Reading with Style discussion

Joanna wrote: "Glad to know I'm not the only one! For what it's worth, I thought Killing Floor was an exceptional book for a debut novel, though more violent than I had realized I was getting myself ..."

That's worth knowing! You never know when I might 'need' to slot in a Lee Child.

I also read the The Killing Floor, had every intention of moving on to the next and never did. For the genere, it is a well done book.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Does anyone else wish this season had an extra month in it? I have so many books I want to get to this season and it's just not going to happen. Yeah, I know, there's still most of a month left, bu..."

LOL If I had 4 months for the 3 month challenge I could finish it.

Normally I read whatever and fit it into the prompts of the challenge. This results in one prompt getting used multiple times and the others getting used zero times. This Fall cycle, I've kept to one book per prompt, to give me a running chance at finishing at least one part of it. I'm coming close to finishing on the sub-challenge, but won't finish the main challenge.

Valerie wrote: "This made me laugh from JoanLee Childna's task post: (***I might be one of the only people in the universe who hasn't read a book by this prolific author, but this is my first one***).

I haven't read any o..."

I also haven't read any of Lee Child's books.

Deedee wrote: I also haven't read any of Lee Child's books."

You all are making me feel much better about not having read anything by this author before now! I generally do try to read at least one book by a popular author who has published a bunch of popular books, but somehow Lee Child hadn't risen to the top before now.

Other authors in this general category for me have been Colleen Hoover, Jane Smiley, Danielle Steel, Georges Simenon, Jodi Picoult, Kelley Armstrong, Paul Auster, John Grisham, Dan Brown, and I'm sure others...

A few of these, I've gone on to read a few more books after reading the first. Others, just one was enough to give me the flavor.

If the poll about a nonfiction book were to win …

How broad is should be consider “topic not having read about” to be? Example: if I have read a biography of an author, is a biography about a different author a different topic?

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "If the poll about a nonfiction book were to win …

How broad is should be consider “topic not having read about” to be? Example: if I have read a biography of an author, is a biography about a diff..."

This task is intended to be fairly broad. I'd say a biography of a different person is a different topic. If you've already read a biography of Abraham Lincoln, you can't pick a different biography or a book specifically about Lincoln's presidency. But you could pick a book about Bill Clinton even though he was also a president.

Great! Thanks, Joanna

I just checked the polls. The non-fiction option and the bucket list option are level with just one vote ( mine) for the money task. Unless someone else votes, I am going to have to change my vote. However I really struggle with non-fiction and I don't have any personal bucket lists. Please, someone, help me out from this dilemma.

Do you have a "bucket list" to read all books by a certain author, or to complete a particular series?

I asked about author biographies. I also thought about short histories. And perhaps there is something on one of these (odd) lists:

Microhistory: Social Histories of Just One Thing

Best Non-Fiction (no biographies)

You Read a Book about What?

But let's see what happens with the poll. It's open for another 10+ days. I thought about removing my vote, just so there isn't a tie.

I hope my bucket list to read the books that have been on my “want to read” list the longest is acceptable. :)

I really like the bucket list idea and those of you who are nonfiction lovers could always make that your bucket list task;););)

I voted for bucket list. However, I do read a fair amount of NF and not all of it is 'heavy'/dry or long. Keeping in mind that many of them are animal related(!) I could make a short list of suggestions for you, Coralie, if you like.

A question for the mods: would we be limited to one bucket list?

I voted for bucket list to make progress on the Mysteries Challenge, also my goal of reading all of Ruth Rendell (getting close), and as many of Joyce Carol Oates as possible (not going to live long enough to get to all of the JCO’s).

Denise wrote: "A question for the mods: would we be limited to one bucket list? "

Yes, we'll ask you to name it the first time you claim the task, then you can repeat the task with more books that fit the same "list."

Yes, read books I already own/TBR is a fine choice if you don't have other soft goals.

I wasn’t expecting that broad of an interpretation. So we can include our entire TBR??

I have changed my vote. I have gone for the bucket list option as that leaves it open for those who want to read non-fiction to do so. I realised that there is something I have decided to try to do in my reading.

I'm hoping the bucket list wins the poll. For several years I have had a personal challenge to read a book/story orginally published in each year of the 19th Century. I have neglected this personal challenge for several seasons, but this will definitely motivate me.

Short Stories by Fyodor Dostoevsky will get me several years. 😁

Connie (and everyone, of course): Last year I read a book that is set just after the Spanish Civil War. I remembered it as giving me more sense of that time period than I'd had before.

Winter in Madrid by C.J. Sansom

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Connie (and everyone, of course): Last year I read a book that is set just after the Spanish Civil War. I remembered it as giving me more sense of that time period than I'd had before.

[book:Winte..."

Thanks, Elizabeth. It's one of the books I put on my Spanish Civil War list, and I usually enjoy the books that you like.

I love that you have such a list. My own WWI shelf is over-burdened, but I'm so glad there is such variety. I'm sure there will be a ton of books for your subject quest.

Wow! The poll bird vs mammal tasks are tied.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Wow! The poll bird vs mammal tasks are tied."

Goodness! Late breaking changes.....

Luckily I own books that fulfill either contingency. I feel a little bad for the insects with zero votes.

Valerie wrote: "I feel a little bad for the insects with zero votes."

LOL! I'm sure it's not personal. I hope they will not take it to heart.

"Will you walk into my parlour?" said a spider to a fly;
" 'Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy. ...

I'm happy with birds or mammals, but my vote's on mammals right now because I have a few left over from my fall TBR that fit.

Also, I've never read Lee Child either.

Question, for those that log in from their phones, I noticed the edit is gone from my posts. Anyone else notice this?

In the 2025 Goals thread, Joanne wrote: "… I love challenges, but in the beginning of my journey here on GR's I used them just to give me ideas of what to read."

I have always used RwS to help me choose what to read in the near future. Of course, the group members are such fabuous readers that they have also helped me find almost too many books from which to choose. I can be overwhelmed with choice.

I might add that I have 50 books ID'd for 7 of the 20-pointers plus the 10 for Broken Book Report. In 14 years, I think I've gotten 30+ books only three times.

I love looking at what I have on hand, or wish for. I love seeing what opportunities there are in store.

UGH! Elizabeth 10 for BBR? I can't find one that I can make work-LoL. The hardest time I am having is with the character names. It appears I read books with strange character names😅😉

I picked a series to use for my starter book.

The premise of BBR is to pick a favorite book, but perhaps "favorite" is subject to interpretation. The book I chose is the first in a series which I read in Summer. I definitely want to read more, so it must be a favorite! In fact I already had #2-#5 and bought #6 for this season. So character names wasn't a problem, although I pencilled in alternates.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "In the 2025 Goals thread, Joanne wrote: "… I love challenges, but in the beginning of my journey here on GR's I used them just to give me ideas of what to read."

I have always used RwS to help me ..."

Me too! That is why RwS is my fave group!

I like we can repeat tasks.

Me, too, Jayme. A favorite task can be done over and over!

I plan to do something that I have been thinking about for a long, long time and just read the same task over and over again all season.

Coralie wrote: "I plan to do something that I have been thinking about for a long, long time and just read the same task over and over again all season."

I think about doing that on occasion. Have you picked which one, or are you waiting until they are all out?

Coralie wrote: "I plan to do something that I have been thinking about for a long, long time and just read the same task over and over again all season."

That made me smile Coralie! Great idea

Coralie wrote: "I plan to do something that I have been thinking about for a long, long time and just read the same task over and over again all season."

I think Sam, RwS Creator, suggested that RwS was one of the opportunities that prompted RwS!

On the front page of today's Ketchikan's Daily News is an article about an old, comparatively small cruise ship, Polar Star, that used to be a frequent visitor here. It was also a movie star, having been the ship used in the James Bond film To Russia with Love.

I took time to read this article, mostly because I am currently reading Polar Star, a thriller that takes place on a fishing trawler of the same name. The ship in the book and the cruise ship of the same name have nothing to do with each other, but I found the coincidental timing amusing.

Well, I'm done for Fall Challenge. Only one repeated task. Almost finished the Scrabble sub-challenge -- 9 of 10 books -- I have the 10th book picked out but with less than 10 hours left in the challenge, not enough time to read it.

For winter, I'm going to try & finish one set of 10 tasks -- either all the 10 points ones, all the 20 point ones, or BBR.

Joanne wrote: "UGH! Elizabeth 10 for BBR? I can't find one that I can make work-LoL. The hardest time I am having is with the character names. It appears I read books with strange character names😅😉"

That was the hardest part for me also! At first I thought God Emperor of Dune - there's a character Duncan Idaho - all other ones have very unusual last names. Same is true for the original Dune - there's a character Paul Atriedes, and another one Lady Jessica Atreides. First name is doable; last name -- not so much. Next I went with Hamnet (amazing 5 star read!) however there are NO last names in the novel, so it can't be used.
The next problem I had is with J. RwS member favorites - apparently I have a lot of 5 star reads that nobody here at RWS has ranked 5 stars.
Finally went with the Murderbot Series, starting with All Systems Red.

Deedee wrote: "- apparently I have a lot of 5 star reads that nobody here at RWS has ranked 5 stars.."

I understood that option was to find someone who had read your BBR (didn't matter how they rated it) and then find one of *their* 5-star reads.

I haven't decided what I am doing for the BBR yet.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Deedee wrote: "- apparently I have a lot of 5 star reads that nobody here at RWS has ranked 5 stars.."

I understood that option was to find someone who had read your BBR (didn't matter how they ra..."

Oh, that is different! I thought it was someone who also ranked my BBR 5 stars. Well, All Systems Red has several RWS members who ranked it 5 stars, and I've planned using that standard.

Coralie wrote: "I plan to do something that I have been thinking about for a long, long time and just read the same task over and over again all season."

I came close to doing that this season. Of the 19 books I read, 15 were for 20.3 Chemistry. The Multiple style was a nice bonus.

Thank you to the mods for a fun fall season of tasks. I'm looking forward to the winter challenge.

I may just skip the 15 pointers this time around, though I continue to look for a favorite and if I do find something, that is workable, I will try to do some of them-they don't have to be done in order, do they?

No, they don't have to be done in order.

Joanne wrote: "I may just skip the 15 pointers this time around, though I continue to look for a favorite and if I do find something, that is workable, I will try to do some of them-they don't have to be done in ..."

I see that you have read a lot of Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series. Do you want to read more of them? Is Richard Sharpe in all of them? If so, you have your 2 characters. A favorite series can probably fit A-F.