Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

Good to know on the audiobook, Karen! I'm slowly branching in audios, but I have already learned the value of good narration. :( I've had a few bad ones, so any time I get a recommendation for one being good I take note!

So far I only have a few books planned out for after the start date, but here's what they might fit for:

American Gods - Read a book: features pharaoh(s), features accident of any sort, features plague

Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas- Read a book: features a map, features someone down on their luck, features a major find of some sort.

Animal Farm - Read a book: features shipwreck, features horses, features river.

How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization - Eyes on cover, tongue on cover, group of people (at least 4) on cover.

I don't have any specific books planned for this challenge. I will fill in as I read. I'm doing a lot of challenges over at AAMP, so I'm sure some of those books will fit tasks here as well.

Infinite City looks really cool --- especially since I visit SF on a regular basis!!
I've also been wanting to read animal farm.

Alas, so many books....so little time :-D

Less than 24 hours to go! Remember, only books started after 1900 GMT on the 7th count for the challenge.
Countdown is here

IMPORTANT Don't forget to have your special shelf created.
If you can't remember the name that you put in the sign up, just create a new one and post the name to this thread so your captain an update the team spreadsheet

A specific thread has been set up for teams to post read books to here

Spreadsheets posted on message #1

Hello everyone!!!!

Since it's official November 7th already, our activity for this weekend will be:

Share with everyone the name of the first book you will read/ are reading for this challenge. Why?

Happy reading!

Attention Captains.

Please check the Spreadsheet FAQ's.

I believe I'm going to be starting with Princess in the Spotlight, but I'm wishy washy and there are still a few hours where I might change my mind :)

I'm starting with Perdido Street Station because I have to read it for another challenge and because it's a chunky read (710 pages), so it's worth a decent number of points! It also works for the "shelved as own" bonus!

Woo, 1.5 hours left!

TS wrote: "I'm starting with Perdido Street Station because I have to read it for another challenge and because it's a chunky read (710 pages), so it's worth a decent number of points! It also wo..."

I could be wrong, but I think that "owned" has to be on the GR listing of genres on the books page --- not that you have it shelved as own. Anyway, it's always good to double dip :-D

Arg -- I'm not sure yet. I still have to finish up the book I've been reading. I've been distracted because my dog had surgery on her ligament the other day and I'm starting a new job on Monday.

because I need it for another challenge in a different group

Cassie, Undercover

Lol! Well now I'm not, thanks for the distraction, Abbie ;)

LOL! Guess what, Cassie? I'm not reading, either. I'm here. Thinking I should be reading for Team Greek!

Lol, well, I'm dragging myself away to get some more reading in. ;) will power and all that

Obviously none of us is reading, lets see who cannot read first!

Lol, well I have to go read to my kids. Not this reading, but still looks like you will hold out longer than me!

ROFL! I am off to go read in a moment!

Hahaha
So many notifications .... So little reading ;)

Lol.
I started with Love Letters to the Dead, because my roomie recommended it to me a while ago but I haven't had time to read that book.
Also, it counts as "shelved" :)

Happy reading!

Ahem, despite all attempts to distract me, I have finished my book. So there :p

Hey team, I finished Princess in the Spotlight, think it would work for #5 on our Mummy Quest (a person in power)? OH, or definitely #13: features a princess.

How are we tracking these?

And Karla, did you want to reserve some spots before I post in the other thread? I'll wait and put my book up tomorrow to give you time.

CassieV wrote: "And Karla, did you want to reserve some spots before I post in the other thread? I'll wait and put my book up tomorrow to give you time."

Hey Cassie, I've reserved some spot so you can go ahead and put your book up now :)

Yay Cassie! You're going to read this month! :-D

That's the plan! It's on it's way from the library, so I'm hoping to get it this week.

Awesome! :-)
I should really get to that reread, but not sure that's going to happen this month. Maybe next, or the one after that.. ;-)
Hope you'll enjoy it!!

Lol, there's just not enough time to read! I'll let you know what I think. Maybe we could read the others together, if I like this one :)

I like that plan :-)

How is reading going for the rest of you all? I'm hoping to pull out some of my larger books, as this challenge finally gives me an excuse to read them, but they sure are hard to fit in!

Hello all!

My name is Karsyn. I'm the Anubis captain and a new mod here at NBRC. I am gonna help Karen out with our Egyptian teams. With two mods for our 6 teams, we just gotta have some winners in these teams, right?!

Looks like your captains are working well together. Yay for y'all on that!! If you need anything, feel free to ask, my door is always open. I'm going to get caught up on all y'all and I'll be around if you need any help!

I thought I'd answer your questions, so y'all can get to know me some ~

Where do you live? I am in North Carolina. We've been here 3 years now
Favorite genre? be easier to ask me what I don't read. If I HAVE to pick one, I would say mystery/suspense. It's my go to, but I'll read anything that sounds good to me. I'm drawn to a ton of action, and anything game/puzzle related. I don't read chick-lit, tear jerkers, or religion.
Favorite book? Easy one for me!! The Night Circus! I love it, a ton. Two more for my top 3 ~ The Shadow of the Wind, Ready Player One.
Have you done a team challenge before?Yup, but don't ask me how many this has been for me, cuz I really don't know, probably close to 10 here at NBRC? I was captain of a Wheel-a-thon team that won! I've been a captain of teams for a while and I LOVE chatty teams (if you can't tell).
Any ties to Egypt (fav book, experience)? Nope, but The Mummy is my favorite movie, if you could tell by my Mummy Movie Moments Quest. :) I also loved The Mummy Returns, but the 3rd one sucked. :)

Welcome Karsyn -- thanks for helping out --- given time zones, it looks like we are covered 24/7 :-D

I really like Shadow of the Wind and Ready Player One as well.

I think that a couple people mentioned that they liked historical fiction and fantasy. I love the mash-up of the two. Two of my favorites are His Majesty's Dragon and The Lions of Al-Rassan. I think someone is reading the next book for the Tempaire series. Maybe I'll try to get to it!

I started re-listening to The Luminaries today. It's a long one. I am starting a new job tomorrow and will have a pretty long commute --- hurrah for audio books. I also have the new Ernest Cline book on audio. I'm not sure what my next DTB/kindle book will be :-D

With the new job, I'm not sure how much reading I'll be doing in the short term until I get settled in. Maybe I'll dig up some "lighter" fare.

Hey y'all! How is everyone? You all sure are a quiet bunch! Is everyone reading? Anyone read anything good?

Did you read Ernest Cline's newest book, Armada, JoLene? I liked it but didn't find it nearly as good as RPO. It was disappointing considering how long I we waited for it. It was good, just lacked the spark of RPO I thought.

Hi Karsyn! Congrats on the "promotion" ;)

Is that book a sequel to RPO? I haven't read RPO, but I plan to :). And yes, I could click through, but I'm in my phone and the app goes wonky sometimes, lol!

I just finished a book that was eh, but I'm hoping to start something I'm more excited about tomorrow. Depends on what I pull in the morning for another challenge, though! Magic Shifts would be LOVELY to fit in, and that's what I'm hoping for!

I have Armada downloaded on my audio, but haven't started. My husband felt the same way about the two. My understanding is that they are stand-alone.

Morning y'all! Thanks for the congrats, Cassie. :)

No, Armada isn't a sequel, they are as JoLene mentioned, both stand-alones. Armada is about a kid who plays video games against an alien race, and then finds out that the video games were meant for a different reason. There's still a lot lot lot of references, not just 80s and more movie/gaming ones, but it just doesn't have the magic that RPO had. It was good, just not great. RPO is just amazing!

A similar story to what Armada is would be the series. It was MUCH better. Completely different of course in that it's not Cline and his pop culture style, but so much better as a "kid playing video games that gets recruited for the real deal" type story.

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.

Hey all! Everyone doing good? Anyone have any comments / concerns / questions?

Hi,

Thanks Karsyn for your post. I'm supposed to be doing the social work but I guess I've been crazy busy this week.
Sorry about that.
How's everyone doing with the challenge? Any problems?

For me, my only problem is that I haven't been having much time to read these days. I hope the weekend would help...

Hello Khnum-ers.....
In reference to the above post about questions....please direct them to me first. I try to check the board every day (at least once). If it's urgent, you can send me a PM as well.

I also haven't had a lot of reading time because I started a new job this week and I was still finishing up some reading.

I started a "fast" read book last night and also a longer (800+ page) book on audio --- it will take me a while, but will garner some points.

We have some amazingly fast readers in the group though!! I'm jealous :-D.

Just problems getting to my books this week ;). I've been super busy since Monday, but no, no problems with the challenge or anything.

I have a lot of my November books already planned, but I am hoping to start adding in some of my longer books in December. Unfortunately, I have a few lingering that I just didn't get finished before our TT start date, so I need to finish those up still before I can add too many other books in. I've learned to keep a book going on audio, too, JoLene! It's a fun way to get some extra reading in while I'm doing chores or errands :D.

Whew, anyone else finding our current group of goals difficult? At least with the books I've already planned ;). May have to switch up the plan!

CassieV wrote: "Whew, anyone else finding our current group of goals difficult? At least with the books I've already planned ;). May have to switch up the plan!"

Anubis is having some trouble with some weird goals, like MCs getting into shape and the tarot cards ones. I'd suggest not switching up your plan, as your books may fit books down the road. You can always use a boon for a particularly hard one.

Can't believe you have your books planned out so long! Planners always amaze me. I'm a fly-by-er. I rarely know what I'll read next, until I finish a book. Only time I do know is for new releases.

I use the library for most of my books and I'm blessed with a library that will drop my books off at my door. The only problem is it takes about 2-3 weeks to get my book to me, so yes I usually plan a bit ahead. I don't mind making a special trip to pick something up if I need to, though ;). And I don't always (um, ever?) complete the plan, lol!

CassieV wrote: "I use the library for most of my books and I'm blessed with a library that will drop my books off at my door. The only problem is it takes about 2-3 weeks to get my book to me, so yes I usually pla..."

A library that delivers??? wow...

I thought ours was good because it is part of the state-wide network. If we can't get it locally, we have a good chance of finding it within the state and having it sent to our main branch. Of course, we can have things brought to the local branch which is a mile or so from my house and that is almost as good as home delivery.

WOW! I like a library that delivers...

The thing for me is that I live on campus (I'm still in high school), so my library is always with me haha.

How are you guys today?