Team Ajax

[Sixty]

Ok, finished Fatal Liaison. In a little bit I will get started on The Deep for Sirens 2 and 5 which I can finish before this mini ends. I have nothing going on but time right now, so if I can finish any other quick ones for task completions let me know.

[Deedee]

Finished:

Things You Save in a Fire (2019) by Katherine Center
Has word "fire" in title

Also fits:
Cretan Bull 3 - Read a book where something physical is destroyed (e.g., building burning down and not a relationship being ruined).
There is literally a building that burns down in the novel (the main character is a firefighter).

Pagecount: 320 pages
Letters: C, K, T

[Saar The Book owl]

I think it's me, but I find it sometimes confusing to see wich monsters are done in this thread. So, we only have Manticore for now? My finished book fits for task 3 of Manticore. But is that the new Mini? I've entered my book that I've finished on 13 July in the sheet, but does it count for the Monster Mini or is it already the new Mini?

[Sixty]

Finished The Deep which should finish off Sirens.

[Sixty]

Saar The Book owl wrote: "I think it's me, but I find it sometimes confusing to see wich monsters are done in this thread. So, we only have Manticore for now? My finished book fits for task 3 of Manticore. But is that the n..."

On the spreadsheet where you enter books if you select Monster Mini (on the bottom of the page) you can see what monsters are active and what tasks are needed. The monster mini ends today. Details for the new mini are here.

[Saar The Book owl]

Thanks, Sixty, I've made an adjustment in the sheet and deleted the task that I've noted for the mini, because my book is used for the Battleship.

[Shannon]

Finished Added it to the spreadsheet and posted it in the completed books for Battleship

[Sara]

I don't think I'm finishing any of my reads before the next mini begins. I'm assuming the next mini starts when the monster mini ends? Since the next mini starts in 4 hours for me, I'm probably counting my audiobook that I finish today for the next mini. :)

[Bee]

I finished another book a few days ago but hadn't the time to check it in
The Queen of Attolia

[Deanna]

Finished my Into the Light book with 1 minute to spare, so we finished our last Drop Bear.

Reminder: Any books finished from this point forward will be used for the new mini.

My son is impatiently waiting for me to take him to the lake, so I'll get the spreadsheet set up for the new challenge later this evening.

[Karolyn]

I’m just back from my workshop (which is why I’ve been MIA the past few days. Wow! You all finished strong!!!

Excited to start our final mini… i have a series I want to finish and have been putting off. And some of these could get pretty creative!

[Deanna]

Sixty wrote: "Finished The Deep which should finish off Sirens."

Yep. Sirens are done. Was King of Blood finished before or after the finish of the monsters mini?

[Sixty]

Deanna wrote: "Sixty wrote: "Finished The Deep which should finish off Sirens."

Yep. Sirens are done. Was King of Blood finished before or after the finish of the monsters mini?"

After.

[Karolyn]

A few clarifications for the Mini….

Rule clarifications:
Urania: Whole numbers only for your series chains. You can start at any point, but they need to be consecutive numbers. You could have 1 chain of 16 books if you want or 4 chains of 4, but each chain needs at least 4 books.

Calliope: the book should have been read before the start of this mini. Entire sections filled with BOM are not really in the spirit of the challenge.
If it is a series book, you must read the same book in the series. No substitutions.

Polyhymnia: A and The are optional to include.

Erato: You can have 2 team members reading the same book to make a pair.

[Elisabeth]

Karolyn wrote: "A few clarifications for the Mini….

Rule clarifications:
Urania: Whole numbers only for your series chains. You can start at any point, but they need to be consecutive numbers. You could have 1 ch..."

Do all the books in one chain have to be read by the same person and come from the same series?

[Lisa - (Aussie Girl)]

Elisabeth wrote: "Karolyn wrote: "A few clarifications for the Mini….

Rule clarifications:
Urania: Whole numbers only for your series chains. You can start at any point, but they need to be consecutive numbers. You..."

Thanks for asking that Elizabeth. I was wondering the same thing.

Also if Sixty and I are reading the BOM can it be counted as a pair?

[Deanna]

Elisabeth wrote: "Do all the books in one chain have to be read by the same person and come from the same series?"

No. Different readers and different series are fine.

Lisa - (Aussie Girl) wrote: "Also if Sixty and I are reading the BOM Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid can it be counted as a pair?"

Yes. The BOMs can be used for the pairs tasks.

[Karolyn]

I’m working on one of the squares for Polyhymnia. We can make one with 3 books we have. The final book will need to start with an S and end with an R.

Be on the lookout for a book that might fit that, fingers crossed S…R shouldn’t be toooo difficult.

[Karolyn]

And another where we can complete a square with a book that starts with S and ends with N. Another combo that seems do-able.

[Sarah]

This new mini looks much more complicated! Is there a certain muse you guys think will be more difficult? Asking so I can be on the look out for books that would fit. Fyi, I am also doing Malibu Rising. Can we do two different swts of the same book? Not sire if there was possibly another reader. And just to be clear, the book I just entered, Lethal White, was finished after the start on the new mini.

[Karolyn]

Some of the tasks for this mini are more complicated. Here are a few thoughts on the tricky ones… open to discussion and ideas.

Thalia and Melpomene - I think these are the hardest. We need to use titles to write a comedy and a tragedy. I haven’t thought about a strategy or snooped on the other teams. If anyone has ideas - we need them.

Urania - We’re in good shape. Just need a single #1 in a series and we’ll have it fully planned.

Polyhymnia - We’ve got a good start on 2 of the 3 squares and with a bit more planning I think these will be OK.

Erato - we can get really creative with pairs of books… so I think this one is also really manageable as long as we work together.

Calliope and Clio seem really straightforward too.

Euterpe and Terpichore should also be easy as long as we’re watching for the needed items as we read.

[Sara]

For Thalia and Melpomene, does the whole title have to be used to write the comedy and tragedy, or can you take pieces from titles and string them together? Because that might make it easier.

Like say you have a long title, like a nonfiction title i.e. I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer. Could I simply use "Gone in the Dark" or "in the Dark" when building the comedy or tragedy? Or does the whole title have to go in?

Because if it does, then I think that changes the strategy for what books to read for that task.

[Sara]

Also, I plan to read the Crystal Cave soon which is book 1 in the series. I need to finish it this month for another task, so I'm getting to it next weekend (this weekend, or well Sunday/Monday technically, I'm tackling the monster that is 11/22/63). I'll add it to the spreadsheet so you can add it to the planning.

[Deanna]

Sara wrote: "For Thalia and Melpomene, does the whole title have to be used to write the comedy and tragedy, or can you take pieces from titles and string them together? Because that might make it easier.

Lik..."

We would use the full title, but not include the subtitle. For that book I'll Be Gone in the Dark, which could easily fit in a story.

A few titles with a names or locations and others with phrases are a good place to start. Honestly with a little creativity most titles can be made to work somehow.

[Sara]

For the poetry/song lyrics task. Does it have to be in the story? Or can it be found at the beginning? Like for example, if there is a poem or song before a chapter or at the very beginning of the book right after the dedication?

[Deanna]

Sara wrote: "For the poetry/song lyrics task. Does it have to be in the story? Or can it be found at the beginning? Like for example, if there is a poem or song before a chapter or at the very beginning of the ..."

The task just says in text, so either of those would work.

[Sara]

Great! That definitely gives me some options. Woot.

[Deanna]

Finished Delusion in Death and yesterday and updated spreadsheet.

[Karolyn]

@Sixty - Just wanted to give you a heads up that because of a typo we don't need the Secret Garden for one of the Polyhymnia squares. Fell free to still read it if you want to, I am sure we can work it into the comedy or tragedy tasks!

[Sixty]

Karolyn wrote: "@Sixty - Just wanted to give you a heads up that because of a typo we don't need the Secret Garden for one of the Polyhymnia squares. Fell free to still read it if you want to, I am sure we can wor..."

No worries, I needed it for my personal maze challenge anyway! It's got a lot of food mentioned, so it'll work for that task!

[Elisabeth]

Finished

Oddly, the page GR count is 350 odd but the book is actually 476 pages for the same edition.

[Deanna]

Elisabeth wrote: "Finished

Oddly, the page GR count is 350 odd but the book is actually 476 pages for the same edition."

Is this the correct edition on Amazon Australia? The GR entry for this one is currently missing publisher and page number, but I can ask one of the librarians to update the record.

https://www.amazon.com.au/When-She-Go...

[Elisabeth]

https://www.amazon.com.au/When-She-Go...

I think so. The house is at the bottom and it's a print edition by Hachette. There are unnumbered pages at the end with ads or blank so I guess they count those and end up with 496. All very confusing.

[Silje]

Same problem with Wonderment in Death, as the previous mini-story in the In Death series: the audio is the default version and the kindle editions have different page amount, 98 and 112. The audio is 3h 32mins. Just use 100 pages as with the last one?

[Karolyn]

Silje wrote: "Same problem with Wonderment in Death, as the previous mini-story in the In Death series: the audio is the default version and the kindle editions have different page amount, 98 and..."

I would default it to 100 pages like we did the other one. :)

[Elisabeth]

Finished

[Elisabeth]

I was looking at what we might need before I pick my next book. I have a JD Robb 'in Death' series book I could read which I imagine will match one of Silje's for a pair of books. Is that correct?

[Karolyn]

Elisabeth wrote: "I was looking at what we might need before I pick my next book. I have a JD Robb 'in Death' series book I could read which I imagine will match one of Silje's for a pair of books. Is that correct?"

That could work for a pair.

And for everyone - remember we can get really creative with pairs. Things like one title that includes summer and one that includes winter (or King and Queen, light and dark, ect), authors with the same or opposite initials (like K. S. and S. K.), fiction and non fiction set in the same place or with the same character, opposite color covers, covers with day and night.

[Elisabeth]

In that case On the Java Ridge could match Malibu Rising because they're both sea settings/ have oceans on the covers.

I'm planning to read this at some stage. Does someone have a leafy cover which would match it? Ooh or maybe another three name author?

[Emma (M)]

My version of Ariadne has leaves on it . I’m hoping to finish it over the weekend.

[Elisabeth]

Emma (M) wrote: "My version of Ariadne has leaves on it . I’m hoping to finish it over the weekend."

Is it being used for another task though? Most listed books are as far as I can see.

[Deedee]

Finished: Little Souls (2022) by Sandra Dallas
Page count: 294 pages
Letters: D, S, S

[Emma (M)]

Elisabeth wrote: "Emma (M) wrote: "My version of Ariadne has leaves on it . I’m hoping to finish it over the weekend."

Is it being used for another task though? Most listed books are as ..."
Oh, yes - I just checked and it’s been assigned to another task.

[Karolyn]

We can always move a book around (as long as it isn't logged into the reporting spreadsheet yet). I think about it in terms of what is the "hardest" task we can use the book for when trying to put things into slots.

So for Emma's Ariadne - I personally think it will be easier to find pairs than finding books another team member has read during the challenge and before the start of this mini. But I'll make a note and we can move it if we need to. And if you all think that the pairs are harder... I am happy to be overruled :)

[Elisabeth]

I think pairs would be easier, too. What do you all think is most difficult?

[Lisa - (Aussie Girl)]

Maybe the book titles, comedy/tragedy. After we get all the book titles, does someone/group have to string them together to make a story? That's the most difficult rather than just reading and finding stuff.

[Karolyn]

Good question… I’d have to think how I’d rank them easiest to hardest. I think the boxes (Polyhymnia) and series chains (Urania) are two of the hardest, but also ones we have everything planned out for.

For the comedy and tragedy I’ll share what Deanna told me from a past challenge. We can use “filler” words in between the titles to craft the stories. So I don’t think they will be that bad to create. And as we get a full set of titles for these, if anyone wants to volunteer to story write, we’ll be looking for help 😄

Below is an example from a past challenge that Deanna showed me.

"The village of Tywyn on the western coast is best known for horrors perpetuated in October of 1591 by a local witch called The Madman's Daughter and her spectral father. Over the course of a week, seven girls disappeared from their rooms overnight leaving behind only indecipherable Words in Deep Blue luminescent goo on their bedroom walls. As far as the local authorities could tell, All the Missing Girls had vanished without a trace. Believing the village children to be in Grave Peril, the Ministry of Magic immediately dispatched its best magical tracker, Auror Alwyn Blaidd, to investigate. At the home of the most recent victim, Blaidd discovered a faint spectral trail which led out of the village to The House on the Cliff owned by the mad witch. A subsequent raid turned up the bodies of the girls hanging in the basement before a sacrificial altar. Because of the constant rantings of witch's ghostly father about the Signs Preceding the End of the World, the pair were trying to seek the protection of the warrior goddess Aeronwen from the "coming destruction" with their gifts of human sacrifice. The jury at the subsequent trial quickly returned verdicts of Truly Madly Guilty. The mad ghost was permanently exorcised, and his equally insane daughter was sentenced to Azkaban after she was deemed too dangerous for any of the mental asylums."

[Elisabeth]

Impressive! Much easier with connecting words.

I have Mel Brooks' autobiography to read in August for another challenge. It's called All About Me which could be useful in the comedy story.

[Saar The Book owl]

I've added a book yesterday, but it can't be used for this mini, because it's used for the battle. Just you know it ;)

[Emma (M)]

Same here, just added The Kingdoms to the spreadsheet but was a battleship book.