Reading with Style discussion

Know Your ABC’s (ABC) – Read ten books, in alphabetical order, where the author’s last name begins with one of 10 consecutive letters of the alphabet.

Click on the link above to read the full description. Post questions about the ABC challenge here

I'm new to this group, so please forgive me if I ask a question that has been answered before. Are rereads OK?

Catherine, we have no way of knowing whether you reread or not, so, in that sense yes, rereads are OK. That said, this group is more geared toward helping you expand your reading horizons and finding new books and areas of interest. We hope you will look to it in that vein.

And welcome! We hope you enjoy the challenges.

Catherine wrote: "I'm new to this group, so please forgive me if I ask a question that has been answered before. Are rereads OK?"

Thank you for the question! Depending on my mood re-reads may not be allowed. I asked members to not use re-reads for the Summer Ten Degree of Separation sub-challenge, but did not disallow them for the Fall ABC challenge.

Thank you LizM and Elizabeth for your quick answers to my question. I understand widening my reading horizons, but since I'll be reading some books for a second time (as I'll be teaching them!) I hoped to be able to use one of them in this challenge. My problem is usually planning too grandly in challenges, including all sorts of different types of books, and then not being able to read all I planned. :/

Um, I haven't been around much because I've been Super-Slack about calculating points etc, but having fun just reading per tasks, he he he...

But I just want to say, WHAT AN AWESOME GAME!! You mods have once again surpassed yourselves ;)

re: graduate points (A)
Since we are able to complete two cycles of the ABCs but cannot use the same letter twice, will the same go for chronological period, not being able to repeat publication year?

btw: SO EXCITED for this one...too much fun :-D

Oh my goodness those bonuses are devilish! :-)

Also if you want to leave yourself the option of doing it twice, you can't start with H, I or J.

I see many happy hours of planning ahead!

Anika wrote: "re: graduate points (A)
Since we are able to complete two cycles of the ABCs but cannot use the same letter twice, will the same go for chronological period, not being able to repeat publication year?"

Not ignoring you, I want to wait for Liz to weigh in on this.

Members might want to mention authors for those letters that are most likely to be more difficult.

I am using Anna Quindlen, but I did trip over a few others in different time periods.

I found the letter I to be a bit restrictive: two choices I came up with are John Irving and Arnaldur Indridason.

How about X! The only one I know of is Xinran whose full name is Xinran Xue.
I have one of her books on TBR so I think that's my starting point!
But of course you can avoid XYZ.
I and Q are harder to avoid.

For I, I have Kazuo Ishiguro

I thought that "V" would be difficult until I realized how many options I had between Kurt Vonnegut & Abraham Verghese.

I'm having some trouble with "I" as well (the only one I was able to come up with was John Irving, too). Also "U"...does anyone have good "U" suggestions?

John Updike is one you might look at, and while I was looking I saw Jane Urquhart, but am not familiar with her work.

Looking through my books in alphabetical order, I want to make a VERY IMPORTANT point -- the goodreads database is notoriously bad at dealing with foreign author names. We will be using the Brooklyn Public Library to determine an authors last name. For example, Mario Vargas Llosa falls in the middle of the "L" section in my books, but his last name is Vargas Llosa & he should be a "V" author and Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez is listed under "M" in my books, although his last name is García Márquez. We will have the same problems with Chinese and some Japanese authors -- Qiu Xiaolong is listed under "X" in the goodreads database, but in China the last name (Qiu) is written first and he really belongs under "Q".

Malcolm X

Henrik Ibsen
Christopher Isherwood
Washington Irving
Uzodinma Iweala

Barry Unsworth
Sigrid Undset
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

Oops and I forgot Brady Udall.

Meihong Xu

Oh boy! and the planning fun starts!
And what was the decision when there are two authors? Fortunately the one I have for a book club both authors' last names start with the same letter but I can't remember what the past decision was.

The author appearing first is the one to go by.

itpdx wrote: "Oh boy! and the planning fun starts!
And what was the decision when there are two authors? Fortunately the one I have for a book club both authors' last names start with the same letter but I can'..."

Generally, the first author listed on the cover/title page must qualify for the task. So The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is found in the "S" section of BPL.

Gao Xingjian
Qiu Xiaolong (mysteries in mainland China)
Xinran

Liz M wrote: "Looking through my books in alphabetical order, I want to make a VERY IMPORTANT point -- the goodreads database is notoriously bad at dealing with foreign author names. We will be using the Brookl..."

It took me a while to see how to do this so in case anybody else is not sure:
- go to BPL Catalog Home (not BPL Home) http://catalog.brooklynpubliclibrary....
- change where it says 'Keyword' to 'Author'
- enter your author in the format: surname, other names

If you get it right (eg if you enter 'Du Maurier, Daphne') it will show the author's books. If you get it wrong (eg if you enter 'Maurier, Daphne Du') it will tell you that you should try it the other way. So Daphne Du Maurier is a D.

That's right Liz isn't it?

That's one way. You can also change it to Title, find your book, then in the book record see how the author appears.

For Rebecca, you would see Rebecca with the author listed as Du Maurier, Daphne.

Deedee wrote: "Gao Xingjian
Qiu Xiaolong (mysteries in mainland China)"

Neither qualifies for "X". The former is "G" and the latter is "Q" -- these names are both written with the family (last) name followed by the first name, as is the custom in many Asian countries.

Liz M wrote: "Deedee wrote: "Gao Xingjian
Qiu Xiaolong (mysteries in mainland China)"

Neither qualifies for "X". The former is "G" and the latter is "Q" -- these names are both written with the family (last) n..."

My local library has them under "X" ..... ah well, I still have

Xinran

I've read a non-fiction book she wrote about adoption,
Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother: Stories of Loss and Love.

She's written (Non-fiction)
China Witness: Voices from a Silent Generation
Sky Burial: An Epic Love Story of Tibet
The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices
What the Chinese Don't Eat

and, Fiction,
Miss Chopsticks

right now my only "X" is Xinran, so I'll be watching to see what others find :0)

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "That's one way. You can also change it to Title, find your book, then in the book record see how the author appears.

For Rebecca, you would see Rebecca with the author listed as Du Maurier, Daphne."

Duh! Your way is much easier :)

D or Q?
Confessions of an English Opium Eater by De Quincey

G or R?
Knight Errant by R. Garcia y Robertson

L or G?
Ursula K Le Guin

Melanie wrote: "I thought that "V" would be difficult until I realized how many options I had between Kurt Vonnegut & Abraham Verghese.

I'm having some trouble with "I" as well (the only one I was able to come up..."

Leon Uris
Barry Unsworth (frequently nominated for Booker Prizes)
Jane Urquhart
Luis Alberto Urrea - The Hummingbird's Daughter
John Updike
Thrity Umrigar
Harlow Giles Unger (historian)
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich - A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 (non-fiction)

Deedee wrote: "D or Q?
Confessions of an English Opium Eater by De Quincey

G or R?
Knight Errant by R. Garcia y Robertson

L or G?
Ursula K Le Guin"

D: De Quincey, Thomas
G: Garcia y Robertson, Rodrigo
L: Le Guin, Ursula K.

Deedee wrote: "D or Q?
Confessions of an English Opium Eater by De Quincey

G or R?
Knight Errant by R. Garcia y Robertson

L or G?
Ursula K Le Guin"

De Quincy, Thomas

Gardia y Robertson, R.

Le Guin, Ursula K.

Sara Grace ('00-'05) wrote: "Is John Le Carre going to be L rather than C?"

He is listed at BPL as

Le Carre, John

I'm back a bit early from Montana (my dad had a health issue, but looks to be fine now). I had enough Internet to work on this great sub challenge and thought I would remind everyone of the helpful site we've used before:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/

It helped me find a couple of tough ones. I'm using John Irving for "I", but if you like ancient Rome or Genghis Khan, Conn Iggulden has two series of historical fiction plus The Dangerous Book for Boys if they fit your years.

Conn Iggulden
The Gates of Rome
Genghis: Birth of an Empire

Also, will we have a thread where we can post our plan? I love looking at everyone's selections.

anyone have a good way to find a book 1st published in 2000 where the surname starts with F?

Eleanor wrote: "anyone have a good way to find a book 1st published in 2000 where the surname starts with F?"

Try the Fantastic Fiction link I posted in #34. You can search for "F" authors, go to any that interest you and their works will be listed by publication date.

You can also go to that site and click on "years" on the main page and then choose 2000. The authors are listed alphabetically, and are clickable.

Karen GHHS wrote: "I'm back a bit early from Montana (my dad had a health issue, but looks to be fine now). I had enough Internet to work on this great sub challenge and thought I would remind everyone of the helpful..."

Thank you so much for the fantasticfiction site! It's wonderful.

date sorting on goodreads is also pretty handy. top 200 books per year.

Eleanor wrote: "date sorting on goodreads is also pretty handy. top 200 books per year."

You sometimes have to check it really is the date of first publication, though, especially with older books.

Do the publication years/chronological order matter if we are not trying to go for the Doctorate bonus? E.G. if I want the 75 point bonus of having all books within the same 25 year period, can I pick a bunch of books that are all published between 2009 and 2012, as long as I read them in alphabetical order?

Melanie wrote: "E.G. if I want the 75 point bonus of having all books within the same 25 year period, can I pick a bunch of books that are all published between 2009 and 2012, as long as I read them in alphabetical order? ..."

Yes. That is why the bonuses are separate & for a different amount of points.

Liz M wrote: "Melanie wrote: "E.G. if I want the 75 point bonus of having all books within the same 25 year period, can I pick a bunch of books that are all published between 2009 and 2012, as long as I read the...

Yes. That is why the bonuses are separate & for a different amount of points. "

So, to clarify. Pub years can be duplicated, but the bonus points would be restricted to the

A. Graduate award

Christine, if ever you see a pub year that you think is incorrect, post a request in our librarian request thread and I'll get to it as quickly as I can.

I usually take the original publication date.

I take the oldest publication date.

Christine wrote: "Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "I usually take the original publication date."

So, the publication date of the first chapter? Or the publication date of the last chapter.

This is now moot - for ..."

The publication date for books published serially, collections of short stories, poems etc. should be the date the last item was published. (You can't have a publication date prior to when part of the work was written).

I don't see anything wrong with Dickens' works -- the original publication date is written in very small, light grey type after the edition publication date:

Published May 27th 2003 by Penguin Classics (first published 1859)

ETA: The above was copied from A Tale of Two Cities

See I would have gobe with the 1850 date.

Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "See I would have gobe with the 1850 date."

what 1850 date?

from the Charles Dickens "Tale of Two Cities"

Just want to update and clarify about pub dates:

If one is completing ABC twice, publication years cannot be duplicated at all. So, for 20 books, there must be 20 unique publish dates.

The ONLY time duplicate years are allowed is if a member only completes ABC once and does not receive bonus B or C .