Take It or Leave It Challenge - January 2025 - 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 January, 2025, is to...

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Read a book which has a least one set of double letters in both the title and the author's name
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Rules:
1. Do NOT use the subtitle! Only the main title!
2. Do NOT use the series name. Only the main title!

That's it!

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Other Stuff (not part of the TIOLI challenge):
1. FAMeulstee's 2025 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. (Exception: Any challenge previously entered by FAMeulstee)
4. The January 2025 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 which has a least one set of double letters in both the title and the author's name - msg #1
2. Read a book that is the first or last in a series, or contains those words in the title - msg #15
3. Read a book listed on a best of or must read list for 2024 - msg #5
4. Read a book by an author called Ann, or with Ann in the title - msg #4
5. Read a book by a new-to-you author NOT recommended by anyone, that you've stumbled across (and explain why...) - msg #7
6. Read a book you acquired in December 2024 without paying for it - msg #9

Challenges #7-12
7. Read a book that has either salt or pepper in the title - msg #12
8. Read a book which has a connection to a New Year's resolution or to something someone might want to give up - msg #16
9. Read a book F/NF about a forgotten or often overlooked woman in history (your choice) - msg #20
10. Read a book with the name of something you'd drink from in the title or author's name - msg #21
11. Read a book you acquired in January of 2025 - msg #22
12. Read a book that has the name of a coin, either obsolete or in current use, in the title - msg #25

Challenge #13-15
13. Read a short book (msg #27
14. msg #
15. msg #
16. msg #
17. msg #
18. msg #

Go ahead and post your challenge at any time between now and midnight January 4, 2025.

Sneaky, sneaky! Some of you guys are just one step ahead of me! LOL!

Challenge 4: I'm inspired by Benreadsgood from u.tube. For January; January: Ann-uary - Read a book by an author called Ann, or with Ann in the title. Anne, Annie and any other variation also count. Embedded also would qualify.

As usual my January challenge is
Challenge #3: Read a book listed on a best-of, must-read, or notable list for 2024

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/b?node=17276804011&ref=abpmalc_24_4_us_psr_gs_r_alc_b...
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/b/books/awards/best-books-of-the-year/_/N-29Z8q8Z...
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/196307.Best_Books_of_2024
NPR: https://www.npr.org/2024/06/11/nx-s1-5002183/fiction-books-summer-2024
https://www.npr.org/2024/06/11/nx-s1-5002183/fiction-books-summer-2024
NYT 10 Best: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/03/books/best-books-2024.html?smid=nytcore-ios-s...
NYT Best thrillers: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/04/books/review/best-thriller-novels-2024.html?s...
NYT Notable Books of 2024: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/11/26/books/notable-books.html
The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/best-books-2024
Publisher's Weekly: https://best-books.publishersweekly.com/pw/best-books/2024
Quil Ridge Books: https://www.quailridgebooks.com/store/catalog/best-of-2024
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/1e322w5/what_is_your_favourite_...
Science Friday Best Science books for kids: https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/science-books-for-kids-2024/?utm_source=e...

>5 Citizenjoyce: I always look forward to your January challenge, Joyce.

Challenge #5: Read a book by a new-to-you author that no one has recommended to you

Hopefully straightforward!

This is to flag books that we just stumble over; to reward serendipity. Perhaps you spotted it in the library, or on a bookstore shelf, or in a friend's library. Or it was in a box of giveaway books on a street corner. The key thing: NO ONE can have suggested that this would be a great or interesting book for you. That means no LT friends or other friends or relatives; no librarian recommendations; no public readings, reviews or media interviews with the author. You're coming to it completely without any recommendation, even a blurb. Nothing other than your own hope that it may be an interesting book for you.

Then, tell us what drew you to the book. A cover illustration? The genre? The fact that it was beside another book that grabbed your attention? Something about the title? The fact that the author shares the name of your favorite aunt or uncle? The geographic setting? If it's the subject -- it shouldn't be the 27th book you've read about Anne Boleyn, but should be about something unfamiliar to you but that strikes you as intriguing.

I'm going to read some mysteries that appeal to me because of their setting; perhaps a historical novel by a new-to-me author set in a relatively unfamiliar era (Jacobean England) and featuring characters I'd like to learn more about like Sir Francis Bacon, and maybe a history book I spotted on the way out of the British Museum "Silk Road" exhibit that's off my beaten track.

These can be books you request -- as gifts, as inter-library loans, as advance review copies. You can't, however, read anything that someone else has selected for you or told you they think you'd like.

>7 Chatterbox: Suz! That's just about every book I read!! LOL! I love discovering new authors so much...and the serendipity of finding an excellent author that no one has ever heard of before. I LOVE this challenge.

Challenge #6: Read a book you acquired in December 2024 without paying for it

Holiday gifts, library books, borrowed from a friend--anything that you acquired without paying your own money for it. I'll even count allow books you bought with a gift card, as long as someone else paid for said card. :-)

>6 raidergirl3: Thanks.

>7 Chatterbox: Can we do shared reads?

My planned reads:
Challenge #1: Read a book which has a least one set of double letters in both the title and the author's name - started by SqueakyChu
Old Baggage - Lissa Evans
Challenge #2: Read a book that is the first or last in a series, or contains those words in the title - started by helenliz
Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe - Kapka Kassabova
*The Stranger Diaries - Elly Griffiths
Challenge #3: Read a book listed on a best of or must read list for 2024 - Started by Citizenjoyce
Dead in Long Beach, California - Venita Blackburn
The Extinction of Irena Rey - Jennifer Croft
Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum - Antonia Hylton
The Mighty Red - Louise Erdrich
Sipsworth - Simon Van Booy
Challenge #4: January: Ann-uary - Read a book by an author called Ann, or with Ann in the title - started by Kristelh
I've Tried Being Nice: Essays - Ann Leary
Challenge #5: Read a book by a new-to-you author NOT recommended by anyone, that you've stumbled across (and explain why...) - started by Chatterbox
*A Northern Light in Provence - Elizabeth Birkelund
*What You Are Looking For Is in the Library - Michiko Aoyama
Challenge #6: Read a book you acquired in December 2024 without paying for it - started by susanna.fraser
Apples Never Fall-Liane Moriarty
Challenge #7: Read a book that has either salt or pepper in the title - started by _Carmenere
Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us - Michael Moss
Challenge #8: Read a book which has a connection to a New Year's resolution or to something someone might want to give up - started by wandering_star
The Body Book: The Law of Hunger, the Science of Strength, and Other Ways to Love Your Amazing Body- Cameron Diaz
Challenge #9: Read a book F/NF about a forgotten or often overlooked woman in history (your choice) - started by dallenbaugh
Challenge #10: Read a book with the name of something you'd drink from in the title or author's name - started by JeanneD
Glass House: The 1% Economy and the Shattering of the All-American Town - Brian Alexander
Challenge #11: Read a book you acquired in January of 2025 - started by lindapanzo
Challenge #12: The "Penny for Your Thoughts" Challenge: Read a book that has the name of a coin, either obsolete or in current use, in the title - started by AlcottAcre
The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation - Elizabeth Letts

>5 Citizenjoyce: How about books on The NY Times 100 Notable Books of 2024 List?

I was quite pleased to be first with my challenge, either that or I'd feel obliged to hang out and try to be last!

Challenge #2: Read a book that is the first or last in a series, or contains those words in the title
Janus, after whom January is named, is often depicted with two faces, one facing the future, the other the past. In that spirit, this challenge is about series we're starting or finishing.

The series needs to be evident on the book page of LibraryThing. A book by an author who has written a couple of related books doesn't count as a series. Nor does an author read; your first Georgette Heyer Regency Romance may be a delightful thing, and reading her last Regency Romance may be quite sad, but neither of those are a series and so wont fit here.

* You can read the first book in a series - and it has to be book 1 in the series, not just the first book of the series you have read. If you're one of those awful people who read out of order, book 1 in the series doesn't even need to be the first book of the series you've read - Heathens. said with love, I just can't do it, but that's just me >:-)
* You can read the last book in the series - by which I will also include latest. If you know book 5 is out in March, and want to read book 4 before hand, that's fine because, at present, book 4 is the last book in the series.
* And to be a bit more inclusive, you can read any book that has first or last in the title.

This is also entirely self serving, as I've signed up for a year long read of Powell's Dance to the Music of Time. I have a habit of over committing, so let's see how long it is before I fall off the one a month bandwagon!

Challenge #8: Read a book with a connection of some sort to either a New Year's resolution (a real one of yours, or a common one) or to something that someone might want to give up - I've used a couple of real ones I'm planning to do this year, but please be as creative as you want in interpreting the prompt!

>14 lindapanzo: yes

>15 Helenliz: How about The Last One by Rachel Howzell Hall Her book page and other reviews of the book describe it as the first of a series, "The first of her highly-anticipated fantasy series, The Last One, will be published in December 2024." Well, it has been published but there's no name for the series and the sequel probably hasn't even been written.

>18 Citizenjoyce: that meets the requirement of clause 3: you can read any book that has first or last in the title.
So that it's not yet a series isn't a concern, as it has last in the title.

Challenge #9: Read a book (F/NF) about a forgotten or often overlooked woman in history (your choice)

Should be straightforward but ask if you have questions.
The book can also be about a well-known woman, but covers a topic on the woman that is not well-known.

*****Challenge #10: Read a book with the name of something you'd drink from in the title or author's name*****

Whether you prefer to drink from a teacup, mug, jar, glass, bottle, flute, or any other beverage container, let's lift it to the new year together.

Challenge #11: Read a book you acquired in January of 2025

Pretty self explanatory. You have to acquire the book by any means in January and read it in January.

As is often the case, this is self serving for me as my 16th Thingaversary is on January 13th and I often save up my acquisitions til January so I can count them as Thingaversary books.

>7 Chatterbox: Interestingly, I went in to add a book to this challenge and someone else had already added it, though my reasons for choosing it were slightly different.

This is a fun challenge!!

>16 wandering_star: I was about to post a very similar challenge, but you beat me to it! I’ll see if I can think of something else.

The "Penny for Your Thoughts" Challenge: Read a book that has the name of a coin, either obsolete or in current use, in the title

I am specifically looking for coins in the title, not other forms of currency. Any questions, just ask!

>4 Kristelh: Thanks for the clarification on embedded words. I want to read This Is Graceanne's Book for this challenge and was just going to ask.

-----Challenge #13: Life is short: read a short book (150pgs or less) or short story collection -----

Novellas of less than 150 pages, anthologies, poetry collections etc are all welcome.

>20 dallenbaugh: Can it be a group of women, rather than just a singular woman? I received a book for Christmas, Women in the Valley of the Kings: The Untold Story of Women Egyptologists in the Gilded Age, that seems like it would work for the challenge, but it is multiple women.

Thanks!

>28 alcottacre: Yes, that is fine.

>29 dallenbaugh: Thank you so much!

It seems the wiki is down again...at least it is for me, anyway. I thas been reported to admin in the Bugs Group...but, alas, this is the weekend! :(

Darn! The Wiki isn't working for me so I can't add my challenge.

>11 Citizenjoyce: Absolutely, shared reads permitted/encouraged!

>27 avatiakh: Perfect! I've just this afternoon bought five separately published short stories by Taiwanese writers, this is a great reason to get to them quickly.

>32 DeltaQueen50: You can always post the challenge here, Judy, and then just update the wiki with it when the wiki comes back up again.

I hope you are feeling better!

>7 Chatterbox: This is such a neat challenge and I have a book that is perfect for it. Now if only the wiki would come up, lol.

>32 DeltaQueen50: Wow, the wiki is even further down than usual.

My challenge will be :

Challenge #14: Celebrating Library Thing. Read a book in which a title word begins or ends with an L or a T

examples: Little Women
Treasure Island
Angel
Atonement