Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

No goals just vibes.

Map


Progress
   o9/52

1. The Yield — Tara June Winch | ★★★★☆
2. The Thursday Murder Club — Richard Osman | ★★★★☆
3. Drive your Plow over the bones of the dead — Olga Tokarczuk | ★★★★☆
4.
5.
…
16. Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter — Ben Goldfarb | ★★★☆☆
…
34. The Poppy War — RF Kuang | ★★★☆☆
35. The Feather Thief — Kirk W Johnson | ★★★★☆
36.
…
40. The Last Wish — Andrzej Sapkowski | ★★★☆☆
41.
42.
43.
44. Mrs March — Virginia Feito | ★★★★☆
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50. The Housekeeper and the Professor — Yoko Ogawa | ★★★★★
51.
52.

Not Placed

1/17

✅ 01. A book with a main character whose name starts with A, T, or Y
  The Yield — Tara Winch ☼ ⚖︎
  Good Omens — Terry Pratchett, Nail Gaiman ☯︎


02. A book connected to a book you read in 2021
  The House of the Pain of Others — Julian Herbert (immigrants, nonfiction)
  The Thursday Murder Club — Richard Osman (murder!)
  Girl, Woman, Other — Bernadine Everisto ☼ (poc in the UK)


03. A book with 22 or more letters in the title
  Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead — Olga Tokarczuk ⚖︎
  A Brief History of Seven Killings — Marlon James ☼ ⚖︎
  Publics and Counterpublics — Michael Warner ⚖︎
  If On a Winters’ Night a Traveller — Italo Calvino
  The Housekeeper and the Professor — Yoko Ogawa ☼ ⚖︎


04. A book that fits your favourite prompt that did not make the list
  I’ll come back to this


05. A book by an author with two sets of double letters in their name
  Ninefox Gambit — Yoon Ha Lee ☼
  The Color of Magic — Terry Pratchett
  Commonwealth — Ann Patchett

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06. A book with an image of a source of light on the cover
  The Light Between Oceans — M.L. Stedman (lighthouse)
  The Arsonist — Chloe Hooper (fire)
  Night in Shanghai — Nicole Mones (lanterns)


07. A book related to psychology, neuroscience, or the mind
  Natural Born Learners — Alex Beard
  The Language Instict: How the Mind Creates Language — Steven Pinker
  The Man who Mistook His Wife for a Hat — Oliver Sacks


08. 3 books set on three different continents: Africa
  Search Sweet Country — Kojo Laing ☼
  Dance of the Jakaranda — Peter Kimani ☼
  We are All Birds of Uganda — Hafsa Zayyan ☼
  The Fishermen — Chigozie Obioma ☼
  Cry, the Beloved Country — Alan Paton ☼
  House of Stone — Novuyo Rosa Tshuma ☼
  The Death of Vivek Oji — Akwaeke Emezi ☼
  Homegoing — Yaa Gyasi ☼


09. 3 books set on three different continents: Asia
  The God of Small Things — Arundhati Roy ☼
  We Crossed a Bridge and it Trembled — Wendy Perlman
  Life — Lu Yao ☼
  Five Star Billionaire — Tash Aw ☼
  Bangkok Wakes to Rain — Pitchaya Sudbanthad ☼
  The Library of Legends — Janie Chang ☼
  Night in Shanghai — Nicole Mones
  anything Murakami, Ishiguro ☼

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10. 3 books set on three different continents: Oceania
  Dark Emu — Bruce Pascoe ☼
  Deep Time Dreaming — Billy Griffiths
  Picnic at Hanging Rock — Joan Lindsay
  A Loving, Faithful Animal — Josephine Rowe
  As the Earth Turns Silver — Alison Wong ☼
  Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen — Queen Liliuokalani ☼
   Sharks in the Time of Saviours — Kawai Strong Washburn ☼
  anything Jane Harper, Ngaio Marsh


11. A book from the historical fiction genre
  The Underground Railroad — Colson Whitehead ☼
  The Light Between Oceans — ML Stedman
  The Shadow of the Wind — Carlos Ruis Zafón ♣︎
  The Tattooist of Auschwitz — Heather Morris
  A Brief History of Seven Killings — Marlon James ♣︎ ☼


12. A book related to glass
  The Glass Hotel — Emily St John Mandel
  The Light Between Oceans — ML Stedman
  The Lost Apothecary — Sarah Penner


13. A book about a woman in STEM
  The Tenth Muse — Catherine Chung ☼
  Silent Spring — Rachel Carson
  X + Y — Eugenia Cheng ☼

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14. A book with fewer than 5000 ratings on Goodreads
  Publics and Counterpublics — Michael Warner
  Animal Vegetable Mineral: Organised Nature — the Wellcome Collective
  Fox Tossing, Octopus Wrestling, and Other Forgotten Sports — Edward Brooke-Hitching
  Zonal Marking — Michael Cox


15. A book without a person on the cover
  The God of Small Things — Arundhati Roy ☼
  Five Star Billionaire — Tash Aw ☼
  In Patagonia — Bruce Chatwin


16. A book related to Earth Day
  How Green was my Valley — Richard Llewelyn
  Let my People go Surfing — Yvon Chouinard
  Life — edited by John Brockman
  Voices from Chernobyl — Svetlana Alexievich


17. A book from NPR’s book concierge
  The Art of Statistics: How to Learn from Data — David Spiegelhalter
  Hood Feminism — Mikki Kendall ☼
  Eat a Peach — David Chang ☼
  Black Leopard Red Wolf — Marlon James ♣︎ ☼
  The Overstory — Richard Powers ♣︎
  The Grace of Kings — Ken Liu ♣︎ ☼
  Underland — Robert MacFarlane ♣︎
  Heart Berries — Terese Marie Mailhot ☼

18. A book by an Asian or Pacific Islander author
Life — Lu Yao ☼
The God of Small Things — Arundhati Roy ☼
Memoirs of a Polar Bear — Yoko Tawada ☼
Five Star Billionaire — Tash Aw ☼
Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen — Queen Lili’uokalani ☼
The Whale Rider — Witi Ihimaera ☼
A Tale for the Time Being — Ruth Ozeki ☼


19. A book that involves alternate reality, alternate worlds, or alternate history
The Underground Railroad — Colson Whitehead ☼
Memoirs of a Polar Bear — Yoko Tawada ☼
1Q84 — Haruki Murakami ♣︎ ☼
The Eyre Affair — Jasper Fforde
11/22/63 — Stephen King ♣︎


20. A book set in 1900 - 1950
White Rose, Black Forest — Eoin Dempsey
The Tattooist of Auschwitz — Heather Morris
The Shadow of the Wind — Carlos Ruiz Zafón ♣︎


21. A book with one of the Monopoly tokens on the cover
The Unbearable Lightness of Being — Milan Kundera
Spoonbenders — Daryl Gregory
Middlesex — Jeffrey Eugenides ♣︎
Death on the Nile — Agatha Christie


22. A book with a Jewish character or author
The Tenth Muse — Catherine Chung ☼
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union — Michael Chabon
The Tattooist of Auschwitz — Heather Morris



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23. A book that features a loving LGBTQIA+ relationship
The Song of Achilles — Madeline Miller
Girl, Woman, Other — Bernadine Everisto ☼
This is how you lose the time War — Amal El-Mohtar, Max Divi ☼


24. A book related to inclement weather
The Light Between Oceans — ML Stedman
Rain: A Natural and Cultural History — Cynthia Barnett



<b>25. A book less than 220 pages OR more than 440 pages</b>
[book:House of Leaves — Mark Z. Danielewski (709pp)
A Brief History of Seven Killings — Marlon James (690pp) ☼
The Grace of Kings — Ken Liu (640pp) ☼
The Poppy War — R.F Kuang (531pp) ☼


26, 27. 2 books with the same word in the title: Book 1, 2
Beartown, Bear + Nightingale
Secret History of Witches, Winter of Witch
Housekeeper & Professor, House of Stone, The Roundhouse, House of Leaves



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28. A book that won an award from Powell’s list of book awards
The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X — Les Payne ♣︎ ☼
The Overstory — Richard Powers ♣︎
Voices from Chernobyl — Svetlana Alexievich
A Visit from the Goon Squad — Jennifer Egan


29. A book set on or near a body of water
We, the Drowned — Carsten Jensen ♣︎


30. A book related to mythology
xo Orpheus — multiple ♣︎
Circe —Madeline Miller
The Poppy War — RF Kuang ♣︎ ☼
The Winter of the Witch — Katherine Arden




—



31. A book published at least 10 years ago
How Green Was My Valley — Richard Llewelyn
If On a Winter’s Night a Traveller — Italo Calvino (1979, or the other one)
The Transit of Venus — Shirley Hazzard (1980)
Dirk Gently‘s Holistic Detective Agency — Douglas Adams


32. A book where the main character is a female detective or police officer
Blue Monday — Nicci French
 The Haunting of Tram Car 015 — P. Djeli Clark ☼
The Eyre Affair — Jasper Fforde
Magic for Liars — Sarah Gailey


33. The next book in a series
The Girl in the Tower — Katherine Arden
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets — JK Rowling
Hollowpox — Jessica Townsend


34. A book with an academic setting or with a teacher that plays an important role
The Magicians — Lev Grossman
HP 2
Madam — Phoebe Wynne
Skippy Dies — Paul Murray


35, 36. Two books related to flora and fauna: Books 1, 2
Entangled Life — Merlin Sheldrake
Animal Vegetable Mineral — Wellcome Collection
Life — edited by John Brockman

36. Two books related to flora and fauna: Book 2
Braiding Sweetgrass — Robin Wall Kimmerer ☼
H is for Hawk — Helen Macdonald


37. A book that uses all five vowels in the title and/or author’s name
The House in the Cerulean Sea — TJ Klune
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead — Olga Tokarczuk
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires — Grady Hendrix


38. A book by a Latin American author
The House of the Pain of Others — Julian Herbert
The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao — Martha Batalha
The Murmur of Bees — Sofía Segovia
The Sky over Lima — Juan Goméz Bárcena


39. A book from the TIME list of 100 best YA books
The Lightning Thief — Rick Riordan
The Westing Game — Ellen Raskin
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn — Betty Smith
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler — E.L. Konigsburg



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40. A book related to one of the 22 Tarot Major Arcana cards
????


41. A book with a theme of food or drink
Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba — Tom Gjelten
The Food Explorer — Daniel Stone
Four Fish — Paul Greenberg


42. A book with a language or nationality in the title
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union — Michael Chabon
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian — Marina Lewycka
The English Patient — Michael Ondaatje


43. A book set in a small town or a rural area
Beartown — Fredrik Backman
The Bear and the Nightingale — Katherine Arden
The Alaskan Laundry — Brendan Jones
How Much of These Hills is Gold — C Pam Zhang ☼


44. A book with gothic elements
Northanger Abbey — Jane Austen
The Night Tiger — Yangsze Choo ☼
Gideon the Ninth — Tamsyn Muir



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45. A book related to a game
Das Reboot — Raphael Honigstein
Zonal Marking — Michael Cox
The Barcelona Legacy — Jonathan Wilson


46. A book with a non-human as one of the main characters
Memoirs of a Polar Bear — Yoko Tawada ☼
The Call of the Wild — Jack London


47. A book with handwriting on the cover
Voices from Chernobyl — Svetlana Alexievich
The Unbearable Lightness of Being — Milan Kundera
Crying in H Mart — Michelle Zauner


48. A book posted in the 2021 or 2022 ATY Best Book of the Month threads
Girl, Woman, Other — Bernadine Everisto ☼
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead — Olga Tokarczuk
The Underground Railroad — Colson Whitehead ☼
Kindred — Octavia E. Butler ☼



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49. A book connected to the phrase “Here (There) Be Dragons”
Prisoners of Geography — Tim Marshall
The Island of Lost Maps — Miles Harvey
The Neverending Story — Michael Ende


50. A book that involves ageing, or a character in their golden years
The Thursday Murder Club — Richard Osman
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead — Olga Tokarczuk
The Housekeeper and the Professor — Yoko Ogawa ☼
A Gentleman in Moscow — Amor Towles


51. A book published in 2022
TBA


52. A book with a time-related word in the title
The Fire Next Time — James Baldwin ☼
Sharks in the Time of Saviors — Kawai Strong Washburn ☼
A Tale for the Time Being — Ruth Ozeki ☼

dibs

Q1 Wrap Up

I’ve read 6 books, DNF’d 2, and so far I am 7 books behind schedule. But the 6 books that I did I read were great!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️:



The Yield by Tara June Winch — beautifully written, told in three storylines: (1) August Gondiwindi, a girl who returns home after her grandfather dies; (2) Albert Gondiwindi, said grandfather who was part of the Stolen Generation, and who was writing a book about Wiradjuri words, sprinkled with anecdotes of his life, and how the spirits of his ancestors taught him the words; and (3) Reverend Greenleaf, of German descent, who though misguided, attempted to do good for the Indigenous folk, but ultimately suffered a different brand of discrimination for being German as WWII crept up.

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman — a witty, funny whodunnit solved by four people living in a retirement village.

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa — a moving novel about a housekeeper who ends up working for a mathematics Professor whose memory resets every 80 minutes.

Mrs March by Virginia Feito — a woman finds out that the unsavoury character in her husband’s bestseller is based on her, then descends into madness. A true literary psychological thriller, with great writing decisions by the author.

The Feather Thief by Kirk W Johnson — a true crime novel about a flautist who was obsessed with salmon tie flying, and stole nearly 300 rare bird specimens from a natural history museum for their feathers.

⭐️⭐️⭐️:



Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter by Ben Goldfarb — a book about beavers, mainly in the US, and how they were hunted for their fur, and now discriminated against because they’re completely misunderstood. What beavers can do for the ecosystem, and how human life and beaver life clash.

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No books under 3 stars and honestly a 3 star book for me is still a good read (pun intended!) I am hoping to catch up a little this next quarter, but hopefully not at the expense of reading good books.