Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

My human baby is 20. She kind of lost her love for book reading in the 8th grade when she had a teacher that made them basically write a report on every freakin chapter of the books they read. Sucked the joy of reading right out of her. She now reads mostly fan fiction on her phone. Hopefully she'll return to books at some point.

Hi April here
I'm in a MS suburb of Memphis, TN
I have 3 daughters and HP is the reason my oldest (15) is a reader. She was 6 mths old with Book 5 came out and I was a school teacher and had the summer to read. We sat on the couch reading (she had her board book and turned pgs just like Momma). One of my fav memories.
I did a tower team a year ago, I think. Feel like a newbie

Also I like Spell it challenges and currently playing the new Hogwarts Mystery app

My first book for this is going to be Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. I need to read it for bookshelf bingo. I was thinking this started on Sunday and I wouldn't wait. But I see that it starts on Saturday. Actually it starts on my Friday evening at 7pm if I'm reading the countdown clock right.

So are we going to have our own private group? That's what we've done in past tower team challenges. I don't know how necessary it is this round. But there have been other rounds where there were timed games and you got more points for finishing them ahead of other teams. In that case, you'd want to discuss and plot out the books privately so other teams can't steal your book ideas.

Mary: Harry Dresden's Love Slave

LOVE your name. Butcher finally comes out with another book and they are short stories. Guess beggers can't be choosers

Mary: Harry Dresden's Love Slave wrote: "Darn. Only the ebooks are on Kindle unlimited. I was hoping the audio books would be as well."

Me too... :-(

Kate wrote: "Hi everyone!

I'm from Oklahoma City, I have a 5 year old daughter so I'm secretly making her read everything that I did as a child. I'm a newbie to the challenge so I'm glad to know I'm not the on..."

I'm going to read it too, Kate. I love WWII books.

Mary: Harry Dresden's Love Slave wrote: "So are we going to have our own private group? That's what we've done in past tower team challenges. I don't know how necessary it is this round. But there have been other rounds where there were t..."

Hey Mary...from our Mods:
“...No private groups this time.

However, they will be 4 groups reserved for members of a house. Teams will get invitation when they're set up”

( I believe these groups will be for quidditch...hopefully I spelled that right )

Moderators of NBRC wrote: "Countdown to Start of The Challenge"

Just want to make sure I get this - challenge starts at 12am saturday morning West time zone - so if I live in the Eastern time zone and am 5 hours behind West time I can start counting for this challenge at 7pm Friday night? Is that right? I suppose this is a good time to admit I'm awful at math :)

Ok good to know, on the private groups this round. I found that round kind of stressful, especially since I was the captain. We even had to create our own challenge, get it approved and then complete it. Ugh. Give me a list of spell outs to aim for anytime.

I know on the Harry Dresden shorts. He hasn't published a book since like 2015 in any of his series. I wonder if he has writer's block or something. I keep meaning to re-listen to the books from start to finish but I'm worried there still won't be a Peace Talks when I'm done.

I've never read any of The Dresden Files books or anything else by Jim Butcher - I take it they're good? I'm going to have to check out the first one soon!

JanEyre9 wrote: "Moderators of NBRC wrote: "Countdown to Start of The Challenge"

Just want to make sure I get this - challenge starts at 12am saturday morning West time zone - so if I live in the Eastern time zone..."

Here is the countdown

Ooh so many posts to read! Sounds like most of you are in the US except for Chava and me (so far)

1. Where are you from? I'm in South Australia
2. Fun fact about you! I ice skate. Hot country but still make it work.
3. What was your last Tower Team, or are you a newbie? Newbie! I definitely played last round and I think the round before as well.

I have the first Dresden book at home so maybe I'll start that series during the challenge!

So excited that we have members who have never read the books. Nothing beats reading them for the first time!

Ashley wrote: "JanEyre9 wrote: "Moderators of NBRC wrote: "Countdown to Start of The Challenge"

Just want to make sure I get this - challenge starts at 12am saturday morning West time zone - so if I live in the ..."

I love that they use a countdown timer for these things...takes the math out of everything...exactly 1 day practically and we start...yeah!

1. I'm from Western Australia
2. I celebrated my 27th wedding anniversary last week - and there were people who said it would never last!
3. I participated in the last Tower Team challenge and have captained at least two of them before as well.

ZaraS wrote: "1. I'm from Western Australia
2. I celebrated my 27th wedding anniversary last week - and there were people who said it would never last!
3. I participated in the last Tower Team challenge and have..."

Congrats! Our 49th is coming up in August and we had people saying the same thing! Lol

Ashley wrote: "Ooh so many posts to read! Sounds like most of you are in the US except for Chava and me (so far)

1. Where are you from? I'm in South Australia
2. Fun fact about you! I ice skate. Hot country but ..."

Hi Ashley,

I'm from Western Australia - next state over from you.

1. Where are you from? A small town in NW Louisiana
2. Fun fact about you! ~ Nothing "fun". I've been married for going on 17 years, but we've been together for almost 19. I have four children, their ages are or will be in 2018 ~ 23, 18, 16, 13 (the oldest and the youngest haven't had a birthday yet so they are actually 22 and 12). My oldest is in the military, and the next one is getting ready to graduate from HS next week, then off to college this fall. She is going to WUSTL. I work full time, and I'm lucky enough to be able to work with and for people that I actually like.
The most obvious thing is that I love to read, rather that is an actual book or audio. I also like watching tv: super Grey's Anatomy and Jane the Virgin fan, among other things. (Blackish, Roseanne, Will & Grace, and reruns of Friends, Golden Girls, Frasier)
3. What was your last Tower Team, or are you a newbie?
Not a newbie, but I think it was a couple of years ago when I participated.

Hello everyone!

1. Where are you from?
Originally from Maryland, currently living in Georgia.
LOL my daughter-in-law says that everyone else in the world says which country they are from, while Americans (like me!) say what STATE they are from. I told her it's because America is such a large country.

2. Fun fact about you!
I worked at NASA in the 1980s.

3. What was your last Tower Team, or are you a newbie?
I was part of Tower Team IV.

I'm not clear on the rules but will rely on the captains to make things clear once the game begins.

Ashley’s added quite a few links/rules to the beginning of our thread...I’m sure there will be more coming...

Just a few of my thoughts regarding the spells...keep in mind we’re going to need a lot of vowels to finish those out...keeping track of those especially when you are reading will be helpful...everything goes...title, Series, characters even. I haven’t seen the spreadsheet yet, but I’m sure there’s one coming. It’s easiest I think if we just read to have fun and keep track of as many options as possible...we can move things around as needed if we have options....keep in mind that every book we read can go towards these...

Deedee wrote: "LOL my daughter-in-law says that everyone else in the world says which country they are from, while Americans (like me!) say what STATE they are from. I told her it's because America is such a large country.

Haha I actually noticed that! So in my post I put South Australia instead of just Australia like usual.

Tammie wrote: "Ashley’s added quite a few links/rules to the beginning of our thread...I’m sure there will be more coming...

Sure are! We have most things up there now :) Will update as we receive more info.

Tammie wrote:Just a few of my thoughts regarding the spells...keep in mind we’re going to need a lot of vowels to finish those out...."

So many! I've put the list up on one of the front posts if anyone wants to see what we're in for. When we have the team sheet ready this will be regularly updated too so we can all see what's left.

Tammie is right - lot's of options!

ZaraS wrote: "1. I'm from Western Australia"

Whooo someone else from my time zone! Welcome! Hope you're enjoying the heat whilst the rest of us freeze :/

Hi everyone!
I'm from Kolkata, India.
Fun fact - I don't know if this is a fun fact or just a fact but I love collecting diaries and journals. Also, I've never watched Titanic even though I know the ending. Same with Star Wars but I actually managed to marathon it last year. I knew the big plot twist before it came.

Last year, I was in Ashley's team. I think I was in Team Luke Skywalker.

That's a very cute fun fact Sreshtha! I can never remember the team names but we were together!

A few more questions whilst we wait...

4. First book you're planning to read
5. Book or series that you recommend
6. Worst book you've read this year

4. First book you're planning to read - I think my first physical book will be Old Man's War and my first audio will be A Column of Fire

5. Book or series that you recommend - I love anything by Fredrik Backman, Beartown and A Man Called Ove in particular. I would also recommend Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, that was one of my top reads last year. For a series I really enjoyed The Lunar Chronicles, the audio is excellent. I also just finished the first book in the Kingkiller Chronicle, The Name of the Wind, and was blown away. I can't wait to read the second book.

6. Worst book you've read this year - The worst book so far was Swing Time. This book just fell so flat for me, I wasn't engaged by any characters and found the plot dull.

Tammi, that's what I was thinking. There's no deadline to finish the spell outs. I say as we finish books, we list the letters it works for and then later on in the challenge we can assign books to letters, move them around etc.., When we get further in we can kind of see which letters we might be missing to try and focus on but my guess is that we'll naturally fill in most as we go. I know I won't go crazy but I know myself and that I will end up looking for books with either a letter we have a lot of or that's harder to find.

Oh and just an FYI for now, I will remind the team later: I am going to Cancun from 7/21 to 7/28. So I will be AWOL that week. I will likely do some reading there and will just mark them read when I get back. Luckily I come back 3 days before the challenge ends. I probably won't focus on any specific letters while I'm there in case I don't finish or you want to submit all our finished spells while I'm gone. (I didn't look up how those are going to be submitted).

I was planning to read the first HP book, but I’m working other challenges...I’ll probably start Exile and then The Pirate Bride...somewhere in there I’ll start listening to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

I think everyone should read Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult. Depending on what you like I recommend the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, Outlander, I’m on book 4 of the Kate Daniels series...I like romance reading too...love Jennifer Ashley, Linda Howard, Iris Johansen, Suzanne Brockmann, Lisa Kleypas...

Worst book...Just Like Grey 1: What He Wants...I usually try to give the author the benefit of the doubt but this was awful...poor plot, poor character development and the worst...poor spelling...I can’t handle it when there are spelling errors. It was a freebie but my time is worth something right?

So I'm like 7 books behind on my yearly goodreads challenge. I hope the mods don't think it's fishy if I suddenly catch up and get ahead. I tend to go through more audio books in the Spring and Summer anyway between lots more walking, yard work and long drives to go kayaking. I also tend to read more during these team challenges then when not in one.

Mary: Harry Dresden's Love Slave wrote: "So I'm like 7 books behind on my yearly goodreads challenge. I hope the mods don't think it's fishy if I suddenly catch up and get ahead. I tend to go through more audio books in the Spring and Sum..."

I’m just the opposite Mary...I’ve been reading a lot of shorter books...challenges...I tend to read less in the summer because of my real estate business. We’ll see how the business goes...will try my best!

New questions:

1: first 2 books I plan to read are
and

I am chomping at the bit to read the first one so I hope you appreciate the sacrifice it is to hold off on starting it. The 2nd is my book for Bookshelf Bingo.

2: Dresden Files, Mercy Thompson, The Huntress by Alexandra Sokoloff-really too many to list.

3:
I didn't like this one at all but it mostly has good reviews so...,

In the Captain group some just asked about points wanting to clear up how they are used...this was a pretty clear answer...I know I sometimes needs to hear things a few times for things to sink in...

“Yeah. It's confusing.

You read a book and win page points. Then you can use it for one extra task - spells or quidditch or classes or Tri-Wizard.
The bom points and buddy read points are always cumulative, so they add up to those above. ”

4. First book you're planning to read reread (Audible) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
5. Book or series that you recommend Red Rising Red Rising Saga is 3 books but there is a 4th that just came out. Iron Gold I will be reading it soon!
6. Worst book you've read this year The Man in the High Castle and The Last American Vampire (which is sad because I really liked Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

4. First book you're planning to read
hadn't really thought about it. I tend to read what I'm in the mood for at the time.

5. Book or series that you recommend
The Selection series. Each one of these books were better than the previous one.

6. Worst book you've read this year
So far I've had a good year and not had any really bad books.

reply | flag *

4. First book you're planning to read - I'm reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for the first time and listening to Red Dirt Heart 2 - I'm also going to be reading The Ghostwriter and Lilac Girls (BOTM)

5. So many to recommend but I'm reading the In Death series in a monthly BR. It is fantastic.

6. Worst book you've read this year - Haven't had any I really disliked yet.

So any word yet and how we're reporting completed books and the letters they work beyond just shelving them? I saw a post put up earlier but it seemed like it was for all the teams. It's gone now. Do the captains want them posted in this thread? That might be hard to find as we complete books and chat.

Or this still being planned out in the captain's group?

I believe we will be setting up a thread just for posting...those threads hadn’t been set up yet as if a few hours ago. It’s 5:30 am on sat in Australia so we’ll be hearing from Ashley on this I’m sure.

Just a few more hours and we’ll be officially underway! Woohoo!

4. First book I plan on reading is HP and the Sorcerer's Stone. I've been itching to read The Cruel Prince and CANNOT wait for War Storm!
5. Book series that I recommend: Shatter me series, Red Queen series
6. I read an advanced copy of Imitatore: The Donna Chronicles: Book One. There were too many grammatical errors that I couldn't get past and the plot didn't hold my attention. I may give it another try later but not any time soon.

ZaraS wrote: "4. First book you're planning to read
hadn't really thought about it. I tend to read what I'm in the mood for at the time.

5. Book or series that you recommend
The Selection series..."

I started the Selection but didn't finish. I may reread the books I've read and start over. It was a good series from what I remember!

Mary: Harry Dresden's Love Slave wrote: "So I'm like 7 books behind on my yearly goodreads challenge. I hope the mods don't think it's fishy if I suddenly catch up and get ahead. I tend to go through more audio books in the Spring and Sum..."

I love to listen to audiobooks! Especially when I'm at work, doing things around the house and in my car!

Mary: Harry Dresden's Love Slave wrote: "So I'm like 7 books behind on my yearly goodreads challenge. I hope the mods don't think it's fishy if I suddenly catch up and get ahead."

I don't think they will. The mods know that we all vary our reading and challenges can spur us to read more!

Tammie wrote: "I believe we will be setting up a thread just for posting...those threads hadn’t been set up yet as if a few hours ago. It’s 5:30 am on sat in Australia so we’ll be hearing from Ashley on this I’m sure"

That's right! I'm an early bird so I've been up since 5. Just finished the sheet so once our other captains have a check we can post it here.

If you want to use the google sheet for your planning then you can start PM'ing me your email addresses.

More on this in a little bit!

Ahhh you've all made such good book recommendations so far!

4. First book you're planning to read
I'm still finishing A Court of Wings and Ruin (should have waited to start this) so I'll officially be starting When Dimple Met Rishi as an audio book. My next one will be the illustrated Harry Potter books - JOY!

5. Book or series that you recommend
Since I'm reading it now... I'm going to go with A Court of Thorns and Roses series. This really surprised me!

6. Worst book you've read this year
Mine was Saint Death. It has such an amazing cover and yellow paper edges! I just couldn't get into it. I read it when I really wanted to read something else. Might try it again one day!

Ashley wrote: "That's a very cute fun fact Sreshtha! I can never remember the team names but we were together!"

I had to think about it for an hour and I came up with this lame fact. xD Ice skating is really cool though!!!!

Here's the link to our planning spreadsheet; https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

It will be on the first page in case you need it.

If you want to be able to edit and put your books in then please PM me your email address.

Please post when you've finished a book on this thread (we won't be using the books read thread). Include your book link, pages and date finished.

Ie.
A Court of Wings and Ruin
669 pages
10/05/2018

If you are not using the planning sheet (this is okay!) then please also post what your book works for. If you are using the planning sheet then still post as above here and just include your spell letters on the sheet.

Any questions then let us know! This is a new challenge for some and there are no silly questions that you can ask :)

4. First book you are planning to read: I went to the library yesterday and loaded up! I had requested Lilac Girls and also picked up The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, Into the Water, Olive Kitteridge, and The Night Circus. I have them all on my Popsugar Reading Challenge this year and I figured it was a good place to start. I will start with A.J. Fikry so I can finish it before Lilac Girls starts in a few days. I am also going on vacation (5.23-5.30) so I wanted some to take with me besides what I have on my Kindle.

5. I usually read either series that are YA or historical fiction. Since there are several above of the first I will recommend something from the second - I really enjoyed North and South (also includes Love and War and Heaven and Hell) more than I thought I would. I would also recommend the Century Trilogy by Ken Follett. Fall of Giants

6. Worst book I've read this year - I've been pretty lucky but I would have to say Artemis. I just didn't enjoy it nearly as much as his first book.

I'm excited that we can start reading for the challenge!!!

4. First book you're planning to read
Not sure exactly. I have a book that I need to finish on audio, but I plan to start either Archer's Voice or The Ocean at the End of the Lane right after that. I haven't decide what kindle book I am going to read next, that will be based on what I need for other challenges that need to be updated soon. For the actual book choice of the week, I will finally start Eleventh Grave in Moonlight.
5. Book or series that you recommend
There are few authors that I've found lately that are really great: Stella Rhys, Layla Frost. As far as series or books: Karen Marie Moning's Fever Series, any book or series that I've read by Kristen Ashley (there are too many to name, you can check my books read), Sawyer Bennett's Cold Fury series. I am a romance junkie, the hotter the better. Check my Read shelf, because my mind has gone blank and there are quite a few books, series, or authors that I have come to like.

6. Worst book you've read this year
I've rated a few books less than 3 stars, but the one disliked the most that I recall was Hard by Scott Hildreth. It was the first book by this author, so at some point I will try another before I make a final decision about his books.