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

This thread is continued from here.

For those new to this challenge: More info and monthly index can be found in post #1 of this thread.
Simple directions for posting to the wiki can be found at the bottom of each month's wiki page.


...graphic design by cyderry

We’re heading into summer so I wanted this month’s topic to be pure fun! Here's an idea that should be hilarious. This month's challenge is to Read a Book with a Problem as the Title. You’re probably wondering, “What kind of problem?” I'm leaving that up to your own interpretation. Play with it, and have fun with it. It can be a real problem or something that is just funny if it were to really happen. You might have to tell us on the main thread why it's a problem. Be creative! Search your bookshelves and find the one perfect TIOLI book to fit this challenge. Then put it on our June 2010 wiki and enjoy your read.

Here are suggestions from books I like:
1. Nervous Conditions - Tsitsi Dangarembga
2. Possible Side Effects - Augusten Burroughs
3. Wearing Dad's Head - Barry Yourgrau
4. Among Other Things, I've Taken Up Smoking - Aoibheann Sweeney
5. To See Every Bird on Earth - Dan Koeppel

Here are some books I've not read but that look interesting:
1. Being Dead - Jim Crace
2. Every Day Lasts a Year - Christopher R. Browning
3. Rash - Pete Hautman
4. Nausea - Jean Paul Satre
5. (entry removed)

I can't wait to see what some of your problems turn out to be... Enjoy!

Have a great summer, everyone.

Index of June challenges: wiki page 1 (# 1-6) and wiki page 2 (#7-14):
1. A Book with a Problem as the Title
2. Audiobook Challenge for Audiobook Month
3. A Book about Africa
4. A Member Recommendation: a book from the newly updated LT feature
5. A Novel by a Japanese Author
6. A Gay/Lesbian Themed Book for Gay Pride Month
7. A Translated YA or Children's Book
8. Working for a Living: a book with a profession in the title
9. The A's Have It: a book with a title beginning with the letter A
10. Opposites Attract
11. Meant for Someone Else But Not for Me: a book you've borrowed, inherited or bought second-hand
12. A Book By an Author with a Three Part Name
13. In Honor of Father's Day: A Book With Father (or Dad, etc.) in the Title
14. Read and Review a Book Not Yet Reviewed on LT

Yippee, I've never been first to post on a thread before. Typing very fast so Stasia doesn't beat me.

I was driving home from work. I find it very hard to type while doing so :)

I bet it is since you must have a book in your hand as well. ;0)

BTW: Starting Animal Farm today for Stasia's A's have it challenge.

#5: I hope you like Animal Farm, Lynda.

And I do not read while driving either :)

>5 Carmenere: and 6 I have seen people reading a book or newspaper while they're driving and thought to myself, "Unbelievable. Talk about distractions."

It's illegal to use your cell phone while driving in this state but not while reading a book. Hmmm. What's wrong with this picture?

I was just driving next to someone the other day who was reading Angels and Demons. We were next to each other at a red light, and she was reading, and I thought, "Well, that's one way to kill time at a red light." Except, she didn't put the book down when we pulled away from the red light...

>8 tapestry100: David, where do you live? I need to avoid driving there! *wipes fear-sweat from keyboard*

I unearthed Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, but I am not sure it'll get read this month...The Divine Miss's birthday bash is this weekend and I suspect there will need to be a lot of stuff done.

#7: I will not talk on my cell phone while driving either. I used to read while I was driving back and forth to school every day, which was a good hour from where I lived, but I have since mended my ways.

I read while driving...using my CD player of course! :)

Much as I understand reading everywhere, I'm glad to hear that you don't read while driving, Stasia. I would worry about the safety of any valued group members who do this, as well as other drivers (or pedestrians if you have them) in their area.

#12: Since I only live 2 minutes (literally) from my office, what would be the point of reading while driving. Nope, in the car I stick to audiobooks if I am driving for any length of time any more.

Stasia: Do you read while walking? There's a woman in the neighborhood who does that. If I did it, I'd end up at the wrong house or in the lake or something.

True Confession: I read while sitting in traffic on my morning commute. I do put the book/Kindle down when the line begins to move though...

#14: I would probably kill myself if I tried that! The sidewalks in my neighborhood are very cracked.

#15: Reading while sitting in traffic does not count, lol. You are not actually driving then.

I sometimes read walking between the tube (metro) station and my house, it's about 10 minutes walk if I'm not trying to read at the same time.

Oh thank goodness I'm not a menace. Sometimes the car behind me has to honk to get me to notice the traffic is flowing.

I am simply not good at doing two things at the same time. Well, I can but they won't be done well, so I try to avoid it.

#9 - Richard, I live in Lansing, MI. Not a common occurrence here but something that struck me as really surprising, to be sure. And Dan Brown? I have nothing against him (I've read The DaVinci Code - it's fun, but nothing staggering) but is he really *that* unputdownable?

The other driving epidemic that I do see on a FREQUENT basis around here is women putting on their makeup while they are driving in the morning. That is something that I've never understood. Especially applying eye makeup while driving. Or applying it on a bus or subway train, for that matter. I think you're just looking to lose an eye at that point.

Finished Heart of Darkness for the Book about Africa challenge and my review is right here.

Finished and reviewed The Celtic Alternative for challenge 14 - Read and Review a Book Not Yet Reviewed on LT.

#21 Lynda, sorry you weren't too happy about Heart of Darkness. I got a kick out of your review.

>20 tapestry100: I'm befuddled by the general absence of sense I see in drivers. Has no one explained to them that, when traveling at 60mph, the car goes the length of a football field every second? Put that eyeliner on, drink the coffee, and read the paper in *something stationary* like a house, restaurant, or office desk.

Don't even get me started on phone-talkers. I resent them even when they're pedestrians, having had more than one inattentive chatty chatty bang bang walk in front of my car without the least awareness of the lights we're all supposed to obey. I think I should have civil and criminal immunity from prosecution if I "accidentally" fail to brake for a few of 'em...say, ten?...only after that should it be actionable to TAKE THE IDIOTS OUT.

*ahem* I'll go now.

Oh, what I find really urks my urkables are mom's just being with their kids in parks,playgrounds, taking a walk etc. and they have that phone glued to their ears. There is so much to share with your kids and so little time to do so, I wish they would make their calls on their own time.

#23 Me too, Pat. I was expecting much more from a so called classic.

About 20 pages to go in Anna Karenina for Stasia's 'The A's Have It!' Challenge. I'll get the review up one of these days...

I just finished Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon I've put it under the 'book written by an author with three names' challenge as I don't think it fits anywhere else.

I am now starting The Year of the Flood for my 'book with a problem in the title' challenge. I think a flood is a problem!

Just finished Down and out in Paris and London by George Orwell for my "book with a problem in the title" challenge. Tramping around London while living off "tea and two slices" and working as a plongeur with 17 hour days in Paris definitely qualify as problems...

I've finished An Innocent Soldier for my YA translated book challenge. I have a few lined up to read for this challenge.

Oops, just spent the afternoon reading Maid to Match by Deeanne Gist for the 'Books with a Profession in the Title' challenge. It was excellent, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. The review will get posted sometime or another...

I am going to read Blindness by Jose Saramago for the problem challenge. Being blind is usually a problem.

Just finished Dancers in Mourning by Margery Allingham - as this was a second-hand copy it counts under 'Meant for someone else but not for me'. Mind you, I could include most of my reading under that heading. This was continuing my read-through of all of Allingham's mysteries which I started at the beginning of the year.

A quick update to say I'm doing well on the challenges I set for myself (of course, it helped that most of my planned reading fit into one challenge or another).

Books finished (4/10):
The Sheepfarmer's Daughter (occupation)
At Large and At Small (The A's have it)
Talking to Dragons (borrowed)
Book Lust (borrowed)

I finished up Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit for the June TIOLI Challenge.

I finished A Guide to the Birds of East Africa for the June "Books about Africa" TIOLI Challenge.

Karen O.

Ok, poll time. Does this qualify for the Problem Title challenge?

I thought I'd read The Page Turner for the gay-theme challenge. I read a chapter of it, though, and thought it rather dull. I'm passing on that book and am going to read Rubyfruit Jungle instead for the same challenge. That book starts out with much more interesting writing.

I've finished The Thin Man for the not-meant-for-me challenge (secondhand book) and am now onto Child 44 which I currently have listed in the three-name-author challenge. (It could also go in the not-meant-for-met category, as it's a library book, but I'm having fun working my way around the challenges)

#37 I voted undecided because The Country between us could be a prolem for people in love or it could be a blessing if they despise each other.

I think the title of The Country Between Us implies division which is definitely a problem, and that it should be accepted if some of the others have been. There's only one where I've voted no.

> 40

C'mon, Lynda. Take a stand!! :)

O.k, o.k, Since "us" is in the title which implies a couple, a connection as opposed to The Country Between Me and That Big Fat Idiot, I will, vote yes.

Yay for Lynda!

Now we need to hear from Joanna who should be defending why The Country Between Us is a problem.

News flash!

The TIOLI point count is up to 34!

The most popular books are:
Troubles - J.G. Farrell
Sabriel - Garth Nix
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha - Roddy Doyle
Chasing Goldman Sachs - Suzanne McGee

I've finished A Long Way Gone for the 'book about Africa' challenge. I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I wrote more about it on my 75 challenge thread.

Just finished The Shadow of the Wind Carlos Ruiz Zafon for An Author With a Three Part Name Challenge. I put down The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman for the Problem Challenge. Does it qualify?

I suppose it could be a problem if you're sailing and come to the edge of the world...

I've started The Ice Storm for the problem challenge, and am not exactly enjoying it. I'm not sure if it's something I want to finish. Searching my bookshelves for other problems...would Hard Times count?

#50: I would say 'Yes' to Hard Times counting.

I'm voting No re The World is Flat - sorry! - but Hard Times definitely counts.

I finished The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and Baltimore Noir this morning and will be adding two books to the Wiki tonight - My Father's Places is by Dylan Thomas's daughter and will be under the Fathers challenge, though it's borrowed from my mum so could fit under the borrowed and secondhand books challenge too, where I'll also be placing The Turnaround by George Pelecanos, which I borrowed from the library absolutely ages ago.

I'm also hoping to fit in reading Moral Disorder, already listed as a problem, and The Bookseller of Kabul (profesion) at some point this month.

No problem elkiedee. If there is no clear Yes vote for The World is Flat, I will still read it as it was on my TBR list but replace it with something else for the Problem challenge. I'll see how the count stands this evening. Cheers!

No telling when I'll get to my two "problem" books, but I just finished and reviewed the wonderful American Salvage which fits in somewhere on the wiki. Heading off to invesigate.

Finished The Poisonwood Bible for the Africa TIOLI, and am reading the Sarah Bakewell book now (my 'problem' book). Then on to Austerlitz and Fathers and Sons.

Okay, I added American Salvage to Challenge No. 9, "The A's Have It" because that's where Nancy put it, although it would also fit Challenge 12.

Madeline, I noticed the numbering is off in Challenge 9. Hope I didn't mess things up!

>56 Donna828: I was adding a book, so took a look - looks like in a couple of challenges there was an extra line added between books, so the numbering was restarting. Should be OK now.

I finished reading and posted my review of Love Bade Me Welcome by Gerrit Dawson, daily readings with George Herbert. There are some beautiful poems in this book. This is the first review for the book and I'm not sure how widely available it is, but I really recommend it.

I read Pippi Longstocking for the read-a-kid-book-in-translation TIOLI challenge. Simply loved the book. Probably more than I did when I was a kid.

Karen O.

Bloomin’ heck, I stay away from the computer for a morning …

Regarding The Country Between Us – I'm happy to go with the majority verdict here, which seems to be No, Not a Problem.

The interesting thing for me is that the title sounds like a relationship (which is why I thought I could sneak it in), but the book is very much not – the country in question is El Salvador, and it's a collection of poems about the human rights abuses there, and America's stance. There are relationship poems too, but the main thrust of the book is political.

So that brings up a related question – if the title implies a problem but the book is about something different, does that make it a “problem-title” or not? Hang on, a simpler question: for the purposes of TIOLI challenges, if the title seems to fit but is misleading (maybe the character's name is May, and the title is May –––, and you want to slip it into a Title-with-a-month-in-it challenge), do you go with the superficial reading of the title, or with what the title actually means in the context of the book?

(That should keep you busy for a while! ;-) )

# 60

Two teenage girls with no responsibilities because school is out, and the house is a mess. So, my problem is The Help around here... because they're NOT. ;)

>60 joannasephine: How about a vote?

I think it depends on how the challenge is defined - does it refer to the title or the content of the book? I think a lot of the challenges this month including the problem one refer to the title.

> 50

> 62

LOL @ Milda! My take on the Problem challenge is that if you can defend why your book title is a problem to you, then it *is* a problem. If you're not sure...well, take a vote!

> 60

maybe the character's name is May, and the title is May –––, and you want to slip it into a Title-with-a-month-in-it challenge), do you go with the superficial reading of the title, or with what the title actually means in the context of the book?

As a general rule, you go with the superficial reading of the title. For title challenges containing the work "May", TIOLI allows you all sorts of ways to complete this challenge. Embedded words count (e.g. On the Mayflower, The Last Mayday). You can also use words that are somewhat hidden by being across more than one word (e.g. Mama y Papa). Hint: This opens up all sorts of possible fun title challenges!

> 64

I think it depends on how the challenge is defined

This is quite right. If you're not sure for what the challenge is asking, simply open it up to a vote or discuss it here. My hope is that the originator of each "challenged challenge" (Ha!) would return to define its parameters.

If you're not sure, I won't call out the TIOLI police on anyone. :)

Just finished reading The Bookseller of Kabul for the Working for a Living: a book with a profession in the title challenge.

#59 I finished Pippi Longstocking today too for the YA or Children's Book Translated into English challenge. In my case, my memory of reading it as a child was better than my experience of it now.

>65 SqueakyChu: Thanks for the votes! I'll add Hard Times to the wiki. I won't take off The Ice Storm yet until I've fully decided that I hate it. :)

Okay, I have replaced The World is Flat with The Terrible Twos by Ishmael Reed for the Problem challenge. Thanks for voting.

I've just finished Animal Farm for Stasia's The A's have it challenge and here is my review.

I'm taking A Sea of Troubles up to bed with me (ah, that doesn't sound too good) and get that started before I fall asleep for the Title with a problem challenge.

I finished my second "problem" book which was As She Climbed Across the Table. What a totally weird book!! Poor Professor Engstrand! It seems that the woman who climbed across the table was actually the biggest problem. More here. :)

> 73

Yeah, Lynda. I'm not sure about your taking a sea of troubles to bed with you. Don't you want to sleep peacefully? :)

Finished my second TIOLI for the month - this time for the "Book by an Author with a Three Part Name". I read The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner. I've had it on my TBR pile for a while, trying to fit it into my Newbery Award challenge, so this killed two birds with one stone. *I actually listened to it on audio, so it could have gone into that challenge, but I already had something there, so I wanted to spread things around this time*.

Thief was good. At the time I picked it up, I was unaware that it was actually the first book in the series along with King of Attolia and Queen of Attolia. I had actually heard more about these other titles, and the only reason Thief hit my TBR was for the Newbery. The writing was very strong and engaging. It's Teen Lit - but good teen lit. Nice to remember the way books were once written to entertain WITHOUT sex, drugs, vampires, etc. Good read.

On to another audiobook - Bull Run by Paul Fleischman

#71 Re Terrible Twos - they are definitely definitely a problem. After this afternoon I'm not sure I'm going to survive them.

Trying to fit my bookgroup book and halfway through reads into this months TIOLI. In vain I feel. I think I'll be stuck with 2 this month.

I finished listening to Chocolat by Joanne Harris for the Audiobook challenge for Audiobook Month. This was not particularly my kind of book, and I found that the plot moved with the speed of cold treacle. Also the characters were drawn too black and white for me, either completely evil, mean-spirited and unkind, or conversely, completely good, kind and intelligent. In that way, it kind of reminded me of a fairy tale or morality tale. I am glad that I finally got around to it, however, since it is one of those that you are forever being asked if you have read the book.

Interesting to hear that, chinquapin. I didn't care for Chocolat either. I read that book a while ago and kept notes about it on my pc. I rated it 2 stars. There were many things I didn't like about that book, but I did note that its "only saving grace was the thought of a chocolate boutique in a little French town." :) I decided not to try any more books by Joanne Harris after reading only that one.

Also the characters were drawn too black and white for me, either completely evil, mean-spirited and unkind, or conversely, completely good, kind and intelligent.

I had written..."The characters were the good guy/bad guy types."

In that way, it kind of reminded me of a fairy tale or morality tale

I had written..."It simply never became an engaging read for me. I hated the short, choppy sentences, the French names which made distinguishing the characters difficult for me, and the element of fantasy that was developed in a formulaic kind of way."

I finished my book for the Africa challenge today.
I read Out of Africa and Shadows on the Grass by Isak Dinesen, which combines the well-known book with a shorter book she wrote 20 years later. I enjoyed it very much and admit I never saw the movie so now I'm thinking about checking it out as well.

I finished and reviewed Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow for the three part author name challenge.

Now on to the Japanese author challenge: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

I finished and reviewed SOCCER: A Spectator's Guide (touchstone not working) by Ron Rhodyfor the the unreviewed book challenge (and in preparation for the World Cup). Now back to Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith for the three name author challenge.

I finished Agnes and the Hitman for my challenge in June.

Just noticed the new thread...

I finished A Guide to the Birds of East Africa and enjoyed it very much.

I have added Sabriel to the wiki as well. I am previewing it for my son.

I am nearly finished listening to my audio book. Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star. Honestly, I don't really like these books. Not sure why. Thinking about it.

I finished The Sparrow for the author with a three part name challenge. Unfortunately, I didn't like it and only gave it 2 stars.

I'll be starting The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro for the novel by a Japanese author challenge later today.

For June, I finished Anthem (A's) and Perks of Being Wallflower (Gay Pride month). About 5 min left on In the Time of the Butterflies audiobook (audiobook challenge).

edited for Touchstones

I just finished another audiobook - a short one - Bull Run by Paul Fleischman.

Although I have read this book in the past, I decided to try it again, this time in the audio version. The audio recording (this one by Recorded Books) was done in a very unique way. The book itself is written in the style where each chapter is written as a first person account by a single individual of his/her associations with the Civil War in general, and Bull Run in particular. As the book progresses, those individuals show up in multiple chapters throughout, each chapter coming closer to the culmination of the battle itself. What Recorded Books did was assign a different narrator for each character, making for a far more “personal” experience where the voice is recognizable as each chapter begins. (Multi-Actor narrations is not a normal recording style for Recorded Books, and they pulled it off admirably)

4 stars

I finished Sabriel. Not for the 11 yr old for sure. It was OK. I'll give it 3 stars...

I finished When Rain Clouds Gather by Bessie Head for the Africa challenge this month. I have posted a review on the book's page.

Stasia, you wrote a review! I have a copy of A Question of Power by Bessie Head.

I've ordered the winner of the Orange Prize for new writing, The Boy Next Door by Irene Sabatini, who is Zimbabwean. I'm interested in reading several of the books others have chosen at some point, eg I have The Poisonwood Bible and most of the Mma Ramotswe series to catch up on - think I've read the first two and own about 10 - but for this challenge I want to read at least one book by a black African writer, not an American or Scottish one.

#90: I do on occasion :)

#88 Jenn, there's a group read of Sabriel this month if you want to share your thoughts on it. There's a spoiler-free thread and a spoiler thread .

Your son might enjoy Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom series which I just finished reading. The first book is Mister Monday.

#89 Nice review Stasia! I've added that one to the wishlist.

#90 I thought The Boy Next Door sounded interesting too. I'm hoping my library decides to get a copy.

Does your library have a suggestions book or box? It's out in paperback and I think "this novel set in Zimbabwe has won the Orange Prize for new fiction" would convince a UK library to consider it seriously.

#93 I don't think they have a suggestions box but I can request that they purchase it (although there is a small charge). Bizarrely, the charge for asking them to purchase new book is much, much smaller than requesting a book from a library in another county. I think I'll request it and hope other people want to borrow it too!

I'm shocked that your library charges for purchase requests. In the libraries I use, there's no obligation to buy but I think all suggestions would be considered - in Islington you even get an email back about your suggestion (though mine turned out to be too hard for them to get hold of, but it was a bit obscure and not published by a UK publisher).

I belong to two libraries (living on the edge of two counties it maximises the books available) and one only charges if the request comes through (it's effectively the standard reservation charge) and for the other this is the first time I've requested a book. It wasn't very clear when I made the request but it might be that I only get charged if the request gets fulfilled or I might get charged anyway.

It's interesting seeing the difference between the two library systems. One has a very up to date online system which has links to LibraryThing (yay!) and emails me about requests and reservations. The other has a more dated looking online system which is much less easy to use and sends me a letter when a book I've reserved is available. I can understand that older users might not have email access but I would have thought they could have the option of email notification. But I actually like the physical library with the older system better - it's my local library and I've been a member since I was old enough to annoy my parents by maxing out their library cards!

And TIOLI books finished are:

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis (member recommendations)
Sabriel by Garth Nix (member recommendations)
Superior Saturday by Garth Nix (meant for someone else but not for me)
Lord Sunday by Garth Nix (meant for someone else but not for me)

And I'm actually enjoying Heart of Darkness for the books about Africa challenge which I was a bit worried about after Carmenere's review.

News Flash!

Sabriel by Garth Nix is now in the lead for the most shared TIOLI book for June 2010! There are five readers for this one book.

News Flash 2!

The TIOLI point count is up to 37!!

#96 I'm happy to see you are enjoying Heart of Darkness, Heather and look forward to reading your review.

It wasn't part of my original plan for TIOLI challenges, but I seem to be in the middle of reading (and enjoying) Alexandria by Lindsey Davis, the most recent (in paperback) of the Falco detective series set in ancient Rome. So I'll go and add it to the wiki, as it begins with an A.

#100 Ooooo! Ancient Rome, mystery, detectives, this series sounds very intriging I need to look in to it further.

#101 Lynda - if you haven't discovered Davis' Falco series yet, you are in for a treat! The first book is The Silver Pigs, and she has just published no 20. Marcus Didius Falco is a wonderful creation - he tries hard to convince you he is a hard-boiled tough guy but he has a heart of gold, and a fascinating collection of friends and relations. The books are a funny and feel-good read, and I gather the research into Roman ways is well done. Half the books are set in Rome itself and half in various far flung parts of the empire, including Britain, about which Falco is unfailingly and amusingly rude and disparaging. The books always begin with a cast of characters - these alone are always great fun, and I like to turn back to them and re-read the cryptic description of each character which makes sense once you have encountered them in the story.

I finished my "problem" title--August is a Wicked Month. The protagonist DID encounter some problems, that's for sure. This was a fun challenge!

Karen O.

I finished Dead Fathers Club for the 'In Honor of Father's Day' challenge, Momo for the translated YA or children's book challenge and Auslander for "The A's Have It".

I've started Africa: A Biography of the Continent for the Africa challenge. Since it's about 700 pages long, I'm not exactly optimistic about finishing it by the end of the month, but I'm enjoying what I've read so far.

I've had a lot of library holds and other books coming in lately, so I've been jumping around a lot and not finishing anything; I've put aside Into Africa for now, for absolutely no reason except that I got distracted by other shiny new books. That one I do still hope to finish this month.

Also, my newly-arrived ER book conveniently turned out to have a problem title: Folly. The book is unfortunately not very gripping, but it's short enough that I'll finish it soon anyway.

Finally, I've been considering going on a Member Recommendation search to find more recommendations for Sabriel. It would be fun if we could find as many different recommendations as there are people reading the book.

Yesterday I read Austenland by Shannon Hale for "The A's have it"

Today I have started A Tree Gows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith as recommended by fellow LT members for those that read and enjoyed To Kill a Mockingbird.

I'm only two chapters in and heartily agree with the recommendation.

I have added Sacred Hunger to the African challenge though it could also fit the 'title with a problem' challenge? As library due dates dictate I must read it next!

I'm adding A Tailor Made Bride by Karen Whitmeyer to the 'unreviewed books' challenge; as of this afternoon there weren't any reviews posted so I'm staking my claim!

I also wasn't sure if Folly qualified as a book with a problem in the title, but I needed proof of my choice and dictionary.com tells me "folly" can mean: the state or quality of being foolish; lack of understanding or sense; a foolish action, practice, idea, etc.; absurdity: the folly of performing without a rehearsal.

So, I'm defending that one, since " a foolish action" or even "lack of understanding or sense" sound like problems to me!

Well then. I just went to the Wiki and found out that Zoe is also reading Folly and beat me to qualifying it. So I didn't have to go justifying myself after all, haha.

Huzzah, solidarity!

I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of Folly! I just finished it last night. And I figure it doesn't hurt to have a justification; these subjective TIOLIs are hard! I admit I had to spend a bit of time convincing myself that it should count, even though after the fact it seemed clear enough.

these subjective TIOLIs are hard!

LOL @ Zoe!!

Cool beans! Listen to this...

Re: Mountain, Log, Salt, and Stone by Laura Shovan

Yesterday, at the Bookfest at the Columbia Festival of the Arts in in Columbia, Maryland, USA, I was talking to a poet about Bookcrossing. She ended up giving me a signed copy of her poetry chapbook to circulate among BookCrossers. Fortunately, since her book hadn't been listed on LT yet, it qualifies for the TIOLI challenge to read a book without a review. :) Doubly fortunate is that this book of poetry is *good*, the author having won the Clarinda Harriss Poetry Prize with her writing.

#84: My mum got me a 'Guide to the Birds of West Africa' when I was 5 (I think I'm remembering the title correctly) - but that was truly an ornithology book, and we used to spot the birds that flew around our garden.

If I'm allowed The Fall of the Kings as a problem book (I did struggle to finish it), I'll put that in for this month's TIOLI. Any 'Yea's or 'Nay's ?

Not one of my favourites; the affair between the two main characters was made central to the story, but I felt was not - though relevant - central to the plot, and rather interrupted the flow.

#112: I'd vote Yea.

I finished Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle for the Meant for Someone Else But Not for Me challenge this morning; my review is on the book's LT home page. Today I'll start Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote by Ahmadou Kourouma, a satirical account of a fictional African dictator, for the Book about Africa challenge.

I just finished The Remains of the Day for the Japanese author challenge and LOVED it. I'll do a review later today, hopefully.

I finished Emil and Karl for the translated YA book challenge and comments are on my thread.

Finished Austerlitz for the book title with an A in it; The Poisonwood Bible for an Africa book, and How to live, my problem book. Just have Fathers and Sons to go, for the father's day challenge.

I just started The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan and I'm going to add it to the Book With a Problem as a Title challenge.

Just want to note a couple of changes I've made to the wiki regarding my selections.
1. Removed An Imperfect Lens and added The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian because I realized I had not selected any books in my alpa order reads, so this will keep me on track.
2. I removed Balzac and the little Chinese Seamstress and The Time Machine because I just plain overextended myself. H.G. Wells was a stretch for the 3 part name challenge anyway.
3. I won't be messing up the point count as I was the only one reading these books.

Ahhhhh, I feel better now.

thanks to particuarly bad traffic getting into and out of Chicago today, I was able to start and finish another entry in the audiobook challenge - Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. I hadn't planned on this one, but I needed something I could listen to with my daughter, and this filled the bill. I've added it to the wiki.

#120 That must have been pretty bad traffic! Was the audiobook abridged, or full length?

Just finished reading Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie set in Nigeria during the Nigeria-Biafra Civil War for A Book About Africa challenge.

>>121 gennyt: - actually it was unabridged (I'm a purist and won't listen to abridgments). But even unabridged it was only about 3.5 hours long. Normally listening to audiobooks helps the drive go faster, but it took me more than 3.5 hours to go 80 miles round trip, so even Davina Porter (the narrator) couldn't help that feel any faster.

I've finished my 4th TIOLI book this month, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.

I'm almost halfway through another TIOLI book, The Council of Dads.

After that, I've got Ishiguro's book Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall as well as Chasing Goldman Sachs yet to read for this month.

I've dropped Memoirs of a Geisha from my list as I just don't think I'll get to it.

I've already completed The Help which was borrowed from someone else, Getting Old Is the Best Revenge which was my "problem" book, and My River Home, which was a previously unreviewed book.

Finished with The Terrible Twos for the Problem challenge

I've finished Alexandria for 'the As have it'; still reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle for a non fiction entry under the same challenge. I think Never Let Me Go will be next, for the Japanese author challenge.

#123 I agree on the unabridged-only principle. Sounds like you need a stack of audio-books lined up if you need to do that journey often...

#124 Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, lindapanzo! I will now take off Memoirs of a Geisha as well. I'm taking 3 books on vacation already and one less is a welcome relief. Although I love to read while on vacation there are a few other things to do as well :0)

#128 I'd still like to read it. Maybe we can sneak it in for a future challenge.

Perhaps books we meant to read for a previous challenge or something like that.

#129 Yes, I'm all for that!

I've finished my TIOLI reads: South of the Border for the Japanese author challenge and Things fall apart for the problem or book about Africa challenge. Both were good, but not great (rating 3,5 stars). I'll add reviews to my 75 thread.

I finished Sabriel for the member recommendation challenge; the recommendation is definitely deserved.

I have finished my third TIOLI challenge for June, A Sea of Troubles for the title with a problem challenge.
Here is my review.

I know that we get points if more than one person reads the same TIOLI book but do we have to read it for the same reason?

For example, there's a book I want to read under Caty M's challenge: Challenge #11: "Meant for someone else but not for me": read a book you've borrowed, inherited or bought second-hand."

The thing is, I didn't borrow etc the book, I own it. Does it count? (I should make it clear, someone else first put the book under that challenge.)

Which book is it, and would it fit under another heading? My understanding is that for TIOLI points they're meant to be listed under the same heading.

#135 It's Dancers in Mourning by Margery Allingham. I guess that could fit under occupations, too.

Yes, it could. Ask the other reader to move it to the occupation heading, problem solved. Was it Genny?

It doesn't say. At least I don't recall a name but I know she's reading Margery Allingham.

I am taking Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha off the wiki since I am abandoning the book. Sorry guys.

I'm taking Life of Pi off the wiki, too. I just can't get into it.

I finished my 3rd and 4th TIOLI challenge books. Death of a Valentine by M.C. Beaton for the Meant for Someone Else But Not For Me challenge, and The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke for The Translated Young Adult or Children's Book challenge.

I also added two more books to the WIKI: Jade Green: A Ghost Story by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor to Brenzi's Author with Three Names challenge, and Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley to Zoe's Member Recommendation challenge.

Now I am off to start Ashes to Ashes by Tami Hoag for the A's Have It challenge.

#137, 138 Yes it was me, sorry I left my name off the wiki. Have now moved Dancers in Mourning to the occupation heading, so now Linda can join me in reading it for the challenge! I never thought of putting it there; I guess it could also have gone under the Problem heading, but occupation fits well.

#142 Thanks Genny.

#141 I've long wanted to read Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Not sure whether I'll get to it by month's end but I do have a 5-hour plus train ride (each way) next week so I might.

I've also been meaning to read The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie for a long time now, though I suspect that I already have too much on my plate for this month.

#144: Ditto! Although if it gets to the end of the month and I have finished my other challenges, I will try and sneak that one in too.

I did read and enjoyed Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie this weekend, but it wasn't recommended by a member from anything I own or read or came upon. Lots of the LT recommendations showed up. But I've learned more about the Member Recommendation feature as a result of all my hunting, which was the point to the challenge :-)

It was a fun read and was a good way to spend my Saturday afternoon.

I finished and reviewed Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiuro on the work page. That was for the Japanese author challenge. I've never had a book where my feelins about it vassilated as much as this one. I liked it. No, I hated it. No I loved it. Oh well, read the review.

Now I'm making some changes to the wiki. I'm removing After the War by Richard Marius because I'm pretty sure I won't get to it. I'm adding The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett to the Meant for Someone Else But Not Me Challenge. And my copy of Troubles should be here in the next couple of days so I will be able to complete that challenge.

#147 Until this challenge, I'd never heard of Kazuo Ishuro. I picked up his Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall last night. This has 5 connected short stories about music, where music plays a major role in the stories.

Like you, I keep wavering in whether I like it or not.

I just finished reading When the Mississippi Ran Backwards for the Missouri Readers group. Now that sounds like a problem to me. It's subtitled "Empire, Intrigue, Murder, and the New madrid Earthquakes." As a book it was pretty uneven, but the parts I liked were really good. How wishy-washy is that?

News flash!

The TIOLI point value broke 40. Today the count is 41.

Excellent but is that after drop outs? I'm about to join in two books, Moral Disorder and The Bookseller of Kabul. I may get Things Fall Apart from the local library if I can squeeze it in, but won't commit myself on that one yet.

>149 Donna828:: I love it when I read about something interesting that I'd never heard of before, and then another reference to it suddenly pops up. I was just yesterday reading about the New Madrid earthquakes in A Crack in the Edge of the World. I can see how a whole book on the subject could be interesting - though it sounds like When the Mississippi Ran Backwards doesn't really stick to that subject.

> 151

Nope. It's just a fun stat of where we stand at any time I do a count. I do these counts at random times, so just continue to add and delete books as you want. Guilt-free, please!

This number will continue to go up and down during the course of a month. The number usually drops substantially at the end of the month when planned reads are not completed and are deleted from the wiki.

It's wise to think about in which challenge you place a book in order to entice others to "match" your read. The books do have to be adjacent to each other in the list to count for points (as an answer to message #34).

Usually I take a final "official" count about two weeks after each month ends. The "official" numbers are listed at the end of each month's wiki. So far, the highest "official" (for whatever that term's worth) count came in May 2010 with 28 points. Even with dropouts, my guess is that we'll beat May's count after June's final tally.

BTW, is it my imagination or do challengers seem to be trying to cram more and more TIOLI reads into each month? :)

I don't think it's your imagination - there are more challenges this month, they're all attractive and those of us who read lots of borrowed and secondhand books or listen to lots of audios have a slot for those on this one.

BTW, is it my imagination or do challengers seem to be trying to cram more and more TIOLI reads into each month? :)

Yes Madeline, you've created a monster :)

Yes Madeline, you've created a monster :)

Er, I was afraid of that. LOL!!

ETA: When I first created the TIOLI, I was thinking we'd all do one TIOLI book a month. Ha!

This is my first month to do TIOLI challenges, and I have several. I find myself planning my reading around them, but it has also stretched me to read something different. I don't quite understand the whole point thing yet, so maybe I'll try to be more strategic next month.

Just finished reading The Last Ship for the "Meant for someone else but not for me" challenge. The book is about the survival of an American naval destroyer and a Russian submarine crew after nuclear war has destroyed much of the world. The author got bogged down in a lot of detail; this 600+ page book could have been told in 300-400 pages.

> 157

I don't quite understand the whole point thing yet,

It sounds much more complicated than it is (...it's more fully explained in the wiki). The bottom line is that, if you put your book adjacent to (actually, above or below) the same book in the same challenge, you are helping to increase the TIOLI point value each month.

The points come from more than one person reading the same book. The TIOLI challenge has prompted me to pick up several books I wnated to read anyway, but also I've tried to choose some that others are reading, such as The Bookseller of Kabul and The Ogre Downstairs.

I think it's fun just to try and meet the challenges. The Club Read has monthly challenges too. It's a nice way to avoid falling into the rut of reading the same sort of books and to try something different like short stories or poetry etc.

Just finished my main challenge book - Enslaved by Ducks by Bob Tarte. Definitely a problem in the title.

Lots of laugh out loud humor, but a little too "death focused" for my taste. Unlike some other major books about living with pets, we don't build up to just one, major, life altering death at the end of this book - no, this one has a virtual blood bath at the end of every chapter. Although I understand the Circle of Life and all of that, I guess I was hoping that a book with this kind of title with a picture of a duck eating the letter D off the cover would have been less wretch-inducing when reading during dinner. For as much build up established in each chapter for the acquisition of each animal and their antics, there was just as much (if not more) time spent discussing the illnesses, accidents and demise of the same. But overall, still a 3.5 star read, and still funny. Recommended - just know what you're getting into.

Well, I'm adding and adding books this month, mainly because I built a challenge around a needed reading binge of translated children's books.
I'm taking Baby No-eyes out of the problem title challenge as I don't think I'll get to it. I've added The Limping Man which I just finished and is a great wrapup to Maurice Gee's Salt trilogy fantasy for teens.
I've added The Wave Runners by Kai Meyer (Germany) to the translated children's fiction. It's the first in an exciting pirate trilogy - think Pirates of the Caribbean to get a sense of the action, the two main characters are Pollywiggles, children who can walk on water. The US edition is called Pirate Curse.
I'm also putting my name down to read The Speed of Dark with souloftherose under the member recommendation challenge. I've finally tracked down a copy of the book after looking for it for at least 12 months so am keen to pick it up.

edit: Kai Meyer is German not Swedish as my confused brain thought earlier today.

I finished my audio book - Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star. It was OK. Something about these books bugs me. I can't decide if it's the bickering between the brother and sister, the improbable adventures the two children (12 and 13) are thrust into by their grandparents, the writing... I don't know. Not especially inclined to continue with the series, except that my 11 yr old is reading them.

I'm about 1/4 of the way through Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor. I put it in the Africa challenge right under tapestry100. After not having read any science fiction for a long time before the Tiptree anthology, I'm now on my second one for this month. The book is set in a desert region of Africa some time in the future, though genocides still occur. This time a band of Nuru men and women kill and rape the Okeke people, whom they all agree were created to be slaves. Onyesonwu (the name means Who Fears Death) is born of a particularly brutal rape and is rejected by most people because such children of rape are said to be very angry and violent. There's an interesting description of one of the "minor" forms of female circumcision, witchcraft, shape shifting, and coming of age. I can't wait to see what comes next.

Just looking at this month's challenges for the first time today and I seems I've already read three books that fit, so I've added them to the list:

3. A Book about Africa
In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar - about a childhood in Libya under Gaddafi

14. Read and Review a Book Not Yet Reviewed on LT

Starstruck: Failure, Fame, My Family and Me by Cosmo Landesman - interesting non-fiction about the author's family's obsession with fame, held up again society's interest in celebrity

You gotta see this by Cindy Perlman - actors, screenwriters and directors pick their favourite films.

I will also soon be able to add something to category 6 A Gay/Lesbian Themed Book for Gay Pride Month as I'm reading The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold which I picked for being about time travel but is also about the main character's awakening sexuality.

What periods is the David Gerrold book set in? The combination of time travel and sexuality sounds interesting, possibly. I'm going to try and squeeze a mystery in under that category, I think - Stella Duffy's second book in the Saz Martin series.

It was written in the 1970s so that is the period that the main character does his time travelling from. So far, his time travelling that is covered in detail mainly involves meeting various versions of himself, so he is travelling in recent history and future, but there has also been a long list of historic events that he popped back to see.

I added the library and used books I've read or am reading this month. Something I kept meaning to do.

That includes The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie which I borrowed from the library. I couldn't find a connection to make it work under member recommendation.

I just changed my entry on the wiki for The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie to the Meant for Someone Else Category, since my copy is also from the library. So now we are two :)

Very cool!

I'd said I would start reading Never Let Me Go for the Japanese author challenge next, but instead I've started reading another historical mystery, Mistress of the Art of Death (recommended by citizenjoyce a while back), which is a library book. Seem to need to escape into mysteries at present - but I do intend to get to the Ishiguro before the end of the month...

I've finished and reviewed the dreary, dull Paddy Clarke, Ha-Ha-Ha in my thread...post #247.

Stasia, you did the right thing by abandoning this book.

genny,

MOAD is great! There are three more in the series so far. Don't miss out on those.

Just posted on the wrong thread, as I was responding to posts there. I have started reading Dogsbody.

I'm sorry Stasia and Richard didn't like Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha more - it's not my favourite Roddy Doyle but I'm enjoying it. But I'm beginning to wonder if there are many books Richard and I agree on - I loathed A Test of Wills and am unlikely to pick up another Charles Todd book, but I loved Purple Hibiscus.

#172 gennyt, I hope you like Mistress of the Art of Death. I gave my daughter my library copy of the audio book, but she says she can't pay enough attention while she's driving to follow it well.

I just finished Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown for my Gay/Lesbian Themed book and posted my review here.

I'm now reading my Early Reviewer book and can't find a TIOLI challenge for it. Those are the breaks, I guess! :)

Trying to see if any of the books I've read will qualify for TIOLI this month …(edited to fix touchstones)

I've started reading a collection of short stories by Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe, Girls at War for the African book challenge.

I'm planning to join in Pippi Longstocking as a translated children's book, and read Stella Duffy's second Saz Martin book, Wavewalker for the lesbian/gay challenge. Saz is a lesbian. If I can find my copy of the first Joseph Hansen book in the Dave Brandstetter series, (about a gay male PI), I might try and fit that in too.

I think my next library book will be Climbing the Bookshelves, the memoir of Vera Brittain's daughter and Labour/SDP/Lib Dem MP Shirley Williams (now a peer). (If you won't let me post it as a problem title, it's a library book).

#180: I have only read the first book in the Dave Brandstetter series, but I liked it. I hope you can get a copy, Luci.

I own it and many of the others in the series, it's just that a lot of my crime fiction is in boxes and a lot of the boxes are piled up in the shed and not always easy to get at or to find. Most of my Hansens are in a box I've sorted and through and catalogued so it may not be so hard.

#182: Ah, OK. I understand about books not being immediately accessible - I had 65 boxes of them in storage for 3+ years.

> 180

I think my next library book will be Climbing the Bookshelves, the memoir of Vera Brittain's daughter and Labour/SDP/Lib Dem MP Shirley Williams (now a peer). (If you won't let me post it as a problem title, it's a library book).

If I found you climbing my bookshelf, I'd certainly consider that a problem and make you get down! LOL!!

Are you possibly the same woman with the starring role in my problem book, As She Climbed Across the Table? Climbing is more appropriately done in books about Mount Everest. Of course, if you're the librarian type who hangs out on those rollable library ladders, that's another story... :;)

>175 elkiedee: We do seem to read at cross purposes, don't we, Luci?

>177 SqueakyChu: Madeline, the review of Rubyfruit Jungle was spot-on. It's a book of its time, though I confess I haven't re-read it in years. I don't think I will, it's not calling out to me.

Finally finished The Historian for challenge 8 - Working for a Living: a book with a profession in the title. I'll have to think about it but I'll probably put some comments on my thread later today.

>172 gennyt: I did enjoy that book, although some of the historical prejudice was uncomfortable to read about.

> 180 Re: The Brandstetter series. I loved these stories. I think I've read all of them, which is a pity - more, more.

He died a couple of years ago.

>189 elkiedee: In 2004, after a long silence as a novelist. What a wonderful character Brandstetter was! Hansen was such a fierce human being. He swam against every tide he could find. I like that in a person!

Bet it made him an uncomfortable father, though. His daughter underwent gender reassignment surgery, I wonder what he thought of that.

I finished Gluttony by Francine Prose at lunch and added it to the Not Meant for You Challenge which seemed fitting since the previous owner used a pink highlighter intermittently throughout. This fantastic little book of essays explores Gluttony through the ages with consideration given to how overindulgence is both glamorized and pathologized in our own time. Prose's essays are both witty and intellectual.

There is a series of these books, a partnership between Oxford University Press and The New York Public Library, and I am eager to read those discussing the rest of the Seven Deadly Sins.

Edited to fix touchstone.

I've added Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress to the working for a living category in the wiki. I am enjoying it very much.

Gee whiz, I turn my back for a second, and here's all this neat stuff...
-->180 elkiedee:: Luci, thanks very much for mentioning this book, Climbing the Bookshelves. I read Brittain's wonderful autobiography, and it managed both to hold my interest and yet let me wander off to many other books, over about seven months of reading. I'd not heard of her daughter's book, and so have something new and shiny to look for.

-->139 alcottacre:, 173, 175: Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha--I'm in the middle of this and will finish, despite Stasia's and Richard's wise advice, although it's tedious and rather disgusting. This is kind of a lame story, really. I like lots of humor in memoirs or novels about youth, perhaps to lighten any harshness. This story is neither funny enough nor harrowing enough to be an interesting read; just slushy.

-->162 pbadeer:: Enslaved by Ducks is pretty bloody, Patrick, but I like that much better than the (please, no one take offense) sloppy sentimentality that drips from many books about animals. I found it quite realistic.

-->177 SqueakyChu:: Madeline, your review of Rubyfruit Jungle is excellent. When I first read it, I thought it brave and really, really interesting, but now, with the social different climate, not so much. Still, Brown took some risks at the time of publishing.

Now I've got to find out more about Joseph Hansen.

Wow--47 points so far. Unbelievable.

I finished Ishiguro's Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall last night. Didn't care for it all that much. Just ok as far as I'm concerned.

I've finished six TIOLI books this month, which I think is my most ever. (Usually, I'm more like 3 books.)

Started Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie at lunch.

It's not for a TIOLI challenge, but I want everyone to read this book, so I am posting here anyway:

I've posted my review of Montana 1948 at long last, if anyone's interested, in my Homeless Reviews second thread...post #2.

It holds up so well to re-reading that I feel like I've come back to an old friend's hearth on a cold winter of the heart.

>195 richardderus: If you want everyone to read it, why don't you make it into a member recommendation somewhere? Then it can count for TIOLI too ;)

I'm about to add Lirael to the wiki for the member recommendation challenge. The recommendation is from Sabriel, so it's sort of silly, but it still counts! I'm about halfway through Lirael and enjoying it so far.

> 185

Thanks, Richard. Occasionally I start out not wanting to some reviews because I don't know what I want to say. Sometimes it's really hard to put into words what is good and what is not about a particular book. Rubyfruit Jungle was just such a book for me. I'm glad my review came out in a way that you could relate to what I wrote.

> 195, 196

If you want everyone to read it, why don't you make it into a member recommendation somewhere? Then it can count for TIOLI too ;)


What Zoe said!

News Flash!

The TIOLI Challenge point value has reached 50 points! Hope you're enjoying your shared reads...

Interesting Tidbits:

The leading challenges so far this month are:
1. A Book with a Problem as the Title (54)
2. Meant for Someone else but Not for Me (34)
3. A Book by an Author with a Three Part Name (27)

The most popular authors so far this month are:
1. Garth Nix (9)
2. Kazuo Ishiguro (8)
3. Haruki Murakami (7)

The most popular books this month so far are:
1. Sabriel (5)
2. The Bookseller of Kabul (4)
3. Chasing Goldman Sachs (4)
4. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha (4)
5. The Remains of the Day (4)
6. Trouble (4)

>198 SqueakyChu: I don't do much with the recommendations, since I don't really care that much about them.

Is it the feature that you don't care for or the books that are recommended within the feature?

I usually glance at them, sometimes recommend a book or two, but never follow them. Go figure!

I finished Heart of Darkness for Zoe's book about Africa challenge. This is my first challenge. Do I need to do something to mark it as read or just post that I read the book? My review is on my challenge thread.

#202: Kelly, you just post here that you read the book. It is understood that at the end of the month, if a book remains unread, it is removed from that month's wiki.

> 202

Welcome to the TIOLI challenge, Kelly! Hope you are finding this fun.

You've done everything you need to do. At the end of each month, all unfinished books are removed from the wiki by the challengers who posted them.

I'm not sure where your review is as this is the "challenge thread" (unless you're referring to a different challenge, perhaps?).

Thanks Stasia and SqueakyChu.
Oh, my review is on my 75 challenge thread. Message #136. I'd post a link but don't know how to do it for just one message.

Found your thread here. I just scrolled down to message #136. :)

I know the book is a classic, but it sure doesn't sound very interesting to me! Think I'll skip that one...

I was able to add another book to the member recommendation challenge - Adjusting Sights, a squeakychu recommendation from Beaufort. I finished the book today and it was a 5 star read.

I've re-shelved Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and instead read The Man in the Picture by Susan Hill for my own challenge: I haven't got much reading time at the moment, and being a considerably shorter book this seemed like a better option for making sure I didn't fail at my own challenge this month.

This is a subtly spooky gothic novella, eerie and atmospheric, and very well written. Thoroughly recommended (although possibly not for reading late at night or shortly before a trip to Venice). Fuller comments here.

I was going to put this back on BookMooch, but seeing as several people in the group expressed an interest when Terri reviewed it back in March, I'll give people here in the 75ers group first refusal. If anyone would like to have my copy, let me know. {Goes into BM condition notes mode} It's a small hardback in very good condition, but with pencil markings and a sticker on the title page and a bookcrossing sticker inside the front cover.

And it's got a new home. That didn't take long!

> 207

I'm *so* glad you got to read Adjusting Sights, Kerry. Wasn't that just an amazing book? I can't believe, though, that I'd actually read one Israeli novel before you did! :)

>206 SqueakyChu: regarding Heart of Darkness, I would strongly recommend it. VioletBramble's review is accurate, but it's her last paragraph that gives the sense of the book. I consider it one of the best novels I've ever read. Note that it was the basis of the film 'Apocalypse Now', although the locale was changed from Africa to SouthEast Asia.

I finished the absolutely delightful The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett for the Meant for Someone Else and Not for Me Challenge. My review is here.

Now I'm reading Troubles by J.G. Farrell for the challenge of the same name.

Finished Mistress of the Art of Death, another that falls under challenge 11, as it was a library book. Enjoyed it - thanks to various LT members who have pointed me towards this series.

I borrowed The Giant Book of Fantasy All-Time Greats from the library, to read while waiting for swimming classes etc to finish (so my reading was even more disjointed than usual, but it is a book of short stories)

This is a collection of modern fantasy stories that are considered among the best, but were written before the annual World Fantasy Awards were started in 1975, and so could not be included in the awards.

Generally, it's a good mix of stories, with (as you'd expect) some very strong ones that will stay with me for a while, some that were nice to read and some that didn't grab me.

I was going to put this in the 'For somebody else' challenge, but I seem to have written the first review, so I'll put it there.

My book about Africa is Girls at War, a collection of short stories by Chinua Achebe first published as a collection in 1972, containing work going back to 1952. (The reprint is this year so a very new library book). It's a very short book, just 111 pages including a foreword by the author. This was very good and like his collection of essays The Education of a British-Protected Child, it made me want to read some of his fiction. Two of the stories are about the very recent experience of the Civil War.

I can't review it better than this at the moment because I had to take it back to the library - I seem to have lost Moral Disorder so I've borrowed the library copy and ordered another secondhand one. My lost one was secondhand but it was in as good as new condition, and I'm really very cross with myself.

News Flash!

Our wiki page got too long!! When you click on the wiki, you'll see that it's now divided into page 1 and page 2. They are both connected to each other (and they will both bring you back to this thread. I had to divide the page because I got a warning about its length. Oh, well! :)

How did the TIOLI get so big? I thought it was well hidden away deep within the 75 Books in 2010 Challenge group. :)

I think this month especially we are thriving on the ease of the TIOLI challenge.
I've just finished a fantastic YA book for the Book set in Africa challenge - it is based on the true story of a child survivor of the 1994 Rwandan genocide written by her German adoptive mother - Over a thousand hills I walk with you.

I finished Airing Dirty Laundry a book of political essays by Ishmael Reed for the book with a title beginning with the letter A challenge

I finished The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan last night for the Book with a Problem in the Title challenge. Excellent non-fiction book about the Dust Bowl that reads like a novel. I'll do a review later.

I finished and reviewed Being Dead for the Problem challenge. The book is only 196 pages if anyone wants a quick read about death and decay. It's actually much better than it sounds. It won the National Book Critic's Circle Award in 2000. My review is here if you want more info.

>220 Donna828: Wonderful review, Donna, and thumbs up from me!

Finished The Ice Storm for the problem book challenge. Finally. And it sure was a problem book for me, as I hated pretty much everything about it. For those curious as to why, I've posted my review here. For those less curious, just take my advice. Don't read this book.

>221 richardderus:: Thanks, Richard. This book is a "tough sell" with its subject matter, but I can't express how respectful Crace was about the sensitive topic. Have you read it?

>223 Donna828: No, never did. I think it was in some box or another of my books that got lost in the move. But it sounds like something I'd like!

I got A Guide to the Birds of East Africa from the library today, and I'm semi-optimistic that I'll actually manage to read it for the Africa challenge. I haven't yet added it to the wiki, though, because I do have far more library books than I can get through before leaving the city in a week.

I finished Are Women Human? Astute and witty essays on the role of women in society by Dorothy L. Sayers for the 'title beginning with A' challenge.

Two humorous, pithy, very well argued essays - and the first in particular is surprisingly undated for an address given in 1938.

Review here.

I finished Husband and Wife for my 'Opposites Attract' challenge. This one was recommended by Madeline.

I finished and reviewed both Cat's Eye audiobook challenge and Who Fears Death Africa Challenge. They were 2 great and complex books, though heavy. I'm taking a little breather with The Anybodies by N. E. Bode for the A Book challenge before I go on to more about Africa Do They Hear You When You Cry.

Finished the remains of the day this morning. My review will appear on my thread in July. Now on to the bookseller of kabul my fifth TIOLI for June!

I finished Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote by the Ivorian novelist Ahmadou Kourouma for the book about Africa; I've written a mini-review of it, but it was a disappointing read (2-1/2 stars).

I'll start Troubles by J.G. Farrell for the problem challenge later today.

Jumping in with yet another TIOLI for this month. I thought I'd try a Member Recommendation challenge book, this one being The Audacity of Hope, which I'd been meaning to read for a while now.

>229 Carmenere:

Yeah. I'm working on TIOLI books number 4 and 5 for the month. I shouldn't really be surprised at how long our wiki has grow then, should I? :)

Helpful Hint:

When adding authors to the wiki, remember *not* to use double brackets around the author name. In wiki mark-up language, double brackets do not create a link to the author page, they create another wiki page, in this case - with the author's name as its title! :O

I am adding The Year of the Flood by Eduardo Mendoza to the wiki for a Problem book.

#225 I found A Guide to the Birds of East Africa in the library too and finished it yesterday, it was a lovely read. Added it to the wiki and started Purple Hibiscus, another one for the Africa challenge.

I've finished my 7th TIOLI book for this month, Chatterbox's Chasing Goldman Sachs. Great challenges this month.

If I get to them all, I'll have three more this month. Next up is another TIOLI book Dancers in Mourning by Margery Allingham.

Chasing Goldman Sachs just came in at my library. I'll get it tomorrow - and try to finish it by the end of the month.

>235 lindapanzo: Linda, congratulations on the hot review of Chasing Goldman Sachs! I thumbs-upped you, of course, but many others are doing so as well. Good review!

#232 SqueakyChu, sorry. Now I know.

> 232

This was actually a message for more people than just you, Joyce. I'd corrected the mistakes of others previously. It's not apparent at first that the wiki mark-up language is that much different than HTML. If I told everybody of all the differences, I'd never have convinced anyone to make entries onto the wiki in the first place. :)

Just finished Never Let Me Go for the Japanese author challenge (though as someone pointed out Ishiguro is more British than Japanese really). Powerful book, and sad.

That was my fifth TIOLI read - in fact all my reads this month so far have been TIOLI ones, since if nowhere else they fit on the borrowed/second-hand one. However I still have seven more listed on the wiki - I fear several of those will be coming off before the end of the month but not sure which ones yet. I do have some long train journeys coming up this week to get some sustained reading done.

Finished my "Member Recommendation" challenge last night. I'm traveling and will try to post a review soon, but Boy in the Striped Pajamas was haunting. I keep thinking about it today. Not sure how I feel, but overall it was a very good book and an easy (well, quick at least) read.

It will be hard to do the review, though. The inside cover of the book provides the dilemma:

"The story of "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is very difficult to describe. Usually, we give some clues about the book on the jacket, but in this case we think that would spoil the reading of the book. We think it is important that you start to read without knowing what it is about.

If you do start to read this book, you will go on a journey with a nine-year-old boy called Bruno. (Though this isn't a book for nine-year-olds.) And sooner or later you will arrive with Bruno at a fence.

Fences like this exist all over the world. We hope you never have to encounter such a fence."

This write-up is in the first edition, and later editions, including the movie tie-in pretty much outline where the book is headed - and if you miss those, the tags on LT will fill you in. It would have been a very different book had I read this blindly without having heard so much ahead of time. Definitely a recommended read.

#237 Thanks. I wasn't even aware of that.

#241 I thought so too. It is a tough one to describe.

#241 - I completely agree. There is no way to tell someone what the story is about without spoiling it. I thought the inside cover was masterful, and I wonder how long it took to write it.

I finished The Book of Lost Things for challenge 4. A Member Recommendation: a book from the newly updated LT feature and have added The White Rhino Hotel to challenge 3. A Book about Africa.

I finished Lirael for another Member Recommendations challenge.

I just added two more books to the June wiki: Blame: A Novel by Michelle Huneven, which is my current ER book, and The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness by Elyn Saks, a book that was recently mentioned on an LT thread (but unfortunately, I can't remember which one). I added both to the Book with a Problem in the Title challenge.

I finished the snoozable Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha. I should have heeded the sage opinions of Stasia and Richard. 40 "pretty good" pages really don't make up for 220 "meh" pages. Sigh. Never mind, at least it upped the points, and I do like to keep up with current trends.

I finished Jade Green: a Ghost Story by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor for the author with three names challenge. It was a good, but short, Southern gothic young adult novel. I particular liked the young heroine in the story, but the ending was rather abrupt.

>244 calm: Glad you liked Book of Lost Things. It was a memorable read for me last year. Dark and twisted...like all good fairy tales should be!

>247 Matke: I'm happy that I finished Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha last month, as all the negative reviews on this threads would have put me off. I happened to really like it, but could see how it might be an acquired taste. Paddy really roped me in...maybe I saw a few of my students in him.

I'm adding Around the World in 80 Days to the A category. A really fun read so far! I've also started This Side Jordan which will probably take me to the end of June to finish. 4 books for my first month...not bad but I'm sure I can do better in July.

Re: Challenge #11, "not meant for me":

I finished, reviewed, and loved The Uncommon Reader, just like everyone else. The review's in my thread...post #10.

Ooh, we're going to need a third thread this month.

Does Cordial and Corrosive count as an "opposites" title? If I finish Pippi and the Japanese crime novel I plan to start tomorrow, I will have done at least one book for 11 of the 14 challenges. I'd like to make it 12.

Ooh, we're going to need a third thread this month.

Is it only June? It feels like December!! :)

ETA: What year is it?! :D

> 251

> 251

I will have done at least one book for 11 of the 14 challenges. I'd like to make it 12.

*faints*

:)

I've added my third TIOLI book for this month, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, to the Japanese author challenge as I am reading it anyway and it looks like I will finish it before the end of June. June has been a bit of a weak reading month for me - too much work. I hope July will be better again.

Finished A Spot of Bother for the A Book with a Problem as the Title Challenge and loved it. I'll put up my thoughts later today.

I finished The Bookseller of Kabul - profession in title - at lunchtime, and started reading Japanese crime author Natsuo Kirino's Real World this morning - I thought Out was amazing and bought this and Grotesque a while ago but they didn't quite fit my mood during pregnancy and maternity leave.

I will probably start an "opposites" title soon as well - I voted "Undecided" in the poll on my question if 15 of you think that Cordial and Corrosive counts I might read that one, I bought it ages ago.

I expect to finish my 8th TIOLI book today. The "occupation in the title" challenge book: Dancers in Mourning by Margery Allingham.

A terrific old mystery from the 1930s.

I figure this will be my last TIOLI book of the month. Eight TIOLIs in one month is way, way too much. I'm taking the unread ones off the list even though there is just over a week left in the month.

I'm now aiming for 13 out of 14 categories, I've finished and reviewed Climbing the Bookshelves, finished reading The Bookseller of Kabul and started Cordial and Corrosive. All 5 of my current books are TIOLI, as were at least the last two finished. Eek, this is taking over my reading!

For all those who read Never Let Me Go, I believe the film based on the novel will finally be out this fall/winter. (it started shooting spring 2009; Keira Knightley and Carey Mulligan are in it.) I'm starting to see ads for it pop up on some Internet sites.

@Chatterbox, you can view the trailer for Never Let Me Go from my fav sci-fi blog. I haven't viewed the trailer or really read the article (there are spoilers) until I read the book, which is on my list for July.

http://io9.com/5564656/is-never-let-me-go-the-new-children-of-men

I finished the cute little feminist fairy(ish) tale The Anybodies and am about to start on Do They Hear You When You Cry by Fauziya Kassindja for the Africa challenge. Here's hoping I finish in time.

260 - I loved Never Let Me Go but can't stand Keira Knightley (she can't walk and act at the same time). Carey Mulligan might be ok though.

Just for Fun:

Can't decide what to read? Enter your favorite author and this website will pick more authors for you!

>264 SqueakyChu: That's really fun, Madeline! Thanks!

You're welcome, Richard!

#264 That is fun indeed. I like the way the authors jiggle and fidget around trying to work out who they feel comfortable standing next to - and some pretty strange combinations sometimes seem to emerge when they settle down!

#264: I put in Nicholas Basbanes and the website told me it never heard of him! Yikes.

It is fun; I could travel along for ages.

I love it. Some of them are obvious connections and others are really quite unexpected.

(Finished Purple Hibiscus for the 'book about Africa' challenge, BTW. Comments here.)

Just finished up Inside, Outside for Opposites Attract. It was a very nice counterpoint to Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha. This book is a novelized rendition of Wouk's life as the young son of immigrant Jews in New York in the early twentieth centurty. Genuinely funny and genuinely moving. A winner.

#264 huh, I put in Marge Piercy and Alison Bechdel was closest. I love them both but wouldn't have made that close a connection George Bernard Shaw was there too. This is a great site.

Currently reading The Well of Loneliness for the Gay/Lesbian themed book challenge.

>>264 SqueakyChu: Madeline, do you realize how DANGEROUS a site like that is to a bibliophile? Authors they've never heard about are splashing across their screen like sirens in the Odyssey screaming "Come read my books, you know you want to! You are getting to be as destructive to my reading list as Stasia. I'm going to be keeping my eye on you.

**wait a minute, if I keep my eye on Madeline, aren't I going to find more books that I want to read. Isn't that defeating my purpose? OMG, I'm sunk between Stasia and Madeline now, I'll never getting my reading list caught up. SIGH***

>275 cyderry: In the words of the Borg, “Resistance is futile” …

I finished Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell for Cheli's audiobook challenge. I'm glad to have that off the TBR pile.
If anyone is interested -- it's 32 hours on 26 discs. The footnotes each have their own track, so, you can skip them if you'd like.

>264 SqueakyChu:: Thanks Madeleine - fun site!
Dangerous though, I agree. I put in Christopher Moore and I've never heard of the two guys who were rubbing shoulders with him. Now I need to investigate.

Interesting how there are some authors who nobody gets very close to. Kazuo Ishiguro was one. Would any of you say he can't easily be compared to anyone else? (I've never read him.)

> 275

LOL @ Cheli!!

E. L. Doctorow seemed to have no buddies either?

I thought Gore Vidal might come close (not that I've read any of his to compare)

I finished reading The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley tonight for the Meant for Someone Else challenge as this was a library book. I enjoyed it wholeheartedly and will hopefully be able to write a little more tomorrow after I have let it percolate in my mind a bit. I will say that the spunky protagonist reminded me of Turtle in The Westing Game.

I finished Purple Hibiscus for the books about Africa challenge and Charmed Life for the author with a three part name challenge.

I've added Prince of Mist to the wiki for the translated children's book challenge because my copy has just arrived at the library and The Invention of Hugo Cabret to the meant for someone else challenge because it's a library book that's due back.

I finished The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness by Elyn Saks for the Book with a Problem in the Title. I'll write a review later but would recommend it highly.

I finished and reviewed By Hook or By Crook by Betty Hechtman for the Read and Review a Book Not Yet Reviewed challenge. It was an enjoyable cozy mystery set in Southern California with a crochet theme.

I finished and reviewed The White Rhino Hotel by Bartle Bull for "A Book about Africa" challenge. I think this might be my last TIOLI for the month unless I take the time to put all the library books I need to read and return into the Meant for Someone Else But Not for Me Challenge:)

Finished my record fifth TIOLI today the bookseller of Kabul. I'll post my review in july when I return from vacation. Will begin my sixth for problem in title later today the double bind.

I've finished Toby Alone by Timothee de Fombelle (France) for the translated YA or children's book challenge. And The White King by Gyorgy Dragoman, which I'll put in the Meant for Someone Else But Not for Me Challenge as it is an ARC discard that I was given a couple years ago by a bookseller friend.
Both books were excellent reads. I have at least two more books to read for the translated YA or children's book challenge.

I finished my last TIOLI book for the month for the Problem Challenge. My review for Pat Conroy's My Losing Season is here. I liked it a lot and gave it 4 stars...more for Conroy's talented way of building a story rather than the 400 pages about basketball!

Visiting this challenge thread this past month has been much like a trip to Disneyland with all the many exciting choices. Maybe too many choices for me. I'm sure more of the books I've read this month could fit in different categories, but I've chosen to simplify my life by focusing on Madeline's core challenge of "Reading a book with a problem in the title."

I just got Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha from the library, so I'm going to try to read it for the June TIOLI. This seems to be a polarizing book; readers either really like it, or don't. It looks like a quick read in any case, so I'll give it a shot.

Karen O.

I finished 4 TIOLI books today (this isn't as much as it sounds, I had a total of 55 pages left between them, but it felt a bit strange). They were:

Pippi Longstocking - translated children's book
Dogsbody - author with a 3 part name
Real World - Japanese author
Moral Disorder - problem in the title

Pippi's not my favourite Astrid Lindgren book - as a child I think I preferred All About the Bullerby Children and The Brothers Lionheart. I didn't remember Dogsbody but really enjoyed it, and I liked the other two a lot as well.

I'm reading Cordial and Corrosive and now, a few other books which I could add to the challenge but C & C is the only one I'm confident I'll finish.

> 288

Maybe too many choices for me

I'm thinking about a July challenge called "Read a Book That's Not a TIOLI Challenge Book"!

Just kidding, Donna!! :D

LOL

I just finished Troubles by J.G. Farrell for the Book with a Problem as the Title, which may be my favorite novel of the year so far. My next TIOLI books will be The President by Miguel Ángel Asturias for the Book By an Author with a Three Part Name challenge, and Some Prefer Nettles by Junichiro Tanizaki for my Novel By a Japanese Author challenge.

#283 phebj Elyn Saks and others were just on Charlie Rose Tuesday night discussing mental illness. Pretty interesting information. You can see the episode on HULU

http://www.hulu.com/watch/158159/charlie-rose-charlie-rose-brain-series-episode-...

I've just pulled 2 books off the wiki - The Classical World by Robin Lane Fox, which I might finish one day but certainly not in June, and Troubles, which I'm really enjoying but won't get read in time.

Time to do some book-list cleaning, fellow challengers. June is soon coming to an end, so be finishing your June TIOLI books or get ready to move your unfinished books out of the June wiki (and perhaps into July's wiki).

July's challenge should be posted soon, and it will be a real doozy! Hope you'll find it fun...

#295 Thanks so much for that link to the Charlie Rose interview with Saks. I've got to go out into the real world early this morning but will definitely check it out this afternoon.

The July TIOLI challenge is now posted!

Since this thread is so long, feel free to continue your conversation on July's thread (which will load faster). I'll close this thread officially when June is over.

I don't know if you can manage to avoid making a third thread here, despite your best efforts. There are still six days left in the month, and it seems a bit strange to start commenting about June's books in the July thread. Not to mention all my follow-up polls about Member Recommendations.... ;)

I looked at the wiki and still have two books to get through, but I'm not quite ready to delete them yet. Hopefully I can finish at least one of them by the end of the month.

Okay. I'll (reluctantly) do another thread... :)

This thread is continued here.

You win, Zoe! :P

:D