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

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

Chapter Breakdown

Date		Chapters 		%age	MPDQs
16 Apr		start: The start!		Melindam
		end: 15th September 	20%
17 Apr		start: 17th September		Lexi
		end: 27th Septenber 	41%
18 Apr		start: 2nd October		Catherine
		end: 6th October - late	63%
19 Apr		start: 7th Octber		Judith
		end: 11th October	79%
20 Apr		start: 11th October - evening	Cat
		end: The end!

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

When mysterious faeries from other realms appear at her university, curmudgeonly professor Emily Wilde must uncover their secrets before it’s too late, in this heartwarming, enchanting second installment of the Emily Wilde series.

Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore who just wrote the world’s first comprehensive encyclopaedia of faeries. She’s learned many of the secrets of the Hidden Ones on her adventures . . . and also from her fellow scholar and former rival Wendell Bambleby.

Because Bambleby is more than infuriatingly charming. He’s an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother and in search of a door back to his realm. And despite Emily’s feelings for Bambleby, she’s not ready to accept his proposal of marriage: Loving one of the Fair Folk comes with secrets and dangers.

She also has a new project to focus on: a map of the realms of faerie. While she is preparing her research, Bambleby lands her in trouble yet again, when assassins sent by his mother invade Cambridge. Now Bambleby and Emily are on another adventure, this time to the picturesque Austrian Alps, where Emily believes they may find the door to Bambleby’s realm and the key to freeing him from his family’s dark plans.

But with new relationships for the prickly Emily to navigate and dangerous Folk lurking in every forest and hollow, Emily must unravel the mysterious workings of faerie doors and of her own heart.

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nominator: Melindam

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Participation Verified

Judith https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Angie https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Chapter Breakdown

Date	Chapters 	Pages		MPDQs
2 Apr 	Ch1 to Ch 22 (pg 1 to 94)	Lexi
3 Apr 	Ch 23 to Ch 47 (pg 95 to 191)	Judith
4 Apr	****** Break Day ******
5 Apr 	Ch 48 to Ch 74 (pg 192 to 288)	Catherine
6 Apr	 Ch 75 to end (pg 289 to end)	????

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 brand new series. An iconic new detective duo. And a puzzling new murder to solve...

Steve Wheeler is enjoying retired life. He does the odd bit of investigation work, but he prefers his familiar habits and routines: the pub quiz, his favorite bench, his cat waiting for him when he comes home. His days of adventure are over: adrenaline is daughter-in-law Amy’s business now.

Amy Wheeler thinks adrenaline is good for the soul. As a private security officer, she doesn’t stay still long enough for habits or routines. She’s currently on a remote island keeping world-famous author Rosie D’Antonio alive. Which was meant to be an easy job...

Then a dead body, a bag of money, and a killer with their sights on Amy have her sending an SOS to the only person she trusts. A breakneck race around the world begins, but can Amy and Steve stay one step ahead of a lethal enemy?

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nominator: Lexi

Alexia wrote: "I nominate:

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe"

Kathleen wrote: "https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

“And So I Roar”"

This have not been nominated in accordance with the rules. In order to be considered, please repost as required (and like the rest of the nominators!)

break down is up! Alysa, maybe you could commit to the last section? No worries if not - we can flex :)

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Theme Book Of the Month



It's May, and time to explore Africa! With such a varied continent, what will we be reading? Perhaps we'll be in historical times, learning about the civilisation in Timbuktu, or will we explore post-colonial issues in Nigeria, or even enjoy some Afro/African-Futurist writing.

Preference, please, for books set in or about Africa by Africans.

Nominations will be open until 27 March, UK evening

***Please pay special attention to the Rules and Guidelines listed below.***

Rules and Guidelines
1. Books nominated after the deadline will not be included in the polls. Sorry.
2. Each person is limited to nominating ONE book per category.
3. Please use the add book/author tool located at the top of the comment box when nominating a book. (Please make your nomination clear because side conversations do happen and we don't want to accidentally miss a nomination)
4. Please add the Goodreads synopsis for the book you nominate; you should also include an explanation of how it fits the theme for the month.
5. Books that were read as a past BOM will not be considered for the poll. (link to the sheet under the spoiler (view spoiler)[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/... (hide spoiler)])
6. Books that are #2 or higher in a series will only be considered if all earlier books in the series have been a past BOM.
7. Books must be published at the time of nomination.
8. If your book is successful in being picked as the BOM you are expected to actively participate in the discussion. This will include writing a set of DQs as well as engaging in conversations.

The BOM nominations are for our members to nominate a book they are truly interested in and have no affiliation with. Promotional activity is NOT permitted and nominations that the Moderators perceive to be promotional will be deleted without warning

.

Please nominate an Adult Fiction or a Non Fiction book that you would like to read in the month of May 2025.

Nominations will be open until 27 March, UK evening

***Please pay special attention to the Rules and Guidelines listed below.***

Rules and Guidelines
1. Books nominated after the deadline will not be included in the polls. Sorry.
2. Each person is limited to nominating ONE book per category.
3. Please use the add book/author tool located at the top of the comment box when nominating a book. (Please make your nomination clear because side conversations do happen and we don't want to accidentally miss a nomination)
4. Please add the Goodreads synopsis for the book you nominate; optionally you can include a reason why we should read your nomination.
5. Books that were read as a past BOM will not be considered for the poll. (link to the sheet under the spoiler (view spoiler)[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/... (hide spoiler)])
6. Books that are #2 or higher in a series will only be considered if all earlier books in the series have been a past BOM.
7. Books must be published at the time of nomination.
8. If your book is successful in being picked as the BOM you are expected to actively participate in the discussion. This will include writing a set of DQs as well as engaging in conversations.

Also, please be aware of your nomination's genre and list them in the appropriate BOM category.

Genres that DO NOT go here:
Young Adult
Middle Grade / Children's
Erotica

The BOM nominations are for our members to nominate a book they are truly interested in and have no affiliation with. Promotional activity is NOT permitted and nominations that the Moderators perceive to be promotional will be deleted without warning

Participation Verified

Judith https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Catherine https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
MelanieJoy https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Angie https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Chapter Breakdown

Date		Chapters 	%age		MPDQs
16 Mar		1 - 6		21%		Judith
17 Mar		7 - 13		40%		Catherine
18 Mar		14 - 19		61%		Cat
19 Mar		******BREAK DAY********
20 Mar		20 - 27		78%		[Judith]
21 Mar		28 - end	100%		Alysa

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

Shannon Chakraborty, the bestselling author of The City of Brass, spins a new trilogy of magic and mayhem on the high seas in this tale of pirates and sorcerers, forbidden artifacts and ancient mysteries, in one woman’s determined quest to seize a final chance at glory—and write her own legend.

Amina al-Sirafi should be content. After a storied and scandalous career as one of the Indian Ocean’s most notorious pirates, she’s survived backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands, and one actual demon to retire peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural.

But when she’s tracked down by the obscenely wealthy mother of a former crewman, she’s offered a job no bandit could refuse: retrieve her comrade’s kidnapped daughter for a kingly sum. The chance to have one last adventure with her crew, do right by an old friend, and win a fortune that will secure her family’s future forever? It seems like such an obvious choice that it must be God’s will.

Yet the deeper Amina dives, the more it becomes alarmingly clear there’s more to this job, and the girl’s disappearance, than she was led to believe. For there’s always risk in wanting to become a legend, to seize one last chance at glory, to savor just a bit more power…and the price might be your very soul.
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nominator: Judith

Participation Verified

Judith https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Angie https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Jenny https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Chapter Breakdown

Date		Chapters 	%age		MPDQs
3 Mar		1 - 8		20%		Jenny
4 Mar		9 - 20		41%		Judith
5 Mar		21 - 31		62%		Cat
6 Mar		32 - P2 Ch8 	 81%		Jenny(?)
7 Mar		P2 Ch9- end		100%		Judith(?)

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

When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim's agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first-century American literature.
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nominator: Jenny