Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

The end of August is creeping up... let us know what your best read has been!

Answer the following questions:

- Title
- Author
- Rating
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio)
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable)
- Brief reason why it was the best

Title: Apple: Skin to the Core
Author: Eric Gansworth
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Format: Ebook
ATY Prompt: A book by a new to you BOIPOC author, & A book nominated for the Printz award (Summer challenge).
Why it was the best: This was a memoir told in free verse and artwork, connecting the author's family history with the residential school system, his childhood, and his love of Beatles music.

I added it to the listopia already.

For my fiction choice:

Psycho by Robert Bloch, 5 Stars
Format: eBook
ATY Prompt: None
Why it was the best: This is the book on which Alfred Hitchcock based his movie of the same name. The writing is excellent and the story is classic Horror.

And for Nonfiction:
The Story of More: How We Got to Climate Change and Where to Go from Here by Hope Jahren, 5 Stars
Format: Audio
ATY Prompt: None
Why it was the best: The author writes with compassion and fairness for the "guilty" (i.e., most of us, and that was not her word choice, it was mine), calling out nations' practices regarding farming, animal production, plastics, oil, and recycling.

Title: Out of Darkness
Author: Ashley Hope Pérez
Rating: 5 stars
Format (Print, eBook, Audio): eBook
ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable): 24 - about racism or race relations
Brief reason why it was the best: It's a heartbreaking read, but also a spellbinding one. Every character is brilliantly rendered and the pacing is perfect.

- Title Before Mars
- Author Emma Newman
- Rating 5 stars
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio) audio
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable) NA
- Brief reason why it was the best - third book in a really interesting series. I a hoping the author continues the series though at this point she says she can't without publisher support :(

Safecracker: A Chronicle of the Coolest Job in the World by Dave McOmie

Extremely fun memoir about the daily job of an actual safecracker. It honestly is like having your favorite uncle telling all his best and craziest work stories after a family dinner. Highly recommend the audio version.

- Night Watch
- Terry Pratchett
- 4.5 stars
- Print
- ATY Prompt you used it for: NATO codeword (uniform)
- Can't go wrong with Discworld! I'm sad that someday I will finish the series, and then I will never be able to read one for the first time ever again.

- Title: Salt Houses
- Author: Hala Alyan
- Rating: 5 stars
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio): Print
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable): 17. a book with a Muslim character or by a Muslim author
- Brief reason why it was the best: Beautiful multigenerational story of a Palestinian family, with each chapter from a different character's viewpoint, and all the voices are distinct. Winner of the 2018 Arab American Book Award for Fiction.

oooo I loved Salt Houses, Laurel! So good.

Title: Infinite Country
Author: Patricia Engel
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Format: Print
ATY Prompt you used it for: Short book by a new author (book was 190 pages)
Brief reason why it was the best:
I thought this was a so richly told story of immigration and family separation. The characters were always looking for home, and finding it in unusual places. It was really an impactful story that will stick with me!

- Title Look What You Made Me Do
- Author Elaine Murphy
- Rating 4stars
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio) Audio
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable)N/A
- Brief reason why it was the best I didn't have a great reading month and this stand out because it was over the top but probably the most fun/funny read of the month.

I had a few great reads but my favorite is probably:

Title: Harlem Shuffle
Author: Colson Whitehead
Rating: ★★★★★
Format: ARC ebook (releases in HC September 14)
ATY Prompt you used it for: 9. A book you associate with a specific season or time of year - set in various summers and I read it this summer
Brief reason why it was the best: Whitehead doing slightly noir drama fiction and knocking it out of the park, great atmosphere, phenomenal writing, and capturing a slice of Harlem summers

Title: Book of Shadows
Author: Cate Tiernan
Rating: 3.5/5
Format (Print, eBook, Audio): paperback, library
ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable): N/A
Brief reason why it was the best: The atmosphere, the witchy, autumnal aesthetic, the early-00s vibes. Ooh I loved this book, even though it was a bit of a struggle to get into at first!

Title The Last Time I Lied
- Author Riley Sager
- Rating 4 stars
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio) hardcover, library
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable) monochromatic cover
- Brief reason why it was the best: I like a thriller where I can't figure out who done it, but the clues were all there in a re-read.

Title: The Beauty of Your Face
Author: Suhar Mustafah
Rating: 5 stars
Format: eBook
ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable): A book with a Muslim character or author

Brief reason why it was the best: I absolutely fell in love with the character of Afaf and the struggles she faced. It was beautifully written and just really spoke to me. As a non-Muslim, it was incredibly interesting to read about a non-religious Muslim who finds religion and peace. (I am not a religious person and this is by no means a "preachy" book.)

Title
Anxious People
Author
Fredrik Backman
Rating
5
Format
Print
ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable)
22. A book posted in one of the ATY Best Book of the Month threads
Brief reason why it was the best
It has been a long time since I have laughed and sobbed at a book. It is a charming book with likeable and unlikeable characters. Full characters. And dialogue that makes you laugh out loud. And dialogue that makes you sob. Realistic story? Who cares!

- Title Becoming Duchess Goldblatt: A Memoir
- Author Duchess Goldblatt
- Rating 5 stars
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio) Print
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable) N/A
- Brief reason why it was the best. I enjoyed reading about the author's life.

- Title Stephen Florida
- Author Gabe Habash
- Rating 5 Stars
- Format Audiobook
- ATY Prompt you used it for N/A
- Brief reason why it was the best I missed Stephen Florida as soon as the book ended. It's been two weeks and I still miss his relentless focused energy talking to me in my earbud.

- Title The Story of Evolution in 25 Discoveries: The Evidence and the People Who Found It
- Author Donald R. Prothero
- Rating 5 Stars!
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio) eBook and Audio (I started off with the audiobook, but found that the illustrations were critical. The audiobook was fun, but I needed both.)
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable) #20. 3 books related to "Past, Present, Future" - Book 3
- Brief reason why it was the best This book is fascinating. The title could suggest something dry to you. This is not a dry, boring book. I was impatient between walks and trips to the gym, wanting to get back to listening to it. Prothero was mentored by another great science communicator, Stephen Jay Gould. This book has me wanting to read more by Prothero, and also has me wanting to read more of Gould.

Title: The Last Graduate
Author: Naomi Novik
Rating: 5 stars
Format: ebook (review copy)

Series has really found its stride in book two, faced paced with all the warm fuzzy feelings towards characters who were supposedly meant to be written off as bad apples.

My best read of August has been an entire trilogy! All three books are 5 star reads! I'll list all three below

- Title: Mistborn: The Final Empire
- Author: Brandon Sanderson
- Rating: 5 stars!
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio): Print
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable): A book related to "In the Beginning"

- Title: The Well of Ascension
- Author: Brandon Sanderson
- Rating: 5 stars!
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio): Print
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable): A book with a character that can be found in a deck of cards

- Title: The Hero of Ages
- Author: Brandon Sanderson
- Rating: 5 Stars
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio): Print
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable): A book related to "the end"

I loved these because the characters are excellently written, the world building is wonderful and very unique, and the story is compelling and fast-paced. The final book was the best finale to a series I've ever read, it wrapped up everything perfectly!

My best of August was one of two 5-star books, but the other was a reread.

Travelling While Black: Essays Inspired by a Life on the Move by Nanjala Nyabola is a book of essays by a Kenyan activist and journalist. Topics all connect with her world travels in some way, and get into African history, refugees, backpacking, nonprofit work… and how she is viewed as an African woman on her own. I learned a ton and her writing is incisive and often entertaining too.
I used it for “a book with a travel theme”.

Ellie wrote: "Title: The Last Graduate
Author: Naomi Novik
Rating: 5 stars
Format: ebook (review copy)

Series has really found its stride in book two, faced paced with all the warm fuzzy feeling..."

I'm excited to read this one, Ellie!

Due to life happening, I only read one book in August, but it was a fantastic one.

- Title: Tower of Dawn
- Author: Sarah J. Maas
- Rating: 5 stars
- Format: Audio
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable): 16. A book with a building in the title
- Brief reason why it was the best: This is the second to last book in the Throne of Glass, and it is a very different kind of book to the rest of them. I have read that a lot of people don't care much for this book, but I thought it was really good. I loved the different style.

Title: The Cost of Knowing
Author: Brittney Morris
Rating: 5 stars
Format (Print, eBook, Audio): Print
ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable): It was for a rejects prompt, which was One book by an author with 7 or fewer letters in their names and one book by an author with 14 or greater letters in their name. I used it for the 14 letters name.
Brief reason why it was the best: This book had a very interesting concept and very impactful, and I also really loved the characters.

I've updated the listopia through here

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Yikes! Looks like I skipped August... Sorry, Emily, if this adds work for you 🌷

My Best of August (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) are:

* Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower by Tamsyn Muir
* A Door Into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski
* The Light Brigade by The Light Brigade

No worries Tsipi! I'm always updating the listopia!

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Title: Project Hail Mary
Author: Andy Weir
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Format: Audio
ATY Prompt you used it for: Did not use for any prompts
Brief reason why it was the best: The narration on the audible book was fantastic! And while I don't like science fiction, this book was very science heavy which made it much more palatable to me.