Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion
Tower Teams XII
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Sinai
Team TT Shelves🏞️Jenny -https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
🏞️Angie ☯ - https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
🏞️Maria Jo - https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
🏞️Vicki - https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
🏞️Cilla Fleig - https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
🏞️Donna - https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
🏞️Carrie - https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
🏞️Kaley - https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
🏞️Melanie - https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
🏞️Sandy - https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
🏞️Claire - https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
🏞️Christy Trahan - https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
🏞️Alysa - https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
🏞️AJ - https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
Tracking Spreadsheethttps://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Game Rules
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
AR Book Finder https://www.arbookfind.com/UserType.a...
TinEye https://tineye.com
Mod
Don't forget - EXTRA points for participating in the BOM discussion or for writing a day's discussion questions.
Participating in current BOM discussion (3 days minimum) = 20 points.
Writing a day's worth of discussion questions (randomly chosen volunteers) = 40 points
Don't be shy! Volunteer - the more, the merrier! - if you can't manage the day assigned another volunteer can help you out!
📚 📚 📚 📚 📚 📚 📚 📚 📚 📚 📚 📚 📚 📚 📚 📚 📚 📚 📚 📚 📚 📚 📚 📚 📚 📚
MAY
The Will of the Many ~ Discussion May 18 - June 18
The Astral Library ~ Discussion May 25 - June 25
JUNE
This Kingdom Will Not Kill ~ Discussion June 2 - July 2
Memoirs of a Geisha ~ Discussion June 16 - July 16
JULY
Three Bags Full ~ Discussion July 2 - August 2
Yesteryear ~ Discussion July 15 - August 15
BackRoom BOM Game Changer ~ Discussion July 23 - End of Tower Teams
AUGUST
Foundryside ~ Discussion August 2 - End of Tower Teams
Dungeon Crawler Carl ~ Discussion August 9 - End of Tower Teams
(view spoiler)
Mod
Mini 4 - Traveling by Reading
Over all rules:
📓Books cannot be finished before 16 July at 9am UTC
📓Books can started at any time from start of Tower Teams (16 May 9am UTC)
📓Books can only be used in 1 section of the mini
📓No banked books
Part 1 ~ The Luggage ~ 30 books
📚 Read the books we "packed" for the trip
Part 2 ~ The Souvenirs ~ 30 books
📚 Read books set in the countries we "visit"
📙Can only visit each country 1 time per team
📙Reader cannot visit the country they live in
📙Constituent countries are allowed
📙Fictional places that are a clear representation of a real country may be used
Part 3 ~ The Sightseeing ~ 25 books
📚 Read 5 books that mention Sightseeing/Vacation activities
📚OR with Sightseeing/Vacation activities/places on the cover
📚Examples listed below:
📔Specific ~ Book 1 mentions the Eiffel Tower
📔General ~ Book 2 mentions the beach (a day at the beach)
📔Specific ~ Book 3 has the Lean Tower of Pisa on the cover
📔General ~ Book 4 has a person skiing on the cover
📔General ~ Book 5 mentions sharks (swimming with Sharks)
📕BUT WAIT ~ 5 Additional Books needed to travel to the Activity/Place
📘To travel to each activity ~ Build a chain of 5 books
📘Connecting the first and last letter of the book titles
📘Articles CANNOT be ignored
📘No chain required for the last destination (we aren't traveling to another)
Part 4 ~ The Dining ~ 40 books
📚 Read books that mention food, drinks & spices in the text/title or on cover
📒 "Sample" 10 individual food or snack items
📒 "Sample" 10 drinks
📒 "Sample" 10 complete meals/dishes
📒 "Sample" 10 spices
📕Items cannot be duplicated (5 entries of "coffee" is not allowed)
📕Specific terms or types are ok (Can use latte, expresso, cappuccino)
BONUS ~ Mountains of Course! ~ 5 books
📚 Read books that clearly depict a mountain or mountain range on cover
📗Books can be completed before the 4 parts are finished
📗But, All 4 parts must be complete to earn the bonus points
TBR Recommendation Book List
(view spoiler)
Mini 1 - Time to Climb
Part 1 - Ladders
(view spoiler)
Part 2 - Mountains
(view spoiler)
Mini 2 ~ Maze Mountain Challenge
(view spoiler)
Mini 3 - Tackling Mount TBR
(view spoiler)
Part 1 - Various Tasks
(view spoiler)
Part 2 - Spell-outs
(view spoiler)
Part 3 - Word in Text
(view spoiler)
Mod
END of TT ~ August 16, 2026 @ 9am UTC
https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...
Only books STARTED after the challenge begins can count.
Time in main cities - Saturday 16 May 2026 ~ 9am UTC:
San Francisco ~ 2am PDT
Phoenix ~ 2am MST
Cranbrook, BC ~ 3am MDT
Dallas ~ 4am CDT
New York ~ 5am EDT
London ~ 10am BST
Brussels ~ 11am CEST
Check other cities here ~ https://www.timeanddate.com/worldcloc...
(view spoiler)
Mod
Mount Sinai in Egypt, also known as Jabal Musa ("Mountain of Moses"), is a 2,285-meter (7,497 ft) peak on the Sinai Peninsula. It is the second highest peak in Egypt. Mount Sinai is known for its spiritual and historical importance as a sacred site, rather than for its altitude compared to the world's tallest mountains.
Now, the history lesson is over.... Let's have some fun!!
Is your TBR Mountain between 2285 and 7497 books?? If so, you are in good company! And if not, well, let's see how many you have at the end of Tower Teams!!
Weekly Check-in: Pre-Challenge14/14
✔Jenny
✔Angie ☯
✔Maria Jo
✔Vicki
✔Cilla Fleig
✔Donna
✔Carrie
✔Kaley
✔Melanie
✔Sandy
✔Claire
✔Christy Trahan
✔Alysa
✔AJ
The Maze: https://maze.meic.dev/maze/260/
Current Task: Read a book published in 1987.
Heading North (Title starts with A-M)
Hello Team Sinai!!!!!Get ready to climb up your TBR mountain and have some fun!
If you are anything like me, your to read list is long and a bit daunting. But, we will be able to cross a few off that list after this challenge, I am sure. Of course, I am sure that we will be adding new books to that dreaded list as well, so it may end up being a wash. So, let’s concentrate on the fun bit, shall we?
I am Jenny, one of the captains, a challenge junkie, a Green Bay Packers fan, a single malt Scotch snob, and an owner (?) of two lovely kitties. I love reading anything that is well written, but my favorite genres are sci-fi and speculative fiction.
Since GR has taken away the ability to send personal messages, I would like to strongly encourage everyone to please be chatty here on this thread, so we can keep track of who is playing, and to be, you know, social. It looks like coordination between us will be a factor in the challenges this time around, so talking amongst ourselves will make that process smooth.
I would also like to take an informal poll about whether we as a team want to do our best to win this thing, or just go along for the ride. Thoughts?
Either way, I am very much looking forward to playing with you all.
If any of you have questions, please do not hesitate to ask. There are a lot of veteran players on this team, and they all will be happy to share their expertise.
The tracking sheet is set up, so feel free to go take a look, and start planning your reads!
Mod
Welcome to TTXII!
I'm Angie from East Tennessee and will be one of your captains for this edition of Tower Teams! I see a lot of familiar names in our team. Looking forward to playing again with old friends and meeting and getting to know new ones!
I love team games, seeing all the books that our team reads, and then adding them to my TBR! I know, I know; I'm a little on the crazy side, but in a fun way! 🤣
Jenny, Maria Jo and I will try to keep you engaged and having fun as we work our way through these mountains of books. Help us out by chatting and cutting up with us -- that is half the fun of these team challenges!! At the very least, PLEASE, remember to check in on the team thread at least once per week.
Without DMs here, it is really hard to stay in touch! If you have a Discord account, please message me there just in case we need to get in touch with you somewhat quickly.
(My Discord profile is https://discord.com/users/81795369959...)
Let's have a blast as we scale our TBR Mountains!!
Mod
Has everyone played Tower Teams before or are you a first timer? Are you a mountain climber or a hiker? What are your favorite mountains; which have you visited? Or are you basically a home body?
First, I'll start with my little bio. At least I'll try not to write a novel. I am originally from Dallas, Texas where I was born. I've been in California (CA) since I was about 1 or 2 years old. I lived mostly in SoCal (Southern CA) until I was around 35 years old and I've lived in the Central Valley, CA ever since. I live about 50 miles south of the state capital, Sacramento. And I'm 76 miles east of San Francisco. So, I'm almost smack dab in the middle where we have a lot of farm country.
I am definitely read to climb that mountain of my TBR books! I certainly need to. I have far too many, enough that if I never added another book I couldn't live long enough to read them all. It's actually ridiculous but I don't want to take the time to glean my shelf. lol
I promise that I will be checking in usually daily but for sure several times a week. I know the importance of doing that, especially now the GR decided to be mean and ugly and remove our ability to DM...still upset over that.
Some questions from y'all:
I would also like to take an informal poll about whether we as a team want to do our best to win this thing, or just go along for the ride. Thoughts? YES! Let's win this one!
Has everyone played Tower Teams before or are you a first timer? As far as I can tell, this is my 7th time playing.
Are you a mountain climber or a hiker? More of a hiker if there's a trail. But I'm mostly a wanna-be! LOVE driving to spots and viewing as much as I'm able to walk to.
What are your favorite mountains; which have you visited? I think the most beautiful mountains I've experienced are the Rocky Mountains in Canada. One of my favorite mountains is the Sierra Nevada of California. Its summit is north of Donner Pass (the famous Donner story). Mount Lola is the highest peak in the Tahoe National Forest (9,143 feet) and it is the first hike I ever did and I was 49 years old. It literally took us 3 1/2 hours to climb up but 5 to get down. When we got to the top there was a journal to sign that you made it! It's a beautiful view!
Or are you basically a home body? Well, if you have to put it that way...I am pretty much a homebody at 76 years old. I do travel quite a bit, but our trips don't involve a lot of hiking, but we do love the outdoors and going places like Hawaii, Canada, Cabo San Lucas, Oceanside, California, and Depoe Bay on the Oregon coast.
Just to be sure, if I've already read the BOTM but it's been 6 months, can I re-read it and do the discussion questions for the 20 points? I know I can re-read it but not sure if I can answer questions for the points or not.
Mod
Hello team! I am looking forward to getting to know you all better during this Tower Teams XII! I see a few familiar faces and many new ones!I am Maria Jo from Kansas, and a new mom to a 7mo old, who I'm working on instilling a love for reading! He doesn't like it when I read to him for now, but I get his Daddy to read to him almost every day.
My eyes are often bigger than my stomach in terms of what I can read, but I'm hoping to make my to-read mountain a little smaller. It's nowhere near as big as many others I've seen! I put a bunch of books on hold at the library yesterday to start with; we'll see whether I can actually get all of them read by the end of the challenge!
Please make sure you check in here at least once a week. If you turn on notifications for this thread, it might be easier to remember. Even just a hi will help us know you're still here and playing!
Vicki wrote: "First, I'll start with my little bio. At least I'll try not to write a novel. I am originally from Dallas, Texas where I was born. I've been in California (CA) since I was about 1 or 2 years old...."
Hello, Vicki! I was so excited to see you on my team for this challenge! I've missed playing team challenges with you!
Hey everyone ! I am Claire from Brussels, Belgium.
Glad to participate in Team Towers again. I have played a few times already in the past. It's always a lot of fun.
Whether we play as it comes, or whether we play to win I am happy to participate how I can. (I can get very competitive if you push me right, haha).
I am more than ready to climb my tar mountain chain, because let's be honest it has reach point where building just one mountain with it would cause a catastrophic avalanche... I'd be embarrassed if I weren't so proud of my collection.
In real life though I am not a mountain climber at all. I don't really have the stamina for it if I'm being honest. I far prefer long walks to climbing. And I guess I am a homebody. Reading a good book with a cup of tea and my cat next to me is my favorite way of passing time. So cosy !
I had a look at the BOMs and I am very excited for the selection, so I'll definitely participate in that. The Will of the Many and This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me for sure. And probably Memoirs of a Geisha if I have the time. All books I physically own, so that's awesome.
Claire wrote: "Captains, Here is my shelf"
Thanks Claire! I couldn't find it before.
Just missing Kaley's now for a complete set.
Yes, I just created it. Forgot to do it before. Sorry about that.
and to complete the set . . . https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...Hi everyone!! So glad to be joining you and, seeing the leaders of this team, I already know it's going to be an awesome challenge!
My name is Kaley and I'm from the state of Indiana in the US.
My to-read on Goodreads is 2443 so it is within that range! Now, that's from 15+ years of non-discerning applying for Giveaways, duplicate editions of books I have read, etc., so I don't know that that's the list of books I actually want to read, but we'll see. It's too much effort to go through it all at this point!!
Mod
Great to see all of you again! I hope that we can have a bit of fun with Tower Teams....while we try to win and keep our title from the last edition!!
Now the million dollar question - who has the biggest TBR Mountain??
Mine is pretty tall! But everytime I think about cleaning it up, I think those books that have been on there so long might come in handy in a challenge!!! 🤣 Let me go see just how tall....be back with that answer!
Thanks Kaley!!!!My TBR shelf is a relatively tame 576. Of course, most of those are physical books that I own and haven't gotten to yet, with a few Kindle freebies and a few audiobooks thrown in for good measure.
It will be interesting to see if my reading in this challenge will be outstripped by the new recommendations I get from the team or vice versa.
Answering the informal poll -- I mean, I always prefer to try to win but since I'm also such a big mood reader, I recognize that I'm not always the best at ensuring we do. So like aiming to win but not at the risk of pushing myself into a slump. As to the other questions . . .
definitely have played TT many times before!
I only really hike when other people who like hiking take me on one. I rarely set out on a hike as my own idea.
I love the Smokey Mountains! Arizona has some beautiful mountains too -- my sister used to live out there and would take me hiking (see, only when other people take me!) and I always loved the mountain views out there.
Hi everyone! I'm Sandy, I'm from Southern CA and I'm a tax preparer. I thought I had pared down my TBR, but just looked and it's 543 so time to go through it again!I'm definitely not a mountain climber - more a hiker/stroller. I've seen the Sierras, the Rockies, the Great Smokey Mountains, the Appalachians, Mt Fuji, Blue Ridge -- all are beautiful. I am more of a homebody these days, preferring to read and hang out with my dog than travelling. I'd like to be competitive, but if we end up just having fun I'm good with that as well. This will be my 9th TT
Mod
I'm with you - I'm more of a stroller/viewer of the mountains!
I've seen the Smokey Mountains, Blue Ridge Mountains, (parts of the Appalachians), the Rockies, Grand Teton and Denali.
My TBR is out of control!
Want to Read shelf = 2519
Series to read shelf = 1975
Total = 4494
That doesn't include all my physical books on my shelves here! 😲
I forgot about the Grand Teton and Denali. I have been to both. We love Yellowstone and have been there three (4?) times. I’m too embarrassed to say how many books are on my TBR shelf!
The Grand Teton is my personal favorite. But, I have not traveled to all of the places I want to get to. Yet.
I would need to really dig into my travels to see all of the mountains I have ever seen. But the two I first mentioned I had reasons for. Then when Angie mentioned the other two, I was like YES! I've been to Alaska twice, and one of those times I was on the Soldotna River and caught a 63 1/2 king salmon...larger than their derby winner that year whose fish was 49 lb. lol My brother lived in Alaska and he got married on Denali at midnight. :) Pretty cool but I wasn't there. He did, however, take me to where they married when I visited him and went to my nephew's wedding in Alaska. It's SO pretty there!OK I will share my daunting and ridiculously overwhelming TBR shelf: 6921 LOL I will never in my lifetime read them all and some I'm not interested in anymore. I just need that ONE thing to remove a bunch...TIME!
I have one question: I have begun to create my TT shelf just so I don't forget some of the books I want to read. But I got to thinking that you (captains) might not like that as it could be a bit confusing since I'll have some of them read and some not. Would it be easier for you three if I don't add them until they've been read? I think I have 33 or 34 on there right now.
I don't even want to think about counting all my physical books on my shelves that I've bought for various reasons (they're pretty, author signings, etc.) and are still on my TBR! LOL.I always say I'm more of a mountain person than a beach person, but I will say that's definitely limited to viewing the mountains not climbing them! I've been up to the Kuwohi observation tower, but that's about as much mountain as I climb -- one with a paved path LOL. I am clumsy and if the terrain is too rough it's a bad time for me.
I forgot I also have also gone up Mount Lemmon in Arizona (in a car...). I think that's what my profile picture is from, actually -- one of the lookout points on the drive up/down.
I'd love to see the Alps one day! I finally got my passport this year, so maybe someday.
Mod
Vicki - that is completely up to you! I believe that you normally use the challenge shelf to hold the books you plan to read and then update with read dates. (Others do that as well.) When I check books, I sort the challenge shelf by read date - regardless of how each person uses the shelf. That makes it easy to see what has been read for each round.
OK perfect. Also, the SS shows me (in the summary) as having read 2 books already. I have read The Will of the Many and I put it on the BOOKS tab and the BOTM tab, so I think it's counting them as read because I did read it 6 months ago. I just don't want to be cheated out of 2 books if it gets counted again when I read it for the BOTM. Just wanted you all to know.
Mod
Go to the Blue section starting in Column I - it will show your signup number, your book cap, books marked as read for each round and the number of books you can read for each round.
Hi everyone, I'm Melanie from New Jersey where I live with my husband and our two cats. I work in the finance department of a book publisher and I've been working from home for the last 6 years so I'm usually around to pop up on GR throughout the day. I recognize a lot of you from other challenges so I'm looking forward to starting this one. This is my 6th year playing Tower Teams and it's definitely one of my favorite challenges.I'm not much of a hiker although my husband and I do go on a walk every morning but that's just around our neighborhood. My favorite mountains I've been to have to be the Appalachian Mountains since they're just over in Pennsylvania and easy to get to from where I live.
My TBR is a bit crazy: I have 2,181 physical books to read on my shelves at home, 561 ebooks I own, 35 audiobooks I own, 339 on my general TBR that I need to use the library/KU or buy, plus 85 books that haven't released yet. So that's a total TBR of 3,201 as of today.
Oh and I will be on vacation from May 26th through the 31st so I won't really be able to check in much that week. I also likely won't have a lot of time for reading other than on the plane rides the first/last day.
Hi Melanie!I hope you are going somewhere fun!
I am beginning to feel like an underachiever with my measly 500+ books on my TBR. teehee
Are there any bonus points at play (that we know of right now) for the TBR recs list? I'm assuming at some point it'll come up in a mini or even just as a "congrats to this team for reading the most" but I couldn't find anything about it and wanted to double check while I'm planning some of my reads if I need to prioritize that list.
Jenny wrote: "Hi Melanie!I hope you are going somewhere fun!
I am beginning to feel like an underachiever with my measly 500+ books on my TBR. teehee"
No, I think you're more reasonable is all. You just aren't as insanely crazy as I though! lol
Kaley wrote: "Are there any bonus points at play (that we know of right now) for the TBR recs list? I'm assuming at some point it'll come up in a mini or even just as a "congrats to this team for reading the mos..."This is what I found-
In an attempt to actually help reduce these for everyone, we are asking everyone to select up to 3 books from your to be read pile at sign up. The mods will combine the list and people can read them and earn some bonus points.
Hello!!!!I'm just checking in for now so captains know I'm here but I will post something longer later this evening!
Can't wait to play with you all, both new and repeat teamies 😃
Welcome, everybody!I've got 757 books on my to-read shelf. A few years ago, I went through and purged a bunch of books. I don't remember what it was down to then, but I'm sure it's grown since then!
I'm not a fan of hiking, so I haven't been to many mountains. I have been to the tallest mountain from base to peak, Mauna Kea in Hawaii (most of it is underwater). My brother, however, has a goal of making it to the highest point in every US state. He's crossed off several of the easy ones in the Midwest.
Okay a real post this time :)Hi! I'm Alysa, from NYC. I've played on teams with several of you before, on various team challenges over the last 8+ years (!) and I look forward to this installment of TT!
> whether we as a team want to do our best to win this thing, or just go along for the ride. Thoughts?
Either way! I can be very competitive but I also have a lot less time to read than I did several years ago, so I definitely don't want to be all "LET'S WIN THIS!" and then not pull my weight. But we'll see what happens. If our team ends up moving high in the rankings maybe it will give us all (including me) the urge to go for gold, lol.
>Has everyone played Tower Teams before or are you a first timer?
This is my 5th TT, and I have also been doing other NBRC group challenges since before my first TT (Cutthroat, Wheel...).
> Are you a mountain climber or a hiker? What are your favorite mountains; which have you visited? Or are you basically a home body?
I like easy/moderate hiking on occasion but nothing too impressive. My partner and our teenage daughter like to ski and snowboard. I do neither, but I go along to the resorts, so I guess I've technically been to a fairly large number of mountains due to that. My favorites so far have been the French Alps and the Canadian Rockies, where I like to sit in hot tubs and in front of fire places and READ -- and sometimes look up and enjoy the view!
My Goodreads TBR currently stands at 2124, which would be higher if I hadn't gone through and deleted a bunch of stuff a few months ago. Although it's possible I have added an equivalent number more since then...
HI everyone!! I'm Cilla from Missouri and live here with my DH of 52 years and 2 wonderful kitties. I often listen to audio-books so that I can work on my many knit, crochet, x-stitch, quilting, handspinning, etc. projects. You know what they say about idle hands. LOLI'm not much of of a hiker since my knees don't like that kind of activity any more. I do love the viewing of the mountains, just not the hiking part.
I have 9,810 books on my TBR list. Does this disqualify me for this challenge? LOL
I think it is time that I go through and purge some books. I have a tendency to reread a lot. I am not sure how to plan for this challenge other than to put the info on the spreadsheet and let our esteemed captains work their TETRIS magic. I don't want my poor lone brain cell to implode or short circuit because I am overwhelmed with planning.
Personally, I think we should strive to win. I like the idea of winning two years in a row. :)
Nothing But Reading Challenges
Books mentioned in this topic
We Are All Guilty Here (other topics)Grave Peril (other topics)
Through Gates of Garnet and Gold (other topics)
What the Wife Knew (other topics)
The Seven Rings (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Andre Norton (other topics)Samanta Schweblin (other topics)
Darby Kane (other topics)
Jessie Mihalik (other topics)
Tessa Bailey (other topics)
More...
Team Members
• Jenny - Captain
• Angie ☯ - Co-Captain
• Maria Jo - Co-Captain
• Vicki
• Cilla Fleig
• Donna
• Carrie
• Kaley
• Melanie
• Sandy
• Claire
• Christy Trahan
• Alysa
• AJ
Team Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Challenge Status: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...