Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

In 2015, I accomplished something that I had tried to do in 1996.  I read 26 books (actually a lot more) with an author whose last name started with each letter of the alphabet.  In 1996, I could not find an “X”.  Thanks to Chamblin’s Book Mine in Jacksonville, FL, I found the “X”, actually two.  Thanks to the Jackson Street Bookstore in Omaha, NE, I have found a few more.

In 2021, I have accomplished the feat for the seventh consecutive year, and I have one more “X” author to keep the string going, but I may resort to online book shopping.

Regarding the “X” authors, the “X” authors are Chinese writers.  Their last name is their given name and their first name is their family name (Common among most Asian cultures).  But that doesn’t change the feat when considering “last names.”

Here is a list of at least one book for each letter this year, 2021.  Note, for most of the books mentioned, this is the only book from that letter so far this year.  More and better ones may follow.  The table that follows will show books for 2020 – modified a little from last year’s post.

The Alphabet Challenge of 2020

	AUTHOR	BOOK	COMMENTS
A	Atkinson, Sam	The Philosophy Book	A small tidbit of many, many philosophers’ ideas
B	Blackstock, Terri	If I Live	The conclusion of the trilogy
C	Christie, Agatha	The Mousetrap and other plays	A collection of plays including some turned into novels
D	Dekker, Ted	Hacker	The concluding book of the Outlaw Series – excellent
E	Evanovich, Janet	The Scam	Can the FBI and a con man out con the cons?
F	Frank, Dorothea Benton	Bull Island	A story of never being able to go back home
G	Gibbins, David	Pyramid	Underwater adventure with Jack Howard
H	Heller, Joseph	Catch-22	Often misquoted black humor, misquoted in that most modern Catch-22s are not Catch-22s.
I	Idleman, Kyle	Don’t Give Up	Biblical stories weaved with modern stories of perseverance
J	Jance, J. A.	Man Overboard	An Ali Reynolds mystery
K	Kolenda, Daniel	Live before you die	Service to God
L	Lucado, Max	anxious for nothing, More to Your Story, In the Eye of the Storm	Interesting stories illustrating Biblical truth
M	Manning, Brendon	The Ragamuffin Gospel	We are all ragamuffins
N	Nesbo, Jo	The Thirst	A Harry Hole mystery
O	O’Connell, Carol	Mallory’s Oracle	First of the Kathleen Mallory mysteries
P	Peever, J. David	Blueprint	The different parts of building a “church” for the “church” or for each individual
Q	Queen, Ellery	The Murderer is a Fox	A World War II fighting ace comes home
R	Rosenberg, Joel	The Last Jihad	A Jon Bennett thriller
S	Strobel, Lee	The Case for the Real Jesus	More excellent apologetics
T	Ten Boom, Corrie	The Hiding Place	True story of doing the right thing and then paying dearly but surviving by God’s Grace
U	Upton, Robert	The Big Tour	A golfer tries to get an edge and it backfires.
V	van der Wetering, Janwillem	The Japanese Corpse	Another Grijpstra and de Gier novel
W	Woods, Stuart	Severe Clear	Stone Barrington novel
X	Xiaolong, Qiu	Years of Red Dust	Anecdotes, short stories, and poetry from an award winning Chinese author
Y	Yttrup, Ginny L.	Lost and Found	A woman of faith nearly loses her reptation due to false allegations.
Z	Zagel, James	Money to Burn	What if you could rob money marked for burning before it was destroyed?

Total Books = 49 as of 4/9/2021

Total pages thus far = 15,444

The Alphabet Challenge of 2020

	AUTHOR	BOOK	COMMENTS
A	Alighieri, Dante	Inferno	The first book of the trilogy that is the Divine Comedy
B	Box, C. J.	The Disappeared, Stone Cold	Two Joe Pickett novels
C	Craig, William Lane	On Guard	Apologetics 101
D	Dekker, Ted	Water Walker	The middle book of the Outlaw Series – always a good Christian principle taught
E	Ellis, Mary	Magnolia Moonlight	The Prices go on a honeymoon and find adventure while their staff discovers a scam artist targeting churches.
F	Frank, Dorothea Benton	The Christmas Pearl	Having lived in SC, reading a story about a Gullah ghost was delightful, and with recipes!
G	Graham, Billy	The Reason for my Hope: Salvation	Wonderfully written
H	Hoesel, Don	Hunter’s Moon	Family drama with a secret past that may interfere with a political career
I	Iles, Greg	24 Hours	More intrigue from a great author
J	Jance, J. A.	Deadly Stakes	An Ali Reynolds mystery
K	Kierkegaard, Søren	Fear and Trembling, The Sickness unto Death	Two books about faith written years apart by the philosopher
L	Lewis, C. S.	The Space Trilogy, The Great Divorce, The Joyful Christian, first 5 of Narnian Chronicles	Fiction for the most part, but with great meaning
M	Müller, George	Answers to Prayer	A testimony of faith, as seen from a daily ledger
N	Nesbo, Jo	Police	A Harry Hole mystery, where police are being killed
O	Oliphant, B. J.	Here’s to the Newly Dead	Shirley McClintock is still in New Mexico
P	Palmer, Donald	Looking at Philosophy	The lighter side of philosophy
Q	Queen, Ellery	The New Adventures of Ellery Queen	A novella and a few short stories, but the title is misleading as the book was very old.
R	Robertson, David	Magnificent Obsession	Beautiful exposition of faith
S	Spurgeon, Charles H.	The Power of Prayer, Praying Successfully, Finding Peace in Life’s Storms, The Practice of Praise, Power over Satan	Several short works by Spurgeon
T	Thor, Brad	The Last Patriot	Scot Harvath chases ancient secrets
U	Upfield, Arthur	Sinister Stones	Napoleon Bonaparte, I love Bony.
V	Viets, Elaine	Accessory to Murder	a dead-end job, but with a different protagonist, Josie Marcus, mystery shopper
W	Witemeyer, Karen	Heart on the Line	Wild west adventure in a town run by women and set up as a sanctuary.
X	Xianliang, Zhang	Half of Man is Woman	A prisoner in a reeducation camp finds love, loses it, and then reunites.
Y	Yttrup, Ginny L.	Home	An author and her husband find home to be important.
Z	Zezza, Carlo	Paris 2000	Written in the vein of Orwell’s 1984, when the world governments abdicate power to the computer.

Total Books = 180

Total pages = 54,424