Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion
Tower Teams 9 - The Muses
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Team Pandora
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� Judith: TT2022
� Lexi: tt2022
� Vaidehi: nbrc tt 22
� Natasha: tower teams ix
� Rebecca: tt muses
� Gunit Kaur: gunit nbrc tower teams 2022
� Lulu: tower teams 9
� Kate S: pandora
� Truitt: tt9
� Daniel: nbrc-tt9
� Maritza: tt9
� Laila Jane: towerteams9
� Preeti: tower teams 9-preeti
� Jenn: tower 9
� Colleen Drum tower teams 9 2022
� Lory: tower teams 22
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Spreadsheets
-Team Spreadsheet:
-Tracking Spreadsheet:
-Current Team Status Spreadsheet:
General Information
-General Rules
-General Game Chat
Other Resources
-Cover Color: Try Tin Eye, but it is not always reliable:
-Page Counts: (also other versions for uk and aus)
Countdowns
-To Be Added
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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)
� 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.
Books of the Month May
Theme: Animals - The Travelling Cat Chronicles
DQ start May 16: /topic/show/...
Backroom (18+ ONLY): Wildfire
DQs: Starts May 22
/topic/show/...
June
Adult: The Book of Cold Cases
DQs Starts June 2: /topic/show/...
Theme: Mythology: The Witch's Heart
DQs Starts June 16: /topic/show/...
Mod Take Over: Ukraine: The Master and Margarita
DQs start June 8:
/topic/show/...
July
Adult: Ariadne
DQs Starts July 2: /topic/show/...
Theme: Sea - Malibu Rising
DQs Starts June 16: /topic/show/...
Rules on Word Count � Books with MPGs Childrens / Kids / Poetry / Play / Graphic Novel / Illustrated / Photography / Art (or which have "Illustrated" in the title or an "Illustrator" contributor in the metadata) must have at least 30,000 words (must be a verified count. sites that provide estimated word counts are not valid sources for verifying word count). ArBookFind is a great site to double check (there are also .co.uk and .com.au versions). If in doubt, ask your captain. A good rule of thumb is that if the audio is over 3 hours, the book will be long enough.
Links -
US -
AUS -
UK -
Audible:
Mod
I'm Judith (she/her/hers) and your captain for this round of TT. I'm also a moderator for NBRC helping to plan this madness ;)
In real life I live in MD on the US East Coast. I'm the Lead Economist for the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics for the EPA. Married mother of one Tiny Tyrant who rules with a sticky fist.
Welcome to the team, please ask any questions you may have. There is a tracking sheet in message 6 along with other links to things of import. The Meet the Muses sheet is locked because if you enter the information on the book tab, it will auto-populate to save some effort (Thanks Sophie!)
There should be a lot of fun in store for us and strategies to determine. Expect other mini challenges to pop up as we work are why through this 3 month challenge. I hope you'll feel inspired and have a good time.
Mod
A few people either hadn't made their shelf yet or I wasn't 100% sure which was the right shelf. Please paste a link to the right shelf in the thread and I will update the list.
Hello everyone! I’m Daniel (he/him/his) and this is my first TT. I have no clue what I’m doing (yes, I’ve read the rules about 100 times) but still need info on where/when/how to add books and logistics like that. I get obsessive about challenges sometimes and will probably be checking this thread several times a day lol. I live in SE Texas with my husband and our two furry kiddos River and Nirṛti. I help run our housemates� Etsy shop where we sell 3D printed figurines for tabletop role playing games and collectibles for painting. It’s a niche business but we are all big nerds and wanted to share our hobbies with others.
As I stated in the Taverna thread, it feels right to be on Team Pandora because that’s the name of my favorite Anne Rice vampire AND my favorite RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant!
Can’t wait to meet everyone and do things out of the box!
Hello everyone! I'm Natasha (she/they) and I'm one of three co-captains. I'm hoping this challenge will help kick start my reading again. I need to actively put the phone down and read!I'm a cataloging librarian and live in New Jersey. I live with my husband and two German Shepherds, one bearded dragon, one Western hognose snake, and two koi fish.
For hobbies besides reading, I love photography (I'm an amateur photographer who hopes to become a part time professional one day), jigsaw puzzles, video games, walking/hiking, watching cooking and baking shows, and traveling.
Welcome everyone! I'm Lexi (she/her) and I'm also one of three co-captains. I usually read a lot but figured between bigger books and summer fieldwork to estimate on the low side this round.I'm a postdoc in Indiana and I study ecological interventions to prevent schistosomiasis and increase food security. Right now, it means I get to play with snails. I'll be in Senegal for the first half of TT. To add to the list of critters, I have two cats, Taiga and Pippin (named after the musical and not the hobbit).
Besides reading, I walk a lot, plan trip to national parks and hopefully take some of those trips in the near future and also enjoy baking shows.
Favorite books series is Murderbot (All Systems Red). Which if you have not read, I highly recommend. You could read all the novellas before TT starts (They are tiny, so not recommending them for TT).
Mod
Hello Daniel! Welcome to TT, fresh blood, I love it!!
We have a tracking sheet set up:
and can also be found in message 6 so you don't have to hunt through the thread for it.
Primarily you will only need to enter information on the Books tab. You will enter your book, name (drop down), date (once you have finished reading the book), Pages, mini code, reason, and other options for the mini.
Most of these columns are fairly self explanatory. The last three may need a bit more explaining.
Mini Code: right now these just refer to the tasks on Muse May Mini tab. If you go to that tab, Column A is the mini code. I added a book to the tracking sheet already. It works for task 8. I put 8 in Column E on the Book tab. The spreadsheet auto-populated the Muse May Mini tab with the appropriate information. This way you only need to enter the information on one tab instead of two.
Reason: simply how the book meets the conditions of the mini task chosen.
Other mini options: other tasks that your book can be used for other than the one chosen. This is helpful to captains if we need to shift books around to get them to fit.
I want to note, any book that meets the rules outlined can be read and used for Book Page points. You do not have to read a book that works for this mini challenges or others that will pop up throughout the game. Mini challenges are fun additional things for bonus points.
Rules haven't been posted yet for the Muse May Mini but they will be fairly straightforward. Once they are up, I'll post a link in this thread so they'll be easy to find.
Mod
Post the relevant information in the thread and one of us will enter it for you.
Team Pandora is quite appropriate for me as I listen to Pandora (the music website) a lot while at work.
Greetings, all!Call me Truitt or Tru (she/her). I live in what's locally known as 'Middle Georgia' (that's the U.S. state, not the country) in a household run by cats. Aside from work and reading, I enjoy gardening and am active in community theater.
I read a range of things, but particularly genre fiction - science fiction and fantasy, mystery, and, for the last several years, MM romance. I enjoy non-fiction, but often need a nudge to get started.
TT8 last year was my first, and I was lucky enough to have Judith and Lexi as two of my Captains (go Librarians!) and I've been looking forward to TT coming around again. My approach last year was pretty haphazard. This year, I'm preparing a little better - I'm making a list of books on my tbr or that I'm willing to reread that are over 300 pages and hope to stick with those as much as possible. I'm a little afraid I may have - how shall I put this - oversubscribed. The number I picked is in line with what I read last year, but if I'm trying to read longer books this year - well, you see where I may have gone wrong. We'll see how it goes.
I didn't participate in the BOM point opportunities last year - I'll try to be better about that this year, as long as some of the selections aren't too depressing, lol.
I second Lexi's pitch for the Murderbot series - it's fabulous.
I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone - and to getting started!
Judith - my shelf is correct.
Natasha wrote: "Team Pandora is quite appropriate for me as I listen to Pandora (the music website) a lot while at work."I had a cat named Pandora as a child, so it works for me, too. And I always felt that Pandora was sadly maligned - sure, blame the woman for all the evils in the world.....
Mod
Judith is nicer than me. I personally would have gone with Circe due to the advantageous skill of being able to turn people into pigs, but Pandora is a good choice too
Mod
That was my other choice!
Judith wrote: "I know, I have always felt Pandora was not treated fairly and been a bit fascinated by her. Sophie let me have her. Yay, mod bonus! LOL"What a great bonus! Of course, for all the hard work you four Captains will be doing you deserve a bonus, lol.
And Lexi - your research sounds fascinating. And how cool that you're in (or will be in) Senegal. I'm a bit jealous....
Truitt_T wrote: "Judith wrote: "I know, I have always felt Pandora was not treated fairly and been a bit fascinated by her. Sophie let me have her. Yay, mod bonus! LOL"What a great bonus! Of course, for all the h..."
I'm both excited and mildly terrified of being in charge for the first time but should go well. The two students I am going with are both really good.
Question - Last time there was something akin to the May Mini that lasted the whole ofthe three months. Will it be just single month minis this time, or do you Captains know yet?
Truitt_T wrote: "Question - Last time there was something akin to the May Mini that lasted the whole ofthe three months. Will it be just single month minis this time, or do you Captains know yet?"Yes, there will be lots of mini tasks, instead of one big one, and a few big multi team events have been hinted at (As far as I understand but more rules forthcoming)
Lexi wrote: "Truitt_T wrote: "Question - Last time there was something akin to the May Mini that lasted the whole ofthe three months. Will it be just single month minis this time, or do you Captains know yet?"..."
Excellent - thanks! Now just two weeks to go....
Hi, I am Kate. I live in North Virginia with my husband and our very sweet hound mix pup. I have been a stay-at-home aunt for a number of years, but as the girls (my nieces) have gotten older, they need me far less than when they were little. I still keep them when they are out of school, but no longer full-time.I read a wide variety of things but have not been as diverse of late. I am sure this challenge will remind me to stretch back out into less comfortable genres and writing styles.
Aside from reading, I like to do jigsaw puzzles, knit, golf, and ride my bike. I am also a member of my local library board and have the privilege of setting up used book sales and other fundraising events.
I changed my bookshelf name when I learned which team I was on, so here it is: my shelf
Looking forward to playing with you all.
So many fur babies!Thanks, Judith! I had clicked on the SS and COMPLETELY overlooked the tabs at the bottom! It isn’t like I use Excel EVERY DAY for the shop or anything.
So regarding the shelves, do we add books to them as we finish reading and add them to the SS?
Also, is it okay to not participate in the BoM? I generally have most of my yearly shelf planned out (with some room for others) but I mostly read library books on a kindle and sometimes it’s hard to get the popular books on such short notice. My yearly plan is also the reason I will have some shorter books (due to planned monthly keyword type challenges) but I will also have some 500 pagers.
OH! Also also, I plan to read Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis, which would work for Mini task 55. Should I wait until I read it to add It to the list?
Daniel (and everyone), please add books to the SS when you know you plan to read them and please add the read date and add them to your shelf once you read them. Some people do add them to their shelf when planned, but the first way, I find easier.BOMS are a mix of old and new books and not mandatory. I will be posting a quick summary and notes on voting for BOMs before I sign off for the night.
Hello team-mates!I am Vaidehi, one of the co-captains! I a PhD student in Astronomy in Taiwan (so, we will have huge time difference and I also get extra hours for the deadline~~)
I am a slow reader but when it comes to challenges, somehow my eyes get that extra boost to read more than usual! Usually I read all sorts of books, except horror, depending on my mood and the weather of Taiwan (it's an important factor, believe me). I have participated in previous tower challenge and it was so much fun. And so here I am again for TT9.
I will see you all around! Happy reading~~~
While we wait, I am going to talk about Books of the Month (BOM)The first book is The Travelling Cat Chronicles and starts on May 16. Kate volunteered (thank you), and Judith and I are back-up. However, up to six people can volunteer for a team by the new rules so feel to volunteer as well.
Even if you don't want to write DQs, you only have to answer 3 sets of questions to get the extra points.
These are great opportunities to read fun books and great more points per book. First off, the 6 month reread rule holds for these too so if one gets voted in that you have read than that is just bad luck.
Next, the team that nominates a book automatically get DQs for that book (extra points) so even if you don't think you are going to read the book, you can still vote. But if you think you would read one of the books, please vote for what you want to read first.
For June - Judith nominated The Witch's Heart, which is a wonderful Norse retelling with Loki (and deals with the gender-fluid aspects of Loki much better than most I have seen). I also nominated Skin of the Sea, but I am voting for Judith's.
The other June book, I nominated The Book of Cold Cases and Judith nomianted Tallowwood. (I am voting for my own book this time. I like ghost stories).
Polls are here: /poll/list/3...
Edited to add: Polls close MAY 5th
I'll post when nominations for July are up.
As normal, Judith may have more to add in the morning (US time)
Thank you for all of this information, Lexi. I have voted according to what I can get from the library at (hopefully) appropriate times. I have the first book in hand and no concerns about being able to read it during the set time. I followed your votes for both books, but my copy of Tallowwood will be audio, not sure I will be comfortable writing DQs, but should not have a problem answering the DQs.
Kate S wrote: "Thank you for all of this information, Lexi. I have voted according to what I can get from the library at (hopefully) appropriate times. I have the first book in hand and no concerns about being ab..."Well, if it wins, Judith would write the DQs since she nominated it so you are all good to go then
Lexi wrote: "Judith would write the DQs since she nominated"Excellent! Thank you again. Also, reading completely without prejudice or assumptions is fundamental.
The Book of Cold Cases is a long waiting list, so I would probably not be able to participate in a conversation about that book in a reasonable amount of time.
Hi everyone! I'm Laila (she/her) and this is my 4th TT. I live in the Chicago area with my husband and our 5-year-old son. No pets at the moment. I am a night shift nurse, so my hours are all over the place - I tend to post either really late at night or earlier in the day.I read mostly romance and pretty much any of its sub-genres. I've participated in a few of the BOMs in the past, but I'm currently signed up for several other group challenges, so we'll see if I can fit any of them in. I'm also a very impulsive reader. I tend to pick my next reads just based on what's needed for whatever challenge I'm currently in.
My hobbies tend to rotate with the seasons. Right now I'm super into gardening. I just learned how to propagate plants, and I'm so excited about that. In the colder months, I like to knit and do jigsaw puzzles.
I love spreadsheets. It's how I keep all my reading challenges organized. Thank you captains for making this one so simple.
Really looking forward to getting to know everyone and can't wait for this one to start!
Hullo,all! I am Preeti (she/her) and this is my first time taking part in TT. I have had several teammates from other challenges tell me about it so many times that I knew I had to take part this time.I live in the south of India and am taking a break from work at present. The plan was to start work again in 2020 but that got delayed with all the craziness that happened and I am hoping to start up something soon.
I read pretty much every genre and have in the last few years increased the number of audiobooks I listen to. I find them perfect for when I am doing work around the house or working on any of my numerous craft projects. I am a bit of an impulsive reader, choosing to read either what I need to read for a challenge or whatever I am obsessed with at the time. I do maintain a TBR list though only so I can find the books I most want to read at any given time.
My hobbies are mostly craft-related. I love all kinds of needlecraft and have recently got into crochet in a big way. Other than that I love to travel though sadly haven't been able to do much of it recently. Hopefully soon🤞🏻
I am so very happy to be taking part in this challenge with all of you.
Mod
The first book is The Travelling Cat Chronicles and starts on May 16. Kate volunteered (thank you), and Judith and ..."
Thanks Lexi! I think you covered BOMs well and I don't have much to add. Other than to just reinforce that these are optional and there is no pressure to read them. Especially if they are books you aren't interested in.
And I will say I'm not sure we can go wrong with any of the books for nominated for June. They all look good!
Mod
Excellent! Thank you again. Also, reading completely without prejudice or assumptions is fundamental.
The Book of Cold Cases is a long..."
I guess I do have one small bit to add. For BOM participation points, people have one month from the start of the BOM to answer 3 sets of DQs. So you don't have to keep up with the schedule days and can even start later if that works better for you.
But I hear you about the library wait times for the new books. Simone St. James books are all really good and have the expected long wait lists at my library as well.
Hi guys. My name is Maritza from New York area. I look forward tl TT every years as I like team challenges. I am not reading a lot lately but usually try to read BOMs if I can get library copy. I like this challenge as it sends me out the box to read booms I may not norrmally read. I love Mythology.Currently working on Prison Riot team challenge and have one more team challenge coming up in June.
Maritza wrote: "Hi guys. My name is Maritza from New York area. I look forward tl TT every years as I like team challenges. I am not reading a lot lately but usually try to read BOMs if I can get library copy. I l..."I think “out of the box� is appropriate for this team!
Hi everyone,My name is Gunit (she/her).
This is my 2nd year on tower teams. I just finished the UNO team challenge, which is what got me hooked to team challenges since last year. I am really excited to for this one!
I am from India and I work as a software engineer. I absolutely love reading books. My favorite genres are mystery, historical fiction, sci-fi, historical non fiction, thriller, fiction, fantasy etc. etc. So basically, I read pretty much anything. I like going outside my comfort zone and trying new genres and new authors as much as possible. But when I am in a reading slump, a good mystery can bring me back on track! I also like listening to audiobooks. The charm of listening to a book while finishing my chores or during my evening walk is simply to alluring to let go.
Besides reading and coding, I like am a fitness enthusiast, who also likes dancing & singing. I practice Indian classical dance & vocals.
I am excited to get to know you all and enjoy another year of tower teams!
Cheers!
Lexi wrote: "While we wait, I am going to talk about Books of the Month (BOM)The first book is The Travelling Cat Chronicles and starts on May 16. Kate volunteered (thank you), and Judith and ..."
Well, if I hadn't already read 'The Book of Cold Cases', I'd vote for this one too!
Just realized I didn't mention the types of books I like to read. I love science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction (1800s or earlier), young adult, historical romance, history, science, physics, and anything nature/animal related.
Mod
I dabble in many genres, though horror is not a favorite. I read a fair bit of epic fantasy, urban fantasy, romance, biographies, humor, and am easily sucked in by a pretty cover.
I love seeing what other people are reading so I can make my tbr list even longer. It never gets shortened for long. I always start out these challenges saying "I'll only read books I already have" and that lasts until some weird requirement of "read a book with a purple cover and a pet alligator owned by a dentist". And then I fall off the wagon.
Also, if any of you ever find a book with a purple cover that has a dentist with a pet alligator I'll be in awe of your book finding skills forever.
Okay I really don't like audio books as I like to read and reread for myself. I've listened to maybe 2 audio books because I couldn't get a read version. I like romance, mc books, suspense, ya and paranormal
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Authors mentioned in this topic
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Amanda Owen (other topics)
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� Judith (Captain)
� Lexi (Co-Captain)
� Vaidehi (Co-Captain)
� Natasha (Co-Captain)
� Rebecca
� Gunit Kaur
� Lulu
� Kate S
� Truitt
� Daniel
� Maritza
� Laila Jane
� Preeti
� Jenn
� Colleen Drum
� Lory
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