Take It or Leave It Challenge - March 2010 - Page 2

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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Continued from here.

The Club Read 2010 Group is taking on Read a Living Poet as an April challenge. That's not my TIOLI challenge for the 75-ers for April, but I thought I'd throw that information out there in case anyone else here wants to add that as a TIOLI challenge when April arrives.

Borrowing challenges from other groups is a great idea! I wasn't sure whether it was legit, but I like the April challenge in the 1010 Category Challenge group, so I'll probably bring that one over here.

I just did that one this month!

You can certainly bring over whatever challenges you want from other groups. There is no reason that other groups should have monopolies on their challenges! :)

What I think is nice about the TIOLI is that we have quite a list of different challenges so that each of us can choose one (or more) in which we're interested. I like that the challenges are mostly different each month. That gives us wide leeway of books to choose to read which, in turn, also might attract fellow readers.

If you haven't noticed, I also like original challenges. I'll keep trying to make each month's challenge one that others will most likely not think of ahead of time. Ha!

I've finally started reading a book towards this month's challenge - Sorcerer's Legacy by LT author Janny Wurts.

Has anyone let Naomi Novik know what a hit she was this month? I started reading the Temeraire series last year and have read two more this year and have another one for next month. Maybe we should all send her a message to let her know we love the books.

ETA - I sent her a note and the link to the thread - I couldn't resist.

they are terrific. even if Temeraire is going to lose the cage match to Jaimie Lannister from A Song of Ice and Fire..... (ducking and running)

#7 I've sent her a tweet about it as well!

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Thanks, Cheli! I know she'll appreciate our interest in her books.

Would you (seriously) like to be our unofficial (or official) TIOLI author liaison? That is, if you see a book by one particular author being a great hit among TIOLI challengers, simply drop that author a line to let him or her know. I'm sure any author with whom you make such a contact would appreciate the kudos.

Re #9

Thumbs up to David!

Here's what you could possibly do with a TIOLI book you hate:

This idea? :D

#12 - That is AWESOME! Love it.

I finished His Majesty's Dragon and loved it. Our library doesn't have vols 1 or 2, but it does have 3-5. I'm tempted to out and buy vol 2, read it, and then donate it to the library. We'll see if I get that done before the end of the month.

I finished Throne of Jade and started Black Powder War today.

wow i had to search throgh a bit to find this one lol..
oh ...... I have read resurection men

I'm adding Three Cups of Tea for the Red Spine challenge (which I never got around to doing last month, so I'm glad it's been carried over!). I just started this book last night, but it's going much quicker than I expected.

I hope you get through Three Cups of Tea more quickly than me. I'm getting bogged down in it because I'm trying to listen to it on tape on the few occasions that I'm in my car. Mortenson's experiences are fascinating, although the writing in this book is less than stellar. Can't wait to hear what you think of it. I'm about half-way through, but it will probably take me another month to finish.

In the meantime, I'm working on my ER book for this month and my wonderful TIOLI read for March, The Mermaids Singing. Hey! Tim's wife Lisa Carey wrote a very engaging story, I'm happy to report.

I agree that the writing isn't great, but I'm still finding that the pages go by quickly. I'm only about a third of the way through, though, so I hope I don't get bogged down in the middle as well.

Stones into Schools is supposed to be much better (4.48 rating compared to 3.98 for this one), but I thought I should start at the beginning. I seem to recall that Mortenson wrote Stones into Schools himself, so maybe there isn't such a tendency to over-dramatize.

Loooove that book/planter idea! Thx for posting it. :)

Are you going to make one, Shauna?

We should all do it as a TIOLI project! After all, it is spring! :) Good books to use for this I think, would be a pile of Reader's Digest Condensed books.

Finished Black Powder War and started Empire of Ivory :-)

Hallelujah! I finally got around to my TIOLI book for the month, Prague by Arthur Phillips. I'm surprised no one else is reading books by this LT author. He has the most gorgeous blue eyes...and he can write! This was his debut book; not exactly my type of book, but I stuck with it, and ended up liking it for the most part. I'm going to "sleep on it" and write my review tomorrow.

Edited to redirect touchstone to the beautiful blue eyes of the real Arthur Phillips.

One of my Secret Santa gifts was The Egyptologist by Arthur Phillips. I knew his picture looked familiar! Who could forget those eyes?! I forgot he was an LT author.

I think we need that gimmick back that we once had where we could identify which books by LT authors we have. I don't think Tim's planning on bringing that feature back. :(

I picked up Throne of Jade last night so I'll be able to fit that one in before the month ends. I've requested the next 3 vols from the library but not sure when they'll get to me.

#23 - I'm not reading Arthur Phillips because his books drive me nuts.

I finished my TIOLI book - Shanghai Girls. It was pretty good. Parts of it felt like her biographical book On Gold Mountain. It illustrates very well the difficulty parents have of passing on their knowledge and experience to their children, and the difficulty children have in accepting that knowledge. I also think it was an interesting device to tell the whole story from the point of view of one sister, and then at the end slam the reader with the point of view of the other sister, and force a re-thinking of the entire story.

#23 - I'm not reading Arthur Phillips because his books drive me nuts.

I haven't read anything by him yet. Why do they make you nuts?

>26 nittnut:: LOL! Well, he is certainly wordy and deep. I also didn't care much for these cynical expat characters. I'll admit that getting through Prague was not easy, but it gave me lots to think about. I just posted my review here.

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I'm surprised that more people didn't choose to read books by Lisa See, being that she is such a popular author and also due to the relative success of her novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.

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Donna, I have to say that your review makes me want to read Prague rather than avoid it. :) I like your review of it, by the way. I sometimes don't like to read books that take serious attention - unless I have the time to give them - then I love them! We'll just have to see what happens when, and if, I ever get to The Egyptologist.

Thanks, Madeline. I was a bit ambivalent about the book, mostly because I didn't connect with the characters. On the other hand, I liked the challenge of reading it and took away some new knowledge of how Communism affected life in Eastern Europe. I also liked Phillips attention to detail and description, but I can see why Jennifer (nitnut) and other readers could be impatient with his wordiness.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan was actually one of the books that I brought back with me from my visit to my parents, but I'm just not going to have time to fit it in this month. I'm hoping it will count for a future TIOLI, though; it has all sorts of other promising characteristics besides being written by an LT author (maybe there will be a Snow challenge this coming winter, or a Flower challenge for the spring, or a Green Spine challenge?).

#31
I am impatient with his wordiness - I read The Egyptologist as well. I liked the story, and I found there was a lot to think about. I just wanted to edit it really badly. I also did not connect with the snooty expat characters from Prague. It was so much work that notwithstanding the excellent insights into politics and history, I've called it quits with Phillips for now.

>33 nittnut: I just wanted to edit it really badly. I'd say that ship had sailed, since it's already badly edited. ;->

I've finished The Palace of Illusions for the TIOLI LT Author challenge, and loved loved loved it. Reviewing it soon, recommending it now, and heartily, to anyone who loves complex, well-drawn characters, and powerful women characters.

Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn was great! Her opening paragragh sucked me in and I stayed up all night reading. How can you not like a book that starts ..."To say that I met Nicholas Brisbane over the body of my dead husband is not completely accurate. Edward was still twitching." (may not be precisely accurate, but very close). I have already put in my request at the library for Silent in the Sanctuary and Silent on the Moor. My only criticism of this book was the unneeded addition of a paranormal abiltiy one of the main characters exhibited. I felt it detracted from the plot and from the characters development. I am so glad you started this challenge. I would probably never have read this book without it and I did so enjoy it.

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Donna, If you want to wade through another similarly interesting book, try Snow by Orhan Pamuk. It's a political satire about the grating differences between secularism and religious fundamentalism in Turkey. I thought it was great.

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>maybe there will be a Snow challenge this coming winter, or a Flower challenge for the spring, or a Green Spine challenge?

LOL @ Zoe!!

My husband and I loved Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, but many other recent comments about this book here on LT have been less than glowing about that novel. I really don't understand it. That book was great!

*wails* I love my Janny Wurts TIOLI - I just never have time at home to read it! Baby has not been sleeping for some undisclosed reason and so I'm wrecked all the time! BAh. Will finish it before 31st though.

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I am so glad you started this challenge. I would probably never have read this book without it and I did so enjoy it.

Great! Love to hear that!!

Too bad it's the end of the month. The Naomi Novik series of books was super-well read this past month. It's a shame that the Deanna Raybourn series wasn't similarly discovered at the beginning of the month.

Oh, well, I'm sitting here thinking up another challenge for April and will have it posted within a few days...

>37 SqueakyChu: You laugh, but just look at your previous post! A recommendation for a book called Snow. Hmm.... ;)

#34 LOL

#35 I really enjoyed Deanna Raybourn's books as well. You're right, that opening line grabs you, half horrified, half amused.

#37 I loved Snow Flower and the Secret Fan too. My book club had one of our best discussions over that book.

#38 Sorry. I know how you feel. I'm still looking for the legal, non-addictive sedative for children. Anyone?

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OMG, Zoe! I didn't catch that myself. You're too much!!

#41 LOL - if you find one, let me know? She just keeps crying her in her sleep. No idea why - she may be growing again, which is likely - she's already massive for her age.

I am reading at work (naughtily - bad me) but generally classics I have online...

Hey! I didn't realize that my March book could belong to one of two challenges this month. Don't worry, I know that it can only be LISTED in one challenge. I guess with all the posts for this thread I missed one of the earliest ones about the challenge to read women in history for Women's History month. Since Silent in the Grave took place in the Victorian Era it could have been in either challenge. Since I started it because Deanna Raybourn is an LT author, I guess I'll leave it in that challenge.

finished the 4th book Empire of Ivory, sadly it is the last one for now. I don't think I will be able to get a copy of Victory of Eagles in time.
Tomorrow I will start the last TIOLI book for this month Paper Towns

>21 SqueakyChu:
I'd love to make one actually! Although I'm crafty, but not very handy. :) It's too awesome not to try though.

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If you do, please post a picture!

Where is the book planter idea? Is it on the old thread?

It's in post #12 on this thread. Where it says "This idea?"

Just finished Mistborn: The Final Empire by LibraryThing author Brandon Sanderson. It was really rather good and I'm having to restrain myself from ordering the rest of the series immediately...

#2: I'm planning to participate in the April Read-a-Living-Poet Challenge on Club Read, so I'll post a challenge on the April TIOLI thread if no one does.

I'm already reading The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni, which contains all of her poems from 1968-1998 that were published in seven books. I've read the poems from the first two books, and will definitely read more from this collection next month. I have several other books of poetry waiting to be read, so I may read one or two of them next month, as well.

Thanks (#49) I must have just missed it. Great idea. Although I think it's hilarious that he's worried about damp soil doing damage IN the book. The one with the big hole in it?

The TIOLI Challenge for April has now been posted!

Remember that this thread closes on March 31, 2010. No new books/challenges can be posted to March after that date. In addition, remember to remove all unfinished books from March's challenge by then. You may take any unfinished book from March and move it to a new challenge for April.

Have fun!

#34 - I wanted to read The Palace of Illusions for this challenge, but sadly have not had time.

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You can always create another challenge for it and bring it into April's challenges. Perhaps "Books With Buildings in the Title" or "Books by Authors Born in India"?

I have just finished my March TIOLI, The Last Dickens. Need to digest a day before I place a review somewhere.

I haven't really been paying much attention to the TIOLI challenge, but I have noticed that after reading Doomsday Book by Connie Willis and Gone with the Nerd by Vicki Lewis Thompson I can tick off two of the challenges, so I've listed them.

ETA A second book I can include.

Here is my review for The Last Dickens by LT author, Matthew Pearl.

I finished The Last Dickens in the wee hours this morning. Only 4 more books to go before I am finished with March's TIOLI Challenges, lol.

Off to see if Lynda was as unimpressed with The Last Dickens as I was.

Judge for yourself, Stasia. Finally got my link corrected. Must I wait till next Sunday to find out your thoughts about it?

#60: Yes, you have to wait until next Sunday, but I will tell you that I did not like it as well as you did :)

I was being kind.

#62: Kind about the book or something else? Why?

#63 I read to learn, this novel brought to light information regarding Dickens of which I was not aware. As I alluded to in my review, I'm not sure where fact and fiction end but I am intriqued enough to read more on Dickens. Any recommendations?

#64: Have you read Drood yet? If not, give it a try and then compare to The Last Dickens.

ETA: I have not read an indepth bio of Dickens.

#65 No I haven't Stasia, but I will certainly have a go at it now.

ETA: I wishlisted not only Drood but The Mystery of Edwin Drood as well.

#66: I have read Dickens of London, which is not an indepth bio, but for what it is, is good. You might give that one a go, too.

#67 Thanks, I'll see if my library has that one.

Okay, this is how I knew I was hooked on this group:
Not only did I choose a book just to meet a TIOLI challenge,
(1) I went out and bought the book when I couldn't get it from a library, and
(2) I worried about whether I'd finish it in time to count it.

Well, I did finish To ride Hell's Chasm in time so it all works out. And it was fun. Thanks, Madeline, for the challenge, and thanks calm for the recommendation!

(please skip this) USELESS POST (to mark the second March thread. I haven't had time to read the threads on LT lately and there is a bad storm here and I cannot sleep through it so I caught up on the TIOLI threads, which are one of my favorite ones to read.)

I just finished Paper Towns. Only 3 more books now to finish out my March TIOLI challenges.

Wow---I feel very self-congratulatory, having finished my third March TIOLI: If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, and I hope that I understood it. Calvino is right: you need to concentrate on this book. But once you get by all the dazzling flimflam effects, what you discover is a very serious consideration of reading and writing, and the interactions between author and reader. I found it fascinating if initially quite difficult.

Now...about two and a half days to finish up The Last Dickens. It's not as interesting to me, yet, as his first book The Dante Club.

A standard, in-depth biography of Dickens was written by Edgar Johnson: Charles Dickens: His Tragedy and Triumph. Most interesting but very long---two volumes.

#72: I will see if my local library has the Dickens bio. Thanks for the recommendation!

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Good to hear about the Calvino book. I'm saving it for another time when I'm not running around like crazy and have more time to concentrate on it. I read about a third of it, but had too many other things on my mind at the same time. I did thoroughly enjoy what I'd read so far, though. The only problem with delaying reading this book is that I'll have to start it anew when I do. :/

If anyone has a more modern rec. for a Dickens bio. I'd be interested. He was a fascinating, complex man. I have The Mystery of Edwin Drood, but I'm not sure if I have Drood. That's embarassing...

Finished One Amazing Thing - only 2 more books to go before the end of the month now!

#76 You go, girl :)

#77: Thanks, Lynda. I will not get them finished today, but hopefully will sneak them in under the wire tonight & tomorrow.

finished my last TIOLI book for this month: Paper Towns

All 3 vols of Temeraire came in at the library today. I expect to finish vol 3 by tomorrow night so I'm adding it to the wiki.

I just finished up Stone's Fall, so only one more book to read to finish out March.

This is the last day of March's challenge. Remember to remove any book that you did not finish in March from March's wiki. You may add this same book to April's wiki, putting it in someone else's challenge or creating a new challenge of your own.

Remember not to post to this thread after the end of today. All future posts need to go on April's thread. Some great challenges await everyone on April's wiki. Thanks!

I am currently reading Winter Rose and will have it done before the day is out to complete my last challenge for March.

Gah! Okay - I'm not going to remove mine cos I promise I'll finish it before midnight! I only have a bit left, my eyes just gave out last night. Promise, promise, promise :)

Yes!!! Finished The Last Dickens, for my last TIOLI for March last night.

Like others here, I found the book a bit disappointing. It's certainly well-written, and conveys that Victorian ambience well. But the plot line just seemed terribly far-fetched in a novel that otherwise seemed grounded in reality. I'm not sorry I read it, but certainly not thrilled either.

I finished The Palace of Illusions, but I want to write a *real* review of it, so I am moving it to April and calling it "Read an Indian Writer" challenge (which also gives me a reason to read other Indian writers, WHEE!).

I've only joined 10 other online challenges this year, not including the other 2 I have here on LT. It's not like I have a problem or anything, I can quit any time I want to...

WHEE, indeed, for another great challenge!!

Good choice for a challenge category. I'd like to read an Indian author this month as well. Maybe...I hope.

Well, I only ended up reading Doomsday Book, which I really enjoyed. I just didn't get interested in Wicked Lovely, so I put aside "for now" in the hope that someday when I'm in the right mood I'll pick it up again. So, I can't really answer your questions regarding reading an LT author too well. Oh well, tomorrow is a new month with new books in it (to paraphrase Anne Shirley...)

This thread is now CLOSED. Please post all further messages HERE (April's thread). Thanks!