Team Ajax

[Elisabeth]

I'm just keeping a list for each book as I read, using Sixty's list as a guide. Might never need some monsters.

[Emma (M)]

I think Sixty’s list would be enhanced with the relevant numbers for each task next to the associated monster. It’s really easy to find the relevant tasks in Sixty’s list, but then I need to go to the master list anyway to see which number the task is.

[Sixty]

I have updated it to include the corresponding numbers.

[Lisa - (Aussie Girl)]

Sixty wrote: "I have updated it to include the corresponding numbers."

Thanks for going to all that trouble. It will help a lot.

[Emma (M)]

Sixty wrote: "I have updated it to include the corresponding numbers."

Thanks so much Sixty, that will really make things easy.

[Emma (M)]

Can I just say, we are doing so well as a team. Even removing points from the mini-challenges our pages read score is well above the other teams.

Just wanted to say - way to go Team Ajax 😀

[Bee]

I just finished my book and I added it to the planning sheet.
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Pages: 432
Letters: T, K, H

Now, I checked the sheet and there are things that I don't really understand, which is normal since I'm not much of a chatter. But could someone please explain to me those tasks so I can figure out how my book fits with them?

[Karolyn]

I added a tab with Sixty's master list and the monsters they work for. The only change I made was to give each task a unique number so that we can use those numbers in our planning spreadsheet tab and save extra typing :)

You all are doing awesome this challenge!!

[Karolyn]

@Sara - can you let us know if you finished A Pale Light in the Black and Barbary Station before of after the Mini challenge started?

Thanks!!

[Karolyn]

@Emma - Can you please put a your finish date on Hide and Seek on your TT Shelf?

[Karolyn]

We have a new monster to slay! It's Medusa... again...

Medusa



The infamous Gorgon sister, Medusa has been spotted on your lands. Hard to kill and is looking for recommendations for a new hair stylist. Hers never seem to last long.

To vanquish this monster you must:
1.) Read a book between 350 and 450 pages (inclusive).
2.) Read a book that takes place in a desert.
3.) Read a book where someone is beheaded.
4.) Read a book with a mirror on the cover.
5.) Read a book with a snake on the cover

[Sara]

Karolyn wrote: "@Sara - can you let us know if you finished A Pale Light in the Black and Barbary Station before of after the Mini challenge started?

Thanks!!"

Both after! Finished A Pale Light in the Black at 4pm PST and Barbary Station at around 8pm PST.

[Karolyn]

Sara wrote: "Karolyn wrote: "@Sara - can you let us know if you finished A Pale Light in the Black and Barbary Station before of after the Mini challenge started?

Thanks!!"

Both after! Finished A Pale Light ..."

Most Excellent :) I have some down time this morning so am trying to see if we can kill off any more monsters

[Karolyn]

For our Medusas... another Captain friend mentioned this book as "bot great, but not horrible" if anyone wants to tackle it. The Sinister Secrets of the Snake Mirror

[Deanna]

I found for one of our mirror tasks.

[Sixty]

It's a medusa-palooza up in here.

[Karolyn]

@Silje - can you please check the edition of The Valley of the Horses on your shelf? The one you shelved shows 21 pages and that can't be right. Thanks!

[Lisa - (Aussie Girl)]

We are going great. Yay team.

I think some of the teams are being sneaky and haven't logged in their books for a while though. Might be a stealth attack!

Should be finished my door stopper later on today.

[Emma (M)]

Karolyn wrote: "@Emma - Can you please put a your finish date on Hide and Seek on your TT Shelf?"

Sorry about that, date added

[Karolyn]

I've had a hold on The Book of Cold Cases for over a month and my library says it will still be 4 weeks before I get it. I really want the BOM points... for those that have read it, is it worth buying a copy?

[Sara]

Karolyn wrote: "I've had a hold on The Book of Cold Cases for over a month and my library says it will still be 4 weeks before I get it. I really want the BOM points... for those that have read it, is it worth buy..."

I enjoyed it. I borrowed my copy from the library, but I wouldn't have felt bad buying it. It's a compelling book with interesting characters. It's a ghost story, but all this author's books are ghost stories in some way.

[Lisa - (Aussie Girl)]

Karolyn wrote: "I've had a hold on The Book of Cold Cases for over a month and my library says it will still be 4 weeks before I get it. I really want the BOM points... for those that have read it, is it worth buy..."

It wasn't my favourite Simone St James, about a 3 star rating from me. If you can get it on kindle or at a cheaper book outlet I'd think about it but not at full retail bookshop price. Up to you Karolyn.

[Karolyn]

I’m lucky that we have an amazing independent book store in St. Louis. So if I buy it, I’ll get it there. I’d rather pay them full price than order from Amazon.

A few weeks ago I went in to get How the World Really Works: A Scientist’s Guide to Our Past, Present and Future for my book club… and left with 7 other books. Opps. I did get a signed copy of River of the Gods: Genius, Courage and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile that I’m pretty excited about.

[Elisabeth]

My husband and I need no persuading to go into a bookshop to browse and come out with a couple of books each. And yes, support those independent bookshops!

[Sara]

Karolyn wrote: "I’m lucky that we have an amazing independent book store in St. Louis. So if I buy it, I’ll get it there. I’d rather pay them full price than order from Amazon.

A few weeks ago I went in to get [..."

Okay, that River of the Gods book sounds super interesting! I was an anthropology major so anything about cultural stuff always catches my interest. Let me know what you think about it!

[Karolyn]

Sara wrote: "Karolyn wrote: "I’m lucky that we have an amazing independent book store in St. Louis. So if I buy it, I’ll get it there. I’d rather pay them full price than order from Amazon.

A few weeks ago I ..."

Will do! My sister has her masters in Anthropology and I always loved learning about what she was studying. I need to see if it can be useful in the Mini - reading non-fiction for challenges is tricky!

Elizabeth - My husband tries to limit my book buying, but he’s loosing that battle :) Fortunately our county library does a huge book sale each year and we can donate books I don’t want to keep on our shelves.

[Elisabeth]

Karolyn wrote: "Sara wrote: "Karolyn wrote: "I’m lucky that we have an amazing independent book store in St. Louis. So if I buy it, I’ll get it there. I’d rather pay them full price than order from Amazon.

A few..."

Yes, the main problem is overflowing shelves. We have a charity called Lifeline here which has a couple of massive book sales each year so they're always open for donations.

[Elisabeth]

Sara, you would be probably like Sea People: In Search of the Ancient Navigators of the Pacific . Absolutely fascinating and very readable.

[Sara]

Elisabeth wrote: "Sara, you would be probably like Sea People: In Search of the Ancient Navigators of the Pacific . ..."

Oooh, that does sound good! I'll definitely check it out.

[Shannon]

Just finished and was happy to find that it fit some of the tasks I didn't think it would

[Sarah]

Hi all,

Sorry I've been MIA lately. Life hasn't been this big of an asshole in a while. I'm sure you don't want to hear about it all, but some of it has let up for now. As you all know, it comes and goes. I'm going to work on choosing audiobooks that aren't too long...Game of Thrones was perhaps too long at this point. But I'm here and still reading!

[Sarah]

Shannon wrote: "We need a few people to add the following books to their tower team 9 shelf...

Sara:
Under Fortunate Stars

Sarah:
The Secret Life of Cows

We can't add the books to the spreadsheet until they are..."

Just looking back at threads and I'm not sure what book this is??

[Deedee]

Hi all! Just finished

Some Kind of Fairy Tale (2012) by Graham Joyce (Hardcover, 310 pages)

Pages: 310 pages
Letters: G, J, S

For the Monsters, this one would fit
Minotaur
2.) Read a book where the MC gets lost.

The book's heroine, Tara, gets lost and winds up in Tir na nog (faerie land), then returns home to England. (not a spoiler, the novel begins with her return on Christmas day)

[Elisabeth]

Finished

I really enjoyed this book and it fits tons of odd tasks: characters travel from Japan, to England, to Iceland and back thus the setting is also predominantly on islands; people are kidnapped and chased; the MC pretends to be someone else (trickery); someone steals a laptop and other information; MC goes by boat from Iceland to Rotterdam. Both hands are visible on the cover and an Icelandic tourist pamphlet mentions volcanoes.

Bring on those monsters! hahaha

[Silje]

@Karolyn, if I did it correctly, the edition on my shelf is the audio version most similar to the one I listened to. For some reason, people sometimes add a page count to those (maybe the same as the number of hours?), but we are supposed to use the page number from the default version when we listen to audio.

[Sixty]

I have a question about the "sorceress" task. Does the character have to be specifically referred to as a sorceress, or does it just mean a female that does magic?

[Shannon]

I counted a witch as a sorceress as the definition is a woman who does magic

[Karolyn]

Sixty wrote: "I have a question about the "sorceress" task. Does the character have to be specifically referred to as a sorceress, or does it just mean a female that does magic?"

This came up in the captain's chat... witch is OK

[Karolyn]

Lernaean Hydra



Lernaean Hydra has entered your lands and destroying villages as it looks for a new home. If you manage to defeat this monster be prepared to answer "how are you still alive" every time you tell the story. The monster is interested in shiny things and is unconcerned about losing their head(s). Best be quick.

To vanquish this monster you must:
1.) Read a book 800 pages or longer.
2.) Read a book with MPG Adventure.
3.) Read a book with gold text on the cover.
4.) Read a book where the MC has a sister.
5.) Read a book that is #9 or higher in a series.

[Deanna]

Finished , which works for Hydra 5, and updated spreadsheet. I can read for hydra tasks 1, 2, and 4.

[Shannon]

Finished . I really enjoyed this book. It was a really easy and quick read because I found it really interesting. It has a mirror on the cover too

[Saar The Book owl]

I've almost finished a book that I've started before the Mini. Can I still use that?

[Elisabeth]

Finished

[Lisa - (Aussie Girl)]

Saar The Book owl wrote: "I've almost finished a book that I've started before the Mini. Can I still use that?"

Yes, you just have to finish it after it starts so 👍

[Elisabeth]

Do we need a desert set book? If so I have which takes place in Jordan and Syria during the Roman Empire, with desert travel. GR doesn't have my cover version but this has the same page number and publisher and came out in 1995, a year after mine.

It's a reread but good fun after my previous book about the firebombing annihilation of Dresden in WW2.

[Emma (M)]

I’ve finished Seek & Find, which was 3rd in a series

[Deanna]

Finished Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and checked in the Lernaean Hydra as slain.

[Deanna]

Charbydis





Charbydis has been spotted close to your shores and endangering ships heading for the harbor. If you manage to defeat this monster be prepared to answer "how are you still alive" every time you tell the story. The monster is interested in helping you reach your childhood dream of finding what's in Davy Jones's Locker.


To vanquish this monster you must:

1.) Read a book 800 pages or longer.

2.) Author's name (first or last) starts with one of the letters in POOL.

3.) Read a book where the MC is forced to make a hard choice (your interpretation).

4.) Read a book with "fig" in the title or text.

5.) Read a book where the characters take a boat trip (of any type).

[Karolyn]

Working on the spreadsheet today - I needed a break from reading. But hope to finish It this afternoon.

@Silje - you're good to go, I got clarification and have your book logged.

@Sara - I added tasks for the Mini that your 3 finished books work for based on their GR page... if you have time could you add other tasks they work for? If you just want to list them here in the thread I don't mind adding them to the file.

Everyone - keep up the great work! The heat index here will be over 100F (38C) all weekend and Monday is a holiday... so I plan to read as much as I can so I don't melt.

[Shannon]

Two of the BOMs just came in from the library! Really excited to get reading them! Will start them next Monday or Tuesday depending on when I can get to the library to pick them up