UNO 2023 Pre Challenge Chat

[Lexi]

Cat, The Thief was likely me. I try to get entirely random people to read it and I may finally convince my mother to read it this year.

📘 My earliest reading memory
Of a non-picture book, and were both series I loved in first grade
📗 My favourite book growing up

📒 The book that changed me as a teenager
- I lost vision in high school for about three months and audio books back then were tapes mostly at my library and generally not great. This was the first book I read again (as a reread) when I could see enough to try
📕 The book I came back to
- 2nd try on the series
📘The book I could never read again
Usu this is discovering children's book are incredibly racist, antisemitic, sexist etc.
📗 The book I discovered later in life
- only after college
📒The book I am currently reading
and

📕 My comfort read
and

[Melindam]

I will have to read The Thief eventually. :)

[Lexi]

Melindam wrote: "I will have to read The Thief eventually. :)"

The first is much younger than the others, and many people like it least, so I would highly recommend giving the second a try even if you are on the fence with the first one. I think the third one is the best.

[Elisabeth]

Jhmingos wrote: "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..."

Sorry, as I was typing I wondered if the title was correct. It's The Gunslinger First in the Dark Tower series.

[Catsalive]

Hmm...

📘 My earliest reading memory
probably a Little Golden or Enid Blyton, or something like The Magic Pudding, Blinky Bill, The Muddle Headed Wombat, The Loaded Dog, The Complete Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie
📗 My favourite book growing up
The Silver Brumby series by Elyne Mitchell or something else by Enid Blyton - Famous Five, Secret Seven, St.Clare's, Magic Faraway Tree...
📒 The book that changed me as a teenager
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
📕 The book I came back to... many times
Persuasion Jane Austen
📘The book I could never read again
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
📗 The book I discovered later in life
Gang of Four by Liz Byrski
📒The book I am currently reading
My Husband's Wives
📕 My comfort read
Anything by Terry Pratchett, Georgette Heyer, Agatha Christie

[Verónica]

📘 My earliest reading memory
An encyclopedia volume on Viral Diseases, I was 6 or 7 years old and that prompted my mom to buy me an encyclopedia for my age, which was the Disney one they use to sell in the 80s.

📗 My favourite book growing up
Cujo by Stephen King, the first book that made me cry, so I realized how emotionally involved you can be with a book.

📒 The book that changed me as a teenager
1984/Animal Farm by George Orwell. I bought this 2 in 1 with my first allowance, and I still have it.

📕 The book I came back to
1984.

📘The book I could never read again
A little life by Hanya Yanagihara, it's a 5 star read and loved it but I don't think I should allow myself go through that again. And one really bad/tacky book I read and hated myself for reading it was Psychokillers, a non-fiction about serial killers.

📗 The book I discovered later in life
The Foundation series by Isaac Asimov.

📒The book I am currently reading
The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule
Last Call at the Hotel Imperial by Deborah Cohen
Foundation's Edge by Isaac Asimov

📕 My comfort read
I don't think I have any in particular, maybe I should look for something. Comfort is nice, and necessary.

[Catsalive]

Verónica wrote: "📗 The book I discovered later in life
The Foundation series by Isaac Asimov.."

Ooh, yes! Me, too. I've never been much interested in SF but I did enjoy these when talked into reading them just a few years ago.

[Christina]

ahh yes, I love this mel!

📘 My earliest reading memory
I remember the bookshelf with kids' books in my mum's bedroom when we still lived with my grandparents, but I do have a clear reading memory from when I was 7-8 I guess, and I was in bed reading past my bedtime alllll the freaking time until one time my mum realized and said reading in semi-darkness is bed for my eyes and then I got a bedside lamp lol. Turns out she was okay with me reading at night even on school nights x)

📗 My favourite book growing up
Not entirely sure to be honest although I did love Max & Moritz and folklore written by the Brothers Grimm. Once I got older I was obsesseeeed with the Fearstreet series and then of course H*rry P*tter.

📒 The book that changed me as a teenager
Probably HP again. Don't remember reading too much 'deep' stuff as a teenager...

📘The book I could never read again
The second Twilight book. I hated it so much back then and also couldn't continue the series after that. I tried finishing it since but nope, not happening.

📕 My comfort read
HP again, Philosopher's Stone especially (when I can forget what a horrible person JKR turned out to be), the Hunger Games series too for some reason but only read by Tatiana Maslany, and as of the last 12 months, Julianna Margulies ' Sunshine Girl: An Unexpected Life <3

[Denise]

Christina wrote:
My comfort read
HP again, Philosopher's Stone especially (when I can forget what a horrible person JKR turned out to be)

I really struggle with this, too. I really enjoy the Cormoran Strike series, but don't want to give her any more money. I feel less guilty if I check them out from the library.

[Sharon]

This was fun!!

📘 My earliest reading memory
I have a vivid memory of reading Hop on Pop with my mom when I was learning to read. She and I were sitting on my bedroom floor reading together.

📗 My favourite book growing up
Little Women, but it was the movie-adapted version so it was much shorter and had Winona Ryder on the cover.

📒 The book that changed me as a teenager
I remember loving Summer Sisters by Judy Blume. It was probably a little too old for me, but no one questioned it because it was Judy Blume.

📘The book I could never read again
The One & Only Ugh. I forced myself to finish it and I absolutely hated it.

📕 My comfort read
I have comfort series that I pick back up when I'm in a slump or looking for something easy. Fool's Gold by Susan Mallery, Cedar Cove by Debbie Macomber, Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs, Stephanie Plum by Janet Evanovich. I keep a shelf of last-book-read in series so I know where to pick up when I need to.

[Melindam]

Veronica - Kylie: the whole Foundation series are siting on my husband's bookshelf waiting for me to give them a chance some time. :)

[Violeta]

Hi! I’m new here and this looks fun but I can’t seem to find more info on how exactly it works. Would anyone be kind enough to explain or point me in the right direction to find the info? Thanks!

[Catsalive]

Melindam wrote: "Veronica - Kylie: the whole Foundation series are siting on my husband's bookshelf waiting for me to give them a chance some time. :)"

I don't know if you're a SF reader but, if you're not, I think they may surprise you. They certainly did me. They're more about people than technology. I think that may be the way with a lot of the classic SF from the 50s: short, well-written, tight stories, without huge draughts of techno-babble. I really must try some more. Of course, some of it was absolute tripe, no doubt :0)

[Melindam]

Catsalive wrote: "Melindam wrote: "Veronica - Kylie: the whole Foundation series are siting on my husband's bookshelf waiting for me to give them a chance some time. :)"

I don't know if you're a SF reader but, if y..."

I am not a regular SF reader, but venture into the genre from time to time. The Murderbot series are my favourites. :)

[Melindam]

Violeta wrote: "Hi! I’m new here and this looks fun but I can’t seem to find more info on how exactly it works. Would anyone be kind enough to explain or point me in the right direction to find the info? Thanks!"

Here is the link to the rules in detail. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Also, what Cat said :)

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Kaley]

📘 My earliest reading memory
- This is the first book I remember reading independently when I was around 6 maybe?

📗 My favourite book growing up
- This whole series! Even though I was 15 by the time the final book came out haha.

📒 The book that changed me as a teenager
I don't know that any book really changed me as a teenager, but if one did, it was probably


I used to be really obsessed with that series.

📕 The book I came back to
I don't know that I've ever come back to a book, but one I want to come back to but just haven't yet is


I tried to read it when I was like 11-12 years old and I just remember being so overwhelmed by all the names and being unable to make it far. I'm so sure I'd love it though, so I've always meant to go back now that my brain can (hopefully! LOL) handle the names!

📘The book I could never read again
- I feel like this is an odd choice but I just adore the movie SO much (I even walked down the aisle to a Vitamin String Quartet version of the "Storybook Love" song used in the movie — and I just really didn't think the book could compare to the movie. I didn't like the weird side plot. Then again, I read this book as a teenager too, so maybe I'd like it if I gave it another chance. (I probably won't though!)

📗 The book I discovered later in life
Not a specific book but I found out within the last two years that I like historical romance? Never would've guessed that about myself because I didn't usually like other historical fiction, but apparently I do like historical romance!

📒The book I am currently reading


📕 My comfort read

[Melindam]

Kayley,

I had a similar encounter with Lord of the Rings when I was 9-10. My mum gave it to me to read, but it was not for me at that age.

And then I returned to it when I was 17 and WHAM! ... I reread it every year for almost a decade and I still do it like every 2-3 years. 😊

Interestingly, I have only read The Hobbit first in my 30s, never as a kid.

[Tammie]

📘 My earliest reading memory - my grandmother bought me a highlights subscription, I think that’s what it was called. It had lots of pictures and puzzles. Dr. Seuss was anot Favorite. I read a lot of Nancy Drew growing up.

📘The book I could never read again - it’s about 2 totally messed up teenagers…one suicidal maniac trying to convince another to also commit suicide. I didn’t finish it and was appalled it was even written…even more appalling the précis targets young people…please don’t read it!

📒The book I am currently reading - starting this one in the next few days…it looks really good.

📕 My comfort read - generally a romance of some kind

[Melindam]

Tammy, it's really time for UNO. Looking at your currently-reading book, I automatically started contemplating if it were yellow enough.😂

[Kaley]

Melindam wrote: "Kayley,

I had a similar encounter with Lord of the Rings when I was 9-10. My mum gave it to me to read, but it was not for me at that age.

And then I returned to it when I was 17 and WHAM! ... I..."

Love that! I haven't read LOTR either :-| I've been meaning to! Every time I think about it I check my library and it's not there, or when it is there (or my hold for it has come in) I'm not in the right mood for it!

[Kaley]

Melindam wrote: "Tammy, it's really time for UNO. Looking at your currently-reading book, I automatically started contemplating if it were yellow enough.😂"

Same . . . I was gonna start a different new book yesterday, but then I was like "Oh no, this is blue, better hold off" :)

[Suzanne]

Melindam wrote: "Tammy, it's really time for UNO. Looking at your currently-reading book, I automatically started contemplating if it were yellow enough.😂"

Me too!

[Sophie]

I've just finished one and had the thought - I should have waited, that was definitely a blue cover.

[Sammy]

📕 Name - Sammy
📕 Team Challenge experience - Loads in NBRC, and a handful in other groups
📕 Have you joined UNO before? - yes, last year
📕 Favourite genres - Pretty much all of them, except romance and YA
📕 Book you can't wait to read in 2023 - All of them! lol. In all seriousness, I'm very much looking forward to reading , which I originally had on pre-order (paperback). Something went wrong with said order, and I ended up re-ordering it recently, and it's due to arrive today! Normally there would be a tussle between hubby and me as to who gets to read it first, but I think I shall be nice and let him read it first. *polishes halo* (next Bernard Cornwell book however will be mine! mine! mine! :D :D)

📘 My earliest reading memory - I remember getting the Winnie The Pooh books read to me at around 3 years old (and I still love them!), I started reading myself from almost 4, though I can't really remember individual books.
📗 My favourite book growing up - I got the for Christmas just before my 7th birthday and devoured it that day (yep, I was the kid reading during Christmas dinner, much to my mum's dismay), so my parents got me LotR for my birthday a couple of months later, and I've been reading and re-reading it ever since
📒 The book that changed me as a teenager - I spent an entire year reading it, then going back to page 1 and starting again in an endless loop. (then the following year I got a boyfriend and books were given a somewhat smaller share of my time, lol)
📕 The book I came back to - my second favourite childhood book was . I avoided returning to it for many years (for the same reason as outlined in the question below), but I relented last year, and was so glad I did! I still adore it.
📘The book I could never read again - I made the mistake of deciding to read (a childhood favourite) to my kids when they were little, and it completely ruined all the good memories I had of the book. So I'm refusing to go back to - my favourite in the series - so I can keep the illusion that it's a beautifully written perfect book firmly in place!
📗 The book I discovered later in life - Oh , how do I love you! I read this for the first time in 2019 and have been back every year since. I own 3 copies so far (4 if you count the audio), and am for ever looking for the perfect illustrated edition. One day...
📒The book I am currently reading - because Pratchett is awesome, and this one rarely qualifies for challenges, so this seemed like a good time to read it :)
📕 My comfort read - - As soon as I read the first sentence, I feel the weight of the world dropping away, and I dive headlong into Terre D'ange. Woe betide anyone who tries to make me re-join the real world! :D

[Ashley]

Melindam wrote: "Tammy, it's really time for UNO. Looking at your currently-reading book, I automatically started contemplating if it were yellow enough.😂"

UNO causes me a mild January reading slump, as a search through books to read, and then say NO No No NO to everything because, "this should wait for UNO", or "What if a purple book is needed for a mini-game in UNO, best wait on that one too", etc etc etc.

The book I'm reading I now... I stare at the cover angrily because... BLUE...

[Sammy]

I have been snagging coloured covers all year as I've come across them (totally a valid reason for buying a book!), and most of them are red or blue, so I don't mind reading them now, as for every 1 I read, I have another half dozen waiting, lol.

Yellow covers on the other hand...

[Melindam]

January is my official reading slump month before UNO.

[Tammie]

Melindam wrote: "Tammy, it's really time for UNO. Looking at your currently-reading book, I automatically started contemplating if it were yellow enough.😂"

Hmmmm…excellent thought…I think it’s yellow enough that perhaps I’ll hold off should the UNO Goddess-of-randomness plague honor my team with many yellow cards…hehe!

[Robin (Saturndoo)]

Y'all crack me up lol I haven't been saving any of my colored covers for UNO. I keep reading just like I normally would. I'm sure there's plenty of them across my multiple TBRs--library tbr, GR tbr, the multiple journals of hand written lists.

[Kaley]

I'll never forget the year my team didn't get a single yellow card . . . it was bliss. I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop because I just know one of these years my team will be cursed with an inordinate amount of yellow to make up for it.

[Cat]

I still remember the horror one year of realising that I had read a perfect Yellow V a month before UNO started, and then needing it for a Draw 2 with Yellow V and WD4 card. There was much weeping, wailing, baring of breast and gnashing of teeth chez Cat when I saw that hand, so never again! (I'm like Sammy, I only hold off my yellow and greens from mid-Dec, and am laid back about reds and blues all year)

[Kirsten]

Okay, I'll play

📘 I don't know what my earliest reading memory is, but I remember my dad reading to my sister and me--Heidi, The Chronicles of Prydain, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit. I remember teaching my sister to read--I was 5 and she was 3--with Dr. Seuss.

📗 My favourite book growing up is also hard to name. The Velveteen Rabbit, The Fourteen Bears in Summer and Winter, Bread and Jam for Frances, The Twelve Dancing Princesses--this is the copy I got for my own daughter. Mine is no longer available, but it had the most beautiful illustrations.

📒 The book that changed me as a teenager
Honey(I named my daughter Ivy because of this book), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (I'm now a theatre prof), and, to my everlasting shame now, Gone with the Wind

📕 The book I came back to... many times
Little Women, The Remains of the Day, To Kill a Mockingbird, Love Story

📘The book I could never read again
A Little Life--honestly, one of the worst, most offensive books I've ever read

📗 The book I discovered later in life
Possession, White Noise--I have no idea what this means, so I put down to of my all-time faves, both read in grad school

📒The book I am currently reading
Last Man Standing

📕 My comfort read
Alexis Hall's Spires series, Kazuo Ishiguro, any Kazuo Ishiguro through Never Let Me Go, Honey.

[Laura]

Ashley wrote: "Melindam wrote: "Tammy, it's really time for UNO. Looking at your currently-reading book, I automatically started contemplating if it were yellow enough.😂"

UNO causes me a mild January reading slu..."

Oh, that's lovely for a blue card.

I also have a January reading slump because I want to save everything for Uno! If I read it now, "it doesn't count!"

[Keely]

I have a couple of yellow books I've been saving for this. And I'm avoiding any for the coloured covers. In fact, I'm avoiding books that are over 100 pages. This has become a good month to get those short books read and it will make my yearly challenge look good with a good start.

[Melindam]

Kirsten, I read about "A Little Life" and all that little I learnt about it males me give the book the widest possible berth.

[Verónica]

Melindam wrote: "Catsalive wrote: "Melindam wrote: "Veronica - Kylie: the whole Foundation series are siting on my husband's bookshelf waiting for me to give them a chance some time. :)"

I don't know if you're a S..."

Yeah, it's been a common complaint about older SF that they invested too much on the technobabble and too little on character development or plot. But Kylie is right in that Asimov really balances the futuristic feel with compelling characters, politics and adventure/quest plots. But you definitely need to be in the mood for them.

[Verónica]

I find green a lot harder to come by than yellow. I've done my bookshelves and I only have 80 greens and 124 yellows. But maybe non-fiction publishers like yellow more.

[Teddie]

Robin (Saturndoo) wrote: " The book that changed me as teenager: Flowers in the Attic

Lol to Flowers in the Attic - so true, along with some Clan of the Cave Bear. Yes, my parents seriously had NO idea what I read in middle/high school. :D

[Teddie]

📘 My earliest reading memory


📗 My favourite book growing up


📒 The book that changed me as a teenager


📘The book I could never read again


📒The book I am currently reading


📕 My comfort read
series

[Ashley]

📘 My earliest reading memory
My earliest (and favorite) childhood reading memory is my father reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas each year before Christmas. I had a stocking that included the entire poem on the back and we would sit in his recliner before bed and he would read it with TONS of gusto!
He was also my favorite reader of And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.

📗 My favourite book growing up
📒 The book that changed me as a teenager
I'm putting these two questions together. I became a reader because of The Lord of the Rings. I devoured this as a teen, and it kickstarted by love of reading!

📕 The book I came back to/comfort read
I know I know... this is terrible... but I can't count how many times I've read the Twilight series. Not because it's very good, but because it came along at a difficult time in my life, and really helped carry me through it. It's become a comfort read.

📒 The book I am currently reading
I'm currently reading 3 books... Warrior Fae which is the last in the series. Ship of Magic, which is the Weighty Tomb of 2023 and Notes on an Execution which I'm honestly not liking much.

[Catsalive]

I'm reading a lovely yellow book right now - it didn't occur to me to save it. This will be my first time at UNO, I have so much to learn.

[Jhmingos]

Kaley wrote: "I'll never forget the year my team didn't get a single yellow card . . . it was bliss. I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop because I just know one of these years my team will be cursed wit..."

I remember one year when all our yellow covers save 1 or 2 were Yellow V and Yellow I. We had so many yellow books but it was so hard to find ones that fit those letters.

[Kirsten]

Ashley wrote: "📘 My earliest reading memory
My earliest (and favorite) childhood reading memory is my father reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas each year before Christmas. I had a stocking tha..."

Oh no! I’m looking forward to Notes!

[Ashley]

Kirsten wrote: "Oh no! I’m looking forward to Notes!"

It's not bad, it's just not my cup of tea!

[[deleted user]]

My turn

📘 My earliest reading memory
I really wanted to read but found it extremly hard all my teacher just let it go until i was 8 then my teacher Mr steel noticed i wanted to read just found it hard he made me go back to the books for 5 years old gave up an hour everyday after school and before the term was over i could read wasnt up to chapter books but could read. Then at the end of the year by this time i was 9 he gave me Heidi
By Johanna Spyri i read it in a week i was so proud of myself

📗 My favourite book growing up
The secert garden

📒 The book that changed me as a teenager
The Little Prisoner

📕 The book I came back to
Harry potters, morganvile vampiers christmas carol and the secert garden

📘The book I could never read again
Im not sure if there is so many books i didnt like when i was younger im finding i like now.

📗 The book I discovered later in life
The Portrait of Dorian Gray: and other "Wilde" Tales

📒The book I am currently reading
I'm Glad My Mom Died
Leo Loves Aries

📕 My comfort read
Depends on what i feel like mostley retellings or books with lots of action

[Melissa]

Insiyah wrote: "Hi, I'm Insiyah. This will be my third year of UNO. This was the challenge that got me hooked on to team challenges in the first place, and I'm more than a little obsessed with it.

I'm pretty pic..."

Wow! That's really cool that you can read books in three languages.

[Melissa]

Jenny wrote: "I hope they get a really good band. I so want to hear the music!"

I kept thinking of Stevie Nicks when I read that book. I think I'll be biased!

[Melissa]

Hello!
I'm Melissa, and I love reading challenges!
Thanks Melindam for reminding me about sign-ups!! I feel like I was reminded by a challenge super hero!
This is my second UNO challenge. I like the Wheels and all the ones on NBRC and I was doing the non-fiction one, but I missed sign ups this year (good grief). I am doing a challenge called Plague vs. Cure on Floab that really fun. And I LOVE UNO!
I'll read most things I guess. I try to read one non-fiction, one middle grades, and one fiction a week. I'm a teacher, so that's with the middle grades book.
I'm hoping to go to the library and just pull random books off the shelves with the right colors and see what happens :)

[Melissa]

📘 My earliest reading memory
I particularly liked the one where you had to remember the suspenders (I didn't forget!)
📗 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
Janet Evanovich (my secret weapon for UNO....)
📒The book I am currently reading

📕 My comfort read
fantasy / sci-fi with a strong female protagonist like

[Melissa]

These are great prompts. I'm really enjoying reading everyone's!