The Procrastinators Book Club discussion

Do you feel that chill in the air? It's Winter Wars time (or Summer Days Redux if you're in the southern hemisphere).

The Wars begin November 1st

HOW TO JOIN
1. Reply to this thread with "I want to participate in a group" or "I want to participate by myself," and the number of books you read/listen to each year (this isn't to judge your reading habits but to attempt to create balanced teams).
2. The deadline to join a team is October 23
3. Anyone can join Winter Wars as long as the competition lasts, but after October 23 all newcomers will be soloists.

RULES
✧ Members will be broken out into up to 3-4 separate teams (or go solo option) before the start date (November 1st). You will work together to complete a series of tasks together and complete as many of them as you wish.
✧ Books must be read and reviewed during November 1st through December 31st. Any books or audiobooks started before November 1st or finished after December 31st will not count.
✧ If you read an Audiobook version of a book convert the hours to pages using this site: https://alamantus.itch.io/time-to-page or use the print equivalent on Goodreads.
✧ Graphic/Manga novels are accepted but will only count for half of the listed page count
✧ You must post at least 3 status updates OR a review. It doesn't have to be super detailed but try to not just say "this was good" for the book to count.
✧ For prompts: if it doesn't fit, it doesn't fit, and it will not count.
✧ Page Limits:
• Books: 150 pages
• Graphic Novels: 200 pages (halved=100 pages)
• Audiobooks: 150 pages (use GR print equivalent length)

POINT SYSTEM
+1 point for every book that has been read and reviewed that correlates with a category
+2 points for participating in a buddy read (must take place in the group)
+3 for one completed category
+4 points for reading/participating in a group read (must take place in the group)
+5 points for every 1,000 pages read
Note: Mods keep track of all points in a shared Google Sheets spread to keep everything as organized as possible.

CATEGORIES

Who's that?
1. Read a book where the main character is Black
2. Read a book where the main character is Latine(o/a/x)
3. Read a book where the main character is LGBTQIA+
4. Read a book where the main character is indigenous
5. Read a book where the main character is South Asian

What's in a Name?
1. Read a book with the character's name in the title
2. Read a book with a title or occupation (mr/ms/mrs/miss/mx, doctor, hangman, librarian, etc.) in the title (hereditary titles will not count for this prompt)
3. Read a book with a noble rank in the title (princess, king, queen, duke, earl, etc.)
4. Read a book with pronouns in the title (he/him/his, she/her/hers, xe/xim/xyr, they/them/theirs, we/us/our, you/your, etc.)
5. Read a book where the title has this format: A [Noun] of [Noun] and [Noun}

When is this?
Majority of the book (60% or more) must fit the prompt
1. Read a book that takes place during a holiday
2. Read a book set during the winter
3. Read a book set in the future (after 2022)
4. Read a book that has time travel (not dual POVS or flashbacks or jump forwards in narration, but the characters actually do a Back to the Future/Outlander thing)
5. Read a book set or published before 1880

Where are you?
1. Read a book set in your home state (or home country if not US)
2. Read a book that takes place in Asia
3. Read a book that takes place in Africa
4. Read a book that takes place in Europe
5. Read a book that takes place in South America or Australia/Oceania

Why are these prompts so hard?
1. Read a book that has been translated into the language you read (i.e., Spanish into English)
2. Read a nonfiction history book
3. Read a book written by an author who died before 1970
4. Read a collection of short stories/essays
5. Read a memoir/autobiography

How did this happen?
1. Read a book with snow or mountains on the cover
2. Read a book with a white cover
3. Read a book with a mostly-naked person on the cover
4. Read a book with a blue cover
5. Read a book with a bird or feline on the cover

LINKS TO SPREADSHEET AND DISCORD
To help track your team points, strategize and communicate, we've created individual team spreadsheets and team discord channels. Please note that the mods will not be checking either of these unless we are asked. Also, huge huge huge shout-out to Selina, who created the original team spreadsheet, taught us how to be amazing at excel, and is amazing herself, and also to Mina, who did a lot of the legwork in adapting it to team use. Any errors within it are mine—please let me know if you spot anything wonky.

Because Goodreads is being a butt and not allowing links from other sites in comments, the link to your team spreadsheet is in your team's discord channel

Participants

♛primadonna♛ (42)
Brianna Raquel (15)
Emily (43)
Jenner (36)
Katie (9)
Kristina (11)
Phoenix_In_The_Shadows (7)
Rabid_xx_Reader (39)

COMPLETION POST:
The mods are going to be needing this from every participant for every book they finish for us to be able to track everything better. Only books that have a completion post will be considered for scoring points. Here is the template:

Title:
Author:
Start Date:
Finish Date:
Category and task: (only one task per book read)
Graphic Novel? (Yes or no)
Buddy Read? (Yes or no)
Group Read? (Yes or no)
Pages: (if a graphic novel, please post original and halved numbers)
Review: [link of your review]

Please ensure you include the category and task number. It really helps us when we input into our master spreadsheet <3

Hey everyone! Can't wait to start!

Hi! So excited to begin, I've been trying to catch up to my reading goal and tick off some of my tbr, So this is perfect.

Good Morning Team!!! Can not wait to start strategizing!!

UPDATE

Winter Wars starts tomorrow (or whenever November 1st is for you)!

A couple quick reminders:

1. Only book started on or after November 1st count for this challenge
2. Buddy and Group Reads are your money makers!
3. Categories and prompts can be completed multiple times
4. Rereads are okay, but you can't reread a book that you've read for this challenge already (back-to-back rereads won't count)
5. If you have a question on a prompt, please ask in the General Sign-Ups thread—I'm sure others will have similar questions
6. Weekly updates will post on...Sundays. Yes, Sundays. Fingers crossed I remember.

And most of all: have fun!

Hey pals! I wanted to toss my tentative TBR out there to see if anyone wants to buddy read anything! I have some top priorities I've been wanting to get to and a few I know will be easy prompt fillers :)























These are my top priorities over the next two months but I'm sure I'll end up shuffling things around. AND I'm doing NaNoWriMo this month, so it'll be slow going until December. Excited to get started with you all tomorrow!

Hi guys! I am excited to be here!

@Katie I signed up for . I would be interested and have access to and .

Looks like GR is FINALLY allowing me to post the links to the spreadsheets!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Jenner wrote: "Hi guys! I am excited to be here!

@Katie I signed up for . I would be interested and have access to and [bookcover:Under t..."

There was interest from someone else in doing Under the Whispering Door later this month, so we can probably do Gideon the Ninth in December :) I have a proposed buddy read schedule in the nominations thread!

Here's the beginning of my TBR - I might add more later but thought I'd make a start.







Cemetery Boys is a group read for the first half of November, so I'll try and get to it then.

Adding this to my TBR also
Felix Ever After

Okay folks, one last thing before I leave you to read:

We're going to be a little stricter on Buddy Reads this time around.

This time around we are not going to allow Buddy Reads of series, which means one book per buddy read thread (view spoiler)[exceptions may be made for super short books in a series where the readers plan on reading back to back with no breaks (hide spoiler)]

Also, if you missed the initial sign-ups for a BR, you can only join if the original group hasn't hit the 50% mark on the book (per their reading schedule). If the timeline is past that, request a new BR—someone will want to join who also missed the first read through!

Katie, I would love to read

My TBR for the next week or two is the following

Kristina wrote: "Katie, I would love to read "

Awesome! Mina said she wanted to buddy read it next month so if you'd like to wait until then, we can all do it together :)

Emily wrote: "Adding this to my TBR also
Felix Ever After"

Do you want to do a BR on this one?

Brianna Raquel wrote: "Emily wrote: "Adding this to my TBR also
Felix Ever After"

Do you want to do a BR on this one?"

Definitely, if you can wait until December (got a lot to read for November right now) :)

Katie wrote: "Kristina wrote: "Katie, I would love to read "

Awesome! Mina said she wanted to buddy read it next month so if you'd like to wait until then, we can all do it tog..."

Oh, thank the universe I go through other group's msgs 😅
I wanted to read Well Matched, that's what you mentioned in the nominations. I read Holidaze last year (I think) around new year and it was so adorable and amazing. You guys should make plans for it.

mina wrote: "Katie wrote: "Kristina wrote: "Katie, I would love to read "

Awesome! Mina said she wanted to buddy read it next month so if you'd like to wait until then, we can..."

omg I'm juggling too many romance books! I still think I'm going to hold off on In a Holidaze so it's a little closer to Christmas when I read it!

Currently working through

The rest of my planned reading is currently:
(non fiction history - thank you school)
(character name in title)
(home state)
(LGBT+)
(Translated work)
(died before 1970)

I've got a few others to read, but they don't really fall into any of the categories

Title: The Crystal Kingdom
Author: Clint McElroy and Carey Pietsch
Start Date: 11/1/2021
Finish Date: 11/2/2021
Category and task: When is this? 1--takes place during the fantasy holiday of Candlenights, a nondenominational winter holiday
Graphic Novel? Yes
Buddy Read? No
Group Read? No
Pages: original 272, half 136
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Title: 10 Blind Dates
Author: Ashley Elston
Start Date: 11/1/2021
Finish Date: 11/3/2021
Category and task: When is this? 2--set during winter
Graphic Novel? No
Buddy Read? Yes
Group Read? No
Pages: 336
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Title: The Ballad of Black Tom
Author: Victor LaValle
Start Date: 11/3/2021
Finish Date: 11/5/2021
Category and task: Who's That? 1-Black main character
Graphic Novel? No
Buddy Read? No
Group Read? No
Pages: 154 (using the kindle edition number)
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I just started reading some of my books. I was so sick. I hope to catch up this weekend. I usually post a completed book by now.

Emily wrote: "Definitely, if you can wait until December (got a lot to rea..."

Yea, that works for me!

Title: 10 Blind Dates
Author: Ashley Elston
Start Date: Nov 1
Finish Date: Nov 5
Category and task: When is this? 1- Holiday
Graphic Novel? No
Buddy Read? Yes
Group Read? No
Pages: 33
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I'm only going to update every Sunday. I've just started a new job, and work and homework take up most of my time.

Title: The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S.
Author: David Levithan
Start Date: 11/1/21
Finish Date: 11/1/21
Category and task: How…4
Graphic Novel? No
Buddy Read? No
Group Read? Yes
Pages: 240
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Title: Princess Jellyfish Vol. 1
Author: Akiko Higashimura
Start Date: 11/6/21
Finish Date: 11/6/21
Category and task: What’s…3
Graphic Novel? Yes
Buddy Read? No
Group Read? No
Pages: 379, 189.5
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Title: Cemetery Boys
Author: Aiden Thomas
Start Date: 11/1/21
Finish Date: 11/7/21
Category and task: Who’s…3
Graphic Novel? No
Buddy Read? No
Group Read? Yes
Pages: 344
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Title: Dear Girls
Author: Ali Wong
Start Date: 11/6/21
Finish Date: 11/7/21
Category and task: Why…4
Graphic Novel? No
Buddy Read? No
Group Read? No
Pages: 240
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I am shooting for these books for next week if anyone wants to do a br.

updated

@Brianna Raquel
Your first completion post, The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S., can't be accepted, since we count the books that were started ON Nov 1st, and in your status updates it says you started it on Oct. 31st

mina wrote: "updated

@Brianna Raquel
Your first completion post, The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S., can't be accepted, since we count the books that were started ON Nov 1st, and in your status updates i..."

I started it around 1 am EST on Nov 1st

Brianna Raquel wrote: "mina wrote: "updated

@Brianna Raquel
Your first completion post, The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S., can't be accepted, since we count the books that were started ON Nov 1st, and in your sta..."

Okay. I'll leave this one to Laurel, since I'm not gonna post the general update.

mina wrote: "Brianna Raquel wrote: "mina wrote: "updated

@Brianna Raquel
Your first completion post, The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S., can't be accepted, since we count the books that were started ON N..."

Goodreads operates on PST which makes things a little wonky. I'll accept it.

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WINTER WARS update 7 November 2021

We try to post updates each Sunday of this challenge for teams and solo participants. It might not be Sunday yet in some parts of the world but this is for consistency purposes.

TEAMS:
The Abominable Abdominals: 19
The Jet-Setting Yetis: 29
The Suffering Succotash Sasquatches: 2
The Blistering Bigfoots: 34
The Laughing Lake Monsters: 13

The Cryptic Cryptids

Laurel: 1
Isabella: 2

It's our first weekly update! Woohoo!

Remember, those buddy and group reads are where the points are won—and if you buddy read within your teams your points add up a lot faster. And if you're feeling a little behind, that's okay! In the past it's not always the groups that jump ahead in the beginning that win in the end. Points can change dramatically from week to week—the goal is to keep reading, keep posting updates, and rack up those bonus points!

Three housekeeping notes as we roll past our first week:
1. Don't forget to put the prompt category and number in your completion post. It helps us out a lot!
2. If you are participating in a Group or Buddy Read, don't forget to post in that thread!
3. Have a question? Ask in the sign-up thread (because other folks might have the same question)...and check to see if anyone else has asked the question before :)

Happy Winter Wars

❤︎ From the Procrastinator Mods

Title: When Lightning Strikes
Author: Jenny Carroll (aka Meg Cabot)
Start Date: 11/2/2021
Finish Date: 11/8/2021
Category and task: Where are you? 1-set in my home state of Indiana
Graphic Novel? No
Buddy Read? No
Group Read? No
Pages: 266
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

UPDATED

Title: The Love Hypothesis
Author: Ali Hazelwood
Start Date: 11/8/2021
Finish Date: 11/10/2021
Category and task: How did this happen? 4--blue cover
Graphic Novel? No
Buddy Read? No
Group Read? Yes
Pages: 354
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

UPDATED

@Myra, you accidentally put your completion posts here in Team 1—I've copied them into Team 5's thread.

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WINTER WARS update 14 November 2021

We try to post updates each Sunday of this challenge for teams and solo participants. It might not be Sunday yet in some parts of the world but this is for consistency purposes.

TEAMS:
The Abominable Abdominals: 30
The Jet-Setting Yetis: 78
The Suffering Succotash Sasquatches: 29
The Blistering Bigfoots: 92
The Laughing Lake Monsters: 60

The Cryptic Cryptids

Laurel: 16
Isabella: 16

Lots of big points in our second week! Remember, it's a marathon not a sprint. Don't get discouraged if you're behind, and not just because these games are all for fun (there are no prizes for the winners, sorry)—but also because with a little strategic planning teams can really jump ahead quick.

Good luck, all!

Happy Winter Wars

❤︎ From the Procrastinator Mods

Title: Between, Georgia
Author: Joshilyn Jackson
Start Date: 11/10/21
Finish Date: 11/10/21
Category and task: Where…1
Graphic Novel? No
Buddy Read? No
Group Read? No
Pages: 295
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Title: Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking-Glass/The Hunting of the Snark
Author: Lewis Carroll
Start Date: 11/7/21
Finish Date: 11/11/21
Category and task: When…5
Graphic Novel? No
Buddy Read? No
Group Read? No
Pages: 416
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Title: Here and Now and Then
Author: Mike Chen
Start Date: 11/6/21
Finish Date: 11/13/21
Category and task: When…4
Graphic Novel? No
Buddy Read? No
Group Read? No
Pages: 400
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Title: A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
Author: Holly Jackson
Start Date: 11/11/21
Finish Date: 11/15/21
Category and task: How did this happen? 2 - white cover
Graphic Novel? No
Buddy Read? No
Group Read? Yes
Pages: 433
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Title: Certain Dark Things
Author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Start Date: 11/7/2021 (I originally started last month, dnf'd a couple chapters in. I did restart from the beginning when reading it this month)
Finish Date: 11/18/2021
Category and task: Who's that? 2 - main character is Latinx
Graphic Novel? No
Buddy Read? Yes
Group Read? No
Pages: 272
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

UPDATED

I just finished four books and will post them shortly

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WINTER WARS update 21 November 2021

We try to post updates each Sunday of this challenge for teams and solo participants. It might not be Sunday yet in some parts of the world but this is for consistency purposes.

TEAMS:
The Abominable Abdominals: 51
The Jet-Setting Yetis: 123
The Suffering Succotash Sasquatches: 72
The Blistering Bigfoots: 168
The Laughing Lake Monsters: 103

The Cryptic Cryptids

Laurel: 33
Isabella: 24

Keep trucking along, all! I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving week for those of you in the United States, and a great fourth week of November for those who aren't.

Also, the November Readathon is this week from the 20th-26th—still time to join if you want to have motivation to boost your reading numbers!

Good luck, all!

Happy Winter Wars

❤︎ From the Procrastinator Mods

Title: Hurricane Season
Author: Fernanda Melchor
Start Date: 11.1.2021
Finish Date: 11/21.2021
Category and task: Why is this prompt so hard 1. Translated
Graphic Novel? No
Buddy Read? No
Group Read? No
Pages: 224
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Title: A Heart of Blood and Ashes
Author: Milla Vane
Start Date: 11/1/2021
Finish Date: 11/21/2021
Category and task: What's in a name 5 A noun of noun and noun
Graphic Novel? No
Buddy Read? Yes https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Group Read? No
Pages: 534
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Title: We're Going to Need More Wine
Author: Gabrielle Union
Start Date: 11/19/2021
Finish Date: 11/21/2021
Category and task: Why are These prompts so hard 5 memoir
Graphic Novel? No
Buddy Read? No
Group Read? No
Pages: 272
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

Title: Very, Very, Very Dreadful: The Influenza Pandemic of 1918
Author: Albert Marrin
Start Date: 11/19/2021
Finish Date: 11/21/2021
Category and task: Why are these prompts so hard 3 History book
Graphic Novel? No
Buddy Read? No
Group Read? No
Pages: 198
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

Title: The Mythic Koda Rose
Author: Jennifer Nissley
Start Date: 11/13/21
Finish Date: 11/17/21
Category and task: What’s…1
Graphic Novel? No
Buddy Read? No
Group Read? No
Pages: 336
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Title: One Hundred Days
Author: Alice Pung
Start Date: 11/17/21
Finish Date: 11/18/21
Category and task: Where…5
Graphic Novel? No
Buddy Read? No
Group Read? No
Pages: 256
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Title: Honey Girl
Author: Morgan Rogers
Start Date: 11/18/21
Finish Date: 11/18/21
Category and task: Who’s…1
Graphic Novel? No
Buddy Read? No
Group Read? No
Pages: 241
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Title: Eyes Too Dry
Author: Alice Chipkin, Jessica Tavassoli
Start Date: 11/18/21
Finish Date: 11/18/21
Category and task: Why…5
Graphic Novel? Yes
Buddy Read? No
Group Read? No
Pages: 224
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Title: The Lives of the Great Composers
Author: Harold C. Shonberg
Start Date: 11/14/21
Finish Date: 11/18/21
Category and task: Why…2
Graphic Novel? No
Buddy Read? No
Group Read? No
Pages: 656
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Title: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder
Author: Holly Jackson
Start Date: 11/18/21
Finish Date: 11/21/21
Category and task: Where…4
Graphic Novel? No
Buddy Read? No
Group Read? Yes
Pages: 592
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Title: The First Sister
Author: Linden A. Lewis
Start Date: 11/16/2021
Finish Date: 11/23/2021
Category and task: When is this? 3 - set in the future
Graphic Novel? No
Buddy Read? Yes
Group Read? No
Pages: 352
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

updated

Okay guys, we need to have a little chat.

If you are doing a Buddy Read/Group Read that requires you ACTUALLY talking about the book in the thread. Maybe no one else will comment, however you are still having some opinions about the book even if you read it alone.

I was mostly done with the updates before realizing that some of the completion posts say the BR/GR happened but there is no participation in the discussions. So this is what's going to happen: I'm going to go again through the updates, if there's only one comment in the thread (even if it isn't about the book) and you put it as a BR/GR I'll count it, however after today we won't be counting those types of buddy/group reads.

✨ Brianna Raquel ✨ wrote: "Title: The Mythic Koda Rose
Author: Jennifer Nissley
Start Date: 11/13/21
Finish Date: 11/17/21
Category and task: What’s…1
Graphic Novel? No
Buddy Read? No
Group Read? No
Pages: 336
Review: https:..."

Sorry, Brianna but the Good Girl's Guide can't be counted as a group read since you haven't made ANY comments in the discussion thread.