Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

I completed my challange at the end of November, but I didn't have time to post.

Fav books I read for the challange (not all I rated as 5 stars, but the 4 stars I'm listing were quite close to 5)

2020 Challenge Complete! I love this challenge and am planning my books for 2021.

Finished in the nick of time! Quite literally since I read the prompts in order this year and the time prompt was the very last one.

5 Star Reads
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
Wolf Hall
The A.B.C. Murders
The Witches Are Coming
My Dark Vanessa
The Death of Vivek Oji
Americanah
Station Eleven
The Amber Spyglass
No Country for Old Men

AND my favorite book and lead character in a novel for 2020
A Gentleman in Moscow

Favorite Prompts
#32 - A book related to the 2020 Olympic Summer Games in Japan: The Silence of the Girls
#31 - A book inspired by a leading news story: When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir

Least Favorite Prompt
#19 - A fantasy book: The Amber Spyglass

I don't particularly like this genre although the book I picked was excellent and wrapped up the trilogy for me.

A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I'm so glad I did!)
#29 - An underrated book, a hidden gem, or a lesser known book: The Blue Castle

I've had this on my TBR forever and this challenge finally made me read it. It was lovely!

A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn't!)
#47 - A classic book you've always meant to read: To the Lighthouse

I can objectively see why this is a classic, but I hated it. Sorry Virginia!

I've just completed my 2020 Challenge. Paced myself well 😁😂.
Looking forward to 2021's Challenge now. I've most of my books picked, I just need to upload them now.
Happy 2021 everyone. 🎉📚📚

- 5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows
The Angel's Game
The Book Thief
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Fifth Business
Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Stories
Life of Pi
The Ghost A Modern Fantasy
Villette

- My most creative twist on a prompt

A book with a neurodiverse character: Don Quixote

- The prompt I cheated on

Nice try. I don't cheat on anything. OK, maybe the rejected prompt challenge because I suggested a book related to a rabbit and read The Year of the Hare when technically hares are not rabbits.

- My favorite prompt

A book that fits a prompt from suggestions that did not win (MY suggestion of a book related to a rabbit) The Year of the Hare - even if I cheated on the innocent but mistaken assumption that hares are rabbits.

- My least favorite prompt

Book featuring LGBTQIA+ character or author. Enough already with these prompts. I read Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Stories

- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)

My Sister, the Serial Killer

- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)

The Divine Comedy

2020 was my 5th attempt at the ATY challenge and my first time completing it (just in time too!) 🎉

🌟 5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge 🌟
The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
Normal People by Sally Rooney

My most creative twist on a prompt
Not sure I was very creative on any of them!

The prompt I cheated on
I used a wild card for the witches prompt so I guess it's kind of a cheat. For the Southern Hemisphere prompt the book I read was only set partly in the SH so that might be a cheat too.

My favorite prompt
A book from a genre that starts with a letter in your name

My least favorite prompt
A book about witches or the book related to Maximilian Hell

A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
Miracle Creek (neurodiverse)

A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
The Museum of Modern Love (geometric cover)

Phew! Just made it! This is my first time doing this challenge, and I'm so happy I was able to complete it. I loved the challenge and can't wait to get started on 2021's.

- 5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge:
Exhalation: Stories (My fave book of the year)
All Systems Red (This was a reread, but I liked it even better the second time around)
The Empress of Salt and Fortune
The Graveyard Book
Ring Shout
Human Acts
Spectrum 27: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art

- My most creative twist on a prompt:
I read The Only Good Indians for prompt #32. A book related to the 2020 Olympic Summer Games in Japan, because of the large amount of basketball playing that occurs in the book.

- The prompt I cheated on:
I used my wildcard on the prompt "A book set in the Southern Hemisphere" and read One by One instead. I just couldn't find anything I was in the mood to read that fit this prompt, and I was reading One by One for a book club, so I cheated. And I really liked One by One so I'm not sorry, lol.

- My favorite prompt:
This is hard to narrow down, but probably #23, "A book featuring an LGBTQIA+ character or by an LGBTQIA+ author", #30 A book from the New York Times '100 Notable Books' list for any year, or #45, A book by the same author who wrote one of your best reads in 2019 or 2018. I also enjoyed the mystery prompt, because I wanted to read more mysteries in 2020 anyway, and I always enjoy the goodreads award prompt.

- My least favorite prompt:
Hmmm...Probably the aforementioned Southern Hemisphere prompt (strangely, I usually dislike location based prompts, not sure why), as well as #46, "A book about an event or era in history taken from the Billy Joel song We didn't start the fire". The first book I read for that prompt I dnfed, and the second one was a bit of a stretch. I just had trouble filling that prompt.

- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!):
#31. A book inspired by a leading news story - In Cold Blood I've had this on my tbr forever, and I'm so glad I finally made the effort to read it. It was incredibly fascinating.

- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!):
Don't think I have one for this! Glad I checked out all of these books, even the ones that weren't my fave.

Viemag has completed the 2020 ATY Challenge: One day left in 2020!
1. A book with a title that doesn't contain the letters A, T or Y —Puddin’ by Julie Murphy
2. A book by an author whose last name is one syllable—The Confession Club by Elizabeth Berg
3. A book that you are prompted to read because of something you read in 2019 Us Against You by Fredrick Backman
4. A book set in a place or time that you wouldn't want to live—The Dead and Those About To Die by John C. McManus
5. The first book in a series that you have not started The Long Call by Ann Cleeves
6. A book with a mode of transportation on the cover—Shadows in Death by J.D. Robb
7. A book set in the southern hemisphere-How To Raise An Elephant by Alexander McCall Smith
8. A book with a two-word title where the first word is “The” The Summons by John Grisham
9. A book that can be read in a day—The Next to Last Stand by Craig Johnson
10. A book that is between 400-600 pages—The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
11. A book originally published in a year that is a prime number—Back Spin by Harlen Cobin, This book was published in 1997 and 1997 is a prime number
12. A book that is a collaboration between 2 or more people-Death of the Mantis by Michael Stanley
13. A prompt from a previous Around the Year in 52 Books challenge (Link)Twisted Twenty-Six by Janet Evanovich.This book is from the 2019 ATY challenge prompt, A book with a number in the title or on the cover
14. A book by an author on the Abe List of 100 Essential Female Writers (link) Red Head on the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler
15. A book set in a global city—Golden in Death by JD Robb The book is set in New York City which is a global city
16. A book set in a rural or sparsely populated area-If You Lived Here You’d Be Home by Now by Christopher Ingraham
17. A book with a neurodiverse character—Christmas At The Island Hotel by Jenny Colgan (wild card choice. There is a neuro-diverse character but he doesn’t have a big part in the book. )
18. A book by an author you've only read once before—With the Fire On High by Elizabeth Acevedo
19. A fantasy book—The Rescuers by Margery Sharp
20. The 20th book [on your TBR, in a series, by an author, on a list, etc. A Dog Called Jack by Ivy Pembroke
21. A book related to Maximilian Hell, the noted astronomer and Jesuit Priest who was born in 1720—Origin by Dan Brown
22. A book with the major theme of survival—The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michelle Richardson
23. A book featuring an LGBTQIA+ character or by an LGBTQIA+ author—Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
24. A book with an emotion in the title-The Gods of Guilt by Michael Connelly
25. A book related to the arts-The Museum of Desire by Jonathan Kellerman
26. A book from the 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards—The Night Fire by Michael Connelly
27. A history or historical fiction—Once Upon A River by Diane Setterfield
28. A book by an Australian, Canadian or New Zealand author—A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny
29. An underrated book, a hidden gem or a lesser known book—The Lager Queen of Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradel
30. A book from the New York Times '100 Notable Books' list for any year—Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
31. A book inspired by a leading news story—The Rooster Bar by John Grisham
32. A book related to the 2020 Olympic Summer Games in Japan—A Place To Belong by Cynthia Kadahata
33. A book about a non-traditional family—To Be Where You Are By Jan Karon
34. A book from a genre or sub genre that starts with a letter in your name Many Rivers To Cross by Peter Robinson —Police Procedural Mystery. My name has both a P and an M in it.
35. A book with a geometric pattern or element on the cover—Pay Attention Carter Jones by Gary Schmidt
36. A book from your TBR/wishlist that you don't recognize, recall putting there, or put there on a whim-The Best Mistake by Nora Roberts
37. Two books that are related to each other as a pair of binary opposites: Book #1Miss Julia Knows a Thing or Two by Ross
38. Two books that are related to each other as a pair of binary opposites: Book #2The Talented Mr. Varg by Alexander McCall Smith
39. A book by an author whose real name(s) you're not quite sure how to pronounce—Maybe You Should Talk To Someone by Laurie Gottlieb
40. A book with a place name in the title Fleshmarket Alley by Ian Rankin
41. A mystery—The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz
42. A book that was nominated for one of the ‘10 Most Coveted Literary Prizes in the World’—The Chosen by Chaim Potok
43. A book related to one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse—Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny
44. A book related to witches——Magic Lessons: The Prequel to Practical Magic
45. A book by the same author who wrote one of your best reads in 2019 or 2018 The Great Reckoning by Louise Penny
46. A book about an event or era in history taken from the Billy Joel song "We Didn't Start the Fire”-Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson
47. A classic book you've always meant to read—Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
48. A book published in 2020—The K Team by David Rosenfelt
49. A book that fits a prompt from the list of suggestions that didn't win (link) The Feral Detective by Jonathan Letham,
50. A book with a silhouette on the cover…The Library of Lost Things by Laura Taylor Namey (there are silhouettes of books not the cover.
51. A book with an "-ing" word in the title The Missing Ones by Patricia Gibney
52. A book related to time—Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Hannah Webber

5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge--I read a lot of 5 star books. I read Martin Marten by Brian Doyle
My most creative twist on a prompt The Binary Opposites Prompt..One began with the word Mr. and One began with the word Miss.
The prompt I cheated on--The prompt for Neuro Diverse Character. The book I choose Christmas at the Island Hotel by Jenny Colgan had a neuro-diverse character but he is a minor character.
My favorite prompt I enjoyed most of the prompts but my favorite was a book that took place in a rural or sparsely populated area.I read If You Lived Here You'd Be Home By Now by Christopher Ingraham
My least favorite prompt the prompt about neuro-diverse character because I left it until the end
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!) Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman.
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!) Red Head by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyer. and The Feral Detective by Jonathan Letham

Made it, with eight hours to spare!!!

Here's the list, if anyone's interested: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

- 5 Star books that I read for the 2020 ATY Challenge:

The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, Timothy Snyder
A Night in the Lonesome October, Roger Zelazny
Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens
To Be Taught, If Fortunate, Beky Chambers

- My most creative twist on a prompt:
I wasn't really that creative, although I was quite pleased with
War Doctor: Surgery on the Front Line, David Nott and Sweep in Peace for 37/38

- The prompt I cheated on:

Cheating is such a harsh word! But I did stretch 35. A book with a geometric pattern or element on the cover.

- My favorite prompt:
I had a few:
31. A book inspired by a leading news story
34. A book from a genre or sub genre that starts with a letter in your name
39. A book by an author whose real name(s) you're not quite sure how to pronounce
47. A classic book you've always meant to read

- My least favorite prompt:

I really struggled to find something I wanted to read for 35. A book with a geometric pattern or element on the cover, and I often have difficulties with "won an award"-type prompts.

- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!):

Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens
The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas

- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!):

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West, Dee Brown

My first ATY challenge complete, finished a couple of hours ago, admittedly cut it a bit fine.

- 5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
Holes by Louis Sachar
The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition by Anne Frank
Early Riser by Jasper Fforde
The Owl Service by Alan Garner
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? By Jeanette Winterson
Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
A Patchwork Planet by Anne Tyler
The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay
Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

- My most creative twist on a prompt
Prompts 37& 38 (Two books that are related to each other as a pair of binary opposites) I struggled with this prompt for a while, till I read Noughts and Crosses and thought aha, I’ve got a nought all I need is a one, so read The Power of One. I also like that I managed to link the books as well, both being about race relations.

- The prompt I cheated on
To be honest I didn’t really start the challenge till almost half way through the year, so had to retroactively insert books I’d already read into slots

- My favourite prompt
Prompt 14 (A book by an author on the Abe List of 100 Essential Female Writers), made me realise just how few female authors I’d read, which has prompted me to next year dedicate my whole ATY2021 challenge to female authors

- My least favourite prompt
I know I’m probably in the minority here but prompt 26 (A book from the 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards)

- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
That would have to be, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? By Jeanette Winterson, all of my other 5 stars were either on my to read list or I was planning to read at some point, this one I chose purely because of the word Happy in the title and I am sooooo glad I did.

- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
I was originally going to say Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding, till I remembered it was one of the ones I retroactively fitted in, so technically didn’t count, but thought I should mention it anyway.
I really wasn’t that impressed with, The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. I really feel like I should love Erin Morgenstern, she paints these beautiful pictures and wonderful landscapes I can see so clearly in my mind, but for me the stories always seem to fall flat, I feel it’s time we went our separate ways.

Here's to next year

Congrats to everyone finishing up just in the nick of time!!!

5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
A Monster Calls
Chaos Walking: A Trilogy
The Barnabus Project
We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir
My Brother's Husband, Volumes 1 & 2
and a few more

My most creative twist on a prompt
A book with a place name in the title - I had to add the subtitle to make this work. I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer

The prompt I cheated on
NONE! WOO HOO!

My favorite prompt
A book in a genre that starts with the same letter as your name. I read When No One is Watching...can't mention the subgenre, spoiler!

My least favorite prompt
A historical fiction - not my favourite genre. Lilac Girls

A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
I read The Knife of Never Letting Go for the prompt: a book related to Maximilian Hell, the noted astronomer and Jesuit Priest who was born in 1719.
I ended up reading the whole trilogy!

A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
A Classic book you haven't read - Wuthering Heights. I generally like classic literature but I just couldn't relate to any of the characters; they're all so selfish!

I didn't complete all of my original plan, but after reshuffling some books I realized I just needed a few more books to finish my ATY challenge for the first year ever and I finished the last book this afternoon. I've tried for several years but I usually come up short. I'm really happy and looking forward to 2021.

- 5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
The City We Became
Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger
Red at the Bone
Recollections of My Nonexistence: A Memoir
The Water Dancer

- My most creative twist on a prompt
I don't feel like I was very creative.

- The prompt I cheated on
I looked for a list that had a book on it in the 20th position that I had read to fit it into that slot as I didn't read the book I was originally planning to from the 20th in my TBR pile. The book was Wow, No Thank You.
- My favorite prompt
Probably the 100 essential female writers, I could pick a lot from that list.
- My least favorite prompt
The Maximillian Hell one, I just read the shortest book I could find for that someone else posted in the thread for the challenge. Seven Brief Lessons on Physics
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
I probably wouldn't have read Less and I enjoyed it.
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!) More: A Novel This one was a bucket of trauma and not a great ending to 2020, but it was the second in my pair of books. The first one being Less.

Done! And with 2.5 hours -- on the west coast -- left of 2020.

This is the first time that I've ever done this type of reading challenge, and I really liked it. Thank you to the moderators and to all who participated. I'm looking forward to 2021 for a lot of reasons, but also in part to explore more books with the ATY Challenge!

5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
Me by Elton John
Beastie Boys Book
Deacon King Kong by James McBride
Know My Name by Chanel Miller
Educated by Tara Westover

My most creative twist on a prompt

44. A book related to witches

For this prompt I read A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle and I did so because it was heavily criticized for promoting witchcraft at the time it was published.

The prompt I cheated on

Didn't really cheat. I really tried to keep to the prompts and do my best to comply.

My favorite prompt

16. A book set in a rural or sparsely populated area

I read Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance and I really loved this book.

My least favorite prompt

51. A book with an "-ing" word in the title

A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)

Art of War by Sun Tzu. I have never read this book before, but I always read references to it. I didn't understand these references, but now I do.

A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)

HG Wells 1895 classic The Time Machine. I'm not a big fantasy reader. I can't remember the last time I read something in this genre, so this was a stretch for me. I understand why it is an important and groundbreaking work, but it was a slog to get through.

2020 has been a most difficult year, but I managed to finished the challenge!

Here's to a 2021 full of satisfying reads!!

5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

My most creative twist on a prompt
I read A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne for Prompt #20 as it was the 20th book that I received as a Powell's Indiespensable subscriber.

My favorite prompt
I would have to say that Prompt #39: A book by an author whose real name(s) you're not quite sure how to pronounce, was one of my favorites because it enlightened me to the fact that I should take the time to learn this and resulted in a great read.

My least favorite prompt
Prompt #9: A book that can be read in a day, was very difficult for me. I would start a book thinking that I could read it in a day only to have life throw me a curve ball so that I had to change my intended read but not before finishing the first. 😃 It took me forever to complete this challenge.

A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
I am not a fan of memoirs and generally avoid them. This challenge, however, encouraged me to read Funny, You Don't Look Autistic: A Comedian's Guide to Life on the Spectrum by Michael McCreary.

A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
The Silk Road was time-consuming and left me unfulfilled. Thankfully, it was not very long.

Finished round 2 of the ATY challenge yesterday! Did my first 52 January-June and the 2nd round July-December. Just barely finished yesterday!

5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge:


The prompt I cheated on: 42 (A book that was nominated for one of the "10 most coveted Literary Prizes in the World") I read Speak for this one. It was nominated for a ton of awards, including the National Book Award, but nothing on the "coveted" list.

I'm so excited for the 2021 challenge!!

I actually only finished yesterday on 12/31, with a book set on New Year's Eve :D

5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
A whopping twenty books! They included The Goldfinch, What If It's Us, Troubled Blood, The Institute, Abaddon's Gate, The Lost Plot, Altered Carbon, and The Hate U Give, among others.

My most creative twist on a prompt
Most were pretty straightforward. I did bend it a bit for the "book related to the arts", because I read a cozy mystery which I hadn't originally planned to use in the challenge at all, only it happened to take place during a poetry festival, which featured throughout the story.

The prompt I cheated on
Unless you want to count the spin above, I did not cheat. The only thing is that I always feel a little bit like cheating when I use the same book for the Popsugar and ATY challenges, when I use a short story, novella, or Kindle Single, or a re-read. I tried to keep those to a reasonable minimum.

My favorite prompt
I always really enjoy the multi-week prompts and finding ways to link two books.

My least favorite prompt
A book that was nominated for one of the ‘10 Most Coveted Literary Prizes in the World’ -- my usual favorites don't tend to get nominated for the Pulitzer and such. I was lucky, though, because I read The Goldfinch and loved it!

A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
I would certainly have read The Hate U Give at some point, but perhaps not this year. And Hyperion wasn't really on my radar before.

A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
There was only one book in the challenge which I expressly didn't enjoy and that was Judas Goat, but I didn't get it specifically for the challenge, so I would have read it, anyway.

This was my first year and I started late (Dec 7). I read 260+ books this year, so I had many choices. I retroactively filled all the prompts (maybe with some overlaps), plus many rejected prompts and previous year prompts . My favorite prompts include:

*We didn't Start the Fire - This is so creative! It was really fun to read about the possibilities.
*The one about the ACE list of female authors - I read several in 2020, and I plan to include more of these books in 2021
* Ditto Librarian's list, NY times lists, others
*The prompts about links to other things you read - I love to read books that are connected to others in some ways, especially when there is a mix of fiction and non-fiction. Whether they are planned or happy surprises.
* 31. I want to try to do this every year. The books I read on harassment, BLM, and elections were all great.
* Old one on xenofiction.

Prompts I covered creatively..
33. A book about a non-traditional family
✨A Closed and Common Orbit [ BIO - A child is raised by an AI, plus a spaceship AI is loaded into a body and raised by a human. Awesome book (and I'm not really a sci-fi fan.)

52. A book related to Time
✨[book:10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World|43706466] - This book covered a very short period of time]
and
✨This Is How You Lose the Time War - This book spans thousands of years (time travel).

A prompt I cheated on: #20. My answer to this was arbitrary since I didn't look for this one until later.

Favorite books I otherwise wouldn't have read.
32. A book related to the 2020 Olympic Summer Games in Japan.
*Convenience Store Woman - I found this on one of your lists and it was a very happy surprise.

ACE list - I added another one last week: Jeanette Winterson's Christmas book.

Congratulations everybody!

260+ books!!!!! You are my superhero!!!

Happy New Year!! Here is to almost completing the challenge in a year where my library was closed for a sizable chunk of it aka extra challenge :-)

I try to do this challenge every year but I stray and read too many books that don't qualify so I think I have completed it only twice in the past. But I am happy with missing only one challenge this year (and I plan on throwing that book as an add-on into the new challenge).

-5* books I read for the challenge:
"On Trails" by Robert Moor/ "The Monsters We Deserve" by Marcus Sedgwick/ "Orange World" by Karen Russell/ "No Exit" by Taylor Adams/ "Cathedral of Myth and Bones" by Kat Howard/ "Turning: A Year in the Water" by Jessica J. Lee/ "The Fire Next Time" edited by Jesmyn Ward/ "Salt Slow" by Julia Armfield/ "We Ride Upon Sticks" by Quan Barry/ "The Last Final Girl" by Stephen Graham Jones/ "Night Sky with Exit Wounds" by Ocean Vuong

-My most creative twist on a prompt:
for the related to Maximilan Hell I went with the speculative and SciFi anotholoy "Worlds Seen in Passing" from Tor and just figured that something in there should work well enough

-The Prompt I cheated on:
I wouldn't say I did this time, even in the past I wouldn't consider twisting a prompt a cheat and that is all I ever do. Just sometimes I twist more than other years :-)

-My favorite prompt:
"Suggestion that didn't make the list". For that I went with "Metafiction" which is something I really love. I also always enjoy challenges related to setting of the book because I often choose book for that reason anyway. And the prompt where you read a favorite author from 2019 again, that way I get pushed to read someone I love again so soon which is great!

-Least favorite prompt:
I think the "Related to Japanese Olympics" prompt turned into a negative for me when we cancelled the Olympics. Other than that I didn't like Billy Joel song challenge so much, it was initially really hard to find something for it for me.

-A Book I might not have read if not for the Challenge but glad I did:
"Poet X" by Elizabeth Acevedo I read it for "Nominated for 10 most coveted Lit. Prize in the World". I really enjoyed it but since I don't read much YA I likely would have put it off much longer

-A Book I might not have read if not the Challenge and wish I hadn't:
Generally, I hardly ever regret reading a book since even if I dislike at least I know for myself now that it is not my kind of book. One book that was a huge disappointment and clearly not for me was "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova, I used for 'Two Word Title, starting with THE' but I would have tried the book anyway.

Off to the 2021 Challenge, good luck to everyone!!!

I finished on December 31st! Enjoyed this year's challenge. I read 88 books in total so I had multiple choices for many prompts. I always do a mix of reading what I want and fitting them into prompts, as well as finding a new book to fit a prompt.

Here's a link to my full list: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge



My most creative twist on a prompt
I loved the two binary opposites prompts and had many different ideas (east/west, dark/light, sun/moon, day/night, etc.), but I ended up with woman/man. I chose A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II - a very serious new book about a woman with a disability doing great things during WWII, and Three Men in a Boat, a very satirical classic about 3 young men on a silly boat trip.

The prompt I cheated on
"A book from your TBR/wishlist that you don't recognize, recall putting there, or put there on a whim". I tend to only read things recommended or given to me and that's how they end up on my TBR so it's a bit of reach to think I don't recognize any of the books I read in 2020! I picked News of the World because I think I put it there "on a whim" to fill a spot for a "western". Guess you could also call this creative .

Also, my final prompt was "A book related to witches". I had meant to read A Discovery of Witches but never got around to it. Decided to re-read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow on the last day of the year. Not the main theme of the book obviously but Icabod Crane does study witchcraft and there is talk of witches in the book. So I guess that's kind of a cheat or you could call it creative .

My favorite prompt
I loved the Billy Joel song prompt! He is a favorite singer/songwriter of mine, so it was fun to revisit the lyrics of "We Didn't Start the Fire". I chose Red, White & Royal Blue to go with "England's got a new queen" or "British politician sex" in the lyrics. :-)

My least favorite prompt
“A prompt from a previous ATY challenge" -- this just seems too easy. Felt like I could have used anything for this.

A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
I'm not a big series reader, so I chose the "First book in a series that you have not started". I've heard good things about the Inspector Gamache series for years, but had never read any. I really enjoyed Still Life and will probably read more of the series this year.

A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
On the same theme about series, I read A Wind in the Door. I actually read it for the ATY spring challenge -- for the May challenge: Cinco de Mayo task (read a book that is part of a series containing a multiple of 5 books). That was kind of hard to find, but it fit prompt 52 as well -- "a book related to time". It was an easy read, but not as good as the first in the series, "A Wrinkle in Time".

Overall, it was a great reading year. On to 2021!

I know the year is over, but I really wanted to finish up the last couple of books that I had left to read from the 2020 challenge (I read more than 52 books in 2020, but they weren't all the right ones!). Well, I finally did and so here I am!

5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
The Weight of Ink
Anne of Green Gables
Possession
Normal People
Circe
Exhalation: Stories
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
If We Were Villains
The Dispossessed
Watership Down
Hellspark

My most creative twist on a prompt
I used The Martian Chronicles as my "book with the major theme of survival." It's definitely not a survival story in the typical sense, but does deal in a broad sense with the survival of both the human and martian races on Mars.

The prompt I cheated on
Not cheating exactly, I think, but I did wish I had a book that was more set in the southern hemisphere or was also by an author from the southern hemisphere. I went with The Signature of All Things, of which only about a quarter took place in Tahiti. But it was a very important part of the story!

My favorite prompt
I loved choosing my two binary opposites (I picked Possession and The Dispossessed) and I thought reading them as a pair and thinking about both of them thematically really enhanced my reading experience. Plus I just loved both of those books.

I also really enjoyed the process of going through my TBR to find books that I didn't recognize (there were a lot), even though the book I chose didn't end up being my favorite (Smilla's Sense of Snow). It was very fun to try to guess why I might have added that book to my list!

My least favorite prompt
I struggled a lot with "A book that you are prompted to read because of something you read in 2019," simply because 2019 wasn't that great of a reading year for me (I hadn't discovered reading challenges yet). Looking back, I realized I hadn't had ANY 5 star reads that year, besides one reread. I definitely wouldn't mind this kind of prompt in the future, though - I have tons of ideas of things I want to read based off of this year's reading!

A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
This one's got to be If We Were Villains, which I had never heard before I was looking up ideas for the challenge, and isn't really my type of premise, so I probably wouldn't have picked it up even if I had heard of it. But I ended up loving it! (Runner up example was Hellspark, which I pulled out of the depths of my TBR for the Maximillian Hell prompt and has become one of my favorite books ever. But since it was technically on my TBR, I imagine that I would have gotten to it eventually, though who knows when!)

A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
Similarly, I had never heard of The Bear and the Nightingale until this year and probably wouldn't have ever gotten around to it, but found it very disappointing.

Time to start 2021!