Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Goals 2026

1. Finish ATY Challenge twice:
a. Books less than 50 years old;
b. Classics - books more than 50 years old

2. Participate in reading books for the Never Too Late to Read Classics (NTLTRC) group, many I will use for my ATY Classics

3. Back to the Classics (BTC) reading challenge (monthly)

4. Finish Rejects Challenge + SSS and Awards & Lists

ATY 2026 READING CHALLENGE - FINISHED
1. First Round: Books less than 50 years old
2. Second Round: Classics: Books more than 50 years old
Both rounds happening at the same time.

Round 1: 5/52 Round 2: 6/52

1. A book from a genre that starts with A, T, or Y
1. A book from a genre that starts with A, T, or Y
✅Little Women - Louisa May Alcott (Young adult)

2. A book with a primarily red, green or blue cover
2. A book with a primarily red, green or blue cover

3. A book that fits a prompt suggestion for this year that did not make the list
3. A book that fits a prompt suggestion for this year that did not make the list

4. A book by a new-to-you author
4. A book by a new-to-you author

5. A book you want to read because of something you read in 2025
5. A book you want to read because of something you read in 2025

6. A book related to blood, sweat, or tears
6. A book related to blood, sweat, or tears

7. A book with a character who appears in more than one book
7. A book with a character who appears in more than one book

8. A book set in Africa, Asia, or Australia
8. A book set in Africa, Asia, or Australia

9. A book with a number, ordinal, or iterative numeral in the title
9. A book with a number, ordinal, or iterative numeral in the title

10. An award winning book
10. An award winning book

11. A history or historical fiction book
✅The Last Days of Night - Graham Moore
11. A history or historical fiction book

12. A book with cover text that is NOT black or white
12. A book with cover text that is NOT black or white

13. An author's second/sophomore book
13. An author's second/sophomore book

14. A book related to a painting by Vincent Van Gogh
14. A book related to a painting by Vincent Van Gogh

15. A book you've wanted to read for a long time
✅Black Coffee - Charles Osborne, adapter; Agatha Christie, Matthew Prichard
15. A book you've wanted to read for a long time
✅Under the Net - Iris Murdoch

16. A book featuring a character with a similar occupation to one of the Clue/Cluedo characters
16. A book featuring a character with a similar occupation to one of the Clue/Cluedo characters

17. A book set in the wellness or beauty industries
17. A book set in the wellness or beauty industries

18. A book with a location in the title
18. A book with a location in the title

19. A book related to yesterday
19. A book related to yesterday

20. A book related to today
20. A book related to today

21. A book related to tomorrow
21. A book related to tomorrow

22. A book by a Korean or Korean-diaspora author
22. A book by a Korean or Korean-diaspora author

23. A book with a road trip or long journey
23. A book with a road trip or long journey
✅As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning - Laurie Lee (1969) (walked across Spain in the 1930s)

24. A book that is either frothy or gothy
24. A book that is either frothy or gothy

25. A book from the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list
25. A book from the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list

26. A book with a Z in the title and/or author name
26. A book with a Z in the title and/or author name

27. A nonfiction book
✅Once Upon a Tome: The Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller - Oliver Darkshire
27. A nonfiction book

28. A book related to a resistance, rebellion, or revolution
28. A book related to a resistance, rebellion, or revolution

29. A vacation book
29. A vacation book

30. The most recently published book by an author and a book from that same author's backlist: Frontlist Book
30. The most recently published book by an author and a book from that same author's backlist: Frontlist Book

31. The most recently published book by an author and a book from that same author's backlist: Backlist Book
31. The most recently published book by an author and a book from that same author's backlist: Backlist Book

32. A novella of 100-250 pages
32. A novella of 100-250 pages

33. A book with an Indigenous character or author
33. A book with an Indigenous character or author

34. A book with a window on the cover
✅A Quiet Life - Ethan Joella

34. A book with a window on the cover
✅The Warden - Anthony Trollope


35. A book where all or part of the action takes place in a library, a museum, a school, or another public building
35. A book where all or part of the action takes place in a library, a museum, a school, or another public building

36. A book with a primary character who is a woman over 40
36. A book with a primary character who is a woman over 40

37. A book that includes a science topic
✅The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times - Jane Goodall
37. A book that includes a science topic

38. A book that's part of a series
38. A book that's part of a series

39. A book connected in some way to the "Queen of Crime", Agatha Christie
39. A book connected in some way to the "Queen of Crime", Agatha Christie

40. A book that has a punctuation mark in the title
40. A book that has a punctuation mark in the title

41. A mystery or true crime book
41. A mystery or true crime book

42. A book set in an isolated location
✅42. A book set in an isolated location
The Prairie - James Fenimore Cooper (1827)

43. A book involving survival
43. A book involving survival

44. A book with a symbol of death on the cover
44. A book with a symbol of death on the cover
✅The Pale Horse - Agatha Christie (1961)


45. A book connected to "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen
45. A book connected to "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen

46. A book that is not a novel
46. A book that is not a novel

47. A book with "this", "that", "these", or "those" in the title
47. A book with "this", "that", "these", or "those" in the title

48. A book with something edible in the title
48. A book with something edible in the title

49. A second book for your favorite prompt
49. A second book for your favorite prompt

50. A book with a bird on its cover
50. A book with a bird on its cover

51. A book published in 2026
51. A book published in 2026

52. A book related to the name of one of Santa's reindeer
52. A book related to the name of one of Santa's reindeer

Listopias and Threads About the Prompt
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Suggestions that didn't make it in
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Other Challenges
Reading the World:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
**Africa, Asia, Antarctica, Europe, Middle East - Message 11
**North America, South America, Oceania - Message 12

Travel America Challenge - Message 10
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Science, Social Issues, and Sense of Place Challenge - Post 43
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Awards and Lists Challenge - Post 4
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

ATY 2026 READING CHALLENGE - Planning
Prompts 1-13

1. A book from a genre that starts with A, T, or Y
Thrillers - The Last Mrs. Parrish; With a Vengeance
Art - Loving Frank; The Flamethrowers; The Tiffany Girls; How to Be Both; The Underpainter; Klee Wyck

2. A book with a primarily red, green or blue cover



3. A book that fits a prompt suggestion for this year that did not make the list
A book tagged by Goodreads users as Literary Fiction (Poll 9)
For Round 1 -North Woods; The Names; The Story She Left Behind; The Comforters; Martyr!

A book you would consider a classic (Poll 1)
For Round 2 - The Doctor's Wife; The Human Comedy; Between the Acts; Under the Net; Belinda; The Siege of Krishnapur; The Moonflower Vine

4. A book by a new-to-you author
The Artist - Lucy Steeds
Brick Lane - Monica Ali
Still Alice - Lisa Genova
Jamilia - Chingiz Aitmatov
Katherine - Anya Seton
Living - Henry Green

5. A book you want to read because of something you read in 2025 - Circle of Friends (Maeve Binchy); The Secret of Chimneys (Agatha Christie); Jeeves and the Tie That Binds (P.G. Wodehouse); Hideaway in Iceland (second in series);The Librarian Always Rings Twice (series); The Killing Time (series); Blandings Castle (series)

6. A book related to blood, sweat, or tears
Tears - Wuthering Heights; Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed; American Dirt
Blood - Carmilla

7. A book with a character who appears in more than one book - The Secret Adversary (Tommy & Tuppence); The Other Bennet Sister (Mary Bennet); The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch; The Pale Horse (Ariadne Oliver)

8. A book set in Africa, Asia, or Australia
Africa - Afterlives; Who Is Maud Dixon?; Arrow of God; Cry, the Beloved Country

Asia - The World We Found; The Siege of Krishnapur; The Honjin Murders

Australia - The Mother-in-Law; Voss; Murder on a Midsummer Night

9. A book with a number, ordinal, or iterative numeral in the title - The Forty Rules of Love; Five Little Pigs; 4:50 from Paddington; The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August

10. An award winning book - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (Pulitzer); Offshore (Booker); A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian (Saga); The Blue Bird: a Fairy Play in Six Acts (Nobel); Jenny (Nobel)

11. A history or historical fiction book
The Blue; Alias Grace; Lorna Doone; The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary; The King's General

12. A book with cover text that is NOT black or white


13. An author's second/sophomore book
Little Men - Louisa May Alcott
The Hard Blue Sky - Shirley Ann Grau
The Days of Abandonment - Elena Ferrante
Good Dirt - Charmaine Wilkerson

ATY 2026 READING CHALLENGE - Planning
Prompts 14-26

14. A book related to a painting by Vincent Van Gogh - The Painted Kiss; The Singing Trees; The Yellow House: Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Nine Turbulent Weeks in Arles; Thunderclap: A Memoir of Art and Life and Sudden Death; Dear Theo

15. A book you've wanted to read for a long time - The Book of Longings; The Inheritance of Loss; The Magician's Nephew; Under the Net; The Land of Spices

16. A book featuring a character with a similar occupation to one of the Clue/Cluedo characters - The Vicar of Wakefield; A Few Green Leaves (clergyman); All Quiet on the Western Front; War and Peace; In the Bleak Midwinter (Rev. Clare Ferguson #1); A Morbid Taste for Bones (Brother Cadfael #1); Trust (businessman)

17. A book set in the wellness or beauty industries Beautyland; The Mistress of Spices; The Dressmakers of London; The Sewing Machine; Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times; The Dressmaker; Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself

18. A book with a location in the title - Barchester Towers; Framley Parsonage; The Charterhouse of Parma; The Siege of Krishnapur; North From Rome; A Bookshop In Algiers; The Bermondsey Bookshop; Death on the Nile

19. A book related to yesterday
The World of Yesterday; The Road to Yesterday; Barchester Towers; Cry, the Beloved Country; The Spectacular; The Land in Winter; Austen at Sea

20. A book related to today - Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket: Stories; Gourmet Today: More than 1,000 Recipes for the Contemporary Kitchen; Martyr!;
Outline; A Villa in Sicily: Figs and a Cadaver; The Jane Austen Dating Agency; Living; A Hero of Our Time

21. A book related to tomorrow - Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow; So Long, See You Tomorrow; If Tomorrow Never Comes; Mort; The Jane Austen Project; From the Earth to the Moon; A Romance of Two Worlds

22. A book by a Korean or Korean-diaspora author - East Goes West: The Making of an Oriental Yankee; XOXO; My Brilliant Life; Miracle Creek; Happiness Falls; The Impossible Girl

23. A book with a road trip or long journey - She's Up to No Good; American Dirt; Endling; Great Circle; A Time of Gifts; Floreana: A Woman's Pilgrimage to the Galapagos; Rambles Beyond Railways; Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands

24. A book that is either frothy or gothy
Gothy - The Familiars; Bellefleur; The House on Biscayne Bay; Carmilla; Be Buried in the Rain; East Lynne; The Phantom of the Opera
Frothy - Circle of Friends; Scent of a Garden; How to Walk Away; Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit; Coronation Summer: A Novel; The Northern Lights Lodge

25. A book from the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list - Alias Grace; The Flamethrowers; Cat’s Eye; The Last Chronicle of Barset; The Glimpses of the Moon; The Return of the Native; Between the Acts; Our Mutual Friend; The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

26. A book with a Z in the title and/or author name
Dream Count - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Offshore - Penelope Fitzgerald
The Frozen River - Ariel Lawhon
The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen
Trust - Hernan Diaz
The Honjin Murders - Seishi Yokomizo
Nana - Émile Zola

ATY 2026 Reading Challenge - Planning
Prompts 27-39

27. A nonfiction book - Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection; Jane Austen's Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector's Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend Notes to John; Village in a Valley; Klee Wyck; Thunderclap: A Memoir of Art and Life and Sudden Death; The Upstairs Delicatessen: On Eating, Reading, Reading About Eating, and Eating While Reading

28. A book related to a resistance, rebellion, or revolution (Fall Read-a-thon) - - Martyr!; The Power; The Midwife's Revolt; The Siege of Krishnapur; Letter from the Birmingham Jail; Doctor Zhivago; Homage to Catalonia

29. A vacation book - The Road to Tender Hearts (road trip); The Road to Tender HeartsIsola (beaches, coasts, islands); There Are Rivers in the Sky (rivers and lakes); Death on the Nile; Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands

30. The most recently published book by an author and a book from that same author's backlist: Frontlist Book -
Wild Dark Shore - Charlotte McConaghy (2025)
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny - Kiran Desai (2025)
The Finishing School- Muriel Spark (2004)
Helen - Maria Edgeworth (1834)
Sleeping Murder - Agatha Christie (1976)
A Few Green Leaves - Barbara Pym (1980)

31. The most recently published book by an author and a book from that same author's backlist: Backlist Book
Once There Were Wolves - Charlotte McConaghy (2021)
The Inheritance of Loss- Kiran Desai (2005)
The Comforters - Muriel Spark (1957)
Belinda - Maria Edgeworth (1801)
The Secret of Chimneys - Agatha Christie (1925)
The Sweet Dove Died - Barbara Pym (1979)

32. A novella of 100-250 pages - Offshore; Elena Knows; The End of the Affair; The Devil's Pool; The Yellow Sofa; Automatic Noodle

33. A book with an Indigenous character or author - The Bingo Palace; The Berry Pickers; Five Little Indians; I Heard the Owl Call My Name; Monkey Beach; Mapping the Interior; Dance Hall of the Dead; Ceremony

34. A book with a window on the cover
✅A Quiet Life - Ethan Joella


35. A book where all or part of the action takes place in a library, a museum, a school, or another public building - The Idiot; The Sisters of Book Row; Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library; The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes; Lucky Jim; Pale Fire

36. A book with a primary character who is a woman over 40 - The Killing Time; The Postscript Murders; Unless; Pavilion of Women; Parker Pyne Investigates; The Odd Women

37. A book that includes a science topic - Greenwood; The Last Days of Night; Every Note Played; Remarkable Creatures; Cat's Cradle; From the Earth to the Moon

38. A book that's part of a series - The Killing Time; The Postscript Murders; The Magician’s Nephew (Chronicles of Narnia #1 (chronological order); Nemesis (Miss Marple); August Folly (Barsetshire #4); Blandings Castle (Blandings #3); Postmortem
(Kay Scarpetta #1)

39. A book connected in some way to the "Queen of Crime", Agatha Christie - Black Coffee; With a Vengeance; Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library; Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks; A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie; And Then There Were None; The Mystery of the Blue Train; The Great Railway Bazaar; Double Sin and Other Stories

ATY 2026 Reading Challenge - Planning
Prompts 40-52

40. A book that has a punctuation mark in the title; Martyr!; Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection;The Jackal's Mistress; Don't Let Him In; Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking; Miss Morgan's Book Brigade; Don't Open Your Eyes; Lady Chatterley's Lover; Cry, the Beloved Country; The A.B.C. Murders (Hercule Poirot #13)

41. A mystery or true crime book - The Dead Secret; North From Rome; Crook o' Lune; Checkmate to Murder (Robert MacDonald #25); The Tiger in the Smoke; A Man Lay Dead; Tokyo Express; The Honjin Murders; Auntie Poldi and the Vineyards of Etna (Tante Poldi #2); A Morbid Taste for Bones (Brother Cadfael #1); The Last Lie Told (Finley O’Sullivan #1)

42. A book set in an isolated location - To the Lighthouse; Letters from My Windmill; The Prairie; A Cold Day for Murder (Kate Shugak #1); Monkey Beach; The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding

43. A book involving survival - The Eye in the Door(Regeneration #2) (WWI); The Danger Tree (Levant Trilogy #1) (WWII); Endling (Ukraine - Russia War); Celia Garth (American Revolution); Doctor Zhivago (Russian Revolution); When Rain Clouds Gather; Lost in the Barrens

44. A book with a symbol of death on the cover -


45. A book connected to "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen - Don't Open Your Eyes;
Keeper of Enchanted Rooms (Whimbrel House #1) (fantasy); South of the Buttonwood Tree
(fantasy); The Devil's Pool; Scaramouche; Carry On, Jeeves; A Pair of Blue Eyes; The Wind Off The Small Isles

46. A book that is not a novel - The Mutual Admiration Society: How Dorothy L. Sayers and her Oxford Circle Remade the World for Women; The Frozen Thames; Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith; Wessex Tales; Dorothy Parker Stories; The Tuesday Club Murders; Bitterroot: A Salish Memoir of Transracial Adoption

47. A book with "this", "that", "these", or "those" in the title - 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World; This Must Be the Place; These Toxic Things; Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them; Nature's Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard; Tea: The Drink that Changed the World; These Tangled Vines; These Names Make Clues; That Quail, Robert

48. A book with something edible in the title - Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe; Five Quarters of the Orange; Black Cake; Eight Hundred Grapes; Mint Julep Murder; Giant's Bread; Miss Plum and Miss Penny; Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon

49. A second book for your favorite prompt
4. A book by a new-to-you author
Martyr! - Kaveh Akbar
Daughter of the Hills: A Woman's Part in the Coal Miners' Struggle - Myra Page
American Dirt - Jeanine Cummins
There Are Rivers in the Sky - Elif Shafak
The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary - Sarah Ogilvie
Thunderclap: A Memoir of Art and Life and Sudden Death - Laura Cumming
The Siege of Krishnapur - J.G. Farrell
Canticle - Janet Rich Edwards
An Aura of Mystery (Ellie McEwan #1) - Joy Ellis
Go, Went, Gone - Jenny Erpenbeck
25. A book from the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list (Poll 6) -
The Glimpses of the Moon; The End of the Affair; The Last Chronicle of Barset; Cry, the Beloved Country; The Return of the Native; A Hero of Our Time; Our Mutual Friend
39. A book connected in some way to the “Queen of Crime”, Agatha Christie (Poll 9) - Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks

50. A book with a bird on its cover



51. A book published in 2026 - The Sisters of Book Row; My Husband's Wife; A Box Full of Darkness; The Killing Time (Ali Dawson #2); The Storm;
Whistler; The Harvey Girl; Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel; How England Began: From Roman Britain to the Anglo-Saxons; Summer of Freedom: How 1945 Changed the World

52. A book related to the name of one of Santa's reindeer - Lightning in a Mason Jar (Blitzen); Dance Hall of the Dead (Leaphorn & Chee #2)(Dancer); Summer Lightning (Blandings Castle #4) (Blitzen); To the Lighthouse (Rudolph); The Fox (Vixen)
Cupid
The South; If Tomorrow Never Comes; Loving Frank; The Blue Sapphire; Belinda; Lorna Doone; The End of the Affair; North From Rome; Wuthering Heights; Katherine; The Black Moth

Rejects Challenge

The World: People and Places

1. A book related to psychology, mental health or neuroscience (Poll 10) - Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed; The Vegetarian; Sorrow and Bliss; Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times; Still Alice; The Book of Form and Emptiness; Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep

2. A book about a woman crossing borders, boundaries, or barriers (Poll 17) - Circling the Sun (Beryl Markham); Katherine; The Makioka Sisters; Remarkable Creatures (Mary Anning); Libertie; Women Talking; The Night Journal

3. A book with a musician character or author (Poll 8) - High Fidelity; This is Your Brain on Music; Chronicles, Volume One; The Book of Longings; Light from Uncommon Stars; Briefly, A Delicious Life; Love Is Blind; The Instrumentalist

4. A book about obsession or desire (Poll 5) - Big Swiss; The Days of Abandonment; With a Vengeance; The Last Mrs. Parrish

5. A book written in or set in the 1700s (Poll 12) -Common Sense, The Rights of Man and Other Essential Writings; The Blue(Genevieve Planche #1); The Fugitive Colours(Genevieve Planche #2); The Versailles Formula (Genevieve Planche #3); The Midwife's Revolt; Celia Garth; The Traitor's Wife; Robinson Crusoe; Pamela; The Vicar of Wakefield; The Nun; The Expedition of Humphry Clinker

6. A book with a desert setting (Poll 2) and A book set in a desert environment (Poll 9) - Hot Season (4 women, water rights, Arizona); Wind, Sand and Stars; Dance Hall of the Dead (Leaphorn and Chee #2); Where the Desert Meets the Sea; The Sandcastle Girls (Armenian Genocide); Dreamers of the Day (formation of Middle east 1921)

7. A book about nature, climate, or the environment (Poll 17)
Also 6. A book about wildlife or nature conservation (Poll 9) in Science, Social Issues and Sense of Place Challenge
That Quail, Robert; Lost in the Barrens; Wild Dark Shore; The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times; H is for Hawk; Greenwood; Swamp Angel; Little Alleluias: Collected Poetry and Prose; The Island of Missing Trees; North Woods

8. A book that relates to a river (Poll 12) - The Secret River; The Frozen River; What the River Knows (Secrets of the Nile #1);Encounters with the Archdruid; There Are Rivers in the Sky

9. A book that takes place in a country/place along the path of totality for the 2026 solar eclipse: Spain, Portugal, Greenland, Iceland, the Arctic, and the Atlantic Ocean (Poll 14 & 17)
Iceland
The Tricking of Freya: A Novel; Hideaway in Iceland (Icelandic Romance series #2); The Northern Lights Lodge (Romantic Escapes #4)
Spain
Homage to Catalonia; The Shadow of the Wind; The Fountains of Silence
Portugal
The Crime of Father Amaro; The Yellow Sofa
Greenland
An African in Greenland

Extra Rejects related to science, social issues and sense of place
9a. A book related to medical science or health, or a medical memoir (Polls 8 and 11) - Heart: A History; Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection; Good Energy: The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health

9b. A fiction or non-fiction book that could be considered a microhistory (Poll 10) - Wanderlust: A History of Walking; Tea: The Drink that Changed the World; Heart: A History; Red: A Natural History of the Redhead; Alias Grace; The Last Days of Night;The Moor's Account

9c. A book set in a country bordering the Indian Ocean (Poll 7)
India - The World We Found; The Inheritance of Loss; Brotherless Night;
Midnight's Children; Mother Mary Comes to Me

9d. A book with a “green” topic or character (Poll 2) - The Island of Missing Trees; The Hard Blue Sky; Jane's Country Year; The Keeper of The Bees; The Forgotten Botanist: Sara Plummer Lemmon's Life of Science and Art; Floreana: A Woman's Pilgrimage to the Galapagos; Greenwood

9e. A book nominated for an award that values peace, cultural understanding, and related social issues (Poll 6) - also in Books and Awards Challenge - use same book
There Are Rivers in the Sky- Elif Shafak (Orwell)
Dream Count - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Orwell)
The Colony - Audrey Magee (Orwell)
The Hours - Michael Cunningham (Pen/Faulkner)
Intimacies - Katie Kitamura (Pen/Faulkner)
The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen (Pen/Faulkner)
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration - Isabel Wilkerson (Anisfield-Wolf Book Award)
Cloud Cuckoo Land - Anthony Doerr (Dayton Literary Peace Prize)
The Light Pirate - Lily Brooks-Dalton (Dayton Literary Peace Prize)
Go, Went, Gone- Jenny Erpenbeck (Dayton Literary Peace Prize)

Science, Social Issues, and Sense of Place Challenge - Post 43
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Rejects Challenge

Genres and Awards

10. A book about books (Poll 14) - The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes; The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym; A Bookshop In Algiers; Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books;Death of a Penniless Poet; Lost Books and Old Bones (Scottish Bookshop Mystery #3); The Book of Form and EmptinessAn Accidental Bookseller: A Personal Memoir of Foyles; Christmas at the Little Paris Hotel

11. A science fiction or fantasy book published after 2020 (Poll 17) - Automatic Noodle; What We Can Know; Audition for the Fox; The Bewitching; The Names; The Light Pirate;
Project Hail Mary

12. A modern retelling of an old story, myth, or fairytale (Poll 5)
https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/2...
The Other Bennet Sister - Janice Hadlow (Pride and Prejudice)
The Bear and the Nightingale - Katherine Arden (elements of Russian folklore)
Impulse and Initiative- Abigail Reynolds (Pride and Prejudice)
Emma: A Modern RetellingE - Alexander McCall Smith (Emma by Jane Austen)
Unequal Affections: A Pride and Prejudice Retelling - Lara S. Ormiston
Jane Steele- Lyndsay Faye (gothic retelling of Jane Eyre)
Mary Reilly - Valerie Martin (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)
The Winters - Lisa Gabriele (inspired by Rebecca)
Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys (Jane Eyre)
The Hours - Michael Cunningham (Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf)
The Spring Girls - Anna Todd (Little Women)
Upon a Starlit Tide - Kell Woods (elements of Little Mermaid and Cinderella)
The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch - Melinda Taub (Pride and Prejudice)

13. A book from the NPR “Books We Love” lists (Poll 14)
Kantika - Elizabeth Graver (2023)
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries - Heather Fawcett (2023)
North Woods - Daniel Mason (2023)
Brotherless Night - V.V. Ganeshananthan (2023)
This House Is Haunted- John Boyne (2013)
The Husbands - Holly Gramazio (2024)
Still Life with Remorse - Maira Kalman (graphic novel memoir) (2024)
Cloistered: My Years as a Nun - Catherine Coldstream (memoir) (2024)
Table for Two - Amor Towles (2024)
Adrift on a Painted Sea - Tim Bird, paintings by Sue Bird (art graphic novel) (2024)
There Are Rivers in the Sky - Elif Shafak (2024)

14. A book posted in one of the ATY Best Book of the Month threads in 2025 or 2026 (Poll 15 and 17) - Great Circle; Martyr!; Still Alice; Miss Morgan's Book Brigade; The Frozen River; The Tenant of Wildfell Hall; Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed; The Moor's Account; The Jackal's Mistress; The Elements; The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore

15. A book on one of Obama’s reading lists (Poll 12)
The God of the Woods; Martyr!; Poverty, by America; The Vaster Wilds; Cloud Cuckoo Land; American Spy; One Hundred Years of Solitude; Gilead

16. A book nominated for an award that values peace, cultural understanding, and related social issues (Poll 6) - also in Science, Social Issues and Sense of Place Challenge, use same book
There Are Rivers in the Sky - Elif Shafak (Orwell)
Dream Count - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Orwell)
The Colony - Audrey Magee (Orwell)
The Hours - Michael Cunningham (Pen/Faulkner)
Intimacies - Katie Kitamura (Pen/Faulkner)
The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen (Pen/Faulkner)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Michael Chabon
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration - Isabel Wilkerson (Anisfield-Wolf Book Award)
Cloud Cuckoo Land - Anthony Doerr (Dayton Literary Peace Prize)
The Light Pirate - Lily Brooks-Dalton (Dayton Literary Peace Prize)
Go, Went, Gone - Jenny Erpenbeck (Dayton Literary Peace Prize)
I Have Some Questions for You - Rebecca Makkai (Aspen Words Literary Prize)

17. A book shortlisted for a Dublin Literary Award (Poll 8) - North Woods; Cloud Cuckoo Land; Apeirogon; The Spinning Heart; Brooklyn; Arthur & George; The Master; Family Matters; Any Human Heart; The Corrections; The Hours; Alias Grace; A Fine Balance; Away
https://dublinliteraryaward.ie/the-li...

18. A book that won an international literary award (Poll 15)
Goodreads Choice Awards
The Help - Kathryn Stockett (Fiction 2009)
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking - Susan Cain (Nonfic. 2012)
Truly Madly Guilty - Liane Moriarity (Fiction 2016)
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin (Fiction 2022)
The Women - Kristen Hannah (Historical Fiction 2024)
The God of the Woods - Liz Moore (Mystery & Thriller 2024)

Women’s Prize for Fiction
The Tiger's Wife - Tea Obrecht (2011)
How to be Both - Ali Smith (2015)
The Power - Naomi Alderman (2017)
Piranesi - Susanna Clarke (2021)
The Book of Form and Emptiness - Ruth Ozeki (2022)
Brotherless Night- V.V. Ganeshananthan (2024)

Nobel Prize for Literature
The Vegetarian - Han Kang

Aspen Words Literary Prize
The Beekeeper of Aleppo - Christy Lefteri (2020)
The Night Watchman - Louise Erdrich (2021)
Enter Ghost - Isabella Hammad (2024)

Warwick Prize for Women in Translation
The Years - Annie Ernaux (2019)
Kairos - Jenny Erpenbeck (2024)

19. A book that could earn you a Goodreads bookmark (Poll 13)

Extra Rejects related to awards and book lists
19a. A book that was nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award in any year (Poll 13)
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness - Jonathan Haidt (Winner, Nonfiction, 2024)
The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore - Evan Friss (Winner, History & Biography, 2024)
Women in the Valley of the Kings: The Untold Story of Women Egyptologists in the Gilded Age - Kathleen Sheppard (Nominee, History & Biography, 2024)
Poverty, by America - Matthew Desmond (Winner, Nonfiction, 2023)
The Tiger's Wife - Tea Obrecht (Nominee, Fiction, 2011)
Carrie Soto Is Back - Taylor Jenkins Reid (Winner, Historical Fiction, 2022)

19b. A book listed in any “Best Books” list of 2024 or 2025
New York Times 100 Notable Books 2024
All Fours; Good Material; Martyr!; The God of the Woods; Modern Poetry: Poems;
Be Ready When the Luck Happens; The Bluestockings: A History of the First Women's Movement
Barnes & Nobles Best Books of the Year 2025
Mona's Eyes; Guilty by Definition; Katabasis;History Matters

19c. A book that has been longlisted for the Tournament of Books
✅What We Can Know - Ian McEwan (2026)
Playground - Richard Powers
Beautyland - Marie-Helene Bertino
Snow Road Station - Elizabeth Hay
Search - Michelle Huneven
The Tsar of Love and Techno - Anthony Marra
Brooklyn - Colm Toibin
The Accidental - Ali Smith
The Husbands - Holly Gramazio
The Other Black Girl - Zakiya Dalila Harris
The Tiger's Wife - Tea Obrecht

19d. A book from a widely recognized list of your choice
Full List of Booker Prize Winners, shortlisted and longlisted authors and their books
Flesh - David Szalay (Winner, 2025)
The Land in Winter - Andrew Miller (Shortlist 2025)
Great Circle - Maggie Shipstead (Shortlist 2021)
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World - Elif Shafak (Shortlist 2019)
The Mars Room - Rachel Kushner (Shortlist 2018)
The Moor's Account- Laila Lalami (Longlist 2015)
The Children's Book - A.S. Byatt (Shortlist 2009)
NPR Books We Love
The Women - Kristin Hannah (2024)
Anita de Monte Laughs Last - Xochitl Gonzalez (2024)
The Bog Wife - Kay Chronister (2024)
The Power - Naomi Alderman (2017)

Awards and Lists Challenge - Post 4
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Rejects Challenge

Fun, Odd, or Oddly Fun

20. A book title that includes a piece of clothing (Poll 1) -
The Dressmaker; The Dressmakers of London; The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle; The Dutch Shoe Mystery: An Ellery Queen Mystery; The Tale of Hill Top Farm (Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter #1) (top); Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking (tee, hat); Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (top)

21. A book where one of the characters is a ghost, a spirit, an angel, or an imaginary being (Poll 6) - The Echoes; Death Overdue; The Gate of Angels; The Shining; The Dead Romantics; The Ghost Bride; The Hotel Nantucket; Her Fearful Symmetry; Hotel World; Ghost Fish; Inheritance (Lost Bride Trilogy #1)

22. A hot book (Poll 8)
From: Ultimate Summer 2025 Reading List - LitHub
Atmosphere; Flashlight; With a Vengeance; The Woman in Suite 11; A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping
Goodreads Staffers Share Their Summer Reading Plans
Great Circle; Wild Dark Shore; The Rings of Saturn; Homeseeking; Dream Count; The Hotel Nantucket;Martyr!

23. A book written in the present tense (Poll 7) -The Hours; The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor; Fresh Water for Flowers; Three Junes; The Warden; Story of My Life; Why Did I Ever; Luster

24. A book related to baking (Poll 11) - The City Baker's Guide to Country Living; How to Bake a Perfect Life; How to Eat a Cupcake; Bread Alone; Sprinkle with Murder (Cupcake Bakery Mystery #1) ; The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris; A Bakery in Paris; Bliss (The Bliss Bakery #1) (middle grade); The Union Street Bakery

25. A book that has been made into a movie (Poll 12) - Doctor Zhivago; The Shining; Where the Heart Is; Water for Elephants; Carmilla; Black Cake; Practical Magic; Revolutionary Road; My Life in France; Birdsong; Brooklyn

26. A book with antonyms in the title (Poll 16) - Lost and Found Sisters (Wildstone #1); My Husband's Wife; More or Less Maddy; The Zig Zag Girl (The Brighton Mysteries #1); Theory & Practice; The Battle Lost and Won (Levant Trilogy #2); Sorrow and Bliss; The Last Days of Night; Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage; The Library of Lost and Found; Good Girl, Bad Girl (Cyrus Haven #1); East Goes West; War and Peace; Night and Day

Tournament of Books Longlist and Shortlist to Read 2026
3/11

SL 1. The Burning Heart of the World - Nancy Kricorian
✅2. The Correspondent - Virginia Evans (read in 2025
✅3. Tilt - Emma Pattee (read in 2025)
SL 4. Flesh - David Szalay (Booker Prize Winner)
5. Good Dirt- Charmaine Wilkerson
6. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny - Kiran Desai
7. Wild Dark Shore - Charlotte McConaghy
SL 8. The Wilderness - Angela Flournoy
✅SL 9. What We Can Know - Ian McEwan 1/11/26
SL 10. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter - Stephen Graham Jones
SL 11. Endling - Maria Reva

I'm doing this challenge because it looks fun. I don't have a bingo card to display, but I've arranged by Columns B, I, N, G, O.

Book Girls Bingo Challenge
3/25

Column B
1. January Surprise Prompt - Page-to-Screen: Movie or TV (same as my Rejects #25)
The Secret of Chimneys - Agatha Christie

2. A “Read-Alike” (similar to another book or TV show you enjoyed)
Dear Theo - Vincent van Gogh, Irving Stone, ed, Jean Stone, ed. (like: The Secret Life of Sunflowers - Marta Molnar) (ATY 14 also)

3. June Surprise Prompt

4. Set in the travel destination at the top of your bucket list
Buckeye - Patrick Ryan (more family research) (see ATY)

5. October Surprise Prompt

Column I
6. An epistolary novel
Heartwood - Amity Gage (See ATY 41)

7. April Surprise Prompt

8. A main character from a different generation
Martyr! - Kaveh Akbar book

9. August Surprise Prompt

10. A book from our Book Club category
✅A Quiet Life - Ethan Joella

Column N
11. February Surprise Prompt: Books About Matchmakers
The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern - Linda Cohen Loigman

12. A book that explores the senses
All the Colors of the Dark - Chris Whitaker (sight)

13. Free space (The Book Girls’ Guide logo)

14. A classic or a retelling of a classic
✅Little Women - Louisa May Alcott

15. November Surprise Prompt

Column G
16. Set in the decade you were born
The Story She Left Behind - Patti Callahan Henry
The Fountains of Silence - Ruta Sepetys (Rejects #9)

17. May Surprise Prompt

18. A book from our Animal Lovers list
The Road to Tender Hearts - Annie Hartnett (see ATY challenge)

19. September Surprise Prompt

20. A backlist title from one of your favorite authors
(also ATY #31, Book 2)
Husbands & Lovers - Beatriz Williams (2024)
The Comforters - Muriel Spark (1957) (NTLTRC)
The Spectacular - Fiona Davis (2023)
Undue Influence - Anita Brookner (1999)
A Private View - Anita Brookner (1995)

Column O
21. March Surprise Prompt

22. About a woman in STEM
✅The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times - Jane Goodall
Women in the Valley of the Kings: The Untold Story of Women Egyptologists in the Gilded Age - Kathleen Sheppard (ATY #1, Rejects #19A)
The Naturalist's Daughter - Tea Cooper
The Fair Botanists - Sara Sheridan
The Women - Kristin Hannah book
The Girl in His Shadow - Audrey Blake

23. July Surprise Prompt

24. A book about books (also Rejects #10)
The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes - Chanel Cleeton
The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym - Paula Byrne
A Bookshop In Algiers - Kaouther Adimi
An Accidental Bookseller: A Personal Memoir of Foyles - Bill Samuel

25. December Surprise Prompt

Book Girls Book Lover’s Reading Challenge

1. Characters connecting through books
How to Read a Book - Monica Wood

2. Books about bookstores
✅Once Upon a Tome: The Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller - Oliver Darkshire
The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore - Evan Friss
A Bookshop In Algiers - Kaouther Adimi (Read the World)

3. Modern retellings (see Bingo #14, Rejects #12)
The Other Bennet Sister - Janice Hadlow

4. Characters becoming part of the story
The Ten Thousand Doors of January - Alix E. Harrow
No Two Persons - Erica Bauermeister
Marble Hall Murders (Susan Ryeland #3) - Anthony Horowitz

5. Books about writers & editors
Jane Austen's Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector's Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend - Rebecca Romney
Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks - John Curran

6. Favorite audiobook narrators
The Midwife's Revolt - Jodi Daynard; narrated by Julia Whelan
The Story She Left Behind - Patti Callahan Henry; narrated by Julia Whelan
Miss Morgan's Book Brigade - Janet Skeslien Charles; narrated by Marin Ireland

7. Books about book clubs
The Secret Book Society - Madeline Martin
The Radcliffe Ladies’ Reading Club - Julia Bryan Thomas

8. Books written under pen names

9. Books about libraries or librarians

10. Characters interacting with real authors

11. Re-read a favorite

12. Holiday novels for book lovers

Book Girls Decades Challenge

3/11

1880s-1890s
✅The Last Days of Night - Graham Moore

1900s-1910s

1920s

1930s
✅As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning - Laurie Lee (walked across Spain)

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s
The God of the Woods - Liz Moore

1980s

1990s

2000s-2010s
✅What We Can Know - Ian McEwan

Spanning Decades
The Underpainter - Jane Urquhart

Books #1 and #2

ATY #34: A book with a window on the cover
A Quiet Life - Ethan Joella

ATY #44A: A book with a symbol of death on the cover
NTLTRC: A Year With Agatha Christie
The Pale Horse - Agatha Christie



Round 1, published 1977 and later: 1
Round 2, published 50 or more years ago: 1

Book #3

42A: A book set in an isolated location
NTLTRC: Frontier and Western Classics
The Prairie - James Fenimore Cooper


Round 1, published 1977 and later: 1
Round 2, published 50 or more years ago: 2

Books #4 - #6

Rejects: A book that has been longlisted for the Tournament of Books in any year (Poll 16)
What We Can Know - Ian McEwan

ATY 23A: A book with a road trip or long journey (Pre-poll)
As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning - Laurie Lee (Lee walked across Spain in the 1930s)

ATY 15: A book you’ve wanted to read for a long time (Poll 13)
Black Coffee - Charles Osborne (adapted from a play by Agatha Christie)



Round 1, published 1977 and later: 2
Round 2, published 50 or more years ago: 3

Books #7-#9

ATY 11: A history or historical fiction book
Book Girls Decades Challenge: 1880s-1890s
The Last Days of Night - Graham Moore

NTLTRC: Short Story Challenge: crime
The Missing Shakespeare Manuscript - Lillian de la Torre

ATY 1A: A book from a genre that starts with A, T, or Y
Book Girls Bingo: A classic or a retelling of a classic
NTLTRC: Classics 1 - 20 Challenge: A classic you received as a gift
Little Women - Louisa May Alcott



Round 1, contemporary: 3
Round 2, classic: 4

Books #10 - #13

ATY34A: A book with a window on the cover
The Warden - Anthony Trollope

Side read
Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion of 1917 - Sally M. Walker

ATY 15A: A book you've wanted to read for a long time
Under the Net - Iris Murdoch

ATY37: A book with a science topic
The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times - Jane Goodall



Round 1, contemporary: 4
Round 2, classic: 6

Book #14

ATY 27: A nonfiction book
Once Upon a Tome: The Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller - Oliver Darkshire


Round 1, contemporary: 5
Round 2, classic: 6