The Perks Of Being A Book Addict discussion

Team Pacific Rim

Team Members:
👾
❅ Sara Hollingsworth - Captain
❅ Gwen - Co-Captain
❅ Vikki
❅ M
❅ Elena Akgül
❅ Melissa
❅ Saar the Book Owl
❅ Jamie Butterfield
❅ Tawni




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

❅ Emily Pavese

R

R

Important links and info

TEAM SHELVES
Sara - uno-team-challenge-2025
Gwen - uno-game-2025
Vikki - uno25
M - uno-2025
Elena - uno
Melissa - uno2025
Tawni - uno
Saar - uno-25
Jamie - uno-shelf

SPREADSHEETS
❅ Official team spreadsheet (captains only for editing): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
❅ Current results spreadsheet: Coming soon
❅ Team Tracking spreadsheet (please post your books here!): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

UNO RULES AND IMPORTANT INFO
❅ https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Books must be more than 100 pages in length and Children's books, Graphic Novels, Manga, Cook Books, Plays and Poetry books can not be used unless by word count they can be verified as more than 25,000 words using arbookfind.com or more than 3 hours of audio using a reputable website (e.g. audible, overdrive)

For book titles starting with an article (A/An/The), the article can be ignored or used. So The Hiding Place, for example, could be used as title starting with T or H

Re-reads are ok provided it has been more than 6 months since last read

UNO PIXIE'S COLORED COVER SHELF RECOMMENDATIONS
Finding colored cards can be challenging sometimes. These are the recommendations:
📒 uno-yellow https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
📕 uno-red https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
📗 uno-green https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
📘 uno-blue https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

**Important note about shelves**
Some books on the color cover shelves may not seem like the color cover. This is because GR will show the default version. There may be a specific version that has been shelved that is the actual color. The version you read is what you should shelve, and is what counts, for UNO.

COUNTDOWN
Only books started after the challenge starts can count for this challenge.
❅Countdown to start: https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...

Countdown to end of February
Coming Soon

Rules for Using the Spreadsheet and Claiming Cards

When claiming cards on the spreadsheet, I have a standing rule that only four books per person can be claimed at a time on the spreadsheet.

This is separate from claiming colored cards. Before the start of each month, I will announce the colored cards in a separate post and have those claimed separately from the four.

So for example, you could claim:
1 in Hand 1
5 in Hand 2
7 in Hand 12
10 in Hand 5

AND as many colored cards as you think you can successfully complete in the month. Because we are a larger team this year, I will be limiting claims on color cards in the first 72 hours. For the first 72 hours, please only claim 2 colored cards. If, after the three days are up, there are still unclaimed color cards, you may claim more.

All claims can be made on the working spreadsheet individually. If for some reason you can't use the spreadsheet, then cards can be claimed in a post. The format for this is:

# of Hand, ( ) Card
Title
Author
Reason
Other Possible Cards

After finishing your claimed book, if you can't access or use the spreadsheet, then please post a completion post like this:

# of Hand, ( ) Card
Title
Completion Date

NOTE: Please! Make sure to claim the card in a post before posting a completion post. This guarantees the space for you on the spreadsheet. Also IMPORTANT, this is only necessary if you CAN'T access the spreadsheet. Otherwise, there is no need to post anything to the board about claiming or completion. Theoretically, everything should be done on the spreadsheet.

ALSO VERY IMPORTANT: You must request editor access to the working spreadsheet. Right now it is set to viewer access for anyone with the link. Once you have editor access, you should have no issue with using the spreadsheet. Make sure you request access to the WORKING sheet, not the official sheet.

Welcome to team Pacific Rim!

I'm so excited for another year of Uno with everyone. A little about myself, I've been playing Uno five years now. I've captained previously as well, pretty much every year except the first year. I'm from sunny California and am currently a substitute teacher living with my parents and my silly orange cat, so I have lots of free time and a weird obsession with children's fiction these days, though my favorite genre tends to be fantasy. My free time is probably going to get a little tighter though soon as I've started night school to get my teaching credential. But, so far the workload hasn't been too bad. As for books, I'll read anything so I'm happy to take any recommendations! In the spirit of the sci-fi theme, my favorite science fiction movie currently is probably a tie between the new Dune movies, and the movie I, Robot.

Some get to know you things to share in your post!

1) Your name
2) Favorite genre
3) Any fun facts about yourself
4) Share if you've played uno before or not
5) Favorite science fiction movie... But, if sci-fi isn't your thing, then what's your favorite movie in general.
6) Share if you have any pets or not!
7) Add at the end a link to your uno game shelf

Let's have a great game this year and I'm looking forward to playing with you all.

Our colored cards for February are these:

📘 0 Blue - Vikki
📘 6 Blue - Melissa
📘 7 Blue - Tawni
📒 0 Yellow - Elena
📗 0 Green - Gwen
📗 3 Green - M
📕 5 Red - Sara
📕 6 Red - Jamie
📚 Wild Draw 4 - Gwen (0 Yellow)
📚 Wild Draw 4 - Sara (0 Blue)
📚 Wild Draw 4 - Tawni (6 Blue)
📚 Wild Draw 4 - M (3 Green)
📚 Wild Draw 4 - Sara (6 Red)

I welcome suggestions on colored cards. If you've read a book recently or heard of one that could be a good fit, just throw it out. These can be the most challenging to fill, so I like these claimed as soon as possible. Feel free to throw out your claims on the board here or fill in the spreadsheet yourself with your claim. I will mark above as these books are claimed to keep track, and if they're not all claimed before February starts, I may put out another post reminding everyone about the available colored cards.

Hello Team Pacific Rim and Welcome!

I’m excited for another round of Uno – this is my 6th year playing and my 3rd being co-captain. Feel free to ask us any questions – it can be confusing if you haven’t played before.

A little about me – my name is Gwen and I live in cold, snowy Vermont with my husband and I work at our state university as a financial support administrator. We have an adult son who lives nearby and are currently pet-free (although I love animals, especially cats).

I love all kinds of books but some of my favorite genres are cozy fantasy, post-apocalyptic/dystopian, magical realism, paranormal, some sci fi, some YA, mystery, thrillers, and more. I don't read much romance but that's about it.

I like movies, too - generally the same genres. Some of my favorites are the LOTR movies, anything Studio Ghibli (especially Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro), Harry Potter, most of the Marvel movies, etc. I'm honestly not super picky, I just like a good story that makes me laugh, cry, and think big thoughts.

Super excited to get started with Uno! I've been saving colored covers for a little while now... ha!

Really looking forward to UNO :) I've requested access for spreadsheet as I have my 1st couple of books already planned.

1) Your name Vikki (from Northern Ireland)
2) Favorite genre Crime & thriller. But I also like fantasy, historical fiction, chick lit, classics and I've been trying to read more non-fiction in recent years.
3) Any fun facts about yourself I play the bagpipes
4) Share if you've played uno before or not This is my 3rd time playing UNO
5) Favorite science fiction movie... But, if sci-fi isn't your thing, then what's your favorite movie in general. I'm not a sci-fi fan. It's hard to pick a favourite movie but I will happily watch the Harry Potter movies over and over again
6) Share if you have any pets or not! I have 2 dogs, an Alaskan Malamute and a Siberian Husky. They keep me on my toes
7) Add at the end a link to your uno game shelf https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Hi Team! I’ve requested editing access to the tracking sheet. I’ll be back in a couple hours to check out our cards and make my Hello! Post.

I’m on my phone and it’s such a pain to do it that way 😆

Melissa wrote: "Hi Team! I’ve requested editing access to the tracking sheet. I’ll be back in a couple hours to check out our cards and make my Hello! Post.

I’m on my phone and it’s such a pain to do it that way 😆"

It really is a pain! I hate trying to read or write posts on my phone/iPad.

Me too!

Hey Team! My name is Melissa and I live right outside of Philadelphia, PA in the US with my husband and our 3 daughters. I'm currently pregnant with our 4th daughter (due in July) LOL so much estrogen in our house!

My favorite genres to read are Fantasy , Mystery and Historical Fiction. I'll pretty much read anything except Sci-fi and Horror.

I don't know if I have any fun facts. I'm a pretty boring person. I like to be home, drinking some tea, and reading my book! My husband is the outgoing one. I'm content with the quiet :D

I have played Uno many many times before. I've been a Captain quite a bit (so if you need help please let me know!) but this time I'm content with relaxing and just playing the game.

Since Sci-fi is not my thing LOL there are a couple of movies that I will ALWAYS watch if I find them on my tv. The Harry Potters, LOTR, Sweet Home Alabama, The Notebook. I enjoy watching sports or reality tv (The Floor, The Challenge, you know mindless entertainment).

I have 3 cats at home. The older two are pretty chill but the youngest is just getting out of the kitten stage and is a menace, but we still love her!

My Uno shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

I typically don't know what I'm going to read until I start reading it so I probably won't claim a lot of books but I'll make sure to check what's needed before I start reading. I will try to take a color cover or 2 if I can.

Hello everyone! I am so excited to be doing Uno again, this is my favorite challenge.

1) Your name
I go by M, and I am from Vancouver, Canada.

2) Favorite genre
Science Fiction or Fantasy

3) Any fun facts about yourself
I am a crafty little goblin who makes odd things and cosplays

4) Share if you've played uno before or not
I have played Uno quite a few times

5) Favorite science fiction movie... But, if sci-fi isn't your thing, then what's your favorite movie in general.
Thank us really hard, I like a lot of them. Alien, Event Horizon, 2001, and Blade Runner are some of my favorites. Honorable mention for the Science Fiction video game Mass Effect.

6) Share if you have any pets or not!
My beloved cat Garrus aka Mr. Kitty

7) Add at the end a link to your uno game shelf
Uno 2025

I LOVE to read. If you have any recommendations, please share them

@M

Oh, I adore Mass Effect! I'm currently fighting the urge to do another ME trilogy replay. I just replayed it last year, and I really don't need to replay it again just yet.

Hello everyone! This is my first year playing so I'm sure I will have a lot of questions. So please bare with me :)

1) Your name - Jamie

2) Favorite genre - Dark romance, M/M, Fantasy, or really anything that has romance in it. Sci-fi is hit or miss for me.

3) Any fun facts about yourself - I have 4 children all in different stages in their lives: 29yr old (married w/kids), 21 (in college), 13 (teenager), 8 (elementary school) lol

4) Share if you've played uno before or not - I haven't. This is my first year.

5) Favorite science fiction movie... But, if sci-fi isn't your thing, then what's your favorite movie in general. - I don't like sci-fi really unless you classify the transformers or the marvel movies as them, lol. But you can catch me doing Twilight, the old school Robin Hood w/Kevin Costner, or the old school Twister movies marthons at times.

6) Share if you have any pets or not! - I have a 3yr old Goldendoodle named Charlie

7) Add at the end a link to your uno game shelf - https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

I don't really plan out books because I'm a mood reader. I usually read between 30-40 books a month, so I'm sure things will fit.

Hello to Pacific Rim team!

I’m Elena, and I am constantly in between Turkey and Russia. Currently I’m near the cold frosty Ural mountains, but in mid-February I’ll visit subtropical Antalya. I’m plurilingual and I work as a freelance language teacher.

I am versatile in reading but my favorite genres are thrillers, sci fi, detective stories, and Russian classics. I have been reading a lot of non fiction in the last few years as well.

I am a crazy cat mom, I have five cats at home and one downstairs (she refuses to go back to the house). They are all rescues, and they all traveled from Turkey to Russia with me.

I’ve played uno a few times, and I love the thrill, teamwork, and the competitive spirit.

I don’t have a tv so I don’t often watch movies, but I’ve seen a lot of them in the past, and I like both classics like Terminator and The Matrix and more modern Mad Max: Fury Road (it’s in my top 3 favorite movies), Dredd (2012) or Edge of Tomorrow. My all time favorite is The Crow (1994) with Brandon Lee, and I re-watch it every year.

The link to my uno shelf is https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

@Jamie - my girls have a gap in age too. My older 2 are 21 and 19 and my current youngest is 2 with another one the way in July. 😊

I should have added a warning. I work crazy hours and will post at odd times. Currently, I am at the mercy of the mobile app. I will add my books to the sheet when I get home. I have one for Green 3.

Elena wrote: "Hello to Pacific Rim team!

I’m Elena, and I am constantly in between Turkey and Russia. Currently I’m near the cold frosty Ural mountains, but in mid-February I’ll visit subtropical Antalya. I’m..."

Cold frosty mountains sound lovely! I love winter but sadly I rarely get as much snow as I'd like here

Jamie wrote: "Hello everyone! This is my first year playing so I'm sure I will have a lot of questions. So please bare with me :)

1) Your name - Jamie

2) Favorite genre - Dark romance, M/M, Fantasy, or really..."

Wow - I wish I had enough time to read 30-40 books in a month

I had a slow morning at work so I decided to take a look at my TBR list to see what would fit for our colored cards. This is what I came up. Please note I'm not claiming anything yet, just doing so research for fun and inspiration. 😊

📘 0 Blue -
(Stand-alone)

📘 6 Blue -
(Author's last name) (Author's last name) (CFN Sally)

📘 7 Blue -
(CFN Vic or Vince)

📒 0 Yellow -
(Stand-alone) (Stand-alone)

📗 0 Green -
(Stand-alone)

📗 3 Green -
(Author's last name) (CFN Hannah)

📕 5 Red -
(5 in title)

📕 6 Red -
(CLN Shields) (Setting in Seattle)

Beach Read was so much fun. I can reread that if we end up needing to fill that card or a Wild Draw 4

Ok, so I have a question - The goal is to read for all the prompts/cards on the February tab of the spreadsheet? Or is to read specific hands?

And for the color cards, we have to read a book where the cover matches that color AND fits one of the prompts?

Sorry, I'm sure this is simple, but it definitely feels overwhelming at first, lol

Hi Jamie-
Yes, we have to read for all the prompts/cards. We only get points for the cards when we complete a hand. So if we miss one card in one hand, we won't get any points for that hand. Make more sense?

And yes, you have it right for the color cards. The book cover must be the color listed AND it must fit the prompt. So for a 3 Green (for example) "Weyward" fits because it's cover is green AND the author's last name starts with an H, which is the letter that corresponds with the 3.

Most books will fit for multiple prompts, with the possible exception of the color cards. I know this is confusing at first! I still forget and have to look up the prompts. I've made myself a "cheat-sheet" that I use for reference.

Please feel free to ask all the questions you want!

Thanks so much Gwen! This makes sense.

Jamie wrote: "Ok, so I have a question - The goal is to read for all the prompts/cards on the February tab of the spreadsheet? Or is to read specific hands?

And for the color cards, we have to read a book wher..."

The first time I took part it was a little overwhelming at first. But you'll soon get used to it. The number cards are pretty straight forward. And if you need any help just shout, there'll always be someone able to answer!

I got and from the library today. So I’ll be able to cover the 6 Blue

Does anyone think is blue? I’m thinking no but wanted to check with everyone first.

@Melissa

I'd say no on A Sea of Unspoken Things. It's just not very blue. It's more greyish.

Hello Team Pacific Rim! I'm looing forward to the new edition of UNO.
1) Your name: Saar the Book Owl
2) Favorite genre: fantasy, books about cats, Japanese books.
3) Any fun facts about yourself: I collect postcards and send them via Postcrossing.com, I love comic con and sortlike events.
4) Share if you've played uno before or not: yes, I think 4 or 5 times already.
5) Favorite science fiction movie... But, if sci-fi isn't your thing, then what's your favorite movie in general: All the Alien - movies! Especially the first with Mr. Jonesey.
6) Share if you have any pets or not! I've got 1 cat of my own, then I've got 2 feral cats living in the garden, but after TNR (Trap/ Neuter/Release) they are not so feral anymore. 1 is semi socialised and the other is starting now, 2 chickens and a horse.
7) Add at the end a link to your uno game shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Saar The Book owl wrote: "Hello Team Pacific Rim! I'm looing forward to the new edition of UNO.
1) Your name: Saar the Book Owl
2) Favorite genre: fantasy, books about cats, Japanese books.
3) Any fun facts about yourself: ..."

I used to do Postcrossing but the price to send a postcard from the UK has increased so much that I rarely send them now.

Every year the price has increased here also in Belgium, but I can buy them with a discount fortunately.

I can get stamps from a discount seller, but it is still a lot. I dread to see the next increase in our stamps in March

It's insane, isn't it? Here, it's always the first of January. And they give for reason that people don't send many letters anymore. Well, that's obvious if the price is still rising.

Sara wrote: "@Melissa

I'd say no on A Sea of Unspoken Things. It's just not very blue. It's more greyish."

That’s what I thought. Thanks for confirming!

Saar The Book owl wrote: "It's insane, isn't it? Here, it's always the first of January. And they give for reason that people don't send many letters anymore. Well, that's obvious if the price is still rising."

We get the same reasons - fewer people send letters so the cost has to go up. We had a 60p increase from 1st January to 31st December last year for international letters up to 100g. That includes postcards - whether it's going 1 hour over the border from me (to Dublin, Ireland) or to New Zealand.

Royal Mail has a huge fine last year for poor service so I'm expecting a big increase in March

Is anyone else just staring at their TBR pile, waiting for the challenge to start, or is it just me?

I'm doing the same lol

Me too! I want to start a new book but I'm trying to pick one that wouldn't fill many Uno cards, like a non-fiction. But that's not what I want to read right now! Ugh 🤔

I've got a couple books that I have to read for in-person book clubs this month and manga since it can't count for Uno. But I'm definitely itching to get started on my other stacks. Uno always pushes me to read way more than I normally do.

Hi everyone! I'm a last-minute joiner (so glad there was space for me here! 🤗).

1) My name is Tawni; it sounds like Tommy, but with an 'n', obvs
2) Historical fiction, classic lit, and speculative fiction
3) I'm terrible at fun facts 😅 — I guess I'll just tell you that I'm a freelance content editor and project manager. I know, I told you: it's not that fun of a fact.
4) I've played Uno a handful of times but skipped last year 😖
5) Favorite science fiction movie? Probably either Predator or The Terminator. But my favorite movie of all time is Tombstone (and I don't like westerns as a rule 😆).
6) I've got two (fat) littermate cats, Phoebe and Ursula, named after the twins in Friends, and a one-year-old toy poodle, Frances
7) My Uno shelf is just called 'uno' 😅 — https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Jamie wrote: "Hello everyone! This is my first year playing so I'm sure I will have a lot of questions. So please bare with me :)

1) Your name - Jamie

2) Favorite genre - Dark romance, M/M, Fantasy, or really..."

YESSS to the Robin Hood w Kevin Costner. Such a good film.

Jamie wrote: "Hello everyone! This is my first year playing so I'm sure I will have a lot of questions. So please bare with me :)

1) Your name - Jamie

2) Favorite genre - Dark romance, M/M, Fantasy, or really..."

Also a mood reader, here. Sometimes I just ask one of my kids to pick a book for me at random. 😆

Vikki wrote: "Melissa wrote: "Hi Team! I’ve requested editing access to the tracking sheet. I’ll be back in a couple hours to check out our cards and make my Hello! Post.

I’m on my phone and it’s such a pain to..."

Yep Goodreads REALLY needs to fix their UI on both the site and mobile app. I was just complaining about it to a colleague, in fact. 😆

Welcome, Tawni! Glad to have you here. Now our team is all checked in and ready to go!

I wanted to let the group know that I will be out of the country from February 2nd to the 14th. My husband and I are going to New Zealand for vacation and I'm so excited! That being said, I'm not sure how much I'll be able to participate in the group during that time, I'll have limited internet access.

I'll still be reading, at least one or two books, I hope, but I don't know much I'll be able to check in.

Welcome Tawni! I accepted your editor access request, so you're good to go to start adding books to the spreadsheet if you like.

If you're not a big preplanner for your reading, that's totally fine. :) You don't have to claim four cards ahead of time, I just allow that for those who are a fan of preplanning their reads. I do like for the color cards to get covered as soon as possible so if you have something that might work and want to read, I'd claim that soon. Cause of how challenging the color cards can be sometimes, I don't like leaving those to the last minute. But tackling the other cards can be little more on a whim and less planned.

The goal is always to just have fun! And do a lot of reading haha.

For the color cards: in past years there's been a link that helped us determine whether the book actually counted toward the color or not; you could upload an image of the book (from Goodreads) and the site would scan the image to determine the percentage of each color on the cover.

This was especially useful for particularly colorful covers (does it have ENOUGH of the color to count?), and for red and blue covers, because some reds look more like pink or purple, and some blues look more like grey or green.

I think the Pixie gave us the link it recommended we use but I can't find it anywhere and evidently didn't bookmark it for myself. Captains, do you know the link I'm talking about?

Sara wrote: "Welcome Tawni! I accepted your editor access request, so you're good to go to start adding books to the spreadsheet if you like.

If you're not a big preplanner for your reading, that's totally fin..."

I can claim the one blue that's left:


And I can take the other blue that Melissa has claimed if she's having trouble finding one:


But besides preplanning for the colors, yes, I find that I can usually mood read and ALWAYS find cards that my book will match with. :)

There are a couple of Wild Draw 4s left as well, Tawni. You can always put a duplicate color card book in one of those if you'd like. It can be a duplication of any of our assigned color cards.

I think Melissa forgot to put her book title in the spreadsheet, she does have the reasons the book fits listed. I think it might be The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches since she listed it in her message earlier. I'm going to add it in for her.

Tawni wrote: "For the color cards: in past years there's been a link that helped us determine whether the book actually counted toward the color or not; you could upload an image of the book (from Goodreads) and..."

We don't really use that anymore in UNO. Not for final determination, so I think the link isn't given out anymore. It's up to Captain discretion whether a book is red/blue/green/or yellow enough. But, if you want to use it to help you decide if it's worth bringing to us it's this: https://labs.tineye.com/color/