Take It or Leave It Challenge - April 2013

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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I wanted a super spectacular challenge for April. Here's what I came up with. Let's call it the ABC-123 challenge...

Your challenge for April 2013 will be to read a book whose title is in ABC/123 order.

Rules:
1. You'll be using only the first three letters of your book's title.
2. This will be an alphabetical rolling challenge, to go as follows:

1st book: first letter is A
2nd book: second letter is B
3rd book: third letter is C
4th book: first letter is D
5th book: second letter is E
6th book: third letter is F
7th book: first letter is G
8th book: second letter is H
...and so forth!

3. No letter is to be skipped! You may, however, enter "place fillers" if you have any hint of an idea you might be reading such a book this month. I'm not sending out the TIOLI police to check, though. It will be kosher to post a request for a "place filler" on the main thread.
4. No back-to-back entries! In other words, someone else's entry must be placed between any of your own.
5. If you make a mistake, your book and all of those under it will be disqualified (i.e. they will be pulled down and out of the challenge). Warning: Be careful of your entries!
6. The words "a", "an", and "the" will count as the first word of any title starting with those words.
7. Of course, you can "match" a shared read at any time.

I know this is mind-numbing , so make your entries as follows:

American Gods (A-1) - Neil Gaiman - SqueakyChu
About a Boy (B-2) - Nick Hornby - cyderry
Packing for Mars (C-3) - Mary Roach - Dejah_Thoris
David Golder (D-1) - Irene Nemirovsky - kidzdoc
...and so forth!

Good luck...and have fun!

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

1. The April 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 04/23/13)

Wiki Index:

Challenges #1-6
1. Read a book whose title is in ABC/123 order - msg #1
2. Read a book written by the late Chinua Achebe - msg #4
3. Read a book with an embedded word whether scrambled or unscrambled in a single word within the title - msg #5
4. Read a book with two or more people on the cover - msg #7 - thread
5. Read a book that was nominated for a 2012 Agatha Award - msg #8
6. Read a book set in New England (fiction or non-fiction) - msg #10

Challenges #7-12
7. Read a book with all of the letters of the word "spring" somewhere in the title - msg #11
8. Read a book about religious oppression - msg #12
9. Read a work with a 4 syllable word on the 13th page - msg # 13
10. Read a work in which both the title and the author's name contains double letters - msg #18
11. Read a book by an author with the same Zodiac sign as you - msg #19
12. Read a book that is on a 2013 award long list or short list - msg # 25

Challenges #13-18
13. Read a book with a 'water' word in the title - msg #27
14. Read a Book with a Green Cover - msg #36 - thread
15. Read a Book to Start a Trend - msg #37 - thread
16. Read a Book by Margaret Atwood - msg #46
17. Read a book by an Asian American OR set in a Southeast Asian country OR written by a Southeast Asian writer - msg #56
18. Read a book with the name of a gem in its title - msg #69

Challenge #19
19. Read a book with an orange cover, the word orange in the title, or which has been nominated for the Orange Prize for Fiction - msg #94

Got another challenge? Save it for the May TIOLI challenges. Thanks!

Happy Passover!
Happy Easter!

Wow, that's early, and it's not even the middle of the night. Looking forward to seeing what the challenges will be when I get home from a bloggers party, see you all later!

it's not even the middle of the night

:)

Challenge #2: Read a book written by the late Chinua Achebe

As many of you know, the Nigerian author Chinua Achebe died earlier this month. He was the first author of African descent to achieve recognition within Africa and worldwide, and his 1959 novel Things Fall Apart remains the most widely read contemporary African novel. So, in honor of his passing, my challenge is to read a book that Mr. Achebe has written, which can be in any of the numerous genres and formats that he has published. I'll create a list of books that are readily available, but as a start you can refer to this List of works on Wikipedia.

At the moment I plan to re-read Things Fall Apart, his most recent memoir There Was A Country: A Personal History of Biafra, and possibly Anthills of the Savannah, which I haven't read yet.

Challenge #3: Read a book with an embedded word whether scrambled or unscrambled in a single word within the title

My challenge this month is to read a book with a word in the title that has an embedded word in it. The word can be scrambled or unscrambled, can use all the letters if scrambled, or only a few letters.

examples would be:

Fountainhead - words fountain or head, scrambled - nude, found
Manifest Injustice - feast scrambled (from Manifest) or just unscrambled
Lost and Fondue - words could be fond, due, found, nude

The trick is you can only use the letters in one word.

Challenge #4: Read a book with two or more people on the cover

I wanted to do a cover challenge. I went through my list of challenges and I've done the fewest of those. So I looked at all my library books and figured out what the most common theme was! Actually, a more common theme was text only covers but we've done that already.

ETA: Here's a thread to post your book covers if you want to share - it is not required: http://www.librarything.com/topic/151972

Challenge #5: Read a book that was nominated for a 2012 Agatha Award

These nominations were announced recently and will be given out at the Malice Domestic conference. Usually in late April or early May.

You can find the list of 2012 nominees at: http://www.malicedomestic.org/agathaawards.html

Just to be clear, my challenge involves only the current Agatha nominees (identified on their website as 2012 nominees) and not those books nominated in earlier years.

> 7

Start a separate thread where people can post their book covers, Morphy. It's always interesting to see which overs challengers choose.

Challenge #6: Read a book set in New England (fiction or non-fiction)

I'm headed to New Hampshire to speak at a conference in April. I am hoping to read some books with a New Hampshire or New England setting leading up to it. I'm hoping you will join me in reading a book, fiction or non-fiction, with a New England setting.

ETA: New England states are Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.

Challenge #7 Read a book with all of the letters in the word 'spring' in the title

They can be anywhere in the title, they just all have to be there.

Challenge #8: Read a book about religious oppression which included oppression either by or of religion. My planned reads are many because this is a favorite topic of mine:
The 19th Wife - David Ebershoff Audiobook
Breaking Their Will: Shedding Light on Religious Child Maltreatment - Janet Heimlich - Nook
The Caged Virgin - Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Does God Hate Women? - Ophelia Benson
The Dovekeepers - Alice Hoffman Re read audiobook
Going clear : Scientology, Hollywood, and the prison of belief - Lawrence Wright
Leaving the Fold -Marlene Winell - Nook
Nothing Sacred: Women Respond to Religious Fundamentalism and Terror - Betsy Reed
Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement - Kathryn Joyce
The Red Tent - Anita Diamant re read Audiobook

*********Challenge #9: Read a work with a 4 syllable word on the 13th page.*********

In honor of this April being 4/13, read a work with a 4 syllable word somewhere on the 13th page. For amusement value, please list the word. Matches are encouraged!

ETA: Place or character names that are made up (such as in fantasy and science fiction novels are acceptable.

Honestly Madeline - I must have just posted my bit on the March thread about how you wouldn't put the April TIOLI up today when you must have almost immediately done it! Some days I feel more foolish than others....

The fun* is in proving everyone here wrong! :D

*The real truth, though, is that I put it up when it's most convenient for me to do so.

>9 SqueakyChu: Done!

Thanks!

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Challenge #10: Read a work in which both the title and the author's name contains double letters.

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Completely self-indulgent, aimed at clearing some TBR backlog, but hopefully of some use to others. :)

I've started mine--#11: What's Your Sign?: Read a book by an author with the same Zodiac sign as you.

Fairly self-explanatory. If you want to know the sign date ranges, here is the Wikipedia article.

Edited to fix link to relevant section of Wikipedia article

Great timing, Madeline. I'm leaving tomorrow for a week or so away and now I can figure out what books to take!

I would have expected this thread to have a bunch more posts by now! I wonder if most people haven't thought to look for it yet... Sneaky Madeleine!

Of course next month we'll all be watching for it on the 27th and she probably won't post it 'til the 30th....

> 21

Sneaky Madeleine!

Tee hee!

> 22

she probably won't post it 'til the 30th

Of course! :D

****Challenge #12: Read a book that is on a 2013 awards long list or short list ****

There's already been quite a few literary awards and long lists are out for a few more already this year so my challenge reflects all those aspiring and shiny new members of our Mt tbrs.

Women's Prize for Fiction 2013 longlist
Stella Prize 2013 longlist
Carnegie Medal 2013 longlist
Orwell Prize 2013 longlist
Impac Dublin Literary Award 2013 longlist
Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2013 longlist
Best Translated Book Award Fiction 2013 longlist
Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature 2013 longlist
Miles Franklin Award 2013 longlist

also:
German Youth Literature Prize 2013 : Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis
White Ravens 2013

For anyone joining the group read of Time and Chance it's posted in Challenge #3.

Challenge #13: In honor of "April Showers", read a book with a 'water' word in the title

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Remember the saying "April showers bring May flowers"?

This month, read a book with a 'water' word in the title, for example:

The Old Man and the Sea
Cool Water

It needs to be a word for a type of water, like 'flood', not water-related items such as 'hose' or 'hydrant'.

Go! Go! Go!

>>#19

For Challenge #11 (zodiac signs), are shared reads allowed? (i.e. People with different signs?)

> 19

On Wikipedia, there are Tropical, sidereal, and IAU dates - which are all different. Are we using the dates for the "Tropical" signs?

>28 lyzard: Yes, shared reads are allowed.

>29 SqueakyChu: Yes, the "Tropical" signs.

Thank you!

It's always the "straightforward" ones that attract the most questions, isn't it? :)

Would 1Q84 qualify for (Q-2) in the first challenge, although the first element is a number, not a letter?

Would 1Q84 qualify for (Q-2) in the first challenge, although the first element is a number, not a letter?

It would.

#33: Great, thanks! So now I have a good reason to participate in that April GR in the 1,001 group

> 34

That's a long book. It's good your group has a head start! :)

***Challenge 14: Think Green: Read a Book with a Green Cover ***

In honor of Earth day (22 April), read a book with a green cover.



The thread to post cover images is here.

*************
Challenge #15
Read a Book that Will Start an LT Trend
*************

Every month, every season, a lot of 75ers seem to pick up a group of books that others are reading and one after another, read and recommend them in their turn. I’ve seen it happen to authors – Amitav Ghosh, Rumer Godden, Steinbeck – and to specific series or books, from Anne Applebaum on the Gulag and Doris Kearns Goodwin on Lincoln’s cabinet, to The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett to mysteries by Colin Cotterill, Louise Penny or David Downing. I’ve been banging the drum about Joseph Boyden, which has made some folks read his novels. Susan Hill’s mysteries have a following here.

My challenge therefore is to try to START a trend and give an author a new bunch of followers. In the thread I have created to go with this challenge, list somewhere between three and ten books or authors that you have read and found particularly compelling, that have NOT been part of this phenomenon. It could be an individual book – for instance, Ghosh’s Ibis trilogy has been read by a lot of folks over many months, but not some of his previous novels. Or it could be an author that you think a lot of your 75er friends have been unfairly overlooking or neglecting. Please shoot for three listings, but let’s cap it at ten. And feel free to add a few words (please keep it short) about each, if you think it will help. This book is for people who liked this other widely-read book, for instance. Aim for some variety, if you can, and try to pick books/authors that while they may be overlooked, may have some broad appeal. (Perhaps not “70 shades of space opera”…)

Once you have listed your own challenges to your fellow 75ers and TIOLI readers, look at the lists that they have posted, and pick up one of their suggestions to read for this challenge. The goal here is to get your own favorites more widely read, and to broaden your own horizons. Ideally, too, this will lead to a lot of group reads (hence the idea of capping it.) You can’t participate, even as a shared read, without offering up your own suggestions for under-appreciated/under-read books on the thread. If the people before you have picked all your own choices, repeat them, but try to add at least one new name to the list.

Please note who suggested the book on the wiki; I’ll try to come up with a prize for the person whose picks prove most popular. When you’ve read the book, do come back to the thread and tell us what you thought. Is the author now on your favorites list?

Mine?
Kate Charles’s ecclesiastical mysteries, such as A Dead Man Out of Mind
From the Holy Mountain by William Dalrymple (read by some, but not very many)
Rennie Airth’s marvelous series of mysteries should be perfect for people who have been reading Maisie Dobbs and David Downing – they are even better. I literally screamed at one point in the third book.
Reay Tannahill has some great historical novels – Fatal Majesty is about Mary Queen of Scots
Val mcDermid, especially The Grave Tattoo
George Orwell in Burma
Watermark by Joseph Brodsky
Laurie Colwin, especially her short stories
Enigma of Arrival by VS Naipual

What a great idea for a challenge, Suzanne! Will have to do some thinking about that one...

Of course, I can't post a book on there myself until other people make suggestions!!

Sadly, this doesn't seem to be inspiring anyone... at least, not yet...

Suz, is there a thread?

I'm thinking about it but I tend to like a quirky bunch of books. Sadly, not everyone shares my enthusiasm for books about baseball, disasters, or Chicago, for instance.

I liked a few of those baseball books, Linda.

These are my planned reads for the month, most, alas, are for my own challenge:
Challenge #2: Read a book written by the late Chinua Achebe
✔Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe - Audiobook (5)
Challenge #3: Read a book with an embedded word whether scrambled or unscrambled in a single word within the title
✔Tangerine - Edward Bloor - Audiobook (5)
✔The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl - Timothy Egan (5)
Challenge #7: Read a book with all of the letters of the word "spring" somewhere in the title
Removed, hope to move to May Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs
Challenge 8: Read a book about religious oppression
Removed The 19th Wife - David Ebershoff Audiobook
✔American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century - Kevin Phillips - Audiobook
Removed Breaking Their Will: Shedding Light on Religious Child Maltreatment - Janet Heimlich - Nook
Removed The Caged Virgin - Ayaan Hirsi Ali
✔Does God Hate Women? - Ophelia Benson (4.5)
✔The Dovekeepers - Alice Hoffman Re read audiobook (4.5)
✔Going clear : Scientology, Hollywood, and the prison of belief - Lawrence Wright (5)
✔Leaving the Fold -Marlene Winell - Nook (4)
Nothing Sacred: Women Respond to Religious Fundamentalism and Terror - Betsy Reed
✔Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement - Kathryn Joyce (5)
✔The Red Tent - Anita Diamant re read Audiobook (4.5)
✔Wife No. 19: Or The Story Of A Life In Bondage, Being A Complete Expose of Mormonism And Revealing The Sorrows, Sacrifices And Sufferings Of Women In Polygamy - Ann Eliza Young (4)
Challenge #16: For "Atwood April," Read a Book by Margaret Atwood
✔The Year of the Flood - Margaret Atwood - Audiobook (5)
Challenge #9: Read a work with a 4 syllable word on the 13th page
Removed Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal - Mary Roach

Actually I think it's a great idea, Suz, but like Linda I'm struggling a bit with broad appeal - that and deciding what books are under-read on LT. I was thinking of listing Tom Stoppard's play Arcadia, but 1500+ people have it listed.

Okay, I found the thread, just by looking at the 75er list.

I've thought about mini-trends I've started and will list a couple of those books, along with a more recent discovery or two.

Also, I've long intended to read a Rennie Airth and so will aim to read the first in the series, River of Darkness.

Suzanne, I just posted over there! I don't typically do TIOLI because it seems so confusing, but I saw your thread (before this one) and it made me happy.

I hope I did it right.

I've started a challenge to serve those who are participating in Atwood April:

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Challenge 16: For "Atwood April," read a book by Margaret Atwood.

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This is a group read started by msf59. There is a thread for participation in the Atwood April: http://www.librarything.com/topic/151831

Karen O.

So excited! I've made two of my Atwood April choices fit: Life Before Man in challenge 3 and Lady Oracle in challenge 14 as a shared read - my first one ever!

I'll definitely have one in challenge 16, though :)

ETA: challenge 3 will fit The Penelopiad too (elope)!

#46 Good idea though quite a few Atwoods have already been placed in other challenges.

For anyone looking for the thread to go with my challenge:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/152002#

just to clarify:

By broad appeal, I was just trying to avoid the really deeply esoteric stuff like: "my 60 days traveling down the Amazon with a leaf stick insect and a dragon"
By all means books about baseball and Chicago and natural disasters -- I doubt I would have given Timothy Egan's books a chance without your mentions of them, Linda, for instance? If you wanted to, those would be great adds, with the exception of The Worst Hard Time, I don't think any have really been widely & consistently read by 75ers?

Don't let the number of books owned deter you, please! Arcadia may be widely owned, but I don't think it's been the focus of waves of reading here on the 75 thread. Tom Stoppard certainly hasn't, so you could just put his name down on your list!

Some great suggestions on there already...

ETA: Perfectly posted on the thread, Kathy, so now all you need to do is decide which of the books other folks have posted about appeals to you and add it to the wiki! Welcome to TIOLI; it really isn't as confusing as it looks or as it can be made to appear some time. Just read happily away...

> 49

Your thread is also linked up in message #2 (the wiki index), Suz. That index will also move forward when we go on to page two of the main thread.

Madeline's Challenge is waiting for an X-3 - sounds like SEX to me!

#51 -- purely in the public interest, I have obliged, adding a book...

Pawsforthought, I notice we've both listed The Year of the Flood in different challenges. Should we both move them to Challenge #16, the Atwood challenge instead?

53. Doesn't matter to me where we put them. I have a few books to read before I get to that one so not 100% sure I'll even get to it (but I'l try). You decide where you want to be and I'll be a sheep and follow.

I'll put Year of the Flood in the Atwood challenge and probably won't get to it until late in the month.

April is Asian American and Pacific Islanders Heritage Month as well as South Asian Heritage Month. Lilbrattyteen has been hosting monthly heritage reads and here is the one for April: http://www.librarything.com/topic/152284#4009962

It's also the kick off month for the second quarter Reading Globally's South East Asia Theme Read. http://www.librarything.com/topic/151541

Since these two challenges can be somewhat related, I'll combine them into a single TIOLI challenge:

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Challenge 17: Read a book by an Asian American OR set in a Southeast Asian country OR by a Southeast Asian writer
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I put a little note in my copy of The Sound and the Fury by Wm. Faulkner. All my note says is April. Does anyone recall a group read of this book? if so, I'd like to insert it somewhere.

The Group Read Wiki (http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/Group_Reads_of_2013) has The Sound the Fury listed for April. And, Lynda, your name is signed up!

You could put it in Challenge #3 nods from Sound :-)

I noticed that Margaret Atwood's Blind Assassin is listed in two different challenges, both 10 and 16. I would imagine we want person #4 to sign into challenge 10 for the TIOLI points. I know it is not a competition, but ....

Madeline, now that we've gotten through Z-2 in your challenge, am I correct in assuming that the next entry should be A-3?

That is to say, we don't start over at A-1 each time, do we?

> 60

Proceed with A-3.

we don't start over at A-1 each time, do we?

No.

Thanks Cheli! I'll do just that.

Sorry, gang, about my mistaken entry. Clearly I was using that other alphabet!! LOL

Haha!

Lynda, I've joined you in Challenge 3 for The Sound and the Fury. I've been waiting for a group read thread to show up. Maybe one of us needs to start one.

Great Carrie! I'll wait to start a thread until April official arrives but if you would like to do it sooner, be my guest :0)

My TIOLI list for April so far:

Challenge #1: Read a book whose title is in ABC/123 order
Jules et Jim (L-3) - Henri-Pierre Roche
Bar Balto (B-1) - Faïza Guène

Challenge #3: Read a book with an embedded word
Fish change direction in cold weather (heart) - Pierre Szalowski
*Time and Chance (item) - Sharon Kay Penman

Challenge #4: Read a book with two or more people on the cover
The God Boy - Ian Cross
A World between us - Lydia Syson

Challenge #12: Read a book that is on a 2013 award long list or short list (my challenge)
Midwinterblood (Carnegie LL) - Marcus Sedgwick
*The People of Forever Are Not Afraid (Women's Prize for Fiction LL, Sami Rohr Prize SL) - Shani Boianjiu
Questions of Travel (Miles Franklin LL) - Michelle de Kretser
The Reinvention of love (Impac Dublin LL) - Helen Humphries
Seraphina (Carnegie LL) - Rachel Hartman
The Sisters Brothers (Impac Dublin LL) - Patrick deWitt

Challenge #15: Read a Book to Start a Trend
*Capital Punishment - Robert Wilson
Fatal Majesty - Reay Tannahill (Chatterbox)

>68 Samantha_kathy: Absolutely! You are very welcome to add it to the Challenge #9.

Hello, all you early bird April readers!

Regarding Challenge 16 ("The Atwood Challenge"): I would like to make an argument for moving books by Margaret Atwood to this challenge. I understand that we might want to leave books where they are entered first, but here we are, still two days away from April, and challenge 16 is SO specific.

Here's what msf59 says about the author in the "Atwood April" thread (http://www.librarything.com/topic/151831:

April will be dedicated to Ms. Atwood. Read, reread, anything you would like by this incredible Canadian author....I know there are many Atwood fans here, so I know there should be some interest and if you haven't tried her yet, (shame on you! I can say that because I was a late-comer too), this might be the perfect opportunity. Come on over and let us know your Atwood history and what you plan to read.

Karen O.

#72 - Hi Karen - Your challenge is lovely, but my particular reason for leaving Lady Oracle in Challenge in #14 is that is has a pretty green cover that I posted on the special thread for pretty green covers and I'm hoping I can leave it there.

> 72, 73

The trick with the same book being listed in a different challenge than your own is that the addition of other matching books will need to be monitored more closely in order to maximize the TIOLI point values. This should be interesting to watch...

P.S. I *do* like that you promoted your challenge, Karen!

I don't mind moving my Atwood:-)

I'm fine with moving all of my Atwoods to Challenge 16. I should find my list and just add all of them :)

ETA: I just added all 7 of my Atwood reads to the #16 challenge and removed them from the others - Easier to find that way, too!

Sigh...my poor #10 is going to be the main sufferer here, I think: Ms Atwood does like titles with double letters in them. :)

77. I've added two (non-Atwoodian) books to your challenge!

OK-- so I don't muck this up-- Do I just add myself to the Wiki?

(I picked a book for challenge #15)

>79 UnrulySun: Yep - you've posted your book choice's to Suz's thread so you're good to go! Just add yourself to the wiki. The first time I did it I was worried I'd mess things up, but Madeline assured me there was nothing that I could mess up that couldn't be fixed!

I'm trying to finish two books In Patagonia for Paul's Challenge and Murder on the Links for another shared read and a final book for Mystery March. We'll see how it goes!

Thanks Dejah. I *think* I got it!

I took a quick peek and it looks right to me!

>>#78

Thanks, Paws! :)

> 79

Hooray for UnrulySun whose book now sits (very comfortably) on April's wiki!

Have fun with the April challenges. You're off to a great start.

I'm okay with moving the Atwoods. However, please keep in mind that some people, including me some months, like to try to read something in all, or at least most, of the challenges. This discourages me from reading more than one Atwood this month.

I usually read multiples for my own but, most months, try to spread my other challenges out.

I'm like Linda. I try and read something in as many challenges as I possibly can!

I'm going to the see the opera, A Streetcar Named Desire next weekend so I'm planning to read that play before I go. It fits into the same category in which the Atwood was located. So anyway, I am good with moving my Atwood to another category.

What Linda said. I don't often manage it, especially when we have 25 challenges as in March, but I like to try to read at least one book in each challenge, so there often is a good reason why a book is parked where it is. Although in this case, that doesn't apply to Atwoods, since I probably won't read any.

Re: the Atwood challenge, I can understand completely why anyone would want to leave their Atwood books where they are. I also try to read from as many challenges as possible.

Challenge 16 is looking a lot less lonely now, however.

Anthromorphizingly yours,

Karen O.

p.s. I moved my read of The Blind Assassin to challenge 10 (The Double/Double challenge).

I moved my read of Alias Grace from Challenge 3 to Challenge 16. This did not affect the points for challenge 3 and added a point for Challenge 16 - YAY!

We've been stuck in the main challenge for quite awhile. No one's got an F-2 book? I've got a G-3 all ready to drop in. Hint, hint...

Okay, Linda, I added an F-2. Now I suppose I'll have to read it too!

>65 cbl_tn: and 66 I am also planning to read The SOund and the Fury in April. Will look for the thread tomorrow!

#92 Thanks, majkia. I love the Louise Penny books, my favorite series of them all.

>94 Samantha_kathy:, That sounds like a great excuse to read some vintage Penguins. I may re-read Henry Harland's light romance My Friend Prospero.

I moved my Atwood to 16: I still have two books listed for Challenge 3.

*My TIOLI Challenges*

Challenge #3: Read a book with an embedded word whether scrambled or unscrambled in a single word within the title
Train Tracks: Family Stories for the Holidays by Michael Savage ("rain")
The Flame Trees of Thika by Elspeth Huxley ("lame")

Challenge #4: Read a book with two or more people on the cover
Hans Brinker by Mary Mapes Dodge

Challenge #8: Read a book about religious oppression
Foxe's Book of Martyrs

Challenge #13: In honor of "April Showers", read a book with a 'water' word in the title
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

Challenge #14: Think Green: Read a Book with a Green Cover
Bella Poldark by Winston Graham

Challenge #15: Read a Book to Start a Trend
Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly

Challenge #16: For "Atwood April," Read a Book by Margaret Atwood
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

Edited on 4/2/13

I think eight books is doable. :)

April TIOLI Challenges:
Challenge #4: Read a book with two or more people on the cover - The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir

Challenge #3: Read a book with an embedded word whether scrambled or unscrambled in a single word within the title - The Unauthorized Version by Robin Lane Fox - authorize

Challenge #8: Read a book about religious oppression - Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

Challenge #9: Read a work with a 4 syllable word on the 13th page - Bridget Jones the Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding - Bossybottom

Challenge #10: Read a work in which both the title and the author's name contains double letters - Better Than Life by Daniel Pennac

Challenge #11: Read a book by an author with the same Zodiac sign as you - Siddhartha by Herman Hesse

Challenge #16. Read a Book by Margaret Atwood - The Edible Woman

Challenge #18. Read a book with the name of a gem in its title - The Diamond Sutra by Frances Wood and Mark Barnard

No doubt I'm over-committed.

#1 rolling letters
Sandstorm - James Rollins
A Fatal Grace - Louise Penny

#3 embedded word
Time and Chance - Sharon Kay Penman
The Devil You Know - Mike Carey
The Winds of Khalakovo - Bradley P Beaulieu
The Poet - Michael Connelly
Darwin's Radio - Greg Bear

#4 two people on cover
The Damnation Affair - Lilith Saintcrow

#7 'spring' in title
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children- Ransom Riggs
Phoenix Rising- Pip Ballentine

#12 2013 long list awards
The Keeper of Lost Causes - Jussi Adler-Olsen

#17 book trend
Dragonsbane - Barbara Hambly

Since I've got other books listed in challenge 3, I moved Alias Grace to the Atwood challenge.

>98 fuzzi:, So true. Everyone should have at least one.

#95 You are welcome, Linda. I'm just over committed. Hoping I can actually get to read it!

I decided to apply Bella Poldark to the green cover challenge (#14).

Here is my list of possibilities.

Please, no one faint! They are just possibilities: of 30 books listed last month I managed 9. Plus 3 more kids books that weren't listed for a grand total of 12.

1. Read a book whose title is in ABC/123 order
✔ (May) 1Q84 shared read
Hood

3. Read a book with an embedded word whether scrambled or unscrambled in a single word within the title
Adult Children of Alcoholics (child)
Cat Striking Back (king)
Co-dependant No More (depend)
A Great Deliverance (deliver)
The English Patient (shine)
✔ Audio Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (trot)
In Pursuit of Spenser (suit)
No Country for Old Men (count)
Proof of Heaven (roof)
Survivor in Death (heat)
Tigana (giant)

And maybe later in the month:
Elegance of the Hedgehog (glance)
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (extreme)
Infinite Jest (finite) (I am stalled once again!

4. Read a book with two or more people on the cover
✔ (June) The Crucible

And maybe later in the month:
Bel Canto
Caleb's Crossing
Les Miserables

6. Read a book set in New England (fiction or non-fiction)
Maybe later in the month:
Stardust – Spenser

8. Read a book about religious oppression
The Dovekeepers

9. Read a work with a 4 syllable word on the 13th page
Jalna (Disappointing)

And maybe later in the month:
The Boy in the Moon (manufactured)
Eye of the World (impassively

10. Read a work in which both the title and the author's name contains double
letters
Villette (Charlotte)

11. Read a book by an author with the same Zodiac sign as you
Sandman II: The Doll’s House
Sandman: Dream Country

13. book with a 'water' word in the title
✔ Miracle in the Rain

And maybe later in the month:
The Falls

15. Read a Book to Start a Trend

Maybe later in the month:
Christine Falls
The Empty Family
Foundling
The Gathering
Open and Shut
The Sea

16. Read a Book by Margaret Atwood
Alias Grace

17. Read a book by an Asian American OR set in a Southeast Asian country OR written by a Southeast Asian writer
✔ Audio The Coroner’s Lunch

*faints*

I told you not to faint!!!!

Anyone else having trouble with touchstones today. None of mine are showing up?

I'm just having trouble finding a place to slot 419 by will Ferguson; no 4-syllable words on page 13....

(although now that I have typed in that title, no books are appearing??)

Touchstones seem to be back

No fainting please. I got very engaged in the process of trying to find a book for every challenge, and though I'm still thinking about challenge 18, here's my list. I only read 12 books in March so this is highly unrealistic, but a lot of fun.

Challenge 1: *Health Care for Some: Rights and Rationing in the United States since 1930 - Beatrix Hoffman
Challenge 2: *There Was a Country - Chinua Achebe
Challenge 3: *A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian - Marina Lewycka
Challenge 4: Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Challenge 5: *Code Name Verity - Elizabeth Wein
Challenge 6: Summer of the Gypsy Moths - Sara Pennypacker
Challenge 7: A Day in Spring - Ciril Kosmac
Challenge 8: Purple Hibiscus - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Challenge 9: Washington: A Life - Ron Chernow
Challenge 10: *At Lady Molly's - Anthony Powell
Challenge 11: Home - Toni Morrison
Challenge 12: *Flight Behavior - Barbara Kingsolver
Challenge 12: Plutocrats - Chrystia Freeland
Challenge 13: The Light Between Oceans - M. L. Stedman
Challenge 14: Troubles - J. G. Farrell
Challenge 15: *The Beekeeper's Apprentice - Laurie King
Challenge 16: *Alias Grace - Margaret Atwood
Challenge 17: Anarchy and Old Dogs - Colin Cotterill
Challenge 18: *Ashes and Diamonds - Jerzy Andrzejewski
Challenge 19: In the Shadow of the Banyan - Vaddey Ratner

Time to get reading!

ETA * for shared reads

Wow.

*faints* (again)

You crazy readers are making me jealous with your reading plans. My plans to read in March were totally blown out of the water and I am approaching April reading plans with increasing trepidation....

Challenge #9: Read a work with a 4 syllable word on the 13th page
Train Tracks by Michael Savage

There's no way I'm going to finish all I list (I read 13 last month). But I list the ones I am considering.

First I start with the ones that I've *matched with someone or that someone has matched with me--those I definitely will read this month. Once I've read all those, I read from those remaining as my whim takes me. :)

#1: Miss Silver Comes to Stay by Patricia Wentworth
#3: *Less Than Angels by Barbara Pym, Untimely Death by Cyril Hare
#4: The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy, The Wings of the Sphinx by Andrea Camileri
#5: Dandy Gilver and an Unsuitable Day for a Murder by Catriona McPherson
#6: The Living is Easy by Dorothy West, Skeleton Key by Jane Haddam
#7: The Grand Prize and other stories by Daniela Crăsnaru, Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha by Dorothy Gilman
#8: The Last Summer of Reason by Tahar Djaout, The yellow cross : the story of the last Cathars' rebellion against the inquisition, 1290-1329 by René Weis
#10: Blood from a Stone by Donna Leon, Swell by Ioanna Karystiani
#11: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell, The Secret of Annexe 3 by Colin Dexter, Six Months in the Sandwich Islands by Isabella Bird
#12: *Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel, Sátántango by László Krasznahorkai
#13: *Beside the Sea by Véronique Olmi, Shark River by Randy Wayne White
#14: The Turkish Gambit by Boris Akunin, Wild Strawberries by Angela Thirkell
#15: Watermark by Joseph Brodsky
#17: The Road of Lost Innocence by Somaly Mam
#18: * Ashes and Diamonds by Jerzy Andrzejewski
#19: The Potter's Field by Andrea Camilleri

Here's my overly ambitious list (* = shared read):

#1: *Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
#1: *Skios by Michael Frayn
#1: *Health Care for Some: Rights and Rationing in the United States since 1930 by Beatrix Hoffman (reading)
#2: *There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra by Chinua Achebe
#2: *Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
#3: All My Friends by Marie NDiaye (completed)
#3: Childhood Asthma and Beyond by Lois Reynolds & E.M. Tansey (completed)
#3: *Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw (completed)
#3: Palliative Medicine in the UK c. 1970-2010 by Caroline Overy & E.M. Tansey (completed)
#4: *Burmese Days by George Orwell
#7: Power Systems: Conversations on Global Democratic Uprisings and the New Challenges to U.S. Empire by Noam Chomsky
#9: Pow! by Mo Yan (reading)
#12: Bad Pharma: How drug companies mislead doctors and harm patients by Ben Goldacre
#12: *Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
#12: The Marlowe Papers by Ros Barber
#17: The Redundancy of Courage by Timothy Mo

I love this part of the month, where I plan my reads and hope to make some shared points for TIOLI. I keep an eye on the lists during the month, and sometimes add books, sometimes take away, but here's what I'm starting out with:

1. (TBD - maybe Health Care for Some)
2. * Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe
3. * Speaking From Among the Bones Alan Bradley
* Insurgent Veronica Roth
4. Tender is the Night F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Magic of Oz L. Frank Baum
7. The Open Door: One Hundred Poems, One Hundred Years of Poetry Magazine ed. Don Share
8. Lost Boy Brent W. Jeffs
9. * Dissolution C. J. Sansom
Dear Fatty Dawn French
Salvage the Bones Jesmyn Ward
10. * The Blind Assassin Margaret Atwood
Letter From New York Helene Hanff
The World of Downton Abbey Jessica Fellowes
11. * Siddhartha Hermann Hesse
14. A Storm of Swords George R. R. Martin
16. * Alias Grace Margaret Atwood
* Morning in the Burned House
* Year of the Flood
19. The Book of Job: When Bad Things Happened to a Good Person Harold S. Kushner

I've got books that I know I'll be reading that I'll hope to find a place for:

The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments George Johnson
The Great Transformation Karen Armstrong
Unusual Uses for Olive Oil Alexander McCall Smith

Looks like a good reading month to me!

Karen O.

Karen

Challenge #3
The Great Transformation - form, from, storm, grate,fast, train, rain
The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments - flute, flu, net, pets,
Unusual Uses for Olive Oil - usual, sue, live, love,sun

:=))

I think @cyderry should get a prize for finding the most embedded words from her book titles!

I won't list all of my planned reads. I wouldn't want Madeline to hurt herself when she fainted.

Needless to say, I am always overoptimistic, though, in March, I actually added, and read, an unplanned book with only a day or two to go in the month.

As for the April main challenge, we've been stuck on I-2 for quite some time. No one has a book with Raja as the first word? I can't think of any other J-3 titles.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand would fit.

Baja?

Gaja?

Taj?

Good one, @kidzdoc!

Thanks, fuzzi!

Ok, I added a J-3 and I promise to actually read it: Raj, the Bookstore Tiger.



Anyone want to join me?

I've added the link to lilbrattyteen's Asian and Pacific Islander's heritage read in my post 56.

Excellent - I found one to fit Challenge 1 this morning but it's not one I own though I did wonder about trying to borrow a library copy - Injury Time by Beryl Bainbridge is on my mum's bookshelves - and there's also a memoir of the same title by someone else.

>128 elkiedee: If you want the J-3 spot, no problem - just let me know and I can move Raj, the Bookstore Tiger.

>126 Dejah_Thoris: I'll join you - it looks cute! :)

>25 avatiakh:: I didn't know about the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis but upon learning that winners are presented with a statuette of Michael Ende's character Momo, I have a terminal case of award envy.

Thanks a lot, Kerry.

129: No, not at all, I was relieved the spot had been filled because it was really bugging me for some reason, I like to see those rolling challenges keep rolling, and I was frantically trying to find something but the Beryl Bainbridge didn't really, really grab me. I like the title of your book!

119, Cyderry-- Thank you! I love that challenge. And I would definitely join with others in saying that you deserve an award for finding embedded award titles!

126, Dejah, that book looks great. I'm in, too!

What a fun group this is!

Karen O.

Here is my list of book possibilities (though I'm sure this will morph and change as I choose reads throughout the month):

#1 - Yankee Stargazer by Robert Elton Berry
#1 - Raj, the Bookstore Tiger by Kathleen Pelley
#3 - Richard III by William Shakespeare
#3 - Thieftaker by D.B. Jackson
#4 - Reading My Father by Alexandra Styron
#6 - The Concord Quartet by Samuel A. Schreiner Jr.
#6 - Gravestones of Early New England by Harriette Merrifield Forbes
#6 - My New England by Frank Woolner
#6 - Red House by Sarah Messer
#9 - The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey
#9 - A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie R. King
#10 - The Girl in the Glass by Susan Meissner
#12 - Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson
#14 - Six Strokes Under by Roberta Isleib

I'm certain I won't get to all of these. I seldom list as many books for one challenge as I have for the New England challenge, and truth be told, those will probably be some of the first I drop if I can't get to them all... but I will give priority if anyone matches a read!

I finished and REVIEWED my first TIOLI book for April : TransAtlantic by Collum McCann. That was for the challenge to Read a work with a 4 syllable word on the 13th page.

Now I'm reading Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace and you all know which challenge that's for haha.

ETA: Here are the rest of my optimistically planned reads:

Challenge #1 - Read a book whose title is in ABC/123 order:
Life After Life – Kate Atkinson
Enchanted April – Elizabeth Von Armin

Challenge #3: Read a book with an embedded word whether scrambled or unscrambled in a single word within the title
Less Than Angels – Barbara Pym

Challenge #4: Read a book with two or more people on the cover:
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

Challenge #9: Read a work with a 4 syllable word on the 13th page:
Gulag: A History by Anne Applebaum
TransAtlantic by Colum McCann

Challenge #10: Read a work in which both the title and the author's name contains double letters:
The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen
At Lady Molly’s by Anthony Powell

Challenge #13: Read a book with a 'water' word in the title
Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala

Challenge #15: Read a Book to Start a Trend
Curse the Narrows by Laura MacDonald

I'm sure I don't want Madeline to faint, and not at all sure how many of these I'll get to, given that I'm moving this month, but here is the list from which I will be picking:

#1: (ABC123)
Sex and the River Styx by Edward Hoagland

#3 (embedded word)
*Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw
The Jackal's Share by Chris Morgan Jones (reading now)
The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro (may move this)
The Secret Speech by Tom Rob Smith

#4 (two people on cover)
The Force of Things by Alexander Stille

#5 (2012 Agatha)
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

#6 (set in New England)
Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

#7 (letters of spring)
The Painter from Shanghai by Jennifer Cody Epstein
Tyringham Park by Rosemary McLoughlin

#8 (religious oppression)
Favorite Wife by Susan Ray Schmidt

#9 (4 syllable word)
The Chef's Apprentice by Elle Newmark
The Dark Winter by David Mark
Lost by SJ Bolton
Omamori by Richard McGill
The Opium War by Julia Lovell (reading now)
Paris by Edward Rutherfurd

#10 (double letters)
The Inventor and the Tycoon by Edward Ball

#12 (2013 award shortlist/longlist)
The Absolutist by John Boyne
Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson
From the Ruins of Empire by Pankaj Mishra
Honour by Elif Shafak
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (reading now)
The People of Forever are Not Afraid by Shani Boianjiu

#13 (water title)
The Atlantic Ocean by Andrew O'Hagan
Don't Cry, Tai Lake by Qiu Xiaolong
River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh
The Sea Garden by Marcia Willett
A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea by Dina Nayeri

#14 (green cover)
Never Somewhere Else by Alex Gray

#15 (start a trend)
The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie King
Blindspot by Jane Kamensky and Jill Lepore
Capital Punishment by Robert Wilson
The Cat Who Went to Paris by Peter Gethers -- COMPLETED
The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett

#17 (SE Asia)
The Third Son by Julie Wu
The Zenith by Duon Thu Huong

#18 (gemstones in title)
The Ruby in Her Navel by Barry Unsworth

#19
Lazarus is Dead by Richard Beard
The Thursday Night Men by Tonino Benacquista

@bell7, I love the Mary Russell books! Be sure to let us know how you liked A Monstrous Regiment of Women.

*starts to feel faint again*

I think I listed two or three books so far for April's challenges! :D

Dejah_Thoris,

Are you following your challengers closely? It seems to me that there are now quite a few listings that do not qualify for your challenge. Specifically, the words listed have more than four syllables. Are you allowing this? If so, you'll need to modify your challenge slightly. If not, you need to alert those people whose listings do not qualify.

Are you using any particular reference for the amount of syllables? In the event that there are two pronunciations, are you using the preferred pronunciation or any of the pronunciations?

Thanks for taking a look at that!

I challenge these words:
unfamiliar (Dejah_Thoris wins on this one!) :D
realization
mathematician
incidentally
specifically
emancipation
considerable
manufacturing
extraordinary
unfortunately

Hey Madeline -

I'm sorry - I haven't been paying very close attention to my Challenge. I'll plead illness and limited brain function!

My intention is for the challenge to include words of 4 syllables only, so you are correct that 5 syllable words don't count. Of your list, I agree that all of the wordsbut one do not work for the Challenge. The exception is unfamiliar, which appears in the dictionary as having 4 syllables.

If it appears as a four syllable word in the dictionary, it's ok by me.

I promise to do a better job keeping up with it, Madeline!

ETA: notes have now been added to the wiki.

>140 Dejah_Thoris: Dejah, are you allowing variant pronunciations, or just the first one? I ask because I pronounce "considerable" with five syllables myself, but a variant is four - http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/considerable

Edited to add... I'm pretty sure mathematician has a variant pronunciation with four as well.

"Emancipation" was my bad - I read it too fast or didn't count right the first time. Whoops!

>135 brenzi:: A definite thumb-up for your McCann review. I have got to get hold of that book somehow.

> 141 If you can find it in a dictionary with a four syllable variant, it's ok by me! No proof required - I'll take your word for it.

>143 Dejah_Thoris: OK, cool. I've updated my entry then. :)

> 141

Mary, it must be your Massachusetts accent! ;)

klarasu to avoid the 4 versus 5 syllable word issue in Challenge 9, you could move Les Miserables over to match me in Challenge 4. I'd rather not move mine since for the moment I have a book for every challenge.

I'm still getting to grips with this whole thing, so am only dipping a toe in gently. So I may have this all wrong. But I'm not sure how "Tyringham Park by Rosemary McLoughlin" meets the requirements of #7 (letters of spring). Seems to me the title is missing a letter "S".

I'm sticking to the easy ones at the moment (a book by Atwood, for example - not exactly open to debate!). So I was reading other people's selections, to see if I'd got the hang of it. And this one has me confused.

#131: lol swynn. They seem to pick up on English language books for adults that work for teens too. This year it's Jasper Jones and a few years ago it was Death of a Superhero. Both books are great reads btw.
I want a Momo statue too!

#147 I think you're right about Tyringham Park, so I think you're doing quite well with the getting to grips with it :)

But starting out with the 'easy' challenges is a good way to start, I think TIOLI can be a bit confusing at first, so don't worry too much, you'll get used to it :)

#147Helenliz, welcome to the TIOLI challenge, and well done for finding your way here and joining in so quickly. It's one of the most fun things about this group!

>145 SqueakyChu: Haha, yeah, that must be it! :D I must say, I think it's funny to see the challenges that bring out variants in pronunciation, accents and regional dialect... didn't we have a rhyming one that brought up some discussion too? ;)

I don't see how realization isn't four syllables...

reel-i-za-tion

>152 Morphidae: re-al-i-za-tion

I say it like Morphidae does.

Who would have known that there are so many pronunciations for such common words?! ;)

I do admit that I once thought that the word "orange" only had one syllable...and the word "Baltimore" only two. As you may have guessed, I grew up in "Balmer" drinking "arnj" juice! :D

Madeline, I grew up in 'Balmer' too and always had 'arnj' juice! LOL

I think it's also very much a question of situation; if you're in a situation where you need to speak 'correctly' you will probably pronounce things differently than when you're with friends or family.

I lived in Cambridge a while, where they also pronounce only parts of words. But being back in the Netherlands I've learned to pronounce my English more carefully again, since many foreigners think that Cambridge-English is impossible to understand :P

I'm sorry that Challenge #9 turned out to be so controversial! I though it would be pretty straightforward - and I should know better, since I lived in a number of places in the U.S. and have firsthand experience that many words are pronounced differently depending on the locale.

We'll stick with the dictionary - if you can find it in a dictionary showing any pronunciation with 4 syllables, it's fine with me. No proof required.

I promise to never, ever, offer a TIOLI Challenge based on syllables again, lol!

Actually, I think challenge 9 is fun and interesting! It's great to see all the pronunciation variations. Most of the choices aren't wrong, just different!

#139 Squeaky, going to call you on 'mathematician', 'incidentally', 'specifically', 'considerable', 'extraordinary'.

In my area of England they are:

math-ma-tish-an
in-sid-dent-ly
spe-si-fic-ly
con-sid-rab-le
ex-traw-din-ry

(Don't you just love my phonetics!)

That's 4 a-piece! I'm not too far from Cambridge UK, for interest's sake.

>146 AnneDC: AnneDC, I'm happy to match you but I'm not ceding the syllables ;-) My copy doesn't have people on the cover so I didn't check that one but I'm assuming I'm OK to move it because it's a match?

>159 streamsong: streamsong, I agree! I love pronunciation variations. Accents are amazing.

>160 klarusu:: Yeah, I can easily see how you would make four syllable words like that... Pretty sure the dictionary wouldn't agree with you though ;)

ETA: Actually, Extraordinary is just three syllables:
kstraw-din-ry ;)

Anddddd... I've looked it up:
My dictionary actually lists extraordinary as a 4-syllable word for British English and as a 5-syllable word for American English :P So I guess, Klarusu, being from Cambridge, can say it's 4 syllables, even if American readers might disagree :)

Ok, lets give this a go. I'll try not to break the wiki in a bit.

I'll read:
Challenge 3. embedded word: state of wonder (embedded word could be "word")
Challenge 4. 2 people on cover: one day Which I'll listen too, assume that's OK?
Challenge 16. Atwood: the penelopiad

Ha! Ha! I just love the differences. Also, a throw back from my linguistics studies, I am very much a descriptive rather than prescriptive grammarian. From that perspective, a dictionary is merely a descriptive snapshot rather than a prescriptive rule for pronunciation. But then someone uses something in a way I don't like, and the ex-language teacher part of my brain rebels and says 'Do it my way!' Aaargh! Now they're duking it out in my head. I think I need to lie down with a good book ...

I would think of realization as 4 syllables, but will try to stick to the less variable words. I've listed "conversation" for this one - most of my other books have 4 syllable words on page 13, but many also fit somewhere else, and I do like to spread my reading around different challenges. I have a feeling this will be my fallback challenge.

#147, Helenliz ... TIOLI is so much fun. I just joined in January and I'm having a blast. Welcome!

I went to college in Balmer- love that city!

I'm on a touch screen device right now, which is lousy for editing the wiki. I'll shift my dubiously syllabled books tomorrow when I get to work. Erm, where of course I shall be working and in no way planning my TIOLI reading, no Sir, not at all, never ever.

165: Helenliz, I want to add my welcome to you. TIOLI is so much fun, and has made my reading life so productive and interesting. And never be afraid to ask questions--this is a very nice group of people.

Karen O.

> 156

Where'd you grow up, Cheli? I lived in the Park Heights area (near Pimlico Race Track) of "Balmer". Forest Park High School - class of 1965!

> 158

I promise to never, ever, offer a TIOLI Challenge based on syllables again, lol!

Aw, c'mon, Dejah_Thoris!! The controversies are part of the fun. :)

> 160

going to call you on 'mathematician', 'incidentally', 'specifically', 'considerable',
'extraordinary'.

Claire, your pronunciations are a hoot! :D

> 164

My dictionary actually lists extraordinary as a 4-syllable word for British English and as a 5-syllable word for American English

That's a great piece of detective work, Britt!

> 165

Which I'll listen too, assume that's OK?

That's perfectly fine, Helen!

One book I'm now reading in hard copy and listening to as well - depending on whether I'm in the house or in the car at the time! :)

> 169

I went to college in Balmer- love that city!

What college, Laurie?

Sinai Hospital School of Nursing - Class of 1968. Woot!

My daughter's now at University of Baltimore School of Law as a second year law student.

I'm loving the linguistics studies going on here :)

I grew up in Parkville and went to Mercy High School Class of '72

If anyone's participating in Atwood April and isn't putting all of the Atwood books in Challenge 16, I just found out that Oryx and Crake was shortlisted for the 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction.

> 179

Cheli, I have no idea where Parkville is!

ETA: I just looked it up and saw that it's east of Towson. I never knew anyone from that part of Balmer when I was growing up.

ETA2: Do you ever go up to Balmer to visit The Book Thing? I was just there last week.

>168 AuntieClio:, 171 - thanks for the welcome. Figured the best way to see how this works is to try it out. Not broken it so far (but there's time yet).

>176 SqueakyChu: - thanks Squeaky. Did suddenly occur to me that an audiobook might not count, for some arbitrary reason I hadn't thought of...

Madeline- I went to Hopkins. Class of '99. I miss the DC/Baltimore area!

(also, i know where Parkville is)

>174 SqueakyChu: Madeline, it helps if you read them in a slightly posh English accent ;-)

Madeline, I notice you're reading Pocket Antioxidants. Randomly, my PhD focused on antioxidants ... (This was a Random Fact of the Day brought to you courtesy of Claire and sponsored by her lunchbreak).

So, here's my planned reads for the month (with a few that didn't quite make it into last month handily squeezed in):

Challenge 1: Read a book whose title is in ABC/123 order
Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson

Challenge 3: Read a book with an embedded word whether scrambled or unscrambled in a single word within the title
World War Z by Max Brooks (Audiobook) Completed

Challenge 4: Read a book with two or more people on the cover
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (Matched Read)

Challenge 6: Read a book set in New England (fiction or non-fiction)
The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving

Challenge 9: Read a work with a 4 syllable word on the 13th page
Nathaniel's Nutmeg by Giles Milton
Scott's Last Expedition by RF Scott
Wonderful Life by Stephen Jay Gould

Challenge 10: Read a work in which both the title and the author's name contains double letters
Comet in Moominland by Tove Jansson
The Shipping News by Annie Proulx (Matched Read)
The Hundred Year Old Man who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson (Matched Read)

Challenge 12: Read a book that is on a 2013 award long list or short list
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (Audiobook) (Matched Read)

> 182

Did suddenly occur to me that an audiobook might not count, for some arbitrary reason I hadn't thought of...

Helen, even ebooks count. :(

P.S. jk about the frown.

> 183

Laura, the funny thing is that, when Sinai Hospital School of Nursing closed, it became integrated in o the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. So we sort of went to school in the same place! :)

> 184

Claire, I love the British accent (although I like the Auusie accent better!). I do remember, however, that I had to buy an American-English dictionary when I was visiting London. There really was a communication gap between my friend and me. :)

> 185

Clare, I am reading Pocket Antioxidants*, which was a LibraryThing Early Reviewer book. I was wondering who, beside myself, would read ever such a book. Now I know. LOL!

*You'll get to know what I thought of it when I finish it shortly and after I post a review of it.

I'm finding it hard to keep track of this thread and would be grateful if all the sub-threads listed in message #2 could include links back to here.

Anyway I've finished 2 books so far including a shared read with Suzanne for her book trends challenge.
Capital Punishment by Robert Wilson
2 people or more on cover: The God Boy by Ian Cross - older New Zealand classic

Got this from The Paris Review to my facebook page. It reminded me of how my bookshelves look after I search for books to fill TIOLI challenges

Go ahead. Blame that on me then! ;)

>192 Carmenere: LOL!!!!! Oh my, YES!!
Madeline, I suspect that Lynda and I will both claim all the responsibility for the state of our bookshelves.
;-)

Hi, Cameling...

I noticed that you have The Blind Assassin listed in challenge 16 (the Atwood challenge). Thank you for supporting that challenge (!), but Blind Assassin was placed in challenge #10 (the double/double challenge) by folks in an effort to get coverage over all of the challenges. So,...would you like to join us there? The book and author certainly have their share of double letters!

Karen O.

I finished and REVIEWED Margaret Atwood's powerful and compelling Alias Grace for the Atwood Challenge.

Now I'm reading Herman Koch's The Dinner for the challenge to Read a book with an embedded word whether scrambled or unscrambled in a single word within the title.

Wow! I can't believe that we are already a week into April. Here's my wishful thinking list of TIOLI challenges! But I have already finished one, and am nearly though Year of Wonders...so things are looking up for me. Next on the list is Vampires in the Lemon Grove.

Challenge #3: Read a book with an embedded word whether scrambled or unscrambled in a single word within the title

The Age of Miracles – (race, sale, scale, rim…) - COMPLETED
Year of Wonders – (drones)

Challenge #7: Read a book with all the letters of the word “spring” somewhere in the title

Vampires in the Lemon Grove

Challenge #9: Read a work with a 4 syllable word on the 13th page

Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall -- started last month, and re-added to this month's list for a match

Challenge #10: A work in which both the title and the author’s name contains double letters.

My Ideal Bookshelf by Thessaly La Force -- been reading this one already in bits and pieces. Definitely a work to savor, not devour.

Challenge #14: Read a Book with a Green Cover

Gaining Ground: A Story of Farmers’ Markets, Local Food, and Saving the Family Farm -- got a copy from the publisher to review for my foodie blog - so I need to get this one done this month!

I love Margaret Atwood but haven't decided which of hers I'm going to try to read or not.

TIOLI is so much fun - thanks, Madeline!

You're welcome, Liz! :)

#196 Hey Bonnie! I've started The Dinner as well. I'll include it with yours for extra points :0)

#197 Yeah lalbro! I just finished Nocturnes. Hope you like it.

197: Liz, isn't My Ideal Bookshelf a fascinating book? I'll join you in a shared book as soon as I quit drooling over the pictures. I got so "into it" that I made my own ideal bookshelf and posted it as my profile picture!

#199 Lynda, I have already read the first story and loved it -- I was trying to finish it for March but there were just too many competing books. I am really looking forward to it and am glad to know you liked it so much!

#200 Donna, Love My Ideal Bookshelf and love your shelf...I might just have to copy your wonderful idea! The pictures are absolutely wonderful -- I might take all month to finish it, just so that I can linger over each image! Looking forward to sharing with you!

I put Lewis' Die grosse Scheidung under challenge 9 (there are quite a few 4-syllable words on page 13)

I finished and REVIEWED Herman Koch's very dark novel The Dinner which sort of gave me indigestion LOL. That was for the challenge to read a book with an embedded word whether scrambled or unscrambled in a single word within the title.

Next up: Kate Atkinson's new one Life After Life for the challenge to Read a book whose title is in ABC/123 order.

I finished a couple of books:

For challenge 13 (Read a book with a 'water' word in the title)
Miracle in the Rain by Ben Hecht

For challenge 17 (Read a book by an Asian American OR set in a Southeast Asian country OR written by a Southeast Asian writer
Audio The Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotteril

I've finished State of Wonder for Challenge 3.

I finished and REVIEWED Sonali Deraniyagala's gut wrenching memoir, WAVE; easily the most powerful book I've read in a long time. That was for the challenge to read a book with something to do with water in the title.

I was planning to read The 19th Wife for my Religious Oppression challenge, and I still may. I saw the movie, and I agree with one of the reviewers of the book that the best part of it was the excerpts from Ann Eliza Young's memoir Wife No 19: Or The Story Of A Life In Bondage, Being A Complete Expose of Mormonism And Revealing The Sorrows, Sacrifices And Sufferings Of Women In Polygamy, so I'm reading that instead. Alas, it's 600 pages long. Here's hoping I finish.

Stats for the March 2013 TIOLI Challenges

In March, 2013, challengers presented 25 challenges (ties the highest number ever) and read a total of 513 books, with 119 of these being shared reads (23%) and accumulating a total of 65 TIOLI points (202 YTD TIOLI points).

The most popular book was Dr. Thorne by Anthony Trollope which was read by 8 challengers.

The most popular challenge, with 119 readers, was cyderry's challenge to read a book in a series that you have already started. This was also the challenge with the most TIOLI points (12).

Soon to come...the TIOLI awards for March, 2013...

Oops - went away for the Easter weekend, so I've been wary of coming back to LT with all those unread posts, and forgot the check in to the TIOLI.

I've finished a book for challenge 16 - the read an Atwood. only s short one, but The Penelopiad is finished. And was really quite good fun.

So far for April I've finished:

Challenge #4: Read a book with two or more people on the cover - The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir - I think I'm ready to take a break from the Tudors for a while. Henry was a right bastard.

Challenge #11: Read a book by an author with the same Zodiac sign as you - Siddhartha by Herman Hesse - Another phenomenal book that I wish I could buy copies of to give all my friends.

Challenge #16. Read a Book by Margaret Atwood - The Edible Woman - Atwood never ceases to amaze with her subtlety and use of language. The last few pages were a little obvious but then, maybe there were readers who needed the obvious.

Helenliz, I think I'll hop on the read of The Penelopiad--I'm enjoying this month's Atwood reads so much!

Karen O.

#192 : Lynda, that's how my bookshelves look too when I search for books that would make it for each month's TIOLI challenges.

I've actually managed to finish 2 TIOLIs this month so far, The Blind Assassin for the Atwood challenge and The Third Son for the Asian American challenge.

My completed April challenges so far:

Challenge #3: Read a book with an embedded word whether scrambled or unscrambled in a single word within the title
A Country of Strangers by Conrad Richter ("range")
Hold the Rein Free by Judy Van der Veer ("old")

Challenge #9: Read a work with a 4 syllable word on the 13th page
Train Tracks by Michael Savage ("especially")

Challenge 14: Think Green: Read a Book with a Green Cover
Bella Poldark by Winston Graham

Finished Vampires in the Lemon Grove for Challenge #7 although the title includes all the letters of spring, this is much more of a fall sort of book in tone....more macabre than hopeful.

I just finished The Reinvention of Love by Helen Humphries for challenge #12, not really sure how I felt about it, the plot revolves around an affair between Victor Hugo's wife and one of his friends to begin with.
Also finished the audiobook The Orphan Master's Son and added it to challenge #9 to make a shared read. This was a great story and the audio narration v. good.

I finished a book for challenge #15. Is there anything I need to do now?

Go to the wiki and mark the book as 'completed'.

Completed #10: Read a work in which both the title and the author's name contains double letters - Comme un Roman (Better Than Life) by Daniel Pennac

>>#217 & 218

And then (if you like) go to the TIOLI Meter and add yourself. This part of TIOLI is a fun way of charting your reading against other TIOLI participants but is quite voluntary so don't stress about it. :)

The link is up the top in Madeline's first post, and at the bottom of each challenge wiki page.

Another one done - this time for Challenges #3. Year of Wonders - (one, done, ear...). Loved, loved, loved it.

So far this month, I've read :

Fledgling by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller,
Challenge 6: set in New England - Thieftaker by D.B. Jackson,
Challenge 4: two people on the cover - Shalador's Lady by Anne Bishop.

I finished and REVIEWED Kate Atkinson's wonderful Life After Life. That was for the challenge to Read a book whose title is in ABC/123 order.

Not sure what I'll read next.

I just finished Zorro by Isabel Allende, listed under Challenge #10. The author breathes life into the legend of Zorro and tells how Don Diego invents and refines his alter-ego, all the while staying true to history. I loved this book!

I've enjoyed any Allende I've picked up, Judy. I'll check on my bookshelf, I may have a copy of Zorro.

Added:

TIOLI #1 (ABC/123)
Beyond World's End by Mercedes Lackey

TIOLI #3 (embedded word)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling
Wing Commander: Freedom Flight by Mercedes Lackey
Mad Maudlin by Mercedes Lackey
Chrome Circle by Mercedes Lackey
The White Gryphon by Mercedes Lackey
The Silver Gryphon by Mercedes Lackey
Exile's Honor by Mercedes Lackey
The Eagle and the Nightingale by Mercedes Lackey
Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Mercedes Lackey

TIOLI #4 (two people+ cover)
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
Music to My Sorrow by Mercedes Lackey
Wheels of Fire by Mercedes Lackey
When the Bough Breaks by Mercedes Lackey
Passage by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Robin and the Kestrel by Mercedes Lackey

TIOLI #7 (Spring in title)
Spirits White as Lightning by Mercedes Lackey

TIOLI #9 (4 syllable/13th page)
Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire
Frost Burned by Patricia Briggs
A Bone to Pick by Charlaine Harris

TIOLI #10 (title/author double letters)
Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch
The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe
Gift of a Letter by Alexandra Stoddard

TIOLI #14 (green cover)
Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich

TIOLI #19 (Orange)
Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear

Hmmm?! Zorro would presently make a good entry to Challenge #1. :D

>>#227

I'm willing to sacrifice Challenge #10 for the greater good! :)

Don't have to hit me with a ton of bricks! I'll move it over to Challenge Nbr 1. :)

ETA: Challenge 1 is now ready for A-2.

*quietly puts bricks way*

I've finished my book for challenge 4, with 2 people on the cover one day. I think I enjoyed it, I've just sat in the car for nearly 10 minutes to finish listening to it!

>224 DeltaQueen50:, 225 I'm just the opposite, I haven't liked any Allende I've tried except Zorro.

Finished A-2 for challenge 1 (Kalter Süden : Kriminalroman by Liza Marklund)

Finished Nocturnes last night for Challenge #9!

High fives for our mutual read, lalbro!

Am I allowed to add books as I go through the month? Just noticed that my current read would also fit one of the challenges.

>236 Helenliz:, Of course! A lot of us add books to the challenges as we read them over the month. I personally am terrible at predicting what I'll read.

>27 fuzzi:, Fuzzi - I don't suppose that Watership Down could count for challenge 13, since it has the word "water" embedded in it? The challenge prompt doesn't say anything about embedded words.

Finished challenge #9, Bridget Jones the Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding - "second verse worse than the first"

>235 Carmenere:. Lynda - jumping up to high five you right back! What did you think about Nocturnes? Lots of excellent evoking of place and mood.

Quick Reads Day, Folks!

Let's hear your suggestions for books COMPLETED by any challenger that are good reads and quick enough to finish by month's end.

>222 humouress::
So far this month, I've read :

Fledgling by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller,
Challenge 6: set in New England - Thieftaker by D.B. Jackson,
Challenge 4: two people on the cover - Shalador's Lady by Anne Bishop.

I'm adding :
Challenge 3: embedded words - Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson,
God Stalk by P. C. Hodgell

>240 SqueakyChu:

Some good, quick reads:

Less Than Angels by Barbara Pym (262 pages) for Challenge #3
Ashes and Diamonds by Jerzy Andrzejewski (238 pages) for Challenge #18

(237) @inge87, go for it. :)

If you've not yet read Watership Down, you're in for a treat. I've reread it several times.

My own challenge has been stalled, and I probably will not get much more done by 4/30. My father is coming to visit, arriving tomorrow.

>240 SqueakyChu: I'd highly recommend Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe for my challenge (#2).

I'll recommend two quick enjoyable reads. Both were originally published in French - the first by a French Algerian and the second by a French Canadian.

Challenge #1: Bar Balto by Faïza Guène (160pgs)

Challenge #3: Fish change direction in cold weather by Pierre Szalowski (272pgs)

I've just finished Powder And Patch for #11 - I believe it's the shortest of all Georgette Heyer's novels, and an easy, pleasant read (although with a higher-than-usual quota of untranslated French; justified by the plot, but perhaps a bit off-putting for some).

I feel like the last person to have read it but The Sense of an Ending (challenge 3) was a real quick read at just over 200 pages.

A little late, but I would recommend both The Enchanted April and Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore as quick reads.

>239 lalbro: Ishiguro is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors, Liz. He shows his skill with characterization and atmosphere in Nocturnes

>13 Dejah_Thoris:: Dejah; on page 13 of God Stalk (which is actually the first page of Chapter 1, after maps and so on), I have the word enviously. Does that qualify for your 4/13 Challenge?

ETA: phooey; Warbreaker would have fit perfectly in to Challenge 1 for A-2, if only I'd realised in time. Now we need B-3, but it'd be (if we were going that far) B-4. And similarly, God Stalk would be D-3.

No matter - I shall continue my hunt for a challenge to fit.

If I could add The Penelopiad as a quick read. I managed to romp through it in an afternoon.

I'm just starting Rumer Godden's The Dolls' House as a quick read - double letters in author's name and title, a children's chapter book of 132 pages with lots of pictures.

Quickie read recommendation: The Great Fire by Jim Murphy, 144 pages, fits Orange challenge #19 (orange cover). Nonfiction about the 1871 Chicago fire.

>247 kiwiflowa:: Kiwi, you're not the last person who's read it; I haven't gotten around to it yet :) Rest assured.

Gah!!! It looks like I'm not going to have time to read the book for my own challenge. *grumble*

>243 fuzzi:, Thanks, It's one of my favorites. I meant to get to it last month, but didn't.

The TIOLI AWARDS for March, 2013!

The So Many "Jo"s Award goes to ccookie for reading Life by Keith Richards for my (SqueakyChu's) challenge to read a book which has at least one character whose first name starts with the two-letter combination "Jo". This challenger's book had 21 characters in it with "Jo" names!

The I'll Opt for Nothing Award goes to bell7 for reading Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare. It turns out that her book was the only one about "nothing". All of the other COMPLETED books in lindapanzo's challenge to read a book with "all or "nothing" in the title used the title word "all".

The Surrounded by the Irish Award goes to AnneDC for raidergirl3's challenge to read a book set in Ireland or by an Irish author. Well, AnneDC read the book, How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill, which also included the word "Irish" in its title.

The Animals Together Award goes to christiguc for reading Lions at Lamb House by Edwin M. Yoder, Jr. for fuzzi's challenge to read a book with "lion" or "lamb" in the title. This book title had both the words "lamb" and lion" in a single title. Such peaceful coexistence!

Congrats to our award winners!

Soon to come...the TIOLI challenges for May! :D

I do like your award titles; how much time do you spend thinking them up?

> 259

I do like your award titles; how much time do you spend thinking them up?

Barely any time at all! :)