SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion
SciFi and Fantasy Book Challenge
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Alphabet Book Challenge
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Scrabble Mode SpreadsheetLink: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Make a copy for yourself: File -> Make a copy
All you need to do is fill in the book titles. Make sure it only has the title, not the series title or anything else extra. Subtitles should not be included. Alternative "or" titles are OK.
Examples: (view spoiler) (Included in the spreadsheet.)
If you already have a reading spreadsheet, copy the titles from there. If not, a Goodreads export is probably a good idea, and then filter/sort to get your 2021 books. Using this method means you'll have to edit the titles, because series names will be included. Copy/paste the titles into a new sheet (not the Scrabble sheet). Select the column, then go to Data -> Split text to columns -> Custom. If you use the opening parenthesis ( as a separator, it should mostly do the work for you. Then you can copy the titles to the Scrabble sheet. (Please note that there are titles that include parentheses that are not series titles, and this will get rid of those, too, so check the column with the removed bits and edit as needed.)
You'll see the max points per letter at the top. There can be several books with the same points.
"Total letter points" is the sum of the max points, so it's possible that more than one letter is counted from one book. To prevent that, you'll have to manually delete the contents of the cells you don't want counted. Or just do the math yourself :)
You can also use the sheet called "Final" as an easy way to see your points after you've decided which book to use for each letter, as it'll only calculate the points for one letter per row. Column AD, labeled as "GR", can be copy/pasted to share your points. Column AE, labeled as "link" is otherwise the same, but it'll generate a Goodreads style book link based only on the name of the book. If there are several books in the GR database with the same name, it might not point to the correct one.
"Max per book" is the highest point total for a single book.
I've added the 2021 group books to the sheet called "Example". Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City is the only book that has the max points for D, X and Y, you'll have to choose which one you want to use it for. X gets you the most points, so it makes sense to use that. Make a duplicate of the sheet (right click on Example -> Duplicate) and start editing the copy. Delete cells F7 (letter D) and AA7 (letter Y). The max points at the top will update to reflect the next highest points. You'll still have the full book points on the original sheet, so you can play around with the copy as much as you need. I've done this for the sheet called "Copy of Example" so you can see the difference. In this example, Sixteen Ways would still get you the full 57 points for the book, but you'd only use the max points from X for the total Scrabble points. The sheet called "Example (Final)" is a look at one way of using the 24 books the group read for the 26 letters of the English alphabet. Two letters will have zero points, because you can only use a book for one letter.
(I have no idea if this makes sense to anyone XD I didn't start this spreadsheet intending to share, it's made for my brain, so it's a bit of a mess and definitely not as elegant as it could be. Use filters! Use slicers! Have fun with pivot tables! You do you! :D)
Anna wrote: "About two weeks ago I was wrapping up all things 2021 in my spreadsheet and thought, hmm, I was going to see how I did with Scrabble! I hadn't planned to do anything with it, just see what my point..."I only had 177 for points
Yes, but you didn't spend two weeks finding ridiculous things to read so that you could max your points! I think you win XD
I forgot to say that I read a book that mentioned Scrabble just a little while ago, but I can't remember what it was. I feel like maybe it was even a group book? I'm about to read a short story called "Scrabble and Murder" after I post this, from the anthology The Very Merry Murder Club. And I have Queen of the Tiles on my 2022 TBR :)I didn't read enough books in Finnish this year to do Scrabble mode, but I'm kind of thinking maybe I'll do it next year. Not necessarily try to get max points, but make sure I get at least one of every (Scrabble) letter. The Finnish Scrabble points exclude some letters, so I don't even have to read the full alphabet.
I did pretty well with this and it was fun trying to get all the letters and numbers. I used a lot of my short story reading (and sought out matches for many of the letters/numbers which meant I read some new authors). Titles: 25/26 ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPRSTUVWXYZ
Authors: 24/26 ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPRSTUVWYZ
Numbers: 10/10 0123456789
Missing:
Titles: Q
Authors: QX
Numbers: complete!
Congrats Meredith! I understand if you don't want to mark the DNF as read on GR, but it totally counts for the challenge!
I actually do mark DNFs as read on GR (which I guess many folks don't), and I give them star ratings too (because why shouldn't I rate something I didn't like?). For the 8 book, I only made it through 25% and didn't feel like the book deserved to be counted for the challenge. But, maybe I will after all. ;)
Mod
And The Stars Were Burning Brightly
Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging
Cibola Burn
Dread Nation
Elatsoe
Freshwater
Generation One
Half a King
Inheritance
Jakarta Method, The: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World
Kalpa Imperial: The Greatest Empire That Never Was
Lost Steersman, The
Machinehood
Notes from the Burning Age
Outskirter's Secret, The
Postman, The
Quantum Magician, The
Remnant Population
Steerswoman, The
Testing Pandora
Unconquerable Sun
Vagrant, The
Waste Tide
X, The Poet :)
You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism
Zero Day Code
Pretty sure I did the author challenge too, but I've got my final review of 2021 to write and I still haven't decided which book is most deserving of the honour. Will update later :)
Mod
I used the the same book for the x (cheat)!
I set myself a goal to complete this challenge with as many books from the group bookshelf as possible. On top of that, I made it even harder by having no repeats on authors and no double dipping any books. Not all of my books are from our bookshelf, but almost all are. I did complete 0-9, A-Z on titles, but missed the X and Y for the author challenge. So, 59 authors, 43 series started, 13 of them completed, here's my list.0-9
1 One for Sorrow by Mary Downing Hahn
2 2nd Gen by Andrea and William Vaughan
3 The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
4 I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
5 The 5th Wave - Gelombang 5 by Rick Yancey
6 Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty
7 Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
8 88 Names by Matt Ruff
9 Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
A-Z book title
A The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher
B The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
C Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
D Dune by Frank Herbert
E Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
F Frankenstein: The 1818 Text by Mary Shelley
G Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
HHollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton
I I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
J Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clark
K The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin
L Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
M The Martian by Andy Weir
N Neuromancer by William Gibson
O Old Man's War by John Scalzi
P Pushing Ice by Alistair Reynolds
Q The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi
R The Road by Cormac McCarthy
S The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang
T Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
U Uprooted by Naomi Novak
V The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez
W The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett
X The Book of X by Sara Rose Etter
Y Year One by Nora Roberts
Z The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman
A-Z author surname
A The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
B The Master and Margarita by Michail Bulgakov
C Jurassic Park by Micheal Chrichton
D A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
E Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames
F The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
G The Princess Bride by William Goldman
H Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
I Memory of Water by Emmi Itaranta
J Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones
K Fate of the Fallen by Kel Kade
L Red Sister by Mark Lawrence
M Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan
N Sabriel by Garth Nix
O The Rook by Daniel O'Malley
P Mort by Terry Pratchett
Q The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
R Blood Song by Anthony Ryan
S The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski
T We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor
U The Red Hunter by Lisa Unger
V Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
W Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots
X
Y
Z Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
This challenge was fun, but Ispent too much time avoiding the list this year and had to do a pretty aggressive push at the end. Thankfully, the library had a bunch of the more obscure audiobooks available. Sadly I didn't figure this out until around Thanksgiving. I'm taking this year to just read what I feel like and will hopefully feel free to read some books when the group is reading and be an active participant in some monthly discussions. Fun. Thanks for the journey. Now, which series to finish first?
Amazing Job! By all means, read what you want but the books the group reads, so you can discuss with us, maybe join the Virtual Book Club.
Done:Book: A, B, C, D, E, H,I,j, K, L, M, N, O, P, R S,T, U, V, W, Y, Z
Neeed G, Q, X.
I had The Quiet Invasion and Xanadu right here ready to go, but it just could not happen with everything going on, but I was dang close! As for G, I have so many books starting with Girl and other G names that I was not worried about it and apparentl;y totally forgot I needed to read one
I only got 17 authors finished, but since I didnt really aim after them, I am okay with that
You can finish it this year if you want! I meant to come say that anyone who wants to continue from where they got to can do so 😊
I'd say about half of the books I read for this challenge were those I listed in my original post (message no. 74). I've gone through my read books and looked for Authors and Titles to fit the letters. I also entered books that fit as I read them sometimes and deleted the multiple choices as I checked them off, so it's not at all an accurate picture of how much I strayed. But in the end I didn't do as badly as I was thinking I had. I did, however, completely fail at the poetry part of the challenge. I just wasn't in the mood this year.Authors: 24/26 - no Z or Q
Z –
✅Y – Yolen, Jane – Trash Mountain
✅X – Xia Jia – Tongtong's Summer, in Upgraded Anthology (short story)
✅W – Wells, Martha – Artificial Condition
✅V – Vandermeer, Jeff - Annihilation
✅U – Urioste, Eduardo Strauch – Out of the Silence: After the Crash (memoir)
✅T – Tidbeck, Karin - Amatka
✅S – Scalzi, John – Lock In
✅R – Reyes, Dolores - Earth-eather
Q -
✅P – Pinsker, Sarah – We Are Satellites
✅O – Okorafor, Nnedi – Binti
✅N – Nohelty, Russel – Katrina Hates the Dead
✅M – Martine, Arkady - A Desolation Called Peace
✅L – Larissa Lai – When Fox is a Thousand
✅K – Kel, Kade – The Fate of the Fallen
✅J – Juster, Norton - The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics
✅I – Itzkoff, Dave – Robin (biography)
✅H – Harrow, Alix, E. – A Spindle Splintered
✅G – Gloss, Molly – The Dazzle of Day
✅F – Flynn-Goodlet, Luiza - The Undead
✅E – Ende, Michael - Momo
✅D – de Bodard, Aliette – In the Vanisher’s Palace
✅C – Chambers, Becky – A Psalm for the Wild Built
✅B – Brandt, Lois - Maddi's Fridge
✅A – Acevedo, Elizabeth - The Poet X
Titles: 23/26 No G, J or Z
Z –
✅Y – You Can't Kiss a Bubble
✅X – Poet X (Kindle)
✅W – When Fox was a Thousand
✅V - Vickie Finds a Valentine
✅U – Under the Whispering Door, Klune
✅T – Trash Mountain, Jane Yolen
✅S – Die Stadt der Träumenden Bücher, Walter Moers
✅R - Rendezvous with Rama (Kindle)*
✅Q – The Quantum Magician
✅P – Project Hail Mary (audio)
✅O – The Obelisk Gate
✅N – The Never-ending Sacrifice
✅M – Momo
✅L – Lock In
✅K – King Dog, UKL
J -
✅I – In the Vanisher’s Palace
✅H – The House in the Cerulean Sea
G –
✅F – Fate of the Fallen
✅E – Everfair
✅Every Heart A Doorway
✅D – Dancers of Arun
✅C - Children of Time,
✅B – Binti, Nnedi Okorafor
✅A – Artificial Condition (Author W)
It's not about sticking to the list, unless that's something you want to do! It's about having a reason to finally read that book that has gathered dust on your TBR too long, and you always meant to read it. I know I find lots of both new and old books I probably wouldn't have prioritized when trying to fill any type of prompt, so it helps to look at your TBR in a new way. And of course some prompts will be naturally filled by whatever you're already reading, and there's nothing wrong with that :)I think I might really do Scrabble mode in Finnish this year, just to try to finally read some of those Finnish books I keep adding to my TBR. Anyone else who wants to do any part of this challenge in 2022, please do!
I just added a book to my TBR that would've gotten me two more points for E :( It was right there in front of me to very easily find, but I didn't. How will I ever be able to live with this regret?!?!(It's The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone)
I meant to do this last year but forgot about it. I'm interested in doing Medium Mode Light.
Is there not a new challenge for this year? I was going try for it, but I can't find where to sign up.
No challenge tracker this year, because we can't have one for all challenges each year. It's pretty easy to keep track if you make a list in this thread or start a personal challenge thread :)
OK so this sounds really fun. Let me see if I got this right we pick the mode of challenge like medium mode and then find titles in our TBR shelf to make the alphabet...using first letters of words in the title...then when I'm done I post the list here?
Yes! You can also post your progress or ask for recommendations if you’re missing a letter 🙂
SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone (other topics)Hollow Kingdom (other topics)
Frankenstein: The 1818 Text (other topics)
Gardens of the Moon (other topics)
I, Robot (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Anne Cathrine Bomann (other topics)Roger Zelazny (other topics)
Kate Hope Day (other topics)
Hanna Alkaf (other topics)
Akwaeke Emezi (other topics)
More...
Oh, here comes Brain! Brain says "What if we looked at your TBR to see which books would get you The *Most* Points?!?!" Sure, let's do that. And ten days later, I've read 23 more things :S Most of them are short stories or kids' stories, and the rest are mostly paranormal/cozy mysteries, as those tend to have long titles with lots of alliteration. These aren't the ones with the absolute most points in the world, but they are the ones that were on my Storytel TBR, on my Goodreads TBR from Tor.com, or I could easily find them on Storytel when searching for a word with several of a particular letter.
The point of challenges like this? To read things from your TBR! I absolutely did that, and some of the things I read I really liked! Many of them I absolutely did not like, but I got a chuckle out of some of the titles :D and I'm now even more sure than before that I do not enjoy cozy/paranormal mystery.
I also wanted to see which book would have the most total points, even though that wasn't originally part of the challenge. Not surprisingly it was the extra long titles that had the most points, and they'd typically also have the max points for several letters. That meant I had to keep finding more books to beat/match the other letters, because you can't use a book twice for different letters. I could still find books that would net me more points for a few more letters, but I'm stopping here to give myself a break :D
Let's see the points!
Total Scrabble points: 367
Book with most points: 141
A: 9 - The Autobiography of a Traitor and a Half-Savage
B: 21 - Bubble, Bubble, Here Comes Trouble
C: 18 - Cappuccinos, Cupcakes, and a Corpse
D: 14 - Double Shots, Donuts, and Dead Dudes
E: 10 - From the Editorial Page of the Falchester Weekly Review
F: 28 - The Fantastic Fate of Frederick Farnsworth the Fifth
G: 10 - Angus, thongs and full-frontal snogging
H: 24 - A Short History of the Twentieth Century, or, When You Wish Upon a Star
I: 10 - I, Cthulhu, or, What’s a Tentacle-Faced Thing Like Me Doing in a Sunken City Like This (Latitude 47° 9′ S, Longitude 126° 43′ W)?
J: 16 - Jo Jo Makoons: The Used-to-Be Best Friend
K: 30 - Kickbacks, Kayaks, & Kidnapping
L: 7 - Horribly Haunted in Hillbilly Hollow
M: 15 - Midsummer's Mayhem
N: 8 - Snowflakes and Cinnamon Swirls at the Winter Wonderland
O: 8 - A Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Proposed Trade-Offs for the Overhaul of the Barricade
P: 15 - The Puppetmaster's Apprentice
Q: 20 - Squirrel's Quest
R: 6 - Mirror Mirror
S: 6 - The Assassins of Thasalon
T: 10 - The Two Story Mittens and the Little Play Mittens
U: 6 - The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant
V: 12 - Never Have I Ever
W: 16 - How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf
X: 16 - XOXO
Y: 12 - That Seriously Obnoxious Time I Was Stuck at Witch Rimelda’s One Hundredth Birthday Party
Z: 20 - Fuzz
(I seriously considered eye-reading Nuns and Nunneries in Renaissance Florence for the two extra N points :P)
Want to see how you did? Spreadsheet below! :D
(I really, really tried to keep it simple, both the spreadsheet and the instructions, but I'm a monster :S Every single time I try to edit something to make it shorter/simpler, I end up adding something instead!)