Trying again

After failing miserably at the 12 in 12 challenge last year, I am going to try again. The alphabet challenge appeals to me - and I also like the idea of reading 13 non-fiction books. So this year I will try one fiction and one non-fiction for each letter of the alphabet, and see how I fare.

Welcome back! Nice way to balance your fiction/non-fiction reading. I tend to be heavy on the fiction with a smattering of non-fiction so I am looking forward to seeing how you fill your alphabet themed challenge!

Better luck with your reading in 2013! I will be interested to seeing what nonfiction you read.

Welcome back, I like your plan for the challenge.

My plan for 2012 is to read one fiction and one non-fiction for each letter of the alphabet.
January - A and M
Fiction:
- The Affair, Lee Child
- The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami
- Best Served Cold, Joe Abercrombie

Non-fiction:
- Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth, Margaret Atwood
- Museum of the Missing: A history of art theft, Simon Houpt

Clever ideas with the letters. I couldn't finish the 12 in 12 either--tedious descent of family. Good luck.

I think the plan of reading at least one nonfiction a month is going to work. I am very pleased with myself so far.

FEBRUARY - B AND N

Fiction
- The Blinding Knife, Brent Weeks
- The False Prince, Jennifer A. Nielsen
- Jinx, Sage Blackwood
- Stories: All-new tales, edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio

Non-Fiction
- Mother Tongue: English and how it got that way, Bill Bryson
- Prisoner of Tehran, Marina Nemat

MARCH - C and O

Ficton
- Disgrace, J.M. Coetzee
- What Alice Knew: A most curious tale of Henry James and Jack the Ripper, Paula Marantz Cohen
- One of Our Thursdays is Missing, Jasper Fforde
- A Curse as Dark as Gold, Elizabeth C. Bunce

Non-Fiction
-Manhood for Amateurs: The pleasures and regrets of a husband, father, and son, Michael Chabon
- Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a chemical boyhood, Oliver Sacks

What did you think of The Blinding Knife?

On the whole I enjoyed it but with some reservations. The "technical" background had been cleared away in The Black Prism, so I didn't have to struggle with that. However, perhaps Weeks has too many plot lines going, because the book sometimes felt disjointed and rambling. Presumably all will be reconciled in the third volume of the series, but like many middle volumes, Blinding Knife expands and complicates the plot without resolving very much.

How about Homer's Odyssey by Gwen Cooper for non-fiction?

Thank you for the suggestion. It's not really to my taste, but I will pass it on to my sister-in-law who is a cat lover, and has rescued several cats.

April - D and P

Fiction
- Deryni Rising, by Katherine Kurtz
- The Immaculate Deception, by Iain Pears

Non-fiction
- Picasso: Challenging the Past, by Elizabeth Cowling et al
- Stonyground: The Making of a Canadian Garden, Douglas Chambers

paeonia, I used to have that book, actually the whole series and enjoyed them.

I love fantasy and am trying read some of the earlier books in the genre. Deryni Rising is obviously the author's first book, but I can see the promise. I will probably seek out a few more in the series.

After you read the first three, go to the Camber series and you will see the author develop her ability more. Then the next three or so take you back to Kelson, and progressively become harder and darker.

May - E and R

Fiction
- Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Jesse Andrews
- Hunger, Elise Blackwell
- The Emerald Atlas, by John Stephens

Non-fiction
- Eats, Shoots & Leaves, by Lynne Truss

Plus Q and X

Fiction
- The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
- Boy21 by Matthew Quick

Ooh - How was The Devotion of Suspect X? It's on my list to read later this year.

I thought it was quite well done. There are enough twists and turns to keep the suspense going to the end. The development of character is especially intriguing, and I liked that the one weak link in an apparently perfect crime is the unpredictable human element. Apparently there are more books in the series and I will certainly seek them out.

Sounds really good - looking forward to reading it.

JUNE - F and S

Fiction
- Frequent Hearses by Edmund Crisp
- We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
- Winterling by Sarah Prineas
- Fasting, Feasting by Anita Desai

Non-fiction

- A Family of Readers: The Book Lover's Guide to Children's and Young Adult Literature edited by Roger Sutton

JULY - G AND T

Fiction
- The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews
- Darkness Falls by Cate Tiernan
- March by Geraldine Brooks (started in July, finished in August)

Non-fiction
- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

AUGUST - H AND U

Fiction
- Haunters by Thomas Taylor
- The Eye of the Heron by Ursula K. Le Guin
- The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

Non-fiction
- The How-To Handbook: Shortcuts and Solutions for the Problems of Everyday… by Martin Oliver

SEPTEMBER - I AND V

Fiction
- On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
- The View from Castle Rock: Stories by Alice Munro - A bit of a cheat: started in September, but finished in October.

Non-fiction

October - J and W

Fiction
- The Bernini Bust by Iain Pears (A Jonathan Argyll mystery)
- Osbert the Avenger by Christopher William Hill

Non-fiction

November - K and Y

Fiction
- beatrice & virgil by Yann Martel
- Flora and Ulysses: The illuminated adventures by Kate DiCamillo
- Sorrow's Knot by Erin Bow

December - L and Z

Fiction
- The Forbidden Library by Django Wexler

Non-fiction

Failed once again to meet my non-fiction reading ambitions, although I did better than in 2012.

Congratulations on improving! I hardly ever read nonfiction for these challenges…it's too hard for me to pay attention when I'd much rather be reading a novel!