You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion
Challenges: Year Long Main 2026
>
Help & General Discussion - 2026 Challenge
I have added a challenge tracker to the main page. You may indicate how many books you intend to read for the challenge on Jan 1, 2026.
I hope it’s ok to push books at each other in here lol. For MPG Music, I can highly recommend The Music Shop
by Rachel Joyce. It is so good, I may reread it. There is even a Spotify playlist at the end of the book. My daughter (30s) also loved this. You’ll learn so much about music and the story is wonderful. Heartwarming, but not without some darkness. Terrific characterization. I would love some books set in ancient Egypt suggestions. I definitely see that as the most challenging.
Laura wrote: "I hope it’s ok to push books at each other in here lol...."I would call it recommending, and you certainly may recommend.
Thanks for the recommendation, Laura. I'll add it to my list of options. I don't have anything for books set in ancient Egypt yet. I'll be interested in recommendations as well.
I haven’t read them so I cannot recommend them but these ones might be my options Nefertiti, Cleopatra's Daughter
My problem is the dog‘s POV. Do you have any suggestions? I read Dog on It and found it ok and I loved The Art of Racing in the Rain and might just reread it…
Laura wrote: "I hope it’s ok to push books at each other in here lol. For MPG Music, I can highly recommend The Music Shop
by Rachel Joyce. I..."Thanks for the recommendation, Laura. I will definitely look into it :)
It's alive!!!!For ancient Egypt, I've had Ramses: The Son of the Light on my shelf for about 20 years.
Alexandra wrote: "My problem is the dog‘s POV. Do you have any suggestions? I read Dog on It and found it ok and I loved The Art of Racing in the Rain and might just reread it…"The only one I could suggest is One Good Dog but idk if Janice would approve it bc it’s not entirely in the dog’s POV. There are alternating chapters from a man and then the dog.
Also it can stomp on your heart in parts, and not sure you’re looking for that? I read it for the dog theme in this year’s challenge. It’s a really good book, it swept me away but the pit bull is being imprisoned and abused, kept for fighting at the beginning.
PS I hope you love Music Shop, if you read it 🎶
Rusalka wrote: "It's alive!!!!."
You’re a hoot, Rus 😅
Rusalka wrote: For ancient Egypt, I've had Ramses: The Son of the Light on my shelf for about 20 years."
Hmm this may be one to consider, as I like the mystical. please let us know if you read it.
Otherwise, Google AI just found this one that I might go for, as it’s humorous and middle grade so should be a quick read.
The Crocodile Caper
Hard for me to resist a cat and the cover is funny all on its own!
Alexandra wrote: "My problem is the dog‘s POV. Do you have any suggestions? I read Dog on It and found it ok and I loved The Art of Racing in the Rain and might just reread it…"Have you read anything by Matt Haig? The Last Family in England is narrated by a dog and I loved it!
Alexandra wrote: "My problem is the dog‘s POV. Do you have any suggestions? I read Dog on It and found it ok and I loved The Art of Racing in the Rain and might just reread it…"I'm planning to read Dog Person.
Alexandra wrote: "I haven’t read them so I cannot recommend them but these ones might be my options Nefertiti, Cleopatra's Daughter"Love that author! I reread Nefertiti for this prompt in a previous challenge. I'm dyslexic and rely on audible -Cleopatra's Daughter isn't available on UK sight 🤬
Alexandra wrote: "I haven’t read them so I cannot recommend them but these ones might be my options Nefertiti, Cleopatra's Daughter"I read Cleopatra's Daughter and if I recall correctly, the majority was set in Rome.
Margo wrote: "Alexandra wrote: "My problem is the dog‘s POV. Have you read anything by Matt Haig? The Last Family in England is narrated by a dog and I loved it.."
Ooh nice. I love Matt Haig and had never heard of this. Thank you! The US version can also be used for orange cover 😀 The Labrador Pact
Go away for the Thanksgiving holiday and miss all the fun. Will gopher and play when we get home. Love yhe challenge, Janice.
Alexandra wrote: "My problem is the dog‘s POV. Do you have any suggestions? I read Dog on It and found it ok and I loved The Art of Racing in the Rain and might just reread it…"I join my voice to your, I loved The Art of Racing in the Rain .
I finally got 1 option for all my cursed color tasks. it's a miracle!!!! I always come close to 75%. in fact the fist cover I tried was 74.6%, i took it as an omen :)The one I am having trouble with is the explosion task. I have one but it's seen through a window and I am sure it will not meet Janice's standard. My hunt for a plan B is still ongoing. Anyone got anything?
I am also having trouble with explosions, Esther. I found a couple on the fire on cover list but the ones on that list that work I have read already.
is good and looks like an explosion. But I would also welcome suggestions for this task
I’m having trouble with that one too. Would this one count for explosion? Or just fire? Looks explosive but not sure. 
For She Is WrathETA. **
Nothing to See Here - kids spontaneously combust when stressed?
Would this work for explosion, Janice? It's a supernova so fits the star theme too!
Or maybe this one? It is a stylized explosion
Re: Dogs. Yes, I'll accept books that are shared POV where a main character is a dog.Here's another example: Emily and Einstein
Esther wrote: "I finally got 1 option for all my cursed color tasks. it's a miracle!!!! I always come close to 75%. in fact the fist cover I tried was 74.6%, i took it as an omen :)Tin Eye is a tool. It's there as a guideline. So if your book is close, - >70% but it reads a blatant {whatever colour you're looking for} to your human eye, then it should be good to go. The object is that if the cover is to be yellow, we want the cover to be YELLOW, not lemons around the border of the cover and say good enough,
I was just looking at Tin Eye this morning. The Sunflower House is on the kindle daily deals this morning.
I asked Tin Eye and it said 53.9% yellow & 24.4% orange, but I wouldn't call their colour swatch orange. It's more gold. And when you look at the cover, it's yelling yellow. So I'm going with it.
Just a word of caution - if you are in doubt, ask for a ruling.
Janice wrote: "Esther wrote: "I finally got 1 option for all my cursed color tasks. it's a miracle!!!! I always come close to 75%. in fact the fist cover I tried was 74.6%, i took it as an omen :)Tin Eye is a..."
See, un-Meanie! Thank you, this helps quite a lot as I was thinking about rereading Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
for the yellow book and tineye said 66% when you uncheck the boxes to exclude anything. Seemed crazy to me.
Laura wrote: "I’m having trouble with that one too. Would this one count for explosion? Or just fire? Looks explosive but not sure. For She Is WrathETA. *..."
It looks like she's brandishing a sword, causing what looks like an explosion.
Katrisa wrote: "Or maybe this one? It is a stylized explosion"That one doesn't read explosion to me. I think the title influences what you see. It could be rays of the sun. It could just be a geometric design.
For the Egypt book I am reading Queen of Egypt. I bought the series on sale on Chirp for exactly this happenstance! I also usually buy books set in Switzerland for the same reason :)
Did I miss anyone's question?
Janice wrote: "Laura wrote: "I’m having trouble with that one too. Would this one count for explosion? Or just fire? Looks explosive but not sure. [book:For She Is Wrath|610..."Thank you! Would the second cover there of the spontaneously combusting kids work too? That one’s humorous 😬
Katrisa wrote: "What about for explosion?"It may be another case of the title influencing the interpretation of what you see.... but since a supernova is the driving force behind this task, I'll accept it.
When I wrote this task, I recalled seeing covers with explosions, so I thought it wouldn't be too difficult. Surprise!
Janice wrote: "Katrisa wrote: "What about for explosion?"It may be another case of the title influencing the interpretation of what you see.... but since a supernova is the dr..."
Thanks! Ya, I was putting words that might be correlated with explosions in the search on Libby hoping to find an explosion and supernova was one of the words I used
There are some lists with the tag of Explosions. Go to browse and under lists search for Explosions. I've tried to link to it, but continually get error messages.
Does this work for photograph on cover?
Janice wrote: "There are some lists with the tag of Explosions. Go to browse and under lists search for Explosions. I've tried to link to it, but continually get error messages."Perfect. Thank you. I’m seeing a fireworks list there which really opens this up much more. https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
A note on tineye - First, for those new to the site, you need to uncheck the box below the color breakdown that automatically excludes background color.
Second, always check the full color breakdown. The top color may be the one you're going for, but if you scroll down there are often other shades of the same color with additional percentages that add up. So, it might initially look like there isn't enough, but you just have to look a bit more.
Laura wrote: "Alexandra wrote: "My problem is the dog‘s POV. Do you have any suggestions? I read Dog on It and found it ok and I loved The Art of Racing in the Rain and might just r..."Thank you very much!! I’ll look into it - but heart stomping might be a deal breaker, it’s not the best of times right now.
I’ve marked The Music Shop as to read. I guess I’ll leave this challenge again with more books than before, sigh ;)
Janice, would
work for explosion? I'm getting error messages whenever I search for explosion lists too.
Alexandra wrote: "Laura wrote: "Alexandra wrote: "My problem is the dog‘s POV. Do you have any suggestions? I read Dog on It and found it ok and I loved The Art of Racing in the Rain an..."Dog Person looks like it might be a little lighter, but I'm not sure. Also, depends if you like romance.
Kristie wrote: "Alexandra wrote: "I haven’t read them so I cannot recommend them but these ones might be my options Nefertiti, Cleopatra's Daughter"Thank you, Kristie, that is indeed quite helpful! So it’s down to Nefertiti.
Margo wrote: "Alexandra wrote: "My problem is the dog‘s POV. Do you have any suggestions? I read Dog on It and found it ok and I loved The Art of Racing in the Rain and might just r..."Thank you! This sounds very good!
Kristie wrote: "Alexandra wrote: "My problem is the dog‘s POV. Do you have any suggestions? I read Dog on It and found it ok and I loved The Art of Racing in the Rain and might just r..."I like this one as well, it sounds very cozy!
Esther wrote: "Alexandra wrote: "My problem is the dog‘s POV. Do you have any suggestions? I read Dog on It and found it ok and I loved The Art of Racing in the Rain and might just r..."Exactly. It was a five star read for me. The problem is now that all the other dog books have to meet high standards…
Do cats of prey (in my case I think it’s a leopard) count as cats on the cover? Otherwise it might just be interpreted as a large cat with spots…
Janice, would you say that volcanoes explode? Assuming I find the right kind of 'explosion? Like:
You'll love this one...!! A book club & more
Books mentioned in this topic
River Explosion: A Fast-Paced Suspense of Survival, Resilience, and Rural Secrets (other topics)The Distant Hours (other topics)
Dark Clouds of the Morning (other topics)
Jobe's Father: A Jobe Carson Mystery (other topics)
Fire Catcher (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Joanne Harris (other topics)Matt Haig (other topics)
Rachel Joyce (other topics)
Rachel Joyce (other topics)
If you are asking for a book to be verified as meeting task requirements, please ask about one book only. It should be a book that you intend to read if it's verified. When I see a list of several books asking which fits the task, I feel like I am doing your gophering for you.