VictoriaPL's Letter Frenzy

I'm doing the Author ABC Challenge. No specific order and no time limit on this trip down the rabbit hole.

A
Kate Atkinson - Case Histories
11.21.2009

B
Jim Butcher - Storm Front
1.1.2010

C
Dave Cullen - Columbine
8.31.2009

D
Candice DeLong = Special Agent: My Life on the Front Lines as a Woman in the FBI
11.8.2009

E
Michael Ende - The Neverending Story
7.18.2010

F
Ian Fleming - Casino Royale
9.13.2009

G
Nancy Grace - The Eleventh Victim

H
hammettdashiell::Dashiell Hammett - Nightmare Town: Stories
8.30.2009

I
Kazuo Ishiguro - The Remains of the Day
5.19.2010

J
Shirley Jackson - The Haunting of Hill House

K
Natsuo Kirino - Out
(9.19.2009)

L
Stieg Larsson - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
9.4.2009

M
Syne Mitchell - End in Fire
1.2.2010

N
Scott Nicholson - They Hunger
11.27.2009

O
Baroness Orczy - The Scarlet Pimpernel
7.17.2010

P
Eyal Press - Absolute Convictions
9.9.2009

Q
William Queen - Under and Alone
9.11.2009

R
Greg Rucka - Keeper
9.7.2009

S
Vikas Swarup - 7029316::Slumdog Millionaire
(9.29.2009)

T
Jeffrey Thomas - Deadstock
7.2.2010

U
Jane Urquhart - Changing Heaven 10/8/2010

V

W
Kathryn Wesley - The 10th Kingdom 12/20/2009

X

Y
Christy Yorke - The Wishing Garden
12.13.2009

Z
William Zinsser - On Writing Well
8.29.2009

Wow! Starting with the letter Z. Maybe that says something about me, not sure.

On Writing Well earned its 5 stars from me. I'm very, very impressed with Mr. Zinsser and will look for more of his books in the future.

Well - it is still an order :)

Number 2 is the letter H.
Mr. Hammett disappointed me somewhat with these stories. He still has my respect as a pioneer of the hardboiled genre and The Maltese Falcon will always have a place on my bookshelf.

And your next letter is C, isn't it?

Well, I thought it was going to be Q, but it is C after all!

Dave Cullen blew me away with Columbine. 400pgs in one sitting. I literally could not put the book down. What a voice this man has. Captivating.

Eyal Press covered a heavy subject with a calm and conversational tone.

Even though I was reading in translation, I was very impressed with Natsuo Kirino. I hope more of her books are printed in English.

Glad to hear you liked Out. I have that one scheduled for my translations category for my 1010 Challenge.

I'm looking at one of hers, Grotesque. It concerns four female friends and murder, sound familiar?

I was looking at Grotesque as well. Talk about mixed reviews!

I was impressed with Vikas Swarup's storytelling ability. I wish he would have translated a few more words so that I wasn't constantly running for a search bar but I understand the desire for 'local color' too.

Hi, hope you don't mind adding my two cents on Natsuo Kirino. I quite enjoyed Out but overall I disliked Grotesque. I think its a bit more intense and depressing than the first book but I think also more flawed. The plot seemed to be less suspenseful (no trying to get away with murder). Plus even though it's from multiple viewpoints you do need to get along with the narrator. Somehow I just found her irritating and less interesting compared to the other characters. She was malicious, pathetic and quite simplistic. Having said all that I did manage to finish the book so it can't be all bad ;)

I don't mind at all! Thanks for the feedback, I'll keep that in mind if I decide to read more Kirino.

Nancy Grace. Felt a little like early John Grisham. As they are both lawyers writing legal thrillers it's not hard to understand why. Her voice on TV is pretty distinctive and I could hear her narrating parts of the novel to me.

Kate Atkinson - An amazing stylist. What I would give to be able to write like that. Polished off Case Histories but it won't be long before I find something else of hers to read.

Christy Yorke - Not impressed. Had to force myself to get through it. Skimmed quite a bit at the end.

#23

Is that an "engaging" book? I'm going on a really long planeride soon and I was thinking of bringing it, but I need something that'll really suck me in because I get so bored on airplanes.

>25 -Eva-:. I certainly thought so. I couldn't put it down! I would definitely recommend Case Histories to you.

#26

Great! Into the carry-on it goes!! :)

I haven't updated this thread in so long!
I only lack 3 authors to finish - U, V and X.

I see you've left yourself the easy ones ;)

Of course!
I think these letters are what make it a challenge, right? Any suggestions?

I think I'll be cheating a little when I get to the X author so no real help from me there and the reads I have on my own list for U & V weren't anything exceptional either I'm afraid.