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

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.

Continued from here.


...logo by cyderry

One of my favorite events every year is the National Book Festival on the National Mall in Washington, DC. In celebration of the 10th anniversary of this exciting event, I’d like to dedicate August’s TIOLI challenge to the authors who will be making their appearance in this year's book festival. Follow this link to find a list of the authors:
http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/authors/
Then, after looking through the Library of Congress website, Read a Book by a 2010 National Book Festival Author. The author chosen MUST be of this year’s festival and NOT of a previous year’s festival! (Note to myself: 69 authors as of 6/30/10)

If you have a chance, please attend this exciting (and free!) event to hear the authors in person as well as join me for our Fourth Annual joint Bookcrossing-LibraryThing Meet-Up (Saturday, September 25, 2010, at 2pm - on the right hand side steps to the Museum of Natural History). If you cannot come to the event, please check out the author podcasts on the Library of Congress website after the event. They’re terrific.

Here are some books I’ve much enjoyed in the past:
Everything is Illuminated – Jonathan Safran Foer
Snow – Orhan Pamuk
Native Speaker – Chang-rae Lee
Feed – M.T. Anderson
My Invented Country – Isabel Allende

Here are some books I think look interesting:
Allegra Goodman – Intuition
Wild Ginger - Anchee Min
Three Junes – Julia Glass
The Pencil – Henry Petroski
A Book of One’s Own – Thomas Mallon

For your listening enjoyment, here are some podcasts from previous festivals.

Enjoy your book picks. I hope to meet some of you in real life this September at the National Book Festival!

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Index of August 2010 Challenges:
Page 1
Page 2

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Other Fun Stuff (not part of the TIOLI challenge):
1. The August 2010 TIOLI Meter
2. The Challenge Within the Challenge
3. I Know I'm a TIOLI Addict When...

Well that's got to be some kind of record.

Totally unrelated but I have to share the news somewhere... as of today I am 10 days ahead of my library due dates. How relaxing!

Can't believe this is onto the second thread for the month on the first day of the month! And I haven't even read the first thread yet, let alone decided what challenges I am going to try to meet...

First book completed: Her Royal Spyness for the historical mystery category, which sadly I was quite disappointed with.

Have you read any Rhys Bowen before? She has her fans, but at one point a group I'm on did a group read of one of her earlier books - I'd been sorry not to be able to get a copy until the discussion, in which the book seemed to have very few fans.

A slow start to the reading month but a good excuse...I am on vacation. In Dubuque, IA. I read American Prophet by Bruce Feiler last night for an hour or so and hope to do the same tonight.

American Prophet, Chi Town by Norbert Blei, and The September Society by Charles Finch likely will be the first three TIOLI's I read for August.

Am I in a time warp or something? I've been gone for the week end and come home to find we're on our second thread!!! Did somebody die? Well, I know they didn't because I skimmed the first thread.

I'm off to check my TBR towers for books that will fit the many challenges. I know there is at least one Allende and Change-rae Lee books that I've been wanting to read for quite awhile now.

For probably the first and only time, I am now the top frog. Cobra is finished.

Am I in a time warp or something?

I'm afraid Donna the name of the game here is: you snooze you lose. Or maybe time's a wastin'.

hmm. I looked for the review. Yes, I actually revied the book, it being an Early Review book. It isn't a particularly good review, but I was curious to actually see it on the page. Couldn't find it. Then I realized I had set myself up as a Thingamabraian, and the review is up under that language and not English.

Good grief, ya step out of town for an instant, travel a measly 1000 miles, and have to work overtime to catch up and even find the threads! Dang!

Because of the trip issues, I'll be adding to the Wiki late. But I'm thinking Montana 1948, Flaubert's Parrot, Presumed Innocent, ummm...maybe a classic if I can help with points. Amazing and amusing choices this month; kudos to all for creativity and fun in the challenges for this month.

I'm starting the month off with Cloud Atlas - seems to be the most popular thus far. Is anyone else reading it yet?

I just finished my first TIOLI - for Challenge #12 - Read a nonfiction book about/set in another country.

The Journal of Helene Berr - I finished it so quickly because it was actually supposed to be my July Reading Through Time Challenge book (representing Freedom) and even after plowing through it yesterday, I just couldn't finish in time.

I've also committed to a few others:

Challenge #11 - Genre Seldom Visited (Science Fiction) - To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis (also a carry over from July)
Challenge #13 - Overlooked - Join Us at the Embassy by Summer Whitford (yet another carry over)
Challenge #14 - Starts with "H" - Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind the Rhyme by Chris Roberts (this is a new one)

Had a great reading Sunday and finished the first two TIOLI books:

Everything is Illuminated for the 2010 National Book Festival author challenge (#1) and Sartre's Sink for the 'less than 25 copies on LT challenge' (#13).

And I started reading A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain for challenge #6 'book without 'e' in title or author's name'.

I have so many books fitting the challenges and yesterday I piled them all up as potential August reads, but on the other hand I am 'currently reading' 4 other books I started in July and which don't fit any challenge, so I'll be a bit careful with 'officially adding' more books here.

First TIOLI book done, Iron and Silk by Mark Salzman for the 'no e' challenge. I'll be posting a review in the next few days, but in summary I enjoyed this light but touching memoir about the author's two years in China in the early 1980s.

Wow... I get sick and go awol for a few days and we're onto thread 2 already! Wow...

Some brilliant challenges this month - will have to run over the pending shelves when I get home. Plus I'm, loving the 'other planet' challenge since I'm endulging in a Modesitt splurge at the moment!

Yay - for once in my life I made it to "Top Frog" position! (I wonder for how many minutes?)

Finished We Have Always Lived in the Castle late last night - fantastic!

I finished my first TIOLI book for the month, Dreams in a Time of War.

>12 Matke:: Bohemima, you didn't say which challenge those books were for. Did you want to be Flaubert's Parrot or Presumed Innocent? :p

I noticed a couple people are reading Jacob Have I Loved which I read *mumble mumble* years ago in jr. high and loved. I recently found a copy and have been wanting to read it again. Seems like a good time!

#6 No, this was the first.

Pbadeer, I might join you on Heavy Words Lightly Thrown, depending on how much reading I get to this month.

>>23 carlym: - So far it's a really easy read (I started last night and am already about 1/3 of the way through) - and VERY interesting. Did you know Little Jack Horner is talking about a bribe? And I'll never think of Goose Bumps the same again (a "goose" was a term for a prostitute and the "bumps" were the sores from venereal disease). I will say it's a very "British" read - some of the nursery rhymes (Grand Old Duke of York, A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go") I have never heard of. But it would be interesting to hear from some UK members to fill us in.

I just requested from my city library system a couple of the books that are not available in the branches that are near me. Two of the books are from the 1980s, The Anodyne Necklace by Martha Grimes and The Dark Wind by Tony Hillerman, and both are early volumes from popular series by popular and respected authors. I was surprised to find that our library, a large city library system with many, many branches, had only one copy of each, and one of the books is available only in paperback. It makes me kind of sad that libraries are purging themselves of books such as these, and have become repositories mainly of the new and pristine. I can remember the small library from my childhood having every single volume from a series or every book from an author on its shelves. I think of libraries as more than just a book lending venture for the masses. The book purging that I have noticed going on in our library system lately is making me think in a different way about e-books.

#24 That sounds like an interesting book!

The Grand Old Duke of York
He had 10,000 men
He marched them up to the top of the hill, then he marched them down again
And when they were up, they were up
And when they were down, they were down
And when they were only half way up, they were neither up nor down

I can't remember the exact origins, but I know it's meant to be derogatory of one of the Dukes of York!

I don't know "A frog he would a-wooing go" (although the title rings bells), but the rhyme can be found here.

>23 carlym:, 26

Is that the same as "A frog he went a-courtin'"? because I know that one.

Two threads on the third of the month...this has to be a record!

good grief

Down day from the theme parks so a quick visit to TIOLI. Awesome challenges! I'm unable to update the wiki from iTouch but if I could I would add Beekeeper's Apprentice to Challenge #9, Cloud atlas to #3, I'll add an Allende to #1 but I don't know which one I have At home and #4 sounds like fun but i'll need to check tbr shelves at home in about a week and a half. BTW potter's amazing!

I finished my second book for the month, The Children's Blizzard, for the weather term challenge (#3).

>>26 flissp: - to end the suspense: the author claims the Duke of York rhyme was popularized by Frederick, Duke of York's campaign against Napolean (even though the campaign was in Flanders which evidently has no hills), but the rhyme's origin actually predates that time with a reference to the "Brave Old King of France". The author says it "...can be seen as generic, a sort of proto football chant used to taunt your enemy as a clueless military leader."

Book 2 of the month read, Ask the Right Question by Michael Z. Lewin for challenge 13 - Overlooked books.

I once again acquire the Top Frog title, though I am sure it will be a short lived honor.

#33: I think at this point of the month the 'Top Frog' designation is going to change hands so often that it is practically meaningless :)

Sure, but I'd never had it before yesterday and today. I've now had it two times. I plan on taking the picture on the TOLI meter page and place it on a t-shirt. And wearing it like the yellow jersey is worn in the Tour de France. I think the jersey is yellow.

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Sorry Mike - really short-lived this time.

Challenge #1 The Man With a Load of Mischief by Martha Grimes - fun read
Challenge #2 Consider Phlebas by Iain Banks - interesting concepts but altogether it didn't work for me

Will see if I can keep the challenges in order, next up is #3 Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

--->25 chinquapin:: I've been sort of upset for quite some little time now with the propensity of libraries to dispose of older titles, some in wonderfully arcane and interesting bindings, while at the same time acquiring 10 or 15 copies of a new bestseller. Not sure how that is completely a good thing. On the other hand, having recently read A Gentle Madness I can easily see how space becomes precious as time goes on. And your second point, or follow-up, is well taken. I just put Rough Riders and Chasing the Grisly and Other Tales , also by T.R., on my Nook. While owning these titles is pretty compelling for me, I'm not sure I would have spent the time chasing them down and paying perhaps much higher prices for the hard copies. So the electonic age has some advantages for me, although I'd never give up my "real" library or stop adding to it.

--->21 madhatter22:: I'd looooove to be Presumed Innocent, but that'll never happen!

Ok, finally added some books to the wiki (but not started reading any yet):

Challenge 1: joining several others on Daughter of Fortune and My Name is Red
Challenge 3 (weather term): Dead Cold - I was definitely going to read this in August anyway...
Challenge 4 (I would like to be...) Lost in a Good Book - the perfect completion of this unfinished sentence, I think, and what we all hope to be with our TIOLI choices!
Challenge 13 (overlooked): We - latest book by a friend of mine, which I nearly read when we had the one word title challenge a few months back.

Five books for now; I have several more in my pile that would fit other categories but don't want to over commit myself just now.

I just added Le Tour: A History of the Tour de France by Geoffrey Wheatcroft to the wiki under the Nonfiction in Another Country challenge. I started it last month during the Tour, but didn't finish it until today. For those who enjoy pro-cycling and watch the Tour de France, this is a fun, yet informative, history of the Tour with a particular emphasis on the early years and its origins. There are also many side tours into French culture and geography as well.

I may also read Snow Crash but I will wait and see and read the books I have already committed to.

Finished When You Reach Me for my first August read; review to follow later.

Finished Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind the Rhyme by Chris Roberts for the "Begins with H" challenge. Great read!

See my review here

#43 Great review, Patrick. I'm adding that one to my wishlist and hopefully will get it from the library to read in August.

I've put down quite a few books though I'm mainly concentrating on the Other World challenge since I have lots of scifi and fantasy reads lined up. Will try to give the shared reads priority.
#1: Among the Hidden - Margaret Peterson Haddix
#2: The Borribles - Michael De Larrabeiti - first in the trilogy
Celestial Globe Bk2 Kronos Chronicles by Marie Rutkoski (shared read)
Consider Phlebas by Iain M Banks (I've wanted to return to the Culture World ever since reading The Player of Games)
Silverhorse by Lene Kaaberbøl - first in trilogy
The Thin Executioner by Darren Shan
Thornspell by Helen Lowe - sleeping beauty retelling
Un Lun Dun by China Miéville (shared read)
#4: The Girl with Glass Feet by Ali Shaw
#6: Far away and long ago - W.H. Hudson (shared read)
#15: Madame Proust and the Kosher Kitchen - Kate Taylor (shared read)
Would love to add a couple more to my list including Marge Piercy's Body of Glass (He, She and It - US title) & Pullman's The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. I'll see how I go.

I've been feeling leery of the "other world" challenge, not being, generally, a fan of fantasy and sci-fi. I saw so many of you listing Un Lun Dun, so I broke down and read some reviews. Adding it to the list. Intriguing.

I've put these ones into the Wiki... gulp. So why am I sitting here reading Bruno Chief of Police?!

Challenge 3 - Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford
Challenge 3 - One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes - finished, 3 stars
Challenge 6 - A Distant Mirror - Barbara Tuchman
Challenge 6 - A Good Land - Nada Awar Jarrar
Challenge 10 - The Aeneid - Virgil - Penguin Classics Deluxe - onto Book 7
Challenge 15- Half the Sky - Nicolas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

#46 Enjoy the "binja" - they're my favourite bit ;o)

A notice about Jane Smiley:

I just noticed this announcement on our LT Home page:

"We'll be interviewing Jane Smiley for the August newsletter. If you'd like to ask her a question, post it here in the Author Interview Questions thread before August 7."

As a reminder, Jane Smiley is an author who will be appearing at the 2010 National Book Festival and whose books are eligible for Challenge #1 in the August 2010 TIOLI. In her author interview (for the forthcoming issue of State of the Thing - Newsletter), Jane Smiley will be discussing her new book Private Life.

Kudos to Kiwiflowa who is already reading a book by Jane Smiley (Moo) for this month's TIOLI challenge!

Hmmm.... that is quite enticing. I have a few Jane Smiley books in my library of unread books and I often see them at used book sales. I'm drawn to them and I expect I will like them but I've been somewhat conflicted about collecting more of them since I've never actually *read* one of her books yet. I very well may join in the Moo read.

There are so many books on the August Wiki that I've already read and loved. Part of me wants to go back and read them all again, just to join in. But I have promised myself to find new and exciting items for this challenge. Titles to come!

Here's what I am aiming at for my August TIOLI:

Challenge 1 (National Book Festival): The House of the Spirits (Isabel Allende)

Challenge 4 ("I would like to be..."): The God of Small Things (Arundhati Roy)

Challenge 5 (Spy): Kim (Rudyard Kipling)

Challenge 8 (Walk): Reveries of the Solitary Walker (Jean-Jacques Rousseau)

Challenge 10 (Classic): Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)

Challenge 11 (Genre seldom visited): Aeneid (Virgil)

Challenge 15 (Book referencing another book, etc.): Reading Lolita in Tehran (Azar Nafisi)

I had already started Anna Karenina and Aeneid as part of the group reads, but had gotten less than halfway through them. Is it cool that I put them in for August TIOLI? The TIOLI challenges have been wonderful to encourage me to finish things up, so I hope it's okay.

I was also glad to see so many books that I wanted to read, be shared reads.

Karen O.

edited to correct my gramma (oops, I mean my grammar).

Has anyone read Mary Roach's new book Packing for Mars? Here's an interview with her on The Daily Show. Sounds like another Roach must read!

#53: Stephen (Ape) was lucky enough to get that one as an ER book. Thanks for the link, Terri. I will check it out.

Finished up Defining the Wind by Scott Huler for my 3rd TIOLI book of the month.

Here is what I've come up with so far for August (my goal was to get as many as possible from the TBR pile):

1. National Book Festival
America's Prophet (TBR)
Jacob Have I Loved (re-read, mine)

2. Other World
Un Lun Dun (new to me)

3. Weather??

4. I would like to be...
Nefertiti (TBR)

5. Man Booker
Parrot and Olivier in America (new to me)

6. No Letter E
John Adams (TBR)

7. I spy
Spies (TBR)

8. "Walk" in the title ??

9. Historical Mystery??

10. Classic
The Aeneid (TBR- group read)
Villette (TBR)

11. Genre seldom visited (poetry)
Mother Said (TBR)

12. Set in another country
Stones Into Schools (TBR)
The Hungry Tide (TBR)

13. Published before August 2010 >25 chinquapin: copies on LT ??

14. Book that starts with H
How to Read a Book (TBR)

15. Title contains name of author, book, character
Emily Dickinson is Dead (TBR)
A Dab of Dickens A Touch of Twain (TBR)

That's 15 books - assuming I don't add anything to the ?? challenges. We'll see how it goes. On the bright side, kids go back to school this month. I'm not going to add anything to the wiki until I start reading it - I feel a little over-ambitious.

Yup I'm just going to start Moo now actually which is a nice coincidence :) I work at a University so I think I may find this quite funny and I may be able to relate a bit lol.

I started Moo once and just left it. It was a good book, too! I'm sure I'll get back to it at some point (maybe this month, eh?)

Karen O.

I finished Thunderhead by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, and I thoroughly enjoyed this archaeological adventure set in the remote, isolated canyon country of southern Utah.

Finished The Last Continent for the 'another world' challenge. Not one of Terry Pratchett's best, I thought, but enjoyable enough - and it takes me closer to my goal of finishing the whole Discworld series this year.

Okay, we'd kind of thought that a subtitle, "A Novel," didn't count for the "No E's" challenge? If that's true and not just my wishful thinking, I'm adding Montana 1948 by Larry Watson to the wiki for Challenge 6.

Karen O.

I've finished and reviewed Search the Dark, an historical mystery set in post-WWI England. Very good stuff! And there's an interesting author video interview that's got some good insights into the way the mother-and-son team work on their books.

Karen @60 -- of course, if you spell out Nineteen forty eight.... ;o)

At the rate I am going, I will be eligible for remedial TIOLI.

Actually, I might finish my first one on Wed. Possibly.

I finished Emily Dickinson is Dead for challenge #15.

> 63

LOL!! I'm not exactly winging leaping my way to the top, either. :)

After reading about 1 book a day from the 22nd until almost the end of July, I did not dip into any books today. Though I did read some magazine articles.

Finished TIOLI Book #3 - Genre Seldom Visited - To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis. It helps that I had almost completed this for a July challenge, but done is done.

See the full review here

Also picked up a new TIOLI - for Madeline's primary TIOLI challenge - a National Book Festival Author (since I hope to attend the book festival again this year) - Rebecca Stead's When You Reach Me - my first scheduled TIOLI read that will actually garner any points.

Go, Patrick! :)

I finally finished my first TIOLI book of the month, for the main challenge, a book by a National Book Festival Author. America's Prophet by Bruce Feiler.

Suggestion How do y'all feel about indicating on the TIOLI wiki page when you've completed a read? I'd like to know who's read which books, especially ones I'm reading and I can't keep track through this thread!

I was going to add a poll but couldn't remember the magic word. Question? Poll?

#70 I've set up a separate thread on the 75ers group indicating which books I've read for TIOLI each month. It would be nice if there were a way to do this here, but I'm just not sure how that could be done.

We could mark a "read" next to the book on the wiki page, or a strikethrough - that way they'd all be in one easy to find place.

I think it would be helpful too, but someone would have to tell me how to do the strikethrough...

I jumped into the wiki and marked mine (although once I was in there, I forgot the recommendation was to mark them "read" and marked my "completed" instead). I also like the strikethrough option so we can still see the books which met the challenge but just didn't get finished. I've gotten a lot of ideas through those lists (which I guess is kind of the point)

Patrick - completed works just fine and I like how you bolded and capped it.
So rather than removing books not read/finished, you'd rather have a strikethrough?

kiwi - you do it the same as on the message threads - {strike}text to strike out{/strike} =- only use the arrow brackets, not the squiggly ones ( )

I don't know if that will get too messy - maybe I misunderstood your original post, but I thought that was your idea. I think we can mark them as read/completed so everyone can see them (and those going to build points will be confident that something that has been read will not be pulled later so available for points), and then if someone decides to pull a title (not interesting, don't have time to finish, etc.) they can strike through it, so we can still see the book which had fit the category - in case someone else wants to read it. I don't know how often titles are pulled. maybe worth a try???

I've added 84, Charing Cross Road to challenge 11 (read a book in a genre seldom visited) under correspondence. I can't remember the last time I read any correspondence/letters.

I finished my first book The Girls, and while I'm happy to be hopping around in the frog pond, I'm already missing Rose, Ruby, Aunt Lovey and the rest of the great characters. I'm so glad I read this book, you were right, teelgee. Now I'm on to a book shared with kiwiflowa The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. I've read it seems like a million of Pullman's books and hope I'll like this one as much.

(I don't know why Touchstone instists on making The Girls into Kiss the Girls which I imagine is a very different book.)

Oh, it's always so satisfying when someone likes a book I've raved about! Glad you liked it Joyce. That book had me on the first sentence.

I've finished several books this month but none of them were eligible - two were last month's unfinished TIOLI books including an early reviewer - I'll finish my lead book at the moment tomorrow if not today and it counts on hidden words in the title, Stop The Train (R-A-I-N). My next two "lead" books won't count, either, and nor will several other books I plan to read this month, generally review books.

It will be interesting to hear your thoughts Joyce as The Good Man Jesus was my first Pullman book while you have read quite a few.

> 70, 74

How do y'all feel about indicating on the TIOLI wiki page when you've completed a read? I'd like to know who's read which books, especially ones I'm reading and I can't keep track through this thread!

I like what Patrick has done. The bolded worded COMPLETED looks very nice and says it all. I don't like strikethroughs (I don't know how to do them on wikis anyway) because they tend to make lists look messy and render lists harder to read.

I'm posting a poll for your suggested option, Terri. Here's the caveat, though. If we vote in favor of your suggestion, please remember that I wil remove ALL of the books that are not marked COMPLETED by the 15th of the month following the actual wiki month. I will have to then assume that all books not marked COMPLETED (for whatever reason) were, in fact, not completed and would then be ineligible to remain on that wiki.I was going to add a poll but couldn't remember the magic word. Question? Poll?

The magic word is vote. :)

Feel free to post your thoughts about the pros and cons of Terri's suggestion.

OK! I've selected my target books for this month's challenge.

How Proust Can Change Your Life - Alain de Botton
Bastard Out of Carolina - Dorothy Allison
Bitter Lemons - Lawrence Durrell
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - Steig Larsson

> 60

Okay, we'd kind of thought that a subtitle, "A Novel," didn't count for the "No E's" challenge?

My personal opinion is that a subtitle should be optional for the wiki. If you choose to use it, you may list it. If you choose not to use it, you don't. "A Novel" as a subtitle seems to me more like an add-on clarification rather than a subtitle so, if I were you, I'd just eliminate it and add the book (as you have already done).

Since this is christiguc's challenge, the final word on
this issue remains with her.

I like the idea to add "completed" next to finished reads, but the 15th seems quite early to remove all books without this label next to them?

the 15th seems quite early to remove all books without this label next to them?

The 15th of the month following the wiki month. So, for example, all books not marked COMPLETED will be removed entirely from the August wiki on September 15, 2010.

According to the way I set up the TIOLi challenge, all books need to be removed from the wiki by the end of the month as opposed to the 15th day of the following month. There should be NO unfinished books remaining on the wiki when I get to it by the 15th! If there are unfinished books remaining at that time, someone has not been following our rules!!

My reasoning is this:
I don't want extra work. I leave the option of removing books up to each of you individually. If you are going to put COMPLETED on the wiki (as an option), I want to eliminate books not read in one fell swoop. I also don't want some people adding COMPLETED and others not. We need to be doing the same thing.

If we don't agree with this option, I will remove the word COMPLETED from all books. It's all or nothing, my friends! Hence the vote!!

One of the advantages I see of Patrick's suggestion is that COMPLETED should help with matching books. At least, a completed book will not disappear at the end of the month. With other listings...well, you have to take your chances when adding a matching read. :)

ETA: We would have the opportunity to know ahead of time how many TIOLI points are "locked in" for the month.

If anyone wants to try out "COMPLETED" now, be aware that the "bold" button (which you'll need) is that button that says "B" at the top left (after you press "edit"). Just highlight the word COMPLETED (after you type it, of coures!) and press that B button.

Go ahead. Run to try it out now!

#87 Ah! That makes more sense - I should learn to read! ;o)

Another thought...

Due to the large number of challenges being presented each month, what do you say that we "voluntarily* try to limit our posted challenges to one per challenger per month. This will not be a hard and fast rule, just a polite request so other fellow challengers are not feeling as if they are being "crowded out" of posting challenges.Please remember, in this case, I do not want challengers reprimanded for posting more than one challenge per month - as more than one post by the same person will indeed happen at some point in time. Those challenges will remain.

Maybe limit postings to one challenge per challenger per month for the first week, then open it up?

I really like the idea of showing the books that have been completed. It's nice to see who has read joint reads already and this might be an easier way than skimming through all the posts again.
I also voted yes for voluntary 1 challenge per person limit. I wasn't fast enough this month or the previous months, and it'd be nice to see a variety of people posting challenges. That being said, this is all in good fun so I don't think we need to bring the hammer down on anyone who has two really good challenges in mind. Perhaps waiting a week or a few days to post a second challenge is a fair way to let everybody play!

Looks good. The bolded text makes it really stand out.

I notice that, if you press the b button, you get the hash marks. Others have used the angle brackets with a b in the middle which ends up looking just the same.

I'm starting to feel like the TIOLI thread has become my full time job;-)

Bonnie, imagine how Madeline feels!

OK - I've started my TIOLI reads, so far I've completed one - Heroes and Villains by Angela Carter.

On the Wiki - to read
Challenge #1: Read a book by a 2010 National Book Festival author
Daughter of Fortune - Isabel Allende
Challenge #2: Other World: Read a book set in another world
Mistborn: The Final Empire - Brandon Sanderson
Challenge #3: Read a book with a weather term in the title
*Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell (shared read)
Challenge #4: The Dream Read: Read a book whose title completes the sentence, "I would like to be..."
On the Beach - Neville Shute
Challenge #6: Read a book without the letter "e" in the title or author
Kanthapura - Raja Rao
Challenge #12: Read a non-fiction book about or set in a country other than your own
Wild Swans - Jung Chang
Challenge #13: Overlooked Challenge: Read a book published before August 2010 that has 25 or less copies on LibraryThing (FYI: Note number of copies.)
Ze - Renee Smith (1) - no touchstone
Challenge #14: Read A Book that starts with H to recognize the 3 Hs of the weather forecasts for August: Hot, Hazy, Humid
*Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger (shared read)
Heroes and Villains - Angela Carter (completed)

I'll have to think about the other challenges and am miffed that one I thought would fit the "no e" challenge actually has a title that starts with "The":(

#97: am miffed that one I thought would fit the "no e" challenge actually has a title that starts with "The":(

That happened to me too, calm, and I did not even realize it until I had already posted it in my list. *sigh*

I'm finally getting around to adding my intended books to the wiki. This is going to be a busy month for me, so I am starting out conservatively:

Primary Challenge (Nat. Book Festival author):
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
Native Speaker by Chang-Rae Lee

Challenge #5 (Booker Longlist)
Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey.

I hope to be adding more after I get these read. I love the idea of adding the completed designation after we've read a book.

I will probably be jumping in for Cloud Atlas if I get the book in time. (Oh, I used the verb "jumping," and our theme is frogs!)

I like the completed thing, too!

Karen O.

I'm so happy to have successfully done the bolding !! I just had to do it again!

#97 am miffed that one I thought would fit the "no e" challenge actually has a title that starts with "The":(

Calm, me too! I was convinced for ages that The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi would count for the no "e" challenge. I was quite disappointed when I noticed the "The".

ETA #98 Sorry Stasia, didn't see your post! Glad it's not just me...

>100 klobrien2: Karen - see, in addition to reading great books and having good book conversations, you're learning new skills! What a deal!

>97 calm:, 101 -- it reminds me of one of those trick sentences with two "the' words, and you would rarely catch it. Something like: I'm reading a great book about the the field of neuroscience.

>102 teelgee: Hi, Terri! Yes, I am learning new LT skills. I just made some text italic (I think I've got that kind of thing down now). What's next??

Karen O.

I just finished the wonderful Stop the Train, a historical children's book, for the Weather category (Train includes the word rain). So finally one book added to the TIOLI meter.

The next two books I need to read don't count for TIOLI - I'm reviewing Pull Out All the Stops for the Bookbag, and The Siege by Helen Dunmore comes before The Betrayal, which I've managed to borrow from the library. Then I have 4 or 5 TIOLI books in the current reading pile after that.

Question: does "weather" count as a weather term? I'm continuing my Joan Aiken reading with her collections of short stories for children, and A Small Pinch of Weather is next.

> 100

(Oh, I used the verb "jumping," and our theme is frogs!)

:)

elkiedee -- yes, I think you can count 'weather' = we're counting One Fine Day and The Last Summer, which are marginally weather terms, so I say weather counts!

>>104 elkiedee: - elkiedee - you can count Pull Out All the Stops for the overlooked challenge - you are the only member to have one on your shelf and that challenge is for any book with less than 25 members.

I finished The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, thank you kiwiflowa, and liked it very much. It's kind of written in the style of a modern language new testament. Jesus and Christ are twin boys who have been born to a naive Mary who is tricked into sleeping with a local boy who says he's an angel. At first it seemed quite severely anti Church but by the conversation in the garden in Gethsemane it becomes clear this is an atheistic book. It's well written, quick and witty. I found when I read the last page that this is part of The Myths Series (which I didn't even know existed). Karen Armstrong wrote the first book, a study of myths in general, A Short History of Myth; Margaret Atwood is next with The Penelopiad, a retelling of the Odyssey from Penelope's viewpoint; then comes Jeanette Winterson with Weight a retelling of Atlas-Heracles. Alexander McCall Smith wrote one about Aengus called Dream Angus. Not surprisingly, no one has yet been willing to risk a fatwa by writing a retelling of the Mohammad myth.

Just finished Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals and am gearing up to seeing this author at the National Book Festival next month! My review is posted here.

*finally getting out from under all of those other frogs...*

Hey! I love watching all those "COMPLETED" messages showing up on the wiki. That was an excellent idea, Terri and Patrick!

#109 I've been a pescetarian for a long time, but after reading Eating Animals I'm eating much more tofu. I've tried finding vegetarian food for my dogs (that book hits hard). 4 of my 6 are willing to eat vegetarian for 1 of their 2 daily meals, 2 just skip that meal. I'm giving them a break this month, but it's back to the tofu in September.

Joyce, I agree with you about how hard-hitting Eating Animals is. I've been reading lots of foodie books, much of the reading material which I've been using is as resource material for my CSA Newsletter* (I'm the editor). Foer spares nothing in telling how cruel our factory farms are with raising and slaughtering our meat animals.

I feel in a quandry. I like meat, but hate to cook it. I'd like to be a vegetarian but my daughter and husband complain when I don't cook meat. It's gotten to be quite a conversation topic in my family. I think the others are feeling meat-deprived. I definitely am going to be more selective when buying meat. I'm also going to be choosing more vegetarian foods when out in restaurants (Pizza's always a great choice!).

I do not wish to eat tofu, though. It tastes like rubber to me. :)

I also like going fishing very much. Now that I know I'm causing fish to die 14 minutes of an agonizing death, I'm still going to do it, though. I will not slaughter a cow. That's my limit! ;)

ETA: I'm glad that this book is as hard-hitting as it is. I think it's too easy for people to just ignore what's going on in our meat industry.

*As an interesting aside, I published an LT book review (with permission) of Eating Animals in one of my CSA Newsletters. I really liked the review (even though I had not yet read the book at the time). It was this review by Evangelista.

I added (and started reading) The God of Small Things to challenge #4 (I'd like to be) and also added "Selected Short Stories" by Virginia Woolf to challenge #11 (genre seldom visited) in the hope to get it finally finished.

I ordered Cloud Atlas and hope it will arrive in time to read it for challenge #3 (weather term in title).

Oh I'm so annoyed with myself. I read the first 100ish pages of Moo last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. Then today I leave it behind at work. Now that's bad enough not having it for tonight. But I planned to take tomorrow off and have a three day weekend which means I won't get it until Monday... Nope I'm going to make a special trip in to work tomorrow, just to get my book!! In the mean time what am I going to do tonight?! I will start another book which I *hate* doing - I'm a one-book-at-a-time girl. GRRR

#113: My sympathies. I know how that goes.

I finished my first two books for this month's TIOLI challenge: Bellocq's Ophelia: Poems by Natasha Trethewey for challenge #1 (National Book Festival author), and Billingual by François Grosjean for challenge #4 ("I would like to be...").

107: Thanks. Pull Out All the Stops isn't actually published until October though (that's why there's only one copy). I think that a lot of older books that have gone out of print will fit into this category though.

I finished my fifth TIOLI book for the month, Diary of a Left-Handed Birdwatcher, for challenge 13.

I've finished two books - Madeline's challenge #1 - Amongst the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix - an excellent children's book set in a dark future with population control and totalitarian rule. Also I've added a gothic punk novella, The boy with a cuckoo clock heart by Mathias Malzieu, to the Genre Seldom Read challenge. I loved this bittersweet fairytale read, (think Pinocchio meets Tim Burton). Malzieu is lead singer of French rock group, Dionysos, and the story has inspired a song and animated movie.

> 99

Donna, I'm so glad that you're going to be reading Native Speaker by Chang-rae Lee for this month's TIOLI challenge. It's a very good book about the difficulties of being an immigrant in American society. Hope you enjoy this book enough to recommend it to others later.

Chang-rae Lee is the author I'm most interested in seeing at the upcoming National Book Festival. He's not well enough known, in my opinion. I'm always trying to pass his books off on others (with good reason!).

I finished Shakespeare's Secret by Elise Broach. This was a children's book about a girl who moves into a house which is rumored to have a stolen diamond hidden in it which belongs in a necklace that dates from the time of Shakespeare. It was just so-so for me. On to the next.

Important reminder about TIOLI points:

Starting this month, all books not marked COMPLETED on the wiki by the end of the month will be removed from the wiki when the final TIOLI points tally is being made (about two weeks after the month ends).

>119 SqueakyChu:: Madeline, I'm looking forward to getting Native Speaker off the TBR pile and, hopefully, onto the "keep" shelf. I loved Aloft by Chang-Rae Lee when I read it a few years ago and heartily recommend it.

I am woefully behind in this group. I can't wait to mark my first book, Parrot and Olivier in America, COMPLETED!!!

My internet has been down, and I think I have LT withdrawal.

Anyway, I've added the four TIOLI books I've completed to the wiki -

Maskerade by Terry Pratchett
The Black Swan by Mercedes Lackey
Haunted by Kelley Armstrong
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

I started The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie late last night thinking it wouldn't count for anything, but given that it's set in 1950 it can count as a historical mystery, yes?

CatyM, yes, I think it counts.

I finished my third book, A Tramp Abroad, for the 'title and author without an 'e'-challenge'. Mark Twain humorously describes his travels through Germany, Switzerland and parts of Italy. Nice and relaxing read which made me smile a lot.

Finished TIOLI book #4 for Madeline's primary challenge - National Book Festival Author - When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead.

Not what I had expected, but still a good (and quick) read.

Why oh why did I start with a chunkster? I still have a day or two before I finish my first book Cloud Atlas - and the second is a chunkster too - Isabel Allende's new novel Island Beneath the Sea. Sigh. Will be playing bass for awhile.

Madeline -- with the new guidelines about marking completed, etc -- the instructions on the TIOLI wiki need to be updated. I'm leaving that part to you.

>128 teelgee:

My first three are long books too! Anna Karenina, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (though I suspect it will go quickly), and The Name of the Rose. But after that, four short ones!

ETA: those darn touchstones...

I have a question...
does anyone know if there's a way to check to see how many copies of a book are a wishlist and not a real book?

If a book has just been released but shows 35 copies - wouldn't you think that most are on a wishlist?

#130 Cheli, are you thinking of the new Louise Penny book Bury Your Dead? If so, I noticed that, too.

It looks like it came out earlier in England. I clicked on "members who have this book" and almost all were from England.

According to what I can find, Bury Your Dead is supposed to come out September 15 2010 in Canada, September 28 2010 in UK, and USA.

#131 Nope, not released in the UK until the end of September (not that I'm counting the days or anything)...

ETA: #132 Doh! Cross posted again - sorry Mike

#s 132/133 Hmmm, I wonder if there's some sort of ER-type program in England then. There are definitely already two reviews and three people have rated it.

Three 5-star ratings and one 1-star rating. (Interesting: I never knew you can see who gave what rating.)

UPDATE: Oops, how embarrassing. eng doesn't stand for England, it stands for English.

I was thinking of Bury your Dead. But realized that hadn't been released yet so it wouldn't fit for the TIOLI but I would like to know how you tell which ones are not in the wishlist collections.

#135 Cheli, I pressed a few different buttons but I don't see anything distinguishing between wishlist and "to read" and already read.

#124: I am going to read that one in August too, Caty. You have just given me a reason to add it to the wiki. Thanks.

Okay, can anyone think of a way to work Stone Heart by Diane Glancy (thanks, whisper1!) into TIOLI this month? It would have worked last month, with the "body part" challenge (that was July, wasn't it?).

I'm reading Stone Heart now, and loving it. Want to hop up the TIOLI meter!

Karen O.

Having skulked in a corner so far this TIOLI, I suddenly realised – Mike's “Overlooked” challenge is perfect for me! Hardly anyone else has poetry books listed!! I can feel some leapfrogging coming on!!!

Woo-HOO! Leapfrogging is, somewhat surprisingly, quite fun! Thanks, Mike, for such a useful challenge!

Karen O.

For challenge #6, the no-e's challenge, I finished and reviewed Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith. *shiver* Chilling. Very exciting. Unnerving.

Finished my first book - Villette for the classics challenge. It was an interesting variation of the theme introduced by Jane Eyre. There are lots of feminist, deconstructive analyses of Villette. I read a few, one being the introduction in my version of the story. I must have summer brain or something. I can't really get into it. I liked Jane Eyre better.
Moving on to finish The Aeneid.

I finished my sixth book, An Echo in the Bone, for challenge #1.

I'm halfway through City Of The Sharp-Nosed Fish for the 'NF not your country' challenge. I'm glad I finally got to it - it was on my TIOLI list for 'body part in the title' AND for 'animals in the title' - third time lucky!

I finished The Cuckoo's Egg for challenge #7.

Spotted!!

MikeBriggs has been caught adding a "Reading" tag to his current read on the wiki!! :)If so, please mark your relevent entries in bold italics. Just highlight the word "Reading" and click the bold and italics buttons (or simply use 5 apostrophes before and after the word "Reading").

ETA: The "yeses" are winning, so go add your "Reading" tags!

I finished my fourth book: The God of Small Things for the 'I'd like to be' challenge (#4).

I reviewed a July TIOLI, The Unquiet Bones, on my thread...post #212.

New Feature: Coming soon!

All detailed information about the TIOLI challenge is now being funnelled into an all-encompassing TIOLI FAQs page. That should eventually take the "clutter" off of our main threads and wiki pages.

I found this in a book today. The book is Palace Walk, one that I have owned for a couple of years now and thanks to TIOLI finally getting around to reading. The card says:

"This book belonged to Marilyn Chapman"

"My grandmother was a bibliophile. She loved reading and her books more than almost anything else, probably as much as her grandchildren.

We have chosen to honor her by sharing her favorites with others who would appreciate the books she cherished.

Please take a minute to think of her as you read. Thank you."

What a terrific tribute to a beloved bibliophile grandmother.

That is so sweet, Stasia! Have you any idea where you got that book (which is terrific, by the way!)?

That's one of the reasons I like Bookcrossing so much. There is a trail about each book associated with it as it travels.

#151: No, I do not remember how I got this particular book.

#150 How wonderful!

>150 alcottacre: I know now what I'll tell my daughter to do with my books!

#154: I was thinking the same thing. The card is nicely printed on a business card sized card.

You can get free business cards from Vista. I had some done up for Bookcrossing, and they're great. All you pay is postage.

Hmmm?! It seems that Vista does tee shirts as well. Perhaps we can order TIOLI shirts with Cheli's (cyderry) logo.

Another thought. Perhaps we can prevail upon Cheli to design us a TIOLI frog tee shirt? If she posts the design, we can each upload it to Vista and order our own shirt.

Cheli? Are you there...?

> 128

Thanks, Terri.

Done!

I'm happy to see your creative mind at work here, Madeline. I just created a new thread and had to devote an introductory message about TIOLI. You can see your homage over here in Post #3!

Heading over to the wiki to add Reading to Parrot and Olivier under Challenge #5 -- Longlisted for Booker Prize.

Donna, You're so sweet! I'm glad you're enjoying the TIOLI challenges.

Is it my imagination or are more people trying to cram TIOLI books into their month of reading now that COMPLETED, Reading, and (of course!) the TIOLI Meter have arrived?

It's not your imagination, unless it's mine too...look at the point totals! YEOW!

I've been looking at the wiki's list of books (which is growing - Yikes!) and just thinking about how it's innately more fun to have our reading lists together so we can actually now watch as others read books that we are either concurrently reading or hope to soon read.

Now if Tim would only bring back that "Currently Reading" feature which would aggregate LT reading lists by work, that would help, too...

Come to think of it, if he could code the TIOLI challenges... ;D

Another thing...I like seeing that someone has finished or is reading a particular book. I tend to list anything I might get to and, of course, never get to them all.

If I see someone has finished or is reading something, that gives me a nudge to read it, too, and not just remove it.

Unfortunately, for various personal reasons, my total this month won't be as high as I'd planned but it still is fun seeing the numbers add up.

Warning!

I have a real doozy for next month's challenge (unless I change my mind). Some people are going to HATE it! :)

I will work on the frog logo.

Catching my breath here while I get set to take on all that's now involved in the wiki. I finished and reviewed David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas. Loved it.

Oooh! Thanks!

OKAY, WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Love that! I like the curmudgeonly frog on top.

#170 The frog on the right is telling him, "But you can't read that one! You can't read that one! Not for challenge 6! It's got an E in it! Look!"

Interactive froggie literary communication. I'll love it on a tshirt.

That is awesome, Cheli. I want my t-shirt NOW! Btw, I'm the frog on the left trying to figure out what to read next.

#169 - Very cool - I love that.

OMG, I lllllloooooooovvvvvveeeeee it!!

If anyone asks you what it means, just say it's a LibraryThing "thing"! :)

Book totes???

I like the curmudgeonly frog on top.

I kind of thought of that frog like he/she got leapt over at the very end by the excited frog that knew he/she was top frog of the month.

ROFL @ Cheli's creative energy! I love this one as much as the TIOLI logo, and I want a book tote AND a t-shirt! Do you think the PTB would let us put "It's a LibraryThing thing" on the back of the t-shirt and the tote? In official "LibraryThing" logo type, even?

Great ideas here! The TIOLI is really taking off! Who knew Madeline's idea was so wonderful?

I really appreciated the Number 4 Challenge: I would like to be... since it gave me a perfect excuse to read Anita Shreve's Body Surfing. Shreve's books are a guilty pleasure for me. This one was not as far-fetched as some; had her usual spare language, so evocative of the New England coast, and some intriguing interaction between the characters.

I'm also glad to see I can help with points this time out. But...the "Less than 25 copies on LT" currently has me stumped. Of course, I'm away from home, so that may change in a couple of days.

I could probably fill my August reading list with "books with less than 25 copies." However, I wouldn't want to.

Sometimes, there are hidden gems but, in many cases, there are reasons why so few people have read a particular book.

#169: I love that, Cheli! What a great job.

I want a T-shirt and a tote and . . .

>180 Matke: Who knew Madeline's idea was so wonderful?

I did! I did!

> 179

I love your idea, Richard! Who'd be able to take on this project?

cyderry, the logo is fabulous! You are quite creative!

>150 alcottacre:: What a lovely thing to do. Thanks for sharing Stasia.

>169 cyderry:: Nice job Cheli! :p

Hurray, I can mark one completed!
I finished Tongues of Serpents, which I enjoyed but I definitely think it's the weakest in the series. Ah well...perhaps the next will be better!

I couldn't resist. I ordered a black tee shirt with Cheli's TIOLI frogs logo on it. It costs a little under $24 with shipping (white and gray are cheaper) and should arrive from Vista in about three weeks. The coffee mug with that logo on it is adorable, too!

One thing that was mentioned at Vista was that the resolution of the picture wasn't high enough to be sure the logo will come out clearly. We'll see when it arrives. I'll be the first to let you know.

Thanks, again, Cheli, for such a great logo!! I'll try to wear my new tee shirt to this year's Bookcrossing-LibraryThing Meet-up at the National Book Festival.

Don't forget we'll want pictures!

You'll get them! Is anyone else getting a shirt?

By the way, is anyone in our group going to do the 24 Hour LT Readathon? If so, it would be good to read a book by a National Book Festival author for that. It would be even better if we read a book by Jane Smiley (since Sonya is going to interview her for the LT State of the Thing).

I'm not sure I'll have the chance to participate that day, but I'll see how it goes. I can always jump in (no pun intended!) in the last minute.

I wish the background had come out white but I had a small problem with it. I think the frogs look better and pop out on white.

Since I wanted a black tee shirt rather than a white one, I like the gray background. Perhaps if others want white shirts, you could change the background color for them. For me? I'm happy as it is!

I actually like the frogs' eyes popping out of the darkness. :)

I finished my fifth TIOLI book, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (where are those touchstone brackets on the Macbook keyboard??) for challenge #11 'genre seldom visited'.

I can't believe I read five TIOLI books in less than one week! This is definitely a new record. And there are so many more of my tbr books fitting into one of the August challenges.

However I won't be able to keep up that speed. Yesterday "Cloud Atlas" was delivered, and I fear that one will keep me busy for the rest of the month.

I LOVE the logo, have to find out where I can order T-shirts/ coffee mugs/ etc. from here.

News flash!

The TIOLI challenge points break 90!!

Today's challenge points have reached a total of 92...and they are still climbing...

Woot! Maybe we will break 100 for the first time!

I wish I could participate in more shares this month, I'm a bit overwhelmed by review books and library books I have to read. I'm having a run of very good books though - the last 2 books I finished have been 5* reads, the next is at least 4.5* and I think there are at least 2 more of those in my current reading pile.

One of my books is an omnibus edition of 3 novels by Elizabeth Jolley, by a small publishers I've not heard of before called Persea, but it's a modern classics style reprint - they would fit very well in Virago Modern Classics although they were published more recently. I'm going to list the 3 novels separately in my own classics challenge.

Stasia, The Balkan Trilogy has an "e" in it (yes, I'm that pedantic frog), but I think it would fit in Classics as 1 or 3 books (it's been published as a modern classics reprint even if your edition isn't one).

#199: Cool, Luci! I will put The Balkan Trilogy in the Classics category, although I am not sure I am going to get to it since I added more books to replace it.

I've put Tom Rob Smith's two amazing books in different challenges: Child 44 in the no-e's, and it's a wonderful book that more of us should read (hint, hint); and the sequel, The Secret Speech, in the historical-mystery challenge...while awaiting The Divine Miss at the station this morning, I read 26pp and I can't WAIT to get back to it!! YEEKS!

I'm planning to start a Fortunes of War reread and also Olivia Manning's other books - I have 3 in Virago Modern Classics editions - but I'm sure I won't get to them this month.

I finished my book for the overlooked challenge, an ER copy of Talk Softly by Cynthia O'Neal and was very pleased with it. O'Neal, the widow of Patrick O'Neal, is a socialite and personal friends with everyone from Ram Dass to Nureyev. Being very involved with New York's art scene she felt the devastation of the AIDS epidemic at its outset and established an organization that helps people in health crises, Friends in Deed. Dealing with death has become her life work. This is a very good study of the early years of the AIDS epidemic with its automatic death sentence, and an honest introspection on O'Neal's part. I'm glad I read it.

Next up is either Private Life by Jane Smiley or Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba by Margarita Engle, which ever gets to the library first.

I'm removing Reading Lolita in Tehran from the Wiki. I just CANNOT get through it. It's strange, it's had amazing reviews.

I think it could have been an amazing book if it had just been a simple biography of Nafisi's book club, but instead she rambles about abstract concepts and colours that just make the story tedious and long-winded.

And she doesn't use speech marks! Heinous!

Finally finished - and LOVED - Cloud Atlas, my first book of the month. Now already hooked, after just a couple pages, on Isabel Allende's new novel, Island Beneath the Sea. Man, can that woman write!

LizzieD - I hate to be a spoil sport, but Small Island doesn't count for the No E challenge - the author's name has a couple of Es in it. I marked that on the wiki page.

I'm adding Something Rotten and First Among Sequels to the wiki for the Another World challenge.

They're both set in BookWorld.

I have this problem with Isabel Allende. I can't remember which of her books I read, but in it a little girl is being fed lies by her beloved uncle, kind of along the lines of Santa Clause is real, and everyone thought this was perfectly OK. It just made me cringe, and I can't make myself read anything else of hers thinking it will also glorify lying. So, do her other books do that?

>206 teelgee: Thank you, teelgee! I guess I didn't read the specifics carefully enough.

I've just finished Helen Lowe's Thornspell for the Other World challenge. It is a brilliant retelling of Sleeping Beauty, told from the POV of the prince, with a rich faerie world and grand adventure.
I'm seeing all these great reviews of Cloud Atlas and I'm beginning to waver in my intention to read Mitchell's Black Swan Green first.

Black Swan Green is good too.

I just finished Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen for the Historical Mystery Challenge. This was funny, light, cozy mystery set in England in the 1930s. At times it almost seemed like a satire of British upper class manners.

I am still reading First Light by Rebecca Stead, and I think that I will move on to Sandra Dallas' Tallgrass after that.

Finished An Impartial Witness for the Historical Mystery challenge (I will probably have some more to add to that category!) Now working on my "H" book. May try Child 44, but I've already got a fairly heavy reading program ahead of me... and I'm reading much more slowly this month, so far!

I finished my third TIOLI book of the month, In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut, for my 2010 Booker Prize longlist challenge. I'll start February by Lisa Moore next, which is another book from the Booker Prize longlist.

>208 Citizenjoyce: Joyce -- I can't think of the book you're referring to unless it's House of the Spirits - it's been a lot of years since I read that and don't remember specifics. I would encourage you to give her another try. She is one of the strongest female authors writing today and I really think you'd like her books. Strong female characters, politically relevant, superb writing -- I just can't imagine you wouldn't like her!!!

teelgee, I want to like her, if I can just get past that cringing feeling I get when I even think about picking up one of her books. Maybe I'll inch my way in her direction.

Was it just one of her books you read?

Right, teelgee, just one. Maybe it was The House of Spirits, I can't say for sure. Amazing how one little thing can so color all future interactions with an author. Once when I was in junior high school I was hit by a car and got a concussion. Coincidentally I had recently eaten carrot and raisin salad and, well, concussions and a full stomach don't go well together. It took years before I was willing to try that particular food again. So I guess the incident of promotion of lying was like that car accident. One of these days I might give her another sample.

That was pretty convoluted, it made so much sense when it came to mind.

>204 generalkala:: Generalkala, you're in the minority, but not alone. I didn't like Reading Lolita in Tehran either. I kind of hated it actually. On paper it sounds amazing, but Azar Nafisi just left me cold. She came off so arrogant and self-righteous to me. I made it a bit more than halfway through before giving it up, and I never do that no matter how awful the book. (I read all of Twilight for goodness sake!)

I've finished One Fine Day and Love in a Cold Climate - both for the weather challenge. **Loved** LIACC.

Now I'm reading my "No e" book, A Good Land, which is set in Beirut and halfway through is good, but trying-too-hard-to-be-Literary. It would also fit the "overlooked" category because there are only 3 copies on LT. I found it in the Reviews section of Belletrista a few issues ago.

I stayed up late reading and finished First Light by Rebecca Stead for the National Book Festival Author Challenge. I found it a captivating blend of mystery, adventure, science, dogs, friendship, and a little fantasy and dystopia, ...and all set in Greenland.

#210 – Yay! Glad you enjoyed it. I think it's a brilliant job too, but then the author is a good friend so I'm thoroughly biased.
:-)

I finished Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger for the 'starting with an h' challenge. I quite liked the story, but not as much as The Time Traveler's Wife.

I've started The Great Gatsby for the 'classics' challenge.

So many people are raving about Cloud Atlas. I think I may have to get my hands on a copy...

I finished Jack and Jill for challenge 6 and Homicide in Hardcover for challenge 14.

<219. Haha, you got further than me, madhatter22. I got to chaper 10, I think. About page 40. I just decided I wasn't going to waste my time with it any longer.

Her Fearful Symmetry a little more than The Time Traveller's Wife. I enjoyed them both, but the ending of the latter bugged me.

Just popping in obnoxiously to say that I don't like Isabelle Allende. She is one of those authors I feel I should like, but I just can't. I have read The House of the Spirits which was OK, Zorro which was just OK, and Daughter of Fortune. I really hated Daughter of Fortune. I guess it's just one of those inexplicable things.

I think I'm getting obsessed with fitting books into the TIOLI Challenge. I finished A Good Land (urg, just didn't grab me, and I wanted it to) and started Brooklyn. 2 pages in and all I could think about was whether it'd fit a challenge - it works for the "no "e"" challenge, hooray!!

Still reading The Lost Art of Walking by Geoff Nicholson for my walking challenge. What a quirky, though fun, book. It's hard to read this one for long stretches because my mind starts to wander as to what he's talking about.

Also about one-third of the way into Jane Langton's Emily Dickinson Is Dead. I hadn't read a Langton mystery in awhile so I'm glad I returned to these.

Finished The Aeneid this morning. Wow. Lots of carnage in the end. Interesting to read the Trojan story, with bits of Roman history included. I liked it.

I've added Persuasion by Jane Austen and Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte to the classics challenge by virtue that they are due back at the library in a week so I need to get on and read them!

I've been wanting to read Agnes Grey for a while now, but I just can't seem to find an edition with a nice cover. It's an irritating aspect of mine - I hate it when classics have those dreary covers!

Wow -- I added something to the wiki -- it really is as easy as you all said it would be! I added Jodi Picoult's Vanishing Acts, including the fact that I am reading it, to the no 'e' challenge.

#232 - congratulations. It's fun to see that editing the wiki is really pretty easy!!

I finished 2 classics this weekend, The Warden by Trollope, and The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck. I highly recommend The Grapes of Wrath. I look forward to my book club discussion next week.

Finished Join Us at the Embassy for the Overlooked Challenge. Sorry to say, it should stay overlooked. But it had such potential. Suffice it to say, "Great idea poorly executed." She tried to cover information about too many countries and then tried to include too many details on each. It took me months to read this relatively small book simply because I couldn't tackle too much of it at once without losing all of the details she was trying to include. What she provided was interesting, but it should have been split into multiple volumes - and then maybe she could have included some more "main stream" countries - how she chose the ones she did was baffling.

But, onto my next read. I would like to be...The Man in the Bowler Hat by Fred Miller Robinson

I finished Operation Mincemeat for challenge #7 - it is the first book I have finished on my Nook.

Book of the Month?

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell seems to be taking over the August TIOLI challenge. It now boasts eight potential readers and can be found in the Read a book with a weather term in the title challenge (Challenge #3).

If you're undecided whether (no pun intended) or not to read this book now, check out brenzi's review. She recommends it highly and gives it 5 stars!! Resist only if you can...

I finished Work Song by Ivan Doig for challenge #6 - the no 'e' challenge.

#236: I am one of those Cloud Atlas Readers. I only got the book when I noticed how many people here were planning to read it for the TIOLI, so I thought it must be good. I started on Friday, thinking I would need at least a week for the 540 pages, and now it's almost completed.

I'd have finished it last night, but the middle part is written in a sort of dialect which is a bit 'linguistically challenging' for a non-native English speaker like me. Not difficult, but time-consuming.

I read brenzi's review and I quite agree with her. The book has been compared to Italo Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveller, which I am reading in parallel and which I hate. In my opinion Mitchell's book is much better, the main difference being that I really want to know how the interrupted stories end (while in Calvino's book most of the stories annoyed me long before they were finally interrupted and thankfully never taken up again).

I finished The Kings of Clonmel for challenge #11.

# 225 - I think you've hit the nail on the head. I was really enjoying Her Fearful Symmetry until I got to the end. It was just disappointing.

#227 - I know what you mean about being obsessed about finding books that fit in with the TIOLI challenges. I borrowed some books from my mum on the weekend that I am dying to read, but they just don't fit into any of the challenges.

New feature!

I Know I'm a TIOLI Addict when...

:)

>236 SqueakyChu: When I saw Cloud Atlas getting so much attention, I was tempted to reread it, just to get into the crowd. It is a wonderful book.

I'm working on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for the TIOLI challenge. It's going a little more slowly than I would have guessed from all the hoopla, but I do find it absorbing. And while I wouldn't really like to be her, I do like her sullen independence and skill.

>241 SqueakyChu: My shameful secret is revealed.

About the feature mentioned in Message #241, I added Cheli's frog logo there as a wiki image file. That is a nice place to keep/store it in case anyone (TIOLI challengers only, please) wants to use the image for a tee shirt, tote bag, coffee cup etc. It will be very easy to find.

Cheli, I added that the design on the image file is yours and that it is to be used only by TIOLI challengers. If others want to use it for something else, they should get your permission first. Hope that's okay. Thanks, again, for such a delightful creation. I can't wait to see my tee shirt with your design!

Just a note to say that nobody needs instructions for how to use the wiki referred to in message #241 so no instructions will be posted*. If you're a TIOLI addict, you *do* know how to use a wiki. :D

An amusing anecdote:

TIOLI is now getting so complicated that I found it hard to explain Cheli's newest frog logo to someone who is not an LT member. It really *is* a LibraryThing "thing"!

I removed my Peter Carey "Parrot and Olivier in America" from the wiki. I believe the point total does not change because of that as it moves from 4 down to 3. If I'm reading the rules correctly. It was the only book in that challenge that was vaguely interesting, but I can live without reading it.

I have now read a book for challenges 6, 7, 12, and 13. Currently rapidly reading Suzanne Collins Hunger Games for challenge 1.

Oh, and Cloud Atlas did not look interesting to me. I do not really like leap around in time/space/etc. Or assumed dialects.

#236 I'm hoping to be number 9 reading Cloud Atlas this month but I fear I may have overcommitted so I'll wait until I know I can finish it before adding it to the wiki.

#241 Love the TIOLI Addict feature, Madeline!

>247 MikeBriggs:: Mike, I'm liking Parrot and Olivier so far. It starts out slowly, but once you get into these "characters" (and by that I mean bizarre people who are polar opposites) and their hijinks, it becomes quite entertaining.

I could probably live without reading it, too, although it is shaping up to be a memorable read.

> 248

Love the TIOLI Addict feature

:)

Madeline, are you going to use the TIOLI logo for your Facebook profile pic? :o)

Afraid not. My old friends wouldn't recognize me! :)

249> Thanks.
I'm vaguely overcommitted and I had not yet aquired Parrot and Olivier so I figured I'd save myself some money and pull it.

Just finished Presumed Innocent. I was, of course, not as amazed as when I first read it; but even so, the author pulls the reader along, placing a clue here, a surprise there, a complete contradiction somewhere else. I read everything Turow wrote after reading this the first time, I liked it so much. On more mature reflection, I still rate it 5 fat *s for being an acute character study as well as a riveting page-turner. Many thanks to MikeBriggs for bringing it back to my attention.

Just finished The Great Gatsby for the 'classics' challenge.

Now I'm off to find another book that fits in with one of the challenges before I have to go to work. Hmmm, what to read next?

>253 MikeBriggs:: Thanks for clarifying, Mike. I thought maybe you had gotten bogged down in the beginning of Parrot and Olivier like I almost did!

I'm reading a book right now that doesn't fit into any of the TIOLI categories and I feel so GUILTY. Like someone is going to catch me and say, "What are you doing? Are you crazy? How are you going to get all the books you insanely committed to on the first day of the new TIOLI challenge read???"

I hope you add that to the new "I know I'm a TIOLI addict when...."

I just realized that three of the books I've read this month qualify for challenge #13 (less than 25 books on LT), so I've added them to the list: The Literary Conference by César Aira, Bilingual: Life and Reality by François Grosjean, and Street Smarts: Poems by Devorah Major. The book I'm currently reading, Change by Mo Yan, also fits this challenge, and I should finish it tonight.

> 257, 258

Terri and Bonnie, the TIOLI is supposed to be a guilt-free challenge!! :)

Cheli gave me the slow-loading sign, so I'm moving our conversation to the new thread.