UK Book Club discussion

I've decided to start a new challenge for 2017 and beyond! I've nearly finished Around the World and my 2nd A-Z of One Word Titles so here's a new take on A-Z.

I'm going to do an A-Z of Animal Names. The name should be in the title (although I may break my own rule for the trickier letters!) I expect I'll get quite a few dogs and cats but I'd like to have a variety of animals if possible.

A - Arthur: The dog who crossed the jungle to find a home (Dog)
B - A Street Cat Named Bob (Cat)
C - Clara's Grand Tour: Travels with a Rhinoceros in Eighteenth-Century Europe (Rhinoceros)
D - Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World (Cat)
E - Emma's Story (Dog - Standard Dachshund)
F - Felix the Railway Cat (Cat)
G - The Badness of King George (Dog - Cavalier King Charles Spaniel) Gobbolino the Witch's Cat (Cat)
H - The World According to Humphrey (Hamster)
I - The One and Only Ivan (Gorilla)
J - Judy: A Dog In A Million (Dog - English Pointer)
K - Kika & Me: How One Extraordinary Guide Dog Changed My World (Dog - Labrador)
L - Lama (Cat)
M - Marley and Me: Life and Love With the World's Worst Dog (Dog - Labrador) Max the Miracle Dog: The Heart-warming Tale of a Life-saving Friendship (Dog - Springer Spaniel)
N - A Dog Called Nelson (Dog) Nigel: My Family and Other Dogs (Dog)
O - Olive, Mabel and Me: Life and Adventures with Two Very Good Dogs (Dog)
P - The Tale of Peter Rabbit (Rabbit)
Q - Queenie (Cat)
R - Rascal (Raccoon)
S - Sherlock: The Fire Brigade Dog (Dog - Cocker Spaniel)
T - Timba Comes Home (Cat)
U - Uggie, the Artist: My Story (Dog - Jack Russell)
V - The Outlaw Varjak Paw (Cat)
W - White Fang (Wolf)
X - Xander's Panda Party (Panda)
Y - Old Yeller (Dog)
Z - Zarafa: A Giraffe's True Story, from Deep in Africa to the Heart of Paris (Giraffe)

7 x cats
11 x dogs
1 x hamster
1 x rhinoceros
1 x rabbit
1 x raccoon
1 x wolf
1 x giraffe
1 x panda
1 x gorilla

So my first book is The World According to Humphrey Its a children's book really about the escapades of the classroom hamster. I breed hamsters so it was bit of fun about a subject I know quite a bit about!

This looks like it could be a hard one to find. Best of luck

Thanks Tania, yep it certainly will be a challenge! I have about 5 books lined up already so its looking good so far!

I read Oscar: The Bionic Cat and Judy: A Dog In A Million to read if thats of any help

Those are great suggestions! Thank you. :)

You've got to read 'Mrs. Chippy's Last Expedition'. It's great (and about a cat).

Thank you! I'll add it to my list. :)

Great A-Z. I guess you've got Black Beauty on your list ;)

Just found this Ferno The Fire Dragon. Its a YA book but I figure with this your going to end up with a lot of them

This is coming out today in paperbackArthur: The dog who crossed the jungle to find a home. ok sad but i follow Arthur on FB

Thanks Tania, I've got that one in hardback ready to read!

T - Timba Comes Home
A nice YA story about a little black kitten and his adventures.
Timba's brother is called Vati so I may need to revisit this one if all else fails and I can't find an alternative V!

C - Clara's Grand Tour: Travels with a Rhinoceros in Eighteenth-Century Europe
My review - which is a surprisingly long review for me!:
This book gives a very interesting account of Clara's journey through Europe in the 18th Century. The European history and politics are palatable but the book suffers from frequent repetition. Unsurprisingly there is a fair amount of speculation given that not all movements are documented but it is certainly an engaging account of the enterprising Van der Meer and his Rhino's travels.

D - Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World This was a re-read and I'd still give it 5 stars.

V - The Outlaw Varjak Paw
Another children's book, this was the second in a series and I haven't read the first but that didn't affect the story. Not a bad book 4 stars and my third cat!

G The Badness of King George
This is about a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and his owner's attempts at dog fostering. I have to admit to getting quite frustrated with her lack of ability to actually train any of the new arrivals. Most of the dogs just walked over her (Some literally!)

L - Lama
A short book set at Lands End about a little black cat who turns up at a farm one stormy night and settles for good. True Story.

J - Judy: A Dog In A Million
The lovely heart warming (and heart wrenching) true story of the British Gunboat ship's mascot Judy during WWII. Some truly amazing feats which deserve the airing. Sadly the writing style leaves a lot to be desired.

N - A Dog Called Nelson
A lovely little book set in Bolton in the 1920s.

P - The Tale of Peter Rabbit
I'm currently reading Beatrix Potter The Complete Tales for an Easter project at work so thought I'd take the opportunity to nab one or two critters for this challenge along the way!

Kate wrote: "P - The Tale of Peter Rabbit
I'm currently reading Beatrix Potter The Complete Tales for an Easter project at work so thought I'd take the opportunity to nab one or tw..."

You've read the book but are you going to see the new film?

Ha ha, I think I'll have to! I'll need to borrow a friend's 5 year old though as I don't have kids!

Saw the film yesterday Tania. Thought they did a good job particularly of integrating Beatrix Potter's original drawings and the animation was good.

Just finished Arthur: The dog who crossed the jungle to find a home This was another heart-warming dog story (5 stars). This time all about a dog who joined forces with an adventure team in Ecuador and their gallant efforts to get him back to Sweden.
A good one for Around the World challenge although its split between Sweden and Ecuador and as I've done both I didn't bother gauging the percentage of book in each country!

Emma's Story A reasonable story about a woman who relocated from South Africa back to the UK and gets herself a loveable long-haired standard dachshund. The story would have benefitted from more background to the author and her family pre-Emma to give it more context and its shame it was self-published because its not as polished as it could have been.

I'm nearly half way! I have a B book but nothing for the other missing letters yet.
Looking at previous suggestions I'll check out Oscar the Bionic Cat, Ferno the firedragon and I'm aware of one called The 5 lives of our cat Zook.
Any suggestions for other missing letters?

Came up with these Murphy the Hero Donkey: A true WW1 story Warrior: The true story of the real war horse. This was a film A Street Cat Named Bob: How One Man and His Cat Found Hope on the Streets

F - Felix the Railway Cat
Not a bad story about Felix the cat living at Huddersfield Railway Station. I did have to check out Felix's Facebook page when I'd finished!

Half way there!

I've done N again!
Nigel: My Family and Other Dogs

Finished another one. B this time: A Street Cat Named Bob

In the interests of getting some random species and not all dogs and cats, how about this one:
Rascal By Sterling North. A lovely little book about a boy and his pet raccoon.

M - Marley and Me: Life and Love With the World's Worst Dog
I guess it was inevitable that I would read this eventually for M. Not as good as I'd hoped after all the Hype. I suppose I've read a few about some quite remarkable real-life animals for this challenge and Marley wasn't exactly heroic!

I have Murphy the donkey for I am hoping Turkey.

I should have jumped in earlier with my suggestion: 'Mrs Chippy's Last Expedition' by Caroline Alexander is wonderful. My brother bought it for me ages ago and I really wasn't sure about it, so it sat on my shelves unread for a couple of years. When I finally got around to it, I loved it. Shackleton's Antartic Expedition from the point of view of the ship's cat. Sounds unlikely, but it's wonderful (and short - only 200ish pages). I may have mentioned it before, as it's my go-to animal book! 'The Story of Edgar Sawtelle' has a great chapter from the dog's perspective, but just the one and the animal's name is not in the title.... Great book anyway ;)

Wow. Its been a while since I tackled this challenge!
Moving on with White Fang. I gave it 4 stars. It was an easy read, uncomfortable in places mainly due to it being very much of its time. I also felt the final chapter was a bit of a desperate ending which is why it got 4 and not 5 stars.

Next one is O and I've read Olive, Mabel and Me: Life and Adventures with Two Very Good Dogs which was a joy. Its about the 2 labradors that become a lockdown internet sensation when their sports commentator owner turned his hand to commentating on their daily activities. A worthy 5 stars.

S - Sherlock: The Fire Brigade Dog
What a great book. Sherlock is a little star and obviously worth his weight in gold to the London Fire Brigade. Not your typical heroic dog tale either, it didn't follow the formula I've seen other books use. I also had to look up video of Sherlock at work and in my mind the mark of a good book is wanting to check it out further once you've finished. 4 stars.

7 to go.

Y - Old Yeller I listen to an audiobook I found on YouTube and it was brilliant. The narrator had just the right accent and easy to listen to voice. The story is a bit dated but a real classic.

Only 6 to go:
I - no idea about this one
K - nothing planned yet, but I know of a couple of audiobooks
Q - Nope - need suggestions
U - Uggie: My Story ready to go
X - may have to cheat with this one!
Z - Zarafa: A Giraffe's True Story, from Deep in Africa to the Heart of Paris ready to go

So if you have any suggestions for I, K, Q and X I'd love to hear them.

I finally found and read a Z book.
Zarafa: A Giraffe's True Story, from Deep in Africa to the Heart of Paris This was an interesting account of Zarafa's journey to Paris in the 1820s. I gave it 3 stars battling through a lot of politics and history before we got to Zarafa. But it was interesting to see how Zoos developed and how they have changed for the better since these early days. I got the feeling Zarafa was one of the lucky ones.

Just finished my U book: Uggie, the Artist: My Story Its an odd choice to write it in the first person i.e. Uggie himself but it gave some nice anecdotes about his time filming The Artist and various other jobs he had. I gave it 3 stars. Relieved to find a U book.
Now looking for the final 4: I, K, Q and X. Wish me luck!

Finished my K Book: Kika & Me: How One Extraordinary Guide Dog Changed My World. It was a great opportunity to find out more about the problems (and attitudes) encountered by the visually impaired. Some truly horrifying accounts but equally some touching moments too. 4 stars.

Only 3 to go!
Any ideas for I, Q and X?
I have seen some possibles for I and Q but think I may need to bend the rules to get X! So near to finishing.

Kate wrote: "Only 3 to go!
Any ideas for I, Q and X?
I have seen some possibles for I and Q but think I may need to bend the rules to get X! So near to finishing."

There must be a Chinese author for the X....

I just finished Max the Miracle Dog: The Heart-warming Tale of a Life-saving Friendship. I know I've already done M but this one is worth a mention because I'd recommend it over Marley and Me: Life and Love With the World’s Worst Dog

Ah Liz, I'm not after authors, I need animal names for this challenge! So I'm after I, Q and X.
I'm hoping there's a dog called India or a rabbit called Quaver or something like that! Any ideas anyone?

I did a bit of research and I, Q and X are so hard to find!

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn (sorry can’t link it). Ishmael is a gorilla, it’s a philosophical book

Xavier Ox’s Xylophone Experiment by Barbara deRubertis. It’s a children’s book tho!

Couldn’t find any other animals named Q but
Q - Quintaglio Ascension Trilogy by Robert J. Sawyer is about a dinosaur species Quintaglio

What a hard challenge!😀

Thank you so much Gabriele! I have discovered The One and Only Ivan which funnily enough is also a gorilla! I'll definitely check out Xavier Ox and I'm not fussy about them being children's books - I can read it to my niece and nephew! Plus I have Peter Rabbit for P!
Its been a fun challenge but these last 3 have proved tricky. Hoping to finish it this year.

For X I have just read Xander's Panda Party
My 3yr old niece really enjoyed it and it has some beautiful illustrations.