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

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

Participation Verified

Melindam: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
RachelG: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Judith: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Ariana: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Insiyah: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Sammy: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Judy: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Melissa: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Preeti: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Angie: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Randomiser

There were 11 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

Cat (roof)
Judith (Traffic Jam) extra entry
Insiyah (Pet Cage)
Judy (Long Commute)
Alisha (Endless Meal Prep)
Catherine (sorting Recycling)
Cat (roof) extra entry
Cordelia (Overdue Bill)
Judith (Traffic Jam)
Fiona (Noisy Neighbours)
Sammy (DIY Disasters) last day

Timestamp: 2024-10-30 15:39:35 UTC

Volunteers

Mel (nom) day 1
Judith (Traffic Jam)
Judith (Traffic Jam) extra entry
Alisha (Endless Meal Prep)
Cordelia (Overdue Bill)
Fiona (Noisy Neighbours)
Insiyah (Pet Cage)
Catherine (sorting Recycling)
Sammy (DIY Disasters) last day
Ashley (Overdue Bill backup)
Louise (Noisy backup)
Judy (Long Commute)
Cat (roof)
Cat (roof) extra entry
Christina (Commute backup)

Chapter Breakdown

Date		Chapters 	%age		MPDQs
2 Nov		1 - 7		21%		Mel (Painting)
3 Nov		8 - 13		40%		Cat (Roof)
4 Nov		14 - 21		59%		Judith (Traffic)
5 Nov		22 - 29		80%		Insiyah (Pet Cage)
6 Nov		30 - 36		100%		Judy (Long Commute)

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 Spellshop is Sarah Beth Durst’s romantasy debut–a lush cottagecore tale full of stolen spellbooks, unexpected friendships, sweet jams, and even sweeter love.

Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she and her assistant, Caz—a magically sentient spider plant—have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite.

When a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela never thought she’d see again: her childhood home. Taking refuge there, Kiela discovers, much to her dismay, a nosy—and very handsome—neighbor who can’t take a hint and keeps showing up day after day to make sure she’s fed and to help fix up her new home.

In need of income, Kiela identifies something that even the bakery in town doesn’t have: jam. With the help of an old recipe book her parents left her and a bit of illegal magic, her cottage garden is soon covered in ripe berries.

But magic can do more than make life a little sweeter, so Kiela risks the consequences of using unsanctioned spells and opens the island’s first-ever and much needed secret spellshop.

Like a Hallmark rom-com full of mythical creatures and fueled by cinnamon rolls and magic, The Spellshop will heal your heart and feed your soul.

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nominator: Melindam
official page count: 384

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Feed Your Readers, the NetGalley Challenge

Duration: Monthly

How to Participate:

The NetGalley Challenge is designed to not only get you to read your NetGalley books, but to also advertise your reviews for others to see because after all, that's what NetGalley is all about.

Though you may pop in/out at any time, the NetGalley Challenge will run on a monthly basis so you are able to see progress being made.


1. At the beginning of the month, post any/all of the following:
a: How many books on your NetGalley shelf
b: What books are on your NG shelf
c: What your Netgalley feedback ratio is

2. During the month, read the NetGalley books 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)**
c: Your updated shelf count
d: Your updated books to read
e: Your updated ratio

Then start a new post for the next month!


**When linking your reviews, please link only to the book(s) here at GoodReads. At this time, linking to a personal blog is not allowed. Thank you!

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)[

Start of Month

Total audiobooks to read: 6
Audiobooks in monthly category to read: 2

Books in category:


FINISHED


End of Month
Total audiobooks read this year: 9
Audiobooks in monthly category read: 1

MY MONTHLY RECOMMENDATION (and why):

Great story about women, culture and love set in Nigeria. I loved the characters and the setting, and the audio narrator was great with the different voices and bringing the story to life (hide 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


November 2024 Theme:

◈New to me
Books where you haven't read anything by the author, or the narrator before

As with life, it all seems to land at once, with not one, not two, but THREE minis being released!



See the details in the Announcements thread.

This is an optional mini challenge for Boring Life Wheel, which will run from 26th October 9pm UK time until the end of the challenge.

Keeping the family fed is a thankless task, with fussy toddlers who only eat beige, teens flirting with vegan food and hulking men who want mounds of meat! And no sooner has one meal been cleared away then it seems like it's time to open the fridge again. Sometimes picking up the phone and calling for take-away is the best option!


A: Cooking from Scratch
Find the listed food items in the text of a book; plural variants are ok, and the word found doesn't have to mean the food (e.g "it's a bit of a squash to get everyone in")
- potato
- rice
- pasta
- bread
- beef
- lamb
- chicken
- fish
- lentil
- broccoli
- carrot
- pumpkin
- squash
- yam
- bean
- corn
- okra
- tomato
- onion
- lettuce
- cucumber
- apple
- peach
- fig
- grape
- banana
- salt
- pepper
- sugar
- spice

B: Let's Just Get a Takeaway!
Read books with country tags (at least 5) (yes, we know Hawai'i isn't a country anymore):
- China
- Mexico
- Italy
- France
- India
- Greece
- Japan
- Thailand
- Korea (South Korea and North Korea will also work)
- Turkey
- Nigeria
- Jamaica
- Bangladesh
- Hawaii
- Fried Chicken - needs "Southern Gothic" tag


◈ Each task will earn 5 points.
◈ 5 bonus points if a book used for this mini ALSO contains either of the words VINEGAR or LOBSTER.
◈ Captains are to use their discretion whether a book fits a task or not.
◈ Standard rules apply.
◈ Books used for this mini must also be used for the spell-out.
◈ Books can be started at any point since the beginning of the Boring Life Wheel challenge, but only books finished after 26th October 9pm UK time will count for this mini.
◈ Spreadsheets will be updated for the Captains to update and track the teams points.
◈ You can work on both parts simultaneously.
◈ You can complete this mini as many times as you like, but you cannot bank books (i.e. books for a repeat task must be finished after all the tasks have been completed once).

This is an optional mini challenge for Boring Life Wheel, which will run from 26th October 9pm UK time until the end of the challenge.

When juggling the demands of family, work, and society in general; a relaxing hobby is in order. And of course that hobby should be productive and improve the household. What are we talking about? Gardening of course! Build and maintain your garden to be the envy of the neighbourhood.

Prep:
Get the garden areas ready, building climbing trellises and the like.
Read two sets of 5 books that are consecutive numbers in series (eg 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
- do not need to start at 1
- do need to be in a continuous sequence (i.e. 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 does NOT work)
- do not need to be from the same series
- do not need to be read in order

Tend:
Find books with words in their title (or subtitle) that meet the following.
Germinate: is 6 or more letters long
Plant: is exactly 5 letters
Mulch: contains one of the following digraphs: CH, PH, SH, TH, WH
Weed: contains a double vowel
Water: contains and H and 2 Os
Pest Control: contains two letters consecutive in the alphabet (e.g AB in alphabet)
Feed: contains a double letter
Prune: can be cut to reveal a different word of at least 2 letters (e.g PRUNE - RUNE / AFFAIR - FAIR)
Harvest: that could be a noun or verb (e.g TRAIN)
Deadhead: contains a repeat set of at least two letters (e.g BEGINNING repeats IN)

Bloom:
Read 10 books with colour covers (50%+) to reflect the colours in your flowers.
MUST include 1 brown and 1 green colour.

◈ Each task will earn 5 points.
◈ 5 bonus points if a book used for this mini ALSO contains either of the words PIANO or VIOLIN (plants respond well to music. not sure about our readers!)
◈ Captains are to use their discretion whether a book fits a task or not.
◈ Standard rules apply.
◈ Books used for this mini must also be used for the spell-out.
◈ Books can be started at any point since the beginning of the Boring Life Wheel challenge, but only books finished after 26th October 9pm UK time will count for this mini.
◈ Spreadsheets will be updated for the Captains to update and track the teams points.
◈ You can repeat this mini as many times as you want, but can't bank books. i.e. books for the second run through must all be finished AFTER all the tasks for the first run through have been completed.

This is an optional mini challenge for Boring Life Wheel, which will run from 26th October 9pm UK time until the end of the challenge.

A lot of people do not like paperwork. Of any kind. Yet needs must. So in order to get your office space, and the boxes you hid away in the attic, and the folders that are gathering mold on the shelves, and all those other hidey-holes you found for the paperwork you do not want to do, organised, we have a little something for you to do.

Find books that fits one of the following criteria:
- the main character works in an office
- the plot revolves around an office romance
- typical administrative material on the cover
- tagged non-fiction / nonfiction (at least 10x)
- tagged office (at least 10x)
- the main character works in taxes
- the main character works in finance
- the clue to solving a murder is found in paperwork
- cover colour is at least 50% grey
- cover colour is at least 50% orange
- someone is murdered in an office
- the plot revolves around white-collar crime
- the main character needs to know how to handle a budget
- letters GREY in title
- letters TAXES in title
- letters ADMIN in title
- author first & last initials in FILING
- author first & last initials in PAPERWORK
- author first & last initials in SHREDDING
- tagged DNF (or direct equivalent) (at least 10x)


◈ Each task will earn 5 points.
◈ 5 bonus points if a book used for this mini ALSO contains either of the words COFFEE-TABLE or QUILT (note: coffee-table doesn't need to by hyphenated, but does need to be the pair of words).
◈ Captains are to use their discretion whether a book fits a task or not.
◈ Standard rules apply.
◈ Books used for this mini must also be used for the spell-out.
◈ Books can be started at any point since the beginning of the Boring Life Wheel challenge, but only books finished after 26th October 9pm UK time will count for this mini.
◈ Spreadsheets will be updated for the Captains to update and track the teams points.
◈ You can repeat this mini as many times as you want, but can't bank books. i.e. books for the second run through must all be finished AFTER all the tasks for the first run through have been completed.

Please welcome your new teammates:
Mimuna
Andy
Alisha
Lucy
Tati
Silje

Happy Reading!

Days have been assigned. If you've been given a day you can switch with a back up listed in post 3.
If you can't do your day and a back up can't cover you then we'll move to the next team.
If you are late in posting we'll move to the next team

October is == BREAK / CATCH UP MONTH ==.

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For those of you who would like to join a buddy read for the second book of the Stormlight Archive series, a thread has been created

HERE.

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This thread is open to discuss Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson.




Expected by his enemies to die the miserable death of a military slave, Kaladin survived to be given command of the royal bodyguards, a controversial first for a low-status "darkeyes." Now he must protect the king and Dalinar from every common peril as well as the distinctly uncommon threat of the Assassin, all while secretly struggling to master remarkable new powers that are somehow linked to his honorspren, Syl.

The Assassin, Szeth, is active again, murdering rulers all over the world of Roshar, using his baffling powers to thwart every bodyguard and elude all pursuers. Among his prime targets is Highprince Dalinar, widely considered the power behind the Alethi throne. His leading role in the war would seem reason enough, but the Assassin's master has much deeper motives.

Brilliant but troubled Shallan strives along a parallel path. Despite being broken in ways she refuses to acknowledge, she bears a terrible burden: to somehow prevent the return of the legendary Voidbringers and the civilization-ending Desolation that will follow. The secrets she needs can be found at the Shattered Plains, but just arriving there proves more difficult than she could have imagined.

Meanwhile, at the heart of the Shattered Plains, the Parshendi are making an epochal decision. Hard pressed by years of Alethi attacks, their numbers ever shrinking, they are convinced by their war leader, Eshonai, to risk everything on a desperate gamble with the very supernatural forces they once fled. The possible consequences for Parshendi and humans alike, indeed, for Roshar itself, are as dangerous as they are incalculable.

Clarification on Bonus Points
For the avoidance of doubt, we are defining publication years by the year only, so 2 years ago means published in 2021. The official team sheet indicates the years that work for the different tiers.

For page count, a book of 400 pages does NOT count as "over 400 pages", ditto the other levels.