Winter Reading Challenge 23-24: Introduction, Tasks, & FAQs

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Welcome to the next Around the Year in 52 Books seasonal challenge. Our Winter challenge starts on December 1, 2023 and finishes on February 29, 2024 (we get a whole extra day!).

This challenge will be a bit different from previous seasonal challenges. We are tackling an A-Z challenge!

How It Works
For this challenge, you will be trying to fulfill the letters in ONE of three phrases:
- WINTER WONDERLAND (16)
- DREAMING OF SNOW (14)
- HELLO NEW BEGINNINGS (18)

You can fulfill these letters by using the first letter of the title, the first letter of the author's first or last name, or the first letter of the main genre of the book.

Example:
- W: What If It's Us by Becky Albertalli (Title)
- I: Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue (Author's First Name)
- N: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (Author's Last Name)
- T: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (Genre: Thriller)

How to join the challenge
1. Set up a thread to keep track of your books for the challenge. You can create a new thread for your challenge in this folder. You can also check out the Community Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

3. If you need ideas or inspiration for any of the prompts, or you’d like to share recommendations then you can do so here.

4. When you’ve completed all of the letters for one phrase, post the details in this thread.

What books can be counted?
Generally books should be 100 pages or more, but if you’ve found the perfect book and it’s 90 pages then it’s your choice whether to count it. Or, if you’re really stuck on one task and you want to read a picture book or short story just to mark it as complete then go right ahead. The aim is to have fun and enjoy what you read, so nobody is going to judge anyone else for their book choices.

If you have any questions about the challenge then you can post them in this thread. The FAQs in post two below will also be updated as people ask questions so you might find your question has been answered there.

Happy reading, and we hope you enjoy the challenge!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

FAQs

[Robin H-R]

Can you use the same book for more than one phrase?

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Sure! I have them separated on the spreadsheet into three different challenges, so I’d say each book can only be used once per phrase, but it’s fine to use across multiple phrases.

[Robin H-R]

Awesome...

FYI...You can create a new thread for your challenge in this folder.
The link is not there. Or am I just jumping the gun...

[Odette]

What about book titles that begin with 'the', 'a' or 'an'?
Should these words or the second words be used for the first letter in the title?

[Wendi]

I posted my challenge, but it showed up separately. Should I repost it somewhere else?

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

You did it correctly Wendi

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Odette, you can omit or use A, An, or The. It's up to you.

[Böcker och kaffe med mjölk]

I'm totally new to this, so my question might sound "stupid"..

why the number 14, 16 or 18 in the phrases?
Are you supposed to finish a certain number of books or just read a little in each book you to fulfill the letters?

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Hey Rosemary, you can add your own thread to this folder, rather than adding your tracking thread here!

[Rosemary]

Hello Emily
I don’t know how to do it.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Using the browser, if you go to the top of this thread and click on the folder (23-24 Winter Reading Challenge), it will bring you to the folder with all of the threads.

From there, you can click Add New at the top, and create your own thread!

[Rosemary]

Thank you Emily.

[Bea]

Linda's 144 Hobbies wrote: "yes, okay. So if I choose 14, is that the amount of books I should try to finish until February 29? The goal would be to finish that amount of books?"

Yes, by following these instructions for choosing the books:

"For this challenge, you will be trying to fulfill the letters in ONE of three phrases:
DREAMING OF SNOW (14) - chosen phrase and # of books

You can fulfill these letters by using the first letter of the title, the first letter of the author's first or last name, or the first letter of the main genre of the book."

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I tried deleting Rosemary's post and ended up deleting Linda's (the one that Bea responded to). My bad.

[Carolyn Rutigliano]

Do I need to read them in order? Meaning if I chose Winter Wonderland, does my first book need to start with W, the next with I..? Or can I jump around? TIA

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

You can jump around!

[Hannah]

To be clear, do I have to have started reading the books on or after December 1st or is ok if I started reading them before but finish in the time frame of December 1-February 29?

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

Hannah wrote: "To be clear, do I have to have started reading the books on or after December 1st or is ok if I started reading them before but finish in the time frame of December 1-February 29?"

It's ok if you started reading them, as long as you have at least 100 pages left to go.

[LeahS]

Asking a bit late - is the main genre the one first listed for the book on Goodreads?

Happy Christmas to all the mods.

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

LeahS wrote: "Asking a bit late - is the main genre the one first listed for the book on Goodreads?

Happy Christmas to all the mods."

I'd say any of the top three would work as a 'main' genre - many books fit more than one genre.

And merry christmas to you too!

[LeahS]

Thanks, Jackie!