Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

The Travelling Cat Chronicles





Team Members
• Jessi (Captain)
• NIkk The Sapphired Book Dragon (Co-captain)
• Celanchia
• Chava
• Eunice
• Joyce
• Karen
• Kate
• megan
• Midu Hadi
• Nanci Drum
• Nancy Williams
• Poongothai
• Sally (Sally906)
• Vaidehi
• Zoë
• Brittany
• Ann

Team Spreadsheet
Challenge Status Sheet

r

r

RULES

About this Challenge
◈ Starts on 12 June and runs for 10 weeks (ending 21 August)
◈ The team with the highest points at the end of the game wins!
◈ Each fortnight the mods will “spin the wheel" and assign each team a word
◈ The team's task is to read books to spell out the word, gaining points per letter tiered by the book length (see below)
◈ The team will get an extra 15 completion points if all the letters in the word are part of their spell-it-out
◈ Once teams have read their word for the week they can "re-read" the word to gain more letter points, but no additional completion points.
◈ Only books STARTED after the challenge begins can count
◈ Books must be at least 160 pages in length. Children's books, Graphic Novels, Scripts/plays (movie and theater), Cookbooks and Poetry books cannot be used unless by word count they can be verified (by arbookfinder.com or arbookfinder.co.uk) as at least 40,000 words or have an audio edition that is at least 5 hours long
◈ Only books read during the specified round can be used (“read date” is what counts, not the day you start.) Books cannot be “banked” from previous rounds to use later in the challenge
◈ Rereads are permitted provided it has been at least 6 months since you last read/listened to the book

Point System
◈ Books less than 160 pages = 0 points
◈ Books between 160 and 1000 pages = 0.1 points/page
◈ Books over 1000 pages = 100 points
(points will be rounded up/down from 0.5 as per standard maths)

Tags
◈ Each colour segment on the wheel has been paired with a selection of genre tags.
◈ If you read and use a book with a matching genre, you will gain 5 bonus points per book, for a maximum of 10 books / 50 points.
◈ Genres must match exactly (though plural/singular is OK).
◈ There is no minimum number of tags required.
◈ Books must be used in the spell out to qualify for Tag points.
◈ for reasons the sheets show these points as "Top Shelf bonus" points

Task Lists
◈ The challenge comes with a task list
◈ If you read and use a book for a task you will gain 5 bonus points per book
◈ Each player in a team has their own task list (i.e. task #1 can be completed by each member in the team)
◈ Each book can only be used once - one book per task, one task per book

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.

Important Links

Countdown to Round 4 Finish/Start of Round 5

Planning Sheet

Team Members Bookshelves:
• Jessi
• Nikk the Sapphired Book Dragon
• Brittany
• Celanchia
• Chava
• Eunice
• Joyce
• Karen
• Kate
• Megan
• Midu Hadi
• Nanci Drum
• Nancy Williams
• Poongothai
• Sally (Sally906)
• Vaidehi
• Zoë

• Mazhar Khan

June BOMs
Adult BOM: The Jetsetters
Discussion Starts 14th June
YA BOM: Five Feet Apart
Discussion Starts 21st June

July BOMs
Adult BOM: The Sundown Motel
Discussion Starts 2nd July
YA BOM: Dear Martin
Discussion Starts 16 July

BOM Points
Participating in Book of the Month (BOM) discussions during the time frame of the challenge will score points as follows:
◈ 40 points for writing a discussion question set
◈ 20 points for participating in the discussion

Hey Team,
I will not be requesting a books read thread. I prefer using the planning sheet. If you're not comfortable using the planning sheet that's absolutely fine! Just put a completion post in this thread and either myself or Nikk will add to the sheet for you.

Completion Post Ex:
Book: A Merciful Death
Author: Kendra Elliot
Pages: 353
Date Read: 6/5/2020
Tag: #4 Poison
Letters: E: Author, etc

Checked In:

• Jessi ✔
• NIkk The Sapphired Book Dragon ✔
• Abhinav Rai
• Celanchia ✔
• Chava
• Eunice
• Joyce
• Karen
• Kate ✔
• Mazhar Khan
• megan ✔
• Midu Hadi
• Nanci Drum ✔
• Nancy Williams
• Poongothai
• Sally (Sally906) ✔
• Sanne
• Vaidehi
• Zoë

reserved

reserved

reserved

Hello Team Travelling Cats!!

I'm excited for wheels 5 to be underway!!

If everyone could post a link to their wheel shelf please.

Just a few questions to get us all introduced.

Where are you from?
Favorite road trip/vacation you've taken?
Dream road trip/vacation?
Favorite book/author/series?

A little about me. I'm married with one child and 3 furbabies. I currently work 2 jobs and still volunteered to captain because I think I'm just a little bit crazy. :-P
I'm from Oklahoma USA so I'm on CST but I'm here to help and answer any questions.
My favorite trip was NYC. Not a road trip but I was 13 and it was my first time on a plane and NY was just the complete opposite of Oklahoma and I still miss it to this day.
My dream trip would be to drive and see the sights of Ireland.
I have a lot of favorite books but Harry Potter is one I can read all the time.

Hello, I am Kate. I am married with one furbaby. I live in a town in Northern Virginia about 45 miles from Washington, D.C. My favorite road trip was a trip I took visiting baseball stadiums in the U.S. We spent about 2 weeks traveling from one side of the country to the other and we stopped in and saw 10 baseball games in 10 different stadiums. That was a fun trip! My husband and I talk a lot about jumping in the car and traveling to play golf in a variety of locations. I think that is something we are likely to do in a few years.
Favorite book is a hard question. Mary Higgins Clark is an author I enjoy reading and find myself able to re-read. I started with her when I was young, so maybe it's a little nostalgic on my part. I find that when asked for a favorite book, I rarely answer in the same way twice. Maybe it depends on my mood?

And you wanted my shelf: 2020-wat

Kate wrote: "Hello, I am Kate. I am married with one furbaby. I live in a town in Northern Virginia about 45 miles from Washington, D.C. My favorite road trip was a trip I took visiting baseball stadiums in the..."

Ooooh I actually really enjoy baseball and I'm jealous of your trip! My husband wouldn't want to go but I would take my dad as he's the one who got me into watching the sport.

Mary Higgins Clark is a favorite of mine as well. I think I started reading her books when I was 10 or 11 lol. Perhaps a bit young but my parents never censored my reading.

Wow, we have a huge team!

Hi everyone, I'm Megan. I live in Indianapolis with no other human beings. I lost my slobbery fur-baby to a brain tumor in March. Since then, fur baby No. 2 has become quite the diva.
I'm an engineer in the aerospace industry. My current work is centered around turbofans, which are the engines used in everyday commercial aircraft - think Boeing or Airbus.

My favorite vacation was spending the 2019 holiday season in Italy with my family. Sloshing through a flooded Venice in Wellies on Christmas morning will be hard to out do.
We too are slowly making our way to MLB stadiums across the country. My niece is a sixth generation Reds fan, and she has been asking why there hasn't been ball games on TV.

The place I would most like to visit at the moment would be Norway, specifically hiking the fjords.

My favorite author is Fredrik Backman.

challenge shelf

Hiya team!!!

I’m Celanchia and I’m from Auckland, New Zealand. I have 2 rambunctious fur babies who I love to death, and I enjoy driving my husband crazy.

My favourite holiday was an unplanned trip down to Wellington. I planned a trip to Ohakune to see the snow for our wedding anniversary, but apparently winter does not equal snow and we arrived during the heavy rainy season that precludes the snow. Instead of calling it a bust and heading home my husband drove us down to Wellington. The drive was so beautiful and it’s a great city!!

My next holiday destination will be touring the South Island of New Zealand.

Lastly, my favourite Author is Sarah J Maas, and her Throne of Glass series is my absolute favourite!!

Here is the link to my shelf =] https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Hi team, I'm Nanci. My husband and I have been married for 40 years and we live outside of Richmond, VA.

We have 3 grown children and 6 adorable grandchildren. Of course they're adorable, they're grandchildren!

I have been retired for 6 years now, from the education field where I spent 32 years working as a elementary classroom teacher (lots of grade levels) and the last 19 years as an elementary school counselor. I got much satisfaction our of my career, and now I'm enjoying retired life.

Traveling is a favorite pastime for my husband and l and we have been lucky to have had many trips over the years. Our ski trips all over the western US are always fun, but we also had an amazing time on our huge trip to Australia, New Zealand, Bora Bora and Hawaii that we had saved up for forever and finally got to take a few years ago. Where we go doesn't matter as much to us; it's more about meeting new people, learning about new cultures and being active.

We've done a few private sailing trips that we have loved, so our dream vacation next on the books would be to sail in the Greek Islands.

A favorite author/book is a hard question for me, as on any given day I could say something different, but my favorite book I've read so far this year has been American Dirt.

Looking forward to getting to know our very large team!
My challenge shelf:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Welcome everyone!! I will get shelves linked when I get back from my mini trip of camping this weekend. It’s supposed to be nice and hot which will be perfect for swimming in the lake.

I love that our team is from many different places around the world! Seems fitting for a nice trip.

Hi everyone

This is my first Wheelathon - but I have been on quite a few NBRC team challenges over the years and made some good friends. So looking forwards to catching up with long time friends on the team and meeting new friends.

My challenge shelf is here: Wheelathon 5
I have added some Q and Z books there already.

So - Where am I from? - my name is Sally and I am Australian, I live in Queensland over on the east side of Australia. Hubby and I retired a year ago and I thought I’d have more time for reading - not so - social activities keep me busier than ever! I have been married for 43 years, have 2 daughters and 3 grandchildren.

My favourite book/author/series?
Spent much of my childhood in Nigeria, Africa, so I like reading books by Nigerian authors. I am actually a very eclectic reader, read all genres except horror, but very mood driven when it comes to selecting books. If I have an inclination to any particular book type Then it is the light and fluffy side of books - real life is too grim to allow me to dwell on the realities of life In my books as well. I don’t like reading books with a huge number of pages but my aim is to read books between 250 and 400 pages.

Favourite road trip/vacation I've taken?
So many, and for different reasons, we have done many road trips around Australia and still haven’t seen it all! Love New Zealand, our closest neighbour, and have been there road tripping about 5 times now mostly to the South Island for the snow topped mountains and red wine - hope to go next year to the North Island. Our biggest trip was a river cruise through Europe - from Amsterdam to Budapest - was our 40th anniversaries gift to each other.
We also love Singapore and have been there 3 or 4 times - we walk everywhere there - or catch trains or taxis - very cheap and very clean. The street food is amazing.

My dream road trip/vacation?
Would love to go to Canada and spend Christmas up in the Rocky Mountains.

Jessi wrote: "Hey Team,
I will not be requesting a books read thread. I prefer using the planning sheet. If you're not comfortable using the planning sheet that's absolutely fine! Just put a completion post in t..."

I can’t be trusted with spreadsheets - would be more comfortable (at least at the beginning) to post my completions here.

Just a meandering post to clarify my understanding.

Our first word to spell out (if I’m reading spreadsheet right - which is very debatable) is Egyptian Cruise - the colour is Cyan so tag words are Games, Bacteria, Turkey, Poison, Umbrella

SO

When we pick books we first need to find a title, author initial or character name initial that matches one of the spell out letters

The book has to be over 160 pages long and we earn points for each page.

BUT

We can search listopia for the tag eg Poison

I found a book Romeo and Juliet on a poison tag list - although there were pages and pages of tags and I couldn’t actually see the tag poison. I know there is a way to search the tags of a particular book but can’t locate the instructions. But anyhow - I think I would get 5 points for using this book for the spellout plus the tag word

But wait - I think there’s more - as Romeo and Juliet is set in Italy, there is a task read a book set in Italy so I would get another 5 books

My point
So Romeo and Juliet is an R title that would fit the spell out - and I would get extra points for the genre and a task also fitting the book.

Have I understood this right.

Quickly popping in to say hello. I am playing quidditch this weekend so will post a proper intro once that is done. Just wanted to pop in and say I was here :-)

Hello my team!!

I am Vaidehi. I live in Taiwan. I am a PhD student in Astronomy. This is the first time for me to participate in any challenge so please do not mind if I ask too many questions and suggestions!!! I am a fast reader and hope I can support this team to win. I love most of the genres. I like discovering new books and new love for them!

My shelf for this challenge is nbrc-wv

Favorite road trip/vacation?
I have many but the recent one is in Taiwan. There is a place called Yilan here which is on the other side of mountains. I took my bike, drove on the mountain road just after few rainfalls. All the waterfalls - small ones as well, and rivers were active. It was a memorable trip.

Dream road trip/vacation?
I want to go to Leh, India on my bike. That place is heaven!

Favorite book/author/series?
Harry Potter has a special place. Recently, Legend series became my another favorite. And so Marie Lu became my fav author as well. I keep discovering new love each day as I read more books. I keep my list of favorites open!

Stay safe and happy reading to all!

Nikk the Sapphired Book Dragon wrote: "Quickly popping in to say hello. I am playing quidditch this weekend so will post a proper intro once that is done. Just wanted to pop in and say I was here :-)"

Good luck Nikk!

Sally906 wrote: "Just a meandering post to clarify my understanding.

Our first word to spell out (if I’m reading spreadsheet right - which is very debatable) is Egyptian Cruise - the colour is Cyan so tag words a..."

I have the same question! Assuming Romeo and Juliet qualifies for the word count for a play/screenplay, can we get points for a task and for the top tags? I know we can only qualify for one task per book, but do the tag points count above and beyond that?

Popping in to say hello from Team Motorcycles Diaries.

Karen, Sally and Chava... looks like we're going to be frienemies for this Challenge.

Good luck and have fun.

Hello, I'm from the Philippines. I'm a college student. I have no idea how busy I'll be from July onwards, which is when our classes will start. It's been a while since I've joined one of NBRC's challenges. I haven't been reading published books for a long while since I've gotten addicted to webnovels for more than a year (still am XD).

My favorite vacation was Japan. The food was awesome, even the convenience store food. On our last day there, our last stop before going to the airport was the supermarket to buy food to take home with us. It's also quite peaceful there and without that many cars, so it's great to walk around there.

Can't really say that I have any favorites. But I prefer reading mystery, thriller, and fantasy novels.

My wheelathon shelf is wheelathon-v

Question: How do you check for books with certain tags? If you search with listopia, it checks the titles of book lists, not the tags of the books themselves.

Hi Everyone.

I'm Poongothai from India. I'm a Civil Engineer. I'm married and we just celebrated our 10th anniversary last week. We have two boys.

I have been playing team challenges in NBRC for a while now and also have captained/co-captained a few. Happy to meet some old faces and glad to meet new faces in the team.

My bookshelf is : Wheelathon Shelf

I'm comfortable using the planning sheets for updating the books.

During the summer and winter holidays we as an extended family of around 25 go around the state visiting historic places, temples and as such. My favourite was the trip to Kanyakumari, the southernmost tip of India.

I would like to visit the Himalayan ranges.

I read mostly romances and thrillers. Nora Roberts, Lisa Kleypas, Agatha Christie, Kalki, Ramanichandran are some of my favourties. I have a lot of books requested from Netgalley and I'm currently trying to finish them and send the feedbacks

Eunice wrote: "Question: How do you check for books with certain tags? If you search with listopia, it checks the titles of book lists, not the tags of the books themselves."

Hey Eunice!
Here is a link for tags:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/tag/tags

Hello!

I'm Nancy, and I'm also from Australia but I'm down south in Adelaide. I have two children - 6 and 8, as well as two cats. I work as an embroidery designer and teacher as well as an editor for an embroidery magazine.

My favourite trip - probably to the Flinders Ranges in northern South Australia. In my 'spare' time I do ultrarunning, so last year we all drove to the Flinders so I could compete in a 100km race. The whole trip, including the run, was magical. We were supposed to go again this year but covid-19 arrived and the race was postponed until 2021. I can't wait.

I'm not sure I have a favourite author but I love non-fiction. I am in a real non-fiction mood right now and I have piles of books I want to read.

My shelf is Wheelathon5

Hi all,

Another Aussie here. I'm Chava from Melbourne at the bottom of Australia's mainland. I am married (11 years coming up) and we have 4 children - my 10 year old voraciously reading daughter; my 8 year old dreamer & joker son; my 7 year old games playing & 1kg bag a day carrot eating son; and my 5 year old son who comes up with the craziest theories about his daily life - never a boring day! I work full-time as a psychologist and family therapist specialising in early childhood trauma. COVID0-19 is definitely keeping me in a job!

My favourite trip
I'm lucky that I used to live in Europe so I've seen a lot there. We went to Thailand last year and that was very special and we'd like to go again.

Dream trip
I'd love to take my family in a camper van around the rim of Australia or do a trip from Asia to Europe so they can learn about different cultures

Reading genres
I mostly read thrillers and mysteries, but I'll read eclectically if I have to for challenges. I have done Wheel before but each time it takes me a while to remember the rules, I forget easily lol. I rely heavily on audiobooks because I drive a lot for work so I can get 'reading' in then.

I'm really excited to read and play with you all

So cool that so many of you are from Australia. We loved your country! It would be a dream to go back someday again, although it probably won’t happen. Melbourne is one of my favorite big cities in the world. We didn’t have time to see Sydney.
Such fun learning about all of you!

Nancy, we stayed one day in Adelaide on our trip. It was a day when the hot winds were there in January, so it was really warm! The area was fun to explore!

Nanci wrote: "Nancy, we stayed one day in Adelaide on our trip. It was a day when the hot winds were there in January, so it was really warm! The area was fun to explore!"

Nanci, I agree. Adelaide is lovely. Sydney is great too, definitely worth a visit as is Queensland where Sally is from. I'd love to be in Queenland right now, it's freezing here in Melbourne!!
Where in Melbourne did you go?

We stayed at an Airbnb right across the street from the stadium. It was an added bonus that the Australian Open was at the same time! We are avid tennis players and didn't realize it was that week when we planned the vacation about 8 months in advance. So we attended the Open one day/night and lucked out with beautiful weather. Another day we took a private bike tour throughout the city for 4 hours where we saw lots of sights. Our final day we walked all around and hung out a lot on the river. Your city was so clean and easy to maneuver! It's very vibrant!

Sally906 wrote: "Hi everyone

This is my first Wheelathon - but I have been on quite a few NBRC team challenges over the years and made some good friends. So looking forwards to catching up with long time friends o..."

Sally,
We love to visit Canada! Such a gorgeous country! We used to live in New Hampshire so we could get to Montreal in Quebec in just about 90 minutes. We have skied Whistler a few times...a beautiful big mountain. Last summer we took a great trip in the western provinces. We took a train from Vancouver to Banff. Once there we spent 2 weeks hiking all around the area. Every view was just outstanding!

Sally906 wrote: "Just a meandering post to clarify my understanding.

Our first word to spell out (if I’m reading spreadsheet right - which is very debatable) is Egyptian Cruise - the colour is Cyan so tag words a..."

Sally, you've done a fabulous job understanding the rules and your explanation has been helpful for me too! I played Wheel last year, but I've forgotten exactly how it works, so thanks for that. I too need to know how to find the tags. I love the challenges...I always learn something new about navigating the GR site!

I would love to visit India. The colours, the food, the people...I've wanted to go for a long time! Kids need to be a bit older to really appreciate it, I think

Celanchia wrote: "Hiya team!!!

I’m Celanchia and I’m from Auckland, New Zealand. I have 2 rambunctious fur babies who I love to death, and I enjoy driving my husband crazy.

My favourite holiday was an unplanned tr..."4

Celanchia, I used to live in Auckland!! I lived 2 years in Opaheke (Papakura) and 4 years in Hillcrest on the North Shore. I love NZ!! I took my husband there for our honeymoon weekend. We look forward to Jacinda opening the border for us Aussies to come over again!!

Nanci wrote: "Sally906 wrote: "Just a meandering post to clarify my understanding.

Our first word to spell out (if I’m reading spreadsheet right - which is very debatable) is Egyptian Cruise - the colour is Cy..."

Yeah thanks Sally for explaining it that way.
Additional questions:
can you read a book that matches tag or colour, but not spell out or do we have to make all books spell out?
Task list - is that an additional book or can we match the book for spell out/tag/colour to a task (so same book)?

I hope this makes sense, it's almost 1am and I really should be in bed!

Here is the first book I plan to read. I will put it on the spreadsheet once it's ready. This is more just to help me remember it than anything else!

Book: The Beekeeper of Aleppo
Author: Christy Lefteri
Pages: 400
Date Read: TBR
Tag: turkey (page 4;2 people)
Letters: Could work for C, N, A (maybe S (Syria), T (Turkey), or Y (Yorkshire). The characters in the book seem to travel to those places.
Tasks: Works for any of the following: 34, 38, 49, 77, 131, 143, 157, 199

Again, just for me to remember...second book I plan to read.

Book: Stories We Never Told
Author: Sonja Yoerg
Pages: 328
Date Read: TBR
Tag: (none found)
Letters: Could work for S, Y, N, C
Tasks: 22, 28, 124, 136, 143, 162

Planning for me:

Book: Gathering Dark
Author: Candice Fox
Pages: 400 (GR default - I have audiobook)
Date read: TBR
Tag: none
Letters: A (Ada - character), B (Blair - character), C (Candice - Author), D (Dayly - character), F (Fox - author), G (title), H (Harbor - character Blair's last name), J (Jessica - character), K (Karissa - narrator on audiobook), L (Lawlor - character's last name), M (Maverick - character Ada's last name), S (Sanchez and Sneak - characters), V (Vacker - narrator's last name)
Tasks: 6; 7; 13;26; 28; 105 (up for debate); 118; 124; 136; 137; 161; 175; 191 (up for debate)

Jessi,
I signed up as a backup DQ writer for you for the BOM The Jetsetters and Five Feet Apart. I joined Scribd, so I now have copies of each of the ebooks. The wait at my library was long and with the free 2 month trial, it seems like a good deal!

I will for sure participate in the discussion, if you don't need me to write the questions. Can we have an unlimited number of people on our team joining the discussion for the extra points? Also, can the BOM books be used for spell it outs too?

Chava wrote: "Nanci wrote: "Sally906 wrote: "Just a meandering post to clarify my understanding.

Our first word to spell out (if I’m reading spreadsheet right - which is very debatable) is Egyptian Cruise - th..."

This is from the rules under the Tag section:
Books must be used in the spell out to qualify for Tag points.

So I believe the answer to your question is yes. One book can be used for multiple reasons, such as a task and a tag. The more you can find for your book, the more points that book earns. If I'm wrong, someone please feel free to correct me! ;)

Planning for BOM book

Book: The Jetsetters
Author: Amanda Eyre Ward
Pages: 352 pages Audio (Recorded Books)
Date read: TBR
Tag: None found
Letters: T, A, C, R
Tasks: 8, 40, 61, 115, 124, 126, 127, 150, 161