Bookwyrm Alphabeticals: A

November 19, 2018 Alphabeticals 14

 

The Alphabetical tag/meme was created by Alex over at The Paperback Piano.  I first came across it on Book-Wyrm-Knits, one of my favorite blogs. The rules are simple:

  1. Credit Alex for the idea, and link back
  2. Post your favourite authors, books and characters (ABCs) for a particular letter of the alphabet
  3. Post at your own pace, do as many or as few letters as you want

 

 

Author and title links below take you to posts on my blog.

Authors beginning with ‘A’

 

 

Louisa May Alcott is the first ‘A’ author that jumps to mind. I’ve loved her books since I was a little girl and first read Little Women and Eight Cousins. There are also mystery authors Catherine Aird, who writes the wonderful Sloan & Crosby mysteries, and Nancy Atherton, author of the Aunt Dimity series (see below.) Also worth mentioning are Tasha Alexander, who writes the Lady Emily historical mysteries, and Margery Allingham—though the Campion mysteries are a bit hit or miss for me, on the whole I like the series.

As a child, I loved Lloyd Alexander, specifically for his marvelous Chronicles of Prydain; I still reread them periodically. I also loved  Joan Aiken‘s books as a child: the Wolves Chronicles and the Armitage stories. I’ve never really gotten into her adult gothics, though.

 

Books beginning with ‘A’

 

Anne of Green Gables, of course! And the sequels, whether they begin with ‘A’ or not.  Also

  • Airs Above the Ground (Mary Stewart), one of my earliest introductions to romantic suspense
  • Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll). Classic and iconic.
  • All Creatures Great and Small (James Herriot) is warm and wonderful and I still love it, 40-odd years after I first read it.
  • Arrows of the Queen (Mercedes Lackey), the book that introduced me to Valdemar
  • As You Like It (Shakespeare) (Hey, plays totally count if you read them, right?)
  • Aunt Dimity’s Death (Nancy Atherton), one of my “comfort reads.” For some reason, it soothes me like a hot cup of tea and a warm blanket.

 

Characters beginning with ‘A’

 

  • The aforementioned Anne Shirley, of Green Gables fame. Who doesn’t love imaginative, sensitive, optimistic, whole-hearted Anne?
  • King Arthur, rex quondam rexque futurus. Particularly the Arthur of Mary Stewart’s Arthurian trilogy. Noble, brave, chivalrous, charismatic, and wise… except perhaps in his personal relationships.
  • Aragorn, and not just because Viggo Mortensen played him so well in the LOTR movies. Cut from much the same cloth as Arthur (perhaps a deliberate choice on Tolkien’s part), but wiser, Aragorn rises above his fears and the lure of the Ring to become the leader and King he was meant to be.
  • Herald Alberich, from Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar series. Two words sum up Alberich: honor and integrity. Well, ok, also courage, loyalty, and intelligence.
  • Alanna the Lioness, from Tamora Pierce’s Song of the Lioness quartet — she’s not my favorite Tortallan heroine (that honor goes to Kel), but I wish she’d been around when I was a tween and teen! Alanna is brave, determined to the point of stubbornness, clever and resourceful. Lest she appear too perfect, she also has a fearsome temper and a sharp tongue upon occasion, and doesn’t suffer fools gladly.
  • Roderick Alleyn (usually just called Alleyn) from the eponymous series by Ngaio Marsh: a gentleman detective, compassionate, sensitive, and fainly ascetic.

 

Series beginning with ‘A’

This isn’t part of the original meme, but I’m adding because, well, ABCs — there’s an S at the end!

 

 

In addition to the Anne of Green Gables series (obviously!), I also love the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness. I enjoy the aforementioned Alleyn mysteries by Ngaio Marsh.

Other series I enjoy include:

  • Nancy Atherton’s Aunt Dimity series (especially least the first six or so)
  • the Auction Block mysteries by Loretta Ross
  • the Arcane Society series by Jayne Ann Krentz/Amanda Quick/Jayne Castle
  • Mary Stewart’s Arthurian saga was a favorite in my youth, or at least The Crystal Cave and The Hollow Hills. I should go back and reread them; it’s been around 25 years since I did.

 

 

Tell me your favorite authors, books, and characters beginning with ‘A’!

 

 

14 Responses to “Bookwyrm Alphabeticals: A”

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I’m glad you liked that idea, and thank you for your posts which put me on to this meme! It’s really so perfect for booklovers.

  2. Alex

    I’m so happy you decided to give this one a go! There seem to be some very popular choices for the letter ‘A’ 🙂

    And I love the addition of series 😉 I might have to add that in (and credit you, of course). Thank you so much for participating!

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      Thank you for coming up with the idea! And for visiting my post. I’m glad you liked the addition of series. I hoped I wasn’t being presumptuous in adding them!

  3. Lark

    I also like Tasha Alexander as well as Ilona Andrews. As for characters, I can only think of two: Albus Dumbledore and Alex Verus. Fun post! 🙂
    Lark recently posted…A bookish gem…My Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I’m not familiar with Alex Verus. What book is s/he from? As for Dumbledore, I’m saving him for ‘D’, since he’s more often called Dumbledore than Albus. Ilona Andrews is an author who has been on my radar, but I haven’t tried her yet.

  4. Northwoman

    What about Ilona ANDREWS!!!!!!! My favorite author. Also, I like the Alex Verus books I just started them on audio. The first is Fated and I got the second one from reserve at the library today, Cursed. Anne – Books of My Heart
    Northwoman recently posted…Mortal Word by Genevieve CogmanMy Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I loved Eight Cousins, Little Men, and Jo’s Boys. And one of the less-well-known ones, too: An Old-Fashioned Girl. I still occasionally reread them, as well as Little Women.