UNO 2023 Pre Challenge Chat

[Chrissie]

I actually still have many of Kästner's works to read (basically all the ones you have mentioned above) but yes, I recall him having a way with words that simply get you hooked to the pages.

[Christina]

I don't think I've ever read an Erich Kästner book but I've definitely watched a fair share of the movie adaptions - maybe I'll be able to find a book or two of his that I can tackle for uno :)

[Melindam]

@Hailey
The Mods are creating teams according to various conditions (check out questions on the sign-up sheet). We try to accommodate requests when peoplr are asking to be on the same team, if possible.

[Lady Tea]

📕 Name: Fantasia
📕 Team Challenge experience: I've played on a few team challenges last year, which was my first foray into Goodreads reading challenges apart from my own yearly one. It was really fun, and I'd like to do more of those throughout this year.
📕 Have you joined UNO before?: No, this will be my first try at the UNO challenge, but I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun! (Full disclaimer: I've never actually played the card game UNO before, but the instructions seem simple enough for this challenge with regards to reading.)
📕 Favourite genres: Historical romance, Gothic novels (ONLY the 18th century ones, as the present-day ones that are published have all been disappointments to me), mystery
📕 Book you can't wait to read in 2023: I foresee myself reading a lot of romance this year, so that's where my interest is right now. One of the books I'm looking forward to is , but since that comes out in June, it won't be something I'm using for this team challenge. Perhaps another one in the future though, eh?

[Emily]

First reading memory for me.. I was probably 3/4 and my dad would put a big blanket that took up most of our front room. He would read while we lazed about my sister and I. I remember this book specifically because I liked the illustrations, totally not appropriate for my age but I did like this story

[Barbara]

Thank you @Melindam

📘 My earliest reading memory - Pollyanna

📗 My favourite book growing up - I had a great time reading both the Harry Potter series and A Series of Unfortunate Events. I also loved Meg Cabot's books!

📒 The book that changed me as a teenager - The Diary of a Young Girl

📕 The book I came back to - Harry Potter and the Hunger Games.

📘The book I could never read again - Schindler's List

📗 The book I discovered later in life - Silvia Plath's books for sure.

📒The book I am currently reading - Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time

📕 My comfort read - Poetry in general, brings me peace and joy

📘 Favorite Fictional Relationship (Romantic or Otherwise) - Katniss and Peeta

📗 A book(s) everyone (including friends) seems to love, but you ended up disliking (hating) it - The Mortal Instruments

📒 A Book(s) You Feel Guilty About Liking - none!

📕 Any books/authors that you feel you should really try, but have never got round to reading yet - Maya Angelou

[Karen ⊰✿, Avaricious Reader]

Sammy wrote: "I only read The Neverending story for the first time for the first time a couple of years ago. Insane really, considering how much I loved Momo and the movie! (I still want a luck dragon! lol)"

Oh didn't we all want one of them :)

[nadine]

this sounds so fun, can't wait to join a team!
📕 Name: nadine
📕 Team Challenge experience: i haven't gotten to participate in a team challenge before, hoping i get to bond with a really cool team :)
📕 Have you joined UNO before?: nope! first year
📕 Favourite genres: i really will read a bit of everything but i'm especially a sucker for ya fantasy
📕 Book you can't wait to read in 2023: too many to list, hoping this challenge encourages me to knock a few off my reading list that have been sitting there for a while!

[Mary X]

If anyone has been tempted to read the Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley: the covers work great for UNO. A couple are non UNO colors but most are.

[Sammy]

Mary C wrote: "If anyone has been tempted to read the Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley: the covers work great for UNO. A couple are non UNO colors but most are."

I thought about that, but unfortunately the audible covers aren't coloured :(

[Ashley]

Sammy wrote: "Mary C wrote: "If anyone has been tempted to read the Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley: the covers work great for UNO. A couple are non UNO colors but most are."

I thought about that, but unf..."

I think they are Sammy!

[Sammy]

Might be different for different countries? My audible listing comes up

[Ashley]

Oh maybe so! Boo!

[Nanci]

Such cute books! I love the intrepid Flavia!

[Karen ⊰✿, Avaricious Reader]

Great books!
Although I'm not up to date with the series. Need to get stuck into #8 which is a green cover, so perhaps that is a UNO book :)

[Laura]

Mary C wrote: "If anyone has been tempted to read the Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley: the covers work great for UNO. A couple are non UNO colors but most are."

I love Flavia! Thanks for the reminder!

[Jhmingos]

📘 Favorite Fictional Relationship (Romantic or Otherwise)
Evie and Sebastion in Devil in Winter, it's one of my favorite romances and I think their relationship is so unique.

📗 A book(s) everyone (including friends) seems to love, but you ended up disliking (hating) it
Daisy Jones & The Six and Ready Player One. Both are books that I don't like--rock bands and video games. I gave them a chance, but it's not surprising that I thought they were okay. I normally like Taylor Jenkins Reid's books.

📒 A Book(s) You Feel Guilty About Liking
Regency romances were my guilty pleasure but because of Bridgerton, seems like it's more popular now.

📕 Any books/authors that you feel you should really try, but have never got round to reading yet
A lot of Stephen King books. His books have been hit or miss with me. So even though he's written books like Misery and Dolores Claiborne that sound interesting, I haven't read them.

[Melindam]

Another set of questions, if you'd still care to consider them! 😊

📘 If you could choose magical skills or objects from books, which ones would they be?

📗Any characters you like/love despite their displaying less than stellar qualities? Or the other way round? Goodie characters you dislike?

📒Which 3 of your GR shelves have the most books?

📕 Favourite book covers?
Books you love despite the terrible cover?
And books you were attracted to because of their cover, but
felt let down by their content?

[Sally906]

Never fear, Sally is here. All signed up and everything even!

9 years already - doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun!

📕 Name - Sally
📕 Team Challenge experience - Does the word Challengeaholic ring any bells? I don’t need to attend CA (Challengeaholic Anonymous) for therapy though
📕 Have you joined UNO before? Yes many times - have made a lot of good friends during UNO.
📕 Favourite genres - Paranormal romances, romances, paranormal cosy mysteries, cosy mysteries, YA and historical.
📕 Book you can't wait to read in 2023 - not got a big list, but have Monster In The Mirror by Kristen Painter on pre-order, due out next week! Whether I can hang off reading it until February or not I’m not sure.

We’ll see 😂😂

[Lisa - (Aussie Girl)]

Sally906 wrote: "Never fear, Sally is here. All signed up and everything even!

9 years already - doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun!

📕 Name - Sally
📕 Team Challenge experience - Does the word Challengeaholic..."

Hey Sally, good to see ya here.. hope we end up on the same team and "the band gets back together" 🤣

[Sally906]

Lisa - (Aussie Girl) wrote: "Hey Sally, good to see ya here.. hope we end up on the same team and "the band gets back together" 🤣..."

Finger’s crossed 🤞 🙏🏻

[Sammy]

📘 If you could choose magical skills or objects from books, which ones would they be?

Teleportation would be fun please. I could also really use a time-turner.

📗Any characters you like/love despite their displaying less than stellar qualities? Or the other way round? Goodie characters you dislike?

Everyone seems to love Hyacinthe from the Kushiel Trilogy. He's the MC's best friend and she certainly loves him, and he's for ever saving the day and sacrificing himself for her/the cause, but I've never been a fan...

📒Which 3 of your GR shelves have the most books?

Not counting the "read", TBR and yearly shelves ;)

- Classics (368 books)
- Sci-fi (226 books)
- Fantasy (222 books)

Next up would be historical with 211. I'm actually surprised Sci-fi beat that and fantasy. I read a lot of sci-fi, but I tend to prefer the other two...

📕 Favourite book covers?
Books you love despite the terrible cover?
And books you were attracted to because of their cover, but
felt let down by their content?

Well, I bought purely because of its pretty spine. I enjoyed the first one well enough, but the other two were a let-down.

I bought and because of their cool steampunk covers. They were fun especially the second (I mean, steampunk zombies! Come on!)

Just about every book printed in the 60-90s has a terrible cover, but there are some great ones too, of course, like the Josh Kirby Discworld covers. I was so disappointed when he died and Paul Kidby took over, but of course some of those let-down covers provided the greatest books! (And yes, I bought the entire collection of the latest hardback series because I adored those covers too)

I'm also really not a fan of the Wordsworth and Penguin classics paperbacks - the ones that look like these: . In fact, when it comes to classics, I prefer no pictures at all on the cover please.

Oh, and I buy Holly Hepburn's books purely because I want to live in those covers...

[Melindam]

The Burton & Swinburn covers are very cool, Sammy. :)

And I get the feeling about the Holly Hepburn covers.

I have a shelf for "falling for the covers". 😊 Unfortunately quite a few of them turn out with meh content, but they are so pretty to look at.

[Melindam]

📘 If you could choose magical skills or objects from books, which ones would they be?

- Number 1 skill would be bookjumping from the Thursday Next series. I would love that.

- I would also love to own a house like Gerturde Hunt Inn in the Innkeeper series by Ilona Andrews. I mean a house that keeps itself clean, can redecorate and rearrange itself and its gardens according to needs or the owner's mood: UTTER BLISS. 🥰


📗Any characters you like/love despite their displaying less than stellar qualities? Or the other way round? Goodie characters you dislike?
- The Wizard Howl is a character that delights my soul in print and would drive me crazy in real life.
- I am sorry to say that I cannot stand Fanny Price or Edmund Bertram from Mansfield Park and really like Henry Crawford.

📒Which 3 of your GR shelves have the most books?
- Classics (370)
- Audiobooks (200)
- Fantasy (194)

📕 Favourite book covers?


Books you love despite the terrible cover?
The Hidden Legacy books 1-3 can boast of some of the most off-putting covers I saw, but the content more than make up for it. Love the books.


And books you were attracted to because of their cover, but
felt let down by their content?
- lovely cover, meh content
ok books, but nothing to write home about

[Kaley]

📘 If you could choose magical skills or objects from books, which ones would they be?
All of them. Haha. But if I had to choose just one skill, teleportation.


📗Any characters you like/love despite their displaying less than stellar qualities? Or the other way round? Goodie characters you dislike?
I feel like most people who have read the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas really dislike Chaol (at least as far as booktok would have me believe) but I really love Chaol!

📒Which 3 of your GR shelves have the most books?
I don't really have shelves sorted into genres or anything! Mostly just by year or by challenge so mine aren't really interesting


📕 Favourite book covers?
Books you love despite the terrible cover?
And books you were attracted to because of their cover, but
felt let down by their content?
Apparently people really hate cartoon covers? I ADORE cartoon covers.
I also really judge books by their covers. I put off this one for the longest time because I thought it'd be bad because of the cover:

I don't think there were any I was drawn to specifically by the cover that were let downs. Although I do hone in if I see a cartoon cover, but I still usually read the synopsis to decide haha.

[Tammie]

📘 If you could choose magical skills or objects from books, which ones would they be?
I think it would be the Vampires in BDG. They can't get sick, are super strong, and just keep bringing others in to their family.

📗Any characters you like/love despite their displaying less than stellar qualities? Or the other way round? Goodie characters you dislike?
I love Eve Dallas...she can be a real pain in the ass, but her character continues to grow.

📒Which 3 of your GR shelves have the most books?
contemporary-romance ‎(616)
mystery ‎(206)
romantic-suspense ‎(181)

📕 Favourite book covers?

Books you love despite the terrible cover?


And books you were attracted to because of their cover, but
felt let down by their content?
I don't have a lot of low ratings as I usually don't read low rated books unless my challenge group convinces me otherwise.

[Sammy]

Tammie wrote: "I don't have a lot of low ratings as I usually don't read low rated books unless my challenge group convinces me otherwise."

I have plenty of low ratings for books that others have rated highly... In fact the more people rate something 5 stars, the more likely I am to hate it :D :D

[Kirsten]

Books I love despite the cover: A.R. Pip's

GR Shelves:
MM Sports--205
Historical--171
Lit Fic--167

And these are my favorite categories to read, so it makes sense.

[Ashley]

📘 If you could choose magical skills or objects from books, which ones would they be?
Oh man, there are so many great ones to choose from! It might just have to be teleportation though. As much as I'd love to be invulnerable and live forever, I'm super lazy and not having to waste the time and energy to be where I want to be at that moment is very appealing.

I do however second the idea of having a house like the Gertrude Hunt Inn. I mean, how awesome would that be!?

📗 Any characters you like/love despite their displaying less than stellar qualities? Or the other way round? Goodie characters you dislike?
This goes back to my Twilight love. Edward is pretty cringy sometimes with this overbearing, protective, "I know best" weirdness, but I just love him. I really shouldn't.

I have a hard time liking goodie-goodie characters, honestly. I need by characters with flaws and grit... and menace!

📒 Which 3 of your GR shelves have the most books?
I'm not wild into shelves, so mine are kind of boring:
Owned Ebooks To Read - 375
Rory Gilmore Reading List - 353
Goodreads Choice Winners - 161

I didn't mention my normal "want to read" shelf, which is stocked with 1360 books at the moment. We will just ignore that entirely.

[Melindam]

:D

That's one helluva impressive TBR shelf

[Sammy]

I just realised I have 324 on my "1001" shelf! (which is where I put all the books I've read for )

[Ashley]

Sammy wrote: "I just realised I have 324 on my "1001" shelf! (which is where I put all the books I've read for )"

Sammy! WHY!? Why would you post this!? I can't take another list that I feel compelled to complete... I NEVER COMPLETE THEM!

Must use self-control. Must use self-control. Must use self-control....

[Lady Tea]

Oh ho ho, new sets of questions, let's go!
______________________________

📘 If you could choose magical skills or objects from books, which ones would they be?
I think it goes without saying that anything from Harry Potter goes, right?
I honestly can't think of anything else right now, lol, my brain is fried. I'm 100% certain there are many other things, though.

📗 Any characters you like/love despite their displaying less than stellar qualities? Or the other way round? Goodie characters you dislike?

Baddies I love
- Nita and Kovit from Both these characters are total baddies, but you just can't help but root for them from start to finish
- The Joker (self-explanatory here, no?)
- Ambrosio from because you need to have a perfect, pitiful, and diabolical villain, and from Gothic novels, he takes the cake every which way!
- Christopher Carrion and especially Mater Motley from . I just love this series so much as a whole, so it goes without saying that I love the villains as well, right?
- Iago from because I have to reference Shakespeare at least once, right?

(And many more, but that's enough for now.)

📒 Which 3 of your GR shelves have the most books?

1. Graphic Novels Manga (361 books)
2. Romance is the main point (329 books)
3. Historical fiction (274 books)

📕 Favourite book covers?


Books you love despite the terrible cover?


And books you were attracted to because of their cover, but
felt let down by their content?
-- pretty much all three book s of this series have great covers, but then the content is just meh and the ending in particular is BLEH.
- still one of my biggest disappointments in this respect

And, let's face it, also MOST YA novels that put forth more effort in their covers rather than any actual content. The list would get way too long at that point.

[Sammy]

lol!!

It gets worse Ashley... there are several editions of this book, and they keep adding and removing books. I'm doing the combined list which is over 1300 books long :D

[Ashley]

Sammy wrote: "lol!!

It gets worse... there are several editions of this book, and they keep adding and removing books. I'm doing the combined list which is over 1300 books long :D"

Oh no.... don't tell me anymore!

[Tammie]

Sammy wrote: "I just realised I have 324 on my "1001" shelf! (which is where I put all the books I've read for )"

I have this book...will work on creating a shelf for it...good idea!

I will add my opinion that I would have very little in common with this scholarly editor and don't feel inclined to agree with him or the opinion of the others that contributed to the book... But it's interesting to know how many I've read regardless.

[Sammy]

No book like this is ever going to 100% appeal to everyone, and I have come across both emphatic 5 stars and abysmal 1 stars so far. But it's helping me navigate my way through the classics, as well as find a whole heap of worthwhile books I'd otherwise never come across, so this list really works for me :)

[Nanci]

A book like that is just daring us all to be read! I did check it out from the library and read through the listings, just to see. I was surprised not only at how many books I had read, but also how many I'd never even heard about. I agree, every person who is a "reader" is going to have a different list of books, but it's nice to find some that you love outside your normal realm.

[Violeta]

Sammy I understand ur feeling in regards to that book! I was looking for something similar because of the same reason (although I just did 100). And what I did when I realized every single list is different, was start to browse a variety of top 30-50-100 lists online and compare them. I picked out the books that seemed to be repeatedly appearing in more than two lists and got my 100 list ;) I mean, I’m sure there are hundreds more worth reading but it was a good starting point and I can always do another 100 if i ever finish this one 😸

[Skye Blue ☆*~ﾟლ(´ڡ`ლ)~*☆]

I missed the sign up for this last year.
I'm happy I saw it today.

[Jessica]

If yall don't stop trashing The Night Circus I WILL cry lmao! That's like....my favorite book aside from the HP series lmao

[Ashley]

Jessica wrote: "If yall don't stop trashing The Night Circus I WILL cry lmao! That's like....my favorite book aside from the HP series lmao"

I liked The Night Circus! You are not alone!

[Jessica]

I also need to add....I think I really enjoyed the author's use of all the senses throughout the book. I have aphantasia and have never been able to picture anything from books in my head. I still couldn't with this but I felt like it was the closest I've ever gotten due to the author sort of stimulating the memories of the senses, especially the Circus scenes.

[Jenny]

Jessica, just remember that we all have different tastes, and are generally polite about it. I mean someone listed Ready Player One as one of their disappointing or hated books and I didn't immediately challenge them to a duel. Although it was tempting. teehee

There was a book I read years ago that had a sort of fever dream style that someone who had aphasia told me was pretty close to how they experience the world. If I can remember what it was I will post it here.
(Trying to access the obscure filing system that is my brain...)

[Kimberly~☆♡Love of Books♡☆]

I just cant wait till UNO starts:)

[Kimberly~☆♡Love of Books♡☆]

Jessica wrote: "If yall don't stop trashing The Night Circus I WILL cry lmao! That's like....my favorite book aside from the HP series lmao"

I loved it also!:)

[Melissa]

Oooooooh... So much fun!!!!

📘 Favorite Fictional Relationship (Romantic or Otherwise) - Celena (Aelin) and Chaol from the Throne of Glass Series. There's just something about forbidden love.

📗 A book(s) everyone (including friends) seems to love, but you ended up disliking (hating) it - Ooooh don't hate me.....The Overstory

📒 A Book(s) You Feel Guilty About Liking - I used to feel guilty about romance novels, but no longer!! Also sci-fi, but I joined a sci-fi book club! Maybe the Janet Evonovich books?

📕 Any books/authors that you feel you should really try, but have never got round to reading yet - Haruki Murakami - although I don't really know why.

📘 If you could choose magical skills or objects from books, which ones would they be? The wardrobe to Narnia

📗Any characters you like/love despite their displaying less than stellar qualities? Or the other way round? Goodie characters you dislike? I don't like James Potter in the Harry Potter books (although I wouldn't qualify him as a "goodie"). I also don't really like Lily. I have compassion for Snape.

📒Which 3 of your GR shelves have the most books?
to read (1261!)
tower-teams (57)
UNO 2022 (!) (35)
I really should do different tags....

📕 Favourite book covers?
] well, you know....
Books you love despite the terrible cover?
And books you were attracted to because of their cover, but
felt let down by their content?

[Melissa]

Melindam wrote: "📘 If you could choose magical skills or objects from books, which ones would they be?

- Number 1 skill would be bookjumping from the Thursday Next series. I would love that.

- I would also love ..."

I loved the Goblin Emperor.

[Jessica]

Jenny I was just joking! lol I know we all have different tastes

[Kat]

I am looking forward to it but also nervous as first time playing