AlphaKIT: YEARLONG X and Z

Welcome to the 2024 AlphaKIT and to a brand new year of reading..
This is an unofficial challenge for the 2024 Category Challenge Group. X and Z, being harder to match is a yearlong piece of this challenge.

Just two rules: have fun and enjoy reading.

and

Please remember to update the wiki with your reading:
AlphaKIT wiki

I wonder if I've ever managed X! LOL!

I plan to cover X by Diana Xarissa again (I love the Aunt Bessie series and have only read four of twenty-six books so far!), and I have no shortage of Z books. I'm looking forward to this yearlong KIT!

I've been reading and enjoying more cozy mysteries lately and have been thinking about starting the Aunt Bessie series to finally get an X. I am also hoping to finish up Sue Grafton's Kinsey MIlhone series (next up is R), so that will be another X if I can get the series finished next year.
For Z, I'm hoping to finish up another series, the Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazny, so should have several Zs throughout the year.

Currently planning on The Last Human by Zack Jordan and The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu, which will fit into the SFFKit for March and the MysteryKit for June, respectively.

I have been meaning to reread Z For Zachariah for ages, so maybe 2024 is the year.

>3 MissBrangwen: I'm looking for a winter of cozy reading. This series sounds like it will meet that need. Thanks!

COMPLETED Roy: The Most Chaotic Midlife Crisis in Cosmic History by Zachry Wheeler

I managed an X! If Found, Return to Hell by Em X. Liu.

I've finished Aunt Bessie Decides by Diana Xarissa for my "X" read. As this is a series, I feel I'm all set for a few years.

I have finished Meisternovellen by Stefan Zweig, a selection of his novellas.

I just read From Lukov with Love by Mariana Zapata.

Oops, sorry, wrong thread!

I've finished my "Z" book for this year - Runaway Justice by Chad Zunker.

I have finished a Z book: La conquête de Plassans by Émile Zola.

I haven't gotten around to any of my plans mentioned up above, but I have managed to read an X: Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong.

Z: Ingathering: The Complete People Stories, Zenna Henderson

I recently read two Z books:

Below Zero by Ali Hazelwood
Owuors Heimkehr by Stefanie Zweig

I read a Z book: Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend by MJ Wassmer.

I listened to Zoo Quest For A Dragon by David Attenborough (as part of The Early Years Collection).

I finished Towards Zero by Agatha Christie, which is a bit different and an interesting twist on solving the crime.

...and I also read Towards Zero, so I have another Z book, but no X yet!

For my X, I read xo Orpheus: Fifty New Myths, edited by Kate Bernheimer.

I finished another Z: Amok by Stefan Zweig.

For Z, I have finished Der Zopf meiner Großmutter by Alina Bronsky.

Finished another Z: The Hand of Oberon by Roger Zelazny.

Finished X:
I have read Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez. I loved this book but dnf'd her second book, Anita de Monte Laughs Last. Maybe another time, but I couldn't get past 30%.

I finally read my first X book: The Body in the Annex by Diana Xarissa, my go to author for the letter X.

For Z I read Blackwater Falls by Ausma Zehanat Khan
Denver’s detective Inaya Rahman, and her team investigate a horrifying murder of a young Syrian refugee. This is a story filled with racial tensions, and although it’s hard to comprehend how heinous crimes like this can happen, Khan presents the investigation without becoming graphic. I’ve previously read the second of the series and was so impressed with her writing that I had to go back for the first.

Another one for Z:
Towards Zero by Agatha Christie
An interesting opening, describing past events and people who are part of the circumstances leading up to a crime, all going forward towards zero. It’s a clever plot but it was surprising that the unimaginative Superintendent Battle was able to close the case. And the denouement wasn’t quite perfect. Still, four stars, because this is Agatha Christie.

I also read another Z book: Wer glaubt, kann vertrauen by Jörg Zink.

Just in time! I finished my X book.

The Complete Flying Officer X Stories by H.E. Bates
Bates was having a hard time trying to get worthwhile war work in 1939 until he was offered a commission in the RAF to write short stories about the air crews who, by that time, were engaged in an all out bombing campaign. The results were published in newspapers anonymously under the pen-name
“Flying Officer X” to help the public understand the reality of what was happening. Amid the losses he offered a sympathetic ear as men opened up to him. These are the stories in one volume. They are a poignant reminder of the events and era.

Graham Greene described H.E. Bates as “one of the best short story writers of my time”. This is one of his best collections and a fitting example of why he - and the air crews - deserve to be remembered.

I read another Z book: The Tree That's Meant To Be, a wonderful picture book written and illustrated by Yuval Zommer.