2015 Yearlong AlphaKIT - X and Z

We chose to have two yearlong AlphaKIT letters:

  and 

Update the Wiki here : http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/2015_Unofficial_AlphaKIT#Yearlong_Let...

Got one: The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin.

I intended to finish Death of a Red Heroine by Xiaolong Qiu for the 2014 X challenge in December but failed. On the bright side it meant that when I finally finished it in 2015 that it counted for this year's challenge!

I read Don't Give Up, Don't Give In: Lessons from an Extraordinary Life by Louis Zamperini, the hero in Unbroken:. It was a good read.

Currently reading The Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazny.

X and Z, hey? I'm sure I'll be able to find another Z, but X is the tricky one for me...

I am currently reading Wisdom: Peace by Andrew Zuckerman

Well, I finished Zofloya by Charlotte Dacre, so my Z came in early in the year, anyway! Full review written, and I'm adding it to the wiki now. If you're a lover of The Monk by Matthew Lewis, this crazy one might be worth picking up...

COMPLETED The Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazny.

>9 Robertgreaves: and? Tell us...

OK, my review:

A man wakes up in a private asylum in New York state with no memory of who he is. Tracing his sister from the hospital records he learns that he is Corwin, a prince of Amber, the one true world of which all others are shadows.

Although this is an omnibus of 10 novels, it actually falls into two parts, novels 1-5 telling the story of Corwin's struggle for survival in the politics of his very dysfunctional family, and novels 6-10, which take the story into the next generation with Corwin's son, Merlin, who has to cope with a dual heritage from Amber and the Courts of Chaos.

Each of the first four novels in the two parts ends with a cliffhanger, despite which if I hadn't had them in an omnibus volume and been determined to finish, I doubt I'd have made it much past the first two novels. I simply got irritated by the way earlier events in Corwin's adventures got interpreted and re-interpreted as yet another character popped up and basically said, "Ah, but what was really going on was this malevolent plot by X, Y, or Z."

Ah, so it's the chronicles of Amber in a new format? Interesting, I thought it was something new.

I read the first five, and I think two of the next series: I didn't have much interest in Merlin's adventures.

Finished The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin - such a sweet book.

I have just finished The Collected Works of A J Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. For some reason it has a different title in Australia. It is a wonderful story and I really liked this book. I have already recommended it to one of my friends.

Starting Autumn in Carthage by Christopher Zenos.

COMPLETED Autumn in Carthage by Christopher Zenos

Starting Murder Most Posh: A Mrs Xavier Stayton Mystery, by Robert Colton.

COMPLETED Murder Most Posh: A Mrs Xavier Stayton Mystery by Robert Colton.

Ooh, going to have to keep that one in mind for next year when I need an X book.

It's the second in a series, the first one is Murder Most Convenient: A Mrs. Xavier Stayton Mystery.

Good to know - I've added it to my wishlist.

Starting Political Poison by Mark Richard Zubro.

COMPLETED Political Poison by Mark Richard Zubro.

Starting the same author's Another Dead Teenager.

COMPLETED Another Dead Teenager by Mark Richard Zubro.

Starting Death Will Extend Your Vacation by Elizabeth Zelvin.

Zoo / James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge
4 stars

Worldwide, any and all animals are acting strangely and attacking and killing humans. Oz didn't quite finish his degree, but as a scientist, he has been studying this behaviour for a few years and calls it HAC (Human-Animal Conflict). As things escalate, he joins forces with Chloe as they try to convince the world of what is going on and try to stop it...

This was really good. There is now a tv show based on the book, but it is very different. The premise is the same and the two characters, Oz and Chloe, are the same, but that's just about where the similarities end. I like that Patterson writes in the short chapters he uses, as it spurs me on (of course, in addition to the plot!) to want to keep reading. I was really trying to figure out how the novel was going to end, and I think it was... fitting, probably realistic (if such a situation was to be “realistic”, the way they ended it certainly was).

Starting The Truth Can Get You Killed by Mark Richard Zubro

COMPLETED The Truth Can Get You Killed by Mark Richard Zubro.

Starting the same author's Drop Dead

COMPLETED Drop Dead by Mark Richard Zubro.

Starting the same author's Sex and Murder.com.

COMPLETED Sex and Murder.com by Mark Richard Zubro