December TIOLI: The Ghost of TIOLI Past

This is the thread for the "Ghost of TIOLI Past" challenge: a book for a favourite TIOLI challenge from another month. This will give us a chance to reflect back on a year of TIOLI challenges.

I did add one restriction to this challenge: challenges that had more than 50 books in the month they were posted are excluded, so that we can focus more on the challenges that didn't get a lot of attention the first time.

So, what were some of your favourite TIOLI challenges this year? Do you choose your TIOLI reads based on the challenges, or do you try to find challenges to fit the books you're already planning to read? What are your general thoughts about the past year of TIOLI?

Zoe - I remember how Madeline's Red Spine challenge back in February had us all flummoxed and provided much fun and serendipity. When I looked at my pile of 1010 challenge books that I need to read in December the first thing that jumped out at me was that several had red spines and I immediately thought of that challenge.

I love to choose my TIOLI reads based on the challenges, but there are some challenges that I like better than others. I like the challenges best that, when I read what the challenge is, I have no idea what book will fit that challenge until I go look at my TBRs.

I, too, thought that red spine challenge was lots of fun. I remember going to the library to see if there were actually enough red-spined books to create a challenge like that.

You'd be surprised how many challenges I've thought of that didn't seem to have enough books to include so I ended up dropping them. I'm also amused when people choose the challenge I want to pick before I get the chance to do so. For example, I'd been thinking of doing a "thinster" challenge so now I cross that idea off my list. That's okay. It's only making me be more creative.

I think my absolute favorite challenge has to be the Alphabetical challenge. I loved watching the list grow and watching for the right time to add a book of my own choice. I wasn't sure how that one would work out, but it worked out quite well.

It's interesting to see which months' challenges people are choosing for this. There's understandably a lot of November, a bit of October.... And then January, February, and March. I guess people are either going with recent challenges that they remember, or starting at the beginning of the lists and not continuing all the way through. I count only one April, and no May or June!

In answer to your question, Zoe, I usually do a mix of both. Last month, I chose The Great Divorce specifically for the Alphabetical challenge, and before that it had been completely unplanned. But usually I look through the challenges and my library list and fit the books in where they go. (I'm thinking of changing this whole idea next year...). The books I chose to fill in "Ghosts of TIOLI past" are books that I had in the TBR stack already, and hadn't gotten to in November...thus why I used November challenges. :) I did have one from February that had an idea that intrigued me and I didn't get to - the title as a sentence. I moved it because it fit a tighter challenge that had fewer books that fit, and I thought as a result more people might find it there and choose to read it as well (we'll see if that theory works!).

Oh, and as far as my own challenges...usually I have a few ideas in mind and have already thought of books I want to read. But I have failed to complete my own challenge at least for the past two months. :)

Zoe, after seeing your post above I specifically looked in May & June for a challenge that would fit the book I was reading. There's a Ghosts challenge from June now if there wasn't before. :)
May's wiki page was in "being edited" mode (not sure how else to describe it) which made it a little harder to read and may be why it's being passed over, though I think your explanation is probably correct.

*****

I posted this before adding my book to the Wiki, and saw that a couple other people had beaten me to June, so I went with May instead. :p

In answer to your question about choosing TIOLI books - I usually like to find a book to fit a challenge - that's a biggest part of the fun of TIOLI to me - but if I already have something started at the beginning of the month or have already planned to read something, I'll look for a challenge to fit the book.

I'd loosely planned my reading for the year before I came across TIOLI, and as the year got closer to the end I did less TIOLI challenges because they didn't always fit the books I was "supposed" to be reading.
Partly for that reason, I decided not to have reading categories next year. I do have a bunch of stuff at the top of my TBR list, but I'll be able to look for books for TIOLI challenges without feeling like they're "not counting" towards the goals I already had. Sounds like I've become a TIOLI addict!

I decided not to have reading categories next year. I do have a bunch of stuff at the top of my TBR list, but I'll be able to look for books for TIOLI challenges without feeling like they're "not counting" towards the goals I already had. Sounds like I've become a TIOLI addict!

I'm exactly the same! I've abandoned my 1010 Challenge for this year and am not planning to do the 11-11 either. The TIOLI provides the perfect amount of guidance; it gives me a slight nudge to pick up particular books without making me feel at all restricted in my reading.

TIOLI ... gives me a slight nudge to pick up particular books without making me feel at all restricted in my reading.

Exactly! :)

I've enjoyed seeing if I can fit books into more than one challenge - and still remain flexible enough to read something just because I want to. We'll see how it goes in 2011!