Take It or Leave It Challenge - June 2011 - Page 1

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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Your challenge for the month of June (get ready, as this is a weird one…) is to Read a Low Book.

What does that mean? Look through your house, and see if there are any books on a bottom bookshelf. See if there are books on other low furniture. Check for books lying on the floor.

Don’t put them there yourself, but if anyone else in the house puts a book within 12 inches of the floor, you may select that book. Don’t cheat, however, by telling someone to put a book on or near the floor!

If you can’t find such a book at home, try the library or a used book store and check out those bottom shelves. Take a ruler with you! Twelve inches (12.0”) is okay. Twelve and a half inches (12.5”) is not. That’s too high for this challenge.

I feel that books that placed or found at such a low place are often neglected. Let's discover them and read them. Measure from the floor to the bottom of your book. If anyone asks you what you’re doing, don’t tell them this was *my* idea, though. Ha!

Your entry should look something like this:
Comedy in a Minor Key (8.5 inches/bookcase) – Hans Keilson – SqueakyChu
Matches (0.0 inches/floor) – Alan Kaufman – bookoholic13

You may match a book at any time that is not within 12 inches of the floor.

For the sake of this challenge, be aware that 12 inches equals 30.48 centimeters. So, if you measure in cm, any measurement of 30.48 cm or less is acceptable (No, you may not use 30.5 cm!). If you post your measurement in centimeters, I’ll convert it to inches for you so that all of our measurements for different books correspond.

With your measurement, be sure to add where you found your book. Now - look down, choose your book, and have fun!

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

1. The June 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 low book - thread
2. Read a book that has a foreign language title - thread
3. Read a book for National Caribbean American Heritage Month - thread
4. Read a book set in your locale - thread
5. Read a book or play that was the basis for a film nominated for a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar
6. Read a new-to-you author who has 2+ books on your TBR list
7. Read a book with a specific flower only in the cover art - thread

Challenges #8-14
8. Read a book that has a your father or grandfather's name in one of the words of the title or one of the author's names
9. Read a book about food: cooking, eating or critiquing it
10. Read a book that has a single letter or number in the title
11. Read a book - fiction or non-fiction - about work/set in the workplace
12. Read a non-fiction book if you read mostly fiction (or vice-versa) - thread
13. Read a book that you have swapped with some other person via a bookswap site - thread
14. Read a book with an exclamation mark in the title or subtitle

Challenges #15-21
15. Read a book with word "this" or the word "that" in the title
16. Read a book about tennis, fiction or non-fiction
17. Read a book with an unseemly occupation in the title
18. Read a book with equal number of letters in MAIN words of the title
19. Read a book with a day of the week in the title
20. Read a book with awful cover art - thread
21. Read a short work

Challenges #22 etc.
22. Read a book with a name (first or last) starting with the letter 'Z' in the title
23. Read a book that has a dog or a cat on the cover - thread
24.
etc.

Really? Already? Wow!

This is an easy challenge for me since within 2 feet of where I am presently sitting there are 33 books sitting on the floor. I know because I just counted them :)

Ooh, I'm the first to discover the new challenge thread - for the first time ever!

edited to add No, I'm the second - Stasia beat me to it!

I have some unread books lurking in the shelves under my coffee-table, which would go nicely into the 'low challenge' - what a great idea.

okay, folks. We're up and running for June. I'm doing this a bit early as I'll be running in and out this weekend. Pardon me if I'm not quick with updates, but feel free to add your challenges now. One to a person and only through June 5, 2001.

Have fun!

> 3

there are 33 books sitting on the floor.

LOL, Stasia! I knew there was a good reason for throwing books on the floor. This is it!!

Yay! I have vast quantities of books on the floor. I was just preparing for an upcoming trip and laid out all the books I want to take with me, plus I'm just generally short on storage space. The ones on the floor tend to be library books and recent acquisitions that don't yet have a home on the shelf. I think I'll do well this month :D

Some possibilities:
A Race Like No Other
To Say Nothing of the Dog
The Well of Ascension
Religion Explained
Supernatural Agents
Reading and Writing in Babylon (0 inches)
Who's Your City?
Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac
The Poison Diaries

All of these are less than 11 inches above the ground, as measured by a sheet of paper.

This is weird. How did Stasia's post (timed 10:39am) get posted above gennyt's post (timed 10:38am)?!!!!

Oh, but I missed the part about having to measure. I'm not sure I'll have time before I leave, if I can even find a ruler. Oh well.

#8: I edited my post, Madeline - after I counted the books.

> 4

gennyt, I saw your post before I saw Stasia's!!! Someone, quick report this bug. I don't have time now! :)

#8, 10, 11 - and I edited mine once I spotted Stasia's there before mine... If I were really worried about it, the fact that the new format Talk does not show the original posting time, just the time of the most recent edit, would be a problem here! :)

Hmm, maybe I can print a ruler.

Or could I just specify something like (

> 9

If you're sure they're "low", just mark the measurement with a piece of paper, Zoe. Write TBD (to be determined) on the space for inches. Measure the paper when you find a ruler. If they're over 12" (which they won't be), you can always delete them from the wiki because they are not qualified for this challenge.

>14 SqueakyChu: Oh, that's a great idea! I'll be visiting my family, and I know they have rulers. Thanks!

> 7

All of these are less than 11 inches above the ground, as measured by a sheet of paper.

Ha! Great idea!! Mark them 11.5in (the length of a sheet of paper) for now unless (or until) you can determine their exact measurements.

Oh, this is an easy challenge for me too, I have several piles of books on the floor in my bedroom at present and another here beside my computer!

My challenge is to read a book that has a foreign language title -

For example:
Nada by Carmen Laforet
Le Grand Meaulnes by Alain-Fournier
Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan
Auto da Fé by Elias Canetti
Tai-pan by James Clavell
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Potiki or Mutuwhenua by Patricia Grace
Monsignor Quixote by Graham Greene

I’ll be reading the omnibus - Jean de Florette & Manon des sources by Marcel Pagnol.

> 10

I edited my post, Madeline - after I counted the books.

Oh! That explains it. I didn't know how the new "edit" worked since the upgrade to talk. Interesting...

#17 I presume you don't mean that the book itself has to be in a foreign language, just the title? Do we get extra points for reading them in a foreign language too? (remembering I once started reading Le grand meaulnes in French but never finished it...).

> 12

I edited mine once I spotted Stasia's there before mine...

I guess it won't be a problem since we can't change the order of the posts! :)

It's too bad we can't now see the original time of the posts. I wish there were some way we could pull that up.

Hmm, maybe I can print a ruler.

Nice idea. I *love* your sheet of paper idea, though. In a pinch, it works perfectly.

It's too bad we can't now see the original time of the posts. I think they are still debating the possibility of that over on the new features group.

I tell you what I *really* love. It's the preview on talk. You have no idea how much easier it is to set up the newest TIOLI challenge when I can see right from the "get-go" what my editing mistakes are!

#19>Genny - My initial thoughts for this challenge were for the text itself to be in English, but I'll allow books in a foreign language in order to be inclusive. I've just been intrigued when coming across books that keep their original title in translation.

#24 Actually your original thoughts make more sense - any foreign language book that is still in its original language would have a foreign title - it's the ones that keep that title when translated that are interesting for this purpose.

>25 gennyt: Yes, though I've added a couple of examples that haven't been translated but the title is not in English - Tai-pan & Potiki. So the books don't have to have been translated - just going for that contrast between the title and the text.

Great challenge, Madeline! I'll choose two books from the floor: The Education of the Stoic by Fernando Pessoa, and Oh! A Mystery of Mono No Aware by Todd Shimoda.

My challenge will be to Read a book for National Caribbean American Heritage Month, which has been celebrated in June in the US since 2006 (raise your hand if you knew this; I didn't). The author or subject of the book should have been born in or descended from a Caribbean sovereign state or dependent territory, including Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, etc.; you can refer here for a list of these islands. Please list the state or territory in your post to the wiki.

I'm planning to read five books for this challenge:

Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat (Haiti)
Frantz Fanon: A Biography by David Macey (Martinique)
A Season in the Congo by Aimé Césaire (Martinique)
Texaco by Patrick Chamoiseau (Martinique)
The Three Suitors of Fred Belair by E.A. Markham (Montserrat)

> 27

I like your challenge, too, Darryl. I can't believe you're going to read a book I've already read. That doesn't happen so often. :) I predict you'll like Breath, Eyes, Memory.

>28 SqueakyChu: Thanks, Madeline. Edwidge Danticat is one of my favorite authors, so I agree with you.

I'm sure I'll read several books for Kerry's challenge; I'll post Le Chercheur d'or (The Prospector) by J. M. G. Le Clézio, and Den ärliga bedragaren (The True Deceiver) by Tove Jansson as a start, and add others in the next few days.

#4 Read a book set in your locale

Read a book set within 50 miles (80.5 km) of your current home. Exceptions will be made on a case-by-case basis if you live in the boonies. You can read any book on the list (matched reads.)

Link:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/117062

My (first-ever) challenge: Read a book or play (or other work) that served as the basis for a film nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Here is a link to the Wikipedia page that lists all the nominees. There is a lot of good stuff in there!

ETA - Oops - duplicate post!

#30 - Morphidae - does the location have to be your current home or could it be your hometown? I live in Texas but am from upstate New York and have a lot on the TBR set in NY... Either way, it's a great challenge and I'll find something :)

>31 katiekrug: I'm having fun looking through the list of books. I haven't come to any conclusions yet, but I like the challenge already!

>31 katiekrug: Fun. I have In Cold Blood from the library so will read that.

>33 katiekrug: Current home!

>31 katiekrug:

Oooh! I recommend The Pianist for this challenge, but I'd suggest seeing this film starring Adrienne Brody before reading the book. It will bring the scenes of the book alive. The book has some additional notes afterward that are simply amazing. The adapatation from book to screen was perfect.

>35 Morphidae: In Cold Blood is excellent! And Dallas it is!

>35 Morphidae: In Cold Blood is excellent! And Dallas it is!

I was going to limit the challenge to a certain decade or only to winners, but I figured I'd go more broad the first time. And I can target it for a future TIOLI if I feel like it.

Am I the only person who doesn't have any books on the floor? What if I accidently dropped one? ;-) I don't even have any on low shelves! Okay, I'll quit complaining! At least I've found two for katiekrug's challenge -- Gentleman's Agreement and The Sweet Hereafter. I do love how the TIOLI challenges get me reading books I already own and that I might never get to otherwise. Thanks everyone!

I'm not having any luck getting the touchstones to work for me -- not since the upgrade of Talk. Anyone have any suggestions?

>41 Nancy618: There's a known bug with IE9, if that's what you're using. They're working on it. I don't know if you could switch to a different browser for now?

Thanks, Zoe. IE9 is what I'm using. Since they're working on it, I'll wait a while longer. But if I'm still having problems in a week or so, I'll try another browser.

> 40

What if I accidently dropped one?

Sorry! It will not count. Try a friend's house, the library, or a used book store.

ETA: I changed my mind. See message number #112.

Alternatively, you can match a book posted by another person on that challenge - as a "matching" book does not need to fit the parameters for that challenge.

> 41

There is a known bug with IE9 in which the touchstones are not working. Might that be your problem?

>40 Nancy618:: Nancy, thanks to my recent reorganization, I don't have books on the floor anymore BUT I have three bookcases in my house with low shelves. I have way too many books to choose from for Madeline's category.

Woo hoo! A Farewell to Arms which I'm going to start this weekend for Thursday's book group was nominated for Best Picture in 1932. This is the Helen Hayes/Gary Cooper version. Hmmm....not sure if they had an award for Best Adapted Screenplay back then. What do you think, Judge Katie? Does this book qualify?

My challenge is...

New-to-you Author: Read a book by an author you've never read before but has 2+ books on your TBR list.

I will have to wait 'til I get home to know exactly who I might add, but one possibility for me is Georgette Heyer.

>45 Donna828:: Never mind, Katie, A Farewell to Arms is not on the list you posted. I'll look for something else. I have plenty of books that do qualify! Maybe I'll read Anatomy Of A Murder and look for my grandfather who was an extra in the movie portion filmed in Marquette, Michigan.

#46 That was quite a tricky one - in the case of most new-to-me authors I have only one book of theirs on the TBR list. But Elizabeth Moon fits the bill: I have Remnant Population since it was highly recommended by several here, and have recently bought Sheepfarmer's Daughter too. I'll add the first of these to the wiki, I think.

My Challenge for this month in celebration of Spring/Summer will be: Flower Power. So basically read a fiction/non-ficion book that has a specific flower name in the title. The word flower does not count. If you can google an image of the flower, it counts.

Father's Day TIOLI challenge:

In view of Father's Day, I propose a challenge to read a book which has the given name of your father or grandfather (biological, step, paternal guardian, etc.) either as one of the words of the title or one of the author's names. I'm looking for like to like names. For instance, for George, Author Georgette Heyer would not fit; title George's Marvelous Medicine would work. Whatever name (or nickname) he is called by is OK. Please note the name matched. For instance, mine is:

A Weekend in September - John Edward Weems – (Edward) – countrylife

Recap: Father's name in title or author's name.

#49 That's another good challenge - may finally get me to read Sea of Poppies which I've had from the library for about a year, keep renewing and not reading!

Notes to myself as a reminder about how to do the TIOLI steps, gleaned from member questions and Squeaky's answers, as they appeared in various threads, and gathered together for ease of use. Just sharing in case others might find it useful. PS: my additions in {}. -C.L.

Q. How do I add my own challenge?

A. You may add a "counter-challenge" to the wiki within the first week (only up to day #5) of the month. One per person, please. Wait until after you see the main challenge posted. This will usually occur within the last few days of a month for the upcoming month. Feel free to post your own challenge. Due to the popularity of the TIOLI, we're asking that you limit your counter-challenges to one per person per month and add these only up to day #5 of each month. Adding your own challenge is optional.

Try not to post challenges too similar to others that have been previously posted. MikeBriggs kindly keeps an Index of TIOLI challengesthrough which you may want to glance briefly. If you add a silimar challenge by chance, no problem. Don't sweat it.
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Q. {Where do I post my challenge first - on the main thread or on the challenge wiki?} Sorry for all the confusion about challenge numbers. I always put my challenge in first and then post about it.

A. It doesn't matter where or when you post it. It does not get counted until it's on the wiki, though. It's from there that I transcribe the challenges to the main thread.

Botttom line: You have no need to post a challenge number on the main thread.

You *do* need to add it to the wiki, though. {If the first page is full,} Go ahead and add it to {the next} page … of the wiki ...

I'd like each person running a challenge to set up and maintain his/her own challenge on the wiki.

I'm only taking a maximum of 7 challenges per page. I'm doing so because, if the wiki gets too long, it will not be able to save.
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Q. Is it first come first serve on the wiki? Just asking so I know for next time.

A. It is. Add your challenge to the wiki after the last posted challenge. Do not post challenge numbers to the main thread, or you'll just end up confusing everyone else. Thanks!
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Q. {How do you work the wiki?}

A. When adding a post to the wiki, please press SHOW PREVIEW first. Be sure it looks okay. Then press SAVE PAGE. Again, go back and be sure it looks okay before leaving the wiki.

If too many people are trying to save at the same time, sometimes the wiki goes beserk. Simply try again.
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Q.{What information goes on the wiki?}>

A. Important message to those who have posted a message number referencing rules for your challenge on the wiki...

Please take those references off the wiki. I would like to keep the titles of the challenges as clutter-free as possible. If you have rules to explain, rather than reference a message number, I would like you to start a separate thread with your topmost message explaining your rules.

The only thing that should be listed on the wiki for your challenge should be:
1. Challenge number
2. Challenge name
3. Any FYI for additional information to be added to book listing - this must be brief!
4. Started by (and your name)

That's it. Nothing else!! Thanks
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Q. {What do I do about books posted to my challenge that don't meet my criteria?} I would feel like a TIOLI cop going in there and doing it {removing entries that don't meet the challenge from the TIOLI challenge threads}.

A. Just leave them marked as "not fitting the challenge". When the challenger(s) who originally posted any such book(s) comes at the end of the month to do updates (which hopefully everyone does - Ha!), those entries should be removed by that person (or those people).

If I find an inappropriate challenge (even if it is COMPLETED) when I do the mid-month stats, I'll remove it if it doesn't meet the challenge and has a notice stating that it doesn't qualify. By the time I do the mid-month stats, hardly anyone looks back. It's not as if I'm awarding lottery money for prizes or anything. By then, we're all on to new and different challenges.

In other words, you do the alerts. I'll do the deletions. ETA: I'm cold-hearted and ruthless.
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Here are some reminders going forward:

1. You may “match” (list a shared read) any book for any challenge without meeting other parameters for the challenge as long as this is not disallowed by the person hosting the challenge.

2. If the challenge you’re hosting needs further explanation or has “rules”, please list those in message #1 of a separate thread. This link will be pulled into the wiki index on the main thread. On the wiki, the challenge itself should only list the number of the challenge, the name of the challenge (make it self explanatory!) and the person who started it. We need to keep the wiki page simple and clean.

3. If you are offering a challenge, you must list it on the wiki yourself before it gets pulled into the index. Please do this before June 4th (note the change in the day of the month).

4. Remember to “CONTROL-F” your name on the last day of the month for all the wiki pages and update your reads to COMPLETED or delete them. If you do not know how to do this, please ask.
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On June 21st, post your suggestions for any books marked COMPLETED by anyone on the wiki which are short, quick, and interesting reads. This is a last minute attempt to grab some TIOLI points for shared reads for reading something worthwhile.
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Here's my suggestion for what to do if my computer ever goes out on me again at the end of the month:

If there is no new TIOLI challenge posted by midnight of the last day of the month, anyone please start a temporary thread in the new month to talk about your challenges. Then when I appear (from wherever I might be), I can make it all legitimate.

I hope this situation never happens again, but one never knows. I know that your TIOLI passion cannot be controlled past the end of the month!

:D {SqueakyChu's post after the frenzy of anticipation for the July TIOLI.}

I'm cold-hearted and ruthless.

Hehe! I see you've copied the "coldhearted and ruthless" line, too! ;-)

Just a note to say that I love, love, love the challenges that are being posted for this month. Thanks, everyone!

Countrylife, I moved your challenge over to page 2 of the challenges. I hope that's OK.

My challenge #9 is: Read a Book About Food: eaten, cooked or reviewed
for which I've chosen

Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton (because I bought it for my sister"s birthday in July, so I'll have to read it very gently)

Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl

Insatiable: Tales from a Life of Delicious Excess by Gael Greene

Julia's Chocolates by Cathy Lamb

A Literary Feast by Lilly Golden

Pomegranate Soup: A Novel by Marsha Mehran

53: Well, yeah! It's just another one of those ways that your fun personality shines through and warms the world of 75!

Yea, sometimes it pays to be disorganized (sloppy, messy, pathetic...) I got a book for last months challenge and never got around to reading it but left it in my library bag on the floor along with next month's RL book club book. Now I can fit them both, along with hundreds of other books that I'll bypass for now. So, adding The Cartoon History of the Universe Volumes 1-7 by Larry Gonick which was to have been for the graphics challenge, and The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb.

Regarding the Touchstone problem, I use IE, don't know which number, and my touchstones usually work with a few funny exceptions, so keep trying.

Duh! Thanks, Joyce (@55). I just re-read the rules before posting and in my haste I screwed it up anyway! Thank you!

> 57

LOL!

I'm out of here for now, folks. I'll be back later for updates...

>58 Citizenjoyce:

ETA: I'm LOL at this as well:

Yea, sometimes it pays to be disorganized

>44 SqueakyChu: I was kidding, Madeline! I knew you wouldn't let me get away with "dropping one!"

>45 Donna828: But I will take Donna up on her offer to let me come over and pick one from her low shelves. And I'll try to remember to bring my ruler! :-)

Ok, I'm jumping in here with Challenge #10:

Read a book with a single letter or a number in it.

The guidelines:
No acronyms!
No to other compounds of letters -- eg The ABC Murders.
No to numbers that are spelled out, eg The Importance of Being Seven or to titles like The 19th Wife
No to volume numbers, whether Arabic or Roman numerals
Dates are fine, addresses are fine.
Roman numerals are fine

Books that work might include:

The Devotion of Subject X by Keigo Higashino
The Lost City of Z by David Grann
Elizabeth I by Margaret George
31 Bond Street by Ellen Horan

Amusingly, 90% of my TBR books live on the floor -- they are in stacks or in two rows by my fireplace. *grin*

>31 katiekrug:

I happen to have just gotten Mrs. Miniver from the library, so the Academy Award nominee challenge works perfectly for me! Actually, I could probably find a month's worth of reading from this challenge alone. I'd been thinking of a similar challenge....

Interesting! This morning, hours before I got online, I shuffled some books around and moved many that I've already finished to our lowest bookshelves.

Since the OP said this was a good way to find neglected books, I ignored the brightly-colored low TBRs that are on my mind every week in the context of "I really want to read that soon"; and discovered a dusty old discarded library book hiding behind the bottom left side molding of the living room bookcase.

Now that I'm reminded of it, I do want to read Encyclopedia of Reptiles and Amphibians, ed. by Tim Halliday, so I'm off to put it on the wiki.

Two May TIOLI-hopefuls I had to drop will fit into new challenges this month (foreign-language title and my own locale).

At first I was sure there was no new-to-me author with two TBRs left on the shelves, since (thank goodness) my son moved two stacks of his books to Richmond last time he was here. He left two by Hunter S. Thompson, though, so I'll add The Rum Diary to the wiki.

ETA: No time this school-event-filled month to read an encyclopedia after all. And 40 pages into The Rum Diary, I remembered that I've read Hell's Angels. At least I have a couple more short works to add!

I've just added my first ever challenge to the wiki:

Challenge 12: Fact or Fiction: Read a non-fiction book if you read mostly fiction (or vice-versa)

The idea behind this is to get those of us who keep meaning to read more non-fiction but rarely get round to it, to actually get on with it. And if there are any of you who read loads of non-fiction and keep putting off fiction, just flip the challenge round the other way.

So far I've only read 3 non-fiction out of 48 books read this year (and two of those were very short and bound in the same volume, ie 84, Charing Cross Road). So much for my good intentions at the start of the year! Let's see if this challenge will make me do better this month.

Shared reads can of course be added as usual even if you have not had to cross the fiction/non fiction divide in reading it.

A couple of those I hope to read in June are:

Pies and Prejudice Stuart Maconie (a travel-writing book about the North/South divide in England)
Just My Type: a book about fonts Simon Garfield

My challenge is to read a book about work or substantially set in a workplace. With a novel the significant action should be focused around a workplace and/or the main characters should meet there.

The computer is being very annoying and I have to go upstairs to storytime/monster settling, I will be back sometime tonight, I hope.

It has been pointed out to me that my challenge has already been issued in the past so I will have to amend it a bit.

The updated challenge will be that the cover art has a flower on it with no people or any animate objects on it.
If there is enough interest, I can start a thread where people can post their covers as I am curious to see how many books can actually fit this challenge.

Genny, if your cover is the same as what is linked on LT, then your book will still count for the updated challenge. Sorry about that everyone!

>66 gennyt: Fun challenge! But can I still take part if my reading is pretty evenly split? I count 14 non-fiction and 17 fiction this year. I guess fiction wins out slightly, though time spent reading and number of books completed are two different things. Maybe I could focus particularly on scholarly non-fiction?

EDITED TO CLARIFY CHALLENGE SEE POST #79
I'd like to add a Challenge too!!

Read a book that you have swapped for another via a bookswap site.

eg: ReadItSwapIt, Bookmooch, PaperBackSwap or other similar bookswap sites, LT swaps included too

List the book you are reading and what site you swapped it on

My recent book swaps include the following:
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time via ReadItSwapIt The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society via ReadItSwapIt
The Missing Person's Guide to Love via ReadItSwapIt TBR
The DaVinci Code via ReadItSwapIt TBR
The Book Thief via ReadItSwapIt TBR

edited to clarify challenge.

#70 I was wondering what to do about you balanced types who read pretty much evenly both f and non-f! I suppose the spirit of the challenge is to read something that takes you out of your usual comfort zone - books you mean to read but tend put off for a rainy day, so if scholarly non-fiction fits the bill, go for it!

>66 gennyt: Great challenge since I haven't read a single non-fiction book in years!

#71 Nice challenge Kerry, though an easy one for me as a large percentage of my books have been acquired from Bookmooch.

But a question just to clarify: what to do in the case of Bookmooch, which does not operate a one-to-one swap approach in the same way that ReaditSwapit does? I have given away a number of books on Bookmooch, and with points earned from overseas mooches I've received even more in return, but I can't identify that a certain book was received in return for any particular book sent.

>71 kerryth: Kerry, I've swapped some books with folk on LT but not on an official swap site. Would those count for your challenge?

#69 My cover for Sea of Poppies has flowers (which don't look very much like poppies apart from the colour!), a ship and the sea. I can't see any people, so hopefully that counts.

Yup! I would say that counts. :)
I wanted to read The Rose Labyrinth as well but there is a darn butterfly or moth on the cover!

#74 & 75, Opps, my first challenge, didn't realise that Bookmooch worked slightly differently to ReadItSwapIt. So to clarify, as long as you swap a book with someother person then it will count, just list the book you are reading and which site you swapped it on.

eg:
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time swapped via ReadItSwapIt

Hope this works better for everyone.

gennyt, I read mostly fiction but more non-fiction than I used to thanks to Madeline and the TIOLI challenges; however I don't read much about grammar. So I'm adding to your challenge: I BEFORE E (EXCEPT AFTER C): OLD-SCHOOL WAYS TO REMEMBER STUFF by Judy Parkinson. I am the worst speller in the world (all praise to the great spellcheck) maybe it'll help.

#80
oo, I've got that book too!! on my bottom shelf of bookcase so could either go into challenge 1 or gennyt's fiction/non-fiction challenge

#50 That's an interesting one. I've lots of options from my TBR with my father's name (David) but for now I'm adding Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd, for my grandfather William, as I have to read this for my book club anyway.

Kerry, do join me on gennyt's thread.

#80 I hope it helps! :) having a preview button on talk now also help, at least with the typos if not the spelling.

Kerry, don't forget to add your challenge to the Wiki because I'm chomping at the bit to add my swap to it Amy and Isabelle swapped with the lovely Madeline on LT for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

#85 Help! i'm trying to add it but confused how to actually put it on the Wiki, there is not a space for challenge 13. any advice much appreciated.

#83 joined you on gennyt's challenge

I've added a thread here for discussion about my Fact or Fiction challenge.

#86 I just did this for the first time today Kerry. It's not too complicated:

1 Go to the wiki page for challenges 8-14.
2 Click on the edit button to the right of the big green heading June 2011
3 Insert a blank line after the end of the previous challenge
4 Copy the format used by previous challenge posters to type in your heading, ie four '=' signs before and after the title of your challenge.
5 Add a book or two in the usual way underneath, starting with the hash tag.
6 Press preview, and if looks ok press save

Don't worry, as has been said frequently, if you make a mistake, it can easily be put right, so just have a go and see what happens!

#87 thanks Genny, I'll give it a go, I got numerous LT pages open at present trying to work this out!!

#89 Good luck! I know what you mean about multiple LT pages open. Whenever I'm updating threads and the wiki especially, I keep opening up more tabs, for fear of losing something I'm part way through typing or editing.

#90 Thank you again Genny, that worked first time, my challenge is now on the wiki, now to look through the other challenges and see what books I might be reading next month.

#91 Well done!

You can post the cover art for Challenge #7 here

Yahoo, Kerry, well done with gennyt's help. Madeline is making us darn near computer literate.

#92 & 94, LOL, takes me long enough tho and usually with lots pages open and still need help from other LTer's!! :-D

If anyone wants to chat about their Bookswaps, they can do so here

Okay - I think this is Challenge #14, only the ones immediately before aren't filled in -

Read a book with an exclamation mark in the title or subtitle.

Those of you who have been wanting to read Swamplandia!, here's your chance. Myself, I will be getting into the spirit of things by reading Joan!!! by Matilda Fitz-John, from 1796.

#96 Oh good! Guards! Guards! is next up on my Pratchett (re)read.

Post your challenge, lyzard, and I will indeed add Swamplandia!.

It's up - have at it! :)

Almost midnight here in the UK so will be searching all through my books in the morning to see what challenges I can try and complete next month! looking forward to it already.

I tend to leave my library books in a pile on the floor, so I was thrilled with Challenge #1 - but now I find that at the time the challenge was posted, I'd left them in two low piles - so they ALL qualify! Mwuh-ha-ha-ha-ha!!

>27 kidzdoc:

Darryl --

For your Challenge #3, we're sticking with the Caribbean islands, not the continental nations that have Caribbean coast lines, right?

Thanks!

I added a "this" or "that" challenge for challenge #15. Read a book whose title includes the word "this" or the word" that." It can have both, if you'd like.

As for the main challenge, I was sorting some books out and left some in a box on the floor and also in and on a book bag. Yay!!

>102 Dejah_Thoris: Right.

I added challenge #16: Tennis, anyone? In honor of June's Wimbledon tournament, read a book about tennis. Books may be either fiction or non-fiction.

As if there were not enough, I have added Challenge #17 to the fray. Read a book with an unseemly occupation in the title. You decide if it is unseemly or not.

I added Challenge #18 - the Even Steven Challenge - all the main words of the title need to be the same number of characters.

When I was making my preliminary June list I noticed that all my books fit this, I had to make it a Challenge!

Wow - Challenge are filling up fast. Since cyderry posted almost the identical challenge I had planned (although I would have required all words to match, because I'm just that cruel), I posted my alternate choice

Challenge #19 - Book of Days - Read a book with a day of the week in the title.

I had been meaning to read One of Our Thursdays is Missing for a while now (sorry, my touchstones aren't working), so this is the perfect excuse to get it done.

Alexander McCall Smith has a few titles with days of the week in them - The Sunday Philosophy Club, The Comfort of a Muddy Saturday - but this may be more restrictive than you think

NOTE - the entire day must appear in the title. No sneaking in a "wed" for wednesday, etc.

Patrick, I could actually shift two of mine to your challenge - Both have Monday in the title.

maybe it will be easier than I thought

I have added:

Challenge #20: Read a book with awful cover art.

This is a follow-up to Madeline's April challenge, "Read a book with striking cover art." Back in April, I noticed that I was reading several books whose cover art was ... um ... striking in its way ... but that way wasn't very good.

I've started a separate thread where you can post those terrible covers.

> 61

Nancy618, I'm going to do a reversal on my opinion about "accidentally" dropping a book. I will accept a book that you or anyone else "accidentally" drops. The point here is that the dropping of the book must not have been intentional.

Therefore, if this unintentional dropping of a book onto or close to the floor actually happens, write about that on the separate thread for challenge #1, and you book choice will be accepted!

Important message to those who have posted a message number referencing rules for your challenge on the wiki...

Please take those references off the wiki. I would like to keep the titles of the challenges as clutter-free as possible. If you have rules to explain, rather than reference a message number, I would like you to start a separate thread with your topmost message explaining your rules.

The only thing that should be listed on the wiki for your challenge should be:
1. Challenge number
2. Challenge name
3. Any FYI for additional information to be added to book listing - this must be brief!
4. Started by (and your name)

That's it. Nothing else!!

Thanks

Madeline - I have started a separate thread for challenge#2 Read a book with a Foreign language title:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/117084

Hi Madeline! Just in case the update got lost in all the new messages. I had to amend challenge #7 to Read a book with a specific flower only in the cover art since my original challenge has been done earlier this year around.

Thread can be found here

Thanks a bunch!

> 15

Got your message and added a link to your separate thread!

:)
You are the best!

I've noticed we're now up to 20 challenges. If anyone is planning to post a challenge #22 or higher, please let me know on this thread so I can create another wiki page.

I need to limit the length of each wiki page - so presently there is a maximum of seven challenges per wiki page.

Thanks!

To those of you creating a separate thread:

Please include a link back to the main thread on the top message of your separate thread. That will make navigating throughout the TIOLI challenges much, much easier.

Thanks!

#113 -- just my 2 cents' here -- I thought referring to specific post was a short way to point people to the rules. I'm not sure that it's helpful in the least to post an entire thread dedicated only to posting rules, since there won't be that much to discuss about books whose titles have single letters and numbers. Is it really that cumbersome to say "see post #xx"?? Vs cumbersome to add lots of threads that will either clutter the group and/or sink without a trace? Again, just my opinion -- I thought that whoever did this first was being clever about the perennial problem, one that has led to a few obnoxious comments in PMs in the past when people inadvertently violate rules.

My TBR / unshelved books are on the bottom shelves, so finally I've got a challenge of Madeline's that I can do this year! Unless they're on the 2nd shelf ... will have to check ...

> 120

I really do *not* want references to rules on the wiki, a place I only want titles of a challenge to be listed. The titles should be brief and to the point. Discussion and references to what it all means needs to be elsewhere. A separate thread is best because the rules are all posted at the top. Discussion of the rules or questions can then follow at any time. The separate thread links on message #2 go directly to those threads. That's why I put them there immediately after a challenge is created.

Don't worry about the size of a separate thread. All threads eventually disappear anyway.

There is a reason behind my request. I found, in the past, that what was supposed to be a title turned into an explanation, more clarification, and further references. I did not like that at all. I want the wiki challenge titles to be simply that.

#27> Darryl - your challenge has been dangerous for my tbr list. I've found several books to add, not sure if I'll get to them in June. I'll probably add Andrea Levy's The Long Song as I feel guilty for having a beautiful, signed but unread hardback copy.
The Lonely Londoners looks excellent and so does Salt by Earl Lovelace.

>123 avatiakh: I'm glad to hear that, Kerry; for a while I thought I was going to be the only one participating in my challenge! I enjoyed The Long Song and The Lonely Londoners, but I haven't heard of Salt or its author.

I'll create a thread with some recommended reads later today. In the meantime, Wikipedia has a page on Caribbean literature, including a nice (but not comprehensive) list of authors by state or territory, and links to their pages. My favorite Caribbean and Caribbean-American authors include Edwidge Danticat, V.S. Naipaul, Jamaica Kincaid, Andrea Levy, Junot Diaz, and Caryl Phillips. Other well known authors from this region include Derek Walcott (Nobel laureate), Jean Rhys, Julia Alvarez and Dany Laferrière.

(Wow, I'm impressed with the author touchstones; all of them worked!)

>17 avatiakh: Kerry, I misread your challenge the first time, so I've removed the books that didn't qualify, and added Nada by Carmen Laforet and Potiki by Patricia Grace.

#124: Naipaul qualifies? I always thought of him as an Indian author, not sure why. Maybe I can finally get A House for Mr. Biswas read!

>125 alcottacre: Naipaul definitely qualifies; he was born in Trinidad, and lived there until he went to the UK for college. His family originally migrated to Trinidad from India in the 19th century, but I don't think he's ever lived in India. His brother Shiva Naipaul and his father Seepersad Naipaul are also published authors.

A House for Mr Biswas, one of my all-time favorite books, is based on his father's life among the Indian community in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, and several of his early books, including The Mystic Masseur and The Suffrage of Elvira, are also set in his country of origin.

#126: Thanks for the info, Darryl. I will see if I can find my copy of his book then! (Once I am home from work, that is)

#126: Thanks for the info, Darryl. I will see if I can find my copy of his book then! (Once I am home from work, that is)

Darryl - I found this My Favorite Caribbean Novels list on the Amazon website.

>129 avatiakh: Thanks for that list, Kerry! I haven't heard of many of the authors on the list, but that doesn't surprise me; the Caribbean has a rich literary history.

I'll post that list on the thread I create for my theme later today.

Since I'm accepting Andrea Levy (born in London to Jamaican parents) I'll accept other authors who were born outside of the Caribbean but who have at least one parent from the region. So, Zadie Smith (Jamaican mother) and Sadie Jones (Jamaican father) also make the list.

#130: I read Sadie Jones debut novel, The Outcast, several years ago and it was a good one. I would encourage others to read it for Darryl's challenge.

I've created a thread for my Caribbean literature challenge: http://www.librarything.com/topic/117102

>124 kidzdoc:: Darryl, I don't think you have to worry about being the only one to post on your newest challenge. I immediately pulled out my recently purchased Waiting for Snow in Havana. I just love that title. I hope the book lives up to it.

>124 kidzdoc:: Darryl, I don't think you have to worry about being the only one to post on your newest challenge. I immediately pulled out my recently purchased Waiting for Snow in Havana. I just love that title. I hope the book lives up to it.

#134 Donna, I do hope you enjoy Waiting for Snow. I read it several years ago and thought very highly of it.....and we do seem to have similar taste in books, so enjoy.

Thanks, Lynda. I trust your taste in books.

Hmmm...what's with all the double posts? I've noticed it with others, and apparently I'm guilty of it now. I'm positive I hit the 'post message' button one time! Let's see what happens with this message.

#108 Challenge 19 - days of the week, I came across this website that lists a few books with days of the week in the title if anyone interested - Days of the Week Titles

I'm another big fan of Waiting for Snow in Havana. And Darryl's challenge may just give me a chance to read a book I've been wanting to read for some time---A House for Mr. Biswas.

Great challenges!
I returned with 4 books from the library yesterday, found the new thread and - yay - 3 of my 4 books are perfect fits:
Zeitoun as non-fiction for challenge #12
Manuale di resistenza al lunedi (How to resist Mondays) for challenge #11... or maybe I should move that one into the weekday challenge? No-one will share it anyway.
Che pasticcio, Bridget Jones! (Italian version of "The Edge of Reason") for exclamation mark challenge #14. It would also fit nicely into #20/awful cover art, but I can't find this cover version anywhere.

And for challenge #1 I am already reading a collection of poems by Hermann Hesse. I am storing my poetry books on the lower shelves. No books on the floor right now, unfortunately.

No books on the floor right now, unfortunately.

If you're a neat freak, you might be happy about this! ;-)

> 55

Joyce, I'm assuming that your challenge does not include growing food. Am I correct?

If the concentration is on the growing, I'd say no, but these days many chefs are attached to farms so that they can serve fresh locally grown food. If the book concentrated on the food to table aspect, then it would fit.

I have a question for Elkiedee about Challenge 11. I have a mystery story about a murder in a Nunnary. I believe most of the action takes place in and around the Nunnary. Would this qualify as a workplace?

I was also wondering about a book for Challenge 11. I've just started Matterhorn about a group of Marines in the Vietnam War. Would the jungle qualify as a workplace?

144: The jungle?: No, not quite.

143: I'm not sure on this one. Perhaps, if the action is really set inside the nunnery, that might work. I've read books about murder in a nunnery which would probably fit and ones that don't as I envisage it - is the work of the nunnery actually portrayed and key to the story, are all the characters resident/working there, or is it more of a backdrop?

I did try to write a clarification post yesterday but my computer wouldn't let me - I'm having serious problems with it and it just wouldn't let me finish a post before I went to do whatever else I needed to do.

> 142

If the book concentrated on the food to table aspect, then it would fit.

I won't know until I read the book. Then it would be too late. I'm not taking a chance! :)

> 144, 145

The jungle?: No, not quite.

...but where else would a Marine work?!

*plays devil's advocate*

To those who are reading Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl for Joyce's "food" challenge, be *sure* to make the cheesecake recipe in that book. It's super!

Thanks Elkiedee, since I haven't read the book yet, I will not add it, if it seems to fit when I am reading it, I'll add it then.

#145 Luci, the reason it's the jungle is because that's where they're doing their job of fighting the Vietnamese War. It's your challenge so I'm happy to defer to your decision but just wanted to make sure you understood why I thought it might work.

No guts, no glory, Madeline. But I understand. Are you saying Ruth Reichi might give me ideas for my next pot luck?

I actually *did* take that cheesecake to a BookCrossing potluck...and that cheesecake got rave reviews! When I didn't bring it back the following year, all I got was disappointment at my substitute dish (which I can't now remember what it was).

My family thanks you.

You guys all post way too fast to this thread >.<

But there's a whole bunch of great challenges, so I guess I can't complain!

Well, I will complain about Madeline's challenge, darnit. I just moved my books around, so none of them are close to the floor! At least, only textbooks, sketchbooks, and reference manuals are close to the floor. It's all because I inherited a hutch from my grandmother, which makes for an awesome bookcase (and also art supplies storage unit, and also ledge for keys and mail). (What will I do when I get my own place and need to actually store my inherited china in there...)

Also, my library's shelves are all at least 12in off the floor, iirc. The lowest shelves are empty, to allow growing room, and to protect from flooding until they're needed.

Still, lots of other challenges! I'll probably tackle Swamplandia!, which also counts for the location challenge (Florida), if I finish my other library books in time. I'm going to have to figure out which challenges those books fit into, so I can prioritize them properly (The False Princess and Strings Attached, but also Birthmarked which I just began today...)

I have to read Dr Zhivago this month so thank goodness for Challenge #5 - screenplay.
And I'm determined to find a low book, but I have to find a ruler first.

Question for Carmenere re: challenge #17 - "unseemly occupation in the title (thief, robber, stalker)". The book I have in mind is about prostitution and body-snatching; the title is The Dress Lodger. I haven't begun the book, so I don't know what that title means. Does it fall into your 'occupation in the title' rules?

I have stacks and stacks of short story magazines that I just never get around to reading and so challenge 21.

Challenge #21 Read a short work, note "type"

Novella - a short novel/long short story.
" a word count between 17,500 and 40,000. Other definitions start as low as 10,000 words and run as high as 70,000 words." Animal Farm by George Orwell is, as it appears in the definition of Novella on Wiki, to be a Novella.

Novellette - longer than a short story, but shorter than a novella
"a word count of between 7,500 and 17,499"

Short Story - everything shorter than above.

Note - if you are a electronic book reader, and can see page count, you might be surprised (or not), to find many ebooks are actually short stories/works.

> 157

For a book of short stories, do I have to read the whole work or just one of the short stories?

Of course, if I read the work, it would not be a short story, but a book of short stories. I think I just answered my own question. :/

However, suppose I have a book of short stories, and I want to read just one story. Would that count? Or does it have to be in a magazine (which I can find as well)?

*thinks of the summer fiction issues of The Washington Post Magazine which she just saves and never gets around to reading*

Nice idea, Mike!

Wow! I'm gone for 4 days and come back to find 150+ messages and 21 challenges on a new TIOLI!

My floor stacks are much diminished since I got new bookcases last year, and I put heavy reference books and a good selection of children's books (for easy access by my granddaughter) on the bottom shelves. But fortunately(?) 2 of the 3 books I took with me are still sitting in a bag on the floor, and there's a stack of "maybe I'll read this next" books on the floor next to my favorite reading chair.

I love the "on the floor of my car" book on the wiki! I've had a few books that have found that a good resting place!

I love the "on the floor of my car" book on the wiki! I've had a few books that have found that a good resting place!?

...but is the "floor of the car" over 12 inches above the road?!

Just kidding!! I'll accept the floor of anyone's car to be 0.0 inches. :D

> 157

if you are a electronic book reader, and can see page count, you might be surprised (or not), to find many ebooks are actually short stories/works.

Do books on ereaders give the word count for books?

> 159

Wow! I'm gone for 4 days and come back to find 150+ messages and 21 challenges on a new TIOLI!

Ha! Welcome back!! :)

159/160 - embarrassingly enough, I went into the garage and measured how close to the ground the floor of my car is. Not easy. I had to measure up to the rim of the door frame from the outside and then subtract the distance from the rim to the floor on the inside - it's 10 inches (so any Sonata drivers out there can use this measurement!). It's actually an audiobook that's been sliding around since I abandoned it a few months ago - it was for the African American TIOLI challenge in February, and I haven't been able to fit it into another challenge since (and yes, every book I have read for the past year has fit into a TIOLI challenge).

Hopefully I'll remember what's going on...

158> If you read a book of short stories - think of all the short stories you will be able to add. :)

It is based on the individual work. The fact that someone read Isaac Asimov's Foundation in a specific magazine, book collection, other medium, matters to a lesser extent than the fact that they read it and could discuss it with someone somewhere. Referring here to the original short story, not the expanded novel, though that might fit the novella category.

If you get a magazine, book of short stories, the New Yorker, or find a short work of fiction in any medium, then it counts. If you do not wish, as some do not, to add it as a separate work on LT then it still counts, just indicate on the wiki what short work was read.

I am uncertain if ebooks have word count. Though if the reader has page count, and it is shorter than ... hmm, it will show up in a different page count on an ereader. Well, if 140 pages or shorter, then it would count. (Animal farm turned up on list of Novella's, it is, at least one copy of it, is 140 pages).

The Hugo Award nominees for Novellas are 33-81 pages in length. The Novelettes are 14-20 pages in length. The short stories nominated for the hugo award are 4-14 pages in length.

I should remove the "tell what type" from there. Just something at or below 140 or so pages. It is a Short Works challenge as opposed to Short Stories.

Stephen King's Different Seasons is a collection of four novellas.

it's actually an audiobook that's been sliding around since I abandoned it a few months ago

Hilarious, Mike!! Glad it fits.

ETA: I hope no one was watching you when you were doing those measurements! :)

> 164

It is based on the individual work.

Woohoo! I can finish my ER book of short stories then, counting each as an individual work. Too many entries never bothered me anyway. I'll catch up to Suz on the TIOLI meter. ;-)

150: I hear what you're saying but I think that combat is a bit different somehow from the goings on in a workplace, however conflicted. I'm reading a book in which most of the characters are involved in forced labour at the moment, and I won't finish it in time to fit it into the Siberia challenge, but I won't count it in my own challenge either.

157: How about short non fiction works: essays/articles?

Re page count on eBooks -- if you are using the Kindle, often the book information on Amazon's website will tell you the # of pages, even if the device itself doesn't. For instance, you can get page equivalents on Kindle singles.

168> Sure, nonfiction/fiction count. Short works. I kind of lead myself into having to include them when I went with short works instead of short stories. :)

The challenge is a way for me to give myself incentive to get my short story magazines read. I probably won't count the nonfiction articles in those magazines, but I am not keeping others from including them.

I've found a ton of neat things in the Hugo voter packet, if anyone else is interested in Science Fiction. A ton of short stories in there. More than just the nominees, as the editor nominees have books/magazines included in the packet. Which contain even more stories. Graphic novels, books.

http://www.renovationsf.org/hugo-packet.php

> 170

To what short story magazines do you subscribe, Mike?

172> Analog, Asimov's, Hitchcock, Ellery Queen, Fantasy and Science Fiction. I keep going a few years of subscription, letting it run out, waiting a few years and picking up again. Currently all of them are at end or near end of current run, subscription run. I rather enjoy finding them at used book stores or libraries for sale. I might have more magazines filled with short stories than books, though I've rarely input them into LT.

More power to you. If I subscribed to a short story magazine, I'd *never* get around to reading them, I'm sure. I always thought it would be fun to subscribe to either The New Yorker or Granta, though. I barely get around to reading recipes in those women's magazines to which I subscribe.

Oh, I don't read them. Hence my challenge. I have found many authors, like Peter Lovesey, through short stories, but I find it hard to get myself to read them, enjoyable though they may be. My recent swing through the short form, back when I read NY based works for that challenge, found no new authors to explore, though.

#167 Luci, that's fine. I kind of asked for the same reason--I started Matterhorn for a May TIOLI challenge and won't finish it today so was looking for a June challenge to put it in.

Mike, have you read the McSweeney's short story anthologies? If not, I think you'd enjoy them.

1. McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales
2. McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories

157> Nice! An excuse to finish reading the rest of the novellas in Fantomina and Other Works that I began this last winter. Not that I wasn't planning on reading them anyway, but now I can prioritize a bit better.

So it looks like I'll be reading:
Strings Attached by Blundell for the 2 TBR New Author books (the other is What I Saw and How I Lied, which I planned to take out of the library if I like the first one)
The False Princess by O'Neal (looking for a TIOLI fit for it)
"Reflections on Love" and "Love-letters for All Occasions" by Haywood
Swamplandia! for the exclamation mark challenge
Nothing to Envy for the non-fiction/fiction challenge

Also, I think Wandering Son #1 is due out this month, so of course I'll read it, too, when it arrives, but I might delay it until July and create a challenge that it fits into, since the release date has been shifted around several times. Figures, I check the amazon listing immediately after hitting "post" and it says it's not due until 5 July. Oh well...it'll give me more time to make a proper challenge and ensure it's not been done before.

ETA: Oh wait wait wait.

If I picked up my library holds and they were on the lowest Reserved Books shelf and that shelf was only 6 inches off the ground, including wheels, does that mean they count for the Low Books challenge? (*shifty eyes*)

Once again excellent challenges. I don't have a favorite one yet, but Madeline's is very appealing since I have more than a few books on the floor!

#160 I'm glad you think the floor of a car however high up (but not the seat or the glove box) does count! I'd assumed that would be the same as the floor of an upstairs room, or of an apartment however far away from ground floor level. If we were going for height above sea level in the challenge, those in mountainous regions would be severely disadvantaged, and people living in places like the Netherlands which is mostly below sea level would have all their books to choose from :)

My cats knocked over a pile of books on the (rather low anyway) small table that serves as a coffee table (aka book depository). I gave them all treats, since the books landed on the floor... *grin*

> 178

If I picked up my library holds and they were on the lowest Reserved Books shelf and that shelf was only 6 inches off the ground, including wheels, does that mean they count for the Low Books challenge? (*shifty eyes*)

Indeed it does!

> 181

My cats knocked over a pile of books on the (rather low anyway) small table that serves as a coffee table (aka book depository). I gave them all treats, since the books landed on the floor... *grin*

More qualifying books! LOL!!

182> Woohoo! And here I was thinking I'd get chided for being too creative with the rules! ;)

Now I have a home for my 3rd 5th library book, so it doesn't feel all lonely without a TIOLI of its own. (Even the first/thirdish of the books, which I'm about to finish reading, fits in a May challenge. Of course, the first 2 books were chosen partially because of TIOLI. These other three were just "they're on my TBR/wishlist".)

Mike, I love the short work challenge. I had committed to reading every piece of fiction in "The New Yorker"in 2011 and I have already given myself leeway not to live up to the challenge. I'm still going to read as many as possible.
SO, I'll read at least one for your challenge!

I'm very pleased with the challenges this month, talk about variety! I'm especially happy about Madeline's challenge because the lowest shelf in one of my book cases is just a couple of inches off the floor and there are a few oversized art books in there that I'd been thinking I'd like to get to. Then, earlier today when I stepped out of my place, I found that the mailman had but a bundle of books which didn't fit into the mailbox... at the foot of my door! Hoorrayyyy! Finally, whenever I bring back books from the library, as I did today, I always deposit the bag on the floor in the entrance when I step into my place before cataloguing them here on LT and putting them on a shelf, and so wasn't about to make an exception this evening, right? Right. :-)

Madeline, I saw that you were asking if you should create another wiki page for more challenges, and I'd vote YES, because for one thing, the 5th of June is still 6 days from now and considering how fast we got to 21 challenges already... That, and also, I'd like to add a challenge too, as soon as I've figured out what it is exactly.

I do wonder whether we should limit the challenges per month a bit? (Not to cut you off, Ilana!) It would be awful if we ever got to the point of fifty challenges in one month and none the next. What do others think? - is a little rationing in order to make sure TIOLI goes on into the future?

We could cut off the challenges earlier, but on my part, I'd vote against rationing -- that way, someone is almost certain to feel unhappy. Even with 20 challenges, we still have lots of books on nearly all challenges -- those that don't have that many tend to be those that are very specific.

The main reason I want to put up a challenge is to accommodate a group read.

I'd say it would be kind of unfair to cut off the challenges at 21, considering what a mad dash it is at the beginning, when people post the challenges within hours after the thread goes up, and that we've already gotten to 21 before the 1st of the month!That being said, I guess Madeline has the last word, and I'll live with her decision just fine one way or the other.

> 186

I found that the mailman had but a bundle of books which didn't fit into the mailbox... at the foot of my door!

Lucky break for you!

so wasn't about to make an exception this evening, right?

Um...right. You win!

I'd like to add a challenge too

I'll add another page then very soon.

> 187

is a little rationing in order to make sure TIOLI goes on into the future?

We took a vote about this issue recently, and the answer was overwhelmingly "No!". I will move the date back to the 4th day of the month, starting in July, though, because I hear what you're saying.

As the challenges become tighter...and I do want them to continue to be pretty specific, the large (and even growing) number of challenges shouldn't be a problem. I think the problem comes when any book fits any challenge. That situation is just too wide open...and, to me, not fun.

> 186

The 4th wiki page is up, Ilana.

I think the problem comes when any book fits any challenge

Yes, I'm with you on that. I refrained from participating in the "Read a book published before you were born" challenge, for example, because that would be about 99% of what I read.

Anyway, I'm happy to go with majority rule on this.

The 4th wiki page is up

Thanks Madeline. I posted Challenge #22: Read a book with a name (first or last) starting with the letter 'Z' in the title, as several of us will be reading The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell this month. Will be interesting to see what people come up with. I have Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger on my shelves which would also fit this challenge.

I refrained from participating in the "Read a book published before you were born" challenge...because that would be about 99% of what I read.

To me, this is a perfect example of why more challenges is a good idea. I loved that very challenge because (being 50) it did make me go back and dig around in my TBRs for something older.

What is a challenge for one is not a challenge for another. I love that about TIOLI.

Oh, yes, that was just a personal call. I was simply using it as an example of what Madeline said, a challenge that was (for me) so broad as to present no challenge. I agree with her that boundaries increase the fun factor of TIOLI.

Yes, I agree. It's so interesting to me each month to peruse the list of challenges and just notice that some get me really excited and others not so much. And, of course, we'll all be different in those reactions!

>Read a book with a name (first or last) starting with the letter 'Z' in the title

Aha! So, I have to make sure to read the last bit of The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet TOMORROW and not today. Wheeee!

#194: Ilana, I have a book that I think might qualify for that one, but want to be sure before I post it: Agent Zigzag by Ben MacIntyre. Obviously the gentleman's real name was not Agent Zigzag, but it was his nomme de guerre. What do you think?

Right now, my challenges for this month look like this:

Challenge 1: Read a Low Book
Children of Chance by Elizabeth Pewsey

Challenge 3: Caribbean Authors
A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul
Small Island by Andrea Levy

Challenge 6: A New-to-You Author with 2+ Books in the BlackHole
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Challenge 7: Specific Flower on Cover
Cereus Blooms at Night by Shani Mootoo

Challenge 8: Book with Grandfather’s Name in the Title/Author
Christianity and the Social Crisis in the 21st Century by Walter Rauschenbusch

Challenge 10: Book with a Single Number or Letter in the Title
Yours 2 Keep by Hooper, et al
Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden

Challenge 12: A fiction book for nonfiction readers or Vice Versa
Newton by Peter Ackroyd
My Lord What a Morning by Marian Anderson – Library Book

Challenge 13: Read a Swapped Book
1633 by David Weber and Eric Flint

Challenge 20: Book with Awful Cover Art
The Captive Mind by Czeslaw Milosz

Challenge 22: A Book with a Name Starting with the Letter Z in the Title
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
Agent Zigzag by Ben MacIntyre ??

Hah, my unread-nonfiction shelf is the lowest one on its bookcase, so this is easy!

(No, you may not use 3.5 cm!)

That's ridiculous. (Assuming you mean 30.5). You're requiring precision of two-tenths of a millimeter from metric users, but you aren't castigating imperial users that they have to measure to better than 1/64th of an inch to qualify. Just call it 30 cm in metric and leave it at that.

Well, I had a challenge planned that only really works for June, but given the antipathy toward more challenges, I guess I'll skip it. That's what I get for not checking LT over the holiday weekend, I suppose.

My opinion (for what it's worth) is that you should go ahead and post your Challenge. As several folks have noted, not all Challenges appeal to everyone. As long as it's pretty narrow in scope, I can't see anything wrong with having another. Go for it!

I also vote to post the challenge.

Remember that TIOLI means no guilt. Just because you weren't reading LT over the holiday weekend, you shouldn't feel guilty about posting another challenge.

Further, with these more narrowly drawn challenges, I personally think that we could do ok with more of them.

OK - after endless perusal of the TBR mountain...(Nothing on or near the floor, unfortunately - blast that tidying bug that infected me last month!)

Challenge #2 Ellana by Pierre Bottero - this has been on the TBR shelf for ages
Challenge #6 The iron hunt by Marjorie M Liu - I kept meaning to start reading Liu
Challenge #8 Stark's war by John G Hemry - I love his series written as Jack Campbell
Challenge #18 Fool moon by Jim Butcher - another series I've never got round to..

Thanks for all the great challenges. I'm looking forward to this lot and I've spotted a few possible group reads, as well!

>204 lindapanzo: with these more narrowly drawn challenges, I personally think that we could do ok with more of them.

I agree. Since I'm trying to work down on my tbr books, I just don't have any that fit into many of the narrow challenges.

Every time I go to the library to pick up the books I put on hold, I have to keep my glasses from falling off my face as I bend down to the bottom shelf - mine are always there - so now I have a reason to be happy because the book I couldn't finish for May came from that bottom shelf - YEAH!

#201 - Please please please post your challenge! I keep checking back here hoping for more :)

I just decided to add another challenge. Challenge #23 is to read a book that has a cat or a dog on the cover.

oo, my challenge book for #1 fits into this challenge, Dewey, might have to see what other books are lying around the house, not many tho I had a tidy up the day before challenges got posted!!

I've already added 17 books to the wiki so have a busy month ahead of me. I'm good with the 'leave it' part of the challenge so don't feel under any sort of pressure on day 1.

#201> Yes, do post your challenge

Here are my plans (so far):

#1 - low book - Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson

#3 - National Caribbean American Heritage Month - The Long Song by Andrea Levy (weird touchstone thing happening with this); Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys; and A House for Mr. Biswas by V. S. Naipaul

#11 - fact or fiction - The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson (what's up with touchstones??)

#22 - Z - The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell

~Ellen

> 200

(Assuming you mean 30.5)

That was typo. I did mean you may not use 30.5cm. I have since corrected my typo.

Just call it 30 cm in metric and leave it at that.

No. I'm leaving it at a foot (12 inches). That was my original parameter, but I know not everyone uses feet and inches.

I'm also not going around to various countries to measure the distance from the floor/ground to everyone's books. I'll stick with the honor system.

Someone always has to argue with me! :D

> 201

lorax, if you have not posted a challenge yet, do so before midnight June 5th. There is no limit to the number of challenges that can be posted every month. The only limit is that it's just one per person. Go for it!

i'm waiting to post my books for #1 until I can locate either a ruler or a tapemeasure. Sigh. And I'm not going to interfere with cats wandering around book stacks, although I won't deliberately place a cat behind the stacks on top of my filing cabinet in hopes of an accident... btw, does a postal delivery flung on the ground outside my front door count??

I know I'd be happy to see another challenge--there are a lot of hard ones this month!

"does a postal delivery flung on the ground outside my front door count?" - I hope so!!

The challenge is also creating a perfect reason not to tidy up my books which were at one point neatly shelved but have increasingly become disorganised and messily strewn about everywhere; typically on the floor as one must have space on the couch/bed to stretch out (with cat) and coffee table for food/drinks.

I found a book called Monday Begins on Saturday by Arkadi Strugatski, which would have been perfect for the day challenge. Alas, not in available at my library.

> 215

i'm waiting to post my books for #1 until I can locate either a ruler or a tapemeasure

Suz, do what Zoe did. Use a 8x11.5" sheet of paper to measure. Use TBD (to be determined) for the distance until you can measure exactly.

I'm not going to interfere with cats wandering around book stacks

Haha!

does a postal delivery flung on the ground outside my front door count??

It sure does!!

#217 -- well, once I figure out what books ARE on my floor, and the height, I'll list them and put them neatly to one side where I can find them again. Nope, whatever ends up in their place at the bottom of the stacks will NOT be added; I promise! Only stuff that ends up there accidentally, by act of God, cat or letter carrier. I can eyeball 11 or 12 inches, but since I have to put in the precise #, I'll just measure once with a "real" ruler. There are at least five versions of such objects lying around the place...

Mike, I have to admit that I've been getting The New Yorker for almost a year and have mainly just looked at the cartoons. Now, a reason to actually read all those 20 under 40 short stories Darryl was posting about last year. Yippee. I'm sure I won't count each short story on the meter, they're about 15 pages long, but I'll combine them all into a count of 1. There are a couple of essays relating to books I've read recently, so, it's about time I get to them.

> 220

Nope, whatever ends up in their place at the bottom of the stacks will NOT be added;

...which then leads to the interesting question:

I just found this thread. I cannot keep up with these threads. I have a room for all my books and I have about 50 books that are low to the ground. I am actually reading 3 of them now. A Challenge I can actually participate in.

I'm number one, I'm number one!! For the moment, at least. Until Suz and some of the others get going.

Enjoying my top frog status for a few minutes anyway, as this so rarely happens.

Here are my possibilities. The chances of me reading even a third of these is remote.

TIOLI 2 (foreign language title) - Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
TIOLI 3 (Carribean) - A House for Mr. Biswas by V. S. Naipaul
TIOLI 4 (locale) - Hanging by a Thread by Monica Ferris
TIOLI 4 (locale) 2 - Rules of Prey by John Sandford
TIOLI 5 (Screenplay Oscar) - In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
TIOLI 6 (new 2+) - The Creative License by Danny Gregory
TIOLI 8 (father) - Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
TIOLI 8 (grandfather) - The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter van Tilburg Clark
TIOLI 9 (food) - The Food of a Younger Nation by Mark Kurlansky
TIOLI 9 (food) 2 - The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8 Lee
TIOLI 10 (number/letter) - The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
TIOLI 10 (number/letter) 2 - 500 ideas for Small Spaces by Kimberley Seldon
TIOLI 11 (workplace) - Complications by Atul Gawande
TIOLI 12 (nonfiction/fiction) - A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman
TIOLI 14 (!) - Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard Feynman
TIOLI 17 (unseemly) - The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
TIOLI 18 (same title) - The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
TIOLI 18 (same title) 2 - The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
TIOLI 19 (day of week) - Grim Tuesday by Garth Nix
TIOLI 22 (Z) - The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell DONE
TIOLI 23 (dog or cat) - Sick Puppy by Carl Hiaasen

#225 Impressed that you've done one already though!

#226 I sort of cheated. I waited to read the last chapter this morning so it would count for June. Heh.

Well! The "2 TBR books by a New-To-You Author" challenge has so far been interesting for me. I'm 1/3 of the way through Strings Attached by Judy Blundell and finding that it has so far evaded many of my expectations - I have no idea where the plot was going, and I thought it would be a suspenseful YA romance when I started out. There is a bit of romance (the MC is a 17-year-old girl and all), but it's a tempestuous, difficult relationship that doesn't really fit the genre I expected. It seems that the plot is more of a bildungsroman for Kit, set in 1950s New York City in the theatre/nightclub district, with gangsters in the background, pulling the strings (thus the title).

I just added challenge #22 to my "plans." I have been wanting to read The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet since my sister told me (more than once) about it. Since I'm visiting her later this month, this is a perfect June challenge.

I'm now officially overcommitted.

I can't resist this format, Morphidae, so I am copying it! Of course, I will not read all these books either, but it's nice to have options.

TIOLI 1 (low) The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives
TIOLI 1 (low) 2 A Moveable Feast
TIOLI 1 (low) 3 American Grace
TIOLI 1 (low) 4 Travels in Siberia
TIOLI 1 (low) 5 Chasing Goldman Sachs
TIOLI 1 (low) 6 Tar Baby
TIOLI 1 (low) 7 Caramelo
TIOLI 2 (foreign language title) - Suite Francaise
TIOLI 3 (Caribbean) - The Long Song
TIOLI 3 (Caribbean) 2 - Wide Sargasso Sea
TIOLI 3 (Caribbean) 3 - A House for Mr. Biswas by V. S. Naipaul
TIOLI 4 (locale) - The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears
TIOLI 4 (locale) 2 - The Big Blowdown
TIOLI 5 (Screenplay Oscar) - All Quiet on the Western Front
TIOLI 5 (Screenplay Oscar) - The Age of Innocence
TIOLI 6 (new 2+) - The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
TIOLI 6 (new 2+) 2 - Brooklyn
TIOLI 8 (grandfather) - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
TIOLI 9 (food) - The Debt to Pleasure
TIOLI 10 (number/letter) - I Hotel
TIOLI 12 (nonfiction/fiction) - A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman
TIOLI 12 (nonfiction/fiction) - The Niagara River: Poems
TIOLI 14 (!) - O Pioneers!
TIOLI 15 (this or that) The Hand That First Held Mine
TIOLI 18 (same title) - Moby Dick
TIOLI 18 (same title) 2 - Cloud Atlas
TIOLI 19 (day of week) - The View from Saturday
TIOLI 21 (short) - The New Yorker Stories by Ann Beattie
TIOLI 22 (Z) - Dr. Zhivago
TIOLI 23 (dog or cat) - The Lost Dog

I, too, like this format and am borrowing. Thanks, Morphidae.

TIOLI 1 (low) Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
TIOLI 3 (Caribbean) - The Long Song by Andrea Levy
TIOLI 3 (Caribbean) 2 - Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
TIOLI 3 (Caribbean) 3 - A House for Mr. Biswas by V. S. Naipaul
TIOLI 12 (nonfiction/fiction) - The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
TIOLI 12 (nonfiction/fiction) 2 - The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival
TIOLI 18 (same title) - The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
TIOLI 22 (Z) - The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
TIOLI 24 (Lambda) - Fresh Tracks by Georgia Beers
TIOLI 24 (Lambda) 2 - What We Remember by Michael Thomas Ford -- this one could also be for TIOLI 4 (locale) challenge......

Respectfully submitted,
~Ellen

Think I've got my reading list sorted for the June TIOLI's, (similar to Morphidae's format too) not sure I'll get them all completed but here goes:

#1 - Low Book- Dewey - Vicki Myron - 0.0in/daughter's bedroom floor or #23??
#5 - Oscar nominated adapted screenplay - The Silence of the Lambs (1991)- Thomas Harris
#4 - Locale - Bleak Water - Danuta Reah (Sheffield, S.Yorks, UK)
#8 - Fathers/Grandfather's name - Dear John - Nicholas Sparks (John)
#12 - Fiction/Non-fiction - I before E (Except after C) - Judy Parkinson (non-fiction)
#12 - Fiction/Non-fiction - The Queen's English - C J Moore (non-fiction)
#13 - Bookswap - The Missing Person's Guide to Love by Susanna Jones
#13 - Bookswap - The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
#14 - ! - You've gone too far this time, Sir! by Danny Bent
#15 - this or that - this book will save your life by A M Homes
#15 - this or that - By the Time You Read This Book by Lola Jaye
#17 - unseemly occupation - The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
#18 - equal words in title - The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks
#23 - cat or dog - Dewey - Vicki Myron

bit ambitious for me, but hopefully will be able to get the majority completed this month

Sorry I didn't reply to Statia's request earlier in #199:

#194: Ilana, I have a book that I think might qualify for that one, but want to be sure before I post it: Agent Zigzag by Ben MacIntyre. Obviously the gentleman's real name was not Agent Zigzag, but it was his nomme de guerre. What do you think?

I think this is perfectly fine. A nickname would also be allowable, if anyone else is wondering about this.

#233: Thanks! I will add it to the wiki.

> 227

I sort of cheated. I waited to read the last chapter this morning so it would count for June. Heh.

...except that's not cheating at all.

Killjoy. :)

Considering for this month's TIOLI challenges:
#1 (low) Things Fall Apart
#3 (Carribean) Small Island or Wide Sargasso Sea
#5 (Screenplay) The Pianist or Dr. Zhivago
#6 (New to you) We Need to Talk About Kevin
#7 (flower) Sea of Poppies
#10 (single letter or #) 84, Charing Cross Road
#11 (workplace) Complications
#15 (this or that) So Much For That
#17 (unseemly occupation) Hitler's Willing Executioners
#18 (equal letters) Love, Loss and What I Wore or The Sugar Queen
#21 (short work) Hospital Sketches
#22 (Z) Zarafa

Let you know how it goes!

I have a question about Challenge #11--would mysteries involving the work of the police department, PI, or forensic scientist meet this criteria?

I have a question about Challenge #11--would mysteries involving the work of the police department, PI, or forensic scientist meet this criteria?

238: I thought about this one as I'm a crime fiction reader, and I think it depends on the story. Although professional detectives are clearly at work most of the time in such books, often the investigation, the central action to the story, takes place out and about. One thing which would work is if the mystery being investigated is in a workplace.

While I think in real life the forensic scientist would be in her/his lab, if the story takes them out of the workplace and the real action of the story is somewhere else, it doesn't quite work.

duplicate posting

I am very excited about the 'foreign language title' challenge, as I had been planning to post that one sometime, so I have a little pile of books which fit!

Challenge #24:

In honor of Gay Pride Month, read a book that has won the Lambda Literary Award. There are a number of categories (which seem to change yearly). The site is nearly unnavigable, so the best places to find lists of winners are here on LT (http://www.librarything.com/bookaward/Lambda+Literary+Award ) or Wikipedia (https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/List_of_Lambda_Literary_Award_winners ) which is sadly only current through 2007.

So I didn't quite achieve my goal of finishing The Imperfectionists for the May library challenge. Fortunately it fits nicely into the June office challenge seeing as it takes place in a newspaper office.
I'm not going to be too down on myself for not completing the May challenge's I set out to complete, because I was far too distracted by buying a house! A house with a nice front porch for reading, no less!

244: What a great excuse.

243: I'm very pleased you've posted your challenge. I'd like to read something to fit it, but I usually want to "do" most challenges. I need more reading time in the month.

244: Congrats on the house and the porch!

243: I, too, am pleased by this challenge. I will add it to my challenge list for the month. Thanks!

#243, lorax, did you add this challenge #24 to the wiki? I'm not seeing it.

I've read and enjoyed the Ellen Hart Lambda Literary Award winning mysteries but may check out which other mystery authors have won.

I'm starting to read Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin for the unseemly occupations challenge (#17) but also for the One Book, One Twitter project. The first book was American Gods by Neil Gaiman and the organizers have decided to make this a monthly event. Atwood is the first monthly book that was voted on by tweeters and she's actually tweeting factoids about the book when she can. The twitter acct is @1book140 where you can find the reading schedule and more information.

I've finished my first book for this month. Challenge #10 (single letter or #): 20 Years Later a YA dystopian book. Although it had a few flaws, overall it was an enjoyable read.

I am excited to be starting A Tree Grows In Brooklyn for Challenge #5 (Best Screenplay Adaptation), I really can't remember if this is a re-read or not.

Also starting Yazuka Moon: Memoirs of Gangster's Daughter for Challenge #17 (Unseemly Occupation).

Well, shoot, Lorax, I'm happy and sad about your challenge. First of all, I'm glad someone posted it because I didn't know until I went to the library yesterday that this was Gay Pride Month, but I'm sad because I got one of the books on display, The Mortal Groove by Ellen Hart who won for mystery, but not for this book. It's the 15th of her Jane Lawless series, I hope I can just jump in here, don't really want to start at the beginning. I can fit her book into the equal word challenge, so no problem. But there's a book I'd like to read whose author also won, Michelle Tea, but again not for this book - The Passionate Mistakes and Intricate Corruption of One Girl In America, doesn't that sound great? It's a tiny little book (with alas, tiny little print), so maybe I'll fit it into Mike's challenge. However, if you'd like to change your challenge to a book by a Lambda Literary Award winning author, I'd love to put a couple of books there.

I was glad to see that The Bill From My Father, a book I've been meaning to read for awhile, qualifies for Lorax's challenge. I'll definitely read it this month...and I think I'll start reading it today.

Um...is the challenge on the wiki???

ETA: I'll also read Source: Poems by Mark Doty, another book that is high on my TBR list.

This is what I have so far this month. Why am I even thinking about adding more?

#1 low book Cartoon History of the Universe 1 Vol. 1-7 - Larry Gonic
The Hour I First Believed - Wally Lamb
#5 adapted screenplay Mystic River - Dennis Lehane
Pygmalion - George Bernard Shaw
The Thin Man - Dashiell Hammett
#6 new to you author Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
#9 Food: eaten, cooked or reviewed
Blood, Bones & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton
Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl
Insatiable: Tales from a Life of Delicious Excess by Gael Greene
Julia's Chocolates by Cathy Lamb
Pomegranate Soup: A Novel by Marsha Mehran
#10 single number 84, Charing Cross Road - Helene Hanff
#12 non-fiction I Before E (Except After C): Old-school Ways to Remember Stuff - Judy Parkinson
#13 swap Amy and Isabelle: A novel - Elizabeth Strout
#14 exclamation point Swamplandia! - Karen Russell
#17 unseemly occupation The Hangman's Daughter - Oliver Pötzsch
#18 equal number Gaudy Night -Dorothy L. Sayers
The Mortal Groove - Ellen Hart
Strong Poison - Dorothy L. Sayers
#21 short work Various short stories and essays

#248 Thanks for the info regarding the 1book140, goddesspt2. I'm not much of a tweeter but if I can remember my password I'll check it out. It's pretty cool that Atwood would take the time to comment.

> 121 : I've checked my shelves, and discovered that I've been efficient (for once) and tidied up my TBR pile, so most of it is on the second shelf. I do have some L.M. Montgomery books, though I was saving them. Or I could read the kids' books - when my toddler gets cranky at bedtime, he usually empties his bookshelves onto the floor.

Mind you, I bought a mini-heap of books, and they haven't made it upstairs yet. I wonder where they'll end up?...

I requested Swamplandia! from the library today, but I'm 17th on the list, and there are only 8 copies!!! What do I do if I don't get it by the end of the month :(

Thanks so much to bell7 for posting the Two New to You challenge. I've had two Edward Bloor titles on my shelves for a while - and both of them were just books I had picked up at the used book store because they seemed interesting, but really knew nothing about them.

I just finished London Calling and it was fantastic. I think it is my first 5 star read of 2011. It's technically YA, but anyone would enjoy it. Fictional tale with history, a little bit of time travel, family relationship issues, questionable legacies, etc. - and it flows together beautifully. I couldn't put it down. Now I may need to go read the other book of his, Story Time...would I still be able to use it as part of this challenge? As of 6/1, it was one of the two books I had on my TBR stack by a new to me author.

> 243

lorax,

Add your challenge to the wiki. From there, I'll add it to the index.

Continuing on page 2 due to slow loading time...

Run! Here come the TIOLI police!!

ETA: I fixed the link.

I don't think that link's right - or is it me?

I can't get through, either.

Try this link: http://www.librarything.com/topic/117387

> 258, 261 : Thanks. I was just about to do that.

I'd skipped the May TIOLI - too much I had to get through and nothing matched the challenges. This month I hope will be different. Olive Kitteridge was at the bottom of my nighttable, right at floor level, so that's one.

I scanned my tbr for authors I hadn't yet read and found far too many pairs of books that fit the New to You challenge - my besetting sin, buying books I think I want to read and then acting as if I've already read them by buying them! So this month might be therapeutic.