MobileRead Book Challenges discussion

...in which Christa gives herself a challenge and then immediately starts looking for ways around it.

Also see my regular annual thread at https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I'm not aiming to read them all, but I'll see what I can do. Like MrsJ, I'll have to remove a few from consideration, with possibly more to follow. :D

A YA bestseller
A book about a road trip
A book at least 100 years older than you
A book based on a fairy tale
A book translated to English
A book written by a comedian
A classic from the 20th century
A graphic novel - Loki
A romance set in the future
A satirical book
An autobiography


Finished Categories:
A New York Times bestseller - Plum Island
A book about a culture you're unfamiliar with - Devil Said Bang - didn't say it had to be a real culture...
A book from the library - Plum Island
A book recommended by someone you just met - The Hobbyist's Guide to the Rtl-Sdr: Really Cheap Software Defined Radio
A book that takes place during Summer - Plum Island
A book that takes place on an island - Plum Island
A book that's more than 600 pages - Plum Island
A book that's under 150 pages - So you want to be a Private Investigator
A book with a blue cover - Anatomy of a Misfit
A book you can finish in a day - Wetlands
A murder mystery - You Make Me Feel So Dead
A science-fiction novel - Terms of Use
A dystopian novel - Pines
A book that is published in 2016 - American Nocturne
A book with a protagonist who has your occupation - Revival*
A self-improvement book - The Instrument Pilot's Survival Guide**
A book set in Europe - Sexy Summer Stories
A book written by a celebrity - Big Jack Is Dead***
A book of poetry - The Ways We Touch: Poems
A book set in your home state - The Honky Tonk Big Hoss Boogie


Removed from list:
A book and its prequel
A book recommended by a family member(1)
A book that's guaranteed to bring you joy(3)
A political memoir
The first book you see in a bookstore(2)


1 - My mom reads smut almost exclusively. I don't want smut recs from my mom. No other family to get recs from.
2 - The odds of me being in a bookstore are slim. Will try to keep it in mind should that change, though.
3 - I'm not psychic! But I am a fickle bitch. Nothing is guaranteed to bring me joy. :P

*The protag is a musician. I used to do that for money. I say it counts.
**Well... it improved my self's ability to fly pixel planes...
***The author is a kickass game dev, makes him a celebrity as far as I'm concerned :D

FIRST!

LOL! I've missed our annual benevolent thread races. :D

;) Me, too

It's interesting that you posted this challenge stuff today, because earlier today I was just thinking that I'm feeling myself being pulled away from gaming and toward reading again. (You know me, I have trouble doing both.) So good timing! :)

MrsJoseph wrote: "FIRST!"

Foiled again!

Change bookstore with grocery store. You know those books that everyone reads. Probably with a last name like Steele, or Ludlum or Brown. :P

Or replace it with library. For me that would probably be something from the recently returned shelf.

Thankfully my mom reads lots of historical fiction.

Would Amazon count as a bookstore?

And I'm so with you on the last one, unless it's a reread.

:) I don't physically go to the Library either. I suppose I could make it "the first book you see on the Library ebooks front page" or something, though.

Nyssa wrote: "Would Amazon count as a bookstore?

And I'm so with you on the last one, unless it's a reread."

There's a thought. I could just click through to one of the featured books pages and choose whichever draws my eye first.

I go to the library a lot. I'm concerned about the YA stuff. O_O

MrsJoseph wrote: "I go to the library a lot. I'm concerned about the YA stuff. O_O"

Since it doesn't have to be recent, I'll probably read something from the very first ever YA on the NYT Paperback bestseller lists - Sweet Valley High. :D

Christa wrote: "MrsJoseph wrote: "I go to the library a lot. I'm concerned about the YA stuff. O_O"

Since it doesn't have to be recent, I'll probably read something from the very first ever YA on the NYT Paperbac..."

You are a genius!

Um, so... I'm probably not doing this challenge. I've got several books lined up to read and they only match one item on the list. :D I was initially under the impression that I would just read whatever and enough things would match, but that's not going to work. So I'll probably just end up deleting this thread.

Christa wrote: "Um, so... I'm probably not doing this challenge. I've got several books lined up to read and they only match one item on the list. :D I was initially under the impression that I would just read wha..."

But it's only the beginning of the year...don't give in yet. Maybe give it a few months?

I guess I could leave it and then just see how many match up, but not as a goal. I've always had issues about trying to read specific books / types of books rather than whatever I feel like reading at the time, so I'm not sure why I thought I'd do this in the first place. :D

I totally think you should give it a bit. When I do challenges like this, I read what I want and then go back and see what fit.

I also realize that I WON'T get to all of the categories and I refuse to force myself to.

What Mrs. J. said, especially about still reading what you want, and not worrying about covering everything.

MrsJoseph wrote: "I totally think you should give it a bit. When I do challenges like this, I read what I want and then go back and see what fit. I also realize that I WON'T get to all of the categories and I refuse to force myself to."

Yeah, I guess that's what I'll do. Just see what happens without any sort of goal.

Last night I realized I may have hit my GR challenge goal last year because of a bunch of stuff I was reading in Dec that I never put in for some reason. I've been looking at my Fire trying to figure out what I read that I forgot about, and then adding them with approximate dates. It was a bunch of journaling and art books and stuff.

Christa wrote: "Last night I realized I may have hit my GR challenge goal last year because of a bunch of stuff I was reading in Dec that I never put in for some reason. I've been looking at my Fire trying to figure out what I read that I forgot about, and then adding them with approximate dates. It was a bunch of journaling and art books and stuff. "

I never count my rereads but I think I did with some to hit the goal for last year.

I'd started not counting books I didn't review.

MrsJoseph wrote: "I totally think you should give it a bit. When I do challenges like this, I read what I want and then go back and see what fit."

Exactly. Sometimes you can just rationalize a book into a category. Seriously that's what genres are all about. Sure it was a chick-lit book, but when they went to the museum and fawned over Luncheon on the Grass you can now classify it as art criticism.

Homeinmyshoes wrote: "MrsJoseph wrote: "I totally think you should give it a bit. When I do challenges like this, I read what I want and then go back and see what fit."

Exactly. Sometimes you can just rationalize a boo..."

:-D

LOL! That sounds like a fun twist on the challenge, actually - how far can I go to rationalize something into a list category? :D THAT could be fun!

Christa wrote: "LOL! That sounds like a fun twist on the challenge, actually - how far can I go to rationalize something into a list category? :D THAT could be fun!"

That does sound fun!

Ha! See? Sometimes going into "whiny baby I don't want to do this" mode CAN pay off in big ways! Not often, granted, but it happens!

"Glad to be of service." ~one of the Sirius Cybernetics lifts

I got the reference even though I've never quite gotten around to reading the source. :D

And yes, thank you for the idea! :)

Christa wrote: "Ha! See? Sometimes going into "whiny baby I don't want to do this" mode CAN pay off in big ways! Not often, granted, but it happens!"

lol!

Homeinmyshoes wrote: "MrsJoseph wrote: "I totally think you should give it a bit. When I do challenges like this, I read what I want and then go back and see what fit."

Exactly. Sometimes you can just rationalize a boo..."

You are a genius!

Once we make a rule that books can fulfill more than one line then we could be done this list in as few as six or seven selections. I could , you know, recommend a book with a blue cover that is 603 pages and written in 1753 in say Persia. And if it just happened to include some guy named Hannibal on a road trip and it happened to be at your library.

I, unfortunately, don't read 600 page books anymore.

Christa wrote: "I got the reference even though I've never quite gotten around to reading the source. :D"

Listening to the source is way better. I recommend listening to the BBC radio plays (at least the primary and secondary phases.)

Homeinmyshoes wrote: "Once we make a rule that books can fulfill more than one line then we could be done this list in as few as six or seven selections. I could , you know, recommend a book with a blue cover that is 60..."

I tend to not read books that long anymore either, but my plan for that one is to, over the course of this year, explore Musichound Lounge: The Essential Album Guide to Martini Music and Easy Listening, which just makes the cut, including end matter.

Edited to add: Shit, no it doesn't - 590 pages. But they are REALLY big pages with small print. I'm counting it, dammit.

Homeinmyshoes wrote: "Once we make a rule that books can fulfill more than one line then we could be done this list in as few as six or seven selections. I could , you know, recommend a book with a blue cover that is 60..."

LOLOL

*done*

I really should have just made one thread for myself for this year, because now I don't know what to put in each thread. :/ I guess I'll update this one but keep the bulk of my reading angst in my 2016 thread.

Three books, three items off the list. So far, so good. :D

:D

I'm reading a bit more...but mostly because hubby has been getting jealous of all the gaming I've been doing alone. ;-)

I modified the list a bit. Added a few things to partially make up for those I took off. The new items are at the bottom, marked with *. I also modified one, that one is marked with +.

Thumbs up for the year you were born one. Always a good way to find a book. Might I suggest, no on second thought I won't suggest the book I read for 1975. Nope. Not going there.

Hmmm. There are two from that year that you've got on your "read" shelf. I've already read 'Salem's Lot and the other, The Year of the Hare, isn't really attracting me at the moment.

Something interesting - I always mash up bits of 'Salem's Lot with some early bits from Steppenwolf. Something about "boarding house life" tying the two together, I guess? Especially since I've never finished the latter, as it's one of our bathroom books and I mostly just end up reading the same opening pages over and over again.

Hmmm....I thought it was a different book. Maybe originally published dates have been changed again. That happens. I thought it was The Great Railway Bazaar which has now shown up as 1969 in Goodreads, but everything on Wikipedia is saying 1975. Anyway. I wouldn't suggest it unless you like the idea of wanting to punch the author out for the first two thirds of the book. The last part on the train in Siberia was awesome. The book might be worth is for some of those passages, but I don't think you'd make it.

I would totally recommend The Year of the Hare. Just a really fun read. I've been looking for something else to read by the author but there's so little in translation and not available at my library yet.

Ha! I've heard about that book! I wasn't sure, so I visited the link and yes, that was it. I've put it on my "interested" shelf just to remind myself to check out a sample or something. I'm kind of intrigued by the near-consensus that he's a contemptuous bastard.

I'll add The Year of the Hare to my interested shelf also. Won't hurt to at least take a look! :)

Now that I have joined the group I can finally make a comment I wanted to post a couple of weeks back...

I know you might like to plan ahead, Christa, but reading challenge for 2106... Not that's impressive! ;)

(read your title)

DoodlePanda wrote: "Now that I have joined the group I can finally make a comment I wanted to post a couple of weeks back...

I know you might like to plan ahead, Christa, but reading challenge for 2106... Not that's ..."

:-D

How did we not notice this sooner? LOL!

I'm leaving it. :D

Christa wrote: "How did we not notice this sooner? LOL!

I'm leaving it. :D"

I was wondering this myself! :D
And you should totally leave it as is :)
But no slacking off on doing the challenge though! ;)

We all work so far ahead here on our challenges that 2106 is totally legitimate. I'll only be 136 years old.

I've already got a challenge penciled in for 2020 already. Not that any of the mods here will create a forum for the 2020 challenges yet. Killjoys. Pffft. :)

Homeinmyshoes wrote: "We all work so far ahead here on our challenges that 2106 is totally legitimate. I'll only be 136 years old.

I've already got a challenge penciled in for 2020 already. Not that any of the mods her..."

^this

LOL

Lol :D

Homeinmyshoes wrote: "I've already got a challenge penciled in for 2020 already. Not that any of the mods here will create a forum for the 2020 challenges yet. Killjoys. Pffft. :) "

I'd totally do it if you wanted me to. :)

^That's not the kind of help I need!!!!