Books on the Nightstand discussion

Use this thread to share strategies, etc.

All square-specific discussions should be in their own thread, with the square subject as the topic title.

Have Fun!

I'm confused! Have you posted the Bingo card generator for 2015? I found one online, but it doesn't have some of the categories you've mentioned. Is it last year's?

We're officially launching tomorrow, when the podcast goes live, but we wanted to have the threads started because we direct folks here in the episode.

But if you want to grab your bingo card early, you can go here:
http://tinyurl.com/botnsbingo2015

Thanks, Ann!

Love the Bingo Cards. Thanks!

I happen to love my card but feel behind the times in one area. Google helped a little. To make certain, can you please confirm what is meant by "Tra"?

I was confused by the "Tra" category too.

Do the rest of you set a goal and keep to it - of modify as you go along? (read a row - or two or ?)
i love finding books for the categories, so I think I'll try to find as many on my shelves as I can, and then see how far I get :-)

The Bees by Laline Paul will do both animal in title and animal as the main character. May cover other squares too!!!

Louise wrote: "Do the rest of you set a goal and keep to it - of modify as you go along? (read a row - or two or ?)
i love finding books for the categories, so I think I'll try to find as many on my shelves as I..."

What I did last year (and I don't remember if it worked) was to read what I wanted, fit them into my cards (I had 4 going) and then aimed for Bingo in August based on what was close. I have real problems with the "something you don't think you will like" square!

I just printed my card, so excited to start!

Tina wrote: "I happen to love my card but feel behind the times in one area. Google helped a little. To make certain, can you please confirm what is meant by "Tra"?"

Sounds like a glitch. Maybe Translation? or Travel writing?

Tra? Argh. Copy/paste error. Travel Writing, I'm guessing.
Unfortunately, I can't go back and edit the categories.

Translated Travel writing? :-p

"By an author of a different gender"? Than my own? Than what I usually read? Since I find this category a little too simple and boring I will choose to interpret this as an author of a different gender than typically male or female. Or a book that deals with this subject, like Annabel by Kathleen Winter or Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.

Anna wrote: ""By an author of a different gender"? "

Anna, I took the liberty of starting a new thread for this square and copied your post.

Joanne-in-Canada wrote: "Anna wrote: ""By an author of a different gender"? "

Anna, I took the liberty of starting a new thread for this square and copied your post."

Anna (or anyone knowledgeable), could you start a thread for "written by someone under 21" - the only book I can think if is "I Am Mandala". Please and thank-you.

Ann wrote: "Tra? Argh. Copy/paste error. Travel Writing, I'm guessing.
Unfortunately, I can't go back and edit the categories."

Thanks for clarifying & giving me a good laugh.

Louise wrote: "Do the rest of you set a goal and keep to it - of modify as you go along? (read a row - or two or ?)
i love finding books for the categories, so I think I'll try to find as many on my shelves as I..."

Last year I chose to focus on one specific row. I did find the card inspring me to read a lot of other books too even if they wouldn't give me a BINGO. I'm thinking that's going to be my strategy again this year!

Ann wrote: "Tra? Argh. Copy/paste error. Travel Writing, I'm guessing.
Unfortunately, I can't go back and edit the categories."
I'm kind of disappointed that there isn't some young hip book genre called "Tra" that I could read and fit in with all the hipsters at my family reunion.

AttachmentsJill wrote: "Ann wrote: "Tra? Argh. Copy/paste error. Travel Writing, I'm guessing.
Unfortunately, I can't go back and edit the categories."
I'm kind of disappointed that there isn't some young hip book genre c..."

The Urban Dictionary defined Tra as The Relationship Advisor. To my surprise, that was just one of several definitions. Goodreads has a “Tra” list of books but does not define the term. ATTACHMENTS by Rainbow Rowel fell into the category. I wound up asking because of the goodreads list. You are part of BOTNS that make alone makes you hip!

I keep wanting to call it Book Blanket Bingo. And since it's a summer activity, why not?

I'm doing two book challenges (Book Riot's challenge is one of them, and the other is similar but longer). I've made it a policy not to use the same book in more than one category even when multiple categories apply. Would it be "fair" if I used my book challenge titles to fulfill a bingo square, if applicable? Some of the squares are identical to challenge items (one-word title, longer than 500 pages, set in a place you want to visit), so I could get "credit" on both a challenge list and bingo. Guess it's up to me, but I'm curious how strictly other readers might want to keep their challenges, etc. separate.

Hi Nancy

I often use books for more than one challenge (I'm doing 8 different ones this year...) but only once pr. challenge. So for instance I'm doing "Read 15 novels/novellas published in 2015" - An certainly I'll use some of them for Book Bingo, and for my Cover Art challenge as well.

Sandy wrote: "Anna (or anyone knowledgeable), could you start a thread for..."

It's easy, Sandy!

At the top of the Goodreads screen,
Click on Groups
Click on Books on the Nightstand (should be under My Groups)
Click on BOTNS Bingo Book Lists

You should have a screen with "Discussion > BOTNS Bingo Book Lists" at the top and a list of the threads underneath. Just above "Last Activity" and beside the BOTNS logo is "new topic".

Click on new topic.

You should have a screen that says "Post a New Discussion Topic".

Put the wording of the Bingo square in the Topic box
Add your comment
Click on Post
and Bingo! You've started a new thread.

Nancy wrote: "I'm doing two book challenges (Book Riot's challenge is one of them, and the other is similar but longer). I've made it a policy not to use the same book in more than one category even when multipl..."

I am also doing Read Harder's challenge as well as the Popsugar challenge and Bingo. A lot of the categories match between all three of those challenges so I am letting each book stand for one challenge on each list, but not multiple challenges in the same one. The only thing is my two Bingo cards have the same challenge on both cards (red cover for example is on both cards) In this case I decided to make the same book count once per card much like multiple Bingo cards would be marked with the number called. As you said the rules are all up to you, Happy reading!

Would it be possible to post somewhere (or maybe it already is) the complete list of categories used in making the Bingo cards? I printed out my card and am excited about it. However, I'd love to peruse the other categories that didn't show up on my card.

Blanket was definitely in the name last year. Maybe it was Beach Blanket Bingo? Book Blanket is even better.

Eric wrote: "I keep wanting to call it Book Blanket Bingo. And since it's a summer activity, why not?"

Readnponder wrote: "Would it be possible to post somewhere (or maybe it already is) the complete list of categories used in making the Bingo cards?"

Translation
Graphic novel
By an author of a different gender
By an author of a different culture
Longer than 500 pages
Borrowed from the library
Reread something
Young Adult novel
Nonfiction
Historical Fiction
10 short stories
Poetry collection
Currently on the bestseller list
Recommended in a BOTNS episode
Published before 1970
Six words or more in the title
Set in another country
Set in the place where you live
By an author who shares your first name
That you started but never finished
That you think you will dislike
Cozy Mystery
Science Fiction
Thriller/Suspense
By a small press
A novella
Part of a series
Recommended by a librarian or bookseller
Recommended by a family member
A classic that you should have read in school
Has been on your TBR for longer than two years
Found in a used bookstore
With time travel
With only words on the cover
Published in 2015
With a number in the title
With a one-word title
With a red cover
Biography or memoir
Middle-grade book (ages 8-12)
An audiobook
A play
Fantasy
That you chose because of the cover
That you saw someone else reading
With an animal on the cover
With a child on the cover
That “everyone” but you has read
By any Booktopia author
Written by someone under 21
By or about a member of the LGBTQ community
With food as the theme
A presidential biography
Set during a war or conflict
A prize-winner
Set in a place you want to visit.
Was turned into a movie or TV show
Published before 1900
With an ugly cover
That you've pretended to have read
A dark, upsetting, or sad book (like episode #325)
Published the year you were born
About royalty (fiction or non)
Travel writing
Written by an author you’ve met
Horror
Western
Romance or love story
An author’s debut
By or about a celebrity
Sports-related
An academic/campus novel
Written under a pseudonym
Written before 1700
Set on a ship
Obscure novel by a famous author
A Booker Prize winner (or made the short list)
A banned book
Has an animal in the title
Has water on the cover
A Newbery or Caldecott winner
That you loved as a child
Set in Europe
Set in Asia
Set in South America
Set in Africa
Set in Australia/Oceania
With an animal as a key character
Speculative Fiction
From the Harvard Classics 5 foot shelf
On a topic currently in the news
About books, bookstores or publishing
Humor or satire
Set before 1800
Has a place-name in the title
Borrowed from a friend
An alternate history
With a mythological creature on the cover
Folklore or mythology
Hated by someone you know
That your parents didn't/wouldn't have let you read as a kid
Revolves around a holiday
A parody
Longer than 500 pages
A slave narrative
A random book from a shelf (close your eyes!)
About a disease
About a religion with which you are unfamiliar
A literary magazine or journal (of any genre)
A verse novel
Last book of an author before he/she died or retired
Manga
Published over 100 years ago
Published in 1915 - exactly 100 years ago
That scares you
That involves magic
Nonfiction about your hometown or state
A collection of essays
Currently on the nonfiction bestseller list
By a Canadian author
By an author with American Indian/First Nations/Indigenous heritage
Nonfiction in graphic novel format
By a local author
With a protagonist/narrator over the age of 50
With footnotes
Self-help
Gifted to you
About a subject that challenges you
With a happy ending
Popular Psychology
Popular Science
A biography of someone you dislike
At least 800 pages
A non-human main character
With a family member (wife, son, uncle, etc) in the title
By an author born the same year as you
A short story anthology
Reread a favorite book.
With a blue cover
Written for adult, but with illustrations

I printed out two identical cards. My best friend and I are going to do it together. To make it interesting, I wrote the letters BOTNS on top of the five columns as when playing real BINGO. I then numbered the category blocks 1-5 across 6-10 etc etc. 25 total. Then I cut 25 blocks of paper and wrote 5 B's and but the #'s that coincide with that column and did this for each letter. I know, I know! People are saying " way too much time on her hands". Lol It took me 10 minutes to do it. This way we will randomly pick as we go along and hopefully it's fun!

So excited about my card. My 13-year-old and I are competing this year with a level playing field. Last year he was allowed to double- or triple-count a book and of course he creamed me! I've been reading my "translation" book this weekend -- Norwegian Wood -- my first Murakami. So far, so good!

excitement again this year!! It does my heart good (bad sentence).

Cookie, what a great idea! I love it!

Whoot! That time of year again! After refreshing the page a few times (so many squares from last year's card) I've finally printed it out. Let's get the ball rolling!

Eric wrote: "I keep wanting to call it Book Blanket Bingo. And since it's a summer activity, why not?"

Last year, we called BOTNS Beach Blanket Book Bingo, but that was too long of a name. Feel free to resurrect it for yourself though!

I cheated a bit, as in I refreshed the page several times before finding a card which I can live with. Even though I got categories like "self-help" and "written before 1700" :-/ I guess I'll just skip them, focus on other lines/columns.
But in the end this is the challenge of the book bingo, going out of your comfort zone a bit.

One more book and I have my first full row! :-)

I can't believe how much I'm reading thanks to the BINGO game. It's rebooted my reading brain. Thank you thank you!

This summer I'm trying very hard to use (almost) only books from my shelves to fill my card. And I'm also trying to read the entire card. Three down. Twenty-one to go.

I have seven squares checked off so far on my bingo card (counting the free square) but they don't line up in any way. I'm hoping to clear the board by the time the contest runs out, but at some point I'll have to start choosing books because they fit rather than finding a category the book I just read matches.

Can we do a blackout?

Can we do a blackout?

What's a blackout?

It's when you fill in ALL the squares on the card.

One more book and then I'll have a bingo row! My last square is "That You Loved As A Child." My only problem is coming to a decision!! I've been a huge bookworm ever since I learned to read, so I loved lots of books as a child. I'm paralyzed by the amount of choices. :)

Margali how about listing some and rolling a die? :-)

Is it ok to have one book check off two squares?

Can a site Admin start a thread where people can post their BINGO's?

Sorry, hit post too soon. I mean list the topics and the books that comprise the BINGO.

Jen, on the podcast they officially said "no". Quickly followed by "but really you can do whatever you want, it's supposed to be fun!"