Reading with Style discussion

10.9 - Cheryl TX's 2nd Place Task - Alphabet Soup
This task is about matching two different letters of the alphabet between title and author.
First, here's the list of letters that "match": A - N, B - O, C - P, D - Q, E - R, F - S, G - T, H - U, I - V, J - W, K - X, L - Y, M - Z.
Now, if your book's title has a word beginning with A, then your author's first or last name (or if the author consistently uses a full third name (i.e., Gabriel Garcia Marquez)) must start with N (or vice versa). Authors' initials cannot be used for this task nor can articles (i.e., a/an/the), conjunctions (e.g., and/or/but), or prepositions (e.g., in, on, around, between). You can repeat this task as many times as you wish but you may only use each pair once.

I have these:

C-P Parrot and Olivier in America (combo with 10.7 and 20.9) by Peter Carey
M-Z The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (combo with 20.9) by David Mitchell
J-W We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates
C-P The Chosen (combo with 10.6) by Chaim Potok
J-W The Wives of Henry Oades (combo with 10.6) by Johanna Moran

A few combos that I've figured out using my TBR shelf are:

E-R: Room: A Novel by Emma Donoghue (Combo 10.6, and 20.3)

F-S: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
To Fetch a Thief by Spencer Quinn (Combo 10.6 No "L")

G-T: The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor (Trevor has also been shortlisted for the Man Booker prize - Task 10.7. Gotta love those Combo points.)

J-W The First Wave by James R Benn (combo 10.6 NO "L")

From mt TBR:

A-N: Aunt Dimity's Death by Nancy Atherton
C-P: Chatter: A Novel by Perrin Ireland
C-P: City of Angels by Sheralyn Pratt
C-P: Close Encounters of the Third-Grade Kind: Thoughts on Teacherhood by Philip Done
C-P: A Clue for the Puzzle Lady by Parnell Hall
C-P: Confessions of an Eco-Sinner: Tracking Down the Sources of My Stuff by Fred Pearce
C-P: Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory by Peter Hessler
C-P: Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters
E-R: Empire Falls by Richard Russo
E-R: Everything Is Going to Be Great: An Underfunded and Overexposed European Grand Tour by Rachel Shukert
E-R: Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family by Condoleezza Rice
G-T: Geekspeak: Why Life + Mathematics = Happiness by Graham Tattersall
G-T: The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw
L-Y: Life of Pi by Yann Martel

P-C: The Passage by Justin Cronin
Q-D: Queen of the Road: The True Tale of 47 States, 22,000 Miles, 200 Shoes, 2 Cats, 1 Poodle, a Husband, and a Bus with a Will of Its Own by Doreen Orion
S-F: A Short History of the American Stomach by Frederick Kaufman
U-H: Union Atlantic by Adam Haslett

Will this task work like others of this kind when it comes time to claim combo points? If we can use each letter combination once for the task, can we also use each letter combination once for combo point credit with another task? In other words, if I use the A-N letter combination for the alphabet soup task and I read a book for the African American writers task that has the A-N combination can I claim that letter combination for both tasks once, one for the original task and once for combo points, but then it's used up?

Will this task work like others of this kind when it comes time to claim combo points? If we can use each letter combination once for the task, can we also use each letter combination once for combo point credit with another task? In other words, if I use the A-N letter combination for the alphabet soup task and I read a book for the African American writers task that has the A-N combination can I claim that letter combination for both tasks once, one for the original task and once for combo points, but then it's used up? ..."

Well since we're going into the holiday season and I'm feeling generous -- how's about we break with tradition on this one?

While you can only use each letter combo once when claiming Task points, you can use them repeatedly when claiming Combo points.

Happy Holidays! :-)

(This is just for this task though. It doesn't apply to all the tasks with limitations about how the task can be repeated.)

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I have these:

C-P Parrot and Olivier in America (combo with 10.7 and 20.9) by Peter Carey
M-Z The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (combo with 20.9) by David Mi..."

great going Elizabeth!!

Krista wrote: "A few combos that I've figured out using my TBR shelf are:

E-R: Room: A Novel by Emma Donoghue (Combo 10.6, and 20.3)

F-S: [book:Snow Flower and the Secret Fa..."

I love Spencer Quinn's books!

Rachel Lee wrote: "J-W The First Wave by James R Benn (combo 10.6 NO "L")"

I want to read this one myself

Erin wrote: "From mt TBR:

A-N: Aunt Dimity's Death by Nancy Atherton
C-P: Chatter: A Novel by Perrin Ireland
C-P: City of Angels by Sheralyn Pratt
C-P: [book:Close E..."

WOW What a list. I got sdome good ones from this list to use elsewhere thanks

Karen GHHS wrote: "Will this task work like others of this kind when it comes time to claim combo points? If we can use each letter combination once for the task, can we also use each letter combination once for comb..."

Good question

Krista wrote: "Will this task work like others of this kind when it comes time to claim combo points? If we can use each letter combination once for the task, can we also use each letter combination once for comb..."

Thansk Krista. I would have had no idea how to answer this questions myself so thank you for clearing it up.

In Msg 9 - Cheryl wrote: "Krista wrote: "A few combos that I've figured out using my TBR shelf are:

E-R: Room: A Novel by Emma Donoghue (Combo 10.6, and 20.3)

F-S: Snow Flower an...

I love Spencer Quinn's books!
..."</i>

Me too! I've only listened to them in audio format. I'm in the HOld queue at the library for his latest book. ([book:To Fetch a Thief) I LOVE the narrator's interpretation of how Chet the dog would sound if he were speaking out loud.

I'm glad I can work it into this challenge.

Did you know that Spencer Quinn is a penname for Peter Abrahams? His book Reality Check won the Edgar Award for Best YA (2010). I haven't read this one yet either, but it's on my ever growing list. :-)

Reality Check was an awesome book. He also writes under another name for Juvenile Books. I would have to laook it up from last challenge. But Chet is soooo cool!!

Can books with more than one author be used for this task?

colleen wrote: "Can books with more than one author be used for this task?"

I would think so, but I'll let Cheryl be the final decision maker for this. (Unless of course you're reading an anthology that has tons of author's listed. That doesn't seem to fit the spirit of the task. But as I said, Cheryl should be the one with the final say.)

Speaking of anthologies with tons of authors, I have a question for Cheryl as well. To figure out if it fits this task or not, can we use the person who edited the anthology as the "author". For example:

Telling Tales - Nadine Gordimer (T-G)
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2004 - Dave Eggers (R-E)

colleen wrote: "Can books with more than one author be used for this task?"


Yes, Colleen, a book by multiple authors is acceptable and any of the authors may be used to claim points

Cait wrote: "Speaking of anthologies with tons of authors, I have a question for Cheryl as well. To figure out if it fits this task or not, can we use the person who edited the anthology as the "author". For ..."

Cait, I think I would rather the book be by an author versus an editor.

Here's a some more combos I've run across recently:

J-W Web of Evil by J.A. Jance

A-N Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

From Bloom's List:
The Chaotic Age
France:
G-T The Thief's Journal by Jean Genet
J-W The Words by Jean-Paul Sartre
C-P The Plague by Albert Camus
E-R The Erasers by Alain Robbe-Grillet

If you are a Westerns Fan,
M-Z The Mysterious Rider and Other Works by Zane Grey - Zane Grey (combo with 10.1

Some oldies from my Traveling Through time List
C-PThe Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens
C-P The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia : The Old Arcadia by Philip Sidney
C-P Massacre at Paris by Christopher Marlowe
E-R Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth
F-S Twenty-Two Years a Slave and Forty Years a Freeman by Austin Steward
F-S The Way of All Flesh
G-T The Gilded Age by Mark Twain
G-T The Devil's Race-Track: Mark Twain's Great Dark Writings by Mark Twain
G-T Book for Bad Boys and Girls by Mark Twain
B-O An Englishman's Travels in America: His Observations of Life and Manners in the Free a by John Benwell
G-T Helpful Hints for Good Living: A Handbook for the Damned Human Race

C-P and F-S, if you use Mark Twain's real name of Samuel Clemmons

Pudd'nhead Wilson
Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc
Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Huck Finn & Tom Sawyer Among the Indians: Library Edition
Tom Sawyer Abroad: By Huck Finn
The War Prayer
Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
The Prince and the Pauper
My Debut as a Literary Person
Some Learned Fables For Good Old Boys And Girls
The Bible According to Mark Twain: Writings on Heaven, Eden, and the Flood
Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses

C-PBel Canto by Ann Patchett
C-P Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith
F-SF is for Fugitive by Sue Grafton
G-T T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton
G-TTales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World by Rita Golden Gelman
H-UUnbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand