Zaara burns the Alphabet Soup (A-Z challenge)

[Zaara]

I'll play! But I will be heavily customizing this to my bookshelves,

[Zaara]

The Official Categories

I really don't care about the letter of the law on these. More about fun. You could find an interesting take on some of these.

Nothing before Jan-1-18 counts!

Alchemy

Banishing - could be a spirit or somebody exiled from a kingdom.

Coven

Demons -

Elves

Fairies

Griffin

Horror

Interstellar - Anything outerspace.

Joust

Kraken - Sea monsters in general.

Lucifer - Hades, doesn't really matter just something dealing with the underworld.

Mediums

Necromancy - Could be zombies, talking to the dead, the white walkers, etc.

Orcs

Phoenix -

Quest -

Reincarnation

Steampunk

Tarot

Unicorns

Vampires

Werewolves

Xenmorph - A fancy way to get aliens in and get rid of X

Yeti - Any type of snow monster or bigfoot type.

Zombies

[Zaara]

Reserves first 13 letters mashup

[Zaara]

Second set of 13

[Zaara]

(view spoiler)[
INTRO POST

Ima give this a whirl. However, I am shockingly under-read in many genres so I don't know what book will fill (m)any of these categories...the "official" ones.
Buuuuut...I notice some ppl have created mashup challenges that align with their overflowing bookshelves/ other challenges and reading propensities.

So I basically tidied my bookshelves and did a lot of prep for this one. I've listed a few additional mashup categories. @all can feel free to borrow/steal any you like but note that these are heavily oriented towards my bookshelves and the pile of junk books and stuff I just want to read and get rid of...
I have tried to stay true to the spirit of the game. Warning: I will also shamelessly steal from @allyouz lists....demons and xenomorphs n stuff...

Oh and nothing before Jan-1-18 counts!
But the finish is open-ended. It is not so scary, I think.
I hope many more ppl will just play A.B.C...any way you like. You can do author names (but ppl who have already tried this have commented that it is naffooo!), book titles, places...M for Mordor or....

Also I think if you know how to search "tags" you'll find books with demons etc in them and stuff....tags are apparently some creepy categorization things which you find them on the right of the page.

The random notes after the colon (: symbol) are notes for my personal use and they are irrelevant. Please do not be confused and you won't be if you just use the text before the : (hide spoiler)]

[Zaara]

MASHUP LIST 1
A-M

(view spoiler)[
A for
Alchemy:
Alliteration: (view spoiler)[ You know you came up with this category only bcuz you are totally desperate to re-read Lies of Locke Lamora...you know that, dontcha? (hide spoiler)]
Autobiography: Any from already owned
Art: The Agony and the Ecstasy or any non-fiction from collection
Angsty:
Arthurian: duh Mists of Avalon will count.


B for
Banishing: Elantris for exiled and find something for exorcism part of this category...then choose.
Beast: Bryony and Roses or any retelling
Byzantine: Lions of Al-Rassan (*sigh* I suppose I must jezzt...get it over with... face the pain) or From the Holy Mountain
Broken Empire: Anything with an empire divided...Riyria would count, for xample, so would anything ASOIAF or any historical fiction or non-fiction about empires
Bondage: Of Human Bondage or anything that's 😝

C for
Coven: Mists of Avalon may count...if it has an actual coven in it
Court Politics: Inda? Or the Goblin Emperor
Cathedral: Pillars re-read or read Column of Fire
Caesar: Anything from collection on Ancient Rome
Code: Anything from collection on cryptography
China: Anything from collection on Ancient China

D for
Demons: Witcher may have demons in it...ask Sean?
Detective: The Cuckoo's Calling

Dublin: Any from collection of Dublin memoirs
Dunkirk: Anything WW2 but especially The Longest Day
Dickens:
Divine:
Disguise:
Dark:
Death:

E for
Elves: Anything Riyria?
Emperor: Anything from collection on Ancient Rome
England: Duh!
Epistolatory: Possession or 84, Charing Cross St
Etymology: The Adventure of English or any
Erotica: Women in their Beds? Anything from Tantra and Kamasutra

F for
Fairies: which = the Fae so anything Sweaters will sooo count
Forest:
Faithful:
Fallen:

G for
Griffin: There are books other than HP with griffins in them? Find these books!
Götterdämmerung: Which @Annika will forgive if I apply to the Greek mythos instead 😜
so Hesiod's Theogony or The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony which I swear I will read THIS DAMN BOOK in 2018
Gardening: Virgin Earth duology
Greece: any from collection on Ancient Greece
Gothic:

H for
Horror: *yerk* we all know I'm not gonna do this...
Holocaust: any from collection of Holocaust memoirs, which does in theory count as *horror* in a meta sense?
Hero: anything goes here *yerk* don't ignore Faithful and the Fallen
Humour: One word. Plum, daaaaaahlin'

I for
Interstellar: The Stars My Destination...entice Iaim for a buddy read and then everyone'll come #cunning
India: Anything from collection
Invention: Anything science-y or you have The Justification Of Johannes Gutenberg jezzt...lying arnd...

J for
Joust: ASOIAF the one with the joust or Ivanhoe or find more jousting books
Japan: Anything from collection. Or Tale of Genji
Journalism: any from collection of journo memoirs
Jumbo: read a chunkster
Jaykro: read something from @Jaykro's list but it must also have a joust in it. Or be a jumbo book

K for
Kracken: find books with sea beasts in them or else Red Seas re-read
King:
Kiss: anything romantic
Kashmir: Ask Raoul or read The Kashmir Shawl *yerk*

L for
Lucifer: Paradise Lost or Dante or if you want fantasy you do have an ebook called Son of the Morning
Literacy: The Reader
Love:
Literary:
Lyrical: Any book of poetry or lyrical prose

M for
Magdalene:
Mediums:
Magickal/Magicians: Unexpected Magic or Lev Grossman trilogy or Harry Potter
Medici:
Murder:
Metaphysical:
Or simply MalaZAAAAN...yowza! (hide spoiler)]

[Zaara]

MASHUP LIST 2
N-Z
(view spoiler)[

N for
Necromancy: what does this mean? Does it mean they have to eat the dead bodies. First Law would count bcuz of Logen and the communing with spirits, no?
Night:
Numbers: *yerk* A Beautiful Mind?
(Cunning twist option) Never Read Before:

O for
Orcs:
Omnibus: but you will have to read all the books in the omnibus, no?
Oprah: mwha!
Otherworldly: Most fantasy would count for this one
Orgasm: Any literary work on female sexuality n yada yada
Orange: Any prison memoir

P for
Phoenix: Find books with phoenixes in them or HP 2
Philosophy:
Psychology:
Prostitute: Fanny Hill or any from collection of prostitute memoirs
Poetry:
Pirates: try to do this one...pirates are cool

Q for
Quest: this one is wonderful...very cool choice, @Sauron
Queen:

R for
Reincarnation: Green Darkness
River:
Russia: Any from Russia collection
Rose: The Name of the Rose
Religion:
Re-telling:

S for
Steampunk: can you believe I dunno the names of any steampunk books? Not one. Anubis Gates may count, mha! Check tags
Satin 😝: Songs of Innocence, Songs of Experience re-read or The Crimson Petal and the White. Or a book on Bouguereau, if one exists.
Satire: Catch 22
Slavery: The Bondswoman's Narrative or Cane River or Gone With the Wind or any fantasy book with a slave in it. Ask Lain/Ron/Diana that wasn't Kaladin a slave?
Spy:
Shakespeare: duh!
Saxony: Bernard Cornwell

T for
Tarot:
Tao:
Travel:
Time-travel:

U for
Unicorns: Find a book about unicorns. The Lost Unicorn? Or HP 1.
Underworld:
Unexpected:
Undercover:
Ugly:

V for
Vampires: *yerk* find something else or you'll have to read a creepy book
Vanquished: literally any war book will count or you can read that Mongol series...
Viking:

W for
Werewolves or just wolves: ASOIAF or Farseer will count.
War:
Wondrous:
Worldwide: you have some creepy books about big data
Wanderlust:

X for
Xenmorph: A fancy way to get aliens in and get rid of X. Fine, find something fancy
Or
Xmas:

Y for
Yad Vashem: Any from collection of holocaust memoirs
Yeti: Any type of snow monster or bigfoot type #thanxshaitarn Tintin in Tibet
Yellow:
Joke category which does not count *Yerk:* read a book you absolutely loathe and have to force yourself and #cringe but I already finished Maaaaalice :-(

Z for
Zombies: *yerk* borrow a zombie book
Zen:
Zorro: nb remember you have a pulp/trash book abt that Irish Zorro dude (hide spoiler)]

[Zaara]

RESERVED FOR THE POST OF SHAMELESS STEALING OF IDEAS. I WILL GIVE CREDIT HERE. i really don't know what's out there. Apparently demon and alchemy are really fukkin easy as are many of the categories but I am severely stumped and stymied. So Doofus will be stalking @all you on this challenge.

[Siobhan]

Your category ideas are great Zaara!! :)

I'm going to try and update my thread with the books I want to read for each category. I sat for ages and went through my shelves looking for things that fit. Some a lot harder than others.

Don't know when I'm going to be able to read them what with all the buddy reads like... XD

[Zaara]

Yeah I just did that...its all I've been doing these last coupla days (+oh I finished Malice 😂) I just sat and stacked books and made lists, racked my brains on how the heck this happened....I have 175 unread books in ONE location, Siobhan. Now its not much compared to Ron or Niki, say but when you consider the pace at which I read...for the next five years...I jezzt don't need to buy books and we all know that's never gonna happen...
And this is AFTER the fifty or so trashy pulp books I just donated...wtf.
Yeah, I will SOOO be mashing...

[Siobhan]

I totally feel ya. I have enough books to last me roughly 10 years at my pace... Yet I keep buying /acquiring more. The overflowing challenge is definitely my friend.

[Zaara]

I swear I was just about to go to your challenge and ask...that overflowing challenge just means you have to read ANY five books you own before buying another lot of five, right? And the masher challenge and all...when I see numbers I just shut down...

[Siobhan]

I have a three for one set up. So I read three to earn a new book. I should probably extend it to five, but it felt too hard at the time!

Other than that, I'm just challenging myself to use books I own for the A-Z and cover challenge, and pledging to read 5 owned books every two months roughly. I should probs make that a bit harder too, but don't want to be too rough on myself.

[Anni]

Wow, love your ideas Za! Maybe I'm going to steal some of them :D And where do you get Götterdämmerung? haha!

[Zaara]

Anni wrote: "Wow, love your ideas Za! Maybe I'm going to steal some of them :D And where do you get Götterdämmerung? haha!"

Well...you asked me to cross the Sperrgebiet...so I upgraded...

Go right ahead and steal since this challenge (and ergo) this thread is SOOO dedicated to yooooo anyway...
And I expect you to haunt it IN A WAY! Thischallenge...Anni...inside I'm freaking out already.
Heh, Fimbar will prolly finish it by Feb.

[Shaitarn]

Psst, hey Zaara, that Lies of Locke Lamora you want to read? (view spoiler)[ It has alchemy mentioned in it!! Legitimate letter ticked off list! Isn't it sweet when that happens? (hide spoiler)]

If you have a silly sense of humour you may find Bloodsucking Fiends a good way to tick off 'V is for vampire' - no horror, I promise (tell me to stick my suggestions where the sun don't shine, if you wish).

[Zaara]

No no @Shaitarn...you get a gold star 🌟 and thank ye kindly, my Laaaady.
*curtsies with panache*
I'm never touchy + my lack of knowledge in this genre is truly stunning and should be celebrated. Or if you wish....Celebrimborated (ha, couldn't resist a LoTR pun) by the mass and ramdom sharing and stealing of ideas + general community outreach.

So pls keep on bringin' em, Khaleesi (#dragongal)...its the whole point of a group like this + Sauron will be pleased.

I swear I racked my brains for hours and came up with scads and dozens of alternate categories from my bookshelves (as you can see) but couldnae think of even one book under any of the legit categories (like elves = duh! LoTR but since I just re-read that last year...that killed its eligibility)...

And then there were the necromancers and demons and vampires...so I was like all dumstruk...which is, of course, the WAAAAY cooler and correct way to spell dumbstruck...(view spoiler)[ my new game: let's see how long I can go on murdering the spellings until the inner editor in @Andy freaks out... *evil cackle* (hide spoiler)]

Anyway...a short whiles after our very own #ASOIAFbhan (Siobhan) came up with her list...with almost every letter filled in + LEGIT...
When I saw, I was all laughing so hard....I swear... 😂😂 and I was like where are Ahdam and Ron?
Shivaaan's challenge page needs an epic GIF...

Now my current #cunning strategy (view spoiler)[ I'm jezzt waiting to see what that Lala (Laura) + everyone, of course (hide spoiler)]will come up with. So I can steal be inspired by her and y'all +
if we all reading the same demon book, that will be an epic BR, no?

Ok now *serious face*
Thanks, Shai!

+ Khaleeeeeeeeesiiiiiiiiii.....

[Shaitarn]

You know that Laura will come up with some books that'll be so brilliant and obvious we'll all be reduced to slapping our foreheads in frustration, moaning "Why didn't I think of that?!", don't you?

I might well change some of mine: I have too so many books about elves/werewolves/vampires...

[Zaara]

Sorry Khaleesi, my notifications are wonky.
Yeah...I have no doubt...the lovely Laura also doubles as Industrial Strength (Reading) Detergent.
And yep...
:-D I TOTALLY agree. No such thing as too many books!

[Zaara]

A for Alchemy
The Lies of Locke Lamora
Jan 31, 2018

[Anni]

Your first book in 2018? :) Congratulations!!!

[Zaara]

Anni wrote: "Your first book in 2018? :) Congratulations!!!"
Tks. I don't have the time right now to do what I intended but chk bk on this thrd later for a surprise :-)

[J.J.]

Yay Zaara! You deserve a big delicious cupcake, if you don't want it I'll eat. lol ; p

[Zaara]

Tks J.J. Post a pic of one. I promise to drool at it, if not actually eat it.

[J.J.]

I'm not tech savvy I just tried and failed, my bad. : (

[Sha]

i like the categories!

//eyes covetously
//remembers i'm already overbooked for buddy reads
//sighs

[Zaara]

J.J. wrote: "I'm not tech savvy I just tried and failed, my bad. : ("

Heh, no worries...I'm equally bad but I practised uploading pics. Repeatedly.

@Sha, but nothing beats your tracker!

[Anni]

Let's see... How about this one? :)

[Zaara]

Oh Anni! And with a cherry on top...the best kind...
Y'all spoil me, you do!
I'm not complaining...
Oh and my digital self/avatar goes bk to *demolishing the fake cupcake*