Take It or Leave It Challenge - February 2018 - 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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For February, 2018, your challenge is to

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Read a book tagged "friendship"
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Here's your list of books:
http://www.librarything.com/tag/friendship

By the way, did you know that February 11th is "Make a Friend Day"?

Read more about it here:
http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/February/makeafriendday.htm

I just want to say that I'm so glad that you are my friends!

Have fun!

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

1. The February 2018 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

Wiki Index of Challenges:

Challenges #1-6
1. Read a book tagged "friendship" - msg #1
2. Read a book by or about Ursula K. Le Guin - msg #4
3. Read A book of which the title contains something that you love - msg #9
4. Read A book about, set in, or published in the 60s. Any century, past or future - msg #10
5. Read A book that is referenced in another book you have read - msg #12
6. Read A book where the final page number of the story ends in x23 - msg #13

Challenges #7-12
7. Read a book by an author who is part of the African diaspora - msg #14
8. Read a book by an author you have previously struggled with - msg #15
9. Read a book with a tree or trees on the cover - msg #21 - thread
10. Read something by Shakespeare that you weren't assigned in high school - msg #25
11. Read a book with one or more words in the title suggesting a type of loss - msg #35
12. Read a book with a word in the title suggesting darkness - msg #36

Challenges #13-18
13. Read a book tagged "humor" - msg #42
14. Read a book by an author you also read last February - msg #47
15. Read a book with a title containing the word Harry, Max, Rainy, black, red or some variation thereof - msg #59
16. Read a book with title word or author name starting with GOLDSILVERBRONZE in rolling order - msg #62
17. Read a book with an animal on the cover - msg #112 - thread
18. Read a book where a number higher than 2 is written somewhere on the front or back cover - msg #132

Challenges #19
19. Read a two-word-title without an article - msg #138

Hold your challenge until the March 2018 wiki pages are posted. Thank you!

I have to recommend a book about friendship that I loved. It's South of Broad by Pat Conroy. He was my favorite author, and I was devastated when he died so suddenly of cancer. I never wanted this book to end. It was about friends, but I wanted to know what happened to them after I finished the book. I'll now never know. I know the characters were only fictitious,. but sometimes I wish they weren't! :D

Challenge #2: Read a book by or about Ursula K. Le Guin

I, and many others in this group, was heartbroken to hear that the pioneering and amazing SF/fantasy author Ursula K. Le Guin died earlier this week. So I'm making a TIOLI challenge in her honour. I've been meaning to read more of her books (and re-read some favourites) for a long time now, and this seems like a great time.

Le Guin wrote both science fiction and fantasy, and most if not all of her novels are very philosophical.

>3 SqueakyChu: Everyone here is heartbroken so far! :(

We need cheering up.

By the way, feel free to recommend books for your own challenge (or other challenges) here on this thread if you'd like.

>5 SqueakyChu: Yeah, more happy challenges!

>6 PawsforThought: Reading books by LeGuin and Conroy will make us both happy! :D

Speaking of friendship...I'm planning in being in the Philadelphia area with my husband and another friend this coming May. I hope to coordinate an LT meet-up there. It would be fun to meet some other TIOLI challengers that weekend. It will cover the weekend of May12-13 and maybe some other days. Is anyone here near enough to maybe join us?

I'll be posting more about this on the 75ers main thread probably in March (after I figure out what I really want to do in Philly!).

I have a "happy" challenge!

Challenge #3: Read a Book of which the title contains something that you love

This is the month that we celebrate love. So my challenge is to read a book that contains in the title something you love.

Let’s make it a thing rather than a person or people, so no Mothers, Fathers, Sisters, etc. No proper names like Tom, Dick or Harry and no professions like Doctors, Queens or Butlers.

Examples of things we could love – animals, money, a place (beach, forest, Rome, cottage), books, a season.

Have fun with it - if you love rainy days and you have a book with rain in the title - go for it!

Challenge #4: Read a book set in, about, or published in the 60s -- any century, past or future!

I've been thinking about this a while. The 60s were pretty eventful decades, in just about any century. So, I'm sure you can find a book either set in, about, or published in that decade. There are even some books set in the 2060s. Here are some examples that I found by searching Wikipedia and using LT tags. There are TONS more.

2060s
2061: Odyssey Three

1960s
Half of a Yellow Sun
The Help

1860s
Still Life with Murder
Little Women

1760s
The Castle of Otranto
The Vicar of Wakefield

1660s
The Dark Monk

1060s
Bold Angel

>9 DeltaQueen50: Hurrah for happy things!

>10 owlie13: Oooh, interesting. I have been meaning to read The Help.

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Challenge #5: Read A Book that is referenced in another book you have read
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Books often refer to another book in the text, and that can just add to the ever teetering tbr pile. This challenge is to read one of those books that is referenced in another book you have read.

I am (I really am) going to read Religio Medici by Sir Thomas Browne. I got this out of the library after reading Gaudy Night. It is the book that Peter Wimsey has in his pocket and that Harriet reads when they go punting and Peter falls asleep.
You don't need to list the instance in which the book is referenced, just include the title in the wiki please.

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Challenge #6: Read a book where the final page number ends in 23
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In honor of the the opening of the 23rd Winter Olympics a book qualifies for this challenge if the final numbered page of the story ends in 23, ie 123, 523 etc. Author's notes, book club questions and acknowledgements should not be included, only the story itself.

Challenge #7: Read a book by an author who is part of the African diaspora

In observance of Black History Month, read a book by an author who is part of the African diaspora (i.e. a person of African descent but a citizen of a country outside Africa).

Challenge #8: Read a book by an author you have previously struggled with

I thought I would set this challenge for the shortest month of the year - so if you still can't make it work with this author, the experience won't last too long...

I will be trying to read Orhan Pamuk - I feel that he is someone who I would probably enjoy if I ever managed to get into any of his books - I've even been to the museum in Istanbul inspired by one of his works, which I love. I think the books of his I currently own are Snow and My Name Is Red - any recommendations from fans as to which would be better to start with?

If I manage that, I might also try Patrick White - I've also started his books several times but never made it more than a third of the way through.

>15 wandering_star: I count My Name is Red as one of the best books I've read. I hope you will enjoy whichever Pamuk choose.

>15 wandering_star: it was Pamuk’s nonfiction book, Istanbul that I loved. It’s dreary, but for some reason, I really liked it. If you’ve been to Istanbul you might identify a bit.

>17 raidergirl3: I really enjoyed his nonfiction and have tried his fiction and have never gotten into it either.

I don't think I particularly got into the first Orhan Pamuk book I tried to read, but found Snow very readable.

>15 wandering_star: I totally loved Snow and highly recommend it.

Challenge #9: Read a book with a tree or trees on the cover

I started a thread where you can show your cover.

>1 SqueakyChu: : Madeline, both of your links in your OP go to the same place - the friendship tag.

>22 countrylife: Fixed. Thanks!

16-20 - thank you all for the encouragement!
>17 raidergirl3: that reminds me I actually have this as an audiobook - that might also be a good way to start.

Challenge #10: Read something by Shakespeare that you weren't assigned in high school

If you're like me, you probably were assigned to read plays like Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, and Macbeth. This is a chance to read some of the lesser known works of Shakespeare, or maybe one of the other well known works like King Lear that you may not have been assigned.

Note carefully how I've worded this. If you were supposed to read Romeo & Juliet but didn't, it won't count. However, if your teach opted to assign you Twelfth Night instead, you can read R&J.

Also, if you read The Merchant of Venice or any other play in high school but did it out of love for the Bard, you can read it again here.

Here's a link for some ideas:

• Ten Underrated Shakespeare Plays

EDIT 29-Jan-2018: Though no one has asked me yet, it occurred to me that some people may have been assigned to read something before high school. Let it count, if you must, but it's not in the spirit of the challenge :) Also, anything you read for a college class will count.

>25 neverstopreading: ha! On a quiz show once there was a question on Shakespeare and the questionmaster quipped that Shakespeare plays can be divided into two categories: The one you did at school and all the others.

Eeek! The wiki is not working this morning. I'll give it some time. :(

>27 SqueakyChu: Wiki is working again :-)

>28 FAMeulstee: Thanks!

>25 neverstopreading: I did King Lear at school... And The Winter's Tale. I am glad actually as I think either of them would be a bit less accessible to read on my own.

>26 Helenliz: Yes, most people have very little knowledge of Shakespeare outside of what they did in school, though that's probably much less true for LT users, and even less true for those of us in the 75 book challenge.

>30 wandering_star: The Winter's Tale isn't one I would expect to be done in school. Was it a favorite of your teacher?

>15 wandering_star: Just to check for challenge #15 - can the book you try to read be the same book you struggled with before?

>9 DeltaQueen50: Would this count? The Skin Collector? I do love my skin - it keeps all my parts from falling out, and doesn't sunburn easily.

>9 DeltaQueen50: To clarify, Judy: Is it OK if the word in the title does not refer literally to the thing you love? For example, I will be reading a book called Slow Horses. I love horses, but the "slow horses" of the book are actually spies who are bad at their job (at least I think that's the gist; at any rate, they are people). Would that count, or does it need to be a book that is about horses as well?

Challenge #11: Read a book with one or more words in the title suggesting a type of loss

The words loss and lost won't work here. I'm looking for something more particular like destruction or defeat or impotence.

For example, I'll be reading Cultural Amnesia by Clive James.

I'm not sure Jeanne and I should have our challenges abutting, but oh well! :D

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Challenge #12: Read a book with a word in the title suggesting 'darkness'

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In this case, 'dark' or 'darkness' will work! - also black, night, shadow, gloom, etc.

Embedded words are allowed.

>35 jeanned: Would "death" work for this challenge?

>37 FAMeulstee: Absolutely.

>10 owlie13: Whoever wants to read The Castle of Otranto for owlie13's challenge #4 is invited to follow along on the tutored thread I did a while back with @lyzard. That was a lot of fun.

Here's the link:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/131508

:D

Aw, thank you, Madeline! :)

>31 neverstopreading: No, it was just on the A-level syllabus that year (not sure if this is comprehensible to non-UK readers? As I understand it each exam board has a list of set texts and the school can teach from that list - that's why in the UK you often get the same Shakespeare play being put on by several different companies, because they can guarantee audiences of sixth-formers who are studying that play that year).

>32 souloftherose: yes, definitely!

Challenge #13: Read a book that is tagged humor

Find a book that makes you laugh is what this challenge boils down to.

I admit it's a very self serving challenge. The last two months have been downright terrible for me and I could use more laughter in my life. I'd love to get more suggestions.

>41 wandering_star: Thanks for the info. In the US education is run more at the state and local level. Generally the state sets the standards and the local school district sets the curriculum. The district can say, "You must teach from only these texts" (or, as generally garners more attention, "You must not teach from these texts"), "You must teach from these texts among others," "These are suggested texts to teach from," etc.

Here we have a number of set texts at A level - I did English Literature and French (which included a Literature paper). We had to answer exam questions on the texts we'd read.

>1 SqueakyChu:

Madeline, would you accept a book tagged 'women's friendships'?

#33 I would absolutely accept "skin" as something you love. I also loved your arguement for it!

#34 Julia, yes, the word "horses" would count as something you love, it doesn't have to be in the context of the title - just a word that describes something you do or could love.

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Challenge #14 : Read a book by an author you also read last February
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Yes. Entirely self-serving.

>47 countrylife: Good! Some of the ones I was considering for later in the month will fit this challenge!

>47 countrylife: Hmm...I know what I read last year, and I know what I read in the first half or even the first quarter of last year, but narrowing it down to those 28 days in late winter might be tricky. I'll probably have to make my best guess.

>49 neverstopreading: : If you're one who enters your Date Read on your books when you catalog them, then sorting on that is easy. Also works to check your reading list if you kept a list on any of the challenge group threads. I'd be at a loss if I had to rely on MY memory!

>45 lyzard: I will...because it has the word "friendship" in it.

>51 SqueakyChu:

Thank you!

>46 DeltaQueen50: Thanks, Judy!

>25 neverstopreading: I love this challenge. In school, I had very few Shakespeare assignments so the field is pretty wide open for me. Hamlet, Julius Caesar, and Much Ado About Nothing.

I've been keeping track of my reading for over 40 years but I think that The Merchant of Venice was assigned reading during my HS freshman year, which was before the junior year class project of "keep track of your reading this year" that got me started.

>43 neverstopreading: Thank you. So does the local school district also set the exams?

>47 countrylife: I see from last February's TIOLI wiki (https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/Take_It_or_Leave_It_Challenge_-_February_2017_-_Page_1) that one of my top reads last year, Nicola Griffith's Hild, was read in Feb. I'm sure I've got another one of hers somewhere (although unfortunately not the sequel to Hild, which I'm eagerly waiting for).

>55 wandering_star: It depends on the state. Some states, like Texas, have state mandated end-of-course exams for some courses. Then there are the AP level courses which have their own exams. AP exams and courses transcend state boundaries. I think the AP program is also present in Canada, and maybe some other countries.

>54 lindapanzo: It's interesting your teacher had you all do that. I'm curious what my reading might have looked like at that point. I'm sure I read some, but I was so involved in other things as well. Of course, the summers were a different story. I read non-stop. My brother worked for Walmart at the time. They had to remove covers from books reported as unsold, but he'd bring bags of them to his wife and me. I often read two a day. A lot of these were Harlequin or Harlequin-type books, but some were more substantial. He read the westerns, military action, and espionage books. It kept me occupied, I guess.

>57 thornton37814: During the last two years of high school, college, and education beyond, I typically read about 50 books per year. Busy with other things. The same was true for the first few years of my career. Then, in 1992, I had several bouts on the disabled list due to surgeries and complications, and my reading levels nearly doubled. Typically about 90 per year. Then about 10-12 years ago, another increase to roughly 110-120 per year with a few years much higher.

During school years, I didn't count textbooks but did count assigned novels and nonfiction works.

In the past two months I've suffered through the loss of my big black dog Max, my big red dog Rainy and my ex husband. In their honor
Challenge #15: Read a book with a title containing the word Harry, Max, Rainy, black, red or some variation thereof

>59 Citizenjoyce: I'm so very sorry, Joyce.

>59 Citizenjoyce: If I were you, I would exclude Harry Potter books from the list, just for the sake of making people search a little deeper :-)

...not that I have anything against Harry Potter, of course.

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Challenge #16: Rolling Medals - GOLDSILVERBRONZE
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There are some great Challenges this month! I’ve got books in mind for most of the Challenges so far, but there are several books I can’t fit in yet. So, in another Olympic homage, I present a rolling challenge of the medal colors: gold, silver and bronze.

Feel free to use the first letter of any word in the title or subtitle AND/OR of the author’s name (initials are ok).

I hope this helps a few books find a TIOLI home this month.

ETA: This is intended to be a classic rolling challenge, in which books are listed in the original order of the letters, with no jumping ahead.

>59 Citizenjoyce: That must have been rough, Joyce. So sorry to hear that.

>62 Dejah_Thoris: Z...immediately "Zorba the Greek" came to mind. I'll read that if anyone else wants to join me.

Thanks Dejah_Thoris...that opens up a lot of options.

What a conundrum the TIOLI challenges have turned out to be! The more challenges we post, the easier it is to find a place for the books we want to read, but the harder it is to complete a sweep! :D

>65 SqueakyChu: yup. I don’t think I’ll even try for a sweep this month, but there are some challenges I’m really going to enjoy.

>59 Citizenjoyce: Very sorry, Joyce, tough times :-(
We lost our last dog early in December.

>67 FAMeulstee: Thank you. My grandson has also had 2 car accidents since the beginning of the year. We just joked that 2018 is turning out to be such a year of misery we would say things can’t get any worse, but we don’t want to tempt fate into showing us it can.

I didn't really try for a sweep until it started to look achievable with 3 or 4 challenges to go, and I was reading something for at least 2 of them with a pospect of finishing.

>35 jeanned: Would you accept "neglected" for this challenge? Might be a stretch so I would understand if not. ;)

>62 Dejah_Thoris: Ahhhh..I was hoping to squeeze The City of Brass in one of the challenges...but is brass for bronze acceptable or it has to strictly be the word bronze?
ETA: Nevermind! I see how the challenge works now.

Thanks everyone! Love getting back into the TIOLI challenges.

>59 Citizenjoyce: So sorry to hear your 2018 hasn't been the greatest. We had a rough end of the 2017 and was looking forward to a fresh 2018 to start again. I hope it gets better here on out for you!

I'll never get to all these, but this is the plan:
Challenge #1: Read a book tagged "friendship" - started by SqueakyChu
✔Innocents and Others: A Novel - Dana Spiotta (4)
*South of Broad - Pat Conroy abandoned southern chauvanism
*The Woman Next Door - Yewande Omotoso
Challenge #2: Read a book by or about Ursula K. Le Guin - started by PawsforThought
City of Illusions - Ursula K. Le Guin
*✔The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin (3.5)
*✔The Dispossessed - Ursula K. Le Guin (4)
*✔Planet of Exile - Ursula K. Le Guin (3)
Challenge #3: Read A Book of which the title contains something that you love - started by DeltaQueen
✔A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression -Jane Ziegelman (5)
Challenge #4: Read A Book about, set in, or published in the 60s. Any century, past or future - started by owlie13
*✔The Rules of Magic: A Novel- Alice Hoffman (3.5)
Challenge #5: Read A Book that is referenced in another book you have read - started by helenliz
✔The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President - Bandy X. Lee (4.5)
Challenge #6: Read A Book where the final page number of the story ends in x23 - started by Carmenere
*✔The Idiot- Elif Batuman (3.5)
Challenge #7: Read a book by an author who is part of the African diaspora - started by susanna.fraser
The Fifth Season - N. K. Jemisin
✔What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell (3)
Challenge #8: Read a book by an author you have previously struggled with - started by wandering_star
*✔Billy Budd, Sailor - Herman Melville (3)
Challenge #9: Read a book with a tree or trees on the cover - started by FAMeulstee
✔The Patron Saint of Liars - Ann Patchett (4)
Challenge #10: Read something by Shakespeare that you weren't assigned in high school - started by neverstopreading
*✔A Midsummer Night's Dream - William Shakespeare (3.5)
Challenge #11: Read a book with one or more words in the title suggesting a type of loss - started by JeanneD
✔The Only Girl in the World: A Memoir - Maude Julien (5)
Challenge #12: Read a book with a word in the title suggesting darkness - started by lyzard
Dark: Stories of Madness, Murder and the Supernatural - Clint Willis
*✔Dark Saturday - Nicci French (3.5)
Challenge #13: Read a book tagged "humor" - started by lindapanzo
✔Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things -Jenny Lawson (3)
The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness - Paula Poundstone
Challenge #14: Read a book by an author you also read last February - started by countrylife
✔A Personal Devil - Roberta Gellis (3.5)
Challenge #15: Read a book with a title containing the word Harry, Max, Rainy, black, red or some variation thereof - started by Citizenjoyce
Mister Max: The Book of Lost Things - Cynthia Voigt
✔The Right Attitude to Rain - Alexander McCall Smith (2.5)
Challenge #16: Read a book with title word or author name starting with GOLDSILVERBRONZE in rolling order - started by Dejah_Thoris
✔Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow - Yuval Noah Harari (4)
Challenge #17: Read a book with an animal on the cover - started by gabriel243
✔Animals Could Talk: Aesop's Fables Musically Retold by Heather Forest (4)
Challenge #18: Read a book where a number higher than 2 is written somewhere on the front or back cover - started by dallenbaugh
*✔Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body - Neil Shubin (4)
Challenge #19: Read a two-word-title without an article - Started by paulstalder
*✔Shy Charles - Rosemary Wells (5)

>59 Citizenjoyce: I'm very sorry about your losses and the bad luck your grandson has had in 2018. Hopefully, it's all over and gone and the rest of the year will be much smoother!

>67 FAMeulstee: Oh, Anita, I missed that. I'm very sorry!

I always try to find a book in MT TBR for Challenge #1.

I have a stack of books that I 'want to read next' - more than a month's worth of reading - and try to pick from that stack for challenges.

>71 Citizenjoyce: I like your optimism in listing books. And I'm sorry that the start of this year has been so difficult thus far. I hope it picks up for you and your family. Escape between the covers of a book and deal with life when you're better armed to do battle with it.

>71 Citizenjoyce: I'll often do the same, listing them all on a sheet of paper, and crossing them off as I finish. That spurs me on a bit. I think there is only one where I don't have a book in mind this month.

A sweep will be really tough, though, as it's a short month and the Winter Olympics are on. I love watching those.

>70 jolerie: I've been asking myself "____ is a loss of _____" for words others are using. Since I can fill this is as "neglected is a loss of attention", I'm going to say YES.

>75 jeanned: Perfect! Thank you! :D

I just noticed....are the books in the wiki listed in alphabetical order besides the rolling challenges?

>77 jolerie: yes, (lotta list makers around here, and people who like things in order, lol)

>77 jolerie: Yeah, makes it easier to find, and neater.

Ok! Gotcha. I'll make sure to not mess the system up. :D

>80 jolerie: If you miss once in a while, it's fine. Someone will fix it.

Oh, good to know about the alphabetical order bit — I'm sure I messed that up in January so thanks to whoever put things straight for me! I'll do better in February. :-)

And I have a procedural question about the rolling challenges: Someone had already started the entries for SILVER, so is it okay to claim a slot that isn't the very next slot that's open? If not, I'll take it back out and wait. I entered it and then thought that might not be quite according to Hoyle. Or according to Madeline, in our case!

>60 Dejah_Thoris:, >63 SqueakyChu:, >70 jolerie:, >72 streamsong:, >73 Helenliz: Thanks for your concern. Here's hoping February will be as uplifting as January was the opposite.

>61 neverstopreading: Nope, Harry Potter is just fine. In fact I was thinking of rereading the first one because I loved it so much, but I doubt I'll have time.

>73 Helenliz: I like to know what's coming. Life is pretty unpredictable, at least it's a little handle.

>74 lindapanzo: I know what you mean, those 3 missing days could mean a book or two. Oh well...

>82 rosalita: Yes, next time you should wait for the slot with rolling challenges, Julia, but I already filled up, so no problem ;-)

>82 rosalita: You cannot skip slots. Sorry. Anyway, that would be too *easy*. :D

>84 FAMeulstee: Haha! You got away with it, rosalita!!

>86 SqueakyChu: And then I realised rosalita's book also would have fitted in the previous slot!
Wrong, it is way past bedtime, can't read anymore... Goodnight!

>84 FAMeulstee: >85 SqueakyChu: >86 SqueakyChu: Thanks for bailing me out, Anita! And now I know not to try those sorts of shenanigans next time. :-)

>59 Citizenjoyce: My condolences, Joyce. I sure hope that starting with February only good things happen for the rest of the year.

so many great challenges ... time to sit down with my stack and figure out what fits where :)!

>59 Citizenjoyce: Joyce, Hopes that February brings light and comfort.

>35 jeanned: Jean - Would No One Cares About Crazy People work for your challenge?

>83 Citizenjoyce: Of course :) But now I must ask...will Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality count (a very elaborate fan fiction)?

>59 Citizenjoyce: That is too much in such a short time. My condolences and hopes for peace and comfort in February.

>1 SqueakyChu: I have a question about rolling challenges. In GOLDSILVERBRONZE ... do we have to sign up for books in the order of the letters (eg. there has to be a "B" before a "Z")? I thought I read somewhere that we can pick the letters randomly, as long as we do one group at a time (so "Z" could be the first letter chosen, but there couldn't be another "Z" until all the other letters are taken). However, it seems that the books are actually chosen in order of the letters themselves.

>89 DeltaQueen50:, >91 lalbro:, >94 susanna.fraser: Thank you. I'm hoping.
>93 neverstopreading: You bet, any Harry counts. That looks good, I hope it's funny.

>95 neverstopreading: In rolling challenges, you MUST sign up in the order of the letters UNLESS the host of the challenge changes this rule for one particular challenge only. For questions about any challenge, direct your inquiry to the challenge’s host or hostess. Deja’s_Thoris hosts the GOLDSILVERBRONZE challenge.

Each challenge presented on the wiki is supposed to include some further details on the main thread. I keep the wiki Index in message #2 so we can go back and see what the rules (or deviation from them) are for each challenge.

ETA: I actually thought that @paulstalder wanted to run a previous month’s question challenge that way, but it didn’t turn out that way.

ETA2: Maybe, going forward, our rolling challenges might need some clearer rule about skipping or “no skipping” entries in the list.

>97 SqueakyChu: Thank you for the clarification.

>95 neverstopreading: >97 SqueakyChu: I'm sorry I wasn't more clear in my original post! I intended the GOLDSILVERBRONZE challenge to be a traditional rolling challenge - books are to be posted in the original order of the letters with no jumping ahead. This gives us all the excitement of waiting for our spot to come up. :)

Speaking of which, the next letter up is the O in BRONZE.

>13 Carmenere: Lynda, I think yours is the hardest challenge I can remember! I looked at all my possible / handy TBR pile books for this month and came up with nothing matching X23. Happily, it occurred to me that Regency Romances were often around 220 pages, for I went and looked in my stash. As a teenager and into my 20s I adored Regencies, but I haven't read many in years (Georgette Heyer doesn't count - she's in a class by herself). I do still have a tub full of them, mostly the old Signets, and I occasionally read one with the intention of moving it on to another home. After a frustrating few minutes of finding books ending with 222 and 224, I finally struck paydirt - nine books ending in 223! In case anyone else is interested, here's the list (alpha by author, of course):

A Gift of Daisies by Mary Balogh
The Last Waltz by Mary Balogh
The Obedient Bride by Mary Balogh
An Unacceptable Offer by Mary Balogh
Autumn Vows by Barbara Hazard
Miss Billings Treads the Boards by Carla Kelly
* Miss Whittier Makes a List by Carla Kelly
Dangerous Masquerade by April Kihlstrom
Kate and the Marquess by Sheila Walsh

* Miss Whittier Makes a List is my favorite from this list, but I'm actually reading Dangerous Masquerade. If anyone picks one of these up for the challenge, I'll try to read it with you - the more TIOLI points, the better.

>42 lindapanzo: Most Challenges are self-serving - and what's not to like about humor?

>70 jolerie: I loved, loved, loved, The City of Brass when I read it last month - I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

>74 lindapanzo: I usually come up with a big list of possible books, too, sometimes on paper, sometimes in a document file. I watch very little TV these days, but the Olympics are hard to resist.....

>99 Dejah_Thoris: hehehe my devious plan is working
I'm glad you were able to find a book that fits, Dejah!

>99 Dejah_Thoris: So far the best I've been able to do with the x23 is several near-misses. When I was picking up my holds at the library yesterday, I also stopped by the "return when finished" paperback shelves and checked the assortment of mysteries, romances, and shorter SFF books for a candidate. I had hope for a moment with a romance by an author whose books I usually enjoy. The actual page count was somewhere around 435, but that included a teaser chapter for her next book...so I flipped back hopefully, only to find the story last page was 422. I tried my holds, and the Emily Wilson translation of the Odyssey that's getting so much buzz in NPR-ish circles? 525. Sigh. I doubt I'll have time to attempt a sweep anyway.

The paperback version of The Girl on the Train ends on P. 323 (Riverhead Books 2015 edition - imprint of Penguin)

>13 Carmenere: Will you count an Amazon ebook where the last location of the story ends in 23?

>100 Dejah_Thoris: I have about 100 pages left and all I can say is I couldn't put the book down. Such a different fantasy that I'm not used to but definitely in a good way!

So here is my first TIOLI Challenge list after being away for a couple of years. Ambitious is total understatement. So much fun though!

OTS:
The Help by Kathryn Stockett TIOLI #1
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin TIOLI #2
Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi TIOLI #4
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon TIOLI #12
The 100 Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window by Jonas Jonasson TIOLI #13
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein TIOLI #15
The Hundred Thousand Kingdom by N. K. Jemisin TIOLI #7 Book #1
Left Neglected by Lisa Genova TIOLI #11

Library:
The City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty TIOLI #16 Book #1
Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan TIOLI #3
The Lying Game by Ruth Ware TIOLI #16

>101 Carmenere: I'm glad that the book you included for your own challenge is one that I wanted to read. This is one tough challenge. If I come across any books ending on page x23, I may post them.

>104 neverstopreading: That's a good question since most of my reading is of the Kindle variety.

For the rolling challenge, I note that we are currently on Z.

>105 jolerie: Just so you're not disappointed...it's "Racing in the Rain" not "Dancing in the Rain"

>107 neverstopreading: Oh man....so glad there are people more alert than me around here!! Thanks for pointing that out because I may just read the entire book and never notice that ooopsie. :D

The Rolling Challenge is back to G.

>104 neverstopreading: >106 lindapanzo: For Challenge #6 location from any ebook will not be accepted. Only page numbers.

>92 lalbro: Can you explain how this is a type of loss? I'm not getting it, but maybe you can explain and convince me.

Challenge # 17: Read a book with an animal on the cover.

Thread.

Any animal.

>112 gabriel243: is my son. He loves reading so I decided to set up a LT account for him so I could show him how to keep track of what he reads. I told him about the challenges, and he wanted to make his own! He liked the cover idea, so now we have two cover-related challenges.

Welcome gabriel243 - is your name Gabriel?

>112 gabriel243: Welcome! Now I'm off to find a book with an animal on the cover.......

#112 - A perfect challenge! I had no place for The Revenant but with the Grizzly Bear on the cover, it fits Gabriel's challenge.

>112 gabriel243: what a great challenge, Gabriel! I'm going to check my shelves first thing in the morning.

I have created a group read of Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea cycle, so if anyone is interested, feel free to join here. If you're planning/hoping to read something for challenge #2, it could be a good way to kill two birds with one stone.

>4 PawsforThought: You beat me to it! Now I just have to find a book to read for the challenge.

>118 PawsforThought: Hmm, maybe. I’m tempted by the group read. Let me see what I have on my shelves.

>119 humouress: Good to hear that if I hadn't done it, someone else would have.
Glad to hear the group read is tempting; I hope you decide to join us.

>114 elkiedee: yes my name is gabriel.

Hi Jean - the subtitle of this book is "the chaos and heartbreak of mental health in america" - and here's what the cover notes say: "his odyssey of reportage began after not one but both of his beloved sons were diagnosed with schizophrenia" ... and "too many families struggle alone to manage afflicted loved ones" - so I was thinking it definitely fit with the theme of loss- of all the dreams one has for ones children, as well as impotence - in that many who try to find care for their loved ones end up feeling completely impotent. But - no worries if it doesn't fit with your challenge :)!

>122 lalbro: Using either chaos or heartbreak would fit.

>35 jeanned: Would We Had It So Good fit for a title which implies loss? Because it implies that we don't have it so good anymore...

>123 jeanned: Awesome! Thanks.

>124 wandering_star: I'm going to say YES.

Recommendation for a shared read:

I recommend reading The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein as a shared read with @jolerie for Joyce's challenge to read a book with a title containing the word Harry, Max, Rainy, black, red or some variation thereof. I loved that book. I recommend it to anyone who loves animals, especially for people who love dogs. I was also interested in this book because I have a son whose hobby was race car building and driving. I found a lot to love in that book.

Caution: This book is a tear-jerker.

Feel free at any time to recommend other shared reads as you peruse our wiki pages. :)

I feel compelled to do this when I see people reading books (or about to read a book) that I once loved reading myself. I know you can identify with that feeling. :D

>127 SqueakyChu: Oh, this is a great idea! I have that feeling all the time when I see books on the wiki.

>127 SqueakyChu: Madeline, that means I will NEED to find time to make sure I squeeze that book in this month. Looking forward to it! :D

>129 jolerie: No. It's not made to make you feel guilty...or even to force you to read a book. It's to highlight for others those books which we once loved and want others to read because we loved them so much. If they actually turn out to be shared reads, that's fine. If not, PLEASE...no guilt! Just take them off the wiki at the end of the month. We do this for fun...and reading pleasure.

When I look through the wiki pages to see what I should read next, I often say to myself, "Oh! I loved that book so much!" That's what precipitated me to ask you to tell others which books on the current wiki make you feel that way. It's happened to me a lot this month!

Haha..no worries Madeline! The NEED was more of a WANT not because I felt like I had to but because your suggestion bumps that book up a few notches. No guilt is the theme of my readings this year. But with such a long list of possibilities and mount TBR threatening to topple over, it is nice to know what books others have read and LOVE, which helps making the choosing that much more easier. We all suffer from too many books, not enough time. :D

Love the idea of recommendations. Thank you!

Challenge #18: Read a book where a number higher than 2 is written somewhere on the front or back cover

The number higher than 2 can be in any form i.e. “5 or five or V”.

The price of the book, the ISBN and the UPC cannot be used in this challenge.

>132 dallenbaugh: I assume this excludes the price of the book, the ISBN and the UPC?

>132 dallenbaugh: Would one of the numbers of a year, like 1995, qualify?

>133 SqueakyChu: You are clever Madeline. I didn't think of those. Yes I would exclude those.

>134 FAMeulstee: yes a year would qualify but not any of the numbers that Madeline mentioned. I will modify my original post.

>132 dallenbaugh: Perfect! I'm reading Station Eleven for another group, and now I can fit in here too! Thanks!!

>135 dallenbaugh: Heh!

Challenge #19: Read a two-word-title without an article

Not my best challenge, and a bit late. But I have started three books and the only thing in common: they have just two words as a title. Articles do not count, so any title with an article falls short:
The Bible; The New Testament do NOT qualify

It must have two words in the version you read - except for shared reads

>138 paulstalder: What perfect timing! The book I just completed fits this!

>138 paulstalder: Do you mean article as "a", "an" "the" or article as a thing/object or maybe both?

>140 FAMeulstee: 'article' in the grammatical sense: a, an, the, der, die, das , het, le, la etc.

No article of clothing when reading would be another challenge :)

>138 paulstalder: How do you feel about subtitles? I have a non-fiction book that would qualify but only if the subtitle was ignored.

>142 souloftherose: no subtitles, so go ahead with your book

>139 thornton37814: Only two words, or at least two words?

This is a lot of challenges for such a short month!

>144 neverstopreading: two words only

>144 neverstopreading: I think you meant to refer to >138 paulstalder: with your question. He did specify a 2-word title, so I assumed he meant exactly two words. Mine was two: Creole Holiday

>146 paulstalder: >147 thornton37814: thank you.

Come on, folks. Fill in #16. I need the "B"!

:D

>132 dallenbaugh: I just finished reading Arthur and George. One of the book covers has a picture of a pocket watch and you can see the numbers on the watch on both the front and back covers. Unfortunately, this is not the cover on my ebook, but it is a cover that is available from Amazon. It's probably a stretch as to whether I can count it or not, but I can't see everything on the cover of my ebook, and I can't see the back cover at all. The pocket watch does show numbers higher than 2.


cover in question


my cover

>150 rretzler: It works for me.

>149 Morphidae: I have an "E" ready if someone else can get the "V"

E and V are done. Now on R.

Another R, anyone?

>149 Morphidae: >153 elkiedee: oops, I had filled the B that Morphidae wanted, but it's available now. My title was long, I'm sure I'll get another letter soon.

>152 neverstopreading: >153 elkiedee: >154 raidergirl3: B and R taken - I believe O is next.

>151 dallenbaugh: Fantastic!

>155 rretzler: O is taken now. N is next.

Eek. I have three books I can't fit into any other challenge. I was out most of Sunday and forgot to check my current reading/any plans against the challenges. Clearly won't be doing any kind of sweep this month!

>156 jolerie: On to Z.

There are only about 3 categories that I am going to fit my reading into this month!

>158 rretzler: I got in under the next O! But I first had to save it with just the title because I couldn't get the URL right away. LT search was talking FOR-EH-VER to load and I was afraid I'd lose my spot! Though I could have used L or D, too.

Purely for curiosity purposes but are points for shared reads still earned if the books aren't completed?

>160 jolerie:

No TIOLI points are earned for any books not COMPLETED by midnight of the last day of the month. I entirely remove any book(s) not COMPLETED by that time from the wiki before I compile the stats. In case of a rolling challenge, I generally just leave the name of the book so the rolling challenge looks like it makes sense.

Nothing on the TIOLI challenges is designed as a competition. I do the stats to see how many people are participating (basically to see if it's still worthwhile to do this). I encourage shared reads only because I think that encourages conversation between those who read the same books. Often challengers will join a group read for this as well.

Why do I do TIOLI points if they "mean nothing"? They're just an incentive to push challengers to read more, to read in different genres that usual, and to converse with others here on LT about books read at the same time.

Those sweeps? They created themselves. I didn't create them. :D

My goal for the TIOLI challenges has always been:
1. Have fun!
2. No guilt!

Awesome. Thanks Madeline. :)

>159 Morphidae: Morphie I think the letter has to be the start of a word or author name. (darnit!)

Please, challengers, go back and fix Challenge #16. You cannot move forward with this rolling challenge until all of the previous entries are listed correctly. Thank you.

>164 SqueakyChu: It appears to be fixed except for one disqualified entry which can't be fit back into the challenge until a few more letters come back up.

>165 thornton37814: Gotcha!

>163 streamsong: Yep, I messed it up. Sorry, folks.

>167 Morphidae: No problem. Thanks for responding so quickly!

Challenge 16: I assumed consecutive entries weren't allowed or I would have put them in myself.

>169 elkiedee: Either SqueakyChu or Dejah_Thoris might want to take that up with the person who has both two and four entries in a row. :(

>170 Morphidae: >169 elkiedee: That’s entirely up to the challenger host/hostess. When I do rolling challenges, I indicate in my rules if consecutive postings are disallowed. They’re not automatically disallowed. Perhaps that might have become a “custom” because I’m always trying to make my own challenges just a bit harder?

>169 elkiedee: >170 Morphidae: >171 SqueakyChu: I see it as sort of an unwritten rule for the rolling challenges. But, I don't think we should make a new member feel uncomfortable for not knowing an unwritten rule.

I'm all for the less rules, the better. I believe the challenger should make it clear which way they want to go.

>172 streamsong: I think I'd decided the rule worked the opposite way; that if a challenger wasn't happy to allow consecutive entries, then the challenge should say so.

We do agree though, the challenger should make clear their preferred approach.

>169 elkiedee: >171 SqueakyChu: >172 streamsong: For what it's worth, when I made my successive entries I tried to find a rule prohibiting it. This is only my second month doing the TIOLI challenges. I assumed it was one of the things people don't generally do but isn't explicitly forbidden.

>174 neverstopreading: I assumed it was one of the things people don't generally do but isn't explicitly forbidden.

...and you were exactly right!

Going forward, if anyone wants to prohibit successive postings by the same challenger in rolling challenges, put that in your "rules". Thanks!

I also like to give each host/hostess the liberty of setting up his/her own rules for the challenge he/she posts.

>169 elkiedee: >170 Morphidae: >171 SqueakyChu: >172 streamsong: >173 Helenliz: >174 neverstopreading: >175 SqueakyChu: Sorry, I just popped in here and realized that I am actually the guilty party. This is also only my second month of the TIOLI challenge and I had no idea there was a rule against this. I always prefer to know directly if I've done something wrong so that I can correct it, instead of being the subject of so much discussion. If I would have known this days ago, I would not have done it again. I have taken out the last entries, unfortunately, I cannot correct the entries that are already embedded.

Perhaps someone can replace entry #44 in Challenge #16 with another B so that it is fixed. I have a V that could be used in place of neverstopreading's (Cody) #41 and he could use that same entry as an I for the next entry #55 - which would fix everything, as long as someone could help me with a B.

>176 rretzler: I think Morphidae would like to replace the B at #44. I left her a PM.

>176 rretzler: >177 FAMeulstee: Please feel free to replace any and/or all of my entries, if that is helpful and makes it easier, especially since I will have limited availability online for a few days.

>178 rretzler: NOT all your entries please, Robin, TIOLI is supposed to be fun!
You could not know. All we want is to prevent this from happening again. We weren't discussing you, but how we could prevent "silent rules"...

>176 rretzler: I’m really confused. The only “error” I saw was Morphy’s accidental insertion of a non-qualifying book. She fixed that right away when I notified her. Nothing else was wrong or needed to be fixed!!!!!!!!.

My goodness! I'm sorry I haven't been here for a few days and questions popped up about my rolling challenge!

Things look fine now - and just so everyone knows, I do NOT have a problem with readers posting consecutive books to the Challenge! If I hadn't intended for it to be allowed, I would have added it to the guidelines. I have often wanted to post two or even three in a row in a rolling challenge and have been hampered by the challenger's rules, so I wanted to leave the option available. In the future, I'll be sure to explicitly state that consecutive entries are fine by me.

>178 rretzler: As far as I can see, there is nothing that needs fixing. Post at will and read!

>176 rretzler: My apologies. It was my misunderstanding of the rules that caused all this. I thought that the rule was the opposite of what it is, i.e., that you can't make multiple entries unless the challenger said so in the rules. I was wrong. I'm batting .1000 for this particular challenge, aren't I?

No need to make any changes. They are fine.

P. S. Does anyone know how to correct from the page history so we can add rretzler's entries back?

>176 rretzler: >181 Dejah_Thoris: >182 Morphidae: and everyone else who has chipped in/ Oops, sorry. I don't want to replace all of the entries, it's just that I assumed I couldn't and I'm feeling that I've nowhere to put a book I've read and one that I expect to finish next - I could have listed them all at once if I'd realised.

>182 Morphidae: Yes, I've just looked at how to add that block of 4 entries back and it's very easy to do so.

>176 rretzler: Shall we just reinstate your entries and move on? Really sorry. I'm still hoping to catch the O of Bronze or get on to Gold again. I just wish I'd realised and I probably could have got all my books in, though I'm reluctant to add a book for the sake of it, that is, one I'm very unlikely to get to this month anyway,

>184 elkiedee: Next one in challenge #16 is now the O in bronze.

Thank you!

>184 elkiedee: By all means, yes, we should move on.

TIOLI Question of the month:

Tell me about something CREEPY you read about in one of your books so far this month. Which book was it, and why was the character/setting/action/deed so creepy?

Sorry 'bout that! Hope your current read/next book is not so unsettling! :)

>188 SqueakyChu: Well, the whole premise of The Skin Collector was pretty darn creepy. The killer used poison instead of ink in tattoos to murder his victims. Need I say more?

>189 owlie13: That sounds pretty creepy to me!! :O

Love Story, With Murders opened up with pieces of not just one but two bodies being found scattered about a neighbourhood. A leg in a freezer, a head in a barrel of lawn mower oil ... well, you get the picture. Creepy yes, but I love this series!

>191 DeltaQueen50: Eeeek!!!

>188 SqueakyChu: I read The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President by Bandy X. Lee and others. Frightening, creepy, horrifying - this could keep you up at night.

I just finished Lullaby and the first sentence is "The baby is dead." From the first page you know that the two children are dead, there's lots of blood and that the nanny did it and then tried to kill herself. The rest of the book is a story of a family with a perfect nanny except the reader knows how it's all going to end, riveting and creepy.

I'm wondering which nutter listed Don Quixote to read in the shortest month. Oh yes, that'd be me. At this rate I'll be listing it to finish in April...

I read the super creepy The Devil in Nanking (Tokyo) by Mo Hayder based on atrocities during an invasion of China by Japan. I can't say what makes it so creepy because it eventually gets revealed, and the particular horror is the mystery in the book.

>188 SqueakyChu: I had read the account of the botched lynching of criminal named Big Nose George in Wyoming in 1880 in a book that I read last year about the 1880 solar eclipse called American Eclipse. But it was mentioned in another book, a mystery called Disgraced that I read this month with these creepy details:

After the lynching, his body was turned over to a local doctor, John Eugene Osborne, for autopsy and for study of his brain to determine criminality. Osborne skinned the man and had the skin tanned and made into several items, including a pair of shoes which he wore to his inauguration as governor of Wyoming in 1895.

Reading The Last Werewolf.... the details of his first kill are devastating. Then there's the head in a bag.

My answer to your TIOLI Question of the Month is The Devil's Breath, a historical mystery, set in England during 1783, the time of the Great Fog. The author's description of the fog and how it destroyed people from the inside was atmospheric and creepy. To discover in the author's notes that this was a true event which killed many thousands of people made it seem even creepier. At that time there was a lot of speculation about the source of the "fog". It was finally discovered that the deadly sulpherous fog originated in Iceland with the eruption of Laki volcano. This event, combined with other atmospheric anomalies occurring at that time, contributed to years of unsettled weather patterns, extreme winters, poor harvests and many more deaths from the weather complications set in motion by Laki.

>198 jeanned: Yikes!!

>199 countrylife: How interesting!!

>199 countrylife: was it some kind of industrial smog?

>201 Citizenjoyce: : Nope. I hid the source inside the -spoiler- in case anyone wanted to read about it themselves.

>174 neverstopreading: >176 rretzler: I don't know, they'll just let any hoi polloi in these days ... ;0)

>188 SqueakyChu: I only read happy books :0) But I've started reading the Skulduggery Pleasant series which my kids are / were keen on and which is in the junior library of their school.

>202 countrylife: Looks good

>203 humouress: 😜

Just finished Snow by Orhan Pamuk, that was the last book for my February TIOLI sweep :-)

#1: Tommie Station by Mensje van Keulen
#2: Aardzee 2 (Earthsea omnibus 4-6) by Ursula Le Guin
#3: De havik (The Goshawk) by T.H. White
#3: Het boek van alle dingen (The Book of Everything) by Guus Kuijer
#4: De adjudant van de vrachtwagen (Pulga by S.R. van Itterson
#5: Edda translated by Marcel Otten
#6: Mijn hersens draaien rondjes by Rita Verschuur
#7: Anansi de spin weeft zich een web om de wereld by Noni Lichtveld
#8: Sneeuw (Snow) by Orhan Pamuk
#9: Schorshuiden (Barkskins) by Annie Proulx
#10: Een midzomernachtdroom (A Midsummer Night's Dream) by William Shakespeare
#11: Jonathan, wat zag je in die zomernacht? (A Midsummer Night's Death) by K.M. Peyton
#12: Het is nacht, we gaan op jacht by Hans Hagen
#13: Muizensoep (Mouse Soup) by Arnold Lobel
#14: Morgen is de toekomst by An Rutgers van der Loeff
#15: Zwart als inkt by Wim Hofman
#16: De verdwenen menora by Jan & Sanne Terlouw
#17: Pablo (Pablo) by Helen Griffiths
#18: Maliff en de wolf by Hans Hagen
#19: Meneer Ratti by Mensje van Keulen

TIOLI books left to read this month:
#1: Laat me nooit alleen (Never let me go) by Kazuo Ishiguro
#16: Geschiedenis van de Lage Landen deel 1 by Jaap ter Haar (reading now)
        Het huis tussen de bomen (Up a Road Slowly) by Irene Hunt
        Godje by Daan Remmerts de Vries
        Zwart op wit by Akky van der Veer
#17: Read a book with an animal on the cover
        Britt-Marie was hier (Britt-Marie was here) by Fredrik Backman (reading now)
        La Bruja, de merrie (The Wild Heart) by Helen Griffiths
#19: Josja Pruis by Harm de Jonge

>206 FAMeulstee: Nice! Congratulations on your sweep, Anita!

Congratulations, Anita. I am finding February a difficult reading month. I feel like I am reading a lot, but don't seem to be getting through the books that quickly. The good news is that I have enjoyed all the books that I have read so far.

>206 FAMeulstee: Congratulations on your sweep, Anita!

In case anyone is interested, I just added P. C. Hodgell's short story Bones to the wiki in the B spot in Challenge #16. Next up is R.

206 Way to go!

>206 FAMeulstee: Congrats Anita! What an impressive achievement. :D

>206 FAMeulstee: Congratulations!

>206 FAMeulstee: Congratulations! And an inspiration to me to continue with Snow, which I am stalled on again - I have 6 days left in the month, and I would like to finish it. It's taken over my reading for the month, though...

ETA: I am stalled further on than last time, which is something (as Beckett said: Try again. Fail again. Fail better.)

>206 FAMeulstee: Congrats, Anita!! You are amaaaazing!!!

>207 SqueakyChu: >208 DeltaQueen50: >209 Dejah_Thoris: >210 Citizenjoyce: >211 jolerie: >212 elkiedee: >213 wandering_star: >214 Carmenere:
Thanks everyone!

>213 wandering_star: Good luck finishing Snow, I loved it.

For no reason whatsoever, here's a picture of some kittens.

>216 neverstopreading: One never needs a reason for posting kitten photos! Just do it!

It's just about time to get our March challenges ready.

>216 neverstopreading: >217 thornton37814: I agree with Lori - no reason needed to post kitten photos!

>218 neverstopreading: You never know what Madeline is going to do, but it seems a wee bit early. Sunday would be my guess.

>188 SqueakyChu: In response to your question, Madeline, I have to say that Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year was pretty high on the creep factor. It's fiction - Defoe would have only been 3 or 4 years old when the plague hit London in 1665, but he obviously did his research for his fiction 'journal'. He definitely goes for shock value with some of the tales he relates, but the problem is that they are essentially true. I find myself reluctant to relate specifics, but some things were actually so similar to situations reported in the Ebola outbreak that hit Africa a few years ago that I was doubly affected. How sad to think that we have advanced no further in maternal health care.....

Annihilation was pretty creepy, too. I couldn't figure out why there were so many holds on the book, though. I mean really - how many people want to read a not terribly popular weird SF book from 2014, even if it did win awards? Then I figured out that Annihilation the movie was being released today. So much for keeping up with popular culture.

>219 Dejah_Thoris: Congratulations on your sweep!

>220 FAMeulstee: Thanks, Anita. I have never been as sick as I have this winter - I've caught everything that's crossed my path. As I result, if I'm not working or sleeping, I've been reading: no gardening, no socializing and very little housework.

I'm trying to fit in a few more shared reads in these last few days. I admit I'm looking forward to March!

I don't suppose anyone has a late-running 'R' book for #16? I really need the 'O'! :)

>222 lyzard: done

>223 neverstopreading:

Thank YOU! :)

With the inclusion of three children's books and the shortest book in the 23 pages' challenge, I announce the completing of a sweep
1) Der Vogel ist ein Rabe - Benjamin Lebert
2) Nächstes Jahr im September (Very Far Away From Anywhere Else) - Ursula K. LeGuin
3) Der Auftrag oder Vom Beobachten des Beobachters der Beobachter (Auftrag = assignment, mission) - Friedrich Dürrenmatt
4) Velodyssee : ein sportliches Epos (published 1964) - Arnold Kübler
5) *The Tale of Peter Rabbit - Beatrix Potter
6) "Du umschliesst mich von allen Seiten ..." Ps. 139,5 (23 pages) - Klaus Vellguth
7) Der letzte Bruder (Le dernier frère)- Nathacha Appanah
8) Afrikanische Tragödie (The Grass is Singing) - Doris Lessing
9) Helen lernt leben : die Kindheit der taub-blinden Helen Keller - Anne Marchon
10) Was Ir Wänd (Twelfth night) - William Shakespeare
11) Das Dorf der Vergessenen (the village of the forgotten = a leprosy village) - Yo-Suk Kim
12) Die Abenteuer der "Schwarzen Hand" (black) - Hans Jürgen Press
13) Was man im Leben wirklich braucht, habe ich von meiner Katze gelernt (All I need to know I learned from my cat) - Suzy Becker
14) The secret of Chimneys - Agatha Christie
15) Der Wandschirm aus rotem Lack (red) (The Lacquer Screen) - Robert Hans van Gulik
16) Lady Godiva : ein Zirkusroman - Rudolf Jakob Humm
17) Der Löwe des Lichts (lion) - Scott MacLeod
18) Bei dir darf ich bleiben : Psalm 23 in Bildern und Betrachtungen - Steffi Baltes
19) Im Fischerdorf - Margarete von Oertzen

I am pretty pleased with my reading, finding back to my former habit of reading.

>225 paulstalder: Congratulations, Paul! TIOLI sweeps are so impressive, especially when the number of challenges gets large like this month's. It's great to see you get back to lots of reading!

Karen O.

While I'm here, I want to say "brava" to Dejah_Joris, with TWELVE (!) shared reads for February. I know that shared reads are probably my favorite thing about TIOLI (hard to pick a favorite!) and this is impressive. It's especially nice when others join YOUR reads to make the share; when a book that you were going to read anyway becomes "shared."

SqueakyChu, once again, thank you so much for this wonderful thing that you made, this TIOLI. It's a real joy and helpful tool to getting the reading done!

Karen O.

>225 paulstalder: Congratulations Paul!

That makes 3 sweepers in this short month :-)

>225 paulstalder: Congrats!!

>227 klobrien2: Well said Karen! One of my favourite things about the challenges is also the shared reads. :)

Clean up time...

>226 klobrien2: >228 FAMeulstee: >229 jolerie: Thank you very much. A had a good start, having started with Lessing in January already, and then being able to share Potter's Peter Rabbit, made it easier. :)

I'd like to do some shared reads, but I read a lot of Swiss and German literature which is not always translated.

>231 paulstalder: I have the same with Dutch books, Paul. And many of the books others read are not available in Dutch translation.
But it always make me happy when I manage to do a few shared reads!

Congratulations to the other sweepers. I finished my sweep today with Furiously Happy. Whew, just in time.

>225 paulstalder: Wow, Paul! That's great! I'm very impressed. Congratulations!

>227 klobrien2: It's really my pleasure, Karen, but You're welcome!

>230 neverstopreading: You're right! It's...

Housekeeping Day!

Remember to remove from the February wiki any book that you have not COMPLETED by midnight tonight unless it's in a rolling challenge, in which case, just mark it DNF (did not finish). Thanks!

>233 Citizenjoyce: Congrats!! That's amazing and just in time! :)

>237 jolerie: Thanks

Well done sweepers!

>233 Citizenjoyce: Congratulations on your sweep, Joyce!

>239 Helenliz:, >240 FAMeulstee: Thank you.

>233 Citizenjoyce: Furiously Happy good choice for the finish :) well done

>234 SqueakyChu: Thank you

>242 paulstalder: glad you saw the humor there.

I have a sweep and was about to start posting it but just found out MrMorphy got years worth of his backpay from SS disability. (We just found out two days ago he got approved and thought it would take two months.) We are giddy with happiness and relief. It might be tomorrow before I get it posted. Sorry, not sorry!!!

>244 Morphidae: *Happy dance* for MrMorphy!!!
And congratulations on your sweep!

>244 Morphidae: What wonderful news! Let me know when I can start doing the February stats. I still have to post the stats and awards for January.

I think we had five sweepers for February. Congrats to:
Citizenjoyce, Dejah_Thoris, FAMeulstee, Morphidae, paulstalder.

Let me know if I missed anyone.

>244 Morphidae: Yahoo! Your March is indeed coming in like a lion.

>246 SqueakyChu: Woohoo! Who knew we'd have so many sweepers in such a short month! Congratulations to all us!

>227 klobrien2: Thank you, Karen - I love the shared reads, too. More than the Challenges themselves, I think the shared reads (trying to get them, I mean) move me to read books I've never heard of before or that I was waffling about picking up.

And as for impressive numbers, I think your 10 shared reads mean more than my 12 - 66% of your books were shared reads in February! Kudos to you!

>244 Morphidae: Congratulations to you and Mr. Morphy! How fabulous!

January 2018 TIOLI Stats

In January, 2018, we read a total of 459 books, the largest monthly number since January, 2016. We had 82 shared reads which was 18% of our books. We collected 44 TIOLI points, the largest January YTD total since 2016. What a great start to the beginning of this year, challengers!

The most popular book was God Stalk by P. C. Hodgell which was read by 8 challengers.

The most popular challenge, with 73 books COMPLETED, was lyzard's rolling challenge to
read a book with 'w', 'i', 'k', 'i' in the title.

The challenge with the most TIOLI points (15 of them) was also lyzard's rolling challenge to read a book with 'w', 'i', 'k', 'i' in the title.

>248 Dejah_Thoris: I even had a great month. I'll never be a sweeper (either here or at home), but I read books for 9 of 18 challenges. I think that might be a record for me!

I think the shared reads (trying to get them, I mean) move me to read books I've never heard of before or that I was waffling about picking up.

That was one of my ulterior goals of the shared challenges...to get you to s-t-r-e-t-c-h what you read by trying something a bit off of what you normally read...and then to have someone with whom you can share conversation about this newly read book while it is still fresh in your mind.

The January, 2018, TIOLI AWards:

The Zookeeper Award goes to @susanna.fraser for reading The Penguin Guide to the United States Constitution for my (SqueakyChu's) challenge to read a book having a title which includes an animal with exactly three letters in its name. This challenger found two such animals in the book title: nit and tit. Plus...they both rhyme! Haha!

The Wiki Expert Award goes to @Quondame for reading Waikiki Garden for lyzard's rolling challenge to read a book with 'w', 'i', 'k', 'i' in the title. This challenger not only was able to fit a book in this challenge, but the book also had the word "wiki" within one word of its title. What a feat! Great!!

The I Didn't Wanna Read It Award goes to @wandering_star for the challenge to read a book that you did not select. That description made me laugh out loud. If you didn't select it, why did you read it? I know what you meant (someone else selected it). It just struck me as hilarious!

The Shame Goes Away Award goes to @antqueen for reading Grass for His Pillow for LizzieD's challenge to read a book that has been on your e-reader or phone or from DailyLit or any other device for at least 6 months. This was the oldest listed book. It dated back to 05/2013. Now...the shame is gone! Hurray!!

The I Hate This Book Award goes to @neverstopreading for the challenge to read a popular or best-selling book that you've always assumed you wouldn't like. That also struck me as quite funny. If you thought you wouldn't like a book, why would you read it? Again, I know the answer. You never can tell until you actually read a book as to whether or not it suits your taste. This seemed to be an experimental, but successful challenge.

The Complicated But Fun Award goes, of course, to @paulstalder for the challenge to answer the questions with a book title you read. I don't know how you get so creative with your challenges, but each one seems more convoluted and entertaining than the previous ones. I love them! ...so you get an award!

Congrats to all our award winners! Please feel free at this time to offer your own awards to our hosts/hostesses and challengers.

>244 Morphidae: another Furiously Happy finsih :) congrats

>251 SqueakyChu: Thanks, Madeline, for the Award. I am very pleased you liked it. It was fun to think about the questions and now to read the different answers. Thanks to all who answered them

>244 Morphidae: well done on the sweep and that's excellent news for you.

Congrats Morphy for the sweep. All of you sweepers are inspiring!

>251 SqueakyChu: I was rather proud of myself for noticing that title had animals in it at all. :-)

>251 SqueakyChu: Thanks, Madeline. :-)

>256 susanna.fraser: Haha!

Congratulations to all sweepers!

I had an unusually good reading month too. Just updating my reading onto the wiki.

✔ Challenge 4: (the ‘60s)   15) A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
✔ Challenge 2: (Ursula K. Le Guin)   14) A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin * (shared read)
✔ Challenge 9: (trees)   13) Summer Term at Trebizon by Anne Digby
✔ Challenge 13: (tagged ‘humour’)   12) Stardust by Neil Gaiman
✔ Challenge 3: (something you love)  11) The Talisman’s Trinket by P.C. Hodgell
✔ Challenge 1: (tagged ‘friendship’)   10) Second Term at Trebizon by Anne Digby
✔ Challenge 9: (trees)   9) First Term at Trebizon by Anne Digby

(Has anyone else in the Kencyrath group read read The Talisman's Trinket?)

I know a few LTers were reading A Wrinkle in Time; I've skimmed through the As and Ws in the Challenges, as well as the Medals and didn't find any other entries, so I'm putting it into Challenge 4.

Not to throw a spoke in the wheels, but is there any consensus on articles? i.e. would this book go under A or under W?

And what do e and E-A on the wiki mean?

ETA: all done and entered. I like to try and find different challenges for all my books, but I had to put two into Challenge 9.

Okay, here's the list and I'll start working on the wiki now.

1. Read a book tagged "friendship" - Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
2. Read a book by or about Ursula K. Le Guin - A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin
3. Read a book of which the title contains something that you love - Saturday Night Widows by Becky Aikman
4. Read a book about, set in, or published in the 60s. Any century, past or future - The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kiss
5. Read a book that is referenced in another book you have read - One True Thing by Anna Quindlen (On Writing by Stephen King)
6. Read a book where the final page number of the story ends in x23 - The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson
7. Read a book by an author who is part of the African diaspora - The Color Purple by Alice Walker
8. Read a book by an author you have previously struggled with - We by Yevgeny Zamyyatin
9. Read a book with a tree or trees on the cover - Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud
10. Read something by Shakespeare that you weren't assigned in high school -Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
11. Read a book with one or more words in the title suggesting a type of loss - Dark in Death by J. D. Robb
12. Read a book with a word in the title suggesting darkness - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
13. Read a book tagged "humor" - The Squirrel on the Train by Kevin Hearne
14. Read a book by an author you also read last February - Wires and Nerve, Volume 1 by Marissa Meyer
15. Read a book with a title containing the word Harry, Max, Rainy, black, red or some variation thereof - The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
16. Read a book with title word or author name starting with GOLDSILVERBRONZE in rolling order - Blood Fury by J. R. Ward
17. Read a book with an animal on the cover - Tortall and Other Lands by Tamora Pierce (lion)
18. Read a book where a number higher than 2 is written somewhere on the front or back cover - Death Note: Hard Run by Tsugumi Oba (Volume 3)
19. Read a two-word-title without an article - Deadmen Walking by Sherrilyn Kenyon

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ETA: I got to #7 before the wiki thought I was a robot and made me start picking out pictures. I'm going to take a short break. Anyone know how long it takes before I can just hit the check mark again?

>259 humouress: Articles usually are ommitted from rolling challenges, so the title starts with the second word, if there is an article as first word. (Always up to the one who makes the challenge to decide otherwise).
So "A Wrinkle in Time" would go under "W".

Not completely sure, but I think e is for e-boek and E-A is for audio?

Your question on the wikipage, 3x' (''') on both sides makes bold, 5x' (''''') on both sides makes italic.

Such good news, Morphy! Happy dance, indeed!

Congrats to the sweepers!

SqueakyChu, I added a few more books Friday evening, too. Unlike others, I had a slow reading month.

>262 streamsong: I'm going to wait until Morphy's done with adding her books to the wiki before I do the stats.

>260 Morphidae: I have no idea how long you have to wait before the pictures go away. I just click on them quickly because I hate having to come back at another time. If you make a mistake on them, it doesn't matter. You just continue until you get a few right! It's really not so bad.

>260 Morphidae: Oh. I get the robot question every time :0(

>261 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita.

>263 SqueakyChu: >264 humouress: Okay, I'll just get it over with.

ETA: Okay, all done. Also, while working on the wiki I realized I missed copy/pasting #18 & #19 so I added them in >260 Morphidae:.

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Also, I'm really sorry it took me this long. I'll try really hard to do better in March. (Did I say the same thing last month? *blush*) I'll start working on my post/selections tomorrow.

>265 Morphidae: LOL!

No need to apologize. Take as long as you need or want. I just need to know when you finish so I won’t start deleting information you’re trying to enter!!