Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

The Mods always set up the spreadsheets the same way. Only captains have access to the official spreadsheet. It's just some captains who prefer working with planning sheets (and that's the one you would have had access to), which Stacie and I don't generally do. (It's double the work, in my opinion.)

As for DQs/Answers, feel free to just throw the link here into the thread whenever you're done with them instead of at the end with your completion post. That works just as well! As long as we have the links for the spreadsheets one way or another :-)

Plans have not really been discussed as such because Tower Teams is usually a very laid back challenge where you just read what pleases you and books just naturally slot into tasks that need to be filled.

For the planners among you, if you prefer a proper plan of attack, by all means! Let's put one onto the table. If you want to go for the Bingo first, let's do that :-) However, if you're slightly nervous about having your books fit, then I'd suggest going with the tasks first. The tasks are more specific. The Bingo lets us be creative with how we make books fit so there is quite a bit of wiggle room.

For the Jackanory, does anyone have any suggestions on what kind of story you'd like us to write as a team?

Vicki wrote: "Is there any reason (unless there's a task) to read smaller page count books? I know larger books count more in general.

I'm excited to start! I will be gone May 4-7 on a mini-vacay, so if I don't do much on this thread, I'll add what I need to on the 7th. I'll double check the rules but I don't think we have to check in any particular day, but if we do I'll figure out something. "


No particular day for checking in, no! Just enjoy your vacation!! And don't worry :-) But thanks in any case for letting us know!


As for short or longer books, it really doesn't matter anymore because pages are now all awarded the same amount of points:

◈ Books less than 100 pages = 0 points
◈ Books between 100 and 1000 pages = 0.1 points/page
◈ Books over 1000 pages = 100 points

It's basically, read what you want and everything will be rewarded! :-)

Vicki wrote: "If we're going to add all the tasks a book can work for, that could end up being a LOT of typing for one book. "

Let me clarify on this. For everyone :-)

It is preferable to list, maybe not all the tasks the books work for, but at least a few options, just in case books need to be switched around. Because you never know. Something may always come up.

We're well aware that we're all going to end up shouting out that we have the perfect book for THAT particular task and are going to read a book for the task we just claimed. Has always been that way, will always be that way.

Some books you read because they fit a task you have chosen in advance and are reading a book specifically for.

Some books you read because you want to read them and you'll find them a slot somewhere because generally every book can be made to fit somewhere in TT.



Whichever way your preferred way of reading is, captains will need a little bit of information for all of them. Not just the one task. From past experience, we rarely have to switch things around, but sometimes..

Once people start shouting out the books they're wanting to read or the tasks they're going to read for, and Stacie and I are going to fill that information into the spreadsheet, and it will all fall nicely into place. You'll see :-)

After all the block text, have a little Mrs Doubtfire ;-))




The only way chores are fun... hehe.

Kari wrote: "One book counts for one task and that same book can also be used for Bingo and/or Jackanory? Or is it one or the other?"

I think this went completely under. I'm so sorry!

One book works for one thing only. So it is used either for a task, or for a Bingo square, or for Jackanory.

Eldarwen wrote: "After all the block text, have a little Mrs Doubtfire ;-))




The only way chores are fun... hehe."


I need to watch this movie again. It's so good and I forget about it. I'm also giggling a lot because someone took a sound bite from the movie and mashed it up with the Montero (Call Me By Your Name) song from Lil Nas X so it's the chorus and then all of a sudden it's Robin Williams shouting "help is on the way."

I spend too much time on TikTok some days.

That is one dark hole I'm staying faaaaar far away from haha.

But the movie, yes. Always good to watch. I think it was on tv around Christmas time here so it hasn't been all too long since I've seen it. Time well spent!

Can I start shouting yet?

erm, shouting is not really my style, so I'll politely point out that I have a book that works for turtle on the cover. It certainly would fit somewhere else, but... turtles.

Tati wrote: "Can I start shouting yet?

erm, shouting is not really my style, so I'll politely point out that I have a book that works for turtle on the cover. It certainly would fit somewhere else, but... turt..."

Oh I already had this in my head as Tati wants turtles so it's been cemented there. But your polite not shouting is appreciated and it's noted :)

Tati wrote: "Can I start shouting yet?

erm, shouting is not really my style, so I'll politely point out that I have a book that works for turtle on the cover. It certainly would fit somewhere else, but... turt..."

How wonderful that I've already put you down for that one ;-)))

Eldarwen wrote: "Tati wrote: "Can I start shouting yet?

erm, shouting is not really my style, so I'll politely point out that I have a book that works for turtle on the cover. It certainly would fit somewhere else..."

just took a look at the spreadsheet. Thanks for the chuckle, I needed that.

I've got an 848 page and 757 page book on deck to start this weekend. Let's see how long those take. I'm terrible with long books but I'm determined to use Tower Teams to get some of them knocked out.

That's what I'm hoping to use TT for as well. I signed up with a lower number of books than I could potentially read (though work has been SUCH a pain for the past few months that I'm just exhausted), only in the spirit of being able to read my longer books.

Tati wrote: "just took a look at the spreadsheet. Thanks for the chuckle, I needed that. "

Hehehe, you're welcome!

me on the inside re. turtles

Hello!

Lady Sybil dropping by with some suggestions compiled in our Listopia here - enjoy!

Hello Team DEATH!

The Luggage is on a strict books only diet at the moment, so please don't let our sudden appearance worry you.

We've put together a buffet of recommended books for your enjoyment.

We would love to hear about more of your favorite books and invite you to stop by our thread.

Tati wrote: "me on the inside re. turtles

"

Hahaha

Greetings from Team Carrott Ironfoundersson!



With much discussion, our team has collated a few book recommendations for you! We've created a listopia for you which we are adding more books to. We also have a comment section for books our team members have posted.

If you haven't already, we'd love to receive some recommendations for books your team has.

13 hours to go!! Here's the countdown link just in case you need it!

https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...


Please remember books started before that time hits 0 do not count!

Happy reading everyone!

Thanks Stacie!

I'm so impatient...

I 100% understand! There's always that okay well I clearly can't start this yet but I want to read something feeling before these start.

The first book I'm planning has been sitting on the corner of my desk for 2 days. I have a wide open day tomorrow. I'm ready!

I have a few questions before the challenge starts:
1. Are we supposed to make book recommendations for other teams to read? And I think it was mentioned that we get points if we read another team's recommendations. Didn't see it on the rules thread.
2. Are we to reserve tasks first before adding a book to the shelf so that two people don't end working on the same task?
3. The discworld books have tasks attached to them but I can't seem to find what those tasks are. Help?

Iana,
all of the things you asked questions about are basically on the team spreadsheet. Open it up, have a look, browse around. You'll find looooads of interesting tasks :-)
(That basically answers your 1 and 3, I think.)

For 2: Feel free to shout out if you pick up a book for a specific task. Stacie and I will then add it to the spreadsheet so everybody knows that you're reading for it.

You can. But you don't have to. As we've said before, most books you read, you will find they will always fit one task or another.

If there is a specific task you already have in mind (or will after taking a closer look at them), let us know which one and we'll reserve it for you, if that's how you want to proceed :-)

Eldarwen wrote: "Iana,
all of the things you asked questions about are basically on the team spreadsheet. Open it up, have a look, browse around. You'll find looooads of interesting tasks :-)
(That basically answer..."
Thanks for making this clear! I opened the spreadsheet a while ago but just assumed it was for logging points once the challenge starts haha.

I'm assuming the DQs are on the main group page under the specific BOM? And one is to share the link to their answers here?

Oh, the logging points part is the important bit hehe, but there's a looot to explore there! (All the different tabs have info.)

Have a rummage, see what strikes your fancy. Or the other way around, if you have a book you absolutely want to read, see which task(s) it could fit for.

Either way, just let us know :-)

Iana wrote: "I'm assuming the DQs are on the main group page under the specific BOM? And one is to share the link to their answers here?"

Exact!

You can find links to all BOTMs here

A little over two hours to go!!

And then we're off :-D

Since that is the middle of the night for me though - it's midnight already - I'm going to go to bed now and start in the morning over breakfast. It's going to be a relaxing day with my book tomorrow I think!

Yoo-Hoo!!


Angua von Uberwald hopes you are doing well.
Need some recommendations, you say?
Well, here you go!

We would also love for you to drop in our team thread, when you want to take a breather!

... and I'm off!

Eldarwen wrote: "Vicki wrote: "Is there any reason (unless there's a task) to read smaller page count books? I know larger books count more in general.

I'm excited to start! I will be gone May 4-7 on a mini-vacay,..."

Okay, that's all good info! I didn't realize it because from what I remembered, I thought we needed or at least wanted bigger page counts. I seem to read a lot of books in the 200's and 300's so that'll be helpful not to worry about any particular page count range. :)

Eldarwen wrote: "Vicki wrote: "If we're going to add all the tasks a book can work for, that could end up being a LOT of typing for one book. "

Let me clarify on this. For everyone :-)

It is preferable to list, m..."

Thanks for the clarification. I didn't mean to complain because I'm a go-with-the-flow kind of person but your explanation helped me. :)

Ah, no worries, Vicki!

It's better to ask questions than be confused or frustrated! :-)

Yeah, back in the day, bigger books were rewarded more points, but it was revised because there was also the issue of the cut-off point (299 pages were worth less than 300 pages, or something along those lines, even though it's basically almost the same.)

Definitely one thing we need not worry about anymore hehe.

Eldarwen wrote: "Iana wrote: "I'm assuming the DQs are on the main group page under the specific BOM? And one is to share the link to their answers here?"

Exact!"
One more question hehe. I'm looking at the discworld book tasks and I don't understand how we're supposed to complete them. Since the tasks fall under one book, are we supposed to find paragraphs/pages that complete the tasks?

I was out in Denver the past 5 days helping our youngest daughter plan for her wedding and didn't have my laptop, so just now catching up on all these posts. Phew! I am so glad I'm not the only newbie here! All these questions are so helpful and thanks, E, for so patiently and thoroughly answering them! My level of understanding has moved from muddy brown water to Atlantic gray. I'm hopeful as the weeks progress I'll become Caribbean blue!

Excited that we are now able to read!

Iana wrote: "Eldarwen wrote: "Iana wrote: "I'm assuming the DQs are on the main group page under the specific BOM? And one is to share the link to their answers here?"

Exact!"
One more question hehe. I'm looki..."


The tasks are a mini game, like Bingo and Jackanory. When you post your completion of a book and you notice that it works for a task, you should note that in your completion. If it works for more than one task, even better. If it could also apply to BINGO, great, let us know. The more info, the better.

As an example completion post:


Outlawed by Anna North
Date: 5/1/2021
Rating: 5 stars
Works for:
Task #13: MPG Feminism
Task #113: Character: Ada
Task #153: MPG Historical Fiction
Task #172: Character: Ada
Task #183: MPG Feminism
Bingo square: three witches, how it fits: they hang women who don't have children as witches


That's just an example. I pulled all that just from the book page, I haven't read it. Eldarwen and I would like character first and last names post for the book characters but I don't know them.

Hope that helps. The task is based on the book it is listed under but does not have to be applied to that book.

Can Timeline by Michael Crichton fit E2 on Bingo! I'm thinking since hourglasses measure the passage of time, Timeline can be a good fit.

Iana wrote: "Can Timeline by Michael Crichton fit E2 on Bingo! I'm thinking since hourglass measure the passage of time, Timeline can be a good fit."

Sure! We can be creative so if you can justify it and it's not too insane, then yep. I think that works just fine :)

🌟Completion Post 🌟


The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
Date Read: 5/1/21
Rating: 3★
Tasks: 1 (luggage on cover), 2 (#336 on list), 29 (title), 42 (author initials), 93 (DEATH character), 237
Bingo: A3 (luggage on cover), B1 (Rincewind character), C3 (dragons), C4 (Pratchett author), D3 (rimfall), D5 (the Great A’tuin setting), E5 (DEATH character)

Way to go, Kari on completing our first book! Lots of places to use it too!

Nanci wrote: "Way to go, Kari on completing our first book! Lots of places to use it too!"

Yes!! This one covered some tricky tasks too, I'll let the Captains decide where they want to place it :).

The tricky ones first preferably haha. :-)

So what did you think of your first Discworld novel? Did you like DEATH? :-D

Nanci wrote: "I was out in Denver the past 5 days helping our youngest daughter plan for her wedding and didn't have my laptop, so just now catching up on all these posts. Phew! I am so glad I'm not the only new..."

Oooh exciting! :-D
When will the wedding take place?

Haha, don't worry, you'll get the hang of it very quickly :-) I'm glad though questions and explanations have helped!

Hi, stopping by from Team The Luggage to beg for recommendations. Mysteries or historicals. Historical mysteries, yes please. Historical romance? Certainly, I'm here for that happily ever after. Bloody murder? Yep. Bring it on.

Throw your favorite authors and titles my way. Please and thank you.

Eldarwen wrote: "The tricky ones first preferably haha. :-)

So what did you think of your first Discworld novel? Did you like DEATH? :-D"

It was ok, it was a LOT of fantasy for me but I can see the appeal with the world-building and unique characters. DEATH was the best :)

And The Luggage was hilarious, lol.

Ok just stopping in to say I started How to Date Your Dragon as my first book.

Hello,

Team Sam Vimes again.

We are very curious what books Team Death are biding their time with, while having their near-Vimes moments.

Please drop by again on that lovely, shiny, magic horse of yours WHEN IT'S TIME. :)

@Stacie - concerning books outside the US/UK/NZ/AUS, I would recommend

- a modern P&P take in Pakistan. It's worth checking out the audiobook. The author herself is narrating it and her accent & style gives and extra flavour to the story.

- India and Crete. A nice, light little chick-lit

- Sex and the Sity in Singapore