Spring 2012 General Questions & Answers

[Liz M]

Post your general questions about the Reading w/Style Spring 2012 challenge (10 and 20 point tasks) and style points here.

[Rebekah]

On the poll, the task celebrating children's authors, which list woul we use and do you have the link for it? Will there only be one list and will we confined to a certain number on the list?

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

If you look at the comments below the poll, there is a link for you to peruse.

[Rebekah]

What a lovely website! I've added it to my "favorites" to use with my children.

[Liz M]

Rebekah wrote: "What a lovely website! I've added it to my "favorites" to use with my children."

grin. I think we got the website from you, Rebekah ;)

[Karen Michele]

When does the poll close? I can't remember or find the date. Thanks!

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

I can answer the poll question - Feb 26!

I'm hesitant to answer the banned book question until we have conferred.

[Liz M]

Don wrote: "RE: Banned books challenge. At the ALA site they list books as banned & challenged. Some books have had requests to be banned from a location but not always successfully. Does our documenting of ..."

I haven't had time to look into this -- all my free time has been used trying to get caught up on the readerboard (only 133 posts behind).

Hopefully by the weekend, I will post an answer in the 20.1 Tattered Cover help thread.

[Karen Michele]

I have another voting related question. Will any more tasks be posted before the voting closes?

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

I'm going to stick my neck out on this one Karen, because Liz posts tasks. But she's pretty busy both at work and catching up on scorekeeping, so I wouldn't expect any more before Sunday.

[Rebekah]

What day does the poll end?

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

February 26

[Carolyn]

I think the answer to this is posted somewhere but I can't find it so please forgive me! I believe I read at one point that we can use a book that we started reading before the official start date as long as we are no further than 50% through by the start of the challenge, i.e. March 1st. I just started a 766 page book that I definitely won't finish in time for the Winter challenge, so I'm hoping I can use it for the spring... Thanks in advance and sorry for any redundancy.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

You are correct, Carolyn. Halfway or less, for one book only, and it's good for the next challenge. Happy reading!

[Connie]

This is not a question, but a statement:
I'm really really excited about the spring challenge. So many great tasks, lovely group reads! I'm seriously rethinking trying to complete this challenge in favour of learning how to speed read, so that I can all of those done.

(and, I think 3 books in 3 work days might be not doable for me anyway...)

Thanks for such a delightful smorgasbord of tasks!

[Liz M]

Connie wrote: "(and, I think 3 books in 3 work days might be not doable for me anyway...) ..."

(cough, cough) Boss, I don't feel well. I may be out for a day or two.

I wonder if they'd notice if it happened every three months, at the end of Feb., May, Aug., and Nov.?

[Connie]

yeah, that's an interesting question :)

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Yes, Don. Both the Lexile rule and the 100 page rule apply. Remember, you can still read with a low Lexile, you just can't claim combo points. And always ask about a specific less than 100 pagers. Liz has been known to find a way for you to use them.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

We're just trying not to restrict you (and your thinking) to novels. Plays, as long as they meet the page requirements, are great!

[Liz M]

Don wrote: "Any time a task says READ A Book, is a play acceptable? I know, I know I am being nit picky, but as a librarian I do treat these as different items and don't usually think of plays as equivalent to a book...."

Out curiosity, what word would you use to indicate that a novel, a non-fiction book, a play, a short story collection, or a poetry collection are acceptable?

[Rosemary]

The term 'book' is used loosely in the challenge and on Goodreads generally, I think. It is not restricted to printed matter. It includes audio and electronic versions of printed books.

[Rosemary]

A general question...so far, I'm having a lot more trouble fitting the books that I want/need to read into the tasks this season. So I am wondering, after we have used Square Peg, is it possible to claim style points for reading books that don't fit any tasks? i.e. can you claim review, canon, jumbo, etc, without claiming a task?

[Karen Michele]

Elizabeth, does the order matter on the Chandler series? I haven't read any of them, but I might give it a try if I don't have to start with #1, but I'm kind of a "series purist" ;)

[[deleted user]]

Looking at 20.3, the Harvard classics list, Philip Pullmans Dark Materials series is there - would just one of the books qualify? I have already read the first one.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Yes, the Chandler series are more a collection than a series, so you could read them in random order, or just singly.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Rosemary wrote: "A general question...so far, I'm having a lot more trouble fitting the books that I want/need to read into the tasks this season. So I am wondering, after we have used Square Peg, is it possible to..."

'Fraid not. You'll need to read for a task. Funny you should find this, though, as I was thinking Square Peg might be the hardest task of all.

What are some of the books you are considering?

[Liz M]

nsfancy wrote: "Looking at 20.3, the Harvard classics list, Philip Pullmans Dark Materials series is there - would just one of the books qualify? I have already read the first one."

For any series on the Harvard List, any book of the series will work.

[Rosemary]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "...What are some of the books you are considering? "

Here are some that I'll be reading for other book groups during the season:

The Sisters Brothers Patrick DeWitt
The Eyre Affair Jasper Fforde
My Name is Red Orhan Pamuk
No Name Wilkie Collins
The Winds of Heaven Monica Dickens
Wise Children Angela Carter

Cranford Elizabeth Gaskell Just saw that mini-series are OK for the movie task, so that covers this one.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

The Winds of Heaven was published in 1955, so qualifies for 20.5 Shakespeare and Co.

Cranford was made into a BBC mini-series, so qualifies for 20.4 El Ateneo.

I don't immediately see applications for the others, but remember we have 3 more tasks to come and some more Group Reads.

[Rosemary]

OK thanks! If I get to set a task, I could be strategic :-)

[Liz M]

Rosemary wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "...What are some of the books you are considering? "

Here are some that I'll be reading for other book groups during the season..."

From wiki: Orhan Pamuk, is a Turkish novelist. He is also the Robert Yik-Fong Tam Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, where he teaches comparative literature and writing.

Therefore, he qualifies for 20.10.

[Christin]

I was just wondering about 10.4 - On the list it has The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Would it be possible to use one of the separate Holmes novels like The Hound of the Baskervilles for it then?

[Rosemary]

Liz M wrote: "From wiki: Orhan Pamuk, is a Turkish novelist. He is also the Robert Yik-Fong Tam Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, where he teaches comparative literature and writing. "

Oh cool! I am so glad I can fit that one in :-)

I am going to go through my list now looking at all the living authors to see where they work. It doesn't have to be an American university for that one, does it? A university elsewhere in the world would be OK?

[Liz M]

Rosemary wrote: "It doesn't have to be an American university for that one, does it? A university elsewhere in the world would be OK? ..."

Correct!

[Rebekah]

Liz M wrote: "Rebekah wrote: "What a lovely website! I've added it to my "favorites" to use with my children."

>grinyou, Rebekah ;)"

ha ha. no wonder I liked it!

[Rebekah]

Connie wrote: "This is not a question, but a statement:
I'm really really excited about the spring challenge. So many great tasks, lovely group reads! I'm seriously rethinking trying to complete this challenge in..."

Learn to listen to audio books and read a book at the same time. Then you have to give up sleeping for more tha 2 hrs a night, unless you can learn to "dream read" books. Give up your life so you can drive (audiobooks) your kids every where and wait(Kindle) for them for various hour long activites.
It's really not too hard! (smile)

PS only eat foods you can make with one hand while you hold a book in the other!
Oh and never watch TV or a movie again! lol

[Connie]

:)

I'm considering looking for a job with a really long train commute.

[Silver]

I am confused by what this means:


10.7 3rd place winner
10.8 2nd place winner
10.9 1st place winner

Winners of what? I did not see a further explanation anywhere for what we are supposed to do for these tasks.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Silver, those are just placeholders for now. The top scorers of the previous challenge get to design a task, but we don't know - for certain - who they are until the challenge ends. The Winter winners were Karen GHHS, Rosemary, and Rebekah. We will have those tasks posted as soon as they become available.

There will also be more group reads posted. Those who reviewed a high percentage of reads this Winter will offer a recommendation of one of their Winter reads.

[Silver]

Oh ok thank you. At first I thought I was missing smoething.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Somedays, I'm pretty sure I'm missing a lot of things. ;-)

[Ann]

Thanks Silver for asking that! This was my first round and I thought it meant the winners of the poll, which were already tasks, so I was baffled as well.

[Ann]

I seriosuly doubt that I will acheive RwS finish, but just in case - in order to qualify, does each task need to be completed once as a main task?

Say for instance there is a magical book that fits all the tasks (except square peg). I claim it for a 20 pt task and get combo points for the rest. Then I read a square peg - am I done? Or do I have to read a minium of 20 books (1 per task) to officially finish?

Thanks!

[Liz M]

Ann wrote: "I seriosuly doubt that I will acheive RwS finish, but just in case - in order to qualify, does each task need to be completed once as a main task?

Say for instance there is a magical book that f..."

For a RwS finish you must read a book and claim task points for each of the 10 & 20 point tasks (a minimum of 20 books).

[Christin]

Christin wrote: "I was just wondering about 10.4 - On the list it has The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Would it be possible to use one of the separate Holmes novels like The Hound of the Baskervilles..."

I was still curious if The Hound of the Baskervilles would work under the umbrella of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes for 10.4?

[Liz M]

Christin wrote: "Christin wrote: "I was just wondering about 10.4 - On the list it has The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Would it be possible to use one of the separate Holmes novels like [book:The Hound of the B..."

Unfortunately, no. "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" is a collection of short stories and a separate work than "The Hound of the Baskervilles"

[Christin]

Liz M wrote: "Christin wrote: "Christin wrote: "I was just wondering about 10.4 - On the list it has The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Would it be possible to use one of the separate Holmes novels like [book:T..."

Ah, I knew they were separate works but I just wanted to make sure that the Sherlock series wasn't being included under "The Adventures" (I've been wanting to re-read "The Hound.." specifically) ^_^ Thanks!

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

The Hound of the Baskervilles was made into a movie, if you wanted to find a place for it.

[Christin]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "The Hound of the Baskervilles was made into a movie, if you wanted to find a place for it."

very true! I forgot that - I'll change my plans then so I can read it for that challenge ^_^

[Christin]

About 10.9: I joined the Winter Challenge in mid-January, would it still be possible to repeat authors I used in December and January before I joined the challenge?