SERIAL READER CHALLENGE
Duration: January 1 – December 31, 2020

To Start:

Michael Bennett:
1. Step on a Crack
2. Run for Your Life
3.

Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes:
1. The Beekeeper's Apprentice
2. A Monstrous Regiment of Women
3. A Letter of Mary
4. The Moor
5. O Jerusalem

The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels Series:
1. The Lady of the Rivers
2. The White Queen
3. The Red Queen
4. The Kingmaker's Daughter
5. The White Princess
6. The Constant Princess
7. The King's Curse
8. Three Sisters, Three Queens
9. The Other Boleyn Girl
10. The Boleyn Inheritance
11. The Taming of the Queen
12. The Queen's Fool
13. The Virgin's Lover
14. The Last Tudor
15. The Other Queen

Jason Bourne Series:
1. The Bourne Identity
2. The Bourne Supremacy
3. The Bourne Ultimatum
4. The Bourne Legacy
5. The Bourne Betrayal
6. The Bourne Sanction
7. The Bourne Deception
8. The Bourne Objective
9. The Bourne Dominion
10. The Bourne Imperative
11. The Bourne Retribution
12. The Bourne Ascendancy
13. The Bourne Enigma
14. The Bourne Initiative
15. The Bourne Nemesis

Series to finish:

Bird Family Trilogy:
3. The Orenda

The Lunar Chronicles Series:
2. Scarlet
3. Cress
4. Winter

Patrick Hedstrom Series:
4. The Stranger
5. The Hidden Child
6. The Drowning
7.
8.
9.
10.

Virals Series:
2. Seizure
2.5. Shift
3. Code
3.5. Swipe
4. Exposure
5. Terminal
5.5. Spike

Hannibal Lecter Series:
3. Hannibal
4. Hannibal Rising

Dexter Series:
5. Dexter Is Delicious
6. Double Dexter
7. Dexter's Final Cut
8. Dexter Is Dead

Outlander Series:
6. A Breath of Snow and Ashes
7. An Echo in the Bone
8. Written in My Own Heart's Blood
9. Go Tell The Bees That I Am Gone

Temperance Brennan Series:
16.5. Swamp Bones
18. Speaking in Bones
19. A Conspiracy of Bones

Flavia de Luce Series:
10. The Golden Tresses of the Dead

The Lord of the Rings Series:
2. The Two Towers
3. The Return of the King

Kinsey Millhone Series:
9. I is for Innocent
10. J is for Judgment
11. K is for Killer
12. L is for Lawless
13. M is for Malice
14. N is for Noose
15. O is for Outlaw
16. P is for Peril
17. Q is for Quarry
18. R is for Ricochet
19. S is for Silence
20. T is for Trespass
21. U is for Undertow
22. V is for Vengence
23. W is for Wasted
24. X
25. Y is for Yesterday

Stephanie Plum Series:
10. Ten Big Ones
11. Eleven on Top
12. Twelve Sharp
13. Lean Mean Thirteen
13.5 Plum Lucky
14. Fearless Fourteen
15. Finger Lickin' Fifteen
16. Sizzling Sixteen
17. Smokin' Seventeen
18. Explosive Eighteen
19. Notorious Nineteen
20. Takedown Twenty
21. Top Secret Twenty-One
22. Tricky Twenty-Two
23. Turbo Twenty-Three
24. Hardcore Twenty-Four
25. Look Alive Twenty-Five

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache Series
2. A Fatal Grace
3. The Cruelest Month
4. A Rule Against Murder
5. The Brutal Telling
6. Bury Your Dead
6.5 The Hangman
7. A Trick of the Light
8. The Beautiful Mystery
9. How the Light Gets In
10. The Long Way Home
11. The Nature of the Beast
12. A Great Reckoning
13. Glass Houses
14. Kingdom of the Blind

Inspector Rebus Series:
4. Strip Jack
5. The Black Book
6. Mortal Causes
7. Let It Bleed
8. Black and Blue
9. The Hanging Garden
9.5 Death Is Not the End
10. Dead Souls
11. Set in Darkness
12. The Falls
13. Resurrection Men
13.5 Beggars Banquet
14. A Question of Blood
15. Fleshmarket Close
16. The Naming of the Dead
17. Exit Music
18. Standing in Another Man's Grave
19. Saints of the Shadow Bible
19.5 In the Nick of Time: John Rebus vs. Roy Grace
20. Even Dogs in the Wild
21. Rather Be the Devil
22. In a House of Lies

Lord John Grey Series:
0.5 Lord John and the Hellfire Club
1.5 Legends II
2. Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade
2.75 The Custom of the Army
3. The Scottish Prisoner
3.5 A Plague of Zombies

Afdeling Q Series:
3. A Conspiracy of Faith
4. Journal 64
5. Marco Effekten
6. The Hanging Girl
7. The Scarred Woman

Charles Lenox Mysteries Series:
Prequel 2 - The Vanishing Man
4.5. An East End Murder
7. An Old Betrayal
8. The Laws of Murder
9. Home by Nightfall
10. The Inheritance
10.5. Gone Before Christmas

Miss Marple Series:
2. The Thirteen Problems
3. The Body in the Library
5. A Murder Is Announced
6. They Do It with Mirrors
7. A Pocket Full of Rye
8. 4:50 from Paddington
9. The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side
10. A Caribbean Mystery
11. At Bertram's Hotel
12. Nemesis
13. Sleeping Murder
14. Miss Marple's Final Cases
15. Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories

Tommy & Tuppence Series:
5. Postern of Fate

Fredrika Bergman & Alex Recht Series:
3. The Disappeared
4. Hostage
5. The Chosen
6.

Detective D.D. Warren Series:
3. The Neighbor
4. Live to Tell
5. Love You More
5.5 The 7th Month
6. Catch Me
7. Fear Nothing
7.5 3 Truths and a Lie
8. Find Her
9. Look For Me
9.5 The Guy Who Died Twice
10. Never Tell

Rebekah Roberts Series:
3. Conviction

Nina Borg Series:
3. Death of a Nightingale
4. The Considerate Killer

Vanessa Michael Munroe Series:
3. The Doll
3.5 The Vessel
4. The Catch
5. The Mask

Kurt Wallander Series:
9. The Pyramid: And Four Other Kurt Wallander Mysteries
9.5 An Event in Autumn
10. The Troubled Man

The Great War Series:
3. Moonlight over Paris
3.5 All For the Love of You: A Short Story from Fall of Poppies: Stories of Love and the Great War

Vinyl Cafe Series:
2. Home From The Vinyl Cafe: A Year Of Stories
4. Vinyl Cafe Diaries
5. Secrets from the Vinyl Cafe
5.5 Dave Cooks the Turkey
6. Extreme Vinyl Cafe
7. Revenge of the Vinyl Cafe
The Vinyl Cafe Notebooks
Vinyl Cafe: Seasons

The Queen of the Tearling Series:
0.5 The Boy
2. The Invasion of the Tearling
3. The Fate of the Tearling

The Night Trilogy:
2. Dawn
3. Day

The African Trilogy by Chinua Achebe:
2. No Longer at Ease
3. Arrow of God

Hercule Poirot Series:
3. Poirot Investigates
4. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
5. The Big Four
6. The Mystery of the Blue Train
7. Black Coffee
8. Peril at End House
9. Lord Edgware Dies
10-45

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message 15: by Sam F (last edited Aug 22, 2020 12:40PM) (new)

Dec 02, 2019 06:11PM

CLEAR YOUR BOOKSHELVES CHALLENGE
Duration: January 1, 2020 - December 31, 2020

1. Read a book that you borrowed from a friend and want to return when finished. - A Fine Balance, The 13th Wife?

2. Read a book that you have had for two+ years and haven't started.
- The Beekeeper's Apprentice
- Tell Me Lies
- Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
- Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
- Say Her Name
- The Hour I First Believed
- Wife 22
- Russian Winter
- Tempting Fate
- Siracusa
- Don't You Cry
- Summer Sisters
- The Child Finder
- The Paris Wife
- The Firelight Girls

3. Read a book you have started, set aside for awhile, and now want to finish. - The Distance Between Us, Les Mis

4. Read a book that you own that will help towards a yearly challenge. All the Light We Cannot See

5. Read a book from your shelf then donate it to your local Little Free Library, church, shelters, Goodwill, etc. - I is for Innocent, Surprise Me, What She Knew, The Whole Truth, The Adoration of Jenna Fox, The Second Time Around, Innocent, You Don't Own Me, Seizure, The Great Adventure: Volunteer Stories of Life Overseas, Accused, Run for Your Life, The Gown, While We Were Watching Downton Abbey, Lighthouse Bay

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message 16: by Sam F (last edited Sep 26, 2020 11:47AM) (new)

Dec 02, 2019 06:13PM

MEET US AT THE BOOKSHOP

*Children's literature - Float Like a Butterfly
Classics - The Wind in the Willows, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
- Middle Grade - The Whole Truth,Wonder, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Young Adult:
- Fiction - Seizure
- Religion - Sister Wife
- Classic - A Separate Peace

*Classics - Oliver Twist
- Gothic - We Have Always Lived in the Castle
- Mystery - Postern of Fate
- Short Stories - The Book of Rumi: 105 Stories and Fables that Illumine, Delight, and Inform

*Fantasy: The Color Master: Stories
- epic fantasy,
- high/low fantasy
- historical fantasy
- urban fantasy

*Fiction:
- literary - God Help the Child
- contemporary - The Lighthouse, The Hour I First Believed, Siracusa
- historical - All the Light We Cannot See, Shanghai Girls, A Gentleman in Moscow
- women's fiction - Surprise Me, Wife 22. The Firelight Girls
- cultural - The Break,
- Adventure - The Mountain Between Us
Realistic Fiction - The Geography of You and Me
Family - We Are Not Ourselves

*Folktales, fairytales, and their retellings

*History
- true crime
- Cultural - Russian Winter
- fiction - The Paris Wife
War - The Gown
- Romance - Lighthouse Bay

*Hobbies & crafts

*Horror - We Sold Our Souls
- suspense
- thriller - The Disappeared

*Humor and satire

*Memoirs
- autobiographies - What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, My Life on the Road, The Distance Between Us
- biographies - Say Her Name
- humour - When You Find Out the World Is Against You: And Other Funny Memories About Awful Moments

*Mystery - The Second Time Around, Accused
- historical - The Beekeeper's Apprentice
- cultural - A Fatal Grace
- paranormal
- suspense - What She Knew, You Don't Own Me, The Child Finder
- thriller - Death of a Nightingale, Don't You Cry, Run for Your Life
- Crime - I is for Innocent, Never Go Back, Step on a Crack
- legal - Innocent

*Myths, legends, and their retellings - Circe

*Nonfiction:
- history
- science - Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
- technology
- true crime
- Food - Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
- adventure - The Great Adventure: Volunteer Stories of Life Overseas

*Poetry - The Poets' Corner: The One-and-Only Poetry Book for the Whole Family

*Romance - The Love Market, Summer Sisters
* Chick-lit - Tell Me Lies, Who Do You Love, Tempting Fate, The Matchmaker
Women's Fiction - While We Were Watching Downton Abbey

*Science and technology

*Science fiction
- dystopian literature - The Adoration of Jenna Fox
- cli-fi, space opera
- alternative history

*Self-help books

*Short Stories - Poirot Investigates

*Theatrical plays and film scripts. - The America Play and Other Works

*Travelogues

*Westerns - Doc

*Graphic Novels - The Arab of the Future: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984: A Graphic Memoir
- Manga - Library Wars: Love & War, Vol. 1
- Comics -

*Special super-duper bonus prompt: Read a book set in a bookshop or about a bookshop owner.

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message 17: by Sam F (last edited Dec 28, 2020 08:03AM) (new)

Dec 02, 2019 06:13PM

Pawn Shack

Find these items on the book covers:

1. Necklace -

2. Ring -

3. Watch -

4. Gemstone -

5. Tiara or Crown -

6. Lipstick -

Death of a Nightingale (Nina Borg, #3) by Lene Kaaberbøl

7. High Heels -

Run for Your Life (Michael Bennett, #2) by James Patterson

8. Pair of Socks -

While We Were Watching Downton Abbey by Wendy Wax

9. Scarf -

Poirot Investigates (Hercule Poirot, #3) by Agatha Christie

10. Mask or Blindfold
11. Top Hat -

The America Play and Other Works by Suzan-Lori Parks

12. Sunglasses -

The Arab of the Future A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984 A Graphic Memoir by Riad Sattouf

13. Helmet
14. Headphones
15. Ribbon -

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

16. Umbrella
17. Magnifying Glass
18. Bicycle -

19. Anchor
20. Stroller
21. Rocking Horse -

Postern of Fate (Tommy & Tuppence, #5) by Agatha Christie

22. Key
23. Lamp
24. Book -

The Poets' Corner The One-and-Only Poetry Book for the Whole Family by John Lithgow

25. Computer
26. Television
27. Telephone -

28. Clock
29. Die or Dice
30. Chess Piece
31. Playing Card(s)
32. Crochet or Knitting Needles
33. Pen or Quill -

34. Candle -

35. Wind Chimes
36. Light Bulb
37. Jar -

The Great Adventure Volunteer Stories of Life Overseas by Peace Corps

38. Scissors
39. Piece of Paper -

Stiff The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

40. License Plate
41. Something to Drink From -

42. Spoon or Fork -

43. Knife or Sword -

44. Gun -

45. Bow with or without Arrow(s)
46. Sports Ball -

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1) by J.K. Rowling

47. Doll
48. Stuffed Animal
49. Button -

50. Pillow -

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message 18: by Sam F (last edited Jul 29, 2020 05:10AM) (new)

Dec 02, 2019 06:14PM

FTLOB 2020 A-Z Word Challenge

A - Read a book with a main character who is Abusive - The Lighthouse

B - Read a book that has a Ball on the cover -

C - Read a book with a MC who Calls someone in the book - I is for Innocent

D - Read a book with a main character who has earned a Degree - The Arab of the Future: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984: A Graphic Memoir

E - Read a book where an Election takes place - The Violets of Usambara

F - Read a book about a Famous person - My Life on the Road

G- Read a book with a Grandparent as a MC - Tell Me Lies

H - Read a book with someone wearing a Hat on the cover -

I - Read a book about an Intelligence Agency - Shanghai Girls

J - Read a book with a character who tells a Joke - Doc

K - Read a book with a first Kiss - The Love Market

L - Read a book translated from another Language - Death of a Nightingale

M - Read a book with a Mathematical symbol on the cover

N - Read a book with a charcter who gets Naked at some point - The Color Master: Stories

O - Read a book that with a character described as Old-fashioned - All the Light We Cannot See

P - Read a book with a character who eats Pizza - The Hour I First Believed

Q - Read a book with a Quote at the beginning of the book - The Arrangement

R - Read a book with a Red cover -

S - Read a book with a character who Schemes at some point - A Gentleman in Moscow

T - Read a book with a MC who rides in a Taxi - The Beekeeper's Apprentice

U - Read a book with MC who describes themselves as Ugly - God Help the Child

V - Read a book about the outbreak of a Virus - Seizure

W - Read a book with a charcter who visits a Website - Surprise Me

X - Read a book written by an author with an X in their name - We Sold Our Souls

Y - Read a Young-Adult book - Library Wars: Love & War, Vol. 1

Z - Read a book with a Zero in the page count - What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

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message 19: by Sam F (last edited Dec 28, 2020 08:20AM) (new)

Dec 02, 2019 06:19PM

Around the Year in 52 Books:
THE 2020 LIST

1. A book with a title that doesn't contain the letters A, T or Y - We Sold Our Souls

2. A book by an author whose last name is one syllable - The Lighthouse

3. A book that you are prompted to read because of something you read in 2019 - Poirot Investigates

4. A book set in a place or time that you wouldn't want to live - The Arab of the Future: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984: A Graphic Memoir

5. The first book in a series that you have not started - Library Wars: Love & War, Vol. 1

6. A book with a mode of transportation on the cover -

7. A book set in the southern hemisphere - Say Her Name

8. A book with a two-word title where the first word is "The" - The Nightingale, The Stand, The Moonstone, The Historian, The Silmarillion, The Luminaries, The Storyteller, The Lacuna, The Orenda, The Interestings, The Chemist, The Disappeared

9. A book that can be read in a day - We Have Always Lived in the Castle

10. A book that is between 400-600 pages - Tell Me Lies

11. A book originally published in a year that is a prime number - 1931, 1933, 1949, 1951, 1973, 1979, 1987, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2011, 2017, - Postern of Fate

12. A book that is a collaboration between 2 or more people - Chicken Soup - Death of a Nightingale

13. A prompt from a previous Around the Year in 52 Books challenge (Link) - My Life on the Road

14. A book by an author on the Abe List of 100 Essential Female Writers (link) - Life After Life, Murder on the Orient Express, The Casual Vacancy, Fingersmith, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Case Histories, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, The Luminaries, On Beauty, Prodigal Summer, White Teeth, The Lacuna, Swing Time, The Interestings, Family Furnishings, My Year of Meats, The Widower's Tale, The Birth House, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

15. A book set in a global city - London, New York City, Tokyo, Paris, Singapore, Amsterdam, Seoul, Berlin, Hong Kong, Sydney, Beijing, Shanghai, and Dubai - Crazy Rich Asians, The Golem & the Jinni, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, Fingersmith, High Fidelity, White Teeth, When We Were Orphans, The Husband's Secret, The Hypnotist's Love Story, Wonder

16. A book set in a rural or sparsely populated area - The Grapes of Wrath, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Nine Perfect Strangers, Prodigal Summer, The Known World, As I Lay Dying, The Sound & the Fury, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

17. A book with a neurodiverse character - The Woman in White, House Rules, Embracing the Wide Sky, The Spark, Carly's Voice, The Arrangement

18. A book by an author you've only read once before - Doc

19. A fantasy book - The Color Master: Stories

20. The 20th book [on your TBR, in a series, by an author, on a list, etc.] - The Book of Negroes, T is for Trespass, Takedown Twenty, Harvesting the Heart, Hercule Poirot's Christmas, Les Misérables

21. A book related to Maximilian Hell, the noted astronomer and Jesuit Priest who was born in 1720 - Scarlet,

22. A book with the major theme of survival - The Grapes of Wrath, The Mountain Between Us, On The Island, All the Light We Cannot See, Savvy,

23. A book featuring an LGBTQIA+ character or by an LGBTQIA+ author - We are Never Meeting in Real Life, Middlesex, The Hour I First Believed

24. A book with an emotion in the title - Fearless Fourteen, Crazy Rich Asians, PS I Still Love You, Behind the Beautiful Forevers (in subtitle), Stiff, Surprise Me, The Improbability of Love, The Sound & the Fury, The Happiness Project, The Adoration of Jenna Fox, PS I Still Love You,

25. A book related to the arts - Various Positions, The Monument's Men, The Shadow of the Wind, The Thirteenth Tale, The Golem & the Jinni, Swing Time, The Lacuna, The Library at Mount Char, Lucky Man, The Girl You Left Behind, Wife 22

26. A book from the 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards - The Testaments,

27. A history or historical fiction - The Paris Wife

28. A book by an Australian, Canadian or New Zealand author - The Break

29. An underrated book, a hidden gem or a lesser known book - God Help the Child

30. A book from the New York Times '100 Notable Books' list for any year - Becoming, Educated, Do Not Say We Have Nothing, Swing Time, We Are Not Ourselves, This Changes Everything, Life After Life, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, The Luminaries, Americanah, The Interestings, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Sweet Tooth, A Train in Winter, Freedom, The Mind's Eye, The Lacuna, My Father's Tears, On Beauty, Freakonomics, Spook, The Jane Austen Book Club,

31. A book inspired by a leading news story - Dead Wake, The Handmaid's Tale, Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil, The Other Boleyn Girl, On Beauty, The Monument's Men, The Violets of Usambara

32. A book related to the 2020 Olympic Summer Games in Japan - Who Do You Love

33. A book about a non-traditional family - The Handmaid's Tale, A Dirty Job, Scarlet, The Distance Between Us

34. A book from a genre or sub genre that starts with a letter in your name - Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

35. A book with a geometric pattern or element on the cover - The Luminaries,

The Beekeeper's Apprentice (Mary Russell, #1) by Laurie R. King

, White Teeth,

36. A book from your TBR/wishlist that you don't recognize, recall putting there, or put there on a whim - What She Knew

37. Two books that are related to each other as a pair of binary opposites: Book #1 - Prodigal Summer, Summer Sisters

38. Two books that are related to each other as a pair of binary opposites: Book #2 - Winter Solstice?, The Woman in White, Russian Winter

39. A book by an author whose real name(s) you're not quite sure how to pronounce - Ta-Nehisi Coates, Sara Gruen, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Esi Edugyan, Float Like a Butterfly

40. A book with a place name in the title - Shanghai Girls, Middlesex, Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil, The Paris Wife, The Beach, Salem's Lot, Oz, Reading Lolita in Tehran, Chasing Cezanne, Salem Falls, Beyond Belfast, On the Beach, Island of Lost Girls, The Mountain Between Us, Girl in the Woods, Murder on the Orient Express, Prisoner of Tehran,

41. A mystery - I is for Innocent

42. A book that was nominated for one of the ‘10 Most Coveted Literary Prizes in the World’ (link) - On Beauty, The Lacuna, Do Not Say We Have Nothing, The Improbability of Love, The Goldfinch, Americanah, Life After Life, Lullabies for Little Criminals, Fault Lines, 100 Secret Senses, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, The Known World, The Wild Iris, A Separate Peace, Everything is Illuminated, White Teeth, No Logo, A Fine Balance, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Family Matters, A God in Ruins, The Grapes of Wrath, The Known World, Middlesex, The Luminaries, The True History of the Kelly Gang, Swing Time, Far to Go, Sea of Poppies, Consolation, The Secret River, A Blade of Grass, When We Were Orphans, The Handmaid's Tale, The Good Apprentice, An Ice Cream War

43. A book related to one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse - Stiff, All the Light We Cannot See, Dead Wake, Dawn, The Stand, Spook, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, A Dirty Job, Murder on the Orient Express, As I Lay Dying,

44. A book related to witches - Circe

45. A book by the same author who wrote one of your best reads in 2019 or 2018 - One Plus One

46. A book about an event or era in history taken from the Billy Joel song "We Didn't Start the Fire" - A Gentleman in Moscow, On the Beach, The Lacuna, Do Not Say We Have Nothing, The Paris Wife, Prisoner of Tehran, Hidden Figures, The Lemon Tree, Einstein,

47. A classic book you've always meant to read - A Separate Peace, Murder on the Orient Express, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Grapes of Wrath, Steppenwolf, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

48. A book published in 2020 - My Sister: How One Sibling's Transition Changed Us Both

49. A book that fits a prompt from the list of suggestions that didn't win (link) - A book with a cover where the author’s name is as large or larger than the title -

The Book of Rumi 105 Stories and Fables that Illumine, Delight, and Inform by Rumi

50. A book with a silhouette on the cover - A God in Ruins, Middlesex,

51. A book with an "-ing" word in the title - Reading Lolita in Tehran, The Nightingale, The Interestings, Packing for Mars, The Professor & the Madman (subtitle), The Lying Game, Baking Cakes in Kigali, As I Lay Dying, Sleeping Naked is Green, Circling the Sun, Cutting for Stone, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

52. A book related to time - The Distant Hours, The Lost Girls, The Historian, The Time In Between, The Second Time Around

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message 20: by Sam F (last edited May 07, 2020 07:31AM) (new)

Dec 03, 2019 03:59PM

#OwnVoices
January 1 - December 31, 2020

Read a book featuring a protagonist who identifies as _____ by an author who is also _____.

1. African (e.g, Ghanian, Nigerian) -
Read a book from each major region:
A. Eastern Africa - The Bone Woman by Clea Koff

B. Central or Middle Africa

C. Northern Africa

D. Southern Africa

E. Western Africa

2. Agnostic, Athiest, or Humanist

3. Asexual or Aromantic

4. Asian (e.g., Hmong, Japanese)
Read a book from each major region:
A. Central Asia

B. Eastern Asia - Do Not Say We Have Nothing, Amy Tan, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

C. Northern Asia

D. Southern Asia

E. Southeast Asia

F. Western Asia - The Arab of the Future: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984: A Graphic Memoir

5. Bisexual or Pansexual

6. Black (e.g. African-American, Black British) - God Help the Child

7. Buddhist

8. Christian-minority (i.e., Christian in a country in which it is not the most common religion)

9. Differently-Abled (e.g., Autistic, Deaf, Paraplegic)

10. Gay Male or Lesbian Female

11. Hindu

12. Immigrant -

13. Incarcerated or Institutionalized

14. Indigenous (e.g., Aboriginal, Inuit, Mojave) - The Break

15. Jewish

16. Latin American (e.g., Mexican, Colombian-descent)
Read a book from each major region:
A. Mexico - Say Her Name

B. Carribean

C. Central America

D. South America

17. Living with a Mental Health or Cognitive Disability

18. Low-Income or Financially Insecure - My Life on the Road

19. Middle Eastern

20. Mixed Race or Multi-racial

21. Muslim

22. Non-binary or Transgender -

23. Oceanic (e.g., Papuan, Samoan)
Read a book from each major region:
A. Australasia
B. Melanesia

C. Micronesia

D. Polynesia

24. Practitioner of a minor religion or another form of spirituality

25. Refugee, Migrant, or Asylum-Seeker - The Distance Between Us

26. Survivor of Sexual Assault or Domestic Violence - When You Find Out the World Is Against You: And Other Funny Memories About Awful Moments

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message 21: by Sam F (last edited Dec 28, 2020 09:05AM) (new)

Dec 03, 2019 04:01PM

PopSugar Challenge
1. A book that's published in 2020 - The Skin We're In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power

2. A book by a trans or nonbinary author - My Sister: How One Sibling's Transition Changed Us Both

3. A book with a great first line - Middlesex, Breakfast of Champions, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, The Sound & the Fury, The Bell Jar, The Grapes of Wrath, Watership Down, 12th Night, Oliver Twist

4. A book about a book club - The Jane Austen Book Club, Americanah, Becoming, Cutting for Stone, Middlesex, Handmaid's Tale, Reading Lolita in Tehran, Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

5. A book set in a city that has hosted the Olympics - What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

6. A bildungsroman - A Portrait of a Young Man as an Artist, A Separate Peace, The Tin Drum, Middlesex, Narcissus and Goldmund, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, My Brilliant Friend, River Cross My Heart, The Interestings, Educated, The Shadow of the Wind, Circe, Eragon, Sophie's World, Americanah, Cutting for Stone, White Teeth, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Swing Time, Life After Life, Oz, PS I Still Love You, Dumplin', Behind the Scenes at the Museum, Everything is Illuminated, Lullabies for Little Criminals, Summer Sisters, The Distance Between Us

7. The first book you touch on a shelf with your eyes closed - You Don't Own Me

8. A book with an upside-down image on the cover - A Long Way Home, Life After Life, Red Queen, -

9. A book with a map - Winnnie the Pooh, Eragon, Murder on the Orient Express, The Luminaries, The Name of the Rose, Circe, The Pillars of the Earth, The Two Towers, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Watership Down, The Silmarillion, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, The Great Adventure: Volunteer Stories of Life Overseas

10. A book recommended by your favorite blog, vlog, podcast, or online book club - The House of the Spirits, The Library at Mount Char, Cutting for Stone, The Handmaid's Tale, This is Where I Leave You, The Kitchen House, The 10th Circle, Swing Time, Sea of Poppies, He She & It, Lucky, Woman on the Edge of Time, Penelope, Fingersmith, Circling the Sun, The Beekeeper's Apprentice, Summer Sisters, The Birth House, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Cane River, Infidel, Virginia Woolf, Oprah's list, In Search of our Mother's Gardens, Amy Tan, On Beauty, White Teeth, The Girl You Left Behind, Talking back, Ripper, The Shadow of the Wind, The Beauty Myth, Reading Lolita in Tehran, A Train in Winter, Girl in the Woods, The Historian, The Book of Negroes, The Nightingale, Outlander series, Carly's Voice, Middlesex, Silent Spring, Red Queen,

11. An anthology - The Book of Rumi: 105 Stories and Fables that Illumine, Delight, and Inform

12. A book that passes the Bechdel test - The Handmaid's Tale, The 13th Tale, The Jane Austen Book Club, The Boleyn Inheritance, The Casual Vacancy, The Distant Hours, A Cup of Friendship, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, Crazy Rich Asians, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie', Shanghai Girls, Oz, A Breath of Snow & Ashes, My Brilliant Friend, Dorothy Must Die, The Elite, Red Queen, The Book of Negroes, The Golem & the Jinni, Scarlet,

13. A book with the same title as a movie or TV show but is unrelated to it - The Nightingale, The Lying Game, Family Matters, Scarlet, Educated, The Break

14. A book by an author with flora or fauna in their name - Library at Mount Char, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, The Luminaries, All the Light We Cannot See, Virginia Woolf, Naomi Wolf, Paula Hawkins, Shakespeare, Wally Lamb, Cathy Lamb, Elizabeth Strout, The Tin Drum, Lucky Man, The Happiness Project, The Jane Austen Book Club,

15. A book about or involving social media - Unselfie, The Tipping Point, We Sold Our Souls

16. A book that has a book on the cover - The 13th Tale, The Shadow of the Wind, The Storied Life of AJ Fikry, Mr. Penumbra's 24 hr Bookstore, The Professor & the Madman, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Reading Lolita in Tehran, The Body in the Library,

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz

17. A medical thriller -

J is for Judgment (Kinsey Millhone, #10) by Sue Grafton

18. A book with a made-up language - The Two Towers, The Girls

19. A book set in a country beginning with "C" - The Whole Truth

20. A book you picked because the title caught your attention - The Arab of the Future: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984: A Graphic Memoir

21. A book published the month of your birthday - The Mountain Between Us

22. A book about or by a woman in STEM - Hidden Figures, Mary Roach, Scarlet, Codebreakers, Matched

23. A book that won an award in 2019 - The Testament, The Starlight Claim

24. A book on a subject you know nothing about - Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

25. A book with only words on the cover, no images or graphics - White Teeth, Swing Time, This Changes Everything, All the Lives I Want, Crazy Rich Asians,

The Color Master Stories by Aimee Bender

26. A book with a pun in the title - Strip Jack

27. A book featuring one of the seven deadly sins
- Pride - Who Do You Love
- Wrath, or anger, rage or hatred - The Lighthouse
- Gluttony - The Second Time Around
- Lust, or lechery - The Love Market
- Avarice, or greed, cupidity, or covetousness - A Fatal Grace
- Envy - We Have Always Lived in the Castle
- Sloth. - The Grapes of Wrath, The Brothers Karamazov, Alison Weir, Philippa Gregory, Crazy Rich Asians, When You Find Out the World Is Against You: And Other Funny Memories About Awful Moments

28. A book with a robot, cyborg, or AI character - The Adoration of Jenna Fox

29. A book with a bird on the cover -

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (Rats of NIMH, #1) by Robert C. O'Brien

30. A fiction or nonfiction book about a world leader - Nelson Mandela, Becoming, My Life on the Road

31. A book with "gold," "silver," or "bronze" in the title - The Goldfinch

32. A book by a WOC - Zadie Smith, Roxanne Gay, Amy Tan, Becoming, Hidden Figures, Do Not Say We Have Nothing, PS I Still Love You, My Year of Meats, Reading Lolita in Tehran, We Are Never Meeting in Real Life, In Search of Our Mother's Gardens, The Rose & The Dagger, Louise Erdrich, Isabelle Allende, bell hooks, Float Like a Butterfly

33. A book with at least a four-star rating on Goodreads - A Gentleman in Moscow

34. A book you meant to read in 2019 - Irma Voth

35. A book with a three-word title - The Poets' Corner: The One-and-Only Poetry Book for the Whole Family

36. A book with a pink cover -

37. A Western - Doc

38. A book by or about a journalist - The Taliban Cricket Club, Michael Pollan, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, The Professor & the Madman, Naomi Klein, The Matchmaker

39. Read a banned book during Banned Books Week - Sept 20-26 (US), Feb 23 - 29 (Canada) - The Grapes of Wrath, Reading Lolita in Tehran, Da Vinci Code, Winnie the Pooh, The Handmaid's Tale, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Foxfire, Ordinary People, House of the Spirits, Pillars of the Earth, A Separate Peace, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

40. Your favorite prompt from a past POPSUGAR Reading Challenge
- a. 19. A book told from multiple POVs - The Moonstone, The Woman in White, The Stand, The Kitchen God's Wife, Kate Morton, Prodigal Summer, A Tale for the Time Being, The Sound & the Fury, The Matchmaker, Death of a Nightingale
- c. 28. A book recommended by a celebrity you admire - Emma Watson: Alias Grace, Not Without My Daughter, Sea of Poppies, He She & It, Woman on the Edge of Time, Summer Sisters, The Birth House, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Infidel, Alice Walker, 100 Secret Senses, The Kitchen God's Wife, White Teeth, On Beauty, The Girl You Left Behind, Lady Oracle, The Heart Goes Last, Ripper, The Shadow of the Wind, Prisoner of Tehran, Reading Lolita in Tehran, Girl in the Woods, The Historian, The Book of Negroes, Carly's Voice, Middlesex, Silent Spring, Red Queen
- d. 2015: (26) A Memoir - Say Her Name
- e. 2017: (A9) A Book you got from a used book sale - The Stubborn Season
- f. 2018: (3) The Next Book in a series you started - The Disappeared

2020 Challenge - Advanced prompts

1. A book written by an author in their 20s - Helen Oyeyemi, Zadie Smith, Everything is Illuminated, The Luminaries, Scarlet, Eragon, Shiver, Red Queen, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,

2. A book with "20" or "twenty" in the title - Stephanie Plum in 20s, Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hr Bookstore, Wife 22

3. A book with a character with a vision impairment or enhancement (a nod to 20/20 vision) - All the Light We Cannot See, Prodigal Summer,

4. A book set in the 1920s - The Sound & the Fury, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, The Angel's Game, Circling the Sun, As I Lay Dying, Life After Life, Poirot Investigates

5. A book set in Japan, host of the 2020 Olympics - The Windup Bird Chronicle, My Year of Meats, Library Wars: Love & War, Vol. 1

6. A book by an author who has written more than 20 books - Ann Patchett, Agatha Christie, Stephen King, Janet Evanovich, Sue Grafton, Jodi Picoult, Shakespeare, Robert Ludlum, Ken Follett, Diana Gabaldon, Louise Erdrich, Isabel Allende, Barbara Kingsolver, Elizabeth Berg, Accused, Oliver Sacks, Sophie Kinsella, Cathy Lamb, Run for Your Life, Jojo Moyes, Anna Quindlen, Zadie Smith, Carol Shields, Anita Shreve, Amy Tan, Meg Wolitzer, Kate Atkinson, Judy Blume, Greg Iles, Jonathan Franzen, Philippa Gregory, Alice Hoffman, Nick Hornby, Nicholas Spark, Alice Munro, John Steinbeck, Richard Russo, José Saramago, Jane Smiley, Lionel Shriver, John Updike, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Alice Walker, Surprise Me

7. A book with more than 20 letters in its title - Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Murder on the Orient Express, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Reading Lolita in Tehran, We Are Not Meeting in Real Life, Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Windup Bird Chronicle, All Things Bright And Beautiful, Do Not Say We Have Nothing, The Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, The Hour I First Believed

8. A book published in the 20th century - I is for Innocent

9. A book from a series with more than 20 books - Sue Grafton, Janet Evanovich, Never Go Back

10. A book with a main character in their 20s - Lullabies for Little Criminals, Scarlet, Walking Disaster, Sweetbitter, God Help the Child

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message 22: by Sam F (last edited Dec 28, 2020 08:47AM) (new)

Dec 03, 2019 04:03PM

THE NONFICTION GROWTH CHALLENGE
January 1 to December 31, 2020

1. Read a book that teaches you how to problem solve. - Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park, - How to Be an Antiracist

2. Read a book that teaches you how to think critically. - Freakonomics, Guns, Germs, and Steel, Outliers, Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present

3. Read a book that teaches you how to become more creative. - Color: A Natural History of the Palette, The Artist's Way, The Poets' Corner: The One-and-Only Poetry Book for the Whole Family

4. Read a book that teaches you how to make better decisions. - The Happiness Project, David and Goliath, When You Find Out the World Is Against You: And Other Funny Memories About Awful Moments

5. Read a book on emotional intelligence. - A Train in Winter, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Say Her Name

6. Read a book to improve your communication skills. - The Professor and the Madman, My Sister: How One Sibling's Transition Changed Us Both

7. Read a book about how to learn. - The Freedom Writers Diary, Embracing the Wide Sky, Carly's Voice, The Spark,Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

8. Read a book that teaches you leadership skills. - The Opposable Mind, The Tipping Point, Becoming

9. Read a book about extroversion or introversion. - The Memory Palace

10. Read a book about psychology. - An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales, The Brain That Changes Itself, Blink, The Mind's Eye, The Psychopath Test, Keto Diet: Your 30-Day Plan to Lose Weight, Balance Hormones, Boost Brain Health, and Reverse Disease

11. Read a book about an ideology that is not your own. - Shake Hands with the Devil, They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky,

12. Read a book to help you master social media.

13. Read a book about your favorite hobby to become better at it.
- Food: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, In Defense of Food, , Life from Scratch
- Travel: Born Adventurer, Beyond Belfast, Turn Right at Machu Picchu, Drink the Bitter Root, The Great Adventure: Volunteer Stories of Life Overseas

14. Read a collection of essays. - We Who Can Fly, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, The Skin We're In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power

15. Read an autobiography/biography of a woman written by a woman. - Honeymoon in Purdah: An Iranian Journey, Vanilla Beans & Brodo: Real Life in the Hills of Tuscany, Reading Lolita in Tehran, Lucky, Prisoner of Tehran, The Distance Between Us

16. Read an autobiography/biography of a man written by a man. - Mr. Nice, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Little Princes, Here Comes Trouble, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

17. Read a book about someone’s journey; inner or outer. - My Life on the Road

18. Read a book about science or technology. - One Hundred Days: My Unexpected Journey from Doctor to Patient, The Botany of Desire, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, Possessing Genius: The True Account of the Bizarre Odyssey of Einstein's Brain, Spook, The Hedgehog, the Fox & the Magister's Pox, When Breath Becomes Air

19. Read a book about a religion or philosophy - Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith, Infidel,

20. Read a book about a topic you have always wanted to learn more about.
- Politics: New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer, The Struggle is My Life, The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East, The Monuments Men, Conversations With Myself, The Arab of the Future: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984: A Graphic Memoir
- Humour: Jerry Seinfeld, the Entire Domain, I'm Just a Person
- Dog Training: Be the Pack Leader
- Climate Change: Sleeping Naked is Green, Silent Spring,

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message 23: by Sam F (last edited Dec 28, 2020 08:52AM) (new)

Dec 03, 2019 05:36PM

Listopia Challenge 2020:

Possible lists:

Best Survival Stories
1. The Grapes of Wrath
2. Sophie's Choice
3. Watership Down
4. On The Beach
5. The Road
6. The Stand
7. A Beautiful Mind
8. The Book of Negroes
9. Matched
10. The Adoration of Jenna Fox
11. Cold Cold Heart
12. Vanishing Acts
13. The Nightingale
14. The Bourne Identity
15. Lucky
16. They Poured Fire On Us From the Sky

Best Science Books - Non-Fiction Only
1. Guns Germs & Steel
2. Freakonomics
3. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
4. Silent Spring
5. The Tipping Point
6. Thinking Fast & Slow
7. The Coming Plague
8. The Botany of Desire
9. The Naked Ape
10. Bonk
11. The Brain that Changes Itself
12. Spook
13. The 13th Element
14. The Memory Palace
15. The Teenage Brain

Best Horror Novels
1. Cold Cold Heart
2. It
3. Salem's Lot
4. The Stand
5. Hannibal
6. Harvest Home
7. The Historian
8. The Shadow of the Wind
9. Library at Mount Char
10. Hound of the Baskervilles
11. We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Books that Exceeded Your Expectations
1. The Shadow of the Wind
2. Les Misérables
3. The Historian
4. The Forgotten Garden
5. Middlesex
6. The Pact
7. Shanghai Girls
8. Shiver
9. Steppenwolf
10. Lord of the Rings
11. A Fine Balance
12. Loving Frank
13. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
14. All the Light We Cannot See
15. The Distant Hours
16. The Sound & the Fury
17. Cutting for Stone
18. A Breath of Snow & Ashes
19. The Silmarillion
20. Fall of Giants
21. Someone Knows My Name
22. The Goldfinch
23. Crazy Rich Asians
24. The Casual Vacancy
25. Cane River

Humourous Memoirs & Non-Fiction
1. Me Talk Pretty One Day
2. Naked
3. Bonk
4. When You are Engulfed in Flames
5. The Botany of Desire
6. Magical Thinking
7. This is Where I Leave You
8. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
9. Stupid White Men
10. Thereby Hangs a Tail

You Read a Book About What?
1. The Professor & the Madman
2. Spook
3. In Cold Blood
4. The Psychopath Test
5. Color
6. Dead Wake
7. Infidel
8. Behind the Beautiful Forevers
9. A Stolen Life
10. All the President's Men
11. My Year of Meats
12. Blink
13. Turn Right At Machu Picchu
14. From Scratch
15. Steve Jobs

Books I would Require if I Taught an English Lit Class
1. Hamlet
2. Ordinary People
3. The Sound & the Fury
4. Reading Lolita in Tehran
5. Grapes of Wrath
6. A Separate Peace
7. Sherlock Holmes
8. Middlesex
9. The Brothers Karamazov
10. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
11. Beautiful Losers
12. Breakfast of Champions
13. All the Light We Cannot See
14. Conversations with Myself
15. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
16. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

Female Psychological Thrillers Suspense Written by Women
1. Into the Water
2. K is for Killer
3. Fingersmith
4. Promise Not to Tell
5. Island of Lost Girls
6. A Fatal Grace
7. The Hidden Child
8. M is for Malice
9. Vanishing Girls
10. V is for Vengence
11. The Lying Game
12. The Wonder
13. The Body in the Library
14. Nine Perfect Strangers

100 Mysteries & Thrillers to Read in a Lifetime
1. Murder on the Orient Express
2. The Complete Sherlock Holmes
3. The Woman in White
4. The Name of the Rose
5. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
6. 12 Sharp
7. The Bourne Identity
8. Tell No One
9. The Shadow of the Wind
10. Case Histories
11. The Husband's Secret
12. A Great Reckoning
13. The Historian
14. The Bourne Supremacy
15. Lean Mean 13

Interesting, Well Written Books that are not by Dead/Old White Men
1. The Handmaid's Tale
2. Half of a Yellow Sun
3. Americanah
4. The Wind-up Bird Chronicle
5. White Teeth
6. Cutting for Stone
7. Life After Life
8. The Goldfinch
9. On Beauty
10. A Fine Balance
11. Shadow of the Wind
12. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
13. Breakfast of Champions
14. Spook
15. The Beekeeper's Apprentice
16. The Casual Vacancy
17. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
18. A God in Ruins
19. The Beauty of Humanity Movement
20. Prodigal Summer
21. The Wives of Henry VIII
22. Good Morning Midnight
23. Behind the Scenes at the Museum
24. The Wild Iris
25. The Golem & the Jinni

Major Award Winning Fiction Since 1990
1. The Road
2. The Blind Assassin
3. Alias Grace
4. All the Light We Cannot See
5. Sea of Poppies
6. The Secret River
7. Middlesex
8. The Casual Vacancy
9. The Luminaries
10. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
11. Galore
12. The True History of the Kelly Gang
13. Life After Life
14. Fingersmith
15. White Teeth
16. When We Were Orphans
17. On Beauty
18. The Lacuna
19. Do Not Say We Have Nothing
20. My Year of Meats

Best Books to read When Snow is Falling
1. The Snow Child
2. Night Road
3. Shiver
4. The Kitchen House
5. The Peach Keeper
6. The 13th Tale
7. The Other Boleyn Girl
8. The Distant Hours
9. The Forgotten Garden
10. Picture Perfect
11. The Other Boleyn Girl
12. The Name of the Rose
13. The Historian
14. The White Queen
15. The Two Towers
16. Angels & Demons
17. The Constant Princess
18. Tess of the D'Urbervilles
19. The Stand
20. Eragon
21. The Golem & The Jinni
22. The Shadow of the Wind
23. Picture Perfect
24. A Breath of Snow & Ashes
25. The Brothers Karamazov

Best Feminist Fiction
1. Parable of the Sower
2. Kindred
3. The Kitchen God's Wife
4. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
5. North & South
6. Prodigal Summer
7. Lady Oracle
8. The Book of Negroes
9. Shanghai Girls
10. Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang
11. Good Morning Midnight
12. Much Ado About Nothing
13. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
14. Leviathan
15. Loving Frank

Gilmore Girls Complete Reading List
1. The Picture of Dorian Gray
2. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
3. The Two Towers
4. Oliver Twist
5. Julius Caesar
6. Hamlet
7. The Shadow of the Wind
8. The Grapes of Wrath
9. As I Lay Dying
10. High Fidelity
11. Middlesex
12. The Name of the Rose
13. Me Talk Pretty One Day
14. Reading Lolita in Tehran
15. The Sound & The Fury

Top 10 for the Reading Challengers
1. Hamlet
2. The Nightingale
3. The Stand
4. A Man Called Ove
5. The Golem & the Jinni
6. Eragon
7. Shadow of the Wind
8. Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore
9. The Secret Keeper
10. All the Light We Cannot See
11. Les Misérables
12. The Grapes of Wrath
13. Middlesex
14. The Historian
15. The Forgotten Garden
16. The Two Towers
17. The Brothers Karamazov
18. A Fine Balance
19. The Goldfinch
20. Life After Life
21. On the Beach
22. Sophie's Choice
23. Dead Wake
24. The Botany of Desire
25. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

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message 24: by Sam F (last edited Dec 28, 2020 08:56AM) (new)

Dec 03, 2019 06:38PM

Other Possible Lists:

The Prison Book Club Discussed Books

1. Les Misérables
2. An Ice-cream War
3. The Tipping Point
4. Blink
5. Outliers
6. The Book of Negroes
7. Someone Knows My Name
8. Infidel
9. Reading Lolita in Tehran
10. A Fine Balance

Favourite Travel Books
1. Color
2. Honeymoon in Purdah
3. The Lost Girls
4. The Voluntourist
5. Reading Lolita in Tehran
6. Fresh Air Fiend
7. All Roads Lead to Austen
8. Little Princes
9. Shanghai Girls
10. Maiden Voyages

Oprah's Book Club Picks
1. Middlesex
2. A Fine Balance
3. Songs in Ordinary Time
4. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
5. The Sound & The Fury
6. As I Lay Dying
7. Freedom
8. A New Earth
9. River Cross My Heart
10. Open House
11. Cane River

Everyone's Read it But Me
1. Middlesex
2. Lord of the Rings
3. Eragon
4. Angels & Demons
5. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
6. The Hour I First Believed
7. The Name of the Rose
8. The Bourne Identity
9. The Stand
10. The Goldfinch
11. Outliers
12. Blink
13. Reading Lolita in Tehran
14. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
15. The Name of the Rose
16. The Tipping Point
17. The Historian
18. Hamlet
19. Eragon
20. The Stand
21. The Other Boleyn Girl
22. The Goldfinch
23. House Rules
24. The Forgotten Garden
25. The Fall of Giants

Around the World in 100 Books
1. The Shadow of the Wind
2. Hamlet
3. Cutting for Stone
4. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
5. A Fine Balance
6. The Wind Up Bird Chronicle
7. On the Beach
8. The Beach
9. The Kitchen God's Wife
10. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
11. Reading Lolita in Tehran
12. The True History of the Kelly Gang
13. Les Misérables
14. The Girl You Left Behind
15. Once Were Warriors
16. The Secret River
17. Shadows on the Rock
18. Sea of Poppies
19. The Grapes of Wrath
20. All Things Bright & Beautiful
21. Tess of the D'Urbervilles
22. The Glass Palace
23. The Girl You Left Behind
24. The Secret River

Best Multicultural General Fiction
1. A Fine Balance
2. Cutting for Stone
3. White Teeth
4. The Kitchen God's Wife
5. Family Matters
6. The Wind-up Bird Chronicle
7. Crazy Rich Asians
8. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
9. The Glass Palace
10. A Blade of Grass

Book of the Month Club Picks
1. A Gentleman in Moscow
2. Little Fires Everywhere
3. The Lying Game
4. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
5. Pachinko
6. Swing Time
7. Circling the Sun
8. Into the Water
9. The Nightingale
10. The Sun is Also a Star

Best Environmental Books
1. Silent Spring
2.This Changes Everything
3. In Defense of Food
4. The Botany of Desire
5. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
6. The Tipping Point
7. Sleeping Naked is Green
8. Sisters of the Earth
9. No Logo
10. The Coming Plague

The Orange Prize Winners
1. La Lacuna
2. On Beauty
3. The Flying Troutmans
4. Lullabies for Little Criminals
5. Fault Lines
6. The Girls
7. Case Histories
8. The Blind Assassin
9. White Teeth
10. 100 Secret Senses

All the Light We Cannot See
2. The Goldfinch
3. The Road
4. The Known World
5. Middlesex
6. Guns Germs & Steel
7. The Wild Iris
8. The Grapes of Wrath
9. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
10. Our Town

Medicine & Literature

1. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
2. Cutting for Stone
3. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
4. Guns Germs & Steel
5. The Professor & the Madman
6. Bonk
7. A Beautiful Mind
8. An Anthropologist on Mars
9. The Murder of Rogery Ackroyd
10. Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures
11. The Coming Plague
12. The Mind's Eye
13. House Rules
14. The Brain that Changes Itself
15. Lucky
16. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
17. The Psychopath Test
18. Ordinary People
19. The Birth House
20. A Breath of Snow & Ashes

Read in place of watching Downton Abbey

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message 25: by Sam F (last edited Dec 28, 2020 09:02AM) (new)

Dec 03, 2019 06:40PM

Around the World Challenge:

1st Leg: North America
Canada:
Quebec - A Fatal Grace
Ontario - The Stubborn Season
Alberta -
Manitoba - The Break
Northwest Territories -
British Columbia - The Whole Truth

Mexico: Say Her Name

USA:
Oklahoma -
Texas - Dumplin'
California - I is for Innocent
New York - The Arrangement
Massachusetts - What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
Washington, DC - Overwatch
Maine -
Tennessee -
Illinois - Don't You Cry
Florida -
Pennsylvania - We Sold Our Souls
Vermont - We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Colorado - The Hour I First Believed
New Jersey -
Missouri -
Indiana -
South Carolina - Seizure
Ohio - Tell Me Lies
Kentucky - Float Like a Butterfly
Maryland -
Arizona -
South Dakota -
Wisconsin -
Washington - The Geography of You and Me
Nevada -
Virginia - Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
Georgia - While We Were Watching Downton Abbey
Kansas - Doc
Utah - The Mountain Between Us
Conneticut - Tempting Fate
Oregon - The Child Finder

2nd Leg: South America & Caribbean
Turks & Caicos -
Argentina -

3rd Leg: Europe
Denmark - Death of a Nightingale
UK - The Beekeeper's Apprentice
Romania -
Switzerland - The Bourne Identity
Sweden - The Disappeared
Scotland - Strip Jack
Poland -
France - All the Light We Cannot See
Germany - The Lighthouse
Spain -
Ireland -
Portugal -
Greece - Circe
Italy - Siracusa

4th Leg: Middle East
Afghanistan -
Iraq -
Iran - The Book of Rumi: 105 Stories and Fables that Illumine, Delight, and Inform

5th Leg: Africa - The Great Adventure: Volunteer Stories of Life Overseas
Botswana -
Equatorial Guinea -
Egypt -
Libya -
Congo -
Burundi - The Violets of Usambara
Somalia -

6th Leg: Asia
Turkey -
India -
Siberia -
Japan - Library Wars: Love & War, Vol. 1
Vietnam -
Russia - A Gentleman in Moscow
Afghanistan -
Tahiti -
Tibet -
Kashmir -
Syria - The Arab of the Future: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984: A Graphic Memoir
China - Shanghai Girls

7th Leg: Australia & Oceania
Queensland - Lighthouse Bay
Brisbane -
Sydney -
New Zealand -
Tasmania -

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message 26: by Sam F (last edited Dec 28, 2020 09:04AM) (new)

Dec 03, 2019 06:41PM

Decade Challenge:
(Original publication date)

1800-1809:
1810-1819:
1820-1829:
1830-1839: Oliver Twist
1840-1849:
1850-1859:
1860-1869: Les Misérables
1870-1879:
1880-1889:
1890-1899:
1900-1909: The Wind in the Willows
1910-1919:
1920-1929: Poirot Investigates
1930-1939:
1940-1949:
1950-1959: A Separate Peace
1960-1969: We Have Always Lived in the Castle
1970-1979: Postern of Fate
1980-1989: The Bourne Identity
1990-1999: I is for Innocent
2000-2009: Library Wars: Love & War, Vol. 1
2010-2019: The Lighthouse
2020: My Sister: How One Sibling's Transition Changed Us Both

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message 27: by Sam F (last edited Dec 28, 2020 09:08AM) (new)

Dec 04, 2019 04:35PM

Voices From Around The World

Read a book featuring a protagonist who identifies as _____ by an author who is also _____.

1. African
2. Asian - Library Wars: Love & War, Vol. 1
3. Caribbean
4. Indigenous - The Break
5. Latin American
6. Middle Eastern - The Book of Rumi: 105 Stories and Fables that Illumine, Delight, and Inform
7. Oceanic - Lighthouse Bay
8. From a Dependent Territory (e.g., Puerto Rican) or State with Limited Recognition (e.g., Palestinian)
9. Immigrant, Refugee, Migrant, or Asylum-Seeker - The Distance Between Us
10. Black or Multiracial

Diversity of Beliefs
11. Agnostic, Atheist, or Humanist
12. Buddhist or Hindu
13. Jewish
14. Muslim - The Arab of the Future: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984: A Graphic Memoir
15. Practioner of a Minor Religion or Non-Religious form of Spirituality
16. Activist, Freedom Fighter, or Political Minority

Love is Love is Love
17. Asexual, Aromantic, or Celibate
18. Gay or Lesbian
19. Bisexual or Pansexual
20. Adopted, Fostered, or raised by someone other than one's biological parents - The Child Finder

Every Body Has Value
21. Body Positive, Body Neutral, or Fat Positive person who is a size or shape outside of their society's beauty norms - God Help the Child
22. Non-binary, Genderqueer, Intersex or Transgender - My Sister: How One Sibling's Transition Changed Us Both
23. Child (under 18) or Elder (over 75)
24. Differently-Abled (e.g., Autistic, Deaf)
25. Living with a visible or invisible Chronic Health Condition or Physical Disability
26. Living with a Mental Health Condition, Cognitive/Intellectual Disability, or AddictionThe Memory Palace
27. Currently or Previously Incarcerated or Institutionalized
28. Low-Income or Financially Insecure - My Life on the Road
29. Survivor of Abuse, Neglect, Sexual Assault, a Hate Crime, or Human Trafficking -
30. Victim of State-Sponsored Violence or Institutional/Systemic Discrimination

Bonus & Advanced Prompts
31. Read a book written by people indigenous to where you live or frequently visit.
32. Read a book translated from a language other than English. - Death of a Nightingale
33. Read a book that addresses social justice or ethics or in medicine, law, fashion, food, consumerism, or environmental stewardship as it relates to race, class, sex/gender, etc. - The Skin We're In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power,Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
34. Read a “classic,” award-winning, or scholarly #ownvoices book that also meets the criteria for one of the above prompts.
35. Read a book of poetry or a graphic novel that also meets the criteria for one of the above prompts.
36. Read an #ownvoices book promoted or written by a Bookstagrammer, Booktuber, Book Blogger, Goodreads Super Reviewer, or an Activist or Educator who uses social media as a tool to teach and inspire change. - When You Find Out the World Is Against You: And Other Funny Memories About Awful Moments
37. Listen to an #ownvoices book read by the author, read the book and attend an author event about the book, or watch a recording of such an event.
38. Read a book about intersectional feminism or Black feminism. - Becoming
39. Read a book that discusses unearned privilege, colonialism, imperialism, or white supremacy. - Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present Shanghai Girls
40. Read a book that helps you understand your own cultural heritage.

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message 28: by Sam F (last edited Aug 14, 2020 07:22AM) (new)

Dec 04, 2019 04:36PM

A-Z CHALLENGE: MYTHS, LEGENDS, & FAIRY TALES

A:
B: The Book of Rumi: 105 Stories and Fables that Illumine, Delight, and Inform
C: Circe
D: Doc
E:
F:
G: The Great Adventure: Volunteer Stories of Life Overseas
H: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
I:
J:
K:
L: The Love Market
M: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
N:
O:
P:
Q:
R:
S: Seizure
T: The Geography of You and Me
U:
V:
W: We Sold Our Souls
X:
Y:
Z:

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message 29: by Sam F (last edited Dec 28, 2020 09:10AM) (new)

Dec 04, 2019 04:41PM

Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge 2020

1. Read a YA nonfiction book - The Distance Between Us

2. Read a retelling of a classic of the canon, fairytale, or myth by an author of color - Dorothy Must Die, The Book of Rumi: 105 Stories and Fables that Illumine, Delight, and Inform

3. Read a mystery where the victim(s) is not a woman - Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Murder on Orient Express, Death of a Nightingale

4. Read a graphic memoir - The Arab of the Future: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984: A Graphic Memoir

5. Read a book about a natural disaster - Dead Wake?

6. Read a play by an author of color and/or queer author - The America Play and Other Works

7. Read a historical fiction novel not set in WWII - Circe

8. Read an audiobook of poetry - The Poets' Corner: The One-and-Only Poetry Book for the Whole Family

9. Read the LAST book in a series - Postern of Fate

10. Read a book that takes place in a rural setting - The Lighthouse

11. Read a debut novel by a queer author - My Sister: How One Sibling's Transition Changed Us Both

12. Read a memoir by someone from a religious tradition (or lack of religious tradition) that is not your own - Elie Wiesel,

13. Read a food book about a cuisine you’ve never tried before - Animal Vegetable Miracle, Life From Scratch, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

14. Read a romance starring a single parent - The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, The Love Market

15. Read a book about climate change - This Changes Everything,

16. Read a doorstopper (over 500 pages) published after 1950, written by a woman - The Luminaries, Diana Gabaldon, The Goldfinch

17. Read a sci-fi/fantasy novella (under 120 pages)

18. Read a picture book with a human main character from a marginalized community - Float Like a Butterfly

19. Read a book by or about a refugee - Do Not Say We Have Nothing, Infidel

20. Read a middle grade book that doesn’t take place in the U.S. or the UK - The Whole Truth

21. Read a book with a main character or protagonist with a disability (fiction or non) - All the Light We Cannot See

22. Read a horror book published by an indie press - We Sold Our Souls

23. Read an edition of a literary magazine (digital or physical) -

24. Read a book in any genre by a Native, First Nations, or Indigenous author - The Break

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message 30: by Sam F (last edited Dec 28, 2020 10:39AM) (new)

Dec 04, 2019 04:49PM

Reading Challenge:

1.) Read a book with a title that starts with a "W" - We Have Always Lived in the Castle

2.) A book you got for under $3 - Postern of Fate

3.) A book with a blue cover -

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

4.) Read a book by your favorite author - The Bourne Identity

5.) A book with the word "Light" in the title - All the Light We Cannot See

6.) A book that is set in the future - The Adoration of Jenna Fox

7.) A book from Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org/) - Oliver Twist

8.) Read a book of short stories or a novella - The Color Master: Stories

9.) Read a book you've had on your "to be read" shelf for more than a year -

10.) Read a book that takes place in winter - The Break

11.) Reread a book you have recommended to a friend - Doc

12.) Free Space- Pick any book! -

The Disappeared (Fredrika Bergman & Alex Recht, #3) by Kristina Ohlsson

13.) A book under 400 pages -

14.) Read a book by Julie Garwood

15.) Read a classic fairy tale

16.) Read a retelling of the classic fairy tale - The Secret Lives of Princesses

17.) Read a suspense or horror book - The Second Time Around

18.) A book you got for free (gift, found or book exchange) - I is for Innocent

19.) Read a book with a building on the cover -

20.) Read a historical fiction from the World War II-era - Shanghai Girls

21.) Read a book that was turned into a movie or tv show - The Mountain Between Us

22.) A book by an author named James/Jim or a variant - Step on a Crack

23.) Read a book recommended on your local library's website - Circe

24.) Free Space- Pick any book! - The Love Market

25.) A book with the word "book" in the title - The Book of Rumi: 105 Stories and Fables that Illumine, Delight, and Inform

26.) Read an urban fantasy novel - Matched

27.) A book published in 2000 - The Magic Hill

28.) A book recommended to you by a friend - A Gentleman in Moscow

29.) Read an author's debut novel - What She Knew

30.) Read a book from the BBC's list of Top 100 Books You Must Read Before You Die - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

31.) Read a book that is over 600 pages - The Hour I First Believed

32.) Read a book by Isaac Asimov

33.) Read a book with the word 'Star' in the title - The Starlight Claim

34.) Read a book about a historical figure (fiction or non-fiction) - My Life on the Road

35.) Read a book about an assassin - The Bourne Identity

36.) Free Space- Pick any book! - The Whole Truth

37.) Book 1 of a Trilogy - Dumplin'

38.) Book 2 of a Trilogy

39.) Book 3 of a Trilogy

40.) Read a book from NPR's favorite books of 2019 - The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family

41.) Read a novel by an author using a pseudonym - Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

42.) Read a graphic novel - Library Wars: Love & War, Vol. 1

43.) A book with a season in the title - Russian Winter

44.) Read a book with exactly four words in the title - We Sold Our Souls

45.) Read a book about a writer (real or fictional) - The Poets' Corner: The One-and-Only Poetry Book for the Whole Family

46.) Read a book with a title that rhymes - The Skin We're In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power

47.) A book by an author named Elizabeth/Beth or a variant

48.) Free Space- Pick any book! - Surprise Me

49.) Read a motivational/inspirational book - Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

50.) Read a book with two or more authors - Death of a Nightingale

51.) Read a book by John Creasey

52.) Read a book published in 1980 - The Bourne Identity

53.) Read a "rags to riches" story - God Help the Child

54.) Read a book with an occupation in the title - The Matchmaker

55.) Read a book about travel or that involves travel - Poirot Investigates

56.) A book that takes place in outer space/another planet

57.) Read a book that starts with the letter J - J is for Judgment

58.) Read a book that takes place in the Middle East or is inspired by Middle Eastern Culture - The Arab of the Future: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984: A Graphic Memoir

59.) Read a book about a video game or virtual reality

60.) Free Space- Pick any book! - Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

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message 31: by Sam F (last edited Aug 22, 2020 12:55PM) (new)

Dec 06, 2019 03:06PM

You'll Love this One...!!! Yearly Challenge:

Card 1 Questions & Recommendations

1. Geography: Vietnam is a former colony of what European country?
[France (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Set in France or written by French author. - The Arab of the Future: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984: A Graphic Memoir
Nay Task - Set in Vietnam or written by Vietnamese author.

2. Entertainment: Which bearded Kiwi directed the Lord of the Rings trilogy?
[Peter Jackson (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Genre is Epic or High Fantasy.
Nay Task - Read a book that is in a trilogy. It may be book 1, 2, or 3. - The Adoration of Jenna Fox

3. History:What was Martin Luther King, Jr's birth name?
[Michael King, Jr (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Michael is the name of a character, the author, or is in the title. - The Love Market
Nay Task - A significant character in the book is a king, or the word "king" is in the title.

4: Art/Literature: Which play explores the lives of Harry Potter and his family 19 years after the end of Deathly Hallows?
[Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The word "Cursed" "Curse" or "Child" is in the title. -The Child Finder
Nay Task - JK Rowling is a strong advocate of child welfare. The word "Orphan" is in the title or a significant character is an orphan. - Oliver Twist

5: Science: What is the name of the first animal cloned from an adult somatic cell?
[Dolly - she was a sheep (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - There is one or more sheep on the cover.
Nay Task - The theme is cloning.

6: Sport: In 2014, which April road race boasted its first win by an American since 1983?
[Boston Marathon - Meb Keflezighi of San Diego won in an official time of 2:08:37 (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Setting is Boston, Massachusetts. - What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
Nay Task - Setting is during the month of April, or the word "April" is in the title. - The Second Time Around

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message 32: by Sam F (last edited Dec 29, 2020 07:33AM) (new)

Dec 06, 2019 03:06PM

Card 2 Questions & Recommendations

1. Geography: Which city became the first to die its river green on St. Patrick's Day, a tradition that dates back to 1962?
[Chicago (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Setting is Chicago or Illinois. - Don't You Cry
Nay Task - Cover is 75% green. -

2. Entertainment: The famous line, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn", was almost censored from which classic film?
[Gone With the Wind - The Motion Picture Assn Production Code forbade "damn" in the movies (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The theme is the American Civil War.
Nay Task - Select a book from this list: Best Opening Sentence. State the position of your book appears on this list. - The Shadow of the Wind, Breakfast of Champions, 12th Night, Middlesex, The Sound & The Fury, A Long Way Down, Les Misérables, Oz, The Brothers Karamazov, Salem's Lot, Journey to the Centre of the Earth,

3. History: What horrible disaster in NYC saw the deaths of 146 women in 1911 and led to the enactment of laws to better protect workers?
[Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - There is fire on the cover. -

Nay Task - Setting is between 1900 and 1920. - The Wind in the Willows

4: Art/Literature: What is the title of Tom Clancy's debut novel, which President Ronald Reagan said was his "kind of yarn"?
[The Hunt for Red October (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Set during the month of October -
- the word "October" is in the title.
Nay Task - Genre is Thriller. - The Disappeared

5: Science: The skeletal discorder rickets is caused by a lack of which vitamin?
[Vitamin D (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The title is one word only, and starts with the letter "D". - Dumplin'
Nay Task - The genre is Historical Fiction about exploration. - The Hour I First Believed

6: Sport: What is a "biscuit" in ice hockey?
[Puck - To "put the biscuit in the basket" is to score (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Puck was a mythical god. The genre of the book needs to be mythology. - Circe
Nay Task - The cover has wheat or tall grass. -

A Fatal Grace (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #2) by Louise Penny

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message 33: by Sam F (last edited Jul 29, 2020 05:18AM) (new)

Dec 06, 2019 03:07PM

Card 3 Questions & Recommendations

1. Geography: Which of the five Great Lakes does not have a border with Canada?
[Michigan (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Set in Michigan.
Nay Task - The book is any book in a series of 5 primary works. - Seizure

2. Entertainment: With which part of his body does Mario hit those overhead bricks and blocks during a Nintendo Game?
[Hand - If you look closely, you'll notice he's not actually whacking his head on them. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Hands are on the cover. May be a singular hand. -

Nay Task - The word "Body" is in the title.

3. History: Who was the first member of the Republican Party to be elected U.S. President?
[Abraham Lincoln (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Theme is Abraham Lincoln. - The America Play and Other Works
Nay Task - The word "President" is in the title.

4: Art/Literature: L. Frank Baum wrote which fantasy children's book that was first published in 1900?
[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The word "Wizard" is in the title.
Nay Task - The genre is YA Fantasy - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

5: Science: Which tiny, spotted critter can fly 37 mph at altitudes of 3600 feet when it's not busy defending gardens from pests?
[Ladybug - More accurately called a lady bug beetle (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The title contains the name of one of the following a types of beetle: Ladybug, Scarab, Longhorn, Ground, Stag, Firefly.
Nay Task - The word "Garden" is in the title.

6: Sport: In tennis, when players are tied 40-40, it's called what?
[Deuce (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The word "Deuce", "Double", or "Two" is in the title. - Wife 22
Nay Task - The book is positioned 0-40 on your Goodreads TBR shelf. - Fall of Giants, The Perfect Present, A Girl of the Limberlost, The Happiness Project, Already Home, Codebreakers, Sometimes Mine, A Breath of Snow & Ashes, Red Moon, The Singing Fire, The Whole Truth, Mercy Among the Children, Plan B, Case Histories, Rush Home Road, The Mind's Eye, The Good Apprentice, An Anthropologist on Mars, Sleeping Naked is Green, The Book of Negroes, The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows..., Mudbound, Good to a Fault, The Freedom Writer's Diary, Infidel, Steppenwolf, Shake Hands with the Devil, Bury Your Dead, Beautiful Losers, The Golem & the Jinni, The Last Wife of Henry VIII, The Chronicler of the Winds, The Birth House, The Scorched Wood People, Born Adventurer, Carly's Voice, Far to Go, 100 Secret Senses

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message 34: by Sam F (last edited Dec 28, 2020 10:47AM) (new)

Dec 06, 2019 03:07PM

Card 4 Questions & Recommendations

1. Geography: Which two countries share the island of Hispaniola?
[Haiti & Dominican Republic (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Book is originally published in Spanish. - Say Her Name
Nay Task - Book is set on an island. This task excludes the main body of any island over 200,000 km2. You may use the island if it is a small island off the main body of the island. For example, you may use The Isle of Skye off of the UK main body (or another small island), but you can't use England. - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

2. Entertainment: Joss Whedon, the genius behind TV gems Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly and Angel, has his own universe, named what?
[Whedonverse - The body of work that includes his TV shows, films, and comic books is also known as Jossverse
(hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Read a book that was made into a tv show, tv series, or tv movie. - Little Fires Everywhere
Nay Task - The word "Vampire" or "Angel" is in the title.

3. History: Which item made for popes, cardinals, & bishops by Gammerelli tailors since 1798 is now available online for a mere $27 per pair?
[Socks - They come in cardinal red, bishop purple, and priest black. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Cover is Red, Purple or Black. 75% rule applies. -

Nay Task - The word, "Cardinal", "Pope" or "Priest" is in the title.

4: Art/Literature: Which trio of letters sponsored the first episode of Sesame Street on Nov 10, 1969? AFT, WSE, or UMG
[WSE - Plus the numbers 2 & 3 (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The author's last name starts with W, S, or E. - Shanghai Girls
Nay Task - There is a street showing on the cover or the word "Street" is in the title. -

5: Science: Which poisonous brown spider sports a violin-shaped mark on its head & neck, which explains its musical nickname, fiddleback spider?
[Brown Recluse Spider (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The word of one of the following types of spiders is in the title: Wolf, Cellar, Huntsman, Widow, Crab, or Grass.
Nay Task - Cover has a musical instrument.

6: Sport: The "rational dress" movement in the 19th century gained momentum when women became interested in which sport?
[Cycling - They argued that pedaling in floor-length skirts was cumbersome and dangerous (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Cover has a bicycle on it. -

Nay Task - Set in the 19th century (1801 - 1900) - Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

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message 35: by Sam F (last edited Dec 29, 2020 07:35AM) (new)

Dec 06, 2019 03:08PM

Card 5 Questions & Recommendations

1. Geography: Firenze is the Italian name for which Tuscan City?
[Florence (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The setting, significant character, or author name is Florence.
Nay Task - The book is set in Italy, or written by an Italian author. - Siracusa

2. Entertainment: What is the name of Eric's vampire bar in HBO's steamy supernatural series "True Blood"?
[Fangtasia (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - There are teeth or fangs on the cover. -

Nay Task - Genre is Paranormal Fantasy. - Shiver

3. History: Which university hosts the annual "Ig Nobel Prize Awards, which recognize questionable scientific achievements like the invention of Beano?
[Harvard - Winners receive their awards from real Nobel Prize winners (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Select from Harvard Book Store Top 100 Books list. Required: specific position of book on the list. - Hamlet, Les Mis, Leaves of Grass, Watership Down, Breakfast of Champions, The Sound & the Fury, The Windup Bird Chronicle, Raise the High Roof Beam, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, High Fidelity, Sea of Poppies,
Nay Task - Read a book written by a Nobel Prize in Literature winner. You may use this list or this resource as a tool. - Hermann Hesse, John Steinbeck. Gabriel García Márquez, José Saramago, Alice Munro, Kazuo Ishiguro, The Grapes of Wrath, The Sound & the Fury, As I Lay Dying, Narcissus and Goldmund , Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage: Stories, The Double, When We Were Orphans,

4: Art/Literature: Which kind of animal hair is used to make the finest artist paint brushes?
[Sable - Commonly known as weasel (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Title will contain one of the following words: otter, badger, weasel, marten, ferret, mink, or wolverine.
Nay Task - There is a painting on cover. It does not need to be an actual painting like the Mona Lisa just as long as it clearly a painting. -

5: Science: Which crazy illness meant that folks living in Great Britain between 1980 and 1996 couldn't donate blood in the U.S.?
[Mad Cow Disease - Eating U.K. beef put you at risk, but even vegetarians were banned. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The title contains one of the following British cattle breeds: Highland, Galloway, Longhorn, Red Poll, British White, Aberdeen Angus, South Devon. Any word in the list is allowed, regardless if the breed is two words. eg. You may chose "red" or "poll", "British" or "white", etc. You may not divide a compound word like "longhorn".
Nay Task - The book is set between 1980-1996. - I is for Innocent

6: Sport: What brand of shoe was made popular with the help of Mario Batali?
[Crocs (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The title is one word, exactly. No articles allowed. - Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
Nay Task - Theme of the book is food. Yum! - Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

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message 36: by Sam F (last edited Mar 07, 2020 12:31PM) (new)

Dec 06, 2019 03:08PM

Card 6 Questions & Recommendations

1. Geography: Crocodiles and alligators both live in the Florida Everglades. True or False?
[True - it's the only place in the world where these species overlap (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - There is an Alligator or Crocodile on the cover or in the title.
Nay Task - Book is set in Florida.

2. Entertainment: What title of a 007 movie that stars Pierce Brosnan is the English translation of the Bond family's Latin motto, "Orbis non Sufficient"
[The World is Not Enough (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The cover has an earth-like planet on it.
Nay Task - The book has the same title as one of Pierce Brosnan's movies. Pierce's Filmography

3. History: How many minutes long was Martin Luther King, Jr's stirring "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963 - 6, 11, 16?
[16 - He was the last speaker of the day and didn't take the podium until 5:00 PM (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Read the 16th book on your TBR shelf. - The Mind's Eye
Nay Task - The author's first or last name is Martin or Luther, or has the initials M.L. - The Mountain Between Us

4: Art/Literature: In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The White Witch lures Edmund with which sweet treat?
[Turkish Delight (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The title has the word Lion, Witch, Wardrobe, or White in it.
Nay Task - Read another book by C.S. Lewis, or another Irish author.

5: Science: What was the first Internet Search engine called?
[Archie - Launched in 1990 it predated Google search engine by eight years (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The author's initials are AG or GA.
Nay Task - The title contains a word in which "search" is the root word. Eg - Search, Searches, Searched, Searching, etc.

6: Sport: What Ben & Jerry's popular ice cream flavour of peanut butter, pretzels, and fudge was renamed in 2009 to support same-sex marriage?
[Chubby Hubby - It became Hubby Hubby for the month of September (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Genre is GLBT
Nay Task - Title contains the word Peanut, Butter, Pretzel, or Fudge.

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message 37: by Sam F (last edited Jul 28, 2020 03:22PM) (new)

Dec 06, 2019 03:08PM

Card 7 Questions & Recommendations

1. Geography: Which mineral-rich material is trucked into Boryeong, in South Korea, for an annual festival that attracts more than a million people?
[Mud - Visitors celebrate with activities like wrestling, sliding, and even swimming in, yes, mud (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Theme of the book is sports related. - Who Do You Love
Nay Task - Setting is North or South Korea

2. Entertainment: What are the first names of the three Crawley sisters in Downton Abbey?
[Mary, Edith, and Sybil (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Author is a Mary, Edith or Sybil - The Violets of Usambara
Nay Task - Genre is historical fiction about WWI.

3. History: Meriwether Lewis was accidentally shot in the butt on his historic expedition when one of the men mistook him for an elk. True or False?
[True - It was a minor, but painful, injury (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The title contains a word in which "hunt" is a root word. Eg - hunt, hunter, hunting, etc.
Nay Task - The cover has a hand gun or rifle on it. -

Library Wars Love & War, Vol. 1 (Library Wars Love & War, #1) by Kiiro Yumi

4: Art/Literature: Which Victorian man of letters wrote a quest poem that inspired Stephen King to write his series, "The Dark Tower"
[Robert Browning - The poem is "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The Cover has a tower on it, or the title contains the word "Tower". -

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Nay Task - The book is in a series of 8 primary works.

5: Science: In surface area, the country of Russia is larger than the dwarf planet of Pluto. True or False?
[True - Pluto's is 6.4 million sq miles, and Russia's is 6.8 million sq miles (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Book is set in Russia, or written by Russian author. - Russian Winter
Nay Task - Book is set in Space.

6: Sport: Which of these is the biggest size of bottle of wine: Magnum, Imperial, or Nebuchadnezzar?
[Nebuchadnezzar - it holds 16 litres. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Book is set in Prehistory up to Birth of Christ
Nay Task - Cover has a glass of wine, or bottle of wine on it. Spilled wine works too. -

reply | flag

message 38: by Sam F (last edited Dec 29, 2020 07:37AM) (new)

Dec 06, 2019 03:09PM

Card 8 Questions & Recommendations

1. Geography: Which U.S. State is closest to the continent of Africa?
[Maine (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Book is set in Maine.
Nay Task - Book is set in Africa or written by an African author. - The Great Adventure: Volunteer Stories of Life Overseas

2. Entertainment: Which infamous feathered ensemble worn by Bjork was displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in 2015?
[Swan dress - She wore it to the 2001 Oscars, and laid eggs along the red carpet. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Cover has a swan on it, or title contains the word "Swan".
Nay Task - Cover has a feather on it, or title contains the word "Feather". Note: Yes, a bird has feathers, but the task is looking for something that is more identifiable as a feather on its own. If the cover is a large wing with detailed feathers, I will accept that.

3. History: What was the last of the primary and secondary colours to be named.
[Blue - Ancient people didn't have a word for it. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The book is set in the ancient world. - The Book of Rumi: 105 Stories and Fables that Illumine, Delight, and Inform
Nay Task - The book is first or second in a series. - What She Knew

4: Art/Literature: The Statue of Liberty is taller than the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. True or False?
[True - The Colossus was 160 ft tall on his pedestal: Liberty is 305 Ft tall on hers. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The edition you read has 300-350 pages. - When You Find Out the World Is Against You: And Other Funny Memories About Awful Moments
Nay Task - The book is set Greece or New York City. - You Don't Own Me

5: Science: What is the name of the transparent layer that forms the front of the human eye?
[Cornea (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The cover has a large eye on it. -

Nay Task - The title contains the word "Eye" or "Eyes".

6: Sport: What two Scrabble game tiles are worth 10 points each?
[Q and Z (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The title of the book starts with Q or Z.
Nay Task - The book is originally published in 2010. -

reply | flag

message 39: by Sam F (last edited Dec 29, 2020 07:38AM) (new)

Dec 06, 2019 03:09PM

Card 9 Questions & Recommendations

1. Geography: Which country is the final resting place of Dian Fossey, the mountain gorilla researcher who inspired the film Gorillas in the Mist?
[Rwanda (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The book is set in Rwanda or California which is where Dian Fossey was born. - The Distance Between Us
Nay Task - The theme is animal research or preservation. -

2. Entertainment: According to The Simpsons series creator, Matt Groening, who are Homer, Marge, Lisa, & Maggie named after?
[His parents & sisters - He substitued "Ben" for his own name. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Theme is family saga. - Tell Me Lies
Nay Task - The author's name is Homer, Marge, Lisa, or Maggie.

3. History: Name the German aviator in a red Fokker tri-plane, shot down over the Somme River, on Apr 21, 1918 in WW1?
[Red Baron - Manfred von Richthofen downed 80 enemy aircraft at the age of 25. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The cover has an airplane on it.
Nay Task - The title has the word "River" in it.

4: Art/Literature: An old Yiddish proverb states that "a nickel will get you on the subway," but what food will get you a seat?
[Garlic (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The theme of the book is vampires.
Nay Task - The genre of the book is historical fiction about the genocide of European Jews during WWII. - The Gown

5: Science: Why don't astronauts eat bread in space?
[It Crumbles. Floating crumbs would be dangerous. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Bread is on the cover.
Nay Task - There is a significant character who is an astronaut or space explorer (think James T. Kirk wannabe).

6: Sport: Which physicist loved sailing, and did it for 50 years, but ran aground, lost direction, and had many near miss collisions?
[Albert Einstein (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The genre is non-fiction or humour. - My Life on the Road
Nay Task - There is a ship with sails on the cover.

reply | flag

message 40: by Sam F (last edited Dec 29, 2020 07:40AM) (new)

Dec 06, 2019 03:09PM

Card 10 Questions & Recommendations

1. Geography: The flag of which country is known as the Saltire or St Andrew's Cross?
[Scotland (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The book is set in Scotland, or written by a Scottish author. - The Geography of You and Me
Nay Task - The cover has a flag on it.

2. Entertainment: Ryan Gosling & Justin Timberlake appeared in which TV show together as kids?
[The All New Mickey Mouse Club. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The book was made into a Disney movie or tv show. Specify name of movie/tv show if different from the title of the book.
Nay Task - The genre is Children's Middle Grade. - Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

3. History: What religious leader was named Jorge Mario Bergoglio?
[Pope Francis (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The name Francis is in the title, or is the author's name.
Nay Task - The theme is religion. - Step on a Crack

4: Art/Literature: Richard Preston's 1994 book, "The Hot Zone", is about which modern-day pandemic?
[Ebola (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The genre is dystopia brought about by a virus/illness. Dystopia must show on the main book page.
Nay Task - The author's first or last name is either Richard or Preston.

5: Science: Which "living fossil" is harvested by the millions each year so its blood can be used to test new medicines?
[Horseshoe Crab (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The title contains the name of a type of crab: Fiddler, Ghost, Stone, King, Blue, or Snow.
Nay Task - The theme of the book is dinosaurs.

6: Sport: What NBA Hall of Famer is nicknamed "the Hick from French Lick"?
[Larry Bird (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The cover has a bird on it. -

Nay Task - The book was originally published in French.

reply | flag

message 41: by Sam F (last edited Dec 29, 2020 07:42AM) (new)

Dec 06, 2019 03:10PM

Card 11 Questions & Recommendations

1. Geography: Which nation, often called "the Switzerland of Central America", has no standing army and an ex-president who won the Nobel Peace Prize?
[Costa Rica (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The setting is Central America, or written by a Central American author.
Nay Task - The setting is Switzerland, or written by a Swiss author. The Bourne Identity

2. Entertainment: New Zealander Lucy Lawless rose to stardom for her role as sword-wielding royalty in what TV series?
[Zena - Warrior Princess (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Read a book from the first 5 pages of Badass Female Leads list. Specify the location number on the list. - Scarlet, The Nightingale, The Beekeeper's Apprentice, Y is for Yesterday, Body of Evidence, The Kitchen God's Wife, The 20th Wife, Circe, Surprise Me, The Library at Mount Char, Swing Time, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,
Nay Task - The book is set in New Zealand or written by a New Zealand author.

3. History: Mohammed Mosaddaq was the democratically appointed leader of the parliament of which nation?
[Iran - Cold war fears of communism led to his ouster in 1963. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The book is set in Iran or written by an Iranian author.
Nay task - Two of the words in the title start with the letter M.

4: Art/Literature: Which American author's first novel is set in Pamplona, Spain?
[Ernest Hemingway - The Sun Also Rises (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Read The Sun Also Rises or another book by Hemingway.
Nay Task - The book is set in Spain (with the exception of The Sun Also Rises), or is written by a Spanish author.

5: Science: Which engine component reuses exhaust to increase the power output, allowing the vehicle to accelerate faster?
[Turbocharger - it can also improve gas mileage. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The theme of the book is travel. -
Nay Task - There is a car or truck on the cover.

6: Sport: Which form of entertainment was deemed free speech after the 2011 Supreme Court case Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Assn?
[Video Games (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The genre is science fiction. - Reboot
Nay Task - The book is set in 2010 to present day. - Surprise Me

reply | flag

message 42: by Sam F (last edited Dec 29, 2020 07:43AM) (new)

Dec 06, 2019 03:10PM

Card 12 Questions & Recommendations

1. Geography: In which European city would you find the Luxembourg Gardens and the Latin Quarter?
[Paris (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The book is set in Paris.
Nay Task - The title has the word "Garden" or "Quarter" in it.

2. Entertainment: Which actress is recognized by her humanitarian work as special envoy of the U.N. Commissioner for Refugees?
[Angelina Jolie - Once a "wild child" of Hollywood, she's now a bonafide role model. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Make a 4-letter word or greater from "Angelina Jolie" and read a book with that word in the title. Use only the letters available and as many time as it appears. Ie - your word could have two a's since there are 2 of them.
Nay Task - Theme of the book is refugees.

3. History: Which politician dubbed Diana, Princess of Wales, "The People's Princess" in the days following her death in 1997?
[Tony Blair - a plaque marks the spot at the St. Mary Magedelene Church where he gave his tribute speech. (hide spoiler)]
Yay task - There is a cathedral on the cover or the word "Cathedral" is in the title.
Nay Task - The main character is a princess. - The Secret Lives of Princesses

4: Art/Literature: Who are Andy and Don in the eponymous book about the long time friendship of two actors, whose 1960's sitcom is an ode to small-town values?
[Andy Griffith and Don Knotts (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - There is a character named Andy or Don in the book.
Nay Task - The book is set in a small town. - The Arrangement

5: Science: What is generally the brightest star in the night sky?
[Sirius - it's known as the dog star. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The main or supporting character is a dog.
Nay Task - There are stars on the cover.

6: Sport: What does the acronym "TL:DR" stand for?
[Too Long; Didn't Read (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Read a chunkster over 500 pages long. - We Are Not Ourselves
Nay Task - The first and last name of the author start with T, L, D, or R. You may only use the letter once in the combo. The author's initials may not be TT, LL, DD, or RR.

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message 43: by Sam F (last edited Dec 29, 2020 07:45AM) (new)

Dec 06, 2019 03:10PM

Card 13 Questions & Recommendations

1. Geography: What chilly Island nation straddles two tectonic plates, subjecting it to occasional fiery volcanic action?
[Iceland - Should have been called Fireland. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The book is set in Iceland, or written by an Icelandic author.
Nay Task - The word "Volcano" is in the title or a volcano is featured in the book.

2. Entertainment: Which 1960 dance hit sits at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Songs of All Time?
["The Twist" - Long live Chubby Checker (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The title contains a word in which "Twist" is the root word. Eg. - Twist, Twisted, Twisting, Twister.
Nay Task - Dance is the theme of the book.

3. History: Who was the first U.S. vice-president to receive the Nobel Peace Prize after he raised awareness of climate change?
[Al Gore - He received the award in 2007. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The book was a prize winner in 2007. It may be any prize.
Nay Task - The cover has a stormy sky.

4: Art/Literature: What literary mash-up features Jane Austen's Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy fighting against a growing tide of reanimated dead?
[Pride & Prejudice & Zombies (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The theme of the book is zombies.
Nay Task - The genre is classic literature and must have been written by a woman.

5: Science: At sea level, at which temperature in Fahrenheit, does water boil?
[212 degrees F (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The book is on your tbr as any combination of digits found in 212. It may be 1, 2, 12, 22, 122, 212, 222. - Fall of Giants, A Girl of the Limberlost, Plan B, Good to a Fault, Consolation, Family Furnishings, The Luminaries
Nay Task - The cover depicts stormy seas.

6: Sport: Which women's fashion piece, popularized by British royals, is a cross between a hair accessory and a mini hat?
[Fascinator - Banned from the Royal Ascot Enclosure, where hats are required. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The cover has a woman wearing a hat. -

Nay Task - The genre is Historical Fiction set in Britain. - Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

reply | flag

message 44: by Sam F (last edited Aug 11, 2020 06:57AM) (new)

Dec 06, 2019 03:11PM

Card 14 Questions & Recommendations

1. Geography: What country's flag features a cedar tree?
[Lebanon - For the Lebanese, the cedar symbolized freedom & hope. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The title has the word "Freedom" or "Hope" in it.
Nay Task - The cover has a large tree on it. -

2. Entertainment: Which bizarre, low budget horror flick stars an Esperanto-speaking cast, led by a pre-Kirk William Shatner?
[Incubus - it was filmed in the obscure language to give it an air of otherworldliness. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - There is an incubus or succubus character in the book.
Nay Task - The genre is horror.

3. History: From which root vegetable were Jack-o-lanterns originally made?
[Turnips - People also carved beets and potatoes in order to ward off those who might bear them ill will. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The cover has vegetables on it.
Nay Task - The cover has a pumpkin on it, because I bet you answered like me - Pumpkin.

4: Art/Literature: Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies about Thomas Crowell and the downfall of Anne Boleyn is the sequel to which book?
[Wolf Hall - Also a BBC miniseries starring Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - There is a wolf on the cover or the word "Wolf" is in the title.
Nay Task - Read the sequel (book 2) in any series. - Run for Your Life

5: Science: Nearly how many billions of years ago did the universe expand, according to the theme song on TV's The Big Bang Theory - 10, 14, or 18?
[14 - Sung by the band Barenaked Ladies (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The cover has more than one woman on it. -

Nay Task - The title contains the word "Big", "Bang", or "Theory" in it.

6: Sport: Which two former figure skaters teamed up as NBC commentators for the Olympic Games and the Kentucky Derby?
[Johnny Weir & Tara Lipinski (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - There is a character with the name John, Johnny, or Tara.
Nay Task - There is a horse on the cover.

reply | flag

message 45: by Sam F (last edited Dec 29, 2020 07:46AM) (new)

Dec 06, 2019 03:12PM

Card 15 Questions & Recommendations

1. Geography: How many time zones does China use - 1, 3, 5, or 7?
[1 - Geographically there are more like 5 zones, but they use only one set in Beijing. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Read the first book in a 5-book series.
Nay Task - The book is set in China or written by a Chinese author.

2. Entertainment: What is the first anime film to win an Academy Award?
[Spirited Away - Still the highest grossing film in Japan, as of 2016. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The book is set in Japan or written by a Japanese author.
Nay Task - The genre is listed as anime or manga OR read a book from Books for Anime Manga Lovers list. Specify position on list.

3. History: Which religious figure, always seen in red and yellow, is the spiritual leader of Tibet?
[Dalai Lama (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The book is set in Tibet or written by a Tibetan author.
Nay task - The cover is 75% yellow or 75% blue. -

4: Art/Literature: Which Pulitzer Prize winning biologist wrote a novel in part from the lowly standpoint of an ant?
[Edward O. Wilson - in his aptly named nover, Anthill. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Read the book Antill, OR read a book with an author named Edward or Wilson.
Nay Task - The book is written from an animal's point of view. - The Barefoot Book of Animal Tales from Around the World

5: Science: What is the name of the hard case that protects a butterfly which it matures into an adult?
[Chrysalis (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Read a book with "Chrysalis" or "Cocoon" in the title.
Nay Task - The cover has a butterfly on it. -

Float Like a Butterfly by Ntozake Shange

6: Sport: What is the name of the vehicle used to resurface the rink in an ice hockey game?
[Zamboni - Inventor Frank Zamboni built his first ice skating rink in 1939 and the machine a decade later. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The book is set between 1939 and 1949.
Nay Task - There is ice on the cover or the word "Ice" is in the title.

reply | flag

message 46: by Sam F (last edited Dec 29, 2020 07:48AM) (new)

Dec 06, 2019 03:12PM

Card 16 Questions & Recommendations

1. Geography: What is located at zero degrees north latitude?
[North Pole - and Santa, of course. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Book is set during Christmas.
Nay Task - There is a direction - North, East, West, or South in the title.

2. Entertainment: What TV show's 522 episodes were aired on FXX on August 21, 2014, and played for 12 straight days for your binge-watching pleasure?
[The Simpsons - That's right, all 25 seasons. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - There is a season in the title - Summer, Winter, Spring, Fall. - Summer Sisters
Nay Task - The book is in any series with 12 or more primary works. - J is for Judgment

3. History: What method of fastening shoes was patented by Whitcomb Judson in the 1880's - laces, buckles, or zippers?
[Zippers (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Any word in the title starts with Z, including a one letter word.
Nay Task - There are shoes on the cover.

4: Art/Literature: What is the name of the time travelling protagonist in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series?
[Claire Beauchamp Randall Fraser - Just Claire, if you can't remember all the rest. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The book's author or character is named Claire, Beauchamp, Randall, or Fraser.
Nay Task - The book's genre is time travel.

5: Science: Which type of engine uses the same basic technology as a pressure cooker?
[Steam Engine (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The cover of the book has a steam powered train, with smoke on it.
Nay Task - The genre is non-fiction excluding memoir, biography, or autobiography. - The Poets' Corner: The One-and-Only Poetry Book for the Whole Family

6: Sport: Which city, chosen to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, became the first to be selected to host both the Summer and Winter Games?
[Beijing - The Chinese capital hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 2008. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The book was originally published in 2008. - Sister Wife
Nay Task - The book is set in summer or winter. - The Starlight Claim

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message 47: by Sam F (last edited Dec 29, 2020 07:49AM) (new)

Dec 06, 2019 03:12PM

Card 17 Questions & Recommendations

1. Geography: What large, cold country has more than half of all the natural lakes in the world?
[Canada (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Set in Canada or written by a Canadian author. The Skin We're In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power
Nay Task - The word "Lake "is in the title.

2. Entertainment: Which TV variety show star tangoed away on Dancing With the Stars to become the oldest winning champ in 2009, at age 52?
[Donny Osmond (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The title has the word "Rock", "Roll", or "Country" in it.
Nay Task - The title has the word "Tango" or "Dance" in it.

3. History: Who served as British Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990?
[Margaret Thatcher - Nicknamed the Iron Lady (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The title has the word "Iron" in it. Sub-titles are included in this task.
Nay Task - The book is set in England or written by an English author. One Plus One

4: Art/Literature: In Egyptian hieroglyphs, the symbol of a decorated eye most commonly represents the Eye of which god?
[Horus - Considered a symbol of protection and good health. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Set in Ancient Eqypt.
Nay Task - The cover has a pyramid on it or the word "Pyramid" is in the title.

5: Science: Which bird's extinct relative, whose bones were found in Antarctica, stood as tall as LeBron James and weighed about as much, too?
[Penguin - Dubbed the "colossal penguin", it stood 6'8 inches tall and weighed 250 pounds. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The book was published by Penguin Books. You may find this resource useful. -
Nay Task - Some of the animals on the list of the top 10 most endangered animals are leopard, tiger, gorilla, sea turtle, and rhino. The book has one of those animals in the title. Note "Sea" & "Turtle" may be separated.

6: Sport: Which social crossword gaming app lets players compete against friends, total strangers, or a computer?
[Words With Friends (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The book is about childhood friends. Matched
Nay Task - The title contains the word "Across" or "Down".

reply | flag

message 48: by Sam F (last edited Dec 29, 2020 07:54AM) (new)

Dec 06, 2019 03:13PM

Card 18 Questions & Recommendations

1. Geography: Which country is the home of the cookie-like krumkake?
[Norway - They're made like a thin waffle, then rolled into a cone. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The book is set in Norway or written by a Norwegian author.
Nay Task - There is a cookie on the cover or the word "Cookie" is in the title.

2. Entertainment: Which Academy Award nominated actor made a 1999 cameo on Sex and the City as one of Carrie's dates?
[Bradley Cooper - He played Porsche-driving Jake in the episode "They Shoot Single People, Don't They?" (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The book has the same title as any of Bradley's movies. Bradley Cooper Filmography
Nay Task - The cover has a face in profile. The face must be turned so that the character would be looking to the left or right. The character cannot be looking even partially forward. Think of a cameo pendant. -

The Proudest Blue A Story of Hijab and Family by Ibtihaj Muhammad

3. History: Which international humanitarian organization has won the Nobel Peace Prize three times, in 1917, 1944, & 1963?
[Red Cross (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Clara Barton was the founder of US Red Cross. The main character is a nurse.
Nay Task - The book is a prize winner of one of the following awards: Pulitzer, Audie, National Book, Booker, Hugo, Nebula, Edgar, Rita, Scotia Giller, or Bram Stoker Award.

4: Art/Literature: Which bald, mute drumming sensation got their start creating impromptu performance art on the streets of NYC in the late 80's?
[Blue Man Group (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Cover is 75% blue.
Nay Task - The cover has a drum, or the word "Drum" is in the title. You may use words in which drum is the root word (drummer, drumming, etc.)

5: Science: What’s the name of the region between Mars and Jupiter where large, irregularly shaped objects orbit the sun?
[Asteroid Belt (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - There is an asteroid (not a planet) on the cover.
Nay Task - There is a sun on the cover or the word "Sun" is in the title.

6: Sport: In which style of horseback riding should the rider post during a trot - English or Western?
[English (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The book was translated from another language to English.
Nay Task - The genre is western. - Doc

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message 49: by Sam F (last edited Aug 13, 2020 12:30PM) (new)

Dec 06, 2019 03:13PM

Card 19 Questions & Recommendations.

1. Geography: Which drink, popular in Polynesian culture, numbs the mouth and is said to have soothing qualities?
[Kava (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The title starts with the letter K.
Nay Task - There are lips on the cover.

2. Entertainment: The film Ghost World, which features Scarlett Johansson and Thora Birch as two outsider teens, is based on a graphic novel by whom?
[Daniel Clowes (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The author's initials are DC or CD.
Nay Task - The book is a ghost story.

3. History: Which English Monarch was on the throne at the time of the American Civil War?
[Queen Victoria (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The genre is Steampunk set in Victorian England.
Nay Task- The story is about the American Civil War.

4: Art/Literature: In 1971, astronaut Dave Scott left a small metal sculpture on the Moon that depicts what - a Coke bottle, an astronaut, or a globe?
[Astronaut - Titled Fallen Astronaut, it honours men who died in the race to the moon. (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The book is set on the moon. It may be any moon, not just Earth's moon.
Nay Task - There is a globe or map on the cover.

5: Science: Edison's Electric Pen became the inspiration for which modern-day tool?
[Electric Tattoo gun (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - There is a tattoo on the cover.
Nay Task - The word "Electric" (exact) is in the title, or there is lightning on the cover.

6: Sport:Linen fabric is made from the fibres of which plant?
[Flax (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The cover depicts a person with flaxen coloured hair (yellowish). -

Nay Task - The cover has plants other than trees or bushes on it.

reply | flag

message 50: by Sam F (last edited Jan 09, 2020 06:17PM) (new)

Dec 06, 2019 03:13PM

Card 20 Questions & Recommendations

1. Geography: What mythical horned creature is the national animal of Scotland?
[Unicorn (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - Cover has a unicorn, or any horned animal.
Nay Task - The book is set in Scotland or written by a Scottish author.

2. Entertainment: What band smashed the Billboard record for most weeks at the top of the charts with their 80's inspired anthem, "Shut Up And Dance"?
[Walk The Moon (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The cover has a moon on it.
Nay Task - The book is set in the 1980's.

3. History: Which forward thinking Russian ruler taxed any citizen with a beard, because being clean-shaven was all the rage in Europe in 1698?
[Peter the Great (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The author's name is Peter, or the word Peter or Great is in the title.
Nay Task - The book is about the Russian ruler or his family.

4: Art/Literature: The 293 poems in the book Leaves of Grass were penned by which American poet?
[Walt Witman - Published and rewritten six times in his lifetime, it was finalized in 1881 (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The book is set between 1880 and 1889.
Nay Task - The word "Leaves" or "Grass" is in the title. The sub-title may be used in this task.

5: Science: What was the mythical sea beastie described in 17th-century Scandaniavian accounts that may have been inspired by the elusive giant squid?
[Kraken (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - A main character is a pirate.
Nay Task - The genre is Scandinavian mystery. - Death of a Nightingale

6: Sport: Which of the following is not a yoga pose - kite, torch, plow or chair?
[Torch (hide spoiler)]
Yay Task - The cover has a torch, flashlight, or lantern on it.
Nay Task - The title contains the word "Kite", "Torch", "Plow", or "Chair".

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Books mentioned in this topic

The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity (other topics)
The Proudest Blue (other topics)
Matched (other topics)
The Skin We're In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power (other topics)
One Plus One (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic

William Paul Young (other topics)
Alice Munro (other topics)
Ibtihaj Muhammad (other topics)
Sue Grafton (other topics)
Victor Hugo (other topics)
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