Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Welcome, Team White Car! The theme of this Read-a-Thon is the Game of Life! So let's get into our little car and start playing!



Each group will be asked a series of questions, which you will answer with the books you read. You can answer these questions using the title, cover, or plot of the book.

THE PROMPTS

Childhood
A book with a bright colored cover
A book with a child as a major character
A book whose title includes the letter A, B, and C
A book related to a fairy tale, myth or legend
A book featuring a game or sport
A book by a debut author
A book with a main page genre of Child or Children
A book by an author who was once a child (*wink wink*)

Adolescence
A coming of age book
A romance
A book featuring a group of friends
A book where someone leaves home
A book with scenes in a school or college
A book with a pink cover
A book by an author whose initials are found in HIGH SCHOOL
A book with a rebellion

Adulthood
A book set in a workplace
A book where someone gets married
A book where money is a concern
A book with a house on the cover
A book where a child is born
A book with a green cover
A book by an author who has written 5+ books
A book featuring a dinner party

Middle Age
A book where someone changes jobs
A book that includes family problems
A book featuring a professional (doctor, lawyer, scientist, etc.)
A book where a relationship ends
A book where a character achieves success
A book where a character travels
A book whose title starts with a letter in ADULT
A book with an orange or red cover

Older Age
A book featuring a character over 65 years old
A book where someone deals with a death
A book you have been wanting to read for a long time
A classic
A book with a gray or white cover
The most recent book an author has published
The first book a prolific author (10+ books) had published

*Note: Just because a prompt is under a specific stage of life does not mean the main character needs to be that age. For example, you can choose a book featuring elderly people leading a rebellion, or middle aged people falling in love


The Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Team Leaders: Jillian and Robin P

Andrea
Edie
Elizabeth
Kendra
Caitie

Hi team!

I’ll add the link to the spreadsheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/..., for those who use the app.

I have 4 books in progress that I hope to finish this week.

Welcome, everyone! have a book half done and have made a list of some shorter books I will try to get through. I will have a lot of audiobook hours since I am less than halfway through the 30+ hour The Hallmarked Man.

It turns out I'll be home a lot this week because my husband tested positive for covid this morning and I am waiting to see if I get it, so neither of us are going anywhere for some days! He's not very sick at the moment so we hope that continues.

Robin P wrote: "Welcome, everyone! have a book half done and have made a list of some shorter books I will try to get through. I will have a lot of audiobook hours since I am less than halfway through the 30+ hour..."

That's too bad. I hope you don't get sick, or if you do, I hope you have a very mild bout.

Good Morning Team,
I have a couple books in progress which I entered on the spreadsheet. I have a lot going on this week, but reading is my "chill" place, so I plan to get through 2-3 books and perhaps more.

Robin, I hope that you don't get sick and your husband only has a mild case.

I added three of my books to the spreadsheet. Once I finish them I will have completed the ATY challenge. For once, I'm at a good spot in my books for a read-a-thon. I have around 150 pages in my print books and 5 hours on my audio.

Hi team! Glad to see you all. Finished This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub and put it under character over 65.

I finished A Room Full of Bones and put it under Red/orange cover. I"m not great at spreadsheets and I couldn't figure out how to get the text to wrap on the completed page.

I finished The Children on the Hill. I was also able to get the text to wrap and then added a darker green to the planning and completed tab just so it is easier to scan and see what is completed.

I'll add my pages and hours tomorrow.

I finished Rainy Day Friends and I used it for set in a workplace, but it works for a lot of categories so it could be moved if nesecsary.

Hey yall! Reading will be slower for me until closer to Wednesday as I'm still out of town, but after that I should be able to get a few reads in!

Just finished Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica. Not for me. But at least it was short and fast paced so good for a readathon. Put it under main character leaves home

I finished A World Worth Saving. It is a middle grade/YA group about trans kids (and Jewish mythology) which we are using for an intergenerational book group. I put it under Rebellion, which is a part of what happens in it.

Today was busy, so I didn't get much reading done.

I finished The Lemon Sisters and I used it for the family problems prompt.

I changed What Will People Think? from character who changes jobs to character who finds success since the latter didn't have any matches with the other books on the planning page.

What do you all think of using our first wild card for "A book where a relationship ends". We have no planned books for that prompt and are the closest to completing "middle age".

I'm more of the mindset to use wild cards and focus on filling prompts with books that you want to read than searching for something that fits an open prompt. Plus, we can always move the wild card to somewhere else.

I'm fine with a wild card, though I think the book I am currently reading will fit under that prompt.

Can we wait until the end/last day to use Wild cards? For some of these books, I won't know if it fits the prompt until the end of the book.

We can wait I just like the sense of completing sections. Plus, wild cards are easy to move. It always feels disappointing when a group earns wild cards but doesn’t use them. Especially for someone who doesn’t read a ton of books in a week or books that fit the prompts and that is the main way of helping the group.

Robin, since your book probably fits, it makes sense to wait to use them especially when wild cards there. We have several other prompts with no planned books.

With this Read-a-Thon, there's no restriction like that you have to finish each section before you start another, as we have sometimes had. And of course, there is no ranking. I was very surprised the first time I did a Read-a-thon that there are no awards, and there isn't even a summary of how many books/categories/points all the teams got. I must be a very competitive person! So I'm fine with whatever way we use the Wild Cards. Of course, the prize is getting books read - plus the cheesy "the friends we made along the way"!

I also haven't added all the books I might read this week - just the 2 I'm currently reading and the one I plan to start next. I'd hold off the WC until it's the last prompt to fill a section. Then we can always start on round 2 if we finish something that fits that prompt.

Andrea, I noticed you read What Will People Think?. I just read that too and I was wondering what you thought of it. I found the journal sections much more engaging and interesting than the main storyline.

I finished The Dictionary of Lost Words.

I think that is a good idea to use the wild card for the last spot in a column. If some finishes a book that fits the wild card spot they can either move the wild card over a column or start working on a new column.

Kendra wrote: "Andrea, I noticed you read What Will People Think?. I just read that too and I was wondering what you thought of it. I found the journal sections much more engaging and interesting than the main storyline"

I completely agree with you! I finished this book pretty quickly because I wanted to keep reading to see how the journal entries related to the grandma's story, which I really enjoyed. The MC's storyline was okay. Overall, it was 3.5 stars for me

I just finished Leaving which fit a number of prompts. Since "green cover" had no planned books, I used it there.
My two cents on the using of wildcards, is to wait a bit and see how the grid fills up. If/when we get close to finishing all the prompts, then slot them in the holes and start on another round of books.

I finished The Hallmarked Man, and it does fit under Relationship ends,so I put it there.

I finished The Witch's Heart and put it under myth. It was my final book for the ATY challenge!

I have several hours left of Someone Else's Shoes which I should finish for the read-a-thon. I’ll be starting some new print books but not sure if I will finish any of them this week. I’m not someone who can focus on one book at a time and my other audio book has 32 hours left so I know I won’t finish it.

I finished Our Man in Havana and put it under Game or Sport because it features playing checkers as an important plot point and we only had one other possible book there.

I finished the short Season of the Swamp and put it under character is a professional - he is a lawyer. We didn't have anything for that.

Robin P wrote: "I finished the short Season of the Swamp and put it under character is a professional - he is a lawyer. We didn't have anything for that."

Robin, I didn't see you book on the Middle Age tab, so I added it there and moved your book from the planning to completed tab. I hope this was right.

I also finished Someone Else's Shoes and am getting ready to add it to Adulthood money prompt.

Jillian wrote: "Robin P wrote: "I finished the short Season of the Swamp and put it under character is a professional - he is a lawyer. We didn't have anything for that."

Robin, I didn't see you ..."

That's fine, I forgot to transfer it, thanks!

Finished You Dreamed of Empires and put it under Dinner Party.

What a ride. What did I just read?

Caitie wrote: "Finished You Dreamed of Empires and put it under Dinner Party.

What a ride. What did I just read?"

It was definitely different. I unfortunately listened to it on audio and was so lost. It seems to be one of those books that works better in print.

I read it in print and felt sort of the same. Funnily enough, the one I just read, Season of the Swamp, is kind of similar and also has a Latino viewpoint. I literally picked that one up at the library because it was short!

Caitie wrote: "Finished You Dreamed of Empires and put it under Dinner Party.

What a ride. What did I just read?"

Jillian wrote:"It was definitely different. I unfortunately listened to it on audio and was so lost. It seems to be one of those books that works better in print"

I listened to the first 2 minutes of You Dreamed of Empires on audiobook, when the narrator was reading out the character list. After that, I realized I needed to read the book in print so I could flip back and forth between the story and the list without getting confused. It was a wild trip alright, but I did end up enjoying it!

i listened to the short Artificial Condition. It could work for Character Travels or Changes Jobs. We have multiple options for those so I wondered where to put it.

Robin P wrote: "i listened to the short Artificial Condition. It could work for Character Travels or Changes Jobs. We have multiple options for those so I wondered where to put it."

If you use it for character travels, it will be right next to where I put my listen to that exact same book. Book twins.

I finished Almost Just Friends and used it for characters dealing with a death.

Robin P wrote: "i listened to the short Artificial Condition. It could work for Character Travels or Changes Jobs. We have multiple options for those so I wondered where to put it."

I'm not seeing any books on the planning tab that work for Changing Jobs, so that seems like the better spot since there are still 2 possible books for travels.

Jillian wrote: "Robin P wrote: "i listened to the short Artificial Condition. It could work for Character Travels or Changes Jobs. We have multiple options for those so I wondered where to put it."..."

OK, I'll put changing jobs. Murderbot gets hired by a different group than the previous book. I listened to the whole series a year or two ago, but after I saw the TV show I wanted to do them again They are super short except for the last one.

I finally got my husband to start the Murderbot series after the show came out. I need go back and re-listen to the last two books, Fugitive Telemetry and System Collapse. Too much time had pasted and I was lost listening to System Collapse.

Andrea wrote: "Caitie wrote: "Finished You Dreamed of Empires and put it under Dinner Party.

What a ride. What did I just read?"

Jillian wrote:"It was definitely different. I unfortunately listened to it on aud..."

I started reading the eBook version and got tired of looking up the same characters over and over so I just switched to audio and buckled in, knowing I didn't really know what was going on lol.

Slotted Chimney Pond Tales by Clayton Hall for prompt for author's initials in "high school". Sorry I have not been contributing much. I spent a wonderful day yesterday with a high school friend who came to town. And I am getting ready to move, so I have to sacrifice reading time to sorting through all my stuff... so much stuff.

Hey everyone I'm so sorry this readathon has not gone well for me. I'm not able to head home until Monday as MILs recovery hasn't gone as well as we had hoped. I'll keep logging if I get anything read but unfortunately I haven't had any of the time I thought I would.

Elizabeth wrote: "Hey everyone I'm so sorry this readathon has not gone well for me. I'm not able to head home until Monday as MILs recovery hasn't gone as well as we had hoped. I'll keep logging if I get anything r..."

Please don't worry about it, Elizabeth, life happens! Our team is doing really well and some of us were able to read more than we planned.

Edie wrote: "Slotted Chimney Pond Tales by Clayton Hall for prompt for author's initials in "high school". Sorry I have not been contributing much. I spent a wonderful day yesterday with a high school friend wh..."

Also no need to apologize for having fun in your life! Glad you had a great day.

How is everyone doing? Not many comments today.

I finished The Door-to-Door Bookstore. It works for group of friends, which we don't have yet, but I see there are already multiple options for that. Should I put it there? I'm surprised nobody has a book with scenes in school or college.

I finished two books today: Cascade Failure which I used for the pink cover, and Chosen by a Horse which I used for the white/gray cover.

@ Edie: Glad you got to spend time with a friend. I hope all goes well with your move.

@ Elizabeth: I hope your MIL's recovery improves.

@ Robin: Group of friends sounds good. We are close to filling the prompts that many books fit. We can always start another column.

@ Kendra: sounds good.

I had surgery a few weeks ago and had to run a few errands yesterday that wore me out. I didn't even get online to vote. Fortunately, I was able to lay down and make progress on The Housemaid Is Watching which is a fast read and I should finish it today. Hopefully, I will also finish Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians which is also a short audio book. Not sure if I will be able to finish A Psalm for the Wild-Built so I changed it from In Progress to TBR.