Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Whether you're scanning the shelves at your library or reading the threads on here, sometimes you come across a title that makes you think, "Well now I have to know what that's about". Or maybe your friend comes up to you and tells you all about their new favorite book "How to Kill Your BFF in Ten Easy Steps". However you decide to interpret "unusual" or "surprising" is up to you, but I'm sure we'll all discover some interesting books!

ATY Listopia: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

What will you be reading for this prompt? And what are some of the unusual, surprising, weird, unique, odd, most 'wait, what?' titles on your shelves?

Good prompt. I think it's time for me to read How to Kill Your Family which has been languishing on my TBR lol

This is such a fun quirky prompt and I just love it!

My planned books for this prompt:
Miss Graham's Cold War Cookbook by Celia Rees
The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon
Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara

Looking at a lot of light novel titles has me shaking my head because they are all weird.

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder works nicely for this!

Another option I have is Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities.

I love this prompt, so many choices!
The titles I am thinking about are:
How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water
Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun
Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance

I think it’s finally time to read Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them

I'm probably going to read John Dies at the End

Joyce wrote: "I think it’s finally time to read [book:Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author, Who We..."

Oh that one is a lot of fun!

Book Riot listed some new and unique nonfiction titles. The title that caught my attention the most was Nein, Nein, Nein!: One Man’s Tale of Depression, Psychic Torment, and a Bus Tour of the Holocaust. I don't know whether I'm repulsed or curious. I'm pretty sure I'll choose something else.

dalex wrote: "This is such a fun quirky prompt and I just love it!

My planned books for this prompt:
Miss Graham's Cold War Cookbook by Celia Rees
[book:The Trouble with Goats and..."

I loved The Trouble with Goats and Sheep :)

Joyce wrote: "I think it’s finally time to read [book:Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author, Who We..."

That sounds hilarious!

I’m planning to read a book I own for this prompt, either Lenin’s Kisses by Yan Lianke or How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu.

From the books that I own, I'm thinking either The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter or I'm Not Dying with You Tonight. Or I'll just pick something randomly from the library lol

Two that have unusual titles that I would recommend are:
Surrender the Pink by Carrie Fisher
Postcards from the Edge by Carrie Fisher

I have a long list of possibilites! :)
A Woman Looking at Men Looking at Women: Essays on Art, Sex, and the Mind by Siri Hustvedt
You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi
Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
The Ape Who Guards the Balance by Elizabeth Peters
The Last Camel Died at Noon by Elizabeth Peters
Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
The Temple of My Familiar by Alice Walker

I have a long LONG list of things that sound ... odd. I've pulled all of my picks for this challenge from my Mount TBR, which I will never summit, but at least I'm trying to get to the first ledge!

Widow, Virgin, Whore
My Grave Ritual
The Other Half of Augusta Hope
I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist
We Are the Ants
A Shoe Story

The Story of a Goat
Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen
Learning Not to Drown
The School for German Brides
Setting Free the Kites
The Garden of Burning Sand

I've heard great things about The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip. That's the one I'm going with.

Pretty sure I'm going with Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone

I'm trying to read books by European authors for half my prompts this year, and I found The Misadventures of the New Satan - this will be a complete unknown for me.

Shannon SA wrote: "I loved The Trouble with Goats and Sheep :)"

Thanks! I've been meaning to read it for ages.

I’m going with The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston. I own it.

Planning on The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo.

I'm reading Gobbelino London & a Scourge of Pleasantries by Kim M. Watt for this.

I love weird titles, so I've got a lot of recommendations by I'll hold myself back a little bit! I'll suggest When God Was a Rabbit, My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece and The Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder.

I would recommend I'm Glad My Mom Died. I could not put that book down. It was an amazing memoir and I never even followed Jennette McCurdy.

I will gleefully recommend two of my all-time favorite titles:
The Celery Stalks at Midnight
and
The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon I Mean Noel

The Men Who Stare at Goats is an interesting read for people who like nonfiction. How to Cook Your Daughter: A Memoir is another option, but comes with some trigger warnings (that are clear if you read the blurb, I think - though I haven't read it for a while).

Possibilities (own)
Not Forgetting the Whale aka The Whale at the End of the World
The Enduring Echo of Words Unsaid
The Largesse of the Sea Maiden

or
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
The Elegance of the Hedgehog - hoopla

I'm Glad My Mom Died is definitely this for a lot of people, I know.

This prompt is fabulous. I think its good for the soul to occasionally read a book whose title makes your eyebrows attempt to migrate into your hairline 🤣

Here are a few:
~ The Genesis 6 Conspiracy: How Secret Societies and the Descendants of Giants Plan to Enslave Humankind
~ The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter
~ The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England
~ Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre
~ The Black Arts: A Concise History of Witchcraft, Demonology, Astrology, and Other Mystical Practices Throughout the Ages

I remember in 2021 that there was a similar prompt for which I read Can You Sign My Tentacle?: Poems by Brandon O'Brien. It didn't work for me, but it was an ARC and I'm glad I had the opportunity of reading it whatsoever.

Some books on my TBR:
Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
The Vampire Knitting Club by Nancy Warren
Toilet-bound Hanako-kun, Vol. 1 by AidaIro

I read Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson
The title does not really give you any idea of the book but it did draw my attention to the book
There were neither shrines nor much gaiety in this book

I think I am going to read My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix. My hold just came in at the library. I'm not sure if I'm up for horror but we'll see!

For this prompt, I read:
The Man Who Sold Air in the Holy Land: Stories by Omer Friedlander - 4.5* - My Review

What will you be reading for this prompt?
I read The Grave's a Fine and Private Place by Alan Bradley

I read Thanks a Lot, Mr. Kibblewhite: My Story by Roger Daltry.

I read How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water by Angie Cruz. A very good read (which would have been great had I not frustrated myself not knowing any Spanish...)

I read Shmutz, a debut novel by Felicia Berliner. Shmutz means dirt in Yiddish. It's also a pornography reference, an addiction that 19-year-old Raizl, a young Hasidic woman, can't seem to shake. A good first outing, it's a coming-of-age story with lots of Yiddish and sex...and definitely not your everyday mix. Love the hamantaschen cover art, too.

I read The Misadventures of the New Satan by A.H. Tammsaare.

It's a satire in which Satan becomes Jurka, a much put upon peasant, in order to attain salvation - if he can, anyone can, and God will not carry out his threat to abolish hell. It's a general satire on the rich, oppression of the poor, religion, the law ... and quite amusing in parts.

I also read A Watermelon, a Fish and a Bible by Christy Lefteri, an atmosphere account of the day Turkey invaded Cyprus.

I recommend Care of Wooden Floors.

I listened to I’m Glad My Mom Died. I enjoyed listening to it. This was another book I couldn't wait to listen to. I ended up rating it 5 stars. I find her life interesting. I used to watch iCarly with my kids when they were younger. We couldn't wait for the new episodes. It's sad to think how unhappy she was behind the scenes. She was a good character that you loved.

Orange: The Complete Collection, Volume 2 4.5 stars.

I read How Do You Live? by Genzaburo Yoshino. I found the title unusual- it's got a question mark in it and I had no idea what the book was about from the title. It's Hiyao Miyazaki's favorite and apparently a film from Studio Ghibli based upon this book might be released as soon as next month? Worth a read if you are a Studio Ghibli fan.

I read Sharks in the Time of Saviors. 5 stars.

I read Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

I read ..


The Hour of Land – Terry Tempest Williams – 3***
Subtitle: A Personal Topography of America’s National Parks. This is a book I would not have picked up were it not for being a book-club selection. Williams is a good writer, and there are times when her descriptions take the reader straight to the park she is visiting. Some of these passages are downright poetic. However, Williams spent less time on the park itself and its natural and/or historic wonders than she did on a political agenda. I don’t even disagree with her point of view, but it wasn’t what I expected or wanted from this book.
LINK to my full review


And after reading it, I still have no idea what the title means.

I read Love in the Time of Serial Killers. It is a pretty good romance. It seemed to get a little slow at times but over all enjoyable.

As a back up I had checked out Revenge of the Librarians. This is a graphic novel made up of individual comics/cartoons. I am working my way through this as well. So far it is a mixed bag but since they are just one page the bad is easy to get through.

And with that I am done with this years challenge - yay!

Samantha wrote: And with that I am done with this years challenge - yay!"

Wow! Congrats! And I'm excited to be 2 weeks ahead.....

I read Death and the Penguin

I had difficulty trying to work out what would be considered surprising or unusual.

I did wonder about All Families Are Psychotic by Douglas Coupland, but in the end I decided to go with When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II by Molly Guptill Manning, as you don't think of books on the front lines.

It was a really good history about the Armed Services Edition books that were sent to the US troops in WWII. Highly recommended.

Trish wrote: "I had difficulty trying to work out what would be considered surprising or unusual.

I did wonder about All Families Are Psychotic by Douglas Coupland, but in the end I decided to go with When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II by Molly Guptill Manning, as you don't think of books on the front lines..."


An excellent choice! I read it a few years ago and it was one of my favorite books that year.

I really enjoyed these two books.

Round 1 - The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery

Round 2 -The Word for World Is Forest by Ursula K leGuin

I read Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby. Maybe not my most unusual title, but unusual enough, and one I wanted to read, and hadn't already read for another prompt. It was very well written, and I loved the character development, but it was also more violent than I'm usually comfortable reading. I also usually get lost in fight/battle scenes, but the author did a good job in that way — everything had a point and I could picture how everyone was moving about in these scenes.

Another I considered was Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk, but I read that for 27. A book by an author from continental Europe.