BJ's ABC

I have been tracking this on paper and thought I should get started on the thread! I am doing both title and author.

A:
~Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood.
~Atwood, Margaret: The Blind Assassin.

B:
~Boneshaker by Cherie Priest.
~Brin, David: The Postman.

C:
~Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton.
~Camus, Albert: The Plague.

D:
~Dracula by Bram Stoker.
~Dumas, Alexandre: The Three Musketeers.

E:
~Emissaries from the Dead by Adam-Troy Castro.
~Ende, Michael: The Neverending Story.

F:
~Frankenstein by Mary Shelly.
~follette::Follett, Ken: World Without End.

G:
~Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.
~gaimangaiman::Gaiman, Neil: M is for Magic.

H:
~Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling.
~Hicks, Robert: A Separate Country.

I:
~Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison.
~Ishiguro, Kazuo: Never Let Me Go.

J:
~
~Joyce, James: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

K:
~
~Knowles, John: A Separate Peace.

L:
~Lirael by Garth Nix.
~Lem, Stanislaw: Solaris.

M:
~Moby-Dick, or, The Whale by Herman Melville.
~Murakami, Haruki: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.

N:
~Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami.
~Nix, Garth: Abhorsen.

O:
~Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.
~

P:
~Perdido Street Station by China Mieville.
~Penny, Louise: The Brutal Telling.

Q:
~
~

R:
~
~Rankin, Robert: The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse.

S:
~Sabriel by Garth Nix.
~Saramago, Jose: Blindess.

T:
~The Teeth of the Tiger by Tom Clancy.
~Tey, Josephine: Brat Farrar.

U:
~Ulysses by James Joyce.
~

V:
~
~Virgil: The Aeneid of Virgil translated by C. Day Lewis.

W:
~Within a Budding Grove by Marcel Proust.
~Wilde, Oscar: The Picture of Dorian Gray.

X:
~
~

Y:
~Yotsuba&! Volume 1 by Kiyohiko Azuma.
~Yolen, Jane: Briar Rose.

Z:
~
~Zion, Gene: Harry the Dirty Dog.

Here is a quick rundown of the books listed so far:

Margaret Atwood writes pretty intriguing books, both The Blind Assassin and Alias Grace were original and great reads. Boneshaker is a steampunk book set in the US and was terrific. Cry, the Beloved Country is a tale of South Africa and a must read. Dracula and The Three Musketeers are classics and great fun. Emissaries from the Dead is a scifi book with a mystery story in it. It is the first book of a series. Frankenstein is another classic that I was glad to finally read. World Without End is historical fiction set in medieval times and is the sequel to Pillars of the Earth.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was a fun read, and I am glad that I finally read this book that everyone else on the planet has read. A Separate Country is another historical fiction set in post-Civil War New Orleans. It starts out a little slow, but really picks up about halfway through. Never Let Me Go was haunting. Wow. I am so glad that I have finally gotten on the Ishiguro bandwagon. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man was my first by James Joyce and I liked it. I am glad that I started with this one. A Separate Peace is a tale of a boys school during World War 2. A great story. Solaris is a scifi classic about man interacting with an alien life force. Although slow in parts, I thought this was a truly terrific book. Moby Dick, another classic which I loved. Of the two by Murakami, I liked The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, although is was confusing, but I did not really care for Norwegian Wood. He is a terrific writer, though.

Perdido Street Station is another steam punk book set in a fictional place. This book also started slow, but really picked up about halfway through. Quite long, though. The Brutal Telling is a terrific mystery story by Louise Penny. It was book 5 or so of a series, and I wish I had read the previous books first. Sabriel was a young adult fantasy, part one of a trilogy. This was a terrific story and I look forward to the rest of the series. Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey was a terrific tale. I love her books and have another one around that I want to read.

Ulysses was my second James Joyce, and I liked this one as well. It was quite long, but held my attention. The Picture of Dorian Gray was my first Oscar Wilde and it was quite good. Jane Yolen's Briar Rose is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty intertwined with a story of the Holocaust. Another great read.

Sorry about taking too long to post causing me to dump so many titles in one thread. Overall, I have enjoyed almost all of the books that I have read for this challenge.
--BJ

For my V author I read The Aeneid of Virgil translated by C. Day Lewis. This was a terrific read!
--BJ

For my L book, I read Lirael by Garth Nix. This is the second book of the Abhorsen trilogy and quite good.
--BJ

My Z author book is a children's book. I will list it now and maybe replace it down the road. The book is Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion. This was a 50th anniversary edition which I could not resist. A reread from my childhood.
--BJ

My E author is Michael Ende. I read The Neverending Story, which was a terrific read that just got better and better as I read along.
--BJ

I have finally read another book for this challenge! My I book is Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, which was a terrific read.
--BJ

I read my G book: Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. And I noticed that some of the other books that I read did not get listed. My G author is Neil Gaiman who wrote M is for Magic. My N author is Garth Nix who wrote Abhorsen. That catches me up. I am about to read 2 different books with authors that will work for B.
--BJ

My B author is David Brin. I read his book The Postman, which was quite a good read. I think that I will look for more by him in the future.
--BJ

My S author is Jose Saramago who wrote Blindness. The touchstone isn't working. This book was quite disturbing at times. An apparent epidemic of blindness results in severe government action.
--BJ

My T title is The Teeth of the Tiger by Tom Clancy, which follows Jack Ryan, Jr. who now enters the world of espionage. I liked it ok but did not love it.
--BJ

My W book is Within a Budding Grove by Marcel Proust, which is the second book of In Search of Lost Time. I don't know why the touchstone for this book never takes when it shows up as I type!
--BJ

My R author is Robert Rankin -- a double R! I read The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse, which is a fantasy spoof on the whodunnit. It was pretty funny, although just crude in parts. Definitely not for children.
--BJ

I finally finished another book for this challenge! I read Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (I don't know what is wrong with the touchstone here) for my title starting with the letter "O." I read this for a group read and enjoyed reading it with the group. I am thinking of continuing the series.
--BJ

I loved Outlander the first time I read it - and the re-reads, too. And the next several in the series but ended up losing interest after about the 4th book. I think what ruined it for me was the nonfiction Outlandish Companion where Gabaldon talks too much about her own cleverness in producing the intricate stories. I don't care about the author, I just enjoyed the fantasy of Claire and Jamie's story. Enjoy the series - avoid the companion book!

Thanks for letting me know about that! I really don't think I would have liked that book either.
--BJ

@18

I just picked up the whole series (my local Borders Books going belly-up virtually blew up my Mt. TBR!), so thank you for letting me know not to read the Companion - I did look at it at the store, but now I'm happy I left it on the shelf!

#20 I don't think you'll miss it. You can always pick it up at the library after you finish the others. If you really want to.

For the Y title, I read Yotsuba&! Volume 1 by Kiyohiko Azuma, as well as volume 2. This was a delightful introduction to manga. I am not moving at the speed of light here. I guess I need to be more selective of what I read so that I can finish. :)

It looks to me like you're making great progress, BJ! After a year and a half, I'm still on letter G!

Thanks, Sandy! I have a few books picked out, but I don't seem to be reading them. And a few of the books are quite short for harder letters. Are you going in order? I just kind of skip around.

I'm going in order - doing a sample of fiction and nonfiction titles and authors for each letter from my enormous wish list, then moving on to the next letter. Some go so slowly that it seems I'll never finish the books I pick out, but G is just the opposite - I picked a sample from my list and then have just kept adding more and more to be read. I'll probably end up with nearly twice as many G's as I'd originally planned. I've already got my H books picked out, since I am finally almost finished with the G list. H is a long list - I think I've chosen about 15 or 16 books, which will take me into the fall, probably. I love it that I'm forcing myself to read books I've wishlisted without deciding whether I am really in the mood for them or not - if I start it and hate it, then I quit - no problem. I've found a lot of books that I've loved and would probably never have gotten around to even reading without this challenge. I don't even care anymore that it is going so much slower than I had planned for.

It sounds like you have a really good way of looking at the challenge. More of an experience and less of a crossing off the list. I need to check out your list. :)

I do like your arrangement much better than what I started out with. If I ever start the challenge over I think I'll use your model.

Thank you! As you can see I kind of stalled out on letters. I have been looking lately for some to fill in all my blank spaces. I hope that I read one soon!