Take It or Leave It Challenge - November 2021 - 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.


...logo by cyderry

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Your challenge for November 2021 is to...

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Read a book with the word “police” either on the front or the back cover.
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Rules
1. The word may be a stand-alone word, a part of a phrase, or it may be embedded (ex. policeman).
2. List where it is found (front cover or back cover)
3. If it is embedded, list the full word (policewoman, polices)
4. If it is part of a phrase, list the phrase (ex. police officer), but do NOT list more than one phrase.
5. NO alternate words (ex. bobbies) will be accepted.
6. NO word without the full six letters (ex. policing) will be accepted.
7. NO foreign words for police may be used with the exception of "politie" (Dutch), "polis" (Swedish/Swiss) or "polizei" (German).

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

1. The November 2021 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.
3. @FAMeulstee's 2021 TIOLI Sweeplette Meter

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Supplementary thread --- In the past, this thread was used to talk about the pandemic which had been weighing heavily on each of us. Going forward, this thread is open to all supplementary talk. Should you think you are too far off topic for the main thread, well, just skip over there for a group conversation about almost anything!

Link to our SUPPLEMENTARY THREAD

Index of Challenges:

Challenges #1-6
1. Read a book with the word “police” either on the front or the back cover - msg #1
2. Read a book where the title completes the phrase, "I am thankful for..." - msg #6
3. Read a book that fits 3 or more challenges from TIOLI October 2021 - msg #5
4. Read a book that combines the tags crime and LGBT (or QUILTBAG) - msg #8
5. Read a book that helps you complete a 2021 challenge you are working on - msg #11
6. Read a book with a map / image of a map on the cover - msg #19 - thread

Challenges #7-12
7. Read a book where another book title is also shown on the front cover - msg #20
8. Read a book by an author of a book you finished in the past 3 months (Aug/Sept/Oct 2021) - msg #24
9. Read a book with OO in the title or author's name - msg #34
10. Read a book that can be found at LibraryThing in at least 3 languages - msg #40
11. Read a book by an author whose surname ends in the suffix '-son' - msg #48
12. Read a title where an adjective immediately follows a noun - msg #49

Challenges #13-16
13. Read a book by an indigenous author or featuring 1 or more indigenous characters - msg #50
14. Read a book with a title that refers to a woman or women - msg #72
15. Read a book with a connection to The Chieftains, in memory of Paddy Moloney 1938-2021 - msg #80
16. Read a book in which a sunken ship or the recovery of a sunken treasure plays a role - msg #85

Hold your challenge until the December TIOLI challenge is posted. Thank you.

Found it! Unfortunately I don't have a challenge in mind.

>3 AnneDC: Ha! That was quick!!

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Challenge #3: Read a book that fits 3 or more challenges from TIOLI October 2021
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I think that's self-explanatory. Please indicate which challenges when posting in the wiki.

My 9th* Annual November challenge:

Challenge #3: Read a book where the title completes the phrase "I am thankful for..."

Some responses are funny, some are heartfelt. All types are welcome. Enjoy!

.

*Technically, 8th, as Citizenjoyce stepped in for me in 2015. I've been participating in TIOLI for ten years (since 2012), but I wasn't around LT in 2017.

>7 SqueakyChu: I was trying! I was trying! But my phone wasn't being cooperative. I could highlight but not copy/paste. So I had to hard "reboot" my phone or whatever they call it. Clap on, Clap off!

Is it called something different when it's a phone versus a computer? Dang, I'm officially an old fart.

>6 Morphidae: LOL! Grab your position, Morphy! Go! Go! Go!

Challenge #4: Read a book that combines the tags crime and LGBT (or QUILTBAG)
I'm planning to read Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby.

>6 Morphidae: You made me laugh as you were staking out your claim!

>5 jeanned: Oh, you are a meanie! LOL.

Challenge #5: Read a book that helps you complete the 2021 Challenges you are working on

It's that time of year where I am scrambling to complete books for all the 2021 challenges that I signed on for so my challenge is very self-serving, but hopefully there are others with some challenges, group reads, joint reads or book club reads to complete as well.

>8 Citizenjoyce: What is QUILTBAG?!

>11 DeltaQueen50: What if we do no other reading challenges than the TIOLI?

>12 SqueakyChu: If there is a book that you have made a commitment to read during November or by years end - be it a challenge, a group read or a joint read, you can list it here.

I've adjusted the wording of my challenge to include group and/or joint reads and book club reads.

>12 SqueakyChu: It's a fun acronym to cover all sexual identities/genders/sexual preferences.

"Acronym of Queer/Questioning, Undecided, Intersex, Lesbian, Trans (Transgender/Transsexual), Bisexual, Asexual, and/or Gay/Genderqueer.)"

>14 Morphidae: Thanks for posting that, I prefer QUILTBAG to LGBT because it's easy to say and more inclusive, but it doesn't seem to be catching on.

>11 DeltaQueen50: If you're not working on any particular challenge - my reading group is to meet again next month but I've already read the discussion book chosen in the summer (The Other Black Girl), can you share reads listed by other TIOLI participants for Challenge #5?

My planned reads for the month:
Challenge #1: Read a book with the word “police” either on the front or the back cover - started by SqueakyChu
✔Tangled Up in Blue: Policing the American City - Rosa Brooks (4)
Challenge #2: Read a book where the title completes the phrase, "I am thankful for..." - started by Morphidae
✔A Deadly Education - Naomi Novik (4)
Challenge #3: Read a book that fits 3 or more challenges from TIOLI October 2021 - started by JeanneD
*✔The Trouble With Goats and Sheep - Joanna Cannon (4)
Challenge #4: Read a book that combines the tags crime and LGBT (or QUILTBAG) - started by Citizenjoyce
✔,Harlem Shuffle - Colson Whitehead (3.5)
✔Razorblade Tears - S.A. Cosby (4.5)
Challenge #5: Read a book that helps you complete a 2021 challenge you are working on - started by DeltaQueen
*As Bright As Heaven - Susan Meissner
*✔Dear Edward - Ann Napolitano (4)
Challenge #6: Read a book with a map / image of a map on the cover - started by wandering_star
*✔Land of Big Numbers: Stories - Te-Ping Chen (4)
Challenge #7: Read a book where another book title is also shown on the front cover - started by dallenbaugh
✔Great Circle - Maggie Shipstead (5)
*✔Stars Over Sunset Boulevard - Susan Meissner (3.5)
Too Famous: The Rich, the Powerful, the Wishful, the Notorious, the Damned - Michael Wolff - ABANDONED
Challenge #8: Read a book by an author of a book you finished in the past 3 months (Aug/Sept/Oct 2021) - started by lindapanzo
*✔Royal Assassin - Robin Hobb (3)
*✔Wilde Lake - Laura Lippman (3.5)
Challenge #9: Read a book with OO in the title or author's name - started by helenliz
*✔The Book of Lost Names - Kristin Harmel (3.5)
Make Room! Make Room! - Harry Harrison
The Psychology Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained by Nigel Benson
Challenge #10: Read a book that can be found at LibraryThing in at least 3 languages - started by FAMeulstee
✔Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng (4)
Challenge #11: Read a book by an author whose surname ends in the suffix '-son' - started by lyzard
✔Red at the Bone - Jacqueline Woodson (3)
Challenge #12: Read a title where an adjective immediately follows a noun - started by AlcottAcre
*✔Address unknown- Kathrine Kressmann Taylor (5)
*The City Beautiful - Aden Polydoros
Challenge #13: Read a book by an indigenous author or featuring 1 or more indigenous characters - started by susanna.fraser
*✔Ceremony - Leslie Marmon Silko (4)
Heart Berries: A Memoir - Terese Marie Mailhot
*✔When Two Feathers Fell from the Sky by Margaret Verble (4.5)
Challenge #14: Read a book with a title that refers to a woman or women - started by quondame
*✔Woman on the Edge of Time - Marge Piercy (3.5)
Challenge #15: Read a book with a connection to The Chieftains, in memory of Paddy Moloney 1938-2021 - started by elkiedee
✔All the Murmuring Bones - A. G. Slatter (3.5)
The Last Breath - Denise Mina
Challenge #16: Read a book in which a sunken ship or the recovery of a sunken treasure plays a role - started by paulstalder
✔Pirate Hunters: Treasure, Obsession, and the Search for a Legendary Pirate Ship - Robert Kurson (3)

>10 Morphidae: I left you your spot and used #3. I don't know how much more accommodating you want me to be for your slow self. ;)

Challenge #6: Read a book with a map / image of a map on the cover

Should be self-explanatory! There is a thread for images here.

Challenge #7: Read a book where another book title is also shown on the front cover

The second title can be by the same author as the the book or by a different author. If you can find any cover of the book in question that has a second title you can read the book even if you don't use that edition.

Whether or not I'll get to start or finish any or all of them is another matter, but I can see a few potential shared reads here. Someone has listed the book I was thinking of for Challenge 1, Police at the Station and They Don't Look Friendly by Adrian McKinty, already, and I have a Netgalley of Razorblade Tears.

This doesn't affect me, SqueakyChu, but what about books in other languages and the names for police in those languages?

>11 DeltaQueen50:

Must it be a challenge for 2021 only, or is one that has been running before (and/or will continue to run after) okay?

>13 DeltaQueen50: I have none of those either. I don’t commit to reading and finishing any book. That is why I created the TIOLI challenges in the first place. LOL!

Challenge #8: Read a book by an author of a book you finished in the past 3 months (Aug/Sept/Oct 2021)

I think this should be pretty self explanatory. If you finished a book by an author during these three months, please read another by that author. Reading a book by that author and not finishing it doesn't count, for this challenge.

Please indicate which book you read. If your November read has multiple authors, say Hillary Clinton and Louise Penny, your Aug to Oct read could have been by either of them.

>21 elkiedee: I will not accept a foreign word for the word "police" (ex. polizei). However, if that book has a corresponding copy in English with the qualifying word "police" in English, I will accept that. The English word or phrase as listed on the English copy of that book must be listed.

I made this Rule #7 in message 1 above.

>14 Morphidae: >15 Citizenjoyce: QUILTBAG?! What a weird word to introduce to our vocabulary! I can see why it didn't catch on. It sounds kind of offensive to me. This is the first I've heard of it.

>25 SqueakyChu: Thank you for answering my question patiently, and I'm sorry if I failed to read your challenge properly.

>25 SqueakyChu: I read only in Dutch, so "police" can never occur on a book I read. I assumed the Dutch word for police would qualify on a Dutch book. It is impossible to check if the back of an English edition has the same tekst.

>26 SqueakyChu: Question away! No problem. Sometimes I can't even understand a challenge itself!! Yours was a vaild question which I hadn't even taken into consideration.

One thing I find funny is that, no matter how many rules I post, someone always finds an entry that is not covered by my rules. I think it is easier to select a book if we can understand exactly what is requested. It helps to clarify what we don't understand. Thanks for asking!

>28 FAMeulstee: Would you choose a book with the dutch word for police in the title so the English translation of the book title would include the word police? Let me know! :)

Expanding my knowledge here:
"politie" is the Dutch word for "police"

*still pondering this request*

>30 SqueakyChu: I found a book with "politie" on the backcover, and hoped that could be placed in your challenge.
And the other one is not translated.

>28 FAMeulstee: Okay, I'll relent. You can use the word "politie", but ONLY you since you never read any books in English.

I'll change rule #7. :D

You're good. Your entry is now acceptable! :D

>32 SqueakyChu: I'm pleased to see this, as I do feel it's fair to allow direct translation words in titles but not , say, all the colloquial words.

I always think that a double o (OO) looks like a pair of eyes. So this one is in honour of Madeline's cataract surgery
Challenge #9: Read a book with OO in the title or author's name

>:-D

The letters do need to be next to each other in a word, they can't break over more than one word - because then they don't look like a pair of eyes.

ETA: And if you have a pair of zeros (00), that will also work.

>32 SqueakyChu: Thank you, Madeline!
With your rule you cover now English (police), French (also police), German (polizei) and Dutch (politie). I don't think any other languages are common in the TIOLI group ;-D

>16 elkiedee: Yes, you can certainly share any reads that are listed in Challenge #5.

>22 lyzard: Since the point of my challenge is to read books that you have commited to, yes, you can list any book that you are commited to read.

>23 SqueakyChu: I am addicted to book challenges and have taken on more than I should.

>33 elkiedee: Well, the reason I relented on this one is because, if one challenger ONLY reads in a language other than English, the word "police" is NEVER going to be in ANY books in that language. That sort of narrows the challenger's book choice down to zero! :O

>34 Helenliz: LOL! Thanks!

Goodness gracious! Is it time for November, already?!

>35 FAMeulstee: I loosened up Rule #7 a bit more (thanks to you) as I know paulstalder will be taking a peek in here before too long! :D

>38 Carmenere: Yep! :D

Challenge #10: Read a book that can be found at LibraryThing in at least 3 languages

List (at least) 3 languages.
You can find this under "Work details" (bottom of the page).

>8 Citizenjoyce: I've got a book in a Turkish mystery series by Mehmet Murat Somer which features gay and trans sleuths. Unfortunately, no one seems to have put in a LGBTQ or even a QUILTBAG tag for this.

>34 Helenliz: I'm also reading a book called The Baseball 100. No double letter O's but the 00 in the number 100 still look like eyes.

>35 FAMeulstee: Ahem, the Swedish Word is ”polis” (but I usually just state the English title).

>42 PawsforThought: Sorry I forgot to mention you, Paws.

>36 DeltaQueen50:

Thanks, Judy! Very helpful. :)

>41 lindapanzo: probably this isn't the way the other tag challenges work, but if the book fits the tag then you can be the first to use it, and it will fit the challenge.

>42 PawsforThought: LOL! That's another way of doing it! I'll add the Swedish word.

>45 Citizenjoyce: Thanks!! I don't think I especially cared for the first one but, at the time, I thought I'd give it another chance someday.

Challenge #11:

Read a book by an author whose surname ends in the suffix '-son'

Hopefully self-explanatory. :)

Challenge #12: Read a title where the adjective immediately follows a noun

For example, The Color Purple would work since Color is a noun and Purple can be used as an adjective. I realize that there are languages such as Spanish where the adjective normally follows the noun it is describing and I will accept titles in these languages - as long as you read the book in that particular language.

Challenge #13: Read a book by an indigenous author or featuring 1 or more indigenous characters

November is Native American Heritage Month in the US. I'm taking it a bit more global by challenging y'all to read a book by an author from or about people/characters from ANY indigenous group as defined by Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_indigenous_peoples

I'll be reading When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through, an anthology of poetry edited by Joy Harjo, the current US Poet Laureate and a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation. For something a little lighter, I may also pick up a romance novel by Kathleen Eagle, whose husband is Lakota Sioux and whose books defy many of the usual stereotypes for romances with Native American heroes.

Here are some links with lists of other possibilities:

https://chireviewofbooks.com/2019/11/18/22-books-by-indigenous-writers-to-read-r...

https://reedsy.com/discovery/blog/native-american-authors

https://www.powells.com/featured/2020-indigenous-authors

Folks, thank you everyone for your good wishes regarding my cataract surgery. The second one (and last) is done. I told the nurses that I'm glad I don't have three eyes. I'm tired of this already! :D

In about a month, when both eyes are fully healed, I'll be getting new glasses so I'll be able to see again. Lucky for all of you, I can see my computer screen and keyboard pretty well so I'll be around in the meantime. Ha!

>51 SqueakyChu: Hurrah for completed cataract surgery! I remember when my grandmother had hers - mum and I were allowed to watch, which was a very cool thing for a 12-ish-year-old to experience.

>52 PawsforThought: To watch the surgery? Wow! I'm not sure I'd go for that, although I guess I did watch mine...from the inside out as I was awake during the surgery. It was weird!

>54 PawsforThought: Yes, we were in a little room next door with a big window into the operating room, and could see everything on a screen next to the operating table. It was very cool. And quite gross.

>54 PawsforThought: Yeah. As a student nurse I scrubbed in on operations, but that was in the 1960's so I remember very little of it. I don't remember seeing an eye operation, that would have made me squeamish, I'm sure.

>51 SqueakyChu: So glad the surgery is done and successful!!

>56 alcottacre:. Me, too!! :)

>51 SqueakyChu: So glad the surgery is done, Madeline, and that it went well. Yay!!

>8 Citizenjoyce: How do you do a search for two tags at once? I can never remember where tagmash is or how to find it or do it.

>51 SqueakyChu: Congratulations. That's a weight off your shoulders, and a cloud off your eyes. Life is getting better and better.

>59 Helenliz: I can never remember either, but I'm sure someone here can refresh our memories.

>51 SqueakyChu: Glad the cataract surgery is done, Madeline!

>59 Helenliz: >61 Citizenjoyce: I know two ways to get to tagmash:
Through the LT searchbox, at the upper right of any page. If you search "crime, lgbt" there, you get as first result under "Tags" "See a tagmash of crime, lgbt. Tagmashes show the works that best represent two or more tags together." Click and you are at desired tagmash.

Or click any tag at a work page, at the tag-page on the right (scroll a bit down if needed) are suggested tagmashes. Click on one of the tagmashes. Now you are on the tagmash page, and can fill any tagmash right under "Try another tagmash?" on the right.

>62 FAMeulstee: Wow, look at all the tagmashes.

>51 SqueakyChu: Hooray! I hope your recovery is quick and smooth.

>60 Citizenjoyce: >62 FAMeulstee: >64 susanna.fraser: Thank you so much! I’m spending the evening peeking at a soccer game through the holes in my eye shield! Later I’ll read easier than I have in years!

>50 susanna.fraser: I have some books by Craig Strete, his father was Cherokee. I can't find English sources about this, but the German wikipedia mentions it. He seems to be known better in Germany and the Netherlands, than in the USA.
Would he qualify as indigenous author?

>49 alcottacre: Would Adress unknown work for your challenge?
The Dutch translation is exactly the same.

Wonderful news, Madeline! Cataract surgery gave my mom a whole new lease on life. I hope the same for you.

>67 FAMeulstee: Yes, it would, Anita. I double-checked Merriam-Webster just to be sure that unknown is an adjective.

>98 Morphidae: Thank you. I hope so too!

>66 FAMeulstee: Yes, that would be fine. (My husband and son are Cherokee, by the way.)

Challenge #14: Read a book with a title that refers to a woman or women

By name, by pronoun, by gender. Those, they, them, are fine if no men are referenced. Trans women included.

>72 quondame: Does it have to be an adult woman? I was thinking of The Blackbird Girls but wanted to be sure it would fit, Susan.

>73 alcottacre: That works. I'm just avoiding the f word. Literal bitches don't qualify. Literary ones do.

>72 quondame: Would the word "sisters" count?

>74 quondame: Thanks for letting me know, Susan!

>49 alcottacre: Can we just read the title, or do we have to read the whole book?

Just kidding, of course! :D

>77 SqueakyChu: Ha ha, very funny, Madeline :)

>75 PawsforThought: Yes.

Challenge #15: Read a book with a connection to The Chieftains, in memory of Paddy Moloney 1938-2021

Last Word is a programme of obituaries for a few interesting people (and some not so much) who have died recently. Today's included Paddy Moloney, founding member of the Irish folk group The Chieftains - he died in hospital on 12 October 2021 aged 83, but it seems from Twitter etc that his death has only just been announced. Anyway, the challenge is to read a book that can be connected in some way to the Chieftains. This shouldn't be too complicated because there are lots of possibilities. Here are some examples. You are welcome to be creative/ask about others:

A book or work

1. with a title inspired by any song recorded by the Chieftains, eg on an album or on a video available online - I watched an excellent BBC documentary via YouTube earlier. Examples: Long Black Veil, She Walks These Hills, The Fields of Athenry

2. with the word Chieftain in the title

2. with an author or character called Paddy or Moloney, or sharing a name with other band members (Seán Potts, Michael Tubridy, David Fallon, Martin Fay, Peadar Mercier Seán Keane, Derek Bell, Ronnie McShane)

3. by or about any artist/band the Chieftains recorded or worked with

4. containing references to the band or any of the songs they've performed - eg someone going to a gig, playing a recording, singing a Chieftains song

5. set in 1938 (Paddy Moloney's year of birth) or 1962

6. with a musician who plays the tin whistle

7. with an epigraph or quotations from songs performed etc by the Chieftains

>79 quondame: I thought it might, but wanted to double check. Thank you!

My last month's reads - thanks to Stasia for sharing 3 reads with me and Linda for sharing The Lincoln Highway - Linda listed it but I was already reading it. I enjoyed I'd Rather Be Reading, Great Circle and The Lincoln Highway very much too. All in all, a really high quality month of reading, ending with 3 4.5* books in a row. I'm listing last month's reads because some of them might well fit into Challenge 3.

FINISHED IN OCTOBER

Rebecca Pawel, Law of Return - #8
Anne Bogel, I'd Rather Be Reading - #14 - SHARED READ
Katherine Rundell, Why You Should Read Children's Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise - #13
Willy Vlautin, The Night Always Comes - #7
Christopher Duggan, Fascist Voices - #8
Philip Pullman, Lyra's Oxford - #11
Maggie Shipstead, Great Circle - SHARED READ #3
Amor Towles, The Lincoln Highway - SHARED READ - #7
Taylor Jenkins Reid, Malibu Rising - #3
Frances Brody, A Snapshot of Murder
Frances Brody, Kate Shackleton's First Case
Lucy Mangan, Are We Having Fun Yet? - #9
editor Sinead Gleeson, The Glass Shore - #5
Sigrid Nunez, What Are You Going Through - #13
Sally Rooney, Beautiful World, Where Are You? - #12

FINISHED NOVEMBER 2021

Mary Lawson, A Town Called Solace - #11
Nadifa Mohamed, The Fortune Men - #3
Lucy Caldwell, Intimacies: Eleven More Stories - #2
Julia Alvarez, In the Time of the Butterflies - #10
Sally Rooney, Colour and Light - short story - #8
Harriet Evans, The Beloved Girls - #14
Tahmima Amam, The Startup Wife -- #2
Elaine di Rollo, A Proper Education for Girls - #14
Miriam Margolyes, This Much is True - #2
Charlotte Gordon, Romantic Outlaws - #14
Helen Simpson, Cockfosters - #11
K M Peyton, Snowfall - #3
S A Cosby, Razorblade Tears - #4 - SHARED READ
Ruth Jones, Never Greener - #5

CURRENTLY READING

Louise Erdrich, The Sentence
Gabriela Garcia, Of Women and Salt
Jessica Fellowes, Bright Young Dead
Elly Griffiths, The Midnight Hour
Selina Todd, Snakes and Ladders: The Great British Social Mobility Myth
Zadie Smith, Grand Union
Jacqueline Woodson, Red at the Bone
Jeremy Mercer, Books, Baguettes and Bedbugs
Jennifer Donnelly, Stepsister
Katherine Heiny, Standard Deviation

NEXT UP:

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Notes on Grief

Alright, the month has started and I’ve added in all the books I hope to read in the challenges.

Challenge #5: Read a book that helps you complete a 2021 challenge you are working on
Howl's Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones
Challenge #9: Read a book with OO in the title or author's name
The Green Mill Murder - Kerry Greenwood
Challenge #10: Read a book that can be found at LibraryThing in at least 3 languages
The Crime at Black Dudley - Margery Allingham
Challenge #14: Read a book with a title that refers to a woman or women
Wyrd Sisters - Terry Pratchett

If (miraculously) I end up having more time on my hands, I’ll add one or more of these.
Challenge #7: Read a book where another book title is also shown on the front cover
Anne of Green Gables - Lucy Maud Montgomery
Challenge #8: Read a book by an author of a book you finished in the past 3 months
N or M? - Agatha Christie
Let Sleeping Vets Lie - James Herriot
Challenge #11: Read a book by an author whose surname ends in the suffix '-son'
Silent Spring - Rachel Carson

>1 SqueakyChu: 7. NO foreign words for police may be used with the exception of "politie" (Dutch), "polis" (Swedish/Swiss) or "polizei" (German).
I assume that you also accept the French word "police" .... :)

Challenge #16: Read a book in which a sunken ship or the recovery of a sunken treasure plays a role

After the birthday party and the viewing of the gifts (not Gifte!), I go to the coast for some holidays. There I hear about sunken ships and the treasures which await the treasure hunters, intriguing stories. So I challenge myself and you to read such a book: sunken ships and/or their treasure play a role in such a book. Not just a mere mention of a sunken ship near that rock.
Indicate the location of the sunken ship/treasure in the wiki (well, yes, AFTER you have recovered the treasure...)

# Bretonische Brandung (Glénan Islands, France) - Jean-Luc Bannalec

>11 DeltaQueen50: Judy, while not really a challenge, for the first time in two years, I won an Early Reviewers book. Would something like that count? How about the Net Galley books I must read and review?

>85 paulstalder: Would Meet Me in Atlantis: My Obsessive Quest to Find the Sunken City by Mark Adams qualify? The city itself would be the treasure, though I'm pretty sure he doesn't find it.

>85 paulstalder: Would a book that has multiple treasures work, Paul? My husband is from Louisiana, so I was thinking of reading Tales of Louisiana Treasure, the subtitle of which is "legends & stories, fact & fiction, concerning Louisiana's lost, buried & sunken treasures."

>87 Citizenjoyce: >88 alcottacre: yes, as long as there is a treasure in a sunken ship/boat, a sunken city alone is not what I have in mind

>89 paulstalder: Thanks, Paul. Since the subtitle of the book indicates that there is "sunken treasures," I am sure it will qualify.

>90 alcottacre: dive for the ship ....

>8 Citizenjoyce: I've just finished my book for challenge #4 and whilst it is tagged LGBT, having finished it I'm not sure if it really is an LGBT book. So I think it meets the letter of your challenge but not the spirit - do you want me to move it somewhere else?

>92 souloftherose: I'll leave it up to you to decide if it truly is LGBT.

>92 souloftherose: Please keep it where it is! I'm halfway through it and don't have anything else lined up for this challenge! LGBT, yes, but Crime, no.

>93 Citizenjoyce: Thank you.

>94 quondame: I was dithering about it but I think there are two LGBT characters in the book even though it's not really to the forefront of the story so will leave it where it is.

Re the crime tag, the crimes are being committed rather than solved but to me that counts :-)

>95 souloftherose: I'm told the TV series based on the books qualifies more for the tag. We weren't the taggers, so any miss-tagging wasn't for our sake.

>95 souloftherose: I am glad to hear you are leaving it as is too as I am slated to read that one this month - I literally just got it from the library today.

Can you read Six of Crows before Shadow and Bone?

>98 Morphidae: There aren't any references to other or previous stories in Six of Crows. I was told it is a the start of a prequel series.

Since I spend so much time bitching about what goes wrong with my TIOLI plans, I thought it was only right that I should report a nice piece of serendipity: that The Secret Of Skeleton Island, which I was planning on reading anyway, fits Paul's sunken treasure challenge, for which I didn't otherwise have a book---whoo! :)

(It's a good quick read if anyone else needs a book for this challenge.)

>100 lyzard: Nice! ...and...Hurray!!

>100 lyzard: I would join you if only my local library had a copy of that one! Congratulations on the serendipity, Liz!

>100 lyzard: I love when that happens.

>102 alcottacre:

Thanks! I can point you to an ebook if that works for you?

>103 Citizenjoyce:

It's so rare I had to mark the occasion! :D

>104 lyzard: Thanks anyway, Liz, but unless I absolutely have to, I hate using e-books. I have one for that particular challenge, I just wanted a shared read if I could get one.

>105 alcottacre:

Me too! :D

>98 Morphidae:, >99 quondame: Six of Crows is set a few years after the Shadow and Bone series but it definitely works on its own - you don't need to have read Shadow and Bone.

Just a heads up in case anyone's interested - I have gone on to read the sequel Crooked Kingdom and listed that in challenge #9 this month.

>100 lyzard: great !

>107 souloftherose: Not sure if I will get to Crooked Kingdom this month, but if I like Six of Crows I will definitely get to the sequel soon. My month is shorter than it would be this month because I will be out of town at the end and have to have all my TIOLI books, especially library books, read before the 29th.

>108 paulstalder:

A very pleasant surprise! :)

>19 wandering_star:

Maybe not entirely self-explanatory? :D

Does it have to be a geographical map, or (for example) would a mystery with a map of the crime scene or a diagram of the "murder house" qualify?

>111 lyzard: A map of the crime scene would qualify. A handwritten map, a detailed map, an outline map - all fine. I think something which shows where rooms are in a house is a plan (or as you say a diagram) rather than a map.

>112 wandering_star:

Okay, thanks!

Anita, thank you so much for listing Address Unknown for Challenge #12 so I could share it with you. I'd never heard of it before. It's an example of my dislike of the idea that you have to consider the politics of the time before judging what an author writes. In 1938 we in the USA were doing our best, successfully, to ignore the horror Hitler was inflicting on his own people, but kathrine Kressmann Taylor wasn't. We always hope authors have open eyes and can see maybe parts of the world that our blinkered eyes ignore. Taylor, in this little novella, saw it all and told the world about it.

>114 Citizenjoyce: You are welcome, Joyce. I just found Address Unknown while searching in the e-library for the challenges. The summary sounded good, so I went for it. I was pleasantly surprised how good this short novella was.
Our little country did the same: ignore. The first Dutch translation was published in 1939. After the Germans took over in 1940 the book was banned, and most copies destroyed. A few years ago it was re-published.

(deleted - posted in this thread in error)

TIOLI Question of the Month:

How important is it to you to remember what you read? Do you do anything special to remember certain books? Of the books you've read so far this month, which one is the most memorable? Why?

>117 SqueakyChu: My memory is usually fairly good but when it comes to books, it’s atrocious. I know I’ve read certain books but could describe even the most basic outline of the plot in many cases. I don’t really care, I still remember how I felt about it and specific details stay with me. I don’t think it’s very important to remember what I read, but maybe that just bias. In fact, I find it convenient to forget because that means I can re-read books and not be spoiled by knowing the ending (very convenient with mystery novels).

>117 SqueakyChu: I usually do remember my books but I don't usually go back and pick my favorite or most memorable book of the month. This month, that would be State of Terror by Louise Penny and Hillary Clinton. Why? It's a fast-paced political thriller written by my favorite author, Louise Penny, with loads of insight into the inner workings of the State Department from Hillary Clinton.

It's rare that my dearest friends and I read the same book at the same time but, whenever there's a new Louise Penny book, we do. This adds tremendously to my enjoyment.

Best of all, from my perspective at least, it looks like Louise and Hillary have left things open to a future book. I hope they do it.

I have found that since I started to write small reviews of the books that I read I do remember them more than I used to. Of course, some books are more memorable than others. This month, although it isn't my favorite book of the month, I do believe I will remember The Stranger by Albert Camus. It certainly gives the reader lots to ponder upon.

>117 SqueakyChu: I have a shockingly bad memory for books, and it's not just age - I started reading Agatha Christie at 11 and it didn't take long to find that I very quickly forgot in many cases whodunit )with a few famous exceptions which did something a bit unusual). How much that bothers me depends on the book and the circumstances in which I've read it. It's sometimes not been a bad thing when I've wanted to read a book again, but I'd like to have been able to remember for study purposes, for discussion group books and when I need to write a review! Earlier this year I read a biography of Barbara Pym and was shocked to see from LT records that I read some of her books not once but twice between 2010 and 2013, and already I've still forgotten huge amounts about them.

This is a major reason to me to enjoy rereading and consider it always the possibility, especially if I remember really liking a book I've previously read but very little else. There are also some books I might well get more out of on a reread.

I kept reading records on my computers but not online before 2010 and as a result I've lost most of them, so I do like being able to look up what I've read since late 2009/ January 2010. I started cataloguing my books at the end of 2009 and think I managed to work out pretty well what I'd read during the year - I read far fewer books than I did in many years before and after, and my 49 book total included the whole of one 10 book series and books #3 to #7 of another.

Some books stay with me, I even remember little details, others not so much.
With every book I have read since 2008, I write a (very) short review on my thread, going back there sometimes helps to remember.

This months most memorable book was The swimming pool library by Alan Hollinghurst.

>118 PawsforThought: I find it convenient to forget because that means I can re-read books and not be spoiled by knowing the ending

LOL!

I am so totally shocked at how little I remember of what I read. Like you, I do know how a certain book made me feel and whether or not I liked it or even loved it.

I really appreciate that here in LT I can put down the ending of novels plus other notes such as plot points in my private notes so that not all I read is lost. Sometimes I even forget that I've read an entire book (but fortunately, not too often). That shocks me even more!

Ironically I'm now reading Remember by Lisa Genova. :D

Like Anita, I try to review every book I read. I started doing that on my pc before there even was a LibraryThing. Someone on a sort of primitive (by today's standards) book groups suggested that I do so. I am so glad I did. I have tranferred a few of those reviews to LT and probably should do all of them at some point (but probably will never get to it).

The October 2021 TIOLI stats

The stats are stable! We read a total of 254 books, with 43 (16%) being shared reads. We have a YTD October total of 241 TIOLI points which is the lowest ever October YTD TIOLI point accumulation, but this trend will continue at least through the end of the year.

The most popular book. read by 4 challengers, was The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles.

The most popular challenge, with 47 books, was the one by @Morphidae to read a book for the Trick or Treat challenge.

The challenges with the most TIOLI points, each a total of 4, were these:
--Mine (@SqueakyChu) to read a book that pictures something with wings on its cover
--the one by @avatiakh to read a book that is on an LT List

Ever onward, challengers!

>117 SqueakyChu: I just don't remember much, so it's a survival adaption for remembering not to be that important. This month so far, among first time reads, it's a toss up between The Last Graduate and The Memory of Babel - both are middle books in series I want to read more of, so keeping some memory of them will help.

>117 SqueakyChu: I am pretty good about remembering my reads. I picked up a book this month, There There, and as I was reading it I said, I have read this before. I could not remember the title, but the first chapter resonated with me. I checked and sure enough, I read it last year.

ETA: My most memorable read thus far this month is Autumn by Ali Smith, which is kind of ironic as it is a re-read for me.

>117 SqueakyChu: I forget so much of what I read, but frequently I'll be confronted with a situation and remember something pertinent to the situation and know the knowledge came from a book, but won't remember what book. I also forget completely that I've read a book until I get into it. Most surprising to me is that I'll forget a major, jarring plot point. Wouldn't you think if you were surprised the first time you read a book you'd see something big coming? This month I reread Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng because I've recently heard so many people talking about it, but I couldn't remember what it was about. In fact, I got it completely mixed up with Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and was surprised I was liking it so much since I wasn't particularly thrilled with Americanah. Then comes a major plot point that I'm sure made a big impression on me the first time around, and it made just as big an impression this time. It's nice to know I'm not the only one.

>127 Citizenjoyce: It's nice to know I'm not the only one.

Exactly. LOL!

I'm dreadful at forgetting what I've read. I think it took me 50 pages of Decline and fall before it started ringing a bell. So I review for me, memory joggers and what I thought having finished it. I also like to see when I read something.

There are some that stick in the memory, those are usually the special one.

Some books stay better with me than others. I find I can remember better if I take notes, so sometimes I do that. But who wants to take notes all the time? So I don't.

The really good ones I remember.

I've been keeping track of the books I've read, going back to the summer of 1976. It started as a class project over the summer for a HS English class. Thanks to LT, it's easier and searchable. That said, if I look back, most of the mysteries I've read tend to blur together.

I logged books read for a time, but then I quit until LT. I wish I had begun recording around middle school and continued for my entire life, but I didn't. As far as being able to remember plots, it really depends on the book. Some are more memorable than others. Others I don't realize I read previously until the plot seems "oh, so familiar." Now I try to include a brief plot summary with some comments so I'll remember them better--or at least so I can go read my comments.

>117 SqueakyChu: I usually remember the fact that I've read a book, how I feel about the characters, and my general impression of it. Detailed plot points don't stick as well in my brain, at least not on a first reading, which can be a problem if I try to read a sequel a year or more later. The series I really love, I'll read again and again, which serves to engrave plot points on my brain, eventually.

The most memorable book I've read so far this month is Wholehearted Faith by Rachel Held Evans. It was posthumously published after her very untimely death in 2019--she was just 37, and IIRC she had a bad case of the flu, followed by a bad reaction to medication after she was hospitalized, and it just cascaded from there in all the wrong ways--and it makes me mourn all the more for the decades of books she could've written.

Some books are more memorable than others. I do like to keep track of books read and I do think writing short reviews also helps. I am not against a reread but there are sooo many books I still want to read that it is hard to commit to a reread.

October 2021 TIOLI Awards!

The Vocabulary Builder Award goes to @souloftherose for reading The Harbors of the Sun for my (@SqueakyChu's) challenge to read a book that pictures something with wings on its cover. Well, this book pictured a raksura on its front cover. What's that?! It's a shape-shifter able to transform himself into a winged creature of flight. Cool!

The Doom and Gloom Award goes to @lindapanzo for the challenge to read a book that involves a disaster and to @quondame for the challenge to read a book with a title associated with death. Hope our holiday season brings a bit more cheer!

The SSSSSSS Award (Ha!) goes to @bell7 for reading A Sky Beyond the Storm and to @countrylife for reading Sunflower Sisters for the challenge by DeltaQueen to read a book in which at least one of the title words begins with an “S”. Only a Single "S" in the book title did not Satisfy our two award winners in this case. :D

The Love Exploring LT Award goes to @avatiakh for the challenge to read a book that is on an LT List. I like this challenge because it allows challengers to further explore all of the nooks and crannies in our amazing LibraryThing!

The Shared Read Extravanganza Award goes to @dallenbaugh for the challenge to read a book by an author of Hispanic heritage. This challenge was 75% shared reads! Full disclosure: The shared book was Afterlife, and they were three of the four books listed for this challenge. :D

The Draw Me a Picture Award goes to @susanna.fraser for reading Taproot for the challenge by AlcottAcre to read a book whose title would make a good name for a Superhero. I was wondering what Taproot would look like. Who wants to volunteer to draw me a picture of this super-hero?

Congrats to our award winners! Please feel free to add awards of your own at this time.

>135 SqueakyChu: Thanks! My drawing skills are nonexistent, but I was picturing something like Groot from the Guardians of the Galaxy movies or the Ents from Lord of the Rings.

>135 SqueakyChu: Thank you! Yep, doom and gloom, that's me.

>135 SqueakyChu: Thanks Madeline. This has been another year of gloom and doom.

>135 SqueakyChu: Thank you Madeline - a sneaky way to get at 75%

>135 SqueakyChu: Congratulations to all of the award winners!

>135 SqueakyChu: Thanks Madeline. I like the LT Lists feature.

I have completed a SWEEP!!

I have also completed a neat, one book per challenge, no books unlisted reading month: do we have a term for that?? :D

>142 lyzard: Congratulations! That is very impressive.

>142 lyzard: Excellent!

>142 lyzard: Congratulations!
A clean sweep? ;-)

>142 lyzard: >145 FAMeulstee: Wow, Liz! That's great. Yes, Anita...I second a clean sweep. LOL!!

>143 PawsforThought:, >144 Helenliz:, >145 FAMeulstee:, >146 SqueakyChu:

Thank you all very much!

>145 FAMeulstee:

Oh, yes, I like that! Well done, Anita!

>142 lyzard: Congratulations. Cleanliness is next to ...

>142 lyzard: Congratulations, Liz!

I just went through to make sure that I had marked all the books that I read this month as "Completed" (I finished the last one tonight) and I think I had a sweep this month too - for the first time. I am fairly sure that I have never done it before.

>150 alcottacre: Nice! Congratulations!!

>151 SqueakyChu: Thanks, Madeline!

>150 alcottacre: Congratulations.

>150 alcottacre: Congratulations!

>150 alcottacre: Comgratulations, Stasia!
Actually it is your second sweep. I think your first, in August 2010, went by unnoticed.

>153 Citizenjoyce: >154 quondame: Thanks, Joyce and Susan!

>155 FAMeulstee: Well, I obviously did not notice it, lol. Thanks, Anita!

>150 alcottacre:

Whoo, Stasia!

>156 alcottacre:

I'm sure we weren't thinking in terms of 'sweeps' back then, clean or otherwise! :D

>157 lyzard: Thanks, Liz!

Housekeeping Day!

Remember to remove any books from this month's wiki that are not completed by midnight tonight (except for rolling challenges in which your book should simply be marked DNF. I'll be seeing all of you again in December's Challenge!

A comment about my book for Challenge 14: Read a book with a title that refers to a woman or women. The title of the book is Em, a word which in Vietnamese (the author tells us) can mean the woman in a couple. It's not the name of a person.