Sophie’s Comments (group member since Apr 28, 2013)

Sophie’s comments from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.

Thanks Denise! Hope you have a smooth journey back.


It's been hotter than normal here for the last few days, which would be lovely if I didn't have work and could laze with a book by a pool. Dreams for future times...

Since the stymphalian birds have been defeated, another monster has come to call.

Cerberus



Cerberus has decided to take a jaunty run through your lands before returning to the underworld. He's very hard to defeat, don't let those 6 puppy dog eyes fool you. May want to bring some milk bones and tennis balls.

To vanquish this monster you must:
1.) Read a book between 500 and 650 pages (inclusive).
2.) Read a book where a funerary celebration/service takes place.
3.) Read a book with MPG Music.
4.) Read a book with a musical instrument on the cover.
5.) Read a book that is #3 in a series.

I might hold on to that one as it covers 3 tasks for another monster and the fig task. I think thieves are frequent enough that one should appear soon (in fiction not reality please universe)

Colchian Dragon (T) 3/5
1.) Read a book between 200 and 299 pages (inclusive). Y
2.) Read a book from an unfinished series. Y
3.) Read a book with a musical instrument on the cover. Y
4.) Read a book with MPG Epic Fantasy. Y
5.) Read a book with a yellow cover (at least 50%). ?


Harpies (H) 4/5
1.) Read a book between 100 and 125 pages (inclusive). Y
2.) Read a book that features a feast or banquet. Y
3.) Read a book that contains a chase (car chase, foot chase, etc). Y
4.) Read a book with a character who is royalty. Y
5.) Read a book that features a thief.


Mare of Diomedes (M) 2/5
1.) Read a book between 200 and 299 pages (inclusive). Y
2.) Read a book with fire on the cover.
3.) Read a book where a character gets poisoned (food poisoning is acceptable, does not have to be fatal).
4.) Read a book whose title contains all the letters of HERA. Y
5.) Read a book with a Goodreads rating between 3 and 3.5 (inclusive).

Stymphalian Birds (P) 5/5
1.) Read a book between 350 and 450 pages (inclusive).
2.) Read a book that is #6 in a series.
3.) Read a book with a musical instrument mentioned in the text.
4.) Read a book with something metal on the cover.
5.) Read a book that features a bird (bird shifter accepted).

Typhon (A) 1/5
1.) Read a book between 500 and 650 pages (inclusive).
2.) Read a book that mentions a volcano
3.) Read a book with lightning on the cover
4.) Read a book where the title contains all the letters in ZEUS
5.) Read a book where a MC is a father Y

Alison wrote: "How bad is it that I completely forgot I'd read the first three books in the Hidden Legacies series? I don't think it was too long ago but I remember literally nothing that happened in them :)

I s..."

I've made a start on the audio of Witch's Heart. It isn't too bad a read. I've decided to pass on The Master and Margarita, I can't get any enthusiasm to start it so going to pick up other things instead.

Steven wrote: "I finished it! Skipped my chores and sat down and blazed through it! (Get it, blazed?! LOL)"

I hope it was a gem of a book.

Alison wrote: "Sophie wrote: "Thanks Alison!

I'm hoping that we can do the Harpies with 1 book work for that task and read a book featuring a thief- they seem v well matched. I would count your example for the t..."

Sounds like they are ideal for some of the monsters!

Thanks Alison!

I'm hoping that we can do the Harpies with 1 book work for that task and read a book featuring a thief- they seem v well matched. I would count your example for the task.

Navi wrote: "Hi everyone! My life has been a crazy hectic recently so my reading has really taken a nose dive. I won't be able to commit to reading a certain number of books for the next weeks. I'm entering a b..."

Oh I'm sorry to hear that Navi! I hope some of it is good busy and you aren't too stressed. Would you like to stay on the team with a lower number of books or I can look at the replacement list?

Audrey Jane wrote: "I've read the Hidden Legacy series and I concur it's a great series!
I'm impatiently waiting to get my hands on the last book, Ruby Fever. It will be released just after this challenge ends I think."

I think it is out within a week of this finishing.

Worth remembering if that monster comes up again! I'd need to read the 1st 3 before I can take it on.

To finishes the birds off we just need to find a book with a rating between 3 and 3.5.

Shelves
We're noticing more people forgetting to put their read books on their TT shelf! Please can you make sure they are tagged.

Monsters
Hope you are all ready to start slaying monsters in a few hours!

Colchian Dragon (A)
1.) Read a book between 200 and 299 pages (inclusive).
2.) Read a book from an unfinished series.
3.) Read a book with a musical instrument on the cover.
4.) Read a book with MPG Epic Fantasy.
5.) Read a book with a yellow cover (at least 50%).


Harpies (H)
1.) Read a book between 100 and 125 pages (inclusive).
2.) Read a book that features a feast or banquet.
3.) Read a book that contains a chase (car chase, foot chase, etc).
4.) Read a book with a character who is royalty.
5.) Read a book that features a thief.


Mare of Diomedes (M)
1.) Read a book between 200 and 299 pages (inclusive).
2.) Read a book with fire on the cover.
3.) Read a book where a character gets poisoned (food poisoning is acceptable, does not have to be fatal).
4.) Read a book whose title contains all the letters of HERA.
5.) Read a book with a Goodreads rating between 3 and 3.5 (inclusive).

Stymphalian Birds (P)
1.) Read a book between 350 and 450 pages (inclusive).
2.) Read a book that is #6 in a series.
3.) Read a book with a musical instrument mentioned in the text.
4.) Read a book with something metal on the cover.
5.) Read a book that features a bird (bird shifter accepted).

Typhon (T)
1.) Read a book between 500 and 650 pages (inclusive).
2.) Read a book that mentions a volcano
3.) Read a book with lightning on the cover
4.) Read a book where the title contains all the letters in ZEUS
5.) Read a book where a MC is a father

Oh no! That heat (32c for UK people) is too hot to manage- I'm finding 26 here a bit too hot. Really hope the power stays on for you so you can get some respite from the heat and have the comforting hum of the fan back.

I had to double check. Has been a while since it can up last.


Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. The wedding I was at had the tables named for fantasy novels (The Priory of the Orange Tree was mine). The music during the signing of the register was from the Lord of the rings soundtrack.

You can just read the 1st. Please use the details for the default version.

That's correct. Think Insiyah had a typo when she put July instead.

We've been trying to think how we can track this one - and I have borrowed this from one of the other teams (thanks!). If you have any suggestions or alternative ideas please say.



1. We can bank books, so any books started after May 15th and finished after the countdown timer for the start of this mini will count! If you're reading books not for a specific task, we're going to use a system to input that data.

I've copied the monster spreadsheet to our planning sheet. You'll see that the monsters are lettered A-U down the left side and tasks are numbered 1-5 along the top.

If you read a book that has 500-650 pages, MPG of music and a musical instrument on the cover (all Cerberus tasks) you can put A(1,3,4) into the task info on the planning spreadsheet. Ideally a book you read may look something like this A(1,3,4) C(2) G(5). Please use that format vs A1, A3, A4, C2, G5 because the brackets will make it very easy for us captains to see which books will give us the most tasks for a particular monster when it comes up.

2. Books can be used multiple times for the same monster. Our first monster is the Minotaur and we could read three books as follows:

Book 1: 800+ Pages, With a Map and a 4.0+ Rating (T1, T3, T5)
Book 2: The MC gets lost (T2)
Book 3: A character is bull-headed (T4)

But we can't use an 800+ page book (T1) that features twins (T7) to attack both the minotaur and the python.

3. We may well shuffle books, but once a monster has been submitted the books can't be moved.

Ah I hadn't noticed that nothing needed 650-800 pages, that's a pain. Mod creation oversight unfortunately.


Keri - I love that you've found something that works for 4 tasks already! Although if you were reading it would have to be the hardcover version or the page count is too long. Are you likely to read it for us?

Alison - I know what you mean about it being hard to keep up with some of the other teams. I'd actually much rather we had fun and were reading things we enjoyed. The points from the challenges are a bonus and are the equivalent of reading another 50 pages per task.

Amy the book-bat wrote: "Sophie wrote: "Cars are so expensive! Life would be very hard without one but sometimes try to work out if there is a way."

Sophie wrote: "Cars are so expensive! Life would be very hard without on..."

I grew up somewhere very similar. My mum used to drive us 10 minutes to get the bus for school. Bits of rural life were great but I was v happy when I learnt to drive and could afford to.

In case it wasn't obvious, our new mini challenge has been announced! We're off to fight some monsters!

This one is just as a team. The twist is that we can use 1 book to cover multiple tasks for 1 momster (it might be possible to defeat a monster with 1 book!). Once we defeat a monster, the Muses (aka captains of other teams) will spin a wheel to see what is going to attack next.

Anything we finish from 9pm gmt on 15th June can be used regardless of when it was started