Take It Or Leave It Challenge - April 2017 - 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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Here’s your challenge for April 2017. I hope you can understand what I mean!

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Read a book whose title has two words sharing one adjacent letter across those two words.
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Note: You may use a book's subtitle as well.

This is what the listings should look like:
1. The Effects of Light (E) - Miranda Beverly-Whittemore
2. The English Teacher (E) - Yiftach Reicher Atir
3. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (G) - Dave Eggers
4. Hope is The Last To Die (T) - Halina Birenbaum
5. The Incantation of Frida K. (F) - Kate Braverman

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

1. The April 2017 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 01/05/17)

Wiki Index of Challenges:

Challenges #1-6
1. Read a book whose title has two words sharing one adjacent letter across those two words - msg #1
2. Read a book with the letter 'Z' in the title - msg #3
3. Read a book that was recommended as part of Virago's #BooksForChange project - msg #7
4. Read a book with a 4 word title - msg #9
5. Read a book that has much to do with religion - msg #10
6. Read a book with a title that makes you think of spring and tell us why - msg #11

Challenges #7-12
7. Read a book with a title starting with the first letter of your LT username - msg #12
8. Read a book by an author who has worked at a newspaper - msg #17
9. Read a book where the first sentence is speech - msg #18
10. Read a book you hoped to finish in 1st quarter or is overdue at library - msg #20
11. Read a book where the author shares a first name with a member of your family - msg #21
12. Read a book whose title begins with the letters of APRILGRAP (Aprils fool in Dutch) in rolling fashion - msg #24

Challenges #13-18
13. Read a book with the word egg or eggs in the title or text - msg #34
14. Read a book where a title word starts with the same letter as the author's name (first or last) - msg #38
15. Read a book of poetry by a non-traditional poet - msg #55
16. Read a Book With a One-Word Title That is Unusual - msg #71
17. Read a book you're not sure you read before - msg #72
18. Read a Graphic "Novel" that is autobiography or biography - msg #74

Challenges #19-22
19. Read a book in whose title the words "of" and "the" are adjacent to each other - msg #85
20. Read a book that almost qualified for another challenge this month - msg #106
21. Read a book by a woman which has been listed for a book award since 2015 - msg #107
22. Read a book by an author whose last name's first letter fits the word JERUSALEM in rolling order - msg #111

Hold your challenge until the May, 2017, TIOLI challenges are posted. Thank you!

Ha! :D

Clearly it's a title / letter(s) kind of month!

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Challenge #2: Read a book with the letter 'Z' in the title

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Subtitles allowed.

>3 lyzard: Aha!

Great minds, and all that... :)

>5 lyzard: :)

Challenge #3: Read a book which was recommended as part of Virago's #BooksForChange initiative

In March Virago Books ran an initiative to recommend books by women, with a different category each day of the month:



The easiest way to find books that were recommended is to search Twitter for #BooksForChange - I think you can do this even if you don't have a twitter account. (ETA have discovered the same hashtag brings up posts on instagram and probably other social media sites too.) There are also several blog posts about it so a general Internet search should also bring up some results.

And of course there are still a few days left to make recommendations yourself!

Sheesh. None of my planned reads fit either one of those challenges.

Whoo Hoo! New TIOLI Challenges. :)

Challenge #4: In Honor of April, the 4th Month of the Year, Read a Book with a 4 Word Title

Please note: all words count, from A to The as well as sub-titles. So strictly 4 words only.

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Challenge # 5: During this month of Easter - read a book that has much to do with religion
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Challenge #7: Going on a Picnic

Spring seems like picnic weather, so I want to invite everyone to go on a picnic with me. Instead of food, we're all going to bring books. The catch is that you can only bring books with titles that begin with the first letter of your LT username. You can skip leading articles ("a", "an", and "the"). Matched reads are OK as long as someone who's allowed to bring that book has already listed it in the challenge.

If you're worried about going hungry on this picnic, don't. I can bring a caterer! ;-) There will be plenty of chicken, cheese, carrots, celery, cake, and cookies. Someone else will need to order the potato salad, though.

>12 cbl_tn: I'm not sure how I managed to post from the future. If I figure it out, I'll let all of you in on the secret!

>13 cbl_tn: Wow! Now that's a talent you could bottle and sell! :-)

>12 cbl_tn: Oooooh! I want to do that! ;)

That is quite a talent you have there, Carrie.

I always said that I wanted to see the future because I wanted to know when the Cubs would finally win the World Series. No need now.

Challenge #8: Read a book by an author who either works at, or as worked at, a newspaper

Pretty self explanatory. It has to be written by a newspaper journalist, editor, columnist, or some other position at the paper. I do not intend for this to include books written by broadcasters, unless they've also worked at a newspaper.

I would think this would be heavy on nonfiction but I know that there are some newspaper folks who've written fiction. The Laura Lippman mysteries spring to mind.

This challenge is in honor of Thomas Kunkel, a former journalist and author, who is stepping down next month (aka retiring) as the 7th president of St. Norbert College, the small liberal arts college in Wisconsin I attended. I felt a bit skeptical when the college went with a non-academic back in 2008 but he has done an excellent job.

Challenge #9: Read a book where the first sentence is speech

Fairly self explanatory, I think. The first sentence of the book must be speech or contain some portion which is spoken. With speech marks and everything.

Please include first sentence, complete with necessary punctuation (I like properly used punctuation, I admit to that degree of nerdity).

Wow, some fun challenges already! You people have your thinking caps on! (I just flashed back to an early school experience of mimicking putting our "thinking caps" on--I'm thinking that they were like swim caps, but had a nice bow to tie under the chin).

Anyway, looking forward to April TIOLI!

Karen O.

Challenge #10: I'm late, I'm late: Read a book you hoped to finish in 1st quarter or is overdue at library

We start the year with big ambitious plans and now with three months under our belts, it's already clear, to me at least, that I'm behind on those plans. I've also finished two books recently that were past their due date at the library.

So this challenge will include those books you had expected to have read by now and any books that you finish on or over the due date.

I'm still reading my Jan 'Orange' book, I've barely started the final book in the trilogy that I'd planned to have out of the way by Feb and I'm 2-3 books behind on the Poldark group read.

Challenge #11: Read a book where the author shares a first name with a member of your family

Looking for a challenge that would help me fit in some of my library books, I found myself wondering what my cousin Nancy would think of a book whose author happened to be named Nancy, and thought, "That works."

For myself, I'm counting family as nuclear plus grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews, but you're welcome to stretch it beyond that if it's someone you consider a close relative--I'm one of four children, my mother was one of six, and my dad was one of nine, so I've got a lot to choose from!

Shared reads are welcome.

>20 avatiakh:

Would a book deliberately held over for a shared read count, or does it need to be something you meant to get to but just didn't?

>21 susanna.fraser:

How about a second cousin's second name? (I'm serious!)

>22 lyzard: Yes, I'll accept that.

Challenge #12: Read a book whose title begins with the letters of APRILGRAP (Aprils fool in Dutch) in rolling fashion

Self explanatory, in honor of the first day of April ;-)

>20 avatiakh:, >21 susanna.fraser:, Coooo, 2 places to put a problematic title. Decisions...

>24 FAMeulstee: I love your challenge, Anita! (Hovering to pounce in with an "I" book!)

In fact all the challenges are great and so creative. I've been racking my poor brain the last few months, but not coming up with much.

>26 streamsong: The 'I' would be avaiable now. :-)

>27 Ameise1: Not now, unless it's the same book.

>24 FAMeulstee:, >25 Helenliz:, >26 streamsong:

Sorry! I was watching that one closely to get my Icarus on. It should be a great South African mystery if anyone wants to join me. Deon Meyer, along with Tana French are two of my favourite mystery writers.

Too slow! Next time, maybe.

>22 lyzard: I'll accept a second cousin's second name (I figure if you know their second name, they're a close enough relative to count!)

>26 streamsong: & >30 streamsong: The "I" will probably come again, Janet.

I had some trouble coming up with a challenge this month. Last month (and next month) I know what I wanted. This month I it took longer than usual.

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Challenge 13 - Easter Egg Hunt! Read a book with the word egg or eggs in the title or Text

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(note page number and quote)

Woot!

>33 streamsong: Happy egg hunting, everyone! :D

>33 streamsong: & >34 SqueakyChu: Yipee! The first book I picked up to go "egg hunting" in opened with breakfast being served. :)

>35 DeltaQueen50:...which makes me hungry! I knew I should have made some eggs for breakfast! :)

>33 streamsong: I am searching for "eggs" now ;-)

Challenge #14: Read a book where a title word starts with the same letter as the author's name (first or last)

Pick a book where one of the words in the title starts with the same letter as one of the author's names.

For example, the book I was trying to find a challenge for: The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter. Hope this makes sense.

>38 raidergirl3: Perfect for my book Hunting Badger by Tony Hillerman.

>39 dallenbaugh: Glad I could help!

We are reading buddies this month - I think we already have 2 (potential) shared reads.

I'm starting to get a bit nervous about one of my planned reads for this month. So far I can only hope and pray for eggs...!

>41 lyzard: I always try Amazon's "look inside this book" but that doesn't always work.

Have and it didn't---thanks, though! :)

>43 lyzard: I have an ER book I want to read but the "look inside this book" feature isn't working for that one. If it were a Kindle book, I could search for eggs that way. I would think The Chilbury Ladies Choir would talk about eggs at some point but can't be positive.

>33 streamsong: Your challenge says to note the page number and quote. For a Kindle book, can I give the Kindle location and quote? We actually just call it the Kindle thingy but on the device itself, it calls it the location.

>45 lindapanzo: Sure, that's fine. I don't have an electronic reader, so I don't know how they designate locations.

>46 streamsong: Thanks. It's not as precise as a page but, where the first mention of eggs was on my screen, I noted the Kindle location. With a Kindle, the entire book is searchable which is a nice way to see whether there's a mention of eggs.

>44 lindapanzo: Linda, according to Google Books, eggs are mentioned on pages 48 and 239 in The Chilbury Ladies Choir.

Pg. 48 "She now has six hens for eggs."

Pg. 239 "We have some eggs and eggs are my specialty."

>41 lyzard: LOL! You're praying for eggs?! I'd pray for a whole omelet!

"Mmm...omelet..." :D

>48 DeltaQueen50: Thanks for the info, Judy. I'll have to add that one in. I like the second use of it.

>2 SqueakyChu: : Madeline, just FYI, your links to jump to the information for challenges 11 and 12 do not go to their posts, just back to the top of the page.

Me, at least every other month: "I'm not going to do TIOLI next month. I don't have time and there's always something I want to read and feel conflicted about because it won't fit into a challenge."
Then: "I wonder if the new TIOLI thread is up. I'll just look. It's always interesting to see what people come up with even if I'm not doing it."
Then: "Hm. The book I'm reading next would fit there ... and that other one would fit there. Ooh - and that's a clever challenge. It'd be fun to look for something for that. And they're reading the book I just bought! Well ... "

>53 madhatter22: I know! TIOLI is just so much fun!

Karen O.

Challenge #15: Read a book of poetry by a non-traditional poet: and YOU decide what makes them non-traditional.

April is National Poetry Month; the American Author Challenge is featuring poetry; and, anyway, who needs a reason to read poetry?! I, myself, will be reading Forever Words: The Unknown Poems by Johnny Cash. Feel free to leave an explanation of why you chose this particular author; the explanation is not necessary, but could be interesting.

Karen O.

>52 countrylife: Fixed. Thanks!

>56 SqueakyChu: : Thank YOU, Madeline! I use those links a LOT. Maybe if I wasn't quite so TIOLI-obsessed, but who am I kidding? That'll never happen.

I find myself trying NOT to finish a book today, as I've already put it into April's challenge. A combination of factors: I couldn't find anywhere to put it in March and I didn't think I'd get through it quite as quickly as I have. Just the last few chapters to read and I'm putting that of until tomorrow...

Nutter. I know.

>58 Helenliz:

I've done that before! :D

>58 Helenliz: I'm trying hard to finish a book tonight and doubt I will. The end of the month is only 5 hrs away here in NZ.

Last-minute timezone panic: I'm familiar with that, too!

Looking for possible shared read inspiration, I note that Demelza - Winston Graham is listed in challenges 2 and 10, by avatiakh & Dallenbough.

Found my eggs (eieren in Dutch) near the end of my nighttime cozy mystery. So I keep the last chapter for tomorrow :-)

>62 Helenliz: Demelza was one of the books I created my challenge for, so I'll keep it in #10.

Yes , I noticed that about Demelza also before I put it in Challenge 2, but I didn't have any Z books and I have lots of books I should have read for Challenge 10, otherwise I would have joined you >64 avatiakh:.

>58 Helenliz:

Just the last few chapters to read and I'm putting that of until tomorrow...

LOL!

>58 Helenliz: I'm sure that's not uncommon. :) I'm leaving soon for a dr. appt. and between the train ride and the waiting room I realized it was likely I'd finish the book I already listed for April early, so I decided to grab another one. I actually logged on here to figure out what to take with me. :)

You know, I thought I was being clever with the egg hunt challenge. But every book I had hoped to read this month has an egg in it. I think it would have been a lot harder if I had said 'find a book WITHOUT an egg in it'.

>68 streamsong:

No, it wouldn't. :(

If only I had a Poirot this month instead of Miss Marple! Then I could be sure of at least one reference to an 'egg-shaped head'! :D

>55 klobrien2: Would a verse novel count? Not sure if you call them writers or poets or both. I'm currently reading We come apart by Sarah Crossan & Brian Conaghan.

Self-serving challenge, as I have two books on my to read in April list that fit:

*****Challenge #16: Read a Book With a One-Word Title That is Unusual*****

It can be an unusual name (like Warleggan) or perhaps the name of an unfamiliar place (Santorini), or even an item you need to look up to define.

Challenge #17: Read a book you're not sure you read before. Indicate if it is indeed a new or re read - started by Citizenjoyce
I think I've read both Middlesex and Everything I Never Told You but LT has no rating on the first, and I've started the second and it doesn't sound familiar at all. Ah age, it's an interesting thing.

>55 klobrien2: What are you calling a non-traditional poet? I'm planning on reading one that was very much in the tradition, was the editor of Poetry magazine, taught at a University but was gay. Does that count? Gay is hardly shocking in a poet.

Challenge #18: Read a Graphic "Novel" that is autobiography or biography.
I don't know what you call a graphic not-novel. I'm thinking of books like March: Book One, two, or three, or Fun Home or Laika. I'm sure there are tons of them.

My reading has been down so far this year, so I've probably overextended myself, but these are my planned reads:
Challenge #1: Read a book whose title has two words sharing one adjacent letter across those two words - started by SqueakyChu
*✔The Blood of Emmett Till - Timothy B. Tyson (4.5)
Challenge #2: Read a book with the letter 'Z' in the title - started by lyzard
✔Rad American Women A-Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries who Shaped Our History... and Our Future! - Kate Schatz (3.5)
*The Lost City of Z - David Grann Abandoned
Challenge #3: Read a book that was recommended as part of Virago's #BooksForChange project - started by wandering_star
✔A Consummation: Exclusive Author's Cut - Arden Aoide - (2.5)
Challenge #4: In honor of the 4th month, read a book with a 4 word title - started by DeltaQueen
✔All Our Wrong Todays: A Novel - Elan Mastai (4.5)
Challenge #5: Read a book that has much to do with religion - started by countrylife
A Contract with God: And Other Tenement Stories - Will Eisner - Graphic
✔Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion, A Life in Balance - Simone Biles (3.5)
Challenge #6: Read a book with a title that makes you think of spring and tell us why - started by dallenbaugh
✔Bud, Not Buddy -Christopher Paul Curtis (5)
Challenge #7: Going on a Picnic: read a book with a title starting with the first letter of your LT username - started by cbl_tn
✔The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son On Life, Love, and Loss - Anderson Cooper (2.5)
*Keep the Aspidistra Flying -George Orwell
Challenge #8: Read a book by an author who has worked at a newspaper - started by lindapanzo
✔Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond - Sonia Shah - (5)
Challenge #9: Read a book where the first sentence is speech - started by helenliz
✔The Sport of Kings - C. E. Morgan (3.5)
Challenge #10: I'm late, I'm late: Read a book you hoped to finish in 1st quarter or is overdue at library - started by avatiakh
✔Eleanor and Hick: The Love Affair That Shaped a First Lady - Susan Quinn (4)
Challenge #11: Read a book where the author shares a first name with a member of your family - started by susanna.fraser
*✔Seinfeldia: How a Show About Nothing Changed Everything - Jennifer Keishin Armstrong (3.5)
Challenge #12: Read a book whose title begins with the letters of APRILGRAP (Aprils fool in Dutch) in rolling fashion - started by FAMeulstee
✔Pardonable Lies - Jacqueline Winspear (4)
Challenge #13: Easter Egg Hunt: Read a book with the word egg or eggs in the title or text - started by streamsong
✔Evicted: Poverty and Profit In the American City - Matthew Desmond (5)
✔The Practice House - Laura McNeal - E-book (4)
Challenge #14: Read a book where a title word starts with the same letter as the author's name (first or last) - started by raidergirl3
✔Bad Science: Quacks, Hacks, and Big Pharma Flacks - Ben Goldacre (4.5)
Challenge #15: Read a book of poetry by a non-traditional poet: and YOU decide what makes them non-traditional - started by klobrien2
✔Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? - Dr. Seus (3)
Challenge #16: Read a Book With a One-Word Title That is Unusual - started by fuzzi
✔Shockaholic - Carrie Fisher (3.5)
Challenge #17: Read a book you're not sure you read before. Indicate if it is indeed a new or re read - started by Citizenjoyce
✔Everything I Never Told You - Celeste Ng RL Book club (4)
✔Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides (4)
Challenge #18: Read a Graphic "Novel" that is autobiography or biography - started by cammykitty
✔Spit and Passion - Cristy C. Road - graphic (3.5)
Sticks Angelica, Folk Hero - Michael DeForge - Graphic
Challenge #19: Read a book in whose title the words "of" and "the" are adjacent to each other - Started by AlcottAcre
✔The Novel of the Century: The Extraordinary Adventure of Les Misérables - David Bellos (5)
✔Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy - Christopher Hayes (4)
Challenge #20: Read a book that almost qualified for another challenge this month (note the challenge it almost qualified for) - Started by souloftherose
✔Short Stories from Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists by J. K. Rowling Nook (3.5)
Challenge #21: Read a book by a woman which has been listed for a book award since 2015 - started by elkiedee (3.5)
✔Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide by J. K. Rowling - Nook (3.5)
✔Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies by J. K. Rowling - Nook (3.5)
Challenge #22: Read a book by an author which fit the word JERUSALEM in rolling order - started by paulstalder
*✔Cover Her Face - P. D. James (3.5)
*They Can't Kill Us All - Wesley Lowery

>70 avatiakh: >73 cammykitty: I think you both have made your case for including your books here! So, please feel free to list them. I knew that my choice (Johnny Cash) was by most everyone's opinion, "non-traditional," but this is a very subjective challenge. I think that your books would be perfect for this challenge!

Karen O.

>74 cammykitty: The graphic memoir I'm currently reading just covers 2-3 years of the author's life, Such a Lovely Little War: Saigon 1961-63. I've added the book to the wiki but can take it out if you don't want it there.

>76 klobrien2: Oh good, I love verse novels and read many more of them than I do poetry books.

>68 streamsong: I've already added The Far Distant Oxus to the 'egg' challenge as there has been a visit to the chicken coop as well as several egg breakfasts. Now one of the characters has entered an egg and spoon race!

I'm tempted to add Egg and Spoon by Gregory Maguire except that I'm already bursting at the seams with my April reading.

>78 avatiakh: I know those bursting seams. It's so tempting to just list more and more...

>21 susanna.fraser: So I can't use my 7th cousin 6 times removed or my 10th cousin twice removed? LOL Just teasing, but then as a genealogist, I might have an advantage if you'd let us stretch that one out!

>33 streamsong: Is the word "eggshells" close enough for the egg hunt challenge? I have a book that won't fit in any other challenge that uses the figure of speech "treading on eggshells". The book also has a character named "Peggy" if embedded words count.

>81 cbl_tn: Yes, I'll accept eggshells, since it actually refers to eggs. I knew someone would ask about embedded words, and I think I'll say no to them.

>69 lyzard: Liz, that actually makes me feel better. I'm glad there are egg-less books out there!

>72 Citizenjoyce: what a nifty idea...that happens to me, too!

>82 streamsong: Great! Thank you! :-)

Challenge #19: Read a book whose title has the words "of" and "the" adjacent to each other.

For example, my challenge book is Rise of the Rocket Girls by Nathalia Holt

Stasia has a TIOLI challenge! Doesn't that feel good?! You hosted a challenge (back at the dawn of TIOLI) that remains my first recollection of TIOLI - the "Walla Walla" challenge, if I'm remembering right.

Karen O.

>86 klobrien2: Yes, it does feel good. And "Walla Walla" it was, Karen. You have a great memory!

Hurray, a Stasia challenge!! It's been too long. Who could forget the Walla Walla challenge?

>77 avatiakh: Kerry, that sounds perfect. I perhaps should have said memoir instead of autobiography. Then I realized I listed a book about a dog and the Russian space program. Dogs can have biographies, right?

>33 streamsong:, I didn't realize how many books have eggs. I was able to list two entirely different books, The Practice House and Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City in that challenge because both have someone cooking eggs. What a great challenge.
>83 fuzzi: I don't know how nifty it is, but I am always telling my daughter how many more opportunities I have to be entertained than she because I've forgotten what entertained me before.

Hmm. I intended The House Of Discord for #14, but I'm not sure I can pass up this:

"Your eyes are like hard-boiled eggs..."

>85 alcottacre: Hurray for Stasia's challenge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We missed you. :)

>85 alcottacre: Thank you Stasia - wasn't sure where I'd put The Lie of the Land, which would have fitted at least two challenges last month, would have listed it as Lie rhyming with Pi, but it just came up as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea |(wrong touchstone challenge

It's great to see Stasia here again! Welcome back. :)

>91 lyzard: : Well, just, yuck! I think you're right. That sentence may need to land on the wiki!

I really feel like I have too many (hard, dense) books for April. I suppose it depends how much rain we get.

Challenge #1: Read a book whose title has two words sharing one adjacent letter across those two words
Looking Good Dead, by Peter James

Challenge #2: Read a book with the letter 'Z' in the title
Tau Zero, by Poul Anderson

Challenge #3: Read a book that was recommended as part of Virago's #BooksForChange project
*NW, by Zadie Smith

Challenge #4: In honor of the 4th month, read a book with a 4 word title
The Business of Dying, by Simon Kernick

Challenge #5: Read a book that has much to do with religion
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, by N. K. Jemisin

Challenge #6: Read a book with a title that makes you think of spring and tell us why
Mister Pip, by Lloyd Jones

Challenge #7: Going on a Picnic: read a book with a title starting with the first letter of your LT username
Jem, by Frederick Pohl

Challenge #9: Read a book where the first sentence is speech
Keep Your Friends Close, by Paula Daly

Challenge #10: I'm late, I'm late: Read a book you hoped to finish in 1st quarter or is overdue at library
Solo, by Rana Dasgupta

Challenge #11: Read a book where the author shares a first name with a member of your family
Remember Me Like This, by Bret Anthony Johnston

Challenge #12: Read a book whose title begins with the letters of APRILGRAP (Aprils fool in Dutch) in rolling fashion
Rot and Ruin, by Jonathan Maberry

Challenge #13: Easter Egg Hunt: Read a book with the word egg or eggs in the title or text
A Fable, by William Faulkner

Challenge #14: Read a book where a title word starts with the same letter as the author's name (first or last)
A Partisan's Daughter, by Louis de Bernières

Challenge #17: Read a book you're not sure you read before. Indicate if it is indeed a new or re read
The Elementary Particles, by Michel Houellebecq

>90 Citizenjoyce: The eggs are everywhere!

>91 lyzard: Too funny! I can see an 'odd egg' award in that one!

>72 Citizenjoyce: I used to think it was so strange when my mom would pick up a book and be unsure if she'd read it or not. Now I have an LT collection called "Did I read this??"

>98 madhatter22: So many amusements as we get older.

>82 streamsong: I was looking through a book to see if it could be included in the "egg" challenge. I found two references to "egging someone on" and was all ready to come and ask if that was acceptable, but then fortunately I found a reference to actual eggs!

New idea!

Here's my new idea. I'll let you vote on it before we adopt it.

You know how, in our rolling challenges, someone always has a book that doesn't fit the exact letter we're on?

Well, what about a "Waiting List" for those rolling challenges?

It would work like this...
If you have a book that would fit the challenge at a later point in time, you could enter your book on a Waiting List which would be located below the challenge (and under the TIOLI points score). If your book would fit in at some later time, another challenger could then move it up into the challenge for you. There is always the possibility that it will not be moved up so you'd have to keep an eye on your own book. So vote on this idea now...

>99 Citizenjoyce: So many amusements as we get older.

Heh!

>101 SqueakyChu: I really like this idea. The main reason I rarely join the rolling challenges is every time I check, my letter is not available, and that continues all month.

And then there are unread books at the end of the month that match my book, the letter that never got a chance... :sniff: ;)

>101 SqueakyChu: I think I'm going to have to go with NO to the idea of a waiting list. As of 1:42 PM EST on 4/3/17, we had 7 votes for, 7 votes against, and 2 undecided.

It struck me that part of the fun/challenge of the rolling challenges is seeing when and where we can place our books in the list. I might introduce this idea at a later date, but for now, we'll do without a waiting list. After all, I don't want to make these TIOLI challenges too easy for you! :D

>103 fuzzi: I understand. Maybe we'll do it at a later date, but no strong number of challengers favor it over no waiting list at this time.

By the way, you certainly can post a message to have someone tell you when your letter becomes available on a rolling challenge. There's no rule against that!

Challenge #20: Read a book that almost qualified for another challenge this month (note the challenge it almost qualified for)

Because I keep finding books that almost fit other challenges this month but don't quite!

====Challenge #21: Read a book by a woman which has been listed for a book award since the start of 2015====

The Baileys Prize longlist was published last month, and the shortlist today. Read a book by a woman which has been listed for a book award since the start of 2015, ie in 2015, 2016 or 2017. It can be longlisted, shortlisted or even a winner.

As well as literary awards, there are book prizes for historical, romantic, science fiction and fantasy, crime/mystery fiction, for YA and children's books, for more specific subgenres or combined genres. Or non fiction and mixed fiction and non fiction awards.

>92 SqueakyChu: >94 DeltaQueen50: Thanks, Madeleine and Judy!

>93 elkiedee: Glad I could help, Luci!

>104 SqueakyChu: Not making TIOLI challenges too easy is your trademark! :)

So many great challenges this month! It makes me want to read faster so I can get to more.

'Challeng #22 Jerusalem, in rolling order by the author

Since i am on my trip along the israel national trail, jerusalem is always on my mind. So i challenge you to read book by an author whereas the first letter of the author's surname start with a letter in JERUSALEM. Please forgive my not perfect way of introducing my challenge. Using my cell phone with a slow wifi is not my usual way of working. I will correct the wiki whwn back home.

So have fun. I hope i explained in an understandable way.

Sämi Schicksal eines Verdingbuben by siegfried Joss
Rotes Meer by ake Edwardson
... by kathy Reichs
... by leon Uris
... by yishay Sarid
... by paul Auster
... by martin Luther
... by ruth Elias
... by amin Maalouf

>109 Citizenjoyce:

Not making TIOLI challenges too easy is your trademark!

I'm glad you recognize that! :)

>109 Citizenjoyce: nicely said 😄

>105 SqueakyChu: thanks, I will keep that in mind in the future.

>106 souloftherose: I am enjoying reading the books listed for this challenge that *almost* fit another challenge. Well done!

>106 souloftherose: Ha! Love this idea. :D

I just started a shared read of The Blood of Emmett Till for challenge #1 so was quite interested that it's possible (believe it when you see it) that these old civil rights cases will be reopened:
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/justice-department-considering-reopening-emm...

>72 Citizenjoyce: I'm quite pleased it's not just me that does that. Just finished Lord Peter views the Body which I was sure I must have read, but which I have no recollection of at all.
Having the attention span of a goldfish must have a bonus, means there are so many new books to read, even if they're not new.

>74 cammykitty: Katie, does a memoir count as an autobiography? I am currently reading The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui.

>119 alcottacre: See msg >89 cammykitty: Stasia :-)

>120 FAMeulstee: Thanks, Anita! I missed that message.

>118 Helenliz: I forget books, too, so enjoy them the second (or third) time around!

>119 alcottacre: Yes, Stasia! That sounds great.

Both the APRILGRAP and JERUSALEM challenges are moving again, if anyone has been waiting on them?

Cooo, having a good month. I'd forgotten how much fun the leapfrog could be. Silly, I know, but it's making me smile each time I finish a book.
>:-)

Has anyone else had that experience where you hunt and hunt for a book for a particular challenge, finally find one---

---and then every book you pick up afterwards also fits?

After spending days finding a book that began with dialogue, the last two I've read (both intended for different challenges) turned out to start with dialogue too! :D

>126 lyzard: TIOLI is full of so many crazy challenges and circumstances, that's why we're here.

>126 lyzard: yes. I've just re-arranged some of my entries so that I don't have 2 books in one challenge. I don't read enough for a sweep, but I do like to spread the books out across the challenges.

I try to do that too!

>128 Helenliz: me three! I have two or three challenges this month that have two books, each.

TIOLI Question of the Month:

Have any of you read a book so far this month with a child as a character? Did you like that kid? Why or why not? What was the book, and what was the role of the child in the story?

For the sake of this question, try to limit the answer to someone who is not yet a teen.

>131 SqueakyChu: The Lawrence Browne Affair has an eight-year-old boy, the legal but not biological son of one of the heroes. I liked him. He was gentle, vulnerable, and wary in ways that felt right for a child who'd known a lot of neglect. His role, basically, was to show that his father, who had his own share of personal demons, was willing to take on responsibility and engage with the world again.

>131 SqueakyChu: The Ocean At The End Of The Lane a wonderful fairy tale about friendship during childhood.

>131 SqueakyChu: I read this month many books with children as main characters. Most of them were teens, some were younger and of those my very favorite character is Roald Dahls Matilda, a very bright girl, who spends her afternoons in the library :-)
The other books with children as main character were Boris, a boy in Leningrad during the siege (1941-1944) and Antonio in Federico, a boy in Mallorca.

>131 SqueakyChu: I've just started reading Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by foodie Lucy Knisley. Her parents, their family and friends were all chefs, so she talks about her favorite childhood memories bound with early food experiences.

Instead of bringing cupcakes to school for her birthday, her mom brought a huge crème brulee and a blow torch and caramelized the top in front of her class. (Wonder how that would go over in schools today?!!)

>131 SqueakyChu: I just finished Das Geheimnis der weissen Raben by Wolfgang Ecke. The world famous detective Perry is to investigate a haunted castle in Scotland. His twelve-year-old goes with him. He is a lively, very curious boy. So, he gets himself kidnapped. The kidnapper promised to show him the weapon chamber with an old armor which would fit the boy. So the boy was left in the armor for the rest of the day...

I've read two books this month with children as characters:

1. The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo. The children were about 9 or 10 years old, bullied, and not Disney-perfect. The children in this story knew a secret, and were debating about whether to tell an adult or act on their own. I liked most of the book, did not care for the ending.

2. Down the Long Hills by Louis L'Amour was a favorite reread. There are two normal children as main characters in the story, about 4 and 8, survivors of a massacre, trying to survive on their own. It was believable, and I really liked both children.

>107 elkiedee: do you have a link for the prize lists? I went to the Bailey's page, and it was all 2017 stuff.

>131 SqueakyChu: I just finished Bud Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis about an orphaned African American 10 year old boy during the Great Depression who sets out to find the man he thinks is his father, a famous musician. Anyone would have to love this boy who is so creative, intelligent, polite and willing to have fun. Without Challenge #6, the spring challenge, I might never have read it and wouldn't have known what a great story I was missing.

>139 Citizenjoyce:

I also liked Elijah Of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis, a Newbery Honor book.
And I want to read another of his - The Mighty Miss Malone.

>140 nrmay: I didn't know he was so prolific. Do the books share any themes like music, love of books or difficult childhoods?

>141 Citizenjoyce:

Prolific AND talented! He has another Newbery Honor book - The Watsons Go to Birmingham.

The titles I have read are all historical fiction on African American experiences in history: slavery in the 1850s; the Depression era; 1960s Civil Rights.

The only book that I have read so far this month that had a child as a main character was the True History of the Kelly Gang which opens when Ned Kelly is ten. Although living as a poor Irish child in the 1880's British class conscious colony of Australia, Ned's childhood seemed to be over at a very young age and he was already dealing with adult issues.

>131 SqueakyChu: I am reading and listening to books with child characters. The listening book is one where the figure started as a child but grows up and has her own children (all featured). I like those, I suppose, although not all are fully developed. The one I'm reading seems to be likeable so far -- and I think I'm supposed to like her.

>142 nrmay: I'm always amazed that there are so many wonderful writers that I've never heard of. I'll read more by him.

>9 DeltaQueen50: all words count, from A to The as well as sub-titles
just curious: half the titles listed in your challenge have 'a novel', 'a love story' or similar subtitles, do they still qualify or do you adjust the rules? :)

>139 Citizenjoyce: Bud, not Buddy sounds good and there is a Dutch translation available at the library. I hope to get to it this month :-)

With finishing my book for Challenge #19 today I finished the April sweep.
15 books of my own and two Nobel prize winners :-)

#1 Een heel lief konijn - Imme Dros
#2 De robot van de rommelmarkt ; Route Z - Tonke Dragt
#3 M-train Patti Smith (14 - women who changed music) & Matilda - Roald Dahl (30 - Books to give you hope)
#4 De boten van Brakkeput - Miep Diekmann
#5 Een grapje van God - Margaret Laurence
#6 Lieveling, boterbloem - Margriet Heymans
#7 Federico - Helen Griffiths
#8 Het einde van de rode mens - Svetlana Alexijevitsj
#9 Dan ben je nergens meer - Miep Diekman
#10 De poorten van Anubis (library) - Tim Powers
#11 Boris - Jaap ter Haar
#12 Abels eiland - William Steig & De weg naar Little Dribbling - Bill Bryson
#13 De Cock en de dood van een profeet - A.C. Baantjer
#14 De plaats van de ster - Patrick Modiano & Dichtbij ver van hier - Tonke Dragt
#15 Begin een torentje van niks - Ted van Lieshout
#16 Tobbe - Mikael Engström
#17 Je moet dansen op mijn graf - Aidan Chambers
#18 De levende doden - Keiji Nakazawa
#19 Stallion of the Sands =Aurelio en de wilde hengst - Helen Griffiths
#20 Oorlog en terpentijn - Stefan Hertmans
#21 Jij zegt het - Connie Palmen
#22 Tot aan het bittere eind - Werner J. Egli

I hope to read some more:
#3 Just kids - Patti Smith (14 - women who changed music)
#5 De stad van goud - Peter Dickinson
#6 Mijn naam is Bud - Christopher Paul Curtis
#7 Fantoom in Foe-lai - Robert van Gulik
#10 Overvloed en onbehagen - Simon Schama
#12 De rode kous - Elfie Donnelly
#20 Wildewoud - Juliet Marillier

Wow, Anita! It doesn't matter how many challenges get thrown at you. You get the job done! Congratulations!

Congrats, Anita. I never will do it.

>147 FAMeulstee:, >148 FAMeulstee: Congratulations, and I hope you like Bud, Not Buddy, it's a surprisingly engaging book.

>147 FAMeulstee: I'm not sure how you are able to do so many sweeps, Anita. When you announce your sweeps, I'm usually still reading my second or third book of the month. This month, however, I'm on my fourth book already! Ha!

Congrats on a job well done!

Well done, Anita

Congratulations, Anita! You are amazing!

Karen O.

>149 countrylife: Thanks Cindy!
There IS a limit on how many books I can read in a month... this year I have been reading 32 to 34 books a month.
Last year I had one exceptional month with 51 books (and a triple sweep).

>150 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara, maybe when you are retired? ;-)

>151 Citizenjoyce: Thanks Joyce, I will let you know when I get to it, hopefully this month for a shared read.

>152 SqueakyChu: Thanks Madeline, I am just lucky to be able to read a lot at the moment. And happy to be back at the TIOLI challeges after the long break between 2010 and 2016...
Congrats to you for finishing 3 books this month!

>153 paulstalder: Thanks Paul.

>154 klobrien2: Thanks Karen, I don't feel amazing, just very lucky :-)

>146 paulstalder: Paul, I haven't changed my rules but I don't consider the words "a novel" to be a subtitle, as when I check the book's cover the title appears to stands alone. The words "a novel" appear to be more of a classification and not part of the actual title. To me a sub-title has to be included as part of the title as in Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers or World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. Now I could be wrong but this is how I perceive it.

>155 FAMeulstee: Haha! Thanks.

>156 DeltaQueen50: Ok, let's leave as it is. It is just that I noticed a book on challenge 20: (#4 - 4 word title but unfortunately has "a novel" listed in subtitle field for LC record).
One function of a subtitle is exactly to be ... a classification.

I'd like to thank avatiakh for listing A Chinese Life for Challenge 18. I had this on my shelves, but it was the idea of a shared read that made me pick it up this month. I'm really enjoying it.

Oh good, I had made a start and misplaced it, found it last night and read some more. It's interesting.

I'm almost finished with The Novel of the Century: The Extraordinary Adventure of Les Misérables by David Bellos, intense literary criticism of Hugo's masterpiece and am fondly remembering the Jane Austen tutored reads with Liz. You need to write books, Liz, you do for Austen what Bellos does with Hugo. The only problem is that now I have to re-read Les Miserables. Oh my, I see a mega-chunkster challenge coming.

Aww, thank you! :)

I finished Kasztner's Train last night for Challenge #2. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in the Holocaust and/or World War II.

I started The Lost City of Z today as a shared read in challenge #2. Testosterone filled adventure. I don't think I'm an adventure tye person. Will give it a little more time, but it's not looking hopeful.

TIOLI Stats for March, 2017

For the month of March, 2017, we read a total of 377 books of which 70 (or 19%) were shared reads. We collected 38 TIOLI points for a YTD total of 97 TIOLI points.

Hey! All of our stats are looking up except for the March YTD TIOLI points which still stands at the lowest since end of March, 2010.

Our most popular books, with three readers each, were:
1. Human Acts - Kang Han
2. In A Sunburned Country - Bill Bryson
3. New Boy - Tracy Chevalier
4. March: Book 1 - John Lewis
5. March: Book 2 - John Lewis
6. The Duke's Children - Anthony Trollope

Our most popular challenge, with 60 books read, was susanna.fraser's challenge to read a book where the author's first or last name has exactly five letters.

The two challenges with the highest number of TIOLI points (6 each) were:
1. citizenjoyce's challenge to read a book set in a real country other than the US, Great Britain, France or Germany
2. susanna.fraser's challenge to book where the author's first or last name has exactly five letters

TIOLI Awards for March, 2017

The Completist Award goes to souloftherose for reading The Armies of Daylight and to lyzard for reading Daylight Murder for lindapanzo's challenge to read a book with "day" or "light" in the title or author's name. Somehow the winning challengers managed to get both of those words in their book titles.

The Can't Quite Get My Head Around This One Award goes to paulstalder who gave us quite a workout trying to figure out just what was asked for in his challenge to read a book with a title which has the last letter of the previous title in the middle. Fortunately we got it all sorted out in time to have a sizeable number of participants in this challenge. I must say that just reading the name of this challenge makes me burst out laughing!

The Who Can Read a Series This Long Award goes to paulstalder (again!) for reading Niemand kann zwei Herren dienen which was book #37 in the author's series. I had no idea that there were series this long! I have a hard time even reading two books in a series. Kudos to this challenger for his patience!

Feel free to add awards of your own at this time.

Congrats to our award winners!

Whoo! Thrilled to win an award, delighted to share it with Heather. :)

Thank you so much for the awards: It was fun to think about such an easy challenge which was more complicated to formulate than to carry out. I didn't actually read all these 30 something parts. These are all stories by missionaries of the Basel Mission.

>166 SqueakyChu: I know of a couple of series of family sagas that have 60+ books in them. Granted, they're fairly short (200-ish pages), but still.

And I have two or three mystery series on my lists which are that long! (Not that I'm exactly burning through them...)

>169 PawsforThought: That is so totally not my reading style. I love to read books that are very different from one another. I didn't follow that rule when I was reading manga, though. I got up to volume 13 with the Yotsuba series, but that's quite different than reading text only.

>171 SqueakyChu: Not my style either (and I'm not a fan of family sagas in general). I just know they exist because they're really popular with the older women in town.

>166 SqueakyChu: Thank you for the award!

The Touching Stones Award goes to lyzard for the challenge to 'Read a book that brings up a completely wrong touchstone'. Most of us know about that nuisance, so it's nice to be able to play with it. Thanks for bringing that up.

The Multifarious Rhyme Award goes to lyzard for reading Dr Nikola by Guy Newell Boothby for challenge #12 to rhyme with 'Pi'. Since Guy is a French name, that pronounciation rhymes also in French and German with Pi. All the other rhymes only work in English. Well spotted :)

The Arabian Nights Award goes to fuzzi for reading The Black Stallion Returns for challenge #2 to 'Read a book set in a real country other than the US...' Arabia is not a 'real country in the real world, past or present', but the Black Stallion is a good tale.

Congratulations

I am overwhelmed! Thank you!! :D

>151 Citizenjoyce: I requested Bud, not Buddy at the library, turned out they didn't have the book anymore. Then I tried to get a second hand copy, but the seller hasn't reacted yet. So I am afraid I won't be reading it this month :-(

>174 paulstalder: Congrats to our three additional award winners!

I think there were nearly 60 Chalet School books, and 38 Hercule Poirot ones, though the latter really don't need to be read in any particular order, because there aren't changes in his character or lifestyle in the way there are in many modern series, or even in Dorothy L Sayers' books about Lord Peter Wimsey (in which I've only read the penultimate book and listened to a mid-series one).

The In Death series by J.D. Robb is now at 40+ books and counting. . .

Congratulations to all the award winners and to FAMeulstee for completing the rather difficult sweep this month.

>176 FAMeulstee: Shoot, that's too bad.

As I was reading The Chilbury Ladies' Choir, I was so excited when I got to the egg line. "We have some eggs and eggs are my specialty." This actually turned out to be a very important line to the story.

Absolutely loved that book, btw. My favorite work of fiction so far this year.

I just finished Thraxas for Challenge #16. I liked it quite a bit.

>174 paulstalder: thank you...I was thinking Saudi Arabia?

Something seems to have gone wrong with #22 - my book is missing ('E' author) and so is the 'R' author book following. Does anyone know how to check past changes on the wiki?

>185 lyzard: Fixed. Thanks for letting me know so quickly. That helps a lot!

>185 lyzard: Oh, oh, I bet I did it.
>186 SqueakyChu: Thanks for fixing it.

Thanks, Madeline!

> 187 >188 lyzard: No problem. The quicker someone reports the problem, the easier it is to fix.

Yahoo! I finished my last read of the month for a sweep, my first in a long time. I was getting worried because my ordered copy of They Can't Kill Us All never came in, but then I was able to share a read with countrylife, Cover Her Face by P. D. James. I didn't realize it was the first Adam Dalgliesh mystery. He must have been roaming around in James's mind for a while because all the characters seemed to be aware of his reputation. A fitting end to the month.

>190 Citizenjoyce: Congratulations, Joyce!

Love to hear sweeping news! Congratulations, Joyce!

>190 Citizenjoyce: We back of the packers always appreciate you reading leaders! Well done.

Congratulations, Joyce!

Well done, Joyce!

Had to laugh at this, though:

my ordered copy of They Can't Kill Us All never came in

It's been that sort of month!

Thank you all, a sweep gives a sense of accomplishment that usually evades. It's always nice when I can catch it.

>190 Citizenjoyce: Wow! Congratulations, Joyce!

Congrats Joyce!!

Thank you, thank you.

Housekeeping Day

Please remove any book from the wiki if you do not finish it by 12 midnight tonight with the exception of the rolling challenges. For those, leave the book name and remove everything else. Thank you!