Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I have not yet fully reviewed the book recommendations of the other teams, but will do so after work. :)

[[deleted user]]

Hi there Happy Valentine's Day everybody. I was away on a job with my husband and just got back to my computer now. I haven't had time to properly look at the mini challenge yet but will post something as soon as I'm sorted.

[Caroline]

Any books started after this comment (or an hour before posting) will be eligible for the mini-challenge :D we've managed to read over 40 books in our first two weeks so let's keep it up team!

[Caroline]

Ricka wrote: "Hi there Happy Valentine's Day everybody. I was away on a job with my husband and just got back to my computer now. I haven't had time to properly look at the mini challenge yet but will post somet..."

There are a lot of amazing books up for this challenge so I'm sure you'll be pleased when you get a chance to look :D

[[deleted user]]

Hi there

Team Sculptor
Naked in Death read by Ricka
Reasoning: Same book as the recommendation
Finished on: Feb 16, 2018

Team Mensa:
Unwanted read by Ricka
Reasoning: Same book as the recommendation
Finished on: Feb 16, 2018

[[deleted user]]

Team Kuiper:
Uprooted read by Nicole Early
Reasoning: Same book as the recommendation
Finished on: Feb 15, 2018

[Alexa]

I'm planning on reading The Viscount Who Loved Me for team Betelgeuse or Saturn, both recommended the first in the series and this is the second.

I'm also planning on reading Magic Bites for team Saturn, they recommend this book. I thought another group had recommended a different book by the same author but I couldn't find it when I looked through the posts.

[Hiraya]

Hi! Sorry, if my brain is a bit unreliable right now. I'm a freelance content writer, you see, and my article orders before Valentine's Day were off the charts!

Haha. Plus, an update. I've already finished 2 out of the 3 books I have on my February reading plan. I'll be updating my reading plan post and bookshelves in a bit.

Please find my challenge updates below.

Edit: I replaced Coraline with Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things

Edit: 2/19/18 Completed
TEAM MENSA
Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things Reason: It's the same book as recommended. :)

Edit: 2/20/18 Completed
TEAM SCULPTOR
1984
Reason: It's the same author as Animal Farm which they recommended.

Edit: 2/27/2018 Completed
TEAM MERCURY
The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman
Reason: It's the same book as recommended. :)

[[deleted user]]

Hi there Caroline

Is there a way for us to keep track of the books and teams that we've commited to so we don't duplicate?

I noticed that for Team Sculptor we've listed 3 books and only 2 is needed.

[Hiraya]

Ricka wrote: "Hi there Caroline

Is there a way for us to keep track of the books and teams that we've commited to so we don't duplicate?

I noticed that for Team Sculptor we've listed 3 books and only 2 is needed."

Omigosh Ricka, you're right! I didn't see that you've already pledged one from Team Sculptor. Haha thanks for pointing that out!

Give me a second to adjust stuff. See, I told you guys my brain is drenched in soup. Books are my only refuge. Hahahaha <3

[Hiraya]

How about we share Team Mensa as well? I think it'll be sweet being in the spirit of Valentine's and all. Moreso, since Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things looks pretty interesting!

[[deleted user]]

Hi Virna

Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things certainly sounds very interesting. Enjoy - I like the sharing idea LOL

[Alexa]

I started Appealed on a whim last night, and read almost the entire book in one sitting. I plan on finishing it when I get home from work this afternoon. I'm not exactly sure where it can fit in the mini challenge, but I have a few ideas. Once my brain is less exhausted I'll look at the list and figure it out. Right now, one word titles, books with partial people on front, and blue titles are about all I can come up with and I know I can do better than that lol. If anyone has any suggestions just off the top of their head please let me know!

[Caroline]

Alexa wrote: "I started Appealed on a whim last night, and read almost the entire book in one sitting. I plan on finishing it when I get home from work this afternoon. I'm not exactly sure where ..."

Alexa I'm gonna put Appealed down for Team Haumea if that's okay with you? The connection would be that Appealed and Burn for Me both have hetero couples in romantic positions on the cover.

[Caroline]

Okay guys we're off to a good start! So far we've got a plan to cover 21 of the 42 books with 1 already finished.

As we move forward if there is a book you want to read but it's not one of the recommended books and you can't see a connection, just post about it here. I know I've read a good amount of the recommendation list so I bet as a group we've probably read the majority of it. Together I'm sure we can find a connection for whatever you want to read. Also I like solving the little connection puzzle :)

Last, the tracking list isn't set in stone per se. Again communication is key here :D

And please don't forget to update your original February reading post with your mini-challenge books and what UNO cards they will work with.

[Hiraya]

Yes! Go Team Hydrus! I'll start reading my mini challenge books today and will keep you posted. Exciting!

[Jammin Jenny]

Okay here is what I am thinking for some of the books I recently read...started after the mini-challenge began

can be connected to from Team Jupiter- both show large carnivore predators (wolves and hyenas)

- cover is 51% black - Team Grus is 71% black - connect through cover colors

can be connected to Team Eris, the plots of both are heavily influenced by magicians and magic

Also, I can take the following for Part 2

- Team Mercury (reading the same book)

- Team Triangulum (reading same book)

- Team Eris - I'm reading - both books are written by Michael Chricton.

Team Grus connects to - both have red covers

on Team Mensa Musca, connects to - both involve witches

on Team Pluto, connects to - both set in New York

Caroline, let me know if you are good with these connections and I'll add them to my tracking thread.

[Caroline]

These all sound pretty good Jenny. I love the carnivore cover connection. I'll add the Jupiter, Triangulum, and Mercury books now.

I think the cover color will be okay like that, but I am double checking with the mods about it. I also asked them about Wool for our part 1. I know that the team recommended the omnibus, but since that is actually 5 books, I think reading just the first one is sufficient for the challenge. If that's the case and you still wanna read all 5 then we can use the other four in other places. I'm waiting to hear back.

For Alice I have two question for you.
1) Can we say "both books have main characters who can do magic"? I think this sounds less specifically genre related, which isn't allowed.

2) Can I move Alice to Team Musca instead of Eris? Musca recommended The Hobbit so the connection will still work. I'd like to take the second Eris spot and read The Telling which will connect with Eris's recommendation of Hyperion (incredible book btw) as both take place on planets outside our solar system.

[Jammin Jenny]

Yes characters in Alice can do magic, and it's fine to move it to Team Musca connected to The Hobbit.

For Wool, if I can stop after the first book that's fine by me!!

[Caroline]

Jammin Jenny wrote: "Yes characters in Alice can do magic, and it's fine to move it to Team Musca connected to The Hobbit.

For Wool, if I can stop after the first book that's fine by me!!"

Jenny you only have to read the first book in wool series for it to count. Also they said two covers that are 50%+ the same color works