Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

Thanks. :)

Caly wrote: "You are AMAZING Ray! Well done! 8-) "

As for the Greater Sewer Rat... we can either:
1. hit him once now and wait to level up to kill him (not enough hp atm)
2. drink a minor heal potion to heal 5 hp, then kill him (which will exhaust our hp very nicely right before we're due to level up)
3. discard him and move on.

I'm for #2 because the minor heal is insignificant when compared to the shield potion we will receive for killing the rat.


20 more xp needed to level up. If we get 5 from the Essential Oils, and 3 from the Rat, that's 12 left. Card 1 or Card 4 will then level us up. (Or some other combo of cards we don't have yet, of course.)

Also, I updated my TA unused book spreadsheet and TA bookshelf which is handy for looking at covers.

Finished! 10/28

All The Possibilities, Nora Roberts
124 pgs
Card 4: under 200 pgs

Finished
Chaos Choreography by Seanan McGuire

This could work for the last task of card 4; Verity is promised a favor in exchange for negotiating a dragon trade.

Okay, I finished:

Read for: Published in October OR last task of card 4 (Vera's dad promises to give her the car if she gets the pizza delivery job) we can use Bethany's book for that.

We lost some points from the spreadsheet again. It's been like this for hours. :/ Labors lists 2515 as our points on the All Teams sheet, but I have 2710 in my copied-over ss. Can't check our ss though b/c that page is hidden. 195 is a lot of points!

Weapon

Level 10 (wow!)

#6 - Ella
#10 - Bethany

Level 11

#1-3 - TA
#4 -
#5 -
#6 -
#7 -
#10 -
#11 -

Cards

Card 1 (nine books, 12xp, 1 greater damage potion)

Read a book set in country where you live or come from.
Read a book set in a foreign country.
Read a book set in imaginary country.
Read a book set on the continent you live on.
Read a book set on another continent except North America and Europe.
Read a book with mountains on the cover.
Read a book with river/sea on the cover.
Read a book with valley on the cover.
Read a book with forest on the cover.

Card 2 (? books, 10 xp)
Capture 100 bugs. Every mention counts!

Book the first
Book the second...

Card 3 (five books, 6xp, 1 gold)
Read a book with STAR in the title - Caly
Spell-it-out: S
Spell-it-out: A - Tammie

Card 4 (twelve books, 14xp, 3 heal potions)
Horses main part of story - Caly

Card 5 (seven books, 12xp)
Read a book where the author or a character has the initials PB.
Read a book that starts with the letter J (indefinite article may be ignored).
Spell-it-out: B
Spell-it-out: R
Spell-it-out: E
Spell-it-out: A
Spell-it-out: D

Ray (user2637) wrote: "We lost some points from the spreadsheet again. It's been like this for hours. :/ Labors lists 2515 as our points on the All Teams sheet, but I have 2710 in my copied-over ss. Can't check our ss th..."

Thanks for the heads up! New features ~cough~ are in the works, so that may have something to do with it. I'll let Kelly know :)

Slowly going to start catching up once this tea kicks in ;)

Bethany wrote: "Finished:

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
328 Pages
10/28

This book wasn't badly written. The characters were believable, and the romance was believable and cu..."

I didn't like it, and I'm in highschool.

Bethany wrote: "Finished:

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
328 Pages
10/28

This book wasn't badly written. The characters were believable, and the romance was believable and cu..."

Ooo boy, I can see myself staying away from this one. Good to know!

Ray (user2637) wrote: "Unless Emerge plans have changed, we have around 9 days left of the event. There's no countdown clock to the end yet, so I'm going off starting on Oct 10 and going for 4 weeks. Probably something w..."

This is being worked on/decided on as we speak. :)

Ray (user2637) wrote: "Since we have 35 TA books to use still and it would be a shame for them to go to waste, here's a suggestion for Card 5 that would knock it out right now.

Card 5
Essential oil in text = Lory bank,..."

This is awesome, thank you so much for doing the leg work on this one!! I'll put this in once I'm caught up :)

Ray (user2637) wrote: "As for the Greater Sewer Rat... we can either:
1. hit him once now and wait to level up to kill him (not enough hp atm)
2. drink a minor heal potion to heal 5 hp, then kill him (which will exhaust..."

#2 sounds like a plan - I'll go and do that now.

CARD 2
You pass group of young squires sitting and talking. You can't not notice they are retelling Lady Shanna's Blueberry Adventure. You smile to yourself. It is great story, but like in many stories some things got changed with each retelling. And not to mention not many people know what happened after. Lady Shanna went to the field again day after and she picked some blueberries for herself, but nobody told her that those berries shouldn't be eaten fresh. She started eating them while picking. "Spit them out!" said the white horse. "But they are so tasty." "Spit them out!" All of the sudden, Lady Shanna's nose started turning purple. "What is happening to me?" yells Lady Shanna while continuing turning purple and starting to grow round. "I told you to spit them out. Everyone who eats them fresh ends up as blueberry and nobody knows why."

Tasks:
•Read a book with a blue cover
•Read a book with a blue cover
•Read a book with a round object on the cover
•Read a book with a round object on the cover

Rewards:
•2 Experience
•4 Gold

Only two xp for four books stinks, and the cards reset in an hour and a half - I'm thinking we can discard this one and see what we get at 11 London time.

Margaret wrote: "Finished


Suddenly One Summer by Julie James
286 pages
Read 28/10/16
#6 book in a series
First published in May
Spell-it-Ou..."

Yea! Let's put this in for May :)

Ray (user2637) wrote: "More suggestions from TA shelf to hang onto in case one of these cards is just about done and we want to just close it out.

Card 1
Read a book first published in May = TA The Aftermath
Read a boo..."

This is also the. awesome. Thank you.

~huuuuuuuuuuuug~

Tammie wrote: "Finished! 10/28

All The Possibilities, Nora Roberts
124 pgs
Card 4: under 200 pgs"

All hail Ms. Roberts! :)

Bethany wrote: "Finished
Chaos Choreography by Seanan McGuire

This could work for the last task of card 4; Verity is promised a favor in exchange for negotiating a dragon trade."

Ooooo, that's great! I was wondering how we'd get that one, hehe.

Pragya wrote: "Okay, I finished:

Read for: Published in October OR last task of card 4 (Vera's dad promises to give her the car if she gets the pizza delivery job) we ..."

October it is!

Pragya wrote: "I didn't like it, and I'm in highschool."

This cracked me up :D

Okay, that's caught up, so I'm going to start putting in the awesome TA books that Ray set us up with and pull some new cards. There's a pizza order happening somewhere in there too, so don't be surprised if I disappear for a little while ;)

CARD 5
Brown Bat
The brown bats are much prettier than the black bats because of their grace, stamina and ability to make a lovely bat leather hat.

Attack: 2 Health: 20

Rewards:
•1 Experience

CARD 5
Drop Bear
A cute cuddly little creature with vicious man eating teeth dripping blood. Makes a great steak and is good for increasing iron levels.

Attack: 8 Health: 15

Rewards:
•2 Experience
•1 Gold

CARD 1
The Academy's History department is in desperate need of new history. Queen Skye has assured them that you are the very best in inventing new history for the students to learn. Don't let her down!

Tasks:
•Sort your to-read by date added. Select one of the first 4 books (oldest books). If one is a series book you may substitute an earlier book in the series.
•Read a book published the year you were born.
•Read a book published the month you were born. (year does not have to match)
•Read a book published the day you were born. (year/month does not have to match)
•Read a book set around 50 years in the past.
•Read a book set around 100 years in the past.
•Read a book written 20+ years ago

Rewards:
•10 Experience
•1 Greater Heal Potion

CARD 5

You've never been one to try to outdo everyone else. No one really needs to go a whole 20,000 leagues under the sea when 5,000 is plenty. You're quite sure after traveling 5,000 leagues that there's really nothing more that would surprise you down there. You've seen all the fish, sunken ships, sharks and mermaids that you could ever care to see in the sea. Just make sure to take some pictures so you can have a few rounds bought for you at the Tavern after you've returned.
Travel 5,000 leagues and take pictures! Reserve a wonderful spot at the tavern for all your stories.
Leagues may be traveled by reading books. To determine the amount of leagues traveled by a single book, round down to the nearest 100 pages, then calculate 2 to the power of the number of hundreds of pages. (Hint: use the xy button on the calculator)
Examples: 512 page book -> 5 hundred pages -> 2^5 = 32 leagues
(If not all spots are needed, x out all columns)


Tasks:
•Book 1
•Book 2
•Book 3
•Book 4
•Book 5
•Book 6
•Book 7
•Book 8
•Book 9
•Book 10

Rewards:
•5 Experience
•1 Greater Heal Potion
•1 Shield Potion

Okay! The cards will be redrawn in half an hour so I'm going to discard Card One (all those dates are kind of crazy), Card Two (2xp for four books? Nah) and Card Five (long books, too much work). The redraw will be interesting!

eta: I haven't forgotten about Card 4 but the pizza is here, eep! I'll also re-do the goal post once I get back.

Pizzapizzapizza... (it's a rare treat in Japan - so expensive!)

CARD 1
Rock
Many people might mock you for attempting to subdue the mighty rock. It's lasted for millions of years, who are you to try to best this foul beast. But you are not cowed by this formidable task. You will persevere!

Attack: 1 Health: 60

Rewards:
•3 Experience

CARD 2

They're everywhere! Bugs here! Bugs there! Bugs everywhere! Capture them all before the whole kingdom is overrun with the creepy crawlies.
You must capture 100 and may capture multiple bugs per book. If all bugs are caught without using all book slots fill them in with x's.

Tasks:
•Book 1
•Book 2
•Book 3
•Book 4
•Book 5
•Book 6
•Book 7
•Book 8
•Book 9
•Book 10

Rewards:
•10 Experience

CARD 5
The tavern has heard rumors of a food critic in the area. The owners want to create a new specialty. They've heard of something called a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich being served over in Wintershaven. They ask you to check it out and bring back the parts to start making them.

Tasks:
•Read a book where the author or a character has the initials PB.
•Read a book that starts with the letter J (indefinite article may be ignored).
•Spell-it-out: B
•Spell-it-out: R
•Spell-it-out: E
•Spell-it-out: A
•Spell-it-out: D

Rewards:
•12 Experience

The last task we did leveled us up so we have enough health to fight the rock! Hehehe.

CARD 1
Novel Kingdom is having some problems with geographical dissenters. The rogue group is calling themselves Novelarian Flat Page Society. They believe that all of Novel Kingdom exists on a single sheet of paper in a single book in the Great Reader's library. The head of the geography department is beside himself. Help him map out the world and prove that Novel Kingdom actually rests on the cover of a book laying on the Great Reader's coffee table.

Tasks:
•Read a book set in country where you live or come from.
•Read a book set in a foreign country.
•Read a book set in imaginary country.
•Read a book set on the continent you live on.
•Read a book set on another continent except North America and Europe.
•Read a book with mountains on the cover.
•Read a book with river/sea on the cover.
•Read a book with valley on the cover.
•Read a book with forest on the cover.

Rewards:
•12 Experience
•1 Greater Damage Potion

Moderators of NBRC wrote: "CARD 2

They're everywhere! Bugs here! Bugs there! Bugs everywhere! Capture them all before the whole kingdom is overrun with the creepy crawlies.
You must capture 100 and may capture multiple bu..."

We need to find bugs in text for this, right? Is there a list?

Pragya wrote: "We need to find bugs in text for this, right? Is there a list? "

Yup! And every single mention counts. So if the word spider appears 20 times that counts for 20 :)

No list, so we'll use our best judgement. Bugs. ~shivers~

I know there are more than 100 mentions of bugs in John Dies at the End and also 200+ in the sequel This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It. They are weird, crude, "dude" humor/horror/sci-fi. I liked them! John Dies At The End was made into a movie too.

Moderators of NBRC wrote: "CARD 2

They're everywhere! Bugs here! Bugs there! Bugs everywhere! Capture them all before the whole kingdom is overrun with the creepy crawlies.
You must capture 100 and may capture multiple bu..."

Kazen - what toppings were on your pizza? My current fav is mushrooms and pesto sauce (instead of red sauce). If pizza is expensive, do you get inexpensive sushi?

Ray (user2637) wrote: "Kazen - what toppings were on your pizza? My current fav is mushrooms and pesto sauce (instead of red sauce). If pizza is expensive, do you get inexpensive sushi?"

Ooh, do you like pinneapple on pizza? (EVERYBODY I KNOW HATES THEM but I love them so much!)

Ray (user2637) wrote: "Kazen - what toppings were on your pizza? My current fav is mushrooms and pesto sauce (instead of red sauce). If pizza is expensive, do you get inexpensive sushi?"

I had italian sausage and mushrooms, my husband had pepperoni and olives. I love pesto sauce pizza! You're making me drool and I just ate, lol.

There is inexpensive sushi - $1 for a small plate (usually two pieces) that goes around on a conveyor belt... it tastes like dollar sushi, though. ;) Regular sushi costs about the same as when I lived in California but tastes a little better.

Pragya wrote: "Ooh, do you like pinneapple on pizza? (EVERYBODY I KNOW HATES THEM but I love them so much!)"

I love pineapple on pizza! Especially with ham or something else salty to even out the flavor. Done right the pineapple gets all roasted and YUM - those people obviously do not have your sophisticated palate. ;)

Pragya wrote: "Ray (user2637) wrote: "Kazen - what toppings were on your pizza? My current fav is mushrooms and pesto sauce (instead of red sauce). If pizza is expensive, do you get inexpensive sushi?"

Ooh, do y..."

I love pineapple on pizza too! Especially with bacon *Yum! Otherwise my favorite is mushroom , green peppers and black olives.

Oh and I am about 70% done with my current book and will finish it later today I am sure so we can close out another card.

After that I was think of reading which at this point would work for the "D" on card 5 if we are keeping that one? I am not sure which cards we are using at this point. But I can also read something else if there is a better way to use my reading time. 8-) I have PLENTY on my "to Read" List LOL

Finished

Swordbird by Nancy Li Fan
256 pgs
29Oct

Works for: imaginary country, forest on cover, S (title), B (character Bug-Eye), R (character Reymarsh), A (character Aska), D (character Dilby), bugs = 12.

Do you have a book with "star" in the title? Nothing on TA shelf and no one's jumping on it. I checked mine and they are all long. :/

Caly wrote: "Oh and I am about 70% done with my current book and will finish it later today I am sure so we can close out another card.

After that I was think of reading whic..."

Doh! Accidentally deleted my pizza discussion comment. :/

Something about Kazen's pizza sounding yummy and that cooking pineapple is a travesty.

I can try to find a short star book. Off to look!

Ray (user2637) wrote: "Do you have a book with "star" in the title? Nothing on TA shelf and no one's jumping on it. I checked mine and they are all long. :/

Caly wrote: "Oh and I am about 70% done with my current book a..."

I would be happy to read if you want me too and it will help.. It is only 163 pages so I could do it in a day or so. 8-)

As long as Stars work instead of star, all yours, Caly.

Lory wrote: "As long as Stars work instead of star, all yours, Caly."

Stars works just fine :)

Lory wrote: "As long as Stars work instead of star, all yours, Caly."

Okay and if I not I did find which as not on my list but looks like fun so I can track down a copy if the other one wont work. Just let me know!

Thanks!

Kazen wrote: "Lory wrote: "As long as Stars work instead of star, all yours, Caly."

Stars works just fine :)"

Awesome! Then I will read that next since I already have a copy.