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

As much as we all like travelling around sometimes in our reading, sometimes it's just nice to come home. Take in those familiar things that annoy you a lot of the time, but after you are away for a bit, seem so soothing. You know, like how the local government keeps on resealing one particular road again and again that it chips everyone's windscreens but they refuse to reseal the main road in town that's full of potholes. Grrr....

Anyway, so this month, we're going to read a book from home. That is an author from where you live. And by that I mean either born in your town or lives there now, or lived there while alive.

This obviously is going to be easier for some of us than others. As we can't all live in London or New York with their plethora of books, I have made some allowances. You can make your local area slightly bigger and bigger until you find an author. So the order I want you to go in is:

Start in your actual town/city/village/hamlet/whatever.
Move on to the next largest administrative area.
Then the next
Then the next
'Til you find something (everyone I believe should find someone by their state level or equiv, yell if you need help).

This is obviously going to be different in each country, even each state. So I will give you a couple of examples (Please tell me if I have some things wrong in these, I was working off google). I expect you to play honest, but also please explain to me your process. But I also understand the fact that people like some anonymity on the net (says the girl with a pseudonym) so if your town is only 50 people and you're not comfortable with naming it as you are the only Fred in town, say that. But for example, I'm in a city of 350 000 ppl, I need to name it if I claim there is no authors in this town when I move on. As I will check.

UK Example:
I live in Whitby. There are no authors who lived, live or were born here. So then I look at the Borough of Scarborough – none there. Then the county of North Yorkshire. Now there is no way I would need to get this far, but then I would look at Yorkshire and the Humber

States Example:
I live in Jackson, Tennessee. No authors there, so I move up to Madison County. If there are none in the county, I would move up to Tennessee.

Aus Example:
I live in Taralga. No authors from there, so I move to the Southern Tablelands. If no one there, on to New South Wales I go.

Usual challenge rules apply:

General rules: 
1. The book may be in any format - paperback, ebook, audiobook.
2. The book may NOT be combined with the Year Long Chunkster Challenge.
3. The book must be read between March 1 and March 30, 2014.
4. The challenge is for one book. You may read more books if you chose, but only the highest scoring book will apply.

Now on to the points!!

POINTS (count all that apply)

5 points if the book is actually set in your town/city/village.

Genre:
5pts – Classic
4pts – Graphic Novel
3pts – Sci Fi
2pts – Non-fiction
1pt – Mystery

Author:
5 pts – Has 2 or more local authors (all have to meet the above conditions)
4 pts – Was born after 1984
3 pts – Has an initial in their name
2 pts – Has 3 or more names (on the cover of the version you read)
1 pts – Shares a first name with a saint (link me the saint)(on the cover of the version you read)

Title: (sub-titles do not count)
5 pts – Has the word “home” in it
4 pts – Is 4 words long
3 pts – Has a number in it
2 pts – Has your town/city/village in the title
1 pts – Begins with the letter M

Cover: (based on the issue you read)
5 pts – Has a hexagon on it (apparently March is Hexagonal Awareness Month)
4 pts – Has green on it
3 pts – Has fireworks on it
2 pts – There is a spider on it
1 pts – The title is in white text

Pages:
5 pts - 600 - 1000 pages
4 pts - 500 - 599 pages
3 pts - 400 - 499 pages
2 pts - 300 - 399 pages
1 pts - 200 - 299 pages 

Bonus points:
2pts if the author is a female. With 2014 being the unofficial year of reading women http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014...
2pts if there is a severe weather event in the book for World Meteorological Day.

Sounds great Rusalka! I'm assuming we're going with the place we currently live in and not where we were born?!?

Yes. Good clarification. Where you are living as of March 2014 :)

This sounds fun!

Thanks Rusalka - that makes it a bit easier for me then (possibly).

Exactly my question Sarah!

Great challenge Rusalka. I've been neglecting Dutch books for a long time, so it's good that I finally have an excuse to read one again. And I can't wait to discover authors from my area. I know there are authors from the province I live in, but I'm curious about the ones who actually were born or live close by.

Hopefully we all discover some interesting people/authors nearby.

Actually on that note, if people are finding the internet a bit unhelpful, make sure you ask at your local bookshop or libraries.

Result! It didn't take me long to find an author from Bristol, UK AND it was already on my wishlist but I hadn't realised he was from Bristol. As a bonus, it is also on offer for 99p on kindle this week so I'm all ready and raring to go. I will be reading The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer who currently lives in Bristol. Woohoo!

lol nice! It was meant to be. I want to read that one too.

Wow Sarah, that's great! :)

I found one debuting author from the city I live in now (I wish I could use my birthplace where I lived until 3 years ago, only a small town but more possibilities!), but I would have to buy her book for 15 euros and it's not something I would usually read, so I don't want to spend that amount of money. The search continues.

I'm going to be at my local bookstore today so I am going to ask them for a rec.

Peggy wrote: "Wow Sarah, that's great! :)

I found one debuting author from the city I live in now (I wish I could use my birthplace where I lived until 3 years ago, only a small town but more possibilities!), b..."

Actually, on this note. If you find this is your only option (same with other people as well), let me know and I can give you permission to upgrade to the next area.

I understand if there is only one option, it could be expensive and may not be that good (either the writer's reviews or not your genre (although that one less)). So I'm happy to be flexible to a certain extent.

Tasha wrote: "I'm going to be at my local bookstore today so I am going to ask them for a rec."

Awesome! Hope they can help!

Rusalka wrote: "Hopefully we all discover some interesting people/authors nearby. ...."

I was smugly positive that I would be reading one of my favorite authors, Elmore Leonard. There couldn't possibly be any in my hometown.

Hah!

Apparently Kai Mann from Plymouth, MI wrote 30 Day Notice and Abandoned Property. These two are not available to me.

So I expanded to a radius of 25 miles of Plymouth, MI and found The Repatriate: Love, Basketball, and the KGB by Tom Mooradian or Top Ten Blunders Business Owners Make by Minesh Baxi.

Bleck. I was beginning to hate you!☻

But wait, the third and last listing: Unspoken Secrets by Lynette Mather. AND it is at my public library. Although her Goodreads profile doesn't list her town, she did show up within 25 miles of Plymouth on BizNet. AND I am speculating that she is from Plymouth, since the setting of the book is Plymouth.

I don't hate you after all. I apologize for those nasty things that I said. ;-P

Thanks Rusalka! I was worried I might have to sit this one out.

I have the exact same situation with another author.

I have also looked up all other authors I could find who were born in the province I live in (we don't create that many writers/actors/other 'famous' people) and see if they have perhaps lived in Roermond for a while, but no success.

I do have two authors from next-door towns (I live in a city called Roermond, and the towns are part of the municipality Roermond) who did not actually live in the city, but did spend a huge part of their lives in Roermond because that's where they went to high school. I suppose that doesn't count? ;-)

Could I perhaps move up to the Roermond municipality, which includes a few more small towns?

Oh boy, whenever challenges come online my work goes out of the window. I spent the last hour looking for books!

LOL oh that's too funny!! I don't mind being hated for a few minutes. I would hate me too if I made me read some of those options.

And in regards to message 12, what i mean is like Almeta has done.

Well, i was keeping it for the chunksters but so be it. One of my favorite authors, that lives close enough that I almost knocked him down while opening a store's door last fall.

I will be reading Les visages de l'humanité by Jean-Jacques Pelletier. An author that lives in Lévis, Québec

I've had a little mooch. Apparently Jane Austen stayed in Bristol (Clifton) with her mother at one point. So I may choose one of her books =]

Peggy wrote: "I do have two authors from next-door towns (I live in a city called Roermond, and the towns are part of the municipality Roermond) who did not actually live in the city, but did spend a huge part of their lives in Roermond because that's where they went to high school. I suppose that doesn't count? ;-)"

No, I think that would count. As I am confused about how you have two areas called the same thing in the same place that are different... Sounds complicated.

I found a Suzanne Peters, but sure you have found her too.

Esther wrote: "Well, i was keeping it for the chunksters but so be it. One of my favorite authors, that lives close enough that I almost knocked him down while opening a store's door last fall.

I will be readin..."

Well you owe him a read if you nearly beat him up.

Okay found quite a few more

Can I use one of these:
Bristol's rich maritime history has inspired stories of exploration and daring voyages. Robinson Crusoe is allegedly based on Alexander Selkirk, a shipwrecked sailor, whom Daniel Defoe met in The Llandoger Trow in King Street. The Hole in the Wall in Queen Square is said to be the basis for The Spyglass in Robert Louis Stephenson's Treasure Island.

The Victoria Rooms, built in 1841, were host to many a literary icon. Charles Dickens and his friend Wilkie Collins performed two plays here in 1851, and Oscar Wilde also spoke at the Victoria rooms at great length on aesthetics.

Sarah wrote: "I've had a little mooch. Apparently Jane Austen stayed in Bristol (Clifton) with her mother at one point. So I may choose one of her books =]"

I saw that earlier today (while I was googling trying to work out if this theme would work). How long did she stay there, do you know? I just want to make sure she "lived" there instead of just "visited". Mind you, those things could be very blurred in the 1700s :P

But would love you to join in!

Ooh, great idea for a challenge! I had better go and browse my shelves.

Does living in a boarding school for high school in my county count? Rachel Simon was not born in my town, county or state but she did board for a few years in my county.

Sarah - JK Rowling is from Chipping Sodbury if you can't find any authors from Bristol - but check out the one I've listed above as well.

EDIT - Also Jo Reed lives in Bristol. Plus found this link of Bristol Writers

Rusalka - our city is Bristol but the county is also called Bristol too!

I'm not sure I found it on this site: http://visitbristol.co.uk/about-brist...

I know she spent some of her time in Bath. Ahah found something: Clifton, in which Jane Austen lived briefly in 1806, and which is the target of one of Catherine Morland's excursions in Northanger Abbey, is near Bristol, towards the coast northwest of Bath.

Would she be okay to use?

Thanks Sarah, yep hehe I just spotted her on the website, but I've read her main 7 books and it would mean buying something unfortunately. I shall take a look at the others you mentioned though.

I thought Bristol came under either Avon or Somerset?

Sarah wrote: "I thought Bristol came under either Avon or Somerset?"
It used to be Avon County but it was abolished in 1996 and now Bristol is it's own county and the other parts which made up Avon fall under South Gloucestershire, North Somerset, and Bath and North East Somerset.

Tasha wrote: "Does living in a boarding school for high school in my county count? Rachel Simon was not born in my town, county or state but she did board for a few years in my county."

Wow! I hope she counts. Her books sound unusual. I added one to my TBR.☺

Sarah wrote: "Sarah wrote: "I thought Bristol came under either Avon or Somerset?"
It used to be Avon County but it was abolished in 1996 and now Bristol is it's own county and the other parts which made up Avon..."

Ooh. I see. Okay =]

I'm going to read The Haunted Hotel & Other Stories by Wilkie Collins

I'm interested in the answer to Tasha's question - Arthur Conan Doyle went to boarding school for a year or two at a school in my area.

I am going to read Frankenstein. Apparently, Mary Shelley lived for a while in a town that falls under the same administrative area/district as my town.

I'm thinking of going for Emma

Wow! This is a great challenge! I had to go one county over but -- it's Nora Roberts! So now I only have to pick a book off my shelf to read! This will be fun!

I'm looking forward to seeing what books everyone reads. With the Australian challenge quite a number of books were read by several people but with this challenge I can't imagine that happening as we're all so spread out!

@Sarah - I found this link which might be helpful Jane Austen in Bath & Bristol

Awesome, thanks Sarah =]

Carson McCullers was born in Columbus, Georgia where we are currently living and my daughter attends the same high school she attended. I have will probably be reading The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. But will look around for others.

Rusalka, I live in Phoenix, Arizona. It is a large metropolitan area that includes several towns, most prominently Scottsdale, Paradise Valley and Tempe, any of which are within ten miles of my house. I have read books set in Scottsdale (at a shopping center that includes businesses where I sometimes dine or go to movies) and in Paradise Valley (which includes both the town of Paradise Valley and a neighborhood within the Phoenix City limits that is just called Paradise Valley), and at least one book set in Tempe, where Arizona State University is located, and students who don't live on campus often live in Phoenix. So, my question is, how picky are we being? I've lived here 35 years, and I don't think I have ever come across a book set specifically in Phoenix, though I have read books set in Tempe, Scottsdale and Paradise Valley.

I'm wishing I could use the village I grew up in, PG Wodehouse lived there and has used a number of place name as characters in his stories. I have a couple of his book unread on the pile as well, just waiting for an opportunity...

But if that's not allowed, I will look at where I currently live (and sulk just a little).

And now to find a book by a Dutch author born/living/grew up in a small town and translated into English. I should totes get extra points for that. Heh.

Naomi wrote: "Carson McCullers was born in Columbus, Georgia where we are currently living and my daughter attends the same high school she attended. I have will probably be reading [book:The Heart is a Lonely ..."

Sweet! I have that one on my TBR list. I know that there is also a movie, made in 1968, but I do not recall anything about it.

Where do you live Kat?

Rusalka, does the 3 or more names of the author refer to names on the cover of the book, or also to given names at birth?

My author's name on books is Connie Palmen, but her full name given at birth is Aldegonda Petronella Huberta Maria Palmen. This is what is on her passport, and Connie is just short for Aldegonda and used in daily life.

For the saint part, can I use Aldegonda, her full first name?

Peggy wrote: "Where do you live Kat?"

Haarlem - I did find one book by Harry Mulisch, but it's 193 pages.

Rus, even though it's pointless for pages, does it still qualify?

Kat wrote: "Peggy wrote: "Where do you live Kat?"

Haarlem - I did find one book by Harry Mulisch, but it's 193 pages.

Rus, even though it's pointless for pages, does it still qualify?"

I am pretty sure she will say yes, Kat. You just do not get any points for the pages.

It also costs $11.99 on Kindle :| but it may be my only option.

I think in another challenge (but maybe one that was led by Janice) books under 200 pages were allowed, just like Cherie says, no points for that.

Maybe this website helps: http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lijst_va...

I don't know how much Dutch you speak or understand, but when you use ctrl+f and search for 'schrijver', it will highlight all the writers either born or living in (lived in) Haarlem. Harry Mulisch is one of the most famous Dutch writers, several of his books have been translated. Another one I found and also has at least one translated book as far as I could see is Arthur Japin, with In Lucia's Eyes.

And I think if you can only find expensive options that you need to buy, you can broaden your area (see Rusalka's message 12). After the municipality Haarlem is part of, I think the next step would be North-Holland, including Amsterdam :)

Peggy wrote: "I think in another challenge (but maybe one that was led by Janice) books under 200 pages were allowed, just like Cherie says, no points for that.

Maybe this website helps: http://nl.wikipedia.org..."

I got that far, and found a pretty good Wikipedia list. I've got a couple of options - I'm trying to be a smartypants and stick to the city I'm in - but if it's too hard I'll just embrace Amsterdam (after all, I work there so it's gotta count!)

Have fun with that Kat!

@Peggy - I can see why that author made her pen name Connie - that is definitely a long name!

@Rusalka - I can't find a year of birth for my author - I suspect he wouldn't qualify but just wanted to check what we should do in this instance.