Historical Fictionistas discussion

Participants may join at any time during the challenge. All points must be reported by 11:59pm EST on February 28, 2011 to be counted.

Tasks can be completed in any order and it is not required to complete all regular tasks before doing the bonus tasks.

RULES:
1) Books must be Historical Fiction if specified as HF. If no specification is made, the book can be ANY genre.

2) Books must be at least 200 pages long. Eligibility for this is determined by the most popular edition on Goodreads. If the most popular edition is 197 pages, it will not count, even if the edition read is 215 pages.

3) Books less than 1/2 finished may be counted for the challenge at the beginning, but ALL books must be completed and points recorded by 11:59p EST on February 28, 2011 for points to be counted as completed for the task.

4) Re-reads and audiobooks are accepted unless specified otherwise in the task. (Audiobook page counts will be determined by the most popular edition on Goodreads.)

SCORING:
5) Task categories are assigned a point value, and points are awarded when all parts of the task are completed. Partial points will NOT be awarded for partially completed tasks.

6) Bonus points will be awarded based on the length of each book read, as follows:
200 to 300 pages = 2 bonus points
301 to 500 pages = 4 bonus points
501 to 750 pages = 6 bonus points
751 to 1,000 pages = 8 bonus points
1,000+ = 10 bonus points

Bonus points will be awarded PER BOOK READ. Task points are awarded ONE TIME once the task is complete.

7) Page length used to determine task bonus points is determined by THE MOST POPULAR EDITION OF THE BOOK ON GOODREADS -- NOT the edition you actually read.This is a change from the previous rules in an attempt to make the scoring more fair across the board, as there can be very large page variations between editions. To determine the most popular edition on Goodreads, simply do a title/author search - the first result that matches your book is the most popular edition on GR.

8) As this challenge contains both HF and other genre books, you will receive 1 additional bonus point for every HF book read, whether the task requires HF or not. Please be sure to list that the book is HF to make sure that the additional points are counted.

WE WILL NOT AWARD HF POINTS IF IT IS NOT REPORTED UNLESS WE ARE POSITIVE THE BOOK IS HF. In other words, we aren't going to research the book for you. It is your responsibility to report your scores accurately, we will merely verify and record them.

9) HAVE FUN!!!
----------------------------------------------------

CHALLENGE #5 TASK LIST

Any Genre:
5 Points Each Task
5.1 In the spirit of friendship read a book written by two or more authors
5.2 Read a book set in the country you would most like to visit

10 Points Each Task
10.1 Read any author's first book
10.2 Read an Oprah selection from any year in honor of Oprah's last year on TV. Please tell us what year you chose (the list goes back to 1997 and can be found here: http://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/C... )
10.3 Find your Chinese astrological sign and read a book published in one of the years under your sign: http://www.c-c-c.org/chineseculture/z...
Please tell us what your sign is and the publication date of the book you chose.

20 Points Each Task
20.1 Go to the HF Group polls thread and read 2 books from any month or different months. Please tell us what month & year the books were nominated.
http://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/22...
20.2 In honor of New Year’s pick a book in which one of the characters is given a new beginning or a second chance
20.3 Read one book of GR’s Most Popular Books Published In 2010 List. http://www.goodreads.com/book/popular...

Historical Fiction:
25 Points Each Task
25.1 Read one of the 5 HF books that have been on your to-read list the longest. To find these books go to your to-read book shelf and click on date added. Pick one of the first 5 HF books on your list.
25.2 Read a HF book in which a historical figure meets an untimely end
25.3 Read an HF book by an author who uses one or more pseudonyms
24.4 In honor of Valentine’s Day read a historical romance

Bonus: 50 Points Each Task
50.1 Jen C's Task- Read any book that has been nominated for or won any literary award.
50.2 Evelina C's Task- Read any book that is set in a country that is primarily at 60 degrees N. latitude or above. Use this link to help you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/60th_par...
50.3 LemonLinda's Task - Read any book with a color word in the title - example: One Thousand White Women, The Color Purple, The Red Tent, etc.

Super Bonus: 100 Point Task
Support our HF group authors by reading one of their books. These are the authors that qualify for the task:
Steve Anderson
Heikki Hietala
Debra Denson
Joyce Elson Moore
Johanna Moran
Michelle Moran
Priya Parmar
Kate Quinn
Zina Rohan
M.G. Scarsbrook
Holly Weiss
Stephanie Dray

Please report your points here: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/4... (I will open the thread when it is time for the challenge)

-------------------------------------------------------------

Prizes
We're going to try something new this round...
1st Prize Winner- can choose between choosing 5 tasks for the Mini-Challenge in March or choosing the group read for April/May (that means no nominations for April/May)
2nd & 3rd Prize Winners- design bonus tasks for Challenge #6

Anyone can comment in here about the challenge (questions, help, ideas, etc.). :)

Does the book being read have to be started on January 1st or if I start it on say December 23rd and finish it on January 5th will that count for this challenge? Also, who is keeping score of the points this time. Thanks! Soooo excited!

To avoid unfair advantage I'm going to say the book has to be started January 1st or after.

I'm not sure if Maude wants to continue. I sent her a message today and I'm waiting for her to respond. If she wants a break then I will open up that the score keeping role to any volunteers.

Heather wrote: "Nice job, Jackie! Looks like a great challenge. :)"

Thanks Heather! Are you going to participate? :) I am.

Thanks Jackie. I am already getting my books lined up!

I really like the challenges on this round! Looking forward to it.

Heather wrote: "I was actually thinking of sitting this round out. But after seeing the challenge list, I'm tempted! So who knows what I'll end up doing come January. LOL"

my just use the books you read and see how it goes! :-)

I'd like to tell you all about a disaster I've had because it relates to one of the challenge tasks. When it was suggested on Ongoing Task Suggestions that a task be to use a specific number on the TBR list, I explained a problem that those of us who compete for the First Read freebies have many, many books in our TBR lists that may not be released or available. This is because it asks you to add each book to your TBR when you enter the competition. When I was there is a task in Ch #5, I tried to do a batch removal of these books from my TBR, but it went awry. Now it says I removed 88 books from my READ list, which I did not do. Then I looked over to my read list and, lo and behold, there were all the former TBR books I had tried to remove. I tried 4 times to remove them, ONE AT A TIME, but many are still there on my read list and refuse to remove themselves. Worst of all, I don't know which books were removed from my read list, so I seem to be permanently screwed. Moral of the story, don't mess with those lists! I wouldn't want all my friends to have the mess I've got. I also will never add another book to my TBR on GR.

I wouldn't go messing with the lists today because GR has been really buggy today. You can see all the complaints in the feedback group. Luckngrace, I would contact the GR support team to see if they could help you restore your list.

When I enter the First Reads contents I don't add the books to my TBR unless I really want to read them and plan on doing sometime in the future. It may affect my chances of winning, but I think it's ridiculous that it's a requirement.

When you first joined were the HF books you added to your list all FirstReads books?

Luck, have you reported it to GR? Who knows? They might be able to restore it to how it was before. I would use the Contact Us link at the bottom of the page and explain what happened. That definitely sounds like a glitch - I use batch edit all the time and I've never had a problem at all.

Even if they can't do anything, you should report the issue so that they can fix what caused it so it doesn't happen again.

Jackie wrote: "I wouldn't go messing with the lists today because GR has been really buggy today. You can see all the complaints in the feedback group. Luckngrace, I would contact the GR support team to see if th..."
Yes, I don't usually even pay attention to tbr lists because I have a wish list on Amazon that I refer to when I'm looking to buy.

Becky wrote: "Luck, have you reported it to GR? Who knows? They might be able to restore it to how it was before. I would use the Contact Us link at the bottom of the page and explain what happened. That definit..."
Becky and Jackie, you're making me have some hope. I think I will contact GR. It couldn't hurt. Thanks for the suggestions.

Ok I see. When you get your list sorted out let me know if the oldest HF books are not available to you.

Jackie wrote: "When I enter the First Reads contents I don't add the books to my TBR unless I really want to read them and plan on doing sometime in the future. It may affect my chances of winning, but I think it's ridiculous that it's a requirement. "

This isn't a requirement. It's just an option if you want to add it. It doesn't alter your chance of winning at all to my knowledge.

Maude agreed to keep score for this challenge. YAAAYYYY! Thanks Maude :)

I contacted GR. They stated will try address my problem within a few days. Asked them to return "my books" to status 3 days ago. Seemed to be simplest solution. I won't be trying to remove anything ever again if they fix it this time.

Jackie wrote: "I wouldn't go messing with the lists today because GR has been really buggy today. You can see all the complaints in the feedback group. Luckngrace, I would contact the GR support team to see if th..."

I do the same Jackie.I only add them if I am also thinking about reading them anyway, if I win or not.

This looks great. I especially appreciate that it's a shorter (2-month) challenge. I participate in challenges in several groups, and I personally find it easier to get my book lists to mesh/overlap when I have a smaller pool to work from with each challenge. Count me in!

I have a question regarding Task 5.1 "...read a book written by two or more authors".

Is this specifically meant to be a novel written, for example, by Jane Doe and John Smith, or can it be an anthology with however many authors?

Candiss, I believe that it would need to be a novel collaboration, like Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett -- but I'll let Jackie confirm since she created the challenge. :)

Becky wrote: "Candiss, I believe that it would need to be a novel collaboration, like Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett -- but I'll let Jackie confirm since she created the challenge. :)"

You're right :)

Jackie wrote: "Becky wrote: "Candiss, I believe that it would need to be a novel collaboration, like Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett -- but I'll let Jackie confirm since she created the..."

Then no Nonfiction? I was thinking of this book: Less is More: Embracing Simplicity for a Healthy Planet, a Caring Economy and Lasting Happiness.

Jen, Sorry, I didn't mean "novel" specifically - the task is any genre. I just meant a collaboration on a single topic and/or story. Anthologies wouldn't count since each person would have written their own section and that's it - not worked together on a shared story.

No worries! Glad I get to read it!

Jackie wrote: "Becky wrote: "Candiss, I believe that it would need to be a novel collaboration, like Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett -- but I'll let Jackie confirm since she created the..."

Thanks for the clarification, Becky and Jackie!

Becky wrote: "Jackie wrote: "When I enter the First Reads contents I don't add the books to my TBR unless I really want to read them and plan on doing sometime in the future. It may affect my chances of winning,..."

I won't be adding any more tbr's on GR, but I do wonder if they increase chances of winning as I've just received notice of winning my ELEVENTH first reads win in less than 6 months.

Update: GR support can't fix "my books".

Luckngrace wrote: "Becky wrote: "Jackie wrote: "When I enter the First Reads contents I don't add the books to my TBR unless I really want to read them and plan on doing sometime in the future. It may affect my chanc..."

11 wins in less than 6 months!?!?! I've won 2 in 15 months time. You really do have the luck and grace! So jealous.

No - one book for each task, no repeats. :)

Thanks for the kind words, Heather!

Just worked out my book list for challenge #5! However, I'm just stuck on finding a book for 5.1: finding a book written by two or more authors. Any suggestions would be much appreciated :)

Tasha, You can always do The Potato Peel Pie book.

Tasha, that task is any genre, so anything goes... Which is good because I don't know of any HF books that were collaborations, other than Guernsey.

Here are some off the top of my head:
The Talisman & Black House by Stephen King and Peter Straub (more of a dark fantasy quest than horror)
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography by Paul Rusesabagina and Tom Zoellner
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
Queen: The Story of an American Family by Alex Haley and David Stevens (oops, I lied - this is sitting right on my shelf!)
Practically any James Patterson book...

If I think of more, I will come back and let you know! I have only read the King books, Good Omens and An Ordinary Man - all of which I recommend. I would imagine that Queen and Will Grayson, Will Grayson would be great as well - I've read other books by Haley and John Green and very much enjoyed them. Can't comment on Patterson though... O_o

Becky wrote: "Tasha, that task is any genre, so anything goes... Which is good because I don't know of any HF books that were collaborations, other than Guernsey.

Here are some off the top of my head:
[book:T..."

why, Why, WHY must you force me to add to my TBR shelf!!!! I add books faster than I can read them.

Thanks Maude and Becky! I didn't realize the Potato Peel Society was written by 2 people, and as it is on my tbr list AND 2011 goal list, I think i should go with that one :)

Becky, An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography looks very good!

JenC. wrote: "why, Why, WHY must you force me to add to my TBR shelf!!!! I add books faster than I can read them. "

Errr... Because everyone should read the books I think are awesome? O_o

(Which ones did you add?)

I have the same problem. I'll read one off my TBR bookshelves and add 2 or more. Plus, I work at a library processing in new books so I see all the new ones as they come through, write down titles and authors, go home and place holds on them! Sometimes it can be frustrating, but fun.

Becky wrote: "JenC. wrote: "why, Why, WHY must you force me to add to my TBR shelf!!!! I add books faster than I can read them. "

Errr... Because everyone should read the books I think are awesome? O_o

(Which ..."

the first 3. And Gayle - you have my dream job. Is is it as much fun as I think it would be?

Becky wrote: " I would imagine that Queen and Will Grayson, Will Grayson would be great as well - I've read other books by Haley and John Green and very much enjoyed them. Can't comment on Patterson though... O_o"


Queen: The Story of an American Family was my favorite book as a teenager. I think it's time for a re-read! I'm SO glad I still have my copy from back then, because I think it may be somewhat hard to find.

Jamie, I loved Roots so much that Kandice sent me Queen, but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet. I think I might use that one for my dual author book. :)

(PS. I miss Kandice!)

I'd like to hear what you think of it - I hope you're able to get to it during this challenge!

Becky, Where is Kandice? Now that you mentioned her, I realize she hasn't been here for some time.

Maude wrote: "Becky, Where is Kandice? Now that you mentioned her, I realize she hasn't been here for some time."

She hasn't been online for quite a while due to personal issues. :(

I hope she's back soon!

And Gayle - you have my dream job. Is is it as much fun as I think it would be?

Well, I certainly enjoy it. I love seeing all the new books coming through to be processed. Most days I come home with a list of books that I'll want to read. Right now, with the end of the year, we're getting a TON of books being ordered, which means a lot to process. I've even processed a book, brought the cart of books I was working on to the discharge person, and then tell that person "I want to check this one out" and she discharged it right then and there so I could bring it home. :)

One day, I happened to finish the book I was reading while I was at work, during lunch. I knew I had 2 others ready for me to read at home, so I was good and didn't go searching the shelves for more to read. I looked at my hubby that night and asked him "Do you know how dangerous is was that I finished my book while at work?" His reply, "No, you working in a bookstore and finishing a book would be dangerous!"

Janie wrote: "another suggestion for collaboration book and one that I shall be reading is by Mrs Stephen King..Candles BurningShe finished off the book that someone else started before he died......."

I use mine for all books I want to read, and use the 'add shelf' feature for books I own, borrowed (and need to be returned......) books from friends, if my library has it in audio format (the only reason I work out.....seriously), and keep track of challenge books. Just took a peek at the numbers for fun and I have 254 on my 'to read' shelf with 77 being boooks I own (these being books I personally want to read on our bookshelf - not my husband's horror novels).

I use my TBR list as books I physically have on my bookshelves that I have not yet read. I actually have a lot there, over 100. And I just got 2 more this past week as presents (1 early Christmas present and 1 belated birthday present).

Becky wrote: "Tasha, that task is any genre, so anything goes... Which is good because I don't know of any HF books that were collaborations, other than Guernsey.

Here are some off the top of my head:
[book:T..."

Wow, did not know of the sequel to the Talisman...guess I need to climb out from under a rock....I loved the Talisman!

Tasha wrote: "Just worked out my book list for challenge #5! However, I'm just stuck on finding a book for 5.1: finding a book written by two or more authors. Any suggestions would be much appreciated :)"
Here are a few suggestions right off the top of my head: Body & Brock Thoene write WWI era Christina HF, Jonathan and Fay Kellerman wrote a couple of mysteries together. Jeffrey Deaver has a new one out where he wrote the first and last chapters and his writer friends wrote the middle chapters. Perri O'Shaunessey is actually two sisters who write together using the combination of their two names as one.

I use my tbr list on goodreads for books I want to read not necessarily books I own.....I also have a books I own shelf and ebooks I own shelf.

I am having a problem finding a book for 20.2 and 25.2. I am so awful at finding books that fit into these different sub-groups but I love the diversity of the books I then read!!

20.2 new beginning or second chance
25.2 is an untimely end

any and all suggestions welcome!!

Well... for untimely end task, you could use anything with an execution, like a book about Marie Antoinette or the French Revolution in general (as long as it featured some beheadings, or something along those lines. Perhaps even a historical murder mystery type - but I'll leave that up to Jackie to confirm, since the task does technically specify "historical figure".

The French Rev has made me think that The Scarlet Pimpernel would be a good second chance book as well. Or you could use Memoirs of a Geisha if you haven't read it yet, or one that I read recently and really enjoyed was The Anatomy of Ghosts, in which a character is given a second chance (as well as there being an untimely end too - but you can't use one book for two tasks, LOL).

I'm sure there are more, but I'm too tired to think of any at the moment... Off to bed for me!