Take It or Leave It Challenge - March 2014 - Page 1

For those new to this challenge: More info and monthly index can be found in post #1 of this thread or this TIOLI FAQS wiki.

Simple directions for posting to the wiki can be found at the bottom of each month's wiki page.


...logo by cyderry

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Today is a red letter day. "What's that?", you may ask. A red letter day is a day that is pleasantly noteworthy or memorable. Our red letter day is today because I'm announcing that your challenge for March, 2014, is to ... read a book whose title is in red letters.

Rules:
1. All of the letters of the complete title must be red. The subtitle letters may be any color.
2. The red letters must be either on the front of the book or on the book's spine. The back of the book does not count.
3. You must have the copy of the book in your possession with the red-lettered title. You cannot use ebooks or other copies of the book. Caveat: A "match" may be an ebook or another copy of the book. However, the original challenger's book listed must have the red-lettered title.
4. If the letters look red to you, although they may be questionably red-orange, I'll accept your opinion.
5. You can match a book at any time - even if you do not possess the copy with the red-lettered title.

Please note where the red letters are found in your listing, like this...
Dead Sleep (spine) - Greg Iles - SqueakyChu
Pygmy (front/spine) - Chuck Palahnik - paulstalder

Find your book...and have fun!

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

1. The March 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 with a red-lettered title - msg #1
2. Read a book with a word in the title or author's name suggesting the end of something - msg #3
3. Read a book with a word in the title that starts with a vowel - msg #15
4. Read a book with a predominantly green cover - msg #8 - thread
5. Read a book by or about someone who served in World War I - msg #12
6. Read a book about photography, a photographer or that uses a photograph or camera as a plot device - msg #13

Challenges #7-12
7. Read a book that shares the title of a book you've read previously - msg #14
8. Read a book about an injustice - msg #17
9. Read a book whose title's initial letter spells out DAYLIGHT, on a rolling basis - msg #24
10. Read a book you consider a classic - msg #25
11. Read a relative "chunkster" - msg #26
12. Read a book with "Ides" or "Caesar" in the title or author's name - msg #30

Challenges #13-18
13. Read a book that includes characters from myth or folklore - msg #38
14. Read a book by an author from a Commonwealth country other than UK or Ireland- msg #51
15. Read a book with something in the title that you might give up for Lent in the title msg #67
16. Read a book that was offered as part of Early Reviewers, but that you got elsewhere. - msg #92
17. Read a mystery written for a children's or young adult audience- msg #110
18. Read anything Korean - msg #133

Challenge #19-21
19. Read a Book That is About Birth, Rebirth, or Resurrection, or Contains a "Birth" Word (baby, seed, sprout, etc.) - msg #134
20. Read a Book about an orphan/orphans - msg #139
21. Read a Book for a Rolling Challenge by Number of Syllables in Title (up to 9) - msg #158

Hold the rest of your challenges until the new ones go up at the beginning of April. Thank you!

Eep!

(Three months in a row!? Astonishing...!)

ETA: Meaning I've caught the #2 slot three times in a row:

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

Challenge #2: Read a book with a word in the title or author's name suggesting the end of something

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

...for obvious reasons. :)

:)

nice challenge Madeline, I just finished a book this morning that would fit!

Try again for March! LOL!

I can sympathise, Kerry - I get that a lot! Also, having to leave a book you're reading out of TIOLI one month, only to find a perfect challenge the next when it's too late. :)

Oooh, that's clever. Mine also involves colors.

Challenge #4- In honor of St. Patrick's Day, read a book with a predominantly green cover

> 8

Start a separate thread, if you will, so we can see all the lovely green-covered books!

...and a special prize to whoever finds a book with a red title on a predominantly green cover. :)

(I'd go nuts deciding which challenge to add it to...)

> 9

*hums "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...*

Challenge #5: Read a book by or about someone who fought in World War I

Served is meant loosely here, so soldiers, ambulance drivers, and nurses all qualify.

I'll be reading The Grand Estate (Les Grand Meaulnes) by Alain-Fournier, who was killed in action in September 1914. But there are many, many more options out there.

ETA -- Books about fictional people who fought in World War I are also okay. So books like the Maisie Dobbs or Bess Crawford (A Duty to the Dead, etc.) series fit, as would something like The Return of Captain John Emmett.

My challenge is a bit longwinded - but photography or a photograph/camera must be a feature of the book whether fiction or nonfiction.

Challenge #6: Read a book about photography, a photographer or that uses a photograph or camera as a plot device

Suggestions include:
Robert Capa: The Definitive Collection by Richard Whelan
The Mexican Suitcase by Cynthia Young
Gerda Taro: inventing Robert Capa by Jane Rogoyska
The Ongoing Moment by Geoff Dyer

can be just a book of beautiful photographs like The French Cat or not so beautiful - Dali's Mustache

Fiction:
Waiting for Robert Capa by Susana Forbes
I'm sure there are lots more, can't think of any at present.
Double Image by Pat Moon (YA)
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
The Jump Artist by Austin Ratner

ETA - My very first challenge! I feel like a real TIOLI-er!

Challenge #7: Read a book that shares the title of a book you've read previously

There's no copyright on titles, so multiple books often share the same one. Find a book that shares a title with one you've already read and give it a go. Subtitles don't have to match. The books can be on the same topic, but they can't be by the same author. E.g. if you've already read Elizabeth Longford's Wellington: The Years of the Sword, you couldn't choose her Wellington: Pillar of State, but Jane Wellesley's Wellington: A Journey through my Family would be fair game.

But if you can, go further afield. If you've read Courtney Milan's romance Unveiled, consider Cheryl Reed's Unveiled: The Hidden Lives of Nuns.

I plan to read Catching Fire: How Cooking Made us Human, having already read Catching Fire.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CHALLENGE #3 Read a book with a word in the title that starts with a vowel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Words allowed are just anything - a, an, and of in, if, o - all the little words count!

> 14

My very first challenge! I feel like a real TIOLI-er!

Hurray!!!!

Challenge #8: Read a book about an injustice
I'll be reading (actually re reading) books for 2 separate real life book clubs: The Round House by Louise Erdrich and The Reader by Bernhard Schlink.

Is this green enough for #4, or is it too blue to count?

inge87 - for your Challenge #5, can the book be fiction? I've been reading Maisie Dobbs recently.

>19 raidergirl3:, Fiction is fine, and Maisie Dobbs is a perfect example.

great!

>18 susanna.fraser:- Is that green? It looks blue on my screen, but on screen colors don't always show accurately. Use your judgment.

>22 lahochstetler: - To me it's...teal. Halfway between blue and green. I think I'll count it, though.

Challenge #9: In honor of the switch to Daylight Saving Time, read a book whose title's initial letter spells out DAYLIGHT, on a rolling basis

For purposes of this challenge, words like A, An, And, I, In, and The count. Thus, the first letter of A Tale of Two Cities, for purposes of this challenge, is A.

The same person can't enter two consecutive titles. So if I put the D title in, I can't immediately put in the A title.

Titles should be added on a rolling basis. If I put the D title in, I can't skip ahead and put in the L title.

If you decide not to read a book that you've entered, after all, please keep the book title in.

Challenge #10: Read a book you consider a classic

You get to say what book's a classic, not the best seller list, not some canonical list. This book is one you consider to be a classic, for any reason.

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Challenge #11: Read a relative "chunkster"

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

We all gravitate to books of a certain length, or at least have lengths that we find more comfortable. It's time to push the envelope...

1. Identify the median number of pages in your LT book collection. (From the home page, navigate to stats/memes, then click on pages/dimensions/weight from the menu down the left hand side of the cyber page; scroll down to the table headed by "totals and averages.) We're using the median average, not the mean, because it's a tidier #. Mine is 348.

2. Add 50 pages to that.

3. Look for any book that has at least that number of pages, and add 'em to the wiki! So, for instance, I can read any book with more than 398 pages.

Caveats/addenda:

-- If you're reading a non-fiction book, or any book with lots of additional material (index, glossary, maps, bibliography) before or after the main body of the text, check to see how many pages are the book's narrative, including an epilogue, prologue or whatever. Do NOT count supplementary material (unless it's embedded in the text, or there's a section devoted to photographs midway through, which typically affects pagination.) In other words, a bibliography does NOT count toward your "number".

-- You can read any edition, including an e-book, as long as somewhere out there you can demonstrate that the # of pages of text is greater than your "number". (For a Kindle book, even if the pages aren't noted on the device, they can be on the book's page on Amazon, or you can use a paperback or hardcover alternative.

-- Paperback or hardcover, any edition, regardless of which one you hold in your hands.

-- Please note your number, and the number of pages...

Any questions, just holler.

Suzanne, are you including audiobooks?
Is the headache better?

Headache not really better, but after drugging myself & sleeping I woke up and now can't get back to sleep... Tks for asking...

Audiobooks also are fine as long as the printed book equivalent tops the median # of pages, as calculated by the LT widget. Just log the book with its page equivalent, and if it's non fiction, seek out a table of contents or something else that will help you make sure you are counting ONLY pages with text and not pages with supplemental material.

Inge, re the WW1 challenge -- can the novel be about someone fictional who served in WW1, even if the author him/herself didn't? i.e. where the author didn't serve, and the character who did never really existed? (Sorry if I'm overthinking this... I'm wondering of The Cartographer of No Man's Land would qualify.)

Challenge #12 - Read a book with "Ides" or "Caesar" in the title.

The Ides of March will soon be upon us! Let's commemorate it by reading a book with "Ides" or "Caesar" in the title. Two examples are Wide Sargasso Sea and Some Buried Caesar.

>29 Chatterbox:, That should be fine. I okay'ed Maisie Dobbs in post 20, and this sounds like the same situation.

10> on phone so can't post pics. Here's one with a red letter title against a green background. And it isn't even a Christmas book.
I got it for free a while back. No clue if it is any good.

https://www.librarything.com/work/14363092/summary/105383455

Kerry, would A Russian Journal qualify for your challenge since it features photographs by Robert Capa?

We have rival groups of people reading Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses. So far, three people reading it for challenge #3 and two more reading it for the rolling challenge #9.

There's nothing barring us from getting points under two different challenges like this, is there? As long as different people are reading it, that is?

I moved Hild from green cover to chunkster because its color is debatable, but it is indubitably more than 200 pages longer than my median.

And may I just say how much it cracks me up that "number of IKEA Billy bookcases" is one of the measures on the Pages, Dimensions and Weight page, since we have 5 Billys in our house right now. My collection would take up 15.75, so it's a good thing it includes ebooks, library books, books I've read and donated, etc.

Susanna, yes, it's a weird color -- if you asked me whether it was blue, I'd say no, but it's not really a true green either!

Hilarious re Billy bookcases -- IKEA clearly is a global metric now. My bookcases are from the now-defunct Workbench. It's tragic that they are now defunct, because I could use three more of my 30" wide; 84" high lovely wood bookcase, each of whose shelves is JUST wide enough to hold a row of books in front and in back. I have eight of 'em, plus a 20 inch wide one, plus a corner unit. And three ugly pre-fab pine unfinished ones of roughly the same dimensions. And some more. And my Kindles.

I love that Billy Bookcase benchmark too. Just noticed is as I was looking at the stats today. Hard to believe I'd need over 40 Billy bookcases, but then, a lot of my collection is on audio and ebook too, though goodness knows I do need lots more shelving space! And a stack as high as the Empire State Building seems impossible too, but so it says!

Suz, my median average is at a very low 288 (must be all those children's books in my collections), but my mean average is at 315, so I think I'll be using the higher number to count books towards you challenge, or maybe even randomly decide to count books 400 pages and up (and audio equivalent), otherwise it'll feel too much like cheating!

As American Gods is the One Book One Librarything for March and I have some other books that will fit I've started a challenge

Challenge #13: Read a book that includes characters from myth or folklore

Hm, Calm, would Maria von Trapp Beyond the Sound of Music work for your challenge? She's not a myth but her story has been part of world culture for years now, and I'd like to read something about the clan due to the death of the last of them.

Darn, i missed the D in the Daylight challenge.

Citizenoyce - I'm sorry but I was thinking of more traditional myth and folklore. I think that is stretching it too far as the Von Trapp's were real people. I hope someone else comes up with a different challenge where it will work.

Calm, does it need to be a specific mythical/folkloric character? As in, would it need to be, say, Dracula rather than a vampire character invented by a modern author?

Cheli, D will come around again before you know it. That's why I wanted an easier rolling challenge. We can zip through it.

#33: Ilana, yes, A Russian Journal fits. There's quite a lot in it about Capa himself and his way of taking photographs as well as Russian bureaucracy dealing with his film.

>26 Chatterbox: Chatterbox

I'm having trouble finding my average page number. Once I get to the Stats/Meme page, I don't see the pages entry in the right column. What am I missing?

susanna.fraser - I was thinking of specific characters. I'm not sure about expanding it to include mythical creatures and actually Dracula is really tricky, there are vampire-like creatures in many folklores and Stoker's version is not an original myth.

#37 -- Ilana, years ago, when TIOLI was still a baby, I did a chunkster challenge that was an absolute # -- I think, 450 pages. Bearing in mind Madeline's injunction to put a twist into a recycled challenge -- and the fact that a "big" book is a relative thing, too -- I thought that tying it to someone's existing stuff would be fun. But of course you can go as high as you would like! :-)

#45: I'm having the same problem. I found a fix that worked for others but not me, so I've contacted LT for help.
http://www.librarything.com/topic/114628#3059511
http://blog.librarything.com/main/2011/04/physical-description-fields-added/

I still haven't added a book to challenge #5, but I've learnt quite a bit about some of the writers on my tbr pile as I've looked up their bios on wikipedia to see if they served in WW1. Hans Fallada was an especially interesting read.

#48 Thanks for the info. The fixes didn't work for me either. When I go to edit my profile, your books, and change the radio button to Show pagination . . ., then Save changes, it doesn't! I even shut down IE, then came back in and it still doesn't work. If they find a fix for you, would you please let me know? Thanks!

Challenge#14 - Read a book by an author from a Commonwealth country

10th March is Commonwealth day, so read a book by an author from one of the countries of the Commonwealth. Please add the country to the Wiki listing. To make this slightly more stretching, I'm going to request that this author is not from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island. That really would be a mite too easy.

There's a handy list here

Just a word of warning. The Booker prize is for writers from the Commonwealth AND the Republic of Ireland. So please don't assume that a Booker Prize book will count.

I've decided I don't like my one IKEA Billy bookcase, I really don't like these moveable shelves as they don't stay in place properly. Notice that they don't show it in the catalogue stuffed with books. I have 4 sets of 8 floor to ceiling shelves and 5 which start a bit higher up, varying sizes, that I had put in, 4 that were here already, and 2 bookcases including the Billy. The crime shelves and the bookcases are completely double layered, and the children's bookshelves are nearly double layered. And lots and lots and lots of boxes and a few books which don't even fit in boxes, containing 10 years of crime fiction acquisitions and 6 or 7 years of the rest. And a shed, where I'm rather worried about some of the books - I've recently managed to get a few minutes to rummage after months of rain and early darkness, and I've rescued a few books - VMCs and Penelope Fitzgerald's letters. I've found a few books that have been damaged to a point of unreadability though I think it's not rain per se, I think it's acid erosion aggravated by dampness. I am sure I'm going to find some more rather distressing things there. Thank goodness for Kindle.

OK, that's very offtopic, I'll now get back to the TIOLI challenge.

My planned reads for March:
Challenge #1: Read a book with a red-lettered title
✔Men and Cartoons - Jonathan Lethem (4)
Challenge #2: Read a book with a word in the title or author's name suggesting the end of something
✔Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity - Katherine Boo (5)
✔Exit Wounds - Rutu Modan (4)
Challenge #3: Read a book with a word in the title that starts with a vowel
✔The Unit - Ninni Holmqvist (5)
Challenge #4: Read a book with a predominantly green cover
✔The House Girl - Tara Conklin - Kindle (4)
Challenge #5: Read a book by or about someone who served in World War I
✔Stella Bain -Anita Shreve - E-Audiobook (3.75)
Challenge #7: Read a book that shares the title of a book you've read previously
✔The Property - Rutu Modan - (5)
Challenge #8: Read a book about an injustice
✔Alan Turing: Unlocking the Enigma - David Boyle - Kindle (4.5)
✔Just Listen - Sarah Dessen E-Audiobook (4)
✔The Reader - Bernhard Schlink - Book Club E-Audiobook (5)
✔We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves - Karen Joy Fowler - E-Audiobook (5)
Challenge #9: Read a book whose title's initial letter spells out DAYLIGHT, on a rolling basis
✔Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie (3.25)
Challenge #10: Read a book you consider a classic
✔The Odyssey - Homer E-Audiobook (4)
✔The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame (4)
Challenge #11: Read a relative "chunkster"
✔The Coldest Girl in Coldtown - Holly Black - E-Audiobook (4)
✔Outlander - Diana Gabaldon - Audiobook (3)
✔The Secret History - Donna Tartt - E-Audiobook (3.75)
Challenge #12: Read a book with "Ides" or "Caesar" in the title or author's name
✔Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys (4)
Challenge #13: Read a book that includes characters from myth or folklore
✔Just So Stories - Rudyard Kipling - audiobook (4)
✔Leprechaun in Late Winter - Mary Pope Osborne Nook (3)
Challenge #15: Read a book with something in the title that you might give up for Lent in the title
✔Last Night at the Lobster - Stewart O'Nan - E-Audiobook (5)
Challenge #17: Read a mystery written for a children's or young adult audience
✔A Corner of White: Book 1 of The Colors of Madeleine - Jaclyn Moriarty - E-Audiobook (4)
Challenge #19. Read a Book That is About Birth, Rebirth, or Resurrection, or Contains a "Birth" Word (baby, seed, sprout, etc.)
✔The Thunderbolt Kid - Bill Bryson - E-Audiobook (4)
Challenge #20: Read a Book about an orphan/orphans
✔The Round House Louise Erdrich - Book Club (5)

I love the Billy bookcase count. We have 10 and a half. All full. They're so easy to put together and they seem really robust. We've moved house with some of them at least 5 times with never an ounce of trouble. Never had migrating shelf trouble, the shelves have little cutouts on the underside to locate on the shelf supports - a neat but very effective solution. There again, they are all full. A shelf full of books tends to keep the shelf in place...

>>#37

Ilana, my stack is as high as the Empire State Building, too! I was very surprised to find that my median is only 268 pages, but on reflection I think it's probably because of all the 200 - 250 page mysyeries in there.

45/48/50 -- I'm sorry, I don't really know what to suggest. Hopefully the LT people will be able to help? If you still can't sort it out, look at the graph at the top of the page -- the bar chart, I should say -- that shows the dispersion by pages. If I recall correctly, that is broken down by 50s: 200, 250, 300. Eyeball that chart. On mine, the single largest number of books are at 300, but the 350 stack is higher than the 250 stack. So, as a rough and ready fix, and ONLY if you can't get LT to help you nail down a more precise number, if your single largest is 250, but 300 is bigger than 200, go to 300 and then add 350. If 200 is bigger than 300, add 50 to 250, and your number becomes 300. Clearly, this isn't as precise, but it's as close as I can get to something that is still going to push people beyond their average. Hopefully you can still get the bar chart that tops that page -- the distribution chart.

ETA: I only just top the Eiffel Tower and have a way to go before I reach the Empire State Building.

I only just top the Eiffel Tower

Clearly, you're not really trying! :)

#56: No, none of that shows up as we can't 'save' the option to include 'page count' in our library. I know I have seen this data before so I don't know why my catalog switched over to not having the page count. Anyway I've reported it to LT and also started a thread in bug collectors group as I now know it isn't just me having this problem.

I have a newbie question. I just joined this group. I doubt I'm going to get near 75 books this year, but I'm trying for 50. I don't have a thread, because I've already got a thread going in the 2014 category challenge group, which I found before this group.

So I was wondering... Can I play?

#59 by @sturlington> of course you can play!!!!!!!!!!! We are equal opportunity enablers!

#59 -- of course!! It doesn't matter if you only read five books this year...

>51 Helenliz:
Darn, I already put Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys under the DAYLIGHT challenge and can't move it now!

Suz, I wasn't aware of this stat so it's interesting to see how tall my book pile would be.

If all the books I've read were laid end to end, it would take me 1 hr and 6 minutes to drive that distance.

My books would fill 7.5 bathtubs or 124 U-Haul boxes.

My books have passed the Great Pyramid in height. Next up, the Washington Monument.

I'm not sure what smoots and spaldings are.

Ha -- I have 20 bathtubs, and 330 U-Haul boxes. The latter being good to know for the next time I move. And it would be a 2.8 hour drive, or 167 miles...

#59 sturlington,
We love new people and encourage them to play. And, yes, we can all be enablers. Welcome!

Thanks for the warm welcome!

Challenge #15 Read a book with something in the title that you might give up for Lent

Some people might give up chocolate, or meat, or coffee, or wine or swearing or ....bookstores?

If you think it would be a sacrifice, it's your challenge. You don't actually have to do the Lent thing or actually give up whatever it is you've noted in the title of your book - me give up on my favourite bookstore for 40 days?!?!

> 34

There's nothing barring us from getting points under two different challenges like this, is there?

No. Just as long as each book is listed by a different person.

Thank heavens for the caveat of not giving it up for Lent. That would be just too much...

My books top the Empire State Building.

62: But there's no W in daylight so Wide Sargasso Sea doesn't fit in that challenge!

I'm checking on the inability to see the physical description stuff that some of you have mentioned. I'll have an answer soon.

#62 There's no Wide Sargasso Sea in the DAYLIGHT challenge.

Why do some of the book titles in the wiki lists have little locks on them? I don't think I've seen those before.

For some reason, when I sought out the books or opened the link, it came up as a https file; removing the "s" is all that's required. No idea what has changed, but it's taking place on my Mac and PC, so probably LT related? I cut & paste the links from atop the book page.

10, 32 -
Red title. Green book.

> 73

Why do some of the book titles in the wiki lists have little locks on them?

I don't see any little locks.

>74 Chatterbox:
Can you tell me what link you were trying to hit that wasn't working with the https? All of them should be working.

For example, Citrus County in Challenge #1 has one:

Wiki page

> 78

That just means that the page is a secure page (https) instead of a page that's not secure (http). I don't believe this will affect the functioning of the wiki pages for our purposes.

You can take away the lock by removing the final "s" from the https. You can create lock by adding an "s" to the http.

Don't worry about it either way. Tim & Company have been adding some secure pages to LT after they discovered the data breach (from 2011) recently.

#77 -- ConceptDawg -- it was simply that this time, all the links were coming up as https. Previously, this has never happened. I simply removed the "s" in case it meant that no one else could click on the link and get to the book in my library. I hadn't seen this before. I'm not worried; nothing I need to do or change. Just something that was suddenly there now that wasn't before.

>71 elkiedee: Good point! I put it under #12 not #9. So, I could move it, but then I wouldn't have an entry for my own challenge. I just love this time of the month!

ooh! I like the new feature that picks up the username when I reference a previous post.

#77: @ConceptDawg/Chris - thanks so much for fixing the show/hide save

I had reported it in Bug Collectors - http://www.librarything.com/topic/170909

>77 conceptDawg:
>83 avatiakh: It still doesn't work for me.

>56 Chatterbox: (et al.), I think the book height stats must be off, because you Suz have about twice as many books catalogued on LT than I do, so something is obviously wrong there. I only have 189.4 U-Haul boxes and 11.5 tubs...

>59 sturlington: you've found a very welcoming group. The numbers don't mean anything. I think they're just an excuse for creating a group!

>67 JenMDB: I like that giving up for lent challenge, especially the part about not actually having to give anything up in RL! :-)

eta: added the new feature.

#84: Oh Lois, drat.

>3 lyzard: This is just a test, because I think there's a neat new function that points to the person's name when you do the pointer and number thing.

eta: Yes! How neat! Click on the link and it brings you to the original message!

I should find a book called "The End of Migraine" for your challenge Liz!

I hope you do, Ilana!

Or better yet - "The Last Migraine: A Story Of Today".

Maybe I need to write it to make it happen?

>58 avatiakh: et al.
If the physical dimensions stats aren't showing up for you under Profile->Stats/Memes then that means that you have Pagination and dimensions fields turned off for your books. You can turn that back on by going to Edit Profile->Your books and you'll see the setting on the bottom right.

That toggle wasn't working when I checked it so I fixed it. I don't know how long it wasn't working so if you tried before try again.

>80 Chatterbox:
As for the https vs https stuff: Every page on LT can now be loaded over the secure HTTPS protocol. Previously we were only doing the sign in/out pages over HTTPS. Now, once you sign in you stay on HTTPS until you tell it otherwise or load a new window and tell it to go directly to HTTP (or your cache does it for you). At any rate, you can safely give people either link and it will work for them and you can use whichever protocol you fancy (except for sign in/out where we force the more secure HTTPS).

Every once in a while I see a book in Early Reviewers that I really want, but don't win, and eventually buy for myself. So, I'm making this challenge:

Challenge #16: Read a book that was offered as part of Eraly Reviewers, but that you got elsewhere.

Ok, I can finally add a couple of books to @chatterbox's challenge thanks to @conceptDawg.
My median is 256 pages due (like Ilana) to the high number of children's picturebooks in my library.

#91: @conceptdawg - there is actually still a problem. Every time I close the stats page the setting reverts back to (hide).

>47 Chatterbox: I don't know, what do you think about it? I mean 338 pages does not qualify as a "chunkster" in my... book. More on the short side. But if you encourage me to add books based on that number of pages, I'll be filling up your challenge this month for sure!

>93 avatiakh: Are you going to base yourself on 306 and above to count books towards Suz's challenge then?

Ilana - yep.

>96 avatiakh: ok, cool. I guess I'll follow your lead then. :-)

I love how some of us just want to make the challenges harder! :)

>98 lyzard: LOL! Yes well, I always try to surpass myself in the smallest and meanest ways to make up the the big things I can't be good about!

>94 avatiakh: - Hm. I'll take a look at that and see if something else is changing the setting.

>68 SqueakyChu: Madeline, I'm just wondering why we'd even want to have the same book listed under different challenges?

>24 lindapanzo: I know you said all the words count toward your challenge, bit I'd guess titles starting with Y are pretty rare. Would you allow The Young Ardizzone?

>102 Smiler69: No, sorry.

102: I have 36 books catalogued with titles starting with Y (without "the" in front), including one with the title Y (!) - many start with the words you, your, yesterday, young or year. If no one comes up with something more definite that they plan to read, I will list one that I might read this month later.

I've got a Y that really hope to finish this month. I just thought everyone would be tired of seeing it on the wiki since it's been there several months, so I wasn't going to add it. But I'll do it right now.

ETA: Ahh- already taken care of. I'll keep an eye out for next time.

After all my pondering over whether Hild has a green cover or not, I ended up having time to finish it today--my 9-year-old daughter is sick enough that she had to stay home from school, keeping me out of work, but not so sick as to need or want constant attention, hence unexpected reading time. So I'm off to find a place for it in February...

Susanna, you can put it in 22, as Nicola Griffith would qualify as an LGBT author...

Here's what March is looking like for me thus far:

Challenge #1: Read a book with a red-lettered title
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell - shared read with brenzi
The Colossus of Maroussi by Henry Miller - so far shared with avatiakh

Challenge #2: Title or author's name suggesting the end of something
Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo - shared with Citizenjoyce
Rhyming Life and Death by Amos Oz - so far shared with avatiakh

Challenge #3: Word in the title that starts with a vowel
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout - currently reading
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (also for American Authors Challenge)

Challenge #4: Predominantly green cover
Jane Austen: A Life by Claire Tomalin - currently reading

Challenge #5: A book by or about someone who served in World War I
The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman - so far shared with EBT1002 - currently listening

Challenge #6: A book about photography
A Russian Journal by John Steinbeck

Challenge #8: A book about an injustice
Native Son by Richard Wright - shard read with EBT1002
The Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott - shared with several

Challenge #10: A book you consider a classic
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen - shared with several, tutored read with lyzard
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas - group read, shared with several

>107 Chatterbox: Done!

Challenge # 17: Read a Mystery Written for a Children's or Young Adult Audience

I must confess I came up with this one so I could fit 3 Carole Marsh books in that wouldn't fit anywhere else, but I know several of you may be reading some Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, or Trixie Belden books this month. They'll fit here.

>110 thornton37814: Thanks for adding that challenge. Now, I have a spot for Mystery of the Island Jewels!

111> Lois: You are welcome. I was shocked at how many books I could not fit that I was planning to read! I at least was able to fit 3 by making that one. (My Hardy Boys book had red letters so it was already placed.)

>112 thornton37814: I still have few that don't fit anywhere. Hopefully, we'll get a few more categories.

Yes. I have a few that are homeless too, but I'm hoping someone else comes up with something. Technically most of those had an "of" or "in" that could have gone into the vowel challenge, but I feel guilty using a common preposition for those.

It would be nice if someone could come up with a challenge where I could put Bel Canto!

>115 LoisB: Go ahead and create one!

>116 Smiler69: I already created one challenge this month.

Ah yes! Good enough reason. :-)

>115 LoisB: Bel Canto is listed in Challenge 15.

I hate to be the dense one, but what does it mean to give up Bel Canto for Lent (or any other period of time, for that matter)? Just wondering.

After reading 42 randomly chosen works in February in honor of Black History Month (though I really should have ended with a Jackie Robinson book, now that I think about it), I've decided to try to actually spread my reading out a little bit. So . . .

Challenge #1: Read a book with a red-lettered title
Dangerous by Ella Ardent - already own

Challenge #2: Title or author's name suggesting the end of something
Murder on Moloka'i - Chip Hughes - got fee

Challenge #3: Word in the title that starts with a vowel
Taking Ivy Seriously - Matthew David Brosik - got fee

Challenge #4: Predominantly green cover
Waking up Dead - Margo Bond Collins - got free

Challenge #5: Read a book by or about someone who served in World War I
A Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway - will need to buy

Challenge #6: Read a book of/about photography, a photographer or that uses a photograph or camera as a plot device
?

Challenge #7: Read a book that shares the title of a book you've read previously
Heartless - Anne Elisabeth Stengl (Heartless by Gail Carriger) - got free

Challenge #8: Read a book about an injustice
?

Challenge #9: Read a book whose title's initial letter spells out DAYLIGHT, on a rolling basis
Lethal Affairs - Kim Baldwin - will have to buy

Challenge #10: Read a book you consider a classic
?

Challenge #11: Read a relative "chunkster"
304 median +50 354
The Change - Teyla Branton (354 pages) - got free)

Challenge #12: Read a book with "Ides" or "Caesar" in the title or author's name
?

Challenge #13:Read a book that includes characters from myth or folklore
?

Challenge #14: Read a book by an author from a Commonwealth country other than UK or Ireland
?

Challenge #15: Read a book with something in the title that you might give up for Lent
The Sublime and Spirited Voyage of Original Sin - Colette Moody (sin)

Challenge #16: Read a book that was offered as part of Early Reviewers, but that you got elsewhere
?

Challenge #17: Read a mystery written for a children's or young adult audience
?

120> Well, Bel Canto appears to be a style of singing, so, giving up singing that style of . . um . . singing. "a lyrical style of operatic singing using a full rich broad tone and smooth phrasing."

There's also a Norwegian band with that name. So, giving up listening to that band. For Lent. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMKrqVeuKo8

>119 brenzi:
>120 EBT1002:
>122 Lexxi:

Well, I would never have thought to put it there, but if it's considered acceptable, I'll add mine. Thanks!

>120 EBT1002:
>123 LoisB:

You mean the relinquishment has to be plausible?? *grin* One could give up listening to or singing bel canto repetoire, if one was an opera fiend...

As I said, if you think giving up x would be a sacrifice, you are welcome to add it to challenge #15.

As a member of a choir that sings beautiful music, giving up "bel canto" would be very hard, especially with all the lovely music we get to sing during Lent and Easter.

I am getting a chuckle out of the things people are highlighting for this challenge. Thanks for the smiles.

I'm contemplating giving up the IDEA of murdering people. And I'd LIKE to give up the idea of mortality. How about "murder" and "mortality"? Am I pushing it yet, or do I need to try harder?? *grin*

I seriously considered adding a book with "war" in the title to that challenge. Everyone should give up war for Lent to start a trend and make the world a better place. But then I thought that might be stretching things a bit, so I found book with "snuff" in the title instead.

>126 Chatterbox: I'm contemplating giving up the IDEA of murdering people

I'd say that would count. In my case it would! All those rude people on the metro I'd like to push onto the tracks or down the escalator. Ugh!

>108 Smiler69: Illana or Liz, please let us know when and where the tutored read of Sense and Sensibility is.

>126 Chatterbox:, >127 inge87: I was wondering about adding "Time". I'd be quite happy to have given up the passage of time at about, oh, say, 25?
As a teen I went through a church phase, and while most of it has blown away, one thing that did stick was that the idea of Lent as giving up something we like was a selfish sacrifice. The idea should be to be generous and give up ourselves, to be a generous sacrifice. And the thing that involves is giving of your time.
Not to say that I ever actually put that into practice, of course...

Here are my potential reads for March:

Challenge #1: Read a book with a red-lettered title:
Red Country - Joe Abercrombie

Challenge #2: Read a book with a word in the title or author's name suggesting the end of something
A Death in Vienna - Daniel Silva

Challenge #3: Read a book with a word in the title that starts with a vowel
Amagansett - Mark Mills

Challenge #4: Read a book with a predominantly green cover
Swimming Home - Deborah Levy

Challenge #5: Read a book by or about someone who served in World War I
The Golden One - Elizabeth Peters

Challenge #6: Read a book of/about photography, a photographer or that uses a photograph or camera as a plot device
The Lotus Eaters - Tatjana Soli
Palindrome - Stuart Woods

Challenge #8: Read a book about an injustice
The Keepers of the House - Shirley Ann Grau

Challenge #9: Read a book whose title's initial letter spells out DAYLIGHT, on a rolling basis
The Widening Gyre - Robert B. Parker

Challenge #10: Read a book you consider a classic
All the King's Men - Robert Penn Warren

Challenge #11: Read a relative "chunkster"
The Blind Man's Garden - Nadeem Aslam

Challenge #12: Read a book with "Ides" or "Caesar" in the title or author's name
The Marriage Plot - Jeffrey Eugenides

Challenge #13: Read a book that includes characters from myth or folklore
Thomas the Rhymer - Ellen Kushner

Challenge #15: Read a book with something in the title that you might give up for Lent
Small Vices - Robert B. Parker

ETA:
Challenge #8: Read a book about an injustice
The Lost Ones - Ace Atkins

Challenge #14: Read a book by an author from a Commonwealth country other than UK or Ireland
MaddAddam - Margaret Atwood

Challenge #17: Read a mystery written for a children's or young adult audience
Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie - Alan Bradley

Because new books have come into the library, the list wasn't overly ambitious before, just because...

You guys are cracking me up! I knew I'd be pushing it with Bel Canto but JenMDB did say " You don't actually have to do the Lent thing or actually give up whatever it is you've noted in the title of your book " It's fun thinking of all the things one could give up. Thank goodness I found another challenge to put Miss Peregrine's Home for '''Peculiar Children'''
Glad to have helped you out Lois.

====Challenge #18: Read anything Korean.====

Read anything Korean: a Korean author, a Korean plot, a Korean manga, about Korean cooking, the Korean war, the division of North and South, the Comfort Women, or a Korean letter on the cover - whatever

Challenge #19: For Spring: Read a Book That is About Birth, Rebirth, or Resurrection, or Contains a "Birth" Word (baby, seed, sprout, etc.)

It's March...Spring is on the way in the Northern Hemisphere, so let's prepare for warmer weather by reading a book that is about birth or that contains a birth word. Religious books about Easter are fine, too.

>129 Citizenjoyce: Joyce, the tutored read of Sense And Sensibility will be beginning around 15th March; time enough for me to get the group read of The Last Chronicle Of Barset well on its way.

Phew! :)

If anyone is looking for a Korean book, I have a couple of suggestions (in addition to Barbara Demick's amazing nonfiction book about N. Korea...)

-- Eugenia Kim, The Calligrapher's Daughter; historical fiction, set in the years leading up to the civil war; the first part of the 20th century
-- the Bascomb/Sueno series of mysteries set in the Korea of the 60s/70s, by Martin Limon
-- Your Republic is Calling You by Young-ha Kim

I know at least one other person joined me in an attempt to read The Return of the Native for my challenge in February. I didn't finish it, so for anyone else who didn't and still plans to read it, I have slotted it into challenge # 9, having lucked in just when T became available.

On the wiki challenge pages, challenges 16, 17, and 18 don't have the "started by" line attached to them.

Challenge 20: Read a book about an orphan (or orphans)

This is a challenge based on a book that I'm just finishing reading now - I hoped to read it for last month's TIOLI but obviously didn't make it!

I could just put Thursday's Child by Noel Streatfeild in as a book that I consider a classic, or hope to catch the T in the rolling challenge - but there are quite a few books listed there that I'd like to read.

The main character or people in the book (it could be non-fiction) may be a child believed to be an orphan or with that status, eg children who are in an orphanage/children's home even if not strictly an orphan. The orphan may be older if their status is significant in the book, for example an adult whose parents are both dead.

>139 elkiedee:

Thanks for fixing the problem described in msg #138.

Read 39 works in January and 42 for Feb TIOLI. I looked at books for March, and lightly caressed two so far (ie, read 12% of 2 books), but don't really feel any desire to complete anything at moment.

Hopefully I'll complete at least the two I've marked as reading. Heh.

Hey gang, just checking in again and getting loads of laughs from the giving up for Lent thing. If I were in a choir that sang beautifully, I would count "bel canto" among difficult things that I might give up for Lent.

Wait a minute. I mean, I'm not Catholic or even (any longer) Protestant, but would giving up beautiful singing (especially hymns) fit with the intent of Lent? I mean, put anything you want in the challenge. I don't care (like I'm the paragon of TIOLI challenge virtue). But I am trying to learn a bit and understand this Lent thing. Is it about giving up something you love (i.e., pure sacrifice) or giving up a vice? They aren't synonymous, after all.

Actually, churches often do sing less during Lent. It's a reminder that it's a solemn season of penance and mourning. So in a liturgical church like mine (Episcopalian), the opening procession is silent rather than accompanied by the pipe organ, the hymns are fewer and quieter, and we speak some responses that during the rest of the year are sung. And we can't sing or say "Alleluia/Hallelujah." AFAICT that's a hard and fast rule for liturgical churches. We threw in a few extras after the benediction this Sunday just because we're giving it up till Easter, and back when I was in choir in my last church, we used to joke that practicing our Easter music, which always included The Hallelujah Chorus for the benediction and more often than not included another Alleluia or two somewhere, was cheating on Lent.

^ Love it. Thank you, Susanna.

ETA: oh shoot! I read the challenge wrong. Off I go to find another challenge to fit this under.

1984 by George Orwell - TIOLI #14. Read a book by an author from a Commonwealth country (UK) (Mysterious Box 38) TIOLI #10. Read a book you consider a classic (Mysterious Box 38)

When Orwell wrote 1984 the devastation of World War II was fresh, as were the totalitarian states of Stalin and Hitler. He had personally watched the rewriting of history while in Spain during the Spanish Civil War. 1984 is the very bleak idea of what Orwell could see happening should those governments remain in power.

As I read, I kept thinking, "Can you imagine?" The overall grime, the dinginess, the downtrodden, fearful people with mind numbing jobs. I can imagine. Torture, thought crime, constant surveillance, constant fear of doing something wrong while completely unaware what was wrong.

Then I thought, "Well, thank goodness we're not there." And yet:
Guantanamo
Jose Padilla
waterboarding
China
Korea
Syria
NSA
The Tea Party
Dick Cheney
Russia
Vladimir Putin
The Patriot Act
Corporate data collection

Reading 1984 actually gave me some hope. As bad as things are now, they're not completely hopeless and they're nowhere near as bleak as Orwell's Oceania. And we the people still have the power to raise a ruckus and try to change things. But still ...

>145 AuntieClio: Wow, in a way that's kinda scary, that reading 1984 was a reason for optimism.

But then -- headlines today from Kunming, Pakistan, Venezuela and Ukraine. Gah.

I've finished challenge 1: The Lost Diaries of Adrian Mole 1999 2001

>146 Chatterbox:
I didn't find anything hopeful in the book itself, that was as bleak and terrifying as could be. I know what my Room 101 experience would be and it gives me the willies.

Last time I read 1984, a friend asked how close we were to it being reality. In some ways I think we are really close, but in a lot of other ways, not so much and that is what gives me hope.

Added Women's Barracks to challenge 10. 'What you consider a classic'. It being a classic of the lesbian genre.

Read 23% so far. Have not encountered any lesbians. Though there has been one sex scene involving two females. One roughly 34 year old woman. One young for her age 16 year old. Earlier in the book there was mention of Claude's, the older woman, affair with a young boy. This does not appear to be lesbian fiction. Especially in the way the scene was described. With a very experienced older woman and a very navie trusting young girl.

It's probably just me. From my light glance at reviews on here and on Goodreads, I see no one else has the same issue.

I finished my first book of March with Longbourn, which I found to be an excellent read. Here's what I'm hoping to read this month:

Challenge #4: Green Cover - Longbourn by Jo Baker COMPLETED
Challenge #10: Classic - The Odyssey shared and reading
Challenge #11: Relative chunkster - Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
Challenge #13: Characters from myth/folklore - The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness shared
Challenge #16: ER you got elsewhere - Quiet by Susan Cain shared
Challenge #19: Birth word - Born of Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon

A doable list if I do say so myself, and half are shared which will be more than I've done lately. But best laid plans... we'll see what actually happens at the end of the month!

Glad you enjoyed Longbourn, @bell7! I thought it was great.

I need some help! My latest read is Beloved Bride by William Potter. Can anyone find a TIOLI challenge that would fit this book?

>151 fuzzi: Would #2 work? Bride = the end of single life?

Hey Ellen and Susanna! It's the same in the Catholic church we do not sing any alleluia's during Lent. They start up again on Easter.

On a non-religious note, when I worked in an office I sometimes would sing aloud one operatic note whenever I had a moment to celebrate. Balanced the bank statements, finished a report etc. I find I do it less now that I'm retired. I think I miss the captive audience of the office ;0}.

(151&152) Would #2 work? Bride = the end of single life?

That would work for me, Janet...

@lyzard?

That's...not really what I had in mind when framing that challenge (as you can tell from the other titles!), but I suppose, if you're desperate... :)

:)

I really would like to include this book in a TIOLI challenge...so maybe I am desperate!

Allrighty, then!

Challenge #21: Read a Book for a Rolling Challenge by Number of Syllables in Title

Go up to nine syllables (3 times 3!) then start over at one syllable. No skipping numbers. There must be an entry by another member before you can add another book, i.e. you can't add two books in a row. Shared reads allowed. Please be sure to include the number of syllables in your entry.

>151 fuzzi: You'll be able to stick it in mine.

ETA: Once it gets up to four.

TIOLI #10: Read a book you consider a classic (Mysterious Box 38) = The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Okay, baby, hold tight," said Zaphod. "We'll take in a quick bite at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe."

That's the very last line in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, an absurdist comedy only rivaled by Terry Pratchett's Discworld series.

In this book, we learn who's really been in charge all these years on Earth. We also learn the answer to "Life, the Universe, and Everything," forty-two but we also learn that that's the wrong question.

Will Marvin the depressed robot ever cheer up? Will Arthur Dent ever catch up, catch a break and a shower? Will Zaphod Beeblebrox figured out why he locked himself out of part of his brains? Tune in for the next thrilling installment!

160. Love that book SO MUCH.

If anyone's reading Cress this month. I put it in my challenge (#21).

fuzzi - what about Read a book with a word in the title or author's name suggesting the end of something

Bride suggests the end of single life.

The link to the main thread from the TIOLI meter isn't working.

>164 lindapanzo:

Fixed. Thanks.

160> I love those books with a passion rare and pure. Although I do wonder if those coming to them for the first time now will miss something - the idea of a hand held gadget that contains all the knowledge in the galaxy is a mite less outlandish or impressive when every kid has a web enable mobile.

I had been going to log Mistress by James Patterson as a "red letter" book, but the narrator/protagonist is an orphan, whose orphan status (his mother is murdered when he's a child and his father is alienated from him, causing some social adjustment issues) becomes an issue throughout the book, so, into the orphan category it goes!

>167 Chatterbox: Maybe we need a "read a book that fits at least two other challenges" challenge.

>168 lindapanzo: {like}

>168 lindapanzo:, I think I always have a couple of those! What a good idea. A book that you COULD put in one or two other challenges but chose to put in this one instead... (We've had challenges that involve books that could have squeezed into two prior challenges, I think, or that people tried to read for two prior challenges, or something like that.)

>106 susanna.fraser:: Okay, I'll read Hild for March (it's on its way to me at the library). It's a "chunkster" for me at 546 pages, and I bet it would work as a chunkster for most of us. I'm looking forward to the read, but I'd better start doing my forearm exercises!

Karen O.

(159) Thank you, Morphy!

I hope I can "catch" it at 4...

>171 klobrien2: I have a coworker who was also racing to finish it last week--we both had it from our separate local libraries, due back last weekend with no option for renewal. Monday we had what we thought was a vague discussion of the ending that left another coworker saying, "OK, I don't have to read it now." So I will avoid any commentary here beyond saying I really enjoyed it. :-)

>173 susanna.fraser:: Oops! But I'm really glad to see your "thumbs up." It sounds fascinating.

Karen O.

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams - TIOLI #2. Read a book with a word in the title or author's name suggesting the end of something (Mysterious Box 38)

Such absurd fun! Marvin the Robot does not stop being depressed and, in fact, disappears about halfway through the book. Will he return in the next one?

Arthur Dent does finally catch some sort of break, but it means traveling back in time by 2million years to an Earth just starting out.

The question to the Answer of Life, the Universe and Everything is possibly discovered but it's simply to easy to be believed.

And Zaphod Beeblebrox continues to be Zaphod, annoyingly so.

Our intrepid adventurers visit Milliway, the restaurant at the end of the universe with a completely stunning floor show, take an unwitting part in the flashy end to the galaxy's loudest rock band's show, and wander about searching for .... something, anything, to make sense out of what's happening.

Much like life on Earth, the answers aren't very sensible.

I love reading your reviews, Stephanie! You are making me want to read those books!

>176 Crazymamie:
Awww thanks Mamie!

I've finished my first attempt at a Hardy book in 25+ years. And it wasn't awful at all. He can write descriptively, but isn't the happiest bunny I've ever read. Might not be 25 years before I try another one, but I'm not going to rush out and read them back to back either.

I seem to be listed twice in challenge #3 for The Three Musketeers? All the Pretty Horses. Might someone have copied the line and forgotten to add their own username?

Life, the Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams - TIOLI #3. Read a book with a word in the title that starts with a vowel (Universe) (Mysterious Box 38)

This is the most absurd of all books in this trilogy. My brain said, "I have no idea what's going on here. Have fun!"

There's so much to'ing and fro'ing through time and space with inexplicable descriptions of things and actions and politics that I just went with it. What's a little fun and nonsensical reading from time to time?

Arthur Dent finally arrives on a friendly, Earth-like planet to make his home. Although he will have to find clothes, since he spent his entire adventure in the Universe dressed only in his dressing gown.

Trillian, for some inexplicable reason remains with Zaphod Beeblebrox who .... continues his ego-driven eccentric ways around the Universe.

Ford Prefect finally got the party he wanted.

And Marvin the robot? Still depressed, even more so since one of his legs was stolen to go into a symbolic key needed to annihilate the Universe, which Arthur Dent and friends saved again.

Oh, and of course, the answer and the question don't match up. They're not meant to, as it turns out.

>179 Smiler69: Oops, let me repost that:

I seem to be listed twice in challenge #3 for All the Pretty Horses. Might someone have copied the line and forgotten to add their own username?

Who Am I This Time? by Jay Martin - TIOLI #3. Read a book with a word in the title that starts with a vowel (a)

Fictions are central to growth and creativity. But in the personality I am looking at, the identification has a completely different quality, seeming almost to amount to possession.

Who Am I This Time? was published in 1988, yet much of what is discussed seems only dated by the pop culture references, not by the insights provided into those who don't have a "real" self and use fictional characters and themes to make themselves "real."

While there is healthy narcissism, there are also healthy fictive personalities by which we assess who our self is by identifying with fictions and deciding if that is who we "are" or want to "be."

A fictive personality has lost the ability to separate "real" from "fiction" and has integrated personality traits from the fictions (e.g. books, television, movies, other people) around them in order to become who they think they should be.

Using his experience as a writer and literary critic, Jay Martin expands his psychoanalyst theories about the fictive personality. Many case studies are used; some include stories of real patients, others the stories of public figures with a certain notoriety. Entire chapters are dedicated to William Faulkner & Sigmund Freud, discussing how their fragmented childhoods were covered up by the taking on of traits from characters they encountered in literature in order to survive.

John Hinkley identified with Travis Bickle from "Taxi Driver" and determined that in order to get Jodi Foster's attention and free her from the prison of college life he should assassinate Ronald Reagan so she would see Hinkley as the romantic hero he longed to be. As history shows, it didn't turn out that well for Hinkley, or Jim Brady, who took a bullet meant for Reagan.

There are many tales like these in Who Am I This Time?, but Martin is also careful to explain that not all those who identify with fictional characters, or create them, are unhealthy, narcissistic psychopaths. A lot of discussion is given to creative types who must be able to identify with fictions in order to create.

All in all, I found this book thought-provoking.

Finished my first TIOLI challenge book, The Goldfinch, for Challenge 11: Read a relative chunkster!

I added Wrapped in the Flag as a red-letter book and American Gods to the Daylight rolling spelling challenge. I know it could go in relative chunkster or mythological character, but I had not done a rolling spell before.. Also put The Cuckoo's Calling in as a chunkster, even though I listed to an audiobook version.

I'm not making much progress on the majority of my reads but have finished The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King for Madeline's challenge. A good read for those who enjoy YA with fantasy elements and pirates.

For the WWI challenge, here's a little quiz for you buffs. I got only 4 right"
http://www.npr.org/2014/03/10/286407698/quiz-what-came-out-of-world-war-i?utm_me...

>186 Citizenjoyce:, which is more than I managed... I will hang my head in shame.

>184 Helenoel: - oh - I created the mythological character challenge in the hope of getting shared reads for American Gods as it is the One Librarything One Book for March. But only one other person has also listed it as a possible read so I might move mine, if they don't mark it completed at the end of March.

>186 Citizenjoyce: I only got 3 right.

>186 Citizenjoyce:

I got 5 right. Pure chance...as I'm not a WWI history buff. :)

>188 calm:
I'm relatively new to TIOLI and haven't figured out the scoring stuff- sorry if I confounded you. I'm not sure I'm supposed to move anything out of the rolling spelling thing- but there is a lot of March left.

>191 Helenoel: Don't worry about it. The shared read points just add an extra bit of fun to TIOLI and Madeline likes them:)

>191 Helenoel:

I'm relatively new to TIOLI and haven't figured out the scoring stuff

Don't worry about the scoring. I do that myself. Others can help me - but only if they want. You do not need to be involved with "scoring" in any way at all. I use the scores for monthly stats which I share with everyone. It gives me an idea of how many books are read and what percent of reads are shared.

I'm not sure I'm supposed to move anything out of the rolling spelling thing

Don't move any book title out of the "rolling" challenges. If you decide not to read one of those books, you can remove the author and your name, though. Just leave the title so we can see how the list "rolls" from one book to another.

>192 calm:

Madeline likes them

I do!! :)

I like the scoring part, too. Not necessarily what the exact total is, but how it compares to past months. Did we read more shared reads this March or last March? Which month has more? I find that sort of thing interesting.

I know I always have the best intentions on my TIOLI reading. Ahem. Then, as sometimes happens, I get bogged down (wrapped up?) in something. This month, the massively long Woodrow Wilson bio.

I'm excited to read The House with a Clock in its Walls by John Bellairs for challenge 17: Read a mystery written for a children's or young adult audience.

I haven't read it in years, but his books are a big deal in the small town I'm from since the author grew up there- fourth graders do a "John Bellairs walk" to see some of the places featured in the books. I've even been in the House with the Clock in its Walls :-)

I've also added The Secret Olympian for Challenge 3: Read a book with a word in the title that starts with a vowel.

It's not the best-written book I've ever read, but it's an interesting inside look at the Olympics for an Olympic junkie like me!

>188 calm: calm, I've just marked that I am currently reading American Gods, and will probably finish in March (8>)). I really like your challenge, and I was thrilled to have a little extra incentive to get this book read. I've got an electronic copy on my Nook, and a paper copy in case I run out of time with the ebook. I'll keep an eye on the wiki in case you decide to move it, but I kind of hope you leave it here.

I've not read much Gaiman, so I'm really looking forward to this one!

Karen O.

I've finished The Afrika Reich for challenge 16.
Let's just say that if you ever find yourself on a desert island with this book, you can safely use it to light that fire.

>196 klobrien2: of course I would prefer to have American Gods in my own challenge but as Helenoel put hers in a rolling challenge she can't move it:( I'm still thinking whether it will be best to maximise the shared read points or not. There is still time to decide.

I hesitated to add my latest read because it almost felt like cheating, but of course it's not cheating at all, so anyway, added Grumpy Cat to the photography challenge (#6). A celebration of grumpiness with internet star Grumpy Cat, aka Tardar Sauce.

Love that cat pic! Haha!!

Has anyone placed Cress anywhere yet? If not, I'm going to put it in #13 (myth or folklore character.) Whoops, already had this in my own challenge (#21.)

>201 Morphidae: It's listed in your challenge (#21)

I just finished a short graphic novel, Exit Wounds by Rutu Modan (which I put in the Exit challenge, #2) Set in modern day Israel it follows Numi, a very masculine looking woman whom I thought at first was a man, as she convinces Koby, a taxi driver, to help her discover if her lover, Koby's father, was the unidentified victim in a recent suicide bombing. The more I think about it, the more interesting it becomes. Nothing is as you would expect it to be starting with the location of the killing. Everyone thinks it was in Haifa, the most recent disaster, and has to be reminded of the lesser one in Hadera just before. Numi is very rich and butch looking, her sister and mother are gorgeous and stylish. She has such sentimental feelings about Gabriel, the lost father whom Koby doesn't respect at all. Gabriel, the tender lover, seems to have been a total womanizer, and the women he conquers are the dejected ones no one else wants. You can see why no one wanted them, they're old, the most disposable of humans, and Numi, though young is so inappropriate in so many ways she was an easy target. It's a quick and surprisingly stimulating read.

>203 Citizenjoyce:

Sounds good. Wishlisted! :)

>203 Citizenjoyce:: Her latest one is very good too, The Property.

>205 avatiakh: I've had The Property on my wishlist for a while, but my library system doesn't have it. I just broke down and ordered it . Money could be spent much less wisely (I say rationally.)

The Sense and Sensibility tutorial thread is now up!
Anyone is welcome to join along to comment! http://www.librarything.com/topic/171523

Question of the Month:
----------------------------------------------------
Which fictional character in a book you're reading this month have you found most annoying?
-----------------------------------------------------

Why? In what particular way was this character annoying? Would the story have been better without this character, or did this character actually help the plot move forward? In which book did you find this annoying character?

Feel free to answer one or more of these questions. Of course, this is optional. You can take it...or leave it! :D

>208 SqueakyChu: I think the character who annoyed me the most was Yvette Nichol in Still Life. (I'm apparently not alone in this, as I believe that many on LT who read this say she is not their favorite character either.

Right now, I don't think she really moved the plot forward as much as she might have. I have, however, started A Fatal Grace and look forward to seeing if she improves and/or annoys me less in it.

>208 SqueakyChu:
Zaphod Beeblebrox in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe. Arrogant, thinks he's charming when he's just ill-mannered, insensitive, etc. etc. etc. He was necessary to the plot though.

Ford Prefect, in the same series, though not so much. Necessary to the plot in order to get Arthur Dent, the protagonist, involved. Ford wanted nothing more than to find a good party.

>208 SqueakyChu:

Annoying character:
My most annoying character is Taotao in the Ha Jin Novel A Free Life. What a whiny, demanding kid! The mom PingPing just goes right along with what he wants. He needs to be told to stop his whines and demands. I think the way he acts is parental abuse. The dad Nan eventually backs off and listens to what the mom says. I could shake both of the parents.

I don't know if Taotao is crucial to the plot or not because I've only read half of this 600-page plus novel, but I wish he were not one of its characters. Come to think of it, I'm pretty lukewarm about the other characters...but this kid Taotao is the worst! :)

>208 SqueakyChu: Nothing really came to mind when I scanned the titles of the books I've read so far this month. But if I HAD to pick, I'd say Sean Evans in Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews. That fellow was too Alpha Male Stupid to live at times. Yes, he's a werewolf, but he didn't need to let the need for dominance override his common sense. He eventually mostly came around though.

>208 SqueakyChu: I feel my most annoying character comes from my most annoying book. If only because the other books either haven;t been fiction, or haven't been that annoying.

Walter Hochborg is a rabid Nazi and instead of being a villain you fear, he is so foaming at the lips that he becomes a 2dimensional pantomime character. He is integral to the story. If he weren't present, there would be no-one for the assassination plot to target, no childhood antipathy, no stolen mother, etc etc etc. In short, there would be no book. I have to say that I could easily cope with that scenario.

(208) I'm going to leave this for now, as I don't have any characters that fit your description...yet. We've 16 days of reading left. :)

I'll say Eamon Lynch from Mr Lynch's Holiday by Catherine O'Flynn. He is the son of Mr Lynch from the title, and it is Eamon whom the father goes to visit, so Eamon is rather integral to the plot.

He was annoying because he was a passive, thirty-something, who can't even summon the energy to live his own life. Granted, he is a little depressed, but his malaise is what caused his girlfriend to leave, which is why he is depressed. He isolated himself so much (working from home, emigrating to a small community in Spain) that once she left, he has nothing. A good boot to the butt is what he needed, far before this book got started.

Good book however by the reliable O'Flynn. Good books provoke strong feelings about characters, whether good or bad. And Mr Lynch was awesome.

>214 fuzzi:

We've 16 days of reading left.

If you happen upon an annoying character later on, do let us know. Feel free to put in your two cents re this question any time later this month.

>215 raidergirl3:

A good boot to the butt is what he needed

I'd love to do that to annoying fictional characters if such an action on my part would only straighten them out! :D

A thought...
By the way, I'm curious if the "annoying character" from one book is also annoying to others who read the same book, or if it's a "personal reader's button" that might have been pushed.

>> Which fictional character in a book you're reading this month have you found most annoying?

>> Why? In what particular way was this character annoying? Would the story have been better without this character, or did this character actually help the plot move forward? In which book did you find this annoying character?

Anna, the main character in Note to Self by Alina Simone, is a silly woman who's behaving at 37 like a rather naive 20 year old. After redundancy, she gets involved in supporting someone who thinks he's a film maker and seems to hang on his every word, even though he' appears to be totally without any appealing character trait.... Actually, he's pretty annoying as well. Since they are what the story is about, you wouldn't improve the book by removing the character.

This is an Amazon Vine book and I won't be giving it a high rating.

>208 SqueakyChu::

Annoying Character

I found d'Artagnan of The Three Musketeers to be mildly annoying. Mostly it was a result of his youth and his headstrong, stubborn nature. He was willing to draw his sword over just about any remark that was made to him. In typical teenage fashion, he was also able to fall in love at the drop of a handkerchief, which made his vows of undying passion seem mundane. Of course, this same annoying person was also the source of much of Dumas' tongue-in-cheek humor as well.

>217 elkiedee:

This is an Amazon Vine book and I won't be giving it a high rating.

Oh, well. :)

i'm reading The Odyssey, and the character that's most got my goat is Agamemnon whom Ulysses meets again when he travels to the land of the dead. Agamemnon has been murdered by his wife and/or her lover, and he is so outraged by the treachory that he says all women are faithless and the cause of all men's problems - as in Helen caused the Trojan war not Paris. So he tells Ulyssses, as he travels home,

E'en to thy queen disguised, unknown, return;
For since of womankind so few are just,
Think all are false nor e'en the faithful trust.

Yup, women are the scourge of the world.
Agamemnon perhaps isn't necessary in the Odyssey, though he was a central character in The Iliad; however he does emphasize the central distrust of women, in spite of Homer's recounting all the harassment Penolope has suffered from the horrible suitors.

>220 Citizenjoyce:

Yup, women are the scourge of the world.

Heh! I see why this could be annoying.

Annoying characters are thin on the ground in the books I've been reading this month. Which is weird as usually I'm complaining about someone. But I even liked Flavia DeLuce!

Maybe I'm in a good mood because Spring has sprung....

I'm so busy writing this month I haven't had much time to read, sadly. And since most of my reading has been two long works of nonfiction, I've read very little fiction at all.

>208 SqueakyChu:
>218 DeltaQueen50:

That said, my most annoying character would have to be Aang in the graphic novel Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Rift Part 1. In most ways he's the opposite of D'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers, but he's similar insofar as his annoying qualities spring from immaturity. I'd say he's maybe 14 or 15 in this story, but he has to function as an adult whether he's ready or not--as the titular Avatar he wields great political and spiritual power, he saved the world as a 12-year-old, and as the sole survivor of a genocide he carries the burden of keeping an entire cultural and spiritual tradition from dying out altogether. All things considered, he does pretty well. But he can be stubborn, inflexible, and self-righteous, all of which traits are on full display here. Really, it's quite well-done. He's a very believable teenager with the weight of the world on his shoulders.

How funny. I just finished my ARC A Burnable Book, and I wasn't annoyed by anybody. Somehow, nobody was quite alive enough to be annoying. *sigh*

>224 LizzieD:

nobody was quite alive enough to be annoying.

That's kind of sad. :(

3. Read a book with a word in the title that starts with a vowel

Read Finished Uncivil Seasons by Michael Malone: The murder of his uncle’s wife, in what seems at first to be a random robbery, prompts police lieutenant Justin Savile to dredge up long-buried secrets that threaten his very old family and the monied elite that rule the small town where he lives (4 stars).

Annoying Character
I would say that Boris in The Goldfinch was mildly annoying, in that exasperating way that sometimes friends who you can't help liking can still be annoying. You know you shouldn't go along with them, it will not end will, but somehow you can't help it. Certainly, the book needed this character, and his annoying-ness was part of what made him an overall likable character, in my opinion. It's like you like him in spite of how annoying he can be, if that makes sense.

>226 sturlington: Oh, Boris. He went far, far beyond annoying. To me he was the perfect, complex character. Well, perfectly written, certainly not perfect in any other way. Goldfinch was the first of Donna Tartt's books I've ever read, and she was so deft I've been on the wait list at the library for The Secret History ever since.

>227 Citizenjoyce: I hope you like The Secret History; it is my favorite book by her.

>226 sturlington:

It's like you like him in spite of how annoying he can be, if that makes sense.

I have a friend like that!

>227 Citizenjoyce: .228

I really, really liked the mysterious aspects of The Secret History. Enjoy!

Hey, where did the bold button go on the wiki?

Just finished reading Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore for my Lent challenge (and incidentally, I have not yet been in a bookstore since Lent started - too busy!) I came across this picture on Twitter tonight and it reminded me of the description of the high shelves in the book.

Apparently, it's of the old old Cincinnati library, demolished in 1955. (see @HistoricPics)

...wow...

>231 JenMDB:
Gives new meaning to "stacks"

Holy shit. Why on Earth did they demolish it? Why?

Probably to build a football stadium...

Stats for our February, 2014, TIOLI challenges...

In the month of February, 2014, we read 643 books together of which 92 were shared reads...for 14% or the smallest percentage of shared reads ever in the history of the TIOLI challenges. :(

We accumulated 49 TIOLI points (low) for a YTD total of 107 TIOLI points (the lowest amount since year 2010).

The most popular book read was Longbourn by Jo Baker which was read by 4 challengers.

Cyderry's challenge to read a book that was part of a series had the most books read (130 books) and the most accumulated TIOLI points (13).

Now...onward to the February, 2014, TIOLI awards... :)

Question of the Month:
-------------------------------------------------​
Which fictional character in a book you're reading this month have you found most annoying?
-------------------------------------------------​

Why? In what particular way was this character annoying? Would the story have been better without this character, or did this character actually help the plot move forward? In which book did you find this annoying character?

My entry for Most Annoying Character is Prince Yakimov from The Balkan Trilogy. He annoyed me in Book 1, and annoyed me almost to tears in Book 2. By the time he resurfaced in Book 3, I felt sorry for him, and he was less annoying because his situation and circumstances were different.

He was annoying because he was a parasitic leech, and an ungrateful and dangerous one at that. I think the story would have suffered a lot without his presence, though--he was definitely there for a reason. Also, my reactions to him paralleled those of the main character, so he was supposed to be annoying.

The TIOLI Awards for February, 2014...

The Traveling Book Award goes to DorsVenabili for donating her book, Intruder in the Dust, to the train station book exchange for lahochstetler's challenge to read a book and then remove it from your physical presence. What a nice idea!

The Turn Up the Heat Award goes to calm and bostonian71 for each reading a book containing multiple "chilly words" in Chapter 1 of the book each chose for Carmenere's challenge to read a book with a polar vortex related word in Chapter 1. Here's what the two challengers together came up with: (cold, freezing, snow, froze, ice) and (cold, froze, freezing, frozen, chill). Brrrr! Were the two of you the cause of the snow we had in Maryland last night?!

The Red Domination Award goes to avatiakh and susannah.fraser for DeltaQueen's challenge to read a book whose cover is dominated by the color red. These two challengers also chose books with the word "red" in the title.

The Fun Thing to Do Award goes to countrylife for reading Itsy Bitsy for JenMDB's challenge to read a book with a phrase from a nursery rhyme in it. Well, if you must know, I *love* to do the "itsy bitsy spider thing" with my nine-month-old grandson. :D

The Pass Me a Tall Cool One Award goes, of course, to paulstalder for his challenge to read a 'beer' book. That was one creative challenge with some odd-sounding beer names. Very creative!

The How Free is That Award goes to elkiedee for MikeBriggs' challenge to read a book you got free with no strings attached. Well, elkiedee got her "free" book by scrounging it from her mum. I'm wondering...how free was that for real? Don't mums usually want something in return? A little love or attention or something? ;)

The Interesting Stats Award goes to Smiler69 for her challenge to read a book about an animal whose life is affected by war. What was interesting about this challenge was that there were only two different books listed for this challenge and yet 75% of them were good for TIOLI points!

Congrats to our award winners!

I think my mum gets love and affection from me, and quite a few books on other occasions.

>239 elkiedee:

Aha! There is a cost...albeit a wonderful cost!! ;)

>238 SqueakyChu: Woo Hoo! It was the least popular challenge, so am I to take it this is a consolation prize? Just kidding of course. Thanks Madeline!

About 'free' books, I've 'stolen' several from my mum, but then before she moved away to France she let me pick out any books I wanted, so it all evens out—I just picked most of them ahead of schedule!

Madeline, I know how much you like books about aging, so I have to recommend The Unit. You thought my definition was bad, in this book unattached women are considered dispensable at age 50, men at 60. If you liked Never Let Me Go, you'll like this one with the donors older and selected for their being unnecessary to society except as organ donors or research subjects.

>241 Smiler69: >239 elkiedee:

Daughters and mum's (or mom's) books are funny things. When my daughter was little, she would borrow my favorite books without my knowledge and stash them among her books on the bookcase at the head of her bed. Some of the book were: The Little Prince underlined and given to me by a former boyfriend, multiple books by Richard Brautigan, and books by Jonathan Lethem. I'd always be surprised to find them there and would relocate them to my own bookshelves. When she left home she had to either leave "my books" here or tell me which ones she was taking. I save very, very few books, but, for some reason, she had honed in on precisely those I was saving. Go figure!

>242 Citizenjoyce:

I do find books about aging fascinating. I must say that I highly admire the book The Fountain of Age by Betty Friedan, an author whom I knew worked with women's issues, but barely knew how much research and time she spent on the subject of aging. I am finding her book awesome and very encouraging in light of my recent unexpected retirement.

I'll look for The Unit as it sounds very interesting. Thanks for the recommendation, Citizenjoyce.

Oh yes, I read The Unit a few weeks ago and it was really good.

...and I got a TIOLI Award!

243: She obviously thought you had good taste, who better to look to for reading recommendations than mum?

I read The Unit when it first came out and thought it was chilling and excellent (and have re-read it at least twice...)

Madeline -- a question for you. I'm re-reading the two books in the Balkan trilogy that I haven't yet re-read (having re-read #1 about 18 months ago). Can I match them to AnneDC's entry in my own Challenge #11 for a matched read, or do I have to enter them somewhere else as separate books? I don't really feel the the need or the urge to re-read book 1 of the trilogy simply to qualify for a match...

>237 AnneDC: Anne, I'm with you on Yakimov. In his own way, he kind of worms his way into our sympathies through his utter lack of self awareness. I think it's interesting that he and Harriet are the only two main POV characters in these books -- we don't ever get inside Guy's head, which I think is telling. Guy is so appealing to the rest of the world and Yakimov is so repellent by this point in his life (although I can't help what he might have been like in his early 20s, when he had youth and money and his Dolly?) and yet it's Yakimov that Manning chooses to share with us, not Guy. If you've not seen the BBC version of this series, you really must: Emma Thompson as Harriet is brilliant. Some of the portrayals of the peripheral characters are more sympathetic than Manning makes them appear in real life. I can't help wondering what happened to them and their marriage after the Levant Trilogy wraps up...

>247 Chatterbox:

Can I match them to AnneDC's entry in my own Challenge #11 for a matched read, or do I have to enter them somewhere else as separate books?

Go ahead and make that a match. You actually did read book #1 already, and you will finish the trilogy by the end of this month by re-reading books #2 and #3.

>13 avatiakh: I wonder if I would be allowed a book in which there is significant discussion of a TV show, including the filming on crime scene reconstructions? It's photography, but lots of them, one after another, very fast. Acceptable, or stretching the rules too far?

>247 Chatterbox: Suzanne, to be perfectly honest I only read books 2 and 3 this month anyway, since I had read book 1 earlier--so in truth it's a perfect match. I could revise my entry--it would still qualify as a relative chunkster--but I figure I did finally finish the trilogy. I will look for the BBC program--I can totally see Emma Thompson as Harriet. I didn't realize the Levant Trilogy continued the story--adding to the wish list.

>249 Helenliz: Go for it. I'm completely flexible with this challenge just thought it would be interesting to see what books were added.

>238 SqueakyChu: thank you very much, Madeline, for the 2nd beer award. You gave me The Could You Pass Me One, Please, Award and now I get the Pass Me a Tall Cool One Award. I didn't know that beer is so popular with you :) I am very pleased about winning so many awards *frog loop*

Have a beer:

>248 SqueakyChu:
>250 AnneDC:
Excellent, the perfect match in all ways, then! Yes, that would make it a relative chunkster for me, too. Otherwise, both separate volumes would have to find homes elsewhere.

>252 paulstalder:

Have a beer:

Think I will. Thanks!

Challenge #17. Read a mystery written for a children's or young adult audience--

Finished reading The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle. While Doyle may not have originally intended this for a juvenile audience, my edition is from the Puffin Classics line of children's books, and I certainly remember reading a lot of Sherlock Holmes as a child. Still enjoyable.

I have a question that just occurred to me re. Challenge #1: if we choose to do a matched read, can THAT be an e-book?

>256 Miela:

re. Challenge #1: if we choose to do a matched read, can THAT be an e-book?

Yes.

Good question. I added a caveat to that rule in message #1 explaining this. I tend to be rather liberal with "matches". After all, that's one point of the TIOLI challenges.