November TIOLI: A book that doesn't count for TIOLI

A bit late, but here's the thread for my TIOLI challenge: Read a book that doesn't count for TIOLI!

Some questions for discussion:

Are you a TIOLI addict? Do you have trouble bringing yourself to read a non-TIOLI book?

What non-TIOLI book are you reading? What makes it so enticing that you want to read it even though it doesn't count for TIOLI?

I started with Dracula, which I don't think fits anywhere this month (although I should pay attention to the alphabet challenge, because I could yet fit it in). I think the reason for this choice is obvious: it was a book for last month's TIOLI that I just didn't fit in in time. I wasn't going to abandon it when I was almost done just because last month's challenges ended.

I think this may be a common refrain for me.... there were a lot of books that I wanted to read last month and didn't get around to, so you may see me reading other October books in November as well.

LOL, love this thread... Actually, it's kind of fun fitting the books I feel I want to read but might keep passing over into a TIOLI challenge, which then makes them kind of mandatory reads for the month. Often, I end up enjoying them.

And my TBR stacks are so high I don't have to strain to find something that fits!

The only tricky point is when there's a book that I do want to read soon and it DOESN'T fit my TIOLI categories for the month... That's when I suspect I'm becoming an addict.

Yes! I already did it this month! I finished The Lost Hero yesterday, and lo and behold, it does not fit in anywhere...

I've been fitting most of my monthly reads into TIOLI categories, and like Suzanne, I don't have to strain to find something that fits. When I do read a book that is non-TIOLI, I do have kind of an "Oh, darn!" response, but I've managed to read two or three books in each month that don't count, despite this internal conflict, lol. This month, for example, I really wanted to read The Lost Hero, and it took me just 2-3 days, so I didn't care - well, OK, not that much - that it didn't fit. The other non-TIOLI read I have is Solomon's Oak, and since it's an ER book, there's no guilt there either.

Yes and yes! My first book this month (A Bear Called Paddington) was completely unplanned and I don't think it fits any of the challenges. It was a good comfort read though.

Normally I can find lots of books I want to read that fit the challenges but there's often a couple of library books or ER books that don't fit. There are also a few books I started for previous TIOLI challenges and haven't finished yet.

I am going to read what I am going to read - I feel like I'm quoting Popeye. If it fits TIOLI, I'm thrilled. One I mean to finish this month that fits here and nowhere else is my current ER ARC, Body Work. (It was on the July list and only just arrived. Sonya must do good work on our behalf because they sent me a finished copy, so I'm very pleased.)

Reading about Paddington's adventures should always be unscheduled, much like Paddington and his adventures themselves!

I tend to select a large number of books that will fit TIOLI challenges and line them all up at one end of the bookcase, and then find myself reading something else just because I feel like it. At present I'm reading another Margery Allingham - Look to the Lady - because I didn't read any last month and I am nearly finished reading my way through them all. This doesn't fit anything - well I suppose at a pinch I could fit it into the Sadie Hawkins challenge on reflection, but I didn't think of that when I started it. Several unfinished books that I want to get back to will also not fit anywhere, I think..

I like this challenge!

As I do not worry overmuch about whether or not the books I read fit into TIOLI, I am happy to find a bunch of likeminded people :) I probably could fit books I read into TIOLI challenges, but I am not going to check. Just call it pure laziness.

So far this month the books I need to read don't fit any TIOLI Challenges. It's just working out that way. I may be able to fit one or two into the alphabet challenge if I time it just right. But I don't want to rush through Middlemarch.
And it's going to be a light reading month anyway - just a lot of other fun stuff going on. First up is a women's beach trip starting tomorrow!

My small book club is reading The Maltese Falcon so that's the book I'm taking along for beach reading :-)

#9 Beach trip? Brrrrrr! You must be in a warmer climate than I am!

Due to a change in circumstances at the end of October, I was not able to finish about 5 or 10 planned reads. Instead I switched to books that do not remind me too much of real life.

Ironically, the first book I finished for November, James P. Hogan's Gentle Giants of Ganymede (Science Fiction) would have fit into October's TOLI (2010 dead author). Unless G comes up again on the first challenge, and I get to it in time, this book will remain a non-TIOLI book. A quite interesting little book with a twist on . . . well, I can't really say without spoilers. I can say, though, that the first book started with a dead man in a spacesuit found on the moon who has been there for 50,000 years. Around the same time a giant spaceship is found on one of the Moons of Jupiter. The first book in the Giants series focuses on both finds, though more on the man on the moon discovery. Second book, Gentle Giants, focuses on the second discovery - the huge alien spaceship filled with prehistoric earth animals from around 25 million years ago.

The second book read this month, Jim Butcher's Furies of Calderon (Fantasy), was acquired way back whenever the Chunkster challenge was issued. Liked it well enough that I plan to read the rest of the books in the series this month. At least the second book. None of the 5 or 6 books match any challenge except maybe the first.

I plan on reading Jack McDevitt's Echo next. I had planned on it before I realized it meet one of the challenges. So that will more than likely be my first TOLI book. Unless I just decide to not include it on the list. I have no idea what it is about other than it is, I think, fifth in a series I have been reading and is Science Fiction.

10> Grandparents had a time-share apartment at a beach community. They had the place in, I think, October. I found it to be quite nice that time of year. Not hot, no crowds. Nice strong wind. Lovely sunsets/sunrises.

It can be fun to go to places out of season. Like visiting Cancun and Chichen Itza in December (specifically including December 25th). Warm enough to not be cold, but not the normal "where's the air conditioning" weather of the normal tourist season in the summer.

I wondered where you were, Mike!

I think I just finished another that counts nowhere - Freak the Mighty. I picked it up thinking it fit into the Stasia-recommended challenge, and then realized that L-Z referred to the title, not the author's last name (silly librarian!).

Just finished The Nursing Home Murder as I ever-so-slowly make my way through Ngaio Marsh's mysteries. I've so many unread mysteries (not just hers but lots of other authors as well) that I thought it might be time to get back to a bit of my favorite genre. My taste in mysteries is especially idiosyncratic, so the books often fit nowhere but in my own little collections and those a of a very few others.

For TIOLI I did read a perfectly boring tome How to Be an Intellectual in the Age of TV, and am doing a group read of Middlemarch (hey to those in that group who are also here). I think I overstrained myself in the TIOLI challenges for a couple of months, although it/they have been immensely helpful in clearing the TBR of some books I might have kept right on ignoring in favor of newer, apparently shinier acquisitions. Time to stop the self-competition and just read what I want again. Which isn't to say that I'm ignoring Madeline's work; not at all. Just scaling back a bit.

Which isn't to say that I'm ignoring Madeline's work; not at all. Just scaling back a bit.

...which has me thinking about possibly bringing the TIOLI challenge to a close at the end of the year or possibly giving it a new incarnation.

So as not to hijack Zoe's thread, please join me in a discussion of what is right and what is wrong with TIOLI as it exists currently.

>16 SqueakyChu: No, no! Don't end the TIOLI! I revoke my challenge. We all love TIOLI and want more!

No! No! Don't revoke your challenge. I thought it was pretty clever!

It wasn't because of your challenge that I was getting these negative vibes. I checked out my feelings on another thread (you'll love it - it has polls...), and we still have a core group that wants to hang in there strongly. That's all I wanted to know before I headed full steam in to 2011. All remains good with the TIOLI.

Phew! Crisis averted.

Not only do we want it to continue, we're inviting friends. Ivy said she's joining us. Someone else, too. DeltaQueen, I think.

As for my non-TIOLI TIOLI book, I think I will read: Authors of the Storm: Meteorologists and the Culture of Prediction by Gary Alan Fine. This would be the extremely odd book that doesn't count for TIOLI or my 1010 challenge. Just something I really want to read.

I'm reading Anne of Avonlea as a non-TIOLI book because I just can't leave Anne behind after my October challenge reading.

#10 and #12
This was the coldest year yet. We get a place at North Myrtle Beach and most years it still gets up to mid-70's at least part of the time even though it's November. We don't go in the water, but have a lot of pleasant walks on the beach and sit in the rocking chairs on the deck.

This year was too cold to do much of that, and the wind just adds to it. But with 21 women in a house with food, games, puzzles, books, and food, we had a great time! I almost finished The Maltese Falcon. What a fun book.

#22: with 21 women in a house with food, games, puzzles, books, and food, we had a great time!

I bet you did! Sounds terrific.

I was able to sneak Gentle Giants into challenge 1, so now 2 of my three reads are TOLI books. Only already read Furies of Calderon, and currently being read Academ's Fury remain November non-Toli books. I assume I'll read more books this month, but I should, at least, get through Academ's Fury.

I'm still stuck in October! I just read We Have Always Lived in the Castle, which would have counted for TIOLI last month, but doesn't seem to fit anywhere this time. I'll have to keep an eye on that alphabet cycle.

I'll have to keep an eye on that alphabet cycle.

Zoe! I thought *you* were the one doing the non-TIOLI TIOLIs!!

I was supposed to be doing a non-TIOLI TIOLI, but now I've done two and we're barely into the second week!

Time for a *real* TIOLI then! :)

I read a few books out of TIOLI:
- How bad are bananas?, about the carbon footprint of some stuff we do or eat
- Swiss me about a foreigner living here in Switzerland and makes fun of us

I read The Marriage Spell - needing a romance for my 1010 Challenge. I'd never read Mary Jo Puitney before but really enjoyed the book.

I only read 3 books this month and none of them fit a TIOLI Challenge.

The Maltese Falcon was interesting. It's funny to think of this genre being brand new at one point, but of course PIs haven't always been around and this kind of book hasn't always existed.

Wrestling with an Angel by Greg Lucas was a short but good book on God's mercy during our suffering.

Widdershins by Charles de Lint. It's been years since I read de Lint, so I'm not sure if I've changed or if this isn't one of his better books. But it was an easy read during a trying few weeks.