The Reading Challenge Group discussion

Hi everyone,

Us mods have been planning away preparing for next year's set up, but we ultimately want to base our decisions on your views and opinions about the group and the way its run. We obviously want to make the group the best it can be, so we'd love your help to do that. We don't want a dictatorship here... ;)

Over the course of the new few weeks, we'll be posting questions on this thread every couple of days to try and see what you like/dislike about the group, and how we can change that.

Even if you have a simple answer or want to talk generally about the group, we'd love to hear your responses. If you want to sum up all your ideas/suggestions in one post, you're more than welcome to. Honestly, this is a thread we want you guys to use to what you wish, to change and influence what we'll do next year. We just want any feedback we can get. Any response is a useful response!

Note: if you have anything you'd rather not say in the thread, feel free to message me or any of the Mods to have a bit more privacy. We'd be more than happy to communicate that way if needs be.

QUESTION 1: What are you favorite elements?

Whether it be official or unofficial set-ups, what do you enjoy most about the group?

I love the mini challenges and the monthly group reads! They challenge me to read outside of what I normaly would wich is exactly what I am looking for!

The mini challenges and the monthly group reads. They have taught me that reading can be fun.

- Readathons and Mini Challenges. They have really helped with cleaning up my tbr.

I use the challenges (nonfiction & fiction) to plan my reading for the month as well as try to work my tbr pile down. I also like the mini challenges.

Similar to the above posts, I like the mini challenges and readathons. I also like genre challenge (the standard one as I don't read non-fiction nearly as often). I really enjoyed the 50 questions when Faye did those as it brought some unique conversations in the group.

I like the mini challenges, 50 questions thread, readathons, Goals recap section

I'm really enjoying the World Literature Challenge, as it pushes me to read a more diverse range. I hope this comes back again in 2016.

I'm liking read a thons lately

I like the monthly genre challenge and the bingo

The mini challenges, so far - but this was my first year on GR so am now starting to join in with other stuff - I fancy Bingo (I hate real bingo! ha!) I read-a-thon all the time so I'm not too bothered about those.

I haven't been with the group long but I Will list out the section that I Have participate in and enjoy:
1. if the other readathons were anything like the Halloween one then I can see myself participating in them more
2. Questions section was very entertaining.
3. Goals section pushes me to strive toward my GR goal
Hope that helps!!!!

I am brand new to the group, but will offer my $.02. I have an overwhelming TBR and have no difficulty finding books to read & books to commit to - I'm already challenged enough, but it's fun to participate when I can, which means pretty un-strict ones that are based pretty loosely on what I'm already reading.

I like the genre monthly challenges as it helps me organise my TBR.
When I have time, I also like the readathons.

My 2 cents, as a new member of the group. I will tell you why I decided to join this group in particular, instead of another one (also, despite already being a member of various other reading challenges groups).

I really love the challenges you've offered for 2015, and I hope they will be repeated in 2016, or something along those lines in any case. I like: 1. Genre Challenge; 2. World Literature Challenge; 3. Non-Fiction Challenge (in order of how much I do like them). The last one is perhaps my least favorite, but that's only because I'm not particularly into Non-Fiction, although this could be a way of getting to know the different Non-Fiction genres better.

I also love the 50 questions and the readathons.

I'm not particularly into mini-challenges, but that's just because I'm not really good at organizing my reads in the short period. The themes of the mini-challanges are indeed good, it's just the short-span I don't really feel comfortable in.

Oh, and I love the group reads, although I cannot always (or I can only seldom) take part in them. But they are great.

Thanks for the responses guys! They've been amazing!

Two questions for you now!

Is there something you would like to see added to the group?

And this is applicable if you vote/participate in group reads:
Do you read the books for which you vote and/or participate in the Group Read discussions?

I try to read the books I vote for but often run out of time because I'm too disorganised with my reading.

I try to read what I vote for- but may not read if it's something I don't have on my tbr pile.

I loved the monthly challenges (non-fiction, world Literature, and genre) and the mini challenges.

Is there something you would like to see added to the group?

Well, why, more challenges of course! :-) I'm thinking of yearly challenges and maybe team challenges, which I'm doing with another group and are so much fun!

Do you read the books for which you vote and/or participate in the Group Read discussions?

I never vote for a book if I know I won't be able to participate in the discussion. That seems only fair to me. I had previously seen this as a rule in another group, and I think it's very sensible, because I would hate to influence the group decision on what to read and not participate in the discussion afterwards.

As I think I said before, I would love to participate more in Group Reads discussions, but I tend to only do so if I already have the book in my TBR or if I really really want to read it, as I've been trying to tackle my TBR pile.

I would like to see more bingos!
I vote in the group reads if I plan to read the challenged book.

I vote for the one I want to read. I Don't always get to read it. If I have no interest in any of the choices I skip voting.

If I vote, I usually read the book. If I don't like any of the choices I will not vote. Why vote and not read the book? I realize time can be a factor.

What are my favorite elements?

I really like the mini-challenges best because you can do so much with them and keep it fresh. I also enjoyed the genre and world lit challenges. Although I didn't manage to do them every month, it did help me get to some books that I wouldn't have. And the Points challenge is a fun bonus activity. Who doesn't like to add up points??

I'd like to see more...

I'd like to see more challenges related to making progress on series and on TBR (owned) books. I'm thinking I need to focus heavily on those two things next year, since they are getting out of hand for me! Whether it's through mini-challenges or something else.

Voting on books

I stopped voting on the monthly choices because I found that I wasn't getting around to reading them, and didn't want to skew the results.

(I can definitely work on a TBR and a series-related challenge. Thanks for the ideas, Allison.)

This year I had great fun with my personal TBR challenges, and I'm planning to continue some of them next year. I would love to join a group one, if one was available.
Nothing beats the feeling of satisfaction of seeing the TBR number go down :P

I love mini-challenges and the read-a-thons, have not been able to get to the group reads especially if they are longer than 300 pages.

QUESTION 1: What are you favorite elements?
I love the informal set up. I like the the topics stay open even when a monthly read it "finished" and there's a great mix of chit-chat and serious book talk. Also love the mini-challenges because they help my long-term reading goals.

Is there something you would like to see added to the group?

Just a personal thing because I'm considering trying it at my school's book club but I feel like this is a good group to test run it with: a black history month challenge. I'm not quite sure how to set it up (maybe one book from each genre, i.e poetry, bio, fiction, etc?) or something like a BINGO? I'm open to ideas xD

Do you read the books for which you vote and/or participate in the Group Read discussions?
Not always but I do try. I'm more likely to participate in a discussion if the book is already on my shelf/easily accessible on a college kid budget. I definitely slack during the school year (midterms are a beast...)

What are my favorite elements?
mini challenged and friendly people, wooo.

I'd like to see more...
Not really sure. I like the variety of books and genres, so perhaps even more of that!

Voting on books
I've forgotten to vote the past two months, but that's because I turned off the goodreads emails, only remember to vote when I check the app and see the message. That said- THE MESSAGES ARE GREAT KEEP REMINDING FORGETFUL PLEBIANS LIKE MY SELF. It isn't spam. The voting and nomination process is simple and enjoyable.

(Sarabi- there was a Black History challenge. Check out the archive. If you don't like the Pick-n-Choose format and Bingo doesn't suit you either, maybe try the Tic-Tac-Toe format like we used with LGBTQ.)

Renee wrote: "(I can definitely work on a TBR and a series-related challenge. Thanks for the ideas, Allison.)"
A TBR challenge is a good idea.

In another group I was a part of a team challenge and I had a lot of fun. There was some degree of flexibility with it. I would love to be a part of something like that here :)

(I'd love to hear details about the team challenge, Pepper. Maybe you could message me or use the mini-challenge planning thread to tell us more.)

I haven't voted for any books but I Would make the time if a book was chosen that I am interested in reading/is on my TBR list.

I am new here but feel my favorite elements will be the mini challenges, and the monthly genre challenge.

For monthly book voting and discussions, I am not certain how often I will be able to participate. I borrow most of my books from the library, so often require a longer lead time between the poll and the beginning of the book discussion.

Finally, like the idea of a read-a-thon, but maybe for a shorter duration, such as during one weekend a month.

Looking forward to a fun year and thank you moderators for your time and enthusiasm. :)

New questions up! We're checking out your ideas and feedback and the response has been amazing! Thank you so much!

Concerning current aspects of the group: Is there anything you don't like or would like to see done differently?

and: We are currently designing some accomplishment badges for things you complete, that you can add to your personal challenge thread. Would these interest you?

I would be interested in the accomplishments badges. That would be good. I have never done anything like that but would be interested in taking part.

I enjoyed the personal challenges thread for all of us where we can keep track of our books. That helps me out with my reading challenge for the year.

I do not dislike the readathons but maybe try experimenting with a time frame or a theme. I loved the Halloween theme. You guys do a great job coming up with creative challenges.

I don't really know what the badges are and how strict to qualify, but would be interested in learning more.

As far as I've seen, there's nothing I don't like :-)

As for the badges, that's a very cute idea, I would love to see them and have them on my personal challenge thread :-)

Oooh, I'd like badges :-)

Badges sound fun. :)

Is there anything you don't like or would like to see done differently?

Not especially meaning I don't like it but I feel that five group reads are a lot to keep up with every month. Maybe it would be helpful to split the classics, YA, non-fiction, genre and world literature into alternating months (meaning each category every 2 months) and only have 2-3 group reads per month? Perhaps more members would have the time to participate in more group reads that way? I do understand the group reads are supposed to be coordinating with the annual group challenges though. :)

I really love the challenges and the readathons in this group. The readathon is very different from that of other groups which is great and I love the themes.

I don't tend to vote on group reads as don't often have the books and not all genres are my thing.

It would be great if you could start a team challenge as I absolutely love them and think it's a fantastic way to get to know other members and find new books. However from my experience in other groups these only work if you have committed participants. I've seen a few collapse as team members drop out.

In terms of what doesn't work I would maybe say the group reads. There doesn't seem to be much discussion in the few I've participated in. Have you considered making it a bit more formal? Perhaps timetabling when the book is read so everyone reads at the same pace and time. Maybe have someone lead the discussion by posting questions.

I would agree with Alison about the group reads. There was not much discussion on Treasure Island or A Passage to India. I like the idea of posting questions. Also, having five group reads does become confusing especially when all five groups are nominating books.

Hi guys,

We are planning on reducing the group reads to only two per month! That way we'll hopefully get more participation! We too have thought it's been a bit complicated this year.

Oh, thanks Holly for letting us know! That sounds great and I do hope it works out well for moderators and group members. Definitely less complicated. :)

Alison wrote: "I really love the challenges and the readathons in this group. The readathon is very different from that of other groups which is great and I love the themes.

I don't tend to vote on group reads a..."


I like the idea of some questions about the reads.. I think that participation is low in most reading groups, and I think if people had questions to answer it might help increase participation.

Sally wrote: "Alison wrote: "I really love the challenges and the readathons in this group. The readathon is very different from that of other groups which is great and I love the themes.

I don't tend to vote o..."

I agree with Sally. I bet that would help.