Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
2019 Plans
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Kathy's 2019 ATY + Rejects
date
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✅ - Read➡️ - Currently reading
18. A book related to one of the elements on the periodic table of elements
✅The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt
The Golden Notebook - Doris Lessing
David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
19. A book by an author who has more than one book on your TBR
✅Balthazar (The Alexandria Quartet #2) - Lawrence Durrell
Sleeping Murder - Agatha Christie
The Adventures of Elizabeth in Rügen - Elizabeth von Arnim
The Cafe by the Sea - Jenny Colgan
20. A book featuring indigenous people of a country
#13 on TBR
✅The Round House - Louise Erdrich
There There - Tommy Orange
Ceremony - Leslie Marmon Silko
21. A book from one of the polarizing or close call votes
A book from the ATY Group Members Recommendations list of lesser known books
The Time in Between - Maria Duenas
Little Black Lies - Sharon J. Bolton
The Great Meadow - Elizabeth Madox Roberts
Three Floors Up - Eshkol Nevo
✅The Ghost and Mrs. Muir - Josephine Leslie
22. A book with a number in the title or on the cover
The Nine Tailors - Dorothy Sayers
Six Months in the Sandwich Islands: Among Hawaii's Palm Groves, Coral Reefs and Volcanoes - Isabella Bird
Twelve Recipes - Cal Peternell
✅The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - Stuart Turton
23. 4 books inspired by the wedding rhyme: Book #1 Something Old
#1 on TBR [on list the longest]
✅Miss Mole - E.H. Young
1938 copyright
Death in a White Tie - Ngaio Marsh
"old" in title
The Old Curiosity Shop - Charles Dickens
"old" in title
Old Filth - Jane Gardam
24. 4 books inspired by the wedding rhyme: Book #2 Something New
"new" in title; #8 on TBR
✅The Story of a New Name - Elena Ferrante
"new" in title
New Orleans Mourning - Julie Smith
"new to me" author
The Hotel New Hampshire - John Irving
25. 4 books inspired by the wedding rhyme: Book #3 Something Borrowed
Borrow from library; #2 on TBR
✅Hunting and Gathering - Anna Gavalda
Borrow from library
Silent in the Sanctuary - Deanna Raybourn
Borrow from library
Transcription - Kate Atkinson
26. 4 books inspired by the wedding rhyme: Book #4 Something Blue
Blue cover; #6 on TBR
blue in title
Cocaine Blues (Phryne Fisher) - Kerry Greenwood
blue cover
The Silence of the Girls - Pat Barker
✅The Silent Sister - Diane Chamberlain
27. A book off of the 1001 books to read before you die list
✅Independent People - Halldor Laxness
Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
The Gathering - Anne Enright
28. A book related to something cold (i.e. theme, title, author, cover, etc.)
✅Snow - Orhan Pamuk
The Spy Who Came In from the Cold - John le Carre
Winter Cottage - Carol Ryrie Brink
29. A book published before 1950
✅The House in Paris - Elizabeth Bowen [1948]
Lady Audley's Secret - Mary Elizabeth Braddon
The Pursuit of Love - Nancy Mitford
30. A book featuring an elderly character
✅A Winter Book - Tove Jansson #11 on TBR
4:50 from Paddington - Agatha Christie
Nemesis - Agatha Christie
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared - Jonas Jonasson
31. A children’s classic you’ve never read
✅The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum
The Clue in the Diary - Carolyn Keene
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm - Kate Douglas Wiggin
Matilda - Roald Dahl
Pollyanna - Eleanor H. Porter
32. A book with more than 500 pages
The Help - Kathryn Stockett
Labyrinth - Kate Mosse
David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
The House by the River - Lena Manta
✅Wives and Daughters - Elizabeth Gaskell
33. A book you have owned for at least a year, but have not read yet
✅Mountolive (The Alexandria Quartet #3) - Lawrence Durrell
The White Cottage Mystery - Margery Allingham
The Color of Water in July - Nora Carroll
34. A book with a person's name in the title
DNF
Katherine Wentworth - D.E. Stevenson
Vera - Elizabeth von Arnim
✅Less - Andrew Sean Greer
35. A psychological thriller
In the Woods - Tana French
A Great Deliverance - Elizabeth George
The Hours Before Dawn - Celia Fremlin
Frenchman's Creek - Daphne du Maurier
✅Tangerine - Christine Mangan
✅ - Read➡️ - Currently reading
36. A book featured on an NPR Best Books of the Year list
1947: Where Now Begins - Elisabeth Asbrink
Swimming Lessons - Claire Fuller
The Silence of the Girls - Pat Barker
My Year of Rest and Relaxation - Ottessa Moshfegh
✅The Female Persuasion - Meg Wolitzer
37. A book set in a school or university
✅Stoner - John Williams
The Likeness - Tana French
The Groves of Academe - Mary McCarthy
38. A book not written in traditional novel format (poetry, essay, epistolary, graphic novel, etc)
Illness as Metaphor - Susan Sontag Essays
Diary of a Provincial Lady - E.M. Delafield
✅Aya - Marguerite Abouet
39. A book with a strong sense of place or where the author brings the location/setting to life
✅ The Bookshop on the Corner - Jenny Colgan
The Knowledge: A Richard Jury Mystery - Martha Grimes
Bleak House - Charles Dickens
I'll Be Your Blue Sky - Marisa de los Santos
40. A book you stumbled upon
✅Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions - Mario Giordano
41. A book from the 2018 GR Choice Awards
Circe - Madeline Miller
The Wife Between Us - Greer Hendricks
The Astonishing Color of After - Emily X.R. Pan
✅The Clockmaker's Daughter - Kate Morton
42. A book with a monster or "monstrous" character
✅The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
A Monstrous Regiment of Women - Laurie R. King
Mary Reilly Valerie Martin
The Vampire Lestat - Anne Rice
43. A book related to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) [fiction or nonfiction]
The Overstory - Richard Powers
Special Topics in Calamity Physics - Marisha Pessl
The Nine Tailors - Dorothy Sayers
Lab Girl - Hope Jahren
✅The Overstory - Richard Powers
44. 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.)
A Great Deliverance (Inspector Lynley #1) - Elizabeth George
Cocaine Blues (Phryne Fisher #1) - Kerry Greenwood
✅A Man Called Ove - Fredrik Backman
Setting 1920s-1940s like Agatha Christie TV movies
Silhouette of a Sparrow - Molly Beth Griffin
At the Water's Edge - Sara Gruen
45. A multi-generational saga
The House of the Spirits - Isabel Allende
Pachinko - Min Jin Lee
✅The Keepers of the House - Shirley Ann Grau
Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
46. A book with a (mostly) black cover
✅Mansfield Park - Jane Austen
Before I Go to Sleep - S.J. Watson
The Innocence of Father Brown - G.K. Chesterton
Sleeping Giants - Sylvain Neuvel
47. A book related to food (i.e. title, cover, plot, etc.)
How to Cook a Wolf - M.F.K. Fisher
Oolong Dead (A Tea Shop Mystery #10) - Laura Childs
Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon - Jorge Amado
✅The Recipe Box - Viola Shipman
48. A book that was a finalist or winner for the National Book Award for any year
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI - David Grann
The News from Paraguay - Lily Tuck
The Flamethrowers - Rachel Kushner
✅All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr
49. A book written by a Far East Asian author or set in a Far East Asian country
Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami (Japan)
The Best We Could Do - Thi Bui (Vietnam)
The Ten Thousand Things - Maria Dermout (Indonesia)
✅The Housekeeper and the Professor - Yoko Ogama
DNFThe Great Passage - Shion Miura (Japan)
50. A book that includes a journey (physical, health, or spiritual)
✅Equal Rites - Terry Pratchett
A Morbid Taste for Bones - Ellis Peters
The Warden - Anthony Trollope
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking - Susan Cain
51. A book published in 2019
✅Once Upon a River - Diane Setterfield
52. A book with a weird or intriguing title
A God in Ruins - Kate Atkinson #5 on TBR
The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun - Sébastien Japrisot
Pink Sugar - O. Douglas
The Things We Used to Say - Natalia Ginzburg
✅My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry - Fredrik Backman
Rejects Challenge✅ - Read
➡️ - Currently reading
1. A book from the Texas Library Lariat List
✅The Peculiar Miracles of Antoinette Martin - Stephanie Knipper
2. A Bildungsroman
✅The House on Mango Street - Sandra Cisneros
3. A book from one of The Millions Most Anticipated lists
✅Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood - Trevor Noah
4. A book that you're skeptical about
✅Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun - Sarah Lapipo Manyika
5. A book recommended by the "Great Minds Suggest" section of Goodreads
✅The Last Chinese Chef - Nicole Mones
6. A Victorian or neo-Victorian book
✅Jamaica Inn - Daphne du Maurier
7. A book in which faith or religion play a role in the main character's decision making
✅Almost Everything: Notes on Hope - Anne Lamott
8. A book whose page count is a prime number
359 pages
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Saenz
Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf
✅Miss Peabody's Inheritance - Elizabeth Jolley
9. A book recommended to you by Goodreads based on one of your shelves
Based on my Classics shelf
Ruth - Elizabeth Gaskell
Based on my copyright-2019 shelf
The Victory Garden - Rhys Bowen
10. A diverse book
Sula - Toni Morrison
✅Green Almonds: Letters from Palestine - Anaele Hermans
2019 Book QuiltIncludes ATY, ATY Rejects, Modern Mrs. Darcy, Classics Challenges, and Read-a-Thons
I really loved Snow and Rules of Civility and hope you do as well. It looks like we may be reading at least a few of the same books next year so I'll be looking forward to your thoughts.Do you generally choose one book for a prompt and stick with it?
No, I don't stick with my list. I can usually read about 10 books I have listed to start the year, then I start disliking the books I've planned so I change them out. Then I might eventually go back to what I first had planned! I have a list of other books that would work for each category. Plus those new books keep coming along and group members start saying how much they liked a certain book! This is just a starting point.Just looked at my 2018 plan and I'd say I read about 1/3 of the books I first planned.
I've had Snow on my lists for a couple years now and really want to finally read it this year.
January UpdateI read 8 books for the ATY Challenge plus 3 other books. I'm reading out-of-order this year and it is so nice! I feel free!
Prompts Finished
#1 A book that was nominated for or won an award in a genre you enjoy
A Trick of the Light - Louise Penny
This was another good book in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series. I'm trying to fit in 4 this year. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
#6 A book with a dual-timeline
Bellewether - Susanna Kearsley
One timeline was the present, the other in 1759. I liked the 1759 time period best. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
#23 Four books inspired by the wedding rhyme: something old
Miss Mole - E.H. Young
This was the number 1 book on my TBR if I sorted by date-added. It's been on my list since 2015 so I thought I should read it or delete it. If I hadn't had a physical copy of the book, I might have deleted it. Kinda dreading it... But I loved it. The character of Miss Mole is just great! The book was published in 1930 by E.H. Young whose books was quite popular during her life. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
#28 A book related to something cold (could be theme, title, author, cover)
Snow - Orhan Pamuk
This was the most challenging book I read all month. Set in Turkey, I learned about the culture, politics, religion and more of a country I know little about. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
#30 A book featuring an elderly character
A Winter Book - Tove Jansson
Only the last section of the book were the stories narrated by "elderly" characters, but they were excellent. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
#37 A book set in a school or university
Stoner - John Williams
This was the first book I read in 2019 and is my favorite. I chose it for my IRL book club which is Feb. 4. This is a quiet book which shows the reader the character of Stoner (that's his last name, first name is William; nothing related to drugs in this book!!) We see Stoner's life from childhood through to the end. I loved this book. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
#39 A book with a strong sense of place or where the author brings the location/setting to life
The Bookshop on the Corner - Jenny Colgan
A fun, feel-good contemporary read that really brings the setting of the Highlands of Scotland to life. The characters are likeable too. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
#42 A book with a monster or "monstrous" character
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
I'm glad I finally read this book, although I feel like I knew the story already. ⭐⭐⭐
Three other books I read for other challenges:
Hunger - Knut Hamsun
Excellent. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Grey Mask - Patricia Wentworth
A mystery written in 1928. Pleasant ⭐⭐⭐
Murder Must Advertise - Dorothy Sayers
I was impressed with the plotting of this mystery. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
You have so many 4-5 star books for January. Great going!
Great month for you, Kathy!Stoner is such a great book. I've been wanting to read Hunger for a long time, so glad to see all the stars.
Toward the end of 2018 I started to read the first ten to fifteen books on my TBR (sorted by "date added"). If I don't read them by the end of the year, I'm deleting them.✅ read
🠪 currently reading
Read first ten books on TBR or DELETE them!
✅1. Miss Mole by E.H. Young (#1 on TBR) - SOMETHING OLD FINISHED - 1/30/19
✅2. Hunting and Gathering by Anna Gavalda - SOMETHING BORROWED
✅3. First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen - SPECULATIVE FICTION FINISHED 3/3/19
4. The Gray Notebook by Josep Pla
5. A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson
✅6. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton 2018
7 DEADLY SINS FINISHED 11/24/18
✅7. The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa STEM
✅8. Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn 2018 OLDEST TEN ON TBR FINISHED 11/14/18
✅9. The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante SOMETHING NEW FINISHED 3/6/19
DNF
✅11. A Winter Book by Tove Jansson ELDERLY CHARACTER FINISHED 1/7/19
✅12. The Round House by Louise Erdrich INDIGENOUS CHARACTER OR AUTHOR
DELETE FROM TBR13. 11/22/63 by Stephen King
✅14. The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain SOMETHING BLUE
15. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
Mod
Jackie wrote: "I do a version of this too! If I'm not sure what to read next, I use random number generator to pick something off my tbr; then I either read it or delete it."That's a good idea, Jackie, using the number generator. Maybe after I read my first 15...
February UpdateI read 8 books in February but just 4 for ATY.
Prompts Finished
#7 Two books related to the same topic, genre, or theme
The Beautiful Mystery- Louise Penny
Another good book in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, this time set in a monastery on an island.
#19 A book by an author who has more than one book on your TBR
Balthazar - Lawrence Durrell
This is the second book in the Alexandria Quartet. I read Justine last year and want to read the rest in 2019. This second book takes the events of the first but through Balthazar's eyes.
#22 A book with a number in the title or on the cover
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - Stuart Turton
This book was just okay. I liked the first third, but then it got tedious. Clever premise, though
#41 A book from the 2018 Goodreads Choice Awards
The Clockmaker's Daughter - Kate Morton
Another excellent book by Kate Morton. I read her books as soon as they come out.
Other challenges or side reads
Next Year in Havana - Chanel Cleeton
The setting of Cuba comes to life. Another dual timeline novel.
Pinocchio - Collodi
I never read this book as a child. It's funny and sort of violent and tries to teach kids a lesson.
The Willows - Algernon Blackwood
A very short book that is pretty creepy.
Death on the Nile - Agatha Christie
One of Agatha Christie's better mysteries.
I've quit rating books for a while. I found I'd really love a book and rate it 4 or 5 but then hardly remember it a few months later.
Best book of February:
The Clockmaker's Daughter
March UpdateGreat month of reading starting off with the Read-a-thon! I read 12 books, some if which were excellent.
ATY Challenge
#17 Speculative Fiction
First Frost - Sarah Addison Allen
I've enjoyed a few of Allen's books which are very gentle and filled with magical realism.
#24 Something New
The Story of a New Name - Elena Ferrante
Wow did I love this book, the second in the Neopolitan novels. The first was okay and I decided to give the second a chance. Glad I did. I'll read the third.
#25 Something Borrowed
I borrowed Hunting and Gathering by Anna Gavalda from the library. This book was translated from the French and I've had it on my TBR for a long time. Set in Paris, it's about four lost souls who find each other. Lovely.
#27 A book from the 1001 Books Before You Die list
Independent People - Halldor Laxness
Laxness won the Nobel Prize in 1955 and I can see why. Excellent writing that I had to read slowly. My IRL book club read this years ago before I was in the club and they always refer to Bjarter, the main character. I'm glad to know what he's all about. I also liked his daughter, Asta Sollija. Iceland itself seems like a character in the book.
#33 a book you've owned for at least a year and haven't read
Mountolive - Lawrence Durrell
The 3rd book in the Alexandria Quartet (others are Justine and Balthazar), this is the best so far. All the events and characters begin to make sense.
#34 a book with a name in the title
Less - Andrew Sean Greet
Arthur Less is the main character in this book, which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction last year. Funny story of Less, a gay man who's about to turn 50 when his former lover announces he's getting married. Less takes a trip around the world to forget.
#36 a book on the NPR book of best reads
The Female Persuasion - Meg Wolitzer
Hard to describe this book but I liked it.
#38 a book in a non-novel format
Aya - Marguerite Abouet
This is a graphic novel about young peoples' lives in Cote d'Ivoire.
ATY Rejects
A book that won the Texas Lariat Award
The Peculiar Miracles of Antoinette Martin - Stephanie Knipper
Very sweet. Magical realism again.
Modern Mrs. Darcy
1. A book you've been meaning to read
Locked Doors - Mary Roberts Rinehart
A short well-written mystery
6. A book by an author who is new to you
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox - Maggie O'Farrell
This story really draws you in and when you're finished you don't know where you are.
Classics Challenges
The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler
A hard-boiled mystery, my first by Chandler. I didn't really like it but I'll probably try one more of his.
Best Books of March
The Story of a New Name
Independent People
I'm sixty pages into The Housekeeper and the Professor and it's soothing me. I've been reading but feeling very dissatisfied lately. Hopefully this will be the start of a stretch of wonderful reads!Updated Book Quilt in message 5 above.
April UpdateI read 11 books in April.
ATY
3. The Christie Caper
10. The Address
13. Rules of Civility
26. The Silent Sister
29. The House in Paris
43. The Housekeeper and the Professor
52. My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry
Rejects
Bildungsroman: The House on Mango Street
Millions list: Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood
Classics challenges
The Pale Horse
They Were Counted
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best book: The Silent Sister
MAY UpdateI read 8 books in May. That makes 34 total for ATY. 18 to go!
ATY
32 - Wives and Daughters ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
31 - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ⭐⭐⭐
48 - All the Light We Cannot See ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
51 - Once Upon a River ⭐⭐⭐⭐
47 - The Recipe Box ⭐⭐⭐⭐
50 - Equal Rites ⭐⭐⭐⭐
8 - The Big Four ⭐⭐⭐
Rejects
Victorian or Neo-Victorian book - Jamaica Inn ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Classics challenges
The Experiences of Loveday Brooke, Lady Detective ⭐⭐⭐
I read 14 books in June but a couple were really short stories and two were graphic novels I read during the Read-a-Thon. Six books were for ATY. I'm at 41/52 for ATY with three books in progress now. ATY Books Read
2. One of the five W's in title
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Lovely book with a good plot and lots of nature. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
16. Told from multiple perspectives
The Masterpiece by Fiona Davis The second book I read by Davis this year. Historical fiction about Union Station in New York City ⭐⭐⭐1/2
21. Polarizing - a book from the lesser known books by ATY members
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir by Josephine Leslie
A fun ghost and romance story ⭐⭐⭐1/2
35. Psychological thriller
Tangerine by Christine Mangan
The question is "Who is crazy?" I enjoyed this thriller set in Morocco ⭐⭐⭐⭐
45. Multi-generational saga
The Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau
Published in 1964 and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for 1965, this was a hidden gem of a book. Set in Alabama starting in the 1800s, the story follows the generations of the Howland family through trials and tribulations. Racial relations is a big theme of this novel. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
44. Related to TV/Movie
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
I didn't see the movie but figured I'd like it. And I liked the book. I added more up-lit to my TBR after this book. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Modern Mrs. Darcy
Book in a backlist of a favorite author
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell ⭐⭐⭐
Rejects Challenge
Faith or religion play a part
Almost Everything: Notes on Hope by Anne Lamott ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Page count is a prime number
Miss Peabody's Inheritance by Elizabeth Jolley
Another hidden gem. LGBT published in 1983 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Sounds like you had a great month, Kathy. I have never heard of The Keepers of the House or Miss Peabody's Inheritance. Where have I been? They both sound great.
Milena, I heard about Keepers of the House here on Goodreads but it seems to be a Pulitzer Prize winner that isn't mentioned much. It's really worth reading! I found Miss Peabody' Inheritance in a used bookstore. Enjoy if you decide to read them.
July UpdateI read 11 books in July, 5 for ATY. I have 6 books left to read and I've started on 3 of them.
ATY
9 - Top 5 money-making genre - A Thief of Time ⭐⭐⭐
15 - Set in a Mediterranean country - Clea ⭐⭐⭐
5 - Inspired by Shakespeare - Sad Cypress ⭐⭐⭐⭐
46 - Mostly black cover - Mansfield Park ⭐⭐⭐⭐
40 - Stumbled upon - Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions ⭐⭐⭐
Classics challenges
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea ⭐⭐⭐
The Lonely Girl The 2nd book in Country Girls series by Edna O'Brien. This was as good as the first. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Modern Mrs. Darcy
Three books by the same author: Fates and Furies - Lauren Groff ⭐⭐⭐⭐
A book in translation: The Japanese Lover ⭐⭐⭐.5
ATY Rejects
Suggested by Ruth Reichl - The Last Chinese Chef ⭐⭐⭐.5
Book Club
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City ⭐⭐⭐ I was dreading reading this but it was actually pretty interesting a well-written. Set in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Best books of the month
Fates and Furies
The Lonely Girl
August UpdateI read 13 books in August, 5 for ATY. I have 1 book left to read to finish ATY!!! It's a long one: The Goldfinch
ATY
4 - Criminal character - The Secret of Chimneys ⭐⭐,5
12 - A book about reading, books or author/writer - The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek ⭐⭐⭐⭐
43 - A book related to STEM - The Overstory ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
14. A book with a title, subtitle or cover related to an astronomical term The Moon and Sixpence ⭐⭐⭐⭐
20 - A book featuring an indigenous people of a country The Round House ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Classics challenges
Cousin Phyllis - Elizabeth Gaskell ⭐⭐⭐
The Children of Noisy Village - Astrid Lindgren ⭐⭐⭐
Madam, Will You Talk? - Mary Stewart ⭐⭐⭐
Ariel - Sylvia Plath ⭐⭐⭐
Modern Mrs. Darcy
Three books by the same author:
The Monsters of Templeton - Lauren Groff ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Florida - Lauren Groff ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
ATY Rejects
A book you're skeptical about: Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun - Sarah Ladipo Manyika ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Side read
Alexander Hamilton - Ron Chernow
It took my husband and I almost a year to listen to this on audio in the car on road trips. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Best books of the month
The Overstory
The Round House
These were for two prompts I was worried about, STEM and indigenous people, and I ended up reading two of my best books of 2019 so far.
Congrats on being down to your last book! Are you planning on seeing the movie that comes out this month? I had planned on reading The Goldfinch also but I know if I see the movie I won’t read the book!
Excellent work. I'm going to have fun reading through your reviews. Everything is so organized and beautiful.
Pam - Thanks! I didn't even realize until earlier this summer that a movie of The Goldfinch was coming out. Then ads for it started showing up on my Goodreads feed! I like the book so far - page 200 or so - and will probably see the movie when it comes out on DVD. Tammy - Thanks! Maybe I'll finish by the end of September. Enjoy your reading too!
September UpdateFinished ATY!
Now working on the Autumn Challenge and my classic challenges.
ATY
18 book related to Periodic Table
The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I finally read this! It really wasn't what I was expecting. But that's how Donna Tartt is, I'm beginning to believe. I didn't expect the "heist" element of the story. Or the "drug" aspect. So well written.
Autumn Challenge
Orange cover:
⭐⭐⭐⭐1 or 6 in page count: Broken Bone China ⭐⭐⭐
Year with two of 1, 8, or 9: Comet in Moominland ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Author name A or F: The Library at the Edge of the World - Felicity Hayes-McCoy ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Published 1999 or later: Becoming ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Published in Oct.: Wobble ⭐⭐⭐
Author's initials in BOOKER PRIZE: Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir - Ruth Reichl ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Word in title from Keats poem: The White Cottage Mystery ⭐⭐⭐
Location beginning with letter in LAUGHARNE: - Invitation to the Waltz ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Set in country qualified for Rugby World Cup: The Goldfinch ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
List: Goodreads best for Halloween: Dracula ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Word in title spelled differently: The Color of Water in July ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Read-a-Thon
Convenience Store Woman ⭐⭐⭐⭐
American Born Chinese ⭐⭐⭐
What We Lose ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Classics
In addition to classics from above:
Peter Pan ⭐⭐
What I've read from October and November:The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - 4.5
On Tangled Paths - 3.25
Palace Walk - 4
The Knowledge: A Richard Jury Mystery - 2.75
The Case Is Closed - 2.75
The Things We Used to Say - 4
The Second Worst Restaurant in France - 2.5
Madame Bovary - 4.5
New Orleans Mourning - 3.5
Walden - 3
Transcription - 3
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe 4.75
A House to Let 3.25
Tintin in Tibet - 3.5
I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death - 3.75
The Emigrants - 5
Little Black Lies - 4
An Unwanted Guest - 3.5
The Land of Little Rain - 2.5
The Cricket on the Hearth - 3.5
The God of Small Things - 3.75
District and Circle - 3
Just Kids - 4.5
David Copperfield - 5
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (other topics)David Copperfield (other topics)
Palace Walk (other topics)
The Case Is Closed (other topics)
The Knowledge (other topics)
More...
✅ - Read
➡️ - Currently reading
1. A book that was nominated for or won an award in a genre you enjoy
✅A Trick of the Light (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #7) - Louise Penny
The Diviners - Libba Bray
The Fifth Season - N.K. Jemisin
2. A book with one of the 5 W's in the title (Who, What, Where, When, Why)
Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There - Lewis Carroll
Why Didn't They Ask Evans? - Agatha Christie
The Spy Who Came In from the Cold - John le Carre
What We Were Promised - Lucy Tan
✅Where the Crawdads Sing - Delia Owens
3. A book where the author’s name contains A, T, and Y
Beautiful Exiles - Meg Waite Clayton
Pollard - Laura Beatty
Truly Madly Guilty - Liane Moriarty
✅The Christie Caper - Carolyn Hart
Equal Rites - Terry Pratchett
4. A book with a criminal character (i.e. assassin, pirate, thief, robber, scoundrel etc)
Shroud for a Nightingale - P.D. James
Fingersmith - Sarah Waters
Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Thief - Maurice LeBlanc
Going Postal - Terry Pratchett
✅The Secret of Chimneys - Agatha Christie
5. A book by Shakespeare or inspired by Shakespeare
Under the Greenwood Tree - Thomas Hardy Title is a song from the play, As You Like It
The Word Is Murder - Anthony Horowitz refers to Shakespeare
Cakes and Ale - W. Somerset Maugham a line from Twelfth Night
Wyrd Sisters (Discworld #6, Witches #2) - Terry Pratchett themes from Hamlet
✅Sad Cypress - Agatha Christie
6. A book with a dual timeline
11/22/63 - Stephen King #14 on TBR
✅Bellewether - Susanna Kearsley
7. 2 books related to the same topic, genre, or theme: Book #1
✅The Beautiful Mystery (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #8) - Louise Penny
Death in a White Tie - Ngaio Marsh
Before the Fall - Noah Hawley
8. 2 books related to the same topic, genre, or theme: Book #2
How the Light Gets In (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #9) - Louise Penny
The White Cottage Mystery - Margery Allingham
Little Black Lies - Sharon J. Bolton
✅The Big Four - Agatha Christie
9. A book from one of the top 5 money making genres(romance/erotica, crime/mystery, religious/inspirational, science fiction/fantasy or horror)
The Long Way Home (Armand Gamache #10) - Louise Penny
The Case Is Closed - Patricia Wentworth
The Fifth Season - N.K. Jemisin
✅A Thief of Time - Tony Hillerman
10. A book featuring an historical figure
Love and Ruin - Paula McLain Martha Gellhorn and Ernest Hemingway
Girl Waits with Gun - Amy Stewart Constance Kopp
Memoirs of Hadrian - Marguerite Yourcenar
Illuminations - Mary Sharratt Hildegard von Bingen
✅The Address - Fiona Davis
11. A book related to one of the 12 Zodiac Chinese Animals (title, cover, subject)
Rabbit, Run - John Updike
The Case of the Late Pig - Margery Allingham
The House at Pooh Corner - A.A. Milne
All the Pretty Horses (The Border Trilogy #1) - Cormac McCarthy
✅The Pale Horse - Agatha Christie
12. A book about reading, books or an author/writer
The Club Dumas - Arturo Perez Reverte
The Daughter of Time - Josephine Tey
When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II - Molly Guptill Manning
The Library at the Edge of the World - Felicity Hayes-McCoy
✅The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
13. A book that is included on a New York Public Library Staff Picks list
✅Rules of Civility - Amor Towles
Before the Fall - Noah Hawley
The House of Mirth - Edith Wharton
Circe - Madeline Miller
14. A book with a title, subtitle or cover relating to an astronomical term
✅The Moon and Sixpence - W. Somerset Maugham
A Trick of the Light - Louise Penny
15. A book by an author from a Mediterranean country or set in a Mediterranean country
The Gray Notebook - Joseph Pla (Spain) #4 on TBR
✅Clea (Alexandria Quartet #4) - Lawrence Durrell (Egypt)
Eugénie Grandet - Honore de Balzac (France)
16. A book told from multiple perspectives
North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell
A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
The Help - Kathryn Stockett
✅The Masterpiece - Fiona Davis
17. A speculative fiction (i.e. fantasy, scifi, horror, dystopia)
✅First Frost - Sarah Addison Allen Magical realism; #3 on TBR
The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter - Theodora Goss
Witch World - Andre Norton
Solaris - Stanislaw Lem Science Fiction