Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

Mary C wrote: "Looks like we're postponing Cancun again until April. I've been worried about going but hubby was determined. But now our co-travelers are backing out. If I really pushed to not go, he would not ha..."

I have to admit I wouldn't like to travel outside my own country at the moment. Everything is so uncertain and changing all the time. Hopefully your hubby will agree to postpone now the others want to wait too.

We're already talking about day trips we can take around New England and New York.

Sorry you had to postpone your trip again! It's definitely difficult to plan things right now but New England is amazing to explore! There are so many great day trips in that area.


I'm getting messed around trying to return to the US as I now need to leave 14 days earlier than planned to quarantine. Moving, especially to another country, is always a pain, but doing so during a pandemic is driving me mad.

Round 5 Countdown

Please have final updates in at least 2hrs before end time

If you have a book on the SS you do not plan/will not finish before the end please update accordingly.

The final stretch! I hope everyone has been enjoying the challenge so far. I love seeing so many of you really picking up the pace for the last round and feeling inspired to do the same. Thankfully audiobooks are conducive to packing/sorting my crap to move so I may indeed get in a few extra books before the end :)

Nicole - no! Not reality after a week of sun, pool, cocktails and books. Should be banned! Slacking off given your general pace is definitely allowed.

Thanks Vikki. Those would be a fab addition to the SS.

Fingers crossed for a quiet week in the office Mary! More books is good.

Tonya - good effort on all the audio books.

As Victoria says, incredible effort upping the reading this week everyone! I can't get my head round how much everyone has got read.

Sounds like the decision not to go to Cancun at the moment is probably the right one, however much a break away would be good. Fingers crossed it goes ahead in April and you can explore more locally in the meantime.

We're off to Wales in about 10 days. Trying to plan 6 hours in the car with a toddler. At least there's no quarantine to worry about with it.

Victoria - I can't imagine the chaos of trying to move country in normal times, let alone in the midst of this. The constantly changing guidelines don't help anything.

Yes New England is amazing. But we both grew up here an lived here most of our lives and have done just about everything. But we haven't done it together. So there's that. We might go to the cape for a few days. We'll go to Salem. I might go to Mineville NY where my dad was born and see if I can find some genealogy information. My cousin hit a roadblock with my paternal grandfather. Probably because he was Native Canadian (Oneida, an Iroquois tribe) but passing as a white man. It's too far to do a day trip.

I've never been to the Newport Mansions at Christmas time.

We'll probably do a winery/brewery/distillery themed tour of NE. A cheese tour of Vermont. I haven't been to Ben and Jerry's since I was a kid.

updated the spreadsheet
I am working from home this week and will definitely get the 3 audiobooks done and perhaps the other one I am reading.....might be able to fit one more in audio.

Tonya wrote: "Rosina wrote: "So my goal for these last two weeks was to forgo watching telly and to get up one hour early and read before work.....I am amazed how much time I spend watching tv or surfing the net..."

Its so nice in the evening...hubby plays piano for a couple hours a night...last couple of days its been Billy Joel & Elton songs...he is such a good musician...

I'm jealous Rosina!

I finished a book quicker than I had estimated, so I'll be able to manage one more short K book before the end.

@ Mary - you had me at "winery/brewery/distillery themed tour of NE" not to mention cheese and ice cream! I'm moving to CT so may have to do something similar

@Rosina- Enjoy your audiobooks, though understandable if you want to stop them to listen to you hubby play the piano. Billy and Elton are fantastic on the piano :)

@Camilla - Excellent! I'm also progressing a bit faster than expected so may also sneak in another book

@Sophie - good luck! Driving 6hrs isn't easy under normal circumstances, but I imgaine it will be a lot more challenging with a toddler. Hopefully, the car will lull him to sleep for most of it. And enjoy Wales! When I went a few weeks ago we couldn't eat inside restaurants (just outside) but hopefully that has eased up - especially given the rain!

I finished 2 more and updated the spreadsheet. I'll read Magic Breaks and Iron and Magic next. From a Buick 8 will be if I have time. Unless we need that more one of the other books.

Work picked a good week to get quiet again. Also we're getting a break from the heat and humidity which has made it much easier and more enjoyable to go walking.

Sounds like you've got fantastic plans Mary! I really enjoy refinding places with my husband that one of us has already been to, so hopefully you'll have the same experience. Yay for the break from the heat as well!

Rosina - that's a fab way to spend the evenings, enjoy!

Thanks Camilla - every page we can sneak in might make the difference!

I know Victoria - unfortunately he doesn't sleep in the car any more. He might just watch more tv in a day than we'd normally allow and there will be a lot of snacks needed! We're staying with my father-in-law so he'll probably sort out most of the cooking etc which really reduces the stress. He's renovating an old farm and has turned his barn into a play area for when the weather is rubbish so we might end up in there a lot.

Sophie/Victoria:
Rules clarification question - do we have to participate in all days of the BOM questions to get credit?

You have to participate in at least half of the days for the points.

Thanks Sophie!

It's really really close between us and Murder at the moment! Have a feeling it is going to go down to the last few pages at the end before the deadline.

Hope you are all enjoying the reading and not getting burnt out by this round.

We've got 1 book to finish to get all 10 tags done. And we've got books planned to complete 10 spell outs, with 11 and 12 started.

I fixed Pretty Girls.

Wonderful thanks!

Sophie wrote: "It's really really close between us and Murder at the moment! Have a feeling it is going to go down to the last few pages at the end before the deadline.

Hope you are all enjoying the reading an..."

I stayed up late last night to finish another book. And then woke up early today to get a crack on the next lot. Will stay up late most likely tonight and tomorrow night because who needs sleep when we could potentially win this 🤪 Will update the SS in the morning. I think we have been doing very well this last round!

Thanks Nicole! Impressive dedication to the team. 1 more night no sleep and then you can have your life back (and your boyfriend can stop searching for books for tasks...)

Victoria and I will be around sorting the SS until the deadline on Friday, so additions of books will be allowed until about 15 mins before this round only.

Is the deadline now a bit later than in the earlier rounds?

The deadline for us to have the SS finalised is the same time. Given it's the last round we're not asking you all to finish 2 hours before it though.

I'm at the hospital today so my son can have a scan. Hoping that while he's sedated I can get some reading done.

I finished Magic Breaks and should finish Iron and Magic tonight. I'll start Buick 8 today. It's Thursday and really nice out. That usually means I'm the only one in the office for the afternoon and can listen.

I'm glad hubby is still in a mood to re-watch Great British Bake-off. Makes it easier to read in the evening. I've also been checking out the books in ebook and audio so I can switch back and forth.

Wonderful! Enjoy the quiet time while it lasts. Glad hubby is still enjoying, fingers crossed that lasts until tomorrow at least.

I'm going on a non-fiction binge after this.

Mary C wrote: "I'm going on a non-fiction binge after this."

LOL, an individual challenge I'm participating in has a different genre to read every month. Of course August is non-fiction! So I've been reading quite a lot of non-fiction this last round, but have chosen books that work for at least one letter.

Sophie wrote: "I'm at the hospital today so my son can have a scan. Hoping that while he's sedated I can get some reading done."

Is he okay, Sophie?

Finished my next to last book. I'll still have a bit over 100 pages left in the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, so will be finishing it fairly close to the deadline.

I end up reading lots of genres at a time, otherwise they start blurring into one unfortunately.

He's been limping since about Christmas, it's not stopping him doing anything, but we want to find out what is going on. Presuming that it'll come back with nothing major and we can get on with a lot of physio to straighten him out a bit.

I've got an hour of my audio book left, then hopefully I'll manage another one before the deadline.

Glad to hear your son is allright and that it's most likely nothing more serious.

Let me know if you need help finding tasks for any books that are missing some.

Camilla - Fingers crossed it gets done by the deadline tomorrow.

Mary C - I suspect Nicole has looked through v carefully on hers that are missing. If you could find one for Natasha's latest finished that would be fab. Mine will get something v soon when I finish it.

Finished my 3rd book for this week. Really doubt I'll squeeze in another before the deadline but will see what I can do. If so it'll only be a short one, but every page helps at this stage!

I filled in some tasks ideas for the Case of the Peculiar Protocols. Hopefully one is useful.

I added a short book that I checked out in both Kind and audio format. If I can get Buick 8 done today then I can read that one in the morning. I already put a good dent into Buick 8 and we have no plans tonight.

Sorry I haven't been around this week. We moved my daughter into her dorm and have been out of town since Sunday.
I'm working on a book...I hope I can get it finished before tomorrow.

I will have my last book done for tomorrow....halfway done listening to it...
Great job everyone....

Glad to hear your son is doing okay! :) I bet it's scary as a parent having to take them to the doc.

This week, being back at work, has been busier than I expected so I don’t think I’ll be able to finish another book before the deadline.

I updated two more books. I will most likely have one more book done by deadline. I'm halfway through.

Sophie wrote: "Camilla - Fingers crossed it gets done by the deadline tomorrow."

Yes, I will definitely manage it, got some more reading done yesterday evening, so a little less than 100 pages left. I'm actually enjoying the book more than I thought.

Vikki - as you say, every page counts at this stage. Hopefully we'll have read enough, but I don't think anyone could have done more than we have to this point.

Mary - thanks for looking at those for us.

Jenn - I hope the move went smoothly and she stays well now she's there. Fantastic effort on getting through books in the last couple of days

Rosina - yay for another book

Samantha - I'm lucky that it was a hospital that I've worked at and still know some of the staff so wasn't too stressed by it. Hopefully we'll get the results soon and know what to do next.

MH - hope work isn't too bad. You've been reading over expected numbers so far so don't worry.

Camilla - yay for enjoying it more than you thought.


I've finished a book in 3 hours this morning which I wasn't expecting to. Now to find something else small to get in before the finish.

@Sophie- hope you son is alright <3

@ MH - no worries, you've been reading loads!


I've been trying to sneak in my reading at work but people keep interrupting! Should be able to finish my books though. Just wish work would be more understanding about the importance of reading challenges.

Stayed up late to read Buick 8. Listening to 12 Deaths of Christmas. It's 170 pages so should finish in plenty of time. What's the absolute latest to mark books read?

15 mins before the official end time. I'm on my phone so can't link to the countdown clock, sorry (just over 7 hours from now...)

Countdown to the end

Thanks! I wonder if I could get another short one in, already almost finished with 12 Deaths.

It wasn't hard to stay up reading last night, more drama with my alcoholic sister who lives next door. Didn't exactly put me in a content mood to go to sleep. Then I woke up really early.

Victoria, I hope people leave you alone for a while now! They should know how important it is.

Thanks for finding the link Rosina!

Sorry Mary. Drama like that isn't needed. I hope you and husband are ok (and sister is able to find her way to a better place in time). There won't be the challenge to keep you awake tonight at least.

Can believe how quickly it has gone by!