Book Talk Reading Challenge & Book Bingo|| Bingo updates P.24 - Page 23

Swetha, please reserve a post in the below thread for your page logs.

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/book-talk/5376486/the-literary-looters-book-talk-reading-challenge-october-2025

Originally posted by: LizzieBennet

Bingo Card Template credit: oh_nakhrewaali

Rules:

1. Only books that you START and FINISH between Oct 3 and Oct 31 will count towards the Bingo.

2. I'm only looking for Rows (5), Diagonals (2) and Colored tasks (5) plus full House for the Bingo.

Tasks:

1. Own Voices: Book written by an author that represents the same minority/ marginalized population as the book character. For eg: A book where the main protagonist is autistic written by an autistic author or a book where MCs are BIPOC/ LGBTQ+ written by someone who is also from the BIPOC/LGBTQ+ community

2. NY Times Best Seller list: A book that has been in the NY times best seller list between 2024 and 2025

3. Holiday/ Festival themed: A book based around a major holiday like Christmas or Easter or Eid/ Diwali etc. Any festival is acceptable provided it forms part of the plot of the book.

4. A translation: An English translation of a book/ FF originally published in a different language. Please mention the original language and the name of the translator in your log.

5. Rated below 3 stars on Good Reads: Self-explanatory (check the overall rating on GR)

6. Education/ Science themed: A book/ FF that is based in an educational institution such as a school/ college/ university or one where the MCs have occupations in Education i.e. teachers/ professors/ students/ research based/ working in STEM occupations such as medical/ engineering/ scientists etc. Please mention how the book fits this criteria in your log.

7. Single Word Title: Self-explanatory

8. Superhero Fanfiction: This has to specifically be a FF, can involve any superhero from any Universe.

9. Part of series: Can be any book which forms a part of a series; either a continuing series or an interconnected one.

10. Written in first person: First person PoV narrative style.

11. Movie/ Series adaptation: A book that has been adapted into a movie/ series. Note: Unreleased/ ongoing productions or announcements will not count. It must be a movie/ series that is already released.

12. Animated Book Cover: Something like this:

Note: If a book has been published with multiple covers, I'll still accept it if one of them is animated provided it's a legit one and not fan-made. Please add a pic of the cover in your log!

13. Read by someone else in August: Have a look at the August RC sheet, and you can pick a book that someone else has logged from there. Mention the UN of the person in your log.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Or2xCdxnrsMcJ3H1tYYXbBPxPLbEijAr2uE-UX57ZcM/edit?usp=drive_link

14. Number in Title: The title of the book (or FF) MUST have a number in it. For eg: Nine Rules to break when romancing a rake.

15. Punny Title: The title must have a pun. Eg: Dead over heels; Sticks & Scones, Bratfest at Tiffany's etc

16. Futuristic or Dystopian: Set in the future or a Dystopian world.

17. Author's name starts with S: I'll accept first or last name starting with S

18. Author's debut: Self-explanatory

19. Non- human characters: A book/ FF that has a non-human character. For eg: werewolves or wraiths or any fantasy creatures/ animals will be accepted.

20. A Retelling: Any retelling such as fairy tale/ folk/ modern. For eg: Pride and Prejudice retelling set in the modern world.

21. Historical Fiction: Can be any genre as long as it's set in the past (I'll accept anything upto the 1960s)

22. Published in the 2000s: Anything that was published between 2000 and 2009.

23. Recommendation by a member of another team: You can tag one person whose tastes match yours and ask for 3 recs, or tag 3 people and ask each for one recommendation. Note that you cannot endlessly keep tagging people until you find a rec that suits you. The max you can tag is 3, and get 3 recs and pick one of them to read. I'll need a link to the post where you got the rec to verify.

24. Set in India: Self-explanatory. Please mention where in India it takes place in your log. Note: Fictional towns won't be allowed, it has to be a real place.

25. More than 400 pages: Self- explanatory.

Captains, please post this card on the first page of your team's thread along with the Rules that were posted earlier.

The challenge will officially kickstart on Oct 3rd 8 PM IST (I will not be considering any tags before midnight IST on Oct 3rd giving a minimum of 4 hours for a book to be completed.

For Manuscript Marauders, since they have one less Team member for Bingo, I'm giving them a 12 hour head start. So your challenge begins at 8 am IST Oct 3rd & the first tag I'll consider is 4 hours after that i.e 12 noon IST on Oct 3rd.

I hope that's fair.

If you have any questions on the tasks, ask away!

Use the 48 hours until the challenge kicks off to decide on the tasks/ who will volunteer for what task.

Note that if two people complete the same task, only one of them will be considered, so make sure your wires don't get crossed while doing the tasks!

Also please note that if a book satisfies 2 criteria, you will have to pick which one you're going for. For eg: A book may be a Historical Fiction with a Single word title, but it can only be counted under either one of these two tasks and not both.

Also note that all the books you read as part of the Bingo will also count towards your individual & Team page counts for the RC.

Liz, two clarifications.

Paranormal, aka vampires or even shape shifting creatures are also considered in Non-human characters, right ?

Translation:

For eg Ponniyin Selvan is translated from Tamil to English, and technically even Mahabharat is translated from Sanskrit to English. Is this acceptable ? And if I read the book in the original language, does it count ?

Originally posted by: missFiesty_69

Liz, two clarifications.

Paranormal, aka vampires or even shape shifting creatures are also considered in Non-human characters, right ?

Translation:

For eg Ponniyin Selvan is translated from Tamil to English, and technically even Mahabharat is translated from Sanskrit to English. Is this acceptable ? And if I read the book in the original language, does it count ?

Ponniyin Selvan works,

The book must be a translation, meaning you will be reading it in English. You don’t need to read it in the original language, but if you do, it won’t count towards this particular task.

Originally posted by: LizzieBennet

Yes for the first one.

Ponniyin Selvan works,

The book must be a translation, meaning you will be reading it in English. You don’t need to read it in the original language, but if you do, it won’t count towards this particular task.

Okay, got it! Thanks for the clarification, Liz.

Originally posted by: missFiesty_69

Swetha, please reserve a post in the below thread for your page logs.

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/book-talk/5376486/the-literary-looters-book-talk-reading-challenge-october-2025

Pls check!

Ok Manuscript Marauders has claimed diagonal (right) and before i verify their claim I just want to make it clear to all teams that those who complete the mandatory 2 tasks for the Bingo are asked to refrain from contributing any more to the Bingo challenge up until there is a no-show by one of the team mates ie they don’t claim / finish any task by Oct 7/ Oct 15. This is to make it fair so that all the Bingo tasks aren’t taken up by the fast readers and to give all teams a level playing field. In case that wasn’t clear .

Also, you need to let me know which team member you are standing in for. Eg. Let’s say X does not claim any task until Oct 7, then Y who has already completed 2 tasks can step up to claim their 2 tasks but you need to let me know.

I know some will need to complete more than 2 tasks but you can take those up after Oct 15 or after all your team members have finished their mandatory 2 tasks, whichever comes earlier.

Originally posted by: LizzieBennet

Ok Manuscript Marauders has claimed diagonal (right) and before i verify their claim I just want to make it clear to all teams that those who complete the mandatory 2 tasks for the Bingo are asked to refrain from contributing any more to the Bingo challenge up until there is a no-show by one of the team mates ie they don’t claim / finish any task by Oct 7/ Oct 15. This is to make it fair so that all the Bingo tasks aren’t taken up by the fast readers and to give all teams a level playing field. In case that wasn’t clear .

Also, you need to let me know which team member you are standing in for. Eg. Let’s say X does not claim any task until Oct 7, then Y who has already completed 2 tasks can step up to claim their 2 tasks but you need to let me know.

I know some will need to complete more than 2 tasks but you can take those up after Oct 15 or after all your team members have finished their mandatory 2 tasks, whichever comes earlier.

Sorry mujhe samajh mein nahi aayi so wanting to clarify.

Erm what if we are already taking 3, Lizzie ? There are 25 tasks with 9 team members, only 18 tasks will be taken, assuming all the team members have responded and have taken up two each. Do we wait until October 15th before allocating the rest of the tasks ?

Since you pointed out, I do have one more doubt. Bee and Mrina have completed two tasks each and WD has done one. So are they not supposed to take up additional tasks ( except for WD) for completing the bingo ? Until October 15th ?

Originally posted by: missFiesty_69

Sorry mujhe samajh mein nahi aayi so wanting to clarify.

Erm what if we are already taking 3, Lizzie ? There are 25 tasks with 9 team members, only 18 tasks will be taken, assuming all the team members have responded and have taken up two each. Do we wait until October 15th before allocating the rest of the tasks ?

Since you pointed out, I do have one more doubt. Bee and Mrina have completed two tasks each and WD has done one. So are they not supposed to take up additional tasks ( except for WD) for completing the bingo ? Until October 15th ?

Originally posted by: LizzieBennet

Yes that’s what I meant. Bee and Mrina need to wait until all their team mates have finished their 2 tasks or they have a no-show by Oct 7.

Ohh

Originally posted by: missFiesty_69

Ohh