Read-A-Thon #1: Team Frosted Flakes

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Hello, Team Frosted Flakes!

As a reminder, here are the people on this team:
Team Captain: Kathryn
Bec
Johanne
Viktoria
Deena
Ira
Carmen
Lieke
Trish
Sarah (Message 35)
Hannah
Hilde
Erica

The rules can be found at this thread.

Your team should begin by choosing which level they will tackle first! You must complete the level you chose before moving on to the other levels.

For each word/phrase in a level, you must fill it in one of four ways:
1: Both of the author's initials are in the word/phrase
2: The word/phrase is in the title
3: The cover depicts something related to the word/phrase
4: The word/phrase is written exactly or acted out within the book

The words/phrases are:

Big Cat Level

1. Sahara desert
2. pride
3. fastest mammal
4. kittens
5. whisker
6. tigers and panthers
7. rescue
8. The Lion King
9. roar
10. Shere Khan

Puppy Level

1. dog breed
2. animal shelter
3. labrador
4. lick your face
5. sit and stay
6. tennis ball
7. who's a good boy?
8. Snoopy
9. let's play fetch
10. fluffy

Dinosaur Level

1. carnivore
2. extinct
3. munching on leaves
4. stomp
5. Jurassic Park
6. triceratops
7. ancestors to birds
8. roaming the land
9. t-rex
10. ancient predators

Insect Level

1. spider web
2. creepy crawling
3. legs
4. thorax
5. millions of bugs
6. ants
7. grasshoppers
8. many species
9. springtime
10. don't step on them!

Don't forget to track your pages read each day! This can earn you Wild Cards to knock out those tricky words.

Here is a link to your group spreadsheet, where you can track and plan: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Happy reading!

Reminder: The Read-A-Thon does not begin until you wake up on Saturday. Use this time to plan your books and start strategizing!

[Johanne]

Hi team! So excited to get started.
I have no idea which level is best to tackle first, though... But I always have a range of books lying around waiting to be read so I´ll figure it out, and I´m also reading a rather long fantasy book, that will count towards the pages either way.

Oh yeah: tomorrow I won´t read much - work and a birthday party.

[Lieke]

Hi team!

I'm currently reading:
Turning Darkness Into Light by Marie Brennan
It would work for Insect level: 5

I was planning to read a thicker book after that but I may change my plan.

[Carmen]

Helloooo!

Johanneeee team buddieeesss!

I don't mind which level we start with, as I'll be reading and seeing what fits where anyways. I am currently reading Treasure Island (RLS) and The Grapes of Wrath (JS). Technically also Siege & Storm (LB) and The Amber Spyglass (PP).

I am really loving the spreadsheet and am excited :D

[Johanne]

Carmen wrote: "Helloooo!

Johanneeee team buddieeesss!

I don't mind which level we start with, as I'll be reading and seeing what fits where anyways. I am currently reading Treasure Island (RLS) and The Grapes o..."

*waves*

[Johanne]

I´m also fine wih insects. As long as they don´t bite ;)

[Viktoria]

Hi everyone :)

I'm fine with any level.
Right now I'm reading:
Follow Her Home by Steph Cha and Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal
And I think the first one will fit prompt Nr. 8 for the Insect level (author initials)
After a quick check, I found that the second will fit for Nr. 3 - word/phrase in text.

[Trish, Annular Mod]

Hi everyone. And hi again, some of you!

I'm fine with whichever level everyone else would like. I'm currently in the last third of The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas. My current aim is to be at a point where I can finish the last 100 pages or so tomorrow, so it can count!

It'll work for any of these:

Words found in text:

Big Cat Level: 2. pride, 7. rescue, 9. roar
Insect Level: 3. legs, 6. ants, 9. springtime

Author initials

Big Cat Level: 1. Sahara desert, 6. tigers and panthers
Puppy Level: 3. labrador
Dinosaur Level: 7. ancestors to birds, 8. roaming the land, 10. ancient predators

After that, my next book is Stone Cold Crazy, Shannon Hill, which fits a few author initials that my first book doesn't:

Big Cat Level: 1. Sahara desert, 5. whisker, 10. Shere Khan
Puppy Level: 2. animal shelter
Dinosaur Level: 3. munching on leaves
Insect Level: 7. grasshoppers, 10. don't step on them!

[Johanne]

This is not meant as a critique of the fabulous mods who have created such a great readathon.
But I feel a compulsive need to clarify that spiders are not really insects, they are spindlers.

(I know Carmen will understand, we have had similar debate before)

edit: Oh it's a spider web, it TRAPS insects. Now I feel good again.

[Johanne]

... and spindler is probably not the English term...

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I'm glad I went with spider web instead of spiders because whew, I would have felt like a terrible researcher haha!

So let's just pretend that I TOTALLY meant spider webs because they trap insects. Yep. That's why I put it. 😂

[Johanne]

You totally did that!

[Hilde]

Hi team :)
Glad to see so many familiar "faces" from our last Christmas RAT!
And good to have you back as our Captain, Kathryn!

I am currently about to start Amok and Other Stories by Stefan Zweig, which I planned to read last week, but never actually picked up. I don't think it fit many tasks (Z is not a good initial as it turns out), but luckily I have it on kindle, and the magical word search there could tell me it works for some of the words for the "Big Cat" or "Insects" level. I added it to the spreadsheet.

Let's do this!

[Hannah]

Hi everyone,

I’ve added the three books I need to finish first as I can’t renew them to the spreadsheet on the Insects tab, as that seems to be where we are starting. I then have a pile of about 8 more library books I should really read before I take any more out, so hopefully they will slot in nicely somewhere 😊.

As we need to complete all tasks on one level before moving on to the next, I’ll make sure I check the spreadsheet before I read the final chapter of each book, just in case it doesn’t fit any open tags and I need to wait to finish it until we move on to the next level.

[Johanne]

Alright insects it is :)
I am in the middle of a couple of books and just started a long one that I probably won't finish before the levels are done, knowing this group. Will put them in the spreadsheet shortly.
And yes, it's cool with so many familiar faces, and Kathryn who fixes everything while we sleep in Europe.

[Carmen]

Johanne wrote: "... and spindler is probably not the English term..."

Arachnids! And let's not even begin on the debate whether or not they are animals haha!

[Hilde]

I am also currently listening to Educated, about two hours in, so have plenty of hours to go. But it doesn't seem to fit any of the requirements for #1-3, maybe for #4 word in the text, but as I don't have it on kindle I have no idea. Appreciate any tips if you see some potential tasks it could fit :)

[Johanne]

It was fungi, bacteria and flora/ fauna we were discussing right? That was way off track, haha!

[Carmen]

I hadn't even entered any books yet because it doesn't start until tomorrow (although it's already the 22nd for some of course!). I am currently blanking on what fits for my books.

For Robert Louis Stevenson, would RS be enough, or RLS?

[Johanne]

oh yes, Carmen it derived from that...

Well back on track.

[Kathryn]

Good morning, Team Frosted Flakes!!

Happy to be captain again, Hilde and Johanne - you guys are an easy team to be captain for - I feel like everyone is co-captain in a way, since everyone chips in to help where they can!

I'm hitting the ground running this morning, so no time to look at the tasks until a little later today, but I'll check it out properly when I get a moment free in the day!

Your insect/spider/spindler/arachnid/spider-web-traps-insects debate made me laugh, Johanne, Emily and Carmen, although I won't understand why it matters until I read the challenge properly!!

Sleep well, guys!

[Carmen]

Kathryn wrote: "Good morning, Team Frosted Flakes!!

Happy to be captain again, Hilde and Johanne - you guys are an easy team to be captain for - I feel like everyone is co-captain in a way, since everyone chips i..."

You should read the actual debate we had in the Popsugar group last year haha!

[Carmen]

Okay so I noticed we have nothing for 'thorax' as of yet, and I could read Radio Silence by Alice Oseman for it, but the problem is that I haven't started it yet, and just reread the three Heartstopper graphic novels a week ago haha!

I have a feeling I won't be very helpful for the insects, as the ones I could cover, already have several other books settled! I'll just get pages and hours then!

[Hilde]

Carmen wrote: "You should read the actual debate we had in the Popsugar group last year haha! "

You've made me curious, haha ;)
And go ahead and read for the spots that are already "covered", not everyone will finish at the same time anyhow!

[Carmen]

I will finish my current reads first anyways, so we'll see how it goes!

[Johanne]

As I recall the debate had to do with someone not thinking a butterfly was an animal (animal in title I think was the prompt), and that started a rather long debate that also involved the discussion of which kingdoms bacteria and fungi belong to. Carmen and I found a mutual friend in thinking those distinctions are important :) And thus the importance of the spiderwebs catch insects comment, Kathryn, it's not important at all regarding the readathon, only to my brain that likes systems to be logical (yeah that's not always easy).

[Hannah]

Hilde wrote: "I am also currently listening to Educated, about two hours in, so have plenty of hours to go. But it doesn't seem to fit any of the requirements for #1-3, maybe for #4 word in the t..."

Hilde,

If you find a version on Google Books with a preview, on the left-hand side there is a search box that lets you search for words in the text. It’s not great with phrases, because the results give you all the examples of every word within the phrase, so you would just need to double check that the exact phrase is there.

[Hilde]

Hannah wrote: "Hilde,
If you find a version on Google Books with a preview, on the left-hand side there is a search box that lets you search for words in the text"

Great, thank you! I will check it out.

ETA: It worked, I found a text fit for 'Big Cats' & 'Insects' :)

[Johanne]

Just looked at my books and nothing stands out, except Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb that works for thorax (initials rh) but I wouldn't wait for that since I have read only the first chapter, it's a long book and I don't have time to read tomorrow. So I will just see what's needed and what fits on sunday.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

You can also search on Amazon, usually, with the Look Inside feature. That's how I search for all my phrases, since I only read print and audio.

Carmen, for your question, first and last initial will suffice!

[Hilde]

Emily wrote: "You can also search on Amazon, usually, with the Look Inside feature. That's how I search for all my phrases, since I only read print and audio.

Carmen, for your question, first and last initial w..."

Goodie, thank you Emily 😊

[Carmen]

Thankyouuuu!

[Carmen]

I just came across the word ‘ants’ in The Grapes of Wrath, and if all goes well I’ll be finishing that this weekend!

[Kathryn]

Oh my goodness!! How DO the moderators come up with something like this?!! It's taken me about 10 min to wrap my head around it, and I'm not sure I've got it all worked out even yet!

So it sounds like people are happy to start working on the insect level first, so let's go with that. I've been dragging my feet reading An Uncommon Woman by Nicole Alexander, so this will be a good push to get through the last half of it and it would count for "ants".

And it's Saturday for me, and I brought An Uncommon Woman with me, so I'm going to read now for about 20min since I'm at the hospital waiting for my mum (I drove her up so she could visit a friend).

Don't forget to keep track of all your pages that you read, both as physical/ebook pages AND audio hours (separately), as once we pass a collective amount of pages, we can use those as wildcards for certain words/phrases that we aren't otherwise ticking off.

I'm an audiobook listener, so I can count my hours towards that. Not sure I'll get 10 hours over the week, however, so I hope at least someone else is an audiobook listener!,

[Carmen]

I’m an audiobook listener! have like 6-7 hours left of The Grapes of Wrath that I’ll get through this weekend most likely, and that’s sped up. I wonder if we use actually listened to hours or the hours of the full 1x speed audio. I’ll ask! If the latter, that’d be great for me!

I already logged an hour, but if it’s the latter I can add 30 minutes! Also logged 15 pages of Treasure Island I just read before bed (also a physical reader!) We can do this!

[Viktoria]

Good morning :) Happy first day of the Read-A-Thon!

I listen to audiobooks and read ebooks, so I'll be adding a bit to both pages and hours.

[Johanne]

Good morning!
I'll also be adding both hours and pages.
Off to work in a bit. (And I listen to audio on my bike ride)

[Kathryn]

Excellent - sounds like we'll be knocking off a few audio hours! I'm at 1.8 hours for today. So far only just over 30 pages of my book in writing :-( But I might still get time for a bit more reading before bed...

[Viktoria]

I found "antsy" in on of the books, but that probably wouldn't count for 'word in text'?

[Hilde]

Viktoria wrote: "I found "antsy" in on of the books, but that probably wouldn't count for 'word in text'?"

I'm not really sure what it means to "act out" these phrases, but if someone is getting antsy in your book, that would probably cover it I would think.

[Carmen]

I came across ‘ants’ in one of my books last night, which I hope to finish today, so we’ll be able to cover that one without worrying!

[Viktoria]

Hilde wrote: I'm not really sure what it means to "act out" these phrases, but if someone is getting a..."

I'm not sure myself what counts for acting out and what doesn't. I have to read the examples in the other thread again.

Carmen wrote: "I came across ‘ants’ in one of my books last night, which I hope to finish today, so we’ll be able to cover that one without worrying!"

Ok, that's perfect :)

[Hilde]

The audio I'm listening to (Educated) is very engrossing, so two hours just flew by this morning while preparing lunch and cleaning the house! Suddenly it's already midday, ah, these weekends go by so fast!

Hope you all have a good start to the readathon! :)

[Kathryn]

OK, team, I'm just about off to bed.

Looks like we've got several options for most words except for "creepy crawling", "thorax" and "don't step on them!", which only have one person reading a book for each of them.

Hope everyone enjoys their Saturday of reading! And whatever other activities you've got going on!

[Ira]

Hey team. I am currently listening to Age of Death by Michael J. Sullivan. I am also reading Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb. I have no idea where they fit..

[Erica]

Hi all! I’m currently reading Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham, which would worm for Insects 3 or 5 (authors name) or 3 (in text) but that’s maybe it. Will probably finish by the 24th.

[Hilde]

Ira wrote: "Hey team. I am currently listening to Age of Death by Michael J. Sullivan. I am also reading Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb. I have..."

Hi! They fit quite a few based on author's initials, didn't look at the rest, but added them to the spreadsheet for that criteria to begin with.

[Hilde]

Erica wrote: "Hi all! I’m currently reading Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham, which would worm for Insects 3 or 5 (authors name) or 3 (in text) but that’s maybe it. Will probably finish by the 24th."

Hi Erica! I added it to the spreadsheet for you:) How are things in China? It sounds pretty scary from the news here. Are you close to Wuhan?

[Hannah]

I’ve just finished Whiteout for this challenge and completed the spreadsheet. It only works for ‘legs’ in the text, so I’ve put it there.

I’m not far off finishing The Satapur Moonstone, the audiobook I’m listening to, so I’ll add that and update my audiobook hours and pages when I’ve finished.

[Hannah]

I’ve finished The Satapur Moonstone and added it to ‘Don't step on them’ as this had the fewest other options. This RAT is really helping me to finish off some of the books I’d started and then got distracted from 😊. Next book I’m hoping to finish - Burial Rites.