Doug's A-Z Challenge

[Doug]

I thought this would be an interesting way to help me choose from the big stack of books in my to read list.

Start date: Jan 1, 2013
End date: 12/31/2013

Books completed: 25/26

A - Act of Congress: How America's Essential Institution Works, and How It Doesn't by Robert Kaiser by Robert G. Kaiser (6/9)

B - Bunker Hill (9/16)

C - Caught Stealing by Charlie Huston (7/28)

D - Dog Stars by Peter Heller (9/20)

E - Empty Mansions by Bill Dedman (8/31)

F - Foundation by Isaac Asimov (10/9)

G - The Gun by C.J. Chivers

H - High Performance with High Integrity (11/19)

I - The Infiltrator: My Secret Life Inside the Dirty Banks Behind Pablo Escobar's Medellín Cartel by Robert Mazur (5/28)

J - Joyland by Stephen King (9/30)

K - The King's best Highway by Eric Jaffe (11/30)

L - Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven (2/17)

M - Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore (6/13)

N - Nocturnal by Scott Sigler (6/26)

O - Octopus: Sam Israel, the Secret Market, and Wall Street's Wildest Con (7/25)

P - The Ponzi Scheme Puzzle by Tamar Frankel (2/20)

Q - The Quick and the Dead by Louis L'Amour (12/3)

R - Redshirts (7/7)

S - Someone Could Get Hurt: A Memoir of Twenty-First-Century Parenthood (5/20)

T - The Theory That Would Not Die: How Bayes' Rule Cracked the Enigma Code, Hunted Down Russian Submarines, and Emerged Triumphant from Two Centuries of Controversy (7/14)

U - Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand (6/2)

V - Vast Unknown: America's First Ascent of Everest by Broughton Coburn (7/5)

W - Walking Dead Volumes 17 & 18

X - X-Men Origins (12/9)

Y - Year Zero by Jeff Long (12/14)

Z - Zone One by Colson Whitehead (11/5)

[Kristie, Moderator]

Welcome to the challenge Doug!

[Doug]

15 out of 26

[Cathie]

Enjoy all your reads Doug :-)

[Doug]

16 Down. Just started 17 The Dog Stars by Peter Heller.

[Doug]

17 down. Working on number 18: Foundation, a sci-fi classic by Isaac Asimov.

[Anima]

Congrats on your progress :)

[Cathie]

Nice progress Doug!

[Doug]

18 down. At my current pace, it's going to be a close call if I finish the challenge.

[Cathie]

You can do it!! :-)

[Doug]

Another one down:
The Gun

Next up: "Z"

[Anima]

Great, Doug, keep going :)

[Doug]

Another one down.
An extremely well-written zombie book.

Next up: "H"

[Anima]

The synopsis of Zone One looks very interesting, I've just added it to my tbr list :)

[Doug]

Finished "H": High Performance with High Integrity.

Next up: K
The King's Best Highway by Eric Jaffe



The story of the Boston Post Road, the early roads connecting Boston to New York.

[Anima]

Your K choice sounds very interesting.

[Doug]

Finished "K":
The King's Best Highway by Eric Jaffe



What to read for Q, X & Y?

[Anima]

For inspiration you can check listopias. There are two or three book lists here on Goodreads, which deal with these difficult letters, you can also browse through other members' lists. I've read Quiet, Xingu and Year Zero, but there are many more to choose from :). Good luck with your research!

[Doug]

I found a "Q": The Quick and the Dead by Louis L'Amour

[Doug]

"Q" is done, leaving me with "x" and "y"

I found several good choices for Y. I'm going with Year Zero, by Jeff Long.

"X" was harder. I found no interesting novels. I decided to go with a graphic novel and am grabbing an X-Men book to read.

Looks like I will just make it through the alphabet by the end of the year.

[Anima]

Great choices, Doug. Year Zero is a quite funny book and pleasant to read. I love X-Men, it seems always a good choice and entertaining too :). Good luck with accomplishing your goal!

[Doug]

25 letters down. Just "Y" is left, so it looks like I'm going to make it after all.

Year Zero is by Jeff Long who also wrote The Descent. I read that several years ago and enjoyed it.

[Doug]

Finis

[Kristie, Moderator]

Congrats Doug!

[Anima]

Congratulations, Doug!

[Lynn, Moderator]

Well done :)