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

Team Cinconauts (WOFname)
Beth (Beth (Philly/TexBeth))
Carrie (Carrie)
Esther (Esther)
Lucy (Lucy)
Saar (Saar the Book Owl)
Roz (Roz)
Rusalka (Rusalka)

Spreadsheet

reserved

hi team!!!!
Anyone has a good ( or bad) idea for a name?

Hi everyone!

Esther, I requested access to the spreadsheet. I've never done such a team-effort challenge before. I assume we will want to coordinate books so that we can most efficiently complete at least hand one. I'll be honest, with work and the kids I don't expect to finish more than one book in a week. Sorry :(

Hello all!

This seems like a fun challenge! I'm terrible at naming things, but maybe something with Cinco in it?

I had to delete my Libby app because it was giving me issues today and after I re-downloaded it all of my tags were missing and the app had reverted back about 3 months. So...on the downside, I have to go find all of my year long challenge books and retag them, but on the upside, I can start gophering for this challenge, too.

Cinconauts!

Hey.. I ran out of time earlier... I posted the link to a spreadsheet to keep track of things in message 1.

If someone wants to co-captain, please let me know and I`ll give you edit rights.

May the gophering begins!

Carrie wrote: "Cinconauts!"

I like it!

I'll start with posting my options for Hand 1 for now:


4 - The Mauritius Command (4th in series) or Emperors of the Deep (Mostly Blue Cover)
Wild - Anything Listed for Card 1
4 - The Mauritius Command (4th in series) or Emperors of the Deep (Mostly Blue Cover)
6 - Mythos by Stephen Fry (Author starts with S), Going Home by James D Shipman (Last name starts with S)
Reverse - TBD
5 - Select Stories of Edgar Allan Poe (Mostly Red Cover)
Wild Draw 4 - Notes of a Crocodile (WILD - Animal on cover, Card 6 - mostly yellow cover)

These are the covers:



These are all based on Audiobook editions and covers, as that is primarily what I am able to consume these days. These are all audiobooks I own.

Carrie wrote: "Hi everyone!

Esther, I requested access to the spreadsheet. I've never done such a team-effort challenge before. I assume we will want to coordinate books so that we can most efficiently complete ..."

Yes, coordinating the thing is a bit of a puzzle but it's fun. And this is why Jamie made sure there was at least one person per team willing to do it.

If you read one book, that's fine. If you find out you have more time, well, you can just pick more during the week if you can/want to. Let us know what book you want and i will pencil you in.

Spreadsheet: You should all have access now by clicking on the link... Sorry. My mistake. :)

There is still over a week to go, so I will wait for other members to check in with their list before starting to fill in the slots.

Beth, Saar, Roz, Rusalka?

One thing. We have a reverse task, so one of us needs to read a book that has been read by anther member of the team before the toppler. So we need to gopher into each other read list as well.

Hello teamies!! I started gophering today, but work is weird. Hope i have more of a chance to look in tomorrow.

Oh and I was thinking the Reverse card would be really useful for the Wild options too

Also, we have a week to go and teams were only announced last night. I'm sure the others will check in over the next couple of days :D

Are we thinking of Hand 2 at this stage now too?

Rusalka wrote: "Are we thinking of Hand 2 at this stage now too?"
I think we should. There are 7 cards/hands and we are 7 in the team (so far). I know I always commit to 2 books at the beginning - one book and one audio -, so we will definitely start filling "hand 2" before the topler starts.

I can probably get through 4 or 5 listening to audiobooks at work. I usually listen at 1.5x speed so I can get an 8-10 hour book done in a day. More if I ignore any attempts to lure me into conversation at home. ;)

I will look into hand two tonight.

Hi all! I started goffering last night. I listed all the hands and started plugging in possible books that would fit the various configurations. But I think it would be more efficient (for me at least) to go through the 14 cards (0, 1, 2, ....) and list books that I could read that fit each card. Cards are used in multiple hands so more than one of us could read a card 1 book (as long as their different) and fill hands. I'm going to try to read/listen to shorter books. I'll commit to 2 but if I'm on a roll and no one is bothering me I hope I can do more. It's the beauty of semi-retirement and working (when I do) from home.

Right now I have books for Cards 0, 1 and 6.

Card 0: How Much of These Hills Is Gold or An American Princess: The Many Lives of Allene Tew ( author's names begin with Z)

Card 1: One Word Kill or Scarlet (#1 of series)

Card 6: Scarlet or A Separation or Slade House (titles that start with S)

I'm not sure if I understand the toppler completely, but I'll give it a try: we have 9 hands with 4 tasks each?

I'm planning to read:
How to Give Up Plastic: A Guide to Changing the World, One Plastic Bottle at a Time
It can be used for card 0:
- stand alone
Card 4 and 8:
- blue cover

Wild Horses of the Summer Sun: Iceland, freedom and the gift of female friendship
It can be used for card 0:
- stand alone
- white cover
Card 2:
- starting with 'T'
Wild draw 4:
- animal
- season

The Eyes of Darkness
It can be used for card 0:
- stand alone
Skip:
- letter 'K'
Draw 2:
- letter 'D'

That's what I can read, but maybe I can add extra's. I'll see.

Here are some options for Hand 2

Hand 2

9 - Naked Lunch (title starts with N)
9 - Naked Lunch (title starts with N)
7 - Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer (last name starts with V)
6 - Mythos by Stephen Fry (Author starts with S), Going Home by James D Shipman (Last name starts with S)
1 - Hounded (first in series)
3 - Hounded (starts with H), Helter Skelter (starts with H, but loooong book)
5 - Selected Stories of Edgar Allen Poe (Mostly Red Cover), Mythos by Stephen Fry (last name start with F), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (starts with F)

Has anyone here read The Ten Thousand Doors of January? I know a lot of people read it for a monthly read or buddy read, or something. I own it and haven’t read it yet, that would be an easy way to take care of the Reverse on Hand one.

I did read The Ten Thousand Doors of January
and Hounded as well (if this is the one?)

Yep, that's the version of Hounded. So that's two options for the reverse card that we have so far.

I started gophering but I have so many options...

One I would like to read is card 4 for Lion in the Valley as it is an audio that is available at my library and likely to stay this way.
I have a lot of ebooks on suspended hold right now that I really want to read and i am first in line for most of them. I will see next week what I can get. If not, there is Only Human that I can use for 1, 3, 6 and 9.
There is also Odd Interlude that is 4.5 in a series (draw 2) that I can read for card 1. (hand 3)
Or whatever else we need.

Team name: I also like Cinconauts.

Any other suggestion or shall we make it official?

hey everybody's chatting tonight!

I have options for hand 1:

Card 4: Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde (author starts with F)

Card 4: Ether Day by Julie Fenster (author starts with F)

Card 5: The Brightest Night (Wings of Fire book 5)

Card 6: The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King (author starts with S)

Wild: Between Heaven and Here by Susan Straight (author starts with S)

Reverse: 1984 (or I just noticed Shades of Grey would work for this too!)

I haven't found one that satisfies Wild Draw 4

For Hand 2:

card 9: Not My Father's Son (tltle starts with N)

card 7 or card 6: The Violinist's Thumb by Sam kean (Title starts with V and author starts with S)

card 1: Strength In What Remains, mostly red cover

card 3: The Dead Fathers Club by Matt Haig (author starts with H)

Ok, that's what I've found for now. Esther, are you going to coordinate who reads for which card?

Carrie wrote: "hey everybody's chatting tonight!

I have options for hand 1:

Card 4: Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde (author starts with F)

Card 4: Ether Day by Julie Fenster (auth..."

Yes, I am waiting for this weekend to start filling the spreadsheet. To give everyone a chance to chip in. there is still a week to go.

Beth has not been in here yet.

BTW, I read 3 of your list. ( Shades of Grey. 1984 and The Drawing of the Three

Saar The Book owl wrote: "I'm not sure if I understand the toppler completely, but I'll give it a try: we have 9 hands with 4 tasks each?

Saar, you've almost got it. There are 15 cards with 4 tasks each. A "hand" is a randomly selected set of 7 cards.

To complete one hand, we read 7 books, each one satisfying a task from a different card in the hand.

Hand One includes cards
4
Wild
4
6
Reverse
5
Wild Draw 4

So to complete the first hand, we need to read one book from each of those 7 cards. Does that make sense?

Esther wrote: "Carrie wrote: "hey everybody's chatting tonight!

I have options for hand 1:

Card 4: Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde (author starts with F)

Card 4: Ether Day by Juli..."

I've also read the three on your list that Esther mentioned. We are finding lots of options for that Reverse. Shades of Gray was a neat one!

Lucy wrote: "Shades of Gray was a neat one!..."

Not my favorite of his to be honest but i was still on the fun side. I wonder if he will eer get to the 2nd one. I like FForde crazy imagination. I just finished his latest. Early Riser a few days ago.

It's actually the only one of his I've read, I think it was a group read at some point. I've heard he is very imaginative and I do want to read more, I just don't seem to ever get to them. And yes, I was patiently waiting for more in the series but nothing seems to be coming.

Lucy wrote: "It's actually the only one of his I've read, I think it was a group read at some point. I've heard he is very imaginative and I do want to read more, I just don't seem to ever get to them. And yes,..."

My understanding is that he had a bit of a writer block for a few years. So i guess a lot of his plan were on hold. He seems to be back tough. But his next book is not in a series.

I just found out today he has a new one out: The Constant Rabbit. A colleague at work just received the proof to review in the paper today, so I got a slightly boastful, but informative email :P

I'm pretty set with my gophering right now.
I did it according to Cards instead of Hands. It made more sense to me. All the books I have listed are available either through my library or on my kindle already so being able to plug one into a Hand won't be a problem.
Here's what I have:

Card 0:

How Much of These Hills Is Gold Zhang, Pam
An American Princess: The Many Lives of Allene Tew Zijl, A. van der
One Word Kill
(white cover)
The Ginseng Hunter Stand alone
Silent Echo Stand alone
The Deep Stand alone

Card 1:

One Word Kill
Scarlet (#1 in series)
Still Alice
Sheepish: Two Women, Fifty Sheep, and Enough Wool to Save the Planet
A Separation
Slade House
The Stillwater Girls
A Morbid Taste for Bones
Silent Echo
The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit

Card 2:

The Two-Family House
This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!

Card 3:

The Heirs
How Much of These Hills Is Gold
The Red Garden (Alice Hoffman)
Evvie Drake Starts Over (Linda Holmes)

Card 4:

Fahrenheit 451
Flaubert's Parrot
Sheepish: Two Women, Fifty Sheep, and Enough Wool to Save the Planet (C. Friend)
The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit (M. Finkel)

Card 5:

I Was Anastasia
Remembering the Bones (F Itani)

Card 6:

Any of the "s" books listed under Card 1
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies (#6 No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency)

Card 7:

Varina
The Last Moriarty (C Veley)
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis (J. Vance)
The Dressmaker's Gift (F Valpy)
Blue Shoes and Happiness (#7 in series)

Card 8:

Eight Perfect Murders
The Good Husband of Zebra Drive (#8 in series)

Card 9:

The Miracle at Speedy Motors (#9 in series)

Skip:

The King at the Edge of the World
The Stillwater Girls (M. Kent)
When I Was You (M. Kent)
A Morbid Taste for Bones (E. Peters)
Peony in Love
My Life as a Silent Movie (J Kercheval)

Draw 2:

The Deep
The Dressmaker's Gift
Redhead by the Side of the Road

Wild Draw 4:

(trees)

Rusalka wrote: "I just found out today he has a new one out: The Constant Rabbit. A colleague at work just received the proof to review in the paper today, so I got a slightly boastful, but informa..."
That`s the one I was mentioning by his next not being in a series. Looks like it will be out in July or September depending on where you are. It looks insane. Can't wait!!! :)

Carrie wrote: "Saar The Book owl wrote: "I'm not sure if I understand the toppler completely, but I'll give it a try: we have 9 hands with 4 tasks each?

Saar, you've almost got it. There are 15 cards with 4 task..."

Thanks, Carrie, I think I understand it now.

I started filing spots in the spreadsheet. I added the amount of books you said you expected to read. This was pretty random and, really, most books can be easily moved around if you'd rather read something else. Just let me know.

Can you double check and make sure it makes sense for you?
So i picked:
Beth: MIA
Carrie: 1 book
Esther: 2 books
Lucy: 4 books
Saar: 3 books
Roz: 2 books
Rusalka: n/a

Could you switch out Fahrenheit 451 for Flaubert's Parrot please? It's very short (190 pages) and I hope I'll be able to read more than 2 books. Thanks.

Looks good to me. Thanks Esther!

You can put me down for The Brightest Night (5th in series) for card 5, hand 2. It's pretty short and I should be able to get through both.

Looks good to me Esther!

Sorry all. It's been a full on couple of days. I can usually manage 2 books per toppler. Sometimes more, but with how things have been, I will start slow. I will have time to gopher more tomorrow hopefully.

Also apologies, as I didn't realise this was our thread and couldn't find it when I went looking for it.

Rusalka wrote: "Sorry all. It's been a full on couple of days. I can usually manage 2 books per toppler. Sometimes more, but with how things have been, I will start slow. I will have time to gopher more tomorrow h..."

I changed the name this morning, about 30 minutes ago. Sorry.
there is still a week to go, so no rush. Just let me know which book you want to start with and i'll record it.

No worries at all! It was my ignorance not putting together Cinco with 5. I have about 15 mins now so going to do a quick gopher while I finish my wine while Lexx is in the shower.

Right, so different plan. I have spent a lot of time gophering and have been a bit over-whelmed by all the options. So good news is I can pretty much cover any task we need.

Are the holes I can plug on the spreadsheet Esther, and I will work out what I'll read for those cards?

Rusalka wrote: "Are the holes I can plug on the spreadsheet Esther, and I will work out what I'll read for those cards?."

I know!!! Finding booka is easier than usual. Almost scary as far as gophering go. :)

Hand 2 still have 1, 7, 9 to fill. So i'd say pick amongst these first.

We all have books in but for you and Beth.

Heh I just didn't know which way to look!

Okay I'll definitely take 1. I'll keep looking on the others. But put me in for that one,

Rusalka wrote: "Heh I just didn't know which way to look!

Okay I'll definitely take 1. I'll keep looking on the others. But put me in for that one,"
Noted!!

I put a link the the spreadsheet in the first mesage.

It was a bit overwhelming, all of the options I was finding, i ended up listed the ones I wanted to read most, or need to get done for the yearly challenge.

Sorry about coming to the party a bit late. We just found out that we are moving across country in less than a month. I am a little all over the place but will try to help with at least 1 book. I have meetings all afternoon, but will try to do some gophering tonight!

Moving in less than a month! Wow. I can imagine how busy you must be. That can be quite overwhelming. We're planning on moving across the country in your direction (from NY to Austin) but hopefully by the end of the year. Not as fast as you and I'm feeling a bit nervous about it so I can imagine how you feel.

Roz wrote: "Moving in less than a month! Wow. I can imagine how busy you must be. That can be quite overwhelming. We're planning on moving across the country in your direction (from NY to Austin) but hopefully..."

We are headed to New Hampshire. Great time to be getting out of Texas for many reasons, but still sad and very intense to anticipate getting this all done by the 10th--Also I start teaching two 6 week undergrad classes online the week we leave!!!!

Beth wrote: "Roz wrote: "Moving in less than a month! Wow. I can imagine how busy you must be. That can be quite overwhelming. We're planning on moving across the country in your direction (from NY to Austin) b..."

We’re moving to Austin to be closer to our grandson. But, damn, it’s hot. Any move is stressful, but you have a lot going on. Hope it all goes smoothly.