Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Hello Team Asia! This topic is just for you to discuss your strategy and progress throughout the week. Make sure to take a moment to read over the rules of the challenge here before you dive in.

Team Roster:
Carmen (team leader)
Hannah (from UK)
Tammy
Sara
Rachel
Johanne
Deena
Beth
Betty
Kathy Jo
Samantha (yawning cat picture)
Allegra
Jamie
Kathryn
Veronica
Bryony
Kerry

Asian Countries:
Afghanistan
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Bhutan
Brunei
Cambodia
China
Georgia
Hong Kong
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Lebanon
Malaysia
Maldives
Mongolia
Myanmar
Nepal
North Korea
Oman
Pakistan
Palestine
Philippines
Qatar
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
South Korea
Sri Lanka
Syria
Taiwan
Tajikistan
Thailand
Timor-Leste
Turkey
Turkmenistan
United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Uzbekistan
Vietnam
Yemen

Map to follow.

Hi Team Asia! I just read three books set in Asian countries last week...grrr. Fortunately I love Asian authors. I do have a Haruki Murakami short story collection checked out from the library which would cover Japan if we need it. I'm reading The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurty which could take care of a few of the countries using the author's initials.

I'll check in with my stats tonight and look very forward to reading with you all! Good luck and go Team Asia!

Hello everyone!

Apparently I made team leader, so I guess I’m gonna have to find a way to track all of our reading 😅

I have one episode to go of The Umbrella Academy and I’ll get started right after that. Both my current reads take place in Europe, but surely I can cross off some countries with the author’s names or the titles!

Ohh I’ve been meaning to read The Guest Cat, which would count for Japan! I am getting exciteddd!

Good morning! I'm headed off to work so I can't say much. But I am excited to begin! Ready to start a new book so I will see what fits.

Okay guys, I decided to not watch the episode and jump right into this! I made a spreadsheet we should all be able to edit. Or well, I edited someone else's and I am hoping they won't mind.

In the spreadsheet you can track all our reading, our read pages, our read ATY books, and there is a separate sheet to keep track of the countries and letters!

Go check out the (wonderful) Team Asia Spreadsheet!

Hello team Asia!
Excited to get started!
Here is a link to the flags of Asia (there are some discrepancies to the list provided by Katie, but it had the best overview of the flags with country names).
http://flagpedia.net/continent/asia

Apparently the sheet was view only, woopsie, but it should be fixed now! (if not please let me know because I hardly ever use this stuff haha!)

Good morning team! About to go to work but wanted to say hi. I just finished a book last night and am open to what i read next. I'll think about it and check in later to see what may fit/ what is needed.

Happy reading everyone!

@Betty, the colors of the flag can be used to tick off a country if the cover of your book has one of those colors.

For example, the book I'm reading now has a green cover, so it could work for India.

@Betty, it's one of the ways a book can count for a country - if the cover has the same colours. Just copypasting here:

Each country can only be visited once and there are five ways that a book can be linked to a country: 

1. A book set at least 50% in the country
2. A book by an author born in the country 
3. A book by an author whose initials are found in the country - eg France could be Agatha Christie, or Anne Fine; Vietnam could be Anne Tyler or Val McDermid; Honduras could be Nnedi Okorafor or Ali Smith, etc
4. A book with a title that begins with the same letter as the country - eg France could be Far from the Madding Crowd or Fudge Cupcake Murder; Nepal could be Nine Perfect Strangers or Nobody Writes to the Colonel, Benin could be Beginning or Brooklyn, etc
5. A book with a cover that is a colour found in the country’s flag - eg a red, white or blue cover for the US; a green, red or yellow cover for Cameroon.

...Simultaneous posting :)

Hi Team Asia! This is my first read-a-thon and I'm really excited about it! I am a bit confused about how this works and how books are allocated though. Do we get allocated countries and try to find books that would work for those countries, or do we just read the books we want and then try to find somewhere to fit them? What would happen it we all were reading a book we though would work for the same country? Do we put the books into the spreadsheet when we start reading them, or when we have finished? Sorry for all of the questions!

I'm reading 4 books at the moment, and am nearly finished with two of them, so I'll check back in later when I've got something to update.

Hannah wrote: "Hi Team Asia! This is my first read-a-thon and I'm really excited about it! I am a bit confused about how this works and how books are allocated though. Do we get allocated countries and try to fin..."

Never apologize for asking questions!

Okay so: you just read whatever you want to read, and then if it fits somewhere. It's first come, first serve, but we can always see if we can shuffle around to fit as many books as possible to different countries. In the general sheet you can add all the countries it would work for, if any, and then in the countries sheet you can add it to the one you want, because we can always shuffle!

You put them in when you've finished in, though it wouldn't be a disaster if you added them early as long as you don't tick the read box or add any countries!

Johanne wrote: "@Betty, it's one of the ways a book can count for a country - if the cover has the same colours. Just copypasting here:

Each country can only be visited once and there are five ways that a book ca..."

Johanne wrote: "@Betty, it's one of the ways a book can count for a country - if the cover has the same colours. Just copypasting here:

Each country can only be visited once and there are five ways that a book ca..."

Thank you! I'm so excited about this readathon! I've never done one for this group before!

Carmen wrote: "@Betty, the colors of the flag can be used to tick off a country if the cover of your book has one of those colors.

For example, the book I'm reading now has a green cover, so it could work for I..."

Thank you so much!

It’s my first time in a group as well and I’m the leader. Y’all are gonna have to bear with me haha!

You'll do fine Carmen, and I'll do my best to help :)
I suggest we note all the countries a book will work for in the spreadsheet, and use two colours, fx a lighter/darker shade, and then use the darker colour for what it is currently noted for. Hope I am making sense.

And it's my third time in a group.

Initial thoughts on our continent: We have a lot of countries :) And I can think of an abundance of Japanese possibilities.

That was exactly my idea, Johanne! I’m glad to have you by my side 😊

There are 50 countries! All I’m not sure of is how to let the mods know we ticked off a country. Do we just message them?

Not sure (I don't remember) but we can ask in the team intro post.

Not problem that it's your first time, Carmen. Mods will be in and out throughout the read-a-thon and can jump in and help whenever necessary. Teams also are usually very engaged in the process.

The leader really is just the tracker so that the mod knows what to update on the main map and when to reveal letters.

Carmen wrote: "Hannah wrote: "Hi Team Asia! This is my first read-a-thon and I'm really excited about it! I am a bit confused about how this works and how books are allocated though. Do we get allocated countries..."

Thank you so much for explaining this to me. I've just finished my first book, so I'm going to add it to the spreadsheet now!

Woohooo! That's two books, and two countries ticked off!

Cannot wait to find out our letters :D

Laura wrote: "Not problem that it's your first time, Carmen. Mods will be in and out throughout the read-a-thon and can jump in and help whenever necessary. Teams also are usually very engaged in the process."

Thank you so much! That really makes me feel a lot better!

Carmen, you will just post that a book was finished for whichever country here in this thread, and the mods will come in & monitor, and give you your letters as you finish the books.

Katie wrote: "Carmen, you will just post that a book was finished for whichever country here in this thread, and the mods will come in & monitor, and give you your letters as you finish the books."

Awesome, thank you!

So, we've got:
The Gilded Wolves for Uzbekistan
and
Three Sisters, Three Queens for Timor-Leste

Does this mean we can't shuffle later on?

Hi Team! Looking forward to getting some reading done this read-a-thon and the new challenge looks like it could be fun. Carmen thank you for being our leader!

I listened to 3 hours of If We Were Villains and hope to finish it tomorrow. It could work with any of the I countries. I hope to get started on The Second Wife tonight and another audio book tomorrow.

Yes, shuffling around is fine as long as you're finishing all placed books before you get a letter (i.e. if you move a book from Iran to Israel, you have to finish a book for both to get 2 letters)

It just might get more difficult to shuffle as you get more books placed, with fewer spots needed.

Today I read all of Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds, and I also read almost half of Spinning by Tillie Walden, which I'm intending to finish off tomorrow.

Am I supposed to add books to our spreadsheet myself? I’ve never done this and and cannot figure out how. I just finished Mountain Promise by Caroline Fyffe. It was an ebook with 327 pages. I am using it for an ATY prompt (#9). It can be used for any of the countries beginning with an “M”. Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, or Myanmar.

Never mind, I did it! At first I didn’t log in! Oops!

Laura wrote: "Yes, shuffling around is fine as long as you're finishing all placed books before you get a letter (i.e. if you move a book from Iran to Israel, you have to finish a book for both to get 2 letters)..."

Awesome, thanks! And of course, but it's always nice to know it's possible when needed.

We've got 5 countries already after only one day! We are rocking this, guys!

A round up of March 1st:

The Gilded Wolves for Uzbekistan
Three Sisters, Three Queens for Timor-Leste
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy for Tajikistan
Long Way Down for Lebanon
Montana Promise for Maldives

(Betty, I can't find a Mountain Promise for Caroline Fyffe, only Montana Promise came up. It works either way, but just want to make sure!)

Letters:

First author:

R, K, H, U, A

Map:


Full Size Map

I think I know that author!

I only completed 100 pages of The Portrait of a Lady yesterday and 40 pages of The Last Picture Show yesterday. I will complete picture show today, but the other is really long!

I think I know it too, but I was also expecting them so we'll see if we're right!

I've read 48 pages so far (I spent the first three hours of being awake doing leader duties and other readathon things. oops. also, it's a book to read slowly, to savor) but I needed a break from THE FEELINGS. So I'm catching up on here and starting my audiobook I think.

I am reading--and loving--The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices, which I'd planned for Women's History Month. I'm on page 53 so far, but I think it should go quickly
I'll check in again when I have more time to see how my other books might fit in.

I had plans last night and worked yesterday and today, so not much reading to report I will check back in when I finish this book.

Kathy Jo wrote: "I had plans last night and worked yesterday and today, so not much reading to report I will check back in when I finish this book."

Make sure to get proper rest as well!

Last night I finished Når man forveksler kærlighed med en saks (When you confuse love for scissors) by Tomas Lagermand Lundme.
I put it for Yemen (flag - white black and red cover). It also works for others, but I put it all in the spreadsheet

Haven't read much today, went to a live roleplay with my sons, that was fun :)

Yay Yemen! Also, that sounds like so much fun indeed!

I'm making progress as well, read 48 pages and 2h13 already, and I don't plan to stop just yet, even if I won't finish anything before I fall asleep, but Henkie (one of my bunnies) just jumped onto the couch to let me know dinner time was 1,5 ago, so I guess I'll do that first haha!

Yes, I'll read some tonight as well, but probably not much. I love that my sons are so old now that we can do things like that.

Carmen- I was napping as you were instructing me to get rest. Lol

I finished "Extreme Prayer" by Greg Pruett-
Works for Singapore (author initials), which is where I put it on spreadsheet.
Also works for:
Afghanistan, Brunei, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Syria, UAE, Yemen (black cover)

Kathy Jo wrote: "Carmen- I was napping as you were instructing me to get rest. Lol"

I'm glad to hear it! Also yay on the book! Woohoo! That's 7 already!

In the meantime, I just spent almost 2 minutes making inhuman fangirling whale noises at my book. I am not equipped to handle this much emotion hahah!

I finished If We Were Villains and added to spreadsheet.

I got started on The Second Wife last night and will should get started on another Audiobook tomorrow.

For my Audiobook I am thinking about One Day in December. Has anyone read it? If so is it any good?

Letters

First Author:

RKHUAI
A _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Map:

Full Size Map