Take It or Leave It Challenge - February 2010

For those new to this challenge: More info and monthly index can be found in post #1 of this thread.

My inspiration for the February, 2010, TIOLI Challenge comes from the picture on LibraryThing's new Welcome to LibraryThing group. I was so excited that we finally have a group to welcome new members. I'd been begging for this feature for a long time.

Okay. So it took me a while to figure out, but then I realized that the books on the picture of that group were assorted in the shape of a heart. Just perfect for Valentine's Day, isn't it?

So here's the challenge. Pick a book with a bright red spine. It doesn't matter what color the rest of the book is. Your book should look good if inserted into that picture!

The idea for this challenge is fun, but be forewarned that the pickin's are very slim. The idea for this challenge is not simply to choose a book with a bright red spine, but to broaden and s-t-r-e-t-c-h your reading experience. I want you to read authors and genres that are new to you, books that challenge you in some way, or books that are kind of obscure. Perhaps your book will introduce you to a new setting, a new culture, or a new way of looking at something.

Therefore: When you choose your book, do not choose it simply because it has a red spine. Choose a book that you *know* will be of great interest to you, not a drag to read. If you exhaust all fiction options, consider nonfiction. You need not only choose from your own books. Borrow a book from the library. Alternatively, take the opportunity to visit a Friends of the Library bookstore in your home town or attend a library book sale. Find a book that no one else has heard of. If it seems interesting, get it, read it, and review it for others to discover (...although I doubt if the color of the book's spine will be of much interest to anyone else).

Here are some ideas...

Books I've read and would recommend:

1. My Latest Grievance - Elinor Lipmann
2. No Country for Old Men - Cormac McCarthy
3. The Elephant Vanishes (the edition with the red spine, of course) - Haruki Murakami
4. Frida - Barbara Mujica
5. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress - Dai Sijie
6. Exit Ghost - Philip Roth
7. Special Topics in Calamity Physics - Marisha Pessl (the audio version has a red spine)
8. Marley & Me - John Grogan

Books that look interesting to me but that I have not read yet:

1. You Don't Love Me Yet - Jonathan Lethem
2. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
3. Sea of Poppies - Amitav Ghosh (brenzi gave it 4.5 stars)
4. The Leisure Seeker - Michael Zadoorian
5. Nobody Move - Denis Johnson
6. The Shameless Carnivore - Scott Gold

If you find a good suggestion, PLEASE tell us about it!

Are you ready? Set? Well, then GO!!!

Have fun with February's Take It or Leave It Challenge...and have a Happy Valentine's Day!

Madeline

Yeah. Yeah. I know know this was put up a few days early, but I can't spend the whole weekend working on it, can I? :)

ETA: I can't get the touchstones to work for the second group of books in post #1. Sorry. :(

I may not be the first one to post here after you, Madeline, because I have been searching my various bookshelves and, of course, the stash behind my library door that I hope diminishes before the next library sale. I chose five candidates. I'll list them in the order that I think I might read them:

1. I Am the Messengerby Markus Zusak. I loved The Book Thief and just picked this one up at my favorite used book store two weeks ago.

2. Light in August by William Faulkner. I joined the Faulkner Salon and this is the first selection to be read. I have a head start of 75 pages read, and am enjoying it very much....so far.

I am unsure about the next three, and may only attempt them if some others join in with me:

The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell and

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger. I'm not certain if this one qualifies as it has about 1/3 of the spine in white. It would be a reread for me, but I read it so long ago that I do want to read it again someday as a memorial read to Salinger.

I'm not certain if this one qualifies as it has about 1/3 of the spine in white.

This is a tough category with few really good book options. If you can't find a good book to read with an entirely bright red spine, read a book with a dull red spine, a "reddish" spine or even a partially red spine. I want the book to be of interest to you.

With the recent death of J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye seems like a very timely read, in fact.

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Donna, I read I am The Messenger and thought it was a cute book, but in no way as good as The Book Thief. It is an enjoyable book, though.

I have The Book Thief on my wishlist and maybe stopping by B&N tonight to pick it up.

But I am a little confused about the challenge -
Pick a book with a bright red spine, how can I tell if the book has one?

I have The Book Thief on my wishlist and maybe stopping by B&N tonight to pick it up.

But I am a little confused about the challenge -
Pick a book with a bright red spine, how can I tell if the book has one?

The Book Thief is not part of this the book with a red spine challenge. Sorry if I confused you. However, you can create your own challenge in order to place that book in February's listing.

Pick a book with a bright red spine, how can I tell if the book has one?

You cannot tell if a book has a red spine without seeing it. A good place to start looking for a book with a red spine is among the TBR pile (if you have one) of books within your own home.

Yay, a few days early! This is exciting.

I'm planning a different TIOLI challenge this time: I will read a Newbery Medal Winner. After failing last month at my hard challenge of a book in a foreign language, I'm going with something light this time! Also, I'm really looking forward to reading the new winner, When You Reach Me.

This may present a bit of a problem for me, too, as most of my TBR are packed away (house is too small, grrrr), so I'd have to go through all the boxes looking for red(ish) spines. Might be a fun project, though, or really annoying. I'm moody ;-)

ETA: I think it's a good challenge, just not really easy like the last one, y'know. I suppose that's why they call it a challenge ... sigh ...

I also have a promising red-spine book (I think) in my TBR pile: Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York. It's one that I started last summer and have been meaning to finish for a while now. I love the red spine idea!

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Well, no problem, Beth! Just pick a book you want to read now and create a challenge for it. Then wait to see how many others participate on your challenge with you.

Um, yeah. It's not easy to find a good book to read with a red spine. That process is, er, somewhat challenging! :D

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Zoe, I actually had a lot of fun testing this idea. I went to the library to see how many books there were with red spines. There were very few of the type of book I like to read. They were mostly books about Communism (USSR or China) or murder mysteries (think: blood!).

Well, at least finding a book to fit this challenge should be fun. :)

I just looked around my office and bedroom, and realized there are 4 books in plain sight with bright red spines...

Huzzah! Looks like I'll be able to do this after all! :D

If anyone is curious as to what I've found, I can post the names, but I don't want to take away from anyone else's discovery...

Since I'm planning to read most of this year's Canada Reads books I thought it might make a fun challenge. For those of you not familiar with Canada Reads it's hosted by CBC radio in Canada. Each year since 2002 the CBC chooses 5 panelists and they choose a Canadian fiction book to champion. You can find more comprehensive information here:
http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/
A complete list of books and winners back to 2002 is found on that same site under Past Shows.

That sounds like a great challenge, Dee! That should inspire many of us to read books by Canadian authors.

I love the Canada Reads challenge too! So many challenges and so little time....

I have a copy of Lullabies for Little Criminals that I've been meaning to get to, but I unfortunately left it at my parents' house. The only Canada Reads book I actually have here is The Handmaid's Tale, so maybe I'll try that one.

Oh Madeline now I'm counting the hours until I can get home and check out my shelves and if no luck there go to the library tomorrow. This anticipation never ends but I like the challenge.

Yay - I have 3 on my Books on the Shelf stack with nice red spines.

The two I'll plan on for Feb are The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright and Tears of the Desert by Halima Bashir.

I just finished From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg but no other Newbury winners on my near-term TBR list.

I'll have to look at the Canada Reads,. The only two I've even heard of are the two Margaret Atwood books and they are already on my wishlist. Maybe I'll get to one of them in Feb as well.

Now I can't wait until I get home to find a book that fits. I'm going to try to find something on my shelves that I haven't read yet. I know off the top of my head that I do have Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress and The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, so I know that I'll be able to at least have those 2 as fall backs if I can't find anything else at home.

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Oh, Bonnie!! Can I never win? :)

I had planned to read The Good Doctors: The Medical Committee for Human Rights and the Struggle for Social Justice in Health Care for Black History Month and my 1010 Medicine category, which has a red spine. I have at least a dozen other books on my shelves which would also fit in this category, such as my UK version of Life: A User's Manual by Georges Perec, The Vagrants by Yiyun Li and Bad Science by Ben Goldacre.

Isn't this a fun way to choose a book? It's kind of like choosing by roulette wheel.

"Hey! It came up on red spine!"

Ha!

Madeline, are you planning to add links between the two TIOLI pages?

Do you think I should? I *really* do not want to.

The reason? I don't want people to keep adding books to January's challenge after January 31. In order to prevent that, I was not planning to link the wikis from different months. The only access to a wiki will be from the main thread of each month.

The list of *all wikis* is on the original thread (which I modified). It's the first link at the top of this thread. Go take a look at it and see if that's okay.

*thinking*

At some point, I may want to make an index to the monthly threads, though. That's kind of tough without this being a group in and of itself.

ETA: The index is done! :) See post #30.

Alternatively, I could link the wikis with an explanation not to add any more books after the month is over. Books may be deleted at any time, though.

Which is better?

I think I'd rather have the linking and the instruction not to add more, though it's not as important now that I know there will be a link to all months from the first thread. I can see you wanting to make one main TIOLI page on the wiki at some point, with links to all the subpages.

Most importantly, I really want this challenge to stay in this group. I don't think it would have the same community feel otherwise.

TIOLI is staying only within the 75-ers challenge. It will not be a separate standing group.

I'm thinking that, if new people join the TIOLI, linking the wikis would be a problem. Let's keep it as it is for the time being. When I post a new month's challenge, I'll always begin it with the link to the instructions and the index. I can put an index of the monthly threads there as well.

For my February challenge I've decided to have a book nudge over in the Book Nudgers group. You are welcome to visit my thread there and nudge a book for me to read.

Red spined books in my library: The Reformed Vampire Support Group, A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo, Blood Red, Sister Rose.

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Zoe, I made it easy. I moved the index to the top of that original post. You can look at it here. I think that should work.

Good challenge, too, Zoe! I couldn't resist that one.

ETA: Oh, no! Now which book should I read first? :O

I like it! I think I'd personally rather have all the wiki links and then all the thread links, but that could just be me--I don't imagine I'll look at the old threads much.

And I'm glad I tempted you with my challenge :)

I don't imagine I'll look at the old threads much.


Nah! Don't look back. Just forge ahead... :)

Oh, I'm forging! I just noticed that The Book of Negroes, last year's Canada Reads winner, has an amazing average rating of 4.41. This, of course, means that I'm very tempted to go out and buy a copy....

But I've already bought seven non-school books this year, and only read four books in total, including one from the library. This isn't a good trend.

Oh, and I wasn't including The Anubis Gates among the books I bought, but I just ordered it this morning for the upcoming group read. Sigh.

Hmmm, for my Kindle, I've got a leather (leatherish?) Kindle jacket in bright red. It looks like a real book so, in theory, every Kindle book has a bright red spine.

However, I won't count those.

This month, time for my own challenge, which is, in honor of the upcoming Winter Olympics, which start on Feb 12: a book with the word "winter" in the title.

I have at least a half dozen in mind but, for starters, I'm choosing In the Bleak Mid-Winter by Julia Spencer-Fleming.

Others I will consider include:
--Winter Study by Nevada Barr
--Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher
--Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
--The Dead of Winter by Paula Gosling
--Winter of the Wolf Moon by Steve Hamilton

(having trouble with touchstones)

#1: I have a technical question: Are we considering the spines only and not the dust jackets? In several cases of my books, the dust jacket has a bright red cover, but the actual spine of the book is completely different.

And I have seen the opposite problem - I just finished Creation in Death, which has a red spine on the binding, but a multi-colored dust jacket.

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Linda, you're hilarious!!

#39, I try. Red is my favorite color but, you know, I really never notice the spines all that much.

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Stasia, you may use either (color of the actual book spine or "spine-ish" part of the dust jacket). If you place that book on the official LT "heart" bookshelf, you'd have to remove the dust jacket, if the red were only on the spine of the book itself, though. :)

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Beth, your book meets the "red spine" criterion. :)

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I really never notice the spines all that much.

Linda, I never noticed them either until I went hunting for books with red spines ... and could hardly find any. Weird!

My favorite color is purple, but I promise everyone here that I'll never challenge you to find (and read) a book with a purple spine. Ha!

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Nice challenge, Linda! I think you'll get quite a few takers as this month proceeds. "Winter" books are probably more prevalent than "red spine" books. :D

#41: Thanks for the clarification, Madeline! Since I am trying to read books from my own library this year, I think I will see what I can dig up in there.

I was going to limit mine to books involving winter olympic sports and did not like my choices.

I am looking for a book with the word "love" in it and, surprisingly, not coming up with any good suggestions besides Eat, Pray, Love.

I'm not at home so it'll probably be easier when I can scan my shelves. I wonder if I have anything like an I Love Baseball kind of book.

Ohh, a good excuse to reread Heinlein's Time Enough for Love!

I haven't read these yet, but what about:
1. Love Invents Us - Amy Bloom
2. Tomcat in Love - Tim O'Brien
3. Love and Other Impossible Pursuits - Ayelet Waldman
4. Thirst for Love - Yukio Mishima
5. The Ghost in Love - Jonathan Carroll - which I did read and review. It's not this author's best, but interesting reading nevertheless.

There's always The Lovely Bones.

None of these are doing anything for me. This is surprising--I thought I'd have a lot of Love books, but I don't.

Zoe, it's got to be a Newbery Medal WINNER, not honor, right?

I rarely read YA but I am planning to read Richard Peck's A Long Way from Chicago. Alas, it did not win, it was just an "honor."

Still, something to look at since I've got an "Award Winning Books" category in my 1010 challenge.

I found the perfect book for me to read in February: Biblioholism. It is one I own that I have not read, has a bright red spine, and although the word 'love' is not in the title, it is certainly about a subject I love!

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Linda here's a list of the Newbery Award winners from 1922 to the present.

Aha, I do own a romance on "Lindle Kindle" which is what friends call my Kindle. It even has the word "Love" in it.

Totally not my usual but it is a hockey romance so people who know me would say "it figures."

True Love and Other Disasters by Rachel Gibson.

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Okay. What about these?

1. Brotherly Love - Pete Dexter
2. Geek Love -Katherine Dunn - I highly recommend this book althought it is weird!
3. Returning Lost Loves - Yehoshua Kenaz
4. The History of Love - Nicole Kraus
5. Eduring Love - Ian McEwan

#51, Stasia, Biblioholism sounds wonderful, too!!! I need to find a red-spined copy. I want to read that one.

Phooey, another month where I can't work Tort Law in America into any of the categories.

#55: The ISBN number of the one I own is 1-55591-240-0. I do not know if that will help, but it certainly cannot hurt!

Time to check the library website and put in an urgent request for Biblioholism.

Hmmm, only two Chicago North Suburban Libraries have it but it does look to have plenty of red along the edges. Yes, same ISBN, too. My request is in!!

Three TIOLI books should be plenty.

Well, this is not what I planned to do but it falls in line perfectly with your challenge Madeline. I have waited forever for my library to tell me they have Wolf Hall waiting for me. They called today, I picked it up and lo and behold the dust jacket and the actual spine are RED!

I'll also do a seperate challenge for what I had planned since I'm reading it now but will not finish it til February.

Funny, I seem to have lots of options on the red-spine challenge...could be the fact that it's my favorite color and that I shop visually when not in task-oriented mode.

Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra is my choice, it's a huge door-stopper of a book and one I've bumped up against several times. I've always had reasons I *must* put it down, despite the fact that it's lushly describing a country I'm fascinated by; now I've got a reason *not* to put it down.

Separately, I'm also challenging myself to read Indian authors this month.

The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Divakaruni
As-yet-unselected others

So I finally got home from work to check out my shelves and I found two that are defintely red: Madame Bovary and The Liar's Club, Mary Karr's first memoir that's been languishing on my pile for years. I also have The Catcher in the Rye which I wouldn't even have considered rereading, even though it is timely right now. So the first two are sure things but I also have to read The Book of Negroes mentioned by Zoe up in post #34 since it will have to go back to the library soon. Arrgghhh.

I'm presently reading Where the God of Love Hangs Out by Amy Bloom but there's no way that's going to stretch into February although it's a short story collection so it wouldn't be hard to put off the rest of it until the month changes but I'm too OCD for that kind of reading pattern;-)

Will be joining Squeaky's challenge as well, as I have just found the perfect vividly red book (both spine and dust cover;), which will definitely s-t-r-e-t-c-h my reading experience.

Read why here:
http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/morgneri/trobabea.htm

At any rate, the book is Leben und Abenteuer der Trobadora Beatriz nach Zeugnissen ihrer Spielfrau Laura -- just added to the wiki. There should be extra points for titles exceeding ten words.:)

#13, you raise a good point. I mainly read murder mysteries so, when I get home, I bet I have tons of red-spined books.

In my pitiful, at-work pile (usually books people have returned to me), I have only one such book, Tony La Russa: Man on a Mission which is probably not of interest unless you're a big StL Cardinals fan.

Linda, my plan was to stick to the winners, but if you really want to read a Newbery book and can't find any of the winners that interest you, let me know and I can change it. I do think limiting it to winners is more likely to produce overlapping reads, though.

#63, that's ok. I see that there's another Richard Peck book on the list so I might read that one.

Can't recall but I think it has the word "yonder" in it.

>64 lindapanzo: A Year Down Yonder won the Newbery a few years ago, it's still one of my favorite of Richard Peck's that I've read... it's sort of a sequel to A Long Way from Chicago, but stands on its own well.

PS to #61:

I realize it's extremely unlikely that someone will read this book with me. But if I could get someone to take an interest in it and perhaps read it at a later date, I'd already be pleased -- after all, where, if not here, will I find someone who thinks it sounds as fascinating as I do?

I have a plethora of red-spined books to choose from. I read a lot of chick lit so that plays in to it, but still, I seem to have all sorts of genres with red spines, from Dan Brown to Jodi Picoult (The Tenth Circle) to Sophie Kinsella (Remember Me?) to Sue Grafton (R is for Ricochet) to Augustin Burroughs (Running with Scissors) to Micheal Creighton (Travels). And that's just a sampling. Finding contenders for the challenge has not been a challenge in my case!

I'm lying in bed, so I can only see my two bedroom TBR shelves (and am too lazy to go downstairs to the rest of the shelves right now :), but I do see a few red-spined books here, including The F-Word: Feminism in Jeopardy, The Power of Full Engagement, and The Devil Wears Prada, which my mom loaned me. The first two are good possibilities. The book I was going to read for January, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet has a dark red cover, so maybe I'll get that one done in February.

By the way, a lot of my cookbooks have red covers: The Art of Simple Food, Tapas, and New Vegetarian just to name a few!

I'm finding a lot of red spines too, even in my limited selection of books. Inkheart has a red spine, and I've been meaning to finish that one for ages, so I might fit it in here as well. 1421: The Year China Discovered the World and Proofs and Refutations also have bright red spines, though I don't expect I'll get through either of those this month. And Three Cups of Tea has a red spine, but I wouldn't call it "bright".

Hey Madeline, I just wanted to thank you for working so diligently on the TIOLI challenge. It's fun, exciting, thought provoking and a nice addition to all of the LT features. Good job!

>70 Carmenere: I absolutely agree! Thank you, Madeline!

Add me to those thankful for all your work Madeline:)

Agreed - it's fun and I'm discovering new books.

My sincere thanks to everyone here for participating. It wouldn't work without you. Go 75-ers!!

The reason I developed the TIOLI challenge in the first place was that I was getting tired of simply listing books I was reading and then reviewing them. Boring!! Talking to everyone here was lovely, but I wanted something more fun and more exciting. I wanted something different than just trying to reach "x" number of books per year. The categories challenge did that somewhat, but not enough. It did get me thinking, though, of ways that I could use that idea to make reading here on LT even more fun.

I really like working on the TIOLI, not only in trying to develop it to be meaningful, but also in using the surprise factor to keep up everyone's interest. I was even looking forward to knowing what I'd pick for February. :)

The best thing about this challenge is that I don't have to read anything. Nothing puts me off more to reading a book than the requirement that I *must* read it. Go figure!

I'm really glad that several things are happening within the TIOLI. First, that many of you are choosing to read the same books at the same time. That allows you to share your thoughts about a book while it's still fresh in your mind.

In addition, I like that others are presenting your own challenges. I look forward to competition from you as you make your challenges increasingly interesting.

The bottom line is really that you need to thank Tim for developing this website as he did. He set this place up so that we're free to develop it in so many ways. I learned how to use a wiki here, and now I get to play with it. That is so exciting! In the future, I hope to use more of LT's features in my challenges. You'll see them as they happen.

The best thing about this challenge is that I don't have to read anything. Nothing puts me off more to reading a book than the requirement that I *must* read it. Go figure!

I absolutely agree! I love the flexibility here. And you've definitely managed to keep things exciting.

The categories challenge did that somewhat, but not enough.

For the 1010 category challenge, I introduced a modification that so far is making it much more interesting for me: I'm reading half-categories with only five books, and each time I finish one, I get to add a new category so that I'll always have 10 in progress. Again, it's all about the flexibility.

I'm reading half-categories with only five books, and each time I finish one, I get to add a new category so that I'll always have 10 in progress.

That's a pretty cool idea!

yay Madeline, I just love that welcome-to-lt picture!
my latest mooches include The Mammoth Cheese and All Over but the Shoutin, both red-spined beauties. But, in honor of picking something a little bit different, I'm choosing Eats, Shoots & Leaves from the tbr pile. Just wish the stupid touchstone would work. Off to add it to the wiki!

Hmmm.... interesting challenge. I'll have to look through my TBR and see what red spined books are there.

*holds head in horror*

After a whistle-stop tour of my house and book shelves/piles... I have NONE with a red spine! Actually that's kind of a lie - I do have two non fiction which I have already read.

To the Library!

I love this! - especially how it is so different from your challenge for last (this) month.

I will also be doing my own challenge this month: it is, read a book whose title is a standalone sentence.

Examples might be:

The Sweet Dove Died
Light Can Be Both Wave And Particle
Come To Me
Don't Let's Go To The Dogs Tonight
Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day

... you get the picture!

I love these challenges!

Two possibilities so far from my shelves are:

Utterly Monkey by Nick Laird
Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

And I still have The Book of Lost Things to read from my library haul which has a dark red cover.

Well, alright, I'm currently trying to choose between:

Moonlight in Odessa - Janet Skeslien Charles

and

The Book of Lost Things - John Connolly

and

Sex Begins in the Kitchen - Kevin Leman

...what the heck, maybe I should just read them all?! LOL

I've had a chance to look through my books now and there is one with a very bright, shiny red spine: Black Hole by Charles Burns. I kind of want to read this in theory but have been putting off picking it up, which is exactly the kind of situation this challenge is for, I think! Onto the wikilist it goes...

I think I'm going to stick with the Red Spine challenge, and my choice is going to be Atonement by Ian McEwan.

Even though I read a lot of mysteries, which we suspect would often have red spines, few of mine do. One book that does have a red spine is The Happy Birthday Murder by Lee Harris.

Because it's got the word "day" in it, it would also count for my Night and Day category for 1010.

Find a book that no one else has heard of.

I know the reason no one has heard of it yet is that my copy is an Advanced Reading Copy, but The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade is the only all red-spined book I own. I don't normally go into the supernatural thing, so this will also cover the instruction to discover both a new author and genre as well.

I'm looking forward to it!

I just realized that the book I'm currently reading happens to have a full sentence as a title: I've Got a Home in Glory Land. Well, that's convenient!

I may be going a bit crazy. I've already listed two red-spine books, one Newbery Medal winner, and one book with a sentence as a title. But at the library this morning I picked up two more Newbery Medal winners, just in case....

Ta da .... found 3 red spined books in my TBR .... I wonder if I'll be able to read them all in this month or if I should just pick 2 .... but then wouldn't the one not picked start to sulk and start moldering? decisions, decisions ....... where's the bag of potato chips?

My copy of Zwaard des konings (translation of Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff) has a red spine and was planning to read it this year so I am joining this month.

People! Calm down!! Slow and easy does it... :)

FAMeulstee (and kidzdoc), so glad you're joining us. Have fun!

OK went to the library today and came home with two more red-spined books:

Good Bones and Simple Murders by Margaret Atwood
and
Straight Man by Richard Russo

The second would be a fabulous re-read since I loved it the first time back in 1997.

So now I have about 6 books to choose from:)

So now I have about 6 books to choose from:)

:O

I'm reading a great book now, but I can't wait to start my two TIOLI books. This is so much fun! :)

ETA: I'm so glad I'm keeping myself amused on this snowy day...

I'm going crazy wondering if there are any red-spine books on my shelves at home, and won't even be able to check until I get home Friday! Assuming there is a red-spine book, I'll have to find a way to squeeze into my luggage when I head back out two days later (too bad I can't import dead tree books magically into my kindle!)

I'm actually tempted to ask my brother to turn his webcam on and point it toward my bookshelves, but I think he might consider me (extra) loony if I did.

Lesson: Always bring a photo of your bookshelves with you, wherever you go ;)

#88 I have a copy of The Giver by Lois Lowry to read after so many recommendations so I will join you in the Newbery Medal challenge Zoe.

Yay, I'm glad! That's a great book. One of the books I picked up at the library yesterday was Number the Stars, another by Lois Lowry and one the Madeline is planning to read, but I don't know whether I'll actually get around to it. Far too many books planned already!

Yikes I just discovered another red spine book on an obscure shelf. The dust jacket is not red but the actual spine is. That makes 7 red spine books in my possession right now. And the funny thing is that this latest one I had every intention of reading this year as it's been on my shelf forever:)

I'm already started on my first book The Liar's Club another book I've had on my TBR list forever.

Madeline, can you do anything to lengthen February? LOL

Well, I did. I started February a few days early even though I said I wouldn't. :)

> 101
And we are all glad you did, it was needed: over 100 messages ;-)
Anita

Okay, so it's not bright red, more of a burgundy red, but I'm going to read The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov.

And we are all glad you did, it was needed: over 100 messages

LOL!

--> 103

One of my friends enjoyed that book a lot and was trying to talk me into reading it when she did. I've yet to get it, though.

I am joining wandering star in her challenge too with Howards End is on the Landing by Susan Hill and I Knew a Phoenix by May Sarton.

>>106 alcottacre: - Stasia, I look forward to what you think of Sarton's I Knew a Phoenix. May Sarton may well be my favorite author (I own everything with the exception of 2 books of poetry that she published) and just reread her The Fur Person yesterday.

#107: I have no idea how I stumbled across Sarton's journals as I have never read anything by her, but thus far, I am really liking I Knew a Phoenix, the first of her journals.

If you enjoy I Knew a Phoenix, you may want to try Journal of a Solitude. It's one of my favorites, and one of her books that she is most well-known for.

#109: I am planning on reading all of the journals. There is an order listed here on LT, so I have a list to go by.

I was at the library on Saturday with my son and picked up Maniac McGee, so I guess I'll be joining the Newberry winners challenge. I also have When You Reach Me on request so maybe I can get 2 books in and earn some points for the challenge.

Late posting:

Let's talk about this for a moment. No late posting to a thread or a wiki, please! I only want to monitor one month at a time.

The only changes anyone should be making to a previous month's wiki is the removal of a book (and possibly a challenge if no books remain with that one book's removal). That book (and challenge) can be moved to the current month's wiki.

Why?
1. So people don't go backwards and start adding books they just "remembered" fit the previous month's criteria.
2. So people add books at the beginning of the month in order to entice others to read the same book. Depending on the month, you have 28 to 31 days to do this.

My eternal gratitude! :)

Madeline: Great rule!
I'm checking so many threads that having one less to have to check after a month is up, is fantastic.

I decided that since February is so short, I'll just add 2 books to this month's challenge, and I hope to start on one of them on Thursday on the plane.

I actually had No Country for Old Men on the shelf to be read soon so I bumped it up a bit. As soon as I finish the current book I am reading, I will read that for this challenge. I may also look for a Newberry winner since I also have a Award Winners category in my 1010 challenge.

I think you need to give at least one day's leeway for entering the previous month's books. If I finish a book late at night, I'm not necessarily going to run to the computer to record it right away.

If I finish a book late at night

My preference is that you enter the book when you intend to read it or or when you start to read it, not when you finish it.

So then you still have to update it after the fact, because I may read late at night and not know until it's too late that I won't finish the book in the current month.

oh, I thought the challenge was to finish the book within the month, so I've only been posting review links to them after I've read the books.

118> Me too – Madeline, could you clarify please? Is it books started during the challenge month, or only books started AND finished during the challenge month?

I'm pretty sure it's books finished. Since one of the stated goals is to reduce the TBR pile, I think we would be welcome to use TIOLI as an excuse to finish up books we started before.

Also, I can't be the only one who reads multiple books at a time and more often than not starts and finishes them in different months!

As a concrete example: I started Inkheart on Feb. 23, 2008 and abandoned it shortly thereafter. I was really excited to see that it has a red spine, because that gives me the perfect incentive to finally finish it this month.

So then you still have to update it after the fact, because I may read late at night and not know until it's too late that I won't finish the book in the current month.

You will not finish that month's challenge. You may move that book and challenge to the next month.

I thought the challenge was to finish the book within the month

It is.

I've only been posting review links to them after I've read the books.

You do not need to wait until you've read the book. You just list a book that in good faith you intend to read that month. Take into consideration how many books you can comfortably read. This is not a speed reading contest. Initially, I was thinking that people would only choose one TIOLI book per month. Obviously, I'm wrong. Now I have to ponder this issue.

Is it books started during the challenge month, or only books started AND finished during the challenge month

Ideally, it was to have been a book chosen at the beginning of the month, read during the month, and finished before the month ended. Let me think on this a while. Continue talking about it though. Your thoughts about this are helpful.

Personally I think if it's a 'challenge' then the challenge should be to start AND finish within the same month in order for it to count. Otherwise there is no real incentive to finish the book one has started in a particular month. It doesn't have to be a speed-reading contest and as such, one should select an appropriate book considering the amount of time that one has to complete it.

Ok now it's getting picky. I started one of my February challenge books yesterday which, technically, wasn't February and I won't finish it till probably the weekend so I'm counting it for Feb. Plus, I thought at the end of the month Madeline said to remove any books you hadn't finished reading so that would assume that you listed books you thought you'd read but didn't get to.

Yeah, I agree with brenzi. Too many rules = not enough fun. I may just continue to read along with the categories and discuss the books, but not actually worry about counting them officially on the wiki.

Here's a picky rule question: do stripey red spines count? :)

Just thought I would add to the delicious mayhem.

#126: LOL .... this just cracked me up. Thanks so much for the laugh.

The one rule (by the way, it's only ONE rule, folks!) is:

The challenge is counted in the month you finish the book.

Personally I think if it's a 'challenge' then the challenge should be to start AND finish within the same month in order for it to count.

I agree, but that's not required. You may choose to do this challenge that way, and I probably will as well. However, I want people to continue reading their choice of book(s), even if it's to the extent of carrying a challenge over from one month to the next.

Feel free to make personal changes to other aspects of the TIOLI, but please (with sugar on top?) don't change my ONLY rule. :)

:D Thanks for being so flexible. This is a great challenge!

> 126

beserene, I would say that if it looks as if it would fit well on this picture, you can count it.

For fun (remember fun, folks?), let's vote (unofficially, of course).The bottom line: Feel free to vary the TIOLI to suit your needs. Do NOT, however, change my ONE rule, as noted in post #128. :D

--> 129

Hugs to you, Zoe! I love the way you challenge *me*! Keep it up. It keeps me on my toes. :)

#126 : A candy caned spine? that sounds pretty ... what book is that?

Apart from my February book nudge challenge I've also a red spined book, Coming Up Roses, a short story collection that I've had on my tbr for a couple of years. I bought it because of the delightful design & fonts used, unusually the design was by the author, herself - Sarah Laing. So I'm now hoping to read 3 books at least for this month's TIOLI.

>130 SqueakyChu: I like the criterion of "Books that would fit well in the picture", so I didn't vote in the poll. I think everyone can decide for themselves.

Next month's TIOLI: "Books that weren't quite red enough" ;)

>131 SqueakyChu: :D Hugs all around!

Next month's TIOLI: "Books that weren't quite red enough"

LOL!!

>134 _Zoe_:: I'm laughing at that one as well, Zoe. And thanks, Madeline, for posting the picture of the "red"-spined books in the heart shape. Actually, I see a lot of wiggle room in that picture. Are those mostly black-spined books at the bottom? And what about the purplish red books? I have a plethora of red books, so I'm not worried about fitting the criteria.

Well that's my problem (?) Too many red spined books LOL. BTW on my shelf one book stands out as mostly red and if I hadn't already read it I'd read it now---Let the Great World Spin. So for anyone still looking for a red spined book, that would be a great choice.

Madeline - thank you for coming up with this crazy, fun challenge. You've got everyone talking anyway ;-o

Let the Great World Spin looks like a fabulous book (but I've already chosen two TIOLI books so far...and I'm a slow reader due to my playing around online too much).

You're welcome. If you're having fun with it, that's all I'd hoped for. It wasn't meant to be aggravating or nerve-wracking to anyone.

P.S. Keep talking, everyone, as I do need to know what works for you and what doesn't.

By the way, I got rid of that statement in the original "rules" where it said you had to write a sentence about "incorporating" the TIOLI challenge into your 75 books list. Well, I deleted that. Too complicated! Just somewhere (in your book listing or as a tag) you may want to denote that a particular book was a "TIOLI"). We all know what it is by now, anyway. :)

Keep talking, everyone, as I do need to know what works for you and what doesn't.

I was considering doing a January re-cap in that thread, but to avoid causing trouble I'll do it here instead ;)

I read two TIOLI books in January, both in the Debut Book category: Elisha's Bones and Soulless. I think this was pretty much perfect as far as the goals of the challenge go; Elisha's Bones had been sitting in my TBR pile for a year and I really needed to get around to it, so this was some added incentive, while Soulless was something I had never heard of before, but picked up because two other people had read and loved it for the challenge--and I loved it too. So, one long-overdue book off the TBR pile and one great new author discovered! All the talk about Soulless has even led to a planned group read of The Anubis Gates for later this month and a new What Are You Reading - Steampunk thread.

There had been another TIOLI book that I planned to read for my own challenge, a book in a foreign language: Voyage au Centre de la Terre. Well, that didn't happen. Lesson learned: don't be too ambitious and serious here!

Ok, here's my question. I understand that the book has to be started and finished in the same month. But in January, I started and finished a debut novel which fit into the challenge. However, I did not find this thread until today. According to the rule, even though I completed the challenge, I could not add my book to the thread because it was closed since it was February.

Another thing that could happen is that someone could finish a book on the last day of the month but not be on this site until the next day which would be the first day of the new challenge. Shouldn't there by someway that they can enter their book into the challenge since the did, in fact, complete it?

Not trying to make things more complicated just trying to figure out how these situations would be handled.

However, I did not find this thread until today.

Start fresh from when you discovered this thread (today - February). Don't look back.

Another thing that could happen is that someone could finish a book on the last day of the month but not be on this site until the next day which would be the first day of the new challenge. Shouldn't there by someway that they can enter their book into the challenge since the did, in fact, complete it?


You should enter any book that you intend to read when you know what book it is. You do not have to wait until you start reading the book before entering it. If you don't finish it (or don't read it), you should remove it at or after the end of the month. You can take that unfinished book/challenge to the next month. NO books should be added after the wiki has been closed to new entries.

Red-spined book:
Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson - I need to reread it, as the next book came out just...yesterday? Today?

ETA: Whoops, Scarlett Fever's the one that JUST came out...and it doesn't have a red spine.

I have now arrived on the February TIOLI Challenge thread. Actually, I arrived earlier today but I have been reading the thread on and off since then.

On red-spined books: I have a lot of them. I also have a compulsion to count how many I have. For some reason, I feel like I need to know this. I should not count them. Because the next compulsion will be to then count all the ones that are red-spined under their dust jackets. And that would be weird and time consuming. So I am refraining from counting.

I perused the red-spined books last night and one did not catch my eye saying that it was the one to be read this month. On one hand, I kind of what to know which one I will read. On the other, I might see which one I feel like reading when I've finished the books I have planned to read this month. None of those books fit any of the TIOLI Challenge for this month. I don't think I want to make my own up either.

So in the end, we'll see. One of the planned books is a hold at the library. It might have a red spine when it comes. Or someone might put up a TIOLI Challenge that fits one of the books I read. It's still early in the month.

Because the next compulsion will be to then count all the ones that are red-spined under their dust jackets. And that would be weird and time consuming.

Chrine, you're hilarious!

143>

When you eat M&Ms, do you separate them into groups of colors? And if there are unequal numbers (there always are!), do you eat from each group that has more in order to have an equal number of M&Ms in each color group?

I don't do this, of course. I was just wondering if you did.

A question for Deedledee about your Canada Reads challenge:

I noticed that your book selection was for this year's Canada Reads. Later, LauraNav took up your challenge with another Canada Reads selection from a previous year. I changed the link to refelect all years (2002 to the present). Did you mean for the challenge to be this year's books only, or did you mean for it to include all the years?

--> 145

I save the red ones for last! :)

#134: Next month's TIOLI: "Books that weren't quite red enough" ;)

Shouldn't that be "Books that weren't quite read enough?" :)

Maybe hard to find books? or books that deserve more attention?

cute! :)

#144
Madeline ~ I would be hilarious except that I've started doing it! I'm counting a shelf or two each time I get up to made a cup of tea (I'm a avid tea drinker) or something. I'm up to 27 so far. The funny thing is that I only have a several hundred books. So I think it's going to be a high percentage of books I own. I'm not counting pharmacy reference books or the husband's sport statistics books. All other books in the house will be in the count.

#145
ty ~ I do not. I eat them randomly. I do eat Skittles in groups of the same color, usually by twos but sometimes by threes. I will also sometimes eat the lemon, lime, and orange ones in combos but not the grape and strawberry, which is my favorite one.

A funny Skittle story: I have a good friend Matt who is ADHD, very funny, and smart. Several years, ago we were at his mom's house and eating Skittles. I noticed Matt eating them in small bunches of all the flavors in his mouth all at once. I asked him about it wondering if he didn't like to eat them one at a time or by flavor. He replied extremely surprised that he didn't know they were each a different flavor, he has always thought they were all fruit punch flavored. His mom and I found this quite funny.

>148 alcottacre: oh booooooo
hiisssssssssssssss
hiiiisssssssssssssss

BOOOOOOOOO

Thanks for your input, Richard! lol

*sighs in relief*

Really glad at the stipey spined poll result! I've just picked up JG Ballard's Empire of the Sun and it has a red spine with thin black barbed wire stripes on it. So I'm safe (ish) with that.

>>146 SqueakyChu:
My challenge was for all years of Canada Reads books going back to 2002. If I have enough time this month I may try to fit in an older one as well. Although, my eyes keep getting drawn to red spines.... ;)

Thx! Then I fixed the challenge to the correct link, inluding all the years' books.

I finished the first of the 3 books I am reading for TIOLI challenges this month, I Knew a Phoenix by May Sarton. This book was for wandering star's challenge: books whose title is a complete sentence.

I finished When You Reach Me last night, for the Newbery challenge. I had fully expected to love this book because I had heard so much praise from so many people, but I actually came away disappointed. I'll write a review in my thread later today.

#158: I am sorry you did not enjoy it more, Zoe. I was one of the people who loved it.

>159 alcottacre: I know, and Linda and Marcia loved it too... it may be partially a case of too-high expectations :(

I finished my first TIOLI for February Eternal on the Water an ARC from Barnes and Noble. A review will be on my thread later today. Marching off to read Wolf Hall my next TIOLI, this one w/red spine.

#160: I hate when that happens!

This is quickly becoming my most favorite thread. I find something hilarious each time I visit. This time I am laughing about the M&M obsession. My husband is guilty of arranging his. Me? I just eat 'em any ol' way!

Also, I am now a little bit tempted to peek under my dust covers to check out the spine colors. And, while I'm at it, I could be dusting the 800+ books on my shelves!

Thanks again, Madeline, for starting up this very entertaining thread. As a child I thought it was madatory to sort the M&M's into color groups and carefully eat only one group at a time. Of course, I drove Mother insane by carefully eating my dinner in sections, least liked item first, most liked item last. Hmmm....guess I a a bit weird, after all.

I'm reading a red-spined book right now: Harm Done which I started before I visited here. I've found another one: The Great Game, but I'm a little hesitant to add it, as I may not get to it in this short month.

-------->80 wandering_star:: Very, very clever idea on book titles that are complete sentences, Wandering Star. I may finally get to Keep the Aspidistra Flying; it would fit there nicely.

164# It's okay - my 29 year old husband still eats in order... drives me nuts!

Oh and Keep the Aspidistra Flying is really rather good!

I love Orwell, especially his essays---he has a marvelous one on "Shooting (or possibly Killing) an Elephant". I read Homage to Catalonia last year and was struck by his honesty, humor, and total lack of "side" about himself under horrific conditions.

When I try to add my title to the wiki list I get an error message saying something about a loss of session data. It says to log out and back in and try again, which I've done several times, but it still doesn't work. Any ideas?

--> 167

Just ignore the message and hit the save button again. It *will* save the second time you try it, despite the warning. I think it must be a bug in the wiki.

I had this problem several times too and i had been checking the minor edit box, when I unchecked that it saved ok.

Thanks for the great challenge Madeline! I finished my red spined book (The Ghost and the Goth) and absolutely loved it. Now I'll have to see if I can find another one.

See the review here

Okay, I found a book I want to read for the red-spined book TIOLI Challenge but it has half a bright red spine and half a black one. Then my book group subset who wasn't planning on reading a Pulitzer this month decided to read one and my copy has half a red spine and half a black one. So two half red spines make a whole one right? Except for the problem that I may not finish both books this month. Then I'm left with wondering if I can count a single half red-spined book for my TIOLI Challenge.

I need to go look at the photo again. Yes, I do see some books with partially black (and white and other colors) spines in it. So I think it will be okay.Okay, I just wanted to try the poll function. =)

I just looked at the TIOLI wiki and I have The Giver and I haven't read it in awhile and it's short and someone else is reading it and we'd get a point if I read it. So that's another possibility.

So last month I was already reading the book I used for the debut author TIOLI Challenge when I added it to the wiki. This month I have three possibilities. I will most likely not read them all. So do I add them? Or do I wait and add them when I start reading one?

Add them now. Delete them at the end of the month, if you didn't read them or didn't finish them. Alternatively, you could add the one or two that you would most likely be reading. Remember, you can change the books at any time until the end of the month.

P.S. I voted yes in the poll. Isn't that feature fun?!

Since this group seems to thrive on questions and debates:

I see Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton on the list. I have that on my TBR stack here on the desk so I could read it and create a point for the TIOLI challenge (and get one more of my own books read). But, my copy is very yellow, not a bit of red in sight.

So, is that a yes because someone else started it with a red copy or a no because my copy is other-than-red?

>#168 Thanks, Madeline. That did the trick!

I added The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff, which came out of the lost and found at work and has been languishing far too long on my shelves. Its bright red spine caught my eye and that, as they say, was that!

--> 173

If your book does not have a red spine, that does not seem to qualify. What do others think? By the way, I voted no. :D

Recommendation:

Off the top of my head I can't remember who did this, but I want to recommend that, if you review a TIOLI book here on LT, that you not refer to TIOLI in the body of the review. The reason is that, other than 75-ers, no one will know what TIOLI even is. In addition, the reviews on LT sometimes go into library catalogues (i.e. LibraryThing for Libraries), and library patrons all over the U.S. and elsewhere will *certainly* not know what TIOLI is. Thx!

I started reading When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead on the train this morning. Early impression: Liking.

Who voted for a yellow book to be counted as a red-spined book?!!!!

:O

Whatever for???????

I haven't voted either way, but I can at least understand the argument that if we're trying to share our reading, it might make sense to allow any book that has already been listed in the category to count.

Also, yay for someone else reading When You Reach Me! You've just doubled the point value of the challenge ;)

178 > I felt bad seeing that sad 0 next to yes. It was a sympathy vote :)

Sympathy votes are sweet, but they have to be less in number than the no votes. Rule #2? :D

--> 179

it might make sense to allow any book that has already been listed in the category to count.

Noooooooooo!!!!!

*faints in disbelief*

--> 173, 179

Alternatively, you could start a new challenge for a book with a bright yellow spine. Ha!

#174: Oh! The Tao of Pooh! I have that, I'll read it with you!!! *runs off to find it*

>185 dk_phoenix: - make sure the copy you have of The Tao of Pooh has a red spine!
:-)

So far the debate is going a lot like the one in my head went.
I could create a new challenge, but then my entry for Cry, the Beloved Country wouldn't be sitting next to the red-spined one so no point(s). So, I could just wait until June or whenever the yellow-spined challenge is :-)

Found it! And it does :D

--> 186

So, I could just wait until June or whenever the yellow-spined challenge is :-)

You're going to have a l-o-n-g wait, Laura. My plan is to have each month's TIOLI challenge vastly different from the one that preceeded it.

*the suspense rises* (dramatic music plays...)

188 > Is this where we start pestering you about what the March challenge will be? :D

No. That happens on February 28th. :)

> 174 & 175
I voted YES because the Dutch translation of The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff and most other editions have a red spine.
So in this case it could count as a red spine ;-)

It would be different if there were no red spined editions...
Anita

I started reading Push, a very red book, but a student wanted it so I'll have to wait until it comes back. *grouches off to find another red book*

:)

Finished my first TIOLI book. The Wednesday Letters by Jason Wright (with a very red spine) was a good read. Secrets eventually come out, some with more long-term affects than others.

I finally got to my TIOLI book, The Leisure Seeker (red-spined, of course) and am enjoying it immensely - feeling sad sometimes, laughing out loud at others, and stopping to copy down quotes. It's the story of an elderly couple taking a road trip. This is the second book I've read by Michael Zadoorian and am finding this book an easy, but great, read so far.

I got to start my tioli book, too: Eats, Shoots and Leaves. Punctuation = funny! Who knew?

I am about halfway through my TIOLI book, Mary Karr's memoir The Liar's Club which is laugh out loud funny so far.

I started I Am The Messenger, and it is no The Book Thief!

I have also finished my first TIOLI book, Evening Is The Whole Day, a Malaysian family saga. Haven't had time to write the review yet, but it is excellent and very highly recommended!

...and started my second, Dark Fire for Carmenere's "elements" challenge.

#200 Cool :)

For Lynda's "elements" challenge, I am reading Parting the Waters a book I had intended to read this year any way.

Also, I am starting Biblioholism for the "red spine" challenge.

#202 Even Cooler :)

#203: Thanks!

Lynda, I'm so tempted to join your "Four Elements" challenge as well. I have so many TBR books that fit into your category. Deciding...

>>198 Donna828:: I'm afraid to read other items by Zuzak because I loved The Book Thief so much and I don't know if anything else he writes will measure up.

Of the books on the shelves in my office, these are the ones with bright red spines:
The Kite Runner (more burgandy than red but it still fits)
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
Vernon God Little by DC Pierre
Tuesdays with Morrie
Small Island by Andrea Levy
Being Indian by Pavan K Varma
Lifelines (poetry collection)
In Cold Blood
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
The Darkness of Wallis Simpson by Rose Tremain
The Idiot by Dostoyevsky

Phew! Lots!!!

Message 207: Sharondingle

Of the books on the shelves in my office, these are the ones with bright red spines:
The Kite Runner (more burgandy than red but it still fits)
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Vernon God Little
Tuesdays with Morrie
Small Island by Andrea Levy
Being Indian by Pavan K Varma
Lifelines (poetry collection)
In Cold Blood
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
The Darkness of Wallis Simpson by Rose Tremain
The Idiot by Dostoyevsky

Phew! Lots!!!

Madeline, I'm looking forward to your decision with bated breath!

I have two TIOLI books and one ER book to finish first...and then I'll decide. You'd better start breathing again in the meantime, Lynda. :)

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

That's better! :)

>208 Sharondingle:: It's good to have lots of choices, Sharon. I just posted a picture of my red spine book choices on my Profile Page. It's a slow day here in snowy Missouri!

#213 Very cool picture Donna.

I had a vague idea that for the red spine challenge it would look really good if we could post pictures of the books to the wiki page, but I have no idea how/whether that would work.

I was also thinking it would be nice to get pictures of all the red spine books somehow!

If someone had some skill (i.e., not me) and everyone took a picture of the books stacked, spine up, it might be possible to crop the photos, cutting off the left side and the right side and then lining up all of the pictures together, so it looked like one long shelf of books. Scaling could be a problem (some photos will be close up (making the spines bigger), and some farther away (making spines smaller) but the spirit would be the same

Alternatively, and much easier, we could post our pictures here, and turn this thread into a red-spined book thread. :)

Happy to have achieved my January TIOLI - really liked The Beekeeper's Apprentice. Just had to mention that.

I was looking at my bookcase, and these are the books with red spines.
1. Mao
2. Tickle Monster
3. A whole collection of Shakespeare - very old, small, neat books

So Shakespeare or Mao. I started Mao a couple of years ago, and in the middle, I just had to stop. I can only take so much communist horror. It's probably time to finish it. Maybe Shakespeare...
If you haven't read Tickle Monster, it's a great bedtime book for kids of all ages.
I like the idea of pictures of the red-spine books.

I've been away for 2 days because of travel and coming back to this thread just had me laughing! Thanks especially for the giggles regarding the comments of those who voted 'yes' on the yellow spine book poll. (i voted no). But having giggled through, I came away with a thought ..... what if one is color blind? How does one tell a red from a yellow spine book? One of my cousins' is severely color blind .. he sees everything in shades of black, white and gray. He couldn't tell a red from a yellow or blue spine to save his life.

I started my Feb challenge by reading George Letham : Physician and Murderer by Ernst Weiss

Carolyn, It's simple. He just asks someone else.

ahhh..... there is that....... unless he's a hermit. ;-)

No copyright on this pic of mine. Use it as you wish. :)

I've finished two more TIOLI books.
I read The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle, the 1923 Newberry Medal Winner. Now that I've read the first two books of that series I'm pretty sure the one I read as a child was not either of these. Voyages did have the description of the fire place so large you could sit on benches in side it. But the rest of the story was not familiar. But it was a fun read.

The next story was not a fun read, but it was well written and told an important story. Tears of the Desert: A Memoir of Survival in Darfur by Halima Bashir is her story of a happy childhood growing up in Sudan, her studies at school and university to become a medical doctor, and the growing unrest as the Arabs began attacking the black Africans. The story of what is happening in Darfur is terrible and depressing. The treatment she received in England isn't much more encouraging.

Another book you could read for TIOLI this month is What is the What by Dave Eggers as it is a standalone sentence. :) This is a supremely interesting book about the life of Valentin Achak Deng, written as fiction but based in fact. It's the story of this man's escape from Southern Sudan when the Arabs in the Sudanese government began attacking and killing the black population.

Hm... I'll have to look for that one.

Completed this month's red spined challenge - I've read Coming Up Roses, a collection of short stories. Now to get on to my TIOLI book nudge challenge.

Food for Thought ...or comments

Hmm? A red spine? Good marketing technique ... or not so remarkable? Do these books jump out at you in some way ... or not? Were the books you read or chose for TIOLI associated with something red (e.g. blood, communism, a heart, China, etc.)?

.227. um, kinda China, but I think red just looks good on pandas in general.
Finished my tioli book; it was enjoyable. Thanks for helping me check one off the tbr list!

#227: For the red spine challenge, the book I chose was one I ordered over the internet and thus did not see the spine color, so no marketing technique there. The book is not in any way that I can see associated with the color red either.

Finished The Handmaid's Tale today, my Canada Reads choice.

My two red-spined books:
The Wednesday Letters didn't really have anything to indicate a red cover, but it is pretty and eye-catching. Of course, I didn't pick it for the cover - a man on an airplane gave it to my mother who then loaded it to me.

Tears of the Desert didn't strike me as a book needing a red cover - although there was plenty of blood in some scenes.

Finished the first of my 2 February red-spined books ... Georg Letham : Physician and Murderer by Ernst Weiss.

My review can be found here

I finished The Good Doctors: The Medical Committee for Human Rights and the Struggle for Social Justice in Health Care by John Dittmer, my first February red-spined book, and reviewed it here.

I just finished The Leisure Seekers, my red-spined book, and it was a winner! Just finished wiping my eyes to type this... :)

My review is posted.

Stasia, I believe that I will join you in reading the red-spined Biblioholism. My library copy arrived today and it looks interesting, not to mention short. Always a good combination.

#234: I just started it today, Linda, and I must say it sounds just like me!

I decided to jump ship on the Newbery Award Winner challenge and go with Tomcat In Love by Tim O'Brien for the challenge for a book with the word "love" in the title (started by Chèli). I so love (to be redundant) this author's writing that I thought this would be a better fit for me this month.

I finished my first TIOLI red spine challenge book The Liars' Club and reviewed it on the work's site. Simply said, it was hysterical and horrifying at the same time.

I decided to jump ship on the Newbery Award Winner challenge

I was trying to figure out a way to squeeze in Number the Stars in addition to all my other TIOLI books, so I have to say, this is almost a relief!

But I thought I just read in Linda's thread that you had already started Number the Stars--does this mean you didn't like it?

What happened was that I started the Lowry book, lost it, and started another book (the O'Brien book). Then I found the Lowry book (it was in the bag I carry to work), but liked the O'Brien book better. I'm going to stick with the O'Brien book and just toss the Lowry book back onto the TBR mountain as I'd only read one chapter of it before I misplaced it. I have no problem abandoning books if I find something that captures my interest much more.

Finished my red-spined book for the challenge! The Tao of Pooh was... ah, let's just say not as impressive as I'd hoped. I'll write a review soon...

>239 SqueakyChu: That makes sense. I don't think I'm quite as quick to abandon as you are, but it's certainly an admirable ability.

>240 dk_phoenix: I can't say I have fond memories of The Tao of Pooh either; I'll look forward to reading your review....

Ok, I found my red-spine book, from my TBR shelves. Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year, the second annual collection, edited by Lester del Rey - copyright 1973. I LOVE old Sci Fi, so this should be a treat. My goal for this year is to only buy new books when they're part of a series I'm already involved in - goodness knows I don't NEED any more books. (need, want - such a fine line!)

ET correct touchstone for LDR.

I've started up my Canada Reads book, The Jade Peony. When figuring out what I wanted to read for the Feb. TIOLI I was getting upset because two points books I justread in January! (Wolf Hall and Lullabies for Little Criminals). Ah well, I'm just glad I read through the whole Canada Reads list and found out The Jade Peony is on the 2010 list (yay!) and that I had a good motivator to steal my dad's copy of it (double yay!)

#238 For what it's worth - I loved Number the Stars, and it's a pretty quick read. No pressure though, of course.

This is a perfect challenge, Dreaming in Cuban is sitting right in front of me on my giant stack of books to read-not to long either, I think I'll try and get it read this coming weekend.

Welcome, Neuronin!

It didn't take you very long to find this challenge (which is somewhat hidden from people not in the 75 Books Challenge group). :)

Well looky looky here: yesterday I picked up a book that I had requested from the library and lo and behold, it has a red spine. Excellent. I've added it to the wiki. It's the new one by William Boyd called Ordinary Thunderstorms. I started it last night and I'm already hooked :-)

I finished my first book with a red spine last night, I Am the Messenger, and posted the review. I really wanted to like this book after reading the fabulous The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, but it just didn't resonate with the old fogy in me!

Ohhh.......this looks fun.

I shall have to go and investigate my bookshelves and my mum's bookshelves and see what I can find.

I have started Angry Management by Chris Crutcher - bright red spine. Hopefully a student won't be attracted to it before I finish it. (Not a tragedy if someone is in any case.)

Finished Angry Management. Chris Crutcher is amazing, one of my favorite YA authors.

I added two to the wiki - picked them up from the library today. And one of them gets a point for the challenge!!

I added A Cold Treachery, the next Inspector Rutledge as I work through that series. The spine under the dust jacket is bright red!

And Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss. This has been floating around on my wish to read list so I figured this was a good month to check it out and read it since Milda-TX already had it on the list.

I seem to have two goals with TIOLI. First - use it to read some of the books on my own shelves (done with the first 2 reads in Feb) and second - to get a point for the challenge. But none of the other Canada Reads books listed are in my library yet and we've already had the discussion about my copy of Cry, the Beloved Country which has the misfortune to be a yellow-covered copy.

250, 251: I'll have to try Anger Management; I just finished Whale Talk and was completely blown away.

I just finished Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, which has a dark red spine. Here's my review. The bottom line - I loved this book!

#252 Eats, Shoots and Leaves is a funny, funny book.
#254 I also loved Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. I'll look forward to your review.
I am still dithering on books with red spines. I'm sure a likely book that sounds better than Mao will turn up before the end of the month.

There's a new picture system--potentially something we can use for our red spine photos?

I seem to have two goals with TIOLI. First - use it to read some of the books on my own shelves... and second - to get a point for the challenge.

I have exactly the same goals!

#252 I am reading Cry, The Beloved Country ... can we find a challenge to put it in?

#257 I'm willing to create some new challenge for it. I was tempted to sneak it into Challenge #2 since it sort of has the word LOVE in the title.

#254, 255 I have a hold on Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet but I'm number 79 in the list so I'm pretty sure it won't be here for the February challenge.

I came back to say, perhaps it would fit in the standalone sentence category? It does have a verb in it....

--> 258

Cry, The Beloved Country will definitely fit Challenge #2. The word "love" is in the title, even though it is an embedded word!

Let's see who agrees with me... :)

Added a Newbery winner Number the stars, it also has a red spine, should I add it to both?

Nope! You may add it only once.

However, you may change its location at any time (e.g. to add TIOLI points) before the end of February.

To Zoe re: 238, 261

Ha! Zoe...now you have to decide whether or not to fit Number the Stars into this month's challenge again. :D

>253 Neurorin: Neurorin
Just to clarify - there was not a typo in the name - it is called Angry Management for a reason explained in the book.

I agree that Cry, the Beloved Country is probably a sentence... is it a command? And I voted in favour of it containing the word love, too.

>263 SqueakyChu: Oh, difficult decisions! Too many TIOLI books and too little time. But maybe this should encourage you to read it after all ;).

For the record, my copy doesn't have a red spine. Unless it's under the dust jacket....

But maybe this should encourage you to read it after all

I hardly think so as I just got my Early Reviewer January book, The Spare Room, in the mail yesterday. I also made a list of some other possible TIOLI books for this month, and that list contains books I'd so much rather read than Number the Stars. We'll see what happens...

#260 So I read my copy of Cry, the Beloved Country because it has a red spine, can I/should I now move it to Challenge 2 to get more points?? Oh, decisions...

I say go for the points.

An interesting observation:

On our home page here at LT,
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, a TIOLI point-grabber here on
Challenge #3 (A Newbery Medal Winner), is also the #1 most popular read on LibraryThing this month.

>260 SqueakyChu: looks like it is going in our favor!
I'll move Cry, the Beloved Country to my February stack and put it on the TIOLI web site!

does any one have sugestions for books ........i love sci fi anf fantacy......please help

What about:
1. Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett
2. Time Enough for Love
by Robert A. Heinlein
3. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
by Philip K. Dick

I haven't read any of these books, but they each fit into a February TIOLI challenge, and each has a high star rating here on LT.

#268, 270 Okeydokey, moved my read of Cry to challenge #2. I still have a book in the red book challenge so it's ok.

>271 lovemademe: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card is one of my favorites.

Guy Gavriel Kay does some good fantasy work. I love all of his stuff.

I read Wringer because a student just returned it and it had a red spine label. Too many pigeons. Too many blood thirsty boys. Not my cup of tea. And I really like Spinelli's books, too. I know I'm in the minority and will field all snowballs thrown my way (like Dorothy did).

So happy! No more dithering. I just picked up my first graphic novel Maus (thank you Stasia) at the library. Behold, a bright red spine.

#276: I hope you like it, Jennifer!

Maus is amazing and one of my all-time favorite reads. Be sure to continue with Maus II.

Second reader finishing The Tao of Pooh here. Contrary to Faith (#240 above), I found I enjoyed it rather more than I expected to. But then my expectations were quite low. Hmmm, perhaps we ended up liking it equally, just started from different levels of expectations....

I just started my second TIOLI - red Spine book. This was a perfect opportunity to use this challenge to fulfill another challenge. I was down to the last genre in my local library's "Read Around the Library" program, and I was facing SciFi/Fantasy. Not my favorite genre. Books I found recommended through LT were never tagged as SF at the library (which was a requirement) so I was getting desperate. So, off I went to the library, into the SF section, to find a book with a red spine. The result - The Time of New Weather by Sean Murphy. Only a few chapters in, but I like it surprisingly enough. Here's to the TIOLI challenge!

Nice story, Patrick. Glad you had success with your foray into a new genre!

>>230 lauranav:

What did you think of The Handmaid's Tale?

ty

yw

hey is it just me or does the posting go slow here

I think it might be the size of this thread. I'll start a new thread and then see if it speeds up for you. Give me a few minutes. Okay?

ok

This thread is continued here.