Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

Happy Monday everyone!

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend.

I got an ebook copy of The Witch's Heart.

Quick clarifying question: other than the Mini May challenge is it just read as much as possible or will there be specific goals over the course of the entire tower teams challenge. My understanding is just the Mini May (and then likely future ones), but I just wanted to to double check.

I can't wait for the 15th to get here!

Lory wrote: "Quick clarifying question: other than the Mini May challenge is it just read as much as possible or will there be specific goals over the course of the entire tower teams challenge. My understandin..."

Yes, that's correct. Right now we just have the May mini tasks, other than that read! But also keeping in mind the book cap for the team.

Other mini challenges will be coming out as we go. Some at the team level and then there will be cross team efforts (there are 3 super groups of teams, we are on Mythics).

I added the backroom BOM nomination thread to the post at the start of the thread.

Nominations will be open until 12 May; polls will run 12 - 18 May.

Cat (mod) mentioned that the backroom BOM might start May 22. I think everyone here is over 18 but just a reminder that the backroom is an 18+ group.

Edited: Post updated with all June BOM info - link: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Just a reminder that we can have up to 6 people volunteer for BOM DQs, and if you are planning to read the book, extra volunteers gain us more entries to get questions, which right not has Kate as primary and then Judith and then me as backup, so you are unlikely to need to write questions. We are at 4 of 6 people now, and the questions will likely be allocated in the next few days.
Link here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

We don’t need volunteers for the June BOMs so far since Judith and I nominated the books.

Love all the chit chat - definitely add me as a friend if not already!

Question - I had to give up on the audio book of Tess of the D'Urbervilles and get a print copy. I couldn't read it for UNO and wonder if the same rules would apply here. I am literally going to start over and read it - would it count? Otherwise I'll just hold off until later this year to read it.

One more week to go!

I received my copy of The Travelling Cat Chronicles today. Can't wait to start it, it sounds really cute. I also ordered a copy of The Book of Cold Cases. I'm number 14 on 10 copies so it should come at the perfect time for the next BOM.

Colleen wrote: "Love all the chit chat - definitely add me as a friend if not already!

Question - I had to give up on the audio book of Tess of the D'Urbervilles and get a print copy. I couldn't read..."

When did you stop reading it? It looks like you started it Jan 15th. Which means you hit the 6 month rule June 15th. I'd say if you wait a bit longer and start it over in mid June you'd be fine to use it for TT.

I originally didn't think I would be interested in the upcoming BOMs, just based off of a quick scan of the books. But after taking a closer look, I'm really looking forward to The Travelling Cat Chronicles, which is available to me on Libby. I will probably end up reading The Witch's Heart as well, but my library only has 2 copies and I am 16th in line.

I was actually the most interested in The Book of Cold Cases, but the summary creeped me out so much, it's probably safer for me to stay away. I am the biggest scaredy cat!

Yay! My library has got the audiobook of The Travelling Cat Chronicles. Well, that's my first two books for TT planned and ready.😊

Preeti wrote: "Yay! My library has got the audiobook of The Travelling Cat Chronicles. Well, that's my first two books for TT planned and ready.😊"

I listened to the audiobook when I read it back in September, I thought it was well done.

Laila Jane wrote: "I originally didn't think I would be interested in the upcoming BOMs, just based off of a quick scan of the books. But after taking a closer look, I'm really looking forward to [book:The Travelling..."

Simone St James is quite talented at creating an atmosphere with her writing. She can definitely make the uneasy, creepy feeling come off the page.

I just saw that the DQ spots for The Travelling Cat Chronicles have been assigned - Team Pandora didn't get any. :(

That was the only one of the BOMs selected so far that I was certain of getting my hands on, so it's the only one I've volunteered for. Maybe the library system will come through for me in time....

ETA: I'd forgotten Lexi and Judith nominated both June books - our Captains rock!

The Travelling Cat Chronicles sounds absolutely adorable. I have to renew my library card tonight, but it appears the eaudiobook is available to borrow. Hopefully no one borrows that before I can get it.

I went ahead and nominated a book for the Backroom BOM - at least I kow I can get my hands on this one!

My nomination

Lexi's nomination

Voting will begin the 12th!

Truitt_T wrote: "I just saw that the DQ spots for The Travelling Cat Chronicles have been assigned - Team Pandora didn't get any. :(

That was the only one of the BOMs selected so far that I was cer..."

That is sad, but we do have both June books so good to share the questions.

If anyone wants to volunteer as back-up for either June ones, that would be great in case something comes up. I should be good for mine, as I am going to read my day far enough ahead of time and send to the mods in case, I have internet issues.

Also, the book I nominated for the Backroom is a bit of a long running joke that has not won yet so feel free to vote whichever way you want.

Lexi wrote: "Truitt_T wrote: "I just saw that the DQ spots for The Travelling Cat Chronicles have been assigned - Team Pandora didn't get any. :(

That was the only one of the BOMs selected so f..."

I don't know, Lexi. My book doesn't have tree sex.....

Just to clarify, the Backroom BOMs will count for DQ and participation points? I don't usually do those (I may be a little on the prudish side), but if it gets the team points, I can stomach a couple of books. Not that I am in a hurry to spend money on them, but I have noticed several of the options show up on KU.

Kate S wrote: "Just to clarify, the Backroom BOMs will count for DQ and participation points? I don't usually do those (I may be a little on the prudish side), but if it gets the team points, I can stomach a coup..."

Yes, you'd get the 20/40 points for participating/writing DQs as you would with a regular BOM. But you wouldn't earn a token towards a extra entry.

I would say don't spend money on most of these. They started out as fun BOMs with more explicit content like

but then we ended up with a few in a row that were just plain cray-cray dumb. So the conversations now tend to center on the ridiculousness of some of the stories and if some things are physically possible. And I don't just mean sexual things.

One author clearly was confused and did not understand the architecture of townhomes. To the point that I think some of our non-US members thought they were confused as to what a townhouse actually was.

And last TT there was an interesting discussion of where all the extra mass goes when a full grown human male shifts into a normal sized hedgehog.

Because of this people try to nominate free books or ones available on KU. Though internationally all KU are not the same.

Thank you for these thoughts, Judith. I will join the group and try to join in on the fun. :)

Is there a limit to how many per team can participate in the BoM? Or could the entire team participate to get all the points?

No limit to participants, just the number of people who can go in the randomizer for DQ selection

Got it. I’ll see what I can do about procuring some copies, but like others have said, the wait lists are several weeks long.

Hi. I have a doubt. The book The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a Middle Grade book with an MPG of Sequential Art and Graphic Novels. While it has 534 pages, arbookfind says there are only 25083 words. That means it doesn't work for Tower Teams, right?

Preeti wrote: "Hi. I have a doubt. The book The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a Middle Grade book with an MPG of Sequential Art and Graphic Novels. While it has 534 pages, arbookfind says there are o..."

Yes, sorry the word count minimum is 30,000. So close :(

Judith wrote: "Preeti wrote: "Hi. I have a doubt. The book The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a Middle Grade book with an MPG of Sequential Art and Graphic Novels. While it has 534 pages, arbookfind s..."

Thanks. That's ok... I just wanted to check before I read it. I have to read it for a different challenge and didn't want to start it right now if it does work for TT.

Judith wrote: "Preeti wrote: "Hi. I have a doubt. The book The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a Middle Grade book with an MPG of Sequential Art and Graphic Novels. While it has 534 pages, arbookfind s..."

Ah. I guess I didn't know that either. Where do you check the word count from?

Gunit Kaur wrote: "Judith wrote: "Preeti wrote: "Hi. I have a doubt. The book The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a Middle Grade book with an MPG of Sequential Art and Graphic Novels. While it has 534 page..."

https://www.arbookfind.com/default.aspx
You can also use the .com.au and .co.uk versions to find books.
For this book, for instance, the listing is the following:
https://www.arbookfind.com/bookdetail...

Thank you, Preeti

Also, I posted more specifics here for anyone who is new and might have missed it in the rules: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Also, feel free to post a book to the thread if you think it might need word count checked and Judith or one of the co-captains can check for you

@Judith - I'm not sure when I stopped reading it - maybe @2/15, I may just wait until after TT is over since I don't want to waste a book. :)

Question - I see that we have a Book Overflow tab on the sheet. May we add books to that section ourselves? I want to keep my page average higher than I did last year, but I may need to read a few shorter books for other Challenges I'm still completing.

Thanks!

Truitt_T wrote: "Question - I see that we have a Book Overflow tab on the sheet. May we add books to that section ourselves? I want to keep my page average higher than I did last year, but I may need to read a few ..."

Yes, please do so. We can move books back to the main SS if we want but esp any books under 200 or so could start there

Lexi wrote: "Truitt_T wrote: "Question - I see that we have a Book Overflow tab on the sheet. May we add books to that section ourselves? I want to keep my page average higher than I did last year, but I may ne..."

Perfect - thank you! And your reply was so quick! :)

Lexi - I was just looking to the sheet to see what people had already added and noticed that you'll be reading The City of Brass. I thought it was excellent.

And I haven't reread the The Riddle-Master of Hed trilogy in years. Did you see that Patricia A. McKillip died earlier this month? I'd been thinking a reread was in order for that alone.

We are getting close! Just a few more days until go time :)

One thing about BOM books I wanted to note. Official page counts are set for each book so everyone who participates in the discussion so points are equal. This is a holdover from when page points were calculated differently, but it still is a fair thing to do. Cat usually puts the official count in the same post as the DQ breakdown.

I changed everyone's page numbers for Traveling Cat Chronicles to 288 to match the official count.

Truitt_T wrote: "Lexi - I was just looking to the sheet to see what people had already added and noticed that you'll be reading The City of Brass. I thought it was excellent.

And I haven't reread ..."

I did not see that she died. I have not read it in over 20 years but found my brother’s old paperback version of all three together when I was helping my parents move this summer. Right now, it is the only paper book I am planning to bring to Senegal.

Getting excited!! Trying to read short books that I can finish before the challenge starts.

Preeti wrote: "Gunit Kaur wrote: "Judith wrote: "Preeti wrote: "Hi. I have a doubt. The book The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a Middle Grade book with an MPG of Sequential Art and Graphic Novels. Wh..."

I can't find The Stationery Shop on arbookfind. What do I do in this case?

Also can someone explain what exactly is book overflow? I don't remember anything like that from last year...

Gunit Kaur wrote: "Preeti wrote: "Gunit Kaur wrote: "Judith wrote: "Preeti wrote: "Hi. I have a doubt. The book The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a Middle Grade book with an MPG of Sequential Art and Gra..."

since we have a book cap, it's for books that people read that are really short so maybe they don't really want to have them count as part of their TT books per month estimate. But could be used if someone else on the team reads less than they expected.

Like maybe they need to read a 110 page book for a different challenge. It can go on the overflow sheet in case we end up having space for it at the end of the game.

The Book Overflow is just a place to keep track of them. We aren't holding anyone to their books per month and understand they are estimates. And the book cap doesn't come into play until the end of the game in August.

I don't actually expect most people will be using it or using it much. If it's easier, feel free to ignore it.

The only books that need page number checks are things like Middle grade/children's books, graphic novels, etc that typically have lower than normal words per page.

The Stationary Shop is not one of those books and I know some people who have read it. It definitely meets the requirements for TT books.

Sorry, we didn't mean to stress people out about word counts. The vast majority of books people will be reading for TT won't need word count verification.

Backroom BOM Poll is up until May 15:
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

Well, looks like I won’t be getting the BOM for this month, but I’ll definitely participate in June.

So what book(s) is/are everyone trying to finish before we officially begin?

Tonight I'm hoping to finish The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi. I'm reading it for the Pass the Parcel Challenge. What a hoot!

I'm also planning to finish Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner's Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause by Ty Seidule. I started this one a while ago and have been slow to finish it. Don't get me wrong - it's excellent. It's just not always easy reading.

And then I'm relistening to Camp Hell by Jordan Castillo Price. I've been binging the audios - they've worked for some other challenges (MM Bingo), plus I wanted to get through the early (short) books so the later, longer books would be possibilities for TT.

I need to finish The Cartographers and I'd like to read The Lived Nile: Environment, Disease, and Material Colonial Economy in Egypt (the book without notes is under 200 pages) but we will see what the weekend brings. If I am feeling really ambitious, I have a library copy of Siren Queen, which is too short for TT, but I want to read.

Lexi wrote: "I need to finish The Cartographers and I'd like to read The Lived Nile: Environment, Disease, and Material Colonial Economy in Egypt (the book without notes is under..."

The Lived Nile: Environment, Disease, and Material Colonial Economy in Egypt sounds pretty interesting. I've always found colonialism fascinating and back when I read more nonfiction, I read a fair amount about it (more Latin America than Africa, admittedly). And I really need to read more Nghi Vo.

I love finding out what people are reading - it always reminds me to broaden my reading horizons, which have, admittedly, become pretty narrow tha last few years.

I had one really short book (197 pages) to finish which I did.
Child of God, in case anybody is curious. Small book but so very dark that it took me a looong time to finish it.
Now I have only two books to complete - The Invention of Hugo Cabret and Spin the Dawn,both of which I am more than halfway through.

I just finished H.H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil. I was only halfway joking when I said I was going to read a book about a serial killer as a “palate cleanser” after that particularly awful scene in Chapter 5 of The Pillars of the Earth. I suppose now that I’m finished I’ll get back to completing Part 2 of that book so I’m not reading “empty” pages during the challenge.

Hi guys. I will finish Beau an mm by Nicole Edwards. I really loved that series.

Nominations are up for July:

The two options are general Adult and "The Sea." Some books have already been nominated so no repeats but we can discuss as a team if there are any books we might want to read.

Sea: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Adult: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Trying to finish The President's Daughter. I don't know why I'm having such a hard time reading this because it's good, really good. I keep putting it down to read other books. I think I'm just burned out on James Patterson right now. I'm about halfway through so I sound be able to buzz through the rest of it by go time on Sunday.