NBRC Spring Festival Wine Bar

[Moderators of NBRC, Challenger-in-Chief]

Pull up a stool, have a drink (our cocktails and mocktails are excellent!), pick a tulip or enjoy the.. snow? Yes people. It is a Canadian Spring. teehee.

This is where you can be sociable and get to know your fellow players. This thread is not for asking questions to the mods. It is purely for chatting.

[Moderators of NBRC, Challenger-in-Chief]

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[Alysa]

Yay! Hi everyone!
Gotta say, I am happy that the # of books for each category is different than for the Upside Down Summer challenge, as I am expecting to be reading just a bit less in the next 3 months than I read in the past 3. I am trying to catch up on TV. Works for me! 😁

[Tina ❣]

Same here Alysa! Holidays are over for me and I have less time.

[Suzanne]

I really love this challenge!!

[Karen ⊰✿, Fiction Aficionado]

Hi everyone!

We adjusted the categories a bit to try and get more even splits. This is the fun of new challenges ; we learn a bit as we go :)

Laura has a busy weekend, but I've sent her a note to see if the March tasks are ready yet (I don't want to presume!!). we will get those out and then your spreadsheets together very soon

[Alysa]

Hehe, maybe there can be a “fashion” task in honor of the return of (the new and improved) Project Runway. 😄

[Karen ⊰✿, Fiction Aficionado]

Oh yes, feel free to suggest tasks seeing they aren’t finalised yet 😉👍

[Tati]

looks like I messed up my e-mail again...

[Laura]

Tati wrote: "looks like I messed up my e-mail again..."

Send a PM to the mod account Tati and we will pick it up that way.

[[[ Frankie ]]]

Hi, everyone! I signed up for the challenge & looking forward to starting!

[Camilla]

A wine bar sounds good! I somehow totally missed the previous individual challenge, glad I caught this one. Looking forward to playing!

[Cat]

Month 2 tasks could include Shakespeare stuff? find names of characters? (cos 23 April = birth/deathday)

[Mary X]

Hello! I just signed up. Sounds fun. I went with leaf and hoping I don't regret that.

[Alysa]

That feeling you get when the ONLY "chlorophyll" book you can find on your Kindle is 298 pages but it's shelved as "Childrens" on the front GR page and cannot be word-count verified because it's a little-known indie.

On the bright side, maybe I'm being saved from a bad book?

[Sammy]

Alysa wrote: "

That feeling you get when the ONLY "chlorophyll" book you can find on your Kindle is 298 pages but it's shelved as "Childrens" on the front GR page and cannot be word-count verified because it's ..."

Probably... I read some real stinkers last time to find something to fit the themes. Super frustrating when you have a whole lot of great books waiting to be read, lol.

[Cat]

no audio either? :(

[Alysa]

Cat wrote: "no audio either? :("

Nope.
But like Sammy said, the book could be a frustrating stinker.
I will keep looking for something else... :)

[Cat]

re real stinkers.... for UNO I read a marvel of one: Interstellar super explorer: star explorer
I knew, going in, that is was going to be bonkers, but it is so utterly beyond bonkers that I need to share the knowledge of it.

Disclaimer: I am not, repeat NOT, suggesting anyone read it. but people ought to know it's out there. "Legend is me, I am legendary!"

PS I did a review with (almost) complete plot-by-plot run through. It was the only way I could fathom my way through, highlights of which include a cow in a box, turtle(s) and nourishing, poisonous vomiting snakes. I kid you not.

[Sammy]

Cat wrote: "re real stinkers.... for UNO I read a marvel of one: Interstellar super explorer: star explorer
I knew, going in, that is was going to be bonkers, but it is so utterly beyond bonker..."

You almost have me convinced I need to read it. But as I've read more bad books so far this year than in the past 5 years combined, I think I'll pass, lol.

[Cat]

you so do NOT need to read it! It is 157 pages but took me hours to get through. partly to save myself from dislocating an eye due to their constant rolling but also because the machine translation was so fricking hard to read!

[Alysa]

I've been dieting for a while but OMG how much I want some poutine right now.

[Sammy]

Cat wrote: "you so do NOT need to read it! It is 157 pages but took me hours to get through. partly to save myself from dislocating an eye due to their constant rolling but also because the machine translation was so fricking hard to read! "

lol! Read a few of those recently... Getting better at abandoning books now, thankfully.

[Sammy]

Alysa wrote: "I've been dieting for a while but OMG how much I want some poutine right now."

I've never had any. But not being a fan of cheese, except mozzarella and Edam, I doubt the cheese curds would work for me, lol.
We do get cheesy chips (usually Mozzarella) and chips with gravy here in the UK though. Never thought to combine the two...

[Mary X]

I've never had cheese curds but I love all forms of cheese so I'd probably like that as well. There is usually at least 6 kinds of cheese in my fridge at all times.

[Stephanie]

Hi everyone!
Is it okay to ask for book suggestions? I am really interested in the task "Read a book where a character is a cat shifter" but I can't find a book that I want to read in my searches.

[Karen ⊰✿, Fiction Aficionado]

Alysa wrote: "

That feeling you get when the ONLY "chlorophyll" book you can find on your Kindle is 298 pages but it's shelved as "Childrens" on the front GR page and cannot be word-count verified because it's ..."

haha

[Karen ⊰✿, Fiction Aficionado]

Cat wrote: "re real stinkers.... for UNO I read a marvel of one: Interstellar super explorer: star explorer
I knew, going in, that is was going to be bonkers, but it is so utterly beyond bonker..."

lol! I think I shall live that one vicariously through you

[Karen ⊰✿, Fiction Aficionado]

Stephanie wrote: "Hi everyone!
Is it okay to ask for book suggestions? I am really interested in the task "Read a book where a character is a cat shifter" but I can't find a book that I want to read in my searches."

Yes, feel free to ask for suggestions!

[Rayne]

Stephanie wrote: "Hi everyone!
Is it okay to ask for book suggestions? I am really interested in the task "Read a book where a character is a cat shifter" but I can't find a book that I want to read in my searches."

Do you read MM? If so, I've got a few recommends:

Hexbreaker has a cat shifter. All the books in the series also have animal/shifter familiars.

The Leopard's Spots series by Bailey Bradford is cat shifters.

If you are looking for domestic cat shifters, then the Fur, Fangs and Felines series by M.A. Church is a good one.

Charlie Cochet's THIRDS series also has cat shifters.

[Mary X]

The book I am listening to in the car just used the word chlorophyll. sigh. But I've got plenty of other tasks already selected to keep me busy once we start. Although they may change based on bookshelf bingo shelf calls.

[Sammy]

I have no idea where even to look for a book with chlorophyll in it, so skipping that task, lol.

[Alysa]

Mary: Harry Dresden's Love Slave wrote: "The book I am listening to in the car just used the word chlorophyll. sigh. But I've got plenty of other tasks already selected to keep me busy once we start. Although they may change based on book..."

What book was it?
I found one other thing so far but it’s a really long short story anthology and I am just not in the mood.

[Mary X]

Well dummy me just realized she's confusing chloroform for chlorophyll.

I would have no idea where to look either. Maybe a plant themed book?

I don't plan to look hard for that one.

[✿~Danielle~✿]

These three books have chlorophyll in them (from searching my kindle)

Black Water Lilies
Beauty and the Mustache
Simple Faith

[Cat]

Books on my kindle that has chlorophyll :
A Closed & Common Orbit (which I've read, and it is good. A character piece Sci fi. You don't need to have read #1 to read it)
The Overstory (Richard Powers, longlisted for the Booker)
Cibola Burns (James SA Corey. Space opera. Not sure how essential it is to read the series in order)
Greatest Hits (Laura Barnett. I didn't hate her first book. Not read this one)

[Deanna]

has chlorophyll as well.

[Alysa]

Deanna wrote: " has chlorophyll as well."

Ooh, that one looks interesting!

[Tati]

for cat shifters, there is the Kate Daniels series, Curran shifts into a lion, and there are cat shifters too.

[Moderators of NBRC, Challenger-in-Chief]

Is everyone ready? Do you have your books picked out or are you reading and then trying to fit your book to task?

Have fun everyone! (hopefully there aren't too many "bummer" books!)

Countdown to the start of the challenge is HERE

[Mary X]

There are cat shifters in Nalini Singh's Psy-Changling books.

[Rayne]

I just got the invite for my spreadsheet, but I've already been scoping out some of the tasks.

I think this round, I will mainly read what I already had planned and then see if I can fit it into a task.

[Mary X]

That's what I did. I just looked at books I have planned and see where they fit. The Amazon book search option was very helpful.

[Sammy]

Challenge doesn't start until midday here. Bloomin' awkward! lol.

I'm not reading anything at the moment, as there's no way I'd be done with it by tomorrow, but I'm getting a little antsy... I need my reading time darnit! :)

And I have a stack of books planned and ready to go. Not sure I'll manage them all, as there's several chunky ones, but we'll see how I get on.

[Alysa]

I'm finishing up a long book today, and have been reading short novellas and graphic novels, since I won't be reading that stuff once I start focusing on Right Side Up Spring.

I'm finding books that fit the tasks, though I'm trying to use books that I was going to read anyway, for the most part. There are a few difficult tasks for which I will likely end up reading random stuff previously unknown to me. And it's really interesting to see how one person's "difficult" task is another person's "easy," depending largely on their genre preferences.

One of the reasons I started doing NBRC challenges in the first place (solo challenges for a good while before starting on teams) was to help me decide what to read next out of the gazabilljillion books that I own but haven't read yet. So that's why I try my best to read books that fit tasks, rather than just reading whatever and hoping it fits. This method has really helped a lot! I still own a ton of books that I haven't read yet, but the number's gotten down at least to the point where I can also get new NetGalleys, library books, and occasional new purchases without feeling like I'm just burying myself. :)

[Camilla]

Alysa wrote: "without feeling like I'm just burying myself. :)..."

ROFL, I've buried myself ages ago!

[Camilla]

I'm in the middle of six books, so it'll take me some days before I can start with the challenge books. I try to read the "obligatory" amount of books first and then just read whatever I need for other challenges and see where they fit.

[Alysa]

Camilla wrote: "ROFL, I've buried myself ages ago!"

Me too-- I'm just not burying myself DEEPER!!! ;D

[Mary X]

Alysa, that's why I do challenges. It helps narrow down the choices and make me pick something. Otherwise, I frequently end up starting several before I pick one and stick to it to the end.

ETA: I know that I cannot get every task done so I mainly just focused on hitting the minimums I need according to my reading category and then finding homes for books I have planned anyway.

[Laura]

Can anyone take a peek at a few of the sapling spreadsheets and tell me if they are viewable by others now?