NBRC: Tower Teams Read 2013, Round II discussion
Mauvelous
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Challenge Ideas for Aug
Tower Team Round I was so easy and now TTII is getting more and more complicated. Ugh! I have no suggestions.
Yes, it does seem a bit much at times, but no one has to participate in the challenges.
Mod
Mod
I have never even thought about creating a challenge, but I will do some looking around and put my thinking cap on to see what I come up with.
We can do a cover challenge, something specific with a theme. RRRC has one going on based on the bachelorette tv show. We can do something with a theme for color challenge, like colors of the rainbow etc etc. Or maybe genre specific but I feel that might limit us, since not everyone is a fan depending on the genre.
We could do something simple like connecting the titles, with the last letter of the first title as the beginning letter of the second title.Like this:
Book One: Dragonfly in Amber
Book Two: A Rogue by Any Other Name
Book Three: Eleven on Top
jingles wrote: "We could do something simple like connecting the titles, with the last letter of the first title as the beginning letter of the second title.Like this:
Book One: Dragonfly in Amber
Book Two: A R..."
I have done something similar to it last year or the year before. Very fun.
August 26th is Women's Equality Day. We could read female authors?the 4th is Friendship Day. We could read books that we find on GR friend's shelves.
the 19th is National Aviation Day. We could read books with something flying (or in the air) on the cover.
August 4th is Lake Champlain Dragon Boat Festival.
http://www.ridethedragon.org/
We could read books with water or a boat on the cover or books with a dragon in the story, in the title or on the cover.
ANNOUNCEMENT:
so we have plenty of time to do the challenge and the minimum is pretty small compared to what we read in a month's time. Now we just have to pick a good challenge.
However, the 75 books need to have a theme. This might be more difficult because many of us do challenge reading.I'm thinking that the female authors one might be good.
In the effort to be more generic --We could do 21st century reads: books published since the year 2000.
Since it's Summer time, we could do a summer time theme. Over in the We Love Lisa Kleypas group, they have one going, and they have several categories to mix/match. It's things like:
Books with Summer in the title
Books with character named Summer
Books with Summer theme on the cover, etc.
I think we would need to ask permission to use it though. I think I remember reading that somewhere?
I like the idea jingles has message 8, with connection to the books, whether it be by letter, series, author or publication date. It will give us all a lot of room to work our books by making a connection. What do you guys think?
Oh, that's great, Hina. As you say, it gives us much more to work with in connecting the books. I like that idea.
Hina wrote: "I like the idea jingles has message 8, with connection to the books, whether it be by letter, series, author or publication date. It will give us all a lot of room to work our books by making a co..."Jingles idea in post #8 is harder than it seems. I've done that one a few times and it's not as easy as you'd think. But if you include all those other connections that would work as it gives many many options. I also like JoLene's ideas of female authors (which are read more often than male authors anyway) or books published since 2000 (that leaves it wide open too).
I'm hoping for an easy challenge where lots of books can be used.
JoLene wrote: "However, the 75 books need to have a theme. This might be more difficult because many of us do challenge reading."What 75 books are you referring too? Is there some kind of quantity we have to hit in August?
75 books are the number of books to finish the august challenge. I don't think that's going to change but that's what's being discussed. Also I don't think the mods want to see a too easy of an challenge. since they do have to approve it
Seems like a lot. Heck for june and july we only had to read 49.
I think they raises it because so many of us finished way before. I mean its only the 19th and many of the teams are already done with all categories.
Barbara ★ wrote: "Hina wrote: "I like the idea jingles has message 8, with connection to the books, whether it be by letter, series, author or publication date. It will give us all a lot of room to work our books b..."Barbara, you said that you have done connection challenge often, so what are the downfall? Maybe we can discuss it and fix it if it becomes a possibility.
I love the idea of the female author challenge or books published since 2000.
I was wondering if we had decided on what challenge to do for August.
The connection challenge is a neat idea but the downfall is that it's harder than you think. Usually it means to match exactly a word in the title or author's name (exactly) to the next book. However, Jingles suggestion includes matching the publication date (which makes it really easy), the series name (which gives you many more options) as well as the typical title and author.The only problem I see with this option is are we doing it as a group (reader #1 selects first book, reader #2 uses #1 to decide on second book, reader #3 uses #2's book to pick third book). This would be incredibly time consuming and would not allow us to read 75 books in August. But if we each do our own connection thing, that might be doable.
Here's a copy of what I'm currently working on so you can get an idea.
✔1. Fifty Shades Darker - E.L. James 10/5/12
✔2. {JAMES}11th Hour - James Patterson 10/29/12
✔3. {JAMES}Something About You - Julie James 11/17/12
✔4. {YOU}Ten Things I Love About You - Julia Quinn 12/13/12
✔5. {JULIA}A Night Like This - Julia Quinn 1/13/13
✔6. {NIGHT}Dark of Night - Suzanne Brockmann 1/23/13
✔7. {NIGHT}Shadow of Night - Deborah Harkness 2/11/13
✔8. {SHADOW}Master of Shadows - Angela Knight 3/7/13
✔9. {SHADOW}In the Shadow of Gotham - Stefanie Pintoff 3/19/13
✔10. {SHADOW}Shadows in the Starlight - Elaine Cunningham 4/2/13
✔11. {ELAINE}The Return of Black Douglas - Elaine Coffman 4/7/13
✔12. {BLACK}Black Dawn - Rachel Caine 7/2/13
✔13. {DAWN}Dawn in Eclipse Bay - Jayne Ann Krentz 7/3/13
✔14. {DAWN}The Darkest Edge of Dawn - Kelly Gay7/5/13
15. {EDGE}Over the Edge - Suzanne Brockmann
16. {EDGE}Naked Edge - Pamela Clare
17. {NAKED}The Art of Seducing a Naked Werewolf - Molly Harper
As you can see it's taken a long time to read 14 connected books. Mostly because I have a set reading list each month which makes it difficult for me.
So if you can use "any" connection: author, any word in title, publication date, series name, it would be much simpler to achieve.
FYI - I saw on Moonstone's August posts that the quantity was upped to 90 books in August but I don't know if that was just for them or for everyone.
Here's the link http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...
Also we need to get Mod approval for our challenge and have time to figure out what we're going to read and procure same if necessary. We need to decide soon so everyone will be ready to go on August 1st.
jingles wrote: "I love the idea of the female author challenge or books published since 2000."I think we could combine these two options - books published since 2000 by female authors.
It's kind of easy though and the Mods might shoot it down.
Mod
I was thinking that it might be easier to connect the books by using the last letter of the book title in book #1 as the first letter of the book title in book #2.Same way with connecting the author names - using the last letter of the first book (in either the author's first or last name) as the first letter of the second book.
I don't know if this would be any easier or not, but it's just a thought.
This option however, may be considered too easy as a challenge.
I agree with you, Barbara on combining the two options of published since 2000 by female authors. I think that one would be fun.
Moderators of Nothing but Reading Challenges wrote: "The August challenge (Mods Take the Month Off) still has a minimum goal of 75 books. Moonstone is just upping the ante for their members."Thanks for the info. Glutens for punishment. :)
I think I have an idea to combine what all of us are looking for...I have to go work and then I have class so hopefully I will put post something up tomorrow or Saturday and see if its feasible or my mind is wandering again...:)
Okay here is what I am thinking.....regarding our challenge. Since we want to use connect and using themes that we all have come up with. So How about we do like Connect 5 or 8 because 5 is divisible to 75 so nicely and 8 is for the 8th month of the year. I am thinking that we have like 10 or so themes or something.
Themes could vary from easy, medium and hard (:
Example if we do connect 5:
1. Around The World - Connect books that are set in 5 different continents.
2. Read the 5 W's: Connect books: (I was thinking of this as a reading challenge or some sort for something else but I think it can fit here)
A. What happened?
Contemporary Romance - Pick a book that has friends to lovers theme OR Second Chance theme.
Romantic Suspense - Pick a book that has one of the character as an officer of the law (police officer, FBI agent) OR the heroine is on the run/hiding.
B. When did it take place?
Historical Romance - Pick a book that has a wallflower heroine and a rogue hero OR forced marriage/marriage of convenience.
Time Travel Romance - Pick a book that has a character going back in time OR a character time travels to the present.
C. Where did it take place?
Fantasy Romance - Pick a book that takes place in a completely made up fantasy world that is not Earth OR pick a books that has a character(s) will save a city/Kingdom from the villain/monster/socially unexpected policies.
Science Fiction - Pick a book with aliens OR pick a book that is set in the future on Earth.
D. Who is it about?
Paranormal Romance - Pick a book where the character is a vampire or shape shifter OR pick a book where there is magic, witches or ghost involved.
Multicultural Romance - Pick a book where there is an interracial couple OR pick a book where the hero/heroine overcomes adversity.
E. Why did it happen?
Erotic Romance - Read a book that is involved in Dom/sub relationship and/or there is a BDSM theme OR a book that has a menage scene. (Alternative, since this genre is so controversial, the third option is to choose a book in a genre that you rarely read or something new to you, but it couldn't be one of the ones you used earlier in this theme)
Inspiration Romance - Pick a book that falls into the category of inspirational romance, christian themed romance OR pick a book that is categorized as a sweet "clean" romance.
Examples if we do connect 8:
1. Zodiac Sign: Leo - Read books that connect the books through Leo. Leo can be in the title/author's first and last name, series name and Character's name. Leo's zodiac element is fire, so covers with that element can used as well.
2. 2. Birthstone: Onyx - Connect books through the color of Onyx through predominately black book covers. (We can make this harder)
3. Natural Disasters & Weathers - Mt. Vesuvius exploded on August 24, 79 A.D. and Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on August 30, 2005. Connect books through natural disasters: Avalanches, Earthquakes, Floods, Hurricanes, Lightning, Tornadoes, Tsunamis, Volcanoes and Wildfires. The natural disasters can occur in the book or they can be part of the title.
Examples that can be used in both:
1. Mauvelous covers: Connect through team colors. (Should we connect them through title/authors name, series, it will make it a lot harder)
Okay so I might be all over the place and my crazy ramblings might not make any sense. Feel free to tell me so if that is the case, I wrote this out in a hurry so hopefully it makes sense. I don't know if the mods would consider hard....some categories I felt that might be too easy, I added the whole connect theme with author/title/series name as well. Let me know what you think. 
I don't think it would be a problem as some of the categories for 7% solution were really easy too. Not everything can be difficult.I don't like any of the Connect 8 choices since nothing I'm reading in August would work for any of them.
Question?
If we do Connect by 5, would we do it like the 7% solution and complete a mix of options 1 and 2 or do we have to choose only one option?
Would we complete them as a team or individually?
Barbara i am leaning toward 5 too rather than 8 just because we have some people who do not have high goals so they would read less and at least with 5 we can have them participate not be stuck with just one theme. also I think with 8 if we had more time it could be a nice challenge.So regarding the options, I was thinking we should have at least 10 options so for someone who reads more and keep participating can do other options/themes. I kust put two up as an example
OK, once again I'm missing the notifications for thread updates, Grrrr....I agree that the connection with the words might be difficult. You can sometimes get into a bind in that one. Also, I think we would have to do it individually because we would have a problem as a group.
Im not sure I completely understand the "connect" idea. Do you mean it's almost like the 7 in 7 but instead of 7 we do 5??
I have another somewhat similar idea. This is sort of based on Facts of Five (which I think is like Scatergories). In Facts of Five, draw 5 letters and 5 categories and have 2 minutes to think of things that begin with that letter for that category. We could do something similar where we have say 5 categories (female authors published since 2000, summer themes, etc, mauve covers --- no not again;-) The categories would be for all of us to follow.
Next, we either use the full alphabet and try to fill in as a team the slots, using Spell it out rules. The other option is that each person will then draw say 5-7 letters randomly (use random generator on the web). We could exclude really hard letters like q and x. Then people try fill in their own selections, but we would track up to 75 as a team. Since we have a wide variety of reading speeds in the group, I don't think we can evenly divide, but each person working on their own would also contribute to the overall team goal.
So I might not have explained it all that well, since I was writing my last post on my phone. Barbara, because of the 7% solution, I think the mods that it was easier than they anticipated, since most teams finished well before the 1 month mark and that's one of the reason we have a higher number to reach in 75. But I don't think they are going extreme either, just more likely that the challenge is not overall easy but rather have a good balance of everything.
So my second option of 5W's is more complicated since I put in options about options, but genres are so tricky, that I wanted it broad enough that everyone can find a genre they can read. So for each option, we will pick one genre to read like choosing between contemporary and Romantic suspense. So overall, 5 books read.
We can all put out suggestions for Connect 5 themes and we can have like 10 so that we have options to choose from if you guys end up liking the Connect 5 to use it for a challenge. I think we should do it as individuals since we all are reading at different speeds.
Some additional options/themes we can have are:3. Females authors with published books after 2000.
4. Read 5 books that are set in the following places or the author is from:
JoLene is from California.
ETO is from Pennsylvania.
Hina is from Illinois.
Jingles - need to find out.
Valerie is from Texas.
Barbara is from New Jersey.
Carrie is from Canada??
Thilde is from Denmark.
Mod
So Hina, we'd all work individually to read how many books? Since we all have different yearly goals, it won't be equal. If we're reading 75 books as a group, we'd have to figure out how many books each person needed to read to reach the goal.EX: Hina has 350 for the year while Tilde has 20. So we can't expect Tilde to read 10 books. It shouldn't be a problem as most of us read 20+ per month anyway.
If I'm understanding correctly, we'd each choose one (or 2) options depending on how many books we have to read and read 5 books for each option? Or just choose one option and read ALL required books to fit that option?
JoLene, your idea is interesting but honestly it's too much work (for me anyway) and sounds like it could become complicated. This is summertime and I would love something relatively easy to work into my reading schedule.
Barbara, I believe, there is a percentage number out there that if we are suppose to be in track of every month ...or something like that..so we should be able to calculate that how many books we need to be reading depending on the goals. The mods had a percentage that members should be around at. I can't remember what they said about August. Let me find where I read it on one of the thread to give you more details.
I think since we vary so much in goals...I want to lean toward read as much as you want. I don't think anybody has fallen way behind from where they should be from their goal so I think all of us working on it individually, we will surpass the 75 books total. But for those that want to only read a certain amount of books to reach the percentage they are suppose to be at, we can calculate it for them. That's not a big deal.
Yes, we would chose however many options we need depending on how many books we have to read and read the 5 from that option.
I think we could make exception for Thilde, because she averages about 4 books in a month, either we cna bring her down to connect 4, or she would be doing one option and do five books.
Barbara, I think we should be at least reading 5 to 5.5% of your goal at the time....Someone correct me if I am wrong about this. Again, lack of sleep and all, I could mistake what I am reading.
Basically, our goals are yearly, so you take your goal number and divide by 12.Barbara, I actually thought my suggestion would be easier for you than Hina's since you would be able to use either the authors first or last name, 1st of title or series name.
If I understand Hina's suggestion, you have to be able to link 5 books together. I wasn't sure if the link between books was taking in Jingles suggestion of a "train"
Hina, are you suggesting that we just have categories like we did in the 7 in 7, but we are doing 5 books in each category instead of 7? If so, I think we can just run it like the 7% one where we slot as we read......
JoLene, I personally never played the actual game you suggested, so I got lost in the last paragraph of the suggestion. But that could just be I am unfamiliar with the game.
So this is an example of how it would work:
1. Around The World - Connect books that are set in 5 different continents.
1. Asia (Thailand): One Night in Bangkok by Rhian Cahill. Completed 11/29/12 **** (4 Stars)
2. Africa (Egypt): The Perfect Wife by Victoria Alexander. Completed 2/12/13 *** (3 Stars)
3. North America (USA): Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts. Completed 11/15/12 **** (4 Stars)
4. South America (Belize): Echoes at Dawn by Maya Banks. Completed 12/1/12 **** (4 Stars)
5. Europe (England): She's No Princess by Laura Lee Guhrke. Completed 12/6/12 ***** (5 Stars)
6. Australia: One Small Miracle by Melissa James. Completed 12/12/12 *** (3 Stars)
7. Antarctica: Icebound by Julie Rowe. Completed 1/3/13 **** (4 Stars)
So out of the 7 I posted above, we would only need to choose 5 out of the 7 continents. The connection being continents. Around the world one of the themes and others will be done similarly with a little variation if needed.
Ok, so it is a variation of the 7% solution, but we have to thing of thinks where there is a connection or a series that can be done.So other ideas could be:
- a month name in the title (possibility of 12, but only 5)
- a book published in a unique year ending in 5
- read the colors of the rainbow (Roy G Biv)
I think that having female authors published in 2000 to be a bit general if we are trying to make "connections", but I like the idea of reading from places where we live.
I think this would take more upfront planning than just doing a more generic take on the 7 in 7 challenge.
75 books does seem like a bit of a stretch. Even though some teams were done in 3 weeks......that is adding 26 more books to be read in 1 week
Mod
Correct.
As I understand it, it's 75 books per team. So for the entire month (discounting Tilde) we would each need to read 12-13 books. (75 divided by 6 = 12.5). So for the whole month of August we need to read roughly 12 books each. I read way more than that anyway so it's not a problem for me. Though I guess if we're doing Connect 5 - we'd have to do 10 or 15 each. As a team we have to compete 15 sets of Connect 5. I don't think that should be a problem for any of us.I like Hina's suggestions best because they give the most options but we could use JoLene's idea as one of the options.
Though I do have a question: For Option 2,
A. What happened?
Contemporary Romance - Pick a book that has friends to lovers theme OR Second Chance theme.
Romantic Suspense - Pick a book that has one of the character as an officer of the law (police officer, FBI agent) OR the heroine is on the run/hiding.
Can we read any contemporary romance or does it have to be the themes listed? That could be much harder.
I can say that reading 12 books for me will be a stretch because in August, I have 3 weeks where I am working every single day (due to health issues and vacations of people at my 2 different jobs). Overall, given how much You, Hina and Jingles read, I'm not sure that it will be a big issue though.
JoLene, You are right, according to my calculation, my goal 350/12 = I should be reading about 30 books in a month. So yes I think it will work out to reach the goals. That is one of the reason I am not worried about reading 75, I mean if you just look at how much we read in the month of June and for the 7% challenge, I mean there were enough books to repeat the challenge one more time. I think we all should just read whatever we are comfortable with.
Barbara,
The way I made the 5W's...I don't want to leave it at just any contemporary. But we can change the theme, I just went with the two that seemed the most popular to me in contemporary romance. So will that work for you if we change the theme under Contemporary?
NBRC: Tower Teams Read 2013, Round II
Books mentioned in this topic
Forged in Fire (other topics)A Storm of Swords (other topics)
Echoes at Dawn (other topics)
The Killer Angels (other topics)
The Knife of Never Letting Go (other topics)
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We submit our ideas by July 26.
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Post any ideas below....