Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

New 52 5. A book by an author with two sets of double letters in their name - Completed 09/25/2024
The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg 5 ✮

Well, I had to bump Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man, again. I just can't seem to get ahold of a copy. But it's lucky that I did. I replaced it with another Fannie Flagg and that one turned out to be part of the same series that I was reading - only it isn't listed as such on this website (I might need to fix that.)

And I loved it. That should come as no surprise, given my response to books by FF, but it is pretty hard to lose when the book is not only written by Fannie but also about women pilots during World War II.

New 52 36. 2 books related to flora and fauna - Book 2 - Completed 09/28/2024
Being a Green Mother by Piers Anthony 2 ✮

I was quite enjoying this book for the first two thirds or so, but I had heard it took a downturn, and boy did it! I'm not surprised. There was a good reason that I bailed on this series, twenty years ago.

Anthony has some strengths. His ideas are original and quite good, but he simply cannot execute the writing. The big strength of this series is that it has 7 books and seven separate main characters with their own storyline, and those characters cross paths with each other and interact/conflict.

But therein also lies the problem. Some story beats are already firmly established by the events of the previous book and others have to happen a certain way to set up the next book. It all feels very forced.

To go through the trouble of building a strong and talented protagonist only to have them behave really dumb and suddenly need help from strong men to overcome her first real adversity.

But for some reason, I've decided to continue on with the series.

New 52 8. 3 books set on three different continents - Book 1 – Completed 10/01/2024
For Love of Evil by Piers Anthony 3 ✮

After finishing Being a Green Mother for week 36, I needed to start a new book and didn't want to waste any time looking for one. Since that book ended in a cliff hanger, it was the obvious choice to roll into the 6th book of the series. But I didn't have a topic matched to this, so I had to find that later. I lucked out in that it takes place in medieval Europe (during the crusade, the black death, and the inquisition), as I had no idea going in.

This means that it bumped If I Were You by P.G. Wodehouse, but that was fine, as I still have not found a way to get ahold of a copy for that one. I'm at the point in the challenge where I have to rethink a few of my picks for the remaining weeks, as what is left is what was hard to get.

For Love of Evil was one of the better books of the series. But it does suffer from Jacob's flaws as a writer. Like the last one, it does quite well for more than half the front, with only a few flaws that would keep it in the 4 star range. But then it has 3 chapters that recount the events of the first 5 books (maybe I should be thankful that it wasn't 5 to 5), before a solid final chapter. That filler section cost the book another star.

This series is a great concept, with mediocre execution. It would be an excellent streaming show, if the storylines interweaved instead of being subsequent tales in a series (think A Song of Ice and Fire). Then you wouldn't have to recap Parry's involvement in the previous books in his book.

One final nod to one of the best book titles of all time. This one and the follow-up always made me want to read the series (titles and cover art alone).

New 52 46. A book with a non-human as one of the main characters - Completed 10/04/2024
Robot Dreams by Isaac Asimov 3 ✮

Well, I put off finishing the Culture books, again. I was looking for something that was available immediately, and thought of The Robots of Dawn, until I did a little research and realized that it was from the perspective of Elijah and not Daneel. But that led me toward the short story collection, also by Isaac Asimov in Robot Dreams.

This book had one story in common with I, Robot, so that was a re-read. But it had been more than 10 years. The rest of the collection was hit and miss, as short story collections tend to be.

Asimov's strength is with the science, and he is using up to date science for the background of these (at the time of writing.) But where he does pretty well at predicting the future technologically, he completely misses on the social growth we have had in the last 50-60 years. Which means that a lot of this read very dated.

There are a few good twists in there and I see a lot of influence on the Sci-Fi genre as a whole (there is one story that I'm pretty sure influenced Christine and another that may have influenced Destination: Void.

New 52 18. A book by an Asian or Pacific Islander author - Completed 10/13/2024
Death's End by Liu Cixin 2 ✮

I'm glad that I have completed the trilogy, but boy did I not like this one. I could tell that it wasn't going well very early on (when the sword was passed) but had to stick it out for another 400 or so pages. The big issue is that the protagonist has no agency. She simply travels along like a buoy on the waves observing the changes over time and after every time jump, there is thankfully a man there to explain everything to her.

I will applaud Liu Cixin for his ability to emulate the classic sci-fi authors. But there are a few aspects of those books that could have been left out.

Have you finished all 52 books? Congratulations 👏 🎉

Nike wrote: "Have you finished all 52 books? Congratulations 👏 🎉"

Thanks Nike! I have 12 more to read to finish my second 52 books.

J wrote: "Nike wrote: "Have you finished all 52 books? Congratulations 👏 🎉"

Thanks Nike! I have 12 more to read to finish my second 52 books."

Aha, ok - well you have less then me left in any case. I think I've got twenty to go so I'm a bit behind. But I'll try my best 🙂

New 52 1. A book with a main character whose name starts with A, T, or Y - Completed 10/21/2024
Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy 2 ✮

I really did not enjoy this book and it was obvious by how little progress I made while reading it. I definitely liked the writing, but not the characters or the story.

I see that this gets a lot of praise for tackling a subject that wasn't really talked about at the time. But it manages to both do that and avoid doing that. Cutting away from anything slightly gritty such that discussions of the book often devolve into 'what actually happened?' It's a problem when you want to warn young women of what could happen by raising awareness about that difficulty - but never mention it and just assume that we will get the hint.

I definitely don't want it to be explicit, but I would want to be sure I understand what occurred. There's a perfect point at which to pan away.

The other big issue with this book is that the author knows how things will go and the characters make terrible decisions at exactly the right time to ensure that it follows that path. I wouldn't except that type of clumsy story telling in a modern book, so why should a classic get a pass?

What the book did do is get me thinking about the issues. What I realized is that my sister-in-law had a similar instance in her life and overcame it. Her story would be a much more interesting one to tell. Not just 'hey look out for these dangers and tough break if it happens to you' but rather 'you are not the only one and here is how to heal and overcome.'

For that matter, the first two books of Maya Angelou's memoirs I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and especially Gather Together in My Name tackle the issues so much better. As does When Heaven and Earth Changed Places: A Vietnamese Woman's Journey from War to Peace by Le Ly Hayslip. But those are all actual, real life stories.

New 52 38. A book by a Latin American author - Completed 10/25/2024
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya 4 ✮

This one has a long, convoluted story. I originally read it for Junior year English class way back in 1996 - but never actually finished it. I hate having unfinished books (enjoyed or otherwise) and this was one that I was actually interested in reading.

I guess my high school was short handed, and at the beginning of the year, our class didn't have a teacher. They managed to convince a great teacher named Mr. Talarico to take on the class, even though he had retired the previous year and was actually a Social Studies teacher. He assigned us to read Moby-Dick or, The Whale and after just a few weeks made us give it back because he found out that another class had already scheduled that book. You see, since he wasn't teaching a class, he hadn't actually scheduled to borrow the books for us. Luckily, I was already done with that book.

Then, he gave us this book Bless Me, Ultima and again had to take it back to the library before we had finished our reading schedule. But this time, I hadn't finished it. The third book we tried out was The Joy Luck Club - which I finished and loved.

And now, almost 30 years later, I still hadn't gone back and finished Bless Me, Ultima. I had intended to read it for a prompt of 'A book you started but never finished' or 'A book you were supposed to read in high school' but those prompts never won in the polls.

Now was a good time to read the book, and much better than high school. For one, my Spanish is a lot better (and even if it wasn't, looking up words is a lot easier). I love that this book has so much Spanish in it and never translates. It does a good job of capturing the time and culture. I loved everything to do with Ultima (no surprise) but the occasions of toilet humor were... strange.

It was also surprisingly appropriate to read it at this time of year.

New 52 47. A book with handwriting on the cover - Completed 10/28/2024
The Green Mile by Stephen King 5 ✮

I was glad to see that this book had a cover version with handwriting on the cover, as I've long wanted to read it and was craving some more King. I have seen the film, and quite liked it. The book is very close to the film, though I think in this case the extra bits, though they were definitely what to remove, make the book the better of the two. It was also a great time to read this, as it fit well this close to Halloween.

New 52 44. A book with gothic elements - Completed 10/31/2024
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier 2 ✮

It's never a good thing for a main character to be weak, foolish, or have no agency. But I am fairly forgiving of these at the start of a book at is leaves the character a lot of room to grow. Not here though, just a pathetic female protagonist - and this time: it's written by a female author.

In a way, this book is the opposite of a Sherlock Holmes novel. Where in those books, the protagonist is so clever that they can solve the mystery with very few to no evidence at all. Here, we have a protagonist that can be handed all of the facts, including but not limited to a confession and a smoking gun, and still need it explained to them (by a man!)

It almost comes across as a farce, like in the old Simpsons episode "And Maggie Makes Three" when people keep hinting to Homer about Marge's pregnancy and get less and less vague about it, and he never has the least clue.

New 52 54. Wild Card – A book that involves a secret society or club - Completed 11/01/2024
Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler 5 ✮

When I was closing in on the final 12 books, or so, I decided to put everything that I didn't already own but wanted to read for this year on hold at the library and see when they came in. I put this one on hold to count for week 46, but then Robot Dreams came in first and by the time I got ahold of this title, I no longer had a week where it fit.

I was somewhat hoping that it would partially take place in Africa, so that I could count it toward week 10, but alas no. I still wanted to read it, so I guess it gets me nowhere on the plan.

But it was definitely worth the read, even if it doesn't help me finish my challenge.

New 52 42. A book with a language or nationality in the title - Completed 11/09/2024
American Knees: A Novel by Shawn Wong 5 ✮

Shawn Wong was the professor that taught the one Creative Writing course that I took in college, circa 2006. So, I knew he was a solid writer going into this. I had long wanted to read this book, which he would often mention in class when giving examples of how to write a novel, but I was also somewhat afraid that it could be bad and that that would decrease my esteem of him.

Glad to see that there was no reason to worry. This is a very well written book from a unique perspective. It's very much a product of the time that it was written, but in that way gives us a good look at life in the 90's.

Some of these scenes were so erotic that I would not recommend reading this in a public place. It was much more ideal to read before bed.

New 52 10. 3 books set on three different continents - Book 3 – Completed 11/10/2024
The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough 4 ✮

It's rather curious that I would even choose to read this book. But I saw it on one of the lists for books that take place in Australia and decided to pick it up on a whim. What I knew about it going in was that it was quite big and that a lot of people read it at some point. I knew this because, when I was in middle school, I used to get all of my books from the local second-hand shop and there were an exceptional number of copies donated. The only book I saw more copies of was The Book of Mormon.

I am also quite surprised to find that I quite enjoyed it. What helps this book, as opposed to Tess of the D’Urbervilles, is strong protagonists. I was immediately drawn to Meggie, early in the book, and later also to Justine. They are such strong and interesting characters that I was often just along for the ride, even when they made terrible decisions. And there are a few very strong decisions they made that I really admire.

Edit: I just realized that it was because of the bit done on Seth Meyer's show that I was interested in reading this book. That's good marketing!

New 52 12. A book related to glass - Completed 11/13/2024
Cinder by Marissa Meyer 2 ✮

This series was recommended to me by a friend. I should have been warned by the fact that it is YA, but she does read a lot of YA. I had been commenting on the lack of retellings of the classic fairy tales well outside the original genre and she pointed to this as an example to check out.

There are some things that Marissa Meyer did that I liked. I like the world and the sci-fi setting. Making Cinderella a cyborg is good and I like that the protagonist has agency. But the writing is pretty mediocre and I found the story itself to be fairly passable.

Even the things done right are slightly flawed to me. I like that Cinder is a mechanic, but the author should have done more research into that job (and cars) to make it more believable. The biggest flaw, I think, is the changes to Cinderellas personality. Originally, she gets mistreated and takes it. You feel bad for her because she does so much for her family and they treat her terribly because that is convenient/advantageous. Then she rises above it. When she goes to the ball, she is so confident that nobody even recognizes her. Meyer introduces the power of casting a glamour so that Cinder can be disguised and then doesn't use it.

Oddly enough, I am considering finishing the series. It was an easy/fast read and I do like how the books work together toward a larger story (the other three stories were set up here.)

For the topic, this book doesn't work as well as I had hoped. Cinderella has glass slippers, but Cinder does not have a Glass equivalent. Fortunately, mirrors played a big part in the plot, otherwise it would fail to meet the requirements of the prompt that I was reading this for.

New 52 11. A book from historical fiction genre - Completed 11/18/2024
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë 4 ✮

And just like that, The Blind Assassin gets bumped again. I decided to finally read Jane Eyre because the girl running the counter at my hair salon was reading it and told me she quite enjoyed it.

I went into this with high expectations, and it didn't quite get there. The writing is excellent and I love the main character, but I had no interest at all in the romance and the story itself was just passable.

So, I just enjoyed the words and descriptions as they came.

New 52 22. A book with a Jewish character or author - Completed 11/28/2024
The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka 4 ✮

This was my first pick for this topic and Kafka was the first author I thought of when considering Jewish authors. It is so much a part of who he is as a writer.

And I had been looking for an excuse to read this.

It could well be his best work. This volume includes everything that he published in his lifetime and therefore everything that is actually complete. I think that both The Trial and The Castle would be better had they been completed and edited.

As with a lot of collections, the pieces are each hit or miss. I tended to prefer the longer pieces, such as The Metamorphosis and In the Penal Colony, but those give you room to get into them. I also especially liked the one at the end written in second person.

New 52 13. A book about a woman in STEM - Completed 11/29/2024
Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey 5 ✮

This is a well-regarded Sci-Fi series that I've been meaning to read. When I saw it on a list for the 'A book about a woman in STEM' topic, I made the easy choice.

But it does not qualify for the topic. I'm not sure what somebody was thinking. Both main characters are male and I certainly wouldn't say that is about a woman in STEM.

It was very, very good. Pretty thrilling most of the way, with a great climax. I especially liked the protagonists. They were very different (to the point of often being in conflict with each other) and were not afraid of doing something wrong for a good reason.

New 52 39. A book from the TIME list of 100 Best YA Books of All Time - Completed 11/30/2024
Holes by Louis Sachar 4 ✮

This is another book that I've always meant to read. It had been recommended to me by my nephew, who read it in school, and I later realized that I knew the author from when I read his Wayside School series, when I was in school.

This was a fun book. It reminded me of Stephen King-Hall, so I was waiting for something supernatural to happen. All of the plot points are set up well and they work together to make a very tight story.

I especially liked everything that happened in the past. I was uncertain why those were there, at first, but having the story take place in two eras really worked.

New 52 13. A book about a woman in STEM – Completed 12/3/2024
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer 2 ✮

And yet I continued reading the series, after not really liking the first book much. It should be no surprise that I also found the second book to be quite mediocre. I had high hopes for this, but Meyer just isn't a skilled writer and many of her writing decisions are purely for plot convenience.

I especially hate how stupid the characters are, just so that they make the right mistakes for the plot to happen. The changes to the original story don't work for me either. It moves the story to a sci-fi setting, which is good, but doesn't change much beyond that, while also changing the entire message of the story (and that's probably the only thing to be kept).

I was reading this to try to get to book three, to use that book for the week 13 topic, as Rapunzel works in STEM. But thankfully, Cinder is still a character here, so I got to use the second book for the topic based on Cinder.

New 52 24. A book related to inclement weather – Completed 12/08/2024
State of Fear by Michael Crichton 3 ✮

With this book completed, I have done two sets of 52 books for this year's challenge and a total of 107 books - and there is more time left in the year.

I'll just keep reading, and adding topics that didn't make the list, as I did way back in 2016. I should look to avoid reading the books slotted in for 2025. Currently, I am reading Eleanor & Park because I told my daughter that I had run out of books to read and she told me to read the book she is reading for 7th grade.

State of Fear was on my list because my cousin sent me a copy to read, earlier this year. I was reticent to start it, because I thought I knew how it would go - and I'm glad to say that I was wrong with my expectation. But it did do something that I have found more common, especially with tenured Sci-fi authors, and that is to spend most of its time lecturing the reader on politics and less time on an actual story.

Certainly, I appreciate hearing Crichton's views on Global Warming and I appreciate the amount of time he spent researching the topic. But there is a good balance between story and message and this one has way too many scenes where two people 'discuss' the issue but actually one is just a straw man and the other is lecturing the reader on 'the facts'.

Perhaps the best part of the book was the author's note at the end. It's really all you need to read to get the point of the book, and it is much shorter.