The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

So who else got some absolutely TERRIBLE words from the random generator? Mine are:
--Bearding
--Terminology
--Putting

I didn’t even bother looking up ‘bearding’ and gave up almost immediately on ‘terminology’ because I don’t want to read a textbook.

That leaves ‘putting’ as my best bet. Most of the results were about canning food, golf, how to be an effective middle manager or heavy-handed spiritual self-help books and quite frankly, I’d rather chew off my own arm at the elbow than read a book about any of those things, haha.

So anyway, I’m not exactly asking for help because I finally found a few that look easy enough (although not anything I’d ever want to read otherwise so fast/easy is crucial), but I am curious about whether anybody else feels like complaining about their words too.

Misery loves company after all. :P

I had drafting, bone, and coming! Maybe Cynthia will let us change the word to its original form, so for example you could use put or beard and I could use draft or come. It seems like a lot of the words were verbs with 'ing' at the end of them.

I will complain with you Beth! I got dictionary, paragraph, and casing....not many choices here unless I will be allowed to use case instead of casing. Not sure if we can use a form or the word we get or if it has to be that exact word.

Mine weren't tooooo bad compared to some of these! ... I had stereotype, faithful and platform (I'm going with platform). My eigth word was fall!

Ken, Grind and Solid. I was really annoyed about ken, thinking it's a name, not a word, and was going to ask if I could read something by an author named Ken, but then I remembered that ken actually is a word, it means knowledge or something. Haven't found any titles with it, though! Not too excited about anything that comes up for grind or solid. I really like the concept of this task, but I might skip it after looking at my words.

I'm struggling a bit with mine- but I'm sure there must be some books out there!
I had
Customary
Packet
Attendance

Lelsey, that must be why Scot's say ken for knowing!!! Hey you learn something new every day!

I got Giant, Might and Ploy. I quite like those words and think there must be books with giant or might in the title!

I was scared at my 9th & 10th words... I got Footnote and Transient. Eek! But luckily, I got Proof for my 11th. And I let out a breath of relief when I saw it because I actually KNOW of a book with the word Proof in the title. So, I can't complain really, but I do feel for those of you who got evil words.

Joy wrote: "I will complain with you Beth! I got ditionary, paragraph, and casing....not many choices here unless I will be allowed to use case instead of casing. Not sure if we can use a form or the word we..."

A concise chinese-english dictionary for lovers by Xiaolu Guo (is a fiction book)

Kim wrote: "I'm struggling a bit with mine- but I'm sure there must be some books out there!
I had
Customary
Packet
Attendance"

With one lousy free packet of seed by Lynne Truss
A Packet of Dreams by John Howard Reid

Angela wrote: "I had drafting, bone, and coming! Maybe Cynthia will let us change the word to its original form, so for example you could use put or beard and I could use draft or come. It seems like a lot of the..."

The Bone-Setters Daughter by Amy Tan
206 Bones by Kathy Reichs
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Bone by Bone by Carol O'Connell

Coming up for Air by George Orwell
Coming home by Melanie Rose
Coming out by Danielle Steele
Coming through Slaughter by Michael Ondaatje

Leslie wrote: "Ken, Grind and Solid. I was really annoyed about ken, thinking it's a name, not a word, and was going to ask if I could read something by an author named Ken, but then I remembered that ken actuall..."

The Grantchester Grind by Tom Sharpe
An ex to Grind by Jane Heller

The Solid Mandala by Patrick White

Joy wrote: "I will complain with you Beth! I got ditionary, paragraph, and casing....not many choices here unless I will be allowed to use case instead of casing. Not sure if we can use a form or the word we..."

For "dictionary", I highly recommend The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchestor.

I read it quite a few years ago and loved it.

I was VERY lucky with my words...shed, pretty and beach.

Ohhh pretty and beach! So jealous ;)

which word generator are you all using? I got several options when I googled....

Katie, Cynthia linked to this one in the task list: http://watchout4snakes.com/Creativity...

"This page generates a random, relatively common noun. If you want more control over the type of word generated, try Random Word Generator Plus."

So, the regular random word generator gives difficult results (as seen in the examples mentioned in previous posts). However, if you use the Random Word Generator Plus, you can select type of word to be "noun" and complexity to be "very common". Very common nouns for me were: movie, scrap, and heart (versus finishing, beating, & conservative for the regular random word generator).

Cynthia, Can we use the Random Word Generator Plus for very common nouns?

Mine were imperial, vote, and possibility. All the searches I've done have turned up books that are either political or self-help. Ick!

Mine are easy: halting, turgidity, sale.

Katie wrote: "which word generator are you all using? I got several options when I googled...."

watchout4snakes just gave me a general network error so I used the one at Coyote Cult.

I was going to complain about my words but I think I got off fairly easy compared to some of you
Stop, Scratch & Crowd :0)

turgidity is easy? Is there a single book with that in the title?

I got costing, rolling and item. I am hoping for a ruling on the variation question.

I am having trouble with mine....example, mortality, and lecturer. Ack!

I hope we can use the Plus version. I thought I got easy words compared to everyone in here thus far. I got Observation, Coloring and Optic. While optic came up with books of optical illusions I'm looking for something better. Also I thought maybe there would be some good mystery books with observation in the title but nothing so far.

Can we trade, I like political books !!!

Here is my ruling on this task...You should use the one that is listed on the challenge BUT you can do it more than once meaning if you close out the website and bring up the page again and go to the 9th/10th/11th word you come to a second or third or fourth time you can use one of those words and that would be ok.

Fleet
Express
Cassette

My three words... not horrible... I'm sure I could find something with them!

Thank goodness, Cynthia! Off to get some new words!

Thanks for the ideas on mine- I've put one of the books on my swap list and it looks really interesting!
I might have another go just out of curiosity!

Cynthia wrote: "Here is my ruling on this task...You should use the one that is listed on the challenge BUT you can do it more than once meaning if you close out the website and bring up the page again and go to t..."

OH wow thanks....

Cynthia wrote: "Here is my ruling on this task...You should use the one that is listed on the challenge BUT you can do it more than once meaning if you close out the website and bring up the page again and go to t..."

YAY!!!!

I tried a couple times and eventually got a word that actually matched a couple titles of books I already own: screwing, white and scatter. I'm going with white. :)

I had the following words: Immune, Arithmetic, and Digit. I might just hit the word generator again. I'll wait until I'm in the midst of reading for the tasks to decide.

I get an error message every time I try to go to the website.

Amanda wrote: "I get an error message every time I try to go to the website."

http://watchout4snakes.com/CreativityTools/RandomWord/RandomWord.aspx

That's not good.... what web browser are you using?

I get an error message too, on my personal computer, in both Firefox and Internet Explorer. I tried it at work in Firefox, and it worked fine. My personal computer has Windows Vista and my work computer has Windows XP - maybe that has something to do with it?

I'm running Vista and Google Chrome. Let me try it on Firefox and IE 8... Works on both. How strange!

i'm using internet explorer. i have windows vista. i tried on my sister's computer as well and she has windows xp.

So much for that theory, I guess!

could someone possibly go to the site for me and tell me my words? i would really appreciate it.

Amanda, I just went there and got for you:
Admiration
Fragment
Tab

If you hate 'em, I'm sure someone else will try again for you!

Mine are Minute, Shouting, and Surprise. I haven't looked for books yet but it looks like I got lucky...

Amanda wrote: "could someone possibly go to the site for me and tell me my words? i would really appreciate it. "

I just saw your post and did it again if you want to use these words:

Ball, Lit and Nominal.

If anyone has any ideas for the following words, I would really appreciate it! Mine were 9)intended, 10)model, and 11)entire.

Thanks!

Michael Chabon has a collection of short stories calledA Model World and Other Stories. I didn't find it terribly exciting, even though I enjoy him as an author, but I also don't tend to like short stories that much.

Ellen wrote: "If anyone has any ideas for the following words, I would really appreciate it! Mine were 9)intended, 10)model, and 11)entire.

Thanks!"

A Little Larger Than the Entire Universe Selected Poems, Fernando Pessoa.

Ellen wrote: "If anyone has any ideas for the following words, I would really appreciate it! Mine were 9)intended, 10)model, and 11)entire.

Thanks!"

I have read none of these but they are in my local library.
The intended by May McGoldrick
A Model Summer by Paulina Porizkov
Model Students: A tale of coeds and cover girls by Robin Hazelwood
The Model Man by Genie Davis
How to be a Chicana role model by Michele Serros
A model world and other stories by Michael Chabon

Ashley wrote: "Amanda wrote: "could someone possibly go to the site for me and tell me my words? i would really appreciate it. "

I just saw your post and did it again if you want to use these words:

Ball, Lit a..."

thanks i think i'm going to use lit.

Ellen wrote: "If anyone has any ideas for the following words, I would really appreciate it! Mine were 9)intended, 10)model, and 11)entire.

Thanks!"

No Offense Intended by Barbara Seranella Entire Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Photographic & Annotated Edition

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions! Both the Michael Chabon and the Edgar Allan Poe look like good choices for me.

well one of my three word and to be specific the 10th one was bookshop. How lucky can that be.

Oh man, after reading these posts I was freaking, but did I get lucky or what? Grass...Winning...Wake. I may even pick a title for each and fit the other two in !! Great tasks, Cynthia!! I second the member who characterized this exercise a "scavenger hunt" - I'm having a ball and I've stumbled across several books that I would have never had the opportunity to find because I wouldn't have been looking.