Group Announcements

Watch this space for announcements and info about the group. Please keep discussion on this thread focused on group announcements.

Starring this thread is highly recommended!

Some stats from 2023 (as of 12/22):

- 427 members, 26 watchers
- 757 threads
- 103,686 messages

Our most commonly held book: To Kill a Mockingbird, followed by Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Jane Eyre

>2 drneutron: I have read all three of those, of course. Lol

That’s an interesting stat about the commonly-held books.

I hope we get a new member or three this coming year.

I've set up the General, Wildcard, and January threads for the British Author Challenge.

General: https://www.librarything.com/topic/356163
Wildcard: https://www.librarything.com/topic/356165
January: https://www.librarything.com/topic/356166

I have set up the thread for the 2024 Nonfiction Challenge. This group was established back in 2016 and the small but mighty reading group plans to continue on in 2024. We plan to have a running thread this year instead of doing a new one for each month. This will make linking them all together easier. Here is the link to the startup thread for 2024.

https://www.librarything.com/topic/356227#

Hey, folks, just to let you know, the LT wiki system is down, and probably won’t be up until next week. I’m keeping notes on threads for the Threadbook and group wiki, and will add threads when it’s back up.

>7 drneutron: Thanks for letting us know! I noticed a problem and am glad for some status.

I set up the thread for the Mystery Group readers. The title of the thread is Investigators - Ancient and Modern - Mystery Series Group Read. The group will be reading two series this year Inspector Huss, set in modern Sweden, and Marcus Didius Falco set in ancient Rome.

Here is the link to the thread.
https://www.librarything.com/topic/356261

The general discussion thread for the 2024 AAC Challenge is now up as is the January thread, for Mark Twain.

Wiki’s working again!

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/356840

Westerns in 2024 - L'Amour and Beyond is live. https://www.librarything.com/topic/356917

I’ve found two links on wiki pages (ie, the Threadbook and group wiki) that seem to have been broken during the wiki system outage between Christmas and New Year’s Day. If you find something odd or incorrect, let me know and I’ll fix it!

Many here have read from Club Read's HOPE TO READ SOON: A Tribute to rebeccanyc. Here is a link to the 2024 list: https://www.librarything.com/topic/356951
If you are new to LT, this list has some excellent reading.

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/357120

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/357476

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/357793

There will be a group read of Anthony Trollope's Nina Balatka next month. I will be putting up the thread towards the end of this week, and will post here again when we are ready to go. All welcome!

The February British Author Challenge thread is up. We'll be reading Emma Newman and Ronald Firbank.

https://www.librarything.com/topic/357893#

For anyone who uses Flickr images with LT, there's an issue with the Javascript associated with the image link that is incompatible with LT. There's a work-around - see https://www.librarything.com/topic/357926

The thread is now up for the group read of Nina Balatka by Anthony Trollope:

Here

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/358016

Noticed that the February AAC thread is not in the Wiki, and realized I hadn't posted a link to it here.

We're reading Susan Sontag in February, and here is the discussion thread.

Also, anyone doing reading for Black History Month is welcome to share comments on the General Discussion thread for the 2024 AAC, linked to in >10 laytonwoman3rd: above.

The February War Room is up!

https://www.librarything.com/topic/358097

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/358237

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/358508

>2 drneutron: Have read them each multiple times, still have them on my bookshelf and each are on my top-tier list of favorites - yes even Harry Potter :) To Kill a Mockingbird I read as a child and it shaped my perspective and ideology, Jane Eyre - breathtaking and absorbing. And Harry Potter because a literal 6 yr old let me borrow it as she was already on book 3.

>31 RIMAKARY: Please read the Terms of Service for this site. Spamming threads is frowned upon.

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/358715

The March British Author Challenge thread is up. We'll be reading Welsh authors.

https://www.librarything.com/topic/358824

If anyone is following the Oscar nominations, one of the short documentary films is available for viewing on YouTube in the U.S.: The ABCs of Book Banning. (A few of the other short documentaries are available, too...)

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/358903

>35 ocgreg34: Many thanks for the heads up regarding YouTube The ABCs of Book Baning. I'll be sure to check on this one.

>2 drneutron: Jim, Thanks for this information and the chart. Also, for all you do to help keep this group running. As always, I appreciate your efforts!

Interestingly, of my three all-time favorite books, two of them were mentioned, Jane Eyre and to Kill a Mockingbird have remained at the top of my list no matter how many books I've read since rading them!

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/359104

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/359262

Not sure if this is the right place for a question, but what if we can’t find a book on here that we’re reading ☺️

>41 KB23: You can enter it manually. Best to double check the spelling in the title because LT requires exactness.

>41 KB23: Did you try searching by the ISBN number rather than the title? If that didn't work, or it's an edition without an ISBN, >42 quondame: Susan's suggestion is your best bet.

>41 KB23: Another addon. Sometimes searching for the author instead might yield results. Also the search in LT, sometimes seems to work differently from the Add Books search. You might find it just as a work in LT, but when you go to add it, you can't find it. In the Add Books, sometimes switching your source from Amazon to the Library of Congress helps.

In general, it's better to search on a library - any library - than on Amazon. Amazon does have more books (and some weird ones that don't get into libraries), but if you find a book in a library source that book gets added to Overcat, the LT database of books. So you're helping every other person who wants to add that book.

If you're in a hurry, go ahead and use Amazon (though you'll probably have to do some editing - cleaning up the title, correcting author(s), etc). But if you've got a few minutes, start with a library - the library consortiums (Link+, ValCAT...) are good, LoC has a lot though not much of popular fiction, ditto the British Library if it was published in England. Then if you can't find it go ahead and get the data from Amazon (and clean up as necessary). You can add your preferred sources under Search Where?; if it can't find a book in your first source it will offer you your whole list and you can click to search on any of them.

If it has an ISBN, that's the best search (on the back cover, or on the copyright page). If it has an LCCN or other Library of Congress number (also on copyright page), that's the next best (and you don't have to search the LoC, LT will look in the right place). Third best is "title, author" - it doesn't have to be the whole thing unless you're searching for something very generic. Wander by Bob Smith better be "Wander, Bob Smith"; but The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne would show up searching "gables, hawthorne". (no quotes, of course, I'm just using them to mark what you'd type into the search bar).

>42 quondame: thank you!
>43 laytonwoman3rd: thank you!
>44 mahsdad: thank you!
>45 jjmcgaffey: thank you!

I appreciate all your help ☺️

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/359476

Saw this today:

The 2024 Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction shortlist -
The full list in alphabetical order by author surname is:

Thunderclap: A Memoir of Art and Life and Sudden Death by Laura Cumming, published by Chatto & Windus
Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein, published by Allen Lane
A Flat Place by Noreen Masud, published by Hamish Hamilton
All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake by Tiya Miles, published by Profile
Code Dependent: Living in the Shadow of AI by Madhumita Murgia, published by Picador
How to Say Babylon: A Jamaican Memoir by Safiya Sinclair, published by 4th Estate

The April British Author Challenge thread is up. We'll be reading Barbara Pym and Anthony Trollope.

https://www.librarything.com/topic/359637

Here's the Easter readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/359643

>53 whatthesigma: This is for Group Announcements.

Well, that was interesting! :)

It really was, and now all of our messages on here are from blocked people

OH MY GOD IM ALMOST FINISHED

NUTUTBTUTNTUT

This is for group announcements not whatever these people are talking about T^T

>91 sigmabrother69420: This is for group announcements, not chatting.

If you would like to make a thread, for the books you read this year, than you guys can do that, this thread is for group announcements like readathons & info about the group.

April 2024 War Room Challenge is Up

https://www.librarything.com/topic/359824

Wars of Religion this month.

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/359825

Sorry about the spamming folks - it's what I get for going away for a day or two. 😀

There's not a lot we can do about this other than flag and ignore a spammer. Once three people flag them, the staff get pinged and can ban that account. If the spammer creates a new account and does it again, same thing. Enough times and the staff will block their IP address. It's unfortunate that it can take so long for the spammer to be blocked, but Tim and company (and I agree) think that it's important to be as open as reasonably possible. Which means we occasionally will have this happen.

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/359999

Here's the next readathon https://www.librarything.com/topic/360200

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/360348

>102 drneutron: Is there an actual difference between "suspended from the site" and "removed as spam"? And why do some of the spam messages (77, 79, 80) still appear, even though the user seems to have been removed?

>109 laytonwoman3rd: I'd guess that the user was removed before enough people had marked those particular messages as spam.

The May British Author Challenge thread is up. We'll be reading portal fantasy.

https://www.librarything.com/topic/360372

The May 2024 War Room Challenge is up. This month we feature the years 1803-1815 and the Napoleonic Wars.

https://www.librarything.com/topic/360466

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/360495

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/360644

Journey to an End: By Michael Matos

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/360905