The Perks Of Being A Book Addict discussion

Team E.T.

Team Members:
👾
❅ Tammie - Captain
❅ Maria Jo - Co-Captain
❅ Ashley
❅ Karen♐
❅ Haswanthi
❅ ChristinaT
❅ Chava
❅ Audrey
❅ Nistha




🚀 Team Spreadsheet
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

R

R

Team Members

✔️Tammie | uno2025 | Read
✔️Maria Jo | uno-2025 | Read
✔️ Ashley | uno-2025 | Read
✔️ Karen♐ | 2025-uno | Read
✔️Haswanthi | uno-2025 | Read
✔️ChristinaT | Uno-2025 | Read
✔️ Chava | UNO2025 | Read
✔️Audrey | UNO 2025 | Read
✔️Nistha | 2025 uno | Read

Team Working Spreadsheet (WS) -> https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Note: Access will be granted to all with this link once it's ready...approx January 22

We'll use this working sheet to keep track of the books we claim and our completions.
If you cannot post your books to the SS, please use this format for completion posts in our thread.
1. Book read/author > share link for the version you read
2. Hand/Card you are claiming
3. Date finished
4. Other options it works for

Please pace your number of claims proportionate to the number of books you indicated you’d read. Note over reading will be necessary to some extent…we do want everyone to participate at the level you indicated if possible.

🌷Countdown to END of UNO / April 30 ->
https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...

🌻Where do we stand - Points SS -> https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

RULES - Read First -> https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Helpful Resources

per Rule 5 - 5. Books must be at least 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)
Need a word count for a book that may require an exception -try arbookfind -> https://www.arbookfind.com/UserType.a...

Need Help finding a color cover? These shelves have been compiled by UNO Captains over the years...if in doubt about a color and if it works...be sure to ask in our thread! We will decide collectively if it fits.
Yellow Covers
Blue Covers
Green Covers
Red Covers
For the color covers please be aware that different editions have different color covers and you will need to post the color cover that you read.

How to post a link to your book on the SS
1. Go to your the version of the book you are reading. COPY the address for your book. (ctrl + c)
2. Place your cursor in the spot, on the SS, where you want to put your link
3. <- Find this icon at the top of our WSS and 'click' on it
4. PASTE (ctrl + v) the copied address in the box labeled 'LINK'
5. Type in the name of your book in the box labeled 'TEXT'
6. Click 'APPLY'
7. Double check you link works.

COUNTDOWN to START of MINI > https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...

April Mini post -> https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Hello Team E.T.!

I’ve probably watched E.T. 10+ times…a favorite when it first came out ;)

I'm Tammie and I'm joined by Maria Jo...we're excited to be your captains for one of my favorite challenges!

I live in the St. Louis metro area. I have a husband and 2 grown children who provide me with grand-dogs so I can get my doggie-fix now and then :) I love to travel…we’re just returning from a trip to India and Vietnam…and I also love to read :)

I find UNO fun, a great way to talk about books and learn about new authors. I think most of us have played before, but there may be a few new to the UNOworld. Don't be afraid to ask questions...we're all waiting and willing to help you navigate UNO or even Goodreads if you need it.

I'd like to start us off with a few questions for each of us to share answers to if you choose.
📘 Introduce yourself…any E.T. memories? Tell us how often you'll checkin - are you 'chatty' or more on the quiet side?
📗 What experience do you have with challenges/UNO
📒 If you have read for UNO before, share a tip or strategy you found useful with the group...
📕 Share a favorite book and the book you can't wait to read for UNO

PLEASE MARK THIS THREAD TO RECEIVE NOTIFICATIONS :)

Welcome members of Team E.T.!

I'm Maria Jo, and I'm excited to be a co-captain for the first time for Uno!

📘 I live in Kansas with my husband. I taught for 6 years in Kansas and Nebraska, but decided to substitute after getting married. Now, I have my dream job helping a family homeschool their four elementary aged children. I'm not usually very chatty, but I will stalk the threads and keep a close eye on what's happening in case there are any questions.

📗 I played Uno for the first time last year, and decided this year to be a co-captain for the first time. I have led teams in other challenges, so I'm not a complete newbie. :) I use spreadsheets for many things and I've been on Goodreads for a long time, so I am happy to help and answer any questions you may have!

📒 The one thing I have found useful over the many challenges I have participated in is making use of Goodreads lists. If you search the listopia, you can often find lists that others have compiled to meet almost any challenge task.

📕 Some favorite books:


Looking forward to read for Uno:

📘 Hi, I am Haswanthi from India. I am 20, currently in university. I read almost all genres in fiction but am thinking of trying non-fiction this year (open to suggestions!). I have not watched E.T., but I am planning to watch it before UNO starts. I will check the threads daily (or at least once every two/three days in case of exams). I am somewhere between chatty and quiet.

📗 I planned UNO last year and really enjoyed it.

📒 I don't really have any specific tips. My strategy is first to see if any color/reverse cards match with my books, and then read whatever books I have and try to match them with the cards.

📕 Few of my favorite books are


Looking forward to read:

Welcome Haswanthi! We are glad to have you on our team.

My husband and I just returned today from our trip to UAE, India and Vietnam. We were in western India...Ahmedabad and Udaipur. We enjoyed learning more about the culture there and enjoyed our visit very much.

Your favs are some of mine too...I love Taylor Jenkins Reid...all of her books are awesome.

Non-fiction...a few I read in 2024 that I liked

Here's a couple of non-fiction that I am looking forward to reading

📘 Hi all! My name is Ashley and I live in Ohio (Cincinnati Area) with my husband and 2 young kiddos (6 & 3). I am a SAHM but maintain my social work license.
I actually don't know if I have ever even seen ET. Maybe I'll watch it in the next few months. I will be fairly chatty here, and will at least be checking the thread daily (sometimes more than that) even if I don't chime in.

📗 This is my 6th year doing UNO and I love it so much! It is the only challenge I do on GoodReads and my only team challenge. I do a monthly Book Tac Toe challenge in a FB reading group, so I will read for specific prompts there, but it's an individual challenge so I do have some flexibility.

📒 I don't really know that I have any tips or strategies... mostly just communicate with the team. Every team I have been on has been great and working with each other to cover spots and move things if needed so people can MOSTLY read what they want. Every once in a while we get something odd in the mini and someone has to "take one for the team" but we can usually fit most things in somewhere so you can read what you like.

It can make it easier for reverses to become friends with your teammates, so if no one minds I will likely send you all friend requests at some point. I also get to see all the fun color covers my former teammates are reading.

Also, if it isn't too much work for captains, I'd love to have a list of the colored cards and who has claimed them somewhere each month, just to help make it easier to see what specific things we are still looking for.

📕 Some of my favorite books are:


The color covers are absolutely my favorite part of UNO, so some books I will hopefully get to incorporate that I'm excited about are:
(I think this is blue?)


I was so excited that my book club chose to read for our February book... and then so bummed to see we have no yellow cards for February. I'm still looking forward to reading the book though.

Just some general info about my reading: I typically read thrillers, romcoms, and just like contemporary fiction I guess. I love a good found family and books with elderly MCs and especially when these 2 things combine. I will also read out of my comfort zone for challenges and book clubs, and often do. There are very few things that I just WON'T read.

Okay, I feel like that was a lot. Excited to read with all of you!

Haswanthi, I read Dark Matter a few years ago and really enjoyed it!

Tammie, I read Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World several years ago and loved it so much I bought it at a library book sale.

Ashley, The Last Flight is on my to-read list! Maybe I'll read it for Uno if we need a red cover!

📘 Hi, everyone! My name is Karen. We just moved from Chicago to Columbus, Ohio (to be near our eldest son). My husband and I are both retired with 3 grown sons. I saw ET when it first released with my children.
📗 I'm in quite a few challenges and have been in UNO quite a few times.
📒 I usually just found books that I hoped to read that fit for the UNO challenge.
📕 I read mostly Romance (all types)

Ashley wrote: "📘 Hi all! My name is Ashley and I live in Ohio (Cincinnati Area) with my husband and 2 young kiddos (6 & 3). I am a SAHM but maintain my social work license.
I actually don't know if I have ever ev..."

Welcome Ashley! Great tips!

To answer your inquiry re color cards…there is a summary of our color cards needed on the WS marked February…see post 5…look to the right of the main area…this is where we’ll be claiming and doing all our updates.

February
Wild Draw 4 x4
5 Green x1
7 Green x1
3 Blue x2
7 Blue x1
9 Blue x1
1 Red x1
3 Red x1

For February we have no yellow covers…these tend to be the most difficult so experienced UNO readers pile the up…were likely to have at least 1 round where we’ll need quite a few

My tip would be for us to try to claim and read for the color cards and REV cards before the mini shows up around the 12th…next most difficult are typically 7-V, 5-I and 9-N

Once we’ve all checked in it’s ok to start claiming spots…I’ll strongly suggest that we stick to claiming what we’ll read for 1 week…try to balance so everyone has a chance. Over claiming cards can cause us to have readers with nothing to read for…keeping this pace will help this from happening…and keep everyone involved.

Remember… Only books STARTED after the challenge begins can count

Karen ♐ wrote: "📘 Hi, everyone! My name is Karen. We just moved from Chicago to Columbus, Ohio (to be near our eldest son). My husband and I are both retired with 3 grown sons. I saw ET when it first released with..."

Welcome Karen…Ohio citizen #2 for our team!

Hi all! 👋 I'm ChristinaT from Iowa. Not married and I have no kids and completely happy with it.

📘 Introduce yourself…any E.T. memories? I don't have strong ET memories, just remember watching it at the theater as a kid. I do have strong memories of being mad as hell when they re-released it in 2002 because they changed a bunch of stuff including changing the guns in a specific scene to walkie-talkies because guns could be too scary for children. IMO you don't change a movie. You put a warning on it and let parents parent. Ok getting off my soapbox now 😉
📗 What experience do you have with challenges/UNO. This is my first time playing and I'm really excited 😊 🤗
📒 If you have read for UNO before, share a tip or strategy you found useful with the group...
📕 Share a favorite book and the book you can't wait to read for UNO
I read mostly MM Romances which looks to be a quite a bit different than the rest of the team. One of my first and still a favorite is

Welcome, Karen and Christina!

Maria Jo wrote: "Haswanthi, I read Dark Matter a few years ago and really enjoyed it!

Tammie, I read Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World several years ago and lov..."

Maria Jo - I actually read The Last Flight for UNO in 2023. I'm terrible at remembering what most books I read are about, even if I loved them (which is the case with this one). I just remember really enjoying it.

Karen - Welcome to Ohio!

Christina T (or anyone else) - have you read ? I put it on my shelves last year during UNO and contemplated reading it so many times throughout the year... but it's nice blue cover might make it perfect for me to read this year for UNO.

I haven't read it yet Ashley. I put it on hold at the library and when it became available I couldn't work it into any of my reading challenges. I love historical romances at least MF ones because they tend to fudge the...importance... for lack of a better word... of women, in general. I like strong independent women in my books but the reality is women were subservient and used as breeding mares. So I like the liberties authors take when writing historical romances (in this millennium anyway.... we'll not mention the ones from the 80's 😀).
Back to historical MM... out of the ones I've read, all of them are too realistic in the sense the men cannot be together openly. They have to hide their love or face grave often deadly consequences. I hate this. I know it's accurate but it makes my gut churn and my heart hurt. It makes me not enjoy the book as much TBH. So back to ... I passed on getting it from the library but put it in my maybe pile. Maybe this will be the game to convince me to actually read it.

Full disclosure I rarely will read a book I'm not enjoying just for the sake of team points. The last time I did was the Team Towers (I think) and read a book about real life converted people who joined the LDS Mormon religion in their own words. It took me an entire week to read the less than 150 page book. It was so bad. Plus I'm an atheist so there's that.

Tammie wrote: "Welcome Haswanthi! We are glad to have you on our team.

My husband and I just returned today from our trip to UAE, India and Vietnam. We were in western India...Ahmedabad and Udaipur. We enjoyed ..."

Glad you enjoyed your trip to India. Udaipur is really a beautiful place. I am actually from south, but currently staying in north for college. Next time if you visit India, do cover eastern and southern parts :)

I have read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I like her wriitng style, its very captivating.

Thanks for the suggestions !!

Maria Jo wrote: "Haswanthi, I read Dark Matter a few years ago and really enjoyed it!

Tammie, I read Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World several years ago and lov..."

Cool!! I have read Recursion by the same author, last year for UNO( highly recommended!!)

Hi, team ! My name is Audrey and I live in France with my shepherd dog.

📘I tend to be on the quiet side however I keep an eye on the threads and will chime in. Especially when it's about a topic, book or challenge I'm passionate about.
Not a big fan of sci-fi books or movies except maybe Guardians of the Galaxy but it has a talking raccoon and 80s music, I think that's what works for me.
📗 This will be my 4th UNO challenge. I'm simultaneously working on a couple of individual reading challenges.
📒Like Karen, I usually have a couple of books I really want to read next and see where I can best fit them. Most of the time they fit a colour card as well.
📕 My favourite genres are historical fiction, mystery/gothic and history books but will occasionally pick up a historical or paranormal romance. I enjoy Anya Seton's books a lot. Some of my favourite reads last year:

Welcome Christina and Audrey!

Christina I'm a big fan of historical romance as well! I don't read a lot of MM, but I'm not apposed either. I just finished A Bloom in Winter...one of my fav series...this one and a few others in the BDB series have MM romance focus for the plot.

A couple of my recent favor historical fictions I recently read:
...not much romance...but I found to be very good...learned a few things :)

Haswanthi wrote: "Cool!! I have read Recursion by the same author, last year for UNO( highly recommended!!)"

Good to know! I may pick it up this year if we need a yellow cover!

Audrey, I see some books I really enjoyed in your favorites list! I know where I'll be looking if I need a reverse card!

Tammie wrote: "Welcome Christina and Audrey!

Christina I'm a big fan of historical romance as well! I don't read a lot of MM, but I'm not apposed either. I just finished A Bloom in Winter...one..."

I'm so far behind in the BDB series I don't think I can even call myself a fan anymore. I was going to swear I just read book 7 but looking on my shelves I actually read it in December.....of 2020. When they first came out I gobbled them up immediately. I don't know what happened. Too many books not enough time maybe. I did discover Dianne Duvall a few years ago and fell in love with her Immortal Guardians series. I just read The first spin off book which is more Sci-fi than Fantasy but it was still good. Especially if you read the other series first.

I've never really read just historic fiction but one of my good friend in RL keeps shoving The Song of Achilles and Circe at me like a mad man. He liked Circe so much he read it for a second time not even a month later. I love agood re-read but that seemed weird to me LOL

hehe...I have a couple of books I re-read regularly...I'm not sure why really, because they aren't really strong literature...I just like the stories.
I used to reread a lot more...now just 1 or 2 books a year...so many books...so little time!

Do you all set goals for reading books?
Believe it or not, my goal in 2024 was to read less. I actually read 100 less books than I did the year prior...I'd like to read even less this year...I'm down to less than a book a day where in 2023, I read more than 1 book per day.

I set goals each year. My reading has lessened in the last year or two. It just happened that way. But I do like reading about the number of books I have it set for now (200).

I'm probably one of the people that reads the fewest books a month in here and during the challenge I will need to remind myself that I am only expected to read my normal book amount or 1-2 over. In this challenge I tend to panic when I am not finishing books at the rate other people are... but I definitely cannot read as much as most of you.

I actually have had goals to cut back on reading as well... but I guess what I really want to do is take my goals less seriously? I think I set my GR goal to 75 books this year which is based on what I read last year.. but I don't really worry too much about it. I don't actually care if I reach the goal, I just like to have something set.

This year, I mostly just want it to be that I am reading because I want to, not because I feel like I have to. If I want to listen to music or watch tv instead of reading a book on occasion, that's okay. Everything else just kind of took a backseat because I always HAD to read in my free time... which is very limited because of the 2 kiddos who still depend on me for a lot. My oldest is in school all day now, but I still have a 3 year old at home with me and I forgot that when my daughter is at school, my son's playmate would be gone... leaving me to fill that role.

I do the Book of the Month subscription box and I'd like to read those in a more timely fashion (like the month or 2 after I get it). The subscription isn't really worth it if you wait a year to read the book and could've gotten it cheaper because it isn't new anymore.

I also have a 2025 TBR which only has 20 books... so those are the 20 books I definitely want to make sure I read this year. In previous years I've done 24, but last year I didn't get to something like 6 of them.

Other than that, I just really want to read books I enjoy, DNF if I'm not enjoying it (which I never allow myself to do because "maybe it will get better"), and stop prioritizing my prompts over what I actually want to read. I like reading outside my comfort zone but if I can't find something that sounds even a little bit interesting, I need to just skip it. This is all really hard for me though.

I'm not much of a re-reader, but I will reread books if my book club is reading something I read a while ago and don't remember or just really loved. There are some books I would like to read again, but there are so many books and so little time.

I'm probably already driving my husband nuts talking about UNO. I can't wait to get started!

Ashley wrote: "I'm probably one of the people that reads the fewest books a month in here and during the challenge I will need to remind myself that I am only expected to read my normal book amount or 1-2 over. I..."

AMEN!

You are doing great in my view Ashley...when I had 2 kiddos...way back in the day...I took zero time to read. I'd change that if I could :)
I try to be protective of our teamies who have limited book time to read. Those of us who read all the time will be respectful of those who don't...if not, don't be afraid to speak up if you need a particular spot...and please try not to feel one ounce of bad...we ALL have our lives...we do this for fun :)

Tammie wrote: "Ashley wrote: "I'm probably one of the people that reads the fewest books a month in here and during the challenge I will need to remind myself that I am only expected to read my normal book amount..."

I totally agree, Tammie. Ashley, I had 3 children (within 5 years) and wasn't able to read hardly at all. Family first, always. Whatever each of us feels we can get done, we should. No pressure.

Tammie and Karen,
Thank you both for the support and encouragement. It always cracks me up when I get to UNO because most of my friends think I read a lot and they just have no idea how I do it and then there is always at least 1 person on my UNO team who averages 30 or more books a month. Even a lot of my book club friends only read the book club pick for the month. However, I am always telling them it doesn't matter if they read 1 book for the year or 300... as long as they are reading!

I think my brain just sort of short circuits during UNO and I panic when other people start finishing books right away or have posted like 10 and I've done 1. I worry that I'm not pulling my weight... and I have to just take a minute and talk myself down. hahaha For the record, none of my teammates has ever made me feel like I'm slacking or anything... it's all just in my head. Usually a quick glance at the members portion of the spreadsheet helps me put things in perspective with the percentages and such. It helps to remember that I'm working on meeting my "expected goal" instead of keeping on pace with everyone else. And of course the other goal is to have fun and enjoy reading and chatting!

Also, I promise it isn't that serious and I'm not like having nervous breakdowns about anything related to UNO.

Hi team!
Lucky last to check in :).

📘 Introduce yourself…any E.T. memories? Tell us how often you'll checkin - are you 'chatty' or more on the quiet side?
I'm Chava (pronounced with a guttural G then ava). I live in Melbourne, Australia but originally from The Netherlands via New Zealand. I am a wife (15 years married and counting), mum of 4 kids (1 girl and 3 boys) who keep me on my toes. I work as a psychotherapist and love my work.
I have never seen E.T. I will try to find it but these types of movies always make me cry.

📗 What experience do you have with challenges/UNO
I've played UNO reading challenge several times now and even outside of the UNO challenge will notice yellow, red, blue and green cover books :)
The card game UNO I play a lot with my kiddos who don't like the intensity of talk therapy...UNO can be so therapeutic LOL.

📒 If you have read for UNO before, share a tip or strategy you found useful with the group...
My strategy isn't probably a strategy. I have a few books I like to read and see if I can fit them in. However, I tend to look at what's in the hand and then check if I have any books that fit that card. I also am happy to read (or listen to audiobooks) for challenges.

📕 Share a favorite book and the book you can't wait to read for UNO
Asking for a favourite book is like asking which child is my favourite. I have loads of books I really enjoyed, the latest was , the idea of how our life could have gone so many ways with different decisions...I really enjoyed the concept of this book.
I don't have any books ready yet for UNO, I'm going to dig into my bookcase this long holiday weekend.

I look forward to playing with you all. I'm a chatty person but I work full-time and with the time difference, I feel I'll always be a bit late in responding to you. My apologies, I will check the thread on an almost daily basis :)

Welcome Chava!

I’ve read Midnight Library as well…loved all the. Matt Haig books read so far.

We’re all here…so feel free to grab any spot on any card. Let’s try to focus on color cards and REV cards first if possible.
Remember to include at least 2 or 3 alternative cards just in case we need to move things around.
Let’s start with no more than what we’ll read in a week…

Questions…please ask.

Reminders:
1. Books cannot be started until the official start of UNO…see the timers
2. We’ll be using the WS @post 5…the main SS will be updated by Maria Jo and I periodically

I'm unable to enter. I'd like to take 3RED with
The 24th hour
Reason: CLN - Mary Elena Hayes

Same here, Maria Jo. Your books have caught my attention as well. Glad I can still check out your bookshelves after UNO 😊

I'm happy with reading about one book a week. My reading time is somewhat limited, I mostly read on the train when I'm travelling to/from work and after 10pm. Since I can’t generate big reading numbers, I try to keep my TBR pile to a manageable size and tidy it up regularly like removing books I know I won't read. I'm also very selective about the books I add :-)

I'm reading The Father's Tale right now for my book club. It may be the longest book I've ever read at over 1000 pages! The other ladies in my group are texting hinting at things that happen later in the book, and I'm only just starting it! My goal is to be done before Uno starts so I can focus on shorter books, and our meeting is Feb. 3. I've got to buckle down today and make some good progress!

I'm unable to enter anything on the SS also. I'd like 3 with Scorch Helen Hardt

I also really liked The Midnight Library!

I'm going to go ahead and claim the Blue 7 with . It can also work for Blue 3 though. I'll note this on the spreadsheet. I figure 3s are typically easier, but I'm fine with it being moved if needed.

Oh, I guess I also can't edit the spreadsheet yet!

Let me see what’s up with the SS…are you all using the link in post 5?

Tammie wrote: "Let me see what’s up with the SS…are you all using the link in post 5?"

I am. I don't see anywhere that says "read only" or anything... but it's not letting me type anything.

OK...the tab was locked...I wasn't seeing that on my iPad. Everyone should be able to edit from the link at post 5 now. Let me know if it's still a problem.

All good for me now!

I claimed a Draw 2 in hand 12. To be honest, they still kind of confuse me, so could someone check and make sure I did it correctly when you have a chance?

Awesome…I can be a bit slow in the head at times :)

Ashley wrote: "I claimed a Draw 2 in hand 12. To be honest, they still kind of confuse me, so could someone check and make sure I did it correctly when you have a chance?"

You did the record correctly. Honestly draw2’s are freebies…they *don’t have to match the card. I’ve always matched regardless.

We drew 4 of them this round…the lower number the better for us.

*corrected...they do have to match the card