Take It Or Leave It Challenge - August 2015 - 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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Your strange (Haha!) challenge for August 2015 is to...

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Read a book with an insect named on page 33
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Rules:
1. The word can be singular or plural.
2. The word can be embedded within one or more words. (Look for the easy words such as ant, bee, flea, fly, lice, moth, tick, etc.)
3. List three words from the narrative in which the insect is revealed.
4. You may use the word “bug” or “insect”.
5. Feel free to offer book suggestions to others.

Examples:
Flyboys (remaining distant from) - James Bradley
The Memory Keeper's Daughter (sale flyers decorating> - Kim Edwards
We Need to Talk About Kevin (riddled with lice) – Lionel Shriver

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

1. The August 2015 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 09/23/14)

Wiki Index of Challenges:

Challenges #1-6
1. Read a book with an insect named on page 33 - msg #1
2. Read a book with a title which contains a word that makes you think of marriage - msg #3
3. Read a work featuring a character from folklore - msg #5
4. Read a book with either "first" or "last" in the title - msg #6
5. Read a book by an author who has a Double-barreled surname or one with two authors - msg #7
6. Read a book which fits a category of the Seattle Public Library's Summer Book Bingo - msg #8

Challenges #7-12
7. Read a book about a baby with serious problems - msg #12
8. Read a book whose title includes a reference to an unusual, offbeat, quirky or archaic profession or pastime - msg #13
9. Read a book about stars, has the word "star" in the title or author's name, or has a star on the cover - msg #14
10. Read A Book With Numbers in the Title - msg #17
11. Read a non fiction travel/adventure book written by a woman - msg #19
12. Read a book published prior to April 1972 - msg #30

Challenges #13-18
13. Read a book which was nominated for the Prix Goncourt - msg #36
14. Read a book with Murder or Death in the title - msg #40
15. Read a book from the 2015 Booker Prize longlist - msg #44
16. Read a book with a bird on the cover - msg #47 - thread
17. Read a book where one of the author's names is a flower - msg #57
18. Read a book whose author has a 3-letter name - msg #61

Challenge #19-22
19. Read a book whose author's first and last names begin with the same letter - msg #63
20. Read a book whose title contains at least one word which is a synonym for ghost - msg #65
21. Read a book whose title starts with, in rolling order, letters in the word SMILE - msg #71
22. Read a Lesbian Romance - msg #72

Hold your next challenge until the September 2015 challenges are posted. Thank you!

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Challenge #2: Read a book with a title which contains a word or phrase that makes you think of marriage
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August marks my 35th wedding anniversary. Help me celebrate by reading a book with a title which contains a word or phrase that makes YOU think of marriage.

Examples:
An Irish Country Wedding by Patrick Taylor
Love by Toni Morrison
The Shattered Chain by Marion Zimmer Bradley
I Kiss Your Hands Many Times: Hearts, Souls, and Wars in Hungary by Marianne Szegedy-Maszak
A Five Year Sentence by Bernice Rubens

>3 countrylife: Congratulations!

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Challenge #3: Read a work with a character from folklore

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I am going with a broad definition of "folklore" - which would include folk stories, fairy-tales, fables, ballads, myths, and legends. I will also accept a character drawn from an epic poem (for example, Beowulf) or from pseudo-histories such as Historia Regum Britanniae, which gave rise to the popular version of Arthurian legend while purporting to be true history.

I have said "work" rather than "novel" in the challenge statement, as I will also accept such things as Angela Carter's reworked fairy-tales. If a single story in a work qualifies, the work qualifies.

Note though that original works of folklore do not qualify! (That is, you could read Grendel but not Beowulf.)

Please list your folklore character on the wiki.

ETA: Here is a list which might provide some ideas for this challenge.

Challenge #4: Read a book with either "first" or "last" in the title

This is in honor of the last day of summer vacation and the first day of school.

For this particular challenge, either of these two words must be in the title, though they can be embedded. Synonyms, such as final, however, do not count.

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Challenge #5: Read a book by an author who has a double-barrelled surname or one with two authors
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Hopefully this is fairly self-explanatory - I'm accepting double surnames, either a double-barrelled name or two authors. Hyphenated surnames are fine and I'm also accepting two word surnames such as 'de Robertis'

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-barrelled_name

Challenge #6: Read a book that fits one of the categories of the Seattle Public Library's Summer Book Bingo (list the category)

A completely self-serving challenge, as I'm trying to sweep the whole card and still have 8 categories left to fill.

Summer Book Bingo: http://www.spl.org/Documents/audiences/adults/2015_summer/SummerBookBingo_card.p...

For "local author," choose local for you. For "Set in the NW," you can use either the Pacific NW or the NW of any other country. And I've been interpreting "Author under 30" as "under 30 at the time the book was published." I think all the others are pretty unambiguous.

>3 countrylife:

Congratulations!

>1 SqueakyChu:

Love your challenge, BTW, Madeline - I just hope I can find a book that fits!

>9 lyzard: My challenge is easier than it look at first glance.

>7 avatiakh: Would a duo writing under one name count? I'm thinking of Charles Todd, which is the mother/son writing duo of Caroline and Charles Todd.

Challenge #7: read a book about a baby with serious problems
I recently heard of the book
Girl in Glass: How My "Distressed Baby" Defied the Odds, Shamed a CEO, and Taught Me the Essence of Love, Heartbreak, and Miracles - Deanna Fei and thought I had to structure a challenge around it. The definition of baby is a child up to age 2, it can also be an unborn child. A book will also count if the child is over age 2 but there is much discussion of the problems found before that age.

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Challenge #8

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Read a book whose title refers to a profession or pastime that is unusual, quirky, offbeat, or archaic.

So a doctor or a physician wouldn't qualify, but a bloodletter might. (As in The Bloodletter's Daughter by Linda Lafferty.)

I'm going to unilaterally exclude any royal titles here (king, queen, etc); while unusual, they crop up in a lot of TIOLI challenges and aren't quirky enough for the spirit of this challenge. Similarly, in science fiction and fantasy, figures like enchanters, witches, wizards, etc. are fairly mainstream figures, so they won't count either for this challenge.

In contrast, someone like a scribe might (archaic). I'm going to include The Courtesan, simply because while prostitutes are pretty common, courtesans (or geishas) aren't. I've got a book with a matador in the title, and I'm going to allow pirates, simply because I think it's still an unusual profession. I'll also try to read The Muralist by B.A. Shapiro.

Please note: the profession MUST be in the title.

**********Challenge #9: Read a book about stars, has the word "star" in the title or author's name, or has a star on the cover**********

August is a great month for watching shooting stars, or just star-gazing. This month read a book as described in the challenge.

>5 lyzard: Liz, regarding your challenge, I am going to be reading a book that includes both Kelpies (water spirits of Scottish folklore) and Yarthkins (nature spirits in the folklore of the Fen country of England). Are these acceptable as characters of folklore?

>15 DeltaQueen50:

Yes, absolutely. The "character" does not have to be a person. The important point is that he / she / it / they originated in a different form of story-telling.

>Thanks Liz!

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Challenge #10: Read a Book That Has Numbers in the Title

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These numbers can be expressed either as figures or in writing. The numbers can also be embedded into the Title.

Because I had to do this for myself anyway, this is for others who like to have their challenge info in front of them in spreadsheet form, here is the list from susanna.fraser's Seattle Public Library's Summer Book Bingo challenge (#6):

checked out from the library
independent bookstore
set in the NW
diverse books
translated
prize winner
own, never read
set somewhere you've wanted to visit
out of comfort zone
short story collection
banned
local author
author under 30
turned into a movie
graphic novel
collection of poetry
YA book
memoir
published year you were born
finished reading in a day
from your childhood
been meaning to read
recommended by a friend
re-read

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Challenge #11 Read a non-fiction travel/adventure book written by a woman

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Ideas taken from the book Great Women Travel Writers

- Lady Hester Stanhope (1776-1839) left the comfort of England to wander through the Near East - never to return home, so deeply did she treasure her freedom
- Fanny Lewald (1811-89) traveled through Europe and especially Italy to record its Risorgimento
- Pandita Ramabai (1858-1922) traveled from India and lived through Western experiences that revamped her ideas
- Daisy Bates (1859-1951), Irish to the roots, immersed herself in Australian Aboriginals
- Gertrude Bell (1868-1926), dubbed "Queen of the Desert," was the most powerful woman in Edwardian England
- the Danish Isak Dinesen (1885-1962) made her mark in Africa
- Anaïs Nin (1903-77) may be thought of as "a mental traveler"
- Freya Stark (1893-1993) - knighted by Queen Elizabeth for her contribution to travel literature - lived among the Druze of Syria and in shades of our own time researched the deadly terrorist group of ancient Persian Assassins
- Oriana Fallaci (1930- ) has literally covered the world
- Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (1937- ), has surely traveled the farthest as the first woman in space - See more at: http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/great-women-travel-writers-9780826416834/#sthash.J8...

Other women writers are fine as well.

>19 dallenbaugh: Oriana Fallaci died in 20006. And while I don't want to get horribly fussy about stuff like this, women can't get knighthoods. Freya Stark was made a Dame of the British Empire. (and her writing is great!)

>18 countrylife: Thanks!

>11 lindapanzo: Sorry, I'm going to say 'no' for that one as my main criteria is that the two names appear on the book title page.

>5 lyzard:, would dragons or basilisks count for your challenge?

>20 Chatterbox: Thanks for the clarifications Chatterbox. The book was published in 2005 so missed Fallaci's death. What is it called when a woman gets "damehood"? I know this isn't really a word.

>13 Chatterbox: Would The Honorary Consul work for your challenge, or is Consul too mundane?

>25 LoisB: I think consul is too ordinary, like an ambassador or any other diplomat. Sorry... I'm looking for slightly outré; something that would raise peoples' eyebrows. As in, people really do that for a living? So, The Beekeeper's Apprentice might qualify, because I think we tend to forget that people still actually keep bees. Or a calligrapher. I'm not sure that anyone would be terribly surprised that there are consuls out there.

>24 dallenbaugh: I think she just receives a damehood. Or is honored by being made a Dame of the British Empire. (It actually is a word, however awkward... it has become one in recent years, in light of the fact that now there are so many women doing things independently worthy of a female version of a knighthood, ergo...)

>20 Chatterbox: So you are saying she is still alive? And how did you know she is going to die 17,991 years from now? hehe

>7 avatiakh: & >22 avatiakh: - I take it, then, that I can't read something by Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, then? Since Churchill's books, at least those put out during his life time, had him listed as Winston S. Churchill (to differentiate him from the American best-selling author Winston Churchill).

I still do have that last volume of his history of the English people. Need to get around to that some day.

>22 avatiakh: Thanks, Kerry

====Challenge #12 Read a book published prior to April 1972 - started by helenliz====

Although I'm now going to make it a little bit more difficult than that. Not only does the book have to have been published prior to April 1972, but the actual copy you are reading needs to date from before April 1972. Shared reads on newer copies or these new fangled e-reader thingies are allowed, but the original listing must be a dusty musty oldie.

It needs, in fact, to be older than I am.

This is prompted by clearing out my parents house. There was a refrain that dominated my childhood, especially when ever we picked up something fragile or delicate "Careful with that, it's older than you are". Usually that meant that it had been a wedding present (there are just shy of 10 months between their wedding and my birth). That phrase got deep into my psyche, leaving me, even now, with a terror of picking up the dinner service for fear of breaking it. Which is illogical, as being afraid of it is only going to make the likelihood of damage higher.

Anyway, what with having to clear the house, there's been an awful lot of things that are older than I am that have been packed up and are heading to new homes. I've acquired a few things, including a bureau that was my greatgrandparents wedding present, a chest of drawers that seems to be about 4 generation older than that, the family bible (several of them, the oldest being 1860s) and a stash of Georgette Heyer books. I will mostly be reading from the Heyers - not sure I fancy tackling the bible, no matter how gorgeous it is.

As said, I was born in April 1972 and your copy of the book needs to be have been published before then to be older than I am. In the UK, any book marked in shillings will be older than me, so that's a nice easy tell. Please list publication date of your edition in the Wiki.

I hope that's not too odd, difficult or restrictive.

>27 Lexxi: hehe. Slow keyboard means repeated characters sometimes. Apologies for any confusion.

>18 countrylife: thank you! How thoughtful.

>19 dallenbaugh: I have the perfect book, Lighthearted Journey, which has been sitting on the shelves. The travelogue is from the early 1920s, a mother and daughter trip to Europe. I love Anne Bosworth Greene's writings, anyway. :)

>32 fuzzi: Good choice. I hadn't heard of this writer.

>30 Helenliz: that's a fun one! I'm visiting my mum in a couple of weeks, I'm sure I'll be able to find a few things on her shelves that fit the bill.

>28 Lexxi: I'm going to be quite tough here and say that if the two names aren't shown on the title page then it's not allowed. I can see what you mean but the use of an initial doesn't make it clear that the letter stands for a surname rather than just a middle name.

Challenge #13: Read a book which was nominated for the Prix Goncourt

I've been getting amazing book suggestions from a "best of" I got at the library (La bibliothèque idéale RTL edited by Bernard Lehut), which is finally encouraging me to read a lot more in French. Many, but not all of the suggestions have won or been nominated for prestigious awards, not least of which the Prix Goncourt. Of course, this challenge is open to English-only readers; there are quite a few titles to choose from, since the Goncourt academy hands out several different awards each year, and there is a good selection of books which have been translated into English*. Here are some helpful lists available here on LT:

Prix Goncourt
Goncourt du Premier Roman
Goncourt des lycéens
Goncourt de la biographie

Click here for all the lists related to the Goncourt on LT.

Please list the books with the French titles first, English titles second, as I've done in the wiki, and also indicate which award it won and for what year. All this information should be available on the individual book work pages (or whatever you call that "main" book page).

* A helpful tip: the books tend to be listed with their English titles here on LT when they are available in an English translation.

Lots of good challenges, though I'm not seeing many shared reads so far. My planned reads for the month:
Challenge #1: Read a book with an insect named on page 33 - started by SqueakyChu
✔Black Ships - Jo Graham - E book (4)
Challenge #2: Read a book with a title which contains a word that makes you think of marriage - started by countrylife
✔In the Age Of Love and Chocolate - Gabrielle Zevin - E Book (4)
✔The Kitchen God's Wife - Amy Tan - E-Audiobook (4)
✔This Is Not a Love Story: A Memoir - Judy Brown - (4)
Challenge #3: Read a work featuring a character from folklore - started by lyzard
✔Rabbit Ears Treasury of Tall Tales: Volume One - Rabbit Ears - E-Audiobook (3)
*✔Rock With Wings - Anne Hillerman - E-Audiobook (3.25)
Challenge #4: Read a book with either "first" or "last" in the title - started by lindapanzo
*✔Between the World and Me: Notes on the '''First''' 150 Years in America - Ta-Nehisi Coates E-Audiobook (5)
*✔The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse - Louise Erdrich - E Audiobook (4)
Challenge #5: Read a book by an author who has a Double-barrelled surname or one with two authors - started by avatiakh
A Little Princess - Frances Hodgson Burnett - E-Audiobook
Challenge #6: Read a book which fits a category of the Seattle Public Library's Summer Book Bingo (list the category) - started by susanna.fraser
✔Circling the Sun - Paula McLain - Audiobook (4)
✔Finders Keepers - Stephen King E-Audiobook (4)
✔Life After Life - Kate Atkinson - E-Audiobook RL Bookclub(4.5)
✔Lipstick Jihad - Azadeh Moaveni - (4.5)
Mo'ne Davis: Remember My Name: My Story from First Pitch to Game Changer - Mo'ne Davis -
✔Rat Queens, Volume 2: The Far Reaching Tentacles of N'Rygoth - Kurtis J. Wiebe (3.5)
✔Sacred - Dennis Lehane - E-Audiobook (4.5)
Challenge #7: Read a book about a baby with serious problems - started by Citizenjoyce
✔Girl in Glass: How My "Distressed Baby" Defied the Odds, Shamed a CEO, and Taught Me the Essence of Love, Heartbreak, and Miracles - Deanna Fei (5)
Challenge #8: Read a book whose title includes a reference to an unusual, offbeat, quirky or archaic profession or pastime - started by Chatterbox
✔The Fortune Teller's Daughter - Lila Shaara - Audiobook (3.75)
Challenge #9: Read a book about stars, has the word "star" in the title or author's name, or has a star on the cover
- started by fuzzi
✔The Star Side of Bird Hill - Naomi Jackson(4)
Challenge #10: Read A Book With Numbers in the Title - started by DeltaQueen
* ✔ The '''Tenth''' Gift - Jane Johnson - E-Audiobook (4)
✔The Theft of Memory: Losing My Father, One Day at a Time - Jonathan Kozol - E-Audiobook (4.5)
Challenge #11 Read a non fiction travel/adventure book written by a woman - started by dallenbaugh
Challenge #12 Read a book published prior to April 1972 - started by helenliz
* ✔A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court - Mark Twain - E-Audiobook (3.5)
Challenge #15: Read a book from the 2015 Booker Prize longlist- started by Kidzdoc
*✔The Illuminations - Andrew O'Hagan - E-Audiobook (4)
Challenge #17: Read a book where one of the author's names is a flower - started by thornton37814
*✔he Fortune Hunter - Daisy Goodwin (3)
Challenge #20: Read a book whose title contains at least one word which is a synonym for ghost - started by auntieclio
*✔Mustang: Wild Spirit of the West - Marguerite Henry (4)
Challenge # 21: Read a book whose title starts with, in rolling order, letters in the word SMILE - started by raidergirl3
*✔Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari - E-Audiobook (5)
Challenge #22: Read a Lesbian Romance - Started by Lexie
✔Landing - Emma Donoghue - E-Audiobook (3)

>33 dallenbaugh: oh, she's delightful! As a child I read The White Pony in the Hills, and loved her semi-autobiographical story of a mother and daughter and their equine mounts. Some of her works are available free online.

Here's a bit from that book:

"There was another mountain to go over today; a charming road, leading up through golden woods flecked with sunlight, while a clear brook dashed along, dodging great mossy boulders and giving silver leaps down its many waterfalls. Sometimes you find a brook that seems dull and out of humor, lurking swampily behind muddy-footed alders, or making its sullen way through a bog, but this one was specially filled with mountain joy and raced along, laughing and splashing, while families of golden ferns lighted its brown pools."

I found one of her books online, Lambs in March, but it has to be read from the site: http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015063553443;view=1up;seq=23;skin=mo...

>23 wandering_star:

Well, I had actual characters (not necessarily human) more in mind for this, but since I said 'yes' to Judy about her Kelpies, I suppose I have to say 'yes' to your dragons. :)

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Challenge #14 Read a book with Death or murder in the title
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I 'm playing with the AlphaKit this month and the letters are V and M- well, I have a pile of cozy mysteries with Murder and death in the title. Now they all have a home.

ETA - other forms of the words are acceptable - for example - Die, Dead, Dying, Murderer, Murdered, - I'll even accept synonyms - such as Kill, etc.

>40 cyderry: Would the title The King Must Die qualify for your challenge?

>41 dallenbaugh: Yes! I guess I should elaborate on my message.

>38 fuzzi: Nice descriptive writing Fuzzi.

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Challenge #15: Read a book from the 2015 Booker Prize longlist
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This year's Booker Prize longlist was announced earlier this morning, and on first glance it looks to be a very strong and diverse one:

Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg
The Green Road by Anne Enright
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami
Satin Island by Tom McCarthy
The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma
The Illuminations by Andrew O'Hagan
Lila by Marilynne Robinson
Sleeping on Jupiter by Anuradha Roy
The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota
The Chimes by Anna Smaill
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

I plan to read the longlist in its entirety before the prize announcement on October 13. Most of these titles are currently available, and hopefully the publication dates for the others will be moved up now that they are part of this year's Booker Dozen:

Did You Ever Have a Family: Sep 8 (US), Sep 17 (UK)
The Green Road: currently available in the US and UK
A Brief History of Seven Killings: currently available in the US and UK
The Moor's Account: currently available in the US; Aug 27 (UK)
Satin Island: currently available in the US and UK
The Fishermen: currently available in the US and UK
The Illuminations: currently available in the US and UK
Lila: currently available in the US and UK
Sleeping on Jupiter: unavailable in the US (no publication date), currently available in the UK
The Year of the Runaways: Mar 1 (US), currently available in the UK
The Chimes: unavailable in the US (no publication date), currently available in the UK
A Spool of Blue Thread: available in the US, Aug 27 (UK)
A Little Life: currently available in the US and UK

Next month I plan to read The Green Road, A Brief History of Seven Killings, The Moor's Account, The Fishermen, The Illuminations, and A Spool of Blue Thread.

Oh good; I've had The Green Road on my Kindle for a while as I love Enright's prose, and have been wanting to read The Illuminations. I'd have to read the other two books in the series by Marilynne Robinson to catch up before reading Lila. This did spur me to buy The Illuminations, which I had been eyeing, and may galvanize me into acquiring A Little Life, too. I'm tempted by Sleeping on Jupiter, because an Indian friend of mine raved about the author's previous novel. The Chimes looks fascinating, but daunting.

>43 dallenbaugh: I agree. Isn't it just delicious to read a passage like that?

Challenge #16: Read a book with a bird on the cover

Whistle at your books and when a bird from a cover answers you, read the book and add the cover to the list
thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/193876
It may be a drawing, a painting, or a photograph (the bird must clearly be recognizable, a shadowy figure flying by over a landscape doesn't qualify)
- eggs don't qualify.

>47 paulstalder:

Paul, would you start a separate thread so we can see those birds? :) Thanks!

>47 paulstalder: I have a book I haven't placed yet from Black Swan Books. Their logo is on the spine. Would this work?

>30 Helenliz:

Ahem. I don't suppose you'd allow a book from August 1972 if it was a reprint edition of a book first published in 1927?? :)

>50 lyzard:: Sorry Liz, no. A book from August 1972 is not older than I am, no matter when it was first published. It's not the text that matters for this challenge, its the physical thing in front of you.

Edit to add: didn't think you'd have any trouble with this one...

>39 lyzard: well I would like to join the spirit of your challenge, so I will look for another option. While researching it I found this LT list, which is a very useful resource for this challenge! - especially if other people reading for the challenge add their books too (hint, hint...)

>51 Helenliz:

I have other books for your challenge - I have LOTS of other books for your challenge! :D - but I don't as yet have a place for this one.

(I'll have to start searching for insects...)

>52 wandering_star:

Oh, brilliant! Thank you for adding that, I should have done something similar myself. In fact, I think I'll go edit my challenge post.

>49 jeanned: No, Jeanne, a logo on the spine does not qualify, if the logo is also good visible on the front, that would be okay.

>13 Chatterbox: I googled "archaic occupations" and here's a list I came up with...

http://rmhh.co.uk/occup/

>55 lindapanzo: These are cool! Some of them I wouldn't accept ("gentleman" is just too generic, I'm afraid, as a descriptor), and some are esoteric enough as professions that even the plain English version is acceptable -- eg, I'd take EITHER gleeman or minstrel! :-) And then there is qwylwryghte -- if anyone can find a book with THAT in the title, wow... wheelwright would be just fine...

Challenge #17: Read a book where one of the author's names is a flower

There should be a lot of Iris Murdoch entries this month for this category.

Others that come to mind:
Rose Wilder Lane
Christine Rose
Daisy King

I know people who have the names Pansy and Lily, but I can't think of authors for those immediately.

I'm sure there are many others.

>57 thornton37814: My friend who recently fostered kittens for the Humane Society adopted one of them. The whole litter has flower names. The one she kept is Violet.

>57 thornton37814: If you accept Latin names of flowers for your challenge, I believe that "Veronica" is a flower's name; I think the vernacular is speedwell? At any rate, it's a small blue flower. I don't have a book by a Veronica, just trying to think of others that might be acceptable!

For Lily, I can think of Lily King and Lily Tuck.

There's also Heather. It's a shrub, but a flowering one. And Jasmine. And Poppy.

What about Flora, which literally means flower??

>59 Chatterbox: I'm flexible!

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CHALLENGE #18: Read a book whose author has a 3-letter name
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It can be first, middle, or last...... The author must, however, use the name. An initial for a 3-letter name will not do.

>30 Helenliz: For challenge 12, I perhaps ought to say that if you can't find a publication date, other evidence that the books is sufficiently old will do. If only because I find myself in the sticky situation of knowing I have a qualifying book, but not date of publication in the book. I'm going to allow other evidence of age, if publication date is not available.

As an example, I got a little over enthusiastic with the library catalogue, and ordered Kenilworth by Walter Scott, which the library catalogue gave a publication date of 1871. Clearly it would qualify. I know I'm getting on, but I'm 43, not 143! There is, however, no publication date on the book.
2 things would support that it is older than I am 1) the library catalogue date 2) the library stamps from October 1970 might not support the publication date, but do show it was in existence prior to April 1972.

So, loophole duly opened and I'm sneaking through it. >:-)

====Challenge #19: Read a book whose author's first and last names begin with the same letter - started by LoisB ====

self-explanatory.

So far I'm tentatively looking at:
Challenge One: Read a book with an insect named on page 33
Certain Dark Things - Erica Abbott

Challenge Two: Read a book with a title which contains a word that makes you think of marriage
Something so Grand - Lynn Galli

Challenge Three: Read a work featuring a character from folklore
Fables 150 - Bill Willingham

Challenge Six: Read a book which fits a category of the Seattle Public Library's Summer Book Bingo
Psych: A Mind is a Terrible Thing to read - William Rabkin - reread

Challenge Nine: Star
Star Trek: Voyager: Atonement - Kirsten Beyer

Challenge 10: Number in title
1636: The Cardinal Virtues - Eric Flint

Challenge #20: Read a book whose title contains at least one word which is a synonym for ghost - started by auntieclio

ghost, spirit, shade, etc.

>36 Smiler69: et al

Help! I'm trying to add Je m'en vais / I'm Gone to my library for your challenge, but I can't seem to identify a source for it. Any suggestions? I've also tried adding it under the English title I'm Gone but I get the same result. I can actually see the book on LT, but I'll be darned if Ican figure out how to add it.

>66 LoisB: Hi Lois, I see you've managed it after all. Glad you're joining the challenge!

Suzanne - would The watchmaker of Filigree Street fit your challenge #8?

>68 avatiakh: I think it would, yes. These days, watchmakers are all in factories, so if someone told you they made watches for a living, your eyebrows would be in your hairline, probably.

>69 Chatterbox: Thanks, my thoughts also but needed to check.

Challenge # 21: Read a book whose title starts with, in rolling order, letters in the word SMILE

Ignore the little words, (a, an, the) and enjoy any vacation days you may have left. I have a month left til school starts, so I am enjoying my sunny days.

Also, I'm taking my son away to university for the first time, and I need to remind myself that this is a happy time for him, even if I'm not sure for myself :)

Challenge #22: Read a Lesbian Romance - started by Lexxi

Straight forward challenge. Book must involve lesbians, and be a romance, or at least include a romance. A 'romantic intrigue', i.e., a book involving suspense/thrills/mystery with romance is allowed. Rereads are allowed. Straight forward mysteries with some portion devoted to a romance between two women qualifies.

-- Most of the books I read and couldn't fit into a challenge last month, the 12 or however many of them I'd read, were lesbian romances. I've circled this in the past, by having the challenge be LGBT, or any romances involving any coupling, and/or LGBT award winners, and the like to leave it broader for anyone wishing to stick a book in the challenge, but this time I just zero in on lesbians. And romance. --

>72 Lexxi: Would you accept The Funny Thing Is by Ellen DeGeneres? It's a memoir so it doesn't concentrate on romance, but I imagine some romance happens.

>73 Citizenjoyce: I've read three Ellen DeGeneres memoirs, and I do not recall much in the way of romance. If you read it and find it has romance in it, then sure, you can count it. Of the lesbian memoirs I've read, I'm fairly sure I recall romance in Jane Lynch's Happy Accidents and I know there is 'romance' in Chely Wright's Like Me. Mostly between Wright and Brad Paisley, but there are some relationships between Wright and women, I think.

>13 Chatterbox: Suz - I'm reading Marie Antoinette's Head: The Royal Hairdresser, the Queen and the Revolution. Would you accept Royal Hairdresser for your challenge?

I've moved Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari from challenge #1 to the rolling smile challenge #21 to join you susanna.fraser and invite everyone to join us. I'm about 1/4 through and finding it to be a wonderful book about how fiction enabled homo sapiens to become the most powerful creatures on earth - admittedly not always a good thing, but a great read.

>75 Dejah_Thoris: argh, that is really pushing it. It's the modifier, rather than the profession, that makes it unusual. If it were just "hairdresser", we wouldn't care, and the modifier isn't necessary to explain the profession (as in fortune teller), which would make it an integral part of the name. So my instinct is to say no, that it doesn't fit into the spirit of what I intended (and I hope that I'm not splitting hairs...) That said, if you vehemently disagree AND you can't find another place to put iti, go ahead...

>3 countrylife: I have put my re-read of The Boyfriend in Challenge #2, with the thinking that you can't have a wedding without one proposing and becoming a husband! If you disagree, just let me know and I can move it over to #6, but I already am kind of overloaded with books for that challenge at this point...

>77 Chatterbox: I don't vehemently disagree - and I have another place to put it. And *snort* re: splitting hairs.....

>78 Dejah_Thoris: I have a taste for bad puns. I come by it honestly -- inherited from my grandfather... :-)

Just finished They Left Us Everything by Plum Johnson for the Seattle Library challenge. It's a really interesting family memoir written by a daughter who has just lost her 90+ mother and now has to sort through the house her family inhabited for 50 years.

Grief, memories, siblings and the practicalities of getting rid of stuff resonate strongly with me right now. The author's parents had a fascinating life and Plum Johnson weaves a loving blend of all these themes.

Just finished 1215 which left me with a variety of places to put it (two authors, numbers in the title). Decisions, decisions... almost as difficult as trying to place that book that won't fit.

>81 Helenliz: My priorities in those cases are:

1) Put it in a challenge I haven't already fulfilled and don't have another planned read for, if possible.

2) If #1 doesn't yield an obvious choice, pick whichever challenge has the fewest titles in it.

TIOLI Question of the Month:

Some books lend themselves to being read slowly. Have you encountered any such books so far this month? If so, which one(s) are they, and why do you have to slow down to read them?

>83 SqueakyChu: Well, I read Sweet Carolina Girls slowly, but that was mostly due to how awful the book was, which I do not think is the intention of your question. And I read Fables 150 slowly, but mostly because it was the last Fables book and it had a large number of stories in it to close off the universe. Plus, it lasted a thousand years. So I needed to read it slowly so I could remember who all was suddenly popping up to have their "last story told" moment.

>83 SqueakyChu: Lila is slow-going for me. I think it is because I cannot relate to her hardscrabble existence and am not buying the story line so far. I expected to like this one better because I loved Gilead when I read it.

>83 SqueakyChu: I am reading Flyboys by James Bradley along with other books. I have to read it slowly because it is so painful to read about how our brave pilots suffered at the hands of the Japanese as American prisoners of war during WWII. I feel the information is important to know so I'm determined to work my way through this book, albeit slowly.

>83 SqueakyChu: I've read a couple books slowly, for different reasons:

Northanger Abbey was a slow read, as there is so much to absorb. I love Jane Austen's books, but they are not light and breezy reads!

Cyteen: the Betrayal was a slower read because, well, it's a C.J. Cherryh masterpiece, Hugo award-winning tome...she packs so much detail and intrigue/politics into her books, one has to often slow down to follow what's going on.

Just some random thoughts I had while attempting to read my current book. I probably should start a book blog or something. Though every time I do that, my thoughts dry up.

I hate when I begin a series, everything is going well, I like the first two books but then . . . third book has different characters. Doesn't even seem to be same genre as first two. And then, even though the character isn't in the book, a character's background is changed. As in, the book series I'm following involves someone who was a lieutenant in the military. An MP. Got caught in a situation unbecoming an officer. Kind of an important point in first book.

Third book, and in description for fourth, involves comments about how she doesn't have a college degree, and is unschooled, and how that impacts her in relation to other people. Including her life-partner's friends. Who are college educated.

But . . . military officers become such after 4 years of college education (or greater), OR after a period of time in the enlisted ranks (or as it is put, after several enlisted tours) they receive officer training. But . . . the character isn't old enough to have gone that route (enlisted, then training, then officer).

This seemingly unimportant issue is probably going to keep me from completing the current book I'm reading, and probably keep me from continuing the series. Well, keep me from continuing the series. The fact that the new characters that popped up and took over the series in book 3 are loathsome is why I probably won't complete book 3. But that unschooled thing makes things even more annoying.

>88 Lexxi: how frustrating! Some authors need a real editor, someone who checks for continuity errors.

As a child I loved the Silver Chief books, about a wolf-dog and his master, a Canadian Mountie. Everything was fine until I got to book #4, in which the master's name changes (I think from Jim to Peter), and suddenly his family is no longer in existence, ack! When I found and purchased the series a number of years ago, I did not want a copy of that book #4.

Hmm...this could make a good thread...

Am I right in thinking that for challenge #12 the important date is the date of the edition you're reading rather than the original publication date (OPD) of the work? Looking at the wiki there are one or two books listed with the OPD and without a note saying first edition - it's possible these are first editions but given the age of some of the books I wasn't sure. (If they're first editions - wow! I'm jealous :-) )

>90 souloftherose:, yes, you have understood the challenge entirely. I see what you mean about the entries with no edition details. It is the age of the edition being read that maters, original publication date is irrelevant.
More modern editions are acceptable only as a shared read.

I just started reading the Fortune Hunter and encountered Bay Middleton. Does anyone know if this is an ancestor of Kate Middleton? What a charmer he is so far. What a fun book.

>92 Citizenjoyce:: I don't think so - Kate Middleton's family don't have aristocratic connections and it's not an unusual name. He was apparently believed to be the real (secret) father of Clementine Hozier, who married Winston Churchill, but there's speculation on this. I quite enjoyed Daisy Goodwin's first novel, but thought this one was really disappointing.

I've moved the graphic novel This one summer from challenge #6 to challenge #10 where I just noticed it was also listed and can be a shared read. Wonderful book.

Ilana - I probably won't get to The truth about the Harry Quebert Affair for your challenge, I've decided to listen to the audio and I'm only at the halfway point on my current listen.

>94 avatiakh: Kerry, I have the audio version as well which I haven't started on yet. I'll pick it up probably today, though I don't know if I'll finish it by the end of the month, especially since I might want to pick up something short and sweet before starting on it. No worries!

TIOLI Stats for July 2015

In the month of July, 2015, we read a total of 548 books. Of those, 123 or 22% were shared reads. That gave us 68 TIOLI points or a total of 514 YTD TIOLI points (highest at this point of the year since 2012). Good job!

Our most popular book was A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson, This book was shared by 6 readers.

The most popular challenge was Dejah_Thoris' challenge to read a work by an individual mentioned in the Science Fiction Awards Database. This challenge had 67 readers.

The challenge which accumulated the most TIOLI points was again Dejah_Thoris' challenge to read a work by an individual mentioned in the Science Fiction Awards Database. This challenge collected 16 TIOLI points.

The TIOLI Awards for July, 2013, are yet to come...

The July, 2015, TIOLI Awards:

The Person of Many Words Award goes to dallenbaugh for reading A Breach of Promise for my (SqueakyChu's) challenge to read a book whose title is at least two words long with the first letter of the title words being in alphabetical order. This challenge turned out to be a bit harder than I thought so I applaud this challenger's effort to find and read a book with a four-word title that fit the parameters of the challenge.

The Sounds Terrible Award goes to streamsong for reading Bitch in a Bonnet for dallenbaugh's challenge to read a book with a title that could drive you to drink. Some of the titles were quite funny, but I liked this one the best! I don't want to meet that bitch though! :)

The Humility Award goes to Carmenere for reading Fall on your Knees for this challenger's own challenge to read a book with the words head, shoulders, knees or toes in the title. You see, others chose books with the lofty word "head" in the title, but this challenger chose the humble word "knee" for the title. :D

The Foodie Award is shared by klobrien2 for reading BBQ 25 and lyzard for reading Red Pepper Burns for lahochstetler's challenge to read a book with a word in the title that specifies heat. So glad that you two thought of something picante. Capsaicin rules!!

The Age Awareness Award (haha!) goes to cbl_tn for reading The Story of Penelope Stout for DeltaQueen's challenge to read A Book That Was Originally Published Before the Year 2000. This book was originally published in 1897. That's 118 years ago!

Congratulations to our ward winners!

Feel free to add awards of your own now - if you so choose.

>97 SqueakyChu: Thanks for the Many Words Award, Madeline. As a person who seems to be losing words every year as I age, it is nice to have this special award.

>97 SqueakyChu:

Yes, I was quite pleased with that one myself. :)

Thanks, Madeline!

>97 SqueakyChu: Awards! My second-favorite time of the month! And that means my favorite time is coming up soon.

Thank you for the award! I should have looked to see if I could find anything older. ;-)

>98 dallenbaugh: >99 lyzard: >100 cbl_tn:

You're welcome, all!

Yes, yes, yes! After just barely missing three rotations in a row (stupid time-zone differences!) I have managed to catch the letter 'M' and fit The Mask Of Fu-Manchu into #21! :D

September is up!

http://www.librarything.com/topic/195011#

Housekeeping Day!

Please remove any book from the August wiki if you don't finish it by 12 midnight tonight...with the exception of challenge #21 (a rolling challenge). For that challenge, if it was not COMPLETED in time, remove everything except for the book's title and author.

Thank you!

>104 SqueakyChu: Done!

>105 Smiler69: Thx!

>97 SqueakyChu: Thanks for the award, Madeline! Bitch in a Bonnet is actually both a lot of fun and quite insightful of Jane Austen's social commentary. So she's one bitch in a bonnet that I wouldn't mind meeting. :-)