The Challenge Factory discussion

'LOST IN SPACE Reading Challenge'


Challenge Begins: January 1, 2020
Challenge Ends: when you finish your journey

✪ After signing up, you will receive your own thread.
✪ In that thread, there will be a list of the planets in our Solar System and our Sun.
✪ Each planet and the Sun will have a set of tasks.
✪ In your thread you will request the tasks for a specific planet or the Sun. The planets and the Sun can be requested in any order.
✪You will chose one task to read for that planet or the Sun and then report on the reporting thread when you have completed the assignment.
✪ In your report you will request the next planet or the Sun.
✪ You continue until you have read a task for each of the planets and the Sun.

Please follow this format for your Completion Posts.
Completion Report:
Planet or the Sun:
Task:
Book:
Author:
Date Read:
How My Book Fit the Task:
Next Planet or the Sun:

Rules:
Books must be 140 pages.
Re-reads and audio books are okay.
Page count for audio books will be determined by the hardcover issue. If there is no hardcover, then paperback issue. Where there is more than one edition, the one with the highest number of ratings will be used.

List of Planets and the Sun

Pluto
Neptune
Uranus
Saturn
Jupiter
Mars
Earth
Mercury
Venus
the Sun

I'd like to start with the Sun, please. :)

the Sun:
1. Read a science fiction book.
2. The Sun is gradually becoming hotter. Read a book with a person on the cover that you consider hot.
3. The Sun is a G-type main-sequence star. Read a book whose title begins with a 'G' (ignoring 'a', 'an' and 'the').
4. The Sun does not have a definite boundary. Read a book where the main character travels to a different country.
5. The Sun has been regarded by some cultures as a deity. Read a book with 'Mythology' on its main page.

Completion Report:
Planet or the Sun: Sun
Task: #4 The Sun does not have a definite boundary. Read a book where the main character travels to a different country.
Book: Der falsche Inder
Author: Abbas Khider
Date Read: 02 January 2020
How My Book Fit the Task: MC is a refugee travelling from Iraq to Germany
Next Planet or the Sun: Mars

Mars:
1. Read a science fiction book.
2. Mars is called the "Red Planet". Read a book with a red cover.
3. The fashionable idea that Mars was populated by intelligent Martians exploded in the late 19th century. Read a historical book.
4. Mars is scarred by a number of impact craters: a total of 43,000 craters have been found. Read a book with a scarred main character.
5. Mars is the 4th planet from the Sun. Read the 4th book in a series.

Completion Report:
Planet or the Sun: Mars
Task: #1 Read a science fiction book.
Book: The Eyre Affair
Author: Jasper Fforde
Date Read: 06 January 2020
How My Book Fit the Task: MPG Science Fiction
Next Planet or the Sun: Saturn

Denise, did you like The Eyre Affair? It's been on my TBR list for a long time now.

Saturn:
1. Read a science fiction book.
2. Saturn is known as the "Ringed Planet". Read a book where the main character is married.
3. The Cassini–Huygens space probe entered orbit around Saturn on 1 July 2004. Read a book that was published in July.
4. The continued exploration of Saturn is still considered to be a viable option for NASA as part of their ongoing New Frontiers program of missions. Read a book by an author that is new to you.
5. Saturn is the 6th planet from the Sun. Read the 6th book in a series.

Lanelle wrote: "Denise, did you like The Eyre Affair? It's been on my TBR list for a long time now."

It was entertaining enough, but I didn't fall in love with it and ended up giving it three stars. The humour just didn't really work for me. Might try the second one at some point, though.

Denise wrote: "It was entertaining enough, but I didn't fall in love with it and ended up giving it three stars. The humour just didn't really work for me. Might try the second one at some point, though."

I think that British humour is very 'hit or miss' for people who are not British. Maybe that's why I haven't tried reading it yet.

Completion Report:
Planet or the Sun: Saturn
Task: #4 The continued exploration of Saturn is still considered to be a viable option for NASA as part of their ongoing New Frontiers program of missions. Read a book by an author that is new to you.
Book: The Kiss Quotient
Author: Helen Hoang
Date Read: 10 January 2020
How My Book Fit the Task: Helen Hoang is a new to me author
Next Planet or the Sun: Mercury

Mercury:
1. Read a science fiction book.
2. Mercury is the smallest and innermost planet in the Solar System. Read a book that has 150 - 199 pages.
3. The planet has no known natural satellites. Read a standalone book.
4. The first spacecraft to visit Mercury was NASA's Mariner 10 (1974–1975). Read a book first published in 2010.
5. Earth is the 2nd planet from the Sun. Read the 2nd book in a series.

Completion Report:
Planet or the Sun: Mercury
Task: #3 The planet has no known natural satellites. Read a standalone book.
Book: The Feral Detective
Author: Jonathan Lethem
Date Read: 11 January 2020
How My Book Fit the Task: Standalone novel
Next Planet or the Sun: Jupiter

Btw, that fifth task description for Mercury doesn't add up (aside from it saying Earth rather than Mercury) unless they've discovered a new planet between Mercury and the Sun that I'm not aware of. ;)

Denise wrote: "Btw, that fifth task description for Mercury doesn't add up (aside from it saying Earth rather than Mercury) unless they've discovered a new planet between Mercury and the Sun that I'm not aware of..."

I blame all my mistakes on the dreaded monster, "Copy and Paste"! Thanks for pointing it out. I've fixed it and the similar mistake for Venus.

Jupiter:
1. Read a science fiction book.
2. Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System. Read a book with 400+ pages.
3. The best known feature of Jupiter is the Great Red Spot, a persistent storm. It rotates counterclockwise, with a period of about six days. Read a book from start to finish within 6 days.
4. In 1955, bursts of radio signals were detected coming from Jupiter. Listen to an audio book.
5. Jupiter is the 5th planet from the Sun. Read the 5th book in a series.

Lanelle wrote: "Denise wrote: "Btw, that fifth task description for Mercury doesn't add up (aside from it saying Earth rather than Mercury) unless they've discovered a new planet between Mercury and the Sun that I..."

Yep, C&P is evil like that. :D

Completion Report:
Planet or the Sun: Jupiter
Task: #2 Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System. Read a book with 400+ pages.
Book: Four Dead Queens
Author: Astrid Scholte
Date Read: 14 January 2020
How My Book Fit the Task: 413 pages
Next Planet or the Sun: Pluto

Pluto:
1. Read a science fiction book.
2. Pluto is also a Disney character. Read a book that was made into a movie.
3. Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930. Read a book with a author's name starts with 'C' or 'T'.
4. The New Horizons spacecraft performed a flyby of Pluto on July 14, 2015. Read a book first published in 2015.
5. Pluto was the 9th planet from the Sun. Read the 9th book in a series.

Completion Report:
Planet or the Sun: Pluto
Task: #3 Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930. Read a book with a author's name starts with 'C' or 'T'.
Book: The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914
Author: Christopher Clark
Date Read: 25 January 2020
How My Book Fit the Task: Author's first and last name start with C
Next Planet or the Sun: Uranus

Uranus:
1. Read a science fiction book.
2. Uranus is called the "ice giant". Read a book set during the wintertime.
3. In 1986, images from Voyager 2 showed Uranus as an almost featureless planet. Read a book without a person on the cover.
4. The Uranian system has a unique configuration because its axis of rotation is tilted sideways. Its north and south poles, therefore, lie where most other planets have their equators. Read a book set in a different hemisphere than you.
5. Uranus is the 7th planet from the Sun. Read the 7th book in a series.

Completion Report:
Planet or the Sun: Uranus
Task: #3 In 1986, images from Voyager 2 showed Uranus as an almost featureless planet. Read a book without a person on the cover.
Book: They Will Drown in Their Mothers' Tears
Author: Johannes Anyuru
Date Read: 02 February 2020
How My Book Fit the Task: No person on the cover

Next Planet or the Sun: Venus

Venus:
1. Read a science fiction book.
2. Venus is shrouded by an opaque layer of highly reflective clouds. Read a book with clouds on the cover.
3. Venus was the first planet visited by a spacecraft. Plans have been proposed for rovers or more complex missions, but they are hindered by Venus's hostile surface conditions. Read a book set during a battle or war.
4. Venus is similar to Earth in size and mass, and is often described as Earth's "sister" or "twin". Read a book about sisters or twins.
5. Venus is the 2nd planet from the Sun. Read the 2nd book in a series.

Completion Report:
Planet or the Sun: Venus
Task: #5 Venus is the 2nd planet from the Sun. Read the 2nd book in a series.
Book: Prisoner of Shadows
Author: Sam Burns & W.M. Fawkes
Date Read: 16 February 2020
How My Book Fit the Task: Lords of the Underworld #2
Next Planet or the Sun: Neptune

Neptune:
1. Read a science fiction book.
2. Neptune is also the Roman god of the sea. Read a book with water on the cover.
3. There was a heated nationalistic rivalry between the French and the British over who deserved credit for the discovery. Read a book set in France or Great Britain.
4. Shortly after its discovery, Neptune was referred to simply as "the planet exterior to Uranus". Read a book that has been published under a different name.
5. Neptune is the 8th planet from the Sun. Read the 8th book in a series.

Completion Report:
Planet or the Sun: Neptune
Task: #1 Read a science fiction book.
Book: Skyward
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Date Read: 07 March 2020
How My Book Fit the Task: MPG Science Fiction
Next Planet or the Sun: Time to come home - Earth!

Earth:
1. Read a science fiction book set on Earth.
2. Earth is the only astronomical object known to harbor life. Read a book where a baby is born.
3. The Moon is an astronomical body that orbits Earth as its only natural satellite. Read a spin-off book.
4. As of April 2018, there are 1,886 operational, human-made satellites orbiting Earth. Read a book that has more than 1,886 ratings.
5. Earth the is 3rd planet from the Sun. Read the 3rd book in a series.

Completion Report:
Planet or the Sun: Earth
Task: #1 Read a science fiction book set on Earth.
Book: Flowertown
Author: S.G. Redling
Date Read: 25 March 2020
How My Book Fit the Task: MPG Science Fiction & set in Iowa, USA
Next Planet or the Sun: Finished!

Denise wrote: "Finished!"

Yay!