Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

THE 52 TOPICS OF THE 2026 ATY READING CHALLENGE - 0/52 ✅- Prompt Complete 🌻- Read

1. A book from a genre that starts with A, T, or Y: I Shock Myself: The Autobiography of Beatrice Wood by Beatrice Wood-- Autobiography, Art
2. A book with a primarily red, green or blue cover: Exteriors by Annie Ernaux - Blue - or Green Mountains: Walking the Caucasus with Recipes by Caroline Eden - Green or Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire - Red
3. A book that fits a prompt suggestion for this year that did not make the list: What the Wild Sea Can Be: The Future of the World’s Ocean by Helen Scales - Conservation
4. A book by a new-to-you author: Slow Days, Fast Company: The World, the Flesh, and L.A. by Eve Babitz
5. A book you want to read because of something you read in 2025: Key to the Door by Alan Sillitoe Seaton#2

6. A book related to blood, sweat, or tears: Sweat by Lynn Nottage
7. A book with a character who appears in more than one book: Boleyn Traitor by Philippa Gregory - Jane Boleyn or Medea by Blandine Le Callet
8. A book set in Africa, Asia, or Australia: The River Between by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o or Half of Man Is Woman by Zhang Xianliang or Inland by Gerald Murnane
9. A book with a number, ordinal, or iterative numeral in the title: Three Guineas by Virginia Woolf

10. An award winning book: Heart Lamp: Selected Stories by Banu Mushtaq -
International Booker Prize (2025) or The Reivers by William Faulkner Pulitzer for Fiction 1963
11. A history or historical fiction book: The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
12. A book with cover text that is NOT black or white: Sassafrass, Cypress and Indigo by Ntozake Shange
13. An author's second/sophomore book: The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante or Shirley by Charlotte Brontë
14. A book related to a painting by Vincent Van Gogh: Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin by Sue Prideaux - Painting partner during volatile period

15. A book you've wanted to read for a long time: Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
16. A book featuring a character with a similar occupation to one of the Clue/Cluedo characters: The Professor by Charlotte Brontë
17. A book set in the wellness or beauty industries: The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story by Olga Tokarczuk
18. A book with a location in the title: Visualizing Palestine: A Chronicle of Colonialism and the Struggle for Liberation by Jessica Anderson or Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow or Beirut Fragments: A War Memoir by Jean Said Makdisi

19. A book related to yesterday: All Our Yesterdays by Natalia Ginzburg
20. A book related to today: Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein
21. A book related to tomorrow: NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity by Steve Silberman
22. A book by a Korean or Korean-diaspora author: Untold Night and Day by Bae Suah

23. A book with a road trip or long journey: The Odyssey or Mrs. Adams in Winter: A Journey in the Last Days of Napoleon by Michael O'Brien or The Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek by Barry Cunliffe or Brendan the Navigator by Jean Fritz
24. A book that is either frothy or gothy: Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand or Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake
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: Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola
27. A nonfiction book: Eating to Extinction: The World's Rarest Foods and Why We Need to Save Them by Dan Saladino

28. A book related to a resistance, rebellion, or revolution: Madame Fourcade's Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France's Largest Spy Network Against Hitler by Lynne Olson or Revolution in Rojava: Democratic Autonomy and Women's Liberation in the Syrian Kurdistan
29. A vacation book: Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner
30. The most recently published book by an author and a book from that same author's backlist: Frontlist Book: Knave of Diamonds by Laurie R. King
31. The most recently published book by an author and a book from that same author's backlist: Backlist Book: Castle Shade by Laurie R. King

32. A novella of 100-250 pages: A Frozen Woman by Annie Ernaux Autofiction 192 pages
33. A book with an Indigenous character or author: American Indian Stories by Zitkála-Šá
34. A book with a window on the cover: The House with the Blind Glass Windows by Herbjørg Wassmo
35. A book where all or part of the action takes place in a library, a museum, a school, or another public building: That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America by Amanda Jones
36. A book with a primary character who is a woman over 40: The Young Man by Annie Ernaux

37. A book that includes a science topic: Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon
38. A book that's part of a series: Punishment of a Hunter by Yulia Yakovleva
39. A book connected in some way to the "Queen of Crime", Agatha Christie: The Potter's Field by Ellis Peters - A successor Englishwoman writing a cozy series with the same detective,
40. A book that has a punctuation mark in the title: Here's to You, Jesusa! by Elena Poniatowska

41. A mystery or true crime book: The Lantern's Dance by Laurie R. King
42. A book set in an isolated location: Floreana by Margret Wittmer or A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter
43. A book involving survival: Escape from Mariupol: A Survivor's True Story by Adoriana Marik
44. A book with a symbol of death on the cover: The Montreal Massacre by Louise Malette

45. A book connected to "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen: The Lesser Bohemians by Eimear McBride or Daughters of the Winter Queen: Four Remarkable Sisters, the Crown of Bohemia, and the Enduring Legacy of Mary, Queen of Scots by Nancy Goldstone
46. A book that is not a novel: The Use of Photography by Annie Ernaux
47. A book with "this", "that", "these", or "those" in the title: These Possible Lives by Fleur Jaeggy
48. A book with something edible in the title: Milk Fed by Melissa Broder
49. A second book for your favorite prompt - 1001 or history/historical - Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare's Greatest Rival by Stephen Greenblatt

50. A book with a bird on its cover: Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place by Terry Tempest Williams
51. A book published in 2026: No Friend to This House: A Novel by Natalie Haynes Expected 10 Mar 26 -a Medea/Jason and the Argonauts retelling
52. A book related to the name of one of Santa's reindeer: The Fox by D.H. Lawrence or Dances by Nicole Cuffy or Renoir's Dancer: The Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon by Catherine Hewitt

Boxall 1001 Books You Must read Before you Die selections in prompts:
The River Between

Inland

Half of Man Is Woman

The Fox

Here's to You, Jesusa!

Mansfield Park

Shirley

Thérèse Raquin

The House with the Blind Glass Windows

Titus Groan

Other possible and related titles:

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit for 48 - edible

The Blind Owl as companion to the Korean selection Untold Night and Day

The Professor's House for the Clue prompt

Professor Martens' Departure for the Clue prompt

Other possible in 2026:

Moby-Dick or, The Whale

Z

The Mandarins

Nausea

500 Great books By Women titles:

Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place

The Montreal Massacre

Floreana

American Indian Stories

Beirut Fragments: A War Memoir possible for place name

Forged under the Sun/Forjada bajo el sol: The Life of Maria Elena Lucas possible for Resistance/Revolution

Hotel du Lac

The House with the Blind Glass Windows

Living My Life possible for Resistance/Revolution

The Potter's Field

Sassafrass, Cypress and Indigo

Three Guineas

Women's Prize For Nonfiction titles:

What the Wild Sea Can Be: The Future of the World’s Ocean

Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin

Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution

Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World

A Thousand Threads by Neneh Cherry

The Eagle and the Hart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV by Helen Castor

Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age by Eleanor Barraclough

Matrescence: On the Metamorphosis of Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Motherhood by Lucy Jones

Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts, and the Death of Freedom by Grace Blakeley

Code Dependent: Living in the Shadow of AI by Madhumita Murgia

Western Zodiac Challenge:

All:

Moby-Dick or, The Whale

The Luminaries

Ulysses

Postcolonial Astrology: Reading the Planets through Capital, Power, and Labor

Zodiac: Celestial Circle of the Sun

ARIES: No Friend To This House by Natalie Haynes - Ram on cover - the Golden Fleece

TAURUS: The King Must Die by Mary Renault - Cretan bulls - a reread of a favorite

GEMINI: The Twins by Tessa de Loo

CANCER: Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

LEO: The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII, 1878-1903: Or a Light in the Heavens by Pope Leo XIII or

The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

VIRGO: The Virgin in the Garden by A.S. Byatt

LIBRA: Libra by Don DeLillo or

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

SCORPIO: Rain of Scorpions and Other Stories by Estela Portillo Trambley

SAGITTARIUS: Valentino and Sagittarius by Natalia Ginzburg

CAPRICORN: The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa

AQUARIUS: Daughters of Aquarius: Women of the Sixties Counterculture by Gretchen Lemke-Santangelo

PISCES: How I Came to Know Fish by Ota Pavel

Book Riot's Read Harder 2026

0/24 ✅- Prompt Complete 🌻- Book Read

1. Read a microhistory
2. Read a book featured on a “best book covers” list
3. Read a YA book by a Latine author
4. Read a novel with a main character who uses they/them pronouns
5. Read a nonfiction book about resistance
6. Read a gothic novel published in the last ten years
7. Read a sports book by a woman, trans, or nonbinary writer
8. Read a classic from the Zero to Well-Read Podcast
9. Read a romantasy book with a queer and/or BIPOC main character
10. Read a book recently adapted for film, TV, or musical
11. Read a book by a d/Deaf author
12. Read/try a recipe from a cookbook about a culture whose food you’ve never eaten
13. Read a nonfiction comic
14. Read a work of magical realism or fabulism
15. Read a book by a librarian
16. Read a queer picture book
17. Read a book about a cult or cults
18. Read a nonfiction book about AI or social media
19. Read a book by an intersex author
20. Read a book set in space
21. Read a genre (SFF, horror, mystery, romance) book in translation
22. Read a nonviolent true crime book
23. Read a book by an African author
24. Pick a challenge from any of the previous years’ challenges to repeat!

PS 2026 Reading Challenge:

Regular
1 A book where gardening or a garden is central to the plot: Gardener's Year by Karel Čapek or Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim or Queen Elizabeth in the Garden: A Story of Love, Rivalry, and Spectacular Gardens by Trea Martyn
2 A book that features a platonic friendship between a man and woman: By This Wing by Celia Thaxter or Queen Elizabeth in the Garden: A Story of Love, Rivalry, and Spectacular Gardens
3 A book you meant to read in 2025: The Eagle and the Hart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV by Helen Castor
4 A book that starts with the letter "Z": Z by Vassilis Vassilikos or Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife or Zofloya by Charlotte Dacre
5 A book about women astronauts: Dancing through Space: Dr. Mae Jemison Soars to New Heights by Lydia Lukidis
6 A book with an overweight main character whose story isn't about losing weight: Milk Fed by Melissa Broder
7 A book about a granny hobby: Quilts - Peaceful Pieces: Poems and Quilts About Peace by Anna Grossnickle Hines or Cassie's Word Quilt by Faith Ringgold
8 A book about a sexless marriage: The Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton or Middlemarch
9 A book with a "type C" character - One of Laurie R. King's Holmes/Russell mysteries or The Sign of Three: Dupin, Holmes, Peirce or for parenting style "C" Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson or Hunt, Gather, Parent: What Ancient Cultures Can Teach Us About the Lost Art of Raising Happy, Helpful Little Humans by Michaeleen Doucleff
10 A book about a horse or with a horse on the cover: The Reivers by William Faulkner
11 A book with a dad as the primary caregiver: As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
12 A book with "pop" or "sugar" in the title: Sugar in the Blood: A Family's Story of Slavery and Empire by Andrea Stuart
13 A book featuring a character with a hidden past:Incantation by Alice Hoffman
14 A book set in Michigan or written by an author from Michigan: A New Home, Who'll Follow? by Caroline Kirkland or Kin: Practically True Stories by V. Efua Prince
15 A book about new beginnings: Anybody Can Do Anything by Betty MacDonald
16 A book less than 260 pages: Simple Passion by Annie Ernaux
17 A book about your favorite event in the Winter Olympics: Skating Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
18 A love story that defies social boundaries: Romeo and Juliet or Trespasses by Louise Kennedy
19 A book about teen angst: Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden
20 A book with a character who does Pilates or Lagree: The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel
21 A book about a bachelorette trip: Persuasion by Jane Austen
✅22 A book about a book club: 🌻Bunny's Book Club or Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal
23 A book you were hoping would fit into a prompt but doesn't:The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story by Olga Tokarczuk
24 A book about postpartum: My Work by Olga Ravn
25 A book that explores influencer culture: Groupie or Taylor Swift by the Book: The Literature Behind the Lyrics, from Fairy Tales to Tortured Poets by Rachel Feder
26 A book with a character who navigates infertility: a fairy tale or a royal wife like Catherine of Aragon or The Handmaid's Tale
27 A book with a character who has curly hair: Robert Plant: A Life by Paul Rees or A Thousand Threads: A Memoir by Neneh Cherry
28 A book about debt: The Debt Trap: How Student Loans Became a National Catastrophe by Josh Mitchell or Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth by Margaret Atwood orThe Making of the Indebted Man: An Essay on the Neoliberal Condition by Maurizio Lazzarato
29 A book that takes place during harvesting season: Gathering the Sun: An Alphabet In Spanish And English by Alma Flor Ada or Strega Nona's Harvest by Tomie dePaola or Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez by Kathleen Krull
30 A travel ghost story: The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden or Traveling with Ghosts: A Memoir by Shannon Leone Fowler or The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde
31 A book that makes you feel FOMO: L.A. Woman by Eve Babitz
32 A book with an underwater civilization: Pod by Laline Paull
33 A book about college: Babel by R.F. Kuang
34 A book with a trans or nonbinary protagonist: Myra Breckinridge by Gore Vidal
35 A book that makes you want to travel to Italy: The Tuscan Year: Life and Food in an Italian Valley by Elizabeth Romer
36 A book about a mob (fiction or nonfiction): Z by Vassilis Vassilikos or Brighton Rock by Graham Greene or Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe
37 A book about a pop star: A Thousand Threads: A Memoir by Neneh Cherry or Taylor Swift by the Book: The Literature Behind the Lyrics, from Fairy Tales to Tortured Poets by Rachel Feder or California Dreamin' by Pénélope Bagieu or Birding by Rose Ruane
38 A book with any type of fruit on the cover or in the title: Sexing the Cherry or Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson or Fruit Fields in My Blood: Okie Migrants in the West by Toby Sonneman or Blackberry Winter: My Earlier Years by Margaret Mead
39 A book with a character who runs a marathon: The First Marathon: The Legend of Pheidippides or Athens Is Saved!: The First Marathon or The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner by Alan Sillitoe
40 A book outside your comfort zone: Business - Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America by Marcia Chatelain

Advanced
41 A book in a different format than your usual: physical, audio, eBook: Othello BBC Radio Shakespeare Audio Book
42 A book inspired by a real song, album, band, or artist: Jennifer Juniper: A Journey Beyond the Muse by Jenny Boyd or Wonderful Tonight by Pattie Boyd
43 Two books written by real-life partners or spouses (1)Elsa Morante - Lies and Sorcery
44 Two books written by real-life partners or spouses (2) Alberto Moravia - Contempt
45 A book that features birding: Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place by Terry Tempest Williams or By This Wing by Celia Thaxter
46 A sapphic comic: I Love Led Zeppelin by Ellen Forney or The One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg
47 A book told entirely through letters: Clarissa, or, The History of a Young Lady by Samuel Richardson or The Mixquiahuala Letters by Ana Castillo or By This Wing by Celia Thaxter
48 A book with a shadow daddy: A Court of Thorns and Roses
49 A book with a mention of your zodiac sign: Zodiac: Celestial Circle of the Sun by Jacqueline Mitton
50 A book about Afrofuturism: Naniki by Oonya Kempadoo or The Deep by Rivers Solomon

Boxall's 1001 Books To Read Before You Die 2026 Challenge and Bingo