Autumn/Fall Introduction & Tasks

[Bryony]

Back by popular demand....welcome to the second Around the Year in 52 Books seasonal challenge. Our Autumn / Fall challenge will start on 1 September and finish on 30 November.

The challenge has twelve prompts in total, divided into four for each month of autumn. For each prompt there is a choice of three tasks. Some are easy, some are more difficult - it’s your choice which you want to complete. You only need to complete one of the three tasks to record a prompt as completed.

You can choose to complete all twelve prompts, or if you prefer a shorter challenge you can just complete one month’s prompts. And, if you’re super keen then you’re very welcome to set yourself an even more challenging goal, like completing two tasks per prompt, or even aiming to finish all 36 tasks.

Badges!
For those of you who like to collect badges, you’ll be able to earn badges for completing different elements of the challenge. Look out for details very soon!

How to join the challenge
1. First check out the prompts and choice of tasks in post two of this thread.

2. Next head over to this thread and start a post where you will post your plan and track your progress through the challenge. You can also look at other people’s plans to get ideas for any tasks you’re finding tricky and ask for recommendations from other readers.

3. When you’ve completed all four prompts for one month, post the details in this thread. We’ll then add your name to the finishers list and you can claim any badges you’ve earned.

4. Feel free to join the general discussion thread where you can share ideas about books for each task, ask for recommendations or just chat with other members of the group.

What books can be counted?
Unlike the summer challenge, this one doesn’t involve any competition between people, so there are no really strict rules about what books count. Generally books should be 100 pages or more, but if you’ve found the perfect book and it’s 90 pages then it’s your choice whether to count it. Or, if you’re really stuck on one task and you want to read a picture book or short story just to mark it as complete then go right ahead. The aim is to have fun and enjoy what you read, so nobody is going to judge anyone else for their book choices.

If you have any questions about the challenge then you can post them in this thread. The FAQs in post three below will also be updated as people ask questions so you might find your question has been answered there.

Happy reading, and we hope you enjoy the challenge!

[Bryony]

Autumn / Fall Reading Challenge - Prompts & Tasks

September

1. To Autumn

To Autumn by John Keats is one of the most admired poems in the English language. Keats composed the poem on 19 September 1819 after taking a walk on an autumn evening.

🍁 Read a book with a title that includes any word of four or more letters that appears in the poem
🍁 Read a book first published in a year that includes at least two of the numbers 1, 8, and 9 - eg 1899, 1920, 1975, 1998, 2018
🍁 Read a book by an author named John or a reasonable variation - eg Jonathon, Johnson, Jon etc (either first or last name works)

2. Fall into Autumn

This season is known as autumn in most English-speaking countries, except for the US where the word fall is used instead. English emigrants in the 17th century took the word fall with them and continued to use it while in Britain the word autumn gradually replaced fall in the 18th century.

🍁 Read a book by an author whose first or last name starts with A or F
🍁 Read a book that has been published under at least two different titles (translations don’t count), eg:
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone // Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Northern Lights // The Golden Compass
Cider With Rosie // The Edge of Day.
🍁 Read a book with a title that includes a word that is spelled differently in British and American English. (This list might be helpful but the word doesn’t have to appear on this list to count for this task)

3. Rugby World Cup

Taking place in Japan this Autumn, the tournament sees the top international teams compete to win the Webb Ellis Cup. The Cup is named after William Webb Ellis who is (somewhat dubiously) reputed to have invented the game of rugby.

🍁 Read a book set in any of the 20 countries who have qualified for the tournament
🍁 Read a book by an author with a three word name - eg Gabriel García Márquez, Louisa May Alcott, Alexander McCall Smith
🍁 Read a book where the main character is a professional sportsperson (nonfiction books about a sportsperson or team would also count)

4. Abbey Road

This album by The Beatles is 50 years old this year, having been released on 26 September 1969. It’s widely considered one of the greatest albums ever and its cover image has prompted generations of Beatles fans to visit and attempt to recreate the iconic zebra crossing scene. It also includes one of the first examples of a hidden track.

🍁 Read a book with a cover image that shows four or more people
🍁 Read a book by an author who has the same initials as a member of The Beatles (George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr)
🍁 Read a book where a secret or hiding place is important to the plot (Please say what the secret is when registering this task as complete, but if it’s a plot spoiler than please be sure to use spoiler tags in your post.)

October

     

1. Poem in October

This beautiful poem by Dylan Thomas is set in the Welsh village of Laugharne where the poet lived at the time.

🍁 Read a book with a picture of any living thing, setting or object mentioned in the poem on the cover (eg birds, sailing boat, harbour, owls, garden)
🍁 Read a book set in a location that begins with a letter found in the word LAUGHARNE
🍁 Read a book by a Welsh author

2. Dictionary Day

Dictionary Day is celebrated on 16 October in honour of Noah Webster who compiled the first American English dictionary.

🍁 Read a book with the number 1 or 6 in the page count (eg 150, 256, 621, etc)
🍁 Read a book in which one of the most frequently looked up words appears anywhere in the text. (Please quote the sentence when registering this task as completed.)
🍁 Read a book with a title or subtitle that includes a word of 10 letters or more.

3. The Booker Prize

One of the most prestigious literary awards, the Booker Prize is awarded to what the judges consider the best novel written in English and published in the UK. The 2019 winner will be announced on 14 October.

🍁 Read a book first published in October (of any year)
🍁 Read a book by an author whose initials appear in BOOKER PRIZE
🍁 Read a book that has won or been included in the shortlist for the Booker Prize

4. Halloween

Halloween is celebrated around the world on 31 October. Traditional Halloween activities include trick or treating, apple bobbing, telling ghost stories, and watching horror films. Usually followed by lying awake in bed all night convinced that every sound you hear is a ghost.

🍁 Read a book where the first letter of every word in the title appears in TRICK OR TREAT (titles must be at least two words long to count for this one)
🍁 Read a book with a cover that is mostly orange or black OR that has a a pumpkin, skull or witch on it
🍁 Read a book that appears on one of these lists:
 🎃 Goodreads: Best Books to Read for Halloween
 🎃 31 Books to put you in the Halloween Spirit
 🎃 15 Scary Halloween Books


November

     

1. No sun, no moon! No morn, no noon ... November!

This humorous short poem was written by Thomas Hood, a nineteenth century English poet and author. He lived in London where he wrote for literary magazines and complained about the city’s weather through the medium of verse.

🍁 Read a book whose title begins with a letter in NOVEMBER (A, An and The may be ignored)
🍁 Read a book set in or first published in the nineteenth century (1800 - 1899 inclusive)
🍁 Read a book of poetry.

2. George Eliot

One of the leading novelists of the Victorian era, George Eliot was born on 22 November 1819. After working as an editor and literary critic under her given name Mary Ann Evans, she later published seven novels under the pen name George Eliot.

🍁 Read a book with a repeated number in the page count (eg 115 pages; 422 pages, 338 pages, etc)
🍁 Read a book by an author who has published at least seven novels.
🍁 Read a book published under a pen name or pseudonym (please give the author’s real name and pen name when registering this task as complete)

3. NaNoWriMo

November is National Novel Writing Month. Participants in the project aim to write a novel of at least 50,000 words during the month of November. Since the project was launched in 1999 thousands of writers have participated and over 400 novels have been published, including The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

🍁 Read a book first published in 1999 or later.
🍁 Read a book where the first letter of each word in the title appears in NANOWRIMO (title must be at least two words long to count for this option)
🍁 Read a book that began as a NaNoWriMo novel

4. The Longest Journey

Towards the end of Autumn many species of birds migrate to warmer climates where they will spend the winter. The longest journey of all is taken by the Arctic tern which is thought to make a round trip of up to 56,000 miles a year.

🍁 Read a book in which a main character goes on a long journey (please say where they travelled to when registering this task as complete)
🍁 Read a book where all the letters in ARCTIC TERN can be found in the title and/or subtitle
🍁 Read a book from one of these lists of popular travel books:
  🌍 Goodreads: Popular travel books
  🌍 Best travel memoirs to inspire Wanderlust
  🌍 BookRiot: 30 of the best travel memoirs

[Bryony]

FAQs

Q: Can books overlap between the main Around the Year challenge and the autumn challenge?
A: Yes, absolutely! Some of the tasks are designed to be easy for you to fit in books you’re planning to read for AtY.

Q: Can a book be used for more than one autumn challenge prompt?
A: Each book can only be used for one prompt in the autumn challenge.

Q: Do the tasks for each month need to be completed in that month?
A: No, you can complete them at anytime between 1 September and 30 November.

Q: Can books started before September 1 be counted?
A: Generally you may count a book started before the challenge begins as long as you read at least 100 pages of the book on or after 1 September, but we’re pretty relaxed about this rule so as long as you’re happy that you read a reasonable amount of a book in September it’ll count.

Q: For a task requiring a title beginning with a particular letter, do A, An and The count?
A: You can choose whether or not to count them.

Q: For tasks that require the first letter of each word in the title to appear in a particular word, do A, An and The count?
A: Yes, all words in the title must be included for these tasks.

Q: For tasks that require the first letter of each word in the title to appear in a particular word, can single word titles be used?
A: No, sorry, the title needs to be two or more words for these tasks.

Q: Can the challenge be completed more than once?
A: Absolutely! If you want to just complete the four prompts for one month that’s fine; if you’re a super speedy reader and you want to complete all 36 prompts that’s also fine (and the rest of us will be cheering you on!). You can also earn badges for each ‘level’ of the challenge you complete.

Q: How do you define which country an author is from?
A: It’s not perfect, but we suggest using an author’s country of birth as the definition of where they are from.

Q: For cover image tasks, do you have to read the edition that meets the requirements, or can you read another edition?
A: Ideally you would read the edition that meets the requirements, but it’s not a strict rule (especially as library books often have different covers to the one shown in their catalogue so it can be hard for people who read mainly library books to know which edition they’ll be able to borrow).

[Jody]

A small request - is it possible to include the season in the title of these seasonal threads? For those of us who use the app, you can’t tell in “unread” which challenge these belong to. It’s obviously a minor thing, but it would be nice to have. 😊

[Bryony]

Thanks for mentioning that Jody, I don’t use the app so I wasn’t aware of that issue. I’ll update the thread titles so it should be easier to distinguish between them.

ETA: Sorry, I just realised it’s already been updated so one of the other mods must have spotted this before I did!

[Jody]

Thank you!! 😁

[Sophie]

You're welcome 😉