Take It or Leave It Challenge - May 2019 - 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.


...logo by cyderry

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Your challenge for May 2019 is to

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Read a book whose cover contains a hyphenated word

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Rules
1. List the first hyphenated word you see, not all of them.
2. You may check the front cover, back cover, and book spine.
3. You may include a hyphenated name.

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

1. The May 2019 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.
3. FAMeulstee's 2109 TIOLI Sweeplette Meter - Use this page if you want to complete a sweeplette (all of the challenges on only one wiki page). I’ll

Wiki Index of Challenges:

Challenges #1-6
1. Read a book whose cover contains a hyphenated word - msg #1
2. Read a book (fiction or non-fiction) set before the year 1000 - msg #3
3. Read a book dedicated to a non-relative - msg #4
4. Read a book whose title contains at least one 4 letter or longer embedded word - msg #5
5. Read a book because you've promised a review or a discussion - msg #6
6. Read a book about either a fire, France or a cathedral - msg #9

Challenges #7-12
7. Read a book with tableware on the cover - msg #10
8. Read a book about a nurse/nurses or nursing - msg #11
9. Read a coming of age story - msg #15
10. Read a book about or set in Berlin, or by a German writer - msg #16
11. Read a book, record the LT "Will you like it?" prediction and your resulting rating - msg #17
12. Read a book with a mode of transportation, other than an auto, on the cover - msg #19

Challenges #13-17
13. Read a book with a day of the week mentioned in the first sentence, in rolling order - msg #26
14. Read a book with a non-human mammal on the coverr - msg #43
15. Read a book with no common initials in title or author, 5 word minimum - msg #49

Hold your challenge until the June TIOLI challenges are posted. Thank you!

Challenge #2: Read a book (fiction or non-fiction) set before the year 1000

Self-explanatory, I hope. It’s OK if some of the book goes past 1000, but it has to be well under half. For example, a history of the period from prehistory-1200 would be acceptable, but a novel which has two different time streams, one pre-1000, would not.

Some novels I have really enjoyed which would fit into this category are:

Hild by Nicola Griffith (7th century England)
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker (Trojan War)
Circe by Madeline Miller (Greek mythology)
The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson (Viking era, 9th/10th centuries)
The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart (Arthurian legend - 5th century)
Quarantine and The Gift of Stones by Jim Crace (set during the life of Jesus, and the Stone Age, respectively)

Books of myths, Scandinavian eddas etc would also work.

challenge #3: read a book that has been dedicated to a non relative

Pretty self-explanatory, but a few words. If they include words like mother, father, sister, husband, wife, child, it doesn’t count. If the dedication just includes a name, then it’s fine, unless you happen to know it’s a relative (like Michelle Obama dedicating a book “to Barack”).

Challenge #4: Title Contains at Least One 4 Letter or Longer Embedded Word

The 4 letter plus word must be contained in one of the title words with no transposing of any letters.

Examples of Titles That Would Work for this Challenge:
Crescent by Diana Abu-Jaber contains the word “scent"
See How Small by Scott Blackwood contains the word “mall”

Challenge #5: Read a book because you've promised a review or a discussion

This is a slight variation on my "read a book because you must" challenge. Very self-serving, of course.

I don't envision this as reading something merely because you've checked it out of the library and it's due. Instead, I see it as an instance where your're obligated to provide a review, such as for Net Galley or Early Reviewers, or to discuss the book, for instance, in a book discussion group or even as simply with a real life or online friend with whom you plan to talk about a mutual read.

For example, I have an LT friend with whom I occasionally read a book about astronauts or the space program. When my favorite author comes out with her newest book, several friends and I immediately read it and talk about it.

Please indicate why you have to read it.

>5 DeltaQueen50: Can I use the singular if the word in the title is plural?

>3 wandering_star: Would you accept a historical fantasy? I'm reading one that has a fictional setting, but the historical details are analogous to the society and technology of the Byzantine era.

Because of the recent disaster - Challenge #6: Read a book about either a fire, France or a cathedral.
I plan to read The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo which I find is a very popular book right now.

Challenge #7: Read a book with tableware on the cover - started by Morphidae

For the purposes of this challenge, tableware includes all table settings including cutlery, glassware, as well as serving dishes and serving utensils.

It does *NOT* include items that are decorative or for non-food use (e.g., vases, candle holders) or that are temporary in nature (e.g. bread trenchers, leaves) or that are for cooking only or prep work only (e.g. pots, pans, cutting boards, whisks, peelers.)

If there is interest, I'll start up a cover thread.

For assistance:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tableware

Challenge #8: Read a book about a nurse or nursing.

March 12th is International Nurses Day, so I challenge everyone to read a book related to the profession. Non-fiction works such as memoirs and biographies are certainly acceptable, as are books about groups of nurses, such as those who fought in a specific war or as part a particular nursing service, etc.

For fiction, I ask that the nurse be the main, or at least a very major, character.

Given that nursing has not always been as clearly defined profession as it is today, I’ll also accept midwives and healers (although not anyone described as a doctor).

I’ll probably read a few Cherry Ames novels, Helmets and Lipstick (a WWII memoir), and The Healer’s War. Sadly, the next Bess Crawford book by Charles Todd isn’t out until September.

>8 jeanned: Tough call. I have thought about this for a while but I don't think I can accept fictional settings (because we don't know what the rest of the historical development of that world is and therefore where the setting fits...)

My planned reads so far
Challenge #1: Read a book whose cover contains a hyphenated word - started by SqueakyChu
*✔Dear Fahrenheit 451 - Annie Spence (5)
✔Give-a-damn Jones - Bill Pronzini (4)
Challenge #2: Read a book (fiction or non-fiction) set before the year 1000 - started by wandering_star
The Clan of the Cave Bear - Jean M. Auel
Challenge #3: Read a book dedicated to a non-relative - started by owlie13
✔The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson (4.5)
*✔Certain Dark Things - Silvia Moreno-Garcia (4)
A Memory Called Empire - Arkady Martine
Challenge #4: Read a book whose title contains at least one 4 letter or longer embedded word - started by DeltaQueen
✔Finding Dorothy - Elizabeth Letts (4.5)
The Mueller Report - robert Mueller
✔She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity - Carl Zimmer (5)
*✔The Spy in Moscow Station - Eric Haseltine (5)
Challenge #5: Read a book because you've promised a review or a discussion - started by lindapanzo
*✔The Woman in Cabin 10 - Ruth Ware (3.5)
Challenge #6: Read a book about either a fire, France or a cathedral - started by Citizenjoyce
*✔The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Victor Hugo (3.5)
Challenge #7: Read a book with tableware on the cover - started by Morphidae
✔Heartburn - Nora Ephron (3.5)
Challenge #8: Read a book about a nurse/nurses or nursing. - started by Dejah_Thoris
✔Critical Care: A New Nurse Faces Death, Life, and Everything in Between - Theresa Brown (5)
✔A Duty to the Dead - Charles Todd (3.5)
✔The Language of Kindness: A Nurse's Story - Christie Watson (5)
*✔The Pain Nurse - Jon Talton (3.5)
*Promise Not To Tell - Jennifer McMahon
Challenge #9: Read a coming of age story - started by lyzard
✔The Mighty Heart of Sunny St. James - Ashley Herring Blake (3.5)
Pictures of Hollis Woods - Patricia Reilly Giff
Challenge #10: Read a book about or set in Berlin, or by a German writer - started by FAMeulstee
✔Underground in Berlin: A Young Woman's Extraordinary Tale of Survival in the Heart of Nazi Germany - Marie Jalowicz Simon (3.5)
Challenge #11: Read a book, record the LT "Will you like it?" prediction and your resulting rating - started by helenliz
*Stone Mad- Elizabeth Bear
Challenge #12: Read a book with a mode of transportation, other than an auto, on the cover - started by Carmenere
✔The Medicine Wagon - Gary McCarthy (3)
An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic - Daniel Mendelsohn - Abandoned
✔Patricia Highsmith: Selected Novels and Short Stories - Patricia Highsmith (4)
Challenge #13: Read a book with a day of the week mentioned in the first sentence, in rolling order - started by paulstalder
✔Who Is Vera Kelly? - Rosalie Knecht (4)
Challenge #14: Read a book with a non-human mammal on the cover - started by susanna.fraser
✔The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa (4.5)
Challenge #15: Read a book with no common initials in title or author, 5 word minimum - started by quondame
✔Sometimes I Lie - Alice Feeney (3.5)

>7 jeanned: For Challenge #4 the embedded word should not simply be the singular or a variation of a title word. For example, I am going to be reading a book called Waltz into Darkness this month and I have decided not to use this book as "dark" is really more of variation of an existing word rather than a unconnected embedded word.

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Challenge #9: Read a coming of age story

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Reasonably self-explanatory, but just to be clear, this cannot simply be a story about a young person: there must be that component of "growing up" or "gaining wisdom" or passing through some transformative experience.

Naturally I will be reading Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (aka Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, which is considered the first ever Bildungsroman and the founding work in this genre.

Challenge #10: Read a book about or set in Berlin, or by a German writer

Meaning Berlin, the capital of Germany.
We go to Berlin in May, for a short vacation. So this way I can list my Berlin reads :-)

Challenge #11: Read a book, record the LT "Will you like it?" prediction and your resulting rating

This is a challenge to explore the accuracy of the LT predictor of if you will like any given book. This can be found on a work page, below recomendations and lists. It is simple enough to use, you press the "Will you like it?" link and it calculates if LT thinks you will or won't like a book, and how confident the prediciton is. The prediction appears as follows:



I've never seen it be very positive one way or the other, so I want to see how bold the predictions can be.

Please enter in the wiki the prediction, including the confidence, by copying the text below the bar. Please also include the colour band which the prediciton arrow is indicating. To help, my entry in the wiki is based on the image above and includes the following:
(LibraryThing thinks you probably will like Stay With Me (prediction confidence: very high) - white)

Once you've finished the book, an a note to the wiki as to if the prediciton was accurate or not.

The only books that are not acceptable for this challenge are those with too few books to produce a predicition.

>16 FAMeulstee: Great - my sister just moved to Berlin so I have a few books which will fit in this category!

>10 Morphidae: Should it be multiple items, or can I use a cover with only a knife on it?

>12 wandering_star: >14 DeltaQueen50: Thank you!

>6 lindapanzo:

Thank you, Linda! I have a project going for next month that had me worried, TIOLI-wise, but that makes a great default. :D

>20 FAMeulstee: One item is fine.

>19 Carmenere: Does a wheelchair count as a mode of transport?

Challenge #13: Read a book with a day of the week mentioned in the first sentence, in rolling order

I was challenged to bring a challenge with a word which is not in the first sentence of this book: Mind on Fire by Arnold Thomas Fanning. I don't have that book, but as far as I can tell, Sunday (or any other day) does not appear in the first sentence, it shows up later in the book. Let me know, if I am mistaken. So, here we go:
Read a book which mentions a day of the week in the first sentence. And we do that in rolling order, starting with the first day of the week, Sunday. List the first sentence in the wiki please.

# Sunday: Die Sehnsucht ihrer Mutter (Normalerweise liebte Marta den '''Sonntag'''.) - Francine Rivers

>25 avatiakh: Wheelchairs? Absolutely!

Well, I'm in for Certain Dark Things based on the dedication alone! (check the wiki to see what it is)

>26 paulstalder: & everyone, I easily found my book by:

- Going to Common Knowledge at the bottom of the page
- Entering in the day of the week, i.e. “Monday,” in the Common Knowledge search bar
- Choosing “First words” from the dropdown

Unfortunately it only gives titles not authors, but it was a heck of a lot easier than randomly going through all my books.

ETA: I should have entered my Monday book first rather than typed this post first, dangit!

>29 Morphidae: Wow, this is a great tip. Thanks Morphy!!

>22 lyzard: Glad to be of help. I read only one Net Galley book in April and accumulated at my usual pace and now have a dozen. I want to focus on Net Galley and ER books in May.

>29 Morphidae: Sorry Morphidae! I was doing exactly what you suggested, and I found 2 of my own books that worked for Monday.

>31 raidergirl3: It’s okay. I now have books for Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday as well!

>28 wandering_star: I wonder if he’s a good friend of hers.

>29 Morphidae: yep, that's the best way - and this is also one of my reasons for filling in the CK part of each new book I catalog

I have a question for everyone. I was amusing myself looking across multiple genres for nurse books for my own challenge, #8. I've got a somewhat eclectic list of books to which I have access (hooray for my library system), and I'm wondering if I should just go ahead and add the lot of them to the wiki.

I won't get to them all, but I'd really like to do better with shared reads in May than I have for the last two months and I thought if I added them, other folks might be intrigued and join me. Or, would it be better to list the books back in my original challenge post on the thread, perhaps dividing them by genre, and not clutter up the wiki? I'm open to suggestion. Thanks!

ETA: Joyce, I'm going to join you for Critical Care. raidergirl3 - I can't get my hands on District Nurse: My Life as a Nurse in the 1950s Judy and Linda - I've read both of your books too rececntly to be ready for a reread!

>35 Dejah_Thoris: I'd put them in your post rather than the wiki. Personally, I think the wiki is for books (general) you intend on completing rather than something like a TBR or wish list.

>36 Morphidae: Ah, well, at this point, there's pretty much an equal chance of my reading any of them! That's the trouble I seem to have most months - I tend not to add books I may read to the wiki, often waiting until I start or finish them. I suspect I miss out a lot of shared reads that way, because I'm forever seeing books that other folks read show up later in the month and thinking that I would have joined them if I'd known.....

>35 Dejah_Thoris: I randomly found District Nurse at a book sale. I think I got it because I keep meaning to read Call the Midwife and your challenge reminded me I had that book. It’s an old book, published in 1977.

Last year I matched reading all the Sync audiobooks that got entered in my challenge - it was so much fun!

Also reminder - a new season of free ya audiobooks are available for download and for keeps. Two a week til mid summer.

>35 Dejah_Thoris: I don’t see a problem with listing them all if you think there’s a chance you might read any of them. After all, the ones you don’t read will be taken off later anyway.

>35 Dejah_Thoris: I often add more books than I read, but if someone else makes one of them a shared read I am more likely to get to it. So I think you should go ahead and add them all!

>15 lyzard: I found a useful place to start looking for books for challenge 9 is to go to my tag mirror (you can find this in your profile page) - if you click on the tag "coming of age" you will get a list of all the books in your catalogue that someone has given that tag to.

>36 Morphidae: >38 raidergirl3: >39 SqueakyChu: >40 wandering_star: Thank you for responding to my question. I've gone with the majority and added the books that I'm most interested in reading. Actually reading them, of course, is a different issue!

That said, if anyone sees a book in the Challenge they might read, please add it and I'll move that book to the top of my list.

I'm ready to start reading my May books now!

Challenge #14: Read a book with a non-human mammal on the cover

Pretty self-explanatory, I hope.

>42 Dejah_Thoris: I have no issue with it. I tend to be the post it on the thread type is all.

>44 Morphidae: Well, Morphy, I must admit I'm a little daunted when I look at the list - who knew I'd found so many nurse books? And that doesn't include the ones I decided I was truly unlikely to read! every other book this month will have to be a nurse book, at a minimum, lol.

Citizenjoyce and souloftherose: since the three of us read Elizabeth Bear's Karen Memory back in March, would either or both of you be interested in reading the follow up, Stone Mad this month? I don't have a particular Challenge I want to put it in - anywhere would work for me.

Well, this was a first for me. Yesterday morning, I put in a Net Galley book I needed to read into my own challenge. Murder in the Reading Room, the fifth book in the Book Retreat series, by Ellery Adams.

Started it reading it in the am. Got so wrapped up in it that I finished it late last night. Too early for the May challenge, so I'll have to remove it.

>47 lindapanzo: Noooo, don't remove it! There are some time zones where it is already May 1st. I think your book should qualify.

Challenge #15: Read a book with no common initials in title or author, 5 word minimum

All words in the title and author as displayed on the cover of the book, including author initials must be considered - additional subtitles interior to the book do not have to be.

>46 Dejah_Thoris: Sure, I’ll join you, I loved the first one. My library has only 1 copy and it’s checked out now, but I should get it in time.
We can put it in challenge 11, the “will you like it” challenge.
I’ll also join you for The Pain Nurse - Jon Talton and Promise Not To Tell
We Band of Angels is great, but I already read it.

>48 Carmenere: I've already placed it in the April TIOLI since I finished it on April 29th. I don't think anywhere in the world was in the new month at that point.

If you want to read it, you can see whether LT thinks you will like it. I checked and LT thinks I'd like it but had a low level of confidence. I loved it.

Incidentally, a fellow LTer just set my mind at ease about something in the book so I'm feeling better. Whew.

>50 Citizenjoyce: Fabulous on all counts! And I'm really looking forward to We Band of Angels. I thought it looked excellent, and I'm glad to know you enjoyed it. I'll be getting the two nurse mysteries/thrillers from the library ASAP.

>48 Carmenere: She has to go by her own time zone!!

>53 SqueakyChu: Sigh* Just wanted to be a helpful engine.

>54 Carmenere: That’s okay. I tend to be tight on rules. Others less so. It’s all for fun anyway. There are no TIOLI police! :D

>52 Dejah_Thoris: Dejah, I also loved We Band of Angels, it was a 5 star read for me.

Completed a sweep (fourth this year) with 3 shared reads.

*places in correct thread*

>57 Morphidae: In May? I know I read slowly, but I'm not even a quarter through a book this month yet. >;-)

>58 Helenliz: Whoops.

>3 wandering_star: Would ancient mythology work, i.e. Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman?

>57 Morphidae: That would've been truly amazing.

>60 Morphidae: definitely!

>62 wandering_star: Yay!

>49 quondame: Is that 5 words in the title or is that 5 words in total?
I'm looking to place The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths, which has no initial letters repeated, I'm just not sure if it is long enough.

Thanks to Elkiedee for that recommendation, not that I needed yet another series. For the first time in a very long time I stared and finished a book in one evening. Staying in a hotel for a night with few other distractions helps, but that's book 2 polished off in (for me) record time!

>46 Dejah_Thoris: Good idea about Stone Mad - I've added myself to the shared read for challenge #11.

>46 Dejah_Thoris:, >50 Citizenjoyce:, >65 souloftherose: I wonder if you'll get the same prediction from LT as to if you'll like the book. Can you (if you haven't already) each enter your own prediction, for a shared read, just to check that out?

>19 Carmenere: for challenge #12, I'm assuming auto means car, so I can use a bus as a different mode of transportation?

>64 Helenliz: Thanks for letting me know that you enjoyed the Elly Griffiths books.

>66 Helenliz: It looks like Dejah and I got the same prediction (love - medium) and CitizenJoyce got 'will probably like' with medium confidence.

>64 Helenliz: 3 word titles are fine. 2 word titles from Orson Scott Card would be fine. I guess a 1 word title from J.R.R.Tolkien would not be OK because of the repeated R, but one by Khwaja Muhammad Latif Ansari would be (it's really hard to find an Islamic name with only one portion starting with A).

>70 quondame: Thanks! Thought I'd check, as I wasn't sure if you wanted a 5 word title.

>69 souloftherose: Hmm, I can't think of a book that I have been predicted to love, which is strange because I tend to rate pretty highly. I'll have to pay more attention.

>67 raidergirl3: Yes, a bus in permissible.

>72 Citizenjoyce:, me neither. It always seems to come out with probably will or probably won't for me. It is rarely very definite, hence my wanting to see what other people were getting as predictions. This is purely a challenge of curiosity.

As I understand it, it doesn't pay attention to ratings, it looks at how often the book appears in the libraries that are most similar to yours. I'm not certain of what exactly it does from there.

>74 Helenliz: I took The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa out of your challenge because I needed a cover with a mammal on it for challenge #14, but the prediction, with very high confidence, was that I would probably like it. In fact, I loved it and gave it 4.5 stars. So, they were going in the right direction, they just didn't go far enough.

>72 Citizenjoyce: Even a Cubs World Series-related book, The Cubs Way by Tom Verducci, which I somehow managed to miss, did not come out as a we think you'll love this" book for me. In fact, they have only medium confidence that I'll like it. I have high confidence that I'll love it, myself.

Hmmm, I tried checking the next book in a mystery series after I've read the first 22 books in the Carolyn Hart Death on Demand series and it says that it thinks I'll love the next one. Maybe it goes by number of books read by the author and not number of books read on the topic.

>76 lindapanzo: I just tried your theory and looked at The Complete Fiction: The Bean Trees, Homeland, Animal Dreams, Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver. I’ve read 3 of the 4 novels included and rated them all 4 or above. The prediction, with medium confidence, was that I probably won’t like the compilation. That makes no sense.

>11 Dejah_Thoris: I just found, and checked out, another one - The Language of Kindness: A Nurse's Story - Christie Watson.

>78 Citizenjoyce: I may join you in that one!

>41 wandering_star:

Thanks for that! The tag 'Bildungsroman' may also be helpful.

>11 Dejah_Thoris:, >79 elkiedee: I just started my first book for the nursing challenge, Critical Care: A New Nurse Faces Death, Life, and Everything in Between by Theresa Brown. I think I'm going to love this challenge.

>81 Citizenjoyce: I love to read books about nurses but really need to make a dent in my Net Galley pile. Will try to work more nurse books in this month, if I can.

Curiouser and curiouser, re: the LT Will You Like It predictions. As Heather mentioned above, LT thinks I'll love Stone Mad, with medium confidence. I'm mystified as to how they came to this conclusion. Karen Memory is the only other Elizabeth Bear book in my LT library, and while I liked it, I didn't love it - nor did I rate it.

On the other hand, I've also listed Michael Frayn's play Noises Off, which LT believes I won't like, with very high confidence. I have no other works by Frayn in my LT library, but having seen the play, I'm 99% sure I'll love it.

I'm beginning to think the explanation offered by helenliz may well be correct. I'm pretty sure that most of my top 100 most similar libraries share mostly genre fiction - mysteries and SFF - with mine. Not many people read plays beyond the classics, so I'm guessing that's throwing the calculations off a bit. Now I'm going to compulsively check the prediction for every play I read, lol.

>78 Citizenjoyce: >81 Citizenjoyce: I'm so glad you're enjoying the Challenge! Critical Care is in transit to me and I just put a hold on The Language of Kindness. I'll try to get to them both.

>79 elkiedee: Join us if you can!

>82 lindapanzo: I don't know why I enjoy nurse books, unless it sprouts from my early addiction to the Cherry Ames mysteries. Can you pinpoint why you like to read them, Linda?

>83 Dejah_Thoris: I know I read a couple of Cherry Ames books, but don't remember them being mysteries.

>84 quondame: They're definitely mysteries, but the mysteries are, for the most part, pretty slight. After all, they were written to encourage girls to choose nursing as a career, not detective work! I always admired Cherry far more than Nancy.

>83 Dejah_Thoris: I think I'm interested because of so many surgeries/hospital stays. Two two-week hospitalizations after surgeries in 1992, a shorter one after 2007 surgery, and last year's 3-day ICU hospitalization after chest surgery. Initially, I'd be worried mainly about recuperating but, after a time, I'd ask the nurses plenty of questions. I've thought it all very interesting and, unlike doctors, love to seem to talk about their profession.

Even if I don't get to the nurse books people are reading this month, I'll hope to get to them in future months.

I just received a copy of Viking Attacks on Paris: The Bella parisiacae urbis of Abbo of Saint-Germain-des-Pres which was written in the 9th century by a monk present at the Viking attacks on Paris. It could go into any of the following challenges:

1. Read a book whose cover contains a hyphenated word
2. Read a book (fiction or non-fiction) set before the year 1000
3. Read a book dedicated to a non-relative
4. Read a book whose title contains at least one 4 letter or longer embedded word
6. Read a book about either a fire, France or a cathedral
12. Read a book with a mode of transportation, other than an auto, on the cover
14. Read a book with a non-human mammal on the cover

>87 quondame: Decisions, decisions.

>87 quondame: When I have a book that fits multiple challenges, I usually pick the one that has the fewest books listed.

>87 quondame: I'm got it for #6, so that's probably where it's going - while a cathedral may not actually burn, much of Paris does as does an abbey or so.....

>90 quondame: Looks like a reasonable choice.

We talked about the book, The Spy in Moscow Station by quondame's brother, I think. Well, I finally rec'd a copy from my library. Hopefully, I'll be able to squeeze it into one of them month's challenges.

ETA: Hmm, I'm not finding anything. Anyone have suggestions for it.

>92 Carmenere: challenge 4: embedded four letter word: scow

>92 Carmenere: Yay! I'm going to his signing next Saturday. I wonder if I'll actually have to buy a copy.

>93 paulstalder: Perfect, Paul! Thank you so much for doing my thinking for me today! :0)

>94 quondame: I Googled the author and he is quite a busy guy with a few other tomes under his belt. At first glance, The Spy in Moscow Station looks like a tough read, sort of technical with a lot of acronyms flying across the page but I'm willing to give it a shot. I'm thinking Tom Clancy-ish.

>95 Carmenere: My (goofy) brother is way busy, but mostly likes tinkering about in a workroom with tools scattered like confetti about him. He'd love to be Tom Clancy-ish. Someone who hadn't met him was told to look for the table with Picard and Sipowicz, and Eric was Picard. He was upset until we told him at least he wasn't Sipowicz. I've gotten horror stories from him about both NSA and Disney.

>92 Carmenere: I’m hoping I get my requested copy this month.

>94 quondame: That's pretty funny, Susan.

Citizenjoyce Joyce, I know I'm the one who added it to Challenge #8 first, but I'm giving up on Promise Not To Tell. I gave it 61 pages before I bailed; it just wasn't working for me.

On a happier note, I'm over half way through The Healer's War, which I think is great. I've been meaning to read it for years - I'm glad I finally picked it up.

So many nurse books, so little time.

>99 Dejah_Thoris: I loved The Healer’s War. Bad news about Promise Not to Tell. I won’t even try, there are too many good books I want to read, besides, I’m loving the non fiction nursing books better than the novels.

>17 Helenliz: I read A mercy by Toni Morrison with these LT predictions: LibraryThing thinks you probably will like A Mercy (prediction confidence: very high) - I liked the language very much, not so much the style.
I liked it but it slowed down my reading pace considerably :)

>97 quondame: Ha! that's funny. I can imagine the horror stories involving NSA but Disney? That could be his next book :0)

>98 Citizenjoyce: Yeah! I've placed it, at Paul's suggestion, in Challenge 4.

>102 Carmenere: I'm tempted to make you play family scrabble rules on that one. In order to prevent my Granny sitting with the Scrabble dictionary in hand and playing random words out of the dictionary, we had a rule that you had to be able to use any word you'd played in a sentence. And your word is scow? Over to you! >;-)

Actually you can also find "STAT" in your title as well. Yes it is a technical abbreviation, but it's in the dictionary. We've all probably watched enough medical dramas to have heard it used.

>103 Helenliz: Because there is not enough water in the Rhine, my scow is stuck and we can play scrabble on board.

>103 Helenliz: Hahaha, for years I've heard about the scow wedged between rocks in the Niagara River. Fearing the men aboard would be tossed over Niagara Falls a rescue took place to bring the stranded men to shore. I thought it was an old wives tale till I saw it myself on vacation to Niagara Falls. To this day, the scow is still wedged above the falls.

>104 paulstalder:, >105 Carmenere: excellent, thank you for playing along like such good sports, especially Carmenere, with two different sentences in an informative paragraph! And I've learnt both facts and a new word. >:-)

>102 Carmenere: As for Disney it is possibly more successful at being secretive than the NSA. As to horror, do you think that the accidents that have killed people are freaks of a system doing it's best or the inevitable results of decisions that place near turn profit over any sensible maintenance plan.

>106 Helenliz: Glad to be of service :0)

>107 quondame: Disney? Mouseketeers or Profiteers? Hmmmm.

For those of us who read and loved Remarkable Creatures there’s going to be a movie starring Kate Winslet.
https://womenintheworld.com/2019/05/10/accused-in-her-time-of-producing-hoaxes-o...

>19 Carmenere: I got a copy of Flying Too High for my iPad, and every other version of the book has an airplane on the cover. Unfortunately, the cover for my version does not. Can I still count it, or do I have to go by my copy?

>110 owlie13: I'd say all challenges apply to the book you are reading, the version in your hands, right now. That being said, I'm going to say no your version will not count. Sorry I'm such a meany :0(

>111 Carmenere: That's OK. I don't know why the Kindle version is different, but they seem to do that a lot. Bummer!

TIOLI Question of the Month:

Which character (fiction or nonfiction) did you find the most appealing in any of the books you've read so far this month? Who was that character? Why was he or she so appealing? Which book was it?

>113 SqueakyChu: I liked Philip Nore in his coming to grips with the foreseeable end of his career as a jockey, his former involvement with throwing races, and opening up to turning his hobby into a future career.

>110 owlie13: Owlie, what cover do you have showing on your Ipad? Because the cover you have showing on your profile does seem to have aircraft on it. Or is your screen showing the TV tie in version with just a face?

I don't really think it's fair for TIOLI challenges to be linked to particular editions - I know this isn't a ahared read but it really detracts from the idea of encouraging people to do shared reads. Also, there is a difference for ebook editions, in that covers are changeable for the same edition of the book we have "in our hand" or on our gadget, eg if you buy a book in Kindle format before the paperback comes out, what shows on your screen can change later from the "hardback" cover to the "paperback" cover. Or the tie-in edition as in this case.

>115 elkiedee: We don't have any rules about this issue. I tend to be very liberal about it, by I leave the decision up to each challenge host.

>115 elkiedee: >116 SqueakyChu: In hindsight, I should have put it up for a vote but if challenges are easy they wouldn't be challenging.

>117 Carmenere: I have nothing against easy challenges - a good mix is best.

Hey, Madeline!---

Helen read The Monk for #6... :D

>119 lyzard: That’s waaaay cool! :D

>120 SqueakyChu: thank you (although I'm not sure why that's cool...)

>121 Helenliz:

Madeline and I did a tutored read of The Monk some years back.

A good time was had by all. :D

>122 lyzard: it was a riot, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't that. Although I did wonder if there was any plot point he'd thought about and discarded.

>123 Helenliz:. I highly recommend this book for everyone...especially if you follow the tutored read. You’ll love the ending!! :)

>43 susanna.fraser:

Sure, you SAY it's self-explanatory... :D

Susanna, I have a book dealing with cryptozoology. It has a couple of strange beasts on its cover - quite possibly not real, though the author insists they are! - but either way definitely mammals: would you allow it?

>115 elkiedee: It's the one with her face (I guess from the TV show). It's not a big deal - I found another book with a steamship on my edition of the cover, so all is good.

>I'll allow it. :-)

>127 susanna.fraser:

Thank you, that's very generous! :)

I have completed a sweep. I’m currently out camping at War so I hope my file updates from the iPad haven’t messed up the wiki pages.

>129 quondame:: Congrats on your sweep!

And here I was feeling all pleased about my page 1 sweeplette.

Maybe in August when it's cold and windy and rainy here down under, I'll give a full sweep a try.

Someone is doing a shared read (E-listening) of A Spy in Moscow Station with me in Challenge #4 but in copying my entry didn't change my name to theirs. I forgot who mentioned they would be reading along, Helenliz? CitizenJoyce?

>129 quondame: Congratulations on your sweep, Susan!

>130 jeanned: Congratulations on your sweeplette, Jeanne!

>131 Carmenere: Browsing through the history of the wikipage shows that it was Citizenjoyce

>129 quondame: Congrats
>131 Carmenere: oops. Yes I’m sharing the read, or rather have shared it. It’s mighty pertinent to our current situation. I’ll fix things as soon as I can.

>132 FAMeulstee: >131 Carmenere: Thanks for confirming that, Anita!
>133 Citizenjoyce: >131 Carmenere: Great! I thought it very pertinent too!

>113 SqueakyChu: TIOLI QotM Mike Arneson, from A Spy in Moscow Station, was a low level employee at NSA. From a family of 8 children his parents were unable to send him to college. His father told him the way to college would have to be through Saigon. So, he served in the military then received an Associates Degree in Engineering making it highly unlikely he'd ever be in the top ranks of his field. Put on a super sensistive secret assignment at NSA, he deligently discovered the problem no one else was able to find. The book goes on to relate just how far he would go. After he left NSA he "went on to found multiple start-ups .... authored over 150 patents or patent applications, won two prestigious IEEE best paper awards, and played a key role in developing important techologies such as USB thumb drives and ... chips. Mike's first start up sold for over $230 million."

TIOLI stats for April 2019:

For April, 2019, we had 17 challenges in which we read a total of 381 books. Of these, 68 or 16% were shared reads. We accumulated 35 TIOLI points for a YTD total of 166 TIOLI points. Stats are looking stable these days.

Our most popular book was Friends in High Places by Donna Leon with 4 readers.

Our most popular challenge was the one by DeltaQueen50 to read a book in which the author's name has a Scrabble point value of 22 or more. There were 39 books read for that challenge.

The challenge with the most TIOLI points (six) was the one by helenliz to read a book by a woman about a woman.

Coming soon...TIOLI Awards!

TIOLI Awards for April, 2019:

The Double the Fun Award goes to @elkidee for reading In the Name of the Family for my (SqueakyChu's) challenge to read a book whose first sentence contains a phrase with a word that rhymes with the word "all". This book's first sentence contained two such words: "call" and "tall". Nice!

The How High Can You Go Award goes to FAMeulstee for reading Grand Hotel Europa for DeltaQueen's challenge to read a book in which the author's name has a Scrabble point value of 22 or more. Our wining challenger came up with an author's name (Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer) valued at 45 points! Wow!!

The Love in Bloom Award goes to lindapanzo for the challenge to read a book relating to this challenger's parents' 60th wedding anniversary. That is so lovely and sweet. Congratulations to the happy couple!

The What About Spoilers Award goes to Carmenere for the challenge to read a book in which the final paragraph is one sentence. This is a pretty tricky challenge to get people to do because, really, how many people want to read the last paragraph of a book before they start reading the rest of the book?!

Congrats to the award winners! Feel free to add awards of your own here at this time!

The Foxy Grammar Award goes to lyzard for reading The fox prowls for Morphidae's Challenge to Read a book with a three word title - "The" (adjective) (noun). This reader regards 'fox' as adjective and 'prowls' as noun, which is - foxy

The Feminizing Letters Award goes to elkiedee for reading Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire for lyzard's challenge Read a book with a feminized noun in the title or the author's name. This reader feminized the letter 'C' by adding the ending 'lass', which is an interesting grammatical achievement.

The Make Three Into Two Award goes to lyzard for reading a book by H. A. Manhood for FAMeulstee's challenge to Read a book where the author's last name has 2 vowels or less. This reader takes a double vowel as a single.

The Take(s) Two to Read Award goes to Citizenjoyce for proposing that same title reading challenge - and bringing others to join in the hunt for same-title-books. Good idea.

Thanks for participating in all the challenges - and continue to have fun with the new challenges.

>136 SqueakyChu: Thanks for the What about spoilers award, Madeline and a shout out to the brave souls who accepted the challenge :o)

>136 SqueakyChu: Aww, thank you. Mom and Dad had a lovely celebration for their 60th anniversary. We had an outing to Anderson's Japanese Garden in Rockford, IL. Later, a celebration lunch for 40+ family and friends.

>137 paulstalder: Good catches, Paul! Hilarious!! Congrats to the additional award winners.

>139 lindapanzo: You're welcome, Linda...and later a surprise is coming...My daughter's wedding pic! My husband and I are going to be celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary in June, but my daughter just got married three days ago! Linda, feel free to honor your parents with a picture of them here on this thread!

>140 SqueakyChu:

Jordana and Greg

>141 SqueakyChu: Beautiful! Congratulations to the happy couple and the entire family. I hope you aren't too exhausted!

>136 SqueakyChu: And congratulations to all the winners!

>140 SqueakyChu: I got a chuckle out of that. I am the worst LTer here in terms of knowing how to post photos. However, after my recent meet up with Mark, Joe, and Jim, I managed to post one. Now, if I can just remember what I did then.

Photo of Mom and Dad on their wedding day, in April 1959.



Photo of Mom and Dad in April 2019.



While I'm in a posting mood, here's a pic of my niece, Jill, and me, at her HS graduation last week. She will be attending Butler University in the fall.

>144 lindapanzo: thanks for the pix

What lovely pictures. Thanks to Madeline and Linda for posting them.

>144 lindapanzo: Wonderful pictures, Linda! Thank you so much for posting them. Congratulations to your parents...and to your niece! Great cause for celebration!

I invite others to post pictures of recent special occasions here at this time as this thread will be quickly coming to an end in a few days! We’ll carry on with more book talk in June! :D

>142 Dejah_Thoris: Thanks! It’s the good kind of exhaustion! :)

No pictures - as I'm useless at taking them - we went to our great niece's christening at the weekend, his sister's first grandchild. She was christened by her grandfather, and was not terribly impressed at being turned upside down and dunked with water. >:-)

>148 Helenliz: May your great niece recover from her upside down trauma and go forward to live a blessed life!

>144 lindapanzo: Wow.

>150 Citizenjoyce: I should add that Mom and Dad are both 82 but Mom sometimes gets mistaken for my older sister (I'm 24 years younger).

>151 lindapanzo: That’s what clean living can do for you?

Thanks to everyone who shared such lovely pictures!

I had hopes of a sweep this month, but have now concluded it's not meant to be. Time to move some books to June challenges (and come up with one of my own)!

May started off a bit differently for me with the selections 84, Charing Cross Road and The Library Book, both non-fiction. Could I, I wondered, complete all May's TIOLI challenges with non-fiction books. Well, I did. Just barely, and alas, not always able to go for the shared read, but I think I've read about as many non-fiction books this month as I have since leaving college.

Prairie Fires
Norse Mythology
Seasons: Desert Sketches
If This Be Treason
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper
The Viking Attacks on Paris
A Short History of Drunkenness
The Language of Kindness
Bad Feminist
Berlin Now
Code Girls
What have Plants ever done for us?
84, Charing Cross Road
Smart Ass
The Library Book

Completed fifth month of sweeps with six shared reads. I think that's the most I've ever shared.

>154 quondame: Congrats! Quite an accomplishment and one I wouldn't even attempt. I'm lucky to get one non-fiction book completed.

>154 quondame: Wow, a sweep with all non-fiction is an accomplishment, congratulations!
I have added it to TIOLI records and firsts on the Our TIOLI Sweeps wiki page.

>155 Morphidae: Congratulations, Morphy!

>155 Morphidae: Congratulations!

>154 quondame: wow, what a clever twist on a sweep. Congratulations
>155 Morphidae: and congratulations to you, too

>154 quondame:, >155 Morphidae: Oh wow - congratulations to you both!

Not quite on the same scale but I managed my first ever sweeplette this month!

>159 souloftherose: Congratulations on your sweeplette, Heather!

>159 souloftherose: Congrats! Any goal met is a good one!

>159 souloftherose: Congratulations

>154 quondame: nonfiction sweep is very cool and dedicated. Well done!

Congrats to all the sweepers and sweeplette-ers!

Is there a name yet for getting all but one challenge on a page? I think I got three of them this month, LOL!

Whoo! Congratulations, sweep(lett)ers!!

Is there a name yet for getting all but one challenge on a page?

I've been thinking of them as 'Lizlettes' on account of how often I do that, but clearly we'll have to come up with something else! :D

>164 lyzard:. But I’m Liz too! (Usually Elizabeth, but my husband calls me Liz) Lizlette might be perfect, lol

Oh, I didn't know! How absolutely perfect! :D

>159 souloftherose: Congratulations

I've read a sweeplette plus 1 (any name for that?) - a book for challenges 1 to 7.

Partly accidental - I could only see that the last book I read this month, dedicated to the owners of the real old house where the novel is set, could be listed in one challenge, so I moved Shadows in Bronze out of that into the ancient Rome challenge (I had been thinking of attempting a shared read of #3 in the same series, obviously also with a pre 1000 AD setting). So aiming to spread 10 books across 10 different challenges resulted in a sweeplette.

>136 SqueakyChu: Sorry, Madeline, I thought I had thanked you for the "How High Can You Go" award, obviously I forgot. My thoughts were elsewhere, as my mothers funeral was the day before...

Congrats to our seepers, sweepletters and Lizletters. :D

>169 FAMeulstee: I'm so sorry to hear of your mom's passing, Anita. Please accept my sympathy. That's a tough experience.

>169 FAMeulstee: Sorry to hear this. It is one of those things in life we can expect to have to deal with, but that doesn't make it any easier when it does happen.

>169 FAMeulstee: so sorry I hope you have many wonderful memories.

>170 SqueakyChu: >171 Helenliz: >172 Citizenjoyce: Thanks Madeline, Helen and Joyce.

My mother was 87 and suffering from dementia. The last months her physical and mental decline went fast, so I was glad her suffering had ended. It is hard on my father, he lost two children and his wife in less than 3 years.

>173 FAMeulstee: Wow! So sad for your dad. My sympathy to him as well. Glad he has you for support, Anita.

I missed Housekeeping Day, but by now everyone knew what to do. Right?! :D

>173 FAMeulstee: oh my gosh. What a horrible time for your dad. I hope he does well.

>169 FAMeulstee: >173 FAMeulstee: My sympathy to you and to all your family, Anita. Please take care of yourself, while you are taking care of others.

>174 SqueakyChu: >176 Citizenjoyce: >177 Dejah_Thoris: Thank you, ladies, my brother and me are doing our best for my father. Yesterday my father sounded a little less depressed on the phone.

>178 FAMeulstee: I remember how devastating it was for my dad (and, of course, me) when my mom died. Having you and your brother for support is so important to your dad now as you well know. May memories of wonderful times with your mom bring smiles to your family for years to come.