Pick-a-Shelf discussion

Isn't this the most exciting time of the month...

1. Mini SAT: 50 points when you have read off the following 12 shelves (with 5 books):

young-adult
young-adult-fiction
relationships
juvenile
juvenile-fiction
picture-book
picturebooks
picture-books
2006
kids
kids-books
theory

2. National Poetry Month (US/Canada): 20 points for each book of poems BUT for the really overly ambitious, receive an additional 100 bonus points if you read 5 books of poems that were written in different centuries

3. April Fools Day: 20 points for reading ‘humorous’ book or one written by a comedian

4. This month we will also be celebrating World Health & Earth Days, your choice of classes are:

a. Introductory (20 pts): Read an ebook of your choice

b. Beginner (35 pts): Read a book in relation to health (physical / mental) or the environment - strictly Non-Fiction for this choice. This can be a self help book or a memoir.

c. Intermediary (50 points): Read any book you want (but it has to be one you owned or borrowed from library or one you received from a bookswap etc - any books purchased BRAND NEW in 2011 do not qualify for this challenge) and walk the number of pages (ie. for 500 pages, walk 500 steps). Using the stride & speed of an average person, I've calculated that 500 steps will approximately take you only 5+ minutes. We challenge you to pick up your Chunksters! Or if you already have a pedometer handy, it’s time to put it to use..., if you haven’t already.

d. Advance (80 points): Read any book you want (but it has to be one you owned or borrowed from library or one you received from a bookswap etc - any books purchased BRAND NEW in 2011 do not qualify for this challenge) and walk 5 minutes for every 10,000 words.
*A New feature in Amazon called ‘Text Stats’ will tell you the number of words in a book. Unfortunately, not all books will have this so you will have to check individual books before taking this class. Editions will not matter for this challenge (as long as it’s not abridged vs. Unabridged). When you view a book on Amazon, scroll down to the ‘Inside This Book’ section and click on ‘Text Stats’. The Time Traveller's Wife equates to 1.5 hours’ walk but Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas equates to only 20 minutes walk.
*or you can try AR Book Finder which looks like it is more user friendly.

e. Really Overly Ambitious (200 points): Listen to an audio book whilst taking a walk / a jog. This audio book is dedicated to your choice of exercise (ie. you can only listen to this audio book whilst walking / running – whether it be to the train/bus station in the morning to go to work or to the shops or on your treadmill etc)

You may choose a different class for each book

5. Celebrate Easter for 30 points:
You may do a and /or b for up to 5 books
a. Religious Feast: Read a book with word in title / picture on cover of the following:
Jesus, Christ, Cross, Death, Rise, Life, Bread, Wine, Blood, Lamb, Good, Holy
b. Secular Feast: Read a book with words in title / pictures on cover of the following:
Bunny, Rabbit, Hare, Spring, Basket, Life, Egg, Chocolate, Candy, Gift, Hide, Hunt

Mid Month Challenge:

Passover holiday is being celebrated in April this year. The Passover Seder (Hebrew: סֵדֶר‎ [ˈsedeʁ], "order, arrangement"; Yiddish: Sayder) is a Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. (Ref: Wikipedia)

Order of the Seder:

1. Kadeish (blessings and the first cup of wine): Read a book with a picture of a cup on the cover or the word ‘wine’ on title

2. Ur'chatz (wash hands) : Read a book with either ‘hand/s’ on cover or on title

3. Karpas (appetizer) - one custom is to dip vegetable into salt water to serve as a reminder of the tears shed by their enslaved ancestors: Read a sad historical fiction

4. Yachatz (breaking of the middle matzah): Read a book that is part of a series BUT not the first or the last of the series

5. Magid (The telling): Read a book of retelling (either fairy tales or bible stories or classics like P&P&Zombies)

6. Rohtzah (ritual washing of hands): Read a book with either ‘hand/s’ on cover or on title

7. Motzi ("who brings forth bread from the earth"): Read a book with some type of cooking involved OR with a chef / baker / chocolatier / etc as main character

8. Matzah (bread?): Read a book with a picture of bread on the cover or the word ‘bread’ on title

9. Maror (bitter herbs): Read a book with a name of herb on title (ie. basil, rosemary, etc)

10. Koreich (sandwich): Read a book that is part of a series BUT not the first or the last of the series

11. Shulchan Orech (the meal): Read a book with some kind of (savoury) food in the title or on the cover.

12. Tzafun (eating of the afikoman): Read a book with some kind of (sweet) food in the title or on the cover.

13. Bareich (Grace after Meals): Read a book with a female character whose name also has another meaning in common English (Grace, Rose, Patience.,etc.)

14. Hallel (songs of praise): Read a music-related book (can be musician bio / musician main character in fiction, etc)

15. Nirtzah: Read a book of retelling (either fairy tales or bible stories or classics like P&P&Zombies)

You can choose your "challenge" however your choices are limited to the following conditions:
If your birthdate falls on 1-10 inclusive, your choices are #1-5 of the above
If your birthdate falls on 11-20 inclusive, your choices are #6-10 of the above
If your birthdate falls on 21-31 inclusive, your choices are #11-15 of the above

The Israelites wandered through the dessert for 40 years, therefore, receive 40 points for taking up this challenge.

Natasha wrote: "Question for challenge 4, I have a stationary bike at home. Could I ride the bike instead of walking? I don't have much time to walk since I don't get home until 9 or 10pm 4 out of 7 days and it's ..."

Sure, why not!!

Could a moderator mark this topic, so that it doesn't keep slipping down? I keep loosing track of it :) Thanks!

i don't know about the mods, but on my last deployment we did a 300 mile club (aka run/bike 300 miles during the 6 mth deployment)...treadmill/walking was the same, eliptical was .75 of the walking distance and bike was half the walking distance...so i'll probably use something similar to that...so if i were to bike 1 mile, I would count it for 1/2 mile walking (but that's just me)

I have 2 questions.
4.4e I don't have the wherewithal to listen to an audio book while I walk. Could I listen to the audio book while I am at home, then spend the same amount of time on the treadmill when I go to the gym?

4.5 Could we you a different form of the same word? In particular 'rising' for 'rise'?

I have a suggestion for anyone wanting to read a funny book that has "Christ" in the title...Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. Too bad I already read it...it would cover two of this months challenges! Drat!

Lynne wrote: "I have a suggestion for anyone wanting to read a funny book that has "Christ" in the title...Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. Too bad I already read it...it..."

It is definitely the time to read this book. I just read it recently and liked it too.

Thanks, LynnB, I forgot! Been a super busy week @ work...

Natasha, yes for 'miles' and 'broken up' (am definitely not walking for 1.5 hours straight!)

Coralie, yes & yes

anything by christopher moore is funny...I read/listened to Fluke a while back and about had a car accident laughing so hard at one point

ouch, it took some doing but i think i managed to locate some poetry from 5 different centuries...whether I can read it all is another story

Lynne wrote: "I have a suggestion for anyone wanting to read a funny book that has "Christ" in the title...Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. Too bad I already read it...it..."

I actually have that one slated to read next month. Maybe I should bump out up a month. Do you have a copy?

Delicious Dee Challenge Addict wrote: "ouch, it took some doing but i think i managed to locate some poetry from 5 different centuries...whether I can read it all is another story"

I did too and I feel the same about it.


I do have a couple of questions for the mods. :
For task 4.5 can I use the word 'dead' instead of 'death'? And does a picture of a garden count as a 'spring' picture?

Another question on task 4.5 - can we use more than one book with the same title word? I have two books with "death" in the title and wondered if I could use both, or was it one book per word for a total of five?

And do subtitles count?

Delicious Dee Challenge Addict wrote: "ouch, it took some doing but i think i managed to locate some poetry from 5 different centuries...whether I can read it all is another story"

I know. I found some from 5 centuries, too, but it took some doing. It helps that they don't have to be over 100 pages. Not sure if I will get to all of mine this month, but I have them on tap.

i had to request a couple through inter-library loan...but yeah, poetry isn't normally my thing, except in very limited cases, so we'll see

Lyn M wrote: "Lynne wrote: "I have a suggestion for anyone wanting to read a funny book that has "Christ" in the title...Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. Too bad I alread..."

I don't have one but I could borrow it for you from my friend and give it to you at mom's during spring break. I'm sure you sould find it a quick read.

That would be great if you wouldn't mine. When is your break, BTW?

Lahni, yes to 'dead' and subtitles. And as long as the garden shows some spring-like features (ie. flowers as oppposed to snow) then yes to this question too.

Amy, you can use up to 5 books for that one particular word ;)

And btw, for poetries, there are lots available online so you don't really have to go to the libraries to borrow poetry books. Just find a particular poet for a particular century whom you're interested in then try Project Gutenberg to search for their works ;)

I have to admit that I barely ever read poetry and the last time I did was probably back at school so that's more than a decade ago! Takes some real challenges for me to do it :p Hope you guys find some good ones and actually enjoy reading them!

I actually like poetry, but don't read it very often. This will be a fun one, Karen. And I agree, Project Gutenber is such a great site for free on-line reading. Their files can be easily downloaded to an e-reader, too.

This question may have been answered somewhere but I can't find it so I will see what you say.
In the rules it states...
"A book may overlap between March & April shelves, so it counts as 1 book in the March mini SAT and 1 book in April mini SAT"

Can I use it for more than one shelf each month? I am thinking I can, but I want to be sure.

Tara wrote: "This question may have been answered somewhere but I can't find it so I will see what you say.
In the rules it states...
"A book may overlap between March & April shelves, so it counts as 1 book in..."

Yes, of course ;)

Lynne wrote: "Lyn M wrote: "Lynne wrote: "I have a suggestion for anyone wanting to read a funny book that has "Christ" in the title...Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. To..."

I'm gonna try that!

Mercy wrote: "Lynne wrote: "Lyn M wrote: "Lynne wrote: "I have a suggestion for anyone wanting to read a funny book that has "Christ" in the title...[book:Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood P..."

Hope you enjoy it. I am a pretty dedicated Catholic, but I didn't find it irreverant at all!

Mid Month Challenge is up (check Message #2 - above)

Natasha wrote: "For the poem challenge, can the books be verse books (aka a story told completely with poems)?"

Sorry for not replying sooner, Natasha. I must've read the question on my phone then forgotten to reply when I got to a pc.

Yes, you can.

Do you guys think this hand works for hand on the cover (I know it is small)?

Tara wrote: "Do you guys think this hand works for hand on the cover (I know it is small)?
"

That's fine, Tara

I am going to choose it has an apple on the cover for #12

I'm going to read #3 of Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series, which I only discovered this year, thanks to this group (and just love). Or, maybe, the next one in the Brother Cadfael mysteries.

I am going to read Grave Goods which is #3 in the Mistress of the Art of Death series.

Man, I wish we could use books we already read, lol. BUT I am going to do a REAL sandwich and read Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder for number #10. It is the middle of a trilogy and therefore "sandwiched" between the first and last book.

This is so perfect. I happen to be in the middle of The Forgotten Garden for #13. There are characters named Rose, Ivory, Christian, Ruby, and Daisy.

What does the last one mean? It is the only one not translated (unless I missed it).

according to Google is meants accepted - http://www.chabad.org/search/keyword_...

For task 4a, we are supposed to read an ebook of our choice. I don't have a Kindle or other reader, so I have to read on the computer. Given a choice, I'd much rather listen to an audio book. Would that be okay?

Kazza wrote: "Tara wrote: "Do you guys think this hand works for hand on the cover (I know it is small)?
"

That's fine, Tara"

Thanks! The other cover has a better hand... it just is not the cover I have.
.

Ok whoever suggested Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal is great - 20 minutes into the audio and I've had several laugh out loud moments

i'm assuming for category 4 - max 5 books?? i did my annual pt test this month aka run 1.5 miles, which is approx 3000 steps according to calculations, but I didn't have that many chunksters i read

yes, Dee, max 5 books :)

At least one of us is fit ;)

lol...I just couldn't find enough books that were already on my pile to add up to the 3000 steps that is roughly 1.5 miles...but I got to 2300...so that works for me ;)

I think fit is not necessarily as word I would use right now - recovering from a knee injury so that 15:06 that it took for me to run was horrendous, as compared to my normal times

I think that's still better than me, lol

I'm just nor a runner ;p

if the military didn't make me, I wouldn't be either ;)

ah, forgot you're in the military... what exactly do you there?

right now...stare at a computer screen most of the day...lol! in my other life, i'm a ship driver (also known as a surface warfare officer)

wow cool title: surface warfare officer!!

I did two books for the mid month challenge. Can you claim those points twice? They fit in other categories too. I feel strange claiming the pointsntwice on some of these books.

Rachel wrote: "I did two books for the mid month challenge. Can you claim those points twice? They fit in other categories too. I feel strange claiming the pointsntwice on some of these books."

Unfortunately, the mid month challenge is once off only so you can only claim points for one book

am I missing the April reporting thread?