Moderators of NBRC’s
Comments
(group member since Jan 22, 2011)
Moderators of NBRC’s
comments
from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.
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For those who have been playing along this year, the AI images have been inspired by:Jan - Ryan Gosling
Feb - Idris Elba
March - Maggie Smith
April - Karl Urban
May - Oprah
June - Ronny Chieng
July - Helen Mirren
August - Eddie Redmayne
September - Emma Watson
October - Malala
November - Ryan Reynolds
December - Ryan Gosling
How to Participate:The Audiobook Challenge is designed to not only help you to read your audiobooks, but to also find out about other great audiobooks from other challenge participants!
Though you may pop in/out at any time, the Audiobook Challenge will run on a monthly basis so you are able to see progress being made.
There are no minimum page requirements, and you can read abridged or unabridged audiobooks!
1. At the beginning of the month, post :
a: How many audiobooks in total you want to read for the month
b: How many audiobooks in the monthly category you want to read
c: Post the audiobooks (as you decide on them) by linking them to Goodreads in your post
2. During the month, read the audiobooks that you can AND update your post with your reviews. (You can do this after each book or wait until the end of the month.)
3. At the end of the month, update your post and with:
a: What books you read
b: Link(s) to your review(s) - note: can only be linked to Goodreads and not an external site
c: How many audiobooks you have read for this challenge this year
Then start a new post for the next month!
FORMAT YOU CAN COPY AND PASTE:
Start of Month
Total audiobooks to read:
Audiobooks in monthly category to read:
Books in category:
FINISHED
End of Month
Total audiobooks read this year:
Audiobooks in monthly category read:
MY MONTHLY RECOMMENDATION (and why):
===============
EXAMPLE : (under spoiler)(view spoiler)
~ Monthly Audiobook Challenge ~
Each month we will have a different theme of audiobook for you to listen to.
Read one, two, three, or thirty. Up to you! Just post at the start of the month which books you will read in the category, update through the month and post a link to your Goodreads review (no links to external sites).
Let's find some great audiobooks together!
Duration: Monthly
December 2025 Theme:
◈OMG the year is almost over
Books that were released in 2025
Wheel-a-Thon 8 was all about the hills are alive with the sound of music. NBRC formed a band, was looking for musicians, travelled to known musical locations, and in general, it celebrated the joy of music as well as the many instruments used to create it. This mini challenge will try to recapture the musical fun that was had.
Task List
For each of these tasks, you can use one book per requirement. Exact words need to be found. Please always provided the phrase and location. Books can only be used for one of these categories. (This does not exclude several team members reading the same book.)
Instrument
- Find 5 of the following musical instruments in the text of your books. One book per instrument. 5 different instruments.
Instrument List:
(view spoiler)
Location
- Read 5 books set at least 50% in one of the following musical locations. One book per location. 5 different locations.
Location List:
(view spoiler)
Cover
- Read 5 books which depict an instrument on cover. Any instrument, they just have to be clearly an instrument. You can find the same instrument multiple times.
Genre
- Find 5 of the following music genres in the text of your books. One book per genre. 5 different genres.
Genre List
(view spoiler)
Musician
- Read 5 books written by or about musicians. This could be non-fiction about a musician or band; or it could be fiction - in which case the main character(s) should be a professional musician (or aspiring). Someone who plays an instrument for personal pleasure only doesn't count.
This mini challenge runs during Round 4 of the challenge, 22 November to 6 December. This mini challenge can only be completed once. You cannot bank books for this mini challenge.
- Books must be used in a spell out to be used for this mini challenge.
- Books can only be used for one mini challenge.
- Each task completed is worth 10 bonus points.
- A bonus of 30 points will be awarded if all tasks are completed.
Nov 20, 2025 12:49AM
Nov 20, 2025 12:48AM
reserved
Nov 20, 2025 12:48AM
reserved
Nov 20, 2025 12:48AM
This thread is open to discuss Empire of the Dawn by Jay Kristoff.
Synopsis:
From holy cup comes holy light;
The faithful hands sets world aright.
And in the Seven Martyrs’ sight,
Mere man shall end this endless night.
Gabriel de León has lost his family, his faith, and the last hope of ending the endless night—his surrogate daughter, Dior. With no thought left but vengeance, he and a band of loyal brothers journey into the war-torn heart of Elidaen to claim the life of the Forever King.
Unbeknownst to the Last Silversaint, the Grail still lives—speeding towards the besieged capital of Augustin in the frail hope of ending Daysdeath. But deadly treachery awaits within the halls of power, and the Forever King’s legions march ever closer. Gabriel and Dior will be drawn into a final battle that will shape the very fate of the Empire, but as the sun sets for what may the last time, there will be no one left for them to trust.
Not even each other
Nov 18, 2025 01:54AM
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Nov 18, 2025 01:54AM
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Nov 18, 2025 01:54AM
Chapter Breakdown
Date Chapters Pages MPDQs
Guidance for DQ setters
Aim for a reasonable number of questions: 4 - 5 is typical. Please don't post too many - any more than 7 gets unwieldy!
Use consecutive numbering of the DQs for your days. So, for example, if Day One is posted as questions 1-4, Day Two should start at number 5 etc.
Don't worry too much about your questions: you aren't being tested on how clever your questions are!
Hints and tips:
- Is there a quote that jumped out at you? Use that in a question.
- What about the characters - do they generate strong feelings? No feelings? - either way, we can explore that!
- What about that plot twist?!
- Explore the writing style: is there an unusual structure being used? what's the tone of voice like? or the point of view?
Want more information about how NBRC runs their Book of the Month discussions? Check out the information here
Nov 18, 2025 01:54AM
In one of the most important and beloved Latin American works of the twentieth century, Isabel Allende weaves a luminous tapestry of three generations of the Trueba family, revealing both triumphs and tragedies. Here is patriarch Esteban, whose wild desires and political machinations are tempered only by his love for his ethereal wife, Clara, a woman touched by an otherworldly hand. Their daughter, Blanca, whose forbidden love for a man Esteban has deemed unworthy infuriates her father, yet will produce his greatest joy: his granddaughter Alba, a beautiful, ambitious girl who will lead the family and their country into a revolutionary future.
The House of the Spirits is an enthralling saga that spans decades and lives, twining the personal and the political into an epic novel of love, magic, and fate.
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nominator: Jenny
Nov 18, 2025 01:53AM
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Nov 18, 2025 01:53AM
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Nov 18, 2025 01:53AM
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Nov 18, 2025 01:53AM
Chapter Breakdown
Date Chapters Pages MPDQs
Guidance for DQ setters
Aim for a reasonable number of questions: 4 - 5 is typical. Please don't post too many - any more than 7 gets unwieldy!
Use consecutive numbering of the DQs for your days. So, for example, if Day One is posted as questions 1-4, Day Two should start at number 5 etc.
Don't worry too much about your questions: you aren't being tested on how clever your questions are!
Hints and tips:
- Is there a quote that jumped out at you? Use that in a question.
- What about the characters - do they generate strong feelings? No feelings? - either way, we can explore that!
- What about that plot twist?!
- Explore the writing style: is there an unusual structure being used? what's the tone of voice like? or the point of view?
Want more information about how NBRC runs their Book of the Month discussions? Check out the information here
Nov 18, 2025 01:53AM
A gripping, page-turning novel set in Jim Crow Florida that follows Robert Stephens Jr. as he’s sent to a segregated reform school that is a chamber of terrors where he sees the horrors of racism and injustice, for the living, and the dead.
Gracetown, Florida
June 1950
Twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr., is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, a reformatory, for kicking the son of the largest landowner in town in defense of his older sister, Gloria. So begins Robbie’s journey further into the terrors of the Jim Crow South and the very real horror of the school they call The Reformatory.
Robbie has a talent for seeing ghosts, or haints. But what was once a comfort to him after the loss of his mother has become a window to the truth of what happens at the reformatory. Boys forced to work to remediate their so-called crimes have gone missing, but the haints Robbie sees hint at worse things. Through his friends Redbone and Blue, Robbie is learning not just the rules but how to survive. Meanwhile, Gloria is rallying every family member and connection in Florida to find a way to get Robbie out before it’s too late.
The Reformatory is a haunting work of historical fiction written as only American Book Award–winning author Tananarive Due could, by piecing together the life of the relative her family never spoke of and bringing his tragedy and those of so many others at the infamous Dozier School for Boys to the light in this riveting novel.
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nominator: Fiona
official page count: 576
Nov 18, 2025 01:39AM
DQ Setting Update!As you will note, Melissa missed her spot, so Teddie and I did a rapid reshuffle, with Melissa tentatively slotted in for 20th.
In the event that Melissa doesn't reply today and confirm her ability to write for that day, there's a slight issue that we are weighing up for fairness:
E is the representative for the next unique team, but won't be able to fill in on 20th, but could take the last day.
Rules say that if the next team can't fit their day we skip and move to the first repeat, which would be Jenny, but I'm not sure she's ready to answer on 20th either...
For the moment, the hope is that Melissa steps into 20th, no problems. If she can't then current proposal is that everyone shuffles up an E takes the last day, which keeps to the spirit of the rules.
Any objections and we'll revisit this proposal.
Nov 12, 2025 07:13AM
The randomiser has randomised!The split was excessively awkward, especially for any audio listeners - sorry!
As always, if you can't do your day then switch with a listed backup. If they can't, or you haven't got one, then the next unique team will be up.
Enjoy - I think this is a ride that we'll need to hold hands for!
Wheel-a-thon 6 was a spin through time. This mini challenge therefore focuses on different time periods and aspects of telling time through a series of different tasks.
Task List
1. First published between 1950 and 1900 (inclusive).
2. First published between 1800 and 1899 (inclusive).
3. First published between 1951 and 2000 (inclusive).
4. First published 2001 or later.
5. First published before 1800.
6. Tagged "time travel" 10x.
7. Tagged "steampunk" 10x
8. Clock on the cover.
9. Any type of watch on the cover.
10. Mentions any kind of time piece in the text.
11. Indication of time in the title (ex. hour, minute, year, etc).
12. Time of day in the title (ex. morning, midnight, noon, etc).
13. Set in period BCE
14. Set in period 0CE to 1500s (inclusive).
15. Set in 1600s
16. Set in 1700s
17. Set in 1800s
18. Set in 1900s
19. Set in 2000s
20. Author initials in TIME PIECE.
21. Starts with a letter in CLOCKWORK.
22. Book with flashbacks.
23. Told during multiple time periods.
24. Written in diary / epistolary format.
25. Involves a countdown or deadline.
This mini challenge runs during Round 3 of the challenge, 8 November to 22 November. This mini challenge can only be completed once. You cannot bank books for this mini challenge.
- Books must be used in a spell out to be used for this mini challenge.
- Books can only be used for one mini challenge.
- Each task completed is worth 10 bonus points.
- A bonus of 30 points will be awarded if all tasks are completed.
- Setting must be at least 50% of the book
- Fantasy equivalents work for settings (so fantasy Rome would be assumed to be the same time as real Rome and fantasy Victorian etc. if no year is used in the book)
