SqueakyChu jumps ahead in 2016

My 2016 challenges will be frogs jumping ahead in a race against the calendar. Watch them compete throughout the year!

75 Books - any books:



BookCrossing - specific categories:



Page Count:



ROOTS - acquired 2012 or earlier:



2016 Calendar:



GOAL: I will end 2016 with less than 496 books in my "to read" collection. Ha!

CURRENT TBR COUNT: as of 2/23/16: 501 books

Oopsies!

January:

Photo by Stephen Michael Barnett - Flickr,CC-A

BOOKISH HAPPENINGS:
1. Bookcrossing Annual Holiday party - 01/03/16 at the home of @petrini1 - It was fun, as always!
2. Bookcrossing Meet-Up - January 30th at 1pm at Soho Tea & Coffee in Washington, DC

BOOKCROSSING CATEGORY: Read a book that has been on your TBR more than 2 years
ROOT CATEGORY: Read a book acquired 2012 or earlier

COMPLETED:
1. A Mouthful of Air - Amy Koppelman - TIOLI: Read a book whose ISBN has at least one number in its correct numeric position (1931561893) - 212 pages
2. */**Kokoro - Natsume Soseki - TIOLI: Read a book that mentions tea somewhere in the text (pages 3, 4, 5, and more) - 248 pages
3. 吾輩は猫である (I am a Cat) - Natsume Sōseki - TIOLI: Read a book that mentions tea somewhere in the text (page 33 and more) - 218 pages
4. */** The Bird Artist - Howard Norman - TIOLI: Read a book you already owned on 1 January 2015, but haven't yet read/finished - 289 pages

KEY:
* Eligible for BookCrossing Category Challenge
** Eligible for ROOT Challenge

February:

Photo by Holly and Chris Melton - Flickr, CC-A

BOOKISH HAPPENINGS:
???

BOOKCROSSING CATEGORY: A book by one of your favourite authors
ROOT CATEGORY: Read a book acquired 2012 or earlier

COMPLETED:
5. */**The Sound of the Mountain - Yasumari Kawabata - TIOLI: Read a book of modern Japanese fiction (in rolling order) (column 2) - 276 pages
6. *Mon "The Gate" - Natsume Soseki - TIOLI: Read a book of modern Japanese fiction (in rolling order) (column 1) - 217 pages
7. The Book of Five Rings 五輪書 Go Rin No Sho - Miyamoto Musashi - TIOLI: Read a nonfiction book that's about a people/religion/history/politics/country of the Asian continent - 107 pages
8. *****The Vegetarian 채식주의자 - Han Kang - TIOLI: Read a book with the word 'extraordinary' or a synonym of this word somehttp://www.librarything.com/talkwhere on the front or back cover (tremendous) 188 pages

KEY:
* Eligible for BookCrossing Category Challenge
** Eligible for ROOT Challenge
*** TIOLI shared read
****Better Than the Movie Book Club
*****Early Reviewer

March:

Photo by Dave Huth - Flickr, CC-A

COMPLETED:
9. Tale of the Waning Moon, Volume 1 - Hyouta Fujiyama - TIOLI: Read a book with an embedded word in the title - 160 pages
10. Chi's Sweet Home, Volume 1 - Kanata Konami - TIOLI: Reread a book - 169 pages
11. Bulldozer's Big Day - Candace Fleming and Eric Rohmann - TIOLI: Read a book with yellow on the cover - 36 pages
12. Tale of the Waning Moon, Volume 2 - Hyouta Fujiyama - TIOLI: Read a book with an embedded word in the title - 176 pages
13. Tale of the Waning Moon, Vol. 3 - Hyouta Fujiyama - TIOLI: Read a book with an embedded word in the title - 224 pages
14. Tale of the Waning Moon, Vol. 4 - Hyouta Fujiyama - TIOLI: Read a book with an embedded word in the title - 240 pages
15. Hungry, Hungry Sharks - Joanna Cole - TIOLI: Read a book of ethology or animal behavior - 48 pages
16. The Frog in the Skyscraper - Faiz Kermani - TIOLI: Read a book with a title word describing a place someone could live - 56 pages
17. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking - Susan Cain - Read a book with a title word describing a place someone could live - 352 pages

KEY:
* Eligible for BookCrossing Category Challenge
** Eligible for ROOT Challenge
*** TIOLI shared read
****Better Than the Movie Book Club
*****Early Reviewer

I failed miserably at most of my challenges in 2015 so I'll be scaling some of them back. Of course, I can't scale back my 75 books challenge because I want to stay in this group!

Well Madeline you certainly didn't fail to sustain so many of us throughout the year with your wonderful stewardship of the TIOLI which is an indispensable part of the group.

I hope to get to your thread a little more in 2016 as well as wrapping myself in the TIOLI challenge too. It is a superb way of forcing me to choose and focus my reads from that unwieldy TBR mountain I have at home.

Hi Madeline, after the ladybird year it'll be a 2016 frog year. How beautiful. Wishing you a marvellouse reading year.

Welcome back!

Hi Madeline droping off a star.

Hi everyone! It's good to continue into another year with my reading. My New Year's resolution is to look at some of my older books and to release th if they don't appear to be interesting reading. I hope to end 2016 with a smaller TBR than I have today which is 496 books.

>6 PaulCranswick: So glad you're enjoying the TIOLI challenges. I like them the most myself. I find it much harder these days to follow individual threads so I do appreciate others stopping by my thread as well as participating in the TIOLI challenges. Happy holidays!

Go back to message #2, everyone. Isn't that the happiest frog you've ever seen?! :D

It just asks me if I'm ready for the 2016 readings. Yes, yes, yes. Love it. BTW thanks for starting zhe January TIOLI, Madeline.

>2 SqueakyChu: - I have that book on my shelf somewhere but not so sure if I'll get to it any time soon. I'll be interested to hear your impression of it

>13 Ameise1: You're welcome!

>14 jessibud2: From a Sealed Room? I've had that book forever. It's about time I read it!

>12 SqueakyChu: - Agree with you 100%. Love the way he has his head tilted just so.

>16 Fourpawz2: :)

Hi Madeline, I, too did not meet my reading goals this year, but will absolutely be trying again! Happy end of 2015 🎉

>18 lalbro:

Thanks, Liz. Have a wonderful new year!

Hope you have a great 2016 reading year!

>21 DianaNL: Happy New Year, Diana!

>23 Ameise1: Thanks for your good wishes. Have a great 2016!

>1 SqueakyChu: Oooh, frogs this year. Fun. Happy 2016!

I love the frog theme! You are so creative. All good wishes for a wonderful year Madeline. I hope to visit your thread more often in 2016.

>25 qebo: Yeah. I thought it was about time to do frogs. Heh!

>26 Whisper1: Hi Linda! Wishing you a happy and healthy 2016.

Have a wonderful bookfilled 2016, Madeline.

>28 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul. Wishing you and your a happy 2016 as well.

Hi, Madeline - found you!

Oh, wow, that's so funny: I've got with owls as my thread-toppers this year, but frogs was the alternative (and are ear-marked for next year!). Obviously all the best people love frogs! :)

>30 lyzard: If you take frogs next year, I might just have to take owls in 2017. Do remind me at the end of this year! :D

Obviously all the best people love frogs!

We do. That happens with my family as well. We always save frog items for the Jewish holiday of Passover in which one of the ten plagues was frogs. :)

Happy New Year Madeline. Dropping off a star.

>32 SandDune: Hi Rhian! Have a lovely 2016.

Starred!

>34 Berly: Happy New Year, Kim!

Hi Madeline! Love the frogs!

>36 norabelle414: Me, too! Heh.

1. A Mouthful of Air - Amy Koppelman


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
January 2016 TIOLI Challenge: Read a book whose ISBN has at least one number in its correct numeric position
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a sad book which is the author's excellent debut. I was most affected by the depth of emotion that is incorporated into this novel.

Julie Davis is a young married mother of a toddler. She suffers from chronic depression and has just been released from a psychiatric hospital. Short, clipped sentences reveal Julie's thought process which is at times hopeful, but at other times despairing. We learn that she had a difficult relationship with her father who abandoned her mom when Julie was just a little girl. In her married life, Julie enters a situation in which she must come off of her anti-depressant medication for a short while. We watch the difficulties of this and always hope the best for Julie.

I recommend this book to those who wish to read about mental illness, depression, alienation, or difficulties with parenting.

Rating - 4.5

Since my son just came back from two weeks vacationing in Japan (Tokyo and Kyoto), I'm looking for more contemporary Japanese novels to read. I've always loved reading these novels, and now I want to try some more.

Wishing you a most lovely weekend, Madeline.

Thank you, Barbara.

I'm now making bookmarks from old calendars and greeting cards. I'm going to put them in my Little Free Library of Twinbrook. :)

>41 SqueakyChu: What a neat idea!

>38 SqueakyChu: Nice review and love the bookmark idea!

>43 Berly: Thanks re the review, Kim. That was a really good book,

Here are some of the bookmarks...

>44 SqueakyChu: Nice!

>44 SqueakyChu: I may have to steal your idea! I love how those turned out. I'm hoping some of these leftover greeting cards I inherited from Mom will work. I think I used about as many as I could at Christmas this year. Maybe some of the rest will repurpose as bookmarks!

Great idea, Madeline!

The cards are turning out to make great bookmarks because they are on heavy card stock paper, have fabulous art work, and are a terrific use of the wool
I used for crewel work who knows how many years ago!

>46 thornton37814: I'd love to see pictures of some of those you make! I also discovered that we can use the words on the cards by simply cutting them on the diagonal (so you only see tidbits of words and not complete ideas). Try it!

I wish I had a paper cutter. My straight lines aren't too straight! :/

Those are awesome!!

Gorgeous bookmarks, Madeline.

>51 Berly: >52 Ameise1: Thx! They're both fun and easy to make.

>53 SqueakyChu: - Madeline, do you glue them to a cardboard backing to make them sturdier or are they already sturdy?

>54 jessibud2: They're already sturdy. The only problem is that sometimes they don't have a very attractive back side. I don't use flimsy paper. You could glue them to an index card if you use flimsy paper, but that seems like too much work!

>55 SqueakyChu: - I would use cardstock. Also I use double-sided tape when I stick my photos on cardstock postcards or blank greeting cards. That usually works well. Anyhow, yours look great

>56 jessibud2: That seems like a good idea. I'll keep that in mind.

2. Kokoro - Natsume Soseki


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
January 2015 TIOLI Challenge: Read a book that mentions tea somewhere in the text (pages 3, 4, 5, and more)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This novel is blow-me-away kind of gorgeous. It's my first novel by Natsume Soseki who has been considered to be Japan's finest contemporary novelist. I think most Japanese fiction, in its simplicity of voice, is beautiful, but this story has a grace in a class by itself.

It's a story about friendship, love, and betrayal. It's strength lies in the last part of the book in which we hear directly from Sensei, a friend of the university student who narrates the beginning of this book, as Sensei reveals how one important decision he makes during his life causes him unending guilt and deep spiritual pain.

I sincerely want to delve into more work by this amazing Japanese writer. I can't believe it took me so long to remove this book from my bookshelf and finally read it.* What a treasure!

Rating - 5 stars

*I've had this book since 2006!

This may be my first book bullet of the year! You certainly make it sound irresistible.

>59 tututhefirst: Do NOT miss reading this book. It was excellent!

Dang. I've been shot! Great review.

>61 Berly: Haha! Great book. Get it!

Well, now you've really done it. Kokoro is available in Kindle for $2.99 AND if I buy the kindle, I can get the Audible edition for $3.99. I've sent for the sample for my Kindle to see if I really want to invest. I suspect, I've just bought my first two books of the year. Since hubby has already purchased 3 since new year's I guess I shouldn't feel guilty.

>63 tututhefirst: I just dropped at Second Story Books, a used book store here in Rockville, Maryland, on my way home from grocery shopping. I found two other books by Natsume Soseki, both of which I got together for under five dollars. This is from someone who has sworn off entirely from buying books! I guess I can still be enticed to buy some books occasionally (if the desire is great and the price is right). :D

I could have sent out my copy of Kokoro via BookMooch to anyone who wanted it, but I just promised it to my audiologist. We always recommend books to each other when I have an audiology appointment.

Kokoro is the kind of book I'd rather have go to someone who really wants it rather than just put it in my Little Free Library "for grabs". Some books are just like that. I can no longer amass more books in my house which have been read and are not for immediate release.

>65 SqueakyChu: - Well, I guess this is what is called a book bullet for me! Never heard of this title or author but have made a note of it! :-) (like I lack for reading material.....;-)

Squee! I just received my LT Early Reviewer which is a book of short stories by Ryu Murakami. The book is called Tokyo Decadence. I just read the last story (which I read first because it was titled "At the Airport", and my older son was just at that airport in Tokyo this month!). I loved that story. I am familiar with this author's writing, and so it was the only book I chose for the December Early Reviewer. I find that, by choosing only one ER book that I want the most, I have a pretty decent chance of winning it. :D

>66 jessibud2: like I lack for reading material

I'd be happy to keep sending BBs (book bullets) your way!

>63 tututhefirst: A fine review AND a Kindle sale. My goose is cooked, and the book is bought.

>69 ffortsa:. Haha! Judy, am I going to get to meet you this year?

The two Soseki books I bought today are I am a Cat and Mon = The Gate.

>44 SqueakyChu: - Those are wonderful. What a fantastic idea!

>70 SqueakyChu: I don't know at this point. We've got plans for San Francisco in February, the Berkshires some time in the summer, maybe a trip to Alaska. but we are trying to travel more on the weekends, so you never can tell!

>73 ffortsa: Okay. I'll be waiting! ;)

Madeline, I wish you a relaxed weekend.

Thank you, Barbara.

So far it's been fun, but upsetting in a way. I went with a friend to see a movie, Two Days, One Night, which had me reliving the horror and shock of my job lay-off as the movie was about a Belgian woman whose job was taken away in a vote by other colleagues who'd rather receive a bonus than not allow a colleague to be laid off. The theme of the movie had me reliving feelings that I didn't wish to go through again.

In discussing the movie with my friend afterward, we didn't agree. I am the moral ethicist, and thought the question was a no-brainer. You vote to save the woman's job. My friend said, "No. You vote in favor of your own family."

The movie was very good; it was just the theme for which I wasn't prepared. This was part of an international film festival. I love going to these films and not knowing anything at all about the movies before I go so I don't check the summary or reviews first. (I read books mostly the same way.)

I just listed 吾輩は猫である (I am a Cat) by Natsume Sōseki as a book I'm currently reading. No, I don't know Japanese, but I did teach myself the Kanji for "cat" (pronounced ne-ko) today and love being able to recognize a word in an otherwise undecipherable title. :)

What makes this fun is that my older son just got back from a trip to Japan (Tokyo and Kyoto), knows a very little Japanese, but plans to go back again this March if he is able to work that trip out. He's a big anime fan, and had great fun visiting arcades, shopping centers, and the Winter Comiket (three-day HUGE biannual anime/manga/CD market/convention) in Tokyo recently.

That sounds awesome! I love seeing the Japanese characters in your book title, but I am glad you provided the English translation, LOL. We had a foreign exchange student come stay with us from China, and I had the hardest time finding him on Facebook because his name was in Chinese, not the English spelling of Woo. I had to email him and he sent me the right spelling.

>78 Berly: My son knows a bit of Japanese so I'm going to try to learn some easy Japanese. I know Hebrew, and I find it quite fun to decide alphabets that are different from my own. On Facebook, I love writing to my cousins who write to me in Hebrew and allow me to answer them in English. I really should be brushing up on my German, though, as my daughter wants me to accompany her on a trip to Germany this year.

>77 SqueakyChu: I saw that one on the TIOLI and wondered what was going on!

>80 thornton37814: Haha! Wish I did understand Japanese!

3. 吾輩は猫である I am a Cat - Natsume Sōseki


---------------------------------------------------------
January 2016 TIOLI Challenge: Read a book that mentions tea somewhere in the text (page 33 and more)
__________________________________________
This book turned out to be dreadful! I bought this book because I just finished reading the book, Kokoro, by the same author. I thought this book, which started out as a humorous tale, narrated by a cat, and telling of two other cat characters would be much better. It quickly deteriorated into the prattle of the cat's master and two other human friends. The story became more and more intolerable until near the ending where the main topic, which I did not find humorous at all, was whether one of the three human friends should marry the daughter of a woman with a hooked nose.

I have learned that this is Volume I of a three-volume series. I'll happily forego reading the other two volumes. I already know the ending of Volume III since it was already divulged, for what reason I don't know, in the introduction to Volume I.

I gave this book one star because the main cat character was a good one. The author should have stuck to the cats and left all of the humans out of this tale.

Rating - 1 star

I am totally blown away. I just read one incredibly fine book and one incredibly bad book within one month, both by the same author. Yikes!

>82 SqueakyChu: I've had I am a Cat on the WL for ever. Maybe I need to have a rethink!

>84 SandDune: Most readers here on LT praised I Am a Cat; some even highly. I can only tell you what I felt. It was excruciating for me to finish this book. I only did so because I had been so impressed by Kokoro. I Am a Cat is a short book. Try it, and see if it appeals to you. You need not finish it if you don't like it. Do come back here and tell me what you thought about it.

I'm now reading a book called The Bird Artist which is about...ta da!...a bird artist. The title reminds me of @Smiler69 because she's such a good bird artist and also of myself because I also aspire (one day!) to be a bird artist. :)

I've added Kokoro to the wishlist, but won't be rushing to find I am a Cat...

>86 SqueakyChu: BB.

>87 charl08: Good choice!

>88 qebo: To be more specific, The Bird Artist* is about a teenager from a very small town in Newfoundland over 100 years ago. He just happens to be a bird artist. I'm liking this book a lot, though, since I'm still recovering from having read I Am a Cat. Maybe I should stick to titles that have birds in them rather than cats. Heh!

*This book does mention different birds, and I'm having fun looking up pictures of birds with which I'm not familiar.

>89 SqueakyChu: - I actually have The Bird Artist on my shelf but haven't read it yet. Maybe I'll pull it out for a spring read. Even though up here in Toronto, it doesn't feel much like winter, or should I say, doesn't look much like winter. Hardly any snow on the ground but it was cold today. How are you holding up down there? How much has fallen so far? Is it still coming down?

>90 jessibud2: It has been great down here! We've had about two feet of snow so far, and it's still snowing. The best thing is that the snow started Friday night so that everyone was home from work for the weekend, and only emergency vehicles have reason to be on the streets. I know that my daughter-in-law has to work on Monday since she's a nurse so I'm not sure how my babysitting assignment will work out that day. We're going to wait until it stops snowing before we dig out.

Today, all I did was sit in the living room, read, send and receive snow pictures on Facebook on my smart phone, feed birds and squirrels and watch them eat (through our large window which is an entire wall in my small living room). It was a very relaxing day. I am praying that we do not lose power. That would take all the joy out of this snowstorm Jonas.

I am happy to report that this snow storm sent 13 different species of birds into my back yard in search of food today! :D

This was my car earlier today. Now it's just under a huge mound of snow and can no longer be seen at all! :D

: o Wow!!! I hope you are warm and dry and having a great reading day. : )

>93 Berly: I'm warm and dry, and have not read a word today (except on the computer and my smartphone) ... but I did restock my Little Free Library of Twinbrook (#7720) with a few new books! :)

#82 was going to get this may have to rethink.... maybe.

>95 BBGirl55: Read some of the reviews of this book first. Others loved this book. I was one of the few who hated it. Really, really hated it. Read it, and let me know what you think of it. I have another book by Natsuo Soseki on board to read, and can't wait to get to it (based on how much I loved kokoro, though). Different strokes...

>92 SqueakyChu: Are you dug out yet?

>82 SqueakyChu: Given your, erm, love of I am a Cat, I am surprised by your TIOLI challenge for Feb - a glutton for punishment!

>97 thornton37814: My husband dug us out over the past few days. I'm not too eager to drive anywhere yet, though.

>98 PaulCranswick: Paul, that book was a *total* exception to how much I like contemporary Japanese fiction. I have another book on board already by the same author (Natsume Soseki) because I loved the first book I read by him. It sometimes surprises me when I find an author I really like having written a book I don't like. I think that happens when authors try to show how versatile their writing is. However, not all of the time is all of the writing by the same author of equal caliber. In addition, every reader's taste is different. Therefore, a book I hated might just be someone else's cup of tea!

>99 SqueakyChu: I told someone I'd had to pull from those winter weather driving skills I acquired living in Ohio the other day when I went to the airport. I had to use them on my own road and driveway when I got home although the rest of the roads had mostly been cleared by that time.

4. The Bird Artist - Howard Norman


-------------------------------------------------
January 2016 TIOLI Challenge: Read a book you already owned on 1 January 2015, but haven't yet read/finished
-------------------------------------------------
This is the story of Fabian Vas, a teenage boy in a very small town in Newfoundland, Canada, over 100 years ago. Although he has been sleeping regularly with Margaret, a girl four years older than he, his mother has secretly been planning for her son to wed his own fourth cousin whom her son has never met. The boy sees that his mother has taken to shacking up with the lighthouse keeper, Bothos August, while his dad was away for two months on work trip. This leads the boy to murder the lighthouse keeper (which we know as the book opens. No spoilers here).

The pace of this book is halting, and the story hugely interesting. There is an undercurrent of subtle, dry humor very much covered over by the harsh realities of life. Fabian is a bird artist. His lovely pictures of birds are purchased by magazines, while in his own life, family and friends shoot and eat birds (and are not reticent to let Fabian know this).

Names of so many people abound in this story. They are also odd. Fabian's dad is Orkney Vas; his mom is Alaric Banville. The lighthouse keeper is Botho August. We hear lots of names in this book but are not intended to remember most of them. The book also talks about the Beothuk, who were an indigenous people to Newfoundland. Perhaps the names in this book are of Beothuk origin (as are the songs that some of the characters sing or hum).

This is a captivating story. It is also a look at one of the more unusual mother-son relationships that I've encountered in a novel. I'd say to give this book a read! It is quite different from the run-of-the mill stories of small town life that I've read in the past. It's really a great book!

Rating - 4.5 stars

>101 SqueakyChu: it's not a book I already own but it's a book I'm going to be owning soon!

>102 magicians_nephew: Jim, this was such an unusual story! I'm going to see if I can find any other book by this same author. This book was a National Book Award Finalist, and I can see why. Enjoy it!

>100 thornton37814: We have an airport trip request coming up this Thursday, but I asked my husband to be the one to provide that transportation. :)

>92 SqueakyChu: I actually find it very difficult to even imagine that much snow ...

>105 SandDune: It was so beautiful, but now it's melting very quickly.

5. The Sound of the Mountain - Yasunari Kawabata


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
February 2016 TIOLI Challenge: Read a book of modern Japanese fiction (in rolling order) (column 2)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a very softly-paced novel about Ogata Shingo, an elderly man (not that elderly, though!), who very quietly deals with his increasing forgetfulness and family problems. He lives with his wife Yasuko, his son Shuitsi, daughter-in-law Kikuko, and later his daughter Fukaso who returns to her parent's home with two daughters of her own.
The biggest issue in the family is that Shuitsi is having an affair with a woman who works at the same office as Shingo and Shuitsi. In dealing with this problem, we see day-to-day life carried out in a very typical Japanese way. The wife tends to be obedient, no one wants to lose face, and problems are worked on so as to be least disturbing.

The writing of Kawabata is lyrical and gentle. It takes in much geography, flora, and customs of Japan. There is no harsh melodrama in this story, but it has a pull of its own which leaves the reader at the end as gently as it grabs the reader from the beginning.

Rating - 4 stars

Congrats on completing your February challenge already! Nice review.

Just read your review of Tokyo Decadence after going to post my own. Gosh, this book is really polarising people. I love the title The Sound of the Mountain - immediately made me think of a book I read last year about calligraphy, where the characters went to a retreat in the mountains to work on their writing (and other things).

Happy weekend, Madeline. Congrats on finishing your Febraury TIOLI book.

Hi Barbara! Thank you.

6. Mon "The Gate" - Natsume Soseki


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
February 2016 TIOLI Challenge: Read a book of modern Japanese fiction (in rolling order) (column 1)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the kind of novel I would recommend only to others who enjoy reading contemporary Japanese novels. It's very slow-moving and delves deeply into a quiet husband-wife relationship throughout the entire narrative. The story begins with the couple, now in their sixties and living a meager existence in Tokyo. The husband Sosuke and the wife Oyone learn that Koroko, Sosuke's much younger brother must stop his university studies because of lack of money that their uncle frivolously lost. Koroko moves into the couple's house and upsets the delicate balance of the couple's life.

I found that I was reading this book extremely slowly so as to take in Sosuke's mood as the story was mainly from his point of view. He has a very close relationship with his wife whom he met and became friends with a situation which later became most uncomfortable. Hazy references to that time period appear late in the book but provide the impetus to read more to see if this is clarified further in the story.

Several parts of the book had special significance for Sosuke: his brother's being forced to give up his studies, his wife's illness, his landlord Saeki's friendship, and his attempt to engage in the practice of zazen (Zen medication) at a retreat. It was quite a ride to experience these with Sosuke. I thought the ending of this book was very realistic, and think I might have handled his problems the same way, had I been a Japanese man in his situation 100 years ago.

I love reading books by this author! I was sad to learn that this book is a trilogy of which I started with book 3. Now I have to go back and get books 1 and 2. That will make me happy!

Rating - 4 stars

>101 SqueakyChu: Hi!

I love Howard Norman. I find his work to be fully captivating while also wonderfully understated; in a way, it sorta reminds me of some of the Japanese authors I've read. If you enjoyed The Bird Artist, I reckon you'll like his other stuff a bunch, too. (I found his latest novel - Next Life Might Be Kinder - to be particularly good.)

>113 andrewreads: Hi Andrew! I quickly went out and got another book by Norman Howard. I picked up The Museum Guard. Have you read that book? I have to fit it in somewhere soon because I really like the understated way the author presents his characters. I'll see if I can find a copy of Next Life Might Be Kinder. I'll pick it up if I see it.

>114 SqueakyChu: Uh oh. I think The Museum Guard might actually be my least favorite of his novels! (Probably because I didn't like the characters as much.) But that's okay because it's still good.

>115 andrewreads:

Oh, well! That's the one I have I'll let you know what I think of it.

>116 Berly:

A little late, but I hope your Valentine's Day was fun!

Argh! I was reading Me Before You, and, midway through the book, my library told me that I had to return the book immediately because there was a hold on it. I had it out for three weeks, but didn't start reading it right away. I got the book for my great niece's online book club. I think I've gotten spoiled with having my own Little Free Library and stash of my own used books. I don't like others controlling what I can read and when. I certainly don't like returning a book mid-read with the accompanying offer that I can keep the book if I want to pay a fine. Well...I don't want to do that!

>118 SqueakyChu: I would probably have paid the fine rather than returning the book halfway through! That's the one advantage of paper books over ebooks; they can't just disappear on their own.

>119 _Zoe_: I'll get the book back. I'd rather use my money to buy used books than to pay library fines. In addition, I like to read at leisure and not under any time constraint. That just takes the fun out of pleasure reading.

>120 SqueakyChu: You're just more skilled at acquiring cheap or free books than most of us :)

>121 _Zoe_:

Well...that, too! :D

>118 SqueakyChu: Argh is right!! So sorry you were in the middle when you had to return it! That's the disadvantage of library reading--it's on their schedule. Bummer.

7. The Book of Five Rings 五輪書 Go Rin No Sho - Miyamoto Musashi


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
February 2016 TIOLI Challenge: Read a nonfiction book that's about a people/religion/history/politics/country of the Asian continent
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I found this vintage book (published May, 1982) in my Little Free Library and decided to read it because I've recently become interested in things Japanese. The book was written by a masterless samurai, Miyamoto Musashi, who lived in the late 1500's and early 1600's and practiced what he called heiho. It is said that he never lost a bout with 60 individual swordsmen before reaching the age of thirty. In this book, he wrote the principles of his heiho.

I liked this book for learning about this particular form of swordsmanship, but I never took it to be a book about "Japanese success in business" as was advertised at the top of this mass market paperback. It was weird, though, reading a book about mastering the skill to kill another individual. I'm not unhappy that the time of samurai is gone.

Rating - 3 stars

>124 SqueakyChu: I have never understood the idea that this is a book translatable to business deals just as I have never understood that The Art of War is somehow translatable to business either.

Musashi himself was an interesting guy. I always thought his story was interesting in the context of a broader society where wandering sword fighter could be a legitimate and even honored pursuit. Most societies would consider that dangerous and something to be stopped immediately. Not feudal Japan.

>125 Oberon: For me, this book was a little peek into feudal Japan. In the past, I probably would never have picked up this book. I still wonder who left it in my Little Free Library! :)

>126 SqueakyChu: Perhaps a failed businessman or masterless samuari wandering around your neighborhood?

>58 SqueakyChu: I love the sound of Kokoro! That spare Japanese style really appeals to me.

And your snow car image just below was amazing! And you say after that it was under a mound of snow!! It already looks to be under a goodly sized mound there :)

The little free library in your area sounds like it is worth it's weight in gold.

>127 Oberon: Haha! Perhaps...

>128 LovingLit: I'm pretty much hooked an seeking out more novels like Kokoro to read now. I've been visiting some used book stores that I haven't been in for a while.

A little later my car was completely covered by snow. After the snow storm was over, the snow melted quickly because the days afterward were warm.

I love my Little Free Library. I have so much fun with it and am always thrilled when I see it being used.

8. The Vegetarian - Han Kang


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
February 2016 TIOLI Challenge: Read a book with the word 'extraordinary' or a synonym of this word somewhere on the front or back cover (tremendous)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the story of two sisters in Korea and the man to whom the older sister was married. As the story opens, the younger sister Yeong-hye becomes a vegetarian. This fascinates the older sister In-hye's husband, Mr. Cheong, who is a cinematographer. He decides to do a film about Yeong-hye's entire body being painted with flowers. This scenario further develops and turns extremely bizarre and sensual. I finally reached a point when I sighed with relief seeing that the older sister declared to her husband, "You and Yeong-hye are both clearly in need of medical treatment", referring to emergency psychiatric intervention. I could actually say that about the older sister, too, but she seemed the most stable of the trio. I was fascinated by this story, but felt that it sort of "wimped out" in the end by leaving the future of all its characters too vague. I loved the writing and how the story was told. I would certainly seek out other books by this same author for this novel's beautiful writing and intriguing story line.

Rating - 4 stars

>131 SqueakyChu: Great review. Sounds really surreal. I'm hovering about reading this one.

I really preferred the sound of her second book (about protests in Korea) but that's not in the library yet.

>124 SqueakyChu: What an interesting book to find in your Little Free Library! And, no, I don't get the business connection either.

>127 Oberon: LOL!

Happy weekend!

>132 charl08: I really liked this book. It was bizarre enough for my taste. Too bad that the ending wasn't as strongly thought out as the rest of the book.

>124 SqueakyChu: The book wasn't all that great, but I so rarely find a book in any of the LFLs that I visit about anything at all Japanese that I also thought it was lucky I happened upon this book in my own LFL.

Happy weekend, Madeline.

>135 Ameise1: Thank you, Barbara. Likewise.

9. Tale of the Waning Moon, Voume 1 - Hyouta Fujiyama


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
March 2016 TIOLI Challenge: Read a book with an embedded word in the title
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I decided to try a manga series since these books pass my way every now and then as steward of a Little Free Library. I hoped to learn about manga in general and see if it appealed to me. I picked up this series at random. To my surprise, the book was all about gay men with the protagonist being raped at the beginning by a moon spirit. After that initial shock, I continued to read the book and found it very entertaining. I even laughed out loud at some parts.

I'm now full of all kinds of questions about what I saw and didn't see in this book, but I'll ask my family and friends who are knowledgeable about manga regarding those details. I'm not sure how much of what I saw is common to all manga and how much is innate to this author or to this particular series.

I enjoyed this story enough to want to continue to read through the remaining three books in the series that I have in my possession. I also found someone else who is familiar with this author, likes this author's works, and wants to read my books when I'm finished.

What this book did for me was to inspire me to seek out, read and learn more about manga. I think this experience should be fun!

Rating - 4 stars

10. Chi's Sweet Home, volume 1 - Kanata Konami - TIOLI: Reread a book


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
March 2016 TIOLI Challenge: Reread a book
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I think this book must be the first book for Manga 101. I asked for some manga recommendations as I wanted to learn a bit more about this genre. Two different people recommended this book. When I looked at it, I realized that I had read it before. I'm not sure why. Perhaps I read it at a time I was getting into graphic novels and was smitten by The Rabbi's Cat by Joann Sfar.

Anyway, this book is cute. It's the story of a family who adopted a lost kitten. The funniest chapter to me was where the family bought a special cat toy in the pet shop. However, when they broght home this toy for the cat (now named Chi) to play with, she found nothing at all entertaining about it. Haha!

This is a cute book. It's "manga light" and enjoyable. :)

Rating - 4 stars

I'm feeling so discouraged after listening to the Presidential election returns last night. I'm burying my sorrow in A Fighting Chance, the autobiography of Elizabeth Warren. It is so comforting to know that people like she are willing to fight the hard fight on behalf of the middle class. *sigh*. She says exactly what Bernie Sanders has been saying all along.

11. Bulldozer's Big Day - Candace Fleming


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
March 2016 TIOLI Challenge: Read a book with yellow on the cover
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My 2 1/2 year old grandson loves this book and requests that I read it over and over. I like to read it as well. The pictures of the machines are bright and colorful. The rhythm of the story is so nice with its repeating words. My grandson like to act out those actions. I also think that it's sweet that the bulldozer's feelings are measured by the height of its shovel. This is quite a fun book to share with preschoolers. I recommend it.

Rating - 5 stars

12. Tale of the Waning Moon, Volume 2 - Hyouta Fujiyama


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
March 2016 TIOLI Challenge: Read a book with an embedded word in the title
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm finding this series fun, and now that I've finished Volume 2, I know I want to finish the whole series. I find the characters endearing. I like Ixto, the moon spirit. He seems very familiar to me, almost as if I know him outside of a book. I like Ral when he's a horse. I like that a book character can be a horse. I like the moon cat Coon who is always in the way. I also like the quirky way this author draws the characters. Jii is a servant so he's drawn very lightly, in a way that he almost cannot be seen. In addition, I find it weird and fun that all of the characters are missing different facial features at random - a nose here, one eye there, the other eye in a different picture. I have no idea why the characters are pictured in this way, but it's notable.

Rating: 4 stars

13. Tale of the Waning Moon, Vol. 3 - Hyouta Fujiyama


------------------------------------------------------------------------
March 2016 TIOLI Challenge: Read a book with an embedded word in the title
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm reading this series to familiarize myself more with manga. I'm still curious to see what's going to happen next to the characters and already know that most of the plot is men getting it on with other men. I find that a lot of what's going on in the story is confusing. I can't keep the characters straight because many appear similar to each other. Some of the writing (er, printing) is so small that I can barely read it so I'm skipping it. I hope that doesn't matter so much. Rather than find it frustrating, it is arousing my curiosity. I like this series and am looking forward to reading Volume 4. I want to find out if the spell on Ryuka which causes him to be liked by men is ever broken. I'll continue to read this book to find out what happens.

One thing that I recently learned about manga is that all books of a series should be made available to a reader if at all possible. Reading individual books of a series alone sometimes put a story out of context or has the story make insufficient sense. I am eager to try out different kinds of manga to see which kinds appeal most to me. This has been a fun experiment so far.

Rating - 4 stars

Have a wonderful Easter.

Madeline, I wish you a fabulous weekend.

>142 SqueakyChu: >143 PaulCranswick:

Thank you both for your good wishes!

>146 Berly:

Hi Kim.

Happy Easter!

Tale of the Waning Moon, Vol. 4 - Hyouta Fujiyama


-------------------------------------------------------------
March 2016 TIOLI Challenge: Read a book with an embedded word in the title
-------------------------------------------------------------
I enjoyed all four volumes of this book. However, I found the last volume a bit confusing. I was having problems keeping the characters straight. I guess the ending was okay, but I wondered from the beginning of the series whether Ixto put a spell on Ryuka simply to change the latter's gender orientation because of the former's own desires. Would that have been fair?

I enjoyed this series enough to look for more books if the series were ever lengthened. I think that's a good recommendation coming from me who is new to reading manga.

Rating - 3.5 stars

15. Hungry, Hungry Sharks - Joanna Cole


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
March 2016 TIOLI Challenge: Read a book of ethology or animal behavior
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I read this book to my two and a half year old grandson because he has a favorite great white shark shirt (which I bought him!). In addition, he said he's no longer afraid of the two sharks (stuffed animals) that I have in my house. He was very eager to learn about the different kinds of sharks and what distinguishes each species (e.g. the whale shark is gentle, the great white shark is the most dangerous). I did feel I had to tone down the danger element a bit because of my grandson's age, but I do know that this book was intended for older children (i.e. beginning readers). Nevertheless, I found this book fun to read and very informational. I very much liked this book's colorful and detailed illustrations (although it seemed other readers wanted photographs instead).

Rating - 4 stars

>149 SqueakyChu: - Joanna Cole is a gem. She created the Magic School Bus series, among others, a series I used to use a lot when I was teaching. Her bio is also fascinating.

>150 jessibud2: Nice to know. I'll go back and read her bio. What grades did you teach?

I found those reviewers here on LT who criticized the art work in this book really annoying. The illustrations were done by Patricia Wynn, and they are fabulous. I hope children's books don't all go the way of reality TV. Beautiful artwork IMHO can also be the hallmark of great children's literature.

It's really fun once again reading children's books. I so loved reading to my own kids when they were little. My grandson is such a sponge for new information. I love to pour all kinds of information into him! :)

I taught at a special school for kids with physical and developmental disabilities so none of them was ever at grade level. I taught mostly 5-7 year olds but basically a kindergarten level curriculum, though in the earlier years I had higher functioning kids. But I also just adapted content to their comprehension levels. I loved using Magic School bus as an adjunct to the themes we were learning. I even had shoes I once bought at a craft show that had stars all over them. We called them my Ms. Frizzle shoes. I wish I had kept those books but gave them away when I retired last year. I'll see if I can dig up anything to send home to you with Zoe, for your grandson. I may still have a few goodies hanging around!

The bio I read of Joanna Cole was written for kids and I found it very interesting

>152 jessibud2: Aw! Thank you, Shelley! Now I let my grandson weed through his book collection. Those books that he doesn't like, I recycle out through my Little Free Library of Twinbrook (#7720). A very few of those I can't part with I keep. Anyway, be sure you register them on Bookcrossing before you send them (if you decide to) so you can track them. :)

It's fun to know that some LT members like the reviews of my toddler books. I thought I'd lose 99% of my thread's visitors by posting those. However, those are the books that I'm reading now...as well as manga. A bit odd, I know, but I'm finding both genres a lot of fun.

>153 SqueakyChu: You will get back to your regular reading soon enough. I think it is great that you are instilling a love of reading in your grandson. Also - I think we have that shark book in our house too.

16. The Frog in the Skyscraper - Faiz Kermani


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
March 2016 TIOLI Challenge): Read a book with a title word describing a place someone could live
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is an amusing story about a frog who left the swamp and worked his way into getting his own penthouse in a New York City skyscraper. Life there did not turn out as pleasant as he thought it would, bringing to my mind the old adage that "there's no place like home".

This cute book is at times laugh-out-loud funny. I love its colorful illustrations; however these are scattered rather strangely on random pages. This book also has a four-page spread of a menu for frogs. You have to see this to believe it! The characters have some great names, such as Frijibold for the protagonist frog and Uncle Krustnut for Frijibold's uncle.

This story has several messages for school age children. Among them is to beware of shysters and to know that the grass sometimes seems greener elsewhere. In addition, it suggests to readers to appreciate their own home, family and friends. Those are good messages for anyone.

Rating - 4 stars
-------------------------------------------------
The author of this book is BookCrosser Faizy who sent me this book from Alsace, France, so I could read it, review it, and circulate it.

>154 Oberon:

I think we have that shark book in our house too.

I just got this shark book from a friend of mine for my Little Free Library. If she had brought it to me earlier, I'd have gotten rid of it right away because my grandson had been afraid of two small toy (fuzzy) sharks I have in the house. I had to remove them from his room so he couldn't see them. At least he's no longer afraid of shark pictures or toy sharks now! :D

>155 SqueakyChu: - I just received my copy of this book today!! He never registered it, though! I will do so and send him the BCID so he can make a JE and follow its travels.

>157 jessibud2: He didn't register my copy either so I just pm'd him and sent him the BCID too!

17. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking - Susan Cain


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
March 2016 TIOLI Challenge: Read a book with a title word describing a place someone could live
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The book is not only excellent, but powerful. It validates the worth of the quiet, introverted individual more than anything else I have read. The author pulled together much research for this book, and this helped present her subject clearly. For anyone who ever lived through the loneliness of being shy or who has had children who suffered consequences of being shy, this book can be an eye-opener. It very gently presents a case as to how our Western society looks upon introverts, and how this view is not necessarily the best one. Introverts are quiet thinkers who derive energy more from solitude than from crowds and more from quiet than from noise. Our schools need to learn to value quiet children and nurture them in ways in which they can flourish as opposed to trying, mostly without success, to turn these children into social butterflies, which is entirely against their nature.

Rating - 5 stars

Love your shark reading story with your cutie pie and also really enjoyed Quiet when I read it. Keep 'em coming!

>159 SqueakyChu: - This book is on my tbr pile for the non-fiction challenge. It has been on my radar since it was published. It has my name written all over it! Good to hear your impressions are positive

>159 SqueakyChu: It's really an amazing book. I love that it not only empowers quiet individuals, but it also clearly demonstrates the value of each quiet individual. I really like that it shows how each person's dignity is equally valuable. Most times, in our boisterous Western culture, quiet individuals are simply overpowered and drowned out. That should not be.

>160 Berly: Keep 'em coming!

I will. 😃

I enjoyed reading about your foray into manga, and it actually made me think that I should try reading some manga myself one day. Except I've never really been a huge fan of graphic novels, so that might be a problem.

>152 jessibud2: I still have hopes that Madeline will be present in person at our July meetup! :D

Except I've never really been a huge fan of graphic novels, so that might be a problem.

Perhaps you've read the wrong ones. Some are so much better than others.

I wish Toronto weren't so far away! That might make things easier. The more I think about it, the more I don't like the idea of making such a long trip on a holiday weekend. *still undecided*

>165 SqueakyChu: You can always arrive in the middle of the week and leave in the middle of the next week, and then you won't be travelling on a holiday weekend :D

True. But I babysit during the week. I'll have to see what happens. My daughter-in-law is out of work for four weeks because she just had orthopedic surgery. I also want to take a week to go the beach.

Wishing you a relaxed weekend, Madeline.

>168 Ameise1: Thank you , Barbara. Hope your weekend id fun as well.

Continued here.