Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Today, we are dreaming of the beach. The warm sun, the hot sand, and the waves sounding off in the distance while we read a good book...

Or, at least, we are scouring our TBR and picking a book whose cover has waves on it.

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

My brain makes a strong distinction between “water” and “waves” (haha) so I really struggled to choose a book for this prompt. The most wavey cover I seem to have is


Of Jade and Dragons by Amber Chen

I have a real wave and some gentle ripples .

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin
The Long Call (Two Rivers #1) - Ann Cleeves
Mystery in the Channel - Freeman Wills Crofts

by Erik Larson - not a happy topic, though

I remember when this prompt was chosen and I was like, "ugh, I'm never going to be able to find books with waves on them.", and then I started seeing them everywhere!

So far, I'm leaning towards either
or

It's a little hard to see, but there's a drawing of waves in the circle behind her.

I think I'm going to read Duma Key for this.

Donna wrote: " by Erik Larson - not a happy topic, though"

I really enjoyed this book. I read it at a time when I wasn’t used to reading nonfiction, and it really held my interest. A couple of us brought our husbands to the library bookclub when we discussed this book.

This is one of favorite cover prompts. I’m sure I’ll end up with extra books for this one. I have a lot of possibilities but these are at the top of the list. I really love that we always have a water related prompt.

Wild Dark Shore - this is a possibility for multiple prompts. A rare preorder for me.
The Wedding People
On the Beach
Whose Waves These Are
The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean
A Tale for the Time Being - I am craving a reread of this book

I might give my husband a laugh by leaving this on table:
How to Keep House While Drowning

NancyJ wrote: "Donna wrote: " by Erik Larson - not a happy topic, though"

I really enjoyed this book. I read it at a time when I wa..."

Good to know, thanks!

Donna wrote: " by Erik Larson - not a happy topic, though.

It's not a happy topic, but it is an excellent book.

For now, I've chosen The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty, but I may change it to Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell

I'm planning on and for this prompt. (This edition of Arctic Rising has much calmer seas than the one I own with proper waves crashing!)

I'm going to read Red River Road by Anna Downes. I love this cover, so I'm very happy to find a cover prompt for it :)

I'm planning to read Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History by Erik Larson.

The two I am currently between are:

Duma Key
The Only One Left

Depending on whether I want to read fiction or non-fiction, I will read either King Nyx by by Kirsten Bakis or The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War by Erik Larson.

I’m attracted to books that take place by the sea and have about a dozen on my kindle with waves. I’ll choose one when I need a light, fast read

For this prompt, I read:

The Blue Machine: How the Ocean Works by Helen Czerski - 4* - My Review

I will be reading

I'm planning on using A Song to Drown Rivers for this - love this cover and how it incorporates the waves!

Reading .

Naval warfare as the time-displaced Americans and the newly invigorated French fight to capture the rich oilfields of Trinidad centuries ahead of its discovery.

I am not sure mine will make you think of the beach. I read

I am planning to read

Can see a wave or two, but not much sand!

I'm going to read either Distress Signals by Catherine Ryan Howard or The Wedding People by Alison Espach.

I am reading Kate and Clara's curious Cornish craftshop by Ali McNamara.

I read The Wedding People .
Other than a bit of a drag in the middle, this was a fun book.

I really liked both of these books.
The History of Sound
Wild Dark Shore

Do you guys think this book has waves on the cover?

I ended up reading this:

Andrea wrote: "Do you guys think this book has waves on the cover?
"

Unfortunately, due to the black and white it's hard to tell if that's waves or desert sands - the plot description makes me think it's the latter.

Maybe read a bit and see if there are any references to bodies of water, and if so, count it?

If you really want to count it though, you could decide it's either waves or waves of sand. Nothing in the prompt saying it has to be water waves!

(Now wondering if there's any book covers out there with multiple people waving, just to be cheeky about it.)

I read:
Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History by Erik Larson

REJECT: A book where science or technology has gone wrong

Finished: 04/22/2025
Rating: 5 stars

Erik Larson is an outstanding writer of non-fiction, and an impeccable researcher. His books read likes novels. This one was no exception. Highly recommend!

I read Alison Espach

I read River of Salt by Dave Warner for this topic (Read May 6th; 3*)

I read The Missing Half, wavy hair waving through water.

I read Wild Dark Shore. Loved it!

I read Clear by Carys Davies. This book was chosen by my IRL book group. It was a quiet book, but enjoyable.

I read and .

The first was a rather odd novella in three parts. The first was a (fictional) series of essays or musings about climate change and the effect of the current situation on diverse people. The second was set at a time when the disaster had apparently happened and the first part was a taboo book - hard to imagine that it was forceful enough for that. The third projected further into the future again. It was an interesting idea but vaguely unsatisfactory.

There were very good short stories in the second book, but I had my usual problem with short stories of finding them very hard to remember once I'd stopped reading.

I read

I read by Carys Davies. Not only are waves on the cover, but language describing waves and the sea fills the story. Thank you ATY 52 community and challenge as I would not have chosen this book without a prompt of some sort. Another five star rating for me this year.

I read Stranded by Sarah Goodwin

I read Lucy by the Sea