A massive thanks to those who have signed up for the 2015 Authors A to Z Reading Challenge—I hope you’re all as excited as I am to dig into those delicious books!
A few of you have commented on the difficulty of finding Q, X, and Z authors, and I thought I’d compile a list of suggestions. Q and Z were surprisingly easy to find (as evidenced by a browse through my local library and Oxfam bookshop), but X has been quite a tricky one indeed.
Q: Anthony Quinn; Karen Quinn; Julia Quinn; Amanda Quick; Erica Quest; Matthew Quick, Ellery Queen (thanks, Karen!). Also check out Wiki.
X: XU Xi; XUE Xinran; Malcom X (thanks, Lisa!).
Z: Carlos Ruiz Zafón; Paul Zindel; Markus Zusak; Cecily von Ziegesar; Helen Zahavi, Emile Zola; Gabrielle Zevin (thanks, Karen!). Also check out Wiki.
If you know of any other authors, please let me know in a comment and I’ll add it to the list. Hope this helps!
Update (2 June 2015): Since X has been causing a bit of strife, any author with X in their last name (not necessarily as the first letter) qualifies for the challenge. Hope that’ll make things a little more manageable!
For the mystery lovers out there, Ellery Queen is the best Q there is.
Gabrielle Zevin is who I’m using for my Z. FINALLY going to read The Storied Life of AJ Fikry! (She has 7 other books, too!)
I’ll be adding both to the list–thanks!
And I’m not sure how I forgot about Zevin–I’ve read Fikry, and hope you enjoy it!
I’ve been wanting to read Fikry for a while and I’m SO looking forward to it! Now I’m sorry that I’m insisting on reading them in order because it’ll be the end of the year before I get to it :)
Goa Xingjain wrote Soul Mountain which is currently on my shelf. Also, would Malcolm X count as an ‘x’?
Unfortunately, Gao Xingjain’s surname is Gao, so he’d only count under “G”. Malcolm X would work for “X”, though!
So far X is really the only one I’ve had trouble with. It leaves such limited choices. I found a pretty interesting looking foodie book that should cover it too: “Seaweed and Eat It: A Family Foraging and Cooking Adventure” by Xa Milne (I’ve been led to believe that Xa is the surname, though I don’t know enough about how names work outside of my own culture to be sure…can anyone confirm what I’ve been told?).
Malcolm X is def a good choice, though I think if I end up doing this challenge multiple years in a row I would want to change the X requirement somehow because I don’t like the idea of forcing myself to read some random book from the very small pool of X names…perhaps a name that has an X in it ANYWHERE for challenge veterans? Otherwise that X bit will stop being fun. Either way, doesn’t matter yet as this is my first year in.
Unfortunately, Milne is the surname for Xa Milne, so that title won’t count for X. I know X is going to be quite tricky, but I suppose that’s why this is a reading challenge!
I understand your reservations about the limited X choices, but I’m afraid that’s how I’ve decided to run the challenge this year (its first). If I host it again in the future (and I think I will), I’ll reconsider the rules for X. For the time being, you’re more than welcome to adapt the challenge however you like to suit your own reading interests. Hope that helps!
I read an excellent novel by Qui Xiaolong (see http://bibliographicmanifestations.blogspot.com/2012/11/x-qui-xiaolong.html) and would recommend his work for “X”
Thanks for the recommendation! Unfortunately, the author is Chinese, and the Chinese surname comes first–so in this instance, it’s Qui, and wouldn’t count under “X”. Sorry!
Joining, and begun!
Suggestions?
X- Xan Hood
Y- Yttrup, Yorkey, Y’Barbo
Z- Zschech, Zacharias, Zinsser, Zack, Zevin , Zafon, Zechariah, Zook