The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

Please post your general questions about the Fall 2013 challenge here. Specific questions about individual tasks should be posted in the Help Threads for those tasks.

Did Goodreads take away the "books like this one"
list that used to be on the right hand side of
the page???
Or is it just on "some books??"

I loved looking at that.

It's now where they used to have 'other editions' in the top right hand corner.

No, Kathy, as far as I can tell it is still in the upper right hand corner and it's titled "Readers Also Enjoyed". So far, it has been on almost all the book pages I have viewed. But you know, changes are being made quite often right now so it could be happening on just "some books"

The only books that I have noticed it not being there is on this series Goodbye to Yesterday

Thank you--
It looks different now-- so I thought it
was gone.

If it was a snake----
:-)

Kathy G. wrote: "Thank you--
It looks different now-- so I thought it
was gone.

If it was a snake----
:-)"

YW!!! ACCCCKKKK!!! Let's not talk about snakes **scared** LOL

:-)

I can't seem to find 15.2 Am I missing something or going blind from looking at all the lists!

Leslie wrote: "I can't seem to find 15.2 Am I missing something or going blind from looking at all the lists!"

In the Task Help folder, click the "topic" heading and it will reorder the threads alphabetically (numerically) or find it in the Tasks listing in the Fall challenge folder

Thanks, as long as I've been around I didn't know that!

It's been over a year since I've done the challenge and am struggling to remember where to find everything. What is the timeframe for the Fall 2013 challenge?

Sarah wrote: "It's been over a year since I've done the challenge and am struggling to remember where to find everything. What is the timeframe for the Fall 2013 challenge?"

September 1 - November 30
The Fall Challenge calendar is up now in the Fall Challenge folder

Hi Moderator Girls! Thank you for your dedication to making the SRC successful! With that important feeling said, I have a question that might seem snarky but I don't mean it too be.

It seems that for those of us who don't use audiobooks, the SRC is impossible to finish. I read with the TV or Radio on, so audiobooks seem like background noise to me when I tried a couple a few years ago - I had to get the books and read them since I retained nothing. So, my question is are there any plans to slightly scale down the number of 2 book tasks? Or to slightly scale back the whole challenge? I'm not asking to pare it down to mere skeletal bones, but just a little.

I look forward to your response. I'm not looking to debate the merits/non merits of audiobooks. They simply don't work well for me and possibly a few other members.

Anne, I don't use audio books and I have every intention of finishing this challenge. (Just three books left to finish.) I have enjoyed this challenge more than any of the others, for being a REAL challenge. Usually when there are too many books in a challenge (more than eighty), I concentrate on reading longer books rather than attempting to finish. But this time I felt that we needed more finishers to stop the seesawing effect that appeared to be developing. I have had a wonderful time planning just how many books of various lengths I could read in a week and scouring the library shelves for really short books that still qualified. I have read nearly forty new authors this season, many of whom I plan to read more of. I don't think I would like every season to be as massive as this one, but just this once, it has been great.

Wow, that is really great, Coralie! I love this challenge as it frequently forces me to find and read authors or genres that I wouldn't ordinarily read. And I agree with you about the seesawing effect. I have noticed that for a while now. Congrats on being so close to a finish!

On audiobooks - I do use them, but I never come close to finishing. Frequently narrators read a lot slower than you could read by yourself. i just spend a lot of time in my car and I work in an office where we are allowed to listen to music or audiobooks if we want and are still being productive. But you definitely don't have to listen to audiobooks to finish the challenge. And sometimes the fun of the challenge is just discovering something you wouldn't have known before. Or reading more than you were before. You can try setting yourself a personal goal and strive to beat that. Like completing x number of tasks, or have x amount of points. Or reading x amount of pages.

Coralie, Congratulations!

My physical condition has deteriorated to the point that I can't walk without a walker and can use only one hand. I find it very difficult to get to the library, so I use my owned books or my ebooks on my NOOK. Unfortunately I don't own many shorter books.

But I understand what you are saying and am glad you developed a wonderful strategy.

Anne,

I use audiobooks, but as Kathryn said, it's MUCH slower than when I actually read the book. So really, it's a way for me to immerse myself in a book that I would normally speed-read through... As for the 2 book tasks, that really just depends on how many finishers there are. Nothing the mods can do unless they actually set a limit on how many of each finisher is allowed to have a task, which I think would discourage a lot of participants and maybe lower morale (if that makes sense). SRC is a challenge because it IS so massive. Just my humble 2 cents...

Coralie - go you for looking out for the team (all of us)! :D

I can say out of the 90+ books that I read for this last SRC - only 7 of them were audiobooks and each of those audiobooks took over a week to listen to - so I wouldn't necessarily say that listening to them aids people in finishing - I could easily have picked books to read that took less time, but I don't listen to music at work, I do audiobooks

I will be reading through the Geronimo Stilton collection with my son during the Fall challenge and wanted to know if I could use these books in the challenge?

Re Audio books. I agree with Dee, they aren't really quicker to read, but if you listen to them when you are running on the treadmill or other such boring pursuits, you can add hours by multitasking.

Sandra wrote: "I will be reading through the Geronimo Stilton collection with my son during the Fall challenge and wanted to know if I could use these books in the challenge?"

Sorry, these books appear to be in the "transitional" category, for 6-9 year olds, and so would not be appropriate for the challenge.

For audiobook fans that want to speed up, I've got a solution for you if you get them from Audible and have a smartphone. Their app will allow you to tweak the narration speed - I think the fastest it goes is 3x normal speed. That's too fast for me, but I find 2x to be a good happy medium - fast enough that I don't get annoyed by the often-slow default pace but not too fast to understand.

The seesawing effect Coralie mentioned is definitely becoming more pronounced; it used to be a bit more even, but now the point spread between back-to-back challenges is getting pretty big. I don't really have any ideas for a solution, but it's definitely something to keep an eye on - I'd hate for it to spawn a challenge so large that you can't reasonably finish and still eat/sleep or one so small that it's hardly a challenge at all.

Jessica wrote: "For audiobook fans that want to speed up, I've got a solution for you if you get them from Audible and have a smartphone. Their app will allow you to tweak the narration speed - I think the fastes..."

I can't listen to audiobooks. I can't even focus if someone is reading to me...it's a little frustrating when they do. During student presentations I'm usually okay, but if someone is reading and I'm supposed to be following along on a sheet or book, I get completely distracted because I read so much more quickly than anyone can speak. I've missed clarification on things because of that ^_^;; Powerpoints are especially bad.

Dee and I were discussing the see-saw problem, and we thought of a potential solution.

First, find average number of 25/30pt tasks. That number is the bare minimum of 25/30pt tasks we have
IF: Finishers>Average, do nothing
BUT: Finishers

Example:
Say Avg. Finishers = 20
If 15 people finish the challenge, 5 more people are selected at random to create tasks
If 22 people finish the challenge, no extra tasks are necessary

We should only need to do this once or twice to handle the swinging, and the average can be adjusted as needed.

Anne (Booklady) wrote: "Coralie, Congratulations!

My physical condition has deteriorated to the point that I can't walk without a walker and can use only one hand. I find it very difficult to get to the library, so I us..."

Does your public library have a homebound program? You can have someone deliver the books to you. You would have to register for it but it might help.

Hi Jayme
No, unfortunately the Fort Lauderdale Library system does not offer that service any longer. I understand that it did up to 2000, but the program was too expensive to continue.

I'll just get by on my own books for the Fall Season. If a task calls for a library book, I'll ask my neighbor to get the book I need for that task, like I did for this Season.

I was reluctant to share my physical condition - I am just glad to have survived my stroke. No complaints here. I'm a lucky lady.

Or a local community program that helps home kind ppl do errands and the like

Ms Anderson wrote: "Jessica wrote: "For audiobook fans that want to speed up, I've got a solution for you if you get them from Audible and have a smartphone. Their app will allow you to tweak the narration speed - I ..."
And/or set a limit to the number of 25/30 point tasks and the first people to finish up to the limit get to write a task or donate their task to a later finisher. I, for one would have gladly let someone else write my task. I can never think of something clever, challenging, and easy to moderate

Is there any way to make a minimum of tasks--- If there are not enough finishers- then the Mods could create-- with us having input ideas like we do for the 5, 10, and 15 pointers?

I think ten 25 pointers would be a good minimum. We could all vote on it or something.

Anne (Booklady) wrote: "Hi Jayme
No, unfortunately the Fort Lauderdale Library system does not offer that service any longer. I understand that it did up to 2000, but the program was too expensive to continue.

I'll ju..."

Anne, I am so sorry to hear about your stroke. I wish I were closer and could help out! (wrong side of FL, sadly). If your neighbor goes to the library anyway, could you request the books on-line and give her your card to pick them up? My parents live down the street and we do this for each other (the library is about 10 miles away, so reducing the number of trips is really helpful). The books are still on your card, and all she'd have to do is pick them up from the hold section, so it is very easy.

Another thing to check is if your library system has e-books. Here in the Tampa area, our library system has a large number of e-books, and you could download them at home. I actually use the card of a relative in a different library system, and have several friends who use my library number down here. With the books automatically disappearing at the end of the borrowing period, there is no possibility of late fines or anything, so it works really well.

((HUGS))

Or, the mods could fill in with old tasks we've had before. I love those too!

or even 20 points...we could have a made the wall of shame task ;) as well as the moderator's pet

I think adding tasks to smaller challenges would be great, but I would prefer one book tasks, personally. Maybe do two each of the 20 point tasks that are random draws?

Andy wrote: "Ms Anderson wrote: "Jessica wrote: "For audiobook fans that want to speed up, I've got a solution for you if you get them from Audible and have a smartphone. Their app will allow you to tweak the ..."

Andy, you can donate your task now. I've done it several times when I know I'm not going to have time to monitor the questions, or I just don't want to think up something clever.

or like Sheila/Kathy who pair up most seasons; I've donated mine as well for a few seasons

Donna Jo wrote: "Andy wrote: "Ms Anderson wrote: "Jessica wrote: "For audiobook fans that want to speed up, I've got a solution for you if you get them from Audible and have a smartphone. Their app will allow you ..."

Thanks for future reference. I made one up, but it is not great. I like the challenge of trying to finish more than tying to be creative.

I am new to this challenge and even with adding shorter books to my reading list i am unsure if i would be able to finish. I think doing like Kathy G. would be easier and more people might be able to finish...but i am a newbie and maybe haven't gotten the hang of this yet!! :)

Nope! My task is mine, sorry *_~

But I wouldn't mind revisiting various tasks to make up the amount to balance the challenge, like a best-of type thing.

I like Dee's idea of making extra 20 pointers. Five more 20 pointers would be 100 points more, but only add 5 books to the challenge.

I personally like the see-saw effect because one season may be more difficult and then the next less difficult. I don't think that people who have not finished should be allowed to create tasks. I think that creating a task is a kind of reward to those who do finish. Just my opinion :)

Best-of idea: I like that too. :-) I'm always interested in seeing what tasks were the most popular.

@Ashley FL

Thanks for the idea - I will check on the availability of ebooks at my library. And I greatly appreciate that you would offer to help me if you lived closer. That means a lot to me. But like I said, I'm grateful just to be here.

Angela wrote: "I personally like the see-saw effect because one season may be more difficult and then the next less difficult. I don't think that people who have not finished should be allowed to create tasks. I ..."

just so you know, the 20 pointers (with the exception of the group read), are all created by ppl who don't finish the challenge - they are random draws by certain characteristics - GR authors; big book tickets, birthday during the season etc

I don't think that we should create a maximum on the number of tasks. I think that is unfair to the people who do finish but just don't manage to finish before someone else. However, something like 10 tasks minimum and letting the next highest point earners make up the extra tasks might help with the see saw effect.

Thanks Dee. I realized that for the 20 pointers. I was referring to the 25/30/50 pointers.

Sorry to be such a Newbie, but how many books are required to finish the challenge? New tasks are popping up daily, and with some tasks calling for 2 books, it seems like we'd need to read 75 or more. I tend to prefer longer books and doubt I'd even have a chance to finish if that's the case!

the number of books is going to vary per challenge...the 25 and 30 point tasks are typically 2 book tasks, and the 50 pointer will be a 3 book task (posted at the mid-point)

Theresa~OctoberLace wrote: "Sorry to be such a Newbie, but how many books are required to finish the challenge? New tasks are popping up daily, and with some tasks calling for 2 books, it seems like we'd need to read 75 or m..."

I have that trouble too. I'm looking for some books that I have that are under 300 pages. I hope I have a bunch, because I prefer longer books, too. More bang for my dollars :D

Dee wrote: "the number of books is going to vary per challenge...the 25 and 30 point tasks are typically 2 book tasks, and the 50 pointer will be a 3 book task (posted at the mid-point)"

So do the majority of participants finish the challenge or just treat it as a way to structure their personal reading plans and have fun at it?

i don't know how ppl treat it - personally, i try to finish and use it to structure my reading (kinda sorta) - i'm not necessarily going to force myself to read a book that isn't interesting and I try to have several books as options for various tasks

I love finishing because I love creating tasks. I definitely strategize (choosing short books for low-point tasks and two-book tasks where I can, for example). That being said, since I read so I can recommend books to my students, I try to find books that they'd enjoy for the different tasks. Sometimes it's easier than others. And even with the tasks that make me grumpy, I still love the challenge and have fun with it. I surprise myself, too--often I discover books I'd never have previously considered if it weren't for certain tasks!