Team Ruby

[RachelvlehcaR]

Lol Sonia! I think the am and pm is mixed up. Too bad we can read in our sleep.

Right now I am reading out BotM DQ book, All the Light We Cannot See. That will give us extra points. :)

[Michelle]

That's the one I am reading too! I found a few more characters that will fit letters for us.
H - Char: Dr. Hauptmann
A - Title
M - Marie-Laure
R - Reinhold von Rumple
C - Claude Levitt

If I find an S, O, or K I will make an note for us and update.

[RachelvlehcaR]

I am sending you a pm Michelle.

[RachelvlehcaR]

I just started the book, only on page 35. I have been highlighting names as I come across them. You are further ahead in it. Thanks for putting those name there.

[Michelle]

Updated spreadsheet through here. Rachel, I left All the Light in the current spelling but we can move it down to the next. I just swapped one of your other books to the next spelling instead.

[RachelvlehcaR]

Thanks Michelle!

[Allison Ann]

I'm partway through 3 books that have all the letters (technically one is missing an O, but I suspect one will show up eventually). Have to watch the Jets play first but I'll probably finish at least one tonight.

I can't make heads or tails of that spreadsheet, sooooo glad I'm not our captain. :D

[Diane ~Firefly~]

Just finished another book.

Title - Devil May Cry by Sherrilyn Kenyon

S - author
A char - Kat Agrotera
K - author

It has been awhile since I've read a new Dark Hunter book. I was sucked back in quickly and loved finding out secrets from the past.

[Allison Ann]

Book - Hark! by Ed McBain - 293 pages - 3 stars

Colour - SHAMROCK

S - charater - Steve Carelli
H - title
A - character - Angela
M - author - Ed McBain
R - character - Richard Genero
O - character - Bob O'Brien
C - charater - Steve Carelli
K - character - Bert Kling

[Michelle]

Great work, team! Updated the spreadsheet through here.

Third spelling done. Halfway through the 4th one. We are going to start strong.

[RachelvlehcaR]

Great job everyone! Sorry I couldn't finish my book tonight. I had a really tough 13 hours at work, really harsh. I hope to have three books finished tomorrow.

[Moderators of NBRC, Challenger-in-Chief]

Important reminder about using character names in your spell-it-out

A character really needs to have some dialogue and meaning to the story.
So, for example, in The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie the main character sees her bike, Gladys, as a person and talks to her as a person. But that would not count that as a character as it is an inanimate object that has no dialogue and doesn't have meaning to the story (it is just a bike!). But a book told from an animals POV, then the animal may well be a character.
By that definition, Bob the talking skull would be a character in the Dresden Files, or Seraphina the talking dragon is a character in Eragon. Use your judgments, but remember that a reference to a person or animal in a book doesn't mean that it counts as a "character".

Team Ruby
So, for example, I have noticed that you have a character of Arthur Wellesley listed for Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. There is only one reference I can see to this character in the book and that is a passing reference with no dialogue (based on a Kindle search as I've read the book twice and the name did not ring bells for me). So please check the characters you are using and adjust as necessary. Thanks!

[RachelvlehcaR]

Thanks Mods. That was mistake. I put another character from another book by accident. Thanks for catching that. It's all fixed now. :)

[Michelle]

Another one finished!
by Liz Mugavero
352 pages (GR)
S - Char: Stan Connor
A - Amara Leonard
M - Author: Mugavero
R - Richard Ruse
C - Char: Stan Connor
K - Title

Adding to our spreadsheet now.

[Allison Ann]

Book - The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King - 399 pages - 4 stars

Colour - SHAMROCK

S - author - Stephen King
H - character - Henry Dean
A - character - Jack Andolini
M - character - Captain McDonald
R - character - Roland
O - character - Odetta Holmes
C - charater - Col Vincent
K - author - Stephen King

[Joanne]

Allison Ann wrote: "I'm partway through 3 books that have all the letters (technically one is missing an O, but I suspect one will show up eventually). Have to watch the Jets play first but I'll probably finish at le..."

Are you from Winnipeg?!?

[Michelle]

Great! Added it in to our sheet. We are on our way to a 4th spelling!

[Diane ~Firefly~]

Michelle wrote: "Another one finished!
by Liz Mugavero
352 pages (GR)
S - Char: Stan Connor
A - Amara Leonard
M - Author: Mugavero
R - Richard Ruse
C - Char: S..."

I liked that book and plan to read the sequel soon.

[Allison Ann]

Joanne wrote: "Allison Ann wrote: "I'm partway through 3 books that have all the letters (technically one is missing an O, but I suspect one will show up eventually). Have to watch the Jets play first but I'll probably finish at le..."

Are you from Winnipeg?!?"

Close, NW Ontario. I'm your neighbour to the east on Lake of the Woods. Jets fan for life though. I transferred allegiance to Iginla and the Flames for awhile during the dark times, but I'm back. :D

[RachelvlehcaR]

My thirteenth book.

Book: Freak
Author: Ron Sanders
Pages: 166
S - Author: Ron Sanders
R - Author: Ron Sanders
A - Char: Lawrence Abram
M - Char: Marilyn Purly

[RachelvlehcaR]

Bookshelves & Spreadsheets Updated to here. We are at 375 points and 2 letters away from finishing our 4th spell out! Great reading and team work everyone!

I'm still planning to get two books in by the end of tonight.

[Michelle]

I should finish 2 more tonight or tomorrow as well! We are doing so great.

[RachelvlehcaR]

My fourteenth book.

Book: Orlando
Author: Virginia Woolf
Pages: 352
S - Char: Sasha
H - Char: Miss Penelope Hartopp
A - Char: Adrian Scrope
M - Char: Lady Margaret
R - Char: Rustum
O - Title O
C - Char: Clorinda

Updated Spreadsheet and Bookshelf. We are at 385 with just one letter to finish our 4th spell out!

[Michelle]

Finished last night.
I'll update after work--running late this morning.

[RachelvlehcaR]

I updated it Michelle. :)

We now have the fourth spell out of shamrock finished and starting on the fifth!

We are at 405 points and still first place! Yay Ruby! Doing great!

[Allison Ann]

RachelvlehcaR wrote: "Great job everyone! Sorry I couldn't finish my book tonight. I had a really tough 13 hours at work, really harsh. I hope to have three books finished tomorrow."

Just saw this Rachel, hope everything is okay now. I know the rough days can stick with you.

[RachelvlehcaR]

Thanks Allison Ann. It's been a tough week. My client passed away Tuesday. So, it's been a rough week and I'm still really teary.

[Allison Ann]

I'm sorry Rachel. Had you been with them a long time? Always a tough thing no matter what. I'm not a hugger in real life or online, but I do send you affectionate and commiserating shoulder punches. ;) Take care! Do you have anything happy to read?

[RachelvlehcaR]

I have been working with her for 8 months as her main care. I have been her advocate and we were close. Instead of spending the holidays with my family I spent it with her so she wasn't alone. So, it's tough.

I have nothing happy to read. My reads are dark or violent or both.

[Allison Ann]

Of course you like horror, so maybe reading gore and violence is soothing to you? When life seems unbearable to me I always read Anne of Green Gables. Sure I sob like a child when Matthew dies (this book was written in 1908 yet someone always yells at me for spoilers, I don't get it, if you haven't read it yet you're not going to so why worry about being spoiled? Anyway....) but that is cathartic and I feel better when I am done. :)

[RachelvlehcaR]

Oh gosh, if I read about Matthew right now I'd be a blubbering baby. That's so sad in the Anne of green gables story.

Lol, spoiler alert! :P

I loved those stories and the tv show as a kid.

I'm thinking a nice violent horror book to just lose myself in.

[Allison Ann]

I hope everyone is murdered by psychotic clowns in a very brutal manner - enjoy! Yuck! :)

I'm totally slacking today. I'm eons behind in my bookwork, yet instead of working solidly I'm alternately checking GRs and watching The Great British Bakeoff on youtube. With 5 minute work intervals when I feel particularly guilty. Sigh! Why do I let myself get so behind? Maybe I should just give up completely and read my book? It's snowing like crazy so at least I don't feel bad that I'm not outside. Sometimes being self-employed really really sucks. :P

[RachelvlehcaR]

I am behind in my reading too. I should've had five books done this week. Also my hours at work have changed and I will not have as much reading time. Reading will be at night.

I don't watch much tv but I might watch a few of my favorite comedy tv shows on Hulu.

[RachelvlehcaR]

My fifteenth book. I also did DQs for the BOM for it (today), giving us an extra 20 points. :)

Book: All the Light We Cannot See
Author: Anthony Doerr
Pages: 531
S - Char: Hans Schilzer
H - Char: Dr. Hauptmann
A - Title A
M - Char: Marie-Laure LeBlanc
R - Char: Reinhold von Rumpole
C - Char: Claude Levitt

[Joanne]

Allison Ann wrote: "Close, NW Ontario. I'm your neighbour to the east on Lake of the Woods. Jets fan for life though. I transferred allegiance to Iginla and the Flames for awhile during the dark times, but I'm back. :D "

Well, hello neighbour! I feel like no one knows my city so seeing a reference to the Jets just made me jump up and pay attention, lol.

[Michelle]

I'm working until 9 tonight, so I may not finish my next book until late. I have 5 more to finish before month-end for other challenges. Wish me luck!

[RachelvlehcaR]

Wishing you luck Michelle!

[RachelvlehcaR]

I signed up for DQs for the next BotM. I was hoping I'd be able to get extra points for us this week but it will be on week 2 for the DQ points. The book will give me a total of 30 points on Sunday.

[Allison Ann]

Book - Kill All the Judges by William Deverell - 432 pages - 2 stars

Colour - SHAMROCK

S - charater - Stoney
H - character - Horace Widgeon
A - character - Arthur Beauchamp
M - character - Margaret Blake
R - character - Rafael Whynet-Moir
O - character - Chip O'Malley
C - charater - Cudworth Brown
K - title

[RachelvlehcaR]

Oh cool Allison Ann! I'm will update the spreadsheet. For some reason it isn't showing our actual points on the weekly results. It shows us at 405 points but we are 455 points and on our 5th spelling of Shamrock.

Great job everyone!

[Allison Ann]

Really fast read for this one. The R character is fairly minor, so maybe not a great idea for this book. The other choices are all solid though.

Book - The Sins of the Father by Jeffrey Archer - 352 pages - 3 stars

Colour - SHAMROCK

S - title
H - character - Harry Clifton
A - author - Jeffrey Archer
M - character - Maisie Clifton
R - character - Commander Rupert Harvey
O - character - Olga Piotrovska
C - charater - Harry Clifton
K - character - Detective Karl Kolowski

[Allison Ann]

I'm starting a 501 page book now. From the description it works for A, O and K (who knows what else I'll find) the hardest letters to catch. I really hope our next colour has an E in it though, my E books are piling up and I hate to waste that vowel when I need it for so many individual challenges. :D

[Juliana]

RachelvlehcaR wrote: "Thanks Allison Ann. It's been a tough week. My client passed away Tuesday. So, it's been a rough week and I'm still really teary."

Wow, I'm sorry to hear that Rachel. I now you spent a lot of time with her. I hope the good memories can help you.

[RachelvlehcaR]

Thank you Juliana. I have spent a lot of hours with her. I have great memories too. It's only been two days but feels so much longer.

[RachelvlehcaR]

My sixteenth book.

Book: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Author: J.K. Rowling
Pages: 652
S - Char:Savage
H - Title H
A - Char: Amycus Carrow
M - Char: Marcus Belby
R - Author R
O - Char: Bob Ogden
C - Char: Cecilia or Char: Amycus Carrow

[RachelvlehcaR]

Updated spreadsheet and bookshelves. We have 485 points (Again, WAT Weekly Spreadsheet isn't showing actual points). Team Tourmaline is getting close to us. They have 425 points.

Great job everyone!

[RachelvlehcaR]

My book seventeen.

Book: The Merchant of Venice
Author: William Shakespeare
Pages: 247
S - Char: Shylock
A - Char: Antonio
M - Title M

Added to spreadsheets and bookshelf. Current points 495. Almost 500! we just need three more letter for the fifth spell out of Shamrock: S, M, C.

[Cheryl]

Finished my next one today.

Book: I Robot
Author: Isaac Asimov]
Pages: 272

S- character: Susan Calvin
H- character: Herbie
A- author: Isaac Asimov
M- character: Mike Donovan
R- character: Robbie (although he is a non-speaking robot, he interacts like a verbal character)
C- character: Susan Calvin
K- character: Major General Kallner

I have two more books I should have read by the end of the week. (One of them is The Other Boleyn Girl, so that difficult "O" and over 500 pages long) and the other is also over 500 pages.

[RachelvlehcaR]

Cheryl, I added it to the spreadsheet, we are over 500 points now. We are at 505 points. Woohoo!

Awesome job Ruby!

[Cheryl]

Warning, the next book I am finishing this evening is a nonfiction book and will only work for three letters, A, H, or C. It is harder with no characters! (And, while it will earn 20 points because of length, it feels like I should get another 10 points for depth!)