Eclectic Readers discussion

Since most of us could not participate in Dewey's 24 hour readathon (24hourreadathon.com), we got to talking about how great it would be to have a readathon of our own. I think it's a fabulous idea, but it will involve planning!

We'll need:

1. A date.
2. Participants.
3. Rules.
4. Events/Challenges.

I'm opening this thread to all ideas, suggestions, volunteers, and questions. I know you have them, so let's hear it! Also, check for a poll right here on our Goodreads page to start determining a date!

I would love to participate in a readathon! And I would be happy to volunteer, if I can. It might be a fun thing Emily and I could do that weekend. So, here are my thoughts so far for it:

1. Thanksgiving weekend or Christmas weekend sounds like the best bet so far
2. I would love to participate!
3. Maybe, we can update anywhere and as much as we like, but we HAVE to update on our GoodReads group page.
4. At the end of our readathon, we can see who read the most books. Or we can have a challenge where we finish a book that are on our friend 'to-read' list?

Sue wrote: "I would love to participate in a readathon! And I would be happy to volunteer, if I can. It might be a fun thing Emily and I could do that weekend. So, here are my thoughts so far for it:

1. Thank..."

1. I'm thinking Thanksgiving weekend or Christmas weekend too, but I put a poll up here, just in case we end up having a lot of indecision on dates:

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/6...

2. Yay!

3. I had the thought that maybe for that weekend, I'll put up an extra thread under "Currently Reading" specifically for the day of the Readathon so that everyone who wants updates can opt in, and those who don't want them don't get 500 updates from our usual thread.

3-4. Should we have specific check-in points and challenges? Just to make sure we have a way to keep each other updated and encouraged?

Twitter/Facebook hashtag?

And can you expand on that last thought - a book on our friends' to read list? I'm not sure I got that one.

Jeannette wrote: "And can you expand on that last thought - a book on our friends' to read list? I'm not sure I got that one."

Basically, try and read book from a friend's 'To-Read' list that isn't on your 'To-Read' list. Or read a book that a friend also has on their 'To-Read' list.

Sue wrote: "Jeannette wrote: "And can you expand on that last thought - a book on our friends' to read list? I'm not sure I got that one."

Basically, try and read book from a friend's 'To-Read' list that isn'..."

I like both of those ideas, but I think I like the second more than the first, but that could be because of the sheer number of books on my TBR.

Jeannette wrote: "but I think I like the second more than the first, but that could be because of the sheer number of books on my TBR"

Yeah, same. The thought came to me that it may be a little intimidating with some 'To-Read' lists so finding a book you have in common with a friend may be easier. Haha!

Also, we definitely should have a hashtag.

And check-in points throughout the readathon is a good idea. It's a good way to take a short break for those who can read for long stints. Like, check-in every hour or every time you complete a book/challenge....?

I am excited about this idea!!! I can do whebever except that holidays might be tough because sometimes people's family wants to hang out w Them? It's weird

And I like the idea of checkpoints-a way to pace ourselves like see if I can finish this book by 2pm etc

What if we do a modified bingo card? Not bingo but like a list of books you can get a point for-book on your list book on someone else's book club book seasonal book etc etc?

READING

I am excited about this idea!!! I can do whebever except that holidays might be tough because sometimes people's family wants to hang out w Them? It's weird

And I like the idea of checkpoints-a way to pace ourselves like see if I can finish this book by 2pm etc

What if we do a modified bingo card? Not bingo but like a list of books you can get a point for-book on your list book on someone else's book club book seasonal book etc etc?

READING

Shira wrote: "I am excited about this idea!!! I can do whebever except that holidays might be tough because sometimes people's family wants to hang out w Them? It's weird

And I like the idea of checkpoints-a w..."

Ooh, I like a point card idea. I can promise no prizes other than entertainment and glory, especially around the holiday times, but I still think point cards would be fun.

My family likes to hang out with me on holidays too. People be crazy.

I read wiht my family around. Haha! Especially since they usually are just chilling after a holiday. We usually don't go out so while they talk, I end up reading.

I like the points card! It seems to be more of a scavenger hunt type of thing. Depending on the length of the readathon we can do 5 books that needs to be completed.

I won't be able to participate during the holidays since we'll be with family so I wouldn't likely be able to get more than a couple hours in - although we'll be flying on the Sunday after Christmas so I might be able to get some in on the plane/airport if baby is agreeable :-) Either way I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with this!!

Megan wrote: "I won't be able to participate during the holidays since we'll be with family so I wouldn't likely be able to get more than a couple hours in - although we'll be flying on the Sunday after Christma..."

Hey, depending on what ends up on the points card, you could totally get points for a couple of hours. And either way, you can definitely still toss in ideas for how it should go.

I'm very excited and I have Ideas if this works out well, including that this should not be a one-time deal. So if you can't do it this time there's always next time (another reason why people should throw in ideas!)

:-)

I was thinking that we could make this a yearly thing too! I won't have a lot of time either even though we won't be with family. I still plan to log a few hours

are we aiming for a 24 hr thing? or more like a 8 or 12 hr thing?

I think a 24 hour thing, especially if we do a points card, because you don't have to read the whole time to be successful, and you're not limited to a certain time. If we do this Turkey Day weekend, I don't want anyone to lose out because we just happened to schedule it during their shopping time.

All right, guys, our winner looks to be late December. Looking at the calendar, that means December 19th/20th or December 26th/27th. If you have strong preferences, I want to hear them. If not, organizers will pick by this weekend (maybe we'll reveal it in the podcast, MUAHAHA).

Next we need point sheets and rules. I'll put a few in, but some of you guys are way more creative than I am, so I want suggestions. Toss them on the thread starting... NOW!

Either of those weekends is good for me!
As for point sheets and rules....I mean you get a point for each book finished right? Or shoudl we do it by pages, so no advantage to reading lots of short books. And maybe like, points if you read certain categories like in bingo - a book on your to read list, a book more than 500 pages, a book thats more than 100 years old, a book in a genre you dont normally read? Eh i dunno!

Since the prizes are Eclectic Reader Fame & Glory, there is no reason why we can't have a "Most Books Read in 24 Hours" and "Most Pages Read in 24 Hours" category. For the point sheets, I think we can do more specific categories.

I think a Sunday may be better than a Saturday, but either weekend works for me.

I don't think we should do anything that requires a long book. That way there's not penalty if someone wants to switch it up during the day. And we should keep the list on the shorter side so there's no huge pressure since the objective is to just read as much as you can.

That being said, how about something more scavenger hunt-y? Like you read a book that had a spunky female character. Or a book that has animals as characters....?

Also, I was researching stuff that readathons do for challenges, and it looks like its things that help you take a break from reading. Like one readathon asked questions to the readers "Pick the book you are currently reading or one of the books and pick a song that fits the book and tell us why you chose that song." do we want to do something like that?

Sue wrote: "I think a Sunday may be better than a Saturday, but either weekend works for me.

I don't think we should do anything that requires a long book. That way there's not penalty if someone wants to swi..."

I think "scavenger hunt" is a way better way to describe exactly what I was thinking, Suze! I was thinking a bunch of things like "a spunky female character or whatever, so that one book could theoretically give a ton of points without us intending it or without having to literally read for 24 hours. It makes the potential for winning a bit more random.

I like the idea of having break challenges to go with our reading challenges. Let's throw that in too.

When we have a bunch of ideas in each category, I'll put together a fancy Google doc or image for everyone to reference on the day of the Readathon.

Oh thats fun! These are much better ideas than mine. I like the scavenger hunt idea a lot - maybe something that we wont know until we read? Like, words that could pop up - one point if someone says 'betrayal' or weird sentences. Or specific scenes or settings or ideas. This could be really fun!

Exactly Shira! Like, the book you read had a twist you did not expect.

Sue wrote: "Exactly Shira! Like, the book you read had a twist you did not expect."

Suze, you are very good at book scavenger hunts. I'm co-opting you for organizational purposes whether you like it or not. :-D

haha! if I must.

I got an idea for a book/break challenge! I say it like this because it's not really meant to be during a break. BUT, I wake up fairly early (even on the weekends) so I thought it would be fun if a challenge would be 'How early did you start reading for the Readathon?'

Jeannette wrote: "Since the prizes are Eclectic Reader Fame & Glory, there is no reason why we can't have a "Most Books Read in 24 Hours" and "Most Pages Read in 24 Hours" category. For the point sheets, I think we ..."

We could get Miss Ashford to create little online graphics for people to post in their profiles/on facebook? As well as, participation badges. I can even make that... probably.

Also, is there an easy way to really talk about this on goodreads - or should we do a tumblr blog just about this - like Stash did for the Cabin Pressure event she hosted:
CabinPressureAdventCalendar.tumblr.com

Just a reminder guys we are less than 3 weeks from the Readathon, and still taking suggestions for reading and break challenges.

The more challenges you give us, the more chances to earn points, right? :-)

Did we pick a date??

Shira wrote: "Did we pick a date??"

Yup! Dec 19!

Oh I totally missed that. Ok! I will be tehre!

I *might* be able to join! We'll see though so this is not my official sign-up.

Does the reading have to be books only? Any points for newspapers or magazines?

Could we make an event for it? FB or elsewhere. A reminder onmy calendar would be good, and then maybe that gives us a place to post/talk about it?

Kim - Haven't really thought about articles and such. But my initial thought is books only. But it's something to think about. =)

Shira - we could create an event for our group as a reminder but we're keeping the actual discussion here on GoodReads. We're going to have a thread specifically for the Readathon.

We should send an email to everyone in the goodreads group - and let them know this is happening. Because you don't get updates unless you have responded here. This has to come from an admin, only admin can send emails to groups in goodreads.

Also, challenge - a character name that has alliteration (epithets count).
- whenever a language is spoken that the main POV doesn't understand.
- When the following types of characters are included:
a. POC
b. Gay or Lesbian
c. Transgendered
d. Handicapped
- Whenever a main character dreams

So many comments I haven't had time to reply to yet! I think the problem with articles/magazines is that it's a bit harder to figure out how to count it? Pages are different sizes, have different numbers of words, etc. But any and all kinds of books will count, including kids' books, YA books, and text books, if that helps.

Our goal was to have the bulk of the Readathon on Sunday December 20th (as we mentioned on Episode 9 of the podcast), but at the same time, we want to be finished by the time everyone has to think about going to work on Monday (so nobody has to stay up half the night to make their final Goodreads post). So officially, we're going from 8 PM on December 19th to 8 PM on December 20th.

I think emailing it out is a great idea, Tara, so look for these official details coming into your mailbox some time this weekend.

And keep suggesting challenges! Especially the out-of-the-box ones... :-)