Book Concierge Giving it a try

Okay ... I'm new here and feeling a little overwhelmed, but ...

I'm going to just try AlphaKIT for now and see how it goes. Maybe jump in with more challenges in 2019.

AlphaKIT - Yearlong X & Z

AlphaKIT - January - V & M

MACOMBER - Starry Night by Debbie Macomber √ - 04Jan18
MARGOT - Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly √ - 18Jan18
MIDNIGHT - The Midnight Watch by David Dyer √ - 22Jan18
MARY - Packing for Mars by Mary Roach √ - 26Jan18

No 'v' books

AlphaKIT - February - P & J

PETERS - A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters √ - 12Feb18
PLAID - Plaid and Plagiarism by Molly Macrae √ - 28Feb18

JAMES PATTERSON - 3rd Degree by James Patterson √ - 21Feb18

AlphaKIT - March - F & I

FREDRIK - Beartown by Fredrik Backman √ - 15March18

No 'I'

AlphaKIT - April - Y & U

(Unfortunately for me ...I read two 'y' authors in March ...)

This book at least has a word beginning with 'y' in the title:
YOUNG - So Brave Young and Handsome by Leif Enger √ - 10Apr18

No 'U'

AlphaKIT - May - Q & K

Nothing this month
I read a 'Q' auth in both February and March / and two 'K' authors in April ...

AlphaKIT - June G & R

GIRL - The Girl She Used to Be by David Cristofano - √ 15June18

No 'R' this month

AlphaKIT - July - S & A

S
Simon Winchester / The Professor and the Madman - √ 16July18
Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill - √ 19July18
John SANFORD / Heat Lightning - √ 26July18

A
ARMISTEAD Maupin / Michael Tolliver Lives - √ 28July18
Isabel ALLENDE / Island Beneath the Sea - √ 28July18
ALEXANDER - My Italian Bulldozer by Alexander McCall Smith

Welcome!

Hello! I'm sure jumping into this challenge can be overwhelming, but we are a pretty easygoing (and chatty) bunch! Feel free to ask any questions...seems like you already have a good handle on the AlphaKIT!

Welcome aboard! Glad you took the plunge :) Good idea to start off with a single challenge and see how it goes from there. Holler if you need anything!

Welcome to the challenge! Enjoy your reading!

Welcome to the group. It's good that you get to do as much, or as little, as you want to. Good luck with the rest of the year's reading.

Thanks .... I'm mostly observing and trying to get my brain around the challenges.

Good to see you're trying out one of the challenges! It should get easier as you go forward!

Welcome from me too! The challenge is as much or as little as you want it to be, some people have really complicated ones and others really simple ones. Some of us do all the group challenges, others (like me) pick and choose what suits us best. Whatever way you choose, I hope this helps you focus and enjoy your reading!

Hello Bookconcierge! Welcome to this group and kudos on your challenge. You always find such great books in whatever category and reading challenge.

I've stayed with a monthly TBR list as well as a (mostly fantasy) TBRR to determine if a book stays or goes. The SFFKit for science fiction and fantasy has also given me some good guidelines for this year.

Can't wait to star your posts!

>17 Jackie_K: I hope this helps you focus and enjoy your reading!

Thanks for the sentiment, Jackie but "focused" would probably never apply to my reading! LOL

Actually with seven F2F book groups that's really where my "focus" (such as it is) lies with my reading each month. But I do love participating in challenges.

Thanks to you and everyone else for all the kinds words of encouragement and welcome.

Welcome to the group! I hope you have fun!

Welcome to the Category Challenge, BookConcierge!

Welcome to the challenge!

"with seven F2F book groups" Yikes! That's impressive. You'll find us easy peasy.

Nice to see you here as well! Enjoy the challenges.

Two 'S' books so far in July.... no 'A' ... yet ...

Finished another 'S' book and working on two 'A' books ...

>25 BookConcierge: LOL! You're all about the 'S'es!

>24 BookConcierge:, yes, I can find a lot of S books but have no As yet. Running out of time.

Finished two 'A' books today!

>28 BookConcierge: Nice!

AlphaKit - August - O and D

O
Ordinary Grace / William Kent Krueger - √ 29August18

D
Digging to America / Anne Tyler - √ 01August18
DUENAS María Dueñas / The Time In Between - √ 04August18
Diva Serves High Tea / Krista Davis - √ 07August18
de BERNIERES Louis De Bernieres / The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman - √ 17August18

First 'D' book completed!

>31 BookConcierge: Congratulations!

Doing great on the "d" .... not so much on the 'O' ... but still three weeks in the month, so there's hope.

I don't think anything I chose for other challenges this month worked for O, so I had to pick one specifically. D doesn't appear that it will be a problem, though. (Although I've still finished my O - review coming this evening) before any Ds!

Finished another 'D'

de BERNIERES Louis De Bernieres / The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman - √ 17August18

I've just read your July post. I hope you're enjoying the Alpha challenge and will continue in Category Challenge in 2019.

I'm not sure I'm going to have a 'O' book this month either, I've read something with of in the title but I don't really want to count that. We pretty much set our own rules and I usually stick to author names although that isn't required.

Good luck with the rest of the year!

Thanks for the encouragement, clue!

And I got my 'O' book done !

Ordinary Grace / William Kent Krueger - √ 29August18

AlphaKit - September - B and E

B
BURNS Olive Ann Burns / Cold Sassy Tree - √ 03Sept18
Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen - √ 22Sept18

E
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid - √ 13Sept18
Educated by Tara Westover - √ 16Sept18
EMMY Abrahamson - How to Fall In Love With a Man Who Lives in A Bush - √ 28Sept18

Ooh another 'E' book came in from my hold list! .... Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

Finished another 'B' book - Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen

AlphaKit - October - N & L

N
The NAMESAKE by Jhumpa LAHIRI

L
LISA Wingate - Before We Were Yours - √ 02Oct18
LEE Child - Die Trying - √ 18Oct18
LAILA Ibrahim - Yellow Crocus - √ 20Oct18
L M Montgomery - Anne of Ingleside - √ 22Oct18

Listening Woman by Tony Hillerman
LIANE Moriarty - The Hypnotist's Love Story

18Oct18 ... current "score" L:2 / N: 0

22 Oct 18 - Two more 'L' books .... so I have L: 4 / N: 0

>44 BookConcierge: LOL! I'm finding it amusing that you are keeping score! :-)

>45 LibraryCin: I think it's a holdover from Brewer Fever ... even though we're out of the World Series now...

AlphaKit - November - T and H

T & H
Tony Hillerman - Listening Woman - √ 03Nov18

T
TRENTON Lee Stewart - The Mysterious Benedict Society - √ 04Nov18

There There by Tommy Orange - √ 11Nov18

H
The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarty - √ 27Nov18

Finished another 'T' book There There by Tommy Orange

Finally got the audio of Hypnotist's Love Story .... Hope I finish before month end.

>49 BookConcierge: "Hope I finish before month end" - If I've said THAT once...

I DID get The Hypnotist's Love Story finished (Nov 27), but forgot to post

AlphaKit - December: C and W

C
Christmas Camp by Karen Schaler - √ 03Dec18
The Christmas Scrapbook by Philip Gulley - √ 03Dec18
CLARK Mary Higgins Clark / Two Little Girls in Blue - √ 08Dec18

W
WOODMAN Betsy Woodman / Love Potion Number 10 - √ 29Dec18

Well, I did manage to get a 'w' into December - barely.

This was fun, but I don't think I'll return. I do most of my challenges on Goodreads, and I just kept forgetting to check in here. In fact, I'm dropping some of the other challenges in 2019 as well. More time for reading and less time spent updating my challenge tracking!

Thanks for the welcome. This is definitely a fun group.

Question: Do people "leave the group" at year-end? Do their previously recorded remarks / posts stay when they leave?

Aw, we'll miss you! But I completely understand the need to cut back on challenges and focus on reading! To answer your question, no, people don't usually leave the group at the end of the year. They just stop posting in it, and eventually the group becomes "dormant" (but all the threads and comments are still there). So I'm not sure what would happen if you actually exited the group or canceled your LT account.

>53 BookConcierge: Aw, sorry to see you go. Would have loved to see you enjoy more of the CATs!

>55 christina_reads:
Would not cancel my LT account. I'm in other groups.

Just wondered about keeping a group on "MY GROUPS" list that is no longer active.

I'll wait a while to see what happens with the group before I do anything.

Thanks for answering my questions.

>56 LibraryCin:
Cin .... I DID enjoy the CATS. But I'm in several BIG challenge groups on Goodreads, and have been invested in them for 7+ years. Just easier for me to handle challenges in ONE website rather than two.

>58 BookConcierge: Yeah, I know you have a lot going on!