Judith’s Comments (group member since Apr 15, 2015)

Judith’s comments from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.

My new nominate until it wins/I read it anyway :P



Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide by Rupert Holmes

Who hasn't wondered for a split second what the world would be like the object of your affliction ceased to exist? But then you've probably never heard of The McMasters Conservatory, dedicated to the consummate execution of the homicidal arts. To gain admission, a student must have an ethical reason for erasing someone who deeply deserves a fate no worse (nor better) than death.

The campus of this "Poison Ivy League" college-its location unknown to even those who study there-is where you might find yourself the practice target of a classmate...and where one's mandatory graduation thesis is getting away with the perfect murder of someone whose death will make the world a much better place to live.

Prepare for an education you'll never forget. A delightful mix of witty wordplay, breathtaking twists and genuine intrigue, Murder Your Employer will gain you admission into a wholly original world, cocooned within the most entertaining book about well-intentioned would-be murderers you'll ever read.

There's a countdown in the spreadsheet on the summary page for the start of the mini but here is one for those who find them helpful.

I'll also put this in one of my top posts so people can find it easily.

https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...

Krissy wrote: "I swear Tin Eye has got to be on some kind of drugs to come up with some of the colors it does. Unbelievable."

Yes, I find it most helpful in terms of percentages of a given color and less so with the actual color.

Krissy wrote: "So if a book isn't on the tracking sheet or on the team sheet does that mean it was never added to the tracking sheet? Just want to make sure cause there's a book I thought I already added but don'..."

Yes, I would say that is correct. Also, you could always unhide the rows at the top and do a search. We don't delete anything from the tracking sheet. Read books just get moved to the top and once added to the official sheet, those rows get hidden.

Though if you are ever worried a book of yours is missing, let me know and I can always do a search for it as well. It's easier for something to get lost with the number of books being read each round.

Sofie wrote: "Tricia wrote: "Judith - C17 is highlighting ROW as the hidden word, which is only 3 letters, but if you used OWNED instead, it would work. :)

Sofie - For C18, OUR or WIN are only 3 letter words. ..."

No this was my fault, I did the same thing and I even helped write the tasks.

Actually, I was testing you all . . .yep. that's what happened *looks away*

Four Winds can work for takes place on a farm

Tricia wrote: "Judith - C17 is highlighting ROW as the hidden word, which is only 3 letters, but if you used OWNED instead, it would work. :)

Sofie - For C18, OUR or WIN are only 3 letter words. It needs to be ..."

Oops. that's all my fault. sorry!

Vikki wrote: "

Would this count for 3 foods - the mushrooms, the raspberry and the other type of berry (redcurrant, cranberry?? in bottom right)"

Yes! I saw that on the spreadsheet and had been meaning to peak at the cover

Lexi wrote: "Thank you, Judith, for taking my comment seriously. I was mostly being silly, and this is the second NBRC challenge which I’ve got to discuss eating possum. I don’t think there are two types of app..."

Oh I know you were being a bit silly and I got a good laugh. But it made me think a bit so figured I should address it :P

I don't know if they still do (or if the place is still open) but there was a diner near my grandmother's house which served muskrat when it was in season.

This seems to have a mushroom and 2 types of fruit (yellow apples and I think green apples - something behind the title).

Thoughts?

Lexi wrote: "I’m pretty sure they are supposed to be violets but still very commonly used in food. Good to know that we can use edible plants. When do animals become food? Can we eat the seagull?"

I guess you could eat the seagull raw? but I think that's a bit of a stretch and if we can avoid going there, I'd prefer that.

Please keep sharing covers if you have questions though and am happy to keep making questionable decisions :)

Lexi wrote: "I have the same question on a different book with cupcake, frosting/cherry, and cookies, so I will let Judith answer:
"

This one though, I think we can be a bit creative. While the cupcake/cherry counts as one item. You can use the pansies as those are one of the most popular edible flowers. So they are a food item as far as I'm concerned :)

Mary wrote: "

How do we feel about calling this three foods-- cake, strawberry, and frosting?

It's a stretch but 3 foods on a cover is tough!"

the answer to this one is no, think of it as how you'd order the item at a bakery or restaurant. You wouldn't order those three things separately, you'd just order the slice of cake that happened to come with the strawberries as decoration.

For those planning on reading Starling House for the first June BOM (starting on June 2), it works for the task: Author initials in HERACLES

it may for other tasks too, but that seemed like a good place for it

I'm conferring with the other mods to make sure we are consistent. will have an answer on both hopefully later today.

some of the captains made a list of Diacritic in Author's Name

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

Feel free to add any to it, I always find these helpful in showing me what on my want to read list fits. There's some good stuff on here :)

Lexi wrote: "Just some notes and links to help out:

Book set in Crete or Idaho must at least be set there 50% or more of the book. Check books from the following links but might be a good starting point:

1. C..."

Did some poking around on the Crete list. Zorba the Greek is a classic and I remember it being okay when I read it a long time ago.

I did find Lies that Bind Us which seems to work for Crete and is also available on KU if anyone has a subscription.

I should note, that the way to 'claim' a spot on the mini challenge tab is to enter the Ref from column A on the mini tab into column H on the Round 1 log and then the reason into column I.

This will auto populate the info to the mini tab for you.

It might sound complicated but hopefully once you do it, it'll make sense. Though it you have any questions/concerns/issues Lexi, Sarah, and I are happy to help.

For an example, you can look at row 102 (highlighted in bright pink) where I filled it out for one of my books.

EDIT: The row number will shift as the sheet gets sorted to move read books to the top and hidden as they get checked and entered. Hence the highlight :)

Make sure you get yourself the best resources possible at the start of the Games by getting bonus points for each of the tasks you fill. Each task can be repeated a maximum of five times. Each food item in text can be repeated once.

This mini challenge runs from June 1st to June 15 9am UTC


- Read a book with a orange cover
- "harvest" (plural OK, no other variants) in text
- Author initials in HERACLES
- Word in title is hiding a different smaller word (of at least four letters) inside it (not the singular form or verb tense differences) - examples LimonCELLO; THINg; wereWOLF (or indeed WEREwolf); HUNGer but NOT GAMEs (as that's the singular/plural)
- One of the following food words in text (plural OK, no other variants): corn, grape, ham, bread, cheese, apple, fish, chicken, bread, rice, tomato, pepper, salt, honey, lobster


- Horn on cover (instrument or animal equally OK. but not antlers please)
- Book set in Crete
- Book set in Idaho
- Author's name has a diacritic (Cornucopia was a concert tour for Björk. yes, it's tenuous, but go with it anyway!)
- "abundant" or "abundance" in text
- Takes place on a farm (farm meaning somewhere raising plants or animals to be sold for food)


- Title (including subtitle) includes all the letters CORNUPIA (no need to duplicate C and O)
- The cover has at least 3 different food items
- Set in Peru, Panama, Colombia or Venezuela (or combination of them to reach the 50%)


General Notes
Locations must represent 50% or more of the setting
Colour cover must be 50% the colour (use of common sense, please)

It's out everyone, see the post below for information on Round 1's mini challenge. It will run from June 1st to the end of Round 1 on June 15th.

Books used for the mini challenge can be STARTED before June 1st but only count if they are finished after the mini challenge officially begins.

I will be adding a tab to our tracking sheet shortly if people want to grab spots, I know some of us are planners. Some aren't so it's okay if you don't grab any right away.