Take It or Leave It Challenge - March 2010

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

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For this month, I’m proposing a challenge that will build on interaction between LT members and LT authors. Your March 2010 TIOLI Challenge is to Read a book by an LT author (*See note below). I got this idea from following a discussion among 75-ers about the book Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann. Interestingly enough, there is an author chat with Colum McCann here on LT starting March 1, 2009.

The idea of reading a book by an LT author is fraught with problems. Not all books will be good as there are authors of all calibers here on LT. It will be up to you, however, to do your homework and choose a book that is not only well written but is also of interest to you. Check out a potential book’s star ratings. Talk with others who have read it. Carefully (so you don’t encounter spoilers) scan reviews of your chosen book here on LT. Read some past author chats if you are undecided about which book to pick.

When you finish reading your challenge book, it would be fun (though NOT required) to post a review of the book (which pretty likely be read by its author). In addition (and if you feel so inclined), post a message (or private message) to the book’s author right here on LT with your personal comments about the book. I’m sure they will be most appreciated.

To get you started, here are some books I liked:
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan – Lisa See
Looking for Alaska – John Green
The Leisure Seeker – Michael Zadoorian
A Dog About Town – J.F. Englert
The 99th Monkey – Eliezer Sobel

Here are some books I haven’t read but that look interesting to me:
1. Heart Shaped Box – Joe Hill
2. Colum McCann – Let the Great World Spin
3. The World to Come – Dara Horn
4. Tell Me Where it Hurts – Nick Trout
5. Death of a Monk – Alon Hilu

Thanks for supporting LT authors. Hope you enjoy this challenge!

*An LT author is one who has the official yellow LT author badge (located at top right of this example page). It's not just any author listed on LT.

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This thread is continued from here.

I just read an LT author last week but will have to take a look at this.

With my birthday coming up on Monday, March 1, I am choosing to read birthday-related books, either with the word "birthday" in the title or else candles, cake or whatever.

My first choice is Isis Crawford's mystery, A Catered Birthday Party.

Oh hey...I'm in for Colum McCann! I want to read Let the Great World Spin anyway, so I can participate in the Author Chat!

What about David Liss? His A Conspiracy of Paper, A Spectacle of Corruption, The Ethical Assassin, The Coffee Trader, The Whiskey Rebels, and...and...oh hell, I can't come up with the title of the latest Benjamin Weaver book, but there's another one out...all really really good!

In the mood for a comedic mystery? How about Ben Rehder? His Blanco County series is funny as hell.

I just picked up LT author Rob Shearman's collection Love Songs for the Shy and Cynical yesterday from the library and I'm really keen to start it. I put in a purchase request after reading his Tiny Deaths so was really happy that they got it in so promptly.

I've just got a copy of Dara Horn's The World to Come - it does look good. There's quite a few LT authors that are already on my 1010 challenge lists eg Patrick Rothfuss, Sharon Penman

Could someone tell me what's going on with the HTML links tonight? They're going haywire. :(

Yeah, I noticed some issues, too, but I put it down to me being inept.

Try this: LibraryThing Authors

No, Richard, I think Tim et al are making changes to how links are being done. I remember Stasia complaining about the same issue on another thread a few days ago. There was someone who gave a workaround, but I never had any problems before so I didn't mark the thread nor pay any attention to the issue. Let me know if you find it, though. I hate not having the HTML for links. :(

It's working now. Yay!

ETA: Partial yay... or oy! The author touchstone goes to a work page instead of an author page. I give up! You guys get the idea for March, though :D

Great idea for a challenge!

LT authors whose work I've enjoyed in the past:

Brandon Sanderson, both YA and adult fantasy--I still have some more of his to read, so maybe I'll fit one in this month

Melissa Marr, YA urban fantasy/paranormal romance, with faeries

I've heard lots of good things about Naomi Novik (Napoleonic wars with dragons) and Patrick Rothfuss (fantasy), but I don't actually have their books on hand right now, though I do own copies. If I decide to visit my family for a few days over spring break I'll be able to get them.

There are actually a lot of really good choices. I enjoyed The Adoration of Jenna Fox, and I've been wanting to try books by Elizabeth Bear, and Bryan Lee O'Malley is the brother of someone I lived with in my first year of university.

So many options!

Also: I've heard great things about The Maze Runner by James Dashner, and I really enjoyed The Hollow Kingdom by Clare B. Dunkle. I also want to read Beautiful Creatures. And I actually have Word Myths sitting on my shelf here.

But I already need to carry over at least one challenge from February... there are just so many good books to read!

Yay!!! It's up. But I was really not expecting this until Saturday afternoon or Sunday.

I have Sugar by Bernice McFadden sitting here on my stack of books, so that's my first entry for book by an LT author. If I have time, I might fit in a Brandon Sanderson. I've read a few of his and enjoyed them.

And I added a challenge for Hugo Award winners to cover 2 other books I just picked up from the library.
I put the link to the wikipedia page because the official Hugo Award winner page doesn't list all the winners in one place, it makes you click through to each year to see the winner and all the possible contenders.

I am not sure which LT author I will be reading for Madeline's TIOLI challenge yet, but I may do Let the Great World Spin.

I am setting up a challenge of my own for the month: A Season's Challenge, using books with the seasons in the title.

Spring Moon by Bette Bao Lord
Dark Summer by Iris Johansen
Stone's Fall by Iain Pears
Winter Rose by Patricia McKillip

I may add others later as I have time, but those are the 4 with which I am starting.

Anyone who wants to join in is welcome. You need not do all 4 seasons :)

For the March TIOLI, in honor of St. Patrick's Day, I am going to read a book with SAINT or GREEN in the title.

Well, this months challenge is going to work very well for me, because 3 books that I can think of off the top of my head that I wanted to read this month are by LT Authors - James Dashner's 13th Reality books 1 & 2 (in anticipation of book 3 coming out next month) and Let the Great World Spin, so this will work out nicely. Thanks!

OK, so I have to ask a potentially dumb question, but wasn't there a section on our homepage that showed what books we had in our libraries by LT authors? Am I just missing it because it's 1:30 in the morning, my mom's dogs have woken me up and I'm trying to navigate LT when I should be trying to sleep, or is it really missing? Maybe in the morning I will find it again, but right now it is entirely eluding me.

No, it's gone. It wasn't very popular on the profile, but I'm not sure why it was removed entirely rather than moved onto one of the statistics pages (unless it is actually on a statistics page annd I just can't find it at 1:30 in the morning :P).

Yay for the March challenge.

Off my shelf so far I have To Ride Hell's Chasm by Janny Wurts for the LibraryThing author challenge, Stand on Zanzibar and Forever Peace for the Hugo Award challenge and Saint Augustine by Garry Willis for cyderry's St. Patrick's Day challenge.

And then I will see what I can get from the library :-)

Just wanted to second the recommendation in #4 for Rob Shearman's short stories... I didn't realise he had a new book out, will have to add that to the wishlist!

Ooh, and also Jo Walton's Farthing series.

I'll probably read The Camel Bookmobile.

Very surprising challenge, Madeline - I didn't see this one coming. I was thinking spring and leprechaun's and then here you come with your left hook.
Reading off the TBR pile I think I'll select LT authorThe Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl. I'll also look on my shelf for lindapanzo's birthday month challenge and see if something fits.

Lynda, if Matthew Pearl is an LT author, I'll join you on that one. It's on my 1010 challenge list in any event.

#18 - Well, that's a shame. I liked going through those every so often to see if I'd added any new books to my library that were by an LT author.

Well I'm not sure I'll be able to get to this; possibly more towards the end of the month but I have the Midnight's Children group read and Books 2 and 3 of the Three Pines to do first so we shall see. This may be be a Leave It month for me. If someone is looking for a good book from an LT author I would recommend The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan.

There's a complete list of all 3000+ LT Authors here :-

http://www.librarything.com/librarything_author.php

Might help;-)

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I like your challenge, Stasia. That was one I'd thought of eventually doing myself. You just beat me to it! There are so many varied books which could fall into that category

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Happy upcoming birthday, Linda!

Can somebody recommend a good starting point for Janny Wurts? This seems as good a provocation as any to sample her work.

#29 - I'm going to be starting with the first book in the Wars of Light and Shadow Series, Curse of the Mistwraith. I've never read anything by her before, but I've heard that this is a good series, so I'm going to give it a try.

#26 - Thanks for the list, calm. I was feeling challenged even getting to that page today! I'd still like to find a quick way to find which books I have in my library without having to go through that entire list, but at least it's a start! Thanks again!

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I was thinking the same thing and looking all over for somewhere where my LT author books had checkmarks. Then I thought I'd been imagining that feature.

I know that there are LT author chats and fleeting pictures of LT authors on our home page, but somehow, I don't feel the welcome or warmth to authors here on LT that I think should be here. I can't put my finger exactly on why. It's just a feeling. Even if an author does a chat, a not well known author here on LT then just goes off into obscurity. That was one of the reasons that I chose to do this theme this month.

Does anyone else feel this?

By the way, if you are an LT author and reading this post now, I hereby give you permission to plug/promote your book on this thread. This month (with my chosen theme), I *want* you to be discovered and appreciated. We will not flag you away!!

#31 - I had always thought that was the point of the LT Author program to start off with, to connect us, the readers, with them, the authors. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like it's almost just used as bragging rights for LT now, "Hey, look how many authors we've got on our website!"

I really liked that little box that showed what authors I had books by in my library. It kind of made me feel that much more connected to them, especially the few that I've personally gotten to know through LT over the years.

So I agree, it's a feature that they seem to want to promote, but LT seems to be lacking in providing that welcoming community for them that I think the rest of us feel as a whole on the site.

Great idea for the month challenge, tho, and I hope that some authors do in fact come in here and promote their books!

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Thanks, Lynda. I'm trying hard to be original. I'm also trying to take advantage of the goodies that LT has to offer. So much of its wealth is yet untapped by LT members.

I keep changing my mind on the themes. I was just about to post one themed challenge, but then changed my mind again before I pressed the save button! So...you never know what the theme will be, but then neither do I exactly. That's part of the fun of it, I think.

My goal with the theme of each month is to narrow the choices down enough that people will have to stretch into new reading zones but not that hard that all selections are essentially eliminated. So far, so good, I think.

#29 swynn - Janny's also written some standalone fiction if you don't want to start a series. There's a collection of short stories That Way Lies Camelot; two early works Sorcerer's Legacy (female lead character) and The Master of Whitestorm (male lead character); also there is To Ride Hell's Chasm which is very good.

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Thanks, calm, for helping out with your much-easier-to-spot link!

I had that link incorporated into post #1 where it says "Read a book by an LT AUTHOR". However, the links in general weren't working well last night. They all appear to be fine today.

...and now, I'd like to introduce you to the "Recommend Site Improvements" group which a standing group on LT...

Today I started a new thread giving my ideas how LT could improve communication between LT authors and LT members. I'd be delighted if you'd add your ideas. In addition, if you have other ideas for how LT could be better (not just with LT authors, but with anything), please start your own topic in the Recommend Site Improvements group. Thanks!

SqueakyChu I like your suggestions.

Also Tim and co are already thinking about the issue see this thread

http://www.librarything.com/topic/84675

started earlier this month in that group.

Thank you, calm!!

I had *no idea* that discussion was taking place. It seems too little too late, though. They really need to move on this. I have literally been complaining to admin for years about this very issue.

How can a book site be so inhospitable to authors? If you don't want spam, you become proactive about how to guide new authors through your website. This has been done so little or so poorly in the past that it's hard to undo lots of negative feelings about LT by some authors. I hope, with a new group, such the one proposed by Sonya and Tim, things will finally turn around.

By the way, for others reading this, if you find a book that you love that has been written by an LT author, do promote it all over LT. You are *not* the author and can promote it without fear of being flagged. :)

#34 That's good to hear about To Ride Hell's Chasm as that is sitting on my shelf so I shall try and read it this month.

I probably won't get to either author in the next month but two people who happen to be on LT whose own work I want to read are Joshua Ferris (2 novels), who is on another group I joined, and Barbara Fister. I "know" Barbara through an online email reading group called 4_Mystery_Addicts, she also reads lots of mysteries and writes reviews, and is active online as much as a reader as an author. I believe she's a librarian as well, and has published books on librarianship as well as 2 (?) mystery novels.

I actually have Barbara Fister's first novel somewhere, but not sure where.

And for anyone with little children, or who's interested anyway, a picture book for this challenge is LT Author Michelle Knudsen's Library Lion.

#40 Joshua Ferris of Then We Came to the End? I have that in my TBR pile but when I clicked through to his author page it doesn't say he's a LibraryThing author. Would that still count?

Joshua Ferris is not listed as an LT author. However, if you can talk him into becoming one before the end of the month, then it would count. If not, no.

ETA: Barbara Fister is an LT author, though.

By the way, an LT author is one who has the official yellow "LT author" badge on his or her profile page. It's not just any author from this website.

See this example for the yellow badge (top right of page).

Gee, I take a few hours off to watch figure skating and there are 40 messages here.

Thanks for the birthday wishes. The actual day is Monday but my "not quite 50" party is on Saturday.

Thanks, too, for the LT authors' link. I will have to check that out. Out of all the suggestions so far, I might consider a David Liss and/or Matthew Pearl. I've wanted to try something by those two authors.

One terrific LT author book I read is Dave Cullen's Columbine. Not a book I could say I enjoyed, due to the subject matter, though it was really well done.

>15 cyderry: cyderry - If you read YA, I can recommend Saint Iggy by K.L. Going.

Thanks for the clarification.

Wow--I had no idea that there are so many LT authors.

Susan Wittig Albert is another I've wanted to try. I'd also like to get to Allison Hoover's The Man Who Loved Books Too Much.

Probably the best fit for me is Cleo Coyle and her coffeeshop mysteries. LT author of food mysteries (which would count for my 1010). Plus, she could be my "C author" for the ABC challenge, which I am doing in order. Coyle would be a win/win/win situation for me. I think my next one from Cleo Coyle would be the third one in the series, Latte Trouble.

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Thanks for being confused. That helped me in a way.

I now added the clarification to post #1. That should help others, as yourself, not quite that familiar with the LT Author program.

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Linda, I think you should try for a win/win/win/win situation. :)

#50 There are some great challenges this month. Besides the LT author and Cheli's, I've also found a match in the Hugo Awards. I almost never read science fiction though I do sometimes read alternate histories.

I find that Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union won a Hugo Award, which would also satisfy my need for an award winning book and a C author.

This is just the thing to get me out of the month-long reading doldrums I've been in.

This is so cool, y'all!

So, it's getting my brain a'churning. I can see why bringing too much attention to this would mean you'd be totally spammed by LTAuthors.

BUT, I think there is some potential awesomeness, particularly that if they're an LTAuthor, we have their contact info, and they know of the site (at least a little bit). What about messaging authors who you'd like to see have an author chat? We also usually have their email address, and I'd be willing to email an author to ask for a chat during March (or April, after you've read the book?), if you don't hear back right away.

(Being realistic, really popular authors may not have time to do a 2-week chat, but that doesn't stop me from wanting to ask!)

Email me (instead of profile message, please) if you have any particular authors you'd like to do a chat.

sonya at librarything.com

In this thread, since it's *my* thread, I don't care if LT authors spam it. This thread is dedicated to *them*!!

The reason we don't want too much attention to TIOLI is because we want to keep this challenge among the members of the 75 Books Challenge in 2010 group. Otherwise, it would just be too large and unwieldy.

An FYI to 75-ers: I sent word of this challenge by profile message to Sonya and Tim because they are now working on a way to get more interaction between members and authors. I find it funny that I had no idea of what they were doing until message #37 (above) from calm. Then I *had* to weigh in on that discussion as well.

Is anyone else planning to read books by Brandon Sanderson? He participated in a chat on GR very recently (might even be ongoing still) and also in a Green Dragon discussion a couple of years ago, so I think there's a decent chance that he'd be willing to participate. But given my lack of success with some of my planned TIOLI challenges, I wouldn't want to ask him to participate in something tied to TIOLI if I was the only one reading his books.

Grrr, author touchstones. Brandon Sanderson wrote Elantris, Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians, and the latest Wheel of Time book.

Interesting challenge. I went through the list of LT Authors and was pleasantly surprised at how many of them I've actually read. I see what you mean about the list containing all caliber of authors though because there were a few (thankfully not many) whose mere name made me cringe because I either hated they wrote a book I detested or just had to give up without finishing.

I'm armed now with a list of some LT Authors whom I've not read and I'll post my challenge on the wiki once I find the book(s) and obtain a reading copy.

Good idea, Madeline.

Colum McCann is already doing an author chat from 3/1-3/15, so it seems to me that it'd be permissible for TIOLI readers of his book to amble over to the chat thread and just mention this li'l ol' thread...or no, Madeline? Rather we (well, me, since I'm planning to read his book) didn't?

#54 I'd like to read some Brandon Sanderson. The only book of his that my library has or can get hold of is Mistborn which is on loan and overdue. So if it comes back and hasn't already been reserved then yes! I'm tempted to reserve it myself but I came home with an armful of books from the charity bookshop today and its the first in a trilogy so I know if I read it I'll just want to read the others...

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Richard, you certainly may mention it. I tweeted it this morning!

>58 souloftherose: Okay, I emailed Sonya to suggest Brandon Sanderson for an author chat. I'm going to try to read the second of the Mistborn books, The Well of Ascension. I'm also hoping to get to His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik, another LT author... but since I only managed to finish one TIOLI challenge in February, maybe two is overly ambitious :P

(I blame February for being too short.)

Mudbound was one of my favorite books a couple of years ago, and Hillary Jordan is an LT author.

Here are my comments from June 1, 2008:

I've read several good books lately, but none that I just couldn't put down - until this one. In Mudbound, Jordan tells the story of two families in post-WWII Mississippi. Henry and Laura McAllan own a farm in the Mississippi delta, and Hap and Florence Jackson are black sharecroppers on the farm. When Henry's brother Jamie and the Jackson's son Ronsel come home from fighting overseas, they become unlikely friends and together face the prejudices that still exist among many in the Delta. The book not only explores the social issues of the day, but also conveys the rich web of relationships that are formed between the characters. Because Jordan writes each chapter from the point of view of a different character, she is able to convey the diverse and complex perspectives of the time. This book won the Bellwether Prize for Fiction (a biennial prize given to a first novel with a theme of social justice).

>61 porch_reader: I loved Mudbound too. It made my Top 10 last year.

Joe Hill is an LT author and I just finished his new book, Horns. He has two others.

Mudbound was great. Hannah Tinti (The Good Thief) and Dave Cullen (Columbine) are also LT authors. And someone mentioned The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan upthread. They are all wonderful books.

I have two books by Arthur Phillips in my TBR stack -- Prague and The Egyptologist which will make good reading for the March challenge. I was surprised that there are so many authors on LT. When I read and reviewed The Wednesday Sisters, I got a lovely personal note from Meg Waite Clayton.

I would like to point out that we do have at least 2 LT authors in the 75 Books Challenge group: jadebird and ejj1955.

Bring 'em over here and let them promote their books!

I have put the Seasons Challenge on the Wiki now - just for you, Madeline :)

...which I found already and entered my book. Thanks so much!

I read one of Jadebird's books, House of Brick and plugged it on one of my threads, so for those who were interested in it, this would be the perfect opportunity to get it read.

Ah, I forgot - Chatterbox is going to have her first book published soon as well, but unfortunately, too late for this particular challenge. My apologies for leaving you off the list, Suzanne.

>65 alcottacre: (ahem) and me …

If anyone's looking for a poetry collection to read for the TIOLI challenge, I can shamelessly (and for the last time, I promise) recommend The Summer King!
(shuffles feet and looks down modestly).

#70: My apologies, Joanna! I knew I would overlook someone.

#70 - Nothing shameless about it! I am looking for poetry collections to also fill out my 1010 Challenge, and am glad to be able to add another to my very limited list. Thank you for bringing yourself and you collection to my attention!

There are now three people planning to read His Majesty's Dragon!

>73 _Zoe_: Fantasy novels make me itch, and stuff with talking dragons not written by Anne McCaffrey makes me nauseated, but Novik's books slipped past my guard and reeled me right in. If anyone here doesn't like that kind of stuff, I'd say this is the challenge to break the line and plunge into really, really good writing and storytelling.

>74 richardderus: Ha, I was really surprised when that comment turned into an endorsement!

I've already read His Majesty's Dragon and the next few after that. I'm currently reading Empire of Ivory. If I finish by tomorrow than I'll probably move on to Victory of Eagles so I'll probably have a book for an LT Author too.

I'd like to call your attention to the LT author chats that are taking place in March. This is the current list of authors:

Tiffany Turner (now through 3/7)
Susan K. Earl (now through 3/7)
Vicki Hinze (3/1-3/14)
Colum McCann (3/1-3/14)
Meera Krishnamurthy (3/8-3/21)
David Louis Edelman (3/8-3/21)

If you've never participated in author chats, please do. You may just lurk, if you don't want to post. If you have a question, please participate. You need not have read the author's book in order to participate.

I once had an author even offer to send me a copy of one of his books in order to convince me that I'd like his writing. I did like the (signed) book he sent me. Here's that chat. :)

A great way to support LT authors, in my opinion, is by increasing our interaction with them. So do tune in to some LT chats, both this month and in the future. Thanks!

I remembered another LT author whose book I bought recently - Rosy Thornton. I noticed she was one when I entered the book on LT.

The height of frustration? Picking 7 LT Authors and one of their books for this month's challenge, going to the Barnes & Noble and discovering that they don't have a single copy of ANY of the 7 in their store or in their warehouse! How like me to pick the 7 that they don't carry. *sigh* And I do so wanted to start it on the first day of the month so back to the drawing board ... and to re-arming myself with another list (I'm determined to read an author I haven't yet read for this month's challenge) and then it's back to the bookstore tomorrow.

>79 cameling: I can't believe that! I hope you have better luck next time. What were the books?

I don't really want to say what the books were that I had picked because I don't want the authors to feel bad that the B&N weren't carrying inventory of these books. What I found interesting (strange, not good interesting) was that some of these books were published in 1997, 1998, 2004 and 2005 ... so not completely new books published in say 2009. I wonder if the growth of e-books is resulting in the brick & motar stores reducing the amount of inventory they carry... although if this is the case, you'd think that once they ran out of a particular book, they'd reorder a few more copies.

I have two copies of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See I'd be willing to release via BookMooch for anyone who wants to read that book. It's very, very good. My husband even liked it!

Both books are labelled and registered at Bookcrossing. There is a Book Thing stamp and a red BCID number on the first page of both books as well. If interested in one of the copies, just let me know either on this thread or by profile message, and I'll reserve a copy for you (U.S. only, please).

I thought Snow Flower and the Secret Fan a wonderful read. Much better than Peony in Love which I found to be rather lackluster. I've heard good things about her Red Princess mystery series though and I'm planning on giving those a try. I'm not going to read one of them for the March challenge though because I'd like to pick an LT author whom I haven't yet read.

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Bummer!

Caroline, you might have better luck by picking LT authors with more books on LT. If you look here, you'll see how many books each author has on LibraryThing. Then just pick some authors with larger numbers of books.

I know this might be a disservice to authors with less books here, but we're simply looking for a way to find some of the books by LT authors in the first place.

What about the library, they usually have older books.

Yup, that's what I've resorted to and I'm now armed with a list of 20 LT authors to check out tomorrow..... *crossing fingers that I'll be successful*

I'm adding a second book as I'm feeling optimistic about my reading this month - The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.

I'm willing to put a copy of The Summer King up on BookMooch for a TIOLI reader, if you promise to review it (I know Member Giveaways exists, but my experience there has not encouraged me to put anything else up.) And I promise not to even grumble if you decide you don't like it!
:-)

(Apologies if this is pushing the limit of acceptable TIOLI self-promotion …)

eta: pm me with your BookMooch ID if you're interested.

#48:
Thanks for mentioning Susan Wittig Albert. I thought I'd have to give Madeline's March challenge a pass since I'm trying to read from books I already own only, but I do have Thyme of Death, so will read this this month.

I've carried the red spine challenge over as I didn't quite finish my selection for it (in my defense, it's 700+ pages and a book you have to be in the mood for), so if there are any other slowpokes or red-reading lovers out there, feel free to join me.

I also rather like the Seasons idea and will have to scan my shelves. March reading shaping up quite nicely!

Oh dear, and it looks like I'm going to read Anne of Green Gables for the GREEN title as well. No impulse control, Susan, no impulse control whatsoever. Sigh.

I gave my son (17 years old) John Green's Paper Towns for Christmas. He read and enjoyed it, so I'm thinking I'll try to retrieve it from him for my March read. I've also had my eye on his other books for a while, Looking for Alaska and An Abundance of Katherines.

>89 littlegreycloud: I'm glad you carried over the red spine challenge. This will give me some incentive to keep picking away at the book I didn't finish. I was thinking of carrying over the sentence title challenge too.

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joannasephine, your offering to send someone your book via BookMooch in exchange for a review is fine with me. In fact, I think it is very generous of you. Hope you get a taker.

As I said previously, any LT author may use this thread during the month of March to promote his or her book. By the way, my experience with Members Giveaways equals yours. I don't plan to use that LT feature any more except in very special circumstances.

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I really enjoyed John Green's book Looking For Alaska which I got from my LT Secret Santa a few years ago. I have An Abundance of Katherines on my wish list.

I am setting up another challenge for March...since it is Women's History Month I am going to read a book about Women in history - Perfection Salad: Women and Cooking at the Turn of the Century (20th).

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Haha! I love the title for your Challenge #6!

Okay, I've gone ahead and re-listed the standalone sentence title challenge as well. I'm determined to do better this time!

Zoe, the title of Challenge #8 reads like a novel itself. LOL!

Since some of the more obscure LT authors' works are hard to find, please feel free to share places where we can easily find them in a reasonable period of time.

just picked up The Leisure Seeker at a bookstore while on a date with my husband in College Station. Thanks for your recommendation Madeline, and woo hoo, it fits for TIOLI March!

Ok. I've decided to go with Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann for my March TIOLI challenge read. I might do a seasons one too later if I can finish this one early enough this month.

*wiping brow in relief at finally finding a book for the month*

Have just checked the March TIOLI page … did I mention that The Summer King has a mostly red spine AND mentions a season in the title? (Last plug, I promise!)

Looks like I should be able to join in this month, assuming my copy of American Gods arrives in time …

I love the idea of a women's history read for March, I just wish I could fit one in as I have lots of suitable books.

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Have just checked the March TIOLI page … did I mention that The Summer King has a mostly red spine AND mentions a season in the title?

:)

Joanna - my library has a copy of The Summer King so I have requested it and will read it for the challenge.

February's wiki is officially closing tonight. Please remember to go back to that wiki and remove any book that you did not finish in February. You may move that book to March's wiki with a new challenge, if you'd like.

ETA: We're off to a great start for March's wiki which already has 7 points, indicating that quite a few of us are already sharing our reads with other TIOLI challengers. This should be a fun month. Enjoy!

Milda, I'm so happy you're going to be reading The Leisure Seeker by LT author Michael Zadoorian this month. I really enjoyed that book last month for my red-spined challenge. It was so funny, sweet, and sad. I hope you like the book it as much as I did.

I have decided to read One Amazing Thing by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni for the LT authors challenge this month as well.

#95 - when I read this I thought it was the perfect opportunity to take Singled Out: How Two Million Women Survived Without Men After The First World War from my shelves! But now I can't find it... most annoying.

Oops! I started reading a book, Follow Me by Paul Griner, thinking it had been written by an LT author. It turne out that griner is not an LT author at all.

The book is really good, and I'm going to finish it. However, I'm wondering why I thought Griner was an LT author in the first place. Perhaps because he messaged me once on LT with a comment about my having read his other book? I'm not sure, but I think that might be it.

*returns to shelf to pick another March TIOLI book*

Man---a really great selection of challenges for March! Er, from my point of view, that is. Since one of my major goals this year is to read 25 books from that enormous TBR collection, I really appreciate all the creativity that goes into making up these categories: they send me searching and seeking through my stacks to find books that measure up.

Another good thing about TIOLI is that it sends me in the direction of books that I've sort of been "saving for best" as we used to say...at my age, "best" is right now, and I just need to get on with them already!

I look forward to exchanging opinions on The Last Dickens and If On a Winter's Night a Traveler. Thanks to Squeaky and to all who have posted for the tips and inspiration.

Gail and Stasia, I'm so happy that you'll both be reading The Last Dickens with me. As I'm trying to read my TBR's alphabetically it was going to be awhile till I reached Matthew Pearl, but this TIOLI gave me a great reason to move it up. I'll be looking forward to your thoughts on the book.

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Since one of my major goals this year is to read 25 books from that enormous TBR collection

This was actually my inspiration for creating the TIOLI in the first place. I just needed a more fun way to choose which book to read.

Another good thing about TIOLI is that it sends me in the direction of books that I've sort of been "saving for best" as we used to say...at my age, "best" is right now, and I just need to get on with them already!

Sad, but true! :)

Glad to have a cohort who is going to work the difficult road through If on a Winter's Night a Traveler with me. That'll help, I think. I'm taking it really slowly and have another lighter book (of short stories) to read on the side. I'm only doing about a chapter a day in Calvino's book so it will take me a while to finish.

Author chat with LT author Colum McCann stars today and can be found here.

#112: I think it will be fun! It will probably be the last week of the month before I get to it though.

--->113 SqueakyChu:

I'm charmed by the introduction to If On a Winter's Night a Traveler, but am a bit hesitant to get into the rest of it. I'm just finishing up Everything That Rises Must Converge, a book of short stories by Flannery O'Connor (speaking of odd), and I'm looking forward to seeing if I can find my way through the Calvino. With some other difficult or strange works, just plowing right on through, in a quiet atmosphere, has been effective, but maybe I don't have quite the powers of concentration I used to have.

hmmm...I've been lurking for awhile, but I'm gonna jump in this month. I have Doomsday Book on my short TBR pile (ie., the books I have out from the library right now) and the LT author challenge gives me an excuse to try Wicked Lovely, which I've been meaning to read for awhile.

Off to add them to the wiki...

I am joining Cheli's Woman's History challenge with War Torn: Stories of War from the Women Reporters Who Covered Vietnam, a book Tina (tututhefirst) reviewed recently. Her review can be found here: http://www.librarything.com/work/3844/reviews/55924308 if anyone is interested.

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Hi Mary!

Happy to have you join us. Hope you enjoy the challenges and the two books you chose for them.

I am going to start with Shanghai Girls because it's also in my TBR pile, gathering dust.
I feel like that's living pretty safely, and will have to try another LT Author soon. Trying not to bite off more than I can chew right now.

I read Shanghai Girls a few years ago, Jenn and I'll be looking forward to see what you think.

I also read Shanghai Girls, uh, last year I think. While it's a good book, it can't compare, in my view, to Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, a much more gripping work. But it was interesting.

So many great challenges this month that I don't know how I can fit them all in.

I will try to work in the Gail Collins book, When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present in honor of women's history month, if I can.

I agree with bohemima in #122 : Shanghai Girls was ok, but I thought Snow Flower and the Secret Fan the best that she's written so far.

I'll be interested to see what the reviews are for The Last Dickens because I read that last year and didn't think much of it.

I'm going to see if I can lurk in on McCann's author chat ....

A chat with LT author Vicki Hinze, author of Forget Me Not, begins today. The link is here.

I have finished my first March TIOLI, Doomsday Book which I enjoyed so much I just whizzed through! Highly recommended in case anyone is still dithering about their choice for this month...

I had a high-volume reading day yesterday – started and finished two March TIOLI books, The Treekeeper's Tale and Boy A. (I hadn't realised Jonathan Trigell was an LT author until after I finished the book).

Boy A was one of those books that I can appreciate, even admire, but have no desire to keep or reread. So it'll be going up on BookMooch this morning – if any TIOLI participants would like first dibs on it, PM me.

I just finished Collum McCann's Let the Great World Spin, a very good book.

>126 wandering_star: I had the same experience with Doomsday Book. Great read. I love Colin - he's so resilient and resourceful. And that William gets around!

Oh cool! I didn't know Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni was an LT Author. Putting The Palace of Illusions on the TIOLI list. Is Tim Powers an LT Author, I wonder...?

No, richard, sadly he is not, otherwise I would have been happy to add him to my challenge for this month and kill the group read and challenge off with a single book.

I'm going to start Let the Great World Spin this weekend, I think.

Well, I've finish challenge #1 with Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik. For those who are going to read His Majesty's Dragon which starts the Temeraire series, know that this 4th installment is probably one of the better ones with a great flow and magic moments.

If the people reading His Majesty's Dragon like it enough to continue on with the series, we will be getting some serious points this month!

I reviewed chatting author Colum McCann's collection Everything In This Country Must in my Homeless Reviews thread...post #90.

As elkiedee at #40 said, I think I identify more with being a reader than being a writer, but I do have the yellow badge of courage. If anyone takes a look at my books and thinks they look as if they fit your tastes, I have a new one coming out in May--Through the Cracks--and have a few advanced copies from Minotaur. I'll send one to the first LTer who sends me a message and asks. Publishers Weekly gave it a thumbs up, but that's the only pre-pub review I've seen yet. More about the book is available at http://barbarafister.com.

Hi Barbara!

LT author Susan K. Earl is chatting about Moon Dance here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/85470

LT author Tiffany Turner is chatting about The Lost Secret of Fairies here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/85421

I'm excited to announce the creation of a new LT group, Hobnob with Authors in which it is perfectly all right for LT authors to promote their books to LT members. Please check it out. Join it. Let authors know about it. I wish Sonya great success with that group. It was a long time in coming...

Small rant... how... HOW does my library not have any Janny Wurts? HOW!??? Her books are excellent and we have... none? I have several (including two not read) but due to the loft re-modelling these are boxed up in my parents loft.

Sulking now. And writing strongly worded letter of complaint.

My local library told me that I could request any book that I wanted and wasn't in their collection. They would either see if the library wanted to buy it or see if they could get it via an inter-library loan. If the book is good enough and the author is liked enough, it's worth your while to see if they would get a copy of Janny Wurts' books for you.

They could probably order it but IL's take forever over to my island. I'm just really annoyed that they don't have any. I know they've been cutting back to make room for computers etc but really! I used to run the fantasy/sci-fi sections in a large UK city and I would never have made this decision.

Huff...huff...huff...

FYI I can't get employed in my local library cos I have too much experience for entry level and have not completed my librarian qualies. Plus all intermediaries go internally. I'm not bitter...honest...

Too bad...

I finished American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I read the first 25 pages some time last year and stopped for some reason. Probably the strange sex scene that started on page 24. But I really enjoyed the story and just let those few weird scenes go. Pretty interesting concept and I like what he did with it.

The library says Palace of Illusions is in transit so I'll be reading it this month. A few other books where I was in place 50 or 60 have suddenly come up as in transit so it will be a busy month keeping up with all the library books.

Finished Paper Towns by LT Author John Green. Haven't done a review yet, but if you haven't read it, you should!!

Good to hear you liked Paper Towns. I've read his Looking for Alaska and found it really good as well. Although catalogued as a YA book, it kept my interest up very well.

And not only is he an LT Author, but it has a red spine as well...woot!

I just read Fierce a book of stories by LT author Hannah Holborn.

Be sure to add Fierce to our March wiki!

ETA: You have to do the work. I just watch ... and count!

#145: I still need to read that one! Thanks for the reminder. I read both Looking for Alaska and An Abundance of Katherines by Green, but have not made it to Paper Towns yet. I will see if I can squeeze it in as well this month.

Madeline, I just finished The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and was wondering if it was appropriate for the Women's History list.

Darryl,
This defintely belongs in Women's History Month!

Thanks, Cheli!

Since I've already read Let the Great World Spin I'll plan to read Everything In This Country Must by Colum McCann for the LT Author read. I noticed that Harriet Washington is another LT Author, so I'll purchase Medical Apartheid, although I'm certain that I won't be able to read it this month.

My review of Paper Towns is on my thread here.

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Darryl, I definitely agree with Cheli that The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks belongs in the Women's History list.

If you don't finish Medical Apartheid in March, no problem. Just remove it from the March wiki at the end of the month and relist it on the April wiki (not posted yet) as a new challenge. You may keep the same challenge for the following month or make up a new one for the same book*. In that way, you're under no pressure to read it quickly, and the reading fun and sharing continues unabated.

*By the way, I've seen others continue a challenge from the previous month. That's good in order to complete a challenge. However, a more fun thing to do might be to give the same book a whole new challenge (a twist that is sure to engage other readers just a bit more). However, the choice is yours. I know that some of you do not like to leave a challenge incomplete. :)

After reading The Leisure Seeker* by LT author Michael Zadoorian last month for the red-spined challenge, I've moved on this month to his book of short stories, The Lost Tiki Palaces of Detroit. If you're looking for a book by an LT author whom you've not yet discovered, I'd recommend either of these two books. They're great fun to read and not time-consuming as they tend to read very quickly.

*Milda, I hope you're enjoying this book!

I just finished my book by an LT author. Sugar by Bernice McFadden is great. If it weren't fiction, I'd put it under the women's history section. This is my second book by McFadden and she just writes such strong characters and powerful stories!

I'm late getting to the TIOLI this month. Imagine my surprise that one of my book club's selections for the month is a LT author, Tatiana de Rosney, who wrote Sarah's Key. I also have an ER book by a LT author, Methland by Nick Reding, which I don't think I'm going to get to this month. I know. I'm bad. And I can finish my red-spined book, The Good Earth, from last month for this month. Last month was a bad reading month. But it's looking like I could get a TIOLI book in this month.

I've added The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks to the Women's History Month list, and my review is here.

Darryl,
This isn't the type of book that I normally would read, but your review was so fascinating I definitely am going to take a look at it. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

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Wow! What an interesting, albeit sad, story, Darryl. It soulnds like one well worth reading.

I finished up the first book for my seasons challenge, Spring Moon. It is very good historical fiction for any fans of the genre here.

I'm interrupting my reading of If On a Winter's Night a Traveler which is taking too much concentration as it's not a traditional linear novel. I'm hanging on to this book to read at a later date. I need something lighter to read at present.

In the meantime and after I finish my current book, I'm going to read The World to Come by LT author Dara Horn. I hope it's good...

I've been meaning to read Head Games by Craig McDonald for some time now. He is the husband of a co-worker (I've never met him), but the book was also nominated for an Edgar Award for best first novel, so there is some merit to it as well. Hopefully I'll finish it this month so I can count is as part of my challenge.

I just discovered the book I am currently reading, Elsewhere, was written by an LT author so I am adding it to the wiki.

Two more LT authors starting chat today:

1. Author chat by LT author Meera Krishnamurthy discussing Balancing Act can be found here.
2. Author chat by LT author David Louis Edelman, discussing Geosynchron, can be found here.

Idea!!

Have you checked out the new LT group call Hobnob with Authors? Why not invite the author whose book you're currently reading to come and hobnob with us?

Madeline,

You are a veritable idea machine. Do the wheels ever stop turning, say for a brief little snooze?

Nope! :)

Wow, she even DREAMS ideas! ;-)

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To be honest with you, Bonnie, years ago I managed a hamster webste (okay, you can stop laughing now...). The most fun of it was coming up with new ideas that were interactive and creative (once we even had a Hamsters Olympics!). I often get frustrated with Sonya and Tim for not doing more along this line at LT at a faster pace. What I can do, however, is think up new ideas and suggest or implement them within the constraints of LT. This is the fun of the TIOLI challenge and using the wiki, for example.

People always used to call me "The agitator" at nursing school because I used to come up with ideas, then try to get others to run with whatever the idea was. Now, it's more politically correct to refer to me as a "facilitator". :)

I get so mad because GoodReads does this by creating new features as well as by copying Tim's ideas. Then they have the growth! Arrrrrgh!!

I'm newsletter editor for my CSA this year (for the third year in a row) so I'll have at least one more venue for my ideas starting this May. Ha!

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LOL!!

What I'm really trying to do (the bottom line) is make this site as fun for me as I can.

Oh, so it's all about YOU! You selfish little thing, forcing others to have fun just so you can play! lol

Oh, so it's all about YOU!

It really was! I was getting tired of listing my reads all over the place. I figured, with the TIOLI, I could incorporate the Categories Challenge and the Books Off the Shelf Challenge within one challenge (being the 75 Books in 2010 Challenge). I'll still fill in those blanks because I started them this year, but I like the idea of the TIOLI being within the 75-ers group, this incorporating the other fun features in one place. The plus for this was that we could all do it together as well!

#175: I, for one, take my hat off to you, Madeline (well, I would if I had one on.) I wanted to read more from my personal library this year and with doing your TIOLI challenges plus the ones other people come up with, I am doing so.

Aw, shucks!

*blushes*

I was looking at the wiki and noticed that LauraNav is going to read Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians by LT author Brandon Sanderson, so I decided to give it a read too - I bought it last year, and it has been sitting there for a while now unread.

I have also changed the 'summer' book for my Seasons challenge to The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn.

A Fun Update:

If you tag your TIOLI books with a "TIOLI" tag, we can begin to determine which of these books are the most popular among us across different months. The results will, of course, be displayed here.*

Other than in the tags list, the most popular book to date was Soulless by Gail Carriger. That book, with six readers at the same time, was part of January's TIOLI (debut book) challenge. For this month of March, His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik, and five readers, seems to be in the lead for the "LT author" challenge.

The good news is that March's points are already up to 14, the same as for the whole month of January (also 14 points) and we're not even halfway through the month yet.

Hope you're enjoying the varied challenges. Can you tell that I like statistics? :)

*ETA: By the way, green checks on this page are books you should probably think of reading in the near future!

Information to Share:

Have you discovered new authors that also happen to be LT authors? Were you impressed with the writing or not?

Have you interacted with any of the LT authors whose books you've read, are reading, or plan to read? If so, in what way? Did that help you understand why an LT author chose to write about the subject or in the way he or she did?

Have any of you found a new favorite author among LT authors? If so, who is it and why?

#178 - Stasia, my son has read the Alcatraz series. He really enjoys them. I think they are pretty clever too - but I've only read Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians myself.

>180 SqueakyChu: I received The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan from the ER program and loved it. When I wrote my review, she contacted me and it was then that I found out she was an LT author. We were able to discuss her book which was set around the Falls and she and I both grew up there, on opposite sides of the border. She invited me to attend her book signing at Barnes and Noble but I couldn't because I had an event at school that I had to attend (naturally).

There are some great challenges this month. I think I will join Stasia in the seasonal challenge. I'm starting with the classic baseball book, The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn.

I've got two other "seasonal" baseball books lined up, if I can get to them.

I have Alcatraz versus the evil librarians home from the library so I'll try to read it before the end of the month.

Madeline, If on a Winter's Night a Traveler does require tremendous concentration. I've put it aside, but I hope just briefly, to do the other challenges for this month. We've got some health issues going on with the husband, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to find some quiet time by the bedside to work on Calvino's book, which I find intriguing, if very odd.

I finished The Saint Valentine's Day Murders (that would have been good for last month's red spine challenge as well); it was a good but not great entry in Ruth Dudley Edwards's Robert Amiss mysteries. Of course I became inspired to buy the ones I didn't already own and to re-read my two favorites from the series...soon.

Right now I'm about two-thirds of the way through Women of the Raj, a great nonfiction work about life for women back in the days of the B.E. And I've started The Last Dickens, which is a bit confusing right at first, but picks up well as the tale goes on.

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Bonnie, That's very cool! So sorry that you didn't get to go to the author event at B&N. That sounds as if it would have been fun since you already "knew" the author a bit.

Madeline...GoodReads is not half the site LT is, so why does it have the growth? (Actual question, not rhetorical.) And what in the name of common sense do hamsters need a website for? Can they read? How do they type?

*smooching you* for your fabulous, contagious, enthusiastic energy!

GoodReads is not half the site LT is, so why does it have the growth?

Oh, Richard... Goodreads... *Sigh* First of all, they copied so many of Tim's great ideas and did it with a more attractive interface. LibraryThing, to many others, seems elitist and and more stuffy ("librarian types"). I'm not making this up. I've been trying to recruit people for LT, but have gotten rejection after rejection in favor of GoodReads. Goodreads is sort of like "LT Lite", and I think that's what most casual readers want. I often see complaints about LT's "cost" but there really is no "cost" factor because people are free to pay what they want. If you really want to be disheartened, read comments you can pull up on Google after you type in "LibraryThing versus Goodreads" and see what people write. Tim, in some cases comes to his own website's defense.

One thing that has had me worried for a long time was LT's members' hostility to authors who knew nothing about LT and posted messages, all of which seemed to be flagged away as spam. With authors being afraid to try LT, how can a book website "make it"? Here's hoping that such situations will reverse themselves with Sonya's new group, Hobnob with Authors.

And what in the name of common sense do hamsters need a website for? Can they read? How do they type?

Hamsters don't need a website, but their owners do. It's all about information and fun.

I don't know if hamsters can read. None of mine told me.

Hamsters type by running across the keyboard.

:)

If I may add my 2 cents regarding GoodReads, I believe people like it because it is a little prettier and easier to use? For the person who is not a bookaholic and a total nerd (sorry if that offends all of you, but we are serious nerds) it's an easy and pretty place to catalog books. My friends like it because it sends you an e-mail telling you what your friends just read. They build their reading lists from that, but don't have to actually discuss books. I am not very articulate here, but in a general way, I think that's why it's growing so fast.

GoodReads is like Borders, and LibraryThing is like the best library in the world.

I am not very articulate here

Yes, you are, Jenn. You said it all in a nutshell.

Huh. I have a Good Reads account but only use it for posting reviews. I prefer this site and while I have not used all its features, the basic use of the site seemed pretty straightforward.

OK, I'm going to throw my 2 cents worth in here on GoodReads, too. I really dislike the site. I think it is cumbersome to use and not nearly as user friendly as LT. However, I do like feature where you can update where you are in the current book you are reading and have that information uploaded to either your Twitter or FB. I basically only use GoodReads for that very reason. If LT had that feature (and maybe they do and I'm just missing it), I would never use GoodReads again. I just think they have a better grasp on how to access the other social networking sites.

I like the book swap feature on Goodreads but I won't use it on pricipal alone. :)

A while ago, I went to GoodReads to see what all the fuss was about and maybe I'm prejudiced, but I didn't think that it was as user friendly as LT. Yes, it may be a bit prettier but I'm not at this site to have to look pretty. I'll take the interaction of the other readers/users and great features that LT has anyday.

I told you we were a bunch of nerds.
I also think most of you must find technology less daunting than I do. It took me longer to learn how to navigate LT (still learning) but it was worth it. Of course, my husband says I'd rather read a book than spend time figuring out how my computer works. So true.

Hmmm my hubby says the same nittnut.

I hadn't even heard of GoodReads till I read this (shows how in the loop I am), but just had to go and investigate out of sheer curiosity. Call me biased to LT but at first glance I'm not keen. Not sure about pretty - seems kinda flashy pretty. All style and no substance.

I use Goodreads to store the BlackHole because collections here on LT took so long to get up and running. That is about all I do on that site - how would I have time for anything else?

As David pointed out (#192), I do like the feature where you can update the page number you are on in a given book.

BTW, Madeline, with all your creative energy, why have you not designed a group T-shirt yet? You know one that proudly says: I am a 75er!

I haven't spent much time on GoodReads in the past month, but in January when I did a group read there I did really like the way the group could set up a separate section with threads for the parts of the group read discussion. Otherwise, LT is much preferred and where I hang out.

I picked up Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians yesterday and looking forward to getting into it.
I also picked up The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin to read this month.

I've posted a few reviews on GoodReads and thru one the author "befriended" me. That said, I really do not feel comfortable on the site and don't visit there very often. Why? Simply because I've become attached to LT first. It has all the features I need, my fellow readers are pleasant, intelligent and helpful. Besides that, I really don't need a nother time gobbler to take me away from the books I should be reading.

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BTW, Madeline, with all your creative energy, why have you not designed a group T-shirt yet? You know one that proudly says: I am a 75er!

Stasia, that's a great idea!! Alternatively, don't we need a TIOLI tee shirt as well? Who wants to design them? I used to be artistically talented, but no longer. Alas! :)

By the way, for years I've been complaining about LT's tee shirt. It's just plain UGLY. So far...no changes. I also don't like the logo "What's on your boobshelf bookshelf?"

#200: As I have absolutely no artistic talent or creative energy, I will not be designing the T-shirts.

I agree we need a TIOLI challenge T-shirt as well. So, who do we know who is talented enough to embrace this task?

>200 SqueakyChu: You are so right Madeline. The t-shirts are really borrrrring. Perhaps a picture of a bookshelf with a line like - check out my stacks - followed by LT.com. ;)

Well, I'd love to try doing some T-shirts. I'm a graphic designer, so it's something I'd love to do for the group, but I'm just so busy until the end of March that I'd hate to commit to it and then not follow thru for weeks. If it's something that we could wait a little while on, I could work on some designs and see how people like them and go forward with them in April.

#203: Well, since we never had any plans to do any anyway, I cannot see how waiting for another little bit would hurt. Sounds great to me, David. Thanks for stepping in among us poor untalented people.

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If you'd do the designs, David, I'd surely wait. Thank you so much!

#200 "What's on your boobshelf bookshelf?" - MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY!

#197 I also use GoodReads to keep track of my TBR list - it's faster. That's about it. Oh, and of course, to keep my less nerdy friends apprised of books they "should" be reading. Ha.

Well I had to go on Goodreads and see what all the was fuss about and color me unimpressed. Prettier than LT? I don't see that. I agree with the people who identified it as LT Lite because that's how it looked to me.

Before I joined LT over a year ago I read an article in the Wall Street Journal that mentioned that it was a great place to catalogue your books and it had this little meter thing that tried to predict whether or not you would like a book based on your library. At that time, I found LT to be sooo easy to set up a profile page and to enter books into my library. I really didn't figure out the whole thread business until about six months later as I had never before participated in this type of forum. I think it's great that they now have a part for new members because there are still things about LT that I'm still learning.

Maybe we are nerds but that's ok with me. I like nerds. They're usually pretty interesting people:)

bohemima, I, too, love the Ruth Dudley Edwards books featuring Robert Amiss. They are among my favorites. I've read them all and rarely ever re-read.

It seems like it's been awhile since she last released one.

I saw a commercial promoting science and math in school. It said that todays geeks are tomorrows bosses and that someday these proud geeks will have those that sneered looking up to them. Something to think about.

I like geeks. My husband is an engineer, and I'm on LT, and I just got the scanny thing so I can scan all my books. Nerd alert! I'm so excited!

What about a T-shirt that says

EAT
SLEEP
READ
LibraryThing

In some very cool graphic way.

I have to take the 'Sleep' line off mine!

How about "How Big Is Your Thing?" and on the back have the LT Logo?

Anyone interested in the history and future of geeks will enjoy American Nerd: The Story of My People by Benjamin Nugent.

LOL @212 - I like that one!

My husband is an optician and I wore to death a T-shirt that said "How big is your PD?" Petey or Pupilary Distance. I miss that shirt!

#212 - I like it, lol, but it's hard to see how that would be an improvement on having Bookshelf running across the boobs. Unless we want to include both genders?

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How about "How Big Is Your Thing?" and on the back have the LT Logo?

LOL!!

Another LibraryThing author I just spotted is Laurie R King. I have several books still to read in 2 of her series, just wish I could fit one in this month.

I'm hoping to win God of the Hive by Laurie King .. it's the new Mary RUssell book.

**crossing her fingers... I hope I win, I hope I win**

Sooooo......

Hobnob with Authors is now up and running. The posts on those threads even have those author identification "thingies" that link back to the author's page. If you have some extra time this month, think of reading a book by an LT author who actually posts on a thread without being invited to an official author chat. :)

#219: I am with you, Cheli!

Cheli's Hot Review of a Millard Fillmore bio is gaining strength! It's actually making one of history's dullest people, by long-stading prejudice, an object of interest!

I think she deserves a special TIOLI point multiplier for that, Madeline. Perhaps add points to a TIOLI review that's voted as a Hot Review?

There are actually lots of TIOLI books that make the hot reviews, but I agree that Cheli's review was amazingly good.

The problem with adding TIOLI points to Hot Reviews is that I don't want to have to track Hot Reviews which move in and out of that space too quickly to count.

Who does the Hot Reviews thread? Is that Linda? Or someone else? Perhaps Hot Review points can somehow be tracked there. I just don't want to add that to the TIOLI challenge which is different.

Whoopee.... I've completed my TIOLI challenge for March. I finished reading Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann and it's an absolutely amazing book. Highly recommended.

My lowly review can be found here

I'm once again well behind - I've just ordered my TIOLI book from Amazon. Which unfortunately led to ordering other things too... and I'd been so good this year too!

I read Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians this week. Very funny book and quite different from Brandon Sanderson's other books that I've read. (Warbreaker and the Mistborn trilogy).

I may pick up a copy for my nephews - they like this kind of humor. And I'm always struggling to get them to read.

My husband's reading Let The great World Spin now as well. It's overdue at the library, but...oh, well! More money for a good cause! :)

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Don't keep us in suspense, Bekka Jo! What book did you choose?!

I just started His Majesty's Dragon yesterday, and I'm loving it so far!

LT author Sascha Rothchild, author of How to Get Divorced by 30: My Misguided Attempt at a Starter Marriage, begins her author chat on Monday, 3/14/2010.

I've finished my first book for the TIOLI challenge, His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik and enjoyed it so much that I ordered the second book in the series from the library!

Started my second, To Ride Hell's Chasm by Janny Wurts, another LibraryThing author.

#229 Hope you enjoy it Zoe!

#231: I will be reading His Majesty's Dragon this week. I hope I enjoy it as much as you did, Heather.

I'm definitely enjoying it! I only have about 80 pages left, and fortunately someone in my family has already bought the next three, so I'm all set. I may have to abandon all my other reading plans for the month, though.

I also just started To ride Hell's chasm. I finally had to break down and buy it new.

#228 - LOL, no suspense intended - actually the same as many others. I ordered To ride Hell's Chasm, but I ordered it used and now the delivery estimate date is 18th-30th which sucks! Get the feeling I'll have to read this fast. Still all her other stuff I've read I've loved so I'm sure this will go down well too.

LT author G.A. Hesse will discussing The Prophecy of Zephyrus on LT's author chat from March 29, 2010 to Aprril 11, 2010.

Okay, I've officially replaced my planned Brandon Sanderson book with another Naomi Novik... and I imagine there will be more of that to come!

But this means that I'll probably end up eliminating my third initially-planned TIOLI read as well. Remind me not to even try carrying on old challenges into the next month in future; the new is always more exciting.

the new is always more exciting.

Ditto. What Zoe said.

All those that are just starting the Temeraire series (His Majesty's Dragon), you are definitely in for many hours of enjoyment. I've finished the first 4 and am hoping that I can fit Victory of Eagles #5 in this month.

ETA - thanks for all the kind words about my review. I just wrote because it bothered me so much that this poor book had been neglected on the shelf for so long. I wanted to make sure that everyone knew about this well=written book.

Madeline, in response to 100 messages ago, thank you so much for recommending The Leisure Seeker. I loved it.

Me, too! You're welcome. Did you know that the film rights have been sold on that book? That's great for the author of whom very few people have heard.

I just finished Michael Zadoorian's book of short stories, The Tiki Palaces of Detroit which was a good read as well. I sent it off today to another LT-er, and now I have nothing left of this author's to read. :(

Oh! That is great! Too bad we won't be able to see Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn together in it, right? :)

I, my husband, and my best friend all agreed this week that this movie would have been simply perfect for Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn!!

I finished one of my TIOLI books for the month - the one for Cheli's Woman's History Month challenge - War Torn.

I also finished one of mine, Thyme of Death. Two more to go, and the month is slipping through my fingers...

and the month is slipping through my fingers...

Uh oh! Time to start thinking of a new challenge for April. :)

Oh! I just went to the Wiki page to see what others were reading, and I didn't realize there was a category for a book about women's history! I've inadvertently read a book for this category this month, The Book of the Courtesans. It was really good, very well written and researched, and I plan on following up on some of the things I learned by mining and reading some books/articles from her list of resources in the bibliography.

#246: Maybe something foolish... or something to do with inconsistent weather?

I just noticed that I own at least three books with the word "April" in them -- Enchanted April, of course, but also An April Shroud and even something called April Weather (Aprilväder). Anyone else?

There's Broken April, which is a good but not cheery read!

I would love to get some hints about next month's challenges. I'm currently visiting my parents and have access to my complete book collection, while next month I'll be limited to the 150 or so books that I've squeezed into my tiny and shared New York apartment.

Yesterday I finished another LT author book, Throne of Jade, also by Naomi Novik.

I have a crime novel called Cruel April by Hannah Wakefield (there are others) and a chicklit novel called April Rising. Of course, both of these are using April as a woman's name not a month, I think.

I hate to talk about controversial things here, but I was thinking about this thread and referred to this group in the discussion about why GR is doing so well, so I thought I should at least provide a link.

Basically, I think the focus on reading is key, as demonstrated by the success of this group.

I love this challenge for the encouragement to read things (on my shelf and on my wishlist) that I hope to read but haven't gotten to yet.

I also love it for the suggestions and ideas that I get from others. Seeing what other people are reading, thinking about how to increase the points for a month, looking at the types of challenges created - it's all so much fun

I created the Hugo Award winners challenge this month and have been so excited to see others join in. When Cauterize added The Dispossessed I decided I should check it out and just finished it today. What a thought-provoking book. So many layers and I'm sure I missed most of it, but some interesting things in there.

There are two more on the Hugo list that I need to look into :-)

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I would love to get some hints about next month's challenges.

I can't really do this, not only because I don't want to let the challenge be known ahead of time, but also because I haven't chosen it yet. I choose what seems right to me at the time and change my mind several times before the final topic gets posted. Your collection of 150 books should be fine for whatever I choose. If not, I'll media mail you a book of my own!

If anyone else has an idea of what challenge he or she would like to try for April, please private message this information to Zoe rather than post it on this thread. Let's try to keep April's challenges in April's thread which I'll most likely set up in the last few days of March.

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I think the key is really interactivity. First you gather the people by their shared hobby -- books, cataloguing, reading, or whatever. Then you get them to engage with each other in a fun way. The more enjoyable and useful the website, the topic, the activity, and the interactivity, the more popular the website. Hence, GR's recent phenomenal growth. MHO only.

ETA: I created the TIOLI because I thought, if it were fun for me to do, it probably would be fun for others as well. I guess I was right! :)

Thanks, Madeline!

I think you're right about interactivity, though I must have missed something because I've never been able to find that much interaction on GR. You are definitely right about TIOLI being fun for others! LT should give you some sort of award for all that you do here.

Take your time Madeline! I've only just begun to read my TIOLI challenge book for March and I'm not ready to think about April just yet. Let's not rush our lives away, aye.

I've never been able to find that much interaction on GR.

Well, when I try to get my friends to join LibraryThing, they tell me they can't because "all" their other friends (and even colleagues from work - a librarian told me this!) are all on Goodreads. They have something there that posts all the activity of your "friends" when you move through their database.

I think their book swap and their neverending trivia game are tops. Even though I say this, I try to stay away from GR unless I'm trying to reach a particular friend who almost never comes to LT (or to my personal email) or to post an ER book review there by request of the publisher. I also go there to spy! :)

I'm horrified by how much they've copied what we do here (that we did first). But, hey, they can and they do. Their online newsletter is tops and very inviting. No, I'm not trying to sell GR, but they keep on implementing things there first that I've wanted all along for LT. Friendliness to authors, for example. Okay. I'm ranting. I'll stop...

*Sigh*

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Yeah. We have a whole two weeks left! :)

I've finished my first March TIOLI challenge - Love Songs for the Shy and Cynical by LT author Rob Shearman. My comments are on my thread.

They have something there that posts all the activity of your "friends" when you move through their database.

I guess that's the problem--I don't have friends on GR, and it's not good at promoting interaction with strangers.

I do with LT would improve the Connection News to show books people have just read!

Connection News is not "in your face", though. It's here on LT, but I honestly never pay any attention to it. To find out what others are doing, I simply come to the fora where people talk to each other.

I'm up for another LT author read. I'm just about (but not quite) finished with The World to Come by Dara Horn, but I already started The Mermaids Singing which is not only by an LT author but also by Tim's wife, Lisa Carey! :)

I finished Black Powder War this morning, another one by Naomi Novik. At first I felt a bit bad about including multiple books by the same author... but then I figured that they only count for points if other people read them, and if we get people reading together and talking about multiple books, even by the same author, so much the better! I think every post here is helping LT authors a bit more.

So, that's my justification anyway.

At first I felt a bit bad about including multiple books by the same author

Why should you feel bad? I've done the same thing with Michael Zadoorian, only now I've run out of his books. He's still writing the next one. :)

I'm just glad that 75-ers have discovered LT authors they like. If 75-ers want to read multiple books by the same author, more power to that author!

Naomi Novik seems to be the most popular author this month. I guarantee there will be more of her books read before the end of the month. My philosophy is that if you like it, read it!

A fun update:
This month, 75-ers taking the TIOLI challenge have read or are reading works by twenty different LT authors. Hope you're enjoying your reads. Thanks for supporting those authors who, in turn, support LT.

Want to share?
1. How did you choose which LT author to read?
2. Will you be reading any works in the future by the same author you've just discovered?
3. Will you be reading any works in the future just because they're by an LT author?

Hi Madeline,
1. When you posted this challenge you mentioned a book that you had enjoyed, and I had just happened to purchase it based on an earlier recommendation from you, so that's how I chose the LT author for this month's challenge. This was an awfully easy way to participate.
2. Yes, I loved the book, The Leisure Seeker by Michael Zadoorian,and I've put The Lost Tiki Palaces of Detroit on my wish list.
3. Finding another LT author whose works I might enjoy might be quite a chore. Last night I was bored (and shamefully ignoring all the housework I still need to finish this week) and went to the page that lists all the LT authors. Browsing through that list took forever. I did trip over some books that are on my tbr list - by Ben Rehder - so I'm going to try to squeeze one of those in this month- but otherwise I'm not sure I'd take the time to go hunting for an LT author.

I wish there were a way that we could know which books we have in our TBR or wishlists that are by LT authors. There's no way to know now unless we go to each LT author's page individually.

*runs to put this on Recommend Site Improvements*

1. How did you choose which LT author to read? I looked to see what other people were reading - and then checked the unread books by those authors sitting around my house waiting for me to read them.
2. Will you be reading any works in the future by the same author you've just discovered? At least 2 of them - definitely yes. The third, I am not sure about yet.
3. Will you be reading any works in the future just because they're by an LT author? No, not just because they are an LT author. I will read authors only because I enjoy their books. If I do not like the books, it does not matter to me whether they are an LT author or not.

I found Bernice McFadden through a post of a letter she wrote on the blog 5 Minutes for Books in November last year.

I found Brandon Sanderson through a review Orson Scott Card did of his Mistborn trilogy.

I found Naomi Novik through this thread when I realized I had the first book on my Kindle waiting for me to read it.

I'll be reading more books by all of them.

Nothing about them being a LT author really drew me to them, I discovered them through recommendations from others. And I'll continue to read their books because I like their writing.

1. How did you choose which LT author to read?
I looked in my TBR pile, and found one that also fit in with my 1010 challenge.

2. Will you be reading any works in the future by the same author you've just discovered?
Well, it's Lisa See, and I like her pretty well, so I will probably read any future works of hers.

3. Will you be reading any works in the future just because they're by an LT author?
No, and yes. I think it's great to support authors who support LT, but they will still have to write a book that I want to read.

1. How did you choose which LT author to read?
I checked out the LT author list and then chose the one I owned from my Tipping Tower of Tomes.

2. Will you be reading any works in the future by the same author you've just discovered?
It's too early to tell.

3. Will you be reading any works in the future just because they're by an LT author?
No, not "just because they're by an LT author" but because I want to read a particular book and it just happens to be written by an LT author.

Woop! My TIOLI book has finally arrived. Yay!

I just finished my fourth TIOLI book--Empire of Ivory, still in the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. This one will count for a point, too, since Chèli also read it.

#273 Is that To Ride Hell's Chasm? I just finished that one!

I got Throne of Jade out of the library and also found a copy of Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson which I will try and read this month. I think that means I won't get to my Hugo winners books though so I've removed them from the wiki.

#266
How did you choose which LT author to read?
I looked through my TBR pile and also got excited about authors other people mentioned and then looked for their books in the library.

Will you be reading any works in the future by the same author you've just discovered?
I already have the second book in Naomi Novik's Temeraire series. I would also like to try some more books by Janny Wurts.

Will you be reading any works in the future just because they're by an LT author?
This month's challenge and the Hobnob with Authors group has encouraged me to support LibraryThing authors but I'm unlikely to try a book I wouldn't otherwise be interested in. I have discovered books by LibraryThing authors I would like to try (Storyteller by G.R.Grove which I heard about through Hobnob with Authors for example)

I would also like to try some more books by Janny Wurts.

By the way, you can chat with Janny Wurts and other LT authors (See post #34) informally on the Hobnob with Authors group which is getting off to a *very* shaky start. :(

1. How did you choose which LT author to read?

I chose Naomi Novik because I'd heard lots of good things about her Temeraire books. My parents and siblings had read and recommended them, and also owned copies, which meant I had easy access when I went to visit over Spring Break.

2. Will you be reading any works in the future by the same author you've just discovered?

Well, I've already read four in the past week or so, and the series continues, so I think it's safe to say I'll be reading more ;)

3. Will you be reading any works in the future just because they're by an LT author?

The fact that a work is by an LT author isn't particularly important to me. I do appreciate it when authors reach out to their readers, so I'm more likely to read books by, say, Brandon Sanderson, who maintains an active blog and has even participated in a group discussion of his book on LT in the past. So, LT authors who actively participate in LT: yes. LT authors who just set up an account for advertising purposes: not so much.

which is getting off to a *very* shaky start. :(

I actually think it's off to a good start. There's really just the one person causing trouble; other authors like gwernin and GaryBabb have been participating in discussions and offering books and generally helping make the group what it's supposed to be.

I should add: I think lack of interest would have been a much greater danger than heated discussion. And at least now there seems to be plenty of interest.

As you pointed out elsewhere, that heated interaction popped the group right to the very top (#1) of the Hot Topics. Now we have to keep all the LT members who were curious to see what was going on to stay there and actually talk with the authors.

1. How did you choose which LT author to read? I recall that Cleo Coyle did a discussion on LT a few months ago. Also, her books fit into my 1010 challenge.

2. Will you be reading any works in the future by the same author you've just discovered? She's not a new discovery for me. I've read a few of her books but she sort of fell off my radar and this was a reminder to get back to her.

3. Will you be reading any works in the future just because they're by an LT author? No, not just because she is an LT author. No doubt I will read more from her, though, but it's because I like her books.

I snagged an ER book from Feb, A Corpse at St Andrew's Chapel so I've added to the TIOLI Challenge since it has Saint in the title!

I finished up Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians by LT author Brandon Sanderson earlier tonight and expect to finish The Boys of Summer for my Seasons challenge yet tonight as well.

I finally got my TIOLI book from the public library!
I really enjoy reading His majesty's dragon!

News flash!

TIOLI points for March's challenges (18) have reached those for January's challenges (18).

...and we still have 9 more days to go!

1. How did you choose which LT author to read?
Well, I originally was going to grab something off my bookshelf that I hadn't read yet, but I kept reading about Naomi Novik's His Majesty's Dragon, and it just sounded so intriguing that I had to pick it up and give it a try.

2. Will you be reading any works in the future by the same author you've just discovered?
You bet I will. I loved this book!

3. Will you be reading any works in the future just because they're by an LT author?
No, not "just because," but I wish they would bring back the feature that showed which authors we had books by in our libraries.

I wish they would bring back the feature that showed which authors we had books by in our libraries.

Me, too!

I finished reading joannasephine's poetry collection The Summer King which I'll comment on in my thread.

1. How did you choose which LT author to read?
Rob Shearman: I had just picked up his book from the library when the challenge was announced - serendipity.
Joanna Preston - she mentioned on this thread that she had a published a book of poetry and I saw that my library had a copy so decided to try.

2. Will you be reading any works in the future by the same author you've just discovered?
RS - I'll keep reading his work - but have read both his short story collections now, so waiting for the next to be published.
JP - I'm encouraged to read more poetry in general and will definitely read her poetry again.

3. Will you be reading any works in the future just because they're by an LT author?
No, not 'just because'. I'm also hoping that they bring back that feature mentioned by tapestry100.

#285, someone's going to have to pick up the slack for me. I've been working 16-18 hour days (and probably will for the rest of the month) so I've pulled off my two remaining TIOLI books.

Yes, it's hurting the point total but it can't be helped.

#285/289: I just discovered that the book I am currently reading, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, is one that Darryl read for the Woman's History challenge that Cheli set up, so that will help a little bit.

Thanks, Stasia. That'll help.

Even when I'm home, I'm too wound up to read, or to sleep, even.

#291: I am sorry you are having to work such long hours. Hopefully it will end soon!

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No problem, Linda. There's always next month! It sounds as if you need sleep more than we need points! LOL!!

It's nice to have you post your intended reads at the beginning of the month because that often spurs others to try new books. The points system is just a way to encourage that, but otherwise means nothing at all. Really. So don't feel bad.

I just want to hightlight LauraNav's challenge, the second most popular challenge this month, of "Hugo Award for Best Novel winners". Nice idea for a challenge and one that seems to have garnered a bit of interest! Connie Willis's The Doomsday Book seems to be leading that category presently.

In the "Books by an LT author" category, Naomi Novik, is by far the most popular author, with one of her books, His Majesty's Dragon, being read by six 75-ers this month! Not only that, because the book is part of a series, interest in the series of Novik's books has taken off as well.

Part of the fun of the challenges are seeing which books "click" each month. There's no way to tell that ahead of time. It's interesting to see how that develops. On other threads, we often see this happen as a result of a book review, but here we can actually watch the stats grow. I like that. :)

Here are two more LT authors beginning a chat before the end of March.

First, we have Jonathan Mayberry, author of The Dragon Factory.

Next, we have Michael T. Darkow author of Our Promised Land.

Stop by either chat to visit with these authors.

Here are a few more chats with LT authors starting in March:

Dexter Palmer author of Dream of Perpetual Motion

and

Susan Wilson author of One Good Dog.

1. How did you choose which LT author to read?
I read about Naomi Novik's His Majesty's Dragon, it sounded good. The public library had a copy (translated), so I gave it a try. And it is the first book of a series, I like series!

2. Will you be reading any works in the future by the same author you've just discovered?
Yes, tomorrow to the library to see if the next books are available.

3. Will you be reading any works in the future just because they're by an LT author?
No, not just because they are by a LT author.

Naomi Novik, is by far the most popular author, with one of her books, His Majesty's Dragon being read by six 75-ers this month!

David (tapestry100) just said that he read it too, so I think we're actually at seven!

It will definitely be interesting to see how many Naomi Novik books have been read in the course of the month.... I've just read the fifth one, so unfortunately have to wait until July for more.

#298: I will not be reading any more unfortunately. My local library has book 1 and book 5, nothing in between :(

I believe that I will probably be reading another Naomi Novik next month.

I finished Susan Wittig Albert's Thyme of Death a few days ago.

1. How did you choose which LT author to read?
My goal is to only read books I already own for this thread, so I was glad when someone mentioned SWA, because I bought Thyme of Death back in December.

2. Will you be reading any works in the future by the same author you've just discovered?
Yes. I really enjoyed Thyme of Death. Unlike in many of these series, the characters are colourful but credible. China Bayle may be running a herb shop now but used to be defense lawyer, so has a reason for being familiar with police procedure (it tends to irritate me when people with unlikely professions always seem to know just what to do when stumbling over bodies). The clincher for me, however, was her being adopted by Cat (and the fact that she knows it's this way around). Having been a slave to cats of great character and distinction myself for many years, I'm very much looking forward to reading more about him.

3. Will you be reading any works in the future just because they're by an LT author?
No, not "just because" -- but it won't put me off, either.:)

yes, I just finished Naomi Novik's His Majesty's Dragon and LOVED it! What a great book. I'm off to add it to the list right now. =)

Oh no, Stasia! It's enough to make me want to take up BookCrossing.

Madeline, I seem to recall that you do a lot of BookCrossing... how exactly does it work?

I am a BookCrossing addict. It's as bad as being an LT addict. To find out more about it, checkout the BookCrossing website. In a nutshell, it's online book-tracking.

It goes something like this: A book is registered online with a unique identification number. A label is attached to the book with that number. The BookCrosser reads the book and makes an online journal entry about the book. The book is then released to someone else or "in the wild". When the book is received (or found), it is journaled. The finder then reads the book, journals his opinions, and this goes on ad infinitum until someone stops the process (which inevitably happens).

Here is my profile at Bookcrossing.

What I most like to do with BookCrossing are three things. First, I start and run bookrays (my books travel around the world and have many readers from quite a number of countries). Second, I attend monthly real-life meetings with local area BookCrossers (of all ages) simply for fun, to drink coffee with others, chat a bit, and exchange books, Third, I chair booths at book festivals where we give away free (bookCrossing-registered) books. The BookCrossing site is free to join, but I'm a paying subscriber because it's one of my very favorite hobbies.

Here's a Washington Post article about Bookcrossing in which I was interviewed. My quotes are on page 2. The picture on page 1 is of another Bookcrosser in my local group.

Before you get me going on any more, let it be known that I'm as passionate about BookCrossing as I am about LibraryThing!!

News Flash!

A new record for the number of people reading the same book this month has appeared! With Tapestry100's most recent entry, there are seven 75-ers reading His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik during this month of March.

Too bad that we can't count all of the series together as one since there are 6 others from 4 other books in the series out there.

I finished my third TIOLI book - One in each of LT AUthors, Green/Saint, and Women in History.

Now to settle on my TIOLI for April.

*vows to take her TIOLI book to bed rather than Wind up Bird tonight*

>304 SqueakyChu: I'm definitely intrigued by the concept of BookCrossing. Except I can't bring myself to get rid of any books I own, so I would end up buying extra copies to share with the world.

Who else in the 75 Book Challenge does BookCrossing?

>306 cyderry: Luckily they mostly count for points anyway. I think only books 3 and 5 need a second reader.... And if we can get any of the other books up to three readers, I think that would be even more efficient point-wise than adding them all together.

Added 4 books for March, I had a good haul at the library today and think I will finish them all before the end of the month:
Paper Towns, Throne of Jade, Black Powder War and Empire of Ivory.

> 308:
Sadly I can't help with book 5. I would if the library had a copy!

>309 FAMeulstee: I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of them!

And if I'm counting right, this means we've earned nine points from Naomi Novik books alone!

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Except I can't bring myself to get rid of any books I own, so I would end up buying extra copies to share with the world.

Oddly enough, I never started amassing great numbers of books until I started giving them away.

News flash!

There are ten TIOLI points from Naomi Novik books alone this evening. Her books make up 45% of current TIOLI points. She's definitely the outstanding TIOLI author of the month of March!

This thread is toooooo long so it's moving here.