You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

The moderators have decided to revamp the topplers.

Starting this month. Next week(ish).

The new schedule will be that 24 hour topplers will happen every other month - Jan, Mar, May, Jul, and Sep. The November toppler will he a week long toppler connected to the annual Goodreads awards. The toppler will begin the day after the 2025 awards are announced, and you will read as many of the nominated books as you choose.

We just cooked this up. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time to conceptualize. But we wanted to start this year. We basically have a week. Kristie will post the toppler thread and I'm sure she'll have fun things in store for us.

So November will be the only week long toppler?

Yes. I know people like the week long topplers, but it is labour intensive. It takes me several months to do the annual challenge and Kristie does 3 week long topplers that have probably an equal amount of preparation. That's burn out territory, and we don't want to turn things into a job for people.

Makes sense.

Yay, this means there‘s a weeklong toppler just right around the corner!

I can imagine how much work you put into all these great challenges and I am quite thankful that you’re volunteering to doing it! So whatever you decide is totally fine.

I'll miss the week-long topplers, as I don't feel I can participate in the 24-hour ones, but I don't want people to burn out trying to accomplish them. I'll have to throw myself into the monthly reads more! Thanks to everyone who has modded the week-long topplers in the past!

Keeping it fun is the name of the game. I am all for modifying as needed. The November Toppler sounds fun. I am excited for the awards selection to begin.

What made me think of the Goodreads Awards is that every year there seems to be a flurry of activity and comments in the group about them.

I was wondering: were you discussing the possibility of turning one or the other 24-hour toppler into a 48-hour toppler or would that also be too much hustle? As 48 hours might give much more flexibility in order to finish maybe even more than that one book but still is not as much fuss as a weeklong toppler.

We are trying to take a lot of different things into consideration and have been throwing around a few ideas. We did not discuss a 48-hour toppler, but will throw that into our suggestion box. Thanks for the idea.

I have a thought for the suggestion box, since I can’t participate in 24-hr topplers either, but I totally understand the drain on your time, Kristie (and on Janice for the annual challenge, and on all of the moderators here).

If there is enough interest, maybe we could have rotating leaders for week-long topplers, maybe even a pair of people for each one, so it’s not so much on one person? People could throw their name(s) in a hat for a particular week?

Not sure if anyone would be interested in that, or if the moderators would be open to it. Just throwing it out as a thought.

Love that thought, Laura! As always, a huge appreciation to all the mods for all the value you bring to the group and the time you invest.

I love week long topplers because let's face it, I'm not a speed reader and 24 hours do pose a bit of a challenge.

Having said that, I know it may not be feasible going forward. I am here for whatever is the best for the mods.

Thanks, Laura. We've had some discussion around moderator duties for the topplers.

For those members that find the 24-hour topplers are not long enough, would having a 48-hour toppler be helpful? Or would you still find that too challenging?

Thanks for the suggestion, Laura. The mods are still discussing options. We want you all to feel a part of the process.

For now, we are treating the awards toppler as a special event even though we're calling it a toppler. While that is happening next week, we'll continue to revamp the topplers.

I'm sorry if I acted like chicken little and ran around saying the sky was falling. Right now, nothing is final.

Kristie wrote: "Thanks, Laura. We've had some discussion around moderator duties for the topplers.

For those members that find the 24-hour topplers are not long enough, would having a 48-hour toppler be helpful?..."

For my part, 48 hrs could possibly work but it would depend more on which days were chosen, as having seven days adds more flexibility. Weekend could be helpful?

ETA Or maybe the 48 hours could be anywhere during XX 7-day period? But then that could be more difficult for the mods.

That's something to consider.

Janice wrote: "Thanks for the suggestion, Laura. The mods are still discussing options. We want you all to feel a part of the process.

For now, we are treating the awards toppler as a special event even though w..."

Hey, in the world we are all currently living in, ‘the sky is falling’ seems legit. Everyone’s under more stress now, and so this whole topic does make a lot of sense to me. You all do so much to keep this place running smoothly. You all deserve a ton of credit for it!

Thanks for that Laura. We want this to be an oasis, where we can hang up the burdens and have fun.

This has always been the most fun group of any I’ve been in here. And that’s a tribute to the mods 😀🥳

🥰

Kristie wrote: "Thanks, Laura. We've had some discussion around moderator duties for the topplers.

For those members that find the 24-hour topplers are not long enough, would having a 48-hour toppler be helpful?..."

Yes, 48 hours on MY weekend would be great! Unfortunately, due to the time difference, I would still only get one day because toppler time for me starts Saturday 9:30pm my local time, so a 48 hours one at the same time, only effectively gives me Sunday. This is exactly why a week long works better for me as I get the next Saturday then to catch up.

Pragya wrote: "Kristie wrote: "Thanks, Laura. We've had some discussion around moderator duties for the topplers.

For those members that find the 24-hour topplers are not long enough, would having a 48-hour top..."

I think the toppler would start on Friday then instead of Saturday or last till Monday instead of Sunday. So that would give you also more time. Or am I making a mistake now? It’s still early over here and I just got up ;-)

It would likely be Friday to Sunday ET. I think that would give more people weekend time to read. I may play with the times a little.

Oh, yes, that definitely makes sense, Alexandra. Friday to Sunday sounds great, Kristie!

Or, maybe start and stop times are as per your own time zone? Totally up to what works for Kristie.

I don't always read the newsletters so sometimes I'm a little late to the game...
I love this group and the moderators for all of the reasons stated above. It is no small feat to devote so much time and attention to strangers and their reading goals yet you all do it so seamlessly. Having a group like this, where there is no drama and everyone is respectful certainly IS an oasis. Especially for me and others who have busy, chaotic lives and need help focusing on a task (established by others, of course!). So, ditto to the sentiments of the others and I vote for more 48-hour topplers :)

Janice wrote: "Or, maybe start and stop times are as per your own time zone?"

I am a moderator for a different group. For team challenges, I use the start and stop times for each person's own time zone. Folks don't get confused as much.

Thank you to everyone for your feedback. As it stands right now I am planning to incorporate 48-hour topplers. I will be changing the start times to try to make it more weekend time. Of course everyone is in a different time zone so that affects it, but I think having 48-hours instead of 24 will help with that anyway.

I am planning to keep us all reading at the same time. I like the way we are able to discuss while reading and if we're all reading at different times there will be less of that. Plus, it's just easier for me to have a start and stop time.

We are considering making the choice awards toppler an annual thing. People seem to be enjoying it and hopefully knowing it's coming will give everyone a chance to try to plan a little more.

We may still do another weeklong without teams and a 24-hour one in there too. I haven't quite decided on that yet, but I think having a variety is a good idea.

I like the idea of extending the 24 hours to 48 as I would find it challenging to complete a book in 24 hours.

I'm very distracted at tthe moment so I didn't even notice toppler going on 🫢 Not sure I would be keen on a toppler based on all new books as few of them are available through library (without massive wait list). On the other hand it might be fun to see what people think of various nominations.

I will really miss the team based topplers (if I understand correctly we're dropping those - I have to admit that I haven't read most of the comments as I'm still finding my new text to speech software very hard to use). I'm not in the slightest bit competitive but I do enjoy the different teams and getting to know members that I don't normally interact with.

Having said all that, I do appreciate that it's an enormous amount of work for the mods (go Kristie!!!) and a bit of a shake-up might be good for us all.

I enjoy the new ideas for the toppler and think 48 hours will make it even more inclusive which is great. Our Mods are the best!!

One of the best things about this group imo was the team topplers but I understand how much work and time had to go into those every time.

I wonder if there are one or more ppl here who would like to moderate any team toppler the mods decide to keep. It always seemed like a popular thing and for years, I made room in my life for the June toppler and often, the February one too. ( It might be better to have two mods so it’s not all on one person, as it does seem like a lot. )

Having said that, I really like the idea of a 48 hour toppler as opposed to 24 hour, or even the week long with no teams imo is better than 24 hours, at least for myself personally.

Definitely want to thank Kristie and all the mods here. So much goes on without us even being aware and we really do appreciate everything you all have always done and continue to do.

Kristie wrote: "...I am planning to keep us all reading at the same time....."

Purely for sentimental reasons....

I like to visualize that :

All over the world, tucked in an easy chair, we are all reading at the exact same time!

But then again I am in the Eastern Time zone, so noon to 11:59 is easy for me. Impatient to start, I wouldn't like having to wait until my sleep-time to start a read. 48 hour Topplers make sense.

Laura wrote: "One of the best things about this group imo was the team topplers ...."

Margo wrote: "...I will really miss the team based topplers ...I'm not in the slightest bit competitive but I do enjoy the different teams and getting to know members that I don't normally interact with...."

I will also miss the Team Topplers! I enjoy the camaraderie and teamwork. So many people surprise themselves about how much they will read to help their team.

Almeta, you were kind of the embodiment of the team topplers lol. You’re like the mascot. And spreadsheet wizard, to boot!

Almeta wrote: "Kristie wrote: "...I am planning to keep us all reading at the same time....."

Purely for sentimental reasons....

I like to visualize that :

All over the world, tucked in an easy chair, we are a..."

I agree; 48hrs is def better than 24.

Laura wrote: "Almeta, you were kind of the embodiment of the team topplers lol. You’re like the mascot. And spreadsheet wizard, to boot!"

Aw shucks! Thankyou.