Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Another multi-week prompt, and this one is focused on a title scavenger hunt! You're looking for two books that have the same word in the title. If you need to simplify this, you can count subtitles. If you want to add a challenge, try to read two books with exactly the same title! How you tackle this one is up to you.

ATY Listopia: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
In the Listopia, add a comment that says which word you are using to help inspire other members!

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

Lots of options here:

Magic Lessons / The Rules of Magic
The Summer House / Sisters of Summer's End / The Light In Summer
The Witches of New York / The Once and Future Witches

My first choice is to use 2 books with the same name: Away by Amy Bloom and Away by Jane Urquhart

I also have 3 other words that I'm thinking about using:

Black: White Rose, Black Forest, The Red and the Black, Black Boy, The Black Book

Friend: My Brilliant Friend, Friend of My Youth, The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend

Killing: One of Bill O'Reillys books in the Killing series: Killing Crazy Horse: The Merciless Indian Wars in America, Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever, Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot
This seems like the easy way to approach the prompt BUT sometimes non-fiction is hard to fit in other prompts.

I noticed this year that I have so, so many books with the word "bone" in the title, so I'm inclined to do that.

A Cathedral of Myth and Bone
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
California Bones
Near the Bone
The House of Little Bones
The Compass of His Bones
Beatlebone
Solar Bones
Cutter and Bone
The Bone Clocks
Bones of the Moon
City of Bones
Road of Bones
Boneyard
The Silence of Bones
Bone Swans

Wow Amy, that's a lot of Bones lol

I have so many options for this prompt that I'm planning to do a mini challenge and see how many pairs I can read.

I actually put 50 pairs on the listopia. Here are some of the options I'm considering:

Uprooted by Naomi Novik
The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough
Rosewater by Tade Thompson

The Chilbury Ladies' Choir by Jennifer Ryan
Bury What We Cannot Take by Kirstin Chen

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy

Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips
The Marsh King's Daughter by Karen Dionne

Writers & Lovers by Lily King
The Atomic Weight of Love by Elizabeth J. Church

Light from Other Stars by Erika Swyler
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
The Boneless Mercies by April Genevieve Tucholke

Dragon Springs Road by Janie Chang
Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson

Emily wrote: "Wow Amy, that's a lot of Bones lol"

It's really getting out of hand! LOL

I'm thinking of either reading The Last Town and Last Night at the Telegraph Club, or City of Women and Of Women and Salt. We'll see what strikes my fancy. :)

A lot of this will depend on my what I pick for my classics bingo challenge (I won't know the categories until December), but my anal retentive nature demands that I have something picked out. Right now, I have the following pairings:

The House of the Seven Gables
The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall

Murder Past Due
Mrs. Morris and the Ghost of Christmas Past

I'm not married to either of these. I just want to know I have something figured out.

I'm picking two books with the same title for this one: Daughter of the Deep by Rick Riordan and Daughter of the Deep by Lina C. Amarego.

I am thinking of using a couple of the following:

Summer Island
Island Summers: Memories of a Norwegian Childhood

The Malice
Malice

Lonely Castle in the Mirror
A Castle in the Clouds
Castle Deadly, Castle Deep

The Dragons of Heaven
Dragons in the Snow: Avalanche Detectives and the Race to Beat Death in the Mountains
The Conjuring of Zoth-Avarex: The Self-Proclaimed Greatest Dragon in the Multiverse

The first book is the one I am most excited to read right now:
The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
The Book of Lost Names
The Book of Lost Things
The Book of Negroes
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
The Library Book
People of the Book

*This Is Happiness by Niall Williams
*Happiness by Aminatta Forna

I wanted to try for long words. This is what I found so far.
The Astonishing Color of After
The Astonishing Life of August March

Remarkable Creatures
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing
Silent Night: The Remarkable Christmas Truce of 1914
Brains way of healing, remarkable discoveries and fitness mindset 3 books collection set

Humankind: A Hopeful History
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

There are lots of titles with "beautiful"
The Chosen and the Beautiful

With mysteries, it's easy to choose the words Murder or Death. With romances Love - or Regencies, Duke, Lord, Earl, etc. I'll try for something more interesting though.

A couple ideas:

life
The Life of Charlotte Brontë - Elizabeth Gaskell
The Overdue Life of Amy Byler - Kelly Harms
A Start in Life - Honore de Balzac
A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table - Molly Wizenberg

daughter
The Bonesetter's Daughter - Amy Tan
Call Your Daughter Home - Deb Spera
The Memory Keeper's Daughter - Kim Edwards
The Daughter of Time - Josephine Tey

NancyJ wrote: "The first book is the one I am most exciting to read right now:
The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
[book:The Book of..."

The "book of" choices are ones I could make, too. Thanks, Nancy!

I used a random word generator and got Detective. Not sure if I have any with the exact word in the title so might stretch it out a bit but stay in the mystery genre.

I have Catching Teller Crow and Crow Lake on my TBR so will probably go with those two.

Right now my top choices are:
Fun - Such a Fun Age & The Most Fun We Ever Had

Lost - The Keeper of Lost Things & The Lost Man

Know - Know My Name & Happy & You Know It

I'm looking forward to all of these books and hope to fit them all in to next year's challenge. I'll probably go for the pair that have the least amount of options to slot in elsewhere.

I've decided to double-up on prompts next year (for '22), using 52 mysteries/thrillers, and 52 other books. The only word that comes up enough to do this from my TBR is Plague, and I am very excited about it!

Plague by C.C. Humphreys
A Plague on Both Your Houses by Susanna Gregory
The Plague Tales by Ann Benson
The Plague Stones by James Brogden

O Beautiful by Jung Yun
Everything Here Is Beautiful by Mira Lee

The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer (Jewish author/character)
The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne (gay love story)
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab (alternate reality)
Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men (non-fiction)
The Invisible Library (alternate history)
The Invisible Husband of Frick Island (handwriting on cover)
The Invisible Wall: A Love Story That Broke Barriers by Harry Bernstein (Memoir)
The Invisible Woman by Erika Robuck (Virginia Hall, bio)
The Invisible Woman (Charles Dicken's mistress, bio) by Claire Tomalin

Invisible library
Midnight library

some pairs I considered:

The Girl with the Louding Voice
Quiet Girl in a Noisy World: An Introvert's Story

Things We Lost to the Water
Things in Jars

Home Fire
Things We Lost in the Fire

The Dutch House
The House in the Cerulean Sea

Norwegian Wood
In a Dark, Dark Wood

The Priory of the Orange Tree
Fruit of the Drunken Tree

Love After Love
Love Medicine

The Island of Missing Trees
The Island of Sea Women

The Night Tiger
The Night Watchman

If I Had Your Face
A Very Punchable Face

Normal People
People From My Neighbourhood

Michelle wrote: "some pairs I considered:

The Girl with the Louding Voice
Quiet Girl in a Noisy World: An Introvert's Story

Things We Lost to the Water
[book:Things..."

Michelle, I love your pairings. Especially the louding voice paired with the introvert. This prompt is turning out to be really fun, and it's easier than I expected.

I might read one of your matches this month. I read Night Tiger this year, and I have The Night Watchman on hold at the library.

I'm planning on reading two P.G. Wodehouse books:
The Inimitable Jeeves and Very Good, Jeeves!.

I'm thinking about The Lincoln Highway and
Kingbird Highway: The Biggest Year in the Life of an Extreme Birder.

Michelle wrote: "some pairs I considered:

The Girl with the Louding Voice
Quiet Girl in a Noisy World: An Introvert's Story

Things We Lost to the Water
[book:Things..."

I totally loved Quiet Girl in a Noisy World: An Introvert's Story!
It's such a great and funny and relatable story! :D

What I gathered from my big TBR:

Black
Black Heart by Anna-Lou Weatherley
The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle
Carved in Ebony: Lessons from the Black Women Who Shape Us by Jasmine L. Holmes
Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty
Black Spells and Twisted Souls by Cece Rose
Voyages in the Underworld of Orpheus Black by Marcus Sedgwick
Black Silver by Wayne Abrahamson
Raven Black by Ann Cleeves
The Black Eyed Witch: A Black Eyed Witch Novel by Rowan Staeffler
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
The Black Path by Åsa Larsson

Red
As Red as Blood by Salla Simukka
Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier
A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley
Red Wolf by Liza Marklund

White
Snow White Learns Witchcraft by Theodora Goss
Whiteout by Ken Follett
Vision in White by Nora Roberts
A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty

Blue
Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley
Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz
Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
Streaks of Blue by Jack Chaucer
Nikki Blue: Source of Trouble by Jack Chaucer

Dragon
Dragon Heart by Linda A. Malcor
Dragon Called by Ava Richardson
The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart by Stephanie Burgis

Heart
Deck the Hearts by Rachelle Ayala
Hearts on Ice by Christy McKellen
The Heart of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

And others.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

I have a lot of books with the word Blood in them Over 100! and those are the ones I have not read yet. Should I be worried?

Exact title pairs or more
The Awakening by Nora Roberts
The Awakening by Christine Feehan
The Awakening by L.A. Banks
The Awakening by Melissa A. Craven

Bad Blood by L.A. Banks
Bad Blood by Linda Fairstein

The Calling by Jennifer Ashley
The Calling by Louise G. White

Chosen by Adam Dark
Chosen by O.M. Faure

Cursed by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Cursed by T.L. Brown

Darkness Calls by Marjorie M. Liu
Darkness Calls by Caridad Piñeiro

Dead of Night by Emily Goodwin
Dead of Night by Carlyle Labuschagne

Deadly Night by Heather Graham
Deadly Night by Aiden James

Don't Fear the Reaper by Michelle Muto
Don't Fear the Reaper by Don't Fear the Reaper

Drop Dead, Gorgeous! by MaryJanice Davidson
Drop Dead Gorgeous by Juliet Lyons

Eve of Darkness by Julia French
Eve of Darkness bySylvia Day

Fated by Benedict Jacka
Fated by Sara C. Roethle

Fearless by Doranna Durgin
Fearless by Tawdra Kandle

Hard Magic by Larry Correia
Hard Magic by Hard Magic

Haunted by Jenny Carroll
Haunted by Kelley Armstrong

Marked by Sarah Fine
Marked by Kim Richardson

Nevermore by Keith R.A. DeCandido
Nevermore by Maureen Child

Once Bitten by Kalayna Price
Once Bitten by Stephen Leather

Out of Time by Monique Martin
Out Of Time by Ernesto H. Lee

Taken by Erin Bowman
Taken by Lilith Saintcrow

I am going to read:

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
and
The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles

I just finished reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.

I'm thinking of pairing it with Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion, or The How of Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky

I am either going to use Bees or Last
The Last Beekeeper: An emotional and gripping new debut historical fiction novel of love and hope
The Last Thing He Told Me
The History of Bees
The Bees
Chain of Gold
The Last Time I Lied
The Murmur of Bees

I finished The Life of Charlotte Brontë by Elizabeth Gaskell which really gives insight into the author of Jane Eyre, along with her sisters, Emily and Anne. What a hard life she lived.

There are many books with "Life" in the title so I'll see what my second book will be!

I read The Keeper of Night by Kylie Lee Baker as my first book for this dual challenge and hope to read Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. as my second selection.

While I still intend to read Mother Night, I actually finished another qualifier, Book of Night by Holly Black. I am still trying to figure out whether there was a huge title typo or not, but it did allow me to progress towards completing my goal.

I don't remember how I came upon either of these books, to even start considering them for this challenge, but, my word is actually CONSIDER:

Consider the Lobster and Other Essays by David Foster Wallace
Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat by Bee Wilson

I wonder if the second on will have any info about how we cook and eat lobster!

EDIT:
Ended up changing my mind. Just finished What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty and will be reading Still Alice by Lisa Genova for the second.

SECOND EDIT: Finished Still Alice (fiction) by Lisa Genova now. I also read another of Lisa Genova's books this month - Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting (non-fiction). I've very glad I read Remember before I read Still Alice, although it's not necessary. But having that background about the science of memory helped me appreciate even more what the character Alice was going through with her early-onset Alzheimer's Disease. I guess this was my year for reading about memory — 3 books this year! I would happily read other books by Lisa Genova.

I read Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America and The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine with my word being Doctors.

The first title Dopesick covers the opioid epidemic mostly in Appalachia. The second title Doctors Blackwell is a biography on the first woman doctor in the US and her sister who also becomes a doctor. Both are nonfiction, but I like having one that is historical and one that is more modern that both look at important pieces of our medical history and current landscape.

Joyce wrote: "Exact title pairs or more
The Awakening by Nora Roberts
The Awakening by Christine Feehan
The Awakening by L.A. Banks
The Awakening by Melissa A. Craven."

There's also:
The Awakening by Kate Chopin

The True Story of the Great Escape: Stalag Luft III, March 1944
The Nine: The True Story of a Band of Women Who Survived the Worst of Nazi Germany

I read The Library of the Dead by T.L. Huchu. I had a few options with both "library" and "dead, but ending up going with Dead City by Joe McKinney because I love me some zombies. :D

I'm going to do (when the second book is released) Dress Code: Unlocking Fashion from the New Look to Millennial Pink and Dress Codes: How the Laws of Fashion Made History by Richard Thompson Ford

I have been wanting to read this trilogy for a while and they are the first ones I thought of to use.

I just finished What Happens in Paradise and next I'll read Troubles in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand.

In January I had read the first in this trilogy, Winter in Paradise but, I have slotted that elsewhere.

Pamela wrote: "I'm going to do (when the second book is released) Dress Code: Unlocking Fashion from the New Look to Millennial Pink and Dress Codes: How the Laws of Fashion Made History by Richar..."

And remembered my other choice is one of those bores more Leviathan and Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America

I finished Long Bright River and there are a lot of options to match this book! I'll probably do Mystic River or The River. There's also The Long Call or A Long Petal of the Sea or even Bright Burning Things.

I really enjoyed that prompt we had in 2020 with the two opposite words in the title, because I ended up reading two books that were thematically linked, so I wanted to do a similar thing again. And then, it just so happened that I checked out In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado and The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende out of the library at the same time without even thinking about the titles, so it felt like fate.

These were fascinating books to read as a pair and I don't think I ever would have thought to pair them together otherwise. The House of the Spirits is a classic piece of Latin American magical realism, set in 20th century Chile, while In the Dream House is a contemporary memoir set in America. However, they both center, each in their own way, around an abusive relationship, they're both written by Latin American women, they both wrestle with gender issues, and, most relevantly to this challenge, they both make use of a house, not only as setting but also as kind of a metaphor. AND, in both cases, the house is haunted in a way, literally in The House of the Spirits (Clara sees ghosts in the big house on the corner, but they are welcome ghosts, who keep her company and connect her to the past) and metaphorically in In the Dream House, where Carmen uses horror tropes as a way to put into words the disorientation and lingering effect of abuse (at one point, Carmen describes her feeling that in the future, the house where she and her abusive girlfriend lived will be haunted by the ghost of her own past self, whose pain and fear will have sunk into foundation of the place).

These were both great books. I know a lot of people adore The House of the Spirits, but though I thought the writing was beautiful and the story compelling, I don't actually tend to love multi-generational family sagas. I still highly recommend it, as I know a lot of other people do! In the Dream House, on the other hand, is possibly one of the best books I've ever read. It is such a unique, gorgeously written memoir, I was absolutely blown away by it.

I read The Night She Disappeared and The Night Shift. I kind of knew I would be getting a copy of The Night Shift from my library around the time I would be on this prompt so searched for other books on my TBR with Night in the title it was a pretty easy to find something. I enjoyed both of them so a fun prompt for me!

For this prompt, I read:
July's People by Nadine Gordimer - 4* - My Review

and

Independent People by Halldór Laxness - 4* - My Review

Reading:
This Book Is Full of Spiders
So I'm a Spider, So What?, Vol. 13

Spider double feature.

I read:
The Life of Charlotte Brontë - Elizabeth Gaskell
A Rogue's Life - Wilkie Collins

I've read one of my two choices for these prompt already. I read Agatha of Little Neon by Claire Luchette (which I highly, highly recommend!). For the second book, I will read one of the following:

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Five Little Indians by Michelle Good
The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine
The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich

I haven't decided which one yet, but I think I would enjoy any of these!

I will add volume 2 and volume 3 of Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe.

I finished the second one.

I have read Isabel's Daughter by Judi Hendriks and now I am reading The Innkeeper's Daughter by Val Wood. I can recommend The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and The Girl who played with Fire - both by Stieg Larsson.