Take It or Leave It Challenge - April 2026

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 April, 2026, is to

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Read a nonfiction book about a living person whose name you currently see in the news
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Only one rule that I can think of...
1. The book does not have to be authored by the person it discusses.

Hmmm?! This seems like too easy of a challenge from someone like me...but it's your challenge for April. LOL! Enjoy your chosen book!

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Other Stuff (not part of the TIOLI challenge):
1. @FAMeulstee's Our TIOLI Sweeps - maintained by @alcottacre
2. Morphidae's List of Previous TIOLI Challenges (2010-2016) - A reference (Do a control-F scan) to avoid repeating previous challenges. If your idea is similar to a previous challenge, make it unique by adding a new "twist" to it. (Exception: Any challenge previously entered by FAMeulstee)
3. Shared Read Suggestions - (Optional) Plan shared reads by listing books you intend to read
4. The April 2026 TIOLI Meter - (Optional) Track your TIOLI reading. Not competitive--- just fun!

Index of Challenges:

Challenges #1-6
1. Read a nonfiction book about a living person whose name you currently see in the news - msg #1
2. Read a 2025 Nebula finalist, or a book that shares a title word of 4 or more letters with a finalist - msg #3
3. Read a book for the rolling FANBOYS conjunction challenge - msg #4
4. Read a book with a year in the title - msg #5
5. Read a book with a birth or death in the title - msg #6
6. Read a book whose title is the name of one of the book's characters - msg #7

Challenges #7-12
7. Read a book where the word "sky" is in the title - msg #8
8. Read a book with a title that includes at least one of these words, “what, when, where, why, or whose" - msg #9
9. Read a book whose title reads as a Dreadful Warning (or otherwise sounds Deeply Ominous) - msg #10
10. Read a book by a female author that has been a finalist for at least two awards in 2025/2026 - msg #13
11. Read a work by an author whose first and last initials are from the 13 least commonly used letters of the English alphabet: M, W, F, G, Y, P, B, V, K, J, X, Q, Z - msg #15
12. Read a book by an author featured in the 2017 American Authors challenge - msg #18

Challenges #13-18
13. Read a book about helping people through death - msg #25
14. Read a book from or inspired by something on the wishlist of laytonwoman3rd - msg #42
15. Read a book by a queer author - msg #52
16. Read a book that you listed in a previous 2026 TIOLI challenge - msg #56
17. Read a book with a bird in the title or on the cover - msg #61
18. Read a book which contains 50 or more words in the first sentence - msg #63

Challenges #19-23
19. Read a book with cover artwork that can be considered to belong to the still life genre - msg #68
20. Read a classic children’s book - msg #6
21. Read a book set in a library - msg #86
22. Read a book that starts with the letter A - msg #92
23. Read a book that has (color)(noun) in the title - msg #104

Hold your challenge until the May TIOLI thread is posted. Thank you.

Wow, look at me finding the new thread first! That rarely happens...

Challenge #2: Read a 2025 Nebula finalist, or a book that shares a title word of 4 or more letters with a finalist

Self-serving challenge to make sure I'll have a home for all the Nebula finalists I'll be reading over the next few weeks. The list of finalists is here: https://www.sfwa.org/2026/03/15/nebula-awards-finalist-announcement/

Here are all the 4+ letter title words you can use. Embedded words are fine, but you have to use the whole word from the title:

Ain't
Alavira
Always
Author
Automatic
Because
Bedfellows
Begin
Blue
Bold
Buffalo
Care
Carmilla
Change
Cherry
Clair
Come
Country
Dead
Death
Demon
Descent
Disgraced
Dispatch
Drifting
Eaten
Echoes
Ends
Eternal
Everything
Expedition
Eyes
Fishflies
Flip
Friends
Gemini
Girl
Goblin
Great
Hades
Held
Helen
Hollow
Hunter
Hunters
Incandescent
Infinity
Into
Island
Katabasis
Killing
Knight
KPop
Laser
Life
Lifelong
Lightning
Like
Lion
Machine
Magic
Marsh
Mary
Monsters
Mountains
Mourning
Murderbot
Name
Needle
Never
Noodle
Obscur
Pavlou
People
Pluribus
Prince
Real
Reaping
Register
Return
Reviewed
Revise
Rising
River
Robot
Robots
Roots
Said
School
Second
Severance
Shelley
Shift
Side
Silksong
Sinners
Songbook
Sons
Sour
Spire
Stone
Stoneshore
Strange
Sunrise
Superman
Surge
Tawlish
They
Though
Through
Through
Times
Titos
Tower
Uncertain
Vegetables
Wearing
Well
Were
When
Where
Wild
Wishing
World
Written
Wyndhorn
Ziya

Challenge #3: Read a book for the rolling FANBOYS conjunction challenge

For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, or So can be in the title, series name, author's name, or first paragraph.

Embedded is fine.

Please state in the wiki...
... the series name
...if the word is found in the first paragraph. Just "paragraph" or "1st para" or something similar.

The "Rule of Twos" (I just made it up!) applies.
===> No more than two openings before starting a new set.
===> No more than two sets at a time.

Enjoy!

Challenge #4: Read a book with a year in the title

Some examples of acceptable format:

--1961
--'61
--Nineteen Sixty One

I would even accept something like: 1960's, the Greatest Decade.

Years in subtitles are fine as well.

The number shown must refer to a year, and not just a number.

(You might note the many references above to 1961. Yes, I did turn 65 in March).

April's an odd month for me, my birthday is in the middle, my parents' deaths bracket it. Like I said, odd month.
Challenge 5: Read a book with a birth or death in the title
I will accept synonyms for either word. So you can have born or died, for example. Words may be embedded.

6. Read a book whose title is the name of one or more of the book's characters

Extra words are acceptable as long as they're describing the named character, eg My Uncle Napoleon, but not otherwise (so eg Dr Dolittle's Circus would not be eligible).

*** Challenge #7: Read a book with the word "sky" in the title***

This can be the actual word or it can be embedded.

Challenge #8 :Read a book with a title that includes at least one of these words, “what, when, where, why, or whose”

You can also use subtitles for this challenge.

Challenge #9: Read a book whose title offers a Dreadful Warning, or that otherwise sounds Deeply Ominous

A Dreadful Warning (yes, capitalization is intentional, to add to the drama!) is something direct -- eg There Will be Bodies. Something Deeply Ominous is just as unsettling but not directed at the reader, such as Last Night of the World.

Books with titles that obliquely hint at bad stuff or where the titles may be descriptive of something unpleasant or unsettling, eg The Hungry Season but don't rise to the level of Deeply Ominous, do not qualify. Nor do books that you may know contain Deeply Ominous content deserving a Dreadful Warning but whose titles just don't reflect that. Such as Louise Penny's Black Wolf. That could simply be a descriptor...

Just including the word "Death" in a mystery novel wouldn't qualify. But "Murder" would... :-)

Not allowing embedded words for this, as it's the total title that matters, not the specific words.

>10 Chatterbox: Suzanne, I've added a book to your challenge but I'm not sure if it is ominous enough. I can remove it if it doesn't fit.

>11 DeltaQueen50: Oh, I think it can squeeze in there. It's definitely ominous, if not deeply so. (of course had the author titled it "Avoid the Creepy Thing", it would have been a slam dunk as a "Dreadful Warning".) So, no problems!

Challenge #10: Read a book by a female author that has been a finalist for at least two awards in 2025/2026

This can be a Longlist, shortlist, or finalist. (please list the awards).

>12 Chatterbox: Thanks!

Challenge #11: Read a work by an author whose first and last initials are from the 13 least commonly used letters of the English alphabet: M, W, F, G, Y, P, B, V, K, J, X, Q, Z

I think this is pretty self-explanitory. Middles names/initials should be ignored.

>1 SqueakyChu: Would Margaret Atwood's new memoir count for this? Her name is occasionally in the news but not a regular feature

>10 Chatterbox: will The Wreck of the Mary Deare count for your Dreadful Warning challenge?

Challenge #12 - Read a book by an author featured in the 2017 American Authors challenge

Octavia Butler
Stewart O'Nan
William Styron
Zora Neale Hurston
Sherman Alexie
James McBride
Patricia Highsmith
Ann Patchett
Russell Banks
Poetry by an American poet
Short stories by an American author

>10 Chatterbox: AI says that Replaceable You sounds like a dreadful warning (abusive control) or deeply ominous (in the workplace). However, I'd like a human opinion. Does it fit or not?!

>19 cbl_tn: What?! You don’t trust AI?! *sarcasm*

>20 SqueakyChu: I think humans are irreplaceable!

>17 LoisB: >19 cbl_tn: I'm giving both of these a thumbs up!

>19 cbl_tn: and an extra LOL for asking AI before checking in here... :-)

>22 Chatterbox: Great!

>7 wandering_star: Would The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne work for this, or does it have to be a single character?

This kind of goes in tandem with #5 -
Challenge #13: Read a book about helping people through death.
This can be fiction or non-fiction - hospice care to guiding angels. I'll be reading George Saunders' newest, Vigil.

>24 bell7: I wasn't planning to allow multiple characters but that's such a great title that I've changed my mind! I'll update the challenge when I am next at my laptop.

>26 wandering_star: Yay, thank you!

>7 wandering_star: May we ignore subtitles? I'm thinking specifically of Eleanor: A 200-Mile Walk in Search of England's Lost Queen?

>9 dallenbaugh: May we use subtitles?

My thanks to you both!

>28 Dejah_Thoris: Yes, to the subtitles

>29 dallenbaugh: Thank you so much!

>28 Dejah_Thoris: I love how you're asking for the exact oppostie thing in 2 different challenges!

Interested to know what you make of the Eleanor. I live quite close to 2 of the best preserved Eleanor crosses.

>31 Helenliz: I started to add something about how incredibly contradictory I was being, but I didn't want to hurt my chances. ;)

I'm hoping Eleanor is good (obviously, lol). I know nothing of the author, but the trip and the topic both certainly sound like something I'd enjoy.

>28 Dejah_Thoris: yes, you can ignore subtitles

>27 bell7: I'm so sorry but I just realised it might not work anyway unless outlaw is part of their name?

>34 wandering_star: Oh I thought it would count as describing the character(s) such as your example of My Uncle Napoleon, but if it doesn't fit the parameters, that's perfectly fine.

>35 bell7: Sorry, you're right and I'd confused myself with my own rules! Please keep this book for the challenge and I'm sorry for being so flaky

>36 wandering_star: No worries! I'm glad it fits, it ups the chances that I will actually read the book before it's due.

>4 Morphidae: Asking as a newbie - is there information elsewhere on how this challenge works? Thanks!

>10 Chatterbox: Do you think Then She Was Gone would fit your challenge?

>38 JayneCM: Check the TIOLI FAQS link in message >1 SqueakyChu: above. That's how I figured it out.

>38 JayneCM: >40 laytonwoman3rd: Then come back to this thread and ask us any questions! Glad to have you with us!!

CHALLENGE #14 Read a book from, or inspired by, MY wishlist

There are 163 books on my wishlist. Read one of those, or a different book by one of the authors represented there. If you choose a different title than the one I have listed, it will count ONLY if you have not read that author's work before. If you pick the actual title I have listed, that restriction does not apply.

>42 laytonwoman3rd: is your link to your wishlist? It’s showing a lot more books than you mentioned. 3,628 books to be exact.

I’m clicking on the link on my phone. I wonder if that has something to do with it.

UPDATE: If I click on wishlist, I think it’s ok.

>43 lindapanzo: I was in my Wishlist collection when I copied the link, but I don't think it holds onto the collection, unfortunately. You will have to click on the Wishlist collection to get that limited list. Sorry about that.

>43 lindapanzo: as usual, I am lost! I’ve never used the Wishlist facility so I searched on this site for it. That didn’t seem to provide the list. Can you help?

>42 laytonwoman3rd: lol, you just want to have shared reads, and you can’t decide what to read next. Great plan!

>45 LoisB: It's not a site feature, as such---every user can make a collection called "Wishlist". Each person's is unique. You need to go to my catalog, through the link, then find my Wishlist collection. Another way would be to go to my profile page by clicking on my username above this message (or any message I post); there you will see all my collections--just click on the "wishlist" one there.

ETA: Try the link in >42 laytonwoman3rd: now. I've edited it and it will take you right to my Wishlist collection.

>44 laytonwoman3rd: If you do want a link with the collection selected, pick it and then scroll all the way to the bottom of the "Your Books" page. There's a "permanent link" there that should work for anyone. It'll keep various other things (like searches and sorting and I think the list vs cover view) too.

>48 antqueen: Thank you! I thought there ought to be such an option, but had never had any reason to look into it before. HERE it is! and it does work.

>46 raidergirl3: Is THAT what I'm doing? LOL! I really hadn't thought of that but if it works out that way, I'm good with it!

>39 JayneCM: Oh yes indeed, tremendously ominous that one is!

>47 laytonwoman3rd: thanks for fixing. Though I admit to being intrigued by the essays on summer and winter. I suspect you’ve already read those.

My planned reads:
Challenge #1: Read a nonfiction book about a living person whose name you currently see in the news - started by SqueakyChu
✔Ain't Nobody's Fool: The Life and Times of Dolly Parton by Martha Ackmann (4)
✔A Hymn to Life: Shame Has to Change Sides - Gisele Pelicot, Judith Perrignon (5)
***Lovely One - Ketanji Brown Jackson
Challenge #2: Read a 2025 Nebula finalist, or a book that shares a title word of 4 or more letters with a finalist - started by susanna.fraser
✔***The Incandescent - Emily Tesh (4)
✔***Katabasis - R. F. Kuang (4)
✔***We Begin at the End - Chris Whitaker (4)
Challenge #3: Read a book for the rolling FANBOYS conjunction challenge - started by Morphidae
✔The Breathing Method - Stephen King (4)
✔A Slow Fire Burning: A Novel - Paula Hawkins (4.5)
Challenge #4: Read a book with a year in the title - started by lindapanzo
***✔1776 - David McCullough (4)
Challenge 5: Read a book with a birth or death in the title - started by helenliz
✔Ina May's Guide to Childbirth - Ina May Gaskin (4.5)
Mindful Birthing: Training the Mind, Body, and Heart for Childbirth and Beyond - Nancy Bardacke
***And If I Perish: Frontline US Army Nurses in World War II- Evelyn M. Monahan and Rosemary Neidel-Greenlee
Challenge 6: Read a book whose title is the name of one (or more) of the book's characters - started by wandering_star (4)
***✔The Outlaws Scarlett & Browne - Jonathan Stroud
Challenge #7: Read a book where the word "sky" is in the title - started by DeltaQueen
***There are Rivers in the Sky - Elif Shafak abandoned
***✔Skylark - Paula McClain (4)
Challenge #8: Read a book with a title that includes at least one of these words, “what, when, where, why, or whose" - started by dallenbaugh
***✔When the Cranes Fly South - Lisa Ridzen (4)
Challenge #9: Read a book whose title reads as a Dreadful Warning (or otherwise sounds Deeply Ominous) - started by Chatterbox
***✔Replaceable You - Mary Roach (5)
✔Unspeakable Things: Silence, Shame, and the Stories We Choose to; Believe - Brooke Nevils (4.5)
Challenge #10: Read a book by a female author that has been a finalist for at least two awards in 2025/2026 - started by Kristelh
***✔A Guardian and a Thief- Megha Majumdar
Challenge #11: Read a work by an author whose first and last initials are from the 13 least commonly used letters of the English alphabet: M, W, F, G, Y, P, B, V, K, J, X, Q, Z - started by Dejah_Thoris
✔The Diamond Eye: A Novel - Kate Quinn (4)
Challenge #12: Read a book by an author featured in the 2017 American Authors challenge - started by cbl_tn
***✔The Sweet Hereafter - Russell Banks (5)
Challenge #13: Read a book about helping people through death - started by _Citizenjoyce
✔Vigil: A Novel - George Saunders (4)
Challenge #14: Read a book from oFr inspired by something on my wishlist - started by laytonwoman3rd
The Keeper: A Novel - Tana French
✔Mythos - Stephen Fry (5)
Challenge #15: Read a book by a queer author - started by lycomayflower
Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead: A Novel - Emily Austin
***✔Lady-Like - Mackenzi Lee (4.5)
Challenge #16: First Quarter Catchup - Read a book that you listed in a previous 2026 TIOLI challenge - started by avatiakh
✔The Wandering Queen: A Novel of Dido - Claire Heywood (4)
Challenge #17: Read a book with a bird in the title or on the cover - started by JayneCM
Imperfect Women: A Novel - Araminta Hall
✔Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage - Belle Burden (4.5)
CHALLENGE #18: Read a book which contains 50 or more words in the first sentence - started by Carmenere
***✔Understood Betsy - Dorothy Canfield Fisher (5)
Challenge #19: Read a book with cover artwork that can be considered to belong to the still life genre - Started by JeanneD
***The Story Collector - Evie Woods
Challenge #20: The Young at Heart Challenge: Read a classic children’s book - See this list - Started by AlcottAcre
Aesop's Fables - Aesop
Charlotte's Web - E. B. White
Challenge #21: Read a book set in a library - Started by thornton37814
The Lost Plot - Genevieve Cogman
Challenge #22: Read a book that starts with the letter A (first words) - Started by paulstalder
***✔Soyangri Book Kitchen - Kim Jee Hye (3.5)
Challenge #23: Read a book that has color, noun in the title - Started by quondame
***Black Wolves - Kate Elliott
***Red Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson
***✔The White Lady - Jacqueline Winspear (3.5)

>53 lindapanzo: I have not read those yet....I haven't had them very long.

====Challenge #16: First Quarter Catchup - Read a book that you listed in a previous 2026 TIOLI challenge

This is a catch up challenge for books we listed and then didn't manage to read in the Jan/Feb/Mar TIOLI challenges.

>40 laytonwoman3rd: >51 Chatterbox: Thank you!

>47 laytonwoman3rd: Thank you. The new link and your instructions worked great. Now to choose! I developed a summertime crush on a summer vacation on Cape Breton, so I’m leaning towards Island: the Complete Stories.

>58 LoisB: You can't go wrong with Alistair MacLeod. It may be time for a reread for me.

>6 Helenliz: Would 'dying' be ok for this challenge? Thanks. The book I have in mind is Dying Rose.

>61 JayneCM: Cand the birds by stylized? I want to read Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage by Belle Burden, which has two stylized birds on the cover.

>62 Citizenjoyce: They are recognisable as birds, so that is fine by me.

>60 JayneCM: I'm going to say yes. My instinct was no, but a search for synonmys for death came up with dying, so I'll accept it.

I'm intriged that we have a lot of death titles and only on birth. I didn't think it would that imbalanced! I almost made it an alternating challenge, good thing I decided against!

>64 JayneCM: Thanks.

>65 Helenliz: Thank you. My instinct was also no, as it is more the process of it happening rather than the end result (if that makes sense). So thank you for accepting it as I am reading this one for another challenge elsewhere.

*****CHALLENGE #19: Read a book with cover artwork that can be considered to belong to the still life genre*****

Art of the still life genre depicts mostly natural objects such as dead animals, flowers and leaves, food, plants, rocks, or shells and man-made objects such as baskets, books, bowls, cutlery, drinking glasses, fabric, musical instruments, plates, vases, etc.

For the purposes of this challenge, the still life must be
(1) Indoors
(2) Formally arranged
(3) Have no living animals other than insects
(4) Contain at least 4 different objects, excluding the surface on which they sit

Challenge #20: The Young at Heart Challenge: Read a classic children’s book - see list here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_children%27s_classic_books

I have no idea why my challenge is showing up funny on the wiki. . .

>68 jeanned: Would you consider the cover of The Story Collector for this challenge? My reservation is that the objects are arranged on a bookshelf - not sure if I would call that 'formally arranged'. Thanks.

>69 alcottacre: I fixed it, Stasia. Wiki markup can be funny at times.

>69 alcottacre: Hmmm, I tried to add my book and it went crazy! May need some expert intervention on that one!
I was waiting for this challenge to come up as I already had Little Lord Fauntleroy off my shelves in anticipation.

>71 SqueakyChu: Add it now, Jayne. I was fixing the wiki markup probably when you tried to enter your book.

>71 SqueakyChu: Beat me to my comment! We must have been typing at the same time. :)

>70 JayneCM: I wouldn't think artists could formally arrange dead fowl, but it's been done. So items arranged on a bookcase works for me. :)

>75 jeanned: Thank you. True, there are some quite interesting still life paintings out there - I wonder why people would want some of them on their walls.

>71 SqueakyChu: Thank you, Madeline. I tried 3 times to get it right and just could not get it correct.

>77 alcottacre: It was confusing to figure out what was wrong, Stasia, but I tried a few different things until it worked. All is now good!

>78 SqueakyChu: I appreciate the help, Madeline. I had no idea what was wrong!

>79 alcottacre: It had something to do with that "https" link you put in, Stasia. I kept changing that until I found something that worked!

Please, challengers. If you've never read Nineteen Eighty-Four before, now is the right time to read it. Put it in Challenge #4! The future is now! :`(

>80 SqueakyChu: Well, I very much appreciate it. I am afraid I would not have known where to start!

>81 SqueakyChu: Adding my name to Nineteen Eighty-Four for the challenge, Madeline! That is a great suggestion!

>81 SqueakyChu: I already had it in there! And now there are more - fantastic! It is a reread for me but I haven't read it since I was a teenager (many decades ago!)

>83 JayneCM: It's a pretty interesting movie as well...but everyone read the book first!

>84 SqueakyChu: Always the book first!

In honor of National Library Week

Challenge 21: Read a book set in a library.

I didn't see it on the 2010-2016 challenge list, and I'm not sure of since then. I have a twist or two if necessary.

>86 thornton37814: At this point, Lori, we've been doing TIOLI challenges for 16 years or 183 months or, if we have had at least 15 challenges per month, we've done at least 2,745 different challenges. Sooooo...if any challenger inadvertently repeats a challenge, I seriously doubt if I'd even know! LOL! Your challenge is good as it stands. Go ahead an post it on the wiki.

>86 thornton37814: Does the book need to be fiction? I would love to read The Library: An Illustrated History for this challenge if it is ok.

A few of us might be reading We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker. I've been rummaging around to find a place for it and finally realized I could put it into challenge #2, thanks to the word "begin."

>89 lindapanzo: Thanks for finding that, Linda. I was wonering if I would find a place for We Begin at the End!

>1 SqueakyChu: Does March by John Lewis count?

He's currently in the news because of a new musical.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater/2026/03/31/young-john-lewis...

(Can't read the article without a subscription, but can see the headline.)

Challenge #22: Read a book that starts with the letter A (first words)

Read a book which starts with an A, literally. The first word must start with an A. A preceding article does not count.

Mord am Millionenhügel (An einem Abend Ende August 1980 teilte mir furchterregender Lärm vor der Tür mit, ...) - Gisbert Haefs
Pünktchen und Anton (Als Herr Direktor Pogge mittags heimkam, ...) - Erich Kästner

I'm trying to decide between Ex Libris and 84, Charing Cross for Challenge #16. .Any interest in one of them?

>91 Morphidae: I’ll take your word for it, Morphy, as John Lewis is one of my heroes. Go for it! 👍

>93 Morphidae: I read them both last month or I would join you! They are both terrific books, Morphy. Enjoy!

>92 paulstalder: In the Begining on Kindle unlimited is a great resource. Alice in Wonderland qualifies.

>69 alcottacre: I am participating in this challenge with both of my great-granddaughters. The younger one chose Charlotte’s Web as her book which I got from the library. It is a WonderBook which means it has a read-along feature. Has anyone used a WonderBook?

>97 LoisB: I have never even heard of a WonderBook, but kudos to her for choosing Charlotte's Web. That particular book holds a special place in my heart as it was the first book I ever purchased for myself at age 8 - and I still have my battered, tattered old copy of it.

I had never heard of a WonderBook either. I don’t know that we will make much use of it because she just turned 5 and really doesn’t read yet. We shall see. But, I’m glad you have such fond memories of it.

>99 LoisB: Hopefully the Wonderbook will encourage her to learn to read on her own!

I've lost track of how many times I've read Charlotte's Web---just for myself!, never mind reading it to littles. For the challenge, I'm going to read Stuart Little, which I know isn't going to hit me quite as well, but I've never read it, and it was referenced in the movie Blue Moon, which I recently watched (and loved), so now's the time.

>101 laytonwoman3rd: I hope that Stuart Little surprises you, Linda, and makes you like it more than you think you will.

>92 paulstalder: >96 quondame:

About paulstalder's challenge to read a book starting with "A" I submit:

The "A" List*

Please feel free to add to it as you like and flag any that I've incorrectly included.
Translations have to be tricky.

*Extracted from In the Begining

Challenge #23: Read a book that has [color][noun] in the title

It can have any number of other words, but there can't be any words between [color][noun].

>103 quondame: Hej Susan, thank you very much for that list, great

>104 quondame: Do you consider Golden a color?

>104 quondame: For anyone looking for a book for Susan's Challenge #23, I'm going to try The White Lady by Jacqueline Winspear, from my tbr. It has come highly recommended to me, although there seem to be quite a range of opinions on the novel. It's a thriller set in 1947, with an ex spy coming out of her quiet retirement to help her neighbors.

In the U.S., it's available from Kindle Unlimited and some Libby libraries. Please join me, if you feel so inclined!

ETA: I've also added Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson.

>106 dallenbaugh: Yes, though I may draw the line at the orange tree.

>Ha! and rightfully so. Thanks.

>104 quondame: Does the title have to have 2 words? I was thinking of reading Rosewater for your challenge, Susan. Thanks!

>110 alcottacre: Yes, at least two words - Rosewater falls into the orange tree disqualification in any case, the "rose" being what it's made of and not what color it is - while golden is assumed to be color as well as substance.

>111 quondame: OK, I will look for another book then. Thanks, Susan!

>104 quondame: Can the colour and the noun be in the subtitle? I'm looking for somewhere to squeeze in a library book that includes "golden age" in the subtitle...

>113 Chatterbox: Sure.

Hello

Sure

It is that time of the month again - PRIZE TIME!!




Mini-Sweeplettes in March:
antqueen for challenges 3-5 and 15-18
avatiakh for challenges 3-5 and 13-15
bell7 for challenges 2-5
dallenbaugh for challenges 3-6 and 7-9
DeltaQueen for challenges 1-5 and 15-17
Kristelh for challenges 2-6, 10-12, and 15-18
lycomayflower for challenges 7-9
raidergirl3 for challenges 1-5
susanna.fraser for challenges 3-5
Tess_W for challenges 2-6
thornton37814 for challenges 3-5

Sweeplettes in March:
cbl_tn for challenges 1-6
countrylife for challenges 1-6, 7-12, and 13-18
dallenbaugh for challenges 13-18
lindapanzo for challenges 1-6

Sweeps in March:
AlcottAcre
Chatterbox
CitizenJoyce
Dejah_Thoris
JayneCM
quondame

Congratulations to all our prize winners!! Please note that there were at least two entries on the wiki that are incomplete so I was unable to award credit for those.

As always, if I made any mistakes, please let me know and I will correct my error.

Thanks again, Stasia. And congratulations to the prize winners! Looks like we had a good month of reading.

Thanks, Stasia, for all the great attention to detail. And congratulations to all the winners!

>120 SqueakyChu: Congrats to our voracious readers!!

The March 2026 TIOLI Stats!

In March, 2026, we read a total of 441 books, of which 92 (21%) were shared reads. We collected 50 TIOLI points. We have a YTD TIOLI point count of 179, the highest YTD point count since March, 2015.

Our most popular book, read by four challengers, was My Evil Mother by Margaret Atwood.

The most popular challenge (with 59 books read) and the challenge with the most TIOLI points (7) was the one by @avatiakh to Read a book for Purim, eat a HAMANTASCHEN.

Ever onward, challengers, with your fabulous reading!

>118 Kristelh: >119 Dejah_Thoris: Yes, it was a good reading month for everyone, I think!

>121 SqueakyChu: Yay for all the shared reads!

>121 SqueakyChu: Excellent update, Madeline! Out of curiosity, what was the YTD TIOLI point count in March, 2015?

>88 alcottacre: either works

>124 thornton37814: Thanks!

>123 Dejah_Thoris: The YTD TIOLI point count for the end of March 2015 was 245. During that year, we averaged 22 challenges per month. Last year we averaged 17 challenges per month. This year so far, we're averaging 19 challenges per month. In addition, during 2015 we were averaging 20% shared reads of our total reads! Multiple times in 2015, we had 9 readers for the same book. That March, we had 12 readers for the same book! I think how that happened was that people who participated in group reads elsewhere on LT were also posting their books here on the TIOLI challenges.

>117 alcottacre: Thanks. I like getting mini-sweeplettes.

>121 SqueakyChu: Honoured to have the popular challenge accolade, my first rolling challenge.

>126 SqueakyChu: Thanks for all the great info, Madeline! I didn't mean to put you to so much trouble, but it's fascinating to know that 2015 was such a banner year for TIOLI. At any rate, TIOLI is still going strong!

>128 Dejah_Thoris: It's no trouble, Dejah. I have the information. It's there for whoever wants to know it.

TIOLI is still going strong!

Yay! :D

LT is blocking me from the wiki. Does anyone know what I can do? I have no idea why I am being blocked.

>127 avatiakh: Good!

>130 Kristelh: I have no idea. I can get in. Write to admin for help.

For anyone looking for a fiction read for challenge #13, I recommend The Easy Way Out by Steven Amsterdam. Amsterdam is a palliative care nurse and he looks at a future of assisted dying from the pov of those administering the end of life medication.

>132 SqueakyChu: It looks like an attacker was using cloudflare it to try distribute malware. I had to clear browsing history and cache and then I was able to get in. I’ve had it happen with Microsoft and now cloudflare. I am posting this in case it happens to anyone else. I am happy that I was able to resolve the issue.

>134 Kristelh: Phew! I'm glad you were able to discover the cause of the problem and resolve it fairly quickly, Kristel. Now you have more time to read! :D

>135 SqueakyChu:. I’m glad too. Those computer issues do burn up time.

>134 Kristelh: Congratulations for figuring it out. I would have been completely stumped.

The March 2026 TIOLI Awards!

The Why Not Both Award goes to @Alcottacre for reading Poor Deer for the challenge by lindapanzo to read a book with a word that contains a consecutive same vowel. This could only easily be done with the letter E or the letter O. Our clever challenger found a book that contained both the E and the O as consecutive same vowels within one book title.

The Breathless Subtitle Award goes to @DisassemblyOfReason for reading Captain Kidd's Cat for the challenge by AlcottAcre to read a book whose subtitle contains at least 7 words. This challenger picked a book with a 53-word subtitle (and, no, I'm not retyping the whole thing here). The subtitle for this book had 53 words...and that was not even counting the ampersand as a word!

The Best Name Award goes to @lindapanzo for reading Home Fried and Alibis by Lena Gregory for the challenge by DeltaQueen50 to read a book where Author’s Last name could be used as a first name. I chose this author because his last name is Gregory, the first name of my only son-in-law!

The Keep Those Children Reading Award goes to @citizenjoyce for reading The Wind Rises, a book of 410 pages, for the challenge by dallenbaugh to read a children’s book of at least 50 pages that was first published in a different language than yours. The book, translated from French, had more pages than I sometimes like to read in an adult book!

The Best Kept Records Award goes to @Dejah_Thoris for reading The Jennifer Morgue for the challenge by PaulCranswick to read a book with a title word that indicates the keeping of records. Yep, I guess you do have to know the identity of all the dead bodies in the morgue! :)

The Eat Well for the Holiday Award goes to @avatiakh for the challenge to read a book for Purim, eat a HAMANTASCHEN. Since Purim was such a terrific holiday for me this year with family and friends, I am offering not only this award, but also my recipe for hamantaschen. Private message me if you want it!

The Most Newsworthy Award goes to @antqueen for reading The Six: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts for the challenge by laytonwoman3rd to read a book with an occupation in the title, but no familial relationship in the title. Of everything in the news these days, it seem as if the best thing were the astronauts who have been traveling around the moon. I love good news instead of bad, horrifying news. I guess most people do!

Continue ever onward, my busily reading challengers! :)

Thanks for the award, Madeline!

Had you not already done so, I was going to nominate DisassemblyofReason for that challenge too! I did not count the words in the subtitle of the book they read, but I knew there wera a lot!

Congratulations to all the award winners!

>138 SqueakyChu: Thanks for the award. I was a little hesitant to read a 400 page children's book, but it was good.

>69 alcottacre: I have finished both Charlotte’s Web and The BFG and passed my library copies on to my great-granddaughters. I have also decided to have a family book club, where we will discuss the books while enjoying tea and cookies. Their mother is also an avid reader,so I have great hopes that this will be a fun experience. Thanks for this challenge.

>141 LoisB: That sounds like great fun! Our great niece once hosted an online book club called something like "It's Better Than the Movie" in which we read books that had been made into a movie (and maybe later watched the movie). I'm not into book clubs because i read what I want to when I want to, but I joined because it's family. Her kids are now six and twelve. I wonder if she'd do a kids' online book club (although they'd be underage to join!). Oh, well. :D

Charlotte's Web was always one of my favorite books as a kid. A third grade teacher of mine read it to our class...and I never forgot it! These days I can forget books I read last week! LOL!

>138 SqueakyChu: Congratulations to all the winners!

You made me laugh, Madeline. I confess I was going for a different meaning of morgue - a newspaper archive - but I like your interpretation better!

>143 Dejah_Thoris: Interesting! I did not know that a newspaper archive is called a morgue. Thank you for this lesson!

Congratulations to all the winners.

>141 LoisB: The family book club sounds like a wonderful idea, Lois! I am glad you enjoyed the challenge - and I hope your great granddaughters enjoy the books as well.

>142 SqueakyChu: your book club sounds a LOT better than the one that featured in my most recent read. I do not recommend reading Murder at the Book Club and it would NOT be a club I'd join, it was populated with very unpleasant people. (also lazily written, imo).

Thanks for the award. I always enjoy seeing these and remain shocked when I get one.

>142 SqueakyChu: same here

>138 SqueakyChu: Thanks for the award. Purim is a fun holiday to celebrate.

>141 LoisB: A family book club, what a great idea!

One of the reasons that I love TIOLI is the challenges introduce me to books I might otherwise not have read. Case in point, Lovely One by Ketanji Brown Jackson. Someone added this to Madeline's challenge #1 for the month and as it was available at my local library, I picked it up to read. I am so glad that I did - it ended up being a 5 star read for me.

>152 alcottacre: I want to read that book as well...but I can't do it this month!

>153 SqueakyChu: I hope you enjoy if and when you get to it, Madeline! I just recommended it to one of the librarians I saw today while I was out :)

>152 alcottacre: That's good to know. I'd planned to read it but I'm especially overcommitted in TIOLI books this month. I've read as much as usual through the first third of the month but the books are interesting, though slow going. Next time someone posts a "read a book you planned to read earlier this year" type challenge, I'll get to it.

>155 lindapanzo: I’m in the same boat.

>155 lindapanzo: You are not alone. I am always overcommitted, Linda!

>156 LoisB: Good to know we have company, Lois!

>157 alcottacre: Usually, I commit to about double what I could possibly get to. This time, it's more like triple. I have 4 planned shared reads and I hope to get to those and some of the best books I'm most eager to read in my own challenge. Beyond that, we'll see.

>156 LoisB: Glad to hear that others are in the same position.

>158 lindapanzo: I pretty much always overcommit because I never know what kind of mood I am going to be in for reading, so I try and spread it out so I have plenty to choose from! Good luck with your April reading, Linda.

>158 lindapanzo: "Overcommit" could be my middle name! This month I already know I am not going to get to all of the books that I wanted to but it's tricky to chose which ones to read and which ones to keep for another month of TIOLI.

What's Lined Up for Next Month?

Here comes May! It's already 90 degrees Fahrenheit where I live in Maryland, USA. Spring has not even started yet. It's too hot to do anything...other than read, of course! What are your plans for next month's reading? Let us know...to see if your planned reads spark interest in others.

What to do:
1. Tell us about books that you *must* read next month (book club, library book, bestseller, etc.).
2. Market them to us, encouraging us to read them with you!
3. List your books on Shared Read Suggestions, but talk about them here.
4. You are not required to read any book you list as a suggestion.

>161 SqueakyChu: Next month is my mother's birthday so, as I usually do, I am setting up a challenge to honor her. For next month, my challenge is to read a book whose author's name is Nancy or to read a book in which one of the character's names is Nancy.

>162 alcottacre: Seems like the perfect time for the Oliver Twist reread I have been wanting to do.

>162 alcottacre: And Do Admit!: Me and the Mitford Sisters by Mimi Pond! Good old Nancy Mitford!

Karen O

>163 JayneCM: I thought of reading Oliver Twist in May, but since Nancy is murdered in the book, I am fairly sure I do not want to read it for my mother's birthday :)

>164 klobrien2: Cool beans, Karen!

>161 SqueakyChu: Platform Decay is out on 5 May - and since I cannot resist Murderbot, I'll definitely be reading/listening to it ASAP!

@Morphidae - I've got a graphic novel I'm trying to place. Will you accept a word found on the first page of dialog?

@lycomayflower Will you accept a work authored by two people, one of whom is definitely queer, the other who has made no public declaration of queerness or otherwise? One doesn't wish to assume.

My thanks to you both!

@167 Absolutely!

>168 lycomayflower: Goodness, that was quick! Thank you so much!

>162 alcottacre: You might like The Nancys, a girl and her uncles call themselves 'The Nancys' in honour of the Nancy Drew books they love and then get involved in a local murder mystery.
There's a sequel, Nancy Business, which I could read next month.
The books are published in Australia so might be hard to track down, but well worth the effort.

Oh, but it wouldn't meet your challenge criteria.

Btw, May is also my late mother's birthday month.

>162 alcottacre: I've been trying to think what I'd like to read for your Challenge, Stasia. I think I may reread Aunt Dimity and the Duke by Nancy Altherton. It popped into my mind, recently, and this must have been the reason! It's a series my mother and I both enjoyed.

ETA: And, of course, I find the Mitfords fascinating!

>167 Dejah_Thoris: True. Maybe Nancy Drew or Nancy Mitford might suit me better as I am already reading (slowly!) Les Miserables.
I have a biography of the Mitford sisters that has been sitting on my shelves for ages.

>167 Dejah_Thoris: Yes!

>166 Dejah_Thoris: I have that one on preorder too, Dejah, so as soon as I get it into my hot little hands I will be reading it!

>170 avatiakh: I am sorry, Kerry, but you are right - it wouldn't meet the challenge criteria. Thanks for the mention of the books though. I will see if I can track them down somewhere.

My condolences on the loss of your mother. My mother and I are very close and I dread the day that I know is coming.

>171 Dejah_Thoris: I have also enjoyed the Aunt Dimity series in the past. I need to round them all up so that I can re-read them at some point.

>161 SqueakyChu: Next month I'll be reading the Hugo finalists, which should be announced later this week--though hopefully there will be some overlap with the Nebula finalists to keep it from being too daunting a task!

help needed, TIOLI hive mind. Where can I squeeze in Hearing Secret Harmonies by Anthony Powell. It's the 12th and last in his A Dance to the Music of time series.
I started it in January last year, intending to read one a month, and slipped slightly...

>176 Helenliz: I am assuming that the first word of the book does not start with the letter A or that it has not been listed on a previous 2026 challenge and that it does not have a lengthy first sentence? I am stumped too then. Sorry, Helen!

Sorry, duplicate post.

>176 Helenliz: Does it meet any criteria for the FANBOYS challenge#3. I'm waiting to add a book there if it rolls over once more.

>176 Helenliz: Is Hearing Secret Harmonies a dreadful enough warning for challenge number 9?

>179 avatiakh: Thanks. my first thought was no, but having read the challenge properly, it's not just in the title. On closer reading, the first paragraph provided a "nor".

>180 SqueakyChu: I didn't read it as dreadful, but I suppose it could be ominous.

>177 alcottacre:, no, I'd tried all of those in hopeful anticipation!

>181 Helenliz: I am glad that you and Kerry figured out a challenge in which to put your book!

For those of you who were interested in my family book club that I started as a result of challenge #20, it went very well. The girls really enjoyed our discussion of Charlotte’s Web and The BFG. I stressed the friendship theme in both books and discussed prejudice in BFG. Next months we are reading Winnie the Pooh.

>183 LoisB: Such great books! I know your family will want to keep this up for a long time, Lois!

>183 LoisB: This is such a great idea---good luck keeping them engaged. Winnie the Pooh and Charlotte's Web are two favorites I keep re-reading, even when there aren't any children to share with.

>183 LoisB: Congratulations on it going well, Lois!

>183 LoisB: Aw, what a great event! Honey to eat at the next meeting?
When my daughter Rachel was around 8-10, my mom and her and I had a book club called Ramona (RAchel MOm NAna). We would read different versions of books, or if Rachel picked the book we would read her book. We would try to have snacks that matched the book ie toblarone and soft rolls for Heidi, raspberry cordial for Anne of GG.

>187 raidergirl3: our book club is called Kenn(a)Ella.

>187 raidergirl3: good idea about the honey. I will have to work on that.

Housekeeping Day!

It's that time again! Please remove from the April wiki any book you do not complete by 12 midnight tonight. In case of a rolling challenge, just mark that book DNF (did not finish).

We've got quite an exciting lineup of TIOLI challenges for May, 2026. Enjoy!

I'm sad I didn't get to complete all the challenges in April. My brain needs to tick them all off but time has beaten me this month. Looking forward to May!

>191 JayneCM: Don’t be sad. Enjoy reading with us when and however you can, Jayne.

>192 SqueakyChu: I know and I will - thank you. I just have that brain that feels like it needs everything done, all the boxes ticked and squared away. I am a work in progress on this! :)

>193 JayneCM: Hugs!!

>191 JayneCM: I'm with you. I've had sweeps for the last year or so, but enough is enough. I'm going back to my previous stance that reading is important, informative, entertaining, and calming. Sweeps are not.

>191 JayneCM: There is not supposed to be any pressure in the TIOLI challenges, Jayne. No one looks at you cross eyed if you do not complete a challenge! Take it easy on yourself!

>195 Citizenjoyce: I agree, Joyce. I like doing the sweeps if I can because I enjoy reading a wide diversity of books, but if I do not make it for a month or two or longer, I am not going to sweat it!

>191 JayneCM: >195 Citizenjoyce: I had no intention of sweeping last month - I intended to stick with my tbr and perhaps a few rereads. But then I realized that I had tbr books for almost all the challenges and, like you Jayne, I feel the need to tick all the boxes, so I kept going.

In May, however, I am definitely not going for a sweep - I'll keep you company, Joyce. I have lots of great books planned, though, and hopefully many shared reads.

>196 alcottacre: Stasia - you're back! Hooray!

>196 alcottacre: I am new-ish to the site and still finding my way around all of the types of challenges. Last month I wanted to do some of the TIOLI, but I thought that would be too much pressure with my other challenges. This month my attitude was totally different when I saw the slate of TIOLIs. I just wanted to play along! So, @JayneCM, I totally get where you are coming from... Let's just read, have fun, and find ways to double and triple up our challenges!

>198 Dejah_Thoris: I just got back, Dejah. Thanks!

>199 rhondak101book: The wonderful thing about TIOLI is that there is no pressure - you pick and choose which challenges you want to take part in and if nothing at all appeals, check back in a month because the challenges will all be different :)

I hope you enjoy the TIOLI challenges!

Folks, sweeps are much harder these days as the number of challenges has shot up dramatically recently. Sweeplettes are good. So are the minis. I rarely even get those, but I love participating in any way I can. Of course I have to participate because I run this crazy challenge. I love doing this, though. Thanks, everyone, for being part of this fun.

I love having you new folks, Jayne and Rhonda, here with us. I hope you're both having more fun than feeling stress here. Keep calm, feel no guilt, enjoy our company, and read at your leisure.

Welcome back, Stasia!

>201 SqueakyChu: Thanks, Madeline!

And now for my monthly message to remind everyone to please update the wiki by May 4th (Star Wars Day!) so that I can issue the monthly prizes!