Take It or Leave It Challenge - March 2013 - 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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Most of you are unaware that March 27th is National Joe Day in the United States. This is a day on which you can change your name (if you want to do so) for one day. ;)

Your challenge for March, 2013, is to read a book which has at least one character* whose first name starts with the two-letter combination "Jo". So your character may be named Jo, Job, Jody, Joe, John, Jordan, Jordana, Jorge, Jose, Josephine, Josephus...well, you get the picture. Now go find that character in one of your books. The book may be fiction or non-fiction.

Here’s a feature you may not yet have discovered on LT, but you might need for this challenge. It’s called “Characters in Your Library”. This is how you find it.
1. Click on your “home” tab.
2. Click on “stats/memes”.
3. On the left side of the page (under Common Knowledge), click on “Characters”. You’ll now find the books on your “To Read” list marked with a white check mark in a green circle.
4. Click on the numbers at the bottom of this page until your reach the “Jo…” names.
5. Pick a book!

List your book like this:
The Help (Johnny) - Kathryn Stockett - SqueakyChu

*Addendum: The character may be human or animal.

Have a Happy National Joe Day...and do have fun in the upcoming month!

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

1. The March 2013 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 01/22/13)

Wiki Index

Challenges #1-6
1. Read a book which has at least one character whose first name starts with the two-letter combination "Jo" - msg #1
2. Read a book that has the name of part of a plant in its title or author - msg #6
3. Read a book from the book The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Ultimate Reading List - msg #9
4. Read a book in a series that you have already started - msg #10
5. Read a book combining health care and finances - msg #14
6. Read a book whose title includes a city that isn't currently a national capital - msg #15

Challenges #7-12
7. Read a book that is at least partly set where the person above you has lived before - msg #18
8. Read a book with "all" or "nothing" in the title - msg #19
9. Read a book with a plant or plants on the cover - msg #20 - thread
10. Read a book set in Ireland, or by an Irish author - msg #23
11. Read a book because you like its title - msg #24
12. Read a book by a new-to-you author featured in kidzdoc's Black History Month tributes - msg #30

Challenges #13-18
13. Read a book with "lion" or "lamb" in the title - msg #22
14. Read a book about girls/women in a culture different from yours - msg #34
15. Read a book about a person or character born in March - msg #37 - thread
16. Read a book whose cover primarily features Easter Colors - msg #39 - thread
17. Read the 7th book along on a bottom shelf (anywhere) - msg #48
18. Read a book which is included in the World Book Night giveaways (in any participating country) - msg #52

Challenge #19-24
19. Read a book by an author with a given name of four or more syllables - msg #65
20. Read a book with a form of the verb 'to be' in the title - msg #88
21. Read a work by an author who has written in two or more styles or genres - msg #91
22. Read a historical novel by a new-to-you author - msg #110
23. Read a book from Paul's 'Books of the Year' Lists 1970-1979 - msg #185
24. Read a book about a natural disaster or a book that contains a natural disaster that really happened - msg#190

Challenges #25 etc.
25. Read a book whose initial letters can be rearranged into any word which includes the letter O - msg #203
26.
27.
etc.

List your challenges on the wiki through midnight March 4, 2013. Thanks!

I'm so early, the wiki's not even up!? :D

It is up. I just haven't linked it yet. that's being done even as we speak!

I found it I found it! It's the last 5 minutes of my break from jury duty and I stumble upon the March thread. Now I have something to look forward to for the afternoon.

Okay. Carrying on the biological theme from February, my challenge this month:

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Challenge #2: Read a book that has a part of a plant in its title or author name

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I am including flowers, fruits and vegetables under the broad term "plant". The names of plants are not allowed. Embedded words are allowed.

So...words like bark, stem, petal, root, leaf, seed, sap, bud, trunk...or, ahem, thorn...

#6 hahaha Thorn. Gee, wonder why...

SqueakyChu, a question about your challenge...

If I started reading a book before March, does it count if I finish it in March? I've got a book with several Jo- people in it but am 1/3 into it.

Challenge #3: Read a book from the book The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Ultimate Reading List

If you don't have the book, the list can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmSg5qorIw0jdElfMWNNMHkzcTZJcDI2MHh...

It's sorted by Category (Biography, Horror, Popular Fiction, Romance, Science, etc.) then by Title.

Or if you are on ListsofBests.com, it is available there, too.

Worst comes to worst, I have the book and can look up titles for you. But don't go crazy! I do have a life. Such as it is. Heh.

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Challenge#4 Catch up Challenge Read a book in a series that you've already started
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I'm always falling behind on books in series - and I know I'm not the only one. So let's all try to catchup together!

> 8

If I started reading a book before March, does it count if I finish it in March?

The book counts in the month you finish reading it so, yes, it does count.

11. Yay! I've got a ton of reading planned for March (over-estimated my reading abilities a bit, methinks) but I'm really hoping to fit it in.

>>#7 Jean, surely you're not accusing me of having an ULTERIOR MOTIVE!? I should never dream of such a thing!

>>#10 Well, that should fit nicely with Mystery March!

Yahoo, for me, too sad for my dogs. I was just about to step out the door and take them to the park when I thought I'd take a quick look at the Wiki. Oh, well they'll just have to be patient a while longer. I never get here this early. So, before I start looking for Jo folk I'll list

Challenge #5: Read a book combining health care and finances
planned reads are:
Bad pharma : how drug companies mislead doctors and harm patients - Ben Goldacre
Deadly monopolies : the shocking corporate takeover of life itself - Washington, Harriet
So Much for That - Lionel Shriver

Anne Patchett's new one, State of Wonder would fit great here for those who haven't read it.

Here is another one to add to the mix:

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Challenge 6: Read a book whose title includes a city that isn't currently a national capital city
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This should be self explanatory, but just in case...

A city can have been a capital city in the past, eg Philadelphia in the USA.
A regional capital qualifies -- so Annapolis, Maryland is OK.
Remember that what is the biggest city isn't always the capital -- eg Amsterdam is fine, because the capital of the Netherlands is The Hague.
It can't be an imaginary capital.
It can be embedded ONLY if it's used as a clear reference to the city. For instance, this example wouldn't count anyway, as Paris is a national capital, but if the word was Parisian, that clearly refers to residents of Paris. This should largely be academic...
Ancient cities are fine, but if the place no longer exists (eg Troy) and it was a capital when it did exist, then nope, it doesn't count.

If I possibly somehow managed to miss something, feel free to ask...

Madeline, what if the character's first name is John, but he known as Jack? (eg JFK)

Or vice versa, where the first name may not be a "Jo", but where the nickname is?

For the benefit of those of us who didn't get to it this month, I have added The Murder On the Links to Challenge #4.

I've started a new challenge: #7: Where I Come From: read a book that is at least partly set where the person above you has lived before (and then note where you have lived)

In a round-robin format.

# Title of book - Author - (where person before determined book set, where you've lived) - username

I leave it up to you to decide how you want to define the area you lived--just don't make it too hard for others to match up. For example, if I've lived for a time in Houston, Texas, I could pick: Houston, Texas, American South, USA, whatever distinction I choose to pick.

Then, the person below you has to find a book that is at least partly set where you've defined.

So, for example, it could go:

1. Repeat It Today With Tears - Anne Peile - (--, American South) - christiguc
2. Love In a Dry Season - Shelby Foote - (American South, New York) - person two
3. The Chalk Girl - Carol O'Connell - (New York, Quebec) - person three
4. The Tin Flute - Gabrielle Roy - (Quebec, Connecticut) - christiguc
5. Skeleton Key - Jane Haddam - (Connecticut, Spain) - person four

And so on.

Challenge #8: The All or Nothing Challenge: Read a book with either "all" or "nothing" in the title.

As always, embedded words are fine.

I've started a thread for plant book covers. Post your covers here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/150615

Challenge #13 March Comes In...

Read a book with either the word "Lamb" or "Lion" in the title

Fixed in the Wiki and here.

oh no fuzzi, I thought we were supposed to do the wiki first, or we were at the same time. I put

Challenge #10 St Patrick's Day Challenge

Read a book set in Ireland or by an Irish author.

Challenge 11: Read a book because you like its title

This is for all those books that you grabbed because you thought the title sounded cool or interesting.

A question for Suz for challenge 6:

How big a place does the city have to be - eg in UK terms, can it include any place we tend to call a city rather than a town, even if it is very small by other standards (for instance, Exeter or Carlisle are cities but are pretty small)? Not that I have particular examples for those places, just trying to work out how many place names would apply.

> 16

Madeline, what if the character's first name is John, but he known as Jack? (eg JFK)

Or vice versa, where the first name may not be a "Jo", but where the nickname is?

I'll accept a name or a nickname for the "Jo" name.

> 22

fuzzi, go put your challenge on the wiki. I take the wiki index listing and the challenge number directly from the wiki pages themselves (not from the main thread). The reason I do this is because the wiki will not allow two people to make posts at the same time.

In addition, change you challenge number in msg #22. It does not need to be in chronological order here on this thread.

Oh, very cool. In Challenge #7, the round robin for where you are from, I put I was from Eastern Canada, because I thought it would be a little too specific to say PEI, but then the next book is Anne of Green Gables!

(27) Done. Sorry, this is still new to me.

> 29

No problem at all. You're up and posted now. Hooray!!

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Challenge 12: Read a book by a new-to-you author featured in kidzdoc's Black History Month tributes

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In February, Darryl (kidzdoc) wrote great tributes to some of his favorite authors from the African diaspora in honor of Black History Month. The authors are listed here, but you may also want to visit Darryl's threads to learn more about the writers profiled.

Natasha Trethewey
Wole Soyinka
Edwidge Danticat
Ngugi aw Thiong'o
Zadie Smith
Caryl Phillips
Aminatta Forna
Patrick Chamoiseau
Jesmyn Ward
Albert Murray
Toni Derricotte
Abdulrazak Gurnah
Marie DNiaye
Dinaw Mengestu
Victor LaValle
Alain Mabanckou
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
John Edgar Wideman
Dany Laferrie're
Percival Everett

> 30

Heh! I bet Darryl had no idea that his tribute was going to become a TIOLI challenge. Fabulous idea, Bonnie!

Challenge #14: Read a book about girls/women in a culture different from yours - started by auntieclio

>28 raidergirl3:, While I was reading some of Montgomery's adult works for February's TIOLI, everyone was comparing them to her children's books . . . which I can't ever recall reading. I took it as a sign that it was time to fix that.

How funny that you were actually thinking of PEI when you wrote it though.

@inge87, I see you've chosen two of my most favorite books this month:

Watership Down and The Beekeeper's Apprentice

In honor of my birthday month:

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Read a book about a person born in March
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Fiction or nonfiction counts for this challenge, and the "person" can be real-life or fictional.

If you're looking for ideas for nonfiction/biography or some sort of biographical fiction, I highly recommend taking a look at Chase's Calendar of Events - though I daresay Wikipedia will have a list too! Here are a few people I randomly selected from going through the book myself:

Jon Bon Jovi
Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss)
Ivan Lendl
Jim Rice
Chuck Norris
Edward Albee
Grover Cleveland
William Bradford
Johann Sebastian Bach
Harry Houdini
Eric Clapton
Gloria Steinem

If anyone is looking for something fab to read for Morphy's challenge, I can recommend The Salaryman's Wife by Sujata Massey (mystery) and Video Night in Kathmandu by Pico Iyer; neither are books that have come up here recently, but both I absolutely loved reading.

Since Easter actually falls in March this year, I have started:

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Challenge #16: Read a book whose cover primarily features Easter colors

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By Easter colors, I mean the pinks, yellows and mauves of Easter Eggs, the soft greens of new leaves and shoots, and the soft blues of a robin's egg.

I've set up a thread where we can post our covers - TIOLI #16: Easter Colors

I'm diving into TIOLI again. I'm on a book-buying embargo - trying to go for 6 months without buying anything because I have shelves of unread books - so I'm hoping that TIOLI will take me on a random journey through my TBR pile.

Claire! We missed you. Hope the world has been treating you well since we've last heard from you. Welcome back!!

on a random journey through my TBR pile.

Have you checked out this year's ROOT challenge group? It goes well with our TIOLI challenges.

Thanks AuntieClio! I've pulled out an ER book from July, 2011 to read for your challenge. Finally!!

Oooh, thanks Madeline, the ROOT challenge sounds just the ticket!

Seems like forever since I've spent some time on LT but it's not for bad reasons. My mini-Me is halfway through her 2nd year at school (they start at 4 in the UK) and I've been pretty absorbed making sure that learning is fun because that's something you only get one shot at. She's definitely a chip off the old block because she's now a fluent reader at 5 & half and is currently obsessed with the World Book Day readathon that the school is participating in ... her list is getting longer every day and she has to fill it in ... hmm ... I wonder where that comes from. I see a future little TIOLIer. Now she's 'got' this reading thing, I've got a bit more free time to footer about online so, quite obviously, I'm back in 75 & on the TIOLI thread ;-) Going to take me a bit longer to sort my catalogue out but that's a treat in itself. Glad to be back.

So cool...having a little one to teach the joys of reading and education. My "baby" is 26 years old and in law school. She now has professors far smarter than I! :)

World Book Day is great fun. On that day, I'm chairing a BookCrossing booth at the Kensington Book Festival* in Kensington, Maryland, USA. My group will be giving away thousands of free, gently used books.

I see a future little TIOLIer.

Heh! I wouldn't mind. I might be the oldest TIOLI-er so why not have a youngest TIOLI-er?

*Admission is free so local TIOLI-ers are welcome to attend.

Giving away books is great! I was a giver a couple of years back & got a box of Northern Lights by Philip Pullman to give away to the local schools. Nothing better than giving people books you love.

Welcome, @klarusu, glad you're back. I agree about giving away books you love. :)

My baby is going to be 30 in May....aarrggh!

See, now y'all are scaring me! How do they go get big so fast? ;-)

So, as World Book Day is 7th March, I think it'd be rude not to have a category that celebrates it. As WBD is about making reading accessible to everyone (and making it fun), I've come up with:

Challenge 17: Read the 7th book along on a bottom shelf anywhere

Working the symbolism here, as the bottom shelf should be accessible to everyone (well, I know some people can't bend but it was the best I could come up with ;-) )! It can be your bottom shelf, a library shelf, or possibly you want to randomly choose a bottom shelf in a bookshop and purchase the 7th book along. Whatever you do, have fun reading ... because it is!

Interesting: some of my bottom shelves are rather inaccessible due to the amount of junk and/or furniture in front of them.

On this one, can we match reads? (It seems unlikely that two of us are going to have the same book in the same position on a bottom shelf, but it would be a pity not to match reads).

They do, @klarusu. Take lots of pictures, they grow up too soon.

This makes me cry...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLLEBAQLZ3Q

elkiedee, I would say you could definitely match reads as it's the 7th book along on someone's bottom shelf, somewhere ;-) (I've got a couple of whole bookcases that are inaccessible right now so I hear you on that one!)

Challenge 18: Read a book that is being given away on World Book Night this year, or has been on a giveaway list in a previous year.

This year's list in the UK and Ireland: http://www.worldbooknight.org/component/k2/item/10033

US 2013: http://www.us.worldbooknight.org/books/2013/item/440

US 2012: http://www.us.worldbooknight.org/books/alumni/the-2012-books

UK 2011: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/02/world-book-night-1m-free-books

You may already have some books on the lists in your TBR. Also, if there are lists for your country or another country that you want to use and you can find the information, feel free. Please indicate the list your selection is from.

I'm going to be giving away copies of Red Dust Road by Jackie Kay (my first go at being a giver). It's a memoir about tracing the author's birth parents and learning more about her identity.

Clare, how did you know?!?

My book group decided to read Fountainhead and I knew I had it somewhere, so this morning when I saw your challenge, I crossed my fingers and went hunting. There it was #7 on the bottom shelf!

cyderry, I have magic book location powers. Imagine I'm waving my fingers over the keyboard now in a magical fashion going woo-oo-oo ... OK, going to stop now because the cat is looking at me askance.

Would a basket work in place of a bookshelf? It's on the floor (bottom - right?) and it's filled with books - so the 7th one - maybe? please?

7th book from the right or the left? :)

I tried to search through LT's Common Knowledge for March birthdays, and it's a bit of a fishing expedition, but here are a few more March birthdays of (semi-)literary note for challenge 15:

Joseph Campbell
René Descartes
Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire (one of the Mitford sisters)
Sam Houston
L. Ron Hubbard
Ryszard Kapuściński
William Morris
Flannery O'Connor
Yitzhak Rabin
Vita Sackville-West
Albert Speer
Gloria Swanson
St. Teresa of Ávila
Vincent van Gogh

For anyone who wants a real challenge, there is Gitta Sereny's take on Albert Speer, then -- Albert Speer: His Battle With Truth.

As for me, there's a frothy Van Gogh focused novel on my TBR stacks....

And my bottom bookshelf nearest to me -- at least, the bottom shelf of my bookcase that has books in it, as opposed to shoes (don't ask...) has a good book #7! I shall check out some other #7s... I think The Orphan Master's Son is either #6 or #7 along in a pile I have along the floor -- can that be deemed a shelf, if they are horizontal vs vertical stacks? There is no actual SHELF underneath them... :-)

There's some great challenges this month, thanks to Cheli, as her challenge has really helped me with some of my Mystery March books. And Challenge #17 helped me decide which non-fiction book I am going to be reading in March.

> 45

I was a World Book Night giver last year and gave away The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. Here in DC, though, I had a hard time finding non-readers or light readers near the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial, the place I chose to give away my books. I'm not doing the World Book Night giveaway this year because I prefer to give away books for free to people who do like to read. :)

#52, elkiedee, thank you for your challenge! I now have a place to put The Book Thief

> 48 and 52

I'm so glad we're celebrating World Book Day/Night here with two different TIOLI challenges. Thanks!!

#42,Carmenere happy to be of service!

59>> Delta, shhh.....I had ulterior motives. :-)

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Challenge #19: Read a book by an author with a given name of four or more syllables
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I'm using this Wikipedia entry to define "given name": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Given_name

Had to find a place for Moon Tiger...

#65 - I changed it from "first name" to "given name" to prevent confusion in some cases (e.g. Chinese names).

Kerri, if an author has a double given name where the two names combined make up four syllables, does it count for your challenge?

What about someone who goes by initials but when the names spelled out have four syllables?

#67 - Sure and Sure.

68. Great! I'm hoping to be able to squeeze in T. E. (Thomas Edward) Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom and he would fit.

So would Erich Maria Remarque - tip for everyone doing the group read of All Quiet on the Western Front.

Paws, I think I saw that someone has already listed All Quiet under another challenge - maybe Linda's All or Nothing challenge?

70. I didn't see that challenge.

More group read tips - Alexandre Dumas has four syllables...

#69 - Oh wait! I should have been more clear. For the double name, I thought you meant something like Ricky-Bobby (for lack of a better example) - a hyphenated first name. I think Edward in the case of Thomas Edward Lawrence is a middle name, right? And that would not work. In the case of the initials, if the given name is 4 or more syllables, that's fine, but if it's a combination of a first and middle name for Western names, that doesn't really work. I think I'm going to go by this Wikipedia entry for the definition of given name. It equates it with "first name" for Western names.

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

I hope that's ok. I hate being so authoritarian about my TIOLI challenge. : (

72. Okay, no worries. It's your challenge, you should be authoritarian!

#72 - I guess I should embrace it! : )

Re Suzanne's Challenge #6 - I would have said Battersea was an area of a city (London) rather than a city itself. Or am I reading the rules wrong?

75. Battersea is definitely a part of London (a part of Wandsworth which is a part of London) and not a city/town in itself.

Paws, I already put All Quiet on the Western Front into my "all or nothing" challenge.

77. Yes, cbl_tn mentioned that. I haven't checked the wiki yet.

I'm still looking for a home for Manifest Injustice and The Invention of Hugo Cabret - any ideas?

omigod, SK, heavens -- all that nagging by a dutch friend in high school and he GOT IT WRONG. I am so running off to tell him....

But there's still Montreal and Toronto vs Ottawa as an example of that, and Brasilia vs Rio de Janiero.

And yes, I'm going to be doctrinaire about Battersea. It's not a city and while it may once have been a tiny town or a village before being swept up in the London metropolis (like Kensington or Hampstead), I don't think it was ever a city. Sorry...

Chatterbox - so any existing city that isn't currently a capital counts? Where do you draw the line between city and town? (As there isn't technically one)

I didn't see a clarification on the book bag rule for the 7th book on a bottom shelf challenge. My book bag is sitting on the floor, and I'd love to be able to read the 7th book in it. What do you say, klarusu?

I think any community that is self governing in its municipal affairs, and isn't part of a larger urban community. So New York would count, but not Brooklyn. Paris, but not Pigalle or Montparnasse. London, but not Chelsea or Hampstead.

I think I'll let you folks use your common sense on city vs. town. In Sweden, Stockholm and Gothenburg are clearly cities; Lund? Angelholm? the latter is probably a town. Why don't we deal with it on a case by case basis? It's hard to have a one size fits all rule since Atlanta is going to be bigger than Portland, Maine, but the latter clearly is a city, too. I suspect that in practice this won't come up much, as people will want the titles to be recognizable places. Just no subdivisions/neighborhoods/wards of cities, even if they have local elected officials. Not places (eg Sleepy Hollow) and not imaginary cities.

With the usual overoptimistic reading outlook, these are my planned reads for the month:
Challenge #3: Read a book from the book The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Ultimate Reading
✔Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight - Alexandra Fuller - Audiobook (5)
✔The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde Nook (4)
✔I, Claudius - Robert Graves (4.5)
Removed Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love - Dava Sobel - Audiobook
Challenge #4: Catchup Challenge: Read a book in a series that you have already started
✔The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There -Catherynne Valente - Audiobook (4)
✔Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier - Alexandra Fuller - Audiobook (5)
Challenge #5: Read a Book combining health care and finances
✔Bad pharma : how drug companies mislead doctors and harm patients - Ben Goldacre (5)
✔Deadly monopolies : the shocking corporate takeover of life itself - Washington, Harriet (5)
✔So Much for That - Lionel Shriver - Book Club (4.5)
Challenge #8: Read a book with "all" or "nothing" in the title
✔Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else - Chrystia Freeland (5)
Challenge #11: Read a book because you like its title
✔The End of Your Life Book Club - Will Schwalbe (5)
✔The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies? - Jared Diamond - Audiobook (4)
Challenge #13: Read a book with "lion" or "lamb" in the title
Removed The Lion Is In - Delia Ephron
Challenge #14: Read a book about girls/women in a culture different from yours
Removed The Distance Between Us: A Memoir - Reyna Grande
Removed Please Look After Mom - Kyung-Sook Shin
✔The Space Between Us - Thrity Umrigar - Nook (5)
✔Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China - Jung Chang - Audiobook (5)
Challenge #21: Read a work by an author who has written in two or
more styles or genres
✔Flight Behavior- Barbara Kingsolver (5)
✔Tenth of December - George Saunders (4.5)

One more challenge for the list :)

Challenge #20: Read a book with a form of the verb 'to be' in the title - Started by Britt84

- Any form of the verb will do: am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been and anything else you can think of...
- Abbreviated forms ('s, 're) are also allowed - but only if it's an abbreviation of is, so a possessive 's is not allowed!
- Embedded in other words is not allowed, so for instance history doesn't count - it really has to be the verb itself
- Other languages are allowed :)

(76) Battersea is definitely a part of London (a part of Wandsworth which is a part of London) and not a city/town in itself.

Well, bummer. I thought it was a distinct city/town on its own. Oh well... :sadly walks away:

If you've read The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and are wanting to continue with the series for Black Hearts in Battersea, it would fit fine into Challenge 10.

I think it's quite an attractive title - if you do, you could list it in Challenge 11.

Ok – since I’m not the only one having trouble fitting a few books in, I’m going to post a challenge even though I didn’t intend to this month.

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Challenge #21: Read a work by an author who has written in two or more styles or genres.
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These are the kinds of combinations I was thinking of:

Journalist/fiction
Mystery/fantasy
Technical writer / romance
Poetry / non fiction prose
Blogger / science fiction
Short stories / plays
Fiction/non fiction

I’m not too picky about how it’s phrased, but please note the combination in your book listing.

I hope this allows folks to fit in a few more books - it'll help me!

ETA: per the vote below, YA and Adult fiction count a separate genres/styles for the purposes of this Challenge.

I'll definitely read something by Diana Athill for this last challenge (#21) - she immediately jumped to mind and I have several of her books on the TBR.

Thanks Dejah! Your challenge helps with one of mine. I'm still looking for spots for two others...

I'm going to have to go searching for some books, methinks!

For anyone reading A Dance to the Music of Time, I've listed The Acceptance World under challenge #4, series already started.

(90) If you've read The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and are wanting to continue with the series for Black Hearts in Battersea, it would fit fine into Challenge 10.

That's a good idea, thank you, @elkiedee!

Oh, good; I'm early (we're not quite up to 100 posts).

Some nice challenges this month (which for me means I can probably fit my books into them).

#91 Dejah!!! Hug, hug, smooch, smooch! With Challenge #21 I am finally able to find a home for my remaining planned read for March. Squeeeeeze, thank you, thank you!

98: I assumed it would count, as I was going to list an author as having written fiction/memoir.

What about someone who writes crime fiction for adults but has also written a couple of books for young adults, but also crime fiction?

I am thinking Robert B. Parker

>101 ccookie: ccookie Rober B Parker also writes westerns.

I was hoping adding Challenge #21 would prove useful to someone other than me!

Fiction/memoir, fiction/nonfiction are both fine. It looks as though ccookie can go crime fiction/westerns, which is good because I find myself a little disinclined to allow adult fiction/YA fiction - I'm not sure why.

I have no idea how to add one of those vote tally thingies, but what does everyone else think? Should adult fiction/YA fiction count?

Addendum to msg #103...

My that was quick, Madeline! Thanks!

You're welcome!

This is how to do that vote "thingie". Copy what I have below, but take out all the spaces between the characters and words.

& l t ; vote & g t ; Put your question here! & l t ; / vote & g t ;

Now you try it! :)

Dejah, it will be interesting to see how people vote on that one. To me, there is no clear line between adult and YA books--I was surprised to see that even To Kill a Mockingbird has a lot of YA tags.

But then again, with some books the distinction is very obvious... I don't know, I voted yes because I often find the distinction quite clear, but I also think some people give everything a YA tag. I personally wouldn't call To Kill a Mockingbird YA; but The Scarlet Letter also gets YA tags, which I also don't find a YA book, and some people even rate that as a children's book, whereas I'd say it's not suitable for children.

Thing is, when I was young the YA genre basically didn't exist. You had children's books and then you had books for grown-ups. Sure, there were a couple of authors that wrote for older children, but not a whole lot. My library had a single bookcase of 'teen' books, which I had finished by the time I was 10 and then I moved on to adult books, just because there was nothing else...

ETA - Maybe people also rate books YA if the language is relatively easy, or if they read it in school themselves. I don't think 'easy' language necessarily makes a book YA, but I can see how that would lead people to put To Kill a Mocking Bird up as YA, also because it is often read by high school students...

>106 SqueakyChu: Very cool, Madeline, thank you! So as not to clutter up the TIOLI thread, I'll go practice on my own.

>107 streamsong: I find the line between YA and adult a little nebulous, too. Much of the more recently published stuff is clearly YA and intended for a different audience than adults, although obviously many adults indulge in YA novels. It's some of the older works that were written for adults but get put in YA sections of libraries that bemuse me sometimes.

So far, though, the vote seems to favor them as two distinct styles - we'll see what happens. I'll go along with the majority.

ETA: I cross posted with you Britt. You are far more eloquent this morning than I am!

>110 Samantha_kathy: Oh thank you! That gives me a place to put the last book I was looking to fit in - Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor.

well, I was looking at the books I chose for TIOLI in March and am already deleting books because I know that I cannot read 25 books in March especially since I'll be traveling one of those weeks and Easter is at the end of the month. Wow, delete before the month even starts , is that a new record?

Arguably, Charles Dickens did write historical fiction - many of his novels were set at a time well before the date when he wrote them.

110. Thank you! I was beginning to think this would be a very meager TIOLI month for me as I couldn't seem to fit more than one or two of my reads into the challenges. But your challenge is perfect for me. I can fit at least three (maybe more) book in there. Now, if I manage to read them all, that is another issue...

113. A Tale of Two Cities would definitely count as historical fiction as it's set around the time of the French Revolution and Dickens wasn't born until 1812.

Note that Zane Grey is known for westerns but also wrote baseball stories so that should count!!

> 112

Wow, delete before the month even starts , is that a new record?

Yes.

:D

Hurrah! A place to stick all the new HF books I get! The downside to being part of a circle of people who read and some of whom write historical fiction is that I get a lot of books, many by authors I haven't tried before, and I hear of even more books, so I'm tossing 'em all in and we'll see how many I get to!

Two books that I won't finish today that I will want/need to read next month that I can't find homes for:

The thursday night men by tonino Benacquista
The Deadly Sisterhood by Leonie Frieda

Any suggestions, anyone??

Sadly, it's non-fiction, SK... (group biography)

One more: Capital Punishment by Robert Wilson (mystery/suspense)
Can't see where to fit that. Sigh.

Ha! it turns out that Tonino Benacquista is a screenwriter and writes comics as well as novels.
Robert Wilson writes WW2 spy novels and contemporary mystery/thrillers, but I'm not sure that's enough of a distinction (genres).
Leonie Frieda is only biography.

I don't think I ever got an answer to the book bag sitting on the floor question, but no problem. I'd heard Tenth of December was a fantastic book, then I found that George Saunders has also written essays and children's stories besides his short stories, so into Challenge #21 it goes. Why do all the books I request from the library come in at the same time?

>>#122 Suz, a pit is a gap that allows fluid exchange in plant cell walls (she said, dragging up memories of BIOL 101), so it would fit #2.

>102 streamsong: Indeed he does! I want to read Edenville Owls which I got for Christmas

The Cole and Hitch stories are great also. I have only read the first two but I don't feel like the third right now. And if I did I could pop it into the Series challenge.

> YA vs Adult Crime Fiction - In the case of Robert B. Parker, after years of writing Spenser, Sunny Randall and Jesse Stone, Parker wrote Edenville Owls specifically for the 'younger reader'. I am ok one way or the other. I probably won't get to it in March anyway and maybe it will fit nicely into an April Challenge

>23 raidergirl3: ? Irish meaning born in Ireland or, like Anne McCaffrey who was American Born but lived in Ireland from the 1970's until she died a couple of years ago.

My planned reads for March include the following:
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
The Zimmermann Telegram by Barbara W. Tuchman and
A Very Long Engagement by Sébastien Japrisot

I haven't found any TIOLI challenges to put these into.
Any ideas?

Paws, I think Sébastien is probably pronounced with 4 syllables so you could put it in challenge 19.

Lyz, I bow in awe before your botanical knowledge!

And yes, I think Sebastian is 4 syllables -- Seb-as-ti-an -- and I plan to include Mr. Faulks' latest opus in that challenge, Paws...

>129 ccookie: It's in honour of St Patrick's Day, so I'd say okay, if she has been associated with Ireland for a long time.

If anyone wants to read a thriller for the genre challenge, Alex Berenson writes spy thrillers and his day job is as a financial journalist.

ETA: I took my young friend Theo to the library today, and pointed to the bottom row of the new books shelf (fiction), and asked him to count along and take out book #7 (for challenge #17). It turned out to be Elders by Ryan McILvain. Good for his counting... *grin*

Yes, M. Japrisot's name in French would be three syllables, not the four it would get in English.

If I can be very naughty and hijack the thread for a moment---

The thread is up for the group read of Dr Thorne - here. If you are going to be participating or lurking, please drop by and say "Hi!"

(We now return to our regularly scheduled obsessive-compulsive behaviour.)

The book we're reading with my real-life reading group this month (Kikkers, by Mo Yan) was actually seventh on my bottom shelf :) So, that takes care of challenge 17 :)

Thanks for the help, everyone!

I know Sébastien is pronounced with three syllables so wouldn't work for #19, but special thanks to Samantha_kathy for pointing me towards #21.

Regarding Mr. Faulks - Sebastian is always pronounced with four syllables in Swedish but I've mostly heard it pronounced with three in English (Se-bas-tian). But if Suz is putting him in #19 I will too (if it's okay with Kerri).

#139 - I'm fine with that!

So, for what is hopefully my last unwaged month for a while, here's my TIOLI plan (sticking to my rules - no new books!). Mixed up some of my picks and some good matching choices that are taking books off my shelves that seem slightly dusty ...

Challenge 1: Read a book which has at least one character whose first name starts with the 2 letter combination 'Jo'
Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks (Matching Choice)

Challenge 3: Read a book from The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Ultimate Reading List
Neuromancer by William Gibson (Matching Choice)

Challenge 4: Read a book in a series you've already started
Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey
A Clash of Kings by George R R Martin

Challenge 7: Where I Come From - Read a book set where the person above you has lived
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (Matching Choice)

Challenge 17: Read the 7th book along a bottom shelf (anywhere)
Wonderful Life by Stephen Jay Gould

Challenge 18: Read a book which is included in the World Book Night giveaways
The Book Thief by Mark Zusak (Matching Choice)

Not entirely sure I'm going to manage the whole of Les Mis in a month but I've been meaning to read it for ages so this is a proper incentive!

Okay, my TIOLI plans for March are as follows:

Challenge #1. Read a book which has at least one character whose first name starts with the two-letter combination "Jo".
A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin (characters Jon Snow and Joffrey Baratheon among others)

Challenges #8. Read a book with "all" or "nothing" in the title.
All's Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Fall of Giants by Ken Follett

Challenges #18. Read a book which is included in the World Book Night giveaways (in any participating country).
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain

Challenge #19. Read a book by an author with a given name of four or more syllables.
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks

Challenge #21. Read a work by an author who has written in two or more styles or genres.
A Very Long Engagement by Sébastien Japrisot

I was going to put Fall of Giants into challenge #22 (historical novels) but Suz had put it into #7 so I did the same - shared read points! (If I manage to read and finish it.)

I have downscaled my challenges this month, as I just overdid in February...most of my TIOLI's I did not read...

Challenge #3: Read a book from the book The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Ultimate Reading List
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (ROOT)

Challenge #4: Read a book in a series that you have already started
Black Hearts in Battersea (Sequel to Wolves of Willoughby Chase) by Joan Aiken (ROOT)

Challenge #8: Read a book with "all" or "nothing" in the title
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (ROOT)

I am active in other challenges as well, so my reading slate is full:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/148588#3848285

> 102
I'm a little slow on the uptake but I just realized what you meant by your post. I can read any book by Parker because he has written detective crime fiction and westerns.

Thanks

March Reading List:
1. Challenge #1 - Read a book which has at least one character whose first name starts with the two-letter combination "Jo" - Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir (John Dudley)

2. Challenge #14. Read a book about girls/women in a culture different from yours - Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi

3. Challenge #3. Read a book from the book The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Ultimate Reading List - The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir

4. Challenge #18: Read a book that is being given away on World Book Night this year, or has been on a giveaway list in a previous year - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

5. Challenge #13: Read a book with "lion" or "lamb" in the title - Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

6. Challenge #17. Read the 7th book along on a bottom shelf - The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Samantha_Kathy, a couple of us are reading Dissolution for the World Book Night Challenge at #18, if you wanted to add a book to that challenge? No pressure, though!

I think I may have overdone it, but I've signed myself up for these challenges:

#1
Job: A Comedy of Justice
The Round House

#2
Approaching the Hunger Games Trilogy (author has "thorn" in his name)

#3
The Eye of the World
The Gilded Chamber: A Novel of Queen Esther

#17
Gertrude and Claudius

#18
Me Talk Pretty One Day

Note: earlier I had the last two books under challenge #17, which was erroneous. Sedaris belongs in #18; it's correct on the wiki :)

What a wonderful list of reading challenges for March. It was hard for me to choose! Here is what I plan to read:
Ch. #2: Name of a plant part in title or author's name - Dr. Thorne by Anthony Trollope (thorn). This is also in conjunction with Liz's Group Read.

Ch. #3: From the Complete Idiot's Guide to the Ultimate Reading List (I LOVE this list) - Son of the Morning Star by Evan S. Connell. I have been wanting to read my illustrated edition for many years. This is the month I'll learn more about Custer.

Ch. #4: Read from a continuing series (this challenge melds nicely with the Mystery March group) -
Out of the Deep I Cry by Julia Spencer-Fleming and
A Letter of Mary by Laurie R. King.

Ch. #10: Read a book set in Ireland or by an Irish author -
The Giant O'Brien by Hilary Mantel *Shared Read
Transatlantic by Colum McCann (if I receive this ER book in time). *Shared Read.

Ch. #11: Read a book because you like its title! - The Big Rock Candy Mountain by Wallace Stegner (I'm also reading this with Mark's Group Read).

Ch. #12: From Darryl's Black History Month Tribute - How to Read the Air by Dinaw Mengestu.

Ch. #21: Author has written in at least two genres -
Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope (It helps that I am nearly halfway through this big boy!)
Homer & Langley by E. L. Doctorow (reading this one for my F2F book group as well.)

Wish me luck!

Those of you that have been around for a the past year will note that instead of me saying this is my PLANNED reading list, I am now saying this is my POTENTIAL reading list. I won’t feel like such a failure at the end of the month when I say “WOW, I managed to complete 6 out of a potential 18 reads” instead of “DAMN, I only managed to complete 6 out of 18 planned reads”!! I will choose books from this list as the month moves along. I will only enter ones on the wiki that I am actually reading. Take a look and if you would like to 'match' one of these books then I will make it a priority.

Challenge # 1 - Read a book which has at least one character whose first name starts with the two-letter combination "Jo"
✔ Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss (Jo-Jo Who)
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (Joelle van Dyne)
✔ Life by Keith Richards (Jo Jones, Jo Wood, Joe B. Maudlin, Joe Seabrook, Joe Sorena, Joe Walsh, Joey Page, Joey Spampinato, John Belushi, John Lee Hooker, John Lennon, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, John Michell, John Phillips, John Porter,Johnnie Johnson, Johnnie Taylor, Johnny Depp, Johnny Gunnell, Joseph "Zigaboo" Modeliste, Josephine Baker,)
Ten Big Ones by Janet Evanovich (Joe Morelli)

Challenge # 2 - Read a book that has the name of part of a plant in its title or author
Mistress Shakespeare by Karen Harper (spear eg. Asparagus spear is the stem)

Challenge # 3 - Read a book from the book The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Ultimate Reading List
Hit Man by Lawrence Block
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
Sins of the Fathers by Lawrence Block

Challenge # 4 - Read a book in a series that you have already started
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling

Challenge # 7 - Read a book that is at least partly set where the person above you has lived before
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (shared read)

Challenge # 10 - Read a book set in Ireland, or by an Irish author
Get off the Unicorn by Anne McCaffrey (American but lived in Ireland from 1970 until her death in 2011)

Challenge # 11 - Read a book because you like its title
Cat Striking Back by Shirley Rosseau Murphy

Challenge # 16 - Read a book whose cover primarily features Easter Colors
✔ Catalyst by Anne McCaffrey – Robin’s egg blue

Challenge # 17 - Read the 7th book along on a bottom shelf (anywhere)
✔ Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
✔ The Cat's Pajamas by Ida Chittum
✔My Christmas Treasury by Gale Wiersum

Challenge # 18 - Read a book which is included in the World Book Night giveaways (in any participating country)
✔ Beloved by Toni Morrison

Challenge # 19 - Read a book by an author with a given name of four or more syllables
A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George

Challenge # 21 - Read a work by an author who has written in two or more styles or genres
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (thriller / humour)
✔ Bang the Drum Slowly by Mark Harris (fiction / journalism / screenplay)
Palindrome by Stuart Woods (fiction / non-fiction)
Sandman:The Doll's House by Neil Gaiman (horror/ graphic novel / children’s literature)
Second Wind by Dick Francis (Biography / Autobiography / crime fiction)
The Tenth Chamber by Glenn Cooper (sreenplays / thriller)
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay (fantasy / poetry)
Visions of Sugarplums by Janet Evanovich (romance / mystery)

Challenge #22 - Read a historical novel by a new-to-you author
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
✔ To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
✔ The Queen's Witch by Karen Harper
Yseult: A Tale of Love in the Age of King Arthur by Ruth Nestvold

*passed out looking at ccookie's POTENTIAL reads*

I started out with a list like that and realized I was kidding myself. So I took off a few to make my list my realistic. I really try to read all the books that I list for the month.

Okay, I feel so much better now. Although I have managed to read everything on my list each month so far, there's always a moment when I panic and think "I can't possibly read them all." And then I cram like I'm back in school. I do finally snap out of it because this is supposed to be FUN. But I do have my days. Thank you all for sharing your overexpectations of yourselves. Now I know I'm not the only one and that it's OKAY to take a step back.

I know I haven't a hope in hell of reading all these. Just thought I would see if anyone else wanted to join me on any of them. That would help me to make my final decision.

> 152

*passed out looking at ccookie's POTENTIAL reads*

LOL!

It would take me a year to consider as many POTENTIAL reads as ccookie has for one month! That's like...my whole library! ;)

To make others feel better...
Since the beginning of the year, I've COMPLETED a grand total of (...are you ready for this?!) ... five books. :D

Think I'll hit 75 by year's end? I seriously doubt it!

Oh, thank you for that SqueakyChu. No more chastising myself!

I've sort of changed my approach to simply adding most books to the wiki when I have actually read them... I know, less chances of shared reads, but really, if I make a list of books I want to read at the beginning of the month I usually end up with a list like ccookie's, and then I just end up deleting everything again :P

Umm... so... ccookie: Infinite Jest?! I'd totally read it with you if I thought I had a chance in hades of finishing it in a year, much less one month! That's going to be a year-long project for me some day :)

Yeah, I'm kinda scared of Infinite Jest.

Here is my initial March list...I have a chaperone/vacation trip planned with one of my kids, so I am hoping to get some extra reading in!

Challenge 3. Read a book from the book The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Ultimate Reading List

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett -- I recently downloaded it on my Nook and will be re-reading State of Wonder for my April book club, so this seemed perfect timing to put it on the to-read list! And it's a matched read too!

Challenge 4. Read a book in a series that you have already started

Gathering Blue in The Giver Series

Challenge 21. Read a work by an author who has written in two or more styles or genres

Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall -- could be my first matched read ever! I gave this book to my hubby ages ago and he never read it. It is just sitting on our bookshelf, and I think this is a great opportunity to read it!

NW by Zadie Smith just came up on my hold list at the library, so I really hope I can get to it soon!

Challenge 19. Read a book by an author with a given name of four or more syllables

Since I am still listening to Crossing the Borders of Time that I started last month, I was pretty jazzed when I realized that the author's given name has four syllables ... Leslie Maitland

Challenge 22. Read a historical novel by a new-to-you author

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey is about homesteading in Alaska in the 1920s. I started it last night, and think I might just devour it!

Okay, I should stop here... I have several more on my bookshelf, but 6 has been my lucky number the past two months!

Since I saw so many LTer's planning to read Dissolution this month, I added it to my TIOLI list, which is small in comparison to others but here goes:

Challenge # 1 - Read a book which has at least one character whose first name starts with the two-letter combination "Jo"
Lord of the Flies
Skeleton Man

Challenge #14 - Read a book about girls/women in a culture different from yours
Across Many Mountains

Challenge # 18 - Challenge # 18 - Read a book which is included in the World Book Night giveaways (in any participating country)
Dissolution

Challenge #20. Read a book with a form of the verb 'to be' in the title
My Name is Red

Challenge #21. Read a work by an author who has written in two or more styles or genres
Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall

Six books is about three too many, but it's a long month and some books look short.............and I've got my fingers crossed.

I shan't even bother to post my 'potential' list here as I know I'll only get to about 2/3, at best, However, I will try to post as many as possible so that I can prioritize those that others might want to join me in reading. For instance, I might not have posted Dissolution, as there is no urgency in my reading it and there are other books I can read for that challenge. But it seems to have sparked some interest among others, so that moves up the priority list. Also, when I put them on the Wiki, I have a short list of all the possibilities just to hand when I finish one and am looking to see what else might pique my curiosity.

Well here are my potentials:

Challenge #1: Read a book which has at least one character whose first name starts with the two-letter combination "Jo"
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (Josh) - Ben Fountain - COMPLETED
Gulag: A History (Joseph Stalin) – Anne Applebaum

Challenge #2: Read a book that has a part of a plant in its title or author name
Dr. Thorne – Anthony Trollope

Challenge #4: Catchup Challenge: Read a book in a series that you have already started
The Acceptance World – (A Dance to the Music of Time) – Anthony Powell

Challenge #5: Read a book combining health care and finances
So Much for That Lionel Shriver

Challenge #9: Read a book with a plant or plants on the cover
Jane and Prudence – Barbara Pym

Challenge #16: Read a book whose cover primarily features Easter Colors
The Collector – John Fowles

> 159

I sure won't get it done in one month!!

My son is practically begging me to read Infinite Jest. He loves it!

I have been trying to read it since April 2012 and I am still only at the end of chapter 1. It scares me to death it is so long.

Maybe someone would take on a tutored read for us. Any Infinite Jest lovers out there who could help us. I know there are tons of threads on LT but when I have checked them out, they overwhelm me!!

Maybe I could get my son to lead a tutored read for us. LOL

Every month I have far to many 'possibles' to list here or the thread - or to add to the wiki. I now add only a few to the wiki to start and then add others as my reading whim directs. I keep trying to both increase the number of Challenges I complete (I'm aiming for 10 each month) and the number of shared reads each month (I'm trying for 25% of my total books read). I hit my goals for February - we'll see how many more months I manage!

>103 Dejah_Thoris:-104

The vote for whether or not writer's YA and Adult fiction, same genre, should count for Challenge #21 stands slighty in favor of YES - allow it. I think I'll wait and make the decision Sunday morning based on the majority of votes.

>130 PawsforThought:
PawsforThought - Barbara Tuchman has a book of essays published called Practicing History. Essay writing of that sort strikes me as being quite different from full length works of history, so I'm ok with you adding The Zimmerman Telegram to Challenge #21.

> 152
Madeline,

you will note that although I have read 18 books to the end of Feb:
7 are children's picture books
2 are graphic novels (compilation volumes of comic books actually)
6 are audio books that I listen to in the car and while doing housework

so I really have only actually sat down and read 3 books
one 224 pages
one 288 pages
and one 208 pages.

So don't feel like I am waaaay out in front!

> 167

:)

Madeline - I hope all the threads you're hosting aren't responsible for cutting (too badly) into your reading time.

Since I read mainly fantasy, and some YA, I'm in the minority even on LT (though not quite as badly as in RL), so I don't have many shared reads. (Though last month, I had two! And a book read for my December challenge garnered - someone else - an award! So I'm quite chuffed.) Plus I don't plan my reads. I look at what I've got, and then pick something I'm in the mood for (which has the advantage that I don't have to trawl through the wiki at the end of the month to remove planned reads that I didn't finish. I'm not that organised.)

I'll see what books I've got out from the library, though, and list them, if it will help with shared reads. *wanders off to find books* ...

> 169

Well, I do seem to be spending more time online than in books these days. I'm not sure it's just the threads I'm hosting. I just seem to have less time for everything.

I did read one book at the beginning of the year that was 650+ pages.

My tutored read is going very slowly as I don't like the current book I'm reading as much as my previous tutored reads. I need to get back to the Gothic novels and skip the "early crime" novels.

>159 Esquiress: Es, I'm with you. I own Infinite Jest and I haven't yet figured out which year I want to dedicate to reading it.

>170 SqueakyChu:: Oh dear :0)

My library books (which are ones that I have to read), if anyone wants to try for a shared read:

Fire by Kristin Cashore
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
*The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie (already down for a group read)
The Godstalker Chronicles by P.C. Hodgell
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Fledgling by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
*Yendi and Taltos by Steven Brust (from The Book of Jhereg) (potential shared book) ETA: challenge 21

>172 humouress:
I read Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book last year for Halloween. Absolutely loved it. So creative!

166. Great! I have all my planned reads (and some possible reads) in TIOLIs! Woohoo!

I don't know if I've signed up for more than I can manage in a month or not -- probably. I'm afraid to count them. I do, however, have spring break later in the month which will mainly be spent reading since I'll be at my brother's house, and he lacks high speed Internet. I have, however, kept some data entry for my genealogy database to do that week. It's also the month that I will spend quite a few hours on another project. I've tried to keep most of my reading for the month "light" so that I will feel that I've accomplished something, and I've got an audio book downloaded to start Monday going to and from work! That should help with numbers too.

>173 ccookie:: I picked it up because of all the LT recommendations; I seem to be a little behind.

The planned reads (going to definitely, probably, sort of commit to) --group reads from this month or last and library books

1. Read a book which has at least one character whose first name starts with the two-letter combination "Jo"
--Ghost Map by Steven Johnson
--Justinian's Flea (Pope John II) by William Rosen (Pope John II)

5. Read a book combining health care and finances
--State of Wonder - Anne Patchett online group read

9. Read a book with a plant or plants on the cover
--Vicious: Wolves and Men in America - Jon T. Coleman

11: Read a book because you like its title
--Wild Women: Crusaders, Curmudgeons, and Completely Corsetless Ladies in the Otherwise Virtuous Victorian Era - Autumn Stevens (Women's History Month Read and ROOTS challenge)-- Reading
--Adventures of a One-Breasted Woman: Reclaiming My Moxie After Cancer by Susan Cummings - (Women's History Month- LTER-this one has been on my TIOLI wiki before!) - Reading

21. Read a work by an author who has written in two or more styles or genres
✔--Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Le Guin - Feb group read --COMPLETED
✔--Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter --this one I have been working on for a while! (Jan/Feb online read)
✔--Jhereg by Steven Brust Feb group read (novels/short stories)

25.Read a book whose initial letters can be rearranged into any word which includes the letter O
Shifted Team of Rivals to this challenge since I had several in challenge 1-- Reading

Still homeless: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (Feb book club read) --need Rome or Italy to be available??

--found a home for Ghost Map in Challenge 1, thanks to Karen0 (group read/shared read)
--Added to challenge 21 on suggestion of Dejah_Thoris: Jhereg by Steven Brust--Anyone? although, like humouress I may also read Yendi and Taltos (from The Book of Jhereg)

and I dearly want to throw a few mysteries and some more women's history into the month... but those I won't add to the wiki quite yet.

I can help you with Taltos - Steven Brust writes short stories in addition to novels, so it fits into Challenge #21. In fact, I added it and Yendi a little while ago....

Thanks, Dejah. I'll add Jhereg there and hope to get to the others!

Way too many books this month--but a lot of them were started last month.

ETA: Your challenge is very useful and becoming my favorite!

@ccookie, I'd like to read with you for Challenge # 16

Read a book whose cover primarily features Easter Colors
Catalyst by Anne McCaffrey – Robin’s egg blue

I just have to FIND a copy...the public library doesn't have it...mutter, mutter...

Just wanted to apologize for adding my books not in the alphabetical order they are supposed to be. Major oops on my part, but everything should be fixed now :)

>181 Esquiress: When I first started doing TIOLI I did that for months... And then I first thought that others had some sort of wiki-trick that did it automatically and that I was too stupid to figure out... Or maybe that is the case and I just still haven't figured out how to use the trick :P Either way, it took me a while, but I do the alphabetical order now :)

>182 Britt84:: Oh good, I'm not the only one who didn't do alpha at first :) I'm glad I'm not alone, Britt!

> 181-183

Heh! That "wiki-trick" is simply others alphabetizing the books that are out of order. :)

Challenge #23 - Read a book from my yearly retrospective posts 1970-79.

Visitors to my thread would know that I have been posting a yearly retrospective from 1959 onwards on pretty much a daily basis recently.
In it I list down a selection of the music, films, events and, of course, books from the year in question.

My challenge this month is to read a book from the books listed in my yearly retrospectives for 1970-1979. I will provide a full list of the 100 books tomorrow but for now 1970 to 1979 can be found on my 10th and 11th threads:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/149959
http://www.librarything.com/topic/150344

184. Also known as the "cut and paste"-trick.

177: Streamsong, I just put The Ghost Map in challenge 1: a major character in the history is Dr. John Snow. Ta-da!

Karen O.

>184 SqueakyChu:&186 - such advanced tricks! :)

>185 PaulCranswick: - Can we also just listen to the music? *runs off to put on Tea for the Tillerman*

Yay! Thank you, Karen.

Challenge #24: Read a book about a natural disaster or a book that contains a natural disaster that really happened

It can be a work of fiction that includes a real disaster such as the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. It can also be a non-fiction work.

Britt - No problem at all; I've been doing pretty much that myself for the last month!

>Ooo, Fuzzi
I will move it closer to the top of the TBR pile

> Fuzzi, I added my Catalyst cover to the thread for Challenge 16. When you get it you might have the other one!

Hi Paul - do you have a dedicated tag for the books in your retrospective lists? If you do that's an easy way for us to see what they are and which ones are already in our libraries/wishlists... just a suggestion!

#190 Are you talking about a book that involves an "act of God" disaster? I'll be getting a book about the Station Night Club Fire. Certainly a disaster but not a natural one.

Could you clarify? Thanks.

Challenge #13: Read a book with "lion" or "lamb" in the title - Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

I went into this warily because My Fair Lady has been a favorite movie. The preface sets the tone for the sharp commentary on Britain's class system. The play itself will be very familiar to anyone who has seen My Fair Lady. What wasn't familiar was the ending and here's where I found the most delight. My Fair Lady would have been a very different and much more interesting movie had it ended the way Shaw wanted.

I think I've read Pygmalion, as I recall the non-Hollywood ending.

Question: who decides how many points are awarded for each challenge?

Pygmalion was one of the books I read in high school. One of the few I enjoyed reading at school actually. Maybe it's time I read it again.

>198 fuzzi:

Hi fuzzi - Points are accrued by shared reads. For example in your Challenge this month you have two sets of two readers each who are reading the same works - The Lion Sleeps Tonight and Pygmalion. Each pair is worth a point to your Challenge and the TIOLI Challenges for the month overall. If a third person joins in on Pygmalion, another point would accrue. It's helpful if everyone marks thier shared reads with an *, to make them easier to identify.

I'm sure Madeline can explain it better, but I think that's the basic idea - rewards for shared reads!

And fuzzi, you don't have to worry about the points. As the creator of this whole thing, Madeline looks after all of that and she is also the one who comes up with the very creative monthly awards that she gives out. Lots of fun!

Re "shared reads" and TIOLI points:

This FAQSs page should also explain them.

Challenge #25: O Scramble - read a book whose initial letters can be rearranged into any word which includes the letter O

Leading articles can be excluded or included

for example

(The) Last of the Vostyachs (Volt)- Diego Marani
The Library of Shadows (Slot) - Mikkel Birkegaard