The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion
OLD TASK HELP THREADS
>
BRIDGIT'S TASK - THE WORLD OF BOOKS
Maps & Extras:* Any of the LotR series by J.R.R. Tolkien
* Any of the Valdemar series (double check your edition for map and/or extras) by Mercedes Lackey
Map
* The Coral Thief by Rebecca Stott - Set in France during Napoleonic Era
* People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks - Set across multiple countries, researching the history of a treasured book
* The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (double check your edition, I vaguely recall a map) - researching family tree roots, deals with Dracula!
* The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer - set on Guernsey Island post WW-II
Most sci-fi or fantasy novels have maps and extras!
I thought the map part of the task would be super easy because so many books have maps! Well turns out I have looked up maps of places, the books themselves didn't have maps! Going back to search!
There were definitely maps in Ursula le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea as my son loved looking at them!
the Wicked series from Gregory Maquire has 1 I believe...and maybe even a few of his others.
For the second part of the task, Matthew Reilly has a new book coming out in January. He generally puts in "illustrations" for lack of a better word in his books that explain pieces of the story. For example he has sketches of traps and such that are in the story. They aren't traditional illustrations as they are more like a visual representation of the puzzles/obstacles the adventure team is encountering. Would this count?
I will have to verify that they are present in his new book when I get it, but wanted to makes sure I was on the right track.
Rachel Lee wrote: "For the second part of the task, Matthew Reilly has a new book coming out in January. He generally puts in "illustrations" for lack of a better word in his books that explain pieces of the story. ..."That would count. I just dont want to include drawings that arent fully integrated into the story. For example, if there is a crossword puzzle in the book, and they show a drawing of that in the book, that is ok. But if it is just a drawing of a person that isnt really used as a clue or visualization of what is happening, that that wouldnt count.
Lindsey Davis' Marcus Didius Falco series always has a cast of characters in the front of the book.
Off the top of my head: Part B:
The Quincunx
Wolf Hall
The Lost Symbol
House of Leaves
Me & You Too - Catalyst The First FULL-COLOR novel
Part A:
The Lord of the Rings
The Eye of the World
The Sword of Shannara
The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear
Team of Rivals The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
Will think of some more when I get home from work tonight, but a TON of fantasy books have maps, and a lot of history books.
I wonder if having pictures in the middle of the book count.
I remember Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close had a ton of in text sort of things. I'm going to have to go look at my copy.
Good Omens The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch has a lot of different fontface, symbols and formatting.
Tanja wrote: "I wonder if having pictures in the middle of the book count."Tanja - no. If you are thinking of biographies/histories that have like 10 pages in the center with photos, those won't count. I think they are a little too standard at this point.
Thanks Bridgit! Helps should I find a bio/history that can fall under Abigail's task.
Tanja wrote: "Good Omens The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch has a lot of different fontface, symbols and formatting."Does this book contain a map? I think I've found a book for the second part of the task already.
As far as I know, all of the Dragonriders of Pern books by Anne McCaffrey would work because they all have maps. This delights me, because I've been trying to get through the entire series and fit books into tasks as I can.
Oh, and there's also the Dragondex in those books, so they would work for the second half, too!
If you enjoy historical fiction I'm pretty sure all 3 of Michelle Moran's books about Egypt have family trees in the front.
so could we use a book that has a map at the front of the book...like right before the title page, that shows where the story(ies) is/are taking place???
kiki wrote: "so could we use a book that has a map at the front of the book...like right before the title page, that shows where the story(ies) is/are taking place???"Yep!
I also think almost all of Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody series have maps in them, except for the one that takes place in England (Deeds of the Disturber).
Blood of Victory by Alan Furst has a map.The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher Or The Murder at Road Hill House by Kate Summerscale has a family tree and a map.
Michelle, yes. Check the edition you pick up. My large sized Hobbit has a map on the inside cover.
I have the individual copies of each of the Narnia stories and they all have maps in the front. Hope this helps someone.
Edward Rutherfurd's books have family trees (not sure about maps) - I've read and enjoyed The Forest, London The Novel and Sarum The Novel of England. His book Russka The Novel of Russia has both a family tree and a map.In the Heart of the Sea The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex and Mayflower A Story of Courage, Community, and War, both by Nathaniel Philbrick, have maps scattered throughout.
Hawaii A Novel by James Michener has a family tree and if I'm not mistaken, also has some maps.
Hope this helps.
Jon Krakauer has maps in some of his books like Into Thin Air and Under the Banner of Heaven A Story of Violent Faith.
I just checked and Ella Minnow Pea A Novel in Letters has a page of terms and definitions at the front of the book.
I remember that there are maps at the beginning of Nabokov's memoir Speak Memory, Eco's The Name of the Rose and at that of The Lost Diary of Don Juan by Doughlas Carlton Abrams. Also there are all kinds of drawings, diagrams and symbols inThe Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Mark Haddon and in Foucault's Pendulum, Umberto Eco. And there's a family tree in Ada or Ardor by Nabokov.
Jamie wrote: "I remember Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close had a ton of in text sort of things. I'm going to have to go look at my copy."It did! That would be a really good choice for this task. When I was at Borders yesterday, I flipped through his book Eating Animals, and it looked like that had some interesting formatting/typography/etc. as well.
Song of Ice and Fire series works too.
The following all have maps:Fatherland
Isaac's Storm A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History
Lost on Everest The Search for Mallory & Irvine
The Sultan's Seal A Novel
I think the following would work for extra content - can you confirm Bridgit?The Lost Symbol
The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet
Love Is a Mix Tape Life and Loss, One Song at a Time
High Fidelity
And then I have a question - In Special Topics in Calamity Physics all of the Chapters are the name of different books - does this count as an extra?
Tammy wrote: "I think the following would work for extra content - can you confirm Bridgit?The Lost Symbol
The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet
[book:Love Is a Mix Tape Life and ..."
The Lost Symbol is definitely ok. I don't have the others, so if you can tell me what is 'extra' about them, I will let you know. If it is one of the things listed in the task name, they are definitely fine. As for the Chapter names, I am going to have to say no. Unique chapter names isn't really what I was going for.
some other books from my list that I found: Daughter of Fortune A Novel - map
Barbarians at the Gate The Fall of RJR Nabisco - cast of characters
The Magicians' Guild - map
Anne Bishop - almost all books have a list of characters/list of races etc
Zugzwang A Novel - symbols/puzzles
The Sudoku Murder A Katie McDonald Mystery - symbol/puzzle
Traveling with Pomegranates A Mother-Daughter Story has a map in it. Plus, it was one of my favorite reads for the Fall Challenge. It's a change of pace from all the wonderful sci-fi and fantasy titles already posted.
Bridgit wrote: "Tammy wrote: "I think the following would work for extra content - can you confirm Bridgit?The Lost Symbol
The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet
[book:Love Is a Mix Tape..."
T.S. Spivet should definitely work - it is about a kid who is asked to speak at the Museum of Natural History & is filled with all kinds of drawings, notations, diagrams, etc.
Love is a Mix Tape has a different mix-tape list at the end or beginning of each chapter based on the topic of the chapter and Hi Fidelity has various Top 5 lists. Thanks! I like your task!
Heidi wrote: "There were definitely maps in Ursula le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea as my son loved looking at them!"I've loved the Earthsea books (so far, I'm only two-in)! I'm going to read the third one, The Farthest Shore, for this challenge. I loved The Tombs of Atuan!
Tammy wrote: "Bridgit wrote: "Tammy wrote: "I think the following would work for extra content - can you confirm Bridgit?The Lost Symbol
The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet
[book..."
All sound good then!
Would photographs or pictures work as extras?
Kate, I asked that earlier...Tanja wrote: "I wonder if having pictures in the middle of the book count."
Abigail wrote: Tanja - no. If you are thinking of biographies/histories that have like 10 pages in the center with photos, those won't count. I think they are a little too standard at this point.
Tanja wrote: "Kate, I asked that earlier...Tanja wrote: "I wonder if having pictures in the middle of the book count."
Abigail wrote: Tanja - no. If you are thinking of biographies/histories that have li..."
Oh, I didn't see that post! Thanks for letting me know.
Bridget,I have the Omnibus for The Lord of the Rings. It contains about 100 pages of information about middle earth and further explains characters and cities..ect. If I read just the Fellowship of the Ring for this task would it count as I'm not going to read the other two for the winter challenge? And I already found a map book I've been dying to read so I don't want to just use it for the map part. This is a re-read so I don't remember if you said we couldn't but I didn't read the supplimental information the first time I read them.
Felina - that works for me! Let me know how the supplemental portions are - I think I skipped them when I read my copy.
The Seasonal Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster (other topics)Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster (other topics)
Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts (other topics)
Haussmann, or the Distinction (other topics)
Haussmann, or the Distinction (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
C. Robert O'Dell (other topics)C. Robert O'Dell (other topics)
C. Robert O'Dell (other topics)
Michelle Moran (other topics)
Mercedes Lackey (other topics)
More...
To Honor The Authors That Go Beyond Just The Written Word In Order To Fully Realize The World They Have Created, Lets Read…
A. Any Book That Has A Map Included (Real Or Imaginary).
AND
B. Any Book That Has Extra Content, Such As: A Timeline, Family Tree, Glossary Of Terms, List Of Characters, Drawings Or Symbols Within The Text (NOT ILLUSTRATIONS), OR Unusual Text Layouts/Formatting (Ex. House Of Leaves).
If you need suggestions for books to read for this task post a request here.