UK Book Club discussion

Decided that this is a great idea so I have started putting my a-z list together while reading my current book. That's me sorted for "M"... Now I just need to decide what to read for the rest of the alphabet.

I have also vowed to ONLY read books that contribute to the challenge for the duration! Shouldn't be a problem as I don't have anything on my physical to-read shelf so will need to source all of these as I go.

So far, I have only peppered my challenge list with a few titles. Here it is so far!

A - Margaret Attwood - Oryx and Crake
B - Christopher Brookmyre - Country of the Blind
C - Susanna Clarke - Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
(CURRENT) M - David Mitchell - Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Soet
S - J D Salinger - Catcher in the Rye
T - John Twelve Hawks - The Golden City
V - Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse-Five
W - Mark Watson - A light hearted look at murder

Is The Golden City the second or third book in the series that starts with The Traveller?

You don't have any books on your physical to-read shelf? You are clearly a person with far more self control than most of us - I think I've approaching 100 which is a little excessive but there are far, far worse than me within this group!!

Good luck with challenge - I can't wait to read the David Mitchell, have loved his other books.

Bill wrote: "Is The Golden City the second or third book in the series that starts with The Traveller?"

Hi Bill - The Golden City is the 3rd in the Traveller Series. I picked up the first some time ago on a whim. I wasn't expecting much and was pleasantly surprised. Certainly good enough for me to want to read the 3rd. I will post ratings and comments as I work my way through them.

Em wrote: "You don't have any books on your physical to-read shelf? You are clearly a person with far more self control than most of us - I think I've approaching 100 which is a little excessive but there are..."

Hi Em - We have 5 kids from 3 to 13. This place is total carnage 100% of the time. Any errant books left unattended will be ripped up, coloured in and turned into paper aeroplanes. I can't read anything more than once (very few exceptions) so I have a small space for 6-10 books, locked away from the kids. Once I have read them they generally do the rounds and end up in our local charity shop.

Em wrote: "You don't have any books on your physical to-read shelf? You are clearly a person with far more self control than most of us - I think I've approaching 100 which is a little excessive but there are..."

All the books listed on my tbr shelf here on goodreads are physically in my house - over 1000 when I last checked! Oh to have just one or two or even a hundred!

OMG just checked and there are 1014!

Lynne - The Book Squirrel wrote: "All the books listed on my tbr shelf here on goodreads are physically in my house - over 1000 when I last checked! Oh to have just one or two or even a hundred! "

If I had room for a thousand books I don't know what I would do!

You throw out the dining room table and chairs, get a huge bookcase (mine is 8ft long and 6ft 8in high), a sofa and a bookshelf coffee table and enjoy!

A couple of additions here:

A - Margaret Attwood - Oryx and Crake (unread)
B - Christopher Brookmyre - Country of the Blind (unread)
C - Susanna Clarke - Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (unread)
F - The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald (unread)
H - John Twelve Hawks - The Golden City (unread)
I - Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go (unread)
M - David Mitchell - Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Soet (currently reading)
P - Chuck Palahniuk - Fight Club (unread)
S - J D Salinger - Catcher in the Rye (unread)
V - Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse-Five (unread)
W - Mark Watson - A light hearted look at murder (unread)

Richard wrote: "Bill wrote: "Is The Golden City the second or third book in the series that starts with The Traveller?"

Hi Bill - The Golden City is the 3rd in the Traveller Series. I picked up the first some ti..."

I enjoyed the first as well, quite an interesting concept. I haven't read the others yet and it'll probably be awhile as my To Read list is quite extensive.... Not that that stops me from buying more books.. :0)

Here is my updated list so far:

A - Margaret Attwood - Oryx and Crake (unread)
B - Christopher Brookmyre - Country of the Blind (unread)
C - Susanna Clarke - Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (unread)
D - Jeffery Deaver - The Bone Collector (unread)
E - Ben Elton - Blind Faith (unread)
F - F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby (Next in line)
G - William Gibson - Neuromancer (unread)
H - John Twelve Hawks - The Golden City (unread)
I - Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go (purchased)
J - P. D. James - The Children of Men (unread)
K - Dean Koontz - Relentless (unread)
L - Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird (unread)
M - David Mitchell - Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Soet (Nearly Finished)
N - Jo Nesbo - The Snowman (unread)
P - Chuck Palahniuk - Fight Club (unread)
S - J D Salinger - Catcher in the Rye (unread)
V - Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse-Five (unread)
W - Mark Watson - A light hearted look at murder (unread)

I still need some recommendations for:

O,Q,R,T,U,X,Y,Z

FYI: The following site (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/) is worth a look. It isn't aesthetically pleasing but it does allow browsing of fiction authors by surname. A must-visit for anyone looking at doing the A-Z challenge!

Richard....I've recently read my first Christopher Brookmyre, and loved it....I shall definatly be reading more.
I use fantastic fiction a lot, it's really useful.

Yes susan, that is a handy site to use. I use it nearly as much as goodreads.

Some suggestions for your missing letters, Richard -

O - Michael Ondaatje, Anil's Ghost
R - David Rotenberg - The Shanghai Murders
T - Barbara Tuchman - The Guns of August
Z - Roger Zelazny - The Chronicles of Amber

Bill wrote: "Some suggestions for your missing letters, Richard -

O - Michael Ondaatje, Anil's Ghost
R - David Rotenberg - The Shanghai Murders
T - Barbara Tuchman - The Guns of August
Z - Roger Zelazny ..."

Thanks Bill... I might take a look at these.

Here is my (potential) final list. It is subject to change but this is what I am targeting. Another advantage to doing this before I own the books is that I can take full advantage of the 3for2 at Waterstones. It sucks when I can only decide on two books and end up buying only one!

A - Margaret Attwood - Oryx and Crake (unread)
B - Christopher Brookmyre - Country of the Blind (unread)
C - Susanna Clarke - Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (unread)
D - Jeffery Deaver - The Bone Collector (unread)
E - Ben Elton - Blind Faith (unread)
F - F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby (unread)
G - William Gibson - Neuromancer (unread)
H - John Twelve Hawks - The Golden City (Currently Reading)
I - Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go (unread)
J - P. D. James - The Children of Men (unread)
K - Dean Koontz - Relentless (unread)
L - Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird (unread)
M - David Mitchell - Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Soet ( * * * * )
N - Jo Nesbo - The Snowman (unread)
O - Michael Ondaatje - Anil's Ghost (unread)
P - Chuck Palahniuk - Fight Club (unread)
Q - Patrick Quinlan - Smoked (unread)
R - Alastair Reynolds - Century Rain (unread)
S - J D Salinger - Catcher in the Rye (unread)
T - Scarlett Thomas - The End of Mr Y (unread)
U - Lisa Unger - Beautiful Lies (unread)
V - Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse-Five (unread)
W - Mark Watson - A light hearted look at murder (unread)
X - Can Xue - Five Spice Street (unread)
Y - Charles Yu - How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe (unread)
Z - Carlos Ruiz Zafon - The Shadow of the Wind (unread)

For M I just finished The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Soet by David Mitchell which was a fantastic read. Four **** for this and will be queuing for his next book.

That looks a really interesting list Richard - I've only read 4 of them - D, F, N and S - so will be looking forward to hearing what you think of the others as you get through them.

Ian wrote: "That looks a really interesting list Richard - I've only read 4 of them - D, F, N and S - so will be looking forward to hearing what you think of the others as you get through them."

Hi Ian. I will certainly make sure I post updates as and when I finish each one. Am right at the beginning of what I think is going to be quite a journey. I have no idea how long this will take.

Just finished H - The Golden City by John Twelve Hawks. 2*. OK but just OK.

Now reading F - The Great Gatsby

Thinking about switching my W for E.B. White - Charlotte's Web. Recently found an old edition online for my Wife and have not read it before.

Final list here... Going to stick with it... Already ordered some of these on e-bay!

A - Margaret Attwood - Oryx and Crake (unread)
B - Christopher Brookmyre - Country of the Blind (unread)
C - Susanna Clarke - Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (unread)
D - Jeffery Deaver - The Bone Collector (unread)
E - Ben Elton - Blind Faith (unread)
F - F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby (Currently Reading)
G - William Gibson - Neuromancer (unread)
H - John Twelve Hawks - The Golden City ( * * )
I - Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go (unread)
J - P. D. James - The Children of Men (unread)
K - Dean Koontz - Relentless (unread)
L - Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird (unread)
M - David Mitchell - Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet ( * * * * )
N - Jo Nesbo - The Snowman (unread)
O - Michael Ondaatje - Anil's Ghost (unread)
P - Chuck Palahniuk - Fight Club (unread)
Q - Patrick Quinlan - Smoked (unread)
R - Alastair Reynolds - Century Rain (unread)
S - J D Salinger - Catcher in the Rye (unread)
T - Scarlett Thomas - The End of Mr Y (unread)
U - Lisa Unger - Beautiful Lies (unread)
V - Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse-Five (unread)
W - E. B. White - Charlotte's Web (unread)
X - Can Xue - Five Spice Street (unread)
Y - Charles Yu - How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe (unread)
Z - Carlos Ruiz Zafon - The Shadow of the Wind (unread)

A few updates here. I made relatively short work of Gatsby followed by the FANTASTIC Ishiguro "Never Let Me Go" which I thoroughly enjoyed. Some changes in planning, I found of copy of Angel's Game on my Charity Shop travels so that brings a change on the Z front.

A - Margaret Attwood - Oryx and Crake (Currently Reading)
B - Christopher Brookmyre - Country of the Blind (unread)
C - Susanna Clarke - Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (unread)
D - Jeffery Deaver - The Bone Collector (unread)
E - Ben Elton - Blind Faith (unread)
F - F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby ( * * * * )
G - William Gibson - Neuromancer (unread)
H - John Twelve Hawks - The Golden City ( * * )
I - Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go ( * * * * * )
J - P. D. James - The Children of Men (unread)
K - Dean Koontz - Relentless (unread)
L - Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird (unread)
M - David Mitchell - Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet ( * * * * )
N - Jo Nesbo - The Snowman (unread)
O - Michael Ondaatje - Anil's Ghost (unread)
P - Chuck Palahniuk - Fight Club (unread)
Q - Patrick Quinlan - Smoked (unread)
R - Alastair Reynolds - Century Rain (unread)
S - J D Salinger - Catcher in the Rye (unread)
T - Scarlett Thomas - The End of Mr Y (unread)
U - Lisa Unger - Beautiful Lies (unread)
V - Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse-Five (unread)
W - E. B. White - Charlotte's Web (unread)
X - Can Xue - Five Spice Street (unread)
Y - Charles Yu - How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe (unread)
Z - Carlos Ruiz Zafon - Angel's Game (unread)

Getting there... Thoroughly enjoying this challenge!

A - Margaret Attwood - Oryx and Crake ( * * * * * )
B - Christopher Brookmyre - Country of the Blind (unread)
C - Susanna Clarke - Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (unread)
D - Jeffery Deaver - The Bone Collector (unread)
E - Ben Elton - Blind Faith (unread)
F - F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby ( * * * * )
G - William Gibson - Neuromancer ( * * * * * )
H - John Twelve Hawks - The Golden City ( * * )
I - Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go ( * * * * * )
J - P. D. James - The Children of Men ( * * * )
K - Dean Koontz - Relentless (unread)
L - Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird (unread)
M - David Mitchell - Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet ( * * * * )
N - Jo Nesbo - The Snowman (unread)
O - Michael Ondaatje - Anil's Ghost (unread)
P - Chuck Palahniuk - Fight Club (unread)
Q - Patrick Quinlan - Smoked (unread)
R - Alastair Reynolds - Century Rain (currently reading)
S - J D Salinger - Catcher in the Rye ( * * * * )
T - Scarlett Thomas - The End of Mr Y (unread)
U - Lisa Unger - Beautiful Lies (unread)
V - Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse-Five (unread)
W - E. B. White - Charlotte's Web (unread)
X - Can Xue - Five Spice Street (unread)
Y - Charles Yu - How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe ( * * * * * )
Z - Carlos Ruiz Zafon - Angel's Game (unread)

Like your list, plenty of interesting titles. Sounds like you've enjoyed most of those you've read so far...

Liz wrote: "Like your list, plenty of interesting titles. Sounds like you've enjoyed most of those you've read so far..."

Totally... If it wasn't for this challenge I would never have picked up "Never Let Me Go" or "Oryx and Crake". I didn't realise how set in my ways I had become in my reading material. I certainly have a lot more of an open mind since starting this challenge.