Christian Fiction Bloggers discussion

Fall into Winter Reading Challenge
November 15-February 20

Round One: Nov. 15-28
Round Two: Nov. 29-Dec. 12
Round Three: Dec. 13-26
Round Four: Dec. 27-Jan. 9
Found Five: Jan. 10-23
Round Six: Jan. 24-Feb. 6
Round Seven: Feb. 7-20

Primary Tasks (35)
Each round teams will choose and complete FIVE of the primary tasks listed below. Each of the 35 tasks is worth one point and can only be chosen once. A few of the tasks have bonus point options that would earn your team an extra point if the book read works for it.

#1: Fall Colors: Red/Orange/Yellow/Brown
*Read a book using one of the following options:
- Cover has majority color of RED, ORANGE, YELLOW, and/or BROWN.
- One of the above colors is on the cover in word form (author name, title, etc.).
BONUS POINT: if the book contains the word "LEAF" in its text.

#2. Thanks-giving (November 23)
*Read a book using one of the following options:
- “THANKFUL” or “GRATEFUL” is in the text.
- THANKSGIVING in the title.

#3. Thanksgiving Party/Gathering
*Read a book that has a gathering of people at Thanksgiving in its text.

#4.Thanksgiving Meal Staples
*Read a book that has a TURKEY or PUMPKIN PIE on its cover or in its text.

#5. Winter Beverages
*Read a book using one of the following options:
- HOT COCOA/CHOCOLATE, HOT COFFEE, HOT TEA, or HOT CIDER is in the text.
- A MUG/CUP used for hot beverages is on the cover.

#6. Home for the Holidays
*Read a book that has a HOUSE on its cover.

#7. Baby, It's Cold Outside
*Read a book with the word COLD or CHILLY on its cover or in its text.
BONUS POINT: if the book has a snowy cover.

#8. Winter Garments
*Read a book with someone wearing a JACKET/PARKA, SWEATER, SCARF, WINTER HAT, or GLOVES/MITTENS on its cover or in its text.

#9. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow
*Read a book that has SNOW or a SNOWFLAKE on its cover or in its text.

#10. Playing in the Snow
*Read a book that has one of these snow activities on its cover or in its text: SLEDDING, building a SNOWMAN, making a SNOW ANGEL, or having a SNOWBALL FIGHT.

#11. Yuletide Fire
*Read a book with FIRE on its cover or in its text.

#12. Advent/Christmas Cards
*Read a book that has a CALENDAR or CARD on its cover, in its title, or in its text.

#13. It’s Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas
*Read a book with OUTDOOR CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS (wreath, lights, etc. that you would see on a walk or drive) on its cover or in its text.

#14. It’s Beginning to Smell a Lot Like Christmas
*Read a book that has PINE, CINNAMON, or PEPPERMINT in its title or in its text.
BONUS POINT: if the book has stripes somewhere on the cover.

#15. O Christmas Tree
*Read a book that has a CHRISTMAS TREE on its cover or in its text.

#16. Deck the Halls
*Read a book that has a Christmas STOCKING, CANDLE, SNOWGLOBE, ORNAMENT, or GARLAND on its cover or in its text.

#17. Caroling, Caroling
*Read a book with CHRISTMAS CAROLERS on its cover or in its text.

#18. Jingle Bells
*Read a book using one of the following options:
- JINGLE or BELLS is in the title or text.
- BELLS are on the cover.

#19. Christmas Party/Gathering
*Read a book that has a gathering of people at Christmas on its cover or mentioned in its text.

#20. Behold That Star, This is the Star of Bethlehem
*Read a book that has a STAR on its cover or in its text.

#21. Away in a Manger
*Read a book using one of the following options:
- A MANGER is in the text.
- The title begins with a letter from M-A-N-G-E-R.
- Part of the story takes place in ISRAEL.
BONUS POINT: if the book was published in December

#22. O Holy Night
*Read a book using one of the following options:
-The NATIVITY SCENE (the birth of Jesus, Son of God) depicted on its cover or in its text.
-Contains at least one of the following words in its text: GOLD, FRANKINCENSE, or MYRRH.

#23. Nativity Elements
*Read a book using one of the following options:
- Characters: MARY, JOSEPH, JESUS, or ANGEL can be found in the text.
- Animals: A DONKEY, LAMB, COW/OX, and/or CAMEL can be found on the cover or in the text.

#24. Poinsettia
*Read a book using one of the following options:
-Majority of cover is either red or green
-Has a poinsettia on the cover or in the text
-Title starts with a letter in the word “poinsettia”

#25. Christmas Gift Giving
*Read a book with wrapped gifts, wrapping paper, or wrapping bows/ribbons on its cover or in its text.

#26. Christmas Colors: Red/Green/White/Gold
*Read a book using one of the following options:
- Cover has majority color of RED, GREEN, WHITE, and/or GOLD.
- One of the above colors is on its cover in word form (author name, title, etc.).

#27. Blue Christmas
*Read a book using one of the following options:
- Cover has majority color of BLUE.
- BLUE is on the cover or in the text in word form.

#28. Christmas Sweets
*Read a book that has a CHRISTMAS COOKIE, CANDY CANE, GINGERBREAD, or APPLE PIE on the cover or found in its text.
BONUS POINT: if the author's first or last name starts with one of these letters: C, A, N, D, Y

#29. Winter Carriage Ride
*Read a book that has a HORSE or CARRIAGE/SLEIGH on its cover or in its text.

#30. Happy New Year!
*Read a book using one of the following options:
- The turn of a new year is mentioned in the text.
- FIREWORKS are on the cover or in the text.
- The page count contains TWO of these numbers: 2-0-1-8.

#31. Groundhog Day (February 2)
*Read a book using one of the following options:
- One of the main characters has to relive a particular day multiple times.
- One of the main characters has amnesia or memory loss.

#32. Super Bowl LII (February 4)
*Read a book using one of the following options:
- A scene takes place in Minnesota.
- A FOOTBALL is on the cover or in the text.
- A character plays football.

#33. 2018 Winter Olympics (February 9-25)
*Read a book using one of the following options:
- A scene takes place in South Korea.
- The publication month is February.
- The page count contains TWO of these numbers: 9-2-5.

#34. Snow/Ice Sports
*Read a book that has SNOWBOARDING, [snow] SKIING, ICE HOCKEY, or ICE SKATING on its cover or in its text.

#35. Valentines Day (February 14)
*Read a book using one of the following options:
- LOVE or HEART can be found in the book's title or in its text.
- A HEART can be found on the cover.
- A character receives flowers or a box of chocolates.
BONUS POINT: the book has a red cover


Additional Bonus Point Opportunities (1 point each):
Each round every team can earn one (1) additional bonus point by reading an EXTRA book that works for the corresponding BP for that round (listed below). This book will be in addition to the five books read for the primary tasks, and you must mention how it works in your comment. Maximum of one extra book for each team each round.

*BP #1 (Round One): Read a book with a BASKET or CORNUCOPIA on its cover or in its text.
*BP #2 (Round Two): Read a book with a WREATH on the cover.
*BP #3 (Round Three): Read a book with CHRISTMAS as a main page genre on Goodreads.
*BP #4 (Round Four): Read a book with a FIREPLACE, WOOD STOVE or CHIMNEY on its cover or in its text.
*BP#5 (Round Five): Read a book with a character that KNITS.
*BP#6 (Round Six): Read a book with ICE SKATES on its cover or in its text.
*BP #7 (Round Seven): Read a book with a character that is SNOWBOUND at any time during the story.

Book Rules:

• Books may be started prior to challenge start date, but must be FINISHED on or after the round starts for which you are using that book.

• Books must be at least 100 pages.

• Cookbooks, Picture books, Manga, Graphic Novels, Poetry books are not allowed for this challenge. Aside from that, any books over 100 pages count for the challenge.

**
A few differences to note between this challenge and our previous one:

Rounds will NOT get called. The dates for the rounds are listed and that is what we will be going off of. Books need to be finished and posted in their team's thread during those dates in order to count them towards the round.

Teams will get to choose which of the 35 tasks they want to finish in a round. Tasks can only be done once per team.

Each "round" has an additional bonus point opportunity. This requires an extra book to be read in order to earn this bonus point. Anyone on the team can read for it, but it can only get done once.

***This challenge will be going off of Goodreads time (PT). So rounds start 12:01 AM PT on said start date and end 11:59 PM PT on the last day of the round.
---

I think that's it. If you have any questions, just ask and I will try my best to answer quickly. :))

***

Andrea (5-9 BPM)
+Hannah (10 BPM)
+ Sarah Grace (10+ BPM)
Monique (4-6 BPM)
+Emily (1-2 BPM)
Dawn (4 BPM)
Tiffany (5-9 BPM)
+Deanne (10+ BPM)
Kimberly (7-8 BPM)
Jamie (5-8 BPM)
Melanie (5-10 BPM)
Kellyn (4-6 BPM)
Grace (4 BPM)
R.A. (2 BPM)
writer... (10+ BPM)
Libby (10 BPM)
Lindsey (4-7 BPM)

Sign-ups are open!! I will create the teams on the 12th or 13th, so that there is ample time for planning out the first round. :))

**Please mention when signing up how many books (on average) you read per month. This helps me even the teams out a little. Thank you!!

I'm in! I read 5-9 books per month.

If possible, I'd like to be on a team with Hannah again. We're writing together this month for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), so we're virtually hanging out a lot, and it will be nice to relax together too by reading fun books for this challenge. Thanks for considering this request, Melanie.

Andrea wrote: "I'm in! I read 5-9 books per month.

If possible, I'd like to be on a team with Hannah again. We're writing together this month for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), so we're virtually hang..."

I will try to do that. Thanks for including books read per month -- I forgot to mention that. Edited my comment above. ;)

You're welcome. I almost forgot too! :) We're too of a kind tonight, I guess.

I'm in and I'm averaging 4-6 books per month. :)

Monique wrote: "I'm in and I'm averaging 4-6 books per month. :)"

Added :)

Hey! Yes, it would be great fun to be paired with Andrea. :) When we do our reading together, sometimes it can feel a bit awkward to be competing to reach the end of a book instead of just enjoying the good company!

Books per month, about 10

I'm in. I average 4 book a month right now.

I'm in! :D

If possible, I'd love to be on a team with Hannah and Andrea. No worries if it doesn't work out that way though. :)

I read about 10+ books a month.

I’m in! Im really enjoying these team challenges. I read about 5-9 books a month. Deanne and I would like to be on the same team again, if possible.

I will have to pass this time:( This is my baby's senior year of basketball, lots of tournaments,etc. Have fun!!!

Susan wrote: "I will have to pass this time:( This is my baby's senior year of basketball, lots of tournaments,etc. Have fun!!!"

Susan, enjoy making memories with your family!

Sarah Grace wrote: "I'm in! :D

If possible, I'd love to be on a team with Hannah and Andrea. No worries if it doesn't work out that way though. :)

I read about 10+ books a month."

I’m glad you enjoyed the team well enough to want to be on the same team with me again. ;) I hope Melanie is able to make it happen. :)

I would love to. I read about 7-8 books a month

I'm in . I read 10+ books a month. Please include me with Tiffany again if possible. Thanks :)

Im in! I read 5-8 books a month :)

I'm looking forward to starting this challenge and I hope to be a great help to any team I end up on. :D

I would LOVE TO!! Count me in

Bryce wrote: "I would LOVE TO!! Count me in"

I read about 4-6 books per month.

Bryce wrote: "Bryce wrote: "I would LOVE TO!! Count me in"

I read about 4-6 books per month."

are the books going to be free?

You pick your own books that fit the categories. So I guess they could be free if they're from the library or are review copies. :)

Hannah wrote: "You pick your own books that fit the categories. So I guess they could be free if they're from the library or are review copies. :)"

I see. How do you choose your books?

Hannah wrote: "You pick your own books that fit the categories. So I guess they could be free if they're from the library or are review copies. :)"

Can I be on your team?Hannah

Hey Bryce - Check out Overdrive.com. Overdrive is how I gain instant access to thousands of ebooks for free using my local library card. Ebooks also make it easy to do keyword searches for challenges like this. :)

Monique wrote: "Hey Bryce - Check out Overdrive.com. Overdrive is how I gain instant access to thousands of ebooks for free using my local library card. Ebooks also make it easy to do keyword searches for challeng..."

ive used that :)

Monique wrote: "Hey Bryce - Check out Overdrive.com. Overdrive is how I gain instant access to thousands of ebooks for free using my local library card. Ebooks also make it easy to do keyword searches for challeng..."

with school i can use it but my public library doesnt have it :(

Bryce wrote: "Hannah wrote: "You pick your own books that fit the categories. So I guess they could be free if they're from the library or are review copies. :)"

I see. How do you choose your books?"

I generally hunt through my bookshelves first to see what might fit the challenge guidelines; and it's generally quicker to find the ones with things on the covers. I check my current reads to see if something fits, because that can put you ahead if you've already begun reading a book.

Bryce wrote: "Hannah wrote: "You pick your own books that fit the categories. So I guess they could be free if they're from the library or are review copies. :)"

Can I be on your team?Hannah"

Thanks for asking. :) Melanie makes the team groups up once all the sign-ups are over so that we have a balanced group of slower and faster readers. If I got to pick I'd say yes, but even if we don't get matched on the same team I am quite happy to answer any questions. :)

I also get a lot of free books off of Project Gutenburg and archive.org, if you like classics. And if you sign up for the bookbub newsletter, it sends daily emails with free and cheap books in your favorite genres.

Hannah wrote: "Bryce wrote: "Hannah wrote: "You pick your own books that fit the categories. So I guess they could be free if they're from the library or are review copies. :)"

Can I be on your team?Hannah"

Tha..."

Ok i see. Thanks for your help

I'd love to do this! But I'm new here and pretty clueless, so I probably need some help figuring it out. ;) I could read 4-6 books per month.

No worries, Kellyn. You'll pick it up in no time. Teammates are really great at helping each other out. Plus, you know Sarah, Hannah, and me, so any questions you have, you know we'll be happy to help with.

Thanks, Andrea. Yep, I know quite a few people here, so that's nice. :)

Ivie wrote: "What happens if you fail to read a book because life happens or you couldn't find a good book with the necessary requirements? This sounds fun, but I don't know if I can do it."

Someone else on your team may be able to fill in, otherwise your team loses that point.

Ivie wrote: "What happens if you fail to read a book because life happens or you couldn't find a good book with the necessary requirements? This sounds fun, but I don't know if I can do it."

A lot of times people have something come up (travel, etc) for a particular round, and you just let team members know you'll be out. If your book is just not working out (which probably won't happen a ton, since there are so many categories to pick from this time), just give a shout and if a team-mate is able to cover the category, they will. That's partly why Melanie tries to team slower and faster readers equally across the groups. :)

Kellyn wrote: "I'd love to do this! But I'm new here and pretty clueless, so I probably need some help figuring it out. ;) I could read 4-6 books per month."

Yay, Kellyn! So glad you're joining in! The first round can be kinda odd to figure out, but after that it's easy. Just ask any questions you need to. :)

Ivie wrote: "What happens if you fail to read a book because life happens or you couldn't find a good book with the necessary requirements? This sounds fun, but I don't know if I can do it."

Ivie, life happens. We normally just let our teammates know as soon as we can so they'll have time to squeeze in another book to get the point. I hope you'll join in! These team challenges are so much fun, and you might be surprised just how many books you have that will fit the categories. The cool thing is that this time we get to choose our own categories from the list, so there's more flexibility.

Yes Ivie, you and others will be surprised at how many books fit the tasks of this challenge, and how quickly a teammate can step up to cover for someone on their team. :)

So when do we know our groups?

I'm in! This looks like a lot of fun! =D I read about 4 books a month

Monique wrote: "I'm looking forward to starting this challenge and I hope to be a great help to any team I end up on. :D"

Put me on your team, Monique!!

Emily wrote: "Put me on your team, Monique!!"

I absolutely want to be teamed up with you Emily! :)

Ivie wrote: "I don't think I'll have time right now to do this challenge, but I hope to participate in the future..."

No worries Ivie. I'm glad you like the looks of this challenge, and hope to see you in a future challenge! Enjoy the holidays! :)

Ivie wrote: "I don't think I'll have time right now to do this challenge, but I hope to participate in the future. It sounds really fun, so have fun, y'all. Right now, I have to focus on other things and adding..."

I understand that, Ivie. Thanks for checking this challenge out, and I hope you'll join in on another one. We tend to do fun team challenges throughout the year.

Emily wrote: "Monique wrote: "I'm looking forward to starting this challenge and I hope to be a great help to any team I end up on. :D"

Put me on your team, Monique!!"

Hi, Emily. How many books per month do you read (on average)? Melanie will need this information to make sure the teams are evenly set up. Thank you!

Okay, so I joined, but I'm not exactly sure how the team thing works! :) I probably read a couple books a month ... this month hasn't been great for reading right now as I'm doing Nano. ;)

I'm doing NaNo too, so I completely understand. I've found that listening to an audio book while doing dishes, cooking, or wrapping things up for the evening has helped me keep reading this month. Perhaps that's an option for you too.

As for the team aspect, once the teams are assigned, you'll get to discuss which categories work for the books you're reading. Each team member will be reading at least one book per round (unless something comes up and a teammate needs someone to cover for them), and each round lasts two weeks. These challenges are super fun, and I hope you enjoy it!

Andrea wrote: "I'm doing NaNo too, so I completely understand. I've found that listening to an audio book while doing dishes, cooking, or wrapping things up for the evening has helped me keep reading this month. ..."

Oh okay!! Thanks!! :)