Lexi’s Comments (group member since Jul 27, 2016)

Lexi’s comments from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.

Have fun reading, everyone

Six hours to go. Just a reminder than any book started before then cannot be used. Hope everyone is having a nice Saturday.

No worries, you will also notice that it is listed on the drop down menu next to every time you claim the bonus

There was a clarification posted in the rules (see below):

Clarification on Bonus Points
For the avoidance of doubt, we are defining publication years by the year only, so 2 years ago means published in 2021. The official team sheet indicates the years that work for the different tiers.

For page count, a book of 400 pages does NOT count as "over 400 pages", ditto the other levels.

Also, we have one each on the other monsters and they are:

MC goes on blind date
Tagged "circus" (5 or more times)
Takes place in the 1960s and/or 1970s
Set in Latin and South America, The Philippines, or Guam

Noticed a monster was done so got us a new Discworld monster. Large page number just in time for Wheel.

Dungeon Dimensions
500 to 650
author initials found in THINGS
a book entirely without magic (your interpretation)
book with an alliterative title
the word 'wastelands' found in the text or title

November Books of the Month

Since the first one especially might be a long library hold, I wanted to share the November books of the month.

Nov. 2 - The Spellshop
Nov 16 - The Mysterious Affair at Styles

I have read both and the first is a charming fantasy with a good plot, lovely characters, a sweet romance and a magically sentient spider plant. I however have read it in July, but I encourage others to read it if that sounds like fun.

The second is Agatha Christie who generally needs no introduction and gets the 100 year bonus points as well.

Book of the Month Info

First things first, if you want to go vote in the polls for Book of the Month (BOM) for November, it closes tonight at midnight Pacific time and the polls are here.

I nominated The Count of Monte Cristo for the Old-School theme BOM and Judith nominated Poor Miss Finch if you don't know what to vote for, as the team would be given the first day of questions if it won (points).

For the other BOM, I nominated Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries and Judith nominated Murder Your Employer.

In both cases, feel free to vote for whatever book you would most like to read. If anyone else nominated a book, feel free to share.

Next, feel free to nominate a book for the December non-theme BOM. Nominations are open until October 27th so lots of time. The thread is here.

Finally, there is one BOMs for the rest of October.
Writing a day's worth of discussion questions = 40 points
Participating in a current BOM (participating in discussion) = 20 points.

Starting October 16th is The Road Trip, and it is Judith's nomination, so we are guaranteed a DQs set (See above for yay on more points). The thread for the discussion is here.

I will post tomorrow when the polls close with the two BOMs for November.

Please ask any questions if anything is unclear.

Back up for Judith and Teddie as needed (Team Traffic Jam)

Hi all, My name is Lexi (she/her/hers). I live in Atlanta, and I work in global health and parasitology. I enjoy reading fantasy and sci-fi generally, but I've been on a big mystery kick recently. I have co-captained before with Judith. I am ready for fall, as it is still hot here, and my poor longhaired cat is already getting her full winter coat in.

I will get the BOM details up this evening since the first one starts October 16th and is The Road Trip.

Please feel free to ask any question now and throughout.

Shelf: Wheel2024

Also this one

Book of the Month Information
Writing a day's worth of discussion questions = 40 points
Participating in a current BOM (participating in discussion) = 20 points.

October:
October 16th -The Road Trip - Discussion is here

November:
Nov. 2 - The Spellshop
Nov 16 - The Mysterious Affair at Styles

December:
Nominations close October 27th - here

Tammie wrote: "Judith wrote: "Tammie wrote: "i want to sign up for the wheel game"

You need to sign up using the form in the Announcements post :)"

i can,t its closed and i asked before all closed"

It is open until Sunday and I just checked the link and it is fine.

Cat, I just finished Saint Death's Daughter and hope you enjoy it. It is a bit of a mess but enjoyable.

I have seven meetings today which seems a bit rough for a Friday.

I am hoping the extra points finally convinces me to read The Brothers Karamazov. Also, I have some other large fantasy books that I hope to have motivation to read, but I haven't been in a high fantasy mood recently.

Hat is part of the definition of helmet so works for me

There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak

From the Booker Prize finalist author of The Island of Missing Trees, an enchanting new tale about three characters living along two rivers, all under the shadow of one of the greatest epic poems of all time. "Make place for Elif Shafak on your bookshelf... you won't regret it." (Arundhati Roy)

In the ancient city of Nineveh, on the bank of the River Tigris, King Ashurbanipal of Mesopotamia, erudite but ruthless, built a great library that would crumble with the end of his reign. From its ruins, however, emerged a poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh, that would infuse the existence of two rivers and bind together three lives.

In 1840 London, Arthur is born beside the stinking, sewage-filled River Thames. With an abusive, alcoholic father and a mentally ill mother, Arthur’s only chance of escaping destitution is his brilliant memory. When his gift earns him a spot as an apprentice at a leading publisher, Arthur’s world opens up far beyond the slums, and one book in particular catches his Nineveh and Its Remains.

In 2014 Turkey, Narin, a ten-year-old Yazidi girl, is diagnosed with a rare disorder that will soon cause her to go deaf. Before that happens, her grandmother is determined to baptize her in a sacred Iraqi temple. But with the rising presence of ISIS and the destruction of the family’s ancestral lands along the Tigris, Narin is running out of time.

In 2018 London, the newly divorced Zaleekah, a hydrologist, moves into a houseboat on the Thames to escape her husband. Orphaned and raised by her wealthy uncle, Zaleekah had made the decision to take her own life in one month, until a curious book about her homeland changes everything.

A dazzling feat of storytelling, There Are Rivers in the Sky entwines these outsiders with a single drop of water, a drop which remanifests across the centuries. Both a source of life and harbinger of death, rivers—the Tigris and the Thames—transcend history, transcend “Water remembers. It is humans who forget.”

My (not-so new) nominate until it wins book:

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

A curmudgeonly professor journeys to a small town in the far north to study faerie folklore and discovers dark fae magic, friendship, and love in the start of a heartwarming and enchanting new fantasy series.

Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world's first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party--or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, and the Fair Folk.

So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, get in the middle of Emily's research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.

But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones--the most elusive of all faeries--lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she'll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all--her own heart.

Attempts to get under 15 by the end of 2024 are not doing great, but I am back down to 25.

October NetGalley Challenge
Beginning of month
Books on shelf: 25
Feedback ratio: 87%

2020:

2021:

2022:

2023:

2024:

2025:

I got us our first Discworld monster with:

Shadowing Lemma
100-175
tagged Science at least 10x
Author's initials in CANNIBALISM
some kind of shadow on cover
MATH(S) OR MATHEMATICS in text

I also cleaned up the count sheet and added the Discworld monsters so it correct now.

Spun us one from Urban Legends to use an older wheel for variety:

El Duende
350 to 450
hat on cover
Set in Latin and South America, The Philippines, or Guam
Cave in text
MC is under 18 (for at least 50% of the book)