Take It or Leave It Challenge - September 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 a fun challenge for September! It might be a bit harder than it looks at first glance, though.

Your challenge is to read a book with an opening sentence of five words or less.

You should skip table of contents, preface, acknowledgements, foreword, and publisher’s notes. Try to determine the first sentence of the main body of the work. It usually begins on page 1. Skip the title of the chapter. Just look at that first sentence. If in doubt, use your own judgment. I trust you.

List your book as follows, including the opening sentence:

A Boy of Good Breeding (Algren was Canada’s smallest town.) – Miriam Toews – SqueakyChu
In the Miso Soup (My name is Kenji.) - Ryu Murakami - kidzdoc
To the End of the Land (Hey, Girl, Quiet!) – David Grossman – bookoholic13

Good luck finding a book to read! Most of all, have fun.

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

1. The September 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 with an opening sentence of five words or less
2. Read a fictional book with Jewish main character or a nonfiction book on Judaica/Judaism
3. Read a book tagged with a word which brings to mind "school"
4. Read a NonFiction book about a business/non-profit organization/entity - thread
5. Read a book by an author who has never been read for any TIOLI challenge by any challenger - thread - author data base
6. Read a book whose cover is primarily (no pun intended!) one of the 3 prime colors of RED, BLUE or YELLOW - thread

Challenges #7-12
7. Read a book with exactly nine letters in the title
8. Read a book about prostitution
9. Read a book where the Librarything work number ends with a 9
10. Read a book set in Australia or New Zealand - thread
11. Read a book about or inspired by the events of September 11, 2001 or its aftermath
12. Read a book whose title has word appearing as a link on the wikipedia page about the Mid-Autumn Festival or Equinox

Challenges #13-18
13. Read a book set in the state/province/county/region where you were born
14. Read a book where the Title related to your 5 senses - hearing, sight, touch, smell, and taste
15. Read a book whose author was born in September
16. Read a book with an active verb ending in "...ing" in the title.
17. Read a book with a character's full name (or nickname and surname) in the title
18. Read a book that was on the NY Times bestseller list on September 11, 2001

Challenges #19-21
19. A book with similar tags to one of the books in your library (using the LT tag recommendation feature)
20. Read a book recommended by the Summer Reading Quiz
21. Read a book set in a German speaking country or one originally written in German

More challenges can be posted in the month of October. You can start thinking of some new ones now, but do keep them quiet until next month. Let's keep our challenges a surprise!

I am proposing (in honor of Rosh Hashanah at the end of the month) a challenge of reading a fiction book with a Jewish main character (The Chosen anyone?) or a nonfiction book regarding Judaica or Judaism.

Challenge #3: Back to school:

Read a book which is tagged with the word school, college or university, or any other words which bring to mind “school”, such as teacher, bus, education, etc. (Multiple word tags which utilize one of those words are also acceptable.) (Note the tag.)

I loved Aaron Lansky's book, Outwitting History, Stasia. I'm so happy that you'll be re-reading it this month. It's really great.

For those who don't know anything about this book, it's a nonfiction book told by a young man who attempted to prevent the loss of Yiddish books as the Yiddish language itself became less and less used. The story is fascinating.

#5: I think it will be especially interesting to me in light of my recent read of The Spirit of the Ghetto, Madeline, which is one of the reasons I want to re-read it this month.

Stasia, your topic is rather broad, but, in this case, I think it is an especially good thing. It allows challengers to choose from a very wide variety of books. That might be important to entice those who never read Jewish nonfiction or books with Jewish characters to give them a try. At least they'll be able to pick up books that cater to their own taste in reading.

#7: There is so much that is encompassed by Judaism, I did not want to narrow the topic down too far. I like people being able to cater to their own tastes :)

This is the slowest start to TIOLI I've seen :) I like the three challenges so far, so thank you, ladies!

#9 Maybe everyone's busy reading the first sentence of every book in their TBR pile?!

For Stasia's challenge, I've added The History of Love by Nicole Krauss and The Autograph Man by Zadie Smith which I think both have Jewish main characters from the reviews.

> 9

Sssh! Everyone is all worked up about Hurricane Irene (standing and looking out of their windows) or tucked away doing the Readathon. More people will be here in due time. Maybe they're all still voting on August's thread (or changing their votes). Ha!

Weather here in Rockville, Maryland: tropical storm warning still in effect. Northwest winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 45 mph. Rain early this morning but becoming mostly sunny this afternoon.

Good riddance to Hurricane Irene which partially destoyed our family's favorite vacation spot : the Bogue Inlet Fishing Pier in Emerald Isle, North Carolina. :(

Now that I can no longer fish, guess I'll get back to reading! :D (...although now I'm about 500 miles away from that fishing pier!)

> 10

Maybe everyone's busy reading the first sentence of every book in their TBR pile?!

Haha! Probably.

> 11

The History of Love is confusing. I had to keep a list of the characters to keep from getting them confused. Nicole Krauss's book The Great House is a very good read. I'd recommend that book as well.

To me, The Autograph Man was a "meh" book. I'll be interested to see what you think of it after reading it, Heather.

Heather, I'll read One Good Turn with you.

Back when I have read a few hundred first sentences!

My books are all packed up, because I am moving September 1, but luckily one of the books on my Kindle, Jamrach's Menagerie, has a four-word first sentence!

#10: If I read the first line in every book in my TBR pile, I may not join in the TIOLI challenge again until December!

Stasia - would a graphic novel be okay for your challenge? I'm thinking of Klezmer: Tales of the Wild East by Joann Sfar.

#18: Certainly! Graphic novels are fiction, so the book qualifies as long as the main character is Jewish.

Oh good - I have added that book and Reuben Sachs.

#14 I read Great House recently and really enjoyed it although I found it initially a bit hard to get into. I've tried to read The Autograph Man twice before and ended up putting it back on the shelf unfinished - hopefully I will finish it this time!

I'm one of those "readathoning" and I've looked at my current (not got to yet) TIOLI pile to see if any of them meet Madeline's challenge - unfortunately not:) I guess I'll just have to take a look at the TBR shelves (or hope for a match read).

Thanks for the challenge Stasia - I can move one of the books I haven't got to for your August challenge - the book is Bee Season by Myra Goldberg.

I have also been looking at the tag pages - most of the school/university tags seem to be for books that people have read in those places. I'm going to have to think about that one.

No challenge from me this month, yet. I'm waiting to see if I can fit my want to read soon books into other people's challenges first:)

#20: Great!

#22: I am glad one of your books from August fits my September challenge, calm :)

> 22

I really liked Bee Season, calm. You'll need to do some further reading about tikkun olam as or after you read this book. You'll see what I mean later. What I liked best about that book, though, was the warm relationship between the brother and sister. It reminded me of two of my own kids at that age. Enjoy the book. The theme is really different.

I love all the challenges so far, but I'm out of town and won't be home until tonight -- so I can't get to my library or my TBR pile yet! Whatever am I going to do? (Silent scream :-0 with hands thrown up in the air!) I'll be up all night! But I love TIOLI! :-)

Challenge #4 - Read a NonFiction book about a business/non-profit organization/entity

My goal here is to find books about "things" not "people", so as a general rule, I do not want to consider this a biography challenge. But if it's a biography of a person about that person's specific relationship/rule in the organization, that would be good. As an example, my entries are:

740 Park about a wealthy apartment building in NYC
Explorer's House about the National Geographic Society
Time was Soft There about the Shakespeare & Co. Bookstore in Paris

Please list the name of the subject after the title.

Because I think these books are all within a tight theme, I will start a thread for this read.

Thread for Challenge #4

#5 Read a book by an author that has never been read for any TIOLI challenge by any challenger

I will have a list out in the next few days which will make this very easy to figure out. Should be no later than Wednesday.

That challenge #1 with a short first sentence just about drove me crazy! Most of my books are still in boxes, so I couldn't handle them to check. I finally had to add the CK:first sentence to my Wishlist catalog view, so as to find some titles to order from the library.

#28 Great idea, thanks!

ETA: Going to use The Magician which I've tried to read several times for TIOLI but never manage!

Although I'm not sure I'll manage it now, as it will depend on me being willing to drag my attention away from Genabackis (The Malazan Series).

> 28

Google the books online - perhaps on Amazon?

>30 SqueakyChu:: Actually, the catalog view was much the faster way to get books chosen. But, I am at the moment (err, actually, whenever I finally yank myself away from this new thread), working on sanding and staining the new bookshelves, so that I can finally get my book boxes unpacked. I was just a week too late for having it done for your new challenge!

I've searched through one pile of planned reads and found one book to fit Madeline's challenge. Your right Madeline, it sounds easy, but those short opening sentences are few and far between! I'll add this book and then off to search my TBR shelves upstairs.

> 32

it sounds easy, but those short opening sentences are few and far between!

Hehe! All the more reason to share reads this month.

Oh, wow. I left the house this morning intending to stick Enemies, a Love Story by Isaac Bashevis Singer in the Goodwill bin next to McDonald's. A BookCrosser gave it to me at a meetup, and the plot did not appeal to me at all.

Having skipped August's TIOLI challenges entirely, though, I'm ready to jump back in for September. I had an odd feeling that I should hang onto this book, and now I know why.

Even though it has that mid-twentieth-century focus on adultery that I'm sick of reading about, a quick skim-through made me realize it's excellently written and translated.

Challenge #6:

I have added a challenge. Called Prime Colors, the object is to read a book whose cover is primarily one of the three main prime colors of Red, Blue or Yellow. I will start a thread so we can post pictures of our covers, there can be other colors on the cover, but the main prime color must stand out.

Here is the link to the Prime Color thread: Prime Color Challenge

Firstly, I wish to thank Judy for tipping me off on the existence of this thread today. Fun challenge you posted too!

I like your challenge Madeline. I'll be off to look at my (as usual) HUGE planned reads pile. Question: I'm still going to be reading some illustrated children's works, which typically have short sentence (though not always), would that count?

As for your challenge Stasia, I have Maus as one of my reading priorities this month, so I'm guessing that counts?

> 35

Your challenge sounds like fun, Judy. Can't wait to see the different posted book covers.

> 26

Your challenge seems intriguing, Patrick. Good one!

I've just added challenge #7 Read a book with exactly nine letters in the title.
I chose nine because September is the ninth month, of course.

Madeline, I stumbled upon your new thread because I was assuming you'd wait till the storm had passed. Once again, you pulled the unexpected keeping us TIOLI lovers on our toes.

> 38

I was assuming you'd wait till the storm had passed.

The storm is already gone. The sun is out in my neck of the woods. :)

> 36

I'm still going to be reading some illustrated children's works, which typically have short sentence (though not always), would that count?

Of course!

> 27

Read a book by an author that has never been read for a TIOLI challenge

Is that an author that's never been read by any challenger or only an author that I've never read for a TIOLI challenge before? I'm presuming that it's the former. I do have a book in mind!

Never been read by any challenger. I'll add that.

#38 Lynda, I have a question for challenge #7: do we have to count "the, a, in" etc, or punctuation marks? I have The Ghost Road and Whose Body? which could fit in nicely otherwise.

eta: Morphi, I look forward to reading that list!

eta: I have a really great idea for a challenge, but unfortunately none of my planned reads would work for it! So I guess I'll save it for another time.

#43 'The' would be considered part of the title, Ilana, so The Ghost Road would not be acceptable as the complete title is 12 letters. Whose Body? would be fine as punctuation is not counted as a letter.

Ok, that's fair enough, thanks Lynda!

Challenge #8: Read a Book About Prostitution

I've been wanting to reread The Crimson Petal and the White quite some time, and when I thought of the challenge, I found there were several other books that interested me. This is the plan:

Bodies and Souls: The Tragic Plight of Three Jewish Women Forced into Prostitution in the Americas - Isabel Vincent (which of course I'll move over to the Judaism challenge)
The Crimson Petal and the White - Michel Faber
Let the Great World Spin - Colum McCann
Lullabies for Little Criminals: A Novel (P.S.) - Heather O'neill
Nana - Émile Zola
Slammerkin - Emma Donoghue
Soiled Doves: Prostitution in the Early West (Women of the West) - Anne Seagraves
Tipping the Velvet: A Novel - Sarah Waters
The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels and the Business of AIDS - Elizabeth Pisani

challenge #10 Down Under: read a book set in Australia or New Zealand

My challenge will be the 'Down Under' challenge which is to read a book set in either Australia or New Zealand.
I'll start a thread later today.

46: I think I'll finish it this month but my main book at the moment is Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore - I echo Suzanne's recommendation and it would add a few different countries and a whole different period to it. Don't know what I'd make of it now but Fanny by Gaslight fascinated me when I was young.

4: And I'm really pleased to see a Back to School challenge - it's different from mine last year because it uses tags, mine was just the subject matter, but it means I can suggest another challenge!

Challenge #9 Read a book where the Librarything work number ends with a 9

(EEEK - my first challenge!)

I've always been interested in how LT is structured. So this challenge is to read a book where the work number ends with a 9. Some LT books have two numbers, but the work number will generally (I think) be the first. eg. http://www.librarything.com/work/book/77476149 is Gone tomorrow by Lee Child.

#46 I couldn't help but snort when I read your post. I've been wanting to read The Crimson Petal for quite some time and it would certainly clear off a good inch and a half shelf space, so I'll give it a shot.

? for Stasia. For your challenge, would The Faith Club be acceptable? A non-fiction book which attempts to explore three different yet somewhat connected religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Carmenere, it's such a big chunk of a book, I'm sure I won't get to many of the other things I want to read, but I just have to do it. Glad to know I'll have company.

Challenge #11: In Memoriam: Read a book about or inspired by the events by September 11, 2001 or its aftermath

I did a tag search of 9/11 and came up with 999 results, so I realize this is fairly broad - I hope Madeleine will forgive me :)

Your choice can be fiction or non-fiction, about that day or about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, or the domestic response, or international terrorism, or....?

Some ideas are:
The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright (non-fiction)
Middletown, America by Gail Sheehy (non-fiction)
The Good Soldiers by David Finkel (non-fiction)
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer (fiction)
Netherland by Jospeh O'Neill (fiction)
Saturday by Ian McEwan (fiction)
The Garden of Last Days by Andre Dubus III (fiction)

> 42

May we share a read or not?

> 54

Katie,

That's a great theme and a good challenge. Plus, I don't think it's too broad. I hope you gets lots of challengers to take you up on your 9/11 challenge.

ETA: Were you waiting to get challenge #11 or did you get the September "11th" challenge by chance?

>56 SqueakyChu: Oh, weird. I did not take the 11th challenge on purpose, but how appropriate. I wasn't sure if I would contribute this month, but decided to go ahead and jump in.

>53 Citizenjoyce:: katiekrug, I'm so glad you posted that challenge. I had my version of that one all typed up, and then worried that perhaps it would be deemed too 'narrow', as it focuses most on the United States, so I went with something different. Glad you posted it and glad its neither 'too narrow' nor 'too wide'!

> 54, 58

then worried that perhaps it would be deemed too 'narrow'

I realize this is fairly broad

I guess "width" is in the eye of the beholder. Hilarious!

Ok, I have a challenge which might be fun.

My challenge is in celebration of the Equinox and the Mid-Autumn Festival in China (also known as August Moon), which parallels the the autumnal equinox in the northern hemisphere and the vernal or spring equinox in the southern hemisphere, occurring on dates varying from 21-24 September.

Challenge #12: Read a book whose title has a word appearing as a link on the wikipedia page for Mid-Autumn Festival or Equinox

The word(s) must be exactly as found on the wikipedia link. It cannot be an embedded word. You cannot separate words or change them from plural to single or vice-versa. For example, there is a link for the word "lanterns" (plural), but "lantern", won't work. There is also a hyperlink for the term "sky lanterns", but none for the word "sky", which won't work either. When you list your book on the TIOLI wiki page, be sure to indicate the word with a link to the wikipedia page it points to. I'm about to list a couple of examples of this on the wiki.

Note: It's probably quicker to use the "find" command for this challenge ("Control-F" on Windows, "Command-F" on Mac)

Some examples:
The Good Earth (Earth) by Pearl S. Buck
South of the Border, West of the Sun (Sun) by Haruki Murakami
Pearl of China (China) by Anchee Min
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (Chinese) by Dai Sijie
Moon Palace (Moon) by Paul Auster
The Moon is Down (Moon) by John Steinbeck
How to Be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking (Goddess) by Nigella Lawson
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Immortal) by Rebecca Skloot

edited to add Equinox

eta2: I've adapted the title for clarity, sorry about my original oversight.

> 12

On Windows, it's "Control-F".

>58 countrylife: - countrylife, I was a little worried about it being perceived as US-centric, too, so I included the "aftermath" part so books about its effect in other countries could also be included.

For instance, The Reluctant Fundamentalist would qualify; and McEwan's Saturday is (I think) about life in a post-9/11 world...

Okay, here's my challenge:

Read a book set in the state/province/county/region where you were born. US readers should use state, everyone else should use whatever the main divisions are in their country of origin. I started this challenge because I realized that a huge number of the books I read are set in Massachusetts.

I'm moving Let the Great World Spin from the prostitution challenge to the 9/11 challenge. I might be more likely to share it there.

I love your challenge, Madeline! I've added two books to it already, On Canaan's Side by Sebastian Barry, and Chinaman by Shehan Karunatilaka.

>54 katiekrug: Katie, one new novel that was influenced by the aftermath of 9/11 received glowing reviews in yesterday's Guardian and in last Sunday's New York Times, The Submission by Amy Waldman:

New York Times review

Guardian review

>65 kidzdoc:: Darryl, The Submission looks very good. Thanks!

Thanks Madeline, I edited that part now.

>66 katiekrug: You're welcome, Katie. I've just downloaded it to my Kindle, and I've added it to your challenge.

Challenge #14 Read a book that is related to your senses - sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell

Madeline, I forgot I wanted to tie in the definition of Equinox in there, which was actually my first idea. Is it too late to edit the name of my challenge to

Read a book whose title has a word appearing on wikipedia under Mid-Autumn Festival or Equinox?

> 62

The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a very good book for anyone who hasn't read it yet. I highly recommend it.

> 70

Gah! You can add Equinox, but don't add anything else! ;)

#50 Sorry Athabasca but I don't think the example you gave for Gone Tomorrow works for your challenge. The number you've given (77476149) is the book number, the number assigned to your copy of that work.

I'm not sure why there isn't a work number on the url you've given but the work number for Gone Tomorrow is 6967406 (http://www.librarything.com/work/6967406). I think the work number should be the number listed after work in the url; if the number's listed after book it's probably the book number rather than the work number.

Not sure if that makes sense as I should be going to bed rather than hitting F5 on the TIOLI threads again - perhaps someone else can explain it a bit better?

> 73

Athabasca, what souloftherose said is correct. Go to the book's page and click on the picture. You'll then see the work number show up.

To tell which is the book number and which is the work number, just look at the URL. The number following the work "book" is the book number. The number following the word "work" is the work number.

Don't get discouraged! Just choose which you want to do, and we'll go with it.

Do you want to change your book or change the actual challenge? Let us know.

People: Beware that this challenge may yet be changed!

Because I didn't get to read Cyteen in August:

Challenge #15: Read a book whose author was born in September

Suggestions include: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Shel Silverstein, H. G. Wells, Agatha Christie, Truman Capote, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Miguel de Cervantes, Leo Tolstoy, Jennifer Egan, Alice Sebold, China Mieville, Siegfried Sassoon, Michael Frayn, D. H. Lawrence, Roald Dahl, William Golding, Richard S. Peters, Phyllis Whitney, Peter Lovesey, Robert B. Parker, Nancy Pickard, and Elizabeth Peters.

Hey, SC, could you add my clarification to post 2, pretty please?

Not changing anything else, I promise. :-)

Just putting in my two cents about Athabasca's challenge #9, I would think we want to go with work number as opposed to book number, since the work number is the same for everybody, isn't it?

#53 My thoughts exactly, CitizenJoyce. So, why have selected a book for 6 other challenges?! Crazy, that's why. I do try to complete books that are a share read, so I will concentrate on working my way through Crimson Petal.

> 76

could you add my clarification to post 2, pretty please?

Done.

#46 So many books I want to read under that category, including Nana and The Crimson Petal and Tipping the Velvet AND Lullabies, all of which are on my shelves, but the timing is all wrong for me. Shucks!!!

Sorry Laurie (lahochstetler), but Late for Tea at the Deer Palace: The Lost Dreams of my Iraqi Family doesn't qualify for challenge #12 since "palace" doesn't appear as a hyperlink on the page, but rather as regular text. I'm sorry if I didn't make that clear on the wiki originally. I fixed the name of the challenge since.

RE: all the husbands having something to say about how their wives act on New-Challenge-Thread-Day. Mine just said, "Next time, why don't they have all the spouses pick out what THEY want you to read."

I knew I would get that wrong!

Thanks - I'll change the book, rather than the challenge!

*wanders off to TBR pile, muttering*

OK, here's mine!

Challenge #16 is to read a book whose title includes an active verb with the suffix "ing". For instance, Running by Jean Echenoz would work (sorry, can't find proper touchstone), but NOT Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje or Running the Books by Avi Steinberg, as both of those are metaphorical/passive, etc. Similarly, Becoming Marie Antoinette won't work for me, as it's a state of being not action. "Missing" is another passive/state of being noun. I'll allow "breaking" when the rupture is that of a relationship or a state of being, however, and "dreaming" because when we dream, we can have some very vivid activities going on! Hope that isn't too arbitrary.

I suppose the key guidelines are -- no "..ing" suffix verbs that relate to states of being (being, becoming, etc.) and none that are metaphorical or passive/phrases of speach; none that are used as nouns, needless to say. (eg The Burning by Jane Casey.

ETA: The "ing" verb CAN be in the subtitle, if there is a subtitle!

I wanted to participate in the readathon today, but haven't read a single line from a book so far. I'm obsessed with TIOLI, what can I say?

#83 I like you challenge Suz, and I also think you explained it well, especially for persons like me who are seriously lacking some basic principles of language. In my case, having been trilingual at one point in my life only meant that I didn't learn any of them fully so grammar, syntax, various rules and exceptions, even identifying anything other than verb and noun is tricky. It's a wonder I can write and be understood! lol

Late again - stupid time zones!

My challenge is to read a book whose title contains the full name of a character - that is, first name or names, and surname. Nicknames are also allowable, but must be in conjunction with a surname.

To illustrate, I hope to be reading two of Hugh Walpole's historical novels, Rogue Herries and Judith Paris. However, the character name does not have to be the full title - so the Harry Potter books are in. :)

ETA: This is Challenge #17.

Cheli, would Louise Penny's A Trick of the Light qualify for your challenge?

> 81

"Next time, why don't they have all the spouses pick out what THEY want you to read."

LOL!

Actually, that's not a bad idea. Sounds like a fun
challenge. All we'd need to do is pick out who could pick a book for a single person (say a good friend, perhaps?).

#85 Awesome! Up till now, I had no idea where to fit in my Émile Zola books of the month, Son Excellence Eugène Rougon. Last month I'd created a challenge more or less for that use specifically (and which ended up being very useful to me indeed). But now, you've taken care of that for me. He he. Thanks!

Well, I didn't want to get bogged down in the grammatical phrases! Any questions - just holler.

Some other SEPT birthdays: (Thanks, Ilana!!)

Arthur Koestler (5th) Darkness at Noon
Roald Dahl (13th)
Fannie Flagg (21st)
Minette Walters (26th)
James Hilton (9th) (Lost Horizon?)
China Mieville (6th)
Eleanor Hibbert -- aka Jean Plaidy/Victoria Holt (Sept 1)
Grace Metalious (8th)
Baroness Orczy (23rd) (The Scarlet Pimpernel novels?)
Rosamund Pilcher (22nd)
Upton Sinclair (20th)
H.L. Mencken (12th)

I'm assuming you mean September, right?

>>#88 Welcome! :)

Amazing. Last month all the authors in my TBR were born in July; this month they're all born in August!?

Here's a link to some September born authors:

http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/septembe.htm#1

They include Tolstoy (anyone feeling ambitious?), F Scott Fitzgerald, Upton Sinclair, Ken Kesey, T S Eliot

> 84

I wanted to participate in the readathon today, but haven't read a single line from a book so far.

Ilana! Go read a book for Suz's marathon!! Read just a chapter, but do participate. The readathon is not over until midnight tonight. It will last 4 1/2 more hours. The September TIOLI challenges will last a whole month. No more excuses! ;)

#94 Eeeeek! BBBBbbut but but, I haven't listed most of my books on the wiki yet! Must list my books!

Note to everyone who's reading something today: Pop over to Suz's Readathon and log in your reads (and your weather...and your food)!

These TIOLI challenges were not meant to distract you from the Readathon for the whole day! If you don't listen, I'll make this thread invisible.

Just kidding. I have no idea how to do that. ;)

I just posted my reading for the day to Suzanne's thread, Madeline. Thanks for the reminder. I did manage to read 60 pages despite my excitement over the September TIOLI Challenges.

I actually did some good reading this weekend as well when I originally hadn't planned on joining the readathon at all.

Ilana, since you read about 3 books a day, I'm sure you could find something to share with me.
Chèli, I love your challenge. I'm listening to The Lady and the Unicorn (which I won't finish this month) and the tapestries are specifically about the topics sight, smell, touch and hearing. What a perfect challenge for it.

ETA and taste, how could I forget that?

86>>> sounds like it's related to sight, don't you think?

PASSED!

>100 cyderry: Hooray! I've got a copy on its way as soon as it's released. Off to add it to the wiki...

#99 3 books a day? Me? Not likely. My numbers are vastly inflated because I've spent the summer reading lots of illustrated children's books, which take maybe 20 minutes to read and look at each.

Ha-HA!! My love for completely obscure books finally pays off, thanks to Morphidae's "no other TIOLI" challenge!! :)

>102 Smiler69: Oh. Well, now I don't feel like such a complete slug.

Geez, I was gone all day and missed all the fun.

My challenge:

Challenge #18: Read a book that was on the New York Times bestseller list on September 11, 2001. See http://www.hawes.com/2001/2001-09-09.pdf for the list.

{Gratuitous self-promotion} "Those of you joining in the September reading of Ethan Frome, please make your way to Challenge #17." {/Gratuitous self-promotion}

#106 Yay, I was the first to answer the call!

Madeline - Question on Challenge #1 - the first line of my book is actually the address on a letter. If I use just the first line of the address (which is on its own line) I'm OK), but if the entire address counts as the first sentence, I'm out. The address is (as written):

Hotel le Canard Fantaisie
Saint-Milo, France

and the judge says...

> 108

Just use "Hotel le Canard Fantaisie". It's fine.

About Challenge #1:

Okay, challengers. How long did it take you to find a book with an opening sentence of five words or less? Was it one that you even wanted to read?! :)

>>110 SqueakyChu: - Since I was trying to find something on audio, it was a bit tough...

It wasn't easy, madeline. Of all the books which have not been read from my 11 in 11 challenge (approx 20) only one had a sentence short enough to qualify. Took abou 30 minutes.

Not long, there's one in my "books to review" pile, can't remember which one. Think it might be the one that fits into two other challenges and also the challenge I'm thinking of posting.

Not too long for me, though the first book I found looks almost like a cheat. Zazie in the Metro has this opening sentence: Howcanaystinksotho, wondered Gabriel, exasperated.
I don't need to read it this month, so I looked further for a book that would double up for my 11in11 challenge.

It was easy for me. I looked through my planned reading, and found a sentence in One Good Turn: "He was lost." When I got to the wiki, I saw others had discovered the same.

Actually, for me, it was easy because majkia posted the Magician which was on my list. Thanks, Jean!

>110 SqueakyChu:: How long? About 5 minutes going crazy wishing my new bookshelves were ready to start unpacking book boxes into, whilst trying to flitz through whatever had landed in the top of the boxes that I could actually reach, with no success. Then I opted for library books instead, and spent 15 minutes browsing through my wishlist catalog (showing the CK:first sentence column) and matching to whatever I could order from the library. Problem solved. About 20 minutes altogether. (Not counting all the interruptions from my darling husband, who never understands my love affair with LT, and even less so the importance of this particular LT day with it's attendant time-sink.)

Ok Ilana, I've got it now- I removed it. I will look for something suitable.

#36: Yes, Ilana, Maus definitely counts!

#52: Yes, I would consider The Faith Club an appropriate choice. Although the three religions are given equal weight in the book, Judaism is one of them and the challenge is broad enough, I think, to encompass your choice, Lynda.

>110 SqueakyChu:: It didn't take too long. I started opening books on the e-reader that I haven't read. Beloved was number #15 on the list.

>110 SqueakyChu: - I worked on Challenge 1 for about 30 minutes. I found one in my pile of planned reads, and then went on to find two more on my TBR shelves. Luckily all three will also fit into the September Series and Sequels, just have to do a little juggling.

Wow, taking off for a virtually-non-reading and disconnected from LT weekend at the end of a month is really interesting! It's kind of fun and freeing -- y'all have sorted out (or will sort out) the details and I just get to sign up for the challenges that look fun to me for September! I suspect I'll once again overbook myself..... :-)

#85 Liz, would The Adventures of Captain Hatteras count for your challenge - it's a title and a surname but no first name?

I have a nineteenth challenge, to encourage people to look at another of LT's new features, the ability to get book recommendations by tag similarity.

Now, on any book page, if you scroll down you'll see on the left side, Recommendations and then Tags. Click on this and you'll get a list of books with similar tags.

In the wiki, please note which book you got the recommendation from...

Missing member name:

April 2011, Challenge 4
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

April 2011, Challenge 16
Somewhere Towards the End by Diana Athill
Teacher Man by Frank McCourt

Please let me know by 8/31. Thanks.

Madeline, I haven't found a book yet, but I haven't really had time to look through everything. I only looked through some that I had stacked up as wanting to read soon that were near my computer. I have two or three others stacked up in another place in the house. I have 3 books requested via ILL that I'll have to check when they arrive. I also have challenge books that in some cases would have to be obtained from either the library or via ILL or purchase.

I have not started looking for short opening lines yet either, Madeline. I am still trying desperately to finish August TIOLI books!

#2 Madeline, in message 2, the link to the NYT bestseller list for Sept 11, 2001, is incorrect. It should go to: http://www.hawes.com/2001/2001-09-09.pdf

Re: challenge #14, Read a book where the title relates to your 5 senses. I would like to recommend a book I read recently: Edward's Eyes by Patricia MacLachlan. A young adult book, it is a touching story about family and organ donation.

I may have a book for the NY Times bestseller list. The Fourth Hand by John Irving. I just hope I can find my copy.

I am slowly looking at the challenges for this month. Not sure what else I will be participating in just yet.

It took about two minutes for me (and my husband who joined in the search) to locate two books appropriate for Madeline's challenge. Partitions from my stack of library books, and Behind the Scenes at the Museum from my shelves.

129>> thanks for the recommendation - my library has it so I've put it on hold...hopefully the cue will move fast!

> 128

the link to the NYT bestseller list for Sept 11, 2001, is incorrect

Thanks, Linda. It's now fixed.

> 132

Thanks for that recommendation, countrylife. I hope to get hold of that book, read it and then release it in memory of Becky Johns, also a younger sibling who became an organ donor subsequent to her tragic death. Becky was, and her dad and sister still are, members of my local Bookcrossing club, BC in DC.

I'm starting to think Kate Atkinson never starts a novel with a sentence of more than 5 words....

#133 Thanks, Madeline.

There are quite a few 9/11/01 bestsellers, at least in the nonfiction area, that have stood up well to time. John Adams, for instance. Tuesdays with Morrie.

I don't read that much ordinary fiction but the pickings seem slimmer to me.

For the authors born in September, Agatha Christie (born on Sept 15, I think) is right in my wheelhouse.

Alright, here's my challenge: Read a book suggested by this book recommendation quiz.

The rules:
1. You can't take the quiz multiple times. You're stuck with the list of three books from your 1st attempt.
2. You can share a read with someone who took the quiz, whether it shows up on your list or not (or, for that matter, even if you don't take the quiz yourself!).

#137: Love that challenge, Mary. It does not look as though I can take part though. My local library does not have 2 of my recommended titles (The Good Muslim and The Very Thought of You) and the third, State of Wonder, is checked out with multiple holds on it.

I just did the recommendation quiz too. Strangely enough, one of my two choices was also The Good Muslim. My library has a copy so hopefully I will be able to get it in time for September reading.

> 137

That looks like fun, Mary. My three choices were:
1. Bed - David Whitehouse
2. The Family Fang - Kevin Wilson
3. Storm at the Door - Stefan Merill Block

Hmm? I guess I'll have to start looking for these...

I just did the recommendation quiz and will have to check to see if my library has any of the books. They were all just recently published and I don't know how fast my library is at obtaining new books.

Wild. I wouldn't think of reading any of the books recommended (which i have already forgotten - bad girl) - so I'll keep track of what others list and perhaps pick one to match.

Cute quiz, Mary. One of the results for me was The Language of Flowers which (yay!) I already had wishlisted.

>137 bell7:: Interesting recommendations:
Incognito by Gregory Murphy
Tutankhamun: The Book of Shadows by Nicholas Drake
The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson

Since I have Nick Drake's Nefertiti: The Book of the Dead on my tbr, the Tut book seems most likely. Now I just have to get my hands on it.

>138 alcottacre: - Stasia, I got the same three recommendations!

>144 jeanned: Same ones I got.

>138 alcottacre:-146 - I had several people at work take it, and there are some repeats. It looks like the results are a fairly small pool of newly published works (though it could just be that a lot of my coworkers like the same types of books...hmm), but that should up the possibilities of shared reads. :)

My results were
The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin
The Butterfly Cabinet by Bernie McGill and
My Dear I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young

They all look interesting to me, but the first was already on my TBR list (I hadn't heard of #2 and #3).

I got The Curfew by Jesse Ball looks interesting
We the Animals by Justin Torres (3 wild and crazy boys, I don't think so)
The Good Muslim maybe someday

It chose The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb, The Language of Flowers and The Beautiful Life

I'm leaning toward The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb

Those were my three results, jacqueline065!

I got the same three as Stasia, Katie, etc. I've read two of them, but I do have an ARC of The Good Muslim sitting here. If anyone else gets The Lantern, I just got that from the library and would do a joint read...

I was interested in The Good Muslim but it's a follow-up to a book I already have, and I don't have enough time to read both (and Lord knows I can't read the second before the first!)...

Katie, LOL -- I can, and fully plan to! It's an Amazon Vine book, so there's this pesky little review requirement...

I'm sure I found A Golden Age which precedes The Good Muslim in a charity shop recently. The bargain bookshop near my mum's has lots of copies at a much more reasonable price than online secondhand, but I thought I'd just bought a copy. I still think it's in the shed but it's been so wet on and off recently. Grrrrr.

>>#123 No, sorry, Heather - names not titles.

I was scrolling down, I did begin to ponder whether Mrs. Tom thumb would qualify...

I took the quiz, I got:

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa DIffenbaugh (which I will be reading)
Something for Nothing by David Anthony
The Very Thought of You by Rosie Alison

Conveniently The Language of Flowers was already on my TBR.

>153 Chatterbox: I hope you enjoy it, Suz. If I didn't have the first one sitting on my shelves looking reproachfully at me, I might be able to ignore its existence and just read The Good Muslim. As it is, no can do!

A question for Cheli about Challenge # 14 - Since scorch is something you can smell, taste and see, I have added The Scorch Trials to this challenge. Just checking that it does fit.

I got

Robopocalypse by Daniel Wilson
Incognito by Gregory Murphy
The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson.

None are on any of my lists or sound appealing. I'll see if there any books someone else is reading that sound good.

Madeline, I just noticed this, but...did you know the link at the top is to the August TIOLI meter? :)

>138 alcottacre: My library doesn't have any of my three recommendations - I'm hoping that The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb comes in from another library in time to read it. You could always jump in on someone else's recommendation for the shared read, Stasia. :)

> 160

did you know the link at the top is to the August TIOLI meter? :)

Fixed. Thanks.

158>>> Scorch is okay - I, personally, think it's a smell thing. I can always tell when the popcorn is scorched, I smell it.

Cheli, I just wanted to make sure for your challenge #14 ,if "flesh" was okay as well? I added to the wiki already but just wanted to double check and make sure you are okay with that fitting the challenge.

163>> jolerie - if by flesh you are thinking touch, I'm fine with it.

For all those who have added a book to the wiki for Challenge 14 - let's put which sense the title is related to, that way there'll be no questions, okay? so for instance, my Any Bitter Thing is related to taste.

Great! Thank you. :)

For those doing Series and Sequels September, challenge 19 is really great for series you may be part of the way through.

Need member name:

May 2011, Challenge 20
The Borgia Bride by Jeanne Kalogridis
Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis

Please let me know by 9/1. Thanks.

#145: Cool beans! I will look for your reviews of them if and when you read them, Katie.

>166 MickyFine: Ah, Micky, I specifically didn't put the other two parts of the series for Faithful Place, so I've gone back and fixed it.

My challenge is to read a book set in a German speaking country or originally written in German.

This may be a country where Germany is one of several main languages (but it should be a main language if this is the case)

For example, Germany, Austria, Switzerland.

Books (in translation or original) originally written in German also count, so this would include the Czech Franz Kafka - but it wouldn't include a book set in Czechoslovakia which was originally written in Czech (or English), for example.

My definite book for this challenge will be Anna Funder's new novel All That I Am - I have a review copy - this is partly set in Australia too but I think Germany is the primary setting. I'm not sure from a cursory glance whether or not the characters are Jewish .

I've identified 28 possible shared reads I'd like to participate in. With 6 books I'm not likely to finish before midnight on the go, and 4 other review books already in the pile, it's not likely, but hopefully I can do some of them.

>167 Morphidae: Morphy - I read The Borgia Bride for the May TIOLI Read A Library Book Challenge, so that one is probably mine.

>172 DeltaQueen50: Got it.

I'm bummed that I didn't have the TIOLI book database ready before September opened up. Everyone is setting their reads and I feel so far behind. But I'm frantically typing - most of yesterday and will do so again today. I'm hoping by the end of the day I'll have the db and a therefore a list of authors read in TIOLI completed so people can start planning for my challenge.

*pants and types more*

>>173 Morphidae: - don't stress. It seems several of us have figured out some reads for the challenge - in my case it was an ARC which came in August and wasn't used this month for any other challenge (and no other books by the author) so it's easy. But, with a little patience (and a lot of Ctrl-F) I checked other books against the master lists (one at a time), so for the die-hards, it's all doable.

...but I am looking forward to your database :) Thanks for all of the time you are putting into it.

Thanks for that hint, pbadeer. I got impatient over the book I wanted to use for Morphidae's challenge, and used your suggestion. Whilst going through the old wikis, I found it fascinating to watch how fast the TIOLIs grew over the months. Was 2010 the first year for the TIOLI phenomenon?

Yes, January 2010 was the first TIOLI month.

And I'm near finished with June 2011. So if you want me to check an author, just let me know and I can at least verify it's not in all but July's TIOLI. I'm not counting August TIOLI for this challenge since I won't have it done for sometime. (I'll need a break after this two-day "cram" session!)

I wouldn't bother you over something like that, Morphy. I know what a big job you took on with your Super Duper TIOLI statistics. So even though I AM an impatient soul, I'd rather let you keep on crunching!

Morphy, if someone has chosen a book for your challenge, can we join in with that as a shared read? I have The Lantern and The Last Hundred Days which have already been listed.

>178 elkiedee: Absolutely!

Missing member name:

June 2011, Challenge 21
War Wounds by Jacques Leslie (Kindle Single)

Please let me know by 9/2.

Here is a temporary link on Google Docs for the authors of all books read for TIOLI through June 2011. I'm still working on July 2011 then I'll start a thread with the final Google Doc. It is in alphabetical order so you can just scroll down to the name, last name first. Or you can search with Control+F.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmSg5qorIw0jdHVTZEJ6LUh4S05qNk94RnZ...

I just added a book to the wiki for challenge #5. I added All Cry Chaos by Leonard Rosen

Yea! Looks like I'm safe with Jaycee Dugard. I thought I would be, since the book is so new.

Wonderful, Morphy! Thank you!

What a tremendous job you've done, Morphy! Thanks! And I get to add the books that I was hoping would fit this challenge!

#181 Morphy, thank you so much for going through all that trouble. I'm especially pleased to find that one of the books I'm currently reading, I Am the Great Horse by Katherine Roberts, which didn't fit anywhere else so far for September, is eligible for your challenge. Yay! :-)

I'll see if there are others I can list there too. Maybe switch a few over if that's the case. Sometimes I end up loading up on on just a couple of challenges, and like to srpead the books around whenever possible.

Missing member name

July 2011, Challenge 15
Passion by Lauren Kate

Please let me know by 9/2.

Here's the link to my thread with the final list of authors...

http://www.librarything.com/topic/122963

If the author is not listed on the final list, the book is valid for the challenge.

Morphy, you're incredible. Thanks for doing this mammoth task!

I found a book to read for your challenge quite easily. It was written by a woman who works in a wildlife rehab facility in Cape Carteret, North Carolina. When I found out she was an author, I ordered her book. When the book arrived, it only had one other owner on LT (and that person was not a TIOLI challenger). Nevertheless, I just checked my book, Save Them All, right now against your database. I'm good to go! :)

How cool is it that we have collectively read over 3500 different authors for TIOLI - that is a huge number!

I too was amazed by the huge number of authors this group has read in less than two years. I'm also amazed by your hard work and dedication, Morphy, in recording all the wonderful (and not so wonderful) books we've read. You have created an interesting and useful reference for us. Thank you!

It is an impressive list!

Great work, Morphy!

Here are my planned, and probably overly optimistic, TIOLI reads for September:

Chinaman by Shehan Karunatilaka (challenge #1)
On Canaan's Side by Sebastian Barry (#1) - completed
Cambridge: The Hidden History by Alison Taylor (#5)
The Last Hundred Days by Patrick McGuinness (#5)
The Shadow of a Smile by Kachi A. Ozumba (#5)
Waterline by Ross Raisin (#5)
Colour Me English by Caryl Phillips (#6) - reading
Derby Day by D.J. Taylor (#6)
Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan (#6) - reading
Life A User's Manual by Georges Perec (#6)
River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh (#6)
The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt (#6)
The Submission by Amy Waldman (#11)
The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht (#15)
The Testament of Jessie Lamb by Jane Rogers (#17)
Anatomy of a Disappearance by Hisham Matar (#19)
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (#19) - completed

Thanks for the list Morphy. That is an amazing thing to do, thank you for all your hard work.

I managed to find a book to fit. It's an ER - so I suppose that's not unexpected:)

Madeline - I've started a thread for challenge #10: read a book set in Australia or New Zealand http://www.librarything.com/topic/122977

I've also finished my first book for September and it doesn't fit any challenges!

Re challenge 17: Does the "character" whose full name in the title have to be present in the book? I'm reading a book by Elizabeth Speller, The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton where Kitty disappeared years before.

Having gone completely over-the-top with entries on the wiki last month, and only managed to read a third of them, I am taking more of a 'leave it' approach to TIOLI this month. But I have spotted a couple of books listed by others which I also want to read soon, so I shall concentrate on those, which will earn points! And I have had Don DeLillo's Falling Man out from the library for absolutely ages, so I'll read that for the September 11 challenge. And apart from that, I'll just read what I want to read, and if I find it fits a challenge when I've read it, all the better!

Once again, here is my list of "might reads" for September:

#1 (opening sentence five words or less): One Good Turn*
#1 (opening sentence five words or less): Pigeon English*
#1 (opening sentence five words or less): The Inimitable Jeeves*L
#2. (Jewish main character): The Invisible Bridge*
#3. (school): The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie*
#4. (business/non-profit organization/entity): Chasing Goldman Sachs*
#5. (never-read author): What Matters: Economics for a Renewed Commonwealth (Wendell Berry)*
#6. (prime colors): The School of Night*L
#6. (prime colors): Hattie Big Sky *L
#6. (prime colors): My Reading Life*L
#6. (prime colors): River Secrets
#6. (prime colors): Song of Solomon*
#6. (prime colors): The Sisters Brothers*L
#6. (prime colors): Sea of Poppies*
#6. (prime colors): The War of the End of the World*
#7. (exactly nine letters): Sovereign*
#8. (prostitution): The Dress Lodger or Slammerkin
#9. (LT work number ends with a 9): American Grace*L
#10. (Australia/New Zealand): The Bone People
#11. (September 11): Let the Great World Spin*
#12. (Mid-Autumn Festival): Turtle Moon
#13. (birthplace): Girls of Tender Age (Hartford, CT)
#13. (birthplace): A Gathering of Days (New England)
#14. (5 senses): Seeing
#15. (author born in September): Pereira Maintains*
#16. ( "...ing" verb): Mismeasuring Our Lives
#17. (character's full name): Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix*
#17. (character's full name): Ethan Frome

The books marked * are high priority reads for me, either because they are library books (L), or because I have some other reason to want to read them ASAP. All these books except for one currently reside on my shelves.

There are also quite a few shared reads that are tempting me, so my list is as always, subject to change. *slinks away after deleting countless books from the August wiki*

Possible reads for this months TIOLI

Challenge #1: Read a book with an opening sentence of five words or less
Mapping the Edge (People go missing every day.) - Sarah Dunant
The Memory Game (I close my eyes.) - Nicci French
Challenge #2: In Honor of Rosh Hashanah, read a fictional book with Jewish main character or a nonfiction book on Judaica/Judaism
Bee Season - Myra Goldberg
Challenge #5: Read a book by an author that has never been read for any TIOLI challenge by any challenger
The Black Stiletto - Raymond Benson (ER book)
Challenge #6: Primary Colors: Read a book whose cover is primarily one of the 3 prime colors of RED, BLUE or YELLOW
Enchantment - Orson Scott Card (currently reading)
The Great Transformation : the world in the time of Buddha, Socrates, Confucius and Jeremiah - Karen Armstrong (library book - currently reading)
Challenge #7: Read a book with exactly nine letters in the title
Excalibur - Bernard Cornwell
Challenge #8: Read a book about prostitution
*Tipping the Velvet - Sarah Waters
Challenge #9: Read a book where the Librarything work number ends with a 9
The Snow Leopard (106849) - Peter Matthiessen (library book)
Challenge #12: Read a book whose title has a word appearing on a wikipedia link under Mid-Autumn Festival or Equinox
Silent Spring (Spring) - Rachel Carson (library book)
Challenge #15: - Read a book whose author was born in September
Perdido Street Station - China Miéville

I'm not promising that I'll get to all of these - though the ER and library books are must read (or at least try). So far only one shared read. I'm hoping I'm not too overbooked and of course things might not go the way I expect and I've already noticed some other books on the shelves of shame that will also fit into the September TIOLI challenges:)

Here are my "planned" reads for the September TIOLI challenges:

#1. (opening sentence five words or less): Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch

#1. (opening sentence fiver words or less): Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

#2. (Jewish main character): People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

#6. (primary colors): Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh (currently reading)

#6. (primary colors): Case Histories by Kate Atkinson

#7. (nine letters in title): Awakening by S.J. Bolton

#10. (state of my birth): Swamplandia! by Karen Russell

#12. (Mid-Autumn or Equinox): The Good Earth by Pearl Buck

I think this is a reasonably realistic list for me for the month of September. Of course, I also get tempted by shared reads or just books I find (and buy) that fit one of the challenges....

Ellen, I'm glad to see you've decided to go ahead with The Good Earth this month. I was just replying to you on my thread earlier that you might want to share the read with me on TIOLI. Great minds and all that... ;-)

Thanks to Stasia's readathon I've finished my first two September books, a stolen life for Morphy's challenge and The Lady and the Unicorn for the senses challenge and loved them both. Now I start on the chunkster The Crimson Petal and the White for the prostitution challenge and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie for the school challenge.

Just checking in for September.

>197 gennyt:: Genny, I'll read Falling Man with you for Challenge 11. I've been putting this one off because of the subject matter; but the tenth anniversary of 9/11 seems like a good time to remember what happened in New York.

Other books I have lined up:
#1 - 5 word opening - The Lost Garden
#3 - School related - The Water is Wide
#7 - 9 letters in title - Sovereign
#10- State of my birth - Once Upon A River
#17 - Complete name in title - Ethan Frome

I'll probably be adding more as the month goes on, but six books sounds like a good start to me.

To clarify, Morphy -- the AUTHOR should never have been read, or the BOOK? The wording lends itself to either interpretation.

Obviously I'm not Morphy, but my understanding is that it is the author.

OK, have tweaked accordingly, but the "that" makes it sound as if it's the work. Was only some subsequent comments that made it clear. Comes from my ill-spent youth as copy-editor, I suppose...

>>#196 The Strange Fate Of Kitty Easton is perfectly fine for #17.

>>#207 An edit to "an author who---" would clear it up.

Just to be anal about something else -- this time regarding my challenge about an "ing" verb...

Could everyone please take a look at their candidates for challenge #16?

I did specify that this has to be USED as a verb. A Crafty Killing -- Killing is used as a noun, not a verb in this title. In The Singing Bone, singing is being used as an adjective. To work, the titles would need to be something like "Killing is Crafty" or "The Bones are Singing."

Thanks!!

My planned reading for September:

#3: 2010 Odyssey Two
#3: Ender's Shadow
#3: The Hunger Games
#3: City of Ember
#6: Fire
#6: First King of Shannara
#6: Empress Orchid
#6: Sweep Volume 1: Book of Shadows/The Coven/Blood Witch
#6: The Midnight Charter
#6: Foundling
#9: City of Bones
#12: The Good Earth
#14: Dreams Made Flesh

The best part is all my books planned for September Sequels and Series conveniently fits into a TIOLI Challenge so that's double fun. There are a couple of other stand alone books I saw on the wiki that I would love read as shared reads as well if time allows.
I've also completed my first read for September, Sweep, Volume 1 by Cate Tiernan to fulfill Challenge #6.

Thanks for the great challenges this month everyone!

>209 Chatterbox: Was mine (Tracing Your Family History) OK? I admit, I blanked on whether or not that was passive or active, and put it up figuring someone would tell me if I were wrong. :)

#211 -- Yup, yours is fine! Tracing, in this context meant exploring, investigating, delineating -- all active verbs. In this case, the folks who did make a misstep found words like "killing" used as nouns or adjectives, not verbs. Finicky, I know, but I also excluded some books I wanted to include on the same grounds, so....

ETA: "Falling Angel" was right on the brink. if it had been "a falling angel" or "the falling angel", I probably would have booted it, too, but there is some grey area here...

Hey, Madeline said we weren't supposed to make them too easy, right?!

>212 Chatterbox: Darn those gerunds! :) Of course, you can be as finicky as you like for your own challenge (and I would've said that even if I had to take my book off!).

I'd be the last person in the world to criticise someone else for being anal. :)

#212> I saw your message and was discussing with my daughter whether my entry Falling Angel cut it or not, it's a fairly ambiguous title.

> 212

Hey, Madeline said we weren't supposed to make them too easy, right?!

Yeah. Blame me! ;)

ETA: I like your being picky!

> 212

Let me throw a monkey into the works...
I’m not sure these are active verbs:

The Art of Losing - noun?
A Lesson Before Dying – noun?

Books Can Be Deceiving – adjective?
Falling Angel – adjective?

Hey, it’s your challenge, Suz, so it’s your call!

P.S. Any English professors out there? ;)

OK, this is where I need to be a grammar nutjob, isn't it?

The Art of Losing -- I think that's fine -- Losing vs. Loss
Similarly, Dying vs Death. I have no idea of the grammatical term for what I mean here, but when replacing a "real" noun -- i.e. loss or death -- would slightly change the meaning, I think this has a role as a verb. A Lesson Before Death is different, ditto the Art of Loss.

Books can be Deceiving is trickier. Are these deceptive books, or are they books that are in the process of deceiving their readers or a librarian? If the latter, then it would be fine. So, given the nuance, I'm cool with it.

Same with Falling Angel. I can make a case (perhaps not a strong one!) for this phrase to be interpreted in such a way that "falling" becomes a verb.

The others, to me, were very clear cut, with the adjective modifying the noun, for instance. It would be like including The Brutal Telling; it's very clear that "Telling" is the noun in this case; there is no other way in which the phrase makes sense.

Wow, hair-splitting, aren't I?? It's funny; I tend to write reasonably well but half the time am not conscious of the rules of grammar that I'm employing. But on the other hand, having to read, re-read, re-edit everything I write for work has made me hyper-conscious of shades of meaning, which is why I was puzzled by the wording of Morphy's challenge. Not quite "Eats shoots and leaves" but...

> 218

Your explanation had me laughing, Suz. I work as a quality auditor for a home health agency, and we often split hairs about what is acceptable and what isn't. We look at such things as doctor's signatures, dates, skilled care, homebound status, etc. As long as we think we can make a case to defend our point of view, we'll accept the item in question. Sometimes I think we give an item a bit of a stretch, but I'll go with whatever my boss (or her boss) says in the end.

This reminds me of a previous TIOLI challenge in which there had to be a prepositional phrase (or something similar) in the book's title. Such grammatical challenges will get us every time!

I'm glad I already chose a book that matches one you're going to be reading! My younger son read that book, (Moonwalking With Einstein), and had nothing but the highest praise for it. That is quite a recommendation coming from a young man who almost never reads.

Carry on with your "...ing" challenge!

It's challengING. :D

I just realized that I am only signed up for 4 books for this month's TIOLI and all 4 books are for my own challenge. Probably bad form, but I think I am going to leave it that way for a bit as two of the 4 books are well over 500 pages long. I will slot in other books, especially library books, as I can.

Stasia, remember the last part of the moniker -- "...or leave it"! No such thing as good form/bad form!!

#221: You have a point, Suz, but it just seems wrong somehow :)

Okay, if our lovely host is willing, please change it to "who" so the grammar police don't have heart-attacks. :D

Okay, if our lovely host is willing, please change it to "who" so the grammar police don't have heart-attacks.

LOL! Fixed.

Here is my September TIOLI reading list. Since I start class in a couple of days, it's definitely overly ambitious, but oh well. By the way, this is my second TIOLI month, and I just love it!

Challenge #1: Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro (My name is Kathy H.)
Challenge #2: Salome of the Tenements - Anzia Yezierska
The Yiddish Policemen's Union - Michael Chabon
Challenge #3: The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath (college life)
Challenge #5: On the Line - Harvey Swados
Challenge #7: Union Dues - John Sayles
Challenge #9: Yonnondio - Tillie Olsen (42894749)
Challenge #10: Te Kaihau/The Windeater - Keri Hulme (New Zealand)
Challenge #13: Quicksand - Nella Larsen - (Chicago)
Challenge #14: So Long, See You Tomorrow - William Maxwell (sight)
Challenge #15: The Island of Dr. Moreau - H.G. Wells (21st)
Challenge #16: Waiting - Ha Jin
Challenge #17: Adam Clarke: A Story of the Toilers - Henry Mann
Challenge #21: Extinction - Thomas Bernhard

>218 Chatterbox: Suzanne, I'm very much with you on the subject of grammar. I'm sure most of my writing is gramatically correct only because it sounds right to me in a sort of unconscious way, and reading it over (an email, a memo, a journal entry) often reveals ambiguous sequences or actual errors. Other people's errors tend to jump out at me so much I can lose the train of thought of the article at hand.

That said, I'm not exact enough for copy editing - I'd really have to study for that. Your challenge is very welcome, as it is a chance to really evaluate the use of those 'ing' words. In my own odd way, I find it fun.

Art of Losing - Losing is not a verb. It's the object of the preposition.

Lesson Before Dying - Another object of the preposition.

Falling Angel - Looks like an adjective to me.

Books Can Be Deceiving - A little iffy, but I see similar examples that would indicate it is a verb.

I wasn't going to chime in here because my source is only 12 years old, but based on some of the feedback so far, she may be right.

According to her (and her Latin teacher)

If an "ing" word is a noun or participle, you can tell by substituting another similar noun in its place to see if it works. Art of Losing equals Art of War. War is not a verb, so Losing isn't treated as a verb here either. Lesson Before Dying equals Lesson Before Supper, same thing.

But in Books Can Be Deceiving, she seems to have the minority opinion - she indicates that "BE" is the verb; therefore, Deceiving is actually a modifier or adjective of the noun. If you do her substituion with another adjective, "Books can be Funny", it works, and therefore, she claims Deceiving is not an active verb form and would not work for this challenge.

NOTE - she had no input on Falling Angel (which means she had no clue)

Yay for 12 year olds!

Personally, I have no clue, and couldn't even tell you what a gerund is. Oddly enough, I don't think I was taught that much English grammar; what I'm conscious of knowing (as opposed to going by 'instinct') comes mainly from learning foreign languages and Latin - most of which I've forgotten again.

Let me know your decision about whether my Books Can Be Deceiving is ok for Suz's challenge.

If it isn't, I can move it over to the "author never read in a TIOLI challenge" challenge.

228> I think your 12-year-old is correct. She's probably more skilled on a computer than most of us are, as well.

I like how some lter's post their TIOLI Challenges so I'm going to give it a try this month. I always forget which book goes with which challenge so this post and the fact that I've made bookmarks with the number of that books challenge will help me when I review it and post to the TIOLI meter. It looks like I'm getting a little to weird with this.

Here goes:
#1 Read a book with an opening sentence of five words or less - The Mystery of Edwin Drood

#2 In Honor of Rosh Hashanah, read a fictional book with Jewish main character or a nonfiction book on Judaica/Judaism - The Faith Club

#6 Primary Colors: Read a book whose cover is primarily one of the 3 prime colors of RED, BLUE or YELLOW - A Short History of Nearly Everything

#7 Read a book with exactly nine letters in the title - The Master & Magdalene

#8 Read a book about prostitution The Crimson Petal and the White

#10 Down Under: Read a book set in Australia or New Zealand - In a Sunburned Country

#15 Read a book whose author was born in September - The Great Gatsby

#17 Read a book with a character's full name (or nickname and surname) in the title - Ethan Frome

I am indeed over optimistic in thinking I can read all of these. In fact, what am I doing typing posts - I should be reading ------------->

I finished my first September TIOLI book. It was Once Upon A River by Bonnie Jo Campbell for the "Book set in your home state" challenge. Michigan for me! In fact, I was born in Kalamazoo which is mentioned frequently in the book. After a rocky beginning, I ended up liking the book pretty well, but I still think her short stories are better.

I finished my first TIOLI read for September - also for the home state challenge - Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan (set in Connecticut). It was quite good.

Wow at 12 year old's grasp of grammar. I think she's right too. I think I learned more about English grammar from studying other languages, because although I don't remember the meaning of the grammatical terms, I do understand the principles of knowing which bit of a word is which - in French, you need to know how the sentence is constructed to use the correct verb ending. I did some Latin too but not until I was 13 as we had a middle school system and that's when I started secondary school.

Funny, I also learned grammar by learning French in jr. high and high school. Concepts like direct and indirect objects made so much more sense to me in French. Possibly because foreign languages have to be learned so much more systematically than one's native language.

>228 pbadeer: The reason I said it was iffy was because I found one university's grammar help site that called "could be ___ing" a verb. I didn't really agree with it myself but it's been way too long since I diagrammed sentences!

Some people would consider 'be ___ing" a verb phrase. Since the verb to be doesn't take an object, the gerund after it is in a sense part of the verb. At least I think it could be considered that way.

So far, the only book I've found on my shelf with what I think is a valid title is "The Grass is Singing". I suppose Lessing could have named it "The Grass Sings" and the verb would be more direct. Would you mind if I included that title? I picked up the book recently, and wouldn't mind getting to it before I forget I have it!

Judy, I have no problem with that at all. When I was thinking of an active verb, I only wanted to draw a distinction between "being" and "doing". As far as I'm concerned, that grass is caterwauling away, and thus being very direct and very active indeed!

Ha! I found a book to read for challenge #1 without even trying. I just pulled a library book out of my bag and the first sentence is one word :)

I found an example that pretty much confirms deceiving in "can be deceiving" is a gerund. It showed multiple examples with the word "can" that use a verb and then a gerund.

gee...learned something today. never heard of a gerund before. Would love to use it at scrabble!

>241 thornton37814: Where is this gem of clarification?

Where is this gem of clarification?

LOL!!

I admit I could not tell a gerund from a gerundive if my life depended on it. The last time I diagrammed sentences was when I was 13, and it was in French. So sue me! :-) Odd that I nonetheless make my living from writing...

I just finished The Good Earth thanks to Suzanne's readathon. What an amazing book. And it so happens it fit into my challenge (#14 #12) which I have to admit I did more or less create so I could fit this book, along with Pearl of China, and ER book I should really get cracking on. But what I WANT to read next is The Sisters Brothers for the prime colours challenge.

Hey Ilana, I finally picked up my copy of The Sisters Brothers at the library today and I am starting it right away. Come join me.

The Sisters Brothers was due back at the library today so I made a point of finishing it up for the prime colors challenge.

Thursday I read Notorious Pleasures for the prime colours challenge and today I finished Pretties by Scott Westerfeld which qualifies for challenge #3.

Hearing the term 'gerund' is bringing back nightmares of 8th grade English. I still don't think I understand them.

#247 Judy, I'm so happy for you that you finally got it! I'll join you later tonight for sure. :-)

#250 Same here.

I'll move the book over to challenge #5.

Eeek! I've gotta run from the thread police!! Meet me here.

Bye!