Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

Audrey Jane wrote: "Glad you enjoyed the Innkeeper Chronicles, Alison. GR used to have a 'most read authors' feature under stats (now it's an Excel export). My most read author was Ilona Andrews followe..."

I've started using Storygraph this year to track my reads, it has some great stats including most read authors, genre, mood and length. I'm finding it much better than Goodreads on that front and in terms of individual challenges (I always have a bash at Popsugar). I tried keeping a spreadsheet before but never managed to maintain it for more than a week or two.

I've read the first couple of Mercy Thompson books and really enjoyed them but my library doesn't have them so I'd need to buy them to finish the series and they are not the cheapest even on kindle. It's the kind of series I would totally binge read, costing me a fortune

My shelf, since I forgot to post it previously - tower_teams_9_2022.

I've been using Storygraph as well, and I love the stats feature, and the reviews really go in depth, so you can really express yourself. The only thing I really don't like is that their database is not as vast as GR, but that makes sense because it's so new, plus you can import your editions, so that's a nice workaround.

What's your username on there?

I mostly use the Storygraph app and have found it pretty easy to add books they don't have or even switch to a different edition. It's one of my main peeves on Goodreads that you have to be on the desktop site if you want anything other than the default (US) edition.

I don't know why not but I don't tend to leave reviews on Storygraph, I will give a rating (I love that you can do half and quarter stars) and do all of the pace, mood stuff but for some reason never write full reviews there.

I'm probably not getting as much out of it as I could. I'm alireads

Same, I don't actually write full reviews, just the stars and mood thing, etc. But that is still pretty good

@Alison: Thanks for telling me about Storygraph. I really love reading stats. And I'm the same as you regarding spreadsheets, I like playing around with them but keeping them up to date is something else.

I totally agree that the Mercy Thompson ebooks are expensive. I have a max amount I'm willing to spend on an ebook. And MT is way over that. Don't understand why though. I found the paperbacks in secondhand bookshops (much cheaper).

Here is a list of the books I hope to read for Tower Teams :)

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

StoryGraph looks interesting. Must behave and not sign up now - there's too much other stuff to do without a new book website. But it is very tempting.

I've hit the same problem with Mercy Thompson. I enjoyed the 1st one when I read it ages ago, but I'm trying to read as much from the library, kindle unlimited or the piles of stuff I own already so they keep getting pushed down the list as not easily available.

Navi wrote: "Here is a list of the books I hope to read for Tower Teams :)

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list......"

Thanks Navi - do you have a shelf that you are going to add them to once they are read?

Sophie wrote: "Thanks Navi - do you have a shelf that you are going to add them to once they are read?"

Yes, I do! tower-teams-9

We have the information for the first mini-challenge! If you have looked at the tracking spreadsheet you may have seen the tab marked Meet The Muses which has a variety of tasks. If you want to see all the pretty pictures and full details, they are under the spoiler tab below.

We have from the start of the challenge until 9pm (GMT+1) on 31st May to complete them. Each book can only be used for one task. When you are filling in your books on the tracking sheet, please fill a task number (from column A of that tab) that the book works for into the Mini code column of the Books tab and the reason it works into the Reason column.



(view spoiler)[

Meet The Muses May Mini

Our hosts on Mount Olympus (or TBR) would like to introduce themselves in preparation for the forthcoming festivities. To that end, they have inspired a mini-challenge to get your creativity started.

For this challenge, each muse has a selection of tasks to be completed. These are under the spoiler below.

(view spoiler)[

Thalia (“The Cheerful One”) was the Muse of Comedy and was often portrayed holding a comic mask or a shepherd’s crook
• Spell out Thalia - T
• Spell out Thalia - H
• Spell out Thalia - A
• Spell out Thalia - L
• Spell out Thalia - I
• Spell out Thalia - A
• MPG Humour
• Mask on cover


Urania (“The Heavenly One”) was the Muse of Astronomy, and you can often see her holding a globe
• Spell out Urania - U
• Spell out Urania - R
• Spell out Urania - A
• Spell out Urania - N
• Spell out Urania - I
• Spell out Urania - A
• Stars on the cover
• Map at the front of the book


Melpomene (“She Who Sings”) was the Muse of Tragedy, and she is either holding a tragic mask or some other symbol of tragedy (sword, club, buskins)
• Spell out Melpomene - M
• Spell out Melpomene - E
• Spell out Melpomene - L
• Spell out Melpomene - P
• Spell out Melpomene - O
• Spell out Melpomene - M
• Spell out Melpomene - E
• Spell out Melpomene - N
• Spell out Melpomene - E
• Sword on cover
• Tagged Tragedy


Polyhymnia (“She of the Many Hymns”) was the Muse of Hymns and sacred poetry, often depicted with a pensive look hidden behind a veil
• Spell out Polyhymnia - P
• Spell out Polyhymnia - O
• Spell out Polyhymnia - L
• Spell out Polyhymnia - Y
• Spell out Polyhymnia - H
• Spell out Polyhymnia - Y
• Spell out Polyhymnia - M
• Spell out Polyhymnia - N
• Spell out Polyhymnia - I
• Spell out Polyhymnia - A
• Letters of HYMN in title
• Author initials in SACRED


Erato (“The Lovely One”) was the Muse of Lyric Poetry; naturally, she’s usually represented with a lyre;
• Spell out Erato - E
• Spell out Erato - R
• Spell out Erato - A
• Spell out Erato - T
• Spell out Erato - O
• Poetry quote in the text
• MC is a writer


Calliope (“The One with a Beautiful Voice”) was the Muse of Epic Poetry; Hesiod claims that she was the foremost among the nine, since “she attends on worshipful princes”; Calliope can often be seen holding a writing tablet;
• Spell out Calliope - C
• Spell out Calliope - A
• Spell out Calliope - L
• Spell out Calliope - L
• Spell out Calliope - I
• Spell out Calliope - O
• Spell out Calliope - P
• Spell out Calliope - E
• Royal title in book title
• 1st in series


Clio (“The Celebrator,” “The Proclaimer”) was the Muse of History, and, quite fittingly, she usually holds a scroll;
• Spell out Clio - C
• Spell out Clio - L
• Spell out Clio - I
• Spell out Clio - O
• MPG History/Historical Fiction
• A celebration in the book


Euterpe (“She Who Pleases”), was the Muse of Flute-playing, which is why she is time and again portrayed with an aulos;
• Spell out Euterpe - E
• Spell out Euterpe - U
• Spell out Euterpe - T
• Spell out Euterpe - E
• Spell out Euterpe - R
• Spell out Euterpe - P
• Spell out Euterpe - E
• Musical instrument on cover
• Characters attend a musical performance


Terpsichore (“The One Delighting in the Dance”), was the Muse of Choral Lyric and Dancing; as expected, she is usually shown dancing and sometimes holding a lyre.
• Spell out Terpsichore - T
• Spell out Terpsichore - E
• Spell out Terpsichore - R
• Spell out Terpsichore - P
• Spell out Terpsichore - S
• Spell out Terpsichore - I
• Spell out Terpsichore - C
• Spell out Terpsichore - H
• Spell out Terpsichore - O
• Spell out Terpsichore - R
• Spell out Terpsichore - E
• Dancing in the book
• Letters CLD in title of book
(hide spoiler)]

◈ Only books read and finished from the start of the challenge until 9pm GMT+1 on 31st May will count for the Meet the Muses mini challenge.
◈ You will gain 5 points for each task you complete.
◈ For each Muse you complete all the tasks for, you get an additional 10 points.
◈ You may only complete each task once.

How a "spell it out" works
Spell out the word(s) using the first letter in the book's title, the first letter in the author's first or last name, or the first letter of a character's first, last, or nick-name, or the first letter of the series name. As always, if the first letter of a title starts with an indefinite or definite article ('A', 'An', 'The', etc.), you may use the first letter of the second word in the title to spell out your chosen word. If you are listening to an audiobook, the first letter in the narrator's first or last name also can be used. We're also allowing for Translators names, as long as the edition you are reading is a translation version.

(hide spoiler)]

Navi wrote: "Sophie wrote: "Thanks Navi - do you have a shelf that you are going to add them to once they are read?"

Yes, I do! tower-teams-9"

Wonderful, thanks

When is the mini? The message above says it ends May 15.

Edit: I found it under the spoiler! It's the 15th of May to the 31st, correct?

Hey everyone! I am Missy one of your Co-Captains. I am currently a stay at home mom to a 3 year old little girl and boy/girl twins that will be a year old on the 13th of this month.

This is my first Team Tower Challenge but I am so excited. I have been trying to participate in a few of the spell it out challenges.

I have been an avid reader for as long as I can remember. I love to read many genres but some of my most read genres are fantasy, mystery/thriller, and historical fiction.

I am so excited to get to know you all!

Hello!
I'm Amy from Ohio, USA.
I read a little bit of everything, but tend toward mysteries/thrillers more. Not a huge fantasy reader, so I guess I help balance things out a bit :-) I tend to read 25-30 books in a month.
I just got back from my library's book sale and have a pretty good haul of around 145 books (good thing I donated some to clear a bit of space). Luckily, our library takes donations, so I only spent $20 for all the lovelies. (A bunch are cookbooks, which sadly don't count for the challenge). I am currently mod over at AMMP and I am working on some long list challenges over there, which I hope will translate into some good numbers for our team. (Some are true crime which can run into larger page numbers at times.)
I currently am divorced and live with my 22-year-old son. I am currently without pets, but I hope that can be remedied in the next year or so. I am also currently unemployed and looking for a job. I ended up quitting the one I had because it was taking too much of a toll physically (messed up my knee last fall and I felt it going out again, so I decided the time was right to leave) and I value the ability to walk over a paycheck. I worked the election polls yesterday for the Primary in Ohio, which was kind of fun, at least in my precinct.
Not sure what else to tell you all about. This is my 6th year doing Tower Team. I always find it to be a lot of fun. Right now, I need to bring in all of my books from the sale, eat dinner and make a YouTube video to show off my book haul... LOL

Missy wrote: "Hey everyone! I am Missy one of your Co-Captains. I am currently a stay at home mom to a 3 year old little girl and boy/girl twins that will be a year old on the 13th of this month.

This is my fi..."

Happy birthday to your twins. My birthday is also this month.

LOL... I just checked my library's website and they have the BOM. Too bad I didn't know earlier, I could have picked it up when I was there for the book sale! I have it requested to be sent to my local branch, so I could possibly get it as soon as tomorrow if they pull it tonight (in the next 40 minutes before they close). I wonder if I can find the audio on hoopla or Overdrive...

I’m panicked I didn’t check in!! I hope I’m just remembering wrong. I’m super jet lagged and was on travel for work. Going to read through now and will say more later!!

Ok, just ignore me, my brain is everywhere lol. I did check in (huge sigh of relief) and I’mnow home so I should get back on track with checking our thread regularly now!!

Here’s the link to my shelf:
Keri’s Tower Teams IV

I’m drained from travel day today so I’ll read up on our thread tomorrow after I get some much needed sleep!

Here's my shelf for this challenge:

tower-teams-2022

my shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

My shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Hello Everyone!
My name is Mia, and I come from Norway, the country farthest north in europe! Even though it's may, the last month of spring it's still snowing here. And since it's always freezing here, we norwegians spend a significant amount of time inside, so there is plenty of time to read and relax.

I used to read all the time as a kid, but stopped when i reached 13-14, suddenly there were other things way more exciting than books. But during the pandemic i found my way back to this hobby of mine. But with this long a break from reading i'm feeling quite overwhelmed. Trying to somehow read all the classics, the big fantasy series from the last 15 years, all the best books from last year and the newly published ones. For every book I read, 10 more will be added to my TBR, which is a huge financial problem..

On the personal side, I'm 29 years old, currently taking classes to improve my grades to get into university. Dreaming about being an bioengineer.( and hoping to study at cambridge this fall ). I have no pets, kids or husband. It's only me, my books, an obscene amount of decorative pillows and plants. And I quite like it that way, the freedom of not answering to anyone but myself.

This will be my first Tower Team, or online reading challenge that has more than only me participating so i'm very nervous. New things always freak me out a little, but that's what you got to do to grow as a person. But yeah, i'm really scared to make mistakes, so'll probably ask a lot of questions. Hope that's okey? <3

Looking forward to reading with you all :)

Questions:

Do we get points by just reading the BOM's, or do we have to participate in the discussions as well to receive them?

Can several people read the same book for the mini challenges? But for different letters?

Are we supposed to post all the books we read during the challenge here and in the shelf, or only books that relate to a specific challenge?

Keri wrote: "Ok, just ignore me, my brain is everywhere lol. I did check in (huge sigh of relief) and I’mnow home so I should get back on track with checking our thread regularly now!!"

Haha Keri, no worries, I can relate :) I have no idea how my bosses do it sometimes travelling the whole world and coming into the office as soon as they landed.
Hope you had a good night sleep and that things are slowing down for you !

Amy the book-bat wrote: "Hello!
I'm Amy from Ohio, USA.
I read a little bit of everything, but tend toward mysteries/thrillers more. Not a huge fantasy reader, so I guess I help balance things out a bit :-) I tend to read..."

Nice to meet you, Amy! I joined AMMP in the same year I joined NBRC (2014). I love both groups and have been enjoying the reading challenges over the years so thank you for moderating. And agree that health comes first. Wish you all the best for the future and hopefully your knee is getting better :)
Will likely check out your reads during the challenge for some mystery/thriller recs ;)

Mia wrote: "Hello Everyone!
My name is Mia, and I come from Norway, the country farthest north in europe! Even though it's may..."

Welcome Mia ! Such a beautiful country. Hope to visit someday. The farthest north I've been is Finland (Lapland) and loved it. Hope all goes well with your studies.
Don't worry, the team will help you and we have wonderful captains :)

To answer your questions:

1.Yes, you have to participate in the discussions as well in order to claim the BOM points (by answering the Discussion Questions (DQs) sets).
2. Yes :)
3. All the books you read during this challenge needs to be shelved on your TT shelf (regardless if they were used for the mini challenge or not). You may either post your completion posts here or add them directly into our tracking spreadsheet (if I understood Sophie correctly).

Hope this helps!

Missy wrote: "Hey everyone! I am Missy one of your Co-Captains. I am currently a stay at home mom to a 3 year old little girl and boy/girl twins that will be a year old on the 13th of this month.

This is my fi..."

HI, Missy! :D

Amy the book-bat wrote: "Hello!
I'm Amy from Ohio, USA.
I read a little bit of everything, but tend toward mysteries/thrillers more. Not a huge fantasy reader, so I guess I help balance things out a bit :-) I tend to read..."

Hello, Amy! Welcome to the party! That sounds like a fantastic book haul! Share the link to your video when you post it so we can all see your fabulous finds! :)

Mia wrote: "My shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Hello Everyone!
My name is Mia, and I come from Norway, the country farthest north in europe! Even though it's may..."

Welcome, Mia! No need to worry about mistakes - it's an easy challenge that's mostly reading and letting us know what you read!

Chilly weather and a cozy place to live with lots of books sounds like... hygge! :D

Mia wrote: "Questions:

Do we get points by just reading the BOM's, or do we have to participate in the discussions as well to receive them?

Can several people read the same book for the mini challenges? But..."

Audrey Jane is correct about the BOM discussions - you have to answer at least three days worth of questions to get the bonus points for participating in those.

Yes, if all of us choose to read the same book, we can use it for each person for whatever it fits!

As for posting the books - the only required place to put them is on the team spreadsheet. You can also post them here, if you want. Sometimes people post them to the team thread (or to a dedicated books read thread that is added when requested) so that they can list out all the options it might work for. For example, you might want to post book Book Title by Book Author on the thread so you can list characters John, Sally, and Eric for potential spellout letters. There's a spot on the spreadsheet for that, but sometimes it's easier to put it here.

With Sophie as main captain, I'll leave it up to her whether or not she wants us to post finished books here or not. Or we could get a dedicated thread for it.

Steven wrote: "Amy the book-bat wrote: "Hello!
I'm Amy from Ohio, USA.
I read a little bit of everything, but tend toward mysteries/thrillers more. Not a huge fantasy reader, so I guess I help balance things out..."

Since you asked: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGIUe...
The video is about an hour long. I have lots of other book hauls on my channel as well if anyone is interested.

Steven wrote: "Mia wrote: "Questions:

Do we get points by just reading the BOM's, or do we have to participate in the discussions as well to receive them?

Can several people read the same book for the mini cha..."

I always like the idea of a thread for posting completed books. It’s seems like it would make it easier for captains to add books for those of us not adding to the spreadsheet.
I often post from my phone so sometimes I can get the books posted quicker if I can just put it in a thread instead of waiting to get to a computer for the spreadsheet. Just a thought—seems like posts in this thread would be harder for captains to keep track of. I’ll do whatever way.

Actually, this spreadsheet doesn’t seem to require links, so that will be a lot easier and I could still add to it from my phone anyway! :-)

Audrey Jane wrote: "Hello fellow Cassandrians! I'm Audrey, a Belgian living in France. I work for a law firm (assisting two Partners). I loyally serve two cats at home and will welcome a puppy within three weeks. I'm ..."

Fun to be in another team with you! I’m hoping to be a more active teammate in both challenges now that my work travel trip is over. I loved getting to go to Arizona it was so nice there! Now that I’m home though I’ll be back to my normal active on GR self lol

Audrey Jane wrote: "I haven't been enjoying my last couple of books so thought taking a break from reading for a few days. However I started the BOM, The Cartographers on a whim before going to bed yes..."

I’m a little confused on the BOTM—will The Cartographers count for this or no? The only one listed in the start of the thread is the one starting 5/16, which I’m not interested in. But the rules also mention things about the past BOTM? I just want to make sure I understand it and I’m not right now lol

I hope the cartographers count, because I’m reading at full speed right now so I can participate three days in a row 🙈

The Cartographers does not count as BoM for this challenge, though it's valid for NBRC Book of the Month points. You can use it for points for that :)

Alison wrote: "Hi Jillian, I read a lot of romance too and they really don't write very many long ones.

My plan I think is to continue the Zodiac Academy series. I read the first 4 books during Wheel and while n..."

How are those, you said not well written but how's the story line?
I have the spin off series on my TBR, Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac series, maybe I'll get into those for the challenge.

Steven wrote: "Welcome, JL! Glad to have you on board!"

Thanks Steven. Glad to be here!

Sophie wrote: "Alison wrote: "Hi Jillian, I read a lot of romance too and they really don't write very many long ones.

My plan I think is to continue the Zodiac Academy series. I read the first 4 books during Wh..."

I was thinking of starting on something from J.R. Ward soon seeing as I'm going to a signing featuring her in September and I do like a good vampire romance.

Alison wrote: "Audrey Jane wrote: "Glad you enjoyed the Innkeeper Chronicles, Alison. GR used to have a 'most read authors' feature under stats (now it's an Excel export). My most read author was [author:Ilona An..."

Mercedes Thompson books are pricey but to me so worth it. One of my favorite series, but I preorder the next in the serieseverytime they are coming out so I have them all up-to-date.

The Zodiac Academy series isn't bad and I do for the most part enjoy them. I've found though that, particularly in the longer books, not much happens till the last 50 to 100 pages then there's a ton of action, some big reveal and a massive cliffhanger at the end so you have to read the next one. It's super frustrating as midway through every book I start to lose focus and think right this is the last one I'm reading and then the ending happens and I'm straight onto the next one.

I am still tempted to try one of the authors' other series.

Work today has really left me behind on chat and questions here! I'm always going to be a bit quieter on Tuesdays and Thursdays as those are full on work days.

Denise - Mini is from the start of the challenge to 31st May. Well done for finding the right dates under the spoiler.

Missy - We'll have to have a team happy birthday on the 13th before the challenge starts.

Amy - I think those reading numbers makes you the powerhouse of this team! Might have to wrap you in bubble wrap so we keep the numbers. Although you will certainly be allowed out to increase the book hauls. You and Insiyah seem to be very good at hunting out the bargains.

Hope you are enjoying being a mod over at AMMP. I haven't looked at their challenges for a little while, but a few years ago I found loads of interesting ones. Reason for not looking has a lot to do with a combination of small children and modding here.

Ouch, I hope your knee is doing much better now.

Everyone - Thanks for the shelves. I'll get those all linked up to the message on the first page soon.

Mia - Hello! With your arrival the team is all here. Yay! Sounds like you've got big aims for your rearrival in the world of books. Baby steps are the right way to go.
I studied Medicine at Cambridge, so if you have questions, feel free to DM me and I'll do my best to answer them.

Right baby is waking so I'll try to respond to the next lot of comments in a bit. Will catch up before I go to sleep!

My super simplified guide to Tower Teams

A lot of this has been covered above (thanks Steven and Audrey) and it is my preferred way of doing things. If it doesn't work though, please say and we can try alternatives.

1. Pick a book you want to read.
2. Read said book and hopefully enjoy it.
3. When you finish the book, tag it to your shelf for the challenge.
4. a) Add the book to the tracking spreadsheet (Cassandra's prophecies). If you can add a link to the edition you read, fabulous; if not, it's not a problem at all.
b) If spreadsheet overwhelm you, or you can't access it for whatever reason, please post about the book in this thread.

Optional extras:
1. Mini-challenges - these get us more points for completing tasks. If you want to reserve some of the tasks, then either post here with the book title and the relevant task and/or put it on the spreadsheet without a read date. To link to a particular task from the May Mini, look at the number in column A of the mini sheet and put it in the books tab.

2. BOM
These are entirely optional. If the book doesn't appeal to you, costs too much, isn't available at your library etc etc then don't feel guilty if you don't read it. The only ones that count for challenge points are the ones that start after the challenge starts (i.e. Cartographers doesn't count, but Traveling Cat does).
If you read one and answer the DQs, please add links to your answers on the BOM tab on the SS.
Participation points from previous BOM are a new thing we are trialling this TT so will be interesting to see how it works. We've noticed that there's a lot of engagement with them during team challenges, but the rest of the time, they get ignored. So we created participation points. As an individual you get one every time you participate in a BOM discussion.
During a team challenge, 3 participation points can be redeemed for one extra chance for your team to be selected to write DQs (even more points) in the randomiser. The rules have an example of how this might work.

Alison wrote: "The Zodiac Academy series isn't bad and I do for the most part enjoy them. I've found though that, particularly in the longer books, not much happens till the last 50 to 100 pages then there's a to..."

Oh that sounds interesting. Hadn't heard of the series before. Argh I have no control when it comes to adding to my tbr.

Sophie wrote: "
My super simplified guide to Tower Teams

A lot of this has been covered above (thanks Steven and Audrey) and it is my preferred way of doing things. If it doesn't work though, please say and we c..."

Thank you for the Spark Notes, Sophie! I've already started adding books to my TBR that fulfill the mini challenges. Counting down the days :)

No problem Navi!

Hope everyone has a great day today. I'm still trying to decide how to entertain my munchkins.

Ended up taking them to see their cousins somewhere new. Got to sit by a lake eating ice cream and pretending it was the south of France - temperatures here suddenly jumped from 17c to 24c! V glad that Jenny (18 months) giggles when we put in suncream.

That sounds ideal Sophie. I've been stuck working today but the weather's been crazy anyway. Typical Scottish weather, currently blue skies but torrential rain literally 10 mins ago. Hopefully it'll be better over the weekend.

Glasgow's book festival Aye Write starts this evening so I'm thinking about maybe going to a few events.

Alison wrote: "That sounds ideal Sophie. I've been stuck working today but the weather's been crazy anyway. Typical Scottish weather, currently blue skies but torrential rain literally 10 mins ago. Hopefully it'l..."

That makes it impossible to plan anything when the weather is so changeable. One advantage of being in Kent is we often have warmer weather than elsewhere.

Ohh enjoy the book festival!

So for the minis when it says spell out Thalia are we picking books that start with Each letter in the name until we spell out the name or books that have all the letters of that name in the title?