Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Our first official round of results is in and we are off to the races!

TOP
A book with a Z in the title and/or author name Listopia
A book published in 2026 Listopia
A book from a genre that starts with A, T, or Y Listopia
A book by a new-to-you author Listopia

BOTTOM
A traditional or contemporary western
A book set primarily underground

The results were very clear-cut this week with the group having a strong consensus around their favorites so no 'close calls' or 'polarizing'.

The next round of suggestions will open Monday 7/7/25, time to be announced.

The bottoms don't surprise me at all, people (me included) just don't like westerns, and we had underground this year.

I'm happy with the tops, I voted for 3 of them and was neutral on the other.

Love to see it! Great first round of voting. I would’ve been happy with any but I like the ones that got in.

I agree, we already had underground this year and I don't want to read any traditional westerns (although I spotted someone mentioning the books about Sookie Stackhouse as modern westerns so maybe there is another way of viewing that prompt).

I like the Z-prompt and I'm glad the ATY-prompt continues. I didn't vote for the other two but I don't mind them at all.

Only voted for 1 of these but no downvotes either! And I'm not surprised by the results at all.

Nike wrote: "I agree, we already had underground this year and I don't want to read any traditional westerns (although I spotted someone mentioning the books about Sookie Stackhouse as modern westerns so maybe ..."

Sookie as a Western? I don't see how. You could argue that LA was not part of the original 13 colonies so part of western expansion and there are scenes in a bar... but really?

Not sookie but the Gunnie Rose series is like a magical western series that Charlaine Harris writes.

Pamela wrote: "Nike wrote: "I agree, we already had underground this year and I don't want to read any traditional westerns (although I spotted someone mentioning the books about Sookie Stackhouse as modern weste..."

Someone mentioned the Gunnie Rose series by Charlene Harris, which is a western. Charlaine Harris was also the author of the Sookie Stackhouse books. Sookie isn’t a western though.

Pamela wrote: "Nike wrote: "I agree, we already had underground this year and I don't want to read any traditional westerns (although I spotted someone mentioning the books about Sookie Stackhouse as modern weste..."

No, it's not Sookie Stackhouse, it's a different newer series by the Sookie Stackhouse author.

Feeling very lucky today, since I voted 4 up and 4 down and all 4 of my up votes made the top votes.

I like these results. It pins down some traditions early without a lot of repeats. (Remember X?)

I’m not really a westerns fan but I do have some books set in the west, or about frontier women that I haven’t fit in elsewhere.

Does anyone else end up with leftovers from old prompts that sort of languish in your library or tbr? Most are quickly forgotten but a few nag at me.

Pamela wrote: "Nike wrote: "I agree, we already had underground this year and I don't want to read any traditional westerns (although I spotted someone mentioning the books about Sookie Stackhouse as modern weste..."

Ok, I wasn't aware of that. I'm not American and I wasn't aware of the 13 original colonies. Thank you for enlightening me (⁠•⁠‿⁠•⁠)

Deborah wrote: "Pamela wrote: "Nike wrote: "I agree, we already had underground this year and I don't want to read any traditional westerns (although I spotted someone mentioning the books about Sookie Stackhouse ..."

NancyJ wrote: "Pamela wrote: "Nike wrote: "I agree, we already had underground this year and I don't want to read any traditional westerns (although I spotted someone mentioning the books about Sookie Stackhouse ..."

Elizabeth wrote: "Not sookie but the Gunnie Rose series is like a magical western series that Charlaine Harris writes."

Ok, thank you - I misunderstood completely (⁠•⁠‿⁠•⁠)

I was worried that westerns would get in.

All you western fans - if your western was set in the USA, call it an American western and use it under A, T, or Y genre.

I am thrilled with the prompts that got in.

Thanks for the idea of using American Western as an A, T, or Y genre. I'm having trouble thinking of genres besides the obvious ones. Is there a list of these somewhere. I seem to remember there was a copious list the last time we did a genre prompt a few years ago but I can't find it. It was a Wikipedia page if I remember correctly.

Martha wrote: "Thanks for the idea of using American Western as an A, T, or Y genre. I'm having trouble thinking of genres besides the obvious ones. Is there a list of these somewhere. I seem to remember there wa..."

This is the list the person who suggested the prompt provided:
10. A book from a genre that starts with A, T, or Y
People could make it as broad:
-adventure
-art
-autobiography
-true crime
-thriller
-travel
-young adult

Action & adventure is another, related to but not exactly the same as adventure alone. There are quite a few books added to the Listopia already. If you click on the line under each suggested book that says "and 1 person voted" (or however many people), it will tell you what category they suggested that book for.

Martha wrote: "Thanks for the idea of using American Western as an A, T, or Y genre. I'm having trouble thinking of genres besides the obvious ones. Is there a list of these somewhere. I seem to remember there wa..."

Martha, This might help as a starting point:
https://www.goodreads.com/genres?ref=...

Many westerns are tagged as Adventure. The first Gunnie Rose book has almost as many Alternate History tags as western tags.

1. To get ideas for a particular genre, pick a book you might want, and go to the book’s gr page. The main genres are listed under the book’s description. Click on …more to see the full list.

2. To check a particular term, try these search formats and just change the last term. (Remove the space before .com to create a link.)

Genre
https://www.goodreads. com/genres/western
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/western

Shelf
https://www.goodreads. com/shelf/show/western
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...


On Goodreads, tags, shelves and genres are sometimes used interchangeably, so we might not all agree on what should count as a genre. I wouldn’t call audiobook a genre because I use them for everything, but it might make sense to someone else.

If you want to get a sense of whether a term is popular as a tag or genre heading, you can do a tag shelf search to see how many books were given that tag. They’re shifting to more cover displays, so it might be hard to find the list page with the #s at the top of the page.

Here you can see that it’s helpful to get the most popular spelling or term
Western - 49725 books
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
Westerns - 15953 book
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
American western - 455 books. (Most tagged by only one person)
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

Have we heard what time suggestions open tomorrow?

Dixie wrote: "Martha wrote: "Thanks for the idea of using American Western as an A, T, or Y genre. I'm having trouble thinking of genres besides the obvious ones. Is there a list of these somewhere. I seem to re..."

You can also use your common sense when deciding what genre a book belongs in. Sometimes that works better than consulting a Listopia! Ours are generally pretty watertight, but some of the ones I've looked at recently had tons of books that didn't actually fit the genre they were listed under (middle grade/childrens' books listed as YA, for example, or action/adventure as thrillers). Here is a good description of most genres; I think the definitions are a better guide than lists of books: https://blog.reedsy.com/book-genres/

For the A T Y genre prompt I’m finding some surprising books in the American History genre. Plus art, a true crime about Johnson and Johnson, and animals. I haven’t even got to time travel yet,

As the person who proposed the ATY genre prompt, I wanted people to either pick a common genre or make up their own (even if Goodreads or Wikipedia don't acknowledge it).

We are all ATY and I want everyone, no matter how broad or narrow their reading tastes to be able to get this prompt. Even, non-fiction readers who often feel shut out of other prompts.

Dubhease wrote: "As the person who proposed the ATY genre prompt, I wanted people to either pick a common genre or make up their own (even if Goodreads or Wikipedia don't acknowledge it).

We are all ATY and I want..."

This is a good prompt because it encapsulates a lot but also provides guide posts (I'm sure I'll do art history)

And noone in ATY should ever censure or negatively judge anyone else's choices since we all do this for ourselves.

NancyJ wrote: "Someone mentioned the Gunnie Rose series by Charlene Harris, which is a western. Charlaine Harris was also the author of the Sookie Stackhouse books. Sookie isn’t a western though..."

That makes more sense!

We did a Western in 2023 (and I actually didn't fudge it- I read A Dangerous Business). It was hard though. My IRL book ground did read a Zane Grey years ago, and I will admit while it's not my style, I really liked it.

I'll probably use autofiction for my ATY genre. I have several on my TBR and I never seem to get to them.

The top four are either ones I upvoted or knew I'd like if they won, so I'm pleased. I don't care for westerns, and ditto about having underground this year. I'd forgotten we read them in 2023, but now I remember what I read.

NancyJ wrote: "For the A T Y genre prompt I’m finding some surprising books in the American History genre. Plus art, a true crime about Johnson and Johnson, and animals. I haven’t even got to time travel yet,"

Ooh, time travel and alternate history are two of my favorites!

Of course, in ATY, the genre doesn’t necessarily need to be listed on the main page or at all, if you feel it fits.

Dubhease wrote: "As the person who proposed the ATY genre prompt, I wanted people to either pick a common genre or make up their own (even if Goodreads or Wikipedia don't acknowledge it).

We are all ATY and I want..."

Regardless of the suggester’s intentions, some of us really don’t want to just make stuff up for a challenge. Especially before even looking at the big genres. Creative interpretations can also be very fun of course. No one is being censured here, and we all know that we can do whatever we want.

There are really a lot of strong options here. I didn’t think I liked true crime at all, until I realized that Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty fits.

Robin P wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "For the A T Y genre prompt I’m finding some surprising books in the American History genre. Plus art, a true crime about Johnson and Johnson, and animals. I haven’t even got to time ..."

Me too. I also have a lot of shelves for locations, such as Australia and Tasmania. I don’t know if anyone considers them genres or not, but I’ve got enough already.

Great start! I like all of them and am glad for 4 winners. For ATY, I will likely go with travel or adventure.

NancyJ wrote: "Robin P wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "For the A T Y genre prompt I’m finding some surprising books in the American History genre. Plus art, a true crime about Johnson and Johnson, and animals. I haven’t e..."

Oh, but that's a great thought! Then one could choose Asian or African literature as well and I hadn't thought about that until you wrote this. Great idea!

Thank you for the ATY genre examples, everyone! I know I can find thriller and travel and alternative history, but I wanted a few more that might stretch into a less common and less obvious genre category. I've found Amateur sleuth, Apocalyptic, Academic fiction, agriculture, American classic, Ancient History/historical fiction, Arthurian, art/theater fiction, tragicomedy, tragedy and transgender. I'm sure I'll find something but I will probably lean into something that would fit a prompt that wasn't chosen that I wanted to read like Western (contemporary kind), Classic (American classic) or Arthurian for book based on a legend. This is a fun prompt.

The list of genres I was looking for from the 2020 prompts no longer is available on this site. The prompt was to choose a genre/subgenre that started with a letter from your name.

Dubhease wrote: "As the person who proposed the ATY genre prompt, I wanted people to either pick a common genre or make up their own (even if Goodreads or Wikipedia don't acknowledge it).

We are all ATY and I want..."

Thanks! This is a great prompt.

I'm excited for 2026 release and new-to-you author since those easily fit some of my yearly goals! I didn't for for Z in the name, but I have some good options for it (Ali Hazelwood, for example) so I'm okay with that one.

I wasn't thrilled at first about the ATY genre because it felt like too much of a freebie for me (I read a lot of thrillers), but I might just go for a subgenre starting with one of those letters to make it a little more challenging.

Nike wrote: "I agree, we already had underground this year and I don't want to read any traditional westerns (although I spotted someone mentioning the books about Sookie Stackhouse as modern westerns so maybe ..."

Nike I mentioned Sookie Stackhouse because the series is written by the same author as the Gunnie Rose series. Charlaine Harris is a prolific writer. She's probably written 40-50 books.

Sookie S. is not a western, but it does have vampires if that helps!

I like these results. I upvoted 5 and these 4 were included.
I downvoted book set primarily underground given we have a similaron this year. I didn't downvote western but struggled with it when we had it last so glad it didn't get in.

I upvoted all 4 winners. The genre prompt is stacking up to be a fun one. I'm sorry Classic didn't get in, but one can actually fit a classic book into almost any genre.

Charlsa wrote: "Nike wrote: "I agree, we already had underground this year and I don't want to read any traditional westerns (although I spotted someone mentioning the books about Sookie Stackhouse as modern weste..."

Yrs, I watched the first two or three seasons when they came, didn't know the series was based on books though. 🙂

Rachel wrote: "I'm excited for 2026 release and new-to-you author since those easily fit some of my yearly goals! I didn't for for Z in the name, but I have some good options for it (Ali Hazelwood, for example) s..."

I wonder how hard it would be to find a book with three subgenres that fit. Like an Asian Young adult Thriller. Or an Art history Time travelling Young adult book. I'm not sure if it could be anything except for young adult, but it's a least a bit of a challenge.

Shelley wrote: "Rachel wrote: "I'm excited for 2026 release and new-to-you author since those easily fit some of my yearly goals! I didn't for for Z in the name, but I have some good options for it (Ali Hazelwood,..."

Definitely a BIO option Shelley! Maybe "Yemeni History" could replace YA? No idea how available that is to English speakers, especially with the other 2 genres needed for a combo.