Rambling About.. Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin PLUS Alphabet Challenges

Opting not to do back-to-back holiday books, I started reading Gabrielle Zevin's Elsewhere Sunday morning and pretty much flew through it. Not so much because I loved it ... but because it was there and I've heard that Zevin is amazing and I had slots to fill in my alphabet challenges.
Elsewhere is the story of 15 year old Liz who was killed when her bicycle was hit by a taxi. She ends up in Elsewhere -- where everyone ages in reverse until they're babies again and ready to be reborn on Earth again. She lives with the grandmother she had never met who is now in her mid-thirties although she died at fifty before Liz was born.
It's a lot to take in.
Liz is ... a fifteen year old. No offense to fifteen year olds, but she drove me a little nuts sometimes like so many fifteen year olds before her (even when I was one myself I wasn't awfully fond of them!). She's a bit of a selfish brat complete with the eye rolls and tantrums and the one word "conversations." She became a little less annoying in the company of the dogs (who talk, by the way), but before long she ended up back on my "want to slap" list.
Still, though, I couldn't seem to stop reading. Maybe in hopes that I would get to see more of anyone other than Liz.
As for the reverse aging bit, it's an interesting premise and makes for some interesting quotes, but I'm more in the Mitch Albom The Five People You Meet in Heaven camp as far as what I'm hoping for in whatever afterlife there may be ... if I had to pick one from a book. With my mom having died 12 1/2 years ago at the age of 54 and with me turning 41 this past weekend ... well, I would have to kick it pretty soon in order to get any time with her again in Elsewhere unless I want her to be younger than me when we see each other. No thanks!

And, with this crossing off "Z" for my authors and "E" for my titles, my alphabet challenges for 2016 are done! If you click on the letters you can go to a ramble or tease for each entry.

A - Arsenic For Tea by Robin Stevens

B - The Bachelor Girl's Guide To Murder by Rachel McMillan

C - Cold Florida by Phillip DePoy

D - Death of a Cad by M.C. Beaton

E - Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

F - From the Sideline by Amy Avanzino

G - The Grand Reopening of Dandelion Cafe by Jenny Oliver

H - How to Stuff Up Christmas by Rosie Blake

I - The Ill-Kept Oath by C.C. Aune

J - Jimmy and Faye by Michael Mayo

K - Kitty's Countryside Dream by Christie Barlow

L - Leftovers by Stella Newman

M - Murder in the Paperback Parlor by Ellery Adams

N - No Regrets, Coyote by John Dufresne

O - One Hundred Proposals by Holly Martin

P - A Proposal to Die For by Vivian Conroy

Q - Quiet Neighbors by Catriona McPherson

R - Requiem for a Mezzo by Carola Dunn

S - Something the Cat Dragged In by Charlotte MacLeod

T - There's No Place Like Here by Cecelia Ahern

U - Until We Collide by Charlotte Fallowfield

V - The Vintage Guide to Love and Romance by Kirsty Greenwood

W - What Happens in the Alps... by T. A. Williams

X - The XMas Factor by Annie Sanders

Y - A Yorkshire Christmas by Kate Hewitt

Z - A Zen for Murder by Leighann Dobbs

And.... my authors:

A - Ashley

B - Berry

C - Challinor

D - Dunn

E - Ernst

F - French

G - Greenwood

H - Haines

I - Isley

J - Joyce

K - Kelman

L - Linfoot

M - Michael

N - Nagel

O - Oakes

P - Prescott

Q - Quick

R - Raisin

S - Sparkes

T - Tipping

U - Ursu

V - Volland

W - Wyer

X - Xarissa

Y - Young

Z - Zevin