The 52 Book Club: 2025 / 2026 Challenge discussion

WEEKLY CHECK-IN
April 9, 2022 -- Week 15

We're entering week 15 of our 52-week challenge! There are so many incredible book recommendations made in this group every week. And a lot of times, we do see the same books shared over and over again. So now, we'd love to hear about some of the "less popular" or underrated books that you adore!

What's a book you'd highly recommend but have never (or only rarely) seen posted within this group?

Some of my favorites that I don't see mentioned often are Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce, Soulless by Gail Carriger, Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey, and The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams

I love anything and everything by A.M. Heath. She writes Christian historical and contemporary fiction, and she's amazing! Painted Memories is nominated for a Selah award in the historical fiction category. I won her very first book in a giveaway, and contacted her to let her know how much I loved it. We became friends and she asked if I would be interested in editing for her. She's published 11 books and I've edited 10 of them for her.

The Girl with Ghost Eyes by MH Boroson. (Historical fiction/fantasy) Set in late 1800s, in San Francisco's Chinatown.
Anything by Steve Berry (adventure fiction).
Anything by Mallory O'Meara (history non-fiction)

Anything by Nicole Krauss I haven't met a lot of people who read her books and I find them amazing! Especially The History of Love

Not directly underrated, it is just not very well known as the book was originally published in German:
What You Can See from Here

I read it in German, so I truly hope that the English translation is as good as the original. The story is truly charming, making you laugh and cry at the same time.

I don't know if it's been mentioned in past years or not, but my (current) favorite book is Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor, the first in the Chronicles of St. Mary's series, about historical researchers who "observe major historical events in contemporary time." The new book will be coming out in a couple of days, and I think I'll use it for the technology prompt, because they use pods to travel in time, and the main character is married to the head of the Technical Department.

I wish more people knew about The Glass Harmonica: A Lexicon of the Fantastical reprinted later as The Book of Weird by Barbara Ninde Byfield.

If you have any interest at all in Fantasy books, old or new, you would do yourself a favor in checking it out. It's a beautifully drawn, lovingly crafted, and wonderfully humorous dictionary of fantastical story elements.

I had to completely change up my challenge for "the book that brings you joy" prompt because of it.

This week I ended up reading It Ends with Us as my book club book choice, which is at the other end of "underrated books". I think for me I love anything written by Haruki Murakami specifically Wind up Bird Chronicles and 1Q84. Not sure if they have been mentioned but I just love his style of writing.