The Perks Of Being A Book Addict discussion

Team Manderley

Team Members:
❅ Sara - Captain
❅ Narsku - Co-Captain
❅ Angela Schwarz
❅ Beth
❅ Courtney Spellman
❅ Ashley M.
❅ Karolyn Terpstra
❅ Denise Lauron
❅ Andy
❅ Kylie
❅ Stephanie
❅ Eli




♕ Team Spreadsheet
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

❅ Jodi
❅ Lelani

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Basic Information to Know


Rules in a Nutshell
- 100 pages (verify 25k words / 3hrs for Children's, Poetry, Plays etc MPG)
- rereads OK after 6 months
- Spell out using title / author name / speaking character name / location
- Letters to find Z O T H F I S V E N K P
- Numbers in title or #series

Basic Expectations
-Check in at least once a week on the team thread, so that we know you are actively participating. (But feel free to be as chatty as you'd like, I love chatty!)
-Only books started after the challenge starts can count for this challenge.
-All finished books must be marked as read and must be on your Uno shelf.

Important Links
Rules and Updates thread

Team Uno Shelfs:

Narsku - uno-2022
Angela - uno-2022
Beth - 2022-uno
Courtney - uno-2022
Ashley - uno-2022-reads
Karolyn - 2022-uno-feb
Denise - uno-2022
Andy - uno-2022
Kylie - uno-2022
Stephanie - 2022-uno
Eli - uno-2022

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Team Buddy Reads

March: The Last House on Needless Street
Sign Up Post
Tentative Date to Start: 3rd week of March

Working Spreadsheet- https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Rules of the Sheet~!
- I'd like before every month for all the colored cards to be claimed ahead of time. We can discuss this together as a group. For February, I've filled in 5 Blue as an example and claimed it. I also did an example for a normal card in the first hand. If you have any questions about filling in the sheet, feel free to ask.
- For all other cards, each member can have only 3 additional cards claimed at a time. Once you've read your claimed books, you can claim another to replace it.
- Narsku and I will fill out the points as we go along, and make sure we're on track to completion.
- Make sure to fill in the other cards option when you can, because Narsku and I may shuffle things around, and we like having back up options.

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again...



Welcome to Manderley!

I am very excited for another year of UNO and being your team captain this year.

I have sent everyone friend requests, and I'm looking forward to the next three months together.

This is my 3rd year of UNO, my first year as Captain though I was co-captain last year.

My name is Sara, and I live in California. I'm a recent college graduate and I'm quite enjoying finally being done with school!

I'm a huge reader and I love reading challenges and all kinds of books. UNO was my first big group challenge and I feel in love with it. My favorite genres are fantasy/sci-fi, contemporary, mystery/thriller, and YA. I'll read anything though suggested to me. I've even read Rebecca recently. Wasn't a huge fan of the book to be honest, but I still plan to watch the movies at some point.

Anyways, we have our February card already, and I'll get working on a working spreadsheet for us to use. So feel free to look it over. And check in and introduce yourselves please!

Here's some questions to answer:

Your name and if you have played UNO before or not
Book genres you like to read (bonus points if you give any recommendations!)
Have you read Rebecca and what did you think (feel free to mention if you've seen either movie too!)

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Hi team! I'm looking forward to being a co-captain this year. This is only my second UNO but the last one was heaps of fun.

I'm Narsku, from Finland, a teacher, and, at the moment, a reading challenge addict.

My immediate family consists of a voracious reader I'm married to and a cat that likes to sit and sleep on books (pictured).

My reading stats for last year are a pretty good picture of what I normally read: about 1/3 non-fiction, 1/3 fantasy & scifi and the remaining 1/3 is everything else - mostly literary fiction, historical and classics but I try to keep my mind open and shelves stacked.

I have not read Rebecca but I have been meaning to pick it up. This seems like an excellent time for it :)

Hi, Everyone!

This is my fourth or fifth round of Uno and it's one of my favorite challenges.

I'm Denise, in California. I work almost full time in the medical field and I am a full time student, also. I also help lead discussions for my bookclub. I'm in charge of nonfiction and contemporary books, but I read all over the map.

I read more than the 4 books a month that I signed up for, but I have started a lot, since I am a polygamous reader. I understand that only books that I start after the beginning of the game will count, so I am holding off on listing them.

I have 2 adult children who live with me. They have pets and one of the dogs spends time with me while I go about my day. The two cats hang out with me when the dog isn't with me.

I have not read Rebecca, but I have seen the recent movie.

I look forward to working with all of you!

Hi!!!

I'm Ashley from Ontario, Canada, and this is my second time participating in UNO. Last year I was co-captain, and I had an absolute blast doing it.

Currently, I am not doing anything really since the pandemic made getting a job in my field a bit harder...But I am a former ancient studies/history/museum studies student.

I will read pretty much anything if it piques my interest, but I definitely lean more towards fantasy and love reading manga/manhwa as well (even though it sadly doesn't count for this challenge).

I also have yet to read Rebecca since gothic stories don't seem to like me, but I am willing to give it a shot.

I can't wait till next month so I can start reading with all of you!

Hi everyone! I'm from Michigan, USA. This is my probably 5th or 6th time doing UNO. I think since 2015 or so? It's been a long time! And I love it every single time.

I'm a caregiver at an assisted living facility and work 3rd shift so even though I'm EST, my sleep schedule is not normal at all.

I'll read mainly mystery/thriller, non-fiction, and romance but I'm trying to get more into horror. I've tried other things but nothing else can really keep my attention for long.

I've started a bit of a working TBR with the letters, especially the harder ones but I'm going to spend some time this week also looking at what other people have read to see if I can use any of those for the wild cards! I'm so excited and have been checking that countdown almost daily lol

hi everyone


I'm from Ireland
Second time around with UNO and really looking forward to getting started

tend to read fiction mostly, including sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, historical
some non-fiction - biography, environmental, popular science

some recent favourites


I'm not the most organised or the best at planning out reads, but do have two blue covers to read that hopefully can find a place in February

@Andy

We do have a 0 Blue so one of those would definitely work for one of our color cards.

By the way, our colored cards for this hand are:

6 Red
5 Red
8 Red
8 Red
8 Green
5 Green
0 Blue - Andy
5 Blue - Sara

I already claimed 5 Blue. I can put Andy down for the other Blue. Feel free to throw your hat in the ring for any of the other color cards. Also, feel free to just go on to our working spreadsheet and write in your claim there.

I've got an entire shelf of coloured books just waiting to be used lol, so I am more than willing to fill in any of the spaces if needed!

❀●○●○Ashley○●○●❀ wrote: "I've got an entire shelf of coloured books just waiting to be used lol, so I am more than willing to fill in any of the spaces if needed!"

That's great!

I have a lot of books that will work, but it seems that most of them have no color that will work with the game, at this point.

When does the first week start? I'm planning out books today.

Denise wrote: "...When does the first week start? I'm planning out books today."

We start right on February 1st but it is according to their time zone. You can find the information and countdown here.

Thanks!

Hi Everyone!

I am Angela from Tennessee! I am excited to play this round of Uno with all of you. This will be 4th year playing and I always have a great time.

I enjoy "most" genres and you will often find me reading a few different books at a time across multiple genres. I currently have 5 books going but that's just bananas and I need to make up my mind and finish them up before the end of the month and the start of Uno. I have been in a little bit of a reading slump since the end of 2021 so if you know of any good books to get me out of it, please pass them along. :)

I have not read Rebecca but I have read another one of the authors books. Maybe this will be my moment to pick up Rebecca up since I believe I have a copy on one of my shelves.

I look forward to getting to know all of you over the next few months!

Hey all!

I'm an engineer (gotta love the night shift life) living near Portland, OR. This is my 2nd year doing Uno - I absolutely fell in love last year and am SO excited to be with y'all this year.

My favorite genre is scifi, with an emphasis on technical/hard scifi and space. I also read a lot of fantasy and historical fiction, but really if it sounds good or someone makes a recommendation I'll read it. The only genre I tend to avoid is straight up romance. I read anywhere from 70-100+ books a year (I have a lot of downtime at work) so I'm pumped to see what you all read and enjoy. My to read list is never ending.

I haven't read or seen Rebecca - Definitely going to check out the movie. I may have a bit of a hard time reading non-modern/recent gothic novels.

I'm going to start planning out my reads tonight/tomorrow - I'm sure I'll be able to cover some color cards. :)

hi Sara, Narsku,
I've just tried adding some books to hand 5 - hopefully have entered detail OK?

have noticed a couple on the sheet that I've already read, so potential to reverse, added a note, hope that OK too?

It looks great, Andy, you filled it in just fine.

And that's fine as well! Thank you for making note of that. That will be useful if we have to move some around later.

hi All
always interested in favourite books from other parts of the world

have you any particular recommendations from your home city / state / country?

for me, some Irish books I've enjoyed recently
This Is Happiness
Strange Flowers
Panenka
A Ghost in the Throat
A Goat's Song
Things in Jars

Andy wrote: "hi All
always interested in favourite books from other parts of the world

have you any particular recommendations from your home city / state / country?

for me, some Irish books I've enjoyed rece..."

Thank you for these recommendations!

As for Finland, I can't speak for the quality of any translations into English.

Some of the best known Finnish authors currently writing are Sofi Oksanen and Pajtim Statovci. I've read Purge by the former and Bolla by the latter and enjoyed both. They are bleak and the kind of books that get reviewed in newspapers.

Mika Waltari used to be the only Finnish author* anyone outside Finland had heard of. I'd recommend him to anyone who likes huge tomes of historical fiction and doesn't mind dated language.

My personal favourites as a teenager were Edith Södergran's poems but they're not quite the same reading experience as an adult.

I'd love to recommend Maria Jotuni but I very much doubt there's anything by her availbale in English.

*Tove Jansson is more famous but a lot of people don't know she wrote novels.

I took a look at my last year's UNO shelf and remembered that this book was a jackpot:

Blue cover, character initials for almost any UNO letter and a really quick read but within page requirements. Too bad it was merely okay. Romance novella with a touch of fantasy?

My favourite discoveries during last year's UNO were:

I knew nothing about the authors beforehand and both books were some of my favourite reads last year.

Other favourites during last year's UNO were

but since they were re-reads I knew I was going to enjoy them.

I am a bit ashamed to say that I can only think of one Canadian author off the top of my head... that author of course being Margaret Atwood (she wrote The Handmaid's Tale).

After a quick search, some notable books/authors are:
- Anne of Green Gables
- Rebel of the Sands
- The Glass Hotel
- Neuromancer (author is American-Canadian)
- Life of Pi
- Steven Erikson (he wrote the Malazan series)

Some books that I've read are:
- I'm Thinking of Ending Things (hit and miss for a lot of people)
- Sleeping Giants (a sci-fi series)
- Mexican Gothic (was a miss for me)

❀●○●○Ashley○●○●❀ wrote: "I am a bit ashamed to say that I can only think of one Canadian author off the top of my head... that author of course being Margaret Atwood (she wrote [book:The Handmaid's Tale|38447..."

Mexican Gothic was not for me, either :/ I'm one of those people who devoured the Anne series as a kid, though :)

Narsku wrote: "Mexican Gothic was not for me, either :/ I'm one of those people who devoured the Anna series as a kid, though :)"

I haven't read the Anne series yet...I need to step up my game here lol, but I have been to P.E.I where it takes place!

❀●○●○Ashley○●○●❀ wrote: "Narsku wrote: "Mexican Gothic was not for me, either :/ I'm one of those people who devoured the Anna series as a kid, though :)"

I haven't read the Anne series yet...I need to step up my game her..."

P.E.I. is like one of the characters in the books, it gets described so much! I've re-read some of the books as an adult and maybe now the most interesting thing are the descriptions of daily life about 150 years ago. It's such a mix of really familiar and really unfamiliar things. Also, when Anne starts working full-time she's about the age of the youngest of my current students and I find that wild. Some of them I wouldn't let babysit a kid for two hours.

Edit. I need to stop or I'll be talking about the Anne books more than the entire Avonlea Team :D

Narsku wrote: "I've read Purge by the former and Bolla by the latter and enjoyed both. They are bleak and the kind of books that get reviewed in newspapers...."

These are great Narsku - thanks

Bleak AND kind of books that get reviewed in newspapers 🥳
definitely adding to Want to Read list

❀●○●○Ashley○●○●❀ wrote: "Some books that I've read are:
- I'm Thinking of Ending Things (hit and miss for a lot of people)
- Sleeping Giants (a sci-fi series)
- Mexican Gothic (was a miss for me)..."

Thanks Ashley - Sleeping Giants is a new one for me, looks interesting

@Narsku
haven't read Douglas Adams in many years, loved them at the time
bit reluctant to reread in case they don't hold up...

Oh my goodness. I start school again on Monday and I'm starting to get my reading lists from some classes that hadn't posted them before. One class has 10 books! I guess I'll have a lot to add to the spreadsheet eventually. I'm waiting to start what I can go that they'll count toward the challenge.

Hello Everyone! I'm Karolyn in Missouri, USA and this will be my first UNO (eek). I'm looking forward to it as I have been in a bit of a pandemic rut and not reading as much as I'd like.

I tend to read a lot of non-fiction and historical fiction, but one of the things I enjoy about challenges is they force me to read things I don't usually pick up (sometimes good and sometimes... not). I'm probably the only person on Goodreads that is not a huge fan of Sci-Fi or fantasy.

I'll take a look at the shelves this weekend, and am sure I'll have a bunch of questions. Looking forward to reading with all of you!

Narsku wrote: "Narsku wrote: "Edit. I need to stop or I'll be talking about the Anne books more than the entire Avonlea Team :D"

Aha, I didn't even realize that there was a team for that. That might have been my incentive to give it a shot but Rebecca it is.

Andy wrote: "Thanks Ashley - Sleeping Giants is a new one for me, looks interesting"

I haven't read the rest of the series yet so I don't know if it gets better or worse...Maybe I should pick it up for the challenge and see?

Karolyn wrote: "Hello Everyone! I'm Karolyn in Missouri, USA and this will be my first UNO (eek). I'm looking forward to it as I have been in a bit of a pandemic rut and not reading as much as I'd like.

I tend t..."

Hi Karolyn! What kinds of nonfiction books do you like to read??

❀●○●○Ashley○●○●❀ wrote: "Some books that I've read are:
- I'm Thinking of Ending Things (hit and miss for a lot of people)
- Sleeping Giants (a sci-fi series)
- Mexican Gothic (was a miss for me)..."

I loved Mexican Gothic, personal. Sleeping Giants bored me to tears in physical form, but then I bought the audio book and I thought it was a brilliant audio book. The voice casting was fantastic, and it was really written to be read in an audio format.

Sara wrote: "❀●○●○Ashley○●○●❀ wrote: "I loved Mexican Gothic, personal. Sleeping Giants bored me to tears in physical form, but then I bought the audio book and I thought it was a brilliant audio book. The voice casting was fantastic, and it was really written to be read in an audio format."

I think I just haven't found a gothic book that works for me yet (here's hoping Rebecca works). And yeah, the audio for Sleeping Giants was the way to go, but I have heard that there is a character in the next book with a really annoying voice...

❀●○●○Ashley○●○●❀ wrote: "Sara wrote: "❀●○●○Ashley○●○●❀ wrote: "I loved Mexican Gothic, personal. Sleeping Giants bored me to tears in physical form, but then I bought the audio book and I thought it was a brilliant audio b..."

I don't really consider Rebecca to be gothic. I know it's advertised as such, but honestly, it doesn't have much of a gothic vibe to it. Or maybe that's just my bias speaking because I thought 2/3rds of the book was stunningly boring. Anyways, I'd describe Rebecca as more of a contemporary mystery, emphasis on the contemporary aspect.

Oh, and I haven't listened to the audio books yet either. So have no idea if there is annoying character in the next book. Only got through Sleeping Giants last year.

Sara wrote: "I don't really consider Rebecca to be gothic. I know it's advertised as such, but honestly, it doesn't have much of a gothic vibe...."

Oof, I don't know if that helps lol, I'm not the biggest contemporary reader. Guess I'll just have to give it a shot and see how much I suffer through it.

I think I read Sleeping Giants last year, or maybe the year before...it's hard to tell since the years have been blending together lately. I think I'll try out the audio sometime soon and see.

❀●○●○Ashley○●○●❀ wrote: "Sara wrote: "I don't really consider Rebecca to be gothic. I know it's advertised as such, but honestly, it doesn't have much of a gothic vibe...."

Oof, I don't know if that helps lol, I'm not the..."

Haha, yea, contemporary isn't my favorite genre either. I read a bit here and there, but I prefer stuff a little more action and tension. Or simple fun.

And I feel that. The years have definitely been blending together recently.