Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

CHECKMATE! This week, you are looking for books related to a chess piece.

Some Ideas:
Queen: royal, drag Queen, Queen bee
King: royal, drug king pin, “Mattress King” (any cheesy local business type character), King of Rock ’n’ Roll
Knight: actual knight - of old, or modern recognition of achievement, Dark Knight, any rescuer/Knight-in-Shining-Armor, horses
Bishop: religion, clergy, Joey Bishop, anyone with that name
Rook/Castle: set in a castle, tower, or fortress, any of the Corvid Family (crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, magpies, treepies, choughs, and nutcrackers), set in a tenement or other densely populated area
Pawn: a manipulated person, a soldier, war, fighting

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

What are you reading for this prompt? How is it connected to a chess piece?

There is an article that has been shared a few times that has a list of unusual chess pieces.

The Minister
The Elephant
The Camel
The Man
The Princess
The Empress
The Amazon

https://www.chess.com/article/view/10...

There is an Australian book prize called the Prime Minister's Literary Award so I am planning to make a connection between that and a minister chess piece.

The book I am currently considering is The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld. Other options that were also nominees for the award are Wolfe Island by Lucy Treloar, All That I Am by Anna Funder, and The Yield by Tara June Winch.

https://www.arts.gov.au/pm-literary-a...

I'm not sure what I want to read for this. Maybe I'll run into something. I do have quite a few that work on my TBR.
king
Writers & Lovers - Lily King
Five Tuesdays in Winter - Lily King
queen
The Dutch Shoe Mystery - Ellery Queen
Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel - Ruth Hogan
Midwinter Murder: Fireside Tales from the Queen of Mystery - Agatha Christie
knight
Dear Mr. Knightley - Katherine Reay
The Mayfair Bookshop - Eliza Knight
castle
Blandings Castle (Blandings Castle #3) - P.G. Wodehouse
Final Curtain (Roderick Alleyn #14) - Ngaio Marsh (Sir Henry in castle)

Possibilities: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, or The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery, or Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll, or Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams, or Writers & Lovers by Lily King, or The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld, or The Story of Babar by Jean de Brunhoff, or The King's General by Daphne Du Maurier, or The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman, or A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers, or Blandings Castle] by P.G. Wodehouse, or The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones by Daven McQueen, or Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel by Ruth Hogan, or Circling the Sun by Paula McLain, or Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, or Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan, or The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

There are definitely a bunch of books I have on my TBR that have the word "castle" in the title, but I like to try to engage on a more thematic level for these "related to" prompts. But I'm not sure how I'll do that in this case! I guess I could give The Queen's Gambit a try, or there's a Nabokov book about a chess player called The Luzhin Defense.

My absolute best recommendation for this prompt is The Rook by Daniel O'Malley. This is an urban fantasy novel about a woman who wakes up with amnesia, except it seems that her past self was expecting it and is also meticulously organized and prepared for it (there are binders!). It turns out that the woman is a part of a secret organization of people with supernatural powers who protect Britain from their supernatural enemies. In this organization, the top ranking members go by code names that correspond to the names of the chess pieces.

I'm going for The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson, for the obvious King in the title connection. I would've preferred to go for something with more of a connection in the story, but as a planner I wouldn't know about a connection in advance, unless it's actually about chess.

I'd second Hannah's recommendation for The Rook, it works perfectly for this prompt and I loved the main character - possibly because I'm also a planner and would definitely have binders!

There is the legendary chess scene in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone if anyone needs a suggestion for a read or re-read.

I plan to read The King’s General by Daphne du Maurier.

Possibilities:
The Chess Story
✅Rules for a Knight by Ethan Hawke

Books by Lily King, Stephen King (Duma Key) or Laurie King (next in series)
✅Horse by Geraldine Brooks. Horse--Knight
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett - a humorous fiction book about Queen Elizabeth. It also works for books-about-books and novella

Authors knighted:
Midnight's Children by Salmon Rushdie
Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett
The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett

Books with bishops or similar religious figures:
Death Comes for the Archbishop
Pope Joan
The Name of the Rose

I recommend
Lager Queen of Minnesota
Klara and the Sun - Ishiguro - Knighted
Remains of the Day - by Ishiguro - Knighted
Pillars of the Earth - Bishop
A Thread of Grace - Bishop
Euphoria by Lily King - King
Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption - by Stephen King - King

I plan on reading The Queen's Assassin by Melissa de la Cruz, The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge or The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.

I am planning on reading either The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley or Lancelot And The Wolf by Sarah Luddington

I read , related to the pawn/soldier.

For this prompt, I read the first book of the Belgariad series, Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings.

I am reading The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells. A bit of a stretch perhaps, but a court is involved so far.

I read Matilda: Empress, Queen, Warrior Queen is in title but the author also likens the Royal court to chess pieces ith knights, bishops and pawns each serving their function

For this prompt, I read:
The Dark Queens: The Bloody Rivalry That Forged the Medieval World by Shelley Puhak - 4* - My Review

I read A Chess Story by Stefan Zweig. It says a lot about psychology and survival in a well constructed novella.

Based on the recommendation of Hannah and Marie I read The Rook. I thought there were a few places where it dragged a bit but overall very will done and a great fit for this prompt.

I read Spare by Prince Harry. Lots of kings and queens in this one. :D

I have read Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris. The main characters are related to chess pieces by the chapter titles.

For this I read I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. It has a real castle.

The War of Two Queens 2.75 stars.

Samantha wrote: "Based on the recommendation of Hannah and Marie I read The Rook. I thought there were a few places where it dragged a bit but overall very will done and a great fit for this prompt."

I was considering reading this one, too. I heard about it from the podcast Currently Reading. Other than fitting the prompt, would you recommend it?

Anne wrote: "I have read Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris. The main characters are related to chess pieces by the chapter titles."

Good find!

Hannah wrote: "My absolute best recommendation for this prompt is The Rook by Daniel O'Malley...."

I read the The Rook for this prompt and loved it! I liked the humor of the MC.

This will stay in the top 10 for 2023. Thanks for the recommendation.

I read Billy Summers. 5 stars. I loved this book. Stephen King writes all genres well.

I read A Chess Story for this prompt, but for my own multi-prompt challenge, I've read:

King: A Great and Terrible King: Edward I and the Forging of Britain. I read this to follow up on visits to some of the many castles Edward built in Wales. A man summed up by the title.

Queen: Secrets of Santorini by Patricia Wilson. A combination of romance, mystery and mythology/prehistory. Sounds a mess but the author combined the strands well, and it was an enjoyable read. The Queen of Atlantis is a major character. Also features kings and 'rook' in the deception sense.

Knight: The Disorderly Knights. A massive historical novel set in Malta and Scotland - the first part was interesting, but it is quite a dense read. Good if you have the time!

Bishop: The Impossible Life of Mary Benson. Mary was the wife of a Victorian Bishop of Truro, later Archbishop of Canterbury. She was a much admired and witty lady, who also conducted a number of lesbian love affairs. Worth reading.

Rook/Castle: Crashing Heat. A murder mystery which is well-written and quite enjoyable, but needs a lot of suspension of disbelief. I read this because the author's name is Richard Castle, and one of the MCs is Jameson Rook .

Pawn: The Gold Pawn. Another murder mystery. I liked the 1930s setting.

LeahS wrote: "I read A Chess Story for this prompt, but for my own multi-prompt challenge, I've read:

King: A Great and Terrible King: Edward I and the Forging of Britain. I read ..."

Wow!

I used some of these for PopSugar and other challenges, so there wasn't a lot of extra reading!

For Round 2 I will probably go with World Without End (Which sometimes felt like a book without end.). It has a bishop

Horse I really liked this one a lot, but I used it elsewhere.

I read a book about Queen Elizabeth as a child ...

The Little Princesses – Marion Crawford – 3***
The subtitle is all the synopsis anyone needs: The Story of the Queen’s Childhood by Her Nanny, Marion Crawford. I really enjoyed the glimpse into a world I will never experience. It covers the sixteen years Crawford was in service to the family, up to the birth of Charles. By today’s standards it is hardly scandalous, but it was a sensation when it was published. The royal family banished Crawford and never spoke to her again.
LINK to my full review

I read the thoughtful, memorable and funny Agatha of Little Neon by Claire Luchette. The title character is a warm and loveable woman religious or sister in the Catholic church (not a nun, as I learned from the novel); an unlikeable bishop from her Woonsocket, Rhode Island archdiocese represents the chess piece. My favorite line from this wonderful, highly recommended debut novel: "There is no time for nothing".

I read The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell. Takes place in castles and fortresses, and the lead character Lucrezia is the pawn of her family and her new husband, a Duke

What are you reading for this prompt?
I read Death at Bishop's Keep. By Robin Paige

How is it connected to a chess piece?
Bishop in the title

I am currently reading The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton.

This fits the connection to a chess piece in 3 ways (so far, not done reading yet):
1) Title/Character name 'Hardcastle' points toward Castle - often used to describe the Rook.
2) Chess is played a few times in the book
3) A few characters are being used as pawns in the mystery.

Really enjoying it so far. The author has marvelous ways of describing things/feelings and there are great twists to linear time.

The Rook. It is not the kind of book I usually read but it was good, and a good fit for this topic.

Tracy wrote: "I am currently reading The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton.

This fits the connection to a chess piece in 3 ways (so far, not done reading yet):..."

Correction! I am actually reading The Rook as recommended by several people for this prompt. I HAD planned on Evelyn Hardcastle originally, but when The Rook came up I moved her to Author's Debut Book.