You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

June 2017 Challenge - Pearls of Wisdom

We're going to have a little more laid back challenge this month. It's all about June. Since June's birthstone is the pearl, I thought I would use that as the focal point.

The challenge is to read ONE book selected from the following options. You may read more than the one book if you choose, but only the highest scoring book will count. Where there is a title criteria, sub-titles or series names do not qualify.

P - Pearl is the birthstone for June. Read a book with the word "pearl" in the title, or there are pearls on the cover.

E - National Dare Day. I dare you to read a book that is shelved as "experimental". Genre lists for ideas may be found here.

A - Global Beatles Day. The Beatles founded the record label, Apple Records. Read a book with the word "apple" in the title, or there are one or more apples on the cover.

R - Rose is the flower for June. Read a book with the word "rose" in the title, or where one or more roses are on the cover.

L - June is LGBT Month. Read a book that has an LGBT character in it.

General Rules:
1. The book may be in any format - paperback, ebook, audiobook.
2. The book may be in any genre.
3. The book may NOT be combined with the Year Long Geocaching Challenge.
4. The book must be read between June 1 - 30, 2017 (based on your local time zone).
5. The challenge is for one book. You may read more books if you chose.
6. The book must be 175 pages or more determined by the issue you read. If reading an audiobook or eBook with no page numbers listed, page numbers will be determined by the issue that comes up first on a Goodreads search.

Scoring:

Genre: (must be shelved by others with a significant number on the book page)
5 points - Historical Fiction
4 points - Steam Punk
3 points - Romance
2 points - Horror
1 point - Mystery

Author: (either born in the country/region, or if not born there currently living there)
5 points - Australia
4 points - UK
3 points - The Netherlands
2 points - USA
1 point - Canada
3 bonus points - if you recognize the significance of the countries selected. You must put your answer in a spoiler.

Cover: (based on the edition you read)
5 points - has the back of a head on it
4 points - has one or more trees on it
3 points - has graphic lines as a predominant feature
2 points - is risqué
1 point - if the author's name is across the top

Title:
5 points - contains the word "June"
4 points - is strictly one word only. We will count "a", "an", or "the" as words.
3 points - is strictly two words only. We will count "a", "an", or "the" as words.
2 points - contains the name of a city, town, or country (i.e. Werewolf in London)
1 point - contains the name of a person (i.e. A Man Called Ove)

Pages:
5 points - 501+
4 points - 401-500
3 points - 301-400
2 points - 201 - 300
1 point - 175-200

Bonus Points:
3 points - Audio Book Appreciation Month: Listen to your choice on Audiobook.
3 points - Father's Day: The main character is a father.
3 points - Celibacy Awareness Month: One of the characters is a priest. Can't just be a mention, as in "I talked to the priest".
3 points - Baby Boomers Recognition Day: Main Character is over 50 years old.
3 points - Quote a "pearl of wisdom" from your book.

Great challenge, Janice! I already have a couple of books in mind that will fit.

Fun challenge!

I can only come up with a book for rose and some Sarah Waters books, so I have to do some serious gophering. I would like to do the Beatles task :)

I don't have any books that i own which would fit i don't think. But the ebook library has Apple Tree Yard so I've put in a reservation.

I believe I may join this time.looked at the experimental list I have read many. I seem to be called to the options there

O, how fun! And what a great idea to work off June's birth stone.

Gophering is going to be tricky for this one, but I think I have a book already in mind.

I start gophering as soon as I saw this one! I found so many books that fit. :) Now I need to narrow it down to what I'm in the mood for and have time for (some were a bit chunky). I was hoping to read a book that I already own, but I may pick one up from the library or listen to an audio. So many good choices.

I cannot believe that: Not. ONE. Of My. Toppler. Choices. Fits this challenge!%@#*

Hello Gopher My Old Friend.☻

I forgot to look at the list. Off to see what experimental entails.

I have many LGBT books to choose from. I hope to find some others to fit the other options.

Wow. I've read quite a few off the experimental list and own quite a number of them. And a couple match toppler options. I need to rethink now. Options are:
Apple Tree Yard
The Luminaries
Cloud Atlas
American Psycho
Flowers for Algernon
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
Brave New World
The Left Hand of Darkness
Ghostwritten

Kristie wrote: "I start gophering as soon as I saw this one! I found so many books that fit. :) Now I need to narrow it down to what I'm in the mood for and have time for (some were a bit chunky). I was hoping to ..."

Haha, I always find it funny how the same challenge turns up many books for one person, and only a few for someone else.

I came up with three books from the ones I own. One I will probably not read this time, so that leaves The Rose Garden or Will Grayson, Will Grayson

edit: found something else: Rooftops of Tehran

June 2017 Pearls of Wisdom Challenge worksheet

P - Pearl is the birthstone for June. Read a book with the word "pearl" in the title, or there are pearls on the cover.

Pearl

E - National Dare Day. I dare you to read a book that is shelved as "experimental".

House of Leaves
Palimpsest
The Bone People
The Anatomist
Body

A - Global Beatles Day. The Beatles founded the record label, Apple Records. Read a book with the word "apple" in the title, or there are one or more apples on the cover.

Wax Apple by Tucker Coe a.k.a. Donald E. Westlake
Apple Tree Yard

R - Rose is the flower for June. Read a book with the word "rose" in the title, or where one or more roses are on the cover.

In Search of the Rose Notes

L - June is LGBT Month. Read a book that has an LGBT character in it.

Savage Season

Peggy wrote: "Haha, I always find it funny how the same challenge turns up many books for one person, and only a few for someone else."

I found many that fit, but none that I planned to read this month or choices I had gophered for the toppler. I was hoping to use a book off my shelf that I could take with me on a technology free weekend, but no luck. A couple I own on Kindle or audio, but I can't bring those with me. I'm wondering if it's a good idea to bring a library book on this vacation. Here's what I found that I might be interested in:

E
The Book Thief - This is the only one I own a paper copy of, but it is a bit chunky.

A
The Simplicity of Cider The library copy is due back 6/14. I'm leaving on the 15th....It might be a close call.
First Frost
A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty

L
Will Grayson, Will Grayson
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
This Is Where It Ends

I have a few books that fit, but none of them are audiobooks!


Experimental
- Perdido Street Station

Rose
- Roses and Rot
- Uprooted

LGBT
- The Book of Salt (also on my Toppler list)

Almeta wrote: "June 2017 Challenge worksheet

E - National Dare Day. ..."
The Anatomist is a whortwhile book

Mariab wrote: "Almeta wrote: "June 2017 Challenge worksheet

E - National Dare Day. ..."
The Anatomist is a whortwhile book"

Good to know.I speculated on using it for other challenges, but it always stays on the shelf. Must be time to dust it off and read it!

Almeta wrote: "Good to know.I speculated on using it for other challenges, but it alwa..."

Though I would say it is not so "experimental"; another book from the same author (Andahazi) would fit the label more: The Merciful Women, it is a book about books also, and therefore would fit the "Library" item for the Clue-Toppler (it's certainly a strage story, though)

Nice laid-back challenge Janice - love it. There are a few on my TBR list to choose from:

The Rose Hotel: A Memoir of Secrets, Loss, and Love From Iran to America
Rose of Sarajevo
The Midnight Rose
The Pearl That Broke Its Shell

My issue with the Experimental Category is that I don't know enough about them to qualify whether or not a book fits. Some are very obvious like Leaves of Grass & Cloud Atlas.

I was looking at the lists under Goodreads genre page last night and there were some that I thought might be questionable. For example, One Hundred Years of Solitude. I haven't read it, so I don't really know if it fits or not.

I found Watership Down which most likely does fit the category since it's from the POV of rabbits. And I own it on audiobook, so I think I'm going to go with it.

Oh, ETA - because of my own confusion, if a book is on those lists, I'll accept it for the challenge. I know the lists contain inaccuracies, but I'll use it as the defining authority. Ha!

Janice, I'm confused about the title points. Blame it on the tropical weather! My mind is overheated.

But should or should I not count the and a as words? Is 'The Rose Garden' 2 words or 3?

Janice wrote: "My issue with the Experimental Category is that I don't know enough about them to qualify whether or not a book fits. Some are very obvious

I gather the list includes anything any reader shelved as "experimental." The list certainly includes many books that were innovative from a literary standpoint. I can assure you that One Hundred Years of Solitude was extremely innovative when it came out, as its use of magical realism was groundbreaking in Latin American literature. But I'm not sure who would shelve books as "experimental," or why. It's not a category like history or biography. It could be used very subjectively by a reader, in the sense of "I don't know if I will like this, but I'm interested in trying it, so I will put it on my experimental shelf."

Peggy wrote: "Janice, I'm confused about the title points. Blame it on the tropical weather! My mind is overheated.

But should or should I not count the and a as words? Is 'The Rose Garden' 2 words or 3?"

It's 3 words. In this challenge, we are counting "a", "an", "the" as words. In the past we have often excluded the articles from determining how many words are in a title. I will tighten up the wording in the scoring criteria. I was being flippant.

Casceil wrote: "I gather the list includes anything any reader shelved as "experimental." ..."

I suspect that you are correct about that. We all have different connotations. To save myself some grief, we'll use those shelves as the definition.

Thanks Janice. I had it clear in my mind yesterday and thought I could count them, but today I wasn't sure anymore.

Mariab wrote: "...Though I would say it is not so "experimental"; another book from the same author (Andahazi) would fit the label more: The Merciful Women, it is a book about books also, and therefore would fit the "Library" item for the Clue-Toppler (it's certainly a strage story, though)."

Hmmm. I've added it. Sounds different.

Well, since I'm currently a lot of mm romances, I think I can find something to fit. I might even look at the points before deciding.

Baby Boomers Recognition Day: Main Character is over 50 years old.

Jeeze Janice, do we have to??

I found this for Apple and yeah, yeah I like the Beatles.

, The Apple Orchard by Susan Wiggs

I really want the lowest score, Janice :)))

As I am a real dare devil (!) I own quite a few books from the experimental shelf. At the moment I'm thinking of either Lost in a Good Book - gotta love Thursday Next - or a reread of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass. Might change my mind though.

I found a few more books that fit that I already have on my physical bookshelf:



I'm not sure I'm in the mood for any of them though. I may take a trip to the book store and browse. :)

My library reservation came in for Apple Tree Yard. So now I have options. We'll see what happens.

I'm going to go for the apple task by reading . Its part of a series I'm working on so it's perfect as long as rotten apples on the cover count, lol.

I really enjoy category challenges, so am looking forward to this. However, I do know I don't have many books with pearl in the name or on the cover from a challenge in a different group. That one was very hard for me. The apple probably will be as well. So, great challenge!

Experimental has piqued my interest! I think I'll take the dare and read one of those books.

I can't decide what I'm in the mood to read for this challenge. I have a few books that I own that fit, but I think I'm feeling inspired to browse the bookstore after all. I'm going to try to head over there tomorrow and see if I can find anything that looks really interesting. I also placed holds on The Simplicity of Cider and A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty at the library. I'm feeling a bit book indecisive this month.

Lori Z wrote: "I'm going to go for the apple task by reading . Its part of a series I'm working on so it's perfect as long as rotten apples on the cover count, lol."

I read several books in that series years ago, and enjoyed them. I bet new books have come out since I last read one.

I just started it awhile back and when I saw apples in the challenge I knew right where to look.

I plan to revisit The Unseen World. No one else shelves it as experimental, but having read it, I do consider it experimental. And since there is an LGBT character, it does fit the criteria for the challenge. Kind of a slow burner. Pretty amazing on first read. What about after second read? Hmm.

I'm going for something experimental. I found two on the given link, so I'm either reading Glamorama or S.. S will take more work, but it intrigues me.

There is a buddy read of S, if you are interested in their strategy and approach to the book, Debra.

Janice wrote: "There is a buddy read of S, if you are interested in their strategy and approach to the book, Debra."

Yep, I know, and I read the one guy's reading plan. Sounds like lots of work, but I'm intrigued. If I go for it, I'll join the buddy read. Thanks for the reminder, Janice.

I started A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty for this task. She has an apple tucked in her belt.

That's an interesting cover. I wonder if the book will explain why she has an apple tucked into her belt.

I was wondering that too.

I should get Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass audio download from the library on tuesday. That is listed under "experimental" on gr. It is alsi a segway into a book I bought last year Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy: Curiouser And Curiouser which I hope I will enjoy.

Kristie wrote: "I started A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty for this task. She has an apple tucked in her belt."

I have heard good things about that book Kristie. Interested to see how you like it.

New to the group, here. First time trying to jump into one of these challenges.

I assume the goal is to get a lot of points?

How does the scoring work if a book has multiple of the criteria in one category? Do you add up all the points, or take the highest?

For example, I found a book with the back of a head, trees, and the name at the top of the cover. Does that give 5 points for the head, or 10 for all three?

My husband I are going to be reading S., which would qualify as experimental I see, but I'm not sure I'll get through it in June and it really wouldn't get me very many points!

Welcome Sarah! How nice that you read books together with your husband :)

Yes, you can aim for the highest scoring book (although some people try to get the lowest score ;-)) but you will get a 'wall of fame' and badge for participation anyway.

You can usually score all points that apply for challenges, unless stated otherwise.

Have fun here at YLTO!

Welcome to the challenge Sarah. I did my my first monthly challenge two months back. I drove them bonkers asking questions so i can swear to how helpful and nice they all are

Peggy was kind enough to look over me score and she found me loads ;-p

Thanks for the welcome! And good to know it's safe to ask a lot of questions! :)

Reading books with my husband is sort of a new thing. He reads a lot, and he can get through an entire book in a matter of hours. I struggle to find the time to read and it takes me much longer to get through a book, but I used to read more and I miss it. We are working on a Day Zero list (101 things in 1001 days) together, and one of the goals on the list is to read 12 books together and discuss. We are on book 2.

Off to find a book for this challenge now!