Take It Or Leave It Challenge - December 2016 - Page 1

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

Simple directions for posting to the wiki can be found at the bottom of each month's wiki page.


...logo by cyderry

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For December, 2016, my gift to you is a WIDE OPEN challenge (which I don't often offer you)...

Your challenge is to...

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Read a book by or about a living person that you admire.

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RULES:
1. The book may be a biography or memoir but does not have to be either one.
2. "Living" means alive at the time you first read this post.
3. List who the person is if not apparent in the title or author name.

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Other Fun Stuff (not part of the TIOLI challenge):

1. The December 2016 TIOLI Meter - Optional page on which you may track your TIOLI reading. FYI: This is not meant to be competitive - only fun!
2. Morphidae's List of Previous TIOLI Challenges - You may use this reference (Do a control-F scan) to avoid repeating a previous challenge. If your idea is similar to a previous challenge, just make it unique by adding a new "twist" to it. (Updated 09/23/14)

Wiki Index of Challenges:

Challenges #1-6
1. Read a book by or about a living person that you admire - msg #1
2. Read a book with a title consisting of a colour and an object - msg #3
3. Read a book you have already started and want to finish by the end of 2016 - msg #5
4. Read a book with a number(s) in the first sentence - msg #6
5. Read a book, in rolling order, whose title starts with SOLSTICE - msg #9
6. Read a book with an auto or other vehicle on the front cover - msg #11

Challenges #7-12
7. Read a book by an author with two capital letters in his/her last name - msg #12
8. Read a book centered around a specific work of art - msg #15
9. Read a book where there are only 1 or 2 letters used as vowels in the author’s name, but those letters may be used multiple times - msg #16
10. Read a book by William Trevor as a tribute to him given his recent passing - msg #18
11. Read a book with "eve" in the title - msg #20
12. Read a book which starts with arriving - msg #21

Challenges #13-18
13. Read a book where the title includes a word from one of the twelve gifts - msg #28
14. Read a CHUNKSTER book - msg #33
15. Read a fantasy/scifi book set in our world - msg #35
16. Read a book with the word “peace” or the phrase “good will” somewhere in the narrative or title - msg #86
17. Read a book that has nothing to do with a holiday in December - msg #94
18. Read a book written by an author from Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland) - msg #96

Please hold your next challenge until the January challenges are posted. Thank you!

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Challenge #2: Read a book with a title consisting of a colour and an object

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Articles may be ignored, and plurals are okay; order isn't important, i.e. The Colour Purple itself would qualify; adjectives that describe the object are also permitted; but there can be nothing else in the title.

>3 lyzard: So no other adjectives - I can't read The Little Red Chairs here?

Challenge #3: Read a book you have already started and want to finish by the end of 2016

I think this should be self-explanatory. It can include any book you started before you read this challenge.

Challenge #4: Read a book with a number or numbers in the first sentence

The format of the numbers doesn't matter - it could be a date, it could be written out or in figures.

This is to encourage me to read one of my birthday presents, In Parenthesis, before I see the giver at Christmas!

>4 elkiedee:

I'll that, because "little chairs" can be the object. I'll edit the challenge to make that clear.

>3 lyzard: Would the title Bone Dust White qualify?

Challenge #5: Read a book, in rolling order, whose title starts with SOLSTICE

Because I can hardly wait for the days to start getting longer!

Usual rolling challenge rules. Articles don't count.

>8 dallenbaugh:

It wouldn't, because it doesn't have an object, just a colour. (Unless it's actual bone dust that is being referred to as being white, in which case yes.)

Challenge #6: Read a book with an auto or other vehicle on the front cover

Pretty self explanatory. Car, taxi, bus, truck, whatever.

CHALLENGE #7: Read a book by an author with two capital letters in his/her last name

Examples:
Val McDermid
Edna O'Brien
Don DeLillo
Daphne Du Maurier

If you have an example with more than two capital letters, that's fine, too....

>6 wandering_star: Would something like "third" or "4th" count? (Because I found those two, in those formats, within the first few I checked on my TBR shelf.)

>5 dallenbaugh: Thank you, a good challenge for the end of year.

Challenge #8: Read a book centered around a specific work of art
The work of art can be a poem, a picture, a piece of music, a building - any work of art, but it must be specific. I'm rereading The Goldfinch centered around an actual picture of a goldfinch. So the book cannot center on just a painting or poetry in general, the art must be specifically named.

Challenge #9: Read a book where there are only 1 or 2 letters used as vowels in the author’s name, but those letters may be used multiple times.

Some examples:

Patricia Highsmith (a,i)
Georgette Heyer (e,o)

Please note this includes the author's first and last name.

Not real Christmasy, but my reading so far:
Challenge #1: Read a book by or about a living person whom you admire - started by SqueakyChu
✔Girl at the Bottom of the Sea - Michelle Tea - E-Book (3)
*✔Notorious RBG: The Life And Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg - Irin Carmon, Shana Knizhnik- E Audiobook (4.5) - E-Audioboo
✔The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher) - E-Audiobook
Challenge #2: Read a book with a title consisting of a colour and an object - started by lyzard
✔The Red Necklace - Sally Gardner - E-Audiobook (3.5)
Challenge #3: Read a book you have already started and want to finish by the end of 2016 - started by dallenbaugh
*✔Cooked: A Natural History of Food Transformation - Michael Pollan - E-Audiobook (5)
Challenge #4: Read a book with a number(s) in the first sentence - started by wandering_star
*Anarchy and Old Dogs - Colin Cotterill - E-Audiobook
✔An Unnecessary Woman - Rabih Alameddine - Audiobook (3)
Challenge #5: Read a book, in rolling order, whose title starts with SOLSTICE- started by susanna.fraser
✔Tony and Susan - Austin M. Wright - E-Audiobook (3)
Challenge #6: Read a book with an auto or other vehicle on the front cover - started by lindapanzo
✔The Essential Letters from America: The 1940s and 1950s - Alistair Cooke - E-Audiobook (4)
Challenge #7: Read a book by an author with two capital letters in his/her last name - started by katiekrug
The Good Lord Bird - James McBride
Challenge #8: Read a book centered around a specific work of art - started by Citizenjoyce
*✔The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt - RL Bookclub, E-Audiobook (4)
Challenge #9: Read a book where there are only 1 or 2 letters used as vowels in the author’s name, but those letters may be used multiple times - started by DeltaQueen
*✔The Mothers - Brit Bennett - E-Audiobook (4)
Challenge #10 : Read a book by William Trevor as a tribute to him given his recent passing - started by PaulCranswick
Love and Summer - William Trevor - Audiobook - Abandoned
Challenge #11 : Read a book with "eve" in the title - started by FAMeulstee
✔The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had - Kristin Levine - E-Audiobook (4)
✔The Guineveres: A Novel - Sarah Domet - E-Audiobook (2.5)
✔Whatever Happened to Interracial Love?: Stories (Art of the Story) - Kathleen Collins - E-Audiobook (3.5)
Challenge #12 : Read a book which starts with arriving - started by paulstalder
*✔Anil's Ghost - Michael Ondaatje - E-Audiobook (3.5)
Challenge #13: Read a book where the title includes a word from one of the twelve gifts - started by Morphidae
✔Why Was the Partridge in the Pear Tree?: The History of Christmas Carols - Reverend Mark Lawson-Jones E-Book (3)
Challenge #14: Read a CHUNKSTER book - started by fuzzi
Here Be Dragons - Sharon Kay Penman - E-Audiobook - Abandoned
Challenge #15: Read a fantasy/scifi set in our world - started by avatiakh
✔The Raven Boys - Maggie Stiefvater - E-Audiobook (3.5)
Challenge #16: Read a book with the word “peace” or the phrase “good will” somewhere in the narrative or title - started by countrylife
✔The Coroner's Lunch - Colin Cotterill - E-Audiobook (3.5)
Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies - J. K. Rowling - Nook
Challenge #17: Read a book that has nothing to do with a holiday in December - started by inge87
✔But What If We're Wrong?: Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past - Chuck Klosterman - E-Audiobook (3)
Challenge #18: Read a book written by an author from Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland) - started by klobrien2
✔The Purity of Vengeance - Jussi Adler-Olsen - E-Audiobook (4)

Challenge #10: Read a book by William Trevor as a tribute to him given his recent passing

William Trevor was possibly my favourite living author until last week when he passed away.

This link is to fantastic fiction a website with details on most authors and it details all his writings in his long and distinguished career.

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/t/william-trevor/

>13 susanna.fraser: Yes, that's fine!

Challenge #11 : Read a book with "eve" in the title

Because December is the month of "Eve"s: Christmas Eve, New Years Eve and here in the Netherlands St Nicholas Eve on december 5th.
It can be embedded, like De Zevensprong by Tonke Dragt

Challenge #12 : Read a book which starts with arriving

It's advent, remembering Jesus' first coming and looking forward to his second coming. So I challenge you to read a book, in which somebody arrives/comes/enters in the first sentence.
- It must be a person, so not a season, a thing, an idea, a bird, rain ....
- There must be a verb indicating the action, not a noun. (she arrives... NOT her arrival...)

Put the phrase in the wiki.

Drachensee : Roman by Eric Van Lustbader (Er kommt!)

>9 susanna.fraser: Challenge #5: Read a book, in rolling order, whose title starts with SOLSTICE

Usual rolling challenge rules. Articles don't count.

**Raising hand**

What is a "rolling challenge"?

Can "The" or "A" preface SOLSTICE?

>22 kittenfish: The first letter of the title is the next in SOLSTICE. So, if someone puts up a title starting with an O, the next person puts up a book starting with an L. When someone puts up an E book, the next person starts over at an S title.

Articles such as The or A don't count so yes, something like The Other would be ok for an O title.

One other rule typical of a rolling challenge is that the same person can't put up two books in a row so, for instance, you couldn't put up an S title and then an O title.

At the end of the month, if you haven't finished your rolling challenge book, you keep it in and just mark it as DNF or not finished.

>23 lindapanzo: Thank you!! :)

>15 Citizenjoyce: - Could it be a re-telling or re-working of a play or novel? For instance, The Great Night is referred to as a re-working of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and there are various re-tellings of different classics, including Hogarth's Shakespeare series and the Jane Austen project. I think Hag-Seed would work because it is specifically about a staging of The Tempest but I'm wondering about the less literal variations...

>25 katiekrug: Hag Seed would work because it is a play that specifically references The Tempest; however if the play that is being reworked is not mentioned specifically, it won't work.

Got it, thanks!

Challenge #13: Read a book where the title includes a word from one of the twelve gifts

Singular, plurals and embedded words are fine. Variations on the words are not, i.e. must be swimming, not swim.

Acceptable words: Partridge, Pear, Tree, Turtle, Doves, French, Hens, Calling, Birds, Gold, Rings, Geese, Laying, Swans, Swimming, Maids, Milking, Ladies, Dancing, Lords, Leaping, Pipers, Piping, Drummers, Drumming

Acceptable from song variations: Peacock, Colly, Collie, Colour'd, Canary, Ships, Sailing, Bells, Ringing, Ducks, Badgers, Baiting, Lads, Louping, Squabs, Boys, Singing, Asses, Racing, Bulls, Beating, Hounds, Running, Cocks, Crowing, Bears

>28 Morphidae: - I think this is challenge #13?

>29 katiekrug: No idea what you are talking about (aka "oops.")

:D

>28 Morphidae:

That's a great challenge, Morphy! :D

Challenge #14: Read a CHUNKSTER book

It can be a book you've previously started but never finished, or perhaps are currently reading, but you must complete it by 11:59pm local time on December 31st!

Books for this challenge should be at least 600 pages long, and the page total should also be listed on the Wiki.

I am going to tackle From Sea to Shining Sea by James Alexander Thom, whose Follow the River was one of my best reads back in 2012.

Edited to adjust number of pages to qualify

>33 fuzzi:

Aww... My biggest TBR chunkster is only 516 pages! :D

Challenge #15: Read a fantasy/scifi book set in our world

Here's my challenge, I hope the wording is ok. I'm accepting books set in our real world that have fantastical or scifi elements, eg urban fantasy, contemporary fantasy and historical fantasy, cyberpunk etc.
eg -
Snowcrash
Station Eleven
Brasyl

American Gods
Dresden Files
The story of Owen
The Raven Boys
Rivers of London

>33 fuzzi: Will you accept graphic biographies? I'm reading The Osamu Tezuka Story: A Life in Manga and Anime which is 928pgs.

>35 avatiakh: Does this include future dystopias which evolve from our world? Eg I am reading Margaret Atwood's The Year of the Flood.

>37 wandering_star: If it's set on Earth I'm ok with it.

Forgive my ignorance, but can someone help me with this? In this Norwegian name, I don't know if these are 3 different vowels, or a repeated vowel with a pronunciation indication:

Jo Nesbø

>16 DeltaQueen50:: I'm wondering about this author for Challenge #9 - 1 or 2 vowels in author's name.

>32 lyzard: Thanks! I thought long and hard to come up with the idea, i.e. popped into my head right away.

>36 avatiakh: wow, 928 pages?

Go for it. :)

>33 fuzzi: Are you serious?! I don't think I've EVER read a book with at least 800 pages! Haha! It would take me years to get through such a book. I'll have to go take a look at my chunkster completed books and see how many pages they had. I'll be back with a report! :)

>33 fuzzi: Please note that my comments are NOT intended to change your challenge. I'm just curious what others think a chunkster book size is. This poll is merely to assuage my curiosity.

I also was reading the following article which talked about how different individuals rate chunkster size differently. Read the comments below the article. Very interesting.

http://booksspeakvolumes.com/2013/02/13/taking-on-chunkster-books/

I looked to see if I read any books over 800 pages in recent memory. I did not. The longest book I read was Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson which was 630 pages. I loved that book, by the way.

My personal definition of a chunkster is 500+ pages. That's about 1/3 of my average pages per month - maybe a little more, so 500 seems like a big commitment to me. Sometimes 400 pages seems like a big commitment... :)

>43 SqueakyChu: I'm good with adjusting the challenge, a little.

A CHUNKSTER for Challenge #14 is now defined as 600 pages or more. :)

Details, in case you missed it, are here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/242070#5815835

>39 countrylife: I'm good with Jo Nesbo being used for Challenge #9.

Thanks, Judy!

>33 fuzzi: I am considering a long book or two but they are on Kindle so I'll have to see what the real page count is. Thanks for clarifying.

>11 lindapanzo:

Linda, does the vehicle have to be on the cover of the edition you're reading?

>51 fuzzi: Bill (weird_o) has had a chunkster challenge this year wherein the qualification was 600 pages so Fuzzi is now consistent with that. I had always considered 500 pages the threshold like >50 katiekrug: Katie.

>51 fuzzi: Much more realistic to my reading style.

My first 'thick' I read as a teenager was Winnetou by Karl May, a one-volume-edition, and that had 722 pages. Since then I thought, that a 'thick book' must have more than 500 pages. I still have that book. I guess my father gave me that in order to keep me occupied ...

>55 lyzard: I hadn't thought about that but sure, that's fine.

>33 fuzzi: I started The tales of Genji in Februari (1517 pages), have been reading it off and on and hope to finish in December. I move it from challenge #3 (have an other that qualifies there) to your challenge.

>58 paulstalder: Ah, Winnetou fond memories :-)

>60 FAMeulstee: excellent. I had readers like you in mind for that challenge. And authors like Sharon Kay Penman or James S. A. Corey...

>33 fuzzi: Truthfully, what I do with chunksters is save them to read. I never actually start reading them because they are too long! Ha!

I personally think of chunksters as books having 600+ pages. I've read very few of them!

>21 paulstalder: - Paul, could the first sentence indicate an arrival? The work I am looking at begins:

"The door to the library slammed viciously, rattling in its frame. Heavy steps marched across the room, bearing down on Hugo's desk. Fists slammed against the wood surface."

So the first sentence seems to indicate the possibility of an arrival, which is then confirmed in the second and third sentences....

I know this won't count as a real sweep, but I've promised myself for the month of December to only read books that are already owned and in my TBR stack. No library books, no buying new books (because I always end up reading those first and the TBR pile just gathers actual and virtual-electronic dust). So I'm also going to try to read a book from every challenge where I own a book that meets it. So far I've got something for everything but #8 and #10.

So maybe I'll get a semi-sweep? A half-broom? A feather-dusting?

>64 susanna.fraser: I love a good feather duster.

>61 fuzzi: Thanks for the suggestion. I'm going to try Here Be Dragons, it has some great reviews and it goes well with Why Was the Partridge in the Pear Tree?: The History of Christmas Carols which has lots of stuff about Wales. Now, whether or not I finish it in December will be the question since I'm also reading The Goldfinch and there is that little thing called Christmas which might take up part of my time.

>63 katiekrug: Katie, I am afraid, no. Reading my rules again, I can't see how I should bend them to that first sentence.
"The door to the library slammed viciously, rattling in its frame." That sounds to me like going, and the verbs 'slamming' and 'rattling' do not carry a hint of arriving or coming, and they are done by things and not a person.

I hope you find another challenge where that book fits.

>67 paulstalder: - No worries. I'm not married to the book, just looking for something to fit your challenge. I think I've found one :)

>33 fuzzi: I'm listening to the digital audio of Stone's Fall (25.5hrs) and while paperback editions have the book at 597pgs, the hardback edition is at 608pgs. Does this qualify as a chunkster? It does fit challenge #3 so I can easily put it there.

My son just passed along two big thick books- not counting the extras a the end, they are 595 and 599 pages. They are tho only ones I have at hand.

Very excited that the chunkster challenge has been redefined as I now have three books in my December plan that would qualify (Blonde, East of Eden, and Mary Queen of Scots). I think I completed the surveys wrong because I voted "yes" on everything since in my book, they're all chunksters. To me a chunkster is anything over 500 pages, and maybe I need a new term--superchunkster?--for the 800 plus page doorstops.

>64 susanna.fraser: that's a good idea. I've been working on my ROOT books, those that have been sitting unread on my shelves for a year or more.

>66 Citizenjoyce: woo! I love Penman. I hope you enjoy her work, too. Her books don't feel like CHUNKSTERS to me, not boring, don't "drag" at all. In fact, I think I might just join you in reading Here Be Dragons, as it's one of her books I have not yet read.

>69 avatiakh: >70 Helenoel: if you can't find another challenge for it, I will accept a CHUNKSTER if it is within 10 pages of 600. No less than 590 pages, though...that's my final offer! :D

>71 AnneDC: it doesn't hurt to ask, does it? :)

>38 avatiakh: excellent! I've had Blade Runner waiting for a good challenge.

>28 Morphidae: äh, sorry for asking, but I really don't know what the 'twelve gifts' are. I know about the 12 tribes of Israel, the 12 apostles, the 12 minor prophets, the 12 months. The words like 'Singing Asses, Racing Bulls' etc don't ring a bell either. Can you enlighten me, please, and fill that gap of ignorance?

>28 Morphidae: and >74 paulstalder: I think this challenge refers to a song The Twelve Days of Christmas:

On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Days_of_Christmas_(song)

>75 elkiedee: That link goes to info about the religious period. I think this one refers to the song itself. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Days_of_Christmas_(song)

ETA, oh brother. For some reason, the song site link keeps taking us back to the religious site. At the top of the religious site, there's a link to the song. 12 drummers drumming, 11 pipers piping and all that.

>75 elkiedee: >76 lindapanzo: Thanks for the references. I just realize that this tradition is not so known over here. We celebrate Christmas and 'Three Kings' (epiphany) in church and not much in between.
I found this old text:

from: Mirth without mischief. Comtaining (sic) The twelve days of Christmas; The play of the gaping-wide-mouthed-wadling-frog; Love and hatred; ... London 1800
That's the one, right?

>74 paulstalder: >75 elkiedee: >76 lindapanzo: It looks like LT and Wikipedia codes are not getting along.

Here's a nice video of the song and lyrics:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyEyMjdD2uk

>78 Morphidae: Thanks so much for that link, I liked the song.
I also noticed that the text apparently changed slightly: They reduced the lords and ladies and enlarged on the pipers and drummers. Any Scots having a hand in that?

>77 paulstalder: Oh ... colley birds! Those would be blackbirds. I always wondered what the heck a "calling bird" was ...

>28 Morphidae: my current read fits your challenge: Moon of Three Rings!

>72 fuzzi: No less than 590 pages, though...that's my final offer!

LOL!

>80 swynn: Oh wow, I am really too old to have just found this out.

>80 swynn: & >84 jeanned: It is old english and literally means "as black as coal" ......'coaly'.....became "colley" and eventually the more aestheically pleasing but meaningless calling birds.

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Challenge #16: Read a book with the word “peace” or the phrase “good will” somewhere in the narrative or title.

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From the Christmas song, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”:

I heard the bells on Christmas day,
Their old familiar carols play,
And mild and sweet their songs repeat,
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

>85 PaulCranswick: I had never realised that! Thank you for passing it on.

>86 countrylife: I am tempted to throw in War and peace for your challenge... or if time gets in the way I can switch to The unbearable peace by John le Carré (why does LT adress that one to Bill Buford???)

>83 lyzard: said ...*grumble, grumble...516 pages...grumble, grumble...

>74 paulstalder: twelve is an auspicious number, hmm? :)

>90 fuzzi: It sure is. Also our counting numbers end with twelve (zwölf in German, twaalf in Dutch etc.) and then change to thirteen. Not Finnish, Indonesian, Korean, or French (they change at 16 - seize). Fun

>83 lyzard:

Yeah, yeah. :D

>89 fuzzi: Have we grumblers been hexed?

***Challenge #17: Read a book that has nothing to do with a holiday in December***

What it sounds like. No mentions of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Winter Solstice, Yule, etc. allowed! It's Ebenezer Scrooge approved!

Possibles:

#1 living person whom you admire - The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer
#2 title = colour and object - The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
#3 already started and want to finish by the end of 2016 - We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
#4 numbers in first sentence - The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Horby
#5 rolling SOLSTICE - Sins of the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon
#6 auto on cover - TBD
#7 two capital letters in last name - All the Real Indians Died Off by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Dina Gilio-Whitaker
#8 centered around work of art - Hag-seed by Margaret Atwood DONE * Shared
#9 1 or 2 vowels in name - Throne of Glass by Sarah Maas DONE
#10 by William Trevor - The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor
#11 eve in title - Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas DONE
#12 starts with arriving - TBD
#13 twelve gifts - The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba
#14 chunkster - The Stand by Stephen King DONE
#15 fantasy/scifi book set in our world - The Custodian of Marvels by Rod Duncan DONE
#16 peace/good will in narrative/title - Blood Vow by J. R. Ward DONE*
#17 nothing to do with the holiday - Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorne DONE

*page 6, "Inner peace through acts of war"

Sorry, Morphy, I just added Challenge 18:

Challenge #18: Read a book written by an author from Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland)

I added this challenge because I have not one, but two great books by Fredrik Backman going (A Man Called Ove and My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry and am enjoying them greatly. From what I can tell, TIOLI has twice had "Scandinavian" focus, but specifically Scandinavian crime writers. So my challenge opens up the field a little bit.

Karen O.

You guys are killing me! I was all set up for a chance at a sweep at 15 challenges... Ah, well. I'll still give it a go :-P

No sweep for me but I love to see such a great choice in the challenges!

Yep I was confident of sweeping 15 but three more may be too much for me. Still I am going to give it a go.

>21 paulstalder: about my challenge #12:
Please note that a person must arrive and not a thing, which I consider a 'post-chaise'. Sorry for the inconvenience but this title does not qualify.

*Black Sheep (...a post-chaise entered Bath...and drew up outside a house in Sydney Place) - Georgette Heyer - lyzard
*Black Sheep (...a post-chaise entered Bath...and drew up outside a house in Sydney Place) - Georgette Heyer - souloftherose

I first thought to change my rules but then restrained from doing that. Some of the other books are stretching the rules already by refering to 'a team' and not a singular person. Please, accept my apologies for interfering and pointing out the rules. I hope you find another challenge to put the book in.

>6 wandering_star: Would it count if the title of the first chapter contains a number?

>11 lindapanzo:

To clarify, Linda, it has to be a self-driven vehicle with an engine?

(I have a book with a train and a stage-coach on the cover.)

>101 Citizenjoyce: No, it has to be in the first sentence.

>102 lyzard: Yes, I would define a vehicle as a thing used to transport people or goods, on land, such as a car, truck, or bus. I would not include a train or a plane in this definition. For its time, a stage coach probably would've fit the definition so that would be ok, I think.

Excellent, thanks!

>104 lindapanzo: Linda, does it need to be on the cover of the edition you're reading? A different edition of a book I'm currently reading has a bus on the cover. Mine does not.

>106 cbl_tn: It can be in another edition.

November 2016 TIOLI Stats:

For November, 2016, we collectively read 416 books of which 87 (a high monthly number for 2016) were part of the 21% (high monthly number for 2016) of shared reads for that month. We collected 46 TIOLI points which was a high monthly number for 2016 and yet still at 403 we had the lowest ever of all YTD November TIOLI points.

Our most popular book was All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr with 5 readers.

Our most popular challenge was fuzzi's challenge to read a book that starts with the beginning letters of THANKSGIVING in which 47 books were read.

Our challenge with most TIOLI points was lindapanzo's challenge to read a book you acquired in Aug/Sept/Oct of 2016 which collected 7 TIOLI points.

Ever onward...!

November 2016 TIOLI Awards:

The Comic Beaks Award goes to both paulstalder and harrygbutler for my (SqueakyChu's) challenge to read a book whose cover pictures at least one bird whose beak faces the book spine. Both of these challengers read a different comic book, each with its own amusing bird picture which made me laugh out loud upon seeing them (to check beak direction, of course!). Sorry, fuzzi, but your comic book's bird didn't show up well enough to make me laugh! :)

The Almost Birthday Award goes to paulstalder for reading Die letzte Fähre for his own challenge to read a book with a date on pages 11, 20 or 16. I chose this selection because it had a date closest to my own birthday Ha!

Congrats to our award winners. Feel free at this time to add awards of your own!

Wow, I received one-and-a-half awards! I am very pleased with that. thank you very much.

I first read Birdsday Award and didn't get it. I read bird in the first award and so kept reading bird in the second. :) So, thanks for the birdie. And I hope you celebrated a whole birthday and not just an almost-birthday.

>109 SqueakyChu: Thanks, Madeline!

Well, at halfway through the month of December, I've read 7 books for TIOLI, but have only completed 5 challenges. As busy as December is gearing up to be, I don't think I'll be sweeping the categories this month. I will, however, attempt to complete all of my shared reads and my "chunkster" read of A Prayer for Owen Meany which will probably end up my favorite read of the year. A great way to wind up the year.

And may I say, I've enjoyed TIOLI so much this year! Thanks to Madeline and all of you for the great reading!

Karen O.

>112 klobrien2:. Thank you, Karen, for being part of TIOLI this year!

>113 SqueakyChu: To everyone who is still with us, rest assured that the TIOLI challenges will continue through 2017. Wishing everyone a happy holiday season!

TIOLI question of the month...

Are you giving books this year for holiday gifts? If so, which books? You can tell us. We'll keep your secret! :)

>115 SqueakyChu: I find it hard to give books, as what I think someone will like generally does not get read. :(

However, my dh indicated he'd like a copy of the new The Art of Archer book, so that's one book I am giving this year. :)

I really don't like people to give me books, but I give them sometimes to others. I'm giving my niece's daughter Mo'ne Davis: Remember My Name: My Story from First Pitch to Game Changer and Bumped Up: The Volleyball Series #1 by Pam Greer because she's an overachiever in all things. All the boys are getting the same thing ,Star Wars books. For my sisters, I picked up Wisdom from The World According to Mr. Rogers: Important Things to Remember because I couldn't resist.

>115 SqueakyChu: I usually buy copies of favorite books I've read over the year for my daughter. I couldn't wait until Christmas to give her The Death of Bees, but I do have a copy of Memory of Water hidden away for her.

Just want to say thanks to Madeline for setting up the TIOLI all through the year and having it all tick over so smoothly. Looking forward to next year's TIOLI already.
Happy Channukah.

>115 SqueakyChu: My husband doesn't read anything close to as much as I do, but I'm getting him three cookbooks, Bouchon Bakery, the Red Rooster Cookbook, and Alton Brown: EveryDayCook, along with two Kindle books for his commute, A History of the World in 6 Glasses and The Years of Rice and Salt.

>119 avatiakh: Thanks, Kerry! Happy holidays to you! So glad you're sticking around - even if I don't visit individual thread like I did back in the "old days". :D

>120 susanna.fraser: I wonder if I got my husband cookbooks as a holiday present if he would start cooking? I doubt it! Haha!

>15 Citizenjoyce: Would the map of Three Pines that is at the center of the mystery in A Great Reckoning count as a work of art for your challenge?

>123 raidergirl3: Sure. Doggone I've been waiting for that book forever.

>124 Citizenjoyce: aw, you're the best! I'm flying through it, after waiting many weeks in the audio line at the library. Hope you get it soon. I think we both added it last month to the challenge.

My husband has always read a little, but as retirement looms he is reading more and more and now much to my surprise usually has two books going at once. The catch is that I have to supply his books, so he is definitely getting a few for Christmas. He likes mysteries, westerns, war and action stories. So far I have got him the Frank Elder Trilogy by John Harvey, a war story trilogy by David L. Robbins, and a western by an author whose name I forget. I also plan on loading a few books onto his Kindle on Christmas Eve, probably a Craig Johnson mystery and another one by Peter May as he likes both those authors.

It's no secret that I love the TIOLI Challenges and I am looking forward to January already! Thank you, Madeline for making choosing my monthly reads so much fun!

Yes, Madeline, thank you. TIOLI is my main focus on LT.

No, I won't be giving any books this Christmas. I only give 1 gift and that is to my 96 year old mother. She is getting a hummingbird feeder this year (she lives in the high desert).

>127 dallenbaugh: Aw, thank you, Judy. Have a fun holiday season!

>127 dallenbaugh: You're welcome. TIOLI is my main focus, too. Haha!

What a great gift for your mom! Sadly, neither of my parents are alive, but I remember buying my dad a bird feeder (made by Tupperware)! He loved that gift.

I participated in Santa Thing and chose books for an LTer I didn't know who loves photo books. I'm also involved in the Christmas Swap. My swappee's interests and mine don't overlap much but I enjoyed picking books out for her.

As for RL people, I always give my sister an Amazon gift card, among other things. I'll probably get a Montreal Canadiens-related book for my nephew, age 14. For Christmas, I finally got him his often-asked-for Canadiens Max Pacciorety jersey. I was hesitant to do so because he grew from 5'3 to 6'0 in one school year but seems to have stabilized at 6'2. He's just an 8th grader but may grow a bit more.

His sister turns 16 right after Christmas. She is a competitive club/HS swimmer and I'll be getting her a copy of the new Missy Franklin autobiography, Relentless Spirit.

My cousin the White Sox fan is getting a photographic history of the Sox from me. He usually gets me a Cubs-related book.

Dad is 80 and not reading as much as before but he loves puzzle books and will be getting a ken-ken puzzle book. My sister likes logic puzzles and will be getting a book of those.

Mom's 80th birthday is on January 6th and I need to figure out which Kristin Hannah books she doesn't have and get her those.

>130 lindapanzo: "he grew from 5'3 to 6'0 in one school " Aren't teenagers amazing? I just saw my niece's daughter tonight, I swear she's 6 1/2 feet tall. She used to be such a little girl. Now I'm the little grandma.

My mother-in-law always said that everyone needed a book and something good to eat for Christmas presents, so everyone could retire for a quiet time on Christmas afternoon.

We always gave our kids books for their one-package-to-open on Christmas eve, so they could retire to bed and read as long as they liked.

Both my grown kids have requested books. My son, in grad school wanted a mindfulness book; my daughter wanted one of the Tuesday Next books.

I also enjoyed picking out books for the 75'ers exchange although I didn't know the giftee. I think these are the only books I'm getting for Christmas, so I'll continue the tradition and open them on Christmas eve.

>132 streamsong: What a lovely tradition!

>132 streamsong: Your Mother-in-law was a wise woman!

>132 streamsong: What a great tradition.

My mother always gets at least one book from me for Christmas, usually something pertaining to our ladies' trips, or something from her favorite genre - biographies. Last year, I did particularly well with a book I heard about here on LT - The Big House : A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home. Cape Cod AND a biography in one book; she loved it! We just had our big extended family Christmas party last weekend, when I gave her this year's book, which was a title she'd mentioned sometime during the year - Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates, a 1935 edition with a beautiful cover. As I suspected was her intention, she said she'll reread it, and then hang it on her wall with her old sled and ice skates, and the old ice skates I brought back from the Netherlands, as my souvenir gift for her. She was so excited with this year's book, too!

Madeline - my LT life revolves around TIOLI! I"m so happy that it's ongoing for next year!

>136 countrylife: I'll be here waiting for you in 2017, Cindy. Happy holidays!

>133 SqueakyChu:, >134 DeltaQueen50:, >135 Citizenjoyce: Thanks for the nice words. They are sweet memories.

>136 countrylife: What a great gift. The best part of the season is giving someone something that makes them happy.
>114 SqueakyChu: your gift of TIOLI makes so many people happy. Thank you for continuing.

>114 SqueakyChu: I'm so glad! I look forward to each month's new challenges.

I'm going to do challenges based on the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge next year. I'm trying to decide how to do them.

I could do:

#1 Read a book from any of the challenges 1 - 3 of the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge.

1. A book recommended by a librarian
2. A book that's been on your TBR list for way too long
3. A book of letters

OR

#2 Read a book from challenges 1 - 6 of the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge based on your die roll.
(Google die roll or go to Random.org)

OR

#3 Read a book from challenges 1 - 6 of the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge (Rolling, i.e. first person does challenge 1, second person does 2, etc.)

***

I'm slightly leaning toward #2 (die roll) with #3 (rolling) next. What do you think?

>11 lindapanzo: Linda, Wikipedia lists watercraft as vehicles. Will you accept a boat for your challenge?

>141 Morphidae:

I use Random.org to pick books from my Wishlist, Morphy, and I find it a lot of fun.

>142 streamsong: Sure, that's fine. Any kind of vehicle will do.

>143 lyzard: how do you use it? I used to have a system where there was a number for each set of shelves in the house, and then the second number would tell me which corner to start counting from, then which shelf, then which book...

I work off my LT Wishlist: I have my books organised by original publication date and put in the first and last number of the list I'm working from. For instance I have a blog reading challenge that picks from books published between 1751 - 1930.

It's more complicated with more variables, I guess, unless the contents of the various shelves could be "extracted" into a single, numbered list.

Sorry, I won't finish my planned reads this month.
We are a week away from home and I forgot to take my TIOLI books with me. So I have removed my books from the challenges... I am not without books, just not the ones I planned to take with me.

>147 FAMeulstee: see if any of the books you have with you will fit the challenges!

I substitute my challenges when I get distracted or sidetracked by a book not on my challenge list...

I've finished my last book for 2016 and will be removing several from the wiki. I just didn't get in the reading these past few days.

Housekeeping Day!

You folks know what to do! remove any books from the wiki that you do not finish by the storke of midnight tonight. If it's a revolving challenge, just make any books you don't complete as DNF...and I'll do the rest.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Just finished #75/my Scandinavian author challenge book at 9pm! I don't think I've ever cut it this close before. But I can now recommend The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared :-) Happy New Year everyone!

>151 jennyifer24: I just read that it's been made into a movie. You can find it on Amazon.

>152 Citizenjoyce: oooh, thanks!

I notice we still need some housekeeping done on the challenge lists---can those with unread books please address that?

I have, um, a particular reason for asking. :D

I thought I had removed everything unread, correct me if I am wrong!

Five, count 'em, five shared reads! Some of you probably do this all the time, but I'm pretty excited about managing this. :)

I LOVE participating in TIOLI shared reads, and I understand completely! Five shared reads is excellent, Jeanne!

Karen O.

Well done, Jeanne! My reading doesn't lend itself to many shared reads, so I always get very excited when it happens. :)

I see a final tidy-up of the challenges has been done - thank you, everyone!

>156 jeanned: Lots of shared read in December. Stats are coming soon. We'll see how this stacks up with previous months and years.