Calling all Spreadsheeters - ATY Community Spreadsheet

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

It's interesting to see what prompts people are choosing to read first. Of course, we have quite a few people reading in order, so the first three prompts are the highest, but people also seem to be liking the 5 money-making genres, children's classics, and related to a TV/movie prompts as well.

I wonder if it's because those are more approachable prompts.

[Cristin]

Thanks for un-hiding '18! Interesting to compare the most and least completed prompts.

[Chrissy]

Is it OK for me to insert a 2nd column for myself next to my current one for 2019? I'm doubling up on at least 20 prompts, and reading in order, so it would be great to have 2 slots to put books into.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Yes! That’s fine!

[Rachelnyc]

Wow, completing 87% of total prompts as a group for 2018 is pretty impressive. Hopefully we can do even better in 2019.

I just added my first two books!

[Kerry]

I added my name & the 2 books I read. I noticed that right before me, the book Where the Crawdads Sing is listed but there is no name.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Thanks for pointing that out, Kerry. I'll keep an eye on it.. someone may have put their book their by mistake.

[Kerry]

Emily wrote: "Thanks for pointing that out, Kerry. I'll keep an eye on it.. someone may have put their book their by mistake."

You're welcome Emily.

[dalex]

Would it be too difficult or confusing or whatever to divide the A-M sheet so that there are three alphabetical sheets? Like - A-F, G-M, N-Z. There are just a lot of people on the A-M sheet.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

No, I was thinking about doing that already haha! Let me work on it a bit.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Ok I've divided everything up and I *think* I've fixed all of the formulas so they reflect all three tabs in their totals. Everyone is in the same order that they were before, but their column letter has changed (and if they are G-M, they are on that tab now).

Steve, please look over it all and let me know if I missed anything.

As a head's up, I had given myself until January 15th to make all of these changes, just to work out the kinks and make sure it's the most concise and workable spreadsheet for everyone. But I don't anticipate making any more big changes to it until we start voting for the 2020 list!

[dalex]

Thanks Emily! You're a rockstar! :)

[Steve]

Emily wrote: "Ok I've divided everything up and I *think* I've fixed all of the formulas so they reflect all three tabs in their totals. Everyone is in the same order that they were before, but their column lett..."

No issues that I can see!

[Tracy]

Hey all!! I just updated my column with my first read and noticed that someone put Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín in my list. Not sure if it was another Tracy or someone to the left or right of me ( Steve or Pam, maybe??)

I took it out, so it will need to put back in the right spot.

I wasn't a fan of that book when I read LOL...I felt like it went absolutely nowhere...definitely enjoyed the movie better. But anyways Yay!!!! 1 book down and working on my second :-)

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Yay Tracy! Sorry about that.. hopefully whoever put that book there realizes their mistake. I do have Brooklyn on my list to read this year (because I own it, somehow), so I'm hoping I enjoy it more than you did lol

[Steve]

Whoops! That was me. Idk how I did it...and how I missed it when I added another book later in the day yesterday!

And I did not like Brooklyn. I felt like nothing happened! This 2-star review summed it up better than I could: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Yikes. Maybe it should go in my donate pile?

[Tracy]

Steve wrote: "And I did not like Brooklyn. I felt like nothing happened! ..."

Haha, thats because NOTHING happened!! I actually was reading it at the same time as a coworker and I distinctly remember asking her " Does anything ever happen in this book?" I think I was a good amount of the way through when I asked too. Nothing ever did happen. Just no real plot whatsoever.
We'll see what Emily thinks ;-)

[Tracy]

Emily wrote: "Yikes. Maybe it should go in my donate pile?"

Maybe just watch the movie?? I liked the movie alright. IDK, its so hard to say because everyone likes different books :/

[Jody]

Funny, I read The Heather Blazing by the same author and felt exactly the same way. It was just so blah.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

23 days into 2019 and the only prompt that hasn't had a book read for it is a book published in 2019! I guess there's no long/intimidating prompts this year that people are putting off.

Runners up include wedding element: old, periodic table, and 1001 books to read before you die with only having one book read. Not surprised that the classics aren't getting as much love (old and 1001).

[Jody]

Crap, I forgot about that prompt. I’m screwed if that comes up soon from the jar!!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Did anyone else's fonts change on Google Sheets? All of a sudden, the title and tabs are in some decorative font (Lato, maybe?) and now my tabs are wider and I have to scroll to see all of them.

[Steve]

Emily wrote: "Did anyone else's fonts change on Google Sheets? All of a sudden, the title and tabs are in some decorative font (Lato, maybe?) and now my tabs are wider and I have to scroll to see all of them."

Yes, Emily! I noticed that this morning on a wholly separate Google Sheet.

Oddly, it hasn't changed on one of my Google sheets that is a collection of Form responses.

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

Got the 2019 publication checked off ;)

I'm not "officially" sticking any books into any categories just yet, but I've been dropping things onto the spreadsheet into places they fit. I just finished an arc I got through a GR giveaway - the first I've ever won! Sadly, it was only a two star read.

[Lizzy]

Emily, Last year I wrote my entries with title in italics and author not in italics. This year certain cells will only write in italics, not allowing me to change for the author. This has been going on since the beginning of the year.
It’s not a big deal but thought you might want to know. Thanks for all your help.

[Irene]

Lizzy, I fixed the italics for you. I think if the italics work or not depends on the device you are using?

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

They may default to italics because I copied the sheets over from last year, so the formatting last year would default to whatever was first typed in the boxes (italics, this time). You should be able to highlight the author's name and unclick italics though. Assuming you're using a desktop.. I'm not sure how it works on a phone or tablet.

[Steve]

Emily wrote: "They may default to italics because I copied the sheets over from last year, so the formatting last year would default to whatever was first typed in the boxes (italics, this time). You should be a..."

It’s similar in the Sheets app. You select the text in the cell that you want to change and it gives you B, I and U options underneath to toggle the formatting.

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

If you want it to stop defaulting like this for you, click on all your empty boxes and then click-unclick the italics button, which should reset the formatting on those boxes.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

End of January and we are on track on the spreadsheet -- an average of 4 books read as a group!

[Jillian]

I just wanted to let someone know they accidental put their book in the wrong spot (under my name 2019(G-M) column E). 16. Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand. I have not deleted it yet.

[Melody]

Hi mods! I was wondering if we (you) could maybe alphabetize the names in the columns so that it'd be easier for us to search and update our individual columns than scrolling indefinitely?

As it so happens, I was the last person to add my name to the spreadsheet, so it's not been difficult for me to update my progress, but still.

(Incidentally, I took a peek at the Popsugar spreadsheet and couldn't help but *twitch* at seeing how users customized their columns with all the MySpace colors and fonts in the world... ATY's is so much neater, and my Type A neuroses would like to thank you all for it!)

[Jody]

I just Ctrl-F and type my name in, and it takes me straight to my column.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I'm hesitant to move people around just because we are already a month in. But if you know what column you're in, it will be easier to find, or you can Ctrl-F (or Command-F on a Mac) to find your name, like Jody said.

I appreciate your appreciation of the cleanliness of the spreadsheet. 🤣 I'm also Type A and cannot handle Popsugar's spreadsheet!

[Jody]

Oh yeah, so it is. I’ve been on a Mac for about 12 years now, but I can’t break the habit of saying Ctrl. 😂

[Milena]

Popsugar has a spreadsheet?

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I grabbed the template for this spreadsheet from a Popsugar group that had one. I don't know about the "official" group, but there was a smaller group I joined last year that had a spreadsheet similar to this one. I'm not doing Popsugar this year, so I don't know if they continued on with it.

[Milena]

Emily wrote: "I grabbed the template for this spreadsheet from a Popsugar group that had one. I don't know about the "official" group, but there was a smaller group I joined last year that had a spreadsheet simi..."

Maybe it's on the actual Popsugar site, not on the Goodreads site. Thank you anyway. Yours is great and I am so glad we have it for this group.

[Lauren]

Just found the community spreadsheet and added mine. I'm reading in order, so maybe I will find some good ideas for future topics :)

[Melody]

Milena wrote: "Popsugar has a spreadsheet?"

It's not on their official Popsugar group page, it's on a subgroup called Pop Sugar's Annual Ultimate Reading Challenge.

The link to the spreadsheet itself is here.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

That’s the one I used to create ours!

[Milena]

Melody wrote: "Milena wrote: "Popsugar has a spreadsheet?"

It's not on their official Popsugar group page, it's on a subgroup called Pop Sugar's Annual Ultimate Reading Challenge.

The link to the spreadsheet it..."

Thank you, Melody.

[Milena]

Yikes! I see what you all mean.

[Steve]

Melody wrote: "Hi mods! I was wondering if we (you) could maybe alphabetize the names in the columns so that it'd be easier for us to search and update our individual columns than scrolling indefinitely?

As it ..."

But then I’d lose my easy to find first column location! :)

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

At what point is it ok for me to go through and delete everyone from the spreadsheet that put their name down but haven't entered any books? Allllll those zeros bringing our average down, and clogging up the tabs.

Ethical dilemma... but I'm considering it?

[Lizzy]

Emily wrote: "At what point is it ok for me to go through and delete everyone from the spreadsheet that put their name down but haven't entered any books? Allllll those zeros bringing our average down, and clogg..."

I think you can/should start deleting at the end of February.
Also ... thanks for the reminder! I hadn't entered anything for the last couple weeks.

[Jody]

I’d also say end of February, or even now. It’s not like they can’t go in and add their name again.

[Katie]

I'd say go in & do it now. And just like Jody said, if there are no books listed, and the person comes back to the list, they can always add their stuff back in.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Thanks for the support! Our averages are now back on track. I don't feel bad about erasing people who haven't entered anything because they probably put their name on the spreadsheet back in November and then promptly forgot about it. I, on the other hand, have the spreadsheet open constantly, so I despair over all of the ones that are behind the average haha!