February Bingo: 🎂 OBC's 5th Anniversary

[verbal kayak]

Happy February OBC Birthday Month folks! Can you believe we've been around for FIVE YEARS?

For this month's bingo, you can choose between 4 different cards!
There are a total of 16 possible prompts, but if you're not feeling up to reading 12 books this month, you can do a minimum of 3!

Each card has at least one little cutesy arty square (the cake, party hat, or present). You can think of those as a free space, OR a non-prompt space (if you don't want to put a book there).
Ping me with questions if you have any 🫶

This bingo is very open, so feel free to use one book for multiple prompts, use books you started before January, and interpret the prompts however you like! Happy reading and HAPPY (ALMOST) BIRTHDAY OBC

[chilly meteor]

@verbal kayak - will there also be SG challenges for these? (Sorry if I’m asking earlier than planned to create them!)

Also, this is so cute and now I want to complete all 4 cards because of how they are linked. 😅

[verbal kayak]

Ooh good catch! I can do that 🫡

[graceful nimbus]

Is there more points for filling out more than 1 card?

[elder token]

You don't get points for this, it's just for fun 🙂 you can fill out more than one card if you'd like to though

[elder token]

Storygraph challenge is live!

[chilly meteor]

Thank you so much!!

[chilly meteor]

Starting with a small card
(Crazy me is going to try and complete all prompts on all 4 cards without repeats. We’ll see how that goes.)

Cat Card
OBC color on cover (blue)
Dragonworld by Byron Preiss and Michael Reaves

present/free square
The Factory Witches of Lowell by C. S. Malerich

[chilly meteor]

Seal Card
Buddy read or BotM
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

[fathom hearth]

Empress of Salt and Fortune for BR

[chilly meteor]

cover has OBC color - blue
Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers by Deborah Heiligman

[nova obsidian]

On za board

[verbal kayak]

Hmmmmmm

Should I change the font and box sizes to be more book cover friendly

[fathom hearth]

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward for has OBC colours

[nova obsidian]

Dont ever change, shpicy

[spiral zodiac]

https://discord.com/channels/811077227449286667/1440977561198002277 for OBC BR

[fathom hearth]

This Book is Anti-Racist by Tiffany Jewell for posted a quote

[chilly meteor]

party hat/free space
Root Rot by Saskia Nislow

mentioned in OBC
Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand

personal read
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa

[dire moss]

update 1:

features a party or celebration
12 Days of Bossmas

[arctic owl]

OBC colour on cover (Orange) : Unabridged: The Thrill of and Threat to the Modern Dictionary by Stefan Fatsis

Review of the book: || I wish I had checked the synopsis beforehand. I didn’t realize that Fatsis’s book focuses primarily on the history and evolution of the Merriam Webster dictionary, rather than dictionaries in a more general sense. That said it does offer some interesting insights into neologisms, how political polarization especially around the 2016 U.S. election affected neologism, and how Merriam and other dictionary publishing houses have adapted in the age of search engines like Google and now AI - **the idea that using AI to generate meanings risks becoming an ouroboros, a snake eating its own tail. Without human judgment, meticulous care, and editorial intent, lexicography risks collapsing into a self-referential loop of recycled language **- I would have so much happier if this books in most of the early chapters didn't get limited to Merriam webster only.||

[fathom hearth]

Silver in the Bone by Alexandra Bracken for personal read

[potent widget]

Silver in the Bone
by Alexandra Bracken
for personal read

- iggy feeling romantical🍉

[chilly meteor]

Octopus card complete!

Buddy read or BotM
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

[verbal kayak]

OMG SLAYED

YAAAYYYY

[chilly meteor]

I’m going for all 4, so will be continuing the journey!

[chilly meteor]

birthday cake/free space
The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells

[chilly meteor]

gift box/free choice
Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird by Agustina Bazterrica

[vagrant sonnet]

Paper Girls, Vol. 2 by Brian K. Vaughan for mentioned by someone in OBC

[chilly meteor]

personal read
Full Throttle by Joe Hill

[arctic owl]

** You posted a quote from this in #quotes ** : Delicious Foods by James Hannaham

Review/thoughts: This book has strong thematic parallels to Toni Morrison’s Beloved, especially in how ||love begets violence||. I also seem to be on a streak of reading novels told from the POV of non sentient objects and honestly, I’m not complaining.
It is also for a fact that the object at the centre of the book develops into something close to a character. Not a fully fleshed out one obv that would become another conundrum imho but enough to feel disturbingly plausible more like a toxic relationship than a symbolic device.

[chilly meteor]

party hat/free space
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

someone in obc has read
The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo

[spiral zodiac]

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett for "Has OBC Colors"

[lone idol]

Mentioned by someone in OBC - Belladonna

[chilly meteor]

Someone in obc has read
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

[arctic owl]

I forgot to update thus 3 bingo cards updated at once
A personal read : The Novelist by Jordan Castro
Features a party or celebration : Indelicacy by Amina Cain
Someone in OBC read this before : The Dilemmas of Working Women by Fumio Yamamoto (the lovely @calm mortar )

[nova obsidian]

Updates!! I also like that I’m almost matching the color of the book covers to the squares!!

[calm mortar]

Glad to be of help

[chilly meteor]

Cat card complete!

**features a party or celebration ** (wedding)
The Guest List by Lucy Foley

[verbal kayak]

KILLING IT!!!

[chilly meteor]

2 down 2 to go!

[arctic owl]

I have a question, does the prompt ‘Read this on OBC’s birthday (Feb 16th)!’ mean starting and finishing the same book on February 16th or just finishing it?

[verbal kayak]

neither! it just means you read at least one page of that book on the 16th

or i guess, at least one word whatever you count as "reading"

[arctic owl]

alright!

[opaque helm]

Every time I try one of these bingos, it's like a puzzle and I have to plan out which book I'm about to read fits in which category 😂

I haven't been following it on here, but I've been adding books on the storygraph challenge!

[chilly meteor]

mentioned in obc
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

[spiral zodiac]

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery for "features a celebration" because the characters celebrate a birthday late in the book

I am not really on track to finish this but I'm having fun with it

[chilly meteor]

has a party or celebration
The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman

[chilly meteor]

birthday hat/free space
The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante

[chilly meteor]

read in a reading sprint
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

[chilly meteor]

Also managed to finish one more today:
**posted a quote in #quotes **
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

[elder token]

happy birthday obc

[opaque helm]

https://tenor.com/view/math-calculate-confusing-figure-out-gif-6237717

This is how I feel trying to calculate which book should go into which prompt 😂

but I'm realizing I may not read enough books to complete the full size bingo card 😭

[elder token]

Reading this for OBC’s birthday

[elder token]

• Play The Game by Charlene Allen for read on OBC's birthday
• Bringing Back Kay-Kay by Dev Kothari for cover has OBC colours
• Red Rising by Pierce Brown for personal read
• Greedy by Jen Winston for read during a sprint
• Determination by Tawseef Khan for free space

[arctic owl]

Read this on OBC's birthday (Feb 16th): Happy People Don't Live Here by Amber Sparks
🎁 (Free Space): Happiness and Love by Zoe Dubno

[chilly meteor]

Dog card complete!

read on OBC’s birthday
Micro by Michael Crichton

[verbal kayak]

SLAYYYYY

[chilly meteor]

Different one for read on OBC’s birthday
An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten

read in reading sprint
Come Closer by Sara Gran

[elder token]

• Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy for someone in OBC read this before
• Kill Her Twice by Stacey Lee for free space
• The Gryphon King by Sara Omer for free space

[fathom hearth]

Hazelthorn by CG Drews for read on obc birfday

[nova obsidian]

Continuing with my attempt to match book cover color with square colors

[spiral zodiac]

https://discord.com/channels/811077227449286667/1452169464467558503 for "Read on OBC's Birthday"

[fathom hearth]

Godly Heathens by H.E. Edgmon for someone in obc had read it

[potent widget]

Godly Heathens by
H.E. Edgmon for someone
in obc had read it

- iggy feeling romantical🍉

[elder token]

• The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo for mentioned by someone in OBC
• The Fall by Tal Bauer for features a party or celebration

[spiral zodiac]

White Oleander for Janet Fitch for "Someone from obc read this before you" - a few people beat me to this BR, but also I believe Tink reread this book recently

[nova obsidian]

Updates !

[agile cliff]

Completed the cat card!

[elder token]

• #1464982383273971712 for BR/BOTM
• #1452939913786949663 for posted a quote

[verbal kayak]

LETS FREAKING GOOOOOOOOOOO

[chilly meteor]

I need one quote to post and I can finish this card. 😭

[spiral zodiac]

my last play! The Book of Records by Madeleine Thien for "personal read"

[opaque helm]

I've been updating this challenge on SG but sad to say I did not complete the full card bingo :(

[chilly meteor]

Final play to complete card 4! (With a few hours to spare)
**posted a quote in #quotes **
The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo