r/bookclub • u/maolette Bingo Bouncer • Jan 16 '26
Bookclub Bingo [Bingo] 2026 Bingo Helper Spreadsheet Q&A
Hi everyone, welcome to our 2026 Bingo Helper Spreadsheet Q&A post!
Every year there are new books to discuss and some chatter on which books count for which Bingo categories. This is the place to ask questions on specific books and also a place for us to log any changes to the definitions for Bingo categories, if they come up throughout the year.
First off, some general bingo admin:
- You can find the official 2026 Q&A post here
- The 2026 Megathread is here
- If you have specific questions on rules, check out the FAQ Wiki here
The link to our 2026 Bingo Helper spreadsheet is here:
- This helper spreadsheet is locked down for editing; if you are keen to help edit, please reach out to myself (u/maolette)
- Titles are listed in alphabetical order, but you can use the Filter Views function to see temporary views for any of the specific squares and easily see which books count for each
- Columns appear in the order they appear on the bingo card
- One square has multiple options, this one is highlighted with a lovely shade of teal. Remember you only need to pick 1 of these to complete the square!
Some general categorisation notes/comments:
- A great place to check a book’s genre is your local library; they categorise and identify books in a specific, consistent way.
- Additionally, you can check for a book’s BISAC category. A good resource for this is bookshop.org!
- Please note that some popular reading apps might tag a book a certain way, but these tags are generated based on user-submitted data. This means we can’t always trust that tag implicitly, we must verify!
If you see any books in the Bingo Helper you think should be tagged a certain way and aren’t (or vice versa), please feel free to use this thread to discuss further! Ultimately our goal is to enable everyone to participate, read outside our comfort zones, and have fun! If anything is confusing or difficult, we want to know and address it!
Thanks to everyone for helping keep this document accurate & complete. Happy reading!
r/bookclub’s Ministry of Merriment
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u/toomanytequieros Book Sniffer 👃🏼📖 ||🧠🥉 Jan 16 '26 edited Jan 16 '26
Could it be said that Daybreak in Gaza is a translated work, since (some?most?) testimonies had to be translated?
Also Chain-Gang All-Stars - Science Fiction?
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u/maolette Bingo Bouncer Jan 16 '26
Chain-Gang is considered dystopian, and is classified under literary fiction with libraries.
Was Daybreak in Gaza ever published in Arabic or other languages? The definition of translated work is something originally published in a language other than English, and then being published into English, requiring the translation. I can do some additional research into it, I don't know all the histories and details published in that work. 😊
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u/toomanytequieros Book Sniffer 👃🏼📖 ||🧠🥉 Jan 16 '26
Ohhhh ok, I hadn’t considered that about the nature of translated work. For Daybreak, the preface says that they “completed this book in three months, from March to May 2024. Editors in London, Paris, Amman, Cairo, Jerusalem and, when communications allowed, Gaza gathered, transcribed and translated testimonies.”
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u/maolette Bingo Bouncer Jan 17 '26
So because these transcriptions were done specifically for the English publication of the book, this one won't count for translated work. It also looks like the testimonies haven't been published elsewhere in their native languages, and were only gathered and provided for this English publication.
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u/emygrl99 Froot Loops From a Soup Can Feb 08 '26
The first Miss Peregrine's book is marked as Historical Fiction on the helper spreadsheet, but not Hollow City. Is there a reason for that?
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u/maolette Bingo Bouncer Feb 08 '26
I wouldn't have called the first historical necessarily, but if it's on the sheet that way then so be it. The second definitely should be, I can update it!
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u/emygrl99 Froot Loops From a Soup Can Feb 21 '26
I'm not seeing this month's poem, The Song of the Smoke, on the spreadsheet yet. Are there plans to add it? Or does it only count for the poetry corner square?
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u/maolette Bingo Bouncer Feb 23 '26
I was on holiday for all of last week and was only catching up yesterday. It's there now!
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u/emygrl99 Froot Loops From a Soup Can Feb 23 '26
Thanks so much! I hope you enjoyed your holiday :)
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u/emygrl99 Froot Loops From a Soup Can Apr 26 '26 edited Apr 27 '26
Hello spreadsheet runners! I have 2 stories that might be missing X’s
-The Song of the Smoke for POC Author
-Through the Woods for Pick 1 (Graphic Novel)
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u/maolette Bingo Bouncer Apr 27 '26
Yes to both of these! I've updated both The Song of the Smoke and Through the Woods as you've noted. :) Thank you for these!
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u/rige_x 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Apr 26 '26 edited Apr 27 '26
Super helpful as alwayys and a big thank you for the ones taking the time to create and maintain the spreadsheet.
I was wondering about Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. It is classified here as a Fantasy. I have read it (and considering it for a reread), and while it has maybe one somewhat fantastical element, I would be really hard pressed to argue the book is a fantasy book. Would love to fill that square, Im just making sure its not a typo.
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u/maolette Bingo Bouncer Apr 27 '26
This one seems to have been a mistake (there's a lot of Fantasy in there!), and since you've confirmed it as well (and I've confirmed with several other sources) I've removed it from counting for Fantasy. Thank you for this!
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u/WoofinPlank Feb 19 '26
Is there any easier way to check what books fall under which category? I would really like to play Bingo, but I have a terrible time trying to view the Spreadsheet helper. If i try to print it, the text is ridiculously tiny, and i dont even know if a magnifying glass would help, even if i had one. I also try viewing on page, but i can only see the first three columns. after that, as i scroll right to see if the other columns have an X for a certain title in the row, I have no idea what im looking at.
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u/maolette Bingo Bouncer Feb 19 '26
It's an ever-living document so printing it would only be a snapshot. I'd recommend opening it in the Google Sheets app, and then using the available views which filter the sheet for each theme as you wish. I do recommend a browser instead of a mobile device but the mobile app does work well enough.
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u/WoofinPlank Feb 19 '26
Thank you so much. I see I can download a copy of the doc and use filters on my copy through the app on my android. That was extremely helpful. I almost gave up on Bingo entirely.
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u/maolette Bingo Bouncer Feb 19 '26
Ah that perfect! You might need to keep downloading new copies just to capture the books as they're added but to be fair I don't finalise my Bingo boards until way later in the year! 😄
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u/llmartian Attempting 2025 Bingo Blackout 24d ago
Hi! So I checked the bingo helper sheet and it seems like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde isn't a mystery/thriller. Also, Remarkably Bright Creatures is not listed as a mystery. What are the rules for a mystery designation? I thought both of those had strong mystery elements.
The Aeneid by Virgil is also not listed as a translated work, but I'm assuming that's just a mistake and not like, me not understanding the categories
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u/maolette Bingo Bouncer 24d ago
The Aeneid was 100% a mistake, so that's been corrected, thanks for that!
Mystery/Thriller is a tough one, but it's more a modern convention, and tied to where the book might be shelved at a bookstore or library. It is typically based on a book's BISAC codes, which are primarily set by publishers (but also can be updated by libraries and other bookish sources). Usually StoryGraph matches these categories and updates their Genre tags to match (the green tags on any book), but like any social site, they are not necessarily correct.
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde is considered horror and classic fiction primarily, so it's been added there for bingo categories. Remarkably Bright Creatures seems as though it would be considered mystery, but the publisher has confirmed it's only been included as contemporary fiction (also literary fiction in library sources). This mostly means they wouldn't want it shelved with mystery/thriller, even if it has a mystery element.
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u/Less_Tumbleweed_3217 Born To Read, Forced To Work | 🎃👑🧠 Jan 16 '26
I wanted to make sure we addressed u/airsalin's question that was previously posted in the Megathread:
I have a question about a translated book bingo square. Usually, someone makes a nice spreadsheet (thank you to the person doing that) indicating the books that qualify for each bingo square.
Now let's say we are reading 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Vernes. The original being in French, it will be included in the "translated book" bingo square on the spreadsheet because most people will read the English translation. But if a person read it in the original French, can she still use it for this bingo square? I mean she will have to pretend she read it in English lol I guess the only way it would work for a non native English speaker is when we read books that were translated in English (because they will qualify as a bingo square in the spreadsheet) and the original is not in a language we can read.
I hope I made sense and if this was addressed earlier, I am sorry if I missed it. I don't see it as a major problem, I am just curious as to how this particular bingo square would work.