Challenge Corner discussion

If you have any questions about the challenge - please write them here.

Q: During Round four, can we read for the same task multiple times?
A: Yes, so each task is repeatable throughout the round. I know that round 4 has so many tasks/rooms to read for, so if you want to read for the same room/task you totally can.

Q: Which Mediterranean books list are we talking about for the water challenge?
A: I will post the information for the first game and first round in your groups chat after I finish posting the review threads :) That way you will know what lists I'm talking about.

Q: Question as this is my first challenge in the group.

We don't have to shelve/review the most popular edition, correct? We just have to use the page count from that edition?

Just making sure as I'm obsessive about making sure I've shelved the actual edition I read since I use GR as a catalogue of my books.
A: Correct, you can read and review any edition of the book but just use the correct page count when posting on the team's review thread.

So for example, if you read the following:
, but you read this edition - A Man Called Ove. You can read and review the edition that you read but the page count you would be using is 337 pages. The reason why is because it's the first book on the 'Other Editions', HERE.

Q: One last question regarding start time for the rounds. Does the challenge start in a specific time zone? Or is is just once it's Nov 1 in my time zone, I can start?
A: Midnight in your own time zone for both start and finish of each round. Typically for the last day of the challenge, I would use GR's time zone because that would be 3am my time (since I'm on the East Coast) but going by your own time zone might be easier on everyone.

Q: Hi Alaina - This is my first challenge in this group...so if I understand correctly, when we finish a book, we add it to the 'review' thread using the format and info there and you keep track of the points and everything?
A: Correct, you will post everything on the team's review thread. The spreadsheet will just help you, as a team, keep track of who is reading what and such.

During Round four, can we read for the same task multiple times?

Kelly wrote: "During Round four, can we read for the same task multiple times?"

Yes, so each task is repeatable throughout the round. I know that round 4 has so many tasks/rooms to read for, so if you want to read for the same room/task you totally can.

Alaina wrote: "Kelly wrote: "During Round four, can we read for the same task multiple times?"

Yes, so each task is repeatable throughout the round. I know that round 4 has so many tasks/rooms to read for, so if..."

Alright :) I like the idea of reading only black books or something like that for a few days

Which Mediterranean books list are we talking about for the water challenge?

Jennifer wrote: "Which Mediterranean books list are we talking about for the water challenge?"

I will post the information for the first game and first round in your groups chat after I finish posting the review threads :) That way you will know what lists I'm talking about.

Question as this is my first challenge in the group.

We don't have to shelve/review the most popular edition, correct? We just have to use the page count from that edition?

Just making sure as I'm obsessive about making sure I've shelved the actual edition I read since I use GR as a catalogue of my books.

Melanie wrote: "Question as this is my first challenge in the group.

We don't have to shelve/review the most popular edition, correct? We just have to use the page count from that edition?

Just making sure as I'..."

Correct, you can read and review any edition of the book but just use the correct page count when posting on the team's review thread.

So for example, if you read the following:
, but you read this edition - A Man Called Ove. You can read and review the edition that you read but the page count you would be using is 337 pages. The reason why is because it's the first book on the 'Other Editions', HERE.

Alaina wrote: "Correct, you can read and review any edition of the book but just use the correct page count when posting on the team's review thread...."

Great, thank you!

One last question regarding start time for the rounds. Does the challenge start in a specific time zone? Or is is just once it's Nov 1 in my time zone, I can start?

Melanie wrote: "Alaina wrote: "Correct, you can read and review any edition of the book but just use the correct page count when posting on the team's review thread...."

Great, thank you!

One last question regar..."

Midnight in your own time zone for both start and finish of each round. Typically for the last day of the challenge, I would use GR's time zone because that would be 3am my time (since I'm on the East Coast) but going by your own time zone might be easier on everyone.

Hi Alaina - This is my first challenge in this group...so if I understand correctly, when we finish a book, we add it to the 'review' thread using the format and info there and you keep track of the points and everything?

D.G. wrote: "Hi Alaina - This is my first challenge in this group...so if I understand correctly, when we finish a book, we add it to the 'review' thread using the format and info there and you keep track of th..."

Correct, you will post everything on the team's review thread. The spreadsheet will just help you, as a team, keep track of who is reading what and such.

Thanks Alaina. I'm in awe of that spreadsheet hahaha!!

Ok, more questions...both about the "water in text" task.

Does verbs or compound words count? Let's say I found "watering the plants"...would that still be good enough?

Also, can we use Kindle locations to denote where in the text? I listen to audiobooks exclusively and I use Amazon to find the quotes but some books are not searchable. In cases like that, I get the sample but sometimes those don't have pages...

D.G. wrote: "Ok, more questions...both about the "water in text" task.

Does verbs or compound words count? Let's say I found "watering the plants"...would that still be good enough?

Also, can we use Kindle l..."

Yes, watering would be acceptable for 'water' in text. You can also use google books and search for words that way as well. As for Kindle Locations, yes you can use that or the % or the actual page number.

Awesome, Alaina. Thanks! (no more questions for today hahaha!)

D.G. wrote: "Awesome, Alaina. Thanks! (no more questions for today hahaha!)"

Lol you're welcome!

If I wind up reading a book that does not fit the tasks active for the day, can I bank it till the time it fits or would it be lost for the challenge?

☘Misericordia☘ ~ The Serendipity Aegis ~ wrote: "If I wind up reading a book that does not fit the tasks active for the day, can I bank it till the time it fits or would it be lost for the challenge?"

If your book doesn't work for any of the open tasks in Round 1, then you will have to wait to post the book for points for Round 2. If you post it now, it will just be on hold until your team finished the first round. The points wont be counted until then either.

I was wondering if I read a book that is only available in a language that is not English (it would be Portuguese in my case), can I still use this book for "water" in text, for exemple, giving you the actual quotation followed by a translation to English of it?

I don't know if I'll read any Brazilian books in november, but I never know as kindle unlimited is so tempting.

Tayane wrote: "I was wondering if I read a book that is only available in a language that is not English (it would be Portuguese in my case), can I still use this book for "water" in text, for example, giving you..."

Sure, that would work :)

Thanks :D

Alaina wrote: "If your book doesn't work for any of the open tasks in Round 1, then you will have to wait to post the book for points for Round 2. If you post it now, it will just be on hold until your team finished the first round. The points wont be counted until then either." Thanks! :)

☘Misericordia☘ ~ The Serendipity Aegis ~ wrote: "Alaina wrote: "If your book doesn't work for any of the open tasks in Round 1, then you will have to wait to post the book for points for Round 2. If you post it now, it will just be on hold until ..."

OMG I thought this question was on the Hocus Pocus Q&A lol. Okay, so here's my real answer:

If a book you are reading doesn't work for the current round or game that your team is on, you can either do the following:

1) Put it on the banked tab and see if it will work for a future game or round
2) Add it to that game's round on the SS but wait to post it until that part of the game is open.

Hello! It is my first team challenge in the group so I want to be sure that I understand it correctly.

1. As the rounds are short, what happens if you are midway with a book from the previous round? Do the pages you have read count for round 1 and then, if that book fits the category for the following round, you can count the remaining pages for the second round? Or do the books need to be completed in each round?

2. Task Letters W,A,T,E,R are in the series title (in any order):
Am I right saying that all the letters need to be in the series name? So, as an example, if I were to choose Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I need to find the five letters in Harry Potter (Series name). (In this case it wouldn't work).

3. Author's initials are in RIVER:
Do I need to find both initials or just one would fit? Following Harry Potter example, J.K. Rowling would work because of the R? Or it doesn't because there is no J?

4. We don't do anything in the spreadsheet, right? We have it for visibility on how we are doing.

Thank you and sorry for all the questions!!

⚚♆ Cynthia ♆⚚ wrote: "Hello! It is my first team challenge in the group so I want to be sure that I understand it correctly.

1. As the rounds are short, what happens if you are midway with a book from the previous roun..."

Lots of good questions Cynthia! Good thing I have a cup of coffee right next to me, so I'm hoping everything will make sense to you - if not, let me know.

1. Due to the rounds being so short for each game, I'm not expecting anyone to start and finish a book in each round and then ghosting all the other books that they started for this challenge. The reason why I asked how many books per week was just to get a general idea of how many books each team could read in a month, together.

I also know that everyone reads at their own pace, so if anyone starts a book on November 1st but they finish it during the weeks of Round 2, then by all means - post away! It's a two month challenge, so if a book you read doesn't work for that round/game, you can always post it for a round/game that it fits.

As for remaining pages, if you started a book before November and the page count you read in November/December was more than 100 pages - you can still count it for a category/task in this challenge. If it's less than 100 pages, then it will go towards page points only.

2. For 'W,A,T,E,R in a series title', yes, you would be correct that all the letters need to be in the series title. For tasks like this, or anything to do with the title/series title, you can always use ANY edition of the book. So if you do read a Harry Potter book and one of the editions has all 5 letters in the series name, you can use that book.

That doesn't mean you need to read and review that specific edition, you would just use it for that task.

For example,


Review: add here
Buddy: add here (if it's participated within the group)
Pages: 546 (https://www.goodreads.com/work/editio...)
Task: Letters W,A,T,E,R in series title
How it fits: shAdoWhunTER chronicles is one of the series that this book is under.

3. For 'Author's initials in RIVER', both of the author's initials would need to be in the actual word. So J.K. Rowling wouldn't work.

4. Nope, it's more for your team to know what everyone is doing reading wise. That's pretty much it.

**Just know that for rounds with multiple tasks, you don't need to read a book for each one by yourself. You can honestly read for the same task over and over again lol. I just tried to give variety for each round.

Alaina wrote: "**Just know that for rounds with multiple tasks, you don't need to read a book for each one by yourself. You can honestly read for the same task over and over again lol. I just tried to give variety for each round. "

Thanks for that! Variety is good! And I love that we can use any books we started during the challenge period for later rounds!! So many challenges you have to read the task during the timeframe they are announced...

Alaina wrote: "Lots of good questions Cynthia! Good thing I have a cup of coffee right next to me, so I'm hoping everything will make sense to you - if not, let me know."

Coffee is always important! Thanks so much! Everything makes sense, apart from question 1 that I think I misunderstood it from the beginning.

Example to see if now I got it:

I start Book 1 on 1st Nov and finish 3rd Nov that fits one of the tasks for Game 1 Round 1 - I use it for that round.

I start Book 2 on 4th Nov and finish 7th Nov that fits one of the tasks for Game 1 Round 1 but now we are in Round 2 - If it fits the task for Round 2 I can use if for Round 2, if it doesn't fit I wait for another round that it does. However, I cannot use it for Round 1 as it is over.

Is the above correct? Meaning that we can use the books read during the whole challenge period in any round that fits but once the round is over, we cannot add more books to them? E.g. I read a book in December that fits a task from a previous Nov round, not possible. I need to find a task for future rounds to fit.


Thank you so much in advance!!

⚚♆ Cynthia ♆⚚ wrote: "Alaina wrote: "Lots of good questions Cynthia! Good thing I have a cup of coffee right next to me, so I'm hoping everything will make sense to you - if not, let me know."

Coffee is always importan..."

Yes, that is correct! If a round is over, you can't post a book for it anymore. Just know that the following rounds will continue the same theme in each game:

1, The Mote - will have water themed tasks.

2, The Steps of Knowledge - each team will get a trivia question from Olmec. Each question will have 3 possible choices/tasks to read for. One of which is the correct answer. However, you can read for any of the 3 tasks for the entire round.

3, The Temple Games - will be a spell out. So each team will use the first letter of the book title, series title, or the author's first/last name towards the word you are spelling out. One book per letter.

4, The Temple Run - will have lots of rooms and tasks/categories to read for.

So you have lots of options to use a book if the round you wanted to use it for has been completed.

Yay!! That's perfect, thank you Alaina :) Understood everything now. Looking forward to start, I love the challenge idea.

⚚♆ Cynthia ♆⚚ wrote: "Yay!! That's perfect, thank you Alaina :) Understood everything now. Looking forward to start, I love the challenge idea."

Wooohoo! Same! This has been on my mind for a while so I'm hoping everyone likes it.

Just clarifying for round 1 - our team doesn't actually have to complete all the tasks, meaning reading at least one book per task. We could post all our books under say, Water in text, and it is just the team with the most books read at the end of the round, right?

Jennifer wrote: "Just clarifying for round 1 - our team doesn't actually have to complete all the tasks, meaning reading at least one book per task. We could post all our books under say, Water in text, and it is j..."

That is correct!

Oh goodie! Here I was feeling guilty that none of the books on the Mediterranean list were catching my fancy. Now I feel FREE!!!!!

Jennifer wrote: "Oh goodie! Here I was feeling guilty that none of the books on the Mediterranean list were catching my fancy. Now I feel FREE!!!!!"

Hahaha yay! Yeah, you can read for ANY task in each round for the entire round if you want. I just wanted to give variety for each round so that you could find a task that you wanted to read for.

Question about 6. MC's first/last name starts with W

Is it first AND last name? Or first OR last name? ;)

D.G. wrote: "Question about 6. MC's first/last name starts with W

Is it first AND last name? Or first OR last name? ;)"

OR :)

Just making sure I read the rules right.

I've read 101 pages of a 450 page book in October, but won't get to the remaining 349 pages until November.

If I'm reading it right, those 349 pages are eligible for this challenge, yes? So when I post my completion I would post it as 349 pages and make a note that the book is 450 pages but the other 101 were read pre-challenge?

Melanie wrote: "Just making sure I read the rules right.

I've read 101 pages of a 450 page book in October, but won't get to the remaining 349 pages until November.

If I'm reading it right, those 349 pages are e..."

Correct ☺️

Alaina wrote: "Melanie wrote: "Just making sure I read the rules right.

I've read 101 pages of a 450 page book in October, but won't get to the remaining 349 pages until November.

If I'm reading it right, those..."

Great, thank you!

So I see there's a buddy read set up for a book from my TBR...can I participate and just start posting? (Not sure if you have to agree beforehand...

D.G. wrote: "So I see there's a buddy read set up for a book from my TBR...can I participate and just start posting? (Not sure if you have to agree beforehand..."

What's the book called? Is it for this month?

Alaina wrote: "What's the book called? Is it for..."

Yes, it's for November. Here it is...
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

D.G. wrote: "Alaina wrote: "What's the book called? Is it for..."

Yes, it's for November. Here it is...
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/......"

Yes, you can join it :)

Awesome! I'll add it to my list of possibles for this week! The good is that if the BR last the whole month, if I don't make it for now, I can try to fit it in later!

I really like that reviews are part of the requirements...I usually write reviews for most of the books I read (some are short, some are long but I try to add something to remember what I liked/disliked books.) And I find that since GR changed the way that the feed works - focused more on the books that on the reviews - please rarely read and like reviews anymore!

Can we do re-reads for this challenge? I was looking about and didn't find anything about that!

D.G. wrote: "Can we do re-reads for this challenge? I was looking about and didn't find anything about that!"

Yes, we do allow re-reads. You could technically read the same book every month of the year but it can only count towards a challenge once. So if you participated in either of the quarterlies and the monthly.

You could technically read the same book for the three different monthly challenges and post it on the team's review thread. However, you could only post it once per quarterly challenge since those are always 3 months long and the monthly challenge can change from 1 to 2 months.

Thanks Alaina!

D.G. wrote: "Thanks Alaina!"

You're welcome!

Hello! Question on buddy reads. Is there a start date for buddy reads that we can join to count for the challenge? I can see some books that I want to read but the buddy read started earlier than November.