Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

And suddenly, it's the last day of June! Halfway through 2020... congrats for making it this far!

Here's a thread to post your best books of the month! Let's get some great recommendations going.

Answer the following questions:

- Title
- Author
- Rating
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio)
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable)
- Brief reason why it was the best

Title - The Last Train to Key West
- Author - Chanel Cleeton
- Rating - 4 1/2 stars
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio) both Audio & Print book
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable) - #18 - A book by an author you've only read once before
- Brief reason why it was the best - The story of the book was good. The author's description of a place makes you feel like you are there. The audio was one of the best audio books I've ever listened to. There were 3 main characters, each was read by a different person.

Next Year in Havana was my favorite book of May.

- Title
The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives
- Author
Dashka Slater
- Rating
5 stars
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio)
Audiobook
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable)
A book inspired by a leading news story
- Brief reason why it was the best
It was aimed at young adults, and did a very good job for its' targeted audience. I really liked hearing both sides of the story. I listened to the free audiobook from Audiosync, and Robin Miles did a really great job with the narration.

Title
The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II
- Author
Svetlana Alexievich
- Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio)
🎧
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable)
42. Coveted prize in the world - Nobel Prize for Literature

- Brief reason why it was the best
It is the voices of the women. She has just organized them, given them cultural and historical context. The audio book has different readers giving it more depth.

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The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon, 5 stars.
I used this for the LGBTQ author or character - it has both, I think. Even though it is long and has lots of characters, nothing dragged. The characters were interesting and the multiple plot lines interwove nicely and tied up at the end. If you are sad that A Song of Ice and Fire hasn’t been finished, read this instead!

Wow. June was an unbelievable month of 5 star reading for me. I had 5 books.
In the Woods (Dublin Murder Squad #1) by Tana French.
ebook. Week # 41 A Mystery. I think it was the best because it kept me engaged. I usually don't read mysteries.
Between The World And Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Print. Week # 31 Book taken from today's headlines. Black Lives Matter. I read it 6/19/20 for Juneteenth. It was the best because it is timely. I liked that it was a letter to his son.
The Vanishing Half by Bret Bennett. ebook. Not for this challenge. I read it with the above book for the Juneteenth read-a-thon. I liked the story of the town & the twins.
The Overstory by Richard Powers. ebook. Not for this challenge. I like the way he introduced characters by working their story to fit with a tree. Then once the characters were introduced the story tied them all together trees and all. Great story. My favorite book of the year so far.
Finally, The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix. ebook. Not for this challenge. It is a horror story but not too over the top scary. The characters,especially the book club ones, are very well written. When you get mad at characters (the husbands) you know the book is doing its job.

I also liked The Priory of the Orange Tree, though I don't think it had to be so long. I think I ended up using it for fantasy, but it also counts for LGBTQ and for a book with witches.

Others I liked:
The Dutch House - Ann Patchett
Audio 4*
- I read it for one of the lists, I think 100 notable books - I listened to it narrated by Tom Hanks and he added so much to what was a rather slow story.

Virgil Wander - Leif Enger
Audio 5* - my favorite book of 2020 so far
I used it for the theme of survival even though that was a bit of a stretch. However in the first scene the main character plunges his car into a lake in the fog and barely survives, and the rest of the story flows from there. It is also about the survival of a quirky small town. I found it touching, funny, and thoughtful.

Fata Morgana - Steven Boyett
eBook - 4*
I used it for the 4 Horsemen prompt since it takes place in WWII. I got the book because it is about time travel, which I love. But most of it is about a bomber crew in WWII, not something I usually would read. However, the ingenuity and camaraderie of these Greatest Generation guys won me over. It's a modern book but the author did a great job with the vocabulary and mindset that these young men would have had.

Title: Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
Author: Bryan Stevenson
Rating: 5 Stars
Format: Audio
ATY Prompt you used it for: Not used, but it would work for a few different ones
Brief reason why it was the best: This is the book I can't stop thinking about. It was a hard listen because the United States justice system is just atrocious, but also, the storytelling and way the story was woven and narrated was so good. Highly recommend to everyone.

I had two five star ATY books Ruth is month, and I can’t really pick between them as they are so different.

- Title: I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer
- Author: Michelle McNamara
- Rating: 5 stars
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio): ebook
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable): 31
- Brief reason why it was the best: one of the best true crime books I’ve read

- Title: Gods of Jade and Shadow
- Author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
- Rating: 5 stars
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio): ebook
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable): 35
- Brief reason why it was the best: awesome setting, characters, and writing

I know I'm supposed to pick only 1, but I just couldn't do that this month.

Best Reread:
Title - Persuasion
Author - Jane Austen
Rating - 5 stars
Format - Paperback
ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable) N/A
Brief reason why it was the best - This is pretty much my favourite book of all time. And after a month where I read 2 retellings, one book about a Jane Austen society and watching Sanditon on BBC Canada, I just wanted to go back to the original.

Best Non-Fiction
Title - Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets
Author - David Simon
Rating - 5 stars
Format - Ebook
ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable) - A book related to time.
Brief reason why it was the best - There's a reason The Wire is one of the Best TV shows of all time. David Simon is a phenomenal writer.

Best Fiction
Title - Network Effect
Author - Martha Wells
Rating - 5 stars
Format - Ebook
ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable) 6. A book with a mode of transportation on the cover.

Brief reason why it was the best The Murderbot series is wonderful, and this is the first full length book. It deals with questions of identity and equality with a lovely dose of snark to go along with it.

I'm going to give my best book of the month of June to The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 2: Fandemonium. 5 stars, paperback.

I cheated a little and used this for the 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards prompt; 2019 had Vol 9 of this series nominated. I didn't want to rush through the series to get to vol 9, and vol 2 was nominated in 2015, so it felt fair to me.

I'm just really hooked on the world this has built up and the plot keeps me at the edge of my seat.

Verity by Colleen Hoover, 5 Stars, eBook, used for a different challenge for "A book I'd read on vacation."

Reason why it was the best? Great plot, it certainly held my interest, and very well written. Give it a try!

- Title: Becoming
- Author: Michelle Obama
- Rating: 5 stars!
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio): eBook
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable): 51. A book with an "-ing" word in the title
- Brief reason why it was the best: This woman has such an amazing story to tell, and she was able to tell it in such an engaging way. Right from the prologue, I knew that this was going to be good. Michelle Obama is so inspiring.

Title: Middlegame
Author:Seanan McGuire
Rating:5 stars
Format (Print, eBook, Audio):Print
ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable): A book with or about twins, for my rejects challenge
Brief reason why it was the best:I absolutely loved the writing style and the characters, and it had such an interesting premise.

- Title Take Me with You
- Author Catherine Ryan Hyde
- Rating 5 stars
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio) print
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable) A book by an author you've only read once before.
- Brief reason why it was the best In my rating of the books I read, it has to hit several points for me to give it a 5. It was a toss up this month between Take Me with You and Gold. I went with Take Me with You because even though they are both stories of hope, this one was more fun and less technical. I liked their adventures.

I had a good reading month, and this was hard to decide. I had 4 5 star and 2 4 star that I was considering for the "best" (so maybe those were really 5 stars?)

Title Clap When You Land
Author Elizabeth Acevedo
Rating 5 stars
Format (Print, eBook, Audio) audio
ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable) A book that can be read in a day (I didn't, but if I had started it on a weekend morning, easily could have)
Brief reason why it was the best Loved this on audio. Very good use of switching points of view between the two sisters who live very different lives and how they dealt with their grief.

- Title The Humans
- Author Matt Haig
- Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio) - Print
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable) - NA
- Brief reason why it was the best - I thought it was a creative and unique storyline and it was very well written

- Title: Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain
- Author: António R. Damásio
- Rating: 5 stars
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio): eBook
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable): A book with an emotion in the title
- Brief reason why it was the best: I loved mix of philosophy and neuroscience and it was almost perfectly balanced for me details-wise (I studied biomedical engineering and for a moment neurobiology, so I often find popular science books to have too little details, yet I'm not willing to read textbooks, finding book that is readable and goes into enough details always makes me happy)


- Title: Ghost on the Throne: The Death of Alexander the Great and the War for Crown and Empire
- Author: James Romm
- Rating: 5 stars
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio): ebook
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable): A history
- Brief reason why it was the best: It was like reading nonfiction game of thrones, seriously, there should be tv series made out of this story. I'm still angry/sad about my faves dying.

Virgil Wander
Author Leif Enger
Format Audiobook
Rating 5 stars
ATY prompt- a book with the theme of survival
Virgil almost dies in the first scene. Both he and his small town struggle to survive, but overall the book is heartwarming with a lot of humor. The audio was excellent.

- Title: Murder in Mesopotamia
- Author: Agatha Christie
- Rating: 4
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio): book
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable):
- Brief reason why it was the best: It's a well-plotted Agatha Christie, set in Iraq, probably in the 1930s.

Struggling to come up with just one. But since The Vanishing Half and Clap When You Land are bound to be everywhere I’ll go with Mr Loverman. It’s by Bernardino Evaristo of Girl, Woman Other fame and centres on a 70 year old Antiguan immigrant to Britain who - after much angst - comes out as gay. Barry is something of a lovable rogue - the phrase political correctness is not in his vocabulary- and I absolutely loved the tenderness of his relationship with Morris, his friend (and secret lover) since he was a teen.

- Title
The Holdout
- Author
Graham Moore
- Rating
4.5 stars
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio)
Print
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable)
None - side read
- Brief reason why it was the best
The reading experience was honestly like getting sucked into an episode of Law & Order but from the perspective of the jury. LOVED the dual timeline chapters. Lots of crazy plot twists!

- Title: Under the Udala Trees
- Author: Chinelo Okparanta
- Rating: 4 stars
- Format: eBook
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable): 49. A prompt from the list of suggestions that didn't win – A book nominated for the Lambda Literary Award (it won the award in 2016)
- Brief reason why it was the best: engrossing story about about a lesbian woman growing up during and after the Nigerian Civil War in the '60s/'70s

- Title: The Deep
- Author: Rivers Solomon
- Rating: 4 stars
- Format: eBook
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable): 9. A book that can be read in a day (this novella is only 176 pages)
- Brief reason why it was the best: This story was so unique! Based on a song by Clipping, the novella blends merpeople folklore with the African slave trade history into a poignant story of memory and identity, both at an individual level and as a people.

Title: The Dry
Author: Jane Harper
Rating: 5 Stars
Format (Print, eBook, Audio): eBook
ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable): Book set in the southern hemisphere
Brief reason why it was the best: I actually had a lot of 5 star reads in June, it was a good month. But I chose Jane Harper because she's become one of my new favorite authors. I read two of her books in June and hope to read her third in July. The Dry starts off the Aaron Falk series. Aaron is with the federal police of Australia and ends up investigating a murder in his hometown. Jane Harper's writing is quick, easy to follow, and gripping throughout. She regularly switches perspectives and time, which I usually hate, but it is so effortless and natural.

I want to share one nonfiction and one fiction.

Title: Dust Tracks on a Road
Author: Zora Neale Hurston
Rating: 4 stars
Format: Audio
ATY Prompt you used it for: Genre that starts with a letter in your name: Autobiography.
Brief reason why it was the best: Zora Neale Hurston lived a fascinating life and the language she uses to describe it is incredibly vivid.


Title: To Kill a Mockingbird
Author: Harper Lee
Rating: 5 stars
Format: Audio
ATY Prompt you used it for: A classic book you've always meant to read.
Brief reason why it was the best: I am so glad that I finally read this book. I think that telling the story from the child's point of view made it especially poignant.

Title A Thread of Grace
Author Mary Doria Russell
Rating 5-Stars
Format (Print, eBook, Audio) Print Print
Brief reason why it was the best Just when you think no one can tell you a World War II story you haven't already heard, Russell comes along and writes this marvelous story about Northern Italy during the War. Amazing.

- Title - Christy
- Author - Catherine Marshall
- Rating - 5 stars
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio) - Print
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable) - Could be used for a book between 400-600 pages, A book set in a rural or sparsely populated area, or historical fiction
- Brief reason why it was the best - This book stands the test of time for me. I first read it as a teenager, and probably once a decade since then. Each time I find new enjoyment.

Title
The Glass Hotel
Author
Emily St. John Mandel
Rating
5 starts
Format (Print, eBook, Audio)
eBook
ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable)
48. A book published in 2020
Brief reason why it was the best
I love the way she writes.

- Spinning Silver
- Naomi NovikAuthor
- 4 stars
- Print
- "-ing" word in the title
- I normally don't care for retellings, but this one was well done

- Title: So You Want to Talk About Race
- Author: Ijeoma Oluo
- Rating: 5 Stars
- Format: Audiobook
- ATY Prompt you used it for: Side Read
- Brief reason why it was the best: I thought this book was a great introduction to many different topics surrounding race. The last few chapters felt especially relevant during this time.