The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

25.4 - Nicole OH's Task - Happy Birthday to Me!
In honor of my (Nicole's) July 10th birthday:

A. Read a book by a writer who is a Cancer (June 21-July 22)
AND
B. Read a book that has a NOUN in the title. This noun MUST appear on page 31 of your Part A book (I am turning 31 this summer).

Example: I can read Decreation by Anne Carson (who was born June 21st). The NOUN "husband" appears on page 31 of that book. So for my second book I can read Husband and Wife by Leah Stewart.

If you need suggestions OR have suggestions for books to read for this task post them here.

Well, Nicole, part B is pretty diabolical. I love it.

So excited! And just because I had to know that you guys would not be getting a bum author selection, I already did a little research for you. Here are the Cancer authors I found thus far:

Anna Quindlen
Ernest Hemingway
Suzanne Weyn
S.E. Hinton
George Orwell
Anne Carson
Jhumpa Lahiri
E.B. White
Marcel Proust
Franz Kafka
Mark Helprin
Cormac McCarthy
Pablo Neruda
Joanne Harris
Dan Brown
Tom Robbins
Henry David Thoreau
Richard Russo
Dean Koontz
Anne Morrow Lindbergh
LaVyrle Spencer
Ian McEwan
Chris Crutcher
Michael Connelly

Donna Jo wrote: "Well, Nicole, part B is pretty diabolical. I love it."
Diabolical??? I thought I was giving a wide open field nearly. I only opened one book so far and already found something that fits my TBR!

lol

June

Bierce, Ambrose (“bitter” Bierce) b. June 24, 1842
Brown, Dan b. June 22, 1964
Grossman, Lev b. June 26, 1969
Haggard, H. Rider b. June 22, 1856
Lackey, Mercedes b. June 24, 1950
Orwell, George b. June 25, 1903
Roberts, John Maddox b. June 25, 1947
Watson, Elsa b. June 24, 1972

July

Cartland, Dame Mary Barbara Hamilton b. July 9, 1901
Fleming, Thomas J. b. July 5, 1927
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins b. July 3, 1860
Hemingway, Ernest Miller b. July 21, 1899
Kafka, Franz b. July 3, 1883
Kenyon, Kay b. July 2, 1956
Koontz, Dean b. July 9, 945
Mantel, Hilary Mary b. 6 July 6, 1952
McCullough, David Gaub (John Adams, 1776) b. July 7, 1933
Murdoch, Iris b. July 15, 1919
Nye, Jody Lynn b. July 5, 1957
Priest, Christopher b. July 14, 1943
Thackeray, William Makepeace b. July 18, 1811

Nicole - Can it be a proper noun? I found that Congo has the word Congo on the 31st page.

A book with a noun and the same noun on page 31: The Things They Carried (this version). Kind of lame, but it works.

Also:
Ender's Game
The Scarlet Pimpernel
Macbeth

Felina wrote: "Nicole - Can it be a proper noun? I found that Congo has the word Congo on the 31st page."

Yes it can be a proper noun.

23 Jun Michael Shaara
29 Jun Antoine de Saint-Exupery
25 Jun George Orwell
26 Jun Mildred Savage
24 Jun Jessica Gregson
22 Jun Dan Brown
24 Jun Mercedes Lackey
29 Jun Brian Herbert
27 Jun James P. Hogan
21 Jun Jane Urquhart
25 Jun John Maddox Roberts
21 Jun Steve Niles
26 Jun Lev Grossman
27 Jun Anita Diamant
23 Jun Markus Zusak


1 Jul George Sand
11 Jul E. B. White
12 Jul Henry David Thoreau
8 Jul Alec Waugh
14 Jul Isaac Bashevis Singer
18 Jul Jessamyn West
10 Jul John Wyndham
14 July Brian Sibley
1 Jul William Strunk
11 Jul Cordwainer Smith
25 Jul Jennifer Armintrout
5 Jul Jill Murphy
16 Jul Sheri S. Tepper
3 Jul Dave Barry
6 Jul Evan Hunter
21 Jul Michael Connelly
14 Jul Susan Howatch

I feel the strange need to clarify...

The first book JUST has to be by a Cancer author. The second book can have ANY noun that appears on page 31 of the first book in its title.

Does that make sense? It seems like people are looking for a book by a Cancer author with a noun in the title that appears also on page 31 of that same book. This is NOT what I am asking.

Maybe that's why Donna Jo called me diabolical...

Alice Munro was born July 21, 1931 (just under the wire). Excellent, if you're interested in short stories.

And, yes, the Part B is diabolical, but I happen to have been looking for a place to put an Alice Munro book I have on my shelf, Runaway: Stories and matched it up with one on my Wish List Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner.

someone please tell how this is diabolical???

The idea of searching through all my books to find one with a noun in the title that was also on the 31st page sounded very hard. I went through about 10 books before I found one. That might be diabolical. You might have to spend some time at the library if you have no luck with your personal collection. :)

A few more:
Jamie Ford - 7/9/68
Robert Heinlein - 7/7/07
Garth Nix - 7/19/63

And a question - Emma Lathen was a pen name for two women who wrote together, one of whom was born 7/12/27. Would that work?

Felina wrote: "The idea of searching through all my books to find one with a noun in the title that was also on the 31st page sounded very hard. I went through about 10 books before I found one. That might be dia..."

That is diabolical, BUT THAT IS NOT MY TASK!

MY TASK is to read a book by a Cancer author.
The second book has to have a NOUN in the title that is on page 31 of the PART A BOOK.

Please someone tell me they get it...because what you guys are trying to do IS diabolical and it was NOT my intention.

Maybe if I explain it by giving an example.

I can read Decreation by Anne Carson. The NOUN "husband" appears on page 31 of that book. So for my second book I can read Husband and Wife by Leah Stewart.

Please tell me this helps.

Ah I see. That is much easier.

Well, the other thing is that some people might not have in their possession a book authored by a Cancer, so actually looking at Page 31 to do the planning might be more difficult.

thank the lord. I was trying to give everyone a wide open field. I was fairly certain that a whole page of any book has many nouns that appear in many titles. :)

I found that Ivan Doig was born June 27 so I'm using The Whistling Season for part A. I'm going to go pull it off the shelf now and take a look at page 31 for a noun to choose my part B book. I'll let you know what I find. I don't think it's diabolical, just clever!

I get it, Nicole ;o). I'm sure there are lots of nouns on page 31 of Watchers by Dean Koontz (a Cancer author) and when I stop being lazy and go get the book, I'll pick out one of those nouns ;o).

Nicole wrote: "thank the lord. I was trying to give everyone a wide open field. I was fairly certain that a whole page of any book has many nouns that appear in many titles. :)"

I'm sure you understand why we were afraid.

Nicole, it's fine. It took me maybe 10 minutes, since I had a book in my possession. The hardest part was finding a book that my small library has. Now 10 minutes to do that couldn't be all that hard.

Alicia wrote: "Nicole wrote: "thank the lord. I was trying to give everyone a wide open field. I was fairly certain that a whole page of any book has many nouns that appear in many titles. :)"

I'm sure you under..."

I do...but to me the way I worded the task was very clear so I didn't know what anyone was even talking about! Sorry for the confusion.

July 2, 1877 Hermann Hesse
July 4, 1804 Nathaniel Hawthorne
July 6, 1955 Suzanne Weyn
July 7, 1933 David McCullough
July 7, 1931 David Eddings
July 7, 1908 Harriette Simpson Arnow
July 17, 1943 LaVyrle Spencer

If you do a google books search, you can see previews of books. Sometimes they let you look at the 31st page. That might help if you want to fit in a book that you don't own.

http://books.google.com/

Sandy wrote: "A few more:
Jamie Ford - 7/9/68
Robert Heinlein - 7/7/07
Garth Nix - 7/19/63

And a question - Emma Lathen was a pen name for two..."
that works!

Kristi (Passion for the Page) wrote: "I get it, Nicole ;o). I'm sure there are lots of nouns on page 31 of Watchers by Dean Koontz (a Cancer author) and when I stop being lazy and go get the book, I'll pick o..."

Thank you...I was trying to be fun. I like hunting books and felt that most of you enjoyed that aspect of the challenge as well!

Ok found it-- "traveling dress the shade of blue flame" --- I'm choosing the noun "dress" and the book The Dress Lodger by Sheri Holman from my TBR pile. Hooray!

Nicole wrote: "Thank you...I was trying to be fun. I like hunting books and felt that most of you enjoyed that aspect of the challenge as well! "

I think this will be fun!

I'm going to read The Red Tent by Anita Diamant (born June 27, 1951) and on the 31st page is the word 'bones'. So I'm going to read Map of Bones.

I understood what you wanted us to do. Find a book by a Cancer author. Look on page 31; find a noun; find a book with that noun in the title. I was being facetious about the diabolical--I wish I'd thought of doing it myself.
I thought of it as a task that might mean you had to wait until you'd read book A to pick out book B which would induce anxiety on the part of people who want their whole list planned before June 1.

Some author (may be duplicates of above:
June 21 Ian McEwan, Francoise Sagan, Alon Hilu
June 22 Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Lilo Hardel, Ed Bradley, Octavia E. Butler

Donna Jo wrote: "I understood what you wanted us to do. Find a book by a Cancer author. Look on page 31; find a noun; find a book with that noun in the title. I was being facetious about the diabolical--I wish I..."

True enough...

Does anyone know Kathryn Stockett's birthday?

I love this task! Lot's of good authors to choose from and very clever!

List of Possible Authors:

June
6.21: Ian McEwan
6.22: Erich Maria Remarque, Dan Brown
6.23: Roger McDonald
6.24: Lawrence Block, Mercedes Lackey, Scott Oden
6.25: Ricky Gervais, Yann Martel
6.26: Yves Beauchemin, Colin Wilson, Pearl S. Buck
6.27: Helen Keller, James P. Hogan
6.28: Esther Forbes, Mark HelprinFlorian Zeller
6.29: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
6.30: Winston Graham

July
7.1: George Sand
7.2: Hermann Hesse, Jean Craighead George, Darren Shan, Matthew Reilly
7.3: Franz Kafka, Dave Barry, Joanne Harris
7.4: Nathaniel Hawthorne
7.5: John Gilmore, Ken Akamatsu
7.6: Harold Norse, William Wall
7.7: Howard Rheingold, Jeff VanderMeer
7.8: Richard Aldington
7.9: Ann Radcliffe, Dean Koontz, June Jordan
7.10: Marcel Proust, Jean Kerr, Alice Munro
7.11: E. B. White, Robert R. McCammon
7.12: Henry David Thoreau, Pablo Neruda
7.13: Wole Soyinka, Ian Hislop
7.14: Irving Stone, Ranj Dhaliwal
7.15: Thomas Bulfinch, Clive Cussler
7.16: Anita Brookner
7.17: Peter Schickele, Charles Champlin
7.18: William Makepeace Thackeray, Hunter S. Thompson
7.19: Gottfried Keller,A. J. Cronin
7.20: Thomas Berger, Cormac McCarthy
7.21: Sarah Waters, Michael Connelly
7.22: Emma Lazarus, S. E. Hinton

I apologize for duplicates ^_^;

Just to clarify, it has to be a noun in the title, but not necessarily used as a noun on the page? The word I am looking at is 'night'. It definitely is a noun in the title, but on page 31 of the other book, it is 'night nurse'. Does this work?

Oh! I forgot to say that I think this is a pretty clever task--I like how almost no one will have the same two books ^_^

For the first part I think I will read The Chrysalids, of course I will have to wait before picking out the second book. Its an interesting task.

For part A, I'm either going with:
Family Blessings by LaVyrle Spencer OR
1776 by David McCullough

I'm leaning towards:
A.1776 by David McCullough (born July 7, 1933)
B. "people" - Rhett Butler's People

Page 31 of Family Blessings was the beginning of a chapter, so it was a short page & hardly had any usable nouns on it - bummer. I've been needing an excuse to read 1776 though - it will be a perfect read to prepare for Independence Day!

I was a little nervous about this task at first, but after rummaging through my books & researching a bit, I'm super excited - I love it Nicole!

Oh Goody, I get to read Mercedes Lackey. I have alot of books by her I haven't read.

Very ingenious task! :D

Okay for part A I am going with "One Good Knight" by Mercedes Lackey and for pat B, I chose the word queen from page 31 so I am going to read "The Queen's Fool" by Philippa Gregory

Yeah I just got an order of books in and was trying to fit most of them into the challenge. Now I can read The Little Stranger and The Wet Nurse's Tale which both came in that shipment.

Great task and I did understand it the first time I read it Nicole. I thought is sounded like fun!!

Felina wrote: "I'm going to read The Red Tent by Anita Diamant (born June 27, 1951) and on the 31st page is the word 'bones'. So I'm going to read Map of Bones."

I really enjoyed The Red Tent! Let me know what you think of it.

Nicole, this task sounds very interesting! So creative!

Coralie wrote: "Just to clarify, it has to be a noun in the title, but not necessarily used as a noun on the page? The word I am looking at is 'night'. It definitely is a noun in the title, but on page 31 of the o..."

That is fine with me!

Thanks to everyone who has posted the lists of author birthdates. I looked for the ones on my TBR list, but goodreads didn't have birthdates for at least half of them and neither did a quick google search turn up the info, so these lists are greatly appreciated!

pjreads wrote: "Does anyone know Kathryn Stockett's birthday?"

I searched quite a few sites and turned up nothing! Grr. I did notice some birth dates were unlisted here on Goodreads, particularly for newer authors for some reason.

Nicole wrote: "pjreads wrote: "Does anyone know Kathryn Stockett's birthday?"

I searched quite a few sites and turned up nothing! Grr. I did notice some birth dates were unlisted here on Goodreads, particularly ..."

I think that, in general, people have become a little more wary about putting that sort of info out publicly.

When I was looking up authors on my TBR, I noticed that a remarkable number had January 1 as the birthday - I'm guessing that maybe goodreads is using that as a default if they have a year but no exact date? I've noticed when entering books I read before joining goodreads, if I put in the year I read them but no date, they get marked as being read on January 1.

Woo hoo! Got mine!

Animal Farm by George Orwell (June 25, 1903) for Part A. I just checked my copy and "books" appears on page 31, so I'm going to go with The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession by Allison Hoover Bartlett for Part B - just put it on hold at the library! :)