Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

I discovered this group and the list of prompts around May of this year, and tried fitting in my reading s the best that I could. I expected to read around 26 - one every two weeks - but was pleased to get 33 read.

Next year I’ll aim for getting 39 done - one every ten days or so - and see how I do.


2017 List

1. A book from the Goodreads Choice Awards 2016 (link)
Everybody's Fool by Richard Russo

2. A book with at least 2 perspectives (multiple points of view)

3. A book you meant to read in 2016
Budding Prospects: A Pastoral by T.C. Boyle

4. A title that doesn't contain the letter "E"
Blood on Snow by Jo Nesbø

5. A historical fiction
The Curse of the Pharaohs by Elizabeth Peters

6. A book being released as a movie in 2017

7. A book with an animal on the cover or in the title
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

8. A book written by a person of color
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

9. A book in the middle of your To Be Read list

10. A dual-timeline novel

11. A category from another challenge

12. A book based on a myth
The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog by Elizabeth Peters

13. A book recommended by one of your favorite authors

14. A book with a strong female character
Beloved by Toni Morrison

15. A book written or set in Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland)
The Inspector and Silence by Håkan Nesser

16. A mystery
Crooked House by Agatha Christie

17. A book with illustrations
Lizzy's Lion by Dennis Lee

18. A really long book (600+ pages)
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

19. A New York Times best-seller
Rabbit, Run by John Updike

20. A book that you've owned for a while but haven't gotten around to reading
Charming Billy by Alice McDermott

21. A book that is a continuation of a book you've already read
X by Sue Grafton

22. A book by an author you haven't read before
Fish!: A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results by Stephen C. Lundin

23. A book from the BBC "The Big Read" list (link)
Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières

24. A book written by at least two authors

25. A book about a famous historical figure

26. An adventure book

27. A book by one of your favorite authors
The Terranauts by T.C. Boyle

28. A non-fiction
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

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)
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

31. A book from a sub-genre of your favorite genre

32. A book with a long title (5+ words, excluding subtitle)

33. A magical realism novel
The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

34. A book set in or by an author from the Southern Hemisphere

35. A book where one of the main characters is royalty

36. A Hugo Award winner or nominee (link)
Animal Farm by George Orwell

37. A book you choose randomly
Lion in the Valley by Elizabeth Peters

38. A novel inspired by a work of classic literature

39. An epistolary fiction
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

40. A book published in 2017
A Legacy of Spies by John le Carré

41. A book with an unreliable narrator

42. A best book of the 21st century (so far)
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

43. A book with a chilling atmosphere (scary, unsettling, cold)
After Her by Joyce Maynard

44. A recommendation from "What Should I Read Next" (link)

45. A book with a one-word title
Frankenstein: The 1818 Text by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

46. A time travel novel

47. A past suggestion that didn't win (link)
1984 by George Orwell

48. A banned book
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

49. A book from someone else's bookshelf
Single & Single by John le Carré

50. A Penguin Modern Classic - any edition
My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok

51. A collection (e.g. essays, short stories, poetry, plays)

52. A book set in a fictional location
The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Congratulations! 🎉

33 is a good number and it's nice you did better than expected. Have fun with the 2018 books and don't hesitate to add some short reads to increase a little your number :)