Alysa’s Comments (group member since Jun 27, 2015)

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

Oooh Carrie, I LOVE The Library at Mount Char!

Question:

Would y'all consider this cover as having a cityscape (for Task #26)?
I think it does, but it's not ONLY a cityscape because there's also a person in the foreground.

How young are your youngest?
I'm a bit worried about mine (9 1/2) being old enough for the last 3 HP books, when we get there. I was planning to space them out more, so she'd be like 12 by the time we get to Deathly Hallows, but with quarantine -- and with some of her friends reading them all and starting to do spoilers (THOSE LITTLE BASTARDS!) -- I don't know if that's realistic.

I usually read 2 or 3 books at a time as well, in the normal course of things -- or even 4 if I'm also in the middle of reading something long to my kid! -- but I actually often read fewer books at a time during challenges. It's like, I'd rather complete one after the next after the next, rather than a bunch of books all finished at the same time. But, we shall see. Current circumstances being strange.

I'm going to start with Network Effect effect, like I mentioned, and then probably Blameless (my hold came in this morning, yay!). Then I'll start in on the other books I already put on the spreadsheet.

I've been reading the Harry Potter books aloud to my daughter, and we are going to start #4 soon, which I am excited about. It's been really amazing to see her reactions to these books. Like, whenever Snape does something unfair in potions class, and she is like "WHAT?!" :D
We started a different book last night, something that's just a little too short to have counted for Wheel anyway. If we finish it during the weekend days, we can start HP #4 sometimes next week. :D

We usually do, yeah, though maybe Michelle's been checking everybody's shelves on the downlow.

I'll post mine here just in case:
wheel-a-thon-2020

Tomorrow evening at 5pm for me! Yay!

I am actually going to start with Network Effect (the new Murderbot book) because my library e hold came in at a weird time. I had to check it out before I lost my place in line, and now I have to read it before it gets yanked.
I was hoping our first word would have some N's, but oh well.
It'd better work for some character names...

Laura wrote: "Alysa wrote: "@Captains -- if you would like some help putting together our team's Rec list, let me know.
I don't want to step on anybody's toes, but I do love organize stuff. I'm not captaining bu..."

Oh, great! I hadn't seen that she'd updated that sticky.
I hope more Dons give some recs :)

@Captains -- if you would like some help putting together our team's Rec list, let me know.
I don't want to step on anybody's toes, but I do love organize stuff. I'm not captaining but perhaps I can be like a "First Mate", lol.

Yeah, certain challenges have a direct point penalty.

But on a meta level, it's more like an honor code. Like, of course people go into "challenge mode" sometimes, but the Mods obviously would not be happy with anybody intentionally signing up for (example) 10 books/month, and then proceeding to read 40 books/month. Because that would significantly skew the team assignments.

I signed up for 15 books/month, but I'll probably end up reading more like 12 unless I force myself into challenge mode and/or pick shorter books. It's been harder for me to read as much as usual, what with working from home and losing my usual train commute plus having my kid at home (she is 9). Plus I recently got a sort-of promotion at work due to other people leaving, so I have a bit more/different stuff to do. *grumble not getting a raise grumble*

Nope, no penalties -- and people who read more than sign-up number can help cover for people who read less, when life gets in the way.

I think that the only thing Mods would really care about is if someone reads next to nothing after signing up for a high #, or reads a billion books after signing up for a very low #.
There are no penalties within the challenge per se, but I think they pay attention if someone does these things repeatedly across multiple challenges. They'd probably get a strongly worded PM.

Laura wrote: "Hey team! Let’s do a little planning, since we’re limited to 10 of the book tags per round.

For this first round, our tags are INSECTS, CREEPY, RACISM, WINGS, or TWILIGHT.

I have the Guild Hunte..."

If anybody feels like they might be interested in reading Just Mercy for one of the “Read a book recommended by someone on you own team” tasks, it is tagged RACISM.

Melanie wrote: "Alysa wrote: "Maybe there can be a separate thread for this (if there isn't one in Captains group), but can another GR Librarian here look into updating page count on this if appropriate? I don't w..."

Yay, thank you!

That would be awesome if we can pull it off!
I guess it will depend a lot on whether more people prefer to read longer or shorter books. More books = more spell-outs, and the new point system doesn’t reward for length anymore so lots of short books would be fine, but if we get many people who happen to be reading long books, it will impact the spell-outs. Just so long as we don’t end up with more than 1 partial word, it’s all good :D

Probably, but not everyone around here would know that. Most people just figured, "Hey, it's summer, time for some deckchairs."

I wish there were more tasks that involved drinking pina colodas and such. *dreams*

That cover was fine dark chocolate 4EVA!!!!!

And I actually do not mind that Jetsetters cover for deckchairs. I mean, there are chairs like that on pool decks, right?
At least no one was picturing the deck chair scene from Kate's Crew... until... NOW.

Maybe there can be a separate thread for this (if there isn't one in Captains group), but can another GR Librarian here look into updating page count on this if appropriate? I don't want to update my own (or a teammate's) book during a team challenge. Conflict of interest. :)

Perfiditas

GR says 288 pages for this ASIN but Amazon says 322.

I am hoping to read Blameless, which works for spell-out due to a bunch of character names, plus P series title. But I'm still waiting for my library hold on ebook to come in.
I am crazy and searched through all its 70+ pages of tags, and found 1 person has tagged it TWILIGHT.
So, that's something. ;D

[eta: cut last sentence for atrocious writing... I am clearly still tired]

I was expecting to read a bunch of crap, but got lucky!

I loved my initial QUAFFLE book, and then had to read 3 defense books that I would not ever have chosen and didn't love, but weren't completely awful.
These last 2 quality books were offensive strikes against the other team's Seeker, who just happened to pick more "real" books instead of all random crap from KU, haha.

Welcome, Roger!

42 print books in the past 3 days? Wow, yes, your mail carriers are going to love you.
I'm a big fan of both print and e-readers. The latter opens up a whole new world, and you won't ever run out of local device storage if you don't keep all of your titles on the device at the same time. :)

Thanks to Quidditch, no less, I have now read #s 14 and 15, bringing me halfway to my goal!

The Tales of Beedle the Bard
A Wizard of Earthsea

Unsurprisingly, I enjoyed both. 4 stars each. :)