Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

Just scrolling through the list of goals and getting excited. I haven't pre-planned my TBR list like M, though I admire the forethought! I usually pick from my pile as I go. I'm terrible at pre-planning, heh...

As for work, I'm a medical laboratory scientist. I currently work in an Air Force reference lab and I love it! It has it's moments where it can be a little slow, like right now, but it's a great job.

I've only listened to the audio of the novellas of the In Death series. It was good for read-a-thons since they were so short. That series is so much fun. Nora rarely does wrong by me. Between her normal stuff and the In Death series, I've read near 100 of her books, the most by any author by a bit.

I'm with you, Kerri, I'm not a pre-planner either. Can't do it! If I make a plan, I don't stick to it, that's how it goes. I'll just see what I feel like at the time, I'm definitely a mood reader.

Awesome that you love your job as well!

Hi Jingles! I haven't seen you in a while :)

Great recommendations Karsyn. I don't read an awful lot of mystery/thrillers, but I started The Good Girl for our BOM this morning and I'm having trouble putting it down!
I like cozy mysteries and I am making my way through the Phryne Fisher series which I recommend, especially on audio.
James Patterson is always good for a page turner. I recently quite enjoyed Beach Road and Sail.

Karsyn that is quite a list. I am off hunting. Thank you!

Hi Karen! It's great to see you, and to have you as our mentor. You are always a great help to us!!

It has been quite a while. I've been kept busy with work and real life stuff, and not nearly enough reading. Lol

As for mysteries, I love cozy mysteries especially. The Agatha Raisin series is really great, and the audios are excellent.

Another mystery/thriller series I enjoy is the Cotton Malone series by Steve Berry. Those audios are great as well.

I'll say it now in case I forget to in the future...thank you Karen for all the hard work you all go through to bring us such a fun team challenge.

And Thank you Karsyn for being our captain, and keeping track of every thing.

LOL, M, I warned ya it would be a lot. I can do recommendations for days. :) I tried to keep it lowish, at least for me. :)

I'm definitely not a cozy mystery person. I like the crazy, murderous, insane serial killer or psychological stuff. The more crazy the better for me. Chris Carter is great for that. If I had to pick one favorite genre, it's mystery/suspense, so I can always recommend something from that.

Patterson isn't bad, I got tired of him after a while, but I still read some of his stuff. I mainly read the stuff where he has a co-author I like, like Chris Grabenstein or Marshall Karp. Have you tried the Michael Bennett series, Karen? It's a good one.

Ahhh, you're welcome jingles. I enjoy these challenges, so it's fun to keep track for me. :) I have a lot of free time on my hands, so it's not an issue. :)

Headed to bed with my Man. Talk to y'all in the morning!

Good night Karsyn! Sleep well!!

@Karsyn
I haven't tried the Michael Bennett series, but I have most of them on my kindle. I'll check it out.
I like James Patterson for a quick read when I need some escapism. His plots are always so unbelievable! But they are great fun. I tend to read his books in challenges as he uses a lot of words and phrases found in scavenger hunts and the books aren't big.

@Jingles
I understand RL can take over sometimes ;) Glad you're here and thanks for the thanks! It can be a lot of work, but we do actually enjoy it :D

Morning all!

Yeah, I definitely enjoy Patterson for how quick and easy they are, great for challenges as you said Karen. I've read a ton of his books, I just don't get all of them anymore. I still keep up with Michael Bennett, the NYPD Red series and almost anything he does with Grabenstien. I game up on Women's Murder Club, Alex Cross and Maximum Ride years ago. Just got bored with them.

How is everyone today? I was rudely awoken by the phone ringing at 8:30am, but when I got to it they had hung up. Considering our phone (house phone, no cells here) rings about once every 2 months, I wasn't too pleased for it to be ringing so early! Ah well. It was probably a wrong number.

Good morning, team!

Ooohh, not fun at 8:30am, Karsyn. And I'm a bit jealous about the cell phone thing. I went for years without one. Then a couple of years ago, I had a health issue, and my family just went nuts. So now I have one :) However, I do ignore it quite frequently. Lol.

On a personal note, I'm starting something quite fun and something that is very good for me. Last weekend I walked my very first 5K ever. It took me an hour and 7 minutes. Yes that is extremely slow, but for me it's quite a good accomplishment.

This Saturday I will participate in my second. I'm really hoping to keep up the motivation and continue to participate as often as I can. There is usually at least one just about every weekend. Who know, my time may even improve :)

Good morning, all!

Being woken up by anything when you're not ready sucks. I'm sorry that happened to you! We're the exact opposite on our house with the phone situation. I know I've become super attached to my cellphone. It's bad!

That is awesome, jingles! That is a great accomplishment! Keep up the good work :) I've recently started trying to work on my fitness, as well. Going to the gym sucks, but I know it'll be good for me in the end.

I hear ya on the cells, jingles. We haven't had one in almost 4 years now and the ones we had for the 2 or so years before that were pre-paid. When (if) we ever are able to get a car we'll have to have one just for safety reasons, but that's not in our future anywhere, unfortunately. :(

Awesome on the 5k. I have some friends that do marathons. Definitely not for me, so I admire you for what you can do. I hope you enjoy it Saturday!

I think most people are attached to their cells, Kerri. :) I just mainly hate the price. Even when we were paying the lowest we could find it was $35 or $40 a month. YUK. We pay just $20 for our house phone and we only have it because of my Hubby's work and because He does have health problems, so we can't be completely cut off. I wish we could be. No one ever calls, so it had to have been a wrong number, especially that early. LOL!

Thanks ladies for the encouragement. I am about 55lbs over weight. For training, I try to walk a little bit everyday, and I take my little long-haired dachshund with me. He is about 10 lbs over weight. Lol.

Kerri - that's awesome that you are going to the gym! I wish I had the nerve to do that. Yep, in the end the payoff is well worth it. It's just hard (for me anyway) to stay motivated. Keep up the good work!!!

Karsyn - I know what you mean about the pre-paid cell phones. I've seriously considered switching to that, but in the long run, I would not be saving a lot, so decided not to switch.

Hi guys. I'm so excited I lost 5.5 lbs in one week. I have decided that I seriously want to lose weight. Hsve been walking more and keeping food log. It's a slow process but I need to do something.

Way to go, Maritza! That is really awesome!!!

I haven't started keeping a food log yet, though I know I need to.

jingles wrote: "Way to go, Maritza! That is really awesome!!!

I haven't started keeping a food log yet, though I know I need to."

we should add that to the challenge as an aside.

Sounds like most of us are trying to lose weight / get healthier. We're not actively going at it hard yet, but we bought an exercise bike to get back into it. We hope to really start in the new year. We were doing well about a year or so ago and just stopped, again.

Congrats Maritza, great job on the weight loss!

Maritza wrote: "Hi guys. I'm so excited I lost 5.5 lbs in one week. I have decided that I seriously want to lose weight. Hsve been walking more and keeping food log. It's a slow process but I need to do something."

That is awesome, Maritza! Keep up the great work! I really need to keep a food log, as well, because I know food is a big issue for me. At least all the unhealthy food that I love.

Kerri wrote: "Just scrolling through the list of goals and getting excited. I haven't pre-planned my TBR list like M, though I admire the forethought! I usually pick from my pile as I go. I'm terrible at pre-pla..."

Hi, just popping in over from Team Odin to say I'm a Medical Lab Scientist too! I work in Transfusion Medicine (Immunohematology) in Canada. Seeing your comment got me excited because I feel like I never see very many other people in our profession.

Tired and shuffling home from work. I took my recommended list to the store and bought over half of them. Happy Happy Joy Joy for book buying spree

Yay M, that's great! You'll have to let us know what you got, when you are more awake. :)

This is what I bought, I might have gone a little overboard.

From the recommend list
Naked in Death
The Great Zoo of China (excited to read this one)
Lock In
The 13th Hour
Think of a Number
Man in the Empty Suit
The Curcifix Killer

Other stuff
The Lake House by Kate Morton
Warriors of the Storm by Bernard Cornwell
Harry Potter Illustrated edition
Ship Star by Larry Niven

Wow, great ones, in my opinion! :) I look forward to hearing what you think of all of them, especially GZOC, Lock In & Crucifix Killer ~ my favorites of the list.

Hope you love Great Zoo. It IS very Jurassic Park-esque, which some people complain about, but that's what Reilly is known for ~ his over the top action. ALL his books are like that, with the exception of Troll Mountain and The Tournament, two of his 'least like him' type books. Maybe it'll get you into his other books. His Shane Scofield and Jack West series are about bad guys trying to end the world and elite military types going in to save the day. All over the top, could never happen, action. I LOVE it!!

Hopefully you'll love 'em all. As a sci-fi fan I think you'll really enjoy Lock-In. I'll be curious to hear your thoughts on it. If you like it, and are a Star Trek fan at all, then you'll have to give his book Redshirts a try. If you are into audiobooks, Wil Wheaton reads both and he's always enjoyable to listen to! No differing voices like most narrators, but just so fun!

I can talk books all day. :)

Good morning ya'll! I'm late popping in today. Hope you have gotten a fun start to the day.

M - what a great book haul!

good afternoon guys on lunch and freezing in my office. just started dark wild night by christina lauren , love all their books so far.

I finished Great Zoo of China last week and I agree it is tons of action (and yes a little over the top and unbelievable!) but I found myself wanting to keep those pages turning. At the end Reilly talks about how that is a sign of success for him.
I found I enjoyed it much more than Jurassic Park and can stand on its own

I might have to add that one to my tbr, Karen.

Maritza, I've not read any of Chritina Lauren's books. I need to check in to those too. A girl can never have too many books :)

So glad you liked it Karen. It's a great book. Reilly's stuff is definitely over the top, but that's what he's known for. All his action books are pretty unbelievable stuff. I love it. My Hubby introduced me to him years ago with Ice Station and as of this year I've finally read everything he's written. GZOC, Ice Station and Hover Car Racer were my favorites. The only one I didn't like was Contest, but I wanna give it a try again sometime, now that I've branched out so much on what I read.

Maritza wrote: "good afternoon guys on lunch and freezing in my office. just started dark wild night by christina lauren , love all their books so far."

Sorry you are freezing Maritza! Our weather has been spastic this week. 2 days ago it was a high of 40s I think it was, yesterday and today have highs in the 70s. I'm a cold weather gal, so I can't wait til it's just cold and snowy. Of course, I never go out in it, but I like watching the snow. :D

Hi, Joanne! It is really rare to meet another MLS outside of work, lol. Immunohematology has to be my second favorite section, after Microbiology. Good luck to your team in the upcoming challenge!

M, that is always a great feeling getting a nice big book haul. I can't go into a bookstore without leaving without one or two books. And that's if I'm being good.

Hey Team Anubis!

Please welcome your new team member: James

Hi, James! Welcome :)

Morning all, and welcome James!

Hope everyone is having a good day. Whatcha all up to today? Any weekend plans? Any good books picked out to read, or that you are currently reading?

Good Morning and Welcome James.

Hiya James and guys.

Welcome to the team, James!

Hello everyone, sorry for the late response. Waking up in the mid afternoon kinda sucks.

Welcome James!

I'm from one of your sister teams, Bastet, and I'm the mod for all the Egyptian teams ;)

Oh Karsyn, is it the weekend already? All my days meld together but I guess I should know as my husband is back to work from Monday :( he went I one day this week and my day was a bit of a disaster so hopefully I can get the hang of this having a baby + toddler soon!

I'm currently reading an arc - The Bronte Plot and despite the title,synopsis and good reviews it just isn't doing it for me. I'm kind of forcing myself to finish. I also have A Year of Marvellous Ways for book club, but that's a paperback from the library and will take me longer (as its not easy to read when feeding whereas my kindle is perfect one handed).
What's your reading list this weekend?

My days meld together as well, Karen. Most of the time I don't know what day it is. That's what happens when I never leave the house. :/ This time of year is easier, as I just go by football. Football days are Thurs, Sat, Sun & Mon so anything else is just fillers, and I can usually figure it out from when we watched a game. LOL!

I'm also reading an ARC ~ Dead in Her Tracks. I guess I'm a pretty big fan of Kendra Elliot since I've read everything she's written. I also started The Drafter last night for a "pick for me" type thing on another site. I'm enjoying it a lot already and I'm only about 6% in.

No other big plans for books right now, mainly just listening to audiobooks at night. Don't wanna get burnt out before Tower even starts! :) Once that does, I'll be reading like crazy.


Nice to have ya here James. Waking up mid-afternoon sounds pretty nice. :) I'm a late riser, but typically by 10am my time.

I am really new and fresh here but can follow directions. I live in NC and love to read but also have a 13 year old daughter who keeps me busy. I average a book a week two weeks if it's a long one. This is my second group challenge but I loved being a gladiator.

Welcome Jennifer! Nice to have ya here! I skipped Gladiator games, but Tower Teams is probably a little easier than it was. We have goals we will get but mainly it's just about reading and making sure anything you read goes onto your Tower shelf so it can count toward points for us. That's about it. :)

I'm in NC as well! :) Have you always lived here? We just moved here a little over 3 years ago. Like it for the most part, though we are stuck in a teeny tiny town. Never knew how much I would miss Wal-mart til I couldn't go to one! :)

We're chatty, so feel free to jump in when you wanna. :)

I was born in New York State and moved to NC my freshman year of high school. That being said I have been here about 24 years now. I am lucky Walmart is a mile away.

Jennifer wrote: "I was born in New York State and moved to NC my freshman year of high school. That being said I have been here about 24 years now. I am lucky Walmart is a mile away."


That's similar to my childhood, Jennifer! I was born in western PA and move to central FL right before my 8th grade year. I lived there for 22 years before moving here. :)

When we were in FL the last few years we had a Walmart half a mile one way and a Target half a mile the other. Now, the closest one is in VA 25 miles away. What we miss most though is Chili's. I'd love some chicken crispers and a strawberry daiquiri!! Yum.

Happy Friday everyone! (Yes I just woke up) Lat night before a weekend and another book buying spree.

Woohoo!! Whatcha get this time? Did you start any?

I've added The Great Zoo of China to my TBR as I really enjoyed Jurassic Park.

Right now I'm finishing up the books I've been reading so that I'll be ready for a new set:
Fifth Business (The Deptford Trilogy #1) (1970) by Robertson Davies
and
Finding Casey (Solomon's Oak #2) (2012) by Jo-Ann Mapson
and, while both novels are part of series, both novels are also stand-alones. I'd recommend both of them.
Oddly enough, the criticism of both novels is that they plot meanders, digresses, until the last 40 or so pages, whereupon the plot becomes focused and very eventful, almost as if the writer decided to quickly "wrap it up" at the end.

Not sure what I'm going to start next:
The Court of the Air (Jackelian #1) (2007) by Stephen Hunt
The Weight of Heaven (2009) by Thrity Umrigar
Lamp Black, Wolf Grey (2010) by Paula Brackston
or maybe something else. Decisions, decisions.

I lived in Florida for a decade -- near the Kennedy Space Center -- My house was near the Walmart. My kids were young then and I used to walk with them to the store (with whomever the baby was that year in the stroller).

I am currently finishing the Darksword Trilogy, after that I have a few on my TBR pile to read. I am saving all my new ones for when TT officially starts.

Morning y'all! How is everyone today?

Awesome that you added GZOC, Deedee. It's a great fun book and the main character is great. I read it right after it was released and then re-listened to it on audio a few months later. It's action packed, I love it. Course I love everything Matt Reilly does.

You have a lot of restraint M, I don't know if I could wait on some of those books. :) I hope you enjoy them when you can get to them.

What's everyone up to today?

Everyone have a wonderful weekend. I am off to bed.