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

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

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/

Countdown TBA
(view spoiler)[
1 June 9pm BST London, UK

Link: https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...

Other cities (use countdown above to double check):
Sydney, Australia - 2 June 2022 06:00
Athens, Greece - 1 June 2022 23:00
New York, NY, USA - 1 June 2022 16:00
San Francisco, CA, USA - 1 June 2022 13:00 (hide spoiler)]

Books of the Month
May
Theme: Animals - The Travelling Cat Chronicles
DQ start May 16: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Backroom (18+ ONLY): Wildfire
DQs: Starts May 22
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

June
Adult: The Book of Cold Cases
DQs Starts June 2: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Theme: Mythology: The Witch's Heart
DQs Starts June 16: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Mod Take Over: Ukraine: The Master and Margarita
DQs start June 8:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

July

Adult: Ariadne
DQs Starts July 2: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Theme: Sea - Malibu Rising
DQs Starts June 16: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

My spot for now
Edit: It is the 25th and I never filled this in so giving up for this month. I will be back in July.

Kristie wrote: "Lexi wrote: "Kristie wrote: "Apparently this is a month for adding more than reviewing for me. I just added two more:"

I've added two and reviewed two this month so I'm only breaking even so far."..."

I've got one more I hope to read so hopefully, even one less is progress.

Kristie wrote: "Apparently this is a month for adding more than reviewing for me. I just added two more:"

I've added two and reviewed two this month so I'm only breaking even so far.

Skipping this task: The Chariot (thank you for all your help anyways)

I even found a book and read 25%. I just can't convience myself to read anymore of it.
Direction: Title N-Z
S - Semiosis
K - Sing, Unburied, Sing - C: Kayla
I - The Expert System's Brother - C: Iblis
P - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - C: Ford Prefect

I may have to give King of Scars a try then, thank you

Sammy wrote: "I don't have that one yet, but I do have King of Scars and Rule of Wolves. Is there any particular order the series should be read in?"

I have a different question. I loved the Six of Crows duology and could not get through the first trilogy. Do I need it to read King of Scars?