Take It Or Leave It Challenge - May 2011 - Page 2

Continued from here.

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.

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!

I think you’re going to find this coming month’s challenge fun. For May 2011, I challenge you to read a book with a five-word title, at least one word of which is in the preceding book’s title. This is how it will work so read all of the instructions carefully before you begin.

1. I will begin this challenge by posting a book with a five word title (but not the title I used above).
2. The book title that’s posted next will use at least one word from my book's title.
3. The next poster will take at least one word from the second book’s title and so forth.
4. Do not post these books in alphabetical order. Post them one after the other.
5. Do not remove your book at all - even if you do not finish it before the end of the month. I will delete those books not marked COMPLETED when I do the monthly stats.
6. You may add a matching book at any time anywhere in this list.
7. You may use only title or you may include subtitles, even if it is just “A Novel”.
8. The words “a, “an”, and “the”, etc. do count as words in this challenge.
9. You may post multiple books to this challenge - even back to back.
10. The book title must have five different words.

Here’s what it will look like:

1. The Pact: A Love Story – Jodi Piccoult - _Zoe_
2. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (the, story) – David Wroblewski - alcottacre
3. Too Close to the Falls (the) - Catherine Gildiner - SqueakyChu

Confused? Questions? If so, ask here in this thread before you add your book.

Enjoy!!

P.S. Please note: Wiki index is in Message #2 below.
________________________________________

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

1. The May 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:

Challenges #1-7
1. Read a book with a five-word title that uses at least one word from the preceding book title.
2. Read a book that has been a candidate for the Orwell Prize, or that is in the spirit of the Orwell prize, or written by George Orwell himself!
3. Read a book by a Mexican or Chicano author in honor of Cinco de Mayo. - thread
4. Read a book, fiction or non-fiction, that has to do with the American Civil War in the 1860s
5. Read the 5th book in a series with a 5 letter word in the title
6. Read a book by the author whose picture appears in the top lefthand corner of your Authors' Gallery
7. Read a book by a Beat author - thread

Challenges #8-14
8. Read a book that is a graphic novel, anime, manga or comic book compilation
9. Read a book that is at least 23cm tall (~9in)
10. Read a book about an alternative to naturally occurring biological motherhood
11. Read a book about a place with a name which includes "iberia"
12. Read a book with a one word title that is NOT the name of a character in the book
13. Read a book with the same vowel repeating in every word of the title (not including "the", "and", "an", "of", etc.)
14. Read a nonfiction book about wild animals - thread

Challenges #15-20
15. Read a book about the ancient world (fiction or non-fiction) - thread
16. Read a book where a word in the title or part of the author's name is a bird - thread
17. Read a book about baseball (fiction or non-fiction)
18. Read a book on your TBR list since at least 1 January 2011 but not yet read due to other TIOLI options
19. Read a book set in London, England
20. Read a book borrowed from the library or on hold at the library on or before 5/5/11.

Thanks for some great May challenges! The next set of challenges will be posted in June. Start thinking of some wild ones. :)

As of my last look at the vote on the previous thread, challengers generally do *not* favor the use of A-COMPLETED, so refrain from using that term when completing an audio book!! :D

Interesting, because I would have said that the distinction between books and audiobooks is more significant than the distinction between books and ebooks.

I just read The Night Bookmobile for my first TIOLI of the month. I'm going to wait a day or two to let it sink in before looking at the earlier discussion of it, which I skipped. I'll just say for now that I enjoyed the book, and that the format isn't quite what I'd normally consider a graphic novel.

Re use of A-COMPLETED...

> 4

Interesting, because I would have said that the distinction between books and audiobooks is more significant than the distinction between books and ebooks.

Oh, just use it if you want to then! It's really not that important either way to me! :)

>5 SqueakyChu: Oh, I'm not saying I want to use it! I don't listen to audio books anyway.

I'm not sure if I should post this to the end of the other thread, but the conversation about graphic novels and hardly being able to remember some of the ones I read a few years ago has spurred me to seek some newer ones out. I just placed a buttload (6) holds at my public library for GNs I hadn't read, or have been meaning to read for ages (*ahemHugoCabretahem*) but never quite got around to.

So yay for that. I think. I'm not sure if the other books in my TBR pile will appreciate it, but I wanted to do it before I forgot (I'm always forgetting to note titles I want to read, much less actually acquire them!).

I just finished Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter.

Another classic for my second-childhood reading. This book is as warm and comforting as you'll ever read. It was recommended in a LT ER book I received, 365 Thank yous by John Kralik. He came across it and read it, almost accidentally, and was impressed by the strong personal philosophy of gratitude and "glad" thinking.

I really enjoyed the reading, and I'm going to try to make a case for including this in the TIOLI "Alternative Motherhood" challenge, because Pollyanna come to live with her Aunt Polly after being orphaned. It is a children's book, but there are some serious themes, and it truly asks "what is a parent?" and "what is a family?"

I'll go ahead and list it, but please let me know if you think a juvey book doesn't quite fit the theme. I feel that it does, but my feelings would not be hurt at all (now that Mike established Challenge 20, I'm pretty much set for anything that doesn't fit into a challenge! I read a LOT of library books!)

challenge 8: Get Animated

To add to the discussion about the challenge, I, personally, got involved with comics, graphic novels, and the like not as a child or growing up, but as an adult. The "next" season of both Angel the television series, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer were told, or I should say, are being told in the form of comics. I've rarely dipped into the superhero world, mostly for the same reason I've never seen an episode of Doctor Who - I like starting from the beginning. And I just plain can't figure out where to start in most superhero series (and the first bunch of Doctor Who seasons were deleted by BBC, so I never can see them).

In terms of recommendations: If you liked either Angel or Buffy, I'd recommend giving the "next" season a try (Season 8 for Buffy; Season 6 for Angel). I rather liked the very first issue of The Walking Dead. Quite highly rated by me. So I bought the compilations. And immediately regretted it. Still, I read 72 issues of that comic series.

Tumor by Joshua Hale Fialkov is a neat detective graphic novel.

hmm. I expected to have more to recommend. Sadly, I appear to not have much else to recommend.

(oh, and I did a count, putting the two accounts together, I would have something like 405 graphic novel/comic collection like material, though I do not recall if I've read all of it)

8> "now that Mike established Challenge 20, I'm pretty much set for anything that doesn't fit into a challenge! I read a LOT of library books!" - Well, only if you already have the book checked out or on hold as of 5/5/11 :)

I finally revied Animal Farm by George Orwell just right now. I'm really proud of my review actually. But if you want to hear my thoughts, they're right here. I'll caution you, there are many, many spoilers.

http://www.librarything.com/topic/112129#2682998

Mike - Thanks for the warning about The Walking Dead. It will be my first graphic novel, I chose it because I really loved the TV series based on it. So I am expecting a fair amount of gore and violence. I got some good title ideas from the graphic novel discussion as this is one genre I would like to explore.

On rating collections of short stories, I think it's difficult, and I know Ilana you're struggling with a single author collection - I would give probably give that a mediocre rating (around 3) and explain, or possibly 3.5 depending on how much I liked/disliked stories. I just read a multi author anthology which I bought in 2010 so will list under my TBR - I thought it was one of the best collections until the series until the last but one story which I really disliked and found rather offensive, then that and the final story ultimately didn't seem to me to fit the theme (a collection of noir) as the endings of those two were not very noir at alll....

If you want to read a graphic novel whose words and pictures are equally important and powerful try Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. It's almost poetic.

Heavens, as of 5/5/11, I had 50 books checked out, 48 of them unread -- and another ten on hold... *grin*

I just finished The Three Christs of Ypsilanti by Milton Rokeach for challenge #1. Two word review: don't bother.

I just finished Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve for Challenge #19, the London Challenge. It was a fantastic story, and my first true steampunk novel! I am going to go get the next book at the library today.

I can't see whether or not I've mentioned I've read Goodnight Moon for Challenge 13 (repeating vowel O) already; I suspect not.

I've added First Among Sequels for the 5th in a Series challenge, Invincible Summer for the Animated challenge, and joined in on Mansfield Park. There were a lot of other interesting challenges/books but I'm just dipping a toe in for now after not completing March and not even starting April. I've been in such a reading slump lately!

I've finished and reviewed The Killer Angels for the Civil War Challenge - my favorite challenge this month, and A Walk on the Beach for Madeline' tough #1 challenge, especially if you don't want to use an article as a transition word. Now onward to finishing Dissolution which I'm enjoying very much.

I have been reading The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place : The Mysterious Howling and just realized that it probably fits the Alternative To Mother challenge, since we have orphans who are discovered in the woods and adopted, and also a young woman who is their governess, and isn't governessing a bit like parenting in some cases? (Especially here, where the adoptive parents are completely hands-off!)

I've been catching up on the discussion on graphic novels starting on the previous thread, and must say it's been very interesting. Nothing to add at this point, other than to say that I think if it's between two covers, or is in a format that is faithful to a printed version (i.e. audiobooks and e-books), then I consider it to be a book, and a book to me is something that is read, no matter what the ratio of text to images is. I also have to say that I probably have a strong prejudice here since I've grown up and always been around as many art books as works of literature, so... there you have it.

Thanks for the feedback on how you guys go about rating short stories. In this case, I was wondering about this for Dubliners by James Joyce, which is truly a mixed bag for me in terms of level of appreciation for each story.

I plan on reading The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place : The Mysterious Howling this month too (planning it is one thing, actually reading it is another, considering how many books I load myself up with each month.) I'll be interested to see what the decision on that is.

Ugh. I started trying to read Soulless by Gail Carriger for the one-world title challenge... and it's just not happening. I even picked it up a few days later to see if maybe I was just in a funny mood before, but no.

It's strange, it's got such good reviews but it reads like it was written by a twelve year old. I'm sure I must have been reading a different book to all the other reviewers...

Since it was "free comic book day" at the comic book stores I visited one. Did not see any free comic books available. But did pick up three to add to the Graphic Novel challenge. Incorruptible 3, and Irredemeemable 4, both by Mark Waid. One of those oddball type deals. The good guy went insane and is now evil and the bad guy wasn't really evil but didn't see any reason to be good, until the good guy went insane and so the bad guy is now "good". I also picked up Walking Dead Volume 13, which contain the last few issues I had not yet read. I am kind of tired of Walking Dead, but I figure I should finish it off.

Oh, I should add that all three pick-ups are book compilations. They contain multiple issues previously released. Walking Dead Vol 13 contains issues 73-78. Incorruptible containing issues 9-12. Irredeemable containing issues 13-15 plus a "special issue" not previously released.

22> Could very well be that it hit me at exactly the right time, but I read Soulless, then devoured the rest of the series in short order. After giving Soulless a 4.63. You aren't the only one to have trouble with it, based on the ratings. Says something about a book when there are double digit raters for all but 0.5, 1 and 1.5.

I've just completed Whose Body? for Challenge #13, repeating vowels, and I am about to start The Temptation of the Night Jasmine for Challenge #3, 5th in a series, and When the Dead Cry Out for Challenge #1, 5 word title. Having a great time with these challenges this month.

Just want to say thanks again to DragonFreak whose "bird" challenge enticed me to pick up Marabou Stork Nightmares. That novel by Scottish author Irvine Welsh just blew me away. What a story!

Yesterday I finished The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers, originally for the repeating vowels challenge. I've moved it, though, because I have several other books for that challenge. It's now in the London challenge.

I'd like to recommend the book I've just read for the repeating vowels challenge, Reading Like A Writer by Francince Prose. It's all about the delights of reading a book very closely - how much you can discover if you pay attention to the author's choice of words, images, even paragraph breaks! It's very well written itself and is also a sort of anthology of excellent writing - lots of short extracts followed by Prose's insights. She's clearly someone who loves to read and her enthusiasm is infectious.

Is there a separate thread for the 23" books? I can't find one.

I finished Emma, Volume 1 by Kaoru Mori, my first graphic novel, and I was pleasantly surprised. The artwork was beautiful, and Victorian England is expertly captured. I have placed Volume 2 on hold at the library, and will probably be able to read it this month also for Challenge #8 since they are such fast reads.

> 28

I think you mean 23cm books, and there is no separate thread at this time.

I just found this book in the history thread: Cartoon History of the Universe
by Larry Gonick. It looks great, so I've added yet one more to my planned reads for the month. There's no way I'll get to them all.

I finished the latest Sookie Stackhouse novel Dead Reckoning, and the only disappointing thing about it was that it ended too soon and I have to wait so long for the next one. This urban fantasy is my sugary treat.

Now I'm on to a more serious work - Keeper by Andrea Gillies. I'm just a few chapters in in which Gillies is horrified to find that her mother in law can no longer read. Unlike the idea behind Still Alice Gillies indicates that her mother-in-law is not still Nancy, there is none of her self left. It's both a philosophical and very practical book.

I'm posting this for kerryth for Challenge #9. I'll move this if a separate thread is started. (I hope this is the right cover!)

I finished The Chalupa Rules: A Latino Guide to Gringolandia late last night for my Cinco de Mayo challenge.

Earlier this morning I began Death to the Dictator!: A Young Man Casts a Vote in Iran's 2009 Election and Pays a Devastating Price by Afsaneh Moqadam for Suz's Orwell Prize challenge, which I should finish today.

> 32

*sigh*

I just love the Winnie-the-Pooh stories.

Happy Mother's Day to those of you who are moms and celebrate this lovely day!

Group Reads and TIOLI

(Hint!) If any TIOLI challenger is planning to host a group read in the future, consider making your group read book fit into a TIOLI challenge for that month.

Feel free to use the TIOLI main thread to advertise the fact of the pending group read, but do NOT reveal ahead of time what the *exact challenge* will be.

Group reads go right along with the idea of TIOLI which is shared reads at the same time.

I've created a thread for the nonfiction about wild animals challenge. Perhaps it will gain a little more interest.

I've just finished and added Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell to Challenge #18: Read a book which has been on your TBR list. Loved it and highly recommend it. I've also finished a re-read of Graham Greene's Brighton Rock which I've added to Challenge #13: Repeating Vowels.

I've joined a group read of Suite Francaise which has just started in the 11 in 11 group and this also fits the Repeating Vowel challenge.

Adding to the graphic novel debate - I don't think Niffennegger's The Night Bookmobile is a good example of a GN, for me it was an illustrated story. Please don't judge GNs by this one. Also The Invention of Hugo Cabret is more a fiction book told through illustration than a true GN.
For adult first time readers of this genre I'd suggest one of many great nonfiction/memoirs GNs such as Maus, Persepolis, Epileptic etc etc. Shaun Tan's wonderful The Arrival is more a sophisticated picturebook than GN but is a wordless publication that appeals to adults.

Echoing the previous message, I read Persepolis last month for the Alex Award challenge and absolutely recommend it--it was my first graphic novel, too.

Kerry mentioned in her post, and I just got it today: The Arrival counts for the comics challenge, but it could also count for the oversize one. I don't have my ruler at hand, but it must be at least a foot tall. The cover design is gorgeous - it looks just like an antique, worn photo album or scrapbook.

The copyright page is also really nicely designed, the way the type is laid out and everything. Actually, so far everything about the interior is beautiful - from the pencil/charcoal illustrations (somewhat sepia-toned) to the false water drops and wrinkles on the pages. Oh, and the illustrations themselves - I'm only judging from section I, but they have a nice pacing, lingering on certain motions/expressions as necessary.

Greetings --

I finished Cahokia: America's Great City on the Mississippi (Challenge 15) Friday and have posted a review. It’s only the second review I’ve written, so I welcome any comments!

I also finished And Then There Were None (Challenge 1) today – I’d forgotten how dark this Agatha Christie book is. I’m moving on to something much lighter Bimbos of the Death Sun by Sharyn McCrumb (also Challenge 1).

I have to finish Midway Georgia in History and Legend 1752 - 1867 tomorrow – it’s an ILL from a University and needs to go back. Fortunately, it a very slender volume….

So far this month I seem to have gone for quick and easy choices. I suppose my taste will change at some point – we’ll see!

#41 Thanks for the review of Cahokia. I'm picking that one up at the library and look forward to reading it, too.

The Arrival is hands down one of my favourites this year... one of my favourites of all time actually. It's a true work of art and so brilliant as well. I'm glad I purchased that one because I'll want to keep going back to it over and over again. Every time you look at Tan's illustration, you find something new. His attention to detail is incredible.

I started The Magician's Elephant last night for the library challenge and have gotten halfway through. It's not exactly a big book to begin with. It's my first Kate DiCamillo book and won't be my last. I've always had a special place in my heart for elephants and this story about two orphans is really touching.

Just finished listening to The Tiger's Wife (vowels challenge). What an amazing story. There are so many layers to it that I'll just have to read this book again to try to get a better grasp of it all, but it certainly tugs at the heartstrings.

I need input. Would poetry be considered nonfiction?

44: I finished reading The Tiger's Wife too, this morning, Ilana.

I finished reading The Chalupa Rules and will start The Three Musketeers because it may be a shared read.

>45 Morphidae: My personal opinion would be no, but I wouldn't fight against it if other people say yes.

#48: I agree.

45 - poetry is nonfiction or fiction depending on content. The Raven by Poe being fiction. I've forgotten the name of that early really long poem I got a long whole back. philosophy argument in poetry form - nonfiction.

Neither prose nor verse are inherently fiction or nonfiction, though nonfiction verse has mostly died in English.

#50: Ah, good point, Mike. I should have remembered that one of the books I bought last week, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life by Maxine Hong Kingston, is a biography written in verse form. Here's an excerpt from the beginning of the book:

HOME

I am turning 65 years of age.
In 2 weeks I will be 65 years old.
I can accumulate time and lose
time? I sit here writing in the dark—
can't see to change these penciled words—
just like my mother, alone, bent over her writing,
just like my father bent over his writing, alone
but for me watching. She got out of bed,
wrapped herself in a blanket, and wrote down
the strange sounds Father, who was dead,
was intoning to her. He was reading aloud
calligraphy that he'd written—carved with inkbrush—
on his tombstone. She wasn't writing in answer.
She wasn't writing a letter. Who was she writing to?
Nobody.
This well-deep outpouring is not for
anything. Yet we have to put into exact words
what we are given to see, hear, know.
Mother's eyesight blurred; she saw trash
as flowers. ‟Oh. How very beautiful.”
She was lucky, seeing beauty, living
in beauty, whether or not it was there.

Okay, I'll accept it. But I'm finding my challenge a bit frustrating this time. I think next month I need to be very specific in my wording. I meant for people to read nonfiction books where they learn about wild animals - a natural science book. People are reading all sorts of things that I hadn't considered - memoirs, poetry, etc. because I didn't realize how specific I needed to be.

> 51

I do like that poem, Darryl!

*despite the fact that I'm getting too near that questionable age*

#52 Morphidae - I guess you're talking about the book I posted to your challenge. The essays are definitely nonfiction. I would consider Oliver's poetry nonfiction as well - she writes about the birds she observes in their natural habitats. If it bothers you I will remove it from your challenge and move it over to Dragonfreaks bird challenge.

I have another question about the TIOLI meter -- should books be marked as shared reads only when another person has marked the book COMPLETED or simply when someone else has indicated that they plan to read it?

Thanks!

>54 VioletBramble: No, it's fine. It's more of a comment that I need to be clearer about describing my challenges.

I finished and reviewed Winifred Holtby's wonderful classic South Riding for the Book on Your TBR Shelf Since January 1. Now I'm reading Doc (no touchstone even though it's an ER book grrrrr) by Mary Doria Russell for the 23cm challenge.

#52: The book I listed for your challenge (The Drunken Forest) is sort of a travel memoir but is mostly about the wild animals the author encounters in South America--he describes habits and habitats of all sorts of interesting creatures. (And it is classified in the 500s in the Dewey Decimal System with science books, not in the 900s with travel.) But it is hard to draw the line--there are so many memoir-type books out there that kind of cross over into other topics.

>32 amandameale: Thanks Amanda, for posting the front cover of the book I read, (it's the right one) for my #9 TIOLI challenge, your help is greatly appreciated. BIG Thank you, Kerry

> 55

Mark a book on the TIOLI meter a shared read if it matches another book (at any time) - whether or not it has been COMPLETED yet.

>57 brenzi: Thanks for that great review, Bonnie! Now I have to add South Riding to my TBR list. I'm recording the PBS series, but I'll postpone watching that until after I've read the book. I wasn't familiar with Winifred Holtby, but I'll definitely be looking into (no pun intended!) her other books!

Nancy, thanks. I've been recording it too and watched the first episode last night. I think you'll enjoy the book.

I didn't realize PBS was showing a miniseries of South Riding! I'll have to try to catch up and record the rest of the episodes.

#46 elkiedee, I hope you'll post a link to your review here as I'll be curious to see what you have to say about The Tiger's Wife.

I'm another one that has bailed out on Soulless. I just don't like the main character she is too sarcastic and arrogant. It started off as funny but quickly became predictable. Oh well there are too many books and not enough time so I'm not bothered!

I'm stingy about giving 5 stars to books, but I did for The Arrival.

my review, though it doesn't say nearly enough

It's such a gorgeous book, and so worth getting a chance to read. It didn't feel like a "quick read" at all, either, though it only took me a few hours to go through, because it's so rich with depth.

(Meanwhile, I read The Professor's Daughter and thought "that's it?" - ugh! it feels like a weekly serial where the plot wasn't particularly planned in advance. And yet Carnet de Voyage, where there's no real plot except Thompson's travels, is loads richer and more enjoyable.)

Carnet de Voyage is one of my favorite graphic novels. The illustrations are gorgeous.

Ilana, if I write any comments about The Tiger's Wife it will be here, it's not a review copy and I have so many reviews I need to write that I'm probably not going to do ones I don't. Both the sites I write for already have reviews of this one up.

I finished A Question of Power by Bessie Head for Challenge #13 and my verdict is: WOW!

#69: That one word verdict from Amanda is good enough for me; A Question of Power shoots straight to the top of my wish list.

I finished two books for Suz's Orwell Prize challenge, one yesterday and one this morning: Death to the Dictator!: A Young Man Casts a Vote in Iran's 2009 Election and Pays a Devastating Price by Afsaneh Moqadam, which is on the current Orwell Prize shortlist; and Curfewed Night: One Kashmiri Journalist's Frontline Account of Life, Love, and War in His Homeland by Basharat Peer, which didn't make the Orwell Prize longlist, but is definitely a book in the spirit of the Orwell Prize. Both books were well written and eye-opening looks into the current social and political structures of Iraq and Kashmir.

Just finished The hare with amber eyes by Edmund de Waal for challenge #2. I highly recommend it - an elegant wee book tracing the history of a collection of netsuke and the family who owned them.

I finished Keeper by Andrea Gillies which is a thorough look at the emotional and financial cost of caring for a person with Alzheimer's that includes a good bit of writing about the science behind the disease. I came away from it thinking that good institutions really are the best place for people so afflicted. In the case of Gillies' mother in law, Nancy wanted constant motion. Gillies could have spent a solid 5 hours caring for her, trying to amuse her taking her on walks and to a restaurant for apple pie, but when they got home and Gillies put Nancy in a chair and went to make coffee upon her return Nancy was bemoaning the fact that she never did anything with her life but sit in a chair. She never got to go anywhere. Like the man in the movie Memento Nancy had no short term memory, she was unable to make new memories, and she really had no idea what had happened in her life 10 minutes ago. She was also loosing her long term memory and worse yet, her emotional control. She was verbally and physically abusive of everyone in the family, suspicious, dirty (she would dump her whole dinner, or worse yet, the contents of her toilet in the bookcase). Being in a home with others and constant care gave her the stimulation and discipline she needed. Gillies complains of finally succumbing to "Caregiver Dementia" herself, she was deeply depressed and thought of death, her children knew Granny had dementia but still couldn't help but be hurt when she attacked them. This is no way for people to live, but we put such praise toward people who are willing, and able, to keep their older loved ones at home we don't see that this is not always the best situation for anyone. Not a cheerful book, but a very honest one. It won both the 2009 Wellcome Trust Book Prize, the United Kingdom's popular science writing award and the 2010 Orwell Prize. I can see why.

Now I start both Salvation City and on the side a book of poetry by Saphire, Black Wings and Blind Angels.

Earlier tonight I finished Soldiers of Salamis, a superb novel by Javier Cercas about the Spanish Civil War, which I read for challenge #13. I'll review it tomorrow.

I've just reviewed Curfewed Night by Basharat Peer (challenge #2) and The Collaborator by Mirza Waheed (challenge #9), which are both set in Kashmir.

ETA: Nice review of Keeper, Joyce; I have it here somewhere, and I'll probably read it over the summer.

> 72- That sounds really interesting- I'll be keeping an eye out for it at the library. So many of the Orwell books sound interesting, and my library has hardly any of them.

I finished Spooky Little Girl by Laurie Notaro for challenge 20- I've had it checked out of the library since late April. It was fairly predictable, but an entertaining little read nonetheless.

I just finished The Walking Dead Volume 1 and enjoyed it very much. I was glad there were some differences from lthe TV series. I am planning on ordering the next few volumes from the library as well. I am truly a sucker for a Zombie read!

I was so excited about being able to fit in another book on Madeline's challenge that I went ahead and added Their Eyes Were Watching God to the list, even though, realistically speaking, I have no idea how I'll fit it in this month. But how could I resist?

I have a question about the library challenge. Whenever I borrow audiobooks from the library, I copy them to my hard-drive until I'm ready to listen to them, at which point I transfer them to my iPod. Of course, the actual library CDs are returned as soon as I've accomplished the first step, so that I never have them around when I listen to the books. I just finished one such audiobook today. I know this is a bit of a stretch, but could it count toward that challenge?

>28 amandameale: & 30: let's see if I can go ahead and post a photo of my giant book:

(after two futile attempts with SRC IMG:)

Let me try this:

WOW that's great!

>72 Citizenjoyce: OMG Joyce are you a Memento fan too?? I just recently watched it for the fourth time. I'm in the cult I guess but you have to watch it at least three times to know what's going on. Then every time after that is to gape at how brilliant it is.

I'm adding Keeper. Both my parents had Alzheimer's and I can so relate to the story of the author taking her mother in law out for pie and the resultant dissatisfaction of never going anyplace. The need for constant motionwas one of the early symptoms for my father. We eventually had to admit that caring for them wasx beyond the realm of possibility and I can certainly understand how a caregiver succumbs to her own illness.

I've added a couple of e-books that I just obtained from my public library through the Overdrive facility. I have an old e-reader, but these two I'm reading on my PC.

The Land of the Painted Caves by Jean Auel

Port Mortuary by Patricia Cornwell

I'm on very long waiting lists for print copies of both of these books, so I thought I'd beat the crowd and read them on the computer. I guess I really prefer paper (except for the chunksters), but I give top priority to reading what I want to read, NOW! Instant gratification.

I put these under challenge 13 (repeating vowel in each non-trivial word).

I hope you consider joining me in the reads!

Karen O.

Bonnie, I sure am a Memento fan, such a unique movie. However he was young and healthy so could work around his short term memory loss with tattoos. Nancy could tattoo herself with wash your hands and the woman is your daughter in law, and she cares for you, but she was no longer able to read. There are no cute ways around Alzheimer's losses. One tip she gave though, early on when wandering starts put scarves over the door knobs because the person doesn't really want to escape, she just sees the knob and gets an old cue that knobs need to be turned - no cue, no escape. Later Nancy absolutely did want to escape so shielding the door knobs did no good.

Now I can enter the London, England challenge. My ER book 20 Years Later is set in London, so yeah for me! I doubt though I'll bring anymore points though. I usually don't.

> 77

Megi, you should win a prize for the largest picture also! LOL!! Great pic, by the way.

To the extent that I list anything on the wiki going forward, I'm not going to use the e-reading/e-completed mode. I'm sorry, but I just don't distinguish between reading on my Kindle or reading a book; I just read. If that's going to be an issue, let me know and I'll keep off the wiki completely. Tks!

I have read more books this last week for TIOLI than I have in a single week since starting 75 Books last November, and it's all thanks to quick read graphic novels (not that they weren't challenging - some of them). Oh, boy.

I've finished The Invention of Hugo Cabret just now, but didn't care for it overly much. I think I expected a lot more from it than I got, particularly since it won a Caldecott (and since I found the way Selznick draws profiles, especially around the eyes, to be too far into the uncanny valley). The story was also a bit underdeveloped, it seemed, for such a long book. He didn't rely on the illustrations as much as he could have, perhaps? I dunno.

> 84

I'm not going to use the e-reading/e-completed mode.

Not a problem in the least!

Cool; tks. That wasn't clear... (i.e. optional vs mandatory)

#87 I don't distinguish either but I am interested in seeing how many people are using ereaders, so I'll use it and look curiously for others.

>83 SqueakyChu:: I hope my photo isn't using up too much bandwidth or whatever -- I could try to replace it with a thumbnail later. (ETA 5/13: did that)

Sad to say, I probably won't win the challenge competition since it's way too big to read comfortably! (I'll have to pick up the Kindle version of one of Mel White's national parks books sometime.)

Other TIOLI comments: I do like the idea of using e-reading and e-completed. No e-books for any of this month's challenges, but I expect to have some in the future.

Re: challenge 2 -- I'm absolutely loving George Orwell's 1984. The first three chapters have been amusing -- I didn't expect that! Much, much better than Animal Farm IMHO.

Hopefully a helpful hint...

The last book listed for challenge # 1 is currently Their Eyes Were Watching God. Here are some ideas for a book to follow that one:

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (Oops! This is already a "matched" book)
The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King (Ooops, again! This book does NOT qualify due to the word "the" twice!)*
Back When We Were Grownups by Anne Tyler
When We Were Very Young by A. A. Milne
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

*I can't seem to figure out my own challenge. That's sad.*

>90 SqueakyChu:

Actually, And Then There Were None (no touchstone?) is already listed for Challenge #1, up toward the top. I know this because I just reread it ......

I'm sure that someone will come up with another book -- it's a fun Challenge!

> 90

Thanks, Dejah_Thoris. I was just feeling frustrated because, of my 400+ TBR books, I can't now add another book. None fit (other than matches, of course)!! So much for my "tight" challenges, eh? :D

>90 SqueakyChu: So I really want to add Grace Williams Says it Loud to this challenge and have been waiting for days to find a way to wedge it in. I just figured out a way to do it by adding 4 other books after Their Eyes Were Watching God. Would that be cheating? (All are on my TBR list but I have no realistic plan to read them this month.)

>90 SqueakyChu: The Clothes on Their Backs by Linda Grant also fits.

> 90 The God of the Hive by Laurie R. King would also work.

> 93

That's pretty clever, Anne! I'd say go for it.

Remember the "X" from back in the the alphabetical challenge we did a while ago? There was nothing that said we *had to* read any "X" book that we listed at that time. The difference between that challenge and this one is that the alphabetical challenge forbade back-to-back entries. The current challenge allows it. There you go...

Anyhow, It's your decision to which books the "leave it" applies.

ETA: Meanwhile I'm moving on to the "one word title - not a name" challenge. :D

OK, done!

> 97

:)

Events Not to Miss:

1. Real Life LT Meet-Up this Saturday (5/14/11 in Washington, DC, USA):

By the way, don't forget, all of you locals, that there's a real life meet-up this Saturday in Washington, DC of the 75 Books in 2011 Challengers. I hope to see many of you there.

This is the agenda:
May 14: Meet at BGR on Connecticut Ave for lunch at ~12:30, walk across Conn Ave to Kramer Books, then when we're done there, walk about 1/4 mile or so to Second Story Books. Then for those still interested in hanging around together, we can pick a spot to have a cup of something or a snack or a drink.

- BGR is a burger joint, but they've got a vegetarian option and chicken or salmon instead of beef. I'll post a weblink at some point so folks can find it.

- Everything's within a short distance from the Dupont Circle Metro Station. There's parking shown on Google Maps, but the best option is probably to ride the Metro to the meetup.

For more information, contact drneutron (Jim). Thanks, Jim, for coordinating this!!

2. The Second Annual Gaithersburg Book Festival (5/21/11 in Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA)

It's a free admission (workshops - if you choose to do any - have a small charge) and fabulous event! Here it is. Stop by the Bookcrossing booth (I'll be there!) and pick up some free books to take home. So far BC in DC has collected over 700 gently used books (BookCrossing-registered, of course!) to give away.

For more information, feel free to contact me or see their website.

I so wish I could join you guys this weekend, esp. since I've been to Washington, DC and really enjoyed my time there. But alas, I won't be able to travel those 592 miles to be there.

#90 The Eyes of the Dragon won't work for challenge #1 with 'the' repeating twice (I got bumped off for the same oversight, so I'm attentive to that now!)

#93 I agree with Madeline, Anne, that's a really clever way to go about it!

Well, I absolutely LOVED The Tiger's Wife for the repeating vowels challenge and posted my review, for those interested.

Also, forgot to mention that I'd also posted a review for Animal Farm for the Orwell challenge a couple of days ago.

Meanwhile, I've started on Emma, Volume 1 for the GN challenge, which was suggested by Keri. My first manga book EVER! It's funny, because until very recently, I was under the impression that manga was all about futuristic babes in outrageous costumes falling all over themselves for little he-men. But thanks to wikipedia, I now know better. This one reads right to left, like the real thing, which sort of feels familiar to me since I spent 4 years of my childhood in Israel.

I've also started on The Paris Wife for the library challenge, as well as 407808::Monsieur Linh and His Child, which I got in the French audio version as La petite fille de Monsieur Linh. I ran to get it at the library after I saw Darryl's review about it.

>100 Smiler69: Maybe someday we can have a meetup in Canada!

#101 That's a great idea Zoe. There's quite a few of us kanuks around here. I wonder though how many people from the US would be willing to join us... maybe we'd have to do some tourist promo to get them to come this way. :-)

I'd love to go to Canada. Been to Montreal and Banff and loved both and am hoping to go to Vancouver and Toronto sometime too, as well as the Maritimes... With enough warning, I'd go pretty much anywhere :-)

>100 Smiler69: Ilana, I finished Emma, Volume 1 and am almost done with Emma, Volume 2. I enjoyed Volume 1, but Volume 2 is even better. I am completely drawn into the series now :).

#103 That's awesome! I've been to Vancouver and Whistler (no Banff though... yet) and it's just soooooo beautiful out there. I might have someone who could put me up there too, which would help make the trip a bit less expensive (cheaper for me to fly to California than to Vancouver. How crazy is that?). Toronto is a pleasant train ride away for me, so I'd go just about anywhere, with some notice so I can save up beforehand.

#104 I haven't gotten all that far with Emma, Volume 1 yet, but it's good fun so far. The style reminds me a bit of Candy Candy, the Japanese cartoon on tv I used to watch religiously every Saturday morning when I was a kid. If I had watched or read any cartoon at all from Japan between 1979 and now, I'd probably have more recent references! lol

eta: added link to Japanese intro to Candy Candy.

Mike (MikeBriggs): maybe you didn't see my question in #76—wasn't very clear who I was addressing it to, I now see—I'm sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for your answer. ;-)

Well, I'll be in the Toronto area for most of July and August....

I've never been to BC and would love to get there one day, but I don't see it happening in the very near future. Montreal is more doable.

I don't have the stamina to organize this kind of thing Zoe, but if someone is willing to take it up, I'll be happy to play a supporting role for a get-together in Canada.

Good review of The Tiger's Wife, Ilana. It is a wondrous book.

I've just finished Salvation City and found it quite bizarre. What could have prompted Sigrid Nunez to write such a thing. Part of the book is about apocalypse, a flu pandemic that effects the whole world, none so much as the US with its spotty health care system - which leads to the dichotomies of the book. There are the intellectual Jewish atheist feminists who are in complete denial about the dangers of the disease. There are the standard patriarchal gun and bible loving, education indifferent, homophobic fundamentalists who truly love people. And there's poor coming of age Cole, full of rage, guilt and hormones. It takes almost half the book to set the story up, and before the end of that time I was getting pretty bored and had read just about all of Jesus I could stomach but the second half finally engages. It's a strange book with a good ambiguous ending. I'm not sure I'd recommend it because of the middle slog, but now that I'm done I'm glad I read it.

Now finally to get to The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For which I've been meaning to read forever.

>107 Smiler69: I should some time in a couple of weeks, so maybe I'll start a thread then and just see whether there's any interest.

>93 AnneDC: I think the way you made that work was great, Anne.

>99 SqueakyChu: No D.C. or MD in my immediate future -- no travel plans this month.

I finished reading the short Midway Georgia in History and Legend 1752 - 1867 -- it was so short, in fact, that I didn’t include it on the TIOLI meter, although I left it listed under Challenge 10. I did write a review to help other historical or genealogical researchers determine if they should seek this book out.

If you’re looking for a book for Challenge 8, graphic novels, I can recommend Radioactive: Marie and Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout without reservation. I thought it was brilliant. Pun intended (leave it on your nightstand; it glows in the dark).

Slugfest is a fun, somewhat goofy mystery set at the fictitious Big Apple Garden Show. It is, as we say in my family’s parlance, not fraught. That was for Challenge 12, I believe.

Finally, I wrote a review for Bottom of the 33rd: Hope, Redemption and Baseball's Longest Game which I read for Challenge 17. If you’re a baseball fan, give it a try.

76) unfortunately it would not, unless you still had the audiobook checked out. Which I assume would not be the case. The other way to get the audiobook in, though, is still available, potentially (adding it after someone else adds it).

95>> The God of the Hive doesn't work - 2 the's

#111 Oh well, it was worth a try. I'm just addicted to that TIOLI meter now. :-)

> 112

You're right -- I keep forgetting the double words.....

> 114

Hehe! Me, too! ...and I even made up that rule myself. :O

#110: I just got Radioactive: Marie and Pierre Curie from the library! I think I may set On the Road aside for tonight, and read it. You certainly gave the book a glowing review! (hehe)

I also finished The Walking Dead Volume 5 and The Walking Dead Volume 6 today. They are exTREMely violent and graphic--I'm very glad that they're drawn in basically gray tones.

Karen O.

I've finished Inkheart, The Lovely Bones, and Mansfield Park so far for my very first TIOLI challenges! So much fun! :)
Just checking the TIOLI meter and wondering how in the world are people reading 11 books already and it's not even half way through the month???

Finished The Girl Who Fell From the Sky for the "Something Borrowed" challenge. That may be the only one I get to this month....

#108 - The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For is a great fun read!
Also, Ilana's review (and others') of The Tiger's Wife has me putting that on my TBR list!

TIOLI = Temptingly Increasing One's Literary Interest(s)

Tastefully Increasing One's Literary Interest(s)?

Treacherously Increasing One's Literary Interest(s)?

Also, Ilana's review (and others') of The Tiger's Wife has me putting that on my TBR list!

So many people have told me they've asked for it at the library and put it on their WL and TBRs after seeing my review that I sincerely hope they enjoy it as much as I did, and in fact, am now putting out disclaimers saying that my impressions were entirely based on an emotional response that was in no way objective or critical. So there. But still, I'll be interested to know what you thought of it when you do get to it.

So close, EBT1002, but I think TIOLI stands for
Tantalizingly Increasing One's Literary Interests

I agree with you The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For is a great read, I just finished the birth scene. Bechdel is my heroine. Between that and Unbroken I'm pretty much in heaven. The only thing holding me down is Sapphire's book of poetry, Black Wings & Blind Angels. It's just a full of hatred and violence as is her novel Push. I only hope it will get better. She has to have some hope in her life, doesn't she?

#121 - Tantalizingly! That's it! I went through a lot of adverbs starting with "T" ---- perhaps there is truth in each of them. Ha.

Push is on my TBR shelf, just staring at me, saying "um, you keep you're going to read me...." I just have to muster up the gumption to read it.

Push is difficult, even brutal. Don't force yourself to read it if you're not sure you really want to. It's well-written, but very... I'm not sure of the word. Bleak?

Reading the scenes set in the Japanese prison camps in WWII in Unbroken reminded me of the hatred and torture in Push which again reminded me of some of the scenes from Bastard Out of Carolina. You need to have courage and fortitude and maybe a more optimistic book on the side to get through these heavy, gritty bleak ones.

I finished To Siberia by Per Petterson, an LT Early Reviewer book, for Luci's "iberia" challenge, which was mediocre. However, the book I finished yesterday morning, Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck (which fit the one word challenge), was excellent.

Nora with a tall book:

> 126

:)

> 125

I liked To Siberia. Darryl, have you also read Per Peterson's's Out Stealing Horses? If so, did you like that book (which was all the rage for a while)? I actually read To Siberia first and thought that the more interesting of these two books.

>126 _Zoe_:: Now that's a tall book - and a great picture. So glad you guys had fun on your meet-up in D.C. yesterday.

I finished (and will review) The Black Tower by P.D. James for Challenge #5: No. 5 in a series and a 5-letter word in the title. That's a lot of fives!

I read and reviewed Shapechangers for Challenge 12 - the one word title.

I revisited an all-time favourite, and enjoyed the memories it brought back.

123, 124 > I think Push and Unbroken will have to stay on my TBR list for a bit longer. Having just lost my beloved lap-cat - very unexpectedly and suddenly - I'm pretty raw emotionally. Think I'll stick to some lighter stuff until the grief eases a bit..... BUT - I will get to them. (I "loved" Bastard Out of Carolina -- if "loved" is the right word for something so painfully beautiful to read).

> 131 : I'm very sorry to hear that. My sympathies.

>131 EBT1002:

I'm so sorry -- I'm a cat person, too, so I know how painful it can be.

Keeping your reading light is probably a good idea. Take care.

>128 SqueakyChu:: I haven't read Out Stealing Horses, Madeline. To Siberia was the first book by Petterson that I've read. I did like the story, but I found the narrator to be distant and not engageable. The book also suffered in comparison to three recent outstanding books which were all deeply moving, The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life by Maxine Hong Kingston, and Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck; the first two were 5 star reads, and Visitation may end up getting 5 stars from me when I re-read it later this month.

I was planning to read I Curse the River of Time by Petterson, as it is on this year's Independent Foreign Fiction Prize shortlist along with Visitation, but I probably won't read the Petterson unless it wins the award (and he already won this award for Out Stealing Horses, so I hope that Visitation or another book wins instead).

>131 EBT1002:: I'm sorry to hear about your lap-cat, too.

For Challenge 6 - the authors' gallery, I've got a bit of a problem; the picture in the top left of mine is an editor (at least, in my library). Do I take the first author (who happens to be topmost right), or or the first leftmost author (who happens to be on the 2nd row)?

So sorry to hear about your cat, EBT. I agree that lighter reading is the way to go while healing.

#131 you've got my sympathies too, as a fellow cat lover.

>>135 humouress: We had a discussion of a similar issue earlier in the month - in that situation, you can pick a book by any of the three "touching" authors instead, if you wish.

I finished Night of the Living Deed by E. J. Copperman, a fun debut cozy novel with a paranormal twist, for Challenge #1; and Emma, Volume 2 for Challenge #8.

I am currently reading Raven Black by Ann Cleeves, so far an excellent, moody mystery set in the Shetland Islands for Challenge #16, and Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech, a young adult novel, for Challenge #10.

Finally, I added The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd to Challenge #13. Kerryth has already completed it, and I have been wanting to read it for a long time. And I added Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis to Challenge #20. I have had this checked out from the library all month, and I am really hoping to get it read soon.

Yay! The cover I posted for the Striking Cover Art TIOLI last month was the winner in the voting contest! And even more yay-ness: a new book was the prize! I decided to choose one from the actual TIOLI entries, and my prize came in the mail Friday: The Dress Lodger. Thank you to Squeaky for the challenge, and to Amanda for the voting contest, and for purchasing the prize book. I'm really looking forward to reading it, and hoping to fit it into a TIOLI next month!

(Also cross-posted to the original challenge thread.)

>139 chinquapin: Hi chinquapin, I hope you enjoy The Secret Life of Bees, I found it a very interesting read, I would easily recommend the book to anyone.

>140 countrylife: Good for you. I've read good things about The Dress Lodger. See, I guess reading a bad book to get a good book was a good idea in many ways.

I just finished The Night Bookmobile, and I did like it but have to say I was rather surprised. I'd heard so many good things about it but never knew what it was about. Very strange and beautiful.

I also finished Unbroken and was so disappointed that it turned out being a long promotion for the 700 Club. I knew there was going to be religion involved, but I hadn't realized that Hillenbrand would be proselytizing. It kind of ruined the book for me. On a good note, I finally got replacements for the last 2 CDs of Whose Body and it's by a different reader, one I can actually enjoy listening to. So, as Hillenbrand would say, it all worked out in the end (except of course for the thousands and thousands of people killed in the war for whom it didn't all work out so well in the end.

#142 I'm really sorry to hear that about Unbroken... I borrowed the audiobook from the library and your comment makes me wary now.

I just sat down and devoured Shaun Tan's Lost and Found for the Graphic Novel challenge, which is a North American edition combining three of Tan's stories from 1998-2001. All three are excellent and his artwork of course is tops—and so inspiring to me as a visual artist as well. Definitely a five-star read for me.

I also got Mouse Guard: Fall 1152, another graphic novel from the library today following some recommendations by LT members (wish I could remember who, and where I saw that). I had a very quick look and the illustrations seem to be very rich. Looking forward to it.

Meanwhile, am making headway on The Paris Wife, which I had moved from challenge #13 to the library challenge instead, since I had so many entries in the former. Really enjoying it, and very glad I read A Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition last month, as it makes it even more interesting seeing how "the other half" of that relationship might have lived and perceived things. I keep having to remind myself it's a work of fiction though... I so wish it wasn't!

#140 - Congratulations Country Life, I think you made a great book choice, I have heard good things about The Dress Lodger, it's on my wishlist.

Ilana, you may like it, just plan to skip the last CD and it'll be fine.

You're welcome and congratulations, countrylife. Thanks, Amanda, for sponsoring this contest - both for your work with the voting and for providing such a nice prize!

>140 countrylife:: I heartily endorse your choice of The Dress Lodger, Cindy. It's also got a pretty neat cover imo. I love the prizes that have been given away on this challenge lately. It keeps things even more lively around here!

#145 I'll keep that suggestion in mind, thanks Joyce.

Okay, so I cracked: I just added The Crime At Black Dudley to Challenge #1....settling for a "the". I so wanted a noun!

If anyone comes along and adds a book via "black" or "crime", I shall be very miffed. :)

Just completed the beautiful Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 for the "Get animated" challenge. An extremely pretty little book, not a comic-book style of illustration at all. A simple story is tremendously enhanced by the pictures. I'll be keeping this one.

Just completed Kurt Vonnegut's Galapagos for the "one word title" challenge. It contained the same wry wit and outrageousness that I have come to expect from the modern master of satire!

Essentially it is about the theory of evolution and natural selection and how our big brains were actually a detriment to the human race. It turns out that in a million years we are much better off as a species once our brains have decreased in size so that we no longer have any crazy thoughts or big ideas.

Next I'm starting One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey for the "Beat Writer" challenge. I know that Kesey only nominally counts as a beat since he even said of himself that he was too young to be a beat and too old to be a hippie, but I put it in anyway seeing as how someone else already listed it and I'm trying to get in a shared read.

PS: There are no spoilers in the above message as, like most of Vonnegut's books, he actually starts out by telling you the ending.

I just finished The Paris Wife for the challenge #20 and feeling kinda blue now, which is not surprising really. I already knew that Hadley and Hemingway had been broken up by another woman, and of course, everyone knows how Hemingway ended his own life... so there we have it.

Only way to get over these book blues it to start another book, so I'll be tackling Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 for the Graphic Novel challenge (Gail's comments above are rather encouraging) and The Kill Artist by Daniel Silva, for challenge #13. I've already listed the latter on TIOLI several months in a row, so it's none too soon!

I just finished The Essential Dykes To Watch Out For and feel rather bereft that I won't be spending any more time with Mo and her extended family of friends. Alison Bechdel condensed 21 years of her comic strips into one big book that follows the batch of friends through celibacy, sex, polyamory, genderbending in all forms, loving and losing pets, loving and losing spouses, slacking, working, becoming educated and educating, breast cancer, alzheimer's and over all a never ending stream of progressive politics. On the next to the last page Mo is having a Pap smear and discusses Hillary vs Obama with her gynecologist. Now what other comic strip would have that? Surprisingly it's a perfect accompaniment to The Night Bookmobile because Mo, like Alexandra, decides to become a librarian, though with more cheerful results. I truly feel like I've lost my friends. Maybe I'll have to sleep with the book under my pillow for a while until I can force myself to give it up.

Now I start Digging to America for my RL book club.

#154 I had completely forgotten, but was reminded just now that I had read the first two or three Dykes To Watch Out For books back in 1990-91. I remember really liking those books back then; they made quite an impression on me.

Citizenjoyce, I'm really torn about Bechdel. On the one hand, I really miss DTWOF, too. On the other, Fun Home was not only really good but got her the recognition she deserves, and I don't think she could have written it if she hadn't stopped writing the strip.

When I went to see her speak she talked about the amount of obsession she put into making her comics, sounding just a tad like Mo. I agree, she couldn't put that much attention into more than one project at a time. Fun Home was also a 5 star book for me, but I'm going to miss that gang of hers. I hope the book she's planning about her mother will come out soon, and it'd be nice if she came back for a book signing for that one too.

#156-57 I've added Fun Home to my WL based on your comments, thanks!

I bet you'll love it. It's a much smaller book than Essential Dykes, so you won't have time to invest yourself in a whole new group of friends. I said when I read it that it was like poetry.

Finished Mouse Guard: Fall 1152. Can't say I loved it, but it was entertaining. I'll find more intelligent things to say about it when I post my review, hopefully.

I picked up The Walking Dead: Vol 2 and The Walking Dead: Vol 3 at the library today. Very gruesome but I am enjoying this series!

I'm now adding Fun Home to my WL, too. I didn't know about it but am interested to see this project that Bechdel took on after leaving DTWOF (which, like others have said, I loved). Thanks for another TIOLI recommendation! :-)

161: The Walking Dead gets worse! But it is very involving and well-done.

My husband and I are right in the middle of the series--I've read through vol. 6, and I'm thinking of adding 7-9 for this month's TIOLI. And I've got vol. 10 in at the library!

Karen O.

Just finished Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd for the Author's Gallery challenge, and it was a good 'un! Hard to describe in 25-words-or-less; very dense, complex, beautifully written, historical fiction/supernatural/study of time and identity.

I really enjoyed the read even if I haven't sorted the book out in my mind yet. This was a fun challenge!

Karen O.

I had never heard of Dykes to Watch Out For or Fun Home, probably because I don't generally read comics or graphic novels, but it sounds like they're worth checking out anyway.

I finished and reviewed Mary Doria Russell's fabulous new book Doc: A Novel. That was for the Book that's at least 23 cm high Challenge.

klobrien2: Hawksmoor is in my TBR shelf at home so I'm glad to hear it's a good read. I don't usually hear it discussed at all and it was a random pick from a book fair so it was going to be a gamble whether it was good or not.

I had an uncomfortable situation yesterday. I went to a book discussion group at work. It's a fledgling group last month only one turned up and yesterday there were five (me and two friends and two randoms) so the organisers were thrilled that there could be an actual discussion.

The theme for this meeting was banned or challenged childrens and young adult books. Now I went along because in the last few years I've read tons of YA books (more than I had even as a YA) and thanks to LT knew all about banned and challenged books. Anyway the discussion was lively everyone had something to say. It became uncomfortable when it turned out I had read a lot of the books they had on the table as examples of banned books... they had Roald Dahl, Judy Bloom, My Name is Alice, Harry Potter, The Earth My Butt and Other Round Things, The Giver, Boy Toy and many more. Immediately I felt judged for even having read most of them because they were on the the table of banned books... I have read soooo many young adult books in the past few years most of them have something in them that could be offensive in terms of language, violence, occult, sex, suicide, disobedience, etc etc and most of these books have won several awards which led me to read them and I'm glad I did I've found a lot of them were wonderful.

Blankets by Craig Thompson was also on the table which I am reading this month for a TIOLI challenge (graphic novel) and I said I had out from the library but hadn't started yet. One of my friends flipped open the book and and started making fun of all the pictures. It turns out there are some naked pictures in there. As I hadn't even read the book or even flipped it open myself I was surprised - I had no idea what the book was about but I was really steaming mad that I was being judged!! (there were a more comments for the rest of the day which clearly indicated that they thought I was reading smut). So I decided to get on to reading it last night because if I was going to be judged simply for having a book out from the library I wanted to know what it was about. Well I got through about a third of it last night (it's a big book but reads quickly) and while I can't vouch for the rest of it it's an autobiography about a boy who didn't have a great, but not terrible, childhood and I'm now into his teens where he's figuring out things and has met a girl. So far it's been a very sweet story. So now I'm still riled up about the how quickly and easily I was judged because these books had a label on them.

167: Hi, kiwiflowa: Hawksmoor switches between chapters of archaic English and chapters of modern usage. The author uses a technique of tying the chapters together by repeating words from the end of one chapter to the beginning of the next. It's like a puzzle, I guess. The book is a bit of work to read, but I think well worth it! It is listed in the "1001 Books" list, and reviews on LT were highly favorable, if that helps.

I think you should feel proud that you had read those books! When I was young, I thought it would be a worthy goal, to read ALL of the books that had been banned. I still think it's something to aim for. Was the group judgmental about the books, or open-minded? I hope the latter. Sorry that it was unpleasant for you!

Karen O.

>167 kiwiflowa: That's ridiculous. You'd think that if they were there for discussion they'd be happy that someone had actually read a lot of the books in question! I don't think I've ever talked to someone who actually thought a banning reflected badly on the book.

Kiwiflowa, I want to echo what Zoe said. It would seem to me that if the discussion was banned books it would be so because the members wanted to affirm that they were against banning books. Were these people hoping to get examples of books that they should keep away from young people? That doesn't sound like a group I would want anything to do with. Maybe your example will get them thinking that perhaps they've been too narrow minded. If not, give them a copy of Essential Dykes to Watch Out For and watch as steam comes out of their ears and their eyes roll back in their heads.

Zoe, I hadn't been interested in graphic books since days way back when when I loved Mad Magazine; however, I think it was Persepolis that changed my mind to be followed by Maus. Some amazing things are being done with graphics today and not just in the realm of fantasy. In the introduction to her book Alison Bechdel says that she was kind of drifting as she was looking for a career. She couldn't decide between art and writing then it occurred to her that she wanted to do both. It's a perfect combination of the two.

167> One of my friends flipped open the book and and started making fun of all the pictures. It turns out there are some naked pictures in there.

One of the things I really hate about graphic novels and comics is how easy it is to be judged (or feel judged, or similar feelings) because of pictures of nudity or sex-acts, because those are so taboo in culture (at least, in the culture I grew up, in the Bible Belt of Florida). But if the same books were strictly text, with no images, probably no one would have anything to say about the depictions, except for the snickering 12-year-olds, you know? (well, unless it's really awfully written and we're laughing at it for its awkwardness and the like)

There's all sorts of nudity and sex in the Great Literature, but the moment it gets illustrated (even tastefully) for a graphic novel, that is the page that everyone sees you reading, or flips to in the book, and no matter how much like Great Literature the book is, those drawings will forever relegate it to the land of smut. Or so is my experience with less than enlightened folks. :/

but this is more of a philosophical discussion probably not suited to this thread itself. Bugs me, though. Especially since I enjoy reading romance comics (I like reading romance novels sometimes, too), and sex is often present (just like in romance novels, with varying levels of explicitness).

From what I got out of the discussion is that the others hadn't read many YA books since they themselves were YA. Almost everyone there admitted to having read Petals in the Wind as a teen, many kept the book hidden from their parents, and wouldn't be caught reading it now which is fair enough (everyone in the group was over 25) but I think they cast the rest of the books they hadn't read in the same light (and therefor me) which is just so disappointing.

All admitted that if a book is banned teens will probably find a way to read it anyway if they wanted to but on the other hand most agreed that some books needed to be banned and they wanted a say in that. My opinion is that I may not like some books and if and when I have children and if there are some books I don't want them to read then that is a decision for my house. I can't see myself trying to ban a book from public or school libraries as I don't think it's fair to make my opinion the rule for everyone else.

edited to add: the organisers of the group had read a lot of YA books and I was worried that I was over reacting but I did feel this way and I think the organisers should have curbed the comments a bit. If one of them had read Blankets they should have defended it. I also made the point that sometimes patrons of libraries can censure books "unofficially" as I once tried to find the book Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen which is about spousal abuse at the public library and every copy was either missing or lost and paid. And I wondered if this was a sneaky way a few patrons had ensured the book was off the shelf and one of the organisers said something like "yes maybe someone has kept the book for their own enjoyment which is unpleasant" that's not exactly what she said but what she meant and I thought WTF?! and it made me feel bad for having wanted to read it...

> 167

I find it so hard to believe that a "reading" group which wants to discuss banned books then judges you for the contents of those books?! Something doesn't make sense with that. Are you sure you want to be in a group with those folks? What is the purpose of making fun of what you read. I really can't understand that.

Fun Home is Alison Bechdel's graphic novel about coming out as a lesbian. I happened to be reading that graphic novel when out to lunch by myself in a restaurant on a work day. I just reached a very graphic picture of lesbian sex, and all I could think of was whether or not someone would pass by, look over my shoulder, and see what I was reading. Needless to say, I read that page rather quickly!! :)

I'm always peeking on the Metro train to see what others are reading. People having e-readers make that harder, but I still try to figure out what they're reading if I can sneak a glance at any of the pages. :)

Keristars hit on one of my thoughts exactly – who were these people smirking, young for their age, 12 year olds?

I think there is a reasonable assumption that folks attending a book discussion group would be against book banning and be open to a wide range of ideas and methods of presenting them. Obviously, this was not the case.

I imagine that this having been a workplace based group has made the situation more difficult for you, but remember: their narrow-mindedness is their problem, not yours. Read whatever you want to and be proud of it. Even though I’m new here, I can tell you’ll get lots of support from the readers on LT.

kiwiflowa, I'm so sorry you had that experience. And I can't help weighing in. I don't know who said it (it wasn't me) but I once heard that LIBRARIES are the foundation of democracy. Access to information is the most fundamental building block of freedom -- and libraries are in the business of making information available to any and all. I so fully embrace this philosophy. Do parents have a right (and an obligation) to monitor their children's reading, even as those children grow into young adulthood? Of course. But I say that reading books that have been banned is something of which to be proud -- especially if one can still come to the reading with a critical and questioning mind. I also believe that staying inside oneself, worrying not about others' judgments but about one's own experience and values, is really hard to do. I wonder how many of us buy books with an imaginary judge sitting on our shoulder (or an imaginary conversation with the bookstore clerk) making commentary on our choice. How freeing it would be if the only question we considered is "what do I want to read?"

Stepping off my soapbox now. Sorry, keristars, you're probably right about this being a bit off topic for the thread.

175> I wonder how many of us buy books with an imaginary judge sitting on our shoulder (or an imaginary conversation with the bookstore clerk) making commentary on our choice.

Yeah, probably not the best place, but I started talking about it anyway. :P I think these kinds of conversations are important to have, and also interesting from a ...sociological(?) perspective - like, what is it in our culture that leads to this behavior concerning books and what's "appropriate" and whatnot? For each example, there's usually multiple influences, I've found.

It's something I think about a lot when I realize how embarrassed I am to admit that I like reading certain types of fiction, especially romance. (And I always have excuses for why I like certain children's fiction, too.)

 
ETA: One of the things I like about TIOLI is that it gives me an excuse to read something I might otherwise feel uncomfortable admitting to (you know, the invisible judgment that EBT refers to), or that I might think isn't right to read, because the challenge is about finding something to fit the prompt. I haven't really stretched it too far yet, but there are books I've added to my TBR (or at least "to look into adding to the TBR") that I might not have, except that I saw them in the challenge lists.

It's not always the case, but it is a nice feature of the TIOLI lists.

Every once in a while we have a banned book challenge here on TIOLI, and it always amazes me to find what they have found to be worth banning. Sex always seems to top the list. We like it, it feels good, it's healthy yet most cultures seem to put very strange restrictions on it. Librarians and educators are dangerous people because they put information within the public sphere that lets the individual decide for her or himself what is right and good and worth pursuing. They don't think people should be able to decide those things for themselves.

On a different note, or rather on a different side of the banned books issue, I finished Whose Body and found it to be an insightful and interesting book and not antisemitic, in my opinion. Talking about someone as a Jew and even quoting another person's derogatory term doesn't mean the book itself denigrates Jews, again in my opinion. Now I'll start the second in the LPW series Cloud of Witness.

177, 178

Lots to think about here...

I wonder how many of us buy books with an imaginary judge sitting on our shoulder

Not I. For me, it's really only I who decides what to read. I really dislike such suggestors as the Best Seller lists as I often do not like those kinds of books at all. I find that currently those who affect my opinion of what to read next are LTers who've read and reviewed some very tempting books. I've occasionally been talked into obtaining a book that I consider out of my genre by fellow LTers. I'm actually happy to find that I like reading some of these book after all.

It's something I think about a lot when I realize how embarrassed I am to admit that I like reading certain types of fiction

For sure there is no need to be embarrassed. At least you are a reader. My younger son, in his life, only really enjoyed reading the "Goosebumps" series. I'm not sure he's read anything the size of a real book other than a car manual since his middle school days. He's now 29.

Sex always seems to top the list.

It really does. Hey! I first learned about sex by sneaking into the adult section of the library as a kid. So books about sex can be valuable! :)

On another note, I remember pre-reading books when my daughter was young. She became such a prolific reader that, by the time she was in middle school, I could no longer keep up with her by pre-preading her book choices. At one time, someone berated me for allowing her to read The Clan of the Cave Bear which I was told had a rape scene in it. In response to that, I spoke with my daughter, told her what to expect, and invited her to talk to me if she felt disturbed by what she read. She tried to comfort me by saying she was not bothered by that part of the book.

I think that banning a book has just the opposite effect of what's intended. Book banning causes a higher interest in the book for the mere reason that people are curious when told what they should not read! :)

Very interesting discussion here. I can't imagine a book group agreeing with banning books--or at least, not a book group I would go anywhere near. And to mock a member because of reading choice seems, at best, counterproductive.

I've moved on from being embarassed by my reading choices, except that now I find my RL friends think I'm waaaay to highbrow (oh, if they only knew) in my tastes. Well, that's their loss. I read what I want, when I want to read it. But it took me a long time to get to that point.

Madeline, I had precisely the same conversation with my daughter over a book (she comforting me that whatever scene it was didn't bother her), and again with regard to a movie we saw with a quite graphic sex scene--I was so relieved when her take was, "Gee, all that armor...painful!"

As for TIOLI, this has been a wonderful way to both broaden my reading tastes and to get some of those books I've been "saving for best" off the shelves.

I agree that the TIOLI challenges are a great way to encounter books you might not have read and to chip away at Mount TBR.

I've just finished One foot in the grave by Wm. Mark Simmons for Challenge #1. An fine wee vampire story with a good plot and engaging characters.

Speaking of mount TBR, I'm thinking of reading 'Land of the Burning Sands' for Challenge #1, but I'm hoping to get a better match than 'of' or 'the'. I don't suppose I could sneak it in at around number 42? :-D

As for being embarrassed by my book choices (either buying or borrowing), sometimes I feel a bit silly getting YA, as an adult - but that's why I have kids. That way I can pretend that I can pretend it's for them.

I don't suppose I could sneak it in at around number 42?

Nope! No sneakin' anything in...

I'm halfway through Rivers of London and just realised that I can make it a shared read in the 'Read a book set in London, England' challenge.

I started and then stopped listening to Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming, which I had listed for challenge #13. Had never read any of the books before, and after just under an hour, I was so bored, I was totally discouraged at the idea of 5 more hours of it. So... I'll just let it die and move on to something else.

TIOLI Statistics for April, 2011

Hello, challengers,

Sometimes real life gets in the way, but here are the stats for last month – a little late, but interesting, nevertheless.

In April, 2011, a total of 498 books were read, with 149 (30%) of these being shared reads. We accumulated 80 TIOLI points for April bringing us to 324 YTD points (way ahead of last year’s YTD total at this same time of the year). The two most popular books, each with seven readers, were The Tiger’s Wife and A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway. (touchstones not loading)

We had 20 challenges - the most ever for one month! The most popular challenge, with 65 books completed, was my (SqueakyChu’s) challenge to Read a Book with Striking Cover Art. The challenge with the most TIOLI points for April was elkiedee’s challenge to Read a Book on the 2011 Orange Prize Longlist. Her challenge was good for 16 TIOLI points.

Coming soon…the Awards for April, 2011.

Don’t forget: Tomorrow is May 21st – Quickie Reads Day: the day to suggest short books that will become shared reads when listed on May’s wiki.

I'm always so excited to see the awards; you do a great job of coming up with really fun ones!

Also, I refuse to believe that it's time for the quick reads already. The month just can't be nearly over.

Also, I refuse to believe that it's time for the quick reads already. The month just can't be nearly over.

This month went by faster than any other previous month in 2010 or 2011. That's why. :)

There's still 10 days left to this month's TIOLI and I've got a book for the Animal NonFiction challenge: Poseidon's Steed : The Story of Seahorses, from Myth to Reality if anyone would like to join me in reading it. :)

It's been on my Want To Read wishlist since September 2009, so it's about time I got around to reading it.

PS: Listen to an interview with the author on the Diane Rehm show from September 2009 here (incidentally, the same one that I heard that made me want to read the book)

Don’t forget: Tomorrow is May 21st – Quickie Reads Day: the day to suggest short books that will become shared reads when listed on May’s wiki.

I would love to see others join in what has turned out to be a reading of nearly all the volumes of The Walking Dead graphic novel series (TIOLI challenge 8). The books read very quickly and are quite entertaining. Speaking from my own experience, they also can be quite addicting! I hope you'll join in the zombie-licious reading.

Karen O.

I have three recommendations for Quickie Reads Day:

Hospital Sketches by Louisa May Alcott (challenge #6, 3 current readers): A novella about a woman that becomes a volunteer nurse for injured Union soldiers at the start of the American Civil War, which is based on Alcott's own experience as a wartime nurse. It's available as a free download here from Project Gutenberg, with versions for e-readers, computers and other devices (58 pp).

Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck (challenge #12, 3 current readers): A stunning novel set in a small village surrounding a lake in a Brandenburg forest near Berlin, which describes the lives and fates of several characters in the 20th century (151 pp).

White Egrets by Derek Walcott (challenge #16, 1 current reader): A superb collection of poems by the Nobel laureate, which won the T.S. Eliot Prize in Poetry last year (86 pp).

I second, third and 12th Darryl's recommendation for Hospital Sketches. It's a great commentary on nursing in general (I sympathize with Nurse Periwinkle having also been night nurse which is the best shift). You see the ravages of war and the courage of soldier and caregiver. It's amazing that Alcott exposed herself to such an unladylike occupation and very sad that it had such a bad effect on the rest of her life, if you agree that the treatment for the typhus she contracted was the cause of her later frailty and substance abuse. If only she were better known for this than for the execrable Little Women. It's only 86 pages long. Do yourself a favor and give it a read.

Just finished Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch for challenge 19 - a light and enjoyable read. A rather naive London police constable ends up working for the wizard division of New Scotland Yard (more or less). Full of lots of Harry Potter and other pop culture references. London itself was definitely one of the main characters and this book will be particularly enjoyable to people who know the city well.

This might work as a quick read - it only took me a couple of evenings.
(I cannot get the blasted touchstone for the title to work!)

I echo Darryl's recommendation for Visitation. It's not necessarily a light read, but it is very short and absolutely worth it.

>190 kidzdoc: Darryl, Thanks for the Project Gutenberg link. I had been wanting to read Hospital Sketches but couldn't find a copy. I totally forgot to check PG!

#192 - I'll add my recommendation of Rivers of London. An enjoyable fantasy set in London.

April 2011 TIOLI Awards:

The That’s the Fruit I Like Award goes to elkiedee for presenting us with the challenge to read a book from the 2011 Orange Prize longlist. To prove just how much our challengers like the Orange Prize, we shared 88% of our reads for that challenge! Go, Lucy!!

The You’re My Kind of Neighbor Award goes to Citizenjoyce for presenting us with the challenge to read a book about autism. In our world, learning to understand others is so important. I hope Joyce’s challenge helps us all to learn to accept others who at first glance seem a bit “different”.

The I Can’t be That Old Award goes to Dragonfreak who made all of us senior citizens realize just how old we were when we had to look for books published prior to our date of birth. Were books even published so long ago?! ;-) The book that Dragonfreak chose to read for his own challenge was The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. In 1990, the year of its publication, I turned 43 years old! …and those were the “good old days”!

The I’m so Glad It’s Spring Award goes to cyderry for presenting us with a very spring-like and merry challenge about flowers, and parks, and gardens. That challenge topic just made me warm and happy. Thanks, Cheli!

The Let’s Look Back Award goes to norabelle414 for reading Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier. That was the oldest book of any challenger who participated in chinquapin’s challenge to read an Alex Award winner. The Alex Awards began in 1998. The Girl With the Pearl Earring won that award in 2001.

The Guess I’ll Go See My Ophthalmologist Now Award goes to _Zoe_ for creating a challenge that made all the letters on my computer start to dance all over the place in order to trick me into thinking they were bolded. ;-) Her challenge was to read a book from the tag mirror of the person below you. Despite the “challenges” of this challenge, I loved the idea of choosing a book from an unknown person. What a great idea that was, Zoe!

Congratulations to all of our April 2011 award winners!

Thanks, Madeline, you made my day! Everyone loves flowers, don't they?

Everyone loves flowers, don't they?

I know I do!

Thanks Madeline, it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, we're all still here.

You're welcome, Cheli and Joyce.

Yesterday it did not rain for the first tiem in 10 days. That was great because it was the day of the Gaithersburg Book Festival which went off without a hitch.

Enjoy the sun while it lasts. It's again overcast here in Maryland.

Great awards Madeline. I can't believe the creativity of the challenges. I am enjoying the TIOLI Challenges even more that I thought I would!

You always come up with fun awards Madeline.

Forgot to mention that I've started reading In Search of Klingsor for Darryl's Mexican author challenge.

> 202

I am enjoying our more recent TIOLI challenges a lot more than the earlier ones. I think the more recent challenges are of a more creative sort.

I find myself having to really look through my TBR books to find ones that fit - if I want to complete any TIOLI challenges at all. For me, it hasn't been just pulling books off of a shelf and "plugging them in".

> 202, 203

I like doing the awards because they applaud those of you who contribute both to the creativity and to the fun of doing the TIOLI challenges. I keep both of these ideas in mind as I think about what awards to present.

Oh yes, I won an award. I forgot I even created a challenge. I'm sorry I made you feel...old. I can't help it that my mom was 25 or 27 when she gave birth to me. She has a younger sister with a child who is 5 or 6 years older than I am.

Overall, fun challenge names, and I great laugh or two!

> 204

Just kidding, Nathan. Although, if I had my "druthers", I'd go back to a few those years in which I was in my twenties. I'm just an "older" twenty-something now. :)

My mom was 29 for years and years. She stayed the same age on every birthday!!

oo, had a good reading weekend, managed to get 3 books finished!! Room, Beautiful and a Manga book, all TIOLI challenges too!!

Is June up yet? I've been away all day and panic at the end of the month that I've missed the new TIOLI thread. Tell me I haven't missed it!

June's TIOLI is not going to be up for quite a while, so sit back and R-E-L-A-X, Cheli.

whew.... I was really worried that with all the changes taking place I just couldn't find it!
I'll sleep better tonight, thanks, Madeline. ;-)

Don't you know I never post it until really, really near the end of the month?

I don't think I want to get into the testing of this new page format. I'll leave it to the others this time. When it's all settled in, I'll post June's TIOLI (but not before this weekend, probably).

Wow. I took out Blankets from the library because so many people were reading it, but I didn't realize how thick it would be! Ah, well, my other last-of-the-month read is going quickly, so it's a trade-off.

(Kind of annoyed with Poseidon's Steed, though - I mentioned why in the relevant thread - so I might set it aside for a day or so to get passed it. It's an interesting and easy non-fiction book, so I want to finish it, but I was really disappointed in the author for this particular thing.)

I recently completed The Witches' Bane by Susan Wittig Albert, a pleasant cozy mystery set in a fictional town in the hill country of Texas, for Challenge #13, and Soulless by Gail Carriger, a hilariously fun young adult novel which almost defies categorization.... a paranormal, comedic thriller romance with vampires and werewolves set in an alternative Victorian, steampunk London, for Challenge #12.

I am currently reading Sacred and Profane by Faye Kellerman, another book for Challenge #13, and Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis for Challenge #20.

I finished and reviewed the second in the Clare Fergusson series, A Fountain Filled With Blood. That was for Challenge #1.

Now I'm moving on to A Diary From Dixie by Mary Chestnut for the Civil War Challenge.

#212, Soulless sounds an interesting read, never read any steampunk so will have to give it a go sometime soon.

>214 kerryth: Soulless is definitely a fun one!

Well, Soulless gets a recommendation from me, but it seems to be one of those novels that you either love or hate.

I've started my last two novels for this month's TIOLI Challenges. Blink by Andrea Badenoch for Challenge #12 - One Word Title and The Saffron Gate by Linda Holeman for Challenge #18 - read a book that's on your TBR, but has been put aside for other TIOLI books.

I'm hoping to get a few more graphic novels read, I've got volumes 4 to 9 of The Walking Dead on order from the library, unfortunately the long weekend has slowed my order down. Still hope to get to them before the end of the month.

Don't know what's wrong with me (maybe the fine weather outside?), but it's taking me forever to read traditional (as opposed to audio) books this month, so I won't be able to get to half the books I was hoping to finish in May. But then, what else is new? I might consider doing mostly audiobooks and graphic novels in the summer months if this tendency keeps up, though of course I won't be able to limit myself, realistically speaking.

Meantime, here's my review of The Paris Wife for those interested.

For those interested in the American Civil War, I just found this site in the history group reviewing many, many books about the war: http://www.brettschulte.net/CWBlog/civilwarbookreviews/

I've read (but not yet reviewed) The High King's Tomb by Kristen Britain for Challenge 18 - TBR. Finally.

Finished up Mansfield Park, a bit of an odd read. I enjoyed it, but...I don't know. It's so very, very far removed from today in some ways. Still, worth doing.

Struggling to get into Turkish Gambit; it's picking up a bit now. And absolutely loving The Complete Maus.

I'm here to remove the three books I know I won't finish before Tuesday. As Smiler69 mentioned, reading significant books has gone slowly this month. No problem zipping through the kids' and YA books I read for work, though.

Challenge 9 people, my 40+ cm book is out of the competition.

Once again, I won't be finishing a book for my own challenge, #7. And I have to drop a shared read in #2 (noguiltnoguiltnoguilt).

The exciting thing is, I unexpectedly got to borrow NaRae Lee's manga of James Patterson's *Maximum Ride* last night for challenge #8. I highly recommend this series! (and if I can read Vol. 1 in one evening, anyone can.)

I'm adding two more books to Bonnie's Civil War challenge. And I may get one more read before the month is over. Now you know why I chose this one as my favorite challenge this month! Adding Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly and Confederates in the Attic.

I've added three more Walking Dead to the Graphic Novel Challenge and yippee, I've finally caught up to Karen and can list the last two as shared reads.

I like your Civil War challenge, too, Bonnie! I've already added From Battlefields Rising and The Killer Angels, and I just received notice that Hospital Sketches is waiting for me at the library. I should have time to get it read and added, too. I only have one shared read so far, but Hospital Sketches may change that! ;-)

>226 Nancy618: I don't know why, but the touchstones didn't work for my message. And I also wasn't able to edit! Sorry! :(

End of month notice:

This is for newbies to TIOL, but also a reminder to TIOLI veterans...

The month of May is quickly coming to a close...which means:

1. You should be marking all of your TIOLI reads COMPLETED for this month by now if you have finished them. If not, please remove them from the wiki if not finished them by midnight of May 31st (except for challenge #1. Those listings will remain intact until I remove them when doing the stats in June).

2. Be thinking of new challenges to offer for the month of June, but don't reveal them or post them until after you see the main TIOLI challenge thread posted for June. Be on the lookout for it to appear sometime before the end of May.

3. Keep those challenges tight, theme-focused, fun, or unusual. That's the "challenge" of the TIOLI and what makes it different from other challenges.

4. Offer suggestions at any time to improve our TIOLI experience.

5. For those who celebrate it, have a safe and fun Memorial Day weekend. Blessings upon those who have served in the United States Armed Forces, their families, and especially to those brave men who have fallen serving my county of freedom.

Well for the first time since I have posted TIOLI challenges I am embarrassed to say I will not finish a book for my own challenge. I have a Civil War book that I intended to read but it just is not the right time for me to read it because of some craziness going on in my life right now. At any rate, thank you to those who liked the challenge and I think I'll look to see if I can fit the book that I am reading (A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr) into a challenge.

I know I saw before somewhere it posted a link to previous challenges that have been issued but I can't seem to find that link anymore? Does anyone know where I find that link again?

224: Yay, Walking Dead! I finally finished On the Road so now I can read #10 for a little brain vacation. I'm so glad that you picked the series up, DeltaQueen! Shared points are great!

Karen O.

I finally finished The Weird Sisters. The best I can say for it is that it's over. Now on Secret Daughter for my nontraditional motherhood challenge.

> 229

This link?

>229 jolerie: Here you go for the previous challenges. Enjoy!

Thanks Ladies! Exactly what I was looking for. :)

Just finished One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey for the Beat author challenge. The movie has long been one of my favourites and I've had the book on my TBR for several years. I'm so glad that I finally got around to reading it! I must admit, having seen the movie first, I could not help but envision Jack Nicholson as Randle McMurphy despite the novel stating that McMurphy was a redhead.

Jack Nicholson's personality does rather take over. I imagine the same thing would happen if one read Chinatown.

Not that that is necessarily a bad thing, 70s era Jack was the man!! And while I have not read Chinatown, I have read The Shining after seeing that film and 100 percent agree with you!

Next I am going to try and squeeze in Choke by Chuck Palahniuk by the end of the month for the One Word Title challenge!

Question about the graphic novels etc. challenge: does it only include fiction, or also memoirs written in graphic form?

238) includes both.

>239 MikeBriggs: Great, thanks!

I'm 5 pages from finishing Poseidon's Steed, and it has redeemed itself after the failing in chapter 3. Took a break to do..something, I forgot, and am going to mention it here. It's rather a holistic look at seahorses, including the history of aquariums and myths, and also seahorse biology and how different species are discovered or determined to be the same. And the last sections are very heavy with ecology and how seahorses are slowly disappearing from the wild, and how that makes them a bit like miners' canaries.

I'll be starting Blankets when I'm finished, while I wait for dinner to cook. (Blankets, which is a graphic novel memoir, actually, Zoë :P) (ETA: And now I have finished reading it. I appreciated the literary device of the different things "blanket" could mean, and the way religion or love could be like a blanket, in the different ways, and the ever present blanket of snow over everything. Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down.)

ETA2: my review for Poseidon's Steed - definitely a book worth reading, if you're at all interested.

I think that I will not get to one -- and perhaps two titles that I'd hoped to read this month for TIOLI. I should finish one later today, but it's been taking me awhile to get through it with everything that I'm doing while visiting with family in Mississippi. I also had a conference that kept me from getting a lot accomplished earlier in the month, so I'm really falling behind this month. I knew it would happen sooner or later! I should only have one week of rather limited reading in June when I attend another conference.

I've just been updating the wiki - I've now fitted 10 of my reads this month into one or other of the challenges. Challenge 13 - repeating vowels - has been useful to fit in quite a number that would not fit anywhere else. I added Lost in a Good Book there, and then realised I'd already entered that under the pre-2011 TBR pile challenge, so I've left it in the latter location.

I've added a children's picture book for the outsize book challenge: Mr and Mrs God in the Creation Kitchen. This feels like rather a cheek, since it only took 5 minutes to read, but it is definitely a large book - and a fun one!

I need to finish Like Water for Chocolate before the end of the month (which is easily manageable and a shared read too) and start and finish If this is a man for the first challenge - but the latter may end up being a 'leave it' after all.

Question - can Mr Campion's Farthing count for the recurring vowel challenge? If I can discount Mr, there are recurring 'i's and 'a's - or if Mr is read as Mister, there are recurring 'i's in all three words...

Of the books read this month, that just leaves The Horizontal Epistles of Andromeda Veal to try to fit into a challenge, but I don't think I can manage it. It was borrowed, but not from the library, which I think was the point of challenge 20.

I added my tenth TIOLI book, the sobering Devil's Highway which I read for Darryl's challenge No. 3. My short review is found here.

I may squeak in my current library book, Kings of the Earth. I'm really glad Mike added this challenge (#20) because I had a backlog of books on hold from the library. The one I'm reading now has been 'frozen' for over 6 months!

I am determined to finish Libraries in the Ancient World for challenge 15. I wanted to finally read Stitches for the graphic novel challenge, but I'm not sure I'll get to it.

I have Libraries in the Ancient World sitting around somewhere too, but I can't seem to find it :(

It's pretty good. I'm about halfway through.

How ironic... I've been removing those books from the wiki I know I won't have time to complete this month, and as I had predicted, didn't have a chance to read ANY of the books I had listed for challenge #18: Read a book on your TBR list since at least 1 January 2011 but not yet read. Ha!

Oh, Ilana, so sad. Overlooked TBR books, thank heavens they're not animate. My poor books would be cussing up a storm as I get new ones and neglect the old.

>248 Smiler69: and 249: Often I think I hear my books quietly weeping because of my persistent neglect of them. I'm working my way slowly through a lot of them, but there are many moe to go.

Finished the wonderful The Complete Maus for the Get Animated challenge. It's a terrific book. However, I'm not going to get to The Turkish Gambit; I'm jsut not in the mood for it and don't see myself getting in the mood any time soon. So, back on the shelf it goes...for a while.

I read only the first Maus book. So much said in 1 little picture book. Survivors aren't angels, but they survived.

I thought Spiegelman did a touching and realistic job portraying the tortured feelings of the survivors and their soemtimes new families. I can't imagine a more difficult life than theirs.

#250 I had that same reaction to The Turkish Gambit. I tried that one and, even though I love mysteries, I did not get into it and put it aside. I thought I'd give it another try this month but didn't get to it.

248> We're going to have to do the TBR challenge again in a few months then, Ilana. ;) Maybe come up with a twist - TBR books from prior to 2011 but only if they have at least 2 E's in the title, or something!

I read another manga today - A Bride's Story, but probably won't put it on the TIOLI, since I didn't seek it specifically for the challenge. It's really gorgeous, though. It's about a 20-year-old woman named Amir who is sent from her village to another in an arranged marriage - to a 12-year-old boy. In their culture, girls are usually married off at around 15 years, so she's quite long in the tooth. There's a bit of a plot where her family were apparently trying to get the best exchange for her, and it turns out that a sister or cousin died before having children, so they want to take Amir back and send her to that clan as a replacement - it sounds like something really nasty was going on there, so I hope Amir can stay with her husband's clan in future volumes.

The really special part about this, besides the interesting look at what happens when two young people are married at such an age (Amir is almost entirely in the roll of "older sister", except that the culture is so patriarchal that she has to submit to her young husband, which is interesting), is the scenery porn. So many absolutely luscious drawings of the area just east of the Caspian Sea, and also the buildings and textiles and carvings that are used. The setting is along the Silk Road in the 19th century - a small lake was mentioned as being nearby, but I forgot to see if it really exists, to better pinpoint the location.

It just got released in English a week ago, but you can find scans and fan translations on Internet if you're diligent about it.

A Bride's Story looks great. I wonder how long it will take to get to my library. It fits well with the best book I've read this month Secret Daughter about culture clash, adoption, and class and sex discrimination in India. Now I'm going to see if I can fit one last book into my alternatives to natural motherhood challenge, The Girls Who Went Away by Ann Fessler about women who gave their children up for adoption.

Now that the June TIOLI thread is up and running, I've come back to remove my last book from the wiki. I have been reading a few non-TIOLI books and will not get Brothers finished in time.

> 254

but probably won't put it on the TIOLI, since I didn't seek it specifically for the challenge

You can add this book to May's TIOLI challenges because you finished it. You did not have to have it listed ahead of time to use it. If it fits in a challenge and you finished it, it qualifies.

257> I know. But I had pre-ordered the book a while back and read it previously (about a year ago - those scans I mentioned!), so I just didn't feel right about listing it, unless someone wants to get a shared read in these last couple days.

I'm just weird about not liking my manga reading to mingle too much with my other reading, because I read it mostly out of laziness and because it's easy, rather like romance novels (I used to read those a bit too much, too, for my preference - I really like to challenge myself when I read).

I've decided I might make it through the TIOLI challenges for which I signed up after all. I'm reading my last one now! Fortunately one of the books was rather short so I was able to read it in a short time.

I've been a good little patron of the library this month. I don't think all the books count due to not having them requested or checked out before the 5th of this month, but I have supported my local library. I've read 15 books from the library this month!

don't think all the books count due to not having them requested or checked out before the 5th of this month

They count if you finish them before the end of the month. My error. Sorry!

With perfect timing, I finished On Hallowed Ground by Robert Poole. I specifically wanted to read this in May for Memorial Day, but I was concerned I started too late and wouldn't finish. Billed as the Story of Arlington National Cemetery, Poole includes a lot of details on each war which brought soldiers to be buried there. Since I'm not big on war history, I found some of this detail a little too much, but it is exceptionally well written, and for those with that kind of interest, this book does a great job of tying everything together. His history of the cemetery iteself and even some of the politics associated with its growth were fascinating. A perfect read for Memorial Day weekend.

Tall book picture (I didn't think I'd make it, but I finished Tower of London tonight:



Hurray for preview, so I could check that I did that right! Oh, and the exact measurement is 29.5 cm/just a smidge under 11 in.

I didn't know - Read a book borrowed from the library or on hold at the library on or before 5/5/11 were the specific instructions - thoughts?

--> 264

Ooops! My error! You were right. I forgot about that piece of it.

re: library challenge: The one exception would be if the book is a shared read of a qualifying book. This was mentioned, though probably hidden in the many posts.

End of the month tomorrow night!

Hi folks,

Remember to COMPLETE all of your May 2011 TIOLI reads on the wiki if finished by 12 midnight tonight tomorrow night. If not, please delete them (except for challenge #1). You may move them to the June 2011 TIOLI challenges if they fit.

If you have not yet discovered the June 2011 challenges, they've been posted!

Madeline, do the challenges only run to the 30 and not the 31st?

May has 31 days - we have one more day! (and I need it)

30 days hath September, April, June and November. All the rest have 31, etc...

>267 SqueakyChu:, You mean by midnight tomorrow night, right, Madeline?

Hahaha! That just made me laugh. 3 message ALL at once in a panic because we need that extra day. :)

> 270

You're right, Joyce. Tomorrow night.

*blushes*

I think I've lost it this month. I'm just trying to do do many things in too short a period of time. Thanks for keeping me straight.

Oh, Madeline, look what you've done to us, in a panic because we fear our books won't "count". Thank heavens for the readathon going on now, I should finish my book in time.

So sorry! At least you have time to read today!
;-)

I do enjoy a good whine. :-)

Haha!

Wight or read?

OK, I think I've hit the silly time of the day. Better go.

Wow, I have one last book for the May Challenge, which I'm about to finish, and it's not even a graphic novel! I'm impressed with myself.

Birthmarked is a post-apocalyptic dystopia where the main character is a midwife, and one of her duties is to "Advance" the first three infants she delivers each month to the "Enclave" - a walled city where the higher castes live. I think this qualifies for the Alternatives to Motherhood challenge, eh?

(Of course, it also counts for the one-word title challenge. I might place it there, just because it's so grim about the midwifery thing.)

I just finished The True Deceiver by Tove Jansson for challenge #13, which is my 20th TIOLI book of the month. I'm sure that this is a record for me!

I may finish my current and last read before the end of the month, if not, I'll add it to one of June's where I will already match up with someone!

A lot of people seem to have read an impressive number of TIOLI books this month, my 17 looks really paltry which it doesn't normally. Most of the books I couldn't fit into a challenge were books to read for review - so not library books, even the oldest acquisitions haven't been in my TBR that long and they weren't library books. And they didn't have the same vowels in every word. It makes me wonder how many review books I've read this month, as I did manage to fit several of them into various challenges.

This has been my first month with TIOLI Challenges, and I have to say it’s been fun. Virtually everything I’ve read / am still reading counted for a challenge – I can’t imagine that it will work out that way every month! I let my reading be directed by the challenges and I read several things I wouldn’t have otherwise, which was wonderful.

I’m not certain I’ll keep track via the TIOLI Meter next month – or count pages. I think the page count is interesting, but misleading. I read a nonfiction book that was barely 200 pages that was much more demanding/difficult to read than a 400+ page novel I zipped through.

At any rate, I wanted to say that I’m very glad I found LT and the TIOLI Challenges. You’re a great bunch of people and I’m enjoying reading with you.

I hope you’re all having a great Memorial Day!

>>281 elkiedee: Your 17 may look paltry, but I'm happy with my 8 - a personal record :)

In fact every book I read this month fitted a TIOLI, which is a first for me:

#1: The Crime At Black Dudley by Margery Allingham (1929)
#6: The Haunted Room by "A.L.O.E." ("A Lady Of England" aka Charlotte Maria Tucker) (1876)
#6: Rookwood by William Harrison Ainsworth (1834)
#12: Retribution by E.D.E.N. Southworth (1849)
#13: The Novel And The Oxford Movement by Joseph Ellis Baker (1932)
#13: Brief Seduction Of Eva by Mathilde Eiker (1932)
#19: The London Bully; or, The Prodigal Son by Anonymous (1683)
#20: Four Frightened People by E. Arnot Robertson (1931)

Well, I'm pretty happy with my 17 TIOLI books this month. Still, I had to remove about a dozen of them! I was hoping to finish In Search of Klingsor for Darryl's challenge on time, but that's highly doubtful at this point. I've got the first three Rabbi's Cat books from the library though, so I might add another book... or three by tomorrow. Or not. It's all good! :-)

Unfortunately I have to take two books off the wiki. I'm halfway through both Night and A Complicated Kindness for teaching purposes, but I keep being distracted by other fun things. I added The Imperfectionists to the library challenge, which I did take out early this month on the same day as A Complicated Kindness, but it's definitely winning the attention war. I should be finished it by tomorrow night.

Thanks to the current readathon I'll be able to finish Visitation for challenge #12 and I'll be the 5th person to join the shared read.

Kerri, Birthmarked looks very interesting. I'm going to have to wishlist that one.

I finished the last book for my challenge The Girls Who Went Away and am so glad I read it. It shows the lives of women who were pretty much coerced into relinquishing their babies for adoption and the effects that act had on the rest of their lives. A five star rating from me.

And now, to end the month in pain, I'll finish Sapphire's book of poetry Black Wings and Blind Angels. I so hope there'll be something at least a little uplifting there.

I completed a pathetic one TIOLI book this month. Just not the right month or set of challenges for me...... losing my feline best friend and a few other things kept me from much reading. In June, I hope to set a PR.

EBT, losing a pet is a big blow. I hope you're healing.

Thanks, Joyce. The healing is *very* slow. I know everyone loves her own cat, but I'm tellin' ya, this little guy (Edgar) was so incredibly special. He and I had a bond like I've never had with another cat (maybe not even with a human) and I miss him terribly. He used to sit on my lap when I read. He could sit there far longer than I could sit still and read. ~~ Ellen

Sorry to hear about the loss of your fuzzy companion, Ellen. So sad. :(

My sympathies also, Ellen. It so hard to get used to the loss of a beloved pet.

#290 Very sorry to hear about the loss of your reading companion, Ellen. No wonder you have not managed much reading this month.
#282 We're glad you've found us too! Hope next months challenges work out well for you too.

I've read 13 books in May, more than my usual total, and all of these have been fitted into TIOLI challenges. I'll have to abandon the idea of If this is a man because I've not yet started it, but I'll leave it on the wiki as it's in challenge no. 1. Still reading Like water for chocolate but it's a short read and I should get it finished before midnight if I don't fall asleep again in the middle of the day! (otherwise it will only be 12, but that's still more than I usually manage).

The TBR pile and library challenges, and the repeating vowels, were all good for fitting in books that might not have met narrower challenges - and it was good to have been encouraged especially to get a few more library books read and returned.

I managed to read 14 books this month, (almost trebled April's count of just 5 books!!) but only 10 fitted into TIOLI challenges, the repeating vowel worked best with 3 books there and also single word title with 3 books, not sure I will managed that many for June's TIOLI's tho!

Just managed to finish Choke in time for include it for this month's TIOLI! :)

Very weird, but interesting book! Not for everybody but it appealed to me in ways, though all the sex talk began to get old after a while.

I finished Black Wings and Blind Angels and am pretty sure I won't be reading any more of Sapphire's poetry. It takes the same strong stomach that it does to read details of life in concentration camps, and I'm past the ability to do that. At one point she refers to Israeli settlers perpetrating a "final solution" on Palestinians which goes even beyond her other cringe inducing words.

Finished my last book, Inkdeath just in the nick of time! :)

Looking forward to June now.

I'm still trying to finish On the Road for the Beat Author challenge. I'm pretty close, so I should get there.

#290 Ellen, I'll join in with the others to offer you my sympathies. My pets are family to me, so I can imagine how sad you must feel.

Hey everyone, thanks for the sympathies and kind words. I haven't met a one of you, but I feel less alone knowing others have even a moment of ache for me in my missing of the little guy.
Maybe in July, I'll post an Edgar-related challenge. :-)
Actually, I'm liking the idea! It's a different take on memorializing a loved one. :-)

>290 EBT1002: I'm sorry to hear about that bad news, Ellen. I love cats and would love to own one, but my allergies (and my travel schedule) prevent me from getting one.

Maybe in July, I'll post an Edgar-related challenge.

Ellen, I think that would be terrific!

So... tonight is really the end of the month (or so I've learned). :)

Anyway, do that Control-F thing with your name on the May wiki pages to make sure that all the books you COMPLETED have been accurately recorded. Then move on to June's super-duper (four wiki pages) of challenges!

I gotta say --- I'm just as glad to see May 2011 hit the back of the calendar. Ciao! On to June.

The winner of the contest for challenge #9 (read a tall book) is @gennyt !! Hooray!

She read Mr and Mrs God in the Creation Kitchen by Nancy Wood, which was 30.7cm tall. That's just over a foot!

Oh, how exciting! But I hardly feel I deserve to win with a children's picture book that only took 5 minutes to read. Perhaps the next tallest which actually had more than a dozen sentences in ought to win really...

Nice try, Genny, but I specified in the rules that it could be a children's book. You're going to take this prize and you're going to like it!

#307 Ok, well, if you insist!

Congratulations, gennyt!!

Another contest:

I want to remind everyone that there is another contest going now on for a (very small) prize. Look at this month's challenge by swynn to read a book with awful cover art.

Take a peek through your books and add a selection from your book collection. Of course, your book will have to be COMPLETED by month's end in order to be eligible for the prize, but do share what you find among your own books.