Historical Fictionistas discussion

Another year, another TBR challenge, and summer is on the way (at least in the Northern hemisphere) . Since this challenge requires some pre-planning and since I'm swamped and I'm sure many of you are as well I'm posting the rules early, as well as the sign up.

Pre-planning is required for this challenge!!
This will be a 3 month challenge, but you will only be able to join at the 1st of each month.

Sign-ups Participants MUST sign up and provide a list of books prior to starting the challenge. The number of books is determined by the start date:
Starting on June 1: 50 books
Starting on July 1: 25 books
Starting on Aug 1: 15 books

There will be TWO opportunities to re-arrange your unread book list on July 1 and Aug 1. Aside from this date, the order of the book cannot be changed. Choose wisely! ;) You will also be allowed to add up to 5 new books at each "re-arrange" time.

IMPORTANT: If the thread is locked, you should NOT edit your list.

NOTE: This is a personal challenge and meant to be a fun way to motivate you to read books that you've been thinking about for a while. However, you decide the parameters of how you want to make your list, like only reading books that you own or reading books on your "wish list". The only real requirement is to read from a pre-determined list.

RULES:
1) Books must be at least 200 pages long. Eligibility for this is determined by the most popular edition on Goodreads. If the most popular edition is 197 pages, it will not count, even if the edition read is 215 pages.

2) The first book used for the challenge should be started on or after June 1st. Exception: Each person will be allowed 1 exception for a book that is longer than 500 pages, as long as they are not more than 1/2 way through the book on June 1. You must be using the "progress update" feature of GoodReads to claim this.

3) Audiobooks are accepted. Page numbers are determined by most popular edition on GoodReads.

4) Re-reads are NOT permitted for this challenge. (sorry, one objective is to read down your TBR).

5) There is no genre requirement for this challenge, but there is a Bonus tasks for reading HF.

6) You may always use these books for other challenges in the group as well.

SCORING / HOW IT WORKS:
1) At time of sign-up, each participant will select the books from their 'To-Read' list on Goodreads. Any variation of a To-Read shelf will count, including Wishlist. Example, I have a shelf called Nonfiction which are nonfiction books I haven't read yet but want to.

Books will be ordered from 50-1 (if you are not doing the 3 months, adjust when starting later), and their placement will determine their point value. Examples: A book in the #1 place will receive 1 point when done, a book in the #25 spot will receive 25 points, etc.

Tip: Order books that you are most likely to read in the higher value spots to earn higher scores. :)


NOTE: If you are a slow reader, and don't want to list 50 books, you can have a shorter list. However, if you start with 20 books, you can only play with 20 books for the whole challenge (Also, you will want to still start your list at spot 50 if you are playing for points)

2) Bonus Tasks for 50 points each: After you have read at least 5 books on your list, once a month, you can read a book from one of the mods TBR lists. Each month you need to pick a different mod, so if you chose to read one each month, you will have read one from each of the mods.

Choose a book from one of the moderators TBR lists ( Becky, JoLene, Gretchen, or Jasmine) that you have not read, and read it.


Becky's TBR

JoLene’s TBR

Gretchen’s TBR

Jasmine’s TBR

**Note: Most of the moderators have multiple TBR lists. However, I have only included one for each mod on this list, but you can read a book from any of their TBR lists so long as it is labeled some form of "want to read" or "to be read".

**Bonus book choices do not need to be chosen ahead of time and these can be changed at any time. ONLY the list of books from your own To-Read list need to be selected by the deadlines. **

***You may not give yourself a shelf score for a bonus book even if it is on your own TBR shelf.***

3) Summer theme bonuses: You can claim 5 point bonus for each of the following. You can only claim each bonus once during the challenge. Only one summer bonus can be claimed per book.
a. Read a book set in summer.
b. Read a book where the main character takes a trip.
c. Read a book with a summer scene on the cover.
d. Read a book set in a different country than where you live.
e. Read a book where one of the author's initials is in the word SUMMER.

4) There are several opportunities to earn Bonus Points. Bonus points will be awarded PER BOOK READ when task points are awarded. Partial task points and/or bonus points (page count, HF point, etc) will NOT be awarded if the task is unfinished. Bonus points can only be claimed when reporting the book score (so make sure to check your postings).

4a) Book Length Bonus:
Bonus points will be awarded based on the length of each book read, as follows:
200 to 300 pages = 2 bonus points
301 to 500 pages = 4 bonus points
501 to 750 pages = 6 bonus points
751 to 1,000 pages = 8 bonus points
1,000+ = 10 bonus points

4b) Historical Fiction Bonus = 5 point
WE WILL NOT AWARD HF POINTS IF IT IS NOT REPORTED.

The definition of historical fiction that our group uses is a work published at least 50 years after at least half of the events in the work. Historical fantasy, alternate history and magical realism books are not considered historical fiction for the challenge.
If the book has a dual story-line than 50% of the action needs to take place in the historical setting.

4c) You can claim 2 points for each year that the book has been on your TBR. You should use the "Date Added" field on your bookshelf and you may need to add the field to your bookshelf view. The bonus is as follows, if the "Date Added" is before:
June 1, 2021: 2 points
June 1, 2020: 4 points
June 1, 2019: 6 points
June 1, 2018: 8 points
June 1, 2017: 10 points
June 1, 2016 and beyond: 15 points

_________________________________________
Here's an example of how it will look when reported:

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
#15 spot - 15 points
664 pages - 6 points
HF - 5 point
Date added: Jan 1, 2015: 15 pts
Total - 41 points

__________________________________________


Hope that you are able to climb your TBR pile!!


Ask questions below.

I’ve struck a snag. I use a phone and I don’t seem to be able to get back into my list to edit or add to it. Sigh. It will drive you mad if mine are in segments!!

Margaret wrote: "I’ve struck a snag. I use a phone and I don’t seem to be able to get back into my list to edit or add to it. Sigh. It will drive you mad if mine are in segments!!"

You should still have the option to access a desktop version of Goodreads via your device's browser option (or you can download Google Chrome on almost any smartphone to use for a browser) and this will allow you to make edits.

Margaret wrote: "I’ve struck a snag. I use a phone and I don’t seem to be able to get back into my list to edit or add to it. Sigh. It will drive you mad if mine are in segments!!"

I understand. Try what Gretchen said. If that doesn't work reach out to me again and we will try another solution.

Jasmine; Thanks for setting up this year's Summer TBR Challenge!

Looking forward to this!! I've been in a serious reading slump - hopefully this will give me a jump start!

This is my first time participating so I'm a little confused. It says that there will be two opportunities to re-arrange my list and add up to 5 new books, then later says that if I start with a list of 20, that that's all I'll be able to play with for the entire challenge.

Loverly Reads wrote: "This is my first time participating so I'm a little confused. It says that there will be two opportunities to re-arrange my list and add up to 5 new books, then later says that if I start with a li..."

You need to choose a number of books depending on when you start the challenge.
- If you start the challenge at the beginning (June 1), you can choose up to 50 books
- If you start a month late, you can only select up to 25 books
- if you start 2 months late, you can only select up to 15 books

You can start June 1st and commit to read fewer than 50 books, but you can't INCREASE your list later. You can only swap books out up to 5 books each on July 1 and/or August 1.

So if you choose 20 books on June 1, you'd play with 20 books for the entire challenge. On July 1st, you can choose 5 different books to replace 5 books, and again on August 1st. But you can't increase to 25 or 30.

Thanks

If we join where to put our list of books?

Kaitlyn wrote: "If we join where to put our list of books?"

There is a separate thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Kaitlyn wrote: "If we join where to put our list of books?"

Becky provided the thread for the books and today I will put up the thread for scoring.

Edited to add: no hurry on reply as I'm a slow reader!

Mods and Members; The Summer Queen has been on my TBR list since 2014. Before June 1st I put it in this years Challenge Book List. Today it shows I read which I havent. This has been a problem for me in the past. Have any of you had this problem with your shelved books? In the big picture of life a minor problem :) except that now it will be considered a re-read. If I delete it from my book shelves will I be allowed to still read it and not take bonus points for year added? Sorry for the long post but this series is "calling" to me to be read :)

Peggyzbooksnmusic wrote: "Edited to add: no hurry on reply as I'm a slow reader!

Mods and Members; The Summer Queen has been on my TBR list since 2014. Before June 1st I put it in this years Challenge Book ..."

If you haven’t read it, it’s not a reread. Goodreads shelves can be finicky sometimes, and we’ll trust you on your scoring. It’s a challenge for you to read books you’ve been meaning to get to - we’re not validating to any serious degree to disqualify anything.

Go on and read it. If you can delete the read dates, do that, but if not, just don’t worry about it.

I'm hoping to read The Summer Queen this month, or at least start it! Yes, I've had quite a few books that I've added To Read show up as Read. Just change the shelf to "Want To Read."

Becky wrote: "Peggyzbooksnmusic wrote: "Edited to add: no hurry on reply as I'm a slow reader!

Mods and Members; The Summer Queen has been on my TBR list since 2014. Before June 1st I put it in ..."

Becky; Thanks for the speedy reply!

Laurel wrote: "I'm hoping to read The Summer Queen this month, or at least start it! Yes, I've had quite a few books that I've added To Read show up as Read. Just change the shelf to "Want To Read.""

Laurel; Thanks! Hope you enjoy The Summer Queen. My goal is to read all 3 books in the series for this challenge :)

Echoing what Becky said. The goodreads shelves can be temperamental, especially on the app.

I have a question about the bonus books. We can read only one bonus book a month after we have read 5 books. Do those five books have to be read in that month. I read 5 books for June and then read the bonus book. I have since read additional books. Would these count toward July's 5 books? Do I need to read 5 books beginning July 1 in order to read a bonus book?

No, you don't need to read 5 books in a month to be able to do the bonus tasks. The rule is just once you've read 5 list books for the challenge, you are allowed to do bonus tasks, 1 per month. We just don't want people starting with bonus tasks.

Thank you

When can we expect the book list thread to be unlocked?

OH yeah! Today's the day. I'll unlock it now. :)

In past years we've been allowed to swap out up to five books and rearrange our lists to our hearts' content. Does the rearranging rule still hold? (I may already be thinking about August, shhhh)

Ashley Marie wrote: "In past years we've been allowed to swap out up to five books and rearrange our lists to our hearts' content. Does the rearranging rule still hold? (I may already be thinking about August, shhhh)"

You can swap out 5 books on the first of the month, so in 2 weeks, you'll be able to make the changes. :)

Yes, but what of moving books up/down the list? Is that limited to five as well?

Ashley Marie wrote: "Yes, but what of moving books up/down the list? Is that limited to five as well?"

Oh, I see what you mean. No you can move them around if you want, but can only swap out for 5 different ones. But it would still only be possible on the 1st of the month. :)

Got it, thank you!

Becky and Jasmine,

I have a question about a book that I am considering for the challenge as to whether it qualifies as historical fiction. The book is Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson.

It centers on a murder trial taking place in 1954 but it appears that a big portion of the book reflects on Pre-World II events culminating in the attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent internment of Japanese Americans. It was published in 1994. Thank you so much.

Sorry Lorna, That book doesn’t meet our 50 year rule. You can use it for the challenge obviously but you wouldn’t be able to claim the historical fiction point.

Thank you, Becky. That’s why I asked.

I'm opening up book lists for changes. It will be open until the 3rd.

Book lists are closed. Last month of the challenge. Good luck everyone!