Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

Eni wrote: "@Maddy Yours, forever after isn't on your shelf. Can you fix that please?

@Stacey, Gemina isn't on your shelf. Can you fix that please?"

Done. Sorry, I always forget that part on the app. :)

Stacey wrote: "Eni wrote: "@Maddy Yours, forever after isn't on your shelf. Can you fix that please?

@Stacey, Gemina isn't on your shelf. Can you fix that please?"

Done. Sorry, I always forget that part on the ..."

No worries! :) it's sometimes easy to forget.. i've done it as well! And sometimes the app bugs out... so it's not a big deal

Regarding the Maze Superchallenge (just in case you are still a bit confused):

Countdown to the start of the Maze: https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...
Only books started after that countdown ends will count!
Will last until the end of the Tower Teams.


All of the teams are sorted in groups:

- Aegean - Team Achilles, Team Agamemnon, Team Ajax, Team Penelope
- Mythics - Team Circe, Team Electra, Team Jason, Team Pandora
- Trojans - Team Cassandra, Team Hector, Team Helen, Team Paris

- Gods - team composed of members who didn't get assigned to a team and are waiting for a place (they still play and do the mini challenges)

The Mythic team, as a group, will have a maze that we need to complete.



To be able to move in the maze, we must do the task + the task associated with the direction we want to go:
🏆 North - Book title starts with A-M
🏆 South - Book title starts with N-Z
🏆 East - Even number of pages
🏆 West - Odd number of pages

As you can see, we have a task already to fill. Our first task is Read a book where the world ends, but in order to move east (right on the map, since we are in a corner and the bottom path is blocked) the book we read also has to have an even number of pages.

You can check the progress on our maze here: https://maze.meic.dev/maze/76/
And the progress of all the mazes (for the Maze SuperChallenge you need to scroll down because the teams mazes are at the bottom): https://maze.meic.dev/

To have more information on strategy and next task and all things related to the maze, you need to check out the secret group you were invited to :)

After someone reads a book, we will need you to post:



So for example: member X from team Y finished This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race on the 2nd of June. It fits the task AND has 528pages.
Member X will then post on the secret group:
Title: This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race
Author: Nicole Perlroth
Reader: Member X
Pages: 528
Team Y wins an extra 5 points for doing a maze task.

If one of our books is used in the maze, don't forget to put an M (or maze) on the "mini code" column in the spreadsheet.

Hope this helps :)

What are folks thinking of reading for June? Our June mini doesn't start until June 15th, so we have some time to chill and read or focus on the maze :) The first task has been claimed by another team, so I think we can just chill and read until the next task comes up :)
But I'm new to this!

Well... I hope to be a horrible player for June mini :D
I plan to read what I want and if you can use it for mini, great, but I don't think I will follow it too closely. Sounds like too much of a hassle for me, sorry :D
If you ask me to find something and read it, I will, but I do not plan to follow it religiously myself. Sorry, but not just not my kind of thing :D

I just read books I want to read and they usually just work for the little extra challenges in some capacity. If I go looking for a specific task, it's always a book I have an interest in reading.

Most likely, they can work any books you read into mini tasks without you specifically looking for tasks to fill.

I have a feeling I won't be much help with the Maze thing. But I'll try to at least look at it and see if I can help.

That’s one of the things I love about Tower Teams - I can read pretty much anything and chances are it’ll fit somewhere. 😁

I'm working on catching up on the BOMs and I'm also trying to work on a couple of longer books too. When the mini is announced, I'll see what I can help with.

Sounds good!

Maddy wrote: "Well... I hope to be a horrible player for June mini :D
I plan to read what I want and if you can use it for mini, great, but I don't think I will follow it too closely. Sounds like too much of a ..."

That's perfectly fine :) like Teresa said there's a big chance that the books you read will fit something... And if not, they still count for points!


Also I just want to thank everyone. You did great! Not only did we manage to do all the may mini tasks, but we also had a bunch of extra books for points!

Melissa wrote: "What are folks thinking of reading for June? Our June mini doesn't start until June 15th, so we have some time to chill and read or focus on the maze :) The first task has been claimed by another t..."

I have two bigger books I'm planning on reading... And maybe the BOMs. We will see how it goes, since I'm a bit of a mood reader 😅

I'm mostly a library reader so it often depends on what wait listed books come in for me. Although I don't think I have much wait listed at this point. I should probably devote some time to listening to audible books I paid for already. They had a big sale recently and I bought a bunch of books for only $4 or $5 each.

Melissa wrote: "What are folks thinking of reading for June? Our June mini doesn't start until June 15th, so we have some time to chill and read or focus on the maze :) The first task has been claimed by another t..."

I have a couple of books that I am buddy reading this month. One of them is Foundation/Foundation and Empire/Second Foundation, I have this edition that is a bind up. I am hoping to read it all this month. But I am not sure whether I have to count it as one book or three. Does anyone know?

I was also planning to read The Master and Margarita as it has been on my TBR for a few years now.

Also, I am visiting a bookshop at the weekend, so I might end up reading whatever I buy there. Hopefully, I find a big book that I want to read. I keep getting distracted by the smaller books.

Heather wrote: "Melissa wrote: "What are folks thinking of reading for June? Our June mini doesn't start until June 15th, so we have some time to chill and read or focus on the maze :) The first task has been clai..."

The Master and Margarita is one of my favorite books ever!

The people on the maze thread are flying through books! I think we're good to chill. Today's challenge is a book with amethyst in the title or text. If you come across that, and you're cruising through the book, let me or the thread know :)

Since it is already June, can we hide May books in SS so it is not that long down to add new books?

Does it cost us points if not enough of people from our team participate in the Maze? I don't mind participating but I can't knock a book out in an hour or two. Unless it's a really short book on the weekend.

I'm actually going to try and read the current task. I'm partial to Gothic Romances and I found one that fits. If it doesn't get used than I still enjoyed an old school Gothic. Plus we're super slow at work. (hopefully I didn't just jinx that)

Hi there. Checking in again. It's been a hectic couple of weeks with work and school, but I should have something done in a couple days. I'm in the middle of several books.

I keep running into The Master and Margarita. I've been intrigued by it and love the cover. I'll have to give it a shot.

Hi! I'm just checking in also. The maze challenge is really something, but luckily we have many people on our team who are BIG readers and chomping at the bit to read the specific books. If I were home I might be more interested, but getting a new home set up in Florida to rent, just doesn't leave much time for me to do my usual reading. I'm just reading a little when I can. Our team is doing great though, so it's nice not to feel the pressure like some other challenges!

I read the book for the Maze task 3. Wasn't sure where to note that on the spreadsheet so I put it in the box for mini-challenge reasoning. I lucked out in it being super slow at work today. I listened while filing and shredding paper and cleaning my desk.

Hubby makes fun of me but I like to slightly speed up audio books. the normal speed sounds soooo ssssslllloooowww to me.

July polls for BOMs are up!!!

Don't forget to vote :)

July Themed BOM - The Sea

July Adult / Non-Fiction BOM

Mary C wrote: "I read the book for the Maze task 3. Wasn't sure where to note that on the spreadsheet so I put it in the box for mini-challenge reasoning. I lucked out in it being super slow at work today. I list..."

Way to go, Mary!

Mary C wrote: "I read the book for the Maze task 3. Wasn't sure where to note that on the spreadsheet so I put it in the box for mini-challenge reasoning. I lucked out in it being super slow at work today. I list..."

It's funny, I keep seeing people talk about speeding up audiobooks and it seems like such a good idea, but then I never think to do it when I'm listening.

Mary C wrote: "I read the book for the Maze task 3. Wasn't sure where to note that on the spreadsheet so I put it in the box for mini-challenge reasoning. I lucked out in it being super slow at work today. I list..."

Wow!! Nice work! I started reading a book about rocks, lol. I'm glad you found and read this one so quickly!

I also read on at least 1.5 - I was on 2x for a bit with David Copperfield. At one point, one of the characters rages in a very melodramatic way against another character. I think it's supposed to be like crying out on the moors, HEEP..... HEEP..., but on 2x it sounds more like a little chick - like cheep! cheep!

lol

Tory wrote: "Hi there. Checking in again. It's been a hectic couple of weeks with work and school, but I should have something done in a couple days. I'm in the middle of several books.

I keep running into [bo..."

You should totally read it - put on your "this is a classics" hat though. I LOVE the witch in the book. And the cat is way cool.

Tory wrote: "It's funny, I keep seeing people talk about speeding up audiobooks and it seems like such a good idea, but then I never think to do it when I'm listening."

I never used to but once I tried it, I almost always listen at 1.2 or 1.25 now. It still sounds normal to me and helps me get through books a bit faster. Sometimes I can do 1.5 but no faster.

My sweet spot is 1.25-1.5 depending on the narrator. Sone of them just talk so slow and take a lot of long pauses.

The downside is that it’s ruined listening to audio books in cd in the car for me. But I rarely do that anymore anyway. Even most older books have a digital audio version now and Massachusetts has an amazing digital library network. Pretty much the whole state is connected.

Finished The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge
Good for lots of points :) I'm glad I didn't have to rush it though.

The maze! is amazing! Those folks can read! If you are finishing a paranormal book today, check out the thread - that's their prompt today.
I'm still working on a prompt from like 5 moves ago..... :)

I must be weird, because I tend to listen to audiobooks at 2x speed. Sometimes that is too fast for the narrator, so I will slow it down. I've also realised it depends on what device I'm listening on too, or more so what I'm using to listen to it. For example, sometimes if I'm wearing headphones, I can listen to it a bit faster, but if I'm listening through my pc out loud then the faster speed sounds too fast.
It also depends on what I am doing while listening. If I'm doing something that doesn't require much focus then a faster speed is fine, but otherwise I will slow it down a bit.

Laurie, Could you do me a Librarian favour?

Immortality is the Suck has a new edition as of Jan 2022
https://www.amazon.com/Immortality-Su...
Which has 285 pgs. Could you add it to the book listing?

I've tried listening to audiobooks at 1.5 but its way too fast for me with all but a few narrators. I couldn't ever listen at 3 - I tried and couldn't keep up, lol.

Anything over 1.5 is too fast for me.

Mary C wrote: "Anything over 1.5 is too fast for me."

Me too. I know the brain would eventually adapt but I wouldn't have the patience to get to that point.

I talk fast and listen fast too. :) I usually do 1.75-2.0 depending on book. I can listen faster when I'm using my ear buds. I almost always walk when listening, so the faster I listen, the faster I walk! LOL
If it's a beautifully written book and I'm not reading it with a deadline, then I slow down to 1.25-1.5. I no longer can listen in real time...it just seems like everything is sooo slow.

Maddy wrote: "Since it is already June, can we hide May books in SS so it is not that long down to add new books?"

I hid the May rows so it's easier to add books for June!

I live at 1.7 to 2.0 on my audiobooks -- although I have had it up to 2.5 if I really don't like to book and just need to finish. I do find though that I have to slow it down if I'm listening to it out loud rather than in my earbuds. Must be the distance to my ears. :)

Stacey wrote: "I live at 1.7 to 2.0 on my audiobooks -- although I have had it up to 2.5 if I really don't like to book and just need to finish. I do find though that I have to slow it down if I'm listening to it..."

You made me feel better about listening to audiobooks faster. I do exactly the same and speed it up a little if I just want to be done with the book quicker.

Teresa wrote: "Laurie, Could you do me a Librarian favour?

Immortality is the Suck has a new edition as of Jan 2022
https://www.amazon.com/Immortality-Su...
Whic..."

Done!

Hi! Checking in again. This week was really busy, but I was reading and I'm going to add my book to SS tomorrow. I have next week off, so I hope to read a lot (hopefully).

Finished
A great mystery!

Laurie B wrote: "Teresa wrote: "Laurie, Could you do me a Librarian favour?

Immortality is the Suck has a new edition as of Jan 2022
https://www.amazon.com/Immortality-Su......"


It's not showing up...

Teresa wrote: "It's not showing up..."

Hmm...that's weird. It shows up in the librarian change log. And it shows up if you view the new Beta page. Then when I left the beta and went back to the regular view, it kept me on that edition. I think you can see it if you follow this link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...

So I'm not sure why it's not showing up normally.

Very weird! But thank you! That link worked 😊

Teresa wrote: "Very weird! But thank you! That link worked 😊"

You're welcome! ^_^

Laurie, I added a new edition of a book. I messed up the first one, I failed to add the cover or narrators, but it wouldn't let me delete it. Can I delete an edition I've added? Or can I only add?

Just dropping in for an update. We acquired yet another kitten. One of the siblings of the older kitten we had already. This one is very aggressive and I'm getting overwhelmed looking after all these cats. I don't have a whole lot of experience with kittens. We got my family cat when she was a kitten but she is almost 19 now and I was a child myself and I helped my boyfriend's family when they got a kitten, but that was just an hour or two here and there. And now suddenly I have 5 cats to look after. I find it particularly hard when we have to be a bit rough with the new aggressive one in order to try and get her used to human touch.
In terms of reading, I haven't really been able to do any. Even when I have time to read, I'm so exhausted and I've been very emotional the past couple of days.
I'm considering quitting this challenge as I don't have the time or energy to contribute and I'm not sure that's going to improve before TT ends. You might be better off with a substitute. I'm going to give it a few more days and see if things get better once I get into a routine before making a decision. I just wanted to let you all know the situation and I hope you all had good weekends.