Read-a-Thon #2 - Team Butterfly

[Kathryn]

I'm sure this is very out of left field, but just something to keep in mind - I was just thinking about Margaret Maron - an author I used to read a bit of. She has had some books published in the 1900s, and it's hard to work out how many were pre-2000 and how many were post-2000, but a lot of her works are since 2000, I don't think any would have been made into movies, and she's not on the 1001 list, her most recent book was 2017. I'm sure a lot of authors fit the bill - she's just one that occurred to me (after looking at a lot of authors who didn't!).

[Jill]

I switched to a shorter book for the book with a romantic element. I will definitely be able to finish by tomorrow evening. I will just do a better job of waiting to finish until it is needed.

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

Just a heads up, I am now adding more buckets to each team. Please update spreadsheets accordingly :)

[Brittany]

Dina wrote: "Finished Trail of Lightning. Page count is 177 pages for today."

I found Ghosthunters and the Gruesome Invincible Lightning Ghost! while I was scrolling through my libby app. It's a child/middle school book and actually looks pretty cute. I can probably finish it up in an hour or two after live pd is over at 10 for the matching titles prompt. I need to stay up anyways to get back on night schedule for work tomorrow.

[Bec]

12 June - 46 pages read. I haven’t had a chance to read thread or do the games but will get to them later.

[Kathy]

I finished the Halfway Checkin.

Reading for 6/12 - 130 pages

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Brittany, that's perfect! How's progress on our debut novels going? I have Kathy and Edie both possibly reading for it?

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Spreadsheet updated to include new buckets! It looks like the mods were mining the 2020 Wild Discussion for these last few buckets haha!

I will submit one more question (we have two waiting):

Does the author's last name start with M?

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

Oh we were most definitely mining 😂


Does the author's last name start with M? Yes

[Jill]

Emily wrote: "Spreadsheet updated to include new buckets! It looks like the mods were mining the 2020 Wild Discussion for these last few buckets haha!
The Mars Room
I will submit one more question (we have two waiting):

Doe..."

I thought the same thing when I saw the new buckets.
I can read Home Fire for a book by a person of color in bucket 17.
And/or I can read The Mars Room for a book published in 2017, 2018 or 2019 that got a lot of buzz but you didn’t read in bucket 20.

[Kathryn]

Kathryn wrote: "I'm sure this is very out of left field, but just something to keep in mind - I was just thinking about Margaret Maron - an author I used to read a bit of. She has had some books pub..."

Actually, I've just realised that we asked about mysteries and the answer was no. I thought we'd just asked about thrillers and sci-fi/fantasy, but mysteries were included with the thrillers and the answer was no :-(

But thinking about authors on my read or TBR lists, I also have Susan Meissner who is still alive and doesn't write those genres, is solely published this century, and isn't on the 1001 books list, and had several books published within the last 5 years. I don't know whether any of her books are movies.

Paula McLain, Kimberly McCreight, Sarah McCoy, Allison Morgan, Debbie Macomber, Julianne MacLean also all fit the bill, I think (except the movies - I find it difficult to check out whether any of their books have been made into movies!).

And that's just from my GR shelves! I'm sure other people have even more! I don't know where to go from here... We could ask about number of published books? Whether she's written more than...5? Or 10?

[Deborah]

With the Fire on High has small illustrations at the head of each chapter of different fruits, herbs, etc. Do we think that qualifies as a book wuth illustrations? None of the graphic novels on my TBR are 100+ pages.

[Deborah]

Jill wrote: "Emily wrote: "Spreadsheet updated to include new buckets! It looks like the mods were mining the 2020 Wild Discussion for these last few buckets haha!
The Mars Room
I will submit o..."

Mars Room would also work for the NASA prompt... lots of Mars related mission names.

https://www.nasa.gov/missions

[Kelly]

My page count for today 6/12 is 117.

Emily, I can finish How Not to Die Alone whenever you need me to. I have about 30 pages left.

It is also a debut novel. I will probably read another chapter tonight, so I will def be able to have it finished tomorrow.

[Brittany]

I finished Ghosthunters and the Gruesome Invincible Lightning Ghost! so we have 2 books with lightning in the title. It was a cute little story, I can’t figure out who decided alcohol would be the thing to stop ghosts in a kids book though. I feel like I would have insisted upon carrying around bottles of champagne just in case of ghosts if I would have read this as a kid. I read a total of 556 pages for today.

[Deborah]

Im down to only 50 or so pages in my set in summer book, some of which I'll get done on my way to work in the morning, so it will be a quick finish once we get to bucket 14.

I'm working on The Lost Man which would work for a country I've never been to. I could potentially finish by tomorrow night if it is needed and definitely by Friday.

I'll do my page count check in in the morning.

[Ellie]

It's been a bit of a weird week,but I should still be good to cover for Emily this weekend. I just need to get caught up.

Are we pencilling in unfinished books on the spreadsheet now? 13 and 14 have books entered but not marked complete? Not really sure where we're up to so I'll hold off doing any updates.

I read 66 pages yesterday, hope to actually finish something today!

[Kathryn]

Ellie wrote: "It's been a bit of a weird week,but I should still be good to cover for Emily this weekend. I just need to get caught up.

Are we pencilling in unfinished books on the spreadsheet now? 13 and 14 ha..."

I know - I noticed that too. I’m not too sure what Emily’s doing...

[Bec]

I've just done the games - Half way check in and movie adaptation.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Hey all!

Kelly, I'm sorry I failed you on the How Not to Die Alone front, but since we have two connected books, we are just waiting for our debut book (which you can fill there) and then we will finish this bucket!

Ellie, in order to keep my head straight, I just started penciling in who said they could fill what... I know not everyone used the Planning tab, and I wanted to see which prompts were claimed and which ones weren't. They are just penciled in until I bold them, though. Feel free to change the process to suit you.

I can definitely keep tracking on the spreadsheet through Friday or Saturday, but I probably won't get much reading done going forward.. between packing for this trip, finishing up our yearbook at school (which is due tomorrow), and just general life things, I know I won't have much reading time.

We have one question available... what should we do? I can narrow it down by amount of publications, if everyone is good with that?

[Kathryn]

Emily wrote: "We have one question available... what should we do? I can narrow it down by amount of publications, if everyone is good with that?..."


I'm not sure how helpful knowing that will be at this point, but I just wondered how well known this author is... But if anyone has other ideas for good questions, please feel free to ask those instead!

[Kathryn]

Not that lots of books necessarily equates to well-known or vice versa. Look at Harper Lee!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I think I'll go with books published... we have 6 questions left until we hit 20, and this can knock out a lot of the mass publishers.

Has our author published 7 or more novels?

[Kathryn]

I've done the "sort your read shelf" game for today.

Emily - we had the same answer for number 2 and for the shortest book!

[Kelly]

No problem Emily, I know you have been busy! I have finished How Not to Die Alone, so our debut book prompt is done!

I would like to try to tackle the animal on cover prompt next. I will see what I can find. I will check in tonight with page total.

[Kathryn]

I've had a slow reading day today :-(

I read 21 pages to start The Silk Thief by Deborah Challinor.
And 106 pages in The Little Bookshop on the Seine by Rebecca Raisin.

For a not-so-grand total of 127 pages for 13/6/19

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Yay! Thanks Kelly! We have finished Bucket 13!

Up next on the agenda for Bucket 14 is a book recommended by a group member and a book that takes place during the summer.

I currently have Brittany or Deborah penciled in for the recommendation prompt, and Deborah penciled in for the summer book. If anyone else is close to finishing these prompts, let me know!

On deck with Bucket 15 will be the plot twist (with Johanne penciled in) and the chick-lit or romantic book (with Jill penciled in).

We also have quite a few members who didn't check in with their page totals yesterday, so please get those to me when you have a minute!

[Katie]

Has our author published 7 or more novels? NO

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Ok! So we are not looking for someone who is a mass publisher...

Any suggestions on the next question? We have one more question for Bucket 12!

[Kathryn]

Emily wrote: "Yay! Thanks Kelly! We have finished Bucket 14!

Up next on the agenda for Bucket 15 is a book recommended by a group member and a book that takes place during the summer..."

Katie wrote: "Has our author published 7 or more novels? NO"

I wonder if it might actually be Paula McLain or Kimberly McCreight? I feel like they're both reasonably well-known. Does anyone have any other female authors "M" that fit the description?

I just looked at your shelves, Emily, and came up with Madeline Miller and Erin Morgenstern - I think they fit for everything, just not sure about movies.

Of course it still mightn't be any of those either...

Should we narrow down by genre more? Historical fiction? YA? Or could go with geography - does our author live in a state on the coast? But that is probably where the majority of people live, I'm guessing. Does our author live on the western side of the country (or the northern half)?

[Kathryn]

Emily wrote: "Ok! So we are not looking for someone who is a mass publisher...

Any suggestions on the next question? We have one more question for Bucket 12!"

Aren't we looking for someone who ISN'T a mass publisher? Less than 7 novels...?

EDIT: Sorry - ignore - I misread you, Emily!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Oops. Yea, I meant is NOT a mass publisher lol.

Madeline Miller and Erin Morgenstern would both work... I think they are making a movie of The Night Circus, but it hasn't come out yet. But! Both of their books are somewhat fantastical (magical realism?)... I just don't know if magical realism would be considered fantasy by the mods.

I think the next question should be genre focused, but I'm not sure what to focus it on. We could also start narrowing down first name?

[Kathryn]

Emily wrote: "Oops. Yea, I meant is NOT a mass publisher lol.

Madeline Miller and Erin Morgenstern would both work... I think they are making a movie of The Night Circus, but it hasn't come out y..."

No - that was my mistake - you had "not" in there - I just skipped over it!!

Oh - that's true about Erin Morgenstern - I forgot! Didn't realise Circe was because I hadn't read it and thought it was more historical fiction! (And even if I had realised, I'd still have forgotten!)

I was just stalking someone else's shelves and came across Karen M. McManus (?movie).

And don't ask about geography - looks like the majority of writers live in Massachussetts!!

[Jackie]

June 12 - 0 pages read

Sort Your Read Shelf Completed

Yesterday was so busy with work I didn't get any reading done. Hopefully tonight I can get more accomplished.

[Kathryn]

And I'm off to bed now. Good luck guessing and reading!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Thanks for checking in anyway, Jackie!

Well... Madeleine Miller is tricky because it's about gods and goddesses, which... historical, yes, but also slightly fantastical?

Karen McManus would 100% work though. Should we ask if they are a primarily YA author? That would narrow the field quite a bit if they are.

[Kathryn]

Kimberley McCreight is also YA, isn’t she? There’s no movie for Reconstructing Amelia, is there?

Yes, you could ask if she primarily writes YA.

And I’m now off to bed properly! (As long as I don’t lie here thinking about American women novelists whose surnames start with M, and...)

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Ok our next question will be:

Does our author write primarily YA novels?

[Katie]

Does our author write primarily YA novels? NO

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Well that rules out that. 🙃

[Johanne]

I don´t remember which genres we excluded?

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Here's what we know:

We are looking for an American female author whose last name starts with M. She is NOT featured on the 1001 list, had her books turned to movies, or published the majority of her books in the 1900s. She has published less than 7 adult novels, her most recent novel in the last 5 years, and it's not mystery/thrillers or sci-fi/fantasy.

The only one I'm finding on my shelves that fits is Susan Meissner, now that we've excluded YA.

[Kathy]

Should I hold off on finishing Tangerine to use it for the “plot twist” prompt?

[Johanne]

Emily wrote: "Here's what we know:

We are looking for an American female author whose last name starts with M. She is NOT featured on the 1001 list, had her books turned to movies, or published the majority of ..."

So that excludes Karen McManus I´d say.

[Johanne]

Kathy wrote: "Should I hold off on finishing Tangerine to use it for the “plot twist” prompt?"

At the fast reading rate people are going I´d say yes. I´ve only just started "One of us is lying", which is the one I said I´d read that fits.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Kathy, if you want to, you certainly can! Johanne was down for that book as well, but if you're almost done, we can use Johanne's book for something else.

Yea, Karen McManus is mostly YA and I guess thriller.

Anyone else thinking of an author that fits besides Susan Meissner?

[Kathy]

Ok. I’ll finish my last section of Tangerine when I see we’re getting close.

[Tracy]

Finished the sort your shelf game.... working on author guess

some ideas from my TBR:
Kate Morton
Madeline Miller

if anyone wants to recheck the published book counts on these......

I ruled out Jojo Moyes and Liane Moriarty... not American authors, too many books and a book to tv series adaptation for the latter.

[Kathy]

I thought the author wrote fewer than 7 books. Susan Meissner has more. Or did I misunderstand?

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Oh! You're totally right. Ok then I have zero authors that fit the qualifications on my shelf lol.

EDIT: There is Carmen Maria Machado, whose profile says she was born in the US and Kimmery Martin, who has only written one book.