SPRING/SUMMER 2010: Questions & General Discussion

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner), The Founding Bookworm]

Well, I think so. Haha. I realized it's hard to figure out what constitutes an emotion..but love is an emotion so I'm going to go with yes!

[Kaion]

Does anyone know if any of the NPR beach reads (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st...) actually involve a beach? Or some other summer-y location? I want to read that one.

What are some good pre-1700 novels?

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner), The Founding Bookworm]

Haha I wondered that about the beach reads too! I was hoping for that when I first saw the list.


I'm using The Princess of Cleves for the Pre-1700 novel.

[Kaion]

They do seem to skew towards the long and/or depressing.

[S]

Could Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick be used for a multiple point-of-view selection? It's written by a reporter who tells the stories of six defectors from North Korea.

[Bárbara]

Lol, from the beach reads I've read:
To Kill a Mockingbird, The Kite Runner, Pride and Prejudice, The Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Little Women, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lolita, The Little Prince, Franny and Zooey, and have started Dracula.
None had beaches.

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner), The Founding Bookworm]

Sarah wrote: "Could Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick be used for a multiple point-of-view selection? It's written by a reporter who tells the stories of six defecto..."

Sure.

[jessi]

I've read Harry, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Kite Runner, Pride and Prejudice, The Great Gatsby, Life of Pi, The Catcher in the Rye, Lord of the Rings, The Princess Bride, Twilight, Cat's Cradle, The Lord of the Flies, Franny and Zooey.

Life of Pi had a beach in it for like a minute. It has a lot of ocean in it? lol.

Twilight has a beach in it for like a chapter. Wouldn't recommend the book as a whole, though.

My mom read Summer Sisters a while back and I remember the cover was like two chairs on a beach, so maybe that one will work for you.

You could also take a stab at Cannery Row, because I know it's set, like so many other Steinbeck novels, in Monterey, California, which is a beautiful place right on the ocean.

[Tahleen]

Isn't Cannery Row set on/near a wharf?

[Kaion]

I love Monterey (and the aquarium there). I guess The Great Gatsby counts, then. (I'm not great at East Coast geography) But it's on a bay, right?

Reading the summary for Beach Music, it ironically doesn't appear to have much about beaches either (but has Nazis and Rome, according the reviews).

Actually the last time I went to the beach, I had Count of Monte Cristo and my friend had Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. (We like doing themed things.)

[Anna]

Beach Music was partially set on the South Carolina coast.

[Bárbara]

I have a very silly question - my timezone is GMT, which is 5h "ahead" of EST; can I use my timezone instead to start/finish the challenge?

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner), The Founding Bookworm]

Sure. As long as you are consistent about the starting and finishing..I think there are only like 2 or 3 others that applies to. Not after EST though. It would just make it way too confusing for me to figure out who is on what time zone and when I should stop accepting points from people at the end of the challenge. lol So if you are in a situation like Barbara..just let me know!

[jessi]

GMT makes me think of how I listen to the BBC on the radio every night at midnight, or 5 o'clock GMT :)

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner), The Founding Bookworm]

The task that Jules designed is now posted! Go check the task list!

That is the final task that will be added. So this is the challenge as it stands!

[Jules]

Jamie wrote: "The task that Jules designed is now posted! Go check the task list!

That is the final task that will be added. So this is the challenge as it stands!"

:D!

[jessi]

So, I believe that makes 54 books and 630 possible points as of now?

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner), The Founding Bookworm]

That is what I have as far as 630 being the possible number of points you can earn!

[Bárbara]

Jamie wrote: "Sure. As long as you are consistent about the starting and finishing..I think there are only like 2 or 3 others that applies to. Not after though. It would just make it way too confusing for me to ..."
Oh, I'm honest ;) I'll stop adding up points at midnight the day it's over. It's just because it's a difference of more than 1/2h, so it's a bit... hard to keep up with, haha.

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner), The Founding Bookworm]

Haha I have no doubt that you would be honest. Yeah, I'm glad you said something because I can see how that would be difficult to keep track of when it's quite a difference!

[Jen]

Verity - Would The Arabian Nights: Tales from a Thousand and One Nights work for your task?

[R]

My timezone is GMT +8, which is a whole 13 hours ahead of EST. I was thinking of attempting to stick to EST, but yeah haha I think I might get confused. Can I use my timezone too?

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner), The Founding Bookworm]

Yeah that's fine!

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner), The Founding Bookworm]

Jen wrote: "Verity - Would The Arabian Nights: Tales from a Thousand and One Nights work for your task?"

I do believe that works. I was going to use that one. It's on my list for the 1001 books to read before you die as "Pre 1700".

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner), The Founding Bookworm]

This challenge has officially started!!

[Lori]

Jamie is going to be unavailable to answer questions for the next few days, so I'll be fielding questions. I'll questions every morning (and possibly throughout the day), so don't feel ignored.

Happy reading.

[Jess]

Question about points. If, for the 25 point tasks, you have to read two books, but you read one before the other...how should we go about listing that on the tasks completed thread? (For example, I just finished reading modern poetry, but I haven't read the other book for that task.)

[Tahleen]

Jess, last time what I did was have both titles on my list and I crossed off the one I finished, and at the end I had a tally of books I've finished, tasks I've finished, and total points.

[Tami]

Me too, crossed off books as I finished but didn't add points until both were read.

[Jess]

OK, sounds good. I just added my entry on the Spring/Summer 2010 Leaderboard & Completed Tasks thread, with a note that I'm not claiming points until I've completed the other part of the task. (It's confusing, since now the task lists and the point counts are in separate places! Well, not really confusing, but I have to keep going back and forth.) Thanks, Tahleen and Tami!

[Tahleen]

They're in different places now?

[Jess]

Well, we're posting the actual task lists (lists of books) in the Official Task List, and then the point claiming is in the Leaderboard & Completed Tasks thread. I think?

[Tahleen]

Ohhhh. I forgot that. I haven't actually read anything for the challenge yet haha.

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner), The Founding Bookworm]

Jess wrote: "Question about points. If, for the 25 point tasks, you have to read two books, but you read one before the other...how should we go about listing that on the tasks completed thread? (For example, I..."

You can just claim the points when you have finished both for the task. You are right. The place to post your task list is just for your records now and to claim any points you need to do that in the Leaderboard & the Completed task thread. I thought it would be easier how we did it last time with everybody updating their own but it proved to be more difficult because I ended up scrolling through all the lists not knowing if there were updated. I wasted a ton of time if there was only a few updates. This way will be so much easier and I've seen it work out well in another challenge group.

[Jess]

OK, sounds good—thanks for confirming that, Jamie! Yeah, I can see why that would be frustrating and time-consuming. So far it looks like it's working out well.

[Anna]

so possibly a silly question but on the challenges that involve a book cover do we have to read the physical book?

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner), The Founding Bookworm]

Annashu wrote: "so possibly a silly question but on the challenges that involve a book cover do we have to read the physical book?"

Do you mean like if you have it on audiobook could you still read it? If that's what you mean, then yes. As long as you actually love or hate the cover of the book.

[Tahleen]

Or did you mean do you have to read that particular edition? I wondered the same thing.

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner), The Founding Bookworm]

Tahleen wrote: "Or did you mean do you have to read that particular edition? I wondered the same thing."

That's fine too. At first I was going to say no but then I thought about that it doesn't really matter. lol. Just as long as you actually love the cover..I sometimes love the cover of something but end up getting an older edition or something.

[Anna]

I was thinking about e-books but all the other examples are basically the same thing I think. Thanks

[Emily]

I'm sorry if this has already been asked, but does anyone have anything for the Emotional Reading that isn't Nicholas Sparks, Jodi Piccoult, or A Thousand Splendid Suns? I can't seem to think of anything.

[Alicia]

Emily wrote: "I'm sorry if this has already been asked, but does anyone have anything for the Emotional Reading that isn't Nicholas Sparks, Jodi Piccoult, or A Thousand Splendid Suns? I can't seem to think of an..."

I am using Lolita. I think "emotional" is a pretty subjective thing though...

[Bárbara]

yeah, i'm guessing anything that gets a strong reaction.

[Caitlin]

As far as I could tell, the Beach Reads list is just books that you can read while on the beach, as an escape... I chose Gone with the Wind because I've always wanted to read it. (okay, not always, but at least since I was 12).

Can something like date rape or rape be an ethical issue?

<3

[Lori]

Caitlin, I think that Jamie was wanting it to be an issue that wasn't so obviously wrong or right, but more open to debate. Jamie suggested war and euthanasia on page 1 of the thread, along with titles.

[jessi]

Emily wrote: "I'm sorry if this has already been asked, but does anyone have anything for the Emotional Reading that isn't Nicholas Sparks, Jodi Piccoult, or A Thousand Splendid Suns? I can't seem to think of an..."

I am reading We Need to Talk About Kevin for this one.

[Caitlin]

The problem is... war and abortion and stuff... I don't really care about, if that makes sense.

Maybe I'll do animal rights.

<3

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner), The Founding Bookworm]

Yeah, I was looking for an issue that wasn't so black and white..that being said..several people have come to me with other topics not on the list that I've approved. Someone is doing treatment of women. Another person is doing something about incest..even though that is pretty black and white I said that if you could get a book from both sides of the issue that would be fine.

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner), The Founding Bookworm]

Emily wrote: "I'm sorry if this has already been asked, but does anyone have anything for the Emotional Reading that isn't Nicholas Sparks, Jodi Piccoult, or A Thousand Splendid Suns? I can't seem to think of an..."

Definitely can be other sorts of emotions. Alicia said Lolita and something like that would definitely work because it's so shocking and disturbing and makes you mad. Definitely a pretty subjective task. Hope that helps!

[Tahleen]

Jamie wrote: "Yeah, I was looking for an issue that wasn't so black and white..that being said..several people have come to me with other topics not on the list that I've approved. Someone is doing treatment of ..."

Jamie, if you don't mind my asking, what about the treatment of women?