Notebook list is an Evernote app desktop setting that must be turned on in order to have your list display in the left side bar. If you aren’t seeing your notebook list, go to [Mac] View > Sidebar Options > Show Notebook List or [PC] View > Left Panel > Show Notebooks to turn it on.
Notebooks appear in the left hand sidebar note list alphabetically according to the name of the notebook.
Work isn’t organized alphabetically. You want your notebooks/stacks [and your work that resides in them] organized in a way that has logic and meaning to you. My work is organized in a variety of ways: by status [active or archive], by business unit [Harmon Enterprises or Untethered with Evernote], and by client. Other common structures for organizing work include grouping by product, by vendor, by department or team member, and by phase. All are valid ways of organizing your work, but what they aren’t is alphabetical.
Regarding A: I like to use the period (.) because it is the tiniest and most subtle of the special characters.