Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Last January I got really into booktube by pure accident. I watched book hauls and book talks and bookshelf tours and gobbled up everything they threw at me. As I went over my read books of 2015 I found that a lot of those books were YA, which is perfectly fine, as I obviously enjoyed what I was reading, only this year I want focus on a more diverse collection of books.

So I'm asking for help! What are some books that you have loved in every genre EXCEPT YA. Please and thanks for the help :)

I did the same thing last year except for me it was everything Dahl. I read almost everything he's written for adults. I grew up reading him but discovering him as an adult has been so much fun. Plus he's written such a range of books that I think he is for everyone. Maybe that's worth a shot?

Ok, here are a few suggestions from me!

Classics/Modern Classics

Probably my favourite genre!

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck - it's short but packs a huge punch! And it totally crept up on me. I didn't realised that I cared so much until suddenly I did.
Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay - this one is really entrenched in the Australian psyche. Most of us from a certain age or older know about this story (it's based on a true story), and the book is incredible.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - just wow. This one blew me away when I read it last year!
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell - it's just epic! It's a doorstop, but so worth the effort.
Emma by Jane Austen - I saw that you loved P&P, and I think this one is even better!

Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Dystopia

The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Sun-mi Hwang - I know that some of my GR friends are going to blacklist me if I keep talking about my chook book, but this is so beautiful & heartbreaking.
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. I don't even know what it is about this one that I loved, but I just did.
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood - I think everyone, woman or man, should read this book. It's is terrifying because it's so plausible.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - it would be a tie between this & The Handmaid's Tale for my favourite dystopia.

Non-Fiction

All of these books read more like fiction - I found them completely engaging & compelling, and really interesting!

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson

Biography/Autobiography/Memoir

Going Solo by Roald Dahl - I found this one (the second of his autobiographies) absolutely fascinating!
Night by Elie Wiesel - absolutely devastating, but perfectly written. IMO a must read.

Historical Fiction

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides - well-deserving of the Pulitzer, it is such an incredible story, spanning multiple generations, with such amazing characters that you really become connected to.
The Color Purple by Alice Walker - another well-deserving Pulitzer winner. This one took me completely by surprise - I had never been that interested in reading it, but absolutely adored it.

Horror

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson - deliciously creepy & atmospheric!

Mystery

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie - I'm not much of a mystery fan, but DAMN. This was a cracker.

Contemporary - AKA Stuff I Can't Categorise

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami - I found his writing similar to Neil Gaiman's in that it completely captured me. I loved his characters in particular.

And even though it's on the younger side, I have to say Charlotte's Web by E.B. White because it's so incredibly, amazingly beautiful.

I can't help there because I've no idea which of my reads were YA or not. For me, it's not a genre, as you can read YA fantasy, YA mystery, etc, it's just the level of english.

Booktubes are very nice to discover new books, but most of them review the hyped books and YA is well represented there.

Hope you find some that catch your eye!

contemporary fiction:
The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt - Woefully underread and completely unrelated to the Tom Cruise movie, this is the story of a single mother raising her young genius son with Kurosawa's Seven Samurai film as a father figure.

The Quick and the Dead by Joy Williams - Three odd teenagers deal with death in its various forms against a desert backdrop. Funny, strange, and bleak.

classics:
Swann's Way by Marcel Proust - For insight into human nature and relationships, Proust is among the best. Lydia Davis's new translation flows easily despite all those long, intricate sentences.

The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea by Yukio Mishima - In this reaction against the Westernization of Japan, Mishima takes the reader into the mind of a young psychopath and his Oedipal fight club. Very dark subject matter contrasted with sublimely beautiful imagery.

SF:
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester - A bizarre and action-filled retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo set in space.

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin - An envoy sent to deal with a political situation on a planet whose population is neither male nor female. Tense adventure mixed with an examination of gender roles.

fantasy:
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch - Very fun heist story in an atypical fantasy setting with memorable, charming characters. This looks like a popular choice for the anti-hero week of our challenge.

The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers - A contemporary academic gets sucked into an adventure of time travel, 19th century Romantic poets, and Egyptian gods as he tries to escape an evil magician.

mystery:
The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler - The master of hard-boiled detective fiction. His most introspective mystery, but still full of wisecracks and fistfights.

essays:
The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit - Beautiful meditations on vanitas paintings, Frankenstein, and her mother's dementia (among other topics). Solnit's insights into modern life are both powerful and relatable.

short stories:
Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings by Jorge Luis Borges - A collection of mind-contorting stories from one of our greatest imaginations. Borges draws on mythology, mysticism, and history to craft tales of strange dreamlike worlds that encroach upon our own.

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino - Short, poetic descriptions of imaginary societies that deal with various aspects of life.

Thank you SO MUCH for all of these! I will start looking into them :)

The Hen book truly is beautiful. It made me ugly, snotty cry to the point where I had to put the book out of sight because I couldn't even look at it!

I haven't! But it's on my list for this year - I have two more books to read first, I think, and then it's time!

Fahrenheit 451 is the book that made me love to read! My absolute favorite.

I love a lot of the suggestions listed here. I would also highly recommend The Color Purple, The Handmaid's Tale, and Jane Eyre.

I woukd throw in some humorous books into the mix. My absolute favorites are the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett. However, I do not recommend starting with the first book, The Colour of Magic, because his writing is not developed yet. I suggest Men at Arms, Mort or Going Postal, or any BUT the Colour of Magic.

Also, anything by Christopher Moore. My favorites are Bloodsucking Fiends, A Dirty Job and The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror.

Other humorous books: Bossypants, Nostradamus Ate My Hamster, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Enjoy :)

I can relate. I loved finding this challenge group last year because 1, I read so much more in general, & 2, I did read a lot of new authors and different genres. Hopefully this group will help you too! Here are some of my favorites from last year.

Historical fiction The Nightingale Really I suggest anything by her, love her, but this came out last year and it's my new favorite by her.

Nonfiction The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland Amazing!

I read a lot of YA so I'm probably not a big help either. It also seems like most of the adult stuff I read last year I disliked, haha. But I'll give it a go...

I see you have Water for Elephants on your to-read shelf. I've read it twice now and enjoyed it quite a bit.

The Rosie Project was quick, light, and humor-filled. It's a romance that's not too heavy on the romance. ;)

Ready Player One is about a teen but I don't think it is technically categorized as YA. It's a sci-fi/dystopian/quest/adventure story chock full of gaming and pop culture references from the 80's.

Kindred is great. It's sci-fi meets historical fiction. It's about a modern-day (well, modern for when it was written) black woman who is dragged back in time to the antebellum south to save her slave owning white ancestor in order to ensure her own lineage and birth. Each time she's dragged back through time she gets stuck there a little longer and things become more perilous for her.

Flowers for Algernon is maybe one of the best books ever written. It's beautiful and heart-wrenching. I'd strongly recommend it.

The Princess Bride is a quirky, funny, borderline satirical fairy tale. It seems to be one of those love it or leave it books though. You'll either fall head over heels or hate it passionately. ;)

I thought The Good Girl was pretty good. It's a mystery/thriller about a kidnapped girl from a well-to-do family. I found it suspenseful.

I'm reading Flowers for Algernon this year and can't wait!! Damn my de Union to read in order this year.

It's definitely one of the best books I've ever read, Jody. I do hope you like it too. I have a hard time putting it to words because it is ultimately one of those books that makes me ache when I read it. It's heartbreaking. But, at the same time, it's so exquisite. It's like watching something beautiful and fragile break. And now I'm getting all syrupy so I'll just say it is something I think everyone should experience.

I love books like that, when you can't explain why you love it - it means they truly made you feel something.

Here are a few of my current and recent reads:

Historical fiction: The Nightingale and All the Light We Cannot See

I'm currently reading Les Misérables and loving it.

Contemporary Fiction: Attachments (some of Rainbow Rowell's books are YA, this one is an adult novel)

Sci Fi/Fantasy: Station Eleven

I just started reading City on Fire It's a long book but very well written so far.