Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion
Duration: 3 months. Beginning on May 15th (9 PM UK time) and ending on August 15th. Important Links:
⌘ All About Tower Teams IX - The Muses
⌘ Taverna of the Muses (Chat)
⌘ Meet The Muses May Mini
⌘ Maze SuperChallenge
⌘ Ranking: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
⌘ Official Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
⌘ Planning Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
⌘ Mazes Maps (scroll to the bottom): https://maze.meic.dev/
⌘ Team Mythic Maze: https://maze.meic.dev/maze/76/ Shelves:
✔ Eni (Captain) - tt_ix_2022
✔ Nanci Drum (co-captain) - tower-teams-2022
✔ Maria Jo (co-captain) - tower-teams-muses
✔ Melissa Williams (co-captain) - tower-teams-2022
✔ Joyce Gravino - 9-tower-teams
✔ Kit (Briana) - 9-tower22
✔ Elen - muses-tt-ix-2022
✔ Shan ~A~ - nbrc-tower-teams-9
✔ Laurie B - nbrc-tt-9
✔ Keli - tt9
✔ Tory - tower-team
✔ Keely - tower-teams-9
✔ Mary C - team-jason
✔ Teresa - 2022-tt
✔ Maddy - tower-teams-ix
✔ Heather - tower-team-9-the-muses
✔ Stacey C - tt9
Countdowns:
⌘ Start of the Challenge: https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...
⌘ End of the Muse May Mini: https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...
⌘ Start of the Maze SuperChallenge: https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown... Minis:
⌘ Muse May Mini
Books need to be read until May 31rst.
You can only complete each Muse once.
Normal Spell-it-Out rules apply. Maze SuperChallenge:
Normal Tower Team rules apply
To navigate the maze - complete the task AND
North - Book title starts with A-M
South - Book title starts with N-Z
East - Even number of pages
West - Odd number of pages
Books Of the Month:
May BOM
The Travelling Cat Chronicles, by Hiro Arikawa - May 2020 Theme BOM - Animals - 16 May, 2022
June BOM
The Book of Cold Cases, by Simone St James - June 2022 Adult or Non-Fiction BOM - 2 June, 2022
The Witch's Heart, by Genevieve Gornichec - June 2022 Theme BOM - Mythology - 16 June, 2022
July BOM
Nomination thread not yet opened
Back Room May BOM
Wildfire, by Burns and Fawkes - 22 May, 2022
Point System
◈ Books less than 100 pages = 0 points
◈ Books between 100 and 1000 pages = 0.1 points/page
◈ Books over 1000 pages = 100 points
◈ Participating in BOM = 20 points
◈ Writing a DQ set in BOM = 40 points
◈ Muse May Mini - Each task done = 5 points
◈ Muse May Mini - Each muse completed = 10 points
◈ Maze SuperChallenge - Each book used = 5 points for the team that read it
◈ Maze SuperChallenge - First Superteam to finish = 150 points
◈ Maze SuperChallenge - Second Superteam to finish = 100 points
◈ Maze SuperChallenge - Third Superteam to finish = 50 points Over-reading Penalty
If, as a team, you over-read compared to your sign-ups then a penalty will be applied to your page points
%age
over-read Penalty
0-109% 1 * page points
110-124% 0.9 * page points
125-149% 0.8 * page points
150+% 0.75 * page points
Helpful Hints:
⚑For Word Count ⚑
100 pages or 30,000 words or 3 hours (as verified by Audible or Overdrive) is the minimum
You can check word count on http://www.arbookfind.com (there are also .co.uk and .com.au versions)
⚑ Posting a link ⚑
Option 1 - type < a href="insert link here"> my link text< /a> without the space before the first a, without the space before "my" and without the space before /a
Option 2 - when you are writing a post, there's a small button over your comment box that says (some html is ok). Click there, select and copy the option that says link, paste it on your comment box and alter it.
⚑ Posting a picture on GR ⚑
First you will need an image uploader. There are tons of them online. At this moment i use imgur. You register for an account and then find the button that says images or add images and start adding stuff :)
After having the image uploader set up and an image uploaded you will have a screen similar to this:
(view spoiler)
copy the direct link and paste it in your comments with the code
< img src="insert link here" width="40" height="100" alt="description"/>
without the space before the first i. The width and height, you can use it and tweak with the pic's size or you can just remove it all together. Same for the description. So a simpler version would look like:
< img src="insert link here"/>
without the space before the first i.
⚑ Finding a Book Genre ⚑
Go to http://www.goodreads.com/genres/GENRE (GENRE should be the desired genre you are looking for: classics, horror, fantasy, etc) and then choose more popular GENRE books.
After selecting a book, just make sure that your desired genre is on the first page of genres
⚑ Colored Covers ⚑
You can use http://labs.tineye.com/color/ although it's not always reliable.
Welcome to Team Jason! Are you ready to board Argo and venture out into the seven seas to find the golden fleece???
I'm Eni (real name Catarina), i'm 37 and a single mom to an awesome 9 year old little minion. We both live with my sister Sonia and our 3 furry babies - Simba, Kion and Kiara (cats). We live in Portugal, Europe.
I like to read Horror, urban fantasy, some paranormal, some science fiction, sometimes mystery and thriller. I've been a member of NBRC since Tower Teams 2 and I try to participate in most of the team challenges done.
Me, Nanci, Mary Jo and Melissa are your captains so if you have any doubts or questions feel free to ask. The posts before this one will have all the important information regarding this challenge, so it's easier to find.
Sorry it took so long to organize things. I hope you are all excited for this muse inspired challenge and i know the mods will provide us with an amazing time!
Don't forget to check if your shelf in message 5 is correct, and if there is no shelf there, please let us know which is your challenge shelf.
I hope you all have a great time! A planning spreadsheet will be up in a couple of days for the ones that like to plan ahead what to read.
Happy readings =)
Hi everyone, new and old faces! 😅I'm Elen (she/her) from Estonia, Europe. I'm 26 and I'm currently working in a hospital lab. I have (only) one furry boy (cat). This is my 4th or 5th time playing TT, time flies.
In the past year, I read mostly thriller/mystery/crime, horror, and slumping a little bit in fantasy and sci-fi. Also, my least read genre is non-fiction and romance.
I'm really excited to start the challenge! And ofc to have an excellent time 😁
PS! My shelf is correct.
Hello! I’m Teresa (she/her), I live in southern Alberta, Canada. I live with my husband, two children, and four cats. Right now I read 99% mm romance, mostly pnr/fantasy/sci-fi but don’t mind the odd historical or contemporary story. I’ve played this twice before, I think. I like it because I can pretty much read what I want and fit it in after 😁
Btw: Could the Mods/captains change my name so my last name doesn’t display? Not that it’s a secret but it is long and awkward lol. I’m not sure where I put it to be included in the first place.
Hello team! Welcome! I'm Maria Jo, one of your co-captains for this marathon! I live in the midwest United States. I teach elementary school, this year 2nd grade (7-8 year olds) and next year 4th grade (9-10).My favorite genres are mystery/thriller, but I'll read almost anything. I'm looking forward to this challenge with a great team!
Hello Jasonites!I'm Melissa (she/her) one of the co-captains - first time a co-captain! I think I did TT last year, and then Wheel and UNO - I like challenges because they really keep me reading.
I'm from Vermont, USA. I have a couple of grown daughters who are here for the summer :) I have a dog, and 2 cats, and a handful of fish. I'm a teacher by day, and a reader by night (and I watch Jeopardy :) Go Mattea!!)
I like reading a bunch of things - I usually have a nonfiction somewhere in the mix, and a young adult book (for my students) and then fantasy, historical fiction, science fiction, books from around the world, and most recently - thrillers. I'd like to read more of those.
I'm psyched to get started with our team!!
Hello everyone! My name is Keely (she/her) and I am from the UK, but I will be in Norway for most of this challenge. I actually fly there tomorrow! I will be staying with my boyfriend and his family in Norway although we have our own apartment that is downstairs from the main living area so we will have our own space. I intend to move to Norway in the future (hopefully near). While in the UK I live with my parents and we have one elderly cat (18 years old) and while in Norway I will pretend I own their 3 cats.
This will be my second time playing tower teams, but I have played wheel and uno a few more times.
I am currently on a personal challenge to get as many books read that I added on my To-read list in 2012 when I joined Goodreads. Many of the books left are longer classics so I will probably read a few of those during this challenge. And I already made myself a list of books that I have access to that would earn us top points.
I'm not the fastest reader, but as I will hopefully have a lot of free time during this challenge I should get some longer books read.
I generally prefer books with a bit of action or mystery in them, but I will pretty much give anything a go. As I mentioned, you may see me reading some classics but there should be some other genres in there as well.
I will also do my best to join in with the BOMs for those extra points.
I'm looking forward to the start of the challenge.
Hi team!I'm Nanci, one of the co-captains, and very excited to get to know new people and reconnect with a few from former challenges. I participate in many challenges and enjoy almost all genres (except horror) as long as the writing is good. My favorites are historical fiction, psychological thrillers, nonfiction and contemporary.
I live in Virginia (EST) with my husband of 42 years. We have 3 married children (two of them live within 15 minutes of us) and 6 grandchildren, so far. My passion is justice for children (I worked as a school counselor for 32 years).
I signed up for discussion questions for the first BOM. I read The Travelling Cat Chronicles in June 2020 and highly recommend it.
Can't wait for this to start!
Hello Team!I'm Stacey. I think I've been doing Tower Teams for about 5 rounds so far? It was my gateway challenge when I first discovered GR and its probably still my favorite.
I live in North Carolina in the States with my dog. Normally I work FT as a physical therapist, but will be off work following some simple surgery for the next month, so I should get some good reading done for at least the first 2 weeks of the challenge. :)
Romance is my go to, but really I enjoy pretty much anything that has a good story. The only genres I really struggle with are cozy mysteries and high fantasy. I have sorted all my longish TBR list books into a shelf, and will try to read as many as I can. Also will keep an eye out for the BOMs. Can't wait to start!
ETA: my list is correct.
Hello team :)I am Maddy (she/her), I am from Latvia in Europe, I am basically Elen's neighbor :)
This is my 5th round of TT. I quite like it, even though I am not a very big BOTM participant or a reader of 1000+ page books. Sorry in advance about that, but I can read a bunch of shorter books (my average books are between 200 and 300 pages), so that is why I put my expected book count so high.
I prefer to read mostly romance and mysteries. What can I say, I find murder therapeutic after too much human interaction annoys me and exhausts my rather introverted self :D
Hi, I'm Mary. (she/her) I'm in Massachusetts on EST. I'm also not a big fan of super long books. But I do like books in the 400-600 pg range. I read most genres but not a huge of of YA or anything overly religious. If we get non-fiction as a genre, I'm your girl. My main genres are urban fantasy/paranormal and mystery/thriller. I put 20 books a month on the sheet and hopefully I can stick to that. I'm fortunate in that I can listen to books at work most afternoons.
Here's my shelf:https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
Hi, I am Heather (she/her) and I live in the Netherlands with my partner. I am currently learning Dutch so I might read one or two books in Dutch for this challenge (if they meet the criteria as I am still reading children's books), I am going to try and read the first Harry Potter book. This will be my second year participating in Team Towers. I am looking forward to reading some big books this summer. I am planning to read the Kingsbridge series by Ken Follett as I read the first one last year (during TT actually) and loved it.
I am not sure how many of the BOTM's I will participate in as I am currently trying to read the books I already own. Although if I find any second hand I will buy them and take part or if I really want to read them I might treat myself.
Hello, teammies! I'm Laurie from Ohio (EST). I live with my husband and our senior-dog-child.🐾 This is my second Tower Teams. Last year was a lot of fun, so I'm excited!I've been a bookworm all my life and I've worked as a youth services librarian for the past nine years. I mostly read YA and middle-grade novels, but I dip my toe into adult books sometimes. My favorite genres are fantasy and historical fiction, though I think I could really get into cozy mysteries if I tried one. I also love Jane Austen and similar classics. Oh, and I love audiobooks! I usually have one paper book and one audiobook going at the same time.
Fat books (and long series) scare me a little. 😅 Not because I can't read them, but more because I have soooooo many books on my TBR, I don't want to make that kind of commitment, lol. (I'm still trudging through Gone with the Wind, last year's Weighty Tome.) Plus, I enjoy video games and board games, so I don't spend all my free time reading. Therefore, I tend to stick to 200-400 pg. books and finish 2-4 books a month.
I don't like books that make me cry, especially if animals are involved, so I won't be reading May's BOM. We'll see what June and July bring!
So I guess I will definitely have one door stopper. We started watching CB Strike on HBOMAX last night and I looked to see if I was caught up on the book series. I didn't read the last one and it's 944 pages!I don't typically do the BOM but I will for TT if I can get the book from the library in time and it interests me. So probably not for May.
Hi all. I'm Keli (she/her). I live in Norwich, England and have for the last 19 years, but I still very much feel like a Texan. I will always prefer ice tea to hot tea, though I have learned to enjoy it. And I don't think my accent will ever disappear. I will read anything but true crime. I often say I'm not a fan of biographies, but I just borrowed one by Mae West from the library. And I've almost always enjoyed the ones I've read. 🤷🏿♀️ My favourite genres are UF, sci-fi, paranormal romance, and fantasy.
I put down just four books for the month. I enjoy TT so much but I can't really do stress right now. Previously I had higher targets and I was forever reading, which is normally great, but would crush me right now. I will, however, try to get in a longer one each month too, since my average is just 1 book/week.
I participated in one of the Jan BOM and did DQs and answers. I'm not really sure how that all works. But if we can claim something, I did The Lost Man.
My shelf is https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
Welcome everyone!Regarding the bigger books, yes they are worth more points, but the objective of the challenge is for us to have fun while reading. So no need to apologize for reading smaller books. It's important to read what makes us happy, otherwise it turns into a chore and ends up making us give up.
The mini May challenge rules are out. In case you missed them, you can find them here.
Recap: Books need to be read between the begining of the challenge until May 31rst.
We will get 5 points per task completed and an additional 10 points for completing a Muse.
Rules for the Spell-it-Out:
first letter in the book's title, the first letter in the author's first or last name, or the first letter of a character's first, last, or nick-name, or the first letter of the series name. As always, if the first letter of a title starts with an indefinite or definite article ('A', 'An', 'The', etc.), you may use the first letter of the second word in the title to spell out your chosen word.
Audiobooks - narrators can be used.
Translations - translator can be used.
Maddy wrote: "Hello team :)I am Maddy (she/her), I am from Latvia in Europe, I am basically Elen's neighbor :)
This is my 5th round of TT. I quite like it, even though I am not a very big BOTM participant or ..."
My little minion is doing a powerpoint presentation of Latvia (each kid in her class has a different european country). She was all excited when i told her you were from there :)
Also the June BOMs have been chosen.The Book of Cold Cases, by Simone St James - June 2022 Adult or Non-Fiction BOM - 2 June, 2022
The Witch's Heart, by Genevieve Gornichec - June 2022 Theme BOM - Mythology - 16 June, 2022
regarding the claiming of extra entries during BOMs, you need to have participated in at least 3 BOMs since January 2022 to be able to claim an extra entry on the randomiser.
Eni wrote: "My little minion is doing a powerpoint presentation of Latvia (each kid in her class has a different european country). She was all excited when i told her you were from there :)"Aww, that is sweet! Good luck to her! I am sure she will do great :)
I will definitely sign up for book of cold cases. She's a favorite author of kine.
Wait, if I don't normally do the BOM then we won't get credit if I do now?
No, I think that’s just if you want to write questions for the BOM. If you had been reading for the BOMs, you would be put in an extra time for their “randomizer” as to who gets to write the questions. It’s a lottery, as writing questions gets points :). You’ll still get points for reading, and for answering questions, and I think you can still put your name in for writing them.I am looking forward to that book too.
Anyone who participates in a BOM and is also participating in tower Teams will get points (even if it's someone who has never done a BOM before).Unfortunately BOMs aside from team challenges don't have that many turnups. So the mods decided to add an incentive for those who have been participating in BOMs. Each participation gives you a "credit". For each three "credits" that you have you can trade them for one extra entry in the lottery for writing the days questions (DQs), like Melissa said.
When you volunteer for writing DQs, all of the volunteers names are put in a randomizer and a certain amount of names are chosen. If you have enough credits to exchange for an extra entry, then your name will appear twice in the randomizer giving you better odds to be one of the picked names.
Gotcha. I actually don't like writing questions that much
I have access to the BOMs that have currently been announced through my library app, but only The Witch's Heart was available as an audiobook. I've never actually written questions for BOMs before but that one would be the only one I am confident I could keep up with. I would prefer to just be backup, but if no one else wants to volunteer then I could try.
Welcome everyone! Here is a link to the planning spreadsheet. You will put your books there and the captains will move your books to the official spreadsheet.Please let me know if you have any trouble or questions about the spreadsheet!
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
I have The Travelling Cat Chronicles checked out and ready to go on the 15th. :) I have my name put in at the library for The Book of Cold Cases, but I'm about 80th on the list, so not sure I will get it in time. We only have the 2 weeks in May for the mini?
Keely wrote: "I have access to the BOMs that have currently been announced through my library app, but only The Witch's Heart was available as an audiobook. I've never actually written questions ..."Writing questions is pretty easy. I've only done it a few times, so am no expert, but there really isn't a right or a wrong question. Open questions are better than yes or no ones because it gets discussion going. If you are first out of the gate, questions about the setting and the intros to characters are always great. Author’s writing style, especially if it's unique or different or lauded, and the tone of the book are also a good basis for questions. If your dqs are futher into the book questions about character development or choices, plot points and specific occurrences, or anything you find interesting are always good questions.
Does anyone know whether our total book count will include the mini challenge? Since, I only said 4 books for the month, I can't really do a spell it out in the mini challenge. But if they don't count...😁
Keli wrote: "Keely wrote: "I have access to the BOMs that have currently been announced through my library app, but only The Witch's Heart was available as an audiobook. I've never actually writ..."Thanks Keli, it's more the keeping up that I'm more worried about than the questions. I've always found if I rush a book because of a deadline, I'm more likely to lose focus and miss details which wouldn't be very good if I am supposed to do one of the later days' questions.
Keli wrote: "Does anyone know whether our total book count will include the mini challenge? Since, I only said 4 books for the month, I can't really do a spell it out in the mini challenge. But if they don't co..."Yes! When you put your book in the planning sheet, pick a place that it will also fit for the mini. Put the number of the mini in column that says "mini code." Then, your book will automatically pop up in that mini category. It's helpful if you know of other ones it will count for too. You can add that in the next column that says "Also works for."
Oooh. I was looking through my TBR list for a book with a mask on the cover and I found
But I'm kinda scared to read it!!!
Happy Mother's Day for all US ladies (and yes furry moms count as well :p)Message 5 updated with planning spreadsheet link.
Melissa wrote: "Oooh. I was looking through my TBR list for a book with a mask on the cover and I found But I'm kinda scared to read it!!!"
Looks good! I have a few GR friends who've read it and they gave it 4 and 5 stars.
More than one person can work on each spell out. You don't have to do a whole one yourself.
Do you want us to add books only after we finish or what we're planning to read?
What you’re planning to read is great
Mary C wrote: "More than one person can work on each spell out. You don't have to do a whole one yourself."Phew, that's good. It makes it so much easier.
Mary C wrote: "Do you want us to add books only after we finish or what we're planning to read?"If you like to plan in advance what to read, you can go ahead and use the spreadsheet for that :) if you're like me, and are more of a mood reader, then it's also ok to just put the book read. We already put a couple of books in there to show what to fill in, but if you have any doubts we will be happy to clear them out.
It won't let me add books to the spreadsheet. Do we need to send someone an email to let us in? There's no button to request access.
Mary C wrote: "It won't let me add books to the spreadsheet. Do we need to send someone an email to let us in? There's no button to request access."Mary, are you sure you are adding to the planning spreadsheet? Only the captains have access to the official spreadsheet. You should be able to add books to the 'Books' tab on this spreadsheet. You can add books to the Mini Challenge tab from the Books tab. Let me know if you are still having trouble.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Nothing But Reading Challenges
Books mentioned in this topic
The Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear (other topics)Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford (other topics)
The Wedding (other topics)
The Wedding (other topics)
The Pillars of the Earth (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Nicole Perlroth (other topics)B.A. Paris (other topics)
• Eni (Captain)
• Nanci Drum (Co-Captain)
• Maria Jo (Co-Captain)
• Melissa Williams (Co-Captain)
• Joyce Gravino
• Kit
• Elen
• Shan ~A~
• Laurie B
• Keli
• Tory
• Keely
• Mary C
• Teresa Blomander
• Maddy
• Heather
• Stacey C
Official Team Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Challenge Status Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...