Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

The focus this year will be on authors. In order to shake things up NONE of the books will be designated as classics. Sometimes the square will require an older book, but for squares that do not you may read from any year. I count 15 squares that could contain non-fiction books. Book is loosely defined as any novel, short story, poem, play, essay, non-fiction, or collection.





Here's a list of Bingo categories to copy and paste so you can make your own thread!

B1 A book set in an Old or Ancient Empire.
B2 A book from our Old School Bookshelf
B3 A book in translation
B4 A book you read for another Challenge
B5 A book with a Goodreads rating of 4.0 or better

I1 A story from our Short Story Group Shelf
I2 A book from your Personal Bookshelf
I3 A Historical Fiction or a Nonfiction History
I4 A book by a new-to-you author.
I5 A book one of our Group members read in 2024

N1 A book by a male prize winning author
N2 A book by a female prize winning author.
N3 Free Space
N4 A book written by an author born during the 19th Century
N5 A book found by using Literature-map.com

G1 A book by one of your favorite authors.
G2 A book by an author found on our Group Bookshelf
G3 A book with an imaginary setting (not a real place on Earth).
G4 A book by an author who was born during the 20th Century
G5 Three short stories by the same author.

O1 A Mystery, Suspense, or Thriller
O2 A book about a journey
O3 A book written by Anonymous or Author Unknown.
O4 A book from our New School Group Shelf
O5 A book you would recommend to others


Some ways to personalize your Challenge: all slots books in translation, only use an author once, only female authors, all squares from a genre like mysteries, etc. Perhaps all your squares will be books found on our Group Bookshelf.

Challenge Levels

Level One Bingo
Four Corners: Mark off the four outside corners of the Bingo board.
Five-in-a-Row: Mark off five squares in a row. This can be done horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.

Level Two Bingo
Small Box: Mark off all the 9 inner squares of the board (including the free square), leaving blank the 16 outside border squares.

Level Three Bingo
Outside Box: Mark off all 16 of the outer squares, leaving blank the 9 inner squares.

Level Four Bingo
Blackout! Mark off all the squares of the board

Set up your own thread by following this link:
my link text

B1 A book set in an Old or Ancient Empire.
- This means Ancient like the Aztecs, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, China, etc
- Old could be the British Empire period of Indian or Tsarist Russia, etc.

B2 A book from our Old School Bookshelf
- link Old School Shelf

B3 A book in translation
- A book that was originally written in a language other than your native language

B4 A book you read for another Challenge
- A book from a Challenge in our group or any other group you are a member of. Also a personal challenges would work.

B5 A book with a Goodreads rating of 4.0 or better
- Here's a good start: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

I1 A story from our Short Story Group Shelf
- Short Story Shelf

I2 A book from your Personal Bookshelf

I3 A Historical Fiction or a Nonfiction History
- I would check the genre tags on individual books.

I4 A book by a new-to-you author.

I5 A book that one of our Group members read last year (2024)
- A quick and easy way to find a book would be anything we read as a Monthly Group Read or a Buddy Read last year. Yet, any book any member read would also work.
- You might want to look at this discussion thread. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

N1 A book by a male prize winning author

N2 A book by a female prize winning author.

N3 Free Space
- Anything you like.

N4 A book written by an author born during the 19th Century

N5 A book found by using Literature-map.com

G1 A book by one of your favorite authors.

G2 A book by an author found on our Group Bookshelf
- Look for any author on our Group bookshelf. Any book written by one of those authors will count, even if the book has not been read by the Group.

G3 A book with an imaginary setting (not a real place on Earth).
- Any Fantasy, Science Fiction, Mythology or "Once Upon a Time" Fairy Tales would work. For instance a Science Fiction story set in London 2065 AD would work because even though London is a real place, the future is imaginary.... also sorry folks, but Hogwarts is not a real place.

G4 A book by an author who was born during the 20th Century

G5 Three short stories by the same author.

O1 A Mystery, Suspense, or Thriller
- Check the genre tags.

O2 A book about a journey
_ Here are some ideas:
Journey Books

O3 A book written by Anonymous or Author Unknown.

O4 A book from our New School Group Shelf
- New School Shelf

O5 A book you would recommend to others

If you have any questions, please post them below. I hope everyone has a great time playing Bingo.

You might want to use this template or make one of your own to post book covers.


B1- I1- N1- G1- O1-
B2- I2- N2- G2 - O2-
B3- I3- N3- G3- O3-
B4- I4- N4- G4 - O4-
B5- I5- N5- G5 - O5-

Another great BINGO board, Lynn. Thank you for doing it!

Congratulations Lynn, Looks like great reading and tons of fun ahead for 2025!!

Huge thanks from me as well, Lynn. Always a thrill when the board is posted and I can start filling in slots.

Thank you, Lynn. The board looks amazing.

You are all too kind. I'm glad to see so many people excited to join.

This board looks most inviting, but I have a foolish question — how does one use the Literature-map.com site for purposes of this contest? I’ve never used it before, but I see I can input any author and then supposedly similar authors will float around… some of these supposedly similar to Jane Austen are perplexing to me… but nothing is so bad as when Goodreads came up with the recommendation, “You liked Pride and Prejudice so you may also like… Twilight…” @_@

Lynn, I was looking at the G3 square prompt and want to double-check -- does the "not real place" have to be on Earth, or can it be a fiction setting on another planet (like in science fiction books)? Just want to confirm. Thanks!

Terris wrote: "Lynn, I was looking at the G3 square prompt and want to double-check -- does the "not real place" have to be on Earth, or can it be a fiction setting on another planet (like in science fiction book..."

Yes Science Fiction or Fantasy books would work perfectly for this. I would say The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress would work. Yes, the moon is real, but the colony on the moon is not.

Erin wrote: "This board looks most inviting, but I have a foolish question — how does one use the Literature-map.com site for purposes of this contest? I’ve never used it before, but I see I can input any autho..."

You put in an author you like and similar authors come up. If you don't see anything you like, try again with another name until something interesting comes up. When I used Literature-map.com I typed in Agatha Christie and saw Daphne du Maurier. There were other names, but I like du Maurier so I chose her. I have tried it several times when I didn't come up with anyone I wanted to read. This is just a way to have lists of related authors come up until you find someone you like. Make it work so it's fun for you. : ) I hope that helps.

Lynn wrote: "Terris wrote: "Lynn, I was looking at the G3 square prompt and want to double-check -- does the "not real place" have to be on Earth, or can it be a fiction setting on another planet (like in scien..."

Great! Thanks, Lynn :)

This is such an exciting board! I haven't played BINGO in 2024 and 2023, but I'm so tempted to join this one!! Thank you, Lynn.

As always it's so fun to see the new Bingo Board and to start planning next year's reading! Love it (⁠｡⁠♡⁠‿⁠♡⁠｡⁠)

This is a great new Bingo card, Lynn! For O3, a book written by Anonymous or Author Unknown, does this include authors who have not revealed their real identity and hide behind a pseudonym like Elena Ferrante?

This is a wonderful board, Lynn. Usually I find at least one category a little scary, but I'm excited about all of these. I love the imaginary setting, and the three stories by one author. Can't wait!

Lynn wrote: "Erin wrote: "This board looks most inviting, but I have a foolish question — how does one use the Literature-map.com site for purposes of this contest? I’ve never used it before, but I see I can in..."

Thank you! That makes sense, I was overthinking it and double triple checking to make sure I had the right website! 😅 Lots of freedom to choose in this challenge! Thank you for putting together a fun BINGO board! 😊

Great board, Lynn! I love the premise of focusing more on authors! And thanks for all your hard work, and keeping up with all of our questions! :)

This looks so fun! I'm new to the group, but it seems like I joined at a good time lol. Looking forward to filling mine out!

Welcome to the group, Ashley. Now is definitely a great time to join us as we are all planning on what to read for next year with our challenges.

Connie wrote: "This is a great new Bingo card, Lynn! For O3, a book written by Anonymous or Author Unknown, does this include authors who have not revealed their real identity and hide behind a pseudonym like [au..."

Yes, I think pseudonyms count. That is an unknown author. I hope you enjoy it.

Ashley wrote: "This looks so fun! I'm new to the group, but it seems like I joined at a good time lol. Looking forward to filling mine out!"

Welcome Ashley. I learn so much and have fun with this group. I hope you enjoy it!

Lynn, I am super excited to start reading for this Bingo! What a great card! Thanks!

Thank you for setting up this challenge for us Lynn!

I'm really glad to hear that pseudonyms count for Anonymous/Unknown Author -- that really opens up what was at first glance a very intimidating square (basically all female authors in the 19th Century used pseudonyms or initially published anonymously).

Lynn, thank you for the great bingo board!

Lynn wrote: "G3 A book with an imaginary setting (not a real place on Earth).
- Any Fantasy, Science Fiction, Mythology or "Once Upon a Time" Fairy Tales would work. For instance a Science Fiction story set in London 2065 AD would work because even though London is a real place, the future is imaginary.... also sorry folks, but Hogwarts is not a real place."

I’m confused. Hogwarts is not real but are you saying Harry Potter does not fit this category? Sorry, I don’t know if I’m missing something?
Thanks for clarifying!

Lori wrote: "Lynn wrote: "G3 A book with an imaginary setting (not a real place on Earth).
- Any Fantasy, Science Fiction, Mythology or "Once Upon a Time" Fairy Tales would work. For instance a Science Fiction ..."

I believe it’s a joke on that many people would like to believe that Hogwarts is a real place, so it would count for this category. :)

Wow. I was going to bypass this year, but I may have play with all the opportunities to read nonfiction books.

Cynda wrote: "Wow. I was going to bypass this year, but I may have play with all the opportunities to read nonfiction books."

Nice to see you tempted.

Erin wrote: "Lori wrote: "Lynn wrote: "G3 A book with an imaginary setting (not a real place on Earth).
- Any Fantasy, Science Fiction, Mythology or "Once Upon a Time" Fairy Tales would work. For instance a Sci..."

Ah! Of course! Ugh! Thanks Erin.

Wobbley wrote: "Thank you for setting up this challenge for us Lynn!

I'm really glad to hear that pseudonyms count for Anonymous/Unknown Author -- that really opens up what was at first glance a very intimidatin..."

LOL
Yes. I was preparing myself for Beowulf.

Thanks so much Lynn. This Bingo 2025 gives me so much opportunity to make progress on my Personal Challenge, which includes many books I have purchased, bought on audible, or have had sitting on my bookshelf for . . . decades. It will be so satisfying to make a dent in that.

Klowey wrote: "Wobbley wrote: "Thank you for setting up this challenge for us Lynn!

I'm really glad to hear that pseudonyms count for Anonymous/Unknown Author -- that really opens up what was at first glance a ..."


My first thought was The Song of Roland. But anonymous could also be myths, legends, folktales, or fairy tales as the original material even if they are retold by someone else.

Lynn wrote: "My first thought was The Song of Roland. But anonymous could also be myths, legends, folktales, or fairy tales as the original material even if they are retold by someone else"

I'm already planning on read Emily Henry's translation of The Iliad, and since Homer probably wasn't a real person and definitely didn't write or compose it himself, I think that should work, too.

This looks like fun. I know I've done this group's Bingo before, but it's been a few years and last time I started late in the year and kind of burnt myself rushing to complete it. This year I'm excited to be able to start at the first of the year.

I'll need to think over my plans before I open a personal thread.

Welcome CJ. Welcome to everyone that's playing this year.

I LOVE your changes this year, Lynn, especially opening it up to newer books. Hopefully, I'll be able to fill some of the squares with the contemporary books I read with my IRL book club. I also love the emphasis on authors as well as more opportunities for reading nonfiction.

Thank you for creating such a versatile, exciting Bingo Challenge for 2025, Lynn!

Shirley (stampartiste) wrote: "I LOVE your changes this year, Lynn, especially opening it up to newer books. Hopefully, I'll be able to fill some of the squares with the contemporary books I read with my IRL book club. I also lo..."

Thank you Shirley. I hope you find a lot of books you like.

I want to be an active member this year so I will carve out this space for myself to Bingo.

Hope you'll join us, Lena! I'm looking forward to this challenge and seeing what other members are reading for this.

Thank you for setting this up - and making it so open to make your own, I'll definitely be joining this year :)

Lynn wrote: "You might want to use this template or make one of your own to post book covers.


B1- I1- N1- G1- O1-
B2- I2- N2- G2 - O2-
B3- I3- N3- G3- O3-
B4- I4- N4- G4 - O4-
B5- I5- N5- G5 - O5-"

Thanks, Lynn. Do you know how you put the blank bookcovers in before you have read it? I always forget at the start of the year

I remembered! It's "placeholder"

Sue wrote: "I remembered! It's "placeholder""

I am glad you remembered because I have never used those.