Take It or Leave It Challenge - July 2012 - Page 1

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 challenge in response to chatterbox’s black and white challenge. This should make you CRAZY!! For July, my challenge to you is is to read a book with rainbow color covers. This is how it will work.

The colors will be as follows:
1. Red
2. Orange
3. Yellow
4. Green
5. Blue
6. Indigo (blue-violet)
7. Violet

These are the colors of the rainbow. This will be a rotating challenge so the first book will have a red cover, the second an orange cover, the third a yellow cover, and so forth. After violet, just go back to red and start over. We won’t get too precise about this. Just do your best at selecting a book that fits. You may not vary from this color progression.

If you’re not sure of the color of your book and want to put it to a vote, do that. I’ll be very lenient, though, and trust your judgement.

It might be fun to see the covers in order although I know that not everyone knows how to post them. Perhaps we can help each other do this in a separate thread.

I’ll start with a red-covered book listed as follows:

Trash (red) – Amy Yamada – SqueakyChu

You may now begin making our TIOLI world as colorful as you can.

Have fun!

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

1. The July 2012 TIOLI Meter - Optional page on which you may track your TIOLI reading. FYI: This is not meant to be competitive - only fun!
2. 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 07/03/12)

Wiki index:

Challenges #1-6
1. Read a rainbow colored book - msg #1 - thread
2. Read a book with a full name for the title - msg #9
3. Read a book set in one of the countries or regions that comprise the traditional Middle East - msg #10
4. Read a book with a title that suggests sharing - msg #11
5. Read a book with a title or author name that includes the letter Q - msg #14
6. Read a book with the word “boy” or “man” (or a synonym) in the title or author's name - msg #17

Challenges #7-12
7. Read a book with more than 300 pages with multiple word titles - msg #24
8. Read a book where the author's initials form a commonly used abbreviation or initialism - msg #29
9. Read a book where the pages are Deckle Edge - msg #28
10. Read a book by an author whose surname could also be a first name - msg #38
11. Read a book with a title that includes one or more colors of the olympic rings - msg #46
12. Read a Western - msg #57

Challenges #13-18
13. Read a book with a planet's name in the title - msg #56
14. Read a book whose title begins with a 'B'- msg #58
15. Read a book with a picture of something that can be carried by the wind on its cover - msg #63 - contest thread
16. Read a book by an author who shares a name with you - msg #64
17. Read a book with "girl" or "woman" (or a synonym) in the title or the author's name - msg #65
18. Read a book where the author's Surname is also a Place name - msg #78

Challenge #19
19. Read a book by an author whose canon you are trying to complete - # 127

No more new challenges until August!

Yay!! I am off to look for red or orange covers!

Red's already taken! Next is orange...

I just went to check, expecting either nothing at all, or a thread with 100 posts already - I can't believe I'm first to drop into the July TIOLI thread! The rainbow challenge sounds fun - off to see what colour covers are near the top of my TBR pile, and which might need to move up the pile!

Edited to add: No, not first, Cushla beat me to it. Are you up very early Cushla, or is it just me being up very late...?

OK, found an orange one and it's even a book I've started - Bandit Love, by Massimo Carlotto. Now I just need to find the wiki.

Genny, it's perfect TIOLI timing for NZ - it's 1.30 in the afternoon. I should be cleaning the house before the school holidays start in 1 1/2 hours, but not any more.

Madeline is so sneaky. The months I want to post a challenge, I check and check, have to leave and come back to find it all filled up. This month, I have no challenge, and here it is - wide open!

The joke's on you, countrylife! ;)

Challenge #2: Read a book with a full name for the title

There really are a surprising number of books with names for titles, or at least a surprising number to me.

Some examples:
Jane Eyre
Anna Karenina
Michael O'Halloran
Agnes Grey

One word and 3+ word names are acceptable as well, as long as it is a full name and doesn't include any titles/honorifics.

I'll accept fiction or non-fiction. Subtitles are okay as long as the main title is just a name and nothing else.

ETA: I can't believe I was able to snag spot #2; I was convinced that the July TIOLI would go up tomorrow while I'm working a 10-hour shift and I'd come home to a million messages.

Challenge #3: Read a book set in one of the countries or regions that comprise the traditional Middle East

My challenge this month coincides with the third quarter Reading Globally theme on Middle Eastern Literature. Zoë hosted a challenge based on the Middle East in March of last year; this challenge will be slightly different from that one, in that eligible books must be about or written by authors from the countries and regions that comprise the traditional definition of the Middle East as defined by Wikipedia, namely:

Bahrain
Cyprus
Egypt
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Jordan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Oman
Palestinian Territories (West Bank and the Gaza Strip)
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
Yemen

Turkey will not be included in this challenge or in the third quarter Reading Globally theme, as it was already covered in the first quarter theme on Turkey and the Balkans.

Books of any genre are permitted for this theme, including fiction, poetry, nonfiction, etc.

Well! - this almost makes up for last month, when Madeline posted 30 seconds after I gave up and went to bed!

And to definitely make up for my "violent death" challenge, I'm going touchy-feely:

*****************************************************************
Challenge #4: Read a book with a title that suggests sharing.

*****************************************************************

Naturally, I'll be listing Our Mutual Friend - I hope others will join me!

There are a number of ways this challenge might be approached - look for words like "together" or "ours", or even just "we" or "us".

Yay! I'm here, and early, but don't have a challenge to post. Figures...

> 10

Darryl, I see you're going to get me back to Reading Globally by hook or by crook. I'm so glad to have that challenge here. Really!!

> 11

Well! - this almost makes up for last month, when Madeline posted 30 seconds after I gave up and went to bed

LOL!!

Challenge #5 Read a Book Whose Title or Author Name Includes the Letter Q

Pretty self-descriptive.

I should have been in bed hours ago, but first I had to post my rainbow challenge book on the wiki. It's up to green already, so I've chosen one of my lovely original green Virago Modern Classics, The ballad and the source.

I'd love to post the cover on the dedicated thread, but orange and yellow have not been posted there yet, and I presume I should wait so that can go in the correct order.

>13 SqueakyChu: Excellent! I'm eager to see which books you and others will read for this challenge, and for the Reading Globally Middle Eastern literature theme.

I should also mention that there will be a group read of The Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz that will start on July 1. Most of us will start with Palace Walk, the first book of the trilogy, but participants can read any of the other books, namely Palace of Desire or Sugar Street.

Challenge #6 - “Where the Boys Are” Challenge – Read a book with the word “boy” or “man” in the title or author's name. Synonyms are OK (guy, lad, etc.), as are plurals and embedded words.

This challenge is inspired by my recent trip to Fort Lauderdale, location for the book & the movie. The local museum I visited on my trip had some exhibits related to the movie that launched the spring break tradition. I'm not planning to read the book this month, but I might watch the movie!

>>#14 Curses! Where was that last month?? :)

> 15

I presume I should wait so that can go in the correct order.

Right...or else *you* may post them (since you already know what they are).

It does not matter who posts the books. Just keep them in the correct order.

Thx!

There is a bright yellow book somewhere between here and Harpers Ferry, WV - I hope it arrives in time!

Genny I've put up my orange book cover now.

Darryl, yay!! Now I have a home for my Iran book, Censoring an Iranian Love Story. It's really good, if anyone out there is thinking of reading something set in Iran. I just have to not finish it till July 1.

Oh, no I did something wrong when I added the first challenge on page 2, help!
the summary section is gone and I don't know how to find it!

#19 I didn't think of that! Off to add the yellow one and my green one.

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Challenge #7 Read a book of more than 300 pages with a Multiple word titles
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Rules:
1. No one word titles
2. Shared Reads allowed
3. Audio versions permitted with page equivalency
4. Any articles - a, an, the,that, etc. can be used.

I thought of other rules but now I can't remember them. **Sigh*** old age...

Of all the months to be reading five books with covers in varying shades of brown!

Kerry, I see you've chosen Ridley Walker for Challenge 2. Amazing book!

Thanks to whoever fixed my boo-boo.

FYI - For anyone who didn't finish Wolf Hall this month it's been posted in Challenge#7 for July.

Challenge #9: Read a book where the pages are Deckle Edge

For those that don't know, these are the books where the pages don't look like they are cut evenly. I love the feel of these books.

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

Challenge #8: Read a book where the author's initials form a commonly used abbreviation or initialism or acronym.

Examples:
Patricia Sprinkle = P.S./Postscript
Peter King = P.K./Preacher's Kid
Joanne Pence - J.P./Justice of the Peace

#26 - Genny, I've been meaning to read it ever since finding out that Patrick Ness was inspired by it when starting out on his Chaos Walking trilogy.

> 22

It's okay now. It was just the formatting that was weird. I fixed it.

> 25

Of all the months to be reading five books with covers in varying shades of brown!

Maybe you can do "dull brown cover challenge" next month. Suz will jump right in! ;)

#29 Interesting to see what we all think are commonly used acronyms/abbreviations: I've never come across P.K. (that term wouldn't be used in the UK) but there are probably common British acronyms that might not be so familiar elsewhere - can't think of any just now.

>32 SqueakyChu: But that's so boring! Besides, I already have ideas enough for the next four months.

> 34

:)

Anyone who won The Queen's Vow or The Girl Below as ERs they are posted in Challenge #7.

Cheli, do articles like "the" count as a word for your challenge?

OK

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​
Challenge #10: Read a book by an author whose last name can also be a first name
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

This is pretty self explanatory. Think of Louise Penny or Kate Ellis.

The surname needs to be a reasonably common first name.

In cases of someone who uses their middle name -- eg Gabriel Garcia Marquez -- it's the FINAL name that counts. Yes, I realize this is a bit arbitrary, but I don't want to make it too easy!! If it's a hyphenated surname, you can choose the name you want to use.

Embedded names are NOT allowed, with the following caveat:

If you have an author whose name is a patronymic of some kind -- i.e. clearly intended to indicate that so and so is the child of someone with a recognizable common name. Fitzroy? Fine -- that's son of Roy. MacEwan? Fine -- Ewan. Johnson? Yup, you get it. Icelandic names will work well with this.

BUT -- and this is important -- to qualify as an embedded name it must be in one of these forms and the name must also be recognizable when stripped of its prefix or suffix. If you can find an author named Tomson, great! But Thompson is a no-go; "Thomp" isn't a name in its own right. Jacobson is fine, etc. Peterson is good; but not Petersen. MacEwan yes; MacIntyre, nope -- when did you last meet someone called Intyre?

So, names like Mathews or Williams won't work -- there's an extra "s" on the end. Evanson would be fine, but not Evans. And so on. If you've got a question, holler.

If you're pushing the envelope with a name and know it -- do you really know anyone named Newmark or Lanchester?? -- prove it to us by giving us a real-life example of someone you've encountered with that name. Even a cursory look has at the books I can see from where I'm sitting give me loads of possibilities.

Kate Charles
Peter May
James Robinson
Howard Jacobson
Toby Lester
Debra Dean
Julia Gregson
Cassandra Clark
John Harvey
Will Ferguson
Stuart Neville
Trisha Ashley
Teju Cole
Anne Perry
P.D. James
Philippa Gregory

Yes , Any articles - a, an, the,that, etc. can be used.

That was one of those rules I couldn't remember.

Suz, your challenge is an interesting one in light of the fact that it's now common to name babies with surnames. I have friends with kids with first names of Madison, Aldrin, and Gray.

That's one of the things I was thinking of! I've certainly seen "Mackenzie" as a first name, for both boys and girls, for instance.

Which is why I put so many restrictions on it -- so many names CAN be used, I don't want anyone pushing teh envelope and trying to convince me that "Theroux" is a reasonably common first name. It ain't gonna work! :-)

ETA: a buzzed-about new book, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce, is another that will fit in my challenge.

I'm sure there's a Theroux Smith out there somewhere! ;)

cyderry
re: challenge # 7.

Do you just mean that the title has more than one word? The 'multiple' in there is throwing me. More than 300 pages is easy, but it just can't be a one word title, excluding articles?

I'm sure there's a Theroux Smith out there somewhere! ;)

And probably living in New Orleans or possibly Baton Rouge. :)

Well, find him for me and give me some kind of link to him, proving his identity -- or that of a Theroux Jones. I did specify "reasonably common"... *grin*

I've just posted Challenge #11 to the Wiki. The Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Games will be held July 27th. My challenge asks you to choose a book with a title which includes one of the five Olympic Ring colors.

The colors are Black, Blue, Green, Red and Yellow.

Question on Challenge#8 I hope this is okay.

Jar City - (BS - Bulls***) - Bernard Scudder

Cheli - I smiled when I saw that one. The asterisks are fine!

Bernard Scudder is the translator for Jar City. The author is Arnaldur Indridason. But AI works for Artificial Intelligence.

Look at thornton37814's book for the color indigo. That's fabulous!!

Carmenere - is Pomegranate a color?

Naming babies with surnames is nothing new -- just ask any genealogist! One of my 18th century ancestors was named Thompson Fowlkes.

> 52

It's on the upswing again now, though!

#51 Nice try, but nope, Pomegranate is not one of the Olympic Ring colors. :0)

I also have a question on challenge 8. I have a book by Boris Johnson on my TBR. Just sayin'

Since I know I'll be reading Terry Pratchett's latest novel next month, I figured I might as well create a challenge I could read it in:

Challenge #13:Read a book with a planet's name in the title.

Embedded words are fine. Real planets are fine no matter what, but fictional planets are only fine if the book is actually set on them. Also, since I son't really care what astronomers say, If someone wants to use Pluto, they can.

Oops, posting my challenge a bit late because I got caught up reading everyone else's post. I know this is a repeat, but so far I seem to want to do the same thing every summer.

Challenge #12: Read a Western

I'll be reading:
Indian Killer by Sherman Alexie
Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West by Dorothy Wickenden
One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus - Book Club
Streets of Laredo by Larry McMurtry - Nook
Territory by Emma Bull
The Whip by Karen Kondazian - Nook

July 10th is "National Don't Step on a Bee Day", so my challenge is:

Challenge 14 - Read a Book Whose Title Starts With 'B'.

Rules:

- Your book can start with an article such as The, An or A etc.

Example:

Bad Boy would be acceptable
The Bird Yard would be acceptable

Captain Blood would not be acceptable

Omigod, Judy -- how great. Who knew??

But -- can it begin with "The" or "A", or does it need to begin with a B word?

as The Bellwether Revivals?

#59 - Sorry, I was in such a hurry to post my challenge and then read all the posts.

I'll post the rules in my challenge thread, but basically the book can start with "The, A, An" etc.

LOVE the rainbow challenge - and associated thread. What fun.

It will be interesting to see the acronyms people come up with (wikipedia is a good way to check, btw). I was proofreading a paper for my other half and was puzzled by the references to AQ - which in my world means Al Qaeda - turned out for him, it's air quality.

Madeline, I'm listening to an e-book of the Martian Chronicles which has no cover. There are several covers listed on its site though and one is orange. Can I use this book?

Challenge #15: Read a book with a picture of something that can be carried by the wind on its cover

It can be anything - a bird, a balloon, dandelion fluff. I'm going to have a cover contest of some sort with a prize of a cross-stitched bookmark on a theme of the winner's choice.

Thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/139092

Challenge #16: Read a book whose author shares a name with you

This can be first, last, or middle name. If your name or the author's name is hyphenated, you can pick one, and other embedding is allowed (ie., if your last name is Evans, Evanson is acceptable). BUT the name DOES have to be spelled the same way, so if your name is Susan, you can use Susannah but not Suzanne.

I leave it up to you if you want to specify which name you share or keep it somewhat anonymous.

Challenge #17: Read a book with "girl" or "woman" (or a synonym) in the title or the author's name

(Somebody had to do it, right?)

> 62

Madeline, I'm listening to an e-book of the Martian Chronicles which has no cover. There are several covers listed on its site though and one is orange. Can I use this book?

Sure. Pick that orange one and use it.

>17 cbl_tn:. Lizzie, "daughter" wouldn't work in your challenge, would it?

eta: never mind. found a spot!

For those of you participating in some of the group reads going on this month, here is where I entered some of them:

East of Eden - Challenge #7
Half of a Yellow Sun - Challenge #11
Something Wicked This Way Comes - Challenge #9

#65 - Hi LizzieD: Is a plural ok? e.g. "women"

I'll be reading The Song of Achilles for Challenge #8 with kiwiflowa.

QUESTION: Challenge #15 Would "rain" be "something that could be carried by the wind"?

> 64

This can be first, last, or middle name.

How about a maiden name for a married woman?

>70 amandameale: It gets blown about by wind, so, yes.

Ooooh! AnneDC's selection for challenge #1 has a gorgeous blue book cover!

I notice that Jar City is shown under both challenge #7 and challenge #8.

>71 SqueakyChu: Since I'm being persnickety about spelling, I'm going to say "yes" to this. It was your name for all your growing up years. And matched reads are allowed, too.

> 75

Mary, I don't have a book in mind yet, but I think I'll look for one now with my maiden name! :)

Hello everyone,

I've been following this TIOLI Thread now for a few month (as I have been lurking around this group for almost 2 years now and finally decided I like to take part) and noticed that some of my planned reads and my group read fit into some challenges. Do I just post them here for now? There is always this reference to the wiki thread, but I could not find one for this month challenge.

Thank you.

Here's my challenge for this month

Challenge #18: Read a book where the author's Surname is also a Place name

Basically if you can type the author's surname into Google Maps (or similar site) and have somewhere turn up you can use it:)

Edit to add - exact matches only - no embedded words

38) http://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/babyname.cgi
Is a good website for popularity of first names for the last 12 years.

Though it should be noted that it only covers USA. And names like Ewan might not appear. Ewan itself was not in the top 1000 for the last 12 years.

Note: Marquez was in the top 1000 first names for babies in the years 2000-2005.

77 drachenbraut23

If you look in the second post of this thread you will see links to the wiki pages. You'll have to click edit and then enter your books into the appropriate challenges.

I'm sure that if you have any trouble someone will be able to help.

41) re Theroux - that name does not appear to be popular in USA as first name for last 12 years.

Thank you, calm. I'd been looking for a place to fit in the Anita Shreve book I'm reading for Belgium in the Europe Endless challenge!

Lori - once again I was looking for a place for a couple of library books and in desperation I Googled Unsworth and surprisingly I found out it was a place:)

> 77

Welcome, drachenbraut23!

I'm so happy to have you join us. If you have any questions, just post them here. One of us will be sure to help you out. Have fun!

> 83

I Googled Unsworth and surprisingly I found out it was a place

Not surprising. Commonly, people took their surnames from place names. Nice challenge, though. I think the ones, such as this one, that hook us up to learn something from wikipedia are great.

I suppose I shouldn't have been too surprised as I know a lot of surnames come from place names ... but you never know for sure unless you check it out:)

38: I assume Taylor would qualify? It seems to be a pretty common first name now.

Hello, I am so sorry I am not really a computer wizard. I failed already by trying to enter the first book.

These are the books

Challenge 3: The Cry of the Dove - Fadia Faqir - Jordan
Challenge 5: The House of the Mosque - Kader Abdolah - The "q" in the mosque
Challenge 7: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs - 352 pages and loooots of words
Challenge 11: Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Group Read July/Reading
Challenge 15: The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

Would someone be able to help me? And maybe guide me through it?

I also wondered if someone has got an idea where to fit Jezebel - Lesley Hazleton

Thank you

drachenbraut23 -follow these directions from SqueakyChu's helpful FAQ page

How do I add books to the wiki?

Try out LT's wiki because you cannot mess up anything that we can't fix (if you let us know).

SIMPLE DIRECTONS:

Click on the link to the current month's wiki pages. These can be found in message #2 of the the main thread.
Click edit (to the right and above where you want to add your book).
Add a hash tag (#), the book title (in alphabetical order - ignore "a", "an", "the" in the title), the author, and your screen name.
Click on "show preview".
Click on "save page".
That's it!

ADVANCED DIRECTONS: To link your book title to its work page, enclose the work page URL and book title, separated by one space, in square brackets.

If your book is adjacent to and matches another book, precede it with an asterisk.

88) Hazleton is a place name. Hazleton Pennsylvania. Challenge 18.

Hi Drachenbraut,

I've tried to write out how I do it exactly. Try this (and if you still get stuck tell us where!).

The easiest one to start with is Half of a Yellow Sun because that's already in there.

Right click on the link in message 2 to Challenges 7-12, so that you can still come back and see these instructions.

Scroll down to challenge #11 and look to the right where it says "Edit". Click on it.
Go down to Half of a Yellow Sun, select the 2 lines of text, and just Ctrl-C to copy them down to a new line. Change it to drachenbraut23.

Scroll down in the window to where it says Save Page and click it. At this point I always get a message saying "Oops! That didn't work. Would you please save it again?" (I have no idea why). Just click Save Page and it'll be done.

The only difference with the other ones is that you'll need to have the code for the work. The easiest way to do this (well my easiest way) is to open a new tab for the books you want to add, then you can just copy over the URL in the same format as the other entries e.g. http://www.librarything.com/work/3510864 for The Cry of the Mosque.

If you still get stuck I can put your books in for you - it's Saturday morning and I am sitting here with my coffee browsing LT. But you might as well have a go first. TIOLI macht so viel Spass - toll, dass Du hier bist!

Yikes, decisions, decisions. Yesterday I couldn't find a place for a book I plan to read in July and now I can fit Sea Glass by Anita Shreve into two challenges very nicely but I think I'll go with the surname place challenge bcause it should be fairly easy to find something that can be carried by the wind. Thanks, calm

I've been waiting and waiting for Green to come available in Madeline's Rainbow Challenge. Thanks to Heather, it finally did.

Mike, LOL! Who would have thought it re Marquez!! thanks for setting me straight on that one -- but I'm still waiting to be convinced on theroux.

#87 -- soupdragon, absolutely, yes -- Taylor certainly qualifies. If nothing else, there is the ubiquitous Ms. Taylor Swift...

I got lucky when I was checking to see if red was open. It was.

I always like to fit at least one book to Madeline's challenge so I had a green and a blue cover waiting. So thanks to Judy I got the blue and added the other book to a different challenge:)

Now I've got all the library books I have on loan added to July. So enough Wiki checking for now and I better go and finish June's books.

#94: I found this: "Obituary For: Rev Theroux Barnes | Smith, Bizzell & Warner Funeral ..."

> 97

I found this: "Obituary For: Rev Theroux Barnes | Smith, Bizzell & Warner Funeral ..."

LOL!! See, Suz?!

Thanks, Cushla, for helping drachenbraut23.

There's a method to this madness, drachenbraut23. We want you to learn how to do this right up front and be completely independent in using the wiki. It's not as fearsome as it seems as first. Just let us know what's not going right, and we'll help you along.

OK, so anyone who wants to add a book by anyone in the Theroux clan can now go ahead...

(tee hee -- it was a research challenge... )

:) Thank you Calm and Cushla for the lovely instructions. I will try them out and let you know if I should get stuck again.

But I hope not "I even managed to to COOL Things in my thread"

Have a good night everyone. In Germany it is almost sleeping time. :)

#99 :) Thank you SqueakyChu.

#11 lyzard, are embedded words ok for your challenge? If I read a book with the word "court" in the title, which includes our, for instance?

No, sorry - I'm looking for a sense of sharing in the title as a whole - your example wouldn't really refer to "our" anything.

#103 That's fine, thanks. I've got plenty of others that fit the bill.

Calm and Cushla - THANK YOU. Your combined efforts were great. I **scratch** think I have done it right - at least it looked allright **grin**

Cushla did you say you are having breakfast? Have a nice Saturday, we still have Friday night. And I am going to bed now.

I now have four books for July.

Challenge 7:
The Third Chimpanzee - Jared Diamond
The Third Gate - Lincoln Child

(I should start a The Third challenge at this rate)

Challenge 10:
Blackout - Mira Grant
(Grant being in the top 200 most popular first names since 2000. most popular rank of 123 in 2000)

Challenge 11:
Redshirts - John Scalzi

Bright red cover. Was going to use for challenge 1 until I noticed color had to be in title for challenge 11. That and it wasn't time for red yet in one.

Calm, are embedded words OK for places? For instance, I was looking for somewhere to put a book by Rebecca Stott, and Stotts City, MO and Stottsville NY come up...

AnneDC - Thank you for posting my book cover in the rainbow challenge thread. I wouldn't have been able to post it until Monday from work.

What about "wife" for #17?

#105 drachenbraut23, you did just fine putting them in. If you ever encounter a problem where it doesn't look right, you can always go back and change it.

For my challenge #5, I moved yours under H (disregarding the "the" in the title).

Welcome to the group!!

>69 DorsVenabili: Kerri, plurals are fine with me!
>109 cyderry: Cheli, I'm easy. I'd accept either "wife" or "daughter" and their plurals for challenge #17. Now I'm off to see whether anybody has entered "husband" or "son" for the boy/man challenge.

>111 LizzieD: No one has asked about "husband" or "son", but I don't think those would fit challenge #6. "Husband" isn't a synonym for "man", and "son" isn't a synonym for "boy".

>78 calm: Calm, can the place name be the name of a house?

If the answer is no, can anyone figure out where to put Thank You, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse? My copy has a white (hey, at least it's not brown!) cover.

#113 - I think your best bet with Thank You, Jeeves is Madeline's Rainbow Challenge. I see on the book page that there are versions of red, blue and yellow covers that you could use in place of your white cover. The problem is that you need someone to post an indigo and a violet cover first.

I just posted Suzanne's indigo and my violet cover! Now it's Cheli's turn to post her pomegranate book cover.

What a great list of challenges so far. I am finally going to fit Truman into a TIOLI Challenge (#6). The only problem is that I might not get many other books read. It is huge!

>108 VioletBramble: No problem, VioletBramble. I posted my own cover and then I found myself on a roll, so I posted a few.

Thanks, Madeline, for allowing me to put Martian Chronicles in your challenge, but to avoid the anxiety of waiting for my orange turn to come around (I'm a wuss), and thanks to Lizzie's place name challenge, I've moved it to challenge 18 with Fahrenheit 451.

# Calm - I just found one book on my planned reading which I still can fit into your challenge. Gordon - Edith Templeton according to Google Templeton, Ca, United Stated :)

I was sure I posted here yesterday, to check-in, mainly, but it doesn't seem to have taken. I was talking about the book I'm reading, which would fit into several challenges, and has an orange cover (which is where the rainbow challenge was at that time - it's been a while since I've managed to read anything that fit in the first challenge). Hoping to finish the book before the end of June, however; but I might run out of time, now.

107 Suzanne and 113 Casvelyn - Sorry I'm being strict on my challenge - the author's complete surname must show up as a place name on a map. So no embedded words or house or street names.

I will accept the names of natural features as long as they show up as a specific place on a map:)

Hope you can find other places for your books:)

A little switcharoo for me. I'm taking Sea Glass from Challenge 18 and replacing it with The Elegant Universe by Briane Greene (Greene, MO) I can now put Sea glass into Challenge #15 (it has a summery looking hat on the cover.

OH, the things one will do to fit in books to TIOLI :0}

>121 Carmenere: Oh, excellent, I hadn't even started looking for a place to fit that in yet!

That's fine -- just checking, as it wasn't specified.

I've posted by green cover on the Rainbow Thread, clearing the way for Calm to post her blue one.

Thanks Judy. It's done:)

OK I think I get the rainbow challenge. We don't each have to read a book from each color of the rainbow, but whatever color we're next up at on the rainbow over in the rainbow thread. Is that right? I might do 2 rainbow colors then because I've just started an indigo colored book The China Governess and I wanted to read Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, a red book, this month.

Challenge #19- Read a book by an author whose canon you are trying to complete

This challenge is to read an author whose books you are trying to read all of. The author needn't be considered a classic, just someone whose books you want to read in their entirety. This means no first-time authors, and you need to have read the author before (you need to know that you actually want to read their canon).

Shared reads allowed. Have at it.

Laurie, thanks for that challenge, I've finally been nudged to continue my reading of all Bernice Rubens books, I read about 12 of them last year.

>127 lahochstetler: A place for my Wodehouse! Now I've found a challenge for all my July planned reads!

Glad to be of service. I generally find that I read one of an author's books, think about how much I liked it and want to read more, and then get distracted by other books.

Hurrah! I can add Joseph Roth AND my next scheduled Terry Pratchett... and maybe one or two more...

Love Challenge #19. I have SO many authors that I am trying to read everything they wrote. I'll have lots to add to this one!

I may add something to #19 before the end of the month. The trick for me with the challenge is that there are some authors who write multiple series -- some of which I like and some of which I'd rather not read. In other words, I might be trying to complete a series, but not the author's canon.

OK here is a list of my "planned" reads for July. First the ones I have already entered on the wiki and am mostly likely to read this month as they are a mix of library books and group reads:)

Challenge #1: Read a rainbow colored book
The Swerve : how the Renaissance began - Stephen Greenblatt (library book - currently reading)

Challenge #7: Read a book of *more than 300 pages* with *a multiple word title*
*East of Eden (608) - John Steinbeck (group read for the Steinbeckathon)
The Garden of Martyrs - (359) - Michael C. White (library book)

Challenge #9: Read a book with a Deckle Edge
*Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury (group read)

Challenge #14: In honor of 'Don't Step on A Bee Day' - Read a book whose title begins with a 'B'
The Book of Madness and Cures - Regina O'Melveny (library book - currently reading)

Challenge #18: Read a book where the author's Surname is also a Place name
*Dead Scared - S. J. Bolton (library book)
The Ruby in Her Navel - Barry Unsworth (library book)

I also have some others lined up as potential reads which are all resident on the shelves of shame and I do hope to read some of them:)

Challenge #3: Read a book set in one of the countries or regions that comprise the traditional Middle East
Eight Months on Ghazzah Street by Hilary Mantel

Challenge #5: Read a book with a title or author name that includes the letter Q
Lies by Enrique De Heriz

Challenge #6: Read a book with the word “boy” or “man” (or a synonym) in the title or author's name
Life Before Man by Margaret Atwood

Challenge #11: Read a book with a title that includes one or more colors of the olympic rings
*Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Adichie (there is a group read and this has been on the shelf for a while but I'm not sure if I can manage to read it this month)

So that is a list of 11 books - I should be able to read that many in a month but as always I reserve the right to Leave It!

I'm also sure that I will be keeping an eye on the wiki to spot any potential matched reads:)

Possibilities:

TIOLI #1 Rainbow Cover - Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (try to slip it in indigo)
TIOLI #8 Initials - The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (BS)
TIOLI #10 Last Name Could Be First Name - A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
TIOLI #15 Carried by Wind - Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik

Loved where you put the Hugo Cabret, Morphy!

At this point, I'll read: (I've also got my back up pile of 10 or so books to choose from that would fit a challenge if I decide to change).

TIOLI #5. Read a book with a title or author name that includes the letter Q Quotable Book Lover
TIOLI #6 Read a book with the word “boy” or “man” (or a synonym) in the title or author's name - Religion Explained by Pascal Boyer. (Didn't get done. Sigh.)
TIOLI #7. Read a book with more than 300 pages with multiple word titles Wolf Hall --didn't get it done either. Blame it on long summer evening with sunlight until 10 pm!
TIOLI #8 Initials - The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (BS)
TIOLI #10. Read a book by an author whose surname could also be a first name Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis

Plus a couple of LTER books and my RL book club book that I haven't fitted in yet.

I didn't get any books at all off MT TBR last month so I have two of my reads planned from there.

Beautiful weather, long summer evenings, out of state company, daughter home from her year in Shanghai. We'll see how much reading I actually get done!

Barring anyone adding any really difficult challenges, it looks like I can try to get something in for each challenge this month:

#1 Rainbow Cover - Sciencey Tales of Science Fiction - First book I saw on my to read pile with a (mostly) blue cover. should be funny.
#2 Title is a name - Westlake Soul - Surprisingly, that's the main character's name.
#3 Middle East - The World's Desire -After I messed up my first entry, I found this as a Kindle freebie set in Egypt.
#4 Sharing - Our Mutual Friend - Another one I chose because it's free on the Kindle.
#5 Q -Transients and Other Disquieting Stories - Was at a signing by the author three weeks ago, so I decided to read this one
#6 Man books - The Mailman - Got a review copy a few months ago, and decided that since it fit, it was time to read it
#7 Long books - On the Track of Unknown Animals - Started for a challenge last month, but I didn't manage to finish it
#8 Initials - The Triumvirate by Mary SanGiovanni- By one of my favorite horror authors & her initials work
#9 Deckle edge - Sacré Bleu - The most interesting deckle edge book on my pile. Could have worked for challenge 1.
#10 Last name as first - White Picket Prisons by Kelli Owen- Another of my favorite horror writers.
#11 Olympic colors - The Spider : Prince of the Red Looters -Old time pulp action that was on sale for 1¢
#12 Western - Doom Magnetic! - a very, very strange western
#13 Planet titles - The Long Earth - I created a challenge just for this
#14 B titles - Book of the Dead - a good, old zombie anthology
#15 Wind- Edge of Dark Water - Been meaning to read this since last month & the cover looks like a cloudy sky to me.
#16 Author name = My name - DarkWalker by John Urbancik- The author's first name is the same as my middle name
#17 girls - Gargoyle Girls of Spider Island - Should be interesting
#18 Last name as place - Dark Nocturne by Hideyuki Kikuchi- was surprised to find that the author's last name is a city in Japan
#19 Author to complete - The Faggiest Vampire - despite the deliberately offensive title, this is by my favorite bizarro author

I've overcommitted myself this month. There are a couple of ER books among these that have not yet arrived. I guess I'll see how many I can get around to reading and leave the rest of them.

Challenge 1 – Read a Rainbow Colored Book
Snow Angels by James Thompson

Challenge 5 – Read a book with a title or author name that includes the letter Q
Quietly in Their Sleep by Donna Leon

Challenge 7 - Read a book of “more than 300 pages” with “a multiple word title.”
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Challenge 8 – Read a book where the author’s initials form a commonly used abbreviation or initialism or acronym.
Cooks Overboard by Joanne Pence
Death at Wentwater Court by Carola Dunn
Killer Critique by Alexander Campion
Living Jesus by Randy Harris
Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie
Silence of the Grave by Arnaldur Indridason
Spiced to Death by Peter King
When Will the Dead Lady Sing? by Patricia Sprinkle

Challenge 10 – Read a book by an author whose surname could also be a first name.
Sew Deadly by Elizabeth Lynn Casey
Weighed in the Balance by Anne Perry

Challenge 14 – In Honor of ‘Don’t Step on a Bee Day’ . . . Read a book whose title begins with a “B.”
Bitter Tide by Ann Stamos

Challenge 15 – Read a book with a picture of something that can be carried by the wind on its cover.
How to Sew a Button by Erin Bried

Challenge 18 – Read a book where the author’s surname is also a place name.
Resistance by Anita Shreve

That's 16! At least I just finished the first one. Off to work on the second.

Whee! I've finished my first rainbow challenge. The China Governess was my Indigo book. Now I'm off to the rainbow thread to see if I'm in line yet for a red book

Oooh, I should dig up my copy of The China Governess and join you.

How on earth do I manage to keep missing out on yellow????

Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!! I've been sweating on yellow since this started! :)

Hi all, I'll be trying to join in this month, I really like the idea of doing different challenges... However, the coming two weeks is exam time for me, so I probably won't read much until my exams are finished. After exams I'll have a long holiday, and I am planning to do lots of reading then, so I figured I'd join this little thread to do some challenges :)

I've finished my first book, though it's a graphic novel so wasn't that hard an accomplishment. The book of human insects fits two challenges at least and I put it in #6: 'boy' or 'man' in the title as I've already got a book in #14: title starts with 'B'. Now to get back to the other ten books I've listed already.

O.K. here are my TIOLI challenges

Challenge 3# The Cry of the Dove - Fadia Faqir - Jordan
Challenge 5# The House of the Mosque - Kader Abdolah - The "q" in the mosque
Challenge 7# Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs - 352 pages
Challenge 11# Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Group Read July/Reading
Challenge 15# The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
Challenge 18# Gordon - Edith Templeton

I still would like to fit in a couple of books, but don't seem to be able to find the right challenge.

Challenge 15# The Dovekeepers - Alice Hoffman
Challenge 10# When She Woke - Hillary Jordan
Challenge 7# The Rock and the River - Kekla Magoon

If anyone of you has got any ideas - that would be great :)

Edited to add challenges

#145 I've seen covers of The Dovekeepers two doves perching on a girls shoulders so check out challenge #15. Read a book with a picture of something that can be carried by the wind on its cover. I think doves would qualify.

145 - and Jordan is a surname that is also a first name (challenge 10)and would certainly come up on a Google Map search (challenge 18)

>145 drachenbraut23: - The Rock and the River shows 304 pages (Amazon's most popular edition, per the Quick Link on the works page), so would work for challenge #7. Read a book with more than 300 pages with multiple word titles.

I finished my first TIOLI book for July, God's Hotel: A Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine by Victoria Sweet, which I reviewed earlier this morning.

Here's my list of planned TIOLI reads for the month; I should do much better than I did in June.

Challenge #1: The Making of Modern Medicine: Turning Points in the Treatment of Disease by Michael Bliss (completed)
Challenge #3: The Earth in the Attic by Fady Joudah (completed)
Challenge #3: Like a Straw Bird It Follows Me, and Other Poems by Ghassan Zaqtan (reading)
Challenge #3: My Michael by Amos Oz (reading)
Challenge #3: Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
Challenge #3: The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer
Challenge #3: To the End of the Land by David Grossman
Challenge #7: The Coward's Tale by Vanessa Gebbie
Challenge #7: God's Hotel: A Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine by Victoria Sweet (completed)
Challenge #8: Pure by Timothy Mo (completed)
Challenge #14: Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast by Natasha Trethewey (reading)
Challenge #14: Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (completed)
Challenge #14: Being Sam Frears: A Life Less Ordinary by Mary Mount (completed)

>145 drachenbraut23: The Dovekeepers is already listed in Challenge #3 - set in Israel

#146,147,148,150 Thank you very much. So, I still have got a challenge for the rest of my planned reads :) Now, I only have to got to the wiki

Here's my list of possible challenge books for the month. I came up with one for each category this time, but I'm still not sure which of these I'll actually end up reading...

1. There but for the (yellow) - Ali Smith*
1. River of Smoke (blue) - Amitav Ghosh*
1. Go Tell it on the Mountain - James Baldwin*
1. Color Me English (red) - Caryl Phillips
2. Jane Fairfax - Joan Aiken
3. Palace Walk - Naguib Mahfouz*
4. Our Mutual Friend - Charles Dickens*
5. Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake - Anna Quindlen*
6. The Box Man - Kobo Abe
7. The Road Home - Rose Tremain*
7. The Balkan Trilogy - Olivia Manning
7. The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
8. The Siege - Helen Dunmore*
8. The Shape of Water - Andrea Camilleri
8. The Coroner's Lunch - Colin Cotterill
9. The Cat's Table - Michael Ondaatje
10. A Rule Against Murder - Louise Penny
11. The Redbreast - Jo Nesbo*
12. Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy
13. Unaccustomed Earth - Jhumpa Lahiri
14. Brick Lane - Monica Ali
15. Island of Wings - Karin Altenberg
16. Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant - Anne Tyler
17. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl - Harriet Jacobs
18. Old Filth - Jane Gardam
19. Haroun and the Sea of Stories - Salman Rushdie

*Shared or group reads

Still waiting for yellow...

But I think that I've managed to identify at least one book per challenge, too, although the # of shared reads may be lower this month. We'll see, as the month goes by.

>152 AnneDC:/AnneDC - If Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is one that you DO end up reading, I think I'll join you. I was three quarter's finished when last I set it aside.

Casvelyn, for challenge 2 (Full Name for the title), would you consider the title Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross? (I might be reaching for this one, but it would be fun to put the book in that challenge).

Karen O.

Here's my working list (I usually read 10-11 books that fit in TIOLI each month):

1. Rainbow challenge: Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger (blue)
2. Full name in title: Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross (if it counts as a full name)
3. Middle east: Unholy Business by Nina Burleigh
4. Sharing: Conspiracy of Friends by Alexander McCall Smith
5. "Q": Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake by Anna Quindlen (shared)
7. More than 300 pages, mutliple-word title (thank you!): East of Eden by John Steinbeck (shared), Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (shared), The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John LeCarre
8. Author's initials: Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (shared)
10. Surname could be first name: Theodora by Stella Duffy
14: Title begins with "B": Book of Lost Books by Stuart Kelly
15: Item which can be carried by wind on cover: Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
19: Working on author's canon: The Pirates! In an adventure with Communists by Gideon Defoe

I don't have all of the challenges filled, but I'll keep my eyes open throughout the month--maybe I'll join in a read.

Karen O.

My List:

TIOLI #1: Rainbow challenge & also my Orange July reading:
Disobedience by Naomi Alderman (violet)
Gillespie and I by Jane Harris (green)
TIOLI #2. Full name for the title: Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban - shared read
TIOLI #3. Middle East: Only Yesterday by S.Y. Agnon
Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz - also a GR
TIOLI #5. "Q": Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson - I was already listening to this so will try to finish it this month
TIOLI #6. “boy” or “man” in the title: The Book of Human Insects by Osamu Tezuka
TIOLI #7. More than 300 pages with multiple word titles: Pawn in Frankincense by Dorothy Dunnett (Lymond Chronicles #4)
TIOLI #9. Deckle Edge: What we talk about when we talk about Anne Frank by Nathan Englander
The Hidden Gallery by Maryrose Wood (The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place #2)
TIOLI #14. Title begins with a 'B': The Bamboo Flute by Garry Disher
TIOLI #19. Working on author's canon: The Waiting Game by Bernice Rubens

I've made a good start by finishing two easy reads already and am making good headway in a few more.

I love this group. As always, many interesting challenges. I enjoy trying to find something for every category.

I do have to say, though, that, for me, covers are very inconsequential so you probably won't find me putting anything up for that one. However, I may well join someone else.

Citizenjoyce, thanks for starting a "read a western" challenge. This time, I am determined to read Lonesome Dove. I suspect that, if I just read a western or two, I'd love them. I've just never really tried them.

>158 lindapanzo: Lonesome Dove is one of my desert isle books Linda. I think you'll like it.

I finished and REVIEWED Zoe Ferraris' mystery Finding Nouf. That was for the Middle East challenge as it is set in Saudi Arabia.

Now I am reading The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer for the same challenge.

I haven't talked to anyone yet who didn't love Lonesome Dove. I hope you get to it, Linda, you'll be glad you did.

>155 klobrien2: Sorry, but Pope Joan doesn't count--pope is a title, not a name.

So many books I want to read this month. I am currently headed out to the library to seek out a book with a 'Q'.

> 143

Hi, Britt84!

Good luck on your exams. Looking forward to ahving you join us!

Eeek! My electricity went out on Friday night so I was off line for three days and I came back to find 43 un read messages on this thread!! Now I feel like all of you when I start a new month and sneak in my thread!

I had a rough time off line. First of all, it was very boring. I could not read in the daytime temperature of 104 degrees (which set a record). The book I started reading was my red-covered book called Trash, but then about a third of the way through it, I decided I disliked it enough to want to call it quits. I couldn't remember what the other challenges were!! I did remember the "blowing in the wind" one though, so I did get started with a very weird book (I love that!) called Observatory Mansions. There are clouds on the cover of that book that can be blown about (as I saw on Friday night when the storm wreaked havoc in my community).

I'm glad to be back, though! :)

Welcome back, Madeline! Glad you didn't get blown away, or shrivel up in the heat... That has sounded very definitely unpleasant...

Poor Madeline. 104 degrees and no air conditioning Ouch. My home air conditioner went out a few summers ago. I packed up my grandson and spent 3 days in a hotel. There are some things up with which I cannot put.

>160 Citizenjoyce: That would be me. I didn't love Lonesome Dove. It was okay but didn't "do it" for me.

> 165, 166

Well, fortunately we have a generator. We hooked it up so it would provide electricity for our refrigerator and freezer as well as provide some light and electricity sufficient to air condition one small bedroom.

> 167

I never read it, but I've only heard good things about Lonesome Dove. It's tough to read a book that is not engaging. When I keep second guessing as to whether or not to finish a book, that means I need to give it up. However, I also have that feeling with some ER books, but those I simply lay aside until...when?! :)

Oh well, unless there's some really obscure city or town called Fish, I don't think I'll be able to fit my most recent ER book, Werewolves of Wisconsin in anywhere.

161: casvelyn, no worries! I'll use challenge 8 (author's initials) for Pope Joan. DC = direct current!

Karen O.

>169 yoyogod: The cover has leaves near the top being blown by the wind - Challenge #15!

I just updated Morphidae's link to her stats page of TIOLI challenges. See message #1.

171> Thanks Morphidae, I didn't even notice those.

My planned reads for the month:
Challenge #7: Read a book of *more than 300 pages* with *a multiple word title*
Finding George Orwell in Burma - Emma Larkin
The Lace Reader: A Novel - Brunonia Barry - Audiobook

Challenge #8: Read a book where the author's initials form a commonly used abbreviation or initialism or acronym
Another World - Pat Barker - Audiobook
The Eye in the Door by Pat Barker - Audiobook
The Ghost Road by Pat Barker - Audiobook
Regeneration - Pat Barker - Audiobook
Home - Marilynne Robinson
Yes, Chef: A Memoir - Marcus Samuelsson

Challenge #9 Read a book where the pages are Deckle Edge
Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury Audiobook, but matched read

Challenge #10: Read a book by an author whose surname could also be a first name
The Wednesday Sisters - Meg Waite Clayton (my grand-nephew's name)

Challenge #11: Read a book with a title that includes one or more colors of the olympic rings
The Yellow Wall-Paper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman - Nook

Challenge 12: Read a Western
Moved to August challenges Ghost Warrior - Lucia St. Clair Robson
Indian Killer by Sherman Alexie
Removed Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West by Dorothy Wickenden
One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus - Book Club
Streets of Laredo by Larry McMurtry - Nook
Territory by Emma Bull
The Whip by Karen Kondazian - Nook

Challenge 17. Read a book with "girl" or "woman" (or a synonym) in the title or the author's name
Girl Walks into a Bar . . .: Comedy Calamities, Dating Disasters, and a Midlife Miracle - Rachel Dratch

Challenge #18: Read a book where the author's Surname is also a Place name
Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury - Audiobook

Good morning :)
Here a short update on my reading:

Challenge 3# The Cry of the Dove - Fadia Faqir - Jordan
Challenge 5# The House of the Mosque - Kader Abdolah - The "q" in the mosque
Challenge 7# Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs - 352 pages
Challenge 7# The Rock and the River - Kekla Magoon
Challenge 10# When She Woke - Hillary Jordan
Challenge 11# Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Group Read July - REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILER Review
Challenge 15# The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
Challenge 15# The Dovekeepers - Alice Hoffman
Challenge 18# Gordon - Edith Templeton

Here is my pathetic little list. I can sense July will not be a great reading month, but there will still be great reads.

#6. Read a book with the word “boy” or “man” (or a synonym) in the title or author's name The boy in the striped Pajamas John Boyne

#11. Read a book with a title that includes one or more colors of the olympic rings Careless in Red Elizabeth George

#15. Read a book with a picture of something that can be carried by the wind on its cover Sea Glass Anita Shreve

#18. Read a book where the author's Surname is also a Place name The Elegant Universe Brian Greene

Yay! Finished Wolf Hall which I started last month for my RL book club.

EBT1002 did you see Wolf Hall could be a shared read for you listed under challenge 7 instead of 6? Although it's very creative that you have it in number 6! (Title or author with man or boy).

177> I did see that, but didn't have time when I was entering things at that moment to change it. I will move it over to #7, although I appreciate your appreciation for my creativity. :-)

I added my first two books to the wiki: Challenge #1, my 'Sweet Violet' book: Go Tell It on the Mountain, and
Challenge #7, The Night Watch.

I'll be slowing down now as I pick up (or try to anyway) Truman for Ch. #6. It's a hardback with over 1,000 pages.
A real wrist strainer!

For the rainbow challenge (Challenge 1), I've added The Magician King by Lev Grossman, which had an orange cover on the edition I read.

It's quite a striking cover; I'll be happy to add it to the thread, once that has caught up with the wiki.

Hurray! Thank you thank you... I've been able to add my yellow read at last, The Watch, by Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya

If anyone else is finally getting around to completing The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck this month (as I am), I've added it to challenge #7.

I completed Being There by Jerzy Kosinski today (for challenge #14), which is a small masterpiece. It was made all the more special as this audio version is performed by none other than Dustin Hoffman, a very recent release on Audible.com. I saw the movie with Peter Sellers in the early 80s and was profoundly affected by it. I recommend to everyone to just pick up that book, in any format and give it a go. It's just 140 pages and still incredibly relevant today.

Here are my other planned reads this month (keeping it short and sweet this time!)

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (tutored read thread, TIOLI #7: *more than 300 pages* with *a multiple word title*)
A Mind of Winter by Shira Nayman (Early Reviewers, TIOLI #9: Read a book with a Deckle Edge)
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver (TIOLI #14: In honor of 'Don't Step on A Bee Day' - Read a book whose title begins with a 'B')
Angel by Elizabeth Taylor (GR - Virago Modern Classics, TIOLI #10: a book by an author whose surname could also be a first name)
East of Eden by John Steinbeck (Steinbeckathon, TIOLI #7: *more than 300 pages* with *a multiple word title*)
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens (GR, TIOLI #4: a title that suggests sharing)

>181 Chatterbox: : No probs ;-)

Actually, I was waiting, too, (but not as long as you were), to add my orange.

I'm almost finished with Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson who is full of ambition, completely adventurous and devoted to world cuisine. The weirdest food he's mentioned so far, Ethiopian coffee not with cream and sugar but with butter and salt instead. I know the Ethiopians know their coffee, but, what?

I've seen several good reviews of Yes, Chef here on LT and definitely want to read it. What a fun fact about the coffee! Alas and alack, not this month however as I have several LTER books to read.

A copy of Hunger Games just fell into my lap to read. If there is still anyone else in the world who hasn't read it, I've added it to challenge 18.

I too have several; LTERs to read - Summer Breeze and Queen's Vow. They are both in Challenge#7 in case anybody else needs to read them.

>187 streamsong: I have a copy on my shelf and keep putting it off. I can be contrary like that. But a TIOLI challenge is usually good motivation so I'll probably pick up Hunger Games this month and join you.

I finished and REVIEWED Dalia Sofer's The Septembers of Shiraz for the Read a book set in the Middle East Challenge.

Now I'm reading The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker for the Read a Book with a Deckle Edge.

I have completed:

(challenge #15) Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
(challenge #8) Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller - winner of the 2012 orange award

Both quick reads, both were 5 star reads in my opinion. I seem to be reading 4 or 5 star books this year. I'm not complaining but beginning to wonder if I just like everything or if I'm actually just reading good books?

After finishing Yes, Chef today I had to try an Ethiopian restaurant. Very spicy and tasty, but alas, just plain ol' American coffee.

At the Ethiopian restaurants in London that I have been to, they always bring the coffee out with a great deal of ceremony - a special pot and tray, and a wonderful, almost incense-y smell. I haven't seen the butter and salt though...

I've been away for a few days and managed to complete Gillespie and I for challenge #1 and Bernice Rubens' The waiting Game for challenge #19. Finished and added The Hidden Gallery, book 2 of the Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place for the deckle edge challenge and picked up #3 at the library yesterday for a shared read for the same challenge. I also finished Shadow and Bone, book #1 of a YA fantasy for the 300+ pages challenge.
I'm currently reading Only Yesterday, a big and worthy read for Darryl's Middle East challenge and quickly making my way through the latest Montalbano novel, The age of doubt which I've added to challenge #19.

Read:

TIOLI #7 (300+ page, multiple word title)
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

TIOLI #8 (Initials)
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (BS - bullsh**)
Pawn of Prophecy
Queen of Sorcery
Magician's Gambit
Castle of Wizardry
Enchanters' End Game by David Eddings (DE - Delaware)

TIOLI #10 (surname - first name)
Everyday Matters by Danny Gregory

TIOLI #17 (girl or woman in title)
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

TIOLI #18 (surname is place)
Tricked by Kevin Hearne (Hearne, TX)

TIOLI #19 (complete canon)
Whispers by Dean Koontz
Suddenly You by Lisa Kleypas

I'll add them in the next day or two.

Wandering-star, there are several Ethiopian restaurants around. I hope I'll find one that does something special with coffee. I love different kinds of coffee, but again, butter and salt, I'm not so sure about that.

I'm powering my way through the TIOLI reads for this month:

#1 The rainbow cover challenge - I've read Envious Casca a Georgette Heyer country-house murder that's been sitting on my TBR pile for ages and has a bilious orange cover. It's a good read with interesting characters and some twists and turns.
#14 The "B" challenge - I came to the top of the library reservation list for Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore. A thoughtful fantasy with some interesting characters but a rather unfinished plot. I wonder if it was rushed a bit, after the success of the earlier two books?
#16 The name challenge - Again Silent in the sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn has been sitting on the TBR pile for a long time. Number two in the Lady Julia Grey Victorian mysteries - a fun romp through another country-house murder! She's not really in Heyer's class, but it was an amusing read.
#17 The girl/woman challenge: Girl in a blue dress by Gaynor Arnold - the story of the Dickens marriage through the eyes of his wife. An involving read that perhaps petered out a bit at the end. (This one could have ended up in several challenges but, obviously, being about Dickens it had to go in Peggy's challenge :0))
#19 Finishing the complete canon - This was the perfect fit for the latest in my read of the Dresden files. Side Jobs by Jim Butcher is a collection of Harry Dresden short stories - a fun read with some interesting stories from the POV of other Dreden regulars.

Now I'm off to start Peter May's The blackhouse, a mystery set on the Isle of Lewis that's been getting rather varied responses from readers - some love it, some don't.

Although unrelated, Mental Floss posted an article on their Facebook page which made me think of Challenge #8.

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/63487: Initials That Mean More Than They Realized

That's a funny article, Patrick!

I had some coloring-book fun (get it?!) putting rainbow-colored covers out on the thread. The thread -- http://www.librarything.com/topic/139074 - is looking gorgeous!

We're up to date, and the next color available is RED. There are a lot of red-covered books out there, so who's next?

Karen O.

I finished and REVIEWED Karen Thompson Walker's debut novel The Age of Miracles for the Deckle Edge Challenge. Now I'm reading The Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz for the Middle East Challenge.

>200 klobrien2: Thanks for updating that thread! It really is looking great.

I'm not too far into Lonesome Dove but, now that I'm keeping better track of the characters, I'm really enjoying it.

Didn't realize that there are four books in this series.

>203 lindapanzo:: That was a mixed surprise for me too, Linda. A good thing because I love the story and characters, but now I have three more books to track down and read!

Donna, I'm not entirely certain but I think the later books in the series go back to an earlier time.

Streets of Loredo goes further in time. I think the others are earlier.

> 200

I add my thanks, too, Karen.

Ok, I'm procrastinating, so, since Friday is my last exam, which means I'm almost done, I will do some book-picking tonight :)
My real plan is to read (at least) one book for each challenge, but I've already seen that some of the challenges will be quite hard. And since I only have half a month left and there's 19 challenges it might be too ambitious this month, so I probably won't finish all books I list for now.
But, here's the preliminary list; I'll try to do as much shared reads as possible.

#1: The Bone People - Keri Hulme
#2: Daniel Deronda - George Eliot
#3: The Horus Road - Pauline Gedge
#4: Our Mutual Friend - Charles Dickens
#5: I have nothing around here with a Q; will have to see about this one...
#6: Man Made God - Luc Ferry
#7: Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel
#8: The Golden Notebook - Doris Lessing
#9: A Far Better Rest - Susanne Alleyn
#10: The Black Tower - PD James
#11: Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Adichie
#12: Will also need to think about this one... I don't think I've actually ever read a western so I'm not exactly well-versed in the genre :/
#13: Green Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson
#14: Het Baby Brein (The Baby Brain) - Michiel v Elk & Sabine Hunnius
#15: The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera
#16: My name is somewhat impossible, but I've actually found something:
Women of Early Christianity - Alfred Brittain (Britt)
#17: Maiden in Light - Kathryn L Ramage - hope this one's ok...
#18: Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bardbury
#19: Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

Ok, hope that's gonna work out :) I'll also add them to the wiki and will hopefully be able to finish a bunch of them before the end of the month :)

Good luck with your exam!

This is one of those months that I would like to get all my planned reading finished so I could add more books to some different challenges. Of course, I am kidding myself - I'll be lucky to get through the ones I have already planned on.

I've finished Disobedience for the Rainbow challenge and Only Yesterday for the Middle East challenge and also made a start on Riddley Walker for challenge #2. I need to pick up something lighter for my weekend reading so will indulge in a bit of YA with Sherryl Jordan's Ransomwood for the surname/first name challenge.

This might be helpful for Challenge #1 in which you might have to pick an indigo-covered book (which I just did). I found that there are quite a few variations of indigo. Intersting! I just now picked a book with an indigo tone of "imperial blue". :)

See for yourself what some of these variations are!

Good morning,
Just arrived in London this morning. Another day off and then back to work :) Weather here is as bad as it was in Germany :(

Challenge 3# The Cry of the Dove - Fadia Faqir - Jordan
Challenge 5# The House of the Mosque - Kader Abdolah - The "q" in the mosque
Challenge 6# "Man" Eating Bugs - Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio
Challenge 7# Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs - 352 pages
Challenge 7# The Rock and the River - Kekla Magoon - 304 pages
Challenge 7# The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi - 544 pages
Challenge 10# When She Woke - Hillary Jordan
Challenge 11# Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Group Read July - REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILER Review
Challenge 15# The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
Challenge 15# The Dovekeepers - Alice Hoffman
Challenge 18# Gordon - Edith Templeton

Apparently there's a drought over in the USA... I suggest we send them some of our rain, that would be a good deal, right?

VERY good deal, Britt! We got almost 3" here Wednesday and are still dry, dry, dry! And by the way, you know that there's a *Mutual Friend* GR as well as a ½ Yellow Sun going on this month, don't you? We'd love to have you AND I'm glad to see that The Bone People is at the top of your impressive list. It is one of my top two for 2012.
The reason I came by was to report finishing my Challenge #19 entry, Revelation from C.J. Sansom's Matthew Shardlake series. SUCH good historical mysteries!!!!

#214 Please do.

The local corn crop may not make it. They've said that we'd need 9 to 15 inches of rain, over a multi-day period, to break the drought.

With the hit or miss nature of summer thunderstorms, in our local area, we haven't had measurable rain since May 31st...and we were really dry before that. My sister, 50 miles away, has had several heavy downpours during that same time.

You know what gets me, we can put a man on the moon but we can't figure out how to transfer water from a flood area to a drought area. Go figure.

Just arrange for it to rain overnight, please. You folks can keep your daytime downpours!

OK, quick question -- can anyone think of where I can squeeze in Logavina Street by Barbara Demick into TIOLI this month?? In a pinch, I suppose #19, as certianly the reason I sought it out was bec. I wanted to read what else she has written after her book about N. Korea, but...?

Now, how about the cover challenge (#1) for Logavina Street? Are the books (?) on the cover orangish in color? (It seems that way from the photo). If so, challenge #1 is looking for an orange book--I think there would be enough orange for the cover to qualify.

Karen O.

It is kinda rust colored -- bricks. Madeline, since it's your challenge, do you want to rule on this?

> 218 through 220

I certainly do NOT want to rule on it! :D

You guys all vote on this!

Since it looks as if this is going down to defeat -- which I was kinda thinking it might -- am open to any other suggestions?

Suzanne, there is a Demicks Lake in North Dakota so it could qualify for Challenge #18: Author's surname is also a place name.

I just finished the powerful Indian Killer which I thought was going to be my last Western for the month, but I was looking through a pile of books and found Ghost Warrior and thought I'd give it a try. It's a look at Apache life and one of the few books I have about Native American Women. At 496 pages I'm not sure I'll finish it this month, but I can't resist the call.

Just to point out, this is the first page; this has been continued (see below) on page 1 :)

Confusing, I know.

Updated Outlander in Challenge #1 (indigo) and Tongues of Serpents in Challenge #15 (carried by wind) to completed.

Added Demon Mistress by Yasmine Galenorn to Challenge #19 (author canon).