The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

50.1 Angela IL's Task: Sort by...

Read three books, each from different options. The three books must total at least 750 pages.
No books with children, kids or related genres on the main book page may be used.

Go to the My Books tab, select Want To Read on the left hand side. At the bottom of the page is an option to sort your TBR in multiple ways. Choose three different ways to sort your personal TBR and pick three options listed below.

Most people will hold one TBR list called "Want-To-Read" and you should use that for this task.
If you have created an additional TBR list such as "Bookshelf-TBR" or "Books I own - TBR" that is a subset of your TBR which contains books you own/have access to then you may use that for this challenge. You should not use a TBR list that is further specialised (eg "TBR-Terry Pratchett books" or "TBR-NewReleases")

This is a Goodreads challenge, so we encourage everyone to use the site. However if you do not hold a TBR list at all on Goodreads, then you may read a book from a TBR list held elsewhere, but should note this on your post.

All books must have been added to your TBR before October 20th 2023 to count for this challenge.

If the book has not been published yet, does not meet SRC requirements, or you are unable to acquire a copy (i.e. library does not carry a copy) you can choose the next book. If a book in a series comes up that you have not yet reached, read the book in the series that is next for you.

Option 1: Read the book that has been on your TBR the longest or the shortest. Sort by Date Added. (The Newest must have been added before Oct 20, 2023)

Required: State date added to your TBR list

Option 2: Read the book that has the lowest rating on your TBR or the highest. Sort by Avg Rating.

Required: State the rating at time of reading

Option 3: Read the book that has the shortest page count (must follow SRC rules of length/ genre, etc.) or that has the longest page count. Sort by Num pages.

Option 4: Read a book chosen randomly by the GR generator. Sort by Random and read the first book listed.

Option 5: Read a book that starts with an A or starts with a Z. Sort by Title. Ignore A, The, or An. Keep in mind it will also sort books you have already read so scroll until you get an unread book (or do a reread if you desire) and you may also get a number title, which you can chose instead.

For example: If I sort by title on my own TBR, I could read 12 of Never by James Patterson or Abandon Me by Melissa Febos.

Option 6: Read a book with the highest number of rating or the lowest number of ratings. Sort by Num Ratings.

Required: State amount of ratings at time of reading

These work...

These don't...

For the date added (oldest)--
I began my TBR list on paper YEARS ago, then migrated to a document. I eventually added all the books still there to GR, but that was about six years after I started adding some to GR.

So, my question. MUST I use the oldest TBR from GR, or can I actually use my oldest title going back pre-GR? (My oldest one is actually George R.R. Martin's next in the Game of Thrones series, so it would actually be the next one still unread before this SRC...).

1. I’m excited about this task, but when I started to do the sorts I came up with several questions. I will put these in separate messages, sorted by the Option used.

In the general information before the Options are listed it says “If the book has not been published yet, does not meet SRC requirements, or you are unable to acquire a copy (i.e. library does not carry a copy) you can choose the next book.”

For Option 1 when I sorted by Date Added, the book that has been on my TBR the shortest is Yellowface (added on 10/14/23). I requested this from the library on 10/14. They have 23 copies and I and am currently #82 of 82 hold requests. So in this case the library does carry a copy but it seems unlikely that I would get it before the end of this challenge. Should I go on to the next book? Or would this not qualify for “unable to acquire a copy”?

The book that has been on my TBR shelf the longest is There Your Heart Will Be Also which I added when entering a Giveaway in 2012. Amazon says "Out of Print - Limited Availability". My library doesn't have it so I assume this would be considered "unable to acquire a copy" but I'm wondering if the task wording should include something about out of print/unable to buy as well as referencing libraries.

Option 3:
When I sort by page count with the shortest first the first 23 books say “unknown” in the Number of Pages column. The first one (Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter) was shelved as the audiobook edition. If I look at the paperback, it does have a page count and is more pages than the first one that has a page count on the shelf. Should I use the first one listed? Or skip the ones that say "unknown" and use the first one with number of pages listed that meets SRC requirements? (Or should I try to find page counts on the "unknown" ones for a librarian to add and then sort again)?

Aside from the ones that say "unknown", if I read a different edition than I originally shelved, does it matter what the page count is in the one I actually read?

When I sort by page count with the longest first, the top one is an anthology (2014 Campbellian Anthology), the next one is a collection/boxed set (Secrets & Spells: 6 Fantasy Novels), the third one is a poetry anthology (African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song) and the fourth one is an anthology of short stories (The Big Book of Female Detectives). The fifth one is a novel (The Way of Kings) with 1007 pages. If I shelved an anthology that is still available for sale, is that the required book?

3. Option 5:
When I sort by title, Goodreads is being weird. The top one is The Fourteenth of September (with the number spelled out) followed by several with actual numbers (the next is 1637: The Peacock Throne (31)) and then books starting with A. Is The Fourteenth of September considered as a number or should I act as though that book was listed as starting with F?

Sorting by title in the opposite direction, I don’t have any books starting with Z. Could I use the top book starting with Y?

Also, I don’t understand why you say this sort brings up books already read. The only time I get books already read is if I had listed separate editions on my TBR shelf and read one but didn’t remove the other. It doesn’t seem that how we sort the shelf would be different.

Option 6:
I have three books with only one rating. Does it matter which one I choose? (i.e. does it need to be the one that comes up on top or could it be any of the three?)

@ Kathy KS
Please use your TBR from GoodReads. For consistency, I would like this task to be GoodReads specific.

@Julia
You have quite a few questions that I also had when I was compiling my final list today and I will try answer them as clearly as possible.

For option 1, if you are unable to obtain a copy from your library because the wait list is too long, use the next book that you added.

For option 3, if you get an unknown, it is usually because the book has not published yet or as you stated may need to be added. In order to avoid having do extra work, you the first book that actually has page numbers already in the system that is over 100 pages per SRC requirements. For the longest book, based on what you wrote, I would read the first book that is a novel, in your example The Way of Kings, but feel free to read the anthology.

For option 5, I am not sure why the Fourteen is spelled out, so I would skip this and count the first actual number title, in your case 1637 The Peacock Throne as your first choice. If you choose not to read that you can go to the letter A. If you do not have the letter Z, a Y title would be your starting point instead of Z.

Option 6: Since you have three books all with the same rating, go with the one on top.

I hope I answered all of your questions. I did not mean for this to be a confusing task, but I understand that sometimes the sorting does not seem to be accurate. I had some page numbers and ratings not in chronological order and had to basically figure out what the actual one was the lowest.

Kathy KS wrote: "For the date added (oldest)--
I began my TBR list on paper YEARS ago, then migrated to a document. I eventually added all the books still there to GR, but that was about six years after I started a..."

Can't say I agree, especially since I had everything planned out; but, OK. Thanks for the clarification.

I'm probably overlooking something really obvious, but I can't figure out how to sort randomly (my TBR was already sorted as I use the "sort by" function fairly often). Can anyone help?

if you go to the menu at the bottom of the page for sorting - there is a random option

ok I think I have mine:

Monk's Hood - oldest book added (I had a bunch added on Jan 1, 2010) - this is just the first on the list
About a Girl - A title
In Farleigh Field - Random (I had to do this one twice, because my library didn't have the first book that came up)

Can I clarify about the "book that has been on your TBR the longest. Are you referring solely to the "Want to Read" sort option, as I have customized other TBR lists

Sorry, another question-I assume we cannot add a book to become the newest book added to your TBR, but is there a cutoff date for when it has to be before ie start of challenge, or date that this task was posted.

Heather(Gibby) wrote: "Can I clarify about the "book that has been on your TBR the longest. Are you referring solely to the "Want to Read" sort option, as I have customized other TBR lists"

Good questions - When we had a similar task in the past, we were able to use whatever name we called it. My real TBR is called "Owned" because I already have the books, as opposed to "Want to Read" which includes books I might want someday, books not published yet, etc. So I also want to clarify if we can use a list with a personalized title. (Some members of this group might not even have a GR list but track books another way, where they can still sort in the ways requested.)

In general, I created this challenge with the goal in mind of using GoodReads sort by function after selecting Want-to-Read from the left hand side of the "My Books" page. I know it is possible that people out there that do not use GoodReads as their source to keep track of books, especially as other options become available, i.e. Storygraph, but since this is a challenge group on Goodreads, please use GoodReads in order to complete this challenge, as other sites might not allow you to sort by avg. rating or another way indicated above.
If someone is unable to complete this task because they do not use GoodReads to track their TBR, please let me know and I will discuss with the mods what to do in that scenario.

@Heather- It looks like the Want is missing from the first sentence, so it should read as "select Want-to-Read from the left hand side. Please use your Want-to-Read to choose your books for this task.
I did not think about when your book should be added for "on the TBR the shortest" so I think it is a good idea to have had the book on your shelf by October 20th or earlier (the date this task was posted) unless the mods have a different answer.

Dee wrote: "if you go to the menu at the bottom of the page for sorting - there is a random option"

I didn't know that!

Angela wrote: "In general, I created this challenge with the goal in mind of using GoodReads sort by function after selecting Want-to-Read from the left hand side of the "My Books" page. I know it is possible tha..."

I do use goodreads, but the shelf I want to use is called MTBR-2023
As that includes all the books I own in 2023 (every year I make a new shelf as sometimes goodreads is a pain with editions)
Could I use that shelf instead of the want to read shelf?
As otherwise I will not be able to preform the task I'm affraid.

I had something else planned entirely when I created this task and did not anticipate so many people not using their want-to-read shelf on Goodreads.
I have been in contact with one of the mods and I am waiting to hear back on what changes they may want to make with this task as it appears it does not work for some people.
I never intended for this task to be complicated/ limiting, so I apologize for my oversight when creating this task.

Angela wrote: "I had something else planned entirely when I created this task and did not anticipate so many people not using their want-to-read shelf on Goodreads.
I have been in contact with one of the mods an..."

Thanks, it's understandable. People have so many ways of using GR. I have been making an effort to read books I own, so I have those on a separate list from the Want to Read. (and yet my total number of books I own, in print, ebook or audiobook magically never goes down! I suppose if the task requires it, I could change the names of the lists temporarily.

Thank you guys for altering the task with options of own shelfs.

I will use my shelf: mtbr-2023 which contain the books I own.

books picked:

- Het vierde kind lowest average rating
- Het zoutpad starting with a Z
- The Miseducation of Evie Epworth shortest on my TBR

Moderator Clarification
Most people will hold one TBR list called "Want-To-Read" and you should use that for this task.
If you have created an additional TBR list such as "Bookshelf-TBR" or "Books I own - TBR" that is a subset of your TBR which contains books that you own/have access to then you may use that for this challenge. You should not use a TBR list that is further specialised (eg "TBR-Terry Pratchett books" or "TBR-NewReleases")

This is a Goodreads challenge, so we encourage everyone to use the site. However if you do not hold a TBR list at all on Goodreads, then you may read a book from a TBR list held elsewhere, but should note this on your post.

All books must have been added to your TBR before October 20th 2023 to count for this challenge.

I have already done this task, and I didn't use the option below, but I noticed that people have 2 interpretations of it.

Option 6: Read a book with the highest number of rating or the lowest number of ratings. Sort by Num Ratings.

Required: State amount of ratings at time of reading

This means the most/fewest people read and rated it. But some people interpreted it as "highest rating" - that is if the average rating by readers is 4.67, or "lowest rating" of 2.30. I wonder if that is how the task was originally phrased, because I thought that too during the voting period. (I'm probably not the only one who looks to see what we have that would fit before we vote.)

I definitely wouldn't want anyone to be told after the fact that they did it wrong, since the Mods didn't flag it. Maybe it doesn't matter because it's still a random way to sort, which is your focus. Do you have an opinion on this?

If I am understanding your question/ comment correctly, they are really completing Option 2 (actual rating) as opposed to Option 6 (number of ratings).
I will be honest, I do not look at other people's completion posts in the thread, so I have no idea if it is being posted incorrectly.

Angela wrote: "If I am understanding your question/ comment correctly, they are really completing Option 2 (actual rating) as opposed to Option 6 (number of ratings).
I will be honest, I do not look at other peo..."

Oops, never mind, those are 2 different options, so there is no problem! I only had 5 options on my personal tracking sheet instead of 6. Sorry for the confusion.