Take It or Leave It Challenge - April 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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I’m giving everyone heads up time … because this challenge is not going to be too easy! Your TIOLI challenge for April 2014 is to...

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Read a book whose first sentence is exactly seven words.
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The question is…will you even find such a book? I’ll get you started, but I’d like challengers to please share any books qualifying for this challenge on this separate thread. Doing so will help others more easily find good books which qualify.

Rules:
1. Use the first sentence of Chapter One (the body of the book) and NOT the first sentence of any Preface, Author’s Note, or Introduction.
2. Hyphenated words count as one word.
3. Words which include an apostrophe count as one word.
4. The title of the chapter is NOT the first sentence.
5. A number (ex. 2014, 19, etc.) counts as one word.

How to do this:
List your book as follows, naming the first and last word of your book’s seven-word sentence:

The Commitments (We’ll…know) – Roddy Doyle
Dance Dance Dance (I…Hotel) – Haruki Murakami
A Free Life (Finally…visa) – Ha Jin
Hidden America (He…chip)– Jeanne Marie Laskas
Homeland and Other Stories (My…Clan) – Barbara Kingsolver
In the Loyal Mountains (It…winter) – Rick Bass
It’s Beginning to Hurt (Joseph…hands) – James Lasdun
The Way Through Doors (Young…you) – Jesse Ball

Ready? Okay…have fun

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

1. The April 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 first sentence has exactly seven words - msg #1 - thread
2. Read a book whose title and author have two Qs, two Zs, or one of each - msg #2
3. Read a book by an author or in a series or about a topic of which you have multiples on your TBR/wish list - msg #8
4. Read a book whose title contains a variant of the word 'adventure' - msg #10
5. Read a book whose title consists of four words - msg #14
6. Read a book with a word in the title that could be something bad - msg #18

Challenges #7-12
7. Read a book that has been reviewed in an Unshelved Book Club - msg #22
8. Read a book about Totalitarianism - msg #23
9. Read a collection of World War I poetry or a book about World War I poets or poetry- msg #29
10. Read a book with at least one matching tag from the previously listed book - msg #30
11. Read a book from the SLJ Battle of the Kids' Books - msg #36
12. Read a book that takes place in an Eastern European country other than Russia - msg #37

Challenges #13-18
13. Read a book in a genre you haven't yet read from in 2014 - msg #38
14. Read a book that appears on the first page of LT Recommendations - msg #49
15. Read a book where the author's initials are the same or are one letter away - msg #53
16. Read a book with a title consisting of a single word not more than 10 letters in length - msg #54
17. Read a book with a gem word or phrase in its title - msg #56
18. Read a book written by an author born in 1964 - msg #57

Challenge #19-23
19. Read a purchased book by an author who you have only previously read free - msg #71
20. Read a book by an author born (or who died) in April - msg #90
21. Read a book by an author from one of the A P RI L countries (Austria, Portugal, Indonesia, or Luxemburg) - msg #92
22. Read a book in which a family home plays a significant part - msg #96
23. Read a novel by a British author - msg #133

Save the rest of your challenges for the May 2014 TIOLI challenges. Thanks!

Challenge #2: Read a book whose title and author have two Q's, two Z's, or one of each

A book with Jazz or Quiz in the title would fit the bill, as would All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque.

Woo Hoo! Caught it!

Good catches, Linda, Ilana, and Suz (who's already been tinkering with the wiki!).

:D

>5 SqueakyChu: Sneaky is my middle name. :)

It was good timing. I was just about ready to shift from PC time to reading time.

Sneaky is my middle name.

LOL!! Now you know what to read!

Woot! My weekend had just been made simpler! OK, here we go:

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CHALLENGE #3

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Deal with a multi book backlog by reading a book that you need to read in order to get to another one. You know, you need to read book #2 in a series to get to #3, that is also on your Kindle, or your TBR. Or you've got three books about the French revolution, or genealogy, and you REALLY need to whittle the list down. Or it's ridiculous that you have six unread books by the same author.

Here are the rules:

1. You must have multiple unread books by the same author lined up, read to be read or re-read. By "lined up", I mean they must either be in your physical possession, on their way to you, on your wish list as of 3/31/14, or you've placed a library hold on them, etc. etc. If it isn't the same author, or in the same series, then it must be about the same narrow topic. Two biographies about the same person. (Not just two books about Russia, but two biographies of Catherine the Great, for instance; not just two books set in Paris, but two books about Paris during Napoleon's reign.)

2. You list the one that is "blocking" you, or that you feel you need to read first. It can be the one that arrived on your doorstep first, or that is first in a series, or whatever you want. You do NOT have to read both (or all) of the books.

3. Shared reads are allowed, even if the second poster doesn't have the same backlog problem. So if I post one of my backlogged Camilla Lackberg Scandicrime novels, you don't have to have any of her books in hand, but can go out tomorrow and snag it at the library as a shared read, if you want.

4. Please note the title of at least one of the other backlogged books.

I hope this is clear... I'm posting this because I've noticed I've got three or four series and a couple of other authors where I've accumulated at least two or three unread books... I think it's known as hoarding!

Oh Suzanne, I really like your challenge.

Challenge #4!?

This is what happens when you're catching up reviews instead of paying attention!

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Challenge #4: Read a book whose title contains the word 'adventure', or a variant of 'adventure'

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Let's have a very adventurous April!!

>8 Chatterbox: Bless you for the proviso, "on your wish list as of 3/31/14", Suz! :D

Yipee! I found the TIOLI challenges early this month. Off to post my challenge.

>11 lyzard:, Well, I'm giving people a wee bit of wiggle room. But not too much. In other words, you can't suddenly decide you'd like to add something in mid-month and then throw in a bunch of extra books in a series just to make it qualify. Because you need two or three books to make a single one qualify for the challenge a bit of leeway seemed appropriate.

Challenge #5: Read a Book Whose Title Consists of Four Words

Nothing fancy, since April is the 4th month, let's have 4 words in the title.

For this challenge all words in the title count, by this I mean The and A count as a word.

Shared reads are welcome

Suz, goodness knows I have TONNES of books that fit your challenge. Ok, maybe not tonnes, but dozens for sure. I won't list them all, but more than I'll probably get to! :-)

>14 DeltaQueen50: Judy, can I count "she's" as two words -- she is? (just realized I have an overdue library book...)

>16 Chatterbox: Suz, I would count "she's" as one word but I am open to have my mind changed by anyone who has more knowledge of the English language than I.

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Challenge #6: Read a book with a word in the title that could be something bad
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Some words just suggest something bad, so that's my challenge
Some examples - old, dead, murder, hunger, sick, burning foolish

I'm pretty flexible.

I've changed to could be instead of suggests.

>18 cyderry:

"Old"..is bad? :(

>17 DeltaQueen50: No worries, I can try to squeeze it into my own March challenge, as a last minute thing.

19> Madeline, I don't know about you but I liked being young rather than getting "old".

Challenge #7: Read a book that has been reviewed in an Unsheved Book Club.

There's a webcomic I read called Unshelved that takes place in a library. Once a week, for the past several years, they have reviewed a book in comic form (the review that is, the books include graphic novels and regular books). I have put together a handy list of all the books they've done so far (except Moby Dick and Anne of Green Gables, which don't show up in search for some reason).

>21 cyderry: but the alternative to getting old is ... Besides, for those of us reading Sense and Sensibility, Marianne's young age and attitudes make her quite obnoxious.

Challenge #8: Read a book about Totalitarianism
I'll be reading Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea because I just couldn't fit it into the March Korean challenge.

I have so many books to fit into the other challenges, I'm in heaven.

>21 cyderry:

:`(

I seriously think you should read Betty Friedan's The Fountain of Age. In that book, the author makes a case for the grace of age in much the same way she made a case for feminism back in the 60's.

I, for one, while definitely not old, am very relieved to be in my 40s and over most of the nonsense I thought was so important in my younger days.

Liz, for challenge #4 would you accept The Secret Lives of Codebreakers: The Men and Women Who Cracked the Enigma Code at Bletchley Park by Sinclair McKay? Codebreaking is an adventure, but the word is not a synonym for adventure
or how about Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way by Sue Macy? It's about adventure, I guess the word change could indicate the adventure.

Yea! I have some great reads planned for April:

Challenge #3: Address a multi-book backlog: Read a book by an author or in a series or about a topic of which you have multiples on your TBR/wish list
✔The Invention of Wings - Sue Monk Kidd - audiobook (4.5)
Challenge #4: Read a book whose title contains a variant of the word 'adventure'
✔Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy - L.A. Mayer -E-Audiobook (4)
✔Curse of the Blue Tattoo: Being an Account of the Misadventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman and Fine Lady - L. A. Meyer - E-Audiobook (4)
✔Not Even Wrong: Adventures in Autism - Paul Collins (4)
Challenge #5: Read a book whose title consists of four words
✔We'll Always Have Parrots - Donna Andrews (3.5)
Challenge #6: Read a book with a word in the title that suggests something bad
✔The Lagoon - Lilli Carré - Graphic Novel (3.5)
✔Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West - Gregory Maguire - Book club (4)
Challenge #7: Read a book that has been reviewed in an Unshelved Book Club
✔Freakonomics: a Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything - Steven D. Levitt - E-Audiobook (4.5)
✔A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula K. Le Guin - E-Audiobook (3)
Challenge #8: Read a book about Totalitarianism
✔Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea - Barbara Demick (4.5)
✔The Orphan Master's Son - Adam Johnson - E-Audiobook (5)
✔Pure -Julianna Baggott - E-Audiobook (3.75)
✔Song Yet Sung - James McBride - E-Audiobook (5)
Challenge #10: Tag You're it. Use tagmash, match at least one TAG from the person above you. List at least two tags
✔Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austin - Kindle (3.5)
Challenge #11: Read a book from the SLJ Battle of the Kids' Books
✔Boxers & Saints - Gene Luen Yang (4)
Challenge #14: Read a book that appears on the first page of LT Recommendations
Challenge #15: Read a book where the author's initials are the same or are one letter away
✔Frog Music by Emma Donoghue (4.5)
moved to May The Killing Moon - N. K. Jemisin
Challenge #16: Read a book with a title consisting of a single word not more than 10 letters in length
✔Fuse - Julianna Baggott - E-Audiobook (2)
✔Prized - Caragh M. O'Brien - E-Audiobook (3)
Challenge #18: Read a book written by an author born in 1964
✔Beauty Queens - Libba Bray - audiobook (4)
Challenge #19: Read a purchased book by an author who you have only previously read free
✔Witches, Midwives, and Nurses: A History of Women Healers - Barbara Ehrenreich - Nook (4.5)
Challenge #20: Read a book by an author born (or who died) in April
✔The Silent Wife - A. S. A. Harrison - E-Audiobook (4)
Challenge #22: Read a book in which a family home plays a significant part
✔Broken Harbor - Tana French - Audiobook (5)
23. Read a novel by a British author
✔The Secret Lives of Codebreakers: The Men and Women Who Cracked the Enigma Code at Bletchley Park - Sinclair McKay - E-Audiobook (4)
✔Just One Damned Thing After Another - Jodi Taylor - Kindle (4)

>26 Citizenjoyce: No, sorry, I'm looking for 'adventure' in there somewhere: adventure, adventures, adventurous, adventuring, adventurer, misadventure...

Challenge 9: Read a collection of World War I poetry or a book about World War I poets or poetry

An anthology will work, or a collection of poems by a single poet. Literary criticism is fine. Biographies are fine. Fiction is fine as long as a WWI poet is a main character. (For example, Regeneration by Pat Barker would be acceptable.)

I'm using National Poetry Month as an incentive to add poetry to my World War I reading for the year.

Challenge 10: Tag, You're It!

Using tagmash, or by simply looking at tags listed for a book. A rolling challenge. Match at least one tag from the book above you. You must list a minimum of two tags when you add your book.

Tagmash can be found from HOME, then Stats/Memes. Tagmash is listed in the menu on the left under Memes.

>30 majkia: I'm not sure I'm completely clear -- You say "match at least one tag" and then in the next sentence "you must use a minimum of two tags". Do we match one tag or two tags?

I'm sure this is obvious, but I'm left unclear as to how many tags I need to line up and thus not willing to try to match in case I get called out for messing it up!

#31 by @Chatterbox> match one tag. but when you list your book, list it with at least two tags so the person after you has a little wiggle room. Clearer?

>14 DeltaQueen50:

Can this title be counted as one with four words or not?

48 Shades of Brown

>32 majkia: yup, like my colors challenge a few months back. tks!

23,24>> I think what you think is bad is what qualifies.
Right now since my "old" body is aching, I think old is bad.

*****Challenge #11: Read a book from School Library Journal's Battle of the Kids' Books*****

Every year SLJ has a battle of the kids' books in honor of March Madness. Here's this year's and more information about the battle. (Reading through the judge's comments are a treat, so if you haven't been following and you may be interested, I do recommend checking it out!)

My selections are from this year's, but you can also use previous years as well.

***Challenge #12: Read a book set in an Eastern European country other than Russia***

For the sake of the challenge, Eastern Europe is defined as:

Albania
Belarus
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Estonia
Greece
Hungary
Kosovo
Latvia
Lithuania
Macedonia
Moldova
Montenegro
Poland
Romania
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Ukraine

Books set in any of these modern countries while they were part of the Soviet Union also count.

***Challenge #13: Read a book in a genre you haven't yet read from in 2014***

Looking at my list of reads in the first quarter of the year, I was shocked to see no mystery, science fiction, or YA, since those three genres always make any list of the types of books I like to read. So I intend to make up for that this month.

So look for the gaps on your own list. What haven't you read yet this year? And if you really want to step out of your comfort zone, read a genre you've never read. (For me it would be horror...any recommendations?)

>38 susanna.fraser:

Suggestions for horror novels:

The woman in black - Susan Hill
The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
The Shining - Stephen King
Dracula - Bram Stoker

Enjoy!

>36 bell7: Mary, I'm a bit confused about what books are eligible for your challenge. Can we choose any book from Round 1 or only the winners?

>30 majkia: Jean, can the same person list more than one book in a row?

>39 SqueakyChu: Now that I think about it, I have read Dracula, when I took a class called "The Fairy Tale and 19th Century Gothic Literature" lo these many years ago as a college freshman, but it still qualifies as a genre I haven't read in 2014! Thanks for the ideas.

#41 by @Smiler69> oh sure, why not?

>42 susanna.fraser: Susanna, I've become a great fan of gothic horror (of which Dracula is a great example) and last year read Dragonwyck by Anya Seton which I thought was great fun. A real gothic extravaganza! I'm not sure I would read straight horror, but with the gothic element thrown in, it makes for a certain campiness I can't resist! My review is here if you're curious: http://www.librarything.com/work/42368/reviews/86526058

>43 majkia: Oh great! Thanks!

Hmmm, I could read gothic crime for that genre challenge, permaybehaps... If I drill some of the categories more finely, there will be something. Like women's epic drama or something (eg Penny Vincenzi) rather than chick lit. They're quite different, in terms of types of novels. I've definitely read plays, poetry, etc. this year. And even non-fiction. Hmmm.

>33 SqueakyChu: Madeline, I think 48 in this case would count as one word, so yes, 48 Shades of Brown qualifies.

Hooray for Challenge #13! Now I have a place for a couple of poetry books that I have committed to. I was a little worried about fitting them in as they are not about WW I.

>46 DeltaQueen50:

Thanks!

Challenge 14 - Read a book that appears on the first page of LT Recommendations

As it says really. Go to the home page, then pick "Recommendations" from the menu and pick a book that's somewhere on that page. Knowing that this often comes up with multiple books by authors you already have, you may filter to remove authors you already have in your library.
I'm using this to pick the occasional book, so give it a go.

>49 Helenliz: sigh; half of 'em I've already read; the other half I have no interest in reading. Piffle! Clearly, this is telling me that my LT library is not up to date if it's "recommending" that I read a book I already have read and own.

>50 Chatterbox: On the bright side, the list has changed 3 times since I've been checking it out. Maybe if you wishlist some of those books you don't want to read, they'll disappear and you'll get to ones you do want.
ETA You read one book by David Foster Wallace, and they think you're in love.

>40 Smiler69: Ilana, you can choose any book from round one for any of the years that the Battle of the Kids' Books has been held.

Challenge #15: Read a book where the author's initials are the same or are one letter away

For a three or more word name, any two of the names can be used to qualify.

Examples (from books I've read or will read this year):

The Second-Chance Dog by Jon Katz

Cress by Marissa Meyer
Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch
A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey
Frederica by Georgette Heyer
The Tower by Jean Johnson

Challenge #16: Read a book with a title consisting of a single word not more than 10 letters in length

Because somehow 6 of the 7 books I got on my last run to the library meet this criterion. And I needed a challenge to match to Longbourn and Eucalyptus :)

>50 Chatterbox: I know LT is a clever little site, but I don't imagine it is psychic. If you don't give it all the information, it can't deliver an appropriate answer (phew, ducked that one, methinks).
Mind you, I've been on the red wine since I posted previously, so heaven only knows what's passing for logical right now.

Challenge #17: Read a book with a gem word or phrase in its title (Please list gem)
Cat's Eye - Margaret Atwood (Chrysoberyl = Cat's Eye)

Here's one reference website: http://www.gemstone.org

Challenge #18: Read a book written by an author born in 1964

So in recognition of the fact that I'm turning 50 in April, my challenge is to celebrate all those authors out there who will also be turning 50 in 1964.

Here are a few names to get you started (you might have to double check, not sure my sources are 100% accurate). Rafaella Barker, Dennis Bock, Dan Brown, Kate DiCamillo, Will Ferguson, Rawi Hage, Joanne Harris, Margaret Peterson Haddix, Jonathan Lethem, Lisa Moore, David Rakoff,
Rick Riordan, Dianne Setterfield, Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

Edit: see post 59 and 61 for more sources of birth date info

Thank goodness for Challenge 14.

I'm about to start reading The Luminaries and I didn't want all those pages to go unchallenged, so to speak.

>57 JenMDB: - I found a list of authors born in 1964 here: www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/years/1964.htm

>52 bell7: Ok, that's very helpful, thanks. Definitely gives plenty of options to choose from!

>55 Helenliz: heaven only knows what's passing for logical right now.

:-)

I'm about to hit the sherry myself in a moment.

>56 AuntieClio: Stephanie, I see you've created your challenge to fit in Cat's Eye, but I'd already listed it under challenge #10 around midday and can't move it because it's a rolling challenge. Shame.

>57 JenMDB: You can also do a birthdate search on LT Common Knowledge. 1964 pulled up over 1600 results.

http://www.librarything.com/commonknowledge/search.php?q=1964&f=8&uid=D7...

>61 inge87: That reminded me that Ben Aaronovitch, Elizabeth Kostova and many others also were born in 1964. Of course *grin*, it also reminded me at least six times for each other, as each time someone updates the wiki, it creates a separate entry for the same person, annoyingly, but there is a deep base of knowledge there (suitably enough). Too bad Jason Goodwin's new Inspector Yahsim mystery won't be out until June! (He was born in 1964...)

>60 Smiler69: I was able to move Caught and replace it with The Orenda because the two tags were the same. Maybe there's another book that has is tagged with both feminism and women that you can replace it with? Or that someone else wants to read and could slide in there into the gap?

>56 AuntieClio: Are you allowing pearls to qualifying? They are usually considered to be gems, but aren't technically gemSTONES. Thanks! I'm agnostic on this, simply didn't want to be chastised for making an error.

>60 Smiler69:
Ilana, oh bummer. I can't move it because it's the only gemstone book I'm reading in April. :-(

>63 Chatterbox:
I'm pretty agnostic, so sure Pearls qualify. :-)

ETA: Madeleine, I changed TIOLI #17 to read gem instead of gemstone.

Ha, so does Forever Amber qualify, and I just added it to my Kindle with some of my Kindle settlement credit... :-)

>65 AuntieClio:

Corrected. Thanks!.

> 61 Well, that's certainly useful to know. And that's one of the reasons for these challenges - to learn about features on LT. Thanks.

>18 cyderry:

Would this book count for your challenge, or am I taking things too far?! :D

House of Windows by Adina Hoffman

If anyone else is doing the American Authors Challenge, I've put Toni Morrisons Jazz under challenge 2 and her Beloved under challenge 16.

At this point, it seems unlikely that I'll finish my March AAC book on time so I'll be looking for a home for it. Most likely, I'll put Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses under the four-word title challenge (#5).

Challenge #19: Read a purchased book by an author who you have only previously read free - Started by MikeBriggs

I've found many good authors by randomly wandering the library (Beverly Connor), trying free ebooks, or reading gifts. I've not always gone the extra step to actually purchase a book by the author. First there was February Free Reads (my challenge from February), now there's April Unfree Reads (ok, no, I didn't actually use that title for this challenge).

Books that qualify:
Any book that you purchase by an author you have previously read, but only for free. As in, you might have been reading a series through the library, or gifts, or . . um . . shoplifting. But now, to qualify for this challenge, the book must be purchased. Can be supersaver discount 1 penny, or full price book.

That book you purchased might have been on your TBA pile for years. It would still qualify as long as you have never previously read a purchased book by that author.

Books that do not qualify:
Gifts. Library books. Stolen books. Books found in the snow. Books found in a tree. Books read to you while sitting on someone's knee (unless, you know, you bought that book).

Rereads:
Rereads can qualify if the book reread was originally free to you, and you've never purchased a book by that author. As long as you purchase the book you reread.

>71 MikeBriggs:

Books found in a tree.

Heh! Bookcrossers quite often wild release books into trees.

>70 lindapanzo: Ok, thanks for that.

69> I don't think Ho works but Wind would.

winds in hurricanes and Tornadoes. I'll accept that.

>74 cyderry:

Okay. Thanks. I'll change the bolding.

>62 Chatterbox: I took your advice Suz and replaced Cat's Eye with Coventry (Canadian, women). So now the Atwood is a shared read in challenge #17.

So many great challenges this month! I'm tempted to participate in them all, though I know I'd never manage it.

>76 Smiler69: I definitely won't manage it this month!

Still hoping to find a place to park The May Bride by Suzannah Dunn....

If you haven't already, please can you confirm whether matched reads are allowed in your challenge? - I particularly ask for challenges 13 and 19.

>78 elkiedee: For what it's worth, I tend to assume matched reads are allowed unless otherwise stated. Shared reading is one of the goals of TIOLI after all.

What great challenges this month! I thought April would be tough month for me TIOLI-wise but I have found several challenges that work with what I had intended to read. Whoo!

>78 elkiedee: >79 Smiler69:

I tend to assume matched reads are allowed unless otherwise stated.

Just confirming Ilana's statement.

>78 elkiedee: Matched reads are fine for #13.

PLEASE DO NOT DELETE BOOKS FROM CHALLENGES THAT AREN'T YOURS!

Several books have been deleted by someone other than the reader from my Challenge #15. At least one of them that was removed was just fine.

If you feel a book does not fit a challenge, the MOST you should do is copy/paste it at the bottom, say why it's disqualified and include your name.

What is preferable is to ask the challenge originator to check it out.

If you entered a book in Challenge #15 (author initials), please verify it is still there. Thanks!

>83 Morphidae:

FYI: If one or more books have been removed from the wiki by mistake, it's fine to ask here on this thread for those books to be retrieved. Try to ask as soon as possible, though, so we can track them on the wiki history and attempt to replace them. Thanks!

>84 SqueakyChu: I brought it up as soon as I found out about it.

>85 Morphidae:

Thanks!

I'd appreciate if challengers would quickly scan through wiki page 3 (only) just to be sure that all of your entries are complete and accurate (and not missing!). I added a couple of entries that I thought had been deleted by mistake. Please ensure that I'm correct on these. No need to report back to me on this.

Thank you!

>87 SqueakyChu: Thanks for checking! I had moved The Boy in the Suitcase to challenge #3 for a matched read when I saw that someone else had already listed it there.

>88 cbl_tn:

Thanks for letting me know (and moving that book back to challenge #3). I wish I could read everyone's mind when I go back to check for inadvertent deletions (which don't happen very often).

****Challenge #20: Read a book by an author born (or who died) in April - Started by fuzzi****

Here's a partial list of authors born in April:

http://librarybooklists.org/literarybirths/bapril.htm

Any tips for including the following would be welcome...
All Change by Elizabeth Jane Howard (who alas, was born in the final days of March, and whose final novel I may not finish tomorrow...)
and the pesky The May Bride. I could shoehorn it into my own challenge, but only by stretching a point. I do have another unread book by the author, but not one I really want to read, so I'd kinda be being a bit disingenuous.

Suggestions very welcome. Very brutal migraine yesterday and today, and too many deadlines now looming, to be able to think/plan clearly about this...

Challenge #21: Read a book by an author from one of the A P RI L countries - Started by paulstalder

Take the car plates of April and then read a book by an author of one from these countries:
A Austria
P Portugal
RI Indonesia
L Luxemburg

91>> The first sentences aren't by any chance 7 words?

I have adjusted my challenge - #6 - that word could be something bad instead of suggests something bad so Change would fit there.

>91 Chatterbox: You will probably find an opportunity to fit All Change into the tag challenge (#10). Not as I write this, but eventually.

>93 cyderry: Sadly not! Nor does it have many tags, yet, unless I run amok and start adding tags myownself...

Challenge 22: Read a book in which a family home plays a significant part:

Suzanne, how about this one?

I could put it somewhere I'm sure but I'm reading the first in the "Somerton Court" series Secrets & Sapphires by Leila Rasheed - this would work for big house stories but it could also be it doesn't have to be - I think something like The Family From One End Street about a working class family from a small urban home would fit too.

>95 Chatterbox: I suffer from that a lot, the curse of the obscure read! - many of my books don't have any tags until I add them. :)

>97 lyzard: I would say that is your speciality! *grin*

>96 elkiedee: What a clever challenge, Luci! Even if it doesn't, I suspect the last of the Cazalet chronicles will slot nicely into place there...

Hi! This is my first time doing TIOLI, and I actually have two books planned for the month that will fit different challenges. How cool is that? Jazz by Toni Morrison for #2, and Not Even Wrong: Adventures in Autism for #4. (The autism one is also for my "April is Autism Awareness Month" reading thread.)

78> matched reads are allowed for challenge 19.

>99 tymfos: I believe I'll join you in Not Even Wrong if it gets here in time. Looks interesting.

98: If you haven't found a better place, I think from the descriptions I've read that The May Bride should fit in to Challenge 22.

majkia - Your tag challenge is currently stuck at (short stories, humour, signed by author, awesome). The book I'm considering for your challenge is The Prisoner of Zenda, but the tag there says "signed", rather than "signed by author". Would that count? I know I can put it in the 4 word title challenge, but I have several others for that one and prefer to scatter my reads around TIOLI-land, so wanted to check first.

#103 by @countrylife> yes, let's count that!

Welcome to TIOLI, Terri!! Glad to see you here.

>101 Citizenjoyce: Great, Joyce! I'm going to go on and start it now, even though I have another non-fiction book in progress.

>105 lindapanzo: Thanks, Linda! And I'm glad you started the double-z challenge.

>99 tymfos:

*waves to Terri*

Welcome!

Well, nuts! Go to the dentist and miss out on my chance to grab it. Thanks anyway, majkia. The good news is - it's no longer "stuck"!

>103 countrylife:, 108 Aw, I didn't mean to make it a hard set of tags to follow (short stories, humour, signed by author, awesome) There weren't a lot of tags for One More Thing, and when I checked out the 'awesome' tag (which I thought was pretty awesome itself) there were 1000 books tagged with it, so I figured there were lots of options. Oh, well, it moved on.
And my book is awesome so far.

>103 countrylife: I started reading The Prisoner of Zenda too, and not seeing it under the tag challenge, I've listed it under the four word challenge instead (#5).

>96 elkiedee: For Challenge 22, does the family cottage count as a family home? They're pretty powerful places in some family mythologies.

111: Yes, it certainly counts - no need for it to be a house. If anyone finds examples of a family "home" which isn't a house (or flat/apartment) but it's central in the story that works too.

Anyone thinking of reading the newly released Frog Music by Emma Donoghue this month, I've listed it under challenge #15.

>113 Smiler69: It IS out; thanks for the reminder! *glee* added to my Kindle...

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin - TIOLI #7. Read a book that has been reviewed in an Unshelved Book Club

He knew now ... that his task had never been to undo what he had done, but to finish what he had begun. (p. 168)

Thank you Roni for such a delightful read.

While reading this 1968 story of a young wizard and his quest, I was reminded of many other wizard stories. Harry Potter, for one. A Wizard of Earthsea has all the requisite themes for a great wizarding story. Impatient young person with talent and no control who only wants to learn how to use the power and not the intricacies. Young person gets taken in by wizards who wish to educate them, only to find youthful recalcitrance to both patience and education. Youth creates problem with half-baked skill, and then must go on quest to resolve the problem, usually with at least one friend who unreservedly believes in them.

So it is with Ged, who comes from a poor and abusive family, but in a land in which wizards are revered and respected. Ged has the talent, but no control and no patience to learn nuanced spellcasting, despite the teaching of the local village witch and, later, an itinerant wizard who takes Ged in.

Eventually Ged winds up at wizarding school at which he meets his best and worst friend. In a matter of prideful ego, Ged and the worst friend hold a magic challenge to prove who is best. Ged unleashes a shadow demon which terrifies the other wizards in training and causes Ged to go on his quest.

Essentially getting set back a year in wizard school, Ged now understands the value of patient learning and considered spell casting. After graduation, he begins to understand that he will never be able to settle into a job until he goes on the quest to bring an end to the shadow demon stalking him.

Ged's best friend Vetch of course insists upon going with Ged, and so they set out to find the shadow demon and set things right. In the end, Ged learns that he must embrace his dark side in order to set things right.

A Wizard of Earthsea is fun and explores the themes which make any book worth reading. What is the nature of power and knowledge? What is the power of a great friend? And, most of all, who are we in all our messy gloriousness?

Oh WHEE! Lookit all the people sharing A Wizard of Earthsea! I'm in good company.

115. I'm so glad to see people enjoying the Earthsea novels. I was so thrilled when I found them and so seeing others do the same is great. Hope you enjoy the next one in the series (The Tombs of Atuan) as it is my favourite.

This afternoon I finished 'reading' / listening to Lawrence Block's Time to Murder and Create. I had two choices of where to slot it (Challenge #3 or #6) so I decided to place it in #6 since 'murder' is a pretty bad thing.

I really liked this crime / detective novel which is a re-read for me. I have read all of the Scudder novels before but I am starting again from the beginning. I read The Sins of the Fathers back in January and have just requested In The Midst of Death on audio from the library.

Love flawed characters who are really good at what they do!

3.75 stars

I am about to start listening to The Woman Who Wouldn't Die by Colin Cotterill and can't wait to revisit Dr. Siri! I put this book into Challenge 15 - read a book where the author's initials are the same or are one letter away (C:C)

I'd love to read Frog Music and am glad to see Islington have 3 copies on order but suspect it will be a few months before I get hold of a copy.

>116 AuntieClio: I wasn't all that fond of Wizard of Earthsea even though I found it very Jungian. Probably most of my dislike stemmed from my listening to it read by someone who doesn't know the difference between drama and melodrama. The language was poetic, but read by a George C. Scott wannabe it was painful.

>113 Smiler69: anothe great thing about LibraryThing is that I hear about some books early in their release so that I can get them in a reasonable amount of time from the library. I got The Goldfinch within about a month, now there's a waiting list of 142 people. I just requested Frog Music, and I'm third on the list.

It looks like April will be a low TIOLI participation month for me. I'm having great difficulty fitting my planned reads into the challenges. Maybe, I will just work on 2 chunksters: New York and IBM and the Holocaust.

I don't know about New York but IBM and the Holocaust might fit into several challenges - 4 words counting IBM as one, the something bad challenge, and perhaps totalitarianism.

Have you listed a challenge yourself, Lois? It's not too late to add one so long as you do it today.

For challenge #1: I have a book beginning with a seven-word fragment:

The five most egotistical personalities in history.

Does "first sentence" mean the first grammatically complete sentence with subject and predicate, or the first phrase beginning with a capital letter and ending with a period?

>125 swynn:

Does "first sentence" mean the first grammatically complete sentence with subject and predicate, or the first phrase beginning with a capital letter and ending with a period?

In this case, I'll be the challenge maker, not the grammar police. ;)

Your entry is just fine! I'll accept "the first phrase beginning with a capital letter and ending with a period".

P.S. I haven't hear the word "predicate" in a long, long time. :)

Thanks, Madeline! I've added The Lives of Tao to the challenge.

>121 Citizenjoyce: I can see how that would be very problematic while listening to a book.

>122 Citizenjoyce: Happy to help with Frog Music Joyce. I almost pre-ordered it from Audible when they announced it, and thought I'd wait for the library to get it, but finally decided to get the audiobook after all, as I like their policy of allowing for returns when you're not completely satisfied with a book. I'm about ⅓ of the way in and finding it a 'thumping good read' as Suzanne would say.

>124 elkiedee: Thank you! I'm still messed up from jet lag and thought that the challenge period was complete. But, I have now added challenge #23 which accommodates New York and will add IBM and the Holocaust under the 4 word title challenge.

Finished Rhyming Life and Death by Amos Oz for Madeline's challenge. Definitely recommended, AND it's a quick read.

I may find your challenge very useful myself, Lois - but please do post on this thread about it.

***************************************************************************
Challenge #23: Read a novel by a British author - Started by LoisB
***************************************************************************

I've just returned from London, so my challenge is to read a novel written by a British author. It must be fiction and the author must be from the UK.

>133 LoisB: "British" or "English", Lois? - those aren't the same thing! :)

Not Scotland or Wales (or even Northern Ireland)?

>134 lyzard: Darn! With apologies to those involved for my incorrect understanding of the UK, I thought that British and English were the same. Does British refer to the entire UK? If so, I will change the wording in my message.

Yes, British and Britain refer to the UK, not just England.

>131 Smiler69: Ilana, I finished up the Oz book this morning as well. And Ive managed another 10 pgs of the Colossus for challenge #5.

Just finished Wings of Fire an can't decide if it should go into the Series challenge #3, the WWI poet challenge ( a bit of a reach- he fictionalizes O A Manning in an early death- and it is not clear whether he poetry was about WWI or got Rutledge through it.), or the family house challenge. What to do?

>136 LoisB: English would be a subset of British. So, all English would be British, but not all Brits would be English; they could be Scots, Welsh or Northern Irish.

>139 Helenoel: My gut (and I'm horning in even though it ain't my challenge and I'm being a busy body!) would be to stick it in the country house challenge. The novel revolves around the house and its occupants, as I recall, but he poet is fictional, and it's less about the poems than about the dynamics of the poetry in their "afterlife"...

Completely off topic, but this reminded me of a certain 75er -



Found via a post in a thread about extravagant bindings in the Tattered But Still Lovely group.

>141 countrylife: Lovely binding!

I just read the most amazing book for Challenge 12 - Read a book set in Eastern Europe. It's a graphic novel, called The Property by Israeli author Rutu Modan. In it, a girl and her grandmother travel from Israel to Poland to see if they can reclaim a property owned by the grandmother's family; both family and property vanished in the Holocaust. This clever book pokes holes in many stereotypes - Jews, Poles, aged grandmothers and even Germans also returning to claim lost property. I love the way the relationship between the girl and her grandmother grows as the grandmother's back story is revealed.

I've only read a very few graphic novels but this one ranks up there with the top. I brought it home from the library, started to skim a few pages and devoured it within a couple hours. I'll read it again before it goes back.

Is anyone is reading poetry this month for National Poetry Month? I sat down and read Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats over breakfast this morning. Poetry is not a genre I usually read, so I added it to Challenge #13. I own the book for the Edward Gorey illustrations, which were charming, but I never had read it before. It deserves to be read aloud, though.

>143 sturlington: That is the one that I plan to read. It's on my desk at work.

I've been out of town for ten days. It's good to get back to my books to see where they will fit into this month's challenges. I will be counting words in first sentences this morning. Thanks (I guess), Madeline!

You're very welcome, Donna! :D

>141 countrylife: How wonderful! thanks for posting!

Tattered certainly describes me. not sure about "still lovely" (requires unwarranted assumption) but perhaps "still viable" might!

*grin*

>141 countrylife: Lovely binding - but for 'our' Chatterbox, it should have had a cat not a dog on the front!

Challenge 10. Read a book with at least one matching tag from the previously listed book: Finished The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath for this challenge (tag 'classic').

>149 sturlington: Oh dear. I read that one nearly 30 years ago and you'd have to pay me very good money indeed to read it again. I don't think I've gotten over it from the first time yet.

>150 Smiler69: Ha! Maybe it is a book that is better to read for the first time later in life?

>151 sturlington: Very possibly. I was a tender and very impressionable (and depressive) 16 when I read it, and it did nothing to improve my gloomy disposition. I tend to steer clear of such depressive/depressing material now. I don't need to read about it; I've got plenty of my own material! ;-)

>148 gennyt: Very true indeed!

God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert - TIOLI #5 - Read a book whose title consists of four words

Better than I expected, almost lived up to the potential Dune set. Too bad it won't stand alone without the backstories of both Dune Messiah and Children of Dune. Looking forward to reading what happens next.

>154 AuntieClio: You want to stop there. Really. I liked all four of the first Dune books. The first and fourth were my favorites. But the rest didn't do a thing for me.

I just finished reading Shame by Karin Alvtegen and placed in in Challenge #16- Read a book with a title consisting of a single word not more than 10 letters in length

I loved this book!

Another reviewer sums it up beautifully.

“Karen Alvtegen can keep you up way past your bedtime with these eerie stories of people gone off the curb.”

This is a psychological thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat and up waaayy past my bedtime. And it is definitely eerie. I loved this book which was my first exposure to Karin Alvtegen and certainly won’t be my last.

I have several books on the go at one time and they were all put aside so that I could focus on this one.

The characters were real. Although their lives do not mirror my own, in many ways I could relate to both of them. Childhood trauma inflicts deep wounds that take deep commitment to work through as adults. Both of these characters suffer greatly.

The only reason I did not give this 5 stars is because I found the ending just a little bit too neatly wrapped up. It seemed to me that the ending did not reflect reality but t maybe that is a good thing. Alvtegen does leave us with some hope for all of us.

I finished Not Even Wrong: Adventures in Autism by Paul Collins for Challenge #4 (title contains a variant of the word "adventure.")

My comments, as I posted them on my thread:

This was a wonderful book. This was a fabulous book. This may be the best book I've ever read about autism, with the exception of Temple Grandin's Thinking in Pictures.

Paul Collins is an historian. He is also the father of a son with autism. This book combines history (people of the past with autism), and a memoir of his experience of life with his young son with autism, and some modern-day developments in dealing with autism. It is well-written and engaging. There were moments when I laughed out loud -- not so much that the material was funny, but simply out of RECOGNITION, because I'd lived the experience with my son and it was so good to see someone putting a loving spin on what so many people recount with gloom.

So many autism memoirs make me sad because I relive unhappy times, or wish I'd done things differently. This one reminded me why I love my son so much, and made me better appreciate the special view he has of life.

Enthusiastically recommended to anyone even remotely interested in the topic of Autism!!!

This afternoon I finished The Woman Who Wouldn’t Die by Colin Cotterill for Challenge # 15 - read a book where the author's initials are the same or are one letter away (C:C)

This is the 9th in the Dr. Siri Paiboun series about an eccentric 76 year old (now just retired) coroner in Laos in the mid to late 1970’s. I started this series (because of a book bullet here on LT) just a year ago and have bashed through all nine of them. And I have not tired of them yet.

What I love about this series, besides Dr. Siri himself, is the wonderful cast of supporting characters. They are all real, likeable, fun to read about and although the stories are often about horrific murders they are filled with humour.

I found ‘The Woman Who Wouldn’t Die’ just as enjoyable as the first eight. And really, although the story was excellent and the mystery solved, for me, it is more about the characters than the mystery.

I was very sad when I came to the end. Please tell me that Cotterill is writing another!?

3.5 stars

>158 ccookie: The next Cotterill will be from his Thai mysteries, alas, which aren't as good...

>159 Chatterbox: I haven't read his other series. Must try it. But I can't imagine anything else being as good as Dr. Siri and pals!

Finished Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan, which I strongly recommend for anyone interested in Jesus as a historical figure (challenge #2) and have now started Restoration by Rose Tremain which... WOW, wow, WOW, is all I have to say about it at the moment (challenge #3).

So, can anyone figure out how I can add a couple of non-fiction books? We appear to be stalled in the tag challenge (with novellas, and a small publisher, defeating folks) and I just realized that I can't add them to the final challenge because although the authors are English they aren't novels -- argh....

They are:
The Snowden Files by Luke Harding
Scott-Land by Stuart Kelly (first sentence had eight words, argh...)

Any ideas gratefully received. I'm trying to squeeze some lighter non-fiction in here somewhere, somehow.

Depending on your politics, Snowdon could be a word considered bad.

Hmm, I think the meaning of that challenge is intended to be a little less specific -- i.e. broken legs are bad, death is bad. A particular person isn't by definition bad (well, maybe Hitler).

How about the "snow" part of Snowdon. I wasn't too crazy about all of that snow we had in Maryland this year. :(

Ha! That works for me... If old works, then snow DEFINITELY works...

LOL!

>162 Chatterbox: "We appear to be stalled in the tag challenge (with novellas, and a small publisher, defeating folks)"

Oops, that was me. I've tweaked the tags I've listed for that book to try and get things moving again.

>161 Smiler69:
I too really enjoyed Zealot, I thought it was remarkable.

>169 AuntieClio: Yes, I was really quite amazed by just how gripping Zealot was. Unputdownable!

Question about Challenge 17: >56 AuntieClio: will you accept "Jewel" as a gem word?

>168 souloftherose: I tried hard with a love triangle, but the books I have with love triangles in them didn't have tags identifying them as such, and vice versa...

I finished The Orphan Master's Son for the totalitarianism challenge, #8. Wow, 5 stars from me, but if you want to join in be prepared for a harrowing story. Lots of torture, lots of heart. What an accomplishment!

>173 Citizenjoyce: I'm not sure that I'll get to it this month but it's definitely on my tbr list. Thanks for the recommendation.

>171 AnneDC: no, it needs to be the name of a specific gem.

>173 Citizenjoyce: I intend to get to The Orphan Master's Son soon Joyce. Glad you thought it so good. I never imagined it would in any way make for light reading, but appreciate the thumbs up.

>18 cyderry:

Hi Cheli,

I just received the ER book An Authentic Captain Marvel Ring & Other Stories by Alan Cheuse. I think a "ring" could be something bad. Say, for instance, a ring around the collar when doing laundry or a ring around the bathtub after taking a bath.

What do you think? :)

Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood - TIOLI #17. Read a book with a gem word or phrase in its title (Chrysoberyl = Cat's Eye)

Atwood's prose and storytelling kept me going to the very end, although it was touch and go for me in the first half of the book because of the bullying. Sometimes, things just hit a little close to home.

Elaine's story starts when she is young and her family lives out of the family station wagon going from place to place doing research for her entomologist father in Canada during World War II. They eventually settle down in Toronto, where Elaine and her brother enter the school system.

Over the years, Elaine becomes best friends with a girl named Cordelia, who is the bane of Elaine's existence even after they go their separate ways.

Told in flashback/memoir style, Cat's Eye is a retrospective of Elaine's life told while she's invited to mount a retrospective of her paintings back in Toronto, which she visits from her new home in Vancouver.

While I did end up liking this book, it was pretty intense and I'm not convinced Cordelia ever got put into the box well enough.

Suz, I want to thank you for creating your challenge this month, if I haven't done so already. My whole library is one giant backlog (just a slight exaggeration) and just now your challenge allowed me to fit in the latest edition of my beloved Slightly Foxed quarterly, since I've been collecting all the back issues for the past year (still have the first 4 year's worth to get) and have plenty more where this one came from. I just posted a review about Slightly Foxed 41: Cellmates following another I wrote this month, because I'm trying to do my bit to make this publication known to members of LT specifically. As I said in the preface on that review on my thread: I really do think every member of this group should get addicted to this little quarterly, it's really made for just such kinds of appreciative and dedicated readers as we are. http://www.librarything.com/topic/171927#4638811

Last night I completed Cherry Ames Flight Nurse by Helen Wells and it fits into Challenge #5 - Read a Book whose title consists of four words

First line:
~Lieutenant Cherry Ames, of the Army Nurse Corps, training at Randolph Field, Texas, to become a flight nurse, decided to take time out, this hot September morning, for a coke~

Cherry, the central character in a series of 27 mystery novels with hospital settings, is a sweet, dedicated working woman. These books were originally published between 1943 and 1968. I read them first when I was a pre-teen and really loved them. I had no idea that these books were written to encourage girls to become nurses as a way to aid the war effort! I did become a nurse and at 61 years of age, I still own 6 of the series. I decided it might be fun to re-visit one of them last month during the MysteryCat Challenge to read a YA / children’s mystery.

This one is pretty much as I remember the series. Not exactly a mystery but something mysterious is going on and Cherry is concerned about it. She doesn’t solve a mystery but we are with her as she is confused and eventually has the mysterious circumstances explained to her.

I used to think I was keeping these books for my grandchildren to read (not that I have any grandchildren yet!) but I don’t think that I want my grands to read this. Too syrupy sweet. And with some unprofessional behaviours that we would not condone in a nurse today. This book is definitely dated but still was a fun easy read

3.5 stars

I haven't got to Cherry Ames yet, but I am reading her nurse-detective forerunners, Hilda Adams (aka "Miss Pinkerton") and Sarah Keate.

Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor - TIOLI #23. Read a novel by a British author

‘They’re historians . Something always happens.’ (p. 14 - Kindle Edition)

What a dream job for a historian! To travel back in time simply to observe what happens. Supposedly simple, and rarely just to observe.

Oh what fun they have at St. Mary's Institute of Historical Research, what with the intrigue, the sex, the romance, the history, the killings ... oh, and the history, lots and lots of untidy history. It's not often a book will make me cry, then laugh, then cry again. I have warmhearted fuzzies for Miss Maxwell and her gang of historian fools, always watched over by my namesake Kleio.

And seriously, what historian isn't intrigued by a chance to save part of the great Library at Alexandria?

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby - Challenge #13 - Read a book in a genre you haven't yet read from in 2014 (autobiography / memoir)

First line:
~ Through the frayed curtain at my window, a wan glow announces the break of day ~

Short; powerful.

Written painstakingly as Bauby communicated by blinking one eye as his friend and interlocutor listed off letters of the alphabet. What a commitment on both their parts.

This book reminds me of a young woman I met at the therapy pool that I used to go to here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Carly Fleischmann was diagnosed as a toddler with severe autism, oral-motor apraxia and cognitive delay. She could not speak, had all kinds of odd behaviours and her parents were told that she would never develop beyond the level of a very young child. Then all of a sudden at age 10, Carly began to type full words and within 3 years time she was an advocate for other autistic children, teaching physicians and showing us that even though she was not able to speak, she had an awful lot to say. She is now 19. When she was 17 she and her father wrote a book together called ‘Carly’s Voice’.

Until she was 10 years old Carly was ‘locked in’ just like Bauby. They have each taught us that there is often much more going on inside that we are aware of. The brain is a remarkable thing.

What I found from reading Bauby’s book is that life for him could be beautiful in spite of almost total paralysis and we get a real sense of the isolation that he felt and the frustration he experienced at being unable to do ‘anything’ for himself. The glimpse we get into his inner world is remarkable.

3.5 stars

>183 ccookie: I saw the movie of the Diving Bell & the Butterfly a few years ago. Very powerful. Amazing that drive to communicate.

>184 JenMDB: I haven't seen the movie but I have heard from others that it was very good

182. That quote in the title is also in The History Boys! Ah, such a great film (and play, I'd assume, though I've unfortunately never seen it on stage). Might have to re-watch soon.

Sorry, Madeline, I've been missing action. Doctor appts before my surgery - ring is fine.

Finished The Kalahari Typing School for Men (challenge #3). Had neglected this series for many years. Enjoyed it a whole lot when it came out, but now many years later, while I find it quaint and pleasant enough, the very morality I enjoyed as charming and refreshing I'm now finding a bit preachy, and the tone too simplistic, though I'm not sure that's a fair assessment. Not to say I won't continue with the series, but it won't become a priority either. I need to get back to Dr Siri Paiboun. Has more bite to it, which suits me better these days.

>187 cyderry:

Thanks, Cheli!

Can I just be a complete tech-idiot and ask a quick non-TIOLI question?

What do you do to get that blue link at the start of a reply (with the post number and username)? Do you have to type in a code?

>190 PawsforThought: Use that little arrow shaped bracket followed by the number of the post you're referencing. >

Ah, it's that easy? Thanks.

Started on The Orphan Master's Son today. Joyce and I shared another read with Sense and Sensibility recently, and this is definitely a change of pace and basically a completely different universe! So far so good.

Yesterday I finished listening to Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

I put it in Challenge #10 - Read a book with at least one matching tag from the previously listed book. (Romance)

First line:
~I bear a deep red stain that runs from my left shoulder down to my right hip, a trail left by the herbwitch's poison that my mother used to try to expel me from her womb~

This is a book that I would not usually have chosen for myself but I received the audio version from the SYNC program last summer. I really am not that fond of this type of historical fiction. However, when I saw that the April 2014 Reading Through Time Group (RTT) time period was the 15th century, I decided to have a listen.

It was an ok ‘read’. There were things about this book that I really liked (Strong female protagonist, nuns training assassins!, all the action and political intrigue) And some parts that I did not care for. (the romance; the political intrigue which went on at length and I found some of that very dry and boring; dialogue that doesn’t ring true i.e. 15th century words mingled with 21st century dialogue)

All in all it was a fun read but I don’t plan to be seeking out books 2 and 3 of this ‘His Fair Assassin’ trilogy.

3.0 stars

I am having a weekend of fun reading with The Mountains of Mourning by Lois McMaster Bujold. Gotta love that Miles.

I am also loving Bloody Jack; Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy by L.A. Meyer, a book I probably wouldn't have picked up now except that it fit Liz's Challenge #4.

Well, sorry to say I've given up on The Orphan Master's Son today, not quite a third of the way in, although it was meant to be a shared read. It was dragging me down and for some reason I guess I expected something that would follow along the lines of Nothing to Envy, the only other book I've read about North Korea so far and which I found unputdownable. I wish I could describe what didn't work for me, but not sure I can until I've thought about it a little.

Instead, as a complete about-face, I've picked up my first ever Georgette Heyer book with These Old Shades. I guess I was more in the mood for regency romance because it's fitting my mood perfectly. Deciding what challenge I'll list it under now.

eta: I put it in challenge #13 where I hadn't listed anything before and also because this is my very first historical romance of the year and possibly of my entire life!

I had the same problem with The Orphan Master's Son. I've put it in my Second Chance category this year, so I might get through it.

>195 DeltaQueen50: Thank you and Liz for getting me to read Bloody Jack. Never in a million years would it have occurred to me to read such a thing, and I also am loving it.
>196 Smiler69: So sorry you gave up on The Orphan Master's Son. I'm surprised I could get through the whole thing because it really is horrific, but to me, well worth it. If Nothing to Envy is even better, I can't wait to read it. But first I have to finish with autism. Thank you, >157 tymfos: for listing Not Even Wrong, it really is fascinating.
And not to leave you out, >182 AuntieClio: I've started Just One Damned Thing After Another on Kindle and it's lots of fun.

Heretics of Dune by Frank Herbert - TIOLI #6. Read a book with a word in the title that suggests something bad (heretic)

I was Warned about this book, but didn't find it horrible and am not sorry I read it. However, I will say, there were so many factions fighting over I'm not sure what that I was confused some times.

Basically, it's 1500 years after the assassination of Leto II, God Emperor of Dune. Since then, humans have left Arrakis (now know as Rakis) and scattered themselves amongst the other planets of the universe. But now, the hens are coming home to roost putting the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood in competition with Honored Matres, who use super ecstatic sex to bend men to their will. There are other pseudo-religious factions involved.

There's a young girl from the Arrakeen desert who can control the worms, much to the surprise and delight of two of the factions who wrestle for control over the girl. Another Duncan Idaho meant to forward the Bene Gesserit plan .... and ....

Also included, speeches about the power of sex, wealth, and religious systems. Lots of action, plots within plots within plots (as usual) ...

I finished reading The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate today (which won the Newbery Medal last year), and found it to be devastating and beautiful. My review is on the book page. I was very happy to see I could fit it into the Unshelved Book Club challenge (#7). Definitely recommended, though if you're a softie and an animal lover like me, keep the kleenex handy!

>198 Citizenjoyce: Sorry to disappoint Joyce. It wasn't so much that I found it horrific (I was expecting things to be dire, having read that other book which pulls no punches on the situation in North Korea), so much as I found the story seemed to drag on and on and dragged me down along with it. I'm finding I can read about just about any topic, no matter how potentially disturbing, but it's entirely a matter of tone, style and approach. I can see it has merit, but just not my cup of tea, that's all.

>198 Citizenjoyce: I was surprised at how much I am enjoying Bloody Jack as well, Joyce, I didn't expect this book to have so much substance. The only downside, (sigh) another series to follow.

>200 Smiler69: The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

>202 ccookie: Oops, yes, I knew that, wasn't paying attention that time—must have been thinking of my closest friend—, thanks!

eta: fixed now.

A Symphony of Echoes by Jodi Taylor - TIOLI #23. Read a novel by a British author

On top of everything else, these bastards were book-burners! (p. 70 Kindle Edition)

... the Defence Secretary had been taken there after he raced naked through the corridors of power, shouting, ‘I’m Titania, Queen of the Fairies!’ (p. 141 Kindle Edition)

With writing like that you know you're in for a good time, and Taylor did not disappoint with A Symphony of Echoes.

What makes these books so much fun for me is the descriptions of history. When Max and team go to Canterbury, Taylor's writing really makes the reader understand what citizens of that time experienced.

That Dr. Max is as flawed as any of us and still strives for triumphal completion of her missions makes me love her all the more. Even though she does tend to go over the top when she is, shall we say, more than a bit peeved.

A Symphony of Echoes does not stand alone, there is no "closure" so to speak on the big issue haunting St. Mary's. What will book #3 bring me, aside from the trip to Troy mentioned in the last line of book #2?

>198 Citizenjoyce: >201 DeltaQueen50: I remember loving the audio of Bloody Jack a few years ago. I wanted to keep listening to them as the narrator was really good but my library only had the first one. I must check to see if they got more in since then.

>205 avatiakh: Fortunately, or unfortunately, my library has at least 3. As DeltaQueen says, one more series, alas.

The Polish Officer has been listed in Challenges 8 and 12, and is completed in both.

>10 lyzard: I am reading Voyager in Night, as I felt a 'voyage' was/could be an adventure.

What do you think? :)

Challenges #1-6
1. Read a book whose first sentence has exactly seven words - msg #1 - thread (looking impossible so far)
2. Read a book whose title and author have two Qs, two Zs, or one of each - msg #2 Martin Chuzzlewit if I finish in April
3. Read a book by an author or in a series or about a topic of which you have multiples on your TBR/wish list - msg #8 Genesis Volume III by J. Vernon McGee. I have multiples of Mr McGee's works.
4. Read a book whose title contains a variant of the word 'adventure' - msg #10
5. Read a book whose title consists of four words - msg #14 The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek
6. Read a book with a word in the title that could be something bad - msg #18 The Last Days of California by Mary Miller, completed 4/13/14.

>209 Kristelh: I haven't found a book to meet challenge #1 yet, either...

Challenge #14: Read a book that appears on the first page of LT Recommendations:

Finished The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud, which I discovered via the LT Recommendations.

>208 fuzzi: No, sorry - definitely looking for the word 'adventure'!

The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. LeGuin - TIOLI #5. Read a book whose title consists of four words

For the redhead from Telluride. (Dedication)

Hmmmm ... one wonders who the redhead from Telluride is and what s/he did to deserve a mysterious dedication.

The Tombs of Atuan is the second book in Le Guin's Earthsea trilogy and is a quieter, bleaker book with no grand adventure. In fact, the connection between the two books only becomes obvious about halfway through.

Tenar, a 6-year-old girl, is believed to be the reincarnation of Arha, priestess (The Eaten One) of the Nameless Ones, gods who are worshiped in the dark, and whose wishes are only dark.

Arha learns the daily regimen and rituals required of the Priestess, and is eventually led into the dark black of the tombs themselves, and the Labyrinth. Night after night, in a place where no light is allowed, Arha learns her way around. From one place to another, she counts steps and turns and openings and delves deeper into the place only she is allowed.

But one night, Arha turns the corner into a room where there is light and discovers all is not what she thought it was. She encounters her first stranger, clearly not of her world, and a man as well. After a few days of spying on him through spy holes above ground and giving him directions to one particular room, she goes back to see this man. It is this encounter which reveals the tie between Shadowhawk from Wizard of Earthsea and Arha of the Tombs of Atuan.

Puzzled by the presence of this man, Arha returns to him taking bread and water along. He speaks to her softly and patiently, waiting for her to decide what to do with him. Finally, he reveals his true name of Ged to her and reminds her of her true name, Tenar.

He also tells her of the Ring of Erreth-Akbe, half of which she has stolen from him, hanging on a chain around his neck. The other half is supposed to be hidden in the Tombs of Atuan, and when reunited, the ring will heal the rifts in his world of Earthsea.

When Ged points out they are being spied upon, Arha moves into action and decides they must escape, because the spy, old Kossil, priestess of the Godking has been waiting for her chance at killing Arha and if they remain Kossil will kill them both.

As they make their way through the underground labyrinth and tombs, the ground begins to shake in anger as the Nameless Ones realize their sacred space has been desecrated both by light, and by a male non-believer. Ged uses his power to keep the earthquake at bay, while he and Tenar make their escape. Stopping at the top of the hill to view the wreckage, they are witness to the total implosion and destruction of all the temples and buildings dedicated to the Nameless Ones.

And so, Tenar begins her quest for self at Ged's side. They travel by foot and boat to the city of Havnor. Eventually Tenar will go to study with Ged's old teacher, Ogion.

The Tombs of Atuan made little sense to me in terms in the world of Earthsea. Why was this little girl so important? And why did I suffer through many pages of dark tomb and labyrinth investigating? What was the point of all this? It just dragged.

And then, around page 64, it began to come clear. Ged who fought his darkness in Wizard of Earthsea was sent to restore the Ring of Erreth-Akbe, but more importantly, to rescue Tenar from her dark life as Arha and lead her to a brighter place in which to discover herself.

I've just started listening to In Chancery by John Galsworthy, part 2 of the Forsyte Saga. Had I not read Bleak House earlier this year, I wouldn't have thought to put it in challenge #6: a word in the title that could be something bad, but thanks to Dickens, I now know that Chancery can be a very evil place indeed.

All you people reading all these books! I've been reading The Luminaries since the 1st of the month and I still have almost 200 pages to go..... It's a great yarn it's just soooooooo long.

I just finished Boxers and Saints by Gene Luen Zang , a 2 book graphic novel about the Boxer Rebellion in China. This was for Challenge #11 the battle of the kids books, but there's not much that make them books for kids. There's lots of history with no happy ending for anyone, but lots of inspiration and uplift in the middle. The good guy has a bad side that just gets worse as he sacrifices every principle to the goal of reuniting China. The good gal has little good that happens to her except in her mind. Everything is about perspective. These would be great for classroom discussions in history or philosophy or literature.

Am halfway through A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (challenge #&) on audio. Fantasy is really touch and go with me, so I wasn't sure this would fly, but I'm really enjoy it so far.

OK, I finished Jazz for Challenge 2; and did I mention I finished Not Even Wrong: Adventures in Autism for challenge 4 already?

Chapterhouse: Dune by Frank Herbert - TIOLI #3. Read a book by an author or in a series or about a topic of which you have multiples on your TBR/wish list

OMG, enough already!!! Auntie say "STOP!" Yes, I was warned, I should have stopped at #4. Either that or get sucked into this neverending tale of one upmanship and who knows how to guide/govern/rule humans better. Always one more plot, always one more faction to add the the fray. So many as to lose count. And, what are they fighting for again? At the end of #6 there's no end in sight. Plus, things that were supposed to be a surprise but really, yeah I shoulda seen that coming. Just tedious.

It's not even that they're poorly written, they're not really but nothing resolves.

And with that I bid farewell to Dune.

>219 AuntieClio: I stopped after #3, and only the original Dune is on my reread list. Some stories should be left alone.

Challenge #8. Read a book about Totalitarianism: Finished reading the dystopian classic We by Yegeny Zamyatin, possibly the first dystopian novel, one that influenced 1984 and Brave New World, and was written in reaction to the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917.

>220 fuzzi: Yeah, I feel the same way about the original. There's this article where the last line is:
If only Herbert had heeded this advice and allowed his singular novel to stand alone.

This, of course, brought wails from the many fans of the series, pointing out why reading up to x number explained it all or made it better or ....

After reading 6 of them, I completely agree with the author. He shoulda stopped while he was ahead.

For those doing the Agatha Christie read-along, I have added The Sittaford Mystery to #3.

Well, I couldn't decide what to listen to next now I've just finished Home by Toni Morrison, but one of my latest Audible purchase, The Woman in Black: A Ghost Story by Susan Hill starts with exactly seven words according so CK, so I'm going with that and listing it under Madeline's challenge.

39. Eucalyptus by Murray Bail - Challenge #16: Read a book with a title consisting of a single word not more than 10 letters in length

It's a romance filled with stories about Australia, and eucalypti. Seriously wonderful, if you like this sort of thing. Although I've never read anything like it.

I started listening to The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Hidden Gallery and am listing it under challenge #6 as the word "hidden" could definitely be interpreted as something bad.

Normally, if a book holds my attention past the first chapter, I'll finish it. I just encountered a very rare exception, in 20 Master Plots by Ronald Tobias, which I was reading for Challenge #14: Read a book that appears on the first page of LT Recommendations. As the title suggests, it's a writing guide, and as an author I'm always up for at least looking at such books to see if they can help me improve my process or strengthen my craft.

And this one was interesting enough in how it looked at the underlying structure of various archetypal plots that I was thinking of buying a copy (I got it from the library) until I got to the chapter on love stories, which contained this gem of a quote:

Too often, romances are generic: In a formulaic plot, one general-issue man meets one general-issue woman as they pursue their fantasies and desires in the most pedestrian way. This isn't to say that these kinds of plots don't work within their own limited range. The writing and selling of romance novels is big business...if you're intent on writing for that market, know the rules. But you'll find them confining. The characters must conform to type.

Now, I guess Ronald Tobias would think I'm wasting my time trying to make myself a better writer, not to mention by putting so much time and energy into the protagonists of my current manuscript, especially what makes them unlike any characters I've attempted before, since clearly I'm just a pedestrian hack writing to formula, and all my heroes and heroines are interchangeable anyway. Jerk.

For what it's worth, I would've stopped reading just as abruptly if he'd written such a sneering dismissal of any other genre--including the handful I don't care for as a reader. I'm a firm believer that's there's excellence and mediocrity to be found in ALL genres of fiction. I don't know if I achieve excellence and distinctiveness in my writing, but I surely try.

Sorry I got a little ranty there. Sweeping dismissals of entire genres and the people who produce and consume them is something of a trigger point for me...

A Second Chance by Jodi Taylor - TIOLI #23. Read a novel by a British author

This damned book made me cry. I tear up sometimes, but not cuhry.

Dr. Max and her team go on a dream assignment of observing Troy before and not quite after the Trojan war. And ... Taylor's writing is a thing of beauty. She really makes her readers understand what it's like to be in a place. The way the clothes feel, the heat, the dust, sanitation, water, etc. I want to know what her credentials are and what her research process is like because she's good.

And then ... well, there's Max and Leon who just ... break my heart. And damn Taylor for writing so well as to make me fell the utter pain and joy in this relationship.

There's mayhem, laughter, joy, deep sorrow, revelations, death, and yes, second chances.

Anxiously awaiting more from this series.

Is anyone reading Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carre? I thought I found it on this thread, but now I don't see it. If not, I'll add it to challenge 5 (books with four-word titles).

>230 jennyifer24: I read it last year and listened to the audiobook a couple of months ago. I haven't seen anyone else mention it so it might have been me talking about it (though I don't think I did it in this thread).

I just listed The Master Butcher's Singing Club to challenge #6. Either 'Master' or 'Butcher' could be interpreted as bad things, but the book so far is great!

Question of the Month:

Which of the books that you've read this month (started and/or finished) has been your best read so far? Why? In what ways does this book outshine the others you've chosen to read so far?

Although I'm not done with it, Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood is by far the best this month.

We all know that Atwood is a master storyteller with great prose and imagery. And Robbery Bride is no different, I can clearly see the three women; Roz, Charis and Tony. Zenia, on the other hand, is still a complete mystery to me (I have about 200 pages to go). Somewhere along the 3rd chapter I started asking, "What did Zenia do to these poor women?"

For me, the greatest power of a book is, "What happens next?" And Robber Bride is a true pied piper in this regard. "Oh nerts, I gotta read another chapter to find out what happens next?"

As opposed to the Chronicles of St. Mary's which I adored and kept reading because I wanted to know what happened next but ... Taylor is not Atwood. Taylor is lighthearted and silly-ish. Atwood is lighthearted and elegantly eloquent.

>233 SqueakyChu: Quiet is a life changer. I've already made some small changes in how I do things and how I feel about myself based on this book. It's my first 9 out of 10 stars this year.

>235 Morphidae: Morphy I'm so glad to hear that about Quiet, it was a life changer for me too. I have so much more self-confidence and understanding of myself since reading it.

>235 Morphidae:

Your link points to All Quiet on the Western front. I take it the touchstone is pointing to the wrong book?

>233 SqueakyChu: I'm having such a slow reading month that at 3/4 distance I've still not finished a book. Serves me right for picking 2 biggies for the same month, I suppose. But of the two I have on the go, I prefer The Canterbury Tales. Takes a certain amount of attention (even when read in a 50s translation, not in the original text) but it's a feeling that all of life is here. And I'm not so sure that people have changed all that much over the centuries. There are fewer nuns and priests and other religion-related job titles, but the things that the tales tell of are still the things that tales are told of.

The Gods of Gotham has been my best read of the month so far.

I thought she evoked such a realistic view of New York in the mid 1800s that I felt like I was there, the horrors of that time and all.

>233 SqueakyChu: So far, my best read was The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. I didn't read this book in high school/college like many people. Maybe a bit of distance in this case was a good thing, as I didn't overly identify with the narrator, but I sympathized with her. The writing was so good, certain phrases just jumped off the page and lodged in my brain. I also appreciated how darkly humorous it was and the wry commentary on the prospects for women at that time.

My favorites were:

A White Wind Blew ****

The story takes place in a tuberculosis sanatorium in Louisville, Kentucky during the 1920's. Dr. Pike, a widower, struggles with his need to treat his patients and his desire to return to his studies for the priesthood. His late wife, Rose, was the love of his life. Can he find love again? Can his love of music and his medicine fulfill his needs? Or, should he devote his life to God? This was a powerful novel with some historical basis. Definitely, a good read!

A Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing ***.5

A Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing is an enjoyable debut novel, 10 years in the making. It is a lengthy saga of an Indian family who emigrate to New Mexico, narrated by the daughter. The family is oddly dysfunctional, but somewhat complacent until tragedy strikes both in India and in New Mexico. The story covers the typical angst of teenage relationships - siblings, dating, parents. It also addresses adult relationships, extended families, friendships, marriages, and careers. I enjoyed reading this book, even though, at 500 pages, it is much longer than my typical reads.

I've had several outstanding reads so far this month. Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth was completely gripping and did a great job recovering Jesus the historical figure who's been lost to the mythical Christ figure. It also taught me a lot about the Israel and state of Jewish religion of 2000 years ago. (review)

Sense and Sensibility was another. Liz's tutorials have made me really appreciate Austen's wit and clever prose. She can pack so much into just one well-placed sentence. It's gone from "meh" when I first read it in 2011 to WOW on this second reading.

The Quick by Lauren Owen was my 2nd 5-star read this year, which I got from NetGalley as an ARC. Seems impossible this is a first novel for this young author. She has a passion for Victorian and Gothic literature which she specializes in in her university studies, and she's put together an unputdownable multilayered narrative that is really gripping, and all this with elegant prose. I'm really excited to see what she comes up with next. (review)

Restoration by Rose Tremain is my other 5-star read this month. There's something about this author's approach that I find really exciting. The first book I read by her, Music & Silence was one of the best works of historical fiction I read, and this one somehow tops it. Told from the perspective of Robert Merivel, a man who is devoted to King Charles II and is wiling to do almost anything to remain in his favour; he also happens to be a fascinating character. I'm just surprised it didn't actually win the Booker Prize, for which it was shortlisted, but then 1989 was the year of The Remains of the Day. Tremain published a follow-up in 2012 called Merivel which I'll probably tackle very soon.

>234 AuntieClio: I read The Robber Bride many many years ago, but it's among my favourite Atwoods.

My best read so far this month is the audiobook I just finished - Once by Morris Gleitzman, read by the author. It's set in Poland in 1942. The main character, a Jewish boy, is a natural storyteller, and he narrates his own story, with each segment beginning "Once..." Although there are many heartbreaking moments in the story, there's always a sliver of hope for Felix. It's the first book in a trilogy and I'm eager to get my hands on the other two books.

ETA: Apparently there's a fourth book, so it's not a trilogy. I don't know if there will be more.

>237 SqueakyChu: I thought I fixed it before. *grumbles* It's okay now.

>244 Morphidae:

Thanks.

The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood - TIOLI #6. Read a book with a word in the title that suggests something bad (robber)

This? This is a "thumping good read," and what a deliciously, ironic ending. Brava, Ms. Atwood, Brava.

Zenia preys on people, for fun and, mostly, for profit. She is an evil scheming sociopath with no scruples, morals or ethics.

Tony, Charis, and Roz knew each other slightly from college, but become fast friends when they bump into each other at Zenia's first funeral.

The Robber Bride is the story of these three women from childhood. It's the story of how Zenia wreaked havoc on their lives, and how they carried on.

And it's deeper than that. It's a look at how decisions made by others shape our lives without our knowledge, and how some people are just no good.

Be warned: there are possible triggers in one particular chapter.

>233 SqueakyChu: So far my favorite read of the month is The Mountains of Mourning by Lois McMaster Bujold. I'd read it once before, during my initial read of the Vorkosigan Saga, but until now I hadn't revisited it. Seeing it now in the context of the whole series, I'm just blown away by how perfectly it encapsulates the themes of the series while also being a beautifully written standalone story.

The rest of my reads have mostly been enjoyable/interesting, but not the kind of thing I expect will stick with me going forward.

>233 SqueakyChu: my 5 star read fo the month was The Orphan Master's Son. It had everything i look for in historical fiction - lots of information about the place and time period with a real emotional bond with the characters.

>233 SqueakyChu: SqueakyChu: I've just finished two excellent books. The best was Aminatta Forna's memoir, The Devil That Danced on the Water. Her father was a doctor and political activist in Sierra Leone, and her mother was Scottish (they met when Mohamed Forna was studying medicine in Scotland). He was imprisoned on trumped up treason charges and later hanged. I think this is the first book I've rated 5 stars this year, both the story and the writing.

A very different book, but I also enjoyed Eleanor & Park which several people have listed for one of the challenges - it's also on offer for UK Kindle this month. Two teenagers meet on the school bus and become friends and more, but Eleanor has many secrets she doesn't dare to tell anyone. Park and even his family offer Eleanor some escape from the misery of a home dominated by a drunk, dangerous and nasty stepdad, but Eleanor feels it can't last.

I'm glad so many of you have become excited by a particularly engaging read this month.

My "book of the month" is Yes, Chef which I've actually just started, but it's the kind of book I want to read through right away. It's the memoirs of Marcus Samuelsson, a Harlem chef who was orphaned in Ethiopia, adopted and raised by a white Swedish couple. I haven't gotten far into this book yet, but already there is so much love in this man for the people who were important in his life. I'm a foodie, so I can't wait to see where this book takes me. Thanks, @jessibud2, for recommending this book to me.

>228 susanna.fraser: sounds to me like it needed a rant. Or two. :)

>233 SqueakyChu: I have not read many books so far this month, due to RL (my dad's hip replacement surgery), and I rated them all at 3-3 1/2 stars, except for:

The Bambino and Me by Zachary Hyman

What a fun read this was, even for someone raised as a Red Sox fan!

A young boy idolizes Babe Ruth, but has never had the opportunity to see him play. On his birthday, he receives two presents: one is two tickets to go to see the Yankees and Red Sox play...but the second is a Red Sox jersey and cap, which his mother forces him to wear to the game! What's a young Yankee fan to do?

Loved the story, loved the illustrations, and I am looking forward to another book by Zachary Hyman, coming out later this year, called Hockey Hero.

Isn't it nice when an Early Reviewer book is really good? :)

>251 fuzzi:

Isn't it nice when an Early Reviewer book is really good?

Absolutely!

>250 SqueakyChu:

Yes, Chef book is on my wishlist, so I'm excited to hear great things about it! Did you put it in a challenge?

I think my favorite book this month was Bloody Jack. It was a good, fun adventure story.

>253 jennyifer24:

Did you put it in a challenge?

I did. I put it in challenge #10, the tag- matching challenge.

You may match my book, but I can't guarantee I'll finish it by month's end. Too many books; too little time. :/

I had some pretty good reads this month, with Bloody Jack being a very fun adventure, I also agree that Mountains of Mourning was a very special read, and I just finished Hurting Distance, a British Police Procedural that really gripped me.

A few days ago I finished Motion Sickness: A Memoir by David Layton.

I picked this up recently from the bookcase in my condo laundry room because I thought it looked interesting. When Poetry was chosen as the April RandomCat topic I decided to take a look since David Layton’s is the son of Canadian poet Irving Layton. And since David was born in 1964 I can slot it into Challenge #18.

David has written an compelling memoir of his pre-adolescent and adolescent years growing up in an incredibly dysfunctional home.

My first thought, as I began to read this book was how disjointed it was. It seemed to just be a bunch of unrelated incidents. Then I came to realize that this was David’s life. Unrelated, unconnected incidents. No continuity. No stability.

As his parent’s marriage began to disintegrate and they both had relationships outside the marriage, they profoundly neglected their son. Both his mother and father had little time for David, although it is clear that they loved him.

David was sent here, there and everywhere. His father was so often absent and even when he was present he was ‘absent’ so months would go by before David would even realize that his father was not in the home.

There are severely disturbing descriptions of parental negligence. And yet at the same time this book is a testament to the resilience of children and the ability to survive severe challenges. The story of his life is told with humor and from a place of understanding just how damaged Irving and Aviva were themselves

3.5 stars