The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

30.6 - TessaVanessa's Task: 25 Years and Counting

This past October I received an award for 25 years of service to my work. I personally don’t consider it work, since I LOVE what I do. I work in a public library and it is amazing! What more could I want than to be surrounded by books? AND I am the cataloger, so everything crosses my desk before it is available to the public. It’s like Christmas every day!

This is a 2 book challenge. Select 2 different options from below and state which ones you choose when you post. No books with the main page genre Childrens or Kids may be used for this task.

Option 1: I started working at the library on my 16th birthday as a shelver in the children’s department. It was the perfect first job for me!

Read a book with the author’s first and last initials found in SWEET SIXTEEN. You may ignore middle initials and one author in a work with multiple authors works. Letters may be used only as often as they appear in SWEET SIXTEEN.

Option 2: I always love when I find a new to me author and discover that they have published multiple books.

In keeping with the number 25, read a book by an author that has 25 or more distinct works credited to them on Goodreads.

Required: Post the number of works they have written.

To find out how many distinct works they have, click on the author’s name. Scroll past the biographical information to where the book list starts-right under the author’s name is a line with average ratings, reviews and DISTINCT WORKS.

CAUTION: The Goodreads "distinct works" field contains many separate listings, such as translations, that should not be listed separately. Be aware that this number may change, if a librarian combines the editions that should not be separately listed. You may want to double check those distinct works for yourself, to make sure that there are really 25 separate works.

Option 3: What’s in a title?

For this option, read a book that has exactly 25 letters in the title. Subtitles should be ignored. ALL words are counted. Ignore any kind of punctuation, numerals, or any other non-alphabetic characters.

Option 4: Time flies by. I know the last 25 years has for me.

Read a book that was first published 25+ years ago. Since this challenge begins in 2017, it would mean any book published in 1992 or before.

Reserved.

Reserved

This thread is now open.

could i potentially use the same author for 2 different options?

ie. Kasey Michaels is a new to me author that has more than 25 books published (Option 2)

and several of them were published pre-1992 (Option 4)

Dee wrote: "could i potentially use the same author for 2 different options?

ie. Kasey Michaels is a new to me author that has more than 25 books published (Option 2)

and several of them were ..."
Yes, you can do that.

thanks :)

Do they have to be new-to-me authors? (I didn't think so, but then I saw Dee's question...)

Rosemary wrote: "Do they have to be new-to-me authors? (I didn't think so, but then I saw Dee's question...)"
No, they don't have to be new to you.

checking the obvious: spaces aren't counted in option 3, are they?

Cat wrote: "checking the obvious: spaces aren't counted in option 3, are they?"
Space do not count.

Hi! My question is in regards to Option 2. I am wanting to read Lonely Planet Best of USA. It lists the author as Lonely Planet who produce many many many other travel guides so fit the criteria. Would this work?

Bianca wrote: "Hi! My question is in regards to Option 2. I am wanting to read Lonely Planet Best of USA. It lists the author as Lonely Planet who produce many many many other tra..."
Lonely Planet is a company, not a person. I see an author as a person. Let me ask a moderator what they think.

Bianca wrote: "Hi! My question is in regards to Option 2. I am wanting to read Lonely Planet Best of USA. It lists the author as Lonely Planet who produce many many many other tra..."
Bianca,
I checked with a moderator and we agree that an author should be a person. This book won't work for this option.

Hi Tessa,

Thanks for checking. I thought that might be the case but figured it wouldn’t hurt to double check. I will find a spot for it somewhere else. I must read it as I’m travelling to USA soon and am so excited. I’m just trying to find anywhere that it will fit! Haha.

Simply because it came up in another task, do the 25 distinct works need to be full-length books?

For instance, Neil Gaiman has 1,100+ distinct works listed because it includes children's books, comics, etc.

Sally wrote: "Simply because it came up in another task, do the 25 distinct works need to be full-length books?

For instance, Neil Gaiman has 1,100+ distinct works listed because it includes children's books, ..."
They need to be separate books. So a separate comic or childrens book would count if they were published in a separate volume.

When you say "distinct works," does that include or disallow anthologies edited by my writer, or anthologies that include something by my writer? (She's got plenty of standalones - her main series is up to #22 & she's got another series with 4 books, I just want to give an accurate count.)

Also, she's credited as co-author on a couple of books, and there's 1 omnibus collecting the first two books of her main series. Do any of those count?

Suzanne wrote: "When you say "distinct works," does that include or disallow anthologies edited by my writer, or anthologies that include something by my writer? (She's got plenty of standalones - her main series ..."

If having a look would help, it's Donna Andrews

Suzanne wrote: "Suzanne wrote: "When you say "distinct works," does that include or disallow anthologies edited by my writer, or anthologies that include something by my writer? (She's got plenty of standalones - ..."
Donna Andrews will work.

Hi, for option 2 I fancied reading Terry Pratchett given he has squillions of books, but can I read a co authored book like The Long Earth given Stephen Baxter is also prolific. Do I need to reference the number of works for both? Thanks, Charlie aka List_addict

Charlston wrote: "Hi, for option 2 I fancied reading Terry Pratchett given he has squillions of books, but can I read a co authored book like The Long Earth given Stephen Baxter is also prolific. Do I need to refere..."
Since they both have over 25 works, this book will work.

Thanks xx

Hi! I need to ask about using author Cherie Priest for Option 2.

I started checking over her "Distinct Works" as you recommended, and went to her website. Although GR lists 59 (!) distinct works, http://www.cheriepriest.com/order-the-book/ shows only 21 of those are novels, and 4 more are novellas in anthology books. After that I worked out there are 12 short stories published in anthology books and 6 more in magazines.

Does this meet the intent of your 25 distinct works? (I promise _not_ to be even a bit huffy if it does not!) TIA!

Mike wrote: "Hi! I need to ask about using author Cherie Priest for Option 2.

I started checking over her "Distinct Works" as you recommended, and went to her website. Although GR lists 59 (!) distinct works, ..."
Sorry, but they should be published separarely to count.

Tess wrote: "Mike wrote: "Hi! I need to ask about using author Cherie Priest for Option 2..."

Sorry, but they should be published separarely to count.

No problem; thanks for clarifying. This is a challenging challenge!

Just want to be sure I'm doing this correctly - for this title A Mackenzie Family Christmas: The Perfect Gift, "The Perfect Gift" would be considered the subtitle so would exclude for counting the 25 letters?

Cathy M. wrote: "Just want to be sure I'm doing this correctly - for this title A Mackenzie Family Christmas: The Perfect Gift, "The Perfect Gift" would be considered the subtitle so would exclude f..."

Correct. This book works.

Thanks Tess!