Historical Fictionistas discussion

OK... Here's the task list! Same rules as last time!

Participants my join at any time during the challenge. All points must be reported by 11:59pm EST on December 31, 2010 to be counted.

RULES:
1) Books must be Historical Fiction unless otherwise specified in the task.

2) Books must be at least 200 pages long.

3) Books less than 1/2 finished may be counted for the challenge at the beginning, but ALL books must be completed and points recorded by 11:59p EST on December 31, 2010 for points to be counted as completed for the task.

4) Scoring: Task categories are assigned a point value, and points are awarded when all parts of the task are completed. Partial points will NOT be awarded for partially completed tasks. You will also receive bonus points based on the length of each book (even for multiple book tasks), as follows:
200 to 300 pages = 2 bonus points
301 to 500 pages = 4 bonus points
501 to 750 pages = 6 bonus points
751 to 1,000 pages = 8 bonus points
1,000+ = 10 bonus points
If you fail to record the length of the book, you will still be awarded the task points, but will NOT receive bonus points.
As this challenge contains both HF and other genre books, you will receive 1 additional bonus point for every HF book read, whether the task requires HF or not. Please be sure to list that the book is HF to make sure that the additional points are counted.

5) Re-reads and audiobooks are accepted unless specified otherwise.

CHALLENGE #4 TASK LIST:

Any Genre:
(5 pts each task)
5.1 Read a book with an alternate title
5.2 Read any YA book.
5.3 Read a book about something you fear.
5.4 Read a book by an author who was born in the same month as you.
5.5 Read any classic.
5.6 Read a Post-Apocalyptic or Dystopia book.

(10 pts each task)
10.1 Read a book by your favorite author that you have not yet read.
10.2 Read a book about any war or invasion within the last 500 years, including Iraq and Afghanistan
10.3 Visit the "What Should I Read" thread and read a book that someone recommends to you there.
10.4 Read a book about homosexuality or a book with a LGBT character.
10.5 Read a book that is being or has been adapted into a movie
10.6 Read a book that takes place in India.

Historical Fiction:
(15 pts each task)
15.1 Read a HF/NF book about witches or the trials of witches
15.2 Read a HF book published in the year of your birth.
15.3 Read a HF that has one of the the four elements in the title (earth, air, fire, water).
15.4 Read a HF with a child or teen (under 16) is the main character.
15.5 Read any HF of your choice.
15.6 Read a HF Group Read book you have not yet read.

(20 pts each task)
20.1 Read a HF set in Africa or Asia
20.2 Read a HF set in fall or has any fall-like words in the title
20.3 Read a HF book with a woman's name in the title
20.4 Read a HF book with a man's name in the title.
20.5 Choose your favorite historical figure and read a fiction or nonfiction about him or her.
20.6 Read a HF book you didn't get to read in the previous challenge (if you did not participate in the previous challenge, you can choose any task that required a HF book to be read.)

(25 pts each task)
25.1 Read a HF book in which religion is a major theme.
25.2 Read a HF about Native American culture.
25.3 Read a HF book with a one-word title and a HF book with a two word title.
25.4 Read two HF books by different authors that share the same word in the title.
25.5 Read two HF books set in the same time period but in different countries.
25.6 Read a HF book that's over 750 pages.

Bonus:
(50 pts each task)
50.1 To Be Determined
50.2 To Be Determined
50.3 To Be Determined

Stupid question of the day: How do you define "classic" for 5.5?

Anything that was written at least 50 years ago and is well regarded. :)

For task 20.5 can the historical figure be recent history?

Whats the easiest way to find books published in a certain year?

Oooh, I'm going to start marking up my TBR pile with tags so I know what I'm reading in advance. I'm looking forward to participating this time around.

ETA: When I search my library for dystopia A Clockwork Orange comes up, but it's not what I would think of as dystopian fiction. Does it fit the category?

Risa wrote: "I've a question...would Wilbur Smith's novels be considered HF?..."

I thought I answered this last night... apparently it didn't stick. :(

Anyway, I'm not familiar with him, but I looked at a couple books, and I'd say yes they would count. :)

LemonLinda wrote: "For task 20.5 can the historical figure be recent history?"

Sure.

Julie wrote: "Whats the easiest way to find books published in a certain year?"

Hmm... I normally use google or wikipedia. I don't really know the best way myself. Sorry. Maybe a real-life librarian (as opposed to a GR Librarian) could help?

Katie wrote: "Oooh, I'm going to start marking up my TBR pile with tags so I know what I'm reading in advance. I'm looking forward to participating this time around.

ETA: When I search my library for dystopi..."

I would allow A Clockwork Orange as dystopia. I have very broad ideas of group types, so I'm pretty flexible. :)

Becky wrote: "Katie wrote: "Oooh, I'm going to start marking up my TBR pile with tags so I know what I'm reading in advance. I'm looking forward to participating this time around.

ETA: When I search my library..."

Thank you! I always think of dystopian fiction as things like 'Brave New World' and '1984', so I wanted to be sure. I've been looking for an excuse to make myself read that book for a while now.


ETA: Dammit, after all that it's too short anyway. Poxy book.

Is The Handmaid's Tale dystopia?

Hey Becky, can you explain the alternate title thing again? I am not quite sure what that means.

I am excited that I found a book on my TBR shelf whose author shares my actual birthday and not just the month :-)

Julie wrote: "Whats the easiest way to find books published in a certain year?"

Julie just google "books published in 19.." whatever your birth year is. I typed in books published in 1982 and a whole bunch of "best books of 1982" popped up.

Becky, http://www.goodreads.com/book/popular... I just found this link for books published by year on goodreads. Just select the correct date in the top right side.

Julie wrote: "Is The Handmaid's Tale dystopia?"

Yep, definitely.

Julie wrote: "Hey Becky, can you explain the alternate title thing again? I am not quite sure what that means."

Good:
A Northern Light / A Gathering Light by Jennifer Donnelly

Bad:
Bitter is the New Black : Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office

(If it's a title with "or" and then a secondary title - it doesn't count. The SAME book published in two different editions with two different titles - like a UK/US edition, DOES count.)

Oh my. The day I finish one of these challenges, (completely finish the challenge - all categories) is the day I'm throwing a really big party!

I do love trying though.

Julie wrote: "Whats the easiest way to find books published in a certain year?"

Another way is to go to www.worldcat.org Go to advanced search and type in "historical fiction" in keywords and the year of your birth in "from" and "to" and it should provide you with some selections.

Amazon.com in their advanced search has something similar.

Hope this helps. :)

Thanks, Becky! :) This looks great. I'm really excited.

Great challenge tasks Becky!!!

So how do you find books with alternate titles? I have already read A Northern Light.

I created a list a while back with that topic. There are some good ones on there. http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/61...

Here's a wikipedia article with some books on it, but it contains other stuff, like movies and music too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_...

(I don't know how to send "Becky" a message, so I hope she will read this.)

I would be interested in a poll that shows the sex of members of the Hisorical Fiction Group. How many are male and how many are female? Do you agree.

Keith

"Becky"...? Does that mean that I'm not a real person?

Darn, I hate when that happens.

Regarding your question... Why? I don't know what that would tell you. I could set up a poll, but I don't think everyone would respond, and I don't think that the gender of the people in the group makes much difference as long as we have fun and interesting conversations about books that we like.

I'm not trying to sell anything here, so I don't need to "market to my audience". Just out of curiosity, why would you want to know?

I just wanted to add that even if you make a poll for the group it doesn't mean the numbers are going to be accurate. If you notice we have over 600 members (whooohooo!), but many of those have 0 comments to the group...so many people won't even respond to the poll. Like I'm "Becky" :P I'm curious why you want the information.

Oh and if you want to message someone directly you can go to their profile page and click "send message". Hope this helps.

Here's a list I put together of alternate titles with the help of some avid HF ladies at PBS, www.theburtonreview.com for the Plaidy titles, and a few from my own memory. I also added them to Becky's alternate title list:


1. The Boleyn Wife by Brandy Purdy (The Tudor Wife by Emily Purdy)
2. A Dangerous Temptation by Barbara Kyle (The Queen's Lady)
3. A Dangerous Devotion by Barbara Kyle (The King's Daughter)
4. The Serpent's Tale by Ariana Franklin (The Death Maze)
5. I, Mona Lisa by Jeanne Kalogridis (Painting Mona Lisa)
6. For the King's Favor by Elizabeth Chadwick (The Time of Singing)
7. Wolf of the Plains by Conn Iggulden (Ghengis Khan: Birth of an Empire)
8. The Canterbury Papers by Judith Koll Healey (The Lost Letters of Aquitane)
9. Conspirata by Robert Harris (Lustrum)
10. Children of Destiny by Elizabeth Chadwick (Daughter of the Grail)
11. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (published in the UK as 'Cross Stitch')
12. The First Princess of Wales by Karen Harper (Sweet Passion's Pain)
14. Band of Angels by Julia Gregson's (The Water Horse)
15. The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley (Sophia's Secret)
16. The Last Boleyn by Karen Harper (Passion's Reign)
17. The Lion of Christ by Margaret Butler (This Turbulent Priest)
18. The Barforth Trilogy: The Clouded Hills/Flint and Roses/The Sleeping Sword) - Brenda Jagger:(US Titles: Verity/ The BarforthbWomen/ An Independent Woman)

Books by Jean Plaidy:

19. Edward Longshanks by Jean Plaidy (The Hammer of the Scots)
20. Uneasy Lies the Head by Jean Plaidy (To Hold the Crown)
21. The Spanish Bridegroom by Jean Plaidy (For a Queen’s Love)
22. Gay Lord Robert by Jean Plaidy (A Favorite of the Queen)
23. Katherine of Aragon by Jean Plaidy (includes 3 titles formerly Katharine the Virgin Widow, The Shadow of the Pomegranate, The King's Secret Matter)
24. The Loves of Charles II by Jean Plaidy (includes 3 titles formerly The Wandering Prince, Health Unto His Majesty, Here Lies Our Sovereign Lord)
25. The Last of the Stuarts by Jean Plaidy (includes 3 titles formerly The Three Crowns, The Haunted Sisters, The Queen's Favorites)
26. Myself, My Enemy by Jean Plaidy (Loyal in Love)
27. The Pleasures of Love by Jean Plaidy (The Merry Monarch’s Wife)
28. William’s Wife by Jean Plaidy (The Queen’s Devotion)
29. Isabella and Ferdinand by Jean Plaidy (includes 3 titles formerly Castile for Isabella, Spain for the Sovereigns, Daughters of Spain)
30. Catherine de’Medici by Jean Plaidy (includes 3 titles formerly Madame Serpent, The Italian Woman, Queen Jezebel)
31. Lucrezia Borgia by Jean Plaidy (includes 2 titles formerly Madonna of the Seven Hills, Light on Lucrezia)
32. The Spanish Inquisition by Jean Plaidy (includes titles formerly The Rise of the Spanish Inquisition, The Growth of Spanish Inquisition, The End of the Spanish Inquisition)
33. The Goldsmith’s Wife by Jean Plaidy (also printed as King’s Mistress)
34. It Began in Vauxhall Gardens by Jean Plaidy (also printed as Melisande)
35. Mary Queen of Scotland: The Triumphant Year by Jean Plaidy (also printed as Royal Road to Fotheringhay)
36. Knave of Hearts by Philippa Carr (also published as Zipporah’s Daughter)


37. The French Bride by Evelyn Anthony (The Heiress)
38. The Passionate Brood by Margaret Campbell Barnes (Like Us, They Lived)
39. Cry God for Glendower by Martha Rofheart (Glendower Country)
40. Fortune Made His Sword by Martha Rofheart (Cry God for Harry)
41. Figures in Silk by Vanora Bennett (Queen of Silks)
42. Blood Royal by Vanora Bennett (The Queen's Lover)
43. The Archer's Tale by Bernard Cornwell (aka Harlequin)
44. Agincourt by Bernard Cornwell (aka Azincourt)
The Scourge of God by William Napier (aka Attila)

Non-fiction biographies:
- Mistress of the Monarchy, The Life of Katherine Swynford by Alison Weir (Katherine Swynford: the Story of John of Gaunt and his Scandalous Duchess)
-The Children of England (aka The Children of Henry VIII)

cool looks good.

Becky, When you get a minute will you go to Message 674 on Challenge 3 and give me a response. Thank you!

Here's more Cornwell:

Sharpe's Waterloo by Bernard Cornwell (aka Waterloo)
Sea Lord by Bernard Cornwell (aka Killer's Wake)
Coat of Arms by Bernard Cornwell (aka The Aristocrats)

can someone point me in the direction of authors born in the same month as me (August). I'm having difficulty finding birthdates of authors I have in mind, as well as trying to just choose one author from lists of thousands that share my birth month. Is there a site that I can access birthdates of authors easily?

JenC. wrote: "can someone point me in the direction of authors born in the same month as me (August). I'm having difficulty finding birthdates of authors I have in mind, as well as trying to just choose one aut..."

I got this from another group: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

Hope it helps you.

OOO Danielle Steele... I am an August too.

Anyone have any native american recommendations? (besides The Red Heart which is a great book)

Anyone have any ideas for 25.4 read a book by to different author that shares a word in their title?

Julie wrote: "Anyone have any native american recommendations? (besides The Red Heart which is a great book)"

Go to www. multcolib.org/books/lists/nafict.html

I was just there and they have some fantastic titles!

JenC. Another place for author birthdates is:
www.famouswhy.com/born-today/category...

Horace Walpole was born on my birthday, so that means I finally get to read 'The Castle of Otranto'.

yes re reads are allowed.

Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "yes re reads are allowed."

Right - unless specifically stated in the task that they are not.

Can a book be considered in multiple categories? For instance: 15.1 and 25.1.....witch trials often were a result of religion as the persecutors were often clergy.

Or does it go one book per challenge?

One book per, Gayle. You could use a witch-trial book for the religion task, but it would have to be a different book than the one you would use for the witch-trial task. :)

*sigh* I'm having some difficulty defining just what IS historical fiction. I was looking at books published in the year of my birth (1976) and number 1 was Interview With the Vampire. I've read it, but wouldn't mind a reread. I know this particular task can be for any genre - but it got me thinking. Not all of this book takes place in the past, some of it is in the present tense of the book, which is now in the past as it relates to me. I also got to thinking about the Outlander books and the whole time-travel genre, which I recently got hooked on and read exclusively for a bit. I looked for some threads within the group on this subject, but couldn't find any, but I did find a thread on The Mists of Avalon, which is on my TBR shelf, but I thought this was a fantasy novel, not HF at all. help.....


and thank you all for the birth month links - I did find a book for that task.

Becky wrote: "One book per, Gayle. You could use a witch-trial book for the religion task, but it would have to be a different book than the one you would use for the witch-trial task. :)"

Thanks for the clarification. I'm new to this whole thing.....so gotta ask the questions! Still debating if I'll try the challenge or not....I don't get a chance to read a whole lot, except for just before bed when I tend to fall asleep, and I'm not as fast at reading as I used to be. Sucks to get older. :)

Jen, I'm really flexible... :) My ideas on what is HF are pretty liberal. If the book is set 20 or so years before the date it was published, I'll count it.

Books with time-travel pretty much count if they are into the past and not the future and if a good amount of the story (say 1/2ish?) takes place in that past.

I don't really have a formula for what is HF and what isn't... every book is different, but I'll accept almost everything if you can justify why you think it should count. I'm not going to be a stickler if it's 19 years in the past rather than 20, or if 43% of the book takes place in the past rather than a full 50%. LOL

Challenge goal = Have fun and read stuff. :D

Gayle wrote: "Becky wrote: "One book per, Gayle. You could use a witch-trial book for the religion task, but it would have to be a different book than the one you would use for the witch-trial task. :)"

Thanks ..."

Gayle, I hope you join. There's no need to commit to the entire challenge... just do what you can. It's supposed to be fun and not work! :)

Well! I have lurked in this group for way too long, but this sounds like fun, count me in! I'll play with my TBR stacks and come up with a tentative list later on.

Becky wrote: "Jen, I'm really flexible... :) My ideas on what is HF are pretty liberal. If the book is set 20 or so years before the date it was published, I'll count it.

Books with time-travel pretty much cou..."

Thanks so much for your assurances! I do have one add-on question after your response, just to be clear. The setting must be 20+ years earlier than the publication, so books like

Pride and Prejudice and The Count of Monte Cristo would not be considered HF since they were stories set in the approximate years or decades that they were published? C of MC covers many decades, but the publication date is very near most of the book's setting. (These books just came to mind because they were recent reads).

Sorry, don't mean to be nitpicky, but this cancels a few books I had in mind.

Jen, you'd be right about both P&P and COMC. The main story is contemporary, so no they would not count. :)

Welcome Gaijinmama!