The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

25.10 - RedSycamore's Task: It's My Party!
Task created on behalf of JP

My birthday falls right before Halloween, and while some people don't like having a birthday that coincides with a major holiday, I've always loved it. I had a childhood full of birthday parties with fun, spooky themes and droves of very excited friends and classmates. My love of all things macabre has stuck with me, including the Addams family. One of my favorite books of the original comics, Dear Dead Days, was published in 1959.

Since I'm referencing the amazing Charles Addams, books with MPG comics/manga/etc are okay for this task, but no books with MPG kids/middle grade/etc.

This is a two book task. Choose 2 books to read from the options below, the same option may be repeated.
Required: State the options.

Option 1: In honor of Dear Dead Days, read a book with a title that contains at least two words of four or more letters. All of the 4+ letter words must begin with the same first letter. Subtitles are excluded from the requirement.

Some Examples:
Gone Girl
Love's Labour's Lost
Darkly Dreaming Dexter
The Black Book

Option 2: It's my party! Read a book by the author of a book I've rated 5 stars (the full list of allowed authors is posted in the task help thread). Books with multiple authors, including anthologies, are fine as long as one of the authors listed in the authors section on the book's Goodreads page is an author of a book I've rated 5 stars. Any other contributors listed in the authors section (narrators, editors, translators, etc) don't count.

Option 3: One of my favorite things about my Halloween birthday was that everyone was always so happy and excited because of the impending holiday. It almost felt like a celebration for everyone, so for this option it can be your party, too.

Read a book that was first published in your birth year or in mine, 1984.
Required: State your birth year (or that you used mine).

Option 4: Keep in the Halloween spirit by reading a book with MPG Paranormal, Horror, Suspense, or Thriller (exact genres only, i.e. the MPG 'Gothic Horror' wouldn't count towards this option).

Option 5: Read one book that of 500 pages or more that meets the requirements of two different options.

Required: State which two options' criteria your single book meets.

A list of my 5-star rated authors for Option 2 with small notes where authors have written in genres that are rare or unique on the list:

(I hadn't even thought about the situation where I rated a new to me author 5*s, but I'll gladly accept books from them, too. Any new additions will be here at the top of the list.)

Claire Keegan (short story, historical fic)
C. S. Lewis (religion, theology)

Douglas Adams
Michelle Alexander (nonfiction, sociology)
Isaac Asimov
Jane Austen
John Bibee (kids, might not meet SRC rules)
Jorges Luis Borges (short stories)
Lincoln Child
Mark Z. Danielewski (weird fiction)
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Anthony Doerr
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Arthur Conan Doyle
Warren Ellis (comics)
Erasmus (nonfiction, philosophy)
Neil Gaiman
Sam Garland (poetry)
Charlotte Perkins Gilman (short stories)
Alex Haley
Dashiell Hammett (noir)
Bob Hicok (poetry)
Werner Wilhelm Jaeger (nonfiction, religion)
Robert Jordan
James Joyce
Ann Leckie
Ursula K. Le Guin
Adam Levin
H P Lovecraft (short stories)
China Miéville (weird fiction)
David Mitchell
George Orwell
Terry Pratchett
Douglas Preston
Marcel Proust
Thomas Pynchon
Matt Ruff
Oliver Sacks (nonfiction, science)
George Saunders (short stories)
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly
Neal Stephenson
Bram Stoker
Tom Stoppard (drama)
Jonathan Swift (nonfiction, poetry)
Natasha Tretheway (poetry)
Jeff VanderMeer
Brian K. Vaughan (comics)
Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
E. B. White (nonfiction, essays)
Oscar Wilde (nonfiction, drama, short stories, poetry, essays)

Some further examples for Option 1 that didn't make it into the task post.
Unfortunately The Two Towers doesn't work because only one word is 4+ letters long. However, The Meaning of Mary Magdalene: Discovering the Woman at the Heart of Christianity would be fine since subtitles are excluded from the requirements.

Approved:
Option 1: Sugar and Salt, When We Had Wings
Option 2: Battlefields Beyond Tomorrow: Science Fiction War Stories
Option 3:
Option 4: Moon Dance, Thirst, Weyward, The Last Devil to Die
Option 5: Nona the Ninth (but watch the page count, some editions are too short!)

Morning.

Could you confirm Nona the Ninth for Option 5 for me?

Length: 512pg
Option 1: Two words of four letters starting with the same letter - Nona, Ninth
Option 4: MPGs include Horror.

Thanks!

Could the following be approved for their MPG please. Moon Dance - J.R. Rain - Option 4 - MPG Paranormal & Thirst - Claire Farrell - Option 4 - MPG Paranormal

Trish wrote: "Morning.

Could you confirm Nona the Ninth for Option 5 for me?

Length: 512pg
Option 1: Two words of four letters starting with the same letter - Nona, Ninth
Option 4: MPGs include..."

Nona the Ninth works for option 5, and Moon Dance and Thirst are both fine for option 4.

for option 2 - to make sure i understand - if i read an anthology that has a short story by Asimov in it - that works (as long as he's on the GR record) because he's on your list right?

looking to fit in Battlefields Beyond Tomorrow: Science Fiction War Stories - his story story is listed in the description and he shows in the book record when you pull it up, but it looks like GR truncates the number of authors that show in the author space at the top of the screen

RedSycamore wrote: "Nona the Ninth works for option 5"

Thank ye kindly!

Would Sugar and Salt work for Option 1

Dee wrote: "for option 2 - to make sure i understand - if i read an anthology that has a short story by Asimov in it - that works (as long as he's on the GR record) because he's on your list right?

looking to..."

Yup, he's listed there in the authors section with no caveats (editor/illustrator/etc), so that works.

Ana wrote: "Would Sugar and Salt work for Option 1"

It does!

RedSycamore wrote: "Dee wrote: "for option 2 - to make sure i understand - if i read an anthology that has a short story by Asimov in it - that works (as long as he's on the GR record) because he's on your list right?..."

thanks - i need to read it for a class i teach in the spring - so that it fit here works well

RedSycamore wrote: "Trish wrote: "Morning.

Could you confirm Nona the Ninth for Option 5 for me?

Length: 512pg
Option 1: Two words of four letters starting with the same letter - Nona, Ninth
Option 4..."

Thanks sweetie x

Could you note MPG Paranormal for Weyward for option 4? It's the last one on the list :) Thanks!

Jen B wrote: "Could you note MPG Paranormal for Weyward for option 4? It's the last one on the list :) Thanks!"

Confirmed!

for option 1 - When We Had Wings works correctl? 2 words with four or more letters that both start with the same letter (W)

Dee wrote: "for option 1 - When We Had Wings works correctl? 2 words with four or more letters that both start with the same letter (W)"

Yes, that works for sure!

Just checking I can do the same option for both books

Yes, as long as you're reading two books for the task, you can do the same option twice. It's only if you want to read one book for the task that you need to pick different options.

RedSycamore wrote: "Yes, as long as you're reading two books for the task, you can do the same option twice. It's only if you want to read one book for the task that you need to pick different options."

thanks

Bookwrm526

Can you confirm the genre Thriller for The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman? It has mystery thriller as well, but standalone thriller is a little further over!

Thanks

Confirmed! Sorry for the delay getting back to you.

RedSycamore wrote: "Confirmed! Sorry for the delay getting back to you."

Thanks :)

Could you confirm if this is acceptable for Option 1? Not sure if the words after the colon are considered part of the title or part of the subtitle. Thanks!

Hollywood Horrors: Murders, Scandals, and Cover-Ups from Tinseltown

Tammy AZ wrote: "Could you confirm if this is acceptable for Option 1? Not sure if the words after the colon are considered part of the title or part of the subtitle. Thanks!

[book:Hollywood Horrors: Murders, Scan..."

Yes, everything after the colon counts as the subtitle, so that works for Option 1!