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

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

The remarkable, little-known story of two trailblazing women in the Early Middle Ages who wielded immense power, only to be vilified for daring to rule.

Brunhild was a Spanish princess, raised to be married off for the sake of alliance-building. Her sister-in-law Fredegund started out as a lowly palace slave. And yet—in the 6th-century Merovingian Empire, where women were excluded from noble succession and royal politics was a blood sport—these two iron-willed strategists reigned over vast realms for decades, changing the face of Europe.

The two queens commanded armies and negotiated with kings and popes. They formed coalitions and broke them, mothered children and lost them. They fought a years-long civil war—against each other. With ingenuity and skill, they battled to stay alive in the game of statecraft, and in the process laid the foundations of what would one day be Charlemagne’s empire. Yet after Brunhild and Fredegund’s deaths—one gentle, the other horrific—their stories were rewritten, their names consigned to slander and legend.

In The Dark Queens, award-winning writer Shelley Puhak sets the record straight. She resurrects two very real women in all their complexity, painting a richly detailed portrait of an unfamiliar time and striking at the roots of some of our culture’s stubbornest myths about female power. The Dark Queens offers proof that the relationships between women can transform the world.

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nominator: Audrey Jane

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Participation Verified

Judith
Lisa (Aussie Girl)
Angie
Melissa
Cat

Chapter Breakdown

Date		Chapters 		Pages		MPDQs
2 Mar		Prologue + Part One			Lisa (Aussie Girl)
3 Mar		Part Two				Judith
4 Mar		Part Three				MelanieJoy (maybe?!)
5 Mar		****** BREAK DAY *****
6 Mar		Part Four				Cat
7 Mar		Part Five				E (fingers crossed!)

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 reunion leads to tragedy, and the unravelling of dark family secrets . . .

It is the summer of 2021 and Nell has come home at her family's insistence to celebrate an anniversary. Her father, Sir Frank Churcher, is regarded as a cult figure by many. Fifty years ago he wrote The Golden Bones. Part picture book, part treasure hunt, it was a fairy story about Elinore, a murdered woman whose skeleton was scattered all over England. Clues and puzzles in the pages of The Golden Bones led readers to seven sites where jewels were buried - gold and precious stones, each a different part of a skeleton. One by one, the tiny golden bones were dug up until only Elinore's pelvis remained hidden. The book was a sensation. A community of treasure hunters called the Bonehunters formed, in frenzied competition, obsessed to a dangerous degree. People sold their homes to travel to England and search for Elinore. Marriages broke down as the quest consumed people. A man died. The book made Frank a rich man. And it ruined Nell's life.

But Sir Frank has reunited the Churchers for a very particular reason. The book is being reissued, along with a new treasure hunt and a documentary crew are charting the anniversary. Nell is appalled, and fearful. During the filming, Frank finally reveals the whereabouts of the missing golden bone. And then all hell breaks loose.

From the bestselling author of He Said/She Said and Watch Her Fall, this is a taut, mesmerising novel about a daughter haunted by her father's legacy . . .

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nominator: Lisa (Aussie Girl)

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):

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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


March 2024 Theme:

◈ Asia's calling
Set in, or where the author is from, a country in Asia
(reference: https://www.countries-ofthe-world.com...)

r

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!

Breakdown is up. There are some author notes and such like in my (kindle) edition, so the end of the book isn't at 100%, hence the odd looking %ages!

Feel free to trade your days :)

and sorry for last minute posting!

If you are choking on all of the lovey dovey things heading up to Valentine's Day, here's some Bad Romance for you to fight

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

Here's some bad romance

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

It's the season of love with Valentine's Day just around the corner. But sometimes instead of stopping to smell the roses, you choke on them. Bad romance can ruin lives for a little while and sometimes forever. Sometimes the relationship is even celebrated as a healthy one, even though it's anything but.

Here's a wheel full of toxic relationships or partners. And maybe a special guest for those who've read Dino Island ;)

A new spreadsheet of the monsters and tasks was added to the Master List of Tasks called Bad Romance



https://wheeldecide.com/index.php?c1=...

We have now! It's been a month and a half, and I'm glad to see the back of January!

Feel free to keep reading for tasks to achieve your goal - the spreadsheet will continue to update, but we won't post more updates here.

See you at the next challenge!!

Great work those who achieved their goal!

Name	% Progress to goal
KelB	220%
Beth	168%
Kylie	150%
Sixty	123%
Mary	111%
Patti Mansfield	110%
Judith	105%
Pat Gent	100%
Andrea	100%
================
Stacie Schultz	95%
Fiona	90%
Ashley Basile	85%
Mary X	83%
Kaley	80%
Ooha 	75%
Danielle	58%
Bobbi	50%
Suzanne	50%
Briana	50%
Lily 	20%
Cameo Molina	10%

Well done participants!

TOTAL POINTS

Name	Points
Sixty	3,020
Beth	2,910
Judith	1,850
Kylie	1,610
Mary X	1,500
Patti Mansfield	1,160
Stacie Schultz	860
Ashley Basile	850
Suzanne	850
Pat Gent	760
KelB	710
Mary	570
Kaley	550
Fiona	460
Briana	450
Danielle	360
Andrea	350
Bobbi	200
Ooha 	200
Lily 	100
Cameo Molina	50

Emily wrote: "
Right but the spreadsheet I used was a copy not the one that I should have asked for edit access. How should I transfer it over?.."

Your spreadsheet was shared with you using the email address you signed up with and it is linked in the overall sheet. If you add your books into that, then the overall sheet will automatically update.
:)

breakdown and days are posted.

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