Around the Year in 52 Books is a Goodreads group that creates a user-generated reading challenge each year. This listopia is dedicated to one of our 2023 prompts. Please do not vote on these lists unless you are participating in our reading challenge!

Prompt: A book related to a chess piece

The chess pieces are:
The Pawn
The Knight
The Bishop
The Rook
The Queen
The King
1

by
3.91 avg rating — 289,681 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
4.18 avg rating — 136,031 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
4.10 avg rating — 63,073 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
3.99 avg rating — 114,696 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
5

by
3.97 avg rating — 42,832 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
4.33 avg rating — 1,348,730 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
7

by
3.68 avg rating — 12,992 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
3.85 avg rating — 156,310 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
4.32 avg rating — 1,012,208 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
10

by
3.91 avg rating — 235,895 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
3.98 avg rating — 1,156,477 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
3.99 avg rating — 57,259 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
4.02 avg rating — 552,625 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
4.24 avg rating — 200,759 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
15

by
4.16 avg rating — 79,920 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
3.76 avg rating — 1,858,746 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
17

by
4.58 avg rating — 1,027,954 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
3.65 avg rating — 14,861 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
19

by
4.35 avg rating — 639,170 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
4.62 avg rating — 1,357,619 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
4.35 avg rating — 828,156 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
4.27 avg rating — 167,901 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
3.91 avg rating — 14,280 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
4.01 avg rating — 47,134 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
3.76 avg rating — 77,295 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
26

by
4.29 avg rating — 440,828 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
27

by
4.03 avg rating — 1,039,232 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
4.31 avg rating — 54,924 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
3.82 avg rating — 130,420 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
4.45 avg rating — 2,712,298 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
3.78 avg rating — 40,064 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
32

by
4.01 avg rating — 142,897 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
4.24 avg rating — 3,117,343 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
4.14 avg rating — 10,081 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
35

by
4.34 avg rating — 946,265 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 9,241 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 7,324 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
38

by
4.22 avg rating — 27,831 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
4.27 avg rating — 1,049,769 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
4.42 avg rating — 1,013,592 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
41

by
3.87 avg rating — 99,948 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
3.89 avg rating — 28,253 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
43

by
3.92 avg rating — 74,440 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
44

by
4.13 avg rating — 212,356 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
3.73 avg rating — 59,507 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
4.25 avg rating — 113,979 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
3.51 avg rating — 29,644 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
48

by
4.35 avg rating — 822,912 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
4.07 avg rating — 117,350 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
50

by
4.14 avg rating — 392,861 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
51

by
3.85 avg rating — 3,616 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
52

by
3.85 avg rating — 27,429 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
3.98 avg rating — 98,667 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
54

by
3.97 avg rating — 32,773 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
3.70 avg rating — 49,416 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
3.84 avg rating — 65,931 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
4.66 avg rating — 654,655 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
58

by
3.83 avg rating — 77,693 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
58

by
3.43 avg rating — 12,131 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
3.90 avg rating — 5,888 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
61

by
3.96 avg rating — 181,981 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
62

by
4.49 avg rating — 359,189 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
63

by
3.99 avg rating — 168,654 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
3.99 avg rating — 135,863 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
4.05 avg rating — 17,608 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
66

by
4.04 avg rating — 5,994 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
67

by
3.87 avg rating — 14,583 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
68

by
3.74 avg rating — 18,615 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
69

by
4.26 avg rating — 160,599 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
70

by
4.50 avg rating — 1,110,656 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
3.89 avg rating — 1,009,850 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
72

by
3.93 avg rating — 45,965 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
72

by
4.05 avg rating — 11,912 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
3.96 avg rating — 55,452 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
3.82 avg rating — 6,247 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
4.13 avg rating — 1,051,976 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
3.59 avg rating — 17,566 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
3.83 avg rating — 15,780 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
3.92 avg rating — 4,461 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
3.97 avg rating — 10,400 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
4.27 avg rating — 416 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
3.78 avg rating — 61,507 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
3.97 avg rating — 73,649 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
3.68 avg rating — 21,813 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
3.95 avg rating — 26,501 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
3.75 avg rating — 79,296 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
3.73 avg rating — 2,866 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
88

by
4.18 avg rating — 606,681 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
88

by
3.90 avg rating — 2,024 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
90

by
4.13 avg rating — 69,220 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
91

by
4.10 avg rating — 451,076 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
91

by
3.56 avg rating — 7,648 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
93

by
4.35 avg rating — 78,771 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
3.88 avg rating — 294,272 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
3.78 avg rating — 9,769 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
4.09 avg rating — 9,256 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
4.05 avg rating — 5,548 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
98

by
4.25 avg rating — 159,168 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
98

by
4.16 avg rating — 16,204 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
100

by
3.65 avg rating — 4,275 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
720 books · 100 voters · list created August 29th, 2022 by Emily Bourque (votes) .
5 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


dalex 560 books
52 friends
Louise 4535 books
105 friends
NancyJ 13209 books
230 friends
Sydney 598 books
16 friends
Hélène 2931 books
35 friends
°~Amy~° 2683 books
66 friends
Pamela 2226 books
92 friends
Marie 3941 books
8 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-8 of 8 (8 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Mandy (last edited Aug 29, 2022 09:47AM) (new)

Mandy here are some other names for pieces.

Minister, top, lady, tower, vizier, horse, officer

A link for finding international piece names. unfortunately, unless you can read the language, google translate will be your friend.

www. schach-chess. com / chess-pieces .htm


message 2: by NancyJ (last edited Aug 29, 2022 12:43PM) (new)

NancyJ I think it's too big a stretch to include words with "king" imbedded in a title word or author's name - eg. working, mockingbird, looking, Kingfisher, etc. This prompt is already very broad.


message 3: by Dubhease (new)

Dubhease Rooks are sometimes called a castle, a tower, and an elephant in various cultures.


message 4: by Emily (new)

Emily Bourque NancyJ wrote: "I think it's too big a stretch to include words with "king" imbedded in a title word or author's name - eg. working, mockingbird, looking, Kingfisher, etc. This prompt is already very broad."

Totally understand if you don't want to include those books in this prompt, NancyJ (I personally don't plan to) but I'll allow them to remain on the listopia for people who may want to broaden the prompt to that.


BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Dubhease wrote: "Rooks are sometimes called a castle ... in various cultures."

Agreed


BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Mandy wrote: "here are some other names for pieces.

... horse ..."
I so agree


message 7: by Ketutar (new)

Ketutar Jensen OK... The Count of Monte Cristo?
A Discovery of Witches?
11/22/63?
Writers and Lovers?
Euphoria?
The Uncommon Reader?
Rosemary and Rue?
How are these related to chess pieces? People should be motivating their votes here, too.

And, no, words with -king on them shouldn't count. I know this is just a reading challenge and not serious or so, but why would people join a reading challenge if they don't plan to challenge themselves in any way? I mean, I can accept "royals", and "rookie", but there are TONS of books with "king", "queen", "horse" and "tower" to choose from, without needing to go that far out to fish. One could just as well select any 52 books and then come up with far-fetched motivations.

BTW, in Finnish the pieces are called the King, the Queen, the Messenger, the Horse (Steed), the Tower and the Soldier
in Swedish: king, lady, runner, horse, tower, peasant
in Estonian: king, flag, spear, horse, wagon, forerunner


message 8: by Emily (new)

Emily Bourque A reminder, Ketutar, that everyone approaches the challenge in a different way. We encourage people to put notes on their votes explaining how the book fits, but at the end of the day, it is up to each person using the listopia to decide if a book fits for them or not. We aren't here to judge how or why someone chooses to complete our challenge.

I appreciate your listing the different words used in different languages! That's very helpful!


back to top