Take It or Leave It Challenge - January 2024 - 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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For the month of Janary, 2024, your TIOLI challenge is to...

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Read a book with a word or phrase related to time in its title.
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Rules:
1. You may use a word embedded in one title word or across title words.
2. You may not use the subtitle.
3. You may not use numerals; only use an actual word or words.
4. Not sure if a word or phrase is time-related? Find a definition that includes the word "time", and it qualifies!

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Other Stuff (not part of the TIOLI challenge):
1. FAMeulstee's 2024 TIOLI Sweeplette Meter
2. FAMeulstee's Our TIOLI Sweeps
3. Morphidae's List of Previous TIOLI Challenges (2010-2016) - A reference (Do a control-F scan) to avoid repeating a previous challenge. If your idea is similar to a previous challenge, make it unique by adding a new "twist" to it.
4. The January 2024 TIOLI Meter - Optional page on which you may track your TIOLI reading. Not competitive--- just fun!

Index of Challenges:

Challenges #1-6
1. Read a book with a word or phrase related to time in its title - Msg #1
2. Read a book with a garden or floral themed title or cover art - Msg #3
3. Read a book with a title word that begins with A, B, C, Do, Re or Mi - Msg #4
4. Read a book that's on a Best of 2023 list - Msg #5
5. Read a book with a new chapter/section starting on p. 53, 53 in the ISBN, or an author's first name in the top 25 for Alabama in 1971 - Msg #6
6. Read a book by an author whose name is next to one of the big names in your author cloud - Msg #8

Challenges #7-12
7. Read a book with the name “Agatha” in either the title or the author’s name, but the books cannot be either about or written by Agatha Christie - Msg #9
8. Read a book with the rules for a trip down the river Rhine - Msg #25
9. Read a book dealing with business, finance or financial shenanigans - Msg #28
10. Read a book where the author’s first and last name begins with the same letter - Msg #30
11. Read a book by an author who you first read in 2023 - Msg #31
12. Read a book with a pronoun or Who/Whom/Whose in the title - Msg #32

Challenges #13-16
13. Read a book about the Roman Empire (Fiction or Non-Fiction) - Msg #33
14. Read a book whose title and/or subtitle includes an adjective starting with “Un” before a noun - Msg #45
15. Read a book with 250 pages or more - Msg #60
16. Read a book for the Zodiac challenge (Capricorn - mythical creature in title/author's name) - Msg #85

Please hold your challenge until the February, 2023, TIOLI challenge is posted. Thank you!

Challenge #2: Read a book with a garden or floral themed title or cover art

Hope this is a helpful challenge to kickstart the New Year.

Looking forward to another year of TIOLI.

As per Christmas tradition, I will be watching The Sound of Music. For the umpteenth time. Like you do. When Maria teaches the children to sing, she tells that that, "When you read you being with A, B, C, when you sing you begin with Do Re Mi".

Challenge #3 is to read a book where a title word begins with one of A, B, C, Do, Re or Mi.
And I do not apologise for any earworms that may result. >:-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drnBMAEA3AM

My usual January challenge:
Challenge #4: Read a book that's on a Best of 2023 list
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/best-books-of-2023/b?ie=UTF8&node=17276804011&ref...
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/b/books/awards/best-books-of-the-year/_/N-29Z8q8Z...
Better World Campaign: https://betterworldcampaign.org/blog/2023-reading?gclid=Cj0KCQiA7aSsBhCiARIsALFv...
Booker Prize longlist: https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/prize-years/2023?regex_replace%28...
Boys and Girls: https://bookgirlsguide.com/readers-favorite-books-2023-edition/?fbclid=IwAR1FA3f...
BuzzFeed: https://www.buzzfeed.com/dannicaramirez/best-books-i-read-2023
CNN: https://www.cnn.com/style/best-books-2023-tastemakers/index.html
Detroit News: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/entertainment/books/2023/12/23/10-best-books-f...
Engadget: https://www.engadget.com/the-best-books-we-read-in-2023-163028702.html
Kirkus Review: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/best-of/2023/fiction/books/
LibraryThing: https://www.librarything.com/list/45091/Top-Five-Books-of-2023
Lit Hub: https://lithub.com/the-38-best-books-we-read-in-2023/
Michigan Daily Book Review: https://www.michigandaily.com/arts/b-side/the-best-books-of-2023/
Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-04026-x
NBC LGBTQ: https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-pop-culture/best-lgbtq-books-2023-rcna130410
New York Public Library: https://www.nypl.org/spotlight/best-books-2023
New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/article/best-books.html
Barack Obama: https://www.vulture.com/2023/12/barack-obama-favorite-books-movies-music-2023.ht...
NPR https://apps.npr.org/best-books/#view=covers&year=2023
Publishers weekly: https://best-books.publishersweekly.com/pw/best-books/2023/top-10#book/book-1
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/18n338j/whats_the_best_book_you...
Vanity Fair: https://www.vanityfair.com/style/photos/our-20-favorite-books-of-2023
Vox: https://www.vox.com/culture/24008240/2023-best-books-vaster-wild-lauren-groff-ch...
Vulture: https://www.vulture.com/article/best-books-of-2023.html
Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/11/16/best-books-year/
A Wealth of Common Sense: https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2023/12/the-best-books-i-read-in-2023/
Wired: https://www.wired.com/story/best-books-of-2023/
Worldreader: https://www.worldreader.org/now/a-dozen-books-for-a-better-2021/?keyword=best%20...

Challenge #5: Read a book with a new chapter/section starting on p. 53, 53 in the ISBN, or an author's first name in the top 25 for Alabama in 1971

I turn 53 on New Year's Day, so this challenge is to celebrate another trip around the sun. Read a book that meets one or more of the following criteria:

1. A new chapter or section starts on p. 53
2. 53 in the ISBN
3. The author's first name was in the top 25 in my home state of Alabama for the year of my birth, 1971. Note that this should be an exact match--no nicknames or alternative spellings.

Rank - Male Name - Female Name
1 - Michael - Jennifer
2 - James - Angela
3 - Christopher - Kimberly
4 - John - Tammy
5 - William - Mary
6 - Robert - Amy
7 - David - Lisa
8 - Jason - Stephanie
9 - Charles - Melissa
10 - Anthony - Pamela
11 - Timothy - Tracy
12 - Brian - Cynthia
13 - Thomas - Michelle
14 - Kevin - Tina
15 - Joseph - Karen
16 - Jeffrey - Sharon
17 - Kenneth - Wendy
18 - Steven - Shannon
19 - Mark - Teresa
20 - Gregory - Susan
21 - Richard - Donna
22 - Eric - Elizabeth
23 - Terry - Tonya
24 - Scott - Dana
25 - Larry - Patricia

The above does read pretty much like my childhood class rolls (even including my name, since Susanna is my pen name but my legal name is Susan).

>5 Citizenjoyce: LT has a Top Five Books of 2023 List - there's over 500 entries.
https://www.librarything.com/list/45091/Top-Five-Books-of-2023

Challenge #6: Read a book by an author whose name is next to one of the big names in your author cloud

Go to your author cloud: https://www.librarything.com/stats/YOURNAME/authorcloud

The size of the author names is proportional to how many of that author's books you have catalogued in your library. Find a small name (probably one or two books) which is next to one of the large names (in any direction) and read a book by that person.

Challenge #7: The "Agatha" Challenge - Dame Agatha Christie died in January 1976, so let’s pay tribute to the lady. Your challenge is to read a book with the name “Agatha” in either the title or the author’s name, but the books cannot be either about or written by Agatha Christie. Let’s see how many other Agathas are out there! (I bet they were all named in honor of Dame Christie!) Embedded words and subtitles are allowed.

If you absolutely cannot find a book with the name "Agatha" in the title or the author's name, I will allow books by the lady herself. I just thought it would be fun to see how many different Agathas we could come up with.

>4 Helenliz: Do articles count for the words? I have tons of books that start with A, if articles count.

>5 Citizenjoyce: Do we need to pick only from the Best of 2023 lists you provided?

>7 avatiakh: Thanks. I added it.
>11 susanna.fraser: No, any list will do. If you put it here, I'll add it to the list.

My planned reads:
Challenge #1: Read a book with a word or phrase related to time in the title - started by SqueakyChu
*✔After Dark- Haruki Murakami (3.5)
Challenge #2: Read a book with a garden or floral themed title or cover art - started by avatiakh
*The Gardener's Year - Karel Čapek ABANDONED
✔The Girl from Earth's End - Tara Dairman (4)
Challenge #3: Read a book with a title word that begins with A, B, C, Do, Re or Mi - started by Helenliz
✔After the Forest - Kell Woods (3.5)
Challenge #4: Read a book that's on a Best of 2023 list - started by Citizenjoyce
*✔All the Little Bird-Hearts by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow (4)
✔All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby (5)
Biography of X by Catherine Lacey
✔Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs: A Journey Through the Deep State by Kerry Howley (4)
Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
*✔The Covenant of Water Abraham Verghese (4)
Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead -ABANDONED
Daughter of No Worlds by Carissa Broadbent
✔Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein (3.5)
The End of Drum-Time by Hanna Pylväinen
The Fraud by Zadie Smith - ABANDONED
*✔The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store - James McBride (4.5)
Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Hope by Sarah Bakewell
Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang
✔The Last Animal by Ramona Ausubel (3.5)
✔A Living Remedy: A Memoir by Nicole Chung (3.5
The Maniac by Benjamín Labatut
The Men Can't Be Saved: A Novel by Ben Purkert ABANDONED
✔The Museum of Human History by Rebekah Bergman (3)
✔My Murder by Katie Williams (4)
✔Nestlings by Nat Cassidy (4)
*✔The Postcard - Anne Berest (5)
✔Prophet Song by Paul Lynch (5)
✔Rouge - Mona Awad (3.5)
Some People Need Killing: A Memoir of Murder in My Country by Patricia Evangelista
✔The Theory of (Not Quite) Everything: A Novel by Kara Gnodde (4)
This Is Salvaged: Stories by Vauhini Vara ABANDONED
✔To Name the Bigger Lie: A Memoir in Two Stories by Sarah Viren (5)
*The Upstairs Delicatessen: On Eating, Reading, Reading About Eating, and Eating While Reading by Dwight Garner
*Witch King - Martha Wells
*✔The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright (3.5)
Challenge #5: Read a book with a new chapter/section starting on p. 53, 53 in the ISBN, or an author's first name in the top 25 for Alabama in 1971 - started by susanna.fraser
*The Innocents Abroad- Mark Twain
*✔The Tower at the Edge of the World - Victoria Goddard (4)
Challenge #6: Read a book by an author whose name is next to one of the big names in your author cloud - started by wandering_star
Emergency: Stories - Kathleen Alcott
*✔The Guest - Emma Cline (4)
Challenge #7: read a book with the name “Agatha” in either the title or the author’s name, but the books cannot be either about or written by Agatha Christie. started by AlcottAcre
*✔Agatha of Little Neon by Claire Luchette (5)
Challenge #8: Read a book with the rules for a trip down the river Rhine - started by paulstalder
✔Our Secret Society: Mollie Moon and the Glamour, Money, and Power Behind the Civil Rights Movement by Tanisha Ford (4)
Challenge #9: Read a book dealing with business, finance or financial shenanigans - started by Chatterbox
✔The Big Fail: What the Pandemic Revealed About Who America Protects, and Who It Leaves Behind by Joe Nocera (3.5)
Challenge #10: Read a book where the author’s first and last name begins with the same letter - started by DeltaQueen50
*✔The Real Doctor Will See You Shortly - Matt McCarthy (4)
Challenge #11: Read a book by an author who you first read in 2023 - started by lindapanzo
*✔The Golden Calf - Helene Tursten (3.5)
Challenge #12: Read a book with a pronoun or Who/Whom/Whose in the title - started by quondame
*✔Do You Remember Being Born? - Sean Michaels (3.5)
I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home by Lorrie Moore Abandoned
Challenge #13: Read a book about the Roman Empire (fiction or non-fiction) - started by PaulCranswick
*✔Persona Non Grata - Ruth Downie (4)
Challenge #14: Read a book whose title and/or subtitle includes an adjective starting with “Un” before a noun - started by dallenbaugh
*✔Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man - Emmanuel Acho (4)
Challenge #15: Read a book with 250 pages or more - started by FAMeulstee
Mistborn: The Final Empire - Brandon Sanderson
✔This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub (3.5)
Challenge #16: Read a book for the Zodiac challenge (Capricorn - mythical creature in title/author's name) - started by Morphidae
✔Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng
Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning - Liz Cheney

>10 alcottacre: yes, for this challenge all words count, even articles.

>14 Helenliz: Thanks, Helen!

Excited to see that the January 2024 TIOLI is already up but it's frustrating that the WIKI isn't working.

>16 lindapanzo: Yikes! I'm glad I got this up a bit early!! The wiki is still not working.

>16 lindapanzo: It's not limited to just this specific wiki, either--I was about to add a book I just finished to December and couldn't.

>16 lindapanzo: >17 SqueakyChu: >18 susanna.fraser: Has anyone reported it at the Bug Collectors group?

>19 FAMeulstee: I messaged LibraryThing on Threads about an hour ago. I got no response.

>19 FAMeulstee: I reported it to the Bug Collectors. A lot of others are complaining because it seems that none of them are working.

>21 lindapanzo: Thank you, Linda, it was to late for me yesterday to do it myself. It looks like the wole LT Wiki is down :-(

>6 susanna.fraser: Susanna, if the book is a digital one and has an ASIN rather than an ISBN, would that count for your challenge?

>22 FAMeulstee: They're probably working on it. I'm not getting the same error message anymore. In fact, nothing happens, it just spins.

Challenge 8 – a trip down the river Rhine

I challenge you to take a boat trip on the river Rhine, at each stop we read two books, one book using the first and last letter of the place name, the second book having a topic somehow connected to the place (F or NF). A floating challenge – when there are at least one book for each place listed, I tell you the next stops on the river.

Examples:
R-E: The Ringer – Edgar WallacE
H-N: Heretics – G. K ChestertoN
Z-S: Zunge zeigen – Günther GrasS

Part I: The Alps
Rheinquelle – the Rhine has two branches it starts from: the Hinterrhein and the Vorderrhein. So to make that easier I take the Rheinquelle as starting point.
first book: read a book where the first word (except articles) of the title starts with R and the name of the author ends with E
second book: read a book about the Alps (history, geology, myths, mountaineering in the Alps, …)

Hinterrhein – the first village on the Rhine. There is an army place for tanks (in the 1980s there the Swiss army tested the M1 Abrams and the German Leopard 2.
first book: first title word starts with H, author ends with N
second book: read something connected to army, weapons, war

Zillis – a small town with a famous church with paintings on the roof
first book: start with Z and end on S
second book: read something connected to painting (art history, painters...)

Rhäzüns – know for its mineral water well
first book: start with R and end on S
second book: read about drink, food

Tamins – here meet the Vorderrhein and the Hinterrhein
first book: start with T and end on S
second book: read about Switzerland (history, literature …)

Chur: - the capital of the Graubünden (canton of the Grisons), they have three different official languages (German, Rumantsch and Italian). An important railway junction, where the standard Swiss gauge railway meets the metre-gauge railway of the Rhaetian Railways (RhB).
first book: start with C and end on R
second book: read a book about traffic, railways (history, murder stories ...)

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Part II: Liechtenstein, Austria
Landquart CH – home of Barbara Margaretha von Salis-Marschlins (1855-1929). The first female historian in Switzerland, fighting for women to vote.
L … T
a biography of a woman

Maienfeld CH – home of Heidi
M … D
a classsic children's book

Balzers FL – the first town of Liechtenstein on the Rhine
B … S
Liechtenstein

Vaduz FL – Liechtenstein's capital
V … Z
finance, banking, money

Ruggell FL – the name comes from 'roncale' which means 'to cultivate'
R … L
farming, agriculture

Feldkirch A – Bangs is the first Austrian village on the Rhine, today it belongs to Feldkirch
F … H
Austria

Lustenau A – doing a lot of sports there: football, icehockey, they have their own 'Luschnouar Ironmännli' (Lustenauer Iron Man)
L … U
sports

Gaissau A – the last town on the Austrian side before the Rhine flows into the Bodensee (Lake of Konstanz). The village was part of Switzerland until 1798 when it became Austrian.
G … U
Middle Ages

>1 SqueakyChu: What are your thoughts about the January TIOLI? It appears that "they" are not available this week and likely won't fix the wiki's til next week, as the poster on Bug Collectors suggested.

If so, we don't know when it'll be fixed exactly. Sometime next week?

OK to post our challenges here and then put them in the wiki when it once again becomes available?

Half the fun is seeing what books other people chose but I guess that part can wait awhile.

>25 paulstalder: Paul, I believe your challenge should be #8. I had posted a challenge #7 up on >9 alcottacre:.

Wot the heck is happening with the wiki???

Here's my placeholder:

Challenge #9: Read a book dealing with business, finance or financial shenanigans

A completely self-serving challenge, as I plan to delve into some cryptocurrency related stuff for work. But... read a bio of a banker or Treasury secretary or Federal Reserve person; read a book about financial systems, about investing, about rogue traders, venture capital, how people build businesses, etc. If you want to read a novel, the major part of the plot should involve people who work in finance or financial crimes/misdemeanors. (A case in point: Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe)

>26 lindapanzo: The cutoff for posting challenges will still be midnight, January 4, but post your challenges here as placeholders (insurance) for a wiki spot. Later you can transfer your information to the wiki. I’ll allow a few days for that.

Placeholder:

Challenge #10: Read a book where the author’s first and last name begins with the same letter

examples: Britt Bennett, Fannie Flagg, Helen Hoang, Louis L'Amour

Please note if the author uses initials - the first initial and the first letter of the last name must be the same as in:
F. Scott Fitzgerald

PLACEHOLDER

Challenge #11: Read a book by an author who you first read in 2023

Also, name the book(s) you read by that author in 2023 (if more than two, can identify the first two read and say and x others).

PLACEHOLDER

Challenge #12: Read a book with a pronoun or Who/Whom/Whose in the title

Titles only, not subtitles.

Challenge #13 : Read a book about the Roman Empire (Fiction or Non-Fiction)


Fairly self-explanatory and there is a lot to choose from. The Holy Roman Empire is, at a push, also accepted.

>32 quondame: Do subtitles count? Thanks.

>23 alcottacre: Yes indeed!

>34 alcottacre: Sorry, not for this one.

>27 alcottacre: Sorry, Stasia, you're right

The wiki looks like it is working again

>35 susanna.fraser: Thank you!

>36 quondame: OK, thanks for letting me know, Susan!

>37 paulstalder: No worries, Paul.

>38 dallenbaugh: Yay!

hi

Okay, challengers, the wiki is now working. I think I got all of the challenges moved onto the wiki that were still outstanding. Now let's go back to our regular rules about posting on the wiki first and adding your thread after that. Glad the problem has been resolved. Wishing everyone good reading in 2024. I challenge each of you to read at least one more book than you read in total in 2023. That can't be too hard, can it? :D

>40 Wings_14: I'd prefer if you'd chat with me on a different thread. Thanks, Wings!

>37 paulstalder: Paul, I added books for Hinterrhein on your challenge. I have no idea how you would like each category listed, so please feel free to let me know if I need to change my listings. Thanks!

>41 SqueakyChu: >42 alcottacre: I filled my first places into the wiki. Is it clear enough?

>42 alcottacre: Your listing looks good to me as Paul explained it, Stasia.

>43 paulstalder: Stasia figured it out so I think it's clear enough. What happens after we get to the last city along the river?

Challenge #14: Read a book whose title and/or subtitle includes an adjective before a noun starting with “Un”

For Ideas you can look at this list: https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordfinder/classic/begins/all/-1/un/1

>45 dallenbaugh: This is confusing to me. Aren't most words starting with "un" either adjectives or adverbs?

Oh. I think I know what you mean. You want an "un" adjective preceding a noun in the title. Right?

>45 dallenbaugh: >46 SqueakyChu:, Same here -- though I suppose in some rare cases an "un" word can be used as either a noun or adjective (eg "The Unknown" without the word it's modifying), but those are pretty rare.

>46 SqueakyChu: Yes, this was a mistake. I did mean an adjective preceding a noun. And me an English major, long, long ago.

>47 Chatterbox: I was getting pretty frantic! I didn't want to go through fifteen pages of "un" words" looking for one single noun! LOL!

>48 dallenbaugh: LOL! You're forgiven now...However, no such mistakes from an English major will be tolerated in 2024! ;)

>49 SqueakyChu: Such cruelty. I shan't enter another challenge until 2025 for fear of further mistakes.

>50 dallenbaugh: I was just kidding! Didn’t you see my wink?!

>44 SqueakyChu: well, Madeleine, when we arrive in Rotterdam we board a cargo ship and travel to Gwangyang, South Korea (takes around 40 days)

>51 SqueakyChu: so was I

>53 dallenbaugh: Phew!

i made a tread called random facts and stoires

>55 Wings_14: Wings, that does not belong on this thread. That is because "random facts and stories" has *nothing to do with* the topic of this thread (the TIOLI challenges). In order to avoid being kicked off of LibraryThing for spamming again, you MUST be careful to post your information to the correct thread.

Please post this information to your *own* thread (or to my thread) . If you have not made one yet, I can help you do this. Let me know if you need help with this.

I was just looking at the wiki for January and I am thrilled to see so many shared reads on it! Way to start the new year off right!

>56 SqueakyChu: ok sorry i didnt know what to make

>58 Wings_14: Wings, this is the link you use to make *your own thread*. Be sure to put your userid in the title as well as the
year 2024.

https://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?group=24188

It's kind of like your "general chat", but it will work better because it will have your userid (name) on it so people can find your thread more easily. Try it.

>1 SqueakyChu: Madeline, can we use a book that has the actual word “time” in the title?

>61 PawsforThought: Absolutely, yes!

>28 Chatterbox: Would The Fraud by Zadie Smith count? It centers around a trial to determine who is the rightful heir to an estate.

>62 SqueakyChu: Great!

Is there a particular order that the books in challenge #1 are in that I’m not seeing? I feel like it usually alphabetical but that’s not the case here.

>64 PawsforThought: A few were misplaced, they are back in order now.

>64 PawsforThought: I just looked and could not see anything out of alphabetical order.
>65 FAMeulstee: Now I know why! :D

>65 FAMeulstee: Thanks! I couldn’t figure out if there was something going on that I wasn’t getting.

>63 Citizenjoyce: Meh, I'm not sure. I'm going to read The Fraud myself but am putting it in the "best of" list. (My own thinking was that this was a novel that emphasized issues of class and inheritance, in which a financial reward accompanied those; from everything I've heard about the novel and the RL case it's based on, it's one element of a much more complex narrative, and the the financial stuff isn't part of the plot itself, but rather the reward.) I was thinking about stuff like Bernie Madoff, or Sam Bankman Fried (the crypto fraudster) or novels whoe plots revolve around financial misdeeds. Michael Ridpath started his career writing suspense novels like Final Venture that are set in the world of finance. So has Stephen Frey (though I haven't read any of those). Christopher Reich wrote The First Billion, The Prince of Risk and Numbered Account. Some of the thrillers written by David Ignatius also have finance-related plots.

In non-fiction, Michael Lewis has some good reads, starting with Liar's Poker. Not all of his books are about finance/set against a financial/business backdrop.

John Carreyrou's book about Theranos, Bad Blood, would be a great read. Anything about the Sackler family and Purdue pharma, like Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe.

>44 SqueakyChu: >52 paulstalder: Maybe we just turn around and go back up the river in the other direction?? :-)

>68 Chatterbox: I know I'm not going head-on into your challenge, just trying to see how the books I've requested from Libby might fit. How about The Big Fail: What the Pandemic Revealed About Who America Protects, and Who It Leaves Behind by Joe Nocera? "From the collaborators behind the modern business classic All the Devils are Here comes a damning indictment of American capitalism—and the leaders that left us brutally unprepared for a global pandemic"

>69 Chatterbox: Maybe we just turn around and go back up the river in the other direction?? :-)

LOL! How else would we get back home?!

>70 Citizenjoyce: The Joe Nocera book is a better fit -- he's a business journalist, and I'm assuming that this deals with economic inequality. A wee bit different from business/finance, but workable.

>69 Chatterbox: >71 SqueakyChu: oh, you want to go back to Switzerland? In that case we take the ship from Rotterdam to Marseille and then travel up the river Rhone till we get back to the Alps, or, we could take the ship to Sulina (Romania) and travel up the Danube and then the River Inn back to the Alps

>73 paulstalder:. You’re our tour guide. You take us wherever you want!

>74 SqueakyChu: thanks :)

I've added Tom Lake to challenge #4: Read a book that's on a Best of 2023 List. Although this title is on quite a few of the lists, I used the LibraryThing: https://www.librarything.com/list/45091/Top-Five-Books-of-2023 .

I think this list is fascinating, and am always hoping more people will add their top 5 favorites to the list.

They don't have to be written this year - just your five favorites.

>72 Chatterbox: Thanks.

>76 streamsong: I cannot limit it to just 5!

>9 alcottacre: I absolutely cannnot find a book with Agatha in the author's name or title. I have read the novel by Marguerite Duras; I have read Agatha of Little Neon and loved it. But I don't want to re-read either. I've tried two separate Agatha Raisin books and quite disliked them. I've scoured LT and Amazon and Goodreads for other Agathas that aren't children's books, and even tried the French version, but nope. So I'm going to plead for dispensation, as you noted might be possible. I'd like to aim for a year of streaks again and don't want to be knocked off at the first hurdle!! Would it make a difference if I read it in French??

>9 alcottacre: >79 Chatterbox: would you allow a German subtitle mentioning Agatha Christie?
Die Dreitagemordgesellschaft : Agatha Christies Haushälterin ermittelt by Colleen Cambridge

or the German spelling Agathe?
Happy End mit Skarabäus by Agathe Keller

or John D'Agata?

Les Tétins de sainte Agathe by Giuseppina Torregrossa

Empire and Pilgrimage in Conrad and Joyce by Agata Szczeszak-Brewer

>79 Chatterbox: You can certainly have the dispensation, Suzanne, whether it is in French or not!

>80 paulstalder: Yes, Paul, I will allow either the German subtitle or the German spelling.

>81 alcottacre: Thanks, Stasia

>81 alcottacre: *calling down blessings on your head*

Challenge #16 Read a book for the Zodiac challenge (Capricorn - mythical creature in title/author's name)

This year I'm doing zodiac-related challenges for the zodiac sign most often related to that particular month.

The challenge could be related to the zodiac sign, name, symbol, date (author's birthday, published date), associated symbols, element, character traits, associated holidays, etc.

━━━━━━━━━»•» ♑️ «•«━━━━━━━━━



Capricorn (Capricornus meaning "horned goat" or "goat horn") is represented by a mythical creature that is half goat, half fish.

Read a book with a mythical creature in the title or author's name.

Embedded words are allowed.

━━━━━━━━━»•» ♑️ «•«━━━━━━━━━

ETA: Any creature mentioned in the link below is allowed EXCEPT for named creatures, i.e. with proper nouns, such as Anubis, Cerebus, Baal, Bloueuwedd nor religious figures such as demons, angels, gods, or goddesses.

You may click on the links for Mythic Humanoids and shapeshifters.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_legendary_creatures_by_type

>85 Morphidae: That is one gorgeous goat!!!

>86 jeanned: Credit goes to Bing Image Creator!

"capricorn body sea goat bust, fantasy style"

I agree, that is one fantastic goat

>89 Whisper1: I sent a private message to Linda as I think she posted this message to the wrong thread.

I apologize for posting a message on this thread meant for a member of 75 challenge group. I deleted the message and posted it on the correct thread.

Yikes. I've been busy today taking down Christmas decorations and going through books to set aside marked to read for 2024.

All good wishes, and a personal thank you to Madeline for your assistance.

>88 Kristelh: Thanks, I'll be doing AI images for each challenge. It's fun.

>91 Whisper1: No worries, lovey!

>92 Morphidae: Great! Thanks, Morphy. I am looking forward to all of them.

>85 Morphidae:

Morphy, does your 'mythical creature' have to be an animal or can it be any kind of non-real being?

>85 Morphidae: >94 lyzard: Angels? Devils? Dark Lords?

>95 quondame:

Vampires. :D

>94 lyzard: >95 quondame: >96 lyzard: After doing some research and thinking about it a bit, I'm going to go with any creature mentioned in the link below EXCEPT for named creatures, i.e. with proper nouns, such as Anubis, Cerebus, Baal, Bloueuwedd nor religious figures such as demons, angels, gods, or goddesses.

You may click.on the links for Mythic Humanoids and shapeshifters.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_legendary_creatures_by_type

>97 Morphidae:

Thanks, Morphy!

>98 lyzard: My pleasure. I've added it to the challenge post.

>9 alcottacre: Thank you for your challenge. Originally, I thought I would skip it because I have little interest in mysteries, but had I done so I never would have discovered Agatha of Little Neon which is a perfect gem of a book. A book about nuns, who could have thought I would find that interesting? But it ended up being a perfect book about women, friendship, and religion and covered each idea briefly but very well.

I've completed a page 1 (challenges 1 to 6) sweeplette for the month. In 2023, I had 3 sweeplettes and I'm hoping to have a few more this year as well.

>101 lindapanzo: Congratulations.

>101 lindapanzo: That's terrrific, Linda. Congrats to you!

>101 lindapanzo: Congratulations, Linda!

>101 lindapanzo: Congrats, Linda! Nice start to the year 😁

>101 lindapanzo: Congratulations Linda.

>102 Citizenjoyce: >103 SqueakyChu: >104 FAMeulstee: >105 bell7: >106 Kristelh: Thanks, everyone. It is nice to start the year with a sweeplette. These days, a sweep is probably out of the question for me.

TIOLI Question of the Month:

Are you a re-reader or not? About what percentage of the books you read in a single year are re-reads?

>108 SqueakyChu: I'm not much of a re-reader, though often I have to re-read a book that has been chosen for my RL book club. Sometimes to continue with a series I'll have to re-read the book that came before.

>108 SqueakyChu: I am very much a re-reader - but much less so than before I joined LT. Especially with the challenges my preference is to try something new, but every now and then I still dive into a re-read of a whole series.

>109 Citizenjoyce: >110 quondame: And I am never a re-reader. I save a few books because I love them, but I'm now such a slow reader so that, if I re-read a book, I'd also be missing a new-to-me book! I do, however, on occation re-read part of a book (e.g. a book I bailed on at an earlier date). When I bail on a book, I always start it over from the very beginning, fearing I'll miss something important if I don't! :D

>108 SqueakyChu:. The answer to that one is somewhere between yes and no.

Usually I'm not much of a re-reader. I do, and last year I re-read 8 books out of 99, so say around 10%.
However, when things are going badly, I tend to retreat from the unknown. Certainly after Mum died, I did nothing but re-read, because I would only read things that I knew had happy endings. I read a lot of romances at that time - not my usual fare. That took me a good 6 months before I read anything new, and it took a while to get back into the adventuring through reading again. So I'd say it's mood dependent and fluctuates. I suspect it could act as a good diagnostic.

I'm very much a rereader. In the past when reading a series in progress I would reread from the beginning to be all caught up and up to date when a new installment came out. (I'm looking at you, Wheel of Time books.) Some books and authors I consider comfort reading and I will pick up a title when I am feeling low, to lift my mood and reacquaint myself with old friends.

>108 SqueakyChu: I am not a re-reader. Usually a new book in a series will give me enough clues to remember what came before. For stand alone books that I like, I am inclined to read new books by that author.

>108 SqueakyChu: I don't re-read many books because there are so many new-to-me books to be discovered. However, I do re-read favorites. I'm slowly making my way through all of Agatha Christie's works, most for a second time. (Some for a third, if you count audiobook listening!) I've read all of Jane Austen's novels multiple times. I've read Anne of Green Gables more than once. I've read A Tale of Two Cities more than once. I've read A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and Huckleberry Finn more than once. I've read several of Shakespeare's plays more than once. And I've read the Bible through in a year several times.

>108 SqueakyChu: I am definitely in the "so many books, so little time" camp. This wasn't true until I turned 40. Prior to that there were a few books I liked to re-read once a year or so, or once a decade.

I am mostly not a re-reader but last year I came to the realization that there are very good reasons to reread some books such as classics. So I had decided that I would be more open to rereading books. That being said. I have not had any rereads this year so far.

>108 SqueakyChu: I do reread! It's a mix of needing to remind myself of what happened before I read the newest book in the series and enjoying a comfort read. That being said, though, it's typically only about 10% of my reading in any given year.

I do re-read some books, but not many. (There are too many others I want to read.) I've got at least one re-read planned for the year already although I'm not sure which month I'll get around to it.

I never re-read. There are too many books I want to read to spend time re-reading.

I admit that, before LT, sometimes I accidentally re-read, when I didn’t realize that I’d already read something. That doesn’t happen anymore.

I hardly ever reread. If I loved a book I don't want to find it wanting on a second read.
That said I used to reread Lord of the Rings every few years and I'm happy to reread Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer from time to time, though prefer to have a few years between sittings.

One fantasy series I'm thinking about restarting from book one is Obernewtyn Chronicles as Carmody took so long to finsh the last few books that I've completely forgotten the threads of the story. I generally look for a website or wikipedia and read plot summaries of series books rather than reread.

I do not consider myself a re-reader although I probably do re-read a book or two every year. There are so many new books that I just don't have the time for ones that I have already read.

I'm a huge re-reader, but I don't generally count re-reads toward my total books read in a year or include them in TIOLI or other challenges because I tend to skip and skim the plotty bits and focus more on the character interactions. Re-reading is how I visit my imaginary friends, basically.

Absolutely, I re-read, until the point where I've read a favorite book so many times that it feels as if I could recite exactly what comes next, and/or the plot or characters become too predictable. But a lot of those re-reads are "comfort" re-reads -- I know what to expect, and yet I still savor every bit of the experience. I suspect this goes back to my days of having to ration my books because I read too rapidly and would run out (especially when we were living somewhere that it was tough and/or expensive to find English-language books to read.) I'm now at the point where I also embark on "re-listens" -- listening to favorite audiobooks repeatedly. And this week, I'm listening for the first time to an audiobook that I read when it came out as a "real" book. Sometimes it's a joy to revisit a book I've loved, sometimes for decades, after a string of ho-hum books.

I am definitely a re-reader as well. I am perpetually re-reading the In Death series, lol, but I have comfort re-reads like 84, Charing Cross Road that I re-read every couple of years.

I agree completely with Suzanne in >124 Chatterbox:.

As a child and young-ish teen I reread constantly. Not a lot of money around, so I treasured the books I had and would happily re-read them. And I was obsessed with Louisa May Alcott, and would borrow her works from the library over and over.

I was then and still am a voracious reader. With adulthood came those pesky responsibilities, however, which made serious inroads into my reading time, so I tend to re-read less now, as I find new authors and books.

Retirement has helped a bit. I still reread Trollope and Dickens; Middlemarch and Jane Austen. I also reread some few mystery authors. Even knowing the plot doesn’t spoil their charm.

On the other hand, if a book other than a mystery has a very tricksy surprise at the end, I’m not likely to pick it up again. (Looking at you, Gentlemen and Players.

TIOLI Stats for December 2023

For the month of December, 2023, we read a total of 317 books with 47 (or 15%) of them being shared reads.

We accumulated 368 TIOLI points for a YTD count total of 369 points.

For the year of 2023 , the stats in all of our categories decreased from last year (total number of challenges, total books read, total books shared, percentage of books shared, TIOLI points monthly, and TIOLI points total at year's end). We've picked up a few new challengers with the turn of the year so we'll see how we make out going forward.

The most popular book was A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens with 4 books read. Looking back on previous Decembers, I see that this same book was the most popular book in four other years! :D

The most popular challenge, with 44 books read, was the one by helenliz to read a book that fits any of the "page 2" challenges for 2023.

The challenges with the most TIOLI points, three each, were these:
---Read a book you meant to get to earlier in 2023 by susanna.fraser
---Read a book that fits any of the "page 2" challenges for 2023 by helenliz
---Read a book with a musical instrument in the title or author's name by bell7
---Read a book whose title or subtitle or author’s name includes the word “men” by dallenbaugh

Hoping this New Year has gotten off to a good start for our challengers. Happy reading!

December 2023 TIOLI Awards!

The Triple Treat Award goes to lindapanzo for this challenger's own challenge to read a book with a connection to the number 3. This challenger's book had three connections to the number three (3 novellas by 3 authors and a 3 word title). I guess I know how this challenge originated! :D

The Time for a Dip Award goes to quondame for reading Pandora's Jar for the challenge by wandering_star to read a book that it's easy to dip in and out of because, not only might that book be easy to dip in and out of, but it would be equally as easy to dip in and out of Pandora's jar itself!

The Instrument of Choice Award goes to bell7 and countrylife for both reading The Violin Conspiracy. Just thinking of a violin takes me back to a band concert I heard last night at my grandson's elementary school. My grandson played in the clarinet portion of the concert. However what really made me smile was the first part of the concert---all violins. To me, every song sounded the same, except for one piece which seemed to have an extra note in it! All of the kids were adorable in the 20 minute concert, though. :D

The Emphasis on Tomorrow Award goes to Anne DC for reading Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow for the challenge by Chatterbox to read a book with "tomorrow" or "future" in the title. Well, tomorrow is sure enough in the the title of the book read by this challenger!

The Behind Every Man There is a Woman Award goes to bell7 for reading Menopause: A Comic Treatment for the challenge by dallenbaugh to read a book whose title or subtitle or author’s name includes the word “men”. I found it amusing that this challenger found the word "men" in the word "menopause"! :D

Congrats to our award winners! Feel free at this time to add awards of your own.

>128 SqueakyChu: Thank you, Madeline!

Pandora's Jar was among my very top reads for 2023!

>129 quondame: Great!

>128 SqueakyChu: Thanks for the award, Madeline. My challenges are usually self serving, though that particular book (with 3 connections to the number 3) wasn't the reason I created the challenge.

>131 lindapanzo: You fooled me! :D

>128 SqueakyChu: thanks for the awards, Madeline! My choice for the "men" challenge made me laugh, so I'm glad you found it amusing as well 😀

Congratulations to the award winners!

>128 SqueakyChu: Congratulations to all the winners!

>1 SqueakyChu: Madeline - is a date ok for your challenge. I just came across October 16, 1943/Eight Jews
by Giacomo Debenedetti.

>136 avatiakh: I will accept it if your post includes the following definition of date along with your listing:

date: a particular point or period of time at which something happened or existed, or is expected to happen.

:)

>137 SqueakyChu: Thanks, I'll include the book once I read it. I believe I can meet your criteria.

>138 avatiakh: :D

>139 SqueakyChu: Now I find that my copy is not in English so I'll have to do a library interloan. Annoying.

>140 avatiakh: Interlibary loans are pretty cool! I did one last year, and they sent me a very old book in perfect condition. I was almost afraid to read it! :D

>141 SqueakyChu: I've done it a few times. I love getting the older books that aren't available any other way.

Housekeeping Day!

You know what that means. The month is almost over. Please remove any book from the wiki that you don't COMPLETE by 12 midnight tonight. You can leave books on rolling challenges if you mark them DNF. Thanks, everyone.

>143 SqueakyChu: I am working on it, I am working on it! Nag, nag, nag :)

>144 alcottacre: LOL!! Only *now* (like after 13 years!) you accuse me of nagging.

>145 SqueakyChu: As I have mentioned elsewhere, I am slow on the uptake at times. . .

Late notice of a sweeplette! (I have been away without my computer since Weds)

>147 wandering_star: Congratulations!

>147 wandering_star: Congratulations!

>147 wandering_star: Congratulations!

>147 wandering_star: Big congrats!