The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

It's time to start thinking about fun tasks for the Winter Challenge. The bonus theme is "A Year of Art: Impressionist Art"

As in past challenges, some tasks may revolve around the seasonal theme of winter. Others may reflect the bonus theme. Other tasks may have nothing to do with either of these themes, they’re just fun ideas for unique reading challenges.

Feel free to post as many ideas as you can come up with. Don't worry about repeating what another player might have already suggested. The more ideas, the better!

The moderators will draw from these ideas as well as their own to create the 5, 10, and 15 point tasks. This thread will be open for ideas until November 12. Winter tasks will begin to be posted on November 14. We look forward to seeing what you come up with!

In 2009-2011 The Musee d'Orsay loaned their extensive collection of Impressionist art for two traveling exhibitions while they underwent a closure for refurbishment and reinstallation. The two shows were titled Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay and Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and Beyond: Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay. San Francisco was the only city that had both exhibits. Living close to San Francisco, I was lucky enough to see both.
The cities these two exhibits were shown were Madrid, San Francisco, Nashville, Canberra, Tokyo.

Read a book that is set in one of these cities.

Two of the best known Impressionist artists were Manet and Monet. Read two books by authors with names that differ only by one letter: e.g. Anne/Anna, Simon/Simons, John/Joan

Read a book with one of the Impressionist artists from this list as a main character.

http://www.artcyclopedia.com/history/...

OR

Read a book with one of these Post-impressionist artists from this list as a main character.

http://www.artcyclopedia.com/history/...

One of the lesser known Impressionist artists is Camille Pissarro. Read a book that has three sets of double letters within the title, subtitle, or authors first or last name.

For example, The Professor of Secrets: Mystery, Medicine, and Alchemy in Renaissance Italy by William Eamon SS in Professor, SS in Reniassance, and LL in William.
Patriot Pirates: The Privateer War for Freedom and Fortune in the American Revolution by Robert H. Patton EE in Privateer, EE in Freedom, and TT in Patton.
The Town That Food Saved: How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food by Ben Hewitt MM in Community, OO in Food, and TT in Hewitt.
Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul by Karen Abbott TT in Battle, BB and TT in Abbott.

Cover task: read a book that has a framed painting on the cover.

Using a play on words in the artists' names, read a title with the word Money (monet) or Many (Manet) in it.

Wow. I'm impressed at the painting ideas - I'll admit, I was curious how we'd work art into tasks.

Read a book by an author whose first,middle or last name is the same as one of the listed common holiday/winter words that is often heard in the months of December,January,February. No variations allowed to the names besides the ones listed

Required: When posting give the author's name AND the common holiday/winter words

Kris/Chris=Kris Kringle
Card=Greeting Cards
Snow=Snow
Winter(s)=the winter season
Baker=baking cookies/candies
Candy/Candi/Kandi/Kandy=candy cane
Cane/Cain/Kane=Candy Cane
Carol/Carole=Christmas Carol
Holiday(s)=holidays
Eve=Christmas Eve/New Year's Eve
Frost=Jack Frost
Jack=Jack Frost
Holly=holly is a common decoration
Ivy=Ivy is a common decoration
Nick/Nicholas=St.Nick or St.Nicholas
Church=People go to church
Wood(s)=wood is a source of heat
Green/Greene=green is a common holiday color
Love=emotions of love
Rose=rose is a common flower in February
Brown(e)=everything turns brown in winter
Gray/Grey=skies are gray in winter
White= the color of snow
Noel=Christmas season
Joy=feeling of pleasure/happiness

Bonus Theme Names:

Art(e)
Painter
Brown(e),Green(e),Black,White,Gray,Grey=colors of paint

Impressionism started in France during the 1860's-1870's - read a book set in France or written during that period

the term impressionism was coined by the satirical critic - Louis Leroy - read a book by an author who's initials appear in his name

Artwork is often found in a Museum or Art Gallery or can be sold at auction-Read a book which takes place in a Museum, Gallery, or Auction or the museum, gallery, or auction plays a prominent role.

Renoir was a leader of the Impressionist movement.
Read a book whose title shares a word (4 or more letters long) with the title of one of Renoir's paintings.
A list of his paintings can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre-...


Winter reads - read a book originally published in December, January or February (any year)


Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful - Read a book where a winter storm is a plot element. OR Read a book with snow on the cover.

We have a leap year coming up this season - a whole extra day to read! So read a book you could read in a day, e.g. from listopia - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/5...
Or a challenge related to the date Feb 29th, which some of us refer to as 29/2 and some as 2/29 - read a book with between 229 and 292 pages.

(inspired by Robin's suggestion above) read a book with a colour in its title.

Impression is also a style of comedy - read a book written by (or about) a comedian

Also, I liked the find a noun in the author's name task this season - can we do a verb next?

So I found a list of the "10 most famous impressionist paintings": https://learnodo-newtonic.com/10-most... (no idea if they really are, but hey)

I wonder if there's some way of using elements of some of them in tasks. Maybe cover tasks picking up on the most obvious features?

The Floor Scrapers - old house, wooden floor, three shirtless men

The Absinthe Drinker - women, cafe, bottles on the table

Pont Boieldieu in Rouen, Rainy Weather - river, bridge

Luncheon of the Boating Party - party, wine, hats

Paris Street; Rainy Day - cobbles, umbrellas, bad weather

The Luncheon on the Grass - forest, picnic, the human form

Impression, Sunrise - boats, water, sun

A Bar at the Folies-Bergere - oranges, bar, bottles, lady in dark clothing, corsage

Dance at le Moulin de la Galette - kind of like the boating party, but as "moulin" is mill, maybe a mill on the cover or in the title

Water Lilies - ponds, lakes, lilies

Then if we stretch a little into post-Impressionism, we have Van Gogh and you can bring in Sunflowers (aka the cracked vase with the big daisies), Starry Night, Irises and so on.

Also, totally separate. I saw the "vote for the Goodreads Choice Awards" email in my inbox this morning. Maybe read one of the nominees?

Paris Street, Rainy Day (painting title)

Read a book with 1) one of these 4 words in the title or 2) a word in the title that describes the weather 3) a European city in the title or 4) set in France or by a French author or 5) street on the cover

Inspired by Trish in post #14 as well as reading on of the Goodreads Choice nominees, how about reading one of the Seasonal Reading Challenge books from previous challenges, one that you hadn't used for your 20.10 task, and hopefully hadn't read before.

With the cold and dark upon us:

Read a book from Best Books to Read When the Snow Is Falling https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

If you have a favorite book(s) that you wish to add to the list, please do, but you may not read that book for the task.

If it's a two part task let the second book be an old favorite. In which case, feel free to read that book you added to the list:)

Read a book that another member of the Seasonal Reading Challenge Group has rated 5 stars. ( A good reason to stalk other people book shelves)

Edgar Degas was a leader of impressionism but rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist.
Read a non fiction book

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Read a book with alliteration in the title or author's name

Awards Night - read a book that was nominated or won the Goodreads Choice Awards

1. Winter is a time when I like to cosy up with old childhood favourites (mostly The Chronicles of Narnia and Ballet Shoes). Read a book you loved as a child (as long as it meets SRC criteria of course). If you came to reading as an adult, ask a friend to recommend one of their own childhood favourites :-)

2. Monet created several wintery/snowy paintings. I found a list at http://www.monetpainting.net/painting....

a) Read a book with a title containing at least one word of four or more letters from this list:

The Cart, Alley under the Snow at Honfleur
Snow near Honfleur
The Magpie
The Boulevard des Capucines
The Red Kerchief: Portrait of Mrs. Monet
Snow at Argenteuil
Snow on Argenteuil
Snow in Amsterdam
Snow in Argenteuil
Boulevard de Pontoise under Snow
Snow Effect, Argenteuil (Boulevard Saint-Densi)
Ice Flows on the Seine at Bougival
The Church at Vetheuil (winter)
Breakup of Ice, Grey Weather
River Thawing near Vetheuil
Floating Ice
The Road to Giverny in Winter
Snow Effect at Falaise
Stack of Wheat (Snow Effect, Overcast Day)
Grain Stack, Sunset

b) The last several titles on this list are all scenes from Norway. Read a book set in Norway.

LouLouReads wrote: "b) The last several titles on this list are all scenes from Norway. Read a book set in Norway. "

Maybe expand that to Scandinavia in general?

2 ideas:

-- Feb 5th is National Wear Red Day in recognition of women's heart health.

Read book with 1) a person wearing red on the cover or 2) non-fiction with genre of health or medical or about a person in the medical field

-- Happy New Year

Read a book that 1) the author is new to you, 2) you wanted to read in 2014 but did not, 3) title includes one of the words - happy, new, or year, 4) self-improvement genre or 5) non-fiction about a person you admire

January 10th is Peculiar People Day. Read a book with an odd/quirky/peculiar main character.

Chinese New Year is on feb 8 next year and 2016 will be a monkey year. Read a book published in a monkey year - 2016 2004 1992 1980 1968 (and so on every 12 years)

9 Impressionist painters
http://www.most09.com/most-famous-imp...
Claude Monet Many of his paintings are landscapes or outdoor scenes. Read a book with an outdoor setting on the cover
Pierre-Auguste Renoir Lots of girls in his paintings (Girls at the Piano, Two Sisters (on the Terrace)). Read a book whose main character is a girl or young woman.
Edgar Degas Many of his paintings contained dancers. Read a book about Dancer/Dancers, Dancing or with a Dancer on the cover
Vincent van Gogh Sun or Flowers in the Title OR Recently a van Gogh painting sold for $54 million. Read a book that is #4 or #5 in a series
Paul Cezanne A quote from Cezanne: “It’s so fine and yet so terrible to stand in front of a blank canvas.” Read a book whose title contains the words fine, terrible, stand, front, blank, or canvas
Camille Pissarro Pissarro painted a number of paintings in London. Read a book set in London (or Great Britain or United Kingdom)
Gustave Caillebotte I liked an earlier suggestion on double letters – that could be used here but only two sets
Alfred Sisley ?
Jean Frederic Bazille ?

2 ideas I haven't seen mentioned yet:

- The Impressionist School was widely reviled as garbage by critics and the Academy when it first arrived - its debut show was dubbed "Le Salon des Refuses" in fact. Maybe read a book rediscovered after being rejected or ignored in its own time?

- Fame & success in art = theft & forgery. Read a pastiche/homage/satire or a book that has been plagiarized?

Oliver Sacks was a British neurologist, naturalist and author who spent his professional life in the United States. He felt that the brain was the "most incredible thing in the universe" and therefore important to study. He passed away August 30, 2015. He was an incredible writer who brought science to the masses with his dozens of books about interesting case studies he was involved with and other natural subjects.

In honor of his passing and his contribution to the literary world, read a book tagged as Popular Science on the main page. The label can be alone or imbedded.

Impressionism is centered around normal every day activities. Read a book about family life that shows an outdoor scene on the cover.

Impressionism includes the play of light. Read a book that has shows sunlight or moonlight on the cover

Impressionist painters used short strokes and dobs to paint their pictures. Read a book of short stories that are built around the same theme.

December 28th is Holy Innocent's Day or Children's Mass to honor the infants King Herrod killed when Jesus was born.
For this challenge read a book where a child is the victim.

~ Task based on the root of the word Impressionism, i.e. impression. One can interpret the word either literally or abstractly, from the impression someone or something (an event, a view, and experience, an art object, a story, a book, etc.) makes on a person, to impressions for example in the sand (footsteps, bird and animal tracks, fossilized impressions such as dinosaur tracks), to impressions made on leather, paper, fabrics, wet stucco, and so on.
~ An extreme form of impressionism is pointillism, which composes images in many small dots of paint, in a way a precursor of today's computer images, composed of individual pixels (picture elements). A task could include a cover with this type of image on the cover, for example.
~ The Impressionist period roughly speaking spans 1860s to 1900s. Read a book set in that time, about an artist form that time (not only painters) or where an artist/art object plays a major in the story, or artwork/artist on cover.

♥Robin ♥ wrote: "Read a book by an author whose first,middle or last name is the same as one of the listed common holiday/winter words that is often heard in the months of December,January,February. No variations a..."

what about Noel and Joy

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Read a book centered around a holiday. (Examples: Easter; Hallowe'en; Christmas)

The New Year is often symbolized by Father Time and Baby New Year - Read a book with either an old man or a baby on the cover.

Hanukkah, the festival of lights, is celebrated in December. This commemorates the miracle of one day's worth of oil keeping a sacred lamp lit for eight days, and is celebrated by lighting candles for eight days - Read a book with candles on the cover or with one of these words in the title: candle(s), oil, lamp, light(s) or miracle.

Ellen wrote: "♥Robin ♥ wrote: "Read a book by an author whose first,middle or last name is the same as one of the listed common holiday/winter words that is often heard in the months of December,January,February..."

Thanks Ellen :) Added them to the list!!!

Impressionism changed the art world in a profound way. Read a book where a main character also goes through a profound change of some sort.

December is the last month of the year. Finish a series, or read the most current release in a series.

Jan and Feb are the first and second in the new year. Read book 1 and 2 in a series.

January is national soup month: Read a book containing a four or more letter word in the title that matches one of the words in the name of a soup from this list
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...

February is Black History month in US and Canada: Read a book by a black author

Also LGBT in the UK: Read a book with LGBT on the main genre page

Doppelganger week is the first week of FEB. Read a book where a mistaken identity is the main focus of the story.

Deborah wrote: "December is the last month of the year. Finish a series, or read the most current release in a series.

Jan and Feb are the first and second in the new year. Read book 1 and 2 in a series.

January..."

I love the soup idea! It's very creative. :)

In January 2016, the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter is scheduled to launch on a mission to Mars. Read a sci-fi genre book set primarily in space or a non-fiction about astronomy.

2015 is designated the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies. The logo is a bright yellow sun surrounded by colored flags. We still have one month left in 2015!
Read a book that has: 1) the word light or dark or technology in the title, 2) science genre, 3) cover is mostly black or white (no pictures), or 4) sun or flag on the cover.

Holiday Songs -
Read a book with the word Song or Sing in the title (reasonable variations okay, such as "singer" or "sung" or even "songbird")

February - Presidents' Day (in USA) -
Read a book by an author who shares a name with any US president (first or last name, but must match exactly)

February - Valentine's Day -
Read a romance
or
Read a book with a red cover
Or
Read a book with a cover image of traditional Valentine's day gifts - roses, jewelry, candy