Oh where does the time go...

So time has slipped away, but I will admit to at least starting my D author book in Feb. and as I eluded to previously, for D I chose Charles de Lint. Now I have a shameful number of his books on my selves which I haven't read, so this challenge provided a good opportunity to change that. While I tend not to lean towards urban fantasy, I had 2 copies of Dreams Underfoot on my self and as it is the first in that series it was a natural choice.
So D is for  Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint.

I am all but finished with D (which considering it is half way through March is probably a good thing) so I need to figure out my E author. Now I only have one E author on my shelves, David Eddings, and neither of the books are actually good ones to start with (meaning neither of them is the starting book in their respective series). Now I could go to the library and get one of his that starts a series, or I could use this as an opportunity to expand and explore a new author, which is what I am leaning towards. So that still means I'll need an E and honestly I can't think of any other E authors off the top of my head. I guess one could Google or Wikipedia someone, but I happen a book, "The Faces of Fantasy" so I think I will go through it and see what if any E's are listed. I'll let you know what I find.

February is C & D, here is my pick for C

January seemed to move right along; got the books I want to read. And now we come to February so we have C & D authors to pick now. A C author was a bit more difficult to choose, Susan Coopers "The dark is Rising" is definitely worth going back and rereading (even with the part I find rather disappointing, the rest is strong enough that it tips the scale back favorable in its a positive direction.) But again, I have read it already, and I have a few other C authors which I hadn't. My two main candidates were Trudi Canavan and C.J. Cherryh (who for some reason I have only read Sci-fi). After discussing my options with my father (to whom I own my love of reading), Cherryh was the clear leader, not that he didn't say I shouldn't read Canavan, but Cherryh had some excellent fantasy that he knew I would really enjoy. He even specifically mentioned The Tree of Swords and Jewels, and it just so happened to be on my shelf, so my C pick was wrapped up.

For C,  I am reading The Tree with Swords and Jewels  by C.J. Cherryh's ( hey look double C's I think I should get a prize for that)


*And though I haven't picked the book yet, I can tell you my  D author will be Charles De Lint.

Pick for B

So for be I was just going to pick something off my shelf. Turns out I wasn't paying much attention when alphabetizing my books and I was led to believe I had only two options for B, Brooks and Bradley, so I decided to read "Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold! (Landover Series)". I have read it before but it has been a while. However, I was discussing my choice and lack of B's* with someone and they thought of L Frank Baum, which struck my as a wonderful idea, as I had always meant to read more of the Oz books and I I could have sworn I had Ozma of Oz. Turns out I did, it was on my Childern/YA shelves, which I hadn't looked at earlier (and yes it is just coincidence that both A and B picks are classified as such). So I put Brooks back on the shelf and am reading Ozma of Oz by L Frank Baum.

* note: it was just poor book arranging on my shelves as it turns out I had a number of B authers to choose from. Peter S. Beagle would have been my choice had I been paying more attention.

My pick for A

Lloyd Alexander pops first in to my head for a fantasy author for A. As for which book, the obvious choice might be "The book of Three" (first in the Chronicles of Prydain) or Westmark (first in the Westmark trilogy), but I have recently reread these (I highly recommend both if you haven't) and thought this challenge presented me with an opportunity to explore new reads. I will confess to living in a small town with a small library, so I was limited in choice once I nixed all the Alexander books I had read, but a few remained and The Arkadians struck me as interesting.

So my A book for January is The Arkadians by Lloyd Alexander. 

Oh how life gets in the way

In an effort to catch up on the ever accumulating unread books adorning my shelves, I have decided to create a challenge for myself, A year long Alphabetical Adventure Through Fantasy.
The goal, I will select an fantasy genera author of for every letter of the alphabet and read one of there books, completing the entire alphabet in the year.  Simple (at least simple to write here, life does have a way of messing up ones plans though).

But for a rough schedule

• January: A & B
• February: C & D 
• March: E & F
• April: G & H
• May: I, J & K
• June: L & M 
• July: N & O
• August: P & Q
• September: R & S 
• October: T & U 
• November: V, W & X
• December: Y & Z  

Well no time like the present to begin, so I'm off :)