Ashley’s Comments (group member since Aug 03, 2022)

Ashley’s comments from the Hooked on Books group.

Hi everyone,

I wanted to reach out to touch base about a recent change within your team. Celeste has stepped away from the game and will no longer be serving as captain or participating moving forward.

I know that any leadership change can feel sudden, especially mid-game, so before anything is finalized, I’d like to get a sense from the team on how you’d like to move forward. Your Co-Captains, Danielle and Melinda, have both been instrumental in keeping things organized, and they’ve expressed a willingness to continue supporting the team.

If the majority of you are comfortable with them stepping into shared captain roles, that’s an easy transition to make. However, if there are other thoughts or preferences, I’m happy to hear them before making the change official.

For now, game access has been adjusted to reflect the current situation, and your progress, points, and submissions remain unaffected. The priority is keeping the game running smoothly and making sure everyone feels comfortable and supported.

Please take a moment to share your thoughts here or privately with me if you prefer.

🐠✨ Symbols of Luck and Fortune | November ✨🐠
Coins: Reading Challenge Prompts

🔠 Spell-Out
Complete a spell-out of the word F I S H using the first letter of the Book Title.

Luck & Fortune Sets
Read a book that fits each prompt in a Set, based on your Participation Level!

🐠 Flow and Fortune
Fish thrive in movement — this set celebrates adaptability, abundance, and life’s changing tides.
• A story about personal transformation or reinvention
• A book featuring water, rivers, or the ocean
• A character who rebuilds or changes their fortune
• A plot where luck or chance plays a key role

🐠 Depth and Discovery
Beneath the surface lies mystery and truth — this set honors introspection and emotional depth.
• A book with hidden meanings or secrets revealed
• A character who faces inner turmoil or emotional growth
• A story set underwater or near the sea
• A book that explores grief, healing, or rebirth

🐠 The Koi’s Journey
Koi fish swim against the current — their journey is one of perseverance and courage.
• A character who defies the odds
• A story centered on resilience or endurance
• A book inspired by Asian folklore, mythology, or culture
• A protagonist striving toward a dream or ambition

🐠 Ripples of Prosperity
Even a single drop can create waves — this set celebrates generosity, connection, and legacy.
• A book where kindness or generosity changes lives
• A story about community, family, or support systems
• A plot involving success, fortune, or financial themes
• A book where actions have far-reaching consequences

🐠 Scales of Balance
In nature, equilibrium is everything — this set explores harmony, duality, and transformation.
• A story that explores balance or moral choices
• A book with dual timelines or mirrored storylines
• A character torn between two worlds or identities
• A story with themes of renewal or transformation

✨ Cast your line, follow the current, and let the fish guide your November reading journey toward luck, growth, and transformation.

Symbols of Luck and Fortune | November
Duration: November 1, 2025 – November 30, 2025

Challenge Rules:
Standard Challenge Rules apply, unless otherwise stated for the task.

Sign Up:
Create a comment with your chosen level and get reading!

Participation Level
Minnow Novice: Complete the Spell-Out
Koi Keeper: Complete the Spell-Out, plus 2 Sets
River Guardian: Complete the Spell-Out, plus 4 Sets
Master of the Current: Complete the Entire Challenge

Each month, we will explore symbols of good fortune, luck, and prosperity from various cultures and contexts. This month we're exploring...

🐟 Fish 🐟
Fish have long represented abundance, prosperity, and transformation across cultures. In Chinese and Japanese traditions, they are auspicious symbols of wealth, perseverance, and strength. Koi fish in particular embody determination and grace — swimming upstream through adversity and emerging transformed. Whether in myth, art, or literature, fish remind us to adapt, flow with life’s currents, and pursue our goals with quiet persistence.

Did you know?
• In Feng Shui, fish (especially goldfish and koi) attract good luck and financial prosperity.
• In Japanese folklore, koi are said to swim upstream and transform into dragons — a symbol of triumph through struggle.
• Fish often symbolize spiritual renewal, adaptability, and emotional depth.

Let your reading take you beneath the surface this month — where fortune, transformation, and resilience flow together.

👻 Haunted Legacies & Living Memory | October 19–25 | Toni Morrison
(Beloved, Song of Solomon, The Bluest Eye, Sula, Jazz)

Toni Morrison doesn’t write ghost stories — she writes about how history itself haunts us. In Beloved, the past literally takes form, but across all her novels, memory, trauma, and love ripple across generations. Her prose is rich, lyrical, and layered, pulling readers into the complicated legacies of race, family, and identity in America.

Morrison reminds us that "haunting" isn’t just about spirits — it’s about the stories, silences, and scars we inherit.

💬 This Week’s Universal Question
Even if you’ve never read Morrison: what’s a book where the past refused to stay buried, shaping the present in unexpected ways?

🔥 Hot Take
Beloved isn’t just a ghost story — it’s the great American novel about grief, survival, and the cost of freedom.

🕺 Casting Chaos
If you could commission one modern director to adapt Beloved (or Song of Solomon), who would it be? Would you go artsy (Barry Jenkins? Ava DuVernay?) or raw and unsettling (Jordan Peele)?

⏳ Nostalgia Prompt
When did you first encounter Morrison — high school required reading, Oprah’s Book Club, or later in life? How did your age/experience change the way you received her work?

🎲 Mini-Game: Six Degrees
Connect Toni Morrison to Octavia E. Butler (last week’s author) in six steps or less. (Shared themes of survival, speculative edges, identity, or even fun "what if they swapped genres" headcanons all count!)

Mod Extension Request

Team: Dystopian Developers
Requested Extension: Approximately 8 hours
Reason: Team miscommunication

Please let us know if this extension would cause any issues for other teams. If not, we’ll proceed with the adjusted timeline.

Jenny wrote: "Ashley, perhaps next year you can set up a recommendations thread. I can think of ten space opera books off the top of my head that non-sci-fi readers would likely really enjoy.
If we get a month ..."

An excellent idea...

😂

Excellent feedback! I have an idea I'm cooking up - and this is helping guide me.

I'm actually really glad so many of you enjoyed it.

I think the biggest issue I've seen is with players dropping out, and that creates some loss of "competition" for some teams, so I'm creating a way to circumvent that frustration.

And I HEAR YOU - I'll drop the review part 🤣😂

bamaace83 wrote: "Team Chapter Champions would like to open up an IBR for We Are All Guilty Here for Vicki and myself. We are on a Karin Slaughter kick this month!"

IBR - We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter

Members Starting the BR: Vicki & Anna
Challenge: Book Quest Adventures
Book: We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter

Anyone is free to join in this Buddy Read! Happy Reading!

bamaace83 wrote: "It's not really a question but as you are over there planning out fun things for 2026, I would like to put a shout out for doing this challenge again. Our team has really enjoyed this one and would..."

Noted.
How similar are you thinking? Do you like the team element, the year long aspect? The BR part? Do you like the competition, or the comraderie?

I'd been thinking of a more laid-back version, teams but not a competition...

Julia wrote: ""Read a book about historical events that involve fear, like wars or oppression."

Can we also use a book about a fictional war in a fantasy world, or do they have to be actual historical events?"

Mmm... I'll allow it

Adding Michelle T. to the team.

Yes, hookah only

Kirsten wrote: "Can MN Lisa and I get a BR for the Toys challenge for After the Dragons? Thanks so much -- Kirsten"

IBR - After the Dragons by Cynthia Zhang

Members Starting the BR: Kirsten & MNLisa
Challenge: Toys
Book: After the Dragons by Cynthia Zhang

Anyone is free to join in this Buddy Read! Happy Reading!

C wrote: "Hi Ashley, oh whew, that's good! You have no idea how many spreadsheets I've coastered in Excel and had to start over. And calls from coworkers being like "this doesn't make sense". Yeah, the paran..."

I can't believe Excel behaves that way. Come to think of it, when I used to work in an office (LONG AGO, lol), and used Excel, I remember being paranoid about that. Now - that could have been my paranoia only (bc that tracks... hah!) but maybe it's just an Excel (NOT FUN) quirk.

danielle wrote: "Ashley wrote: "The first book is a Formal BR for December. FBR's are chosen at the beginning of the year, and SBRs are voted in, and that occasionally causes an overlap, as people are free to choos..."

Yay! I love when people read outside their norm! It's fun to do and you might find something you love!

C wrote: "Got an access request on our book log, so assuming that is Mrsgeo; welcome!

Ashley, be careful about highlighting a single column. Maybe Excel has gotten better, but historically it hasn't expande..."

Google sheets always reorders correctly, I use it extensively all day at work and for this and it always does it correctly. I promise. Also, I made the template we're using, so I am comfortable with it, even if we all broke it - I can fix it.

Beth wrote: "Is there a reason our list is getting reorded in alphabetical order by reader? I've been keeping it sorted by page count, but when I do that, it's being reset to alpha by reader.

I'm fine with it,..."

It was me, I was trying to see what books I'd added, and that's the easiest way to find them. I'll try to remember to put it back in the order you want it in (tell me what that is!)

You can order it anyway you want at any time, though. Just click-highlight the entire column you want to sort by, then right click, and select sort A-Z - you can do it for any column.