Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Welcome Team Sea Horse! This is your team's official strategy thread. This thread is all yours to use as you please.

If you need to reacquaint yourself with the rules for the Team Battleship Challenge, they're all posted over here.

Ultimately, your goal is to blast the five ships hidden on your board out of the water. There is one 5-Block ship, one 4-Block ship, two 3-Block ships, and one 2-Block ship hidden.

TEAM SEA HORSE'S BATTLESHIP BOARD

larger view

TEAM SEA HORSE ROSTER
Zaz (Mod)
Laura (Mod)
Rachel
Trea
Keri
Silvia
Bec
SamF
Marina H
Megan

BATTLESHIP TASKS
Reading Tasks
- Finish 3 Books (Single Member)
- Finish 10 Books (2 Books per Member)
- Finish 15 Books (3 Books per Member)
- Finish 20 Books (4 Books per Member)
- Read 5 Books for the ATY Reading Challenge (2 per Member)
- Finish a Book or Story in One Sitting
- Read for 2 Straight Hours (1 Per Member; Limit of 10 Hours)
- Finish 3 Books Started Before the Read-a-Thon (1 per Member; <75% Complete)
- Read 4,000 pages (600 per Member)
- Add 3 Books to the ATY Reading Map

Title Tasks
- Read a Book with a One-Word Title
- Read a Book with an Article in the Title (a, an, the)
- Read a Book with a Long Title (6+words)
- Read a Book with a Color in the Title

Genre Tasks
- Read a Sci-Fi Book
- Read a Fantasy Book
- Read a Dystopian Book
- Read a Mystery/Thriller Book
- Read a Historical or Historical Fiction Book
- Read a Young Adult Book
- Read a Middle Grade Book
- Read a Picture Book (3 per Member; Cannot Overlap with Stars)
- Read a Horror Book
- Read a Romance Book

Author Tasks
- 2 Books by a Female Author (1 per Member)
- 2 Books by a POC

Format Tasks
- 2 Graphic Novels or Manga (1 per Member)
- Read a Book in a Series
- Listen to 20 Hours of Audiobooks (5 Hours per Member)
- Read a Poem
- 3 Short Stories/Novellas (1 per Member)

Setting/Character Tasks
- Read a Book Set in Winter
- Read a Book Set in the Country You Reside In
- Read a Book with a Child Main Character

Publishing Tasks
- Read a Book Published in 2016
- Read a Book Published More than 10 Years Ago
- Read a Book Published Outside the Major 5 Publishers (Penguin Random House, Macmillan, HarperCollins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster)

Cover Tasks
- Read the Rainbow (1 Book for Each Color - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple/Violet)
- Read a Book with a Spring Cover (Trees, Flowers, etc.)
- Read a Book with a Summer Cover (Sea, Beach, etc.)
- Read a Book with an Autumn Cover (Leaves, Pumpkins, etc.)
- Read a Book with a Winter Cover (Snow, Ice, etc.)

Award/Rating Tasks
- A Book from the 2016 GR Choice Awards
- Finish a Book with an Average GR Rating of Between 4 and 4.3
- Finish a Book with an Average GR Rating Below 3.5

Read-a-Thon Tasks
- Complete every Read-a-Thon Game (Including the Kick-Off Questionnaire and the Wrap-Up Questionnaire)

I'm shamelessly copying Emm's design :p

Hello Team Sea Horse (we're cute)! The battleship is new for our read-a-thon, so I hope we'll all enjoy it and don't worry if it's a little messy at some points.

I'll be keeping track of our guesses (hits and misses) on this text board, don't forget to wait to the yey/nope before submitting a new guess, so you'll target better the guess. I'm on the European side of the Earth, so don't worry if we're not here at the same time.

Have fun and read a lot :)

(__)(A)(B)(C)(D)(E)(F)(G)(H)(I)(J)
(01) (+) (-) (★) (-) (+) (-) (+) (-) (+)(★)(01)
(02) (+) (+) (★) (+) (+) ($) ($) ($) ($)(-)(02)
(03) (+) (+) (+) (+) ($) (-) (+) (★) (+)(+)(03)
(04) (★) (+) (+) (+) ($) (+) (-) (+) (+)(-)(04)
(05) (+) (+) ($) (+) ($) (+) (+)(+) (+)(+)(05)
(06) (-) (★) ($) (-) (+) (+) (+) ($) ($)(-)(06)
(07) (+) (-) ($) (+) (+) (+) (+) (+) (+)(+)(07)
(08) (-) (+) (+) (★) (+) (+) (-) (+) (-)(★)(08)
(09) ($) ($) ($) ($) ($) (+) (★) (+)(+)(+)(09)
(10) (+)(+) (+) (+) (+) (+) (-) (+) (★)(+)(10)
(__)(A)(B)(C)(D)(E)(F)(G)(H)(I)(J)

(- are not done, + are done, $ are a ship part, ★ are items)

All the boats are found :)
Items fished (10/10): Octopus (C1), Pink umbrella (J8), Decorated Christmas tree (A4), Rice ball (H3), Box of cookies (B6), Mushroom (J1), Alien (D8), Space rocket (I10), Green turtle (G9), Snowman (C2)

GUESSES USED/GUESSES EARNED
Zaz - 15/16 (1 by Marina, 1 by Keri, 1 by Silvia, 4 by Bec, 5 by Sam, 2 by Rachel, 1 by Trea)
Rachel - 9/9
Trea - 12/12
Keri -
Silvia - 14/14
Bec - 4/4
SamF - 3/3
Marina H - 15/15
Laura - 4/4 (1 by SamF)
Megan -
Aidan - 7/7

TEAM TASKS TRACKER
10 Books Read - 10/10 ----- (2.Trea, 2.Silvia, 1.Bec, 1.Marina, 2.Zaz. 1.Rachel, 1.Aidan)/2 (then count for 15 books)
15 Books Read - 15/15 ----- (3.Silvia, 2.Zaz, 2.Trea, 1.Bec, 2.Marina, 3.Rachel, 2.Aidan)/3
20 Books Read - 20/20 (3.Silvia, 2.Zaz, 3.Trea, 1.Bec, 3.Marina, 3.Rachel, 3.Aidan, 2.SamF)/4
Pages Read 4230/4000 ----- (514.Zaz, 600.Trea, 600.Silvia, 124.Bec, 26.Laura, 600.Marina, 498.Rachel, 30.Keri, 600.Aidan, 554.SamF)/600
Books Read for the ATY Challenge 5/5 ----- (2.Bec, 2.Silvia, 1.Marina)/2
Graphic novels: 2/2 --- (1. Aidan, 1.Rachel)/1
Graphic novels: 2/2--- (1.Aidan, 1.Zaz)/1
Graphic novels: 2/2 --- (1.Aidan, 1.Silvia)/1
Finished Books Started Before the Read-a-Thon - 3/3 ----- (1.Bec, 1.Zaz, 1.Rachel)
Finished Books Started Before the Read-a-Thon - 3/3---- (1.Aidan, 1.SamF, 1.Marina)
Short Stories/Novellas - 3/3 ---- (1.Zaz, 1.Rachel, 1.Silvia)/1
ATY Reading Map Books - 3/3 ----- (1.Silvia, 1.Marina, 1.Trea)
2 Hours Read Straight - 10/10 ----- (2.Marina, 2.Aidan, 2.Zaz, 2.SamF, 2. Rachel)/2

Audiobook Hours - 17.5/20 ----- (5. SamF, 5.Marina, 5.Zaz, 2.5.Laura)/5
Books Read for the ATY Challenge 3/5 ----- (1.Aidan, 1.Trea, 1.Silvia)/2
Finished Books Started Before the Read-a-Thon - 0/3----
Picture books ---- (1.Bec, 2.Zaz, 3.Marina, 3.Laura, 3.Silvia)/3
Short Stories/Novellas - 0/3 ---- ()/1


Read the Rainbow:
1st rainbow - Red | Orange | Yellow | Green | Blue | Purple
2nd rainbow - Red | Orange | Yellow | Green| Blue | Purple

Games: 7/7
kick-off: Zaz, Laura, Trea, Marina, Silvia, Aidan, Rachel, SamF, Bec, Keri
Covers: Zaz, Laura, Trea, Marina, Silvia, Aidan, Rachel
Back time: Zaz, Laura, Trea, Marina, Silvia, Aidan, Rachel, SamF, Keri
NYT: Zaz, Laura, Trea, Marina, Silvia, Aidan, Rachel, SamF
Titles: Zaz, Laura, Trea, Marina, Silvia, Aidan, Rachel, SamF
Stranger things: Zaz, Trea, Marina, Silvia, Aidan, Rachel, SamF
My Life: Zaz, Trea, Marina, Silvia, SamF, Rachel


Updated with: up to #247

Good morning sea horses!
This looks like fun, and I'm all set and ready to go.

If I'm understanding it correctly it would be a good idea to split the tasks with the stars between us?
I can help with 1 book for the ATY, reading for 2 hours straight, finish 1 book started before the challenge and listening to 5 hours audio book.

I'm reading right now. Maybe it can be used for the color red in the rainbow?

This is my first read-athon, so I am not sure how this work, if we plan ahead or if we just report what we have read or if one book can count for more than one category or if a graphic novel counts for some of the tasks beside Graphic novel. I was planning to start for the read-a-thon this two (I am writing also their characteristics and the categories in which they could be include)
- Boy: Tales of Childhood, Genre is autobiographic (will be include in ATY), with a Child as Main Character, set in Wales and Norway (I live in Norway), Published More than 10 Years Ago (1984).
- Sisters, Graphic Novel, blue cover
, female author, with a Child as Main Character, one word title, published by Scholastic.

Let me know in which categories, these can be counted :)

I am also planning to finish with this book that I started before the read-a-thon (I have just 8% read) and is included in my ATY
Japanese Fairy Book (a collection of short stories or fairytales, female author)

Zaz, if I read a book that's a mystery then I can't use the same book as a book published more than ten years ago? But I can use the book for any of the tasks with a star?
I just want to make sure I've understood the rules :-)

Marina > only the stars can be overlapped with another task so you can't use the same book for both published more than 10 years ago and mystery.

I just started Battle Royale, that has also a red cover, but it's big, so not sure I can finish it this week.

Okay, and the stars can be overlapped with other stars?

In that case, I will be reading for these categories:
- Boy, for a book in ATY Reading Challenge and a Child as Main Character
- Sistes, for Graphic novel and Blue cover.
I hope I have understood the rules :)

Silvia, this post gives an overview of the rules and how the game works.

To answer your questions specifically...
Giving your team some indication of what you're going to read is helpful. It isn't exactly necessary but it makes coordinating some of the team tasks (the ones with stars) easier. You always want to report what you've read so your team can use your progress toward the ultimate goal of clearing your game board of all ships.

Tasks that have a star next to them can overlap with other tasks. Tasks without a star are single book only tasks. You would have to read a separate book for each of those tasks in order to receive credit.

Using one of the books you listed as an example, Sisters, once completed it could count as a graphic novel and a blue cover but nothing more. It could count as a one-word title and 208 pages read but nothing else. It's really up to you how you want to categorize your books - just remember that stars can overlap and non-stars cannot.

I hope that makes sense. Zaz will be keeping track of things for your team and she can help you if you're really stuck.

I think we can overlap the various stars, in the limits that are mentioned in brackets. The most important thing is to keep in mind that we can repeat tasks, it's not a bingo :)

I'll read in these categories (there are overlaps): ATY RC, Child as MC, book by POC, Graphic novel, Spring cover, Red cover, Dystopia, SF, middle-grade and Short/Novella.
I've 30% left in YA fiction, it can count for Article in the Title at least.

Great, I wasn't totally lost then :-)

I'm not sure where my books fit in, but here is what I have to read by the 30th:

1.
2.
3.

Read by Dec. 2:
1.

Want to get to by the end of the 3rd:
1.

I might squeeze in a novella or two as well, not sure.

Page count: 1482
Audio count: 8.5h
Novels finished: 7
Short reads finished: 5

Currently reading:
Battle Royale,Bounders
,

Finished:
In the Hand of the Goddess, Explorers of the Wild, We Are the Ants,Charlie the Choo-Choo, The Demon in the WoodGrayson, Vol. 4: A Ghost in the Tomb, Bone Gap, The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend, Five on a Treasure Island, Skin Deep, Gehenna , Okay for Now

, , , , ,

Page count: 145
Audio count:
Novels finished:
Short reads finished: 1
Games Completed: 1

Currently reading:


TBR:


Finished:

Zaz, I'm not sure what I am supposed to do now. I just finished No One But You by Donna Reimel Robinson. It was short, 145 pages for the Kindle copy. Here's where I think it fits:

-Read the Rainbow (Blue cover)
-Finish a Book with an Average GR Rating of Between 4 and 4.3 (Rating is exactly 4.0 before I review it)
-Read a Book Published Outside the Major 5 Publishers (Penguin Random House, Macmillan, HarperCollins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster) (Publisher is Barbour Books)
-Read a Romance Book


I think it fits a couple more, but I am not sure I need to list them all. What do I do now?

Page count: 819
Audio count: 5 hours
Novels finished: 4
Short reads finished:
Picturebooks finished: 3
Games completed: 4

Currently reading:


TBR:

Finished:
Number the Stars

Ok, Trea, it counts for:
- 1 book finished (no guess)
- 1 blue cover in the rainbow (no guess)
- 145p read (no guess)
- Average rating OR Published outside 5 OR Romance (1 guess)

You added to the collective tasks for the 3 first and you have to decide on which square you want to try for the battleship card (ex: B-2). Just tell me which one, I'll update on my 1st post :)

Zaz wrote: "Ok, Trea, it counts for:
- 1 book finished (no guess)
- 1 blue cover in the rainbow (no guess)
- 145p read (no guess)
- Average rating OR Published outside 5 OR Romance (1 guess)

You added to the collective tasks for the 3 first and you have to decide on which square you want to try for the battleship card (ex: B-2). Just tell me which one, I'll update on my 1st post :)"

I'm going with my son's guesses, since he loves to play Battleship so much. We vote A-10!

A-10 for Trea: Missed.

On my way to work now, but if it helps at all with planning, I'm on continuing Misery when I get home tonight.

I won't be able to read until after work but I'll be listening to Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness during my commute and starting The Gilded Years tonight.

Brain on Fire: long title/female author/country I reside in and audiobook

The Gilded Years: Historical Fiction/Female Author/Published in 2016 and purple cover, ATY challenge

Games completed: kick-off questionairre

Hello fellow sea horses! I'm in the US so it seems I'll be on at different times than most of you. Unfortunately my husband's grandmother just passed away so he had to leave for Oklahoma. :( Which means no help with my 9 month old, he'll be back on Wednesday so I'll be able to get more reading done at the end of the week.

I just started The 57 Lives of Alex Wayfare and Dear Mr. M. I'll take a better look at the categories to see where they could fit in. Other than those two I am pretty open about what I read next so I can help fill in gaps.

Finished Explorers of the Wild, a picture book, so we won a new guess. As I've access to the full map, I can't guess ;)

If you post just after me, choose a square on the battleship map!

I've been reading a lot this afternoon, and now I'll read some more before bedtine. I'll update my progress in the morning.

Ohh, and I can pick a square for Zaz... I'll go for G5 :-)

G-5 for Marina & Me: Missed

1st day wrap-up:
- 1 picture book finished: Explorers of the Wild
- Last 10% of "In the Hand of the Goddess" finished (27p)
- 20% read for "We Are the Ants" (93p), 10% left
- 1 guess
- Kick-off game completed

Hi all!
I forgot about the read-a-thon again, so lucky for the GR message!
I'm 15 minutes off finishing The Shining - which I began before the read-a-thon, is also for the ATY challenge

And I just did the kick-off game.

Zaz, I am stuck! According to Emm, Sisters "could count as a graphic novel and a blue cover but nothing more. It could count as a one-word title and 208 pages read but nothing else." But Rainbow and Pages read has stars, so they can overlap, right? Or did I get it wrong again :(

With Sisters finished:
- Format task: Graphic Novel
For task with Star (overlap):
- 1 book finished
- 1 blue cover in the rainbow (but it's already done)
- 208p read

1st day wrap-up:
- 1 Graphic Novel finished: Sisters
- 31% read of Boy: Tales of Childhood
- Kick-off game completed

Laura wrote: "I won't be able to read until after work but I'll be listening to Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness during my commute and starting The Gilded Years tonight.

Brain ..."

I hope you enjoy Brain on Fire. I read it earlier in the year and found it quite interesting.

Here's what I'm reading this week:

- An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

Fits with - barely started before the Read-a-Thon, Blue cover, Book with an Article in the Title or Book with a Long Title or Book with an Average GR Rating of Between 4 and 4.3 (has 4.12 today)

- Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person

Fits with: does it count for a long title if it has a subtitle? Blue cover, Books by a Female Author or Book with an Average GR Rating of Between 4 and 4.3 (has 4.04 today)

- Moab is My Washpot

Fits with: Red cover, Book Published More than 10 Years Ago

Have listened to 1 hour of audioboook today. Also finished the Kick off game.

Not sure what to do as I finished all of my books for the ATY. Will see if I can find another, maybe.

1st day wrap-up:
- 1 book finished: No One But You
- Started Unraveled, read 34 pages during the day
- Started Size Matters, read 10% before turning in for the night
- 1 guess
- Kick-off game completed
- Started Individual Treasure Hunt

Silvia > I added the page count, the book finished (collective tasks - no guess), the blue cover (2nd rainbow - no guess) and one word title (1 guess). If you read another graphic novel, we'll count it for this category (I'll read at least one, so it'll be easy to complete the task). Let me know which square you want to try in the battleship :)

Sam F > I added your audio count :)

Trea > I added the new page count (34p + 34p) to the total.

Bec > let me know how many pages you read for The Shinning when you finish. It'll count for page count+book finished+AtY+before read-a-thon+Article in title OR Pub more than 10 years ago (or something else, without a star). You'll have 1 guess for the battleship as soon as it's finished, let me know :)

Added all the kick-off to my 1st post. We'll have a guess for each member who completes all the games, so keep going :)

Day 1 Wrap-Up:

- Spent 3 hours reading
- Read 110 pages of Misery (started yesterday, but only got to 24% before the read-a-thon started)
- Did the kick-off questionnaire and the first game

Finished the Shining. 94 pages.

Ohh, I can't remember how many pages I read last night, but I'll find out when I get home this afternoon.

I read for two hours straight yesterday. So I can have a new guess?

I've done the kick-off questions and the cover-game.

I'm listening to an audio-book, but if I'm understanding it correctly at least 3 others have to also listen for 5 hours to complete the 20 hours audio task.
So are any of you listening to audio-books this week?

I pick square I-9

I-9 for Silvia: Missed

Bec: 1 guess won.

Marina: 1 guess won.

Ok, I updated everything. If your update is missing (I'm listing the counts and the posts), just tell me :)

Marina > for the moment, we are 3 for the audio category (I haven't started mine yet, but it's scheduled). If we can't find someone to complete, we'll add hours to our limit :)
Also, for the audio, when you reach your time limit, the rest is transformed in page count if you want.

Zaz wrote: "Ok, I updated everything. If your update is missing (I'm listing the counts and the posts), just tell me :)

Marina > for the moment, we are 3 for the audio category (I haven't started mine yet, bu..."
Did you want to count mine (The Shining) for a book started before the challenge? I was 68% before the challenge.
Is there somewhere i can see the other guesses already for the battleship so I don't choose one already taken?

In the 2nd post in this topic, you have the "map" (the guesses are also in bold in the topic).
For the moment, we did:
I-9
G-5
A-10
All missed. So, plenty of choice left :)
Ok, I'll add the book to "before the challenge" when I update the map.

Thanks.
I choose G6

I'm done with the 5 hours audiobook. I'll convert the rest of the book into pages as soon as I'm done with the book.

And I'll go for B2.

G-6 for Bec: Missed

B-2 for Marina: Missed

We're good at falling in the water :p

Ha ha.... Have you guys remembered your life jackets?

Well, maybe we won't need life jackets because we won't have to swim too much :p

Will put this here for now and update at the end of the day today, seeing as how I am a complete scatterbrain and can't remember some details unless I make a list...

2nd day wrap-up:
- Progress Made on Size Matters, read an additional 50% (after my 10% from last night) before child wake up and read an additional 21% before turning in for the night
- Progress Made on Unraveled, read 20 pages during the day
- Planned book for Individual Treasure Hunt challenge
- X guess
- Guess the Cover game completed

I just read the excuse by Allan bailie to my son. It's a 61 (kid type so probably 30 normal pages) page Aussie bites book. On phone so can't tag it but it is on goodreads. Could this Count for anything? Short story?
The Excuse Edited on PC to link book in.

It seems it can fit in the picture book category. I count them only for a guess as they are very very quick read. You won a new guess :)