Take It or Leave It Challenge - July 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 TIOLI challenge for July, 2022, is to

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Read a biography, autobiography, or memoir about a person in the medical field
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Rules:
1. List the profession of the subject of the book at the time the book was published.
2. Here are some ideas:
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/home.htm

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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 July 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 biography, autobiography, or memoir about a person in the medical field - msg #1
2. Read a book you purchased OR borrowed in June, 2022 which includes the letter "J" in the Title or Author's first name - msg #3
3. Read a book with a one-word title that indicates a place - msg #4
4. Read a book which is the 7th book in a series or later - msg #6
5. Read a book you intended to read earlier this year - msg #7
6. Read a book that is set in winter and/or the cold, snow or stormy weather plays a part in the plot - msg #9

Challenges #7-12
7. Read a book first published this century or where the lead character does adulting - msg #13
8. Read a book about abortion or contraception - msg #15
9. Read a book with the letter X in the title or author's name - msg #21
10. Read a book where the title on the cover is written on at least 3 lines or more - msg #23
11. Read a book about the history or politics of Canada, the United States, or France - msg #28
12. Read a book about language(s), language learning or translation - msg #29

Challenges #13-17
13. Read a book with something that can be annoying in the title - msg #33
14. Read a book whose title includes a first or second person pronoun, singular or plural - msg #40
15. Read a book written by a Chinese born author - msg #41
16. Read a book with a name in the title - msg #46
17. Read a book that fewer than 2022 members have in their catalog - msg #49
18. Read a book someone read earlier this year in a TIOLI challenge - msg #53

Please hold your challenge until The August TIOLI challenges are posted. Thank you!

Challenge #3: The "Here, There, and Everywhere" Challenge: Read a book with a one-word title that indicates a place. Subtitles to do not matter for this challenge, but articles do.

The places for this location can be something like Lighthouse by Tony Parker, Elantris (a fictional location) by Brandon Sanderson, or Texaco (a county by Patrick Chamoiseau.

>3 Carmenere: Wow, guess that lets us out if we did not purchase a book in June. Could we extend it to include books we borrowed from the library in June as well, Lynda?

Challenge #4: Read a book which is the 7th book in a series or later

In honor of the 7th month of the year, please read a book that is the 7th book (or later) in a series. So, you could read book #7, 15, or, if it's Jessica Beck or J.D. Robb or some other author of a long-running series.

Challenge #5: Read a book you intended to read earlier this year

Only you will know.

>5 alcottacre: There's still a few days in June and a couple of 99¢ Kindle choices that qualify...... Still I'd like to avoid that choice.

Challenge #6: Read a book that is set in winter and/or the cold, snow or stormy weather plays a part in the plot

Since it is summer here in the Northern Hemisphere, I find myself looking for ways to cool off.

>8 quondame: My basic problem is that I am on a book buying ban for a while, Susan, so I am pretty much disqualified from the challenge unless it is enlarged.

>9 DeltaQueen50: Judy, I feel cooler already.

>11 lindapanzo: Good. :) We have just started getting our summer weather but I am no heat lover so I am looking forward to some books that will cool me down later in the month.

In my read books from the last 50 years, we have reached the 2000 and with that comes getting a proper job, buying a house, getting married. All those dull things that constitute being an adult - even if you don't always feel like one!

Challenge #7: Read a book first published this century or where the lead character does adulting

The first bit's pretty obvious, what's going on in the second!

Adulting is "the practice of behaving in a way characteristic of a responsible adult, especially the accomplishment of mundane but necessary tasks" Surprisingly, the dictionary lists this as informal usage. >;-) I think that there are times when adulting is most certainly over rated! Read a book where a lead character does something that might be considered adulting, you may use this mini bingo card for ideas & inspiration. Images taken from https://www.instagram.com/100daysofadulting/ Please list the adulting that take place.

>3 Carmenere:, >10 alcottacre: For the most part, I don't buy books anymore, I get everything from the library, but as part of my adulting, I no longer feel the need to sweep.

Challenge #8: Read a book about abortion or contraception. Fiction or nonfiction
I'm so angry I can't even talk to my religious relatives right now. So I'll be reading The Audacity of Inez Burns: Dreams, Desire, Treachery & Ruin in the City of Gold by Stephen G. Bloom and anything else I find.

>14 Citizenjoyce: Impressive adulting.

I start each TIOLI thread wondering if a sweeplette is on, but my hopes are usually dashed before the month has started!

>7 quondame: Thank you, I think all my July reads qualify for this challenge :-)

This was basically a self serving challenge because I purchase books and shelve them. This was the case with the books I brought home from bag day at my library's book sale on Saturday. Yet, I understand it's not always feasible to purchase a book so I've changed my challenge a bit.

Regarding Challenge #2. I will reword the challenge to include books borrowed from a legit library (not Uncle Bill’s library) but one you actually sign out of an institution.
The book still must contain a “J” in the title or author’s first name.

I'm trying to add a shared read with Delta Queen on Challenge #5. Can someone remind me how to post that?

Add your line directly below the existing entry for the read you want to share.
The lines for a shared read are prefixed by a * to indicate the shared read. The wiki line starts:
# * (square bracket)

Hopefully I've understood the question and that was helpful.

Challenge #9: X marks the spot! Read a book with the letter X in the title or author's name

Self-explanitory, I think!

>18 Carmenere: Thanks, Lynda!

>21 cbl_tn: Do subtitles count for this, Carrie? I have one I want to add to the challenge, but the X is in the subtitle.

>20 Helenliz: Thank you! I’ll give it a shot after another cup of coffee.

>24 alcottacre: Yes, subtitles count!

>26 cbl_tn: Thanks, Carrie. I will add the book to the wiki now.

In honor of Canada Day, American Independence Day, and Bastille Day...

Challenge #11: Read a book about the history or politics of Canada, the United States, or France

Challenge 12: read a book about language or languages, language learning or translation

This can be fiction if language learning or translation is a significant part of the plot, for example if the main protagonist is a translator or is learning a language.

We are getting awfully heavy on non-fiction challenges and very specific ones. Whatever is the idea, making this challenging or something?

>29 wandering_star: Do you mean that this can be fiction?

>30 quondame: I see one that is specifically a genre of non fiction - I don't know whether I'll actually read any of them but I have quite a few TBR books that fit this - mostly memoir I think.

>15 Citizenjoyce: (Challenge 8) and >28 susanna.fraser: (Challenge 11) Obviously these may well be non fiction but do they have to be?

>29 wandering_star: if any one is looking for a fiction book sbout translation, Intimacies by Katie Kitamura wax set in The Hague was good. It was part of the Tournament of Books 2022.

Wow. You snooze, you lose, I guess. I come here a little later than usual and find that both of my challenge ideas have pretty much been taken---hmmph! :D

So---

Challenge #13:

Read a book with something that can be annoying in the title

I'm not going to fuss too much on this one: anything that could reasonably provoke annoyance is good. Try for lower-level stuff, though: in most cases, murder wouldn't be considered merely "annoying" (though if you can justify that, i.e. your book is a comedy about murder, go for it on the wiki).

ETA: The annoying thing may be described via the whole title or a phrase or word within the title. It does not need to be a single word.

>31 elkiedee: I was thinking of non fiction for #8 (>15 Citizenjoyce: ) and #11 (>28 susanna.fraser:), but I can see that might not be required.

I'm hoping that a copy of Because Internet will be available in time for #12 (>29 wandering_star:).

>33 lyzard: Is a noun required or are adjectives etc. contenders?

>35 quondame:

I guess I was thinking more of nouns, actual things, but what kind of adjectives do you mean?

>33 lyzard: Challenge #13: Read a book with something that can be annoying in the title

LOL!

>29 wandering_star: Challenge 12: read a book about language or languages, language learning or translation

A great book for this challenge that I would recommend is
Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books by Aaron Lansky

>31 elkiedee: I'm fine with fiction for my challenge!

Challenge #14: Read a book with a first or second person pronoun (singular or plural) in the title

So, for the first time I had to put my pronouns on a conference badge to register and I find myself thinking at odd moments about the growing use of they/their/theirs, and the confusion it sometimes can create.

One usage of personal pronouns isn't confusing: when it's first or second person. So, find a book whose title includes a first or second person pronoun or possessive pronoun, and read it!

Basically, your choices are: I, me, my, mine; you, yours, us, we, our. I'm sure there are a few others but you get the idea.

You may NOT use embedded words. That would make it FAR too easy!

Challenge #15: Read a Book Written by a Chinese Born Author

Fairly self explanatory. I will allow Hong Kong or Taiwan to avoid any political debates!

I will read Waiting by Ha Jin as a minimum.

>36 lyzard: Crooked, wrong, frozen are some that show up on my TBR.

>42 quondame:

Oh, okay. In that case I would expect the annoying thing to be a phrase, e.g. "a wrong turn". It doesn't have to be a single word. I will add that above for clarity.

>31 elkiedee: Fiction or nonfiction works.

My planned re:
Challenge #1: Read a biography or autobiography about a person in the medical field (List the profession)- started by SqueakyChu
*✔The Beauty in Breaking: A Memoir by Michele Harper (4)
*The Facemaker: A Visionary Surgeon's Battle to Mend the Disfigured Soldiers of World War I- Lindsey Fitzharris
Challenge #2: Read a book you purchased OR borrowed in June, 2022 which includes the letter "J" in the Title or Author's first name - started by Carmenere
Challenge #3: The "Here, There, and Everywhere" Challenge: Read a book with a one-word title that indicates a place. Subtitles to do not matter for this challenge, but articles do. Started by AlcottAcre
Challenge #4: Read a book which is the 7th book in a series or later - started by lindapanzo
Challenge #5: Read a book you intended to read earlier this year - started by quondame
Challenge #6: Read a book that is set in winter and/or the cold, snow or stormy weather plays a part in the plot - started by DeltaQueen
*✔Snow Blind - Ragnar Jonasson (3.5)
Challenge #7: Read a book first published this century or where the lead character does adulting - started by helenliz
✔The Hundred-Year House - Rebecca Makkai (3.5)
✔Little Souls- Sandra Dallas (3.5)
✔Remarkably Bright Creatures - Shelby Van Pelt (4.5)
Challenge #8: Read a book about abortion or contraception F/NF - started by Citizenjoyce
✔The Audacity of Inez Burns: Dreams, Desire, Treachery & Ruin in the City of Gold - Stephen G. Bloom (4)
✔Belabored: A Vindication of the Rights of Pregnant Women - Lyz Lenz (3.5)
Everything Below the Waist: Why Health Care Needs a Feminist Revolution - Jennifer Block
*✔ The Farm - Joanne Ramos (5)
✔ Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty - Dorothy E. Roberts (3.5)
✔Loved and Wanted: A Memoir of Choice, Children, and Womanhood - Christa Parravani (3.5)
*✔Mercy Street - Jennifer Haigh - Citizenjoyce (4)
✔The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service - Laura Kaplan (5)
✔The turnaway study : ten years, a thousand women, and the consequences of having--or being denied--an abortion by Diana Greene Foster Ph.D (5)
✔You're the Only One I've Told: The Stories Behind Abortion -Meera Shah (5)
Challenge #9: X marks the spot! Read a book with the letter X in the title or author's name - started by cbl_tn
✔Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil - Tom Mueller (4)
*The Wandering Earth - Cixin Liu Abandoned
Challenge #10: Read a book where the title on the cover is written on at least 3 lines or more - started by dallenbaugh
✔The Girl in His Shadow: A Novel by Audrey Blake (5)
*✔The Girl With the Louding Voice - Abi Dare (4.5)
✔Miss Benson's Beetle - Rachel Joyce (5)
The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani
Challenge #11: Read a book about the history or politics of Canada, the United States, or France - started by susanna.fraser
George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution - Brian Kilmeade
✔The Hidden History of the War on Voting: Who Stole Your Vote and How to Get It Back - Thom Hartmann (5)
Challenge #12: Read a book about language(s), language learning or translation - started by wandering_star
✔The Rose Code: A Novel - Kate Quinn (4.5)
*✔Wordslut - Amanda Montell (3.5)
Challenge #13: Read a book with something that can be annoying in the title - started by lyzard
✔An Anatomy of Pain: How the Body and the Mind Experience and Endure Physical Suffering - Abdul-Ghaaliq Lalkhen (4)
✔We Had to Remove This Post - Hanna Bervoets (3.5)
Challenge #14: Read a book whose title includes a first or second person pronoun, singular or plural - started by Chatterbox
*✔You Have a Friend in 10A - Maggie Shipstead (4)
Challenge #15: Read a book written by a Chinese born author - started by PaulCranswick
*✔The Art of War - Sun Tzu (4)
Challenge #16: Read a book with a name in the title - started by FAMeulstee
*✔Sea of Tranquility - Emily St. John Mandel (3.5)
✔Zorrie - Laird Hunt (4)
Challenge #17: Read a book that fewer than 2022 members have in their catalog - started by Morphidae=
✔The Perfect Son - Freida McFadden (3.5)
Challenge #18: Read a book someone read earlier this year in a TIOLI challenge (name the month/challenge) - started by bell7
The Library of the Unwritten - A. J. Hackwith ABANDONED
✔The Sentence by Louise Erdrich (4)

Challenge #16: Read a book with a name in the title

A specific name of a person, a place, an animal etc.

>31 elkiedee: Yes, I do, sorry - have changed it.

I think it is good to have a balance between thematic challenges and ones which are to do with things about the book (cover images, colours etc). Recent months have focused more heavily on the latter, I think, so maybe it’s good to have a bit of a corrective now and then.

>47 wandering_star: apology not needed!

Challenge #17: Read a book that fewer than 2022 members have in their catalog

Picked one of the, if not the, easiest of my 2022-themed challenges as I'm on day 16 in the hospital (not because of ill-health but because TCUs are that full!) I have no brain. I have the dumbs.

Not so much dumbs that I don't remember the fewer vs. less rule. ;^)

>49 Morphidae: Aha! I may end up listing rather a lot of next month's reads here!

>49 Morphidae: >50 elkiedee: This will be a good catch all.

Last time, I read one where I was the first person to read a book. I need to see if I can do that again, this time.

Well phooey. The one I thought for sure would have no other members/readers already has two.

This is just an FYI to say that I am including "memoir" in Challenge #1 in addition to the options of biography or autobiography.

Challenge #18: Read a book someone read earlier this year in a TIOLI challenge you did not read a book for

It can be any book someone read from January - June in one of the TIOLI challenges.

I thought it would be a fun way of incorporating shared reads across months. Taking Paul and Suzanne's comments into consideration (and a book that I had thought of reading but didn't get to myself), I've decided to go ahead and make it slightly less challenging by taking out the requirement that you hadn't read a book for the challenge that month. So any book that's on the wiki from the last six months is up for grabs.

A reminded that you can use the index to the wikis (also linked in >1 SqueakyChu:) to look through past months.

Please note the previous month/challenge.

>53 bell7: Only problem Mary would be for the few regulars who have completed sweeps every month this year in the TIOLI. They have no chance of competing. Any way to modify it so that they get a chance to compete? (It doesn't affect me by the way as I have only managed one sweep this year).

ETA Only Susan so far has sweeps every month but Suzanne and Stasia may also complete a full house this month and join her.

>54 PaulCranswick: I'm allowing matched reads to try to make a way for those with sweeps to participate, Paul. And I'd say as long as you weren't the first person to list a book, if that person ends up taking it off, I'm not going to disallow any later entries.

If that doesn't help much, I can modify it to say that if a participant made a sweep in any given month, they can choose any challenge in that month.

>55 bell7: Thank you for that, Mary. xx

For those of you who have not yet chosen a book for my challenge #1, I highly recommend these books (which will also now be shared reads if you choose them):
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanthi

>55 bell7: Thanks Mary, would be wonderful if you could modify it (in case I don't find a shared read...) Certainly there are books that others read and I intended to read for specific challenges, that would fit part of the spirit of your challenge. But I do have a sweep at present, YTD, which would disqualify me from a sweep in June and thus a 2022 sweep. I realize these are petty things in the grand scheme of the world, but... :-)

#57 Oh, Thanks for posting those suggestions! I read Being Mortal a while back so I may to a reread of that or delve into When Breath Becomes Air, which I've wanted to read for a long time.
Could this be the month I finally achieve a sweeplet?!

>59 Carmenere: Could this be the month I finally achieve a sweeplet?!

Yes! Of course!! :D

>2 SqueakyChu: >18 Carmenere: Following the usual rules, if someone was to do a shared read of a title already entered, then no actual purchase - or library withdrawal - would be required. I'm not sure why this didn't immediately occur to be, but, well, brain rot.

>58 Chatterbox: I'll say if anyone has a sweep in a given month of challenges, they can read a book that would have fit the challenge they've read least in that month.

So, if someone swept in April and wants to read something from that month of challenges, any challenge with one book read is fair game. If they managed a double sweep that month, any challenge with two books, and so on.

>57 SqueakyChu: Being Mortal is such a great book, I think everyone should read it especially those of us caring for older relatives or facing our own mortality.

I've updated >53 bell7: above to take out the requirement that it be a challenge you didn't read a book in before. I think that did make it a little too tight than what I was going for.

>63 Citizenjoyce: You are right, Joyce, it was both wonderful and comforting.

I just have to say, I'm so excited to finally read The Bell Jar for Challenge #5. Thanks for choosing this classic, Judy aka DeltaQueen.

>66 Carmenere: I'm excited as well Lynda, I have been trying to fit The Bell Jar into my reading all year!

I’m going to try for a sweeplette:

1. Call the Nurse Mary J. MacLeod
2. The Sea Wolf Jack London
3. Shtetl Eva Hoffman
4. False Scent Ngaio Marsh
5. Cinder Marissa Meyer
6. Crimson Snow Martin Edwards, ed.

Maybe I can do this. It would be my first sweeplette.

>68 Matke: Good luck!

>68 Matke:

C’mon you can do it! Rah! Rah! Rah!!

>68 Matke: Go for it.

>68 Matke: Good luck on your sweeplette attempt!! I'm hoping to do my first sweeplette of 2022 on challenges 1 to 6 as well. My last one was December 2021, I think.

>72 lindapanzo: Good planning.

<73> The one word title of a place will the the toughest part of my attempted sweeplette. Ideally, I’d like to read a James Michener or an Edward Rutherfurd but don’t feel like tackling a thousand page book.

Need to look at what others have chosen a bit more carefully.

>74 lindapanzo:

Chesapeake is only 850! See you there?? :D

>68 Matke: Good luck!

>72 lindapanzo: Yes, your last swepplette was in December 2021.

>75 lyzard: Also Michener is a pretty good writer, so it will only feel like 800.

>69 alcottacre: >70 SqueakyChu: >71 Citizenjoyce: >72 lindapanzo: >76 FAMeulstee:
Thank you for all the encouragement! I tried not to be too terribly ambitious.

(Message deleted)

>75 lyzard: Chesapeake is one I'm thinking about, along with Iberia and maybe Alaska.

I've read four Michener books, the last one being Legacy, way back in 1988.

ETA: I'm putting Chesapeake under the challenge. Join me?

>77 swynn:

:P

>80 lindapanzo:

Steve and I will both be reading Chesapeake this month for our best-seller challenge: it's our third Michener for the project after The Source and Centennial. So yes, absolutely! :)

I've just switched The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah from my cold weather challenge #6, to Anita's name in title challenge #16. I realized that the Winter mentioned in the title is actually the main character's name and has nothing to do with the weather.

I had high hopes for a great reading month but yesterday's mass shooting in Highland Park, IL hit a bit too close to home, or rather, to work and has left many of us very, very shaken and upset. Reading, baseball, nothing I enjoy has been a comfort.

Many co-workers live there and I go there often, such as to dinner or the movies, too (it's about a half hour from home and just a couple miles from the office). So far, it appears that no friends/co-workers were directly impacted (killed, shot, or injured). We're tracking down other friends and former co-workers. One woman we know, in her low 70s, was at the parade and made a run to safety when everyone else started running.

One of my dearest friends used to live about a block or two from the scene of the crime but moved back to the city late last year. As soon as I heard the news, I reached out to make sure she hadn't gone back to HP for the parade. I fear that she'll know some of the victims because it's such a tight-knit community.

It is one of the most upscale and seemingly safe communities I know of. If something like this can happen in Highland Park, it can happen anywhere.

>83 lindapanzo: I am so sorry that this tragedy hit so close to home for you, Linda. I hope and pray that people you know are all safe, but that doesn't make this situation any less painful. What a challenging world we live in. Every day seems to bring some sort of dismay.

>83 lindapanzo: You've had to come face to face with so many adversities in the past year. I hope you find something to give you comfort. I hope we all can.

>74 lindapanzo: Caribbean is only 667 pages, (albiet of small print) and is my current read. I usually feel that way when thinking about tackling a Michener work but I have never been disappointed yet. Chesapeake is on my shelf, I'd take you up on that after finishing Caribbean, of course.
Regarding the tragedy: Make someone's day by giving a smile, a small kindness, maybe it can calm a troubled heart, and prevent someone else from taking their hurts and anger out on the world.

I finished TIOLI #4 over the weekend. Sanctuary Sparrow is the 7th book in the series of Brother Cadfael Mysteries.

>23 dallenbaugh: With The Story of China I could get like 15 lines..... unless you count Chinese lines, which would be, well, 2.

I'm currently content with 7 for A Salad Only the Devil Would Eat.

>87 quondame: I had to look at the book cover to understand what you mean. Ha. Go for it.

>88 dallenbaugh: ;)

JULY 2022 TIOLI READS

READ

Kate Atkinson, Shrines of Gaiety - #7
Elizabeth Hay, A Student of Weather - #13
Laird Hunt, Zorrie - #16 SHARED READ
Caroline O'Donoghue, Promising Young Women - #17
Lara Feigel, Free Woman: Life, Liberation and Doris Lessing - #16
Musa Okwonga, One of Them: An Eton College Memoir - #17
Peter Lovesey, The Stone Wife - #4
Ruta Sepetys, The Fountains of Silence - #5
Lars Mytting, The Bell in the Lake - will list in #10 - POTENTIAL SHARED READ (also would fit #6)
Stuart Turton, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - #10
Sarah Moss, The Fell - #17
Emily St John Mandel, Sea of Tranquility - listed as #16 - SHARED READ
Paul Dowswell, The Great Revolt - #7 or #17
Paul Preston, The Spanish Holocaust: Inquisition and Extermination in Twentieth-Century Spain - #9
Otto Penzler & Lee Child (selection/editor), Best Crime Stories of the Year: 2021 - #17
Stacey Halls, Mrs England - #5
Anne Tyler, French Braid - #5
Sara Gethin, Emmet and Me - #14
Selina Todd, Tastes of Honey: The Making of Shelagh Delaney and a Cultural Revolution - #5
Jan Carson, The Last Resort - #7
A J Pearce, Dear Mrs Bird - #18 - SHARED READ
Jessie Burton, The House of Fortune - #7
Abi Daré, The Girl With the Louding Voice - #10 - POTENTIAL SHARED READ
Elly Griffiths, Bleeding Heart Yard - #7
Roopa Farooki, Everything is True: A Junior Doctor's Story of Life, Death and Grief in a Time of Pandemic - #1
Olga Wojitas, Miss Blaine's Prefect and the Vampire Menace - #13 - POTENTIAL SHARED READ

LISTENED

Chris Atkins, A Bit of a Stretch - #10

CURRENTLY READING

Jenny Jackson, Pineapple Street
Cynthia Voigt, Homecoming
Brit Bennett, The Mothers - #8 - SHARED READ
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (editor), The Best Short Stories 2021: The O. Henry Prize Winners
Eileen Chang, Little Reunions - #15 - POTENTIAL SHARED READ
Jon McGregor, Reservoir 13 - #2 - POTENTIAL SHARED READ
Isobel Wilkerson, The Warmth of Other Suns - #11
Louise Welsh, The Cutting Room
Bonnie Garmus, Lessons in Chemistry
Val McDermid, Insidious Intent
Michael Rosen, The Missing: The True Story of My Family in World War II

NEXT UP:

Elly Griffiths, The Locked Room
Alice Munro, The Beggar Maid
Charlotte Mendelson, The Exhibitionist

31.07.22 Books listed as Currently Reading or Next Up will probably be copied over to August tomorrow. I'm very unlikely to finish another book this month, but hopefully I will be in a good position to finish two or three by Thursday.

I note that Zorrie is listed in 2 challenges - 3 of us currently in #16, 2 completed including me, 1 in #18

>91 elkiedee: I'm the oddball in 18. I already read one for 16, but it looked good, so I thought I'd try it.

>91 elkiedee: I won't get anywhere near a sweep this month, so I'd be fine with my listing in either place if folks have a preference.

>92 Citizenjoyce: and >93 bell7: I don't particularly mind, but have gone with #16 as Susan (quondame) has already marked the book as complete. I've already read 9 books (more than 1 a day) but I don't know if I'll be able to spread my reads across challenges etc. I seem to have a lot of books clustered in #7, #10, #16 and #17 - and I might have more than one for #18 as well.

>94 elkiedee: I'm reading another book for challenge 18 so I've moved Zorrie to 16.

TIOLI Stats for June, 2022

Together we read a total of 343 books of which 59 (or 17%) were shared reads. For the month of July we accumulated 33 TIOLI points for a July YTD total of 248 TIOLI points.

The most popular books, each with six readers, were the following:
---The Emergency: A Year of Healing and Heartbreak in a Chicago ER by Thomas Fisher
---Bewilderment by Richard Powers

The most popular challenge, with 40 books read, was the one by susanna.fraser to read a book that fits a category on the Seattle Public Library 2022 Summer Reading bingo card.

The challenge with the most TIOLI points (six of them) was the one by raidergirl3 to read a book by an author who has the same initials for first and last names.

The stats are staying pretty stable. Good going, everyone.

>96 SqueakyChu: Nice!

>96 SqueakyChu: Your little engine keeps chugging along.

>98 Citizenjoyce: For twelve years now. In an odd turn of events, my own car wouldn't start today! Maybe I should switch engines with LT? LOL!

TIOLI Question of the Month

When you choose a book to read, how much do you want to know about it before you read it? Are you comfortable knowing nothing about it, or do you have to research it well before reading it? Tell us about books you're reading this month as you answer this question.

>100 SqueakyChu: I am strongly biased toward authors I've read before and trust. Otherwise I go by recommendations, mostly here on LT which are more trustworthy than FB or people who I don't have a large shared experience with. But every now and then I just like the cover, and guess what - Marth Wells!

>100 SqueakyChu: That is a tough question for me to answer as I do both - sometimes I know pretty much nothing about a book but that someone here in the group has recommended it (City by Clifford D. Simak comes to mind) and at other times I research it well before reading it (Emma by Jane Austen for this one).

I pick books to read for different reasons. I often know quite a bit about a book as I am looking for one to fit into one of my many challenges but I also like to be surprised so not knowing much can be a bonus. I have also been known to simply pick up a book on a whim attracted by the cover or the title. Of course I also like to have a supply of books on hand by one of my many favorite authors for those times when I particularly need a good read.

>100 SqueakyChu: I also go with authors I like and recommendations from people whose choices I respect. Sometimes a title will grab my attention then I'll read a little synopsis on Libby. Sometimes I go by ratings on LT. For the most part, I like to know as little about the book as possible. I like it all to be a surprise.

>99 SqueakyChu: Your TIOLI engine probably won't be of much use to your car, but it has sure helped my reading engine keep zooming along.

>104 Citizenjoyce: Your TIOLI engine probably won't be of much use to your car, but it has sure helped my reading engine keep zooming along.

LOL!

>105 SqueakyChu: >106 alcottacre: The same for me, especially books off my own shelves!

>106 alcottacre: Yay!!

I actually like researching my books before I read them. I tend not to go into a book blind especially if the book has a lot of characters or is confusing.

>108 Kristelh: I am just the opposite. The less I know about a book before I read it, the more interested I am in reading it. I just need to know it's not going to be something I dislike.

I do some research most of the time, mainly to eliminate books I’m not interested in reading, whatever the reason for that may be. (Genres I don’t like, nonfiction subjects I’m incurious about, etc)

Books can be expensive and my time is growing shorter, so I try hard to narrow my choices. As a kid, though—probably until I was forty—I’d pick very randomly; an intriguing cover, a brilliant premise, or even an oddly quirky title could catch my attention.

I think the last book I bought strictly through the cover picture, and read and absolutely loved btw, was Possession by A.S. Byatt. I picked up The Essex Serpent based on a combination of title and cover. So once in a while I’ll just take a wild chance, but not often. And that’s kind of a shame.

I like to know a little about the book before I read it, so I don't wind up wasting my time on an uninteresting book. Occasionally if I am at the library or book store I will randomly pick books or purposely try a new author, but shelf space, reading time, and $$ are finite so I don't feel inclined to waste any of them, especially as I get older. I used to frequent book stores more than I do now since I have built up quite a good collection to probably last several years and am concentrating more on reading what I have lately.

There are so many suggestions from people I would trust, I don't think I'd ever run out of interesting titles to read, especially if you follow some of the reading threads here on LT.

Having a variety of challenges helps to motivate me but if you get to hung up on them you can feel like your falling behind and it might make your reading seem like a chore instead of something you enjoy.

> I need to know something about the books I am going to read, usually because I'm making a choice between several, and I have to be in the right frame of mind for some genres or even themes or styles of writing.

>100 SqueakyChu:

I don't research in the sense you mean. Most of my reading is challenge- or series-related, so often it's a book I know nothing about and wouldn't have read otherwise - which is good! - or a series work where I know what I'm getting - which is also good! :)

I hardly ever do research on a book. I don't want my view to be skewed in anyway. For me, reading a book is like living someone else's life and just like in real life, you don't know what happens next.

>114 Carmenere: Yes!! Exactly. :D

>115 SqueakyChu: Case in point, I just completed The Bell Jar. I had no idea of the premise so I was really surprised of the turn it took.

>116 Carmenere: I recently read Bewilderment by Richard Powers because someone left it in my Little Free Library. I was so blown away by that book (knowing nothing about it beforehand) that I just took out another book (The Echo Maker) by the same author (knowing nothing about the book's content) from my local library. It's very intriguing!

>100 SqueakyChu: I was going to say I usually know about the books I read but the. I remembered the YA Sync free summer audiobooks. I get them each week and there are very few I have heard of before. There are usually several LATW plays acted out to listen to, Paradise by Laura Maria Censabella. I’ve also listened to Someone like Me and now We Were Kings.
My sister and I share a Libby account (twice the library books!) so ever now and then a book she borrows will show up in my account to read that I’ve never heard of. I read more than her so it happens more for her.

>117 SqueakyChu: I love to be surprised by a good story! Glad you found one in Bewilderment.

>100 SqueakyChu: It depends. I will quite happily read the introductory notes to a Penguin classics edition (for instance) before reading the text. But then I will also pick up a book simply because it fits a criterion.

>120 Helenliz: I personally hate introductions because I find they give away too much of the story. I read introductions after I finish reading a book.

JULY 2022 TIOLI READS

READ

Kate Atkinson, Shrines of Gaiety - #7
Elizabeth Hay, A Student of Weather - #13
Laird Hunt, Zorrie - #16 SHARED READ
Caroline O'Donoghue, Promising Young Women - #17
Lara Feigel, Free Woman: Life, Liberation and Doris Lessing - #16
Musa Okwonga, One of Them: An Eton College Memoir - #17
Peter Lovesey, The Stone Wife - #4
Ruta Sepetys, The Fountains of Silence - #5
Lars Mytting, The Bell in the Lake - will list in #10 - POTENTIAL SHARED READ (also would fit #6)
Stuart Turton, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - #10
Sarah Moss, The Fell - #17
Emily St John Mandel, Sea of Tranquility - listed as #16 - SHARED READ
Paul Dowswell, The Great Revolt - #7 or #17
Paul Preston, The Spanish Holocaust: Inquisition and Extermination in Twentieth-Century Spain - #9
Otto Penzler & Lee Child (selection/editor), Best Crime Stories of the Year: 2021 - #17
Stacey Halls, Mrs England - #5
Anne Tyler, French Braid - #7
Sara Gethin, Emmet and Me - #14
Selina Todd, Tastes of Honey: The Making of Shelagh Delaney and a Cultural Revolution - #7

LISTENED

Chris Atkins, A Bit of a Stretch - #10

CURRENTLY READING

Elly Griffiths, Bleeding Heart Yard - #7
Jessie Burton, The House of Fortune - #7
A J Pearce, Dear Mrs Bird - #18 - SHARED READ
Abi Daré, The Girl With the Louding Voice - #10 - POTENTIAL SHARED READ
Olga Wojitas, Miss Blaine's Prefect and the Vampire Menace - #13 - POTENTIAL SHARED READ
Cynthia Voigt, Homecoming - #3
Jan Carson, The Last Resort #17
Brit Bennett, The Mothers - #8 - SHARED READ
Roopa Farooki, Everything is True: A Junior Doctor's Story of Life, Death and Grief in a Time of Pandemic - #1

NEXT UP:

Jon McGregor, Reservoir 13 - #2 - POTENTIAL SHARED READ
Isobel Wilkerson, The Warmth of Other Suns - #11

ANTI-RECOMMENDATION: Before reading Self-Reference Engine, I placed it in Challenge 17. It only had 98 catalog entries before I added it to my own.

Upon completion, I have moved this book to Challenge 13 because the idea of such an engine is now maddening to me, and the book itself was an annoying jumbled experimental self-referential hard-core physics-scifi fever dream.

>123 jeanned: book itself was an annoying jumbled experimental self-referential hard-core physics-scifi fever dream.

LOL! I think I'll skip this one!

>100 SqueakyChu: For an author I really love, I'll read anything they release. In other cases, I usually want a recommendation from a source I trust, and what I think of, mostly because I'm a writer myself, as an "elevator pitch"--just a line or two telling me what the book has to offer, enough to hook me if it's my kind of thing.

>123 jeanned: Sounds like one of those books where you realise why it only had 98 entries before yours! Some are undiscovered gems, others - not so much.

The June 2022 TIOLI Awards!

The Beginning and End Awardgoes to FAMeulstee for reading Briefjes voor Pelle by Marlies Slegers for my (SqueakyChu's) challenge to read a book by a new-to-you author whose last name starts or ends with the letter "S". The author of this book has a surname that both starts and ends with the letter "S".

The It's Hardly There at All Award goes to AnneDC for reading War for the challenge by wandering_star to read a nonfiction book with a one-word title. This book title is not only one word, but it's also so short that if you blink, you might miss it.

The Desired Outcome Award goes to wandering_star for reading How to Find Love for the challenge by lyzard to read a book with the theme "What should I do with my life?" This sounds like a good plan to me!

The Sharing is Fun Award goes to Citizenjoyce for the challenge to read a book about or set in an emergency department of a hospital. All but one of the books listed in this challenge (6 out of 7 of them) or 86% were shared reads. Not too shabby! :D

Congrats to our award winners! Please add awards of your own at this time should you feel the desire to do so.

>127 SqueakyChu:

I always appreciate an award, Madeline, but that was Joyce's challenge! :D

>128 lyzard: Oops! Fixed. Thanks. I think I have it right now.

>127 SqueakyChu: The Emergency: A Year of Healing and Heartbreak in a Chicago ER by Thomas Fisher was a book I just heard of. I'm glad I could help spread it around a little.

>130 Citizenjoyce: You did a GREAT job at that!

>127 SqueakyChu: Thanks for the award, Madeline.

>131 SqueakyChu: Well, I once helped deliver an 11-pound baby over an intact perineum, but this was nice too.

>127 SqueakyChu: Congratulations to you all!

Thank you for my award and congratulations to the other winners!!

I know that there are several people in the group reading Plainsong by Kent Haruf right now, so I have added the book to challenge #7 for this month - there is a lot of adulting going on in that particular book.

I had to remove Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt from the three line challenge to the adulting challenge. This confused 30-year-old guy is working very hard avoiding then trying to figure out how to be an adult.

Eek! Finished the Sweeplette *preens*

The books read ranged from fives stars (Shtetl)
To one star
(Cinder)

This was fun and worthwhile, as I’m clearing up some TBR selections.

>138 Matke: Congratulations!

>138 Matke: Congratulations, Matke!

I think LT should tell us when we're trying to tag the post we're typing.

>140 elkiedee: So cool! Good job and congrats!

P.S. Sorry about the one star book, though, :D

>138 Matke: That is wonderful!

On another note, I brought home A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking this morning from the library and found that the title is on 5 lines, so I am adding it to Challenge #10. I am also adding Book Lovers by Emily Henry to Challenge #7 since it was published in 2022.

ETA: I discovered that Book Lovers was already on the wiki, so it will be a shared read. Lovely!

>141 SqueakyChu: >138 Matke: >140 elkiedee: Sorry, I somehow responded to my own tag. Now the screen tells me there are two posts numbered >141 SqueakyChu:. Bit confusing. I blame the heat.

>143 elkiedee: >141 SqueakyChu: SqueakyChu:. Bit confusing. I blame the heat.

Sometimes that happens when two posts are made at the same time, but after a few minutes, the numbering is corrected without doing anything else.

>143 elkiedee: Well, my screen is telling me that there are now 2 posts #142, Luci, if it makes you feel any better.

It is hot here in Texas too :)

>145 alcottacre: I have one post #142 and one post #143. So there!! :D

Here in Rockville, Maryland. It is now a mere 89 degrees. However, tomorrow he forecast is for 100 degrees.

In southern Colorado it is 97 degrees but only 17% humidity so it is not too bad.

It was 116 degrees here yesterday but only supposed to get to 112 today, practically chilly.

>146 SqueakyChu: Yikes. I can't convert between Fahrenheit and Celsius but I know it's hot. Actually if I think of body temperatures and thermometers I can get some sense of it. Bizarrely Doncaster, South Yorkshire, two stops and perhaps 30 miles or so before Leeds on my trains home to visit my mum when she was alive, got the record for hottest place in the country. (not a record I want my bit of London to match). There was a fire in the suburbs, but it's people living in the worst hit bits of Spain and Portugal I feel sorry for.

>142 alcottacre: I adored A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking. Enjoy!

>137 Citizenjoyce: *snort* Hope that's not messed up your read planning.

>150 Helenliz: Nope, I already had books in each, so it didn't matter.

I had to give up The Vicar of Wrexhill; just not going to have enough time to read it. But I am going to be able to finish The Cider House Rules (abortion topic) and White Teeth (published in the 2000’s and a character does adulting.

Well, this won't be the month for my first sweeplett. Better luck next month.

>153 Carmenere: I know you’ll get there sooner or later. Best of luck!

>152 Matke: I did love John Irving's writing back in the 80s. Starting with A Son of the Circus I found him more and more disappointing. I guess he's still writing, but I'm afraid to look into him again; however, Cider House Rules is great.

>155 Citizenjoyce: I, too, used to love the writing of John Irving, but then I stopped reading his books. I guess my favorite was The World According to Garp. Glad to hear about The Cider House Rules. I did get to see this author one year at the National Book Festival which made me so happy because John Irving was one of my favorite authors at the time.

>156 SqueakyChu: He wrote that 40 years ago. I can't imagine how it must feel to be such a beloved author then to be practically ignored for the rest of your life.

>157 Citizenjoyce: Popular authors have a great deal of pressure on them to keep up the popularity and excellence of their writing. It must be hard work!

>154 Matke: Thanks for the encouragement! It’s appreciated :)

Stasia, in Challenge 10, I've listed more than one completed book. I can see you've finished reading at least two books, and I've seen that you won't finish all that you've listed. I'm going to move my listing of The Bell in the Lake to #6. I'm not going to explain how the cold weather is important to the story as it would be too much of a spoiler, but this is rural northern Europe and there is quite a bit of dramatic weather.

>160 elkiedee: I will finish The Bell in the Lake by Sunday, Luci, and I will move it to challenge #6 just as you have done. Thank you for letting me know.

>155 Citizenjoyce: , >156 SqueakyChu: I too was a fan of Irving for quite a while. I did make it one book further, Joyce: I found A Son of the Circus weird (I like weird) and very funny. After that I his books just weren’t for me. Cider House is a reread for me from many years ago and I’m surprised at how much of it I remember, and even more surprised by what I forgot.

>147 dallenbaugh: Very belatedly noticing my TIOLI award. Thanks Madeline! and wandering_star for the one-word challenge.

For the TIOLI question, I'm all over the place. If a book is by an author I like, I rarely do any research and am often completely surprised by the subject matter. Sometimes I'll read a book just because it's won a prize without knowing anything about the author or subject.
If reading other people's recommendations counts as research, that's often all the information I have before picking up a book. For TIOLI, sometimes a little research is required to determine whether a book fits a challenge. For non-fiction, it's usually pretty clear what the subject matter is and if it sounds interesting, no need for research. On the other hand, for my Presidential biographies project, I will do research to try to get insight into what are considered the best biographies of each President.
My July reads have all been books I knew a lot about before reading them--my June reads on the other hand were mostly subject matter surprises--Bewilderment, The Book of Form and Emptiness, Sorrow and Bliss, A Passage North, Last Night at the Lobster, Moth Smoke, The Gurkha's Daughter, When We Cease to Understand the World.

> When you choose a book to read, how much do you want to know about it before you read it? Are you comfortable knowing nothing about it, or do you have to research it well before reading it? Tell us about books you're reading this month as you answer this question.

I don't necessarily research a book that well - I buy books mostly Kindle Daily Deal or secondhand, very few new hard copy books for me, when I had a little more money and regularly visited a local indie bookshop I used to buy picture books for my kids, then later for nephews etc, but that was a while ago now! But I found some lovely picture books there. The boys are 13 and 15 and I still need to give away a lot of the books in their old bedroom (they've moved into bedrooms in the loft extension and their old room is a junk heap full of boxes of books and old toys) or borrow a book I will skim the beginning of a blurb for a book of fiction - a novel, short story anthology or collection - but often don't even read that.

I research more to fit books into TIOLI challenges sometimes than on their own merits. Often I will choose a book just knowing it's by a favourite author, or it's a historical novel set during.

I might slightly research a non fiction book more, but this is mostly to google and see - does a historian have an established reputation and what is it? Sometimes this has led me not to buy a book because I don't like the sound of an author's perspective. I do own books by some quite conservative historians but if I'd known about Dominic Sandbrook's outlook I might have chosen a different book by a different author to spend a large proportion of the value of a book token (gift certificate).

>45 Citizenjoyce: I just finished Miss Benson's Beetle as a shared read for #10. I read it instead of listened to it, as you did, but also gave it a 5. Very good indeed.

>165 dallenbaugh: I love a nice little book surprise.