Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Although it's great to have an inspiring hero at the center of story, sometimes we just have to switch it up and be a little on the darker side.

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Suggestions:
Bookriot: 100 Must Read Books About Serial Killers
Goodreads: Criminal Protagonist
Goodreads: Criminal Main Character
Criminal Fiction Lover: Criminal Heroes! Seven of the Best
Goodreads: Pirates
Goodreads: Popular Assassin Books
Goodreads: Popular Thieves Books
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Optional questions:
- What are you reading for this category?
- What type of criminal is featured in the book?

I definitely need some help with this prompt so I will be following closely for ideas.

Here are a few I've read and would recommend:

Alias Grace
The Alienist
You
American Gods
Manhattan Beach
The Talented Mr. Ripley
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Grist Mill Road

Non-fiction:
In Cold Blood
The Executioner's Song

I will probably end up reading Genuine Fraud for this one... I saw E. Lockhart talk back in May, and she explained so much about this book, but I haven't been able to fit it into my reading this year. Looking forward to this in January!

I don't typically like a criminal protagonist, so my potential list was a KIS option with just any criminal character at all... which means that basically any thriller would fit.

Here's others on my list:
White Cat
Finnikin of the Rock
The Alienist
The Talented Mr. Ripley

And some nonfiction from my 40 Before 40 list...
The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives
The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir
The Girls of Murder City: Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers who Inspired Chicago
I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer
Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History
Seductive Poison: A Jonestown Survivor's Story of Life and Death in the Peoples Temple

Would Gone Girl work for this? I have too many possibilities for the psychological thriller so am trying to reallocate them. I recall reading something that made me think it could fit here. But I don't want to investigate too much in case I stumble across spoilers that will, well spoil the read for me.

Serendipity wrote: "Would Gone Girl work for this? I have too many possibilities for the psychological thriller so am trying to reallocate them. I recall reading something that made me think it could fit here. But I d..."

YES! Gone Girl would be one of my main recommendations for this one.

I'm probably going to read Hidden Bodies, the sequel to You which I read for the POV of a protagonist this year.

I am thinking more along the lines of Jack Sparrowesque criminals. Charming scoundrels, charlatans and swindlers in other words.

Unless something crops up before release day, I’ll use Darkdawn for this. That won’t work for anyone reading in order. However I thoroughly recommend the first in the trilogy, Nevernight (fantasy with assassins).

I plan on reading A Ladder to the Sky. I don't really understand much of what this book is about, but the main character sounds like a dishonest douche (sorry if I'm not allowed to say that word). Conniving, manipulative, greedy . . . I think all of that would make him a scoundrel.

Not real sure about this category. I might just go with Crooked Kingdom.

If you like pirates, I really enjoyed Cinnamon and Gunpowder! If you want to go nonfiction but avoid murder and violence, The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century was fascinating.

I think I'm going to read You. Thanks for the recommendation. This one has been on my list for awhile.

What about this one? The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective

I think I will read something from Jim Thompson. I tried The Killer Inside Me last year and wasn't crazy about it, but I need to give him another chance, so either After Dark My Sweet or The Grifters.

Backup plans (and I'm not sure if all of these work):
Wildcard (Lu)
Dearly Devoted Dexter (Lindsay)
Child 44 (Smith)
Archenemies (Meyer)
Courting Darkness (LaFevers)
Dreamers Pool (Marillier)
Heartsick (Cain)
Alana (Pierce)
Black Ice(Stuart)
The Kind Worth Killing (Swanson) (I'll probably end up reading this book this year)

I found a few lists of sci-fi and fantasy books with criminal characters (or something sort-of-ish enough like that so it probably counts):

12 Fantasy Heist Novels
Four Sci-Fi and Fantasy Crime Novels to Check Out Immediately
Top Ten Fantasy Crime Novels
5 Killer Sci-Fi and Fantasy Reads Featuring Assassin Heroes
Five Unforgettable Prisons in Science Fiction and Fantasy

Nadine wrote: "I think I will read something from Jim Thompson. I tried The Killer Inside Me last year and wasn't crazy about it, but I need to give him another chance, so either After Dark My Sweet or The Grifte..."

Child 44 and The Kind Worth Killing definitely work for the category. Those are the ones I've read.

Would Les Misérables work for this prompt?

I think Les Mis would be perfect for this!

I'm not 100% sure where I want to go with this one yet, but here were some of my possibilities

Artemis
Six of Crows
Orange Is the New Black
The Unseeing
Stalking Jack the Ripper
Darkly Dreaming Dexter

Liz wrote: "I think Les Mis would be perfect for this!"

Thank you Liz! I think im going to attempt it for this.

I'm planning to read Joseph Conrad's classic The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale, about a group of misfit terrorists.

Crime and Punishment is coming up on my TBR (I try to read books within 3 years of adding them), so I'll likely go with that. I was also thinking about Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.

I'm going with a murder mystery by P.D. James, Shroud for a Nightingale.

Others choices are:
Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Thief by Maurice LeBlanc and Going Postal by Terry Pratchett.

Margaret wrote: "Trying to fill most of the prompts from my TBR -- I have The Complete Works of O. Henry, and several of the short stories, like "Past One at Rodney's" and "Babes in the Jungle", seem t..."

Yes!! I didn't know that about him until my daughter was reading one of his stories for her 10th grade English, and I looked him up (I can't remember why), his life story CLOSELY paralleled the story he wrote of a reformed bank robber.

I'm gonna do Six of Crows for this one! seems like there's a whole array of heist criminals here - convict, sharpshooter, runaway, spy, thief, and something called a heartrender so should be a good time

I very rarely read thriller-mystery types of books where it would be super easy to find a criminal character. So for this prompt I'm going with a "white collar crime" - art forgery - in the book The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith. (I just happened to find a copy at the library book sale two weeks ago so it's now on my bookshelf waiting to be read.)

I am thinking of reading The Stranger Beside Me: Ted Bundy: The Shocking Inside Story or Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders. I hope i don't have nightmares. :)

Helter Skelter is really fantastic. It's a long one but I remember it being very readable, especially since it provides so much variety in information (past data about the family, the murders other than the most famous Tate one, etc.)

Laura wrote: "Helter Skelter is really fantastic. It's a long one but I remember it being very readable, especially since it provides so much variety in information (past data about the family, the murders other..."

I loved it. A teacher gave it to me to read (in high school, I hope).

I have a few more ideas for this prompt: True History of the Kelly Gang, The Son by Jo Nesbø, or The Father by Anton Svensson (an ARC I received in 2014). The good thing about waiting so long to read The Father is that the sequel The Sons is out so I could read both of them!

Laura wrote: "Helter Skelter is really fantastic. It's a long one but I remember it being very readable, especially since it provides so much variety in information (past data about the family, the murders other..."

I was eyeing that one. Maybe I'll give it a try.

Other ones I've looked at include:

Oliver Twist
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - The Original Screenplay
Six of Crows
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America

If anyone is a fan of fantasy, I highly recommend A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab for this one! Both of the protagonists fit this prompt; Lila is a thief who dreams of becoming a pirate & Kell is a smuggler and the two of them are set on an adventure where they meet assassins and a lot of shady characters!

The other books in the series definitely could fit into other prompts in the 2019 list as well!

I'm going to be using either the third book of this series A Conjuring of Light or Hidden Bodies for this prompt. It depends how long I can wait to read the subsequent books in these series! I don't know if I can wait until 2019!

Milena wrote: "Laura wrote: "Helter Skelter is really fantastic. It's a long one but I remember it being very readable, especially since it provides so much variety in information (past data about the family, the..."

THANKS Laura and Milena. I appreciate the recommendation. It does sounds fascinating.

I'm going to read You.

The Son by Jo Nesbø was really good. I'd also recommend A Pleasure and a Calling it's a slower paced book but I really enjoyed it.

Oh yes, the criminal character.....

My original brilliant idea was to read The Godfather ( I'm still sort of tempted) but I've been enjoying the non fiction/true crime I've read this year so I decided to use I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer. As an add on option I picked The Perfect Nanny.



But then there's You.......

I'm going for White Oleander, and one of the main characters is in prison for murder...which I suppose makes her a murderer, at least in the eyes of those who convicted her.

Thinking about reading The Book Thief.
An other option is The Serial Killer's Daughter.

Which one will work best for this prompt?

Bernadette wrote: "Thinking about reading The Book Thief.
An other option is The Serial Killer's Daughter.

Which one will work best for this prompt?"

I haven't read The Serial Killer's Daughter, but I would say it would probably work better for this prompt. The Book Thief does have... thievery, but I wouldn't call the main character a criminal.

I mean, either would work, but if you're looking for the best fit, I would go with Serial Killer's Daughter.

Kelly wrote: "I am thinking of reading The Stranger Beside Me: Ted Bundy: The Shocking Inside Story or Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders. I hope i don't have nightma..."

Plenty of others have already chimed in about Helter Skelter, but The Stranger Beside Me is soooo good too! I've read it probably four or five times. I might read it again for this prompt :)

Tracy wrote: "Oh yes, the criminal character.....

My original brilliant idea was to read The Godfather ( I'm still sort of tempted) but I've been enjoying the non fiction/true crime I've read this ..."

The Godfather is one of the few books I've read (maybe the only one?) where I believe the adaptation completely outshines the source material. It's been awhile since I read it so I don't remember a lot of the details but I was disappointed and thought the changes made for the film version were brilliant and made the story so much better. I am a huge fan of the movie though so I may be biased.

My daughter and I will be reading:


Red Dragon by Thomas Harris

American Gods, Neil Gaiman -- started it this summer, but got side-tracked.

I'm torn between Captains of the Sands about a street gang in Brazil and The Sheriff of Nottingham about...the sheriff of Nottingham.

My Sister, the Serial Killer - I'm thinking about this one. I think it was just released this week.

Hi all,
I always love a good thriller but I was trying to enrich my reading in 2019 with the classics. Do you think Les Misérables by Victor Hugo would fit this prompt? I read it many years ago as a teenager which was difficult to grasp and i would love to read it again now.

I think somebody else had the same idea, check the rest of the comments, but it should work.

hm, would a con-artist count?

I guess it's up to each of us. I count grifters and con artists as criminals.

I'm going to attempt to read book 2 Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas. I thought book 1 was okay meh. They tell me it gets better. We will see!

Kerry wrote: "Liz wrote: "I think Les Mis would be perfect for this!"

Thank you Liz! I think im going to attempt it for this."

I'm going to attempt it too, we'll see if I can finish it in a week!

I've chosen "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". I started it some months ago and put it down because I had a hard time getting into the book. It is a popular book and my friend suggested I keep reading because it gets very intense. So I am picking it back up for this challenge. I am in school and most of my reading is textbooks and journals, but I am committing to reading at least one book a month for this club.