Challenge Wrap-Up: A to Z Challenge 2010

First, I want to say thanks to Becky of Becky's Book Review Blog, for hosting the A to Z Challenge. It was great fun, and I'm thinking very seriously about signing up for next year.

I read twenty-one of twenty-six books (A-Z by title). Not a great record, but better than I expected to do. Here's the list (with links to reviews if any):

A: (The) Anthologist. Nicholson Baker
B: (The) Brontes Went to Woolworths. Rachel Ferguson
C: Contact. Carl Sagan
D: Damaged. Alex Kava
E: (The) Egypt Game. Zilpha Keatley Snyder
F: (The) Forgotten Garden. Kate Morton
G: (The) Good Psychologist. Noel Shpancer
H: (The) House Next Door. Anne Rivers Siddons
I: Innocent. Scott Turow
J: Juliet. Anne Fortier
K:
L: Live To Tell. Lisa Gardner
M: (The) Map of True Places. Brunonia Barry
N: Noah's Compass. Anne Tyler
O: Operation Terror. Murray Leinster
P: People of the Book. Geraldine Brooks
Q: Quattrocento. James McKean
R: (The) Raphael Affair. Iain Pears
S: (The) Swimming Pool. Holly LeCraw
T: Tinkers. Paul Harding
U:
V: Venom. Joan Brady
W: We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Shirley Jackson
X:
Y:
Z:

A-Z Wednesday: "P"

A-Z Wednesday is hosted by Vicki at Reading At The Beach. To join in, just visit her blog for the guidelines and leave your link in a comment.

This week's letter is "P." So I went to my shelves, and this is what I pulled out.

Pontoon: A Novel of Lake Wobegon
Written by Garrison Keillor
Published 2007

Description of the book from the publisher:

In Lake Wobegon lives a good Lutheran lady who is quite prepared to die and wishes to be cremated and her ashes placed inside a bowling ball and dropped into the lake, no prayers, no hymns, thank you very much. Meanwhile, the Detmer girl returns from California, where she has made a killing in veterinary aromatherapy, to marry her boyfriend Brent aboard Wally's pontoon boat, presided over by her minister, Misty Naylor of the Sisterhood of the Sacred Spirit. Brent arrives on Thursday. On Saturday, a delegation of renegade Lutheran pastors from Denmark come to town on their tour of America, their punishment for having denied the divinity of Jesus. And Barbara Peterson, whose mother, Evelyn, left the startling note about cremation and the bowling ball, is in love with a lovely fat man who slips around town in dim light and reconnoiters with her at the Romeo Motel.

And then there is Raoul of the cigars and tinted shades and rainbow sportcoat and his long phone message ("Hey, Precious") after the angel of death has already come and gone.

All is in readiness for the wedding – the giant shrimp shish kebabs, the French champagne, the wheels of imported cheese, the pate with whole peppercorns, the hot-air balloon, the flying Elvis, the pontoon boat, and the giant duck decoys – and then something else happens.

It is Lake Wobegon as you've imagined it – good loving people who drive each other slightly crazy.

See the book's page at Amazon.com.

And a photo of the author:

I read this one a couple of years ago, and loved it. It's really laugh-out-loud funny, and pokes fun at just about everybody and everything (including some gentle jabbing at religion, so if you're squeamish about that sort of thing, this might not be your cuppa). It also includes one of the greatest opening lines in all literature (IMHO): "Evelyn was an insomniac so when they say she died in her sleep, you have to question that."

A-Z Wednesday: "J"

A-Z Wednesday is hosted by Vicki at Reading At The Beach. To join in, just visit her blog for the guidelines and leave your link in a comment.

This week's letter is "J." So I went to my shelves, and this is what I pulled out.

Juliet
Written by Anne Fortier
Published 2010

Description from the publisher:

Juliet, an ambitious, utterly engaging historical novel on the scale of The Thirteenth Tale and The Birth of Venus, follows a young woman who discovers that her family's origins reach all the way back to literature's greatest star-crossed lovers.

When Julie Jacobs inherits a key to a safety-deposit box in Siena, Italy, she is told it will lead her to an old family treasure. Soon she is launched on a winding and perilous journey into the history of her ancestor Giulietta, whose legendary love for a young man named Romeo rocked the foundations of medieval Siena. As Julie crosses paths with the descendants of the families involved in Shakespeare's unforgettable blood feud, she begins to realize that the notorious curse - "A plague on both your houses!" - is still at work, and that she is the next target. It seems that the only one who can save Julie from her fate is Romeo - but where is he?

See the book's page at Good Reads.

And the covers of a couple of other editions (the German and Dutch, I believe):


I just received an ARC of this one, and haven't started it yet. Apparently it's been causing quite a stir in the publishing world, so I'm eager to get to it. But it's gonna have to wait until I finish a couple of other books first.

A to Z Challenge 2010

Yes, I am seriously deranged. I know it. I admit it. And I don't seem to be able to do anything about it.

Here's another challenge I'm signing up for in this shiny new year. Don't know how I managed to miss it until now, but the A to Z Challenge, hosted by Becky of Becky's Book Reviews, is definitely an irresistible challenge. It runs throughout 2010, and the rules are really simple: read 26 to 52 books, alphabetically (either by author or title, or a combination of the two). I'm opting for the 26 books by title category, and yes, I think I've already got something in mind for Q, X, and Z!

I'm not going to make a list in advance, but I'll be updating my progress on my challenge blog.