Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

Team Vanity



• Laura (Captain)
• Megan (Co-captain)
• Alissa
• Allison
• Brooke
• Geri
• Karen
• Linda
• Mandy Sickle
• Rosaline

Status Sheet
Team Sheet

Avarice Mini-Challenge Bingo Cards

Card 1
Card 2
Card 3

r

r

Team Shelves
Laura
Megan
Mandy
Lin
Geri
Allison
Rosaline
Brooke
Karen
Alissa

Sin Bingos:

Green:
Melissa from Team Sloth read in 2019
Cat read in 2019
Melindam read in 2019
Melindam 's team players read in 2019
Jammin Jenny read in 2019
read by Tea in 2019

Lust

RULES

◈ Starts October 7th, at 7 AM Sydney Australia (AEST) and goes for 10 weeks, ending on December 16th.
◈ Each week will start at the same time on Mondays, 7AM Sydney Australia (AEST).
◈ Books must be />100 pages.
◈ Audio books are allowed. (For page numbers, use the "default" GR book page numbers. If the "default" is a Large Print version, use the next most popular edition for page numbers.
◈ If there is no print / ebook, then the audio book must be longer than 3 hours, and page numbers will be set at 100 pages, no matter how long the audio is)
◈ No graphic novels, cookbooks or poetry. (Sorry.)
◈ Anything with the word" boxed set" in the title on Goodreads can not be used as "one book". They need to be shelved as separate books to count for this challenge.
◈ No children's books or plays/screenplays less than 25,000 words. ArBookFind is a great site to double check. Another rule of thumb is the audiobook version should be over 3 hours.
◈ Any book in any language will count, as long as it meets the criteria.
◈ "Re-reads" will be allowed, if it has been six months since you have read the book. This includes listening to the audio version, if you've already read the book.

◈ For reading books
Books between 100 and 499 pages = 0.1 points per page
Books between 500 and 799 pages = 0.15 points per page
Books 800 pages or more = 0.2 points per page

NOTE: Book Points will be rounded to integer.

EXAMPLE:
Pages Points
160 16
450 45
500 75
750 113
800 160
1050 210

◈ Sinful Pride Points
As you assign each book to a sin, using one of the three categories you will get bonus points. If you are lucky enough to find a book that meets all three requirements (two for Avarice), you can call Sin Bingo!

7 points for achieving Sin Bingo
5 points for each book used for colour cover
3 points for each book used for top shelf
1 point for each book used for sin specification (EXCEPT for Avarice, which gets 0 points)

◈ For current BOM (Book of the Month) discussions
Writing a day's worth of discussion questions = 40 points
Participating in a current BOM (participating in discussion) = 20 points

NOTE: We will accept one team member per book per team for writing a days DQs. If, by three days prior to the BOM starting, we don't have enough volunteers to write all DQs, then we will let more than one team member per team write questions. If we have more people than days sign up (prior to 3 days before start date) we will randomise the volunteers to determine those who can write DQs

◈ For accuracy
Each week we'll do a team analysis of books read vs books signed up
Teams that stay in the 80% - 120% reading range get an additional 50 points
Teams that fall below the 80% mark get a penalty of -20 points
Teams that go over the 120% cap but stay under the 250% get a penalty of -100 points
Teams that go over the 250% mark get a penalty of -200 points

There are three ways that a book can be matched to a sin:
1. The book cover is more than 50% the color of the sin
or
2. The genre of the sin can be found on the first page of the book's Top shelves
or
3. It fits the criteria that describes the sin.

Choose wisely, because each book can be assigned only once.

◈ Lust
- Color: Red
- Genre: Guilty Pleasure
- Criteria: Books that you lust after (new releases- published 2019 or ARCs - , your favorite author, everybody has read but you, gorgeous covers, etc...). Books with lustful items on the cover (High heels, handcuffs, silk ribbons, Lace, bondage, ...). Books that are too steamy for hot weather!

◈ Envy
- Color: Green
- Genre: Young Adult
- Criteria: Books that members from other teams have read (during 2019)

◈ Pride
- Color: Purple
- Genre: Contemporary
- Criteria: Only Award-Winning Books - Any Award as long as it can be linked or appears on Goodreads book page. Books with a mirror or jewels on the cover. Really Shiny books. LGBT books.

◈ Wrath
- Color: Brown
- Genre: Space Opera
- Criteria: Books that enrage you (series that should have ended already, really hateful characters, some turn that made you froth at the mouth, etc)

◈ Sloth
- Color: Blue
- Genre: Dark Fantasy
- Criteria: Books that have been on your TBR for at least 2 years. Books from authors that take a long time to write the next installment on a series (Yes Patrick Rothfuss, George R.R. Martin and Abigail Roux we're looking at you!). Books from a series that you put on hold and are taking a long time to get back to it.

◈ Gluttony
- Color: Pink
- Genre: Historical Romance
- Criteria: 600+ page books. Books in a very long series (12+ books). Books from a series or author that you can't stop binge reading. Books that have covers you want to eat (i.e covers that have food or drink on them. Yes, chocolate covered strawberries count)

◈ Greed
- Color: Yellow
- Genre: Dystopia
- Criteria: Anything Goes (i.e. a book you can't fit in elsewhere)

End of Week 1 /Start Week 2

BOM
◈ For current BOM (Book of the Month) discussions
Writing a day's worth of discussion questions = 40 points
Participating in a current BOM (participating in discussion) = 20 points
If you do participate in the discussion, please answer at least 3 sets of DQs - that way its clear you've been participating; it may also help to reply to a few people also doing the DQs to show participation.
October BOM
Gideon the Ninth Starts 7th October
Wilder Girls Starts 16th October

Backroom BOM Starts 20th October

November BOM
The Chestnut Man Starts 2nd November
Two Can Keep a Secret Starts 16th November

Lists for finding book covers of a colour:

Lust/Red
Red Dress, Red Coat
Seeing Red

Envy/Green
Greenest Books Ever

Pride/Purple
Best YA books with Purple on the cover
The Color Purple

Wrath/Brown
In a Brown Mood

Sloth/Blue
Books with the Blues
Best Book with Blue on Cover

Gluttony/Pink
In The Pink
Pretty In Pink

Greed/Yellow
Yellowest Books Ever

R

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Hello team! So looking forward to playing Towers, reading books and chatting with you all.
I'm Laura your captain for this time around. I 'm happy to have Megan as our co captain so feel free to ask either of us any questions that you may have.

I'm going to get the rules and other important information up in the next few days. Since there is lots of time before we start, the best thing we can all do is read and re read the rules a few times so we know what we are doing. Our team spreadsheet is in post 2 along with the status sheet that lets us see how everyone is faring.

Here's a little about me: I'm from Nova Scotia, Canada, I love to read, I started playing badminton ( I'll be there tonight!) I also like bowling ( yes I play in a league) kayaking and camping!

While we wait for our team challenge to start please link up your Towers Shelf. Mine is HERE

Hello all!! This is personally my favourite challenge and I'm excited to start.

I'm from the UK just north of London. I love to read and I'd read more if my husband would let me. He apparently actually likes to spend time with me... Who knew. I'm a massive dog fan, like all dogs.

I'll link my shelf tomorrow Laura. I'm on the mobile at the moment and its just difficult.

I'm Mandy living in sunny Northern California just 40min from San Francisco of course when the aliens attack we are toast lol. Just saw on the new that the Navy has official stated Aliens exist....So now I feel like it's alien book time. I'm a huge tea addict and love talking about books.

This is my first time playing so I'm super excited but very overwhelmed as well. I've read the rules a few times and will a few more times.

I can't wait to get to know all of you and chat about books.
My Shelf Here

HI Mandy,
welcome to our team!

Hi Guys!!! I am so happy to be part of this team and im happy this thread is open :D (been eagerly waiting) (I know I am quiet on the big thread but its because this is all new to me and I am shy in huge groups :D)

My name is Linda and I am from Austria (Europe). This is my first time participating in any challenge but I am PUMPED and excited for it!! Ive finished uni last year and decided for myself that its time to read for pleasure again (there was not much time for that at uni) so in order to figure out what genres I even dig, I've been reading whatever I can get my hands on. I am not the fastest reader but I am getting there!! So much to read and this challenge is the perfect motivation. And I love Teams so YAY!

I am a bit of a rambler, I'm sorry. I've read the rules 1000 times and hope I got it. A Question: Do we /have/ to read the BOM? I've been thinking about that. I don't think so right? But its extra points when we participate? I've been thinking of joining Wilder Girls...

I am very excited to meet all of you and chat throughout the next few months!!!
My Shelf is here.
(I hope that worked???)

Hi Team!

Hi Mandy and Linda! Nice to meet you both! I am looking forward to getting to know you and talking books.

I have played on a team with Laura as captain and Megan as co-captain and it was fun! I like all the chit chat.

I read a lot. But I am actually trying to read less so I have more time for mundane things like sleep and TV. LOL The plan of reading less isn’t working. Mostly I read fiction and listen to audiobooks. At 1.5 or 1.75 speed, so I tear through them pretty quick.

I thought I found 3 books with purple covers. But TinEye says they are blue!☹️ Sometimes I hate TinEye! LOL

Anyway, here is my shelf, Laura https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

I can’t create links on my iPad, Laura. The quotation marks are different.

HI Linda & Geri- welcome! (

Linda, no you don't have to read the BOM's. They are just extra points! If you want to read it and participate feel free but no one will pressure you to ... well Megan and I might point out that they are extra points a few times but please read what appeals good to you.

Linda your link worked and Geri that 's just as good! Thanks.

Linda I remember not reading for pleasure during Uni too. It was so nice to just relax with a book afterwards! Participating in a team challenge will be so much fun ! ( or at least we hope it will)

Mandy wrote: "I'm Mandy living in sunny Northern California just 40min from San Francisco of course when the aliens attack we are toast lol. Just saw on the new that the Navy has official stated Aliens exist......."

No need to feel overwhelmed... really your job and everyone else's will be to read what you want. Megan and I will fit the books in the best spot and we will all have a blast reading and chatting books.

Geri, don't cast aside those books tin eye says is blue.
( Sonia threw tin eye out the window earlier today) Also if Megan and I determine them blue rather than purple they can still be used. We can read for any of the sin colors and get points

I'll give you an example:

Here's a book I want to read to finish off a series I started.

Its a pink cover ( more than 50%), and tagged contemporary , 352 pages
The color criteria is worth more than the genre tag so I would enter it under sin gluttony, criteria - pink cover and we would get 35 points for that book with an additional 5 pts for sinful pride.

Longer/bigger books are worth more points.
Does that make sense ?

So happy to say farewell to TinEye!

I do understand the example, Laura. Except for the end, extra 5 points for sinful pride. I thought Pride’s color was purple.

Yes, I will try to read longer books. That might keep me from going way over my book goal.

I did find 1 book that is purple. Maybe? LOL

Hi everyone!

I'm Allison, and I'm from Manitoba, Canada. This will be my first Tower Teams, though I have done Uno in the past (and loved it!). I'm looking forward to chatting with and getting to know you all :)

My shelf is here

Welcome Allison! Glad to have you join us as well!

Geri wrote: "So happy to say farewell to TinEye!

I do understand the example, Laura. Except for the end, extra 5 points for sinful pride. I thought Pride’s color was purple.

Yes, I will try to read longer b..."

You are right. Pride's color is purple; but we don't have to read just purple covers for points. We can also read the other colors associated with the sins ( Yellow, pink, blue, green, brown and red) So no matter what color cover - purple, yellow, pink, blue, green , brown or red we read- its 5 extra points each time.

There is a "Sinful Prize" associated with reading the highest # of books matching your sin though teams are going to try and win as many of those "prizes" that they can.

Does that help? I 'm sure it will help when you see the points awarded on the spreadsheet. Megan and I will post a format (closer to the start of the game ) of how we want a completion post and that will give us all the information that will help us put the book in the best spot.

If I read a 800 + page book and its a blue cover (not our sin) but tagged contemporary ( our sin) the points are going to come from the size of the book not how I assign it-those are just little bonus points ; I 'd likely assign the color not the genre as its another 5 pts ( rather than 3)

Allison wrote: "Hi everyone!

I'm Allison, and I'm from Manitoba, Canada. This will be my first Tower Teams, though I have done Uno in the past (and loved it!). I'm looking forward to chatting with and getting to ..."

Hi Allison!

Your explanation does make sense, Laura. I’m sure it will make even more sense when we start. Thanks for explaining. It will help me to search my books and hopefully take advantage of the bonus points, especially for shorter books.

I'm hoping I explained it well enough. Basically you can read what you want! Longer books are awesome - most points, BOM 's are extra points, and of the criteria for the sins cover colors give us the most points( besides the sin bingos--- though I'm finding those difficult to find) no matter what color they are.
If you need to see it on the spreadsheet before we start just shout out. I can input some books and then delete them

Hi, everyone! I'm Karen. I live in Chicago, Illinois. I recently retired so hopefully I'll be able to get some additional reading time in. I also listen to audio books quite a bit. I think this is my third or fourth Tower Teams Challenge. I love team challenges.

My shelf is here

Karen ♐ wrote: "Hi, everyone! I'm Karen. I live in Chicago, Illinois. I recently retired so hopefully I'll be able to get some additional reading time in. I also listen to audio books quite a bit. I think this is ..."

Hi Karen! I live near Chicago too. Nice to meet you!

Laura wrote: "I'm hoping I explained it well enough. Basically you can read what you want! Longer books are awesome - most points, BOM 's are extra points, and of the criteria for the sins cover colors give us t..."

No need to do extra work! You and Megan are going to be doing a lot when the challenge starts!

I decided I better focus on listening to audiobooks that don’t have page counts on goodreads. I don’t want them to count for a measly 100 pages!

Good Morning all; although probably not morning for a lot of you.

Here is my shelf Laura. Thanks for explaining too, that helped clear up some stuff for me too.

What sort of genres does everyone like to read then? I'm a romance binge reader and I'll stray into the fantasy/paranormal genre for a binge too. I think a lot of my romance books will work for Contemporary they usually have that tag but we'l see.

I'm not a big BOM reader but they are good for points, if you do do it make sure to answer the DQs as we need I think its at least 3 answered for them to count.

Hello Team Vanity! :)

This is Team Sloth dropping by & wishing You All happy reading! :)

I think I got it overall but now after resding all those explanations 2 little questions popped up to me. So does "our" sin mean anything? Does it give us more points? (Vanity, I mean). Aaaand do the captains assign the books to the most points? I just tell you what I read or should I tell you in advance what I would assign it to?
I think overall though I got the hang of it... also is the book count( how much we read ) calculated per month or week? since we arent "allowed" to go over it. I was wondering since mine is 1.25/week so that means i will have 2 a week at some point in a month and dont want that to mess up the ratio.
I hope I make sense :D all this bookmath talk :D

OK so all good questions, I can't see our sin meaning anything point wise but I may have mis read that so I'll ask Laura to confirm. I think its just overall we can win a 'prize' for the most read of your sin.

◈ Pride
Highest number of books read from your matching Sin

So you read a book that you want, Laura and I will move things about based on what books match what sin, if your book only matches one sin then that is what it goes for. However if you have a book that matches 'Sin Bingo' we'll get more points.

Information for Sin bingo(view spoiler)[
◈ Sinful Pride Points
As you assign each book to a sin, using one of the three categories you will get bonus points. If you are lucky enough to find a book that meets all three requirements (two for Avarice), you can call Sin Bingo!

7 points for achieving Sin Bingo
5 points for each book used for colour cover
3 points for each book used for top shelf
1 point for each book used for sin specification (EXCEPT for Avarice, which gets 0 points) (hide spoiler)]

For the last thing of book count, I'm not sure because I'm on 8.25 myself so I've been wondering how to achieve that, stop quarter way through a book haha! However I think its more we need to stay within the 80-120% as a team. So our team books per month is a whopping 152, per week is 38 so 80 % would be 30 for us per week and 120 would be 45.6. Realistically we would see if we were approaching above 40 and we can plan for it. I've put in the example from the rules so maybe that will make more sense if not I'll try and explain it but I think it will be clearer to see once we start.
(view spoiler)[
◈ For accuracy
Each week we'll do a team analysis of books read vs books signed up
Teams that stay in the 80% - 120% reading range get an additional 50 points
Teams that fall below the 80% mark get a penalty of -20 points
Teams that go over the 120% cap but stay under the 250% get a penalty of -100 points
Teams that go over the 250% mark get a penalty of -200 points

EXAMPLE: Teams A, B, C and D are balanced as 100 books a month which translates to 25 books per week.
At the end of week #1, the results are:
Team Books % to goal Accuracy
Team A 39 156% -100
Team B 53 212% -200
Team C 19 76% -20
Team D 29 119% 50
(hide spoiler)]

Melindam wrote: "Hello Team Vanity! :)

This is Team Sloth dropping by & wishing You All happy reading! :)


"

Hello Melindam! :-) Enjoy your reading! And Thanks for dropping by!!

Ora from Team Greed

Hi! Hope you will have fun reading and looking for books.

Ora wrote: "Ora from Team Greed

Hi! Hope you will have fun reading and looking for books.

"

Hey Ora! You too :) happy reading!

AAAAA that was the sin prize that comment about "our" sin was meant for! NOW I got it. Also the book count thing now makes sense to me. Thank you so much for all the explanations <3 I think I will start assembling a little list for october with all this in mind ehheh

Hi Everyone! I finally got a few minutes to read the thread and comment. I live in Dallas, TX and love reading on rainy days, on the beach and by the pool. I'm never without a book, so if ever in a waiting room or the first to arrive for a dinner reservation I can entertain myself. I took my niece to Disneyland a couple of years ago and read an entire book just while waiting in lines. :-)

My favorite genre is mystery/thriller, which I am sad to notice isn't included in the sins! I've also read a lot of contemporary lately because I don't have to concentrate as much. That makes it easy to read a few pages at a time in between other (work) activities.

My shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

I do have a couple of questions...
To clarify, our sin is pride because our name is vanity, right?
Is the book count based on our whole team or each person individually?
Do we only get points for # of pages OR something sin related? Or both?

Oh - and I'm also very happy to not have to worry about TinEye!

Hi Megan, Lin and Brooke!

Yes, the rules are starting to make more sense. I have calculated that I can read 5-7 books a week and be comfortably in my 80-120 percent. If we seem to be on the low side, let me know Laura and Megan, I may be able to squeeze more in!

I am like you, Brooke, a little disappointed mystery/thriller isn’t a genre. That is my favorite. But I have noticed some mystery/thrillers have contemporary as an mpg. So be sure to look anyway!

Megan, I read an author you recommended and really enjoyed it. Boundary Crossed was good. I will continue with the series.

Hi everyone, I'm Rosaline and I'm so excited to be reading and discussing yummy books with you all.
I mostly read fantasy and science fiction. I have recently fell in love with crime mystery, so now I read anything in that genre.
My classes at university will be starting soon, so my reading pace might not be as fast as I'd like it to, especially with longer books, but I will read as fast as I can.

This is my shelf for the challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Hi Karen, Brooke and Rosaline! Welcome!!

Karen ♐ wrote: "Hi, everyone! I'm Karen. I live in Chicago, Illinois. I recently retired so hopefully I'll be able to get some additional reading time in. I also listen to audio books quite a bit. I think this is ..."

Karen are you enjoying being retired?

Brooke wrote: "Hi Everyone! I finally got a few minutes to read the thread and comment. I live in Dallas, TX and love reading on rainy days, on the beach and by the pool. I'm never without a book, so if ever in a..."

Book count is based on the whole team not individual. We all know that real life interferes with our reading plans which will fluctuate our numbers a little.

Brooke we get points for # of pages plus little bonus points ( 1, 3, 5,or 7 points) for assigning the book to a sin. ( it doesn't have to be ours. ) The criteria for assigning books was laid out above in message #8.

Megan wrote: "Good Morning all; although probably not morning for a lot of you.

Here is my shelf Laura. Thanks for explaining too, that helped clear up some stuff for me too.

What sort of genres does everyone..."

I'll read almost anything but I like : Young adult, mystery/thriller, historical fiction, romance. This is what I'm currently reading: & . What's everyone else currently reading?

Thanks, Laura! I did read message #8, but for some reason after I read all of the other comments in this thread I started to think we only got points for one or the other, not both. My brain is fried from all of the projects I've been working on this week. :-(

I am finishing up some comics (since they dont count) and two audio books ive been laying off for months. (German Crime Books) Actual book im in the middle of The Tiger's Daughter !! I will finish all in time to start fresh once the challenge begins :D
I figured I won't achieve any Sin Bingo with anything on my to read... but thats ok. I do read a lot of contemporary so I think that will do us good too!! And I still have 3 Audible coupons so I can maybe find a Sin Bingo somewhere in there... :D I am not really picky with genres since I'm still trying to figure out my direction. So I am actually happy to spread it out a little. If anyone finds a Sin Bingo worthy book they don't plan on reading.. we could post it in here?

OH! Another (Important!!!) Question. So, different countries, different covers. If I have the actual german copy of a book at home and it would fit a cover more so than the English cover.. does that count? I've been wondering about that... but other languages are allowed so.. I must probably provide proof I have it?

And hi team members I havent greeted before!!!! :D

Brooke wrote: "Thanks, Laura! I did read message #8, but for some reason after I read all of the other comments in this thread I started to think we only got points for one or the other, not both. My brain is fri..."

It will all come together. There is lots to read.