Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

1. What are you reading for this category?

I am doing a reread of the Kate Daniels series so I read by Ilona Andrews

2. What type of collaboration is it?

Husband and wife writing team.

3. Do you think having multiple people collaborate on a book makes it more interesting?

I've read multiple books by these authors and loved them all, so I have no complaints.

1. What are you reading for this category?

Regular: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
ABC: Inherit the Wind Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee

3. What type of collaboration is it? Do you think having multiple people collaborate on a book makes it more interesting?

While I do not particularly like books written by two authors, they are interesting to teach. Inherit the Wind is a fictionalized, historical drama in which the voice of each author is lost in the multitude of characters. Dash and Lily's Book of Dares, on the other hand, was written and put together with each author emailing a chapter. This is a book where the author's voice style is accentuated by the way the book is put together. This is a more interesting style in my opinion.

I chose to read this one:

12. A Book that is a Collaboration Between 2 or more People: You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

I read The Wife Between Us last year and I quite enjoyed it. I thought this one was even better!

1. What are you reading for this category?
I'm reading Untamed, the 4th book in the House of Night series
2. What type of collaboration is it?
It is between two authors, who are also mother and daughter
3. Do you think having multiple people collaborate on a book makes it more interesting?
I think it can be very interesting if done well and doesn't seem jarring when changing from one chapter to the next or between characters, which can take you out of the book.

I read This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. The odd thing about the book is that, although it was written by two rather different authors, the main characters were nearly indistinguishable. 3/5

Would qualify? If so, that'll probably be my choice though I have some other options too.

*extra note: the link above to the Best YA Graphic Novels takes you to a broken page.

I would say it definitely counts. The art and writing go hand in hand. Great comic BTW

1. What are you reading for this category?
Hungry Hearts: 13 Tales of Food & Love

2. What type of collaboration is it?
It's a short story anthology with entries from 13 different authors.

3. Do you think having multiple people collaborate on a book makes it more interesting?
It depends on the book. Sometimes having multiple authors can make a book feel disjointed, other times it provides diversity.

I don't tend to read many short stories, but I feel like this anthology did benefit from having multiple collaborators. It was enjoyable seeing how each author put their own spin on the general setting. 4 stars.

I'm reading The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. I've been doing the prompts by "fitting in" books that I want to read where I can find space for them, and if they don't fit anywhere, they can be a side read. I wasn't sure if I was going to find a place for The Phantom Tollbooth, but I decided that this was perfect, actually. I don't usually think of an author and illustrator team as a collaboration, especially for books that aren't picture books, but my library copy of The Phantom Tollbooth has an introduction by Norton Juster that I've never read before, describing their collaboration in a way that delighted me:

“I should say a few words about the illustrations. At the time that I was writing the book, I was sharing a large, run-down duplex apartment in New York with Jules Feiffer. At that time, Jules was just getting started on his career. He became intrigued by all the pacing around on the floor above him, and from time to time he would read sections of what I was doing and make sketches for possible illustrations. They were quite wonderful and caught the spirit of the book perfectly. We decided that he should do the illustrations. But there were some small problems. There were some things that he just didn’t like to draw. For one thing, maps. I love maps, and I think one of the reasons I wrote the book at all was so that I could have a map in it, like the Arthur Ransome books I had loved. So we collaborated on the map. Jules also did not like to draw horses. In the scene near the end of the book where Milo and the Princesses are rescued from the demons, the Armies of the Kingdom of Wisdom are on horseback. Jules’s first sketches showed them mounted on cats. After a while, it became a kind of game—he trying to figure out ways to draw things the way he wanted, and me inventing things that would cause him maximum difficulty. For example, in the Mountains of Ignorance there are a crowd of Demons who threaten Milo. Among them are the Triple Demons of Compromise: One is short and fat, one is tall and thin, and the third is exactly like the other two. For some reason, they were never illustrated. Jules did get his revenge, though, by drawing me as the Whether Man (on page 18), a short, plump, balding semi-lunatic in a toga. This was quite unfair, since everyone knows I never wear a toga.”

I love The Phantom Tollbooth! Thanks for sharing that anecdote about the collaboration between Juster and Feiffer.

1. What are you reading for this category?
The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After by Clemantine Wamariya and Elizabeth Weil

2. What type of collaboration is it?
This book is the memoir of Clemantine Wamariya so it appears that Elizabeth Weil is the experienced writer on the project.

3. Do you think having multiple people collaborate on a book makes it more interesting?
I think in this case, it likely made the memoir a better book to read. The story is very interesting and is told from the first person perspective.

Emily wrote: "Pamela wrote: "I'm going to be delayed on this one- the women who wrote The Royal We are releasing a sequel this summer. YAY!"

Ok wait I'm so excited about this! I listened to The ..."

I won an ARC so i've read it! You're lucky- I had zero memory of how The Royal We ended so was so confused for a good part of the book!

1. What are you reading for this category? The Heir Affair by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan
2. What type of collaboration is it? They co-write- they talk about how here: https://ashleybrookedesigns.com/autho...
3. Do you think having multiple people collaborate on a book makes it more interesting? Never thought about it. I think these 2 write together and work together so much they probably share a good part of a brain so it is probably more seamless that other collaborations.

I read One Fell Sweep by Ilona Andrews.


I chose this because I anyways had to read this in order to finish the Innkeepers Chronicles trilogy. Ilona Andrews is a husband-wife duo who have written a lot of books and series, including my all-time favourite series, Kate Daniels.

My choice for this topic might be seen as an overreaction as I read a co-edited anthology - Mary Morris with Larry O'Connor, The Virago Book of Women Travellers. It's a wonderful collection and my TBR mountain has increased significantly as I discovered so many writers I'd never come across before, whose books I now absolutely must read.

I decided to count Posterity: Letters of Great Americans to Their Children for this prompt--Dorie McCullough Lawson is the editor of the collection, David McCullough wrote the foreward, and the book itself is a collection of letters written by like 30+ people.

For my 2nd Round-2020 I just finished

1. What are you reading for this category? The Wife Stalker by Liv Constantine
2. What type of collaboration is it? Two sisters, Lynne and Valerie are co-authors
3. Do you think having multiple people collaborate on a book makes it more interesting? I like the co-authored books when it’s multiple POV stories.

This book was very good. 4 1/2 stars. This is the first book I’ve read by them, but put their other books on my TBR.

I did a translation my first time around this year. But for the 2nd time, I plan to listen to #NeverAgain: A New Generation Draws the Line by David and Lauren Hogg, brother and sister from Parkland, FL. David was one of the main organizers of the gun reform movement and I was so impressed by him and the others. They each read part of the audiobook, which I think is partly their account of their experience. It's only a couple hours long but the proceeds from sales of the book went to the movement.

I’m reading “Countdown 1945: The extraordinary story of the atomic bomb and the 116 days that changed the world” by Chris Wallace with Mitch Weiss. My daughter gave it to me yesterday for my birthday. It’s really good so far!

For the collaboration prompt, I read Autumn Collection with short stories by Heather Horrocks, Stephanie Black, Heather B. Moore, Sarah M. Eden, Rachelle J. Christensen, and Annette Lyon. I generally enjoy these collections/anthologies of short stories. They are usually a mixed bag, but I pick up authors to read longer works from.

What are you reading for this category?
I read Wings of Fire by Charles Todd

What type of collaboration is it?
Charles Todd is the pen name used by the mother-and-son writing team, Caroline Todd and Charles Todd.

Do you think having multiple people collaborate on a book makes it more interesting?
I don't think it was at all noticeable in this book. I haven't read many books that have been collaboration or if I have, I haven't noticed

1. What are you reading for this category?
I read Death Trap by Matthew Costello and Neil Richards
2. What type of collaboration is it? Two male writers who write for both television and print. Matthew is based in the US and Neil in the UK. They have at least two different series on the go that I know of.
3. Do you think having multiple people collaborate on a book makes it more interesting? I think it helps the narrative because one of the characters is a retired NYC cop living in a small village in England and the other main character is a younger English woman. (It's not a romance novel however. And this one is #32.)

I will be reading The Wheel of Darkness by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

I found a book at the store today called The Cat, The Devil, and Lee Fontana by Shirley Rousseau & Pat JJ Murphy.

I found a book at the store today called The Cat, The Devil, and Lee Fontana by Shirley Rousseau & Pat JJ Murphy.

1. What are you reading for this category? An Anonymous Girl
2. What type of collaboration is it? This is the second book by these two authors. They seem to write together well.
3. Do you think having multiple people collaborate on a book makes it more interesting? I do. They seem to bounce off each other and make the book more creepy and suspenseful.

1. What are you reading for this category? The Deep
2. What type of collaboration is it? Multiple authors
3. Do you think having multiple people collaborate on a book makes it more interesting? Yes because collaboration can lead to greater innovation.

1. What are you reading for this category?
I read several books that fit, but I chose The Circle Way: A Leader in Every Chair for this.


2. What type of collaboration is it?
The authors have worked together through PeerSpirit but have dissimilar backgrounds and experiences, so they each bring something to the collaboration.

3. Do you think having multiple people collaborate on a book makes it more interesting?
Often, but not always. Sometimes it seems one author is more "the author" or it can become disjointed. Generally, I think nonfiction lends itself better to collaboration than fiction.

1. What are you reading for this category?
Paper Princess

2. What type of collaboration is it?
100%?? Neither author is actually credited, as they are writing under one penname together.

3. Do you think having multiple people collaborate on a book makes it more interesting?
Sometimes. Sometimes it can just create a huge mess.

1. What are you reading for this category?
The Twelve Days of Dash & Lily, the sequel to Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

2. What type of collaboration is it?
The authors write a lot of books whose titles include a male and female name (Nick and Nora, Naomi and Ely). She writes the female protagonist's chapters and he writes the male protagonist's chapters.

3. Do you think having multiple people collaborate on a book makes it more interesting?
Sometimes. I think their collaboration works for them. As a writer, I'd love to try it if I found another writer with whom I could work well.