Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion
Tower Teams 9 - The Muses
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Team Circe
Wow, we're powering through monsters.I hope everyone is having a great holiday. Monday's my normal day off so it's not super exciting for me.
I had put The Witching Hour under the prompt for lightening on the cover for planning purposes, but it can totally move over to the 800+ spot.
I'm reading 2 books right now, Blood of Elves and The Romantic Agenda, but I can start Zeus after that to finish that prompt.
Jax wrote: "Wow. Looks like we also already have the books for this one? (Just looking at the spreadsheet). Putting our bank to good use.I'm feeling much better today. Kind of the tired restless I get when I..."
To me Little Fires Everywhere definitely qualifies as a suburbs book - to me that's part of the story is the setting.
Vicky wrote: "Monster UpdateHey Team! Just updated the monster info on the spreadsheet.
On the Monster Codes tab, I added the new monsters (7 in total!). We didn't have enough letters, so I used a # and a $ ..."
Thanks for all the hard work on that Vicky, definitely helps!
I'm soooo glad Cyclops and his sheep farmers are gone too.
And yay, they added a Kraken - that is awesome :)Ugh, neighbors are starting the dreaded fireworks
Hello, all! I hope everyone had a good weekend/long weekend if in the US. Back to work today, but I got a lot of reading done this weekend! Finally started on Ariadne and I'm nearly finished with The Picture of Dorian Grey for our Battleship game. I'll take a peek through my TBR to see if I have any books that might help with our new monsters.@Jax - As someone who has been to Shaker Heights, OH, I think it definitely counts as a suburb!
@Vicki - Thanks for updating the monster tabs! It's a big help when trying to figure out how my reads might fit.
@Erin - Ugh, our poor pup spent most of the weekend hiding in his crate because of neighbors and fireworks, so I know how you feel. Hopefully they didn't go on too long.
Quick Mini Bookkeeping NoteIf you're reading a book for the Supergroup Warship game, please put "WARSHIPS R1" (where the R1 is the number of the round) in the Task Column. Please don't put any other identifying information about genres or that column. We don't want to give anything away to the enemy!
If you want to keep track of genres generally, so you have an idea of what you have coming up - please use the MPG column all the way to the right. :)
Also please keep any additional information about how your book qualifies for a task to notes (right click on the cell -> insert note). When I'm matching books with monsters, I'm actually using a filter on that column for the monster number and it makes it more complicated if there's other words in there!
Are you wanting us to leave it up to the mods on what happens with the book? I mean, if it qualifies for both, we put monster #'s and MPG Genres in their respective columns? With the private group we can't add/edit in that sheet, so in this one that's the only place I have been keeping for both fits/groups. If I finish one that is used, make sense to mark WARSHIPS R1, but how do we mark it if we want for a future bank option, or do we leave it in case it fits monsters instead?
Yes it if qualifies for both, fill both columns. Keep in mind that as a team we're only giving 5 books per week to Warships (and we're reading close to 40 a week), so it's more likely a book in our bank will be used for monsters then it will be moved to warships. :)
Vicky wrote: "Yes it if qualifies for both, fill both columns. Keep in mind that as a team we're only giving 5 books per week to Warships (and we're reading close to 40 a week), so it's more likely a book in our..."Understood for right now and I am mainly focusing on monsters - but I know those end in 10 days but battleship lasts till end of challenge, so was mainly thinking of after that if we did not get another mini in the meantime.
I'll fill in both columns just in case, you never know :0)
Not to worry Erin I’m sure they will send another mini our way.
Yay on the new minis! :)Today is a busy day of work but I've been able to get a lot of audio done.
Louise wrote: "@Celia please add Pretty Little Fliers to your TT shelf"Sorry, I thought I had but I had it on a different edition. It's there now.
Ugh... listening to these chunky books makes me feel so unproductive with my reading! I'm at 83% in The Great Hunt and unless shit really hits the fan I should be finished tomorrow. Then I think I'm going to take a short break before I pick up the third book and read something different. Epic Fantasy makes my brain hurt, LOL. I started Zeus last night to knock out that last Typhon and I'm really into it so far, so hopefully that'll be a quick read!
Some Updates:I did some math today because it sounded like fun. If we take out the lowest page count books to get rid of the penalty we have 17,216 points which would put us in second place with only 861 points between us and Electra.
We've managed to kill some monsters from our banked books (I had to get THREE new monsters today!).
Here's where we stand on tasks:
Typhon
1. 500-650 Pages // Jane Eyre, Louise
2-5. Volcano, Lightning Cover, letters in ZEUS in title, MC is a father // Zeus, Vicky
Empusa
4. Sandals on Cover // The Romantic Agenda, Vian
Colchian Dragon
4. MPG Epic Fantasy // Blood of Elves, Vian
Python
2. Features Twins //
Cerberus
1. 500-650 Pages //
3. MPG Music //
4. Musical Instrument on the Cover //
Vicky wrote: "Ugh... listening to these chunky books makes me feel so unproductive with my reading! I'm at 83% in The Great Hunt and unless shit really hits the fan I should be finished tomorrow. T..."Zeus was actually cute/fun - I was surprised and pleased as you never know
I know what you mean on the large books - I try to focus on them but sometimes feels like it's never happening lol
Vicky wrote: "I did some math today because it sounded like fun. If we take out the lowest page count books to get rid of the penalty we have 17,216 points which would put us in second place with only 861 points between us and Electra.."
Thanks for figuring that out. I was wondering where we were points wise without the temporary penalty we currently have. I know it bounces a bit due to this.
Good morning all I’ve added African Dawn to Cerberus.Starting Jane Eyre today, should have it completed by end of day 🤞
I’ve also made a start on The Witch's Heart which is rather enjoyable.
I finished The Great Hunt and got to just under 40% in The Witch's Heart - I needed a break after those two chunksters! I should finish that before lunch tomorrow and then I'll probably start either Malibu Rising OR From Bad to Cursed. We'll see how the mood strikes when I actually finish. :)I might sneak The Great Hunt into that Epic Fantasy task to get rid of that Dragon and see what other trouble we can get into in monster land tonight!
That didn't go as well as I'd hoped... Typhon
1. 500-650 Pages // Jane Eyre, Louise
2-5. Volcano, Lightning Cover, letters in ZEUS in title, MC is a father // Zeus, Vicky
Empusa
4. Sandals on Cover // The Romantic Agenda, Vian
Python
2. Features Twins // From Bad to Cursed, Vicky
Cerberus
4. Musical Instrument on the Cover //
Sphinx
2. Characters Go On a Journey //
We have a lot of books in the bank that are blank for tasks - so if anyone read something that counts for the journey or riddle, let us know!
I think Visions will work for Riddle - they are solving a mystery, a note at one point, and secrets of the town.
And eek, I now see a book I forgot to mark as completed. Unseen now marked finished on 7/5
Somehow Unseen got on the tracking sheet twice, it's in row 425 right now. I recognized it because I used it last night in the mini, lol.I think I'm going to take twins - I just realized if I pick up From Bad to Cursed next, the male MC is one of a set of twins! That made that decision easy. :)
Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* wrote: "I think Visions will work for Riddle - they are solving a mystery, a note at one point, and secrets of the town."Needs to have a riddle or cipher being solved, solving a mystery doesn’t work for this task unfortunately
Just finished Death's End. I read it for pages, and it fits several prompts but it works for S2 and 3 if you want to use it there and finish that off.
Vicky wrote: "Somehow Unseen got on the tracking sheet twice, it's in row 425 right now. I recognized it because I used it last night in the mini, lol.I think I'm going to take twins - I just realized if I pic..."
Ohhhh okay. i'm sure I'm the one who did that lol
Louise wrote: "Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* wrote: "I think Visions will work for Riddle - they are solving a mystery, a note at one point, and secrets of the town."Needs to have a riddle or cipher being solved, s..."
They are given cryptic messages to decipher by one of the town's mystery men, Patrick, that I consider a riddle and he tends to speak in riddles without being clear. It's separate from the mystery. They also try to figure out the lore of the town from cryptic messages from a stranger at the party by doing book work and interviewing others.
Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* wrote: "Louise wrote: "Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* wrote: "I think Visions will work for Riddle - they are solving a mystery, a note at one point, and secrets of the town."Needs to have a riddle or cipher ..."
Perfect
Stacey wrote: "Just finished Death's End. I read it for pages, and it fits several prompts but it works for S2 and 3 if you want to use it there and finish that off."New monster on its way
New monster AlertKraken
The Kraken has been seen in the sea depths near you land, destroying ships on a whim. If defeated, you will always wonder how you managed to survive. May be searching for Andromeda or Pegasus, he's a bit bitter they got away.
To vanquish this monster you must:
1.) Read a book 800 pages or longer.
2.) Read a book with a ship on the cover (spaceship allowed because Mods can be benevolent too).
3.) Read a book where the Author name (first or last) starts and ends with the same letter (e.g., Andromeda)
4.) Read a book where a character goes swimming
5.) Read a book that has an 8 in the series number (e.g., #8, #18, #0.8)
Yay, we have the kraken!! Not because of the tasks but I'm excited in general just because I love Krakens lolAck on another 800 pager, I need to start reading some super long books.
I will look through my books and see what I find.
We do have 2 books in our bank that are over 800 pages, so we're good on that one. Nothing else in the bank is marked, but it's also a new monster so it might fit older books that weren't banked with the Kraken's info!
I found a book that fits for two of the Kraken tasks and reserved. Will work on this one after finishing Ararat, hoping to have both done by tomorrow evening.
Hey Gang...just wanted to update y'all... my husband will be having surgery next week and I'll be busy getting him prepared and settled in afterwards. Still reading, just not as much as I would like. Sorry for the lack of involvement this time around, unfortunately RL happens ;)
I'll be popping in to see what's up on the thread and will post my read books.
Wishing everyone a good weekend!
Trinia wrote: "Hey Gang...just wanted to update y'all... my husband will be having surgery next week and I'll be busy getting him prepared and settled in afterwards. Still reading, just not as much as I would li..."
I hope your husband's surgery goes well, Trinia!
Trinia wrote: "Hey Gang...just wanted to update y'all... my husband will be having surgery next week and I'll be busy getting him prepared and settled in afterwards. Still reading, just not as much as I would li..."
Good luck with your husband's surgery!
Trinia, hoping next week goes as smoothly as possible. Take care of yourself too. RL can be rough.I'm heading out soon for my vacation! Talk to you all when I get back in about a week and a half. I'll read a little, but not much and won't post until I get back. I've added notes to the spreadsheet for how books work for tasks (I think I got all or at least most).
Thank you my friends! I appreciate all of the well wishes. It can't come soon enough ... for both of us :)~Have fun Stacey and get some R&R!
Hope next week goes well Trinia no apologies needed. Family and your well-being is more important. @Stacey enjoy your vacation see you when you get back.
@Stacey - Have a great vacation!Just dropping by to check in. I'm gonna be finishing up Ariadne today and then I need to decide what to pick up next! I was thinking maybe Jade City as I've been wanting to read that for ages.
I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far!
My son is going to start car hunting next week so that is both stressful and exciting. This weekend we're relaxing, I'm hoping to get a lot of reading in and cleaning, and maybe get a new phone as mine acts up and is ancient.I'm halfway through Ararat, and it's very good so far. Will have done soon. Have my in person book club meeting on it Tuesday evening. Then will go to the Agatha Christie book I reserved for monsters. I've been reading Anatomy of a Murder also, it's good but nothing too special so far. I have the movie purchased from a Vudu sale to watch sometime after finishing the book.
Stacey wrote: "Trinia, hoping next week goes as smoothly as possible. Take care of yourself too. RL can be rough.I'm heading out soon for my vacation! Talk to you all when I get back in about a week and a half...."
A vacation sounds so nice - please do enjoy. <3
Well, I ended up getting exactly no reading done today, despite the intentions. Ended up getting a lot of my kitchen flooring done, however.
Happy Sunday everyone hope you are all enjoying your weekend. We are in the middle of a heatwave here so keeping cool is the goal of the week. Made some progress on The Witch's Heart which is quite enjoyable.
New Monster AlertEchidna
Echidna aka the Mother of Monsters has been spotted on your lands. Hard to kill and looking for some quality "me time".
To vanquish this monster you must:
1.) Read a book between 350 and 450 pages (inclusive).
2.) Read a book with CAVE in text.
3.) Read a book where a character uses a sword.
4.) Author name (first and last) contain all the letters in HERA
5.) Read a book where a MC is a mother
We killed the Echinda! And now we have a Hydra. :( It looks like they've switched the monsters around again, so I've updated the Monster Codes list - but haven't had a chance to do the Monster Tasks tab.
REMINDER: This mini ends at 9pm GMT+1 on Friday (which is 4pm EST, I believe). So all books need to be completed by then! If there's something you've claimed that you won't finish before then, please let us know so we can adjust! :)
Also - depending on how things look towards the end of the week, we may want to choose a difficult monster to just leave there and see what we can rotate out. We'll see what happens!
Typhon
1. 500-650 Pages //
2-5. Volcano, Lightning, ZEUS, Father // Zeus, Vicky (should be done in the next day or two)
Empusa
4. Sandals on the Cover // The Romantic Agenda, Vian
Python
2. Features Twins // From Bad to Cursed, Vicky (should finish by lunch time tomorrow, unless I get pulled out of my department)
Kraken
2. Ship on the Cover // Daughter of the Deep, Jax
3. Author Name Starts and Ends w/ Same Letter // Hercule Poirots Chritmas, Erin
4. Character Goes Swimming // Daughter of the Deep, Jax
5. 8 in the Series Number // Hercule Poirots Chritmas, Erin
Lernean Hydra
2. MPG Adventure //
3. Gold Text on Cover //
5. 9 or Higher in a Series //
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)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Simone St. James (other topics)Heather Gudenkauf (other topics)
Eleanor Catton (other topics)
Eleanor Catton (other topics)
Hey Team! Just updated the monster info on the spreadsheet.
On the Monster Codes tab, I added the new monsters (7 in total!). We didn't have enough letters, so I used a # and a $ for the last two monsters so the new 7 monsters go from V-$. I also greyed out the monsters that have been removed from the wheel (good riddance to the Minotaur and Cyclops, and also 5 others that weren't nearly as offensive LOL).
On the Monster Tasks tab I added the new tasks in bold and crossed out the tasks that were removed.
If you want to go back and fill in the new tasks on the spreadsheet for any books you've read, that would definitely help us to make quick kills - but don't feel obligated!