Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

Aug 1st (so Thursday)

You can start them whenever though

Cordelia wrote: "I've finished Mockingjay and Something Wilder! Thanks :)"

Added :)

Hi everyone, I'm Robin (she/her)!! Excited to join y'all for the remainder of the Book Games. Thanks for the earlier welcomes - thank goodness I checked my messages to receive word that I'm now a part of District 8! :)

edit: forgot to mention that my challenge shelf is here.

Also the mods mentioned in their message that I am allowed to count any books I've read during the dates of round 3, if that's alright with our captains etc? Let me know how you all would like me to proceed and I'll do my best to catch up! :)

Hello!!

I'll get your shelf added to the top post, thank you for that :)

And yes, you can start adding any books you've finished since July 15th. You can go ahead and add them to the tracking sheet here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

You don't need to worry about mini challenge tasks for anything you've already read. The details of that were just released this morning and it doesn't actually start until Aug 1st.

As for sorting into the resource piles, it's really just a way we are sorting points (that sometimes get raided a bit at the end of the round). So don't over think the sorting.

I'll leave it at that to not bombard you with things. But please post any questions you have here and we'll do out best to help :)

Judith wrote: "Hello!!

I'll get your shelf added to the top post, thank you for that :)

And yes, you can start adding any books you've finished since July 15th. You can go ahead and add them to the tracking she..."

Wonderful, Judith, thank you!! :) I'll go ahead and add the books I've read since 7/15 to the tracking sheet and my Book Games shelf now.

Re: the mini challenge beginning 8/1, I was planning to reread a trilogy for my first 3 books of August -- one of my favorites, Margaret Atwood's "MaddAddam" trilogy -- so I could offer book #3 for the "DW1C" prompt if needed? :)

If you are going to start with book 1, I would hold off as we can only respin once every task is finished. However I’m sure once you read it that it’ll be usable.

Lexi wrote: "If you are going to start with book 1, I would hold off as we can only respin once every task is finished. However I’m sure once you read it that it’ll be usable."

Okay, will do! :) Thanks Lexi.

For the task connecting the plot to what the district is known for.

District 3 is general electronics. So some connection to general electronics/technology.

Maybe a character works in IT, they communicate constantly via text, character is always wearing headphones. Maybe the MC is a detective and used computers to find an important clue.

Note: these are just some general ideas and please be as creative as you'd like as long as the connection still makes sense.

Yay! I love mini challenges. :)

Question - shocker, I know.

Can we use one title for both a wheel task and an arena hazard?

Unfortunately no.

I expect to be spinning the district wheel more than the arena wheel since most of the spellings are long

A Magical Girl Retires is set in South Korea and is really interesting (and short). I read it in May unfortunately but thought someone else might want to use it for the mini.

Also, I'm currently reading Pachinko which takes place in Japan. I thought you might want to save it for if we get District 1 in another spin? I've put a note on it.

Tricia wrote: "A Magical Girl Retires is set in South Korea and is really interesting (and short). I read it in May unfortunately but thought someone else might want to use it for the mini.

Als..."

Yes, thank you!

If anyone finishes a book that works for a harder task in a district we haven't spun for yet, mark it on the spreadsheet and we'll save it.

I'm thinking mainly for the country setting and higher numbers in series. Though banking for other tasks is great too, having books ready to drop in just means we can get a new spin faster.

Congratulations Team!

We won the Battle for Round 3. Like the Battle for Round 2, we tied for letters overlapping but this go round we won the coin toss for the tie breaker. So woo-hoo for the 5 extra points :)

Thank you for keeping the selections fun and helping find books that sent decent letters to D1 for their next selection. Not all teams did that and there were certainly some struggles in other battles.

I just want to say this challenge has been a lot of fun as has this team.

Robin wrote: "Judith wrote: "Hello!!

I'll get your shelf added to the top post, thank you for that :)

And yes, you can start adding any books you've finished since July 15th. You can go ahead and add them to t..."

i loved that series!

Stacie wrote: "I just want to say this challenge has been a lot of fun as has this team."

Oh yay! This makes me happy to hear

I thought Pachinko took place in Korea under the rule of the Japanese empire but I haven’t read it so I may be wrong.

Lexi wrote: "I thought Pachinko took place in Korea under the rule of the Japanese empire but I haven’t read it so I may be wrong."

the MC is Korean but ends up in Japan. It takes place in both countries but more in Japan than Korea.

It is during the occupation of Korea though so it can be confusing.

Judith wrote: "Lexi wrote: "I thought Pachinko took place in Korea under the rule of the Japanese empire but I haven’t read it so I may be wrong."

the MC is Korean but ends up in Japan. It takes place in both co..."

Yes, unfortunately, it only starts out in Korea but very quickly it moves to Japan and primarily takes place there. So it's not close to 50% in Korea unfortunately.

i have a 7 hour drive to Nashville on Saturday and then back again on Thursday. please send audio recommendations lol

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
The Murderbot series
Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy
A Dowry of Blood by ST Gibson

those are my audio favorites

Second Murderbot, anything by T Kingfisher. Penric series also good audios.

I also second those mentioned above. I'm currently relistening to The Saint of Steel series by Kingfisher since a new one recently came out.

Enjoying them just as much the second time around.

First one is Paladin’s Grace

Those are all good. Daisy Jones and the Six was particularly good as audio. Big cast which is always fun.

Mary wrote: "Those are all good. Daisy Jones and the Six was particularly good as audio. Big cast which is always fun."

I was just about to recommend Daisy Jones!!! Probably the best audiobook I've ever listened to. I also thought Your Shadow Half Remains was an excellent audiobook -- I just listened to it on a roadtrip recently and it definitely kept me awake behind the wheel haha :)

I’m listening to Network Effect. Kevin Free is the narrator and should work for F in the spell out but I’m on my phone and can’t add it at the moment. I should be finished with the book today and will probably be able to get it added tonight.

Thanks everyone for the recommendations!

Could Queen of Roses work for D in spell out since the MMC is Draven?

No, normally characters are allowed but for this mini they aren't :(

We'll likely get it on a mini eventually since we can bank books for future district wheel spins.

Sounds good!

FYI - the bright green highlight on the tracking sheet are for read books we are holding for future district wheel tasks.

the tag is more for me so I don't accidently log them on the main sheet and/or lose track of them.

just sharing so y'all aren't wondering what it means :)

I finished Pachinko if you want to add it to the "save" pile.

Work got unexpectedly canceled today so I got a bonus free day. I finished Funny Story. Now to decide which of my too many current reads to continue or whether to start yet another book.... I feel like this year in particular while I tend to focus on one or two book at a time my reading has been super scattered!

What did you think of Funny Story? I'm not a huge Emily Henry fan. My favorite was Book Lovers - I DNF'd Happy Place. Just trying to provide context. ;)

I had a good time! Her dialogue is fun and it's so easy to read the book quickly because of the flow. I do have an issue with sometimes how quickly her characters resolve their personal issues (I don't mean with each other, I mean whatever their Big Backstory Moment is) which was still true here. I'd say this was way more like Book Lovers vs Happy Place.

My context is that I'm not someone who tends to read or like contemporary romance much. But it was a bit of a chaotic week and was just what my brain needed.

Cordelia wrote: "Work got unexpectedly canceled today so I got a bonus free day. I finished Funny Story. Now to decide which of my too many current reads to continue or whether to start yet another book.... I feel ..."

book added :)

I've just finished Daisy Jones & The Six but paperback, not audio. I wasn't sure if I'd like the style but I ended up really enjoying it, it was much easier to read than I'd expected.

Vikki wrote: "I've just finished Daisy Jones & The Six but paperback, not audio. I wasn't sure if I'd like the style but I ended up really enjoying it, it was much easier to read than I'd expected."

I'm so glad you enjoyed it, Vikki! :) It's one of my all-time favorites!

Captains - I noticed that some books are getting finished, but there isn't any room to put them onto the spell-it-out page. Would it be easier to not assign a book to a letter until the book is completed?

We can bank them for more spins though so even if they don't fit now, they might fit later

Yes, we can bank books for the spell outs as well.

I will say though if we are close to finishing a spell out I will likely swap out books with read ones so we can get a new spelling. But if I won't do that until I can complete the spelling.

It might happen that we spin for a new word and I fill it will banked books and we immediately spin for another new word. Or repeat the spelling if we so choose.

Fantasy is usually my main genre but I've been struggling to read it the past few months and I guess my brain just doesn't have the room to process new fantasy worlds at the moment. I guess that makes sense why last month I read more YA and contemporary romance than normal, why I have been starting but not finishing lots of books including some that I'm finding very enjoyable when I DO read them, and my lack of chonkers this challenge.

Now that I'm feeling more aware of that I have a few I will probably still try to read as they are buddy reads I planned with other people, but will lean towards picking up some other genres on my shelves or some rereads until this passes. I have some Ken Follett books I've been meaning to read after reading Pillars of the Earth last year! And I've been making my way through East of Eden.

Well, better a late realization than a never realization!

I shifted some books in spell outs and was able to finish our first spelling.

New spelling: carnivorous squirrel

Is there a time frame we are supposed to be completing each individual word or we just finiah as quickly as possible and move on to the next one?

I just finished Most Ardently, which has author's first and last initials in GENERAL ELECTRONICS, if you want to use it there. I've put it into the spell wheel in the meantime.

We can spin for a new task or word whenever we finish one, there is no set time frame.

Go ahead and replace it if you'd like. I won't finish my book until tomorrow most likely.

Krissy,

when you get a chance can you add We Used to Live Here and Villain and the Geek to your challenge shelf?

Thank you!

Done! Sorry for that