Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

Wow. This thread is moving fast - I’ll catch up once I finish my last UNO read - soz to be MIA here in the meantime.

Janeylou wrote: "Hello everyone 👋👋 good to see some familiar names in the team
Im afraid im a TT virgin so will probably be asking loads of questions along the way.
Im Janine from england , so will probably be f..."

Hi Janeylou! I'm currently in Bath and will be heading to London tomorrow. We started in Liverpool then have traveled to a lot of smaller towns in the north and also the Cotswolds. We've wanted to see England for a long time, so very grateful to come to your friendly country!

Amanda wrote: "Hello team!

I'm Amanda (she/her) from Michigan (EST) and this is my second-ish TT. I was called in as an alternate about 1/2-3/4 of the way through the last TT so I kinda get it but also was just ..."

Big congrats to you, Amanda, on your pregnancy! Sorry you've been having some yucky times. Most of our daughters have had the upset tummies too and it's not easy. Hopefully it will let up soon!

Kerri wrote: "Hello, team! Sorry to be popping in so late! I just realized today that we had been assigned teams despite being on Goodreads multiple times this weekend 😂

I'm Kerri and I live in Massachusetts. A..."

Hi Kerri!
I just messaged you today to check in, so of course you can ignore that! Glad you made it to the team..those check ins, are not always obvious and I've done the same as you before. Looking forward to another challenge with you!

Elinor wrote: "Hi everyone,

I’m Elinor - English, I live in Belgium with my partner and our two dogs. I work in IT Software Development. My hobbies include reading (of course!), tennis, aerobics and have just st..."

Hi Elinor! Nice to be on the same team with you again! I should have visited you in Belgium. We were just there a few days ago on holiday. We stayed in Brussels and visited both Ghent and Brugge. Brugge was our favorite, but we really liked all!

Nanci wrote: "Kerri wrote: "Hello, team! Sorry to be popping in so late! I just realized today that we had been assigned teams despite being on Goodreads multiple times this weekend 😂

I'm Kerri and I live in Ma..."

Same here, Nanci! And no worries, this thread has a lot going on, haha. I'm loving it! This is going to be a lot of fun 😊

Keli wrote: "Link to my shelf https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

My pronouns are she/her. I'm a Texan living in England. I've been here for 20 years. Sadly, i don't t..."

Hi Keli! Yes, so glad to be on the same team again! As I mentioned in another post, we are currently on holiday in England. It's been chilly and rainy, but I think that makes it all the more authentic. :). Those of us in the US, often get grumpy in the rainy weather, but people in England are all so friendly and happy. Rainy or not The Cotswolds are beautiful and everything is so green!

Hi all!
A lot has happened since I checked in last, so I just went back and read all the posts, as you can tell by my responses above. We've been busy traveling and sight-seeing, so I don't have much time. Also, I'm reading my eyes out when I can to finish up UNO. So happy everyone has made it and wow, what a great talented group of diverse people we have! This is going to be FUN!

Elinor thanks for checking in! Good luck with the last part of Uno - it's such a crazy last mini-challenge.

Guess I should have said checking up on us :) Nanci it sounds like SUCH a fun trip - enjoy!!

Nanci wrote: "Keli wrote: "Link to my shelf https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

My pronouns are she/her. I'm a Texan living in England. I've been here for 20 years. Sad..."

It is sooo green here. It's gorgeous. Don't know if you're going to make it to Wales, but it's even greener there. I love Wales. Yes, people here are pretty mellow about the rain. But of they weren't they'd never get anything done or do stuff. I'm glad you're having a wonderful time. It's a wonderful country.

And Nicole B, I, too, am having weird notification issues. It's very annoying 😒

Keli wrote: "And Nicole B, I, too, am having weird notification issues. It's very annoying 😒"

I know right? I'm not sure what's caused it.

At the moment my notifications are working - but I HATE when they are not. I've missed some important things when they are broken.

Currently I have a google spreadsheet that lists my challenges with links, which lets me get to them easily. Then I try to just go to the thread once a day (if I'm captaining) to check just in case... I am loving the spreadsheet because I can also note books that I need to read for something.

But I'll never show my spreadsheet to Lisa because she'd just shake her head :)

I went back and skimmed through all the posts, and I'll just say I'm happy to be on a team with awesome people with so many interests! (I'm particularly jealous of the needlework/crocheting creators... I have zero talent in that area, though I keep trying to teach myself to crochet, LOL!) And a hearty "yes" to the kind of trying to garden crew!! It's finally decent enough here that I can start working on it.

I'm also finishing up UNO with one last book (or maybe two?), then shifting over here. I can't believe it'll be May in a couple of days... just me or is this year flying by??

It is flying by for sure!

I think what has really hooked me on Goodreads challenges is the amazing people I get to associate with. You are right Cris, so many fantastic talents and interests!

Cris , i pressed wrong button on my phone so i had to send you FR instead 🙄😄

Suzanne, that's such a good point! It's fun to meet lots of fellow bookworms.

I looked through the spreadsheet and I love that the minis last the whole challenge. Seems like a pretty good variety with actual colors, spelling out colors, etc. :) I added my first book!

JaneyLou, LOL... no worries!

Oh, and I have noticed that my notifications are wonky on the app, and it seems harder to follow the group posts that way. So I mainly just use Goodreads from the browser on my laptop now.

Cris (The Biblio Blonde) wrote: "Suzanne, that's such a good point! It's fun to meet lots of fellow bookworms.

I looked through the spreadsheet and I love that the minis last the whole challenge. Seems like a pretty good variety..."

The app is the devil. I only use the browser version, regardless of device.

Suzanne wrote: "At the moment my notifications are working - but I HATE when they are not. I've missed some important things when they are broken.

Currently I have a google spreadsheet that lists my challenges w..."
If the spreadsheet works for you its a beautiful thing. I've shared my tracking spreadsheet before and people get overwhelmed. I like it and it works for me. :)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Kirsten wrote: "Cris (The Biblio Blonde) wrote: "Suzanne, that's such a good point! It's fun to meet lots of fellow bookworms.

I looked through the spreadsheet and I love that the minis last the whole challenge...."

I'm the same way, Kirsten. I hate using the app, the interface is obnoxious! I will use it to look up a book real quick if I'm at a bookstore or something, but that's about it.

Cris - I agree, this year is zooming by! How is it already May? I'm finishing up some books before this challenge starts and I keep thinking I have like a week, but it's actually just three days 😂

MN Lisa wrote: "If the spreadsheet works for you its a beautiful thing. I've shared my tracking spreadsheet before and people get overwhelmed. I like it and it works for me. :)"

Fantastic spreadsheet, Lisa. Thank you for sharing.
I'm so delighted to see that you capture such detailed meta data about a book (it certainly made me feel relieved to see I am not a nut to do it with my spreadsheets and there is someone else who does it too, haha!).

It makes even more sense for you to have it laid out so immaculately given the sheer quantity of books and the amount of challenges you participate in.

I'm particularly intrigued by the "Word Find" challenge and the way you set it up. Also, which font are you using? I am very interested to know that because the way it makes the words sit within a cell, looks fantastic!

Wow Lisa - that is a lovely personal tracking spreadsheet! As is the team one.

I use the Rockwell font, but the main thing is that I center the text in the cell vertically. It's just visually more appealing to me.

I'm in a number of challenges that often call for a specific job or spell challenges so I've trained myself to track these automatically. My new thing this year is the DDL that will then populate the rest of the info after its selected.

I've learned to embrace my need for organization/obsession in my spreadsheets.

MN Lisa wrote: "Suzanne wrote: "At the moment my notifications are working - but I HATE when they are not. I've missed some important things when they are broken.

Currently I have a google spreadsheet that lists..."

Omg, Lisa that is awesome. 🛐 I want one. I'm going to try.

Kerri wrote: "Suzanne - Thanks for checking out the blog. My kids groaned when I told them the name I picked, but I love it 😂

Keli - Thanks for checking out my blog, too! Also, hearing how you met your husband..."

Cheers - I'm waiting for it to grow lol :D

Suzanne wrote: "Thanks Lisa for linking that - and for creating such a wonderful sheet for us to track on!

And Elinor thanks for checking the other link - I will get that fixed right now - oops!"

No worries, thank you - I've found the other sheet I was looking for "planning" - wow, lots has been happening! Still catching up on the thread now I've finished my last read for UNO. x

Vi wrote: "Wow, the thread exploded. Nice to meet everyone. I'm sure we will have a great time together. I looked at the mini challenges and wow, they sure are interesting. And I realized I was on Team Moonst..."

Hi Vi :),
Coincidentally, have just been to visit the beautiful gardens in Keukenhof - absolutely splendid! Not to mention the cycle paths - so healthy.

Good job getting your last Uno book done Elinor! My uno team still needs a lot but it has been fun. And I'm very much looking forward to Tower Teams.

Hi everyone again,

I think I've caught up with the most of the thread -

@Nicole, a bookshop... *I've just died with envy*

@Suzanne, wow thanks for mentioning they're is no cap this year. I thought the cap had been added to avoid a free-for-all? I'm excited either way lol. But that is cool because we can mix in shorter reads without worrying about the cap (at least I think that's how it worked) - yay :)

@Nanci, my aunt used to live in Bath - I'm hoping to travel over to England for the coronation ^^. Controversial I know, but I'm happy to spend the day with my family (we'll probably miss the show tbh lol) - we're spread out across England and Jersey mostly - but here I hope to be staying in Kent for a couple of days. And yes, we could have met up easily (Belgium is so tiny!) - Brugge does tend to be a favourite.

@Keli, Wales is on my bucket list, it's gorgeous!

@MN Lisa, wow, that's an impressive SS! :)

@Apoorv, agreed about using the BOMs for extra points.

@Everybody, agreed about the app - perhaps some of our more technical teamies could help lift that app (a).

The last UNO mini was challenging - great fun, but lots to read - we didn't think we'd make all the prompts but it looks like we will :). Good luck to all others who joined this year!

And back to TTX, I'm a mood reader so I usually pledge books a couple at a time at most.

I wonder whether this cover could be used for a brown prompt in the rainbow challenge:

?
(tbf, it looked orange to me rather than brown but TinEye says its mostly various shades of brown)
Otherwise I'll just use it for one of the other prompts.

I've claimed MT12 with The Scorch Trials, and shall definitely read Hellbent (can't wait) so hope it will also fit one of the mini prompts - I'll probably default to Crayola otherwise.

I'd love an example of how to claim one of the Winners prompts - for instance, could I say that Circe has to do with Mythology and Anubis is a God ? Or could I say Team C has a C and Circe starts with a C? I'm afraid I always get a little confused with how creative we're allowed to be... so any help here much appreciated.

Two days and we're off - exciting!! :)

Elinor - thanks for all the great comments and questions! I think with that cap removed, the free-for-all is back! :)

So in my opinion you could use that cover for brown - but team, what do you think? (We are just supposed to decide together for these.) I agree the orange pops out, but especially when I made the cover big and looked at it, I think there is more than 50% brown. And we have the TinEye backup opinion as well. That looks like a fun book!

Either of your examples works for the Winners prompts! In fact, I saw similar suggestions in the captains group. That's good creative thinking!

Elinor wrote: "Hi everyone again,

I think I've caught up with the most of the thread -

@Nicole, a bookshop... *I've just died with envy*

@Suzanne, wow thanks for mentioning they're is no cap this year. I thou..."

I see mainly orange, but it could also work for brown I suppose

Perhaps I could use it for RT07 which is a sort of darkish orange?

Thank you Suzanne for confirming about the “be creative” tasks :).

I think RT07 is a good call - right it's right between orange and brown - just like the cover :)

Im still reading for UNO which is why ive completely missed all these posts ..

im also thinking i may be on the wrong team with all you SS addicts 😀, i havnt clicked on lisas SS as it will probably give me the heebie jeebies 🤣🤣

I’ve updated the sheet to RT07 :).

@Janeylou, lol it might 😅

Hi, Happy to join the team. I will wade through all the messages : )

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

Note: I'll try to put something like the above on team status/news, etc. so that it's easy to spot in the thread. I think I will also always copy these and put these in my messages at the top of the thread.

New Team Members Please welcome Leslie and Andrea - we are so glad to have both of you playing with us!

Challenge Starts Monday! Here is the countdown: https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...
Remember that all books for the challenge must be started after the countdown.

Book of the Month The first book of the month is -it's a fun book if you enjoy fantasy. You don't need to sign up to participate in the discussion, and if you answer at least 3 days worth of daily questions you will get 20 participation points in addition to the book points. Signups are still open to ask daily questions for the second book of the month, which is and starts mid-May. There is also a backroom-book read which is pretty silly and very naughty (I haven't read it, but I can tell). So if you read erotica you may want to check out the backroom.

Please ask if you have questions about any of the above, or about anything else! I'm so excited to start.

@Elinor- What a small world that you and I have both been to Keukenhof Gardens just a few days apart!

@Lisa- You have amazing spreadsheet skills. Love how organized you are!

Leslie and Andrea- I'm so glad you were added to our team, Leslie! It will be fun to be on the same team again. Andrea, I sent you a friend request. Welcome to our awesome team!

Welcome Leslie and Andrea!

I requested The Daughter of Doctor Moreau from my library. I'll go to BOM now and throw my hat into the ring to write questions.

Welcome Leslie and Andrea :).

I’ve got a copy of Docteur Moreau on its way and have volunteered for DQs too. Seems like an interesting way to earn extra points.

@Nanci, I went on April 18. Wonder how close that was to your visit. x

At little bit about myself for those who don’t know me. I live in Colorado . I am retired now and I worked with computers. I love traveling. My current trip will be July 12-26 I will be going to Switzerland. I have never been ! Other trips I have taken : England, Scotland , Ireland, France ,Italy , Spain, Peru and of course many trips to Mexico. On my bucket list is Amsterdam, Australia and Japan. I am hoping to get all those done in the next 3 years. Fingers crossed.

I will read both bom and answer questions, easy pts. I am happy to be on the team ! What a fun group.

Welcome to the team, Leslie and Andrea!

Found a book Judith read and I want to read , will add later when I Am on my pc.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

Looks like I need to be added to the planning sheet ? Thanks

I'm positive Lisa will get you added soon. Til then, if you want to put in your book(s) with no name, feel free! I'm so happy and relieved people have found books for that high-points mod-match!

Sorry for being MIA for a few days, I've been busy at work trying to get all my documentation up to date and ahead so I can read a lot this week!

I'm going to go through some of my upcoming reads to add to the spreadsheet.