Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Dalex, I'm the same way. Most books that I want from the library are easily available in print (with usually a short wait for audio). That, plus the side reads, makes it much easier for me to stay in order.

I'm currently reading Frankenstein with my English class, and I'm tempted to slot it in for monstrous character, even though that isn't until Week 42. It's just too perfect of a book for that prompt!

I also find myself reading books that would so easily fit into a prompt that is far in the future. I suppose I will use them if I get to that prompt and cannot find or do not want to read another book that would fit. I am re-reading Les Miserables because I wanted to do that before the Masterpiece series starts, and it is very tempting to put it in the 500+ pages slot.

My poor library is so small it seldom has any book that I am looking for and if the book is printed in this century you are on a waiting list behind a dozen other people. If I die rich (fat chance) I will endow a new library and make them put my mother's name on it. (we can all dream).

dalex wrote: "Reading this thread makes me realize how fortunate I am to not have to deal with long library waits! Pretty much any book I want I can walk into the library and get. Even if I do have to request a ..."

I'd love to be able to walk into the library and just check out the paper book. Unfortunately, as an overseas patron, I am limited to the ebook/Kindle versions, and the wait lists for the popular books are often weeks long :(

Lauren wrote: "dalex wrote: "Reading this thread makes me realize how fortunate I am to not have to deal with long library waits! Pretty much any book I want I can walk into the library and get. Even if I do have..."

You are not able to join the library where you live? I know this is an option at the library I work at. You can even do it if you don´t have an address in the country (this is not something promoted, but it´s possible).
Or maybe I didn´t understand your comment correctly?

Johanne wrote: "You are not able to join the library where you live? I know this is an option at the library I work at. You can even do it if you don´t have an address in the country (this is not something promoted, but it´s possible).
Or maybe I didn´t understand your comment correctly? ."

I live in a small town in Northern Israel. Our town library mainly has books in Hebrew, Arabic and Russian. The English selection is very limited.

Yes, you understood perfectly :)
I have a library card at the Orange County library in Florida, which allows out of state and overseas patrons for a fee.

Ah, I see. That makes sense.

I guess a lot of us are spoiled. Though I just heard that Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine just came in and I was 205 on the waiting list. At last I got it.

OK, that probably wouldn't ever happen to me, Ann, since that would mean the whole county was waiting to read it. lol.

I’m happy, March gave me my reading mojo back! I almost read as many pages as Jan and Feb combined and my “kinda in order” plan is a little bit less all over the place 🎉

That's awesome Sophie!

I'm still one book behind, and I chose My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton for the New York Public Library pick... without realizing it's almost 700 pages. So I foresee myself falling further behind this week.

Hopefully I can catch up this summer? lol

Nice to be back on track, isn't it, Sophie!

I know what you are feeling, Emily. I seems I have scheduled four very hefty books for this month without meaning to. I might have to (1) change my plans, or (2) fall behind for a while. If we fall behind, hopefully we come upon a month where we are lighter and catch up.

With regards to library holds, I'm quite lucky in that I live near the border of two council areas and work in a third, so I've joined all three council libraries. One of these is a city too, so I can get a lot of books. The hold times haven't been too horrendous so far, I think the most I've waited for a book was two or three weeks.

I'm stuck on a hefty book too - Grace of Kings for the NYPL prompt. Not only is it physically long but the style is very dense too - it's written like an epic myth or historical text. Feels like I'll never finish it. It's pretty good though.

For those of you in the middle of hefty books, maybe you could read something easy and little to catch your breath, like a graphic novel or a children’s book?

I’m still reading (mostly) in order. I have yet to finish my week 8 book and I’m considering scraping it and picking something new. I’ve had a really difficult time actually finishing a book for the last week and a half so I’m hoping to read through Homicide in Hardcover today for my book about books/reading prompt. It’s shorter and a cozy mystery so I’m hoping it’ll be something I can get through easily and get back on the reading bandwagon. I haven’t picked anything for this weeks NYPL topic, does anyone have any good recommendations??

If you like something a bit gut-wrenching, I read Twilight by William Gay and absolutely loved it!

Brittany wrote: " I’m hoping to read through Homicide in Hardcover today for my book about books/reading prompt."

That's a cute and lighthearted cozy. Hope you enjoy it :)

Lauren wrote: "Brittany wrote: " I’m hoping to read through Homicide in Hardcover today for my book about books/reading prompt."

That's a cute and lighthearted cozy. Hope you enjoy it :)"

I second (third? ) this! I read it earlier this year and enjoyed it. Hope you enjoy it too!

So I'm back on track and reading Find Her for week #16. I confess that I was behind for weeks #14 and #15 so I read two shorter books for these prompts.

Right, I've had to skip around and shuffle books about this month - I had one specific book in mind for #15, but got stuck on it, read a book that I originally filed under #16, then swapped that to #15. Have now skipped ahead and completed #17, and am going to begin another book for #16 shortly.

Monkiecat, that's an amazing number! I feel really accomplished at my 36 books at the moment.

I finished Week 13 after reading My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton for 13 days 😩. I'm not upset that I picked it, because the book was amazing, but I had a lot going on and couldn't get it done as quickly as I wanted to.

So I'm still currently 2 books behind (according to the tracker), but I'll hopefully finish The Mars Room by tomorrow for Week 14... I'd like to finish April on track, but the books I've picked are a bit heavier than I expected them to be so we will see. I'm off of work for the next week, so that should help my reading a bit!

I'm stubbornly refusing to allow myself any flexibility when it comes to order, so I occasionally let side reads distract me, but I'm trying to get that under control.

I have also had to make some changes. When April arrived, I realized I had chosen four books in a row that exceeded 500 pages. With my other reading commitments, that wasn't feasible. So, I switched out two of them for shorter reads and might have to go over into May to finish. Still, everything is still in order and I am keeping pace so far.

Monkiecat! 86 books is amazing. If the goal is to read--you have achieved the goal in spades.

I’m still in order, but I’ve fallen a week behind! It’s nagging at me, so maybe I’ll put in some serious reading time the weekend and try to get at least partly caught up.

I’m about half way done with my Mediterranean book (The City Always Wins) and need to fit in The Obelisk Gate before my library hold on Sophia of Silicon Valley comes in.

I have bounced around the prompts a little bit but within a week or two of the current one. Hope that makes sense. Library availability has had an effect on which week or if I have to switch a book out.

Surprisingly the speculative prompt is the hardest to find a book available for. Most of the wait times are at least 4 weeks if not 14 weeks. I did find one today though.

The name is brilliant "Brown Girl in the Ring" by Nalo Hopkinson. Hopefully it has some ABBA references just for laughs.

I'm caught up through week 14, but I am having a lot of trouble picking a book for the Mediterranean prompt. I'd like something set there, but all of the books that catch my interest are just too loosely related to the prompt for my comfort or they are too long or they aren't available at my library.

Sigh. This is the worst part of reading in order! I need to find something in the next couple of days or I'll fall further behind.

Have you read The Shadow of the Wind? It’s set in Barcelona.

The Shadow of the Wind

Excellent suggestion!

I read (and loved) The Song of Achilles, but I will definitely check out The Shadow of the Wind.

I ended up doing some deep dive researching yesterday, and I put 8 books on hold at the library! I'll probably pick them all up, read a chapter or two and pick one from there.

Strange problem with the challenge counter. I have one book that it will not acknowledge. It is in the proper folder. I took it out of the folder and put it back in, hoping that would clear it, but it still only wants to count 17 instead of 18 read. Any suggestions?

I'm not sure, Sara. Mine is working properly. Maybe just give it a couple days and it will fix itself? (That's my go-to when it comes to Goodreads problems lol)

I had the same problem a few weeks ago, I took the book off the shelf, then added it again and the counter registered it. I hope that works for you!

That didn't work for me, Sophie, but I deleted my counter and set in up again and voila. Strange stuff, but fixed. Thanks for the help, you guys.

Sara, I'm not sure if my "issue" is similar, but my counter/tracker is never correct when I first go to my profile page. However, once I click on "view books" it shows correctly. And then the next time I look at the counter on my profile page, I have to go through the same steps to get it to update with any books read for the challenge since the last time I visited the page. A weird quirk, but it has been this way for quite some time for me. (The Popsugar counter does the same thing.)

My problem was persistent as well, Brooke, but it just seemed to be one book that the counter didn't like. It wasn't even the last book read, it was four books back...and, the counter counted all the books after it. But, weird quirks are part of computer programs, I think. I'm crossing my fingers this is now corrected. Hope your quirk doesn't drive you crazy!

Happy Week 20 guys!

I was catching up on the Weekly Threads, and I realized that I had forgotten so many of the prompts that are at the end of the list because I've been so focused on what's coming up in the next few weeks.

Perk of reading in order: Getting to be surprised and excited about what's to come, rather than always reviewing the list to see how books can fit in anywhere.

I completely agree, Emily. I was looking at the list all the time before and now I just look a couple of weeks ahead. I have also been pleasantly surprised.

Just finished my first book out of order -- read finally, because it came in from the library hold. I figure I should take that one while I can.

Lizzy, that one is worth getting out of order for!

Emily wrote: "Happy Week 20 guys!

I was catching up on the Weekly Threads, and I realized that I had forgotten so many of the prompts that are at the end of the list because I've been so focused on what's comin..."

I’m loving that too! I kinda planned my reading until week 30, so I’m excited for the rest as it’s going to feel like a brand new challenge ☺️

I was going to do that, Sophie, but I had a goal of reading all of the books I owned, and I figured the only way I would actually accomplish that is if I planned them for these prompts. So yesterday, I went through the books I owned and assigned them to weeks and most of them fit... which means I have the rest of my challenge planned out.

Emily wrote: "Happy Week 20 guys!"

Actually, it's Week 21. :)

eugh I am so far behind..

I've caught up this month by reading 7 ATY books (and no outside reads), but I'm definitely going to use this last week of May to do a couple side reads... I seem to have been really ambitious with my planned reads for ATY and they are all some dense reads.

I think I'm caught up at this moment too! Like Emily, it took me 7 ATY books this month. I've started 1Q84 though, so I'll probably be playing catch up again soon!

Yikes, Traci! It would DEFINITELY put me behind if I put that book towards ATY. I have a couple 500+ page books I'm aiming to read this summer, but I made sure that the ATY prompts around those are a bit lighter and easier to read.

Emily wrote: "Yikes, Traci! It would DEFINITELY put me behind if I put that book towards ATY. I have a couple 500+ page books I'm aiming to read this summer, but I made sure that the ATY prompts around those are..."

Ha! Yup. I'm 9% of the way in. I'm interested to see how long it'll take me, I find it interesting so far. I'll listen to some audiobooks for other challenges while I'm reading this, and have some lighter ATY planned for later in June.

I’m three books behind due to waiting for them to become available at the library. I plan to hopefully catch them up this week, since my choice this week, 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff is very short, at ~4.5 hours

I have also fallen behind - needed a break from my 618 page book from #16 - Trackerand haven't gotten back to it yet, and also having a break from my 582 page #23 - The Odyssey, but have done all those in between plus a couple of extras. Looking forward to my next two - Becoming for #24, and Educated for #25, and then will return to the two unfinished ones, and hopefully be caught up within a month or so.

I'm currently "on track" but slogging through Their Eyes Were Watching God for the Something Old prompt, even though it's only 195 pages! Fingers crossed I can finish it tonight and stay on top of things.

How's everyone doing reading in order??

I've managed to stick to it completely AND I'm one book ahead... not holding my breath too long on that, but I feel pretty accomplished at the moment.