Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

2022 has lent itself to a variety of prompts this year, and this is a fun one! Scroll through your TBR and find an author who has two sets of double letters between their first and last names. If you're looking for a challenge, you can try to limit it to two sets of double letters in one name!

Suggestions:
Brit Bennett
Cadwell Turnbull
Kimberly Llewellyn
Hannah McKinnon
Sally Rooney
Audrey Niffenegger
Ann Patchett
Bonnie Blodgett
Jeannette Walls
Rebecca Makkai
Gabrielle Donnelly
Siddhartha Mukherjee
Kathleen Finn
Paddy O'Reilly
Gillian Flynn
Sarah Addison Allen
Allison Leotta
William Sutcliffe
Jennifer Hillier

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

What are you reading for this prompt, and do you have any recommendations?

I'm going to read Those Who Prey by Jennifer Moffett.

Suzanne Collins also has double letters and I quite liked The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

Yet another prompt where I have oodles of options.

Ken Follett
Maggie O'Farrell
Elly Griffiths
Joanna Cannon
Hannah F. Whitten
Rebecca Makkai
Donna Tartt
Greer Macallister
Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Bill Clegg
Ann Patchett
Jess Kidd
Anna Freeman
Maria McCann
Bryn Greenwood
Melissa Harrison
Rebecca Mascull
Rebecca Kauffman
Joanna Goodman
Anna Mazzola

This is another one I'm using to get through the list of Amazon First Reads on my Kindle, so I'll either do Lies We Bury by Elle Marr or Never Never by Colleen Hoover. I also have This Close to Okay by Leesa Cross-Smith as a possibility.

I'm going to check out Ann Cleeves' The Crow Trap for this one!

Maybe this will be the year I finally read Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. My plan is to go with an author with both double letters in either just the first or last name.

I will be using one of the many books by Jeff VanderMeer on my TBR.

Right now, I have Jabberwocky and Other Poems by Lewis Carroll penciled in.



In addition to Lewis Carroll, I can recommend books by Dashiell Hammett, especially The Thin Man. I also enjoyed The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer.



Other possible authors:
Sarah Addison Allen
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Tennessee Williams

Joanne Harris with books such as Chocolat and A Pocketful of Crows.

Terry Brooks with The Sword of Shannara or his new, non-Shannara release Child of Light.

Terry Pratchett with of course his Discworld books The Color of Magic or Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch.

I've never read any Terry Goodkind who wrote Wizard's First Rule but I find it funny that I know of three Terrys straight up who can fit this prompt.

Anne McCaffrey with her Pern books Dragonflight or any of her numerous other scifi books. Her son also fits the prompt Todd McCaffrey so if you want to go the extra mile, you could read a Pern book that was written by both of them!

Kaaron Warren is an author I have not read, but I really want to read her Walking the Tree. So I might try to actually go for this one.

I was struggling with this until I realized Jennifer Lynn Barnes counts and the 3rd book in The Inheritance Games series will be out next year. This series is a little bit like The Westing Game and while I could do without the obligatory YA love triangle, I still really enjoyed the first 2 books so I would recommend them.

I have so many choices:
Wendell Berry - I loved Hannah Coulter and could read Nathan Coulter. Hannah Coulter is one of those slow, lovely books that focuses on characters. Berry also has many books about the environment.

Anne Lamott is another author I like. She has a distinct style to her spiritual books. I liked Dusk, Night, Dawn: On Revival and Courage, among others. I might try Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, one of her older books.

Colin Cotterill wrote The Coroner's Lunch, the first in the Dr. Siri Paibourn mystery series, set in Laos. The next in the series is Thirty-Three Teeth and I have it on audio.

I'd also recommend
Sarah Addison Allen
Elly Griffiths
Maggie O'Farrell
Sally Rooney
Donna Tartt
Jeannette Walls
Alexander McCall Smith

Lesser known, but all from my shelves:

Fiction:
Stella Gibbons
Carrie Summers
Cassie Dandridge Selleck
Lynn Flewelling
Emma Bull
Zee Edgell
Michelle Cliff
Donna Gillespie
Rebecca Coffindaffer

Non-fiction:
Guerrilla Girls
Anne Llewellyn Barstow
Katha Pollitt
Patricia Hill Collins
Patrice Khan-Cullers
Mikki Kendall
Brittney Cooper

Here are some from my shelves

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (yes, the basketball star, he also writes Sherlock Holmes stories with a Black sidekick)
Arnold Bennett
Dianne Freeman
Larry Correia
Robert R. McCammon
Connie Willis

I'm considering:

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy
All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

I'm going with Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy because my book club picked it for January, and I'm reading in order so this will be the last prompt of January for me!

Definitely Gillian Flynn with Gone Girl

What I spotted on my shelves:
Anna Elliott
Bryn Greenwood
Colleen Curran
Darren Pillsbury
Harriet Ann Jacobs
Jess Kidd
Jessica Bell
Kerri Wood Thomson
Lorrie Moore
Lynne Truss
Matt Taibbi
William S. Burroughs

I'm planning to read Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

A few I would recommend:
The Inheritance Games or any of the sequels by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger
Dragon Pearl byYoon Ha Lee
Sheets by Brenna Thummler (a cute and quick graphic novel!)

I loved When All Is Said by Anne Griffin, so I plan to read her new book Listening Still
Other top choices:
How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain byLisa Feldman Barrett
The Sparrow Mary Doria Russell
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland Patrick Radden Keefe

Djinn Patrol on the Purple LineDeepa Anappara
This Is Happiness by Niall Williams
Even As We Breathe by Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
AnnihilationJeff VanderMeer
The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell
Blackout by Connie Willis

Charlotte McConaghy
Fannie Flagg
Anne Griffin
Anne McCaffrey
Maggie O'Farrell
Ann Patchett
Sally Rooney
Kathleen Rooney
Donna Tartt

What I could be reading:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Verity by Colleen Hoover
Layla by Colleen Hoover
Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover
All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood
Woman 99 by Greer Macallister
After by Anna Todd
Half Bad by Sally Green

I'm going to read An Italian Wife by Ann Hood. But don't forget about Ellery Queen!

I plan to read The Way Through the Woods: Of Mushrooms and Mourning, which is a memoir about surviving grief by taking up mushroom hunting, by a Malaysian Norwegian author.

Garden Spells Sara Addison Allen
Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy
Once there were wolves by Charlotte McConaghy
When All Is Said by Anne Griffin
How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain byLisa Feldman Barrett
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

I read Soul Taker by William Massa

I’m planning on reading Appleseed by Matt Bell — 2 sets of double letters for both author AND title!

Update - started it (Appleseed) and wasn't right for me at that time.

Instead I recently read State of Wonder by Ann Patchett. I loved her Bel Canto - which I read many years ago. Glad to get back to her. I loved this book, but my book club friends were less enthusiastic because the pace of the book bothered them (slow at first, then good, with a too quick ending). Even if that is so, I thought the story was interesting, and the writing absolutely beautiful and really brought me into the places described and let me feel like I understood the people, especially one who might be described as the antagonist.

I read Anarchy and Old Dogs by Colin Cotterill for this prompt.

I read Miss Lattimore's Letter by Suzanne Allain.

This book would also work for #11, historical fiction genre or #37, using all 5 vowels in author and/or title.

Other authors I've enjoyed that would work for this prompt include William M. Bass (true crime), Patti Callahan (historical fiction), Lewis Carroll (fantasy), Ann Cleeves (mystery), Colin Cotterill (mystery), Tressie McMillan Cottom (sociology), Charlotte Elkins (mystery), Anne McCaffrey (fantasy), Terry Pratchett (fantasy), Mary Ann Shaffer (historical fiction), Margot Lee Shetterly (history of science), and Rebecca Skloot (history of science),

I read A Northern Light byJennifer Donnelly. 3.5 stars. It also fits historical fiction, and it's set in the early 1900's, in a rural area.

I read In Their Footsteps

by Tess Gerritsen

I enjoyed the book and I would read on in the series

I would recommend The Secret History or The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

The Thornbirds by Colleen McCullough

and finally Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood Rebecca Wells

I read The Black Ice by Michael Connelly.

I read The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes.

A few authors I would recommend:
Ellison Cooper - Lessor know mystery series
Britt Bennett - Thought the Vanishing Half was really good
Collen Hoover - a bit hit or miss or me but can be pretty hard to put down.

I read The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty, and it made me a bit terrified! I wish I had thought of the Michael Connelly books --- he's one of my favorite authors!

I will choose books from Maggie O’Farrell, Donna Tartt, Ken Follett, Lewis Carroll, and Ann Patchett (I haven’t read any by Ann Patchett yet, but the others I have). I have two books by Danielle Steel on my bookshelves that a friend gave me. I have two sets of double letters in my first and last name. Time to write that book! ;)

I read The Wee Free Men (Discworld #30; Tiffany Aching, #1) by Terry Pratchett. 5 stars. I choose this book because it has been on my TBR pile since 2016, It has been sitting there so long I forgot why I bought the 30th book in a series I had never read by an author I had never read. The book was so much fun. Also I used the book for all three challenges I'm working on. I will continue reading the Tiffany Aching series.

Just read This Close to Okay by Leesa Cross-Smith. I used it for the psychology related prompt, but could be used here or for the Black Women Writers challenge.

I gave it 4*s.

Sherri wrote: "I read The Wee Free Men (Discworld #30; Tiffany Aching, #1) by Terry Pratchett. 5 stars. I choose this book because it has been on my TBR pile since 2016, It has been sitting there so long I forgot..."

I'm also reading Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching series this year - I read The Wee Free Men just after Christmas, A Hat Full of Sky for prompt #1 character starts with ATY, and will read Wintersmith for this prompt. Then I have I Shall Wear Midnight planned for Next in a Series, and The Shepherd's Crown for PopSugar's Constellation on the cover/in the title (thankfully there is a constellation called The Shepherd!). Enjoyed the first two and looking forward to the rest!

For my double-up for '22 challenge, I'm reading a mystery in addition to another book for each prompt this year, and have Mycroft Holmes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on my shelf (I read and enjoyed Mycroft and Sherlock a couple years ago).

I'm reading Lilac Girls. by Martha Hall Kelly

Tough one, it was a toss up between this and The Secret History by Donna Tartt which I am dying to read however don't have the time at the moment.

Hopefully I've made the right choice!

I just read Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe and I realized that it works for this prompt. The author also wrote Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland which I would also recommend.

I read Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris.
I had troubles getting into reading this, because this book features two POVs and I really disliked one of characters. However the book was getting more interesting and once I was over its half there was no way back lol
The reveal was really worth my previous troubles! I even returned back to first chapters to look for any missed clues.

I read Night Watch by Terry Pratchett for this prompt. I have a lot of Pratchett books for this year's AtY. For the 3. prompt, for the book with a title longer than 22 letters, I read The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents.

I read Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell-- 3 sets of doubles! I've been punting poor Hamnet down the line for 2 years, it's time I finally read it!

I read:
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann - My Review

I read The Heiress: The untold story of Pride & Prejudice’s Miss Anne de Bourgh by Molly Greeley. I thought she dealt quite well with writing a follow-up, wisely relegating Lizzie and Darcy to the sidelines and her take on Lady Catherine was interesting. P&P always makes me wonder about Anne and what she thought of her marriage prospect disappearing so I liked the fact that someone else had wondered too.

I read Redemption by Garrett Leigh

Question. Would you count a book if it’s a compilation of authors/essays, & one of them, who is also the editor, has 2 sets of double letters? Or is that pushing it? I know this is a subjective challenge, but I’m curious to know what others think.

I'd count it Liz, especially since the author of one essay is also the editor.

Perfect! Thank you so much for answering, Kathy.

I read Different Class by Joanne Harris

This way I had double f, double s, double n and double r.

I had a very pleasant surprise after reading The House Without A Key (Charlie Chan #1) when I realized that Earl Derr Biggers fulfilled this prompt! And a very interesting mystery. (Forget all the stereotypical portrayal of Chan in the film adapataions...) His descriptions of Hawaii made the environment a character in and of itself. I thought the mystery was Agatha Christie-ish.

I am reading To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis for this prompt.

I would recommend Doomsday Book also by Connie Willis, The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks, Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer, How Stella Got Her Groove Back by Terry McMillan, Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics by bell hooks, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Brothers and Sisters by Bebe Moore Campbell, and Panic by Jeff Abbott.