Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

1. A book you meant to read in 2015, but didn't
City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg
Completed: 1/8/15

2. A book set in a different continent
Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

3. A book from the Goodreads Choice Awards 2015 (winner or nominated)
Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari

4. A book by an author you discovered in 2015
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer

5. A book with a title beginning with the 1st letter of your name
M Train by Patti Smith

6. The highest rated on your TBR
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel A. van der Kolk

7. A book about books
When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II by Molly Guptill Manning

8. A classic book with less than 200 pages
Animal Farm by George Orwell

9. A book that was mentioned in another book
1984 by George Orwell

10. A book by an author you feel you should have read by now
Awakenings by Oliver Sacks

11. A book from the Rory Gilmore challenge
The Group by Mary McCarthy

12. A childhood classic
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

13. Reader’s Choice
Mot: A Memoir by Sarah Einstein

14. A book with one of the five W’s -or H in the title (Who/What/Where/When/Why/How)
What is the What by Dave Eggers

15. A book set in the past (more than 100 years ago)
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

16. A book from the top 100 mystery novels
Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow

17. A book with a beautiful cover
Mo' Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove by Ahmir Questlove Thompson

18. A book on a summer/beach reading list
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain


19. A non-fiction book
Martin and Malcolm and America: A Dream or a Nightmare? by James H. Cone

20. A book with a first name in the title
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

21. A book from the Goodreads Recommendations page
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

22. The first book in a new to you series
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

23. The next book in a series you are reading
The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz

24. A "between the numbers" book of a series (0.5, 1,5, 2.5, etc.)
Unsure! I'm not really a series reader. I may use my wild card for this one.

25. A book whose main character is in a profession that interests you
Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny

26. A book everyone is talking about
Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon

27. A book with a beautiful title (in your own opinion)
An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken

28. A biography, autobiography, or memoir
Lady Sings the Blues by Billie Holiday

29. A book by an author who writes under more than one name
The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith

30. A fairytale from a culture other than your own
Tatterhood by Robin Muller

31. A work of young adult fiction
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

32. A historical fiction book
Euphoria by Lily King

33. The 16th book on your TBR
Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution: From The Sopranos and The Wire to Mad Men and Breaking Bad by Brett Martin

34. A book about mental illness
Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel

35. An award winning book
The Round House by Louise Erdrich

36. An identity book - a book about a different culture, religion or sexual orientation
Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex by Eric A. Stanley

37. A book that you've seen the movie of but haven't read
The Hours by Michael Cunningham

38. A book about an anti hero
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

39. A previous suggestion that did not make it into the list
Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

40. A novella from your favorite genre
Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

41. A book about a major world event (fiction or non-fiction)
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson

42. A top 100 fantasy novel
The Gunslinger by Stephen King

43. A book about a thing that goes bump in the night
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

44. A book you're embarrassed to read in public
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

45. A book related to a hobby or passion you have
I Call Myself A Feminist: The View from Twenty-Five Women Under Thirty by Victoria Pepe

46. A crime story
Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery by Robert Kolker

47. A book with a type of food/drink in the title
Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss

48. A dystopia
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

49. A book with a great opening line
The Crow Road by Iain Banks

50. A book originally written in a language other than English
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez

51. A short story from a well-known author
Let Me Tell You: New Stories, Essays, and Other Writings by Shirley Jackson

52. A book published in 2016
Why We Came to the City by Kristopher Jansma

City on Fire - Garth Risk Hallberg
Completed 1/8/15
2/5

I'm really frustrated that I didn't like this book more based on all the press it received when it first came out. Also frustrated considering how much time and energy I put into reading it. By the end I found myself reading to just finish, not reading to figure out what was going to happen.

I love to get lost in dense books, this was not one of them. I found the characters to not be very well formed, and I was really not rooting for anyone. There was no real climax and I really did not care how it ended. Not that it really ended well anyway.