NBRC: Tower Teams Read 2013, Round II discussion

September Book Advantage Points Challenge

ETA:Keep up with revisions here


Goal: Total number of your “Team within a Team” participants will need to read a percent of their total goal to earn Book Advantage Points (BAPs). The breakdown is as follows:
9.9% = 4 BAP
8.33 to 9.8% = 2 BAP
7 to 8.2 = 1 BAP
Rules: Your Team must have a minimum of one-third (1/3) of your books from the first challenge, A Book a Day Keeps the Boredom at Bay Reading Challenge. You may then choose the rest, in any percent each of the next two NBRC challenges you choose.

• We will allow members to “double up” on days for the A Book a Day Keeps the Boredom at Bay Reading Challenge; however, not for the A-Z challenge, nor any Spell-It-Out. Of course, if you spell T.I.G.E.R. and C.A.T. (using two "T"s., that is acceptable).

• There must be at least one book in the remaining two challenges, unless you have met your goal in the first challenge.

• Yes, your Team may have only one participant.

• If one member wants to read more to make up another member’s percent, that is fine.

• You do NOT need to complete the selected challenges; just fit your books to the three you choose.

• To give you an advantage, we will round down instead of up to determine the number of books you read.

• We will be happy to calculate your “Team within a Team” goal for you. Yes, you may adjust it, if more players wish to join after the start of the month.

• Referring to our challenges, choose books that fit:
◈ A Book a Day Keeps the Boredom at Bay Reading Challenge.
◈ One A-Z challenge posted in NBRC.
◈ Plus one more from any other of our NBRC challenges.
These links might help:

Reading Challenge Index

Monthly/Season Challenge Index

Spell It Out - is available in many of the challenges.

Example
Let’s say that your total participants’ monthly goal equals 46 books. That means the first challenge (A Book a Day Keeps the Boredom at Bay) requires at least 1/3 of your total books - on up until it can be completed (a maximum 33 books). Then the rest may be put into the other two challenges.

In other words, if 1/3 of your total books ends up greater than 33, you need to use 33 books in the first challenge, and then everything else will be put into the other two challenges.

Electric Lime Schedule

8/14 (today) Thread established
8/14-8/18 Questions, comments, pondering, reviewing, etc
8/18-Begin nominating, suggesting potential Spell-It-Out and One other challenge
8/24-Decide which challenges we are planning on using
8/27-Sign up for challenge (we have until September 30th to actually make this decision, but it would be good going into September knowing who is planning on playing and who is not) :)
9/1 Begin a new challenge!

I looked through the list of challenges and these are the ones that looked good to me:

Spell-It-Out
Animal Alphabet Reading Challenge

I like the idea of spelling out types of animals :)

A-Z
Pet Names Alphabet Reading Challenge A-Z
Author Alphabet Reading Challenge
Title Challenge: Read the Alphabet

Other
50 States Challenge
Let's Do the Time Warp Again Reading Challenge

And, if I'm reading the rules correctly we need to select one other challenge which can be any other kind, so any of the other five I listed would work for it and they all sound like fun to me.

I am partial to the Author A-Z, but can see any of them working just fine.

The Animal Spell it Out Challenge is interesting. It could get a little intense, but it also opens a lot of options.

L-Leopard
I-Iguana
M-Monkey
E-Elephant

**gasp** How clever you are, Kate.

So, the 9.9% is of our total participants' goals combined? Or is that the guideline for each individual participant? And we use our official overall goal?

When I signed up for Tower Teams, my goal was 75, so by these calculations that means I need to read 7 books to reach the percentage for 4 BAP. And then I just need to make sure I read 1/3 of those from the Book a Day Challenge, right? Or is that 1/3 coming from all participants too?

Logan wrote: "So, the 9.9% is of our total participants' goals combined? Or is that the guideline for each individual participant? And we use our official overall goal?

When I signed up for Tower Teams, my goal..."

The 9.9% is both individual and as a group. So, if you, Megan, and I (for example) decide to do this challenge (and no one else wants to participate), we would need to follow this equation:
75+200+320=595*.099=58.905 (which should be rounded down to 58).

As a group the three of us would need to read 58 books. At least 19 of these books would need to come from the Book a Day Challenge and the remaining 39 books could come from any combination of the three challenges (as long as at least one book came from each of the two challenges we have chosen).

In essence, we would be counting on you to complete 7 books in September. Any more than 7 books would go to help Megan or I complete our goals. Does this answer your questions?

Yep, that makes sense. Thanks! Count me in.

Will do, Logan!

OK, it seems pretty straightforward.

We calculate how many books we need to read, read 1/3 from the Book a Day challenge and the other 2/3 from two other challenges of our choice (one must be spell it out), correct?

I also like the Animal Spell It Out and the Mystery challenge.

Fantastic, Lauren. Just to clarify at least 1/3 of our books need to come from the book a day challenge, but we can choose to do more than that. At least one book has to be used for each of the other two.

Thanks Kate. I'm going to check out the Book a Day challenge and see which books I have :0)

Kate S wrote: "I am partial to the Author A-Z, but can see any of them working just fine."


The author one would probably be the easiest, with the title one being a close second, since you would know right away if it would work for the challenge. Where the pet one could be much harder. So I vote for doing that one for our A-Z and for the Animal Spell It Out challenge to be our third challenge.

I'm in , i'm reading a lot now .
I don't like Mystery that much but A Book A Day sounds good to me .

I am definitely thinking a spell it out challenge for our third at this point makes the most sense. Sounds like this is coming together nicely.

Probably starting next week, we will need to start reserving spots as we are limited in the number of repeats.

I have started a new thread. This should only be used for completed books through the month of September.

I would like to use our discussion thread here to claim spots in the various challenges. We are allowed to do each of the Book-A-Day options twice as a team. The A-Z Challenge (Author), we can use each letter only once and we can discuss what we want to do with our Spell-it-Out Challenge.

Please feel free to start requesting spots, ask questions, make suggestions, etc. Hope everyone is enjoying their planning!

What are the numbers next to our names ?

Ab2y wrote: "What are the numbers next to our names ?"

The numbers next to each name are your book goals for September based on the three levels of the challenge: 7%, 8.33% or 9.9%. I know we are all aiming for 9.9%, but I thought it might be handy to know what the other levels were as well. :)

I will be reading these books in September:

Book-a-Day Challenge

(4 - Red, white, and blue cover)
Pattern for Romance by Carla Olson Gade


(9 - Book set in a post-apocalyptic time)
Offworld by Robin Parrish


(12 - Character named for 12 Apostles)
Made to Last by Melissa Tagg (view spoiler)[ Matthew (hide spoiler)]


(12 - Character named for 12 Apostles)
Mountain Homecoming by Sandra Robbins (view spoiler)[ Matthew (hide spoiler)]


(13 - Computer viruses)
Digital Winter by Mark Hitchcock


(14 - 19th Century America)
Threads of Change by Jodi Barrows


(15 - Faint Glow of Light on Cover)
Unbreakable by Nancy Mehl


(19 - Nurse Character)
The Nurse's Secret Suitor by Cheryl Wyatt


(22 Police strong presence)
Dangerous Passage by Lisa Harris


(24 - Read a book in a day)
A Faith to Die for by Mark Geppert (view spoiler)[This is a short book so hopefully I will be able to read it in a day :) Otherwise I could always use it for the author A-Z (hide spoiler)]


(25 - Horse on Cover)
Inescapable by Nancy Mehl


(26 - Set in 18th Century)
Love's Awakening by Laura Frantz


(27a - Read one book from each of three different trilogies.)
Born of Persuasion by Jessica Dotta (view spoiler)[(Price Of Privilege Trilogy #1) (hide spoiler)]


(27b - Read one book from each of three different trilogies.)
The Invention of Sarah Cummings by Olivia Newport (view spoiler)[(Avenue of Dreams Trilogy #3) (hide spoiler)]


(27c - Read one book from each of three different trilogies.)
Angel of the Cove by Sandra Robbins (view spoiler)[(Smoky Mountain Dreams Trilogy #1) (hide spoiler)]

Animal Spell-it-Out Challenge - BULL


B Raw Edges by Sandra D. Bricker


U Unforeseeable by Nancy Mehl


L Beyond These Hills by Sandra Robbins (MC - Laurel Jackson)


L Shades of Mercy by Anita Lustrea

I don't really care what they end up being used for, so if you see that one (or more) of them that work for something else and by switching it'll help make something else work for you feel free to change it. I just know that these are the books I have to read in September :) I hope to read a few others but I don't know what they'll be or if I'll be able to read more.

Here are my choices:

Book-a-Day Challenge

1. by Amanda Quick (One word title)
2. by Jude Deveraux (Romance)
6. by Larissa Ione (Expectant mother)
8. by Ilona Andrews (Book with magic)
23. by Kristen Callihan (Title begins with W)
26. by Elizabeth Hoyt (18th Century)
30. by Cynthia Eden (Hero is a demon)

Animal Spell-It-Out - SEAL

S - by Sarah MacLean

E - by Ella Grace

A - by Ilona Andrews

L - by Kresley Cole

A-Z Challenge

by Chris Mooney - Possible letters: S, C, M

by Ariana Franklin - Possible letters: M, A, F

by Jim Butcher- Possible letters: D, J, B

by Brenda Novak - Possible letters: B, N

by Karin Slaughter - Possible letters: K, S

@Lauren-Sorry, we have decided to do the Animal Spell-it-Out Challenge for our third one. The requirements are: 1. Book-a-Day 2. An A-Z Challenge and 3. Any other challenge

So, for ease and flexibility, it seems the most logical three for this team are
1. Book-a-Day
2. Author A-Z
3. Animal Spell-it-Out

You can still read your mystery books, if they are interesting to you. We can add them into the author challenge or you can use those four books and spell BASS (Butcher, Ariana, Sophia, Slaughter).

I will definitely be reading The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak in September, so we can plan for that one for Z!

Kate S wrote: "@Lauren-Sorry, we have decided to do the Animal Spell-it-Out Challenge for our third one. The requirements are: 1. Book-a-Day 2. An A-Z Challenge and 3. Any other challenge

So, for ease and flexi..."

Thanks for the clarification Kate. I'll use them for the A-Z challenge instead. I'll update the post with possible letters.

Logan wrote: "I will definitely be reading The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak in September, so we can plan for that one for Z!"

Yeah! It's nice to get some of the tough ones off. I know I am reading The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick in Setember so we can knock off Q, too.

Lauren wrote: "Kate S wrote: "@Lauren-Sorry, we have decided to do the Animal Spell-it-Out Challenge for our third one. The requirements are: 1. Book-a-Day 2. An A-Z Challenge and 3. Any other challenge

So, for..."

Thanks, Lauren.

My first 20 (or so) books in September will look like this:

Book a Day Challenge

1. B. One Word Title
Congo by Michael Crichton

1.C First Book in a Series
Daughter of the Loom by Judith McCoy Miller

2. A Romance
A Fragile Design by Tracie Peterson

3. B. Love Triangle
Middlemarch by George Eliot

5. A Sports Fan
The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick would also work for Q in the author A-Z if needed

11. B Last book in a Series
These Tangled Threads by Tracie Peterson

16. B Young Adult Book
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

17. A Set in Japan
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

19. A Medical Genre
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

23. B Author's Name has a W
Lawyer Lincoln by Albert A. Woldman

25. B Horse on Cover
by Nicholas Evans

Animal Spell it Out Challenge

S-The Slave by Isaac Bashevis Singer
N-Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky
A-Of Love and Shadows by Isabel Allende
K-Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
E-Rival to the Queen by Carolly Erickson

Available for fill in for Spell it Out or A-Z Author Challenge:
Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery

The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid-probably a one day read, if there is a slot available (24 A)

Substitute Me by Lori L. Tharps

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond

Oh yeah, there is also

Book a Day Challenge

10. B Writer as Main Character
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Don't know where I was but I didn't even know this conversation was going on. I'd like to join in.

Irene wrote: "Don't know where I was but I didn't even know this conversation was going on. I'd like to join in."

Fantastic! I was hoping you would, but would also have understood if you decided it was time for a mini-break. :) There is also a completed folder here.

Kate S wrote: "Irene wrote: "Don't know where I was but I didn't even know this conversation was going on. I'd like to join in."

Fantastic! I was hoping you would, but would also have understood if you decided..."
I can participate this month. Next month I won't be able to do much in the way of challenges. I'll be traveling and off the internet much of the time for 2 weeks. I'll be reading and will update when possible but I'll be in challenge withdrawal :-)

Irene, your goal for September is high because you have reached 80% of your yearly goal. I am not worried about it for a variety of reasons. At the moment, every member of this team is participating in the September Challenge, which is AWESOME. When we actually post finalized lists, I will include however many members we need to get the highest Book Advantage Points available. I think I am going to have a ton of books to post at the end of September as we are one motivated group of readers. :)

October is supposed to be a Read-a-Thon and we will just wait and see what that looks like.

And now my planned books. 20/21

A Book a Day

1. by Julie Michele Gettys

(One word title) 9/20/13
2.
by Jeaniene Frost (partnership, J, F, D) 9/2/13

3. Sandra D. Bricker (3 BFF's, S, B, A) 9/18/13

4. by Janet Evanovich (US setting, T, J, E) 9/6/13

8. by Deborah Harkness (magic, D, H) 9/12/13

15. by Cassandra Clare (glow on cover, C) 9/7/13

20. by Robert Galbraith (bestseller, C, R, G) 9/10/13

21. by John Sandford (police, S, J) 9/11/13

23. by Nora Roberts (letter W, W, N, R) 9/17/13

24. by M.C. Beaton (One day book, A, M, B) 9/4/13

26. by Tessa Harris (18th century, A, T, H) 9/13/13

30. by Jeaniene Frost (vamp, T, J, F) 9/4/13

Authors

by Anna Elliott 9/14/13
by Alexander Campion
by Amy Metz

Spell it out (Rabbit)

R. by Jana Deleon 9/26/13
A. by Barbara Freethy 9/22/13
B. by Christine Kling 9/25/13
B. by Liz Kingswood 9/23/13
I. by Ray Bradbury 9/12/13
T. by Jenny Gill

by Suzanne Rindell 9/25/13
by Amy Miles 9/26/13

We have added Irene to the September Challenge on E.L.'s page of the SU.

Here are my planned reads this month. I'm not sure where all of them fit for Book a Day, but I'll let you know when I post them in the finished thread.


Requiem by Lauren Oliver (rebellion/resistance to regime)


Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz (best buddies)


Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo (fighting for greater good)


The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (rebellion/resistance)


The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie


One Day by David Nicholls


Murder in the Marais by Cara Black

Plus I finished already
Shades of Earth by Beth Revis

I could do my animal spell-it-out with BOA, BASS, ASS, BOAR, LAMB, and probably others.