Over the past two days, I have followed the Humiliation contest with bated breath. There were tight races on all sides of the competition. Would Noddy in Toyland or The Weirdstone of Brisingamen come in last? Would Tuck Everlasting, Pollyanna, or The Bad Beginning come in third-from-last? Would Harry Potter beat out all comers, as 
lazyknight and griffinick hoped, and kashmera feared?
The contest which had the most interesting developments and changes throughout was the race for third place. Peter Rabbit was a close third place for most of the contest, but slipped back a day into the race, with Where the Wild Things Are first tying and then overtaking. And then poor Peter slipped back even further as Alice in Wonderful and then Charlotte's Web and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory came from behind to leave Peter in the dust.
I also learned how much t.v. shows and movies can distort perceptions of how many people have read what book. Tuck Everlasting, The Polar Express, Pollyanna, and The Bad Beginning have all been major motion pictures - and all of them did rather badly in competition. Similarly, although Noddy may be a popular t.v. show, Enid Blyton's books, first published in 1940s, were rarely read by most of the people I know - even among the Brits, from the country where, to the best of my knowledge, the show primarily aired.
Fascinating trivia about the people who voted emerged from the voting: who could have guessed that exactly the same number of people (60) have read A Wrinkle in Time, The Velveteen Rabbit, The Secret Garden, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?
In the end, though, there was a winner. Congratulations torjw1 for being brave enough to admit that he's never read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe! Your prize, if you choose to claim it, is a copy of that very book. Or we can continue to mock or admire you for your careful pruning of children's literature from your reading diet, in favor of Science Fiction, even as a youngster.
Commiserations toblack_faery, who helped us to discover just how obscure the classic Noddy books are by ending up with the fewest votes in the competition.
I think the game went very well this time around. I'd consider running another game of it in another 4-6 months. If I did, what would you be most interested in?
Any other feedback on this game is welcome too.
Thank you for playing!
lazyknight and griffinick hoped, and kashmera feared?The contest which had the most interesting developments and changes throughout was the race for third place. Peter Rabbit was a close third place for most of the contest, but slipped back a day into the race, with Where the Wild Things Are first tying and then overtaking. And then poor Peter slipped back even further as Alice in Wonderful and then Charlotte's Web and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory came from behind to leave Peter in the dust.
I also learned how much t.v. shows and movies can distort perceptions of how many people have read what book. Tuck Everlasting, The Polar Express, Pollyanna, and The Bad Beginning have all been major motion pictures - and all of them did rather badly in competition. Similarly, although Noddy may be a popular t.v. show, Enid Blyton's books, first published in 1940s, were rarely read by most of the people I know - even among the Brits, from the country where, to the best of my knowledge, the show primarily aired.
Fascinating trivia about the people who voted emerged from the voting: who could have guessed that exactly the same number of people (60) have read A Wrinkle in Time, The Velveteen Rabbit, The Secret Garden, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?
In the end, though, there was a winner. Congratulations to
rjw1 for being brave enough to admit that he's never read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe! Your prize, if you choose to claim it, is a copy of that very book. Or we can continue to mock or admire you for your careful pruning of children's literature from your reading diet, in favor of Science Fiction, even as a youngster.Commiserations to
black_faery, who helped us to discover just how obscure the classic Noddy books are by ending up with the fewest votes in the competition.I think the game went very well this time around. I'd consider running another game of it in another 4-6 months. If I did, what would you be most interested in?
Which of the following versions of the game would you be most interested in playing?
No theme
5(19.2%)
Speculative fiction
10(38.5%)
Mystery
5(19.2%)
How long should the game last?
The same length
24(92.3%)
Shorter
0(0.0%)
Longer
2(7.7%)
Any other feedback on this game is welcome too.
Thank you for playing!
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- owlfish
- S. Worthen
- S. Worthen
Comments
Can you think of any other robust categories for this game? Children's lit seemed to work out fairly well, despite the publishing vagaries of the multiple countries involved.
I think there are other good categories, but my particular interests - and thus, the majority of the people I have things in common with and correspond with via LJ - limit the number of feasible categories I could really work with for this game.
But the whole starting point was a fictional character whose career was wrecked by such an admission.
au contraire, I've read (and listened to) it several times and will surely do so again. I can only think of a handful of modern novels for which that is true.
There are certainly books I'm rather embarassed that I've never read, and a fair many books that I really should have read, for professional reasons in particular.
"as a good be" should have been "as it could be".
As for categories - spec. fic. could be interesting, though I find myself tantalized by the idea of the classics. How many of us actually -read- them for school and how many just skimmed enough chapters to pass tests etc. for example? ;) I know I'm guilty of this in reference to several major classics that are taught in AP English in the U.S.
Definitely would love Classics -- and have also read the Iliad numerous times -- and the Aeneid but have never finished that one with the really long trip home.
Ancient and Medieval History would be good for a bunch of us, if only to see what things we were supposed to have read and never did ... not to mention to expand our reading lists!
How 'bout 19th c. novels?
My perception of Tuck Everlasting wasn't particularly distorted by the film or lack thereof; I've just never gotten around to it, and I keep hoping its Newberry status will guilt me into doing so.