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RYO Challenge Update: February

HRO

Posted 2014-02-28 5:57 AM (#6609)
Subject: RYO Challenge Update: February

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And the second month of the RYO Challenge draws to a close. With 27 different challenges to choose from, there is something for everyone! The forums have been quite quiet this month. Hopefully that means everyone is off somewhere with a pile of WWEnd books.

Feel free to share here your reading recap for February.

HRO

Posted 2014-02-28 6:04 AM (#6611 - in reply to #6609)
Subject: RE: RYO Challenge Update: February

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Location: Neither here...nor there

HROs Update for February

1. The Genocides by Thomas M. Disch - 3 Stars
Bucket List

2. The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway - 4 Stars
End of the World
Second Best (BSFA 2008)

3. The Hum and the Shiver by Alex Bledsoe - 2 Stars
Book of Ones
Faerie Mythology

4. Report to the Mens Club and Other Stories by Carol Emshwiller - 3 Stars
Short Fiction

5. A Taste of Blood Wine by Freda Warrington - 4 Stars
Book of Ones
Creature Feature
Fantasia

6. Was by Geoff Ryman - 2 Stars
LGBT
Masterworks (Fantasy Masterworks)

7. Winterlong by Elizabeth Hand - 4 Stars
Book of Ones
Elizabeth Noun
End of the World
Masterworks (SF Mistressworks)
WoGF

Challenge completion
12 in 12 = 0 of 12
Book of Ones = 4 of 12
Bucket List = 2 of 9
Creature Feature = 1 of 6
Elizabeth Noun = 1 of 3
End of the World = 3 of 12
Faerie Mythology = 1 of 12
Fantasia = 2 of 12
I Just Have to Read More of That Author = 1 of 12
LGBT = 1 of 12
Masterworks = 3 of 12
Mythopoeic Award = 1 of 12
The Number of the Counting Shall Be Three = 0 of 9
Second Best = 2 of 12
Short Fiction = 2 of 12
WoGF = 4 of 12

Books read for challenges (total to date) 13 of 80

Favorite books in February

A Taste of Blood Wine by Freda Warrington
Winterlong by Elizabeth Hand
The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway

DrNefario

Posted 2014-02-28 7:37 AM (#6613 - in reply to #6609)
Subject: Re: RYO Challenge Update: February

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Well, after a month of research and book selection, I now have to settle in for 10 months of reading, then a final month of panic trying to finish everything.

In February, I read:

Snuff by Terry Pratchett
Read the Sequel
Second Best (Locus Fantasy)

So You Want to Be a Wizard? by Diane Duane
Book of Ones
WoGF

The Drowned World by JG Ballard
Masterworks (SF)
End of the World
Guardian

The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula Le Guin
Read the Sequel
Second Best (Mythopoeic)
Read More of that Author

The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch
Read the Sequel
(This is a 2013 book, so could still get nominations/awards)

Generation Loss by Elizabeth Hand
12 in 12 (Shirley Jackson)
Book of Ones
WoGF
Elizabeth Noun

I also read Wool 3, the third of the five shorter works collected in Wool.

A mixture of books I just wanted to read, which happened to fit a challenge or two, and books that were specifically picked for the challenges. The Elizabeth Hand also manages to fit my alphabetical detective crime fiction challenge, which is a nice bonus.

I joined one extra challenge this month - I Just Have to Read More of that Author - and that's the only one I'm behind schedule on, on the basis that we should have read 2 of 12 by now:

WoGF: 3/12
Book Ones: 3/12
Masterworks: 2/12 (SF:2,F:0,MW:0)
12 in 12: 2/12
Second Best: 2/12
Read the Sequel: 3/12
End of the World: 3/12
Elizabeth Noun: 1/3
Guardian: 2/7
Read More: 1/12

Favourite book of the month, I think, was The Tombs of Atuan, which was also the shortest by quite a long way. I read it in a single afternoon, while I was in bed, ill, and needed a break from Republic of Thieves.

I have now read 9 books from a theoretical maximum of 58, based on my current selections of 43 books with 15 spaces to fill (on my spreadsheet - I haven't kept the site lists in step). That's behind schedule, but I have also read a few books which don't count for any challenges, so I'm not panicking yet. I'm intending to focus on the WoGF for now, although my current favourite challenge is The End of the World, which is just a theme that appeals to me and which I enjoy researching.

Edited by DrNefario 2014-02-28 7:37 AM

justifiedsinner

Posted 2014-02-28 11:18 AM (#6615 - in reply to #6609)
Subject: Re: RYO Challenge Update: February

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Since I'm not going to finish my current book today where I'm at is where it's going to be:

12 Awards: 2/12
Have to Read More: 2/12
Masterworks: 2/12
WoGF: 1/12
YA: 1/12
Fantasia: 4/12
In Translation: 2/12
Read the Sequel: 3/12
The 35: 10/35
Book of Ones: 2/12
Trilogies: 1/9
2nd Best: 3/12
Short Fiction 1/12
End of the World 1/12
Guardian List 1/7
Mythopoetic 0/12
Killer B's 1/3

Of the 17 challenges I haven't started the Mythopoetic but that should be satisfied by the one I'm reading now (Little, Big). I've completed 11 real and 37 virtual (i.e. challenge) books. I've changed a few of the selections so that I don't need to buy as many books. This gives me several more open slots but I figure with 10 months to run what should fill them will become clearer as I'm going along.

Rhondak101

Posted 2014-02-28 11:59 AM (#6618 - in reply to #6615)
Subject: Re: RYO Challenge Update: February

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Location: SC, USA

My reading challenges were helped significantly by the fact I was "snowed in" twice in Feb, missing 7 full work days. I live in South Carolina, so it does not take much for a day to be declared a snow day. My two favorite books of the month hit both ends of the spectrum: the highly intellectual The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov and the extremely pulpy Sea Kings of Mars by Leigh Bracket.

FEBRUARY

Pick and Mix

This Month: 7/12; Total: 9/12

Red Mars Kim Stanley Robinson (Lots)

The Telling Le Guin (Books by Women)

The Giver Lois Lowry (Banned; Most Read)

The Swords of Rhiannon Leigh Brackett (SF Mistressworks)

The Master and Margarita Mikhail Bulgakov (Banned; Guardian)

Vathek William Beckford (Guardian)

The Illustrated Man Ray Bradbury (Classics; NPR)

12 Awards/12 Months

This Month: 3/12; Total: 3/12

Red Mars Kim Stanley Robinson (BFSA)

The Telling Le Guin (Locus F)

A Midsummer Tempest Poul Anderson (Mythopoeic)

Short Fiction

This Month: 3/12; Total: 5/12

Sea Kings of Mars Leigh Brackett (collection)

The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (novella)

The Illustrated Man Ray Bradbury (short stories)

Authors of Color

0/12

The End of the World

This Month: 1/12; Total: 2/12

The Giver Lois Lowry

Marxists, etc

This Month: 3/12; Total: 4/12

Red Mars Kim Stanley Robinson

The Telling Le Guin

The Illustrated Man Ray Bradbury

The 35

This Month: 7/35; Total: 10/35

Red Mars Kim Stanley Robinson

The Telling Le Guin

The Giver Lois Lowry

A Midsummer Tempest Poul Anderson

The Master and Margarita Mikhail Bulgakov

Vathek William Beckford

Guardian

This Month: 3/7; Total: 3/7

The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The Master and Margarita Mikhail Bulgakov

Vathek William Beckford

The Second Best

This Month: 0/12; Total: 1/12

NEWLY JOINED (in February)

LGBT

This Month: 1/12; Total: 1/12

The Telling Le Guin (Lesbian Protagonist)

Fantasia

This Month: 4/12; Total: 4/12

The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The Master and Margarita Mikhail Bulgakov

A Midsummer Tempest Poul Anderson

Vathek William Beckford

10 books read in February

42 of 150 total slots completed

daxxh

Posted 2014-02-28 12:31 PM (#6619 - in reply to #6618)
Subject: Re: RYO Challenge Update: February

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Location: Great Lakes, USA

February RYO Challenges

Remnant Population - Authors, Masterworks (Mistresswork), Elizabeth, 2nd
The Falling Woman - WoGF, Masterworks (F), 35, Bucket
Where the Late Sweet Birds Sang - WoGF, Masterworks (Master/Mistresswork), 35
www:Wake - Authors, 35, Ones, 3s, 2nd

Totals
Author 4/12
Masterworks 4/12
WoGF 2/12
Sequel 2/12
Elizabeth 1/3
35 6/12
Ones 1/12
Guardian 0/7
Killer Bs 0/3
3s 1/9
2nd 3/12
Bucket 2/9

Total 7 out of 43

I'm currently (still) reading Ash and have read a couple of nonfiction books this month. I am planning on concentrating on WoGF and Read the Sequel in March, but with Award Nominee lists coming out, I may not stick to that plan and may end up reading more than 43 books for the challenges.

My favorite book for February (and for the year so far) is Remnant Population. That was an excellent book.

Jain

Posted 2014-03-01 6:12 PM (#6641 - in reply to #6609)
Subject: Re: RYO Challenge Update: February

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Posts: 54

I only read two books that could be applied towards my challenges this month. Ah, well, February's short (and exhausting; I've been shoveling so much snow), and there's plenty of time still to catch up.

The Winter Prince by Elizabeth Wein
LGBT
WoGF
Young Adult

Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm
WoGF

Current challenge totals:
Authors of Color: 2/12
Elizabeth Noun: 0/3
Guardian: 0/7
LGBT: 2/12
Read the Sequel: 1/12
Short Fiction: 1/12
WoGF: 6/12
Young Adult: 1/12

Favorite book read in February:
The Winter Prince. I'm not always the biggest fan of Arthurian mythologies: they're just so bleak. And this book was definitely painful in parts, but in a way that really worked for me and that made me eager to find out what would happen next.

HRO

Posted 2014-03-02 4:34 AM (#6647 - in reply to #6609)
Subject: Re: RYO Challenge Update: February

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Everyone is making such great progress! Well done!

I love seeing the diversity of books. There are so many different ways to approach each of the challenges.

Administrator

Posted 2014-03-02 10:48 AM (#6652 - in reply to #6647)
Subject: Re: RYO Challenge Update: February

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Location: Dallas, Texas

Well, I managed to read The Darwin Elevator for The Number of the Counting and got halfway through Beggars in Spain for the same challenge and the WoGF for February. Not a very good showing I'm afraid but between all the overtime I've been working and regular WWEnd stuff I'm rather pleased. Still, I'm hoping March will be better.

Great results from everyone involved overall. The RYO is really cookin'.