Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Voting is now open!

The entire Around the Year challenge list is generated by the group members. We enjoyed the process so much in the past three years that we are creating another list for 2019.

The Process:
The topics for the 2019 RC list will be determined through around 13 mini-polls. Each user will vote for their favorite 4 topics in each mini-poll, which will then add up to the 52 topics (13 polls x 4 topics/poll=52 weekly topics). Suggestions for each poll will be opened until 15-20 suggestions are received+seconded. Then a poll will be opened for voting for one week so you can select your 4 favorite suggestions. This timeframe allows for a completed list in October-November.

The Rules:
- Vote for your TOP 4 and BOTTOM 4 - You are allowed to vote for less than 4
- Voting ends September 24
- One vote per poll per user

- see the suggestions thread for more details on some entries.

Poll Entries:
1. A book related to an "obscure or unusual" holiday
2. A book that you're skeptical about
3. A book featuring a person with a mental, physical or learning disability
4. A book about a cult or a group of people (eg. book club, gang, social group, large family) [fiction or nonfiction]
5. Go back to the first year you started keeping records of reading (on Goodreads or elsewhere) and read a book that relates to a book you read that year
6. A book related to STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) [fiction or nonfiction]
7. A book by an author who has more than one book on your TBR
8. A book related in some way to a tv show/series or movie you enjoyed (same topic, same era, book appeared in the show/movie, etc.)
9. A book from one of The Millions Most Anticipated lists
10. A book where the chapters aren’t numbered (the author either writes the word one out or uses a word for the chapter title)
11. A book recommended by an author from the “Good Minds Suggest” section of Goodreads.
12. A book related to a deck of playing cards (i.e. king, queen, hearts, spades, etc.)
13. A book related to the arts
14. A book that fits a prompt for the 2020 ATY challenge
15. A book by a writer with addiction issues

Survey Link

You guys! There are EIGHT that I really want to upvote!! Gahhhhh!!! (Yes, I narrowed it down to 4. Yes, I feel bad about not voting for the other 4.)

I think that was one of the easiest times I've ever had voting, but I kind of regret voting within the first 20 minutes of the poll being up since it will now be an extremely long wait for the results.

I actually had my top 4 picked out by the time the first half of the suggestions were in, and it didn't really change. The book about a person who has a disability was an immediate yes for me. There have been a ton of books about characters with mental health conditions, but I haven't seen so many about characters with physical or developmental disabilities. I also voted for STEM this time around, although I didn't last time. I slightly preferred the health/medicine prompt, but that can be included here and I have a few technology-related books in mind.

I also loved the cult/group suggestion immediately, and I really like that it is open to a variety of kinds of groups. I find cults fascinating but I like having the option to pick other kinds of groups too. I also was a bit surprised to find that a book by an author who has more than one book on your TBR caught my attention right away. I have so many authors that have multiple books on my TBR, and many of those are authors that I haven't even read yet! I think it's also a great place to include a book from a series, since I tend to add the whole series to my TBR when I know I want to read it.

Surprisingly enough, my bottom 4 were just as easy for me. While I love the Good Minds Suggest in theory, I just spent the morning browsing through it, and could barely find any books that I wanted to read. To be fair, I mostly looked at recommendations by authors that I like, and although there were a few choices, there was nothing I was very excited about. I also didn't like the writer with addiction issues (Katie -- by accident, you wrote "addition issues" which gave me a good laugh picturing trying to find authors who were bad at math), since it seemed hard to find.

I also downvoted the 2020 ATY challenge one because to be honest, I still don't really get how that would work. I have lots of books in mind for prompts during the voting process, but I usually don't mind waiting since I'm so focused on the challenges I'm already doing. It also seemed a bit silly to me to read a book for a prompt that I'm also going to be doing the next year, either as part of the main challenge or my rejects challenge.

If the prompt about disability gets in, I highly recommend Girls Like Us. It’s a difficult but really rewarding read.

A definite hard vote for me too, Just two to down vote. And as a person with addition issues, that gave me a laugh! I bet we could start a club right here!

Why, oh why, do I vote right away? Now I have to wait and wait and wait! I sat here & refreshed the page periodically all morning, waiting for the poll, then voted, and now I have a week to wait. *sigh*

This week, my choices were actually split almost evenly between prompts I wanted and prompts I didn't want. Usually I have a few I really want and a few I really don't, but quite a few in the middle that I'm fine with either way. This week I had 8 top choices and 7 bottom choices to narrow down.

My top four ended up being obscure/unusual holiday, person with disability, author with more than one book on TBR, and strangely, a book related to a TV show/movie I enjoy. I probably shouldn't have voted for that one, now that I think of it. In the past there have been lots of comments stating that many people don't like TV show/movie prompts, and I've noticed a lot of people saying they also don't like any prompts that have to do with them, like picking a book based on a TV show/movie they enjoy. Since this combines those two, this one may not have a chance of winning. I should have gone with STEM for my 4th choice, but too late now. I guess that's another reason I should wait to vote, so I have a little more time to think things through!

I’m curious to hear the discussion because I can’t decide which four to vote for! I love about half of the prompts and only have 2-3 bottom votes, and the rest I would be happy with!

STEM and Arts make a great pair and almost feel like a multi-week poll so I'd love to see both of them in the final list! I feel like I have to vote for both!

I will probably vote for one of the list prompts (Millions Most Anticipated or Good Minds Suggest) but I don’t know which yet - so I hope some of you convince me one way or another.

I love An Author with Multiple Books on Your TBR. Rachel, I agree with all of your thoughts on this prompt (great for a series, or to try a new author!) and I would like to see more author prompts in general!

I also like Chapters that Aren't Numbered just because I think it's fun! I like books told in series of places, times, or people.

Though it surprises me, I kind of like the Deck of Playing Cards prompt since it's fun to find little things that can connect a book to a prompt. Perhaps I can find a book with a character/author named "Jack," a book where they play poker, someone "aces" an exam...

Ahhh help!

Nicole wrote: "Why, oh why, do I vote right away? Now I have to wait and wait and wait! I sat here & refreshed the page periodically all morning, waiting for the poll, then voted, and now I have a week to wait. *..."

Nicole I have the same issue with wondering if I am "wasting" a vote what I predict will not be a popular prompt. I try not to overthink it which is why I like to vote early.

TOP 4:
3. A book featuring a person with a mental, physical or learning disability
7. A book by an author who has more than one book on your TBR
10. A book where the chapters aren't numbered
13. A book related to a deck of cards

BOTTOM 4:
1. A book related to an 'obscure or unusual' holiday
2. A book you're skeptical about
6. A book related to STEM
14. A book that fits a prompt for the 2020 ATY challenge

The survey needs to be changed to fix “addiction” from “addition”.

Some really good choices this time! I didn’t vote for the addiction suggestion but the one author who came to mind was Jack Kerouac.

This is going to be a rough one for me. There are quite a few I can imagine great books for or that I would want to read to stretch me.

If the disability suggestion gets in, I recommend When Mr. Dog Bites. An extremely funny and enlightening book at the same time (YA).

My tops were disability, stem, art and TV show. I totally agree with what Avery said about STEM and Art going hand in hand so I hope they both make it through. I am always interested in reading books about people with disabilities for personal and for professional reasons. The TV show I chose just because I have a ton of Dr Who and Torchwood books on my tbr shelf at home.

I down voted 2020 simply because it would be difficult for those who finish the challenge early and might be confusing for anyone coming into the challenge late in the year. I felt that an author with addiction issues would be difficult to research. I didn't see anything that jumped out as interesting on the good minds suggest feature and a book I am skeptical about I just wouldn't read because I have so many books to read that I am excited about.

Now for the long wait.... :)

I didn't vote for the prompt I suggested - a book for the 2020 challenge - because as a pre-planner this would drive me bonkers. But I mentioned the idea in Wild Discussion and there was some interest so I suggested it.

Top votes:
- a book related to a movie or TV show (One of my favorite shows is Black Mirror and there are oodles of "Books Like Black Mirror" lists and I've added many of those to my TBR List.)
- a book related to the arts (I love books about artists & writers & musicians so I have many books that would fit this prompt.)
- a book you're skeptical about (I have quite a few books on my TBR List that were nominated for an award but weren't very well liked by readers. I'm curious about these books but the extra push to actually read one of them would be grand.)
-a book related to a non-traditional and/or unusual holiday (Just because it sounds fun.)

Bottom votes:
-a book about a cult or a group of people (If this prompt had been edited as was discussed in the suggestion thread it probably wouldn't be on the bottom. The way it is worded makes no sense to me.)
- a book featuring a disabled character (It's just not something I'm interested in so I don't even know if I have any qualifying books on my TBR List.)
- a book by an author with addiction issues (Most authors with known issues that are featured on lists are writers of classic literature that I don't really want to read.)
-a book from Good Minds Suggest (I rarely use recommendations to find new reading material and I just really don't want to have to read 100+ articles to try to find something I'd be interested in.)

Because I really want the STEM prompt to go through and I know a lot of people are nonfiction averse — although I have included some nonfiction — here's a list of suggestions. You can practically read any sci-fi book for this prompt, but I've tried to include some non sci-fi / techy books.

Science:
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch (main character is a physics prof)
Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne (a character is a naturalist)
The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict (historical fiction about Albert Einstein's first wife)
Lab Girl by Hope Jahren (biology / memoir)
Spineless by Juli Berwald (ocean science / memoir)
Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel (main character is physicist)
Any X-Men related comic

Tech:
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Any Iron Man related comic
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Feed by MT Anderson
The Circle by Dave Eggers (tech company)
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (clones)

Engineering:
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (genetic engineering)
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (technically the monster was engineered)
The Martian by Andy Weir (engineering solutions)
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (inventor / engineer kid)
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut (scientist character + potential bio warfare)

Math:
Hidden Figures by Margo Lee Shetterly (nonfiction)
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa (mathematician character)
Proof by David Auburn
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (math loving character)
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson, or likely any book relating to cryptography, which is arguably a form of math

Finally, the Lab Lit List of realistic scientist/mathematician characters — not hard science fiction.

My top 4:
- Unusual holiday, it sounds interesting and I could learn a lot with this category.
- A book about a group o people, just because I have an specific book I want to read.
- Related to a TV show ... many options here
- Related to a Deck, because I think the idea is genial

My bottom 3:
- Author with more than one in my TBR, because I don't have so many, so my options are reduced (Basically Stephen King or Agatha Christie :P)
- A book that fits 2020 AtY, I would prefer read that one in 2020.
- A book with a writer with addiction issues

eleen ✨ wrote: "Because I really want the STEM prompt to go through and I know a lot of people are nonfiction averse — although I have included some nonfiction — here's a list of suggestions. You can practically r..."

And here are some other books that I thought would appeal to more "popular" fiction book readers (or people who like Book of the Month Club books!)... Anything about texting, social media, characters in STEM professions/college majors, tech start-ups, etc!

The Kiss Quotient (title - math)
The Last Equation of Isaac Severy (title - math)
All Our Wrong Todays (tech/futuristic)
They Both Die at the End (tech/apps)
Ghosted (tech/texting)
The Immortalists (science - genetics)
The Philosopher's Flight (science/fantasy)
Chemistry (title - science)
Dark Matter (science)

Dangit, I even proof read before I posted. Guess I just got lazy on that last topic in the rush to get the poll out. I've updated it in message 1 & I believe it's been updated in the poll.

And feel free to all start dancing, because based on the talk over in the Wild Discussion thread, we've shortened the voting period from 7 to 5 days for this poll. Results will now be posted on 9/24.

Katie wrote: "And feel free to all start dancing, but based on the talk over in the Wild Discussion thread, we've shortened the voting period from 7 to 5 days for this poll. Results will now be posted on 9/24."

Woo hoo!!! Five days will still be a long time for those of us who vote early, but it will feel so much shorter than seven. Thanks, mods! :)

Yay!! Thank you!!

Here are some lists of books that would work for the STEM prompt (and, yes, you might very well have seen this before since I've posted it in like 8 different places).

Lab Lit (1)
Lab Lit (2)
8 Glorious and Triumphant Novels of Scientific Discovery
In Honor of Pi Day, 6 Great Novels for Math Nerds
Ten Mathematical Mystery-Suspense Novels
10 Books Engineers Should Read in 2018
Top ten graphic novels for teaching science, math, and engineering

Any steampunk, cyberpunk, science fiction etc would also work well for STEM.

Yeah to 5 days!!!

This is definitely a difficult week since there are quite a few I like. I have three that I'm pretty sure I will go with, although additional research and discussion could easily sway me:

- Mental/physical/learning disability
- Group/cult
- Related to TV show or movie

The problem is I now have to pick my final choice from 7 that I really like (already reduced from 9 so I'm making progress!

Question: Do y'all think that the mental, physical, or learning disability would include characters with mental illnesses? I feel like the word disability means something different from illness...

I don't even think I need all four bottom votes this week, so many I'd be happy with. I will definitely go for STEM and probably disability (because some of my TBR books that I would have read for health/medicine are around sight and hearing loss).

I don't really like poking around into the background of authors if it's not something they are open about so I probably wouldn't want the addiction one. I did read The Outrun but I liked the nature bits more than the addiction bits.

I'm already skeptical about some of the books I'll have to read to fit certain prompts so I won't be voting to add to that.

Emily wrote: "Question: Do y'all think that the mental, physical, or learning disability would include characters with mental illnesses? I feel like the word disability means something different from illness..."

I personally view them separately, but I think you could make a case for them falling into the same general category if that's the way you choose to interpret the prompt.

It's my own bias since I work with adults with autism/developmental disabilities, so I tend to view the word disability as something entirely separate from mental illness. Also, I find there are tons of books about mental illness and not as many about other kinds of disabilities, so I'd rather give the push to those.

So. Many. Good. Choices! I haven't been this excited about a poll in a while. Trying to narrow it down from these:

A book related to an "obscure or unusual" holiday: I loved this one weeks ago when it came up in the Wild Discussion, and I'm glad someone submitted it this week. I will definitely be limiting myself to a date that is important to me, if it goes through.

A book featuring a person with a mental, physical or learning disability: I've read a few books about characters and other people suffering from mental illnesses and disabilities (like anxiety or autism) and I think it's just fascinating. I have lots of recommendations for books for this one, if anyone needs!

A book about a cult or a group of people (eg. book club, gang, social group, large family): I think cults are fascinating, and I have quite a few nonfiction books on my list about cults. I also have come across quite a few books about groups (and I guess you could even relate this to a specific ethnicity, if you wanted). It's flexible without being too broad, which is ideal for a prompt.

A book from The Millions' Most Anticipated lists: I really like list prompts, and I think that this list complements the lists we already have really nicely. I didn't vote for it last time, but I regretted it.

A book about the arts: I didn't vote for this one in Week Two, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted it in. I have quite a few books on my list that are related to the visual or performing arts, so it's a prompt I could fill easily from my TBR.

A book where the chapters aren’t numbered: I just kind of love this type of topic.

A book related to STEM (science, technology, engineering, math): I probably won't vote for this one because there are so many others I like, but I think I will add it to my rejects list. I don't read a lot of Sci-fi books, but this one would push me out of my comfort zone.

How will I chooooose?!

(My bottom 4 were pretty easy and they are really just more about me not liking prompts that are based on my interests or someone else's interests.)

Emily wrote: "Question: Do y'all think that the mental, physical, or learning disability would include characters with mental illnesses? I feel like the word disability means something different from illness..."

I agree with you Emily. I just tried to research it a bit, and of course got confused. But; I would consider developmental disorders such as Downs syndrome, autism spectrum disorders and the like as mental disabilities. Dyslexia etc as learning disabilities and physical disabilities are clearer because they are often easily visible.
I wouldn´t consider mental illness such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, schizophrenia etc as a disability (even though it definitely has a disabling impact on your life).
But maybe there´s a doctor, psychiatrist, or the like in the house?
Also, my mum was a special needs teacher and audiologopedic at a school for children with developmental disabilities all her working life, and this is my frame of reference.

Emily wrote: "Question: Do y'all think that the mental, physical, or learning disability would include characters with mental illnesses? I feel like the word disability means something different from illness..."

In my opinion, any mental or physical impairment that is considered disabling enough that a person would qualify for social security disability pay would fit this prompt. This is a list of the conditions the government considers disabling. (And, yes, it does include mental illnesses.)

However, the "learning disability" part of this prompt kind of confuses me. I get that it limits a person's ability to function in the world but a learning disability is really nothing like a mental or physical impairment, in my opinion.

Well, many learning disabilities are connected to a more general developmental disorder (like my examples above), but some are more exclusively about learning, like dyslexia and dyspraxia. I think there are a lot of great books that fit, however you choose to interpret it. (I just thought of Bone Gap a book I really, really like. But I can´t tell you why it qualifies, because of spoilers, only that it does).

I think maybe the confusion stems from whether you view it from a cognitive, psychiatric or medical point or from a point of how it effects a person´s life. In the latter case it makes sense to use the list of what conditions a government finds disabling.
In other words I think it´s really just a distinction between what´s disabling (in broader terms) and what´s a disability (in a medical view).

Voted and pleased to get it done. To be honest , I feel the process has been going on for so long this year, that I am getting fed up with it. I've got to the point where I am thinking if I don't like prompts on the list , I just won't do them. Never felt like this before about it, so maybe it is just my frame of mind at thr moment.
Tops were 4,5,7 and 9
Bottoms were 6,11, 13 and 14

I didn't vote for the wacky holiday, but if it wins, I just discovered that my youngest daughter's birthday is Poultry Day so I'll just read a bunch of picture books about chickens. There are so many good ones!

Apparently my birthday is Chocolate Cake day, which makes sense because I always have chocolate cake on that day haha. The only book I can think of for this is Matilda. My nephew's birthday is Alfred Hitchcock day so maybe The Birds

Lots of discussion to catch up here. You've all been busy in what was overnight for me. Like many I had a hard job picking my top 4 . Finally settled on unusual holiday, STEM, Millions Most Anticipated and 2020. I'll take the fact that there isn't a lot of chat about at least one of these as a good thing! I nearly went with no bottoms but ended up downvoting a writer with addiction issues (too hard to research - it's probably not but that was my gut feeling) and book related to a favorite tv show/movie (I hardly ever watch tv and can't recall the last time I saw a movie either - obviously I'm a word person not an images person).

I voted for "obscure or unusual" holiday (sounds like fun), disability (several I want to read including Riding the Bus with My Sister: A True Life Journey), STEM (non-fiction options), and playing cards (I like the possibilities - query one of the words: jack, queen, king, ace, heart, club, spade, diamond and you get all kinds of books!)

I voted against: first year you started keeping records (so random), The Millions Most Anticipated lists (NO to lists), chapters aren’t numbered (how do you research this option?), and prompt for the 2020 ATY challenge (have to wait too long to select your book). Thanks everyone for the great ideas, again!

I'm with Jill in thinking that the process is taking too long. My interest is fading a bit. I'm glad we are back to 5 days.

A fairly easy vote for me... although I did have trouble getting to 4 prompts I liked... 3 were quite appealing, a number more were okay by no great appeal. On the negative end, I could have picked 8 or more, lots of prompts I didn't care for at all. This is in contrast to the last poll where I only picked 3 prompts to down vote. Interesting how different I react to different lists.

I'm a child therapist and I really don't know that there's an easy answer to whether or not to include mental health as a disability. From a professional standpoint, including legal/financial aspects, many mental health conditions are considered a disability. As dalex said, many receive SSI or other forms of public assistance for mental health reasons. I know many of my clients receive school supports due to the diagnoses I provide.

But at the same time, I'm with Rachel that I think the spirit of the prompt leans more towards those disabilities outside of mental health. So while people could make the argument to read a book about a mental health condition, I think it would be stretching it a bit, personally. I think part of that comes from the varying levels of disability that result from mental health disorders. One person may have depression and be impacted in some ways but largely function well and ultimately recover while others could be completely debilitated and have chronic mental illness. Although there's obviously ranges in severity for other forms of disabilities, the impact on functioning is likely more apparent across the board. So with the spirit of the prompt, just because a character experiences a mental illness, that doesn't mean that is has the impact that I think the prompt is getting at.

I suppose someone could select a book where the impact is more apparent with severe mental illness but if they already read a lot of books like this (since they're in the spotlight more) then it's not really shedding light on the lesser known disabilities.

Katie wrote: "Dangit, I even proof read before I posted. Guess I just got lazy on that last topic in the rush to get the poll out. I've updated it in message 1 & I believe it's been updated in the poll.

And fee..."

Happy Dancing here! Thanks Katie :)

I can see both sides of the argument... Most of the books that I was thinking that I've read recently have shown mental illness as something debilitating and something that took the main characters away from their normal lives (namely, Challenger Deep and Still Life with Tornado, both of which were VERY good). But I can see how they wouldn't really feel true to the prompt.

I have read quite a few books when the character has autism (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and The Rosie Project come to mind), and I think that would more align with a mental disability, rather than a mental illness. Unless I'm wrong? It's just a tricky line.

I ended up not voting this one into my top because of the ambiguity... I wasn't sure what would fit for my tastes. Plus I had 7 in my top 4, so I had to eliminate something.

Emily - I would say that autism is neither a mental illness or disability but rather a developmental disorder.

Wrt the disability prompt, I think the confusion is that two terms have been combined: mental illness (or disorder) and intellectual disability. I have never heard the term “mental disability”.

Pam wrote: "Wrt the disability prompt, I think the confusion is that two terms have been combined: mental illness (or disorder) and intellectual disability. I have never heard the term “mental disability”."

As far as I'm aware (as someone working in the field), the term is intellectual disability or developmental disability. I also have never really heard the term "mental disability," but it's possible that it is used. As Pam said, autism is generally viewed as a developmental disorder/developmental disability.

Emily, I think both books you mentioned would fit under the prompt as it is written here. Some other books I would suggest: House Rules (autism), The Memory Keeper's Daughter (Down Syndrome), Say What You Will (Cerebral Palsy), and With the Light: Raising an Autistic Child (manga series about a young boy with autism).

Sarah wrote: "Apparently my birthday is Chocolate Cake day, which makes sense because I always have chocolate cake on that day haha. The only book I can think of for this is Matilda. My nephew's bir..."

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel could also work. I'm not sure if there's cake but there's chocolate. :)

My birthday is also “backwards day” which I feel like must have the perfect unusual book to match out there somewhere!

My top votes are propably going to be:
A book related to an obscure or unusual holiday
A book featuring a person with a mental, physical or learning disability
A book from one of The Millions Most Anticipated lists
A book related to STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) [fiction or nonfiction]

I don't know about what by bottom votes are going to be

I found this list for the STEM prompt

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...

My father is mathematician, so he owns some of his books (I will have to raid his library if this prompt wins). I have read 2 of those and I realy enjoyed them. The Parrot's Theorem and Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture: A Novel of Mathematical Obsession. Those are fiction books and the maths are not too difficult to follow and you have a plot to keep you interested.

Chrissy wrote: "My birthday is also “backwards day” which I feel like must have the perfect unusual book to match out there somewhere!"

there are thrillers told backwards, like the movie Memento (turned into this short: Memento Mori) and All the Missing Girls.

Finally voted. My first two tops I voted for because I feel like they deserved a fighting chance (STEM and Millions Most Anticipated). And my last two because they're fun and I have a lot of options already for them (TV/Movie and Author on TBR).

Bottoms were First Year Keeping Records (I started this year and that's no fun), Addiction and Disability (just because not interested), and Obscure Holiday (sorry!!).

I was looking at my records for the first year of record keeping one and found that whilst I joined Goodreads in 2010, I have quite comprehensive records on here for 2009... I have no idea how I was keeping records before then, I can barely remember what I read last month without looking it up here! Either year would be OK for me as I read a lot of female-led urban fantasy and it's fun to go back to that stuff.

In the end my tops went to STEM, disability, holiday and the arts (I dithered over the group one because I like reading about cults but the wording was just too wide which might lead to me being lazy).

I downvoted skeptical, addiction and chapters.

Chrissy wrote: "My birthday is also “backwards day” which I feel like must have the perfect unusual book to match out there somewhere!"

If you want a weird book, Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk starts with the last page number and counts backwards so the last page of the book is page 1. Weird book (I'm not a Palahniuk fan), but it would fit the prompt!