Reading with Style discussion

Please post any general questions about the spring challenge in this thread.

Masquerade (Micah Grey #3) by Laura Lam

YA but this particular book in the trilogy s is not at BPL nor have lexiles.

First 2 books are on BPL (YA) but not lexile.

I think I can still claim style (if any) for this book, is that right?

Tien wrote: "Masquerade (Micah Grey #3) by Laura Lam

YA but this particular book in the trilogy s is not at BPL nor have lexiles.

First 2 books are on BPL (YA) but not lexile...."

Correct. When the book is not shelved at BPL, no Lexile rule will apply.

If we post a completed book before all the tasks are posted, then it turns out we could have gotten combos with the new task to we get the combo points retro actively?

Rebekah wrote: "If we post a completed book before all the tasks are posted, then it turns out we could have gotten combos with the new task to we get the combo points retro actively?"

Yes. And even if you missed a combo and someone finds it late in the season, you will get the combo.

are we still keeping track of countries that we haven't "visited" yet?

Rebekah wrote: "are we still keeping track of countries that we haven't "visited" yet?"

Yes. See this thread:

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

I don't have a map yet with everything on it, but that will come and I'll move it over.

Do The Berlin Stories: The Last of Mr Norris/Goodbye to Berlin qualify for NaN points?

Ed wrote: "Do The Berlin Stories: The Last of Mr Norris/Goodbye to Berlin qualify for NaN points?"

No, sorry. According to the description: First published in the 1930s, The Berlin Stories contains two astonishing related novels...

[emphasis added]

That's what I thought...but GR has "Short Stories" as a MPG

Ed wrote: "That's what I thought...but GR has "Short Stories" as a MPG"

Sometimes GR members use their own methods. I have seen science fiction shelved as science. ;-)

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Ed wrote: "That's what I thought...but GR has "Short Stories" as a MPG"

Sometimes GR members use their own methods. I have seen science fiction shelved as science. ;-)"

LOL

well science is involved :)

In the same vein Olive Kitteridge is often shelved as short stories, but it is a novel, right?

Louise Bro wrote: "In the same vein Olive Kitteridge is often shelved as short stories, but it is a novel, right?"

I think of that as inter-connected stories and we are carrying it as short stories in the database.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Louise Bro wrote: "In the same vein Olive Kitteridge is often shelved as short stories, but it is a novel, right?"

I think of that as inter-connected stories and we are carrying it ..."

So I can claim Not-a-Novel styles for this one?

Louise Bro wrote: "So I can claim Not-a-Novel styles for this one? "

Yes!

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Louise Bro wrote: "So I can claim Not-a-Novel styles for this one? "

Yes!"

Hurray! I've had it on my shelves for ages (bookclub buy), but now its time has come at last!

Louise Bro wrote: "Hurray! I've had it on my shelves for ages (bookclub buy), but now its time has come at last! "

Enjoy! It is one of my all time favorites and the only book in the last 20 years I've read twice.

Thank you! That is a pretty glowing recommendation.

I just noticed that Mongolia is on the list of countries still to go in the Project One. On January 7, I posted Invisible Cities and neglected to point out that it was set in the Mongol Empire.

New person question... I just realised I missed some style points from a task I posted last night. Is it okay to edit my post in the completed tasks thread to add them, or if not is it okay to write a new post? (You can probably guess I also participate in the SRC where you can’t edit or delete any completed task posts.) Thank you.

Ed wrote: "I just noticed that Mongolia is on the list of countries still to go in the Project One. On January 7, I posted Invisible Cities and neglected to point out that it was set in the Mongol..."

Thanks, Ed. I'll fix that!

Bryony wrote: "New person question... I just realised I missed some style points from a task I posted last night. Is it okay to edit my post in the completed tasks thread to add them, or if not is it okay to writ..."

You can edit now if you wish, as we haven't yet gotten to it. You can sort of tell when Kate and I have been doing a scoring session, and after that it won't matter if you edit or not, as we don't go back and look at prior posts. If you see something later that we may have missed, you can use this thread to tell us about it.

Thank you Elizabeth, I’ll go back and edit it now then.

I'm reading The Daydreamer and I'm wondering whether it is a novel or a collection of short stories. The stories are related, they all have the same protagonist and they all concern his daydreaming. I see that some GR users shelve it as short stories, others talk about a novel in their reviews. I lean towards short stories but would like some feedback from those who have already read it.

PS. It is a children's book but has a Lexile of 840.

Not to shoot ourselves in the foot..... but: I noticed in the styles game scorecard that Kate just posted, that she has counted Cory Day's points. Cory says in her posts that they were read before the game started (posts 114, 133, 134).

"Any styles claimed (by participants in the team event) between March 15th and April 15th will be counted toward the team score."-posted Feb 13

The way the system is set up, it is not conducive to pick and choose which posts will be included. Hence the above statement made before the games began. It will come out in the wash, I am sure.

Kate S wrote: ""Any styles claimed (by participants in the team event) between March 15th and April 15th will be counted toward the team score."-posted Feb 13

The way the system is set up, it is not conducive to..."

Ok, thanks Kate. I just wanted to make sure everything was above board! We don't seem to be a threat to any other team's score anyway!

Hi,

I just completed the graphic novel Persepolis. It is about 150 pages long. What can I claim on this?

Thanks

Lalitha wrote: "Hi,

I just completed the graphic novel Persepolis. It is about 150 pages long. What can I claim on this?

Thanks"

Graphic novels can be claimed for any 10- or 20-point task for which they might qualify, but do not earn any potential styles. For this specific title, I'm not sure which task you were intending, but I see it fits 20.2 The Blazing World as it has been shelved Feminism 176 times.

Hi Elizabeth, my question was actually twofold. The length of the 'novel' is not much. It is a mere 150 pages. Also, I do not know what differentiates a style from points. I can get a 20 as per your post. It is not a novel either so can I claim points for that or is that categorized under style?

Lalitha wrote: "Hi Elizabeth, my question was actually twofold. The length of the 'novel' is not much. It is a mere 150 pages. Also, I do not know what differentiates a style from points. I can get a 20 as per you..."

Our page minimum for claiming a task is 100 pages, so you're good on the length. All of the points other than the 10- or 20- points for the task itself are called styles, and yes Not a Novel points are style points. Styles do not apply to the 15-point "sub-challenge" tasks.

You will see that the style points change somewhat with each challenge. Every season has Combo and Jumbo styles, but the other 3 may change from season to season.

Great! Thank you Elizabeth ☺

Lalitha wrote: "Great! Thank you Elizabeth ☺"

You're welcome. Any time you have questions, we'll try to sort them out.

I just had a look at the readerboard and it shows me at 235 through post 197, ten points behind my own calculation. I'm including the extra +5 combo Kate pointed out for Command and Control, but I haven't found a place the other ten points may have gone. If everything looks fine on your end just say the word, I'm more than ready to blame my math ;)

Kazen wrote: "I just had a look at the readerboard and it shows me at 235 through post 197, ten points behind my own calculation. I'm including the extra +5 combo Kate pointed out for Command and Control, but I ..."

Missing points found. It will be corrected next time I update the Readerboards.

Thank you so much, Kate!

I have a question about the 100 page minimum rule. If the most popular edition is less than 100 pages, does this mean you cannot use the book even if the edition you read is longer?

I read this edition of Doctor Faustus which is 191 pages, but the most popular edition is Dr. Faustus with only 56 pages. Does this mean the book can’t be used? Thank you!

Bryony wrote: "I have a question about the 100 page minimum rule. If the most popular edition is less than 100 pages, does this mean you cannot use the book even if the edition you read is longer?

I read this ed..."

Yes, that title does not comply with the 100 page minimum. We adopted this policy so that everyone who reads the title gets the same points. As was pointed out by a former moderator, she uses a very large library with easy access to large print editions. Those editions often have significantly larger page counts, and would more often allow jumbo points that would not be available to the average user.

We do occasionally have tasks where a combination of titles with fewer than 100 pages can be claimed.

Thank you for explaining, that all makes sense. I think for this book the difference is probably that my edition includes some introductory essays and other background reading, as well as explanatory notes on each page of the play (fortunate for me as I would have struggled with the language otherwise).

Hi,
I was wondering what mpe stood for. And what the mpe is for Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix.
Thanks!

Hi Jesa, and welcome!

MPE = Most Popular Edition, and here it means the most popular English-language print edition (not large print). In most cases it is the default edition when you do a search, but not always, so it's good to go to the other editions page and sort by "num ratings".

The MPE for that Harry Potter is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - good for 10.7 and 20.9 that I see without looking too hard, plus 15 jumbo points.

You can claim any book you have finished since March 1. Feel free to ask as many questions as you wish - we know it sometimes takes a season or two to settle in.

I was about to claim The Things They Carried when I noticed in the description it says "neither a novel nor a short story collection." Is it a novel or not for not-a-novel purposes?

Rosemary wrote: "I was about to claim The Things They Carried when I noticed in the description it says "neither a novel nor a short story collection." Is it a novel or not for not-a-novel purposes?"

We've marked it as a novel for RwS purposes.

I want to check into the date for The Best Short Stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and I believe we use the author's date of death (1881) for short stories if nothing is listed. Is that correct? It may be a moot point, though, because I went to BPL to see what they had and found it was a YA assignment book:( The canon lists short novels but not short stories specifically. There is no lexile for his stories but, of course, the rest of his works that have lexiles are well in range. Verdict? I was going to read this for the styles challenge for my group before time runs out, so I'll wait until after the challenge if it doesn't get styles.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "We've marked it as a novel for RwS purposes."

Thanks!

Karen Michele wrote: "I want to check into the date for The Best Short Stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and I believe we use the author's date of death (1881) for short stories if nothing is l..."

You can use this. In the recent past (a year?), we changed our policy regarding books that contain multiple titles - including short story collections - so that the Lexile rule does not apply. We did this because many teachers may use only one or two stories from a collection and ignore the others. We can't know which ones and think it unfair to members that the entire collection be disallowed.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Karen Michele wrote: "I want to check into the date for The Best Short Stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and I believe we use the author's date of death (1881) for short s..."

I always wondered...what is the logic for not allowing assigned books in the first place?

Ed wrote: "what is the logic for not allowing assigned books in the first place? "

Of course, it depends on the Lexile. We needed to have an independent entity decide which books we should check, which books are appropriate for younger audiences. Because RwS is a challenge group, the books should be at least somewhat challenging. Originally the Lexile level was only 700, but we changed it to 800 several years ago. That is still 6th grade reading level.