You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion
Challenges: Monthly
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Challenge and Monthly Themed Read Suggestions
Janice is right. They are all on the bookshelf .
I knew they were there. I was just wondering if someone had them linked anywhere else. Honestly, it seems unnecessary to me for a group like this, but another group I'm in has them typed out in a spreadsheet. It does make it easier if you were going to split them up into tasks, like I did with the Choice Awards challenge. I used the lists I already had from my Choice Awards group for part of that and it made it a lot easier.
We currently have 223 books on our bookshelf in this group. We could just link the shelf, but that limits how you break things up, score, keep track of reads, etc. for teams. I'm just thinking of different ways to work it for teams vs individuals.
This link came up in ny Facebook this morning. https://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2018/1... it has lot's of first lines of science fiction books. It got me thinking . I know we have a first lines thread here. Could we randomly pick a first line and either read that book or a book based on that line. Maybe if we had a list of first lines which didn't have the book name listed with it, we choose the line that most appeals to us, then we find out what the book is , and read it . Or something like that.
You keep coming up with great ideas, Sarah. :)
I like your idea, Sarah. I am always ready to jump into a story based on first words. It is always a risk, but I like the challenge of discovering a story that I might not have read otherwise. I have always been a science fiction reader, so many of the books on the link were familiar to me. I’ve read a lot of them. Maybe a random choice generator could be used to pick a book, or just to pick the lines and we would pick a book based on the words. Either way could work.
It reminds me of the challenge we did a few months ago, where you had to go to a certain page in the book closest to you, read the first sentence, and read another book based on that sentence. That was fun!
Janice wrote: "You keep coming up with great ideas, Sarah. :)"Thanks!
Peggy wrote: "It reminds me of the challenge we did a few months ago, where you had to go to a certain page in the book closest to you, read the first sentence, and read another book based on that sentence. That..."Yes it's kind of similar. I guess it depends on which way it is taken. It would be quite different if we only supplied first lines but not what book it was from, then people could choose a first lines they like the look of, and read that book. Or people just choose one of the books that have been mentioned in our 'currently reading first lines' thread, based on the first line.
Peggy wrote: "It reminds me of the challenge we did a few months ago, where you had to go to a certain page in the book closest to you, read the first sentence, and read another book based on that sentence. That..."I think that was Sarah's idea as well. :)
Just been looking at the book nominations for the group reads this month. One had paper in the title. Another glass. It made me think of the list of wedding anniversaries gifts (paper, cotton, leather, fruit/flowers, wood, candy/iron, copper/wool, bronze, pottery, etc.) and wondered whether a challenge could be made from it some how.
That is an interesting idea!
I like that, Sarah! Definitely something to consider.
You have some great ideas for challenges Sarah!
Oh, that is a great idea, would give everyone a lot of options.
I don't know if this is a thing in other countries too, but here for Christmas (and Dutch Sinterklaas) within families or groups of friends we often each make a wishlist for gifts and then draw names, so you end up buying gifts for one person, but who draws who is a surprise. As an extra, you often hide the presents in something creative that fits with the person you're buying gifts for. For example, in elementary school we did this too and the boy who drew my name made a dog out of two balloons on which he pasted paper strips that came from a paper shredder.Anyway, I was thinking this might be a nice challenge, especially in December. You could make a wishlist in the thread (of books you own or are willing to buy, of genres, or something else entirely) and the person who draws your name 'gifts' you something from your wishlist (so a specific book which you then have to read, a genre that you read a book from, or a book related to something that was on your wishlist). The person who gives you your gift would remain secret until you receive a PM with your 'gift' in it.
I haven't thought out the details but it popped into my mind.
It's actually a bit like challenges we've done before, except I think you just got paired with someone.Oh, and I just realized it's probably known all over the world... secret santa, right?
Sounds great, Peggy! Very creative! I think it would do a wonderful challenge, and also more personal.We also do this for Christmas. In Uruguay is called "amigo invisible" (invisible friend) and in US, at least where I live, is "secret angel".
Yup, called kris kringle or secret santa here. Not a bad idea at all. And like the wedding anniversary one too, Sarah.
Great idea, Peggy. It could be adapted to Valentines too.
A challenge around 'popular sayings' could be fun, interesting and informative. Not sure how it would work. Maybe choose a saying, a favourite or random, and read a book based on the saying, either a book that has a similar theme to the saying or words from the saying in the title.
I'm desperately trying to come up with a nomination for the group read but all my ideas wouldn't work for that, but would for a challenge.My next idea was a "Stretching yourself" challenge, so reading a book which stretches you in some way, whether that's a genre you wouldn't normally read or about a subject you know little about, or something a little more advanced in a subject you are already familiar with. Could be fiction or non-fiction depending on which avenue you go down.
They're both good ideas Sarah. Maybe get people to state their favourite genres that the a later date providing a list of opposites that they must read? Or maybe more than one choice?
Both great ideas, Sarah. I can see Popular Sayings being an annual challenge too.
Janice wrote: "Both great ideas, Sarah. I can see Popular Sayings being an annual challenge too."Definitely. There are enough of them for sure!
I was googling them and found some great ones from Africa, Australia, Scotland. I'm definitely seeing possibilities.
Janice wrote: "I was googling them and found some great ones from Africa, Australia, Scotland. I'm definitely seeing possibilities."Excellent! There are some very strange sayings out there and it would be interesting know where they come from. I watched a news report about the latest Tyson Fury fight and his opponent's manager throwig a towel in the ring. Then I thought 'ohhhh, there's a saying about throwing in the towel, maybe it came from boxing and it was an actual thing'.
It does come from boxing. If a coach throws a towel into the ring, it's a signal to stop the fight. The idiom has come to mean giving up.
Sarah wrote: "A challenge around 'popular sayings' could be fun, interesting and informative. I'm desperately trying to come up with a nomination for the group read but all my ideas wouldn't work for that, but would for a challenge.A Piece of Cake
In A Pickle
Easy Money
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America
Cry Wolf
Oh wow, there are quite a few there Jannene!
A friend of mine said A Piece of Cake is a good story. My employee liked Nickel and Dimed.
I have seen titles for "Hit and Miss" and "Fore and Aft" on GR.
Those also work for opposites in the title, Cherie.
Have we ever had a challenge where you have to read a book that has the same title as another book? Example: The Deep by Rivers Solomon and The Deep by Alma Katsu. I was just thinking about it since I'm reading both of these books this year!
Jayme wrote: "Have we ever had a challenge where you have to read a book that has the same title as another book? Example: The Deep by Rivers Solomon and The Deep?I don’t think so. I also don’t think we’ve done a book with multiple titles like The Warded Man which also is The Painted Man.
Jannene wrote: "Jayme wrote: "Have we ever had a challenge where you have to read a book that has the same title as another book? Example: The Deep by Rivers Solomon and [book:The..."I think we have done that. I remember gophering for it and ended up reading a book by Wodehouse.
We did the book with different titles one. The other option sounds familiar too. I don't know if it was a challenge in itself or a task in a yearly challenge. I don't really remember. Maybe I'm just confused.
The different title was definitely in a yearly challenge. Two years ago maybe? Same title sounds familar too.Don't remember if we did any of those as a monthly challenge.
We've done both. I don't recall if it was an individual challenge or tasks for an annual challenge.
I'vee been really getting into bird watching during locckdown and i thought it could make a good challenge. There are so many birds: robin, swallow, blackbird, goldfinch. And that's just UK birds. Each bird could be a task with a suitably linked book to read. Could be based on colour, country it lives in, or some other interesting fact about it. And for bonus points, take a picture of one.
That could also work for insects and mammals.
You'll love this one...!! A book club & more
Books mentioned in this topic
Jack (other topics)The Deep (other topics)
The Warded Man (other topics)
The Deep (other topics)
The Painted Man (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Cherie Priest (other topics)Marilynne Robinson (other topics)
Rivers Solomon (other topics)
Rivers Solomon (other topics)
Alma Katsu (other topics)
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Kristie, they should all be on the bookshelf.