Hooked on Books discussion
3RC Reading Challenge
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Ridiculously Random Reading Challenge: Amanda E
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Just to shake things up a bit more and keep them really random, I'm throwing caution to the wind for this challenge. Your prompts will be given to you in random order, with everyone following a different path. I'll be tracking your prompts on a separate spreadsheet to make sure we don't miss one.
If you would like to pick your starting place, tell me your favorite number between 1 and 72 before, or tell me to choose for you!
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The voices of Mickey and Minnie Mouse got married in real life.
Wayne Allwine and Russi Taylor were married for 18 years until Allwine's death in 2009.
Complete ONE of the following tasks:
🐭 1. Read a book where someone dies.
🐭 2. Read a book published in 2009.
🐭 3. Read a book with a 1 and an 8 in the page count.
🐭 4. Read a book with some type of animal on the cover.
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Book: Archer's Voice
Author:Mia Sheridan
Date Read: 3/1
Pages: 400
Task: Read a book where someone dies.
How it Fits: Both MC's parents die
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Underwater Hockey, also known as ‘Octopush,' is essentially a game of hockey at the bottom of a swimming pool.
The aim of the game is to push the puck into the opposing team’s goal using a small pusher. The game involves 2 teams of up to 10 players with players using diving masks, fins, and snorkel gear.
Complete ONE of the following tasks:
🏊🏻♀️ 1. Read a book with a body of water on the cover.
🏊🏻♀️ 2. Read a book with between 2 and 20 MAJOR characters.
🏊🏻♀️ 3. Read a book with all the letters of HOCKEY found in the title.
🏊🏻♀️ 4. Read a book with the words SMALL and PUSH found in the text.
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Book: Too Old for This
Author: Samantha Downing
Date Read: 3/7
Pages: 385
Task:2. Read a book with between 2 and 20 MAJOR characters.
How it Fits: About 7-10 major characters
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Quidditch was invented by J.K. Rowling in her Harry Potter series and involves 2 teams of 7 players mounted on broomsticks with 4 different balls and goals on either side of the pitch.
The game has since been adapted for the real world with the ultimate goal being to score more goals than the other team before the ‘snitch’ is caught.
Complete ONE of the following tasks:
🧹 1. Read a book where one character snitches on another.
🧹 2. Read a book that is part of a series.
🧹 3. Read a book where the author uses initials in their name.
🧹 4. Read a book with a storyline that could be adapted into a board game or a real-life game.
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Book: The Lincoln Lawyer
Author: Michael Connelly
Date Read: 3/9
Pages: 592
Task: 2. Read a book that is part of a series.
How it Fits: #1 in a series
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The unicorn is the national animal of Scotland.
Yes, although it's a fabled creature, the national animal of Scotland is actually the mythical unicorn — chosen because of its association with dominance and chivalry as well as purity and innocence in Celtic mythology. BRB, moving to Scotland real quick.
Complete ONE of the following tasks:
🦄 1. Read a book set in Scotland.
🦄 2. Read a book with all the letters of UNICORN found in the title.
🦄 3. Read a book tagged MYTHOLOGY any number of times.
🦄 4. Read a book where the author's first initial is NOT found in CELTIC.
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Book: Slave to Sensation
Author: Nalini Singh
Date Read: 3/14
Pages: 353
Task: 4. Read a book where the author's first initial is NOT found in CELTIC
How it Fits: AFN is Nalini
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Unsurprisingly, Chess Boxing involves both the classic game of chess and the popular sport of boxing.
The competitors alternate between 5 rounds of boxing and 6 rounds of chess for a total of 11 rounds, each lasting 3-minutes. The game was inspired by a French comic and invented by Dutch artist Lepe Rubingh.
Complete ONE of the following tasks:
🥊 1. Read a book where a character plays chess or another board game.
🥊 2. Read a book that has a French or a Dutch translation.
🥊 3. Read a book with an MPG of HUMOR or COMEDY.
🥊 4. Read a book with the word boxing {can also be box, boxes, boxed, etc.} found in the text.
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Book: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Author: J.K. Rowling
Date Read: 3/20
Pages: 309
Task 1. Read a book where a character plays chess or another board game.
How it Fits: Harry and Ron play chess.
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The largest known living organism is an aspen grove.
Pando (Latin for "I spread out") is a group of genetically identical quaking aspens in Utah with an interconnected root system. It's an estimated 80,000 years old and takes up more than 100 acres.
Complete ONE of the following tasks:
🟡 1. Read a book set in Utah.
🟡 2. Read a book with more than 80,000 ratings.
🟡 3. Read a book with more than 100 reviews.
🟡 4. Read a book with a mostly yellow cover. {Your discretion.}
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Book: Heated Rivalry
Author: Rachel Reid
Date Read: 3/22
Pages: 368
Task 3. Read a book with more than 100 reviews.
How it Fits: 59,547 reviews
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The moon has its own time zones.
An astronomer even designed a special watch that relies on "lunations," or the amount of time it takes for the moon to revolve and rotate around the Earth.
Complete ONE of the following tasks:
🌙 1. Read a book with a moon, watch, or clock on the cover.
🌙 2. Read a book with the word REVOLVE or ROTATE found in the text.
🌙 3. Read a book where the MC's first name ENDS with a letter in EARTH.
🌙 4. Read a book where the title starts with a letter in LUNATIONS.
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Book: The Unmaking of June Farrow
Author: Adrienne Young
Date Read: 3/27
Pages: 352
Task 3. Read a book where the MC's first name ENDS with a letter in EARTH.
How it Fits: MC name is June (ends in E)
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A baby puffin is called a "puffling."
To feed its chick, a puffin parent will carry around 10 fish in its beak at one time, but the biggest recorded haul is a whopping 62 fish, according to Audubon Project Puffin.
Complete ONE of the following tasks:
🐠 1. Read a book with a bird on the cover.
🐠 2. Read a book where the MC is a parent.
🐠 3. Read a book with a 6 and a 2 in the page count.
🐠 4. Read a book with all the letters of PUFFIN found in the title/subtitle.
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Book: Cursed Daughters
Author: Oyinkan Braithwaite
Date Read: 4/1
Pages: 352
Task 🐠 2. Read a book where the MC is a parent
How it Fits: A family saga where most of the MCs are parents
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Zorbing is considered a recreational sport that involves rolling down a hill in a transparent plastic orb – essentially a “hamster ball."
It is generally used on hills, but can also be used on water, as well as flat surfaces. Orbs with no harnesses can carry up to three people, whereas a harnessed orb can only carry 1 or 2.
Complete ONE of the following tasks:
🐹 1. Read a book with a Z in the title.
🐹 2. Read a book with something made of plastic on the cover.
🐹 3. Read a book with the word TRANSPARENT found in the text.
🐹 4. Read a book where the author's last name ENDS with a letter in HAMSTER.
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Book: The Fiery Cross
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Date Read: 4/14
Pages: 1443
Task 3. Read a book with the word TRANSPARENT found in the text.
How it Fits: "MacLennan looked blindly into the transparent flames." pg. 41
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A $1 bill doesn't live as long as you'd think.
According to the Federal Reserve, each buck lasts about 6.6 years, and there's about $1.79 trillion of U.S. currency in circulation right now.
Complete ONE of the following tasks:
💵 1. Read a book with money on the cover.
💵 2. Read a book you got for no money.
💵 3. Read a book with a title that starts with a letter in MONEY.
💵 4. Read a book where the MC's first initial is NOT found in MONEY.
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Book:A Breath of Snow and Ashes
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Date Read: 4/27
Pages: 1439
Task 2. Read a book you got for no money.
How it Fits: I got it as a gift set
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Bog Snorkelling takes place in a 55-metre-long water-filled trench carved out of a peat bog (comprised of dead plant material).
Competitors wear snorkels and flippers and cannot use traditional swimming techniques, but rather must rely solely on flipper power to get across and back. Kirsty Johnson set the record back in 2014 with a time of 1 minute and 22.56 seconds.
Complete ONE of the following tasks:
🤿 1. Read a book published in 2014.
🤿 2. Read a book with a title that starts with a letter in SNORKELLING.
🤿 3. Read a book with some type of plant material on the cover.
🤿 4. Read a book that does not follow a "traditional" style. {dual-timelines, epistolary, etc.}
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Book/Author: Naked in Death by J.D. Robb
Date Read: 5/2
Pages: 336
Task 2. Read a book with a title that starts with a letter in SNORKELLING.
How it Fits: Title starts with N
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A team of six women programmed the first digital computer.
While historians have only recently recognized their achievements (or female discoveries credited to men), the female mathematicians participated in a World War II program coding instructions into the revolutionary Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC).
Complete ONE of the following tasks:
⌨️ 1. Read a book with a strong female lead.
⌨️ 2. Read a book with all the letters of ENIAC found in the title.
⌨️ 3. Read a book set during World War II.
⌨️ 4. Read a book where a character uses a computer.
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Book/Author: The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Date Read: 5/6
Pages: 451
Task 1. Read a book with a strong female lead.
How it Fits: All the female leads are strong, brave characters who risk their safety for the greater good
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In Outhouse Racing, an outhouse (outdoor toilet) is kitted with wheels, brakes, and a steering system, and is raced down hills with competitors sitting on the toilet seat inside.
Competitors decorate their outhouses with clever names like “Royal Flush” and the first outhouse to make it across the finish line wins.
Complete ONE of the following tasks:
🚽 1. Read a book where a character decorates something.
🚽 2. Read a book with all the letters of OUTHOUSE in the title and/or subtitle.
🚽 3. Read a book with something with a steering system on the cover.
🚽 4. Read a book where a character sits down.
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Book/Author: The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
Date Read: 5/12
Pages: 527
Task 4. Read a book where a character sits down
How it Fits: “'Yes'. The proctor motioned for her to sit down on a bench." pg 3
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If you drive south from Detroit, you'll hit Canada.
Head north from Windsor, Ontario, crossing the Detroit River, and you'll reach the good ol' US of A.
Complete ONE of the following tasks:
🇨🇦 1. Read a book set in Michigan.
🇨🇦 2. Read a book with a cityscape on the cover.
🇨🇦 3. Read a book with a directional word in the title.
🇨🇦 4. Read a book where the MC's first initial is NOT found in WINDSOR.
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Book/Author: Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice by Virginia Roberts Giuffre
Date Read: 5/17
Pages: 367
Task4. Read a book where the MC's first initial is NOT found in WINDSOR
How it Fits: MC's first initial is V (Virginia)
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The longest wedding veil was longer than 63 football fields.
If you thought Meghan Markle's wedding veil was long, get this: there's a woman in Cyprus who set the Guinness World Record for the longest wedding veil. How long was it, you ask? Nearly 23,000 feet, which is the same length as about 63.5 football fields.
Complete ONE of the following tasks:
👰🏻♀️ 1. Read a book with something related to a bride on the cover.
👰🏻♀️ 2. Read a book where someone gets married.
👰🏻♀️ 3. Read a book that is long - more than 400 pages.
👰🏻♀️ 4. Read a book with a 6 and a 3 in the total number of reviews.
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Book/Author: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Date Read: 5/20
Pages: 449
Task: 2. Read a book where someone gets married.
HIF: The MC gets married
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The Mud-Pit Belly Flop is one of the biggest events that takes place during the ‘Redneck Games.'
The event, of course, takes place in a giant mud pit and the crowd gathered to watch chooses the winner by judging who can make the biggest, muddiest splash. The winner receives a trophy – always featuring a smashed beer can.
Complete ONE of the following tasks:
👀 1. Read a book where the MC drinks a beer.
👀 2. Read a book with a crowd, more than 4 people, on the cover.
👀 3. Read a book where someone wins a trophy.
👀 4. Read a book where the title ENDS with a letter in REDNECK.
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Book/Author: Along Came a Spider by James Patterson
Date Read: 5/24
Pages: 528
Task: 1. Read a book where the MC drinks a beer.
HIF: “I’m sitting here with a beer in my hand" pg. 250
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The Oscars used to give out an award to child performers.
The award show discontinued the Academy Juvenile Award in 1960 after famous names like Shirley Temple and Judy Garland nabbed the honor. Also no longer on the ballot? Best Dance Direction and Best Title Writing.
Complete ONE of the following tasks:
🏆 1. Read a book with something gold on the cover.
🏆 2. Read a book that has won an award.
🏆 3. Read a book where the title starts with a letter in OSCARS.
🏆 4. Read a book where a character acts, dances, or writes.
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Book/Author: Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
Date Read: 5/28
Pages: 391
Task: 2. Read a book that has won an award.
HIF: Won the Alabama Author Award for Fiction (1989)
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Unicycle Basketball is a variation of the traditional game but where all of the players are mounted on unicycles during play.
The same rules apply, such as dribbling the ball while riding, and trying to score in the other team’s net. The game is played on a regulation basketball court and players tend to use 24” unicycles.
Complete ONE of the following tasks:
🏀 1. Read a book that takes place within a 24-hour period of time.
🏀 2. Read a book where a sport is watched or played.
🏀 3. Read a book with the word COURT found in the text.
🏀 4. Read a book where the author's first AND last initials are NOT found in UNICYCLE.
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Book/Author: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Date Read: 6/11
Pages: 476
Task: 🏀 4. Read a book where the author's first AND last initials are NOT found in UNICYCLE.
HIF: Authors initials are A.W., which are not in UNICYCLE.
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There's a world record for the most world record titles.
It belongs to Brooklyn, New York resident Ashrita Furman, who's held more than 700 Guinness World Records in his lifetime, ranging from heaviest shoes walked in (323 pounds) to most baseballs held in a baseball glove (26).
Complete ONE of the following tasks:
🥇 1. Read a book with at least 323 pages.
🥇 2. Read a book with at least 26 chapters.
🥇 3. Read a book with at least 700 ratings.
🥇 4. Read a book of your choice.
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Book/Author: Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
Date Read: 6/17
Pages: 400
Task: 🥇 1. Read a book with at least 323 pages.
HIF: Has more than 323 pages
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Not every Model T was black.
For the first few years of production, Ford's famous car came in gray, green, blue and red. It was only after 1914 that customers could order "any color so long as it is black," as the dark paint dried faster than other hues.
Complete ONE of the following tasks:
⚫️ 1. Read a book with a car on the cover.
⚫️ 2. Read a book with a color in the title.
⚫️ 3. Read a book with BLACK, GRAY, GREEN, BLUE, or RED found in the text.
⚫️ 4. Read a book with at least two of these numbers found in the page count/publication date: 1, 9, 1, 4.
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Book/Author: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Date Read: 6/21
Pages: 320
Task: ⚫️ 4. Read a book with at least two of these numbers found in the page count/publication date: 1, 9, 1, 4.
HIF: Published in 1985
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The Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling & Wake is an annual event that takes place each spring near Gloucester, England and involves a 9 pound round of cheese, which is rolled from the top of a hill.
Competitors race after the cheese and the first person to reach the finish line at the bottom wins the cheese.
Complete ONE of the following tasks:
🧀 1. Read a book where a character eats cheese, or does something foolish.
🧀 2. Read a book set at least partially in England.
🧀 3. Read a book with all the letters of SPRING in the title.
🧀 4. Read a book with a 9 in the page count or publication date.
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Book/Author: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Date Read: 6/27
Pages: 784
Task: 🧀 4. Read a book with a 9 in the page count or publication date
HIF: Published 9/23/13
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Coca-Cola consumers will pay more to drink less ounces.
Coca-Cola consumers prefer smaller packaging of their beverage and are willing to pay more per ounce. While soda consumption is declining in the U.S., Coca-Cola had a net revenue of $33 billion worldwide last year. Talk about vanity sizing!
Complete ONE of the following tasks:
🥤 1. Read a book with a dashed word in the title.
🥤 2. Read a book where someone drinks a cola, soda, pop, whatever you call it where you're from.
🥤 3. Read a book with two 3s in the publication date.
🥤 4. Read a book you were willing to pay for.
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Book/Author: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
Date Read: 6/30
Pages: 341
Task: 🥤 4. Read a book you were willing to pay for.
HIF: Bought it on amazon
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There are over 10 holidays that celebrate chocolate.
The National Confectioners Association recognizes everything from National Milk Chocolate Day to National Bittersweet Chocolate With Almonds Day. National Chocolate Day alone happens three times annually: July 7, October 28 and December 28.
Complete ONE of the following tasks:
🍫 1. Read a book where a character eats chocolate.
🍫 2. Read a book where the same type of thing happens at least 3 times.
🍫 3. Read a book with a bittersweet ending.
🍫 4. Read a book where the MC's FIRST initial is NOT found in ALMONDS.
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Book/Author: An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
Date Read: 7/13
Pages: 1155
Task: 🍫 4. Read a book where the MC's FIRST initial is NOT found in ALMONDS.
HIF: MC first initial is Claire
Hooked on Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Say You'll Remember Me (other topics)An Echo in the Bone (other topics)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (other topics)
The Goldfinch (other topics)
The Handmaid's Tale (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Abby Jimenez (other topics)Diana Gabaldon (other topics)
J.K. Rowling (other topics)
Donna Tartt (other topics)
Margaret Atwood (other topics)
More...
Ridiculously Random Reading Challenge
Individual, Open-Ended
(New) Duration: March 1, 2026 to December 31, 2027
New Sign-ups: Open Through April 30, 2026
You know how most reading challenges you join have some type of theme or main idea, kind of like the books themselves? Well, this one...not so much! We'll look at Crown Jewels, Greasy Pole Climbing, Model Ts, Zorbing, and anything and everything in between. So buckle up for the ride and enjoy!
This challenge originally started in March 2025 but is being re-opened for NEW sign-ups.
Each time you satisfy a task, make a post here IN YOUR OWN THREAD. Please use the following example for your Completion Post.
Prompt # / Name: {For example: #1: Octothorpe}
Book:
Author:
Date Read:
Pages:
Task:
How it Fits:
If you have any questions about this challenge, please post them in the Ridiculously Random Q&A Thread.
Challenge Rules:
📘 Standard Rules Apply
📘 I will create an individual thread for you after you sign-up.
📘 Your first prompt will be posted after you respond to the question in your thread's second message.
📘 Books must be completed after the task has been posted. For example, if your task is posted on April 15, you can't use a book you completed on April 14.
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If a set of tasks is too difficult or just out of your comfort zone, you have 4 SKIPS to use in this challenge. In order to use a SKIP, read any book that meets the Standard Book Qualifications for Hooked on Books. The link is in the Challenge Rules above. Simply list SKIP on the Task line.