Take It or Leave It Challenge - October 2022 - 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.


...logo by cyderry

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Your challenge for the month of October, 2022 is to...

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Read a book whose title words only start with the letters A, B, C, X, Y and/or Z.
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Of course, the easiest books to find would be those with just a one-word title, but try to explore to see if you can find a two-words or even more-words title which qualifies. Disregard any sub-title.

Some suggestions:
---Americanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
---Amrita - Banana Yoshimoto
---Angela's Ashes - Frank McCourt
---Arabesques - Anton Shammas
---Beartown - Fredrik Backman
---Becoming - Michelle Obama
---Cherry - Mary Karr
---Yes, Chef - Marcus Samuelsson
---You - Caroline Kepnes
---Zeitoun - Dave Eggers

Well, you get the idea!

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Other Fun Stuff (not part of the TIOLI challenge):
1. FAMeulstee's 2022 TIOLI Sweeplette Meter
2. FAMeulstee's Our TIOLI Sweeps
3. Morphidae's List of Previous TIOLI Challenges (2010-2016) - A reference (Do a control-F scan) to avoid repeating a previous challenge. If your idea is similar to a previous challenge, make it unique by adding a new "twist" to it.
4. Supplementary Thread - for off-topic chit-chat about almost anything! :D
5. The October 2022 TIOLI Meter - Optional page on which you may track your TIOLI reading. Not competitive--- just fun!

Index of Challenges:

Challenges #1-6
1. Read a book whose title words only start with the letters A, B, C, X, Y and/or Z - msg #1
2. Read a scary book - msg #3
3. Read a book for the Grady Girls rolling challenge - msg #4
4. Read a book tagged "historical" or "historical fiction" - msg #5
5. Read a book with a cover image in which a woman's face is important - msg #6 - thread
6. Read a book with the word “teeth” in the title or the image of teeth somewhere on the cover - msg #8

Challenges #7-12
7. Read a book in a language that is not your mother tongue - msg #9
8. The “Murder She Wrote” Challenge: Read a murder mystery, solved or unsolved, written by a woman author (NF only, please) - msg #12
9. Read a book with a fall color (Red, Orange, Yellow, Brown) predominate on the cover or with one of the color names in the title or author name - msg #34
10. Read a book, fiction or nonfiction, about the British royal family - msg #35
11. Read a book (F or NF) by an author with three names - msg #40
12. Read a book whose title identifies what kind of narrative it purports to be - msg #42

Challenges #13-18
13. Read a book with an uneven number of pages - msg #44
14. Read a book with a verb used as a noun in the title - msg #45
15. Read a book with a 4th quarter month in the title - msg #52
16. Read a book by an author who teaches writing - msg #81
17. Read a book by an author sharing the name of a Post-War (WW2) British Prime Minister or book about or by a Post-War British PM - msg #103
18. Read a book in honour of Queen Elizabeth II - msg #107

Please hold your challenge until the November TIOLI challenges are posted. Thank you!

Challenge #2: Read a Scary Book

It's the witching month of October so my challenge is to read a scary book. It could be a zombie banging at your door, a ghost floating down the staircase toward you, a witch brewing up an evil curse, or a murderer making his/her evil plans – whatever gives you that spooky Halloween feeling.

Read a book for the Grady Girls rolling challenge

For my last 2022 themed challenge of the year, the spookiest set of two of all... the Grady twins.

In Stephen King's The Shining, we were introduced to these sisters. In Kubrick's movie, he made them twins*... and iconic.

Read a book where the TITLE or author's LAST name is one of the letters in GRADY GIRLS in an open rolling challenge.

They don't have to be read in order. There can be TWO (2) missing books before starting the next "set." No more than 3 books per person, per set. No more than TWO "open" sets before opening a third.

* Some question if they were really playing twins in the movie as, while the actresses are twins, in the original book they are two years apart and in the movie one is slightly taller and looks just a *tiny* bit older.

For the purposes of this challenge, I'm going to count them as twins because IRL they are twins!

https://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/shining-twins-queen-elizabeth

Challenge #4: Read a book tagged "historical" or "historical fiction"

It turns out all the library books I have out or on hold share this tag....

Challenge #5:

Read a book with a cover image in which a woman's face is important

A few reasons for this one:

1. I usually don't get to participate in cover challenges as most of the books I read don't have covers;

2. I thought I had a book for September's cover challenge, only to look more closely and realise it didn't qualify;

3. When walking through my local library the other day, I was infuriated to notice how many publishers are still doing the "woman with her head cut off / back turned" thing.

So---

The woman's face does not have to be the only thing on the cover, or even the main thing; nor does the woman herself have to be the only person or thing in the image; but her face should be important, perhaps what the eye is drawn to?

Shared reads are allowed for editions that don't have the same cover.

I will create a thread for people's cover images and note here when it's up.

ETA: Thread

>4 Morphidae: LOL! Brilliant!!

Challenge #6 Read a book with the word “teeth” in the title or the image of teeth somewhere on the cover

The teeth/fangs on the cover can be human or animal or just teeth.

The title can be anything related to the word “teeth” such as tooth, fang, chompers, etc. I will even allow “taste” but not tasteful. Ask if you come up with something I haven't covered.

Challenge #7 - Read a book in a language that is not your mother tongue

This is probably fairly simple to describe and yet could be quite a challenge. I speak English as my native language or mother tongue. I am currently making efforts at learning German, and have decided to challenge myself and try reading a book in that language. This is, therefore not in my native tongue. Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to read a book in any language, as long as it is not your native tongue. It does not need to be of the level of War & Peace, I'm tackling Asterix as my first adventure in German reading, I figured the pictures might help me out when the words run dry...

Shared reads still need to be in a language that is not your mother tongue, but do not need to be the same language as the first listing of the book. I know that some of our readers will manage this without even breaking sweat - for some of us this is a major voyage into the unknown!

In the wiki, please list the language you are reading in and your mother tongue.

>9 Helenliz: Would bilingual books count for your challenge?

>9 Helenliz: I know four languages so this would not affect me, but suppose a challenger knows no other language?

Challenge #8: The “Murder She Wrote” Challenge: Read a murder mystery, solved or unsolved, written by a woman author (NF only, please)

>12 alcottacre: Er, aren’t murder mysteries fiction? Am I not understanding something?

Wow we will have some tough challenges for October!

Language skills needing to be brushed up.
True crime (even with my 5,000 over unread books at home I am struggling to think of any such books written by a lady - please help with some suggestions Juana!).
And then Morphy becomes our international lady of mystery - I don't think that I have seen that devious ploy done before!

I will have to get my thinking cap on to make October a challenging one from me too!

>13 SqueakyChu: I am not sure what else to call them, Madeline. Just books about murder written by women?

>14 PaulCranswick: Names that come immediately to mind, Juan: Ann Rule, Kate Summerscale, Charlotte Gray, and Virginia A. McConnell. I am sure there are others that are just coming to the forefront of my brain at the moment!

>15 alcottacre:. Okay. I think I understand. There’s a genre called “true crime”
with authors such as Ann Rule and Michelle McNamara.

>17 SqueakyChu: Yes, but I want books that specifically deal with murder, not other crimes as well and "true crime" covers crimes other than murder.

>10 dallenbaugh: absolutely.

>11 SqueakyChu: they might struggle, agreed.

>9 Helenliz: Thank you - lilisin recommended some easy Japanese manga for me a while ago, and I bought them but have not yet started them - this will be very good encouragement.

>19 Helenliz: I think that I have some Pablo Neruda poetry in translation on the shelves somewhere with the English translation alongside it. I may try to vocalise that one and listen to it at the same time. Alternatively I will go and buy a Malay language book (I'm sure that there may even be some at home) - it is a language I love speaking but not particularly reading.

>18 alcottacre: Gotcha!

>19 Helenliz: For the first time in years, I read a book in easy Hebrew recently to fulfill a challenge, but I found it by chance in a Little Free Library, and no one else has that series of books. With way too many books in my house, I cannot justify buying more books.

I often find easy Spanish kids’ books around, so it’s actually a doable challenge for me. What I wanted to say, though, is what fun reading in Hebrew was. In fact, I started fooling around with Hebrew again by downloading the app DuoLingo.

Libraries often have kids’ books in quite a lot of languages. It will be fun to see how this challenge plays out!

>20 wandering_star: I LOVED Yotsuba&! so much! That’s my very favorite manga series. I read all of them that I could get my hands on. I read them in English, but my older son can read Japanese. Enjoy!!! He just brought over to my house a few so my grandson might try them (in English). I have a feeling he will decline because he prefers “fighting” books to “slice of life”.

>12 alcottacre: >14 PaulCranswick: >16 alcottacre: The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold is very good, although it's more a biography of the women killed than about identifying Jack the Ripper. Patricia Cornwell's Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper, Case Closed might be a better fit.

Other possibilities include I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara, The Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three by Mara Leveritt and American Predator by Maureen Callahan.

Also check out the list of Edgar Award nominees for Best Fact Crime at https://edgarawards.com/category-list-best-fact-crime/

>22 SqueakyChu: Good!

>25 cbl_tn: Thanks for the help with author's names and titles, Carrie!

>27 alcottacre: I am trying to figure out how to squeeze a book in for this challenge! My plate is already full with the ongoing challenges I'm doing this year.

Two really good books that don't fit the NF parameter for challenge #8 are Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood and The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey. The good news it that they are both tagged "historical fiction" so they would fit challenge #4!

>28 cbl_tn: Serendipity! I love that it worked out for you. The Daughter of Time is terrific. I have not yet read Alias Grace, but I have it on my shelves to get to some time.

>24 SqueakyChu: Oh that's great! Another nudge to read them :-)

I have created a thread for Challenge #5---

Here

Let's see those women's faces! :)

>4 Morphidae: Thanks all for adding books "conservatively" until I got my butt in gear.

The challenge is up and is more "open" than it looks. Take a peek at the rules and then go add books, books, and more books!

I am starting October with only one planned read: The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen. So tempt me with some good stuff.

(May be a slow start compared to September because I have to plan and participate in an all-day group interview thing-y on Oct 4, but after that I'll be scouring the wiki for my next reads.)

Challenge #9: Read a book with a fall color (Red, Orange, Yellow, Brown) predominate on the cover or with one of the color names in the title or author name

I'm going with:


Sacred Games would qualify, as would anything by someone named Fred.

Challenge #10: Read a book, fiction or nonfiction, about the British royal family

I've got a bio of Queen Elizabeth as well as a mystery novel where Queen Elizabeth is the sleuth planned.

>35 lindapanzo: Does this have to be the current/recent royal family? Can we go back to the 19th century or before that?

>35 lindapanzo: Does the book have to be about the current British royal family or are you including Elizabeth I or Henry VIII, for example?

Never mind, Luci beat me to it!

>36 elkiedee: >37 alcottacre: you can go back to earlier times.

>38 lindapanzo: Thanks for the clarification, Linda!

Challenge #11: Read a book written by someone who uses three names

I keep having this message disappear when I try to post it, so I'm going to save it and then circle back to edit & provide details!

OK. So, the rules are:
-- no initials
-- no hyphenated names (unless the hyphen connects one of the three names, eg Arianna Warsaw-Fan Rauch)
-- no de, de la, d', O', von, van, ibn, al- (it's just a prefix means "of" and isn't a name as such... Yes, I'm being rigid, but...)

So, who qualifies?

William Kent Krueger
Bret Easton Ellis
Chitra Banerjee Divarakuni
Mario Vargas Llosa
Katherine Anne Porter
Ford Madox Ford
Christina Baker Kline
Doris Kearns Goodwin
David Foster Wallace
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Arthur Conan Doyle
Erle Stanley Gardiner
Louisa May Alcott
Patrick Radden Keefe
Alexander McCall Smith
Heather Cox Richardson (How the South Won the Civil War)

I'm going to read:

The Loneliest Americans by Jay Caspian Kang
Tears We Cannot Stop by Michael Eric Dyson
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Declassified: A Low Key Guide the High-Strung World of Classical Music by the aforementioned Arianna Warsaw-Fan Rauch
The Fishermen and the Dragon by Kirk Wallace Johnson
A Most Clever Girl by Stephanie Marie Thornton

>40 Chatterbox: Gives me the chance to borrow and read New and Selected Poems : 1923-85 by Robert Penn Warren, Suz.

Challenge #12: Read a book whose title identifies what kind of narrative it purports to be

This one probably needs some clarifying! What I mean is that the title needs a word or words in it that identify a type of narrative. For example:

The Legend of Auntie Po
Memoirs of a Geisha
A Tale of Two Cities
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
The Diary of a Young Girl

So legend, tale, story, memoir, ballad, diary, letters, etc. I'll accept books whose subtitles are something like "A Novel" or "A Memoir," but I'd prefer the narrative type word be in the main title.

>42 susanna.fraser: Would 'Books' or 'Chronicle' in the title be allowed?
I have The Books of Jacob on my list for October, and might get to The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.

Challenge #13: Read a book with an uneven number of pages

I suppose no further explanation needed ;-)

Challenge #14: Read a book with a verb used as a noun in the title
I'll be reading The Break by Katherena Vermette.

At least I don't have to worry about trying for a sweep this month - I speak a tiny amount of Spanish but I read no language but English. My planned reads:
Challenge #1: Read a book whose title words only start with the letters A, B, C, X, Y and/or Z - started by SqueakyChu
Caul Baby - Morgan Jerkin ABANDONED
Challenge #2: Read a scary book - started by DeltaQueen
✔Dollars for Life: The Anti-Abortion Movement and the Fall of the Republican Establishment - Mary Ziegler (5)
✔The Last House on Needless Street - Catriona Ward (4)
✔The Lighthouse Witches by C. J. Cooke (4)
✔When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole (4)
Challenge #3: Read a book for the Grady Girls rolling challenge - started by Morphidae
✔The Fifties: An Underground History - James R. Gaines (4)
Challenge #4: Read a book tagged "historical" or "historical fiction" - started by wandering_star
✔A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner (3.5)
Follow the River by James Alexander Thom
✔The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell (3.5)
Challenge #5: Read a book with a cover image in which a woman's face is important - started by lyzard
✔The Doll: The Lost Short Stories - Daphne du Maurier (4)
Challenge #6: Read a book with the word “teeth” in the title or the image of teeth somewhere on the cover - started by dallenbaugh
✔Death in the Dark by Emily Kimelman (3.5)
✔Unleashed by Emily Kimelman (3.5)
Challenge #7: Read a book in a language that is not your mother tongue - started by helenliz
Challenge #8: The “Murder She Wrote” Challenge: Read a murder mystery, solved or unsolved, written by a woman author (NF only, please) - started by AlcottAcre
✔House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed - Sara G. Forden (3.5)
Challenge #9: Read a book with a fall color (Red, Orange, Yellow, Brown) predominate on the cover or with one of the color names in the title or author name - started by quondame
The Witch and the Tsar - Olesya Salnikova Gilmore abandoned
Challenge #10: Read a book, fiction or nonfiction, about the British royal family - started by lindapanzo
*✔The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel (5)
Challenge #11: Read a book (F or NF) by an author with three names - started by Chatterbox
✔The Book of Longings - Sue Monk Kidd (3.5)
✔A Piece of the World - Christina Baker Kline (4)
Challenge #12: Read a book whose title identifies what kind of narrative it purports to be - started by susanna.fraser
✔Fairy Tale - Stephen King (4)
Challenge #13: Read a book with an uneven number of pages - started by FAMeulstee
✔*Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining; Life by Louise Aronson (4)
Challenge #14: Read a book with a verb used as a noun in the title - started by Citizenjoyce
✔The Break - Katherena Vermette (4.5)
✔The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World - Steve Brusatte (4)
Challenge #15: Read a book with a 4th quarter month in the title - started by Carmenere
*✔Now in November - Josephine W. Johnson (4)
Challenge #16: Read a book by an author who teaches writing - started by cbl_tn
✔Ancestral Night - Elizabeth Bear (3.5)

>44 FAMeulstee: Anita, are we including only the text proper (not counting acknowledgments, appendices, bibliographies, etc) or all the way to the end of the book?

>47 alcottacre: I always count to the end of the book, Stasia, but if you do otherwise it is fine with me.

>48 FAMeulstee: OK, thanks. I normally do not read all the way to the end of nonfiction because I do not want to wade through indices, bibliographies, etc.

>49 alcottacre: I can't stop until I am at the end of a book. I might be skimming the indices, and bibliographies (I might find an interesting title there!), but I need to turn that last page ;-)

>50 FAMeulstee: I go back and do thorough reads of the bibliographies as I have time because I will try and track down the original sources used by the author.

Challenge #15: Read a book with a 4th quarter month in the title

Easy peasy, we're talking October, November and December here.

>9 Helenliz: I would just note that I suspect for a significant chunk of members, this might not even be feasible. For instance, even opting for a children's level book in another language can be difficult if a local library doesn't carry much in the way of foreign language books (as many don't in the US, outside large cities; even where I'm from, the only non-English books are in Spanish, not a language I can read much but a newspaper in...) I'm lucky, as I have a backlog of books in French to read, and could. make a stab at dusting off my reading-level Russian and attempting some Pushkin short stories or maybe even reading something skinny in Latin, but for many in North America, even those who do have dual reading ability at any level (even Asterix...) finding a book can be a challenge. Just throwing out my two cents/pence/yen/francs/rubles/renminbi, etc.

>52 Carmenere: Are you including subtitles too, Lynda? Also, does the name of the month have to be spelled out? For example, would Stephen King's 11/22/63 work?

>54 alcottacre: Interesting questions, Stasia. I would say subtitles are included as well as numerical months as long as they are in context of a month.
For example 102 minutes would not be considered 10 for October but as you mentioned 11/22/63 would be acceptable.

>55 Carmenere: Thanks for the clarifications, Lynda!

>56 alcottacre: no problem:)

>55 Carmenere: ooh, that Stephen King book would be a fun re-read!

>34 quondame:

Just those four colours or would related colours qualify, e.g. gold?

>58 Chatterbox: I am reading that one next month, Suz, but I'll never keep up with you!
>55 Carmenere: Thanks Lynda.

>53 Chatterbox: Well in fairness Suz this is a "Take it or Leave it" challenge, but it is a toughie definitely, but probably an educational one! I have actually spent the last few days brushing up my French so I can attack a French GN, so thank you, Helen.

>59 lyzard: Gold, crimson, vermilion, OK, sure.

>61 quondame:

Excellent, thank you. :)

>42 susanna.fraser:

While I'm pushing my luck---

Susanna, I have a book that's "The Life And Adventures Of---", would that work for you or not specific enough?

>63 lyzard: I'll let that one in just because I've run across books subtitled "A Life," and I'm willing to consider it as short for "Life Story."

>64 susanna.fraser: Did you miss my question at >43 FAMeulstee:?

>44 FAMeulstee: Sorry about that! Yes, those options are fine.

>66 susanna.fraser: Thank you.

>64 susanna.fraser:

I was thinking that 'adventures' rather than 'the life' was the qualifier, but it's all good; thank you! :)

>60 PaulCranswick: Yup, it's always a balancing act between making the challenges tough enough to be new/different/interesting, and yet keep them accessible! Stasia's challenge to read both a NF and a novel about Lincoln was an uphill one for many...Still, I'm glad I have a stack of French books here, as finding anything that isn't in Spanish in the local library is a non-starter. (So, no French, no Japanese, no Russian, no German, etc. and while I have Pushkin and Winnie the Pooh here in Russian, I have already read both and neither really grabs me this month!) I could try reading something in Japanese if it were all in kana, but my memory of the characters has dwindled. German kids' books would be OK -- if there were any around, LOL.

>69 Chatterbox: I will be seriously challenged, Suz, as my French is pretty basic these days but I am enjoying reacquainting myself a little with the language and all because of Helen! I think that Proust will remain beyond me at least in the medium term!
I will not go with Malay even though I am much more proficient in the language because - as much as I like to converse in Malay, it is nowhere near as agreeable to read in its formal setting.

>69 Chatterbox: Sometimes I take the word "challenges" too seriously. You would not believe the one that Madeline talked me out of for next year, lol.

>71 alcottacre:, OK, now you have to tell us about it... LOL!

>72 Chatterbox: I was going to do a challenge for 2023 where we needed to read all 3 books of a trilogy. Madeline talked me out of it. Instead I will post a rolling challenge, for a first, second, and third book of a trilogy.

>73 alcottacre: lord. Big thanks to Madeline for saving us from THAT!

>44 FAMeulstee: I have a book I want to read for the "uneven pages" challenge -- it's an advance review copy, with 285 pages of text. The publication information suggests that the final version will have 304 pages, however. Is this still OK??

>73 alcottacre: I initially read this to mean that you would do this challenge over three months! ie in the first month, read book 1, the next month, book 2, etc.

My reaction was, oh great, that'll give me a chance to reread the first two Wolf Hall books before finally getting to The Mirror and the Light!

>74 Chatterbox: LOL

>76 wandering_star: I am not sure that reading a challenge over 3 months is even allowed, but no, I would not make a "challenge" that easy - it is supposed to be a challenge!

>75 Chatterbox: That is fine with me, Suzanne.

>74 Chatterbox: LOL!!

>78 FAMeulstee: Thanks! Amusingly, I found a library book that has to be returned that ALSO has 285 pages (before acknowledgements, which I don't usually read unless I know the author), so I'll now have two books for that challenge.

Challenge #16: Read a book by an author who teaches writing

Deceased authors or authors who have retired from teaching are fine. They just need to have taught writing at some point. It can be creative writing, journalism, etc. Let's keep it to secondary or higher ed, though.

>81 cbl_tn: If they have taught at writer's retreats or workshops, would that work? For instance I have one novelist friend who runs writing workshops in Italy or Greece; and there are lots of people who pop up in Iowa to teach at those programs.

>82 Chatterbox: Yes, that's fine.

>79 SqueakyChu: Hey! I would have done it :)

>81 cbl_tn: Thanks for that challenge, Carrie. I have a couple of John McPhee's books that I have wanted to read for forever, although one will be a re-read. Now I have a great excuse for finally getting to them.

>84 alcottacre: I know, but it doesn't seem in the spirit of the challenges where each challenger is asked to post a challenge to read a particular kind of book. With that being said, I always avoid the challenges to read a heavy tome because I doubt if I'd make it through one in a month. I have no hopes of ever getting a sweep, but once I did get a sweeplette!

>85 SqueakyChu: I have to plan my heavy tomes from the outset of the month, especially if I have more than one so believe it or not, I do understand. Again, sometimes I take the word "challenge" a bit too seriously.

You never know, Madeline, you might surprise yourself some time with a sweep!

>86 alcottacre: That's always been my goal. Heh!

So last month, for example, I made 5 out of 19 books read for different challenges. That's 26%. Maybe I'll keep track of those percentages. That might be fun to see them go up sometimes.

>86 alcottacre: As a goal-driven, results-oriented person, I can tell you that for me, seeing those percentages going up would be awesome! Lol

>88 alcottacre: I just added the percentages to my threads, starting in June, 2022, and plan to add them to future threads. My July, 2022, total was 11%. Not too great, but my August total was 28%. Let's see how long it takes me to beat that.

Oops! I had to change that because I read two books for the same challenge back in August. It now comes out to 22%. That makes an increase every month x 3 months. No guarantees for the future, though. Heh!

Later, it will be fun to figure out my year end total. Now all of you sweepers out there will have percentages over 100% Wow!

Love these stats! :D

>76 wandering_star: I still want to read The Mirror and the Light too, and actually I think reading all 3 in 3 months would be quite a tough challenge for me. I've got a few other much shorter rereads before reading a subsequent book.

Nothing wrong though with setting your own mini challenge and maybe letting others know about it, and then matching books to existing TIOLI challenges or thinking up different TIOLI challenges to fit. That seems to be what a lot of people are doing now with TIOLI.

I had a couple of weeks this month when I couldn't read properly, which has rather thrown out all my reading plans. I just got too sad and distracted and sometimes found myself picking up and putting down the same book and reading a page or two repeatedly, but not really registering what I had read or being clear where I'd got to.

>45 Citizenjoyce: Would Hunger be a verb used as noun?
It is in Dutch, but I am not sure it is the same in English.

>91 FAMeulstee: Hunger isn't exactly the kind of verb I had envisioned, but neither is time; however, they both technically fit.

>92 Citizenjoyce: I hope to find an other challenge for it. If not I will put Hunger in yours.

>91 FAMeulstee: I think hunger is a verb. An example would be: "I hunger for your love!" :D

Another example from an online dictionary (Oxford languages):
verb
1. have a strong desire or craving for.
"all actors hunger for such a role"

Well there's certainly been a fair amount of conversation about my challenge. I've been away and decided to go off grid for a week, so I'm only now catching up on it all. It is a difficult one, I admit. Some people will sail through it, for others it will be impossible, but I think that's true of a lot of challenges. >73 alcottacre: would be out of my league, for starters!

>23 SqueakyChu: I first learnt German at school but that was some considerable time ago. Now we deal with a German company on a regular basis I've been using Duolingo to brush up on it, I was uncomfortable with not knowing anything for those routine interactions while traveling.

>53 Chatterbox: I think that availability issues are usually true of a number of challenges. I don't know how people manage to regularly sweep unless they have enormous library at home, access to a large branch or far more efficient library service than I do or buy them. For instance, I know I don't have any true crime books on the shelves so would be relying on the library - and its very erratic delivery service. I've had Two Noble Kinsmen "in transit" to my local branch since April.

>70 PaulCranswick: I think Proust is a step too far for most of us, Paul!

Having looked at entries so far in the wiki, there are 5 challenges with fewer books currently listed, so while I agree it is challenging, it is not impossible, nor the most "difficult" challenged posted so far. So I think, on balance, and having read the comments up thread, I will leave it unedited. As Paul said in >60 PaulCranswick:, it is Take it or Leave it. If it doesn't float your boat, or is too difficult to find something, there is no compulsion to find something to fit. Thank you for the discussion.

>95 Helenliz: Just my 2 cents, but personally, I am welcoming the challenge. Since I retired last year, I have been working on polishing up my Spanish skills and right now, I read it much better than I speak it.

On the foreign language challenge:

If you have some reading knowledge in another language and a means of reading ebooks, even through an app on a non dedicated reader, how about a short story?

As always, I don't expect to get to every challenge, and I think there's some that are more difficult than the language one (for me), but I will probably look for a short story in French. I have some collections, but also there are 19th and early 20th century writers who I can probably find a text for online if I don't already have the original (and can resist cheating!) - for example, Guy de Maupassant and Colette. I have others I possibly should have read at university for a final year Comparative Lit course on the short story, but while I read very widely in that area that year most of it was a total departure from the reading list (yes, literary short stories, but not much by men or by French language writers, and I wouldn't have been reading in any other language).

>97 elkiedee: Often kids’ books for very young children are written in two languages. If you take out library books, those would be good. Even to begin a new language! There is no requirement that the foreign language book be large or difficult. Even board books would work. I frequently circulate books such as those in my Little Free Library, although just about all of them are Spanish/English.

>96 alcottacre: I adored reading a book in easy Hebrew earlier this year. I wish I could find more of them. They are not available anywhere except to buy them online. I have way too many books at home to be buying books.

>98 SqueakyChu: I've noticed that most digital collections in London libraries include a few bilingual children's books. Apparently parents from other countries are advised now that reading and talking in any language to their kids will be helpful, not just English. Which from living all my life around lots of people with lots of different language backgrounds, I think must be true.

Madeline, are there any libraries, physical or digital, where you could access such books for loan? Or are there people living near you who would be interested in sharing such books, perhaps as well as ones in English?

>98 SqueakyChu: >99 elkiedee: I am lucky in that the area I live in has a large Hispanic population so Spanish books, both for adults and children, as well as bilingual book are fairly easy to find.

Kudos to Helen for getting us all thinking about books in a "foreign" language. I may revert to my bilingual Neruda book but really my Spanish is insufficient to cope with it so it will be either Malay or French for me. I have been working on my French a bit anyway because of the likelihood of working in Morocco soon so it is decent timing too!

>99 elkiedee: Here are some very easy bilingual books for toddlers. A few words in Spanish with a few words in English. I'll see if my library has any books such as these listed.
https://www.readbrightly.com/10-spanish-english-bilingual-picture-books/

So the answer is yes for Montgomery County public libraries in Maryland. There are physical books and ebooks for loan...and they can go out on an interlibrary loan, but I don't know if they can go out of state. Check your own local public library for loans such as these. Downloading an easy bilingual young child's ebook from your local library should work for that challenge. Plus, they can be read quickly! :D
https://mcpl.aspendiscovery.org/Union/Search?view=list&lookfor=bilingual+boo...

You can even try a new-to-you language in this way! :D

Challenge #17 - Read a book by an author sharing the name of a Post-War British Prime Minister or a book by or about a Post War British PM

Churchill / Attlee / Eden / MacMillan /Douglas-Home/Wilson/Heath/Callaghan/Thatcher/Major/Blair/Brown/Cameron/May/Johnson & Truss.

This last month saw the 16th different Post-War (Post 1945) British Prime Minister take office with Liz Truss being the third lady in the job.

Plenty of authors with Wilson, Brown, May and Cameron as a surname and most have had books published written by or about them. I will allow George Orwell by the way as his real name was Eric Arthur Blair. Churchill was a Nobel laureate and has plenty of books but many of them a bit daunting in terms of subject matter and length, Blair, Cameron, Major and Thatcher have good biographies and memoirs to go to. It would need to be a book specifically about one of the Prime Ministers and not a general history of the period.

I will read The Murderer by Roy Heath

>103 PaulCranswick: Is Churchill allowed since he was PM both during WWII and after? If not, I will need to switch out my book.

>103 PaulCranswick: Would you allow a first name? For instance, I have books on my TBR list written by people with "Thatcher" and "Blair" as their first names... :-)

>105 Chatterbox: and >103 PaulCranswick: Reading the challenge I was thinking, I assume you mean people who share the surnames of these PMs. And May and Cameron are also first names.

I’ve been a bit hit and miss with doing the TIOLI challenges every month this year but I like to post a challenge in October as it’s my birthday month. I realise that there is some overlap with challenge 10 but for

Challenge 18: read a book in honour of Queen Elizabeth II

This can be fiction or non-fiction and there must be a connection to Her Majesty; if it’s a bit tenuous then please explain the connection.

>107 humouress: Well, you can take or leave doing challenges each month so stop in when you want! We're always happy to have you here wth us, though! :)

>107 humouress: Ah, but with challenge #10 we can go all the way back through time with the British Royals!

>106 elkiedee: Yes, that's kinda what I assumed, too, Luci -- but I asked just in case! I did find a Cameron and a Wilson, and I may even re-read A Small Death in Lisbon, a suspense novel I adored, by Robert Wilson. But still, wouldn't it be fun to read The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher by Hilary Mantel for this one??

>104 alcottacre: Yes, Stasia, Churchill is allowed he was relected to power in 1951.

>105 Chatterbox: I'm looking for surnames, Suz.

>110 PaulCranswick: okey dokey!

>12 alcottacre: Stasia, would Bird Man: The Many Faces of Robert Stroud work for what you have in mind for your challenge? I've been working on family history today and I discovered that the woman who became his business partner in the 1930s was my great-grandmother's first cousin. They claimed to have a contract marriage but it was ruled invalid. I just ordered a copy of the book and it should arrive in the next couple of weeks.

>110 PaulCranswick: Thank you for the clarification, Paul. I just wanted to be sure that he qualified.

>112 cbl_tn: I think that one would be fine, Carrie. He was a murderer and the author is a woman :)

>103 PaulCranswick: If anyone's looking for a book for this challenge, there's the "Constable Twitten" series by Lynne Truss, eg Murder by Milk Bottle. They're quite funny, set in Brighton in the late 50s/early 60s? Very tongue-in-cheek.

Well!

I was planning on adding Noble House to #5, because it is tagged 'historical' despite being "a novel of contemporary Hong Kong", according to its subtitle; but I think I'll have to shift it #18, since I wasn't expecting to have a book for that one.

Take a look at the dedication---

I would like to offer this
work as a tribute to
Her Britannic Majesty,
Elizabeth II, to the people
of Her Crown Colony of
Hong Kong---and perdition
to their enemies.

>115 lyzard: Well, that's a very dedicated dedication.

>116 Citizenjoyce:

I know! I'm not at all sure what to make of that. :D

>114 Chatterbox: I was toying with her book Going Loco that I have no the shelves.

>115 lyzard: I'll take that!

It reminds me of the national anthem, which I recently discovered has three verses (actually, it has a few versions but this is accepted as the standard - according to Wikipedia). I love the second verse, though I can only ever remember the first:

God save our gracious King!
Long live our noble King!
God save the King!
Send him victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us:
God save the King!

O Lord our God arise,
Scatter his enemies,
And make them fall:
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On Thee our hopes we fix:
God save us all.

Thy choicest gifts in store,
On him be pleased to pour;
Long may he reign:
May he defend our laws,
And ever give us cause,
To sing with heart and voice,26
God save the King!

*sigh* I'm going to have to get used to not singing 'God Save the Queen'.

>115 lyzard: That's different! What was he after, do you think?

>119 humouress: The second verse is only sung when in a state of war.
I went to the town's Proclamation of King Charles, as we sang the national anthem. We were all concentrating so hard on King, not Queen, that I reckon at least half of us missed the pronoun in line 4... It was very odd.

>120 Helenliz: Aww, I like the second verse (although we've only ever sung the first, whenever the occasion called for the anthem). Yes, it's going to take us all a while to get the whole thing right.

That dedication did remind me of "frustrate their knavish tricks"!!

>119 humouress: i’m reading The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantell. That second verse is just perfect.

>122 Chatterbox: >123 Citizenjoyce: Quite so :0)

OK, I may have underestimated how hard my challenge might be. I finished Neues von Elmar und seinen Freunden by David McKee. I took to reading a page, translating what I could and then interpolating the rest and checking it in Google Translate. The second of the two stories was easier, as it involves a lost teddy It's OK, Teddy does get found so Elmer visits a number of different animals and has basically the same conversation each time. I learnt a whole pile of new words too.

The main success being that it seems you can teach this old dog new tricks.

>125 Helenliz: And I was surprised how easy I read the German graphic novel Reinhold Messner: Das Leben eines Extrembergsteigers for your challenge. I only had to look up a few words.
Then I realised my husband often watches German TV, and for my comfort without sound, and with German subtitles. So when I look up while he is watching, I see German words and read them. To me the images of words are most important in reading, so this way my reading capability in German has improved, and I hadn't realised until your challenge made me read a German book :-)

I still prefer to read books in Dutch, as I read Dutch way faster than any other language.

>125 Helenliz: I did ok because I stumped for Asterix and the language is almost incidental it is so joyful.

>125 Helenliz: My choice for your challenge has such a difficult handwritten font that even my husband, a native speaker, had great difficulty working out some letters. I'll look for an alternative.

Bump - just bumping up so that this thread is easier to find :)

TIOLI Question of the month:

What's your rant? Come on. You can rant about *anything* in any of the books that you've read so far this month...so tell us...what do you want to complain about? We're all ears! :D

>130 SqueakyChu: Ok, Madeline, I'll start us off.

The essential hypotheses of 22.11.63 is that if we try to change time we will make things worse. Can that really be true? Would the world have been eventually worse off were we to have paid off an inmate in Landsberg Prison in 1923 to cut Adolf Hitler's throat? Surely not.

>130 SqueakyChu:

Self-indulgent male authors and the spineless editors who enable them. :D

>132 lyzard: Any in particular?

>132 lyzard:
>133 elkiedee:
I won't speak for Liz, though I suspect strongly that our targets overlap. Mine is a self-indulgent male author and his 1,200-page historical, um, novel about South Africa that tries to be so excruciatingly fair to the architects of Apartheid that he often comes off as an apologist. Which would be bad enough but did I mention 1,200 (paperback) pages? At the very least, some editor should have told him to trim it way back; but I can't help wishing some editor would have told him not my house bud.

But what do I know? It made a crap-ton of money for James Michener and Random House both.

>133 elkiedee:, >134 swynn:

Well, you know---I thought I meant James A. Michener, only then I met James Clavell.

I'm right off anyone called "James", I can tell you. :D

Yes, he backs himself into a corner trying to stick to his usual formula, doesn't he? I wonder if he realised that at any point? - perhaps like Macbeth, I am in blood / Stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er...so he just kept writing...and writing...

>132 lyzard: I'm sure there are female authors who do this, but my first thought was of Wally Lamb and his interminable novels that he thinks expose us so much to his vast stores of knowledge that we will never cease reading him so that we can continue to be amazed.

Your rants are entertaining. Keep them coming! :D

I don't think I've got books by either of these writers on my TBR, though there are other writers called James (or Jim) on shelves, in boxes, on my Kindle etc.

What is there to be fair to the architects of apartheid about?

>135 lyzard: Surnames too, Liz. Henry James' longer novels are a fearful undertaking.

Stephen King's novels could do generally with an editor armed with a red pen and a strong personality because I just finished one that would have been an absolute favourite at 400 pages long but somehow managed to spin along for 740 pages.

>130 SqueakyChu: Authors who won't stop writing in a series. They should have stopped 2 or 5 or 10 or 30 (40 including novellas) books ago (looking at you JDR aka NR). They turn fantastic series into cash grabs and it shows. Oh boy, does it show.

But I'm a completist and must...

>141 Morphidae: LOL!

>140 Morphidae: And yet some of the series I enjoy have come to a "natural" end by the death of the authors fairly recently. Andrea Camilleri couldn't live forever unfortunately and I was saddened to see that Peter Robinson passed recently - DCI Banks cannot solve that one.
What I don't particularly like is franchised series continuations. I want the original voice.
Lee Child passing Reacher to his brother is a no-no and I will not read the rest of the books.
James Bond has gone through so many hands after Fleming (Amis, Gardner, Deaver, Faulks, Boyd and Horowitz to name some) and I often read them only to disappoint myself.

>138 elkiedee:

What is there to be fair to the architects of apartheid about?

Oh, the usual: they were products of their time / products of their religious faith, they were human beings not monsters, criticisms are exaggerated, race relations were worse elsewhere on the planet, etc.

>140 Morphidae: Sorry, but I am not sure that there will ever be enough In Death books for me, lol. I just love those characters.

I am with those who thinks series should never go on and on, and I also don't like handing off series to other authors to keep series going.

I have added a book to Morphy's challenge, so those needing a new template may now go ahead. :)

>143 PaulCranswick: Right before I read your post, I thought to myself that mine show read, "Authors who won't stop writing in a series ... before it starts to stink. Then I read yours which clinched it.

There are some authors I can think of right off the top of my head who cam write long series well. But they tend to do one of two things - have an overarching storyline but most of the books are simply set in the world that was built (Nalini Singh.)

Okay. Maybe not so simply. Her world building is pretty complex and while you could read most of them as standalone romances, half the book would be wasted on you as it deals with friends & family, world building, adventure, mystery, thriller, horror, etc.

The other type spreads their releases out so their writing seems fresh. Ilona Andrews comes to mind. Though what they (husband & wife team) do is write in a couple/few different series as well.

Another author has two series. One comes out every other year. Series 1 is published in odd numbered years, series 2 in even numbered years.

>145 alcottacre: I do have to admit she's done better with the last few. However around 45 - 50, especially 50 of all books, felt like she was phoning it in. She stalled out on the growth of the characters and even the 2.5 sex scenes per book were stale.

>144 swynn: So true. When a villain isn't actually kicking a puppy in the face you can justify his actions because of...

>148 Morphidae: I completely agree about book 50! It was such a letdown.

>150 alcottacre: That made me smile, Stasia! I don't know whether I would agree with you or with Morphy on her series - I know you are so passionate about it and I have the first book on the shelves casting me the occasional impatient glance but somehow it doesn't grab me. I don't know whether the prospect of 50 plus books unnerves me because like you and Morphy I am a completist too.

>151 PaulCranswick: I could direct you to what I consider to be the better books in the series, Paul, but that approach is not one I favor in this case because as the series has gone along, the characters have changed, grown closer, and thence more dynamic. There is not a static character in the bunch.

>148 Morphidae: Now I'm thinking about "2.5 sex scenes".

I think the longest series that I've read most of is now about 34 books, perhaps 35, and I've read the first 32. I still have a short story collection to read though. That's the Sharon McCone books by Marcia Muller. I think the books have changed - I'm not sure I entirely like the changes, but maybe they were needed, and the city Sharon McCone lives and works in has certainly been altered.

>153 elkiedee: I once read about 35 to 40 In Death books in row.*. It seems, and I could be wrong (but I doubt it) that there are always 2.5 sex scenes per In Death book. Meaning that there are two "full" sex scenes that run two to four pages (or thereabouts - a little longer in the first few books) and a "short" sex scene from a paragraph to one page (usually a quickie or a fade to black.)

I would call the sex scenes in these books "hot" rather than "explicit." If you took all the words in a scene and put them in an alphabetical list, your grandmother could probably read it and not blink an eye.

What's nice is that the scenes aren't just stuck in there. They match the mood of the moment. Their bedroom (or wherever) is often a time/place of emotional connection and healing for both of them.

And like regular life, sometimes it IS just about the sex. 🤣

.

.

* Don't do it. Maybe two a month. But not one to three a day. They blur into a sameness. There is definitely a formula she follows. It's a formula that works. It allows the author to publish FIVE books a year. People (including me) scarf them down like candy. But you do NOT want to read very many back to back! 😆

No, I don't read five new books a year. But I have read two new J. D. Robb a year and an occasional backlisted Nora Roberts' trilogy.

>154 Morphidae: I've never read any Nora Roberts books. Are the "in death" books the place to start?

>154 Morphidae: it doesn't even need to be that long a series for it to become repetitive. I read a number of Edward Marston's series starting with The Railway Detective. I'm absolutely convinced that he used the same paragraph of descriptions of how the particularly dapper detective looked in each book. Copy & paste job.

I find it annoying when series books don't contain pertinent information, such that reading them out of order leaves you floundering. BUT Having read the earlier ones, I already know this and it was annoying. Yes, I know that's not actually possible. I'm nothing if not contrary.

>156 Helenliz: I've bought some of the Railway Detective series. It's not as long as the Eve Dallas or Sharon McCone books, but I think he's up to about #18. I've not bought so many recently because although they're often on offer at reasonable prices, I'm thinking, I've not even got round to reading #1 in this series or either of the several other series by him I've considered reading and bought at least some of. He used to come to some of the St Hilda's Crime conferences,, though I wonder if that was because he was with his partner/wife, Judith Cutler. I've read quite a few of her older books but haven't completed either of her two earlier series or read her more recent work (and I think more recent means this century). I think I was more drawn to her first books featuring an FE college lecturer than the newer books.

>158 Helenliz: Oh, I gave up at about 6! Didn't realise he'd carried on that much further.

>156 Helenliz: and >157 elkiedee: Actually the series is up to #20, plus a short story collection and #21 listed for next year. And he's at #16 on another series, which I think was originally only about 6 books with a bit of a gap. I'm not going to buy any more books by him, I think, even on Kindle, at any more than 99p (they're often on offer but usually at a higher price than that each) until I've actually read some - this is absurd!

And I'm probably going to prioritise catching up on series that I know I really enjoy first.

>154 Morphidae: I've started to think of series books which follow a clear pattern (don't want to say "formula" as that feels like a criticism) as being like episodes in a TV show. So like watching a box set, you can "binge" a few at a time.

Folks, do me a favor and go back to the September TIOLI challenges and MAKE SURE that books you have COMPLETED have been marked so. If they are not marked in this way, I will delete them before I do the monthly stats. Housekeeping Day has been set up as a reminder for you guys to do this. Some of you are better than others doing this. However, I want to be able to give everyone credit for the books they do finish.

I'll try again in a few days to do the stats. All books in a previous month's TIOLI challenges should be marked either COMPLETED or DNF (did not finish) when the month ends. Please delete any entries that do not fit into either of these categories before starting the next month's challenges in the future.

Thank you so much!

>46 Citizenjoyce: I've finished reading The Marriage Portrait, which had already been listed in Challenge 4 by Suzanne, plus despite the title, my hardback borrowed from the library doesn't display a woman's face on the cover.

I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to match challenge 1 - I do have at least one book TBR that's already listed but I'm not likely to start and finish reading it in less than 9 days. But I don't think that Crewe Train fits, as T isn't one of the letters that title words can start with. Sorry Paul C!

>162 elkiedee: Oh no! You are right, Luci, I didn't read the challenge properly and thought I was fine with just the C! I will delete it.

>161 SqueakyChu: As probably the main offender, Madeline, I can report that I have gone back to September and edited accordingly.

>164 PaulCranswick: I didn't have the heart to delete every book you read last month, Paul! :D

>162 elkiedee: Oops, I didn't see it, I'll move my copy of The Marriage Portrait.

>165 SqueakyChu: There were only six in the end Madeline! I went into September enthusiastically enough though!

>167 PaulCranswick: Well, you tried.

>167 PaulCranswick: Awwwww. September wasn't a great reading month for me either, though generally I only put books in before finishing reading for a reason - usually for rolling challenges.

>169 elkiedee: No problem with putting too many books in. It’s not taking them
out, if not read, that makes my job a wee bit harder.

In the last few months I haven't even listed my reading plans, which I intend to return to doing. But I don't want to list more books than I'm conceivably going to read, plus a lot of it's driven by which books I need to read before they get called back to the library.

Paul- I noticed that you put The Blue Sky under challenge 13 (uneven number of pages). I put it under the Grady Girls challenge, which is a rolling letters challenge. If I pull it out, it will leave a hole, so I'm inclined to leave it. I thought I would tell you though, in case you want to move yours for the shared read.

The September 2022 TIOLI stats:

For the month of September, 2022, we read a total of 368 books with 93 of them (25%) being shared reads. We accumulated 49 TIOLI points for a September YTD total of 378 points. This is the best September YTD number since 2018. All of our stats are staying up...which is great looking toward the end of the year. With this much enthusiasm, I'll give it a go for at least another year. Thanks, everyone, for participating so often and so well.

Our most popular book, with six readers, was An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Our most popular challenge, with an astounding 74 books completed, was the one by quondame to read a book with a word beginning or ending with one of the following letters: BETTER WEATHER. Yes, we've had higher numbers for this challenge, but not in the most recent years.

The challenge with the most TIOLI points (eight) was the one by AlcottAcre to read a book on The 50 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time located "here" (which was a specific list).

*high five to all our challengers*

>173 SqueakyChu: With this much enthusiasm, I'll give it a go for at least another year. What? You were thinking of retiring? We cannot have that!!

Congratulations with all the stats staying up, people! Let's keep up that enthusiasm!!

>174 alcottacre: I base my renewals on challengers’ enthusiasm for TIOLI. It’s definitely been going up this year. It wouldn’t be fun to run this if everyone lost interest in it. The stats I do every month are for fun, but they do tell me a lot about participation. During the boring months/years of COVID, it was my book hobbies that actually kept me sane.

So glad that the TIOLI stats are remaining constant and we’ll continue for another year.

Sadly, reading is not at all a focus or priority for me these days. After 3 years of Mom and me taking care of my father, who’s got advanced dementia, at home, we made the sad and painful decision to put him into memory care. Bittersweet, as we realize he’ll get the care he needs but sad to know that he won’t be coming home.

>172 labfs39: Problem is Lisa, I am close to a TIOLI sweep this month which I may miss if I move to the other challenge. Let me check the other books I have planned to complete the sweep and I will move it for you if at all possible. x

ETA: I have moved it for you, Lisa, and will find something else with an uneven number of pages for my sweep.

>176 lindapanzo: My heart is heavy for you, Linda. It's a painful decision, I'm sure. Hang in there with us whether or not you're up to reading.

The September 2022 TIOLI Awards!

The Broken Glass Ceiling Award goes to Citizenjoyce for reading Electable: Why America Hasn't Put a Woman in the White House... Yet for my (SqueakyChu's) challenge to read a book (F or NF) by or about an individual who either ran for or held an elected office. This challenger is the only one who listed a female/females for that "elected office" parameter. This is very noteworthy.

The Let's Read Together Award goes to AlcottAcre for the challenge to read a book on The 50 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time located "here" (a specific list). What makes this challenge notable is that only two of the 16 books completed for this challenge were not shared reads! That's an astonishing 88% of shared reads in one not so small challenge. Pretty cool, eh? :D

The Unending Alphabet Award goes to AlcottAcre for reading Colonialism and Gender Relations From Mary Wollstonecraft to Jamaica Kincaid for the challenge by DeltaQueen to read a book that has more than 22 letters in the title. The title of this book (not counting subtitles, of course) had a few more than 22 letters in it. Actually quite a few more. The total number of letters in this title was 67. And, yes, I did count them to be sure that *my* number was correct. This challenger needs to buy a new adding machine! LOL!

The Still Counting Award goes to quondame for reading Not Yet the End for the challenge by cbl_tn to read a book where all the words in the title have the same number of letters. I know each title word has only three letters, but this challenge is made more difficult when more words are included in the title.

The Lost but Not Really Award goes to susanna.fraser for reading Ten Restaurants That Changed America for the challenge by Carmenere to read a book that completes the verse “See you in September or lose you to……….” My feeling is, if you have to be lost, why not in the vicinity of ten restaurants?! :D

Congrats to our Award Winners! Feel free to add awards of your own at this time.

>175 SqueakyChu: Yay for enthusiasm going up! I certainly understand about hobbies keeping you sane. That is all that is doing it for me these days - both books and board games.

>176 lindapanzo: I am so sorry to hear about your father, Linda. Like you say, it is bittersweet.

>179 SqueakyChu: Congratulations to all the award winners! BTW Madeline, I completely understand I did count them to be sure that this number was correct. One of the books I read for that particular challenge had 66 letters in it and I recounted that at least 3 times just to be sure!

>180 alcottacre: Well, I need to go back and retract the the original award. Obviously 66 is more than 55.

>180 alcottacre: Well, Ooops! I gave that award to you instead, but you can only receive this award for real if your number of letters matches mine.*

Colonialism 11
and 3
Gender 6
Relations 9
From 4
Mary 4
Wollstonecraft 14
to 2
Jamaica 7
Kincaid 7
----------------------
Total: 67 letters

*We do some really insane things here on TIOLI challenges. LOL!

>179 SqueakyChu: Thank you Madeline!

I wanted to award Citizenjoyce an award #14 for a title that could have fit any letter of the challenge words!

>182 quondame: Congrats, Joyce! That was quite a title as well. Phew!

Congrats to all Award winners!

>182 quondame: Yikes! Figuring that out, Susan, is as bad as counting all the letters in a long title! :D

>181 SqueakyChu: No, I do not want you to retract the original award. That was not the intent of my comment! Although I must admit that as many times as I counted, I still managed to get it wrong, lol.

>186 alcottacre: It's not a big deal. This is just for fun. It's not as if I award a $20,000 prize to each of you. Hey! That might not be such a bad idea!! This whole episode had me laughing.

>182 quondame: You're very observant. I didn't even notice, but my daughter will assure you that I'm not the most observant person in the world.
>179 SqueakyChu: Thanks for the award. It kind of emphasizes the title of the book, doesn't it?
>176 lindapanzo: I'm so sorry. What a difficult decision. My heart goes out to you, your mom and your dad.

>173 SqueakyChu: I'm glad that you'll be continuing into 2023. I, for one, would miss the, umm, eclectic nature of the challenges each month. I'm not one of the world's reading planners, so the spur of the moment nature of TIOLI suits me nicely.

>187 SqueakyChu: OK, now I want my $20,000!

>188 Citizenjoyce: It kind of emphasizes the title of the book, doesn't it?

It really does!!

>189 Helenliz: umm, eclectic nature of the challenges

"Eclectic is a favorite word of mine! :D

>190 alcottacre: if I award a $20,000

Remember that I said "if". So "if" I did this, you would have won $40,000 due to your correcting my error. Since you added incorrectly, though, I might have withheld at least $20,000 as a penalty. Again, that was only an "if". Haha!

>191 SqueakyChu: Rats. Foiled again! Lol

>192 alcottacre: Sorry! :D

>193 SqueakyChu: Sure you are, lol

>194 alcottacre: I am sorry that I don't have $40,000 to give away at this time. That part is accurate! LOL

>195 SqueakyChu: I can definitely relate!!

>173 SqueakyChu: I'm glad to hear you're continuing, Madeline. I don't always join the TIOLI every month - and, anyway, with the lockdowns and restrictions lifted, my reading is down again - but I do dip in now and again.

>176 lindapanzo: I'm so sorry to hear that.

>187 SqueakyChu: Oh, wait; there's $20,000 up for grabs?...

>197 humouress: Ya gotta stand in line for the $20K. It might be a while :)

>198 alcottacre: *queueing*

>199 humouress: Can I get in my own queue?! LOL

>200 SqueakyChu: Sure. There's room behind me. At the moment.

>201 humouress: Yay!

>201 humouress: >202 SqueakyChu:

No, there ain't.

*bowls everyone over*

Back of the line, people, back of the line!

>155 dallenbaugh: I'm not evading the question when I say, "it depends." The In Death series, other than the first book or two, is about HEA- tering. They are police procedurals (murder mysteries/thrillers) set in the near future.

I consider those her "best" books and are written under J. D. Robb. My next favorite are her trilogies under Nora Roberts. Many of them are romantic "fantasy." They are set in our world with some magic thrown into the mix. My favorite was Three Sisters Island. But not all her trilogies are like that. My favorite adult contemporary is the In the Garden trilogy though the Bride Quartet is also good.

She also writes a lot of stand alone romantic suspense. I can't help you much there. I don't care for that genre. However, I've read The Witness is very good.

>160 wandering_star: I agree. Binge watching/reading a favorite series of anything can often be a joy - in carefullt moderated doses.

>204 Morphidae: Thanks for the tips. I've ordered the first "in death' series.

>177 PaulCranswick: No worries, Paul! I am not concerned about having it as a shared read, but I thought you might. Sweep away!

>206 labfs39: I did move it Lisa and was able to accommodate doing so quite easily. I am one book short of my sweep but should make it today with The Memory of Love about half-way done.

Housekeeping Day!

It's that time again. Please remove from October's wiki any book that you are not able to finish by midnight tonight. For the rolling challenges, you may just mark them DNF (did not finish). Thank you all so much!

>207 PaulCranswick: Good luck and Congratulations on your sweep!

>209 labfs39: Just made it, thanks Lisa with about six hours to spare.

>210 PaulCranswick: Congratulations, Paul!

>210 PaulCranswick: Congrats, Paul! You rock!!

>210 PaulCranswick: Congratulations, brother!

>207 PaulCranswick: Congrats

>212 SqueakyChu: A little bit I do, I guess, Madeline! But Susan, Suz, Anita and Stasia seem to achieve it every month!

Thanks Juana and Joyce. x

Sneaking in one last book for my own challenge, but it doesn’t change the TIOLI points as it’s not a shared read.

Congrats on Sweep Paul.

Congratulations, Paul! You never cease to amaze me!

>217 Kristelh: Thanks Kristel.

>218 Carmenere: Thank you Lynda, but I feel as if I am normally one of the wheezy boys excused from gym!