Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

We are taking a stroll around the Monopoly board for this Individual Challenge! And, hooray!, it comes with a prize: an entry to win the ability to create a prompt for the 2024 ATY Challenge.

To be eligible for the raffle entry, you need to complete 4 of the prompts. You can do more for your own personal happiness, but you will only get 1 entry. When you're ready to submit your entry, go over to the Completion Thread (here). For rules and FAQs, see the next posts.

Mediterranean Avenue: A book set in a country that boarders the Mediterranean Sea
Reading Railroad: A book with 400+ pages
Vermont Avenue: A book featuring a cover that contains fall colors
Go to Jail: A book featuring a crime
Electric Company: A book published in the 1900s
States Avenue: A book prominently set in multiple countries
New York Avenue: A book set in New York City
Free Parking: A book with less than 250 pages
Kentucky Avenue: A book where food plays a role
Marvin Gardens: A book with a green cover
Pacific Avenue: A book set in Asia
Boardwalk: A book where the first letter of each title word is found in the word BOARDWALK

RAFFLE RULES

1. You can only use one prompt per book, no double dipping.
2. Each prompt can only be used once.
3. You need a minimum of 4 completed prompts to earn an entry.
4. Only one entry per person.
5. Books need to be at least 100 pages long, except for graphic novels which need to be at least 200 pages. For audiobooks, the printed version of the book will be used to check length.
6. Picture books or other books that are majority illustrations can’t be counted.
7. The whole of the book must be read during the read-a-thon: September 9 - 17. Books started before Sept 9th must have at least 100 pages left.

For the winner of the raffle, as always, the prompt choice is subject to the mods' approval. For example, the prompt can’t be the same or extremely similar to one already voted in and it must not be something that’s impossible for some readers to complete. If the winner is unresponsive to the message sent from the mods, there will be a redraw.

FAQs

Q: When do I need to submit my entry to the raffle?
A: Since the read-a-thon goes until whenever you go to bed on Sept 17th, and that is definitionally different for everyone, entries can be submitted through Sept 18th. The raffle draw will occur on Sept 19th.

Q: Can books overlap between the main Around the Year challenge, the Fall Reading Challenge, and the fall read-a-thon?
A: Yes, absolutely! Some of the tasks are designed to be easy for you to fit in books you’re planning to read for ATY.

Q: Can a book be used for more than one fall readathon challenge prompt?
A: Each book can only be used for one prompt in the fall readathon individual challenge, but you are welcome to use them for the group challenge if you are participating in that as well.

Q: Can books started before Sept 9 or in progress on Sept 17 be counted?
A: You may count a book started before the challenge begins as long as you read at least 100 pages of the book on or after Sept 9. You must have completed a book by Sept 17 to count it.

Q: For prompts concerning publication date, page numbers, or covers, how do you handle reprints/multiple editions?
A: We will use the edition you tag in your completion post. We are using an honor system here, so please make sure you are tagging properly!

Q: For books with a required cover element, how much of the cover needs to have that color/item?
A: The color or item needs to be obvious to anyone looking at the cover. It doesn't need to be large or the majority of the cover, but it does need to be clear and easily noticeable.

Q: Can you use books in both the individual challenge and the team challenge?
A: Yes, the two challenges are separate and you can use books for both challenges.

For the 400 page book, could this also be started early, as long as you have 100 pages remaining? Or do you need to complete more of it during the challenge period?

It can be in progress as long as you have 100 pages left when you wake up on Saturday!

For the Fall Readathon prompt Vermont Avenue (a cover with fall colors), would black and orange count? I'm thinking along the lines of Halloween, not foliage. 🎃 I just want to meet the intent of the prompt.

My thinking was a predominately orange, red, OR yellow cover, so I'd count orange and black!

I really should know this by now, but do a/an/the count in the letter one? E.g. could I use We Are the Brennans as letters in BOARDWALK?

For the fall colors, what about brown? I am using Brown, yellow, orange and black, which is on the entire cover

We typically count An, A, The if it's in the middle of the title but not if it's in the beginning. So it would count for We Are the Brennans, but not for The Intern.

And yes, Joanne, that's fine. It doesn't have to be only fall colors, just featuring them, though brown would definitely count as a fall color.

Emily wrote: "Boardwalk: A book with a title where each letter is found in the word BOARDWALK."

QUESTION ... Do you mean the 1st letter of each title word is found in BOARDWALK?

Book Concierge wrote: "Emily wrote: "Boardwalk: A book with a title where each letter is found in the word BOARDWALK."

QUESTION ... Do you mean the 1st letter of each title word is found in BOARDWALK?"

My question as well...

Oh god yes lol Let me fix that.

I clearly was up too late last night working on this.

Emily wrote: "Oh god yes lol Let me fix that.

I clearly was up too late last night working on this."

Absolutely understandable! Thank you for your efforts! Both late-night and all the other times! :)

Just wanted to be certain of the prompt!

One more teeny tiny question.

I will be reading Longbourn and wanted to use it for the BOARDWALK prompt. Does it matter that the title contains only one word?

Are we required to track our pages or hours for the individual challenge? I often forget to do this ,esp at bedtime.

I never have done, Nancy. I think it's just there as an aid for the individual challenge - it matters, I think, for the team challenge.

Longbourn will work!

You are not required to track page count for the individual challenge! You would (hopefully) count them for your team challenge to help your team out.

For the multiple countries prompt, how many are 'multiple' - more than one or at least more than two?

More than one!

I was looking through my TBR for a book with a green cover. It's amazing how hard it was to find. I couldn't decide if teal counted, was the cover light green or light blue, or if a book that was green on GR but different on Libby would count.

I was definitely overthinking and finally just moved to a different prompt. lol

Hahaha Jette, you are not alone. Feel free to post any here and I'll give you a thumbs up if they work.

Thank you, Emily - that helps me!

Jette wrote: "I was looking through my TBR for a book with a green cover. It's amazing how hard it was to find. I couldn't decide if teal counted, was the cover light green or light blue, or if a book that was g..."

If you want to be super official, you can google TinEye Color Extraction and upload the image, (be sure to uncheck "Exclude background color" - but we don't expect anything like that.

Are we tracking total pages read as a group, like we’ve done in the past?

Emily wrote: "Longbourn will work!

You are not required to track page count for the individual challenge! You would (hopefully) count them for your team challenge to help your team out."

Thanks!

Hm Jackie usually handles Miles of Pages, but she is traveling this weekend. I don't know that I can take it on with all the other moderating I'm doing (plus the polls) but if Robin or Jackie want to take it on, we can certainly do that later in the week.

Emily wrote: "Longbourn will work!

You are not required to track page count for the individual challenge! You would (hopefully) count them for your team challenge to help your team out."

Thanks, Emily!

Emily wrote: "Hm Jackie usually handles Miles of Pages, but she is traveling this weekend. I don't know that I can take it on with all the other moderating I'm doing (plus the polls) but if Robin or Jackie want ..."

Thanks Emily for your answer. I wasn't sure whether to track pages per day or not. No worries if we don't do it. Thank you for everything you do! I know it's a lot!

Emily wrote: "Hm Jackie usually handles Miles of Pages, but she is traveling this weekend. I don't know that I can take it on with all the other moderating I'm doing (plus the polls) but if Robin or Jackie want ..."

I'll be traveling half of the week myself, plus I have no idea how Jackie does that amazing travelogue!

Robin P wrote: "I'll be traveling half of the week myself, plus I have no idea how Jackie does that amazing travelogue!.."

You are very sweet, and I know many people find my late night insane storylines very funny, but this readathon we'll forgo the Miles of Pages. With the various travelling happening, I think it will be enough work just keeping up with everything else! I'll try to come up with something for this winter!

Jackie wrote: "Robin P wrote: "I'll be traveling half of the week myself, plus I have no idea how Jackie does that amazing travelogue!.."

You are very sweet, and I know many people find my late night insane stor..."

Plus we are still in the middle of voting for 2024!

What is the definition of the "a book published in the 1900s"?

Is it 1900-1909 or 1900-1999 or something else?

1900-1999!

Thanks, Emily!

Having learned I can't use The Last Letter for Boardwalk, I'm desperate to find another prompt that works for the books I've read.

Would you accept for fall colors?

My other possibility is in We Are the Brennans the family owns a bar and restaurant, though whether food plays a role is a bit of a stretch.

Of course I read two books set in New York but not NYC! We Are the Brennans is in lower NY state, and The Housemaid is on Long Island, and while parts of Long Island are in NYC, the exact town is not mentioned so I don't think it works.

Also I am kind of unhappy that double letter can't be used if the letter isn't in the word more than once. Nowhere in the rules does it say that, and I don't think I've ever known that was the case. Had I known that I would have planned my books different but it's too late now.

Nancy wrote: "Having learned I can't use The Last Letter for Boardwalk, I'm desperate to find another prompt that works for the books I've read.

Would you accept ..."

I’m so sorry! I was looking at the different books named The Last Letter from the other thread to see if I could help you!

I might be up really late finishing my current book if I canmt make my original selection work!

Nancy wrote: "Having learned I can't use The Last Letter for Boardwalk, I'm desperate to find another prompt that works for the books I've read.

Would you accept ..."

I'm sorry Nancy! We've always used the double letter rule when it comes to "the first letters of each title word is in POTATO" type prompts so I think we just assumed everybody knew. We'll make sure that gets into the FAQ going forward.

As for Flying Solo, yes we'll take that as the yellow is prominent.

Thank you, I'm sorry about my rant I was panicking!

Nancy wrote: "Thank you, I'm sorry about my rant I was panicking!"

You're fine!