Take It or Leave It Challenge - January 2014 - 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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Your challenge for January 2014 is to read a book whose title names an object usually found in the kitchen.

If you’re not sure, take a vote…but don’t try to stretch things too far. For instance, your cat can certainly walk into your kitchen, but your cat will *not* be acceptable for this challenge. Ha!

Rules:
1. You can use embedded words or those words stretched across two or more title words.
2. You can match any book.

Here are some ideas…

1. All Because of a Cup of Coffee (cup, coffee, cup of coffee) – G. Stilton
2. The Mermaid Chair (chair) – Sue Monk Kidd
3. I Been in Sorrow’s Kitchen and Licked Out All the Pots (pots) - Susan Straight
4. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (potato, potato peel, pie, potato peel pie) – Mary Jane Shaffer
5. The Devil’s Punchbowl (punch, bowl, punchbowl) – Greg Iles
6. The facts behind the Helsinki Roccamatios : and other stories (sink) – Yann Martel
7. Spooner (spoon) – Pete Dexter

Meanwhile, I’m getting hungry…so I’m off to my own kitchen to find something to cook.

Have fun and have a fabulous 2014!

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

1. The January 2014 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 12/25/13)

Wiki Index of Challenges:

Challenges #1-6
1. Read a book whose title names an object usually found in the kitchen - msg #1
2. Read a book from your 'average' year - msg #3
3. Read a book that has a connection with the number "14" - msg #6
4. Read a work of nonfiction from the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2013 - msg #7
5. Read a book set in France before the 21st Century - msg #16
6. Read a book by a Yorkshire Born writer - msg #18

Challenges #7-12
7. Read a book you received as a present - msg #19
8. Read a book that has a glossary - msg #24
9. Read a book by the author of one of your favourite books of 2013 - msg #35
10. Read a book that you discovered on an LT thread in 2013 - msg#36
11. Read a book that has two of something in the title - msg#40
12. Read a mystery book where the lead investigator is a professional sleuth, but not one employed by law enforcement - msg #57

Challenges #13-18
13. Read a book by an author who died in 2013 - msg # 48
14. Read a book that is about an athlete or athletes - msg #42
15. Read a book that takes place during "The War to End All Wars" (1914-1918) - msg #76
16. Read a book with an ugly cover - msg #93 - thread & CONTEST!
17. Read a book about the city, state(province), or country in which you live - msg #122
18. Read a book by an author from Sub-Saharan Africa - msg #137

Challenge #19
19. Read a book with a walking or standing figure on the cover - msg #148 - thread
20. Read a book by an author called Elizabeth or a version of that name - msg #195

Hold your challenges until the February TIOLI challenges go up!

It's Share-A-Quote Day...or Week!

Share the quote(s) you like best of your current read(s)...

Not quite a 'current' read as I finished it a couple days ago, but so full of beauty that I must quote from it.

Let Us Now Praise Famous Men written by James Agee:

"...the corn and the trees move as if a great page were being turned..."

Speaking of a page being turned, you have to see this (it's funny).

And, Madeline, here's further information on one of the devices described above:
http://bookriot.com/2014/01/13/7-diy-bookmarks-crafty-reader/

I saw that yesterday, Joyce. Those are some clever "device" ideas. I make these devices to give away in my Little Free Library. :)

5>> Antique Reading Devices = THE BOOK :-)

i've used Paint Chip Bookmarks before, just never thought of adding the string to it! BTW I love bookmarks, and I am so obsessive that I try to match my bookmark to the particular book that I am currently reading.

I'm sure I have more somewhere around, but I'm lucky if I can find a bookmark when I need one; let alone matching them.

ETA: I've finished Five Children and It by E. Nesbit, and the only challenge I can find to fit it into is Challenge 11. I've also finished Barrayar, which I shall enter in challenge 16, for a joint book. So my current standing is:

Challenge 11 - 2 of something (two 'd's in the title)
Five Children and It by Edith Nesbit

Challenge 16 - ugly cover
Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold

Challenge 19 - a walking or standing figure
Shards of Honour by Lois McMaster Bujold

Challenge 1 - an object usually found in the kitchen
The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross

Five Children and It was hilarious - and I shall put in a heap of quotes as soon as I can get my hands on it again.

Coming on to the board with Challenge #11 - Oryx and Crake- Two animals

Working on some others.

>5 SqueakyChu: Madeline, I'd seen that on Facebook some time ago, but you just inspired me to post it on my blog. Excellent!

>6 Citizenjoyce: Joyce, I love those bookmark ideas! I think I might make a couple of those animals from the stencils, thanks for posting that here.

Here's my quote for today. I'm reading Pride and Prejudice for the second time with Liz tutoring me (the thread is here if anyone wants to join in, or just lurk) and have just this minute finished reading Chapters 22 and 23, completing Volume 1. The following quote about Charlotte's acceptance of Mr Collins (my favourite character in the book because he's so ridiculous!):

"The stupidity with which he was favoured by nature must guard his courtship from any charm that could make a woman wish for its continuance; and Miss Lucas, who accepted him solely from the pure and disinterested desire of an establishment, cared not how soon that establishment were gained."

I know it'a past quote day, but I had to add my favorite part of that particular passage:
Without thinking highly of men or of matrimony, marriage had always been her object: it was the only honourable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune...
This is truly the perfect match.

> 11 Oryx and Crake aren't animals, but they are both people. :)

>13 Citizenjoyce: Joyce, I've commented on that in the tutorial thread and believe I included your favourite part too.

>14 JenMDB: in the book they are people who chose animal names. Oryx is an african antelope and Crake is a waterbird related to rails.

A late entry for quote day. I've just finished listening to The Marriage plot and this line caught me:
If you grew up in a house where you weren't loved, you didn't know there was an alternative.
Ouch. Having grown up in a happy house, I find it difficult to imagine the opposite. Time to (yet again) give small thanks for my parents

December, 2013, TIOLI Stats:

Here they are...

In December, 2013, we COMPLETED a total of 538 books in 19 challenges. Of the books read, 98 or 18% were shared reads for a total of 52 points and 710 YTD points. No record highs or low this month. Our shared reads have continued on a downward spiral steadily over the past four years, though.

The most popular book, with 7 readers, was A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. This was a surprise because that book also was the most popular book of the December, 2010, TIOLI challenge!

The most popular challenge was the one by Morphidae to read a book by an author from a different country than the three previously listed books. For this challenge, 74 books were COMPLETED.

The most TIOLI points went to lyzard's challenge to share a book. That challenge alone accumulated 14 TIOLI points.

Coming soon...the December, 2013, TIOLI Awards...

I am currently reading my last planned read of the month (A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley for Challenge #3).

So, I have added 3 more books, all shared reads.

For Challenge #2, We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver.

For Challenge #4, I've added Year Zero: A History of 1945 by Ian Buruma.

For Challenge #15, One of Ours by Willa Cather.

>5 SqueakyChu: That was wonderful! Thanks.

One straggling quote for quote week (I was looking for a different one and couldn't find it), from The Birds of the Air by Alice Thomas Ellis:

"Mrs Marsh watched quietly, admitting to herself that she found her son-in-law loathsome. She even went in to speak to him and was treated to the faint weasel gleam of his smile. 'Barbara worries too much about the children,' he told her.

Mrs March stared speechlessly at his pale face, his gold-rimmed spectacles and his pale hair. His head looked as though it had been lightly buttered -- so sleek, so unguent and so slight. He made her think of hard roads under a film of rain, shallow and dangerous; of slugs and Nazis and the minister she sometimes met in the terminal ward of the cancer hospital when she was arranging the flowers . . . " (p.71)

Whoa! To say she doesn't like him is an understatement! I treasure the 'head looked as though it had been lightly buttered' part.

That really gave me the creeps. I don't know that I'd be up to reading whatever follows.

>21 inge87:&22, The Birds of the Air is a satire of the British middle class circa 1978, so everyone is pretty messed up and miserable. But Mrs. March has particular reason to give in to her loathing. On top of his being a complete (insert favorite expletive here), she's just found out he's cheating on her daughter.

I don't have any problem with cheating, but the quote seemed to be headed the the direction of actual physical damage to someone. I hope I'm wrong, Then it's not creepy, just clever.

TIOLI #9. Read a book by the author of one of your favourite books of 2013 - I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

Mind. Blown. Markus Zusak certainly has a different way of looking at things and the ending of I Am the Messenger shows how delightful his way is. I did not see it coming.

Ed Kennedy is a 19-year-old cab driver with little to no ambition. He drives his cab, reads an inordinate amount (for his world, anyway) and plays cards with his friend. His dog is called the Doorman and smells to high heaven. This is Ed's life.

Then one day, Ed and his friends get caught up in a bungled bank robbery where, quite by mistake, Ed becomes a hero by stopping the burglar.

Shortly after the trial, Ed starts getting messages written on playing cards which are tasks he must complete. Trick is, he doesn't know what the tasks are, or what the messages mean. He must figure that out on his own.

In total, there are 13 messages and as Ed works through them, his life and perceptions are changed. He begins to speak more honestly to those around him including his bullying mother and the friend he adores, Audrey. In each task, he makes someone's life better.

But #13 comes and he doesn't have a clue what to do. Not one. As I was reading, I kept thinking, "What a charming little book. I love his language. I like these characters even though they are all useless louts for the most part. I really like that Ed's life is improving."

And then BAM!! It went from a nice, charming book to a treatise on existentialism. And I teared up. Because, here's a little secret, while I want to make a living being a photographer, I'm not and I have no f'ing clue what I'm doing. I'm just making it up as I go along, hoping something finds an audience and I can earn money doing what I truly love.

Reading the ending of I Am the Messenger made me think, "huh, that's interesting." And then tear up because Ed Kennedy thinks, "huh, that's interesting" and then sort of asks, "Now what?" And that's the big question isn't it?

I loved this book.

I finished listening to The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng last night. I included it in challenge #10, as was impressed with the reactions of those who'd read and reviewed it in this group. If anyone is looking to share a read, this is much recommended. Not light reading by any means, but sublime.

Just started on Wuthering Heights this evening, which I listed in Paul's challenge #6: Read a book by a Yorkshire Born writer. Off to a very promising start; I can see it becoming one of my favourite classics already. Interesting to note that it came out the same year as Jane Eyre (1847), which I've read three times and intend to read many times again.

I think I liked I Am the Messenger better than Book Thief, which is an amazing book. Your wonderful review reminded me of how much I loved Ed and Zuzak.

#28 raidergirl,
I like them both in completely different ways. Zusak just blows me away. And thank you for the compliment on my review.

Ilana, I hope to read The Garden of Evening Mists sometime this year.

>26 AuntieClio:, Awesome sounding book. Thanks for the good review.

Finished Challenge 19: Read a book with a walking or standing figure on the cover.

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

Oddly enough I've read books for, I think, it's three challenges, but none of them so far are for the challenges I originally accepted. :)

Ack! I just realized I have the same book for two separate challenges. Don't fuss at me, I'll fix it later, the plumber will be here $hortly...

Ive just started The Goldfinch but wont try to put it into any challenge this month because I'm sure it will take me into February.

Phew! I've finished Bleak house. Something a little lighter (on the mind and the wrist) is in order next...

Well I finished Memories of Anne Frank: Reflections of a Childhood Friend by Alison Leslie Gold for Challenge 19. I think that is my 3rd book this month to fit into a TIOLI!

Awards for the December 2013 TIOLI Challenges...

The Triple Crown Award goes to labfs39 for my (SqueakyChu's) challenge to read a book with a two-word tag in which both words start with the same letter. This challenger came up with three two-word tags for the book The Long Walk. Good scouting in the tag cloud!

The Could You Pass Me One, Please, Award goes to paulstalder for reading Bier (Beer) for cbl_tn's challenge to read a book with a word in the title or author's name representing something you would find on a holiday table. Why is this challenger a winner? Well, it's because I'm thirsty, of course! By the way, could you please pass me one?

The Traveler's Companion Award goes to Morphidae for her challenge to read a book by an author from a different country than the three previously listed books. I thought this was an exceptional challenge to get our readers to explore literature from various nations. In addition, rolling challenges are always fun.

The TIOLI Point Round-Up Award goes to lyzard for her challenge to "share a read " or read a book that's a shared read. That was a terrific way to up the TIOLI point count for one month. Kudos to you!

The We're So Blue Award goes to countrylife for reading Blue Heaven and to Lois B for reading The Deep Blue Alibi for lahochstetler's challenge to read a book with a predominantly blue cover. Not only did these books cover the parameter of the challenge, but they each had the word "blue" in their title. Don't be blue. This is a good thing!

The ...And Nothing More Award goes to calm for inge87's challenge to read a book whose title finishes the sentence "All I want for Christmas is . . .". The book read for this challenge was Gifts. Er, I guess that covers just about everything! For what more could one ask?

The Amazing Word Finder Award goes to auntieclio for cyderry's challenge to read a book with an embedded word in the title. Our winning challenger found nine embedded words in the title of the book The Beats: A Graphic History!

The A Long Title Helps Award goes to brenpike for antieclio's challenge to read a book which has two words in the title starting with the same letter. Our reading challenger's book title, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures, had six words which met the challenge parameters, with one of these letters starting a different word four different times!

Congratulations to our multiple TIOLI Award winners for December, 2013!

Wow! I'd like to thank the academy and Madeleine. :-)

Clap!Clap!Clap!Clap!Clap!Clap! Congratulations, winners!

Thanks for the award Madeline:)

Glad I was able to help with the numbers, Madeleine!

TIOLI #11. Read a book that has two of something in the title - Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder (2 Ls, 2 Ts, two Es (x 2), 2 Rs, 2Is)

Wow. I almost didn't finish this one and am questioning reading the rest. As a trained historian, I understand that we must not insist people from the past have the same ideals we have. But Little House on the Prairie was so filled with bigotry against the Indians I began to despair. Also a reminder of how completely horrible the US government, and settlers, were towards those who had lived on the land first.

On the lighter side, Pa always impresses me with how much he knows. How to notch logs just right to build a house and lay a floor. How to plow and plant. How to make things like bedsteads and rockers.

If reading this with a child now, I would be extremely careful to explain that the attitudes in this book were the prevailing attitudes of the day and that they are in no way acceptable.

42: I read this when I was turning 6, and I remember feeling a bit uncomfortable with that even then, though I loved the series. Reading about the real life family though, there's a lot not to like - Laura Ingalls Wilder's daughter Rose apparently "helped" to write the books and there are suggestions she put a lot of her politics in there.

For others doing Morphy's Mighty Magical Monthly read, I've put The Magician's Guild by Trudi Canavan in my challenge #8 because it has a glossary.

>42 AuntieClio:, You know, I never before saw Little House on the Prairie as anything other than a lovely story of a girl growing up in pioneer days. But I'm cringing over some of the same thoughts as yours in my current read, Carpenter's Geographical Reader (Challenge 15, Read a book that takes place during the War to End All Wars). Published in 1915, this book has been a fascinating look at a time long gone. I've laughed through parts of it (such as finding out that the most important use for petroleum is as a source of lighting). I've been sick at my stomach through parts of it (such as the pictures of huge trees, described as many hundreds of years old, being felled by loggers).

And I've been educated and appalled at the ways non-white people have been described. What makes it so painful is that the author is quite obviously trying to present all people in a good light. He's not trying to be an insensitive jerk. But the times were SO different. He writes with pride and enthusiasm about the schools set up to teach young Native Americans how to act and live exactly like white people and refers to tribal forms of government being abolished as a good thing.

I have some deep thoughts about this, but I don't have them fully formed yet.

Hej Madeleine, thank you very much for the beer award!! I am very pleased - and I put a different beer each day on my thread. Here you have a box of eight: Enjoy!


pick one and pass the box on, please

Thanks, Paul! I'll pick Dead Pony Club as I love to try craft brews. Who else is taking which beer?

*takes first swig*

Ahhhhh!

Note: The first swallow of ice cold beer or soda from a glass bottle is always the best! :)

Gee, thanks! Those non-fiction titles really fill the bill sometimes :). Besides that, it was a really good book.

46>> I'll take the Grand Cru. Anybody want some cheese?

#46. Ah, Innis & Gunn. I'll have that one, please. Anyone got snacks?

> 46

Oooh! What kind of cheese are you serving?

*thinks that was a brilliant award that I gave to Paul*

and here is the book to go with the Grand Cru:

Quickie Reads Day is today!

Your suggestions, please?

> 53

My suggestion for a "Quickie Read" is The Cat Who Covered the World by Christopher S. Wren. This book of slightly more than 200 pages tell about the true life adventures of Henrietta the cat who travels the world with the family of a foreign correspondent (the book's author). For those who appreciate the nine lives of cats, this book will delight you. Go for it, and share this read with me! :)

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency was a quick enjoyable read. Perfect for Quick Reads Day.

Ok, I'm back again, joined and was able to add 35 of my 40 works read. Back again as in participated in 2011.

For Quick Reads:
Well, obviously I read quickly so most things are quick reads to me.

All of Lacey Dearie's "Leger - Cat Sleuth" stories are fun little reads about a cat who decides to help investigate things. In the first case, one of his humans was stabbed and robbed. I gave it 4 stars to all the stories I've read so far. The actual story called "Leger - Cat Sleuth" is free.
I've forgotten how to add works when they don't show up on touchstones so - http://www.librarything.com/work/14533365
MYS, CAT

Alexis Hall's Iron & Velvet is not free but loved it. Lots of humor, good investigation. Interesting little 277 page book. Read in a day. 5 star book.
MYS, URBAN FANTASY, FANTASY

Robin Roseau's The Emergency Claus is another shorter work. An interesting story involving the daughter of Santa Claus having to cover for her father, otherwise known as Santa Claus, because of a broken leg. I gave it 5 stars. Someone else gave it 1.5 stars, and those two total ratings give it a 3.25 rating. So, maybe will not be liked, eh? http://www.librarything.com/work/14642253

Joshua Guess's Victim Zero is a neat free zombie book. Well, it was free when I got it. I think it might not be free any longer. 214 page book. A rather smart fella finds algae packed with something or other. Over years finds it really helps make people healthier. Lead scientist on the project, but an unknown to him lab is also working on the project and are using a prior strain that had bad mutation effects - which lead to a zombie outbreak. The scientist fights to find a cure while also trying to hide that he was one of the main people behind the creation of actual zombies. I gave it 4 stars.
Just checked, no longer free. $3.99 now. Maybe one of those to watch to see if it becomes free again.
Post-Apocalyptic, Zombies

Barbara Ann Wright's The Pyramid Waltz - Another 'read in one day' which might take others longer, being 264 pages. Probably one of the best books I've read, though I didn't exactly like the way it ended, nor the first few paragraphs. Good solid action, solid world building, and one of the best displays of two strong independent people coming together in love and as equal partners. Neither submissive, neither dominant. Maybe something of that will/or did turn up in a later book, though I like the way it is at the moment. 5 stars
FANTASY

Sharon Sant's The Memory Game follows a young high school student who has died but not yet moved on. He moves around as a ghost, finding out more than he expected about his own friends, about the girl he fancied, and another girl he didn't really know existed (the only one who can actually see and talk to him). 140 pages. Was free when I got it, though it is $0.99 now. Another book I gave 5 stars to, though I didn't expect to do so while reading it.

None of my "Quick Reads" took me more than a day, and several much less than that.

Two recently read short books I can recommend are 1914: A Novel by Jean Echenoz for anyone interested in reading about WWI. Darryl has written a very good review of it already. I wrote... notes which I'm not sure are fit to be called a review on my on thread. I just finished listening to David Sedaris reading his Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls and that had me laughing and chuckling quite a bit, though most comedy usually goes right over my head, and I'd read Sedaris in the past and not found him funny. There are bits about tortured animals that made me feel sick and which I ended up skipping over, but otherwise it's good fun. "Fun" isn't a word I'd use for my first recommendation, but of course you wouldn't expect that given the topic.

I want to read The Light Years next—just have to find a challenge to fit it into*.

eta: *duh! but of course! Challenge 20: Read a book by an author called Elizabeth or a version of that name. Perfect!

I read Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls last year because of seeing Sedaris discussing his book on either the Daily Show or the Colbert Report. I enjoyed the interview. Not so much enjoy the book. Probably because I read it instead of listened to it. Well, maybe. Weird collection of essays and short stories. At least I have some vague recollection that some were fiction.

I'm going to add Eleanor and Park which, at 336 pages, doesn't seem like a quick read, but it is. First of all it's YA, second of all the characters and their lives are so interesting you won't be able to put it down. I read it in 2 days, and I'm definitely not a fast reader. I'm listening to an audiobook of her Fangirl now and liking it even more.

> 57

I also just finished reading Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls and found it totally *not* funny. I find David Sedaris' brand of humor offensive. However, I have heard him deliver some of his material aloud (it was either on tape or CD, I can't remember which) and found his oral presentation more entertaining. I think it had something to do with the way he delivered his material in his squeaky voice. Anyhow, I'm not up for reading more of his works anytime soon.

> 58

Probably because I read it instead of listened to it

It's funny that you should say the same thing, Lexxi.

A belated Thanks for the We're So Blue award - my first!

I recently read The Second-Chance Dog in a couple of hours, does that qualify as a quickie read?

Anyway, I enjoyed it, and will be checking out other books by Jon Katz.

For a quick read I will recommend an audiobook I listened to recently: Wind in the Willows narrated by Alan Bennett. 3 more perfect hours it would be hard to imagine.

As a quick read I will anti-recommend Bleak house...

LOL @Helenliz. Add Middlemarch and A Tale of Two Cities to that quick read anti-recommendation...

Re: Challenge 17 - does the book have to be ABOUT the place you live or just SET there? I can't really tell from the titles that have been posted.

I put a title on there - set in the country in which I live, in the city in which I grew up, by an author who lived just down the road from where I am now - but I'm not sure it really belongs there.

It could be set there, as long as there is some local color in the story. For example, most of the Spenser mystery series are set in the Boston area and would count for folks in Massachusetts, and the Nero Wolfe series would count for those in New York.

>66 LoisB: you answered my question too!

TIOLI #17 Read a book about the city, state(province), or country in which you live.

Detroit Electric Scheme by D.E. Johnson

I'm from Michigan, like this book. It's a murder mystery that takes place in 1910, but it's full of the early auto industry. I enjoyed reading about the rivalry between the gasoline and electric cars, an early car show and also some historic Detroit landmarks (of course, there was also a mystery in there). The book kept moving and kept me guessing! I'm excited to read the others in the series.

>67 jennyifer24: That's the idea of the challenge. I'm glad you enjoyed it and found it interesting.

I just realized I only have a week to complete my challenges. I need to read four more books to do it. Ooh, that book I read half of and then decided not to finish is really going to come back to haunt me!

TIOLI #7. Read a book you received as a present - Permission Marketing : Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers by Seth Godin

Since the reasons for reading this book were very personal, I can't give a good objective review except to say that it was very helpful to me. If you want to read my review, you can find it here.

TIOLI #7. Read a book you received as a present - I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai (Kevin)

The Quran says we should seek knowledge, study hard and learn the mysteries of our world. (p 154)

The first half, or so, of I Am Malala is history of Swat Valley in Pakistan and politics. There's a lot to digest about the Taliban, Pakistani politics and politicians (including Benazhir Bhutto and Pervez Musharraf). There's also family history and Malala's father's dream of building a big school and educating everyone, especially girls.

My main quibble with the first part is that it's hard to know whose voice is speaking, Malala's or Christina Lamb's, the co-author. It's written in a stilted style that seems to be from someone whose first language isn't English. To be fair, Malala's first language was Pashtun, not English, but this part of the book doesn't really seem to be in her voice at all.

I'll be honest, as I read I kept wondering when it would get more interesting. There's so much background, I couldn't really get the feel for who Malala had been before her shooting. I didn't hear her voice. There were times when I wondered if I would recommend this book to anyone I know.

But the day of the shooting came and this book took off like a racehorse. Even though it's clear that many of things written in the last part of the book are what could only have been related to Malala after she began healing.

In this part, her voice rises. I began to feel Malala come through the pages telling her story of how her life changed after being shot and transferred to Birmingham, England. The last line of the book is, "I am Malala. My world has changed but I have not."

A warning, there are somewhat graphic descriptions of punishments meted out by the Taliban. There are pictures, but those aren't as grim. I remain truly shocked at the inhumanity of some against others who want something different, something better.

Even though I'm only giving I Am Malala 3.5 stars, I do recommend for anyone wanting to know about this miraculous young woman and the world she lived in.

Challenge #9: read a book by the same author as one of your favourite books of 2013

I've been meaning to read some of Simon Armitage's original compositions, rather than just his translations of early poetry. And thanks to this challenge I finally have.

Golly. Black Roses is very possibly not the cheeriest piece of work you've ever read, but it packs a punch well above it's size. This one's going to stick with me for some time.

The style has a lot in common with the alliterative tradition that I've read before, but is less structured. It is a very immediate form, using everyday terms and phrases without any rigid structure, but there is underlying form to support the words. I'm not always very confident reading poetry (I usually feel I must be missing something) but this got under the skin very fast.

Challenge #15: read a book set during "the War to End all Wars"

Rilla of Ingleside, by LM Montgomery.

I've read this book multiple times, but I decided I could count up to one re-read per month this year as long as it's a true beginning-to-end re-read rather than dipping in and out to read a few favorite scenes. Rilla is the 8th book of the well-beloved Anne of Green Gables series, but it's unique within the series for its strong and specific grounding in world events--specifically, World War I and the Canadian homefront experience.

The heroine, Anne's youngest daughter Rilla, turns 15 on the eve of the Great War's outbreak. She's finally old enough for dances, beaux, and the like and can hardly wait to experience the joys of almost-grown-up life. But instead she spends four years waiting at home while her brothers, sweetheart, and childhood playmates one by one go off to war. Over the course of the war she's transformed from a rather lazy and frivolous girl into a hardworking, capable young woman as she runs her village's Junior Red Cross and brings up a "war baby" whose mother dies while her husband is away fighting.

Reading this Kindle version, I kept encountering little snippets of description and dialogue I couldn't remember from my old paperback copy. I gave it to the library years ago, so I couldn't compare to confirm, but I was pretty sure I would've remembered exchanges like this one, where Anne is describing the time she tried to dye her hair black as a child:

"I bought a bottle of dye from a German Jew peddler. I fondly expected it would turn my hair black--and it turned it green. So it had to be cut off."

"You had a narrow escape, Mrs. Dr. dear," exclaimed Susan. "Of course you were too young then to know what a German was. It was a special mercy of Providence that it was only green dye and not poison."

That's not the kind of thing you'd read and forget, to put it mildly, and one can easily see why it would've been cut from post-WWII editions! But there were other sections I couldn't quite remember, either--some of them additional expressions of anti-German bigotry, but others that were just LM Montgomery's typical lush descriptions. So I did some googling and discovered the versions most Gen X and Gen Y girls grew up reading were indeed abridged, but the original full text is now available in both the bargain Kindle version I have and in a new print edition released in 2010.

I've had friends tell me they dislike this book because of its false portrayal of WWI--the characters swallow whole every bit of anti-German propaganda their government dishes out, both author and characters are brutal to the village's one outspoken pacifist, and the soldiers and their families somehow fondly believe despite everything that their sacrifice is worthwhile and will lead to the building of a new and better world. But to me that's why this is an important book beyond its place as part of a classic childhood series. Of course you wouldn't want to get your entire history of WWI from it, but when you remember that it was published in 1921, you see it as almost as much a primary source document as a story. It becomes poignant and heartbreaking how very wrong these brave, well-intentioned people are about the war and its aftermath.

But for all that, I still do read Rilla of Ingleside as a story, too. And I'm almost embarrassed to admit it, but anything to do with Dog Monday (Rilla's brother's dog who decides to wait for him at the train station after he goes off with the very first batch of Canadian recruits) makes me get all misty-eyed.

Challenge #1. Read a book whose title names an object usually found in the kitchen
Small Plates: Short Fiction by Katherine Hall Page
A delightful relatively short tome of luscious stories by one of my favorite authors. Lots of tempting short stories that each has a villain(ess), a little soupcon of a dilemma, and a short almost but not quite guest appearance by Faith Fairchild, one of my favorite cozy sleuths. Faith has a catering company and each story has some connection to the kitchen/food/eating theme. Yummy fun in small doses. A great way to introduce KHP if you're not familiar with the series.

All done with these three:

The Toff and the Trip-Trip Triplets - 11. A book that has two of something in the title

The Ever-Loving Blues - 12. A mystery book where the lead investigator is a professional sleuth, but not one employed by law enforcement

'Cover-Up' by John Feinstein - A book that is about an athlete or athletes

I enjoyed all of these. I knew I would like the other books going into them. I'm not much of a sports fan, so enjoying 'Cover-Up' was a pleasant surprise.

Merryann, I'm not much of a sports fan either (involved in my grandson's little league baseball only because he plays) but I'm usually pleasantly surprised by every sports related book I read. I guess because they involve real people doing real things and pursuing goals, even if those goals aren't to write a great novel or paint a great picture. They're still self expression. Maybe an athlete's use of steroids to get the most out of his/her body is akin to another artist's use of LSD or opium to get the most out of their creativity - with the same potential for damage.

Whereas I absolutely love sports books but have been so wrapped up in Bleak House this month that I haven't read much beyond that.

Any sign of Madeline?

I'm a sports fan, but not a sports book fan. I never got to the planned sports book on my list this month.

> 78

I see her.

I know I started the sports book challenge so I'm biased, but I highly recommend Boys in the Boat. It's a great human story of overcoming adversity, the Great Depression backdrop is fascinating as is the recreation of the spectacle of the Berlin Olympics. I was surprised that a story, the outcome of which is made clear in the opening pages, could be such a page turner.

I finished my last three books for TIOLI today, and have officially swept the challenge. They're all reviewed on my thread.

1. Kleine deutsche Versschule by Wolfgang Kayser
2. The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope
3. The Ludwig Conspiracy by Oliver Pötzsch
4. The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code by Margalit Fox
5. Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart
6. The Death of King Arthur: A New Verse Translation by Simon Armitage
7. The Ocean of Life: The Fate of Man and the Sea by Callum Roberts
8. The Hounds of the Morrigan by Pat O'Shea
9. The Lark on the Wing by Elfrida Vipont
10. The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin
11. The Silence of St. Thomas by Josef Pieper
12. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
13. The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy
14. Imperfect: An Improbable Life by Jim Abbott & Tim Brown
15. Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-Earth by John Garth
16. Gods and Myths of Northern Europe by H.R. Ellis Davidson
17. Blue Highways: A Journey into America by William Least Heat-Moon
18. Light on a Dark Horse: An Autobiography, 1901-1935 by Roy Campbell
19. Greenvoe by George Mackay Brown
20. A Pedlar's Pack and Other Stories by Elizabeth Goudge

Brilliant! Well done!!

You deserve more than this, but I'm speechless and can only say, "WOW!"

Agreed- wow! I always try for this and have never succeeded!

Wow from me too!

Good job. I also can never seem to hit them all.

#82, wow. Nice going!

I'm very impressed that you've not only managed to read a book for each challenge but have managed to write about it, must look at your thread.

Wow is the only word . . .

Congrats! That is quite an accomplishment!

>82 inge87: Goodness! Very impressive indeed. AND wrote reviews of them all. Bravo!

Madeline, I think some sort of prize is in order!

> 82

Hurray! ...and congrats!

> 92

Madeline, I think some sort of prize is in order!

My prize can only be recognition, the same as for the others who have accomplished this feat in the past year. Sadly, I recently lost my job so, going forward, I can only afford to give out those (very small) TIOLI prizes for our monthly book competitions as they occur from time to time.

The Hall of Famers are recognized and listed on the TIOLI meter page.

82> A round of applause is in order there.

Oh Madeline, I'm so sorry. It seems you'd be even more necessary with the ACA. Unemployment stinks (unless it's voluntary).

Sadly, the ACA (Affordable Care Act re: health insurance) didn't work well for me or my family, but that's waaaaaaaaay off topic and a much too looooooong story.

I never felt my age until unemployment hit me with no advance notice. :(

However, I come here this thread to momentarily put aside my issues and be entertained. This group really brings me great joy.

The link to the meter isn't working.

It must be something with all of the wiki pages. I can't access any of them now. :(

The problem seems resolved. Try now.

Now they're not working again...al of them. :(

TIOLI #19. Read a book with a walking or standing figure on the cover - Aloha From Hell by Richard Kadrey

"What the hell? I haven't done anything truly stupid in weeks." (p. 23)


Yeah, I know. These metaphysical states and dimensions of being give me a headache, too. (p. 258)

Warning: These books are not for people averse to graphic violence, sex and language.

Richard Kadrey impresses me with his knowledge of mythology (especially the demonic sort) and how it's woven into the fabric of his Sandman Slim series. Aloha From Hell is the third book.

Jim Stark aka Sandman Slim is a nephilim, the product of a male angel and a human woman. To many of the supernatural world, especially some angels, this makes him an abomination to be gotten rid of.

Stark is also the only human who has escaped Hell and lived to tell the tale. In Aloha From Hell, he finds himself in the position of having to rescue both Heaven & Hell from a human interloper named Mason Faim, who wants to tear the entire universe down and start over.

Along the way, Stark tangles with demons, making deals with them to get back into Hell to rescue Alice, his dead love who was yanked out of Heaven unceremoniously and is being kept prisoner in Hell. Stark is a very angry nephilim who literally struggles with his angel while making his way through the Garden of Eden, Tartarus, and Pandemonium to convince the demonic generals to gather their troops and ride to war.

All through the book, Slim has this idea that he'll rescue Alice, stop Mason from tearing the universe apart and get back to Los Angeles in time to break more furniture with Candy. The twist, of course, changes all of that.

Aloha From Hell is tons of fun with interesting philosophical lamentations on the purpose of being and what it all means anyway.

Thanks everyone for the congratulations. I've swept TIOLI before, last September, and it's a lot of fun when it all falls together.

#82 - Congratulations on sweeping the Challenge, Jennifer.

January TIOLI #7 - Read a book you received as a present. (LT ARC) - The Children of Henry VIII by John Guy

Note: I received this as an ebook version of the LT ARC

First, major points off for no bibliography. None.

This is a good overview of the lives of Henry VIII's children, including the illegitimate Henry Fitzroy, and the way his political and religious views affected their lives and their time as rulers.

John Guy offers a well-written, easy to follow history of Henry VIII's ascension, his quest for a male heir and the historical (sexist) context for only male heirs, the six wives and the four children caught up in the intrigue.

The relationship and treatment of each sibling is discussed as are the ramifications of such treatment as they assumed the crown. Here is familial jealousy, court maneuverings, religious intrigue and, at the center of it all, an ego-maniacal man determined to make a lasting dynasty of the Tudor name.

When Henry's youngest heir, Elizabeth I, died unmarried, the crown went to the House of Stuart and James I, Elizabeth's cousin's (Mary Queen of Scots) son, thus ending the Tudor dynasty.

It's neat to go through the wiki pages and find that I actually did have some shared reads. Was able to pull 4 books out of challenge 11 and match them up in other challenges. Though two annoying things kept happening: I'd find my on book then realize my excitement at finding a book I'd read was just excitement at finding my own listing of a book; finding a book I read, then noticing I'd read that book some other month than the current one.

I was able to match up:
Hounded by Kevin Hearne in challenge 10. (fantasy, urban fantasy)
Iron & Velvet by Alexis Hall in challenge 12. (fantasy, urban fantasy)
Hurricane Dan by Bret Wellman in challenge 17. (zombies)
The Pyramid Waltz by Barbara Ann Wright in Challenge 19. (fantasy, sword & sorcery)

Finished the last book on my TIOLI list, 'American Ruins', a book of photography by Arthur Drooker. Great book, gorgeous pictures, just the right amount of words to tell about the photographs without getting too wordy.

(73) Interesting review of Rilla of Ingleside, which I've never read.

I think it is important to not edit/censor books that were written in a less politically correct time. The fact that they upset us should help us to realize what we can be like, and help us to avoid labeling others who are different, based upon group prejudice.

>82 inge87: Congrats on the sweep. I love Elizabeth Goudge's books. She was one of my favourite authors as a child. I wrote her a fan letter when I was 10 and she actually replied!

#108 - Good point, Fuzzi, and I totally agree that these books shouldn't be edited. I've read some that have set my teeth on edge, but I think it's important that we realize how casual and pervasive ethnic and religious prejudices were.

#108 - I completely agree that these books shouldn't be edited, but I've seen people suggest that children's books are a special case. Usually the example is the Little House series and Native Americans (where Ma often says that "the only good Indian is a dead Indian"). The thing is, reading those books as a child, I didn't think, "Oh, of course Ma is right," I thought, "Why would she say such a wrong, hateful thing?" talked to my parents about it, and learned more about the history. Kids are smarter than adults want to give them credit for most of the time, as I'm sure my 9-year-old daughter would agree!

#111 by @susanna.fraser> Yes, but that's true only if the parents are raising the kids to be accepting. Otherwise, it reinforces the prejudices the parents are instilling and believe. Sadly, very often seen here where I live.

#111 Susanna,
I had that very same conversation with a friend about Little House on the Prairie. I was telling her that because of the racism I wasn't sure I wanted the books to go to a mutual friend's daughters. She asked if giving the books to them wouldn't start a conversation about racism, instead of fostering racist ideas.

To #112 majkia's point, this will only work because I know my friend would use that as an opportunity to talk with her daughters about it.

Are there any books other than the Little House books that are as well written, as rich in detail and as appealing to young readers who can learn so much about the "olden days" by reading them?

There are other things in these books that don't sit well with people today, like beating children for being naughty, or making children work from dawn to dusk doing hard labour but these ideas give kids an opportunity to compare their lives with those portrayed in the books and draw their own conclusions. I first read these books many years ago and I don't remember the racist comments but I do remember bears and sleigh rides, scarlet fever and grasshoppers, making hay and sewing buttons, shanty claims and long winters. Wish I'd paid more attention to the idea that life isn't easy - might have saved me some heartache!

I'd add The Great Brain series set in the late 1800s Utah, which as an added bonus, are funny.

#112 - Good point. I tend to assume non-bigoted parents and curious kids who like to discuss the issues and read widely, when I know very well that isn't universally the case! My 9-year-old knows about racism but is baffled by it--"Why would anyone think that?"

116> I can think of a fair few adults who are equally baffled by racism. I tried a few novels dealing the with the American South last year and the actions of the characters involved just made no sense to me whatsoever.

I would agree that book shouldn't be edited for modern taste. I can think of cases where it has happened - the Noddy books, for instance, had Golliwogs in when I was a child. I forget what they've been changed to, but they have been changed.

'''TIOLI #5 Read a book set in France before the 21st Century'''
Hotel Pastis by Peter Mayle

I was reading this for the ROOT challenge, but discovered it fit in here too!

I enjoyed this book. Peter Mayle does great food descriptions, the plot had some interesting twists I didn't see coming, and the Provence setting was a nice escape from this bitter winter!

Huosekeeeping Day!

Just a reminder to remove any books not COMPLETED by 12 midnight tonight from January's wiki. You may move those into February's challenges...but only if they fit! :)

I remember golliwogs -- I just thought they were some kind of mythical critter, like gingerbread men, or unicorns, or leprechauns. I never once related them in my mind to dark-skinned people. I suppose the fact that they had human-like faces and bodies (although, so do gingerbread men) might have alerted me, and I suppose they were intended to mimic Africans, but it simply never once occurred to me that they weren't, oh, I don't know, like the Wombles of Wimbledon Common. As a child, I certainly didn't pick up on racism.

So sad that I just had to remove a matched read from Challenge 4 :(!

I managed to fit all of my reads this month into one or other of the TIOLI challenges, although I don't think any of them were shared reads, sadly. This comes of reading the books first and adding to the wiki after completion, rather than checking the wiki first, spotting potential shared reads and planning the reading around that. The latter is fun but involves more advance planning than I feel up to at present.

Challenge #1: Read a book whose title names an object usually found in the kitchen
The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul - Deborah Rodriguez

Challenge #2: Read a book from your 'average' year
Eight months on Ghazzah Street - Hilary Mantel (year = 1988 - based on edition date not original publication date)

Challenge #3: Instances of the Number 14: Read a book that has some connection with the number 14
Boneland - Alan Garner (my edition is 14 cm wide)

Challenge #5: Read a book set in France before the 21st Century
A time to keep silence - Patrick Leigh Fermor (visits to three French monasteries in the 1950s)

Challenge #6: Read a book by a Yorkshire Born writer
Innocent Graves - Peter Robinson (this one also has a Yorkshire setting)

Challenge #9: Read a book by the author of one of your favourite books of 2013 (State the 2013 book)
Anarchy and old dogs - Colin Cotterill (a rather tenuous one this - depends how many favourites one is allowed, but Disco for the Departed was definitely a very enjoyable read from last year)

Challenge #10: Book Bullet: Read a book that you discovered on an LT thread in 2013
Virago is 40: A Celebration ed Lennie Goodings - I heard about this free eBook on one of the Virago Group threads last year

Challenge #11: Read a book that has two of something in the title (Note: Identify the dual object)
The Janus Stone - Elly Griffiths: two letter 's' - also a mention of the two-faced god Janus who was the inspiration for the challenge
A Winter Book - Tove Jansson (two 'o's)

Challenge #13: Read a book by an author who died in 2013
In pursuit of the English: a documentary - Doris Lessing

Challenge #16: Read a book with an ugly cover
Astercote - Penelope Lively

Challenge #17: Read a book about the city, state (province), or country in which you live
Judgement Day - Penelope Lively (not much of a challenge, since most of the books I read are set in the UK, though I keep trying to broaden that range)

Challenge #19: Read a book with a walking or standing figure on the cover
War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy (picture of Napoleon standing)

gennyt - you also qualified for the UNOFFICIAL GastroCAT challenge: http://www.librarything.com/topic/167771

Is it too late to add my last few reads? I didn't have a chance before the Great Portland meetup!

In January I did pretty well: read and reviewed 9 of 10 challenges I'd chosen. :)

> 124

Is it too late to add my last few reads?

It's not too late.

Go ahead and add your last few reads. If it says "final tally" at the bottom of the challenge, remove the words "final tally", and I'll redo those counts again.

Thanks!

ETA: Didn't change any totals, unfortunately. But it's the most TIOLI books I've ever read in a month (12)

January:
January:
Challenge #3: Instances of the Number 14: Read a book that has some connection with the number 14
Messenger by Lois Lowry (ISBN)
The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau (NPRs Ultimate Backseat Bookshelf: 100 Must-Reads for kids 9-14)
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson (cost $14)
Challenge #4: Read a nonfiction work from the N.Y. Times 100 notable books of 2013
Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink
Challenge #11: Read a book that has two of something in the title
Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder (2 dictators)
Challenge #15: Takes place during "The War to End All Wars" (1914-1918)
Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain
The Great War: A Photographic Narrative by Mark Holborn and Hilary Roberts
Challenge #16: Read a book with an ugly cover
A Tomb for Boris Davidovich by Danilo Kiš
Challenge #17: Read a book about the city, state (province), or country in which you live
Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple (Seattle)
Challenge #18: Read a book by an author from Sub-Saharan Africa
Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih (Sudan)
Challenge #19: Read a book with a walking or standing figure on the cover
Drawing from Memory by Allen Say
Norwegian by Night by Derek Miller

No problem.