AMERICAN AUTHORS CHALLENGE 2019 GENERAL DISCUSSION THREAD

Welcome to the 2019 version of the American Authors Challenge. Those of you who have participated in the past will know that Mark @msf59 has been hosting the challenge for the last five years, and under his guidance there has been a LOT of wonderful reading and discussion. His shoes are gonna be tough to fill.

We had a good interchange about who to include this year, and if you weren’t part of that, but would like to know how we arrived at the 2019 line-up, you can scope out the Planning thread here.

We’ve covered 56 distinct authors in the past; the list can be found in the first post of the planning thread as noted above. We occasionally had a Theme Month (Poetry, Narrative Non-Fiction, etc.) instead of an individual author, which is why there are not 60 names on the list.

The list for 2019, based in large part on a consensus of those offering suggestions and opinions on the planning thread, looks like this:

January: Chaim Potok
February: Louisa May Alcott
March: Jon Clinch
April: Jesmyn Ward
May: Jay Parini
June: Pearl Buck
July: Founding Fathers (and Mothers)
August: Ernest J. Gaines
September: Leslie Marmon Silko
October: DRAMA
November: W. E. B. DuBois
December: Marilynne Robinson

BONUS/WILD CARD: Genre Fiction. My recommendations for this category are Sharyn McCrumb and James Lee Burke, but it's a wild card. Use it for whatever you like.

I will post links to each month’s discussion thread here. So let’s get started with our first “chosen” author, Chaim Potok. The January thread is here.

Nice introduction over here, Linda. Promising choice of authors. Looking forward to 2019. Potok is a good choice, to kick off the year.

**The January link is faulty.

I meant to say, I love the graphic in >1 laytonwoman3rd:. Very cool.

>2 msf59: Thank you Mark. The link should work now. ETA: But see >5 laytonwoman3rd: below

>3 jessibud2: I love that graphic too, Shelley.

If the links are not working, the view of the thread is skeletal, or photos and graphics are not loading, there is something screwy with the talk forums right now, apparently especially for those using a laptop. Hopefully when the backstage crew is back to full strength after the holidays, it will get sorted out. Meanwhile there have been some suggestions about remedies we can try ourselves, such as making sure the URL of all links begins with https://

>5 laytonwoman3rd: Yep, https:// or sign out and then sign in.

>5 laytonwoman3rd: - Yes, I have noticed that a few times! I thought something must be screwy with the site because it wasn't happening anywhere else I went on the internet. But leaving LT then coming back seemed to work.

I’m glad to see this and will certainly be reading at least some of the authors this year. I’m grateful that you set us up here, Linda!
On the links: it depends on where I click from. Definitely something wonky going on, but I keep trying, with some success.

That graphic up top sure is spiffy!

I'll try to mention this again when July rolls around, but on the assumption that I'm likely to forget over the intervening months: a recent episode of the podcast Just the Right Book featured an interview with Joseph Ellis, discussing his most recent book American Dialogue: The Founders and Us. Perfect listening for thinking about reading for July's challenge.

You can listen to the episode here or by seeking out Just the Right Book in your podcatcher of choice and looking for the episode from December 12, 2018.

>6 Ameise1:, >7 jessibud2:, >8 Matke: Glad this temporary (we hope) glitch isn't discouraging anyone!

>9 lycomayflower: I thank you. The internet thanks you.

>10 lycomayflower: And thank you again. I'm making a list of my own for books about the founders. I assume their own writings can speak for themselves.

I’m working on classics again this year, and have NEVER read Little Women in its entirety, so February looks good for that!

>12 fuzzi: Well, be prepared to put Little Women in the freezer. (If you don't get that reference, I apologize. "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivnqbyYI-yY" )

>12 fuzzi: and >13 laytonwoman3rd: - NO! Don't watch that! Spoilers!

>13 laytonwoman3rd: Oh, right....good point, Katie. Don't watch that! In fact, I'll put it under a spoiler cut right now.

Love the line-up! Thank you for keeping this challenge going. Off to have a look at the TBR pile for some unread Potok.

>10 lycomayflower: ETA I love Joseph Ellis. I just read The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, and I have several of his other books. He's an excellent resource.

>16 nittnut: I've never read him, but that interview makes me want to!

>5 laytonwoman3rd: I had trouble viewing these threads on 12/28/18 while I was a work and I was on a desktop. I thought it was because our IT department had updated our firewall. I came home and had the same problem. I cleared my cache and that seemed to help. So far so good. I also get a Not Secure up in the web address bar still.

I am hoping to try and participate in this challenge.

>18 crazy4reading: The problem was addressed by Tim and crew a couple days ago, Monica. It should all be OK now. The not secure message is probably from your firewall, which doesn't like any URL's without the https (meaning secure) in them. If your IT people are really sticklers about that, you may not get full functionality at work. (How DARE they?) In any case, I'm glad you'll try to join the AAC this year. The more the merrier.

The Louisa May Alcott thread for February is up. Come on over and talk about what you're planning to read.

AND...watch this space for another thread announcement in the next few days. It has been suggested that a separate thread for the Wild Card reads would be a good idea, and I agree, so I'll be working on that one.

As promised above, I have created a thread for the Wild Card Category. Stop there any time during the year when you choose to read outside the selections, and fill us in on what great genre fiction you're reading.

Is the March thread up yet? I was just wondering.

>22 fuzzi: Working on it...been distracted by taxes.

>23 laytonwoman3rd: oh, dang...you had to remind me...

And now the March thread is up. Please come over and get acquainted with Jon Clinch.

It's nearly April, time to get started on Jesmyn Ward, and her thread is now live.

Jon Clinch has posted on his Facebook page the sad news that Tony Horwitz died suddenly yesterday.

Watch this space for an announcement of the Pearl Buck thread, opening soon!

ETA: Sorry to be late with the new thread. RL....just hogging my time. Tomorrow, I hope.

The Pearl Buck thread is now up and ready for your input.

The Founding Fathers and Mothers await you.

For those participating who were not educated in America, I'd love some input on how the early days of the United States, including its exploration, its colonization and its revolt against British rule were treated in your history classes.

The Ernest J. Gaines thread for August is up and running here. Don't pass this one up. His work is amazing, and the TV movie adaptations still available for viewing are not to be missed either. My research for his introductory post has placed Mr. Gaines solidly on my Dream Dinner Party list.

As most of us have heard, Toni Morrison has left us, and American literature is bereft. I just thought I'd post a link here to the 2014 AAC thread where we read and discussed her. I know I'll be searching my shelves for works I haven't yet read, as you do when a great author passes on.

>33 laytonwoman3rd: off to take a look Linda, thank you. I need to track down my copy of The Bluest Eye which is the one I read longest ago.

I also need to get to the library to collect the Gaines next week. They have A Gathering of Old Men.

It's nearly October, and The DRAMA thread is up

Thank you!

The November thread for the 2019 AAC is live. Come join us in a discussion of W. E. B. Du Bois's work

And here we are, entering the final month of the 2019 American Authors Challenge. The Marilynne Robinson thread is live.

I'll be starting a discussion thread for 2020 shortly.