The Perks Of Being A Book Addict discussion

Hey Apoorv - I've just been looking at the spreadsheet and had a realisation....

Can we use Elisabeths The Wolf's Hour for the letter U (P: Uganda)

We can replace it with In Five Years has the word 'headband' in it "...and her hair was in a red headband..." - sorry this may of totally been my fault because I didn't list headband as one of the options - but I did add it into the 'AprMini - Words' tab under headband - I just searched it using googlebooks and it definitely does have headband in it!!

That would leave us with clue '26*: read a book with 251-300 pages' left to fill which could be much easier than finding the letter U ????

Let me know what you think...

Unfortunately The Lying Life of Adults is 336 pages so still won't be able to be used, but I'm sure one of us could easily find a book between 251 - 300 pages to finish before Friday

EDIT: It looks like Vicki's book The Mane Event is in the spreadsheet twice as both clue B7* - L & B3* - M, if this is a mistake, we can use Lying Life of Adults as Title L or C: Mariano

So, here is the tea!
I can move some books around because we have a couple of books that have a U reference.
-------------------------
Scenario #1
Move Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man from #19 to B1
Move Open Water from #16 to #19
Move Cold Grave from #17 to #16.

That leaves read a book with a character who plays an instrument open to be covered.
--------------------------
Scenario #2
Move The Wolf Hour from #21 to B1
Move The Silver Pigs from #2 to #21
Move Matilda from #14 to #2

That leaves read a book with a bright/neon pink cover (i.e. preferably not a pastel pink) open to be covered.
-------------------------
Now, anyone has any book that we have somehow missed or covers any of this feel free to drop in a message here.

Our options are:
Letter U or
Character plays instrument or
Neon Pink Cover

Not sure which one is easier.
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EDIT: Our awesome teammate Paris came up with an even better solution, so now after a bunch of movement, we need a book between 250-300 pages

Paris wrote: "Hey Apoorv - I've just been looking at the spreadsheet and had a realisation....

Can we use Elisabeths The Wolf's Hour for the letter U (P: Uganda)

We can replace it with [book:In Fi..."

Oh, I missed this message because it moved to the next page.
This is great, Paris. :D
Let's do that.

And thanks for catching the duplication of Vicki's book. I somehow spelled it differently as Main and Mane, so didn't catch my attention at all. You're awesome. Thanks!
Totally using your book for the L.

Okay, so here is the latest update! :P
What a fun hour this has been moving things around. Hehe!

These are the open tasks and their statuses.
15*: read a book with "leg warmers" in the text or on the cover - Apoorv
25*: read a book with 201-250 pages - Elisabeth
36a*: read a book from the Listopia The Movie was Better than the Book (https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...) - Paris
B7*: L - Paris
B14*: read a book with a character who is a werewolf - Laura

The only task that needs a guardian now is this:
26*: read a book with 251-300 pages

Apoorv I just don't know how you're doing all this on your own! I will recheck the spreadsheet tomorrow as well to make sure everything is right.
Paris - you should be a cocaptain next year :)
Apoorv, can you please let me know whether Groosham Grange will work or is too risky?

Books must be more than 100 pages in length and Children's books, Graphic Novels, Manga, Cook Books, Plays and Poetry books can not be used unless by word count they can be verified as more than 25,000 words using arbookfind.com or more than 3 hours of audio using a reputable website (e.g. audible, overdrive).

This is not a children's book, graphic novel, manga, cookbook, play or poetry, so it should satisfy the 100 page limit. And even it falls in any of these categories it is still 29000+ words long, so I think it should work.

Apoorv wrote: "Okay, so here is the latest update! :P
What a fun hour this has been moving things around. Hehe!

These are the open tasks and their statuses.
15*: read a book with "leg warmers" in the text or on..."

Woo! Glad I could help :D

I do have A Man Called Ove on loan from the library which is 294 pages, however I'd be a little nervous on committing to it because I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish 3 books by the end of the challenge!

I'll get through my current 2 books and then reassess if it's still needed or not!

My 230 page book has a violin player in it so if Vanessa can get hers done we're good for the instrument thing. I've lost track of what's what hahaha. Good thing I'm not in charge.

Hey I thought I'd seen a completion post by Vicki for a book starting with U! Post 1079 is for a book called Undone. It isn't listed anywhere else though that I can see.

That means Wolf Hour can do headband and In Five Years can do the page count.

Hey guys! Sorry for being totally MIA. That babysitting job with my family was because of a HUGE family emergency. I'm back for the last couple days of the month. I'm going to get my completion posts done tomorrow, just in time for the month to wrap up!

I've been watching my grandchildren the last two days so I just wasn't able to get on here.

Apoorv, I am so glad you were able to find your book! I haven't seen anyone that excited to find a book in a very long time! LOL

Elisabeth wrote: "Hey I thought I'd seen a completion post by Vicki for a book starting with U! Post 1079 is for a book called Undone. It isn't listed anywhere else though that I can see.

That means Wolf Hour can d..."

That might be because I finished it Apr 4 so it was too soon for any of the mini-tasks. I had a few books I didn't realize I hadn't posted and they were all read around the 4th.

Vicki wrote: "Elisabeth wrote: "Hey I thought I'd seen a completion post by Vicki for a book starting with U! Post 1079 is for a book called Undone. It isn't listed anywhere else though that I can see.

That mea..."
Aah. Right.

Completion Post
Cider With Rosie
Author: Laurie Lee
Pages: 231
Date: April 28

Mini
25: Read a book with 201-250 pages

Also. Laurie, the narrator, plays the fiddle. p199. "At last we were ready: I raised my fiddle."

I can probably read one more book by deadline. I found this in my TBR pile with the 288 pages. But Seriously: An Autobiography I can start it just in case and power through if necessary.

Paris, since you already have committed to two books, it probably would be easier for you to work through them also since Elisabeth has a 288 page book that can work for the last remaining task.

Elisabeth, if you have that bandwidth and can get that one done, we should be golden! Drop in a word if you can't, so that one of us can squeeze one in hopefully. :)

Apoorv wrote: "Paris, since you already have committed to two books, it probably would be easier for you to work through them also since Elisabeth has a 288 page book that can work for the last remaining task.

E..."

Will do. It's by John McEnroe and as I play a lot of tennis I'm keen to read it.

Elisabeth wrote: "Will do. It's by John McEnroe and as I play a lot of tennis I'm keen to read it."

OMG! Really?! How did we not talk about this for three months? Haha! :O

I am a HUGE fan of the game and I'm so glad that you play. :)

Completion Post

Book: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Author: Roald Dahl
Pages: 190
Date: 28-Apr-21


Mini - 36a*: read a book from the Listopia The Movie was Better than the Book (https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...)


This is actually one of my fave books / movie! I even have a tattoo of one of the illustrations in it!!!

Apoorv wrote: "Elisabeth wrote: "Will do. It's by John McEnroe and as I play a lot of tennis I'm keen to read it."

OMG! Really?! How did we not talk about this for three months? Haha! :O

I am a HUGE fan of the ..."

You should get hold of this book. It's very readable. My husband read it first and kept telling me to read it .

Do you play Apoorv? I learnt when I was a kid and have played most of my life. I play social tennis a couple of times per week and last year started local league competition. My team is in division 5 which is fun and no pressure. Game on tonight!

The best thing is since my daughter moved back to town last year we've been having coaching together and she plays in my league team when work permits--she has to travel a fair bit. Both my kids learnt young and love playing.

Husband and I have been to the Aus Open a few times--saw Federer, Djokovic, Serena W and Ash Barty amongst others. Love it, Have you been to the US Open?

Paris wrote: "This is actually one of my fave books / movie! I even have a tattoo of one of the illustrations in it!!!"

That's so cool, I wish you could share a picture in here. I really love this book as well, I love Roald Dahl's stories in general and the illustrations are always so amazing. Matilda is my favourite. I don't have a tattoo but I have a Matilda sweater :D

Elisabeth wrote: "You should get hold of this book. It's very readable. My husband read it first and kept telling me to read it .."

Oh. I absolutely intend to! I plan on reading all autobiographies/memoirs by these tennis legends. This would be a very interesting book, given John's personality. I'm already intrigued.

I play off and on. Haven't been consistent with it and it does make me go arrrgh at times for not devoting more time to it. But I LOVE that you play so regularly. Rather your entire family loves playing. It is a wonderful sport with its spirit in just the right place.

If I find myself in Australia anytime, I am going to get coaching from you. Haha! :) Love that you coach though. Is that for specific ages or is it is folks in the league apart from the competition part of it?

I absolutely have been to the US Open a few times. I was even scheduled to go to the French Open in 2020, but then 2020 happened! Ugh! The first time I went to the US Open was in 2014 for the SemiFinal day when both Roger and Noval lost and I felt like such a jinx. Haha! :P

The Aus Open is one of my bucketlist items. I just need to buy a lot of sunscreen. :P

Completion Post
I have finished both Dark Times and Groosham Grange.

Dark Times could count for L (Lily).

Groosham Grange will be used for the werewolf task so I won't add other options. One of the teachers is a werewolf, Mr. Leloup. (let me know if you need quotes to prove it)
This is a really funny book by the way, the first ten pages already have about thirty puns. It's a children's book but has 29000 words so should be okay.

Apoorv wrote: "Elisabeth wrote: "You should get hold of this book. It's very readable. My husband read it first and kept telling me to read it .."

Oh. I absolutely intend to! I plan on reading all autobiographie..."

Oh gosh I don't coach, my daughter and I have lessons! We were supposed to be in Paris at the time of the 2020 French Open, too. So disappointing. We had plans to do a day at the tennis. Definitely come to the Aus Open, it's so much fun. Imagine if we got to meet there one day!

It seems that someone already completed my stuff in the spreadsheet for me, so I guess I don't need to make completion posts. LOL.

I really enjoyed doing this challenge with all of you. I know we only have a couple days left, but this has been a lot of fun!

Even though I got sick a total of 4 times and had 2 family emergencies (what the heck, 2021?!), I'm glad I could take part and meet all of you.

When exactly is our deadline?

And yes I agree Kathryn, this has been a fantastic team and so much fun.

Update

The only two tasks left now are

26*: read a book with 251-300 pages - Elisabeth
B7*: L - Paris

And we already have these books underway.
So, Elisabeth and Paris, if you foresee not getting to these for any reason, please drop in a word.

We are soooooo close. YAAAY! :D

As we come close to the end of the challenge, how about we talk about the books we read through the challenge?

Name your 5 favorite books that you read through the course of this challenge in the last 3 months?

Did you find a new favorite author whose work you would continue to explore

Would you like to play UNO again next year?

I have 82 pages to go in my book but tell me how much longer I have so I can calculate the finish deadline in my time.

Completion Post
But Seriously: An Autobiography
Author: John McEnroe
Pages 288
Date: April 30

Not sure if that date is correct but that's what came up as the read date.

Okay it looks like it's just down to me to finish this last book!!

I have about 80 pages left, it's taken me over a week to finish this book, it's been really boring but don't worry, I will push through and finish it this afternoon and then we will officially be DONE (kinda sad about it)

Completion Post

Book: The Lying Life of Adults
Author: Elena Ferrante
Pages 336
Date: 30 April 21

Mini - Title L

..... and we are DONE!!!!

Thank you guys all so much for being the best team I could have on my first ever reading challenge!! I really hope I get to be on a team with some of you again in the future.

I can't believe I've read 38 books for the challenge.

To answer your questions Apoorv, my favourite were..

The Midnight Library
The Betrayals
The Death of Vivek Oji
Mrs. Everything
Daisy Jones & The Six


I definitely want to read more of Taylor Jenkins Reid

and I would absolutely play UNO again next year! I really enjoyed it :)

I'd also love to know - is anyone else moving on to any other challenges?
Tina, I've seen that you're doing Tower Teams 8 which I also signed up for!

WE ARE DONE!!!!



YOU GUYS ARE LEGITIMATELY THE BEST!!
We completed ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING there was to complete.
All cards! All tasks! All months!

The total points and our position on the leaderboard really is now on luck and the cards that the other teams got - but we couldn't have anything more.
This is absolutely commendable and you guys really stepped up and hit it out of the park.

I am beyond thrilled to be part of this team, it was such an absolute joy to play UNO with all of you!

THANK YOU for being the awesomest team around.
THANK YOU for letting me be part of the cool gang. Haha! :)

I'm having internet issues, dropping in and out at random, so I'm jumping on here when I can.

I loved being on this team. Thank you everyone.
My favourite books:

A Certain Age: Twelve Monologues from the Classic Radio Series
If It Bleeds
The Art of Travel
The Mesmerist
1984

I read a lot of crime by my usual go to authors but UNO makes me read books I wouldn't normally which is really good. I also did a few rereads which was great. Cider With Rosie, 1984, Bonjour Tristesse and The Silver Pigs.

I'm doing some non team alphabet challenges which are fun and make me read more widely.

Paris wrote: ".I'd also love to know - is anyone else moving on to any other challenges?"

I am doing the Tower Teams next. Love that challenge and it is always fun. Next 3 months are set! :P

Elisabeth wrote: "I'm doing some non team alphabet challenges which are fun and make me read more widely."

I LOVE alphabet challenges. Been a while since I did one here on GoodReads, but I have a massive spreadsheet for all my read books, and its always fun when it automatically ticks my Author Last Name and Book Title alphabets after each read. Haha!

The last two years I have managed to get through atleast 1 book for each alphabet for both these lists. The pesky X is always a pain.

Paris wrote: "..... and we are DONE!!!!

Thank you guys all so much for being the best team I could have on my first ever reading challenge!! I really hope I get to be on a team with some of you again in the fut..."

Woohoo!! Well done Paris!

And yes I'm doing TT this year. You'll definitely enjoy it! I haven't read any of Terry Pratchett's books but I'm planning on it

My top 5 for this challenge are propably:


I thoroughly enjoyed most books I read so will definitely seek out more of their books

Would you like to play UNO again next year?
And I always want t play UNO! So much so that I have folders in kindle to place books in their corresponding colour covers. Definitely helps when searching for colour covers

I want to say a massive Thank You to everyone!


You have all been a truly amazing and magnificent team and a pleasure to play with!

And a huger thank you to Apoorv for being an amazing captain with all his spreadsheet wizardry and his captain skills :D

And thanks to our co-captain for helping us out and hanging in there when real life got a bit demanding.

I WILL see some of you again and hopefully we get to be on teams again. We can always request it for some challenges if we really want ;)

I want to thank all of you for welcoming into this Team, especially our Captains for so much work I know I couldn't do. I can't believe I read 48 books in three months when I've never done that in a year. I started slowing down at the end since I'm moving soon, but will definitely get back to reading once the move is complete (across town, thank God).

As for the fave five of this Challenge:
A Court of Thorns and Roses
Sunflower Sisters
Cinder
A Woman Is No Man
How to Walk Away

I would like to read more from Sarah J. Maas. She has a lot of fantastical stories I can escape to from my current stress.

And yes, I would love to participate in another UNO Challenge. Or any other challenge.

Apoorv wrote: "Paris wrote: ".I'd also love to know - is anyone else moving on to any other challenges?"

I am doing the Tower Teams next. Love that challenge and it is always fun. Next 3 months are set! :P"

What is Tower Teams?

Name your 5 favorite books that you read through the course of this challenge in the last 3 months?
I'm sorry, I had to choose six :D

Daisy Jones & The Six
The Name of the Wind
Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man
Big Little Lies
The Rose Code
The Push

Also, Matilda and Groosham Grange but since those were rereads they count a little less, maybe. Because I already knew I loved them :)
Ironically though, none of these books except for The Push were on my TBR for this year, I read them specifically for UNO - except the Name of the Wind which I received as a subscription so I kind of had to read it. And yet I loved these books best! Maybe I should rethink the TBR idea after all (this is the first year I actually planned in advance).

Did you find a new favorite author whose work you would continue to explore?
I will definitely read more by Kate Quinn, Madeline Miller (even though I didn't love Circe as much as I expected) and Taylor Jenkins Reid. I'm also planning to try Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series (our first mini challenge). And after seeing Danah gush about Sarah J. Maas I guess I'll give her books a chance after all. I'm also going to read Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men because (I think) Paris recommended it allllll the way back in February.

Would you like to play UNO again next year?
Yes and can we have the exact same team please? :)
Seriously though, this was my first ever team challenge and I enjoyed it immensely, but that's largely due to our awesome team. I'm a very competitive person (like, really, really.) so I would not have had as much fun if I'd been in a team that was less motivated. So thank you all for making it amazing!

I also read a lot more than usual, I've already read 42 books this year of which 38 or 39 for the UNO challenge which is crazy because I set my goal for this year at 80 and it's only May. Summer vacation hasn't even come yet!

I do think it'll take some time to stop automatically filing away all character names in my mind :D

I'm definitely interested in your recommendations for other fun challenges! The Tower Teams challenge looks like fun but I saw it too late.
I do have an individual challenge I might join (it's been going since January, but you can catch up): Reality TV

Danah wrote: "Apoorv wrote: "Paris wrote: ".I'd also love to know - is anyone else moving on to any other challenges?"

I am doing the Tower Teams next. Love that challenge and it is always fun. Next 3 months ar..."

Tower Teams is another team challenge run by another book club. It's different to Uno but has similarities and more componants I would say. The link is here if you want to sign up Danah -
but it you might be a replacement player now

Laura wrote: "Name your 5 favorite books that you read through the course of this challenge in the last 3 months?
I'm sorry, I had to choose six :D
Daisy Jones & The Six
The Name of the Wi..."</i>


Laura I definitely agree that Sarah J. Maas is a great author to get into if you like young adult and fantasy. I definitely have enjoyed all her books so far.
And definitely read [book:Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men. I listened to it and highly recommend it if you're interested in women's issues and equality

Name your 5 favorite books that you read through the course of this challenge in the last 3 months?

by Amy Harmon
by Irene Hannon
by J.A. Redmerski
by Mariana Zapata
by Kate Elizabeth Russell

Did you find a new favorite author whose work you would continue to explore?

I'll likely read more of these new-to-me authors:
Samantha Downing
Sara Bourgeois
Rina Kent

Would you like to play UNO again next year?

Is the sky blue? Is that grass green? YES!!! I'll play again for sure!

Thank you again to everyone! for such a fun and participatory challenge team! Captain Apoorv, you're the BOMB! Just can't thank you enough!! And to the MOD's I play this game every year and it's definitely one of my favorites, so thank you to anyone who created it or helped with the design of it!!