Take It or Leave It Challenge - August 2013 - Page 1

For those new to this challenge: More info and monthly index can be found in post #1 of this thread or this TIOLI FAQS wiki.

Simple directions for posting to the wiki can be found at the bottom of each month's wiki page.


...logo by cyderry

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You might ask "Y" I'm doing the following challenge for August...

Well, cyderry had a challenge for February that called for reading a book whose title had only 4 of the regular 5 vowels (Y excluded). I don't want the letter "Y" to feel neglected here on the TIOLI challenges, so your new challenge for August 2013 is to read a book whose title or subtitle ends in Y. Heh!

Here are some recommendations:
1. A Star Called Henry - Roddy Doyle
2. The Dawning of the Day - Haim Sabato
3. Laundry - Suzane Adam
4. Lowboy - John Wray
5. Sorry - Gail Jones

Now that you know "Y", go pick your books, and...

Have fun!

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Other Fun Stuff (not part of the TIOLI challenge):

1. The August 2013 TIOLI Meter - Optional page on which you may track your TIOLI reading. FYI: This is not meant to be competitive - only fun!
2. Morphidae's List of Previous TIOLI Challenges - You may use this reference (Do a control-F scan) to avoid repeating a previous challenge. If your idea is similar to a previous challenge, just make it unique by adding a new "twist" to it. (Updated 08/21/13)

Wiki Index:

Challenges #1-6
1. Ready a book whose title or subtitle ends in Y - msg #1.
2. Read a book with a blurry sky on the cover - msg #4
3. Read a book by a Francophone author - msg #6
4. Read a book with a word in the title or the author's name suggesting either "big" or "small" - msg #7
5. Read a book where the title has at least two sequences of 2 letters or more that follow each other in the alphabet - msg #9
6. Read a book about World War I - msg #10

Challenges #7-12
7. Read a book you acquired in the first six months of 2013 - msg #11
8. Read a book by an author with a name that is also a verb - msg #12
9. Read a book about a woman head of church or state or one aspiring to be so - msg #13
10. Read a book whose author shares a name with the newest British Royal, George Alexander Louis - msg #14
11. Read a book whose theme involves expatriates, culture clash or similar dislocations - msg #15
12. Read a Book Longlisted for the Booker Prize but not Shortlisted (can include the 2013 longlist) - msg #18

Challenges #13-18
13. Read a Book which is dedicated to the parents (or one parent) of the author - msg #19
14. Read a book with punctuation in the title - msg #24
15. Read a book with murder in its heart - msg #41
16. Read a book with the word "Dog" in the title or in the author's name - msg #42
17. Read a book with a painting or a detail of a painting on the cover - msg #48 - thread
18. Read a book that has been published as a Virago Modern Classic, by an author new to you - msg #74

Challenge #19
19. Read a Book That You Consider a Comfort Read - msg #87

Challenges are now closed until time for the September challenges to be posted. Thanks!

Wow...I'm even too early for the wiki!? :D

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Challenge #2: Read a book with a blurry sky on the cover
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I am headed off for vacation, so will leave each to his own interpretation of "blurry" - painted, photoshopped, whatever, but obviously meant to be "sky". The blurry sky can be on any cover of your intended title; does not have to be the one in your hand.

Examples:
The Firebird, Susanna Kearsley
Raven Black, Ann Cleeves
The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope, Rhonda Riley
Bereft, Chris Womersley
The Reservoir, John M. Thompson
The Map of Lost Memories, Kim Fay

> 3

Have you been camping out overnight on this thread. Liz? ;)

Challenge #3: Read a book by a non-European Francophone author

The third quarter (July-September) theme of the Reading Globally group is Francophone literature, so my challenge this month is to read a book, fiction or non-fiction, by an author from a non-European French speaking country. The work should have been originally written in French, and you can read it in any language that you choose.

According to the theme, authors from the following countries and territories are eligible:

I. French is the official language of France and its overseas territories* as well as 14 other countries:
1. Bénin
2. Burkina Faso
3. Central African Republic
4. Congo (Democratic Republic of)
5. Congo (Republic of)
6. Côte d'Ivoire
7. Gabon
8. Guinea
9. Luxembourg
10. Mali
11. Monaco
12. Niger
13. Sénégal
14. Togo

*French territories - DOM-TOM
Départements d'outre-mer (DOM), also called Régions d'outre-mer (ROM)
French Guyana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, La Réunion
Collectivités d'outre-mer (COM), formerly called Territoires d'outre mer (TOM)
French Polynesia, Mayotte,** New Caledonia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon,** Wallis and Futuna, French southern & Antarctic lands

**These two were formerly called Collectivités territoriales

II. French is one of the official languages in the following countries:
• Belgium
• Burundi
• Cameroon
• Canada
• Chad
• Channel Islands (Guernsey and Jersey)
• Comoros
• Djibouti
• Equatorial Guinea
• Haiti (the other official language is French Creole)
• Madagascar
• Rwanda
• Seychelles
• Switzerland
• Vanuatu

Other countries with significant French speaking populations:
• Tunisia
• Morocco
• Algeria

There are also a number of countries where French is commonly used but not official.

Some examples of non-European Francophone literature and non-fiction from my library:

Nathacha Appanah, The Last Brother
Mahi Binebine, Welcome to Paradise
Aimé Césaire, A Season in the Congo, Solar Throat Slashed
Patrick Chamoiseau, Solibo Magnificent, Texaco
Albert Cossery, The Jokers
Assia Djebar, Algerian White, Children of the New World
Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth, Toward the African Revolution
Tahar Ben Jelloun, This Blinding Absence of Light, Leaving Tangier
Tete-Michel Kpomassie, An African in Greenland
Abdellatif Laabi, The Bottom of the Jar
Dany Laferrière, The World Is Moving Around Me, The Return
Camara Laye, The Radiance of the King
Amin Maalouf, Leo Africanus, Origins
Alain Mabanckou, Tomorrow I'll Be Twenty, Broken Glass
Albert Memmi, Pillar of Salt
Abdelwahab Meddeb, Talismano
Léonora Miano, Dark Heart of the Night
Sembène Ousmane, God's Bits of Wood
René Philoctète, Massacre River
Jacques Poulin, Mister Blue, Translation Is a Love Affair
Boualem Sansal, The German Mujahid
Sony Lab'ou Tansi, The Antipeople
Lyonel Trouillot, Children of Heroes, Street of Lost Footsteps
Abdourahman A. Waberi, Transit, In the United States of Africa

I would also encourage you to look at the Francophone literature thread for additional books that others are reading or have recommended for this challenge.

>>#3

And after that, I wandered off for too long and missed the prize #2 slot! :)

However:

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Challenge #4: Read a book with a word in the title or the author's name suggesting either "big" or "small"

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> 7

And after that, I wandered off for too long and missed the prize #2 slot! :)

LOL!!

Well, Madeline and I must have been thinking along the same line, because my challenge this month also has to do with the alphabet.

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Challenge #5: '''Read a book where the title has at least two sequences of 2 letters or more that follow each other in the alphabet
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Letters do not have to be together in the words just in the title.

Example : The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - EF, HI, KLMNO, RST

Challenge #6: Read a book about World War I

It can be fiction or nonfiction and needn't be only about the war.

Challenge 7: Read a Book You Acquired in the First Six Months of 2013

We'll call this the Mt. TBR prevention challenge:

2013 is over halfway done, and we all have those books we got earlier in the year and meant to get to. But of course we haven't. Any book you picked up between January and June 2013 qualifies, whether you bought it, borrowed it from a friend, or (heaven forbid) checked it out from the library. Stop the TBR pile before it gets any bigger and join in!

Challenge 8: Read a book by an author with a name that is also a verb

Example: Carol Shields

No embedded words for this challenge please. It will be interesting to see how many different author/verbs we can find.

Challenge # 9: Read a book about a woman head of church or state or one aspiring to be so
This is a great time to read Pope Joan or at the other end of the spectrum, one of those Sarah Palin books you have lying around.
My planned reads for this challenge are:
Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman - Robert K. Massie Book club
Lives of Extraordinary Women: Rulers, Rebels (and What the Neighbors Thought) - Kathleen Krull -Audiobook
The Mists of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley Audiobook

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Challenge #10: By George! Read a book whose author shares a name with the newest British Royal, George Alexander Louis
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Examples:
A Good American Alex George
The Cardturner Louis Sachar
The Forest Unseen David George Haskell
The New Jim Crow Michelle Alexander

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Challenge #11 -- Read a book that involves some form of culture clash, or expatriate experience
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In a lettter to readers on the ARC of Booker-nominated novel We Need New Names, author NoViolet Bulawayo writes of the plight of global nomads and dislocated folks of all kinds -- refugees and exiles trying to forge a new life for themselves in a new society. "Those of us who give up our homelands live with quiet knowledge nestled in our blood like an incurable disease; even as we are here, we are tied to somewhere else."

This challenge is to read a book whose theme is tied to this idea: migration from one kind of world to another. The characters can be refugees; they can be aid workers; they can be self-exiled; they can be emigrants. What is important is that a major part of the book's plot or narrative is about this experience. For instance, I would exclude the mystery novel The Expats by Chris Pavone; the characters may be living in Luxembourg, but that fact is incidental to the plot.

The catalyst for this challenge is the fact that several novels nominated for the Booker fall into this category, as well as some that weren't, and some older books I have read. Here's a very brief list of some that would qualify, and I'll try to get a separate thread up and running where people can list other ideas and discuss the theme.

A Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio by Amara Lakhous
Bitter Almonds by Laurence Cosse
(a lot of European novels published by Europa emphasize this theme...)
Free World by David Bezmogis
Arrival City by Doug Saunders (non-fiction)
Jhumpa Lahiri's novels
Almost English by Charlotte Mendelson
Honour by Elif Shafak
Hand Me Down World by Lloyd Jones

To clarify: this isn't the place for a book that deals with someone who moves within their own country, or marries up or tries to immerse themselves in a lower class as in Nickled and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. It's not for novels about trying to adjust to the culture of the military, or for a travel book in which the narrator travels through many different places.

You can include memoirs if the author moved to a place with the clear intention of living there permanently, or novels like Le Divorce, where the story is told through the eyes of an American whose sister is married to a Frenchman. Tim Mackintosh-Smith spent years with Yemen as his home base, so while Dictionary Land is a travel book, it is told through the eyes of someone who is alien to that culture but inhabits it.

Any questions, just holler!

#10 -- Linda, I have a couple of books I've been meaning to read that deal with the peace negotiations at the end of WW1 -- the Versailles treaty. Would these count for your WW1 challenge? The shooting has stopped, but the events are a continuation of the war in another format... (trying to make my case!)

#9 -- re challenge # 5 -- Do subtitles count?

Challenge 10 - There we go, that's the place to put my likely only book this month. I'm going to start A Game of Thrones (and almost certainly not finish it).

Challenge #12 - Read a book Longlisted for the Booker Prize but not Shortlisted (Can include 2013 list)

The recent announcement will have many rushing to read and judge the longlist for themselves; so you can put them here.

Longlisting has been done since 2001 and you can choose for the same by referring to the Booker timeline here:

http://www.themanbookerprize.com/timeline

Books which went on to be shortlisted or won the prize cannot be included. As the shortlist won't be announced until 10 September for this years prize, the whole of that longlist can be included.

Challenge #13: Read a Book which is dedicated to the parents (or one parent) of the author

Any book that is dedicated to mother, father, or both parents, but not to the 'mother of this story' or 'to my Doktorvater'

>15 Chatterbox: I'm planning to read The Book of Secrets by M.G. Vassanji. The setting is described as an Asian community in East Africa. However, I'm not sure I'll be able to tell if it fits the challenge without reading it. I've got it on order from the library so I don't even have a copy in hand to check.

# 14 Brenda, for your challenge #10 would the Russian form of Alexander be acceptable, as in Aleksandr?

#16, Suz, of course those would count. I don't have anything from that time so I'll be curious as to what you'll be reading.

6: Challenge 3: kidzdoc - presumably the inclusion of Luxembourg on your list is a mistake (because it's a European country)? Not that this has much bearing on the challenge - I'm not aware that I own or have borrowed or aspire to read any book by an author from Luxembourg - I'm not sure I know of any such authors.

Gabrielle Roy is a French Canadian author who wrote in French - her most famous work is The Tin Flute.

11: Challenge 7 - I'm very grateful for this one, as it will be very useful for many of the books I want to prioritise but can't fit into other challenges - including any from a rather large batch of Amazon Vine review books acquired in June, which take precedence over the even larger pile of July acquisitions. It would also facilitate some of my newish Persephone and Virago acquisitions and lots of recent Kindle downloads. Of course I don't want to list everything I read in the same challenge but it makes me feel more secure to know that I have a fallback place.

Challenge #14: Read a book with punctuation in the title

Easy one. Seems like the last couple of months the challenges have been especially... challenging.

So apostrophes, commas, exclamation points, periods, etc.

Moloka'i by Alan Brennert
Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears by Ellen Datlow (ed.)
Swamplandia! by Karen Russell

> 24

Seems like the last couple of months the challenges have been especially... challenging.

Exactly! :D

Light in August by William Faulkner for Challenge #5. Yes!!!
:-)

>21 Carmenere: Lynda, Let's leave the names exactly as they appear in the prince's name. Thanks for checking . . .

Okie dokie, Brenda. Makes sense to me

#26 Ahh, thanks for reminding me of that one Ellen. Off to my bookshelves to grap it.

A Tale for the Time Being is listed in challenges 5 (twice) and 12 (once) - I might join in on this one, though I'd quite like it to be Challenge 12, because the only other Booker longlist 2013 title I own at the moment is also listed for a different challenge. However, if Challenge 5 is a majority preference, I'd happily go with that.

Following up on Luci's point re French Canadian authors (and I'm sure Ilana can weigh in even more...)
Gabrielle Roy is an excellent choice; The Tin Flute is iconic. (Incidentally,as Roy shows, all francophone authors are not from Quebec; Roy was from Winnipeg...)
Another classic is Maria Chapdelaine, which certainly has been translated. This is a bit tricky, as Hemon had been born in France but was living in and writing in/about French-speaking Canada, so Darryl may rule that it is hors de combat.
Mon vieux et moi is a short little book by Pierre Gagnon which is lovely, if you read French.
Jacques Poulin has had several of his novels translated and published by Archipelago.
Antonine Maillet has won both the Priz Goncourt and the Governor General's Award -- Pelagie is available in English, I'm pretty sure.
Another suggestion is Lise Tremblay. The Hunting Ground and Mile End have both been translated.
There is The Plouffe Family by Roger Lemelin, if you can hunt down a copy.
Roch Carrier is very well known in English Canada, and a number of his books have been translated. I may see what I can find from his books for this challenge.

#20 -- Carrie, this may work. Why don't I leave the decision to you after you have read it? I haven't, and the description of the book could go either way. On the one hand, it's clearly at least in part the narrative of someone who is out of place. What isn't clear is whether that "displacement" is or contributes to a major theme in the book. For instance, I wouldn't have considered Burmese Days an option for this. Orwell is observing the culture he is inhabiting (but inhabiting only temporarily), but his theme has more to do with colonialism, class, etc. than it does to the struggle to live inside an alien culture, as Orwell really wasn't trying to do that.

31: I hadn't realised that - I found The Tin Flute on a list of books set in Montreal or Quebec in a Rough Guide to Canada, I'm sure.

Meeting the English is a delicious newish novel about cultural displacement - the irony is that the main character is a Scottish teenager who thinks he's going to meet the English by taking a summer job in Hampstead, but in fact many of the people he meets are themselves displaced, from Wales/Iran/Belgium, for example.

If I recall correctly, the novel is set in Quebec, but the author was part of the large Francophone community in either Winnipeg or Saint Boniface.

That sounds like a great idea for challenge #11, Luci!

Usually, I jump in with both feet once the next month's TIOLI is posted and furiously start marking down anything I might read.

However, this month, I'm still basking in the glow and the wonderful memories of my 35th high school reunion weekend.

Just starting to turn my thoughts towards what I might read next month.

Liz, for challenge 4, is "hamlet" acceptable as a word suggesting small, or are you looking for actual synonyms of "big" and "small"?

I note that Transatlantic is currently listed under both challenge 7 and challenge 12.

>23 elkiedee: Right, Luci; thanks for picking up on that. I cut and pasted lists of the Francophone territories and countries from the Francophone literature Reading Globally thread, but I didn't notice that some European countries and territories were included.

>>#35

No, I'm looking just for adjectives - big, small, huge, tiny, large, miniscule - sorry!

>38 lyzard: I thought that's what you would say, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask!

> 38 - so, Little, Big would work for challenge #4! ;-)

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Challenge 15
READ A BOOK WITH MURDER IN ITS HEART

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Everything from cozy mysteries to war crimes.

I'd like to mention Morphy's group read of The Complete Maus, the award winning graphic novel of the Holocaust. http://www.librarything.com/topic/156739 My library was unable to obtain a copy of the Complete Maus for me, so I'm listing the novels individually as I receive them from the library.

Challenge #16: Read a book to celebrate August, the "dog days of summer".
It should have the word "Dog" in the title or in the author's name (can be embedded)

How about it?

I'm planning to finally read A Dog About Town, one of my SantaThing books.

I could probably fit almost every book I read into challenge #15. Hurray!!

Cyderry, a question on challenge 5: Read a book where the title has at least two sequences of 2 letters or more that follow each other in the alphabet

Can I use two sequences that contain the same letters? So I've got Fame fatale on the go, which has EF as consecutive alphabet letters, but actually contains those letters twice.

Would that meet the requirement for two separate sequences of 2 letters?

Edited because I'm a numpty who obviously doesn't know her alphabet and failed to spot that M follows L. Book added

Is an ampersand -- & -- punctuation?? I suspect not, but if not, does anyone know what it is defined as? And yes, I know I make my living writing, but that doesn't mean I can define what's going on!! *grin*

Cyderry, I also have a question abt your challenge -- whether subtitles can be included or not.

The ampersand was originally a ligature of the two letters 'e' and 't'. How it is classified today I don't know, but you are right it isn't punctuation.

What an interesting question, Suzanne! I had to look it up immediately and find that & is a "character" - "a symbol in a writing system." Periods and apostrophes, on the other hand, are defined as "marks." (Compliments of The American Heritage Dictionary)

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CHALLENGE 17 Read a book with a painting or a detail of a painting on the cover. Include the name of the painting and the artist
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I'll make a thread if you'd like to display the art! (All Virago/All August, this is for you!)

It strikes me as a kind of hybrid -- I knew it wouldn't work for the punctuation challenge, but it made me wonder what it really was! Peggy, I like that definition. It definitely is a notch below a letter (it doesn't have the versatility of a letter) and yet does more than simply "punctuate".

Agreed! An asterisk is a character too. I had never thought to ask! (risk or no risk)

Peggy, oooh, that challenge with a painting on the cover could be a beautiful one.

Not sure I have anything that fits but I'll enjoy looking.

Speaking of All Virago / All August, I just thought I'd point out that's there's a mini-group read of The Return Of The Soldier developing in Challenge #6.

And yes, yay for Challenge #17! Nice, Peggy. :)

Oh! Thanks for the info, Liz. If I can possibly get to it in August, I'll be sure to join the group and post it under challenge 6!
(I checked Morphy's list and was surprised not to see it there already.)

Interestingly, I've looked at some books on my TBR shelves that have details or paintings on the cover -- only to find that the photo credits cite the museum in which the painting hangs, but not the title or name of the artist! How annoying! Which proves, I suppose, that not all of the art works that make great cover art are great enough art to be instantly recognizable. (Just as not all books that turn into great movies are great books, or not all great books turn into great movies...)

> 42

I'm planning to finally read A Dog About Town, one of my SantaThing books.

That's a really cute book. The author sent me a signed copy of his book after I talked to him on LT author chat. :)

(55) After I created Challenge 16, I discovered I had a pile of 'dog' books. I'm hoping to knock out a few this month:

A Dog About Town by JF Englert
Just a Dog by Helen Griffiths
Red Dog by Louis de Bernieres
Dogsong by Gary Paulsen

44 & 45>>> double of the same doesn't count, sorry but subtitles do.

57> I did think that might be the answer, but if you don't ask, you don't get...

I've noticed that A Tale for the Time Being is listed on both Challenge 5 and Challenge 12. Would those who plan on reading it figure out where they want it to go?

I don't think that it's required that we keep all our books together in one challenge? I've already got a # for challenge 12, so plan to keep my book in challenge 5. Whatever other folks want to do is up to them, however, and I don't need anyone to join me on #5.

I've added Anecdotes of Destiny and Ehrengard by Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen to Challenge 6 (CD and ST). The short story collection contains "Babette's Feast," the story that was the basis for one of my favorite movies. I am champing at the bit to read the book, and would be thrilled if others wanted to join in. It was a little tricky for me to locate a copy for myself, so I hope it's all right to give an early shout-out for the book?

Lots of good reading this month!

Karen O.

Are we going to max out at 17 this month? Quite a change from 27 in July!

> 60

I don't think that it's required that we keep all our books together in one challenge?

It's not required. It does help add TIOLI points, though.

>63 SqueakyChu: OK, I misunderstood. I just thought that it was, and was trying to be helpful. Thank you for letting me know!

59/60/63/64 : I also noticed the double listing of A Tale for the Time Being, and it's true that there's no requirement to move it - so far 6 people have listed it, 2 in Challenge 5 and 4 in Challenge 12. In fact Challenge 5 is the only one where I've already completed a different book, and I think I may well end up with several books in both challenges.

If anyone in the UK is interested in TransAtlantic from the Booker longlist, it's currently a Kindle bargain at 99p.

I may well still post a challenge.

It is a rule of course that challenges are limited to one per person but I was really torn this month between my Booker longlist one which I chose and a challenge based on the books mentioned in Jo Walton's book Among Others; oh well I'll wait for next month and that one - unless..................................!

unless..................................!

Nope! Sorry.

My planed reads for August:

Challenge #1: Read a book whose title or subtitle ends in Y
✔The Testament of Mary - Colm Toibin (3)
Challenge #4 Read a book with a word in the title or the author's name suggesting either "big" or "small"
✔The State of Jones: The Small Southern County that Seceded from the Confederacy - Sally Jenkins - E-Audiobook (4.5)
Challenge #5: Read a book where the title has at least two sequences of 2 letters or more that follow each other in the alphabet
✔Not a Genuine Black Man: Or, How I Claimed My Piece of Ground in the Lily-White Suburbs - Brian Copeland (4)
Challenge #6. Read a book about World War I
✔Hattie Big Sky - Kirby Larson - E-Audiobok (4)
Challenge #7: Read a book you acquired in the first six months of 2013
✔Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present- Harriet A. Washington (4)
Challenge #9: Read a book about a woman head of church or state or one aspiring to be so
✔Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman - Robert K. Massie - Book Club (4.5)
✔Lives of Extraordinary Women: Rulers, Rebels (and What the Neighbors Thought) - Kathleen Krull - E-Audiobook (4.5)
✔The Mists of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley - Audiobook (4)
Challenge #11: Read a book whose theme involves expatriates, culture clash or similar dislocations
✔Folly and Glory - Larry McMurtry - Audiobook (4)
✔By Sorrow's River by Larry McMurtry - Audiobook (4)
✔The Condition: A Novel - Jennifer Haigh - E-Audiobook (4.5)
✔Little Bee - Chris Cleave - E-Audiobook (4)
✔Sin Killer - Larry McMurtry - Audiobook (3)
✔The Wandering Hill: The Berrybender Narratives, Book 2 Larry McMurtry - Audiobook (4)
Challenge #14: Read a book with punctuation in the title
✔The Cuckoo's Calling - Robert Galbraith (4)
✔Where'd You Go, Bernadette -Maria Semple - E-Audiobook (4.5
Challenge #15: Read a book with murder in its heart
Removed Bohannon's Country - Joseph Hansen
✔When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson (5)
✔Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: and here my troubles began - Art Spiegelman (4)
Challenge #16: Read a book to celebrate August, the "dog days of summer". It should have the word "Dog" in the title or in the author's name
✔A dog named Boo: How One Dog and One Woman Rescued Each Other--and the Lives They Transformed Along the Way - Lisa J. Edwards - Audiobook (4)
✔The Dog Who Danced - Susan Wilson - Audiobook (4)
✔Dogs Don't Lie - Clea Simon -E-Audiobook (2.5)
✔A Dog's Tale - Mark Twain - E-Audiobook - (4.5)
✔I Could Chew on This: and other poems by Dogs by Francesco Marciuliano (2.5)
✔Soul of a dog: reflections on the spirits of the animals of Bedlam Farm - Jon Katz (3.5)
✔Started early, took my dog - Kate Atkinson - E-Audiobook (4.5)
Challenge #19. Read a Book That You Consider a Comfort Read
✔The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society -Mary Ann; Barrows Shaffer, Annie - E-Audio (4)
✔My Man Jeeves - P.G. Wodehouse E-Audiobook (3)

Apologies if I'm picking nits, and it's for whoever launched challenge #9 (citizenjoyce?) to rule on this, but I think a couple of books that don't really fit in to the challenge as written? The Queen of Last Hopes is about a queen by marriage, not someone who was a queen by right and thus not a head of state; Illuminations is a fab novel about a woman who became powerful within the church, and who became an abbess, but who never aspired to become pope or head of her own church, if you define by religion. If these broader books fit, do let me know, as I've got a couple that I would love to throw into the mix! (For that matter, does Hild, which I have signed up to read as a matched read, qualify? I haven't read it yet, so I don't know if she was aspiring to be a head of state. I do know that she ended up as an abbess, which would be the head of a group within a religion, but not the head of a church per se.) Perhaps CJ could elaborate slightly??

#69 Hild/Hilda of Whitby not only became an abbess, but abbess of a double monastery of men and women, and was one of the most influential people in the church of her time, and an advisor of kings. Whether you call her head of her church depends on how wide a definition of church you are making. Will be interested to see what citizenjoyce says on this subject!

Yes, me too! I agree re both Hild/Hilda and Hildegard -- both were incredibly significant figures as spiritual leaders, but were they heads of church?? It would make a lively debate for some Jesuits, wouldn't it??! :-)

Madeline...........hahaha.....no actually I was hinting for someone else to put up the challenge, I am the most law abiding of citizens and couldn't conceive of trying to bend the rules!

:)

I've added a challenge in aid of the all-Virago all-August. It's a twist on a previous challenge.

Challenge #18- Read a book that has been published as a Virago Modern Classic by an author new to you

:)

>69 Chatterbox:, Suzanne, I'm never a nit picker. A woman who heads any sort of church would fit, even one out of her own house, so certainly an abbess would work. Now, about a queen by marriage - I don't know how that would work. Does she have power? Having just read The Mists of Avalon I can see that Guinevere was queen by marriage, but she certainly had power as did Woodrow Wilson's wife even though she was never elected to anything. Knowing very little about royalty, I can't say if that particular queen had power.

ETA: What did I just read that included a bit about Margaret of Anjou? It seems to me she was pretty powerful, at least for a while.

#75 - Oh, thank you!

Thanks for the clarification! Marguerite of Anjou exercised power through her status as queen consort, and because her husband was batty and her son was a child. She never ruled or reigned; when her husband was incapacitated, there was a regency council. So I suppose it comes down to power when it comes to mustering troops or serving as a symbolic focus, or power in governing?

Glad that Hild and Hildegard qualify! And any historical fiction fans out there can also look for books about Caterina Sforza, who really did have power, until she tangled with Cesare Borgia... :-) And there were leaders like Boudicca and Cartimandua in ancient Britain; and Cleopatra! Loads out there about her. Nefertiti was actually named co-Pharoah with Akhenaten, too.

How about the empress Theodora (books by Stella Duffy)? It was through marriage, but she certainly wielded a lot of power.

Theodora certainly was more active in governing that Marguerite of Anjou. She drew up laws and worked side by side with Justinian in running the empire -- and it was she who persuaded him not to run away from the Blue/Green factional riots.

Oh, Suzanne, I'd just like to graft part of your brain onto mine. You've given me ideas for many months to come.
And to answer your question:
So I suppose it comes down to power when it comes to mustering troops or serving as a symbolic focus, or power in governing?
Exactly right.

I was thinking of reading The Purple Shroud this month under that category - although I suppose her husband would have remained head of state.

>74 lahochstetler: Challenge 18 may be my chance to finally read one of the Molly Keane (M.J. Farrell) novels that I've collected w/o dipping into them at all.

Luci, based on CJ's response, I'd say that would fit. And it's a good yarn, too!

Hmm, CJ, now I'm wondering just what ideas I have planted in your own rather fertile brain??!! (Sorry, can't spare any of mine for grafting purposes; need all that I have to get by on a day to day basis...)

Bonnie, for next month, I have a challenge that may take care of that for you, too... :-)

>82 brenzi:- Molly Keane is great! dooooo it!

>81 elkiedee: Right, Luci. If she was the consort of Justinian and she exerted power she's in.

Fo a historical figure who aspired to be head of state, you could try Matilda, daughter of Henry 1. After his sone drowned, she was named as his heir and would have been England's first regnant Queen (as opposed to Queen consort). It didn't happen. Civil war happened instead when her cousin Stephen took the throne. It's a bit doorstopy, but When Christ and his Saints Slept is a fictional account of the time. She's remarkably little known for such a mould-breaking woman.

As I am having a difficult month with family illnesses, I have just posted:

**************************
Challenge #19: Read a Book That You Consider a Comfort Read

I am not able to concentrate on anything that requires much thinking right now, so am planning on a lot of lighter reading and re-reads.

Hurrah, Judy! Fab challenge, and exactly what I need, too, although thankfully not for the same reasons as you do. Hope things are getting better.

Matilda/Maud is a great example. She came within days/weeks of being crowned only to be driven away, and the back and forth went on for a decade or so. She also did wield real power in the areas that she controlled. If you want something less doorstoppy, Elizabeth Chadwick's Lady of the English would qualify. Or The Fatal Crown by Ellen Jones.

I've listed quite a slew of books on various challenges but can already see that my August reading will be a bit of a non-starter. I'll try to get some of the shared reads done.

For Challenge #11 I'm going to join Suzanne and Darryl and read We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo.

I finished Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery (dedicated to father and mother) for challenge # 13

I finished Fame Fatale for challenge #5 and cannot bring myself to recommend it in any way. This could have been so much better had it not descended into farce. I listened to it and actually found myself shouting at the stereo because it was just so stupid!

#92 I listened to it and actually found myself shouting at the stereo because it was just so stupid!

lol! Now, that's bad! thanks for taking one for the rest of us

93 - to make matters worse, I listen while driving and not only was there shouting, there may have been both hands off the wheel gesticulation involved as well...

Trouble is, that parts of it were quite good and there was the outline of a reasonable story there - it just got over done.

Those are the books I end up hating the most -- great premises and crappy execution, where the author couldn't deliver or just got lazy. Grrrrr.

I can recommended The Grand Sophy for challenge #1!

I finished and REVIEWED Keith Lowe's masterful Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II for the challenge to read a book with murder at its heart.

Now I'm reading The Soldier's Art for the challenge to Read a book with punctuation in the title.

DeltaQueen50 (Judy?), I need that challenge as well. I'm only into my second 'new' read for August, and find myself bogging down already...but what will my "comfort" read be? Hmmm...

I need help!

I'm reading the Early Reviewer book I won for June, I Am Algonquin by Rick Revelle, but can't fit it in any of the challenges.

Am I missing a spot where I could put it?

It would fit in challenge #8 since "rick" is a verb.

Got it, Lor!

Rick can be a verb. I gave it a quick lookup to make sure that it wasn't just a localism-- meaning to stack hay unbaled. (Are you going to rick that hay?) That meaning is listed under the definition as a transitive verb as well as another verb meaning to hurt your back or neck (I haven't heard that one!)

fuzzi, you may it put into #2, a blurry sky, or #5, letters LMNO

eh--beaten to the draw with the same idea!

ETA--see what fun we all have with the word thing!

Thought of another woman who was an effectively very powerful ruler and who would probably qualify for challenge #9 -- Catherine de Medici. Was a regent for her second son for years and wielded as much authority as her third -- Henri III -- during her remaining life. Was reminded of her power while reading about her daughter in law, Mary Queen of Scots, for the same challenge. Lots of good books about catherine by CW Gortner, Jean Plaidy, jeanne Kalogridis (fiction).

Thanks! You all are AWESOME!

:D

I also thank everyone who found a place for I Am Algonquin as I also received this as an ER book, so I am now going to join Fuzzi in Challenge 8 for a joint read.

I finished Joshua Spassky by Gwendoline Riley for the Y challenge

Here are the July 2013 stats!

In the month of July, there were 27 challenges in which 550 books were COMPLETED. Of those books, 113 (or 20%) were shared reads, making for a total of 61 TIOLI points (or 459 YTD TIOLI points).

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks was the most popular book of the month - read by 11 challengers.

The most popular challenge was DeltaQueen's challenge to read a book of less than 300 pages. There were 101 books COMPLETED for that challenge.

It was also DeltaQueen's challenge to read a book of less than 50 pages that had the highest number of TIOLI points (11 of them).

---------------------------

Interesting facts about our stats:

1. The fact that there were 27 challenges makes July the month with the highest month of TIOLI challenges ever!

2. The number of TIOLI points for July was the same number (61) as the was for June of this year. :)

3. The Wasp Factory had the most shared books (11) since January, 2001!

Coming soon...the July 2013 TIOLI awards. :)

I enjoy the stats every month, Madeline, otherwise I would not take the time to figure it all out. So thanks for keeping us so well informed.

I see no complaints...so the stats will continue. :)

I find the stats really interesting. I started doing them to keep track of whether or not participation in TIOLI was waxing or waning. I'm happy to report that participation has been quite steady (and manageable for me) over the past few years.

Madeline, I find the stats fascinating, myself.

I also think that participation changes, over time. I'm reading as much as ever but don't seem to do as many shared reads as before.

> 113

From the stats, I can tell you this...

The shared reads have gone down over time as follows:

2010 - 31%
2011 - 28%
2012 - 25%
2013 - 21% (YTD)

Hmmmmm......!

For instance, I'm hosting a group read of The Guns of August this month.

Quite a few people are reading it but I haven't figured out whether any of them do TIOLI. With no one else joining me on this challenge under #6, I suspect not.

> 115

On the other hand, maybe you can get some TIOLI challengers to join your group read, Linda!

Feel free, you and others, to advertise your group reads on the TIOLI threads. It's always more fun to read something you like at the same time others are reading the same book.

In case you missed the announcement on our separate thread...

Our MOST CHARMING ANIMAL for the July TIOLI challenge to read a book with an animal pictured on the 2013 National Book Festival poster

...is the mouse in The Mousewife.



Our winner is inge87.

Congratulations, Jennifer! Your very small gift is going out in tomorrow morning's mail.

#116 Thanks, Madeline.

If anyone is interested in joining our group read for the Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman, please join the discussion, over at the 2013 category challenge, at:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/156979

It's a fast-paced history of World War I's first month, August 1914. With the 100th anniversary coming up next year, now's the time to get a jump on the centennial. :)

I finished it last night and gave it 4 stars.

President Kennedy was quite a fan of this book (published during his presidency). He obtained a bunch of copies and ordered his cabinet members and primary military advisers to read it.

I think the shared read drop-off reflects both an increased number of challenges, and the regular occurrence of more general challenges like Judy's 300 page challenge last month, rather than any lack of intent or desire.

As long as we're mentioning group reads here, I will be setting up the thread for Anthony Trollope's The Small House At Allington (TIOLI #4) tonight. I will update this message with the link when it's done.

> 119

I think the shared read drop-off reflects both an increased number of challenges

The stats bear that fact out...

2010 - average 13 challenges per month
2011 - average 20 challenges per month
2012 - average 21 challenges per month
2013 - average 25 challenges per month

I think someone mentioned this before, but although the number of shared reads have gone down over the years, I would bet the number of book bullets has gone up. I often get book ideas from scanning through the various challenges and especially the books that are listed in one of my own challenges.

I am glad that you will continue to post the TIOLI stats, Madeline, I love reading through them.

Yes, I agree with the comment re book bullets. I would say that my own list of shared reads is pretty much unchanged over time (although highly volatile from month to month) since that's not the reason I'm participating. What I get out of this is the introduction to new things to read, whether consciously, as I choose what to read based on needing to find something for a particular challenge, or as I hear others talk about the books they read. Clearly, sharing reads isn't the only value that people place on TIOLI. I'd look at the trends in number of participants and number of books read as well as % of shared challenges, and only if all were dropping off would I suggest that there was anything amiss in the kingdom of Denmark. (Sorry, just finished reading Hamlet....) For instance, if we limited the # of challenges, that might not succeed in increasing the # of shared reads, but it might reduce the # of serendipitous discoveries.

And I have to disagree with Madeline that it's always fun to read the same book with others at the same time. That's rather a blanket statement that reflects a personal POV. Sometimes, it can be stressful, when the book starts feeling like "prescription reading", or when you fall behind. And some of us (like me) don't much enjoy group reads, full stop. I'd like to hope that TIOLI, like LT itself, can accommodate all approaches, without one being very clearly the desired/optimal/preferred outcome.

> 122

And I have to disagree with Madeline that it's always fun to read the same book with others at the same time. That's rather a blanket statement that reflects a personal POV. Sometimes, it can be stressful, when the book starts feeling like "prescription reading", or when you fall behind. And some of us (like me) don't much enjoy group reads, full stop. I'd like to hope that TIOLI, like LT itself, can accommodate all approaches, without one being very clearly the desired/optimal/preferred outcome.

I totally understand what you're saying, Suz. I don't like to ever *have to* read what others are reading. I only joined my first group read this month because I just happened to be reading a book that others chose for a group read. What I really like more is knowing that someone else is reading what I've just read so I can talk about the book while it's still fresh in my mind.

I'd like to hope that TIOLI, like LT itself, can accommodate all approaches, without one being very clearly the desired/optimal/preferred outcome.

That, I think, is what "or leave it" is all about.

I like shared reads because with my obscure tastes they hardly ever happen - always an exciting moment when they do! :)

#123 -- Understood, Madeline, that that is what the "leave it" portion means. But when there is lots of attention given to group reads and concern about the declining percentage, and some of the other stats aren't discussed at all (#of books, # of participants, # of challenges), that's kind of the way a message can come across to some readers -- that that is a major priority vs one of many priorities.

Well, my idea at the very beginning of TIOLI (and that was in 2010 - well before we all got to know one another so well) was that, if we "shared" a read, then we had a reason to visit each other's threads, talk to each other about what we just read, and might become "friends". It was never meant to be set up as a "group read". I don't mind that others use TIOLI for gathering group reads, though.

I personally had much more fun with the tutored reads I did with Liz (lyzard) than I ever could with a group read. Now I really need some time to do some more random reads. I like that the TIOLI provides all kinds of ways to do random reads. If my book matches someone else's book, well, that's cool because it's a TIOLI point. If not, it doesn't matter. That's the "no guilt" part of it.

I never, ever, wanted to join any book group as I did not want anyone deciding for me what I was going to read and when I was going to read it. I still feel that way. I am constantly starting books and then deciding that I'd rather be reading something else...and then switch books mid-stream. I'm fine with that.

> 125

concern about the declining percentage

I'll try to de-emphasize that - well, maybe a little but not entirely. :)

and some of the other stats aren't discussed at all (#of books, # of participants, # of challenges)

I always tell how many books are read in total each month.

I don't tell the number of participants because I delete books that are not COMPLETED. The number of participants is too tedious and evasive as a statistic for me to track.

However, I do notice the number of people who track their reading on the TIOLI meter. That tells me approximately how many people are actively engaged in the TIOLI challenges. That number has remained surprisingly constant over time.

I thought that, by now, people would have tired of the TIOLI challenges, but those that have stuck with us have not. I also thought that I'd have tired of running them by now. I have not.

I always tell how many challenges are run each month.

I just joined this group last month and even though I don't understand all the ins and outs yet, I love it. Why? With shelves of books waiting TBR and others read so long ago that I can't remember anything about them, never mind the pile of new books sitting by my bed, the challenges have given me a fresh way of looking at my books and I've been reading like crazy as a result. I can see myself getting competitive with myself trying to complete challenges in different ways. If I happen to be sharing a read with someone, I look forward to discussing it with them - that will be an added bonus - but if not, I'm happy too.

Thanks for being here everyone.

#128 Welcome to our little group!!

I rarely have shared reads because I usually set most of my next month reads at the end of the month, but then as the new month moves along, I'll see books that others are reading and I'll pick it up either from the library or Nook/Kindle. I will read a book a few months after someone else posted it in a TIOLI challenge, isn't it too bad we can't get a ½ point for a delayed share.

I often look for shared read options when I'm choosing my books, but for various reasons I always find I have to fit books in which aren't going to be shared reads, I often read a couple that are listed by others but for perfectly good reasons they don't complete them. For good reasons, a lot of books reappear on TIOLI for several months after first being listed, and are listed by a number of different people, and it's not only because it wasn't finished in one month.

> 128

JenMDB, you're getting out of these challenges exactly what I'd hoped members would. So glad you're happy here!

> 131

Heh! As Luci knows, a shared read is not always an easy thing to happen. You think you have a shared read...and then the three other people who've been reading your same book never finish it. Then...poof! No shared read for the month.

As you've probably guessed by now, the TIOLI challenges are also sort of a game. :D

I love looking to see if I've won an award each month.

> 129 Thanks. And speaking of shared reading, looks like you have Regeneration on your list for the month and I just finished it. We could chat about it :)

#135 That's great. I moved your entry up into the spot right by mine, alphabetically on the wiki, and I added a point to our total. I just picked my copy up at the library yesterday so I should get to it next week, maybe. Looking forward to it.

I may join you two in reading Regeneration if my library request comes through . . .

Lori, thanks for putting Blueberry Blues under challenge #19. I read it right at the start of the month and didn't put it anywhere. I don't think 19 was there yet.

Anyway, it was a pleasant surprise to see it there and unusual to go back and put something I read over a week ago into a challenge.

Speaking of blueberries, I may add The Irresistible Blueberry Bakeshop & Café to challenge #19. It's said to appeal to fans of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, which I loved.

I thought Blueberry Blues fits challenge 19, because the setting is one of those that brings comfort! You can't get much cozier than a B & B in Maine with food!

Eeeek, nowhere to put The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Lynda - it fits in challenge 5 (CDEF NO)

Thanks so much, calm!!!

Wait a sec, doesn't the NO need to come in order?

ETA: Nevermind, I see it!

I got an e-mail from PaperBackSwap that my requested copy Anecdotes of Destiny and Ehrengard has shipped, so hopefully it will get here soon so I can get started. I'll be especially interested in seeing how the Babette's Feast section compares with the film.

Meanwhile, I've started Homage to Catalonia, George Orwell's memoir of his experiences during the Spanish Civil War for challenge #10.

Inge87, I was pleasantly surprised with "Babette's Feast" (the short story) and my recollection of the film. I haven't read much Dinesen before, but I really like her writing. So glad you're joining in the read!

Karen O.

I know a number of people have read the Immortal Life of henrietta lacks in previous months, and I see it's on the list again this month. So hope posting this interesting follow up is not out of order:

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/36937/title/Q-A--NIH-Broke...

Seems that anyone using the cell line will now have to acknowledge that contribution to their research.

As I read it, it only covers researchers using the genomic sequence, not the cells themselves. I'm sure I'll get the official skinny at work tomorrow.

August TIOLI #14. Read a book with punctuation in the title: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

Alternate history fiction is an iffy proposition, get one thing out of order and the whole thing can collapse. But if you are willing to buy into the proposition that vampires exist and were supporting slavery as a way to keep ready food on standby and to take over America, it's not too big a stretch to accept that Abraham Lincoln was destined to be a vampire hunter and save the union.

Aside from that, the biggest problem I had with this book was that I was constantly being taken out of the story wondering what sort of research Grahame-Smith had done and what history he had gotten right. I shouldn't have to keep thinking, "Oh I need to go check that for veracity," as I'm reading a book about vampires.

Maybe it's the history nerd in me.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter was an amusing read, if you like that sort of thing. (tongue firmly planted in cheek)

147> Not at all my area of expertise, so it's very possible I've misunderstood exactly what has to be acknowledged.

So for challenge 15, I've just read Gone Girl. Definitely has murder at its heart.

August TIOLI Challenge #5: 'Read a book where the title has at least two sequences of 2 letters or more that follow each other in the alphabet - Not a Genuine Black Man: My Life as an Outsider by Brian Copeland (ABCDEFG KLMNO STU)

(NOTE: The LT touchstone has a different title than the one I picked up from the library.)

Brian Copeland is a local celebrity so when I saw his book at the library, I knew I needed to read it. I was not disappointed.

Mr Copeland is the perfect example of how we can never know what's going on in someone else's life. The horror of being black in the Bay Area never truly came to my mind, until I read this book. While identifying with so many of the "outsider/don't fit in" stories, and definitely the "I don't know what I did wrong. I'm a good person, why do people hate me/bully me so much?" theme, I will never in a million years understand why having a non-pink skin tone is justification to be horrible to people who are just trying to live their lives.

It's no surprise that Mr. Copeland slid into depression and beyond. The story of how he recovered and deals with being black in America and black in the diverse (yet somehow still racist) San Francisco Bay Area is a story told with grace and dignity.

Thank you Mr. Copeland for writing such a book

5 stars for being so well written and compelling, in addition to being so compelling I read it in one sitting.

Am I the only person reading The Cuckoo's Calling this month? That seems strange. Anyway, my requested copy just came in at the library, and I've put it in Challenge 15, the murder challenge. Between that challenge and the dog one, I'm reading way too many mysteries this month. It's like eating one whole chocolate cake after another. But boy, Kate Atkinson, what a treasure.

# 128 "the challenges have given me a fresh way of looking at my books and I've been reading like crazy as a result"

I have also joined recently. I, too, am using the challenges to get me to pick up books on my TBR list - especially ones that have been sitting around for awhile!

Oh, and AuntieClio, shame on you for adding to my TBR pile. My library has the Brian Copeland book, so I had to request it.

>152 Citizenjoyce: There's nothing wrong with chocolate cake - you just have to approach it like Bruce Bogtrotter. My library is about a year behind the times in getting new books so I might read The Cuckoo's Calling next summer! I have been a Kate Atkinson fan for years - a very satisfying writer.

#152 Citizenjoyce, there's a bunch of us reading The Cuckoo's Calling up in challenge #14. I haven't started and am not sure that I'll get to it this month and, as far as I'm concerned, I don't care which challenge it's put under.

>153 sara.sassafras:: Welcome, Sara. This is a supportive group and a fun way to make a dent in the TBR stack.

My last two books were the shortest book I've read this year - The Testament of Mary (81 pp.) for the "Y" Challenge - and the longest book I've read this year, Shantaram (936 pp.) for Ch. 7, a book acquired in the first six months of this year. Reviews are on the books' pages. Both were wonderful in very different ways.

Thanks, Linda. I'll move mine.

#154, Citizenjoyce, I mean it with all love and respect. I went to his website to send a thank you note for his book and the man himself responded!!!

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Hello JenMDB--I'm glad you are enjoying SqueakyChu's wonderful creation!

The book titles are usually alphabetical (unless otherwise specified by the challenge), so I moved your copy of Gone Girl from the end of the list of books in the challenge to the "g"s. I had Gone Girl listed in challenge #7, but deleted it and joined you in #15 so we'd match.

It's good to know you enjoyed it! I'll be reading it for my RL bocklub later this month.

>160 streamsong: Thanks for moving the book and for telling me - I hadn't noticed the alphabetical order. So much to learn.

Well, I won't spoil Gone Girl for you but I will say I found it both satisfying and unsettling in equal measure. And I like how well it fits Challenge #15. Enjoy.

Lindapanzo, a question on your challenge please?
A book about WW1, does that have to be set during the period of WW1, or can it include someone coming to terms with the events of WW1, but set in the mid 20s?

It's the Crimson Rooms for this months book club, so I may as well squeeze it into a challenge if I can (and I feel I should try something other than cyderry's challenge 5!)

It can be set later, as long as WW1 plays an important role. What you describe seems fine to me.

Thanks! It starts with a dream sequence, in which she's trying to save her brother from drowning in mud at the front, so it's certainly playing a significant role in the story to date.

1. Ready a book whose title or subtitle ends in Y - Pornland: How Porn has Hijacked Our Sexuality by Gail Dines

Holy cow, what a book. Definitely not for the faint of heart. I was alternately disgusted and angry as I read this. Dines makes the point that as pornography enters the mainstream media, it makes degradation of women a "normal" and "acceptable" thing. She also discusses how using porn affects men and their attitudes towards sex. Difficult to read (because of subject matter), but important if one is trying to understand the dynamics of sexual gender stereotypes in society.

166: Madeline, on the TIOLI meter, the link back to the main thread takes you to the lists of books for the challenge. Quite a useful link but not as described. Could we keep this link for people like me who keep forgetting which books are listed in which challenge, (and that's particularly tricky this month because there are a lot of books, especially Booker longlist titles, which could be in 2 or 3 places and in some case they actually are in 2 or 3 places) and have a link back to the main thread.

I've listed Barbara Pym's A Few Green Leaves in Challenge 7, as I found my copy in March 2013 and it doesn't seem to fit another challenge. It's this month's Pym book if anyone's trying to keep up with that. If anyone has listed it elsewhere please do let me know.

Chèli's sequential letters challenge? If you need another slot.

>167 elkiedee: Thanks for that Luci. I hadn't been able to fit it in anywhere.

I finished and REVIEWED Marisha Pessl's upcoming novel, Night Film for the challenge to Read a book where the title has at least two sequences of 2 letters or more that follow each other in the alphabet.

Now I'm reading The Small House at Allington by Anthony Trollope for the challenge to read a book with a word in the title that suggests large or small.

> 166

Fixed. Thanks!

Citizenjoyce, I'm hoping to get to Cuckoo's Calling this month, and put mine in #14 as I had several candidates for #15. It's def. on my short list of books to read after I get over my "must return library books and finish Amazon Vine reviews" phase this weekend.

168: Thanks - my first book this month fitted into that challenge, Granny Made Me an Anarchist, though I'd actually misunderstood the challenge (thought it had to be consecutive letters).

There are a few of us who have said they're going to read A Tale for the Time Being for Challenge #12. Has anyone else started it yet?

I have read the first 40 pages and I'm finding it slow going but it's interesting because one of the characters, Ruth, has just established a reading plan for herself that matches the pace of the diary she is reading. I feel I'm going to have to do the same which means this isn't going to be a quick read.

I'm also reading A Sand County Almanac for Challenge #19 which is another book you can't rush, just like the changing seasons it so beautifully describes.

I haven't started A Tale for the Time Being yet. I'll probably put it off until September, and read either Unexploded or Almost English instead.

I just started A Tale for the Time Being today. And just finished the first 40 pages too! It does feel like a book to savor!

I'm hoping to get to A Tale for the Time Being this month, but probably won't start it until next weekend.

In the meantime, amongst the books that were unpacked after my move and set aside to re-read, I have realized that there is one dealing with WW1 that I bought in the late 70s and probably haven't re-read since about 1985, if not earlier. "The Fields of Yesterday" by Robert Tyler Stevens is set around Edith Cavell's clinic in Belgium -- she was executed for sheltering escaping English soldiers. (She was a heroine to my grandmother, who became a nurse in part because of her reverance for Cavell -- my g-mother would have been a teenager during the events recounted in this novel, and her brother was fighting in France.)

I finished Ports of call by Amin Maalouf (a Lebanese author) for challenge 3.

August TIOLI #4. Read a book with a word in the title or the author's name suggesting either "big" or "small" (mighty) The Mighty & the Almighty: Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs by Madeleine Albright

Madeleine Albright was the first woman to be US Secretary of State, serving during President Bill Clinton's first administration. She is also a formidable intellect.

The Mighty & the Almighty is her take on the role religion plays in world diplomacy and how it cannot be discounted by even the most secular people when at the diplomatic negotiating table.

She does not have kind words for President George Bush's attack on Iraq after the attacks of 9/11, and although she writes pretty much what I was thinking at the time, she does point out where things were done well in response to those attacks.

This well-written book documents many of the ways countries, and groups, have done themselves a disservice in the name of "God." In turn lessons on history and diplomacy, Albright shows herself to be thoughtful and considerate throughout.

Published in 2006, I found myself wondering what she would have to say about what's happening in the world now, and what President Obama's role is/could have been.

Finished the crimson Rooms for Challenge 6. While set in 1924, the after effects of WW1 are writ large in the characters. It also features an early female lawyer who is based on a real legal pioneer. Best book I've read this month, for sure.

I read and reviewed the excellent Peking Picnic by Ann Bridge for Challenge 11 and have started The First Century after Beatrice by Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf for Challenge 3.

I saw the following suggestion on another thread (the thread about hiring Jeremy's replacement).

"It's a good point that there are lot of things individual users can do. The challenge with reading flower books was just a random example I brought up. I'd be happy to help run a group with a challenge like that and badges, but I could not do it alone, and I'd have to ask the Goodreads group first since it was their idea. It is a lot of work."

My reaction?

Heh!

By the way, we missed Quotes Day here at TIOLI because I was more offline than on-line as I was at the beach last week. Tomorrow is Quick Reads Day, so make 8/22 Quotes Day for this month.

Challenge #15: Read a book with murder in its heart - The Secret History of Elizabeth Tudor, Vampire Slayer - Lucy Weston

Enough of the speculative history about Elizabeth I's sex life please! Other reviewers have called this an Elizabethan vampire bodice ripper, and they're right. But it's also fun to see Elizabeth growing into her strength as Queen of England, and vampire slayer. I had fun with this, but am now wondering if that means Buffy is somehow related to Elizabeth I.

>181 SqueakyChu: Wait a minute Madeline. You mean yo didn't even tell them you had that brilliant idea ___years ago and it is thriving in TIOLI while you do all that considerable work??? I hope you didn't let Goodreads people think they came up with something that you invented.

> 184

Nope, Bonnie. I'm not advertising TIOLI. I like it the size it is (quite manageable to do manually).

Yeah. We were all doing these fun challenges on TIOLI a long time before the GR people started them and automated them.

The other thing I like about how we do the TIOLI challenges is that, contrary to what GR does, we make it *not* a competition, but rather a fun, group effort.

What I do on TIOLI is *not* work. It's fun. If it were work, I'd try to get out of doing it. :)

Madeline, you're just a saint, and there's no getting around it.
AuntieClio, have you read Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter? Is the Elizabeth book like it? I very much enjoyed the Lincoln book and found out a good deal of history while having a fun read.

I thought Madeline normally gave us a "start" message on the 21st, so we could list our Quick Reads, but since it hasn't come in today, yet, perhaps her post @ 182 was it.

My recommendation for a Quick Read is Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick. Although it weighs in at a hefty 630 pages, most of those are drawings; the pages with text are short. I finished it in just a couple of hours, even with many interruptions. Wonderstruck is set in 1927 and 1977, with museums and deaf communication at its heart. Loved it!

eta: And planted it on challenge #5.

For Quick Reads Day I would recommend The Testament of Mary by Colm Toíbín, for Madeline's challenge. It's one of the books that was chosen for this year's Booker Prize longlist, and 11 of us have read it for TIOLI so far. The UK paperback is just over 100 pages, and the US edition is even slimmer. It's an account of Jesus Christ's last days and crucifixion as told by his mother, along with a description of her life as a sheltered woman after his death. It's thought provoking and controversial, but very well written and quite interesting.

For Quick Reads, I'd suggest The Irresistible Blueberry Bakeshop & Café by Mary Simses. This is a quick, summertime beach read-type book. Commenters I've seen have said that "if you liked The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, you'll love this one. I liked the potato pie book and loved this blueberry one, too.

Unlike the potato pie book, the blueberry one isn't written in the form of letters but letters do play a key role.

The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog by John R. Erickson is both quick and hilarious. I can highly recommend it.

It's summer so I have to read Westerns and I have a series that fits into quick reads. The wonderful Larry McMurtry wrote a series about a family of extremely rich, self centered, contentious, British nobility with their accompanying sense of entitlement as they travel along 4 rivers in the Amerivan west so that Lord Berrybender can shoot as many animals as possible. All 4 books are short, unfortunately the first, Sin Killer, is the worst because you get all the inhumanity of the Berrybenders with no redeeming features. But you get to meet Kit Carson, Jim Bridger, Sacagawea's son Pomp, and many other Indians, travelers and trappers and see how they live. If you like reading about the west, you'll like these.

> 187

I thought Madeline normally gave us a "start" message on the 21st, so we could list our Quick Reads, but since it hasn't come in today, yet, perhaps her post @ 182 was it.

Heh! I do if I'm not at work all day. You know the drill, though. If it's Quick Read Day, just jump in with suggestions.

For a quick read, I'd recommend Divergent by Veronica Roth (the touchstone isn't working at the moment). It looks long, but it reads fast and I enjoyed the world-building.

#186, Citizenjoyce, yes I've read Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter too. The biggest complaint I had about that one was being pulled out of the narrative either by the diary excerpts or the "and then six years later ..." This is not to say I didn't enjoy it.

Elizabeth Vampire Slayer, read more smoothly because there were only two voices at play, her diary and Modred's two or three page bits. The biggest problem I had with this one is a pet peeve of mine regarding the history of Elizabeth I and her sex life with Robert Dudley.

She was not a stupid woman and knew what the rumors were, she wasn't going to feed them by actually spending the night with him frequently. In addition, she had no intentions of marrying him for several reasons and must surely have known that to have sex with him would have made things more complicated.

As I said, that's a pet peeve of mine. It was a quick, silly read.

So...make this Temporary Quote Day!

Share a quote from a book you've read so far this month...

From C. S. Lewis's Til We Have Faces (challenge 9):

“When the time comes to you at which you will be forced at last to utter the speech which has lain at the center of your soul for years, which you have, all that time, idiot-like, been saying over and over, you’ll not talk about joy of words. I saw well why the gods do not speak to us openly, nor let us answer. Till that word can be dug out of us, why should they hear the babble that we think we mean? How can they meet us face to face till we have faces?” (p294)

In The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown (touchstones not workings), the Shakespeare scholar/professor father names his daughters Rosalind, Bianca and Cordelia. A quote:

"What if the name you were given had already been lived in?"

Of a potential suitor:

"He was not a reader. And that was the sort of nonsense up with which we will not put."

...even to someone who has everything one can give an old book.
from: Ports of call by Amin Maalouf

I know Suzanne was disappointed, but I also read and enjoyed Divergent.

From The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog, Hank's thoughts on who could be murdering the ranch's chickens:

"But every other creature on the ranch was under the shadow of suspicion. Except Drover. He was too chicken to kill a chicken."

I'll suggest The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion as a quick but entertaining read. Lisa (kiwiflora) described it as 'dudelit' rather than chicklit. It's now a shared read for challenge #5.

I finished and REVIEWED Anthony Trollope's The Small House at Allington for the challenge to Read a book with a word in the title or the author's name suggesting either "big" or "small".

Now I'm reading A Few Green Leaves by Barbara Pym for the challenge to Read a book you acquired in the first six months of 2013.

Here's a quote I liked from The Small House at Allington which I just finished:

'I hate books I can't understand,' said Bell. 'I like a book to be clear as running water, so that the whole meaning may be seen at once.'

'The quick seeing of the meaning must depend a little on the reader, must it not?' said Mrs. Dale.

'The reader mustn't be a fool, of course,' said Bell.

'But then so many readers are fools,' said Lily. 'And yet they get something out of their reading.'

August TIOLI #11. Read a book whose theme involves expatriates, culture clash or similar dislocations - Talked to Death by Stephen Singular

Alan Berg was one of the progenitors of AM talk radio. He was free-wheeling with his opinions and often extremely rude to his listeners, hanging up on them if he got bored. He was also Jewish.

In 1984, Alan Berg was killed in his driveway by neo-Nazi, "white identity" followers because he was Jewish.

Stephen Singular's writing style is that of a good detective story. Berg was a complex man, not easy to figure out, identifying as Jewish was pretty much at the bottom of his list of personal self-identification. Yet, he did not hide it and often discussed it on his radio show. Berg was also one of those radio personalities people either hated or loved. There was no inbetween with Berg.

Yet being Jewish got the ire up of David Lane and the other men who drove to Denver from their compound in Idaho specifically for the purpose of killing Berg. These men are less complex than Berg, with white supremacist at the top of their list of self-identification.

Well researched and written, Singular captures the perplexity caused by people who develop so much hate they would kill for it.

#150, Jen - it looks like I'll be joining you and streamsong in the matched read of Gone Girl. A friend loaned it to me today. Yay! My first matched read.

Glad to have you, Auntie! I've just started it for my book club on Thursday.

August TIOLI #15. Read a book with murder in its heart - Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Amy and Nick meet. Amy and Nick get married. Amy and Nick both lose their jobs and move to Missouri from New York to be near his ill parents. Amy disappears on the morning of their 5th anniversary, and the mystery begins.

This was another enthralling read which kept me in my seat until I was done reading. Some reviewers hated the narrative style of opposing voices, I enjoyed it. Some expected a more neatly wrapped up conclusion, I thought it was the only one that made sense.

Books like this usually get 5 stars from me simply because they are good enough to make me read it in one sitting. This one only gets 4.5 because the section with Desi felt like Flynn had written herself into a corner and wasn't sure how to get out.

Here are the July 2013 TIOLI Awards...

The Creativity Award goes to klobrien2 for finding a mouse on the back (!) cover of her book, The Lion & The Mouse for my (SqueakyChu's) challenge to read a book whose cover pictures an animal seen on the 2013 National Book Festival poster. That was sneaky! Since I didn't specify which cover, this entry squeaked (No pun intended!) right by all parameters and legally made it into my challenge.

The It's About Time Award goes to avatiakh for reading (and finishing) The Weirdstone of Brisingamen. This was a book started in January, 2013, and ended in the July 2013 challenge by cyderry to read a TBR that has been on a previous TIOLI in 2012-13 and still wasn't finished. I did notice that no one went back to a 2012 read. Are all those books still unread?

The That's a Ton O' Books Award goes to Morphidae for lyzard's challenge to read the last book in a series. Morphidae read a book that was #22 in a series. I usually get tired of series books by book #3. This was quite an accomplishment!

The Bright Laugh of the Young Award goes to inge87 for reading Touch Not the Cat. This was for EBT1002's challenge to read a book first published in the decade before the decade in which you were born. I always get a chuckle out of challenges such as this. Our challenger's book was published in 1976. By that year, I was already 39 years old! No further comment. :)

The Best Spread Sheet Award goes to Morphidae (a second award!) not only for her challenge to read a book from the Most Popular by TIOLI Challenge List, but also for maintaining that list month after month. I hope others are using her spread sheet as a reference. I know that I do and appreciate the hard work she puts into maintaining it.

The You Pushed Me over the Edge Award goes to PaulCranswick who presented the challenge to read a book by an author who has passed away in 2013 in tribute to him/her. It was that challenge that got me into joining my first ever group read here on LT since I've been a member (I joined in 2006). I had mixed feelings about being in a group read, but that's another issue altogether.

The It's So Skinny Award goes to countrylife for reading Flanimals Pop-Up, a book of only 14 pages, for DeltaQueen's challenge to read a book of less than 300 pages. Having read such a thin book, I would venture to guess that countrylife is well into completing 75 books by year's end.

There were quite a few awards for July, but all were well deserved. Congrats to the winners!

Way to go, all!

FWIW, I don't think I've ever gone past a sixth book in a series, and that was only for some light and fluffy Marion Chesney series.

>208 SqueakyChu:: I won! I won! I chuckled when I read this news, because I did the same, "Well, it's not on the front, but it is on the cover!" when I entered The Lion & the Mouse. It was, incidentally, one of the most beautiful covers (and books) I've ever seen.

Karen O.

> 210

*laughs with Karen*

By the way, I love that the TIOLI challenges are not about winning anything (or not much of anything!), but rather just simply having fun reading with others. Thanks, all!

Thanks, Fuzzi, for your challenge to read a book with the word dog in the title. Because of you I've read lots of dog books this month. Buddy, my old curmudgeon of a Cairn Terrier died last night. But, mean as he could be to some people and many dogs, he was still a dog, so these two poems from I Could Chew on This: And Other Poems by Dogs by Francesco Marciuliano applied to him:

Time

Where did you go?!
Where have you been?!
Do you know how long you've been gone?!
Three hours!
Or fifteen minutes
Or 6 months
The point is
I've been waiting at that door
For eighteen straight years
And every one of those twelve seconds killed me

and

The Best Day

Today is the best day
Today is the greatest day
Today is the most amazing
Fantastic
Utterly incredible day
Ever
Because it's Saturday
Wait, it's Tuesday?
Well, that's great, too

#207 You read this one quickly!

I agree with you about the section with Desi. The narrative really flagged at that point.

#213 So sorry about the loss of your Buddy. Have you ever come across Love That Dog by Sharon Creech - another combination of dogs and poetry.

>208 SqueakyChu:, I apologize for being young and promise to get older soon. :)

>213 Citizenjoyce:, Sorry about your dog. I have my own curmudgeonly terrier, and they're definitely one of a kind.

> 213

Joyce, so sorry to hear about your dog.

> 216

I apologize for being young and promise to get older soon.

I'd advise not to get too old too soon! ;)

@Citizenjoice I appreciate your kind words. Considering your recent loss, they mean that much more. :)

I love the poetry, too. Thanks for that as well.

#213 - Joyce, I am so sorry to read of your loss.

Thanks for all your expressions of sympathy. Buddy was such a mean little dog, but the older he got, the nicer he got. Kind of the opposite of people

Question for Madeline: If you don't like group reads why are we all trying to get TIOLI points for sharing a read, aren't shared reads and group reads the same - just different in numbers?

Shared reads and group reads, to me anyway, are very different.

Group reads to me seem more pressured. You join a group and commit to a read. You should begin and end about the same time as others, or you will not be at the same place as others are. You may encounter spoilers in the discussion thread. You have to avoid giving spoilers when you comment on the book. You are expected to engage in a literary discussion (which was what scared me most about the group read of The Wasp Factory). In theory, they are good; for me in reality, they are not.

Shared reads seem to be more laid back. You read a book that someone else happens to be reading. You notice that and can talk to each other about that book when you're done. You have no commitment to read the book ("leave it", as they say). All who read the book have that shared experience and are free to talk to each other about the book or not.

Anyway, shared reads in LT are sort of a game. Read a book that someone else is reading and get some TIOLI points.

As for book clubs, I'd never be happy being assigned what book to read!

What do others think of Cheli's question? Are shared reads and group reads the same or different?

I like shared reads. Usually, I notice someone else wants to read it and I do, too, so I'll mention it. There are a few people who might choose books for me, such as for the annual category challenge. There's another LTer with whom, twice a year perhaps, we pick out a pick on a certain topic she loves and I like to read about occasionally, and we plan to read it at about the same time.

Group reads are tougher for me, especially when they're fiction-related, due to the spoiler problem.

I have participated in group reads (but not on LT) - that's how I've read a few classics that otherwise I'd never have picked up. They've been divided into a series of threads, so that you read a section of the book and comment on it. That seems to adequately reduce the spoiler issue. There seems to be resistance to that as an idea on LT. I suspect finding a set of threads in talk could be a nightmare.

I've not found the timing to be a pressure or problem, we've set a month or number of months to read the book and some people will always read faster than others, but that doesn't seem to be an issue. Those who read ahead comment, then come back when the slower or later readers comment. It seems to work.

Shared reads strike me as nothing more that "oh look, x is reading the same book" which is interesting, but doesn't appear to go any further than that.

Maybe I just haven't found it yet, but I've not discovered what I consider to be a "good" group read on LT.

Madeline - I am chuffed to bits as they say in Northern England by winning my first ever TIOLI prize. xx

> 224

Maybe I just haven't found it yet, but I've not discovered what I consider to be a "good" group read on LT.

Alternatively, not a group read, but an individual read otherwise known as a "tutored read" has been a joy for me. It has all the elements that I like about delving deeply into a book without the things I dislike about group reads. (A tip o' the old hat to lyzard for taking tutored reads on as her project.)

In short, a "tutored read" allows me to read a book at my own pace with no spoilers. It also provides an in-depth introduction to author and subject as well as the novel itself. It provides no spoilers or distractions. It allows others to comment as long as no spoilers are thrown into the mix. It allows me to ask any question I want and as many questions as I want. Basically, a "tutored" read is like a free college literary course made for me and taught by a fellow LTer. What could be better?

I find it fascinating to learn about the variety of ways that LTers enjoy (or not enjoy) reading and how they share what they read as individuals and in groups.

Interestingly, although I don't participate in group reads, I do like to write reviews of books I read. Granted, some of my reviews are better than others. I do find this a way of "sharing" reads as well without belonging to group of people who read together. In fact, one of the LT features I'm really looking forward to having LT put back online is "Currently Reading". After Tim hires his "replacement Jeremy", we'll hopefully see that LT feature return.

I find that "sharing" a read is the little bit of extra incentive to help me get books read. A case in point--last month's shared read with aviatiakh of Titus Groan and this month's Gormenghast. I've been wanting to read the trilogy forever, but it is a little daunting (length and weirdness). When I saw that aviatiakh was reading the books for TIOLI, I jumped on that wagon. We've never talked about the books, but it is something we have in common, and we are earning points for TIOLI. Yay!

By the way, aviatiakh, are you going to read Titus Alone next month? I'm up for it, if you are!

Karen O.

Oh, but I haven't finished reading Gormenghast yet, I've had a really poor reading month. So glad that I've was able to give you the incentive to read the books, I've also had them on Mt tbr for a long time. I'm looking forward to getting back to Gormenghast and I'll probably leave Titus Groan for October.

There's a group read thread over in the category challenge for the books and you'd be welcome to read it or comment, it's been a bit quiet of late so I guess most of us have slowed down.
http://www.librarything.com/topic/155916

I'm enjoying everyone's thoughts on shared and group reads.

When I first started participating in TIOLI, I made it a point to visit threads where I shared a read for the month with someone. Perhaps, I'll do that again (time willing). I'm also making a conscious effort to match people if I have a book they've listed on my own Planet TBR.

The Wasp Factory group read last month has been my favorite so far. There were so many facets of the book I didn't see until the discussion. If I'm doing a group read, I want to discuss it! My least favorite type of group read is where people just post their reviews.

I read the ultimate why?-book: Why? : a story of great longing by Marie Queen of Roumania. A lover comes back to his lady and brings her treasures she sends him out to get. A mystical quest. The first word is why? and the last one as well. The story is simple and often told in the form of questions. There are so many whys (what's the plural of why? - why, whys, whies?) in this book I lost count. Why, oh, why, did I read it then?

August TIOLI #9. Read a book about a woman head of church or state or one aspiring to be so - The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory

As you have probably noticed, books about the Tudors are something I'm keenly interested in. Thus, The Constant Princess, about Catherine of Aragon, first wife to Henry VIII. This book relates the story of Catalina as a child in her beloved Aragon (Spain had not yet been united), child of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand. It rather abruptly ends as Katherine has defeated the Scots along England's northern border while Henry is at war with France.

There's much to quibble about with the way this book is written. It's my view that just because a book is fiction based on history doesn't mean I should wonder about how the history was done in order to write the book. This is the second book I've read this month which kept pulling me away from the story to wonder about how the author did the history.

Switching between diary entries and narrative should support each other, not detract, and here Philippa Gregory lost me. At the end of a lovely diary entry by Katherine, the narrative would barge in with "and six days later ...." followed by a little explication and then back to the diary.

Although the ending is addressed in the "interview" with Gregory in the back, I found the reasoning lacking. She could have left the epilogue out completely and been done with it. But she does not, she returns the reader to Katherine's diary 16 years later, as she faces the Papal Legate regarding her status as virgin when her first husband, Arthur (Henry's older brother), died unexpectedly after only 5 months of marriage. It was upon this argument that Henry was trying to base his marriage annulment from Catherine of Aragon.

Gregory explains this 16 year gap as something she had already written extensively about in The Other Boleyn girl. This just seems lazy to me. Why have the epilogue at all, if one of your assumptions is based upon people having read another book?

I give it a "meh" 3 stars.

avatiakh, thanks for the link to the Gormenghast thread. I've got it starred!

Karen O.

> 231

Why, oh, why, did I read it then?

Paul, you're too funny! :)

So far this month I have managed to read the following:

Challenge 1- Read a book whose title or subtitle ends in Y:
Beatha: A Badger’s Story by Louise J. Hastings

Challenge 2 - Read a book with a blurry sky on the cover:
Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

Challenge 5 - Read a book where the title has at least two sequences of 2 letters or more that follow each other in the alphabet:
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler (dinrstu, aehmst, nrt, eho, ik, cr, an)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling (aentx, hot, prt, ry, adeort, hr, defpn, eo, eho)

Challenge 7 - Read a book you acquired in the first six months of 2013:
The Crystal Towers a Roman Solaire Book by Mobashar Qureshi

Challenge 8 - Read a book by an author with a name that is also a verb:
I Am Algonquin by Rick Revelle (rick)

Challenge 14 - Read a book with punctuation in the title:
Losing My Mind: Dark Secrets of a Wounded Healer by David Mirich
Are You Afraid of the Dark? by Sidney Sheldon

Challenge 13 - Read a Book which is dedicated to the parents (or one parent) of the author:
A Little Hair of the Dog by Jane McBride (husband, mother and father)

Challenge 15 - Read a book with murder in its heart:
Gone West by Carola Dunn
The Shekinah Legacy by Gary Lindberg
This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart

Challenge 16 - Read a book with the word "Dog" in the title or in the author's name:
Dog on It by Spencer Quinn

I had two weeks at the cottage where, basically, I sat on the couch and read, sat on the deck and read, and sat under the trees and read. I like reading!

>234 SqueakyChu: Why? Because thou askest for such a quest ... :)

LOL!

Cheli,
Can you explain your challenge a bit more clearly. When I went to the Wiki I see that people are interpreting it two ways 1. with the letters following immediately like Chicago Death Trap and 2. where they just follow each other eventually like Among Others. I thought you meant the second way but perhaps I am misunderstanding?

The second way is correct - but the first way works too!

> 239 Great! I will add my books to the wiki!

I'm not going to read all my chosen challenges...again.

However, I have found that having challenges helps me to focus on reading and not wasting time online...

Seabiscuit is excellent...but can I finish by tomorrow night...? I'm at page 240 of 399...

Well, I just added The Dog Stars as a shared read, but now I have to remove it because there's no way Ill finish it by tomorrow night. For a change though, I think I got most of my other planned reads. I'm sure it's because I've been driving lots and books keep me company.

ETA I just went to remove it and found that the person with whom I shared the read also removed it. I don't feel so bad now.

Last night I finished Redesigning Rose by Lydia Laceby a woman that I know from a course I took a few years back. Cool to 'know' a published author. Maybe that will prompt me to start a book that I have in my mind!

I guess this book will fit into challenge 13: Read a Book which is dedicated to the parents (or one parent) of the author: To Mom, Granny and Granny. The three strongest women I've known

I'm working on Jalna but I'm not sure I'll make it by the end of today. Only 43 pages to go! But, darn, I have a busy day!

The last day of the month shouldn't feel so pressured. I had A Sand County Almanac on my comfort read challenge but it is a book to savour slowly and I'm not finished and there's no way I'm going to rush it. So my planned reading for August is done. I think I managed to complete 5 challenges so I'm happy with that.

For those of you who were sharing the reading of A Tale for the Time Being, what did you think? I loved it and have already loaned my copy and bought another for my brother.

I was already struggling to finish my last August book, a densely written non-fiction tome on late-17th century politic writing. I didn't really need a TWO-HOUR BLACKOUT!! :)

Made it, but only just!

246: Oh no, Liz! Did you finish by the light of a lantern?

I didn't realize how long Catherine the Great was. I just finished almost 24 hours of listening about this fascinating woman. Not only was it a great book, but I'm almost finished with 4-month-old Molly's cross-stitched baby sampler. I was beginning to think she would be walking and talking by the time I got done with it!

245: It took me awhile to get into A Tale for the Time Being but I ended up liking it. I think the grandmother Buddhist nun made the book memorable for me. I'm a big fan of A Sand County Almanac, too, and agree that it should be read slowly and savored.

Onward to September TIOLI!

The lights came back on at around 9.30pm, when I had (as it turned out) about 100 mins reading left to go - phew! :)

It's already afternoon, 01 September and I have to say that August was one of my poorest attempts at TIOLI so far. I'll be removing a number of books from the wiki, apologies for all the missed shared reads.

Housekeeping Day!

Please remove all books not finished by midnight tonight. Feel free to move them into any applicable September TIOLI challenges. Don't forget to post some apple recipes there as well.

Surprise, surprise, I've moved A Game of Thrones to September.

> 247 I loved the character of Jiko. I want to be like her when I grow up!

Got Jalna finished just under the wire!

I've just updated things with my 13th and final read of August - we were away for half of the month, two separate weeks, and then I got rather sick on our first whole day back home from Kent. Hoping to do a little better this month, though I won't be challenging Suzanne, or even myself in a good reading month, at current rate.