Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

In the 2016 challenge, I found the main list got confusing the more I added books and edited with strikethroughs as I finished books. So, I am going to go by quarter year (in comments below) where I add the books I've read to the quarter, and delete them from the main list.

This way, the main list stays clean, and the shorter "quarter" lists will be less confusing to scroll through when I'm editing.

Sheesh. Does that even make sense?

2. A book with at least 2 perspectives (multiple points of view)
Cranford OR Angle of Repose?

4. A title that doesn't contain the letter "E"
Lord Jim or Nostromo by J Conrad?

19. A New York Times best-seller
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974)

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

37. A book you choose randomly

44. A recommendation from "What Should I Read Next" (link)
The Witch's Daughter in answer to A Discovery of Witches


From 2016
54 (21.) A book from the Goodreads Recommendations page

55 (33.) The 16th book on your TBR

I was doing so well this year until classes started this fall! So many books!!!

Please disregard this gobble-dee-gook, it's my sad attempt at reminding myself of reading priorities! My quarterly posts start after this!

Joseph Boyden - Seven Matches for release in 2017

2017 PRIORITIES:
Reapers of the Dust: A Prairie Chronicle UofM
We'll Meet Again in Heaven: Germans in the Soviet Union Write Their Dakota Relatives 1925-1937
Winter Study
Clermont
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex
The Once and Future King
The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine

Read some Rudyard Kipling
Sirens of Titan

And these, but I don't know how to fit them in.
The Twelve Chairs, Ilya Ilf (at uofM)
Life and Fate
Resurrection
The Secret Speech
The Name of the Wind

Trying to prioritize:
Books that I want to read, although I realize I won't get to them all this year.

Mega-classics (5)
Middlemarch - George Elliot
Dr. Zhivago - Boris Pasternak

Author - First (haven't read before) (5)
Bleak House - Charles Dickens
✅Patrick Rothfuss
In a Glass Darkly
✅Agatha Christie

Author - More (5)
Pnin - Vladimir Nabokov
Sea Wolf - Jack London

World Books (5)

Sci-Fi (5)
Caves of Steel - Isaac Asimov

Film (5)
Red Dragon
Daddy Long Legs

First quarter: I should be reading 13 books a quarter!

January: 9 read!
✅22. by an author I haven't read before : The Wolf Road
✅1. A book from the Goodreads Choice Awards 2016
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts 1 & 2
✅39. An epistolary fiction
The Martian by Andy Weir
✅11. from another challenge (pop sugar 2016: a book you can read in a day! The Pearl
✅32. A book with a long title (5+ words, excluding subtitle)
Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show
✅7. A book with an animal on the cover or in the title The Afterlife of Birds
✅12. A book based on a myth The Riddle-Master of Hed
✅29. A book published outside the 4 major publishing houses (Simon & Schuster; HarperCollins; Penguin Random House; Hachette Livre) - check all the editions We'll Meet Again in Heaven: Germans in the Soviet Union Write Their Dakota Relatives 1925-1937
✅36. A Hugo Award winner or nominee (link) The Graveyard Book

February:
✅40. A book published in 2017 The Sleepwalker
✅16 a mystery And Then There Were None
✅18. A really long book (600+ pages) By Gaslight

March!
✅41. A book with an unreliable narrator All the Missing Girls
✅30. A book from Goodreads Top 100 YA Books The Lightning Thief
✅21. A book that is a continuation of a book you've already read The Witch in the Wood
✅28. A non-fiction The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work

2016 Challenge Read:
✅53 The highest rated on your TBR The Name of the Wind

SIDE READS
1st side read of the year: Heir of Sea and Fire by Patricia A. McKillip
2nd side read: Harpist in the Wind (same author).
3rd The Lost Property Office
4th El Deafo

Second quarter (reserved)

April!
✅38. A novel inspired by a work of classic literature Miranda and Caliban

May
✅51. A collection (e.g. essays, short stories, poetry, plays) For the Health of the Land: Previously Unpublished Essays And Other Writings
✅8. A book written by a person of colour Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement
✅47. A past suggestion that didn't win (link)
The Hero's Walk

June
✅15. A book written or set in Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland) the girl who played with fire

SIDE READS
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
(I was positive this was for one of my categories! oops!)

Third quarter (reserved)

July
✅17. A book with illustrations A Monster Calls
✅5. A historical fiction A Century of November

August
✅14. A book with a strong female character Girl in the Blue Coat
✅26. An adventure book The Revenant
✅33. A magical realism novel Jitterbug Perfume
✅10. A dual-timeline novel The House Between Tides

From the 2016 list: 56 (34.) A book about mental illness
✅OCDaniel


September

Fourth quarter (reserved)

October


November
✅31. The Small Hand and Dolly by Susan Hill
✔️49. A book from someone else's bookshelf Broken Circle: The Dark Legacy of Indian Residential Schools: A Memoir
✔️52 A book set in a fictional location.The Left Hand of Darkness


December!
✅45. A book with a one-word title Landline by Rainbow Powell
✅. A book in the middle of your To Be Read list
The Tales of Beedle the Bard
✅. A book being released as a movie in 2017 - All the bright places
✅25. A book about a famous historical figure The Prestige
✅. A book you meant to read in 2016
The Monk
✅34. book set in or by an author from the Southern Hemisphere
They're a Weird Mob
✅43. A book with a chilling atmosphere (scary, unsettling, cold)Red Spectres: Russian Gothic Tales from the Twentieth Century
✅52. A Penguin Modern Classic - any edition
The Red Pony - Steinbeck
✅35. A book where one of the main characters is royalty
The Forever Queen
✅46. A time travel novel
The Time Machine
✅42. A best book of the 21st century (so far)
A Discovery of Witches
✅23. A book from the BBC "The Big Read" list (link)
A Christmas Carol
✅24. A book written by at least two authors
The Frozen Deep
✅13. A book recommended by one of your favourite authors
Fierce Kingdom recommended by Chris Bohjalian
✅27. A book by one of your favourite authors
A Man Called Ove
✅48. A banned book
Cujo

I'm thinking of adding The Winds of Winter to
3. A book you meant to read in 2016

Because really, it was on my list.
One can hope, right?


Right????

I would also like to add Winds of Winter but I am skeptical of GRRM...

I am raring to go!

I have my first three books lined up - not the ones I had planned/hoped for, but there you go!

My cousin's daughter insisted that I should read
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts 1 & 2. I wasn't planning to, but I now have her copy in hand.

Next up are two books I planned to read in 2016, but both became available too late at the library, so they got bumped to 2017:
Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show and The Wolf Road.

These three books are for
#1 A book from the GR choice awards,
#32. A book with a long title (5+ words, excluding subtitle)
and I haven't decided where Wolf Road will fit. I think it has to bump something else off my planned list... 7,14,15, or 22?

One book down. The rest won't be as quick!
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts 1 & 2

I grudgingly admit that I loved it. It's obvious that it isn't written by Rowling (can you picture Draco referring to something as vanilla?). It made me cry.

Reading Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show. Such a surprisingly good book to stumble upon.

Story five reminds me of why I loved the fantasy genre when I was younger. I did not want the story to end. I've never heard of these authors, besides OSC that is, must read a book by David Farland and see if a full length book is as good as the short.

And Story six: Tim Pratt.

From Wolf Road by Beth Lewis:
There's a thing that happens when life is snuffed out afore it's meant to. There's a silence that comes down on everything like a blanket. Happens for a mite when you take a rabbit out the snare, break its neck. There's a deeper silence when you take out your blade or pull the trigger on a moose or deer. Deepest silence for a child.

I am nearly done this book, and to the end I have not been able to get used to Elka's way of speaking. Despite that, I have really enjoyed the book. More than I expected to, especially since at the beginning I was annoyed by Elka's speaking. Some reviewers have said all the parts about the woods being slow, but as an outdoors person, I loved it.

I picked up The Martian from the library after seeing the movie yesterday. For category epistolary (39) or New York bestseller (19).
Two other books waiting for pickup at library as well!

I hope you're going to love the Martian! I haven't seen the movie, but I need to in order to complain on what they changed ;)

Sophie wrote: "I hope you're going to love the Martian! I haven't seen the movie, but I need to in order to complain on what they changed ;)"

I really, really liked it! I am glad that I saw the movie first, because the book just added details, whereas you will see the movie and pick apart all the bits they left out.

Don't you hate it when you have an awaited book in hand and you just don't feel like reading it? Once upon a time, when I was a pre-teen, I adored The Forgotten Beasts of Eld. When looking at books for 12. a book based on a myth, I came across the same author's Riddle-Master. It's actually a trilogy combined into one volume. After binge-reading Weir's The Martian, my brain does not want to switch gears and read a fantasy.

I had a pile of books to read (I thought) and now I think I have to return the trilogy to the library and maybe pick it up later this year.

Now I have to examine my list and decide on my next book!
(Currently reading Steinbeck's The Pearl but it's 90 pages long. That won't last long!)

for 12, a book based on a myth, I am readingThe Riddle-Master of Hed. I was originally going to read The Riddle-Master, but it turns out it's actually the whole trilogy in one book. Nope. I'll count those as three books, thanks.

And.... because I can never read only one book at a time (unless I binge-read something in one day or over a week-end), I am starting The Afterlife of Birds for

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

Being the science geek that I am, I was expecting something with more biological meat to it. What I was expecting was a book more like a book (whose name I can't remember) where the main female character was in a forensic profession... bah. I hate it when I can't remember.

Waiting to get We'll Meet Again in Heaven: Germans in the Soviet Union Write Their Dakota Relatives 1925-1937, a book I can't wait to get my hands on! It's out of print and it seems that it is only found in university libraries - mostly US ones. I'm taking advantage of my student status and getting it by interlibrary loan from the Cdn library in my city that AMAZINGLY has it. I am sure it will depress me, but the genealogist in me thinks this is an important book to read. It will be for:

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

I'm confused about this one

4. A title that doesn't contain the letter "E" winter study by Nevada Barr

...Is it a silent "E"? LOL sorry, I couldn't resist. Have fun reading, it looks like you have some great books on your list. I'm actually reading a Nevada Barr right now myself Endangered Species

Tracy wrote: "I'm confused about this one

4. A title that doesn't contain the letter "E" winter study by Nevada Barr

...Is it a silent "E"? LOL sorry, I couldn't resist. Have fun reading, it looks like you hav..."

That's so funny! I can't even count how many times i have looked at the list and missed that. I will blame it on the fact that i need reading glasses and am in denial about it. Or exhaustion! Thanks for catching it! Now i have to figure out what category that book will fit. I have read so many of her books, but I have taken a break from her - for quite a few years. I looked at the thread you created for Endangered Species: i don't think I've read it yet!

I just finished The Afterlife of Birds, and once I got over the fact that it was about a guy who likes animal bones and lacked anything really science-y, I really enjoyed it. Five stars

Finished:
12. A book based on a myth The Riddle-Master of Hed

I should really look up what myth it's based on. I found this in one of the suggested lists; McKillip wrote one of my childhood favourites and I was happy to read something else by her.

What's next? I have half a dozen books requested at the library and I have nothing new in hand!

Next in the wings, (when it arrives at the library):
36. A Hugo Award winner or nominee - The Graveyard Book

And...
1st side read of the year: Heir of Sea and Fire by Patricia A. McKillip
2nd side read: Harpist in the Wind (same author).

I hope you're going to like The Graveyard Book! I listened to the audiobook last year (which is amazing) and I loved it so much that I'm considering re-listening to it soon ;)

I am suddenly overrun by books.
I went to pick up the Graveyard Book today (Gaiman)
and discovered that The Sleepwalker was waiting for me as well.
Trying to finish up We'll Meet Again in Heaven: Germans in the Soviet Union Write Their Dakota Relatives 1925-1937 because I have to have it back at the library on Monday (the daily overdue charge is pretty hefty because it's a university interlibrary loan)

Got home and discovered that an Agatha Christie book arrived at the library for me as well, so I have back and get that one sometime this week-end. I haven't read anything by her yet! Can't remember the title for this one... might be a side read for me, because I don't see where it would fit in to a challenge category.

I'm excited so about these soon-to-be-read-by-me books!

I feel your pain. There are 8 books waiting for me at the library. Looking at the crystal ball the forecast is couch surfing and reading all next week. ;)

I'm a little surprised that I've already read 8 books and January isn't over yet! I guess I shouldn't be, because now I lug a book with me everywhere I go, and read even if I only have 10 minutes. I guess it adds up! Admittedly, none of them are door stops... but I AM waiting on two largish books from the library...

By Gaslight and The Name of The Wind.

The latter might end up being a side read because I don't know where to fit it in the challenge categories!!! The latter I am fitting in as a category from last year's challenge - since I didn't finish all 52 - category #53 this year, but (6.) from 2016's list:
The highest rated on your TBR
The Name of the Wind

D'oh!

Currently reading
The Graveyard Book and
The Sleepwalker

Both are quick reads, I expect to finish both by week's end.

For #36, I finished The Graveyard Book.

Amazing.

For #16 a mystery
I am reading And Then There Were None

I haven't read anything by Agatha Christie before, and I decided to read her for last year's challenge - as an author who writes under 2 names. I didn't get to her... and read something by another author instead.

It's a short book, and I've read good things about it.

My first big read of the year:

18. A really long book (600+ pages) By Gaslight

I won't be finishing this one in three days or less!

Ouf. I've read about 65% of By Gaslight. After reading a few dozen shorter books (the end of last year's challenge and the start of this challenge) it's hard to be patient with a longer book. It's good, but shouldn't I be done already?

Wide Sargasso Sea
by Jean Rhys
Read for:
56 (34.) A book about mental illness

If anyone has read this, please do tell.
It was mentioned in An artice in the NYT about libraries that i read his morning. I am on my phone so this was the easiest way to remind myself to add it to the list above later.

And now, i want to read Jane Eyre again.

I read it last year as part of a challenge for a book and its prequel. I have always loved Jane Eyre, so I was curious about this. I liked the book especially as a discussion over West Indies identity.

Kirsten *Make Margaret Atwood Fiction Again!" wrote: "I read it last year as part of a challenge for a book and its prequel. I have always loved Jane Eyre, so I was curious about this. I liked the book especially as a discussion over West Indies ident..."

Thanks. Several reviews I read were rants about her portrayal of Rochester and the disjointedness of her writing.

I am currently reading The Lightning Thief and am not in love with it. I can't tell what 12 year old me would have thought of it.

Finished All the Missing Girls yesterday, and my frustration with it overshadowed the story.

I am about to be overwhelmed with books again!

Hopefully I can finish The Lightning Thief tomorrow,
I am still trying to get through The Witch in the Wood
will probably max out my renewals of Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement

I wasn't thinking when I picked up For the Health of the Land: Previously Unpublished Essays And Other Writings
as a side read,
plus, I just got a notice that The Name of the Wind
is in transit to my library.

Yup, didn't mention The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work, did I?

Week-end end read-a-thon it is then! How much can I read in a week-end? I suppose I'm about to find out.

I managed to read The Lightning Thief and The Witch in the Wood this week-end. Eventually I will read the next book in both those series!

And, I bumped In A Glass Darkly (it's been on my tbr list for a while) to fit in For The Health of the Land as my book for
51. A collection (e.g. essays, short stories, poetry, plays)

I don't want to read too many side reads at this point in my challenge!

Next up is a book for last year's challenge:
From 2016
53 The highest rated on your TBR
The Name of the Wind

I have to remember NOT to include this on my bookshelf for this year. I requested it in November or December last year and it has taken me until now to get it from the library!!

38. A novel inspired by a work of classic literature
Just started Miranda and Caliban for this category.

It's based on Shakespeare's The Tempest

I read 16 challenge books this quarter!

I am really liking the way I've organized my challenge this year (borrowed from someone else!) Tracking books by quarter makes it easier for me, especially when I delete books from the main list as I go.

I read one book for one of my unfinished prompts from 2016's challenge and 4 side reads!

I was going to pick a favourite from this quarter but I can't! I've read so many good books this year!

I am nearly finished reading Miranda and Caliban and it makes me want to read The Tempest again: I can barely remember it. The author has done a beautiful job retelling the Shakespeare play as a novel! I will probably read more of her fiction in the future!

Wow. That's a lot of exclamation marks in my previous post.

LOL, I like exclamation marks (and emojis)!! :)
Great job on a good quarter!

I was doing so well, but now I'm stuck reading three books that I just can't seem to get through.
Still Reading
Walking with the Wind (John Lewis)
For the Health of the Land (Aldo Leopold)
and disappointingly, I am having trouble getting through
Norse Mythology (Neil Gaiman)

Will continue to slog through these so I can move onto something that'll grab my interest!!

Oh I am exactly the same, MJ! I'm stuck on a few and my mojo has stalled. Fingers crossed it's just a blip for you!

I finally, FINALLY finished
51. A collection (e.g. essays, short stories, poetry, plays) For the Health of the Land: Previously Unpublished Essays And Other Writings
I really liked it, but it wasn't an easy read.

Finally FINALLY finished
8 a book written by a person of colour - Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement

An incredible book. I knew pretty much nothing about the American civil rights movement, and did not know who John Lewis was. An incredible man, and an incredible story.

Tomorrow I am heading out to do remote fieldwork for two months. Hope I can keep up with the challenge!

I need to catch up!

For 47: a past suggestion that didn't win
A book that takes place in more than one country
The Hero's Walk

And for 17. A book with illustrations
A Monster Calls

Currently reading Jitterbug Perfume for
33. A magical realism novel

Started it a while ago, but had trouble getting into it. So many people in my field camp last summer read this one and liked it: that's the only reason I didn't abandon it. Halfway through and happy I stuck with it.

Next:
5 An historical fiction
A Century of November

14. A book with a strong female character
Girl in the Blue Coat

I wanted to read Dreaming In Cuban for this prompt, but Girl In The Blue Coat is on the reading list for I course I'm taking in fall. I don't think I'll finish the challenge, especially with all the side reads I've read (and need to read for classes). Alas, Dreaming In Cuban will have to wait.

That said, Girl In The Blue Coat was good, but there were parts that I had to read multiple times because the details were confusing and it wasn't written clearly.

I surprisingly managed to fit a book for
the 2016 list: 56 (34.) A book about mental illness
(I didn't quite finish it)
OCDaniel
I am not putting this on the 2017 shelf! I am just surprised that I even got to one of the prompts from last year.

A book about a boy with OCD. Very good in terms of understanding OCD, but the sub story was not believable.