Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion
Tower Teams 9 - The Muses
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Team Circe
Stacey wrote: "Glad you are better, Cindy. So sorry to hear about your baby getting sick too. I'm about 75% of the way through the Goldfinch, I can't wait to hear what you think. So far I mostly like it but I'm n..."I’m about 40% through it. I like it so far. Some parts have kept me more hooked than others but I am liking it so far.
I'll be heading to the beach tomorrow. I expect to get quite a bit of reading done and am adding in some shorter books that I really want to read. I'll have internet and will be around, but maybe not as much. I'll hope to get more in to make up for my real vacation in July where I won't be reading as much.I'm so glad Kerri got DQs! I may be a little late on that one, but am taking the book to read at the beach.
Hey everyone, sorry I've been so quiet recently. I got covid and haven't been able to really focus on anything reading-wise. I've been bundled up on the sofa rewatching Chicago Fire most of this past week.I still haven't tested negative, yet, but I'm back at work on zoom. I'm about halfway done with the BOM so I should be able to get us those points.
Woo, I'm excited to write some DQs! It helps that I'm really looking forward to reading The Witch's Heart.@Vian - I'm sorry that you got Covid, that stinks. I hope you start feeling better soon.
@Stacey - Hope you have fun at the beach! I love being near the water so the beach is one of my happy places.
Hi everyone. I have been in and out -checking the spreadsheets and updating the official spreadsheet but haven't updated in a while. It was a little of a slow reading week for me. I am currently working on Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia and Edie in Between and Untie the Strong Woman: Blessed Mother's Immaculate Love for the Wild Soul My husband left today for a guys trip so I will have a lot of reading time this weekend and through Wednesday. I hope to finish 5 books or more while he is going. Ive been trying to work on some bigger books lately.
I hope you all have a good weekend. Enjoy the beach Stacey! I wish I were relaxing by the Ocean :)
I finished two more books today - I had been holding on to them for the maze, but since we're no longer in a rush to finish (boo bad luck!) I went ahead and finished them. They were Charming as a Verb and Felix Ever After. I need to make a dent in my current run of digital library checkouts. I'm sitting on 13, although I have both an e-book and audiobook version of The Master and Margarita, so it's technically 12! Thanks to being able to deliver later on Libby, I should be lining up the first 4 Wheel of Time books in the next two weeks so I'm trying to clear out everything else before then. We'll see how it goes!
Yeah, I am not holding any more for the maze either. Used my last book for it this morning, and wrapped up another was holding, now will wrap up the third I was holding and move on. Back to normal reading until the mini at least!
Hey everyone!!! I've been a little MIA the last few days : ( and just lurking here and there. Been busy with dr appts for myself and helping my mom get some of her important stuff done with medicare etc. @ Vicky--LOL you are like me. I have 19 digital library loans right now. Hopefully I can make a dent in them over the weekend. Why do I do this this to myself : ( It seems like all my holds came in at once.
@ Cindy glad to hear you are feeling better but sorry the baby got sick too. Hope you both get well soon : )
@ Vian hope you get to feeling better soon too!!
@ Stacey enjoy your time at the beach : )
@ Kerri woo hoo on getting to write some DQs :)
@ Jenn enjoy your husband free time. Sounds like you got your days all lined up to your benefit.
@ Erin I held on to a few for the maze and then it just got so hectic busy over there I couldn't keep up with the maze : ( I did get a couple books in on the maze though. I am excited for the next mini though.
I hope all of you have a great weekend. Hopefully I can get some reading done and will be able to check in more than I have the last couple of days. Take care and happy reading to you all : )
I hope you have a great weekend too! We are going to the Winn Dixie grand reopening this morning to try and get some of their giveaways and get some shopping done
Robin - RIGHT?! I try to make good use of the deliver later feature, but sometimes so many good things come in at once and I over do it. LOL
Mod
The Minotaur has been seen on your lands, frolicking through fields and enjoying freedom for the first time. If you manage to defeat him, you will spend the rest of your life wondering how you survived. Don't forget some rope!
To vanquish this monster you must:
1.) Read a book 800 pages or longer.
2.) Read a book where the MC gets lost.
3.) Read a book with a map in it.
4.) character described as "bull-headed" or "hard-headed".
5.) Read a book with a Goodreads rating of 4.0 or higher.
Mod
Python has been seen on your lands, searching for Apollo and Artemis. He's not that hard to kill as Greek monsters go being just a really big snake, may be interested in ladies with buns. Be warned though, his death may require a penance be paid to satisfy Zeus.
To vanquish this monster you must:
1.) Read a book between 100 and 125 pages (inclusive).
2.) Read a book that features twins.
3. Read a book whose author name (first or last) starts with a letter in SWORD.
4.) Read a book where a character is pregnant.
5.) Read a book that mentions some type of championship games (World Cup, Olympics, World Series, etc).
Mod
Groups of Harpies have been spotted on your lands, ruining outdoor feasts at every opportunity. Easy to defeat with the motivation to chase them far enough away, enjoy the cardio.
To vanquish this monster you must:
1.) Read a book between 100 and 125 pages (inclusive).
2.) Read a book that features a feast or banquet.
3.) Read a book that contains a chase (car chase, foot chase, etc).
4.) Read a book with a character who is royalty.
5.) Read a book that features a thief.
Mod
Nemean Lion has been seen lounging in the sun on your land after feasting on man. He's hard to defeat, don't underestimate him because he sleeps more than he's awake. Also, don't send Kate Daniels, "here kitty kitty kitty" probably won't turn out as well for her this time.
To vanquish this monster you must:
1.) Read a book between 350 and 450 pages (inclusive).
2.) Read a book that takes place in Africa.
3.) Read a book where both hands (of one person) are visible on the cover.
4.) Read a book with an open plain landscape on the cover.
5.) Read a book that features a cat (cat shifter accepted).
Mod
The Lamia has been spotted on your lands and the disappearances of children are on the rise. Requires some planning and moderate effort to defeat, look to the stars for the answers and to the shadows for the monster.
To vanquish this monster you must:
1.) Read a book between 200 and 299 pages (inclusive).
2.) Read a book with the night sky on the cover.
3.) Read a book where someone is kidnapped.
4.) Read a book that features a prophecy.
5.) Read a book where a child (under age 18) is an important part of the plot.
I have a book 800 pages or longer, I'm 50% though.
Yes this is the new mini - which officially starts on June 15th. We can use any books started since the beginning of TT but they have to be finished after the start time for the mini challenge. I'm away from home until tomorrow evening but I'll get some things up to get us organized for the mini then! In the meantime, check out the full rules here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Happy Saturday everyone not got much reading done today me and my BF had a makeover and photoshoot experience which took longer than expected. We thoroughly enjoyed the day though.I’ll get some weekly stats up in the morning. Take a look over our monsters above. Each monster has a list of task which can be filled with upto 5 books. There is no limit to the number of monsters we can defeat in this mini
An additional note about the mini! At the bottom of the rules there is a link to a spreadsheet that has all monsters and what the tasks for them are. Although the monsters will be random and we won't know what we'll get when, the tasks for each monster won't change. So it might be worthwhile to take a look at the list and see what you have on deck that fits the tasks so we can spend more time reading than searching when we get new monsters!
For the Harpies, I'm half way through a book that fits for tasks 3, 4, and 5. If we wanted to be loose with "feast" it describes creatures feasting on others but I don't think that is what is being asked haha.
So many thoughts on the mini--Noting two interesting things about this challenge for those who don't have time to read the rules right now:
1) 'Banking books' is allowed. As long as books meet general TT requirements, not used for the maze, and are finished after the start of this mini challenge, they can be used for any monster.
2) Books can be used to complete more than one task, but only for the same monster. If you can find a single book that meets all five tasks, congratulations, you defeated the monster with just one book! Expect other teams to notice this and copy your choice
This may influence if you want to finish books before now and the 15th.
I'm assuming the 5 monsters above are the ones we are starting with? And as we finish each one we get a new one? Not that we have to finish the whole set to get a new one?
Looks like there are 21 total books. Each one has 5 prompts one of which is page count. Realistically we could do each monster with 2-3 books each.
Yes, these are the starting monsters. When we complete a monster, we can get another one which will be assigned at random. It does need to be in the official sheet before we can request another monster.
Whoooaaaa!!!! This is a neat mini challenge lol I haven't read completely through everything but so far I am halfway through a book for Python-task #2 Read a book that features twins.Girl Made of Stars. I will take a closer look at everything and see what else I have coming up : )
Looks like our mod takeover BOM will work for a couple of prompts for the lion, which is awesome! This mini challenge seems like it's gonna be a lot of fun.
Kerri wrote: "Looks like our mod takeover BOM will work for a couple of prompts for the lion, which is awesome! This mini challenge seems like it's gonna be a lot of fun."Oh good! I'm reading it, but slowly.
I can find books for several of these. I'll look more later and see what others want.
I have some small 100 ish page books. Do we want to count them at this point in time?
Hey Team! I wanted to get this up so we can start to preplan a little for our first five monsters! I'm going to get some updates done on the spreadsheet either today or tomorrow to help keep things organized, but wanted to give us as much time as possible to get organized! A couple notes/requests:
1. When inputting a book for a claimed task into the planning spreadsheet, please put the T# assigned to that task into the spreadsheet. You'll see on our official spreadsheet that each task is numbered T1, T2, etc.
2. We can bank books, so any books started after May 1st and finished after the countdown timer for the start of this mini will count! If you're reading books not for a specific task, we're going to use a system to input that data.
I've copied the monster spreadsheet to our planning sheet You'll see that the monsters are lettered A-U down the left side and tasks are numbered 1-5 along the top.
If you read a book that has 500-650 pages, MPG of music and a musical instrument on the cover (all Cerberus tasks) you can put A(1,3,4) into the task info on the planning spreadsheet. Ideally a book you read may look something like this A(1,3,4) C(2) G(5). I'd like to heavily request that syntax vs A1, A3, A4, C2, G5 because the parentheses will make it very easy for us captains to see which books will give us the most tasks for a particular monster when it comes up.
3. Books can be used multiple times for the same monster. Our first monster is the Minotaur and we could read three books as follows:
Book 1: 800+ Pages, With a Map and a 4.0+ Rating (T1, T3, T5)
Book 2: The MC gets lost (T2)
Book 3: A character is bull-headed (T4)
But we can't use an 800+ page book (T1) that features twins (T7) to attack both the minotaur and the python.
4. Some strategy thoughts I have (feel free to discuss!).
- Obviously we're going to get our biggest bang for our buck on overlapping tasks, but I think we need to be especially strategic with our short books. There are four monsters who require 100-125 page books, so we should definitely try to double or triple up on them where possible.
- We want to move as fast as possible so that we can get new monsters in the rotation, but I also want to make sure everyone feels included. We can get a new monster everytime we defeat one, so we could leave one or two of the slots open to be claimed by slower readers and then have faster readers clearing out the remaining slots pretty regularly. Let me know your thoughts on this!
Current Monsters
Here's a list of our starting monsters, let's start seeing what we can fill in to start! Remember anything you're currently reading can be used as long as you don't finish it until after the countdown!
Minotaur
T1 Read a book with 800+ pages
T2 Read a book where the MC gets lost
T3 Read a book with a map
T4 "Read a book where a character described as ""bull-headed"" or ""hard-headed"""
T5 Read a book with a Goodreads rating 4.0+
Python
T6 Read a book between 100 and 125 pages (inclusive)
T7 Read a book that features twins
T8 Read a book where the author name (first or last) starts with a letter in SWORD
T9 Read a book where a character is pregnant
T10 Read a book that mentions some type of championship games (World Cup, Olympics, World Series, etc)
Harpies
T11 Read a book between 100 and 125 pages (inclusive)
T12 Read a book that features a feast or banquet
T13 Read a book that contains a chase (car chase, foot chase, etc)
T14 Read a book where a character is royalty
T15 Read a book that features a thief
Nemean Lion
T16 Read a book between 350 to 450 pages (inclusive)
T17 Read a book that takes place in Africa
T18 Read a book with both hands (of one person) visible on cover
T19 Read a book with an open plain on the cover
T20 Read a book that features a cat (cat shifter accepted)
Lamia
T21 Read a book between 200 and 299 pages (inclusive)
T22 Read a book with a night sky on the cover
T23 Read a book where somone is kidnapped
T24 Read a book that features a prophecy
T25 Read a book where a child (under age 18) is an important part of the plot
Jenn wrote: "I have some small 100 ish page books. Do we want to count them at this point in time?"Yes please, we can always move them later
Weekly UpdateHi Team here is your weekly update of all things TT
May BOM
The Travelling Cat Chronicles - you still have a few more days to complete and answer DQs on this, deadline for this is Thursday 16th June
Wildfire - head on over to the Backroom for this surprisingly good read.
June BOM
The Book of Cold Cases - started June 2
The Master and Margarita - started June 8
The Witch’s Heart - Starts Thursday June 16
July BOM
There is still time to volunteer for DQs for the following July reads.
Ariadne - Starts July 2nd
Malibu Rising - Starts July 16th
Supergroup Mini
We’ll done to all of you that managed to take part in the maze. Unfortunately we came in last but we got some extra points, which is always welcome.
If you completed any books for the maze please make sure these are tracked on the tracking sheet with a read date. If you think you are missing maze books please let us know and we can get it resolved.
June Mini
We have a new month long mini. If you haven’t already please check out the mini and do share if you know of books that you have recently read that would cover 4-5 of the tasks for a monster. I’m sure someone will find the ultimate book that completely defeats a monster.
Some Stats
We are currently in 2nd place overall and are ahead in the number of books read.
Book Points: 7204 (4th place)
BOM Points: 400 (tied for 2nd)
Total Points: 8204
Books Read: 207
Pages Read: 72,091
We are currently at 108% of our cap.
I'll be reading Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun in the next few days, which should work for Lamia T25 and maybe T24, but it's a new release and isn't on the ARBookFind site yet (that I can find). I have to read it since I owe the publisher a review, but should I just not count it towards TT?I'll also be reading Fevered Star, which can work for the Minotaur T3 and T5! I'll see if there are books that could work to cover more tasks for the monsters.
I'm reading a book that can cover T1 and T2. I'm on the app so can't link, but I'm reading Edge of Eternity.
I’ll be reading
Which fits T8, T16
Possibly others as I get into it
Looks fun on the mini. Doing some pre-planning ideas now.
Since we are over our cap, should we only log books that fit on the mini this month?
I found a few that I planned to read and added a shortie in. I have one that covers four tasks on two categories (not five), but leaves just the page count book to finish. It's smaller page count but covers up to nine of the current monster tasks. Have some others also that cover multiple. Some of these, unless you've read the book, hard to tell if it fits. I don't have any that fit all five that I can see.
I am surprised how much a second book in a series from some authors can downspiral with quality but this is self-published so perhaps no editor second time. I logged Trying to Live with the Dead finished, and now have to chug through the second book (over halfway done, yech)
Celia wrote: "Since we are over our cap, should we only log books that fit on the mini this month?"Please log all books. The cap relates to the whole challenge. If we are at risk of running over our cap we will remove books as needed.
I finished quite a few books this weekend. I was planning on reading longer books for the duration of TT but have not been in the mood. I'm not sure where my audiobook will fit for tasks. I think I'll watch and see as I get closer to finishing. I still have about 9 hours left as I don't get as much listening time as I used to. I've got the mod take over BOM as an audio but haven't started yet. I'd rather have an ebook but didn't find one so will see if I get to it or not. Waiting on holds for both of the others.
I've got an ARC of Something in the Heir so that is the next book I plan on reading. Only things I know it will work for are T16 & T18 I'm sure I'll find more as I read though.
Celia, I added Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life before checking in with the rules. For "middle grade" books we also have to check the page count. This one hurts because it has to be at least 30,000 words and it is 29,745... so close! I had to remove this book. I'm sorry!
https://www.arbookfind.com/bookdetail...
Jen wrote: "Celia, I added Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life before checking in with the rules. For "middle grade" books we also have to check the page count. This one hurts because it has to be..."Whoops, sorry about that one
Happy Monday again, all!
I made some progress last night on Wildfire and am determined to finish today finally. I keep getting distracted from it, but it's not a bad book at all. My son was off work and I made some homemade bread, dinner, and tried mini German Chocolate Cakes (they didn't turn out).
I also have to finish The Baby Shower by tomorrow because my book club is meeting Tuesday night to discuss it - I'm so slow with mixing these books! I am making good progress with the Skeleton Crew anthology. Loving the new book light.
I went to the bookstore last week with a friend and used a gift card to grab these:
I have to read the fourth Of Ice and Fire also before reading this fifth one, but hoping to get both of these done for Team Towers. They are big books count, so we'll see. This is one Stephen King I wanted but did not own yet.
And I collect different coffee cups, and saw this Dracula mug at Books a Million and couldn't resist it. The candle was from a Hobby Lobby Sale last weekend and is very "bookish" and cozy. Have burned this for hours and it hardly melts, so it's a great quality candle, was lucky to get it for cheap, they were half price off. Usually candles are so expensive, but I love collecting when I can. Have several from a place called GetFictional too - including a Dracula and Frankenstein, and other candles =)
I am still finishing up Omens and The Gunslinger this week also. I have given up on the series with the necromancer but read the first two books this weekend and logged them (good page counts at least but the series really deteriorated, which is a shame. I'm also about 75% into my Re-read of Rebecca, which is a good one.
Vicky wrote: "Hey Team! I wanted to get this up so we can start to preplan a little for our first five monsters! I'm going to get some updates done on the spreadsheet either today or tomorrow to help keep things..."This all makes sense and I tried to add a couple books that I am reading. Couple of things came up.
1) When entering something that requires a word be found in the text (like Volcano or Fig) I'm assuming we have to cite/justify it. So should we note it as U(2-p255) or how do you want it noted? Does it need to be noted?
2) Slow vs fast readers and holding prompts. Assuming that most books fit multiple prompts and because we can bank books does it matter if we hold slots open or would we be better off just churning the monsters? If someone is slow reading something and we finish the requirements for it, the book could be banked so I don't think anything is missed out on.
Sometimes it may make sense to hold a slot (example: someone is reading a book that covers 4 prompts for the one monster). In that case we just hold the slots and carry on.
Jax wrote: "Vicky wrote: "Hey Team! I wanted to get this up so we can start to preplan a little for our first five monsters! I'm going to get some updates done on the spreadsheet either today or tomorrow to he..."It's hard because the spreadsheet is not interactive. We can only add to the books tab, and like the May mini, cannot see if it's taken unless scroll through sheet to see on notes section who took what, and that doesn't tell us it will necessarily be used if it does fit.
I am planning The Lion, Witch and Wardrobe as I wanted to re-read anyway - It fits four out of five for Llamia, leaving only the spot to be a book between 200-299 pages to be read (which is an easy leftover task). It also fits four out of five for Harpies (leaving the task read a book between 100 - 125 pages to be used) . Finally, it also covers cat shifter in another monster if not used for either of the above.
Best we can do is mark where our books fit but can't clearly claim any of the tasks, so I am mainly going to read after a few I see fit some spots and then just read in general, hoping some fit and may be used.
We could try to track in the thread here, but that gets a bit confusing sometimes.
For Python, I found a book that covers the first two of Read a book between 100/125 pages AND features Twins with one of the Sweet Valley books that I can cover.
Eek, we have been bumped from #2 to #7 on All Team Status. 0_0I took some hours off work today since have to use vacation time, so reading several bits of different books today.
In between trying to stay awake and maintain energy. How annoying.
Jax wrote: "how do you want it noted? Does it need to be noted?"Honestly not 100% sure what the best method for this is. If there's a ton of extra information in the box it will make it harder for us to parse when we get new monsters, but I also think anything that isn't obvious from the main page of Goodreads should be noted. Maybe we use notes? If you right click on a cell there's an "Insert Note" feature that additional information can be put in.
Jax wrote: "2) Slow vs fast readers and holding prompts."
I absolutely agree with your take. When it comes to team challenges I always think it's best to use books as they come in so we can keep moving, but I also don't want anyone to feel left out. As someone who is usually on the slower end of the reader spectrum, I never mind if I claim a book for a task and someone gets in before me. But I also like to put it out there to the team to get a feel for how everyone feels about it!
Also I think as a strategic take, it makes more sense to hold/claim books when they work for multiple tasks and then we can fill in with quicker reads for the slaying.
Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* wrote: "It's hard because the spreadsheet is not interactive."
Agreed, and I'm not sure if there's a good way to remedy this. I was thinking about it last night when I was adding to the tracking spreadsheet and I couldn't come up with any creative solutions. At least with the May Mini we had two weeks so we could reasonably claim tasks and know that they'd be read - with this it's more rapid fire.
I have a feeling we're going to end up depending a lot on the bank for this and reading on demand to fill in spots rather than claiming. I had big plans to sit down with my on deck books and figure out where they worked and was totally overwhelmed when I sat down at my computer last night! LOL
@Trinia - Can you add Please Join Us to your TT shelf? :)
Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* wrote: "Eek, we have been bumped from #2 to #7 on All Team Status. 0_0"Ohhhh so this is interesting. We're currently 500 points behind 1st place. But we're currently at 116% of the cap so we're being penalized around 800 points.
Like we've said before, nothing to worry about now - we still have two months to go and we'll address it closer to the end if we need to. But that's why we dropped so far. ;)
Nothing But Reading Challenges
Books mentioned in this topic
Book Lovers (other topics)Loveless (other topics)
The Obelisk Gate (other topics)
Empire of Storms (other topics)
Malibu Rising (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Simone St. James (other topics)Heather Gudenkauf (other topics)
Eleanor Catton (other topics)
Eleanor Catton (other topics)
Chapter Breakdown
Date Start / End quote MPDQs
16 Jun Judith (Pan)
"... a promise she knew that she couldn't keep." 21%
17 Jun Kaley (Ache)
"He stayed with her as the days ..."
"... given her daughter a new obsession" 40%
18 Jun Kerri (Circe)
"There came a day in laste summer..."
"Angrboda agreed." 62%
19 Jun Alison (Cass)
"Angrboda was redjusting her pack basket..."
"Angrboda couldn't argue with that." 81%
20 Jun Lynne (Helen)
"With Skadi gone, ...