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

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

Already talked to Judith, but can I have Day 1?

I added the backroom BOM nomination thread to the post at the start of the thread.

Nominations will be open until 12 May; polls will run 12 - 18 May.

Cat (mod) mentioned that the backroom BOM might start May 22. I think everyone here is over 18 but just a reminder that the backroom is an 18+ group.

Edited: Post updated with all June BOM info - link: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Judy wrote: "#10 -

And another one done! This one is a double-edged sword cause it's great that I enjoyed it, BUT it's the first in a series... oh well, tower teams is co..."

That is one of my planned TT books for May so glad you liked it.

I've usually nominated books I think would work well for discussion and not books that I have read before. I have nominated awful ones before, so it doesn't always work out.

Truitt_T wrote: "When books are instantly popular - particularly when it's not a well known author - I wonder how much it has to do with good advertising/promotion vs a more grass roots 'I read it and liked it - yo..."

I nominated it since we did The Sun Down Motel as a BOM, and it worked well. Some books are better to discuss than others.

Update to BOMs

I'll fix the post later today, but in case people need to request from the library, The Witch's Heart and The Book of Cold Cases won for June. You have a month to read them after the start date so all the way into July if you library has a long line.

Laila Jane wrote: "No problem, it’s always good to clarify!"

Glad that has been clarified, thank you Lalia for helping

Just in case anyone (new or repeat) is confused, we all start and end at the same time regardless of time zone. Just some people will be starting on the 15th (most of Europe, Africa, and N and S America) and some on the 16th (most of Asia and Australia), depending on time zone, so if you are in the second group, you need to wait until the 16th and whatever the official start time is for your time zone (why the countdown is helpful).

I added a countdown to the start to Message 11. It starts at 15 May 9pm BST London, UK. (Which happens to be 10 min before my first plane flight, so that works well).

Link here as well: https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...

Reminder: Books cannot be started before the official start of the challenge

Colleen wrote: "I'm here! (She/hers)

I live in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota and we are finally seeing some spring come around. I'm married 22 years with 3 kiddos - my first just completed her freshman year. ..."

I am at Notre Dame for my postdoc. It is in N Indiana, so we still had snow (didn't stick) over Easter weekend so glad to finally have spring in the last few weeks as well.

I have a love/hate relationship with audiobooks. I like to listen to something when I walk each day, but I am very picky on narrators. I much prefer rereads to new books on audio as well, so I save them for challenges like TT, so I don't burn out.

Kate S wrote: "Thank you for all of this information, Lexi. I have voted according to what I can get from the library at (hopefully) appropriate times. I have the first book in hand and no concerns about being ab..."

Well, if it wins, Judith would write the DQs since she nominated it so you are all good to go then

While we wait, I am going to talk about Books of the Month (BOM)

The first book is The Travelling Cat Chronicles and starts on May 16. Kate volunteered (thank you), and Judith and I are back-up. However, up to six people can volunteer for a team by the new rules so feel to volunteer as well.

Even if you don't want to write DQs, you only have to answer 3 sets of questions to get the extra points.

These are great opportunities to read fun books and great more points per book. First off, the 6 month reread rule holds for these too so if one gets voted in that you have read than that is just bad luck.

Next, the team that nominates a book automatically get DQs for that book (extra points) so even if you don't think you are going to read the book, you can still vote. But if you think you would read one of the books, please vote for what you want to read first.

For June - Judith nominated The Witch's Heart, which is a wonderful Norse retelling with Loki (and deals with the gender-fluid aspects of Loki much better than most I have seen). I also nominated Skin of the Sea, but I am voting for Judith's.

The other June book, I nominated The Book of Cold Cases and Judith nomianted Tallowwood. (I am voting for my own book this time. I like ghost stories).

Polls are here: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/3...

Edited to add: Polls close MAY 5th

I'll post when nominations for July are up.

As normal, Judith may have more to add in the morning (US time)

Volunteering for DQs as back up to Kate S and Judith

Team Pandora

Daniel (and everyone), please add books to the SS when you know you plan to read them and please add the read date and add them to your shelf once you read them. Some people do add them to their shelf when planned, but the first way, I find easier.

BOMS are a mix of old and new books and not mandatory. I will be posting a quick summary and notes on voting for BOMs before I sign off for the night.

Truitt_T wrote: "Question - Last time there was something akin to the May Mini that lasted the whole ofthe three months. Will it be just single month minis this time, or do you Captains know yet?"

Yes, there will be lots of mini tasks, instead of one big one, and a few big multi team events have been hinted at (As far as I understand but more rules forthcoming)

Truitt_T wrote: "Judith wrote: "I know, I have always felt Pandora was not treated fairly and been a bit fascinated by her. Sophie let me have her. Yay, mod bonus! LOL"

What a great bonus! Of course, for all the h..."

I'm both excited and mildly terrified of being in charge for the first time but should go well. The two students I am going with are both really good.

Judith is nicer than me. I personally would have gone with Circe due to the advantageous skill of being able to turn people into pigs, but Pandora is a good choice too

Welcome everyone! I'm Lexi (she/her) and I'm also one of three co-captains. I usually read a lot but figured between bigger books and summer fieldwork to estimate on the low side this round.

I'm a postdoc in Indiana and I study ecological interventions to prevent schistosomiasis and increase food security. Right now, it means I get to play with snails. I'll be in Senegal for the first half of TT. To add to the list of critters, I have two cats, Taiga and Pippin (named after the musical and not the hobbit).
Besides reading, I walk a lot, plan trip to national parks and hopefully take some of those trips in the near future and also enjoy baking shows.

Favorite books series is Murderbot (All Systems Red). Which if you have not read, I highly recommend. You could read all the novellas before TT starts (They are tiny, so not recommending them for TT).

Rules on Word Count

◈ Books with MPGs Childrens / Kids / Poetry / Play / Graphic Novel / Illustrated / Photography / Art (or which have "Illustrated" in the title or an "Illustrator" contributor in the metadata) must have at least 30,000 words (must be a verified count. sites that provide estimated word counts are not valid sources for verifying word count). ArBookFind is a great site to double check (there are also .co.uk and .com.au versions). If in doubt, ask your captain. A good rule of thumb is that if the audio is over 3 hours, the book will be long enough.

Links -
US - https://www.arbookfind.com/
AUS - https://www.arbookfind.com.au/
UK - https://www.arbookfind.co.uk/

Audible: https://www.audible.com/