I came across this meme on the Musings of a Bookshop Girl blog: for each letter of the alphabet, name your favourite book whose title starts with that letter. I’m not much of a one for naming definitive favourites, so instead I’ll list a favourite book for each letter (with links to where I’ve written about them. Here goes:
A An A-Z of Possible Worlds – A.C. Tillyer
B Beside the Sea – Véronique Olmi
C Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
D Diving Belles – Lucy Wood
E Everyone’s Just So So Special – Robert Shearman
F The Facts of Life – Graham Joyce
G The Godless Boys – Naomi Wood
H How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe – Charles Yu
I The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – Rebecca Skloot
J Jasper Jones – Craig Silvey
K The Knife of Never Letting Go – Patrick Ness
L Legend of a Suicide – David Vann
M Mr Shivers – Robert Jackson Bennett
N Notes from a Small Island – Bill Bryson
O On Roads: a Hidden History – Joe Moran
P The Prestige – Christopher Priest
Q The Quiddity of Will Self – Sam Mills
R The Rehearsal – Eleanor Catton
S Solo – Rana Dasgupta
T Tender Morsels – Margo Lanagan
U Under the Sun – Hanne Marie Svendsen
V Vellum – Hal Duncan
W We Had It So Good – Linda Grant
X Xenogenesis – Octavia E. Butler
Y Yellow Blue Tibia – Adam Roberts
Z Zoo City – Lauren Beukes
I wasn’t sure whether I’d find something for each letter, but, luckily, The Quiddity of Will Self (which is the last book I read) turned out to be really good, and gave me the Q. (The X is a slight cheat, as it’s the omnibus of a series which I only read as individual volumes, but I think I can be allowed a little leeway.)
Let me know if you decide to do this meme yourself, as I’d love to see how our lists compare.
22nd April 2012 at 1:37 pm
Hmm there’s quite a few there I’d need to read. I’ll print this list and try a few. Thanks for the pointers.
22nd April 2012 at 10:03 pm
Nice list! I ALMOST went for ‘Notes on a Small Island’, but ‘Big Country’ is the one I keep dipping into when I need a pick-me-up so it won by a whisker. I have a few of the other books on my TBR shelves – ‘Cloud Atlas’, ‘Henrietta Lacks’, ‘The Prestige’ and ‘The Knife of Never Letting Go’ – so maybe eventually they’ll topple their predecessors and make it onto my list, who knows? I reckon this might be a yearly meme for me now!
6th May 2012 at 7:57 pm
I’ve only just come across this. Thank you. It’s a great list and I’m proud to be on it. I am honoured, truly.
Anne
5th July 2012 at 3:23 am
I have yet to read any of the books on your list, though I have heard of most of them. I think I’m going to have to expand my reading horizons =]
http://rkgutmann.blogspot.com/2012/07/favorite-books-z.html