2025 Reading Challenge discussion

Octothorpe Reader wrote: "I see from past monthly challenges, there are usually 2x challenges per month. For August I can only see the one so far (Red Queen). Did I perhaps miss it?"

Octothorpe, we usually have one group read and two monthly challenges each month. For July, we had a tie in the poll, so we decided to make an exception and do two group reads. In August, Red Queen will be the only group read.

The two challenges for August are not yet posted, but the threads will be created somewhere in the next couple of days.

Octothorpe Reader wrote: "I see from past monthly challenges, there are usually 2x challenges per month. For August I can only see the one so far (Red Queen). Did I perhaps miss it?"
Hi,
Red Queen refers to the group read for August. There will be two monthly challenges posted for August within a few days (we're just putting the finishing touches to them). :)

awesome thank you :)

Ilona wrote: "Octothorpe Reader wrote: "I see from past monthly challenges, there are usually 2x challenges per month. For August I can only see the one so far (Red Queen). Did I perhaps miss it?"

Octothorpe, w..."

Great! thanks!

Rachael wrote: "Octothorpe Reader wrote: "I see from past monthly challenges, there are usually 2x challenges per month. For August I can only see the one so far (Red Queen). Did I perhaps miss it?"
Hi,
Red Queen..."

I can't remember what group I did this in, that there was a link you can click on and then search for the different booksshelves. What is the easiest way to find a discription of a bookshelf

Robin wrote: "I can't remember what group I did this in, that there was a link you can click on and then search for the different booksshelves. What is the easiest way to find a discription of a bookshelf"

Robin, we have one bookshelf with the past and present groupreads: https://www.goodreads.com/group/books...
But looking at the groups you are a member of, I think you are mean the Pick-a-Shelf group ;)

Thanks but maybe I'm not using the right description of what I'm asking. I was trying to decide what the book I just read would fall under in the bingo. I thought at one time I clicked of a link that gave you a search box that you could type in the name of the shelve you were looking for.

Now I get it, sorry for the misunderstanding.
Every book has a list of genres on the right site of the page, and you can also search by genre here: https://www.goodreads.com/genres
Is this what you were looking for?

Ilona wrote: "Now I get it, sorry for the misunderstanding.
Every book has a list of genres on the right site of the page, and you can also search by genre here: https://www.goodreads.com/genres
Is this what yo..."

Yes thanks I is what I was trying to find

Maybe one of the mods know - Is there a way I can add shortcuts to my GoodReads home screen? I would like to add the group (+discussions) to my home screen for easy navigation.

Hello! I was wondering when the the tbr twins for August would be announced. Thank you and have a great day

Octothorpe Reader wrote: "Maybe one of the mods know - Is there a way I can add shortcuts to my GoodReads home screen? I would like to add the group (+discussions) to my home screen for easy navigation."

I checked with the other mods and, unfortunately, there is not. For easy navigation we recommend bookmarking the group home page or specific threads.

Satin wrote: "Hello! I was wondering when the the tbr twins for August would be announced. Thank you and have a great day"

Kara just posted them, you can find them here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Have fun! :)

Ilona wrote: "Octothorpe Reader wrote: "Maybe one of the mods know - Is there a way I can add shortcuts to my GoodReads home screen? I would like to add the group (+discussions) to my home screen for easy naviga..."

Thank you Ilona!

I want to ask for book recommendations for the Member's Task Challenge. Is it okay to create a prompt specific thread asking for recommendations (and if so, which is the appropriate folder)? Or would the challenge thread be the most appropriate place? (The problem with the challenge thread is, thanks to how GoodReads replies work, it would be difficult to find the recommendations easily)

Aparajita wrote: "I want to ask for book recommendations for the Member's Task Challenge. Is it okay to create a prompt specific thread asking for recommendations (and if so, which is the appropriate folder)? Or wou..."

Thanks for your question Aparajita! You can post your question in the challenge thread as you suggested yourself, but I get that it would be difficult to find the replies. A specific thread can be made in our Group Discussions - Let's Chat! folder. I hope you get some great recommendations! :)

Hey guys, could someone set up a buddy read thread for the darkest minds by alexandra bracken for us? Susy, satin and me.
We've been discussing in the buddy read request folder for now, but I'm almost finished and it'd be nice to have a dedicated folder for it :)

Angela Jr. wrote: "Hey guys, could someone set up a buddy read thread for the darkest minds by alexandra bracken for us? Susy, satin and me.
We've been discussing in the buddy read request folder for now, but I'm alm..."

Mary Pat made a thread for you, here it is: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Someone may have asked this and I KNOW i saw the answer to this somewhere I just can't recall where. How do I get to the discussion for the current August read from the group's main page and how do I see the list of the books that we voted on. There was a book on there that I really want to read that wasn't chosen.

Thanks!

Hi Sarah here is the link for the book from Red Queen
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

As far as the first and second place books you can do as a buddy read if anyone is interested. Here is the intro thread for that. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

Let us know if this is not what you meant and i can try to help more.

Sarah wrote: "Someone may have asked this and I KNOW i saw the answer to this somewhere I just can't recall where. How do I get to the discussion for the current August read from the group's main page and how do..."

In addition to Blagica's answer, here is the closed nomination thread for August if you are looking for one of the books that was not chosen. You can also check out the poll results here.

Ilona wrote: "Ras Tazie wrote: "I can't find my old Post and threads of my challenges to update. Normally I search my name and it pops up but since yesterday I haven't been able to to find it. Plz help"

Ras Taz..."

Thank you!

How do I customize my home page

Hi Michael what are you trying to do exactly?

Hi Mods,

A couple of my yearly challenges haven't been updated since April. Is that normal? Thanks.

Mindy wrote: "Hi Mods,

A couple of my yearly challenges haven't been updated since April. Is that normal? Thanks."

Mindy, to be honest with you: no, that is not how we would like it to be, Unfortunately, many of us have been very busy with our personal lives and the yearly challenges have gotten less attention. We will try to update as soon as possible!

We work as a team and fill in for one another when necessary, but at the moment we are not able to edit each others posts. This is mainly a problem for the yearly challenges, and we are trying to figure out a solution.

Thanks Ilona.

I hate to ask, but I'm going to anyway!

Would it be at all possible if for next year you can add more Challenges to the Personal Challenge area? My personal thread gets lost in the shuffle -I'm an over 300 book a year reader (there are quite a few of us who do 250 and up, there is actually one who has read over 800 books so far this year!) and we seem to get lost within the 100+ group unless we make separate posts for each books we read. I merely keep a monthly list and edit it when I need to add a book.

I hate to be a bother, but I've really enjoyed keeping track of my books on here and in this manner.

Thank you, Kristin, for thinking this was a request that deserved looking into -and your ideas of me renaming or bookmarking my thread are ones that I myself should have thought of.


Thank-you again.
Dianne

I haven't read all the questions in this thread so maybe someone already asked and someone else already answered, but we are doing the Secret Santa exchange again this year, right? I look forward to it every year!!
While I'm asking, is that something that is automatically done as long as people are participating, or is it something that gets decided each year as Christmas gets closer? I'm asking because I guess I want to know if I have to ask every year or if I can just assume that it's going to happen and keep my eye out for it. :D

Hello! I am enjoying this group so much!
Today, I have a question about the quarterly and monthly challenges.
I've noticed that polls are held for the yearly theme, the yearly challenges, and the monthly group read.
How are the quarterly and monthly challenges also decided?

oshizu wrote: "Hello! I am enjoying this group so much!
Today, I have a question about the quarterly and monthly challenges.
I've noticed that polls are held for the yearly theme, the yearly challenges, and the m..."

Hi Oshizu, we have a thread where members can suggest monthly and quarterly challenges (https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...). and we try to go with those ideas or incorporate them in a challenge. If we don't get any suggestions we come up with something ourselves. So, in this case, the mods decide.

Keri wrote: "I haven't read all the questions in this thread so maybe someone already asked and someone else already answered, but we are doing the Secret Santa exchange again this year, right? I look forward t..."

Sorry for my late answer, but yes. We will be doing Secret Santa this year. Just keep an eye on the mod corner :)

Michelle wrote: "are doing the Secret Santa exchange again this year, right? I look forward to it every year!!
While I'm asking, is that something that is automatically done as long as people are participating, or is it something that gets decided each year as Christmas gets closer?"

Nothing goes automatically here, Kara spends a lot of time every year to make Secret Santa possible :)
But, yes, I look forward to it too.

Ilona wrote: "oshizu wrote: "Hello! I am enjoying this group so much!
Today, I have a question about the quarterly and monthly challenges.
I've noticed that polls are held for the yearly theme, the yearly challe..."
@Ilona
Thank you very much for the explanation and the link!

Ilona wrote: "Keri wrote: "I haven't read all the questions in this thread so maybe someone already asked and someone else already answered, but we are doing the Secret Santa exchange again this year, right? I l..."

Thank you! Glad to hear that.

(Thank you, Kara, I greatly appreciate your work in making Secret Santa possible. Heck with it, thank all of you mods for all of the work you put into this group. It makes this place fun and alive).

Ilona wrote: "Mindy wrote: "Hi Mods,

A couple of my yearly challenges haven't been updated since April. Is that normal? Thanks."

Mindy, to be honest with you: no, that is not how we would like it to be, Unfort..."

One way to minimize the mods' work of tracking updates for yearly challenges might be to have challenge participants post once a week instead of whenever they finish a book.
For example, if I read three books in one week for a challenge, I would add the 2 additional books to my initial "Update msg xx" post, instead of posting two more times.
Not sure if this is a feasible solution, but it'd be sad if our mods spent more time tracking updates then enjoying their own reading.

oshizu wrote: "it'd be sad if our mods spent more time tracking updates then enjoying their own reading. "

Don't worry Oshizu :)

Regarding the frequency of the updates, you can do that however you like. Some members update once a month, some post an update after finishing every book. Either way is fine.

Ilona wrote: "oshizu wrote: "it'd be sad if our mods spent more time tracking updates then enjoying their own reading. "

Don't worry Oshizu :)

Regarding the frequency of the updates, you can do that however y..."
@Ilona
Thank you for letting me know! :D

@Oshizu,

I only update once per month at most.

Thanks, Ilona.

Mindy wrote: "@Oshizu,

I only update once per month at most.

Thanks, Ilona."
@Mindy

Thank you for your response.
Do you post updates to the challenge thread(s) monthly while keeping detailed records in your personal challenge thread or member's corner?
I only joined this group this year and am trying to figure out the most efficient way to track my reading and challenge participation.

Hi Oshizu are you asking how to track your personal challenge? Or are you referring to the group challenges? If you mean your space that is completely up to you. Everyone has there way of doing things. I hope this helps if this isnt what you are asking let us know.

Blagica wrote: "Hi Oshizu are you asking how to track your personal challenge? Or are you referring to the group challenges? If you mean your space that is completely up to you. Everyone has there way of doing thi..."
@Blagica

Thank you for your response.
Since this is my first year in the group, I started by creating a member's corner. Lately, I wish I'd created a personal challenges space that also tracks my group challenges.
I've been looking at the personal challenges and member's corner of other group members to get a better idea of what I want to do.
I think next year, I will try to have only a personal challenges space. Still researching.

For now, I record reading progress in an Excel file.
It helps a lot with the math. :D

I deleted this question because it was in the wrong thread.
Sorry!

if you need anything else let us know =)

Blagica wrote: "if you need anything else let us know =)"

Thank you, Blagica! Will do. ;-)

GoodReads Choice Awards. I am not sure if this is the right forum to ask this question, but while going through the list of shortlisted books for the above award, I inadvertently "voted" for a book I hadn't read! Now I can't "un-vote" it! Please guide :(

Juljulie wrote: "GoodReads Choice Awards. I am not sure if this is the right forum to ask this question, but while going through the list of shortlisted books for the above award, I inadvertently "voted" for a book..."

First of all, thanks for your question, I almost missed the semi-final round!

If you go to the category that you voted for, you'll see your vote at the top of the page. In that right top corner of that rectangle, above Next category it says clear vote. Click that and you should be able to vote for another book.

Thank you, Ilona, for your prompt response! I shall rectify it immediately! 2018 has been a year of some great books...it's so difficult to decide! And the new category of "Best of the best" is also sooo interesting...I spent hours poring over it!

Are we doing Secret Santa this year? Please say yes!

Sharon wrote: "Are we doing Secret Santa this year? Please say yes!"

Yes