Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

I'm looking forward to trying something different this year, reading the topics in order. I jumped around in 2016 & didn't plan at all, just filled in as I went. This year, I plan to read the topics in order. To do this, I'll make a list of suggestions for each prompt, so that as I move down the list, I'll be able to select from a number of books based on mood and availability. I can't wait for 2017!

1. A book from the Goodreads Choice Awards 2016

I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life
2. A book with at least 2 perspectives (multiple points of view)

The Two-Family House
3. A book you meant to read in 2016

Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
4. A title that doesn't contain the letter "E"

TransAtlantic by Colum McCann
5. A historical fiction

Newton and Polly: A Novel of Amazing Grace by Jody Hedlund
6. A book being released as a movie in 2017

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann
7. A book with an animal on the cover or in the title

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
8. A book written by a person of color
Human Acts by Han Kang

9. A book in the middle of your To Be Read list
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondō

10. A dual-timeline novel
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

11. A category from another challenge
Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy by Cathy O'Neil

12. A book based on a myth
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

13. A book recommended by one of your favorite authors
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

14. A book with a strong female character
American Street by Ibi Zoboi

15. A book written or set in Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland)
The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well by Meik Wiking

16. A mystery
Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris

17. A book with illustrations
Feminist Fight Club: An Office Survival Manual for a Sexist Workplace by Jessica Bennett

18. A really long book (600+ pages)
An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

19. A New York Times best-seller
The Magnolia Story by Chip Gaines & Joanna Gaines

20. A book that you've owned for a while but haven't gotten around to reading
On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder

21. A book that is a continuation of a book you've already read
By the Shores of Silver Lakeby Laura Ingalls Wilder

22. A book by an author you haven't read before
Almost Adulting: All You Need to Know to Get It Together by Arden Rose

23. A book from the BBC "The Big Read" list
Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne

24. A book written by at least two authors
The Royal We by Heather Cocks &

25. A book about a famous historical figure
The Golden Lad: The Haunting Story of Quentin and Theodore Roosevelt by Eric Burns

26. An adventure book
The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey by Candice Millard

27. A book by one of your favorite authors
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

28. A non-fiction
Asteroid Hunters by Carrie Nugent

29. A book published outside the 4 major publishing houses (Simon & Schuster; HarperCollins; Penguin Random House; Hachette Livre)
Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America by Michael Ruhlman

30. A book from Goodreads Top 100 YA Books
My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

31. A book from a sub-genre of your favorite genre
The Ballad of Frankie Silver by Sharyn McCrumb

32. A book with a long title (5+ words, excluding subtitle)
The Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan

33. A magical realism novel
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

34. A book set in or by an author from the Southern Hemisphere
Find Me Unafraid: Love, Loss, and Hope in an African Slum by Kennedy Odede & Jessica

35. A book where one of the main characters is royalty
Sister Queens: The Noble, Tragic Lives of Katherine of Aragon and Juana, Queen of Castile by Julia Fox

36. A Hugo Award winner or nominee
The Geek Feminist Revolution by Kameron Hurley

37. A book you choose randomly
The Interstellar Age: Inside the Forty-Year Voyager Mission by Jim Bell

38. A novel inspired by a work of classic literature
Caroline: Little House, Revisited by Sarah Miller

39. An epistolary fiction
A Brief History of Montmaray by Michelle Cooper

40. A book published in 2017
Lucky in Love by Kasie West

41. A book with an unreliable narrator
Final Girls by Riley Sager

42. A best book of the 21st century (so far)
Atonement by Ian McEwan

43. A book with a chilling atmosphere (scary, unsettling, cold)
Bird Box by Josh Malerman

44. A recommendation from "What Should I Read Next"
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

45. A book with a one-word title
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

46. A time travel novel
Tempest by Julie Cross

47. A past suggestion that didn't win
White Working Class by Joan C. Williams

48. A banned book
The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

49. A book from someone else's bookshelf
Dear Martin by Nic Stone

50. A Penguin Modern Classic
The Pearl by John Steinbeck

51. A collection (e.g. essays, short stories, poetry, plays)
However Long & Hard the Road by Jeffrey R. Holland

52. A book set in a fictional location
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

1. A book from the Goodreads Choice Awards 2016



2. A book with at least 2 perspectives

I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives by Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Allegiant by Veronica Roth
Of Poseidon by Anna Banks
The Good Girl by Mary Kubica
The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski

3. A book you meant to read in 2016

You May Also Like: Taste in an Age of Endless Choice by Tom Vanderbilt
Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science by Atul Gawande
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough
First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung
The Secrets We Keep by Trisha Leaver
Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars by Nathalia Holt
My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand
Flight of Dreams by Ariel Lawhon
Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald

4. A title that doesn't contain the letter "E"

Bird Box by Josh Malerman
Still Missing by Chevy Stevens
Loving Frank by Nancy Horan
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough

5. A historical fiction

Madame Presidentess by Nicole Evelina
Oil and Marble: A Novel of Leonardo and Michelangelo by Stephanie Storey
News of the World by Paulette Jiles
To Capture What We Cannot Keep by Beatrice Colin
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
The Highland Witch by Susan Fletcher

6. A book being released as a movie in 2017

Allegiant by Veronica Roth
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann
My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier
The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman

7. A book with an animal on the cover or in the title

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Bird Box by Josh Malerman
Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Family's Century of Art and Loss by Edmund de Waal

8. A book written by a person of color

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Swing Time by Zadie Smith
Balm by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung
Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
The Mothers by Brit Bennett
A House Without Windows by Nadia Hashimi
The Gilded Years by Karin Tanabe

9. A book in the middle of your To Be Read list

I'll select a book for this prompt when I get to it, because my TBR will grow and so its middle will shift.

10. A dual-timeline novel

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
The House at Riverton by Kate Morton
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell
Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner
The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

11. A category from another challenge

From the 2017 BookRiot Read Harder Challenge:
Read a book about sports.
Read a book by an immigrant or with a central immigration narrative.
Read a book about war.

12. A book based on a myth

13. A book recommended by one of your favorite authors

My favorite author is William Faulkner. These are books he listed as some of his favorites in his interviews at the University of Virginia:
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

My other favorite is F. Scott Fitzgerald. From his list of essential reading:
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
Sanctuary by William Faulkner
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

14. A book with a strong female character

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Three Strong Women by Marie NDiaye

15. A book written or set in Scandinavia

The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well by Meik Wiking

16. A mystery

17. A book with illustrations

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

18. A really long book (600+ pages)

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Chesapeake by James A. Michener
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
London: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley by Charlotte Gordon
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Ireland by Frank Delaney
SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard
Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe

19. A New York Times best-seller

The Case Against Sugar by Gary Taubes
Swing Time by Zadie Smith
The Magnolia Story by Chip Gaines & Joanna Gaines
The Sleepwalker by Chris Bohjalian
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by Dalai Lama XIV & Desmond Tutu
The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story by Douglas Preston

20. A book that you've owned for a while but haven't gotten around to reading

Little Bee by Chris Cleave
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
The War That Killed Achilles: The True Story of Homer's Iliad and the Trojan War by Caroline Alexander
The Elementals by Michael McDowell
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Ireland by Frank Delaney

21. A book that is a continuation of a book you've already read

Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
The Great Pursuit by Wendy Higgins
Allegiant by Veronica Roth

22. A book by an author you haven't read before

23. A book from the BBC "The Big Read" list

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
1984 by George Orwell
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Watership Down by Richard Adams
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Ulysses by James Joyce
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Holes by Louis Sachar
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

24. A book written by at least two authors

My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand et al
Summer Days & Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories by Stephanie Perkins et al
I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives by Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda

25. A book about a famous historical figure

Oil and Marble: A Novel of Leonardo and Michelangelo by Stephanie Storey

26. An adventure book

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

27. A book by one of your favorite authors

Sanctuary by William Faulkner
Light in August by William Faulkner
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald

28. A non-fiction
29. A book published outside the 4 major publishing houses (Simon & Schuster; HarperCollins; Penguin Random House; Hachette Livre)

30. A book from Goodreads Top 100 YA Books

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Of Poseidon by Anna Banks
Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
The Program by Suzanne Young

31. A book from a sub-genre of your favorite genre

I've chosen Southern Gothic as my sub-genre of my favorite genre, Southern Lit.

Love and Lament by John Milliken Thompson
The Heavenly Table by Donald Ray Pollock

32. A book with a long title

The Only Rule Is It Has to Work: Our Wild Experiment Building a New Kind of Baseball Team by Ben Lindbergh
To Capture What We Cannot Keep by Beatrice Colin
A History of the World in 12 Maps by Jerry Brotton
People I Want to Punch in the Throat: Competitive Crafters, Drop-Off Despots, and Other Suburban Scourges by Jen Mann
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America by Russell Shorto
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondō

33. A magical realism novel

34. A book set in or by an author from the Southern Hemisphere

Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela

35. A book where one of the main characters is royalty

36. A Hugo Award winner or nominee
37. A book you choose randomly
38. A novel inspired by a work of classic literature

39. An epistolary fiction

Hey Harry, Hey Matilda by Rachel Hulin
To The Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey

40. A book published in 2017

41. A book with an unreliable narrator
42. A best book of the 21st century
43. A book with a chilling atmosphere (scary, unsettling, cold)

44. A recommendation from "What Should I Read Next"

I'm using the books that I've rated 5 stars in 2016 as input.

Rebecca:
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Palace of Illusions:
The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
Salt to the Sea:
The Wrath & the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown
Barkskins:
Circling the Sun by Paula McLain
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
Anne of Green Gables:
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
East of Eden:
Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
Middlemarch:
Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

45. A book with a one-word title

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Blindness by José Saramago
Gilgamesh by Joan London
Havisham by Ronald Frame
Charleston by Margaret Bradham Thornton
Abdication by Juliet Nicolson
Chesapeake by James A. Michener
Ireland by Frank Delaney
Landline by Rainbow Rowell
Atonement by Ian McEwan
TransAtlantic by Colum McCann

46. A time travel novel

11/22/63 by Stephen King
All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley

47. A past suggestion that didn't win
48. A banned book

49. A book from someone else's bookshelf

I plan to look around at people's book shelves when I'm visiting their houses & pick a book I see sitting on their shelf. Or I'll pick a book someone lends me.

Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey
Geisha, a Life by Mineko Iwasaki
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

50. A Penguin Modern Classic

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
1984 by George Orwell
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Ulysses by James Joyce
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

51. A collection

52. A book set in a fictional location

Light in August by William Faulkner
Sanctuary by William Faulkner

Authors to read in 2017

I have a number of authors I've been meaning to read but haven't gotten around to. I'm going to try to build them into my reading for 2017 by reading a book by one of these authors each month. If you have recommendations of books by any of these authors, I'm all ears.

Bill Bryson
Peter Ackroyd
Chris Bohjalian
Ken Follett
Frank Delaney
Edward Rutherfurd
Tatiana de Rosnay - January - Sarah's Key
Ian McEwan
Erik Larson
Sharyn McCrumb
David McCullough
Jennifer Donnelly

Wow, what a list... you have some great books to choose from! I'll look forward to see how your approach will work out. I'm really impressed with those of you who can read in order.

I've read some of Edward Rutherfurd's books. I would recommend Paris, and I have heard positives about Russka: The Novel of Russia but haven't read it myself.

Katie, I love your ideas: I definitely grabbed My Lady Jane from your two author ideas. The suggestions link and your master list I found very helpful for idea gathering and shortlisting, so thank you!

Week 1: A book from the Goodreads Choice Awards 2016

I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life by Ed Yong
Completed: January 5, 2017
★★★★


I actually had a really difficult time selecting a book for the first week! Not a good way to start the new year & the new reading challenge. I hadn't planned far enough ahead, so I didn't have books requested from the library. That left me with only books that were then available, which significantly depleted my options. I planned to read To The Bright Edge of the World, but then I realized upon starting it that it's epistolary, so I decided to save this for Week 39. Then I started The Two-Family House. Well, that book was written from multiple perspectives. Since that was Week 2's prompt, I decided to put it off a few days and find something else to read. So that's what led me to I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life.

This book was both fascinating and a little bit terrifying. We have this aversion to the idea that there are germs and microbes everywhere, so to understand how much they're a part of everything around us and in us was a little unnerving. Like what happens if we don't have all the microbes we need? What are the effects of tampering with the microbiota? I feel a little anxious with these questions. Reading this book, I can never go back to ignorance. I did learn that having a dog really increases the microbial diversity in your house, which is a good thing. That made me feel pretty good about our decision to have pets. This was a really interesting read, and now it makes me want to pick up Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ.

I am planning on reading I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life for week 17, a book with illustrations. I am really looking forward to it. I am a biologist, so it's not new to me that we live in symbiosis with a multitude of microbes. I'm glad you liked it, it's good to have info on what people think of books.

Anna, I hope you enjoy it! It was very readable.

Week 2: A book with at least 2 perspectives (multiple points of view)
The Two-Family House by Lynda Cohen Loigman
Completed: January 6, 2017
★★★★


Though I originally picked this for Week 1, when I saw that it was written from multiple perspectives, I thought it would be perfect for this week instead. This is the story of 2 brothers and their families who live upstairs and downstairs in the same house in the mid-twentieth century. There is a moment between the 2 wives that changes everything for them and their families, and the book is about events leading up to and following that pivotal moment and how it affected the families.

I flew through this book. It was extremely emotional, and I think the author did an excellent job capturing the motivations and points of views and voices of all the characters, men, women, adult & child. I also listened to the audiobook version, and the narrators were great at Brooklyn accents, which I enjoyed.

Week 3: A book you meant to read in 2016
Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Completed: January 14, 2017
★★★★


For this category, I decided to pick a book I had started reading in 2016, but didn't finish. I was not feeling much in the mood to pick up any of the books that I'd started last year, so unenthusiastically, I chose Tender Is the Night. Starting in 2016, I try to read 2 classics per month, so that I can catch up on all that reading I should have already done as an English Literature major. When I tried this book last fall, I just wasn't feeling it. When I picked it up this time, it was a completely different experience.

I definitely enjoyed this one more than This Side of Paradise, though of course it can't hold a candle to The Great Gatsby. But then again, Gatsby is my second favorite book of all time, so not much compares. But I could see that this was a more structured novel than Paradise. After having read a lot about the Gatsbys, I can see a lot of autobiographical elements in this novel, and some strange parallels to Gatsby. I'm definitely glad I went back to it.

Week 4: A title that doesn't contain the letter "E"
TransAtlantic by Colum McCann
Completed: January 18, 2017
★★★★


When this category was chosen, I thought it would be really fun to select a book. I knew there were plenty of books I wanted to read without Es in the title. And then it came time for me to pick a book. And I really struggled with finding something I was in the mood to read. I wanted to pick a book whose title had more than one word because I wanted to make it more challenging for whatever reason, but when I came upon this one, it was what I felt like reading. I'd been intending to read it for a few years now, so I'm glad this prompt gave me the push to pick it.

This book tells the story of 3 historical transatlantic journeys from North America to Ireland. The first half sets the groundwork of what was happening in the world between America & Ireland in the last 150 years, and then the second half tells the story of a family, generations of women against that historical & political backdrop. It was very interesting structurally because in some ways the structure was extremely rigid and the first half didn't entirely flow with the second half, but the writing was exquisite, especially the section about Senator Mitchell's trip to Belfast in 1998 to negotiate peace with the UK & Ireland. Highly recommended.

Week 5: A historical fiction
Newton and Polly: A Novel of Amazing Grace by Jody Hedlund
Completed: January 18, 2017
★★★★


I read a lot of historical fiction. It's one of my favorite genres. I'd had this book on reserve at the library for months. It took forever to come in. But it happened to come in for the time I needed a historical fiction, so I was able to fit a book I was planning to read anyway into the challenge.

This book is a historical romance about the early years of John Newton, the man who wrote the song Amazing Grace. The story was interesting, a very plot driven book. I might be most pleased with the author's note at the end of the book, because she tells her readers that so much of what's in the book is based on fact. It led me to add John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace to my TBR, so I can take a nonfiction look at his life. I think the author was very successful at making her characters likable and feel true to life, even when they were making poor decisions.

Week 6: A book being released as a movie in 2017
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann
Completed: January 22, 2017
★★★


I was not excited about this category. It's not because I don't like book to movie adaptations, it's just I looked at the list of what was coming out in 2017 & didn't see anything that really interested me. And then I have to fill this prompt twice, since it's also in the PopSugar Reading Challenge. But I know that as time goes on, more movies will come up that will have books that interest me. This book has actually been on my TBR for over a year. Without this prompt, I don't know when I would've read it.

I really enjoy reading about historical events & times that I know nothing about. I'd never heard of the early twentieth century explorer Percy Fawcett. It was interesting to learn about his unsolved mystery, and interesting slash terrifying to learn about how deadly the Amazon Rain Forest is.

Week 7: A book with an animal on the cover or in the title
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
Completed: January 25, 2017
★★★★


I discovered this book right at the beginning of the year & was lucky to check it out from the library without having to be on a wait list. The cover is gorgeous. The plot seemed compelling. And it already seems to be everywhere and on everyone's TBR. And then I realized that I could use it for Week 7, which felt forever away. So I had to wait 2 weeks to read this. And it was a difficult wait.

This book is beautifully written. It feels like an authentic fairytale, not a new release. The tone of the prose is perfect for what the book is. I loved the world of cold, remote northern Russia that the author created. I wonder how much of the story is Arden's own, and how much is a reimagining of an existing fairytale. I recognized the bear character, I recognized the references to East of the Sun, West of the Moon, but it was still new to me. Arden has stated that this is the first of a trilogy, so it will be interesting to see where she goes from here.

Week 8: A book written by a person of color
Human Acts by Han Kang
Completed: January 26, 2017
★★★★★


I am doing the Around the World Reading Challenge to read books set in all countries of the world. Where I can, I like to read books by people from those countries, so that I can take what I'm reading as more authentic. I chose Human Acts for South Korea. I already had it from the library and when I got to this prompt, it was an easy fit.

This is my first 5 star book of the challenge. It is beautiful (even in translation), important, and has an exciting structure. This short, compact book is about the events of the Gwangju Uprising in South Korea in 1980 and how those events have continued to have an impact on the people of that area up to the present time, including the author. The author puts herself into the end of the novel in a brilliant way. She plays with points of view and ways to tell a story. The more I think about it, the more excellent I think it is. I'm definitely interested to read The Vegetarian now.

Week 9: A book in the middle of your To Be Read list
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondō
Completed: January 27, 2017
★★★★


My TBR is always growing, so I waited until I finished my book for Week 8 to figure out what I should read for Week 9. At the finish of Human Acts, I had 474 books on my TBR, so book 237 was the middle of my TBR. I decided to pick a book from the range of 227-247, ten books before and ten books after the middle book. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing was in that range. Since I've decided to do the minimalist challenge during the month of February (get rid of one thing on the first, 2 on the second, 3 on the third through the end of the month), this seemed like a good time to finally read this book.

I listed to this one on audiobook. It's a short book, and since I listen to audiobooks at 2x speed, it was only about 2 and a half hours of listening time. But I listened to it straight through, and I spent the whole time I listened cleaning and organizing. Though there were parts of the book that were strange, I think particularly to a western person, like considering your possessions as "alive" or at least somewhat sentient, the tenor of the book was so optimistic that it made me feel energized to better myself and tidy my life. We'll see how I feel about it when I actually try to implement it though.

Week 10: A dual timeline novel
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
Completed: January 30, 2017
★★★


This year I made a list of authors that I've been meaning to read for ages with the goal that I would read them all this year. I put 12 authors on the list and decided to read one a month. January was coming to a close and I hadn't picked one of the authors yet. Tatiana de Rosnay was on my list, and when I saw that Sarah's Key took place in 1942 and 2002, I knew it was perfect for this prompt and for my author goal.

I was not impressed with this book. I loved the historical timeline, 1942 Paris and the story of the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup; it was a historical event I've never heard of, and I love reading books that introduce me to history that's new to me. That timeline contained an event so chilling that I don't know if it will ever leave me. I found the 2002 timeline poorly done. The author does a lot of telling about emotions and relationships instead of showing events and dialogue that would convey that information to the reader. I found the wrapup to the novel cheesy, which was a letdown when the 1942 timeline was so strong.

Week 11: A category from another challenge
Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy by Cathy O'Neil
Completed: February 1, 2017
★★★★


I consider myself a "purist" when it comes to reading challenges, as in, I sometimes tend to make things more difficult. For this prompt, my intention was to pick a category that interested me & then look for a book that fit that category. I wanted to choose a category from the Book Riot challenge since it's not one that I'm participating in, and I didn't want to double up on a challenge category I'm already doing. I intended to use the category "A book about sports." But I had a lot of books out from the library that I needed to read, so I decided to see if this book fit any of the Book Riot Read Harder challenge prompts. And it fit the "Read a nonfiction book about technology" category, so for this one, I fit the category to the book.

This book was both eye opening and kind of scary. Data can be manipulated for good and ill. Of course the manipulation is always good for someone, but this book focuses on how big data can be used to benefit corporations at the expense of individuals. It kind of made me want to go all Ron Swanson and get off the grid. It's like, of course I know your information is out there and used, but the way it's used can really screw up your life sometimes.

Week 12: A book based on a myth
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
Completed: February 13, 2017
★★★★★


This is one of the books that has been on my TBR the longest. I chose it for this category because it coincided with one of the prompts in my Seasonal Reading Challenge group: a book from the Popular Ancient Books list on Goodreads.

I was kind of blown away by this short little book. This is a reimagining of The Odyssey from Penelope's point of view. But it also includes the point of view of her 12 maids. They tell different stories, both of which are different from the story told in the Odyssey. This book does a lot with storytelling, perspective, unreliable narration, and even interprets the story from an anthropological standpoint, which I found brilliant.

Week 13: A book recommended by one of your favorite authors
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Completed: February 18, 2017
★★★★


I struggled with this category. William Faulkner and F. Scott Fitzgerald are my favorite authors. I don't really have any contemporary authors that I consider favorites, so I have no one currently making recommendations. I did some research to see if I could find any documented recommendations from Faulkner or Fitzgerald. For Faulkner, I found a transcript of student questions from his time at UVA when a student asked him his favorite books. For Fitzgerald, I found a list he made in 1936 of 22 essential books. One of the books on Fitzgerald's list was War and Peace. Meanwhile, at the beginning of January, I joined a buddy read for War and Peace and have been plodding along ever since. As I got near the end, I realized this was a perfect fit for this prompt.

Let's be honest, it doesn't really matter whether I loved or hated this book. What matters is that I finished it, and for the rest of forever, I can say, "I read War and Peace." It's almost 1400 pages. It's so sweeping in scope. It's part personal history, part history of the Russian involvement in the Napoleonic Wars, part soap opera & part philosophical treatise on historical causes. There were parts I loved, parts that were compelling & exciting, and parts that I really slogged through. I thought the end was very strange, but the thing that's most important is I'M DONE. I read it & now I can move on to other, more reasonably lengthed books.

Week 14: A book with a strong female character
American Street by Ibi Zoboi
Completed: February 27, 2017
★★★★★


I wasn't very excited about this category because I like my categories to be pretty straight forward, to have books that definitely meet the challenge. For me, asking for a "strong female character" is so subjective because there are so many ways a female can be strong, and I wasn't sure what kind of strong I wanted to go for. I originally was going to read a book called Three Strong Women because there was no way it could not meet the topic. I made it about a third of the way through the book before I decided I wasn't feeling it. I slotted American Street into this topic after reading it & seeing how strong the main character was in moving from Haiti to Detroit and doing anything she could to help her family.

This was an excellent book. I was originally drawn in by the beautiful cover, and then I was hooked by the characters and the combination of Haitian and Detroit culture.

Week 15: A book written or set in Scandinavia
The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well by Meik Wiking
Completed: March 4, 2017
★★★


I am fascinated by Scandinavia. I read a few books about Scandinavian culture last year, which is where I first heard about Hygge, so when I saw this new release it seemed like the perfect choice for this topic.

This book was Scandinavian through and through. It was beautiful and graphic and kind of reminded me of something I'd see in IKEA. It was definitely a fun book to look at, but parts of it felt a little pointless and repetitive.

Week 16: A mystery
Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris
Completed: March 4, 2017
★★★★


I don't prefer to read mysteries. I really wanted to pick a true mystery, but there wasn't anything that stuck out for me. Mystery and thriller go so hand in hand that I allowed myself to choose a thriller instead of a mystery because it still counts, right?

I flew through this book. What was so interesting about this thriller to me is that you find out almost immediately what the conflict is. You find out who the bad guy is and why. Even though you know all of this almost from the start, it doesn't take away from the novel at all. You spend the entire novel stressed about how this conflict will be resolved. It's fast paced and terrifying because you think, what if this had been my life. And the end, the very last few lines are just perfect.

Yea I agree that book was great! But I love a good mystery/ thriller once in a while!! This one held my interest to the very end!

Week 17: A book with illustrations
Feminist Fight Club: An Office Survival Manual for a Sexist Workplace by Jessica Bennett
Completed: March 10, 2017
★★★


I stumbled across this book at the new release table at my local library. I'd never heard of it before, but it was graphic, had lists & illustrations, and working in a male-dominated office environment, I figured I might just learn a thing or two. I originally intended to read it for the PopSugar challenge topic A book with career advice. It probably would have been better to leave it as the option for that topic because it's way easier to find a book with illustrations than a book with career advice, but I'm prioritizing the ATY challenge & I was reading this book when I got to this topic, so I decided to use it here.

The beginning of this book seemed strange to me, but the more I read, the more I realized there were some really great points and advice. There was a section about different types of male coworkers that antagonize women in the workplace, whether intentionally or inadvertently. There was also a section about behaviors that women employ that can hinder them at work. This was probably the most interesting section for me. One of the behaviors pointed out was apologizing way more than is necessary & way more than men do (eg. Sorry, but can you just...); another was sitting curled up with our feet under us or our arms crossed so we take up much less physical space than men. These behaviors were really eye-opening because I saw that I did a number of them. The book also has a section on how to negotiate. I think reading this was very valuable because I noticed that I changed some of my behaviors based on what I read. And with the illustrations, it's also fun and playful.

Week 18: A really long book
An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
Completed: March 21, 2017
★★★★


I have a goal to read 2 classics per month, so I knew that for my long book I wanted to choose a classic because there are many long options. I felt like An American Tragedy just kept coming up for me. The title was familiar, but I didn't know the story & I'd never seen the movie adaptation, but I was seeing people in the group leave good reviews of it. And then I read A Northern Light, which was based on the true events that inspired this novel. A Northern Light didn't focus as much on the story as I hoped--it was kind of a side plot in my opinion--so I decided that reading this book would give me a better retelling of the story.

I had a really hard time wanting to read this at points because I couldn't stand the characters. I just wanted to take them by the shoulders & shake them while yelling, "You are making a HORRIBLE decision." This happened multiple times, but once I got past that impulse, I really enjoyed the book. Though close to 900 pages, it read quickly. Now I'm even more interested to research the events that inspired the story.

Week 19: A New York Times best-seller
The Magnolia Story by Chip Gaines & Joanna Gaines
Completed: March 27, 2017
★★★★


I decided to read a book that was currently on the New York Times Bestseller list. I have enjoyed watching Fixer Upper for a few years, but I have had a hard time watching it lately. Whenever I watch it, I think, "Are Chip and Jo really like this? Does he really do all that work? Do they really incorporate their family into their work? Do they get along this well? Is Chip really that goofy? Does is get on Joanna's nerves?" I was interested in what kind of insight the book would give me about the couple & as a NYT bestseller, it fit this topic.

I feel like this book answered all of my questions and more. Of course the Gaines family is just a family going through life the way every family does. They are not perfect; they are not some super couple, but this book did show me that they live their life by seeking to follow God and put their family first, and that in doing that, miracles follow. I found the story of people who truly love, but who struggle and work and pray & try to live their lives the best way they know how.

Week 20: A book that you've owned for a while but haven't gotten around to reading
On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Completed: June 3, 2017
★★★★


When I was a child, my aunts gave me the boxed set of the Little House on the Prairie series. It's been over twenty years since I received them, and I only made it through the first 3 books. I tried many times to read the series and Little House in the Big Woods is a well worn book, but I rarely got much further. This prompt immediately brought that book series to mind. If I was going to read a book that had been on my shelf for a while, I wanted to read the book that had been there the longest, and that's Little House. Since I read the first 3 as a kid, On the Banks of Plum Creek was the book for this prompt.

I'd never really had a desire to read the Little House series. Obviously. So I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. This book is especially starting to get good because there's a story line; it's not just vignettes about life in the wilderness.

Week 21: A book that is a continuation of a book you've already read
By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Completed: June 3, 2017
★★★★


I read this category a book that's a continuation of a book you read in a previous year. Since I read the first three books of the series as a child, for me it meets the intent of that as well as being the continuation of the book I finished earlier in the day.

I'm steamrolling through the Little House series. I finished this one the same day as the previous book. I'm kind of annoyed with myself for waiting so long to enjoy this series. I guess it's a classic for a reason.

Week 22: A book by an author you haven't read before
Almost Adulting: All You Need to Know to Get It Together by Arden Rose
Completed: June 5, 2017
★


A significant number of the books I read each year are by authors I've never read before, so this topic was kind of a free read for me. I just chose the book I had up next on the docket.

I think this is only the second book I've ever rated as one star. I am not the target demographic for this book, so maybe it's unfair for me to rate it so poorly. As a person just venturing into my 30s, 10 years into my career, with a house, a spouse & pets, I feel like I'm just starting to adult & still find adulting rather intimidating at times. So I thought this would be a fun & humorous book. But I should've researched more before I started. This book was written by a 21-year-old YouTube star and was written for people just out of high school, in college, or in their extremely early 20s. I should've stopped 5 minutes in, but it was such a short book, I thought I'd just finish it. But I must be old now, because I didn't find any value in the author's views on interior decorating, sex, or meeting people on the internet. Apparently I want a humorous book about the struggles of adulting for those who are actually adults. Does such a thing exist?

Week 23: A book from the BBC "The Big Read" list
Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne
Completed: June 30, 2017
★★★★


I looked at this list as an opportunity to read a classic. There were many interesting options on the list. But since I'm reading the topics in order, when this topic came up, I just wasn't feeling it. I was also drawing toward the end of the month of June, and I needed a second classic to meet by 2 classics per month goal. So I decided on Winnie-the-Pooh because it's short and a children's classic and lighthearted and I could finish it in one day.

It was a delightful read. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing style. I grew up watching the animated movie version, and I was quite pleased to see how closely it follows this book. Winnie-the-Pooh was very trendy when I was in middle school & I had many Pooh themed items. It's nice to know that my love back then was warranted because the literature is great.

Week 24: A book written by at least two authors
The Royal We by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan
Completed: July 6, 2017
★★★


I was in such a reading slump; I wanted to read something that would be fun. I couldn't find anything that interested me, especially not something that was interesting & met my next challenge prompt, a book with 2 authors. I tried 3 other books for this topic, but I just couldn't get into any of them. But then I remembered that The Royal We had 2 authors & that some friends of mine had rated it highly.

This book was what I needed to get me out of my reading slump. Though it is glorified fan fiction of William & Kate's love story (which is just weird, right?), it was still so much fun to read. I mean, it wasn't great literature or anything, but it was fun. It was light; it was great summer reading.

Week 25: A book about a famous historical figure
The Golden Lad: The Haunting Story of Quentin and Theodore Roosevelt by Eric Burns
Completed: July 10, 2017
★★★


This topic gave me a choice: did I want fiction or nonfiction? I knew I wanted to read nonfiction, but I was having a hard time picking out who I wanted to read about. I settled on Theodore Roosevelt because he's a favorite of my sister & me. And by favorite I mean he was such an interesting character.

It was fun to read about TR and learn more about his life. I thought the things I already knew about him were crazy, but it turns out he did all sorts of other crazy things. This book focuses on his role as a father and how his love for his children impacted all he did.

Week 26: An adventure book
The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey by Candice Millard
Completed: July 15, 2017
★★★★


I planned to read an adventure classic, but after reading The Golden Lad: The Haunting Story of Quentin and Theodore Roosevelt and learning that Theodore Roosevelt had gone on an expedition of an uncharted river in the Amazon rain forest, I knew that was just the kind of adventure I wanted to learn more about. And luckily there was a book dedicated to this adventure.

This story is crazy unreal; why have I never learned about this before? An ex-president's crazy adventure into the center of the world's deadliest forest to chart the path of an unknown river, the River of Doubt, and how he almost died in the wild. Oh, you had never heard of that either? Crazy right? It was so interesting. I recommend it just for the craziness factor.

Week 27: A book by one of your favorite authors
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Completed: July 26, 2017
★★★★★


My favorite author is William Faulkner. I intended to read a book by him that I'd never read before, but the one I wanted to read (Sanctuary) wasn't available at the library. I tried to read The Reivers, but wasn't much in the mood for a comedy. I had my next 4 books all lined up & needed to finish them by the end of July to meet one of my other challenge requirements, so in the end I decided to turn to As I Lay Dying because it was the book that originally made me love Faulkner & it's been 10 years since I read it & I knew it would be a quick read.

This book is just perfect to me. I love Faulkner's crazy, rambling, out there style. I think his words are beautiful; the way he constructs is mesmerizing, and I just love a crazy, devastating, Southern Gothic.

Week 28: A non-fiction book
Asteroid Hunters by Carrie Nugent
Completed: July 27, 2017
★★★


I read plenty of nonfiction; it's one of my favorite genres to read actually. This topic wasn't a challenge. I just used a book I would've chosen to read at the time anyway.

This was a short and readable book, interesting and very introductory. I enjoyed the length, but at the same time, I wanted more from the book, so I guess I'm the one with the problem for wanting to have my cake & eat it too. I really enjoy learning about space, but I can never seem to find a book that gives me the right level of detail or matches my interest level. It's happened 3 or 4 times with space books over the past year.

Week 29: A book published outside the 4 major publishing houses
Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America by Michael Ruhlman
Completed: July 27, 2017
★★★★★


This was a hard category for me because it required me to not just look at a book's title/cover or read the book to determine if it met the category. I had to make a concerted effort to check the publication information, which isn't something I normally do. As this topic was drawing closer, I just started checking every book I had out from the library to see if any of them fit this category. And luckily this one did.

This is exactly the kind of book I want to read. I love food; I love reading about food. This book made such a pedestrian thing as a grocery store so fascinating and intricate. This book includes a history of the grocery store in America, but it's really about the business of running a grocery store today, how food is sourced, stored, marketed, displayed, sold & eaten. This was really an ode to the grocery store, a celebration of what it does and can provide, and it gave me all sorts of information I never knew I was dying to know. Great read.

Week 30: A book from Goodreads Top 100 YA Books
My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick
Completed: July 27, 2017
★★★


I read a decent amount of YA fiction. Little Women was on this list, and I told myself I should read that. But I just dread reading it; I've tried it a few times, and I find it so dull. So I picked a fun one that has been on my radar for a while. Something about the cover and book blurb reminded me of Kasie West, who is my go to for sweet YA romance.

This was an easy YA romance with extremely likable main characters. When I most enjoyed about this book is that the characters weren't ridiculous teenagers whose choices made absolutely no sense just for the sake of the book having conflict, which is what I feel often happens in YA romance. The conflict was real and external to the relationship, but central to the book because of how the stress of that conflict affected the romantic relationship. I really appreciated the maturity of that plot. For that reason, I'd definitely recommend it to YA romance readers.

Week 31: A book from a sub-genre of your favorite genre
The Ballad of Frankie Silver by Sharyn McCrumb
Completed: July 29, 2017
★★★★


I have a number of favorite genres, but one that I really love is Southern literature. I find southern culture and history extremely fascinating. I planned to read a Southern Gothic for this prompt, but I had Sharyn McCrumb as one of my authors to read this year, and this book falls into the Appalachian literature genre, which seemed like a fun subgenre of Southern literature to explore. I've been wanting to read one of McCrumb's Ballad Series for a few years, and though this wasn't my number one choice from the series to read, this was the one that was available at the library.

The book series is based on different southern folk ballads. I absolutely love that idea. Each book tells the story from one of these songs. I love that McCrumb is bringing these ballads to life. One of my favorite things about Southern lit is the sense of place; Southern literature is always atmospheric to the point that the setting almost functions as both a character and a theme. This book was no different. Though I don't usually read cop books, this was a great exception, and I look forward to checking out other books in the series.

Week 32: A book with a long title
The Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan
Completed: August 6, 2017
★★★★


I just stumbled across this book while searching for library books and thought, hey, this looks like it could be interesting & teach me something new. Only after I started reading it did I think, hey this has a long title & is a perfect fit for this topic.

Some things just make you so distraught with humanity, and this book was one of those things for me. I was kind of in a constant state of panic reading this book as I learned about everything humans have done to destroy the Great Lakes ecosystem. I learned so much about canals and locks, ballast water, marine life and Great Lakes history that I never would have guessed I'd be interested in, but I was. Really, really fascinating, if disheartening, read.

Week 33: A magical realism novel
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
Completed: August 21, 2017
★★★★


When I think magical realism, I think Gabriel García Márquez. I knew from the start I wanted to read a Márquez novel for this prompt, so when Bryony suggested One Hundred Years of Solitude as a buddy read to coincide with when I needed to complete this topic, the decision was an easy choice.

Though I certainly didn't love everything about this book, the writing was beautiful, like tall tails where the smallest detail came up again much later and proved to be of extreme importance. This book was beautifully cyclical, which made it difficult to read at times because all the characters had the same name and did equally outlandish things, but the ending was exquisite. It was really perfect. And sometimes for me, an exquisite ending awards a book an extra star. This was one of those cases.