The 52 Book Club: 2025 / 2026 Challenge discussion

WEEKLY CHECK-IN
January 15, 2024 -- Week 3

What book(s) are you reading this week?
Which prompt are you thinking about putting it under?

I'm currently reading two books:

- The Bell in the Fog by Lev A.C. Rosen, which I'll use for Prompt 15 (Part of a duology)

-Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart, which I'll use for Prompt 16 (An omniscient narrator)

I’m currently reading Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler, which will be assigned to prompt 15, Part of a Duology.

I’m listening to Undercover by Tamsyn Muir and my next book, which I will start later this week, is The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi. I don’t know which prompts they will fill yet.

I never do this lol. Reading 2 books and not sure about prompts!

Inheritance by Nora Roberts
The Marriage Act by John Marrs audio. This could be 16 or 30 for me

I've started four...
Skyhunter by Marie Lu for #14
PP Carrot Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke for #4
The Scorpion's Tail by Preston & Child for #18
and Sandstorm by James Rollins for #45

I'm currently reading two books. Starlings by Amanda Linsmeier isn't for a prompt and Outlander by Diana Gabaldon for prompt 3: A book with more than 40 chapters.

Today I started Almost Surely Dead by Amina Akhtar.

I haven't decided which prompt to put it under yet. I could put it under prompt #10 told in non-chronological order, #6 women in Stem (the character is a pharmacist so I would think it would count) or #14 a grieving character.

If anyone is interested it would also fit into prompt #3 more than 40 chapters as well, but I have already used that one.

I'm currently reading:
To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers for #6 (Women in STEM)
Kraken Bake by Karen Dudley for #11 (Starts with the Letter 'K')
Wake, Siren: Ovid Resung by Nina McLaughlin for #22 (A Plot Similar to Another Book)
and Girlfriend on Mars by Deborah Wills for #41 (A Sticker on the Cover)

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle for Locked Room mystery. So far, I am not feeling this book; it is not the genre I typically enjoy.
Hidden Figures for the prompt for women in STEM. I loved the movie and wanted to know if the novel could give me more insight. The prompt pushed me to want to read.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has a wedding between Bill and Fleur, so it's going towards that prompt. My kids requested this novel for our nightly reading, so finishing it will take a while.

Just started reading Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier. Impulse grab at the library. One of my favorite movies (Lawrence Olivier). This paperback has no people on the cover, prompt #24.

I'm listening to Meet Me in Monaco by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb for Prompt #2: Bibliosmellia - A Smelly Book. It's about a perfume maker in Cannes in the 1950's. An enjoyable listen!

I'm reading Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy for prompt #6: women in STEM. After that, I'm thinking of reading Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt for prompt #14: a grieving character.

I'm still working on Never Seen the Moon and reading Remarkably Bright Creatures. The first is non-fiction recommended by a friend. The second features the ocean

I started Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi today. Planning to use it for #43. About Finding identity prompt.

I just started (I'm one chapter in) listening to The Magic of Found Objects by Maddie Dawson, which I'm thinking of for magical realism, and just started reading The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code by Margalit Fox just because. That last one MAY qualify for an author self-insert, because she keeps talking about "I did this" and "I did that," but I have something else in mind for that prompt.

Hedging Your Bets by Jayne Denker - No prompt
What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn - Prompt 17: Nominated for The Booker Prize
An Amish Cinderella by Shelley Shepard Gray Prompt 19: A Buddy Read
The Mare by Seth Christian Martel - No prompt

I am currently reading “Bright Young Women” for the prompt regarding a yellow spine!

I'm listening to "How to Stop Time" by Matt Haig (audible) for prompt #28;
I'm reading "Swan Light" by Phoebe Rowe (ebook) for prompt #8;
I'm reading "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann (large print library book) for prompt #46

I’m reading The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith. I’m reading it for a book published in a year of the dragon - 2012.

I'm 300+ pages into A Little Life byHanya Yanagihara for prompt #17: Nominated for the Booker Prize

Jaklin wrote: "The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle for Locked Room mystery. So far, I am not feeling this book; it is not the genre I typically enjoy.
Hidden Figures for the prom..."

Jaklin, I read 7 1/2 Deaths for a prompt last year. I was so conflicted that I couldn't even rate it. It was a hard read for me. Your other two reads are ones that I thoroughly enjoyed. I hope you will, as well

I'm reading several books right now - I'm just that kind of reader.
1. The Violin Conspiracy for prompt 50- musical instrument on the cover

2. Everyone's a Theologian: An Introduction to Systematic Theology -for prompt 43 - about finding identity

3. Everything is Figureoutable - for prompt 19 - a buddy read - reading with my daughter and an online book club or friends

4 . 11/22/63 - For prompt 26 - Hybrid genre (Historical fiction - science fiction) will also watch the Hulu series to include it in the first quarter Read It, Watch It.

I'm currently reading In Bed with a Blackguard by Cara Maxwell for Features The Ocean

I'm currently reading:

Racso and the Rats of Nimh by Jane Leslie Conly for prompt #30 Picked without reading the blurb, since I ordered it online since it was the sequel to Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH.

RHS Tales from the Tool Shed by Bill Laws for prompt #24 A cover without people on it.

I am currently reading A Brush with Shadows by Anna Lee Huber which will be for prompt 37 - palindrome on the cover.

I have several of Agatha Christie's books that include Ariadne Oliver I will be reading. These will be for prompts 27 - by a neurodivergent author and 47 - self-insert by an author.

I also hope to start The Monogram Murders by Agatha Christie/Sophie Hannah for prompt 21 - written by a ghostwriter.

I currently just started the Haunting of Adeline, by: H.D. Carlton for the duology prompt.

I just finished The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels, by India Holton for magical realism. This one was hard to get through.

I'm currently reading
Physical book : Eragon
E-Book : Paladin's Faith
Audiobook: Illuminations

Not really sure what prompts to put them with but I'm loving my little T Kingfisher binge right now

I just started Bridge to Terabithia today, which I'm planning to use for prompt 14 - a book with a grieving character (may not be the exact wording of the prompt).

Hello
I'm finishing Ink Blood Sister Scribe under the magical realism prompt. And hopefully starting VenCo by Cherie Dimaline under the palindrome on the cover prompt.

I'm currently reading If You Didn't Bring Jerky, What Did I Just Eat?: Misadventures in Hunting, Fishing, and the Wilds of Suburbia by Bill Heavey. Not sure yet which prompt I will use it for.

I am currently reading Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind. I am using it for prompt #2 ~ Bibliosmia: A smelly book.

Just finished Turtles All the Way Down by John Green (author self insert)

I am starting Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (haven't truly decided the category for this one yet though).

I’m about to finish Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros for the more than forty chapters prompt.

I’m also reading How to Hide an Empire by Daniel Immerwahr for my nonfiction book that was suggested by a friend.

I'm reading The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins for At least four different POV prompt.

The challenge book I am currently reading is the Song of Achilles.

52 Book Challenge got me started on Storygraph, though, and Storygraph has a slew of other challenges to help me in my reading goals. I am also currently reading The Dawn of History for "War on my TBR!" I've been working on it for a year (about the same length of time I've been working on Song of Achilles).

Yesterday I finished The Seventeenth Floor by Dmytro Bondarenko, for the Storygraph Genre Challenge. I am reading a poem a day from Pablo Neruda's "20 Poems and a Song of Despair" for Storygraph Read Around the World Challenge.

And I am reading Emma Goldman's Anarchism and Other Essays because a friend told me to. I guess I could put that under "nonfiction recommended by a friend" but I already finished Poverty by America, picked for that one.

I decided to add Anarchism and Other Essays to Buddy Read.

Week 3 Reading
Audio: Still listening to Lessons in Chemistry. I've already watched the show, and I still i find myself chuckling while listening.
Kindle: I just finished The Selection, and I really enjoyed it. I didn't enjoy abrupt ending, so I'll have to continue the series. Such is Life.
Paper: I finished Big Little Lies. Really it was a DNF. I read the first half, but it was so slow that I put it down.

I finished Függöny: Poirot utolsó esete by Agatha Christie for Prompt 27. Neurodivergent author. I'm also in the middle of Stargazy Pie for Prompt 30. Picked without reading the blurb.

I'm reading:
Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson for prompt #16 - an Omniscient narrator,

A Knock at Midnight by Brittany Barnett for prompt #11 A book starting with letter K

A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle for prompt #22 - Book with Similar Plot. (I will read A Movable Feast by Ernest Hemingway for prompt #23 - the similar plot)

I read Caraval for the 40+ chapter prompt.

I'm reading Ariadne in Lithuanian, which does not fit into any of the challenge prompts, but Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer fits 46th prompt Featuring Indigenous culture. This one is freaking amazing, I'm reading it on audio book but I also have a copy in my own language, it's that good.

Dates in the chapter headings: Just finished November 9 by Colleen Hoover.

Still reading Cassandra in Reverse and Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus: Revelations. Not sure of the prompts yet for these.

I have a couple of books brewing currently.

First would be Sackett's Land by Louis L'Amour. This one I already know is Prompt 2 because it is my dad's original copy from the 80's, and it smells like my parents' home.

The second book is Forrest for the Trees by Kilby Blades. I'm not sure where to place this one just yet. After looking over all of the prompts, the best options may be either Prompt 9: A Character-Driven Novel or Prompt 51: Related to the word "Wild". The book is a romance novel set in a national park, and the MCs are a park ranger and a federal fire marshal. I think I just talked myself into Prompt 51.

The third book is A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. I'm following along with The Roomies' Digest on YouTube as they do the Maas-a-Long read-through of all of SJM's books. Finished all of the Throne of Glass series last year, now ACOTAR is the next up. I have to have it read in time for a live on January 28, so it needs to get done. I am dreading this book though. I think this will probably use Prompt 3: More than 40 chapters.

I just finished Salt & Broom for prompt #20 and it was a solid 5 star read for me :)

I will be reading THE WOMEN by Kristin Hannah for prompt #24: A Cover Without People On It.

I'm reading Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman. I'm not sure what prompt to use for this book.

Finished The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods for Magical Realism yesterday, and finished The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss Monday for either apostrophe or sticker on cover or lowercase on spine.

I'm currently reading Zero Days by Ruth Ware for dated chapters and And Then There Were None by Ms. Agatha - not sure which I will choose, it fits many prompts. I haven't read at all today! About 1/3 of the way through on both books. Hope to start Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone next.

I'm reading Murder On the Orient Express for locked room mystery and The Echo of Old Books for Bibliosmia. I started reading Pineapple Street, don't know if I will use it for prompt. I will send the whole year on Dear California (nonfiction recommended by a friends) as he book is arranged chronologically with letters and diary entries for each day of the year and I've decided to read the days entries on the same date (so i started January s1t and read the entires for January 1st, today I'm reading January 17

I'm reading Yüzyıllık Yalnızlık (Cien Anos de Soledad) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez for the promt #5. Magical Realism.

I just finished Anxious People / Fredrik Backman this morning for the "Locked-Room Mystery," prompt. Truly enjoyable and I highly recommend it. I will be picking up the None of This Is True / Lisa Jewell for the prompt, "A Cover Without People On It." Hopefully this is just as good.

BTW, I'm loving this group! Thanks Lindsey for being such an excellent moderator.