Take It or Leave It Challenge - June 2014 - Page 2

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

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


...logo by cyderry

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For the month of June, I challenge you to...

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Read a book whose author’s first and last name end in the same letter

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You’ll have to do a bit of looking, but you will find some good books to use for this challenge. Here are some you may want to try:

Grotesque – Natsuo Kirino
Ring – Koji Suzuki
A Wild Sheep Chase - Haruki Murakami
Sister Teresa – Barbara Mujica
Await Your Reply – Dan Chaon

Feel free to suggest other authors and I'll add them to this list:.

More authors suggested by elkiedee:
Lorrie Moore
Imogen Robertson
Barbara Seranella
Lia Matera
Aminatta Forna
Lauren Henderson
Domenica de Rosa
Maggie Gee
John Lawton

More authors suggested by ccookie:
Umberto Eco
Jung Chang
Jo Nesbø (disqualified)
Guy Gavriel Kay
Dan Brown
Beverley Cleary
Chuck Palahniuk
Harlan Coban
Charles Dickens
Lisa Genova
Kazuo Ishiguro
Betty Jay

Have fun!

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

1. The June 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 author’s first and last name end in the same letter - msg #1
2. Read a book with a title containing a number of things - msg #2
3. Read a book with duplicate 4+ letter word in the title - msg #5
4. Read a childhood or young adult 'potential favorite' that you or someone else missed - msg #6
5. Read a book that is "something old, something new, something borrowed, or something blue" - msg #9
6. Read a book tagged about its Sense of Place - msg #10

Challenges #7-12
7. Read a book you said you'd read before but didn't - msg #12
8. Read a book that is a romance novel - msg #13
9. Read a book that doesn't have a person on the cover - msg #21
10. Read at least two books with a matched word - going up in alphabetical order - msg #24
11. Read a mystery/crime thriller set in the British Isles (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland - msg #27
12. Read a book with a body part on the cover - msg #28

Challenges #13-18
13. Read a book that is over 336 pages or 11 hrs. audio msg #31
14. Read a book you've been reluctant to read - msg #40
15. Read a book written by a grandmaster - msg #41
16. Read a book with more than one person on the cover - msg #71
17. Read a book which has a "don" word on any page with the number 57 - msg #75
18. Read a book that you can only read/find online or in E-book form - msg #88

Challenge #19-21
19. Read a book that has been published with at least two different covers - msg #109 - thread
20. Read a book with antonyms in the title - msg #154
21. Read a book by an author with a three-letter-first name - msg #161

Hold your new challenges until next month, please!

Speaking of where are all the good books, I just finished Dorothy Must Die and, surprise, it's the first of a set of I don't know how many, probably a trilogy which is the norm now. I didn't know it until I read the last page, though I did think things were coming to an end pretty quickly. It's such a clever book about battling one's demons and how a mother and daughter can disappoint each other - on top of all the Wizard of Oz stuff - but why oh why does everything have to be a trilogy now?

>3 Citizenjoyce: It's all a conspiracy to sell more books *she said gloomily*

>4 Chatterbox: Which was my big beef with Cinder. Even if a book is meant to be part of a trilogy, I still think each one should be complete on its own and not end in a cliff hanger. People, meaning I, read the Harry Potter series and never wanted it to end even though each book was an ending in itself. Rowling tantalized people into to reading her books by being a good writer, not by leaving us dangling at the end of each.

Should thin children's books be counted as BOOKS or WORKS?

Please be aware that this is *not* a deeply serious question. I just wanted to know where you think I should put them. They are both for elementary school children and are under 50 pages each.

You can put your own books/works wherever you think they fit. The TIOLI meter is only a book/work tracker and not a book/work competition. P.S. In the meantime, I have them stashed under BOOKS. :)

Undecided?! You're supposed to help me decide!! ;)

Ooh, ooh, ooh! I'm '''TOP WORKS FROG''' for the moment!

>6 SqueakyChu: Obviously, I'm undecided on the matter, or wouldn't have made such an unnecessary fuss about it on the last thread! Though in my case they were graphic novels and not necessarily all children's books, which amounts to the same thing usually in terms of length, though some GN's are massive—thinking of Habibi for example (though have yet to pick up any Craig Thompson).

>9 Smiler69:

LOL! So that was YOU who was undecided!!! You're no help at all...Just kidding!

I so much want to read Habibi. I did get to see Craig Thompson in person at one of the National Book Festivals I attended.

I think of all GNs as books, not works...even if they are thin. Think of all that drawing the author does! :)

>8 LoisB:

*loud applause*

It's probably all in the eyes of the beholder, ultimately, but I tend to come down on the side of combining length and complexity. So, I bumped my Kindle single over to the Works section because although it was a thoughtful and elegantly-constructed extended essay written for an adult audience, it was still only 28 pages long -- not a book that I could compare to, say, Persuasion or The Reluctant Fundamentalist, in terms of time and attention required to peruse it. On the other hand, there are plenty of graphic novels, as Ilana points out, that are complex and long -- Maus springs to mind, even though they are on the face of it just "picture books". And there are children's books that aren't picture books, and are 200 or so pages long, that certainly I wouldn't call anything but books. How long does it take to read? Is the book so skinny that you can't read the print on the spine? I think when I read the Catwings books, I grouped them together as a single book, or perhaps as two books? Or as four works? I can't remember. (Oh, incidentally, if anyone is looking for a really moving, sweet series of books about cats that ISN'T sentimental, but IS tremendously imaginative, those are them!!)

But ultimately, it's all in the eye of the beholder, that beholder is always going to be the individual reader, right? So it's how you see them.

Think of all that drawing the author does!

Believe me, as a visual artist, I can fully appreciate the time and effort and skill required there!

Yes, a graphic novel isn't like a book with line drawings! instead of one per page, there are what, five or six? I actually am not a fan of GNs -- it's just too much distraction, and I like to let my imagination do some of that work -- but I admire all the effort that goes into them.

>13 Smiler69:

I can fully appreciate the time and effort and skill required there!

I knew you would. That's why I mentioned it! :)

So far I finished two TIOLI:

17.: Read a book which has a "don" word on any page with the number 57
One morning like a bird by Andrew Miller (2014-06-07)
18.: Read a book that you can only read/find online or in E-book form
The Aunt Paradox by Chris Dolley (2014-06-09)

I'm reading now for
1. Read a book whose author’s first and last name end in the same letter
The Fire by Katherine Neville

Thanks for the opportunity to re-read Linnets and Valerians for challenge #4. I remembered loving it once upon a time but apart from that all I could recall was that it was full of flowers and bees and references to obscure things (for a 10 year old) like evensong and sextons. And here it is again full of fresh faced children on a plausible-ish adventure with some extraordinary adults for company. Still full of flowers and bees.

I count children's books and graphic novels as books. After all, I don't count 700 or 800 or more page books as two or three books. It all averages out in the end.

>18 Morphidae: After all, I don't count 700 or 800 or more page books as two or three books. It all averages out in the end.

Good point Morphy.

>18 Morphidae: "LIKE"

>18 Morphidae: Very good point. I just finished Winter's Tale and, at 768 pages, it definitely felt like at least 2 books to me.

A book is a book is a book, regardless of whether it is a children's book or not. All books are works. That's my philosophy, and I'm sticking to it.

I have to read New York before October for my RLBC. It's 1000+ pages. I wish I could count it as 4 books!

Make Way for Ducklings and War and Peace? But then, why bother with a "works" list for short stories and essays, which take up more time than a separately-bound book, but just aren't separately bound?

I suppose I'm wondering what we're trying to measure here. If we have a separate category called "Works", what is it designed to include? Perhaps that's the better question. Is it just something -- a magazine article, a short story, an essay -- that isn't separately published/bound/printed/sold/identified as a "Book"?

>24 Chatterbox: I've never understood the point of "Works" in TIOLI. I don't count essays or short stories by themselves. So in the spirit of TIOLI, I left it.

>24 Chatterbox:

"Works" was created when someone (I forgot who) created a challenge to read something smaller than a book (or even part of a book). It was a catchall phrase to include what really could not be considered a book. I would include things like one short story in an anthology, a newspaper article, a pamphlet, a short fiction in a newspaper magazine, a poem in an anthology.

I don't usually include "works" on the Frog Meter, but I do allow others to add it and will add it myself (as in the above case), when someone questions whether or not what they read was a "book". I'm leaving the answer to that question to each individual challenger.

>25 Morphidae:

I don't count essays or short stories by themselves.

You do not, but others might want to do so. This gives them the option without affecting the "books" count on the Frog Meter. :)

I read Kindle singles from time to time. For purposes of my 2014 category challenge, I count these as books and so count them here as books as well.

>23 LoisB: I loved this book very much. Enjoy it!

>26 SqueakyChu:
>27 lindapanzo:

Yes, Kindle singles are tricky buggers. They technically aren't books, because they're e-books only. I tend to subdivide them for my 75 challenge -- so if I read one Kindle single, I'll mark it as 37(a) and then make sure I add at least a (b) and preferably a (c) as well at some point. That way they more or less add up to the page count for a full book. But that's my decision for how to handle it on my challenge lists. On TIOLI, I err on the side of sticking it on works, since I still tend to get grief a few times a year from people who prefer to remain anonymous and who don't believe that I read as much as I do. So if I put a Kindle single on the books list, even if others do, it looks like I AM trying to inflate my numbers, and I risk getting other peoples' blood pressure up.

I finished A Pedigree to Die For for the Overdrive global book read, and it was better than I thought it would be. I can't imagine why they picked a book with such specific focus on dog shows, breeding and grooming, but I did learn lots about those things. There was also a realistic main character who was a single mother and had to constantly find child care for her 4 year old son as she went about solving the mystery. Unlike real life, such care was almost always available. I liked the emphasis on female friendships and the fact that though there was a movie star gorgeous love interest, he didn't take center stage. The family members are imperfect and prickly and the main character has to find a way to exist in the family with them, and there's a fine twist in the plot. All in all, not bad, though not great literature

>29 Chatterbox: Why is something that's ebook only not a book? It seems to me that, say, an 80,000 word novel issued exclusively in ebook form by a digital-first publisher is just as much a book as it would be if it had been picked up by a print publisher. I can see debates over length, but to me it's content rather than format that makes a book a book.

>31 susanna.fraser: I was speaking more about the Kindle single rather than the ebook only format -- so I misspoke, sorry. If a Kindle single were printed off on demand, it wouldn't really make up a book, whereas an 80,000 word MS clearly would produce a book-length MS. And yet a Kindle single is designed to stand alone. So, it's kind of neither fish nor fowl...

>29 Chatterbox: I can understand that. Since I've been quite a laggard lately, no one has ever accused me of not reading as much as I say. To the contrary, lately, it's been more like "what happened to you"?

>32 Chatterbox: Understood. :-)

White Fire by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child (gift) - TIOLI #17. Read a book which has a "don" word on any page with the number 57 (p. 57, don't)

And with this, Preston & Child have landed back in my good graces and Pendergast gets to stay in my library for another volume. White Fire more than makes up for Two Graves.

Where would the world of mystery be without an impetuous and impulsive character who cannot, and will not, listen to the sage advice of the protagonist? The smart but overly impulsive Corrie Swanson finds herself in the former silver mining town now rich ski resort town of Roaring Forks (which reads an awful lot like Aspen), Colorado in search of data for her thesis. And, as these things go, finds herself in the middle of a huge cover-up of things 150 years ago, and a serial arsonist investigation. Oh, and in jail for a little bit, when she gets too close to the truth.

I rarely try to solve mysteries as I read them, I just go for the ride. But this time, the obscure knowledge about the origins of the saying "mad as a hatter," gave me a giggle because that's the root of all the destruction in Roaring Forks.

White Fire is a fun ride, perfect for a hot summer read. Keep writing Preston & Child, all is forgiven.

I have to thank JeanneD for her challenge, without which I wouldn't have read Linnets and Valerians as soon as I did; it may have languished on my Kindle. And I adored it. Yes, it's a children's book and probably not a classic, in the tradition of Wind in the Willows, but it's sweet without being sentimental, and whimsical, warm and delightful. Precisely what the doctor ordered.

The book didn't qualify because it wasn't tagged before, but having read Fritz Leiber's Our Lady Of Darkness, I have now deliberately tagged it "sense of place"---it is all about San Francisco, really.

>36 Chatterbox:: I am so glad that you found a new favorite!

Re: Challenge 14: Read a book you've been reluctant to read, "You don't have to say why on the wiki, but you can post your reasons here.":

I'd read 9 works by Mira Grant before I ever tried anything under her other name, Seanan McGuire. I'd been meaning to try, but I was quite reluctant.

The Grant works were zombie/horror/science fiction books (depending on the books), while the McGuire were fantasy books with a bigger touch of romance (I don't recall if there is any touch of romance in the Grant books). It isn't that I don't read fantasy, it's that it is a different type of genre, and I didn't want to try and find myself disliking. And having that dislike rub off on books put out under the Grant name.

So, I've now read Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire. A book I put on LibraryThing as a maybe way back in January. And kept looking at the description, reviews, etc. and kept flinching away from. But finally read today. And gave a three out of 5 rating. All previous works I'd read by the author had been at least a 4, with two or more 5 star works tossed in there. Except for one short story I had rated 3 stars.

Needless to say I'll decided to not read another McGuire book.

Whereupon I looked to see what next I should read. And promptly read the second book in that October Daye series. And ended up rating that one 4.5 out of 5 stars.

I've just picked up A Russian Journal, a collaborative effort between John Steinbeck and Robert Capa. I've listed in in challenge #19 and posted 3 different covers on the related thread.

Finally finished The Golem and the Jinni for Challenge #13: Read a book that is over 336 pages or 11 hrs. audio. I think I am getting worn out by long books!

Finished my first two books for this month, both on audio

Challenge #9: Read a book that doesn't have a person on the cover
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Challenge # 2: Read a book with a title containing a number of things
Eight Million Ways to Die by Lawrence Block

Here's a question: Does a sweep require that a book be read? Or can it include a work? (Yes, back to that pesky challenge #18, since I'm now counting my Kindle single as a work and not a book).

>43 Chatterbox:
What does everyone here think?

I have to vote Yes because of challenge #18.

I voted yes, but I have to declare an interest, as my #18 is the same Kindle single, though I'm currently reading another book I can list there, on the basis that it was published in Kindle this month and the paperback edition is out in July, so it's only available as an ebook at the moment.

I'm voting yes, with the same self-interest! In this case, some of the kinds of books most likely to be included for Challenge 18 are also most likely to qualify as works.

>43 Chatterbox:

I think we'll go with "yes" for the answer to "What is a sweep?" because of the overwhelming number of "yes" votes to our poll and because it's often hard to know precisely the difference between a "book" and a "work".

>48 SqueakyChu: Thanks for putting it up to a vote, Madeline! I now know what I can and can't do, in clear conscience, sweepwise... :-)

Sweet dreams, Suz! :)

>18 Morphidae: words of wisdom, I agree.

>43 Chatterbox: "pesky", hmm? I did not realize what a can of worms would be opened with that challenge...I just wanted to create a challenge that would include books not available in "print". ;)

>51 fuzzi: you should know, we do like a pesky challengenge here.

>52 Citizenjoyce: if it were easy, it wouldn't be a challenge...

TIOLI Question of the Month:

What setting of the books you've read so far this month did you like the best? Why?

Feel free to share some quotes of the setting in your reply.

The setting of Linnets and Valerians has definitely been the best so far. I have a real soft spot for Devon anyhow having spent many wonderful holidays there.

I liked the setting of The Horse Whisperer, the miles of plains and woods and mountains. It is easy to lose oneself there.

“But you see Annie, where there's pain, there's still feeling and where there's feeling, there's hope.”

Hmm. Setting. I've read 10 books so far this month.

- Completely made-up fantasy world (Crown of Renewal)
- Alternate History 1636 Caribbean (1636: Commander Cantrell in the West Indies)
- Haarlem Netherlands, Venice Italy (Thief of Always)
- Fantasy Chicago (Skin Game)
- Fantasy San Francisco (Rosemary and Rue, A Local Habitation, An Artificial Night (most action in faerie land), Late Eclipses, One Salt Sea, Ashes of Honor)

Liked the best? hmms. I liked the use of the hills in San Francisco. In a car chase driven by someone who doesn't understand much about how to drive, or brakes, suddenly flinging self and passengers way too fast down one of the hills. Fleeing archers by pushing a mermaid in a wheelchair down a steep hill, then leaping into said wheelchair and riding down said hill before plunging into water.

I suppose the use of San Francisco in the October Daye series.

>57 Lexxi: Sounds like a wild San Francisco to me.

My favorite setting is in The Secret Garden. The house has a hundred rooms with hallways jutting here and there, one room has a cabinet full of carved elephants; but the piece de resistance is the garden itself described from dormant through the beginnings of growth to full bloom then into autumn color. I'm afraid to watch the movie because it can't possibly compare to the garden in my mind.

>58 Citizenjoyce:

My favorite setting is in The Secret Garden.

That setting still remains in my mind from the time I read that book to my sons at bedtime, a chapter a night. It's simply a magnificent setting for a children's book.

The best setting this month has been the turn-of-the-20th-century New York City in The Golem and the Jinni. The author brings in a lot of detail and really conveys a strong sense of what it was like to live in New York in that time, contrasting the slums to Central Park and the houses of the wealthy.

My favorite setting so far this month is my current read which takes place on the imaginary island of Combe off the coast of Cornwall. It's an isolated restful place, maintained as a resort for the elite.

But now there's a body hanging from The Lighthouse - definitely spoiling the view.

For the TIOLI Question of the Month:

The setting I've liked the best has been in The Blackhouse by Peter May. A place I've never seen before became vivid in my mind through his writing. Most of the book is set on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. A pivotal part of the action occurs on a tiny, treacherous island of rock where a small group of men annually harvest birds according to the government quota. He did a great job rendering both settings. Here is a portion set on Lewis:

"Marsaili and I went down to the beach at Port of Ness. We picked our way in the dark through the rocks at the south end of it, to a slab of black gneiss worn smooth by aeons, hidden away from the rest of the world by layers of rock that appeared to have been cut into giant slices, stood on end, then tipped over to lie in skewed stacks. Cliffs rose up above us to a night sky of infinite possibilities. The tide was out, but we could hear the sea breathing gently on the shore. A warm breeze rattled the sun-dried heather that grew in ragged, earthy clumps on shelves and ledges in the cliff."

And this:

"...someone had a fire lit in their hearth. That rich, toasty, unmistakable smell of peat smoke carried to him on the breeze. It took him back twenty, thirty years. It was extraordinary, he thought, how much he had changed in that time, and how little things had changed in this place where he had grown up. He felt like a ghost haunting his own past, walking the streets of his childhood."

> 62

Beautiful!

I'm not sure about using the word "like" in relation to the best portraits of a setting I've read this month - I wouldn't want to visit Germany in the 1930s/40s, nor would I want to be starving and freezing to death in the Russian winter. But I can't seem to stay away from books about those settings. Audrey Magee's The Undertaking was a compelling portrait of life for many German people at that time. While the main characters of the book are involved and/or complicit in some appalling actions, the reader is engaged in feeling some empathy for them, not politically but in other ways.

I'm currently reading Jane Thynne, The Winter Garden, set in 1937, two years before the outbreak of WWII and, I would think, 4 years before The Undertaking (Germany and Russia are at war at the beginning of the novel). It's the second in a series and in contrast to The Undertaking, Germany is portrayed through the eyes of an outsider in several senses. Clara has a German mother and has lived in Berlin for some years but she is English, and dislikes Nazism.

>62 countrylife: This one is sitting on my TBR pile. It looks like I should move it a bit more up.

I have read books featuring London in the 20s, Norfolk in the middle ages, Sussex (I think) in the last decade, Warwickshire at the start of the 19th Century and an abandoned South Wales in WW2.

Of those, the only one where the landscape really featured was Major Pettigrew's Last Stand where he lives in a village in the rolling downs a few miles from the sea. Which is a lot like home (only that was more idyllic than the fishing village sandwiched between the downs & the sea where I grew up). However the most evocative landscape in the book was actually only for a few days, when they escaped to a tumbledown fishing lodge somewhere in Wales. Within sight of Snowdon, on the edge of a lake, they discover themselves and escape from a censorious world for a few short days. The morning after their first night, he goes down to the lake in the morning and the vividness of the landscape on a brisk, frosty morning, fits well with his sense of being alive. He muses that this could be what the Garden of Eden was supposed to be like, the feeling of being vibrantly alive, rather than the lush, slightly lazy, tropical image that is usually conjured up by the suggestion of Eden.
And I listened to that one, so am going to struggle for any quotes.

>65 Ameise1: - To put his own pictures with his own words, here is a video snippet of the author's research taken on the Isle of Lewis. (Beautiful music in the background, too.)

Added Chimes to challenge 10. For a moment or two I thought I might have unintentionally put in a challenge stopper. But I see that there are 190 works on Librarything that use the word "Chimes". Including the book I read, Chimes at Midnight, and many I have not (represented by the example of The Chimes by Charles Dickens).

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (Gift) - TIOLI #13. Read a book that is over 336 pages (642 pages)

I really wanted to love The Historian, but I couldn't. It's a 400-page story shoved into a 642 page book. Plus, it meandered.

This book has everything; intrigue, romance, books, mystery, bad guys, good guys, folklore, and vampires. Plus historians following the research trail of Vlad Dracula to find his final resting place and kill him really truly this time we mean it dead. There was just too much of it. Too many points of view, too many improbable coincidences, and the vampire himself who is luring historians to him so they can catalogue his vast library of first editions dating back 500 years. It should have been wonderful but it wasn't.

Robert B. Parker, one of my very favourite authors, was awarded The Grand Master Award by the Mystery Writers of America in 2002. For Challenge #15 I just finished Walking Shadow

>68 Lexxi:

My understanding for Challenge #10 was that you either had to post two books yourself at the same time with the same word or you had to make arrangements with another LTer so that both of your two books could be listed at the same time.

>71 SqueakyChu: You are correct.

>68 Lexxi: That was my question when I saw the book listed, too, as I had a couple of "D" books that i might add, and for a second got excited!

>71 SqueakyChu: >72 Morphidae:

I thought that if you were doing a shared read, you could just post under the existing books. For example, I shared I Know why the caged bird sings and will be sharing Never Knowing. I haven't posted under that yet, because my library hold hasn't arrived. Are you now telling me that I am not eligible because I didn't post at the same time?

>74 LoisB: Nope. It means when adding NEW books to challenge 10, you must add TWO books with the same word. Shared reads are different. So you are eligible with those.

>73 Chatterbox: The original posts says you can skip one or two letters, so your 'D' books should be good to go.

>69 AuntieClio: I listened to The Historian earlier this year, and that's how I felt about it, too. A fun idea buried in meh.

>69 AuntieClio: Thanks for posting this review, as I had been eyeing up The Historian and now I think I will give it a pass. I have noticed a lot of bloat in new books lately, much like movies have all inexplicably become 3 hours long! I had a similar complaint about The Golem and the Jinni. I miss the 90-minute movie, and I crave the 250-page book.

>74 LoisB: Lois, you could list another book yourself under Chime or Chimes, unless someone else can pick something they actually want to read and have available to them, given that we're 60% of the way through the month. Or you could move it to another challenge.

>75 Morphidae: >78 elkiedee:
Thanks! I think I understand.

BTW I want to nominate Challenge #10 for "the most complex challenge" award!

>76 streamsong: Thanks -- I added my "D" books. That said -- I have another "D" book that is a higher priority for me, but for which I don't (oddly!) have a match. It is The Dead Will Tell by Linda Castillo, which I have to read over the weekend. It will fit into another challenge, if need be, but if anyone has a book with "Dead" in the title that they want a match for, let me know, and I can save my other "D" books for later...

>79 LoisB:

BTW I want to nominate Challenge #10 for "the most complex challenge" award!

LOL! I'll certainly keep that in mind.

By the way, after I post the monthly awards, other challengers can also add their own awards. Just wait for me to put up the official Awards List of the Month first.

>80 Chatterbox: Suzanne I am reading The Book of Dead Days which I was going to slip in with the other "Book" words on that challenge but I'll happily match your "Dead".

Cool! I'll delete my "Dark" books, add my "Dead" one, and leave it to you to add yours, then! Reay Tannahill can wait until next month; it's a chunkster.

ETA: Done, with a placeholder for your book, calm.

Done ... and completed:)

That's too complicated for me. So I just move it to challenge 13. Was trying to branch out, I was. Number of challenges entered, at least. So many challenges over the years I didn't understand so end up packing everything into a tiny few. hmms. All but one of the books I've read so far would fit challenge 13.

I still don't understand it, I don't, nor understand 71.

>85 Lexxi:

I still don't understand it, I don't, nor understand 71.

I'm so sorry about that, Lexxi. Really. I think that the point of challenge #10 was simply that two different books with one common word had to be posted at the same time.

Anyway, there are many other challenges here that hopefully you will find easier to understand and in which you can and will gladly participate.

>77 sturlington:, you're welcome. I truly wanted to love The Historian, glad to have saved you some bother.

>76 streamsong: Janet, yeah "meh" about describes it.

>85 Lexxi: At first glance it's definitely one of the trickier ones, because it requires coordination. Either you need to want to read two books that have the same word in the title, or you need to find someone else who wants to read a book that have a common word in the title. (As calm & I sorted out in msgs #80 & #82, above.) On the other hand, I'm going it alone with a bunch of books I've got on my shelf that all have the word "Paris" in them.

In this case, had the word in question been the "M" word, Midnight, I might have been able to help, but I don't have an unread book with the word Chimes in the title at all. And you need a match -- either someone else reading the identical book, or someone reading a different book with the same word in the title.

Generally, people are pretty helpful about answering questions about their challenges, I've found? Yeah, there are times when in cyberspace the big block capital letters saying THIS DOESN'T QUALIFY can come across sounding like DO NOT TRESPASS, but 90% of the time that's just to draw our attention to it, because we all tend to rush in and post stuff without paying attention to the finicky details of the challenge.

It is TIOLI, so you can pack your books into as few challenges as you want, but if you want to branch you, you can ask, either on this thread or via PMs. I doubt very much whether this would ever be a problem. Certainly I wouldn't mind; I'm not on this thread continually, so if someone has a question about what my challenge involves, I'd hope that they'd PM me rather than think I'm ignoring them or avoid the challenge.

My 0.02. So I'll go and finish my vampire epic. *eyes roll*

>86 SqueakyChu: >88 Chatterbox:

Here's my two cents...and I hear where you're coming from, Lexxi and Suz.

I've tried the PM route before for listing disqualifications, and that was considered as singling out an individual for telling them what they did was wrong.

I agree that a PM to the challenge host is appropriate if no answer is forthcoming on the main thread about how to execute (no pun intended) or that further explains a particular challenge.

I happen to like to way we finally agreed (after debate) how to handle those disqualified listings. If we need to make changes to this process, I'd be willing.

What we do (or are supposed to do when a challenge does not qualify):

1. Move the challenge to the bottom of the listing and mark it DOES NOT QUALIFY, using ALL CAPS.
2. Explain why it does not qualify.
3. Sign it with the name of the person who marked it as such.

This is why I personally like this:

1. The capital letters draw attention to the problem.
2. It serves as an explanation both to the person who posted it and to others who may also be about to post similar unqualified listings.
3. There are no private messages which tend to inflame anger or provoke hurt among individuals.
4. Everyone can see what the issue is and can contribute to the disqualification or against the disqualification. Not everyone reads all the lists all the time. Although the disqualification is usually done by the challenge host, it can really be done by anyone...and the sooner, the better.
5. Nothing related to the disqualification is hidden from others. This is a "biggie" as we want to be fair and avoid hurt feelings.
6. No changes are made to the listing other than moving it elsewhere. It does not simply disappear!
7. The only person who can change or remove it is the person who listed it in the first place.

>88 Chatterbox:

>89 SqueakyChu: I've tried the PM route before for listing disqualifications, and that was considered as singling out an individual for telling them what they did was wrong.

For what it's worth, I find this response bizarre. If my fly is open, I'd much rather someone alert me to the fact with private whisper than with a public announcement in caps-lock. That said, I think your rationale for the current method is sound, especially argument #2.

>91 swynn:

If your fly were open, I'd PM you. :)

>92 SqueakyChu:: Goodness bless you, Madeline!

>79 LoisB: I did wonder whether I would end up with an 'award' like that! I know that rolling challenges tend to get more queries than any other kind, so perhaps the combination of a rolling challenge AND pairing books was just a twist too far ;-)

>94 wandering_star: I agree that it was the sum of the two aspects that added to the complexity.

My final question re challenge #10: since we will read two books for the challenge, does that count as 2 books on the TIOLI meter?

>96 LoisB:

since we will read two books for the challenge, does that count as 2 books on the TIOLI meter?

Yes.

Oh, I don't think the process needs changing. Lexxi seemed frustrated, so I was hoping to abate some of that frustration, while noting that all of us experience it sometimes.

I completely accept that the all caps/bold whatever "doesn't qualify" is the best way to handle it -- I'm just saying that is sometimes what it feels like, simply because visually, it can smack you between the eyeballs. And then occasionally, there are folks who choose to follow up with a PM to draw one's attention to this if it hasn't been addressed in what that individual considers to be a timely enough manner.

I know, however, that that's the irrational side of my brain responding to the sight of ANYTHING I have done that is now on the wrong side of ALL CAPS and BOLD LETTERING. Then I sigh, fix it and move on.

As far as PMs go, I'm not often on this thread after the first week of the month. For the record: if anybody has a question about a challenge of mine: please DO send me a PM. Ditto if I've got something wrong. (Unless you're scolding me, in which case: I'm no longer 10 and you (probably) are not one of my parents...) If I get a PM, I can fix it faster or answer a question more rapidly, since I don't haunt this thread and am only on the wiki to update it when I've finished a book, thus only visiting a specific challenge, not scrutinizing the whole thing. PMs will always be seen soon, and thus get the quickest response of whatever kind is needed.

>98 Chatterbox:

there are folks who choose to follow up with a PM to draw one's attention to this if it hasn't been addressed in what that individual considers to be a timely enough manner.

Even if the issue is never addressed by the person who lists the book incorrectly, I will see the warning when I do the stats and know not to count it at all. Truthfully, though, this has never happened. By month's end, all is usually corrected.

>67 countrylife: Many thanks for sharing this video, it is so beautiful.

>100 Ameise1: >67 countrylife: Wow, it is a beautiful video. Thanks for mentioning it Ameise1 - I had missed it when countrylife posted it. And now I've been hit by a book bullet - or maybe even an author bullet, which is worse.

I just started a great short story collection. It's the special edition of Lightspeed Magazine devoted to women in science fiction. It's titled the Women Destroy Science Fiction issue because of many complaints over the years that women can't write science fiction. I'm just on the first story about women who join a future US navy and are slowly changed into mermaids for the good of the navy. It's so good and reminds me just why I like feminist science fiction because it explores human possibilities in ways that show women not as tangents but as real human actors in life. The issue is only $3.99 if you're interested in buying it (or just checking it out)
http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/issues/june-2014-issue-49/
Now I have to find a place to put it
ETA I put it in Challenge 16 for covers with more than one person.

>102 Citizenjoyce: for some reason when I read your message, my eyes read "mermaids" as "marmalade". Okaaay. You can imagine my brain going loop the loop with that one...

>103 Chatterbox: I might be willing to be turned into a mermaid or a fish, some even become jelly-like fish, but I'd have to say no to marmalade.

Finished The Female Man for my own challenge #12 Read a book with a body part on the cover. Feminist speculative stream-of-consciousness parallel worlds -- there really is no way to describe this book.

I'd been meaning to read Georges Simenon literally for decades, and finally picked up a French omnibus edition from the library containing the first eight Maigret books (the complete works are available in 10 volumes, and at over $30 a pop, I thought it would be more sage to borrow and not buy them for a first reading). Currently reading the first book, Maigret And The Enigmatic Lett. I've of course listed it in the Grandmasters challenge #15.

A Man on the Moon by Andrew Chaikin (Mysterious Box 38) (re-read) - TIOLI #13: Read a book that is over 336 pages

Honestly, I don't know how I came to be so enthralled by the space program. Coming across my copy of Man on the Moon reminded me of this enthrallment and I settled in for quite the adventure.

Andrew Chaikin's background is science journalism, and he was bit by the space junkie bug at the age of 13. This enthusiasm is captured in the stories he tells of the Apollo voyages to the moon, the landings and the walks.

Starting with the grisly Apollo 1, this book details the lives of each mission through Apollo 17, the last mission to the moon. From planning stages to completion, Chaikin catches the richness and complexities of both the people and the machines working to make each a success.

Laden with details about the science, the training, personal stories of people behind the scenes and center stage, A Man on the Moon is a stirring good read for any space buff. No one book can cover each mission in complete detail, but Chaikin did a terrific job of covering each to give a sense of the hard work that went into bringing the mystery and joy of space exploration closer to home.

TIOLI Stats for May 2014

In May 2014, we had 21 challenges. There were a total of 610 books read (the lowest number since December, 2013). Of those books read, 111 or 18% were shared reads. We now have a YTD total of 286 TIOLI points (the lowest number YTD for May since 2010). The percentage of shared reads is remaining lower than average.

The most popular book read was The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion with 6 readers.

The most popular challenge was lyzard's challenge to read a book with at least two words in the title containing an embedded word of at least three letters. This challenge had 84 books read.

The most TIOLI points accumulated by a challenge was for chatterbox's challenge to read a book with a title that looks like it has been designed in some kind of handwriting. That challenge accumulated 8 TIOLI points.

Looking forward to soon announcing the TIOLI Awards for May, 2014...

Maus I by Art Spiegelman (gift) - TIOLI #10. Read at least two books with a matched word - going up in alphabetical order

Maus II by Art Spiegelman (gift) - TIOLI #10. Read at least two books with a matched word - going up in alphabetical order

I feel so inadequate trying to reconstruct a reality that was worse then my darkest dreams.
Art Spiegelman - Maus II, p.16

How does one even try to explain the horrors that were the death camps of Nazi Germany? How can one approach the story of someone who survived to tell the tale?

Art Spiegelman's black and white graphic novels tell the complex story of his relationship with his survivor father and Vladek's survival of Auschwitz.

I love the choice of using black and white, instead of color, to tell this story. It makes for a more stark and rich telling, as does the choice to make the characters into animals.

What horrors told, each survivor and family member trying to live with the pain and suffering while trying to make sense of the utter destruction that was the Final Solution.

Madeline - that list of monthly indexes in message #1 is not up to date, missing March-May 2014 TIOLI links.

>110 avatiakh:

Fixed. Thanks.

NEW!

On the TIOLI meter today, you'll find a new designation. It's the TOP SHARED READS FROG.

Be sure to snatch this designation or share it if you have reached the top number of shared reads on the TIOLI meter for the current month.

Note: This is not a competition. It's merely a designation on our frog meter to see how we're coming along with our TIOLI reads for the month.For our vote: if you think this new feature is too annoying or too distracting, feel free to vote "NO".

Is it worth having a Top Toad, or Top Newt to compliment the Top Frog? picking a different green pond dwelling thing for the shared reads? makes it a little shorter.

>112 SqueakyChu: Madeline, you're so clever. You've said that a goal of the group is to promote shared reads and, knowing how competitive we might be, you've hit on a way to do it.

I like Top Newt!

I like Top Newt, too!

>113 Helenliz:

different green pond dwelling thing

Haha!

>114 Citizenjoyce:

you've hit on a way to do it.

Haha! (again)

Heh!

This is based on making "it a little shorter".

For those interested in shared reads, I've added The Treehorn Trilogy aka Treehorn Times Three by Florence Parry Heide to Madeline's challenge. It's illustrated by Edward Gorey and the trilogy is just brilliant! It's been recommended by others here before (I remember Heather in particular), and I'm very glad I followed up on those recommendations.

I've also added The Little Prince to challenge #5 as something blue (cover). 5 stars from me. Highly subjective of course. I was inspired to reread it following a discussion about the book on Mark's thread. Here's my review: http://www.librarything.com/topic/176565#4741354

heh, just thinking about blue covers. When I was at the library today, I noticed a display they had of blue books, with the sign "I'm looking for a book. I know it has a blue cover."

>122 raidergirl3: I feel for the librarian in that case! :-)

nevermind. I misread. I feel for her only if someone were to ask her that when looking for a specific title. Still, cute display idea.

When I laughed at the display, she said 'library humour'. I think they get asked that type of question a lot.

>124 raidergirl3: Right, that's what I was assuming! :-)

I like the idea of top newt for the shared reads.

A toad sounds kind of -- well, not quite as nice as a frog or a newt. And we don't have works every month anyway.

As far as pages read go, only five people (out of 27 this month) are even tracking them, so it seems a bit unnecessary to create another label for that. In many cases, that and the # of books will overlap, or if they don't, the odds are also high that it's because some of the people with the most books don't choose to keep track of their pages. Which is fine, because it's a hassle a lot of the time.

FWIW (and it ain't worth much) here's my opinion on the page counts. If the people counting pages would like an amphibian of their own, then, since in the words of my German/Russian grandmother, 'it eats no bread' - in other words it wouldn't negatively effect the rest of us - they should have it. If they don't want it, that's good, too.

Newts in my mind are forever linked with Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests. I like the alliteration of Top Toad.

I like "it eats no bread", must remember that!

Books completed in the last week or so:

Challenge # 1 - Read a book whose author’s first and last name end in the same letter
John Green - The Fault in Our Stars

Challenge #19: Read a book that has been published with at least two different covers
Still Life by Louise Penny

Challenge #13: Read a book that is over 336 pages or 11 hrs. audio
Trunk Music by Michael Connelly - 13:27:22

So far in June:
six TIOLI's
1. Read a book whose author’s first and last name end in the same letter
Katie Gale by Llyn De Danaan
9. Read a book that doesn't have a person on the cover
Oil and honey by Bill McKibben
11. Read a mystery/crime thriller set in the British Isles
The fleet Street Murders by Charles Finch
14. Read a book you've been reluctant to read
The Penelopiad
16. Read a book with more than one person on the cover
the Soprano Wore Falsettos by Mark Schweizer
21. Read a book by an author with a three-letter-first name
New Earth by Ben Bova

I haven't found challenges yet to fit The Litter of the Law or At Play in the fields of the Lord - could probably do something with people on covers, but not inspired yet. At Play might qualify for sense of place, but I can find other people's tags that say so specifically.

At Play... - how about challenge 19 - it seems to have been published with lots of different covers

The Litter... - is there a word which includes the letters "don" on page 57, 157, etc? Is your book old or new? I have a book I could just list in that challenge as old (published 2004) if you bought your copy since 1 May 2014 and then you could list as new.

Well, I just did my end-of-the-month facing of reality (removing books I listed in the wiki that I have no chance of finishing in time). :( I'm really sorry to have had to remove a few shared reads.

I like the idea of "top newt," but this might require a little more watching of the lists as shared reads become singletons (for accuracy sake).

Karen O.

> #131 At Play will work there, thanks. Litter - neither suggestion works, but it was borrowed from the library, so can go in the same challenge as borrowed.

I DID IT!

100. Lucky Us ***

This also completes my sweep of this month's TIOLI challenges - a first for me!

>134 LoisB: Congratulations Lois

>133 Helenoel: You need old and new listings there though. Is anyone else looking to slot in a recent publication/purchase or a book that was published a long time ago and/or that they've had for ages? I can do one or the other.

>134 LoisB: Woot!!! Congrats!!!

I am prescribing myself some Terry Pratchett, which will enable me to add Unseen Academicals to the "body parts" challenge, one of the two I have yet to complete. It's that, and "three letter first name", for which I have lots of candidates. I'll probably read the final Lev Grossman "Magicians" novel over the weekend for that one.

>135 elkiedee: Luci, if you add the old book, I can add the new one. I can move an ARC over from another challenge with no problem.

Greetings, all!

I'm belatedly joining in the June Challenge - everyone is reading great books!

>134 LoisB: Congratulations, Lois!

>135 elkiedee:-6 I've actually got a book I'd like to fit in as 'New' if you can get an 'Old' book in, Luci. No need to move one, Suz!

OK, I can squeeze my new book in somewhere else, then, I think... The new Alison Weir historical novel just arrived on my UK Kindle -- isn't it amazing how that can happen while your back is turned?? But I think it's long enough for me to put in that challenge if need be.

Back to the books...

You can put it there, Suz! I thought you meant you had to move one you already had in another Challenge. Either way works for me.

>132 klobrien2:

I like the idea of "top newt," but this might require a little more watching of the lists as shared reads become singletons (for accuracy sake).

Don't worry too much about it. Anyone can correct it at any time.

>134 LoisB:

This also completes my sweep of this month's TIOLI challenges

Hurray for LoisB!!

The TIOLI Awards for May, 2014

The Virtual Forest Award goes to brenpike for finding 14 "tree" words on page number 33 for my (SqueakyChu's) challenge to read a book which mentions a tree on any page with double numbers. This is not just a few trees; this is a true forest!

The But Why Award goes to gennyt for reading Mr. Fortune's Maggot for countrylife's challenge to read a book where the title is "Somebody's Something". My question is why anyone would want a maggot in the first place? Then, if a person had a maggot, why would he tell others about it and have it made into a book title?! ;)

The No Question Award goes to DisassemblyOfReason for reading Sorcery and Cecelia, or, The Enchanted Chocolate Pot for cyderry's challenge to read a book with a word in the title that could be something good. There are very many good things in this world...but nothing is better than chocolate! :D

The You Made Me Laugh Award goes to wandering_star for her challenge to read a book you feel an irrational prejudice against. Some of these selections were so funny. Go back and read them now if you haven't done so before. They can be found here.

The Sunny Side Up Award goes to LoisB for reading Golden Eggs and Other Deadly Things for wandering_star's afore-mentioned challenge with sincere condolences on LoisB's irrational prejudice against eggs! :)

Great job, everyone! Congrats to our winners.

The July TIOLI challenges are now not very far off...

>134 LoisB: Way to go Lois!

>142 SqueakyChu: The July TIOLI challenges are now not very far off...

Drumroll please...

Thank you all! {bowing gracefully}

I've put my book in as OLD - it was published in 2004 but I only just bought it, hence I could have put it in as either - and I nearly BORROWED it from the library but had a maxed out library card, (I'm quite glad I bought it so I can keep it now), so the only choice it couldn't have fitted, at least with my light brown cover, was BLUE - so one of you can now list your book as NEW, and Helen can put in her BORROWED book.

At the start of the month I looked high and low to find a book to fit Madeline's challenge #1 and ended up putting a nonfiction, The Buddhas of Bamiyan book on the wiki. Yesterday I repicked up Reuben Sachs by Amy Levy which I failed to read last month and see that it fits challenge #1 and will be a quick read allowing me to now take my time with the nonfiction book. Very satisfied.

>139 Dejah_Thoris: No, go ahead, Liane. There are indeed two other spots that I can plop this book into if I do make my way around to it in the next few days. The new book slot is all yours!

Congratulations, Lois!

I've had a lousy reading month so I'm particularly envious. :)

Gee thanks for the Virtual Forest Award, Madeline! Real credit goes to Brian Doyle (Mink River) who conveniently set a scene in a wood sculptor's shop on one of the appropriate pages :)

>142 SqueakyChu: Thanks for the award. I think I will make "sunny side up" my motto for July.

Ok - we're up to NEW again on Challenge #5. It's your turn, Helen!

And congratulations to all the May winners!

> #151 and others- Thanks- I slid into the borrowed slot- Now up for BLUE.

So far all my June reading has met one or another TIOLI challenge..

Congratulations to those winning awards. Special kudos to Lois for a TIOLI Sweep! I can only dream of doing that. ;-)

>153 Donna828: Thanks! It really helps to be retired, in the Florida summer, where 2/3 of the population has gone north and most activities are on hiatus.

#154 by @LoisB> ... and hiding inside is the only way to survive the heat.

Would a fingerprint count as a body part for Challenge #12 Read a book with a body part on the cover?

Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow - TIOLI #9. Read a book that doesn't have a person on the cover

Scott Turow is the writer John Grisham wishes to be. While I was a little disappointed in the solution to the murder mystery at the center of Presumed Innocent, I was more engaged with the story telling.

Rusty Sabich, a prosecuting attorney for Kindle County, finds himself at the head of the investigation of the murder of his former co-worker and lover. Shortly after, Sabich finds himself off the case and at the center of the investigation.

Hiring a savvy lawyer and facing off against political enemies in the courtroom, Sabich faces the emotional turmoil of being prosecuted for something he knows he did not do, while watching dirty laundry and sordid secrets get their time in the spotlight. As with all legal thrillers, everything turns on evidence and lawyerly machinations both in front of the judge and behind the scenes.

What made Presumed Innocent work as a good story for me was the care with which Turow drew his characters, Especially the protagonist, Rusty Sabich, who narrates this tale. There is true depth, poignant search and revelations, told in a way that made me understand, and forgive, some of the trespasses flawed human beings commit.

Grisham can't hold a candle to Turow.

>156 AuntieClio:

Would a fingerprint count as a body part for Challenge #12 Read a book with a body part on the cover?

I would think not. Sturlington, what do you say?

>158 SqueakyChu: I agree, a fingerprint is not a body part. But it looks like you put that book in Challenge #9 instead, if it's Presumed Innocent you're referring to?

>157 AuntieClio: Have you seen the movie Presumed Innocent? It was very good in the day, and I always liked it, but I think it may end differently than the book. I agree, Turow > Grisham.

Just finished what is probably my final book for the month, China Mountain Zhang, which I put into 19. Read a book that has been published with at least two different covers.

This was also my favorite read of the month, near-future SF set in a time when China is the dominant superpower and the US has become a socialist country. You'd think with that premise it would be a horror novel, but it's really not.

Just wanted to add that this was my first month posting a challenge, and I had a lot of fun with it. I enjoyed seeing what everyone came up with. I truly didn't realize that so many different body parts have been represented on book covers!

>161 sturlington:

Shannon, I'm glad you decided to actually post a challenge. I, too, like to see what happens after the challenges are posted and find out who chooses which book.

I truly didn't realize that so many different body parts have been represented on book covers!

Haha! For a while last year, I remember seeing a ton of book covers with just people's legs!

>162 SqueakyChu: People's legs? Were there many men's legs? Just curious as disembodied legs on covers often appear to belong to women.

They were women's legs. There were many boots and shoes as well! These are the ones I remember mostly...







I don't know why those book covers stuck in my mind. They just did. Weird!

Redshirts by John Scalzi - TIOLI #5. Read a book that is "something old, something new, something borrowed, or something blue" (NEW)

John Scalzi has an affinity for the absurd, and this book takes absurdity to high levels. Scalzi has admitted that Redshirts was meant to be absurd and is based on the absurd pattern of an extra or smaller character wearing a red shirt in a Star Trek episode dying, while the main characters never die.

Having established that as the premise, Scalzi gives it an existential twist by having the characters realize they are, indeed characters, in a rather bad science fiction television show eerily similar to Star Trek. In the best tradition of science fiction television, the characters figure out a way to combat their impending doom by traveling to another dimension and confronting .... well, that would be telling.

And really, who can't love a book whose final chapter is three lines, starting with this

No, no, I’m just fucking with you.

The three codas add a more serious and sensitive layer to this tale of the redshirts who just wanted to live their own lives.

I finished reading The Penelopiad soon after midnight, meaning I've read at least 1 book for each of the 21 challenges.

Congrats!

Well done! Congratulations!

>166 elkiedee:

Woo hoo!! Congrats!

I added Cat's Cradle to Challenge 1- although my library copy also qualified for challenge 12. I had nine books in TIOLI (but only 8 challenges as I double dipped in # 1. ) for June. a record for me.

>170 Helenoel: Yeah Helenoel! I think personal bests are important to mark.

>166 elkiedee: Congrats, Luci!

I pulled it off yesterday, but including the 'work' in #18 (as we voted to do). I didn't get around to reading a second book for that challenge; was too busy trying to finish books for rotating challenges, which I won't fully do. Some of 'em require more time, and some of them were disappointing. I'm really not enjoying Snow Queen by Michael Cunningham, so I'll have to step back and try again in a week's time, before I have to return it to the library. The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair bemuses me; it was a bestseller in Europe, but I'm finding it very unconvincing and not terribly well-written (or perhaps it's the translation?)

I figure that I can finish one more book today, but I just don't know which it will be. Maybe Burial Rites?

> 170

a record for me

Congrats on your personal milestone...a noteworthy achievement, Helenoel!

I am going to try and sneak one more in before the end of the month (all of 3.5 hours away...). A curry in the hotel and I'm spending the night with with Jewel in the Crown. How apt.

161> Read China Mountain Zhang just now, well today. Was listed in a challenge on GoodReads, and the message in 161 let me know I'd actually have a shared read if I went ahead and read it. Unlike some months when I think I'll have a shared read but end up not.

Right.

The other change was for a F/F group. The book itself is LGBT and has won a LGBT related award. And had been liked by a friend over on that other book website. So, I read it. Turned out it was one of the few M/M books I've been able to read to completion without giving it a poor rating. Actually the only. I think I now have a 1/2 star, 1 star, 2 star, and now a 3 star read in M/M's.

I knew main character was male. I also knew several points of view occur in the book. And, it turns out, at least two of the points of view were female. Just not lesbians. So, book got disqualified for that other challenge. But still, got a shared read out of it.

That isn't, by the way, why I rated it 3 stars. The M/M aspect. More because I was kind of bored, kind of tired of how whiny everyone was in the book. The main character, and some of the other characters who sometimes had their point of view told, or were in someone else's point of view section.

So, good enough little story which mostly bored me, so 3 stars.

Housekeeping Day!

If you don't finish your books by midnight tonight, please remove them from the wiki unless they are in a rolling challenge. For a rolling challenge, just remove your name from the listing.

See you on July's thread!

And just under the wire- Spider Woman's Daughter added to challenge # 12.
ten books, nine challenges.

>177 Helenoel: I've just barely started Spider Woman's Daughter and have it listed in the July challenges. I hope you enjoyed it. Congrats on the good reading month!

And * laughing at myself* I've once more failed to finish the book I had in challenge 7 - Read a book you said you'd read before but didn't. :-) Perhaps I should start a challenge in July: "Just finish the darn thing".

> 178

Just finish the darn thing

:)

> #177 - Spider Woman's Daughter was a good read. I hope the author will mature as a writer and give us more, but she gets the characters and setting - the mystery is a bit simple, but that may improve with experience.

>180 Helenoel: So far while I'm enjoying the read, I'd say that she doesn't have her father's ear for dialogue. And sadly, I'm starting to notice how many times Bernie says 'Yikes'.

>178 streamsong: without a night away in a hotel and little else to do than read, I would find myself in the same boat.
>:-)

>182 Helenliz: Note to self: must book hotel for last day or two of July to finish planned reads ....

>183 streamsong: Oh, I don't recommend it - the two excessively long work days either side were a lot less fun... When you arrive back in the office less than 12 hours after leaving it, it is somewhat demoralising.

>184 Helenliz: My daughter just quit a job that had her working 14 hours a day 3 days a week, so she was continually in that state. No wonder she found some place a little less draining.