Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
2020 Plans
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2020 Completed Challenges
Mod
- 5 S..."
I am so impressed that you carefully choose every book on your TBR! Mine is more like, "I heard or read about this and it looks somewhat interesting, add it to the list and if it shows up at the library or cheap somewhere, I'll look into it more". So just a running list. I also have many physical books I bought at library sales, dollar stores, etc. that struck me as interesting in the moment but that I put on a shelf and forgot about. I categorize them as "owned" books which should take precedence over "TBR" that I don't own, but it doesn't always work that way.
I finished my very first reading challenge!!5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
Didn't realize I have been stingy with my 5 stars. Had a lot of 4 stars though.
Cinder | Winter
My most creative twist on a prompt
I don't think I was creative with the prompts.
The prompt I cheated on
Not sure if it's cheating but finding books for some prompts was a stretch.
-21. A book related to Maximilian Hell, the noted astronomer and Jesuit Priest who was born in 1720 - Cress | Winter
-29. An underrated book, a hidden gem or a lesser known book - Magic Tests | Love Without Borders: How Bold Faith Opens the Door to Embracing the Unexpected
-33. A book about a non-traditional family - Cress | Winter | Stars Above
-35. A book with a geometric pattern or element on the cover - Recursion
-46. A book about an event or era in history taken from the Billy Joel song "We Didn't Start the Fire" - A Gentleman in Moscow
My favorite prompt
I enjoyed most of the prompts
My least favorite prompt
-42. A book that was nominated for one of the ‘10 Most Coveted Literary Prizes in the World’ - Less
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
Station Eleven
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
I could not finish any of these
One Day in December | 11/22/63 | Mrs. Everything
Mod
I finished my last prompt yesterday woo! It's my 2nd time to finish all 52 prompts in 5 years of doing the challenge.5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
I'm very stingy with my 5 star ratings--it has to be an all time fave. So I haven't had any 5 stars this year, but I have had several 4 stars.
4 stars that I read for ATY this year include:
Calling Me Home
The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick
A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812
The Glass Hotel
The Giver of Stars
My most creative twist on a prompt
I used Mansfield Park for the underrated book prompt even though most people have at least heard of it since I consider it an underrated Austen.
The prompt I cheated on
For the 20th book prompt, I scrolled through a bunch of different listopias to find a list that had a book I had already read in 2020 in the 20th spot.
My favorite prompt
I always enjoy reading a book from the Goodreads Choice Awards.
My least favorite prompt
Probably the 20th book prompt, just because it was hard to fill.
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!) & A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
I'm more of a person who reads what I want & then makes those books fit the prompts rather than reading things specifically for ATY. This year, I did read 2 books solely because they fit ATY prompts: Calling Me Home & The Housekeeper and the Professor and I really enjoyed both. A book that I didn't like this year that fit one of the prompts was If Walls Could Talk: An Intimate History of the Home.
Lots of stinkers this year, but I loved:- Priest Turned Therapist Treats Fear of God: Poems
- All the Light We Cannot See
- And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic
Emily wrote: "CONGRATS! Feel free to post here once you've finished your 2020 Reading Challenge, and let us all celebrate with you!If you're interested, feel free to answer these questions and let us know what..."
5 books I really liked are:
The Silent Patient
The Sun Is Also a Star
Just One Day
Looking for Alaska
The Alchemist
each book is 5 stars..
i couldn't put down each of these books.
if it's about least favourite then
The Power of Your Subconscious Mind
I finished the challenge on 31st October5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
None! I'm pretty stingy with 5 stars. Loads of 4-stars though.
My most creative twist on a prompt
I wasn't particularly creative with the prompts, I pretty much went with obvious choices.
The prompt I cheated on
I cheated a bit on "an underrated book or hidden gem" because I wasn't sure how to define it, and my friend lent me a book I hadn't heard of before so I decided that would do.
My favourite prompt
A book by an author on the Abe List of 100 Essential Female Writers - I like list prompts as it makes it easier to find books that fit, and I'm always up for reading more books by women. I chose Daniel Deronda by George Eliot.
My least favourite prompt
Probably the "underrated" one I cheated on. I didn't hate it, I just found it hard to find a book for.
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende - I read this for no. 49, a prompt that didn't win; I chose the prompt "author born in a Latin American country" and I found the book in a charity shop. This was my first time reading Allende and I definitely want to read more of her books.
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
The Lovely Bones (41. a mystery) and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (33. non-traditional family). One scene from Lovely Bones left a bad taste in my mouth, and I didn't really get the hype for Miss Peregrine's.
I finally finished on 3rd December. The last book seemed to last forever. 5 star reads (not including rereads)
Becoming
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
The House in the Cerulean Sea
My most creative twist on a prompt
It turns out I've been very uncreative this year. I was struggling with the 20th book prompt until I realised that the 20th book on my tracking spreadsheet would work.
The prompt I cheated on
I don't entirely think it's cheating but I used more rereads than I normally would. This year has really impacted my mental health and in the early stages of lockdown I couldn't handle reading anything new and relied on some old favourites.
Favourite prompt
I loved the 'We didn’t start the fire' prompt. It was so creative and I'm glad we've got a lyric prompt again in 2021.
Least favourite prompt
GRC awards just because they annoy me.
A book I might not have read but I'm glad I did
I'm Not Scared
An American Marriage
The Assault
The Glass Hotel
Less
A book I might not have read and wish I hadn't
Notes from Underground
The Book of Dragons
The Cat and The City
On the Road
The Testaments
Mod
5 star reads (not including rereads)
Becoming
[book:Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Unive..."
I loved Aristotle and Dante read on audio by Lin-Manuel Miranda. It was the rare instance where I just sat on my couch and did nothing but listen when I got near the end of the book.
Finally finished on 6 December.- 5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
#1 - One Good Deed
#3 - Cilka's Journey
#21 - An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth
#26 - The Silent Patient
#29 - A Job You Mostly Won't Know How to Do
#45 - The Good Turn
- My most creative twist on a prompt
I don't think I have been very creative with any of the prompts
- The prompt I cheated on
#17 Neurodiverse Character The Last Widow
I started researching 'Neurodiverse' and realised I had just finished a book that fitted the prompt - a character with dyslexia
- My favourite prompt
#29 - A hidden Gem that really was a gem!
A Job You Mostly Won't Know How to Do
- My least favourite prompt
#47. A classic book you've always meant to read
The Little Prince
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
#4. A book set in a place or time that you wouldn't want to live (Contemporary USA)
The Hate U Give
Thought provoking with lots of different perspectives on racial issues.
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
#32. A book related to the 2020 Olympic Summer Games in Japan What's Left of Me Is Yours
This book is set in Tokyo. An insight into Japanese culture. I found the violence against women seemingly condoned by the legal system disturbing.
reply | flag *
Belinda, I don’t want to live in the US either, but semi-stick here. Interested to know why you didn’t like the Little Prince. Is it at least easy to read? I’m going to read my first book in Spanish next year and chose that.
5 Star books that I read for the ATY ChallengeNoble House by James Clavell (my only reread for the challenge, but it fit so perfectly for Billy Joel song)
Transcendent Kingdom and Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
A Maggot by John Fowles
The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
- My most creative twist on a prompt
Not sure it's a twist, but I enjoyed coming up with A Voyage to Arcturus. Also, I don't think many people would've picked A Maggot for the mystery prompt, but I don't read genre mysteries much, so finding something outside that realm was satisfying
- The prompt I cheated on
- My favorite prompt
I enjoyed the Maximillian Hell prompt, even if it was challenging to figure something out for it.
- My least favorite prompt
A mystery. I don't read generic mysteries much, even if the book I did use for it ended up being a 5 star (and definitely outside the normal realm of the genre).
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
Most of the books I read were either books I own, or books from 1001 books or other lists I'm trying to read my way through, so I can't think of one I wouldn't have read eventually. Several I read were definitely read sooner than they might have been otherwise.
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
Same answer here, but since there wasn't a question for least favorite books, I'll list some of my lower rated books. It takes a lot for me to rate something that I finish below a three, so if it's a two star I really disliked it. Here are my two stars for the challenge
Time's Arrow by Martin Amis
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James (super disappointed by this, since I loved Red Leopard Black Wolf)
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Billy Bathgate by E.L. Doctorow
A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay
The Lover by Marguerite Duras
Alicia wrote: "Belinda, I don’t want to live in the US either, but semi-stick here. Interested to know why you didn’t like the Little Prince. Is it at least easy to read? I’m going to read my first book in Span..."
Alicia,
I actually did like the Little Prince (4 stars). I read it twice because when I got to the end I could see the book from a different perspective and enjoyed second read better than the first.
What I didn't like was the prompt. I found it was the most difficult prompt to choose a book for. There were a couple of DNF books abandoned along the way.
I finished the challenge! Check out which books I read for each prompt: https://www.jennandtoniclife.com/post...
Another year done as of last night! I'm at 68 books for the year (maybe I'll hit 75 again if I step it up?). I struggled throughout the year with my focus. It was a tough year with the pandemic because my brain capacity just wasn't there for reading most days. Vegging on the couch with mindless TV and internet scrolling were much more appealing. To answer some of the questions:
Five star reads:
These were both early reads for me (January and mid-February) so I got my best out of the way early!
Most creative twist on a prompt :
I don't know if it's all that creative, but I liked pairing Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and Fleishman Is in Trouble side-by-side for the "binary opposites" prompt. As a rhetoric nerd, I really enjoy parallel construction, and I thought that was a nice parallel construction of binary opposite ideas.
My Favorite Prompt : A book related to "We Didn't Start the Fire"; there was just so much available there!
My least favorite prompt: A book related to witches. I didn't have a lot of books that interested me for that, and the book I did wind up with, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, didn't engage me too much. I came very close to wildcard-ing this and I've never used a wildcard in my years doing ATY.
5 Star books that I read for the ATY ChallengeRebecca
Anxious People
My most creative twist on a prompt- Probably Stuck in the Middle With You: A Memoir of Parenting in Three Genders just because the same family evolved from what most would say was a traditional family to what many would say was nontraditional, yet they were the same people the entire time!
The prompt I cheated on- I don't really consider it cheating but Clap When You Land was only set in NYC half the book (but it was a real part of the story, especially the global nature of the city)
My favorite prompt--I always love historical fiction and I was spoiled for choice with the "Start the Fire" and "Inspired by News story" prompts
My least favorite prompt-"Not sure how to pronounce name" As someone with a not obvious how to pronounce name I found it a rather lazy prompt--it is not that hard to look up how to pronounce something.
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!) Anxious People
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!) Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town
I just completed the challenge yesterday, my first ever reading challenge! I didn’t start ATY until Mid-March, when I realized that the pandemic stay at home orders would give me substantially more reading time than I typically have. I had some catching up to do, and am so pleased to have finished! I particularly enjoyed having the ability to search the community spreadsheet and see what others had used for a prompt. Brooke and Emily, I picked up a few suggestions from your lists and appreciate the indirect recommendations. Onward to 2021! - 5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
Hollywood Park, Mikel Jollett
The Island of the Sea Women, Lisa See
American Dirt, Jeanine Cummins
The Prettiest Star, Carter Sickels
The Henna Artist, Alka Joshi
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, Lisa See
Transcendent Kingdom, Yaa Gyasi
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, V.E. Schwab
- My most creative twist on a prompt
The binary opposites prompt, My Dark Vanessa, Kate Elizabeth Russel and The Prettiest Star, Carter Sickels
- My favorite prompt
Billy Joel, We Didn’t Start the Fire
- My least favorite prompt
Maximillian Hell
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
The Prettiest Star, Carter Sickels
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
Untamed, Glennon Doyle
Yay! Finished up last night! This is my 5th year completing the challenge. It's still fun so I will come back for 2021!5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge (5 of which are non-fiction!)
The Tsar of Love and Techno
Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood
Cutting for Stone
Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the 116 Days that Changed the World
Three Brothers: Memories of My Family
Green Island
The Library Book
American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst
The Rotters' Club
Plum Rains
- My most creative twist on a prompt
A book that you are prompted to read because of something you read in 2019 - Hardboiled & Hard Luck
I struggled with this prompt and decided this book could fit because I selected it based on the fact it was a Japanese author. Last year I really enjoyed Strange Weather in Tokyo and was looking to read another Japanese author.
- The prompt I cheated on
The 20th Book - The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep
I had planned on reading War and Peace for this prompt but couldn’t get past the first chapter! I was also reading Unlikely Escape. When I went to add it to my Books about Books shelf, I saw there were 17 books on the shelf. I added 2 books that I had read before I created this shelf, putting this book at the #20 spot. Not really cheating I guess.
- My favorite prompt
Book related to the arts - I planned to read the Goldfinch all year long but I stumbled upon The Tsar of Love and Techno, which fit on several levels - art, dance, and music.
- My least favorite prompt
20th Book and the Binary Opposites
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
Book by an author whose real name you're not quite sure how to pronounce
The Sadness of Beautiful Things: Stories by Simon Van Booy
Yes, I looked the name up and was pronouncing it correctly but when I showed the book to my husband, he said, "How do you pronounce that name?" It's a beautiful collection of short stories by a new-to-me author!
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
The first book in a series that you have not started - The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line
My daughter is a huge Veronica Marrs fan and bought the first 2 books in the series. I've only watched one episode and found the book to be silly.
Mod
Picnic at Hanging Rock
- My most creative twist on a prompt:
a non-traditional family
A Morbid Taste for Bones
a monastery of monks is a family of sorts
- The prompt I cheated on:
a book from the 2019 GR Choice Awards
The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 2: Fandemonium
technically Vol 9 of this series was the one in the 2019 challenge but I feel that reading the next book for me in the series was within the spirit of the prompt
- My favorite prompt
I really liked the pair of binary opposites; it was fun to see all the different approaches people took and the different books they chose. I went with books that hard sort of similar titles but opposite vibes.
A House at the Bottom of a Lakecreepy
Little House in the Big Woods cozy
- My least favorite prompt
the "We Didn't Start the Fire" prompt; I just don't like that song and that clouded my creative vision for this prompt. I ended up reading:
Psycho
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
this would probably have languished on my tbr for a few more years if I wasn't given a push to read it
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
I can't think of one for this. I did read a fair few clunkers this year but I would have picked them up anyway. Not ATY's fault :)
So happy I finished! I was beginning to think I might not!
Well I finished my ATY 2020 challenge last night, I had to change a few of my books as I've been living away from home for the last 6 weeks and only expecting to be away a few days there's a pile of books waiting for me at home. However thanks to my sister-in-law's bookshelves and my Kobo I managed to substitute the ones I couldn't read.5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
My Name is Why by Lemn Sissay which would fit next year's prompt 24. A book about racism or race relations
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
The Old Man Who Read Love Stories by Luis Sepúlveda
The Door by Szabó Magda.
The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
I don't feel I managed a creative twist on a prompt and although there were a few prompts I feel tempted to cheat on I didn't in the end.
My favourite prompt was probably week 27 a history or historical fiction as I love to read about history.
My least favourite prompt was probably a book related to Maximilian Hell but I'm glad for all the suggestions people shared and I enjoyed Smaller and Smaller Circles which I probably wouldn't have read otherwise - so that fits "A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)"
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!) Probably Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children which I read for week 5 - The first book in a series that you have not started, the idea was interesting but it wasn't for me and I won't be reading the next in the series.
I'm grateful to have the challenge to keep me from reading the same genres and I'm now making my plans for next year, hoping to include the books left at home!
Mod
Your flexibility is impressive in using what was at hand! I see you also have an international selection of books.
I have finally completed my Expanded 2020 ATY Challenge. I also completed Pop Sugar and read books by all authors on the Abe List of Essential Women Writers that I had not read before (56 authors). This group has been a bright spot during many a dark day this year. Thank you to everyone who contributes to the group and a special thanks to our wonderful mods. Full details can be found here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
Anne of Green Gables
To Kill a Mockingbird
Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know
My most creative twist on a prompt
My pair of binary opposites included talking/not talking and strangers/family
Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know
What My Mother and I Don't Talk About: Fifteen Writers Break the Silence
The prompt I cheated on
I used Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster for #52 a book about time.
My favorite prompt
#34 A book from a genre or sub genre that starts with a letter in your name. I actually did one book for each letter of my first and last name and had a great time mapping this out.
My least favorite prompt
#20 The 20th book.
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
The Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer
I finished on Nov. 12 but I didn’t have a chance to double check whether the books I read fit all the prompts until last weekend (I read first, then I assign prompts).1. 5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
Becoming
11/22/63
The Handmaid's Tale
A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II
(This is only a subset. Ever since I joined Goodreads and this group in particular, my book ratings have increased steadily across years, and I’ve had fewer and fewer big misses. I think it is because I’m getting better at recognizing what I like and don’t like. I’m also better at predicting which members have similar reading tastes to mine and then I pay close attention to their recommendations. So although I’ll read the odd book that I’m not crazy about, I have proportionally more 5 star reads now than 6-7 years ago when what I used to pick a book was the blurb on the back cover.)
2. My most creative twist on a prompt
I didn’t really use any prompts creatively, but for the following two prompts that had many possibilities:
13. A prompt from a previous Around the Year in 52 Books challenge.
49. A book that fits a prompt from the list of suggestions that didn’t win.
To make these more challenging, I limited them to prompts that I had suggested at some point (A book with a plot centered around a secret and Read a book with a hyphen in the title, respectively).
3. The prompt I cheated on
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
(I cheated on this in that I just copied the idea someone else had when they used this book for their Olympics prompt. I thought it was a brilliant twist.)
4. My favorite prompt
Two books that are related to each other as a pair of binary opposites
(I suggested this prompt, so perhaps I’m biased, but I had a lot of fun trying to think of different opposites. And it was also great to see all of the different creative ways other people came up with pairings.)
5. My least favorite prompt
A book that you are prompted to read because of something you read in 2019
A book by the same author who wrote one of your best reads in 2019 or 2018
(I didn’t have any prompts that I really didn’t like, but I thought these two were too similar to have in the same year.)
6. A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
The Giver of Stars (I picked this book based on what other ATY members picked to fit the Max Hell prompt, which was the only prompt I hadn’t been able to fit with books I happen to have already read.)
The Unseen World (I heard about this book only because it was on our list of lesser known books)
7. A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
Turtles All the Way Down
The Kiss Quotient
(I’m realizing more and more that YF romance aren’t really my thing. They weren’t horrible books, but just not my thing.)
8. A book I read because of Covid
I reread the Harry Potter series, just because I needed something light, familiar and that allowed me to escape.
(I’m adding this extra question because Covid really defined my reading for 2020)
This was my first ATY challenge and I have had so much fun. It opened me up to so many new books that I would have never heard of and the added seasonal challenges kept this fresh and exciting!5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
My most creative twist on a prompt and my favorite prompt.
37. Two books that are related to each other as a pair of binary opposites: Book #1
38. Two books that are related to each other as a pair of binary opposites: Book #2The prompt I cheated on
I would never!
My least favorite prompt
7. A book set in the southern hemisphereA book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
Got to read your list of books and picked a few to read someday. Well done!!!
I finished on 12/13. My thread is “The Bookish Year of Nina B”5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge:
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
The Plague by Albert Camus
Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic by David Quammen
Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster by Svetlana Alexievich
My most creative twist on a prompt: The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker and The Affirmation of Life: Nietzsche on Overcoming Nihilism by Bernard Reginster for “two books that are related to each other as a pair of binary opposites”. Neither was an easy read, but both were worth the effort (the latter more than the former).
The prompt I cheated on:
#45. A book by the same author who wrote one of your best reads in 2019 or 2018. One of the best books I read in 2019 was A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara Tuchman so I had my mind made up to read The Guns of August (which also could work for several other prompts), as it has been in my TBR for a few decades now. However, after I started reading it, I could tell that it was going to take me quite some time to get through it, time I no longer had based on the prompts I still had left. The options from authors of my other faves from 2019 also seemed like books I’d be unable to devour quickly (or were things I’d already read). Then I realized I could also pick one of my faves from 2018 for the prompt (I’d somehow skipped past that bit the first 50 times I looked at the list). At first I thought I’d have the same problem there (e.g. my absolute fave from 2018 was a re-read of War and Peace in a different translation), but then I noticed that I had apparently given five stars to a romance novel, The Devil in Spring by Lisa Kleypas (mostly because I adored the meet cute, I think). I had already read the latest book in the series, Chasing Cassandra, for the “published in 2020” prompt and switched it to #45 instead. Hopefully, I’ll be able to tackle The Guns of August in 2021. Prompt #21 (a book whose title and author both contain the letter “u”) would fit the bill nicely
My favorite prompt:
#21. A book related to Maximilian Hell, the noted astronomer and Jesuit priest who was born in 1720. It’s such a weirdly specific and, quite frankly, utterly bizarre prompt, but it has many possible interpretations. I read The Great Swindle: A History of the South Sea Bubble by Virginia Cowles. It took place in 1720.
My least favorite prompt:
#46. A book about an event or era in history taken from the Billy Joel song "We Didn't Start the Fire". My 11th grade social studies teacher had the same idea. We spent a whole semester writing an essay every week about one of the events, people, or topics in the song. I vaguely recall mentioning in my essay about Bob Dylan that my dad (who grew up on the Iron Range and is a few years younger than Dylan) told me that Bob Dylan was a lousy basketball player in high school. Not sure what my teacher thought about that. I did like the book that I read for this prompt, Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine, 1921-1933 by Anne Applebaum, though it was very depressing.
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!): The Witches by Roald Dahl. Utterly charming.
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!): The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Simply awful. The only good thing I can say about it is that it's short.
I had a lot of fun with this challenge and am excited to start on next year’s challenge.
Completed the challenge on 12/13.5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
Some would say "way too many". Some of them are: Middlemarch, My Invented Country: A Nostalgic Journey Through Chile; The Dry; Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk; The Devotion of Suspect X; The Ten Thousand Doors of January; Yellow Crocus; How to Be an Antiracist; The Other Americans; The Water Dancer; The Bastard of Istanbul; What are the Blind Men Dreaming?
My most creative twist on a prompt
"Two books that are related to each other as a pair of binary opposites". I finally had to just read a book and then go find another book to complement. Read two Isabelle Allende's. The first a fiction published in 2017; the second a non-fiction published in 2003.
The prompt I cheated on
"The 20th book [on your TBR, in a series, by an author, on a list". I can't remember what really showed up, but I remember I hated the idea of reading it.
My favorite prompt
"A book originally published in a year that is a prime number". Different. Really made me think (and google!)
My least favorite prompt
"A book with a title that doesn't contain the letters A, T or Y". I think we may have beat this one to death. But it seems others like it!
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
[book:Middlemarch|19089] - 904 pages of early 1800's British small town society. Slow going in the beginning (but quite a bit of character and cultural development) and then became delightful.
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
Murder on Bainbridge Island. The positive to this was that I got it out of my library.
I've finished the challenge this week and am really pleased as it's my first year participating. I love reading this thread so I'm very excited to write my post!5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
I think overall I'm pretty generous with stars and they're also very personal. Some of my absolute faves that I've read for the challenge are:
Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
The Overstory by Richard Powers
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
My most creative twist on a prompt
For 'related to Maximillian Hell' I picked up The Darwin Affair by Tim Mason which was a Big Library read here in the UK. The connection is that both Darwin and Hell were both members of The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
The prompt I cheated on
I don't think I've cheated badly on any of the prompts. Probably the biggest stretch was for the 'We Didn't Start the Fire' prompt where I read The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. The connection was the famous opening for the book about the Rosenbergs who do appear in the song. It's honestly a stretch to say this book was about them though.
My favorite prompt
Maybe my favourite prompt was one that didn't make it - I picked an 'up-lit' book and really enjoyed exploring that genre. I read Sourdough by Robin Sloan which was just the kooky I needed!
My least favorite prompt
Geometric design on the cover. I'm not a big fan of cover prompts as I read from the library and have no real foresight of what any cover is going to look like - particularly this year where I click and collect rather than browse. This one was extra complicated by me not really understanding what the prompt was getting at as geometric - loads of the listopia suggestions did not look suitable to me.
In the end I picked up The Overstory by Richard Powers (concentric circles on cover) which I haven't been able to stop raving about so it worked out well!
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
The challenge certainly gave me a kick to get to some things that I've been meaning to read for years like To Kill a Mockingbird and The Bell Jar and Becoming.
My main genuine discoveries though were probably the 'In Death' series that I picked up the first one for 'horseman of the apocalypse' and have since read 10 more haha. Also The Shelf by Helly Acton for 'book you don't recognise' I really enjoyed and found to be a really touching and witty take on pressures placed on women to settle if they want to settle down.
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
Hmmm my library has a shocking selection of books set in other countries. I wanted to try a new author for 'Australian, NZ or Canadian author' and somehow came across The Last High by Daniel Kalla. I 100% would have DNFd this if not for the challenge and it's one of the worst books that I've actually finished. I had more success with 'set in southern hemisphere' where I've discovered I like Jane Harper!
Overall I've had a great year of reading and am so pleased I found this challenge!
I thought I still had one book to go, but when I looked over my duplicates, books that I read for a prompt that I already finished, I saw that one could fit my missing prompt!5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge:
Little Fires Everywhere
Sweep in Peace
To Be Taught, If Fortunate
Smaller and Smaller Circles
Where the Crawdads Sing
Love From A to Z
Dear Edward
Cress
American Dirt
Winter
Akata Witch
Fairest
Becoming
My most creative twist on a prompt:
25. A book related to the arts - I chose The Flatshare because the main character was into arts and crafts (which isn't something I'd usually think of for "the arts")
The prompt I cheated on:
52. A book related to time - Mexican Gothic. I consider it a cheat since I didn't mean to put that book there but just moved it around.
My favorite prompt:
8. A book with a two-word title where the first word is "The" - because I suggested this :)
My least favorite prompt:
None
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!):
Big Little Lies
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!):
The Other Mrs.
- 5 Star books that I read for the ATY ChallengeKnow My Name
Red, White & Royal Blue
One by One
- My most creative twist on a prompt
For the Prompt "Two books related to each other as a pair of binary opposites" I did a book about a poor family and a book about a wealthy family ( The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek and Red, White & Royal Blue respectively). It was really interesting to see how - even though one family was dirt poor and the other royalty - they still had similar struggles.
- The prompt I cheated on
Technically Sharp Objects could have been read in a day - but I didn't.
- My favorite prompt
"History or Historical Fiction" is my jam. Also liked "Two books of binary opposites"
- My least favorite prompt
I didn't love the "a book with a place name in the title" prompt. I found it difficult to find one I wanted to read.
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
Pachinko (A book published in a year that is a prime number)
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
Whisper Network This was almost a DNF for me but I pushed through (a book that fits a prompt from the list of suggestions that didn't win)
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Those were from Popsugar (I get them confused all the time, too!)
Emily wrote: "Katelyn, I don't think we had the prompts for an author in their 20s or a book with a made-up language on our ATY list!"Ugh! Yes - I was bouncing back and forth and got all messed up. Thanks...it has been updated!
Completed the challenge today, and can't believe I did it! This is my first time ever completing the challenge. COVID helped because it gave me more reading time.5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
It was a great reading year, with many 4- and 5-star reads.
Four Major Plays: A Doll's House / Ghosts / Hedda Gabler / The Master Builder by Henrik Ibsen
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
Old Man Goriot by Honoré de Balzac
Plays 2: Cyclops , Hecuba , Iphigenia in Aulis and Trojan Women by Euripides
The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth
The Plague by Albert Camus
A Night to Remember by Walter Lord
My most creative twist on a prompt
Painless Evidence-Based Medicine by Antonio Dans for a book with an emotion in the title
Yeah, I used a textbook for a prompt. I debated with myself whether "painless" is an emotion or a feeling, and decided that in this context it's an emotion.
The prompt I cheated on
Is there a guideline on how long a book should be for the challenge? I used a short story, An Episode Under The Terror by Honoré de Balzac, for one of the prompts.
My favorite prompt
A book about an event or era in history taken from the Billy Joel song "We Didn't Start the Fire". Such a creative prompt, with plenty of options as there are so many events listed in the song. I read The House of God by Samuel Shem, which was published in the Richard Nixon era and makes occasional references to the Watergate scandal.
My least favorite prompt
A book from the 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards. I guess I'm out of the ordinary, but I don't tend to like the choices for the Goodreads Choice Awards. I read The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides and didn't like it.
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
The Warden by Anthony Trollope. I read this for the first book in a series that you have not started. Funny satire, and I plan to read the rest of the Chronicles of Barsetshire.
Circe by Madeline Miller. I read this for a book with a title that doesn't contain the letters A, T or Y. It's well-written with engaging characters, and fit in with my recent interest in Greek myths.
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
Recursion by Blake Crouch. I read this for a book related to time, and struggled so much trying to finish it. I ended up switching to audiobook, and even then had to renew my library loan twice before I could finish it.
But it was better than The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim, which I tried to read for a book published in 2020, and it became my one and only DNF this year.
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I belong to a group that speaks and reads French, and this year we read The Plague/La Peste. Some of it was very resonant for today, such as government reluctance to act and people becoming unmotivated.
I finished (in order) yesterday!5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge:
Indian Horse - prompted by 2019 read
The Deep - title is “The ...”
Sea Prayer - read in a day
The Priory of the Orange Tree - LGBTQIA+ characters
The Book of Longings - genre starts with H
Blackfish City - place name in title
Decolonizing Wealth - “ing” word in title
My most creative twist on a prompt
I didn’t get creative really, my choices were pretty by the book.
The prompt I cheated on
Classic I’ve always meant to read, I had chosen Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, but switched it to her most recent book, A Mercy, when it came up in the Super Rooster tournament. It’s not really a classic, but could well be at some point!
My favorite prompt
Probably the “We Didn’t Start the Fire” one, fun to research... or non traditional family
My least favorite prompt
author’s name I didn’t know how to pronounce, because it seems othering and ethnocentric to me
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall for We didn’t start the fire”
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!
Closest I came would be Delicious Foods for silhouette on the cover, rated 3 stars.
5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge - I read several this year.• Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
• Ghosts of the Tsunami: Death and Life in Japan’s Disaster Zone by Richard Lloyd Parry - Japan
• Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou
• City of Thorns: Nine Lives in the World’s Largest Refugee Camp by Ben Rawlence
• Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
• This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate by Naomi Klein
• Behind the Beautiful Forevers Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo
My most creative twist on a prompt - I don't know if this is particularly creative but I'm not sure a bunch of crazy rich people would be considered non-traditional in the traditional sense.
A book about a non-traditional family: Crazy Rich: Power, Scandal, and Tragedy Inside the Johnson & Johnson Dynasty by Jerry Oppenheimer
The prompt I cheated on - I recognized all the books on my TPR so I just picked a book I read that I didn't use for any of the other prompts.
A book from your TBR/wishlist that you don't recognize, recall putting there, or put there on a whim: Crown of Blood: The Deadly Inheritance of the Lady Jane Grey by Nicola Tallis
My favorite prompt - I love reading history books.
A history or historical fiction
My least favorite prompt - I don't tend to pay attention to what year books are published.
A book originally published in a year that is a prime number
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
A book featuring an LGBTQIA+ character or by an LGBTQIA+ author: Texts from Jane Eyre: And Other Conversations with Your Favorite Literary Characters by Mallory Ortberg/Daniel Ortberg
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
A book that can be read in a day: Liar’s Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street by Michael Lewis
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• Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
• Ghosts of the Tsunami: Deat..."
Very interesting, you probably win the title of most Nonfiction read in 2020!
Finished. - 5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
- My most creative twist on a prompt
For the binary opposites prompts, I choose not just one binary opposite for the books but used three (fiction vs non-fiction, eastern vs western hemisphere, and BCE times vs CE times)
- The prompt I cheated on
None.
- My favorite prompt
24. A book with an emotion in the title
- My least favorite prompt
32. A book related to the 2020 Olympic Summer Games in Japan
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
Dog Songs by Mary Oliver
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon by Daniel C. Dennett
I finished the challenge!- 5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
- A Game of Thrones
- Piranesi
- Murder on the Orient Express
- East of Eden
- The prompt I cheated on
I used a wild card for a book by an author whose name I'm not sure how to pronounce.
- My favorite prompt(s)
- 2 books related as a pair of binary opposites
- A book related to the Billy Joel song "We Didn't Start the Fire"
- A book related to one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse
- My least favorite prompt(s)
- A book inspired by a leading news story - I had a hard time with this prompt and ended up using Murder on the Orient Express since it was inspired by the Lindbergh baby kidnapping (I enjoyed the book at least)
I have just completed the challenge - so happy to have read in order in the correct week all year, fitting Popsugar, book club and other reads in between. I had several 5 star reads but no time at present to look them up. I didn't find any of the prompts too difficult as I have a very large TBR at home, but I must admit I do like the "freebies" which give me more scope to find something to suit my current mood! I have already allocated books to most of next year's prompts, and will be reading in order again - this gives me the incentive to get to books I would probably otherwise keep putting off. Love it!
Congrats Sue! Reading in order is no small feat!
Challenge complete as of last night! :-) I didn't think that I'd be able to finish this year, but spent some of my early holiday break reviewing my reads for this year and found books that fit all but two of my remaining 9 prompts. A bit more poking in my TBR and the library's "available now" list found the two titles I needed to finish.Many great books this year - here are my favorite reads for this challenge:
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
An Assembly Such as This by Pamela Aidan
Dying with Her Cheer Pants On by Seanan McGuire
The Affair of the Mysterious Letter by Alexis Hall
Minor Mage by T. KingfisherLooking forward to the 2021 challenge!
5 Star books that I read for the ATY ChallengeCircling the Sun
The Wife
East of Eden
News of the World
Peace Like a River
The Lotus Eaters
A Gentleman in Moscow
Housekeeping
The Lost Pages
Fruit of the Drunken Tree
The Tiger's Wife
My most creative twist on a prompt
Maybe #37 and #38, the binary opposites, which I interpreted as literal polar opposites with North Pole/South Pole (Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus / Where'd You Go, Bernadette
The prompt I cheated on
#20. The 20th book - I tried several ways to pick a 20th book but finally took a wild card and used the book my book club was reading.
My favorite prompt
#42. A book that was nominated for one of the ‘10 Most Coveted Literary Prizes in the World’ - it was easy to find a book that I wanted to read.
My least favorite prompt
#35. A book with a geometric pattern or element on the cover - prompts related to book covers were not my favorites.
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
The Lost Pages for #39. A book by an author whose real name(s) you're not quite sure how to pronounce.
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
The Catcher in the Rye for #46. A book about an event or era in history taken from the Billy Joel song "We Didn't Start the Fire" or The Giver for #47. A classic book you've always meant to read. I wanted to catch up on books I'd missed reading, but I waited too long.
I just finised....just in the nick of time!
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5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
- With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
- Followers by Megan Angelo
- The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne
- The Alienist by Caleb Carr
- Recursion by Blake Crouch
- The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar
- Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
- The Rural Diaries: Love, Livestock, and Big Life Lessons Down on Mischief Farm by Hilarie Burton Morgan
My most creative twist on a prompt
I don't know if I'm very creative, but I used The Gifted School for the leading news story, which I connected to the college admissions scandal in the US.
The prompt I cheated on
I did not cheat on any, but there were a few that I read the books thinking they would be side reads and then after finishing, realized they applied to prompts I was having trouble filling. The Dutch House (for the 20th prompt) and Bellewether (for the lesser known prompt) come to mind.
My favorite prompt
Oh I had a few, but "related to time" was one I was most looking forward to, and Recursion was one of my favorite books of the year.
My least favorite prompt
"20th book", for sure, and it doesn't help that one of my least favorite books for the challenge was the one I read for that prompt.
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
I definitely wouldn't have picked up Riders by Veronica Rossi if it weren't so perfect for the four horseman prompt
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
I really hated The Magicians and I definitely would have DNF'd it if it weren't for the challenge.
I finished last night! I'm a first timer and the challenge really taught me some things about my reading preferences. Prior to the challenge, I would have said that I am a structured reader more than a mood reader - I make a list, I stick to the list and I don't deviate.What this challenge taught me was that while I can stick to a list, I can only do so for about 6 months before I need to re-visit and adjust my plans for the next 6 months based on what I "feel" like reading - who knew?? If you look at my specific challenge post, the books I thought I would read in the last 6 months of the year largely changed once I hit that 6 month mark.
5 star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
- The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
- The Diamond Queen of Singapore by Ian Hamilton
- All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny
- The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
- The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
- Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
- Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
- Wilder Girls by Rory Power
- Becoming by Michelle Obama
- Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
- Nevernight by Jay Kristoff
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
My most creative twist on a prompt
I'm not overly creative but I would say my use of The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires for a book related to one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse (prompt #43) was creative. I replaced my originally planned book with this one once I was finished reading it - the vampire in this book truly was a plague on this town and neighbourhood.
The prompt I cheated on
I'm not sure I can cheat on my own reading challenge but I did read a few books as side reads that I then used to fill prompts once I realized they fit. The final prompt is also a stretch/cheat. I used The Night Fire as a book related to time (prompt #52) because the crime that was eventually solved took place many decades earlier. I know, a stretch but I just couldn't finish my original choice so moved on to a book I would enjoy more to end the challenge.
My favourite prompt
I really liked a lot of the prompts but a few of my favourites are: Prompt #43: the four horsemen of the apocalypse, Prompt #17: a book with a neurodiverse character and Prompt #28: a book by a Canadian, Australian or New Zealand author.
My least favourite prompt
Definitely Prompt #20: the 20th book.
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I'm so glad I did!)
I have a few but two that stand out are The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Kindred. Both 5 star reads for me and both are books that I continue to think about long after reading them.
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn't!)
While I believe that every book will be loved by someone, Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris and The Last Librarian by Brandt Legg were not loved by me.
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
The Weight of Ink (other topics)The Bear and the Nightingale (other topics)
Anne of Green Gables (other topics)
Normal People (other topics)
Possession (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Seanan McGuire (other topics)Pamela Aidan (other topics)
T. Kingfisher (other topics)
Tamsyn Muir (other topics)
Alexis Hall (other topics)
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I don’t think that’s cheating at all!! That said, I love the book so much I would t mind anyone cheating to read it.