Fall 2012 General Questions & Answers

[Kathleen (itpdx)]

Ashley wrote: "What if for the canon, you also included any book that has a Norton Critical edition (http://books.wwnorton.com/books/subje...)? If scholars have taken the time to write extens..."
And it would solve an issue that bothers me about Bloom's canon: his tendency to leave out a lot of women and multicultural authors.
I agree! I think this is a good suggestion.

[Rebekah]

Kate S wrote: "Rebekah wrote: "Sorry but I just can't remember the rule. For a mega finish which is true?
100 pts - Challenge completion
100 pts - sub-challenge completion
100 pts - Mega

or

100 pts - Challenge ..."

Great! So I guess I need to give myself 100 more pts!

[Denise]

I have a question about Oldies points. Apologies if I've overlooked the answer on the FAQ's, but I can't find it and I can't seem to reason it out. Tales Of Unease by Arthur Conan Doyle is on the Top 100 Gothic Novels list for task 20.6. This particular collection is selected from stories Doyle wrote through a period of over 20 years, starting in 1890. That should give it 10 Oldies points. But this Wordsworth edition was published in 2000, which would mean no Oldies points. The stories were all published during Doyle's lifetime in various collections of his short stories, but not in this unique grouping. So which publication date prevails?

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

D wrote: "I have a question about Oldies points. Apologies if I've overlooked the answer on the FAQ's, but I can't find it and I can't seem to reason it out. Tales Of Unease by Arthur Conan Doyle is on the..."

Usually on such a collection we will use the publication date of the most recent story. Without researching now and since you know they were all published during Doyle's lifetime, we can assume before 1930. So you would get 10 oldies points.

[Denise]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Usually on such a collection we will use the publication date of the most recent story. ..."

OK, thanks. I got into this same quandary last challenge over some Thomas Hardy short stories, and ended up reading something else. Whether I end up reading the A.C. Doyle collection or not, I am happy to have clarification about publishing dates.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

D wrote: "OK, thanks. I got into this same quandary last challenge over some Thomas Hardy short stories, and ended up reading something else. "

Well, you'll be off the indecision hook for Winter since Oldies isn't one of the styles. ;-)

[Denise]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "D wrote: "OK, thanks. I got into this same quandary last challenge over some Thomas Hardy short stories, and ended up reading something else. "

Well, you'll be off the indecision hook for Winter s..."

True! I'll miss the Oldies, but the Canon will really keep me busy. And I have mixed feelings about Review being gone. I'm lazy and don't like writing reviews, but I love reading others' reviews!

[Liz M]

Christine wrote: "I'm bummed about the Oldies - as I tend to read a lot of classics - but excited about the Canon giving style points."

Oh they'll be back! We like to mix up the style points to keep the challenge interesting and to reward different types of reading.

I did very well one season when there was a 20 point task for reading a book published in Queen Victoria's lifetime and the style points included Canon, Oldies, Translation, & Multiple -- all the books I read were a minimum of 55 points. :D

[Jayme(theghostreader)]

I need a ruling on a book that might be considered YA. There was no lexile score for it. I just finished reading "Crossroads and other Tales of Valdemar". I looked it up and Lexile socre and it didn't have a score. It was published 1987. I was wondering if someone could look it up for me in the BPL and let me know what lexile score is. I like to see if it qualifies for style points. Or if someone could just post the link again that would be helpful as well. Thanks.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "I need a ruling on a book that might be considered YA. There was no lexile score for it. I just finished reading "Crossroads and other Tales of Valdemar". I looked it up and Lexile socre and it did..."

This book is approved for use, Jayme. BPL only has an electronic version and it is not classified YA. You're good to go with it!

[Jayme(theghostreader)]

Oh Good, thanks.