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

Continued from here.

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

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


...logo by cyderry
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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 - thread
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!

Phew! Just made it!! The thread police were coming after me...

Stomp, stomp. . .

*runs faster*

ETA: I'll be safe, though. LT is going down in three minutes. No one will be able to catch me then!

Lucky me, I was reading and didn't even notice the crash. Now to get back to The Crimson Petal and the White.

I'm encouraged to finish listening to The Crimson Petal and the White. Only 17 more CDs to go!

I would like to listen to it on audio, Morphy. Maybe one day.

I'm having a very succesful TIOLI month so far and have finished:

#2 Outwitting history by Aaron Lansky - this was excellent. Reads like an adventure story as it describes the author's quest to save the remnants of Yiddish literature.

#9 The uncommon reader by Alan Bennett - this was great fun - the chaos that ensues when Her Majesty takes up the dangerous hobby of reading! Rebels and lovers by Linnea Sinclair was OK - not as strong as the other books in this series.

> 9

Outwitting history really is an excellent book. I was working today in preparation for our synagogue's annual used Jewish book sale which will be held in January, 2012. I saw multiple copies of that book which will be offered for sale. I kept remembering how much I enjoyed reading it.

Just checking - for Challenge #19, are shared reads allowed?

I've put in a hold request from the library for Outwitting History; it should show up on Tuesday. I'm fascinated by stories of rediscovered books and bookhunters. This will make a nice "pair" with the book about Poggio Bracciolini that I'm also going to read, The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt.

I think I got punished for saying on other threads that I didn't completely fall in love with Still Life by Louise Penny, the 1st in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, which I read for challenge #13: Read a book set in the state/province/county/region where you were born. I enjoyed it enough to look up the rest of the series on the library system's database, and sure enough, they have all the books save for the second one, A Fatal Grace. They don't have the last one yet either, but that doesn't count since they usually get new releases eventually. That'll teach me.

Finished my first TIOLI - The Judas Pair for the September Birthday Challenge. It's the first in the Lovejoy mysteries...and I think I vaguely remember hearing of that series from a TV show, but I'm pretty sure I never saw it. Maybe it's considered a cozy, but there were no talking cats, so far more readable. I loved the built in history lessons on antiques (he's an antiques dealer). It reminded me a lot of the few Bookman series I read by John Dunning but if I remember correctly, that series was a lot more action since he was a former cop. Good start to September. Now on to Masquerade for Challenge #1 along with a desperate attempt to finish Smile When You're Lying for the Primary Color challenge - he's a jerk - the author, not DeltaQueen :) We'll see if I finish that one...

Finished Specials by Scott Westerfeld which qualifies for challenge 3. However, the series has been going downhill for me and so I'm going to skip the fourth book in the series, especially since it follows an entirely different set of characters.

#13 Ilana, I think A Fatal Grace was published as Dead Cold in Canada and the UK - does your library system have it under that name?

I finished my first Sept. TIOLI read. I finished All Cry Chaos by Leonard Rosen for the number 5 challenge. Now I just need to see if I have any books that can fit into other challenges that I plan to start reading this week.

#16 Heather... yes! I just looked it up on the library catalogue and they have it under A Fatal Grace, sure enough! I rarely think to look up alternate titles for books and should do so more often I guess, though they're not always obvious to find. I also contacted Audible just now and asked them to include it on their site since they offer it on Amazon already (though I'm not willing to pay the price and don't want the CDs besides). Thanks Heather!

>14 pbadeer: The Lovejoy book series is quite a delight. I don't think order matters that much, if at all - and the occasional history lessons are treasures, as you said. Have fun with them.

It was a British series some years ago with Ian McShane, when he was young and gorgeous. He wasn't my picture of Lovejoy at all - I had more of a bantam Cockney in mind, because I have a friend like that - but the show was ok. I think the books are much more interesting.

>13 Smiler69: - Ilana, I'm sure others have said this, but the Three Pines series gets more interesting. I wasn't crazy about Still Life, but a lot of Gamache's background and that of other characters starts being revealed in the next books, and I found it quite intriguing. I've only read the first three so far, but they seem to get better as they go on.

Katie, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who wasn't enthralled with the first in the series. If you say it gets better, and this is generally agreed upon, I'll take your word for it and will definitely give it a chance and continue reading as time and opportunity allows. I'm really itching to get to Bury Your Dead since it's been so highly touted, but I do want to follow the progress of Penny's general approach, not to mention that of Gamache and his team as the series progresses. Thanks for the tip!

Ilana - I was a bit lukewarm about Still life too, but I promise the series is one of those that gets better and better as you progress!

I just realized that as a member of the 75 Challenge group this year I have read 75 books for TIOLI challenges alone....how funny is that!

I'm an addict . . . Of the 120 to date, 118 are TIOLI challenge books. What can I say, I'm hooked!

#22 with so many people confirming what you say, I already look forward to continuing with the next books.

#23 I've been keeping track also, though doing a sloppy job of it. I'll have to rectify that as I'm curious to see how many TIOLI reads I'll have by the end of the year!

In the next couple of weeks the TIOLI book database will be ready and I'll be able to do a query by user name which will give you the number of books you have read by year, total for TIOLI, number of challenges completed, etc. I'll email anyone who wants it a full spreadsheet of their data through July 2011.

Morphy, not only are you guaranteed a place in heaven, but the rivers will run with hot fudge just for you.

I just added a book to the first challenge, Lady of Hay by Barbara Erskine. I think I may be able to add a book to challenge 17, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I just started reading it. My goal is to read all 7 of them by the end of the year.

I am still looking to add more books to the challenges I just don't have the time to keep looking.

ETA: I just added two books to challenge #5. I added A Spy at Home by James Rinaldo and The Undertaker by William Brown.

Not sure how many books I will finish but since I am reading them I may as well add them.

I just completed Ender's Shadow for Challenge #3 and it reminded me how much I enjoyed Ender's Game. I am now starting The Good Earth for Challenge 12 as a shared read and so far this is shaping up to be a real good read!

#26 Morphi, see #27

#29 Valerie, I hope you enjoy The Good Earth just as much as I did. For me it's in the "Must Re-Read" category. And I'll be reading the other books in the trilogy of course.

I finished a wonderful school-related book: The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy. Education's loss is Literature's gain!

Ilana, I admit I preferred some of Buck's other novels. My fave is probably Kinfolk. I always wondered what happened to the characters in it after the Communist takeover of China. Another fave is Pavilion of Women, which was made into a very mediocre film with Willem Dafoe.

I finished and reviewed Louise Penny's newest in the Three Pines mystery series, A Trick of the Light. That was for the five senses challenge.

Finished my first TIOLI (and reviewed it) for challenge 1 The Magician by Michael Scott. Just beginning the second for the Prime Color challenge, Blood Follows

> 32

The Water is Wide is a very good read. Try, also. to see the movie that was made from that book, Donna. The film is called "Conrack".

I completed Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh for the Primary Colors challenge. I really enjoyed it, but I'm not sure how many stars I'll give it. Four, perhaps?

Next up for me is Case Histories by Kate Atkinson which is also for the Primary Colors challenge. But it's a library book with a fast-approaching due date, so it has to be my next read for this month.

eta: I wonder why the touchstone for Amitav Ghosh appears not to be working?
Never mind, now it is.

>36 SqueakyChu:: I mentioned Conrack in my review. I did it "backwards" and saw the movie before I read the book! I'm kind of sad because I have only one unread Conroy book to look forward to: The Lords of Discipline. I'll read it sometime next year - unless the perfect TIOLI challenge comes up in the meantime. ;-)

If you're looking for a good book for Citizenjoyce's challenge #8 (about prostitution), I would highly recommend Sin in the Second City by Karen Abbott.

This is about the notorious Everleigh sisters in early 20th century Chicago.

I just completed my fifth book for the challenges, In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis read for Linda's Challenge #18. An excellent account of this wartime disaster.

Oh, dear. So many books. I see that my library has Sin in the Second City. So tempting.

> 38

I have only one unread Conroy book to look forward to: The Lords of Discipline. I'll read it sometime next year

Oh, don't wait until next year to read it, Donna. That's my *very* favorite book of Conroy's, although it is upsetting.

Boo, hoo. I've finished The Crimson Petal and the White. No more Sugar. How will I survive?
I guess I'll start Sold and see if that helps.

I just finished Searching for David's Heart and added it to challenge number 3. I didn't expect it to fit any of the challenges but I was pleasantly surprised. Now I am going to do my review and continue with my other books.

Sold doesn't help anything. It's very good to know that there are people in the world helping to rescue to sex slaves, but a feel good book it is not. Now I'll start People of the Book for the Rosh Hashanah challenge.

That seems a lot faster than you expected, Joyce. I'm only on about page 160.

I finished and reviewed The Good Earth for challenge #12 and would consider it one of my top reads for the year. Onto The Midnight Charter for challenge #3 and so far lots of stuff has happened but I still am confused about where the book is going, and that's probably not a good thing...

Elkiedee, are you talking about Crimson Petal? Once I hit about page 300 I just couldn't stop reading. I even skipped the first season of Treme that I got from the library because I had to know what was going to happen next, then it ended. Sigh.

Finished Nanny Returns by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus for challenge #6. Lovely sequel to The Nanny Diaries that picks up twelve years after the events of the first novel.

#43 I'm jealous, Citizen Jane! I'm only on chapter 13, pg 310 but I agree with you, Sugar is one of the best characters I've seen in a book for a long time. I have my ideas as to what may happen and it will be fun to find out as Faber adds so many twists and surprises to the story.

48: Yes, I am - you predicted that it would take you a lot longer than that! Thanks for the push to read it - I'd been wanting to read it for a few months but was put off by the physical size of the book when I saw a copy in a charity shop. Then I saw I could download it on Kindle, so I did, then you put up your challenge and listed it.

I just finished The Island of Dr. Moreau for the September birthday challenge. It was quite good, but I didn't like it as much as The Time Machine. I posted a review on my thread.

In thread #1, I noticed some members posting a list of their TIOLI books. Since I have more than usual this time, I'll do the same so I don't forget to take them off the wiki when I don't complete them (since it's taken me 10 days to get 25% of The Lemon Tree read, that's likely!)

Challenge 2: Enemies: a Love Story by Isaac Bashevis Singer (eta: started out strong; then got too rough for me and I abandoned it)

Challenge 4: The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed by John McPhee (the only one I actually ended up finishing!)

Challenge 6: Sick Puppy by Carl Hiaasen
(ugh, sick, yeah)

Challenge 10: The Lemon Tree by Rae Desmond Jones (eta: also started out strong; also then got too rough for me and I abandoned it)

Challenge 16: Playing for Keeps by Joan Lowery Nixon (too far along in the series)

Challenge 18: Napalm and Silly Putty by George Carlin (gross; stopped reading after a few chapters)

Completed Princess of Glass by Jessica Day George for challenge #19, a fun re-telling of Cinderella and a sequel to Princess of the Midnight Ball.

I just finished and reviewed The Midnight Charter for challenge #6. I will be starting Foundling for challenge #6 as well. It looks like I've been reading a lot of YA books this month, but enjoying it nonetheless. :)

This is an FYI so none of my fellow TIOLI challengers who are able to attend the National Book Festival in Washington, DC this year (September 24-25, 2011) miss the LibraryThing meet-ups we have planned. Nora (Norabelle) will be setting these up and hosting them. I'll be setting up the Bookcrossing Meet-up. You can follow all the action on this thread.

And a quick shout out for any who might be interested in meeting up with some LTers on Saturday, September 17th at 11:30am at the Ridgedale Barnes & Noble in Minnetonka, Minnesota.

> 57

That sounds like fun, but it's a bit far for me to travel!

I finished my In Memorium reading about 9/11 for Challenge 11 with Falling Man and The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation.

Now it's back to lighter reading. I'm in the middle of Sovereign, an engaging mystery about Tudor England that happens to have nine letters in the title (for Challenge No. 7).

I finished and reviewed Patrick deWitt's darkly comic Western The Sisters Brothers for the Primarily Colors Challenge.

I just finished China Star by Bartle Bull, read for Ilana's Challenge #12. Another swashbuckler from this adventure author.

Completed Case Histories for the Primary Colors challenge. Next I'll read The Eye of the Door for the five-senses challenge and Pigeon English for challenge #1. I've just picked up these two and four others from the library, requiring a significant shift in my reading for the next two weeks. I'm glad to be fitting them into some TIOLI challenges for September!

I finished Ethan Frome for challenge #17 (loved it) and The Man with the Getaway Face for the primary colours challenge. I'm really digging Richard Stark! Also finished Die Trying recently (nine letters). Digging Lee Child too!

I finished Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld for challenge #19. It's truly fantastic and may even be better than the first book in the trilogy, Leviathan. Great steampunk set during an alternate version of WWI.

I finished People of the Book. I can't say I really wanted to learn a new way to torture people, but I guess a history of Jews wouldn't be complete without it. Another great job by Geraldine Brooks. Then I watched The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie because, how could I not after reading the book? Great book, great movie.
Now I'm back to prostitution with The Dress Lodger.

Apparently Roald Dahl (1916) and Mildred D Taylor were both born today, so I'm thinking of trying to read a book by one of them for the author born in September challenge. So was Sherwood Anderson, see the births and deaths section on the LT home page.

Hey, folks - slightly off topic question here. I need a recommendation. Through my professional organization, we're able to purchase a set of books for a school in the host community for our upcoming conference. I love this as a way to "give back" and promote reading among youngsters. The school is described as teaching primarily kids on assitance programs for school lunches and many English Language Learners. So, not being a reader of kids or YA lit, I'm wondering about recommendations. Which of the following are among your favorites?:

Battle for the Castle by Elizabeth Winthrop
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar
Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

Charlotte's Web, The Indian in the Cupboard, and James and the Giant Peach are among some of my favourite childhood books. :)

Looks like a trend is developing - I also vote for Charlotte's Web and The Indian in the Cupboard. I would also add How To Eat Fried Worms as I remember my grandson loved that book.

My grandson and I loved The Indian in the Cupboard.

I concur on Charlotte's Web and would add The Great Gilly Hopkins.

Sideways stories from Wayside School is a lot of fun, my son was a reluctant reader and wanted his own copy of this one.

Charlottes Web is fantastic
Maniac Magee is another one I enjoyed.
James and the Giant Peach

My votes would be:
Charlotte's Web
Indian in the Cupboard
James and the Giant Peach
Sarah, Plain and Tall

I have a young friend (12) and we talk books because he loves to read and I'm one of the few adults he knows that likes to read too. He has been reading the Michael Scott Series: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel - there are 5. (he lent me the first 3). He started them because of the Harry Potter series where Nicholas Flamel was a friend of Dumbledore. BUT PLEASE DON'T FORGET HARRY POTTER! Harry got kids interested in reading again. There are also the Rick Riordan series - Percy Jackson and the new ones for the Heroes of Olympus and the Kane Chronicles. Those would teach Greek, Roman and Egyptian mythology. There's also the Naomi Novik Temeraire series - I would think that kids would like a tale of Dragons and war together. Lastly, Garth Nix has a series called Keys to the Kingdom that is quite good and there's C.S. Lewis' Narnia series.

I personally enjoyed as a Rose in Bloom, Eight Cousins, Treasure Island but I can't see today's kids getting caught up in those.

I loved The Great Gilly Hopkins as a child, along with Sarah, Plain and Tall, Charlotte's Web and James and the Giant Peach.

the Rick Riordan series was the first my grandson read all on his own and absolutely loves enough to tell me the plots.

I just finished the audio of Faithful Place and am very glad to have that behind me. Not recommended at all. Now on to an audio of Bee Season for the Rosh Hashanah challenge.

#66 Now I'm back to prostitution with The Dress Lodger

That made me laugh, am I the only one who thinks this is a funny statement?

#68 Ellen, can't help you with this one, since I'm only familiar with a couple of those stories and didn't love them when I re-read them recently, but looks like you've got plenty of recommendations!

> 68

Charlotte's Web is one of my all time favorite books!

Ilana, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

66, 81, 83 > LOL!!!!!

I'm not sure why, but every time citizenjoyce makes a reference to her prostitution books, I smile to myself! Why is that? It's not a particularly funny subject?!

The subject really isn't funny, but sex is, or can be, so we laugh at things connected with it. I'm sure prostitutes themselves laugh at their situation often, when they're not feeling too devastated to do so.

All I know is prostitution is taking up alot of my time....and I'm only half way through Crimson Petal. This book is really killing my TIOLI pipe dreams this month.

All I know is prostitution is taking up alot of my time

Really?! ;)

To go to a more innocent place for just a moment, I finished The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald yesterday for challenge #3.

Yup, Lynda and I are pretty much immersed in the life. Though I've started listening to Bee Season so we can add spelling bees and rabbinical school to it.

#87, 88, 90
funny . . No?! (she says smiling)
: D

I've completed 2010 for Challenge #3 and would say the series is getting better and better which bodes well for the other 2 books in the series. I've started The Maze Runner and boy is this one shaping up to be a great read! :)

I've finished To Seduce a Sinner by Elizabeth Hoyt for challenge #6. Fun, fast, historical romance.

I just finished Never Let Me Go and wrote a rambling review of it on my lunch break just now. Also, I started So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell for the "title related to your 5 senses" challenge. I remember buying this book at a used store when I was going through a phase where I would choose one random book on each used book store trip, based on the loveliness of the cover art and maybe a gut feeling (I don't really do this anymore). It turns out that this particular book happens to be quite well regarded. Who knew?

Coming up shortly...the TIOLI stats for August...

Here they are…

TIOLI Stats for August 2011

During the month of August, there were 23 challenges offered in which TIOLI challengers COMPLETED a total of 651 books. Of these, 202 (31%) were shared reads. The 31% rate for August is the same as the 31% rate for all of 2010. That shows us that nearly one third of the books we choose to read are books that others are reading at the same time. I hope that has been encouraging you to talk to each other on various threads as you complete your reads. The total of 202 shared books for the month of August sets a NEW RECORD for the number of shared reads in one month.

We also have a NEW RECORD for the number of TIOLI points acquired in one month. That number is 111. Wow! That also brings us to a NEW RECORD for YTD TIOLI points which stood at 704 when August ended. At the same time last year, we had only acquired 338 TIOLI points.

We had a three-way tie for the most popular read of the month. Those books, each with 5 readers, were:
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows – J.K. Rowling
2. Case History – Kate Atkinson
3. Snowdrops – A.D. Miller

The challenge with the highest number of books read was Jolerie’s challenge to Read a book with an uncommon character name. There were 95 books COMPLETED under that challenge alone!

The challenge that accumulated the most TIOLI points was, not surprisingly, cyderry’s challenge to Read a book with a friend on your profile or make a new friend to read together. Her challenge accumulated 27 TIOLI points.

Coming soon…the awards for August.

Need to say thanks to Madeline - I received my 'hottie author' prize. Very cute and my daughter has taken possession of it.

I've finished Graham Greene's Monsignor Quixote this morning for Madeline's short first sentence challenge. A very entertaining read - a road trip by an elderly priest and his friend, the Communist ex-Mayor of their small village. Their innocent behaviour results in being mistaken for Basque terrorists and soon the Guardia is hot on their heels. In the spirit of Don Quixote and with an ongoing philosophical discussion between the two on matters spiritual and Marxist.

I'm currently engrossed in an audiobook of Chasm City and realised that it fits challenge #7: Read a book with exactly nine letters in the title.

I received my 'hottie author' prize. Very cute and my daughter has taken possession of it.

Hehe! I had a sneaking suspicion that might happen! :)

For those of you who were curious as to what it was, it was a TIOLI frog luggage tag! :)

I finished The Dress Lodger, yet another very good, extremely depressing read for the prostitution challenge. Now on to the 9/11 challenge with Let the Great World Spin.

Joyce, I read Let the Great World Spin sometime in the last year and just loved it. I hope you enjoy it, as well.

>97 avatiakh: Monsignor Quixote is on my night table - I hope to get to it next week.

Finished To Desire a Devil by Elizabeth Hoyt for challenge #6. And with that, I think I've gotten my dose of historical romance for a little while. :)

I just completed my 10th book for this months challenges! I am finally starting on my first book for Madeline's challenge.

Okay I need to go home tonight and do nothing but read. I haven't made a dent in any of my books for this months TIOLI. I finished one book and I couldn't get it to fit in any of the challenges. :(

>104 crazy4reading: I feel your pain. I'm just about finished with my second book for the month. Terrible.

Ah, summer, she is gone.

ETA: Okay, I finished The Eye in the Door for challenge #14 (one of the five senses) and I'm giving it 3.5 stars. It's actually my third completed book this month (still kind of pathetic). I like Pat Barker's Regeneration Trilogy so far: a really interesting look at WWI, the role of psychotherapy in treating shell shock, the issue of conscientious objection to war, and the experience of men who went to war. Some good social justice commentary in there, too, and a bit more subtle than it sometimes appears. As a psychologist myself, I like the character of Rivers.

Next up: pigeon english for Madeline's challenge.

Finished A Town Like Alice for Kerry's Australia/NZ challenge -- I'm wondering whether this month I may finally reach my goal of reading at least one book from every TIOLI! I think nos 13 and 20 may be my downfall: only one book qualifies for the latter (the other recommendations I had already read) and there aren't that many to pick from in #13. I'm not really in the mood to read either of the contenders, but hopefully that will change before month-end!

I'd like to point everyone to the new LibraryThing group called LibraryThing Gatherings and Meet-Ups. That group was started by gilroy (a hearty thanks, gilroy!) as a result of my enjoying drneutron's 75-ers meet-up so much this past spring that I totally forgot to advertise the National Book Festival LT Meet-Up in it own group! (...until I was gently reminded, that is. I had only posted the info to our 75-ers group).

In truth, meeting other LTers in real life has been super fun for me. I hope others take advantage of opportunities to do this as well in other cities, states, & countries. It doesn't matter if you're quiet or shy. Some of us can and will do enough talking for everyone! Give it a try. You won't be sorry.

Completed my re-read of Northanger Abbey for the Austenathon, which also qualifies for challenge #19. As delightful as ever. :)

I finished Dorothy Hewett's Bobbin Up for the Australia/NZ challenge- one of the best books I've read this year. I'm undecided as to what book I'll start next.

I finished Emma (a bit behind the curve!), but I can't seem to fit it into any challenge. I'm onto Blood and Circuses for the Aus/NZ challenge, and I'll start Northanger Abbey soon.

>110 humouress: You could probably get it to work for challenge #19 if you choose another Austen novel to generate recommendations...

I finished Train Whistle Guitar for the new-to-TIOLI author challenge. More after discussion on Tuesday.

I finished Me, Myself, and Bob by Phil Vischer for challenge #1, a memoir from the creator of Veggie Tales.

I completed Pigeon English for Challenge #1. I wasn't so sure about this early on, but it ended up being a 4-star read. I hope someone will pick it up and do a shared read with me.

ETA Next up: The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer for Challenge #2.

TIOLI AWARDS for AUGUST:

The Who Likes Harry Potter Award goes to Morphidae for her challenge to read a book with a pig-boy or pig-girl trope because it was such a good excuse for everyone to pick up a Harry Potter novel. Pretty clever!

The Best Punishment for Bad Service Award goes to wandering_star who participated in Zoe’s challenge to read a book acquired in an unusual location. Wandering_star “liberated” her book from a bad hotel in revenge for terrible service and a pretentious gentlemen's-club-library style bar. I guess they’re still wondering what happened to their book. We’ll never tell…

The She’s Got the Spirit Award goes to cyderry for her Friends Read Together challenge. This was a great idea and so much in support of the reason I created TIOLI in the first place. I’m glad to see that this challenge created so much excitement and participation. Way to go, Cheli!

The Oh, You’re So Young Award goes to Dejah_Thoris for reading Something in the Air: American Passion and Defiance in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics by Richard Hoffer for lindapanzo’s challenge to read a book about or set in the year of the challenger’s birth. That book was set in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. The year 1968 was the year I graduated from nursing school!

The You Know Your Elements Award goes to ivyd who chose a book that listed *two* elements in its title instead of just one for Dejah_Thoris's challenge to read a book with an element of the periodic table in the title. Now, that’s showing everyone, ivyd!

Congrats to the August Award winners!

It's getting to be time to start thinking about some fun challenges for next month…

Don't forget that September 21st is "Quickie Reads Day", a day on which you can suggest some COMPLETED books from September that are quick and good reads to help make us more TIOLI points before the month is over.

>111 MickyFine: : Thanks; it was a good suggestion, so I had a look. I've found just about every other Austen book, but not 'Emma'!

That's so funny. The reason I came up with the challenge was because I enjoy the pig-boy/girl trope and wanted some fresh ideas. Imagine my chagrin when everyone read Harry Potter! LOL!

Imagine my chagrin when everyone read Harry Potter!

Haha!

I really need to do nothing but read the next couple of days. I think I have at least 3 books left for this months challenges..

>115 SqueakyChu: Thanks for the award, Madeline! I was delighted to find a book with 2 elements in the title!

Thanks, Madeline, I really wanted to see how many shared reads we'd be able to get in one challenge. I hope everyone enjoyed it!

I recommend Grahame Greene's Monsignor Quixote for a quick and highly enjoyable read for Challenge #1.
Congratulations to our award winners.

I just finished Bee Season for the Rosh Hashanah challenge. I didn't know what it was about before I started it except spelling bees. I felt a little bad adding it to the Jewish challenge. Just because a book is about a Jewish family that doesn't mean it's about Judaism. How wrong could I be? What a bizarre, sad and hopeful book. I'm so glad I read it, now I have to try to find the movie.

Just stamp "FAIL" on my forehead. I just deleted five books from the wiki that I will not have the opportunity to read this month. I will only be able to finish two. *sulks away with head lowered in shame*

> 124

Joyce, Bee Season really might be a slightly "Jewish Book" in its own way. It was partially about Tikkun Olam (repairing of the world). In the bizarre world of the mother, she thought was trying to make the world right symbolically. It was about rebellion - in which the son rejects the religion of his family. Religion was especially important to the father. Often, a Jewish writer or a Jewish family in a story has a slightly different worldview than a non-Jew. The book was about Jewish parenting - perhaps the need to have children who are "perfect". Whether it is that a parent wants a "successful" kid or something else might not be obviously Jewish themes, but it is often interesting to pick out the subtleties of "Jewish" books (books by Jewish writers or on Jewish topics).

I really liked that book a lot. What was especially noteworthy about it for me was the relationship between the brother and the sister. It reminded me of how my younger son always was there as support for his sister during their teen years. I guess that was not an especially Jewish theme, but it was what sucked me most deeply into this individual book. :)

I see that Myla Goldberg has a new book out and am eagerly look forward to reading it.

Today is "Quickie Reads Day"! Suggest some shared reads from among those books we've COMPLETED to make the last part of this month successful for our challengers and for our TIOLI Points.

> 125

There's always next month! :)

My first choice for "Quickie Reads" is the graphic novel The Rabbi's Cat by Joann Sfar. It's delightful! It's under the challenge (#2) to read a Jewish book.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro would also work as it is an engaging read that is not too complicated or very long. (challenge #1)

For the same reason, I think My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok would be a good, quick read.

I'm only just starting All-of-A-Kind-Family but it has already been completed by someone else this month and it's quite short, also under challenge #2.

I just finished So Long, See You Tomorrow (William Maxwell) for the challenge about the five senses. It was dreadful, in my opinion. I just started Quicksand by Nella Larsen for the set in your city/region challenge. I really loved Passing, so I have high expectations for this one.

Many of us enjoyed The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt, which I read on Sunday afternoon. For UK readers, I would highly recommend The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (150 pages), or a book that I read on Monday, The Goldsmith's Secret by Elia Barceló (94 pages).

I would also recommend In Praise of Reading and Fiction: The Nobel Lecture by Mario Vargas Llosa, which was only 40 or so pages in length.

I would suggest Divergent - despite its length, it reads fast!

Quickie reads - Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton which is less than 150 pages (challenge #17) or Man Alone by John Mulgan (challenge #10) about the same length. Both recommended.

I'll second Heather's recommendation of Ethan Frome.

I am loving Challenge 19: Similar tags. Not only does it acquaint me with a feature that I didn't know existed (tag recommendations), but it allowed me to count two books that didn't fit in anywhere else -- Death of An Expert Witness by P.D. James and State of Wonder by Ann Patchett.

There is so much Ethan Frome love in this group! I might have to check it out one of these days.

The audiobook of Bee Season has an interview with the author on the last CD. I went from thinking the book wasn't "Jewish" enough to thinking Myla Goldberg might get in trouble with the Jewish community for her detailed discussion of Jewish mysticism. I know if a Mormon were to write a book giving specifics about temple ceremonies, she probably wouldn't be well received by the LDS community. I liked what Goldberg said about Abraham Abulafia, that he wrote kind of a kabbalah for dummies sort of book, and while he had difficulties with mystical folk in the 13th century who wanted to keep their secrets, Goldberg herself was well received by her community and by readers in general. At the end of the interview she talked about the book she was writing at the time, completely different from Bee Season it's a book about the influenza epidemic. I wanted to make sure to read it when it came out, but forgot that Bee Season came out in 2001. Not only is the flu book out, I have it. Wicketts Remedy has just been sitting in a barrel in my garage waiting for me. Yea!

> 136

It used to be that Jewish mysticism or Kabbalah wasn't taught to just anyone. It was taught to those who were first well versed in the Torah (Old Testament) and related holy books. Nowadays, it seems that Kabbalah is taught to anyone who wants to learn about it. In the past, I think Kabbalistic concepts were much more revered. Now that these concepts are so readily available and taught, I'm not sure that the previous reverence for it still exists except among the very religious.

It sounds as if the audio interview with Myla Goldberg was a very worthwhile addition to the book, Joyce.

I completed The Annotated Cat: Under the Hats of Seuss and His Cats annotated by Philip Nel for challenge #6. Fun to revisit the picture books and also explore the background and the academic work that has been done on The Cat in the Hat and The Cat in the Hat Comes Back.

I third Ethan Frome. I also recommend The Mozart Question for Michael Morpurgo fans and The Hunter & The Man with the Getaway Face books 1 & 2 in the Parker series by Richard Stark if you like hardboiled crime fiction. I need to get to Maus pronto as I know I'll want to recommend it!

#115 Fun awards, as always Madeline!

Wandering_star “liberated” her book from a bad hotel in revenge for terrible service and a pretentious gentlemen's-club-library style bar.

Could it be that Wandering_star and I went to the same hotel in New York City? There was exactly that kind of "library" in a gentlemanly setting at The Hudson, which, last time I went was definitely NOT *all that*. Too much focus on hiring model and actor wannabes, not enough focus on keeping guests happy. I too was tempted to *liberate* a book there. They did have an interesting selection of art and coffee table books.

#131 I ordered The Sense of an Ending yesterday and hope to get it in time to read it this month (our big Canadian bookselling chain Chapters Indigo usually delivers quite fast). Either way, I'll probably be reading it as soon as it arrives and hope I like it at least half as much as you did Darryl!

I'm really enjoying my prostitution reads. In Slammerkin a very mean woman quotes the bible regarding the punishment of harlots: The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee till thou perish...And the Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness and astonishment of heart. Looks like not much has changed.

#140 I believe Nana (one of my favourite Zola characters) was duly stricken, if memory serves.

>141 Smiler69: I'm going to find out next week. I've just finished Slammerkin, the best read this month. That Emma Donoghue does her research there's everything from poverty in 18th century London, to the limited options for employment for women of the time to cheating landlords and cruel pimps, to fashion, fashion and more fashion, to the enslavement of Africans in England, to of course most of the punishments mentioned above, to Christian "charity", British law, Welsh superstitions and methods of imprisonment and executions. A wonderful book! Next up, before Nana is Lullabies for Little Criminals.

Well since it is towards the end of September and I have about 4 books I would like to finish for this months TIOLI challenges I have decided to do a read-a-thon this weekend. Plus it looks like it is going to be a rainy weekend.

I plan to start on Friday, September 23 5pm EDT and end on Sunday September 25 at 5 pm EDT. If you have books you want to finish and need a little push I hope you will consider joining in. Click Here to join in. Hope to see you there!!

Monica

>140 Citizenjoyce:: Joyce, you make a compelling case for Slammerkin. It's off the shelf and on my TIOLI pile for the month. Unfortunately, my pile is bigger than the remaining time in September.

>143 crazy4reading:: Monica, I may be joining you so I can fit another book in this month. Who needs sleep with so many good books calling out?

The TIOLI database is complete through July 2011. The data has been cleaned up and the queries have been written. See all the fun at the link below:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/124017

If you want a list of all books you've read for the challenges, shoot me a PM with your email address and preferred format (.xlsx, .xls, .docx, .doc, .txt, .rtf, etc.)

Hooray. I finally finished Paul Johnson's A History of the Jews, long languishing half-read on my shelf. Review to come.

I finished lullabies for little criminals, and it took the air out of me. That woman can write! I'm glad she made it through her childhood, I don't know that I could have. Now I've started Nana. This is the first Emile Zola I've read. His words are not beautiful or affecting (1/4 of the way through the book), it's more like he's a visual writer. His books should be made into plays or movies or even pictures - there's no internal life to the characters at all so far, but much, much on the outside.

I finished Lady of Hay for challenge 1. I am surprised as to how interesting I found the story. Now I am off to try and write a review.

I gave Nana about 4 hours of my life, and I think that's all she's going to get. The book would make a wonderful play or movie, but I don't want to read any more of it. If I run out of all my other planned reads for the month, maybe I'll return. For now I'm happy to put her aside and start on Tipping the Velvet.

I've been on a reading blitz this weekend thanks to Monica's read-a-thon. I finished my ER book, Nightwoods by Charles Frazier. My review is here. Surprisingly, he is an author who is new to TIOLI.

I've been on holiday for a few weeks and have managed to make some inroads to my TIOLI list.

#3 Academ's fury by Jim Butcher - second in the Codex Alera series - a fun read with a rather Harry Potter vibe and some great action.
#7 Saltation by Sharon Lee - next in the Liaden novels, a coming-of-age story that mixes pilot training with the discovery of dangerous ancient technology - one for fans of the series.
#9 City of bones by Cassandra Clare - an interesting beginning to a Buffyesque teen urban fantasy series.

I'm not sure if I'll manage the others on my list before Friday....

I started The Sense of an Ending by Barnes and Memento Mori by Muriel Spark, both for the tag challenge.

Finished the audio version of The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey for the primary colours challenge and must say, the whole thing went completely over my head, but somehow I still enjoy it because of Tey's style and Derek Jacobi's wonderful narration.

eta: #148 I'm really sorry you didn't enjoy Nana. Zola is a brilliant writer, but he isn't for everyone.

Well, if I manage to read Richard Ford's Independence Day and The Good Muslim this week, I will FINALLY have accomplished my personal goal -- to read at least one book from every TIOLI category in a month. I'm certainly going to try!

>148 Citizenjoyce: There was a BBC miniseries years ago of Nana, and it was quite good, but I can't recall the cast.

> 154

I will FINALLY have accomplished my personal goal -- to read at least one book from every TIOLI category in a month. I'm certainly going to try!

You're incredible, Suz!

I finished one TIOLI book so far this month. Shh! Don't tell anyone, though. This is embarrassing. :)

I'm still plowing my way through The Invisible Bridge for challenge #2 and listening to Whose Body? for the 9-letters challenge (#7). If I can finish the two of them this week, that will be it for my TIOLI reads for September.

>154 Chatterbox: I would love complete one book for every TIOLI challenge some month. But that might require Madeline to restrict the number of challenges! :-D

>153 Smiler69: I'm also sorry I didn't enjoy Nana. I thought I would.
>155 ffortsa: ffortsa, thanks for the info on the miniseries. I think that's just what the book needs, to be seen rather than read. I'll have to look for it.

#158 -- there are some books like that -- I have loved every film I've seen made of Henry James, even of books that I struggle in vain to read...

I've finished The Riddle-Master of Hed for Challenge 6. I'd recommend it for a quicky read - if you can find it. The copyright is 1976, and (like most books published then) it's quite short, at only 222 pages.

I think I've managed to finish my TIOLI commitments for the month. I had been dreading a re-read of Northanger Abbey because I had tried to read it about 35 years ago when I was really into reading the Gothic/romantic suspense genre and hated it. I found myself enjoying it this time so it was actually a fairly quick read for me!

Managed to fit my two latest reads into challenge #19: The Help by Kathryn Stockett and Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen.

Ahem.

October's up. :)

:O

I apologise for stealing your thunder, Madeline, but it's your own fault for timing the posting of this new challenge month with my lunchbreak so beautifully.

You know - idle hands... :)

Haha!

I am trying not to look at the new challenges since I am still away from home and it will drive me crazy that I can't run around the house and find my books.

I finished Case Histories and loved it, can't wait to read more of Jackson Brodie.

I am trying to squeeze one more in this month, Beneath the Bleeding for Challenge #6.

Thanks, Lyzard. All I could think of with the end of the month coming was whether or not I could fit another book into this one and totally forgot another month meant new challenges. I'm 2/3 of the way through Tipping the Velvet and all I can say is, whew! I saw the BBC production when it came on TV here in the US, but I don't think it could have been this graphic. I'm loving it though. That Nancy, what an adventurous and brave woman she is.

October already??????!!!!!!

I just found out today is World Contraception Day, most appropriate for my prostitution challenge.

I decided to end my September prostitution reading with Tipping the Velvet. I'd rather hoped to get to Bodies and Souls about Jewish women being forced into prostitution in the mid 19th to 20th centuries. But, you know it sounds a little bleak, and I'd had enough bleak for one month. Tipping the Velvet has both male and female prostitution, lesbians both in and out of the closet, 19th century gay bars, poverty and extreme riches, socialism, social workers, love, lust and very graphic sex. A five star read for me to end an uncomfortable, but very good, month.

I finished another book for challenge #5. I finished The Undertaker by William Brown. I am still reading A Spy at Home by Joseph Rinaldo. I hope to finish that book by Friday. It is only

Here's what I planned on reading at the very beginning of this month:

Challenge #1: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (mine)
Challenge #6: Love that Dog by Sharon Creech (mine)
Challenge #7: Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers
Challenge #9: If by Amy Carmichael (mine)
Challenge #13: The Pursuit of Alice Thrift by Elinor Lipman (mine)
Challenge #14: A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny
Challenge #20: The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin

Here's what I actually read (those in bold are what I planned from the beginning):

Challenge #1: Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett (mine)
Challenge #2: The Rabbi's Cat by Joann Sfar
Challenge #5: Evidence! by Elizabeth Shown Mills, Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff, and A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan
Challenge #6: Love That Dog by Sharon Creech (mine)
Challenge #7: Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers
Challenge #9: If by Amy Charmichael (mine), On the Wings of Heroes by Richard Peck
Challenge #11: When the World Came to Town by Jim DeFede
Challenge #16: Tracing Your Family History by Lise Hull
Challenge #19: Divergent by Veronica Roth
Challenge #20: The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin - out of sheer determination to read a book in my own challenge!

So out of 7 planned reads, I finished 4 of them, and read 3 of my own books (in my defense, the only reason I didn't read A Trick of the Light was because I couldn't help myself and finished it on Aug. 31). Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the results.

173: What an interesting contrast!

>174 elkiedee: Thanks! I'd purposely left myself room to add books, some of which fell under the heading "It would be nice to read (fill in the blank) if I have time." But a few - Divergent, for example - I just decided I wanted to read now rather than my planned reads.

I still haven't given up on North and South or The Pursuit of Alice Thrift - I've put them in October challenges!

I'm taking some time before Rosh Hashana (when I may not be updating this thread) to remind all challengers to go through the September wiki, deleting those books you haven't finished by midnight Sept 30 and marking those you have finished with COMPLETED. The latter is important in order to make those books you have finished remain permamently on the wiki. Thanks!

A sweet New Year to my Jewish friends on LT!

And a happy New Year to you and yours, Madeline. May this year find you all healthy and reasonably happy.

Wishing you a good Rosh Hashana as well Madeline.

#173 I think it's neat that you ended up reading MORE books than originally planned. Wish I could do the same, but then... I'd have to plan a more reasonable amount of books to begin with!

I finished Memento Mori and The Sense of an Ending yesterday, both for challenge #19.

I've finished my 2nd and final TIOLI read for September.
The Great Gatsby for author's born in September challenge.

Out of 7 planned reads I only read two. The Crimson Petal really set me back, well worth the time and effort.

> 177, 178

Thanks for the good wishes, my friends.

I've removed most of my unread books from the wiki. I still have hopes of completing one or two... wish me luck with that!

Happy New Year. New beginnings always give a needed sense of hope.

> 183

Thanks, Joyce!

Shana Tova, Madeline.

> 185

Thank you, Ellen.

I added my final book for the September TIOLI challenges... ironically for Challenge No. 1! Madeline, I couldn't let you down. I've done your challenge each month since we began this fun ride. ;-)

Oh, my book was a good'un. It qualifies for Joyce's October challenge to read a book about infectious diseases. The disease is AIDS and the book was My Own Country by Abraham Verghese.

Hooray for Donna! I can't seem to get get past the one book I read for my own challenge in September, but October is another month...

I'm mostly done with September, I'm still reading The Songlines for my Down Under challenge, but not rushing to meet the deadline with it.
I just finished a great read, Minotaur by Benjamin Tammuz, that fits Morphidae's 'Never been read Author' challenge. My copy was an older hardback which came from the library stack, but it is also available as a Europa Edition. I was going to try and spin it out for October's 'Monster in the title' challenge but I just couldn't put it down.

>179 Smiler69: It certainly doesn't always work out that way for me. ;) I started with a pretty low number (for me) to begin with and just added books throughout the month. I still took a couple of titles of the wiki, though!

One more book slipped in for the month, Monsignor Quixote by Graham Greene, for the short first line challenge.

Couldn't make any headway at all with The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson; maybe I'll try again later, but for now it has to go back to the library.

I'm torn between reading My Berlin Child by Anne Wiazemsky and wrapping up Becoming Marie Antoinette by Juliet Grey. I'm saving the final pages of Independence Day by Richard Ford for tomorrow.

HIGHLY recommend The Good Muslim by Tahmima Anam, which might have stayed stuck on my TBR stack had it not been for challenge #20!

Back again, I just finished Anne Fine's latest children's book, The Devil Walks, very sinister and spooky, and it also fits Morphidae's 'Never been read Author' challenge. I primarily read it for blackdogbook's Halloween themed reads.

#191: Judy, I hope you enjoyed MQ as much as I did.

>193 avatiakh: MQ was a nice little read, and often funny, but I found it pretty elegaic. I'm not a Catholic, but the church-bashing seemed a bit cartoonish. I would have liked to know both the main characters, however.

I have one more book to finish for September, and should get it done later on this afternoon, it's for my challenge so I really want to count it. I will have read 16 books for the September TIOLI Challenges, but I did have to remove about 4 that I just couldn't get to.

Sixteen completed reads in a month is remarkable, Judy. Well done!

I've just about finished my September reads too...

#18 The map that changed the world by Simon Winchester - a great non-fiction book that describes the rather up-and-down life of William Smith who drew the first geological map of England.

So onto the October challenges - as usual, a lot of very interesting challenges - I particularly like #2 Read a characteristic book from the 75ers group.

I guess it is time for this months stats so here is what I ended up reading - planned reads in bold - I only had to delete one of my planned reads - Tipping the Velvet, but did substitute my latest ER read in the same challenge.

Challenge #1: Read a book with an opening sentence of five words or less (FYI: Identify the first sentence) - started by SqueakyChu
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 - started by AlcottAcre
*Bee Season - Myra Goldberg

Challenge #3: Back to school: Read a book tagged with a word which brings to mind "school" (FYI: Note the tag) - started by countrylife
Borderliners - Peter Höeg

Challenge #5: Read a book by an author who has never been read for any TIOLI challenge by any challenger - started by Morphidae
The Black Stiletto - Raymond Benson

Challenge #6: Primary Colors: Read a book whose cover is primarily one of the 3 prime colors of RED, BLUE or YELLOW - started by Delta Queen
*Enchantment - Orson Scott Card
The Great Transformation : the world in the time of Buddha, Socrates, Confucius and Jeremiah - Karen Armstrong

Challenge #7: Read a book with exactly nine letters in the title - started by Carmenere
Excalibur - Bernard Cornwell

Challenge #8: Read a book about prostitution - started by Citizenjoyce
The Darling Strumpet - Gillian Bagwell

Challenge #9: Read a book where the Librarything work number ends with a 9 - started by Athabasca
The Snow Leopard (106849) - Peter Matthiessen

Challenge #12: Read a book whose title has a word appearing on a wikipedia link under Mid-Autumn Festival or Equinox - started by Smiler69
Silent Spring (Spring) - Rachel Carson

Challenge #15: - Read a book whose author was born in September (FYI: Note the date, 1st, 2nd, etc.) started by JeanneD
Perdido Street Station - China Miéville (6th)
The Scar - China Miéville (6th)

Challenge #19: A book with similar tags to one of the books in your library (FYI: Note the book from which the recommendation came) - Started by wandering_star
The Outlander - Gil Adamson - (from The Tenderness of Wolves)

Not a bad TIOLI month:)

I second the great review of Slammerkin given by Citizenjoyce. I finished it yesterday and it was a rollicking good read. I also read Tipping the Velvet a few years ago and really really loved it.
My other reads for this month were the Hunger Games trilogy and the last of the Josephine Bonaparte trilogy The Last Great Dance on Earth. A really good read for historical fiction buffs.

I had 5 books to read this month. So far I have completed 4 of them. I am hoping to see if I can finish my last book tonight. I have just under 100 pages to read so I just have to do nothing but read tonight.

Thanks wisechild.

I managed to see movies of 2 of this months books. Bee Season was a disappointment. Saul, the cantor and househusband who is obsessed with Jewish mysticism is played by Richard Gere - maybe not the first person one would think of in the role, plus in the movie he is neither a houshusband nor a cantor. The wife, who in the movie converts from Catholicism to Judaism, is played by the lovely Juliette Binoche whose cool, rational side is exemplified by making her a scientist. Didn't work. Worst of all, the gangly, paralyzingly shy social reject older brother Aaron is played by Max Minghella who is so beautiful I can't imagine he is rejected by many. And in a surprising Hollywood twist, the older male spiritual mentor is played by the lovely Kate Bosworth - didn't see that one coming either. Even in these days of Madonna, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, I think most of us don't know much about Kaballah, so the movie makes crystal clear the idea of putting together the shards of the world to make it whole. Pretty much the book was way over simplified and prettified.

The BBC production of Tipping the Velvet on the other had had the luxury of being a three part miniseries, so there was plenty of time to develop all the major ideas of the book. The actors all fit their roles well and even though some things were changed, particularly the ending, the sense of the book remained true. It was not as gritty as the book, but very well done, and there's even an interview with a cute young Sarah Waters at the end. This is one of the few adaptations that a person could watch instead of reading the book and get a whole experience.

I finished Carte Blanche yesterday for challenge #6, which brings my total of TIOLI books to 21 for this month I believe. Will now try to finish a couple of books for Stasia's challenge.

> 202

Twenty-one?!!!!!!!!!!!!! I might not make it to three and I *created* the TIOLI challenges. :D

Oh, well...

I'm about 20 pages away from finishing "Running" by Jean Echenoz (no touchstone...) and about 70 pages from the end of Independence Day by Richard Ford, so I'll easily wrap them up by midnight. The only question is whether I'll finish Becoming Marie Antoinette as well, but I suspect not... I'll try, though -- nothing else planned this evening!

I finished my last book for this month. I finished A Spy at Home by Joseph Rinaldo. Not sure of what my review will say. I am proud to say I actually finished all my planned reads which I believe the most I have ever read. I read 5 books for this months TIOLI challenges.

Well, I did it! Finally, after more than a year of trying, I met my personal goal of reading at least one book from every TIOLI challenge! The final one was Independence Day, which I wrapped up around 9 p.m. this evening.

Super duper, Suz! All of you here are truly amazing readers.

I did two books this month. That's better than one, though. Heh!

By the way, I love how creative our most recent challenges have been. Since time's up for the September TIOLI challenges, be sure to now move on to those of October. Enjoy!

#203 Madeline, 21 is nothing... I mean... have you seen the TIOLI meter recently?? Suz is up there in the 40s!!!

#206 Congratulations Suzanne. That's pretty impressive. I'm impressed. If anyone could do it, you could. Won't even try to compete with you there! :-)

Meanwhile, I don't mind removing books from the wikis by the armload, but don't feel so good about removing them from shared reads, but oh well, that's the name of the game.

I'm finishing the month with 22 TIOLI reads. The last one was squeezed in for Stasia's challenge and was very fitting for this Rosh Hashana: Songs from the garden of Eden: Jewish Lullabies and Nursery Rhymes. It's a book and CD combo with 28 traditional Jewish songs in Hebrew, Yiddish, Judeo-Spanish and Arabic. The CD is quite wonderful to listen to and the book shows the lyrics in the original language, English and the phonetic version. There's a little writeup about each song which gives the background of how and when it came about and what the underlying message might be. I had borrowed it from the library ages ago and almost passed it up, but I'm really glad I didn't. Brought back lots of memories of childhood, and a few tears too... I'll definitely have to get my hands on Outwitting History as a next step.

Whew. Completed The Invisible Bridge for challenge #2 with about three hours to spare. It wasn't great but it was good. The descriptions of the survival (or not) of Andras and Klara and Tibor, Hungarian Jews who faced unspeakable torture and deprivation through WWII, are gut-wrenching and heart-breaking. I loved the ending, in which the author briefly explores the experience of inter-generational trauma. Nicely done.

Now I'm starting on my first October read. :-)

Help Needed:

For those of you who have not finished updating the September TIOLI wiki boards, please do so now or within the next few days. Either delete your entry or mark it COMPLETED if it was finished prior to the deadline of 9/30/11. You may delete those question marks (which are my editing notes). Then join us for the October TIOLI challenges (now posted).

#206 Congrats, Suz. That's very impressive. I had one listed in each category once but couldn't finish them all.

It's been a real effort, Linda! Every month there has been one challenge that I just couldn't face or had ZERO interest in, or where I ran out of time/steam/enthusiasm in the final week. It was fun trying to get there, though, and several of the categories I thought would be trickiest this month through up some of the most rewarding books, like the need to find a New Jersey book (!) and that book recommendation website that offered up four books, three of which I had already read!! But that's the upside of TIOLI for me is that doing this pushed me out of my comfort zone several times, often a good thing.

> 212

But that's the upside of TIOLI for me is that doing this pushed me out of my comfort zone several times, often a good thing.

I think you're right about this...the pushing thing. Even I have pushed myself for October...into reading a classic! :O That's just not me. What makes it all worthwhile, though, is when we discover something that we do like about a genre previously avoided. Often it takes great care in choosing a book. That's when LT recommendations come in very handy.

#115 - Belatedly (since I've been away), an 'aw, thanks' for my award - although perhaps I should be worried that it brought my act of petty larceny to a wider audience?

#139 - no, this hotel was near Stratford-on-Avon. And I don't think they would notice that the book was gone... in fact, one of the reasons I took it was that I felt sad for all those books sitting there as decoration, never getting read. But they also responded very poorly to my letter of complaint after my stay, so I felt quite justified!

> 214

although perhaps I should be worried that it brought my act of petty larceny to a wider audiencce?

As I said, I'll never tell. What you did was simply "liberate" a book so that it could be read. You revolutionary!! ;)

in fact, one of the reasons I took it was that I felt sad for all those books sitting there as decoration, never getting read.

In the future, do what a Bookcrosser might do, take one and leave another! :)

they also responded very poorly to my letter of complaint after my stay

Too bad, really. A letter of complaint should motivate an organization improve its services not just sit on the "defensive" fence more rigidly. :(