Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

Team Members

Donna

Jen

Chris

Margaret

Allie

Laura

Srividya

Amanda

Your itinerary is here

When you have a team name, just let me know and I'll update this thread name :)

First stop - Mauritius, East Africa

So just to get you started...

Your first stop is Mauritius, East Africa

You can choose as a team to:
TASK
- Read books set in Mauritius, or by African authors or
- Do a spell-it-out of Mauritius or East Africa

OR
You can elect to do the detour, which for this stop, means that four of you need to "Read a book where a character is a vampire"

Team Readers of the World, Unite! spreadsheet

Yay! Hi Teammates! I'm Jen. :-) I live in Tucson, Arizona, U.S.A. I'm disabled and read mostly Paranormal Romances and Urban Fantasies, but I've been known to read other stuff, too. (In fact, I just finished a non-paranormal romantic suspense book!)

I'm excited to read with you all. What are we going to call ourselves? How about...

... Readers of the World, Unite! (creativity is not my strong suit, lol)

If we do the "Spell Mauritius" challenge, I have two U books that I'll be reading tonight/tomorrow/Wednesday. Unite Me and Unravel Me can be the two Us. :-)

Jen wrote: "Yay! Hi Teammates! I'm Jen. :-) I live in Tucson, Arizona, U.S.A. I'm disabled and read mostly Paranormal Romances and Urban Fantasies, but I've been known to read other stuff, too. (In fact, I jus..."

Hi Jen!
I love paranormal romance and UF. My favorite is the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. Have you read any of them?

I like Readers Of The World, Unite! as a team name. It's cute. :)

Hi everyone! Yay for another team challenge!
I'm Amanda. I'm from Northern California.
I read a lot of different genres, but my favorites are sci-fi and fantasy. I also read a lot of romance, especially historical and paranormal romance.

In my free time I spin, knit, paint, write, and play video games.

Amanda wrote: "Hi Jen!
I love paranormal romance and UF. My favorite is the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. Have you read any of them?

I like Readers Of The World, Unite! as a team name. It's cute. :)"

Yes! I too love the BDB series! I think I've only read two of them (maybe three; definitely three if the BDB Legacy series counts), but I've added them to my "buy!" list and am starting to collect them. :-)

And thanks for the vote of confidence for my "Readers of the World, Unite!" team name. It sounds sort of comic-book-superhero-ish to me and would seem to fit in with the other team names (who have the best names already, darn it all anyway, lol). ;-)

Hi everyone! So many here that I know from other challenges and a few that are new to me. I am Amanda's mom so I know her very well. :D

I am also from Northern California. I am an artist, I love to hike, read (of course), garden, explore the great outdoors and last of all I love being a grandmother. My favorite books are historical fiction, good Christian books, memoirs and bios. I wasn't too sure about joining another challenge but when I saw this one, I had to join!

Hi everyone!

I am from Pennsylvania. I am currently a stay at home mom with aspirations of event planning (someday...). I love to read and I am exploring new genre's all the time lately. My favorite books used to be mysteries and romances (especially historical) but I have recently discovered a love for YA, Fantasy, Science fiction (especially time travel) & Paranormal books. I don't really read much non-fiction, if at all. I am looking forward to this group challenge.

I'll help with this goal any way I can except I am not into the vampire genre. I'll wait to see where the group is heading and I'll locate books or whatnot. I have oodles of selections literally at my fingertips, but don't we all as readers? silly me! I'm going to be very busy tomorrow but as soon as I have the time, I'll be checking in tomorrow eveing.

Hi everyone! I am Srividya and am from India. I love team challenges but was somehow going to sit this one out for no reason other than the fact that I was doing too many challenges (as if that really matters..Lol). Anyway, Margaret managed to tempt me and here I am (thank you Margaret) and am quite excited to be reading with you all!

A little about myself, I am a stay at home mom currently home schooling my kid, which leaves me with enough time to follow only one hobby - i.e. reading, which is perfect for me! I love reading all kinds of books . I do love Fantasy, CLassics, Non fiction, Romance - just about everything, lol! The only genres that I do stay away from are YA and NA, especially if they are badly written. That said, I don't really mind swinging one for the team, even if it is bad! :)

Jen - I love that name, it really sounds cool! :)

Margaret wrote: "I'll help with this goal any way I can except I am not into the vampire genre. I'll wait to see where the group is heading and I'll locate books or whatnot. I have oodles of selections literally at..."

We only need to read "vampire" books if we choose to Detour. I vote we do the "Spell-It-Out - MAURITIUS" goal. :-)

If we do do the "spell Mauritius," I've got the two Us covered! :-)

Srividya wrote: "Jen - I love that name, it really sounds cool! :) "

"Readers of the World, Unite!"? I like it too, especially as you're from India, we have another teammate from Canada, and the rest of us are from all over the United States. In other words...

We're readers from all over the world united on a team to do this challenge! So...Readers of the World, Unite! lol :-)

What do the rest of you think? (Amanda, thanks for your yes-vote, too!)

If we are doing a spell out of Mauritus - I can cover both Is as we as any of the other letters as I do have books for all. :)

ETA: If we want to do the detour, I have a vampire book that I can read for that as well. :)

Srividya wrote: "Hi everyone! I am Srividya and am from India. I love team challenges but was somehow going to sit this one out for no reason other than the fact that I was doing too many challenges (as if that rea..."

Have you been homeschooling your kids long? My youngest two are in cyber school. I pulled them out of regular public school in the middle of the year last year for safety reasons. It was the best decision I think I have ever made for my kids. Not only do I not have to worry for their safety but there have been a lot of educational reasons it was a good move. I would have pulled my oldest one also but I didn't need to when he asked to go to an all day vo-tech school instead.

If we go with spelling it out....I can cover a, m to start.... I can always find a book to help with the other letters.

I vote for the Readers of the World, Unite.....sounds very confident and also inspiring all at the same time! :D

Srividya.....oops! sounds like I "strong-armed" you! sorry but not so sorry, because I am very excited that I talked you into it. lol

If we decide to do a spell it out, then I have plenty of books that can work. I could also pull off vampire books but the location or African authors might stump me for a bit. Not sure I have anything to fit there.

Let's do the Spell-It-Out! Please!!! Please??? lol I love the spelling challenges. And it sounds like we can cover this one pretty easily. Ordinarily, I think it would have been hard because of the two Us, but I have two U books out from my library and am reading them tonight-tomorrow-Wednesday, sooo... ;-)

Oh! And it's very nice to meet you all. I think this is the first time I'll have talked with any of you. I do know I wasn't already "friends" with any of you, so I sent you all friend requests! :-)

I'm looking forward to getting to know you all more as the challenge goes on. :-)

I'm a Mommy, too, but my "kid" is a puppy. He'll be three in May and he's not yet fully mature, which means he drives me batty pretty regularly. I'm really, really hoping full maturity gets here soon!

I'm now home-schooling him, too. Our last few official trainings with various people didn't go too well, so I've decided that I'll train him myself. I'm slowly turning him into my perfect service dog. (I think I mentioned that I'm disabled. ???) He had his first "test" last September/October, when we went on a road trip to Oklahoma and Texas. He did astonishingly well. I was so proud! :-)

I was looking at the scoring and if we go with the spell it out, then we might want to each take a letter and then whoever has time can do an extra letter. Detours are worth more points right off the bat but I believe we can only do 5 detours for the first trip around.

Points

TASKS
◈ Completing a task will earn the team 10 points AND
◈ If at least 6 members of the team read a book that contributes to the tasks, that is an additional 15 points AND
◈ If ALL team members read a book for the time you are at the stop, that is an additional 10 points

DETOURS
◈ Completing a detour earns the team 25 points AND
◈ If at least 7 members of the team read a book for the detour, that is an additional 15 points AND
◈ If ALL team members read a book for the time you are at the stop, that is an additional 10 points

Donna wrote: "I was looking at the scoring and if we go with the spell it out, then we might want to each take a letter and then whoever has time can do an extra letter. Detours are worth more points right off t..."

I forgot that Detours give us more points. I don't have any vampire books on my reading-next "shelf." Apart from the two U books I mentioned, my next reads will be Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman and 11/22/63 by Stephen King.

But... If you all would rather go for the Detour, I CAN read a vampire book (I own LOTS, lol). I'd just rather not. (But I can easily get in the mood for one if you decide to go on the Detour.)

Here is our list of detours for this trip around ... maybe knowing which ones we want to do detours for ahead of time would help us decide.

1. Victoria Falls (ZW) - Mauritius (MU) Read a book where a character is a vampire
2. Mauritius (MU) - Karratha (AU) Read a book where the characters eat pasta
3. Karratha (AU) - Queenstown (NZ) Read a book with a hellhound
4. Queenstown (NZ) - Baltra Island (EC) Read a book with the main genre (listed on the first page on GR) as Spiritual
5. Baltra Island (EC) - Quebec (CA) Read a book with a perfect cube number of pages
6. Quebec (CA) - Glasgow (GB) Read a book where a character's first name starts with the letter K
7. Glasgow (GB) - Malabo (GQ) Read a book that is in the "Best Book Cover Art" Listopia List (https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...)
8. Malabo (GQ) - Victoria Falls (ZW) Read a book with the phrase "head start" in a book

Donna - I have just started home schooling her since last year. My daughter did go to a regular school but she is a border line autistic child (her complete diagnosis is PANDAS, an acronym) and couldn't really cope with the bullying and other issues in school. We did go and talk to her class teacher etc but they denied it. One day last year my daughter stopped going to school and in fact had nightmares when I used to try and send her. So, I decided not to tax her and to try and home school her. I am just getting into the groove of teaching her, which I find is very difficult, given that I don't have any standards or means to do it. I do look up on the net for various syllabus and other help and am always on the lookout for new options. Currently she is doing a mix of app learning on the iPad and some books. She should be in third grade now but am slowly getting her to learn second grade things. Her learning right now is not planned but is based on what interests her and stuff like that.

What is cyber school? I would love to see if that is available for Indian kids. Can you tell me more about it?

Plus we need to submit our team name. Most of the teams have picked names. I like the one that Jen suggested. However, I don't think everyone has checked in yet.

Hahahaha Margaret! Nah, you didn't strong arm me but tempted me with the fact that I would finally be doing a team challenge with you! ;)

So far we have five "yes" votes for a team name of "Readers of the World, Unite!"

Chris, Allie, Laura... What do you think of this name? Have another suggestion? Or is "Readers of the World, Unite!" good for you, too?

Srividya wrote: "Donna - I have just started home schooling her since last year. My daughter did go to a regular school but she is a border line autistic child (her complete diagnosis is PANDAS, an acronym) and cou..."

Cyber school is an online public school. They provide laptops, printers, headsets, books and gym equipment (balls/bases/ring tosses/etc) free of charge (because it is public school). There are teachers that teach their virtual classes. My kids get up and log into class. They can see their teachers and work in groups together. The teachers get the kids really involved. They have homework assignments that they have to do and then they scan & submit it. Tests are submitted in different ways. Some are questions on the PC and others have to be printed and then scanned back in after they are done. Major testing is done at special sites throughout the area (our testing site for state testing is 45 minutes away) I basically supervise them except for gym. For gym they are required to have so many hours a year (50 % must use the items they provide) and I may use approved activities like dance and martial arts (my kids do these) for some of the hours. They have a self paced Arts Alive class that the system gives you reminders when you should have a lesson done (every week or so they should do one lesson). They can be anything from poetry, drawing, painting, dancing & music. They watch videos, go to suggested sites to read more on the subject or do related activities. They even do some really cool projects.

Donna wrote: "Srividya wrote: "Donna - I have just started home schooling her since last year. My daughter did go to a regular school but she is a border line autistic child (her complete diagnosis is PANDAS, an..."

Oh and my youngest son has ADHD so I find that he is more focused at school now. Before his teachers complained that he was easily distracted and if he got bored he couldn't sit still. He is no longer bored (the work is a bit more challenging) and they keep him pretty engaged. They know he gets easily distracted and since I told his teacher, she call on him more.

Hi Team! I'm good with the team name.

Just recently moved back to Phoenix and still don't know which end is up, but getting back into the swing.

I'm happy with the spell it out, or vampires. Don't have anything on authors from Mauritius that I know of :-)

Wow, Donna! That sounds really cool but given your explanation I doubt they would be open to students outside the US! :(

Let me see and find out if something like this exists here in India. If it does, it will solve a major problem for me.

Good morning everyone! Yeah lots of posts already this morning.Our team name sounds great to me! I can do spell it out or read a vampire book. I m getting ready for work so will check back in later.

Seven of the eight of us vote "yes" for "Readers of the World, Unite!" as our team name. Since we have majority, should we request the name assignment? How do we get our name changed? Who do we notify?

It probably says somewhere, but it's 4:30 in the morning here now and I'm fading fast. I'll be back when I'm again awake. :-)

I'm on the mobile app right now but I can change our name once I turn my computer on.

We can probably ask our Travel Agent to register our name (?).

Should we plan on spelling out MAURITIUS since Jen has the two U's covered? I can cover an M - T - or R from my Currently Reading shelf.

What kind of dog do you have, Jen? Do you have a pic?

We adopted a dog in September. Alonzo is a blackmouth cur mix and the shelter thinks he's about 2 years old. He is such a goofball, though he is still very shy with new people. It's a big change because he used to be scared of everyone and everything.

I'm fine with either a spell out or detour.

Amanda wrote: "What kind of dog do you have, Jen? Do you have a pic?

We adopted a dog in September. Alonzo is a blackmouth cur mix and the shelter thinks he's about 2 years old. He is such a goofball, though he ..."

I had to look them up- what a beautiful breed!

I have an a if you go the spell it out route. Alonzo is my granddog! he is such a darling, I keep wanting to call him by my other grandchildren's names, kind of funny actually. lol I run through a few names before I get to his.

Hi, I am a stay-at-home mom from Calgary. I like adventure novels and don't fancy vampires) Thus, I would like to do read something other than vampire book (detour option).

Jen wrote: "So far we have five "yes" votes for a team name of "Readers of the World, Unite!"

Chris, Allie, Laura... What do you think of this name? Have another suggestion? Or is "Readers of the World, Unite..."

I am ok with the name)

Allie wrote: "I am ok with the name)."

Yay! Hi again all! Since it looks like all of us are okay with my team name suggestion, I just messaged our NBRC Travel Agent. So hopefully he/she will update if Amanda can't get to it first! :-)

Team 13 ----> Readers of the World, Unite!

:-)

Looks like the majority of us want to do the spell it out. There are 9 letters (8 of us) and we get more points if everyone contributes so if we each take 1 letter and then whoever is done first can read the last letter. Sound like a plan?

Donna wrote: "Looks like the majority of us want to do the spell it out. There are 9 letters (8 of us) and we get more points if everyone contributes so if we each take 1 letter and then whoever is done first ca..."

That works! I'm doing a U and can do both Us if needed, since I'm reading back-to-back U books today/tomorrow. :-)

Here's a plan. :-)
(Sorry if I missed anyone!)

M - (Margaret?)
A - Amok by Stefan Zweig (Allie)
U - Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi (Jen)
R - (Chris?)
I - (Srividya?)
T -
I - Ival in Widdershins by Jordan L. Hawk (Amanda)
U - If needed, Unite Me by Tahereh Mafi (Jen)
S -

I can take letter A - Amok by Stefan Zweig. Does the size of the book matter? It is a novella, 144 pages only.

Amok

Jen wrote: "Here's a plan. :-)

M -
A -
U - Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi (Jen)
R -
I -
T -
I -
U - If needed, Unite Me by Tahereh Mafi (Jen)
S -"

I can take an "I". I started Widdershins last night and the main character's nickname is Ival.

Jen wrote: "Here's a plan. :-)

M -
A -
U - Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi (Jen)
R -
I -
T -
I -
U - If needed, Unite Me by Tahereh Mafi (Jen)
S -"


I believe Srividya said earlier that she has an I book.

Srividya, can you cover that?

Chris has M-T-R listed. Chris, which one do you want to cover?

Allie wrote: "I can take letter A - Amok by Stefan Zweig. Does the size of the book matter? It is a novella, 144 pages only."

no page count limits