Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

It has become a traditional at Around the Year in 52 Books to include a prompt that involves A, T, and Y in our first prompt of the year. This year, we are leading with a prompt that includes a bit of a cover scavenger hunt! You're looking for items that begin with an A (apple, artwork, astronauts), T (trees, tent, telephone), or Y (yachts, yarn, ymaka). We welcome creativity, and you can check out the ATY listopia for more inspiration.

ATY Listopia: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

What are you reading for this prompt, and how does it fit?

I'm thinking about reading a book with an Amusement Park on the cover: FantasticLand. (Backup choice: Hide - they both show ferris wheels, which I associate with amusement parks)

I may go with Apron and read a manga from the Gokushufudo: The Way of House Husband 1 series.

I'm thinking of reading either:
Five Feet Apart - Rachael Lippincott
The Island of Missing Trees - Elif Shafak
Both books are in my TBR and have trees on the cover.

Oh yay! It makes me so happy to start seeing next year's prompts show up! I usually dislike the cover prompts, but this one is really cute and sounds like fun! I can't wait to really dig into my hunt...... ;)

The first one I found is Prelude to Terror by Helen MacInnes. The below picture is the cover of the one I have, and it has artwork on it.

Some I've found so far (that aren't trees):
Turtle - Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear
Towers - Unhallowed Halls
Tusks - The Tusks of Extinction
Tits - Belladonna
Teapot - Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)

I have tweezers earmarked The Hour of the Star

I have ten books on my 2025 planned reads that fit (not counting trees).

Astronauts


(Eiffel) Tower
'

(Mermaid) Tail


Table

I'm probably going with Amongst Our Weapons by Ben Aaronovitch, which has an anvil on the cover (also an airplane and the Thames, but I chose it for the anvil!)

A couple fun / clear ones I found on a browse of my TBR

(Train, tracks, and tunnel)

(Armchair, but I also like it because the author's name contains A, T, and Y)

(Allan Key) Funnily enough, when pulling that up, I see that there's another book with the same name, that also qualifies as it has an ace centered on the cover.


(telephone)

I really want to find something with a Y, which from my stack already will probably be some kind of mystery with yarn on the cover. I might just go on a cover hunt through my library's mystery section and see what I find. On the other hand, I would really like to find a cover with a yak on it that isn't a kids book. And the next Wayward Children cover has a turtle on it, so there's that.

I'm going with The Writing Retreat.



It has lots of trees on the cover, and it has been on my TBR for a while.

I think I’ll start with Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest for my first round. I thought I’d read it this year but I haven’t yet. I also want to read Wellness - triangle.



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FYI The Maniac book cover does NOT show a tornado or a wave (as some of us guessed). It was created by a film director to show “ … huge plumes of smoke coming from an enormous UFO crashed in the desert.”

- NOT a tornado, NOT a wave.

I'm thinking egg YOLKS cuz why not and found:





I'm leaning towards one of the food books (of course I always change about 50% of the book I plan so this is more of an idea than a plan)

Ellie wrote: "Some I've found so far (that aren't trees):
Turtle - Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear
Towers - Unhallowed Halls
Tusks - The Tusks of Extinction
T..."

Ellie: I didn't know there was a 2nd Vera Wong book. Thanks for posting about it. I'm putting it on my TBR.

Excited to start planning for 2025! I joined Good Reads in 2015 and added so many books to my TBR, many still lingering. I am going to try and clear many of these in 2025.

From my TBR:

The Friday Night Knitting Club - Yarn

Rotten to the Core - Apples

Landline - Telephone

This gives me one from each letter to choose from.

A - ant and aardvark

T - tower and tiger

Y - yard and yew (this one was hard!)

Planning on: .

There are: a set of traffic lights, advertisements on the bus (and arms) and a yellow dress.

Also: , which has trees, an animal, and a little bit of yellow.

Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "I really want to find something with a Y, which from my stack already will probably be some kind of mystery with yarn on the cover. I might just go on a cover hunt through my library's mystery sect..."



For "Y" I channeled My Cousin Vinnie and used "youth" (as in "the two youths") and found Lullabies for Little Criminals on my TBR

Nadine in NY wrote: "Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "I really want to find something with a Y, which from my stack already will probably be some kind of mystery with yarn on the cover. I might just go on a cover hunt through m..."

Oh, that's a good idea! I have any number of books with a whippersnapper on the cover! (I loved that movie, too.)

My plan is to read Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J. Ryan Stradal. There are trees on the cover.

My three choices:

trees, top hat, trees

by Maggie Shipstead: It’s tiny but there’s an airplane on the cover and I own the book, which is my top criterion this year.

Donna wrote: " by Maggie Shipstead: It’s tiny but there’s an airplane on the cover and I own the book, which is my top criterion this year."

Donna - I have this book also (and was planning to read it this year for a book club) and have heard it's fantastic! I'll add it as an "A" choice.

I recently bought Berlin Alexanderplatz and may use it for this prompt. Lots of "T" words including teeth, trousers, table, tree, and ties.

I have lots of options for this one. I think it depends on where I slot books in for other categories. But so far, I'm thinking of:

The Mystery of the Blue Train (train)
The Halloween Tree (tree)
The Two Towers (towers, this is a reread)
Murder in Mesopotamia (airplane)
The Buried Giant (tree)

I have loads of books with trees on the cover, so I could also pull one of those.

My choice for the first prompt:

Better Choices

Y - Yard
Y - Yellow
T - Table
T - Tree

My choice for the first read:

The Rift by Nina Allan (pb)
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

Both have trees on their respective covers.

I am reading The Hunger Games Companion by Lois H. Gresh - arrows on cover


Another option is No One Asked for This: Essays, also arrows on cover

I’m thinking After I Do by TJR. Toast on the cover!

This is my first reading challenge and my first prompt planning. I’m going to go with T for Tree, Palm Tree to be specific. The book is
by Kristin Hannah.
Hope this fits the prompt okay.

I have decided to read Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead, since it was also on my shelf, and an airplane, although small is clearly apparent and the early history of aviation is a major theme of this book.

I am going with The Novice's Tale, which has a table on the cover.

I am going with which has an arrow on the cover.

I'll be reading Red Letter Days by Sarah-Jane Stratford. It has a typewriter on the cover. I loved Radio Girls and this has been on my TBR list for a long time. Great way to start 2025.

I’ve chosen The God of the Woods with trees on the cover

This Other Eden with an apple on the cover.

For Week #1 and Prompt #1 - A book with a cover that has an image of something that starts with A, T, or Y - I am reading:

Christmas at the Little Paris Hotel by Rebecca Raisin

There's a Christmas tree and the Eiffel Tower on the cover for the "T". The book also covers a prompt or three in the Winter Challenge. It is 338 pages, so not too short, but so far it is reading quickly.

I feel a little embarrassed, because it is neither meaty nor complicated, and not my usual choice of genre, although I love all things Paris. It will be a quick win to get me started!

is going to do it for me. I've been reading the Cork O'Connor series books, and this one lined up just right to start the 2025 reading.

It's actually set in a prequel time frame - Cork is 12 - and it's his coming of age novel. I'm looking forward to reading it!

Cover Object is a tree

I am going to finally cross The Scarlet Letter off my list. The "A" seems to be pretty dang significant. lol

This is my first year reading in order, as well as pre-planning my reads. My goal is to focus on backlist rather than my usual diet of new releases. For this one, I read Kill For Love by Laura Picklesimer: a 2023 speculative fiction novel in which a sorority girl becomes a serial killer. 4.5 stars, I loved it a lot! Didn't score 5 stars merely because I wanted MORE!

On the cover: torsos.

For this prompt, I read:
In Winter I Get Up at Night by Jane Urquhart - 4* - My Review

It has a tree on the cover:

I Read:
20 Minutes Before Take Off by Daniel Hurst

An Airport and a Traveler

REJECT: A book told from multiple character POVs

Finished: 01/01/2025
Rating: 4 stars

Book #18 in a very addictive series.

I Read I started this series last year and have really enjoyed the adventures of Retired Police Detective Superintendent Albert Smith and his failed Police Dog Rex. They constantly get into solving crime whilst doing a culinary tour of the UK

There are Yorkshire Puddings on the cover of this book

Grace wrote: "For Week #1 and Prompt #1 - A book with a cover that has an image of something that starts with A, T, or Y - I am reading: Christmas at the Little Paris Hotel by [author:Rebecca R..."

I finished this evening, and I enjoyed it very much, much more than I thought I would. Feeling encouraged for a great challenge year!

i'm going to use Murder in Highbury

one of the characters is wearing a top hat, if you enjoyed Emma, this is a nice cozy mystery sequel of sorts :)

I really liked my egg yolk idea but want to read books I own so i have settled on:

Angels of the Universe

Angel on the cover

I have started the year with a Swedish feel-good book called Hjärtslaget i Rosengädda.

Lots of litte things on the cover but what I went for was a tea cup.

The title of the book as well as the the picutre shows a Trophy-
Trophäe
It did not fulfill its hype, but was an ok read!

I went a bit 'extra creative' on the scavenger hunt idea, maybe? The dice roll is a "ten"

I read Light of the World by James Lee Burke for this topic as Arrows are featured on the cover (Read Jan 4th; 4*)