2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion
ARCHIVE 2022
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World Mysteries Readathon - Team Piri Reis
YOUR PROMPTSWORLD MISSIONS
Singles
Read a book that has the word “strange” in its title
Read a book by a new-to-you author
Read a book that has won an Edgar Award
Read a book about books
Read a book featuring an amateur sleuth
Read a book with a gemstone on the cover or in the title
Read a book written in an epistolary style
Read a book featuring a character with a secret or hidden identity
Read a nonfiction book
Read a book where the main character is a history teacher
Read a book that takes place in France
Read a book that involves magic
Read a book with a love triangle
Read a book you were supposed to read in school but didn’t
Doubles
Read 2 books: 1 with a morally gray main character and 1 with a main character with strong morals
Read 2 books: 1 written by an author using a pen name, 1 written by the same author using their real name or a different pen name
Read 2 books featuring an ancient civilization
Read 2 books featuring aboriginal, native, and Indigenous peoples
Read 2 books: 1 set in a large city, 1 in a rural environment
Read 2 books that have a map featured in the front or back
Read 2 books: 1 set on or beside the sea, 1 set in on or beside freshwater (creek, river, lake)
Read 2 books that are set in a museum
Read 2 books with nonhuman characters
Read 2 banned books
Read 2 books with antonyms in the title (Ex. War and Peace, A Great and Terrible Beauty)
Triples
Read 3 books that have been translated from any language other than English
Read 3 books that have less than 1,000 ratings on Goodreads
Read 3 books featuring a character who has a physical disability or impairment
Read 3 books featuring a variety of sexualities
Read 3 books which are set on three different continents
Read 3 books set in different climates (desert, tundra, rainforest, etc.)
Read 3 books with 3 different colors on the cover or in the title.
Read 3 books set in a historical time period you want to learn more about
Read 3 books written by a French author and/or that was translated from French
Read 3 books you have added to your TBR within the last year
Read 3 books that take place in the summer
TEAM MISSIONS
Team Piri Reis (Turkey)
Read a book published in 1929 (the year the map was discovered)
Read a book where a big discovery is made
TEAM BOOKS
Team Cleopatra (Egypt)
*Death Comes as the End by Agatha Christie (277 pages)
*Nefertiti by Michelle Moran (463 pages)
Team Atlantis (Mediterranean Sea)
*Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne (394 pages)
*In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan (437 pages)
Team Holy Grail (Spain)
*Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan (288 pages)
*Death in the Afternoon by Ernest Hemingway (497 pages)
Team Loch Ness (Scotland)
*Bone Deep by Sandra Ireland (252 pages)
*To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf (209 pages)
Team D.B. Cooper (United States)
*Hostage by Clare Mackintosh (357 pages)
*Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (452 pages)
Team Piri Reis (Turkey)
*Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernières (554 pages)
*The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar (360 pages)
Team Chupacabra (Puerto Rico and Mexico)
*The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño (577 pages)
*Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo
Team Chōchin Obake (Japan)
*Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto (160 pages)
*Out by Natsuo Kirino (400 pages)
Hey Team! I'm excited to get started!Here is a link to books published in 1929 (for the team mission) if anyone wants to tackle one.
I know which books I plan to read and I am entering them into our spreadsheet. Even if you don't know for sure, please fill in some "possibles" so we can see what the plan is. If your book will work for more than one prompt, enter it in both, but it can only be used once.
The "doubles" world missions earn more points than the "singles" and the "triples" earn even more. So I would suggest trying to fill in triples first, then doubles, then singles.
Any questions or comments, please post them here! I don't guarantee I'll have the answer, since I've never done this before, but I can find answers!
This is very exciting. I'm in the middle of the ATY readathon at the moment so will have a better idea after Sunday of what books I will have to read for this one. I do enjoy classics so happy to find something for 1929.
Hi team! I'm excited we can start planning and getting ready for the big event!Realistically I will read 3/4 books in the 10 days, but of course I've got more books in mind, so I will just put my possibilities in the sheet for now at the different prompts they could work for.
One that I'm for sure reading is Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore which is one of the Team Books so that one's worth 150 points all by itself woohoo. (It could also work for a few other prompts if we end up having more than 2 Team Books already)
I have a question about the sheet and the points:In the spreadsheet there's a space to fill in our daily amount of pages read and hours listened.
For the points tracking the rules say that only pages of completed books count and that for audiobooks you use the pages of the most recent hardcover edition. So where do we fill in the page number of the completed books? And is the other daily tracking just for fun? (It is fun to see how much we read, so I'd understand that :) )
Hello everyone, I'm happy to be on the team!Atm I'm on a short holiday break over the weekend and have only limited online access, so I'll take a look at the sheet on Monday.
I think I could find books for all prompts except:
'Read a book you were supposed to read in school but didn't'
More on Monday, happy planning!
Hi team! Im so excited for this one.Will be starting to plan my books for the prompts soon. Happy to be here with you guys!
Marleen wrote: "I have a question about the sheet and the points:In the spreadsheet there's a space to fill in our daily amount of pages read and hours listened.
For the points tracking the rules say that only p..."
I'll jump in and answer your question here but will also be amending the FAQ section in the other threads! Initially, the plan was to use the most recent hardback edition for audiobook hours but we're going to switch back to the formula used last year for audiobook hours to keep everything fair:
15 hrs = 1,000 pages read
So the daily tracking for hours will be helpful to add up the completed books into 15 hour increments and total up points earned that way. Daily tracking for pages (like you suggested) will be more for end-of-the-readathon awards and to see how much reading everyone has done over the course of the 10 days!
I hope this makes sense and I apologize for not getting to your question sooner! :)
Hello again!I signed up with 4 books and I'll start with these:
The Map of Salt and Stars Team Book
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World
Kindheit
Champion of Fire & Ice
All of them are good for several prompts.
I'll start with the Team Book today (but will finish the last 100 pages only on Thursday, of course) and with Kindheit and Champion of Ice & Fire being skinny I'm confident I can do some more.
I will choose then on the go and react to the group's needs, if that is ok with you.
bailey wrote: "Marleen wrote: "I have a question about the sheet and the points:In the spreadsheet there's a space to fill in our daily amount of pages read and hours listened.
For the points tracking the rules..."
Thanks bailey!
KaraBeta wrote: "Hello again!I signed up with 4 books and I'll start with these:
The Map of Salt and Stars Team Book
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World
[book:Kindheit|563..."
Awesome! Between you and me we will have the two Team Books covered then :)
Carri Carey, I had a peek at some of the other teams and most of them have changed the sheet a bit to do one book per column (and a counter at the beginning to see how many books are available for each prompt). We did the same thing in the last readathon and it might be helpful? Up to you as our fearless leader if you want to switch to that, but I’d be happy to help with switching it 🤗Also, we seem to have a mystery extra team member Vani who added books to the sheet too? Did we get a new member? (If so, welcome!)
Marleen wrote: "Carri Carey, I had a peek at some of the other teams and most of them have changed the sheet a bit to do one book per column (and a counter at the beginning to see how many books are available for ..."Hello again! Popping in to say that Vani is not a member of Team Piri Reis (or any team currently). I sent a message to them and hope to hear back if they want to join us for the readathon but at this point in time, please disregard their additions to your planning spreadsheet. So sorry for the confusion!
@ChristeneI just saw that you filled in The Witch's Heart.
I read it last year and I so so so loved it, hope it'll be a good read for you, too!
Marleen wrote: "Carri Carey, I had a peek at some of the other teams and most of them have changed the sheet a bit to do one book per column (and a counter at the beginning to see how many books are available for ..."Thank you Marleen! Please feel free to make any changes to the spreadsheet, however you think will be most useful! This is my first time doing the readathon, so I welcome the suggestions!
I had some time and made some changes to the spreadsheet. Thanks everyone!
Awesome! I just locked some of the columns and rows so it’s a bit easier to scroll and still see where you are.
Hi everyone! So sorry I am late to the party - I was MIA from the interwebs as life got crazy. But I am pumped to see which books to read in order to gain points.
Pouneh wrote: "Hi everyone! So sorry I am late to the party - I was MIA from the interwebs as life got crazy. But I am pumped to see which books to read in order to gain points."Welcome aboard!
Kat wrote: "This is very exciting. I'm in the middle of the ATY readathon at the moment so will have a better idea after Sunday of what books I will have to read for this one. I do enjoy classics so happy to find something for 1929."Hi Kat! Are you still able to read something from 1929? I had added a potential 1929 read to my books but honestly I’d rather focus on the other books on my list because the 1929 book doesn’t really interest me that much 😅
Marleen wrote: "Kat wrote: "This is very exciting. I'm in the middle of the ATY readathon at the moment so will have a better idea after Sunday of what books I will have to read for this one. I do enjoy classics s..."I am interested in reading The Luzhin Defense by Vladimir Nabokov which was published in 1929, anyway, so I can read during the readathon :)
I drop THEY by Kay Dick as it is less than 100 pages. ^^'
Does discovering a murderer count for a book with a discovery? If not I think I'll postpone reading Meddling and Murder by Ovidia Yu.
Pouneh wrote: "Marleen wrote: "Kat wrote: "This is very exciting. I'm in the middle of the ATY readathon at the moment so will have a better idea after Sunday of what books I will have to read for this one. I do ..."Awesome, then I’ll leave my 1929 book out!
Pouneh wrote: "Does discovering a murderer count for a book with a discovery? If not I think I'll postpone reading Meddling and Murder by Ovidia Yu."Sounds like a discovery to me!
So, Vani has added to our spreadsheet again. Does anyone know who that is or where it came from?
It’s a mystery! Vani, if you’re reading this, please contact bailey who has messaged you to figure out if you’re joining in and on what team :)
After seeing some 1929 options on the spreadsheet I had planned for other things. If we still need one later in the week I can find something.
Just a quick heads-up about the Tracking tab.This tab tracks three types of info:
(1) Daily number of pages read
(2) Daily hours you spend listening to audiobooks
(3) Prompts filled by finished books.
(The Planning tab is where you track unfinished books).
This is a team readathon so the issue of which book fills which prompts is a team discussion, lead by your fearless leader Carri.
😊
I have a question about the tracking form: in the instruction it is stated that I shall type "yes" in column J if I've finished the book. So, I've finished Take A Hint, Dani Brown which counts towards 3 books featuring various sexualities. However, the formula in cell K59 multiplies the counta of cell J59 with 150, so even if two more books are added the total amount in cell K59 will remain 150 as counta() counts cells in a range that aren't empty -> in this case once.
I think the introduction of some logical statement would circumvent this issue. For example, the formula in cell J59 could be IF(COUNTA(C59:I59)<=3,COUNTA(C59:I59),3) and cell K59=J59*150. You'd account for more than 3 titles and would get accurate points. You could also wrap the formula in K59 in a logic-function to only display the total points once 3 titles are entered.
Pouneh wrote: "I have a question about the tracking form: in the instruction it is stated that I shall type "yes" in column J if I've finished the book. So, I've finished Take A Hint, Dani Brown which counts to..."
Hi Pouneh! Awesome that you already finished a book! For the triple prompts we only get the 150 points once 3 books are read. So once the 3rd book is read we can put ‘yes’ in the column to mark the prompt complete and collect 150 points :)
Pouneh wrote: "I have a question about the tracking form: in the instruction it is stated that I shall type "yes" in column J if I've finished the book. So, I've finished Take A Hint, Dani Brown which counts to..."
Awesome job, Pouneh!
Marleen is correct! So if that had been a single book prompt, the points would be added. But for the triple, we need to read all three first.
Also, since there is a formula there, I think it will fill in automatically.
Bottom line for everyone, the spreadsheet is just to help us track things. Don't get too worried about how we use it "correctly". Just use what is helpful to you and don't use what you don't want. I'll be double checking the points to make sure it's being added up right and that's all that really matters.
Oh ok, Thanks you guys. I misunderstood the pointssystem ^^'Well then, off to my next read 😁
One thing that will help me a lot is if you can put somewhere how many pages are in the books you read. It has a place to track hours listened for audiobooks, but that doesn't translate to page numbers. We only get points for pages read after the book is complete, so I think we can just add those up each time we complete a book. Does that make sense?For audiobooks, use the number of pages in the hardcover edition of that book. Or whatever the most common edition is. If it's audio-only, let me know and we'll try to figure it out.
Pouneh wrote: "Oh ok, Thanks you guys. I misunderstood the pointssystem ^^'Well then, off to my next read 😁"
I misunderstood also! I thought we would get more points by doing doubles and triples, but it's basically still 50 points per book. Oh well!
Carri Carey wrote: "One thing that will help me a lot is if you can put somewhere how many pages are in the books you read. It has a place to track hours listened for audiobooks, but that doesn't translate to page num..."According to the post by Bailey: 15h of audiobook account for 1,000 pages: so the formula to translate the hours to pages would be:
(hours listened to * 1,000) / 15
So for 10h it would be 667 pages which is far more than what goodreads listed for Take a Hint, Dani Brown 😅
Pouneh wrote: "According to the post by Bailey: 15h of audiobook account for 1,000 pages: so the formula to translate the hours to pages would be."Sweet!
If you want to, you can use the formula e.g. in my column: DIVIDE((SUM(G15:G24)*1000),15) This would automatically transform the inserted hours to pages so summing them up shouldn't be a problem.
Awesome, thanks!Pouneh, I am currently listening to Every Heart a Doorway which has multiple sexualities. Are you planning to read all 3 for that prompt? If so, I'll use it for something else.
Carri Carey wrote: "Awesome, thanks!Pouneh, I am currently listening to Every Heart a Doorway which has multiple sexualities. Are you planning to read all 3 for that prompt? If so, I'll use it for so..."
Go ahead and use the sexualities prompt - I can fit my books in other prompts ☺️
My current read The Path of Thorns turns out to have a pretty rural setting! We have some x’s for the rural/urban prompt, are any of those rural? If not, I’ll slide mine in there 🤗 (Still reading, so might find more hidden prompts in it)
Marleen wrote: "My current read The Path of Thorns turns out to have a pretty rural setting! We have some x’s for the rural/urban prompt, are any of those rural? If not, I’ll slide mine in there 🤗 ..."I have Meddling and Murder marked for that prompt but it is set in Singapore - so not rural 😉
Pouneh wrote: "Marleen wrote: "My current read The Path of Thorns turns out to have a pretty rural setting! We have some x’s for the rural/urban prompt, are any of those rural? If not, I’ll slide ..."Haha Singapore sounds like the exact opposite of rural indeed 😆
Christene Paula wrote: "Finished my first book too In the Shadow of a Wish"Awesome! Did you like it?
I finished Carry On last night and have put it down for love triangle as that had the fewest options.
Hey team! I finished my first book tonight: The Path of Thorns which I’ve put in for the rural setting, which means that together with Kat’s book with the large city setting we have now completed that double!Also I’d like to propose something for the planning tab:
Something we did in my team in the previous readathon, was once you’ve finished a book, in the planning tab fill in all the prompts it could work for with a colour, but leave only the x for the prompt you’re counting it for, and make the other cells empty. That way, the column that adds up the options only shows the amount of book options we still have for the remaining prompts, but also the information that a prompt could work is still available if we need to move things around. I’ve used my column for The Path of Thorns to show what I mean.
Let me know what you think, captain Carri and the rest?
On to my next book :)
Oh and question: Brandon, I see you filled in your planned 4 books all into the Tracking tab already. Have you read 4 books already (if so wow!) or did you accidentally put them in the tracking tab too soon?
That’s a great idea Marleen! I finished a short audiobook yesterday and my second one today!I don’t usually read as much on the weekends, but this is really pushing me to read! 😁
2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Killman Creek (other topics)Phantom Pains (other topics)
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore (other topics)
Phantom Pains (other topics)
Phantom Pains (other topics)
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TEAM: Piri Reis
This thread is for members of Team Piri Reis to use however you wish in relation to the readathon. Your teammates are: Carri Carey, Christene, Kat, Marleen, Pouneh, KaraBeta, and Brandon.
Here https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/... is the link to your team’s spreadsheet, where you’ll be tracking your progress as you go.
If you have any questions about the readathon, how to interpret the prompts, how to use the spreadsheet, and so on, ask your Captain or Assistant first. If they don’t know, they can post the question(s) on the Readathon Central thread.
Happy reading! Let’s have a blast during this 10-day readathon!
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In 1513, Turkish admiral Piri Reis designed the map of the world which included Portugal, Spain, West Africa, Central and South Atlantic, the Caribbean, the eastern half of South America, and a part of Antarctica. It is believed that there were also North America and the rest of the eastern half of the world in the pieces of the map that were probably destroyed over the years. The Piri Reis map was accidentally discovered in 1929 in a Turkish museum, and since then, no logical explanation for its illustrations has been found. It was long believed that this map was incredibly accurate in detail, so researchers were puzzled by a question: how could an admiral of the 16th century make a map of the entire Earth without the possibility of aerial observation? How is it possible to separate the continents and coasts in their correct distances without the knowledge of the method of Azimuthal projection or spherical trigonometry required for mapping? And how did he design the Antarctic that had not been officially discovered at that time? However, a later analysis showed that the map is not as accurate as it seemed.