Reading with Style discussion

Please discuss the Fall Sub-challenge, Reading Globally in this thread.

A couple of resources:

https://www.mappit.net/bookmap/

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

http://www.bookssetin.com/BookSearch....

As always, these are suggestions, the books reflected may not hit our 51% threshold.

Can someone let me know if The Kite Runner is set 51% or more in Afghanistan?

Ed wrote: "Can someone let me know if The Kite Runner is set 51% or more in Afghanistan?"

Yes, it is.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Ed wrote: "Can someone let me know if The Kite Runner is set 51% or more in Afghanistan?"

Yes, it is."

Thanks!

ok...another.... I was planning on reading Chaka by Thomas Mofolo which is a fictional account of Shaka Zulu.... of course, since the time of Shaka's life...the country of South Africa has been created..... Can I assume that this book would work for South Africa?

Does the alphabetical bonus work both ways, ie Z-A as well as A-Z?

Lagullande wrote: "Does the alphabetical bonus work both ways, ie Z-A as well as A-Z?"

Yes.

Ed wrote: "ok...another.... I was planning on reading Chaka by Thomas Mofolo which is a fictional account of Shaka Zulu.... of course, since the time of Shaka's life...the count..."

There may not be common agreement about this one, but we've decided you can use it for Lesotho, even though that might not comply with present day boundaries.

The present Lesotho, then called Basutoland, emerged as a single polity under King Moshoeshoe I in 1822. Moshoeshoe, a son of Mokhachane, a minor chief of the Bakoteli lineage, formed his own clan and became a chief around 1804. Between 1821 and 1823, he and his followers settled at the Butha-Buthe Mountain, joining with former adversaries in resistance against the Lifaqane associated with the reign of Shaka Zulu from 1818 to 1828.

And may I please request that you not ask such hard questions? ;-)

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Ed wrote: "ok...another.... I was planning on reading Chaka by Thomas Mofolo which is a fictional account of Shaka Zulu.... of course, since the time of Shaka's life...."

LOL...thanks.

I have a question about The Lost World. Descriptions have it set on a fictional island that is part of Costa Rica. Can that count for Costa Rica?

This could be a good excuse to get through a book that has been on my TBR shelf for a long time because I havent been real thrilled to read it.

Paula wrote: "I have a question about The Lost World. Descriptions have it set on a fictional island that is part of Costa Rica. Can that count for Costa Rica?

This could be a good excuse to get th..."

Our group policy has always been that a book could be set in a fictional location within a real location, and have the larger real location count for the task/challenge. As long as Costa Rica is clear as to the larger location, then you're fine with the fictional location within it.

Your link goes to Jurassic Park, so I didn't look at your specific title.

I'm not sure where this comment goes.

I noticed on the map of countries that there is no Scotland but Ireland is listed. Is this an oversite?

Bea wrote: "I'm not sure where this comment goes.

I noticed on the map of countries that there is no Scotland but Ireland is listed. Is this an oversite?"

No, it is not an oversight. Scotland is part of Britain. Ireland is its own country.

Can I get clarification on the reading covers part for the continents?

Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "Can I get clarification on the reading covers part for the continents?"

Do you need to know about a specific country? Not sure I understand the question.

Do we get extra points if there is more than one continent on the cover?

Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "Do we get extra points if there is more than one continent on the cover?"

What is on the cover of a book doesn't apply. You will read books set at least 51% in a country. The country is part of a continent. So if you read 10 books that are set on 2 continents, you get 25 points, and so on.

okay, thank you for the clarification :)

not an actual question for the mods, but a wail of pain: why are so many of my TBR global books so damn long??!

As seen in the plans, it's important to check country names against the list we are using.

Our List of Countries (from the list that connects to the map)

Thank you for such a fast response, Elizabeth!

Salt to the Sea

this is shelved as Lithuania can the setting be confirmed the GR metadata says only east prussia Thanks

Marie (UK) wrote: "Salt to the Sea

this is shelved as Lithuania can the setting be confirmed the GR metadata says only east prussia Thanks"

I think one or two in the group have read it, so could confirm location. But I can tell you that you can't use it anyway, as it is shelved as YA at BPL, and has a Lexile of 560.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Ed wrote: "ok...another.... I was planning on reading Chaka by Thomas Mofolo which is a fictional account of Shaka Zulu.... of course, since the time of Shaka's life...."

lol when I ask questions I will try to make them easier

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Marie (UK) wrote: "Salt to the Sea

this is shelved as Lithuania can the setting be confirmed the GR metadata says only east prussia Thanks"

I think one or two in the group have re..."
thats Ok what is a Lexile please?

ETA i think i get what Lexile is about but how do i find out what the Lexile for a book is?

Do letters have to be sequential or can you skip letters and still get alphabetical points?

Lexile is a score of reading level.

Here is our FAQ post about YA and Lexiles.

There is a link in that post to the Lexile site, but you may find this one easier to use. (We'll be fixing the lexile links.)

Marie (UK) wrote: "Do letters have to be sequential or can you skip letters and still get alphabetical points?"

No, the letters do not have to be sequential.

Marie (UK) - I saw a couple of issues on your plan. There are a few Agatha Christie novels that are used as Assignment books at BPL, and Death on the Nile is one of them. It has a low lexile and cannot be used for the sub-challenge. I did not check any of the others at BPL.

Also, Georgia for this sub-challenge is not the US state, but the European Asian country of Georgia, and Gone with the Wind will not work for the country of Georgia.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Marie (UK) - I saw a couple of issues on your plan. There are a few Agatha Christie novels that are used as Assignment books at BPL, and Death on the Nile is one of them. It has a low lexile and ca..."

thanks Elizabeth will look at them again

It might be good to say why we have the hard Lexile rule in the sub-challenge. For the 10- and 20-point tasks you can read books with a Lexile below 800, but they are not eligible for styles. While the sub-challenges don't usually have styles, they often have built-in enhanced scoring levels that could be thought to augment the book score in the same way as styles. Thus, books with a Lexile less than 800 are not allowed.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "It might be good to say why we have the hard Lexile rule in the sub-challenge. For the 10- and 20-point tasks you can read books with a Lexile below 800, but they are not eligible for styles. While..."

to be fair i will just rule out all YA books i cannot be bothered with scoring everything and as far as i understand the rule if it does not have YA on MPG it will be OK - is that right

Marie (UK) wrote: "as i understand the rule if it does not have YA on MPG it will be OK - is that right "

No, we do not use the YA at Goodreads. We chose to use the independent librarians at Brooklyn Public Library and which serves the Brooklyn school system. It is a large library system with something over 16 branches and serves about 2.5 million people.

If it is on Bloom's Canon, the lexile doesn't matter.
If BPL does not shelve the book, or doesn't designate it as Juv/YA/Assignment, the Lexile doesn't matter.
For books of short stories or with multiple titles, the Lexile doesn't matter.

It is only when a book is not on the Canon and BPL so designates that we even check the Lexile. Many such books have Lexiles 800 and greater.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Marie (UK) wrote: "as i understand the rule if it does not have YA on MPG it will be OK - is that right "

No, we do not use the YA at Goodreads. We chose to use the independent librarians at Brook..."

i cannot even read the lists on blooms canon the font is minuscule i have tried BPL link from above it just asks me what Lexile numbers i want to read - which i don't find much help If i input a title and nothing comes up does that mean its OK

I use my browser's find feature on Bloom's to see if a specific author or title is there. I use Chrome, which has the ability to enlarge a site's font. I don't know about other browsers, but I think they have that feature too.

Here is the link to BPL: http://catalog.brooklynpubliclibrary....

The link above is to the Lexile site.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I use my browser's find feature on Bloom's to see if a specific author or title is there. I use Chrome, which has the ability to enlarge a site's font. I don't know about other browsers, but I thin..."

Thanks Elizabeth I am not trying to be awkward but i don't think this is the challenge for me. I haven't time to check every book against yet another site andTo be fair in the time of Agatha Christie YA designations didn't even exist so i do feel it is a little strange that someone can now categorise them as such. I realise that you need to set rules for everyone to follow to make it fair but for me this just complicates reading. Thanks for all your help

Thank you for trying us out - and I hope you'll find time in the future for us.

For the alphabetising, would "Korea, Republic of" count as K or R?

I see from the example of Congo on your plan, that it would be K :)

Rosemary wrote: "For the alphabetising, would "Korea, Republic of" count as K or R?

I see from the example of Congo on your plan, that it would be K :)"

Yeah, I used the alphabetizing on the spreadsheet.

Another question: can we use non-fiction, e.g. Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother: Stories of Loss and Love for China?

Rosemary wrote: "Another question: can we use non-fiction, e.g. Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother: Stories of Loss and Love for China?"

There should be nothing wrong with using non-fiction for a country as long as it keeps to the 51% rule. I can't tell for sure if this one does, but from the description, it would appear so.

Thanks, Elizabeth. I have the book and from a flick through it, I'm pretty sure it will. But if not, I won't claim it, of course.

Rosemary wrote: "Thanks, Elizabeth. I have the book and from a flick through it, I'm pretty sure it will. But if not, I won't claim it, of course."

I will tell you it will qualifies for another task, so you're safe in any case.

Do the "number of continent" bonuses only count on completion of the sub-challenge?
Or, if I had only managed to read for 15.1 and 15.2 by the end of Fall but those 2 books covered 2 continents, would I get the 25pt bonus?

Lagullande wrote: "Do the "number of continent" bonuses only count on completion of the sub-challenge?
Or, if I had only managed to read for 15.1 and 15.2 by the end of Fall but those 2 books covered 2 continents, w..."

Only on completion.

is there going to be a race to be the first person to claim Antarctica??!

Cat wrote: "is there going to be a race to be the first person to claim Antarctica??!"

Lots of countries to be first for. ;-)

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Cat wrote: "is there going to be a race to be the first person to claim Antarctica??!"

Lots of countries to be first for. ;-)"

Oh, of course, it's just that Antarctica gives you the chance at the 7 continents too!

Clearly, it's the one I'm going for first....

Would Benito Cereno by Herman Melville work for Chile? GR doesn't say anything about the setting...but Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_... discusses the plot as happening on an island off the coast of Chile.