Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

We noticed that conversations were sometimes cut short when migrating to a new month in 2020. So for 2021, we will have a single, ongoing reading discussion location. This is place for all reading-related conversations.

How are you doing with your reading challenges? What do you have your eye on reading this month? Did last month (or 2020) live up to your expectations? Drop a line below!

I have been waiting for the new thread to open. I tend to be chattier at the end of the month so hopefully, I will be more active with just one thread.

I'm very happy to be back to having several books going at once.
Currently reading (switching back and forth between audio and print)
OathbringerBrandon Sanderson

on serial app with an expected finish date of August
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Last night I started:
Ross Poldark by Winston Graham (maybe for the beginning prompt)
The Honey-Don't List by Christina Lauren (negative in title)
Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family by Thomas Mann (started for a different group not sure where it will fit for ATY)

I plan to start these books this weekend
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata (translated book)
In Five Years by Rebecca Serle ( I'm not sure where it will fit in ATY. I'm reading it for a book with a statue on the cover for a different group which has been really hard to find a book for that prompt)

and then my library copy came in last night for
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow (which is for a different groups challenge that ended in 2019 so once more not sure where I will fit it into ATY).

I'm ready for 2021 reading to start. January is always one of my best months for reading.

How do people feel about spillover challenges? I didn't quite finish all the books I planned to read in 2020 - I have a couple books I'm currently reading that I'm definitely going to finish before moving on to the 2021 challenge, but I also have one lingering book that I was planning on reading just to complete one of the 2020 challenge prompts and I feel like I might drop it. I started the challenge partway through 2020 and given the pandemic and the fact that I did read over 52 books (just not all the right ones, ha) I don't feel too bad about not technically completing the challenge. But...it's hard to abandon the plan!

Hannah, I think either way is fine. This is the only challenge that I try and complete within the time line. All my other challenges I work on with an open finish date. If you want to finish all the prompts then you should and if you want to mark it as done you should do that too.

I'm reading two books for a writing course I'm taking. A book about Rose Valland, who will be featured in the book I'm writing. And another book about post war years in the Netherlands called Of Windmills and War. I also found a new author: Mandy Robotham. I loved German Midwife. So I'm reading another of hers: The Secret Messenger.

Hannah, I haven’t finished on time in a very long time. I’m still working on prompts from 2017-2020. I essentially look at it as one giant challenge. But I am hoping to finish 2021 during the actual year this year and put the others on the back burner. I can definitely see the appeal of just letting it go and starting with a clean slate but I haven’t been able to do that myself.

Jillian, I'm reading too! I'm a huge Hamilton musical groupie so I"m loving it

Also reading and listening to

I am also reading War and Peace, though not on the Serial app, so I hope to finish it before August.
I am reading This Tender Land for a Zoom book club, and The Bitch for Reading Women.
I always have an audiobook going, which at the moment is Yes, Chef which I will use for Read Harder.

I am quite excited to start the 2021 challenge. First year I was a part of the voting process.
I did not finish the 2020 challenge, eventhough I read 59 books, most books I read in a year since starting to use Goodreads. I have not made up my mind about what to do with the prompts I did not finish for 2020. Have to think about that.

I am listening to a Swedish book, Bärarna for my book club, a book about a pandemic where men and women are living isolated from each other.
Today I started to Read Watching You (posted in one of the Best book of the Months threads)

I'm pleased with myself, as I finished my first book of the 2021 list today. I started it late last night and as there were no New Year celebrations this year, it was easy to just keep going. Ofcourse, real life will have to resume tomorrow, but today was a great change.

Anna wrote: "I am quite excited to start the 2021 challenge. First year I was a part of the voting process.
I did not finish the 2020 challenge, eventhough I read 59 books, most books I read in a year since st..."

Me too, as far as first year voting and starting from Jan 1! I also finished a book after midnight but I am not sure what to put it under. It is the classic Helen with the High Hand - An Idyllic Diversion. It is pretty short and lighthearted and I did it on audio, which was entertaining. I started reading The Ten Thousand Doors of January, which I am using for the prompt “The Beginning “. I’m not reading in order but I am starting with the first prompt. My next audio is Wait for Signs: Twelve Longmire Stories. I have been listening to the series and this is the next one. I will use it for the prompt on essays or short stories. I thought that one would be hard because I don’t usually read those, so I can knock that one off right away.

I went a bit wild with my holds and checkouts for the elibrary so I now have so many options that I really don't know where I want to start.

My current loans:

After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann
The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier
Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks
Night Road by Kristin Hannah
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
Ghost by Jason Reynolds
The Reckless Oath We Made by Bryn Greenwood
The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary

Laura wrote: "I went a bit wild with my holds and checkouts for the elibrary so I now have so many options that I really don't know where I want to start.

My current loans:

After I Do by Tayl..."

I have only read The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary and would recommend starting with it. It was a pretty fast read, I read it for the last read-a-thon.

I enjoyed The Flatshare also. It was funny but also dealt with some serious issues.

The Vanishing Half is excellent and gives you a lot to think about.

I agree that The Flatshare would be a nice start to the year. I've also read Devolution, The Vanishing Half, and Annihilation, and liked all of them.

I’m challenging myself to read 10-20 different Russian authors this year so I’m starting out w the Russian brothers Boris and Arkady Strugatsky and reading The Dead Mountaineer’s Inn. I’m also listening to Aaron Mahnke’s The World of Lore: Monstrous Creatures which is based on his podcast Lore. This year I’m going to read for several months before deciding which prompts to fill in, unless the book only fits 1 prompt!

I'm still finishing the last prompt for ATY 2020 - just a few more audiobook hours to go! I read 60 books in 2020 but not all fit into the challenge and there were some busy weeks where I simply could not get ahead in my reading.

After that I'll continue reading a wonderfully weird Estonian book I started end of 2020, The Man who spoke Snakish by Andeus Kivirähk. I'll easily find a fitting 2021 prompt for it (In the Beginning, Country I never visited..).

I'm leaning towards waiting a bit for The Vanishing Half, for that reason, Kathy. Starting with a "light" read seems like a good idea!

I won’t be reading in order but, like Anna, I wanted to start with the first “in the beginning” prompt so I read The Diary of Adam and Eve yesterday as you can’t get much nearer the beginning than that!

I've decided to try not to double dip between AtY and Pop Sugar challenges this year, with some exceptions (notably "long book" and "longest book on TBR"). Right now I'm reading and listening to Hawaii which will be for those prompts, and reading Magic Lessons, A book related to “In the Beginning...” and The Silence: A Novel.

This year, like the latter half of 2020, I won't be reading in any order as it remains dependant on when my library is open/can get the books I want on hold. But I still like to think I will get all 52 prompts read :).

I love that we have one big thread!

I'm with the rest of the group. Not reading in order, but am starting with "in the beginning". I'm reading Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West.

After that, I'm either going to start Kingdom of the Wicked or If I Had Your Face. Has anyone read either?

I finished 2020 really strongly and managed to catch up on all my challenges. I was looking forward to starting fresh but am feeling a bit burnt out and not really enjoying it.

I have started:
Half of a Yellow Sun on Libby 5%
The Captains Daughter on Serial Reader 8%
Fire and Blood in paperback 12 pages
and I need to start Half-blood Prince for a podcast read along.

Todays the last day before I start work again so I might try and find something a bit lighter for my first 2021 read to get me going.

Finished my first book of the year last night: Ready Player Two. I was disappointed with it, considering how much I enjoyed the first one. You can see my review for it here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I started The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s: An Oral History last night so that’ll be my book for the week. I’m also working on The Memory Police as an audiobook this week, and will start A Promised Land later this week because my hold on Libby just came through.

I’m going to continue my plan that worked for me last year: read whatever I want for awhile, then go back and slot books into challenge prompts. I keep a list of potential categories for each book I read. I find that this gives me freedom without feeling like I HAVE to finish the book or that I’m reading the book for any reason other than I want to read the book.

I'm so pleased to have read what I wanted to in December. I'd had some books hanging around half-read since the summer which I managed to finish off so new year, clean slate!!

I've finished my first book of the challenge D by Michel Faber which I wasn't sure would slot in anywhere but I've put into 'set in a made-up place'.

I've also started The Count of Monte Cristo which is going to be a project for a few months!! I have a few long books that I want to get to this year so, I've decided not to read in order to try and give myself some flexibility around those.

Also I love the idea of one thread, hopefully it's more welcoming for people anytime of the month!

I completed Bag Man: The Wild Crimes,Audacious Cover-Up & Spectacular Downfall Of A Brazen Crook In The White House by Rachel Maddow. I used if for Non-fiction that isn't a biography or memoir. I was really surprised how readable this book is. 5 stars.

Jillian, for In Five Years you can use it for a book where the author doesn't have an A, T or Y in their name, it's predominantly set in Manhattan which is an island, it was a Goodreads nominee, or a love story.

Alicia wrote: "Jillian, for In Five Years you can use it for a book where the author doesn't have an A, T or Y in their name, it's predominantly set in Manhattan which is an island, it was a Goodr..."

I ended up using it for set in the future, 2025. Those are good ideas too.

Jillian wrote: "Alicia wrote: "Jillian, for In Five Years you can use it for a book where the author doesn't have an A, T or Y in their name, it's predominantly set in Manhattan which is an island,..."

great! As a note though, not much is really set in 2025. It definitely progresses from 2020 to 2025, but there are only two chapters (one in the beginning and one at the end) that actually discuss 2025 and only the 2nd chapter jumps to the "future".

Alicia wrote: "Jillian wrote: "Alicia wrote: "Jillian, for In Five Years you can use it for a book where the author doesn't have an A, T or Y in their name, it's predominantly set in Manhattan whi..."

I just read it yesterday. It is almost all set in the fictional 2025 minus the first chapters which take place in 2020. The books 2025 is more like our 2019 though.

Jillian wrote: "The books 2025 is more like our 2019 though."

Apologies this is what I must have been thinking about.

What did you think? I admit, I likely blocked a lot of it out because I didn't really care for it.

It was a 2 star book for me. The main character was too perfect, and the story was unbelievable. I will have to admit that this year I’m really struggling with the contemporary genre since none of it fits the current contemporary world.

This will be my first year participating in this challenge.

I started out with a first in a series book for "beginnings" - Ninth House. I really enjoyed it and will probably look for future books in the series.

I started with in the beginning but that's the end of my reading in order, I wanted to try again but I got to the start of the year and just noped. So going back to reading whatever until midway.

I'm currently reading Salena Godden's Mrs Death Misses Death which is much more literary than anything I usually read, but I am liking the mix of poetry, prose and almost essays. It's a bit sombre for this time of year though. I'll probably use it for monochromatic cover.

I actually started with "the end" prompt 😂

My first book finished was The Midnight Library, which fit in quite a few places for the challenge, but it was so perfect for "the end" and I have the least amount of options for that prompt, so I put it there. I'm currently the only one on the spreadsheet that went that route though lol.

Next up I have The City of Brass, which is another that fits in a wide variety of categories, but I'm thinking I'll slot it in for female criminal. That's another category that I am lacking options in, and the main character is a thief and con-artist (at least, she is in the first few chapters), so it will fit well there. I'm really enjoying it so I'm excited to finish the series, probably using them for Muslim author and the Egyptian museum prompt.

I read Savage Run (Joe Pickett,#2) by C.J.Box for An Author whose name doesn't contain A,T,or Y. 4 stars. I read late into the night & finished first thing morning. I enjoyed it.

I've read The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman for "the beginning prompt" and it was a good upbeat book to start with. I also read The Garden Party and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield for the "short story, essay, poetry" category simply because I was reading it with another group. Huh, both books have "garden" in the title. Maybe I'll have a theme here.

I'm not planning on doing the challenge in order because many of the titles I am considering I would be getting from the library and from experience I know my holds won't come in order (the library is only open for pickup of holds).

For example, the books I picked up on Saturday work for prompts #31, #33, #44, and #46

I started reading The Mysterious Affair at Styles: Hercule Poirot's First Case by Agatha Christie with my kids today. We are reading one chapter a day. It is hard to read out loud. The language keeps tripping me up. I know language usage has changed in the last 100 years, but wow some words just belong in a certain order. ;-)

I am also reading The Art of War for "in the beginning". To me it is the first self-help book that everyone still reads.

Blood of Dragons by Robin Hobb is for a made up place.

And I am also reading A Nation Worth Ranting About by Rick Mercer for the Winter Challenge. The essays are written in 2008 to 2012 about Canadian politics. They are funny, but also poignant considering politics today. I wonder what he would rant right now.

Laurel wrote: "I'm not planning on doing the challenge in order because many of the titles I am considering I would be getting from the library and from experience I know my holds won't come in order (the library..."

Yes, it's harder than ever to schedule books from the library in my town. It used to be I could go to a branch that had the book or order it and have it in a day or two (unless it was a very new book). Now I think it takes at least a week because they "quarantine" the book, or have less staff. I am trying to use that to actually read more books already in my house, but I still get tempted by other things.

Laurel wrote: "I'm not planning on doing the challenge in order because many of the titles I am considering I would be getting from the library and from experience I know my holds won't come in order (the library..."

I've had luck trying to plan the challenge in quarters. I'm a mood reader so I decided that planning too far ahead made me lose excitement with the books as the year went on, while it was also difficult to maintain with the library holds. So now I only look at the next 3 months, plan out my books, and request my holds. It's a bit more of a challenge than allowing myself to go anywhere in the challenge but also somewhat flexible.

Yup I like doing four books at once, but I've been doing the jar of prompts. Pick four out of the jar and, generally, one is on my shelves that I can read while I order or download the others. Several books I am reading with others, so now trying to schedule them in also.

I kind of do what Laura does, except month to month. At the end of each month I sit down and plan out my reads (and how they fit into ATY) for the next month. This year I made a 2021 TBR (because my regular TBR has gotten OUT OF HAND) so I'm pulling a mix of those books and books I just feel like picking up.

It works well for me, but my library is only doing quarantine for books right after they are returned, so I can get them pretty quickly from any branch. I'm usually able to get any book I want within the month I plan on reading it.

I'm kind of superstitious about the first book I read for the year (because if it's not great then clearly the entire year is *doomed*), so I waivered for a while not sure what to pick. I've been listening to Educated at work this week, and it's very well written and compelling, but oh my god intense. At the end of the day today I saw that I was 2/3 of the way through and I was like "this CAN'T be my first book of the year". It's just too upsetting to be my First Book of 2021, you know? So I came home and read Lumberjanes, Vol. 11: Time After Crime real quick so I could have a happy first book and then finish Educated tomorrow.

Anybody else have weird hangups about their first book of the year?

I actually count my first book as the one I first start reading, not the one I finish first.

So I always try to pick one that I can talk about for the rest of the year. I think that, but in reality no one ever asks what my first book of the year was for me to brag lol

I started with N.K. Jemisin's The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, and I'm already almost done with the entire trilogy because I can't stop reading it. Great way to start the year!

I never can even remember what my first book of the year is, I generally am in the middle of something.

I just like to have a ton of books going. I tend to read more in January so I try and pick some hard books in the beginning. I may have over-checked out library books though. I have been really tired this week and am not getting much reading done.

Jackie, I am soooo superstitious lol. I also think I'm more critical of my first book of the year. This year, I read The Midnight Library, last year it was Miracle Creek, and 2018 was Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine. I remembered those all off-hand lol.

I usually try to pick books I've heard good things about so I have a pretty good chance that it will at least be a 4 star read.

I'm also someone who does not ever have books cross over year-to-year. If I finish a book on December 30th, I'm not starting a new one until January 1st.

It never even occurred to me to pay attention to my 'first book of the year' until I joined the online book community. :-)

I still don't make a big distinction between this year's reading or that year's reading (I'm always in the middle of at least a couple books that carry over anyway), but this year I did intentionally start the year with a fun, light book to go with my word for the year 'lighten'.

I had an ARC of In Love & Pajamas: A Collection of Comics about Being Yourself Together and it was a perfect start to the year! (I also used it for the 'published in 2021'.)