Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

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🚸 Children
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✨ Magical Realism
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💞 Romance
🧬Science Fiction

THE 52 TOPICS OF THE 2026 ATY READING CHALLENGE

1. A book from a genre that starts with A, T, or Y
Silvia Moreno-Garcia - Mexican Gothic (Thriller)


2. A book with a primarily red, green or blue cover
L.M. Montgomery - The Blue Castle


3. A book that fits a prompt suggestion for this year that did not make the list
(A book connected to the Middle East somehow)
Zeyn Joukhadar - The Map of Salt and Stars


4. A book by a new-to-you author
Anita Amirrezvani - Equal of the Sun


5. A book you want to read because of something you read in 2025
George Orwell - Animal Farm


6. A book related to blood, sweat, or tears
Emma Törzs - Ink Blood Sister Scribe


7. A book with a character who appears in more than one book
Christopher Moore - Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal


8. A book set in Africa, Asia, or Australia
Lisa See - Lady Tan's Circle of Women


9. A book with a number, ordinal, or iterative numeral in the title
Taylor Jenkins Reid - The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo


10. An award winning book
2017 Winner of the Newbery Award
Kelly Barnhill - The Girl Who Drank the Moon


11. A history or historical fiction book
Anita Amirrezvani - The Blood of Flowers


12. A book with cover text that is NOT black or white
Barbara Kingsolver - Demon Copperhead


13. An author's second/sophomore book
Salman Rushdie - Midnight's Children


14. A book related to a painting by Vincent Van Gogh
Sena Jeter Naslund - Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer


15. A book you've wanted to read for a long time
Khaled Hosseini - And the Mountains Echoed


16. A book featuring a character with a similar occupation to one of the Clue/Cluedo characters
Kate Elizabeth Russell - My Dark Vanessa


17. A book set in the wellness or beauty industries
Thomas Mann - The Magic Mountain


18. A book with a location in the title
Joyce Maynard - The Bird Hotel


19. A book related to yesterday
Mark T. Sullivan - The Last Green Valley


20. A book related to today
V.E. Schwab - The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue


21. A book related to tomorrow
Gabrielle Zevin - Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow


22. A book by a Korean or Korean-diaspora author
Axie Oh - The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea


23. A book with a road trip or long journey
Eowyn Ivey - To the Bright Edge of the World


24. A book that is either frothy or gothy
Brom - Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery


25. A book from the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list
Donna Tartt - The Secret History


26. A book with a Z in the title and/or author name
Fatima Farheen Mirza - A Place for Us


27. A nonfiction book
William B. Irvine - A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy


28. A book related to a resistance, rebellion, or revolution
Marjan Kamali - The Stationery Shop


29. A vacation book
Morgan Matson - Second Chance Summer


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


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


32. A novella of 100-250 pages
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - The Little Prince


33. A book with an Indigenous character or author
Louise Erdrich - The Round House


34. A book with a window on the cover
Michiko Aoyama - What You Are Looking For Is In the Library


35. A book where all or part of the action takes place in a library, a museum, a school, or another public building
Gabrielle Zevin - The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry


36. A book with a primary character who is a woman over 40
Genevieve Gornichec - The Witch's Heart


37. A book that includes a science topic
Neil Mulholland - The Psychology of Harry Potter: An Unauthorized Examination of the Boy Who Lived


38. A book that's part of a series
Toshikazu Kawaguchi - Before the Coffee Gets Cold


39. A book connected in some way to the "Queen of Crime", Agatha Christie
Mika Waltari - The Egyptian


40. A book that has a punctuation mark in the title
Rick Warren - The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?


41. A mystery or true crime book
Chris Whitaker - All the Colors of the Dark


42. A book set in an isolated location
Narine Abgaryan - Three Apples Fell From the Sky


43. A book involving survival
Ruta Sepetys - I Must Betray You


44. A book with a symbol of death on the cover
M.L. Rio - If We Were Villains


45. A book connected to "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen
Poor Boy
Mark Twain - The Prince and the Pauper


46. A book that is not a novel
Kahlil Gibran - The Prophet


47. A book with "this", "that", "these", or "those" in the title
Claire Keegan - Small Things Like These


48. A book with something edible in the title
Zoulfa Katouh - As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow


49. A second book for your favorite prompt
A book with a primarily red, green or blue cover
Susan Meissner - A Fall of Marigolds


50. A book with a bird on its cover
Emilia Hart - Weyward


51. A book published in 2026
Saara El-Arifi - Cleopatra


52. A book related to the name of one of Santa's reindeer
Blitzen = Blitz in WWII
Kristin Hannah - The Nightengale

My List of 2026 Rejects

01. A book with a main character who is an outsider
Fredrik Backman - A Man Called Ove


02. A book posted in one of the ATY Best Book of the Month threads in 2025 or 2026
April 2025
Laila Lalami - The Dream Hotel


03. A book that would fit the 26th prompt from any ATY52 year
A book from the 2019 Goodreads Awards
Rachael Lippincott - Five Feet Apart


04. A book about a social, political, or environmental issue you care about.
Human Rights
Ruta Sepetys - Salt to the Sea


05. A "cozy" book
Best Books to Read When the Snow is Falling List
Eowyn Ivey - The Snow Child


06. A book featuring a holiday that you don't celebrate
Kwanzaa
Safiya Sinclair - How to Say Babylon


07. A book connected to a Time's person of the year
2012 - Barack Obama
Amor Towles - A Gentleman in Moscow


08. A book about a woman crossing barriers, borders, or boundaries
Yaa Gyasi - Homegoing


09. A book with antonyms in the title
Jamie Ford - Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet


10. A book with a character that has been orphaned, adopted or abandoned in any way
11. A book that would fill a favorite prompt from last year's list
12. A book set in an alternate history or an imaginary world/universe
13. A book with characters in a club

14. A book that won an international literary award
2017 Winner of the Los Angeles Times Prize for Fiction
Mohsin Hamid - Exit West


15. A magical realism or magical book
16. A book about books
17. A book from the NPR “Books We Love” lists
18. A book featuring a party or festival
19. A book with a main character who has power(s)
20. A book with a main character who is a teacher, instructor, or professor
21. A book that was nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award in any year
22. A book that is not a novel
23. A book on one of Obama’s reading lists
24. A book set in an Olympics host city
25. A book with a cat on the cover
26. A book featuring a lawyer, politician or member of the clergy
27. A book that has been made into a movie
28. A book with a character who is searching for knowledge, love, courage or a way home
29. A book with the name of a planet or their moons in the title
30. A book related to psychology, mental health or neuroscience
31. A book whose character has the same hobby or pastime as you
32. A book for which all of the words in the title start with one of the letters in OLYMPICS
33. A Bildungsroman (coming-of-age) book
34. A book suggested by one of the song titles from Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon
35. A book related to a painting by Vincent Van Gogh
36. A book with a character who has a trait related to one of Dorothy’s companions in the Wizard of Oz
37. A book tagged by Goodreads readers as Literary Fiction
38. A book related to one of the five basic tastes (sweet, salty, bitter, sour, umami/savory)
39. A book set in a desert environment
40. A book with both black and red on the cover
41. A book that starts and ends in different settings
42. A book with a six word title
43. A book related to the song “Singin’ in the Rain”
44. A book set in one of the world’s great cities
45. A book from the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list
46. A book related to “soul”
47. A book related to a lion, a witch, or a wardrobe
48. A book by the author who shows up most on your TBR but is so far unread by you

49. A book nominated for an award that values peace, cultural understanding, and related social issues
Peace - Winner of the 2018 Dayton Literary Peace Prize
Hala Alyan - Salt Houses


50. A book with a title that contains a gemstone or jewel or by an author whose name contains a gemstone or a jewel
51. A book based on or related to a "legend"
52. A book with a character dealing with birth or rebirth

Tallies

January Reading List ☑

☐ Silvia Moreno-Garcia - Mexican Gothic
☐ L.M. Montgomery - The Blue Castle
☐ Zeyn Joukhadar - The Map of Salt and Stars
☐ Anita Amirrezvani - Equal of the Sun
☐ George Orwell - Animal Farm
☐ Emma Törzs - Ink Blood Sister Scribe
☐ Christopher Moore - Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
☐ Lisa See - Lady Tan's Circle of Women

February Reading List ☑

☐ Taylor Jenkins Reid - The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
☐ Kelly Barnhill - The Girl Who Drank the Moon
☐ Anita Amirrezvani - The Blood of Flowers
☐ Barbara Kingsolver - Demon Copperhead
☐ Salman Rushdie - Midnight's Children
☐ Sena Jeter Naslund - Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer
☐ Khaled Hosseini - And the Mountains Echoed
☐ Kate Elizabeth Russell - My Dark Vanessa

March Reading List ☑

☐ Thomas Mann - The Magic Mountain
☐ Joyce Maynard - The Bird Hotel
☐ Mark T. Sullivan - The Last Green Valley
☐ V.E. Schwab - The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
☐ Gabrielle Zevin - Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
☐ Axie Oh - The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea
☐ Eowyn Ivey - To the Bright Edge of the World
☐ Brom - Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery

April Reading List ☑

☐ Donna Tartt - The Secret History
☐ Fatima Farheen Mirza - A Place for Us
☐ William B. Irvine - A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy
☐ Marjan Kamali - The Stationery Shop
☐ Morgan Matson - Second Chance Summer
☐ R.F. Kuang - Katabasis
☐ R.F. Kuang - Babel
☐ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - The Little Prince

May Reading List ☑

☐ Louise Erdrich - The Round House
☐ Michiko Aoyama - What You Are Looking For Is In the Library
☐ Gabrielle Zevin - The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry
☐ Genevieve Gornichec - The Witch's Heart
☐ Neil Mulholland - The Psychology of Harry Potter: An Unauthorized Examination of the Boy Who Lived
☐ Toshikazu Kawaguchi - Before the Coffee Gets Cold
☐ Mika Waltari - The Egyptian
☐ Rick Warren - The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?

June Reading List ☑

☐ Chris Whitaker - All the Colors of the Dark
☐ Narine Abgaryan - Three Apples Fell From the Sky
☐ Ruta Sepetys - I Must Betray You
☐ M.L. Rio - If We Were Villains
☐ Mark Twain - The Prince and the Pauper
☐ Kahlil Gibran - The Prophet
☐ Claire Keegan - Small Things Like These
☐ Zoulfa Katouh - As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow

July Reading List ☑

☐ Susan Meissner - A Fall of Marigolds
☐ Emilia Hart - Weyward
☐ Saara El-Arifi - Cleopatra
☐ Kristin Hannah - The Nightingale
☐ Fredrik Backman - A Man Called Ove
☐ Laila Lalami - The Dream Hotel
☐ Rachael Lippincott - Five Feet Apart
☐ Ruta Sepetys - Salt to the Sea

August Reading List ☑

September Reading List ☑

October Reading List ☑

November Reading List ☑

December Reading List ☑

List of Extra Books ☑