A to Z challenge

[Sophie]

Are any of you doing the A to Z challenge? Are you trying to achieve it in one year, or are you ticking every letter and seeing how long it takes you?

I started it this year and I still have to tick 6 letters for the titles and 9 for the authors (I'm doing both) and I'm considering what to do...

[Charity]

I've been doing it this year. I only have e, o, and x left. I'm currently reading outlander for o and have the yellow wallpaper for y. Just have to find an e.

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

I'm working on A-Z titles now. I was planning on finishing it this year but I only made it about halfway. So it seems realistic for me to do the other half in 2016 since I'm doing the same number for this group's challenge again.

You can see my list in my 2016 plan :)

[Ed]

I have done this for the last two years.... I still have my "U" and "Z" to finish.

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

What is everyone reading for X?

I added Dawn to my list, which was a bit of cheat because it's the first book in the Xenogensis series. But I'd love to replace it with a better book (for the challenge) :)

[Ed]

oh.... I think we must be talking about two different A-Z challenges.....
I'm doing the Classic Author Challenge https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... which is based on the author's initial for his first or last name...with the exception of "x" and "q" which can be anywhere in the author's name.

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

There's two different ones, one for the author and one for the title. They're based on the same concept though.

Some people are a little more lenient, choosing based with it anywhere in the word but I was trying to stick to the challenge a little more strictly :)

[Charity]

I read x,y which was part of the Abyss Horror line from the 90s. I can't recommend it though. Some people were reading an Edith Wharton book and a few were planning on reading x from the Sue Grafton series.

[Charity]

I read x,y which was part of the Abyss Horror line from the 90s. I can't recommend it though. Some people were reading an Edith Wharton book and a few were planning on reading x from the Sue Grafton series.

[Sophie]

It is a good idea to allow x and q to be inside the name instead of the first letter.

But I think I'm going to start afresh in 2016 and really try to choose books depending on the letters. This year I just filed in whatever I was reading.

[Jennifer]

I've never heard of this, but i'm going to give it a go for next year. I already know what i'll read for X too, X. I've read all the other books in this series so now I need to read this one.

[Aglaea]

I've created my own alphabet challenges, links in profile. I have a significant number of books at home to plow through and seem to have found lots of excitement when planning my 52 list.

Lo and behold, setting rules and restrictions for three alphabet lists so far has me rather interested again in reading what once seemed so inspirational in the book shop, all thanks to the scope of this group. While I'm not done yet drafting those lists, it's been fun shuffling my collection and adding all volumes to my TBR!

Thank you, OP!

[Zaz]

Pfff, stop talking about other challenges, I want to do them :p
I think I'll do my own cover-color challenge, I've already plenty of choices in my 2016 TBR.

[Jennifer]

What is a cover-color challenge? And yes, stop talking about other challenges or I might overload myself, lol.

[Zaz]

I'll read a book for each color (for example, The Martian cover is perfect for orange).

[Zaz]

I don't know how it happened, but the A to Z lurked in the dark and swallowed me. As I'm not very ambitious for this one, I'll do the titles one, with children books (and plenty of Oz).

[Michelle]

I am starting this (A-Z) challenge for the first time this year. I'm going to do both authors and titles. But I don't expect to finish it this year unless I have a really, really, really productive year. I decided not to overlap any of the books on any of my challenges (except my Reading Around the World one) so I can't tick off the letters with books I read for this challenge. :x

For X, I chose . I am trying to adhere to it as strictly as I can also.

Also... (insert exasperated sigh of challenge loving despair here)

That color cover one sounds right up my alley. Since I'm already starting 9 challenges in 2016 maybe I should just do that one too? Haha. Make it a nice round number? Because rationalizations and reasons.

[Ed]

My progress so far:

14/26

A – Aristophanes - Lysistrata
B – Benson, E.F. - Trouble for Lucia
C – Cynthia Ozick- The Messiah of Stockholm
D – David Malouf - Remembering Babylon*
E – Eudora Welty - The Ponder Heart
F – Forster, E.M. - Maurice
G – George Sand- The Devil's Pool*
H –
I –
J – Jhabvala, Ruth Prawer - Heat and Dust
K –
L –
M – Michael Bulgakov - Heart of a Dog
N – Nathalie Sarraute - The Planetarium
O – Ondaatje, Michael - The English Patient*
P – Peters, Elizabeth - Crocodile on the Sandbank
Q –
R –
S –
T – Tolstoy, Leo - Two Hussars
U –
V –
W – Wolf, Christa- Cassandra
X –
Y –
Z –

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

There isn't really a link since it's a pretty widespread challenge. Some people do strict choices to where it has to the first letter and others just do a letter anywhere in the title/name. So far I'e seen A-Z challenges for:

- Book Title
- Author first name
- Author Last name
- Memoir author

[Ed]

I do it for either the first OR last name.... with the exceptions for the letters "Q' and "X" which can be anywhere in the author's name. Since I started this with the Classics without All the Class group on GR...I break out my list pre-2006 and post-2006. I now am also doing a list for non-fiction...without regard to date. The link for the Classics thread is https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

and they stay the rules for that group as:

"1. Using the author's first or last name - read: 26 books
2.Nothing published after 2006. Whether some things are classics or not is debated, so feel free to ask or argue your defense of a book you feel is classic.
3. No non-fiction
4. No poetry
5. You may NOT repeat any author.
6. Any name with an "X" or a "Q" in them will work for those letters. (The name does not have to begin with an X or a Q.)
7. Books must have been read in 2016.

You can sign up anytime, and you can backdate books if you know when you finished it, as long as it was done in the year 2016.
You can also link if you wish, or not."

[Tammy]

I know this is an old thread, but I did the A-Z Author Challenge this year and really enjoyed it. I'm almost done with the A-Z Title Challenge, too!

Tammy's A-Z Author Challenge 2018
January 1st 2018-December 31st 2018

Challenge Completed on 4/19/2018

A: Sherwood Anderson - Winesburg, Ohio 2/14/2018
B: Iain Banks - The Wasp Factory 2/10/2018
C: Cormac McCarthy - Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West 2/25/2018
D: Denis Johnson - Jesus' Son 1/4/2018
E: Elie Wiesel - Night 2/11/2018
F: Flannery O'Connor - The Complete Stories 2/13/2018
G: Graham Greene - The Power and the Glory 3/23/2018
H: Hamsun, Knut. - Hunger 1/11/2018
I: Kazuo Ishiguro - An Artist of the Floating World 1/31/2018
J: Joseph Heller - Catch-22 1/9/2018
K: Kenzaburō Ōe - A Personal Matter 3/24/2018
L: John le Carré - The Spy Who Came In from the Cold 1/19/2018
M: David Markson - Reader’s Block 4/1/2018
N: Vladimir Nabokov - Pale Fire 2/6/2018
O: Tim O'Brien - Going After Cacciato 1/6/2018
P: Philip Roth - The Dying Animal 1/21/2018
Q: Matthew Quick - The Silver Linings Playbook
R: Mary Roach - Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers 2/5/2018
S: Muriel Spark - The Driver's Seat 1/12/2018
T: Jim Thompson - The Killer Inside Me 1/21/2018
U: Umberto Eco - The Prague Cemetery 1/14/2018
V: Voltaire - Candide 2/9/2018
W: Edith Wharton - Summer 2/15/2018
X: Xinran - Sky Burial: An Epic Love Story of Tibet 4/19/2018
Y: Yevgeny Zamyatin - We 3/28/2018
Z: Stefan Zweig - Amok 3/14/2018

Tammy's A-Z Title Challenge 2018
January 1st 2018-December 31st 2018
0/26

Only two more to go!

A: A Single Man - Christopher Isherwood (3/5/2018)
B: Battle Royale - Koushun Takami (1/25/2018
C: Candide - Voltaire (2/9/2018)
D: Delta Wedding - Eudora Welty (3/14/2018)
E: Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman (2/22/2018)
F: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson (1/29/2018)
G: Going After Cacciato - Tim O'Brien (1/6/2018)
H: Hunger - Knut Hamsun (1/11/2018)
I: Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison (3/3/2018)
J: Joyland - Stephen King (2/11/2018)
K: The Killer Inside Me - Jim Thompson (1/21/2018)
L: Libra - Don DeLillo (1/19/2018)
M: Mrs. Fletcher - Tom Perrotta (1/8/2018)
N: Night - Elie Wiesel (2/11/2018)
O: Orpheus Descending - Tennessee Williams (3/6/2018)
P: Pale Fire - Vladimir Nabokov (2/8/2018)
Q:
R: Reader’s Block - David Markson (4/1/2018)
S: Siddhartha - Hermann Hesse (2/19/2018)
T: To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf (3/12/2018)
U: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - Rachel Joyce (2/28/2018)
V:
W: Winesburg, Ohio - Sherwood Anderson (2/14/2018)
X: Xingu - Edith Wharton
Y: The Yellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1/20/2018)
Z: Zombie - Joyce Carol Oates

[Lizzy]

What did you think of Going After Cacciato? I like Tim O'Brien, but have never heard of this one.

[Tammy]

I really like O'Brien's writing, Lizzy. Cacciato was very good. I'd say on par with The Things They Carried (though that one made me cry).

[Heather]

Starting this in 2019 Y'all!
A- Assassin's Blade
B- Big Little Lies
C- Crown's Game
D- Deathnote Black Edition III
E- Everless
F- Furyborn
G- Gone Girl
H- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
I- In an Absent Dream
J-
K-
L- Love and Gelato
M- Milk and Honey
N-
O-
P- Peter Pan
Q-
R- Ringer
S-
T- The Wicked + The Divine Volume 5
U- Under the Never Sky
V- Vengeful
W- What If It's Us
X-
Y-
Z-

[Allegra]

I won't keep up with you, Heather, but I'll play along for 2019.

A - Ahab's Return: or, The Last Voyage
B - The Bat
D - The Day the Music Died
G - Get in Trouble
H - Heart of Darkness
J - Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices
N -Notes from Underground
R - Rabbit-Proof Fence: The True Story of One of the Greatest Escapes of All Time
S - Sleeping Giants; Sadie
W - Wind, Sand and Stars
Z -

[Jen]

I'm doing it for title, author 1st name, author last name and item on the cover. Basically last year I finished PS early and started A to Z to target my reading a bit more so this year I am doing PS, ATY and 4X A to Z. Item on cover seems to be easiest J,K,Q,X and Y left. 1st name E,s,t,u,v,w,x,y,z left. Last name E,I,J,Q,U,Z left. Title F,G,K,Q,U,X,Y,Z.
I haven't been picking books specifically for prompts on any challenge yet.....just filling them in as I read. However I can't use any book more than once in the same challenge (My rule) and the letters do have to be at the start not anywhere. If I don't finish I'm not bothered but I'd like to try.

[ladymurmur]

I participated in a few A-Z challenges in various groups a few years back. They were fun, but apparently only whetted my appetite for tracking such things. :-) Now every year I track my own "alphabets" - title, author first name, author last name, and series for each letter. I don't start out the year planning to read for letter purposes, but it is fun to watch as first I've read something for each letter, then when I've filled all four slots for a given letter, and as the year progresses, I will start paying attention to where there are gaps. Have read a few duds to get a tricksy letter filled, but have also found a few new authors/series that I really enjoy as a result, too!

[Jen]

Yeah I am doing Title, Author 1st, Author last and object one the cover. Just slotting in stuff as I read for PS, ATY, work, PBT, Trim and my FTF book club then at the end of the year if I have finished the other challenges I will try to fill unfilled letters for each prompt. Object I only have Q left so any ideas..... was hoping for a quiver on something but not so far.

[ladymurmur]

Hmmm.... some Q object ideas....
queen
quiz (a graded test paper)
queue (a line of people, or a braid)
quail
quartz
quill pen
question mark
queen anne's lace (plant/flower)
quartet (4 of something)

[Jen]

ladymurmur wrote: "Hmmm.... some Q object ideas....
queen
quiz (a graded test paper)
queue (a line of people, or a braid)
quail
quartz
quill pen
question mark
queen anne's lace (plant/flower)
quartet (4 of something)"

Thank you will keep them for next year..... was reading a cookbook to find a recipe for a party today and it has a quince on the cover!

[Cheryl A.]

Is anyone, besides me, doing A to Z challenge this year?

I am roaming over the list not actually consciously selecting titles ahead of time but rather just reading and seeing where in all the multiple reading challenges the book fits! However, I browsed our library for books that were published in 1961 as that is the choice I made for 49. (A book that fits a prompt from the list of suggestions. I chose "A book published in the year you were born.")

Luckily the book also fit the W on 49! The Winter of Our Discontent"Portrait of Hemmingway" by John Steinbeck.

[Johanna]

Hmmmmm, have never done this before. Maybe I will give it a try this year.

Book Titles:
A - An American Marriage
B - Big Little Lies
C - Cinder
D - The Divorce Papers
E - The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell
G - George
H - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
I - The Immortalists
L - Little Fires Everywhere
N - Night
O - Outer Banks
P - Pachinko
S - Shanghai Girls
T - The Tattooist of Auschwitz
W- Where the Forest Meets the Stars

Authors Last Name:
B - Chloe Benjamin
C - Kathy Cooperman
D - Robert Dugoni
E - Dave Eggers
F - A.J. Finn
G - M.L. Gardner
H - Bruce Holsinger
J - Tayari Jones
K - Stephen King
L - Stacey Lee
M - Liane Moriarty
N - Celeste Ng
P - D.J. Palmer
R - JK Rowling
S - Lisa See
V - Glendy Vanderah
W - Elie Wiesel

Authors First Name:
A - Anne Rivers Siddons
B - Bruce Holsinger
C - Celeste Ng
D - Dave Eggers
E - Elie Wiesel
G - Glendy Vanderah
H - Holly Goldberg Sloan
J - Jenny Han
K - Kristin Hannah
L - Liane Moriarty
M - Marissa Meyer
R - Robert Dugoni
S - Stephen King
T - Tayari Jones

[Cheryl A.]

Johanna wrote: "Hmmmmm, have never done this before. Maybe I will give it a try this year.

Book Titles:
B - Big Little Lies
C - Cinder
I - The Immortalists
T - [boo..."

Johanna, I think it will be fun. Makes you have to do a little more research but that happens to be what I love to do the most (other than reading!)

[ladymurmur]

I'm doing my personal A to Z challenge again this year - tracking Title, Author's First Name, Author's Last Name, and Series. To begin with I simply track what I read, but as the year goes on, as I'm picking my next reads, filling in blanks starts to become a consideration. There have been a few doozies read to fill a slot - but I have found some treasures, too.

If you are struggling to find an X author pick, and you like cozy mysteries, then let me heartily recommend Diana Xarissa!

[ladymurmur]

As of today, I have read something (title, author first name, author last name, or series) for each letter of the alphabet during 2020!!

[Sue]

I am also going quite well with this:
Books:
A - An Equal Music
B - Boy Overboard
C - The Circle
D - Dustfall
E - The Electric Hotel
F - Fishing in the Styx
G - A Game of Thrones
H - Homesickness
I - The Island of Sea Women
J
K
L - Lady in the Lake
M - Milkman
N - Northanger Abbey
O - Once on a Moonless Night
P - Pure
Q - Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
R -
S - Six Minutes
T - Too Much Lip
U
V - A Visit from the Goon Squad
W - When Red Is Black
X
Y - The Yield
Z - Zac and Mia

Author's Last Name:
A - Jane Austen
B - Murray Bail
C - Peter Carey
D - Robert Drewe
E - Dave Eggers
F - Richard Flanagan
G - Germaine Greer
H - Rodney Hall
I - Anosh Irani
J - Michelle Johnston
K - Sue Monk Kidd
L - Melissa Lucashenko
M - Andrew Miller
N - Alice Nelson
O - Deborah O'Brien
P - Ruth Park
Q - Qiu Xiaolong
R - Tom Rachman
S - Graeme Simsion
T - Malachy Tallack
U
V
W - Tara June Winch
X
Y
Z

Author First Name:
A - Anne Griffin
B - Bill Bryson
C - Charlotte Wood
D - Dervla McTiernan
E - Emily Paull
F -
G - Gary Paulsen
H - Hilary Mantel
I
J - Jennifer Egan
K -
L - Laura Lippman
M - Morris Gleitzman
N - Nicholas Drayson
O
P - Petronella McGovern
Q
R - Rosalie Ham
S - Sanam Maher
T - Tony Birch
U
V - Vikram Seth
W
X - Qiu Xiaolong
Y
Z