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Archives > Summer '20 Read-A-Thon: Team Sherberts

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message 1: by Emily, Conterminous Mod (last edited Jul 17, 2020 12:18PM) (new)

Emily Bourque (emilyardoin) | 11194 comments Mod
Summer '20 Read-A-Thon Team Challenge:
There Are No Wrong Answers, Only Silly Questions


This read-a-thon’s team challenge is all about getting to know each other better through some silly questions and creative book choices. Your goal as a team is to accumulate as many points as possible because everyone loves points.

Read a book as an answer to each question. 1 book completed = 1 point earned.

Your book could be the answer to the question by the title, by using something on the cover, based on the plot or themes of the book, based on the author’s name, etc. We encourage you to be creative! Tell your team your answer and how your book fits. We can all read more and get to know each other a bit better. If your team ‘answers’ every question on the list, you can start on a second round where each book is worth 2 points.

You have the ability to earn 4 Wild Cards throughout the game for pages read as a group. You earn a wildcard at 2000 pages total, 5000 pages total, 10000 pages total, and 15000 pages total! Make sure you are recording your pages read on your group spreadsheet.

THE RULES

1. Books need to be 100+ pages to count, or have at least 100 pages left for books already in progress at the start of the read-a-thon.
2. Each question can only be answered once until the whole set is completed at which point you can start in on round 2.
3. Be sure to tell your group how your book fits. We want to know what vegetable you would be and it’s not always obvious that a book is about the owner of a pickle boutique.
4. Have fun and play nice! This challenge is about reading more, working together, and having a good time. Lets keep the easy-going, helpful, considerate vibe our group is well known for along with the spirit of competition. :)

THE SILLY QUESTIONS

1. Which body part would you choose to get a tattoo on?
2. Which bad habits of other people drive you crazy?
3. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
4. What would you do in life if you knew you could not fail?
5. What was your favorite Halloween costume?
6. What thing do you consider yourself to be very good at?
7. What thing do you consider yourself to be very bad at?
8. What is your favorite TV show?
9. What do you do every day that you wish was automated?
10. What smells make you happy?
11. What outdoor activities do you like to do?
12. What is a goal that you have been able to reach?
13. What is your favorite sport or physical activity?
14. What is your favorite season of the year?
15. What is your favorite holiday?
16. What is your favorite hobby?
17. What is the social event you hate the most?
18. If you could get rid of one month of the year, which would you choose?
19. What is something you hate but you wished you loved?
20. What is something you think is beautiful?
21. What is one thing you do to get motivated?
22. What’s your pet peeve?
23. What is a hidden talent you have?
24. What did you dream about last night?
25. What crazy activities do you dream of trying someday?
26. If you woke up tomorrow as an animal, what animal would you choose to be?
27. What is something you would want with you on a desert island?
28. If you were in a band, what kind of music would you play?
29. What vegetable would you be?
30. What is a popular trend that you can’t stand?
31. If you could be a time travel tourist, where/when would you go?
32. What is a place you would love to move to?
33. What job would you hate?
34. What’s your favorite part of a county fair?
35. If you had a boat, what would you name it?
36. How do you like to spend a rainy day?
37. Have an endless supply of any food, what would you get?
38. A genie shows up, what do you wish for?
39. Do you have any phobias?
40. What color looks best on you?
41. What is the best present you've ever been given?
42. Choose your age forever, what age would you choose and why?
43. Be an Olympic athlete, what sport would you compete in?
44. What’s your favorite time of day?
45. How much does a polar bear weigh?

Examples:

10. What smells make you happy?
I love the smell of the ocean and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is set in the ocean

40. What color looks best on you?
I look great in green (according to moi) and Bangkok Wakes to Rain has a green cover

45. How much does a polar bear weigh?
Enough to break the ice, haha I’m hilarious, please just accept this terrible joke for what it is, so I anyway could choose Icebreaker: A Voyage Far North based on the title.


message 2: by Emily, Conterminous Mod (last edited Jul 27, 2020 04:56AM) (new)

Emily Bourque (emilyardoin) | 11194 comments Mod
Team Sherberts
Co-Captain: Roxana
Co-Captain: Chelsey
Joi
Veronica
Lieke
Samantha
Kat
Martha
Jax
Johanna
Tracy
Rose

Group Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Total Points Earned: 97
- Total Books Read (1 pt per book): 58 (44+17) Books
- Total Pages Read (1 pt per 1000 pages): 19,904 Pages
- 3 Wildcards Available


message 3: by Jax (last edited Jul 17, 2020 12:36PM) (new)

Jax (jaxn) I haven't done this before. Looking at the spreadsheet, should I put in the books I think I'll be reading (in the lighter color typeface)? That way we can see what questions our team will be covering?

As I understand it we as a team need to have an answer for each question then we start over again, that's how you gain points?

(I went ahead and added in a few of the books I have in progress and what categories they fall in. They could hit a couple so I'm not attached to the question, but I'd like to finish the books in the next few days. And they do all have at least 100 pages left)


message 4: by Roxana (new)

Roxana (luminate) | 775 comments Jax wrote: "I haven't done this before. Looking at the spreadsheet, should I put in the books I think I'll be reading (in the lighter color typeface)? That way we can see what questions our team will be coveri..."

Correct! We can chat about it here, so people have a sense of what others are reading, what prompts are about to be done or need someone to cover them, etc., and then put in planned/in-progress answers in the light color in the spreadsheet so we can see the bigger picture of it all together!

And correct to the second question, too - the team as a whole needs a completed book 'answering' each prompt, then if we finish them all, we start round 2. Points come from pages read as well as from filling the prompts, and we also can earn wildcards (which can be used to fill in prompts we aren't getting to) based on pages read as a team, so we'll want to track pages as well as finished books! :)


message 5: by Roxana (new)

Roxana (luminate) | 775 comments Hi all! I'm excited to get started tomorrow, and to get to know all of you through our answers to the prompt questions! :) I'm in California, so I'm in one of the later time zones, though it looks like we have a few Pacific time zoners on our team, actually, which is fun.

I have a couple of hefty books in progress right now, but also a stack of shorter ones I'm planning to read this week; this readathon overlaps with the Reading Rush, so I'm going to try to make my TBR work for both! ;)

Can't wait to get reading with y'all!


message 6: by Chelsey (new)

Chelsey Keathley-Jones (keathleyc) | 236 comments Hey everyone, I am excited to get going! I have some bigger books in progress that I hope to finish as well. I live in the east coast of the US so that should work well for us both assisting people at different times.


message 7: by Veronica (new)

Veronica (ronireads13) | 816 comments Hi everyone!
Excited to do this readathon with you. I'm in the middle of a book and have others in mind for this week. Can't wait to get started :)


message 8: by Rose (new)

Rose | 52 comments Hi, all! Californian here as well, excited to be aboard! I have several books I’m hoping to finish this week, all with at least 100 pages left.


message 9: by Johanna (new)

Johanna Ellwood (jpellwood) | 327 comments Do we need to explain why we put a book in a certain topic?

I just finished reading The Diary of a Young Girl (ooh, that was a tough one to get through). I put it under the best present you've ever been given since the diary was a gift to her and we wouldn't have had her writings without it.


message 10: by Martha (new)

Martha (marthag503) | 517 comments Good morning from Washington state! I will be tracking several books this week attempting to work on a few challenges I have attempted this year. I hope they will fit in the Getting To Know You prompts.


message 11: by Samantha (new)

Samantha | 1584 comments Good Morning! Looking forward to a great week of reading! I finished up two books yesterday so starting fresh today. I am going to start listening to The Nickel Boys and reading Cut to the Bone. I hope to finish Cut to the Bone quickly. The Nickel boys is an audiobook and will probably take a few days to get through.


message 12: by Veronica (new)

Veronica (ronireads13) | 816 comments Good morning from Cali! I have a zoom work meeting this morning, hopefully wont take too long. I'm halfway through Tempted so finishing that first and then select something based on which questions are available. Happy reading everyone!


message 13: by Tracy (last edited Jul 18, 2020 10:41AM) (new)

Tracy (tracyisreading) | 2573 comments Good afternoon all! We are just back from a quick vacation, so I am trying to get organized, but I have a lot of catching up to do on my challenges ( isn't it shocking how little reading some of us have gotten done while on lockdown?). I picked up a huge stack of books that came in from the library on the way to the beach house, I just have to look through everything to see where it might fit.

I'm in the middle of 3 chonks right now, trying to finish up some series...
Monsters of Men (Chaos Walking, #3) by Patrick Ness The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire, #4) by George R.R. Martin
but will probably set them aside to read some quicker books this week.

Have fun everyone!


message 14: by Kat (new)

Kat | 567 comments Good evening from the UK! I've ended up having a much busier day than I expected so I haven't read as much as I had planned. Hopefully I can get back on track tomorrow.

I did finish the last 130 pages of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban this morning. I have assigned it to favourite Halloween costume as I have always loved dressing up as a witch.


message 15: by Roxana (new)

Roxana (luminate) | 775 comments Johanna wrote: "Do we need to explain why we put a book in a certain topic?

I just finished reading The Diary of a Young Girl (ooh, that was a tough one to get through). I put it under the best prese..."


Yeah, explain it here, just like you did - that's part of the fun, and also it'll help us see what everyone's doing and which prompts we're completing.


message 16: by Rose (new)

Rose | 52 comments I just filled in “a bad habit of other people that drives you crazy” with The Best We Could Do, because the main character/author’s father smokes throughout the whole book.


message 17: by Joi (new)

Joi | 43 comments Hey Everyone.!


message 18: by Roxana (new)

Roxana (luminate) | 775 comments Hey Jax, I noticed you have How to Be AntiRacist down in black font for the prompt "what is your favorite sport or physical activity" - I'm so curious, since I haven't read it, what your answer is for that and how this book fits it!


message 19: by Roxana (new)

Roxana (luminate) | 775 comments I just finished A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians, which I'm putting down for "a place you'd love to move to," it's set primarily in Paris and London, both cities I'd love to live in!

It's an interesting book, I think I need to mull it over a little before I write my review; I enjoyed it but I'm not sure its actual writing quality deserved me liking it as much as I did, and I wanted to like it more. I had unfairly high expectations, perhaps.


message 20: by Jax (new)

Jax (jaxn) Roxana wrote: "Hey Jax, I noticed you have How to Be AntiRacist down in black font for the prompt "what is your favorite sport or physical activity" - I'm so curious, since I haven't read it, what your answer is ..."

How to Be an Antiracist I put under "What is your favorite sport or physical activity?" The author and I both wanted to do nothing but play basketball when we were in school. And shooting baskets is what I enjoy doing when nothing else is pulling my attention away (which is rare).

Songs of America: Patriotism, Protest, and the Music That Made a Nation was "What thing do you consider yourself to be very bad at?" for me because I have no musical talent in way, shape, or form. (If someone else really wanted this category I would be happy to apply it elsewhere.)

And that concludes the two books I had started prior to this challenge. Fortunately I was listening to the Songs book so I could put on headphones and knock out some yard work while wrapping up the book.


message 21: by Joi (new)

Joi | 43 comments I put Big Little Lies as pick an age. One of the characters turned 40 in the book and that's the age I chose. Please look at the spreadsheet and make sure I did it right.


message 22: by Roxana (new)

Roxana (luminate) | 775 comments Joi wrote: "I put Big Little Lies as pick an age. One of the characters turned 40 in the book and that's the age I chose. Please look at the spreadsheet and make sure I did it right."

Looks good, Joi! :)


message 23: by Roxana (new)

Roxana (luminate) | 775 comments Jax wrote: "Roxana wrote: "Hey Jax, I noticed you have How to Be AntiRacist down in black font for the prompt "what is your favorite sport or physical activity" - I'm so curious, since I haven't read it, what ..."

Ahh, that makes sense! And that Songs for America book looks really interesting, too.


message 24: by Martha (new)

Martha (marthag503) | 517 comments I put in The Happy Ever After Playlist in #28 if you were in a band what kind of music would play because one of the main characters is an indie music artist, the kind of music I like to listen to. Each chapter was named after an actual song/artist and I was able to download the playlist on Spotify.


message 25: by Rose (new)

Rose | 52 comments I put The Rest of Us Just Live here for the best part of a county fair because they do, in fact, go to a county fair to do exactly my favorite fair activity — go to a concert!


message 26: by Roxana (new)

Roxana (luminate) | 775 comments We’ve already finished nine prompts today, way to go team! 😁


message 27: by Joi (new)

Joi | 43 comments I put Royals for crazy activity I dream of doing someday. The main character walks up a volcano.


message 28: by Chelsey (new)

Chelsey Keathley-Jones (keathleyc) | 236 comments Fun, I would love to go to a volcano as well. Yes good job team! I'm jumping around between books so I'll probably finish a few at once later today!


message 29: by Chelsey (new)

Chelsey Keathley-Jones (keathleyc) | 236 comments Placed With the Fire on High in the favorite smell box. It is about an aspiring chef and I love the smell of food cooking.


message 30: by Samantha (new)

Samantha | 1584 comments Good morning! I don't have anything finished yet but got a 3rd of the way through my Audiobook and read about about 25% of my other book.

Great job on already getting so much reading and prompts done!


message 31: by Johanna (new)

Johanna Ellwood (jpellwood) | 327 comments Just read When the Emperor Was Divine which I found recommended on Modern Mrs. Darcy. It was a quick read and very poignant. Placed it under "What did you dream about last night" as the family often dreamed about their father and dreamed about going home.


message 32: by Kat (new)

Kat | 567 comments I just finished The Heatwave by Katerina Diamond which I have assigned to pet peeve. In the opening chapter the main character has social anxiety which is something I struggle with and her husband basically tells her to get over it and stop embarrassing him. I find it incredibly annoying when someone makes comments like that when they have no understanding of how the other person feels or what they are experiencing.


message 33: by Jax (new)

Jax (jaxn) I put The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian under "What do you do every day that you wish was automated?" because I wish I could automate my daily journal (diary) writing instead of staring at a blank page with writer's block.


message 34: by Chelsey (new)

Chelsey Keathley-Jones (keathleyc) | 236 comments Just want to say I'm loving reading everyone's reasons and getting to know you guys!


message 35: by Veronica (new)

Veronica (ronireads13) | 816 comments I just finished Tempted and going to place it for "Which body part wiyld you choose to get a tattoo on?" In the series, teens are marked as vampyres and gain tattoos on their body as the turn into adult vampyres(that is how it is spelled in the book). If I could get a tattoo, i would probably do something small on the back of my shoulder.


message 36: by Roxana (new)

Roxana (luminate) | 775 comments I just added Mirage, by Somaiya Daud, for “what animal would you choose to be”. The roc, and a similar mythological bird, makes a significant appearance in Mirage, and I’d definitely love to be one or shapeshift into one for a day or whatever, for the combination of flight plus the connection to my iranian heritage.

Ironically, the next book I started after finishing Mirage is also centered around bird imagery, but I think it’ll fit a few other things as well.

We’ve finished 16 prompts as of the end of 7/19, by the way, everyone! 🥳


message 37: by Samantha (new)

Samantha | 1584 comments Still nothing finished but updated the spreadsheet with my pages.


message 38: by Kat (new)

Kat | 567 comments I've just finished The Doll's House by M.J. Arlidge. It's a crime/thriller and I have assigned it to favourite TV show. I don't have a single favourite TV show but this is definitely the genre I watch the most. Lockdown has led to a lot of rewatching older episodes of crime dramas.


message 39: by Johanna (new)

Johanna Ellwood (jpellwood) | 327 comments I have started reading the Hornblower series with my kids (my husband grew up reading them). We finally finished Mr. Midshipman Hornblower and can definitely say that I would pick to have a sailor with me on a deserted island!


message 40: by Roxana (new)

Roxana (luminate) | 775 comments Johanna, I love that you used Horatio Hornblower for the desert island prompt, cause I’d penciled in Master and Commander as an option for that - great minds think alike (and want to sail away from desert islands) 😂


message 41: by Rose (new)

Rose | 52 comments I added Ninth House for #12, a goal I have been able to reach, as I’m a college grad and it is very much a college book.


message 42: by Tracy (last edited Jul 20, 2020 07:44PM) (new)

Tracy (tracyisreading) | 2573 comments Hi all, I read 5 books yesterday, a few too short to count, but I used Gender Queer for the question " What would you do in life if you knew you wouldn't fail", since it hadn't been used and I wanted to contribute something. The book is a graphic novel memoir about the author, so my answer is : Write a book :-)

Also, filled in "What out door activities do you like to do" using Meal, another graphic novel about insects, and my answer is I love to go on bug hunts with my younger daughter. Wish I could show you all the HUGE leopard slug we found and played with the other day :-)

I just need someone to grey out the rows because I'm basic.


message 43: by Jax (new)

Jax (jaxn) Added Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions for #17 What is the social event you hate the most? I have all social occasions where you are forced to have fun in a long, brightly lit, screaming at the top of your lungs manner. A lot of this book takes place in casinos which make people lose their minds.

Added Seattleness in answer to How do you like to spend a rainy day? Because 1) Seattle is known for rain and 2) It's a bit of a guidebook and there's plenty of things to do if you get caught in the rain there.

I've over halfway through Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life (started it before this competition) and am chipping away at it. Also plan on knocking a few more short books that have been lying around the house waiting to be read.


message 44: by Tracy (new)

Tracy (tracyisreading) | 2573 comments Rose wrote: "I added Ninth House for #12, a goal I have been able to reach, as I’m a college grad and it is very much a college book."

LOVED THIS BOOK!!!!! My favorite so far this year


message 45: by Tracy (last edited Jul 20, 2020 08:01PM) (new)

Tracy (tracyisreading) | 2573 comments Ok I found another question I can answer and addded it " What kind of vegetable would you be": using Guts: An Artichoke- that's a pretty cool vegetable and they are yummy. Also at this point I think my older daughter likes artichokes more than me, so maybe being one would be helpful. They were mentioned a lot in this book.

Still cant find a spot for They Called Us Enemy, except "what job would you hate" - public speaker - no thank you. The author is an activist and does a lot of public speaking. I couldn't do it, lol. Someone has a book planned there it looks like, so if one of the captains wants to wait or go ahead and use mine, I'll leave that call to you.

Not sure what I'm moving on to next but I have a stack so I'll check out the spreadsheet again tomorrow. I'm working on The Priory of the Orange Tree at night, but its huge , so I doubt I'll finish it before the read a thon is over.


message 46: by Roxana (new)

Roxana (luminate) | 775 comments Tracy wrote: "Ok I found another question I can answer and addded it " What kind of vegetable would you be": using Guts: An Artichoke- that's a pretty cool vegetable and they are yummy. Also at t..."

Let's go ahead and put They Called Us Enemy in for the "job you hate" prompt, and try to find another spot that Nickel Boys works for when Samantha finishes it - does that work for you, Samantha? We can always move other books around if we need to, too, now that we're starting to fill in more and more of the questions; I know for sure there are other still open prompts I could probably use my finished books for, if we need to reshuffle.


message 47: by Roxana (new)

Roxana (luminate) | 775 comments Tracy wrote: "Hi all, I read 5 books yesterday, a few too short to count, but I used Gender Queer for the question " What would you do in life if you knew you wouldn't fail", since it hadn't been..."

I gotchu! ;) I saw Meal on the spreadsheet before I read your comment, and thought "Oh, what you do outside, is that picnics?" I guess not quite, lol!


message 48: by Roxana (new)

Roxana (luminate) | 775 comments I just finished The Glass Magician and added it for "what did you want to be when you grew up" - the protagonist is a vaudeville performer, and while she's specifically a stage magician and I wanted to be an actress, that seems close enough to count.

I've got a pretty short read next, Men-of-War: Life in Nelson's Navy - I'll probably put it in for time travel or boat's name, unless someone else gets those covered first!


message 49: by Tracy (last edited Jul 20, 2020 10:37PM) (new)

Tracy (tracyisreading) | 2573 comments Roxana wrote: "Tracy wrote: "Hi all, I read 5 books yesterday, a few too short to count, but I used Gender Queer for the question " What would you do in life if you knew you wouldn't fail", since ..."

LOL... it was a graphic novel about eating insects... Ewww. We don't eat them, but we love to hunt them down and check them out :-)

Also we are fascinated by the mealworms we feed our bearded dragon, and there were a lot of those in the book. It even told you in the back how to breed them and then gave recipes. I was cringing. I think I may have read it for Book Riot? Or Pop Sugar. Prompt was " a book about a food you've never eaten" LMAO


message 50: by Lieke (new)

Lieke | 697 comments Hi team, haven't checked in before because I have been sick since friday. But I'm feeling better now and have started reading again.
Will check to see if I can put my current book somewhere.


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