Take It or Leave It Challenge - August 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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Here’s your August challenge, folks!

I challenge you to: Read a book that follows a “w” adjective tag here on LibraryThing.

Why “w”? It’s a great adjective letter. You can use it for books that are wacky, weird, whimsical, wild, wired, witty, wonderful, or wonky. You may pick your own “w” adjective. However, do NOT use the word “wishlist (a noun, anyway)” or “wishlisted”.

You may not select your own "w-adjective-tagged" book for this challenge unless you entered that tag before today. I have to trust you on this!

How to find a qualifying book:
1. Put your “w” adjective in the search box at the top of the page and press enter.
2. Go to the column on the left hand side of the page and click “tags”.
3. Click the top word (which should be the adjective you selected).
4. You’ll now see the list of qualifying books. Pick one!

When you list your book, add the adjective you’ve chosen as follows:
A Fraction of the Whole (wacky) - Steve Toltz - SqueakyChu
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (weird) - Patrick Süskind – SqueakyChu

Some tags are really strange. I just looked up “wet” and came up with a list of 45 books. Go figure!

As always, you are free to list and read a matching book at any time.

It’s now your turn to play with this. Enjoy!

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

1. The August 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 #1-6
1. Read a book that follows a "w" adjective tag here on LT - suggestions
2. Read a book with a pig-boy or pig-girl trope - thread
3. Read an Arthurian themed book - thread
4. Read a book with a three-word title, with the middle word being "of" - rules
5. Read a book in which one of the title words sounds like a letter of the alphabet
6. Read a book published by Europa Editions - suggestions - clarification

Challenges #7-12
7. Read a book that you acquired in an unusual location
8. Read a book with a friend on your profile, or make a new friend to read together - thread
9. Read a book about or set in the year that you were born - thread
10. Read a book with an element of the Periodic Table in the title - list of elements - thread
11. Read a book by an author using his/her first two initials and last name
12. Read a book with word(s) related to holidays/travel in the title

Challenges #13-18
13. Read a Western - thread
14. Read a book whose author was born in August - suggestions
15. Read a book with a food item in the title
16. Read a book where every word in the title has the same number of syllables
17. Read a biography or autobiography of a 19th century figure - thread
18. Read a book with a reference to music in the title

Challenges #19 and on
19. Read a book with an expression of greeting or parting in the title or subtitle
20. Read a book about the history of a major city or one of its neighborhoods
21. Read a Man Booker Prize 2011 longlisted book, or a previous winner
22. Read a book with an uncommon main character name - rules - reference
23. Read a book initially written in French in the original or translated version
24.

Let me know if you need more wiki pages!

Ha! You faked me out.

I have to do this to get two spots in a row! :D

I need help defining "pig-boy" and "pig-girl" story. The best I can come up with is: a poor/abused/average boy/girl/man/woman finds out s/he is special - usually fantasy.

Link to thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/121265

I never heard that term before, but I figure it's kind of like Cinderella, but for a guy as well as a girl. Right?

Cinderella qualifies, yes. I gave some examples on the thread.

Wart/King Arthur is another. *winks at calm*

Hey, Madeline, you gave me a perfect push to read Perfume which has been on my TBR for ages. Yippee!

Perfume is on my maybe list. I started it before, but, honestly, I'm trying to read too many books at the same time. I'm like a diner at an exquisite dinner banquet buffet. I just want to taste a little of everything.

*sigh*

I've got one

Challenge #3: Read an Arthurian themed Book

The story of King Arthur has been told and re-told many times over the years. For this challenge read any book that features any aspect of the Arthurian legend.

I will set up a separate thread for discussion of the characters and themes - here
http://www.librarything.com/topic/121266

To whoever is adding an extra thread to their challenge:
Please remember to link message #1 back to the main thread. That makes navigating these challenges so much easier for others. Thanks!

Thanks for the reminder Madeline - Done!

Thanks!

This challenge was chosen specifically to clear some of my NonFiction books from my TBR pile - I'm running out of room on that shelf...

CHALLENGE #4 Book of Of – Choose a book with a Three Word Title with the middle word of “of”

NOTE – ALL words count in the title, so something like The Geography of Bliss would NOT count – but you can skip subtitles. Some examples:

City of Thieves by David Benioff
House of Cards by David Ellis Dickerson
Land of Lincoln by Andrew Ferguson
School of Dreams by Edward Humes

My challenge for August: Read a book in which one of the title words sounds like a letter of the alphabet. For example, The Man in the Queue (Q) would work, but The ABC Murders would not.

ETA: If the language that the book is in is not English, the same rules would apply.

> 15

How did you ever think up that challenge, Stasia? That's very unique idea!

#15: Because The Man in the Queue has been hanging around far too long!

That's a good reason. LOL!

#17 It's just been queueing, surely?

Great! I got lucky and found this thread early, alas, I have to challenges to add this month. I am enjoying searching for books which work with my 11 in 11 challenge and I've checked my library for my w adjective to see which one will come in first and then I'll add it to Challenge #1.

#15 Stasia, would the word have to sound like a letter of the English alphabet in particular, or could other languages' alphabets count - eg Life of Pi, Pi sounds like the Greek letter pi (can't remember how to do the symbol) - not that I am wanting to read that one, just to clarify!

Challenge #6 is "Viva Europa" -- Read a book published by Europa Editions, which has its own Europa Challenge going on right now.

Their authors include Muriel Barbery (The Elegance of the Hedgehog and Gourmet Rhapsody), Laurence Cosse (A Novel Bookstore) and Alina Bronsky (Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine), as well as Amelie Nothomb.

You can find a complete list of the first 100 books (there are now a few more than that) here:
http://europachallenge.blogspot.com/p/europa-editions-books.html

My challenge is to Read a book acquired in an unusual location, to celebrate the new where from field. By "unusual", I just mean a place where you don't usually buy your books. So not the regular local bookstore or Amazon, but other bookstores are okay as long as shopping there is unusual to you!

Challenge #8 Friends Read Together Challenge
Read a book with a friend from LT - Go to the right side of your profile and choose a friend from your list and ask them to share a read with you for TIOLI - if you see a book on the wiki you want to read, make a new friend! Go to the Special thread and see what others are reading and join in! Here is the link - http://www.librarything.com/topic/121271

My challenge (#9)

Read a book about the year you were born.

By this, I mean a significant portion of the book should either (1) involve an event from the year you were born or (2) be set in the year you were born.

It doesn't have to be entirely about the year you were born or even mostly about it. Just a significant portion of it.

For example, say you were born in 1969. Reading a book about landing on the moon would be fine, as would a book about NASA (presumably, there'd be some coverage about the moon landing). However, a book in which a character thinks back for a paragraph or two about what they were doing when man landed on the moon would not be enough.

Please include the year and also the event or the fact that it was set in that year.

Once someone picks a book about a given year, as usual, anyone can match that book, even though he or she was not born that year.

I was adding mine when Zoe added hers. The same happened again while Cheli added hers.

Cheli, could you move yours between Zoe's and mine? I think it's in the wrong spot (down below where the challenges should go).

#23 Another good challenge, Suzanne. I've checked your linked then placed several books on hold at the library. I'll add whichever comes in first.

#26 Linda, that's an interesting challenge. But is there a link to a handy list of books that are about/set in particular years? I've done a bit of searching by tag within LT, but mostly people seem to use specific year tags for date read or date published, rather than for what the book is about. I did a more general search for 1960s rather than 1964 which is my birth year, and that brought up a lot more likely looking contenders, but without having read the books, it's hard to know if any of them deal with my year in particular.

#29 When I look for books for my challenge, I intend to google the year I was born and see what notable events took place that year. For instance, I know JFK's inaugural speech was in January of 1961 but what else.

I don't have an easy way of finding out what books were set in 1961. I just wanted to give people who prefer fiction an option.

I'm also thinking of searching Amazon books for the year I was born. That might lead to something.

ETA: I've set up a thread for this so people can provide ideas, mention events of a particular year or whatever. It's at:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/121276

There is Fred Kempe's book about Berlin 1961, Linda?

Oh, and Wikipedia is a good source for facts of this kind. You can then just think laterally -- if the Cuban Missile crisis happened in your year, what fiction is there based on that? (Wikipedia probably also tells you that if you look up the crisis...)

I googled 1954 (year of my birth) and had to laugh at three things still making the news!

Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at an all-time high of 382.74
The words "under God" are added to the United States Pledge of Allegiance
President Eisenhower signs into law the new social security bill funded by employers and employees

There were a couple ours that a 1954 baby might be interested in...

Rosa Parks arrest in Montgomery Alabama sets the American Civil Rights Movement in Motion
Segregation Brown v Board of Education makes segregation in US Public Schools Unconstitutional

I'm sure there are books on those.

My challenge is to read a book by an author who uses only his or her first two initials and last name. For example: A.S. Byatt, E.B. White, G.K. Chesterton, J.K. Rowling, V.S. Naipul etc.

Here's my first TIOLI Challenge:

#10: Read a book with an element of the Periodic Table in the title.

There's a handy list of the elements here; I suspect fewer than 10 will actually be used.

I have a bunch of books that fit this Challenge I've been meaning to read -- I hope it works for everybody else, too.

> 34

What a fun challenge! I recommend The Oxygen Man by Steve Yarbrough, a writer who writes about the gritty south.

It might be helpful to have a separate thread for this challenge in which others can post suggested reads.

ETA: How about this for a future TIOLI challenge? Read a book with the word "Ununquadium" in the title! ;-)

#34 That does sound like fun but I'm glad you included a list of elements. In school, science was not my thing. I remember Berillium only because it was the nickname of my science major friend.

#34 - Are embedded words acceptable? For example The Golden Compass contains "gold," The Great Santini contains "tin", etc.

I believe embedded words are traditionally acceptable throughout TIOLI but wanted to check, just in case... Thanks!

> 34, 37

Embedded words are always acceptable in the TIOLI challenges - unless contraindicated by the person presenting the challenge.

Dejah_Thoris? Acceptable or not?

> 37

Oh...The Great Santini! Excellent book by a very favorite author of mine.

>37 katiekrug:-38

I hadn't thought about it, but embeded words are fine with me!

>35 SqueakyChu:

Per your suggestion, I started a thread for Challenge #10 here. Thanks for mentioning it.

May I wish you good luck with the future Ununquadium challenge?

My challenge is to read a book with words related to going on holiday/vacation and travelling in the title (embedded words can be used). Examples of words

Holiday, vacation
(modes of travel) Plane, Train, Ferry, Boat
travel, journey, trip, expedition

I can't wait to get home tonight to see what books I have that will fit the challenges this time (especially among those that I really want to read this month).

#22 Peggy, I like the music challenge, but I'm not seeing it posted.

#14 Patrick, I have been determined to read Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals this year. Maybe your challenge will be the nudge for me to finally do it.

Now that I'm calming down from the excitement of posting my first Challenge, I see that there are some really great Challenges already -- I can tell I'm going to develop a list of books for August that's much, much to optimistic to be realistic. But that's part of the fun, right?

#24 - Zoe, for your challenge, would ERs and ARCs count, since they are generally straight from the publisher?

#43 It IS exciting every month. I always include at least twice as many books as I ever finish.

There are some interesting challenges this month, as usual. For Cheli's, I've started sending out notes to friends proposing that we both read a book. If anyone's got any mysteries that they're considering, let me know (if I haven't already read it) and I might consider it.

Madeline, I'd already planned a challenge this month of reading a western. I thought I would just subsume it into your challenge, but changed my mind because for once I wanted to be more specific. So my challenge is read an American Western or a book set in the western part of your country. Here are my planned reads:
The Big Sky A. B. Guthrie Jr.
Borderline Nevada Barr
Death Comes for the Archbishop Willa Cather Nook
Doc: A Novel Mary Doria Russell Nook
Indian Killer Sherman Alexie
Native Star M. K. Hobson Nook
So Much to Be Done: Women Settlers on the Mining and Ranching Frontier Ruth Barnes Moynihan
Streets of Laredo Larry McMurtry Nook
A Thief of Time Tony Hillerman
Thirteenth Child - Patricia C. Wrede
True Grit Charles Portis
The Way West A. B. Guthrie Jr.

My challenge is to read a book whose author was born in August.

You can check the LT home page, lower right corner, for daily suggestions. And I've compiled a short list of suggestions: Edna Ferber, H P Lovecraft, Janet Frame, Knut Hamsun, Martin Amis, P D James, Ray Bradbury, Robertson Davies, Stephen Fry, William Goldman.

If you want an interesting "w" adjective for the main challenge. Look here: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_some_adjectives_that_begin_with_the_letter_W

Anyone for wicked or womanly?

Great list, Linda, I say in a weathered, wizened, wistful fashion.

#49 This was eye-opening to me. I use tags only for topics (such as weather) and time read, not for witty, wintry, or wobbly books.

Here's a list of authors with August birthdays:
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art40626.asp

You have some heavy authors to choose from there, Dejah. It could be a chance for anyone who hasn't done so to read Frankenstein.

Oooh, I have Shadow Puppets by Orson Scott Card from the library.

Actually, the August Birthday Challenge isn't mine -- it's jeanned's -- but I had no idea what authors were born in August. When I found the list, I thought I'd share it.

I know what you mean, though, about that author list -- it weighs in on the more serious side of the reading spectrum (Dorothy Parker, excepted). Frankenstein is a great choice -- a classic and short!

It might be time for me to reread Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card -- it's a great book. We'll see.

Here's a (brief) list of some mystery authors with August birthdays. Not too many, at least when compared to other months, apparently.

http://mall.turnpike.net/~mystery/tmg/birthdays.html

Carolyn Hart is one of my favorites.

Here's another list, with some less "heavy" authors, such as Danielle Steel

http://www.ejknapp.com/author-birthdays/author-birthdays-for-august/

>51 Dejah_Thoris:: Thanks for that. I had found a few lists but nothing I was satisfied with posting.

I posted a challenge! Read a book with a food item in the title. Examples:

The Honey Thief
The Killer Pancake
The Cider House Rules

>47 jeanned:: I have started a new thread for suggestions and links to lists of authors born in August. I will also copy the links that the rest of you have so kindly provided.

These are so creative! And I actually have books that match. Now, if only I can find the time to get to them!

>15 alcottacre:: Stasia, does the word "in" count?

I posted a challenge:

Challenge #16: Read a Book where every word in the title has the same number of syllables

Every word in the title counts (including short words like the, of, a, an, and).
Books with a single word title don't count

Books I'm thinking of reading for this challenge are:

Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett

#61 -- So if a title begins with "the" or there's an "a" in the title, it's essentially single-syllables only, right? Just clarifying...

#62 Yep.

For the unusual location challenge, I'd say that books received directly from the publisher should count as long as that's relatively uncommon for you (if you have a popular book blog and receive unsolicited books in the mail every week, then not so much).

Unsolicited books in the mail? I should be so lucky! I will include one that I got unsolicited, and one that I won on Twitter, and one that I got at BookExpo. Maybe one that I picked up at a sidewalk sale.

I've added Challenge #17 - Eminent Victorians: read a biography or autobiography of a nineteenth-century figure.

I'm going to spend nearly two weeks in August staying in one of my favourite places, a residential library now known as Gladstone's Library after the 19th century British politician whose personal library formed the basis of the collection, and in whose memory this unique (at least in the UK) institution was created.

I thought it was high time I actually read the one biography of Gladstone which I already own: Gladstone: the making of a Christian politician (no touchstone), or, as that looks a little dry, I might wait until I get to the library and borrow the more recent book by Roy Jenkins: Gladstone.

Other options include the original Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey, a seminal work in the development of biographical writing apparently.

I may also get round to the recent biography of Beatrix Potter - Beatrix Potter: the extraordinary life of a Victorian genius, by Linda Lear. I found myself querying the subtitle of this book on another thread, because I don't think of B Potter as a Victorian, and more than half her life was lived in the 20th century. But she was born in 1866 so she certainly counts for this challenge.

To clarify: For the purposes of this challenge, the subject of the biography must either have been born or have died between 1800 and 1900. They can be of any nationality of course.

All you biography readers out there - or those who keep meaning to read biographies - do you have any other recommendations or suggestions?

Zoe - does borrowing from another LTer count as an unusual location, since it doesn't happen very often?

#24 I love the unusual location challenge. I've been busy moving my 'where from' data from the comments field into this new field, so that is reminding me of some of the more obscure places I've got books from - I'll have to have a look and see what the most unusual ones are.

I inserted a book borrowed from kidzdoc in here because I borrowed it from him while we were in San Francisco! *grin* That counts as unique, not just unusual.

Genny, I'm delighted about extending this to 1800; I can read something about Charles Lamb in here. I've been reading a lot about that group of people, and would really recommend Young Romantics by Daisy Hay. Their dates of death are after 1800...

And if it's anywhere, then I can ponder a Russian biography... or even the group bio of Kaiser Wilhelm, Nicholas II of Russia and George V of England, all born in the 1800s.

BTW -- Peggy, add your challenge to the wiki!!! I'm itching to add Jude Morgan's Symphony to it. Or even Appassionata by Eva Hoffman.

>66 gennyt: - Awesome - I can finally force myself to read the bio of Lucy Maud Montgomery that I have had forever - she was born in 1874!

>67 cyderry: Sure, anything unusual to you is good!

>68 gennyt: I'm glad you like it!

O.K. First I didn't know how to add to the wiki; then I did.

Challenge #18: MUSIC: Read a book with a reference to music in the title.

I'd even accept Scales of Justice....

Eep! Late to the game this time! Stupid time-zones! :)

My challenge this month is the Hello / Goodbye Challenge - read a book with an expression of greeting or parting in the title or subtitle - that is, hello, hi, good morning, how are you?, how do you do? - or alternatively, goodbye, bye, farewell, see you, so long... Non-English language greetings / partings are allowed, but please translate them on the wiki.

For this challenge, I will be reading And Now Good-Bye by James Hilton.

Edited to add: this is Challenge #19.

#72 Peggy - do references to 'orchestra' or 'waltz' count?

I need to take a poll. There's an entry on my challenge #1 for the tag "witty banter". Banter is a noun.The "ayes" have it! Thanks, everyone.

I'm having a lot of fun adding titles to the wiki from my GIANT tbr pile for August. Several for Madeline's challenge and no doubt more to be added; I've got books with two initials, books with equal numbers of syllables (I love writing haiku, so this appeals to me)

Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature is waiting for me at the library right now Genny, so I'll be adding it to your challenge (it's the same book as yours by the way).

Also have a French YA book with the word 'mélodie' in the title, so I'm about to add it to your challenge Peggy!

#75 Stupid question: wouldn't just 'witty' work on it's own?

#76 That's great - yes I'd noticed that this was another book with a different title in different countries. I think 'A life in nature' is a better subtitle than 'A Victorian Genius'!

Gah! Anyone else have that experience where everything you read LAST month fits a challenge THIS month!?

On the other hand, I'm cleaning up on the "same number of syllables" challenge, so thank you, Heather! :)

>74 gennyt: Absolutely, Genny!

Def witty banter should be fine -- banter is just a repetition of witty. And witty is listed. I wouldn't go with banter on its own, but the w adjective is there...

My challenge (#20) is to Read a book about the history of a major city or one of its neighborhoods. The city can be domestic or foreign to you, someplace you've lived in, visited, or wish to visit, and its history can be ancient or relatively recent. I hope to read the following books this month:

Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire by Iain Sinclair (the history of the London Borough of Hackney)
Harlem: The Four Hundred Year History from Dutch Village to Capital of Black America by Jonathan Gill
London: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd
Paris and Elsewhere by Richard Cobb
Real Bloomsbury by Nicholas Murray

Do you KNOW how thick Ackroyd's London book is???????? Just askin'...

Hmm, would Death in the City of Light count? Or David King's other book, about Vienna at the time of the Congress of Vienna?

I removed Who was changed and who was dead from Heather's equal syllable challenge as someone pointed out the 'changed' had 2 syllables. But on checking at a couple of online syllable checkers & wiki answers - they have all said it has 1 syllable. So I'll be putting it back in later on unless there is more disagreement on the number of syllables in the word.

#83 I would have said you are fine to count it as one syllable, unless you are going for a very old-fashioned pronounciation chang-ed. It's a lot of letters but most of us manage to crunch them all together as 'chang'd'.

'Changed' has one syllable the way I pronounce it! :)

>82 Chatterbox: Do you KNOW how thick Ackroyd's London book is????????

It's sitting here besides me on my kitchen table (the original hardback version), which is tilted on one side by its weight. It's been sitting on my shelf for a long time, and I'm determined to finish it above the others. The Harlem book is nearly 500 pages long, and Iain Sinclair's book on Hackney is nearly 600 pages long. Real Bloomsbury will likely come with me to London, as will Paris and Elsewhere, as they are much shorter works.

I'll read far fewer books this month, and I may not read many other TIOLI books this month, unless someone creates a Booker Prize challenge.

I read the synopsis of Death in the City of Light, and it doesn't seem to fit my challenge very well:

Death in the City of Light is the gripping, true story of a brutal serial killer who unleashed his own reign of terror in Nazi-Occupied Paris. As decapitated heads and dismembered body parts surfaced in the Seine, Commissaire Georges-Victor Massu, head of the Brigade Criminelle, was tasked with tracking down the elusive murderer in a twilight world of Gestapo, gangsters, resistance fighters, pimps, prostitutes, spies, and other shadowy figures of the Parisian underworld.

Vienna 1814 doesn't seem to fit well, either:

Leaders from the world's five major diplomatic forces—Great Britain, France, Austria, Prussia and Russia—convened in Vienna in 1814 to found a new order for post-Napoleonic Europe. Historian King (Finding Atlantis) calls it the greatest and most lavish party in history, at which delegates would plot, scheme, jockey for position, and, in short, infuriate each other as they competed in affairs of state and the heart.

Darryl, Is a book on a particular time period or event in a city's history acceptable? I am thinking maybe not, given your reaction to Suz's two contenders, but I would like to read The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic and How It Changed Science, Cities and the Modern World by Steven Johnson. I also have a few others about specific episodes in the histories of Chicago and New York....

Why do you not think Death in the City of Light fits your challenge? I would think it does because it's part of the history of the city but Vienna 1914 isn't really about Vienna and so doesn't fit. Would one about a short historical period - my example is Berlin during WWII - fit?

I confess, I'd hoped you'd start a Booker challenge, but I will have to hope someone else starts one....

On August birthdays thread, I looked up Nicole Krauss, as I might have tried to pick up one of her first two books, but according to Wikipedia she was born in January. Do you have a source for her birthday? I am glad to see another opportunity to pick up Diana Wynne Jones.

>87 katiekrug: Is a book on a particular time period or event in a city's history acceptable?

Hmm...I would say yes, as long as the focus is on a major event in the city's history, although it isn't exactly what I had in mind. And, if that's the case, then I should permit Suz's first book after all.

>88 elkiedee: Maybe Cait (or someone else) can start a Booker challenge?

Thanks, Darryl. I will make sure to only list a book in which the city is a major focus - not just where something happened to occur.

Grin -- thanks! I did hope it would fit, as it's as much about the city's experiences under Nazi rule as about the crimes. (Which is why I got it from Amazon Vine...)

86 -- Nope, you won't be reading anything much else!! Especially if you have Georges Perec on the list as well. I'll have to figure out where I stashed that one. I may join you in "Hackney", but I'll see what else I have going on. Or I may add Solomon Volkov's cultural history of St. Petersburg to the list, as it's on my 11 in 11 challenge list and I'm behind on that.

Luci, yes, I was kind of counting on Darryl to launch the Booker challenge -- oh well, there is always next month! But I've got challenges lined up for the next three months, so it won't be me.

>88 elkiedee:: Nicole Krauss was born in January. Nicola Kraus was born in August.

Alrighty then - Challenge #21: Read a book from the Man Booker Prize 2011 longlist, or a previous winner

Here is this year's Man Booker Prize longlist,

and here is a list of previous Man Booker Prize winners.

>93 madhatter22: Yay!

#21: Sorry, Genny, that it took so long - if the book is in English, then the title word must be a letter in that language, so The Life of Pi would not work for this challenge - unless you are reading the book in Greek.

> 94

Yay!

:)

#60: Nope. The letter is pronounced 'en,' so I cannot give in on that. Sorry, Jeanne.

I too was half expecting to see a Booker challenge, but I suppose I can launch one myself.

Here goes:

Challenge 21(?) Read a book from the 2011 Booker Prize longlist, or from the longlist of a previous year.

I will be back to insert links, etc. after I post this to the Wiki.

ETA: I see Madhatter is already on top of this. Never mind!

So far I've been able to find challenges for quite a few of the Children's/YA books that I'll be continuing to read through August, which is awesome.

Also pretty neat: I was able to fit in Pearl of China the recent novel by Anchee Min and an ER book. But before I start on that one, since it's about Pearl S. Buck who is one of the characters in the book, I figure I really MUST at least read The Good Earth first. It's been sitting on my shelf way too long. Anyone have suggestions as to where it might fit in?

Ilana, how about challenge 16, every word has the same number of syllables?

>97 alcottacre:: Okay, Stasia, I took mine off the list, but you've got some others in there as well. Shame, I was excited to find a challenge to fit Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim.

#100 Boy, I must be really tired today if I didn't manage to spot that one on my own. Especially considering I've been poring over my tbr list and studying the challenges to match them up for the better part of the day. LOL

Thanks Anne!

#101: Sorry, Jeanne.

Madhatter and Anne, thank you. Madhatter got in first though!

I hadn't realised there was a Nicola Kraus, that's useful clarification. However, I think that the book listed, Great House is by Nicole Krauss. Nicola Kraus's LT page doesn't show a book with the same title.

General Announcement Regarding Challenge #5: If you put a book on the list with the word 'in' in the title, that word does not match the letter N. I even consulted the dictionary to be sure. The letter N is pronounced 'en,' not 'in.' Sorry, folks but you will need to remove those books.

Does "concert" count as a reference to music? A book I am reading has the UK title The Concert Ticket.

Madeline, I'm listening to "The Likeness which 2 people have tagged "wip". I don't know what that means. I'd love to list it, what do you think?

> 107 Could be Work In Progress.

#107 -- in journalism "wip" stands for "work in progress". Dunno of any other meaning. It could mean that they're reading it?? Madeline, any thoughts?

In cross stitch WIP also stands for work in progress :)

> 107

Well, if wip means "work in progress", that phrase certainly is *not* an adjective. I think I have to say no on that one, Joyce. "Work in progress" would be a noun with a prepositional phrase! :)

Wow, what an amazing list of challenges for the month! I was born in August, so I want to read something for the author-born-in-August challenge. And I want to read The Monkey Wrench Gang for my local book group; I can fit it in #7 because I bought it at a bookstore attached to a pub where I attended a "Science on Tap" lecture (and I had never been to that bookstore before).

It will take me a while to sort through all these and see where some of my TBRs might fit.

Oh boy.

Science on Tap. Sounds like LibraryThing Gone Wild.
Shoot about the wip, I bet you're all right.

> 113 LOL ---- Yes, I could well imagine that a few LTers would wander into "Science on Tap." It's actually pretty low-key and I learned a bit about current research in genetics. And how cool to have a bookstore/pub/restaurant all-in-one. :-)

Since I can't find a challenge to fit the current book that I'm reading, I will create a new one. :)

Uncommon Name Challenge
Read a book where the main character's name is NOT ranked within the top 100 names within the last 11 years.

Please use the following website (http://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/) to enter in the name to search the ranking within the last 11 years. There is a search box on the bottom right hand side of the page. Enter in the name, click on Go. Ensure that the chosen name is not listed as a top 100 (100 and higher is okay, 99 and lower is not okay) name in the last 11 years. Indicate the year and the lowest ranking score (highest number) if applicable.

For example:
(Boy - Emmett 2000/740)

#115: I know Stasia is not on the list! Find books with Stasia as a main character :)

Hahaha..Stasia, it's okay. My name didn't crack the top 100 either!

#117: I went back 20 years not just 11. lol

Now that's a fun challenge. My name is very unpopular, but in the year I was born it was the 20th most popular girl's name. And here I thought my parents were more unique than that.

You know you are addicted when it's 2am in the morning and you can't sleep because you HAVE to come up with a challenge so no reads are wasted! Lets hope I can sleep now..haha

#120: You need to add that as a reason to the 'You Know You Are A TIOLI Addict When. . .' wiki page, Valerie!

Okay, this is the damage thus far for August. I know I will be adding and subtracting yet though.

Challenge 1: Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Challenge 4: Arc of Justice by Kevin Boyle
Challenge 5: The Man in the Queue by Josephine Tey
Challenge 5: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Challenge 6: Bone China by Roma Tearne
Challenge 8: The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna (with Kerry)
Challenge 8: The Likeness by Tana French (with Joyce)
Challenge 13: Doc by Mary Doria Russell
Challenge 13: Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede
Challenge 14: A Drink Before the War by Dennis Lehane
Challenge 16: The Climb Up to Hell by Jack Olsen
Challenge 16: If I Stay by Gayle Forman
Challenge 16: Old New York by Edith Wharton
Challenge 16: Dead to Me by Anton Strout
Challenge 16: How Should We Then Live? by Francis A. Schaeffer
Challenge 16: Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York by Luc Sante
Challenge 16: Young Men and Fire by Norman MacLean

My name hasn't been in the 1000 most popular names for girls since 1994. The year I was born it was #154, and at the height of its popularity (1962), it was #42.

Now, off to go find a book...

Could you adjust my theme a bit? I changed the wording slightly.

2. Read a book with a pig-boy or pig-girl trope

ETA: (My name) is not in the top 1000 names for any year of birth in the last 11 years. Heh. The height of its popularity was 253th in 1924. It fell out of the top 1000 in 1976.

A question for Suzanne: many of the Europa books, at least the ones which are translations from French, are published in the UK by Gallic Books. I have one I could read which is published as French Leave by Europa in the US and Breaking Away by Gallic in the UK (the French title is L'Echappee Belle and I've already done a bit of LT page editing based on checking the synopsis and details on Amazon). Is that ok? I will list under the Europa title with mine in brackets if so, and if I read it!

The Gallic books version can be downloaded for Kindle here for £1.99 - there are other Gallic publications available quite cheap (but I can't recommend Guillaume Musso's book even at 99p - I gave it 2* on Amazon - my most negative Vine review so far!) Does Europa publish his work?

#125 Oops, I added The Elegance of the Hedgehog to the wiki without even noticing it was published by Gallic rather than Europa. Let me know if that's ok or not.

My planned TIOLI reads for August:

River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh (challenge #4)
Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire by Iain Sinclair (challenge #20)
Harlem: The Four Hundred Year History from Dutch Village to Capital of Black America by Jonathan Gill (challenge #20)
London: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd (challenge #20)
Paris and Elsewhere by Richard Cobb (challenge #20)
Real Bloomsbury by Nicholas Murray (challenge #20)
A Cupboard Full of Coats by Yvvette Edwards (challenge #21)
Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch (challenge #21)
Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman (challenge #21)
The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst (challenge #21)
Pao by Kerry Young (challenge #22)

Several of these books are doorstoppers, and I'm not sure that I'll get to all of them. If I do, I have a couple of other books to add for other challenges, particularly the one for Europa Editions.

Obviously, the person who says the letter N is pronounced "en" instead of "in" doesn't live in East Tennessee (or in Mississippi). Those southern drawls certainly pronounce it that way!

N is pronounced "AY-uhn" in Georgia (outside of Atlanta).

#128: Sorry, Lori, but I do not live in East Tennessee :) I did try to be fair and consult Webster before declaring 'in' out.

LOL - I guess that some Southerners would just say that Webster's was written by a Yankee. ;-)

#131: I am a Yankee!

I really like lots of these challenges. So far this is my list:

- The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst for the Booker challenge
-The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway for the music one (Peggy, is that ok or do musicians not count?)
- Lords of Finance for the 3 words and "of" challenge
- The Periodic Table by Primo Levi for the "Reading with a friend" challenge, with Kerry and dejah_thoris
- Consequences by E.M. Delafield for the 2 initials challenge
- Salonica: City of Ghosts by Mark Mazower for Darryl's city challenge, or Paris: Biography of a City by Colin Jones (both these have languished FOREVER on my bookshelves
- Stalin by Simon Sebag Montefiore for Genny's Victorian biography challenge.

The last 3 of those are huge, so something will have to give...maybe laundry and dishes!

> 115

Since I can't find a challenge to fit the current book that I'm reading, I will create a new one

You're not the first person to do this, Valerie!

>132 alcottacre: Here we all thought you were a Texan! Actually, I do have New England ancestry, and they are my favorite ancestors because they were diverse in their occupations than my Southern and midwestern ancestors who mostly were farmers (although one was a sawyer in once census, a mechanic in the next, and then a farmer from there on out).

I was just trying really hard to fit another book I wanted to read into a TIOLI challenge this month. I actually waited until others had posted the "in" for "N" before doing so. I'm having trouble making the books I want to read this month fit into the current TIOLI categories unless someone wants to share them with me except for a few that have the same number of syllables. I did find one book on a library list that fit the periodic tables challenge, and one of the books I had as a possibility for West Virginia in my 50 States challenge fit the musical one. I guess I just won't have as many TIOLI reads this month.

> 115


Please use the following website

That's a fun reference! I spent quite a while playing with it!

#135: Sorry, Lori. Maybe you will stumble across another book that will fit a TIOLI challenge for the month.

I have lived in Texas for 35+ years, but I still consider myself to be a Pennsylvanian.

#40: Luci, would you consider 'road' a travel word? I was thinking of reading Road to Oxiana, but wanted to make sure it would qualify for your challenge before I add it to the wiki.

> 120

You know you are addicted when it's 2am in the morning and you can't sleep because you HAVE to come up with a challenge so no reads are wasted!

Precious!

I added your quote to this list. :)

> 124

Could you adjust my theme a bit?

Done.

> 133

...something will have to give...maybe laundry and dishes!

I so agree! :)

For Challenge #8 - Read a Book with a Friend - I would like to try to read Case Histories this month, if cbl_tn and lahochstetler don't mind me horning in? :-)

(Cross-posted to challenge thread)

I am adding (already?!) The Spirit of the Ghetto by Hutchins Hapgood to Darryl's challenge #20.

>115 jolerie:

Does it have to be the main character -- or just any "significant" character? I'm another LTer trying to fit in a current read and right now it's In the Garden of Beasts. Could I use "Adolph"? It hasn't ever been in the top 100 names! :-)

> 115

What does (0/0) mean? Zero in any year?

>133 cushlareads: Cushla, as far as I'm concerned "cellist" references music. Welcome to the challenge!

I've added From the Observatory by Julio Cortázar to the author with August birthdays challenge. It was just published by Archipelago Books, and it's a very short book (just over 80 pages, half of which contain full page photos taken by the author).

#137 I can soooooo relate. I've lived in Florida for 25 years and still consider myself a Connecticut Yankee.

Since I couldn't let a group read remain un-wikied, here is my challenge:

Challenge #23: Read a book initially written in French in the original or translated version

This was mostly to accommodate Life a User's Manual (La vie mode d'emploi) by Georges Perec, for which Darryl (kidzdoc) started a group thread.

For other books, you may list the book's name in the English version but please include the original title if possible (see example on the wiki).

I've also listed some books in French only since they are not available in translation.

Valerie, I'm SO happy about your challenge, because I've been meaning to read I Am the Great Horse by Katherine Roberts for the past month now and was sad to see it wouldn't fit any challenges until yours came along.

Since the horse's name is Bucephalus, I'm fairly sure it hasn't been in use for a while.

eta: It's official "Bucephalus is not in the top 1000 names for any year of birth in the last 11 years."

Big surprise eh? :-)

eta 2: Well, I've managed to fit no less than 26 of my 32 planned reads into various TIOLI challenges this month. That's got to be a record of some kind. I'll list some of those books here later (will leave out those that rank over 1,000,000 in popularity...)

>149 Smiler69: Thanks, Ilana! I've added Life A User's Manual to your challenge.

My name hasn't been in the top 100 since before I was born and becomes less used every year. Now I'm wondering how to incorporate the knowledge that my name has become 'old-fashioned' into my world view.

#151 My pleasure Darryl.

#152 Jeanne, all it means is that it should become the hight of fashion anytime soon now. ;-)

Is it any big surprise if my name hasn't been in the top 1000 in the past 100 years? *huh!*

24>>> Challenge #7 Read a book that you acquired in an unusual location

Do LT ER books count since you never sure you're going to win, or when it will arrive?

Speaking of challenge #7, I hope it's ok that I added a book that comes from a mystery place/person. The book is The Red Pony by John Steinbeck, it's obviously rather old, and while I at the very least have a vague notion about where most of my books come from, this one truly baffles me.

And I've added a book to the Challenge #8 wiki that I will read with Stasia, except that Stasia probably won't add it until tonight.....

> 149

Since I couldn't let a group read remain un-wikied

Haha!

Madeline, 0/0 means it was has never cracked the top 1000 lists at any time (span of 11 years) so 0 year and 0 popularity..haha :)

I just added a book to challenge number 7. I received an email from the author of That Day In September asking if I would read and review his book for the 10th anniversary of 9/11. That is the first time I have received an email from an author. The book arrived today.

Luci -- if the book has been published by Europa, you are free to read any other published version of the same book that is available where you live. That means folks in other European countries can read them in their original editions, you can read them in the UK editions, etc. -- but do please indicate the Europa title (if it's different) in the wiki. If you follow that Europa link in the original challenge post, you'll find which books/authors are published by them; there are also links there to their summer/fall catalogs.

160: That works for Heather too - and if I can find it, I might read The Gourmet by Muriel Barbery (I assume that's the same as Gourmet Rhapsody) - I really enjoyed Hedgehog last year. I found that particular Europa book because I was adding it to my acquisitions as well as this morning's post (5 review books including a surprise one as well as the 4 I expected).

Stasia, I think your example is stretching my challenge but I'll put in a bit of elastic and go along with it, as I'm considering a couple of "train to" titles (though I'm a bit intimidated by having 7 review books only one of which I've begun outstanding - 5 of them are non fiction too).

#161 - My vacations usually involve driving, thanks to a hubby who hates to fly, so "road" reflects my holiday experiences more than anything else (specifically, really boring interstate highways!) :) Thanks for the flexibility...

Wow - I've had a very succesful raid on the TBR pile! Some of these books have been languishing for years...I hope to get to:

#4 Titles in form of three words with 'of' in the middle: Horses of heaven by Gillian Bradshaw; Storm of wings by Chris Bunch; Bridge of birds by Barry Hughart; Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher
#5 Title with word that sounds like letter from alphabet; Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys shared read
#10 Title from periodic table: Quicksilver by Garfield Reeves-Stevens
#16 Title has words with same no. of syllables; Under heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay
#18 Title has a reference to music; Dark symphony by Christine Feehan

ETA: Couldn't get anywhere with Dark symphony - complete tosh!

katiekrug- of course you are welcome on the Case Histories bandwagon- the more the merrier!

For challenge 5, would books with the word "a" count? For instance, A Distant Mirror?

For the unusual source, it's really up to you whether you consider a given source unusual or not.

> 163 Dark Symphony would qualify for the Musical Challenge I would think.

#161: Thanks, Luci. I will add the book to the wiki.

I have officially overcommitted myself on the wiki for this month. I'll be removing lots. I know some of the ones I just added will probably not get read, but I guess I can push myself and see how much I can read!

#157 I thought you might get a kick out of that Madeline :-)

I had noticed that Farewell, Miss Zukas was entered in Challenges #8 and 19. Just wondered if everyone wanted to combine their reading under one challenge?

That reminds me, I think I remember seeing Heartless listed in two different challenges for July too.

I'm going to read lullabies for little criminals for the "Unusual Name" challenge. The main character is named Baby, which is not anywhere near the top 100 for the past 11 years. :-)

I've decided to give TIOLI a real try this month, so I've got the following reads lined up:

Challenge 1: The Call of the Wild - Jack London (wild)
Challenge 2: The Harry Potter series - J.K. Rowling
Challenge 4: Built of Books - Thomas Wright
Challenge 11: The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
Challenge 11: Please Ignore Vera Dietz - A.S. King
Challenge 11: A Room with a View - E.M. Forster

I was just scanning some of the names listed for the Uncommon Name challenge and was pleasantly tickled by some of the absurd ones there like "Stopmouth". What a name!

>173 EBT1002: I was actually really surprised that "Baby" even ranked at all!

>174 MickyFine: :) So fun!!

Here's my list so far:

#1: Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (wonderful)
#7: The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey
#11: The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt (there are several others I want to add to this challenge, but I'm trying to be somewhat realistic.....)
#13: Another Man's Moccasins by Craig Johnson (next in this delightful series set in WY)
#14: still working on this -- something by Ray Bradbury?? James Baldwin??
#15: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
#18: The Long Song by Andrea Levy
#22: Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill
#23: Life a User's Manual by Georges Perec

Whew! I doubt I'll get through all them but I once heard something about an old college try. At least it's August and I have a week of vacation planned!

>175 jolerie: I was also surprised to see "Baby" ranked at all.

> 174

I've decided to give TIOLI a real try this month

Hooray!!

>177 EBT1002: I thought I was done my selections for this month but I noticed 2 books (The Children's Book, Lullabies for Little Criminals on your list that I have sitting on my shelves that I want to get to...so I guess I will be adding another 2 books to the challenges for shared reads...yikes!

Another month of overindulgence - I have 22 books listed with lots of shared reads. I never learn! I will give priority to those shared reads.

#171 We'd consolidated the last Miss Zukas book under #8. Thanks for pointing this out.

#180: I feel your pain, Kerry :)

Well I have done TIOLI a few times and I am doing some more again this month. I doubt I will have as many as you all have listed. So here is mine:

Challenge #2: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling; I maybe able to add Chamber of Secrets since I am trying to read the whole series again.
Challenge #7: That Day In September by Artie Van Why
Challenge #11: The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (love this book and this gives me a reason to re-read it!!)
Challenge #16: Book Lust by Nancy Pearl

I have a few others I am just not sure if I will be able to find them so won't add them until I can locate them.

Another month of great challenges and again I'm having trouble narrowing it down. Here are my current options:

Challenge #1 Catch-22, The Sisters Brothers
Challenge #2 River Secrets
Challenge #3 The Dark Is Rising
Challenge #4 Sea of Poppies, Song of Solomon, State of Wonder, Testament of Youth
Challenge #5 Little Bee
Challenge #6 Hygiene and the Assassin
Challenge #7 Fingersmith
Challenge #9 The Watsons Go To Birmingham-1963
Challenge #10 Silver on the Tree
Challenge #11 A House for Mr. Biswas (finish) AND Snowdrops
Challenge #12 That Old Cape Magic
Challenge #13 Blood Meridian or Death Comes for the Archbishop
Challenge #14 Moby Dick
Challenge #16 Three Day Road, Still Life, The School of Night, One Good Turn, The War of the End of the World
Challenge #18 Captain Corelli's Mandolin Or The Long Song Or A Dance to the Music of Time
Challenge #20 St. Petersburg: A Cultural History OR A History of Venice OR Parisians: An Adventure History of Paris (can't decide which of these tomes I'd like to tackle but I'll read one)
Challenge #21 A Cupboard Full of Coats, Pigeon English
Challenge #22 The Eyre Affair, Jar City

>179 jolerie: Go, jolerie, go!!!! lol

>184 AnneDC: Oh, you have some good ones in there, books on my TBR list ( Little Bee and Fingersmith, to be precise).... I may be adding to my lists. I loved Corelli's Mandolin when I read it a few years ago and Death Comes for the Archbishop is pure art.

>172 _Zoe_: Oh that's right...I meant to move mine out of the middle initial challenge to get the points....

#176 Ellen, there are mixed reviews on The Children's Book (can't find the $^%$# touchstone!), but it was one of my first reads of the year, and I loved it so much I plan to re-read it after I've investigated some of the many threads it leads to.

I've also be meaning to read Lullabies for Little Criminals ever since I got it a few years back, but I'm not sure I can handle the subject matter at this time... might hit too close to home, so I'll wait till I'm ready for it, but I heard great things about it and hope you enjoy.

***

Well, as I mentioned in #150, I've managed to place *a few* of my planned reads in various challenges this month. I'm continuing with a focus on Children's & YA in August, though not exclusively. Here is my 'slightly' ambitious list—only showing the ones that have more than just my copy on LT in case anyone wants to share reads:

#1: To Kill a Mockingbird (white) by Harper Lee
#1: Watership Down (wild) by Richard Adams
#1: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (white) by Betty Smith
#1: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (wonderful) by Kate DiCamillo
#1: The Jungle Book (wild) by Rudyard Kipling
#1: The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling (whimsical) by Maryrose Wood
#1: The Art of Looking Sideways (wonderful) by Alan Fletcher
#4: Pearl of China by Anchee Min
#7: The Red Pony by John Steinbeck
#7: Beware, Princess Elizabeth by Carolyn Meyer
#11: Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
#11: Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
#11: The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I by M.T. Anderson
#11: From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
#14: Cart & Cwidder by Diana Wynne Jones
#15: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
#16: The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
#16: Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo
#16: Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett
#17: Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature by Linda Lear
#22: I Am the Great Horse by Katherine Roberts (Bucephalus!)
#23: Life A User's Manual (La vie mode d'emploi) by Georges Perec
#23: Destins de Chiens by Benjamin Lacombe

At the risk of completely overextending myself, these will be my challenges for the month of August:

#15:The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradely
#11:The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt
#4:City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
#4:Life of Pi by Yann Martel
#5:The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
#5:Little Bee by Chris Cleave
#16:The Ten Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer
#22:Graceling by Kristin Cashore
#22:Devastation by Gloria Skurzynski
#22:Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill
#13:Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede

Most of the books will be shared reads so I'm super excited about that!

>188 jolerie: Wow Jolerie, that's quite a list - you've just moved The five people you meet in heaven and Graceling further up my to-do list! Unfortunately, The thirteenth child hasn't made it to my local library yet.

ETA: Ahah! - the library does have City of bones!

I'm adding Bossypants by Tina Fey to the unpopular name challenge. Tina was popular in the 50's through 80's, but no more, which I found a bit of a surprise. I wish I could listen to it on audio, but alas, my library has it only in print and it's taken me months to get.

I hope I can get these all done.

#2 Lady Friday
#2 The Lost Hero
#2 The Red Pyramid
#7 The Borgia Betrayal
#7 Fireworks Over Toccoa
#8 Fatal Remedies
#8 Beaglemania
#8 A Great Deliverance
#8 If Books Could Kill
#8 The Last Boy
#8 The siege of Washington : the untold story of the twelve days that shook the Union
#11 Prophecy

We've made it to #1 on Hot Topics!

Adding a few to my list, so here's the new, updated, revised, totally unrealistic list of August reads for Ellen:

#1: Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (wonderful)
#4: East of Eden by John Steinbeck
#5: Little Bee by Chris Cleave
#7: The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey
#11: The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt
#11: Awakening by S.J. Bolton
#13: Another Man's Moccasins by Craig Johnson (next in this delightful series set in WY)
#14: Close Range by E. Annie Proulx
#15: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
#16: Just Kids by Patti Smith
#18: The Long Song by Andrea Levy
#22: Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill
#23: Life a User's Manual by Georges Perec

192> Very cool that we've made it to #1 under Hot Topics.

I'm absolutely astonished by the names that have become uncommon -- Annie/Anne and Maggie are uncommon; Nicholas isn't. Go figure...

It is remarkable how many of the authors in my TBR were born in July. It's very inconsiderate of them.

I've added Emma to Challenge 5; sounds like the letter M, if that's OK, since I have to read it for the Austenathon this month.

And I notice that "Quicksilver" is listed under silver for the Periodic Elements challenge, but it's also an old name for mercury - just in case you wanted another element for the list.

Hmmm, if Emma will count for #5, I will add it too, since I am not going to complete it by midnight tonight for the July challenge (sorry, Madeline!).

#196/197: Sorry Nina and Ellen, Emma will not work for challenge 5. The word in the book title must be pronounced the same as the alphabetical letter.

198> that's kinda what I thought. I'll take it back off. (worth a try though!! lol)

Nina and Ellen - just be friends and read Emma for Challenge 8!

Great idea! I'm up for it if you are, Nina.

Nina and Ellen, how about reading Emma under Challenge 8? Read with a friend.

Anne, by the way, I don't think Old Cape Magic fits my challenge - holiday/travel needs to be suggested by the title or word(s) therein. Sorry!

#199: Yes, it was worth a try and Cheli's idea works out better for you, IMHO :)

Great minds think alike! 2 of us suggested the same solution at the same time.

203 and 204 > Yes, this is a perfect solution to our dilemma. If Nina gives the go-ahead, I'll add us to the wiki. I'm about halfway through Emma and really enjoying it.

202 Luci, since I am currently heading to Cape Cod on holiday, and that is referenced in the title, I thought it would qualify--but if you don't think so, I will remove it.

>200 cyderry:, 201, 202 : Phew; I was wondering where to put it.

Thanks, Ellen; I've accepted your invitation.

>195 lyzard:: Their moms couldn't hold out any longer, eh Liz?

Mine did. :)

206: I don't think that counts, Anne, sorry!

#165 - Morphy I was also looking for a place to put A Distant Mirror and decided on challenge 22 - unusual name.

Oooh! The "Hottie" Contest!

Don't forget to vote for our Hottie authors of July. All TIOLI members may cast their votes as a private message to SqueakyChu. You may vote for up to three male authors and three female authors. Any author whose book has not been COMPLETED in July will be disqualified from winning.

We will have both a (1) Mr. "Hot" Author and a (2) Ms. "Hot" Author. A (small) prize will be awarded to the challenger who posted and COMPLETED the book of the winning author in each of these two categories. Voting will remain open through August 13th. Announcement of the winners will be made later this month.

More information can be found on kidzdoc's thread.

Let the voting begin!

Luci -- what about Arrival City as a title for your challenge? The book itself doesn't relate to travel, but the focus seems to be on journeys/travel, and one's arrival is a part of that?

Other people are posting their potential TIOLI reads so here goes.

So far I've listed (* = match read)

3) Enemy of God by Bernard Cornwell
5) Bee Season by Myra Goldberg
*8) Emma by Jane Austen (already reading for last month's TIOLI)
*11) A House for Mr Biswas by V. S. Naipul
12) The Travels of Marco Polo by Marco Polo
14) City of the Beasts by Isabel Allende
15) Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris
*16) If I Stay by Gayle Forman
18) Bard by Morgan Llywelyn
18) The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin
22) The Book of Human Skin by Michelle Lovric
22) A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman (already reading for last month's TIOLI)
23) A Very Long Engagement by Sébastien Japrisot

I've also got a small pile of other books that would fit various challenges but I am trying not to overcommit too much this month.

I'm pleased to say that I found places for the two books I was already reading and had failed to finish in time for July's TIOLI:)

Here are the ones for which I signed up. 18 is probably over-ambitious, but I did manage to read 23 last month.

1) Bel Canto / Ann Pratchett
4) Clouds of Witness / Dorothy L. Sayers
4) Shrouds of Holly / Kate Kingsbury
5) The Dead Sea Cipher / Elizabeth Peters
5) To Love and Be Wise / Josephine Tey
8) Farewell, Miss Zukas / Jo Dereske
8) Fatal Remedies / Donna Leon
8) If Books Could Kill / Kate Carlisle
8) Parnassus on Wheels / Christopher Morley
10) Iron Lake / William Kent Krueger
14) Behold, Here's Poison / Georgette Heyer
14) Death in the Stocks / Georgette Heyer
15) Peach Cobbler Murder / Joanne Fluke
16) Kilt Dead / Kaitlyn Dunnett
16) Latte Trouble / Cleo Coyle
16) Saint's Gate/ Carla Neggers
16) Spanish Dagger / Susan Wittig Albert
18) The Clarinet Polka / Keith Maillard

After reading through all the threads, I've found a few more to read this month:

#8 Case histories by Kate Atkinson shared read
#14 Candy is dandy by Ogden Nash (born August 1902)
#22 The magicians by Lev Grossman

(probably being a bit on the ambitious side!!)

I'm a lemming, so I'll add my list, too:)

1 – Catch 22 by Joseph Heller - shared
4 – City of Thieves by David Benioff
4 - House of Cards by David Ellis Dickerson
4 - School of Dreams by Edward Humes
4 - Land of Lincoln by Andrew Ferguson - shared
7 – Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
10 – The Tin Ticket by Deborah J. Swiss
11 – The End of the Alphabet by CS Richardson
12 – Smile When You’re Lying: Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer by Chuck Thompson
14 – Safe from the neighbors by Steve Yarbrough
15 – The Cheese Monkeys by Chip Kidd
16 – The House of Dead Maids by Clare B. Dunkle
16 - Book Lust by Nancy Pearl - shared
17 – Andrew Carnegie by David Nasaw
19 - General Washington's Christmas Farewell by Stanley Weintraub
22 - Drizzle by Kathleen van Cleve

a little over-ambitious, particularly since a couple of them are over 400 pages...but we'll see.

I think I would get carpal tunnel typing out my entire list of books I've committed to, this month. I think it's an all-time record for me. If I end up reading half of them, I'd be happy. Most are in challenges #8 and #15.

I'd also like to give some Westerns a try. I've never really read any but am glad that citizenjoyce presented this challenge.

Summertime and westerns go together like apple pie and ice cream.

So far I've added:
Challenge 1:
The Autobiography of Foudini M. Cat (warm) - Susan Fromberg Schaeffer

Challenge 2:
The Red Pyramid - Rick Riordan

Challenge 6:
Minotaur - Benjamin Tammuz

Challenge 9:
Goldengirl - Peter Lear

I finished and reviewed Hillary Jordan's new novel When She Woke. Wow, this is no Mudbound. That was for the Read a Book Where Every Word in the Title has the Same Number of Syllables.

#221 I had to go and read your review, as I loved Mudbound and wondered what she had been writing that was so different. Will definitely be looking out for that one!

213: I hadn't thought of Arrival but I think it works (this month I'm going on title not theme)

Cool! I will add it... It's another book I'd committed to read for my 11 in 11 challenge, and I'm falling behind on that one.

Have started two books, Pereira Declares by Antonio Tabucchi and The Poison Tree by Erin Kelly, and having difficulty putting them both down and focus on work.

I finished Bossypants, excellent book, best one I've ever read by a comedian. It's funny and insightful, where does this woman get her energy?

Now I start my first western So Much To Be Done.

#221/222 I'll be looking for Jordan's latest too as I enjoyed her writing in Mudbound.

I've added another book to the wiki - The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, under Madeline's challenge.

NEED INFO:

Need a user name for October 2010 TIOLI #7 for Boys, Bears, and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots by McDonald, Abby.

After 48 hours, I'll delete it if I don't hear from someone.

Challenge #22 also requires user name info.

Mysterious entries:
#31The Poison Tree - Erin Kelly (Girl - Karen 2003/141) - COMPLETED
#38 (The Vor Game - Lois McMaster Bujold - (Boy - Miles 2000/257)
Please update with name since we don't know who you are. :)

Thanks!

#229 I think I saw on her thread that chatterbox (Suzanne) read The Poison Tree recently so that might be her?

One of the really great things of TIOLI is learning new literary idioms like golem, pig-boy/pig-girl trope :)

I finished my Challenge #7 read That Day in September by Artie Van Why

Now I am off to go read my other books before going to bed.

I finished my first TIOLI book of the month, The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst for challenge #21, and I've started Pao by Kerry Young, my June LT ER book, for challenge #22.

I bought The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer today and wondered where oh where I could fit it in the TIOLI challenges. Voila. Challenge #12 - travel-related word(s) in the title. I figure "tourist" qualifies. Oh boy. I'm always amazed at how many ways there are to fit a book into a challenge.

>229 jolerie: : The Vor Game might be antqueen (or souloftheroses) ; we seem to be reading the same book.

#229: It was -- and my name was on it when I updated it??? Will go back and deal with it again...

No worries! LT seems to be doing such strange things every once in awhile. Thanks again. :)

I'm adding The Return of Captain John Emmett by Elizabeth Speller to the wiki for the baby name challenge. The main character is Laurence, which doesn't make the top 100 names in any year, but it is quite cool to see that it was most popular in 1912. The book's set in 1921.

I finished The Stranger's Child for the Booker challenge, and hope it wins this year.

238: I might read the second in the series, The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton under that heading, thanks Cushla.

More missing user names:

October 2010 was a bad month for this. Challenge 7...

The Three Weissmanns of Westport - Cathleen Schine (2010) - COMPLETED

Challenge 9...

The Last Free Cat - Jon Blake - COMPLETED

I would just like to add that as a new group member who was just introduced to the challenge - this TIOLI business is TRULY AWESOME. I added some books and desperately hope that I didn't screw anything up. Thank you.

Welcome DorsVenabili! Yes, we are all crazy (and I mean that literally) about TIOLI. Glad to have you join us in the fun. . .

Finally home from vacation, and what's the first thing I am doing? Checking out the TIOLI threads and considering what books to add for the month!

Welcome, DorsVenabili and welcome back deltaqueen! I'm heading out for my vacation tomorrow. I'm taking a stack of tioli reads and I'll have wireless access for part of the time. I think my partner may disown me if I spend too much of our vacation time on line checking in with my LT friends....... we'll see how all that goes!

Happy vacation, EBT, wherever you're going, I wish I were going with you. It seems being retired isn't like being on permanent vacation after all.

#245 Welcome!!

I love to read cozy mysteries and the Laura Childs teashop mysteries are among my favorites.

I hadn't thought of putting the latest one into #22. I put Scones and Bones into the food title challenge but I've already got quite a few others and so maybe might move it to #22.

> 241, 245

Welcome, DorsVenabili and Samantha_kathy!

It's nice to have you both on board. If you want help with anything, just ask. Hope you have lots of fun with our TIOLI challenges. Glad you were brave enough to jump right in!

I lucked out with challenge 11 (Read a book by an author using his/her first two initials and last name): I'm having an E.B. White Festival of Reading, and now I get to list them for TIOLI! I've got Trumpet of the Swan, One Man's Meat, and Writing from the New Yorker, and I'm going to list them all! Anyone want to join me?

Karen O.

I see that Charlotte's Web is listed, as well! I've read that one recently, but maybe I'll put Stuart Little out there!

I'm wondering if I can list Stranger in a Strange Land for challenge 12 (Read a book with word(s) related to holidays/travel in the title). I think that the book matches the literal challenge, but it's science fiction, so I don't know if it matches the intent of the challenge?

Karen O.

Hey, Heather - do you get bonus points in the syllable challenge if your author has the same number of syllables in his/her name, too?

I'm rather proud of Who Is The Next? by Henry Kitchell Webster. :)

115 - Surprised to find that Harry's closest approach to the top 100 names was in 2001 with a rank of 501.

Oh, look, my own name's closest approach to top 100 names was in 2002 with rank 596.

240: Morphidae, I have to confess both of those must have been me, sorry!

It's odd. Names like Laurence didn't make it, but Baby did? So strange.

Finished my first TIOLI for the month - City of Thieves for Challenge #4. Started out pretty well, and by about half way through I couldn't put it down. An excellent story with a very readable (and based on the author's notes, real) description of life in Leningrad during its seige of WWII.

>255 pbadeer:: I read City of Thieves a couple of months ago and have been praising it to anyone who would listen. Glad to see another cheerleader for this book.

Madeline, I started a topic for the Western challenge: http://www.librarything.com/topic/121598

Could you put it by my challenge? This is such a fun topic. I'm learning lots about women in the pioneer, gold rush west, and I'm pretty sure I don't have the energy to have been one of them.

#255 & 256. City of Thieves is one of my all-time favorites. Like the two of you, I couldn't put it down and I've recommended it many, many times.

>253 elkiedee: No cookie for you! :D

Okay, I have them fixed.

I'm so happy to see all the raving about City of Thieves because I downloaded it to my kindle yesterday straight after I read Caroline's review. I'll add myself to challenge 4 now.

> 257

Could you put it by my challenge?

Done.

Well, I finally finished Emma for the read-with-a-friend challenge (after not finishing it for Madeline's July challenge). I liked it but I find Austen to be slow going.

I'll be working on my other reads but I'm probably going to be computer-free for the next 10 days or so. I'll miss checking in to see how the challenges are coming along, who's reading what, and all the wonderful details of tioli. See you mid-August!

I'm going to put in another plug for my authors with August birthdays. I see that today is the birthday of both Richard Preston and Stieg Larsson. Visit our thread for other recommendations

I added In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut to challenge #6. I am also adding Jackie Robinson's I Never Had It Made to challenge #9.

I finished Watership Down for challenge #1. Also added a French title to challenge #4 since "de" means "of"... it that stretching it?

Okay, I'm in a sleazy motel room in Omak, WA, & I'm checking tioli on my iPhone. Addicted? Me? Nah!!

#267 LOL! That totally sounds like something I would do! :-)

267- Egads! That's the middle of nowhere!

Ah, sleazy motels, your vacation just sounds better and better, EBT.

Whoa, Ellen! Watch out in those sleazy motels, although often that's all you can find. I often check in on LT when I'm on vacation, just can't stay away too long.

I feel that August has been on hold for me until now - my holiday started today, and I have arrived at my destination armed with more books than I could possibly read even if I were staying for 3 weeks, not 12 days - and as I'm by myself I can read all I want. Bliss! Let the TIOLI reads commence!

#272 Enjoy your vacation. Glad you've arrived safely.

Genny - Have a lovely time! I looked up Gladstone's Library and I want to go there. Right now! I told my husband he could send me there as a birthday gift :) Enjoy!

Katie, he can send me there too. I'm sure he wouldn't mind, would he?

I'm sure he wouldn't mind; after all, it would be good to have someone to talk to while resting my eyes from all the reading :)

If he is sending you two, surely he could send me too? Katie, you and I do not live that far apart. You could just pick me up along the way!

>276 katiekrug: I'm also resting my eyes from reading. I've read 7 books in 5 days. I'll probably start another before I go to bed tonight, but I need a little rest. I probably won't get a lot of reading done tomorrow. I'm driving over to Asheville and then heading down to the Carl Sandburg farm south of there. I've got to remember to take extra AA batteries for my camera!

#278 I'm being a slouch this month, just finished my first book, Pereira Maintains for the 'friends read together ' challenge. A shared read with Suzanne and a very good read if anyone wants to join us.

#277 - Stasia - Not a problem. We'll swing by and pick you and the Black Hole up!

Love the TIOLI addiction stories . . . so nice to know I'm not the only one!

#280: Great!

Katie, Joyce and Stasia - look forward to seeing you all (and Black Hole) over here!

>281 brenpike: I can't believe I signed up for 18 this month and because my ER book came in, it will now be 19. One of the books I signed up to read was checked out before I made it to the library to pick it up. I'm hoping it will be in when I take the next book out . . . or at least a few days before the end of the month.

I noticed that Tropic of Night was on the list for challenge #4, without a name, and couldn't remember if I'd put it there, so I claimed it. If anyone else put it up, please list it again - we'll get a point!

I added Clash of Civilizations over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio by Amara Lakhous to the wiki for Challenge #6.

I finished another book for TIOLI. I finished The Outsiders which I believe is also a shared read. I will be updating the wiki and posting my review soon.

I just realized that 3 of the 13 books I am planning on reading for the TIOLI Challenges this month are for Challenge #11, so thanks to Katie for posting a challenge that is such a great fit for me.

Shhh, don't tell dp, but I'm checking in with LT (really, just tioli) on our nephew's computer. Thoroughly enjoying Lullabies for Little Criminals for the unusual-named character challenge.

I finished Watership Down for a group read. And I read Rites of Passage for Challenge #4. It was technically brilliant but I didn't love it. My list for August is heavy on the sci-fi side (bound to happen, given the tbr): so far I've finished Jack of Shadows, also for Challenge #4, and this one I did love, and a collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury, Driving Blind, for Challenge #14. Last night, I picked up A World Out of Time for Challenge #16 and read about 1/3 of it--quite enjoyable so far.

#288 - My pleasure, Judy! Glad it's working out so well for you :)

If you received Murder Most Persuasive in Early Reviewers, some of us have added it to category 8 if you'd like to join us!

The TIOLI police finally got to me. Follow me to this thread.