Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

We are mixing two of our favorite ATY traditions here with this game! If you've been around, you may have participated in The Person Below Me game, where one person posts "The Person Below Me..." and finishes the statement. The next responder must answer that person's post and then posts a new statement.

Today, we are doing book recommendations in this format! Each person will post a statement asking for a specific book recommendation. It can be a genre, one of the ATY prompts, or anything else that may catch your attention. Hopefully this thread can give us lots of book ideas!

I'll start:

The person below me (TPBM) recommends a book with a weird or intriguing title.

(never played this game, hope I'm doing it correctly!)

Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts (one of my favorite reads of 2019!)

The person below me recommends a Christmas themed romance book.

ZeeJane wrote: "The person below me recommends a Christmas themed romance book.”

How about a list?

https://bookriot.com/2018/11/15/chris...

The person below me recommends a historical romance novel with lesbians (that isn’t by Sarah Waters!).

dalex wrote: “The person below me recommends a historical romance novel with lesbians (that isn’t by Sarah Waters!)."

I haven’t read this yet, but I think A Transcontinental Affair would fit.

The person below me recommends a collection of short stories.

I read Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women & Witchcraft this year, and I absolutely loved it!

The person below me recommends a historical fiction not set during WWII

I loved The Second Mrs. Hockaday set in Civil War times.

The person below me recommends a book by or about an immigrant

I recently finished Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam, and it isn’t recent but I really liked it.

The person below me recommends an audiobook that’s 9-12 hours long.

I read The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue for the Shakespeare prompt this year, and it was one of my favorites for the year!

The person below me recommends a book published in 2019.

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 was published in 2019 and was a unique and fun read!

The person below me recommends a book set in the future

I just finished Scythe which is about a future where humans don't die from natural or accidental causes. It's YA and really really good.

The person below me recommends a sci-fi book for someone new to the genre

Ready Player One was a great, easy read, and especially fun if you like 80s pop culture (which I don't, necessarily, but it was still a fun read).

The person below me recommends a ghost story.

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill is a good story written with wonderful language.

The person below me recommends a favorite classic novel not by Charlotte Bronte or Jane Austen

My favorite classic is The Secret Garden

The person below me recommends a hidden gem that they want more people to know about

°~Amy~° wrote: "The person below me recommends a hidden gem that they want more people to know about"

Anything by Jess Richards

The person below me recommends the best book they read in 2019

dalex wrote: "°~Amy~° wrote: "The person below me recommends a hidden gem that they want more people to know about"

Anything by Jess Richards

The person below me recommends the best book they ..."

Oh, difficult to narrow down to just one, so I'll cheat a little and go with Ferrante's Neopolitan series, starting with My Brilliant Friend. I thouroghly enjoyed the whole series over the summer :)

The person below me recommends a favourite literary fiction.

Hilde wrote: The person below me recommends a favourite literary fiction.

One of the best: Anna Karenina

The person below me recommends a book they will never forget

I haven't forgotten this one in some 40 years: The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough.

The person below me recommends a really good mystery book

The Silent Patient was one of my favorite mystery/thrillers this year!

The person below me recommends a book with a blue cover.

Once I started A Woman Is No Man, I could not put it down.



The person below me recommends an urban fantasy.

I read Alif the Unseen to fill an urban fantasy slot in a challenge. It's the only urban fantasy I've read, but I loved it!


The person below me recommends a book they liked even though they weren't expecting to enjoy it.

The Person Below me recommends a Gothic Fiction

I'm not big on gothic fiction, but The Thirteenth Tale is one of my all time favorites!

TPBM recommends a book published in 2020.

TPBM recommends a book published in 2020."

I'm looking forward to


TPBM recommends a favorite childhood book

The Little Prince
(and it can be read in a day too, if you haven't done prompt no. 9 yet!)

TPBM recommends a biography of a famous woman

Aimee wrote: "The Little Prince
(and it can be read in a day too, if you haven't done prompt no. 9 yet!)

TPBM recommends a biography of a famous woman"

Here are a few: (I give talks on historical women)

Margaret Fuller: A New American Life - Fuller isn't as famous as she should be

Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father

Diva Julia: The Public Romance and Private Agony of Julia Ward Howe

Maria Mitchell and the Sexing of Science: An Astronomer among the American Romantics

Louisa: The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams

TPBM recommends a book that made them laugh

Yes Please by Amy Poehler
Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari

Both are so good!

TPBM recommends a post apocalyptic book.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

and the Oryx and Crake trilogy by Margaret Atwood

Both chilling.

TPBM recommends a historical fiction.

Wayfaring Stranger by James Lee Burke

City of Thieves by David Benioff

The Second Mrs. Hockaday by Susan Rivers


TPBM recommends a dystopian novel.

On the theme of the current COVID-19 scare, there is an excellent piece of historical fiction built around the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918, and it is surprisingly upbeat and uplifting: As Bright as Heaven

Sorry, did not mean to break with the rules. For a dystopian novel I like The Man in the High Castle and stay the hell away from The Handmaid's Tale.

TPBM recommends a novel built around a life-threatening pandemic.

I recommend Love in the Time of Cholera.

TPBM recommends an uplifting book, a la Where is Bernadette?

I haven't read Bernadette so not sure if this is in the same league, but I've just finished The Flatshare and it was cute, fluffy and uplifting without being saccharine. Would definitely recommend.

TPBM recommends a classic novel that's often overlooked (i.e. not Dickens or the usual suspects)

The Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton is the rare book by her that is upbeat and even funny.

TPBM recommends a humorous mystery.

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

TPBM recommends me weird fiction book.

How weird are we talking about?

1Q84 and Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Murakami (anything by him really)

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer

I've got my eye on this tome, but haven't read it yet:
The Weird : A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories edited by Vandermeer

TPBM recommends
hmm...
A medical thriller? Something a bit different from the beaten path. I have a hard time finding something for that in the PS challenge.

Hmm, off the beaten path medical thrillers...

Smaller and Smaller Circles: the medical component is largely psychological but the protagonist is also a coroner/pathologist and that definitely plays a roll. Trigger warning for child abuse.

Also The Alienist though I'm sure that's come up in the thread. Or if you want something very short, The Hostile Hospital.

TPBM recommends the book with the lowest GR average rating that they really liked.

Jackie wrote: "Hmm, off the beaten path medical thrillers...

Smaller and Smaller Circles: the medical component is largely psychological but the protagonist is also a coroner/pathologist and that ..."

Just finished Smaller and Smaller Circles and I loved it!

Ok, so for the lowest GR ave that I liked it was The Rise of Silas Lapham. 3.42 star average but I gave it 5 stars in 2012 and I can't really remember why.

TPBM recommends their favorite non-fiction book. I'm trying to read more non-fic.

I love audiobook memoirs that are read by their authors, so most of my nonfiction recs are that.

Becoming by Michelle Obama
Yes Please by Amy Poehler
Know My Name: A Memoir by Chanel Miller

TPBM recommends their favorite classic (which is next on my ATY list and I'm drawing a blank).

Here's a variety that are all somewhat lighthearted

Emma
A Christmas Carol
Cranford
The Three Musketeers


TPBM recommends a "ripped from the headlines" book that is not too violent or depressing

I recommend Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth which is very readable -- and despite being in some ways scary (no graphic violence though), it also tells some positive stories and hints at a way out.

TPBM recommends an absorbing mystery with a female detective.

I recommend the series by Laurie King, which features Mary Russell as Sherlock Holmes apprentice and begins with "The Beekeepers Apprentice". Very interesting due to the time period setting, the interaction between the 2 main characters, and the insights into Holmes' methods as he teaches Russell. But he does not outshine her!
TPBM recommends an enjoyable fiction set in Japan (not memoirs of a geisha)

Convenience Store Woman : a quick read I really enjoyed.

TPBM recommends a funny book

Phule's Company, or just about anything by Robert Lynn Asprin.

TPBM recommends an urban/contemporary/modern fantasy with a more rural setting.

This is a very specific request but here I go. I wouldn't describe this book as contemporary but it is a fabulous fantasy The World Around the Corner by Maurice Gee.

The person below me recommends a children's ghost story.

Ghosts is a great read for children and for adults

I will flip this one. The person below me recommends a ghost story for adults

Well, I really liked The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. I think it might be tagged as YA though.

The person below me recommends historical fiction - set in Colonial America.

My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton by Stephanie Dray

Admittedly, I have been kind of obsessed with all things Hamilton, but I loved this view of Eliza.

The person below me recommends a book set in a rural area.

The Secret Life of Bees

The person below me recommends a book set on an island.

Great book - The Mercies.

The person below me recommends A summer-set thriller