Take It or Leave It Challenge - March 2013 - Page 2

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!

-----------------------------------

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

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

Save the rest of your challenges for the month of April. Thank you!

LOL, calm your challenge is so very clever. Unfortunately, I already have more than I can handle this month or I would have played along with this one.

So many challenges; so many books; so little reading time.

Note to self : Yendi & Taltos - challenge 21.

Thanks, calm and klobrien2. I just learned what a "stoa" is. :)

LOL - me, too!

Thank you that was a very nice comment Linda. I was just looking at my library books (one of which fitted into another challenge) and noticed that they both would fit my challenge. Then I looked at Morphy's helpful wiki and realised that the someone else had already done it so I added the O criteria as a twist:)

LOL - I think there enough classicists around who wouldn't have needed to google that one:)

> 7

I think there enough classicists around who wouldn't have needed to google that one

Well, I wasn't one of them!

I finished and REVIEWED Ben Fountain's National Book Critic's Circle winner Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk. That was for the Challenge to read a book with a main character whose name starts with Jo.

Now I'm reading Anthony Trollope's Dr. Thorne. for the challenge to read a book with a plant part in the title.

I'm sure I must have something I can add to the March reading list that fits Paul's retrospective challenge... Did we ever get a list we can just look at, or should we go back to his threads?

ETA: Found one! The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test was on his 1971 list :)

I liked this title: Antigua, penny, puce, so I red it.

5 and 6: I know! I made sure that I was remembering correctly from my Ancient Civilization classes before I put "stoa" out there. I knew my college education would come in handy someday!

Karen O.

p.s. thanks to whoever attached the link for "stoa"--another way in which TIOLI educates us!

> 12

thanks to whoever attached the link for "stoa"--another way in which TIOLI educates us!

I did that because I thought that others would also want to know what stoa means! :)

Es - I did promise a list by yesterday, thousand apologies to all. Here is the list for challenge 23:

1 Troubles J.G. Farrell 1970
2 Fifth Business Robertson Davies 1970
3 I'm the King of the Castle Susan Hill 1970
4 The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison 1970
5 The Bay of Noon Shirley Hazzard 1970
6 The Vivisector Patrick White 1970
7 The Female Eunuch Germaine Greer 1970
8 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Dee Brown 1970
9 84, Charing Cross Road Helene Hanff 1970
10 Mr. Sammler's Planet Saul Bellow 1970
11 The Book of Daniel E.L. Doctorow 1971
12 Rabbit Redux John Updike 1971
13 The Day of the Jackal Frederick Forsyth 1971
14 Love in the Ruins Walker Percy 1971
15 Being There Jerzy Kosinski 1971
16 The Drifters James Michener 1971
17 In a Free State V.S. Naipaul 1971
18 August 1914 Alexander Solzenitsyn 1971
19 The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Tom Wolfe 1971
20 Angle of Repose Wallace Stegner 1971
21 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Hunter S. Thompson 1972
22 Catholics Brian Moore 1972
23 My Name is Asher Lev Chaim Potok 1972
24 The Manticore Robertson Davies 1972
25 To Serve Them All My Days R.F. Delderfield 1972
26 Geronimo Rex Barry Hannah 1972
27 G John Berger 1972
28 The Friends of Eddie Coyle George V. Higgins 1972
29 Invisible Cities Italo Calvino 1972
30 Chimera John Barth 1972
31 Gravity's Rainbow Thomas Pynchon 1973
32 The Honorary Consul Graham Greene 1973
33 Rubyfruit Jungle Rita Mae Brown 1973
34 Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Robert M Pirsig 1973
35 The Black Prince Iris Murdoch 1973
36 The Eye of the Storm Patrick White 1973
37 The Siege of Krishnapur J.G. Farrell 1973
38 Das Boot Lothar-Gunther Buchheim 1973
39 The Gulag Archipelago Alexander Solzenitsyn 1973
40 Small is Beautiful E.F. Schumacher 1973
41 Dog Soldiers Robert Stone 1974
42 All the President's Men Bob Woodward 1974
43 The Conservationist Nadine Gordimer 1974
44 Something Happened Joseph Heller 1974
45 History : A Novel Elsa Morante 1974
46 The Lost Honour of Katherina Blum Heinrich Boll 1974
47 If Beale Street Could Talk James Baldwin 1974
48 Centennial James Michener 1974
49 The Killer Angels Michael Shaara 1974
50 Monsieur Lawrence Durrell 1974
51 W Or the Memoy of Childhood Georges Perec 1975
52 The Great War and Modern Memory Paul Fussell 1975
53 Fateless Imre Kertesz 1975
54 Autumn of the Patriarch Gabriel Garcia Marquez 1975
55 The Fight Norman Mailer 1975
56 Ragtime E.L. Doctorow 1975
57 The Periodic Table Primo Levi 1975
58 Terra Nostra Carlos Fuentes 1975
59 The Leavetaking John McGahern 1975
60 Docherty William McIlvanney 1975
61 Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? Raymond Carver 1976
62 Roots Arthur Haley 1976
63 Almost Transparent Blue Ryu Murakami 1976
64 Saville David Storey 1976
65 An Instant in the Wind Andre Brink 1976
66 The Easter Parade Richard Yates 1976
67 The Sins of the Father Lawrence Block 1976
68 The Spectator Bird Wallace Stegner 1976
69 Geography III Elizabeth Bishop 1976
70 The Children Of Dynmouth William Trevor 1976
71 Injury Time Beryl Bainbridge 1977
72 In the Heart of the Country J.M. Coetzee 1977
73 Staying On Paul Scott 1977
74 A Time of Gifts Patrick Leigh Fermor 1977
75 Song of Solomon Toni Morrison 1977
76 Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter Mario Vargas Llosa 1977
77 In Patagonia Bruce Chatwin 1977
78 Falconer John Cheever 1977
79 Great Granny Webster Caroline Blackwood 1977
80 Petals of Blood Ngugi wa Thiong'o 1977
81 Rumours of Rain Andre Brink 1978
82 The Human Factor Graham Greene 1978
83 The Far Pavilions MM Kaye 1978
84 Birdy William Wharton 1978
85 The World According to Garp John Irving 1978
86 The Sea, The Sea Iris Murdoch 1978
87 God on the Rocks Jane Gardam 1978
88 Life: A Users Manual Georges Perec 1978
89 The Book of Laughter and Forgetting Milan Kundera 1978
90 Orientalism Edward W Said 1978
91 Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams 1979
92 Offshore Penelope Fitzgerald 1979
93 The Year of the French Thomas Flanagan 1979
94 The Executioner's Song Norman Mailer 1979
95 Sophie's Choice William Styron 1979
96 Jailbird Kurt Vonnegut 1979
97 The Ghost Writer Philip Roth 1979
98 The Old Patagonian Express Paul Theroux 1979
99 If on a winter's night a traveler Italo Calvino 1979
100 The Right Stuff Tom Wolfe 1979

Oooh thanks Paul

I have some others but the ones I'm sure I can find from your list are

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Birdy - on Kindle
God on the Rocks and The Conservationist

I think I'll probably read God on the Rocks - I'd also really like to read Offshore if I can find it.

Thanks for that summary list, Paul.

#15 Offshore is very short - if that is an incentive for anyone!

I only have three of those on my TBR pile: Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee, A Time of Gifts and In Patagonia - all non-fiction, as it happens. I don't know if I'll get to any of them in March though, it will be a very busy month and I may not have much time for reading at all.

there's a group read of Wounded knee later this year.

Oh good, I'll look out for that.

Greetings all!

There was some debate as to whether or not YA and adult in the same genre by the same author should count toward Challenge #21, so a vote was held back on thread #1 (see messages 103-104). By a slim majority, TIOLI participants have decreed that YA and adult styles are sufficiently different that they count for this Challenge. So, if you've got anything to add, go for it!

I'm tempted to re-read A Time of Gifts, or possibly the Gardam book, from Paul's list. Although I already have two of Gardam's novels sitting here unread...

One of the books I still needed a TIOLI home for was Justinian's Flea. Yay! It fits into challenge 1, as Emperor Justinian was in conflict with Pope John II.

ETA: I moved Team of Rivals from challenge 1 to challenge 25 in order to 'spread out the love' a bit since JF meant I had 3 titles in challenge 1.

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

I admit that I avoided this book (and the movie) because it was so popular. Until a friend gave me her copy and I thought, "Okay, what the heck?" I am so glad I read it. The Help is entertaining, well written and good. There were times I wanted to sob with anger and pain over the treatment black people got before the Civil Rights Act. I knew it was bad, but separate toilet bad? I couldn't even imagine. The characters in this book resonated deeply with me and I shared their pains and joys right along with them. It's going to take some time for my new thoughts about toilets and chocolate pie to recede.

AuntieClio, it still is bad:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/07/opinion/coates-the-good-racist-people.html?par...;
A friend of mine commented today in response to this that his experience of growing up black in America was that he was made to feel not at home in his own country. Not because of the kind of overt racism seen in that novel, but because of the subtle kind -- taxis not stopping, people crossing the road to avoid him, not being served in restaurants or coffee shops.

And these days it's also bad in other ways: since 9-11 many Arab-looking people are being treated very badly as well. People sometimes assume that just because laws have changed everything has been solved, but even though officially racism is now forbidden, it's still around. Like chatterbox mentions, people avoiding people who are of African or Arab descent, but also difficulties in getting a job, being searched by police, etc.

I also really liked 'The Help', it's a lovely novel. I haven't seen the movie, but I've heard it's not that good, so I'm not really planning on seeing it.

I loved the movie The Help and equally loved the book!

>25 ccookie: Hmmm... So maybe I should see it sometime after all :P

I read Puppet by Joy Fielding for Challenge # 21 (Read a book by an author who writes in more than one genre) and enjoyed it very, very much. Since I hardly ever enjoy mysteries and (mostly don't read best-selling authors), I'm wondering if challengers could suggest to me other books by this same authors I might also enjoy.

Should I start at her oldest books and read them in chronological order, or are there some that are much better than others? Does she only write stand-alone mysteries, or does she write series as well?

> 26
I am one who likes to see the movie first and then read the book because the book is ALWAYS better. If I read a book first, the movie never holds up.

My son likes it the other way around because he likes to use his imagination to visualize characters etc based on the authors description and when he sees the movie first that colours his perception.

I'd be interested to hear how you like it if you do watch the film

Chatterbox, I continue to be completely appalled at the treatment of people who are not "like me." And Ta-Nehisi Coates is one of my favorite writers.

Challenge #4. Read a book in a series that you have already started - A Perfect Blood by Kim Harrison - Harrison's The Hollow books are so much fun to read. Rachel Morgan really gets herself into a mess by cutting off her access to the ley lines and refusing to acknowledge her new role as day walking demon. People want to use her blood to turn witches into demons and start an all out genocidal war. I was a little disappointed not to learn more about the organization who captured Rachel to gain access to her blood and the shadow paramilitary organization working to capture them. Overall, this was standard Rachel Morgan fare but saying that doesn't do justice to Harrison's richly created universe or the good detective writing this basically boils down to.

Finished my first TIOLI for March ...The Snow Child. Set in Alaska in the 1920s, this retell of several fairytales brings home the isolation and beauty of that time and place.

Ooh, that sounds good! Maybe I'll join you for that--what challenge is it in?

Karen O.

p.s. I found it in challenge 22. I've got it reserved at the library, but I'm a ways down the list. If I get it in time, I'll join in.

I was going through the lists, looking for possible shared reads (since I'm terribly short of any this month). I found that Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward is listed twice, in #12 and #24. Both are excellent challenges, but if we picked one place we could get another point (right?) There are two readers in #12; should we merge there?

Karen O.

I finished and REVIEWED Anthony Trollope's Doctor Thorne. That was for the Challenge to read a book with a plant part in the title.

Now I'm reading Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales by Yoko Ogawa for the challenge to Read a work by an author who has written in two or more styles or genres.

Read and reviewed Catalyst for Challenge #16.

>32 klobrien2: I hope you get to The Snow Child, Katie!

#33 - Good catch, Karen! I'll move mine to challenge 12 when I am at a computer rather than on my iPad.

Added:

TIOLI #3 (Ultimate Reading List)
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

TIOLI #4 (already started series)
Seduction in Death by J. D. Robb

TIOLI #9 (plant on cover)
A Country Doctor's Casebook by Roger MacDonald

TIOLI #17 (7th book)
Voices of Dragons by Carrie Vaughn

TIOLI #21 (two genres/styles)
Castle of Deception
Winds of Change
Winds of Fury by Mercedes Lackey

The Winds of Change series is pretty good, although the last time I tried to read it, I lost interest quickly.

I have moods like that sometimes, ha! ;)

Okay, I moved Salvage the Bones from Challenge 24 to Challenge 12. And I really encourage Anne and Karen (and everyone!) to read it - I absolutely loved it!

Wow, I just finished the powerful narrative non-fiction book about cowboys and Indians in the old West, focusing on Custer's Last Stand, for Challenge #3. I can see why Son of the Morning Star made the Ultimate Reading List! I can't see why there were only ten reviews for it. My review is here.

I just read Light a Single Candle, and was hoping that I could apply it to one of TIOLI challenges, but I'm stumped.

Help?

>fuzzi
Did you like the title? Challenge #11

>42 fuzzi: It looks as though Beverly Butler wrote both contemporary/mainstream and historical fiction (YA), so you can add her to TIOLI #21 if you like.

Thank you, Morphy for your Challenge #3. I just had a five star read with Plainsong by Kent Haruf. That "Complete Idiot's Ultimate Reading List" sure knows it's stuff!

I finished and REVIEWED Yoko Ogawa's new and slightly disturbing short story collection Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales. That was for the challenge to read a work of an author who has written in two different genres.

Now I've moved onto Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym for the challenge to read a book with flowers on the cover.

Thanks @ccookie and @Dejah_Thoris!

>45 DeltaQueen50: DeltaQueen, yes, I've had pretty good luck with books from it as well.

Finished 2 yesterday!

>49 cyderry: Woohoo! March has been a great month for reading so far, hasn't it?

>50 Dejah_Thoris:: Not too shabby. The four I've read so far are Tortall and Other Lands by Tamora Pierce, Graceling by Kristin Cashore (LT recommended), The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie (group read for Mystery March) and The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (another LT recommendation).

Give us a sec and I'll (try and) fit them into challenges....

Challenge 21 (author in two or more genres) - * The Mysterious Affair at Styles (shared read)

Challenge 25 (title anagrams with O) - Tortall and Other Lands (alto) - which is the range I sing in, incidentally.
(Actually, the whole title is Tortall and Other Lands : A Collection of Tales, but I hope you're OK with this, calm?)

I'm thinking of Challenge 16 (Easter colours) for Graceling, if DeltaQueen thinks moss green qualifies; and Challenge 7 (places we've lived) for The Graveyard Book, if someone posts who's lived in London. And then I'm thinking of putting in Africa, provided it doesn't bring things to a screeching halt. Africa, anyone?

ETA:
>53 DeltaQueen50:: Challenge 16 (Easter colours) - Graceling

I added New Zealand landscapes by Andris Apse to the plnat challenge (scape). Quick read, very long view, faszinating pictures

#51 - I defiitely think the cover of Graceling fits Challenge #16. It's a great book - enjoy!

>53 DeltaQueen50:: Thank you!

People in challenge 9--Read a book with a plant on the cover

I wandered over to enjoy all the beautiful plants, and they aren't there. Did my wolf and winter-barren tree posted at the end of February scare everyone off? -- http://www.librarything.com/topic/150615

>55 streamsong: Too funny, Janet -- I just added another cover to prove you haven't run everyone off, although the cover you posted is a little stark!

Challenge #11. Read a book because you like its title - You Come Too by Robert Frost

There's a part of me which believes I'm somehow missing out if I haven't read most of some "canon" and don't enjoy a lot of poetry. This part of me thinks that the more I expose myself to these things, the better rounded I'll be. That's all true enough, as far as it goes.

But somehow, there's this expectation that I should like everything I read from these supposed canons. And the plain truth is, that sometimes I don't like what I've read and, even more frequently, don't quite understand what the hullabaloo is about. And yet, I keep trying, because it does contribute to who I am and how my views are shaped.

I understand that Robert Frost is a big deal in American poetry. I grew up on "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Eve" and "The Road Not Taken." I wanted to get beyond what's taught in every Intro to English and Lit class. I wanted to understand what in Frost's body of work made him a big deal.

You Come Too is a collection of Frost's favorite poetry for young readers and I wanted so much to read and connect, as I did with Howl. Sadly, aside from a few poems like ("Acquaintance with the Night"), the connection was tenuous.

Maybe the best I can say is that it's just not for me, and that's okay. I am better for the experience of having read this collection, and not at all sorry that I took the time.

>55 streamsong:, 56, Somehow I'd missed the thread, but added the cover to my book for the challenge, A Turn of Light. There's a dark, handsome stranger on horseback behind the tree on its cover. That's always good for luring people in.

Sorry, Janet -- when I try to post images to LT it does horrible and strange things to my computer here (and yes, I have followed the instructions; this is a long-running problem that has caused system crashes and data retrieval problems, so I'm not about to try it again...) It may be specific to my ISP, but I'm not sure why it would be. Not a problem with other sites, and I can upload to my profile page. So, long story short, I don't try posting covers. If I need to in order to participate in the challenge, pls advise & I'll take down the books from the wiki.

I finished Agnes by Peter Stamm for challenge 18 (it was on the 2012 book list)

Chatterbox, maybe one of us could put up your covers so they would be on the page?

I finished and REVIEWED Barbara Pym's delightful Jane and Prudence. That was for the challenge to read a book with plants on the cover.

Uh oh, I'd better head over to that thread and post my cover.

I finished up The Bean Trees today for the 7th book on a bottom shelf challenge.

This makes only four books read this month, all TIOLIs, but I'm trying to come to peace with that.

Thank you everyone for posting your plant (and cute hero) covers! I was afraid that my cover had messed up lahochstetler's challenge and thread.

I tend to think outside the box ..... sometimes I'm so far outside the box, that the box gets up, walks off and floats down the river.

>51 humouress:: I think I'll give up on putting my book in Challenge 7 (I've been waiting for someone who's lived in London to read a book set in Florida) - which is a shame, because (since I focus on Fantasy, it's rarely set in the real world) it's unlikely I'll manage to read another book this month that (potentially) fits.

No matter - I shall put The Graveyard Book in Challenge 9 - plants on the cover.

Yea, thanks to a week end readathon I finished 3 books in the past 3 days, 2 audio: Flight Behavior and Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight (both 5 star reads for me) and one on Nook, The Eyre Affair. The weather is just so beautiful I'm having a hard time staying inside and reading paper books

I'm listening to the audio version of A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. I read the book last year, and was thrilled with the illustrations of the paper book; now I'm knocked out by the voice interpretation of the book by Jason Isaacs. He is amazing, with perfect inflections and tones for all of the characters.

Thank you to whoever recommended the audiobook! I found a place for the book on challenge 8 - the all or nothing challenge.

Karen O.

p.s. And I just realized that it is, indeed, the 21st of the month, so I believe that today is the perfect day to make our short read recommendations for the month.

edited to add: the incredible illustrations are provided in the final disc of the audiobook, along with Isaacs' narration at the point in which the illustration occurred in the written book.

18. Read a book which is included in the World Book Night giveaways (in any participating country) - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

This book is absolutely phenomenal. Zusak's language and imagery made an already fascinating story even more so. It's the kind of book I would run right out and buy copies of to give to all my friends.

> 67

And I just realized that it is, indeed, the 21st of the month, so I believe that today is the perfect day to make our short read recommendations for the month

Yep. this is Quick Reads Day (...I just got home) so make your recommendations to others for books that will make a "match" for a shared read, are good reads, and are short enough to finish by month's end.

I’ve read lots of short books this month, so I have plenty of suggestions!

There are three Steven Brust science fiction novels in Challenge #21: Jhereg, Yendi and Taltos. All three are short, quick reading and fun.

Better Nate Than Ever (TIOLI #11) is an absolutely wonderful tween novel in which Nate, with the encouragement of his best friend, runs off to New York City for the day (he thinks) to audition for “ET: The Musical.” It is a hoot – and I say this as someone who does not regularly read tween books. His auditions are hysterical – really funny. Please give this a try – it’s great, like Nate.

Bimbos of the Death Sun (TIOLI #11) is another fun and funny book. It’s a mystery, but anyone who has ever been to a science fiction and fantasy or gaming con, particularly a small one, will snicker all the way through. Even if you haven’t had the experience, you’ll still find it very entertaining. It’s short, diverting, and an Edgar Award Winner – how can you go wrong?

For a quick read for those who've read The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making you could try the next in the series, The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There. It's quick and September, the heroine, is just as brave and adventuresome as she was in the first book, in fact she measures in at 37% gumption. This one is about wild and magical shadows, family, forgiveness, and maintaining independence.
I've just started Deadly monopolies : the shocking corporate takeover of life itself by Harriet Washington for my health and finances challenge. This is definitely not a quick read, I hope I finish it in time.

Liz, can I use the word "pea" for challenge #2 (about the part of a plant)? There are more than one pea in a pea pod (in any kind of pea plant).

Stats for the February 2013 TIOLI Challenges:

In February, 2013, we read a total of 592 books, of which 99 or 18% were shared reads. For this, we can up with a total of 53 TIOLI points. Our shared reads stats were lowish this month. The YTD total for TIOLI points has not been this low since 2010. :O

The challenge accruing the most TIOLI points (8) was the one by bell7 to read a book whose author shares a country of origin with a friend of yours (not your own).

The most popular challenge of the month, with 95 books listed, was cyderry's challenge to read a book whose title has only 4 of the regular vowels (Y excluded).

The most popular book, with 8 readers sharing this read, was Excellent Woman by Barbara Pym.

Coming soon: The February, 2013, TIOLI Awards...

>73 SqueakyChu:: And yet, I think last month had my personal highest shared reads. (I think - I don't keep track, but it's rare that I have shared reads)

Speaking of which, I've finished my second shared read of this month : for Challenge 21 (author in 2 genres), I've finished Yendi by Stephen Brust.

>>#72

One of the meanings of "pea" is basically "seed", so I'll allow it, yes. :)

> 75

so I'll allow it

Hooray! My book is sad but good, too. It's A Mighty Heart, the biography of the late Wall Street Journalist Danny Pearl by his wife, Mariane Pearl.

Here they are...
The February 2013 TIOLI Awards:

The Double Seven Award goes to PaulCranswick for reading An Elegy for Easterly and to souloftherose for reading The New Moon with the Old. In my challenge to read a book whose last numbered page includes a seven, they were both able to squeeze two sevens into that page. Kudos to you both!

The They Teach That in School?! Award goes to humouress for raidergirl3's challenge to read a book with a school subject in the title. Humouress read Anna and the French Kiss. I did see the word "French" bolded, but I also kept seeing the two-word combination "French Kiss". Guess I got distracted, eh? The award is for amusing me. :)

The Where Are "U" Award goes to bostonian71 for reading The Billionaire's Vinegar: The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine in cyderry's challenge to read a book whose title has only 4 of the regular 5 vowels (Y excluded). That was a l-o-n-g title, and yet it still fit all of the challenge parameters. Good going!

The Promote LT Award goes to fuzzi for her challenge to read and review an unread book you received through ER or MG. For me, that sometimes becomes a bit of a chore. Thanks to your encouragement, 23 challengers were able to read and (hopefully!) post a review of a book they received on either of those two programs.

The Yuk Award goes to lyzard for reading Ruth Fielding At Lighthouse Point; or, Nita The Girl Castaway by Alice B. Emerson for her own challenge to read a book with an arthropod in the title or the author's name. The reason? Lice are the creepiest arthropods read in that challenge beside the roach (which was in the author's name for my own read...and I'm not in the habit of giving myself awards...although that might not be such a bad idea!). :D

The Soup Like No Other Award goes to bostonian71 (again!) for reading Matzoh Ball Gumbo: Culinary Tales of the Jewish South for inge87's challenge to read a book that contains recipes or has the word "Recipe" in the title. This is because I'm all set to make matzo ball soup this week for the upcoming holiday of Passover. You mentioned matzo ball soup? You got an award!

Congratulations to our award winners!

Now I'm looking forward to all of your creative challenges for April...

Oh, come on Madeline. You live in the south. Don't you think you should go with the matzoh ball gumbo? Sounds good to me, and they wouldn't dare use sausage, would they?

Well, Joyce...

Maryland, though a southern state, has a northern border which is on the Mason-Dixon line. Since my parents came to Maryland from New York, I still claim to be a Yankee.

There is such a thing as kosher sausage. I tried some this past week. I used it in a tomato-based potato dish. I didn't like that sausage. I'll stick the Hebrew National Polish sausage!

I also fear the okra in gumbo. Okra is a plant with a beautiful flower (I grew an okra plant last year), but eating that veggie is a horse of a different color! :)

Congratulations to all the winners! And congratulations to you, Madeline, for once again coming up with such clever and fun awards! I don't know what we'd do without you. Thanks!! :-)

You're welcome, Nancy. I'll be around for a while...but I'll be busy cooking matzo ball soup! :)

Ooh - I won an award! I was quite prepared to go through TIOLI life without ever winning one, because I never win anything, so I'm doubly thrilled.

(And triply thrilled, because my entry amused you. Must have been my subconscious at work!)

Thanks, Madeline; and Nancy, too.

Congratulations to all the winners - and to you, too, Madeline for being so creative!

> 82, 82

You're welcome.

It's also my pleasure to say thanks to all of you challengers out there for your participation. That's what keeps the TIOLI challenges rolling.

Wow, thank you... :)

Okra is good to eat, but there are only two ways I like it: breaded and fried, and in soup.

I hope you're still online, fuzzi - I have a question. Would a book about a dam break after extremely heavy rainfall count as a natural disaster for your Challenge?

I've added two books to the wiki that I've been reading this weekend:

Wild by Cheryl Strayed to the author who writes in more than one genre, and The Light Between Oceans by ML Stedman to the historical fiction by a new to you author.

I used to say okra was the only vegetable I didn't like, but somehow that passed. Slimy or not, I like it now, and I don't even know what the flower looks like.

>79 SqueakyChu:, 85: Okra: when in Tennessee, I was treated with all sorts of okra dishes. Fried was fine, but all the other ways ... nuh, no thanks, I had my share...

Nothing in my life has ever thrilled me as much as receiving The Yuk Award!!!!

Which speaks volumes for my life, really. :)

I actually have a couple of subsidiary awards for my "arthropod" challenge, for the two people who most got into the spirit of things:

- To Madeline for (as mentioned) reading a book by Mary Roach

- To Antqueen, for being called Antqueen

> 89

I figured that, if I grew my own okra, I'd be more willing to eat it. I like to avoid fried foods, if I can, and didn't really care for the way I prepared what I grew. I quickly forgot those recipes. :)

> 90

Nothing in my life has ever thrilled me as much as receiving The Yuk Award!!!!

LOL!! Well, Liz...you chose the topic!

Thanks for the extra awards that you gave (including mine).

If anyone else has other awards to give out for Februrary, please toss them in the ring now!

(86) @Dejah_Thoris, sure, fine by me. :)

Thank you, fuzzi!

I've just moved Ready Player One from Challenge #21 to Challenge #25 and begun reading it, if anyone wants to join me!

How can it be the last week of the month already? It just doesn't seem possible.

I'll remove what I won't get to and start thinking about April.

We haven't had a warm day in Chicago yet, though we dodged the big snow. Here's hoping that spring arrives in April.

Passover starts this evening...and it's snowing here in Rockville, Maryland, USA. :(

Ha! I hadn't even thought about that, lyzard :)

You leapt out of the list at me. :)

Have a wonderful Passover, @SqueakyChu!

Thank you!

Wow--I had started reading Comeback by Dick Francis for Mystery March--and it opens in Miami.

So Challenge 7 has a new entrant. I've listed 'Colorado' as a place I've lived, but if you need a place for a book set in Montana, Idaho, Washington State, California (Pacific Northwest? Rocky Mountains?) I'll be happy to accomodate you...... (yeah, yeah I'm willing to cheat a bit for the next person :-))

So it's getting a little later in the month and with Easter coming I though Madeline might post the April TIOLI a little sooner than normal - not today, of course, but soon. So I go to set up my link to the future April TIOLI wiki and notice that it's already been accessed 74 times - too funny! I guess I'm not the only person thinking ahead, even though it's hard to believe that March is almost over.

ETA: Madeline, I know perfectly well that you don't celebrate Easter - I should have been wondering if Passover would influence when you posted the April TIOLI! I'm going to blame it on thwacking my head really hard yesterday - I was so out of it a rehearsal last night my director insisted on checking my pupil dilation to see if I had a concussion! I don't, happily.

I'd like to wish you a joyous Passover.

Thanks, DT!

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

Nafisi, a literature teacher, uses the books of Henry James, James Joyce, Vladimir Nabokov, F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby and Jane Austen as a frame for telling the story about the women students in her private literature class and the tumultuous times in post-revolution Iran. My experience would no doubt have been enriched had I read more of the books she discusses. Still, Reading Lolita in Tehran tells the powerful stories of women, and their treatment, in Iran and how scandalous these books were considered.

>105 AuntieClio:: That sounds like a good book.

For Challenge 21 - more than one genre, I've added Taltos by Stephen Brust; my third shared read for the month in Challenge 21.

Hooray, Nina - of course that's another shared read for me, too. I'm going to have a record breaking shared read month! That's breaking my own record, of course, and it wasn't all that high.....

>107 Dejah_Thoris:: Me too! :0)

I finished my last big book for the month, Deadly monopolies : the shocking corporate takeover of life itself by Harriet Washington. Greed has brought pharmaceutical companies down from the most profitable corporations in the world to the 3rd most profitable, and they're sinking even lower. In the end greed is a killer, which I'm finding is also true ecologically in my audiobook The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan (placed in an April TIOLI challenge). People can never settle for enough and end up killing other humans and the world in grasping for more - a theme carried over to another March read, I Claudius, which I'll finish this weekend. My last March read will be The Space Between Us for the women challenge about upper and the lowest class of women in Bombay. Greed isn't the theme here, just survival and the elusiveness of happiness.

Added:

TIOLI #4 (series already started)
Ever After by Kim Harrison
The Duchess War by Courtney Milan
Earthborn by Orson Scott Card
Much Ado About Magic by Shanna Swendson
A Tangled Web by Mercedes Lackey
Unlocked by Courtney Milan

TIOLI #7 (lived before - rolling)
The Aviary by Kathleen O'Dell

TIOLI #16 (Easter color cover)
Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

TIOLI #21 (two genres/styles)
Blood Crime by Kim Harrison
Oh Myyy! by George Takei

Summoned to Tourney
Storm Warning
Storm Rising
Storm Breaking
Owlflight
Owlsight
Owlknight
The Black Gryphon by Mercedes Lackey

It's that time of the month when I look at how the TIOLIs are going. I'm so close to finishing loads of them but now the question remains, will I manage to finish any of them by month end. I have to cook for Easter breakfast & write a ridiculously large number of egg hunting clues. Even if I don't, once again TIOLI has scored a big win for finding some excellent books that might have languished on my shelves for much longer if left to their own devices. Best get off the internet and back to the reading pile ;-)

The story so far:

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 Trying valiantly to finish in time - it's very good
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks (Matching Choice) Got to squeeze the last bit of listening in before month end

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 Not going to make it so I've removed it from the wiki. There's always next time! In fairness, I was enjoying World War Z so much I didn't have time to listen to this so that's a good reason!

Challenge 7: Where I Come From - Read a book set where the person above you has lived
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (Matching Choice) I'm thoroughly enjoying this but I'm way off being able to finish it in a month ... maybe by the end of next month, so it's off the wiki

Challenge 17: Read the 7th book along a bottom shelf (anywhere)
Wonderful Life by Stephen Jay Gould Really well-written if dated science .... almost there if I don't get distracted by Easter cooking

Challenge 18: Read a book which is included in the World Book Night giveaways
The Book Thief by Mark Zusak (Matching Choice) Once again, I didn't get to this book. I really want to read it but I never seem to get there.

> 111

Happy Easter, Claire! So glad to have you back with us on the TIOLI challenges.

I'm cheering on everyone to get that last book (or two or...) completed. Go! Go! Go!

I have one I have not even started, but I do have a long weekend, if I don't get too distracted!

> 114

Good question.

No. You only can keep a book that was COMPLETED (i.e. completely read) for the TIOLI challenges. Our challenges have nothing to do with whether or not a book was reviewed.

#111
Oh, I hope you find time to read The Book Thief. It is such a phenomenal book.

And this makes 7 for the month, one less than I had hoped for.

March TIOLI #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)

This book is about the life of Lady Jane Grey and how she was maneuvered onto the British throne after King Edward VI's death. Lady Jane was queen for nine days and then beheaded as a traitor. She's called "Innocent Traitor" because she didn't want the crown and adamantly said so at every occasion. Yet, politics being what they are, she was still beheaded by Queen Mary as an example to others who were considering another coup.

Written from several points of view, Innocent Traitor often seemed disjointed. Most disconcerting for me were the words that the 4-year-old Lady Jane is given to say. It seemed much more adult for any child, even one brought up in a time when children were treated as miniature adults.

While I enjoyed the story, I found some of the graphic descriptions of sex and beheadings a little offputting, Being told from different perspectives made it difficult to follow.

> 111 klarasu, I too am reading Les Miserables this month and also will not finish it, so I'm looking for a home for in in the April TIOLI.

Les Miserables will fit into April's Challenge 7. The cover has a whole bunch of people on it.

>112 SqueakyChu: Madeline, it's lovely to be back!

>119 AnneDC: AnneDC, looks like I'll be seeing you somewhere in April ;-)

Happy Easter one and all. Chocolate and reading match so well - just be careful not to drop any crumbs on the books ;-)

Not a good reading month for me. Book count was down. And I regret that I didn't even get to start on any of the books whose titles I gleaned from Paul's Books of the Year lists. But I did enjoy reading the lists, and then looking up the titles that struck me. Interesting challenge!

I'm holding off on posting a list of books read as I probably have time to finish one more. I'm just trying to decide which one. I'm leaning toward one that I already have on this month's TIOLI but that I've already added to an April one because I didn't think I'd get around to it. I may change my mind if I spot something else that grabs me first.

I have three books within pages of being finished.

But not Team of Rivals. I've moved it to the April wiki, but I suspect it may be on the May wiki, too. It's not that I'm not enjoying it--just that it takes a bit of thought and some evenings I'm too darn tired to want anything more than light and fluffy. And Vicious, for all my teasing about the dead tree and wolf scaring people away from the plant thread, is also moved to next month.

End of Month Housecleaning Time!

Remember to remove from the wiki any books you have not COMPLETED by the end of the month (tomorrow night at 12 midnight). Any of these can be added to an April challenge if parameters are met.

To all who celebrate...
Have a Happy Passover!
Have a Happy Easter!

The Promote LT Award goes to fuzzi for her challenge to read and review an unread book you received through ER or MG. For me, that sometimes becomes a bit of a chore. Thanks to your encouragement, 23 challengers were able to read and (hopefully!) post a review of a book they received on either of those two programs.

Yikes! I think that finger is pointing at me! At the end of February, I was away for a week without internet, so I filled in my TIOLI (expected) completions before I left. Thank goodness, I was right about those, but that hand-written review is floating around here somewhere needing to get posted. Thanks for the reminder!

I was trying to finish two last minute books - I managed one. I completed In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin for Paul's Challenge #23 but because I spent too much time on the threads tonight, I won't finish Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie. I'm adding it to April Challenge #9, if anyone wants to join me.

I think all my March reads are updated or taken off the wiki. I didn't quite manage to finish all of them because I got seduced by The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan at the last minute and it took over because it was lovely! It's written in verse. Heading over to April to see what I can squeeze in over there ;-)

I finished up one more last-minute book last night, How the Irish Saved Civilization, which I had started earlier in the month (St. Patrick's Day, in fact).

Heh! Even I was able to finish one book under the wire (probably totally because I wasn't even thinking about it!).

Now I'm headed to play with April's challenges...which are off to a great start!

Here are my reviews for March TIOLI reads:

Challenge #1 - first name Jo...
Horton Hears a Who
http://www.librarything.com/work/22979/reviews/89095549

Life
http://www.librarything.com/work/9950264/reviews/87531399

Challenge # 16 - Easter Colours
Catalyst
http://www.librarything.com/work/8531094/reviews/89216555

Challenge # 17 - 7th book on a bottom shelf
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
http://www.librarything.com/work/29144/reviews/89096954

The Cat's Pajamas
http://www.librarything.com/work/29144/reviews/89096954

Challenge # 18 - World Book Giveaway
Beloved
http://www.librarything.com/work/2182/reviews/90313443

Challenge # 22 - Historical fiction - new-to-me- author
The Queen's Witch
http://www.librarything.com/work/9721135/reviews/95569936

To Kill a Mockingbird
http://www.librarything.com/work/3092/reviews/84378114

Challenge # 21 - different writing styles
Bang the Drum Slowly (Non-Fiction Fiction / Journalism / Plays)
http://www.librarything.com/work/171824/reviews/89107155