The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

Anyone got any tricks for coming up with with books for the math tasks? I'm still looking for an author with 18 letters in their name. I keep finding ones with 17 or 19 instead! I work in a bookstore, so I've just been wandering the aisles, counting on my fingers like a mad person :D

Also, for the division task, can anyone recommend a good series that doesn't have to be read in order?

Addition:
Arturo Pérez-Reverte

Division:
Terry Pratchett's Discworld series
Iain M. Banks's Culture series
James Branch Cabell's The Biography of Manuel

Addition:
Jonathan Safran Foer
William Shakespeare
David Foster Wallace
Nathaniel Hawthorne

Copied from questions thread: "Danielle wrote: "One more question: I have a long name, 18 letters in my first and last, not including the 9 in my middle. For the addition ta..."
Cynthia responded: "For that option it would have to match so if the author includes their middle name you would need to use for the count as well"

Authors with 18-letter names (first & last only):
Vassilis Vassilikos
Rabindranath Tagore
Akutagawa Ryunosuke
Penelope Fitzgerald
Katherine Mansfield
Margaret Mazzantini
Friedrich Hölderlin
Niccolo Machiavelli
Patricia MacLachlan
Marguerite De Angeli

Kristina wrote: "Anyone got any tricks for coming up with with books for the math tasks? I'm still looking for an author with 18 letters in their name. I keep finding ones with 17 or 19 instead! I work in a booksto..."

For division, my number is 55 so I don't really have much of a choice. I'm going to read the "E" book from Sue Grafton's series ("E" Is For Evidence). I asked a friend and although she prefers to read series in order, she said these were ok for reading as stand-alones, in her opinion.

Hope this helps.

Thanks everyone! Now I've got so many options...But what to choose?! My TBR pile is now a TBR bookshelf ;)

Kristina wrote: Also, for the division task, can anyone recommend a good series that doesn't have to be read in order?

If you like mysteries, I think you could do Nevada Barr's Anna Pigeon series out of order. Me, I always read in order -- I can't even bear to contemplate the division task! -- but my mom reads these totally out of order and likes them just fine that way. And I think they're pretty good -- a lot of solid four-stars in my opinion.

Abigail wrote: "Kristina wrote: Also, for the division task, can anyone recommend a good series that doesn't have to be read in order?

If you like mysteries, I think you could do Nevada Barr's Anna Pigeon series..."

I second Abigail's recommendation re: Nevada Barr's 'Anna Pigeon' series. I've read some of these books out of order and there isn't much background or character history lost when reading them this way. Plus, the locale of each one centers around a different National Park. It's a fun way to learn about some of the parks I'll proabably never get to travel to.

Jennifer L. wrote: "Kristina wrote: "Anyone got any tricks for coming up with with books for the math tasks? I'm still looking for an author with 18 letters in their name. I keep finding ones with 17 or 19 instead! I ..."

isnt the rule for division tht the first number is the number the book in series and the second number the series number

whcih means 5/5 is th fifth book in a series of 5?

As for math and number of pages, not sure if allowed, but I HAD to get a book in large print for a task, it has 403 pages in it, while the regular verison has 304 pages in , so almost another 100 pages,

I would ask first if this is acceptable.

Teresa wrote: "Jennifer L. wrote: "Kristina wrote: "Anyone got any tricks for coming up with with books for the math tasks? I'm still looking for an author with 18 letters in their name. I keep finding ones with ..."

The rule is either number is the number in the series you read. For example, if your division = 35, then you can read either the third or fifth book in a series.

Lisa wrote: "Teresa wrote: "Jennifer L. wrote: "Kristina wrote: "Anyone got any tricks for coming up with with books for the math tasks? I'm still looking for an author with 18 letters in their name. I keep fin..."

okay I understand E is the fifth book, but the series is 21 books so shouldn't it be 5/21 or 21/5

Teresa wrote: "Lisa wrote: "Teresa wrote: "Jennifer L. wrote: "Kristina wrote: "Anyone got any tricks for coming up with with books for the math tasks? I'm still looking for an author with 18 letters in their nam..."

Hi Teresa - The number of books in the series is irrelevant. The two numbers in your quotient are the placement of each book in the series.

Amy wrote: "Teresa wrote: "Lisa wrote: "Teresa wrote: "Jennifer L. wrote: "Kristina wrote: "Anyone got any tricks for coming up with with books for the math tasks? I'm still looking for an author with 18 lette..."

oops I missed the or there sorry, : (

Someone want to help out with a good 12 letter author? I was able to knock out half of this task pretty easily, I was on the 7th in a series, but trying to figure out the 2nd book to read has been hard!

Thanks!

Natalie wrote: "Someone want to help out with a good 12 letter author? I was able to knock out half of this task pretty easily, I was on the 7th in a series, but trying to figure out the 2nd book to read has been ..."

Here's the 12 letter author's names that I found when skimming my own challegne task list and TBR pile....

Josephine Tey
Beryl Markham
Rebecca Wells
Thomas Mullen
Sandra Dallas
Marsha Mehran
Richard Russo

From my books:

Chinua Achebe
Cecelia Ahern
Ann Brashares
Lewis Carroll
Loretta Chase
Stephie Davis
Amber Deckers
Cameron Dokey
Clare B Dunkle
Jeanne DuPrau
Liz Gallagher
Arthur Golden
Amanda Grange
Robert Harris
Karen Hawkins
Aldous Huxley
Michele Jaffe
Robert Jordan
Carolyn Keene
Cara Lockwood
Robert Ludlum
Sarah MacLean
Laurie Notaro
Tyne O'Connell
Kenneth Oppel
George Orwell
Mary E Pearson
Kathryn Smith
Sherry Thomas
Celia Thomson
Cynthia Voigt

Natalie wrote: "Someone want to help out with a good 12 letter author? I was able to knock out half of this task pretty easily, I was on the 7th in a series, but trying to figure out the 2nd book to read has been ..."

I have a lot of 12 letter authors on my list apparently.
Cecelia Ahern
Bridget Asher
Janelle Brown
James Collins
Jude Deveraux
Amy Dickinson
Pamela Duncan
Harriet Evans
Julie Garwood
Beth Harbison
Joanne Harris
Alice Hoffman
Karl Iagnemma
Cheryl Jarvis
Janet Kaderli
Kathleen Kent
Gerald Kolpan
Alisa Kwitney
Alison Larkin
Donald McCaig
Janet Mullany
Janet Paisley
Alice Randall
Cornelia Read
Kelly Simmons
Rebecca Stott

a few more:
Anita Diamant
David Sedaris
Julia Alvarez
Herman Hesse
Joseph Conrad

Wow, you guys are the BEST!!! :D
I have lots of great choices now (and I have a feeling my TBR pile is going to GROW)

After looking at all the help being given here, I humbly put forth my request--I'm looking for a title with 54 letters. (disgracefully long, isn't it?)
If anybody falls over one of these, please let me know. I know I can work on another part of the task if necessary, so it's not essential to my happiness but I'm curious.

Donna Jo wrote: "After looking at all the help being given here, I humbly put forth my request--I'm looking for a title with 54 letters. (disgracefully long, isn't it?)
If anybody falls over one of these, please l..."

I can't believe I have one for you! lol

Galileo's Daughter A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love by Dava Sobel...54 letters when you count the sub-title and discount the puncuation marks, and assuming I counted correctly.

Jennifer, you are GOOD. I had to count twice, but you are right on the dot. I really have no business even trying a math task--I had to redo the adding, subtracting, etc so many times just make sure I was working on the right numbers. Everything I was checking had 51 or 58 or something.
Thanks.

Jennifer L. wrote: "Donna Jo wrote: "After looking at all the help being given here, I humbly put forth my request--I'm looking for a title with 54 letters. (disgracefully long, isn't it?)
If anybody falls over one o..."

Galileo's Daughter A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love

I have this sitting on my bookshelf right now. I got it awhile ago based on a recommendation from a friend. It's supposed to be a good historical fiction book.

Donna Jo wrote: "After looking at all the help being given here, I humbly put forth my request--I'm looking for a title with 54 letters. (disgracefully long, isn't it?)
If anybody falls over one of these, please l..."

Hey Donna Jo, I think I found another one for you on my TBR list. I don't know if it's a subject you'd be interested in --- but I'll toss it out here just to give you more choices. (I'm in the queue for this at the library right now...)

House of Cards A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street

oooh, oooh --- found another one....
The King's Confidante The Story of the Daughter of Sir Thomas More

Plus, I figured out that if I copy the title into a blank Word document and remove all the excess punctuation marks (like semi colons, etc) then use the Word Count function on the Tool menu, it gives the word, and CHARACTER count. It is so much easier on the eyes!!

Need a 65 letter book? Here's one:
The Last Jews of Kerala The 2,000 Year History of India's Forgotten Jewish Community.

I need a 11 letter book. Possibly. I /do/ try to avoid re-reads but it seems this time around I have a lot of those. Sniffles.

I'm still hoping for a 28 letter book title, if anyone knows one. Otherwise it is the 3rd and 8th for me.

Tanja wrote: "I need a 11 letter book. Possibly. I /do/ try to avoid re-reads but it seems this time around I have a lot of those. Sniffles."

Tanja - Looking through my book list, here is what i found just on the first page or so:
The Quincunx
State of Fear
Inner Harbor
Face the Fire
Twelve Sharp
Inheritance
Little Women
Too Damn Rich
Double Blind
Double Blind
The Notebook
Shades of Red

Cindy wrote: "I'm still hoping for a 28 letter book title, if anyone knows one. Otherwise it is the 3rd and 8th for me."

28 letters is hard!

Here is what i found so far: Life, the Universe and Everything
The Night of Four Hundred Rabbits

Krista wrote: "Donna Jo wrote: "After looking at all the help being given here, I humbly put forth my request--I'm looking for a title with 54 letters. (disgracefully long, isn't it?)
If anybody falls over one o..."

Krista, thanks for the titles, and the counting trick. It works like a charm.

Cindy wrote: "I'm still hoping for a 28 letter book title, if anyone knows one. Otherwise it is the 3rd and 8th for me."

If my eyes aren't playing tricks on me, here are some 28 letter titles:

We Need to Talk About Kevin A Novel
The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Roommates My Grandfather's Story

Bridgit wrote: "Cindy wrote: "I'm still hoping for a 28 letter book title, if anyone knows one. Otherwise it is the 3rd and 8th for me."

28 letters is hard!

Here is what i found so far: [book:Life, the Unive..."

Tears of Pearl: A Novel of Suspense (Lady Emily, #4)

this is on your to read list, unless I counted wrong it is 28 letters, or we can't count pass the :

Teresa in Ohio wrote: "Bridgit wrote: "Cindy wrote: "I'm still hoping for a 28 letter book title, if anyone knows one. Otherwise it is the 3rd and 8th for me."

28 letters is hard!

Here is what i found so far: [book..."

one more:

[book:The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter|135106]

Anyone know anything 3 letter titles??? I am thinking of not doing the subtraction one because I can't really think of any...

Kathryn wrote: "Anyone know anything 3 letter titles??? I am thinking of not doing the subtraction one because I can't really think of any... "

Kim by Rudyard Kipling
She by H. Rider Haggard

Kathryn wrote: "Anyone know anything 3 letter titles??? I am thinking of not doing the subtraction one because I can't really think of any... "

FYI:
Subtraction - Subtract The Number Of Letters Found In Your Whole Name (First, Middle, Last) From Your Age And Read A Book With That Many Letters Or Words In The Title.

Tanja wrote: "I need a 11 letter book.Possibly. I /do/ try to avoid re-reads but it seems this time around I have a lot of those. Sniffles."

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
Daniel Boone by James Daugherty
Deliverance by James Dickey
Dog Soldiers by Robert Stone
Early Autumn by Louis Bromfield
Early Autumn by Robert B. Parker
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons
Empire Falls by Richard Russo
Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold
George Mills by Stanley Elkin
Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Here on Earth by Alice Hoffman
Howards End by E.M. Forster
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
Iron Council by China Miéville
Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer
Laughing Boy by Oliver La Farge
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
Making Money by Terry Pratchett
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold
Miss Hickory by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Mystic River by Dennis Lehane
Neuromancer by William Gibson
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson
Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
The Grey King by Susan Cooper
The High King by Lloyd Alexander
The Wanderer by Sharon Creech
The Wanderer by Fritz Leiber
The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Tobacco Road by Erskine Caldwell
Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson
Under the Net by Iris Murdoch
Vinegar Hill by A. Manette Ansay
Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Cindy wrote: "I'm still hoping for a 28 letter book title, if anyone knows one. Otherwise it is the 3rd and 8th for me."

The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos
The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters by Robert Lewis Taylor

And, if you can find an edition with this exact title:
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Oh my goodness, thanks for pointing that out to me!!! There are so many three word titles I want to read!!! Okay, I am feeling a lot better about this task now!

Donna Jo wrote: "Krista wrote: "Donna Jo wrote: "After looking at all the help being given here, I humbly put forth my request--I'm looking for a title with 54 letters. (disgracefully long, isn't it?)
If anybody f..."

You're welcome. Glad I could help!! :-)

Thanks for the 28 word titles!!!! Now I can move the 3rd and 8th books around!!! Thanks!!

Kathryn wrote: "Anyone know anything 3 letter titles??? I am thinking of not doing the subtraction one because I can't really think of any... "

I have SEVERAL books with FOUR letters, but none with three! However.... I found these while browsing for random three-letter words...

Yes by Thomas Bernhard
Red by Ted Dekker
I Do by Elizabeth Chandler
I Do by Joan Hohl
Hot by Julia Harper

Liz you are a magician!! Thanks for the wonderfully long list of choices for 11 letter titles!! Little Women! SQUEAK! I might do that very one!!

if anyone needs a 22 letter title for subtraction here you go:

Marabou Stork Nightmares

it's the only one i can find, it's a re-read, and i'm not looking forward to it. i LOVE welsh, but this book was horribly disturbing. so if y'all have any other suggestions, i'm eager to hear them! :)

22 letters (in order of personal preference):
The Shadow of the Torturer
The Iron Dragon's Daughter
Dinner at Deviant's Palace
Mistborn The Final Empire
The Zombie Survival Guide
All the Windwracked Stars
Pump Six and Other Stories

Greyweather wrote: "22 letters (in order of personal preference):
The Shadow of the Torturer
The Iron Dragon's Daughter
Dinner at Deviant's Palace
[book:Mistborn The Final Empi..."


thanks! i'll check them out!

Subtraction - Subtract The Number Of Letters Found In Your Whole Name (First, Middle, Last) From Your Age Hmmmm, that means 53 - 15 = 38. Anybody have a suggestion for 38 letters? Thanks!

38 letters:
Waking Up Screaming Haunting Tales of Terror
The Whisperer in Darkness Collected Stories
The Midnight Sun The Complete Stories of Kane

Greyweather wrote: "38 letters:
Waking Up Screaming Haunting Tales of Terror
The Whisperer in Darkness Collected Stories"

Lovecraft! Nice.