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

Hi team 4!

Members:
Marie (UK)
Pragya
Lilisa
Casceil
Grainne
Laura

What shall we name our team?
And who wants to volunteer to keep a track of the scores, please?

I have picked out 4 books. Can definitely read 2, 3 would be great, 4 just in case.

I cannot resist a good pun so I've searched and come up some ideas : )

Hoptomistic 4 Reading
Ear-resistable Books 4 Reading
4-Karat Magic in the Air
Hare-raising Reads for Team 4

I plan to read 3 books and I have planned 2 more because I am optimistic but not sure I will get around to them.

Love these name ideas, Grainne. Especially the Hare-raising one. How creative!

Thanks for starting this thread Pragya!

Suggestion for team name - since the number 4 is considered unlucky in most southeast Asian cultures, to tip the scales in our favor, I’m proposing:

The Great Prosperity and Happiness Team :-)

English translation of 'gong hei fat choy' in Cantonese or 'gong xi fa cai' in Mandarin when you wish someone a happy lunar new year is “wishing you great happiness and prosperity.”

I’m not good with spreadsheets, so not going to volunteer to be scorekeeper. Off to gopher now!

Thanks for starting the thread, Pragya!

It’s my busy time of year so I’m hoping I can read two books. I may be able to get away with more if I can listen to audiobooks while working lol.

I’m wondering if we need a spreadsheet to keep score, since we don’t have to keep track of anything to earn points other than books read times 10pts each. Wouldn’t the reporting thread be fine?

Y, sounds like scorekeeping is more simple than I thought Laura - I’m happy to be scorekeeper. Thanks to Jayme and Kristie from Team 1 too for the chatter :-)

Thanks for doing it, Lilisa 😀

No problem, Laura! I missed Grainne’s creative team name suggestions! I like Hoptomistic 4 Reading!

Updated: I plan to read ??? books - # TBD - having to change out books based on Kristie’s additional clarifications of “Asian authors/MC.”

Two Billion Caliphs: A Vision of a Muslim Future

Lilisa wrote: "Thanks for starting this thread Pragya!

Suggestion for team name - since the number 4 is considered unlucky in most southeast Asian cultures, to tip the scales in our favor, I’m proposing:

The Gr..."

I had no idea about the unlucky number 4!
Thanks for being our scorekeeper, Lilisa.

I like all the names suggested, I think Hoptomistic is my favorite tho.

Has anyone read this?

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches

I’ve seen so many good reviews. I was on hold, now it’s waiting at the library. Kristy didn’t specify that tasks w something on the cover had to be a focal image, so I’m hoping this cover would work for moon. 😬

I added that to my tbr yesterday! It fits the moon challenge on this toppler though I haven’t read it.

Laura wrote: "Has anyone read this?

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches

I’ve seen so many good reviews. I was on hold,..."

I haven’t read it Laura. The moon looks like the moon on the over of one I may read Two Billion Caliphs: A Vision of a Muslim Future .

So I've eliminated the other names and we down to these choices:

Hoptomistic 4 Reading
The Great Prosperity and Happiness Team
Hare-raising Reads for Team 4

We could change 4 to for in the team name as well. Let me know what you think.

I’d go for Hoptomistic 4 Reading. Sounds like it was Laura’s fav too.

A heads up - for Kristie’s additional clarification on what is meant by “Asian authors/MC” for this toppler, see the main toppler thread - messages 37 and 48 (there may be others). I’m back to gophering to switch out books.

I like hoptomistic too so that’s 3 votes for that one already.

Grainne wrote: "I like hoptomistic too so that’s 3 votes for that one already."

Sounds good to me too!

Lilisa wrote: "A heads up - for Kristie’s additional clarification on what is meant by “Asian authors/MC” for this toppler, see the main toppler thread - messages 37 and 48 (there may be others). I’m back to goph..."

My book made it. Phew!
I'm so disappointed India is not in Asia by this definition. I'm having an identity crisis right about now lol.

I am glad your book made it. Yay!!!

Pragya wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "A heads up - for Kristie’s additional clarification on what is meant by “Asian authors/MC” for this toppler, see the main toppler thread - messages 37 and 48 (there may be others). I..."

Glad it did! Y, India (and other countries) not in Asia by this definition is weird, lol, but c’est la vie, all good - this is a toppler. 🤣 although I am having a bit of an identity crisis too - it’s complicated!

It’s always a relief when a book you’re dying to read makes it. I am such a mood reader, I feel like a library book hoarder right now. I started requesting books before the tasks were even released lol!

Laura wrote: "It’s always a relief when a book you’re dying to read makes it. I am such a mood reader, I feel like a library book hoarder right now. I started requesting books before the tasks were even released..."

You did good, Laura. Those holds have a long waiting!

Lilisa wrote: "Pragya wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "A heads up - for Kristie’s additional clarification on what is meant by “Asian authors/MC” for this toppler, see the main toppler thread - messages 37 and 48 (there ma..."

Hope you were able to switch out your books, Lilisa.

We're missing Casceil and Marie. Hopefully they will show up soon.

Pragya 2 +2
Grainne 3+ 2
Laura 2
Casceil 2
Lilisa, what does your approximate idea of how many books you might be able to get through, looks like?

Here's our reporting thread
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Laura, you might want to reserve a comment there for our total group score information later.

Pragya wrote: "Here's our reporting thread
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Laura, you might want to reserve a comment there for our total group score information later."

Thx for setting up the thread, Pragya - I think you mean Lilisa re: reserving a comment.

Thanks for creating the reporting thread Pragya, and yes, it’s me re: scoring/reserve comment. I’ll hop over there now.

Lilisa wrote: "I’ll hop over there now."

🐰🐇🐰

Yes, a couple of my books work since Japan is being counted. So can read 3 books.

Laura wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "I’ll hop over there now."

🐰🐇🐰"

🤣

Laura wrote: "Pragya wrote: "Here's our reporting thread
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Laura, you might want to reserve a comment there for our total group score ..."

Oops, sorry, you're right. Lilisa it is.

My planned reads are
Spare ~410
The Garden of Evening Mists ~350
A Murderous Procession~337
Excuse Me While I Disappear: Tales of Midlife Mayhem ~243

Reporting in. I am here and I plan to participate, but I have not been up to gofering this week. I usually read at least two books.

Sorry to hear you’re not feeling well, Casceil, but it’s good to see you!

I’m trying to get it together as far as prioritizing my reading and making more solid plans. When I do, I’ll list them here, in case it could help any of you.

I’m self employed and don’t control how much work comes in when but it’s been light so far. If it stays this way, I’ll be able to read more than two books. I’ve found a bunch of middle grade books that look like lots of fun, mostly with humor as a main page genre. They’ll be fun to listen to while working, so I may be able to sneak in a few more. We’ll see. I’ll probably just edit this post later.

Humor
Matilda O 4.18 by Roald Dahl
The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale O 4.13 by Carmen Agra Deedy
Ms. Rapscott's Girls O 3.39 by Elise Primavera
Hit Man (pr) by Lawrence Block Ah
The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza P, O 6.44 by Lawrence Block
Burglars Can't Be Choosers O, by Lawrence Block
Thale's Folly A+ by Dorothy Gilman
Equal Rites Ah, Oh 7.27 by Terry Pratchett
Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley O&cd 4.41 by M.C. Beaton

Rabbit
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland O 2.56

Books about Books
Tilly and the Bookwanderers P, O 7.4 by Anna James
Soft in the Head P, Ao 4.7 by Marie-Sabine Roger

Moon
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches Ah, Ohld 9.59 by Sangu Mandanna
Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks

Pub on 22nd
One Wish P, Ah by Michelle Harrison

Casceil wrote: "Reporting in. I am here and I plan to participate, but I have not been up to gofering this week. I usually read at least two books."

Hey Casceil. Good to hear from you. Can't wait to see what books you will be reading.

Laura wrote: "Sorry to hear you’re not feeling well, Casceil, but it’s good to see you!

I’m trying to get it together as far as prioritizing my reading and making more solid plans. When I do, I’ll list them he..."

Oh wow, that's some list, Laura. Hoping work stays light, the toppler week.

Pragya wrote: "Laura wrote: "Sorry to hear you’re not feeling well, Casceil, but it’s good to see you!

I’m trying to get it together as far as prioritizing my reading and making more solid plans. When I do, I’l..."

I hope so too but there’s no way I’d be able to read all those books in a week, even if I were retired lol. Audiobooks help a lot tho and many of those are fairly short middle grade books.

I’m really glad Kristy had a task for the humor shelf too bc in the darker months, it’s great to find books that make me laugh. So I’m looking forward to those.

Hi all sorry I missed the posting of teams I am here now. I can definitely do a published in 2023 will look at my books and see what else fits

I can do Lady MacBethad I have an ARC it is due to be published March 2023 - am I alright using this

I can also do or moon on cover

I also have Babel, Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution works for Asian Author / mainly black cover written by a female
I will probably manage 2 or 3 books depending on length

The Girl Beneath the Sea

The After Wife first published on March 22nd

Note to self ET is 5 hours behind GMT so challenge starts 5 pm tomorrow

Nice to see you, Marie!

I think your ARC s/b fine, as the task states the book "was or will be published" in '23.

Great to “see” Marie and Casceil - we’re all checked in here! I had placed holds at the library for additional books during the back and forth on what books would qualify for Asia and Asian authors and Japan was in question - but now ok. I now have a plethora of books to choose from for my three books!

I’ll be reading three from the following:

Two Billion Caliphs: A Vision of a Muslim Future
Things Remembered and Things Forgotten
A Man
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Two Trees Make a Forest: Travels Among Taiwan's Mountains & Coasts in Search of My Family's Past
Winter Pasture: One Woman's Journey with China's Kazakh Herders
Independence: A Novel

Marie (UK) wrote: "Hi all sorry I missed the posting of teams I am here now. I can definitely do a published in 2023 will look at my books and see what else fits

I can do Lady MacBethad I have an ARC..."

Hey Marie. Your choices look great!

Lilisa wrote: "Great to “see” Marie and Casceil - we’re all checked in here! I had placed holds at the library for additional books during the back and forth on what books would qualify for Asia and Asian authors..."

I am also rethinking my choices as instead of reading a 400 page one book, it would be better to read 2 200 ones. Let's see how it goes.

Yes, good strategy Pragya!

That’s a great strategy, Pragya! This is the only way I can do Topplers during busy work weeks. I’m just not the speedy reader so many of us are and so I use audio as much as possible and pick short, easy reads.

Looking forward to a fun toppler 📚😀

Can't wait to begin! Yay!

I just realized I can sneak in reading a book set in India because it was published this year - Independence: A Novelyah! I’ll probably start with it shortly.

Lilisa wrote: "I just realized I can sneak in reading a book set in India because it was published this year - Independence: A Novelyah! I’ll probably start with it shortly."

Ooh I really liked The Palace of Illusions by that author. Would love to hear your views of this one.

I enjoyed The Palace of Illusions, Pragya, I also liked Oleander Girl. I’ll let you know how I get along with Independence: A Novel :-)