HF Challenge #10 (June 1, 2012 - July 31, 2012) - Task List & Q&A

[Becky, Moddess]

Challenge length: June 1, 2012 until July 31, 2012

Participants may join at any time during the challenge. All points must be reported by 11:59pm EST on July 31, 2012 to be counted.

Tasks can be completed in any order and it is not required to complete all regular tasks before doing the bonus tasks.

RULES:
1) Books must be Historical Fiction if specified as HF. If no specification is made, the book can be ANY genre.

2) Books must be at least 200 pages long. Eligibility for this is determined by THE MOST POPULAR EDITION OF THE BOOK ON GOODREADS -- NOT the edition you actually read. If the most popular edition is 197 pages, it will not count, even if the edition read is 215 pages. This is an attempt to make the scoring more fair across the board, as there can be very large page variations between editions. To determine the most popular edition on Goodreads, simply do a title/author search - the first result that matches your book is the most popular edition on GR.

3) The first book used for the challenge should be started on or after June 1st.

4) Re-reads and audiobooks are accepted unless specified otherwise in the task. (Audiobook page counts will be determined by the most popular edition on Goodreads.)

SCORING:
5) Task categories are assigned a point value, and points are awarded ONE TIME once all parts of the task are complete. Bonus points will be awarded PER BOOK READ when task points are awarded. Partial task points and/or bonus points (page count, HF point, etc) will NOT be awarded if the task is unfinished.

6) Bonus points will be awarded based on the length of each book read, as follows:
200 to 300 pages = 2 bonus points
301 to 500 pages = 4 bonus points
501 to 750 pages = 6 bonus points
751 to 1,000 pages = 8 bonus points
1,000+ = 10 bonus points

7) As this challenge contains both HF and other genre books, you will receive 1 additional bonus point for every HF book read, whether the task requires HF or not. Please be sure to list that the book is HF to make sure that the additional points are counted.
WE WILL NOT AWARD HF POINTS IF IT IS NOT REPORTED.

8) Review points (5) will be given for reviews written for challenge task books once read. In order to receive these points:
- You MUST link to the review in the scoring thread. If it is not directly linked, points will not be awarded.
- It MUST be a new review. Points will not be awarded for a review written before the challenge start date.
- If writing a review after reporting points for a book, please link to the review in a NEW COMMENT, state the title the review is for, and refer to the comment number containing your original points for the book. Do not edit posts to add your review link as I will not be going back to check for them.

9) HAVE FUN!!!

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Task List:

10.1 Read a book set in New York City.
10.2 Read a book with an alliterative title. (Example: Carrion Comfort or Everything's Eventual etc)
10.3 In honor of The Avengers movie, read two graphic novels or serial comics on any subject (superheroes not required). Will allow a minimum of 100 pages per book for this task only.
10.4 Read a book whose title contains the title of another book. (Example: "Reading Lolita in Tehran". Note: This example is actually referring to the book in question, "Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov, but that is not required. For another example: "Legends of the Fall" contains - but doesn't refer to - the title of an anthology called "Legends" by Robert Silverberg.)
10.5 Read a book by or about a Civil Rights activist. Can be any time or person, as long as the subject is about Civil Rights.

15.1 Read a book by an author whose last name can be made from the letters in "Summer Challenge". (Example: Stanislaw LEM)
15.2 Read a book written by more than one author.
15.3 Read a non-fiction book on any topic.
15.4 Read two books with the same title by different authors. (Example: Stardust by Neil Gaiman & Stardust by Carla Stewart)
15.5 Read a book outside of your normal reading habits. (Example: Chick Lit, YA, Horror, Non-fiction, etc if you do not normally read these types of books.)

20.1 Read a HF book published the year you joined Goodreads.
20.2 Read a HF book by an author with more than 15 letters in their name. (Example: Sena Jeter Naslund)
20.3 Read a HF book you intended to read for any previous challenge but didn't get to.
20.4 Read a HF book by a male author.
20.5 Read a HF book set in an ancient civilization.

25.1 Read a HF book about D-Day (WWII Normandy landing, June 6, 1944)
25.2 Read a HF rated 5 stars by someone on your friends list.
25.3 Read a HF book with more than 500 pages.
25.4 Read two HF books: One in a country you've lived in or visited, and one in a country you've never been to.
25.5 Read a book selected as a Featured Author Group read that you haven't yet read - Or select a book by an author on the FA sign-ups thread.

50.1 Diane's Task: In honor of July 4th, read two HF books at least 300 pages each. 1) About the quest for personal freedom or fulfillment of a personal goal; and 2) Covering a war or battle that the United States was engaged in.
50.2 LemonLinda's Task: Choose one of your friends from this group. Then go into their TBR section. Select one HF that is 600 pages or over OR select 2 HFs that are a minimum of 300 pages each. When posting for points, please note from which friend your choice was selected.

100.1 Maude's Task: Choose 3 HF books at least 300 pages or more, each set in a different country and continent. Please explain why you chose your picked countries and continents. Also, tell us something about the countries you did not know.
Excluded Countries: USA, Canada, England, Wales, Ireland, or Scotland.

As always... any questions, ask them here. :)

[~Leslie~]

Do we have to post our list by a certain time? And are those the points awarded for the bonus tasks?

[Becky, Moddess]

Leslie wrote: "Do we have to post our list by a certain time? And are those the points awarded for the bonus tasks?"

I'm not sure what you mean regarding the bonus points..? The point value for each task is in the task number.

10.1 is 10 points, task 1.
10.2 is 10 points, task 2, etc.
For the bonus points it's 50 points, task 1 and 2, and 100 points, 1 task only.

You do not need to post task lists ahead of time.

[~Leslie~]

Thanks,Becky. You answered my question perfectly. And I meant do we have to post our list of books we are going to read ahead of time.

[Becky, Moddess]

Leslie wrote: "do we have to post our list of books we are going to read ahead of time."

Nope. You don't have to for this challenge, though you can if you want. Lots of people like to plan their reading lists, but it's not required. You can choose books as you go, fit them into the challenge, or even change them later.

Like, if you read The Alienist for a book that is set in New York City, and then later find another book you want to read that's set there, you could switch The Alienist to the "Read a HF that's written by a male author" task (since it would work for that task as well), and use the new book for the NYC task.

I hope that makes sense. LOL.

[Nancy from NJ]

Oh goodie - a two month challenge which will lessen my anxiety about participating. And since it coincides with one month of summer vacation, I hope to be able to read at least a fair amount of the books. Now I have to go back and look over the tasks etc. and think about book titles. Hooray for challenges.

Again - many thanks for your hard wok mods - you are the best. And just as an added congrats, I have been online in many different book groups which inevitably fell to arguments and then the end of the group. It is a testament to the mods and all members that we respect one another and really come here to share our likes and dislkies.

Hope it was ok to post this here!

[Becky, Moddess]

Happy planning! ;)

[Nancy from NJ]

OK - here goes - what is an alliterative title? Does that mean you have to use a title with the first 2 letters that are the same. Or do the words have a different or same meaning. I know I can look this up but I wanted your take on this answer.

For the author from Summer Challenge, do we need to use all of the letters or just some?

How can I find out what year I joined Good Reads?

The 15 letters in an authors name can be first middle and last name, right?

How do I find my friends lists to selelct a HF book?

What do you mean by Feature Author Groups and where do I find them. And where are the featured author sign ups. What happens if I have never signed up. Can I simply read a book by a GR author?

I know I asked lots of questions but you know what a teacher says to their students - there are no stupid questions only stupid answers.

Thanks in advance---

[Becky, Moddess]

Diane's task has been added.

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Nancy, regarding your questions:

1) For the alliterative title task, alliteration refers to the repetition of a particular sound in the first syllables of a series of words or phrases. The words don't need to be the same beginning letters (though I'd imagine they usually would), but would need to have similar sounds.

The War of the Worlds would be an alliterative title because of the "wuh" sound the Ws make. LOL I hope that helps. :)

2) No, it's fine to use only some of the letters, or all (if that's even possible). It's up to you. Only the last name needs to be formed from the letters. The first name doesn't matter.

3) On your Goodreads profile page, you should see a line in the About Me box saying "activity - Joined in July 2008, last active this month". This one is taken from my profile page. I can't see yours since your profile is private.

4) It should be the name that they write under. For example, Stephen King's middle name is Edwin, so his full name would meet the criteria (Stephen Edwin King = 16 letters) but since he only writes under Stephen King, it would not count.

5) In the group, if you go to the members page, you should have a tab with "Friends in this group". You'd visit their profile pages from there and select a book (or books) that fit the task.

6) Featured author group reads can be found on the group bookshelf here or the featured author sign up thread here.
You do not need to have signed up - the task is to read a book by one of the GR authors that have signed up to participate in the Featured Author Group reads. :)

Let me know if this helps, or if you have any other questions. :)

[JoLene, Mistress of the Challenge]

I don't really use the friends feature much ---- does anyone want to be friends with me :-D

[Kristine]

JoLene wrote: "I don't really use the friends feature much ---- does anyone want to be friends with me :-D"

I will JoLene :)

[Nancy from NJ]

Thanks for the answers Becky. BTW - I never knew my profile page was private.

[JoLene, Mistress of the Challenge]

I read quite a few non-super-hero graphic novels, you can look at my shelves. I've even been trying to categorize things as of late :-D.

Last month for the TBR challenge, I read 5 that were more than 200 pages which meet the criteria for the challenge.

[JoLene, Mistress of the Challenge]

Another great challenge that pushes us to read outside our boundaries, but WOW, it's a lot of books to read in two months. 26 not counting Maude's task, including 1 book more than 600 pages and 1 book more than 500 pages. Didn't you guys used to do 3 months for these big challenges??

[Becky, Moddess]

I think we had more tasks for the 3 month ones... It's hard to find a balance though - something to make it challenging for everyone, including the people who read a book a day.

I definitely will not finish, but I still think it's fun to use the challenge to read outside my comfort zone, and to try to read more. :)

[Becky, Moddess]

And now we have Maude's task added. ;)

[JoLene, Mistress of the Challenge]

Would Aztec count for the ancient civilization or do you mean Greeks, Romans, or Egyptians?

Could you read Weird Sisters and Wyrd Sisters for the book title one?

Does it have to be FA-2012 thread or can you use one of the earlier threads?

[Becky, Moddess]

Aztec would be fine, as long as you don't start it until June 1.

I'm not sure what you mean about the book title one - do you mean the alliteration? If that's the task you mean, then no, those wouldn't work. It should be one book that has more than one word that sound similar. Examples of alliteration (not necessarily books):

Cleaning Cloth
West Wing
Wild Wild West
Freedom Fighter
Mama Mia
Clark Kent

For the FA task, no, it wouldn't need to be the 2012 sign up list - any would be fine.

[Nancy from NJ]

I am at the library as I type and find that most of the graphic novels which are avialable are less than 200 pages. Will this rule still apply to the 200 page rule for books? If so, can you recommend some titles?

[Becky, Moddess]

Hmm... Valid point, Nancy. The only ones that I know of off the top of my head that are longer are Alan Moore graphic novels - Watchmen & From Hell & V for Vendetta etc. But that's not very much of a selection, and I know my library doesn't carry them either.

So- I will allow GN's for this task as long as they are 100pgs or longer.

[JoLene, Mistress of the Challenge]

@Nancy, Here are some others that actually meet the 200 page rule:
A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, Daytripper, Persepolis, Blankets, Habibi, The Complete Maus (combo of I, II)

Since Becky is allowing 100 pages, I can highly recommend the following two series: Fables, Vol. 1: Legends in Exile, and Y: The last man

[JoLene, Mistress of the Challenge]

Sorry Becky, I should have been more clear. Wyrd Sisters and Weird sisters is for same title by different authors (15.4)

[Becky, Moddess]

JoLene wrote: "Sorry Becky, I should have been more clear. Wyrd Sisters and Weird sisters is for same title by different authors (15.4)"

Oh, OK. I'll allow that.

[Shay]

Becky wrote: "Hmm... Valid point, Nancy. The only ones that I know of off the top of my head that are longer are Alan Moore graphic novels - Watchmen & From Hell & V for Vendetta etc. But that's not very much of..."

But if you read a 100 page graphic novel/comic, you don't get any bonus points for page count. Right?

[Becky, Moddess]

Shay wrote: "But if you read a 100 page graphic novel/comic, you don't get any bonus points for page count. Right? "

You are correct. If you choose a 200+ page one, then they would still apply as normal.

[Holly]

Task 25.4
May the book from "a country you have not visited" be about a place in the US that I have not visited?

[~Leslie~]

I really want to do this. I have to think about what books I would read as I'm a major planner.
Is there going to be a separate thread where we will post books read and post points?

[Becky, Moddess]

Leslie wrote: "I really want to do this. I have to think about what books I would read as I'm a major planner.
Is there going to be a separate thread where we will post books read and post points?"

Yep - there will be a thread for reporting. It will open on June 1.

Holly wrote: "Task 25.4
May the book from "a country you have not visited" be about a place in the US that I have not visited?"

No, this should be a country you've never been to.

[Nancy from NJ]

Becky wrote: "Leslie wrote: "I really want to do this. I have to think about what books I would read as I'm a major planner.
Is there going to be a separate thread where we will post books read and post points?"..."


Leslie - the last challenge we had to declare 20 tiles we were going to read and had one opportunity to change them. I am a planner bar none but I found it so difficult to get geared up for what I had picked out the month before. I am essentially a mood reader and often wonder what makes me pick up an old title which has been on my shelves forever or a new one. So for me it is always the serendipitous moment I look forward to.

[Nancy from NJ]

Becky wrote: "Hmm... Valid point, Nancy. The only ones that I know of off the top of my head that are longer are Alan Moore graphic novels - Watchmen & From Hell & V for Vendetta etc. But that's not very much of..."

Great = the 100 page rule works for me.

Also, is there an area of Good Reads to look up the number of pages for a Good Read edition?

[Nancy from NJ]

Thanks to all who suggested graphic novels of 100 pages or longer.

[Becky, Moddess]

Nancy wrote: "Becky wrote: "Hmm... Valid point, Nancy. The only ones that I know of off the top of my head that are longer are Alan Moore graphic novels - Watchmen & From Hell & V for Vendetta etc. But that's no..."

There's not really "Goodreads" editions. We go by the most popular edition listed on Goodreads. To determine the most popular edition on Goodreads, simply do a title/author search - the first result that matches your book is the most popular edition on GR.

[Nancy from NJ]

I guess I didn't make myself clear. I meant to say those book editions Good Reads selects to use for page numbers. But as far as using Good Reads for popular editions, when it comes to graphic novels, the pages don't nearly coincide. I looked at The Kite Runner today and the books is over 300 pages but then graphic novel is less than 100 pages so what do we use?

[Becky, Moddess]

The Graphic Novel is separate from the novel itself. You would use the page count from the graphic novel, not the book it was adapted from.

[Nancy from NJ]

OK - but how we dedsignate that this is a graphic novel. Is there an special are of Good Reads for this? What would we need to put into the search area for a graphic novel.

[Jackie]

Nancy wrote: "I guess I didn't make myself clear. I meant to say those book editions Good Reads selects to use for page numbers. But as far as using Good Reads for popular editions, when it comes to graphic nov..."

For graphic novels in GR if you type in the name of it and then "graphic novel" afterwards the edition you are looking for usually pops up. For example: The Kite Runner: Graphic Novel.



Edited to add:
Just to be clear this is how I typed it in:
http://www.goodreads.com/search?utf8=...

[~Leslie~]

Nancy wrote: "Becky wrote: "Leslie wrote: "I really want to do this. I have to think about what books I would read as I'm a major planner.
Is there going to be a separate thread where we will post books read and..."

I know! I'm reading so many books in a month now, that I have to plan it out. It's my crazy OCD nature. I think that's why I like these challenges! But I let my mood tell when in the month I read them :=}

[JoLene, Mistress of the Challenge]

I also had a hard time sticking to the list for April. I like having a game plan, but for the last 2 month challenge, I changed which books matched which tasks multiple times and ended up reporting about 200 points in one post :-)

Of course, I don't read fast enough to hope to win, since we have some speed readers in the group!!

[Margaret]

I found this graphic novel, which I will be reading.
The Alchemist: A Graphic Novel byPaulo Coelho
I have always wanted to read this book and what better way to try a graphic novel. My son is thrilled that I am giving them a shot, he loves them.

[Nancy from NJ]

I saw The Alchemist at the library yersterday and thought the same thing, Margaret.

[JoLene, Mistress of the Challenge]

There are also quite a few classics that have been recently released as graphic novels. Dante's Inferno (several different versions) and Canterbury Tales are two that I've seen recently. Also, there is a series Kill Shakespeare Vol.1, which features various characters from his plays,

[Margaret]

I am pretty sure that works for 10.4, but just wanted to confirm.
The Rose Labyrinth, since there is Labyrinth by Kate Moss

[Becky, Moddess]

Margaret wrote: "I am pretty sure that works for 10.4, but just wanted to confirm.
The Rose Labyrinth, since there is Labyrinth by Kate Moss"

Yep!

[Nancy from NJ]

Do we need to read certain books before the 100 pt task or could we begin with the 100 pt task first?

Do we need to read all three tasks to receive the 100 pts?

[Becky, Moddess]

You can read in any order. In order to receive the 100 points you have to read all three books required for the task.

[Margaret]

Another question here, for 10.2 would this work
Ella Enchanted?
I love these challenged since I get to read so many that have been sitting on my years waiting for me.

[Heather]

Ooof......25.1 is kinda tricky. Most of the books I am seeing about D-Day are non-fiction, not HF. Anyone got HF recommendations for this one?

[Kristine]

Heather J wrote: "Ooof......25.1 is kinda tricky. Most of the books I am seeing about D-Day are non-fiction, not HF. Anyone got HF recommendations for this one?"

Eye of the Needle might work if I recall it is about the days leading to D Day......well, not about the day itself so maybe not. It's a good book though.

[Cheryl A]

Regarding task 15.4 - Read two books with the same title by different authors - do articles count? Would March by Geraldine Brooks and The March by Doctorow work?

[Nancy from NJ]

I was wondering the same thing Cheryl when I spotted the book The Legacy and Legacy.