Take It or Leave It Challenge - September 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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Your September 2014 challenge is to...

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Read a book with two different one-word colors in the title

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Rules:
1. You may only use one-word colors from this list. In other words, you may use aero, almond, or amaranth, but not acid of "acid green", African of "African violet", or Alabama of "Alabama crimson".
2. Do check this list as there are many fun one-word colors that you may use. Some examples of these are: bubbles, buff, camel, coffee, deer, dirt, drab, and folly.
3. You may use embedded words.

Suggestions (to get you started):
Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen
Black Sand by William Caunitz
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
Blue Smoke by Nora Roberts
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber
Dragon Bones: A Red Princess Mystery by Lisa See
Glitter Rose by Marianne De Pierre
Life on the Color Line : the True Story of a White Boy who Discovered he was Black by Gregory Howard Williams
Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison by Piper Kerman
Plum Wine by Angela Davis-Gardner
Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake-Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia by Dennis Covington
The Shadow Of The Lion by Mercedes Lackey
White Lilacs by Carolyn Meyer

Of course you can do this…so have fun!

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

1. The September 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 09/23/14)

Wiki Index of Challenges:

Challenges #1-6
1. Read a book with two different one-word colors in the title - msg #1
2. Read a book by a living author who is younger than you - msg #4
3. Read a book with a character named Adrian - msg #5
4. Read a book on NY Times bestseller list in September of a year ending in 4 or 9 - msg #6
5. Read a book you didn't buy - msg #7
6. Read a book about someone with a physical disability - msg #8

Challenges #7-12
7. Read a book that you didn't know was a sequel or part of a series when you acquired it - msg #10
8. Read a book which shows someone 'dressed to the nines' on the cover - msg #14 - thread
9. Read a book written by or about a comedian - msg #16
10. Read a book that takes place in a country in which you have never set foot - msg #17
11. Read a book that was first published after 1950 and adapted to film or tv - msg #20
12. Read a book that has a title that starts with a Q, U, V, X, Y, or Z - msg #24

Challenges #13-18
13. Read a book that is epic in nature or scope - msg #45
14. Read a book that is part of a series and whose author's first or last name is five or six letters in length - msg #48
15. Read a book which has a military term in the title - msg #66
16. Read a book with 5 reviews or less and 15 mentions or more - msg #84
17. Read a book which has a 'season' in its title - msg #89
18. Read a book written by more than one author - msg #91

Challenge #19-22
19. Read a Book with a Noun in the Title - msg #114
20. Read a book with the word "song" in the title or author's name - msg #128
21. Read a book by an author with ascending birth year - msg #132
22. Read a book from the 900 section of the Dewey Decimal System - msg #144

Save the rest of your challenges for October. Thanks!

*tiptoes out of this thread and back into my kitchen*

Well, looky what I found! Brand new thread!

Challenge #2: Read a book by a living author who is younger than you.

This is the flip side of the challenge from a couple months back to read a book by a living author older than you. You're on the honor system for both your age and that of the author--no need to list birth years!--and shared reads are fine regardless of the relative ages involved.

Challenge #3 - Read a book with a character named Adrian

A year ago this month, I adopted a sweet Shih Tzu mix dog from the Humane Society. I named him Adrian after TV detective Adrian Monk. Coincidentally, I was listening to the audio version of The Sense of an Ending at the time and one of its major characters is named Adrian. A few weeks ago, I read a couple of books in succession that had characters named Adrian and it gave me the idea for this challenge.

The character doesn't have to be a major character, or even a speaking character. There only needs to be a character named Adrian mentioned in the book. Either fiction or nonfiction is acceptable.

You can find books by searching the Characters field of Common Knowledge here or here. This will work for books that have data entered in the common knowledge fields.

My Adrian books for the month will include:
Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii by Lee Goldberg
The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna
The Deepening Stream by Dorothy Canfield

Books I read earlier this year with characters called Adrian:
The Tempest by William Shakespeare
They Found Him Dead by Georgette Heyer

Edited to add additional CK link.

Challenge #4: Read a book that was (is) on the New York Times bestseller list during the month of September in a year ending in 4 or 9

Here's a historical list...

http://www.hawes.com/pastlist.htm

It can be on the fiction list or on the nonfiction list.

Indicate the year.

ETA: Books that are on the NY Times bestseller list for September 2014 are fine, too. We won't know those for about a week though as this Sunday's edition is dated August 31, 2014.

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Challenge #5: Read a book you didn't buy
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We all complain about our spending when it comes to buying books, however, there are ways to read books without buying them. So my challenge is to read a book that you didn't buy but obtain in a "free" manner - i.e. library, ER, borrowed from a friend, etc.

>4 susanna.fraser: Well, that should be mighty easy for me as most of the living authors are younger than I.

Challenge #6: Read a book about someone with a physical disability name the disability
I'm planning to read What is Visible by Kimberly Elkins about Laura Bridgman who lost her sight and hearing to scarlet fever. This was before Helen Keller, though I gather the two did meet.

>8 Citizenjoyce: I figured it would be easy for all the people the previous one was hard for and vice versa. ;-)

Challenge #7!? How appallingly late! Stupid work... {*grumble, grumble*}

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Challenge #7: Read a book you didn't know was a sequel or part of a series when you acquired it

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"Acquired" covers any way that the book came into your possession, including by downloading. Shared reads allowed even if the second person did know.

>8 Citizenjoyce: Would stuttering qualify as a physical disability? I'm planning to listen to The King's Speech next month. I'm borrowing it from the library via Overdrive so I can easily fit it into challenge #5 if it doesn't qualify here.

> Yes, I think it would. The king sure seemed to think so.

>12 Citizenjoyce: Great! I'll list it there!

>10 lyzard:

How appallingly late!

LOL!

Since I have two biographies of comedians of my to read pile, I figured this would be a good challenge:

Challenge #9: Read a book written by or about a comedian

by comedian I mean stand up comics, Vaudevillian-era comedian, actors most known for comic rolls, comedy musicians, etc. Generally speaking if the person is a performer who is intended to be funny, you can use them.

Challenge #10- Read a book that takes place in a country in which you have never stepped foot

So, in this case airplane transfers count. If you've ever stepped on the ground in that country, it is out. Also, said country must be on earth (it has to be physically possible that a human being has been there).

Great challenges so far!

I know some people try and fit a book into each challenge. I'm never going to manage that (well not unless you all stop adding challenges at the first page of the Wiki!) but I think I could probably put all my reading into challenge 5 with a bit of thought!

Challenge #11: Read a book that was first published after 1950 and adapted to film or tv

This challenge will help me with my category challenge so is fairly selfserving.

I think I'm changing strategy in September, Usually, I aim for at least one book in each challenge. But I have so many ARCs and lengthy books to read that I will be happy if I can fit each book into any challenge. Thank you >7 cyderry: for a challenge that covers all my ARCs!

>>21 LoisB: I have a bunch too, that's why I set it up!

I listed A Red Herring Without Mustard in your challenge Madeline (mustard yellow). I hope this qualifies. If not, no biggie, I shall take it out.

Challenge #12: Read a book that has a title that starts with a Q, U, V, X, Y, or Z- started by Lexxi

To fill open slots on challenges elsewhere, I need some ideas for books that start with one of these letters.

A, An, The can be ignored.

Qualifies:
The Quiet Dog by Edward Morehair
Quiet Dog by Samuel L. Jackson
An Ugly Dog by Larry Flynt
Ugly Dog by Richard Wilmore

Does not Qualify:
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Fox Revenge by Robin Roseau

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I realize that I'm setting myself up to maybe have a challenge without any reads. I have a few U titles I might read.

ETA: on the other hand, I said that then looked and saw two books on there already. heh.

>4 susanna.fraser:
thought 1: hmm. Depressing idea. Published author younger than me.
thought 2: So many authors I check appear to have no date of birth. They just sprang into existence at some unknown date fully grown and writing books. Bad authors! Bad!

>10 lyzard:
Lock In by John Scalzi is preceded by Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome, though I didn't know that until I looked over some of the reviews on Lock In.

ETA: mmphs. I didn't realize I'd end up with three posts in a row. People are supposed to post faster than that. heh.

Oh my gosh, when I saw this thread appear, I thought it was the very end of the month already! But I have 5 more days to finish my current read. Totally lost track of the date LOL.

>26 Lexxi: I'll break your streak of posts.

Like LoisB said, I try to read in as many different challenges as I can but this month, I think the bulk of my reading will be in Cheli's challenge. Besides Series and Sequels month, I think I'd like to get caught up on my ER and Net Galley books in Sept.

>23 Smiler69:

I listed A Red Herring Without Mustard in your challenge Madeline (mustard yellow). I hope this qualifies.

It definitely does qualify with the words "red" and "mustard".

The fun of this challenge is finding those other odd qualifying words in the master list.

>24 Lexxi:

I realize that I'm setting myself up to maybe have a challenge without any reads. I have a few U titles I might read

I like tight challenges, but one "without any reads"?! Ha!

As long as you can list a few examples of some books that could qualify, any challenge is usually fine. I actually prefer challenges in which people have to s-t-t-r-e-t-c-h to read books they otherwise might not have chosen, but I also do not oppose self-serving challenges. I use both all of the time. :)

>25 Lexxi:

thought 1: hmm. Depressing idea. Published author younger than me.
thought 2: So many authors I check appear to have no date of birth. They just sprang into existence at some unknown date fully grown and writing books. Bad authors! Bad!1>

LOL...but totally agree!!

>27 sturlington:

Totally lost track of the date LOL

Hey, you've got to do better that that! ;) LOL!!

In challenge #4, South of Broad by Pat Conroy is turning out to be a shared read. I loved that book about Toad. Conroy makes his characters so real.

For anyone is looking for a book for that challenge, I highly recommend South of Broad. I simply did not want that book to end as I had made friends with all of the characters during the time of my reading it. How does Conroy do that?

>14 majkia:

Re: challenge 8 (Read a book that has someone 'dressed to the nines' on the cover)...

Majkia, could you start a separate thread so we could post the book covers of those individuals "dressed to the nines"? I, for one, want to see them. Thanks!

>2 SqueakyChu: Madeline, did you know you have challenge #11 listed under challenge #13 in the index? Probably not a big deal now, but may be confusing for ordering when challenges #12 and #13 are filled! :)

Never mind, that was quick fixing! ;)

>36 Samantha_kathy: Go to Zeitgeist>CK and scroll down the page until you see "top x birth dates for authors". You can view the top 50, 100, 200, or 300 birth years.

Already I have too many books listed for the month:

Challenge #1: Read a book with two different one-word colors in the title - started by SqueakyChu
Challenge #2: Read a book by a living author who is younger than you (Note: List birth year) - started by susanna.fraser
*✔Days of Blood and Starlight - Laini Taylor - E-Audiobook (4.5)
✔The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry - Gabrielle Zevin Audiobook (3.5)
Challenge #3: Read a book with a character named Adrian - started by cbl_tn
*✔The Arsonist - Sue Miller E-Audiobook (4.5)
✔*Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii - Lee Goldberg (3.25)
Challenge #4: Read a book on NY Times bestseller list in September of a year ending in 4 or 9 - started by lindapanzo
✔All The Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr - E-Book (5)
*✔South of Broad - Pat Conroy E-Audiobook (2.5)
Challenge #5: Read a book you didn't buy - started by cyderry
Challenge #6: Read a book about someone with a physical disability - started by Citizenjoyce
✔The Enchanted - Rene Denfeld - E-book (5)
✔The Fall - Diogo Mainardi (4.5)
✔*Geek Love - Katherine Dunn (5)
✔Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe - Fannie Flagg E-Audiobook (4.5)
Challenge #7: Read a book that you didn't know was a sequel or part of a series when you acquired it - started by lyzard
Challenge #8: Read a book which shows someone 'dressed to the nines' on the cover - started by majkia
Challenge #9: Read a book written by or about a comedian - started by yoyogod
✔*Happy Accidents - Jane Lynch (3)
*✔Furious Cool: Richard Pryor and the World that Made Him - David Henry & Joe Henry E-Book (5)
Challenge #10: Read a book that takes place in a country in which you have never set foot - started by lahochstetler
*✔The Stockholm Octavo - Karen Engelmann - E-Audiobook (3)
Challenge #11: Read a book that was first published after 1950 and adapted to film or tv - started by avatiakh
Challenge #12: Read a book that has a title that starts with a Q, U, V, X, Y, or Z- started by Lexxi
*✔The Visible World - Mark Slouka E-Audiobook (3.75)
Challenge #13: Read a book that is epic in nature or scope - started by Chatterbox
Challenge #14: Read a book that is part of a series and whose author's first or last name is five or six letters in length - started by DeltaQueen
*✔Borders of Infinity - Lois McMaster Bujold (4.5)
✔Cry Wolf - Patricia Briggs - E-Audiobook (4)
✔Dreams of Gods and Monsters - Laini Taylor - E-Audiobook (4)
Challenge #15: Read a book which has a military term in the title (list the term) - started by auntieclio
*✔Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett E-Audiobook (4)
Challenge #16: Read a book with 5 reviews or less but more than 15 mentions - started by Smiler69
Challenge #17: Read a book which has a 'season' in its title - started by Ameise1
Challenge #18: Read a book written by more than one author - started by LoisB
✔Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education Kindergarten Through 12th Grade - Siecus National Guidelines Task Force Online at http://www.siecus.org/_data/global/images/guidelines.pdf (5)
Challenge #19: Read a Book with a Noun in the Title - Started by inge87
✔Live by Night - Dennis Lehane (3.25)
Challenge #22: Read a book from the 900 section of the Dewey Decimal System (List number)- Started by Morphidae
✔In The Garden of Beasts - Erik Larson Book Club (5)

>40 Samantha_kathy: That's very helpful. I use that website all the time for series but I wasn't aware of the year feature.

I found it interesting, too, to see which authors were born and who died, in my birth year.

#34 Will do! Meant to do it right after I posted the challenge, but I'd just got home from working the polls from 6am to 8pm and was sort of dead on my feet.

ETA: Here's the thread for posting covers for Challenge 8: https://www.librarything.com/topic/179731

>20 avatiakh: Does the adaptation have to have been released? I've been meaning to read Bill, the Galactic Hero, which had a successful Kickstarter campaign to make a movie version, but as far as I can tell it isn't scheduled for release until December.

I'm fine with that. As long as the film has at least advanced into the production stage I'm happy to accept.

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#13
Read a book that is epic in nature or scope
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No Jane Austen tales or similarly neat and tidy tales. I'm looking for something really sprawling. Think of Sharon Penman's massive tomes about Plantagenet history, or Hilary Mantel's books about Thomas Cromwell. George RR Martin's books would qualify. Lots of characters; lots of themes. Jam-packed with stuff. Lots of pages. No novellas need apply; no short story collections. Deborah Harkness? Sure. But really, go back to the beginning. What do the Iliad and the Odyssey involve? Years of adventure and effort and tremendous, intense, very human themes that are central to our existence.

I'll be back much later tonight to post some of my ideas, but I may forge ahead with my reading of the Paul Scott "Raj Quartet" novels, Olivia Manning's Levant Trilogy, and Colleen McCullough's novels set in ancient Rome. I've got a newer novel that I won't finish this week, that deals with the immigrant experience in America, The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing by Mira Jacob.

>45 Chatterbox: Would New York by Edward Rutherford qualify? It covers the fictional history of New York City over a 400 year period (860 pages)? I had an ER copy of The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing and enjoyed it (***.5 stars).

>45 Chatterbox: I would like to add The Son by Philip Meyer to your challenge, Suz. It's about the settling of Texas and the rise of the cattle and oil industries, told in a family saga style. Yes?

ETA: I see Ilana has already listed The Son under your challenge, so I will add to it for the joint read.

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Challenge #14 Read a book that is part of a series and whose author's first or last name is five or six letters in length.
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It's September series and Sequels month and I have a pile to read through, this will help me place a few.

I intend on reading the following authors:

Ian Rankin
Jan Burke
John Harvey
John Baker

>48 DeltaQueen50: Judy, that might be a real help with my series books for September. Thanks.

For instance, Louise Penny very conveniently has 5 letters in her name so I can put her newest book, The Long Way Home, under your challenge.

I've already put my Ian Rankin up under challenge 1, though. Black and Blue.

>10 lyzard: Your challenge is very timely, Liz. I was just about to enter Lost in the Barrens into another challenge when I was surprised to see that it is the first book in a series.

>49 lindapanzo: Glad to see I am not the only one who is looking to find a place for many of my upcoming planned series reads this month, Linda!

>50 DeltaQueen50: I'm glad, Judy! Both of the books I've listed gave me an "Oh, crap!" moment of realisation, since of course I had to put them aside until I'd tracked down their predecessors. :)

>42 majkia:

Thanks, majkia!

48>> Couldn't we have first or last name? please, please, please?

>53 cyderry: Well, Cheli, since's it's you asking and most of the books will be for September Series & Sequels, "Yes"! I will change the criteria to read "the author's first or last name must have 5 or 6 letters".

Yeah! - thanks now I can add my 3 series books!

Madeline re >54 DeltaQueen50: could you please change the wiki index list to reflect the change I just made in my challenge. Thanks.

>56 DeltaQueen50:

Done.

*laughs*

I can't decide if susanna.fraser came up with challenge 2 (despite her stated reason) to give us old farts lots of choices or to make us realize how creaky we're getting. ;)

Just yesterday I was thinking I wanted to read a book set in China or Japan but I didn't want to buy one. Then my mother came over and unexpectedly gave me Midnight in Peking! So of course I added it to Challenge #5.

>46 LoisB:
>47 DeltaQueen50:

Both of these fit squarely into what I was thinking of when I came up with this challenge, so absolutely, YES!

>60 Chatterbox: Thanks! This will give me added incentive to get through the epic work!

>58 majkia: If it's any consolation, this middle-aged fart is feeling plenty creaky herself lately. All my friends told me your 40's are awesome because you stop caring what people think of you. Now that I'm there, I have my doubts. I'd stopped caring what people thought of me by 35, but I swear my internal clock KNEW when I hit 40 and kicked my blood pressure up a notch, started healing more slowly from injuries, and generally turned achy and creaky on me.

I'm holding off on assigning books to challenges to see what else gets added, since I figure between library books, gift books, and writers conference freebies I can use #5 as a backup for anything that won't fit elsewhere.

>>62 susanna.fraser: I always believed that the warranty on your body ran out at 40 but the parts stopped working with trouble getting replacements at 60.

>63 cyderry: Hee. There was one point where I was in and out of work constantly over a two-week period for my physical, my mammogram, a diagnostic MRI for neck/shoulder symptoms plus follow-up visit, AND a colonoscopy, which I had to start having done 10 years earlier than most people because of a family history of colon cancer. I told my boss I felt like I was going into the shop for my 40-year or 40,000-mile tuneup.

Must say I'm surprised by how slowly the challenges are coming in this month and the wiki pages filling up. Relatively speaking that is. I believe last month at this time we already had 20 or so. That being said, I haven't come up with one of my own, so I should just be quiet.

Challenge #15: Read a book which has a military term in the title (list the term)

Old Man's War (War) - John Scalzi
The Ghost Brigade (Brigade) - John Scalzi

>65 Smiler69: I felt the same. Even for the challengs that already exist, except for two, I don't have many books to fill the slots. I could put everything in Cheli's or Judy's challenges, if need be. I could also check on the ages of the authors and perhaps put them in the "younger than me" category.

>65 Smiler69: I had the same thoughts. I'm holding off with my own challenge, as well.

>65 Smiler69: Personally I kind of want to see if we get a small number of challenges in total if I'd be able to squeak out a sweep of them (though in all honesty, I would be hard-pressed to do so even with the number we have now...).

>65 Smiler69: and >68 LoisB: There are still 7 more days to post a challenge - I'm away again now until Tuesday, and may submit my challenge on Tuesday, Wednesday or even Thursday - I have to see if I can match my current reads to challenges first. I keep having good ideas for challenges but in the middle of the month, and it's not necessarily the case that what I want to read even fits my challenge ideas.

>65 Smiler69:

Must say I'm surprised by how slowly the challenges are coming in this month

I think lots of people are getting ready for the holiday weekend here in the U.S. and may not be checking the threads that closely now.

Well, I haven't even really started adding my books yet. I was in NYC with minimal Internet access and a crazed schedule, then on the train ride from hell (7 hours, and it should have taken half that), including 2.5 hours sitting with no power (no A/C, no fresh air, slowly cooking to death) waiting for a new engine to arrive only 10 minutes after leaving New York. The last thing on my mind is TIOLI. That said, I think the combo of Adrian books and books about comics means a sweep will be out of the question for me this month...

ETA: I'm so screwed with challenge #10. I need to find something set in Poland or Ukraine or the Balkans, ex Greece. Or sub-Saharan Africa or Latin America. But everything on my TBR list is Europe and Asia. Grrrrr.

>72 Chatterbox: Glad you survived your train ride from hell - 2.5 hours sitting with no power (no A/C, no fresh air, slowly cooking to death) in August. I think a book about sub-Saharan Africa would make you feel right at home.

>62 susanna.fraser: >63 cyderry: I started off at 40 feeling fine, ran a marathon (at least it was a cheaper mid-life crisis than a sports car or toy-boy) was probably fitter than I'd ever been, certainly lighter than I'd been since my early teens. I went to the doctor, I forget what it was in reference to, but it was apparently in good nick "... for a woman your age". Thanks. At which point I felt I'd joined the ranks of the aged.

>72 Chatterbox: Perhaps a matched read for #10?

>75 bell7: I will keep my eyes open for one! I did realize, somewhere in one of my sleepless moments last night, that I do have an ARC about Sri Lanka that would qualify. I've changed planes in too many places, I think.

>72 Chatterbox: By or about a comedian: Mark Billingham is a comedian, or he was before he turned to writing crime fiction.

Adrian: Adrian Mole? Failing that, it must be possible to find something.

>77 elkiedee: I followed the link in Msg #5 for a list of "Adrian"s in literature! It's 3 pages long!

>78 LoisB:: I'm wondering why there are so many characters called Adrian in vampire fiction. Thanks for pointing the list out, I just wish I could see what books had an Adrian, rather than the names of the Adrian characters.

Possibilities I saw for myself, as I've read all the Adrian Mole series and the wonderful The Memory of Love, included books by Margaret Forster and John Le Carre.

>79 elkiedee: I wondered the same thing. Not being a fan of vampire fiction, I have no clue. I did google Adrian and came up with this info which still didn't help:

Adrian \a-drian, ad-rian\ as a boy's name (also used as girl's name Adrian), is pronounced AY-dree-an. It is of Latin origin, and the meaning of Adrian is "from Hadria". Place name: Hadria was a town in northern Italy, which gave its name to the Adriatic Sea. The name was borne by the Roman emperor Publius Aelius Hadrianus (second century AD). Hadrian's Wall was built across northern England during his reign. Also the name of the 12th-century pope Adrian IV (the only English pope in history). First popular in the 1950s in Britain. Hollywood costume designer Adrian; actor Adrien Brody.
Read more at http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Adrian#XR8HHl4YhjKOrulu.99

I found another way to search characters in Common Knowledge that will at least display the work titles, although not the authors. I'll add this link to the description of the challenge as well.

>81 cbl_tn: Thanks! That is a more helpful list.

>79 elkiedee: The only Adrian character I know of isin the Mr. Monk mysteries.

>72 Chatterbox: Suz, glad you survived the train ride from hell. I recall being stalled for 3 hours in a small town a half hour out of St Louis. I don't think it ever got that hot, thankfully.

Challenge #16: Read a book with 5 reviews of less and more than 15 mentions

You'll find this information at the very top of the book page. Matched reads are welcome.

Question for Kerry (or anyone familiar with the series): was Rounding the Mark by Andrea Camilleri made into a tv movie? I suspect it was, but it isn't mentioned in the CK...

eta: another question, can anyone suggest where I could list The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell?

>71 SqueakyChu: I think lots of people are getting ready for the holiday weekend

Thanks Madeline, I never think of holidays, since I'm so so out of the loop, but that explains why things have been generally quiet on the threads!

Just wanted to report that due to the Adrian challenge I have discovered that St. Adrian is the patron saint of beer. I have also added Drinking with Calvin and Luther: A History of Alcohol in the Church to my TBR.

We now return to regularly scheduled programming.

>84 Smiler69: Just to clarify -- does this mean 5 or less reviews, or 5 reviews of less than something -- less than 15 mentions? I'm sorry -- I think it's the preposition usage and my hyper-analytical mind that is doing this to me.

Thanks for the guidance on the Adrians -- at least it has thrown up one possibility in the shape of the Le Carre novel, although I still doubt I'll read anything about or by comics. Is reading a mystery by a former comic really OK with that challenge???

Challenge #17: Read a book which has a 'season' in its title

I guess that this one should be self-explanatory.

>88 Chatterbox: Between your hyper-analytical mind and my migraine, you've got me really confused, Suz. I don't even know what a preposition is. Wasn't studying in English or French probably when they covered that in school.

I only added the mentions caveat to differentiate from a previous similar challenge. So, once again:

If it has more than 5 reviews, it doesn't qualify.

If it has less than 16 mentions, it doesn't qualify either.

On the other hand, if it has 5 reviews or less (i.e. 0-5) and has been mentioned more than 15 times (i.e. 16+), it qualifies.

Hope that's clearer now.

eta: I've changed 'but' to 'and'. Don't know if it makes it any clearer. My brain refuses to work today.

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Challenge #18: Read a book written by more than one author- started by LoisB

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For this challenge, the book must be a single work co-authored by more than one author. Collections of works by multiple authors does not count.

>85 Smiler69: Ilana, so far all his books have been adapted for the tv series. I just read the latest one in English and remembered it from the last set of dvds I had from the library.

Here's my effort toward a realistic reading list for September:

Challenge #2: Read a book by a living author who is younger than you
The Etched City, by K. J. Bishop (1972)

Challenge #5: Read a book you didn't buy
2666, by Roberto Bolaño

Challenge #7: Read a book that you didn't know was a sequel or part of a series when you acquired it
The Crown, by Nancy Bilyeau

Challenge #10: Read a book that takes place in a country in which you have never set foot
HHhH (Czechoslovakia), by Laurent Binet

Challenge #11: Read a book that was first published after 1950 and adapted to film or tv
The Illustrated Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time, by Dava Sobel (1995)

Challenge #14: Read a book that is part of a series and whose author's first or last name is five or six letters in length
The Devil Knows You're Dead, by Lawrence Block

Challenge #15: Read a book which has a military term in the title
The Peace War, by Vernor Vinge

Challenge #17: Read a book which has a 'season' in its title
Early Autumn, by Robert B. Parker

Challenge #18: Read a book written by more than one author
Inferno, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

>85 Smiler69:: The Siege of Krishnapur would fit in Challenge #15.

>92 avatiakh: Thanks Kerry, that's good to know as I might read/listen to several books in that series in September.

>94 jeanned: Thanks Jeanne, I'm really really really not thinking clearly with this migraine. Wouldn't want to try my hand at an IQ test right now, because a chimp would more than certainly beat me without even trying!

>95 Smiler69:: As a fellow sufferer, I know exactly how you feel. It's not just the pain. I have some sort of word-selection aphasia when I have a migraine too. Feel better soon.

>90 Smiler69: The preposition is the "of", when I think you intended to say "or" -- and I was just trying to clarify what you meant, in case there was a quirky detail that I misunderstood. All good now, thanks!

>96 jeanned: Homonyms are the first to suffer with me...

>85 Smiler69: Siege of Krishnapur would also qualify as an epic.

>85 Smiler69:: or you could use an alternate cover and call those british fancy uniforms 'dressed to the nines' Challenge 8.

>85 Smiler69:: Or if you've never been to India, it would fit in Challenge #10.

>97 Chatterbox: >98 majkia: >99 jeanned: Lol! In other words, plenty of options!

>96 jeanned: As you say, it's not just the pain. I definitely suffer from some sort of aphasia too. Some days the pain isn't too awful, but I'm in a sort of strange vortex or bubble and can't seem to focus or feel really present, an uncomfortable feeling which is impossible to describe, but which my neurologist somehow got the gist of. At least I rarely get really uncomfortable levels of nausea, so that's something. But as for relief, I don't know, as 2014 has been the Year of the Migraine in a big way for me, with pain a daily occurrence, only varying in intensity. I get lucky for a few days or a couple of weeks at a time when it goes down to a 2-5 pain level which I can basically ignore, and then weeks and months on end of 6-8 which is less easy to cope with, this being presently the case going on 2 months now. Oh joy. :-|

>100 Smiler69: If it makes you feel any better, I had to comb through 600 books before I could find a single unread book that had fewer than 5 reviews but more than 15 comments... (from among my books...)

Madeline, I noticed your comment on challenge #2, asking someone to demonstrate that an author is younger than they are. But I also noted above, in >4 susanna.fraser:, that Susanna had mentioned "You're on the honor system for both your age and that of the author--no need to list birth years!" Perhaps one or the other? I'm waiting to have a clarification on this before listing a second book. It's VERY clear to me from the author's photo on Amazon that he is significantly younger than I am, but no birth year is given, he doesn't have a Wikipedia entry, etc. Could we have a consensus? I would rather not list a book and then face a stern request to provide the author's birth year when it's not available and my research can't generate it.

>101 Chatterbox: Oh no, that's awful! I fell guilty, if anything. Didn't mean to give you so much work! I only created that challenge because I was trying to fit in a few books that didn't fit into any of the other current challenges, and that was the only thing I could find they had in common. Initially, I was only going to ask for the books to have 5 reviews or less, but looking at Morphy's list, I saw that challenge had already been created in 2011, so gave it a 'twist', which still allowed me to list 4 of the books I was planning to read this month, so I figured if my odds were that good, they'd probably be good for other people too. Guess not.

I notice that someone has posted a book for my NYT bestseller challenge (#4) for the 2014 list. We can probably guess what'll be on the list for September 7, but won't know officially until about Wed or so when that list will become available.

If you list a 2014 bestseller, please doublecheck that it actually appears in the September 7th edition of the list.

>103 lindapanzo: I had to check it wasn't me, because I did list The Invention of Wings at first, and then I guess I caught my mistake, though I have it on standby and am all but certain it'll appear on the list in a week's time... Good chance I am Malala will too for that matter.

>102 Smiler69: I was just laughing -- every time I clicked on a book that had less than five reviews to see if I met the threshold for comments -- 9, 10, 6, zero, 3 -- LOL! No worries, them's the rules!

I need/want to fit in a few books and can't find a logical spot, so any advice welcome:

Ark Storm by Linda Davies
How Could This Happen by Dan McMillan
The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West
The Emperor Far Away by David Eimer
I Can't Begin to Tell You by Elizabeth Buchan.

I think Linda Davies is probably younger than I am, since she graduated from university a few years later than I did, but I can't prove it. None of the books were free to me, and they don't fit under the reviews/comments challenge either. No Adrians, no series, and only one of them might fit into the "epic" category, but I won't know until I've read it. Thoughts??

>105 Chatterbox: According to her Library of Congress authority record, Linda Davies was born in 1963.

>103 lindapanzo: I figured there was a good chance that I Am Malala will be on next week's list, but will doublecheck.

>105 Chatterbox: and >106 cbl_tn: That also matches with my finding here

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/1502810/The-banker-wit...

A Daily Telegraph article about Linda Davies and her husband from November 2005 which refers to her as being 42.

#107 No problem. I'm sure it will be but yes, please doublecheck.

>106 cbl_tn: Cool, thanks! she fits... I couldn't find that... I didn't want to rely on newspaper articles as I know from personal experience that they can be inaccurate. (Having relied on them and then had to publish corrections!)

>101 Chatterbox: Yeah, I wasn't sure how "list birth year" got added to my challenge, since I didn't want to turn it into a game of guessing everyone's ages by the authors they chose!

>111 susanna.fraser: Well, Bret Anthony Johnston got a "5 under 35" award in 2006, so the oldest he can be now is 43, making him 9 years younger than me. That doesn't translate neatly into a birth year, so if you really need birth years, as Madeline has requested, I'm outta luck, and I think that explanation is a bit too convoluted to fit tidily into the wiki! I don't care if you folks know my birth year; I just don't want any problems if I list a book without an explanation attached. If you're OK with it, I'll go ahead and list his debut novel.

>111 susanna.fraser:

Yeah, I wasn't sure how "list birth year" got added to my challenge, since I didn't want to turn it into a game of guessing everyone's ages by the authors they chose!

I added it because I thought it would be interesting to see the years in which the authors were born. Feel free to remove the years and the request for the years if you like.

***Challenge 19: Read a Book with a Noun in the Title***

A noun, as every first grader can tell you, is a person, place, or thing. For this challenge make sure there's a least one in your book's title. For those needing a grammar refresher, here's a helpful video from Schoolhouse Rock.

>113 SqueakyChu: I think I'll compromise and make birth year optional. :-)

Shoot, I thought Day of the Locust would fit in challenge 11. It was a great movie; I can still see Burgess Meredith's heart wrenching dance on those stairs. But, alas, it was written in 1939, so I'm no help.

>116 Citizenjoyce: it has slid nicely into challenge #19, however! Still stumped on McMillan and Buchan, though.

Have just found the Take it or Leave it Challenge, and don't know where to post.....so I'm posting here.
#2 - by a living author younger than me is quite easy, as I'm 51. Choosing I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak for this slot.
#5 - book I didn't buy - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard, which I borrowed from my roommate. Glad I didn't buy it, as I didn't enjoy it at all.
#6 - character with a physical disability - Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café by Fanny Flagg has a character missing an arm.
#7 - didn't know it was part of a series when I acquired it - The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen was the debut of the Department Q series.
#8 - Person on the cover is dressed to the nines - Bel Canto by Ann Patchett has a cover with people in a ballroom, tuxedoed and gowned.
#10 - takes place in a country I've never been to - Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys takes place in Jamaica and in Dominica, neither of which I've visited.
#11 - Published after 1950 and made into a movie or TV show - Divergent by Veronica Roth - the film is also very good.
#12 - Title starts with Q, U, V, X, Y, Z - Understand your Diabetes and Live a healthy Life by Robert Josse.
#14 - Part of a series and author's name has 5 or 6 letters - Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams.
#19 - Has a noun in the title - this one is easy - and this book has three: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman.

>118 ahef1963: Hi Allie!

I'm sure other folks can help you out more, but up top, in message #2, you'll see links to all the challenges, and a "wiki". You can edit it by clicking on the edit button on the far right of each challenge.

To add a book, open the book's main page. You'll see that each one has a URL -- for instance, that of Stoppard's play has https://www.librarything.com/work/12477. You can follow the model of what others in each challenge have done in adding it to the Wiki (usually alphabetical by title, unless otherwise specified). So for "Rosencrantz", you'd be adding it in between #16 and #17.

The "wiki-speak" is fairly straightforward. The first symbol is # -- which simply tells the wiki to put the book in numerical order. Then a square bracket. Then paste in the URL, and then type in the book's name. Then a square bracket to close it. Then type in the author's name and any additional info required. Always your moniker as the reader; sometimes the challenger will have specific info that they want (a country that it's based in, for instance.) Again, when you're starting out, look at what others are doing as a model. If you're adding a book that others already have posted, stick an asterisk in front of the first square bracket on your book and there book to signify that it's now a shared read.

Bingo! You're done. Save the changes to the wiki and move on to the next book.

When you are reading you CAN mark that you're doing so on the wiki by noting at the end of the book's entry -- '''''Reading'''''. When you finish the book, you SHOULD mark it '''COMPLETED''', so that Madeline can calculate the stats for the challenge properly.

So, the Stoppard book would look like this:

# (square bracket)https://www.librarything.com/work/12477 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (square bracket) - Tom Stoppard - ahef1963 - '''''Reading'''''

If you run into problems, holler.

Two additional things:

Feel free to toss out a challenge of your own. Just take a look at the list of previous challenges (link is in message #1) to avoid repeating anything too blatantly. We've had oodles of "color in the title" challenges, but Madeline has given it an impossible (!!) new twist this month in #1, so you can shake it up however you want. It's not as if you have to play here for six months to earn the right to do this -- jump right in.

Some of us track our completed books on the TIOLI Meter (link also in challenge #1). Again, it's a wiki: instructions should be pretty self-explanatory. It goes by the # of books completed, and people put in brackets beside them which challenge each book came from, so it would look like this: Chatterbox (1,3,5). If you've completed a shared read, people put that in bold, viz, '''3''', and note afterwords, 1 shared read (or however many you're up to by now. Not everyone who does TIOLI uses the meter, though.

And do ask if you have questions. This is the right place to do that, and personal messages also sometimes work, if people haven't responded to a particular question. It may be the Internet, but we're remarkably troll-free around here, and a minor degree of irritability seems to be the most that we produce, and it's never in response to questions like this!

Welcome to bibliomania...

>118 ahef1963: Welcome to the wonderful world of TIOLI's! Suzanne has laid it out pretty thoroughly but please don't hesitate to ask for help or any questions you may have. Someone here will be glad to jump in and help.

>114 inge87: Thank you so much for your challenge! I was looking to place one last book and your challenge fits the bill nicely!

Re: Challenge #16

Suz & Madeline: I've altered the wording slightly to "Read a book with 5 reviews and 15 mentions or more" to accommodate Suz's entry, as she did say she had to search through 600 books to fit in the one she listed and I accept that my previous wording may not have been perfectly clear given the half brain-dead state I was in when I wrote it.

However, @Citizenjoyce, I really can't accept your entry, as the first qualification is 5 reviews or less and The Potato Factory had 8. Sorry! Hope you'll try again with something else. Too bad, as it's an amazing book which I heartily recommend, and I'm now somewhat discouraged to see I hadn't posted a review for it myself, since it was one of my favourite books last year.

Anyone else participating in this challenge (will anyone dare?!) please be sure to indicate reviews/mentions as seen on the wiki examples.

>121 Smiler69: did I violate the terms of the challenge, Ilana? Sorry -- I read it as being 5 or less -- that was the nature of my first question about what you had meant, re prepositions. I gather now that you had intended it to be less than 5, but that wasn't clear.

I'm also assuming that both comments & reviews are effective as of the date that you enter them into the wiki? So that if the number of reviews increases, that wouldn't cause a book to be disqualified by the end of the month?

ETA: This is tricky, I think, because the number of comments/reviews at the lower end of the spectrum tend to go very closely together. A little-reviewed book tends not to have been commented upon much at all, I have found. I thought the remaining books in the Anne Zouroudi series might work, as I really want to keep going with those, but this pattern seems very typical, although sometimes the comments go up as high as 9 or 10.
book #3 5 reviews/3 comments
book #4 2/2
book #5 2/2
book #6 3/1
book #7 1/1

>122 Chatterbox: Suz, you had 5 or less reviews right, but I had "more than 15 comments" in there, effectively meaning 16+ which is what I altered for your sake; since that was the part I'd tacked on as an afterthought to give the challenge a 'twist' I didn't mind being bendy there. No apologies needed. My heart went out to you for searching through all those books.

And yes, of course, effective on the day you searched, since of course the number can change on a daily basis. And I think I already mentioned matched reads are encouraged.

>2 SqueakyChu: >4 susanna.fraser: re the comment in the wiki for challenge #2:

Everybody is younger than me! :) I was one of the people who had difficulty with the "older author" challenge.

Although the author's bio does not list her actual birth year, from reading the information posted on her website, she went to graduate school for an MFA at the age of 30. She published her first novel in 2012; the novel was her Master's thesis, so I'm assuming she was between 32 & 35 at the time. Also, the author's great grandmother died that year at the age of 104. Working backwards, if the grandmother was 20 years younger than her mother, the grandmother would be 84. If the author's mother was 20 years younger than her mother, she would be 64, and younger than me, so the author is definitely younger than me.

I updated the wiki to show c.1980 to eliminate some confusion. I have another book in that challenge, so I can remove Three Story House: A Novel if it's an issue.

>103 lindapanzo: I doublechecked and I Am Malala is on the September 7 list.

>114 inge87: Are proper nouns OK?

>121 Smiler69: I'm such a repeat offender. I have to learn to pay more attention.

>118 ahef1963: I've already listed Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe in challenge #1 because of the colors, but I'll gladly move it to my challenge so I can share with you.

******Challenge #20: In Honor of "September Song", Read a Book with the Word "Song" in the Title or Author's Name******

Remember "September Song" sung by artists as different as Jimmy Durante, Frank Sinatra, and Willie Nelson? For my challenge, find a book that has the word "song" in the title, or the author's name.

Some suggestions:

Dragonsong
Tailchaser's Song
Plainsong
Song of Myself
The Last Song

>124 LoisB:
I updated the wiki to show c.1980 to eliminate some confusion. I have another book in that challenge, so I can remove Three Story House: A Novel if it's an issue.

Not an issue any more - as birth year is now optional. Proof of year is not needed. See msg #115.

>118 ahef1963: >119 Chatterbox:

Welcome, Allie!

Thanks, Suz, for your helpful explanation to Allie as to how to work the TIOLI challenges.

>130 SqueakyChu: Well, I was here... :-)

Challenge #21: Read a book by an author with ascending birth year
This is a rolling challenge with the last number of the birthyear ascending
- Viveca Sten 1959
- Sue Grafton 1940
- Naguib Mahfouz 1911 or Toni Morrison (1931)
- Frank Schaeffer 1952
- ...3
- ...4
- ...5

>121 Smiler69: I ended up putting The Potato Factory in the saga challenge. What a book! I think I'm going to love it. So far it's kind of a Dickensian Crimson Petal and The White (definitely Dickensian since the author intimates that the real life Ikey Solomon could be the model for Fagin - was Fagin Jewish?). I know we're going to end up in Australia, and I'm sure I'm going to love every step getting there.

I have never planned my reads for the month before but as it's the first of the month, some of you might want to join me....

Challenge #5: Kicking the Sky by Anthony De Sa (early reviewer copy that I haven't got to)
Challenge # 7 The School at the Chalet by Elinor Brent-Dyer (in a set of children's classics that I want to give away but I've never read this one)
Challenge #11 Longitude by Dava Sobel (shared read)
Challenge # 17 Birds in Fall by Brad Kessler (friend loaned me her copy)
Challenge #19 Fauna by Alyssa York (got it out of the library weeks ago and it's due back soon)
Challenge #21 Road Ends by Mary Lawson (providing I can sneak in there at the right moment of the rolling challenge)

That leaves room for one or two shared reads on other challenges depending on what you good people are reading this month....

(battery about to die on laptop - will add these books to their respective challenges later!)

>133 Citizenjoyce: Oh, of course, the saga challenge is the idea spot for it, I should have thought to suggest it! I'm glad you're loving The Potato Factory too Joyce, because I simply adored that book and am sure I'll revisit it eventually. But then, I did list book 2 in the trilogy in my own challenge. I'm guessing you haven't read Oliver Twist, because Fagin is most definitely Jewish, and is often directly referred to as 'The Jew' by Dickens in that book, and he makes such a horrendous caricature of the shrewd, avaricious and covetous criminal Fagin that he had the Jewish community up in arms about it, and as he was writing the story in instalments, he was forced to tone down his treatment of the character toward the end of the story as he had Jewish friends whom he hadn't intended to offend (so the story goes). But then, if we're to believe Bryce Courtenay's version of Ikey Solomon, Dickens's Fagin wasn't so very far from the real-life inspiration after all.

>134 JenMDB: Oh my, the Chalet School books! I confess I will NEVER EVER give away these books. The words "pry", "cold", "dead" and "hands" spring to mind.

Still looking for a slot for How Could This Happen by Dan McMillan. Suggestions welcome. No, I have no idea of his age or birth year, can't devote any more time to researching it online, and am NOT going to e-mail and ask.

>135 Smiler69: I've read only 3 of Dickens' novels: A Christmas Carol - liked it very much, A Tale of Two Cities - loved it and Little Dorrit - hated it so much I'm reluctant to ever again open one of his books. I've sen movie versions of Oliver Twist but couldn't remember that Fagin was referred to as Jewish. Was he the one who had the raven?

>137 Citizenjoyce: No, Fagin didn't have a raven. (Not that I have any recollection of, anyway.) He just had a band of pick-pocketing boys.
I love Dickens, though I can understand why others don't. He can be very heavy-handed with morals ans such. But I love him anyway. A Christmas Carol is marvellous - I re-read it every year at Christmas. Am yet to read A Tale of Two CIties and never finished Little Dorrit - not sure why but I couldn't quite commit to it. Really liked Oliver Twist, David Copperfield and Nicholas Nickleby - they're very similar in style and set-up. Chances are, if you like one of them you'll like the others.

Madeline, sorry to be a bother, but it's really important that after the "5 reviews" there should be "or less" in the description up there. Somehow while I was trying to make the challenge clearer for Suzanne, that little important bit got deleted and should not have. I fixed it in the wiki.

Liz and Heather, I'll be listing Love-letters between a Nobleman and his Sister in my challenge since it fits the parameters perfectly (0 reviews / 55 mentions)!*

*eta: even though now I think of it, I doubt we'll finish it this month!

>137 Citizenjoyce: It was Barnaby Rudge who had the raven.

>139 Smiler69: We can try!

>139 Smiler69: & >140 souloftherose: Actually, you two, I may have a sneaky way around that... (Short explanation: you can legitimately list just "Volume 1", for reasons I will explain properly later on.)

>137 Citizenjoyce: I have read A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, and Great Expectations. Of those four, I liked A Christmas Carol the best, closely followed by David Copperfield. Any of them are/were worth reading.

I've tried to read A Tale of Two Cities twice, now, and while I've enjoyed reading it, I just can't seem to get all the way through it.

>142 fuzzi: I liked those two the best, too.

>136 Chatterbox: Here you go. How Could This Happen is 940.

Challenge #22: Read a book from the 900 section of the Dewey Decimal System - list number

If you need to translate Library of Congress (LCC) to Dewey Decimal, here's a link:

http://www.questionpoint.org/crs/html/help/ja/ask/ask_map_lcctoddc.html

You can look up most book's Dewey or LLC by Googling or on the book's work page on LT. The 900 section covers history, geography, and some biographies (NOT autobiographies.)

ETA: You can also try http://classify.oclc.org/classify2/ where you enter the book title, author or ISBN and it will tell you the Dewey Decimal number.

>144 Morphidae: *SMOOCH* Thank you!!! I owe you a challenge!!

>144 Morphidae: For Morphy's challenge #22: You can also add a field with the Dewey/Melvil numbers to any of the views of your library - and then sort by the numbers so the 900's come up first. :-)

I don't pretend to understand the Dewey decimal system, but when I sort Planet TBR by the Dewey decimal system, I do get some memoirs listed with 900 numbers, too - looks like about a dozen of them on my pile. Perhaps they are ones that are considered memoirs of historical events or eras?

I think the public libraries I use put biographies and autobiographies/memoirs together under 920.

Yes, I've got several in the 920's but also western Americana memoirs in the 970's, China memoirs in 950's, African in 960's. It looks like they're pretty well scattered throughout the 900's.

Like I say, I don't really understand the DD system, so this is interesting to me.

Hey, if it's in your library in the 900's it works for my challenge!

I think a lot of memoirs/bios come up under 921. Or at least, they used to...

>146 streamsong: You can also add a field with the Dewey/Melvil numbers to any of the views of your library - and then sort by the numbers so the 900's come up first. :-)

How do you do that?

>151 Citizenjoyce: choose the "My Books" tab. Across the top is a tool bar. You will see A B C D E and then a symbol that looks like a gear. Click on the gear, and you will be at a page where you can set up how your books are displayed.

The little arrows are for drop-down menus/choices.

Pick a line to set up, such as "B", then using the arrows, choose what you want to display. "Dewey" is one of the choices.

Once you create "B" with your display choices, save changes, and go back to the "Your Books" tab. Instead of the gear, click on "B". Your books will display with the Dewey #s.

>152 fuzzi: Thank you. As it happens I'm already re reading a 900 book for my RL book club: In the Garden of the Beasts and it's even better than the first time around.
It seems most of my books fall in the 800 categories.

>153 Citizenjoyce: sure! I have a few unread 900 books...decisions, decisions...

You can also try http://classify.oclc.org/classify2/ where you enter the book title, author or ISBN and it will tell you the Dewey Decimal number.

I started Gone Girl too late in August to complete it when many of you did, so I've added it to Challenge 11 if anyone else is reading. What a roller coaster! I spent a lot of time while I was not reading this book, thinking about this book.

Murder in America by Roger Lane - TIOLI #19. Read a Book with a Noun in the Title (Murder, America)

Just added An Event in Autumn to the seasons challenge and Raising Steam to nouns. It could go in several others if there were a shared read.

I'm going for a reverse clean sweep this month (not that I'll ever manage a clean sweep, not unless something remarkably odd happens to life!) - all my books will fit into challenge 5.
first one done - Coromandel Sea Change

Just noticed that Murder Is Binding is currently listed in both #7 and #14 - possible shared read?

I'm in #14 I'll move for a shared read, Liz, if you prefer #7

Not my read, just my challenge! From that point of view, of course the more books in #7 the better... :)

I just finished All the Light We Cannot See for challenge #4. It is on this month's best seller list and I can see why. It's pretty much perfect in every way. By talking about the lives of a blind girl in WWII France and a genius German boy, Doerr manages to describe despair, survival, heroism, wonder and the complete waste of war. I would invite everyone to join in the read, but it is 544 pages, so I know that's a hard squeeze to a full month.

Madeline, the link from the TIOLI meter back to page 1 doesn't work.

I posted my review of The Stockholm Octavo yesterday (http://www.librarything.com/topic/179698#4843022), but must say when I went to share it on the book page and saw Joyce's (@Citizenjoyce) pithy one-sentence review just below mine, I thought I might as well have spare myself all the trouble because I found she'd summed it up rather nicely. That being said, I know Suzanne was a fan (not sure whether I meant that pun or not!) and I can't help but think I might have enjoyed it more too had I been a bit more discerning and not been distracted by all the fan trivia.

>164 Citizenjoyce:

I'll fix the link when I get back to my home computer.

I finished HHhH by Laurent Binet for Challenge #10. Definitely one of my top 5 so far this year! It's about espionage and sacrifice, it's about Nazis, and it's also a lovely metafiction about writing historical fiction.

I just finished and reviewed a 5 star read The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld, and added it to the physical disability challenge. This is a beautifully written novel about men on death row that never questions their guilt but ponders what makes us human. It's short, only 256 pages. If you join me, you won't regret it.

I just finished listening to Going to Meet the Man by James Baldwin for the American Authors Challenge, a collection of short stories and my first experience of this writer, and certainly not my last. I recommend anyone who is participating in the AAC this month get their hands on this one in any format and join in. I've listed it under my challenge, #16. I have every intention of writing a review about it very soon, that is, as soon as I get my brain in great. The audiobook is read by Dion Graham, who does the stories great justice.

>164 Citizenjoyce:

Fixed. Thanks.

Currently reading The Bone Clocks -- David Mitchell is in point of fact 1 year older than me, but I'm assuming shared reads on Challenge #2 are acceptable.

I also note that his book is currently at number 3 on the NYT Bestseller list, which also qualifies for Challenge #4.

>118 ahef1963: I also just added Wide Sargasso Sea to challenge #10.

>170 SqueakyChu: Thank you.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami (gift) - TIOLI #10. Read a book that takes place in a country in which you have never set foot (Japan)

As I said to a friend recently, "Murakami is weird, and I love it!" There are so many bits and pieces running through The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and a good 400 or so pages are spent wondering how they all fit together. And somehow, it all comes together and is almost nearly explained. Almost.

While understanding the references to Kafka, I see more Isabel Allende and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, than Kafka. Kafka is grim and cruel, with no brightness or hope. Allende, Marquez, and Murakami are less grim and lighter.

Although The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle has its own share of cruelty, usually contained within the stories of Lieutenant Mamiya, who opens up and recounts his time with the Japanese Army during the second Sino-Japanese War between China and Imperialist Japan. Mamiya was witness to some brutal things and experienced POW camp in Soviet Russia under a man called "Boris the Skinkiller."

There's also the story told by businesswoman Nutmeg Akasaka about the Japanese Army's killing of zoo animals at the zoo where her father is the vet.

What these stories have to do with the protagonist, Toru Okada, is, at best, obtuse. There are similarities in the details within the stories and what's happening to Toru. But are they really happening to Toru?

And here we get to the crux of Murakami's work, the blurring of the lines between what's real and what might not be. Toru moves between realities looking for the connections to all the weird events going on in his life. Which reality is his? Are they all? Or is he yet another person who's gone off his nutter because he left his job, the cat ran away and his wife disappeared one day?

While a bit dense to read, there is a payoff. This is not to say that Murakami ties everything up in a nice bundle and presents it as a complete answer. But for fans of magical realism/surrealism, this book nearly completely satisfies.

TIOLI Question(s) of the Month:

Did you choose a nonfiction book to read this month? What prompted you to choose this book? What noteworthy things did you learn from this book? Is this a book you'd recommend to others? Why or why not?

>175 SqueakyChu: Yes, I chose Midnight in Peking, the true account of the unsolved brutal murder of a young English woman in Beijing in 1937, on the eve of the Japanese occupation. I read the book for the East Asia GeoCAT challenge (2014 Category Challenge group) and because it was recommended to me by my mother.

The most noteworthy thing about the book was the picture of old Peking it painted. I learned quite a bit about what was happing in China at this extremely interesting point in history, and also how the ex-pats lived in the city. I would recommend it to anyone interested in Chinese history, although with the caveat that I found the details of the crime itself and its investigation a little dry and impersonal. I didn't feel like I really got to know the people involved very well.

>175 SqueakyChu:
I read Angry Optimist: The Life and Times of Jon Stewart by Lisa Shaw and Happy Accidents by Jane Lynch. The Lynch book had been on my maybe pile for a while, while I had not heard of the Stewart book before seeing it listed on this month's TOLI comedian challenge.

For one reason or another I kept putting off trying the Lynch sample, but this month's challenge lead me to finally try. Glad I did. Liked that book. I suppose the most noteworthy part would be that Lynch is married with a kid. I had not known that. Would I recommend the book? I already have on another website.

The Stewart book started off reading as if it was pulled together from quotes found here and there by the author. Shaw kept repeating herself. Eventually, after about 25% in, I either stopped noticing, or she got better. And interesting book. I would hesitate to recommend it, though. Noteworthy? hmms. Stewart is apparently a very angry man. Also, a micromanager.

>175 SqueakyChu:
I read Himmel und Strassenstaub : Unser Leben als Familie in den Slums von Manila by Christian Schneider (= Heaven and Road Dirt : our life as a family in the slums of Manila).

My wife has read it and then gave it to me.

I became again aware of the situation of the poor, the hopelessness, the feel of unworthiness and uselessness, the injustice done to those living in slums - and the possibility of a Swiss family living among them. Giving money is part of help, but actually living among them and go along their paths is a much more sustainable way of help.

I would definitely recommend that book for those who are interested in biographies, slum work, development work, Christian ethics. Shame it is not yet translated.

Haven't read nonfiction in a while. I'm not naturally drawn to it, though I've often found I've been pleasantly surprised when I have read some. I've got a couple of memoirs planned for this month, D.V. by Diana Vreeland and Still Foolin' 'Em: Where I've Been, Where I'm Going, and Where the Hell Are My Keys by Billy Crystal. We'll see if I actually get to them...

I listened to the audio version of The King's Speech for the September RandomCAT challenge in the 2014 Category Challenge group. The book and film of the same title are not related other than by their subject. I learned more about King George VI and his lifelong difficulty with speaking. Lionel Logue's background was in elocution. He became involved in speech therapy when Australian soldiers returned from World War I with vocal damage from exposure to gasses in the trenches. Logue believed he could help them recover their speech. This launched his career in speech therapy. I would recommend the audio version of this book because it incorporates two of George VI's speeches from archival recordings.

I read two non fiction books this month. I re read The Garden of Beasts for my RL book club, and it was just as good the second time around. Will Dodd, the ambassador to Germany pre WWII, and his family come off as predisposed to believing that the Nazis knew how to get their country in shape, that these beautiful people were honest and forward thinking and that the Jews were trouble makers. Dodd finally came to believe that the Nazis weren't all that benevolently forward thinking but that they were so untillegent and incompetent that they couldn't possibly succeed in leading the country for long. It took the family and the world few years for them all to realize the danger. I think the accomadations given the Nazis were succinctly described in the novel The Visible World, it was like making dinner in the kitchen while a fire was blazing in the living room.
The second non fiction I read was Furious Cool: Richard Pryor and the World That Made Him. I always loved and was excited by Richard Pryor, what a mess he was. One psychiatrist who went to a show of his said that he had no defense against the world, no barriers. That seemed to be true. Not only could he not defend himself from the pain the world gave him, he had no way of pulling himself back from the pain he inflicted on others. >179 Smiler69: I read the Billy Crystal book a few months ago and didn't come away with any great fondness for the man, but he sure knows how to live his life a hundred times better than Pryor.
>177 Lexxi: I too have had the Jane Lynch book on my shelves for a long time. Maybe I should get to it.

I am hoping to read Dispatches by Michael Herr (Challenge #10). This is an account of his experiences as a freelance journalist in Vietnam from 1967-68. It appears to get varied reviews from "overtly pretentious, nihilistic, narcissistic, self-absorbed, chaotic, disjointed, and totally unbearable" to "magnificently sprawling word-on-the-page, in-your-face account of humans-at-war and captures the gross wretchedness of the Vietnam War." I am looking forward to seeing which side of the fence end up on.

>175 SqueakyChu: I'm currently reading The Seven Daughters of Eve by Bryan Sykes. It's been on my wish list for a long time. I purchased it back in March for my Thingaversary and am FINALLY getting around to reading it. I'm looking forward to learning more about each of the maternal haplogroups, particularly my own (Helena), but so far I'm still reading the general stuff about mitochondrial DNA. He does a good job explaining it, but it's pretty basic at the moment.

>175 SqueakyChu:

I chose to read Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman simply because I needed an audiobook, and this one had a narrator that was easy for me to understand with my hearing difficulties. It turned out to be a very interesting book. I particularly liked it because it gave me some insight into life in a minimum security prison. Sadly, I have a friend who is in a minimum security prison and feel better knowing more about what might actually be happening in my friend's situation. I was happy to learn that letters, visits, and books are important to prisoners because I do send books regularly to my friend.

I would recommend this book to others because one never knows if one day someone you know could end up in such a situation. I never dreamed that anyone I knew would. Now I've known two people in such a situation. I was dismayed, though, to learn from this book at how little actual rehab is done in prison and how unprepared prisoners are for release despite the length of the prison terms.

No, I've never seen the internet broadcast of the series by the same name.

AnnDC, thanks so much for listing Geek Love in challenge #6. It gave me a chance to re read it after so many years, and I loved it as much as the first time. Arty is truly a super villain, and for those wondering why women stay with their abusive husbands, well there's no answer, but there's a great representation.

>185 Citizenjoyce:

I totally loved Geek Love! That was a brilliant book. Now it's a great opportunity for a shared read. Hint! Hint! :D

>175 SqueakyChu:
TIOLI Question(s) of the Month:

Did you choose a nonfiction book to read this month? What prompted you to choose this book? What noteworthy things did you learn from this book? Is this a book you'd recommend to others? Why or why not?

Yes, I did read a non-fiction book this month, as part of my plan to read at least one non-fiction per month. I picked up Aristocrats after LizzieD recommended it on her thread, because it was in the library and because I know something already of the family - they're the nearest ducal estate to my childhood home.
What did I learn? Well I already knew a bit about Caroline, the eldest sister, but I discovered a lot more about the other 3 sisters, as well as a fair amount of social history (as pertaining to the female upper classes) and more about the interplay of different events in the late 18th century, particularly the irish uprising (of which I know very little). I would recommend this to anyone interested in social history, to anyone with an interest in how the role and attitudes of women have changed over time. The book is largely based on correspondence between the sisters, so there is the interplay of the details of family life with the large scale events that affect the nation as a whole.

TIOLI Question(s) of the Month:
I've read 2 nonfiction books this month, Girl, interrupted for the Suicide and Mental Illness Awareness theme read and because I always meant to read it. It's a very quick read and only mildly interesting but good to know more about what the film was based on. The only item of inerest was really the amount of medication given to patients just so they'd become more docile and easily dealt with by the staff. Not really one I'd recommend.
Broken Spring: An American-Israeli reporter's close-up view of how Egyptians lost their struggle for freedom which was an Early reviewer book. I needed to read this fairly quickly so I could review it. I learnt quite a lot about recent events in Egypt from this book, and found it an easy to read introductory book on the Middle East with a focus on Egypt and Israel. What appeals is that it is available quite cheap as an e-book.

The Wolfman by Nicholas Pekearo - TIOLI #5. Read a book you didn't buy

If Stacia Kane's and Richard Kadrey's books got together and had babies, The Wolfman would be a product of that union. So gleefully dark, unrepentantly hard ass, The Wolfman is not your mama's werewolf.

Marlowe Higgins is straight up don't give a fuck material. His life is hard because well, serving in Vietnam and then becoming a werewolf just makes even the simple things more than a little difficult.

After having been on the road for years, Marlowe finally settles down in a small town. He gets a job as short-order cook at a diner, lives in a crappy house that was once owned by the town cat lady at the edge of town, and drives a truck that often has to be cursed at in order to bring it to life. He's also, somehow, become a kind of friend of the local sheriff. This is what is normal for Marlowe.

What's also normal is that once a month, Marlowe turns into a werewolf and kills. But this is not the werewolf story any of us grew up on. Marlowe's condition didn't come from a bite, and in a way, he's made peace with his beast and lets it loose only on people who "deserve" it. Until the serial killer comes to town and it all goes sideways.

As the pieces fall together, we also learn the story of how Marlowe became a werewolf, what it means to be a werewolf, and how one dies. All of these bits are original and creative. Nicholas Pekearo takes what we think we know about werewolves and turns it upside down.

I loved this book and read it in almost one sitting. I would give it at least 4.5 stars but for the fact that I had the bad guy figured out from about the second paragraph he was introduced. "Nah," I kept thinking, "that's so obvious, it's got to be someone else." This does not, however, detract much from what a lot of fun this book is to read.

Unfortunately, what could easily have become a series of Marlowe Higgins adventures will not come to pass. At least not with Nicholas Pekearo writing the stories. He was a volunteer with NYPD and was shot in the line of duty. The kevlar vest he paid for himself only stopped one of the bullets fired at him.

If you like grim, gritty urban fantasy with creative remaking of the established mythos, settle in for a good time with Nicholas Pekearo's The Wolfman.

Question of the month:

I read several non-fiction books each month.

So far this month, I've listened to Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. As I knew from various reviews, the author really was unprepared and did stupid stuff in the woods. And I did find her horribly self-centered. But, oh did this book make me want to go outside and hike! And so, overall, it was a successful book and I recommend it with reservations.

I'm currently reading Malcolm Gladwell's David & Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants for the RL book club this week. This one is fascinating social psychology and should make a great discussion.

For Morphy's 900 Dewey decimal challenge, I'm reading Take the Reins, which is a Montana rancher's musings on life and God. I'm enjoying it in short stretches.

And I'm also reading Collapse by Jared Diamond. I'm loving what I'm learning about the environment, but this one is a bit of a slog and I'm only reading a short bit each day.

>190 streamsong: Agreed about Collapse. I'm reading about 20 pages a day. It's interesting but repetitive.

I've finally got a stack of compelling non-fiction books to dip into. That said, the first wasn't all that great. Shadows in the Vineyard by Maximillian Potter bills itself as a suspenseful narrative of a true crime: a blackmail attempt against a Burgundy vineyard owner of one of the world's most famous brands, holding the vineyard itself as hostage. Since the crime turns out to be solvable very easily, the interesting stuff is the family history and the history of the vineyard, which is spoiled by the bizarre errors the author makes in the usage of French -- he loves to drop French words into the book, but uses them incorrectly, eg, by using the word maitre-chanteur, and translating it as master singer instead of blackmailer. Downright bizarre.

I've started reading The Nazis Next Door by Eric Lichtblau - it's an ARC from Amazon -- and it's very good. I've also dipped into the first chapter of Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy, a book about women in the US Civil War, which also seems very, very good. On deck is Karen Armstrong's upcoming book about religion and violence, and two ER books, including Why Homer matters, by Adam Nicolson. I've enjoyed several of his previous books.

I've nabbed several non-fiction ARCs from Amazon in the last week or two: a bio of Lafayette, something about New Orleans; a new book about the legal battle against big oil companies by indigenous peoples in Ecuador, etc. by Paul Barrett; a new bio of Isabella of Castile; The Lost Book of Mormon by Avi Steinberg, the same guy who wrote Running the Books, which a lot of us here read. And today I was offered Hermione Lee's bio of Penelope Fitzgerald, which I snapped up. So add that to the non-fiction book-buying binge I went on at the end of August, and I'm going to be busy.

TIOLI Stats for August 2014:

Here we go! For August, 2014, we read a total of 630 books (about average) with 110 shared reads. This is 17% which is kind of low, but not that bad. We accumulated 58 TIOLI points for a YTD count of 522 TIOLI points. That's just about where we were at this time last year. We're holding steady!

The most popular book was We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
with 7 readers.

Citizenjoyce presented us with the challenge to read a book by an author who has written or edited at least two other books you've read. This challenge had the most readers (15) and the most TIOLI points (8).

Do stay tuned for the August, 2014, TIOLI Awards...coming soon to this thread...

What a funny position for me. Usually my challenges are the least often accepted.

>194 Citizenjoyce:

What a funny position for me. Usually my challenges are the least often accepted.

Indeed. That's why I find posting these stats fun.

With the start of school some parents are finding that their children are being exposed to sex education for the first time, and, alas, many are up in arms. A relative posted the SIECUS Guidelines for Sex Education Kindergarten through 12th grade hoping to convince people that it is wrong for children. You can read the whole thing online at http://www.siecus.org/_data/global/images/guidelines.pdf
It's only 112 pages, so I'm putting it in the works list and listing it under books by more than one author.

I can see a lot of things that the right wing folks would object to, from the concept "Make informed choices about family options and relationships" to the whole idea that respecting gay people is a good thing... and the bit about family structure... That said, the more people know, the less mystery there is. And some of the physical detail that they start imparting at 12 is stuff that some kids will have starting experimenting with by then... Hey, some adults struggle with the idea that people can have happy lives without children...

Awards for our August, 2014, TIOLI Challenges

The Elusive Fish Award goes to Inge87 for reading The Soil Will Save Us: How Scientists, Farmers, and Foodies Are Healing the Soil to Save the Planet for lyzard's challenge to read a book with an animal in the title, which does not refer to an actual animal in the text. How this Inge87 found the word "ling" in this title or even knew what it was is a mystery to me. Good work on this one!

The Bring on Dinner Award is related to lahochstetler's challenge to read a book with an amusing LT tag. This challenge is always good for a few laughs. The two tags that made me laugh out loud were both food related. An award goes to both CitizenJoyce for reading Aya with the tag "yams - which are no where even mentioned in the story" and to Morphidae for reading Strega Nona} with the tag "out of control pasta". Now excuse me while I get a snack!

The Multiple Piles Award goes to yoyogod for the completion of the book entitled The Pet. This award is in relation to Smiler69's challenge to read a book at the bottom of your tbr pile. The issue here is that the book read was at the bottom of Pile #6. My question is ... how many piles are there in total?!

The She Swore Award goes to Chatterbox for reading The Baklava Club in cyderry's challenge to read a book that you told someone you would. Not only did this challenger tell someone she'd read a book, but she swore she'd read it. Now that's quite serious!!

Congrats to our award winners! Looking forward to October's TIOLI challenges...

>198 SqueakyChu: To clear up the yam tag... The Aya books all feature some recipes at the end of the story, and this one must have featured yams, if I remember correctly. Funny tag all the same!

>199 Smiler69: that's right. There were recipes. I didn't read them, but there could have been yams there. Of all the tags for a book though, Yams is pretty restrictive for this one.

>196 Citizenjoyce: Given some of the recent news stories here, I think kids need to be given some sex education really young - particularly information that will help them avoid becoming victims of sexual abuse. No point in waiting until they've dropped out of school.

>198 SqueakyChu: At the moment, I have 10 to read piles because I have a habit of buying books faster than I can read them.

>202 yoyogod:

I have a habit of buying books faster than I can read them.

Well, at least you're not alone in this! :)

>198 SqueakyChu: Not only did I swear to do it, I actually did it!! :-)

I'm on a self-imposed buying ban. I am so far behind on my ARCs that I cannot think about adding any distractions. I have stopped even looking at the many, many emails that I receive every day which are book-related!

>204 Chatterbox:

Not only did I swear to do it, I actually did it!!

LOL! That's good, Suz!!

>205 LoisB:

I'm doing much the same thing. I don't get to buy any new books unless they're sequels in series I'm already reading or new releases from my critique partners until I've reduced my TBR pile by at least 100 books. Library books are still allowed, though.

>202 yoyogod:: I'm always surprised that people can actually count/measure their TBR in some way. I don't keep TBR and books I've read separately, and anyway, if something's worth keeping and it's more than 10 years since I read it, it might be worth rereading.

>207 susanna.fraser: I also allow library books.

Housekeeping Day!

Coming up tomorrow is "Housekeeping Day" or the day I ask challengers to finish up their wiki entries. Please delete any books not finished by midnight 9/30/14.

If the challenge is a rolling challenge, just delete your name from the entry and leave all other information.

Thank you!

The October TIOLI challenges have been posted. Feel free to add one of your own through midnight 10/4/14.

Good timing on my part! I just finished my last book of the month. Now off to make sure I've updated the Wiki with all my reads.

Before I could make my grandson's birthday cupcakes I had to finish my last book for the month, Jane Lynch's Happy Accidents. It was interesting in many ways, she thought she was ugly when she was young and that her sister was very cute. She showed pictures. They look exactly the same. She is an alcoholic who gave up her drink of choice, Miller Lite, on her own but then spent years in AA because she couldn't give up her nightly Nyquil and smoked pot once. She felt like a friendless failure even though she had as many friends as she wanted and a successful career. She was an alienating diva who made fun of others (her inner Sue Sylvester). When she finally got to the last part of the book talking about her time on Glee and her marriage the writing got better. Maybe the problem was the ghostwriter, Lisa Dickey, whom she credits with creating a "rock solid" outline for the book. Felt out of place as a child, check. Relationship problems, check. Substance abuse, check. Perhaps she felt more comfortable filling out the outline a little more when she got to the present.

(deleted entry - placed in wrong location)

Sorry!