Reading with Style discussion

Post questions about the Fall 2014 Challenge here.

For poll #3, what author surnames have you found with 9, 10, or 11 letters in the surname? I only have 4: Dostoyevsky, Westerfeld, Fitzgerald and Nemirovsky on my fall TBR so far and the last 2 of those are in the Between the Wars challenge. I have 8 books on my TBR with 9,10, or 11 letters in the title including Westerfeld's newest, Afterworlds. What other authors have those of you voting for that choice found? Just curious.

Some 11-letter authors:

Joe Abercrombie
Anita Amirrezvani
Louis Auchincloss
Mel Bartholomew
Erica Bauermeister
Susan Brownmiller
Rosario Castellanos
Diane Chamberlain
John Christopher
Lydia Chukovskaya
Storm Constantine
James Dalessandro
Tsitsi Dangarembga
Mark Z. Danielewski
R.F. Delderfield
Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Marianne Fredriksson
Victoria Glendinning
Robert Gottschlich
Linda M. Hasselstrom
Kristien Hemmerechts
Elin Hilderbrand
Laura Hillenbrand
Michel Houellebecq
Sara Houghteling
Nikos Kazantzakis
Russell Kirkpatrick
Andrea Freud Loewenstein
Alexander McCall Smith
Niccolò Machiavelli
Cory MacLauchlin
Françoise Mallet-Joris
Peter Matthiessen
Mardi McConnochie
Erin Morgenstern
Audrey Niffenegger
Jerry Oppenheimer
Mark Pendergrast
Arturo Pérez-Reverte
Jim Rasenberger
Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.
Diane Setterfield
William Shakespeare
Henryk Sienkiewicz
Joan Slonczewski
Francis Steegmuller
Kate Summerscale
Mario Vargas Llosa
Padma Viswanathan
Jack Weatherford
Sunil Weeramantry
Harry Whittington
Richard L. Zweigenhaft

Some 10-letter authors:

Beryl Bainbridge
Natalya Baranskaya
Alejo Carpentier
G.K. Chesterton
Michael Cunningham
Renate Dorrestein
Friedrich Dürrenmatt
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Jennifer Fleischner
John Galsworthy
Fred I. Greenstein
David Halberstam
Amanda Hodgkinson
Arnaldur Indriðason
Barbara Kingsolver
Andrea MacPherson
Steven Millhauser
C.S. Richardson
Samuel Richardson
Edward Rutherfurd
Nina Sankovitch
August Strindberg
Booth Tarkington
Vassilis Vassilikos
Simon Winchester

Some 9-letter authors:

Aeschylus
Anna Akhmatova
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
Meena Alexander
Michelle Alexander
Robert Alexander
Dante Alighieri
Debby Applegate
John Arbuthnot
Aristotle
Penny Armstrong
Donald Barthelme
Louis Bromfield
Bryce Courtenay
C.E. Crutchley
John Dos Passos
David Ebershoff
Maria Edgeworth
Péter Esterházy
Jeffrey Eugenides
Kate Furnivall
Tim Gautreaux
Tess Gerritsen
Lawrence Goldstone
Ivan Goncharov
Adam Goodheart
Elena Gorokhova
Kate Grenville
Heather Gudenkauf
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Ernest Hemingway
Artis Henderson
Patricia Highsmith
Nini Holmkvist
Helen Humphreys
Ann Kirschner
Victor Klemperer
Mikhail Lermontov
Clarice Lispector
Steve Luxenberg
Ann-Marie MacDonald
Linden MacIntyre
Ben Macintyre
Rebbie Macintyre
Margaret MacMillan
Katherine Mansfield
Anouk Markovits
Alice McDermott
Nicholas Monsarrat
Anka Muhlstein
Cees Nooteboom
Per Petterson
Robert Rotenberg
Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Luis Sepúlveda
John Steinbeck
Robert Louis Stevenson
William Makepeace Thackeray
Newton Thornburg
Gail Tsukiyama
Jeanette Winterson
Marguerite Yourcenar

But I'm fine with the words in title, too.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "But I'm fine with the words in title, too."

;) Thanks for the lists. They give a some more options if that choice wins! A lot of them are on my full TBR and there are some great books to choose from either way. Does your program automatically grab that data or did you search all of those authors out yourself? Is there an easier way for those of us counting letters to search our TBRs? (for the titles and the authors?)

No I searched them out, scrolling through my shelves and a couple of members. This idea first came to me when we were doing Shakespeare, who is an 11-letter author. The task expanded and migrated to include 9- and 10-letters. I didn't spend much time on the 9-letter list because it began to appear that those are less uncommon.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "No I searched them out, scrolling through my shelves and a couple of members. This idea first came to me when we were doing Shakespeare, who is an 11-letter author. The task expanded and migrated t..."

Then I double my thanks to you for the lists! I still prefer the titles because it is a little more flexible for my particular TBR, but I'll be happy no matter what.

You're welcome. I actually had fun with it. When I was scrolling looking only for 11-letter authors, I said to myself, not once, but several times: "Fitzgerald is only 10 letters."

The titles idea followed the author idea. I'll be happy no matter which task(s) we choose. It's always possible when we don't use a poll task in a particular season it may come back at a later date. ;-)

I like both of these options too, but I also have more of the titles ones on my TBR, so I voted for that.

Yup, the planning is a big part of the fun for me. I always try not to set anything in stone until the polls are finalized, but I always seem to have my heart set on some. For the letters in title right now I have these that don't fit anywhere else yet:

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane
Parnassus on Wheels
The Collector of Dying Breaths: A Novel of Suspense

We will see when the polls close and all the tasks post!

The one I will need some suggestions for is books shelved as Iceland or Norway. I don't have any on my TBR shelf that currently qualify.

Some book ideas for Norway:
Gunnar's Daughter
The Ice Palace
Out Stealing Horses
Books by Jo Nesbø

If noir interests you, Wikipedia has a page on Scandinavian Noir listing both Norweigan and Icelandic Authors.

I gave 5 stars to Out Stealing Horses and hope to read more by Per Petterson. I have read one book by Karin Fossum which isn't on the list, but I would be willing to try others.

Thank you, I will check out some of these when I am at the library tomorrow.

Coralie wrote: "The one I will need some suggestions for is books shelved as Iceland or Norway. I don't have any on my TBR shelf that currently qualify."

Iceland:
A fantastic regular mystery - Smilla's Sense of Snow
A Nobel-prize-winning author - Independent People
A fun classic: Journey to the Center of the Earth

Norway:
A short, compelling classic - Hunger
An American homesteading story - Giants in the Earth: A Saga of the Prairie
Dark, psychological dramas - Hedda Gabler, A Doll's House, Ghosts

Thanks Liz. I have read the Icelandic ones (and everything else by Halldór Laxness in both the libraries I use). I have realised that I have a copy of A Doll's House on my 'books the kids left behind when they moved out' shelf.

Coralie wrote: "Thanks Liz. I have read the Icelandic ones (and everything else by Halldór Laxness in both the libraries I use)...."

Aha, so you have. And a four-star read - I may have to move it nearer the top of my tbr.

A Doll's House is the least dark of Ibsen's plays; it may even have a positive ending.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I gave 5 stars to Out Stealing Horses and hope to read more by Per Petterson. I have read one book by Karin Fossum which isn't on the list, but I would be willing to..."

I second both of these authors. I plan to read another in the Fossum series and I've liked all of the Per Petterson that I've read so far.

Liz M wrote: "Coralie wrote: "The one I will need some suggestions for is books shelved as Iceland or Norway. I don't have any on my TBR shelf that currently qualify."

Iceland:
A fantastic regular mystery - [bo..."

My TBR just grew!

Liz M wrote: "Coralie wrote: "The one I will need some suggestions for is books shelved as Iceland or Norway. I don't have any on my TBR shelf that currently qualify."

Iceland:
A fantastic regular mystery - [bo..."

Not to be nitpicking (spelling?), but [book:Smilla's Sense of Snow|124509] is set in Copenhagen (Denmark) and revolves around a Greenlandic woman, is it really shelved as Iceland?

I don't really keep a TBR-list, so my voting tends to be off the cuff and very (probavly too) intuitive. It will be exciting to see the results!

Not to be nitpicking (spelling?), but Smilla's Sense of Snow is set in Copenhagen (Denmark) and revolves around a Greenlandic woman, is it really shelved as Iceland?"

I think for this task it just depends how many people on GR have shelved it that way, and Smilla has exactly the required 5 for Iceland - although presumably those people have mixed up Iceland and Greenland. If you click to see the 1 comment under the poll, Liz has posted links to lists where we can see which books qualify.

The polls are closed now! I don't have anything on my shelf for Norway/Iceland but I think I'll be going for Hunger.

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent takes place in Iceland and was shelved as Iceland 112 times. For anyone who has not read it, I highly recommend this book for this task.

Theresa~OctoberLace wrote: "Burial Rites by Hannah Kent takes place in Iceland and was shelved as Iceland 112 times. For anyone who has not read it, I highly recommend this book for this task."

Theresa, I loved Burial Rites! Great suggestion!

Would Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil count for not-a-novel? (Sorry can't link on my phone.) I know it's nonfiction but it's also classified as true crime/nonfiction novel so I wasn't sure.

Sam wrote: "Would Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil count for not-a-novel? (Sorry can't link on my phone.) I know it's nonfiction but it's also classified as true crime/nonfiction novel so I wasn't sure."

Yes that will get you not-a-novel points.

Great, thanks! :)

Can you confirm a Lexile? The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe does not appear separately in the Lexile search, but that is part of the larger publication including volumes 1-7, The Chronicles of Narnia. That has a Lexile of 870, so may I use that for volume 1?

Theresa~OctoberLace wrote: "Can you confirm a Lexile? The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe does not appear separately in the Lexile search, but that is part of the larger publication including volumes 1-7, [b..."

Yes, we have accepted that book in the past with a Lexile of 940. I don't know why it is not appearing in the Lexile database.

Just checking for my spreadsheet: "Chekhov - The Tales" is listed on the canon. Does that mean any selection of his short stories would count as canon?

Rosemary wrote: "Just checking for my spreadsheet: "Chekhov - The Tales" is listed on the canon. Does that mean any selection of his short stories would count as canon?"

Yes. I'm hoping to get to The Wife and Other Stories this season.

In the soicalizing thread, Eleanor wrote: "I know I can use 1 book (less than 50%) read before the season starts, but does it matter how long you've been reading it?
Can I take a book started in August aka( Les Misérables ) and use it in the winter challenge?..."

I can see how it could take 6 months to read Les Mis! Nope, it doesn't matter when you start the book -- only that you've read less than 50%.

Liz M wrote: "I can see how it could take 6 months to read Les Mis! Nope, it doesn't matter when you start the book -- only that you've read less than 50%. "


Awesome. I'm glad to hear that! I put it on my book list for this season without checking the number of pages. Might not do that again very soon.

Planning my books hasn't gone to well for me this season. I had another book on that I have in e-book form but didn't check the language. It turns out it wasn't in English but was Arabic (which I don't understand) and no library within 2 hours train ride of me has the book. Actually only 1 library in this country has it.

For the most popular edition, is it the main edition when you pull the book up on Goodreads, or the first edition when you click "other editions"?

Usually they're the same, but I'm looking at Gone Girl for my square peg and it's two different editions, so I'm not sure if it would count for jumbo points or not.

It is the one at the top of other editions when you have selected to sort by "num ratings." Gone Girl is the most popular edition, so no jumbo points. I don't know why it isn't the one that comes up first on search.

Thanks for checking! That's what I figured, but I think this is the first time I've seen one where the edition that comes up isn't the most popular.

Sam wrote: "Thanks for checking! That's what I figured, but I think this is the first time I've seen one where the edition that comes up isn't the most popular."

I checked a couple of other titles to see if it was a pattern that should be reported as a bug. I didn't find one, so I'm not going to report it, but if you see it happen again, let us know.

Sounds good! I know I haven't come across it on any of the other books I'm using for the challenge either so it seems like it's just a fluke with this one.

I just now see a probable reason. The author is a GR author, and GR authors have the ability to set the default edition - the edition that comes up first in search.

Hi, I'm not sure were to post this, but I have a question about my score at the readerboard...it's 10 points short of what accumulated during the postings in the "completed"-thread.
And I couldn't find a correction of my points there either. If I had made a mistake in my points before, usually an admin corrected it in the completed thread.
If someone could please tell me where I did wrong.
Thanks and greetings!

Phoebe wrote: "Hi, I'm not sure were to post this, but I have a question about my score at the readerboard...it's 10 points short of what accumulated during the postings in the "completed"-thread.
And I couldn't ..."

Phoebe, this is a great place to post questions like this. It is probably my error and I will look into it tonight and let you know. Sorry about that.

I'd guess 5 of the missing points are for the 10.4 combo of "Die Erdfresserin" which has 12 letters, rather then 9, 10, or 11.

Not sure about the other 5, though.

Hi. It pains me to say it but I think my score is too high!

The Readerboard has me on 270 points (thru post 755), and 6/11 (54.5%) on the Group Read Leaderboard. I think I am only due 250 points and 5/10 (50.0%) respectively.

My posts were:
316: 10 pts for We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
317: 45 pts for Frankenstein
432: 10 pts for The Rehearsal
475: 25 pts for Nocturnes (not-a-novel)
488: 20 pts for Garlic and Sapphires (not-a-novel)
527: 20 pts for Shadow of the Rock
613: 45 pts for The Woman in White
614: 20 pts for Nothing to Envy (not-a-novel)
666: 20 pts for Tenth of December (not-a-novel)
715: 35 pts for I Am Malala (not-a-novel).

Maybe post 666 (spooky!) has been counted twice?

Tony wrote: "I'd guess 5 of the missing points are for the 10.4 combo of "Die Erdfresserin" which has 12 letters, rather then 9, 10, or 11.

Not sure about the other 5, though."

Ah...I just saw it like, "great, more than 9, fine." Ooops, that was my mistake. :)

Phoebe and Lagullande, both of the errors you reported are mine. Your scores are accurate and I will update the Readerboard to reflect this over the weekend. Thank you for letting me know.

Kate S wrote: "Phoebe and Lagullande, both of the errors you reported are mine. Your scores are accurate and I will update the Readerboard to reflect this over the weekend. Thank you for letting me know."

Hi, thanks! But I understand if you deduct 5 points, because of the mistakenly counted combo points (see posting above).

Has anyone listened to The Pallisers series (Phineas Finn etal.) on audiobooks? I'd like to listen but am not sure whether to choose Timothy West or Simon Vance for narrator. I love Simon Vance, but Timothy West seems to rate highly for this series.