May 2012 Challenge - "M's" the Word

[Maria]

Just popping in to say I've just started Moby Dick, and that nothing much has happened so far-- he talks, he's in an inn with an kiwi 'cannibal' (the Maoris were never cannibals)... I'm waiting for the whale to turn up.

[jaxnsmom]

I read The Book of Samson by David Maine. I'm not sure on some of these so I'm going to list all possibilities and let ya'll decide if they count or not. Ha! I know some of them shouldn't, I just enjoy creative accounting :) I expect my actual point total to be much less.

Genre: I'd give myself 3 points for a fictional memoir of a fictional character.

Theme: Since I don't believe in the Bible, I consider this Mythology. 5 points

Location: Mediterranean Area 1 point

Occupations: Minister - there were a lot of priests, Nazirite and Philistine 3 points
Mother - Samson's mother Sala 1 point

Author: Male 4 points

Cover: Man on the cover (does he have to be alive? or in one piece? or human?) 4 points

Title: "M" in the title 1 point
Man's name in the title 3 points

Bonus Points: 10 points each:
1) You qualify for this bonus if there is dancing of any kind portrayed in the book. Oh yeah! While chained and blind, one of the ways the bullies in the mob entertain themselves is by making Samson dance. 10 points

Extra Special Bonus: 20 Points:
If a character in your book gives birth or has a baby under the age of 2.
Samson tells his story, including his birth (choir of angelic voices, the fiery wings of a bird, a baby sitting upright between his mother's thighs, holding a chunk of granite which he crushes). It's like we were there. 20 points

Possible Total Points: 55
More Realistic Total Points: 20 - 30


Pssst: don't tell Kat about my 'creative accounting' - she might want my Tippler points monitored :)

[Gemma]

For my second book, I read No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy.

Genre: mystery - 2
Theme: murder - 1
Location: Mexico - 4 (well at least half of it is, it's set on the US-Mexico border)
Occupations: Mother - 1
Author: Male - 4
Mature - 3
Cover: man on cover - 4
Title: 1 'm' - 1

No bonuses at all!

I think that leaves me with 20. Not as good as my first attempt, but I'm now trying to squeeze in another quick one before the end of the month.

[Janice, Moderator]

jaxnsmom wrote: "I read The Book of Samson by David Maine. I'm not sure on some of these so I'm going to list all possibilities and let ya'll decide if they count or not. Ha! I know ..."

The only one I had issue with was the memoir points, so deduct 3 points giving you 52.

[Janice, Moderator]

Gemma wrote: "For my second book, I read No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy.

Genre: mystery - 2
Theme: murder - 1
Location: Mexico - 4 (well at least half of it is, it's set on the US-Mexico border)
Occu..."

I count 20 as well. :)

[jaxnsmom]

Janice wrote: "jaxnsmom wrote: "I read The Book of Samson by David Maine. I'm not sure on some of these so I'm going to list all possibilities and let ya'll decide if they count or..."

Woohoo! Thanks! The funny thing is I have 4 books that have been sitting here with authors who's last name starts with 'M', and it never occurred to me until yesterday :)

[Gemma]

I squeezed in one more!

I read Pierre et Jean by Guy de Maupassant.

Genre: you could maybe argue for mystery - there's an element of it with a hidden secret, so possibly 2
Theme: -
Location: -
Occupation: mother - 1
Author: male - 4
Cover: -
Title: man's name in title - 3 technically, there are two, so do I get six points here? :)

Bonus: plenty of ocean action - 10

I make that between 18 and 23 depending on what I get credit for. My first effort was by far my best!

looking forward to the next month - no idea what i'll read though!

[Maria]

So I possibly won't be finishing this one... because though I'm on Chapter 9/135 of MOBY DICK... my brother found James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. And for some reason I've leapt to page 53/247 and Moby Dick holds no interest whatsoever for me. XD

[Janice, Moderator]

Gemma wrote: "I squeezed in one more!

I read Pierre et Jean by Guy de Maupassant.

Genre: you could maybe argue for mystery - there's an element of it with a hidden secret, so possibly 2
Theme: -
Location: -
Oc..."

We can count it as 23.

[Gemma]

I have amazon's free kindle classics to thank for the last one...

Still trying to decide what to read for next month's challenge!

[Janice, Moderator]

You know how we love helping! :)

[Kat]

Ah bummer, I didn't read a single book in May that had M as the author surname - only one that I started on April 30 so it doesn't count. Next time!

[Maria]

Well... believe it or not I finished Moby Dick last night at 11:42pm. I decided at 12pm that I was going to finish it, and at 6pm I actually sat down and did everything seriously, finishing about 60% of it in 6 hours. Very tired, and today I woke up at 6:40 without meaning to and started writing.

Please excuse ruthless point padding if there is any.

Genre:
3 points memoir

Theme:
5 points mythology (huge, pretty sapient whale that can't be killed. What could possibly be more mythological?)
1 point murder

Location:
0 points

Occupation:
0 points

Author:
4 points male

Cover:
0 points

Title:
1 point MOBY

10 points Mother Ocean

Total: 24 points

As to my brother joining GoodReads... his internet usage is limited to checking e-mail and playing internet games. Also, while he likes reading... I dunno. I'll ask him. He was just looking 'round the book exchange and mentioned he'd found a James Joyce. Hence my pouncing on it.

[Janice, Moderator]

Maria wrote: "Well... believe it or not I finished Moby Dick last night at 11:42pm. I decided at 12pm that I was going to finish it, and at 6pm I actually sat down and did everything seriously, finishing about 6..."

You'd think that with all the grief you went through reading this book that it would be worth more than 24 points!

[Janice, Moderator]

Judy wrote: "Gaeta1 wrote: "Judy wrote: "Occupations:

5 points - Musician(??She was an accomplished piano player and gave a few concerts, but not a professional musician, as in touring, making an income from p..."

I'm so glad you editted that Judy. I was scratching my head. :)

[Maria]

Thanks, Judy! IkerRivercast is part of my writing group, so we were discussing it, and I said... "Is it any good?"
"Well, he talks and talks and talk and TALKS..."
And I thought, "Well, since he talks so much I should be able to read it quickly without losing the threa of the story." So I did. XD

Well, I was thinking since... true. I said shameless word-padding, didn't I?

So 21 points.

Janice... you'd think so! Judy just likes making me work really hard for any points.

[Janice, Moderator]

Judy has good eyes. I missed it. But, I did take points off from someone else who did the same thing, so... 21 points it is.

[jaxnsmom]

I'm impressed too Maria - that's some dedication!

[jaxnsmom]

I finished by Roger Ma. I believe I have my zombie combat badge now :)

Genre:

Theme: Would zombies be considered mythology?
1 point - There was definitely murder.

Location - all over the world, but nothing specific enough.

Occupations:
There were field reports from a variety of people, including some of the ones listed here, and specific fighting instructions for mothers.

Author:
4 points - male

Cover:
4 points - man on the cover

Title:
3 points - 3 M's in title
If I remember right, subtitles aren't counted

Not enough points to bother with, but it could be very useful knowledge one day, and was very entertaining :D

[Janice, Moderator]

jaxnsmom wrote: "I finished [bookcover:The Zombie Combat Manual: A Guide to Fighting the Living Dead] by Roger Ma. I believe I have my zombie combat badge now :)

Genre:

Theme: Would zombies be considered mytho..."

Your The Book of Samson has this one beat by a landside.

In answer to your question, I don't think zombies have hit mythology status yet.

[Maria]

21 is a good number. Better than I was expecting, actually.

Jaxnsmom: Thank you! Good practice for the toppler, eh?

[Kat]

jaxnsmom wrote: "I finished [bookcover:The Zombie Combat Manual: A Guide to Fighting the Living Dead] by Roger Ma. I believe I have my zombie combat badge now :)

Genre:

Theme: Would zombies be considered mytho..."

Oh I haven't heard of that one before! Must go check it out!

[jaxnsmom]

Maria wrote: "21 is a good number. Better than I was expecting, actually.

Jaxnsmom: Thank you! Good practice for the toppler, eh?"

Yes, good practice, but maybe you'll overdo it and be too tired for the Toppler :p
Of course, my response would be different if you were on the Tippler team. XD

[Janice, Moderator]

Has everyone reported their reads for this challenge? I will post results soon.

[Janice, Moderator]

The results are in! Congratulations to Cheryl who is our Challenge winner with a whopping 63 points! Be sure to check your walls of fame for your badges.

Cheryl - The Moorchild - 63 points
Robin in KY - Thumped -59 points
jaxsnmom - The Book of Samson - 52 points
Judy - The Paris Wife - 51 points
Sam - The Midnight Folk - 41 points
Gemma - The Information Officer - 34 points
Pragya - Disappear - 33 points
Debra - The Damned Highway - 31 points
Gaeta - Beneath the Lion's Gaze - 29 points
Snoozie Suzie - The Stolen Child - 27 points
Lara - The Devil and Preston Black - 26 points
Jane in SC - Murder on the Rocks - 24 points
Maria - Moby Dick - 21 points

[Robin]

Wow. I had no idea I'd be close to the top! Congrats to Cheryl! :)

[Snoozie Suzie]

Pleasing to see do many participating. Thanks Janice

[Gemma]

Not bad for a first try :)

I'm a newbie, do I have to do something to get a wall of fame?

[Gemma]

Ah, I think that might be another Gemma's! This was my first challenge... :)

[Janice, Moderator]

Gemma wrote: "Ah, I think that might be another Gemma's! This was my first challenge... :)"

Oh Oh! I've messed up! I will set you up with a wall of fame.

[Gemma]

I see it, thanks very much :)

[Cheryl]

< blush >

[Maria]

I kept getting notifications for this but forgot about the rankings, so decided not to check.

But noooow...

I started laughing when I saw I was last. It's very ironic, very funny... but I don't think the points matter beyond May, so I don't worry about them.

jaxnsmom: It was necessary practice, as I've read almost nothing complicated this month yet. Of course now I'm ready to beat the Tipplers into the ground. Hard. With a small pat on the back for their trying so hard.

Congratulations, Cheryl! 63 points is fantastic. As well as everyone else. Lovely to see how many books you all read and how many points you all got.

I don't think Moby Dick was a hard read... just a long one that was drawn out. To be honest, the guy talked so much it was pretty easy to read it so quickly. I'd have described it as boring.