The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

15.6 - ONE-HIT WONDERS
One-hit Wonder Day is Sept. 25 – Read a book that was the only book of its type by the author (a foray into science fiction by a mystery writer, an adult book by someone who normally writes children's books, a fiction book by someone whose other books are nonfiction, etc.), or the only book the author has published to date.

Examples: The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town (only nonfiction by John Grisham); The School of Essential Ingredients (her other books are nonfiction); Beat the Reaper (only published book).

For a list of well-known "One Hit Wonders," see One Book Authors

YA is not a separate genre for purposes of this task.

To distinguish short stories-novellas-novels, the key is whether something has been published as a separate work, rather than in a collection. So, if an author has only published long form fiction (stand alone novels) before, then a collection of short stories/novellas will count as a new departure, and thus will work for the task. Similarly, if the only published works have been in collected forms such as "6 Short Stories and a Novella," or "3 Novellas," and the author has one stand alone novel, that would work for this task.

Books that do work:
The Help
In Cold Blood
The Pat Conroy Cookbook: Recipes of My Life
Irreplaceable
Before I Fall
Ford County
Invisible Man
Juneteenth: A Novel
Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Volume 1
The Exile: An Outlander Graphic Novel
My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey
American Rust
Alice I Have Been

Books that do not work:
Sundays at Tiffany's
Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer
The Host
Skipping Christmas

Would James Patterson's Sundays at Tiffany's work for this task because he usually writes mystery novels? This seems like a romance to me!

Sarah (Mood Reader) wrote: "Would James Patterson's Sundays at Tiffany's work for this task because he usually writes mystery novels? This seems like a romance to me!"

i'm at work, just popping in quickly to answer quick questions. I'll take a look at this tonight and get back to you.

Sarah (Mood Reader) wrote: "Would James Patterson's Sundays at Tiffany's work for this task because he usually writes mystery novels? This seems like a romance to me!"

Unfortunately, looks like he's written at least two other books that are not mystery/suspense, and seem to be along the same lines. Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas and Sam's Letters to Jennifer

If anyone has any ideas, I could use them! I've got nothin'...

Sara ♥ wrote: "If anyone has any ideas, I could use them! I've got nothin'..."


The Gargoyle - only book
The Monsters of Templeton - other book is short stories
Before I Fall - only book
The Bell Jar - only book
Eating Animals - only non-fiction
You Lost Me There - only book
Beat the Reaper - only book
The Sister - only book
The Night Climbers: A Novel - only book
Invisible Man - only book
The God of Small Things - only novel
Gone With the Wind - only book
Summerland - only YA novel, others are adult or NF
The Gates - only YA novel
The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin - only book

*Edited to remove "only YA book by an author who writes adult books" per message 27

See? If I would read the task, I would see phrases like, "the only book the author has published to date"... That is TOTALLY doable!

I'm going to read -- I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced (only book)

Tanja wrote: "I'm going to read -- I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced (only book)"

I like that idea! I've really been wanting to read that!

I noticed that The Help is the only book published with a co-author. Does that work?

Leigh Ann wrote: "I noticed that The Help is the only book published with a co-author. Does that work?"

This is her only book, so, yes, it works.

I looked at the book listed with co-authors - looks as if that's some sort of compilation by Readers Digest of 3 books, including The Help.

Would Truman Capote's In Cold Blood work as his only true crime book?

Kristi (Passion for the Page) wrote: "Would Truman Capote's In Cold Blood work as his only true crime book?"

looks like it would work just fine.

Sandy wrote: "Kristi (Passion for the Page) wrote: "Would Truman Capote's In Cold Blood work as his only true crime book?"

looks like it would work just fine."

Great, thanks. Another one I didn't get around to during this challenge ;o). I swear, I'm just going to keep list my TBR books until I read them!

What about Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer - it is the first and only (so far) YA for John Grisham.

Does Irreplaceable work here?

I was thinking about reading The Pat Conroy Cookbook which is basically a memoir with recipes-would that work?

Leigh Ann - I'm excited since I only read about half a chapter and had to put it down to finish Book Club Reads first. Since I saw that it could fit into this challenge, gonna hold off until next month to pick it back up and plow right through. It's interesting thus far!

Only Book
The Kitchen House
Flecks of Gold
Oriana's Eyes
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
The Yellow House: A Novel
How to Be an American Housewife
Salvaged

Nicki wrote: "What about Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer - it is the first and only (so far) YA for John Grisham."

In that case, wouldn't The Host by Stephenie Meyer work, as it's her only adult book? I wouldn't mind a reread of that one...

Sarah (Mood Reader) wrote: "Does Irreplaceable work here?"

looks like it's his only book, so yes.

Joanie wrote: "I was thinking about reading The Pat Conroy Cookbook which is basically a memoir with recipes-would that work?"

yes

I made this list for the Challenge we do at my library back in May or June and at that time these authors had published only one book or one work of fiction.

Adam Schell
Akosua Busia
Alexandra Bracken
Anastasia Hopcus
Anna Sewell
Boris Pasternak
Dave Crehore
Dia Reeves
Diane Setterfield
Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Emily Arsenault
BRONTË Emily
Gareth Crocker
Gaynor Arnold
Heather Gudenkauf
Heidi R. Kling
Ishmael Beah
Ivy Pochoda
Giulia Melucci
J.D. Salinger
Jen Nadol
Karen Healey
Kathryn Stockett
Kimberly Derting
Kristin Walker
Lauren Oliver
M. L. St. Sure
Marisha Pessl
Marjorie Presten
Melanie Benjamin
Nami Mun
Nancy Horan
Oscar Wilde
Rachel Hawkins
Rebecca Skloot
Rose MacMurray
Sadanand Dhume
Shannon Delany
Stephen Chbosky
Sylvia Plath

Lori (BNPL) wrote: "I made this list for the Challenge we do at my library back in May or June and at that time these authors had published only one book or one work of fiction.

Adam Schell
[autho..."

Thanks for posting that, Lori.

Sara ♥ wrote: "Nicki wrote: "What about Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer - it is the first and only (so far) YA for John Grisham."

In that case, wouldn't The Host by Stephenie Meyer work,..."

As we've seen in the many, many posts in the discussion about YA books, there's no agreement about what YA is - a genre, a reading level, books that people read in high school, a meaningless marketing device and so on. In many cases, books seem to be classified as both YA and adult, depending on where you look.

For this task, I want to stick to identifiable different types of book - it's pretty clear when a fiction writer does a cookbook or that there's a significant change in genre when an author moves from a picture book about "Little Kitten Visits the Farm" to an adult book.

So, YA does not work as a different type of book from "regular" fiction for this task.

Would you consider novellas to be a removal from novels? For example, on the list Lori posted JD Salinger is on there because his one actual novel was The Catcher in the Rye. He also published Franny and Zooey which is two novellas in one book, though it wouldn't be very complete if they weren't combined. Same with Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction which is again two novellas in one book. They're still fiction though. Would they be considered different from Catcher in the Rye?

Are short stories considered separate from fiction? To continue to use Salinger, Nine Stories are short stories. Sylvia Plath published Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams: Short Stories, Prose, and Diary Excerpts which also includes several short stories.

Lori (BNPL) wrote: "I made this list for the Challenge we do at my library back in May or June and at that time these authors had published only one book or one work of fiction.

Adam Schell
[autho..."

J.D. Salinger has published more than one book!
So has Oscar Wilde.

J.D. Salinger - [book:The Catcher in the Rye|5107] only novel (vs short stories)
Oscar Wilde - The Picture of Dorian Gray only novel (vs plays)

got it now
(I originally read fiction to include both short stories and plays without thinking about what the task requires.)

PJ, that's why I was asking if novellas are considered different. They're not different in my world but some people view them as different entities. For this purpose I wouldn't see anything different between novel, novellas or short stories, but since it's not my task I don't know what the actual ruling would be on that.

pjreads wrote: "J.D. Salinger has published more than one book!
So has Oscar Wilde."

Although a proficient and versatile writer, Wilde only wrote one novel during his lifetime: “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” published in 1891.


The above is from http://www.cmgww.com/historic/wilde/f...

I was thinking of reading In Cold Blood, a work of true crime in contrast to Capote's typical fiction. Does that work?

Charity wrote: "I was thinking of reading In Cold Blood, a work of true crime in contrast to Capote's typical fiction. Does that work?"

yes

Thanks! :)

Can I use this one Skipping Christmas? I think is seveveral steps away from his usual legal thrillers.

I'm going to read Before I Fall . Is that okay?

How about Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel as Eoin Colfer's only graphic novel?

Sara ♥ wrote: "How about Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel as Eoin Colfer's only graphic novel?"

The second one has been out for awhile: Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident.

Bethany wrote: "I'm going to read Before I Fall . Is that okay?"

The GR description says it's her only published novel, so that's fine.

I also noticed that her birthday is listed as "August 1, 2011." Now, THAT'S a true prodigy!

Penny wrote: "Can I use this one Skipping Christmas? I think is seveveral steps away from his usual legal thrillers."

Grisham has a few novels out now that are not legal thrillers - in addition to Skipping Christmas, there's The Bleachers and Playing for Pizza. So, this won't work for the only book in a different genre. Sorry.

I've been thinking through the best way to deal with short stories v. longer form fiction, since I do see short stories as a different type of writing - someone who has published some short stories and then publishes a novel is doing something different. And I can't see ruling out the only novel by someone who has previously had short stories published, perhaps in an anthology.

Here's how I'm going to draw the line on the whole short story-novella-novel thing. Rather than getting into word or page counts, the key is whether something has been published as a separate work, rather than in a collection.

So, if an author has only published long form fiction (stand alone novels) before, then a collection of short stories/novellas will count as a new departure, and thus will work for the task. Similarly, if the only published works have been in collected forms such as "6 Short Stories and a Novella," or "3 Novellas," and the author has one stand alone novel, that would work for this task.

Before we finalize the task descriptions on September 11, I'm trying to arrive at a workable definition here that will be easy for both the participants and moderators to work with.

Kristi (Passion for the Page) wrote: "Great, thanks. Another one I didn't get around to during this challenge ;o). I swear, I'm just going to keep list my TBR books until I read them."

I keep moving books from my "spring challenge possibles" to my "summer challenge possibles" and now to "fall challenge possibles"!

It looks like Ford County is John Grisham's only book of short stories. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. I was going to use this for 10.1, but I'd like to move it here if I can.

Leigh Ann wrote: "It looks like Ford County is John Grisham's only book of short stories. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. I was going to use this for 10.1, but I'd like to move it here if I ..."

yes, from what I read, this is his only foray into short stories - it works for this task.

Thanks Sandy.

Sandy wrote: "Kristi (Passion for the Page) wrote: "Great, thanks. Another one I didn't get around to during this challenge ;o). I swear, I'm just going to keep list my TBR books until I read them."

I keep moving books from my "spring challenge possibles" to my "summer challenge possibles" and now to "fall challenge possibles"!"

I'm so glad I'm not the only one!!

Nicki (UK) wrote: "Sandy wrote: "Kristi (Passion for the Page) wrote: "Great, thanks. Another one I didn't get around to during this challenge ;o). I swear, I'm just going to keep list my TBR books until I read them...."

I have been doing that also. I still have yet to fit a few of the books in so they are just in a pile patiently waiting their turn.

Ralph Ellison wrote Invisible Man. His other book Juneteenth: A Novel was not completed before he died, but was published posthumously. May we go ahead and read one or the other of them?

Donna Jo wrote: "Ralph Ellison wrote Invisible Man. His other book Juneteenth: A Novel was not completed before he died, but was published posthumously. May we go ahead and read one or t..."

After doing some research, It looks to me as if Juneteenth was actually pulled together from lots of pages of notes and turned into a real book by an editor.

So, I'll take these.

Ms Anderson wrote: "Sara ♥ wrote: "How about Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel as Eoin Colfer's only graphic novel?"

The second one has been out for awhile: Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident."

D'oh! How about Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Volume 1?