Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

Camilla, start date for the challenge is 21 March, end of month 1 is 21 April

Was it ever clarified what time on the 21st that we switch from month 1 to month 2?

have we got spreadsheets with tasks cant find anything

Mary: Harry Dresden's Love Slave wrote: "Was it ever clarified what time on the 21st that we switch from month 1 to month 2?"

There will be another countdown clock so that everyone starts at the same time

Alysa wrote: "Karen ⊰✿ wrote: "Yes books started after the countdown began: I’m not sure why it isn’t in the rules - must have been missed off in the copy and paste from the upside down challenge details"

FYI, ..."

Its in post #2 of the FAQ

Marie (UK) wrote: "have we got spreadsheets with tasks cant find anything"

The master spreadsheet is HERE It has everyone's spreadsheet including yours on it. Scroll down until you find yourself in the category you signed up for. Then click on your spreadsheet.

You were also given access to your own spreadsheet a few days ago.. check your email notifications.

Edit--Tasks can be found on the 2nd tab on of the bottom of the master spreadsheet as well as on your own spreadsheet.

Laura wrote: "Its in post #2 of the FAQ"

I am still not seeing it...
Not a big deal for me though.

Aha! The FAQ is in the "ask the caretaker" thread. I assumed it would be in the "All About the Challenge" thread. ;)

I read the stuff about going up into another category but I'm still a little confused.

If I go up into the next category this month, and meet the minimum for it, do I have to do it the rest of the challenge as well? Asking just in case as these type of challenges tend to ramp up my normal reading.

I'm not sure if you are finished with the updates to the Main/Master spreadsheet that lists everyone, so this may not matter. But thought I would let you know that the links for my name go to Ashleigh's spreadsheet instead of mine.

I opened my sheet through the email link, so I do have one.

What about this for Canadian animals?



(there are 3 species of Corvus native to Canada-Corvus are the species ravens and crows belong to)

I received more points for completing task 52 than expected, so I compared the points listed with the tasks on the Month 1 Tasks tab to the formula on the March/April tab in column E where the points are calculated.

Looking at the Month 1 Tasks tab, the points breakdown is:
Bonus - 250
1 to 14 - 100
15 to 44 - 50
45 to 94 - 20
95 to 150 - 10

Looking at the formula in column E of the March/April tab, the points breakdown is:

Bonus - 250
1 to 14 - 100
15 to 67 - 50
68 to 117 - 20
118 to 150 - 10

Which one is correct?

Thanks for pointing it out.
I'm fixing it as we speak. I just have to go spreadsheet by spreadsheet so it takes little time.

We'll go with first one for now as people already started planning and looking books by points in task-tab.

Laura wrote: "Marie (UK) wrote: "have we got spreadsheets with tasks cant find anything"

The master spreadsheet is HERE It has everyone's spreadsheet including yours on it. Scroll down until you find yourself i..."

THANK YOU

I put all the books I'm going to read in my spreadsheet, and it looks horrible! : (
I don't know how to get the words to not be so wide. Can anyone help me, please?
link should be here

Angie ☯ wrote: "I'm not sure if you are finished with the updates to the Main/Master spreadsheet that lists everyone, so this may not matter. But thought I would let you know that the links for my name go to Ashle..."

Thanks, I thought I got them all! Will fix!

Edit--fixed!

Mary: Harry Dresden's Love Slave wrote: "What about this for Canadian animals?



(there are 3 species of Corvus native to Canada-Corvus are the species ravens and crows belong to)"

No...
check Stacie's message #70

Moderators of NBRC wrote: "Angie ☯ wrote: "I'm not sure if you are finished with the updates to the Main/Master spreadsheet that lists everyone, so this may not matter. But thought I would let you know that the links for my ..."

Thank you very much! : )

Oops not mine. LOL

❀Tea❀ wrote: "Ashley M wrote: "I put all the books I'm going to read in my spreadsheet, and it looks horrible! : (
I don't know how to get the words to not be so wide. Can anyone help me, please?
link should be ..."

Mine, haha, thank you. Going to hide now...

No problem. Couple of us is currently playing with spreadsheets. At least I'm not also posting here as mod account. That would be confusing :)

❀Tea❀ wrote: "No problem. Couple of us is currently playing with spreadsheets. At least I'm not also posting here as mod account. That would be confusing :)"

No kidding. LOL

For "read a book that mentions Picasso", do you want a reference specifically to Picasso the person or would something referring to his paintings like "the Picassos" work as well?

I think my question in post 158 was missed. If we go up a level the first month, do we have to stay at that higher level for the rest of the challenge? Asking because these type of challenges always make me ramp up my reading but not sure I can keep it up for 3 full months.

Also, my points are not updating on the Leaf Leader board. I've finished 2 books and should have 150 pts but it shows 0. Mentioning it in case there's a missed connection somewhere.

Mary: Harry Dresden's Love Slave wrote: "I think my question in post 158 was missed. If we go up a level the first month, do we have to stay at that higher level for the rest of the challenge? Asking because these type of challenges alway..."

If you go a category at any point (so month 1,2 or 3) then that is the category that you are considered to be in for the purposes of winning. So if you want to be able to win, and you go up a category in month 1, you need to then maintain that for months 2 and 3. Sometimes we have tasks using novellas and other shorter books which can help people to achieve that

Deanna wrote: "For "read a book that mentions Picasso", do you want a reference specifically to Picasso the person or would something referring to his paintings like "the Picassos" work as well?"

A painting mention is fine

That’s what I thought. And you are right, if I go over I can always pull out some shorter books to keep it up.

Never mind, I found the answer for my bonus book question.

Is it safe to assume that A and The don't count for "title starts with J"?

I want to mention that I learned a lesson today that the Amazon book search feature is not trustworthy if it won't let you sample that page. Luckily, the book it failed me on is one I have in Kindle and I found another word in the book. But I had to swap a couple of books around.

Suzanne wrote: "I got two spreadsheets - one for Suzanne, and one for Susanne. Just wanted to give you a heads up - let me know if you need more info.
and THANKS for doing the challenge!!"
one is for me I am Susanne

Laura wrote: "Suzanne wrote: "I got two spreadsheets - one for Suzanne, and one for Susanne. Just wanted to give you a heads up - let me know if you need more info.
and THANKS for doing the challenge!!"

Thank y..." Oh i have access i thought she did not realize there are two of us.

Great, sounds like it is all worked out :)

Mary: Harry Dresden's Love Slave wrote: "Never mind, I found the answer for my bonus book question.

Is it safe to assume that A and The don't count for "title starts with J"?"

Yes, it it safe to assume that.

So, about non-fiction books. Can I consider the author as a character?

(He's an ICU doctor, and has some moments of grief, not to mention the families of his patients)

I was just wondering... Where do we stand on DNF-ing a book during the challenge? Does one need to read the whole book for it to count, or just over the 100 page minimum? I'm actually rather enjoying my current book, but read some terrible ones during the last challenge, and was wondering whether abandoning them could actually be an option?

If you DNF War and Peace half-way through, you've still read as much as two regular books, lol.

You only get the points if you read the book completely!

Half the skill of these challenges is honing your radar for the unexpected gems; adjusting your reading attitude to be one of gleeful ridicule (see Kadin); improving your KU searching skills to minimise the real crap.

And if all that fails, try and get as many other people to suffer with you in the name of RSU / USD solidarity! (see again: Kadin)

For non fiction we only consider there to be characters if it is more of a memoir and reads like a story rather than a factual account.
For example, The Trauma Cleaner is non-fiction and I would not consider them characters as it is just talking through someone’s life.
Whereas something like Eat Pray Love reads more like a story and therefore has “characters”

Cat wrote: "You only get the points if you read the book completely!

Half the skill of these challenges is honing your radar for the unexpected gems; adjusting your reading attitude to be one of gleeful ridic..."

That's ok, I was just wondering. I don't have KU, so I had to buy each individual book, at least three of which left me feeling ripped off. With so many amazing books out there I'll never get to read in my lifetime, it grates a bit to suffer through 600+ pages of awfulness when I could be reading something I love instead ;)

I feel your pain, Sammy :(

Once I started doing more of these challenges getting a KU and Scribd subscription made sense to me, but I know that not everyone wants to or can.

I guess you don't have access to an elibrary system either?

You can always ask here for recs - hopefully that will reduce the real stinkers for you.

(I have returned a couple of truly awful (e)books to Amazon, though that is admittedly an in extremis move)

Cat wrote: "You can always ask here for recs - hopefully that will reduce the real stinkers for you."

One of the worst ones was a rec I got here, lmao!

Honestly, I don't enjoy reading on my Kindle, and usually only use it for books I can't get hold of otherwise, so I won't be getting subscriptions to anything. I much prefer my paperbacks, so will muddle on as best I can with those. I have over 1600 books in my personal library, and can fill a good few tasks with those. It's the 100 point ones that often need a Kindle library to figure out what will actually fit.
I only bought two kindle books for the challenge this month, a classic which I wanted to read anyway, and one which looks pretty awful, but is mercifully short, lol.

I don't buy anything for these challenges unless I had already planned to buy the book anyway. If I don't have it and I can't source it free from a library, then I just don't do that task or whatever. I also don't make myself read books that hold no interest for me just to get a task or something. There are more books published that I would love that I cannot possibly squeeze into my lifetime. I don't want to waste a read.

But that's just me. (and I have finished some turkey's for group challenges but I had initially had an interest in them)

FYI, in the Leaf Category, the rankings show “Karen” at the top, and “Karen D” still w/zero points so far, but when you go into their spreadsheets the two Karens are the other way around. So it isn’t clear which one is which.

Alysa, thanks for the heads up: all fixed now.

FYI: The link to Stacey's spreadsheet (LEAF category - both on leaderboard and all players) goes to Karen D's spreadsheet.

I've gotten a lot better at reading what I want. I used to buy/read books just to fulfill a challenge task, but it wasn't very enjoyable. There are so many other books to read, I don't like wasting time on books I don't enjoy. So I definitely try to use my TBR for as many tasks as possible. I already had them there so I know I want to read them. And I'm very picky now about what books I buy, since many of the books I want to read I can borrow.

My local YMCA has started a sort of "little library". Take one, leave one sort of thing that has scored me some great reads. I've got a stack to take over there tonight to make up for the ones I've claimed.

First world problems: the challenge is so popular that we went a bit cross-eyed during the set-up!

Should be fixed now.

Please do pipe up if you spot any more oddities :)

Good to know that I am not the only stalking other people's spreadsheets.

Mary: Harry Dresden's Love Slave wrote: "Good to know that I am not the only stalking other people's spreadsheets."

LOL

Mary: Harry Dresden's Love Slave wrote: "Good to know that I am not the only stalking other people's spreadsheets."

I do it to get ideas for tasks that others might have already read.

So.... if I live in the northern hemisphere, am I allowed to use "October" as a spring word, because October is a spring month in other places?

During the Upside Down Summer Challenge, I know people were using "December" as a summer word but I'm not sure if they were all actual southern-hemisphere-dwellers, or if some of them were just, ya know, getting into the spirit of the thing. ;D

but now we are Right Side Up, October isn't Spring, but Autumn...
I don't think it works for this one ?