Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

For those of us who are planners, this prompt is to ease the pain of having 17 possible books for one prompt... then only reading one book of the 17. You can choose a prompt ahead of time and decide what you will read, or you can find a book you've been dying to slot in somewhere that may fit other prompts on the list.

No lists for this one!

What prompt did you select? Why did you choose that one?

It's always hard to say what prompt is my favorite until I do them all so it's good to have this at the end.

That said, I am going to use Four books connected to each other through publication date (week 1), cover color (week 2), country setting (week 3), and title starting letter (week 4) for a book that fits a suggestion that didn’t make the list this year and need to figure out how to get all 4 books in so this might be a perfect spot for one of them.

This suggested prompt is my favorite one at this point.

I'm using this as a second way to get in a book that didn't make the list (week 3), and since I'm probably using a Book Club read for that, I may use Villain's Perspective for this. The 4th You book (For You and You Only) comes out in April, but I don't know if I'll be able to wait until December to read it.

Or, since it's the end of the year maybe I'll use Goodreads Choice Awards instead. Decisions!

I'm doing the super duper easy one of a book written in 2023 since I have so many that will fit this. Right now, I have Breakneck penciled in.

I will probably use it for the W-Award because I'd like to try a couple different awards.

The ATY best BOM thread books is another possibility. I had many of them this year.

I haven't decided what route I'm going to go with this one yet! It will likely depend on how my reading habits change after the baby comes, but it's likely that I end up reading a book and just picking a prompt it works for (rather than using a "favorite" prompt). And, if I'm being honest, it will probably be the published in 2023 option since all of my Book of the Month picks are usually books I prioritize and they are new releases.

Sue wrote: "I'm doing the super duper easy one of a book written in 2023 since I have so many that will fit this. Right now, I have Breakneck penciled in."

It's funny, I always find those prompts to be some of the hardest! I just really do not tend to read new releases, I have to have been hearing about a book for at least a year before I want to read it, haha.

Since I've decided to try and do the ATY by the actual weeks this year, I decided today that I would use the novella prompt for this one. It'll be close to the end of the year and I know from experience that I'll be on the lazy side by this time! I'm gonna' use Resume Speed A reread, but I haven't read it in 4 years.

Emily wrote: "I haven't decided what route I'm going to go with this one yet! It will likely depend on how my reading habits change after the baby comes..."

Hey - I think sitting around while nursing and letting your body heal sounds like a perfect time to also get some reading in! :) :) :) I mean, babies need lots of snuggle time, right?! :)

I just sent my "baby" (18!) back to college today. Boo hoo!!!! So, I am going to console myself with some reading time. :)

I didn't really want to repeat a prompt, so I chose A book that fits a suggestion that didn’t make the list this year, because there were so many good ones that didn't get through, and then I went for A book that could be used for at least five of the 2023 challenge prompts, and will read Gallant by V.E. Schwab (which fits prompts 2, 13, 37, 42 and 45).

This is honestly such a great idea!

My favourite prompts are:
2. A book by an author you read in 2022
5. A book with 4 or more colors on the cover
7. A book with ONE of the five "W" question words in the title
10. A book related to one of the Spice Girls' "personalities"
12. A book connected to birds, bees, or bunnies
13. A book that has an object that is repeated on the cover
15. Three books, each of which is set in a different century
22. A book with a faceless person on the cover
27. A book by an author from continental Europe
28. A book that is dark
29. A book that is light
30. A book related to a chess piece
31. A book found by inputting a favorite author on https://www.literature-map.com
34. A novella
38. A book with the sun, moon, or stars on the cover
43. A book that involves a murder
49. A book posted in one of the ATY Best Book of the Month threads in 2022 or 2023

I am always fraught with indecision, especially regarding books, so I have two picks for this week.

The first prompt: A book that involves a murder: Murder in the Family


The second prompt: A book related to a Spice Girl personality (Baby Spice and childhood attributes): Violet

I decided to do Prompt 33 twice
this time my book was The Last Camel Died at Noon

For this prompt I read:
Victory City by Salman Rushdie - 5* - My Review (a book published in 2023)

I read Look Both Ways by Linwood Barclay for the prompt "a book that involves a murder".

I am reading Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes by Robert Louis Stevenson. It fits prompt 20 and I chose it because I have just bought it and wanted to read it.

I didn't really pick a favorite prompt. I just re-used a prompt that would allow me to read a book I really wanted to read.

The prompt ended up being: A book written by an author who has written more than 7 books.

I read When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill. I hadn't read this author before, and just by chance I have another book of hers slated for A book involving a very large animal — The Crane Husband. Very glad that I enjoyed When Women Were Dragons, because now I am more looking forward to The Crane Husband.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I changed my mind on this prompt. Most of my reading for this challenge has depended on books that have been translated into English, so I thought I would honour the many brilliant translators out there, and use prompt 36, A book translated from another language .

I read Farewell Cowboy by Olja Savičević Ivančević, translated by Celia Hawkesworth, a novella where the MC returns to her rundown childhood home on the Adriatic coast, and tries to discover the truth about her brother's death.

It has really good descriptions of the town and of a remembered childhood.

What prompt did you select?
I read The Borrowers Afloat by Mary Norton A book you meant to read in 22
Why did you choose that one? I so wanted to find out how it continued from the book before

I selected prompt # 2 By an author I read in 2022 and read yet another book by Alexander McCall Smith


The Dog Who Came In From the Cold – Alexander McCall Smith – 3***
Book Two in the Corduroy Mansions series, starring Pimlico terrier Freddie de la Hay. I love these ensemble works that Alexander McCall Smith writes, where we get to the residents of a building or neighborhood over time.
LINK to my full review

(Note would also fit prompt # 24 A character who might be called Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, SPY)

I decided to go with the prompt I had the most fun trying to pick a book for: with a school subject in the title. I went with Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach.

I enjoyed the literature map prompt the most so decided to use the same author as the first time (Alex Finley) and this time used Riley Sager and The Only One Left.

My favorite prompt was #50 A Western. I read The Sisters Brothers. 5 stars. It reads like a Greek Tragedy.

For second time around, I again used Prompt 36: A book in translation', and read The Life and Death of Hangman Thomas by Konstantinos Theotokis, translated by J. M. Q. Davies. Set in Corfu in the late C19th or early C20th century, it concentrates on the plight of the elderly - shades of King Lear. The writing is vivid and there is a very helpful introduction by the translator on the history of Corfu and the life of the author. Warning for attempted rape and for suicide; as the blurb says the book contains rural squalor, disease and superstition - The Durrells it certainly isn't.

I did a second prompt that didn't make the list. In particular, I did "A writer honoured by by Queen Elizabeth II.

Then, I read The Apollo Murders

I’m reading A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers. It fits one of my favorite prompts - a novella. It also fits a Route of Travel on the Cover, a prompt I had several choices for.

I love reading books in translation, so initially I was planning to slot a second book there. I ended up picking The Name of the Rose as my book for this prompt, and it fits a LOT of my other favorite prompts too:
1. Book in translation
2. Set in a different century (14th)
3. Author from Continental Europe
4. Author with more than 7 books
5. Book that involves a murder
6. Books where books (manuscripts?) are important
7. Linked to favorite author on literature map (Italo Calvino)

The only category it doesn't fit is novella ;)

I read Kanazawa by David Joiner, which fit for two prompts: more than 4 colors on the cover and for text that isn't completely horizontal. I always feel Zen reading Japanese novels, and this one was no exception. I really loved it.