Take It Or Leave It Challenge - March 2012 - 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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Heh!

Here’s a brain twister for March! Your challenge is to read a book whose author was born in a city whose name contains one (and ONLY one!) letter from the word “March”. This letter may NOT appear twice in the city name.

For this challenge, you may need to refer to Common Knowledge under the author’s name. There you should find the author’s city of birth.

If you’ve never used Common Knowledge, this is what you must do:
1. Click on your book’s work page.
2. Click on the author’s name.
3. Scroll way down to a brown box called “Common Knowledge”
4. Keep scrolling until you reach the entry called “Birthplace” and note the name of the city (*not* the county or state!). See if the city name fits the parameters of this challenge. If so, go for it!

Here’s another way to search:
1. Go to this page: http://www.librarything.com/commonknowledge/
2. In the second search box, click on “birthplace”.
3. In the first search box, enter the city name.
4. Click “Search”.
5. Choose your author!

Check your city names VERY carefully! A second (or even a third) “illegal” letter has a way of sneaking in. Hint: Start with short city names which have less letters. Good luck in your author birth city search.

Here are some suggestions for March. Feel free to jump in with more suggestions. List your reads as follows:

American Psycho – Brett Easton Ellis (Los Angeles/A) – alcottacre
Angela’s Ashes – Frank McCourt (New York/R) - _Zoe_
The Group – Mary McCarthy (Seattle/A) – teelgee
The Nimrod Flipout – Etgar Keret (Tel Aviv/A) - avatiakh
Rockville Pike – Susan Coll (New York/R) – chatterbox
In the Lake of the Woods – Tim O’Brien (Austin/A) - kidzdoc

Have fun!

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

1. The March 2012 TIOLI Meter - Optional page on which you may track your TIOLI reading. FYI: This is not meant to be competitive - only fun!
2. I Know I'm a TIOLI Addict When... - Frog Logo is on this page!
3. Morphidae's List of Previous TIOLI Challenges - You may use this reference (Do a control-F scan) to avoid repeating a previous challenge. If your idea is similar to a previous challenge, just make it unique by adding a new "twist" to it. (Updated 02/04/12)

Challenges #1-6
1. Read a book whose author was born in a city whose name contains ONLY one letter from the word “March”
2. Read a book that contains the letters "ides" in its title or author's name for the Ides of March
3. Read a book that was nominated for the Agatha Award for Best First Novel
4. Read a book from JanetinLondon's library or planned 2012 reading list (Message #76 of this memorial thread for @JanetinLondon - Janet Katz)
5. Read a book about a 20th century woman, group of women or women’s organization - thread
6. Read a book with a title word that is a heterograph/homonym (same pronunciation, different spelling, different meaning)

Challenges #7-12
7. Read a book with a title that contains 2,4,8 or 16 words
8. Read a book featuring a pair of protagonists
9. Read a short story collection or anthology that claims to be the best of something
10. Read a book where the title format is "X (person) and Y (person)
11. Read a book from your Recommendations filtered by authors held - (Instructions in message #52 below)
12. Read a newly-released series continuation (published December 2011 or later)

Challenges #13-18
13. Read a satire or parody
14. Read a book with a map - thread
15. Read a book where the number of letters in the author's last name is divisible by three
16. Read a book by an author who has used more than one pseudonym
17. Read a book in which there are big, unintended consequences
18. Read a book where the author's name or a word in the title has a military connection

Challenges #19-22
19. Read a mystery of more than 300 pages
20. Read a book set in the fourteenth century
21. Read the first published novel or the first in a series by a new-to-you author, BUT in a rolling (alphabetical) order by the first letter of the author's last name
22. Read a book with an introduction or afterword by another writer
23. Read a book with the word "Girl" in the title

No more new challenges after March 4, 2012.

Yay! Am I first?

You are! Shhhhh! ;)

Fun one!

Wow; so we can post new challenges through March 4, 2101??? Talk about a liberal deadline!

My challenge, which is #3, is: Read a book that was nominated for the Agatha Award for Best First Novel. It can be nominated this year or in a prior year, but only Best First Novel nominees count for this challenge.

Here's a link to the 2010 and 2011 Agatha nominees.
http://www.malicedomestic.org/agathaawards.html

The previous nominees (2009 and earlier) are at:
http://www.malicedomestic.org/agathaawards_past.html

Madeline, I've never used Common Knowledge so this will be a learning experience for me.

My challenge is to Read a book that contains the letters "ides" in its title or author's name, for the Ides of March. The letters must be in order, and overlap between one word and the next is permitted.

Some possibilities:

Maimonides by Sherwin Nuland (Maimonides)
Apex Hides the Hurt by Colson Whitehead (Hides)
Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho (Decides)
Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin by Hampton Sides
Any books by Jeffrey Eugenides or Maimonides

ETA: You can easily determine which books in your LT library meet this challenge by entering ides in the search box toward the upper right hand corner of your "Your Books" page.

> 6

so we can post new challenges through March 4, 2101???

Previously anyone was able to post challenges through the fifth of the month. Last year, I shortened it to through the fourth of each month. That still seems to take care of all the "stragglers".

The idea is really to give everyone who wants post a challenge a fair amount of time to do so and yet not allow them to be posted too late.

I also took away that one day to keep from having too many challenges, but that doesn't seem to be much of a worry any more. Most of the challenges settle in the number of the low 20's. I think most people are good with that number.

> 8

I've never used Common Knowledge so this will be a learning experience for me.

Hurray for Linda!

I love to teach others how to use some of LibraryThing's most hidden features. I know that _Zoe_ likes to do that as well! :)

Madeline, I think we mean that we get 89 years to put up our challenge.

I appreciate the chance to learn these features. Usually, I don't seek them out on my own.

>12 lindapanzo: Madeline, I think we mean that we get 89 years to put up our challenge.

Exactly. I was commenting on the year (2101), rather than the date (March 4). :-)

> 12, 13

Oops! That went over my head.

Fixed. :)

I'm sure I'll want to post a challenge, but can't think of something right now... it's good to have time to think about it!

Ilana, you have 89 years!! :)

OK, my challenge as I had warned, is:

#4 -- Read any book in JanetinLondon's library, or in her 2012 reading plan (see the in memoriam thread).

I'll be reading Troubles by JG Farrell.

This is, obviously, in memory and in honor of Janet.

Where's Janet's planned reading list?

That's a lovely tribute, Suz.

Suz, I didn't know Janet, but I love your challenge and I will definitely make sure I complete a book for it. Tears in my eyes. What a wonderful way to honor an LT-er who I know was much loved.

Challenge #5

Girl Scouts: 100 Years

Read a book about a 20th century woman, group of women or women’s organization

On March 12th, 1912, Juliette Gordon Low founded the Girl Scouts in the United States. To honor the woman and the organization (and Women’s History Month) I challenge everyone to read a book that is about a woman, a specific group of women or an organization that is made up of or primarily serves women and girls AND in which the woman was alive and/or the group / organization was in existence during the 20th century.

BTW, the theme for Women’s History Month 2012 is Women’s Education – Women’s Empowerment.

A discussion thread for this Challenge may be found here.

Madeline, it's over on the JanetinLondon memorial thread. (Sorry, I will try to link, but it keeps going wrong.) Her husband sent it to Darryl and he posted it.

I'll go look for it now, Suz. I found the thread. I linked the thread in message # 2 above.

In honor of NCAA Basketball playoffs which take place in March and is lovingly known as March Madness,
Challenge #7 Read a book with a title which contains 2, 4, 8 or 16 words.
It signifies the Sweet 16, Elite 8, Final Four and the National Championship (2)

Great Challenge Suzanne, I've pulled out 4 of Janet's books from my TBR stack and I hope to read at least 1 or 2 this month.

Now to look around for a book to fill Madeline's Challenge.

Hmmm #1 is harder than it looks

Hmmm #1 is harder than it looks

:)

By the way, if you're looking around in Common Knowledge for a birthplace and you can't find it, don't just stop. Find the birthdate in wikipedia or elsewhere and add it yourself to Common Knowledge. Feel free to add other facts to Common Knowledge as well while you're there.

#24 I thought that maybe I could get bonus points reading a basketball book with 2, 4, 8, and 16 letters but, unfortunately, both of my upcoming books has 3 words in the title.

Lots of great challenges this month.

I'd like to post a challenge in memory of Reginald Hill, one of my favourite mystery writers and the creator of the series of books featuring mismatched cops Dalziel and Pascoe. He actually died in December but I only heard about it in mid-January so couldn't post a challenge last month.

To make the challenge a bit wider, it will be to read a book featuring a double-act - this could be a pair of detectives, like Holmes & Watson, or it could be any other pair of protagonists.

I hope this is clear - I will try and find some examples of what I mean.

The challenge with a heterograph (same pronunciation, different spelling, different meaning) started by ivyd was a challenge I was thinking of doing! My daughter brought a book home from school, Dear Deer, a book of homophones and we've quite enjoyed it. I also learned the difference between a homophone and a homonyn. I guess homophone and heterograph are the same thing, but the science geek in me isn't happy that homo and hetero are used for the same thing.

Ivy stole my challenge! Now I have to find another.

We can share, Cheli!

Great (or grate) just joking! A SHARED CHALLENGE a TIOLI first!
Great minds run in the same direction.

I'll add my portion and my books to Challenge #6!

>29 raidergirl3: I was/am a bit confused about the terminology as well. According to wikipedia, a homophone can also have the same spelling, and I was looking for different spellings to make it a little narrower, so decided to go with their designations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homophone

>33 ivyd: According to our book, homonyns are the ones that can have the same spelling but different meaning, like bowl can mean several things. Homophones are the different spellings and meanings. Heterophones actually sound like a better word since they are different spellings.

I didn't have a book planned, (although my son's book The Maze Runner is a possibility), and might not have posted it this month, but it was a cool surprise to see it listed.

Great (or grate) just joking! A SHARED CHALLENGE a TIOLI first!

Haha!

...but you don't get double TIOLI points for it, though! ;)

Here's some info on Heterographs/homonyms

Note that some dictionaries and textbooks define and distinguish these three terms in different ways. Some equate homonyms only with homophones (words that sound the same). Others equate homonymns only with homographs (words that look the same).

Generally, the term homonym refers both to homophones (words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings, such as which and witch) and to homographs (words that are spelled the same but have different meanings, such as "bow your head" and "tied in a bow").

So what I think Ivy and I were both looking for are words that sound the same but are spelled differently.

FYI - There are three kinds of homonyms: those that sound and look alike (bank a slope, bank a place for money, and bank a bench or row of switches); homophones, that sound alike but do not look alike (coarse, course); and homographs, that look alike but do not sound alike (the verb lead, the metal lead)

It is possible for a word to be a homograph or a homophone. However, whatever the word may be, it is also, by definition, a homonym. In other words, homonym is a conceptual word that embraces both homographs and homophones. . . . Homonym is just the collective noun for homograph and homophone.

Challenge #6: Read a book with a title word that is a heterograph/homonym (same pronunciation, different spelling, different meaning) - embedded words allowed - a SHARED CHALLENGE by Cheli and Ivy

Cheli has discussed the terminology in msg 36, and wikipedia has different definitions. But, whatever they're called, the important part is -- as Cheli bolded -- that the words sound the same but are spelled differently.

I like the idea of optional shared challenges. Two (or even more) people together could feasibly come up with some wild and wicked challenges! We could even do teams!!

I know this was coincidental, but it's an interesting idea. Therefore...

Anyone may share a challenge in the future if you care to do so.

New "Rule" (Added to the TIOLI FAQS tonight):

May I share posting a challenge with another person?

Yes, you may. You may post your own challenge or post a challenge along with two or more challengers. You may even create your own team. If you create your own team, please identify the team name and the individual challengers on your team.

I'm glad you like it, Madeline! It's fun, but would probably have gone a bit more smoothly if had it been planned.

Yay! I have a perfect title for the homonyms challenge—a book that I know a few people will be reading in March for the Steinbeckathon: The Winter of Our Discontent (Our/hour). I'll list it in just a few minutes.

On the subject of the homonyms challenge:
http://www.bergerandwyse.com/food-cartoons/small-foods/2566263

positively demonic challenges from Madeline, Darryl and our daring duo!!

I decided to try and come with a challenge this time, and I had a hard time coming up with something that wasn't on Morphidae's list. Here's what I came up with:

The Best: Read a short story collection or anthology that claims to be the best of something.

For example, I'm reading The Century's Best Horror Fiction Volume 1. There are also plenty of series of these sorts of books, like The Best American Short Stories or The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror.

Great challenge re the best! I mentioned on my thread, but today (maybe for another hour or two???) the "Best American 2011" series is on sale (Kindle versions) for $1.99 a pop...

41> Excellent analysis, Ilana. I will add it to the list!

41> Oh, interesting. The heterograph will change according to dialect. I would have never thought of our/hour as a same-sound pair!

47> Really? I love that.

48> I pronounce "our" like "are" and always have. So it's still a homophone, just for a different word (for me). So we might see a few more... I know there are several examples for rhyming words that vary according to which English you speak, though I'm not entirely sure how many of those are also homophones/heterographs. ("Caught"/"cot" might be one - I pronounce them the same, but I don't have the /ɔ/ sound in my version of English, I don't think.)

Being from the southern region of the U.S. (but with a New Jersey-born father), I'm intrigued by regional variations in pronunciation. I never thought I had a southern accent (and I'm still confident that it's relatively subtle) until I went to graduate school in Illinois. My new Midwestern friends helped me hear nuances in my own speech that had previously been "invisible" to me.

I'd been planning a slightly different International Women's Day Challenge but I think I'll post one of my other ideas instead.

Challenge 11 - Just for You - Read a book from your Recommendations filtered by authors held

Instructions:

1. Go to your Home or Profile
2. Go to Recommendations
3. Click on the (edit) next to Filter
4. Click on Remove authors held (i.e. authors in your library)
5. Select a book to read from the ones recommended

ugh, you're killing me Madeline! I'm still looking!

ETA: Ha! Just found one! The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. He was born in Columbus, Missippi!

Fun discussion of homophones and heterographs :). "Homo" and "hetero" aren't actually being used for the same thing here; "homophone" literally means "same sound" and "heterograph" means "different writing". Just two opposite ways of describing the same thing, more or less.

Meanwhile, my challenge for the month is to read a newly-released series continuation (published December 2011 or later). There are a lot of books coming out this month that I want to read--Timeless, Crucible of Gold, and The Unseen Guest--but I figured I should extend it back a few months to give everyone some more flexibility ;)

> 53

He was born in Columbus, Missippi!

Nope. Look again. There is a C and and an M in Columbus.

ETA: What happened to the S, S, and I in Mississippi? ;)

Ah! I hate you! *just kidding, of course*
I guess I see what I want to see :}

*wicked grin*

You're not alone, Carmenere. There are other non-qualifying books listed in my challenge. Folks, go back and double check your entries to Challenge #1.

Look for the following:
1. Be sure you are listing the city (or town) and not the country.
2. Be sure there is only one letter (and no more) from the word March in your city.

I don't know how we haven't had this fairly straightforward challenge in all these years:

#13: Read a satire or parody.

That's all!

I've conveniently listed Northanger Abbey there, until I decide which of the many on my to-read list will be the one for me this month. I'm thinking It's Lonely in the Modern World, perhaps, which was the only thing I asked for for Christmas from my family, and which I received, and which is a parody of design/architecture books/magazines, and a spin-off of the Unhappy Hipsters blog (which pokes fun at Dwell magazine).

 

 
(Also, I could kiss Zoë! Now I have an excuse to read a new series book that I received recently but keep feeling I should set aside while I tackle some books that have been on my list a bit longer. Yay!)

I don't know how we haven't had this fairly straightforward challenge in all these years

LOL!!

I've conveniently listed Northanger Abbey there

Oh, good!

*moves* her tutored read of Northhanger Abbey to Keri's challenge*

I was positive it was going to have to be a Tightened Up challenge, Madeline! And then I'd have to really figure out which of the books I wanted to read, and skew it to match ;)

I hope there will be a thread for challenge #5--the women of the 20th century. I love the challenges that generate discussion around a particular topic.

Also, a question for Dejah_Thoris on the challenge. Does the woman need to have been born in the twentieth century or is being born in the 1890's with their life story & work in the 20th century qualifying? The two books that have been on MT TBR the longest are an autobiography of Marie, Grand Duchess of Russia and her personal experience in the Russian Revolution and a biography of Agatha Christie...... both born in the 1890's.

Let's talk about a disqualified book...

Sometimes this happens when a challenger lists a book in error, meaning that the listed book does not follow the parameters of the challenge. It is usually done unintentionally.

The appropriate response for this is:
1. Allow the challenger who posted the mistaken entry to remove that book.
2. Next to the mistaken entry (does this begin to have a sound of my being an auditor?!), list the reason the book does not meet the challenge. Add "Disqualified" and your userid.
3. In the even that a mistaken entry is not removed by the challenger during the course of the month, it will be removed after the month is over when the stats are compiled.
4. The mistaken entries do NOT count for TIOLI points and may not be matched (Duh! Obviously!!). :)

By the way, I have found that the trickiest challenges to fulfill are those in which we have to count letters. I get fooled by those every time! There are so many invisible letters in our alphabet! :)

My challenge for March:

Mercator Challenge: Any book that features a map of a real or fictional place at the front or back of a book.

Rules: The map can be on the flyleaf or any pages BEFORE or AFTER the actual story (it cannot be embedded within the story). It has to be a map with common distinguishing features (i.e., topographical features, names of streets, buildings, cities). If someone has listed a book with a map and your version does not have it, it is okay to do a shared read (maybe the eBook version).

Examples: While maps commonly appear in epic fantasies, they can also be found in classics, history books, and other genres. Here are some examples:

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (The Shire and Middle Earth)
Under the Dome by Stephen King (Chester's Mill, Maine)
The Aeneid by Virgil (The Voyages of Aeneas)
Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson (Evropa)
West of Here by Jonathan Evison (Port Bonita, Washington)
The Kingmaking by Helen Hollick (Britain circa AD455)
Acacia by David Anthony Durham (Map of the Known World)
Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey (World of Terre D'Ange)

A separate thread for discussion can be found here

> 64

I *highly* recommend Sister Teresa by Barbara Mujica for Desiree's challenge to read a book that features a map of a real or fictional place at the front or back of a book. It is based in 16th century Spain (map in front and all) and is a terrific book about the life of a Spanish woman, granddaughter of converso Jews who eventually became a saint. This is a historical novel and is extremely well done.

#64 - Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead is another great book that has a map before the story.

Thanks for the suggestions >65 SqueakyChu: and >66 DorsVenabili:. I have read Sag Harbor - love Colson Whitehead because he has some of the best laugh out loud tweets.

I hadn't heard of Sister Teresa. Going to add to my wishlist and look for it the next time at the bookstore or Amazon.

Thanks for pointing to the In Memoriam thread for Janet, I wasn't aware of this. :(

#67 - That's so true! Reading Colson Whitehead's tweets is pretty much the only reason I ever look at Twitter! I admit to an author crush.

Ooh, looking forward to finding some books with maps!

Ok, I've got one now, Madeline! Into The Wild. Jon Krakauer hails from BROOKLINE, Mass. Ha Haaaa.

>61 streamsong:

Streamsong - Per you request, I've started a thread for Challenge #5, 20th Century Women. You can find it here.

In answer to your question, yes, women born in the 19th Century who lived into the 20th absolutely count. I'm planning to read a biography of Juliette Gordon Low and she falls into that category, so I definitely intended it that way!

Madeline, your Challenge is tricky. Last night I had an incorrect book listed for about an hour before it occurred to me that McKinney had both an M and a C....sheesh....

I have started the separate thread for the Mercator (Map) challenge. It can be found here.

> 72

Last night I had an incorrect book listed for about an hour before it occurred to me that McKinney had both an M and a C

I was tricked today, too! I saw a listing for York on the wiki and didn't notice there was an R in that word (of only four letters!). I thought the listing had been wrong. Oops!

That is why I said in message #1 to be very careful! :)

For Madeline's challenge, I will probably either read Jodi Picoult (Nesconset) or Louise Penny (Toronto)

#58 I had put Northanger Abbey under the memorial challenge for Janet, but I've listed so many there (we shared 195 books...) that I think it's ok to move it over to your challenge, Kerri.

Actually, I listed so many books under Janet's challenge already that it almost feels like cheating...

eta: Madeline, I hope you don't mind if I went ahead and moved your listing of Northanger Abbey over to Keri's parody challenge, since you said you wanted to move it there; it was the same work to move just mine as to move both...

> 76

I hope you don't mind if I went ahead and moved your listing of Northanger Abbey over to Keri's parody challenge

I don't mind. That's great. I have another book under JanetinLondon's memorial challenge anyway. I really did want to move it back to Keri's challenge. I already moved it three other times - proving the point that you can move a book about the wiki as many times as you want. :)

I'd followed you to the memorial thread, Ilana, to get the TIOLI points. You can move those books together as many times as you like! :)

Madeline, I've got a book written under a pseudonym by a husband/wife writing team. Both the husband and the wife were born in New York. Would I be able to count this book for Challenge 1?

I love Morphi's challenge "Read a book from your Recommendations filtered by authors held". Challenges that utilize LT features are my personal favorites! But, gracious, there's LOTS of good challenges this month already! How to choose, how to choose...

I love Morphi's challenge as well, I've just added two books, but of course, they are both the first books in trilogies!

I've set up my challenge, in honor of the third month of the year:

Challenge 15: Read a book where the author's last name is divisible by three - using the actual number of letter in the last name.

81: Is this the number of letters, the Scrabble value, what?

ETA: I see it's the number of letters, but I think you need to clarify.

Madeline, York works for your challenge, yes?

#82 - Thanks Luci - I added a short clarification.

Challenge 8 question--do the pair of protagonists have to function as a pair, or could the book have two protagonists, featured in alternating chapters?

Late to the party this time - no more Challenge #9 for me! :)

This month my challenge is to: Read a book by an author who has used more than one pseudonym. This includes authors who have always published under a name that it not their own, and authors who have used a joint pseudonym to work in partnership with a second author. Please list the author's real name and/or best known "writing name" on the wiki.

I am hoping that this will slot into Mystery March, since mysteries seem to attract pseudonymous writing.

This is Challenge #16.

Usually I post a challenge that has lots of books I want to read for the month, but this time it's different. I wanted to read a specific book about the effects of above ground atomic weapons testing in Nevada Friendly Fallout 1953 by Ann Ronald which is somewhat less than popular, I'm the only one listing it. So I created

Challenge #17 Read a book in which there are big unintended consequences

Off hand I can't think of other books that fit, but I'll bet I have some medical or scientific ones that will. This month I'll be able to focus mostly on other people's challenges.

I just want to give a shout out to antqueen. So far the only participant with a title of 16 words for my March Madness 2,4,8,16 challenge. COngratulations!

> 78

Would I be able to count this book for Challenge 1?

Sure. Use (New York/R).

> 83

York works for your challenge, yes?

York does work. I couldn't find the R in York earlier. Go figure! :)

For the satire challenge...

I just finished the short political satire, Taft 2012. While heading to his successor Woodrow Wilson's inauguration, President William Howard Taft falls asleep and wakes up nearly 100 years later, in the fall of 2011, and then gets involved in the 2012 election. Excellent, and a quick read, too.

I have my books planned for the month, too many chunksters included. Can I possibly get to them all? Marge Piercy and Sheri Tepper in one month. Oh, joy!

1- Death Comes to Pemberley - P.D. James
Gone to Soldiers - Marge Piercy
Intuition - Nook Allegra Goodman
Sex Wars: A Novel of Gilded Age New York - Marge Piercy

2-Sideshow - Sheri S. Tepper

4- The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science - Natalie Angier
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance Audiobook by Barack Obama

5- Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout - Lauren Redniss
When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present - Gail Collins

13- Egalia's Daughters: A Satire of the Sexes - Gerd Brantenberg

15- The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht - Book club
Wild Dogs - Helen Humphreys
Wit's End: A Novel - Audiobook Karen Joy Fowler

17- Friendly Fallout 1953 - Ann Ronald

Question for the homonym challenge: can a given name qualify for this challenge? I'm thinking specifically of Lady Audley's Secret (Audley/oddly)

I guess Ivy and I have to vote, but I say no, sorry.

Oh, how disappointing. I was almost sure it would count. Ah well... I'm sure I'll find a way to get it into a challenge... I usually do!

I've probably overcomitted, but I've actually got 3 others listed as planned March reads that don't fit TIOLI yet. (I also know that I will finish one of those because it's already begun.) If a couple of the ones I signed up for were not chunksters, I'd probably have a better chance of finishing all my planned March reads.

Challenge #18: Read a book where the author's name or a word in the title has a military connection

Any word that has a strong military connection will qualify - captain, sergeant, regiment, etc.

>54 _Zoe_: Thanks for the clarification, Zoe! So... if I understand correctly... Challenge #6 is for a homonym that is also a homophone and a heterograph!

>96 thornton37814: I'm in the same situation: too many listed already, 4 more possibilities that fit challenges, several more that could fit challenges but that I probably won't get to this month -- but 2 that I probably will read that don't fit anything yet!

>97 Athabasca: Re: Challenge 18

Would the word War count?

>99 Dejah_Thoris: "War" would count. I think war and military have a strong connection.

I was just aware that the world of the military is now so large that you could make any word link to the military in some way. I'll try to think of a way to clarify my thoughts (never easy :0)

Folks, I just have to share this lovely video with you. I'm sure some of you have not yet seen it. Enjoy!

This film (which is about books) won the Best Animated Short during the 2012 American Academy Awards. It made me cry. Am I just a "softy"?

97: It would have fitted at least two other March challenges, but I've just started Kate Grenville's The Lieutenant, which apparently has a connection to The Secret River, and I'm sure I won't finish until March. Can anyone be tempted to a shared read of that or Sarah Thornhill, which is currently about the Amazon price of a new paperback in Kindle (£5.99)?

AnneDC - I think the protagonists should function as a pair, so that they are really a double-act. Sorry - I hope you find somewhere else to fit your book!

I read your mind wandering_star! I put a book entry onto your challenge, but then later thought you probably meant that "double-act" so I got out of your challenge before you "caught" me! ;)

#102 -- I will try, Luci -- am interested in both after reading The Secret River but also have a lot of other books on the go or that I need to read in March. By all means slot it in there in #18 and I'll get to it.

Added my challenge! For mystery March- read a mystery of more than 300 pages. It must be a physical book- no ereaders or audio on this one. I'm old-school.

I love that little short, Madeline. It reminds me of The Night Bookmobile.

#106 - A big thank you for your challenge. I finally found a place for the last two mysteries I want to read in March.

That was my impetus in starting it - all those March mysteries!

I've just posted challenge 20: read a book set in the fourteenth century.

It's the first time I've set a challenge though and I am not 100% sure I went about it the right way...

> 110

I am not 100% sure I went about it the right way...

It looks fine to me!

Oh good- thank you Madeline!

>103 wandering_star: Thanks wandering_star--I kind of figured that was your intent, but I thought I'd give it a try! :)

#110 -- Katherine by Anya Seton would fit into that beautifully. It may give me the impetus to finish The King's Mistress by Emma Campion, of which I have a couple of copies. (Got one from the UK, then the US publisher sent me one.) A bunch of Jean Plaidy books would qualify. Hmm, might make me re-read The Traitor's Wife by Susan Higginbotham, easily the author's best book.

>114 Chatterbox:: I hope you enjoy them, Suzanne. I chose that challenge because I really want to read The Corner that Held Them by Sylvia Townsend Warner this month but I also have some Elizabeth Chadwick novels and Company of Liars by Karen Maitland to read. I did consider another re-read of The Name of the Rose but I very much doubt I'll do it!

Edited to add: I've just checked and my Chadwicks are all set in the 11th, 12th or 13th century. Hmm, I wonder where she was born...

I hope I haven't jumped in too soon but I have added a first novel by a new to me author in challenge 21. If you wanted "A" Samantha_kathy let me know and I'll remove it.

116: If we get as far as X, I'll add Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong!

But I want G too!!! :-)

I think The Redbreast would work in there, though, should we get as far as the Ns.

new to us and first book is a tricky combination...

I can take care of J....

I can probably deal with K...

I just took E

I'll take M and possibly O

My challenge (#22) is to read a book with an introduction (or foreword) or afterword by another writer. I will set up a thread for anyone who wants to discuss how such intros or afterwords inform their reading of the book, and whether they like, dislike or ignore such pieces. I really enjoy pieces which either tell you more about a writer, or which offer a critical response to the book, in some cases by another writer eg many Virago Modern Classics, Persephone books, Penguin Modern Classics and others. It's also interesting to learn about how writers themselves perceive the work of others.

G is done!

Well, it's going to be quite awhile before I can fit the only other series book I wanted to read into challenge 21. I saw it too late to claim "E." With letters like Q and X, it will probably never roll around. I've got more lined up to read for March that I'm likely to get to anyway.

Well, I have a "Z"!! :-) Yeah, I missed out on the "D", which would have been my first choice.

My son is insisting that I read The Hunger Games before the film comes out. Could someone who has read The Hunger Games, please tell me if it would fit into the unintended consequences challenge?

Dee - I think it would fit but won't say why so as to avoid spoilers :-)

131: Oh, thank you Katie!

119 - Soupdragon, actually you don't have to wait quite so long as the author's surname is Qiu...

133 : Oh really, good job you told me- thanks!

>130 Soupdragon: I also think it will fit. Bet you can't stop with just one - or at least you shouldn't. I think the 3rd one is the best.

Joyce, I added The Coldest March: Scott's Fatal Antarctic Expedition under your challenge . . . Does it meet the criteria for the challenge as you intended?

I started reading it too late to finish for the "Still(!) Reading" challenge in February, but would like to encourage myself to finish it this month by matching to a current TIOLI challenge.

It is Love-Letters on All Occasions by Eliza Fowler Haywood (full title: Love-letters on all occasions lately passed between persons of distinction, collected by Mrs Eliza Haywood) (whew!)

Any ideas for where it would fit? It's almost like a series of short, very short, stories in epistolary form, all on the theme of love. There are something like 62, plus a letter to Mrs Walpole (widow sister-in-law of Horace Walpole) introducing the work.

It's not quite satire or parody, though some of them could be satirical (Haywood was known for having a satirical bent to her writing), and the length of title and author name are both murky, so I'm not sure if they'd count right.

Any thoughts?

Challenge #6 all/awl

>137 keristars:: Is "Love-letters" considered one word or two? If two, then the title has 16 words for challenge #7.

I counted 16 words in that title - March Madness!

139> That's what I couldn't figure out! Does it count as one word or two?! Ditto with her surname, though I miscounted and it comes out wrong either way. - But the title could be 5/16 or 4/15, so I guess it kind of works... (and I think "collected by..." needs to be part of the title, since it adds a neat layer to what you're reading - they're not really collected at all the way we might think of it, but rather she wrote them all herself, but it pretending otherwise, in the great tradition of early modern novelists/satirists)

but "all" and "awl" work unambiguously, so we'll go with that

Technically, this is the 4th inclusion in "Fantomina, and Other Works", which is how I was making it into the Feb challenge, but it's a good 80 pages long (with relatively small type, too, and somewhat difficult language), so I've decided to catalogue each of the Other Works and count them as individual books :P

Thanks y'all!

>136 brenpike: Brenpike, from what I can surmise about The Coldest March it sure seems to fit.

Suggesting a challenge where the title includes "The Girl"

goddesspt2 - I was checking Challenge #6 and saw your posting of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban with the homonym of Harry/Hairy and I didn't feel that it qualified but saw the embedded word (son/sun) , so I made the change, hope that's 0kay.

>142 Citizenjoyce: Thanks Joyce.

#143 -- Good idea, kittenfish! All you have to do to make it happen is to post it on the wiki. click on edit, and copy the format from one of other challenges, and it would become #23...

Just think about whether you want it to be just "the girl", whether a plural ("the girls") is allowed, or adjectives "the lonely girl" or simply the word "girl"! (Anticipating some of the questions people will come up with...

Thanks, Chatter :)

Thanks for Challenge #23, kittenfish. I was looking for a place to fit The Windup Girl as there is a group read of it this month!

Why would Harry/hairy not work?

Probably they don't want to use Proper Names.

143, 146: kittenfish, did you decide whether plurals and possessives will be allowed with your "girl"?

> 151

Plurals and possessives should work for that challenge as the word "girl" then becomes an embedded word. An embedded word is okay unless kittenfish explicitly disallows them.

Share your ideas

What do you (or could you) do to increase the number of shared reads on the challenges that you present?

Tell us...

149> I doesn't work for me because they don't sound the same.
Phonetically it shows the difference
Hairy - hair-ee
Harry - har-ee

But I did find another one that did work.

Wow, I've gotten off to a flying start. Reading up a storm the last couple of days and I've completed two books, both for Challenge #1. Unfortunately, I have to get back to real life and curtail my reading time for a bit.

Devil's advocate -- the "a" in Harry is a long a, which does make it sound like hairy. The only har-ree pronunciation I know of is the Indian variant of Hari. But then, it's not my challenge, so... :-)

Creating challenges that have a lot of shared reads? Well, you'd need to design the challenge around books that you know have buzz, or group reads, or author themes. In other words, create a challenge that you know one or more books that a bunch of people want to read would fit. So, a lot of people here eagerly follow the Orange Prize, so that will create a lot of shared reads. Other prizes, not so much. There's a Japanese theme that a lot of people are reading books around this year. Austen, Steinbeck, etc.

It's great if I can come up with a challenge that allows shared reads, but I'm more interested in finding a nifty challenge, honestly. I don't want to go at it backwards that way. A particular book may inspire a broader idea, but I don't want it to dictate a challenge. That can backfire, and leave us with a challenge that nobody else can squeeze a book into unless it's a matched read of one or two titles.

154) I say Hairy and Harry the same.

#157 - So do I. I'm from the Chicago area. Maybe we talk funny?

Yeah, I've never heard that pronunciation of Harry. It's always be "Hairy" to me.

harry /hairy sounds the same to me as well. Aw, the problems of regional pronounciations. I'm Canadian, and any time I've done those accent memes that go around, I come out Midwest/Chicago.

So, are proper names allowed to be the heterographs then? If they sound the same but are spelled differently?

In NZ, Harry and hairy are miles apart in pronunciation!

I think I first heard Harry pronounced on the television program Night Court, which included the character Judge Harry T. Stone.

I may or may not have heard it before then, but that is what pops into my mind when I see the name Harry.

160> Patricia Burroughs has a last name divisible by 3 (bur | rou | ghs)

Promise of the Wolves has 4 words in the title.

My Enemy's Cradle might work for challenge #5 about women/women's organization, since it's about the Lebensborn.

Both Promise of the Wolves and La Desperada (sp??) would work for the March madness challenge.

Admit I'm flummoxed on "Masks".

167> I couldn't count the letters in my author's last name the other day, so you're not alone - and I totally missed that La Desperanda is two words!

Masks can be Masques, but that's just alternate spellings, I think - though "Mask" is something that hides another thing and "Masque" is a type of ball that involves masks, in my understanding. I'm not sure there's such a clear-cut difference, though.

Actually, I think masks -- the things that you wear -- and masques - the events that you attend, are distinct! so that would work for #6!! One might attend masques wearing masks, but they are different.

They're(their/there) a winner, Samantha_kathy!

Would Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children be acceptable for challenge #10?

Read a book where the title format is "X (person) and Y (person)

153>>> My ideas about shared reads..

I think that the more lead time the more chance you have that someone else will read a book along with you.

Say for instance that I said on a thread that I was going to finally breakdown and read The Hunger Games next month before going to see the movie, maybe a few others would admit that they too hadn't yet read it and we could setup a Shared Challenge for the Shared Read.

I believe that more people will read a book with someone else if

1) they already have it in their possession
2) have enough time to buy it or get it from the library,
3) it was a popular genre/title
but if it's a hefty book, no one is going to start it in the middle of a month (after everyone chooses their books because they may not be able to finish it before the end of the month.)

When I had the Challenge last year to read a book with a friend, a lot of the shared reads were also concentrated in one challenge where people could see quickly what books were already being read by other people. Maybe setting up a wiki page for the month showing the books that are being read and what challenge they are being reading and in alphabetical order. In that way, each reader could check the list and see if there were any books that he/she was interested in reading and could match up with someone else. Maybe even having the wiki page sortable (is that possible?) by author/genre - some people like mysteries, others non-fiction, some will read anything by a particular author - make it as easy as possible for readers to match with someone else and we should get more shared reads.

Re Harry/hairy in Challenge #6: I agree with Cheli that it doesn't work. I also agree that Harry is often is pronounced "hairy" but not always.

In addition, I don't think that proper names qualify for the challenge. For one thing, there are many possible pronunciations of a name, regardless of the spelling, and how a name is, can be, or should be pronounced just opens a can of worms where there can't be any definitive resolution (as with Harry).

And also, I don't think proper names really meet the requirement of different meanings. The use of the name means nothing except that it is a name.

ETA: The exception to proper names in a title would be if the name is also a word with a meaning, e.g. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (dawn/don).

Ivy, it's interesting that we all have different views on pronunciation (which some would pronounce prounOUNCEeeatshun and others would pronounce ProNUNseeayshun!) For me, dawn and don are two very distinguishable words - dawwwn and dohn. We can't hear each other speak so we never really realize until a challenge like this how different our accents may be in practice!!

I'm kind of in the middle of accents - my sister Tina (tutu) lives in Maine with her "lobstahs" and I have relatives in the South with their "sweet tay". It can be very interesting on a conference call!

>176 Chatterbox: The first one that popped into my head is not a very good example! Yes, they sound the same to me, and the dictionary agrees that they can be pronounced the same -- or differently!

There are a lot of interesting differences in dialects, regions and even families. When I was thinking about this challenge, I wondered how many of those might show up.

Some of them do come around the "r's", but a lot are really vowel sounds that spill over, I think. Interesting, I've never looked at this field of study before!!!

Hmmm. "harry" is also a word with a meaning (to bother or harass, as in "harried"). But pronunciation is much trickier than it first appears. Like Suzanne, I pronounce don and dawn quite differently, whereas I pronounce hairy and harry the same--I think. My dictionary indicates a slightly different vowel sound for both pairs, however. I guess the the two of you will have to keep on ruling on what's permitted!

Certainly wouldn't accept harry/hairy here! - very short 'a' (pronounced as if you were saying 'hat', but without the 't') vs 'air'. :)

>153 SqueakyChu:

Madeline -- does your question about promoting shared reads mean that we're down again for February? I know you mentioned before that January 2012 had fewer points than January 2011.

As for your question about promoting more shared read in a Challenge you post, well, last month I tried to pick up a few books that others had added to the Challenge I posted, but only managed to read two.

Surely with Mystery March there will be many more shared reads -- maybe I should set myself a goal. I wonder what would be reasonable given I'll be reading so many mysteries -- 50% of the books I read in March be shared?

I'm going to make more of an effort to go through the TIOLI list after it's already populated and choose one or two books just because they're shared reads. I know I've been focused too much on planning my own reads in advance.

If you want to make everyone focus more on shared reads, I think you just need to set up a specific shared-reads frog meter. (Books would only be counted once someone else had also marked it as completed.)

I think a shared reads meter is a great idea, Zoe. I don't actually post my books on the TIOLI Meter, but I'd be game to post shared reads. Excellent thought! I hope Madeline likes it!

> 153

does your question about promoting shared reads mean that we're down again for February?

I haven't counted the February stats yet. I wasn't trying to put a quality judgement on the number of shared reads nor say whether or not we should have more of them overall. It's just that I think it's fun to be reading the same book as another person at the same time. On the other hand, it's also fun to read a unique, known-only-to-you author at times as well.

If you do share a read from time to time, be sure to stop by other challengers' threads to comment on those shared reads.

Truthfully, our stats for shared reads stay pretty constant from month to month. For 2010 the number was between 23 and 48%; for 2011, it was between 22 and 33%. I don't expect us to reach 48% again ever. That happened back in March of 2010 when we had a grand total of 9 challenges! Needless to say, the more variety in the challenges, the more varied our books will be.

> 183

I'm going to make more of an effort to go through the TIOLI list after it's already populated and choose one or two books just because they're shared reads

> 174, 183

To those who suggest extra wikis and meters:
I don't want to make more work for myself! Too many stats woudl also make reading "wor" for us as well.

Zoe, I think it's a nice idea to even just choose one book per month because it starts out to be a shared read. We never know, however, what the end of the month will bring. :)

Cheli, your challenge to share a read with a friend was a fun one. That nto only got us more shared reads, but also had us talking to each other along the way.

> 184

We already post shared reads, both on the wiki and on the TIOLI meter. I guess what I was hoping for was just what Zoe had said - that, in choosing your books for the month, take the time to choose at least one, not from the challenge title alone, but also from the four pages of book titles that are already listed.

Here's my challenge to you:

After (later this month) seeing the results of February's stats, I challenge you to beat the number of COMPLETED shared reads and the TIOLI points for the month of March. Think you can do it?

Idea:
In addition, have you seen Cheli's Bomb Challenge? Use your oldest TBR books as both shared reads and book bombs. Kill two birds with one stone bomb!

I try not to get too fussed about shared reads, because I want my reading to be shaped by what I feel like reading at any given point than by duty... I may sometimes prioritize a shared read, but I don't want to feel guilty if I have to drop one from my list of TIOLI reads.

I do agree with Madeline about adding more wikis. Already, there are days when having to add up the pages and figure out whether someone else has read a book that is on the wiki and thus whether it has become a shared read yet, feels a bit like, well, housekeeping!

Now, to change the subject completely: Can anyone see a category that my ARC of The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones will fit?

Well, in (embedded in uninvited) and inn are homonyms....

183 - 188

Sorry, Madeline, I wasn't thinking about the extra work involved with adding another wiki / meter. I wasn't coming up with any concrete ideas to encourage shared reads and when Zoe suggested it, well, the idea struck my fancy.

It'll be interesting to see the February stats and as I said before, with Mystery March, it seems as though this will be a good month for shared reads. I guess we'll see.

>188 Chatterbox:

I haven't seen anyone use it, but I've been considering the/thee for a book I may read and can't fit elsewhere.

Cross posted -- I didn't even notice in/inn.

Cheli, that is fab!!!

And I think I can do purl/pearl (the latter being embedded) for Pearla by Carolina de Robertis.

Which means I can squeeze in some "must-read" ARCs for this month.

The regional variations in pronunciations certainly make Challenge #6 difficult to administer. To this lifelong Chicagoan, hairy and Harry are spoken exactly the same.

However, as I look at the list, precedent and president are not pronounced the same, at least not by me. Precedent is said as PRESS-ident and president is said as PREZ-ident.

I have to admit that I don't track my raw TIOLI count myself, but I'm ever optimistic that people will eventually get excited about tracking shared reads. Maybe next time :)

I'm a newbie to these challenges, but people keep track of their shared vs their single reads on the TIOLI meter. You can add any additional information you want to your post, so if you wanted to, you could note that you are keeping track of only your shared reads. Squeaky might not even object to listing those titles on that meter.

> 194

Squeaky might not even object to listing those titles on that meter.

Right, Janet!

I have no objection to any other information you want to add on the TIOLI meter. That page is just for fun so, everyone, do what you want with it!

Just keep leap-frogging over the person on the next higher lily pad as you work up the number of books you read.

Idea (#1): You may want to use the bottom of the frog-meter page (the comments section) to keep your own (optional, of course!) notes. That would be cool with me.

Even more ideas (but with no more work for me!): :D

(#2)
Use the main thread for advertising group reads. I have no objection to that. Your group read might even get a wider audience from doing this!

(#3)
Are you reading an exceptionally good book? Talk others into reading it as well. Use the main thread to market your current read. This is best done toward the beginning of each month when there is time to slip these great books into the monthly reading list of other challengers. Suggest into which challenge they should insert it! ;)

(#4)
Before starting your new month's reading list, take a look at those books already listed on the wiki. See which of those books *you* have languishing unread (so sad!) on your own bookshelves. :)

Go for them!

#196 I do your number 4 suggestion every month. I don't always get to it but I'm constantly looking to see what others are reading.

For anyone who's been waiting for the P spot on Samantha_kathy's Challenge #21, I just took O with Mallory's Oracle by Carol O'Connell. If anyone would like to join me in reading it, I'd be delighted!

Madeline, your comments about shared reads took me back to my spreadsheet to add another column. This is only my second year in your group, so it didn't take long to go through the old TIOLIs. I've shared 45 reads since January 2011. Looking at those titles, from my perspective:
17 were shared due to discussion in this or another group. ie: Your comments about Outwitting History in September 2011, and February in the 12 in 12 group, monthly-reads sub-challenge.
4 were the direct result of group reads posted in this and other groups. ie: Pride and Prejudice, March 2011, where I joined 13 other readers.
24 seemed to be just serendipitous matching, such as you suggest @196.

With the group reads, discussion abounds anyway. Sometimes the initial comments just posted in a regular thread yield more discussion. And rarely, the happenstance matchings yield discussion when one of the matchers makes a comment about it in your own thread (thank you Streamsong).

I think the more people practice your #4, the more shared reads there'll be. I try to do that, myself, twice a month, when the new month starts rolling, and mid-month, when it's time to return my first batch of library books and order more. But I don't stress over matches. If a posted book looks interesting and matches my book needs of the moment, I try to join in. But, like everything else here on LT, I just keep it fun.

Zoe, (@193) what type of shared read tracking did you have in mind?

The thing that I always mean to track for myself is the number of "TIOLI points" that I participated in (so, a shared read with only one other person is worth one point, while a shared read with four other people is three points). I think this is the most meaningful way of measuring interactivity, because I tend to get more value from a shared read if it's shared with many people.

I'm very far behind on compiling my personal TIOLI stats, though; I've only done it for 2010.

I try to look at shared reads through the month, and particularly for books I might want to pick up which someone has already marked completed, because then I know that if I finish it, it will be a shared read. But my priorities vary, some months I've had a lot of review books that I feel I should read - that's the case this month although not so much.

I have tried to cut back my reading in a way which should slow me down by at least a couple of books a month though, as I need more time for other things.

>196 SqueakyChu: I pretty regularly do strategy #4 above too. However, I think that I personally have had fewer shared reads in 2012 than in 2011, and I think that may be mostly related to some other reading goals I've adopted.

One being not to buy many new books. Last year, if someone posted a book for a challenge that I wanted to read, I didn't think twice about ordering it from Amazon--presto, shared read! But I'm not doing that anymore, so I have to either have the book or be able to get it quickly from the library.

Also, I notice more of an effort to plan my reading and to fit the books I want to read into the challenges rather than look for ideas in the challenges, which I did a lot of last year.

I suspect that the increasing number of challenges makes shared reads somewhat less likely, just because there are so many possibilities to choose from.

Certain types of challenges, either where the possibilities are finite, like the Orange longlist or the NYT list of notable non-fiction, or themes where the challenge author posts a list of suggestions seem more likely to result in shared reads. Also group reads that are already planned but that fit a challenge, obviously increase shared reads.

When I've proposed challenges, I never really think about whether they will generate shared reads or not. Maybe something to consider.

Anyone who was waiting for the chance to post a book by Qiu Xialong now has the chance in challenge #21 -- Qiu is his surname, and the Qs are up!

What I tend to get a lot out of is what I think of as being "rolling shared reads" -- a book that someone picks up and reads and then slowly, more of us read it as it spreads by word of mouth. We're not necessarily reading it in the same month, but we are sharing the experience, just in a different way. So it's not TIOLI focused (although I think those books also tend to pop up as TIOLI shared reads, too), but it adds value. Someone inspires me to read a book, I read it; in my turn I mention it on my thread and those of others and so it ripples throughout the group.

>Zoe (@201): Oh, TIOLI POINTS. I didn't capture that. I just grabbed the number of people sharing the read. I like your wiki, but for myself, I like to track my everything all together. I started out using separate pages to track various facets of my reading, but found it cumbersome, and ended up combining everything onto an excel page, so I don't think I'd use a wiki kind of thing to track just that one thing, either. For number of books, I tried the leapfrog a time or two, but don't go there much anymore. My reading log (March/April 2011) looks like this (kind of, I cut out a lot to make it smaller for the picture). My shared reads are column J.



Would a THREAD do to track what you're looking for, Zoe? I was thinking something along Morphi's Movie Challenge - http://www.librarything.com/topic/127696 - where people who participated added posts to the thread, and Morphi grabbed the completed movies and posted them in post 2 of each month's thread.

204: Well said, Chatterbox! That's been my experience, too. One that comes immediately to mind is The Housekeeper and the Professor. Baseball and math - not my thing - yet I listened to all that talk in the "rolling shared reads", took a chance, and LOVED that book.

I've long since lost track of all the books that I've read that way; sometimes a TIOLI challenge will cause me to bump one up the list (The Night Circus is a perfect example) but sometimes I just pick it up because it's hit a tipping point with me. On the flip side, there are some books I have no interest in reading, and a group read will actually cause me to avoid them -- eg the Steinbecks.

I have TIOLI thread so I'm going to add a ticker which will keep track of my shared reads.

But what do I count - the number of books I shared or the number of points the shared read earned?

I worked out that my first completed read of the month - Death Comes to Pemberley - with an author born in Oxford, fits challenge no. 1, and found when I went to add it that two others are planning to read it for the same challenge. I wouldn't give the book a high recommendation, but it's probably one of those which, if you are either a fan of Jane Austen or of P D James' mysteries, or even of both, you will have to read just to see what it's like.

> 199

But, like everything else here on LT, I just keep it fun.

...which is just as it should be!

For those interested in shared reads, I just added Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader to Madeline's challenge #1 as Anne Fadiman is born in NY, NY. Yay!

I also completed Sea of Poppies, which I've entered in challenge #6.

#207 Suz, sorry to hear the Steinbeckathon is a deterrent for you. But then, Steinbeck legacy will be around for a good long while.

If I am not the last American to read Dreams from my Father or rather listen to it read by the author, Barack Obama, maybe someone wants to join me in the Janetin London memorial thread. It hadn't occurred to me before listening to it that Obama really is an African American. I know, some of us are late to figure things out.
I also finished Robert Reich's Aftershock. It seems the solutions he proposes to the economy are workable. It also seems to me that he is way too optimistic about the possibility of their ever being enacted.

I worked out that my first completed read of the month - Death Comes to Pemberley - with an author born in Oxford

Really? Weird - I have Dorothy L. Sayers listed, also born in Oxford. :)

Ilana, it's really unimportant in the scheme of things! One man's meat, etc etc blah blah blah.

Sometimes discussion of a book will push me to read it; on other occasions, when a book seems to be everywhere, there is just too much buzz. Often I simply want to digest a book on my own, vs discussing it as I'm reading. One reason I don't do many group reads.

204: I was going to add Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xialong at this point but annoyingly I can't find my copy though I know it's somewhere on my shelves. If anyone has another Q to add, please do or if someone else adds Red Heroine, I will probably join you once I've found my copy!

LOL! I've read the series, at least up until the next-to-last book, and I can't think of another unread author, new series, by an author whose name begins with a Q... I think we're stuck until you find the copy! Should we manage to move forward (and get past X, which is gonna be tough) I can get us over the "Z" hump with The Messenger of Athens.

216! I've found it!! It was double parked behind my Virago Modern Classics for some reason. Will go and add it now...

I've no idea where my copy is, or even it's her first published book (or first published in English?) - how about Xinran's Good Women of China? For some letters we may have to just list books anyway.

Hate to sound like a moron..................

here goes, anyway

I have no idea what challenge 21. Read the first published novel or the first in a series by a new-to-you author, BUT in a rolling (alphabetical) order by the first letter of the author's last name means.

Don't worry about asking questions, kittenfish -- some Challenges are more confusing than others!

For Challenge #21, a book need to fulfill three criteria:

1. Be a new to you author - you haven't read anything by them before,

2. First published book or first in a series AND

3. In order to fit them in the wiki, the author's last name has to be next alphabetically.

Here's part of the wiki:

*The Redbreast - Jo Nesbo- (N) - wandering_star
Mallory's Oracle - Carol O'Connell (O) - Dejah_Thoris
The Face of a Stranger - Anne Perry (P) - AnneDC
Death of a Red Heroine - Xiaolong Qiu (Q) - Soupdragon

I've never read anything by Carol O'Connell and the first book in her Mallory series is Mallory's Oracle. The previous author listed on the wiki was Nesbo, I added O'Connell, then AnneDC added Perry, and on alphabetically. Now we need an R author.

As an example of won't work, I have a B author / book I can add, but I have to wait until the alphabet works back around to B.

I hope this makes sense - and that I didn't over explain.

I got very excited thinking that I could add The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman to #21, but it appears it's not a debut novel. Does anyone have any other ideas on where i might fit???

Annoyingly, I have no other R's to keep it moving.

So, can I presume that I cannot use The Picture of Dorian Gray (Gray/Grey) because Gray is a proper name in the homonym challenge?

Or Picture/Pitcher - hey I'm from the South - LOL

>222 dsstukes:

Since Picture of Dorian Gray was Wilde's only published novel (so far as I know), you can wait until Challenge #21 gets to W and add it there.

Or Picture/Pitcher ??? I think that works. Don't pay attention to me tho..........

@220- THANK YOU!!! I understand :)~

What a great challenge!! (((TIOLT))))

thanks Dejah

Found what I could use - embedded word in Picture (pi/pie)

226> or, if you want to match the sound, "Pict" and "picked".

Hmm, is "lo" a word?? (as in, the lo in "lost" of the lost wife? If so, there is low....

Lo is a word! As in "Lo and behold!" I always used that word in Scrabble games. :)

Yes, I was thinking of scrabble, but then there are a lot of Scrabble words that I don't think of as being real words. (How often do you use qi???) But it's also a biblical word, so off I go to add it to the wiki!

Qi? Well, I was thinking of using it today when replying to you, but I need to know what it means first! LOL!!

so off I go to add it to the wiki!

Sounds good to me! :)

@220 - thank you very much for the explanation.

Question on Challenge 5: is this supposed to be a non fiction book? Everyone's interpreted it that way, but I've just finished a novel that doesn't fit anywhere else.