You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

Leftover stew.🥘 -> A blast From the Past! 🚀 and a walk down Memory Lane!🚶‍♀️Many of us have books purchased for challenges that we haven't read yet. Let's get to some of those books!

For this toppler, we will be revisiting our past annual challenges. Thank you to Janice for the brilliance behind each of these challenges. There has been chatter in the group about needing a leftover stew challenge to use up some of the books we planned to read for challenges in years past. I have taken a tiny sample from each of the yearly challenges to create this toppler. Hopefully, some of the books we have sitting on our shelves will fit the chosen tasks.

Please note that each yearly challenge is linked below. Feel free to check out the original challenges for more information. Janice adds a lot of details and clarification to her instructions.

This will be a competitive team toppler with scorekeeping and will run from noon Saturday, June 3rd, to noon Saturday, June 10th, ET. We all start and end at the same time. Countdown to the start time can be found here: https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...

Rules:
1. Books must be started and finished in this time period to qualify.
2. You may read any format - paperback, hardcover, ebook, or audiobook.
3. Each book must be at least 175 pages based on the version you are reading, unless a task specifically states a different page requirement. For audiobooks & ebooks use the page numbers for the first physical edition that comes up on the GR page. If there is no physical edition to confirm page length, audiobooks over 6 hours will qualify as will ebooks over 200 pages.
4. Graphic novels, cookbooks, and books of illustrations do not qualify.
5. You do not need to complete all of the tasks for a year to receive points. You may read for any task you choose and receive the 10 points, but you will only get the bonus points if you complete all 6 tasks for a year. Work together with your team members to maximize your points.
6. Each book read can only be used to satisfy one task each time it is read. The same book can read by different team members and used to fill a task each time.
7. Once again, please do not post gifs in the team threads. Some people have limited data and gifs use it all up when they are checking threads.
8. Please keep the chatter friendly.

Book Guidelines:
- Items on cover should be large enough to be easily noticeable.
- Cover color breakdowns can be found here: http://labs.tineye.com/color/. Be sure to uncheck the "Exclude background color" box.
- For titles, you may ignore the words "A," "An," or "The" unless otherwise noted.
- For author names, you can use the author's first, last, or middle name if the author uses it on the cover. For books of short stories, the editor's name should be used. If there are two authors listed, you may use either author's name.
- If a task calls for something to be in the story, it should be more than just a quick mention.
- If a task asks for a specific event to occur, it needs to happen during the story, not prior to or assumed to happen later.
- Words in the title may be singular or plural, but not imbedded unless otherwise noted in the specific task.
- If your team isn't sure whether something is noticeable enough on the cover, you might want to pick a different book.
- If there is something I missed or you have other questions about a task, please feel free to ask.

Scoring:

* Each book read is worth 10 points, except for the chunksters. Each chunkster is worth 20 points. (Details in task.)

* If you complete all six tasks for an annual challenge, you receive 10 bonus points.

* If you complete all of the annual challenges, you receive an additional 20 bonus points.

* You may repeat tasks and/or years as often as your team decides to. Each time you complete all the tasks for a year, you will earn the bonus points. If you can complete all of the tasks for all of the years you will earn the additional bonus points, but it is not required.

Since each yearly challenge has 6 tasks listed (or 3 chunksters), each year is worth a total of 70 points each time it is completed. (60 points for books and 10 point bonus)

Toppler books can count toward the group theme read and/or the monthly challenge and/or yearly challenge, if they qualify.

**As always, if your completed toppler book fits this year's annual challenge, please report as you finish your reads so that Janice isn't overwhelmed with reporting at the end of the toppler. Thank you!**

If you are sharing your reads on social media, you can let us know what you are reading by adding #tbrtoppler.

Teams:

1:
Kristie
Marnie
Jane Reads
Fiona
Emma R
Jenn
Anna's Reading Life

2:
Janice
Nix
Almeta
Laura apenandzen
jaxnsmom
Vicki
Margo

3:
Roz
Katrisa
Jayme
Amanda(Lily)
Casceil
Odette

4:
LoriLovesBooks
Aya
Anna M
Rusalka
SharonBiskit
Lynn

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Starting with 2014, we Connected the Chunksters.

For this challenge:
Read three books that you can connect in some way, ie author, word in title, series, genre, etc. (Examples are given in the original challenge page linked above.) Each book must be over 500 pages. You may read two books that add up to over 500 pages and count them as one 500 page book. The two books must also have a connection of some sort. *Be sure to state the connections clearly.

*Each book over 500 pages is worth 20 points. No points are awarded if only one book less than 500 pages is read. If choosing the two book option, you must read both books to claim the 20 points.


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In 2015, we did some Serial Killing.

Read 6 series books. They can be from different series, but where they are in the series must align with the number below:
1 - First in series.
2 - Second in series.
3 - Third in series.
4 - Fourth in series.
5 - Fifth in series.
6 - Sixth or higher in series.


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In 2016, we went Geocaching Through the World Heritage Sites. This week we will be visiting the Lord Howe Island Group in Australia and Iguaçu National Park in Brazil!

Australia:
Lord Howe Island Group
1. Read a book set in Australia
2. Read a book set on an island
3. Take Home Item – Bird: Read a book with the word “Bird” in the title, or a bird on the cover.

Brazil:
Iguaçu National Park
4. Read a book set in Brazil
5. Read a book with that has a waterfall on the cover or in the story
6. Take Home Item – Rainbow: Read a book with a rainbow on the cover.

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In 2017, we learned about ourselves in The Survey Says. This is a very subjective challenge, so the book options will be different for each person. Please choose your books honestly based on the following prompts.

1. What is your name? (First, Last, Middle, Nickname) – Read a book that contains one of your names in some way – author, title, character.

2. What is your favorite sport? – Read a book that is either about your favorite sport or one of the characters plays that sport. You could also chose a book where the cover shows that sport.

3. What is your country of birth? – Read a book set in that country, or written by an author that was also born in that country.

4. What is your favorite genre? – Read a book in that genre.

5. Would you rather encounter a ghost, an alien, or neither? – If ghost, read a ghost story. If alien, read a story with aliens in it. If neither, read a book about another supernatural being other than a ghost or alien (werewolf, vampire, witch, succubus, etc).

6. What is your favorite book? – Read it again. Or, read a book that has the same title. Or read a book by the same author. If you can’t find the same title, or the author only has the one book, go to the book page and click on “Readers Also Enjoyed”. Select a book from the list.


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In 2018, we visited the stars with the Zany Zodiac Challenge.

1. Symbols: Aquarius – Water-bearer
Read a book that has an urn, jug, or other vessel used for holding water on the cover. (Glasses, cups, mugs are accepted).

2. Elements: Sagittarius – Fire
Read a book with “Fire” in the title. Exact word.

3. North American Zodiac: Taurus – Beaver
The beaver is Canada’s national symbol. Read a book where the majority of it is set in Canada, or written by a Canadian author.

4. Stone: Virgo – Amethyst
The deep purple colour of amethyst is the colour of royalty. Read a book where the main character is a king, queen, prince, or princess.

5. Superheroes: Leo – Kraven the Hunter
One of Kraven’s powers is longevity. Read a book where the main character is over 60 years old.

6. Actors by Sign: Cancer – Merle Streep: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meryl_S...
Select a movie the actor performed in from the link above and complete a task based on the options below.

For the Actors Task only:

Option 1: Read the book the movie was adapted from, or read another book with the same title. The movie doesn’t need to be an adaptation, but there needs to be a book by the same title. The titles need to match with no extraneous words in the book title. Subtitles are to be ignored. *Note - see clarification below.

Option 2: If the book is adapted, you may read another book written by the same author. This applies only to the adaptation.

Note: Selections are restricted to film (no tv or stage titles). If an actor is listed as producer or director for the film, the title will only be accepted if he/she also acted in the movie.

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In 2019, we took our books to the movies with the Movie Mania Challenge.

🎬 Book 7: The Darkest Minds

Tasks:
1. Read the book: The Darkest Minds
2. Read a book with "Toy" in title. For this task, the word may be imbedded in another, ie "Toymaker".
3. Read a Fairy Tale retelling. "Retelling" must be listed on the main book page.
4. Read a WWII story.
5. Read a book with a super hero from this list.
6. Read a book where the main character is a nurse.

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In 2020, we played Twisted Trivia. We’re going to pretend that we are all geniuses and use all the yay (we got the answer correct) tasks. We’ll use Card 9. Correct answers to the following questions can be found by following the card 9 link.

1. Geography: Which country is the final resting place of Dian Fossey, the mountain gorilla researcher who inspired the film Gorillas in the Mist?
Yay Task - The book is set in Rwanda or California which is where Dian Fossey was born.

2. Entertainment: According to The Simpsons series creator, Matt Groening, who are Homer, Marge, Lisa, & Maggie named after?
Yay Task - Theme is family saga.

3. History: Name the German aviator in a red Fokker tri-plane, shot down over the Somme River, on Apr 21, 1918 in WW1?
Yay Task - The cover has an airplane on 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?
Yay Task - The theme of the book is vampires.

5: Science: Why don't astronauts eat bread in space?
Yay Task - Bread is on the cover.

6: Sport: Which physicist loved sailing, and did it for 50 years, but ran aground, lost direction, and had many near miss collisions?
Yay Task - The genre is non-fiction or humor.


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In 2021, we toured the World’s Museums. This week we will go to Museum of Black Civilizations in Dakar, Senegal and The National Palace Museum in Taipei.

Museum 1: Museum of Black Civilizations in Dakar, Senegal

1. Location - Dakar, Senegal
Task: Read a book set in Africa or written by an African author.

2. About - The museum was recognized by Time as one of the "World's 100 Greatest Places of 2019" .
Task: Read a book originally published in 2019.

3. Collection - Armor of Dogon Hunter
Dogon art is primarily sculpture that revolves around religious values, ideals, and freedoms. Dogon sculptures are not made to be seen publicly, and are commonly hidden from the public eye. The importance of secrecy is due to the symbolic meaning behind the pieces and the process by which they are made.
Task: Read a book with the word "secret" is in the title. Plurals accepted.

Museum 11. The National Palace Museum in Taipei

4. Location - Teipei, District of Taiwan
Taipei is known for its many night markets, the most famous of which is the Shilin Night Market in the Shilin District. The surrounding streets by Shilin Night Market are extremely crowded during the evening, usually opening late afternoon and operating well past midnight.
Task: Read a book with the word "night" or "market" is in the title. Plurals are allowed.

5. About - it originally began as the former Palace Museum in the Forbidden City, whose collection included artwork from the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Task: Read a book set in a fictional or fantasy city.

6. Collection - Jade Pi-Hsieh, Auspicious Beast Han Dynasty circa 25-220
Task: Read a book with dragons in it.


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Finally, in 2022, we went on a Road Trip. We will be heading to New York, NY, USA to see the Giant Dog and Taxi Cab and to West Ballina, Australia to see The Big Prawn.

Site 17, Giant Dog and Taxi Cab, New York, New York, USA

1. Location: New York, New York
Read a book set in New York City.

2. About: Unveiled in July 2018, Spot the Dog is a 38-foot-tall statue of a Dalmatian puppy balancing a real New York City yellow cab precariously on its nose. The dog has a playful grin and golden toenails (Spot is a she). The taxi cab is wired so that its headlights illuminate Spot when it gets dark. When it rains, the cab's wipers turn on.
Read a book with headlights prominently on the cover.

3. Souvenir: Dog Bone
Read a book with Bone(s)in the title.

Site 25, The Big Prawn, West Ballina, Australia

4. Location: West Ballina, Australia
Read a book with a direction (north, east, south, west) in the title.

5. About: Bunnings Warehouse purchased the site in 2011 and refurbished the Prawn as part of the redevelopment.
Read a book originally published in 2011.

6. Souvenir: A barbeque - any time I think of shrimp and Australia, I think of Paul Hogan in Crocodile Dungee's "shrimp on the barbie" (Sorry to our Aussie members)
Read a book with a main character or author name of Paul.

Clarifications:

* For chunksters, all of the books need to have a connection. If you are using two books to create one chunkster, those two books must be connected in some way (cover, genre, author, etc). Those books also need to be connected to the other chunksters (chunkster 1 to chunkster 2 to chunkster 3) in some way. It does not need to be the same connection, but they all need to be connected in some way.

* For the rainbow task it must be a rainbow, not just a multicolor cover. If someone paints a rainbow or something like that on the cover, it will work, but it has to be clearly meant to be a rainbow as you would see in the sky.

r

Wow Kristie, that is awesome! I'm excited!

So many possibilities!! Gophering will be fun!

I'm so glad I kept all my spreadsheets showing the unread books for each challenge.

I did too, Janice, but some may be too long for a toppler.

Such fun! Great idea!

Nice challenge Kristie! This is going to take some organizing! I love how you adapted the serial killer challenge, at the end we will have made a Frankenseries that will look pretty funny

Great idea! Will need do some research.

Kristie, are books read able to be used for tasks in the current annual challenge?

Janice wrote: "I'm so glad I kept all my spreadsheets showing the unread books for each challenge."

Hahaha... I think you were one of the people saying that you had bought books for prior challenges and not gotten to them. That conversation gave me the idea.

Wow, seeing them all up there is pretty damn impressive. Thanks Janice for all the weird and whacky things we have done over the years!
And thanks Kristie for combining them and choosing some interesting combos for this Toppler! With shelves full of leftover challenge reads, cannot wait :D

Odette wrote: "Kristie, are books read able to be used for tasks in the current annual challenge?"

Yes, if you are working on a puzzle and can find a book that fits for that and a toppler task, you are welcome to use it for both.

Vicki wrote: "Nice challenge Kristie! This is going to take some organizing! I love how you adapted the serial killer challenge, at the end we will have made a Frankenseries that will look pretty funny"

Haha, yes! It will be a Frankenseries. 😆

Rusalka wrote: "Wow, seeing them all up there is pretty damn impressive. Thanks Janice for all the weird and whacky things we have done over the years!
And thanks Kristie for combining them and choosing some inter..."

Right? I only took a tiny piece of each challenge. It really is pretty impressive when you look at all the challenges together. I was having fun sort of reminiscing going through them all. So grateful to Janice for all the work she puts into these every year.

Kristie wrote: "Janice wrote: "I'm so glad I kept all my spreadsheets showing the unread books for each challenge."

Hahaha... I think you were one of the people saying that you had bought books for prior challeng..."

Yes, I still have the book with the airplane on the cover that I bought for the Twisted Trivia challenge. It's doubtful I'll get to it for the toppler. I've got a full slate of books for June. If I can sneak it in, I will.

First task to need some clarification:

* For chunksters, all of the books need to have a connection. If you are using two books to create one chunkster, those two books must be connected in some way (cover, genre, author, etc). Those books also need to be connected to the other chunksters (chunkster 1 to chunkster 2 to chunkster 3) in some way. It does not need to be the same connection, but they all need to be connected in some way.

I will add this to a clarification post above so it doesn't get lost. Just remember to make the connections and be clear what they are.

For anyone looking for team 1, our name has been updated to One Pot Readers.

Team 1:
Kristie
Marnie
Jane Reads
Fiona
Emma R
Jenn

And if you are looking for team 3, we are now "Time Trav3l3rs"

Roz
Katrisa
Jayme
Amanda(Lily)
Casceil
Odette

@Kristie

Are we allowed to repeat a yearly category multiple times

OR is that category closed once the six (6) books have been read?

You can read for it repeatedly. If you reread all six tasks you will get the 10 bonus points again, but you don't have to. You can just reread for the one task as many times as you like and not claim the bonus.

Another clarification:

For the rainbow task it must be an actual rainbow, not just a multicolor cover. If someone paints a rainbow or something like that on the cover, it will work, but it has to be clearly meant to be a rainbow as you would see in the sky. So brightly colored covers, even if striped, do not count.

Thanks Kristie for clarifying!

No problem, Anna! I added it here because I figured other people would have the same question.

Hi Kristie - No longer sure either of these would work for urn / cup on cover, can you wave your judge's wand?



or



ETA: Kristie - I found another book where the mug is more prominent - I'm guessing this one will work?

Laura - The Pull of the Moon works. A Song of Comfortable Chairs less so, but it is visible so I'd accept it. I don't even see one on In the Company of Witches, so I'd have to say no to that one.

It's a broken urn in the background on Witches - thx for the ruling Kristie!

Will this work for a waterfall on the cover? It is small but it is there.

Oh...it is small. But, there really isn't much else on the cover so I'll accept it.

Kristie wrote: "Oh...it is small. But, there really isn't much else on the cover so I'll accept it."

Yay!!

Is it ok to have two birds ?

Yes, that's fine, Anna.

Kristie wrote: "Yes, that's fine, Anna."

: D

For the record - seven years later and I still HATE that rainbow task.

Rusalka wrote: "For the record - seven years later and I still
HATE
that rainbow task."

Me too!! Me too!

Rusalka wrote: "For the record - seven years later and I still
HATE
that rainbow task."

lol! Of course, that would be the one I chose. lol It is hard for everyone, it seems.

Hi Kristie, I was planning to read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe which shows as #1 in the series but I am following a box set I own which numbers it as #2 based on the Chronological Order. So can I use it for #2 in the series?

Yes, that'll work. I read those in chronological order too, with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe being second.

Kristie wrote: "Yes, that'll work. I read those in chronological order too, with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe being second."

Thanks!

I have my books from when I was a kid with a massive "2" stamped on the cover.

There was no other way of reading them, so was ready to die on a hill for you on this one lol

Rusalka wrote: "I have my books from when I was a kid with a massive "2" stamped on the cover.

There was no other way of reading them, so was ready to die on a hill for you on this one lol"

Haha thanks. My #2 is discreetly on the spine but it would have felt icky to count it as a #1 when I had already read The Magician's Nephew.

Kristie, when a series has a prequel and GR shows it as 0, I’m assuming we can count that as 1st? And change the following books to stay in line w that numbering?

Here’s a link: https://www.goodreads.com/series/5133...

Laura wrote: "Kristie, when a series has a prequel and GR shows it as 0, I’m assuming we can count that as 1st? And change the following books to stay in line w that numbering?

Here’s a link: https://www.goodre..."

Oh... I'm going to have to say no to this one. I think it gets a little too confusing when we start trying to adjust all the numbers accordingly. Not sure why they number something zero.

Rusalka wrote: "I have my books from when I was a kid with a massive "2" stamped on the cover.

There was no other way of reading them, so was ready to die on a hill for you on this one lol"

Haha.. I'm totally onboard with it being the correct way to read them. lol

Isn't it tomorrow at noon yet?? I've been trying so hard not to start a toppler book. I went out for lunch and went to the grocery store so I have snacks, cleaned house (which only took a few minutes in the tiny apartment I'm in now), maybe I'll wash the car. I'll never get a red car again! The birds love to poop all over it. Today I thought it was little petals from the tree on the roof, but no, it was poop - it was very small so I'm thinking babies.