Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Chrissy wrote: "I finished Black Sun yesterday, the first in a new series - and it is also set in a pre-columbian fantasy version of North/Central America, so that seems "beginning-y" to me too. It..."

I wanted to read that for this prompt but it's not out here yet. It seemed perfect but I wanted to start the year with this prompt, so I'll for it in elsewhere.

I read My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell.
I chose it because it was her debut novel and it was on my list from last year. I am glad that I read it but it is a very hard read content wise.
My Dark Vanessa

Chrissy wrote: "It was wonderful, can't wait for the second book in the series!"

Same here, I wish it was out already.

Glad to be back for my sixth year with the challenge...

1. What are you reading for this category? How It All Began by Penelope Lively

2. How does it fit the category? Besides the spot on title, the premise of the novel is about how one event that befalls main character Charlotte has such secondary, but fateful consequences on the lives of all the people around her (and then some). Like a rock that makes concentric circles when cast to sea.

3. What are some of your goals for 2021? Stayin' alive is #1! Driving up my business. Hopefully swimming this summer and losing that COVID-20! And, of course, reuniting with friends and family whom I've missed this past year.

4. What book would you recommend to others to read for this category? This is my second time reading Penelope Lively and I truly love her writing and enjoyable, amusing stories. They're not earth shattering, but they're fun. I'd definitely recommend this one to others. In addition, I think a book about the beginning of time, or Native Americans or something like Hawaii, which opens with the volcanic islands rising from the sea, would be fitting.

1. What are you reading for this category?
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

2. How does it fit the category?
It's a prequel so obviously gives some background to the Hunger Games Trilogy

3. What are some of your goals for 2021?
To read more of the books I own or have been on my TBR list for a long time. Also to tackle some of my longer books like Anna Karenina and maybe even Les Mis

4. What book would you recommend to others to read for this category?
1st in a Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses
About Starting Over (New Beginning): If I Was Your Girl
Debut Novel: The Silent Patient

Mary Beth wrote: "I read My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell.
I chose it because it was her debut novel and it was on my list from last year. I am glad that I read it but it is a very hard read content wise. ..."

A REALLY difficult read, but SUCH an excellent book. Was my runner-up for book of the year last year. The winner was Such a Fun Age, another debut which I HIGHLY recommend.

As for this prompt, I have finished Triptych already and since I have other options, I've picked up A is for Alibi now.

The Art of War by Sun Tzu seemed very fitting here. It is studied by strategists all over the world. People use it in the military, business, philosophy, game play, athletic competitions and much more.

It is a book that was relevant when it was written and still relevant today.

So while I do not know if it was the first book of its kind, it definitely has outlasted the ones that came before it.

1. What are you reading for this category?
2. How does it fit the category? It is the first one in a series

1. What are you reading for this category?

I went for The Invisible Library, Genevieve Cogman

2. How does it fit the category?

Both a debut book and the first in a series.

3. What are some of your goals for 2021?

Mainly to finish! Plus, I really need to work down my TBR.

4. What book would you recommend to others to read for this category?

If you like stories full of action, adventure, magic, Great Detectives and books, the Invisible Library is a good choice, in my view.

Jennie wrote: "1. What are you reading for this category? The Bear and the Nightingale

I loved that series.

Jo wrote: "I'm thinking of reading Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare as it is the start of a prequel series. Otherwise possibly The Magician's Nephew! :)"

I really enjoyed that one

Amber wrote: "1. What are you reading for this category?
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

2. How does it fit the category?
It's a prequel so obviously gives some background to the Hunger Games..."

Have just ordered this from library

Calvin wrote: "Mary Beth wrote: "I read My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell.
I chose it because it was her debut novel and it was on my list from last year. I am glad that I read it but it is a very hard r..."

I also enjoyed Such a Fun Age last year!

I read Float Plan and it was amazing!

Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

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Optional Questions:
1. What are you reading for this category?

2. How does it fit the category?
Float Plan is about starting over after the life you planned comes to a halt, and it’s about self-discovery as Anna sets sail on the sailboat she planned to with her now deceased fiancé
3. What are some of your goals for 2021?
Lose my pandemic weight and all the mood reading!
4. What book would you recommend to others to read for this category?

1. What are you reading for this category?
I read If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
2. How does it fit the category?
The book consists of several beginnings of different novels. From none of these novels we learn how the story continues. So it is a book about beginnings.
3. What are some of your goals for 2021?
Just read :)
4. What book would you recommend to others to read for this category? Last year I enjoyed the First-Law-Trilogie by Joe Abercrombie. I recommend the first one in the series: The Blade Itself

1. What are you reading for this category?
L'Antenato nel Cassetto: Manuale di Scienza Genealogica
2. How does it fit the category?
I chose a book related to genealogy. This is a very comprehensive handbook
3. What are some of your goals for 2021?
Read read read

1. What are you reading for this category?
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
2. How does it fit the category?
It was written between 170 and 180AD.
3. What are some of your goals for 2021?
Read more from my physical TBR and not add too many new books to it (last year, despite reading 118 books mostly from my TBR, I still ended with more books than I started with!)
4. What book would you recommend to others to read for this category?
Something from the classics

What have I read for this prompt?
- The Beholder by Anna Bright.

How does it fit the prompt?
- One of the first books I got from a book subscription box. Also from I can tell, it was the author’s debut novel.

1. What are you reading for this category?
I read The Infinite Noise by Lauren Shippen. I bought the kindle version with a gift card I was given for Christmas. I hadn't found a space for it on my plan but as I was reading it I realised it would fit here.

2. How does it fit the category?
It is the authors first published work (beginning a career), one of the main characters is called Adam (first man in the bible) and it is about a boy falling in love and discovering he has superpowers (beginning of a journey)

3. What are some of your goals for 2021?
I moved two years ago and have a shelf of books I brought with me but haven't read. By the end of the year I want to have read them so I can donate them and make room for something new. I managed to meet all of my diversity goals last year apart from non-fiction so I want to read more this year and already have some ideas in mind. I also needed comfort reading a lot in 2020 so read and reread a lot of familar authors. I would like to find some new authors this year and maybe find a new favourite.

4. What would you recommend for this prompt?
Rosemary and Rue the first book in my favourite series
The Fellowship of the Ring the beginning of an epic journey

I read Sense & Sensibility, Jane Austen's first book.

I read One for the Money for this prompt. It is the first book in the Stephanie Plum series. My goals this year include finishing this challenge for the first time and read more books that I already own. I would recommend A is for Alibi as it is also the first in a mystery series.

I read The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri for this. I've been meaning to get to this for a while, after reading Interpreter of Maladies last year and it going right to the top of my favourite short story collections ever. After seeing how good Lahiri is in short form, I really hoped she was able to keep that up in a novel.

This is the story of a Bangladeshi couple - Ashoke and Ashima - who emigrate to the US after their arranged marriage. We join them in their years establishing a life and community for themselves, as they become parents. The story then switches focus more to their son, Gogol - named after a Russian writer who meant a lot to his father. We follow him into adulthood and into his identity struggles - not only as a first generation Indian-American, but also on a more personal level as he tries to reinvent himself and free himself from what he sees as the shackles of his name.

This is the kind of book that I feel that whilst nothing really happens, everything happens. By that I mean that whilst there is no dramatic climax, no plot twists, no definitive end to the story; we are watching an entire existence (of a family, of a man) unfold. I think this may be one of my favourite tropes in fiction. I'm fascinated by people, by families, by the immigrant experience and by people who live different lives to me, and this is such a natural story that you truly feel like a fly on the wall.

For me, what I found most interesting was the view this gave me into Bangladeshi lives. Set mainly in the US around Massachusetts and New York, there are sections set in Calcutta too, and I always find learning about other cultures fascinating. The courage to uproot and leave your family, friends and lives behind to start over somewhere completely unknown (and in this case, with another person who is still completely unknown) is something I will never tire of reading about either. But what elevated these elements is Lahiri's writing. She's like a river that carries you along, and considering the span of lives this book covered it did not feel like a climb. She's incredibly good at picking out the pivotal moments or reckonings, particularly in Gogol's experience of the intersections of his cultural identities.

I have seen some other reviewers - importantly, including Bangladeshi people - complain that there are too many stereotypes in this book. And in some ways I would agree - the engineer father, the housewife mother, the new generation fighting against traditional norms. However, as a reader who isn't from this background, in some ways those stereotypes were useful in really seeing the characters, and I think each of them have enough in their stories to set them apart from their stereotypes. And given the time in which the story begins, I feel Ashoke and Ashima are typical of their time and were probably the sort of people from where those stereotypes originated - they would have been some of the first Indian immigrants many American people would have encountered, and in turn their children would have been the first first-generation Bangladeshi people their contemporaries encountered. It would have been nice to see them break out of those stereotypes, but I think the characters were doing what they could to find their feet and break the mould in their world as it was.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - "One flew east/one flew west/one flew over the cuckoo's nest". The title refers to the one man who escaped the psychiatric hospital. I'm just getting back into reading after 2020, so 2 books/month; I'm moving ahead nicely. Recommended books for this category: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency & the tv series, Ready Player One, Outlander

I read Tweet Cute by Emma Lord. It fits into the theme because it’s a debut novel.

I'm reading Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance

This is a playoff of the beginning of life and childhood as the author looks back on his experiences.

My goal is to stick with this reading challenge, it's a leap for me...I read 4 books in 2020. Here's hoping!

I didn't actually start the year with this as another library hold came up first but it's still January so I'm now going to try and go in some kind of order. I associate "In the beginning" with "Once upon a time" so I was looking for titles that include that and Once Upon a Time in the East: A Story of Growing Up by Xiaolu Guo fitted the bill. It didn't disappoint. This is also the first book that I've read by this author although I have been wanting to read A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers. I am now considering this for my choice for prompt 6 a love story.

I read this as a first in the DI Adam Fawley series and I'll definitely be continuing with the series.

Today I finished reading The Birth House by Ami McKay, and I really enjoyed it. It fits the prompt because it is about a midwife in Nova Scotia, and so is very much focused on the beginning of life.

What are you reading for this category?
The Magician’s Nephew, by CS Lewis


How does it fit the category?
It’s the first book (prequel in some editions) in the Chronicles of Narnia.

What are some of your goals for 2021?
To get fit!

What book would you recommend to others to read for this category?
Any first book in a series.

Thanks for your suggestion. I read The Lightning Thief for this prompt, as it's the first in a series

My book for this topic is The #1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. i chose it because I have never read anything by this author so it is a beginning for me. It is the first book in the series so a beginning for the author. The detective agency is the first ( #1) so a beginning for the character.
I think any book that is first in a series or a debut by a new author would fit the topic.

I read Iron and Magic by Ilona Andrews because it's the first book in a series.

Good evening!

I joined this group a couple weeks ago, and this is my first ATY in 52 weeks challenge. I am not reading the prompts in order; in deciding to read first and slot later, I'll jump all over the place. I had a number of options for this prompt, among them Sense and Sensibility (1811) by Jane Austen (1775-1817); and The Pioneers: James Fenimore cooper (1823) by James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851); but I decided to read a physical paperback, Season on the Brink: A Year with Bobby Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers (1987; original hardcover published 1986) by John Feinstein, his first of 43 books.

Edit February 11, 2021: I finished the book.

What are you reading for this category?
I read The Very First Damned Thing by Jodi Taylor

How does it fit the category? First is in the title.

What are some of your goals for 2021?
I want to read as many books as possible from my ever expanding TBR list

1. What are you reading for this category?
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
2. How does it fit the category?
The first book in a long series
3. What are some of your goals for 2021?
I am trying to conquer my to-be-read list, which this one is on.
4. What book would you recommend to others to read for this category?
All first books series~
Rosemary and Rue
Bitten
Poison Study

1. What are you reading for this category?
I read Things Fall Apart

2. How does it fit the category?
It is the first book in a triology but also the debut book from the author

3. What are some of your goals for 2021?
To narrow down my TBR. To try to finish ATY for the first time :-)

4. What book would you recommend to others to read for this category?
The Fellowship of the Ring
Beartown
Now You See Me

Not quite the beginning of the year anymore, but this is still my first book for the 2021 challenge! (I had to finish up some slow, challenging books for 2020).

1. What are you reading for this category?
I've just begun The Fellowship of the Ring - I intend to read the trilogy spaced out throughout the year. It's a reread, but I seriously think I might have read them last a decade ago.

2. How does it fit the category?
It is the first book in the trilogy, but I picked it because it's the setup for such a long and life changing adventure for the characters. And "In the beginning" reminds me of Tolkien's writing style.

3. What are some of your goals for 2021?
I hope to finish the challenge within 2021, for starters! I also am trying to focus on books from my TBR, as well as doing a small translated fiction challenge.

4. What book would you recommend to others to read for this category?
The Magician's Nephew - I see a bunch of people are doing this and I think it's the perfect choice. Not only do I think The Magician's Nephew is underrated out of the Narnia books, but the genesis allegory in this book is perfect for "in the beginning."

1. What are you reading for this category?
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind - Yuval Noah Harari

2. How does it fit the category?
It is a book that discusses the origins of the human race and how it got shaped into what it is today

3. What are some of your goals for 2021?
I have tried this challenge for 2 years now (Unsuccessfully) so would like to finish it this year. Fingers crossed.

1. What are you reading for this category?
I read The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

2. How does it fit the category?
It is the author's debut novel.

3. What are some of your goals for 2021?
This is my first time doing they ATY challenge and I'm just hoping to finish it. I'm not planning to read in order unless it works out that way. I actually haven't even looked at all the prompts for this challenge for that reason. I don't want to overwhelm myself too much especially since I am doing another reading challenge as well.

4. What book would you recommend to others to read for this category?
I'm not really sure. Anything that is the beginning of a series or an author's debut novel.
I'm actually reading The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse which is also a debut novel. I'm not really far enough into it to say if I'd recommend it.

1. What are you reading for this category?
I read Contain by Saul Tanpepper

2. How does it fit the category?
It's the first book of a series (that I will definitely not be continuing.)

3. What are some of your goals for 2021?
My goal is to read 60 books overall. I want 52 of them to be for this Around the Year challenge. I've also joined a quarterly Book Bingo challenge on LIvejournal (yes, some of us are still over there) and am trying to fill those prompts as well.

4. What book would you recommend to others to read for this category?
I would recommend two much better books that seem to have greatly influenced the one I read. Both of these are the first books in a series.
Wool Omnibus by Hugh Howey is the first in a series about an outside threat, folks living in an underground silo, and nanotech.
The Passage by Justin Cronin is a book about government experiments and vampires.

1. What are you reading for this category? I read When We Were Young by Jaclyn Goldis
2. How does it fit the category? Debut novel
3. What are some of your goals for 2021? Not to stress about the challenge but read what I want and fit them into the prompts
4. What book would you recommend to others to read for this category? For history, I would recommend The First Salute or Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI. For first book in a series, I would recommend Aunt Dimity's Death for a cozy mystery and One Corpse Too Many or Maids of Misfortune for historical mysteries

I used Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman. The prequel to Practical Magic.

1. What are you reading for this category? Feed
2. How does it fit the category? It's the first book in a series
3. What are some of your goals for 2021? To read books that I already have but most importantly to have fun with it.
4. What book would you recommend to others to read for this category? Pines, Cinder, Beartown - I'm not very creative with this prompt.

1. What are you reading for this category?
I read The Murmur of Bees by Sofía Segovia
2. How does it fit the category?
It is the first book of this author to be translated into English
3. What are some of your goals for 2021?
Reading goals: to stretch myself, to have fun
4. What book would you recommend to others to read for this category?
This one definitely!

Valerie wrote: "I am sorry I came here. I had The First Mrs. Rothschild picked out. And since I want to use up my TBR list, not add to it, I am now trying to resist all these other luscious ideas...."

I literally snorted when I read your comment! LOL. Thanks for the giggle.

1. What are you reading for this category?
Minimalists by K. Robert Schwartz

2. How does it fit the category?
It is about the start of Minimalist music and its composers.

3. What are some of your goals for 2021?
I want to finish this challenge. I have participated for the previous two years, but life happened, and I didn't finish.

4. What book would you recommend to others to read for this category?
One for the Money by Janet Evanovich

For this task, I read Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. It is the book that begins the Six of Crows duology. It ends with Crooked Kingdom, which will serve as my Week 52 selection.

I have several reading goals this year: the 2021 Goodreads challenge of 52 books, the 2021 ATY challenge of 52 tasks, my annual Pop Chart challenge of 15 essential novels, and a personal challenge of one textbook. In order keep my reading from becoming a chore, I permit overlap between listed goals and undertake spontaneous reads regularly.

1. What are you reading for this category?

I read Out of Darkness, Shining Light by Petina Gappah.

2. How does it fit the category?

'In the Beginning' reminded me of the start of Genesis, and then light out of darkness, so it was the title that inspired me. I also decided to have my beginning and end books related to each other and with beginning and end in both books. This book relates the journey undertaken by David Livingstone's African companions, carrying his body to the coast. There is a new beginning for one of the characters, and Livingstone's exploration helped the beginnings of the European 'scramble for Africa'. It is also an ending as it about the death of Livingstone (and others), and a possible end of a way of life.

What are some of your goals for 2021?

Because of lockdowns, I have bought far more books than normal (I usually get them from the library), so decided to expand my reading to global authors and/or BIPOC authors.

What books would you recommend others to read for this category?

Sense and Sensibility; The Magician's Nephew; The Hobbit, or There and Back Again. The Memory Keeper's Daughter is about the ramifications of a birth. On my TBR list, I have Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths and Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art, which would both fit the prompt.

1. What are you reading for this category?
Neanderthal Seeks Human

2. How does it fit the category?
It is the first book of a series.

3. What are some of your goals for 2021?
I want to do more things because I enjoy them rather than feeling obligated to do them.

4. What book would you recommend to others to read for this category?
I encourage people to find a good series by starting with a first book. I love the feeling of finding a good series to binge read through.

I read How to Disappear Completely for this prompt. It's about the beginning and diagnosis of a chronic condition in young girl.

Recomendations:
Ready Player One (one in title)
A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea (one in title)
Love Is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time (one in title)
The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York (birth in title)
Dracula (source/beginning of modern vampire stories)
Illuminae (first in trilogy)

(Side note: As I was finally catching up on this thread it made me sad how many people referenced The Magician's Nephew as the first book in the Narnia series. I was introduced to them in publication order and I think it's actually much more magical to be introduced to Narnia in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and only get the explanations behind certain things later as you continue the series.)

Raquel wrote: "I read How to Disappear Completely for this prompt. It's about the beginning and diagnosis of a chronic condition in young girl.

Recomendations:
Ready Player One (o..."

I can agree with you that there is discussion about what is the correct reading order, but even if you don't count The Magician's Nephew as the first book in the series it still fits the prompt in my opinion, because it is about the beginning/creation of Narnia. I count The Silmarillion under the same category of books that deals with the beginning of the world. A book series that I read recently that counts as well is The legends of the First Empire by Michael J. Sullivan. The first book in the series is Age of Myth.

I selected an author's debut book for this prompt: The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen