Read-a-Thon #2 - Team Bumblebee

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

Yes, that's correct. I've been posting our current bucket in bold so look for those comments.

But with your book, that finishes off Bucket 12! You've been really killing it today, team bumble :D

Now on to Bucket 13:

2 books with a matching word in the title
A debut novel

Don't forget about the author! Devin suggested narrowing it down by asking about number of books. Maybe start there?

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

I'm also going in now and starting a list of recommendations in a new tab. It can just be running (at your recommendations). Then if someone wants to take over reading one of the list then we can use it for bucket 14.

[CM]

Does anyone have any question ideas? I'm good with anything we might as well use them. I find it very hard to figure out what to ask. there are so many authors!!

[Perri]

Laura wrote: "I'm also going in now and starting a list of recommendations in a new tab. It can just be running (at your recommendations). Then if someone wants to take over reading one of the list then we can u..."

So just add to the list you've started?

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

Yes, I don't think it matters too much who the original suggestion came from. If you want to add names like with the word one, we can.

[Perri]

Does she live in a country A-M? Has she been on the NY Times Best Seller list?

[Vanessa]

I am ok with the questions mentioned

We have 4 questions, I would add:

- Does the author's first name begin with A-F?

[Kathy Jo]

I just finished Things Fall Apart, which counts for debut novel!

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

I can't give spoilers but I would probably try to do a list/award that has a shorter list of books on it. NYT bestsellers is huge and hard to research.

[Vanessa]

mmmm maybe she has winner te goodreads award, we ask for nominne.

Or we ask for 1001 list again?

[CM]

I think even if she won she would have been nominated. We could do the 1001 again though.

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

I haven't even looked at the list yet, but are there many contemporary authors on the 1001 list?

[CM]

I dont think so.

[Vanessa]

True that she was born after 1975

[Perri]

A-G
Alice Albinia (born 1976), English journalist and non-fiction author; Empires of the Indus
Tuuve Aro (born 1973), Finnish novelist, short story writer, film critic and producer
Linda Vero Ban (born 1976), Hungarian writer on Jewish identity and spirituality
Malika Booker (born 1970), British poet, writer and artist
Colette Bryce (born 1970), poet from Northern Ireland
Ludmilla Lacueva Canut (born 1971), Andorran fiction and non-fiction write
Elaine Eksvärd (born 1981), Swedish non-fiction writer
Diana Omo Evans (born c. 1971), British novelist, journalist and critic
Penelope Fletcher (born 1988), writer, of young-adult, romance, fantasy
Julia Franck (born 1970), German novelist
Raquel Freire (born 1973), Portuguese film director, screenwriter and novelist
Alisa Ganieva (pseudonym Gulla Khirachev, born 1985), Russian writer and essayist
Alessia Gazzola (born 1982), Italian novelist
Nina George (born 1973), German writer The Little Paris Bookshop
Randa Ghazy (born 1987), Italian Egyptian writer
Júlia Goldman (born 1974), Hungarian genre novelist and mathematician
Agnieszka Graff (born 1970), Polish feminist academic writer and essayist
Jessie Greengrass (born 1982), British writer of fiction
Anna Gutto (born 1977), Norwegian director, artistic director and actress

[Vanessa]

1970

[Vanessa]

Mmm And if we ask if the author is on the list mentioned by Perri... Is it posible?

[CM]

Are there any contemporary book awards that are focused on Europe? Maybe we could just ask in general if her books have won any literary awards.

[CM]

What about narrowing down the country? Maybe are they from the UK or a country from N to Z?

Or genre?

[Perri]

H-M
Meredith Haaf (born 1983), writer German
Sarah Hall (born 1974), English novelist and poet
Sophie Hannah (born 1971), English poet and novelist; Little Face
Volha Hapeyeva (born 1982), poet, translator, linguist, writer Belarus
Petra Hartmann (born 1970), German journalist, novelist and children's writer
Judith Hermann (born 1970), German story writer
Afua Hirsch (born 1981), British writer and broadcaster
Branislava Ilić (born 1970), Serbian playwright, screenwriter, prose writer, essayist
Dorta Jagić (born 1974), Croatian poet and writer
Kate Johnson (born c. 1980), English novelist
Sarah Kane (1971–1999), English playwright of in-yer-face theater
Aby King (born 1977), British author, novelist, of fantasy
Gerður Kristný (born 1970), Icelandic poet and novelist
Marita Liabø (born 1971), Norwegian author
Helen Macdonald (born 1970) English writer, naturalist, and academic; H is for Hawk
Audrey Magee (living), Irish novelist and journalist
Eimear McBride (born 1976), Irish novelist; A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing
Lisa McInerney (born 1981), Irish short story writer, blogger, and novelist
Eva Menasse (born 1970), Austrian novelist and journalist
Charlotte Mendelson (born 1972), British novelist and editor
Nadifa Mohamed (born 1981), Somali-British novelist
Alison Moore (born 1971), English novelist; The Lighthouse

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

- Does she live in a country A-M?
- Does the author's first name begin with A-F?
- Is the author on the list mentioned by Perri?

Everyone good with these?

We would still have one question if you want to ask about a specific literary award or the general "literary award".

[Jennifer]

Sounds good to me

[CM]

good to me!

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

Just a heads up, I am now adding more buckets to each team. I will update the spreadsheet accordingly :)

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

- Does she live in a country A-M? Yes
- Does the author's first name begin with A-F? Yes
- Is the author on the list mentioned by Perri? No

which literary award would you like to ask about?

[Sarah]

If we want to ask about a specific literary award, we could ask if she was nominated for the Women’s Prize for Fiction (formerly the Orange Award) — or made the longlist?

In 2019, Diana Evans, Oyinkan Braithwaite, Sophie van Llewyn, Sarah Moss would all fit.

[Perri]

Diana Evans was on the list and van Llewyn's last name is v ,right?

[Sarah]

Whoops —- didn’t mean to include her!!

[Vanessa]

Kathy Jo wrote: "I just finished Things Fall Apart, which counts for debut novel!"

Laura, I add this book in the spreadsheet

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

Good catch, Vanessa! I was distracted with the author strategizing.

[Rachel]

Not feeling well today, but I did manage to finish off Men Explain Things to Me, and two graphic novels that are both over 100 pages: Will & Whit and Kristy's Big Day. I also completed the halfway check-in, which I assume is the game for today.

[Chrissy]

This isn’t an official guess, but I have a hunch that it’s Elena Ferrante.

[dalex]

Maybe we could ask if she writes her books in a language other than English?

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

Some suggested questions mentioned so far:

Is she from a country in the UK?
Contemporary book awards that are focused on Europe
Has she been nominated for The Women's Prize for fiction?
Does she write her books in a language other than English?

We currently have 3 questions available

[Sarah]

I like the language question best. then we could try to narrow down the name or country!

[Jennifer]

I like the contemporary awards question and The Women's Prize for fiction.

[Hilde]

I think you might be correct, Chrissy. Hence I vote for asking about language and awards.

[CM]

Let's do it! I say we ask both questions.

[dalex]

If we ask if she does not write in English and the answer is yes then we do not have to ask if she was nominated for the Women's Prize because the prize does not include works in translation. So if we are using those questions we do not want to ask them simultaneously.

[CM]

So should we ask the prize one and then if it is yes we will skip the language one and if it's no we ask the language one next? or vice versa.

[Katie]

Which prize question are you thinking about using, contemporary awards focused in Europe or Women's Prize for Fiction?

[dalex]

Katie wrote: "Which prize question are you thinking about using, contemporary awards focused in Europe or Women's Prize for Fiction?"

Personally I think "contemporary awards focused in Europe" is too wide open and could include dozens of different awards. I prefer using a specific prize, either the Women's Prize or something else.

[CM]

let's just ask

Has she been nominated for The Women's Prize for fiction?

[Perri]

Make it so :)

[Katie]

I'm taking this discussion as consensus, haha.

Has she been nominated for The Women's Prize for fiction? NO

[CM]

Oh man, should we ask language now?

[dalex]

Ok, then let's move on to the next question - "Does she write her books in a language other than English?"

[CM]

Let's do it. Use up these questions.

[CM]

Agreed! I think Dalex already asked it, we will wait for the answer and then ask the country question.

[Sarah]

we had asked if she was from a country that begins with A-M and the answer was yes! so we could try to narrow it down more