Moderators of NBRC’s Comments (group member since Jan 22, 2011)

Moderators of NBRC’s comments from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.

As it's been long enough to eat all of the last batch of cheese, the Chipmunks shout "think fast" and toss a literal bag of cheese into the tower.

Bouhezza

Bouhezza is a type of ripened cheese that has traditionally been prepared by the Chaouia community of the Aurès Mountains in Algeria. Although traditional cheese-making calls for the use of a chekoua (a specially designed goatskin or sheepskin bag), cloth fabric is nowadays more commonly used in the production of this cheese.





Produced between March and June, this cheese is made from raw goat’s or sheep’s milk (today also with cow’s milk), with the addition of lben (fermented milk), salt, and additional raw milk. Ripening usually takes from several weeks up to 2 or 3 months, and red chili powder is sometimes added for spiciness.

As it's been long enough to eat all of the last batch of cheese, the Chipmunks shout "think fast" and toss a literal bag of cheese into the tower.

Bouhezza

Bouhezza is a type of ripened cheese that has traditionally been prepared by the Chaouia community of the Aurès Mountains in Algeria. Although traditional cheese-making calls for the use of a chekoua (a specially designed goatskin or sheepskin bag), cloth fabric is nowadays more commonly used in the production of this cheese.





Produced between March and June, this cheese is made from raw goat’s or sheep’s milk (today also with cow’s milk), with the addition of lben (fermented milk), salt, and additional raw milk. Ripening usually takes from several weeks up to 2 or 3 months, and red chili powder is sometimes added for spiciness.

As it's been long enough to eat all of the last batch of cheese, the Chipmunks shout "think fast" and toss a literal bag of cheese into the tower.

Bouhezza

Bouhezza is a type of ripened cheese that has traditionally been prepared by the Chaouia community of the Aurès Mountains in Algeria. Although traditional cheese-making calls for the use of a chekoua (a specially designed goatskin or sheepskin bag), cloth fabric is nowadays more commonly used in the production of this cheese.





Produced between March and June, this cheese is made from raw goat’s or sheep’s milk (today also with cow’s milk), with the addition of lben (fermented milk), salt, and additional raw milk. Ripening usually takes from several weeks up to 2 or 3 months, and red chili powder is sometimes added for spiciness.

As it's been long enough to eat all of the last batch of cheese, the Chipmunks shout "think fast" and toss a literal bag of cheese into the tower.

Bouhezza

Bouhezza is a type of ripened cheese that has traditionally been prepared by the Chaouia community of the Aurès Mountains in Algeria. Although traditional cheese-making calls for the use of a chekoua (a specially designed goatskin or sheepskin bag), cloth fabric is nowadays more commonly used in the production of this cheese.





Produced between March and June, this cheese is made from raw goat’s or sheep’s milk (today also with cow’s milk), with the addition of lben (fermented milk), salt, and additional raw milk. Ripening usually takes from several weeks up to 2 or 3 months, and red chili powder is sometimes added for spiciness.

As it's been long enough to eat all of the last batch of cheese, the Chipmunks shout "think fast" and toss a literal bag of cheese into the tower.

Bouhezza

Bouhezza is a type of ripened cheese that has traditionally been prepared by the Chaouia community of the Aurès Mountains in Algeria. Although traditional cheese-making calls for the use of a chekoua (a specially designed goatskin or sheepskin bag), cloth fabric is nowadays more commonly used in the production of this cheese.





Produced between March and June, this cheese is made from raw goat’s or sheep’s milk (today also with cow’s milk), with the addition of lben (fermented milk), salt, and additional raw milk. Ripening usually takes from several weeks up to 2 or 3 months, and red chili powder is sometimes added for spiciness.

As it's been long enough to eat all of the last batch of cheese, the Chipmunks shout "think fast" and toss a literal bag of cheese into the tower.

Bouhezza

Bouhezza is a type of ripened cheese that has traditionally been prepared by the Chaouia community of the Aurès Mountains in Algeria. Although traditional cheese-making calls for the use of a chekoua (a specially designed goatskin or sheepskin bag), cloth fabric is nowadays more commonly used in the production of this cheese.





Produced between March and June, this cheese is made from raw goat’s or sheep’s milk (today also with cow’s milk), with the addition of lben (fermented milk), salt, and additional raw milk. Ripening usually takes from several weeks up to 2 or 3 months, and red chili powder is sometimes added for spiciness.

Jessica wrote: "I nominate sally Rooney
Intermezzo"

This has already been nominated; in addition, in order to nominate your post must follow the rules set out

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Randomiser

There were 13 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

Mel - 3P Ex
Catherine - Burj
Insiyah - Sky
Rina - Liz
Amanda - Eiffel
Aiswyra - Pisa
Fiona - 3P
Teddie - ESB Ex
Melanie Joy - Icono
E - Lotus
Catherine - Burj Ex
Jenny - ESB
Angie - ESB Extra entry

Timestamp: 2025-07-13 17:24:22 UTC

Volunteers

nom: Judith Belem

Fiona - 3P
Lexi - Belem BU
Insiyah - Sky
Aiswyra - Pisa
Mel - 3P BU
Mel - 3P Ex
Jenny - ESB
Teddie - ESB BU
Teddie - ESB Ex
Catherine - Burj
Catherine - Burj Extra
Amanda - Eiffel
Melanie Joy - Icono
E - Lotus
Rina - Liz
Kaley - Liz BU
Angie - ESB BU
Angie - ESB Extra entry
Melissa - Pisa BU

Chapter Breakdown

Date		Chapters 		MPDQs
16 Jul		Chapter 1 - Chapter 4 	Judith (Belem)
17 Jul		Chapter 5 - Chapter 7 	Fiona (3P)
18 Jul		Chapter 8 - Chapter 12 	Catherine (Burj)
19 Jul		Chapter 13 - Chapter 16	Insiyah (Sky)
20 Jul	*****Break Day******
21 Jul		Chapter 17 - Chapter 21	Rina (Liz)
22 Jul		Chapter 22 - Chapter 26 Amanda (Eiffel)
23 Jul		Chapter 27 - Chapter 29 Aiswyra (Pisa)
24 Jul		Chapter 30 - End 	Teddie (ESB)

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

A mother struggling to repress her violent past,
A son struggling to grasp his violent future,
A father blind to the danger that threatens them all.

When the winds of war reach their peninsula, will the Matsuda family have the strength to defend their empire? Or will they tear each other apart before the true enemies even reach their shores?

High on a mountainside at the edge of the Kaigenese Empire live the most powerful warriors in the world, superhumans capable of raising the sea and wielding blades of ice. For hundreds of years, the fighters of the Kusanagi Peninsula have held the Empire’s enemies at bay, earning their frozen spit of land the name ‘The Sword of Kaigen.’

Born into Kusanagi’s legendary Matsuda family, fourteen-year-old Mamoru has always known his purpose: to master his family’s fighting techniques and defend his homeland. But when an outsider arrives and pulls back the curtain on Kaigen’s alleged age of peace, Mamoru realizes that he might not have much time to become the fighter he was bred to be. Worse, the empire he was bred to defend may stand on a foundation of lies.

Misaki told herself that she left the passions of her youth behind when she married into the Matsuda house. Determined to be a good housewife and mother, she hid away her sword, along with everything from her days as a fighter in a faraway country. But with her growing son asking questions about the outside world, the threat of an impending invasion looming across the sea, and her frigid husband grating on her nerves, Misaki finds the fighter in her clawing its way back to the surface.

=======
nominator: Judith
official page count: 651

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There were 10 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

Leslie Ann - ESB
Lisa AG - Sky
Amanda - Eiffel
Christina - OoA Ex
Christina - OoA
Erin - Belem
Lexi - Belem Ex
Lisa AG - Sky Ex
Rina - Liz
Catherine - Burj

Timestamp: 2025-06-28 13:07:12 UTC

Volunteers

nom: Melindan - 3P

Erin - Belem
Judith - Belem BU
Christina - OoA
Christina - OoA Ex
Lexi - Belem BU
Lexi - Belem Ex
Lisa AG - Sky
Lisa AG - Sky Ex
Leslie Ann - ESB
Jenny - ESB BU
Catherine - Burj
Amanda -Eiffel
Rina - Liz

Chapter Breakdown

Date		Chapters 	%ages		MPDQs
2 July		Chapter 1-11 	1-18%		Melindam - 3P
3 July		Chapter 12-19 	18-37%		Leslie Ann - ESB
4 July		Chapter 20 - 30 37-55%		Lisa AG - Sky
5 July		Chapter 31 - 43	55-74%		Amanda - Eiffel
6 July		Chapter 44 - 52	74-88%		Christina - OoA Ex
7 July		Chapter 53 - 59	88-100%		Erin - Belem	

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

"The world is full of miracles, but none greater than how far a young person can be carried by someone else's belief in them."

Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of a wide expanse of sea. But Louisa, soon to be eighteen years old and an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise. She is determined to find out the story behind these three enigmatic figures.

More than two decades before, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days on an abandoned pier telling silly jokes, sharing secrets, and committing small acts of rebellion. These lost souls find in each other a reason to get up every morning, a reason to dream, a reason to love.

Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that, after a chance encounter in an alleyway, will unexpectedly be placed into Louisa’s care. She embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to discover how the painting came to be and to decide what to do with it. The closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more anxious she becomes about what she'll find. Louisa's complicated life is proof that happy endings are sometimes possible, but they don't always take the form we expect them to.

Fredrik Backman's signature charm, humor, and attention to the poignant details of everyday life are on full display in this funny, moving novel. His most heartfelt and personal tale yet, My Friends is a stunning testament to the transformative, timeless power of art and friendship.

=========
nominator: Melindam
official page count: 448 pages

The Chipmunks have had enough of the smell and want Mel's cheese out! These even come on a stick, so helpful in launching into the towers.

Queijo Coalho

Queijo (de) coalho is a traditional Brazilian cheese produced in Northeastern Brazil. Handcrafted coalho is mainly produced from raw cow's milk, but commercially produced versions are made from pasteurised cow's milk.





Queijo coalho is a firm, lightweight yellowish-white cheese with an elastic texture. It is a salty cheese with a slightly acidic taste, and it is known for its "squeaky" texture when bitten into. On the beaches of Brazil, you get coalho cheese as a cheap snack where it is cooked over a charcoal grill, often with a sprinkling of oregano or garlic-flavoured sauce.

The Chipmunks have had enough of the smell and want Mel's cheese out! These even come on a stick, so helpful in launching into the towers.

Queijo Coalho

Queijo (de) coalho is a traditional Brazilian cheese produced in Northeastern Brazil. Handcrafted coalho is mainly produced from raw cow's milk, but commercially produced versions are made from pasteurised cow's milk.





Queijo coalho is a firm, lightweight yellowish-white cheese with an elastic texture. It is a salty cheese with a slightly acidic taste, and it is known for its "squeaky" texture when bitten into. On the beaches of Brazil, you get coalho cheese as a cheap snack where it is cooked over a charcoal grill, often with a sprinkling of oregano or garlic-flavoured sauce.

The Chipmunks have had enough of the smell and want Mel's cheese out! These even come on a stick, so helpful in launching into the towers.

Queijo Coalho

Queijo (de) coalho is a traditional Brazilian cheese produced in Northeastern Brazil. Handcrafted coalho is mainly produced from raw cow's milk, but commercially produced versions are made from pasteurised cow's milk.





Queijo coalho is a firm, lightweight yellowish-white cheese with an elastic texture. It is a salty cheese with a slightly acidic taste, and it is known for its "squeaky" texture when bitten into. On the beaches of Brazil, you get coalho cheese as a cheap snack where it is cooked over a charcoal grill, often with a sprinkling of oregano or garlic-flavoured sauce.