Reading with Style discussion

Hello readers:

I'd like to open a conversation about RwS styles and bonuses.

I know there was some frustration with the Young style because it proved difficult in some cases to find out the ages of young authors. Is that frustration sufficient to make you want us to abolish Young as a style? Or do you like it?

One of my personal favorite styles is the Review style, but I know there are several readers who don't want to post reviews. Is there a way that we could make it easier to share thoughts that isn't the current Review style calling for a 100-word review?

Is there a different style you've thought about that you'd like to see given a chance?

This season is the first with the new Member Lottery task creation. Any thoughts on whether you liked it?

Other rewards you'd like to see?

I also like the Review style. but I have other groups where a review is a necessary component so I normally write one anyway. I have to think about what it could be changed to. Perhaps something like Would you recommend it or not, and then just a short explanation of why? I would hate to see this one go, I love reading others' thoughts on a book.

I do think the Young style should be replaced. It was just frustrating trying to find age or birth years of authors I knew would fit it.

I do not recall all of the available Styles, would it be possible for you to post in your comment what they are?

I can help with that, Joanne:

Author styles:
Aged
Young
Female
Nonwestern

Book styles:
Canon (this was an original)
Lost in Translation
Oldies
Not a Novel
Prize Worthy
1001
Series (this is a sometime thing, the database doesn't like it much)

General:
Multiple Use
Review

Perennials:
Combo
Jumbo

And I find something looking back called "selfie", but I don't find a description for that in the archives. Does anyone else remember this? Was it a book that qualified in two ways for a task?

EDIT: Aha! Yes, I found it on a single task

(Selfie: combos with itself. Good only for this task, qualifies as a style.)

This was for an author task in Fall 2022. It was used only this one season.

Read a book where any of the author's names begins with the 9th, 10th or 11th letter of the alphabet (I, J, K). If two of the author's names begins with any of these letters, give yourself a Selfie worth 5 points.

I'm fine with all the styles except for the Young style since we often cannot find the information online.

I enjoy writing reviews, and write them for most of the books I read. If many people find them difficult or too time-consuming, you could cut the requirement down to 60 or 70 words to make it easier.

I also particularly like the review style. Most of the time I don't find 100 words that onerous. I also like reading the RwS participant's reviews. I like this style because it is an 'easy' way for me to get style points - I'm not the best at racking up styles + combos but this one works for me.

Aside from the 'young' style, which was/is problematic, the rest seem fine.

Even while Kate and I were still moderating, we noticed the number of members posting reviews was lessening. So I made a suggestion behind the scenes for a *very* abbreviated Review style, but which also cuts the points.

Review (5 points): Inquiring minds want to know, so please tell us briefly ...

Fiction: a few words about plot or characterization or writing style
Nonfiction: general category (biography/history/science, etc.), person, time period, general subject
Stars: how did you rate this?
Link: to your longer review is welcome, but not necessary

I think most of you don't like the Canon style. I seem to recall a complaint or two whenever we used it. It was mostly replaced by the 1001 style.

I always liked the variety of styles we have and that there was a change up each season. Some styles pair well, while others don't.

For myself, I like the old stuff, so Oldies might be my favorite style if I had to name just one. Lost in Translation might come after that (unless it's Aged or Female). 🤷 😁

When I started on Goodreads, I made a rule for myself that I had to write a review for the book just finished before I could start the next one. The Review style has always just made every task (every one!) 10 points more valuable.

I feel the aged and young styles are hard because the author's age or birth year aren't always on goodreads. I don't like to go searching on other sites to find the information.

I do like the combo, multi use and series styles.

I may be in the minority here but I am not a fan of the Review style. Often the reviews seem to be plot synopses and that information is already in the book description

I like LiT, 1001, Not a novel. As well as the tasks associated with a project like the Country Project.

I liked the Review style, but for a slightly perverse reason.........I don't enjoy writing Reviews so I just accepted that I wasn't going to get many Styles points that season, and used it as a chance instead to read the books on my list that I wanted to read for other reasons but which didn't score well with RwS!

(I am reading much less these days, so I don't get many style points anyway, but just thought I would post in case there are any other awkward types out there!)

Would you (and others) post (or happy to see) if the abbreviated requirement above were adopted?

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

My favorites are:

Nonwestern - the only thing I don't like about this one is having to prove citizenship in the country as well as born in the country.
Lost in Translation
Oldies & Jumbo
Not a Novel
1001 - I would like to have a list like 500 Great Books by Women (https://www.librarything.com/list/954...) as a style, too.

I don't like to do reviews myself anymore because I did it for work for so many years, but I don't mind losing the points if I choose not to review.

Karen Michele wrote: "Nonwestern - the only thing I don't like about this one is having to prove citizenship in the country as well as born in the country."

It is assumed citizenship in the born in country unless there is evidence to the contrary.

You can always ask in the general questions thread when that style is up. I have posted a list of Nonwestern in seasons past.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Karen Michele wrote: "Nonwestern - the only thing I don't like about this one is having to prove citizenship in the country as well as born in the country."

It is assumed citizenship in the born i..."

It sounds like I've been overthinking this one --- thanks!

I like the Lost in Translation and Non-Western best because they make me read something with a different perspective.
I quite like the reviews although I don't write them.
I don't like the young and I can't see the point of multiple.

Could this be an alternative to young?

New Author: Read an author who has only published in the last ten years.

Except for Review, the scorekeeping database keeps the data for the styles in the books and author tables, and also a list of books and authors that qualify for tasks each season. It then uses queries to validate your claims and report missed claims.

As you may recall, the database creator is no longer with us. I was able to add new data to the database to create some of the styles that didn't exist when he passed, and cobbled together some of the validation queries to accommodate. Honestly, I'm not up to it any more. I don't know if the new moderators are. If not, there will be no new/other styles.

Karen Michele wrote: "Could this be an alternative to young?

New Author: Read an author who has only published in the last ten years."

You could create a task for this (and the 500 books by women list).

I think Multiple was one of the original styles from the very early days when Sam and Krista kept score with a spreadsheet. Because we evolved from the Seasonal Reading Challenge, where you can read for a task only one time per challenge, I'm pretty sure Sam thought being able to repeat a task showed that we were different. I believe Multiple was a way to reward that difference.

For several years, and before sub-challenge summers, Multiple was used only in the summer challenge. It is such an easy style, but it was intended that summers be laid back.

I agree, sometimes we can't find a birth year. It happens for Aged, too.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Karen Michele wrote: "Could this be an alternative to young?

New Author: Read an author who has only published in the last ten years."

You could create a task for this (and the 500 books by women..."

You're right, I could definitely included these ideas in tasks. I was just brainstorming possible styles and responding to Joanna's question,
"Is there a different style you've thought about that you'd like to see given a chance?"

Karen Michele wrote: "You're right, I could definitely included these ideas in tasks. I was just brainstorming possible styles and responding to Joanna's question,
"Is there a different style you've thought about that you'd like to see given a chance?"

OK. I must have skimmed her post and missed that.

Obviously I can't say for certain that Joanna and the others won't be up for creating new styles.

I am definitely not beholden to the Young style as I may have sounded. I tend not to read things by Young, still living, authors, although I certainly can't say I haven't nor won't!

I think there are ways to include tasks that target younger authors without having the Young style. That way, you could get combos for them and still get extra points without giving up another style that you really do like.

I like Non Western and Lost in Translation - even though I don't always rack up big points with those - because it does push me to think about my author choices.

I personally love Not a Novel because I read a lot of nonfiction.

I agree about the birth year issues...though sometimes it's good practice for me to just accept that I have to give up those points! :)

Not a Novel is good. It covers everything except novels (duh!): nonfiction, poetry, plays, novel in verse (yes!), and short stories.

I like to have the Oldies/1001/Canon in a challenge because I think it does make sense to reward reading older books. They are usually more dense, challenging, whatever. It seems like we used to always have one or other of these in each challenge. But I don't mind losing the Canon style. It overlaps with 1001, and 1001 has more world literature and perhaps more women writers.

When I had more time, I used to love Review because it is an easy way to get more points for absolutely every book as someone else said :) and I still like reading the reviews, but I'm more pressed for time these days and I don't always write them. I would still post them for some books if the style was in play. I don't mind if a review is basically a plot summary - I wouldn't click through on every book that is posted, so a plot summary often piques my interest. The proposed amendment seems more complicated, so I don't think it would encourage more reviews. Reducing the requirement to 75 words might help but I think whatever is changed here, not everyone will want to take the time. I suggest keeping the style as it is but not using it so often (it used to be about 2/3 of seasons).

My favourite style is Oldies :)
I also like LiT and Not a Novel.

Mostly like: Not-a-Novel, Oldies, Prize-worthy, Aged

Not a fan of Canon. I like the new Member Lottery task creation. Maybe instead of task creation, sometimes we could select a book from a list chosen by the winning member.

As for Review style, I like reading reviews, don't always like writing them, particularly if my opinion of a book is different from popular opinion.

Maybe you could set up a Poll and ask what styles to keep/eliminate.