Reading with Style discussion

Please ask all questions about the Summer 2026 season here.

This spreadsheet combines Non-Western, Young, and Aged, for authors currently in the database. To search, press CTRL+F.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Here are some authors I'd like approved for the "Young" style:
Dahlia de la Cerda Born 1985
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahlia_...
Oyinkan Braithwaite
Born 1988
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oyinkan...
Yáng Shuāng-zǐ born 1984
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang_Sh...
R.F. KuangBorn 1996 -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._F._K...
Yah-Yah Scholfield Born 1999
Google Search:
"Overview
Yah Yah Scholfield is a short story writer and novelist based in Atlanta. Google Books
Born
1999 (age 27 years)"

Karen Michele wrote: "Here are some authors I'd like approved for the "Young" style:
Dahlia de la Cerda Born 1985
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahlia_...
Oyinkan Braithwaite
..."

All approved!

I don't see M.G. Vassanji on the spreadsheets. He is aged, born in 1950.

That's fine - his year of birth is on his Goodreads profile. In that case we don't need them to be pre-approved.

About short story collections - if most but not all of the authors fit a category, would they count? For example, The Far Reaches collection is mostly female authors with I think one male, maybe two. Same for Black Stars - mostly written by black women.

For books with more than one author, we always go by the first author listed on the book's Goodreads page - for Aged and Young as well as Female.

Rosemary wrote: "For books with more than one author, we always go by the first author listed on the book's Goodreads page - for Aged and Young as well as Female."

About the same subject - how are we to list short stories that are part of a collection but not listed as part of one 'book' on Goodreads? For Black Stars, The Visit, The Black Pages, Clap Back, 2043... a Merman I Should Turn to Be, These Alien Skies, and We Travel the Spaceways are all listed as separate titles (Kindle Exclusives) under a series but they're short stories and novellas. The same goes for the Far Reaches series.

RwS generally requires a book to be 100 pages, except that "two books of poetry, written by the same author, can be read in order to meet the page requirement. This is the only exception to the page minimum" (from the FAQ). Occasionally we have a task allowing shorter books, as with the graphic novels task last season, but not this season.

So short story collections have to published together, as one book of at least 100 pages, otherwise they don't work for RwS this season.

As you've linked to the Black Stars series, I can see there is an omnibus edition Black Stars: A Galaxy of New Worlds containing all six. If you read all six stories, you can claim that omnibus edition as one book (168 pages in the Kindle edition, as there is no print edition, with author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie). I don't know if the same is true of the Far Reaches series without a link.

You wouldn't be able to claim Series style points for this book, because that requires three books of 100 pages or more in the series.

I hope that helps, but do ask again if it's not clear!

Will this work to qualify Kristin Valdez Quade for "Young"? She was an honoree for the National Book Foundation's "5 Under 35" prize in 2014, so would be less than 50 years old now. I couldn't find her birthdate published anywhere.
https://www.nationalbook.org/people/k...

She was born in 1980 according to viaf.org:

https://viaf.org/en/viaf/311463099

Denise wrote: "She was born in 1980 according to viaf.org:

https://viaf.org/en/viaf/311463099"

That works. Please mention this when you claim the book.

Denise wrote: "She was born in 1980 according to viaf.org:

https://viaf.org/en/viaf/311463099"

Thanks! As a retired librarian, I'm embarrassed not to have known about this source!

Karen Michele wrote: "Denise wrote: "She was born in 1980 according to viaf.org:

https://viaf.org/en/viaf/311463099"

Thanks! As a retired librarian, I'm embarrassed not to have known about this source!"

You’re welcome! It has rescued a lot of points for me over the years.

Can we read in any order?

Jayme(theghostreader) wrote: "Can we read in any order?"

Yes!

Can you approve for young Er is niks by Elisabeth Lucie Baeten. She was born in 1990 https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabe...

Approved!

Hi! This is my first time joining! I was wondering if in the spot where our review is supposed to go, do we need to paste our actual review text or are we allowed to just include a link to our review?

Hi Becky, welcome!

You post your reviews in the Completed task thread, with your completed task post, and you can either post the full review there, or a link to your review, either is fine :)

Apple wrote: "Hi Becky, welcome!

You post your reviews in the Completed task thread, with your completed task post, and you can either post the full review there, or a link to your review, either is fine :)"

Thank you so much! :)

But please everyone, keep in mind it is more fun for other members if they can see your review without clicking through, so pasting it in is preferred! Thank you!

Caught the "approve first" bit after I posted.
Virginia Evans for young
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgini...

Beth wrote: "Caught the "approve first" bit after I posted.
Virginia Evans for young
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgini..."

That's fine, thank you. I have added her to the spreadsheet.

I read The Nowhere Child by Christian White. He was 37 in 2018 according to the Sydney Morning Herald, so he should be around 45 now for the Young Category:

https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/...

The Goodreads bio on Christian White says that he won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript for The Nowhere Child. There is also a sticker about it on the front of the book cover. Would this prize count in the prizeworthy category?

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

Connie wrote: "I read The Nowhere Child by Christian White. He was 37 in 2018 according to the Sydney Morning Herald, so he should be around 45 now for the Young Category:

https..."

I couldn't access that link because of a paywall, but I found another that said he was 38 in 2019, so we'll take it. Please mention this when you claim the book.

Connie wrote: "The Goodreads bio on Christian White says that he won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript for The Nowhere Child. There is also a sticker about it on..."

I have edited the book page to add that prize. The manuscript had the title Decay Theory when the award was given, which I think is why it didn't show up before.

Thank you, Rosemary.

You would think, after all of these years, I would not still be confused about Agatha Christie + the lexile rules. I have looked in the new Brooklyn catalogue and only see Crooked House as adapted for ESL learners (aside from various translations). I think it is just shelved as 'Fic Christie'. As well there is no lexile note in our spreadsheet...... so, will this book count for the Summer challenge (or any RwS challenge)?

Valerie, this book is fine. As you say, it is just shelved as "Fic Christie" with no YA designation, so it works for any RwS challenge, including subchallenges and styles.

I don't think all of the copies at Brooklyn can really be the ESL edition, since they say the book has 239 pages, but now they put all of the editions together, the ESL edition seems to have come out on top.

Things are easier for Agatha Christie books since the Lexile rule dropped from 800 to 700, but there may still be a few that are designated YA and under 700 or with no Lexile score.

Rosemary wrote: "Valerie, this book is fine. As you say, it is just shelved as "Fic Christie" with no YA designation, so it works for any RwS challenge, including subchallenges and styles.

I don't think all of the..."

Yay! Thanks Rosemary. I was hoping that would be the answer.

I'm starting to wonder if the Lexile numbers are still being created for newer publications. I waited for Sunrise on the Reaping to get a score and it didn't. Today I checked some other popular YA authors with new publications and none of the newer books had scores. I don't read as much YA as I did as a high school librarian, and I'm happy to read them without style points, but I'm still curious about this and posting as an FYI.

May I have Jarod K. Anderson approved for young? Born in 1994 - https://viaf.org/en/viaf/search?field...

Karen Michele wrote: "May I have Jarod K. Anderson approved for young? Born in 1994 - https://viaf.org/en/viaf/search?field..."

This author works for Young. Please mention this when you post.

And thank you for the heads up regarding Lexile. We may have to revisit that.

Does this author work for the Young style. Can’t find an age reference

So You Want to Own Greenland?: Lessons from the Vikings to Trump by Elizabeth Buchanan

Mary wrote: "Does this author work for the Young style. Can’t find an age reference

So You Want to Own Greenland?: Lessons from the Vikings to Trump by Elizabeth Buchanan"

Sorry we didn't answer this, Mary. We discussed it and then no one got back to you :( The answer is no, we need a year of birth or the author's age in a specific year. I couldn't find either of those for this author. If you do, let us know, but I see that you have claimed the book without it now.

Rosemary wrote: "Mary wrote: "Does this author work for the Young style. Can’t find an age reference

So You Want to Own Greenland?: Lessons from the Vikings to Trump by [author:Elizabeth Buchanan|..."

Thanks for the help. Every once in a while, we just need to accept a mystery!

Can Wally Lamb be approved for Aged - born in 1950 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wally_Lamb

Katy wrote: "Can Wally Lamb be approved for Aged - born in 1950 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wally_Lamb"

Sure.

Could I get Susan Strasser, author of Never Done: A History of American Housework, approved for Aged? (Born 1948)

https://viaf.org/en/viaf/10014624

The book is listed under “Works” on the viaf page.

Yes, that's fine. Please mention this when you claim the book.

Rosemary wrote: "Yes, that's fine. Please mention this when you claim the book."

Okay, thank you!

I am looking at reading To Hell with Poets by Baqytgul Sarmekova. I think she would qualify for non-western and, given that she was awarded a grant for talented young writers in 2020, she is probably also young.



Baqytgul Sarmekova is a Kazakh writer who grew up in a small village by the Caspian Sea. She began writing in 2014, after graduating from the Western Kazakhstani Engineering and Humanities University, where she studied law. She has since published two collections of stories: Күн батқан кездегі оқиға (An Incident in the Twilight) in 2019 and Кейіпкер (In Search of a Character) in 2020. Sarmekova is the winner of the prose award at the 2016 Shabyt International Festival of Creative Youth and a recipient of a 2020 Rahymjan Otarbaev Foundation grant, awarded bi-annually to talented young writers, poets, and playwrights.

Coralie wrote: "I am looking at reading To Hell with Poets by Baqytgul Sarmekova. I think she would qualify for non-western and, given that she was awarded a grant for talented y..."

She works for Non-Western (all former USSR countries).

For Young and Aged, we need a date of birth or something that says they were a specific age in a specific year. I found a link giving her date of birth as December 19, 1989, so she's fine for Young as well. Please mention this when you post.

Rosemary wrote: "Coralie wrote: "I am looking at reading To Hell with Poets by Baqytgul Sarmekova. I think she would qualify for non-western and, given that she was awarded a gran..."

Thank you.

According to Wikipedia, Sarah Isgur was born in 1982.

Kathleen (itpdx) wrote: "According to Wikipedia, Sarah Isgur was born in 1982."

That works for Young.

If a female writer publishes a book under a male pseudonym, will it still work for Female style?

Belinda Bauer wrote High Rollers as Jack Bowman

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belinda...

third paragraph: "In addition to crime novels, she published a thriller, High Rollers, under the name Jack Bowman, in 2013."