SA Book & Challenge Lovers discussion

Oh oh OH!!! A Pinterest challenge?? Goodreads and Pinterest are my favourite websites, so my heart is actual purring at the idea of this! It feels like thinking of hot chocolate and cozy fires on rainy days!

Lol now I want hot chocolate :)

Shall we do Dr Who from 1 December and Pinterest from about 1 Feb? We can let people start pinning pictures from middle Jan and then start in Feb. There's a lot going on now between new challenges and trying to finish old ones etc (never mind the holiday rush and all that).

Carolien wrote: "Shall we do Dr Who from 1 December and Pinterest from about 1 Feb? We can let people start pinning pictures from middle Jan and then start in Feb. There's a lot going on now between new challenges ..."

+1

Either way is good with me :)

Carolien wrote: "Shall we do Dr Who from 1 December and Pinterest from about 1 Feb? We can let people start pinning pictures from middle Jan and then start in Feb. There's a lot going on now between new challenges ..."

I'm happy with that. By 1 Feb we'll all be less excited about the challenges that began on 1 November, and we'll have soemthing to keep us busy before the new MishMash starts.

I'll work it out and post so everyone can plan around the 20th :)

Any idea when you will post the Dr Who challenge so we can plan?

Oh yes! Sorry it ran away from me :(

Will post it soon :) Thanks for the reminder!

Here we go, the doctor who challenge!

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

It's the 200 year anniversary of the publication of the Grimm Fairy Tales today. There are all kinds of events scheduled (mostly)in Germany for 2013 to celebrate it. The fairy tales is supposed to be the most published book after the Bible. If you read this today - there is a wonderful Google doodle today http://www.google.co.za/ based on Red Riding Hood. Click on it to see the story unfold.

Does anybody want to do a Grimm fairy tale challenge in 2013 to be part of the celebrations? We'll have to come up with a few tasks based on their fairy tales.

I would love to do an event challenge on fairy tales.
Do you have any ideas on how to set it up?
Do you want to do tasks just based on Grimm's fairy tales or all fairytales? Do you want the tasks based on the fairytales themselves or the values in the fairytales?
If you need any help setting it up let me know.

I think that would be great!

Sounds great to me! I like the idea of actual Grimm fairy tales and mixing in some modern versions of those fairy tales. Anyway, looking forward to more details :-)

In terms of the "event" part of the challenge, I suggest we stick to the Grimm tales (there were 87 originally, so we're not short on choice). We can define the tasks fairly widely so that it can be either literal or the values e.g. Red Riding Hood becomes something like read a book with a red cover/has a wolf in it/or where a character is seduced into a bad relationship.

Oh this sounds like fun!

Carolien wrote: "In terms of the "event" part of the challenge, I suggest we stick to the Grimm tales (there were 87 originally, so we're not short on choice). We can define the tasks fairly widely so that it can b..."

Well it is your challenge so you can set it up or do you want one of the moderators to do it?

Can you create a thread for us and moderate it please?

Shall we give ourselves a Christmas present since we all love to plan challenges and tasks? I'll find a list of the fairytales and we give everybody a few days to list their favourites - top 5 or so. We then post the top 5-10 and then get some recommendations for tasks which we can debate.

Hopefully we can have a bit of fun discussing the fairytales along the way before we start the challenge since there is quite a lot to say about most of them.

Start the actual challenge middle January and depending on the number of fairy tales let it run until end of April or May?

One compulsory task would be to read Roald Dahl's version of the tales by the way!

Ok, I'll set it up some time this weekend. :)

Thanks. Have a look at this for the fun of it - best book cover designs for 2012 by the NYT
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2012...

That was fun indeed. I disagreed with a lot of the comments, but then I am not a graphic designer.

The Nebula Award Nominees were announced last night: http://www.sfwa.org/2013/02/2012-nebu...

So how about a Nebula challenge? It can work on a points-based system like this:
1 point for every short story you read
3 points for every novelette
5 points for every novella
10 points for every novel.

The aim is simply to get as many points as you can. The challenge can start as of yesterday, and end when the winners are announced (which will be in mid-May, I think). We can also include the Andre Norton nominees for Best YA SFF novel, to give ourselves more reading choices.

Lots of the stories are available for free online (legitimately; I'm not talking about pirate copies), so you don't have to buy any books if you don't want to. And of course, we can chat about the merits of the nominations and who we think should win.

I thought this up in about two minutes, so feel free to suggest any changes!

I'm in. Sounds like fun...

Anyone else?

Missed your post earlier. I would join, especially for the shorts and novellas because normally I read so few of those.

Ok, I feel much better with 3 people instead of 2 :) Also I read all the short stories yesterday and I really want to read the others, so I'm super-keen. Will go make the thread now.

I'm confused. We don't have a event challenge going on atm?

No. I meant to make up a winter one and forgot.

Ah I see, so I didn't miss anything :)

No you didn't. There is still the idea of a Jane Austen challenge since it is the 200 year anniversary of the first publication of Pride and Prejudice. I haven't done anything with it yet, but I could work on it. And perhaps some sort of in memoriam challenge is in order. We have lost some great authors lately and maybe it is time to remember some of the truly great ones.

I'm always up for anything :)

Someone wanna get one up and running for the 1st?

Shall I get a winter themed one up for the 1st? Or Lauren you wanna do it? Or we can do it together?

Yeah, we can do it together if you want. Google docs?

Oh, the first month of Winter is almost over though - any books we read this month would have to count too. Do you still want to do it?

I donno :( I just know we need one!

Ask Barbara if she has got anywhere with Jane Austen yet. I agree with her idea for In Memoriam as well.

Good idea! Barbara?

I'm going to whip up something and post it now :)

I am so sorry I have been so very busy, but I will think off the Jane Austen one for next month and the In memoriam for the month after. So we will have two short challenges running together.

Also has anyone any idea for a themed challenge starting 1 November. I am willing to read the books and do the research and think of something fun, but I am a bit at a loss for a series to use.

We could have a "nominate your favourite series" thread. :)

Maybe Game of Thrones?

It's the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination in November. I'm happy to make up an event challenge for that one if you want to so it will follow in In Memoriam challenge.

I can't think of a series either, Barbara. I'll send you a time based idea that may spark something in your creative mind.

Lu (Sugar & Snark) wrote: "Maybe Game of Thrones?"

Ooh, I'd like that.

Carolien wrote: "It's the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination in November. I'm happy to make up an event challenge for that one if you want to so it will follow in In Memoriam challenge.

I can't think of a ser..."

Great idea!

Game of Thrones might be an idea. At least I have read the books, but a nomination thread is also a good idea. I will set something up.

I look forward to your idea Carolien. I am sure I can do something with it. ;)

Gonna be awesome whatever you guys do :)

I'm basically off and will be back Saturday. Chat then!

I like the Game of Thrones idea!

Loving the Game of Thrones idea too! And we can tie it in with a group-watch of the series maybe?

Also someone mentioned a family tree challenge a while back. I thought digging up my own family tree might be a schlep, but using fictional families could be interesting, and GoT immediately came to mind. We could use the symbols of the various families, and/or tasks related to the major members of the most prominent families (Stark, Lannister, Baratheon)

I like where you are going Lauren. I am going to spend some time thinking about the series and see what I can come up with.