Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

Team Trans-Siberian Railway



Team Members
• Judy (Captain)
• Christina (Co-Captain)
• Jessica S (Co-Captain)
• Lucy
• Keli
• Jhmingos
• Anna
• Jackie
• Lucy R
• Elli
• Paula


Challenge Status Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Team Sheet: (captains access only)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

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PLANNING SPREADSHEET : https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...



TL;DR RULES

each round, we receive a new word that we have to spell out for the duration of the round. once again, there are tons of mini challenges for additional motivation!

- starts 11 October
- ends 20 December
- 2 weeks per round, rounds end 9pm UK time (10pm CET, 4pm EST)
- books must be started AFTER the challenge start
- minimum 100 pages
- audiobooks are allowed, use default edition page count
- books with MPGs Childrens / Kids / Poetry / Play / Graphic Novel / Illustrated / Photography / Art MUST have verified word count over 30k -> check arbookfind, if not on there audio must be over 3 hours
- rereads are allowed (over 6 months since last read)


SPELL-OUT RULES

all books MUST be part of the spell-out for us to get points.

- book title*
- series title*
- author first/last name
- FICTION ONLY: character name**
- if listening to the audio book: audio narrator first/last name
- if reading a translation: translator first/last name

* if the first word in the title/series is a definite or indefinite article you can ignore them if you prefer (the/a/an or equivalent in language not English)
** characters must be significant to the plot. you can use first, last or nickname.

Nonfiction books do not have characters (NO exceptions)!


FULL RULES

MINI CHALLENGES

MINI 1

- read books with the following genres (plural of genre name allowed, NO other versions)
- once the list is completed, we can read the list again

Genres:
(view spoiler)[Nonfiction
Romance
Fantasy
Adventure
Urban Fantasy
Epic/High Fantasy
Grimdark
Cozy Mystery
Mystery
Thriller
Crime
Space Opera
Humor
Biography
Memoir
Nature
Animal
Magic / Magical Realism
Science Fiction / Sci-Fi
Young Adult
Middle Grade
Classic
Historical Fiction
Travel
Music
Horror
Art
Literary Fiction
Contemporary
History / Historical
Adult
Suspense
Coming of Age
Chick-Lit
Paranormal
LGBT (and variations) / Queer
Retelling
Time Travel
War
Spiritual (hide spoiler)]


MINI 2

- read books with various cover colors, text color on cover, color word found in text, and an item of that color on the cover
- once the list is completed, we can read the list again

Colors:
(view spoiler)[Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Purple
Teal
Brown
White
Black
Pink
Grey
(hide spoiler)]


MINI 3


MINI 4

- honoring the wheel of brown! bringing back mod Cat's favorite challenges
- this list can only be completed once

(view spoiler)[- Books between 160 and 200 pages = Read 1 books
- Books between 201 and 300 pages = Read 1 books
- Books between 301 and 400 pages = Read 2 books
- Books between 401 and 500 pages = Read 2 books
- Books between 501 and 650 pages = Read 1 books
- Books between 651 and 800 pages = Read 1 book
- Books over 801 pages = Read 1 book
- Read a book with a BROWN cover (at least >50% brown)
- Read a book with the following words in the text or title (plurals allowed):
1. lobster
2. defenestrate / defenestrated
3. vinegar
4. coffee table
5. turtle
6. hedgehog
7. challenge
8. moderator / moderate (moderated not accepted as Cat is still very much a mod!!)
9. brown
10. vanilla
- Read 10 books, tell a story about travels with Mod Cat using the titles (hide spoiler)]


MINI 5

- celebrating past wheels with travel tasks
- this list can only be completed once

(view spoiler)[1. Read a book where a character gets lost.
2. Read a book tagged "Fun" at least 10x.
3. Read a book tagged "Friendship" at least 10x.
4. Read a book with a title that starts with one of the letters found in TRAVEL. (Articles may not be used.)
5. Read a book with a title that starts with one of the letters found in FLAT TIRE. (Articles may not be used.)
6. Read a book with a title that starts with one of the letters found in OUT OF GAS. (Articles may not be used.)
7. Read a book with a title that starts with one of the letters found in ROAD TRIP. (Articles may not be used.)
8. Read a book with a map. (Usually found at the front of the book.)
9. Read a book where characters go on a road trip (even if it is just a small/short one).
10. Read a book where the cover shows a mode of transportation used on earth, by humans (i.e. no spaceships or flying cars).
11. Read a book where the cover shows a mode of transportation used in space.
12. Read a book where a character takes a boat trip.
13. Read a book with a body of water on the cover.
14. Read a book with a famous landmark on the cover.
15. Read a book with a cityscape on the cover.
16. Read a book with a road sign on the cover.
17. Read a book where a character drinks coffee.
18. Read a book where a character drinks soda.
19. Read a book where a character visits the beach.
20. Read a book with the word car, vehicle, bike, bicycle, truck or lorry in the title. (Plurals are acceptable.)
21. Read a book with the word highway, road, avenue or street in the title. (Plurals are acceptable.)
22. Read a book which has the main location (setting) as a bus, train, or other road based vehicle.
23. Read a book which has the main location (setting) as a space station, space ship or anything along those lines.
24. Read a book which has several locations, none for over 50% of the book.
25. Read a book where a character takes the train.
26. Read a book where a character gets on a plane.
27. Read a book where a character packs a bag (overnight, luggage, suitcase, with the intention of being away for at least one night).
28. Read a book set on a boat or ship.
29. Read a book where a character visits a castle or palace.
30. Read a book where a character visits a museum or gallery.
31. Read a book where a character eats a salty snack (chips, nuts, pretzels, popcorn, etc).
32. Read a book where a character eats candy.
33. Read a book which has the main location (setting) on the African continent.
34. Read a book which has the main location (setting) on the Antarctica continent.
35. Read a book which has the main location (setting) on the Asian continent.
36. Read a book which has the main location (setting) on the Australian continent.
37. Read a book which has the main location (setting) on the European continent.
38. Read a book which has the main location (setting) on the North American continent.
39. Read a book which has the main location (setting) on the South American continent.
40. Read a book set in a completely fictional world.
(hide spoiler)]


MINI 7

- the book mobile! BOM-themed mini challenge
- list of previous BOMs: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
- articles cannot be ignored!!!
- this list can only be completed once

(view spoiler)[- build two squares out of titles
- construct 2 ladders out of titles
- construct 1 ladder of ten books based on series numbers, books need to be whole numbers! (hide spoiler)]

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BOM / Book of the Month discussion

participating in the BOM discussions is an amazing - and fun! - way to collect bonus points for the team! there are even more bonus points in store for those who write discussion questions, so feel free to volunteer for that if you plan on reading a BOM! if you've never written DQs before and are nervous about it, don't worry - just give a shout in the team thread and we can help brainstorm questions

Points
- writing a day's worth of discussion questions = 40 points
- participating in a current BOM (participating in discussion) = 20 points
- for your participation to count, you must answer at least 3 sets of DQs
- you must read the book after the start of Wheel, and within one month of the BOM starting


October
starts 16 October: Masquerade by O.O. Sangoyomi - thread



November
starts 2 November: A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett - thread
starts 16: November: Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez - thread

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Hi and welcome everyone to Wheelathon!

This might be my favorite team challenge and I am extra excited about this round as our dear mods have decided to continue the around the world theme we’ve had this year thus far because I love love love it! And I extra love our team name, taking the Transsib is a dream of mine…

I’m Judy (she/her) from Germany and I’ve been a captain for various challenges at this point, often with Christina by my side. I’ve been on a mission this year to not read books I know I probably won’t enjoy from the outset, which has really put a dent in my numbers but made me way happier with my reading overall. Let’s see how many times finding a specific letter is going to make me compromise on this during wheel ;)

It's great to see some familiar faces around again and meet some new people too!

We're still getting the last things set up here but a few admin things right off the bat:

- Introduce yourself and share a link to your challenge shelf!
- Please acknowledge that you’ve understood how the individual reading cap works
- Remember that you should check into this thread at least once per week. If you’ll be away for a while for a trip or similar, do let us know in advance so we don’t wonder where you’ve disappeared to.
- Remember that while we are giving you the option (and in fact encourage you!) to claim tasks in our planning spreadsheet, captains might be moving the around to fit other challenge as they see fit.
- Otherwise: have fun and explore the world through books!

Our first country is KYRGYZSTAN - hope you’ve been saving up those Ys!


Shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Hi everyone!

My name is Christina (she/her), I'm from Austria, and like Judy said I've been a co-captain to hers for quite a bunch of times by now. I work as a waitress in our family business which makes me a bit of a night owl (lol) so I will be around at random times throughout the day.

I've been trying my hardest to make a bit of a dent in my to-be-read shelf here this year, and like Judy only read books I'm actually interested in. Hasn't always worked, but I'm definitely happier about what I've been reading than in previous years.

Looking forward to meeting new people and catching up with the ones I know from other team challenges already! I hope you'll enjoy Wheels as much as Judy and I do, and if you've got any questions or there's anything on your mind don't hesitate to bring it up.

Shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...


PS: I worked on our planning sheet yesterday which is pretty much done and quite self-explanatory. Judy and I added our first planned reads as examples, but again, if you have any questions just ask, we don't bite :)

Planning Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Hi Team,

I'm your second co-captain, but this is my first time playing Wheelathon so please bear with me while I figure things out 🙂

I'm Jessica (she/her), from England and I'm a huge reading challenge addict. When I'm not reading or on Goodreads I'm looking after my two children (4, 6).

I read absolutely everything, but mostly MM romance.

Shelf (Around The World) https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

I'm looking forward to playing with you all!

Hey everyone, popping in to say hi and will come back later to chat. I'm Anna and live in Southern Indiana, Eastern time zone. I work normal hours M-F but go to bed early, get up early. I usually am on my phone at times but check in a few times a week month. I love reading challenges. I read romance, contemporary, thrillers most of the time. I don't love sci-fi but I'll read it in a pinch. I'll add my shelf in a bit. Looking forward to hanging out and playing with y'all.


https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Hey, I'm Lucy (she/they) from the UK. My shelf is here. I did have a momentary start at the reading cap but that's because I forgot that rounds are 2 weeks for this challenge! I've done a few NRBC challenges before and always love the challenge of finding books to fit the tasks.

I read pretty much anything, though I do go through phases where I read nothing but one genre for a few days! I've got a holiday end of November/beginning of December but I'll give a bit more warning closer to the time. I'm going to be quite busy at work for October but it should settle in the next fortnight. Thankfully I can read sometimes at work and have a longish commute (perfect for audiobooks) so should be able to keep reading.

Hi I’ve been stalking this thread for a couple days just waiting.

My name is Keli. I’m an American in England. I read anything but prefer fantasy and sci-fi.

I can’t remember what I said I’d call my wheel shelf, but here is the one I made.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

I look forward to playing with y’all. And like Judy, I love our name and it’s on my bucket list.

Hello everybody!

I'm Elli from Singapore. This will be my 4th Wheels challenge.

Link to shelf:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

My favorite genres are fantasy & sci-fi but my favorite reads in recent years surprisingly does not fall into those genres =P

My main reading goal is to conquer my TBR mountain one day but it grows faster than I can read...

My individual cap is at 8 books per round so its about 4 books per week...
My reading speed has slowed down alot these few months so I doubt I can reach my individual reading cap.

Love the planning sheet! Shall start hunting for books that will fit in~

I'm glad I wasn't the only one that looked at the reading numbers and went what was I thinking until I remembered the 2 weeks. I was about to be like well guess I'm hunkering down and doing nothing but reading for the near future.

Welcome everyone! Remember to share your shelf if you said you'd do it later ;)

I'm on a work trip right now but I'll get home tomorrow, just in time for the challenge to start. And then on Monday I'm leaving for a month-long work trip, but there should be plenty of time to be around here

Hi everyone!

I'm Lizzie or Jhmingos. Either name is fine. I'm from beautiful Southern California, and I'm excited for this year's Wheels. Very happy we're keeping the traveling theme, cause I'm trying to read more international books as my reading goal. I like to switch around genres when I read, but apparently, this year my favorites have been mysteries, classics, and romance.

I love team reading challenges, and this will be my 6th year with Wheels. Still too scared to be a co-captain, but maybe one day haha.

Good to see some familiar names. Judy and Christina, don't feel pressured to read books for a task. You know I like looking for books that will fit one!

My Shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

🚨🚨LESS THAN 24 HOURS TO GO UNTIL WHEELATHON STARTS🚨🚨

(countdowns can be found on both our planning spreadsheet and the official team one)

What are everyone's plans for their first read(s)? 👀 I've got a couple of Y books out from the library but I doubt I'll feel all of them. At least I got some options though :)
- Y - already on the planning ss, definite read
- You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight
- You Know What You Did
- You Shouldn't Have Come Here - bad reviews eh
- You Know Me Well

If anybody plans on reading You, it's a previous BOM btw 👀

Sorry, a little late to the game, but I do have a Y book I wanna read. It's I Remember You by Yrsa Sigurdardottir

I am in another Team Challenge, so I will be reading for Turf Wars too. However, I’ll try to cover as many minis and hard letters as possible. Luckily, one of my books is a Y

Oh I had a fun time with You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight, as well as You (though no inclination to read the sequel, I was fine with the latter being a standalone). Definitely quicker books.

I'm looking at The Kamogawa Food Detectives or You Had Me at Hola to start with to see if I can get the Y or the K. I'm at work this weekend so it's only Kindle books I can read (considering the low light).

Keli wrote: "I am in another Team Challenge, so I will be reading for Turf Wars too. However, I’ll try to cover as many minis and hard letters as possible. Luckily, one of my books is a Y"

OH which team are you on? Jessica and I are both on Team Amaranth (checked your shelf at the end of the last battle round, that's how I immediately remembered you @Jessica :D)

Just remember that books for wheel (unlike Turf) can't be started until wheel starts!!

Lucy wrote: "Oh I had a fun time with You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight, as well as You (though no inclination to read the sequel, I was fine with the latter being a standalone). Definitely quicker books.

I'm..."

I actually read You #2 as well even though I felt there was no real reason for it and now I also have no inclination to continue although it is hard for me to dnf series lol.

Also, someone explain to why do Japanese books have the most appealing covers?? That one is ADORABLE!!! Makes me want to read it ngl.

Christina wrote: "Lucy wrote: "Oh I had a fun time with You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight, as well as You (though no inclination to read the sequel, I was fine with the latter being a standalone). Definitely quicke..."

They really do! I actually have the ebook version which has a different (but equally cute) cover.

I read You so long ago that there wasn't a sequel even announced, so it was a standalone at the time. Definitely helps with the 'need to continue series' thing :D But yeah nothing I've heard about #2 leaves me inclined to try it out, especially when You was one of those books that I was surprised I liked in the first place (could be right place, right time).

I'm finally home from my work trip (mostly fun things so it's alright!!!) and I'm sooooo excited for this to start tonight!

I've kind of accidentally started a reread of the Murderbot series last week so I guess that will be continuing... oops! I've never read all the books physically though so this has been super fun!

Looks like we're all going hard on the Ys... but don't forget there's a lot of other letters in KYRGYZSTAN ;)

Hello Everyone,
Not sure my messages are working but thank you Christine for letting me know. I live in Philly, PA. I an a special education teacher at a charter school. I have a sixteen year old daughter. This is my first time participating in the Wheelathon challenge and I am also participating in the Restaurant Turf challenge.
Don’t worry about the Y’s I am currently reading a 13 book series by Brian Yansky.

Jacqueline wrote: "Hello Everyone,
Not sure my messages are working but thank you Christine for letting me know. I live in Philly, PA. I an a special education teacher at a charter school. I have a sixteen year old d..."

Hi! Good to have you here :) can you please share your shelf for the challenge? Also: do you prefer Jackie or Jacqueline?

Call me … Jackie

I will share my shelf when I get to my computer. I am on my mobile which appears to be limited to what I can input.

Hi All, I am Lucy R - From the UK
Very excited to carry on the travelling theme. Not 100% sure what I am starting with am going to get myself familiar with the spreadsheet and then look at my kindle library.

My shelf for this challenge is https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

I finished my books early this morning that I was working on so now I'm ready to go with a fresh book. I had to get things read before this Bama game. The game is wild today!

Jacqueline wrote: "I will share my shelf when I get to my computer. I am on my mobile which appears to be limited to what I can input."

Thanks, Jackie!

lucy wrote: "Hi All, I am Lucy R - From the UK
Very excited to carry on the travelling theme. Not 100% sure what I am starting with am going to get myself familiar with the spreadsheet and then look at my kindl..."

Welcome Lucy! :)

bamaace83 wrote: "I finished my books early this morning that I was working on so now I'm ready to go with a fresh book. I had to get things read before this Bama game. The game is wild today!"

Enjoy the game!

Hello!!
I'm sorry for the late check in, I had a very busy week.
I'm Paula, I'm from Santiago, Chile, and I work as a project manager at a mining and environmental consultancy office.

It amazes me that we're from 3 different continents in our team! América, Europa and Asia.

I've participated in wheelaton, since wheel 4, so this is my 7th one, and I love the challenge because it's pretty simple =)

This is my shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

I think I'll start with Solo Las Mujeres Desaparecen it's an anthology of female South Korean authors, some of them will work for the Y and K (Kang Hwagil, Choi Yeong-keon)

Hi Paula - just in time to get started! 😅 and you're right, I didn't think of that! Very fitting for the world traveller wheel!

I checked my library app for books I can use for mini 7. Good news is there's lots of options, bad news is I can only reserve a few at a time.

Has anyone got anything planned for this yet?

I'm pretty sure I want to read

The Underground Railroad
Aurora Rising
Nevernight
Six of Crows

Ones I'm iffy on are

House of Hollow
Dorothy Must Die
The Sun Is Also a Star
The Sun Down Motel
Renegades

🎡🎡🎡 AND WE'RE OFF! HAPPY READING! 🎡🎡🎡

Jessica wrote: "I checked my library app for books I can use for mini 7. Good news is there's lots of options, bad news is I can only reserve a few at a time.

Has anyone got anything planned for this yet?

I'm pr..."

I did like all the books that you want to read, fwiw!

I was going through the BOMs the other day and realized it's harder than I thought it would be for me... turns out I've actually read a lot of them already and out of the ones I haven't, there's very very few I'm interested in (which is why I don't participate in BOMs outside of challenges 😬)

A Gentleman in Moscow is one I'm pretty sure I'll read because it'll help me with the Goodreads seasonal reading challenge (and also it's my mom's favorite book and she's been wanting me to read it for years and years... but I'm scared...), otherwise there were a few I'd be willing to reread but I can't think of them off the top of my head

For cover colour, is it the default edition cover or the cover version you read?

Jessica wrote: "For cover colour, is it the default edition cover or the cover version you read?"

The one you read!

Jessica wrote: "I checked my library app for books I can use for mini 7. Good news is there's lots of options, bad news is I can only reserve a few at a time.

Has anyone got anything planned for this yet?

I'm pr..."

I'm definitely planning to read the old BOMs too. Some of them are on my TBR, so it's a good reason to look into it.

I have added How to sell a haunted house as I won an arc and also have the audio so need to actually read it lol!!

When it comes to cover colour are we eyeballing or tineye-ing? Because I wanted to say this cover was orange , but do I need to tineye for comp %?

Keli wrote: "When it comes to cover colour are we eyeballing or tineye-ing? Because I wanted to say this cover was orange , but do I need to tineye for comp %?"

Eyeballing is generally fine but my eyeballs say it's close so I'd check tineye and I fear we're losing that one... (44.7% 🫠)

lucy wrote: "I have added How to sell a haunted house as I won an arc and also have the audio so need to actually read it lol!!"

Nice!!!

uhm, I'd say both. we all know tineye isn't always correct, so take whatever it says with a grain of salt when it comes to colors.
the book you shared however doesn't look to me like it'd be 50+ % orange anyway. without the sticker possibly, but the sticker is there...