Winter Challenge 2014: Task Ideas

[Sheila]

Since the Christmas story in the Bible is in Luke 2:1-20 maybe a book by an author who's initials are in LUKE and have a 2,1,0 in the number of pages or year.

[Lindy-Lane]

Morgan wrote: ""Wacky" January Holidays

5 National Bird Day -- picture of a bird on the cover/bird in title (either 'bird' or a type of bird)

6 Cuddle Up Day -- Couple embracing/hugging on cover.

8 Bubble Bath..."

*thumbs up for hat day idea

[Lindy-Lane]

Mindi wrote: "My fiancé is Jewish, and I'm Catholic, so I have only recently started celebrating Hanukkah with him. I suggest reading a book with a cover that is predominately blue and white, which are the col..."

*wonderful!

[Lindy-Lane]

Karen Michele wrote: "Janice CA wrote: "Hades kidnapped Persephone and took her to the underworld where she is forever changed. Read a book featuring a kidnapping. Here is a big list of possibilities: https://www.goodre..."

*yes!

[Amy]

Zeus is king and father of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky, weather, thunder, lightning, law, order, and justice.

1) Read a book where the main character is a father, a king or a lawyer.

2) Read a book with a cover depicting a storm.

3) Read a book by an author whose initials can be found in ZEUS.

[Sandi]

Sheila wrote: "Looks like the winter challenge will be quite educational for me since I know next to nothing about mythology. Bring it on!"

Oh Yay I'm not the only one! What I know about mythology I got from the 1981 movie "Clash of the Titans"

I've been debating whether I want to play around with my Paint Shop Pro to submit a masthead/logo this time around since my mythology knowledge is limited.

[Meg]

I liked the task using a word from a song from the year you finished high school. Maybe do the same thing with words from movie titles?

Another idea - get a random number between 1 and 50 and then subtract the number from 2015. Read a book published in that year. E.g. if you get a 10; 2015-10=2005, read a book from 2005.

Read a book nominated for a Goodreads Choice award in 2014.

[Catie]

Read a book that is a retelling of a Greek or Roman myth, play or novel.

(having this as a task might mean I finally get around to reading The Penelopiad)

[Karen Michele]

Sandi wrote: "Sheila wrote: "Looks like the winter challenge will be quite educational for me since I know next to nothing about mythology. Bring it on!"

Oh Yay I'm not the only one! What I know about mytholo..."

I hope you do make a logo, Sandi!

[[deleted user]]

Saturnalia: Celebrated roughly December 17th-23rd, with many customs that end up as part of modern day Christmas, most noteably gift giving. Saturn embodied prosperity-

Read a book with a form of money on the cover.

Lupercalia: This is always one of my favorites to celebrate :-) (Feb 13-17th) Part of the festivities revolves around ensuring fertility-

Read a book with a baby on the cover.

[[deleted user]]

Augury: The practice- common in ancient Roman times- of foretelling the future using the flight of birds.

Read a book with a bird on the cover.

[[deleted user]]

The Etruscans were a society in northern Italy that predate the Romans. Little is known about them, and wht is has been put together from bits and pieces of archeological evidence.

Read a book with the genre "mystery" on the main page.

[[deleted user]]

Alexander the Great- Macedonian King that conquered a large part of the known world during his life time (336-323 BCE). His real exploits have become conflated with myth, and it is impossible to tell history from fable. (I like the stories- and my son is named after him :-).

There's lots of possibilities- a book with a horse or eagle on the cover. A book with the author's initials found in Alexander the Great or Alexander of Macedon. A book that has a protagonist that is in the armed services.

[Jasmine]

February 19th marks the Chinese New Year. The zodiac animal is the goat. We should do something surrounding that or the characteristics of the goat which are: "calm nature and an intellectual approach; they seek aesthetic beauty and are artistic, well-mannered and compassionate, yet detached and resigned to their condition" and "caring, self-sacrificing, obliging, sensible, creative, empathetic, tactful and prudent, but can also be naïve, pedantic, insecure, cunning, indecisive or pessimistic".

See: Wikipedia site

[Cynthia]

I like to encourage readers to choose translated works - we see a very small percentage of the world's literature translated into English so how about a task that looks for a translated work originating from a Mediterranean country based upon this list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_...

[Margie]

My kids favorite holiday movie was Home Alone. There were 5 movies done (3 movies for theater and 2 for TV).
Read a book set in the town/state of any of the Home Alone movies:
#1 - Paris
#2 - New York
#3 - Chicago
#4 - Chicago
#5 - CA/Maine

[Margie]

My birthday falls in the Winter Challenge, and I love to go to Las Vegas on my birthdays. Read a book with a gambling/casino theme.

[Trish]

Morgan wrote: "A number of constellations have names from Greek/Roman mythology. --> A book with stars/the night sky on the cover or maybe one set in space/on another planet."

A variant on that could be read a book with the name of a planet or constellation based on Greek/Roman mythology in the title.

Another obvious pair is books set in Ancient Rome or Ancient Egypt - either fiction or non-fiction.

Apologies if these have come up in previous Winter Challenges before - I'm a newbie - but here are a couple more ideas.

For winter, someone's suggested books where the title, sub-title, series or author include winter and snow. Why not expand that to frost and ice as well.

Assorted holidays fall in this period. Perhaps there could be a challenge with the name of a holiday in the title (eg Christmas, Hannukkah, etc), or a present on the cover.

Or maybe "Puns are the lowest form of wit" - they're also really popular in titles (especially mysteries), eg Pall in the Family, Too Many Crooks Spoil the Broth. Read a book with a pun in the title. (yes, I know that doesn't fit either mythology or winter).

[Karen Michele]

There are so many great ideas coming forth! I like the "home alone" idea and the "title puns" idea a lot. I also like all of the ideas based on constellations, planets, etc. as that was my theme idea for Winter and it incorporates really well into the broader mythology category. I can't wait to see the tasks;)!

[Trish]

Amy wrote: "Zeus is king and father of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky, weather, thunder, lightning, law, order, and justice.

3) Read a book by an author whose initials can be found in ZEUS. "

Maybe extend this to include either OLYMPUS, or the Roman equivalent of Zeus, ie JUPITER?