The Perks Of Being A Book Addict discussion

Team Ron Weasley

Team Members:
♦ maria helena (Captain)
♦ Sarah (Co-captain)
♦ Eni
♦ Ashley Karczewski
♦ Avamuc
♦ Emily Storey Walker
♦ Kazen
♦ Melindam

♦ Mahriya
♦ Drishti
♦ Fatimah

♠ Team Spreadsheet

“Ok. don't panic. Don't panic. It's only a VISA bill. It's a piece of paper; a few numbers. I mean, just how scary can a few numbers be?”
― Sophie Kinsella, Confessions of a Shopaholic

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TEAM SHELVES


♦ maria helena (captain)
♦ Sarah (co-captain)
♦ Ashley Karczewski
♦ Avamuc
♦ Kazen
♦ Eni
♦ Melindam
♦ Rachyl

♦ Mahriya
♦ Drishti
♦ Fatimah
♦ Emily Storey Walker
♦ Lil Book Harpy

IMORTANT INFORMATION


Cut-off times
- Countdown to when books used for February cards must be finished.

Book Length
- All books must be more than 100 pages in length.
- Childrens books or graphic novels need to be more than 25,000 words (verify using arbookfind.com)

Logistics
- Your finished books need to be on your Uno shelf AND marked as "read" with a read date during the challenge for them to count.
- Please post in the discussion thread how your book fits for different cards.
- Series numbers used are 1 to 9, and stand alone books counts as 0.
- Letters used in UNO are Z, O, T, H, F, I, V, E, S, N, K, and P.
- You can use title, author name, character name, or place for the letters.
- Also check if another team member has read the book or if you have already read a book someone else is reading.

Scoreboard
- Spreadsheet with all team's current scores.
- Note that this is just based on what currently have been entered into the spreadsheets and depending on when captains update, it might change (some teams might wait until the end of the month to update their spreadsheet).

Cover colour
- Colour extractor to use to check that cover is >50% a specific colour.

APRIL MINI CHALLENGE: EASTER EGG HUNT

TEAM AUGUSTUS WATERS
Find words in text:
✦ Onion
✦ Peel
✦ Tree
✦ Flower
✦ Petal
✦ Juice

TEAM BECKY BLOOMWOOD
Spell-it-out PYSANKA
✦ Letter P
✦ Letter Y
✦ Letter S
✦ Letter A
✦ Letter N
✦ Letter K
✦ Letter A

TEAM BONES
✦ Read a book set in Italy
✦ Read a book first published in 2011
✦ Read a book where the MC's goes to the zoo
✦ Read a book with a 7 and a 2 in the page count. (any combination)

TEAM BUTTERCUP
✦ Read a book set in Germany: Todesfrist (Avamuc)
✦ Read a book with chocolate on the cover
✦ Read a book that is 1st in a series: Zombie Fallout (Avamuc)

TEAM ELIZABETH BENNET
Spell-it-out BASKET
✦ Letter B:
✦ Letter A:
✦ Letter S:
✦ Letter K:
✦ Letter E:
✦ Letter T:

TEAM EVE DALLS
✦ Read a book with a decorator
✦ Read a book set in a small town: The Shadow Over Innsmouth (Sarah)
✦ Read a book with a character who is obsessed with a holiday

TEAM HARRY DRESDEN
✦ Read a book with over 500 000 ratings
✦ Read a book with over 10 000 reviews
✦ Read a book with an important character is younger than 15

TEAM HEATHCLIFF
✦ Read a book with a garden on the cover
✦ Read a book with 1 & 6 in the page count
✔ Read a book with an 8 & 0 in the page count: The Moving Finger (Melindam)

TEAM HERCULE POIROT
✦ Read a book with a rabbit on the cover
✦ Read a book with a white cover
✦ Read a book with an orange cover
✦ Read a book with a bird on the cover

TEAM JACK TORRANCE
✦ Read a book set in Australia
✦ Read a book with a hat on the cover: Night Watch (Melindam)
✦ Read a book with a parade: Jingo (Melindam)

TEAM KATE DANIELS
✦ Read a book where the MC works in the food industry
✦ Read a book set in France: All the Light We Cannot See (Avamuc)
✦ Read a book where all the letters in Haux can be found in the title

TEAM LIESEL MEMINGER
✦ Read a book with a grey cover
✦ Read a book with witches: Lords and Ladies (Melindam)
✦ Read a book where there is a fire

TEAM MARK WATNEY
✦ Read a book based on a tropical island
✦ Read a book that contains the word Easter in the text or title
✦ Read a book with a statue on the cover

TEAM MERCY THOMPSON
✦ Read a book that contains the word egg in the text or title
✦ Read a book based in Washington, D.C
✦ Read a book where a character is a President or First Lady

TEAM OVE
✦ Read a book with water on the cover: A Superior Death (MH)
✦ Read a book where a character goes swimming
✦ Read a book with Monday in the text or title

TEAM PEETA MELLARK
✦ Read a book where the characters dance
✦ Read a book where a main character dies
✦ Read a book based during the 5th - 15th century: Title TBA (Sarah)

TEAM RACHEL WATSON
✦ Read a book where the genre on the main page in Goodreads is Crime
✦ Read a book where the genre on the main page in Goodreads is Thriller
✦ Read a book where the genre on the main page in Goodreads is Suspense

TEAM ROBERT LANGDON
Spell-it-out KITE
✦ Letter K:
✦ Letter I:
✦ Letter T:
✦ Letter E:

TEAM RON WEASLEY
✦ Read a book which has one or more rabbits on the cover
✦ Read a book with an Australian native animal on the cover
✦ Read a book where a main character is an animal

TEAM ROSE HATHAWAY
✦ Read a book where a funeral takes place
✦ Read a book with a vegetarian
✦ Read a book where the MC works in a church: Sidney Chambers and the Persistence of Love (Melindam)

TEAM SYBILLA (BILLIE) BRIDGERTON
✦ Read a book with pots or pans on the cover: Title TBA (Sarah)
✔ Read a book where a character is a cook or a chef: Blush for Me (Kazen)
✔ Read a book where the characters go to a cafe or restaurant: Mord och mandeldoft (MH)

TEAM TY & ZANE
✦ Read a book that is in the "Best Books Ever" Listopia List (https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...)
✦ Read a book that won a Goodreads Choice Award
✦ Read a book with a Number between 1-500 in the title (can be spelled out)

TEAM WILL TRAYNOR
Spell-it-out LUCK
✦ Letter L
✦ Letter U
✦ Letter C
✦ Letter K

APRIL CARDS


card #0 / letter Z:   3 books
card #1 / letter O:   7 books
card #2 / letter T:   8 books
card #3 / letter H:  7 books
card #4 / letter F:   7 books
card #5 / letter I:  7 books
card #6 / letter S: 6 books
card #7 / letter V:   6 books
card #8 / letter E: 8 books
card #9 / letter N:   8 books

skip / K or P:  7 books
reverse:         8 books
wild:         2 books
wild draw 4:   4 books

COLOUR CARDS:
7 Blue
7 Blue
5 Red
6 Red
7 Red
0 Green
1 Green
3 Green
5 Green
3 Yellow

Reserved

Reserved

Hi team


My name is maria helena (but you can call me MH) and I will be your team captain for this fun challenge. Uno is probably my all-time favourite team challenge and I’ve been waiting for this round to start pretty much since last year’s challenge ended.

A little bit about me for those of you who don’t already know me: I’m a Swedish expat living in Reykjavik, where I work as a postdoctoral researcher and casual lecturer at the University of Iceland. I’m a volcanologist specializing in explosive eruptions.

My spare time is usually spent in the company of a good book. My favourite genre is mysteries and especially crime novels. I am a huge fan of Nordic and British crime. I mostly read series, and I tend to start new series faster than I can finish them. One of my goals this year is to finish or catch up on several series, so Uno is the perfect challenge for me.

When I’m not busy reading, I love listening to music and watch movies, eat cheese, drink tea, go hiking, and buy stationary and office supplies. I also have a serious addiction to spreadsheets.

I’m looking forward to getting to know all of you, and I hope you all will find Uno as fun as I do.

Hello everyone! My name is Fatimah and I'm from Indonesia. I'm a college freshman majoring in environmental engineering. You'll find me hungry most of the time and munching on any food I can get my hands on. I hate crowds and loud noises.

I love to read both novel and manga. My favorite genres are high fantasy, mystery, and historical fiction. As for manga, I like shoujo the best. It's my second time participating in UNO. I can't wait for it to begin! Looking forward to play with you all :)

Hello everyone! This is my first UNO so I'm excited to be here. :)

I'm Kazen, an American living in Japan. I'm a medical interpreter, so I work in a hospital and help English-speaking patients communicate with their Japanese-speaking doctors. I love that I work at many different hospitals with patients from all over the world, it's so rewarding! Sometimes my commute can be quite long which makes for good reading time. ;)

I love to read to either learn stuff (non-fiction) or escape and relax (romance, paranormal/urban fantasy). I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you!

Hello fellow Weasleys! I had to double check that the Sarah on the list was me, but yes, it is, and I'm glad to find my way here. (I'm beginning to see how useful adding symbols to a GR username would be - food for thought there.)

Anyway, I'm from the UK. This will be my third UNO, and I've loved every one of them - it was UNO which got me hooked on team challenges.

I like to read most things, and will give most genres a try in pursuit of a challenge, but horror and romance are not my thing at all.

My UNO shelf is uno-2017

Hey everyone! Great to be here! Looking forward to get to know you all! This will be my second UNO and it's really a fun challenge. :)

About me....I am from Munich, Germany and a real redhead....team Weasley is perfect ;)

I like to read all kind of books (science fiction, fantasy, zombies, romance,....).

maria helena wrote: "Hi team


My name is maria helena (but you can call me MH) and I will be your team captain for this fun challenge. Uno is probably my all-time favourite team challenge and I’ve been waiting for thi..."

*waves hi* to MH!
Next year:-) Enjoy and have fun.

It looks like our team is spread over multiple countries and time zones. One of the things I love about these group challenges is that you get to meet people from all over the world :-)

We have a little over a week to get organized before the challenge starts. We have actually already gotten the cards for the 13 hands that we are playing in February. I have added a list in post #6 with a summary of which cards we need, in case anyone wants to start planning what books to read.

From previous rounds of Uno, the best approach seem to be for everyone to pick a few books they want to read and list all the different cards they work for. We will keep track of all the books and the cards they work for in our team spreadsheet (I did warn you about my obsession with spreadsheets...) and then towards the end of the month we will assign the books to the cards. I'll make sure to keep track and let everyone know if there are any special cards we are in dire need of.

For the first month, we have a pretty even distribution of cards. I think the trickiest ones are the reverse where we need to read books that someone else on the team have already read. They don't have to have read it during Uno, just at some point.

I'm giving everyone a task to do while we are waiting for the challenge to start. It would be great if everyone had a look at the other team members' read shelfs, and see if there are any books you want to read. Hopefully there should be some overlap between us in what types of books we like to read. I already know that I have some from Kazen's shelf that I'm planning to read :-)

maria helena wrote: "It would be great if everyone had a look at the other team members' read shelfs, and see if there are any books you want to read. Hopefully there should be some overlap between us in what types of books we like to read. I already know that I have some from Kazen's shelf that I'm planning to read :-)"

MH, your read shelf is so deep I don't even know where to begin! Bwahaha. So much good stuff.

Ashley - our taste in contemporary romance lines up quite well, so I suspect I'll be reading at least one of your books! And I look forward to diving through Sarah's fiction as we have similar taste there, too. Yea!

~runs to her e-library to put books on hold~

Kazen wrote: "MH, your read shelf is so deep I don't even know where to begin! Bwahaha. So much good stuff."

I like to think of it as having something for everyone... (It's a monster - I'm working on sorting all the books by genres but it's turning out to be a big project.)

I've got much free time since I'm on a break, so I decided to make a couple of spreadsheets. One for the books that I want to read for the challenge (plus the cards they can be applied to) and the books that I'd like to read from all your read shelves.

Hi everyone! :)

I am Drishti, a high school student from India. I'm kinda getting a feeling I'm the youngest member on the team. (I'm right, aren't I? :P)

I have been in a reading slump for the past half year. But it's been getting better after 2017 started. So I'm hoping that this challenge might be the push I need to get back to my original pace. And oh, btw this is my second UNO challenge.

My genre preferences are quite open... cuz I'm still exploring, you see.

Kazen wrote: "Hello everyone! This is my first UNO so I'm excited to be here. :)

I'm Kazen, an American living in Japan. I'm a medical interpreter, so I work in a hospital and help English-speaking patients com..."

Hey Kazen! *waves*
I'm not sure if you remember, but we've been together on a team before too, right? (It was a challenge in NBRC, I think...)
It's nice to see a familiar face. :)

I have a question...
Because of the reading slump, I've been reading books solely on the basis of my mood. So is it gonna be a problem if I don't plan and go for spontaneous reads instead?

I can easily read 4-5 books a month... which though is lesser than how much I usually read, but it also means that I am out of the slump. (I'm not sure if I'm making sense here. X))

But if it is necessary, then I could plan a bit... because I don't want to cause any problems for the team.

P.S. Sorry for the rambling... X)

Fatimah wrote: "I've got much free time since I'm on a break, so I decided to make a couple of spreadsheets. One for the books that I want to read for the challenge (plus the cards they can be applied to) and the ..."

I like the way you think Fatimah :-)

Drishti - It is absolutely ok to not plan ahead and do spontaneous reads! Do whatever works for you!

This challenge is supposed to be for fun! I'm also a mood reader and I personally hate it when I feel like I have to read a specific book for a challenge. The good thing about Uno is that there is a lot of freedom in what books we read.

I've found that most books usually works for at least one card, and we also have 4 cards for February where we can put any book that fulfills the challenge requirements, even if it doesn't work for any of the regular cards.

I hope Uno can help you get out of your reading slump. Maybe you can get some inspiration from the books everyone else are reading?

(And yes, I think you are the youngest member on the team. And no worry about the rambling.)

I've taken a look around some of your read shelves, and it looks like there are plenty of options for Reverse for me, yippee! I wouldn't like to commit to anything specific just yet though.

Now to just prune that currently reading shelf a little ready for 1st Feb. Sigh. I can't help reading multiple things at once. It is obviously essential to have a book ready in every format and for every reading mood that may strike...

Sarah wrote: "Now to just prune that currently reading shelf a little ready for 1st Feb. Sigh. I can't help reading multiple things at once. It is obviously essential to have a book ready in every format and for every reading mood that may strike..."

I know what you mean. I usually read 3-4 books at a time. I need one hardcover or paperback, one e-book, an audiobook (and sometimes also a non-fiction).

And no worry if you don't want to commit to specific books yet. We have plenty of time, and we have a month to read the books for the first set of hands so there is no rush :-)

Heya all, I'm another from the UK

So...I also started a sheet with the books I could / should read from my TBR challenge. Actually, more than half of them should work for the reverse cards :D

Avamuc wrote: "So...I also started a sheet with the books I could / should read from my TBR challenge. Actually, more than half of them should work for the reverse cards :D"

Perfect! We will very likely need some reverse for each month of the challenge.

Emily wrote: "Heya all, I'm another from the UK "

I'm happy you found your way here!

Heyy guys, I'm Ashley and I'm also from the UK! I graduated university last year with a degree in Criminology and Psychology, but still a little undecided on where I would like to go from there. I enjoy all types of books, although have been a little heavy on the romance books lately but I am looking forward to checking out your shelves to find some new material! This is my first UNO challenge, so I might need a little help with how this all works! :-)

Welcome Ashley! Criminology sounds so interesting. I was thinking of studying that for a while, but then the volcanoes won and I did geology instead.

Thank you! Yeah it was so interesting, I loved it. Being a volcanologist sounds fascinating though.

Since there are several people on our team that are playing Uno for the first time, I thought I do a "short and simple" introduction to the rules...

- For each month, we get 13 hands to play.
- Each hand consists of 7 cards.
- For each card, we need to read one book.

Example: for a card 2, we need a book that either:
- is #2 in a series
- has a 2 or "two" in the title
- has a title that starts with a T
- is written by an author whose first or last name starts with T
- has a character whose first or last name or nickname starts with T, or
- is set in a place name that starts with T


The other cards are explained under the (view spoiler)[

O (Zero)
- has a 0 or Zero in the title
- has a title starting with Z
- has an author first name or surname starts with Z
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with Z
- is set in a place name starting with Z ; or
- is a "stand-alone" book (i.e. not part of a series)

1 (One)
- has a 1 or One in the title
- has a title starting with O
- has an author first name or surname starts with O
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with O
- is set in a place name starting with O ; or
- is book 1 in a series

3 (Three)
- has a 3 or Three in the title
- has a title starting with H
- has an author first name or surname starts with H
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with H
- is set in a place name starting with H
- is book 3 in a series

4 (Four)
- has a 4 or Four in the title
- has a title starting with F
- has an author first name or surname starts with F
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with F
- is set in a place name starting with F ; or
- is book 4 in a series

5 (Five)
- has a 5 or Five in the title
- has a title starting with I
- has an author first name or surname starts with I
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with I
- is set in a place name starting with I
- is book 5 in a series

6 (Six)
- has a 6 or Six in the title
- has a title starting with S
- has an author first name or surname starts with S
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with S
- is set in a place name starting with S; or
- is book 6 in a series

7 (Seven)
- has a 7 or Seven in the title
- has a title starting with V
- has an author first name or surname starts with V
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with V
- is set in a place name starting with V
- is book 7 in a series

8 (Eight)
- has an 8 or Eight in the title
- has a title starting with E
- has an author first name or surname starts with E
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with E
- is set in a place name starting with E ; or
- is book 8 in a series

9 (Nine)
- has a 9 or Nine in the title
- has a title starting with N
- has an author first name or surname starts with N
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with N
- is set in a place name starting with N ; or
- is book 9 in a series

Skip
- has a title starting with K or P
- has an author first name or surname starts with K or P
- has a character with a first name, surname or nickname starting with K or P
- is set in a place name starting with K or P
OR you can choose to "skip" reading a book for this cards (and get no points for this card)

Draw 2
- Use the same book for two cards in this hand (and get points for both cards)**

Reverse
- One member of your team must read a book another team member has already read

Wild
- Read a book that can fit any of the requirements for cards 0-9

Wild draw four
- Read any book!

(hide spoiler)]

Ashley wrote: "Thank you! Yeah it was so interesting, I loved it. Being a volcanologist sounds fascinating though."

It is. I think I made the right choice :-)

Sarah wrote: "I can't help reading multiple things at once. It is obviously essential to have a book ready in every format and for every reading mood that may strike... "

Me, too! An audiobook, an ebook, something fiction, something nonfiction, something I can switch my brain off to read, something I need to concentrate on.... ;)

Ashley wrote: "I enjoy all types of books, although have been a little heavy on the romance books lately but I am looking forward to checking out your shelves to find some new material!."

Hehe, nothing wrong with romance! It's nice to go into a book and know that you're going to get a happy ending. I'm looking forward to reading some of your books as reverse cards. :)

maria helena wrote: "Criminology sounds so interesting. I was thinking of studying that for a while, but then the volcanoes won and I did geology instead."

If you ever come to Japan on a research trip be sure to let me know! ;)

Kazen wrote: "Me, too! An audiobook, an ebook, something fiction, something nonfiction, something I can switch my brain off to read, something I need to concentrate on.... ;) "

And then of course I need to have a book in Swedish and one in English ready at all times depending on which language I'm in the mood for :-)

Kazen wrote: "If you ever come to Japan on a research trip be sure to let me know! ;) "

I will definitely do that!

maria helena wrote: "Drishti - It is absolutely ok to not plan ahead and do spontaneous reads! Do whatever works for you!

This challenge is supposed to be for fun! I'm also a mood reader and I personally hate it when ..."

Okay. That's great to know! :D

Hi!
Guess I'm kinda late here. I'm a bit new to all this so.. um, excuse me If I don't know what I'm talking about. Very happy to be co-captain. I guess I would say I LOVE mystery and fiction is obviously my fave <3

Mahriya wrote: "Hi!
Guess I'm kinda late here. I'm a bit new to all this so.. um, excuse me If I don't know what I'm talking about. Very happy to be co-captain. I guess I would say I LOVE mystery and fiction is ob..."

Welcome Mahriya! Glad you found your way here. I've sent you a PM with some co-captain info.

Drishti and Mahriya - can you please make a shelf for the Uno challenge and let me know what it is called?

Here's the link to my shelf:
uno-2017

Drishti wrote: "Here's the link to my shelf:
uno-2017"

Thanks!

I'm curious... Knowing that the Uno challenge was going to run again, have you come across any books you're dying to read, but that you decided to save to read for the challenge?

The book I decided to save is this one . I really loved the first two parts! :)

Last year we had a tracking sheet for the books we were currently reading (everybody had write access to it) in which we also added the cards they would work for. This really helped choosing books for cards ;)

Should we start one as well? The team spreadsheet can only be changed by the captains, right?

Avamuc wrote: "The book I decided to save is this one . I really loved the first two parts! :)

Last year we had a tracking sheet for the books we were currently reading (ever..."

This sounds like a great idea!

maria helena wrote: "I'm curious... Knowing that the Uno challenge was going to run again, have you come across any books you're dying to read, but that you decided to save to read for the challenge?"

Yes! In my case, it's The Unbound and Words in Deep Blue.

Avamuc wrote: "Last year we had a tracking sheet for the books we were currently reading (everybody had write access to it) in which we also added the cards they would work for. This really helped choosing books for cards ;)

Should we start one as well? The team spreadsheet can only be changed by the captains, right? "

I already made a tracking sheet in our team spreadsheet (the tab called book tracking). :-)

My plan was that once everyone starts picking books to read, and post which cards they work for here in the discussion thread, Mahriya and I will add them to the spreadsheet. Like you said, it really helps to keep track of all the different cards the books work for when we assign them to the hands.

I rather not have everyone editing the main spreadsheet (on previous challenges that have lead to a lot of confusion...) but if the team would rather have a separate tracking spreadsheet that everyone can edit and add the books to, we can do that and then we will transfer that information over to the main spreadsheet once books are finished.