The Dusty Bookshelf discussion

If you have a suggestion to make this group better, leave a comment here. If you have any questions, leave them here, too!

Hmm, maybe when this book gets bigger an Intro page would be good so we can get to know people :D

How's about a discussion topic - so we can talk about the book challenge, our thoughts on our progress, encourage others etc(and maybe, again as group grows, a general discussion)?

Those are cool ideas. I'll make an intro page now. I'll have to think of an organized way to have discussions on here so it's easy to find things....I will be thinking about your second idea some more :D

SO It turns out you don't have to make a shelf in this group to have it count in the challenge widget on the home page. You can use a shelf from your personal account. Should I still let people add books to this group bookshelf if they want?

I was curious about why it turned up in my normal bookshelf as well - maybe give them the option - it's good to share and see what other people have on there.

I dunno if I'm getting this all properly - just woken up & yet to have first cuppa - dangerous ground ;D

For some reason my reading challenge created in this group is not updating when I finish reading a book. Is there something I need to do to get this to work?

You have to add it to the personal shelf you made for this challenge. If it still isn't working, tell me and I'll walk you through it some more.

Michelle wrote: "For some reason my reading challenge created in this group is not updating when I finish reading a book. Is there something I need to do to get this to work?"

Michelle - I found this out too! Had to mark it as read manually etc - do what Jessica said and you'll be fine :)

I was just wondering if audio books count. Thanks!

It's up to you. I started this challenge to get me to read the stuff I've been avoiding. If you feel like they fit with the challenge then go ahead!

I suggest a member-of-the-month or similar activity! (of the week? of the.. partial month?? how many members do we have anyway??)

Kind of a, get to know everyone kind of thing. Check out people's shelves, add crazy amounts of books to our own TBR's... that kinda thing. :)


And I also have a question! Is it okay to just randomly start general chatting threads (reading/book related of course), or would you rather we didn't? :) If it's okay, where would you prefer they be?

A member of the month? I've never done something like that in a group. We have about 30 members, but not all of them are always active. I think our group is small enough that we could just browse each other's profiles and friend people here. Maybe that's something we could do as we got bigger. :) Thanks for the idea.

I don't mind! Feel free to start as many disucssions as you want. :D

I seem to be having some trouble with my shelf for this group. I have only added 2 out of the 10 books I intend to read for the challenge. However,my bar (telling me how many books I have read) is saying that I am 70% finished already. How can I fix this?

The shelf in this group has nothing to do with the challenge widget. They are separate and you have to update them both manually. (I know! I'm sorry! It's not my fault.)

The widget telling you how many books you have finished is based on a shelf in your personal profile. Click on "update my entry" in the challenge box and make sure the number is right. Then, check the challenge shelf and make sure you haven't set read dates for any of the books that you don't want.

Does that help?

Jessica wrote: "The shelf in this group has nothing to do with the challenge widget. They are separate and you have to update them both manually. (I know! I'm sorry! It's not my fault.)

The widget telling you how..."

I think I have fixed the problem. When I entered the challenge I didn't give it my user name "Echo's Ashes" I used my good old fashioned name. I changed it and all appears as it should now. Thanks. I look forward to keeping up with the challenge and the discussions!

Audiobooks: YES! Most definitely, This is the way I plan to get some of my heftier choices completed. I drive quite a bit for work and I will listen while driving and then read the old-fashioned way when I'm home.

I have a friend with really bad eyes and she can only read audio-style. She completed med school and is currently a GP and she did it all with audiobooks. Reading with your ears is just as valuable, if you ask me.

I pretty much agree - just question some abridged books.

That's cool! Go ahead and start a comic thread :)

I don't know if this is the right section to ask, but I have just solved one of my problems...my books not being on my challenge page....now, in the group bookshelf it says I have read 22, when it's only been 6? Any suggestions? I've looked at everything, but can't work it out!

The group bookshelves can be changed by anyone. It's possible that people have moved books that you haven't read yet to the read shelf.

Does anybody have any tips for reading Olde English? I don't always know what they're saying, and I don't want Sparknotes to tell me what's going on.

Thanks!

For those who haven't tried it, the barcode scanner on the Goodreads app for iphone is wonderful! I added most of my books that way. It usually will not recognize mass market paperbacks, however.

Carol wrote: "I pretty much agree - just question some abridged books."

Oh, definitely! Sometimes it's hard to find the original published version for some books, have you ever noticed that? Anywho, I already read audio unabridged.

Redd wrote: "Does anybody have any tips for reading Olde English? I don't always know what they're saying, and I don't want Sparknotes to tell me what's going on.

Thanks!"

Well, unless you're going to take a class in Olde English, your going to need to trust some translation or cliffs/Sparks notes interpretation. I suggest reading whatever editorial or critical editions you can and then draw your own conclusions from there. This is what I had to do when I read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Beowulf: A New Verse Translation.

Redd: What is it that you're reading?

Also, this might help: Old English Spelling and Pronunciation