Take It or Leave It Challenge - February 2011 - Page 2

For those new to this challenge: More info and monthly index can be found in post #1 of this thread.

Continued from here

Simple directions for posting to the wiki can be found at the bottom of each month's wiki page.


...logo by cyderry

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Hi Challengers!

Here’s fair warning. This month’s challenge might be tricky. I definitely needed to do something to make my challenge harder for all of you. Therefore, for the month of February, your challenge is to Read a Book with an Embedded Word in the Title. The term “embedded” means that the word must stretch across at least two words of the title and must be at least five letters long. The embedded word may be plural with the “s” in the second word. However, the word may not be an abbreviation nor a proper noun. Think Scrabble rules, everyone! Your book will be considered a match even if you choose a different embedded word for the same book.

Please list your titles as follows:
Coming Up Roses (prose) – Sarah Laing – SqueakyChu

Here are some suggestions:
Brave New World (raven) – Aldous Huxley
Every Man Dies Alone (salon) – Hans Fallada
Like the Red Panda (there) – Andrea Siegel
The Road to Wellville (towel) – T.C. Boyle
A Wall of Light (flight) – Edeet Ravel

Here’s an idea: For fun and for Valentine’s Day, see if you can find and read a book with the embedded word “heart” – such as Hear The Wind Sing by Haruki Murakami

Now it’s your turn to find these. Feel free to list more suggestions for others in this thread. Have fun!

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Other Fun Stuff (not part of the TIOLI challenge):
1. The February 2011 TIOLI Meter - Some challengers use this page to track which challenges they're doing.
2. I Know I'm a TIOLI Addict When... - Frog Logo is on this page!

Wiki Index of Challenges:

Challenges 1-7:
1. Read a book with an embedded word in the title
2. Read a nonfiction book about winter - thread
3. Read a 75-Book-Challenge favourite book of 2010 - thread
4. Read a book from the 16-book longlist of the Tournament of Books
5. Read a book with only 2 vowels in each of the title words (excluding words: a, an, the, etc.) and makes you think of being warm
6. Read a book by or about an African American woman - thread
-----6a. Quicksand and Passing - thread
7. Read a book with a 12-word title.
-----7a. The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them - thread

Challenges 8-14:
8. Read a book with a title that the Touchstone interface thinks could be a different book
9. Read a Canada Reads winner or finalist - thread
10. Read a book that fits into both of two previous challenges in which you did not participate
11. Read a book by a new-to-you author from China, Korea, Mongolia, Vietnam, or related communities - thread
12. Read a book about someone trying to do things in a different way
13: Read a nonfiction narrative of travel and discovering new places
14. Read a book with the word Valentine in the title or authored by a person named Valentine - thread

Challenges 15 and more:
15. Read the second book in a series or by an author
16. Read a book whose title, author, or first page contains reference to a doctor - thread
17. Read a book about an animal that travels - thread
18. Read a book with one title which actually consists of two books

Now closed to the posting of new challenges.

OMG, I'm first! Getting ready to drive south for a week (don't worry, hubbie's driving). the 10 hr drive should give me plenty of reading time, yeah!

I'm cursing the shortness of February- so many books, too few days!

I'm feeling the same as Lahochstetler above, I may have bitten off more than I can chew! So far I have completed 2 of the 7 challenges I signed up for!

Native Tongue came in, so I had to join the read.

Just found this so I don't know if I will be able to participate. Will see what I can find.

Yes. I'm feeling the crunch too. I'm finally slowing down on my reading. It's not because the book I'm reading is not interesting, because it is; it's just life.

#4-5 I'm thinking I'll maybe ignore the 'official' months and just treat each 31-day period as one, to give me a chance with my toppling monthly reading piles. No way I'm making it in February at this rate.

I thought it was just me but it looks like almost everyone's TIOLI reading numbers are down this month. We're more than a third of the way through this short month already.

10> mine are actually up! but it's only my third month and i didn't read very much at all in december or january, relatively speaking.

My reading has definitely been slow this month for some reason (getting into the new semester?), so I haven't actually finished any books yet! Plus the two that I'm almost done didn't seem to fit into the TIOLI.

Now I have some good news, though: overman is apparently a word, so that I can count Moon Over Manifest for Challenge #1. Unfortunately not the ghost challenge where it's already listed, but I haven't yet been able to match it on categories that I haven't already done. Maybe I'll look harder sometime later this month.

I decided to take a few books out of my unrealistic reading list for this month so that I don't get completely discouraged every time I look at it. It's still very ambitious, but just a little bit less scary. Consequently, I've removed books from TIOLI challenge, two of which were shared reads (sorry), one for challenge #9 and one for #12. I've already deducted 1 point in both cases. Again... sorry :-s

Finished From Jane Austen To Joseph Conrad: Essays Collected In Memory Of James T. Hillhouse, a book of essays addressing 19th and early 20th century literature, for the embedded word challenge ('stent').

I have two more challenges listed, but I'm taking the dangerous tack of pushing them towards the end of the month. We'll see.

(Sooo...what do we call it when the touchstones do find your book, but then it doesn't show in your post or at the side? Other than "@#$%&! annoying".)

(Ah! There we go!)

> 13

sorry

Guilt is prohibited in the TIOLI challenges. You are free to add "matches" with points as well as take them away whenever you want. Guilt free and without apology!

I tend to put books in when I've finished them, except at the start of the month, though there are exceptions.

I also have to read a few non-TIOLIs as review books this month.

I finished my second (that's all?) TIOLI book for February, A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie R. King. It's the second book in the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series qualifying it for Challenge 15. I'm enjoying this imaginative series so far. I have nine more to go before I get caught up.

I didn't do a formal review, only some comments on my thread which can be found here. Off to add this to the wiki and then hop over to the froggy meter!

Guilt free and without apology!

That works for me. Only 'Guilt' is one of my many middle names. You know that saying 'if the shoe fits'? Well in my case, I feel obliged to wear it no matter what size it is. ;-)

I just finished my fourth book for the TIOLI challenges this month. Still hope to fit in a few more. I just checked out the froggy meter as well - cool!

A Monstrous Regiment of Women is my favourite of that series I've read so far, though I think I'm only 2 books ahead of you and I read them so long ago (perhaps 7/8 years) my memory's a bit hazy.

I finished Native Tongue for Touchstone challenge. I didn't enjoy it but glad that I read it as we have a good discussion going on the group read thread.

Mike, what does "finnoc" mean? I see no such word on dictionary.com!

If you mean Finnoc, the character from World of Warcraft, you cannot use that word because it's a proper noun. See message #1 above. Scrabble rules apply to Challenge #1.

I just went to the Froggy Meter too. 4 books so far, 3 of which are shared reads, so whatever residual guilt I felt (see #13) is now obliterated. I think 4 out of 10 listed books is pretty good considering we're not quite halfway through the month!

ETA: Woo hoo! Just found that my latest read, Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass qualifies for challenge #1 ('ought'). Off to add it to the wiki. As an aside, I should say I'm listening to the audio version performed by Christopher Plummer and it's DELICIOUS!

I read and enjoyed the YA novel The Double Life of Cassiel Roadnight by Jenny Valentine for the Valentine challenge. Valentine acknowledged a Josephine Tey novel as inspiration for this book.
edit: to remove title of Tey's book for possible spoiler reasons.

Looking at the index of challenges, I think the Quicksand and Passing reads are for one other than #3?

Right you are. Who moves it? Madeline?

Yup, since it's in a message rather than the wiki she's the only one who can change it.

I've just noticed that as I finished reading Quicksand tonight. It should be under Challenge 6.

> 25.

Fixed. Thanks.

I added Marcelo in the Real World to the wiki for challenge #1.

I hope you like Marcelo. I went into it not knowing anything about it and was pleasantly surprised.

#31: Thanks, Joyce. I do not know a lot about the book myself, but I have seen a couple of good reviews in the group, so I decided to give it a shot.

Ok, so I have a *situation* and would like some feedback. I'd been listening to Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, which qualifies for challenge #1 ('ought'). Greatly enjoyed the first story of course (it's one of my all-time favourites), and Christopher Plummer elevated it to new heights for me. But the second story, which I've read but could barely recall, just isn't doing it for me and strangely enough, here Christopher Plummer's performance is making my skin crawl. So I'm halfway through and don't have the heart to continue. I guess that means I should remove the book from the challenge since my embedded word is taken from the second story, right?

>33 Smiler69: Maybe switch to a paper copy and finish the book that way?

I had to remove The Vagrants from challenge #11, which I tried not to feel bad about, but then saw it was a shared read. There is just no way I am going to get to it this month, and I've heard such great htings about it, I don't want to try to tear through it quickly.

Question: should I remove the * from the other reader's entry and the point value at the bottom of the page, or is that only supposed to be done by SqueakyChu?

> 33

I guess that means I should remove the book from the challenge since my embedded word is taken from the second story, right?

Yep. You're right.

> 35

should I remove the * from the other reader's entry and the point value at the bottom of the page, or is that only supposed to be done by SqueakyChu?

You (or anyone else) may update these changes. If you don't want to do it or don't do it for some other reason, it will either be done by someone else or by myself at the end of the month when I "clean things up". I always look for less to do, though! :)

>36 SqueakyChu: - I'll take care of it! Thanks!

#34 & 36 I'll see if I have a hard copy at home to take up Zoe's suggestion and otherwise, will take it out.

I finished Their Eyes Were Watching God for my RL book club. Hurston is such a complex writer, it should be a rousing discussion. Now to some well needed science fiction The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms.

Finished Valentine, an anonymous novel from 1790, for the "valentine" challenge (duh!). It was one of the many dreadful sentimental novels from around that time, where everyone suffers and dies and you're supposed to enjoy yourself by wallowing in their misery. I giggled all the way through it, which I don't think is what the author was going for.

Oh my, it sounds wonderful! I should seek it out - you said you got it in PDF, so from Gutenberg? I might borrow my mom's new Kindle for it.

No, I got it from the British Library's 18th Century Fiction collection, to which I have access via our State Library. It may be available from other sources, though. Let me know if you find it - if not, maybe I can make a zip copy of the PDFs?

I have access to a few different university libraries, too, so I'll poke around first, thanks!

I finished Swiss Watching by Diccon Bewes for challenge 1, book with an embedded word in the title (swatch). It's part travelogue, part introduction to Swiss culture written by an outsider to the culture - in this case a UK citizen who has lived in Switzerland for a number of years. Most of the cultural comparisons are made between Switzerland and the UK, so it helped that I lived in the UK for several years.

>39 Citizenjoyce: I really enjoyed One Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and am hoping to get to her next book in a week or so.

I finished The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton for the "2nd" challenge (it was her second novel). I haven't read a lot by her, but after reading contemporary fiction written about that time - and seeing a lot of "modern sensibilities" cast upon the characters - I was a little surprised at how easily she could read the superficiality and hypocrisy of her own time. I enjoyed the book a lot.

Should anyone be looking for a terrific nonfiction read, I'd recommend Complications by Atul Gawande, a book about fallibility in medical practice and other issues which "complicate" modern medicine. This book fits into challenge #15 (Read a book whose title, author, or first page contains reference to a doctor). More of my thoughts about this book can be found here.

>47 SqueakyChu:: That sounds like a very valuable book. I'm going to see if it's in any of the local libraries.

> 48

It's wonderful. Darryl (kidzdoc) also suggested I read Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance by the same author. I'll be looking for that book now.

And when I didn't find Complications in either of our local libraries, I checked Amazon and -- what do you know? An upcoming Pittsylvania County Public Library book review luncheon book, The Checklist Manifesto, is by the same author. I'm really excited to learn about Atul Gawande and his books!

>51 SqueakyChu:: No, I'm afraid not; I'm swamped with preparing for a last-minute Scholastic Book Fair (the best way to be "too busy", though!).

So are you going to read that book and go to the luncheon? By the way, I have that book on my wishlist,too!

I finished and reviewed Margaret Laurence's quiet gem, The Stone Angel for the Canada Reads Challenge.

Now I'm reading Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon for the Tournament of Books Challenge.

I'm afraid that my requested copy of Lord of Misrule won't be into the library before the month is over. I'm toying with the idea of getting it on Nook, but I don't know. Let me know if you think it's absolutely wonderful.

22> a kind of sea trout. Finnoc is an alternate spelling of finnock. I know nothing about World of Warcraft. :)

I started reading The Story of Edgar Sawtelle this evening for challenge #17 (animals that travel). I'm just a few pages in but I can tell I'm going to enjoy this one.

Forgot to mention that I moved the Finnoc book over to Challenge 15, as the book is the second one in the series.

> 54, 56

Aw! :(

I love to fish, but I hadn't heard of a finnoc before. Since it's a fish you can use it! :)

I'm almost finished with The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. Thank the great whatever for the animals that travel challenge. So many people have been telling me I'd like this book and I have resisted for no reason that comes to mind. It's a really good read.

I just finished The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin, it's so creative. I've got to get to the follow up books. Now I'll start Mama Day by Gloria Naylor.

I finished my Travel challenge book - Just as well I'm leaving: to the Orient with Hans Christian Andersen by Michael Booth. Now I can start my 12 word book - The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them.

I am firmly in the camp of those who loved Edgar Sawtelle despite its flaws. It had such heart that I could overlook its need of better editing.

I finished Reading the OED. It's a quick read definitely tongue-in-cheek for me as a reader, although I believe Shea is dead serious about his love of dictionaries. I'm also adding Where the Mountain Meets the Moon to Challenge 11. It's a delightful Newbery Honor book that I bought as a gift for my granddaughter. I know she won't mind me screening it for her. I'll have short reviews on both books posted in the next few days.

>55 Smiler69: and 58 I remember not being able to put down Edgar Sawtelle even for a second; so good.

Finished Native Tongue for challenge #8. An interesting read that I'm still dwelling on.

Finished The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books. It was entertaining - mostly - and interesting. I am so glad I am not a graduate student in Russian lit.

I apologize if someone has posted this before, but I just came across this link with photos of "Libraries of the Rich and Famous". Something to aspire to...

http://flavorwire.com/141846/celebs-theyre-geeks-like-us-libraries-of-the-rich-a...

Diane Keaton's looks like an actual library. I'm so jealous.

I don't know what it is, but I love looking at other people's libraries. I also like Diane Keaton's the best, but I thought some of the books in Frank Sinatra's library looked really interesting. I kept squinting to see if I could make out any of the titles.

Kelsey Grammer's looks the way I'd love my shelves to look. Karl Lagerfeld's made me want to run away screaming! And I didn't realize Michael Jackson had such good taste in decor.

I just finished Little Princes for TIOLI Challenge #14 and loved it. Here's my review if you want to know more http://www.librarything.com/work/10138434/70001950

I actually like the set up of Karl Lagerfeld, but I would not stack the books vertically. I would place them in the traditional horizontal method.

Most of those looked to me like an interior decorator's idea of what a library 'should' look like. And Kelsey Gramer's seemed like someone was playing a joke. I have to admit Diane Keaton's set-up made me drool. I'd heard Karl Lagerfeld was a big reader and I know he does a lot of research, so not too surprised there. But honestly, I think the most interesting libraries I've seen are here on LT because while I love a nice decor, I find discovering what people like to read much more satisfying.

Sometimes our reading instincts are correct. I finished Edgar Sawtelle and I'm sorry I read it. Now I'll begin the audiobook of Cloud Atlas, but I can't imagine I'll be done before the end of the month.

#71 sorry to hear you didn't like Edgar Sawtelle after all. I'm almost halfway through and still under the charm. In fact, I'll go back to it now. Won't ask now, but I'll be curious when I finish it to know why you didn't like it. Maybe we can discuss on the Traveling Animals thread a bit later.

Finished The Abbey Of Clugny for the "2nd" challenge.

That's the last of my pre-declared reads for this month's challenges. I'm hoping to get to a book for the "doctor" challenge, but I haven't picked one yet.

TIOLI Stats for the month of January, 2010:

Total number of challenges: 16
Total books read: 549
Total books shared: 183
Percent book shared: 33%
Total TIOLI points: 99

Most popular book: Beowulf - trans. Seamus Heaney - 14 readers
Most popular challenge: Read a book with a 3.8 to 4.2 star rating - 129 books
Most TIOLI points per challenge: Read a book with a 3.8 to 4.2 star rating - 30 TIOLI points

I need your opinion...

Some discussion about the monthly awards...

I had them all set up to go, but am holding back. The reason is that I deleted the books that had not been marked COMPLETED. There were a sizable number for January. I'm now afraid that people will be upset that they might not be included in an "award" for simply not marking their books COMPLETED.

Should anyone want to go back to see which books were deleted (and, yes, one by conceptDawg was also deleted!), just go to the history on the wiki and you can see the pages before the deletions were done.

In addition, there are so many participants in these challenges now, that it is very hard to pick out the "winners". Of course, you know that you are all winners in my book.

I'm all ears...

*turns up hearing aids*

Ilana, I'd be glad to discuss it with you. On another list someone responded to my whining by actually giving away lots of the plot. While I won't recommend the book, I wouldn't want to do that either.

Looking ahead...

As you know, February is a short month. You should now be starting to think of some extraordinary challenges for the month of March. Jot down your ideas. You've got the "tighten up" part of the challenges down pretty well. I don't see any challenges that are too wide open any more. Let's keep them that way.

Now, let's try a different tack. For the month of March, see how different or "unique" you can make your challenge. That might be fun. Some of you have already been doing this. Don't tell anyone what your challenge will be before you post it. This is just a suggestion and you can take it...or leave it! Ha!!

Another thing...please! Think carefully about your challenges ahead of time. What you are asking of other challengers must be very *clear* to them. Try not to make them ask you what is acceptable because they have no idea what you want. Set up your parameters ahead of time and post them to the main thread (or to a separate thread, if you start one).

Keep your challenge title *simple*. If you want to give an example, don't write it out, just post an example under your challenge title.

(I know some of this is repetitive, but we have quite a few newbies among us so I want them to know what to do ahead of time and not be confused).

Lastly, when you see the new challenges posted for March, don't get so excited that you forget about marking February's books COMPLETED to the extent you have completed those books. All COMPLETED books are counted in the monthly stats. If a book is not COMPLETED on the wiki, it is ruthlessly deleted (by me!). I give you about two weeks to do this, so you cannot complain that I don't give you enough time. :)

Newbies...if you have questions, please feel free to ask them right here on this thread. We welcome you and your inquiries. :D

Aw, I love the awards! They're always so much fun. If it's getting to be too much work for you, I'd rather go with the suggestion you made last year of having participants hand out awards to each other. I wouldn't mind having certain fixed awards, either. It might even add to the fun/incentive if we knew that we would always win an award for participating in the most-shared read of the month, for example.

I don't think it's a big problem for people to be excluded from awards because they didn't mark their books completed. It's the kind of thing that would only happen once, because they'd definitely remember for the next time.

I definitely want to see the awards you've picked out for January!

Well, if I reveal January's, February's should be easier.
I really just didn't want any hurt feelings.Disclaimer: The awards are all meant in the spirit of fun and have no other ulterior worth.

I wouldn't like "fixed" awards. Too boring!

Here's another idea...I can name someone (in secret) to do February's awards (3 to 5 awards, with one being a group award, should do it). February's award giver then names another person (in secret) to give out March's awards...and so forth. As we head toward the seventh day of the month, I'll send a reminder for people who want to be the award giver to PM the past "giver".

Poll about this idea in next message...

If we should have a rotating "Award Giver", what should that person be called?

The FrogMaster?
The Bestower?
The Award Giver?

Give me some ideas...

My only concern about the rotating Award Giver is how that person would be chosen. I can see the potential for people to feel excluded.

Okay. I'm keeping the Awards for myself. I'll be the FrogMaster (of Ceremonies). Here come the awards for January. Brace yourselves...

The TIOLI Awards for January 2010

The TIOLI Point Toughies Award goes to CatyM, AlcottAcre, avatiakh, klobrien2, souloftherose, VioletBramble, Deern, lorax, keristars, jasmyn9, antqueen, flissp, ffortsa, and swynn for all joining together to read Beowulf.

The But We Like Variety Award goes to AnneDC, Tanglewood, nitnutt, godesspt2, and wandering_star for being the only challengers *not* reading Beowolf for CatyM's challenge to read a book pre-dating the printing press.

The Variety is the Spice of Sharing Award goes to _Zoe_ for creating the challenge to read a top-rated book of 2010. In her challenge, a total of 86% of books were shared reads although many of the books were different. That was the highest percentage of shared reads per challenge, although two other challenges came mighty close!

The Poof, They're Gone, Award goes to klarusu for creating the challenge to read a book with a connection to Wonderland - a challenge in which *nobody* COMPLETED his or her book so all the entries have disappeared like magic!

The Most Obscure Book Award goes to littlegreycloud for reading Briefe aus Schulzenhof, vol. 1 by Eva Strittmatter for NocturnalBlue's challenge to read a book ranked below 10,000 on the LT Popularity Index. This book was recorded as being #2,630,992 on the LibraryThing Popularity Index. Never let it be said that this challenger doesn’t seek some rather unique reads!

Congratulations to January's award winners!

Yay, thank you!

:)

I don't mind being excluded one bit, as long as I get to read your fun award categories Madeline. :-)

#77 Much appreciated—your not giving anything away that it. I've got to speed up on the reading of this book a little as have a bunch of other novels I want to fit in this month.

>85 SqueakyChu: Yay, this was my first TIOLI challenge!

Congratulations to the winners for January's awards. This is a fun dimension of TIOLI. Winners and non-winners (there are no losers here) can all appreciate the creativity that Madeline puts into this group. Thanks once again Ms. FrogMaster for a job well-done.

I think I can speak for everyone in saying that you should remain Frogmaster Madeline. You come up with the best categories!

Okay. I'll stay Frogmaster! :)

By the way, I just decided (for sure!) what our March TIOLI challenge will be. I can't wait to post it (...but I'll wait anyway). :D

Tease.

Ooooo, I've got a good one in mind for March TIOLI, as well. *sinisterly rubs hands together*

I finished and reviewed Jaimy Gordon's Lord of Misrule for the Tournament of Books Challenge.

I've just finished Hush by Eishes Chayil and I've added it to the Touchstone challenge. It's a very good YA novel set in one of the closed ultra-orthodox Chassidic Jewish communities in New York and tackles an unspoken topic of sexual abuse. Eishes Chayil is a pseudonym and in Yiddish it means a Woman of Valour. I was immersed into a deeply religious, closed world of prayer, arranged marriages, ritual baths and ignorant, unworldly children.

I have an idea in mind for a challenge for March as well. . .

> 98

Kerry, have you ever read The Romance Reader by Pearl Abraham? It's a good read, geared to the adult reader, and a peek into the world of the ultra-orthodox Jewish young woman.

Thanks Madeline, I've added it to my ever increasing list of books I should read. I really enjoyed Hush, it is for older teens though also suitable for an adult to read. Off now to read my last two TIOLI books for the month.

This is my first year in your group and I'm enjoying it. I've been listing my books read on my thread, and adding some to the TIOLI wiki list for the month I finished reading them. Mid-keystroke last night, it hit me - am I doing this wrong?

My approach was to do my reading in my normal fashion, then if one of those books happened to 'match' a TIOLI challenge, I'd enter it on the wiki. Something I read somewhere in this group suddenly clicked and made me think that perhaps I misunderstood. Are we supposed to wait for the month's TIOLI thread to show up and then PLAN our month's reads accordingly, entering our reading plan into the wiki and then deleting what we didn't accomplish at the end of the month?

#102: There is not a wrong way to do the challenge. A lot of times I will plan reads for the challenge at the beginning of the month and find later on that another book I am reading also fits in that month. You can do it however you like :)

102: As well as what Stasia said, you can do a bit of both - choose some books for the challenges and some others that you were going to read anyway.

Thanks to you both! Just moved, and in process of getting settled, I don't imagine that I'll be organized enough to do a 'plan', so for now anyway, I'll just keep plugging along as is, since I have official permission!

A serendipity: One of my reads this month, I plugged into February's TIOLI #10 (Read a book that fits into both of two previous challenges in which you did not participate). By the time I finished adding it up, it had fit into at least 5 different previous challenges. (Freckles by Gene Stratton-Porter) That was fun.

> 102

Personally, I think that if you *planned* all of your monthly books to fit a TIOLI challenge, that would take away from the spontaneity of reading itself. The only requirement is that any book be COMPLETED in the month that a challenge has been offered.

Believe it or not, the TIOLI challenge was created so that everyone could read at least *one* book that he or she otherwise might not have read had it not been for the challenge. That is not how the TIOLI challenges have evolved. They've grown and changed in ways that makes them more adaptable the ways in which an individual reads and prefers (or the opposite, dislikes) to choose books ahead of time. I myself tend to be a more random reader and tend to change my mind if I plan my reads to far ahead of time.

The bottom line: what Stasia and Luci said in #103 and #104.

> 105

That was fun

Gak! I'm glad you thought that was fun. I was trying to "plug in" a completed read last night of a "random" book and found the process of having to scan all of the previous TIOLI challenges to find two that fit together for that same challenge just *gruesome*! I was able to, though!

My book was A Mad Desire to Dance by Elie Wiesel.

ETA: What was fun, though, was to see the many varied challenges that have been offered to date.

I just received my January Early Reviewer book in the mail and it fits challenge #1, embedded word in the title. I think I'll probably be able to get to it before the end of the month, so I'm adding it to the wiki for now. I'll take it off if I don't end up finishing it.

Caveat Emptor by Ruth Downie (tempt)

I've updated the Take It or Leave It Challenge summary, bringing it up-to-date. Putting in popular books back to August 2010, adding January & February 2011, and adding in number of books read per challenge back to, I think, November 2010. I did not add thread links for challenges though.

I will note something that I noticed while updating: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen was read by 11 people in January 2011, the largest one month joint read except for December's A Christmas Carol by Dickens with 18 readers, and January 2011's Beowulf with 14 readers. Which means Sense and Sensibility was third most read joint read in one month, but only second most read book in January 2011.

(English is funny, i.e, how read is pronounced two different ways above)

Thanks, Mike, for the hard work involved in updating that wiki.

I, too, love to note the most shared books. Now that so many of us (not me, though!) are doing group reads, I think this number is going to continue to climb.

#105 - Freckles is a long-time favorite of mine. I hope you enjoyed it. Have you read A Girl of the Limberlost? It's a sort of sequel and absolutely lovely.

Well, after a few non-TIOLI reads, I'm back - I finished Revolution last night for the mistaken touchstones challenge, and now I've started on East for my own challenge (2 past TIOLI categories). I think I've had this book since the 2008 SantaThing exchange, so it's about time I read it...

nittnut/111: I chose Freckles as a gift for my freckled nature-loving son solely because of its title and title character. Though that was a dozen years ago, I did not know the two books were related until I (finally) read A Girl of the Limberlost (in which Freckles figured) not long ago. Unpacking boxes after our move, when my hands touched Freckles, it became my very next read. I can see how those books are sentimental favorites for so many people; they are quite charming!

#111/113: I read A Girl of the Limberlost about a million times when I was a kid! It's still on my shelf.

I love A Girl of the Limberlost! My daughter has Freckles but I have not read it yet.

Oooh, awards! Another unexpected aspect of TIOLI. Thanks Frogmaster for everything you do.

LOL!! You're welcome, Anne. It's sooooo much fun!

I finished Mama Day, a very powerful study of magic and human nature, now I start on Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science by Marc Aronson for Madeline's challenge.

Bah, I thought I had a book for the twelve word title challenge, Hey, Waitress: The USA from the Other Side of the Tray, but it's short by one. WAH!

I've just finished Scott Westerfeld's Behemoth for the 2nd book in a series challenge.

Morphidae, doggone, it looks like a good book too.

113/114 If you like Freckles and Girl of the Limberlost, I also recommend The Keeper of the Bees which is another great one by Stratton-Porter. They were favorites of my mother's and she definitely passed along her love of reading to me. I credit Mom with my love of classic literature, my dad with my interest in history and other non-fiction. My Mom gave me my first copy of Pride and Prejudice when I was 10. My dad gave me The Gulag Archipelago when I was 15. No, I didn't understand it the first time through.

Oh, fer---!!

My next read will be History And The Early English Novel: Matters Of Fact From Bacon To Defoe - 13 words.

So to summarise, my reading this month has included two 13-worders, and one 14-worder.

Remind me who was that irritating person who picked 12 words? Hmm?? :)

I don't know if I'm the only one, but after snoozing for a day and being 150 posts behind when you posted the February thread Madeline, I'm now checking for it obsessively every day. Watch me doze off when you finally DO put it up. :-\

>>123 lyzard: - That would be me :)

But to make you feel better, I just finished a book for my own challenge because I thought it was 12 words, and then discovered my remedial math skills failed me and it actually had 13. Luckily I could tuck it onto another challenge

Heh! - classic!

I'm consoling myself for my repeated 12-word failures by adding an obscure 18th century novel to the "doctor" challenge - and by "obscure" I mean "No-one in the world knows this book exists except me":

The Interesting Story Of Edwin And Julia; Being A Rational And Philosophical Enquiry Into The Nature Of Things. In A Series Of Letters. By a Doctor of Physic, M.A. &c

Hmm. I've just finished Moon Over Manifest, and I see that two others have read it, but not in the same challenge - Zoë did the embedded word one and bell7 did the Ghosts of Tioli Past. Which one should I contribute a shared read to?

I just finished my 12-word title book, The Sisters of Sinai: How Two Lady Adventurers Discovered the Hidden Gospels (and I had to count them all again, just to make sure).

Excellent history of these two amazing women, who bucked society and academia, taught themselves, and made some fantastic discoveries. I'll add a little longer review of it to my thread, but I'd like to thank justjoey4 for bringing the book to my attention, and pbadeer for this tough challenge!

Karen O.

>127 keristars: Huh. I missed that it could have an embedded word. I'll move Moon Over Manifest for the points.

I have finished The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them for the 12-word title challenge, A Visit From the Goon Squad for the Tournament of Books challenge, and The Surrendered for the Lunar New Year challenge.

Now I'm debating whether to startThe Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (doctor challenge), Solar (word with two vowels that makes you think of warmth), Paradise (touchstone confusion with Paradise Lost) , The Colony of Unrequited Dreams (Canada Reads) or just carry on with Anna Karenina and Just Kids and see if I can work them into the remix challenge.

Suzanne, I'll be interested to hear what you think of the Typo hunt book.

130: Who is the author of the Paradise book you're reading?

Were you here for TIOLI last year?

Anna Karenina - the Russians are coming, chunkster, classic

Just Kids - monosyllabic title, gay and lesbian, a best books list challenge

>129 bell7: Thanks for moving it; I saw that you had listed it in the Ghosts challenge first, but I had already done both of the challenges that qualified it there.

I finished The Story of Edgar Sawtelle in the wee hours of the morning. I couldn't put it down towards the end even though that was very foolish of me because I was then too tired to get up for my drawing class today. Was it worth it? I'll have to take a couple of days to decide that.

Madeline: I've been meaning to ask you whether I can include a book I'm reading in your challenge. The book in question is Émile Zola's The Fortune of the Rougons. I don't see an embedded word in the English title, but if you allow me to use the French title La fortune des Rougons for the challenge, which would make sense in this case since I'm reading the original French version, then I would enter it with the word 'tuned'. Whatever you decide, I'm sure I'll survive! ;-)

Well, if you can understand the book in French, I can understand the English word "tuned", so I'm good with it.

...but don't miss any more art classes, Ilana!

>133 _Zoe_: No problem. If it's a shared read, we may as well get the points for it! :)

I'm currently reading my other "embedded word" book, The Seeing Stone. Things are looking very hopeful for my managing to read every book I entered on the wiki (the other is Little Princes, which I will probably start next) this month.

I've just finished The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (favorite of 2010) and Native Tongue (touchstone confusion) and just started The Tombs of Atuan (second in the series), which I still need to put on the wiki.

#135 that sounds good to me! I'll go list it shortly. I've only got a couple of pages to go so I'll for sure complete it very soon.

Of course it's totally ridiculous of me to miss art classes at all. I'm so privileged to be able to take them to begin with and it's a great school with awesome teachers. I'm just a little bit obsessed with my reading materials lately. Hopefully I'll calm down a bit and make room for everything else in my life. The upside is that I keep hitting on books that keep me interested, so no complaints there!

Madeline, it's all your fault, you pusher you. You've created reading addicts. I think I'm reading twice my usual number of books because of TIOLI.

Green Dragon has a book related humor thread, and I found the most perfect site for book cover satire: http://betterbooktitles.com/archive

>140 Citizenjoyce: Those covers are hilarious!

Today I finished A Song Flung Up To Heaven. I liked it a lot. I liked Angelou's narration better in this audio. It was also very interesting to hear about all the different things she did before she was "known" as an author.

> 139

it's all your fault, you pusher you. You've created reading addicts.

LOL!!

You're really doing it to yourselves, you know! :)

You're really doing it to yourselves, you know!

Maybe so, but it's nice having someone to blame, now I think of it! Hadn't even occurred to me before! :-P

Actually, I'm now doing it to myself as well. My own thread has two tickers. One is the days of the year; the other is the 75 books I want to read this year. I'm determined *this year* to get those 75 books read before year's end...even if I have to read skinny books to do it! :D

I finished Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science for challenge #1 though it has a big tie in with my African American challenge. Now on to Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs.

#132 elkiedee--thanks for the ideas! No, I wasn't here last year so all last year's challenges are remix possibilities. Now if I could only finish Anna Karenina by the end of February...The Paradise I am reading is by Toni Morrison.

145> Madeline, I found that I have absolutely no problems with counting picture books towards my total. Sometimes it takes me as long to get through a picture book as it does to read a short novel, because of stops and starts or because I keep going back to admire the illustrations or whatever.

Though sometimes I worry that taking 90 minutes for a single picture book when I'm not reading it out loud to a child is a bit much... (Charlotte in Giverny took almost three hours to read, but it's 60 pages long, so.)

> 148

I actually did read a kid's book this month, but not for TIOLI, though, as I couldn't find a category for it. :)

I got The Poppy Seed Cakes as a Bookcrossing donation and loved the colored prints/pictures. I kind of want to keep it, but I really, really have way too many books here at home to read so I'd best not keep those books I've already read. Oh, well!

No book is too skinny for me to count it toward my 75 books. I even included The Gruffalo which, not sure how many pages it has since I listened to the audio which was 10 minutes long! It's not cheating since there are no rules, right? ;-)

Right!

I finished my reread of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance last night for Challenge No. 1. A real book of the "heart" and a good ride! My review is here. Next up: I'll be doing a shared read of Incidents in the Life of A Slave Girl. That will be it for me for this month.

#151 Madeline, the anticipating is just killing me! Will you pleaaaaaaase consider telling us when you put up the new thread??? I'm pretty sure you'll say "no", but I figure there's no harm in asking.

#152 Donna, is the shared read of Incidents in the Life here on LT? Just asking because I saw that Kerry had mentioned she wanted to read that one on her thread. In case you don't know already, there's a free audio version available on LibriVox.org.

For my part, I just finished La fortune des Rougons by Émile Zola for challenge #1 yesterday. Boy could that man write! I'm glad I've taken on the project of reading the entire series of 20 books. Should keep me out of trouble for a while.

> 153

Will you pleaaaaaaase consider telling us when you put up the new thread???

Nope. I wouldn't even consider it.

Ah, there's always someone who wants to jump the gun!

I ended up taking a little vacation from the TIOLI this month - my reading list was pretty much set before the categories came in. I'm hoping for a better outcome in March. But I will wait PATIENTLY for the challenges to be posted.

(What is that toe-tapping noise?)

I finished and reviewed Lawrence Hill's Someone Knows My Name for the Canada Reads Challenge. Five star read for anyone who is still looking for something to read.

Illana, there are 3 of us reading Incidents i the Life of a Slave Girl for the #6 African American woman challenge. I hope there will be some discussion on the thread when we're done.

#154 Oh well, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

#157 Ok, that makes sense. I'm quite intrigued by that book so I'll go over to see what people have to say about it later.

> 153, 154, 155: Since I'm new this year, I want to have the experience of choosing a book I wouldn't ordinarily read to meet a Take It or Leave It challenge. In January and February, I stuck to finding challenges in which a book I was already planning to read would fit.

March is a great month to do it, because our scholastic book fair is here (and will be until March 3). Payday's not til the 28th, so no hurry about announcing the big one, 154. No hurry at all ...

By the way: my reading agenda for March so far consists of Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Dr. Sax, Pippi Goes on Board and Pippi in the South Seas. So if you see me trying to use one of those titles for any TIOLI challenge, smack me down!

> 159

No hurry at all ...

LOL!!

You know what? I thought I had decidedly picked what I wanted to do...but I've changed my mind again. Even *I* don't know what next month's challenge is going to be until I post it. Really...I do it at whim from a long list of ideas.

smack me down!

I'd never hurt a fellow challenger. :)

My reading totals have sadly slacked off this year from last year; I may have mentioned this before. A variety of things have inescapably taken over my life; and after all is said and done, people are more important than books, if only just.

However, I am proud indeed to report that I've completed Cloud Atlas, a magnificent book, for the two previous TIOLI categoires: I use the Book Borrowed from an LT'er and Weather Word categories to include it in this month's works. Although a review would be impossible without giving away important things, I would zealously urge anyone who hasn't read it to do so at the earliest opportunity.

I just finished posting my last TIOLI book for the month. I moved seven books along this month, some I enjoyed more than others but it was a pretty good challenge month for me. Looking forward to seeing what Madeline has in store for us next month!

Club Read has been checking out our book challenge ideas, so let's check theirs out as well! :)

# 163 - What is it about challenges? I read them and I want to do them. I especially liked the one about reading the seventh book on the left on the third shelf of your most crowded bookshelf. I wanted to immediately run upstairs and see what book that would be for me!

#164 Same here. Talk about forcing you to read something unplanned!

Hehe! Just wait for the next TIOLI challenge... :)

> 164

My question about that particular challenge would be, if that book is one that I definitely would not want to read, then what? :/

>167 SqueakyChu: Cheat a little??

You'd do that?!!!

Well, if you didn't like what you got, you go in for a little prudent re-shelving. But, actually, since the book comes from my TBR shelves, I would probably want to read it.

>169 SqueakyChu: Well, 'prudent re-shelving' does sound better.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no! See, to me that's the kind of challenge where you can't have any cheating - it's all about the totally random book that just happens to be on the nominated spot. Otherwise, what's the point?

And yes, if you keep books you hate on your shelves, serves you right! :)

Ack! I went to read Patricia McKillip's Cygnet last night for challenge #18, and the first 18 pages of the book are missing (some printing/binding error). I bought this book about two months ago and don't have the receipt anymore. Sigh.

> 164

the seventh book on the left on the third shelf

...and if your books are stacked horizontally?

> 164

the seventh book on the left on the third shelf

So go look. What's yours? Mine is Istanbul by Orhan Pamuk. I'm not in the mood for reading that TBR book right now. I'm reading Foreskin's Lament instead. Believe it or not, the latter book is for March's TIOLI challenge. And, no, you'll never guess what the challenge will be...although you might come up with some pretty funny guesses. Want to try? Of course, I won't tell you if you're right or wrong until...well...you know!

ETA:...and, yes, I'm the only one who gets a head start on the coming month's main TIOLI challenge. :D

#174 Is that 3rd from the top or 3rd from the bottom? :

#175 And, no, you'll never guess what the challenge will be...although you might come up with some pretty funny guesses. Want to try?

OK I'll bite. A man's name must be imbedded in the title, yes!?

> 176

I counted from the bottom and ignored the books that were horizontal! :)

A man's name must be imbedded in the title

Nope!

ETA: Well, I'll tell you if you're wrong. LOL!!

ETA2: BTW, the book I'm reading for March's TIOLI is Foreskin's Lament, not Istanbul.

the seventh book on the left on the third shelf of your most crowded bookshelf

That implies we have some bookshelves that are less crowded!

> 187

It was tough trying to figure out what bookshelf of mine was most crowded. I figured it was the one in which books sometimes fell off of the shelves by themselves! Ha!

the seventh book on the left on the third shelf of your most crowded bookshelf

Yippee, that's my religion shelf, but it's so crowded that I've put assorted audiobooks in front of the readable books, and the 7th book from the left is Special Topics in Calamity Physics which I was already planning to start right after I'm done with Cloud Atlas. Sometimes things do work out.

Foreskin's Lament, I love Shalom Auslander, but such a troubled man. I feel he was browbeaten by both the medical and religious profession in that one. Sometimes religion can so mess with your mind that you just can't make decisions for your own (or your family's) benefit.

OIC..........I was looking at the book that was on your shelf...duh...........I wouldn't even hazard a guess regarding Foreskin's Lament. Nope, not going there.

Nope, not going there.

I was afraid of that. LOL!!

I'm definitely getting excited for next month's TIOLI!

I don't think I have any books with the word foreskin in the title, though.

The March TIOLI challenge is titles with "boy parts!"

LOL!! You both aren't even close...

I'm back with a second guess..........Things which may be removed; foreskin's, tonsils, appendix, hat's etc.

Nice try, but no. :)

> 180

oh, Joyce! I *adored* Special Topics in Calamity Physics!! So many people hated it, though. :(

I'll have to get back to you about Auslander's book because I really just started it. I have relatives in Monsey, New York, so I know the mindset of which the author speaks in the book. I want to see in what direction this book goes. It starts out rather irreverant, to say the least!

I've finished A glass of blessings and marked it complete; also added Native Tongue to the long list of others who've counted that under the 'wrong touchstone' challenge. And I've added Planet Narnia to the 12 word title challenge as I've just realised this fits - though I've not finished reading it yet, so I'd better hurry before the end of the month.

Auslander is rather irreverant as union members in Wisconsin are rather disgruntled.

Kidzdoc posted the message in the African American Woman challenge that Agate Publishers is offering a free download of Wading Home: A Novel of New Orleans by Rosalyn Story. She's a musician and writer who has written a novel of pre and post Katrina New Orleans. The free offer is good only until the end of this month here: http://blog.agatepublishing.com/blog/2011/2/16/free-wading-home.html

I thought since they were being gracious enough to give it for free, I'd make it my next read, so, I'm starting now. Hope it's good.

Back to the shelving challenge - I did go look and my book would have been Anya Seton's The Hearth and Eagle, which now that I've looked at, I want to read!

Wild guess on March's TIOLI - A lament can be considered a song - so is the challenge to read something with a musical title?

I don't see how the Club Read challenge will work here because it would automatically eliminate shared reads (unless there are several people with the exact same bookshelf set up where the same book just happens to end up thrid shelf from the bottom, seven books in. My book BTW is Mistress of the Art of Death.

Joyce, I was going to read Special Topics in Calamity Physics after all the talk over on the What are You Reading Now? thread, but I was wooed over by The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. BTW I picked up the Physics book after Madeline raved about it here some time ago :)

> 190

in Wisconsin are rather disgruntled.

LOL!!

so is the challenge to read something with a musical title?

Nice guess, but that's not it.

ETA: You're coming up with some good ideas. I like Morphy's "titles with 'boy parts!'" Now that would be an interesting challenge. :)

Shelving Challenge - mine is The Cheese Monkeys - I have no idea why that's on my shelf

I've got quite a few TIOLI books to remove this month. It's been a slow TIOLI month, one of my slowest since we first got going with TIOLI.

Looking forward to the March TIOLI. Ahem (tapping foot impatiently).

I feel like lindapanzo and _Zoe_, this month was a very slow reading month for me. Not only was the last 2 weeks just busy with work (hate how that gets in the way of my reading ;), i just felt like I was swimming through molasses trying to read.

For those that read One Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, it was just nominated for a Nebula.

CitizenJoyce, I'm participating in a challenge to read the books mentioned in Special Topics in Calamity Physics. I've only read 2 so far this year but plan to concentrate on many more for March.

I'm participating in a challenge to read the books mentioned in Special Topics in Calamity Physics.

Deseree, that sounds like an interesting challenge as well! Who's doing that challenge?

I didn't read that many TIOLI books for February, but the speculation on the March challenges has me ready to go for next month!

I didn't realize Special Topics in Calamity Physics was a book about books. Oh no, the pile just gets higher and higher.

It's outside of LibraryThing, one of the book bloggers.

http://prettyliterary.blogspot.com/2010/11/special-topics-in-calamity-physics.ht...

I was hoping to get to Joyce's A Portrait of an Artist but didn't

> 202

Very cool challenge! Wish I'd have thought of it first!

> 201

Joyce, it's not a book about books. Blue, the protagonist, is a college student. Per Clif's book review here on LT, "the book was structured around the syllabus for a typical Great Works of Literature class". The chapter titles were books for required reading with "the look of a class syllabus", even including a final exam.

I gave that book 5 stars!!

>175 SqueakyChu: Alright, I'll bite. A title with as many syllables in each work as words in the title? Sorry, confusing sentence - Foreskin's Lament - two words, two syllables each, is what I meant.

I finished Little Princes this morning and it will probably be my final book for February. I'm really quite happy with my progress - I read as many titles as I'd planned to using the wiki and read 3 books off my own shelves this month!

the seventh book on the left on the third shelf of your most crowded bookshelf

I couldn't resist checking -- it turned out to be one of my children's middle school yearbooks, which I've already read twice.

the seventh book on the left on the third shelf of your most crowded bookshelf

I'm stuck already just determining which bookshelf is the most crowded--would that be the one with paperbacks shelved two deep? or the one with TBR books stacked in horizontal piles in front of the already full shelf? or the one with books stacked horizontally on top of the vertical books?

Hmm - seventh book, etc. would be The Tale Bearers by V.S. Pritchett. Well, I've certainly owned it a long, long time. March might be an ideal month in which to open it up.

> 204

two words, two syllables each

Nope. Too many twos! :)

> 206

Anne, I think you have to read three books. One for each of your three crowded bookshelves! :)

209: I couldn't read a book for every crowded bookshelf in the house in one month. Maybe in 2, and overlooking the shed and the boxes.

I just realised that The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest fits into challenge #16. It has a reference to a doctor on the first page. Score!

It's no secret that the March TIOLI challenge is on it's way up soon and everyone is super-enthusiastic as a new month gets started. However, I do have one request to make, folks.

PLEASE DO ***NOT*** post challenges to the wiki before the main thread goes up!!!!

It takes me a lot of time to set up the pages and make them link together the way they should. I want everything set up and ready to roll before I start the new month's challenge.

While you're all waiting, please take a moment to update February's wiki. Be sure to COMPLETE all of your challenges or delete them from the wiki by month's end. This helps me a great deal when doing the mid-month stats. Thanks!

I was just looking at the wiki and laughing at your note there :D. At least people are enthusiastic!

Okay, I just went through and deleted four books from the wiki. I may have been a bit too optimistic at the beginning of the month....

And speaking of too optimistic, I *still* left two unread ones on there because the month isn't over yet! Heh.

When you see the wikis for the month of March, you'll notice that I've moved all the navigation pages to the bottom. That should make moving from one page to the next much easier. At least you'll know where to look for the naviagtion links.

I'm going to have to remove The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them from the wiki. I got about 100 pgs in, but I've been spending most of my free time following the earthquake coverage here in New Zealand this past week.

Have finally finished The Red Coffin (Shadow Pass) - a bit dull I think, but it's the 2nd book in a series (and my Early Reviewer book).

Dont you just hate dull ER books? :(

I removed several planned reads, but I did finish two TIOLI books yesterday: Autism's False Prophets by Paul A. Offit, MD (Read a book whose title, author, or first page contains reference to a doctor), and Jonah's Gourd Vine by Zora Neale Hurston (Read a book by or about an African American woman).

Suzanne Collins completely derailed my planned reads for the month. I picked up The Hunger Games as a "for the train" book (a paperback to read on my short commute when my main book at home is a hardback) and I couldn't read anything else until I'd finished the trilogy.
At least Catching Fire can replace the book I didn't read for the '2nd in a series' challenge. :)
Off to edit the wiki ...

I really enjoyed the first two books in Hunger Games. I have not read the 3rd one yet.

I just finished The Children's Blizzard (non-fiction book about winter) and Just Kids (one of several I've listed in the TIOLI remix category). I'm still hoping to finish a couple more by the rapidly approaching end of the month.

Finished my last TIOLI book for February, Caveat Emptor by Ruth Downie. It's an Early Review book I snagged in January's batch. I counted it for the embedded word challenge (tempt).

With 18 hours to spare, I've finished God's Philosophers: How Medieval Science Laid the Foundations of Modern Science by James Hannam. It was for the 12 word challenge. I enjoyed it overall, but felt like he tried a bit too hard to prove his thesis and was too pro the Catholic church. As a series of stories about great scientists from 1000-1600, though, it was very interesting.

#220 I know what you mean about the Hunger Games trilogy. I just finished the second last week shortly after getting through the first, and I really have to force myself not to jump on the 3rd book so I can get more of my planned reading in there. It's just impossible to put down. Was my guilty treat this month.

I'll be finishing another book I had put on the wiki for this month. I had despaired of finishing anything else in February and had already found a challenge in March to fit it into, but it looks like I'll be able to mark it as COMPLETE on the February wiki before midnight. Yay! I think I've removed everything else, but I'll check before the end of the day.

I came up two short of my planned 13 books for the February TIOLI challenge, but here is the list of completed reads:
#1 Every Last One by Anna Quindlen (stone)
#2 The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin
#3 Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
#4 The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson
#9 Unless by Carol Shields
#10 In the Sewers of Lvov: A Heroic Story of Survival from the Holocaust by Robert Marshall
#11 Waiting by Ha Jin
#13 Sailing Around the World Alone by Josh Slocum
#15 Crossing: Border Trilogy (2) by Cormac Mccarthy
#16 Match Day: One Day and One Dramatic Year in the Lives of Three New Doctors by Brian Eule
#17 The Tower, The Zoo and the Tortoise by Julia Stewart

Ready for March . . . let's see what you've got!

> 226

If you haven't found the thread yet, March challenges are posted here.

Reminder to everyone: Be sure all of your finished reads for February are marked "COMPLETED" before moving on to the March challenges. Thx!

Thanks! There goes the rest of my day . . .!

:)

Do we have to have our books entered into the challenges by end of day today or just finish reading them? If the second, when is the drop dead date for entering onto the wiki?

> 230

For the February challenges, you must finish reading your books by midnight tonight (February 28). You have a few days to update your entries, mark them complete, etc. I don't usually go back to them until a week or two later when I do the monthly stats.

I'd say to try to get the February wiki information updated by deleting unread books and marking others COMPLETED as soon as you can so you can simply move ahead to the March challenges.

You don't really want to be doing overlapping months, do you? That's the reason I often suggest a "cooling off time" at the end of one month and the beginning of another. It's a time when you can fit in books that are not part of any TIOLI challenge.

I finished my February books. I just didn't know if I would have time to get them posted tonight.

Post them within the next 7 to 10 days. No problem.

Although I didn't get to all the books I posted to the wiki (and have now deleted the rest), I had a great TIOLI February. Here's the lsit--it's a good mix of things I was going to read anyway and things I never would have got to without the challenges.

#1 The Heart is a Lonely Hunter-Carson McCullers
#2 The Children's Blizzard-David Laskin
#3 The Imperfectionists-Tom Rachman
#4 A Visit From the Goon Squad-Jennifer Egan
#6 The Color Purple-Alice Walker
#6 Sula-Toni Morrison
#6 Their Eyes Were Watching God-Zora Neale Hurston
#7 The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them-Elif Batuman
#10 All-of-a-Kind Family-Sidney Taylor
#10 Anna Karenina-Leo Tolstoy
#10 Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It-Maile Meloy
#10 Just Kids-Patti Smith
#10 Shadow Tag-Louise Erdrich
#11 The Surrendered-Chang-Rae Lee
#15 Emily Climbs-L.M. Montgomery
#15 Enna Burning-Shannon Hale
#16 The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-Robert Louis Stevenson
#17 The Wheel on the School-Meindert Dejong

On to March!

Those are some very nice book lists for February. Congrats! I'm off to finish a couple more reads before midnight, will post my own (much less impressive) list later!

Thanks, Brenda and Anne, for posting those recaps of your February TIOLIs. Here are the books I read for the various challenges:

#1. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (*heart*) - Robt. Pirsig
#6. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
#6. Incidents in the Life of A Slave Girl - Harriet Jacobs
#11. Girl In Translation - Jean Kwok
#11. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon - Grace Lin
#12. Reading the OED - Ammon Shea
#15. A Monstrous Regiment of Women - Laurie R. King

I had a pretty good TIOLI month. I finished:

#1 The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman (there)
#8 The Illumination by Kevin Brockmeier
#9 Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie Macdonald
#10 Hungry for Happiness by James Villas
#15 The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
#16 The Lives they Left behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic by Darby Penney
#17 Travels with Boogie by Mark Wallington
#18 The Lilac Bus by Maeve Binchy

With just hours left, I finished The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I see Rebecca Skloot teaches creative non fiction, talk about teaching what you know. This combination biography, science reporting and medical ethics challenge reads like a novel. It's quite an accomplishment.

I managed to squeeze in one more TIOLI book before the midnight deadline: Fear and Trembling by Amélie Nothomb, for challenge #8 (Touchstone Confusion).

I finished both The House of Mirth and The Eye in the Door tonight. Not light reading exactly. Phew!

Here's my TIOLI roundup for February:

#1 The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (encompass)
#1 The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West (there)
#1 La fortune des Rougons by Émile Zola (tuned)
#3 The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
#10 The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
#15 Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
#15 The Eye in the Door by Pat Barker
#16 Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe
#17 The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski