Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Now that one quarter of the year has passed (yikes, is it possible?), what has been your favorite book (or books) of the quarter?

I just posted in the best books of march thread, so I thought i could add my favourite book here as well :) For me the best book was Vita Nostra. I thought the style was very unusual. It was all about discovering a kind of magical world alongside the MC, who was thrown into it. But the word magical doesn’t really fit here, in my opinion. There are no magic wands or the like. It’s a very complex system based on language and there’s a lot of brain work to do, to understand everything. But I liked, that discovering and understanding the world was more or less the only thing, the book is about. There is no big quest or villain that must be defeated. It's just about a young woman who goes to a „magical“ university and tries to pass its very unusual and complicated exams and its abbout coming of age and findling out who she is and her place in the world.

Oh, this is hard! My best of January and best of March are both so good but in such different ways. If I really had to choose, I guess I'll go with my best of March which is Educated by Tara Westover.

It's a memoir, beautifully written, about growing up with an extreme survivalist family.

My best of January will be an honorable mention: Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson, the third book in the Skyward series.

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

Unique, compelling, unputdownable. Complete perfection. It’s now one of my favorite books of all time. If I could give it 10 Stars I would.

My favorite of the quarter is Lessons in Chemistry. I had three really good reads so this was hard to pick one.

My best if the quarter is also one of the last books I finished in March - Demon Copperhead. I listened to it, and loved every minute even though it was 21 hours long.

Top 5 in the quarter for me would be:

1. Cinder
2. Dune
3. How High We Go In The Dark
4. Of Mice and Men
5. The Kite Runner

Chrissy wrote: "My best if the quarter is also one of the last books I finished in March - Demon Copperhead. I listened to it, and loved every minute even though it was 21 hours long."

I plan to listen to this one as well!
Really glad to hear you enjoyed it, and that it was your favorite book of the quarter. It gives me something to look forward to :)

I also loved Demon Copperhead on audio.
The other 5-star book for this quarter was Small World by Jonathan Evison. It's the story of American expansion through families of diverse ethnicities. Sometimes I don't like books with multiple points of view because I just get interested in one and then the focus shifts. But for this one I liked every story.

I was looking at the three books that I chose as my favorite book of the month to decide, I chose Alice in Wonderland for January, it’s always going to be a favorite. Cloud Cuckoo Land for February. Antigone for March. So, I guess I’ll stick with my childhood favorite Alice.

I'm actually very glad this quarter of a year is over as it has been an extremely stressful one for me. Some good books, though!

My favourite is probably the one I just posted in best of March, The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles. A Historical romance set on Romney Marsh, between a smuggler and a baronet.

Second place is probably Cupid Calling by Viano Oniomoh. A contemporary romance this time, set in a reality TV show a lot like The Bachelorette. I don't watch a lot of reality TV, but this was super sweet and I loved both characters.

Third place, although it is very close to my second place, is A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall. A historical romance with a trans heroine! The two main characters fought at Waterloo together, but when the heroine was injured she decided to take the opportunity to embrace her true self. This book deals with their reunion, and how they work their way towards a HEA.

Cassandra Khaw's short story collection Breakable Things is holding strong as my favorite of the year so far. Nghi Vo's Into the Riverlands is a strong runner up. Nothing else I've read comes close.

I really can't choose one favorite from The Winners, Babel: An Arcane History, and Demon Copperhead.

My favorite of the quarter will certainly make my list of top books of the year:
Victory City by Salman Rushdie

It is a saga based on myths and legends of India. It tells the history of the imagined empire of Bisnaga, spanning approximately 250 years. An ancient Sanskrit manuscript was discovered, known as the Jayaparajaya, authored by Pampa Kampana, a woman of fourteenth century India. The narrative follows Pampa Kampana’s life story, and it is a very long life due to her mystical capabilities.

It is a wonderful tapestry of a tale, full of wars, religions, loves, children, rivalries, rulers, greed, corruption, and a multitude of fabulous characters. It turns the typical male-dominated ancient saga into a female-oriented epic.

As is expected of Rushdie, the writing is lively, intelligent, and witty. (I think it is obvious that he had a lot of fun with this one). There are many historical references, as well as social commentaries, embedded into the storyline. It is a masterpiece of storytelling.

Runner-ups include books which are excellent in their own right:
Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes
The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley
Double Blindby Edward St. Aubyn
Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

I can tell already that this thread is going to add to my TBR :-)

My favorite: Agatha of Little Neon, a debut novel by Claire Luchette.

Of the 23 books I read this quarter, I gave a 5 to 10 of them. Too easy a rater? Maybe. But I do tend to read the "heavier, more intense" books early in the year. And if they make me feel like a 5 after reading them, they get a 5. So I'm listing here the 5 to which I consistently have gone back to think about in my mind, even after finishing other books, one of which I didn't really appreciate until well after I had finished it:

One Hundred Twenty-One Days by Michèle Audin
...Jewish mathematicians in France between WW1 and WW2
'Trifles' and 'a Jury of Her Peers' by Susan Glaspell
...A one act play written in 1916- a murder mystery and the difference in thinking between the men and the women
A Ballad for Georg Henig by Viktor Paskov
...Translated, set in Bulgaria, how poverty can affect the mind and the body, how people can care for each other - or not.
The Daughters of Madurai by Rajasree Variyar
...rural India "traditions?" about having more than one daughter. It was appalling as well as a good story. And we are talking about the 1990's!
and lastly
How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water by Angie Cruz
...a Latina woman in her 50s who may or may not be "legal", and her storytelling to her job coach. If you read it, don't get annoyed with how she never stays on topic. Feel the stories - the life she has led and the life she wants to lead. I go back to this one over and over.

So ask me to choose just one of those... well, I can't.

Gail, I recently discovered Susan Glaspell through the short story "A Jury of her Peers", which was later made into the play. It is a brilliant way of telling a photo-feminist story. I hope to read more by her.

I've only had three 5-star books in the first quarter: Legends & Lattes, What Moves the Dead, and I'm Glad My Mom Died. Of those, I think What Moves the Dead is my best of the quarter.

Robin P wrote: "Gail, I recently discovered Susan Glaspell through ..."

The book I read had both the play and the short story in it, which was pretty cool. I then did more research on her. She was an amazing trailblazer.

I have a hard enough time picking just one for the month, let alone the quarter. So I picked a bunch.

New Reads:
To Be Taught, If Fortunate
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi
The Travelling Cat Chronicles
Magic Tides

New Nonfiction
Blurb Your Enthusiasm: An A-Z of Literary Persuasion
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing
The Sporty One: My Life as a Spice Girl

Rereads:
The Starless Sea
The Scolomance series
The Innkeeper series

My favorite of the quarter was In the Woods by Tana French and my runner up wasHeart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad which was a reread for me.

January ~ Demon Copperhead
February ~ The Great Believers
March ~ Eternal

Best of those three - The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

I still can't get some of those characters out of my head. Just a really REALLY great book.

I have lots of 3 and 4 starred books. So I will only list 5 stars.

Raven of the Inner Palace (Light Novel) Vol. 1
The World's Fastest Level Up (Light Novel) Vol. 1
In the Clear Moonlit Dusk, Vol. 1
Ima Koi: Now I'm in Love, Vol. 1
A Kiss with a Cat, Vol. 1
The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea
The Apothecary Diaries: Volume 1
Bofuri: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense., Vol. 4
Bofuri: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense., Vol. 8 (light novel)

My favorites for the quarter were
Horse
Farhenheit 451
Lessons in Chemistry

Top Three

The Winners
Lying Beside You (3)
Faithful Place

Favorite for the 1st Q: In the Distance by Hernán Diaz. I’ll have to read his newest book Trust, which I’ve heard a lot about!

Of the ones I really enjoyed in Q1: The Man with the Golden Typewriter: Ian Fleming’s Bond Letters is my favorite of the favorites. I had a ball reading this book and am going to reread the Bond books because of having read it.

I think my favorite book of the quarter is Billy Summers by Stephen King.