Challenge and Monthly Themed Read Suggestions

[Janice, Moderator]

Good suggestion, Anna. Thanks. :)

[Shanna_redwind]

I like that idea a lot.

[Lucy]

How about reading classics that have been revised to add monsters and such to them? Like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Android Karenina, or Northanger Abbey and Angels and Dragons. There are a bunch out there.

[Anna]

Lucy wrote: "How about reading classics that have been revised to add monsters and such to them? Like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Android Karenina, or Northanger Abbey and Angels and Dragons. There are a..."

I have read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and in my eyes it is not much better when classic has been revised to add graphic sex scenes.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Oh was that Pride and Promiscuity: The Lost Sex Scenes of Jane Austen? I was not a huge fan.

[Lucy]

Anna - Hmmm, if PP&Z had graphic sex scenes, they must not have been very good as I'm having a hard time recalling any (or my mind did me a favor and erased the experience lol). But that was a lot of books ago and my memory isn't what it used to be. ;)

Rusalka - Oh my! I'm no prude or anything, but I think I'll give that one a pass. lol

[Anna]

Lucy & Rusalka

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies didn't include sex scenes, thanks for that! I was thinking about these kind of books http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/...

Here they are on GR http://www.goodreads.com/series/83451...

IMO, shamelessly earning money, classics are free they add some scenes and here comes money.

[Lucy]

Just a further reminder that sex sells. I never got behind the idea of adding sex purely for the sake of adding sex. Parody on the other hand, I can get behind that.

[Anna]

Inspired by this month's theme! :)
Books that were published posthumously.

list http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/60...

[Lynn]

How about books that are published this year? ;o)

[Anna]

Lynn wrote: "How about books that are published this year? ;o)"

Only March now. Wouldn't be hard to get them in library?

[Lynn]

It was more of a joke than a serious suggestion Anna

[Anna]

Lynn wrote: "It was more of a joke than a serious suggestion Anna"

aaaah

[Thing Two]

I've been thinking up a challenge for next year, and it comes about because I've gleaned the smallest books for this year's challenge, leaving all of my monster books behind.

So, what if we had a challenge to read the largest books on our book list. Extra points could be assigned if

- it's a book we own (I own War and Peace -- never read it)
- it's a book we've had on our shelf for x years (I've had War and Peace on my TBR shelf for 3 years)
- poetry collections, short story collections fit well in this category, as do non-fiction books

I've got 16 books on my list over 1000 pages. I'll never get to them in a monthly challenge or toppler, but a year-long one ... I'd do it!

[Rusalka, Moderator]

The Doorstop-a-thon.
Interesting idea Thing Two.

[Janice, Moderator]

It is definitely an interesting idea, Helen. We've been giving the chunksters a bit of an homage by allowing higher points for longer books. But, I can see them fitting into a year long challenge better than a monthly challenge. I have a few chunksters too that might take a challenge to get me cracking open the covers.

[Samantha A]

I would love a doorstop-a-thon.. Give me a reason to read , and countless Stephen King books.

[Samantha A]

Well, I already have a reason to read my King books, but you know ;)

[Janice, Moderator]

Samantha wrote: "Well, I already have a reason to read my King books, but you know ;)"

LOL! I completely understand. The Stand is a prime example.

[Thing Two]

We've been giving the chunksters a bit of an homage by allowing higher points for longer books ..."

The Civil War: A Narrative is a carry-over from my pre-Goodreads list making days. At 2934 pages, it's been on my tbr for -- oh, maybe -- 15 years, now. Yeah, I need an incentive!

[Samantha A]

Janice wrote: "Samantha wrote: "Well, I already have a reason to read my King books, but you know ;)"

LOL! I completely understand. The Stand is a prime example."

Yes! People keep telling me to read it and i'm like.. I'll get to it haha.

[Anna]

An amazing idea ThingTwo!

My largest book is In his care - 2.624 pages

[Janice, Moderator]

Wow! I don't think I've encountered a book with 2000+ pages!

[Rusalka, Moderator]

My wrists ache at the thought!

[Roz]

I just checked to see if there was a listopia selection for doorstoppers. There's one for books of over 1000 pages. Amazing that so many of them are on my tbr shelf. There must be something wrong with me.

[Janice, Moderator]

I'll have to check out that listopia and see what gems are on it.

[Pragya]

Here are two listopia with 1000+ page books -

http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/30...

http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/47...

I have so many of them on my TBR and have read none! Wow! This challenge idea is great, Thing Two.

I have a 4211 page book on my TBR. Gasp! In Search of Lost Time

[Cherie]

I have some books on the Listopia lists too, but many more that I have already read. The list reminded me of what my daughter told me about why she liked to read the Robert Jordan books. She like to pick ones that had lots of pages so that she could not finish them so quickly. LOL!

[Jkmays]

I had an idea today that might be worked into a challenge, maybe a year long one, but probably more than one month at least.

Right now I am listening to My Beloved World. She makes a reference to something that happened during the Truman administration in the US. That reminded me that Truman is on my TBR list and I could read it next.

How about a challenge where every book you read for the challenge would connect to the previous one read. It wouldn't have to be subject matter: it could also be setting, author, color of cover, anything that connects a book to the one that follows.

And it could be set up so that participants could choose how many books they wanted to connect, to accommodate faster and slower readers or those who also participate in other challenges.

Just a thought. What do you think?

[Roz]

What an interesting concept!!! Like the game where all movies link together and end up connecting back to Kevin Bacon. You're right that it would have to a long challenge.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Oh that's a great idea, as I could legitimately use the time sink I found the other day. https://www.smalldemons.com/

You go and type a name of a book in, and it links you all the other books, songs, movies, brands, places, people, etc mentioned in that book. You can click on one of these and see what other books mention the said thing, or, for what is useful in this case, you click on one of the books and see all the books, etc mentioned in it.

[Rachel]

Jkmays wrote: "I had an idea today that might be worked into a challenge, maybe a year long one, but probably more than one month at least.

Right now I am listening to My Beloved World. She makes a reference to..."

love this idea! I agree it would work better for a year long challenge or even a 6 month challenge.

[Sarah]

I love the idea of reading books with some connection to the next!

[[deleted user]]

Or a weeklong toppler? I do agree, the format could be endlessly interesting

[Janice, Moderator]

Great idea! I can see many adaptations of that concept.

[Sarah]

Talking of topplers, do we have one coming up at all? I thoroughly enjoyed the late one!

[Janice, Moderator]

Yes, there will be one for August. jaxnsmom is just putting the final touches on it.

[Sarah]

Janice wrote: "Yes, there will be one for August. jaxnsmom is just putting the final touches on it."

Yay! I'm excited to hear that!

[Lara]

I'm excited too!

[Peggy]

I'm new so sorry if this doesn't make sense or was mentioned before (I skimmed the replies here but did not read all of them), but an idea for a year long challenge came to my mind while reading this thread (well, actually more when I took a break from work and went for a walk in the sunshine ;-)).

The theme would be setting/location, and everyone would read books set in a different country, organized by continent. The order of continents could for example be:

Europe
North America
South America
Asia
Africa
Oceania

So you would start reading a book set in a European country (e.g. Germany), followed by a book set in North America (maybe even divided by state?), then a book in South America (e.g. Argentina) and so on. When you worked your way through all the continents, you start with Europe again (but you're not allowed to read a book set in Germany anymore!).

Oceania might be a bit tricky as it doesn't have that many countries, so maybe it could go together with Asia (makes sense geographically) or Africa (maybe that makes more sense in terms of number of countries or how easy it would be to find books?)

I'm looking forward to participate in a year long challenge! (I'm afraid I won't manage 26 books this year for the alphabet challenge)

[Peggy]

I can never seem to give short explanations about something...

[Peggy]

I like the idea about reading books that are somehow connected to each other too!


And some ideas for the monthly challenge:

Read a book from the read (or to-read) list from the person who posted above you

Read a book other people are raving about, but doesn't seem all that interesting to you

Read the books on your to-read shelf with both the most and least beautiful cover

Ask a friend/partner/parent/sibling about their favourite book and read it

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Peggy wrote: "I'm new so sorry if this doesn't make sense or was mentioned before (I skimmed the replies here but did not read all of them), but an idea for a year long challenge came to my mind while reading th..."

Interesting idea Peggy. A few of us are in an Around the World group at the moment which is exploring this kinda thing at the moment, but definately could be interesting to do here as well.

And I don't know... there are 27 of us here in Oceania. Not including the 6 more external territories/islands of us here in Aus, so 33 :)

[Janice, Moderator]

Thanks for all your great suggestions Peggy! I do come here to this thread and review the suggestions from time to time. I have incorporated some of them... maybe added a bit of a twist to them.

*evil laugh*

[Rusalka, Moderator]

I was opting for the silent but deadly approach, Janice. That way they never know if we twist their brilliant ideas on themselves until it's too late.

[Janice, Moderator]

We could add a theme song to our challenges. How about the Beatles "Twist and Shout"? We twist. They shout! Works for me. :)

[Snoozie Suzie]

How about a monthly challenge where there is an object in the title. Eg, book, sword, diary, toothpick.

Or pigs.

[Roz]

Again with the pigs!! lol

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Heh Suzie, I'm thinking of a way to use Pigs.

[Janice, Moderator]

You are cracking me up with the pig thing Suzie! Oink! Oink!