Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

This will be my second year doing this challenge, and I like to think I've learned from some things this year. For one, I won't be trying to read the books in order this year. I tried that and that was one of the biggest things that tripped me up in spring, and I didn't really recover from that, though I tried pretty hard (only two books behind now!). So in the interest of beating book slumps, I'm going to be listening to my heart and reading whichever speaks most to me that week. Second, I'm going to be giving myself more than one option per week to avoid the same thing happening, of getting to that week's challenge and not wanting to read what I picked out in January. Hopefully the greater flexibility will be to my advantage. Here's hoping, anyway!

1. A book that was nominated for or won an award in a genre you enjoy ✔
-Doomsday Book
2. A book with one of the 5 W's in the title (Who, What, Where, When, Why) ✔
-What is Not Yours is Not Yours 💖
3. A book where the author’s name contains A, T, and Y ✔
-Love in a Cold Climate
4. A book with a criminal character (i.e. assassin, pirate, thief, robber, scoundrel etc) ✔
-The Name of the Rose
5. A book by Shakespeare or inspired by Shakespeare ✔
-Troilus and Cressida
6. A book with a dual timeline ✔
-Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
7. 2 books related to the same topic, genre, or theme: Book #1 ✔
-The Joy Luck Club💖
8. 2 books related to the same topic, genre, or theme: Book #2 ✔
-The Woman Warrior
9. A book from one of the top 5 money making genres (romance/erotica, crime/mystery, religious/inspirational, science fiction/fantasy or horror) ✔
-Guards! Guards!
10. A book featuring an historical figure ✔
-Girl Waits with Gun
11. A book related to one of the 12 Zodiac Chinese Animals (title, cover, subject) ✔
-Wool 💖
12. A book about reading, books or an author/writer ✔
-When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II
13. A book that is included on a New York Public Library Staff Picks list ✔
-The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World
14. A book with a title, subtitle or cover relating to an astronomical term ✔
-Black Hole
15. A book by an author from a Mediterranean country or set in a Mediterranean country ✔
-You Me Everything
16. A book told from multiple perspectives ✔
-Disobedience 💖
17. A speculative fiction (i.e. fantasy, scifi, horror, dystopia) ✔
-Severance
18. A book related to one of the elements on the periodic table of elements ✔
-The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women 💖
19. A book by an author who has more than one book on your TBR ✔
-Magic for Beginners
20. A book featuring indigenous people of a country ✔
-1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus 💖
21. A book from one of the polarizing or close call votes - lesser known classic ✔
-Passing
22. A book with a number in the title or on the cover ✔
-1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created 💖
23. 4 books inspired by the wedding rhyme: Book #1 Something Old ✔
-Oedipus the King
24. 4 books inspired by the wedding rhyme: Book #2 Something New ✔
-Women Talking
25. 4 books inspired by the wedding rhyme: Book #3 Something Borrowed ✔
-She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity
26. 4 books inspired by the wedding rhyme: Book #4 Something Blue
27. A book off of the 1001 books to read before you die list ✔
-The Lover 💖
28. A book related to something cold (i.e. theme, title, author, cover, etc.) ✔
-The Snow Child
29. A book published before 1950 ✔
-Nightwood
30. A book featuring an elderly character ✔
-Elizabeth Is Missing
31. A children’s classic you’ve never read ✔
-The Chocolate War
32. A book with more than 500 pages ✔
-The Historian
33. A book you have owned for at least a year, but have not read yet ✔
-In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death and the World It Made
34. A book with a person's name in the title ✔
-Washington Black 💖
35. A psychological thriller
36. A book featured on an NPR Best Books of the Year list ✔
-I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life
37. A book set in a school or university ✔
-The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
38. A book not written in traditional novel format (poetry, essay, epistolary, graphic novel, etc) ✔
-The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage 💖
39. A book with a strong sense of place or where the author brings the location/setting to life ✔
-My Antonia
40. A book you stumbled upon ✔
-Jagannath
41. A book from the 2018 GR Choice Awards ✔
-So You Want to Talk About Race
42. A book with a monster or "monstrous" character ✔
-Mrs. Caliban 💖
43. A book related to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) [fiction or nonfiction] ✔
-The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World
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.) ✔
-Stranger Things: Worlds Turned Upside Down: The Official Behind-the-Scenes Companion
45. A multi-generational saga ✔
-We Were the Mulvaneys
46. A book with a (mostly) black cover ✔
-Man's Search for Meaning 💖
47. A book related to food (i.e. title, cover, plot, etc.) ✔
-Kitchen
48. A book that was a finalist or winner for the National Book Award for any year ✔
-Brown Girl Dreaming
49. A book written by a Far East Asian author or set in a Far East Asian country ✔
-Revenge 💖
50. A book that includes a journey (physical, health, or spiritual) ✔
-Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe 💖
51. A book published in 2019 ✔
-Exhalation: Stories
52. A book with a weird or intriguing title ✔
The Dud Avocado

50/52 completed

Updated October 28, 2019

✔ = completed
💖= loved

COVER COLLAGE

POTENTIAL SELECTIONS

1. A book that was nominated for or won an award in a genre you enjoy
-The Fifth Season (Nebula)
-The Three-Body Problem (Nebula)
-We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves (Nebula)
-Provenance (Hugo)
2. A book with one of the 5 W's in the title (Who, What, Where, When, Why)
-What is Not Yours is Not Yours
-What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
-Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype
3. A book where the author’s name contains A, T, and Y
-My Sister, the Serial Killer
-Reaper Man
-Going Postal
-How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveller
-The Portable Dorothy Parker
-Convenience Store Woman
4. A book with a criminal character (i.e. assassin, pirate, thief, robber, scoundrel etc)
-The Talented Mr Ripley
-Strangers on a Train
-Girl Waits with Gun
5. A book by Shakespeare or inspired by Shakespeare
-King Lear
-Ophelia
-The Gap of Time
-Wise Children
-Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
6. A book with a dual timeline
-The Historian
-The Language of Flowers
-A Tale for the Time Being
7. 2 books related to the same topic, genre, or theme: Book #1
-Opt 1: Doomsday Book
-Opt 2: The Joy Luck Club
-Opt 3: Regeneration
8. 2 books related to the same topic, genre, or theme: Book #2
-Opt 1: How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveller
-Opt 2: The Woman Warrior
-Opt 3: The Things They Carried
9. A book from one of the top 5 money making genres (romance/erotica, crime/mystery, religious/inspirational, science fiction/fantasy or horror)
-Parable of the Sower
-The Rules of Magic
10. A book featuring an historical figure
-Alias Grace
-The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt
-I, Claudius
11. A book related to one of the 12 Zodiac Chinese Animals (title, cover, subject)
-The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits: Stories
-A Natural History of Dragons
-Play It As It Lays
-Going Postal
12. A book about reading, books or an author/writer
-When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II
-The Eyre Affair
-The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary
-Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
13. A book that is included on a New York Public Library Staff Picks list
-Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (summer ‘18)
-New Boy (winter ‘18)
14. A book with a title, subtitle or cover relating to an astronomical term
-Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
-Lesabéndio: An Asteroid Novel
-The Dog Stars
15. A book by an author from a Mediterranean country or set in a Mediterranean country
-My Brilliant Friend
-The Histories
-The Leopard
16. A book told from multiple perspectives
-Song of Solomon
-To the Lighthouse
-Here Comes the Sun
17. A speculative fiction (i.e. fantasy, scifi, horror, dystopia)
-Oryx and Crake
-Sabriel
-Deerskin
-Swordspoint
-Native Tongue
-Crown Duel
18. A book related to one of the elements on the periodic table of elements
-The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women
-Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
-Swallowing Mercury
19. A book by an author who has more than one book on your TBR
-Cat's Eye
-Sense and Sensibility
-March
-Slouching Towards Bethlehem
20. A book featuring indigenous people of a country
-An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States
-The Round House
21. A book from one of the polarizing or close call votes
-Jagannath (short story collection)
-Passing (lesser known)
-Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (book about feminism)
22. A book with a number in the title or on the cover
-Three Lives
-The Three-Body Problem
-1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
-14
23. 4 books inspired by the wedding rhyme: Book #1 Something Old
-Frogs
-Oedipus Rex
24. 4 books inspired by the wedding rhyme: Book #2 Something New
-The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
-New Erotica for Feminists: Satirical Fantasies of Love, Lust, and Equal Pay
25. 4 books inspired by the wedding rhyme: Book #3 Something Borrowed
-Something from the library
-Rose Daughter (retelling)
-East (retelling)
26. 4 books inspired by the wedding rhyme: Book #4 Something Blue
-My Antonia
-The Blue Fairy Book
27. A book off of the 1001 books to read before you die list
-The House of Mirth
-We
-Passing
-Nightwood
-Cry, the Beloved Country
-The Day of the Triffids
-The White Tiger
-Half of a Yellow Sun
-The Elegance of the Hedgehog
-Cloud Atlas
-Underworld
-The Poisonwood Bible
-White Teeth
-Santa Evita
-The Things They Carried
-Written on the Body
-The Satanic Verses
-Like Water for Chocolate
-The Remains of the Day
-Nights at the Circus
-The Wasp Factory
-The Lover
-Love Medicine
-White Noise
-The House of the Spirits
28. A book related to something cold (i.e. theme, title, author, cover, etc.)
-The Snow Child
-Love in a Cold Climate
29.A book published before 1950
-Sense and Sensibility
-Nightwood
-Agnes Grey
30. A book featuring an elderly character
-A Man Called Ove
-Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
-Elizabeth Is Missing
31. A children’s classic you’ve never read
-Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
-From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
32. A book with more than 500 pages
-The Historian
-The Portable Dorothy Parker
-The Passage
-The Woman in White
-The Book Of English Magic
-The Autobiography of Malcolm X
-The Histories
-Infinite Jest
-The Magic Mountain
33. A book you have owned for at least a year, but have not read yet
-Austerlitz
-In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death and the World It Made
-Three Lives
34. A book with a person's name in the title
-Z for Zachariah
-The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
-Sabriel
35. A psychological thriller
-Gone Girl
-In a Dark, Dark Wood
-In the Woods
36. A book featured on an NPR Best Books of the Year list
-The Rules of Magic
-Literary Witches: A Celebration of Magical Women Writers
-I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life
37. A book set in a school or university
-Norwegian Wood
-Lucky Jim
-Possession
-Tam Lin
-White Noise
38. A book not written in traditional novel format (poetry, essay, epistolary, graphic novel, etc)
-Slouching Towards Bethlehem
-The Empathy Exams: Essays
39. A book with a strong sense of place or where the author brings the location/setting to life
-Twenty Years at Hull-House
-Winesburg, Ohio
-Mansfield Park
-O Pioneers!
-A Stranger in Olondria
-Wuthering Heights
40. A book you stumbled upon
-Speedboat
-The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman
-Jagannath
-House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest
41. A book from the 2018 GR Choice Awards
-The Female Persuasion
-My Year of Rest and Relaxation
-There There
-Red Clocks
-So You Want to Talk About Race
42. A book with a monster or "monstrous" character
-The Passage
-The Reapers are the Angels
-14
-The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break
-Harrison Squared
43. A book related to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) [fiction or nonfiction]
-The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales
-A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There
-The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness
-Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong—and the New Research That's Rewriting the Story
-The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World
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.)
-The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
-The Fifth Season
-Guards! Guards!
45. A multi-generational saga
-Pachinko
-The House of the Spirits
-White Teeth
46. A book with a (mostly) black cover
-The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt
-Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype
-Omon Ra
-Tar Baby
47. A book related to food (i.e. title, cover, plot, etc.)
-An Edible History of Humanity
-My Life in France
48. A book that was a finalist or winner for the National Book Award for any year
-Salvage the Bones
-Sing, Unburied, Sing
-All the Light We Cannot See
-Redeployment
49. A book written by a Far East Asian author or set in a Far East Asian country
-Norwegian Wood
-The Three-Body Problem
-Do Not Say We Have Nothing
-The Graveyard Apartment
-Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
-The Sympathizer
50. A book that includes a journey (physical, health, or spiritual)
-Woman on the Edge of Time
-Ammonite
51. A book published in 2019
TBD
52. A book with a weird or intriguing title
-Sexing the Cherry
-Pussy, King of the Pirates
-The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break
-Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence

2018 LEFTOVERS - as of 12/19/18

-The House of the Spirits
-My Brilliant Friend
- Wuthering Heights
-Patience & Sarah
-The Bone Clocks
-The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt
- The Historian
- House of Leaves
-To Say Nothing of the Dog
- Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West
-Bastard Out of Carolina
-A High Wind in Jamaica
-Slouching Towards Bethlehem
- The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
-Different Seasons
-Deerskin
-Oryx and Crake
-O Pioneers!
-Alias Grace
-The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus
- The Silmarillion
- The Fire Next Time
-The Glass Castle
-Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
-The Light Between Oceans
- The Snow Child
-Tales of the South Pacific
-Girl Waits with Gun
-The Big Sleep
-The Years of Rice and Salt
-The Name of the Rose
- Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
-Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith
-Sing, Unburied, Sing
- Exit West
-Future Home of the Living God
-Do Not Say We Have Nothing
-Half of a Yellow Sun
-Parable of the Sower
-Borne
-Doomsday Book
-The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales
-The Things They Carried
-Cry, the Beloved Country
- Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
-White Noise
-The Quiet American
- The Heart Goes Last
-We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families
-Her Fearful Symmetry
-The Woman in White
- Midnight's Children
-Lonesome Dove
-The Stand
- The Wind in the Willows
-Cloud Atlas
-The Grapes of Wrath
-Dune
- Passing
-We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
- Interpreter of Maladies
- What is Not Yours is Not Yours
- The Silence of the Girls

I really like your list! What I often do to avoid the challenge slump is to read something I want to read, even if it's not on my list, and I've discovered it often fits one of the prompts. Yay!

I've read the first three of your four choices for week one and liked them all. My favorite is The Fifth Season, and if you like that, there are two more books in the series and both of them also won the Hugo and/or Nebula award.

Cheri wrote: "I really like your list! What I often do to avoid the challenge slump is to read something I want to read, even if it's not on my list, and I've discovered it often fits one of the prompts. Yay!

..."

The Fifth Season is a book I've been meaning to read for FOREVER. Hopefully this 2019 is my year!

Alexa wrote: "I considered reading in order for a few hours, but even before starting it I realised that would be impossible (especially if I want to double my reads). So now I'll just give myself extra points i..."

Yeah, wanting to read in order was a real disaster for me and resulted in multiple book slumps throughout the year. I think I've read almost a third less than I did last year. Lesson learned!

Elizabeth is Missing looks so interesting and I've had it on my TBR for a while, so my hopes are pretty high.

I know reading in order would not work for me.... this is supposed to be fun so I totally agree do what works for you!!!

You list looked good I loved ... The language of flowers, the joy luck club, the poison Wood Bible, a man called, gone girl, pachinko. A few I really didn’t like but sure u will make your own opinion on those! Can’t avoid some sour NOT FOR ME books! Lol! Pardon my lack of capitals ... I was doing voice to text and too lazy to fix them all!! Ha

Kelly wrote: "I know reading in order would not work for me.... this is supposed to be fun so I totally agree do what works for you!!!

You list looked good I loved ... The language of flowers, the joy luck club..."

Haha, I've definitely had the same reactions to some other lists! It's hard to tamp down on the NOOOO THAT BOOK SUCKS instinct.

I'm attempting to read in order this year, but, like you, I gave myself 5-10 choices per prompt (I just really love hunting for books to fit the prompts haha!). I'm hoping that doing a rejects challenge out of order and having a variety of options for each week will give me the ability to mood read without feeling too constrained!

Melanie wrote: "Kelly wrote: "I know reading in order would not work for me.... this is supposed to be fun so I totally agree do what works for you!!!

You list looked good I loved ... The language of flowers, the..."

OMG I would love it if someone would just tell me NO THAT BOOK SUCKS, lol. I might read it anyways just to see if I agree but at least Id go in to it with a heads up.

@Emily, I've just accepted the fact that I mood read every year lol.

Tracy wrote: "Melanie wrote: "Kelly wrote: "I know reading in order would not work for me.... this is supposed to be fun so I totally agree do what works for you!!!

You list looked good I loved ... The language..."

I will gladly go through your 2019 plan and tell you which books suck.

Melanie wrote: "Tracy wrote: "Melanie wrote: "Kelly wrote: "I know reading in order would not work for me.... this is supposed to be fun so I totally agree do what works for you!!!

You list looked good I loved ....."

I'm very much a DON'T READ THAT BOOK EVER type person and I end up stopping myself because I realize that not everyone appreciates that like I do haha

Emily wrote: "Melanie wrote: "Tracy wrote: "Melanie wrote: "Kelly wrote: "I know reading in order would not work for me.... this is supposed to be fun so I totally agree do what works for you!!!

You list looked..."

I'm really curious now if there's any in my plans that set off that DON'T READ THAT BOOK reaction. You can tell me if you like! I mean, I'll probably still read it anyway (depending), but I really want to know now, haha.

We have quite a few books in common that we plan on reading next year!

Of the books you have listed, The Rules of Magic and The Eyre Affair are two that I really didn't enjoy. My book club read The Eyre Affair a few months back and it was a general nope from everyone (although lots of people love it, so we could just be off on that). Rules of Magic was just so slowwwww and lacked dialogue so I just didn't connect to the characters at all.

I DID love White Noise (a favorite from one of my college classes), A Man Called Ove, All the Light We Cannot See, and Gone Girl!

The Passage is really good. Thank you for reminding me that the last book of the trilogy is on my TBR. It would be perfect for monstrous.

Ha ha, well I didn’t really need to SHOUT I hated the books cause I have read some that much worse lol!! But u know everyone has different opinions about books! ;)

Of your books there were 4 that jumped out as not really my favorites but that doesn’t mean by any means you shouldn’t read them because you may in fact LOVE them!!

But just since you asked here they are...
Exit West
My life in France
In the woods
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August

I wasn’t a huge fan of Exit West either, but it wasn’t enough for me to warn you away. I gave it 3 stars.

I am totally with you on the multiple options and not reading in order. Between being a mood reader and using the library as much as possible, reading in order would be a huge stress for me and take a lot of the fun out.

If anyone happens to check out my list, feel free to let me know if a book sucks! lol

Emily wrote: "We have quite a few books in common that we plan on reading next year!

Of the books you have listed, The Rules of Magic and The Eyre Affair are two that I really didn..."

I'm actually not typically a fan of mysteries, so I'm a bit skeptical of whether or not I'll actually enjoy The Eyre Affair. It was recommended to me over a decade ago by a literature teacher (I always remember a rec) and I feel guilty for not having read it yet. So that's why I'm going to try it, haha. Also, I adored Practical Magic, but I've been burned by disappointing followups to excellent books, whether prequel or sequel (The Boy on the Bridge, I'm looking at you), so I know that just because I loved PM doesn't mean I'll love RoM.

Kelly wrote: "Ha ha, well I didn’t really need to SHOUT I hated the books cause I have read some that much worse lol!! But u know everyone has different opinions about books! ;)

Of your books there were 4 that..."

That's interesting that both you and Emily weren't fans of Exit West. I was under the impression that everyone and their dog loved it, haha. I really loved The Reluctant Fundamentalist, so I'm hopeful I enjoy Exit West, too. But I've found blockbuster, award-winning novels disappointing on occasion too. I never really clicked with The Underground Railroad, for example.

You are like the first person I have seen admit they didn’t click with Underground Railroad!! I really didn’t like that one either but I was almost embarrassed to say so!! Like with Gentleman in Moscow I was the only one thought I wasn’t smart enough to like it!! Sometimes too much praise can be the death of a book!! I remember so many people raving about Exit West so I had high hopes! 🤷🏻‍♀️

Next year will be my second year too! Only I'm going to try and read the books in some semblance of order bc this year has just devolved into mood reading whatever and trying to slot it into one of the prompts. 😂

It looks like we have similar taste, I read some of the books (The House of the Spirits, Pachinko, All the Light We Cannot See — all 10/10 would recommend) on your list this year and some are up next. Your plan has defo increased my TBR list, thanks!

eleen ✨ wrote: "Next year will be my second year too! Only I'm going to try and read the books in some semblance of order bc this year has just devolved into mood reading whatever and trying to slot it into one of..."

Pachinko has come super highly recommended to me, I'm excited about that one.

I was underwhelmed by The Eyre Affair too. I know people love it, but I thought it was meh. There are so many other great books.

Liz wrote: "I was underwhelmed by The Eyre Affair too. I know people love it, but I thought it was meh. There are so many other great books."

I truly adored Fforde's Shades of Grey, which he doesn't seem like he'll continue in favor of focusing on the Thursday Next books. It's a shame because that book is witty and clever beyond anything. I'm hoping The Eyre Affair has half its charm. But now I'm losing confidence, I must admit. Mysteries aren't my typical fare to begin with.

JANUARY ROUND-UP

So I initially meant to post about each book as I read them, but I forgot, so instead I'm doing a monthly round-up. Maybe I'll remember this in a month's time! I did pretty well this month, with 15 books total and 10 going toward my ATY challenge. Here's the lineup:



Highlights: Border, 1491, and Man's Search for Meaning were all incredible nonfiction. One of my unofficial goals this year was to read more nonfiction (at least one a month) and these were all incredible choices.

Border had beautiful prose and was an amazing travel book into the Balkans, a region including Bulgaria, Turkey, and Greece. It's not a place I'm very familiar with, but the author writes with a ton of love and made me fall in love with it too. It's also very relevant to the US today. The author, who grew up in Cold War-era Bulgaria, has some very pertinent things to say about militarized borders and how they can drain a land of its beauty and culture. I can't recommend it highly enough.

1491 was an amazingly well researched book into pre-Colombian Americas, and it really changed my entire perspective on the incredible complexity and sophistication of Native American societies. One thing I thought particularly amazing is how the "empty wilderness" so many pioneers fell in love with was only empty and wild because the Indians who had cultivated it for millennia had been decimated by disease. It makes perfect sense, yet I had never put it together before. The author even gives substantial argument that even the Amazon Rainforest was really a massive, ancient garden. It's very cool stuff. I'm looking forward to reading 1493, the follow-up.

And Man's Search for Meaning was a beautiful little book written by a Holocaust survivor and psychiatrist on how to find meaning and beauty even in the face of appalling suffering. I found it deeply moving.