Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Welcome, Team Red Car! The theme of this Read-a-Thon is the Game of Life! So let's get into our little car and start playing!



Each group will be asked a series of questions, which you will answer with the books you read. You can answer these questions using the title, cover, or plot of the book.

THE PROMPTS

Childhood
A book with a bright colored cover
A book with a child as a major character
A book whose title includes the letter A, B, and C
A book related to a fairy tale, myth or legend
A book featuring a game or sport
A book by a debut author
A book with a main page genre of Child or Children
A book by an author who was once a child (*wink wink*)

Adolescence
A coming of age book
A romance
A book featuring a group of friends
A book where someone leaves home
A book with scenes in a school or college
A book with a pink cover
A book by an author whose initials are found in HIGH SCHOOL
A book with a rebellion

Adulthood
A book set in a workplace
A book where someone gets married
A book where money is a concern
A book with a house on the cover
A book where a child is born
A book with a green cover
A book by an author who has written 5+ books
A book featuring a dinner party

Middle Age
A book where someone changes jobs
A book that includes family problems
A book featuring a professional (doctor, lawyer, scientist, etc.)
A book where a relationship ends
A book where a character achieves success
A book where a character travels
A book whose title starts with a letter in ADULT
A book with an orange or red cover

Older Age
A book featuring a character over 65 years old
A book where someone deals with a death
A book you have been wanting to read for a long time
A classic
A book with a gray or white cover
The most recent book an author has published
The first book a prolific author (10+ books) had published

*Note: Just because a prompt is under a specific stage of life does not mean the main character needs to be that age. For example, you can choose a book featuring elderly people leading a rebellion, or middle aged people falling in love


The Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Team Leaders: Kate and J

Irene
Jessica MHR
Katherine
Tammie
Kellie Lynn

checking in...hi everyone :)

Welcome to the Red Team!

It's always exciting starting a new read-a-thon. And it's lucky to be on the red team. Red cars go faster.

When I was a kid, the cars in the game of Life were minivans, but I picked up an older copy from a second hand store that had '57 chevy wagons for the cars.

J wrote: "Welcome to the Red Team!

It's always exciting starting a new read-a-thon. And it's lucky to be on the red team. Red cars go faster.."

Red cars also get more speeding tickets...

Hello red team! Very excited to be your captain and fellow participant. I love readathons, and usually use them as an excuse to work through some more novella length works.

I've never actually played the Game Of Life despite being a board game fan, shockingly! I do wonder if it's more popular in America (I'm from Australia myself).

Hi team! I haven't actually played the game of life either, but I do drive a red car in real life!!

Hi Everyone! Looking forward to reading with you this week.

Some friends and I once drove a red rental car across the country, and wouldn't you know it, we got a speeding ticket somewhere in the midwest. Luckily, I wasn't the one driving at the time.

Hi everyone. FINALLLY getting back on here since yesterday. Glad to see the team have been posted. Looking forward to this read-a-thon, already getting my books all set up and got some started a bit already. Don't worry I have enough pages left to still count the book.

I have a bunch of books that fit in to these choices. I was hoping to start inputting onto the spreadsheet but I guess it can wait until the morning.

Good luck everyone and happy, plentiful reading!

Hey Red Team-- you have a new teammate-- Kellie Lynn from Texas!

Hey there all! I am excited to be joining the team. This is going to be a crazy reading week. I am taking part in a 48 hour readathon this weekend and another one next weekend. I began and finished The Good Daughters this morning and caught a nap. I am reading The Last Vigilant now and hope to finish this by this evening. I will update the spreadsheet soon.

I put The Good Daughters under Adulthood: A child is born since that was central to the story. It could fit several other places and can be moved it needed.

Good morning all! I hope the team leaders don't mind but I added our names to the spreadsheet since it hadn't been done yet and highlighted the completed book in the planning tab so it's easier to see what's been done. I'm currently reading The Wild Robot for my local bookstore's summer challenge ("a book that's been made into a movie") and should be able to finish it and start another book later today.

Does anyone think it counts as having a grey cover?


And @Kellie Lyn thanks for getting a tough prompt out of the way early on!! Glad this readathon lines up with your other readathons :D

Irene wrote: "Good morning all! I hope the team leaders don't mind but I added our names to the spreadsheet since it hadn't been done yet and highlighted the completed book in the planning tab so it's easier to ..."

I think it's mostly green

I entered my first completion. Hopefully it's how you want things...feel free to change if needed.

I finished The Last Vigilant and put it in as Middle Age: Someone changes a Job. It seemed to have the least amount of possibles. I am hoping to finish Two Twisted Crowns tonight and start another one before I crash for the evening. I have 4.5 hours of the audiobook left so should go pretty quickly.

Hello. Spent the day out shopping but managed to listen to a good chunk of my audiobook while I was doing it... that is until my earbuds died.

It is The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai and deals with a guy who is an art gallery development director and also deals with the AIDS epidemic, so alot of death I am to presume. I mean it starts at a memorial for his friend so...

But my physical book I am reading is Murder by Cheesecake and stars the Golden Girls so a group of friends, people over 65, and has a pink cover.

After I check out the spreadsheet I will go back to reading.

Hello everyone! Afternoon of the 7th here (Australia!) and I finished Black Rabbit Hall yesterday for "A book where someone gets married".

I am planning to finish up Bunny and Hospital today, which fit a few prompts, though based on our planning sheet I think I will put them in "A book with a pink cover" and "A book by a debut author" respectively.

Finished Two Twisted Crowns and put for a white or gray cover which seemed to have the least possible answers. I am starting The Age of Enchantment. I will finish it tomorrow after a bit of a nap.

Just finished Sticky Notes: Memorable Lessons from Ordinary Moments and used it for book with a bright cover since it is a very vibrant yellow.



Now on to the next.

@Tammie, thanks, I marked it as fitting the green cover prompt instead!

I finished The Wild Robot today and started Peril at End House. I plan to read They Called Us Enemy either today or tomorrow as well.

I hope it's okay that I removed the highlighted rows from the "Completed Plans" tab. If the entire row is highlighted, you can't see which prompt a complete book was used for, which makes it harder to move books around if needed. I highlighted the entire rows on the Plans tab instead. Feel free to change it back if preferred but this is the way I've seen it done for many past readathons so I think this generally works well. I also added a bunch of columns to the Plans tab.

Irene wrote: "@Tammie, thanks, I marked it as fitting the green cover prompt instead!

I finished The Wild Robot today and started Peril at End House. I plan to read [book:They Calle..."

Thanks...we definitely need it highlighted on the plans tab...I personally think that's good enough.

I finished This Is How It Always Is and put it under child has a main character. For the rest of the day I'll be reading bits and pieces of some of my other books to see which one I will finish next.

I finished The Age of Enchantment and put it in Adolescence: Set in a school. I also finished Where the Sidewalk Ends and counted it towards page count. I am starting Hemlock & Silver. Hope to finish either Monday or Tuesday.

Hi everyone! I'm a bit list person, so I intend to put together a daily (or thereabouts) list of prompts most needed. This early on the list will be based on the PLANS list.

A book featuring a game or sport (0)
A book by an author whose initials are found in HIGH SCHOOL (0)
The first book a prolific author (10+ books) had published (0)
A book where money is a concern (1)
A book you have been wanting to read for a long time (1)
A classic (1)

Kate I have done the same. :) Also I think I don't have any for all the ones you put.

I have books already listed for things and always hope that where I want it doesn't get taken before I can finish it. Doesn't always work but at least there are usually multiple places to put it.

Today I read Picture Day, it is a graphic but has 284 pages so it counts. Also made some progress on The Great Believers and am hoping to maybe finish Murder by Cheesecake tonight.

Finished Murder by Cheesecake! Since it is the Golden Girls I'm using it for over 65

Also made a ton of progress on The Great Believers.

I put Badlands in the spot where fewest options available.

I hope to finish Blue Ruin tomorrow, but I might have trouble placing it in what we have left. Maybe something will happen that I haven't anticipated yet.

Didn't manage to get much reading in on the weekend, but I made up for it yesterday with 9 hours and completing my current audiobook, Memory's Legion.

Hi guys! Sorry for not checking in yesterday, ended up spending most of the day in bed with some wicked vertigo. On the plus side it let me get in some audiobooks!

If you're wanting some suggestions on where to go, these are the prompts we still need to fill at least once that have 4 or less planned books:

A book related to a fairy tale, myth or legend
A book featuring a game or sport
A coming of age book
A romance

A book featuring a group of friends
A book with a rebellion
A book set in a workplace
A book featuring a dinner party

A book where a relationship ends
A book where a character achieves success
The first book a prolific author (10+ books) had published

Thanks for the list Kate!!

I slotted in They Called Us Enemy for "A book where money is a concern" and Peril at End House for "A book with a house on the cover" since that was surprisingly the prompt with the least options. I'm starting a middle grade book today for "The first book a prolific author had published" unless someone else gets to it sooner, in which case I'm sure I can fit it in somewhere else.

I might not be able to update my reading on the spreadsheet tomorrow but will still be reading and will update my pages and books read by late Thursday!

I just finished Dearest Mary Jane...it does fit for quite a few others...so feel free to move it as needed.
I'll be reading tomorrow, but will not likely finish my book until Thursday.

Looking great, team! What's your favourite thing you've read so far? I gave Happy Endings a 5 star rating, a fascinating and funny memoir.

These are the prompts we still need to fill that have less than 5 plans for them:

A book related to a fairy tale, myth or legend
A book featuring a game or sport (0 -- if you can't decide what to read next, go for something that includes this!)
A coming of age book

A book featuring a group of friends
A book with a rebellion
A book where a character achieves success

I've been reading mostly mysteries as I've another challenge going that's focusing on those.
I can highly recommend J.D. Robb's In Death series...I don't think I've read one that I didn't like...this last one was one of my favorites.
Nora Roberts latest Hidden Nature was pretty good and I also enjoyed Badlands a new to me author...I'll continue this series.

My current read Maybe in Another Life is super good...I should finish it tomorrow :)

I finished Blue Ruin and put it under a group of friends. First half of the book dealt with the friend/artist group early on in the main character's life. The second part had a friend group quarantining together during Covid. Well, they started out as friends beore the book began...

Hello! I read Sheets last night and put it under at a workplace since it takes place at a laundromat.

Then I finished The Great Believers today and have put that under deals with death cause, could there be more death in this book. This finished off our OLDER AGE section so feel free to start a new one.

I am about half way thru Drafted: An Illustrated Memoir of a Veteran’s Service During the War in Vietnam and am hoping to maybe finish tonight. And have started a new audiobook, Raiders of the Lost Heart.

Happy reading!

Wow team, we're doing great! As Jessica said, the OLDER AGE age section has its first completed column, yay! These are the prompts we are yet to fill, and we also have 6 'wild cards' we can start slotting in come late Sunday.

A book related to a fairy tale, myth or legend
A book featuring a game or sport
A book by an author who was once a child (*wink wink*) (this is a bit of a 'freebie', so I'd say save it for last!)

A coming of age book
A romance
A book where someone leaves home
A book with a rebellion

A book by an author who has written 5+ books

A book that includes family problems
A book where a character achieves success
A book where a character travels

I picked up a book for game/sport -- A Game of Lies. A thriller where reality show contestants are playing games to stay in the overall game and not to not let their "big secrets" be revealed. Quality reading experience! LOL.

Our remaining prompts to get at least one full column of each life stage are below! We also have 7 wild cards, so we are definitely getting them all. Feel free to fill up other columns if your book fits those better. Go team!

A book related to a fairy tale, myth or legend
A book featuring a game or sport
A coming of age book
A book with a rebellion
A book by an author who has written 5+ books
A book that includes family problems
A book where a character achieves success

My current book works for 3 or 4 of these…

I’ll finish tomorrow. Will we need additional books? It sounds like we’re covered for everything with our wilds…

Finished A Game of Lies and put it under game or sport to finish off the Childhood tab. I'll have another book completed today and possibly one more tomorrow.

I finished my last.
Looks like there are more books in progress than we have spots for...I'll check back in later to see if you need me to read another book

Currently working on The Eye of the Bedlam Bride, which works for some of the rarer tasks like Game and Mythology. It will likely be the only other book that I finish this week.

It's Sunday here so my last day of reading, excited to see how much we've done! Only a few prompts left to get every column filled at least once, so feel free to put books in second columns too! We also have 8 wildcards (thus far) to slot in.

A book with a rebellion
A book by an author who has written 5+ books
A book that includes family problems

The books I have left will probably have to be put in second columns! But maybe I will luck out and they will fit in one of the above.

Didn't manage to finish anything yesterday but there is still today.

I do have a book with a rebellion of sorts. It is Woman, Life, Freedom, which is about the woman's fight in Iran. I'm not too sure if I'll finish it today because I do have another book I'm supposed to finish today for a different challenge.

I'm also only about a hour from finishing my audio book, so hopefully I can at least finish that one today.

I'm going to have to hold off finishing my book until tomorrow. Hopefully what's out there will cover the slots we have left.

I did record pages I read for my current book (not finished)...so if those need to be deleted...350pages/4.5 hrs should come off of my total.

I enjoyed reading with you all!

Monday here so I'm done with the readathon but will keep checking in! We have enough wildcards to fill in the last needed prompts, but if anyone's finishing something up, feel free to put it anywhere! We do need the following two to complete each column once:

A book with a rebellion
A book that includes family problems

I slotted in Lovely War for the book with a rebellion and hope my last book fits our final prompt. If not, we have plenty of wild cards to use since we were able to read so many books as a team!

And @Tammie, no need to delete those pages/hours! You can read books for pages only without finishing them :)

Thanks everyone for the fun readathon!!

Irene wrote: "I slotted in Lovely War for the book with a rebellion and hope my last book fits our final prompt. If not, we have plenty of wild cards to use since we were able to read so many boo..."

Thanks…the book just under 600 pgs was too much for me to fit in. I’m glad I didn’t have to delete.