Pick-a-Shelf discussion

The YOU CHOOSE Challenge

This is similar to our TBR Shavers Mini Game, only not so mini! And the big twist is that YOU CHOOSE how many books to read to complete each task, with a minimum requirement of AT LEAST 5 in order to call a task complete. The person who completes ALL of the 10 tasks with the most books read (with at least 5 for each task) by the end of the year will be crowned the YOU CHOOSE CHAMPION! That person will get to choose some tasks for a Really Ambitious Challenge we are planning for next year!

* The challenge will go from July 10 to December 31, 2010.
* Each book can only count for one of the tasks - even if it could fit more than one. YOU CHOOSE which task the book will fulfill.
* If you are only up for a mini challenge (the voting was so close on the poll!), then feel free to CHOOSE your favorite 5 tasks below and fulfill them with at least 5 books each in 3 months. (Although there won't be a MINI YOU CHOOSE CHAMPION. Sorry! You gotta go all out if you wanna win! :)
* To participate, create your own thread in the YOU CHOOSE folder and start choosing your books to match the tasks below. Feel free to post your planned books, comments, ratings, and reviews of books you read in your thread, and discuss with others the books they read in their threads.
* Every 10 days or so, post your progress in the YOU CHOOSE progress thread. Include the number of tasks completed to that point and the total number of books read.
*This is all about making a dent in your TBR (including stacks of books lying around at home!), reading a wide variety of great books, and most of all, having fun reading!!

The YOU CHOOSE tasks:

Fill in the "xx" with the number of your choice - well, as long as it is 5 or larger. :)

* Read xx books from your stacks/shelves at home that you haven't read yet.
* Read xx books you have borrowed (from friends, family, the library) so you can return them and make room.
* Read xx books recommended to you by a friend.
* Read xx books that you have been dreading to tackle either due to reviews you have heard, content or the sheer length of them.
* Read the xx books that have been on your TBR the longest.
* Read the xx shortest books from your TBR that aren't picture books.
* Spell something (your name, child's name, anything you choose) with xx picture books or graphic novels using the first letter of each title.
* Read xx non-fiction books.
* Read xx books from series, in order to complete some.
* Read xx books started but never finished. (The winning task from our poll!)

Feel free to post comments and questions about the challenge here. Slayermel and I have had a lot of fun coming up with this, so we hope you all have fun with it as well! And I really NEED to do some of these tasks!!

You can figure out the shortest books on your TBR shelf by using one of the new functions of the beta "my books" page. I'll put together some directions for that, if anyone would like to try it out. Let me know and I'll post directions here.

I'd like to know how to work out my shortest books using the new function.

By "picture books", do you mean books for preschoolers/toddlers, or do you mean graphic novels? Or something else entirely that I am too sleepy to understand at the moment?

I would love to use the new function

This is a great challenge, guys. I love these types, though I will probably not finish this one, either, it will be fun trying.

Candiss wrote: "By "picture books", do you mean books for preschoolers/toddlers, or do you mean graphic novels? Or something else entirely that I am too sleepy to understand at the moment?"

Whichever works out best for you, Candiss. Since I'm a children's librarian, some of the books on my TBR are picture books for children - although I tend to be most interested in picture books for older children. Using picture books is also a way to include books parents read to their children into a challenge. And there are also picture books written for much older children all the way through adult - which does get into the graphic novel type of book. So whatever works out best for you. :) The theme here is YOU CHOOSE. :)

I can't imagine anything more ambitious! How fun!


@ Natasha- Have you read The Everafter? It is a young adult book that is somewhat of a mystery. I thought it was pretty good for a debut novel and a pretty interesting concept.

Luann wrote: "Whichever works out best for you, Candiss. Since I'm a children's librarian, some of the books on my TBR are picture books for children - although I tend to be most interested in picture books for older children. Using picture books is also a way to include books parents read to their children into a challenge. And there are also picture books written for much older children all the way through adult - which does get into the graphic novel type of book. So whatever works out best for you. :) The theme here is YOU CHOOSE. :)"

Thanks for the clarification, Luann! My son is 16, so we don't read many picture books together anymore, but we have many a graphic novel about the house that I have yet to read. (All of us in my family are into them.) And as I don't have any younger folks in my life at present with/to whom I read, graphic novels work much better for me. I was going to be a good sport and go to the library to round up some of my own childhood faves and my son's from when he was younger, but I'm much more enthusiastic about my alternate option. ;)

Candiss wrote: "I'm much more enthusiastic about my alternate option. ;) "

Yay!! That works out perfectly that they are books lying around your house that you have been wanting to read. I'll go add "graphic novel" to the task description. Thanks, Candiss!

The main point with that one was to include a "spell something" task that would be pretty quick and painless. And some of my top favorite books are picture books, so I just thought it would be fun.

Just a bit more explanation about the "spell something" task. It is similar to our CHRISTMAS DAY and BEACH BLANKET challenges - only with picture books and/or graphic novels. So whatever you choose to spell, it has to have at least 5 letters. For example, if you have a daughter named Sarah, to complete that task you could read:

Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon
Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek Dam Affair
Rumpelstiltskin
Actual Size
How Much Can A Bare Bear Bear?: What Are Homonyms And Homophones?

You choose whether or not to ignore "a, an, & the" at the beginning of titles.

Natasha, I have some recommendations for you:
* The Hunger Games & Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. Mockingjay will be out in August!
* Also by Suzanne Collins, the Underland Chronicles which starts with Gregor the Overlander.
* I see you've read Sabriel, the first in the Abhorsen trilogy, and I highly recommend the next two: Lirael: and Abhorsen.
* Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George
* When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
* The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

Natasha wrote: "Feel free to recommend me any books.

Maybe we should have a book recommendation thread (good for challenges and also for books to read for pleasure)."

Natasha, that is a great idea!

Very creative challenge guys!

What if someone hasn't got any books that they've started but never finished (like me), does that mean they have no chance of being crowned champion?

Natasha
I second Luann's recommendations of The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. I can't wait until Mockingjay comes out in August.

I also recommend the Percy Jackson series which is also young adult and full of mythology. I quite enjoyed it.
The Lightning Thief
The Sea of Monsters
The Titan's Curse
The Battle of the Labyrinth
The Last Olympian

The others I would have recommended, you have already read :op

I need 5 recommen books

Sam wrote: "What if someone hasn't got any books that they've started but never finished (like me), does that mean they have no chance of being crowned champion?"

Really?? You've finished every book you've ever started? In that case, I would say you could substitute one of the other choices from the poll - either "classics" since it got the next highest number of votes in the poll, or the task you voted for. YOU CHOOSE. :)

Sam wrote: "What if someone hasn't got any books that they've started but never finished (like me), does that mean they have no chance of being crowned champion?"

I bow to you.....WoW
I wish I was that disciplined ;o)

☪☠Lizz☠☪ wrote: "I need 5 recommen books"

Okay Lizz after looking at what you have read so far, and from one Vampire fanatic to another, I would recommend to you:

Continue on with "The Blackdagger Brotherhood" series (I loved those books :op )

I also recommend continuing with the "Anita Blake Vampire Hunter" Series (also love that one)

And my all time favourite Vampire Author is Anne Rice
The Vampire chronicles is a classic series, start with
Interview With the Vampire

And if you want to change it up a bit from Vamp fiction

The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Stardust

Slayermel wrote: "☪☠Lizz☠☪ wrote: "I need 5 recommen books"

Okay Lizz after looking at what you have read so far, and from one Vampire fanatic to another, I would recommend to you:

Continue on with "The Black..."

I will try them

Natasha wrote: "Maybe we should have a book recommendation thread (good for challenges and also for books to read for pleasure)."

Thanks for the suggestion, Natasha! I'll go start a thread for recommendations in our Icebreakers folder. It'll be very handy right now for people looking for recommendations and also a great way for everyone later on to talk about favorite books they think everyone should read.

ETA: Click here to go to that thread.

Here are the directions for using the "still in testing" version of the "my books" page to sort your TBR by number of pages.

Go to the beta version of "my books" at:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/list?balloon_cat=true

If you click on "shelf settings: main" it will open a list of checkboxes. Click on the box next to "num pages" and then click the tiny "close" link in the bottom right-hand corner of that box. You should now see a new column on your book list called "num pages." Click on your "to-read" shelf to see just TBR books, then click on the "num pages" heading to order the list by number of pages. If it lists largest pages at the top, click the "num pages" heading again to reorder the list with TBR books with the least number of pages at the top. If you have any short picture books on your list, those will be listed first. Scroll down to find the first chapter books/novels that are the shortest.

ETA: There also might be some books on your list that don't have page numbers set yet in GR. Those will be listed with "unknown." Also remember that page numbers aren't always accurate since they get the data from Amazon and Barnes & Noble - although they are usually close enough for our purposes. Page numbers also vary from edition to edition of a book. But this is still a pretty good way to find the shortest books on your TBR list!

Awesomesocks Luann! Thanks for that tutorial. Love it.

Another quick way to do it if you’re not in the beta version is to go to

1. My books
2. Click on your to be read shelf
Scroll to the very bottom of the page where the "sort by" box is (located right next to the how many books you want to see per page box)
3. Select "num pages"

Then as Luann said just click the top search link if you want it ascending or descending in numbers.

Hey, cool! I didn't know they had added all of those sorting options to that box. Last time I looked there it only had three or four. So that's a quick and easy way to do it - except that you don't get to see the actual number of pages listed for each book without clicking through to each book page. Unless I'm missing something?

nope, your correct. You would have to click on the link to the book to see the pages. That's the only problem.

Luann wrote: Really?? You've finished every bo..."

Yup, not sure whether it's a good thing or not but I can't seem to just leave a book unread no matter how much I hate it (hence Gone with the Wind and Confessions of a Shopaholic on my shelves 'shiver'). I think I'll do "classics" since it was the next highest in votes, now is that going to be books shelved on the group's classics shelf or the goodreads classics shelf?

Slayermel wrote: I bow to you.....WoW
I wish I ..."

Thanks Slayermel, although I think it's more down to a minor case of OCD rather than discipline ;-D

Sam wrote: "I think I'll do "classics" since it was the next highest in votes, now is that going to be books shelved on the group's classics shelf or the goodreads classics shelf? "

Use the GR classics shelf - or really any book that is generally considered a classic.

Luann wrote: "Sam wrote: "I think I'll do "classics" since it was the next highest in votes, now is that going to be books shelved on the group's classics shelf or the goodreads classics shelf? "

Use the GR cla..."

Cool, plenty of choices then, thanks Luann

Luann wrote: " ...You can figure out the shortest books on your TBR shelf by using one of the new functions of the beta "my books" page. I'll put together some directions for that, if anyone would like to try it out. Let me know and I'll post directions here.

Luann, I'd appreciate it if you would post the directions.

Natasha wrote: "... And someone please recommend me two books. ..."

Natasha,
I'd really recommend Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, and I forget whether you've read The Thirteenth Tale. If not, I'd recommend that, too. Perfect book for a book lover.

Hey Susan, not sure if you saw the posts or not but look to post 27 or 29 for directions, if it's still not clear, we will try harder to explain :op

lol, you mean the really ambitious challenge ;op
good idea!

Slayermel wrote: "Hey Susan, not sure if you saw the posts or not but look to post 27 or 29 for directions, if it's still not clear, we will try harder to explain :op"

I do see it now. Thanks!

I'm feeling a bit behind on this, since we were away for the weekend of the 4th, and lots of people have things planned out already. A gentle reminder, though -- I see some people checking things off already. The challenge is supposed to start July 10, right?

Yes, it starts on July 10. I'm still trying to finish my last few books from our current challenge!

Natasha - there are always more, though, so you could substitute.

Luann and Slayermel - Really ambitious challenge has me intrigued, too! Can't wait to see what it is.

Self control?? What is that? When it comes to books, I have none!

Natasha wrote: "I have to resist the urge to read any of the books I've chosen before the challenge starts."

I know what you mean, a lot of the ones I've picked for the challege are also on the history shelf and I keep having to tell myself no you can't read that one yet you have to wait until saturday.

I'm also really intrigued by the really ambitious challenge.

Karen wrote: "Natasha wrote: "I have to resist the urge to read any of the books I've chosen before the challenge starts."

I know what you mean, a lot of the ones I've picked for the challege are also on the ..."

Ditto. Luckily for me the 10th comes earlier here than it does for you ;) Maybe the one time only when the huge time difference works in my favor?

I go away on holiday on the 10th and I've spent more time picking books from my challenge list to take with me than I have picking clothes, although as I do have more books than clothes it is a much harder choice.

Luckily for me the 10th comes earlier here than it does for you ;) Maybe the one time only when the huge time difference works in my favor?

But then it ends earlier for me too. . . flip side to everything

Karen wrote: "I go away on holiday on the 10th and I've spent more time picking books from my challenge list to take with me than I have picking clothes, although as I do have more books than clothes it is a muc..."

Books are waaaayyyy more important than clothes!

I fly back to the States on the 20th for my holiday (yay) and I've had to strategically plan my reading to read all my paperbacks in the first part of the month so that I can travel with only my kindle. Oh what we do for our hobby ;)

Have fun on your holiday!

Happy Birthday Tina!!!

Tina wrote: "Karen wrote: "I go away on holiday on the 10th and I've spent more time picking books from my challenge list to take with me than I have picking clothes, although as I do have more books than cloth..."


I'm taking my ereader which has some of the books I want to read for the challenge but at certain times during my trip I won't have access to electricity and I need the physical books as a safety net in case my battery dies.

Enjoy your time in the States.

Natasha wrote: "I start graduate school in the fall. I'm going to squeeze in as much reading as possible in the next two months. I don't know how much reading I can do when I start school."

Cool! What will you be studying?

Blarneygod wrote: "Happy Birthday Tina!!!"

Thanks Blarneygod, although it's not a trip for my birthday, I'm just going on a holiday back to the States to see family and friends and do some shopping. Got to stock up on my favorite shampoo, cereal, clothes and shoes that fit (my Western sized body does NOT fit in Asian sized clothes and shoes), and books, books, and more books!

Sounds like the perfect qualification for you!

Are we allowed to use books that we are in progress with? Maybe if we are not past the halfway point?