Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Aiming to do this twice over. Generally trying to use a wide range of literature over both rounds and with a second round of books first published in 2016.

1. A book with a cover that has an image of something that starts with A, T, or Y
(a)
Read: June
(b)
Read: January

2. A prompt suggestion for this year that did not make the list
(a) Babylonia
Relevance: A book with a strong female character
Read: July
(b) Last Days Of New Paris
Relevance: Book that plays with perceptions of reality
Read: April

3. A book connected to something mentioned in the Do Re Mi song
(a) Square Haunting: Five Women, Freedom and London Between the Wars
Relevance: Mi, a name I call myself
Read: February
(b) Here Comes the Sun
Relevance: Re a drop of golden sun
Read: February

4. A book set underground, under sea or in an underworld
(a) Underland: A Deep Time Journey
Read: March
(b) A Country Road, A Tree
Relevance: Set in the underground of the French Resistance
Read: March

5. A book with a weird or intriguing title
(a) Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone
Read: February
(b) A Life Discarded: 148 Diaries Found in a Skip
Read: February

6. A book with a serpentine element on the cover
(a)
Read: June
(b)
Read: April

7. A book by an author that uses 3 names
(a) The First Woman by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
Read: April
(b) The Girl of Ink and Stars by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Read: January

8. A collection of short stories or novellas, essays, poetry, or a mix of various brief writings
(a) Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair
Read: April
(b) Reader I Married Him
Relevance: Short stories
Read: April

9. A book that has been long-listed for the Tournament of Books in any year
(a) The Book of Goose
Relevance: Long-listed in 2023
Read: June
(b) 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl
Relevance: Long-listed in 2017
Read: May

10. A book about witches, goddesses or nuns
(a) Medea
Relevance: Medea was a sorceress
Read: April
(b) The Monstrous Child
Relevance: The story of the Norse goddess, Hel.
Read: March

11. A book set in a fictional location
(a) Olive Kitteridge
Relevance: Set in the fictional town of Crosby, Maine
Finished: January
(b) Zero K
Relevance: Set in a fictional compound called 'The Convergence'.
Read: June

12. A book by an Irish author
(a) The Van by Roddy Doyle
Relevance: Author from the Irish Republic
Read: January
(b) A Good Hiding by Shirley-Anne McMillan
Relevance: Author from Northern Ireland
Read: January

13. A book involving a "group" with at least 4 members that's not a family
(a) My Dear Kabul: The incredible and courageous diary of an Afghan women's writing group
Read: June
(b) The Girls
Relevance: set in a cult
Read: January

14. A science fiction or fantasy novel written by a woman
(a) Ice by Anna Kavan
Read: July
(b) All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
Read: May

15. A book of secrets, lies, or deception
(a) The Secret Hours
Read: March
(b) The Mothers
Read: July

16. A book that fits a prompt from the 2016 ATY list
(a) Cold Earth
Relevance: Fits #46 'A crime story'
Read: April
(b) Fingers in the Sparkle Jar: A Memoir
Relevance: Fits #28 'An autobiography, biography or memoir'
Read: January

17. A history or historical fiction book set prior to 1925
(a) The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
Relevance: History book set in the C18th
Read: January
(b) Golden Hill
Relevance: Historical fiction set in the C18th.
Read: May

18. A book set primarily in nature
(a)Running Wild
Read: January
(b) Being a Beast
Read: March

19. A book with a cover that has a building or cityscape
(a)
Read: May
(b)
Read: May

20. A book with an animal, vegetable (plant), or mineral in the title
(a) The Talking Bird, the Singing Tree and the Golden Water
Read: January
(b) Peacock & Vine: On William Morris and Mariano Fortuny
Read: February

21. A book connected in some way to any collective noun for animals
(a) The Words In My Hand
Relevance: 'A wisdom of wombats'
Read: January
(b) The Woman in Cabin 10
Relevance: 'A sleuth of bears'
Read: March

22. A translated novel from Asia
(a) Tokyo Express by Seichō Matsumoto, translated by Jesse Kirkwood
Read: January
(b) Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo, translated by Jamie Chang
Read: February

23. A book that involves art, music, dancing or acting
(a) Glorious Exploits
Relevance: includes all four but mainly acting
Read: March
(b) Vanishing Man
Relevance: a painting by Velasquez
Read: March

24. A book with a main character who is a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, or a criminal
(a) The Mould In Dr Florey's Coat: The Remarkable True Story of the Penicillin Miracle
Relevance: brain (s)
Read: July
(b) You Will Know Me
Relevance: has an athlete (gymnast), 'basket case', 'princess' and a criminal.
Read: June

25. A book with waves on the cover
(a)
Read: July
(b)
Read: May

26. A book by an author with a common noun in their name
(a) A History of Delusions: The Glass King, a Substitute Husband and a Walking Corpse by Victoria Shepherd
Read: April
(b) A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny
Read: May

27. A book set in the winter:
(a) Winter's Gifts
Read: February
(b) Midwinter
Read: February

28. Two books with a pair of opposites in their titles: Book 1
(a) Out Stealing Horses
Read: April
(b) The Noise of Time
Read: April

29. Two books with a pair of opposites in their titles: Book 2
(a) In Memoriam
Read: May
(b)The Silence Between Breaths
Read: April

30. A monster book
(a) This Charming Man
Read: March
(b) Lovecraft Country
Read: March

31. A book with a coastal setting
(a) Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel
Relevance: Set in Brighton on the south coast of England
Read: May
(b) The Naked Shore: Of the North Sea
Read: June

32. A mystery or true crime book
(a) Death at the Sign of the Rook
Relevance: Mystery
Read: January
(b) The Wicked Boy
Relevance: True crime
Read: March

33. A book by an author you enjoyed but haven't gotten around to reading again for some time
(a) Clear by Carys Davies
Relevance: Last read in 2023
Read: June
(b) Faithful by Alice Hoffman
Relevance: Last read in 2022
Read: June

34. A book title that could be a country song
(a) There Are Rivers in the Sky
Read: March
(b) It Ends with Us
Read: March

35. A book from the NPR “Books We Love” lists
(a) All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake
Relevance: 2021 list
Read: June
(b) The Gustav Sonata
Relevance: 2016 list
Read: February

36. A book with a common household object on the cover
(a)
Read: June
(b)
Read: June

37. A book featuring adult friendships
(a) We Solve Murders
Read: January
(b) Lab Girl: A story of Trees, Science and Love
Read: June

38. Two books with a connection from different genres: Book 1
(a) Wifedom: Mrs. Orwell's Invisible Life
Relevance: Writer's wife: Biography
Read: February
(b) Trees: A Complete Guide to Their Biology and Structure
Relevance: Nature/Science
Read: April

39. Two books with a connection from different genres: Book 2
(a) Girl in a Blue Dress
Relevance: Writer's wife: Historical fiction
Read: April
(b) The Trees by Ali Shaw
Relevance: Nature/Fantasy
Read: May

40. A book you'd consider a comfort read
(a) One Corpse Too Many
Read: April
(b) Precious and Grace
Read: April

41. A book that involves digging up the past
The Burial Place
Read: September
(b) All the Missing Girls
Read: April

42. A book set in a manor, mansion, or estate
(a) The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years
Read: May
(b) Long Weekend
Read: June

43. A book whose title has ten or fewer letters
(a) The Trees by Percival Everett
Read: May
(b) Nutshell
Read: May

44. A haunting book
(a) The Haunted Wood: A History of Childhood Reading
Read: January
(b) Hidden People
Read: March

45. A book by an author whose publishing career spans at least ten years
(a) Tu by Patricia Grace
Relevance: First book published 1975 and latest 2021.
Read: January
(b) Days Without End by Sebastian Barry
Relevance: first book 1982, latest 2023.
Read: March

46. A book related to one of the traditional full moon names
(a) Neither Wolf nor Dog: On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder
Relevance: Wolf Moon - Native American moon name.
Read: January
(b) The Woman in Blue by Elly Griffiths
Relevance: Blue Moon/Lenten Moon
Read: February

47. A book relating to fire
(a) Dresden: A Survivor's Story, February 1945
Read: February
(b) The Ashes of London
Read: February

48. A book with a character dealing with death
(a) The Plague
Read: January
(b) The Tidal Zone
Read: February

49. A book that deals with time travel, alternate universes, or alternate timelines
(a) A Study Of Resonance
Read: May
(b) Time Travel: A History
Read: May


50. A book posted in one of the ATY Best Book of the Month threads in 2024 or 2025
(a) Remarkably Bright Creatures
Relevance: posted in 2024
Read: July
(b) As Close to Us as Breathing
Relevance: Posted in May 2025
Read: July

51. A book published in 2025
(a) Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Read: July
(b) One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Relevance: Wild card
Read: June

52. A book with a sunset vibe on the cover
(a)
Read: July
(b)
Read: June

Anniversary list. Reading (a) a book first published or translated in the relevant year (b) a book first published or translated in 2016.

2016: A book originally written in a language other than English
(a) Black Water Lilies
Relevance: originally written in French, translated in 2016
Read: January
(b) Silence in the Age of Noise
Relevance: Originally written in Norwegian
Read: February

2017: A book whose title doesn't contain the letter "E"
(a) All Grown Up
Read: March
(b) Christodora
Read: March

2018: An author's debut book
(a) White Chrysanthemum by Mary Lynn Bracht
Read: June
(b) Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler
Read: June

2019: A book related to one of the elements on the periodic table of elements
(a) Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster
Relevance: Uranium and many other elements
Read: June
(b) The Tin Can Man
Read: January
In 2019 I read: The First Iron Lady: A Life of Caroline of Ansbach

2020: A book with an emotion in the title
(a) Atomic Love
Read: June
(b) A Climate of Fear
Read: May
In 2020 I read: Love and Summer

2021: A book related to a codeword from the NATO Phonetic Alphabet
(a) The Illuminated by Anindita Ghose
Relevance: India- Indian author and setting, first published in India in 2021.
Read: May
(b) No Echo
Read: June
In 2021 I used 'Papa' from Fruit of the Drunken Tree

2022: A book that uses all five vowels in the title and/or author's name
(a) I'm Sorry You Feel That Way
Read: June
(b) French Rhapsody by Antoine Laurain
Read: July
In 2022 I read Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout

2023: A book whose author has published more than 7 books
(a) Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
Relevance: author has published 14 earlier books
Read: April
(b) Exposure by Helen Dunmore
Relevance: author published 14 novels
Read: March
In 2023 I read: A Postcard from Capri by Alex Brown

2024: A book that has been on your TBR for over a year
(a) Crypt: Life, Death and Disease in the Middle Ages and Beyond
Read: March
(b) The Good Immigrant
Read: February
In 2024 I read: All About Love: New Visions and Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How it Changes Us

2025: A book involving a "group" with at least 4 members that's not a family
(a) Mere
Relevance: Set in a convent
Read: April
(b) The Archipelago of Another Life
Relevance: a search party
Read: February

Book statistics:

Fiction 97 books; Non-fiction 27.

55 were planned and read as planned; 23 were originally planned but moved to a different prompt; 46 were not originally planned.

28 were books that I would have read without ATY. The rest were found to fit prompts.

Types of book: I read at least one of: an early reader/picture book (Oxford Reading Tree Biff, Chip and Kipper Stories: The Tin Can Man) ; books for children (e.g. Running Wild); 'classic' literature (The Plague); drama (Medea); essays (The Good Immigrant); fan fiction (A Study Of Resonance); fiction (e.g. Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands ); graphic novel/manga (CITY, Vol. 1); non-fiction (e.g. The Wicked Boy); novella (e.g. Clear); poetry (Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair); self-published (Night of the Taranta); short stories (e.g. All That Man Is); translated book (e.g Black Water Lilies); young adult (e.g. Pax)

Fiction genres: At least one of: Bildungsroman (e.g.The First Woman); Classic fiction (e.g. The Plague); Crime (e.g. The Woman in Blue); Comfort reading: (Precious and Grace); Cosy crime (We Solve Murders); Dystopian (Zero K); Espionage (e.g. Exposure); Family drama (e.g. As Close to Us as Breathing); Fantasy (e.g. The Girl of Ink and Stars); Historical fiction (e.g. Golden Hill); Humour (e.g. Greetings From Jamaica, Wish You Were Queer);Indigenous (Tu); LBGTQA+ (e.g. Here Comes the Sun); Literary fiction (e.g. Nutshell: A Novel); Mystery (e.g. Death at the sign of the rook); Retellings (The Talking Bird, the Singing Tree and the Golden Water); Myth/legend: (e.g. Medea); Romance (e.g. One True Loves); Science-fiction (e.g. Ice:); Horror (e.g. Lovecraft Country); Thriller (Night of the Taranta); War (e.g. A Country Road, A Tree); Western (Days Without End)

Non-fiction subjects (some books overlap): Art 3 (e.g.Vanishing Man); Biography/history 11 (e.g. Wifedom: Mrs. Orwell's Invisible Life); Environment/science/medicine 8 (e.g. The Mould In Dr Florey's Coat: The Remarkable True Story of the Penicillin Miracle); Literature 2 (e.g. The Haunted Wood: A History of Childhood Reading); Memoir 4 (e.g. Alive, Alive Oh!: And Other Things that Matter); Social/politics 2 (e.g. The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone); Travel 2 (e.g. The Naked Shore: Of the North Sea); True crime 1 (The Wicked Boy) ; War 2 (e.g. Dresden: A Survivor's Story, February 1945)

Diversity: 74 books were by female authors and 47 by male authors (2 were edited books and 1 where gender was unclear). I read authors from: Africa (e.g. The First Woman); Asia (e.g. Tokyo Express); Australia (Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone); the Caribbean (Here Comes the Sun); mainland Europe (e.g. French Rhapsody); North America (e.g. A Great Reckoning); Oceania (Tu); South America (Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair).
13 books had a LBGTQA+ theme/ characters and/or author (e.g. Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel). 16 books were written by, or had input from BIPOC authors (e.g. The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years). One book (that I know) was written by a neuro-diverse author (Fingers in the Sparkle Jar: A Memoir).

Date of publication: C21:56 + 62 2016 books; C20:5; earlier:1 (but 10 more had some basis in early myths/legends)

Bought new:11; Gifts:7; Bought s/hand 6; Kindle:4. Loans:3; Giveaway:1.
The rest (92) were library books.