Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

RebeccaS wrote: "Ahh okay so it's the same book, but we get extra points for the "preferred" edition? Is it longer or something?"

Yep.
From "preferred" edition
The version of American Gods that you are holding is about twelve thousand words longer than the one that won all the awards, and it’s the version of which I’m the most proud.

Thanks for reminding me!

I was on tablet before. Now i started computer to add goals to spreadsheet and remembered you asked about it. :)

Guidelines for Posting Questions on Tower Teams IV

Before posting Any Question regarding the Challenge, Please do the following:

1. Read the RULES
2. Read the Goals FAQ We keep the first posts regularly updated with questions and answers

Still have questions?

FOLLOW THE HIERARCHY
The communication chain is:

Member --> Team Leader --> Mentor --> All Mods

What does this mean?

It means that if you make a question that is on the rules or Goal FAQs you may get re-directed to those posts.

It also means that members cannot go over their team captains/co-captains (team leader for short) directly to the mods.

We over 300 players, and so our captains and co-captains help team members by:
- Answering members questions
- Make the bridge between members and mods
- Also, there are extra threads for taking care of team issues, goal doubts, and general questions on the captains group. So they have access to a lot more info than the members.

But my team captain is a mod and she said she needed to check with the others

Well, yes.

Mods are like mom and dad. If one of them makes a rule about an issue, the others don't say otherwise. We respect each other and don't step into each others toes. So. If something was said before, it will be checked if memory fails.

Also, mods are like doctors. Sometimes they need a second opinion before taking a decision.

Mods also "hire" external consultants. Some of the goals were suggested by members, so we need to check what was their original idea before making a ruling.

Mods are humans too. Meaning we make mistakes. But, we assume them, and try to fix it as quickly and painless as possible. Also, we have real lives and real live issues too. This is a very loved hobby, but just that. A hobby. Unfortunately we don't get paid for all this volunteer work! ;).

But my team is too chatty and info gets lost
Ask your team leaders to put it on a visible place. You can also PM your team leaders.

I ask a question and my team captain only answers it when I'm sleeping
Please remember that there are different time zones, and people have demanding schedules too. Relax. This is supposed to be fun. Not stressful. Is a hobby.

I don't like my team or my captains
Is there a particular reason? Do you wanted a chattier team? Or are you not into chatting at all? We try to pair teams taking in account their preferences, but sometimes it doesn't work well. If you prefer quiet, You can focus on reading and just check in to post your books. If you prefer a chatty one, you can always try to make the team to chat.

If you think your team captains are not doing their job, compile a list of things - and this is not book or personal taste - with objective points and PM your mod mentor.

If you have issues with your mod mentor.. then compile those, and PM the mod account. We'll work it out.

Happy Thursday Lokis! It was a day off here in the US yesterday so being back at work today feels weird. I keep getting confused on what day it is. I hope everyone is well and your weeks are going okay. I'm going out of town this weekend so I may not be able to update my books read until I return but I will keep a list!

Happy Thursday!

I was wondering why there seemed to be more people out and about during the day yesterday. Seems to be a bit varied whether people have it off though as Meic (pronounced Mike) was in work, instead of keeping me company. In the UK we normally have the minutes silence, but it isn't a bank holiday.

Hope everyone is having a happy day of reading! Here in NC it's quite beautiful: chilly and sunny. I'm actually starting a reading/book podcast with a friend today. We've been planning it for awhile now, and are recording our first episode in his studio tonight. I'm really excited! We're reviewing books and have little, cute segments. I'm hoping once people in the area start listening, we will be able to take suggestions on new books to read.
But, first, we are recording five episodes just to make sure we get the banter down ;)

What is everyone else up to?

Ooh a podcast sounds fun Taryn! Good luck with that it seems like a fun project to start.

I'm at work in the rain as usual. Trying to listen to my audiobook, but its a very slow start. I cannot wait for the weekend!

Sorry if you've mentioned before, but what do you do Rebecca? Hopefully you're not outside in the rain! I love audiobooks. Which are you listening to?I'm listening to the latest GoT on Audiobook, but it's so long I doubt I will finish it for the challenge. So I'm trying to stick to good ol' paper books for TT. I'm luckily off work for a week or so, which is great time-wise and hobby-wise, but bad money-wise. Contracts, ugh. But it's my dream job, so I stick with it.

Taryn wrote: "Sorry if you've mentioned before, but what do you do Rebecca? Hopefully you're not outside in the rain! I love audiobooks. Which are you listening to?I'm listening to the latest GoT on Audiobook, b..."

If it's your dream job than I am very jealous!

I am a lab technologist at a hospital so I'm constant running experiments with lots of random down time in between. Which can be super boring, but thank goodness for audiobooks! Also I've been here almost 5 years, so many things I can do and listen to my book at the same time (I love mulit-tasking my brain) so I'm very lucky.

I just started Villette by Charlotte Brontë because it's a group read for my Classics groups. Hopefully the action picks up soon.....but probably it won't.

Ooh that's awesome! Research is amazing. I worked in a lab for years, and loved it. Missed the outdoors though. My job now has both an outdoor and a lab component, so I get a good break every once in awhile.

I've never read Villete, but I do love the Bronte sisters. I find them really dark, which is just to my taste.

Taryn wrote: "Ooh that's awesome! Research is amazing. I worked in a lab for years, and loved it. Missed the outdoors though. My job now has both an outdoor and a lab component, so I get a good break every once ..."

Yes I do wish I could spend more time outside. Especially now that it's dark by the time I leave work.

RebeccaS wrote: "Taryn wrote: "Ooh that's awesome! Research is amazing. I worked in a lab for years, and loved it. Missed the outdoors though. My job now has both an outdoor and a lab component, so I get a good bre..."

A great way to spend time outside is gardening. I started a garden to help me be outside more on the weekends (otherwise I hole up or just go out and spend money). So far, so good. Also, I finally have fresh herbs!

Yay for doing your dream job! The podcast sounds v cool - anything involving book talk is good. Hope the recording goes well and you have a laugh.

What type of thing do you both research? Having seen friends work in research, I'm not sure I have the patience to manage it!

RebeccaS - I'm with you on disliking leaving work when it's dark. Spending the winter without seeing daylight apart from the weekends is miserable.

Taryn wrote: "RebeccaS wrote: "Taryn wrote: "Ooh that's awesome! Research is amazing. I worked in a lab for years, and loved it. Missed the outdoors though. My job now has both an outdoor and a lab component, so..."

I would love a garden! I tried to plant one when I first moved to this house, but our back patio (no yard) is completely shaded by our neighbor's tree!! So I have all the tools and will be ready when I move again to plant a vegetable garden. My mom has a huge one! It must be awesome to just go outside and pick something from the garden whenever you need it!


Sophie - I do research with eye diseases and the immune system.

Shame about all the shade! I'm looking forward to moving and getting a garden to sort out. Taking full advantage of my Dad's until that happens. I think the herbs are v near the top of my list - must be great to just walk out the door and grab stuff for cooking.

Wow that's a big area! The immune system stuff made my head spin when I learnt it. Should prob recap some of it soon.

Sophie wrote: "Yay for doing your dream job! The podcast sounds v cool - anything involving book talk is good. Hope the recording goes well and you have a laugh.

What type of thing do you both research? Having s..."

I'm an archaeologist, so my lab time is artifact/geology research-related.

RebeccaS wrote: "Taryn wrote: "RebeccaS wrote: "Taryn wrote: "Ooh that's awesome! Research is amazing. I worked in a lab for years, and loved it. Missed the outdoors though. My job now has both an outdoor and a lab..."

It's great, but I'm such a beginner. I basically chose everything I could that wouldn't die easily, and then just Googled some stuff. I'm learning as I go, but I really do love it so far.

Taryn wrote: "RebeccaS wrote: "Taryn wrote: "RebeccaS wrote: "Taryn wrote: "Ooh that's awesome! Research is amazing. I worked in a lab for years, and loved it. Missed the outdoors though. My job now has both an ..."

Have you ever tried planting in pots? I did that at my last house and it actually worked wonderfully. For anyone without a ton of "garden" space I definitely recommend it.

Taryn wrote: "I'm an archaeologist, so my lab time is artifact/geology research-related. "

Just picturing a female Indiana Jones now...

Sophie wrote: "Taryn wrote: "I'm an archaeologist, so my lab time is artifact/geology research-related. "

Just picturing a female Indiana Jones now..."

lol

RebeccaS wrote: "Taryn wrote: "RebeccaS wrote: "Taryn wrote: "RebeccaS wrote: "Taryn wrote: "Ooh that's awesome! Research is amazing. I worked in a lab for years, and loved it. Missed the outdoors though. My job no..."

I haven't, but thank you for the advice! I'll definitely look into it.

Lol! I always have a Halloween costume ;)

They all sound like interesting jobs.

My mom works on our local hospital in the eye department (is that what it's called?) she's not an eye surgeon/doctor or anything, but a Hospital Service Assistant, so she mainly cleans, get patients ready, etc. but today she observed a surgery for the first time, and she told me it was one of the most amazing things she'd seen. She was very impressed with how the surgeon worked. She's going to observe another surgery soon, but it's only one of the surgeons who allow them to observe, so it will probably take a while before she can.

My sister is an optometrist, the one who prescribes glasses. She originally wanted to be an opthamologist, the one who does surgery, but she has MS and her hands are periodically not very steady. That would not be a good trait for someone doing minute surgery on a very delicate part of the body.

I cannot imagine doing eye surgery... Or any surgery for that matter. My hands have gotten steadier with more and more eye dissections, but I would be terrible to operate on someone's eye!! Most surgeons I know don't even drink coffee because they can't risk shaky hands. That's also something I couldn't live without!

I've helped in various surgeries - normally bigger things involving bones or the abdomen. Have watched eye surgery and ear, nose and throat surgery - they seem v v delicate and it's not something I'd feel happy doing day in day out.

I haven't drunk caffeine (i.e. coffee, tea, cola) for the last 6 or 7 years now. Will occasionally at the end of a busy night shift and I just end up shaking and awake for another 10 hours!

You guys are amazing! I get squeamish at removing a splinter!

You guys ARE amazing! I think surgery is really cool (my dad is a surgeon) and I remember he used to freak out my friends by telling gross stories at the dinner table lol But can't even imagine working on something as delicate and intricate as the human eye. I teach evolution to college students sometimes, and we always talk about the traits of the human eye which were affected by the environment. It's seriously cool.


I hope all of you are having an amazing Friday!

Stacie is a machine for reading wrote: "You guys are amazing! I get squeamish at removing a splinter!"

Oh I am too! Anything to do with blood, etc freaks me out (except when it's not human for some reason) which makes me coworkers laugh.

What a smarty-pants group we have here!

I'm a counselor so my stories are all about the crazy things people tell me.

725 points ladies!

My degree is in Chemistry but I currently work at a VoTech school in Memphis. I'm the Retention Coach. Once they are here they are my "kids" and I work to keep them in school for the two years. And about half of them will be making more than me about two years after graduation.

And I love them. I've always preferred teaching 16-20 year olds.

Yes I said currently, because I've kind of lived up to my Gen X label and never stayed anywhere more than 3 years. I label my work interests as, Education, Grants, and Fundraising

Sorry guys, but can you tell me where to find the updated list of our goals?

You can always check spreadsheet. That would be most accurate.
I try to keep my post in read thread up-to-date but with time zones it could be little out. :)

- Read a book with the word aggregate in the text

- Read a book where the world ends

- Read a book where a character has lost one of their senses

- Read a book where the first word of the text is They

- Read a book that is book 5 in a series

Ok thank you!

April wrote: "My degree is in Chemistry but I currently work at a VoTech school in Memphis. I'm the Retention Coach. Once they are here they are my "kids" and I work to keep them in school for the two years. And..."
Sounds like a very rewarding job when you manage to keep them on track!

I'm squeamish when it comes to eyes and feet. Almost anything else I can deal with now.

NEW GOAL

Read a book where the kindle version is less than 300 pages

Using When You Reach Me


Read a book with a green cover

Using Sins & Needles


Read a book where a character dies

Using The Mapping of Love and Death

Read a book where the acronym of the title forms a word

Using Scent of Darkness

Woah, nice!

NEW GOAL

Read a book that is book 5 in a series

I'm reading First Among Sequels which is 5 in a series. About 75% done atm

great :)

Thanks for reminding me gals.

Message 10 updated with December's BOMs.

I'm starting Clarity today, will that work for the goal "Read a book where a character has lost one of their senses"? The MC was born blind.

Tina wrote: "I'm starting Clarity today, will that work for the goal "Read a book where a character has lost one of their senses"? The MC was born blind."

Let me get clarification on that one.
I couldn't find this goal explained.

My only question about this is whether or not the character has to have lost one of their senses in the book. I'll post on the FAQ thread and then get back to you =)

Just finished First Among Sequels
Been v lucky with books matching goals so far!

Sophie wrote: "Just finished First Among Sequels
Been v lucky with books matching goals so far!"

Awesome. I'll add it and let you know the new goal shortly!

New goal

Read a book with the word hot, love or steam (plurals are acceptable) in the title

I've read Love me anyway by J.L. Redington, I just haven't been on the computer since.