Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

While we all love reading new books, sometimes reading a book by an author you already know you love can be a comfort. This week, you are taking a look at your 2020 Read list and finding an author that you want to read more of. Maybe you're going back and reading that author's debut, or maybe you are lucky and that author has a new release. This is also a great time to continue on with a series! However you decide, I hope that you enjoy this book as much as you enjoyed the previous one!

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Suggestions:

This one is, of course, highly subjective. Take a stroll through your Read list on Goodreads and see if any authors jump out at you. You can also check out the listopia for ideas.

ATY Group Listopia

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Optional Questions:
1. What are you reading for this category?
2. What book did you previously read by this author? Which did you like more?
3. What authors do you recommend for people looking to read a few books by the same author?

This is one I'm going to wait to plan for; what if I read the most amazing book in the next two months??

I'm still plugging away with 2020 reading, but right now it looks like it's going to come down between Brandon Sanderson and Rebecca Roanhorse (I read some other great books but I've already read or am less interested in their other stuff).

For Sanderson, I read Mistborn: The Final Empire and The Well of Ascension and really enjoyed them. I'm likely to finish the trilogy by end of 2020, so I'd either pivot to The Way of Kings or continue the Mistborn story with The Alloy of Law.

For Roanhorse, since I highly doubt the sequel to Black Sun which I found so fun and fascinating will be ready come 20201, I'd read Trail of Lightning

But still hoping for some gems to discover in the next few weeks and then will decide!

I would have read One by One because I have been loving her this year but as I need it elsewhere I will be reading One Good Turn cos I loved Big Sky this year

So my favorite book this year was I'd Give Anything but I've already read everything Marisa de los Santos has written. So my runner-up at the moment is Taylor Jenkins Reid (I loved both Daisy Jones & The Six and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo), and I will choose between One True Loves and Forever, Interrupted. Unless, like others said, I read something in the next two months that changes my plan!

I think I'm going with Kingdom of the Wicked. I adore her Stalking the Ripper series.

I could also go with Transcendent Kingdom because I loved Homegoing, but, for some reason, I'm not really drawn to the description of this book. I'll have to see how 2021 turns out.

My favorite authors from this year have been: Robin Wall Kimmerer, Kiley Reid, C Pam Wang, Samantha Shannon, Becky Chambers, Chanel Miller, Rivers Solomon, Richard Wagamese, Annalee Newitz, Sue Monk Kidd,

I do have books by Kimmerer, Chambers, and Newitz on my TBR, so it will likely be one of these: Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses, The Galaxy, and the Ground Within: Wayfarers 4 or A Psalm for the Wild-BuiltFour Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age. (That last one I think I am using as one of the Past/Present/Future trio.)

Nancy, Taylor Jenkins Reid has a new book coming out in 2021! Malibu Rising! So you could use that instead of some of her backlog (I don't really like her older stuff as much as her newer writings).

I'll probably either read Transcendent Kingdom or The Nobleman's Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks for this prompt. Funny enough, both Homegoing and A Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue were rereads this year, one for book club and one for work. But it counts!

I might read something by Maggie O'Farrell (because I loved Hamnet) or James Smythe (because I loved I Still Dream). Or maybe The Galaxy, and the Ground Within (the fourth book in the series) or Noumenon Infinity (the second book in the series). Or perhaps Transcendent Kingdom, since Homegoing is my #1 Book of the Year (so far). I think I'm going to wait and see what all my options are at the end of the year before making a final decision on this prompt.

Susanna Clarke's Piranesi is one of my favorite books this year, so I'll use Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell for this category next year since I just got it on Audible.

The other options I considered are A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne since I read The Heart's Invisible Furies this year, or something by Octavia Butler since I'm starting the Patternmaster series this year and have enjoyed her other work I've read.

I have A Ladder to the Sky on my shortlist as well, Kristina.

Emily, I didn't know that! Malibu Rising sounds so good! And it also works for a book about siblings.

My best read was The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek Changed the way I saw my country and prejudice. So im thinking The Sisters of Glass Ferry or Liar's Bench I hope the author is as good in other books. looking forward to this prompt

So far, my best authors (who have other books that I'm interested in reading) have been Madeline Miller, Ted Chiang, Becky Chambers, and Sally Rooney. I'll almost certainly be reading The Song of Achilles next year, though I might choose it for the love story prompt. I also will almost definitely read Stories of Your Life and Others, but could also use that one for the short story prompt. So I might end up choosing A Closed and Common Orbit, just because I'm not as sure where else that one could go (though I'm sure it could fit somewhere.) I might read Conversations with Friends, but I'm not quite as interested in that one.

I'm a bit stuck on this one at the moment. Looking through my 5-star reads so far, I've either already read all of that author's books (Sally Rooney) or I'm not really interested in the ones I haven't read (John Boyne, Hallie Rubenhold, Jacqueline Woodson, Bernardine Evaristo, Michelle Obama).

We still have 2 months of the year to go so I'm hopeful a new favourite will emerge as I have some exciting books lined up.

My favorite authors so far and the 2021 book choice-
Yan Lianke: Lenin's Kisses
Jonathan Coe: Mr Wilder and Me
Andromeda Romano-Lax: The Detour
Fredrik Backman: Anxious People

We still have 2 more months to find some more favorites!

So far this year, the authors who have written books I've rated 4.5 or 5★ and who have other books I haven't read are:
Kelly Rimmer - The Secret Daughter or When I Lost You
Kayte Nunn - The Silk House or The Botanist's Daughter
Sophie Green - if she releases another book next year
Liz Byrski - about half a dozen options
Matthew Reilly - Temple, or I could start the Jack West, Jnr series with Seven Ancient Wonders
Michael Robotham - wherever I'm up to in the Joe O'Loughlin series
Neta Jackson - Derailed
Christine Dillon - Grace in the Desert

Kristina and Emily, I have sooo many thoughts on A Ladder to the Sky. Please start a book discussion once you compelete!

My favourite books of 2020 (so far!) have been:
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
The Final Empire
Firefly Lane
The Nightingale

so I'll read something by either Suzanne Collins, Brandon Sanderson or Kristin Hannah

5 of my best of 2020 authors don't have any more books left for me to read... Out of the rest, my options include The Relentless Moon, Early Riser, The Woman Who Died a Lot, Once Broken Faith, Across the Green Grass Fields, Rule of Wolves and Vicious.

Though still two months left so I hope to add to this list.

I really enjoyed Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, so I plan on reading Transcendent Kingdom.

I will probably go with William Kent Krueger or Leif Enger.

Alicia wrote: "Kristina and Emily, I have sooo many thoughts on A Ladder to the Sky. Please start a book discussion once you compelete!"

Will do :)

1. What are you reading for this category?
Night Waking

2. What book did you previously read by this author? Which did you like more?
I read Summerwater, and loved it so much I want the whole Moss back catalogue! I think I'll like Night Waking even more.

3. What authors do you recommend for people looking to read a few books by the same author?
A.L. Kennedy and Ali Smith, though they can be hit or miss. Margaret Atwood, David Mitchell, Louise Welsh and Donna Tartt and Diane Setterfield have great books to choose from.

Some of my favorite reads this year were classics, so books by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry James are on my possibilities list. I also loved both The Bingo Palace and Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich and I'm motivated to read allllll her other books!

What are you reading for this category?
I read Why Didn't They Ask Evans? by Agatha Christie.

What book did you previously read by this author? Which did you like more?
I have read all the Poirot and the Miss Marple books, plus a lot a of her others. I think this one is one of Christie's early books as it felt unpolished, unlike her later ones.

What authors do you recommend for people looking to read a few books by the same author?
Margery Allingham. Sayers Dorothy L.

I read In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren for this prompt. The book was very funny. 4 ⭐️

I have read The Honey-Don't List which was a 3 ⭐️ and my favorite by this author The Unhoneymooners.

1. What are you reading for this category?
Forsaken by Kelley Armstrong

2. What book did you previously read by this author? Which did you like more?
I read Wolf's Bane, Wolf's Curse last year, but I've read most of Kelley Armstrong's adult fiction.

3. What authors do you recommend for people looking to read a few books by the same author?
I really love Seanan McGuire, Ilona Andrews, and Fredrik Backman and love pretty much everything they write.

1. What are you reading for this category?
Saga, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan
2. What book did you previously read by this author? Which did you like more?
I read both Paper Girls, Vol. 4 and Paper Girls, Vol. 5 last year. It is my favorite graphic novel series. I just started Saga so I’m not sure which I’ll like more quite yet. They both are very sci fi, this one seems much more “adult” than the paper girls series though.
3. What authors do you recommend for people looking to read a few books by the same author?
Neil Gaiman will always be my favorite.

1. What are you reading for this category? Shiny Broken Pieces
2. What book did you previously read by this author? Which did you like more? Tiny Pretty Things I think I liked Shiny Broken Pieces more. I rated it a star higher.
3. What authors do you recommend for people looking to read a few books by the same author? Liane Moriarty

1. What are you reading for this category?
The Arsonist

2. What book did you previously read by this author? Which did you like more?
The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly

I liked this one more! Minnow Bly was just a bit too vague and misdirect-y.

3. What authors do you recommend for people looking to read a few books by the same author?
For YA fantasy, can't go wrong with Rick Riordan, Richelle Mead, Marissa Meyer, Cassandra Clare. They're the authors I read most!

What did you read for this category?


What book did you previously read by this author? Which did you like more?

It is hard to say which I enjoyed more. I want to say The Honey-Don't List but that could be because I am still in my post-good-book reading haze...Both are books I highly recommend.

What authors do you recommend for people looking to read a few books by the same author?
Christina Lauren (obviously), Nora Roberts, NR Walker

I didn't make an exhaustive list of my favorite authors of 2020, but when I joined a launch team for a new book by a small indie author, just because I really loved a few of her short stories last year, I figured the new book probably counts!

Fanny's Hope Chest is coming out in a couple weeks, but I read the ARC, and found it really good. It's a bit of a niche market (Christian fiction, especially aimed at single women), but if you happen to be interested in that niche I recommend it.

I had previously loved Molly and Anna and As Long as I Belong (from A Very Bookish Thanksgiving, not published separately) by the author, and I think Molly and Anna might be my *most* favorite of those, but it's pretty close.

Recommendations for authors who wrote multiple amazing books:
Neil Gaiman
C.S. Lewis
Suzanne Collins (not just Hunger Games--I loved her middle grade series too)
Alan Bradley
Robert A. Heinlein
Charlie N. Holmberg

1. What are you reading for this category?
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin

2. What book did you previously read by this author? Which did you like more?
Several, but in 2020 The Dispossessed (5 stars) - they are very different, but The Dispossessed was better

3. What authors do you recommend for people looking to read a few books by the same author?
NK Jemisin
Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
John Irving
Terry Pratchett
A.J. Cronin
Margaret Atwood

1. What are you reading for this category? Other People's Houses by Abbi Waxman
2. What book did you previously read by this author? Which did you like more? I read and liked I Was Told It Would Get Easier more.
3. What authors do you recommend for people looking to read a few books by the same author?
Taylor Jenkins Reid
Colson Whitehead
Kristen Lepionka
Blake Crouch
Greer Hendricks Sarah Pekkanen
Ellison Cooper

1. What are you reading for this category? I'll probably read If It Bleeds by Stephen King. He is my favorite! My daughter gave me this book for Christmas.
2. What book did you previously read by this author? I've read 45 or more of King's books. I read three last year - my favorite of the three was The Institute. I really enjoyed it.
3. What authors do you recommend for people looking to read a few books by the same author? I always recommend King - although he is definitely not for everyone. People think he writes only horror, but that is not at all true. People who have watched The Shawshank Redemption are usually surprised to learn that King wrote it.

1. What are you reading for this category? Number 11 by Jonathan Coe

2. What book did you previously read by this author? Which did you like more? I read The Rotters' Club, which I loved. At the halfway point, I'm saying that Number 11 is nowhere near as good.

3. What authors do you recommend for people looking to read a few books by the same author? That entirely depends on your reading taste! I recommend Stephen King, John Boyne, Mary Doria Russell, Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, John Steinbeck, Nevil Shute, and Thomas Hardy (my husband's favorite).

1. What are you reading for this category?

Calculated Risks by Seanan McGuire

2. What book did you previously read by this author? Which did you like more?
I've read quite a few by her because she's my favorite author. But the book before this Imaginary Numbers I read last year. Same series. I loved Calculated Risks just a little more.
3. What authors do you recommend for people looking to read a few books by the same author? I mean, I already admitted she's my favorite author, but Seanan McGuire is a really great option. And if you're more of a horror fan, she also writes under the name Mira Grant
Another couple prolific "never lets me down" authors Diana Wynne Jones and Vivian Vande Velde

For this challenge, I read Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. After reading and enjoying The Dutch House in 2020, I felt compelled to read one of her most celebrated works. By doing so, I noted a well executed and beautiful similarity: the incorporation of art, time, places, events, and boundaries into engaging tales. I will have to read more of her works to confirm this observation.
Many of the authors who wrote multiple works that I enjoyed are listed above, but I suppose that I could also add Kazuo Ishiguro and Toni Morrison.

I read Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China by Jung Chang. Last year, I read Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister: Three Women at the Heart of Twentieth-Century China by the same author.

Both books were very interesting. I would say I enjoyed this year's book more, as it was a more straightforward narrative. It would actually have been better to have read 'Cixi' before the Sisters, as it precedes it historically and would enriched the reading of the later book.

I would recommend Hilary Mantel, Barbara Kingsolver, Anne Tyler, Maya Angelou, Philip Pullman and Alexander McCall Smith.

I had to go with Ilona Andrews because I will read anything and everything they write.

I ended up reading Magic Triumphs which is book 10 in the Kate Daniels series. I reread the first 9 books last year in anticipation of finishing up the series.

I also read/reread most of their Hidden Legacy series last year, which would also count as among my best reads last year.

1. What are you reading for this category?
The Flight of the Falcon 19/04/2021 \

2. What book did you previously read by this author? Which did you like more?
I have read so many by this authorThe House on the Strand is one of them
I have read many several times particularly Rebecca

3. What authors do you recommend for people looking to read a few books by the same author?

I think Daphne Du Maurier herself is under read and under rated she has a fabulous narrative style
Real easy binge reading J.D. Robb For Eve dallas - listen to them on audio they are brilliant
Jasper Fforde I have read all of his he just takes too long to complete series
I second Seanan McGuire - confession time i never knew it was a woman

Optional Questions:
1. What are you reading for this category? Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
2. What book did you previously read by this author? Which did you like more? Us Against Them (Beartown #2) by Fredrik Backman. Which did you like more? Us Against Them.
3. What authors do you recommend for people looking to read a few books by the same author? Louise Penny, Pat Conroy, Kristin Hannah, Paulette Jiles, C.J. Box.

1. What are you reading for this category?
I read Later by Stephen King

2. What book did you previously read by this author? Which did you like more?
I've read all but two books written by Mr. King. I think the most recent was a novella with his son, Joe Hill, called In the Tall Grass, which was horrifying. I think I liked this one better, though the other one was far more memorable.

3. What authors do you recommend for people looking to read a few books by the same author?
Stephen King has a massive catalogue, of course, so he is always a good pick. I adore his son Joe Hill, too.

I just finished The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. There are not enough good things to say about this novel and this writer! Although I had previously read Circe and loved it, I can't say which was my favorite. Both were terrific.

Some other authors I'd recommend with several great books under their belt are: Haruki Murakami, Willa Cather, John Fowles, Jeff VanderMeer, John Boyne and Hilary Mantel.

I read The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon. This was her first book, written when she was 19. Last year I read the most recent book she had out at the time, The Priory of the Orange Tree. I definitely prefer Priory, although The Bone Season was still good, and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of that series.

I'd recommend anything by Terry Pratchett, Ben Aaronovitch and V.E. Schwab.

Last year I was really struck by Pat Barker's The Silence of the Girls a retelling of the Trojan War from a female perspective. I hadn't read any of her previous novels so I chose the Regeneration, just as compelling, this is the first in a trilogy of novels about the experiences of men scarred by the First World War, I'll be reading the next two.

Other writers I would recommend from last year's reads based on to whom I gave 5 stars are Lemn Sissay whose autobiography My Name Is Why I read, Terry Pratchett for The Wee Free Men and Delia Owens with Where the Crawdads Sing.

The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks
I read his The Night Angel Trilogy last year.

1. What are you reading for this category?
Here's Looking at You by Mhairi McFarlane

2. What book did you previously read by this author? Which did you like more?
If I Never Met You was my first book by this author and it prompted me to read all of her books. I enjoyed this second one but not as much as the first. Who’s That Girl? is my favorite of all of them and one of my favorite books of all time.

3. What authors do you recommend for people looking to read a few books by the same author?
I highly recommend Peter Grainger who self-publishes British police procedurals. I also love Rhys Bowen, Tana French, and Dervla McTiernan.

Return to Virgin River by Robynn Carr

I have read the entire series and this is the latest/last book. All are good.