You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

NEGLECTED CLASSICS

For this challenge, I am defining classics as:

- Let's keep this simple. I found a succinct definition that said “A classic book is a book that is very well known and passed down through generations.” Another way, if you want the Rus definition, they are a book that has stood the test of time and is still considered to be pretty darn good.

- I'm making the cut off for this challenge 1963. So any books written in 1963 and earlier are eligible for this challenge. That's 50 years ago, which is a nice round number and a generation or two ago now.

Usual challenge rules apply:
1. The book may be in any format - paperback, ebook, audiobook.
2. The book may be in any genre (but of course some genres get you more points than others).
3. The book may NOT be combined with the Year Long Alphabet Challenge.
4. The book must be read between March 1 and March 31, 2013.

Genre
Poetry – 5 points
Play – 4 points
Gothic Horror – 3 points
Science Fiction/Fantasy – 2 points
Romance – 1 point

Date First Published
1699 –> dawn of time – 5 points
1799 –> 1700 – 4 points
1899 –> 1800 – 3 points
1939 –> 1900 – 2 points
1963 –> 1940 – 1 point

Author
You have read before and disliked – 5 points (add a bonus point if they redeemed themselves)
You have never read before – 4 points
Non-UK/US/Irish nationality – 3 points
Died before their 40th birthday – 2 points
Female – 1 point

Length
This is the version you actually read. If you are listening to an audio book, go by Goodreads' most popular edition.
600pp and over – 5 points
500-600pp – 4 points
400-500pp – 3 points
300-400pp – 2 points
200-300pp – 1 point
under 200pp – 0

Example - let's go with a favourite

Pride and Prejudice

Genre
Romance – 1 point

Date First Published
1899 –> 1800 – 3 points

Author
Female – 1 point

Length (Remember it is the one you are reading)
200-300pp – 1 point

Total - 6 points

I am planning on reading more than one classic for this challenge and I will report them all in this one post and just update it as I go along.

Book 1: And Then There Were None Read 1st March- 6th March

GENRE: Mystery - 0 points

DATE FIRST PUBLISHED: 1900-1939 - 2 points

AUTHOR: You Have Never Read Before - 4 points
Female - 1 point

LENGTH: 300-400pp - 2 points

TOTAL - 9 points

Book 2: The Ladies' Paradise Read 12th March- 22nd March

GENRE: Romance - 1 point

DATE FIRST PUBLISHED: 1800-1899 - 3 points

AUTHOR: You Have Never Read Before - 4 points
Non-UK/US/Irish Nationality - 3 points

LENGTH: 400-500pp - 3 points

TOTAL - 14 points

Yay! For simplicity's sake though, as I am distractable, would you mind reporting and scoring when you have finished Lisa? Just so I know it's completed. Although I love your enthusiasm!!!

No no. It is there so, carry on!! Just fyi.

Rah rah!

Ok great! I won't report any further books until they are completed. Just thought I would complicate matters a little bit! Lol.

heh Keeping me on my toes.

For clarification, we only get credit for reading one book, right? So if we read many our points are only for one book not a cumulative of all the books we read?

Naomi wrote: "For clarification, we only get credit for reading one book, right? So if we read many our points are only for one book not a cumulative of all the books we read?"

I'm wondering, too... I have several picked out.

Yes only your highest scoring book will count toward the challenge.

Fair enough. Thanks :)

Darn! I thought all the books one read would be added up for a grand total and the highest grand total would win. All alone now, my friend, Momentum, just walked out the door... :-(

What?!?! We only get credit for reading ONE???

Some of the wind has gone out of my sails, too. But I think I'll just challenge myself to see how high a score I can get if the books all counted ;)

I think there will probably be a lot of ties in the scoring. I'll probably just move on and work on the alphabet thing. I've read one now, but if I read another classic, I'll just make it work in the alphabet challenge. I do have a pretty good list of classics now though.

LOL. You girls have me laughing! I am thinking like Tejas Janet. Try to find a book that will give you the highest score. I love "playing" with my books, so, for me, the fun of this challenge will be finding the book!

Thing Two......How many classics were you planning on reading??? :)

We base our challenges on one book so that everyone can be included and have a chance at being a contest winner, not just those who can read multiple books a month. You are welcome to read several books towards the challenge, but only your highest counting book will be considered.

I liked doing the challenge last time to find a single book that had the highest score. It's fun to go through the checklist and see what you can find that is going to score the best.

Sorry everyone seemed to get discouraged while I was sleeping :(

As Janice has said, monthly challenges are designed a little differently. They are a bit of fun to aim for and complete during the month. But we don't want them to take up all your time so you can participate in the Group Theme read if you wish, continue with the year long challenge, maybe have a Buddy read and - I know this is hard to believe - even read some other books that aren't to do with YLTO.

Topplers and Year Long Challenges are usually designed to have opportunities to read as much as you can in a time period and get rewarded for that. Monthly challenges help people like me who don't read super quickly, and have other time constraints on their reading to have a chance of "winning" something. Different stokes for different folks, and we try and accommodate everyone. Also, it's not about winning, but the discussion I think. We're going to knock over some of the most talked about books over the hundreds of years in this month. I can't wait to see how that pans out.

So feel free to work your way through your piles and see if you can get a top scoring book. Or just choose one to see how you go and participate. You'd be surprised with the scoring as well. There is usually a clear winner or two. And if two people win, well, yay! And it doesn't matter really as, "Everybody has won and all must have prizes." - the Dodo.

I think I'm going to try to read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories

orig published 1819 - 3 pts
485 pgs - 3pts
new author - 4 points
genre - not sure . . it doesn't really fall under any of the choices.

I'm starting it today.

Julia wrote: "I think I'm going to try to read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories

orig published 1819 - 3 pts
485 pgs - 3pts
new author - 4 points
genre - not sure . . it doesn't really fall under a..."
Maybe Fantasy??

Also:
Everyone please score AFTER you have finished the book.

I know then the points are completed books and you haven't wandered off halfway through.

Julia wrote: "genre - not sure . . it doesn't really fall under a..."

If it doesn't not a problem, just leave that section out. Possibly gothic horror though. Have a look into it.

Rusalka - I'll do a google search and try to see what the majority listing is . .

Rusalka wrote... "Everybody has won and all must have prizes." - the Dodo.

That's really funny and very apropos!! LOL : )

Julia wrote: "I think I'm going to try to read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories

orig published 1819 - 3 pts
485 pgs - 3pts
new author - 4 points
genre - not sure . . it doesn't really fall under a..."
Oooooooooo, great choice!

April - I'm reading as many as I can, but none over 200 pages. I'm still trying to catch up on the alphabet challenge. ONLY 10 books behind my goal today!

I'm keeping track of each book's point total in the review section. Already had a follower question my review ... LOL! Looking for a non-US female poet I've read before (and hated) who died young. Silly. Silly. But a fun way to move through the tbr list, for sure.

Lol glad we're giving your followers talking points! I'm probably going to knock off a few short one too.

I put the points in for length as people were talking about not being rewarded for chuncksters in the toppler. And honestly if you knock over Anna Karenina or Les Misérables in a month, you should be rewarded.

Marcus

Finished: The Phantom of the Opera

Genre: Gothic Horror (3) and Romance (1)
Pub 1910: (2pts)
Author: never read before (4), French (3)
Length 360p: (2pts)

Total: 15pts

thanks Rusalka :)

I've completed two books. Both seem to earn the same number of points so it doesn't matter which is counted for this challenge.

The Prince
1st published 1513 (5 pts)
author never read before (4 pts), Italian (3 pts)
Total = 12 pts

Frankenstein
genre gothic horror (3 pts)
1st published 1818 (3 pts)
author never read before (4 pts), female (1 pt)
length 273 pgs. (1 pt)
Total = 12 pts.

I was also inspired to read some Rumi selections for this challenge: Essential Rumi and Teachings of Rumi: The Masnavi. Not attempting to score or rate these, but my review is here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/....

Marcus wrote: "thanks Rusalka :)"

No worries.

Anna M

No Name by Wilkie Collins



Date First Published: 1862 -3 points
Length: 748 pages -5 points

Total: 8 points

The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart



Audiobook, Librivox Audio 393 mins
Published March 24th 2010 by Librivox Audiobooks

Genre
Period written
Published August 1st 2002 by Wildside Press Paperback, 212 pages
1900s – 1800s (first published 1906)
Author
You have never read before
Female
Length
200-300pp

zero points

Very good

I listened to Of Mice and Men.
Period written 1937 2 pts

That's it...2 pts. But I enjoyed it and it's about time I read it.

Jkmays wrote: "I listened to Of Mice and Men.
Period written 1937 2 pts

That's it...2 pts. But I enjoyed it and it's about time I read it."

Wow, Jkmays! Have you read other books by John Steinbeck? If not, you can get 4 more points. I did not realize this book was so short (107 pgs). Yes, it was first published in 1937 and it does not fit into any of the Genre listed. It is certanly NOT a Romance! Glue stick????

Jkmays wrote: "I listened to Of Mice and Men.
Period written 1937 2 pts

That's it...2 pts. But I enjoyed it and it's about time I read it."

Was that only 100pp?!? I swear I remember it being a lot longer... or may be it just felt like that to me.

I'm glad you enjoyed it Jkmays. That's definitely more the point as far as I'm concerned.

I think you swiped Judy's glue stick away from her. But we'll see... you never know what may happen.

I have just completed And Then There Were None which I absolutely loved. Not a huge points scoring book but no matter. It was a fun read :)

Yep I read Grapes of WRath back in the day. And what is glue stick?

My personal equiv of a wooden spoon.

This is Traveling Michelle...

I finished The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes for a mere 6 points (3 for publication date of 1892, 3 for length).

We try to read something more point-garnering before then end of the month...but for now this is my placeholder!

I was thinking Animal Farm would do it if you had read and liked 1984. But then it's borderline fantasy...

Here I am with the March challenge and I'm hoping I got the rules right.

Category - Author I hated before and disliked.

Just finished reading Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens. This is a re-reading experience. As my review states, I read this as a teen (required English) and couldn't get through it without cliff notes! Grabbed it from the free books and I'm so glad I did! I was truly surprised by the periodic bits of humor that I found as I was reading. It wasn't long before I was seeking them out! I'll be reading more of his works - an I'm sending my apologies for not appreciating this author in my youth!

If I understand the rules correctly -

Published in the 1800's 3 points

reading an author I disliked - 5 points

redeeming said author - 1 point

book lenghth of 268 pages - 1

Total - 10 points

I was reminded about genre so here's my response to that one...
genre would probably be romantic based on Pip's love for Miss Estelle - but then there's Miss Havisham - pretty creepy to wear a wedding dress and sit in a room with a wedding cake rotting for ages and ages! I'll see what the judge has to say! And we shouldn't leave out Pip's benefactor - he was kind of scary too. So, since I've redeemed the esteemed Charles Dickens - how about giving me points for both (lol) I'm not too greedy am I?
Genre -
Romance - 1 point
or
Gothic - 3 points
or both
4 points (lol)

Way to go, Chris! You jumped right in there!

For this challenge I read Anne of Green Gables and ended up really enjoying it.

Genre: 0 (Though there are some mild overtones of possible romance at the end, I can't say it's a theme)

First Published- 1908 - 2 points
Author- Never Read -4 points
Canadian- 3 points
Woman 1 point
320 pages 2 points

Total- 12 points

I am going to try to find an author I don't like. Charles Dickens would qualify except I can't imagine any of the few I haven't read would change my mind. I find him syrupy in the extreme. I like everybody! except Anne Radcliffe and certainly there is no redeeming her is there?

finished Don Quixote
date 1605: 5 pts
Author Spanish: 3 pts
over 600 pages 5 pts
total 13 points

Travis of NNY wrote: "finished Don Quixote
date 1605: 5 pts
Author Spanish: 3 pts
over 600 pages 5 pts
total 13 points"

big! Have you read Cervantes before?

We read parts of the man of la mancha in school in Spanish class

Shanna_redwind wrote: "For this challenge I read Anne of Green Gables and ended up really enjoying it.

Genre: 0 (Though there are some mild overtones of possible romance at the end, I can't say it's a theme)

First Pub..."

Not in the first one. Some of the later ones you could definitely claim romance. Glad you enjoyed it. I read it over and over as a kid, but I sort of don't want to go back to it in case I find out it's not as good. I'll lie vicariously instead.