Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Leaving home can be full of scary life changes, but returning home isn't always full of warm hugs and comfort. This week, you're looking for a character (or person, in nonfiction) that's returning home... and all the drama that may come with that.

9 Touching Books About Returning Home: https://celadonbooks.com/booklists/bo...
A Reading List About Home: https://lithub.com/on-leaving-and-ret...
10 Crime Novels About Returning Home: https://crimereads.com/10-crime-novel...
Top 10 Books About Returning from War: https://www.theguardian.com/books/boo...
10 Great Books About Going Home: https://electricliterature.com/10-gre...

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

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

I'm relying on lists and other people's ideas for this one.
Here's what I have so far:
Instructions for a Heatwave - Maggie O’Farrell
The Girl Who Chased the Moon - Sara Addison
The House We Grew Up In - Lisa Jewell
The Namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri
Coriolanus - William Shakespeare
Regeneration - Pat Barker
Bluebird, Bluebird - Attica Locke

Some I recommend:
Midnight at the Blackbird Café - Heather Webber
Garden Spells - Sarah Addison Allen
Home - Marilynne Robinson
Jack - Marilynne Robinson
The Gathering - Anne Enright

I love a good theme prompt, but this one is tricky! I'll probably let this one be a prompt that I fill by chance rather than searching for a book that fits.

My recommendations would be:
Walks Away Woman by Ki Longfellow is about a depressed housewife who walks into the desert to commit suicide, but very quickly changes her mind. It's kind of a Western survival story, but with distinctly feminist themes.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman is about a man returning to his childhood home and his memories of what happened there when he was young.

The first book in the Wayward Children series, Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire (and probably others in the series, too, I just haven't read them) is basically exploring the question of how the children from the Chronicles of Narnia might feel after they leave Narnia and return to England. (Not that it's actually about Narnia, just a very similar concept.)

Books tagged returning home
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/retu...

On the crime list - Faithful Place by Tana French, or The Dry by Jane Harper.

These look interesting, and nothing alike:
We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies
Gilead
Life and Other Inconveniences
The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop

I'm planning on reading Signal to Noise, in which a woman returns home to piece together her past of what sounds like a huge family/friend collision involving mixtapes and magic. It's by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

I agree that this prompt is tricky, and gives you options for many different genres. There are a lot of lists which help.

I plan to read The Garden of Evening Mists which came highly recommended - for this prompt or another.
Ancestor Stones - or another book about an immigrant returning home. ( I added a bunch of these to the listopia)
The God of Small Things - if it fits
The Seven Sisters - if it fits
The Dry when I want a mystery - the lost man might fit too
We Are the Brennans or *

✅Afterlives By Abdulrazak Gurnah - Jan 16
Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett - she was on one of Gnook searches

*On the “touching books about returning homes” list, I really liked Home, and Brooklyn. They are both somewhat literary and emotional, with no trauma porn or other overused tropes. I might read The Family Fang, Maine or others on that list.

I really loved the Marilynne Robinson books. In publication order - Gilead, Home, and Jack. They are all about Jack’s return to his hometown Gilead, and they’re each from a different point of view. I found them engrossing, fascinating, and wonderful. They all made me cry for different reasons. But they are very slow paced, and they are not for everyone. Jack was published last but answers most of the questions I had about him when reading the other books.

Added:
I also recommend
Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging - nonfiction, it also fits soldiers.
Sula
Americanah
A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic

For lighter books with a little romance thrown in, I recommend
Maybe in Another Life or One True Loves, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Garden Spells or The girl who chased the moon, by Sarah Addison Allen

I just came across a book today (thanks to the Strong Sense of Place podcast, https://strongsenseofplace.com/podcasts/).

It's called A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley. It's the author's true story about how, as a little boy in India, he became so lost that his family couldn't be found. He was eventually adopted by couple from Australia. Twenty-five years later he managed to find his way back home to his birth family.

Tracy wrote: "I just came across a book today (thanks to the Strong Sense of Place podcast, https://strongsenseofplace.com/podcasts/).

It's called A Long Way Home by [author:Saroo Brierley|7145..."

This is a great true story. I think I saw part of the film, or maybe he was on a show like 60 Minutes.

The God of Small Things absolutely fits, Nancy. Also, highly recommended. I read it in college and I still think about it all the time. Dark, painful, and beautiful.

Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "The God of Small Things absolutely fits, Nancy. Also, highly recommended. I read it in college and I still think about it all the time. Dark, painful, and beautiful."

Thanks Amy.

I don't have a specific book in mind, but there is a common trope in mysteries/thrillers where a detective/policeman/journalist returns home to investigate something and it relates to an old crime he or she was involved with. A very good one is The Dry. It's also very common in romance - for instance, the big city woman returns home and learns to appreciate the small town (and there's conveniently a single man available.)

Robin P wrote: "I don't have a specific book in mind, but there is a common trope in mysteries/thrillers where a detective/policeman/journalist returns home to investigate something and it relates to an old crime ..."

I might read this for the mystery tag in 15 Candles for PBT. It also fits - a book that won an Australian book award.

I would recommend

Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover (Contemporary/Romance)

I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid (Psychological Thriller)

I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid
Umbra by Neil Jordan
The Dry by Jane Harper
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
The House on Foster Hill by Jaime Jo Wright
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
The Man Who Didn't Call by Rosie Walsh
Trois jours et une vie by Pierre Lemaitre

For this prompt, I read:
The Return of Faraz Ali by Aamina Ahmad - 3* - My Review

Truckers

A few days ago I finished:
Behold the Dreamers

I loved it! It's about immigration and the American dream. The main characters talk a lot about returning home versus staying in America to get better opportunities. I think it was a great portrayal of immigrants and their hopes and dreams.

I read City of Illusions by Ursula K. Le Guin for this one.

Some I would recommend:
It by Stephen King
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
Singing in the Comeback Choir by Bebe Moore Campbell
The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

I read Outlander by Diana Gabaldon for this prompt being that two of the characters are trying to return home.

I’m reading the Haitian classic The Masters of the Dew by Jacques Roumain. The protagonist Manuel has been in Cuba for many years working the sugar plantations and returns home to his drought-stricken village in Haiti.

What are you reading for this prompt?
I read Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz

I would recommend this as it is two mysteries in one.

I read From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home

Using The Lost Traveller by Sheila Connolly, since it’s a return home that sets events in motion (though we don’t know that until the end). Love this series!

For this prompt I read Backpacking Through Bedlam by Seanan McGuire.

The book I choose for this prompt had the main character returning home. It is not a happy homecoming or the one the character expected.
The Night Masquerade

I read The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan. An excellent book with many twists & turns.

Novels with similar qualities are: Americanah, The Garden of Evening Mists, and Sula

I ALSO READ The School for Good Mothers I hated it far too sad and depressing

I read Lost Boy Lost Girl by Peter Straub. A writer returns to his home town when his nephew goes missing.

I read Kindred by Octavia E. Butler.

I decided to read The Winners - the book blurb started with "Maya Andersson and Benji Ovich, two young people who left in search of a life far from the forest town, come home and joyfully reunite with their closest childhood friends". I am not sure it was a perfect fit but it was probably as good as I am going to get.

I read Community Board about a woman who returns to her childhood home after her marriage falls apart. Great idea, esp bringing in the community board (why are they so nuts?? I just moved from a small tourist town and omg! The vitriol!) but I got tired of the main character feeling sorry for herself. Without her, it would have been a great book!

I will be reading The Helmingham Rose by Joan Hesayn. I can rcommend All that Glitters by Danielle Steel.

I just finished one of the best books I've read in a while...No Land To Light On by Yara Zgheib. The theme is definitely returning home, though one of the characters is actually left in limbo TRYING to return home. Hadi is a Syrian refugee who is caught up in the new anti-terrorist immigration law passed in 2017--even though he has a visa and passport...and is deported to Amman. The rest of the novel goes back and forth between Hadi attempting to return "home" to the US, remembering home in Syria, and his wife Sama in America, who considers America ot be home after her 7 tears and has to face the possibility of finding a new "home" that will accept Syrian refugees and their newborn American born son
Beautifully written book

I read Catherine the Great and the Small by Olja Knezevic, an author from Montenegro. It combined a coming of age story with a return home. The book centred on the MC's relationship with her damaged childhood friend, set against the rise of Milosevic and the coming of war. Not as gloomy as it sounds!

I read:
A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierly. This fits perfectly
For other prompts:
Afterlives
The Garden of Evening Mists

The Tenth Island: Finding Joy, Beauty, and Unexpected Love in the Azores by Diana Marcum.

While working as a journalist in California, the author becomes involved in writing about the number of immigrants from The Azores living in the Central Valley; she visits the islands at the time of an annual return home, and is herself drawn to return a frew years later. The author does a good job of mixing memoir with travel descriptions.

I read

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane – Kate DiCamillo – 5*****
Book on CD performed by Judith Ivey
Oh, but I loved this modern-day fairy tale! Edward is a china rabbit, hand crafted and meticulously attired. He lives with Abilene and her parents and grandmother in a house on Egypt Street. And then … Well, you’ll have to read about his journey yourself. It’s about compassion, and sorrow and joy. About patience and perseverance and never, ever giving up hope. It’s about love and home and miracles.
LINK to my full review

Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald was my last book of the 2023 challenge. The theme of returning home was both timely and very fitting, as we look back upon the past year and through this beautiful novel, the past. In 1939, when he was a young child, Jacques Austerlitz was sent to London from his home in Czechoslavakia via Kindertransport to escape the war. After growing up in Wales, he slowly learns bits and pieces about his family history, prompting him to search for the whole truth on his return home. Powerful writing and imagery highlight this poignant story.

I ended up reading Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield for this prompt. I originally expected to use it for the body of water prompt, but I thought it fit even better here. The book is about a woman who is a deep sea scientist, who goes on a submarine research trip where something goes mysteriously wrong. When she comes back, she starts changing both physically and mentally, seeming to become kind of like an ocean creature herself. The story alternates between scenes of her in the submarine and scenes from after her return, and I thought that both halves of the story were about "returning home" in different ways.

NancyJ wrote: "I read:
A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierly. This fits perfectly..."

A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierly was my original plan for this prompt, but I turned away from it for some reason (can't remember why). My plan now is to try Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie again. I've liked other books of hers, and I'm pretty sure I just wasn't in the right mood when I tried this one before.

NancyJ: what did you think of the Saroo Brierly book?

I stretched this one because I was really struggling to find a book that sounded remotely interesting to me. I read Cocktails and Chloroform which is a novella that comes out soon, It's from the "A Rip Through Time" series by Kelley Armstrong. The whole series touches on this prompt because our main character has found herself in 1869 Scotland and is trying to find a way back home to 2019 Scotland... in the meantime, she is, of course, going to solve crimes :)

I reas the Wonder Boy of Whistke stop