Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Here we have a prompt that will be a stretch for some readers and a walk-in touchdown for others. For nonfiction ideas and recommendations, I refer you to the thread for prompt 27, a nonfiction book.

Some other types of books to jumpstart your search:
Novellas: https://www.goodreads.com/genres/novella
Short Story collections: https://www.goodreads.com/genres/shor...
Anthologies: https://www.goodreads.com/genres/anth...
Must-Read Essay Collections: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...
Plays: https://www.goodreads.com/genres/plays
Best Poetry https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...

A couple of past ATY lists that might be helpful:
2021's Short stories, essays, or poetry: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
2025's A Collection: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

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

Do you read a mix of formats and genres or do you mostly read novels?

I mostly read novels, but about a third of my reading is non-fiction. I like poetry and short stories, but not reading a whole collection at one sitting. For this prompt, I've planned Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop: A Memoir and a microhistory, Smoke and Ashes: A Writer's Journey through Opium's Hidden Histories.

I have lots of books that will fit this prompt. Some of those that are on my physical shelves are:
James Thurber: 92 Stories
David Bowie: The Oral History
The Assassin's Cloak: An Anthology of the World's Greatest Diarists
The Ultimate Hidden Truth of the World
What Makes This Book So Great: Re-Reading the Classics of Science Fiction & Fantasy
Surfaces and Essences: Analogy as the Fuel and Fire of Thinking
It's Never Too Late to Begin Again: Discovering Creativity and Meaning at Midlife and Beyond
William Blake vs. the World
Postcards from the Brain Museum: The Improbable Search for Meaning in the Matter of Famous Minds
Looking for Betty MacDonald: The Egg, the Plague, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, and I
The Heroine's Journey: For Writers, Readers, and Fans of Pop Culture

When I travel, I try to go buy a local Indie bookstore and make a purchase. When I was in El Paso switching from a plane to a rental car on the way to Ruidoso, NM, I purchase Matthew McConaughey new book, Poems & Prayers. I haven't read Greenlights.

Current possibilities:

Christmas on Ganymede and Other Stories

Consider the Lobster and Other Essays
Stellaris: People of the Stars

My Antarctica: True Adventures in the Land of Mummified Seals, Space Robots, and So Much More

I had a couple of non-fiction books left on my priority TBR for 2026 after I'd filled most of the other prompts, with one going in at number 27, I've stuck the other in here - Walking the Great North Line: Up England Another Way by Robert Twigger.

In the unlikely event that I get through my plan with time to spare, I might come back to this prompt and try some of the other types of not-novel books.

I'm reading Things I've Been Silent About by Azar Nafisi which is a memoir.

I have two novellas on my TBR which will fit the bill:
Sh*tshow
The All of It