Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

It's the first year I participate. I'm very exited :-)

2019

Read


TBR - Challenge


TBR - Additional

2019 Reading Plans

Finished: 41/52

✅ 1. A book that was nominated for or won an award in a genre you enjoy
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

✅ 2. A book with one of the 5 W's in the title (Who, What, Where, When, Why)
Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

✅ 3. A book where the author’s name contains A, T, and Y
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

✅ 4. A book with a criminal character (i.e. assassin, pirate, thief, robber, scoundrel etc)
The Broken Eye by Brent Weeks

✅ 5. A book by Shakespeare or inspired by Shakespeare
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

❌ 6. A book with a dual timeline
The Alice Network

✅ 7. 2 books related to the same topic, genre, or theme: Book #1
All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda

✅ 8. 2 books related to the same topic, genre, or theme: Book #2
The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager

✅ 9. A book from one of the top 5 money making genres (romance/erotica, crime/mystery, religious/inspirational, science fiction/fantasy or horror)
La femme au carnet rouge by Antoine Laurain

✅ 10. A book featuring an historical figure
Reunion

✅ 11. A book related to one of the 12 Zodiac Chinese Animals (title, cover, subject)
His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

✅ 12. A book about reading, books or an author/writer
La Vérité sur l'affaire Harry Quebert by Joël Dicker

❌ 13. A book that is included on a New York Public Library Staff Picks list
The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware (Joker)

✅ 14. A book with a title, subtitle or cover relating to an astronomical term
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

✅ 15. A book by an author from a Mediterranean country or set in a Mediterranean country
Jean de Florette by Marcel Pagnol

✅ 16. A book told from multiple perspectives
The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

✅ 17. A speculative fiction (i.e. fantasy, scifi, horror, dystopia)
Stiletto by Daniel O'Malley

✅ 18. A book related to one of the elements on the periodic table of elements
The Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde

✅ 19. A book by an author who has more than one book on your TBR
Pet Sematary by Stephen King

✅ 20. A book featuring indigenous people of a country
American Gods by Neil Gaiman

✅ 21. A book from one of the polarizing or close call votes
The Rook by Daniel O'Malley

❌ 22. A book with a number in the title or on the cover
The Three Musketeers

✅ 23. 4 books inspired by the wedding rhyme: Book #1 Something Old
Bel-Ami by Guy de Maupassant

✅ 24. 4 books inspired by the wedding rhyme: Book #2 Something New
Once Upon a River by Diane SetterfieldStoker's Wilde

✅ 25. 4 books inspired by the wedding rhyme: Book #3 Something Borrowed
A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy

❌ 26. 4 books inspired by the wedding rhyme: Book #4 Something Blue
David Copperfield

✅ 27. A book off of the 1001 books to read before you die list
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene

✅ 28. A book related to something cold (i.e. theme, title, author, cover, etc.)
The Glass Woman

❌ 29. A book published before 1950
The Turn of the Screw

✅ 30. A book featuring an elderly character
The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks

❌ 31. A children’s classic you’ve never read
The Westing Game

Matilda

✅ 32. A book with more than 500 pages
Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo

✅ 33. A book you have owned for at least a year, but have not read yet
City of Thieves

✅ 34. A book with a person's name in the title
Candide by Voltaire

✅ 35. A psychological thriller
An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks

✅ 36. A book featured on an NPR Best Books of the Year list
The Perfect Nanny by Leïla Slimani (18)

✅ 37. A book set in a school or university
Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

✅ 38. A book not written in traditional novel format (poetry, essay, epistolary, graphic novel, etc)
Antigone by Sophocles

✅ 39. A book with a strong sense of place or where the author brings the location/setting to life
Manon des Sources by Marcel Pagnol

✅ 40. A book you stumbled upon
Sechs Koffer by Maxim Biller

❌ 41. A book from the 2018 GR Choice Awards
Elevation by Stephen King

✅ 42. A book with a monster or "monstrous" character
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

✅ 43. A book related to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) [fiction or nonfiction]
Elefant by Martin Suter

❌ 44. A book related in some way to a tv show/series or movie you enjoyed (same topic, same era, book appeared in the show/movie, etc.)
Pride and Prejudice

❌ 45. A multi-generational saga
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

✅ 46. A book with a (mostly) black cover
An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears

✅ 47. A book related to food (i.e. title, cover, plot, etc.)
Carry On

❌ 48. A book that was a finalist or winner for the National Book Award for any year
Station Eleven

❌ 49. A book written by a Far East Asian author or set in a Far East Asian country
Miracle Creek by Angie Kim

✅ 50. A book that includes a journey (physical, health, or spiritual)
Le château de ma mère by Marcel Pagnol

✅ 51. A book published in 2019
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

✅ 52. A book with a weird or intriguing title
Practical Demonkeeping by Christopher Moore

Good luck! I loved reading The Last Unicorn, and Snow Falling on Cedars was one of my favourites this year. This is a great list!

Finished my first book for week 7 or 8. :-)

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager

Rating: 4 stars.

Week 1

TBR



Finished

The Last Time I Lied
Date Read: 3. January 2019
Rating: ✩✩✩✩
Task: 8 (2 books related to the same topic)


Reading

Life After Life
Started: 01.01.2019
Pages this week: 61
Task: 1

A Thousand Splendid Suns
Started: 04.01.2019
Pages this week: 155
Task: 22

Fee wrote: "Week 1


Books This Week




The Last Time I Lied
Started: ..."

Way to go! I've completed one so far and part way into a second book.

January

Finished


The Last Time I Lied
Date Read: 3. January 2019
Rating: ✩✩✩✩
Task: 8 ((Related to the same topic as All the Missing Girls. Jung woman tries to figure out, what happened to a friend, when they where junger)

A Thousand Splendid Suns
Date Read: 8. January 2019
Rating: ✩✩✩✩
Task: 22 (Number in the title)

Life After Life
Date Read: 14. January 2019
Rating: ✩✩✩
Task: 1 (Won the "Costa Book Award for Novel" in 2013)

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Date Read: 20. January 2019
Rating: ✩✩✩
Task: 3 (ATY in the Authors Name)

Where'd You Go, Bernadette
Date Read: 1/19/19
Rating: ✩✩✩✩✩
Task: 2 (A book with one of the 5 W's in the title)

Practical Demonkeeping
Date Read: 1/28/19
Rating: ✩✩✩
Task: 52 Intriguing title

February

Finished


Chanson douce by Leïla Slimani
Date Read: 2/6/19
Rating: ✩✩✩
Task: 36 From the 2018 list

His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik
Date Read: 2/7/19
Rating: ✩✩✩✩✩
Task: 11 (Title related to Dragon, on of the Zodiac Chinese Animals)

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley
Date Read: 2/14/19
Rating: ✩✩✩✩
Task: 21 Close Call Poll 7: A book in which a character uses a disguise or a false/fake identity

Bel-Ami by Guy de Maupassant
Date Read: 2/21/19
Rating: ✩✩✩✩
Task: 23. (Book was published 1881. So it is an old one.)

March

Finished


An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks
Date Read: 3/3/19
Rating: ✩✩✩✩✩
Task: 35. (It's a psychological thriller)

American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Date Read: 3/5/19
Rating: ✩✩✩✩✩
Task: 26 (Blue cover)

An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears
Date Read: 3/16/19
Rating: ✩✩✩✩✩
Task: 46 (black cover)

Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield
Date Read: 3/26/19
Rating: ✩✩✩✩✩
Task: 24. (Book was published in 2019. So it's a new book)

Le château de ma mère by Marcel Pagnol
Date Read: 3/19/19
Rating: ✩✩✩
Task 50: Book includes a physical journey

Jean de Florette by Marcel Pagnol
Date Read: 3/31/19
Rating: ✩✩✩
Task 15: Author's from France

April

Finished



Stiletto by Daniel O'Malley
Date Read: 4/5/19
Rating: ✩✩✩
Task: 17 (MPG Fantasy)

Manon des Sources by Marcel Pagnol
Date Read: 4/10/19
Rating: ✩✩✩✩
Task: 39 (Book has a strong sense of place. Story is related to the area it plays in)

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff
Date Read: 4/19/19
Rating: ✩✩✩
Task: 37: school setting. MC is in an assassin school

All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda
Date Read: 4/30/19
Rating: ✩✩✩
Task: 7 (Related to the same topic as The Last Time I Lied. Jung woman tries to figure out, what happened to a friend, when they where junger)

May

Finished


Sechs Koffer by Maxim Biller
Date Read: 5/29/19
Rating: ✩✩✩
Task: 2. (Book is about an author)

La Vérité sur l'affaire Harry Quebert by Joël Dicker
Date Read: 5/15/19
Rating: ✩✩✩
Task: 40. (stumbled upon it when I was randomly searching for books originally published in German)

June

Finished


Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux
Date Read: 6/20/19
Rating: ✩✩✩✩
Task 42: A book with a monster or "monstrous" character (The Phantom is a monstrous character)

July

Finished


The Black Prism by Brent Weeks
Date Read: 7/3/19
Rating: ✩✩✩✩
Task 16: Multi-perspective

Pet Sematary by Stephen King
Date Read: 7/11/19
Rating: ✩✩✩✩
Task 19: I have several books by King on my TBR

Elefant by Martin Suter
Date Read: 7/28/19
Rating: ✩✩✩
Task 43. A book related to STEM: Book is related to Science - Biology - genmanipulation

August

Finished


The Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde
Date Read: 8/4/19
Rating: ✩✩✩✩
Task 18: Related to Gold (AU): The main character of the title story is the golden statue of the Happy Prince.

The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks
Date Read: 8/15/19
Rating: ✩✩✩✩
Task 30: Two very important characters of the story (The White and Andross Guile) are elderly people and they are presented with the qualities and problems age brings with it.

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
Date Read: 8/24/19
Rating: ✩✩✩✩✩
Task 5: The title "Pale Fire" is from Timon of Athens, a play by written by Shakespeare

September

Finished


Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo
Date Read: 9/8/19
Rating: ✩✩✩✩✩
Task 33: Over 500 pages

Antigone by Sophocles
Date Read: 9/8/19
Rating: ✩✩✩✩
Task 38: Book is a play

City of Thieves by David Benioff
Date Read: 9/16/19
Rating: ✩✩✩
Task 33: Owned over a year

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Date Read: 9/27/19
Rating: ✩✩✩✩
Task 51: Published 2019

October

Finished


Candide by Voltaire
Date Read: 10/9/19
Rating: ✩✩✩
Task 34: Persons name in the title

The Broken Eye by Brent Weeks
Date Read: 10/15/19
Rating: ✩✩✩✩
Task 4: Many criminal characters, including assassins

La femme au carnet rouge by Antoine Laurain
Date Read: 10/19/19
Rating: ✩✩
Task 9: Money making genre: Romance

November

Finished


A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy
Date Read: 11/2/19
Rating: ✩✩✩✩✩
Task 25: The MC is said to have many parallels to the authors wife. So, I'd say, he borrowed traits of his wife to create his fictional character.

The End of the Affair] by Graham Greene
Date Read: 11/5/19
Rating: ✩✩✩
Task 27: Book is on the list

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
Date Read: 11/10/19
Rating: ✩✩✩✩
Task 47: Food is very important for the MC

Reunion by Fred Uhlman
Date Read: 11/21/19
Rating: ✩✩✩✩✩
Task 10: The narrations best friend is meant to be Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg

The Glass Woman by Caroline Lea
Date Read: 11/25/19
Rating: ✩✩✩✩
Task 28: Book takes place in Iceland