You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

We’ve read the rainbow, and now we are going to read the alphabet!

The rules:

1. The challenge will start January 1, 2013 and finish December 31, 2013.
2. You may read any format - paperback, hardcover, ebook, or audiobook, but must be a minimum of 200 pages long!
3. You may read any genre you chose.
4. You may plan ahead and chose books for the entire challenge, but you are not restricted to those books. You may swap them out at will.
5. You must read the alphabet and tasks IN ORDER (otherwise, any book you read can be applied to the challenge and how much fun would that be?)
6. You will report your progress by starting your own thread in the "Year Long Challenge". Please indicate in the title of your thread that it is for the Alphabet Challenge and which level of the challenge. For example, “Janice’s Low Octane Alphabet”.

There will be two levels to accommodate people of various reading speeds and/or time commitments.

High Octane Level:

Your challenge is to read 26 books based on the first letter of the author’s last name! You MUST read them in order! Example: Your first book could be written by Margaret Atwood. Your second book may by Maeve Binchy. Third may be by Bryce Courtenay, and so on.

Once you have finished the alphabet, you get to start all over again! Except the second time, you will select books by the first word in the title (excluding words such as a, an, the, etc.) Each time you complete an alphabet, you will start a new alphabet based on different criteria.

Here is the order in which you will read your alphabets (ORDER being the operative word – you must do the tasks in order):
1. Author’s last name.
2. First word of the Title (exclusive of words such as a, an, the, etc.)
3. First name of the author.
4. Setting. (not restricted to country - may be province, state, city, etc.)
5. Author’s setting. (not restricted to country - may be province state, city, etc.)
6. Main character’s name (either first or last).
7. A combination of the above tasks but in your favourite genre!
(For example: If your favorite genre is mystery, your list may start with The Anatomist's Wife, Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by Alan Bradly, Venom's character Cassandra Caravello, etc.)

8. If you finish 7 alphabets, you may start back at task number 1 and rotate through the tasks a second or third time, as many times as you want.

Because some letters can be problematic here are the workarounds:
All Task: Ex may be used in place of X.
Task 4: Setting may be fictional as in science fiction or fantasy genres.
Task 4 & 5: Where there are few or no countries that start with the letters of the alphabet, I will allow a country name that includes the letter. Eg - X in Mexico.
Task 4 & 5: Setting isn't restricted to country.

Low Octane Level:

Your challenge is to read 26 books observing the alphabet by choosing one of the tasks above. Whichever you choose, the alphabet must be read in order. In your personal thread, you will need to identify which task you are completing. Once you have selected a task, you are stuck with it, so choose wisely.

Note: Ex may be used in place of X.

Oh good one!

Fun, fun, fun until we get to X ... lol!

I like it!!!!!

1200+ books on my tbr list and not one begins with the letter X.

I think you should include narrator as author/narrator choice. After all they bring a book to life.

Thing Two wrote: "1200+ books on my tbr list and not one begins with the letter X."

There's a few 200 page X-men graphic novels it seems

*grumbles at the 200p limit and moves some piles of books around*

Thing Two wrote: "Fun, fun, fun until we get to X ... lol!"

We're going to have to help each other find books that will fit, especially when it comes to the tough letters.

Shirley wrote: "I think you should include narrator as author/narrator choice. After all they bring a book to life."

Something I learned from the rainbow challenge is not to be swayed into adapting the challenge. It was a good suggestion, but the answer is.... no. I've turned into a meany. :)

Judy wrote: "Love this, Janice. Creative!"

I had help. The Mod Squad strikes again. :)

crikey - that looks complicated. I may well stick with the low octane version - strikes me as more than difficult enough! How many authors are there whose last name begins with X?

Thing Two wrote: "Fun, fun, fun until we get to X ... lol!"

I did find a few books by Qui Xiaolong that i could tolerate.

Janice wrote: .... no. I've turned into a meany. :)

meany..what about books written by 2 people..which name counts?

lol Janice.

I have Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian on my shelf. It would have to be added to my "doorstops" shelf as that thing is massive, but it would do the trick.

I've read one by Xinran that I enjoyed, Sky Burial: An Epic Love Story of Tibet, and she's written others.

This looks so much fun!

My question is, double barrelled names without a hyphen. Do we have to provide an wiki article or something to prove we are using their last name ;) eg. I'm thinking Diana Wynne Jones or Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Oh, Xinran's first name is Xue :)

One more (daft) question. Am I OK to start the high octane, thinking I might attempt just the first two alphabets? I assume there's no penalty for not completing more than the first one? No way I'm going to manage 7 alphabets, but I fancy a good go at the first two.

Malcolm X

Whoops, to continue..
Has been sitting on my shelf just waiting for this challenge!

Janice wrote: "Thing Two wrote: "Fun, fun, fun until we get to X ... lol!"

We're going to have to help each other find books that will fit, especially when it comes to the tough letters.

Shirley wrote: "I think..."

O K thought I might catch you in a weak mood. :)

I'm going to go with the Low Octane and use the Title option as I already have an X and more than a few Qs.

And I may be getting a little ahead here, but there are no countries starting with X...well, not that exist currently!

Oh I am so in and blatantly going to try the High Octane level!!

Soooo spending my Christmas break planning for this one...Woohoo!!!

:-D

Uh oh, Sam's got the Excel sheets out again ;)

Kat wrote: "Uh oh, Sam's got the Excel sheets out again ;)"

Hell yea I do hehe

Really GOOD one!

Making my list and checking it twice.

Oh yeah, this is a challenge! Hmm... It will require some planning and tracking too...

I don't know if I'll be able to do this challenge but good luck to all that do do it!

For the setting by country for x, there is Xanth A Spell for Chameleon There's a whole series of them set in that fantasy world.

Helen wrote: "One more (daft) question. Am I OK to start the high octane, thinking I might attempt just the first two alphabets? I assume there's no penalty for not completing more than the first one? No way I'm..."

The idea is that the high octane readers are to read as many books as they possibly can. I added several tasks to accommodate the speed readers so that they will stay interested and motivated.

Rusalka wrote: "My question is, double barrelled names without a hyphen. Do we have to provide an wiki article or something to prove we are using their last name ;) eg. I'm thinking Diana Wynne Jones or Gabriel G..."

If it ain't hyphenated it's the last name in the string of names. In the examples above - Jones, and Marquez.

AmyK wrote: "meany..what about books written by 2 people..which name counts?"

Thank you for addressing me by my new moderator name (Meany)... LOL!

Either name will count. But both authors have to have actually written the book. No illustrators, translators, or people who have written an introduction or forward will count.

Judy wrote: "Oooo...does that mean that X is a freebie?"

No freebies! I may have to come up with a creative work-around, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Hey, maybe this will be a great opportunity for those who love fantasy. There are bound to be some countries in other worlds that start in X. Xanadu?

Shirley wrote: "O K thought I might catch you in a weak mood. :)"

Not a chance! Between the last challenge and life lessons, I'm learning to be strong!

For Author's country starting with X maybe you could do countries with a letter x in them?

So does that mean that fantasy countries count Janice? And there was me ruling them out, obviously I'm being far too strict hehe

Sam wrote: "So does that mean that fantasy countries count Janice? And there was me ruling them out, obviously I'm being far too strict hehe"

Yes, Fantasy and Science Fiction genres should not be discriminated against.

Janice wrote: "Sam wrote: "So does that mean that fantasy countries count Janice? And there was me ruling them out, obviously I'm being far too strict hehe"

Yes, Fantasy and Science Fiction genres should not be..."

Awesome :-D

Interesting challenge, only I'm bad at sticking to them. :(

WOW! My mind is spinning! : )

Sign me up for the Low Octane Challenge with setting by country. This will be a fun challenge since I can work on it and read (and cook!) around the world at the same time! Can't wait to get started. Guess I better adjust my list and find a "W" and an "X"...

I love that fictional countries are also allowed, as I am a big SF/F reader.

This sounds very challenging but very fun also! I guess I will have to try some fantasy books to cover some of the more obscure letters! Count me in!

QUESTION: Janice, (This is Judy using Amanda's computer.) Can we start with the Low Octane last name challenge and then upgrade to the High Octane if we choose?

Ok Meany.......lets assume I do the Low Octane version, and do say....the author's last name and get all 26 letters done and want to shoot for another one. Does this mean i switch to the high octane version and go to step 2, or can I just pick another from the list to do?

Thanks for the hard and fast rule Janice! (I just won't pass it on to my friend with the non-hyphenated surname who spends her life bashing her head against that problem).

I'm fine with rules as long as they don't change on me. Now to go and move more piles of books around...

okay, one more question. If the title of my book starts with a number: ie 8 Men and a Duck: An Improbable Voyage by Reed Boat to Easter Island. Do I ignore the number and go for the M in Men for the title?

Judy and AmyK.... I would say that you sign up for high octane. You only need to complete one alphabet to complete the challenge. If you think you could possibly do more than one, then the high octane level is for you.

Rusalka - if your friend's name is hyphenated and she was an author (say Abbott-Brown), she would be considered an "A" author.

Cherie - just for you, I'm going to create a numeric part to the challenge! Just teasing. Let's assume (for the purposes of this challenge) that the numbers are abbreviations. 8 = eight = e option.

Love this one!! But I feel like I've been away from the site cuz I just noticed this. Where have I been? You miss so much if you don't check in for a day. I think I was spending too much reading or something, mostly reading.
I'm going to go check my tbr list and do a little (lot) of planning.

Roz wrote: "Love this one!! But I feel like I've been away from the site cuz I just noticed this. Where have I been? You miss so much if you don't check in for a day. I think I was spending too much reading or..."

I just posted it this morning, so you're okay. You haven't missed anything. :) Roz? Roz? Hmmm... guess she's checking out her TBR.

this will be my first challenge with you all and I'm super excited! I'll be doing the low octane of course but I'm looking forward to it!

HOORAY Mary Alice!!!

Janice wrote: "Roz wrote: "Love this one!! But I feel like I've been away from the site cuz I just noticed this. Where have I been? You miss so much if you don't check in for a day. I think I was spending too muc..."

Haahahah, very funny Janice :D
Actually I was looking for authors with names that start with X.

I'm so glad you've decided to do the challenge with us, Mary Alice.

Roz, there are some suggestions earlier in this thread for X authors.

Rules question for Meanie.
When you say the books mus be read in order, I assume that means I have to finish C before I can start D? So I can't have multiple books on the go for the challenge?

Also, if I read a book for Author surname, can I read the same book again for a later round (accepting I'll have to actually read it again).