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Round Robin Year-long Challenge


willoyd

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An invitation to a new reading challenge from Madeleine and me!

 

Over the past few years, Madeleine and I have taken part in an annual challenge on another book forum.  Sadly, this forum has become largely moribund, but we have both enjoyed the challenge so much (with varying success!) that we thought we'd try and bring it to this forum.  It's a challenge designed to help each of the participants tackle their TBR (to be read) book piles/shelves - something that for many of us is rather substantial (mine scarily so)!

 

So how does it work?  Each participant keeps or creates a list of books, usually on LibraryThing (this can be as large, small, comprehensive or otherwise, as the participant likes), including books on their TBR list.  It's important that other participants can identify which these books are (see below). My LT list is a full catalogue of my books, with a collection listed 'To Read'.   However, whilst LT has been the usual place to create that list (it was called the LibraryThing Challenge on the other site), participants could create lists in other ways.  For instance, quite a few people keep a list of TBR books at the front of their blog threads, and so books could be selected off that if that was easier.  Whatever we use, the list needs to be easy to access, and long enough to make it worthwhile someone selecting a book from it (if the list was only a dozen books long, then what's the point?!).

 

Participants then go on to each other's lists and select a book from them to challenge the list owner to read it during the year (ie 2018).  So, for instance, Madeleine would go on to my LT list and select a book with which to challenge me, and I would go on to hers to select a book with which to challenge her. We would notify each other through LT messages of what the book was (or we could do it on each other's blog thread, or indeed here). If we choose one already selected, or for any reason is not eligible (the list owner decides what's eligible!), then the list owner will ask for another choice.  Thus, if there are, say, 12 participants, each person would have 11 books on their challenge list to try and read during 2018, each one chosen for them of their own list by one of the other participants. Read them all, and you have successfully completed your challenge!

 

If you use LibraryThing (and I will if this goes ahead), it needs to be easy to identify the books eligible for the challenge.  For instance, books can be tagged 'TBR', 'unread' etc. In my case, I have a Collection called 'To Read' - any book in that collection (over a thousand! Ouch!) would be eligible for selection.

 

In the past, participants have usually selected books for others based on what they have enjoyed themselves, or on books they would like to read themselves.  For the past couple of goes, as the group taking part has been quite small, I've included books I've selected as part of my challenge to myself.  How you decide to select books for others is completely up to you, but you are asked not to forget that  the idea is to help people have a go at their backlist of books to read!

 

If we get enough takers (and it only needs half a dozen to make it worthwhile, although more is merrier!), then I suggest we keep our challenge lists on this thread, or another one specifically for a 2018 challenge (in the past, people have included two lists: challenges to themselves, and challenges the've made to others).  If you want to keep a copy on your own blog thread - why not?  But I think it'd be good to have one thread where we can see what we're doing, and how people are getting on.

 

Please reply here if you're interested, or if you've any questions.  Madeleine and I are up for it, so we'll only need four or five more to make it a starter, but, as I said, it'd be good to get a few more than that to make it a really worthwhile challenge.  If we get enough, I'll start a thread to get the challenge going, and then people can start showing others where their lists are, or creating them, and people can start challenging each other.  Others can still join in - in the past we've usually kept things open into the first couple of weeks of the new year.

 

So.....any takers?!

 

List of interested to date:

Willoyd: TBR list is on LibraryThing, username Willoyd, see here.  Any book from the To Read list in Collections.. 

Madeleine: TBR list is on LibraryThing, username madeleinescott, see here.  Any books that are unrated and not tagged as read.

Chesilbeach: TBR list is in 2 sections here, the first entitled Hardbacks and Paperbacks, the second as Kindle Books.

Karen.d:  TBR list is here.

Alexi:  TBR list is in 3 sections here, the first entitled TBR A-K, the second as TBR L-Z, and the third as Books Acquired 2017.

Chaliepud: TBR list is on GoodReads, see here.

Little Pixie: TBR list is in 5 sections (entitled parts 1-5) here.

Frankie: TBR list is here.

More Reading Time Required: TBR list is here.

Ben:  TBR list is on GoodReads, see here.  If you wish to see this list in any other order, eg author a-z, you will need to log on.

 

 

 

 

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5 hours ago, chaliepud said:

I wouldn't mind having a go, it may also encourage me to participate more in the forum, I haven't been around as much as I'd like this year. :blush:

 

It would be lovely to see more of you!  Thank you Alexi and Chaliepud.  We're up to 6 now - starting to become viable!

 

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3 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

Me too. :)

 

Brilliant!

 

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I`m not on Library Thing, and tbh, can`t face inputting 800+ TBR books, but I have a big TBR list at the start of my blog. :) 

 

That's perfect.  Hope we can help make it a wee bit smaller!

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7 hours ago, frankie said:

This sounds like fun! Can I please join? :D  I need the encouragement to get back to reading!

 

Of course!  I've added your name to the list at the top of the thread.

 

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We seem to have enough people to make the challenge, so I suggest we go to the next stage, choosing books for each other. If we get any other people joining in, then they can easily slot in.

 

For this stage, each person needs a list of TBR books from which others can select that person's challenge books. If each person posts on this thread where their list is, or will be, then I will copy the details into the first post, against each person's name, so we then have an easy reference point. If the list isn't ready, that doesn't matter, but do let this thread know when it is, so that people can start choosing!   The ideal is for everybody to have a complete list of challenge books by the start of the New Year, although obviously we need to be reasonably flexible, especially if anybody joins in later on.

 

Once people start challenging here, I suggest that I (or somebody else - it doesn't matter!) then start a new thread specifically for the 2018 challenge, so that people can post their lists at the start, and then use the rest of the thread for comment, discussion etc, keeping this thread for challenges, admin etc (I think that would be easier than trying to run it all off one thread - a bit like the English County Challenge had a thread to discuss the challenge, then another set for the challenge itself).  BTW, I usually list both the books with which I challenge others and those with which I've been challenged.  (I'll aim to read both lists, unless we acquire a few more participants, but that's a personal thing - the challenge itself is to read books with which we've been challenged by others).

 

I hope all that makes sense.

 

My list is on LibraryThing, under the username Willoyd.  I have put a link to my profile page there on the first post in this thread. Under Collections, click on 'To Read', and that will bring up all my books which I intend (at some stage!) to read.  To challenge me, choose any one of them!

 

 

 

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11 hours ago, chaliepud said:

Thanks for organising...this should be fun! I don't use Library Thing and can't face typing out my TBR so hopefully my Goodreads TBR will suffice? https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5264617-hayley-godwin?shelf=tbr-shelf

 

That will definitely suffice!  So....my challenge to you is The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney.  That's one that is on my TBR shelf too: I read and loved Tenderness of Wolves, and whilst this looks very different, I've heard good things about it.

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5 hours ago, willoyd said:

 

That will definitely suffice!  So....my challenge to you is The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney.  That's one that is on my TBR shelf too: I read and loved Tenderness of Wolves, and whilst this looks very different, I've heard good things about it.

Thanks Willoyd! That's one I have been meaning to read, I'm just a little nervous it won't measure up to TofW but I suppose there is only one way to find out! :) 

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Well, Willoyd, you have a lot of books and we don't have a lot in common in a literary sense that's for sure! I challenge you to read Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy, it was one of my favourite classics as a teenager, I really must read it again and see if it holds the same attraction as a more mature woman! (I was close to saying Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast as it is my Dad's favourite book, but I couldn't get into it as it was so very, very descriptive).

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My challenge to willoyd is Field Notes From A Hidden City by Esther Woolfson, as I loved her book Corvus and would love to hear your thoughts on this one.  

 

And to chaliepud, I challenge you to read My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier, as I loved Rebecca and also the film version of My Cousin Rachel.  Good luck to you both!

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Hi Claire, thank you for my challenge, I don't know why I haven't read any more Du Maurier since Rebecca and Jamaica Inn (which strangely I haven't logged as read on Goodreads - done now!) so this will remedy that.

 

I challenge you to read To Serve Them All My Days by R.F. Delderfield, this has been on my wish list a while and set in an era I read a lot. I hope you like it.

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3 minutes ago, chesilbeach said:

Thanks Hayley - I only recently bought it as it was discussed on my favourite books podcast, Backlisted, a few weeks ago.  It's a real doorstop though ... over 600 pages I think! :D 

That'll keep you busy then! :P I've not heard of that podcast, that's one to look up. Alexa......

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My TBR is at the front of my blog thread - if anyone can tell me how to link to it in this post I would happily do so! :blush: It is in three posts in there, with obviously those struck out the ones I have already read. 

 

My challenge to Claire is The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry because it is on my TBR and I have heard great things about it. 

 

My challenge to Chaliepud is Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel for exactly the same reason!

 

Willoyd I challenge you to The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters. I have multiple books of hers on my TBR and I'm intrigued by this one - and would like your thoughts on it :D

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