Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Cristin's 2017 Plan:

The 2017 List
1. A book from the Goodreads Choice Awards 2016 (link)
2. A book with at least 2 perspectives (multiple points of view) A Duke by Default
3. A book you meant to read in 2016 Mansfield Park
4. A title that doesn't contain the letter "E" A Court of Mist and Fury
5. A historical fiction As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust
6. A book being released as a movie in 2017
7. A book with an animal on the cover or in the title How to Steal a Dragon's Sword
8. A book written by a person of color Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High
9. A book in the middle of your To Be Read list
10. A dual-timeline novel
11. A category from another challenge from Popsugar 2015 Challenge: A graphic novel Boys Over Flowers: Hana Yori Dango, Vol. 1
12. A book based on a myth The Penelopiad
13. A book recommended by one of your favorite authors Ill Wind
14. A book with a strong female character Boys Over Flowers: Hana Yori Dango, Vol. 2
15. A book written or set in Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland) Smilla's Sense of Snow
16. A mystery
17. A book with illustrations How to Be a Pirate
18. A really long book (600+ pages) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
19. A New York Times best-seller Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban This was #1 on NYT list for the week of 9/26/1999
20. A book that you've owned for a while but haven't gotten around to reading Northanger Abbey
21. A book that is a continuation of a book you've already read Hollow City
22. A book by an author you haven't read beforeThe House of Mirth
23. A book from the BBC "The Big Read" list (link) The Picture of Dorian Gray
24. A book written by at least two authors Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter Witch
25. A book about a famous historical figure
26. An adventure book
27. A book by one of your favorite authors Unseen Academicals
28. A non-fiction Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science
29. A book published outside the 4 major publishing houses (Simon & Schuster; HarperCollins; Penguin Random House; Hachette Livre) - check all the editions
30. A book from Goodreads Top 100 YA Books (link) Howl's Moving Castle
31. A book from a sub-genre of your favorite genre Hounded Genre: fantasy. Sub-genre: urban fantasy.
32. A book with a long title (5+ words, excluding subtitle) The House with a Clock in Its Walls
33. A magical realism novel Like Water for Chocolate
34. A book set in or by an author from the Southern Hemisphere
35. A book where one of the main characters is royalty A Court of Thorns and Roses
36. A Hugo Award winner or nominee (link)
37. A book you choose randomly The Beasts of Clawstone Castle
38. A novel inspired by a work of classic literature Bridget Jones's Diary
39. An epistolary fiction
40. A book published in 2017
41. A book with an unreliable narrator The Carnivorous Carnival
42. A best book of the 21st century (so far)
43. A book with a chilling atmosphere (scary, unsettling, cold) Snow, Glass, Apples
44. A recommendation from "What Should I Read Next" (link) Marvel 1602
45. A book with a one-word title
Divergent
46. A time travel novel
47. A past suggestion that didn't win (link) George's Marvelous Medicine Prompt: A book with a child as the main character.
48. A banned book
49. A book from someone else's bookshelf Library of Souls
50. A Penguin Modern Classic - any edition
51. A collection (e.g. essays, short stories, poetry, plays) Tales of the Peculiar
52. A book set in a fictional location How to Speak Dragonese

So, after a slow start, I'm finished prompt 3, A book you meant to read in 2016 with Mansfield Park, making me 1/52 for this challenge.

In my defense, I'm 6/52 in the Popsugar challenge, and I'm only counting a book once, for either challenge...

Hooray! I caught up a bit this month, reading Unseen Academicals for prompt 27 - a book by one of my favorite authors, A Court of Mist and Fury for prompt 4 - a title that does not contain the letter "E", How to Be a Pirate for prompt 17 - a book with illustrations, The House with a Clock in Its Walls for prompt 32 - a book with a long title (5+ words, excluding subtitle), Northanger Abbey for prompt 20 - a book I've owned for a while but haven't gotten around to reading, and How to Speak Dragonese for prompt 52 - a book set in a fictional location.

I am now at 7/52 for this challenge, and still at 6/52 for Popsugar. I hope to balance the books between the two better this coming month. So far it has been pretty easy to slot things I planned to read anyway into one of these two challenges, but I think it will be getting more difficult soon. I am so glad that there are so many people posting their picks for prompts to help me get inspired!

Nice to see another "How to" reader! I was a little disappointed by Be a Pirate but I enjoyed Speak Dragonese and had a lot of fun with the next one :)

Yes, the plot seemed to drag a bit in "Be a Pirate", and I almost didn't pick up "Speak Dragonese" because of it, but I'm glad I did. It was a fun little read. Glad to hear the next one is fun too!

So, quick check in. I have learned I am horrible about updating my list, but I'm at 14/52. I keep falling down the World of Warcraft rabbit hole. Provided I can avoid this most tempting of temptations, I think I can still finish all 52 this year, and Popsugar too. I'm a bit further on that one than I am on this (20/52), and so far I've not double-counted books, that is, used the same book for both challenges.

Well, I'm at 16/52 here (26/52 PopSugar)without double dipping. I still have hope I can finish both by December 31. Even if I don't I'm in for next year, because I've really enjoyed following the conversations, even if I'm not the most active contributor (yay social anxiety).

No problem in not finishing the 52, the goal is to have fun and read a bit more or add some diversity to the reads :)
Good luck with the next months!

Hooray! 2 more books down (The Picture of Dorian Gray and Bridget Jones's Diary) making me 18/52. Little progress is better then no progress!

Did you like Dorian Gray? It keeps staring at me from the shelf. I am just too chicken to pick it up.

Anastasia wrote: "Did you like Dorian Gray? It keeps staring at me from the shelf. I am just too chicken to pick it up."

I went into Dorian Gray with low expectations. I am not a huge fan of Victorian literature. In fact, Victorian and Regency are probably my least favorite eras (God bless Romanticism for kinda giving a break between the two). That said, I ended up giving it 3 stars. There are segments where Wilde's prose is so lush and gorgeous and I would have rolled around in the words like Scrooge McDuck in his money bin if I could. At the same time, the plot could drag in places, and ultimately is more philosophical in nature than you would expect from the way it is frequently shelved as "horror". Really the horror was almost non-existent, compared to Poe who wrote more than 50 years earlier.

At the end of the day, it was worth it for the pretty words, and that I will be better able to understand when other works reference/make allusion to it. I think it is worth a re-read in 10 years or so. If you're looking for spooky, scandalous, or quick moving plot, you will be disappointed.

And another 2 checked off. Like Water for Chocolate for my magical realism novel, and Ill Wind as my book recommended by one of my favorite authors (recomended by Jim Butcher). This brings me to 20/52, so maybe I won't end as poorly as I thought I would.

I just finished listening to Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter Witch for prompt 24: A book written by at least two authors. I read it in paperback in the late nineties, and decided to give the audio version a go instead of just re-reading. Martin Jarvis did a fabulous job narrating. If I find more narrators like him for books I know I will enjoy, I might just be able to get into this whole "audio-book" thing after all.

Well, I've finished the year with 33/52 for this challenge and 37/52 for Popsugar, with no books counting for more than one challenge. Total I've read 75 books this year, which is almost double last year, so I am satisfied. I'll probably try to play catch-up with this year's unfinished prompts after (if) i finish the 2018 prompts. I'm really glad I found this group. This has been excellent motivation and a lot of fun. I definitely found a few good reads I would not have picked up on my own. Happy New Year to all!

Congrats! With 2 challenges and no overlap, it's a good number, especially if you almost doubled.
Have fun with your 2018 reads :)

Congratulations! 🎉

Thanks all! Times like this I really wish Goodreads had a way to "like" comments/posts.