Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

Bethany wrote: "Caly � wrote: "Hey team! Ready to launch into a galaxy far far away? I feel weird not reading anything for the next day and half. But I want to wait to start something after the challenge takes off..."

LOL Ringworm.

Sounds great Bethany. I am one of those 1 book at a time people and I usually alternate between a physical book or an ebook depending on the cheaper way to purchase it or borrow it from the library.

Caly � wrote: "Bethany wrote: "Caly � wrote: "Hey team! Ready to launch into a galaxy far far away? I feel weird not reading anything for the next day and half. But I want to wait to start something after the cha..."

Personally I just find the ebooks so much easier to carry around! I always have my nook on me so I can read whenever I have to wait for something, and if I finish a book there's more on there sitting there waiting.

Bethany wrote: "Caly � wrote: "Bethany wrote: "Caly � wrote: "Hey team! Ready to launch into a galaxy far far away? I feel weird not reading anything for the next day and half. But I want to wait to start somethin..."

Agreed! I love my Kindle for travel, But there is something nice about holding on to a book too. Though those 500+page ones can get heavy LOL. I just sometimes hate to pay 10 or $12 dollars for an ebook when I can get a print one at half.com for $4. So it just depends on the book .

Caly � wrote: "Bethany wrote: "Caly � wrote: "Bethany wrote: "Caly � wrote: "Hey team! Ready to launch into a galaxy far far away? I feel weird not reading anything for the next day and half. But I want to wait t..."

Oh, yeah. My library has a ton of stuff for electronic checkout on Overdrive. I think the selection is actually better than their physical collection, surprisingly. I've only bought like 3 ebooks ever which were on sale for $2 on Amazon Kindle.

Hey team, co-captain here! In efforts to keep the group chatty, I would like to get your thoughts on various potential discussion starters.

Ideas so far:
-Weekly reading challenges that will be 1000% optional
-Weekly or daily general discussion questions about your current books
-Weekly or daily "getting to know you" discussion questions

Keeping in mind that anything beyond reading and checking in is completely optional, which of these would you like to see? How often? Any other ideas?

Thanks!

I love hearing people's thoughts about the books they are reading as it is a great way to find something new.

Caly � wrote: "What has everyone picked as their first book for the challenge? Are you planning to read a bunch of short ones? Or just whatever takes your fancy? "

I plan on kicking it off with Exorcist Road. It's short, so I hope to finish it sometime Friday....ideally, I'd love to finish it by Thursday night. I don't work Thursday and my kids don't have track meets that day, so maybe.....

Bethany wrote: "Omg, Ringworld, not ringworms. Darn autocorrect. "


LOL! The Ringworms Throne would certainly be an interesting read;-).

Bethany wrote: "Hey team, co-captain here! In efforts to keep the group chatty, I would like to get your thoughts on various potential discussion starters.

Ideas so far:
-Weekly reading challenges that will be 10..."

I would love to participate in a weekly reading challenge:-). Anything to motivate me to squeeze more reading time in.

The weekly book discussion questions and getting to know you questions sound good to me, too. I'm always on the look out to add more books to my TBR shelf.

Bethany wrote: "Hey team, co-captain here! In efforts to keep the group chatty, I would like to get your thoughts on various potential discussion starters.

Ideas so far:
-Weekly reading challenges that will be 10..."

I am cool with anything and everything! I would also add to the list (or maybe this is more or less included with one of the categories in your mind) a group read or buddy read(s) and discussion between some or all of us at some point? Just a thought. I've done this within chatty Tower Teams groups before. =]

Good thinking Lindsay. I only hesitate to do group reads for 3 reasons:
1. Not everyone has access to all the same books.
2. Not everyone has the same amount of time to read the suggested books.
3. Not everyone likes the same books.

I think #1 can be fixed by having a bi-weekly 'free' group read: aka something on project Gutenberg or similarly legally free to access books. We can have a second non-free more modern book as well, but should try to lean toward things popular enough to be in most libraries but old enough to not have ridiculously long hold queues.

#2 can be fixed perhaps by leaning toward shorter books and putting no specific finish date on the reads.

#3 I may just have to collect suggestions from the group and try to rotate through recommenders and genres.

I'm all for book discussions, both what we are reading and books in general.
As for buddy reads, I'm not opposed to them, but like Bethany wrote they can be a bit tough to organise as we have diverse reading habits.

I like weekly challenges and book discussions in general, so we all can find some new interesting books for our tbr pile. :)

Sorry for not having participated in the discussion over the last days, I got new meds and it was a struggle to get the right dosage. But now I'm all fixed up and ready to go.

Morning all!

Only one more day! Cheers!

As Bethany has said, we would like to make this a fun interactive challenge since we both like chatty teams and we obviously all love books. 8-)

I suggest we leave the 'group read' to the BoM for those that want to read them and we can discuss it there and get points for it. hehe

However, doing a Buddy read or 2 here might be fun. We could perhaps list 3 or 4 books that we were planning to read (and have access too) and if anyone else sees one they want to read too, we can set up a start date. I agree with Bethany that shorter books might be best.

I definitely would love to see people post updates about what they are reading so we can discuss them, and perhaps add them to our ever growing TBR list.

And I agree that weekly challenges are motivators and fun, so those of you interested, give us some ideas of challenges that you would like.

Thanks for all your feedback so far. And no worries Alex, I am sure that all of us will be on and off the thread, I know I will be away for a few days in May. So as long as everyone checks in at least once a week it is all good!

Happy Reading Team!

So that said,
Some of the books I hope to read in May include
or

If anyone is interested in reading any of those along with me or let me know what you have in mind.

Also one book that several of us have on their TBR list ( I did some compare books which is always fun)
is
I don't currently have a copy but can certainly get one if a few of us are interested. 8-)

When we finish a book, should we post on this thread that we completed it? Or will they be setting up a different thread? I think when I did TT last time, they had a different thread set up.

Kelly B wrote: "When we finish a book, should we post on this thread that we completed it? Or will they be setting up a different thread? I think when I did TT last time, they had a different thread set up."

Hmm, as far as I know Kelly, you post it on this thread. No one said anything to me about different threads for this TT but this is my first one. So if I find out differently I will let you know. The important thing is to make sure it is on your Tower Team Shelf and marked as read. As I understand it it will then automatically update our Spread sheet.

I kind of like the idea to post read books in this thread. It will be easier to discuss books then :)

In writing and un-writing and re-writing that post about group/buddy reads I thought I had included "1000% optional" to mimic Bethany's original "ideas so far". That was my intent, I promise! I've done a buddy read in a TT between two people just reading the same book and discussing it between ourselves and then an optional as-you-go/as-you-can (spoilers hidden) group read between as many as would like to read said book and it was optional read at your own pace just for the sake of being chatty. We totally don't have to, but I just wanted to give you a picture of how it could be done.

That being said, usually I shy away from dog books but looks really good (I'm also a sucker for magical realism, which its also tagged), and has a really high rating as well, so I'd be up for that for sure.

We should be getting another thread to post our finished books on. I think I am seeing those pop up today so stay tuned!

C2-B5 WEEK 1 CHALLENGES & DISCUSSIONS


Hey all! I hope to do a weekly post of certain categories of challenges the day before the start of every new week. This is just so that we have some fun things to discuss. If for any reason you find any of these too demanding, too personal, or too difficult, don't do them. These are totally, completeley, a million percent optional.


Suggested Buddy Read
I think to keep things simple, we'll just do one suggested buddy read per 4-weeks. Caly noted that a lot of us intend to read Dark Matter anyway, so this will be our first team buddy read! Don't feel any pressure to start right away, or even finish by the end of the four weeks,

When discussing the book, please hide any plot-specifics with a spoiler tag, and make a note above the hidden text stating what chapters there may be spoilers for (easiest just to say which chapter you read up to).


Team Building Challenge
A lot of us seem to love finding new books to add to our to-read list. So this week the team-building challenge is to look at a teammate's existing reads and ratings, recommend a book to them that you think they would like, and share with the group what you recommend for them and why. Feel free to give more than one person recommendations, or tell us your favorite book that you think everyone should read. I would love to see everyone get a suggestion!


Reading Challenge
"May the Fourth be with you," a play on words from the iconic Star Wars phrase "May the force be with you." See if you can find a book that in some way relates to "May" or "The Fourth".

4th book in a series? The 4th book published by it's author? Published in the month of May? Published on the 4th of any month? Written by someone named May? Be creative!


Spoiler-Free Discussion Question of the Week
Star Wars has some iconic quotes. "Do or do not. There is no try." "So this is how democracy dies - With thundrous applause." "May the force be with you."

This week, keep an eye out for an excellent quote in your book and share it. Remember, if the quote reveals a plot point or spoiler, hide it in a spoiler tag.

Lindsay♫Sings wrote: "In writing and un-writing and re-writing that post about group/buddy reads I thought I had included "1000% optional" to mimic Bethany's original "ideas so far". That was my intent, I promise! I've ..."

I totally understand your idea of the optional part Lindsay, and I agree. I was just throwing out ideas of how we could make it work. I think Bethany has a post coming up that will get us started. Thanks for your input and ideas and I will let you know when I am getting ready to start but guess it will not be till later in the month. .

Bethany wrote: "C2-B5 WEEK 1 CHALLENGES & DISCUSSIONS


Hey all! I hope to do a weekly post of certain categories of challenges the day before the start of every new week. This is just so that we have some fun thi..."

Bethany, we haven't even started yet and you are the best co-captain ever! 8-)

Love the challenges, especially the book recommend one!

Annika wrote: "I kind of like the idea to post read books in this thread. It will be easier to discuss books then :)"

I agree Annika and I checked with the mods and a separate thread is totally optional but they would create one if we wanted it. I prefer to keep everything on one thread if that is okay with everyone? Chime in if you feel differently! Thanks

Edited to present another point of view from a former Captain:
"In the past, as a previous captain, I had trouble when the spreadsheet didn't catch something but someone had read it -- maybe they didn't mark it to their tower teams shelf, or Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ glitched and didn't mark it as read. Having a post about the finished books made it easier to verify the spreadsheet's accuracy... and those kind of posts can easily get lost in the banter of the main discussion threads, so the mods create a separate thread just for posting finished books.

Not every captain will expect you to do it, but it can be very helpful."

That sort of makes sense too. Bethany how do you feel?

I think last year on TT, the captain and co-captain would use the completed books thread like what Caly posted above: double check that each completed book was being picked up by the spreadsheet. Sometimes people would forget to add it to their TT shelf, or they'd forget to add the date they finished they book, and the spreadsheet wouldn't pick those books up (and no points would be awarded;-). The captain and co-captain seemed to take turns checking the completed books thead (just whoever had a few free moments), and then they'd post on the completed book thread: "Updated through post 95" (or whatever), so the other person knew which books they had already double checked.

All that being said, whichever works best for you and Bethany is fine with me:-). You two have to do all the work, after all;-). If you'd prefer us to post completed books in this thread, that will work for me too.

Caly is getting the second thread process underway now :)

Bethany wrote: "Call is getting the second thread process underway now :)"

Call? I think your auto correct was at it again LOL

I sent a message to have a thread created, will post link once we have it.

Also VERY IMPORTANT EVERYONE! Make sure you check the Countdown Clock before you start any books tomorrow. For example in the Eastern Time Zone the official time to start is 11 AM on May 4th so don't mark books read too early or they wont count. Thanks!

Kelly B wrote: "I think last year on TT, the captain and co-captain would use the completed books thread like what Caly posted above: double check that each completed book was being picked up by the spreadsheet. S..."

I second all of this this regarding having a second thread. It also helps us as teammates to see what we have and have not reported to you as captains as we finish reading. Plus we can see what we all read and how they fit certain requirements for bonuses (if these apply in this round of Tower Teams). I would also think that if we are a "chatty team" that there is more of a possibility that our finished book updates could get jumbled in the confusion of chatter. But you guys get to choose how you keep things organized so its all your call and I will follow and do as you wish! =]

Bethany wrote: "C2-B5 WEEK 1 CHALLENGES & DISCUSSIONS
Reading Challenge
"May the Fourth be with you," a play on words from the iconic Star Wars phrase "May the force be with you." See if you can find a book that in some way relates to "May" or "The Fourth".

4th book in a series? The 4th book published by it's author? Published in the month of May? Published on the 4th of any month? Written by someone named May? Be creative!"

How about reading a "Star Wars" book???? Can I do that? I just got from the library!

Lindsay♫Sings wrote: "Bethany wrote: "C2-B5 WEEK 1 CHALLENGES & DISCUSSIONS
Reading Challenge
"May the Fourth be with you," a play on words from the iconic Star Wars phrase "May the force be with you." See if you can fi..."

Of course you can! Have you read any of the others?

Lindsay♫Sings wrote: "How about reading a "Star Wars" book???? Can I do that? I just got The Force Awakens (Star Wars) by Alan Dean Foster from the library! "

Totally! Sounds awesome!

Caly � wrote: "Bethany wrote: "Call is getting the second thread process underway now :)"

Call? I think your auto correct was at it again LOL"

Indeed it was. Stupid new phone hasn't learned to understand me yet.

The link to the Books Read Thread is in Message #6 on the first page. Please you that thread to post when you have completed a book. However it does not mean you can't let us know what you are reading here especially if you would like to discuss it.

Hello lovely teammates!

Please add The Mods as a goodreads friend to ensure your read shelf is accessible by the spreadsheet.

Thanks!

Counting down for the challenge to start.....

I don't have time to read through all the posts, so I'm sorry if this has been asked or mentioned before: Do I just read whatever I want? No goals, like Read a book with a color in the title, or anything??

Yep, read whatever you want, It's only the page numbers that matters (and BOM) :)
TT has been simplified this year after the wobble burn out last fall.

Annika wrote: "Yep, read whatever you want, It's only the page numbers that matters (and BOM) :)
TT has been simplified this year after the wobble burn out last fall."

that makes it easier, but wobble was so much fun! ;)

I have posted optional reading challenges a few posts up, but it's up to you whether you want to do them! They are not worth any more points.

Yeah, I really enjoyed Wobble as well. It was like a book scavenger hunt which I thought was pretty cool. It was a great way to find new stuff that you wouldn't normally read.

I do think though I will like the freedom of reading whatever I want. I have holds on the books of the month at the library, but I have a few people ahead of me.

...and we're off! :D

WOOOO!

Here we go!!

Off to read........

Happy May the 4th and Tower Teams V Day, everyone! So far I'm already behind on The Circle and I didn't quite finish the audiobook I wanted to wrap up before today either. Boo! :( Oh well. I'll be done soon. Today is dedicated to reading (and dogsitting) for me so hopefully I can catch up and get on track!

What is everyone starting off with?

I'm at the 25% point in . I should be able to get more reading done this afternoon:-).

I just noticed that the spreadsheets are linked in post #2, if anyone else is interested in taking a peek.

We're currently in second place....along with all the other teams except the first place team, LOL! It will be interesting to check as the day goes on.

I'm starting off with .

Cheers to Kelly! First post in the Books Read thread and first points for the team.

I am starting with
I really liked her first trilogy and this is a continuation. They are all available on Kindle Unlimited if anyone else has that.

Sorry to be a little slower on the posting today! One of my pipes in my house kinda burst, so.... Yeah, I'm having that kind of day.