AMERICAN AUTHORS CHALLENGE---2020 Edition

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AMERICAN AUTHORS CHALLENGE---2020 Edition

1laytonwoman3rd
Bewerkt: dec 27, 2019, 3:58 pm



Welcome to the 2020 edition of the American Authors Challenge. This challenge has been going on for six years, now, and we've covered 66 distinct authors. An alphabetical list of those (including this year's choices) can be found in the thread where we planned 2020's reading. We occasionally had a Theme Month (Poetry, Narrative Non-Fiction, etc.) instead of an individual author, but this year, the Head Honcho (yeah, me) decided to forego themes.

Something I learned from my first year guiding this challenge is that January and December are already challenging around here, what with end-of-the-year lists, best-of's, new threads, etc. (Never mind real life's whirligigs.) So I tried to put authors in those months that are readily available, and a little "lighter" than some.

Here are the selections for each month of the coming year.

January Charles Frazier Here is the January thread.

February Grace Paley
March David McCullough
April Francine Prose
May E. Lynn Harris
June Jean Stafford
July Wendell Berry
August Robert Penn Warren
September Dawn Powell
October Ward Just
November Ann Petry
December Tony Hillerman

WILD CARD
: We include a wild card category so that if you have absolutely no interest in the author for any given month, you can substitute one of the genre authors, or another of your own choosing. This time, we're doing genre fiction, with an emphasis on sci-fi/fantasy.

I asked lycomayflower to do another guest post on that category, highlighting N. K. Jemison and Rebecca Roanhorse. (Last year she gave us some insight into romance novels.) She obliged rapidly, and you will find her input in the next post. This will also be posted in a separate Wild Card Thread, where you can document your reading as and when you choose this option.

I acknowledge that this list is a little heavy on the white males. Since American literature was that way for so long, this is somewhat inevitable, but I did throw out Sandburg and Emerson (at least until next year!)

The Frazier thread is up now. See the link above next to his name on the list. Links to subsequent months' threads will be posted in this thread as well.

2laytonwoman3rd
Bewerkt: dec 26, 2019, 6:22 pm

Here is lycomayflower's Wild Card Wisdom for 2020:

If you’re looking to fill your genre wild card spot with some SFF this year, consider checking out the work of either N.K. Jemisin or Rebecca Roanhorse. Both women are writing award-winning, game-changing SFF, and reading them will help add racial and cultural diversity to your AAC experience.



Born in Iowa in 1972, N.K. Jemisin studied psychology, counseling, and education before she began publishing SFF short stories and novels in the mid-2000s. She is the first person to win a Hugo award three times in a row (for each of the novels in her Broken Earth trilogy) and has been a rallying voice against the hateful attempt by a vocal alt-right minority within the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America to suppress POC and LGBTQ SFF writers and rig award voting against them. She also notably runs a successful Patreon campaign to gather and maintain enough patrons pledging monthly financial support that she quit her counseling job and focuses on writing full time.
The Broken Earth trilogy (beginning with The Fifth Season) is probably her most popular work (it being the trilogy that made Hugo history). It is set on a planet which experiences catastrophic climate change every few centuries, and Jemisin has described the trilogy as work that explores “what it takes to live, let alone thrive, in a world that seems determined to break you — a world of people who constantly question your competence, your relevance, your very existence.” Among Jemisin’s other work are the Inheritance Trilogy and the recent short story collection How Long ‘til Black Future Month?
Further Resources:
N.K. Jemisin’s website
Vox article about Jemisin’s threepeat at the Hugos, including video of Jemisin’s acceptance speech
An episode of the Book Riot Podcast including an interview with Jemisin about her use of Patreon to support her writing



Rebecca Roanhorse was born in Arkansas in 1971 and is of Ohkay Owinghey Pueblo and African-American descent. She studied religion and theology, and has a law degree. Her short fiction has won both Hugo and Nebula awards, and her debut novel Trail of Lightning was nominated for the Hugo and Nebula as well. The first book of Roanhorse’s Sixth World series, Trail of Lightning is set in North America after apocalyptic climate change, features primarily Navajo characters, and is informed by Navajo traditional stories. Roanhorse also recently published a Star Wars novel, Resistance Reborn, which is a bridge novel between the films The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker.

Further Resources:
Rebecca Roanhorse’s website
A Lightspeed Magazine interview with Roanhorse about her Sixth World series
A video interview with Roanhorse about her Star Wars novel

*****

From Mom: As brilliant as all that is, please note the rules for the Wild Card are very flexible. It's meant as an "out" if you don't want to read the current month's selected author in the American Authors Challenge. So use it as you will.

3laytonwoman3rd
Bewerkt: dec 27, 2019, 3:56 pm

4EBT1002
dec 28, 2019, 1:59 am

I'm not typically a SFF reader but the descriptions of the work of N.K. Jemisin and Rebecca Roanhorse got my attention. I have seen The Fifth Season on bookstore shelves but didn't know anything about it.

SO - I'm not sure what I'll do in terms of the AAC this year but I will tag along and chime in as the mood strikes me.

Thank you, Linda, for hosting and lycomayflower for the wild card wisdom!

5nittnut
jan 1, 2020, 6:40 pm

Thank you Linda! I am looking forward to another fun year. :)

6laytonwoman3rd
jan 31, 2020, 8:18 pm

The Grace Paley thread for February has been unavoidably delayed....I apologize, and will try very hard to get it up tomorrow. Doesn't mean you can't start reading!

7m.belljackson
jan 31, 2020, 8:33 pm

Okay = I'm reading Grace Paley's The Little Disturbances of Man.

8laytonwoman3rd
feb 3, 2020, 3:29 pm

9laytonwoman3rd
Bewerkt: feb 29, 2020, 11:42 am

Marilynne Robinson has a new novel coming out in September. This will purportedly finish her Gilead series, and is simply titled Jack. I have been hoping she would tell his story since I finished reading Gilead nearly 10 years ago. Bless her heart.

10laytonwoman3rd
feb 29, 2020, 11:43 am

12laytonwoman3rd
Bewerkt: mei 1, 2020, 10:04 pm

What, no one is clamoring for the E. Lynn Harris thread, which the slacker AAC host has yet to construct? I hope it's just because nobody knows what day or month it is anymore.... In any case, I apologize, and hope to have the thread up this weekend.

Meanwhile, if you didn't see it live, entertain yourself with this recent conversation between Stephen King and John Grisham The actual conversation starts around minute 6, and there's a plug for donations to an organization that supports independent booksellers and their employees that lasts another 4 minutes or so...and then it gets pretty interesting.

13weird_O
mei 2, 2020, 12:35 pm

>1 laytonwoman3rd: a separate Wild Card Thread, where you can document your reading as and when you choose this option

Did such a thread get set up? I elected the Wild Card alternative to Miz Prose, but other than my own neglected thread, I don't know where to record my deviance. And I regret...only sorta...that I'll be invoking the WC option several more times this year.

15Caroline_McElwee
Bewerkt: mei 2, 2020, 1:20 pm

Posted link at same time as Linda!

16laytonwoman3rd
mei 2, 2020, 1:32 pm

>15 Caroline_McElwee: Ha! I saw your new link over there, Caroline. Thanks.

17fuzzi
mei 2, 2020, 5:24 pm

>12 laytonwoman3rd: I won't be reading May's author unless the library opens.

18laytonwoman3rd
Bewerkt: mei 2, 2020, 5:53 pm

>17 fuzzi: That's likely to be a problem for a good many people, I suppose. I do have a couple of Harris's books on hand, but I was lucky at a used book sale last year when I knew i was going to include him in this years challenge.

The E. Lynn Harris thread is now up and running. I hope people will be able to get their hands on something.

19laytonwoman3rd
Bewerkt: mei 4, 2020, 9:44 pm

Congratulations to Colson Whitehead, now only the 4th novelist ever to win the Pulitzer for fiction twice. Guess who one of the others was? Yes---my man, William Faulkner. And while we're on that subject...there may be a group read of Absalom, Absalom! going on over on this thread. That is, if a group forms and reads the novel this month. I'm going to try to join in, but it will be at least another week before I can begin.

20drneutron
mei 5, 2020, 8:46 am

I saw that! Only the fourth person to win twice, if I remember the article I read.

21laytonwoman3rd
jun 3, 2020, 3:20 pm

A little late, but who knows what day it is ... The June thread for Jean Stafford is live.

22katiekrug
jul 5, 2020, 4:22 pm

The Street by Ann Petry (November's author) is on sale for Kindle right now for $2.99. I remember loving it when I read it in college.

23laytonwoman3rd
jul 5, 2020, 4:23 pm

>22 katiekrug: Thank you, Katie. I've been wishing Petry was our July author...it seems appropriate to read her now.

Here's where you can discuss your Wendell Berry reading.

24laytonwoman3rd
jul 30, 2020, 9:33 pm

Is everybody getting ready for Robert Penn Warren? I know you ALL have a copy of All the King's Men, right?

26klobrien2
sep 3, 2020, 1:14 pm

Anything happening with the September author Dawn Powell ? I have no knowledge of her, would be interested in remedying that!

Karen O.

27laytonwoman3rd
Bewerkt: sep 3, 2020, 2:03 pm

I'm working on it, Karen. Hopefully by the end of the day I'll have a thread up. I'm glad to see there's some interest! My internet connection is being very wonky today, so it's slowing down my research.

28laytonwoman3rd
sep 3, 2020, 6:49 pm

Because Karen has been clamoring, Here is the Dawn Powell thread for September !

29laytonwoman3rd
sep 4, 2020, 10:29 am

Worthy of note: The Library of American is publishing a volume of African American Poetry, 250 Years of Struggle and Song which will be in bookstores October 13th, but can be ordered now through their website and will be shipped out mid-September. There is a virtual launch party on September 17th, with free registration available now.

30Caroline_McElwee
sep 4, 2020, 6:15 pm

>29 laytonwoman3rd: Noted Linda. I have some Langston Hughes, Maya Angelo, Alice Walker, and an old 1960s anthology, but this sounds like I'll find a broader canvas.

31Caroline_McElwee
sep 4, 2020, 6:20 pm

I'm not giving up, but I'm definitely well behind this year, and I still have loads more Wendell Berry to read.

Not to mention books from several of last year's chosen writers...

I've gifted myself more time (no commute and shifting to a 4-day working week), but it still doesn't seem to be enough.

32laytonwoman3rd
sep 4, 2020, 6:34 pm

>31 Caroline_McElwee: No, there's never enough time. I nearly decided to read nothing BUT Wendell Berry until I finished everything, but then thought I might want to space it out a bit more!

33m.belljackson
Bewerkt: sep 6, 2020, 6:27 pm

>32 laytonwoman3rd: >31 Caroline_McElwee:

The back cover of A PLACE IN TIME, published in 2012, records that Wendell is the author of over fifty books -
getting "everything" finished could be a life's work!

Following a SEARCH for Wendell Berry's "Books in Order," what turns up are eleven Port William volumes.
a link to the rest of the books would be welcome.

34klobrien2
sep 15, 2020, 7:03 pm

>28 laytonwoman3rd: Because Karen has been clamoring, Here is the Dawn Powell thread

Sorry for all the clamoring but since I rely on libraries for most of my reading, I have to plan ahead a little. And there's good news! My Dawn Powell book is finally in at the library! I think it's relatively short, so I might even finish it in September.

Time to start thinking about October! hehe Well, maybe not quite yet, but I think I'll do some preliminary looking.

Karen O.

35laytonwoman3rd
Bewerkt: sep 15, 2020, 9:00 pm

>33 m.belljackson: All of Berry's books should be listed here on LT, on his author page. And he has written an immense amount of non-fiction, as well as poetry in volumes, so "in order" wouldn't really apply to those.

>34 klobrien2: Awww, I was just funnin' with you Karen. Sometimes, if somebody doesn't get after me, I lag a bit with starting the threads...so by all means, clamor at will!

36Wctfs1111
sep 17, 2020, 8:31 am

Deze gebruiker is verwijderd als spam.

37laytonwoman3rd
sep 28, 2020, 3:29 pm

Lookit me, gettin' stuff done, and starting the October thread for Ward Just with DAYS to spare!

38laytonwoman3rd
okt 19, 2020, 5:12 pm

As October winds down, I wonder what everyone thinks about continuing this challenge in 2021. Participation seems way down from previous years. Are there just too many real-life challenges for this to be enjoyable right now? Is access to the authors' work an issue while libraries are not open everywhere? Have we "used up" all the best authors (surely not!). Should we re-visit some old favorites? Chime in, please.

39drneutron
okt 19, 2020, 6:18 pm

I’d be open to some old faves!

40m.belljackson
okt 19, 2020, 7:11 pm

I would miss this challenge and wish for an increase in back and forth commentary.

Jacob Appel would be a good choice for a new author...

...not sure if he was on the long list - can you run that again? Thank you.

41fuzzi
okt 19, 2020, 7:18 pm

>38 laytonwoman3rd: I haven't participated every month, but I've enjoyed this challenge when I have joined in. I've also discovered some authors new-to-me.

42thornton37814
okt 19, 2020, 7:57 pm

I pretty much gave up on all challenges this year except for group reads of the Wimsey series, the Brunetti series, and the Viveca Sten novels. It gave me the opportunity to read what I wanted to read. If I noticed something I read fit, I would add it.

43Caroline_McElwee
okt 19, 2020, 8:56 pm

I was thinking about this just today, that it must be time to think about the list for next year. However, I'm guilty of barely participating more than 2-3 times this year. I cant even really identify why that is, except wanting to read what i want to read at any given moment. I think I'd be sad to see AAC disappear, even for a year, though appreciate a lot of work goes into making it happen Linda, and it must be disappointing on the months there is little or no take up.

Suggestions:

4 different types of month:

3 new authors
3 old favourites
3 themes
2 wild cards
And maybe your all time favourite novel, we can all get fired up about that one, will there be any fans of the same treasure?

Just thoughts...

44laytonwoman3rd
okt 19, 2020, 9:27 pm

It's good to see there is still interest in this. And >43 Caroline_McElwee:, I like these suggestions...freshen things up a bit. But I think I've already pushed my favorites on people....To Kill a Mockingbird, All the King's Men, Absalom, Absalom!, Sometimes a Great Notion (Ooooh....we haven't done Ken Kesey yet) --- and a few British suspects, but shhhh! We mustn't talk about those here.

45laytonwoman3rd
Bewerkt: okt 21, 2020, 4:44 pm

>40 m.belljackson: Here's the list I've been working from:

Strike-out authors have been featured in the last two challenges.
As you can see, there is still a lot of uncovered ground. I'll post the lists from previous years tomorrow.

Renee Ahdieh
Louisa May Alcott
Laurie Halse Anderson
Sherwood Anderson
Harriet Arnow
Isaac Asimov
Ameriki Baraka
Nevada Barr
Saul Bellow
Wendell Berry
Chris Bohjalian
Jennifer Finney Boylan
T. C. Boyle
Pearl Buck
James Lee Burke
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Erskine Caldwell
Kacen Callendar
Ethan Canin
Truman Capote
Wiley Cash
John Cheever
Kate Chopin
James Clavell
Jon Clinch
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Alyssa Cole
James Fenimore Cooper
Robert Coover
Michael Cunningham
Robertson Davies
Samuel Delany
Philip K. Dick
John Dos Passos
Theodore Dreiser
W. E. B. DuBois
Andre Dubus
Charles Eastman
Ralph Ellison
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Anne Fadiman
James T. Farrell
Edna Ferber
Shelby Foote
Jesse Hill Ford
Karen Joy Fowler
Tom Franklin
Charles Frazier
Ernest Gaines
Roxane Gay
Martha Gellhorn
Gail Godwin
Mary Gordon
Lauren Groff
David Guterson
Alex Haley
Dashiell Hammett
E. Lynn Harris
Jim Harrison
Jon Hassler
G. W. Hawkes
Nathaniel Hawthorne
William Least Heat-Moon
Ben Hecht
Lillian Hellman
Mark Helprin
Oscar Hijuelos
Tony Hillerman (soming up in December)
Alice Hoffman
Silas House
Washington Irving
N. K. Jemisin *
Gish Jen
Sarah Orne Jewett
Denis Johnson
Ward Just
William Kennedy
Ken Kesey
Laurie King
T. J. Klune
Erik Larson
Nella Larsen
Jeffrey Lent
Attica Locke
H. P. Lovecraft
Alison Lurie
Norman Mailer
Bernard Malamud
Adam Mansbach
Margaret Maron *
Valerie Martin
William Maxwell
Mary McCarthy
David McCullough
Sharyn McCrumb *
Alice McDermott
John McPhee
Herman Melville
James Michener
Silvia Morena-Garcia
Robert Morgan
John Muir
Howard Norman
Matthew Norman
Tim O'Brien
John O’Hara
Grace Paley
Jay Parini
Robert B. Parker *
Walker Percy
Ann Petry coming up in November
Edgar Allan Poe
C. L. Polk
Katharine Anne Porter
Charles Portis
Chaim Potok
Dawn Powell
Reynolds Price
Francine Prose
Ron Rash
Rebecca Roanhorse *
Conrad Richter
Marilynne Robinson
Henry Roth
Rainbow Rowell
Mary Doria Russell
Carl Sandburg
George Saunders
Anita Shreve
Lionel Shriver
Leslie Marmon Silko
Isaac Bashevis Singer
Lee Smith
Susan Sontag
Jean Stafford
Gertrude Stein
Maggie Stiefvater
Sarah Stonich
Booth Tarkington
Peter Taylor
Studs Terkel
Aiden Thomas
Jim Thompson
David Treuer
Luis Albert Urrea
Gore Vidal
Willy Vlautin
Jesmyn Ward
Robert Penn Warren
Helene Wecker
James Welch
John Edgar Wideman
Thornton Wilder
Meg Wolitzer
Daniel Woodrell
Herman Wouk
Richard Wright

*Featured in Wild Card category

Italicized names are new suggestions added pursuant to discussions below.

46laytonwoman3rd
okt 19, 2020, 9:40 pm

>39 drneutron: Who would those be, Jim? New and old suggestions will be warmly welcomed.

47kac522
okt 19, 2020, 11:14 pm

I like the ideas in >43 Caroline_McElwee:. I'd also prefer that months with specific authors have a choice between at least 2 (male/female or Hispanic/Asian or 20th cent/21st cent, etc.), instead of a single author. There might be a little more participation with choices.

I'd also love a themed month based on a region of the country: West Coast authors or NYC authors or Southern authors or Midwest authors, etc.

48msf59
okt 20, 2020, 7:49 am

I have done poorly on the AAC this year. I didn't expect to read them all but I planned to read more than 3. Honestly, a couple of them I had a tough time tracking down, especially with Covid. I still have a Wendell Berry that I can read and I might have a Ward Just in the stacks. I have never read him.

I hope you continue the AAC. As your author list can attest to, there are still plenty to choose from.

49drneutron
okt 20, 2020, 8:15 am

That’s a really good list, so plenty of good choices left. Below are a few I’ve read before and would be happy to read again, though by no means limited to my list.

Ralph Ellison (Harlan Ellison would be fun too, but not on the list)
Clavell
PK Dick
Hammett
Kesey
Michener’

50msf59
okt 20, 2020, 8:40 am

>49 drneutron: Clavell is Australian, right?

51drneutron
okt 20, 2020, 10:01 am

From Wikipedia, he was Australian, became a US citizen in 1963 at age 41. So an interesting choice for the list, I suppose. I think all his books were written after he became a US citizen, but I could be wrong.

52katiekrug
okt 20, 2020, 3:50 pm

I'm one of those people who start off the year excited and eager for challenges and then realize not soon after that I just want to read what I want to read. I think I did better in the early years of this challenge because I already had a lot of the authors on my shelf/Kindle or on my mental TBR. I am less interested in authors I have to seek out. I realize that probably says nothing very good about me, but I have thousands of unread books in my possession and tend to prioritize those.

All that said, I'll be interested in seeing the list of authors previously included in the AAC over the years and would probably participate in a Greatest Hits type challenge, or a thematically organized one. For the former, my top vote would go to Stewart O'Nan because I luuuuuurve him and he has a large and varied body of work.

53laytonwoman3rd
okt 20, 2020, 4:20 pm

OK, this is the list of all authors we have featured from 2014 through this year.

Louisa May Alcott
Sherman Alexie
James Baldwin
Russell Banks
Wendell Berry
Ray Bradbury
Pearl Buck
Octavia Butler
Willa Cather
Michael Chabon
Jon Clinch
Pat Conroy
Don DeLillo
Annie Dillard
E. L. Doctorow
Ivan Doig
W. E. B. Du Bois
Louise Erdrich
William Faulkner
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Richard Ford
Charles Frazier
Ernest J. Gaines
Pete Hamill
E. Lynn Harris
Kent Haruf
Ernest Hemingway
Patricia Highsmith
Tony Hillerman
Zora Neale Hurston
John Irving
Henry James
Ward Just
Stephen King
Barbara Kingsolver
Louis L’Amour
Ursual LeGuin
Sinclair Lewis
James McBride
Cormac McCarthy
David McCullough
Carson McCullers
Larry McMurtry
Toni Morrison
Walter Mosley
Joyce Carol Oates
Flannery O’Connor
Stewart O’Nan
Grace Paley
Jay Parini
Ann Patchett
Ann Petry
Chaim Potok
Dawn Powell
Francine Prose
Annie Proulx
Marilynne Robinson
Philip Roth
Richard Russo
Leslie Marmon Silko
Jane Smiley
Jean Stafford
Wallace Stegner
John Steinbeck
William Styron
Amy Tan
Anne Tyler
Mark Twain
John Updike
Kurt Vonnegut
Alice Walker
Jesmyn Ward
Robert Penn Warren
Larry Watson
Eudora Welty
Edith Wharton
Colson Whitehead
Tobias Wolff

54fuzzi
Bewerkt: okt 20, 2020, 9:01 pm

>53 laytonwoman3rd: whew! You've been busy!

I recall reading Wendell Berryand Ernest Gaines for this challenge, two authors I don't think I would have discovered except for AAC.

Don't forget that libraries were closed for months in many places. I have been mainly reading off my shelves.

55fuzzi
okt 20, 2020, 9:03 pm

Wait, no Conrad Richter???

Need to add him next year.

56quondame
okt 21, 2020, 12:04 am

Could someone add some other mid-20th century women F&SF writers? Octavia Butler and Ursula K. LeGuin are both amazing but neither are representative. I don't recognize women mystery writers there either but I'm not nearly so into mysteries, but there should be at least one I recognize.

57jessibud2
okt 21, 2020, 6:17 am

Has Eric Larson never been included?

58fuzzi
okt 21, 2020, 6:32 am

>56 quondame: Laurie R. King writes mysteries. I'm partial to her Holmes/Russell series.

59LaurenSinclair
okt 21, 2020, 7:04 am

Deze gebruiker is verwijderd als spam.

60laytonwoman3rd
okt 21, 2020, 10:41 am

>56 quondame: In general we haven't featured genre fiction authors, except in the Wild Card category. We did do those two superior sci-fi authors. Patricia Highsmith is arguably a mystery writer, as are Margaret Maron and Sharon McCrumb. Who do you consider representative of mid-20th century women writers of F/SF? What mystery writers do you recognize? Names, woman, I need names!

>55 fuzzi:, 58 Laurie King and Conrad Richter are excellent suggestions. Onto the list they go.

>57 jessibud2: Don't see him on the list. He will be added.

61lycomayflower
okt 21, 2020, 10:52 am

New Suggestions:
Alyssa Cole
TJ Klune
Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Mexican-Canadian)
Jennifer Finney Boylan
Charles Portis
C.L. Polk (Canadian)
Renee Ahdieh
Maggie Stiefvater
Aiden Thomas
Kacen Callender
Attica Locke

Folks from the Suggestions List I'm Interested In:
Ethan Canin
Wiley Cash
G.W. Hawkes
Roxane Gay
Rainbow Rowell
Silas House

62katiekrug
Bewerkt: okt 21, 2020, 10:54 am

>45 laytonwoman3rd: - From this list, I'd be most interested in Ethan Canin, Michael Cunningham, Tom Franklin, Lee Smith, Willy Vlautin, Meg Wolitzer, and Daniel Woodrell.

ETA: And Roxane Gay. And if you want mystery writers, Attica Locke would be a great choice.

63laytonwoman3rd
Bewerkt: okt 21, 2020, 10:55 am

>61 lycomayflower: Thank you. That's what I'm talkin' about.

>62 katiekrug: Was it you who suggested Willy Vlautin in the first place? I think he'll have to go on for 2021. I bought one of his books when his name came up, because I don't know him at all yet.

64laytonwoman3rd
okt 21, 2020, 10:58 am

Here's a ponderable: Since "American" doesn't exclusively apply to the United States (no matter that WE use it that way), what does everyone think about considering Mexican, Central American and Canadian authors in this challenge?

65katiekrug
okt 21, 2020, 11:01 am

>63 laytonwoman3rd: - I don't know if it was me, but I have a few of his books, none of which I've read. But the descriptions appeal to me, and I'd like an excuse to finally give him a whirl...

>64 laytonwoman3rd: - If you include Central America, I feel like you might as well include South America, too. And then there is a lot to consider. Plus, what about the Caribbean?

Maybe "North American" to include the US, Mexico, and Canada as the first step in expanding it?

66laytonwoman3rd
okt 21, 2020, 11:18 am

>65 katiekrug: Yes, North American is better...I think including South America would make it way too unwieldy.

67laytonwoman3rd
okt 21, 2020, 12:24 pm

>45 laytonwoman3rd: has been edited to add new suggestions, which appear in italics.

68RBeffa
Bewerkt: okt 21, 2020, 1:41 pm

mid-20th century women writers of F/SF? There are many. The problem, just as with many other authors, that their novel output or readily accessible books can pose a problem. I will paste a list in here that will give you a start. I have generally understood that genre writers whether it be mystery, western, SF/F were excluded from the AAC (besides the recent wild card).

Seven women have been named Grand Master of science fiction by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America:

Andre Norton (1984)
Ursula K. Le Guin (2003)
Anne McCaffrey (2005)
Connie Willis (2012)
C.J. Cherryh (2016)
Jane Yolen (2017)
Lois McMaster Bujold (2020)

ETA: A few other very important names in the mid 20th genre would include Alice Sheldon (James Tiptree Jr), Zenna Henderson, Leigh Brackett, Madeleine L'Engle, Sheri S Tepper and a slew of others such as Vonda McIntyre, Nancy Kress, Karen Joy Fowler, Kage Baker, Pat Cadigan, Kate Wilhelm, Maureen McHugh ...

I'm not recommending any of these since 'taste' in these fields varies incredibly

You could even include Mary Doria Russell

69quondame
okt 21, 2020, 4:00 pm

>60 laytonwoman3rd: For F&SF I'd recommend Lois McMaster Bujold and C.J. Cherryh.
I'm not the best person for recommending mystery writers, since 80% of those I read and enjoyed are British. I've given up on Sue Grafton not because of her quality, just because I prefer the victims of the murders to be more removed from the detective. Of course Charlaine Harris fits in both categories.
Since "genre" books are among the most read it seems odd to relegate them to wildcard status. That sort of perpetuates the validity of the literary critics claims to judge what is literature. They have enough influence, really.

70quondame
okt 21, 2020, 4:15 pm

>68 RBeffa: Mary Doria Russell's books have created a stir, but she hasn't written that many.
Of the Grand Masters listed, Anne McCaffrey's books were wildly popular but very spotty in qualty, Connie Willis is one of my favorites, but I've notice she's almost as apt to be disliked as liked, and I can't remember anything I've read by Jane Yolen, though I know I have.
Andre Norton was a favorite when I was young, but she seemed more into writing books very similar to those the men of her time were producing with just a bit more development of her men as human beings with emotional needs.
So that gets me back to C.J. Cherryh and Lois McMaster Bujold, the first who has a vast body of work of many sorts, and the second whose quality and depth has opened the way for a much more humanized SF world.

71laytonwoman3rd
okt 21, 2020, 4:26 pm

>68 RBeffa: Thanks, Ron. I don't know how the AAC was originally conceived, but since I've participated, genre fiction didn't make the cut. The Wild Card categories were for the purpose of giving people a free month, if they didn't intend to read the chosen author for whatever reason. When I took over, I took the opportunity to tout a few of my favorite genre writers---namely Margaret Maron and Sharon McCrumb, James Lee Burke and Robert B. Parker--as mild suggestions for Wild Card reading. Then I asked lycomayflower to chime in with romance and fantasy/sci-fi authors she enjoyed, hence N. K. Jemison, Rebecca Roanhorse, and a lot of romance writers whose names don't appear on the list. This year, we are featuring Tony Hillerman in December. I think it might be a fine idea to have a month for genre fiction next year. Some of the people writing in these genres now are breaking ground with social issues, particularly in YA fiction, which we have never done in the challenge. It has always been true that readers have less trouble with touchy issues in a fantasy/sci-fi setting than in the "real world". Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow is a prime example of that, and I actually thought I had added her to the long list at some point. I'm doing it now.

72laytonwoman3rd
Bewerkt: okt 21, 2020, 4:48 pm

>69 quondame:, >70 quondame: I really appreciate your take on these authors, most of whom I know of but have not read. I don't think there was ever any literary quality judgment involved in excluding genre fiction. In my mind the "challenge" part of this undertaking by definition leaves out the current names who always rise to the top of the best-seller lists and put out a book or two every year. This isn't a reflection on their talent or worth, merely a nod to the fact that they don't need the "bump" of a challenge like this to bring them to our attention. And although there hasn't been much of it lately, talking about the books with other people reading them at the same time is part of the experience; gripping as the story-telling can be, a lot of genre fiction just doesn't lend itself to much discussion. I believe a lot of the participants in the challenge have been looking for authors new to them, or to "catch up" with respected American authors whose work they just never got around to before. Right off the top of my head, I know I read Sherman Alexie, Francine Prose, Richard Ford, Wiley Cash and Ivan Doig for the first time because of the this challenge.

73RBeffa
okt 21, 2020, 4:57 pm

>71 laytonwoman3rd: I was surprised she wasn't already in the list. I also was surprised that Conrad Richter (mentioned above) wasn't on the list. I thought I had nominated him along with Ethan Canin (who now is) a couple years ago. Guess not.

Science fiction has been very good throughout its existence at approaching social and economic and other issues sideways. Indigenous Americans can be tackled very well if you call them something else on another planet for example. I know you like Mary Doria Russell, which was why I mentioned her above. Personally I disliked The Sparrow compared to most people ( did give it three stars). It is a good example of tackling issues sideways but the level of torture in there was too much for me and the science fiction was rather poor for a modern novel. However I loved her Dreamers of the Day and we both liked Doc a lot so as a cross genre writer as well as historical fiction she seems to be a choice to consider seriously.

>70 quondame: I agree about McCaffrey although I think Andre Norton would still be worth a look. I re-read Daybreak 2250 AD (aka Starman's Son) this year and was impressed how it took racism and black/white head on, intelligently, for a 1952 novel. I once adored Connie Willis and read a lot of her short stories but have not tackled a novel.

74RBeffa
okt 21, 2020, 5:07 pm

>72 laytonwoman3rd: I don't remember when I first noticed the AAC but for me it was also a vehicle to catch up on authors I always had a mild interest in (such as Ivan Doig as one of your examples) and it prompted me to dive in. It also worked exceptionally well when I had access to a library or even a bookstore to browse. I'm feeling the pain of no friends of the library sales this year. However, being "forced" this year to tackle books off my shelves as well as finally diving into the library's expanded ebook offering has really paid off for me. I have certainly been absent from the AAC (altho Tony Hillerman's Finding Moon is sitting on the shelf behind my reading chair waiting ...

75msf59
Bewerkt: okt 21, 2020, 5:45 pm

>71 laytonwoman3rd: "I don't know how the AAC was originally conceived, but since I've participated, genre fiction didn't make the cut."

I may not have included many genre authors, in the first year or two but then I realized the oversight and I began to add several in the later years like Bradbury, Butler, (I thought I had included Raymond Chandler, along the way), Highsmith, Stephen King, Le Guin, L' Amour and Walter Mosley. Not staggering numbers, but I tried to include a few.

I agree MDR is tough to classify. One of my favorite authors and she deserves to be included.

76laytonwoman3rd
okt 21, 2020, 6:05 pm

>75 msf59: I stand corrected by the Founder of the Feast! Thanks, Mark. Of course they are genre writers, but in my mind Mosley, LeGuin, Highsmith and Butler all offer so much that I tend not to think of them that way.

77fuzzi
okt 21, 2020, 6:07 pm

I love seeing American authors of SciFi/fantasy mentioned here.

We do have a SFF KIT planned again for 2021 if anyone is interested in the genre, beyond the AAC. 😁

78quondame
Bewerkt: okt 21, 2020, 6:19 pm

>72 laytonwoman3rd: I've always felt a large part of the best F&SF was a discussion of what we hope for and value - or fear. And now, with romances opening up from the strict m-f orientation, they can have more to say, not that what they said before was unimportant, just pretty limited.
I can see the challenge part being about looking below the top layer of what's out there, but since 1) we all layer with different metrics, what's a breeze for me may challenge someone else & 2) of the women F&SF author's in >45 laytonwoman3rd: N.K. Jemisin is about as prominent as currently possible, Rebecca Roanhorse is currently more of an interesting footnote, which is also my opinion of Maria Doria Russell. I've enjoyed books by all three of them, but at this point only N.K. Jemisin has really impressed me, though she's sometimes far from pleasing me.
So, for non-F&SF readers Bujold and Cherryh are far more mainstream and have been strong presences since the 1980s while still doing much their own thing.

79laytonwoman3rd
okt 21, 2020, 6:31 pm

This is more discussion than we've had about the books we've been reading in several months! WOOT!

80fuzzi
okt 21, 2020, 7:10 pm

>79 laytonwoman3rd: you hinted you might not have AAC next year, and so we got motivated to chime in! 😁

81laytonwoman3rd
okt 21, 2020, 9:29 pm

82RBeffa
okt 24, 2020, 9:13 pm

I like to read one or two children's classics each year. Has there ever been a childhood favorites month for the AAC? It could be a Caldecott winners or a curated selection to choose from or an anything goes. My wife just purchased a Blueberries for Sal shirt (Robert McCloskey) for one of her favorites.

Another possible American author is Betty Smith (Her A Tree Grows in Brooklyn book was one of my daughter's favorites in her late teens).

83laytonwoman3rd
okt 24, 2020, 9:38 pm

>82 RBeffa: I was thinking about Betty Smith too. I really want to re-read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Love McCloskey too.

84fuzzi
okt 26, 2020, 6:52 am

>82 RBeffa: there's a Newbery challenge group in case you're interested: https://www.librarything.com/groups/newberychallenge

I love A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, fabulous read!

85HenryBlack
okt 26, 2020, 7:41 am

Deze gebruiker is verwijderd als spam.

86RBeffa
okt 26, 2020, 1:08 pm

>84 fuzzi: Thanks Fuzzi. I was just trying to think of some options for Linda.

87weird_O
Bewerkt: dec 4, 2020, 9:41 pm

Good discussion. I've been chronically MIA this year, and I didn't get a grip on this challenge this year. But then I didn't get a grip on the Bill 'n' Paul Pulitzer challenge either. I need to reread the ideas posted above.

Before my grip on the 2020 AAC was lost, I used the Wild Card option three times, and I expected to play it again. I made a list of authors I thought I'd read as wild cards, and I did post it on my thread in July. Here's the list:

Carl Hiaasen
Richard Preston
Martin Cruz Smith
Connie Willis
Michael Lewis
Robert Heinlein
Ibram X. Kendi
N. K. Jemisin
Robert Harris
Katherine Ann Porter
Walter Isaacson
David Halberstam
Jill Lepore
David Sedaris
Dave Eggers


Edited to correct my spelling of Lepore.

89laytonwoman3rd
nov 3, 2020, 10:30 am

In news you might have missed....Walter Mosley will be honored for his Distinguished Contribution to American Letters by the National Book Awards.

90fuzzi
nov 3, 2020, 1:48 pm

91RBeffa
nov 9, 2020, 6:36 pm

Anthony Doerr (pulitzer winner) is one I don't see on the prospective list. I think he mainly writes short stories but his All The Light We Cannot See is a modern classic, imo. Some authors primarily write short stories. Maybe a short story month? Maybe a pulp fiction month? An author by the decades series some year in the future? 00's, 10's, 20's etc.

93m.belljackson
Bewerkt: dec 2, 2020, 11:37 am

Casting new votes for AAC authors for 2021:

1. Jacob Appel - he has offered us many of his 4 to 5 star books on the

LT Member Giveaway site!

2. Benjamin Alire Saenz - he writes amazing novels centered in El Paso!

94RBeffa
dec 2, 2020, 1:36 pm

Could you consider adding Jim Shepard to your author longlist. He wrote the best short story I read this year, 'Sans Farine' (available here: https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Sans+farine-a0153706858) and his stories regularly appear in good magazines and the year's best American short stories. I read Sans Farine in a Year's Best collection.

95laytonwoman3rd
dec 2, 2020, 1:39 pm

>93 m.belljackson:, >94 RBeffa: I'm putting the finishing touches on the 2021 list this week. I'll add your suggestions to the long list; they may fit into one of the "theme months", or if not, they will carry over for 2022.

96laytonwoman3rd
Bewerkt: dec 8, 2020, 4:22 pm

OF INTEREST:

Ken Burns has a three part documentary on Ernest Hemingway coming out in April.

97laytonwoman3rd
Bewerkt: dec 11, 2020, 9:44 pm

*Drumroll* OK....herewith the selections for the 2021 American Authors Challenge.

JANUARY
In keeping with my intent to make January as stress-free as possible, I've chosen a theme for the month which should give everyone many options. I'm calling it "All in the Family", that is, spouses, partners, parents and children who all write. I've compiled a list of such pairs and groups as mere suggestions. You'll probably be able to come up with lots more. It won't be necessary to read 2 or 3 authors for the month; perhaps you're already familiar with one family member's work and would like to get to know another. Compare and contrast should be fun
For examples:

Stephen King and Tabitha King and their son, Joe Hill

Cokie Roberts and Steve Roberts; married journalists who wrote a nationally syndicated column and two books together, as well as publishing separately

Frances and Richard Lockridge; the marvelous husband and wife team who wrote several series of mystery novels together AND
Richard Lockridge, individually and with his second wife, Hildegarde Dolson, who also wrote solo.

Jonathan Kellerman and Faye Kellerman, their son Jesse Kellerman

James Lee Burke and Alafair Burke

Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark

Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn

Louise Erdrich andMichael Dorris

Lillian Hellman and Dashiell Hammett

Truman Capote and Jack Dunphy

Kathy Reichs and her son Brendan Reichs

F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Fitzgerald

Tony Hillerman and Ann Hillerman

Ann Rice, Stan Rice and Christopher Rice

Allan Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky (thank you, lycomayflower)

98laytonwoman3rd
Bewerkt: dec 8, 2020, 4:43 pm

Continuing from >97 laytonwoman3rd::

FEBRUARY
Ethan Canin

MARCH
Roxane Gay

APRIL Another theme month:
Americans Who Make Music

Many performers and songwriters also write other things, including memoirs and fiction. Their {auto}biographies can be fascinating as well. A few examples:

Dylan’s Chronicles: Volume 1 and Tarantula
Twenty Thousand Roads by David Meyer --excellent biography of Gram Parsons
House of Earth and Bound For Glory Woody Guthrie
Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run
My Nine Lives by Leon Fleisher
Linda Ronstadt's Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir
Peggy Seeger's memoir First Time Ever
Roseanne Cash's short fiction collection, Bodies of Water and her memoir, Composed
Johnny Cash's Man in White, a fictional life of the Apostle Paul; Man in Black and Cash and his first wife Vivian's memoir I Walked the Line. (So the Cash family also fits into the January category. There may be other ways you can double up this year.)

99quondame
Bewerkt: dec 8, 2020, 4:30 pm

>97 laytonwoman3rd: Tony Hillerman and Anne Hillerman. As it happens, all three of my siblings are published authors.

100laytonwoman3rd
Bewerkt: dec 11, 2020, 9:43 pm

>99 quondame: Right you are about the Hillermans. And since we're reading Tony this month, it would be an easy follow-up to skate right into January with Anne's work.

I meant to include Anne Rice, her late husband Stan Rice, and their son Christopher Rice as well.

101laytonwoman3rd
Bewerkt: dec 9, 2020, 10:59 am

AND FINALLY, the remainder of the year looks like this:

MAY
Mary McCarthy

JUNE
Ken Kesey

JULY Theme month:
Native American Authors and Themes

AUGUST
Connie Willis

SEPTEMBER
Howard Norman

OCTOBER
Attica Locke

NOVEMBER
Albert Murray

DECEMBER Theme Month
Young Adult

Suggestions for July and December's themes will be added nearer the time.

I'll be starting a general discussion thread for 2021, as well as the January thread as soon as I can manage it once the new group is live. Meanwhile, we can hang out here and kibbitz.

102m.belljackson
dec 8, 2020, 4:59 pm

>101 laytonwoman3rd:

Will there be a Wild Card like last year?

(No interest in Ken Kesey.)

103katiekrug
dec 8, 2020, 5:00 pm

Looks like a good year ahead, Linda!

(And I had no idea James Lee Burke and Alafair Burke were related!)

104Caroline_McElwee
Bewerkt: dec 8, 2020, 5:09 pm

This looks like an interesting mix Linda. How about the wild card being catchup on an author missed from 2020, it will certainly give me plenty of choice!

Thanks for all your work on this. I will try harder in 2021.

105laytonwoman3rd
Bewerkt: dec 8, 2020, 5:38 pm

>102 m.belljackson: I think everyone can use a Wild Card any time they like in 2021, Marianne...dealer's choice!

>103 katiekrug: Ha! Cool. Burke named Robicheaux's daughter after his own, and even replicated Alafair's life to some extent in the novels....I always thought that was chancy, but I guess it worked out OK.

>104 Caroline_McElwee: Excellent idea, Caroline. I've tried to build a lot of options into the list for next year----who knows what we'll be facing. So "Wild" can be anything you want.

106m.belljackson
dec 11, 2020, 6:50 pm

>97 laytonwoman3rd:

The Obamas would work for January!

107laytonwoman3rd
dec 11, 2020, 9:40 pm

>106 m.belljackson: Yes, they would.

108RBeffa
dec 11, 2020, 10:43 pm

John Steinbeck and his son Thomas

109laytonwoman3rd
dec 13, 2020, 11:44 am

>108 RBeffa: Right....good pair.

Last year, we did a Drama Month, and I praised Denzel Washington's production of August Wilson's Fences. This morning I learned that Washington has now done Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (again with the incredible Viola Davis), and is planning to make movies of the entire Century Cycle. Let us implore the benevolent powers of the universe to make it so.

110m.belljackson
dec 13, 2020, 1:27 pm

>109 laytonwoman3rd:

Ma Rainey movie is also notable for Chadwick Boseman's last performance.

111laytonwoman3rd
dec 13, 2020, 6:02 pm

>110 m.belljackson: Yes, indeed. It is heartbreaking to think how brilliant he was, and what pain he must have been hiding.

112laytonwoman3rd
Bewerkt: dec 26, 2020, 12:03 pm

For everyone's benefit, here in one place is a list of all the authors and themes we have featured in past AACs, year by year:

2020

AAC 2020 Wild Card--Sci-Fi/Fantasy
January: Charles Frazier
February: Grace Paley
March: David McCullough
April: Francine Prose
May: E. Lynn Harris
June: Jean Stafford
July: Wendell Berry
August: Robert Penn Warren
September: Dawn Powell
October: Ward Just
November: Ann Lane Petry
December: Tony Hillerman

2019

January: Chaim Potok
February: Louisa May Alcott
March: Joe Clinch
April: Jesmyn Ward
May: Jay Parini
June: Pearl Buck
July: Founding Fathers and Mothers
August: Ernest J Gaines
September: Leslie Marmon Silko
October: Drama
November: W. E. B. Du Bois
Wild Card - Genre Fiction

2018 (hosted by Mark)
January: Joan Didion
February: Colson Whitehead
March: Tobias Wolff
April: Alice Walker
May: Peter Hamill
June: Walter Mosley
July: Amy Tan
August: Louis L'Amour
September: Pat Conroy
October: Stephen King
November: Narrative Nonfiction
December: F. Scott Fitzgerald

2017 (hosted by Mark)
Octavia Butler
Stewart O'Nan
William Styron
Poetry
Zora Neale Hurston
Sherman Alexie
James McBride
Patricia Highsmith
The Short Story
Ann Patchett
Russell Banks

2016 (hosted by Mark)
Anne Tyler
Richard Russo
Jane Smiley
Poetry
Ivan Doig
Annie Proulx
John Steinbeck
Joyce Carol Oates
John Irving
Michael Chabon
Annie Dillard
Don Delillo

2015 (hosted by Mark)
Carson McCullers
Henry James
Richard Ford
Louise Erdrich
Sinclair Lewis
Wallace Stegner
Kent Haruf
Ursula K. Le Guin
Larry McMurtry
Flannery O'Connor
Ray Bradbury
Barbara Kingsolver
E. L. Doctorow

2014 (hosted by Mark)
Willa Cather
William Faulkner
Cormac McCarthy
Toni Morrison
Eudora Welty
Kurt Vonnegut
Mark Twain
Philip Roth
James Baldwin
Edith Wharton
John Updike
Larry Watson

113laytonwoman3rd
Bewerkt: dec 26, 2020, 12:20 pm

The General Discussion Thread for the 2021 Challenge is up and ready. I'll be working on January's theme thread in the next few days.