2025 Reading Challenge discussion
ARCHIVE 2022
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World Mysteries Readathon - Team Chupacabra
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 Chupacabra (Puerto Rico and Mexico)
Read a book set in Latin America
Read a book that involves mythical creatures
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)
Hello fellow Chupacapra teammates!I'm so excited about this upcoming readathon and hope you are too.
I've gone ahead and added my in-progress books to the spreadsheet's planning tab. :D
Team Leader Ushashi, I hope you don't mind but I did a bit of editing to the spreadsheet to make our book input and tracking a little easier.
I also added a "Completed tab," where we can move the columns of our completed books. They will be easier to view than if we moved them to the far right of the Planning tab. :D
Hello Everyone, I just added my books to the Planning stage as well, So excited for this readathon
I just did a minor tweak, I froze the first column to be able to see the prompts when scrolling to the right
Canadian Dragon wrote: "I just did a minor tweak, I froze the first column to be able to see the prompts"Nice!
And pleased to meet you, Canadian Dragon!
Lorraine is also Canadian, or is it just your dragon that's Canadian?
Where are my manners? My name is oshizu and I'm one of this group's challenge moderators.I've pledged 8-10 books for this readathon and have over a dozen possible books that I could read, depending on which prompts we've already filled as a team.
NOTE: I've reformatted this post to help me keep track of my reading during this readathon.
Currently Reading
Done
Completed
Daily Tracking (view spoiler)
My planning post
oshizu wrote: "Canadian Dragon wrote: "I just did a minor tweak, I froze the first column to be able to see the prompts"Nice!
And pleased to meet you, Canadian Dragon!
Lorraine is also Canadian, or is it just yo..."
lol Yes, I am Canadian
Hey team, I am Ushashi. I am from India. I had a lot of fun in the 25k readathon and am really looking forward to this. I have pledged 4 books. I will enter my planned books in a day. I also need to check if the team books are available to me. If I can find them, I'll be open to reading one or two.
@oshizu feel free to make any modifications in the spreadsheet. I have complete faith in you.@Canadian Dragon, that's one very helpful change.
@Leslie, don't worry, we have your back. Ask us whatever questions you might have.
Bonjour everyone! Like Oshizu said I am Canadian and from Quebec. So unless a book is in French every thing else is a translation for me 😁 like Leslie I am new to this and will need help understanding what I need to do. I am also a bit anxious playing on the spreadsheet but will do my best.
Leslie wrote: "I was looking in my library at home to see what I have that would fit any prompts and so far I have a book called “ The Call of Cthulhu” which is about a mythical creature so that is the first book..."Is that a book by Lovecraft?
Hello everyone, my name is Emily. This is my first time participating in a readathon or anything like it so I have to be honest, I do feel a little overwhelmed haha. I pledged to read 3-4 books and I put the one that I plan on reading first into the spreadsheet planning tab. I don't want to plan farther ahead than that since I don't know how long it will take me to get through a book and who will have completed what missions by then, so I plan on adding the next book that I'm going to read to the planning tab when I get close to finishing the one that I'm working on.
Ushashi wrote: "@oshizu feel free to make any modifications in the spreadsheet. I have complete faith in you."Haha, thank you.
You know I only have the team's best interests in mind. <3
Also, I added the team's names on the Tracking tab.
I believe that answers Leslie's questions about our "member #s. :D
Does anyone else here have Google Sheet skills?
Canadian Dragon, you do, right?
As you all know, Ushashi is our fearless leader.However, I helped organize last year's readathon so I can help with fielding questions when she's not around.
Lorraine, in response to your questions:
1. La Maison de Claudine: I'm reading this for the Paris monthly challenge. You can see that I've checked off multiple prompts. When I finish this book, I will apply it whichever prompts has the least "Possible Fits." It's pretty hard to predict which book will fill which prompt.
2. The prompts in the "doubles" and "triples" category require teamwork to complete. One person doesn't have to complete the entire prompt.
3. Les Liaisons Dangereuses: The epistolary prompt is a great choice since it's still open. It means the rest of your team can forget about that prompt. :D
4. Don't fear putting a check next to a prompt that someone else is also reading for. Ushashi might decide to juggle books between different prompts later on. We never know.
5. No, a French-Canadian author's book doesn't work for the French author prompt. This prompt is related to our monthly theme of Paris. However, you could read an English translation of a French-language novel by a French-Canadian author, I suppose.
6. I just looked at your spreadsheet entries.
*Please create a separate column for each book. I split your column with 3 book titles in 3 columns. (You'll need to check off the Possible Fits again.)
*Be sure to check off as many applicable prompts.
*Rather than typing "Team Books," please add a title so your teammates won't choose the same book. If I were you, I wouldn't add it to the spreadsheet at all until you're sure which book.
Hope that answers all your questions.
oshizu wrote: "As you all know, Ushashi is our fearless leader.However, I helped organize last year's readathon so I can help with fielding questions when she's not around.
Lorraine, in response to your questio..."
Thanks Oshizu. That does answers my questions. I will make the corrections.
Thanks oshizu for taking care of the questions. Sorry I'm not going to be around much till Monday. I'm on a short trip home after a long time. But come Monday, you all will find me online almost all the time. As for the questions, oshizu answered them all. I will like to iterate the 4th point on the last comment. It's important to create separate entries for each book and check off as many applicable prompts as possible. The more prompts a books fits, the easier it becomes to complete all the tasks. But if your books fit only one prompt that's also okay at this stage. Once we start the readathon and finish reading books, we'll start assigning books to tasks. At that stage, if your books fit only one prompt that's already been assigned to, drop a message in this thread first.
Sorry if it sounds a bit complicated, but it will get simple once we get going.
I've changed one of my first three books to The Murmur of Bees, which fits the Team Mission prompt "set in Latin America. I've edited my spreadsheet entries accordingly.I've also inserted a third book (Miracle Creek) that was an Edgar award finalist.
I have put in two Team Books, we get extra points for these (Yeah). Oh I see we only need two for points hmmm. Let me know if we need Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Hi everyone, I'm Lilac. I've pledged 1-3 books and I'm really looking forward to this. I won't be around much on days 1-3 of the readathon but I should hopefully get some reading in during that time anyway.I've got a broad pledge range because it depends a lot on the book length. If we really need the first prompt I can finish Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell but I still have 800 pages to go!
If anyone's looking for a book for the "Strange" prompt, Strange Weather in Tokyo (176pp) and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Tales of Terror (224pp) are both short. I've already read them both and loved the first book.
Ushashi, when you have a moment, would you please post these questions in the Readathon Central thread:Read 3 books which are set on three different continents
Does this mean 3 books, each set on a different continent? Or should each book be set on 3 different continents?
Read 3 books with 3 different colors on the cover or in the title.
Similarly, does this 3 books, each of a different color cover or title text? Or should each book have 3 colors in its cover and/or title text?
Sorry for spamming this thread, but....Hello to you whom I've never socialized with on Goodreads before.
Leslie, Emily, and Lilac!
oshizu wrote: "Ushashi, when you have a moment, would you please post these questions in the Readathon Central thread:Read 3 books which are set on three different continents
Does this mean 3 books, each set on..."
Posted.
We got the answers:Good questions! I meant those prompts to mean each book is set on one different continent (ex. Book 1 in Africa, book 2 in South America, book 3 in Australia). It’s the same premise for the color prompt (1 book with purple cover, 1 book with blue cover, and for a title example - Anne of Green Gables).
Hello Unfortunately the English in The savages detectives is a bit too much for me. But if that help the team I am ready to read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mister Hyde. The book is on my TBR. Let me know.
No worries, Lorraine. I also found The Savage Detectives in my Storytel app. So I can take it up.The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde would be perfect for the first prompt (not to mention it's a pretty amazing book). So if you read it that will be great.
Perfect. I will read it then and will add it to the spreadsheet.
About The Savage Detectives, I've owned that book on Kindle for several months now, but it's too long to read for a team readathon, imho.We only get the bonus points for two Team Books, so spending several days to read a Team Book that won't qualify for the extra points is not that beneficial. (And I've already started reading a book for our "Set in Latin America" team mission.
If we're concerned about points (though joining a team readathon simply for the camaraderie is fine, too), we're better off working as a team to complete unique prompts with books that aren't chunksters. Just my two cents.
Yes you are right oshizu. Picking up one long book to fill one prompt is not the best strategy. In any case, we have 2 smaller books that fits the team books criteria. I will keep The Savage Detectives at hand for now, in case we need it. I kinda wanted to find the other Chupacabra team book but sadly it's not available on my apps.
UshashiI know it would feel great to read both of our Team Books, but Savage Detectives is long and complex, while Pedro Paramo is hard to get a hold of (and only available in print).
Or, you could start reading Savage now, saving the last 100-120 pages for June 3rd.
Well, if you're still interested in The Savage Detectives in August, maybe we could do a Buddy Read? :D
Hey team!Would anyone like to read a J.K. Rowling book to help me with the prompt below?
*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
For Book 1 (pseudonym): Robert Galbraith, The Cuckoo's Calling (561pp)
For Book 2 (real name): J.K. Rowling, any book (Harry Potter?)
I'll start reading The Cuckoo's Calling all but 150pp before June 3.
But I'm not a Harry Potter fan, so if someone else could read a JK Rowlings book, that would be terrific! Let me know.
Worst-case scenario: I'll bite the bullet and read a Harry Potter book. :(
Let me know!
Accordingly, I've replaced my book for the "Set in Latin America" team mission prompt with a much shorter book. Yay!
Lilac wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm Lilac. I've pledged 1-3 books and I'm really looking forward to this. I won't be around much on days 1-3 of the readathon but I should hopefully get some reading in during that tim..."Lilac
Lorraine will be taking care of the Strange prompt.
It's not a great idea to read chunksters for a team readathon, since we're trying to complete as many prompts as possible. :D
Lorraine
I added your Dr. Jekyll book to the spreadsheet. Trying to get a sense of which prompts aren't covered yet.
oshizu wrote: "Lilac wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm Lilac. I've pledged 1-3 books and I'm really looking forward to this. I won't be around much on days 1-3 of the readathon but I should hopefully get some reading in d..."Thanks Oshizu.
oshizu wrote: "Hey team!Would anyone like to read a J.K. Rowling book to help me with the prompt below?
*Read 2 books: 1 written by an author using a pen name, 1 written by the same author using their real name ..."
Oshizu, what about if I read that one? https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
Lorraine wrote: "Oshizu, what about if I read that one? https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...."Perfect choice! Thank you for saving me from Harry Potter, haha.
Also, since your first language is French, I've removed my Maison de Claudine for the "set in France/French author" (I can always read that book for the Paris challenge after the readathon.)
We're still missing "books set in summer, so I'll read a book for that prompt instead.
I am looking at the banned books and thinking I could do 2 or at least 1 if anybody wants to join on that one. I used that list.
https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/f...
Lorraine,How great that you're looking at all the yet-untouched prompts.
I've added a "book about a history teacher" to my TBRs, so I'm currently substantially "overbooked."
Haha, I have to stop planning and continue reading! :D
oshizu wrote: "UshashiI know it would feel great to read both of our Team Books, but Savage Detectives is long and complex, while Pedro Paramo is hard to get a hold of (and only available in print).
Or, you coul..."
I'll gladly take you up on the buddy read offer, oshizu. I've always enjoyed our other buddy reads.
Lorraine wrote: "I am looking at the banned books and thinking I could do 2 or at least 1 if anybody wants to join on that one. I used that list.
https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/f......"
What a list! I never imagined some of these books might get banned somewhere. I can read Of Mice and Men off this list. It's been on my tbr for long and it's a short book. Which one were you planning to read?
Ushashi wrote: "Lorraine wrote: "I am looking at the banned books and thinking I could do 2 or at least 1 if anybody wants to join on that one. I used that list.
https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/f......"
Yes it is surprising to see some titles there. And to know that even in 2022 some US States want to banned some of these books again…
I will read The catcher in the rye by JD Salinger. I also have the Lord of the flies on my list so if you can not make it to Mice and Men, I can jump in.
I will need to replace Cloud Atlas (Cartographie des nuages) by something else. I started the book hoping to have 100 pages left on June 3, but I can’t get into this story. So I’ll finish it later.
Lorraine wrote: "I will need to replace Cloud Atlas (Cartographie des nuages) by something else. I started the book hoping to have 100 pages left on June 3, but I can’t get into this story. So I’ll finish it later."Sure, no issues. Life's too short and TBR's too long to read books you are not enjoying.
I found a book that would fit more then just the strange prompt! Title is L’étrange été de Tom Harvey. Exact translation would be The strange summer of Tom Harvey. So it would fit at least these 3 categories: strange in the title, happens in summer and translated from another language then English as this book was written in Spanish ? What do you think? Or I can do both Dr Jekyll and this one so Oshizu can skip the summer prompt. .
Lorraine wrote: "I found a book that would fit more then just the strange prompt! Title is L’étrange été de Tom Harvey. Exact translation would be The strange summer of Tom Harvey. So it would fit at least these 3 ..."We will anyway need 3 books in the summer prompt to get the points. So you can easily read both.
@oshizu, can you please check the planning sheet once for the prompts you filled. I clearly remember some of your books fitting certain prompts but somehow I can't see the 'x's anymore. Even weirder is that the possible fits column is still counting them. E.g. the doubles prompt for 1 book in city and 1 in rural, the possible fit shows 2 but I only see my book. I think one of your books fits the rural criteria, but it's gone.
Ushashi wrote: "Lorraine wrote: "I found a book that would fit more then just the strange prompt! Title is L’étrange été de Tom Harvey. Exact translation would be The strange summer of Tom Harvey. So it would fit ..."Perfect. Will do. And will add to the spreadsheet later.
I have made some modifications to the planning sheet. These are tentative assignments of books to prompts. So the book names in bold are assigned to some prompt (the corresponding prompt cell for the book in colored blue). The prompts for which we have the necessary number of books assigned are also colored blue.None of it is final. This is just to get an idea.
Ushashi wrote: "@oshizu, can you please check the planning sheet once for the prompts you filled. I clearly remember some of your books fitting certain prompts but somehow I can't see the 'x's anymore. Even weirde..."Thanks for pointing that out. Might just be an issue with the Possible Fits column. I'll fix it right now.
Lorraine wrote: "I found a book that would fit more then just the strange prompt! Title is L’étrange été de Tom Harvey. Exact translation would be The strange summer of Tom Harvey. So it would fit at least these 3 ..."I'm actually overcommitted for this readathon because I'm trying to cover prompts with zero or not enough fits. I signed up for 9 books but currently have 13 books on the spreadsheet, haha. Some are very short, though, so I should probably be fine.
Any time you find a book that covers multiple "neglected" prompts, that book's a keeper. Don't worry about overlap with my books. If someone else steps in with a summer book, though, I'll gladly take mine off the list because I added a book for the "history teacher" prompt.
Ushashi wrote: "@oshizu, can you please check the planning sheet once for the prompts you filled. I clearly remember some of your books fitting certain prompts but somehow I can't see the 'x's anymore. Even weirder is that the possible fits column is still counting them.E.g. the doubles prompt for 1 book in city and 1 in rural, the possible fit shows 2 but I only see my book. I think one of your books fits the rural criteria, but it's gone."
Ushashi
The mystery is solved. I'd initially planned to read a book set in Chicago, but I've replaced that book with:
*A book that fits the pseudonym prompt;
*A book featuring a history teacher; and
*A third book about gender diversity
I'm trying to aim at the more difficult prompts (Edgar, history teacher, translations, civilizations, eras, gender, etc). The "set in the city" prompt is an easy one, so I'm sure someone else will add a book for that prompt later. imho, it makes the most sense to try filling the harder or exclusive prompts first, as you have already started doing.
I do have two books that fill the rural prompt, but I'd chosen them to fill two other prompts: (1) map in the front for Hermit of Eyton Forest, and (2) translated from Japanese for Kamusari: Tales Told at Night.
Please note that not everyone has posted all their books yet.
That said, if I see that some of my books has a "blue prompt cell," does that mean that book is committed to the prompt in question? I like all the choices you've made for my books, except that I think Scales of Gold would be put to better use for the "ancient civilization" prompt than "different eras" since the later prompt will be easier to fill. There's no rush to finish that "eras" prompt, anyway; one of the other books is the chunkster Dragonfly in Amber.
2025 Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Inspector Chen and Me: A Collection of Inspector Chen Stories (other topics)The Quarter Storm (other topics)
Every Summer After (other topics)
Every Summer After (other topics)
A Wrinkle in Time (other topics)
More...
2022 World Mysteries Readathon
This thread is for members of Team Chupacabra to use however you wish in relation to the readathon. Your teammates are: Ushashi, oshizu, Leslie, Emily Samantha, Lorraine, Canadian Dragon, and Lilac.
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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Chupacabra, in Latin American popular legend, a monstrous creature that attacks animals and consumes their blood. The name is derived from the Spanish words chupar (“to suck”) and cabra(“goat”) and can be translated as “goat-sucker.” As a fearsome but probably nonexistent creature, the chupacabra has been characterized as the southern equivalent of the Sasquatch.