UNO 2023 Pre Challenge Chat

[Lisa - (Aussie Girl)]

Yay.. That's starting the New Year with a bang. Signed up.

Thanks Uno Pixie.. 😍

[Robin (Saturndoo)]

Thanks Uno Pixie. I'm all signed up as well : )

[Alya]

Hi everyone! i'm not sure if we can ask this, so please let me know and I will delete this comment :)
I have really enjoyed the uno game for the past two years and I was wondering if there are any similar team-based challenges here on GoodReads? I also know the Towers game, but is there anything else besides that?:)

[Emelie]

Hey, question - I'm trying to sign up, and I want to give my monthly books as 1, but the form won't allow it, it says "Must be a whole number and not a range". I just put the '1' in the field. Do you need to be able to read more than 1 book per month to participate?

[Melindam]

Emelie, please check if you can sign up with 2, we can change the number afterwards.

[Emelie]

Melindam wrote: "Emelie, please check if you can sign up with 2, we can change the number afterwards."

It worked, and all signed up! I added it to the additional comments. Thanks for helping!

[JoJo_theDodo]

All signed up, looking forward to the challenge! : )

[Nanci]

Jenny wrote: "Oh. Too bad about your library not having that book. I think I have bought 10 copies or so over the years. I keep lending it out and not getting it back. His latest (Vigorito is a terribly lazy wri..."

We can submit a request for our library to purchase certain books, which I did, but no guarantee. They don't have any of his books. I may break down and buy it and then pass it on like you. Nice to find out about authors new to me! Thanks!

[Tammie]

HAPPY New Year everyone!! Ready for some UNO!

[Melindam]

You're good, Emelie. Changed the bpm to 1. :)

[Elinor]

Hiya,

Happy New Year!

This is my 3rd UNO, but the first time I sign up in time! (Quite chuffed about that.)

Can’t wait to start the challenge. Looking forward to playing with people I’ve already played with and
/or to discovering new people.

Cheers,
Elinor

[Kirsten]

Hi! I'm Kirsten!

I got addicted to challenges with last year's Scavenger Hunt and have been playing 2-4 at once ever since. This is my first time with Uno, so I'll sit back and do what my more experienced teammates do.

I read MM and literary fiction. It's hard to pick a "best of" for either of these, but I think I'd choose The Heart Rate of a Mouse and Damage Control; for lit fic, I have to go with Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and A Beautiful Crime.

This year, I'm looking forward to The Trackers, The New Life, Diamond Ring, and Ten Things That Never Happened.

[Gustaf]

Kirsten wrote: "Hi! I'm Kirsten!

I got addicted to challenges with last year's Scavenger Hunt and have been playing 2-4 at once ever since. This is my first time with Uno, so I'll sit back and do what my more exp..."

Yay! I'm happy to see you here Kirsten :D

[Kirsten]

Gustaf wrote: "Kirsten wrote: "Hi! I'm Kirsten!

I got addicted to challenges with last year's Scavenger Hunt and have been playing 2-4 at once ever since. This is my first time with Uno, so I'll sit back and do ..."

Right back at you, friend!

[Frida]

Hi guys! this is my third Uno and im super excited.
I LOVE team challenges (even though i cant really find any besides tower teams and wheel - all the others seem to be individual). uno is by far my favorite though
excited to see who my team will be this year! looking forward to meeting new people and maybe reconnecting with some old ones
im hoping to be put on a chatty team - i love obsessively going onto the team thread and chatting with people at any hour of the day :)
also really excited to see what the theme will be this year! you mods always come up with great ideas

[Emelie]

Melindam wrote: "You're good, Emelie. Changed the bpm to 1. :)"

Thank you!

[Emelie]

Name: Emelie
Team Challenge experience: Fairly experienced. I've done Tower Teams for a few years and love them. This will be my second UNO, I loved last year and looking forward to it again! I only participate in the team challenges, and thus far I've only found TT and UNO that I enjoy and can work with.

Favourite genres - Pretty much anything as long as I like them. Fantasy, sci-fi, literary, historical, and mystery are usually my first choices but I dig into anything, really. Romance is the genre I have the hardest time with, but I try anything that seems interesting.
Book you can't wait to read in 2023: I don't have any particular book I'm looking forward to. I wing it on what I'm going to read and go by what I feel like for the moment, I can't plan ahead.

[Jhmingos]

Alya wrote: "Hi everyone! i'm not sure if we can ask this, so please let me know and I will delete this comment :)
I have really enjoyed the uno game for the past two years and I was wondering if there are any ..."

Wheel just wrapped up but that's a good team challenge too. I usually don't miss Uno, Towers, and Wheels. Uno is still my favorite reading challenge though.

[Jean]

Hi all, I’m Jean from North Carolina. This will be my first time playing Uno but I’m looking forward to a new challenge. I recognize some names here from other challenges I’ve done.

I read 20 or so books a month, some months more if I really get into a challenge, some months, okay not less. I read across a lot of genres and can, if pushed, read most anything but my favorites are romantic suspense, suspense and thrillers, action and adventure, chick lit, historical fiction, some paranormal. I don’t read much mafia crime type or fantasy fairy, magical type.

I’m on Goodreads everyday even if I don’t comment. I’m always looking for that next really good book to read!

[Alex]

Hello everyone! Looking forward to this challenge.

Name: Alex
📕 Team Challenge experience: Used to take part in a lot of challenges a few years ago. Not so much recently. I want 2023 to be the year when I get back into them.
📕 Have you joined UNO before? No! This is going to be my first time.
📕 Favourite genres: fantasy, SF, horror, autobiography/memoirs, classics.
I am very much NOT into romance or poetry.
📕 Book you can't wait to read in 2023: Spare is my no 1 most anticipated release. Other than that, any new 2023 releases. I do have a huge TBR from past months/years that is waiting to be read through.

[Felicity]

Hi all! Exited to start the new year with planning for UNO again. I am feeling brave and signed up to be a Captain or Co-Captain (which I have never done before.)
📕 Name Felicity
📕 Team Challenge experience UNO. I tried an individual challenge a couple years ago but didn't find it as fun as UNO.
📕 Have you joined UNO before? This is my third year.
📕 Favourite genres: Thriller, mystery/suspense, literary fiction, chick- lit, science fiction and speculative fiction, some historic fiction
📕 Book you can't wait to read in 2023 Remarkably Bright Creatures, some books that I own that I haven't read, new books from Katherine Center and Emily Henry and other favorite authors.

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[Elisabeth]

Hi fellow reading addicts
For some reason I always forget to sign up in December--no idea why because I look forward to UNO so much. Maybe December shoots by and I miss it. This will be my fifth UNO year and those years went by in a flash too! Each year I've cautiously upped my reading number and each year I surpass it.

I really enjoyed Marcus Zusak's Bridge of Clay so I'm looking forward to reading The Book Thief (green cover hehehe).

My fave genres are crime, mystery, thrillers, autobiography, historical, romantic suspense, romance, the occasional sci fi. I'll give pretty much anything a go really.

One of the things I enjoy about UNO is I often pull a book off one of our bookshelves (often classics I nabbed after my grandfather died and we shared out his vast library) that has been sitting there for decades, based on the author name, cover art etc, In other words it makes me read more widely.

[Karen ⊰✿, Avaricious Reader]

I agree Elisabeth - it is a great way to read books that you would otherwise leave on the shelf (or not discover at all!). It is what I have always enjoyed about reading challenges 🙌🥳

[Jhmingos]

Yes, during Uno, I also like to try out genres I normally don't read and discover new favorites. It also helps me figure out my taste in books. Sci-fi and fantasy are not my favorite genres but if there's a mystery element in the plot, then I might like it.

[Jessica]

Any hint for the theme this year :)?

[Karen ⊰✿, Avaricious Reader]

Hmmm
🤔
Hints…. not sure I can give any
It’s definitely an unusual theme

[Elisabeth]

Jhmingos wrote: "Yes, during Uno, I also like to try out genres I normally don't read and discover new favorites. It also helps me figure out my taste in books. Sci-fi and fantasy are not my favorite genres but if ..."

I read The Gunfighter by Stephen King last year for the TT challenge. I hadn't read much Stephen King and will read more but that was a strange mix of fantasy and sci fi. I think I liked it.

[Jhmingos]

Elisabeth wrote: "Jhmingos wrote: "Yes, during Uno, I also like to try out genres I normally don't read and discover new favorites. It also helps me figure out my taste in books. Sci-fi and fantasy are not my favori..."

The description sounds intriguing. Normally Stephen King is hit or miss for me but I usually like the genre-blending sci-fi and fantasy books. Sounds like it has some Western elements and I like some Westerns. Definitely adding this to my TBR for Uno

[Melindam]

I recently found this article in The Guardian with Neil Gaiman

https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...

and thought to list some of the "questions" about books. Would be glad to learn your answers (no need to answer all of them). 😊


📘 My earliest reading memory
📗 My favourite book growing up
📒 The book that changed me as a teenager
📕 The book I came back to
📘The book I could never read again
📗 The book I discovered later in life
📒The book I am currently reading
📕 My comfort read

[Sonia]

OOOOhhhhhh I love this type of questions:


📘 My earliest reading memory


📗 My favourite book growing up


📒 The book that changed me as a teenager


📕 The book I came back to


📘The book I could never read again

Loved it the first time. Hated it to no end when it was a NBRC bom

📗 The book I discovered later in life

Not late, late, but I was closer to 30 than to 20 when I did.

📒The book I am currently reading
On a break. Impatiently Waiting for both
and

📕 My comfort read
Currently?

[Robin (Saturndoo)]

📘 My earliest reading memory


📗 My favourite book growing up


Although I was a teenager when it was published it's still a favorite:


📒 The book that changed me as a teenager


📕 The book I came back to--and still do--love these books


📘The book I could never read again


📗 The book I discovered later in life


📒The book I am currently reading


📕 My comfort read

[Lisa - (Aussie Girl)]

Ooh.. great questions..

📘 My earliest reading memory. Enid Blyton . Winning the Bookworm Award at School aged 8
📗 My favourite book growing up... Again, Enid Blyton.. see above
📒 The book that changed me as a teenager.. and - Discovered Paranormal.. and bodice rippers aged 14. Ooh la la..
📕 The book I came back to
📘The book I could never read again.. .. Yawn.. the BBC adaptation sooo much better.
📗 The book I discovered later in life. Karen M Moning - Fever Series..
📒The book I am currently reading. - an updated bodice ripper, nothing's changed much, LOL
📕 My comfort read - or

[Melindam]

So excited about all your replies. 🥰

[Robin (Saturndoo)]

Melindam wrote: "So excited about all your replies. 🥰"

You have to share your answers too😀

[Melindam]

My turn:

📘 My earliest reading memory:
and (HU folklore tales. Loved them.)

📗 My favourite book growing up:
, (The Parent Trap) (The Gift of the Wondrous Fig Tree), ,

📒 The book that changed me as a teenager


📕 The book I came back to
There are lots of them (childhood/teenager favourites included), I keep re-reading my favourite books.

📘The book I could never read again


📗 The book I discovered later in life
Like Sonia, I was in my late 20s when I read the HP books. 😊
And in my late 30s when I came across Ilona Andrews.
Also books by D.E. Stevenson, Georgette Heyer, Mary Stewart and I am happy to say there are still many books I am waiting to discover (including the ones I find while reading your posts).

📒The book I am currently reading:


📕 My comfort read
Anything by Jane Austen (maybe NOT Mansfield Park), The City Watch books from Terry Pratchett's Discworld, plus

[Cat]

📘 My earliest reading memory - I still vividly remember the first time I stayed up late and finished a book (science-y one) in one sitting. Probably age 6. But also of making various people read to me :)

📗 My favourite book growing up - or or ... or.. or... I did a LOT more rereading back then than I do now.

📒 The book that changed me as a teenager -

📕 The book I came back to - I read it as a teen and was mostly baffled. Rereading it 20 years later, I loved it. So it goes.

📘The book I could never read again. hmmmmm.....is it pretentious to say ? Certainly that is about the only book I remember wanting to throw across the room in disgust!

📗 The book I discovered later in life. possibly because it was only just published in the UK, so it wasn't on my radar until someone on GRs (Lexi, I think) was raving so I hunted down a ebook. Obviously the new UK published ed has been pressed into my niblings' hands!

📒The books I am currently reading -

📕 My comfort read - any Discworld. Or possibly Pern / Anne McCaffrey

[Melindam]

Actually I was not aware of the The Dark Is Rising until they made a (imho not very good) movie adaptation and that came to Hungary in 2007. But aftwerwards I hunted down all the books in a foreign language bookshop in Budapest. :)

Until now, only this one book made it into Hungarian translation, but it did not take on, so you can find only 2nd hand editions.

But it is a good reminder for me to get one for my son. :)

[Cat]

It is a very not good movie adaptation! (Lovejoy as Merriman Lyon? nope (Ian McShane will always be dodgy antique dealer rogue to me due to the Lovejoy TV show, which we watched en famille on a Sunday evening)
I'm sad that it didn't get wider take up for you, as it's some awesome Authurian stuff; but I guess too is also very located in English landscape and traditions, whether Cornwall, the Thames Valley or Wales.

[Melindam]

Cat wrote: "It is a very not good movie adaptation! (Lovejoy as Merriman Lyon? nope (Ian McShane will always be dodgy antique dealer rogue to me due to the Lovejoy TV show, which we watched en famille on a Sun..."

I really enjoyed them even as an adult, but then I am a very speshul snowflake with a refined literary taste. Ahem. 🤭🤭

And I have great hopes that my son will like The Dark Is Rising, too. So far, he has been promisingly receptive of all the books I threw his way in this last year, when we started the discovery of longer books with him. :)

[Sonia]

Melindam wrote: "My turn:

📘 My earliest reading memory:
and (HU folklore tales. Loved them.)

📗 My favourite book g..."

Ooooohhh Sweep of the Heart was soooo good. I read it when it was being weekly published as serial and had a lot of fun with the recaps and the voting.

Of course, I had to read it all when it came out again because the serial ended before the end of the book. Oh, and I watched some of the Q&A session and Gordon is awesome at letting slip precious info like: The next two Kate books and then Ilona tries to keep things under control with What are you saying, there are no more Kate books

[Bernadette]

Hello fellow reader's - I'm Bernadette from Media, PA - just outside Philadelphia.

Team Challenge experience: Wheel V in 2020 was my first team challenge and I got hooked. That was I found out about other challenges.

Have you joined UNO before? YES! Last year was my first UNO and I ended being co-captain even though I hadn't volunteered tow be one, Our team's captain & co-captain both had to drop out and Zoe volunteered to be captain. After a few days I volunteered to help and I'm glad I did.

Favourite genres: I love historical fiction, literary fiction, mystery, thriller, horror, and biographies (but will read almost anything if it sounds good!). I'm not much into Sci-Fi.

Book you can't wait to read in 2023: not sure but there are plenty in on my TBR list🤣

[Melindam]

Sonia wrote: "Ooooohhh Sweep of the Heart was soooo good. I read it when it was being weekly published as serial and had a lot of fun with the recaps and the voting.

Of course, I had to read it all when it came out again because the serial ended before the end of the book. Oh, and I watched some of the Q&A session and Gordon is awesome at letting slip precious info like: The next two Kate books and then Ilona tries to keep things under control with What are you saying, there are no more Kate books"

I was contemplating reading the weekly serial (I did it with Sweep of the Blade), but then I decided to wait till I could read it in one go (which I still cannot do b/c of the holidays and now with being back to work, even if I am thankfully in home office mode.) But I am loving it. And the Innkeeper books are actually comfort read for me. And so is Hidden Legacy. 😉

I have yet to catch up on the Q&A sessions.

[Denise]

So many of you have played Wheel. I might have to check it out.

[Kirsten]

Cat wrote: "📘 My earliest reading memory - I still vividly remember the first time I stayed up late and finished a book (science-y one) in one sitting. Probably age 6. But also of making various people read to..."

OMG! I love the Pern books.

[Jenny]

📘 My earliest reading memory

📗 My favourite book growing up
and many others.
📒 The book that changed me as a teenager

📕 The book I came back to

📘The book I could never read again

📗 The book I discovered later in life
📒The book I am currently reading
and a couple others.
📕 My comfort read
and many many others

[Cat]

Alya wrote: "Hi everyone! i'm not sure if we can ask this, so please let me know and I will delete this comment :)
I have really enjoyed the uno game for the past two years and I was wondering if there are any ..."

a few other groups do team challenges - NBRC with Towers & Wheels, plus smaller team challenges; AMMP / Game Night with a mix of large team and small team challenges - and Turf Wars is on in Game Night at the mo; there's also SOS Bingo (can't remember which one that's on); Hooked on Books has some team challenges too.

Different groups, and indeed challenges have different levels of required inter-team cooperation (Game Night, for instance, is often requiring lots of coordination, in smaller teams)

[Tiffani]

So I’m new here! Lol
I checked out the all About Uno thread and see all The info about signing up, but nothing that actually explains how Uno works….

[Cat]

Tiffani wrote: "So I’m new here! Lol
I checked out the all About Uno thread and see all The info about signing up, but nothing that actually explains how Uno works…."

It's one of those that is hard to explain until you play it. but....

Your team will get a set of cards to read for each month. You then spend your month broadly reading as normal (it vanishingly rare not to be able to use your book somewhere) and reporting your books to your captain, who will then assign them to a card. Then you read your next book!

Repeat for three months, usually with increasing hardness in meeting card requirements :)

If you just want to play as a team an not work hard to fit a Yellow cover with a E match then you don't have to. If you love tracking down books that meet specific criteria (see: Yellow cover with an E character) then you can do that too.

Genuinely something for every type of reader, provided you check in with your team regularly!

[Melindam]

Adding to what Cat said: what I like about UNO is that shorter books work just as well as longer ones. As long as your book is 101 pages or longer, they work (the genre proviso is important, though! "Children's books, Graphic Novels, Manga, Cook Books, Plays and Poetry books can not be used unless by word count they can be verified as more than 25,000 words using arbookfind.com or more than 3 hours of audio using a reputable website (e.g audible, overdrive)"

Your captain/co-captain and more experienced team mates will help you learning the ropes. You can pick it up quickly as you go along. :)

[Gwen]

📘 My earliest reading memory: - I think "Socks" by Beverly Cleary was the first chapter book I read by myself.

📗 My favourite book growing up: A tie between: and - I loved the Chronicles of Narnia and "The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles" by Julie Andrews.

📒 The book that changed me as a teenager: - "House of Stairs" by William Sleator. I used to have dreams about this book.

📕 The book I came back to: - "Kneeknock Rise" by Natalie Babbitt. I re-read it because I had vague memories about it and wanted a refresher.

📘The book I could never read again: - "Love in the Time of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - just not for me. Nope.

📗 The book I discovered later in life: - I recently read "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott - I should have read it sooner!

📒The book I am currently reading: - an interesting biography about traveling with a caribou herd "Being Caribou" by Karsten Heuer.

📕 My comfort read: Not sure how to answer this one since I don't often re-read books, but I am filled with comfort when I think of the book "Mandy" by Julie Andrews