You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion
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May 2024 Challenge - Oldie but a Goodie
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It took me a minute but what fun! I love it!The number chosen for me was 653 out of 963.
I have narrowed it down to the following choices:
653: The Starless Crown
634- The Inheritance Games
636- The Ritual Bath
660- Survive the Night
I drew 16 out of 348. Not sure I'll get to one of them or not but thought I'd add it here for reference. I have some good books in there but alwo some chunksters lol. Also some really old books that ive owned for ages but keep passing by. Might be a tood opportunity.
I got 1045 out of 1144. That book is Philippians: Finding Joy When Life Is Hard, which is only 128 pages. The options I'm looking at are:1028: All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir (fits in with the year-long challenge)
1037: Starter Villain (monthly group theme read)
1047: Making It So: A Memoir (could also fit into the year-long challenge)
I got 928 out of 1094. So it is between these 2 books:
933: A Short Walk Through a Wide World currently on hold at the library, but should get it sometime in May.
924: The Familiar This looks like the one I will read. I picked it up today from the library, it has a long hold list, so it might end up being one of my first reads in May.
I have two "to-read" lists. Print books and audiobooks that I own. I added them together and put them in the randomizer. Then number I got was 266 on my audiobooks.May I use that strategy, or do you want me to pick one of the lists? Or should I pick my wishlist? But that's only 86 books. And I two wishlists. There's also "anticipated 2024".
Sorry for being difficult. LOL!
I got 392 out of 1586. When I first saw the challenge, I was so happy we have many options. But turned out, there are only 3 books I may want to read:390: The Secret of Nightingale Wood
399: The Girl from the Well
404: The Tale of Despereaux
My # is 146 out of 636here are my possibilities so far
138 - The Language of Flowers
143 - Like Trees, Walking
144 - Saving CeeCee Honeycutt
#13278 of #17394 (Yeah, don't ask. I think I am a cat with 9 lives, lol)Ones I like are chunksters.
#13276 The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle over a Forbidden Book
#13266 The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family
Other possibilities
#13268 The Dressmaker of Dachau
#13278 Dead to Me by Mary McCoy
#13260 Gather Together in My Name
Oh I love this!I got #1137 of 1222.
My options:
#1124 Say You Swear
#1139 Flock
#1143 Mother-Daughter Murder Night
#1144 Cassandra in Reverse (will probably read this one but the German version Mein schrecklich schönes Leben)
I got #5326 of 6028, yes I know book hoarder :(and have narrowed it down to:
#5307 - The Wonkiest Witch
#5313 - Humpty Bumpkin
#5319 - The Obituary Society
#5326 - Kingdom Cold
#5328 - The Knife-Edge Path
#5329 - The Honeymooner
#5338 - Unbound
I am leaning towards Unbound, but we will see where we get to
Great challenge Rus! I got 82 in the RNG which gives me tons of choices, I just need to make sure I don't pick one that's ear marked for the annual challenge. Need to sleep on it.
I got #53. Thanks for the wide range of options with the 41 spread, Rusalka! So many choices. I think I’ll narrow it down to some that I own: #34: Chaos of the Senses
#47: A Drop of Midnight: A Memoir
#59: Things Remembered and Things Forgotten
#70: The Flea Palace
#72: Small Island
Janice wrote: "I have two "to-read" lists. Print books and audiobooks that I own. I added them together and put them in the randomizer. Then number I got was 266 on my audiobooks.May I use that strategy, or do ..."
Not difficult at all. I went with TBR as it seemed to be the best I could see for how people use Goodreads. However, I know we all do things differently.
I like your methodology which still keeps the intention of the randomness of this challenge. It does make it a little more random than I mean but that is the nature of the beast.
You have explained why you are deviating, and have found a compromise to adhere to the intention incorporating how you use Goodreads. I am okay with this.
If you are similar to Janice, please explain why and what your work around is, and be a little prepared to pivot if I ask you to tweak.
i got 403. Will edit with possible later
I got 266 on my audiobook TBR : Can select a book 246 to 286.#253 - At the Coffee Shop of Curiosities (12:10)
#254 - Holly (15:24) also planned for hiking
#266 - People of the Canyons (12:10)
#267 - Rumble on the Bayou (9:20)
#279 - Bride (12:47)
#286 - The Nature of Fragile Things (10:39)
I already had Holly scheduled this month for my hiking challenge but I'd kind of like to read a different book for the challenge. If I have time to read one of these other books in my list, I will. If not, I'll count Holly as my monthly challenge read. Ooof, these rules I make for myself.
I got #99. So many good options! #108 Know My Name
#111 Yellowface
#115 The Nightingale
#98 Alone With You in the Ether
Nistha wrote: "I got #99. So many good options! #108 Know My Name
#111 Yellowface
#115 The Nightingale
#98 Alone With You in the Ether"
I am currently listenin to Yellowface!
How did some of you manage to reorder your large shelves? I have 10,001 books on my want-to-read shelf, and I don't even have the "Enable sorting" -option available on that shelf. If I choose my kindle shelf with only 5,611 books and choose the "Enable sorting" -option (there it is visible), I just get stuck and get the "Goodreads request took too long" -page.I see the text "Reordering is currently disabled for large shelves. We apologize for the inconvenience!" in a yellow box when I look at my larger shelves.
Camilla wrote: "How did some of you manage to reorder your large shelves? I have 10,001 books on my want-to-read shelf, and I don't even have the "Enable sorting" -option available on that shelf. If I choose my ki..."Yikes!
I got 28. Trying desperately to find one I am likely to get to in Annual Challenge as well...
Beth wrote: "I got 28. Trying desperately to find one I am likely to get to in Annual Challenge as well..."I need to rethink my strategy and consider double dipping Holly. I was going to try for a different book, but maybe I could work a second annual challenge book in but double dipping.
Janice wrote: "Beth wrote: "I got 28. Trying desperately to find one I am likely to get to in Annual Challenge as well..."I need to rethink my strategy and consider double dipping Holly. I was g..."
I realized if I pivot off the book I am listening to now for a checkpoint, I can go with publication year and get to a couple of the ones in my list here:
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
The Wheel of Darkness
The Cross and Other Jewish Stories
The bad news is all of these are paper or kindle, which means no multitasking on them unless there also happens to be a free audio copy on libby that I can use (not much chance).
It's a constant shuffle of strategies, isn't it?
Janice wrote: "It's a constant shuffle of strategies, isn't it?"Absolutely. If I could stay awake to read paper more often, it would definitely help. I went to a library book sale last week and came home with probably 50+ books. So I am only making things worse...
I just spent the last half hour rearranging my annual challenge reads, and I don't think I'm any further ahead. LOL!
I've often said that if I spent less time planning I might actually have time to read the books. lol I do enjoy the strategizing though!
The strategizing is half the fun. :)
Pragya wrote: "Nistha wrote: "I got #99. So many good options! #108 Know My Name
#111 Yellowface
#115 The Nightingale
#98 [book:Alone With You in the Ether|611266..."
I bought that book when it was released but never got to it yet (like so many other books haha)! Is it as good as the hype?
Camilla wrote: "How did some of you manage to reorder your large shelves? I have 10,001 books on my want-to-read shelf, and I don't even have the "Enable sorting" -option available on that shelf. If I choose my ki..."Ooo that's bigger than mine I am sorry. I have sorting already on my two big shelves from previous challenges, which are 3522 and 1464 at the moment. For my next biggest shelves, the option to turn it on is where the screen shot is up the top of the list. It isn't on my All shelf as an option though.
I just refresh through the Goodreads took too long page constantly. Maybe make sure you don't have infinite scroll on?
I'm happy for you to choose a smaller shelf than your 10 000+ and 5 000+ shelves that you can get this to work on.
I got #1649 out of my to read shelf of 3522. Which is The Axeman's JazzOptions are:
#1651 - The Crow Trap
#1663 - The Distant Echo
#1669 - Lagoon
#1641 - Crystal Rain
Hi Camilla. Enable sorting and not have infinite scroll on should solve your problem. I was able to do it with 17k+ books.
Hi Rusalka… could we please have a reporting thread.I got number 56 which gave me lots to choose from. I went with The Devotion of Suspect X which I will report once the thread is up.
Oops yes, sorry. I guess it's that time :)Hope you enjoyed that one, it's on my list.
Pragya wrote: "Hi Camilla. Enable sorting and not have infinite scroll on should solve your problem. I was able to do it with 17k+ books."Oh excellent! Hopefully that helps.
Rusalka wrote: "Oops yes, sorry. I guess it's that time :)Hope you enjoyed that one, it's on my list."
Thank you! I was thorough entertained by this one. Hope they translate more of this series or I may be forced to learn Japanese.
That is a recommendation! I am so glad you enjoyed it!
Rus, I just want to make sure I am understanding this correctly - it is ok if we use a shelf other than TBR? I would like to use my Audible shelf so I know it is a book I own. I have 1649 on my Audible shelf, so it's still a large shelf and can be sorted by #. It's really the majority of my TBR.
I understand. The problem with this site is we are all special snowflakes who use the tools in completely different ways. Including me. I use TBR as a default as the assumption is most people use that function in the way it is intended. Not always though.Like Janice, you have told me what you are doing. It is an established list. It is a big list. You're meeting the intent of the challenge, so go ahead with your Audible shelf.
I am late to the party, but after looking at my TBR (3797), and accessing the randomizer to get #634, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, which I added in April of 2013, I find myself - waiting for a copy to be free from my library. sigh....
That sounds interesting Margo. I can't wait to hear your thoughts on it.
I got #840 and decided to read #841 Kind Is the New Classy: The Power of Living Graciously. I was hoping for a bit of a feel good, uplifting type of book, but so far I feel like she is excluding so many people. She keeps talking about women specifically, which bothers me because I don't think men should be excluded from kindness talk. They are also capable of leading with kindness. I don't think she has to reach out to them specifically, but make the book feel a little more gender neutral or if you are going to constantly refer to women, then at least make a comment about men also being able to be kind.
Also, she keeps referring to living as a kind person as being in the image of Jesus or doing God's work, to the point of quoting bible passages. I knew that she was a religious person going into this, but I feel that it has been overdone. I understand that may be the reason she chooses to be kind, but not everyone has the same belief system she does and, again, those people are also capable of kindness. I don't take issue with her quoting the Bible or stating why she chooses kindness, but she does it in what feels like such an exclusionary way.
I think that if you're trying to call people to be more kind, which she is, you may want to be more inclusionary in your wording. Honestly, I could see some people putting this down in the first 5 minutes because the wording makes them feel like it is not for them because they aren't in her group.
Oh that's frustrating Kristie. Completely get when a book has a very particular audience it is aiming for. But I get annoyed when they are marketed for everyone, and it is obvious that that isn't the case. It's probably more the publishers than the authors, who are trying to get more sales. But if you want to do that, you need to bring every one along with you, not just your in group. Hope your next read is better!
I have paused and put down, and debating if it is just the wrong time, Crystal Rain. I was reading it as a co-mod in my Around the World group told me about it years ago, and the author was from Grenada which is a country she didn't complete on her reading list before she passed away and we are trying to complete her list for her. But I just looked at the book page, and can see she gave up on it too lol.
Picked up #1669 - Lagoon which I hope I will smash a good chunk out of this long weekend.
Oh, that's disappointing, Rus. I hope you find another from Grenada to complete your co-mod's list. Funny that she also gave up on that book. lol I hope Lagoon is better and turns out to be a quick read for you too. I'm sticking with my book for now. I'm just disappointed that it isn't more inclusive. I am curious how she will fill an entire book with the subject the way she's going now. I hope I don't regret this. Curiosity and the cat, you know? lol
I didn't get through my read :( But if you did, make sure you report it now we are in a post-toppler lull
You'll love this one...!! A book club & more
Books mentioned in this topic
Crystal Rain (other topics)Lagoon (other topics)
Kind Is the New Classy: The Power of Living Graciously (other topics)
Jezebel (other topics)
How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia (other topics)
More...
Head to your "My Books" page. Look at how many books are on your To Read list. If you're not sure, you can see here on your sidebar:
Okay, now go to https://www.random.org/ I want you to enter in 1 as your minimum number, and your number of books on your To Read list as your maximum. So when I took these screenshots it looked like:
Then hit generate. So my example generated 1051.
I'm going to head back to my To Read list. I am going to sort my To Read list by the # (number) on the left hand of your list. To sort by number, click here:
If this number column doesn't appear go up to the right hand side and click the "Enabling Sorting" option here:
Now navigate to your number you have generated. From my example above, that's 1051. It's a 4 digit number and it only shows 3 numbers in the screenshot, but I promise this was the result I got:
That is your book. You can look at the 20 books below AND above your number. The challenge for this month is to read one of those 41 books.
General Rules:
1. The book may be in any format - paperback, ebook, audiobook.
2. The book may be combined with the Year Long Challenge and the Group Themed Read.
3. The book must be read between May 1 - May 31, 2024 (based on your local time zone).
4. The challenge is for one book. You may read more books if you chose but you may only report one.
5. The book must be 175 pages or more determined by the issue you read.
In the case of ebooks & audiobooks, use the hardcover or paperback edition to determine page length. From the book page, select “all editions”, then select the first paper edition as your guide. If reading an ebook and there is no paper edition, the ebook book must be at least 250 pages. If reading an audiobook and there is no paper edition, your book must be a minimum of 6 hours long.