Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

DECEMBER

1. Winter

a. Read a book with a title beginning with a letter in WINTER (you can use or ignore a, an or the) - Who is Maud Dixon?
b. Read a book with snow, snowflakes or a snowman on the cover OR a book with a person wearing winter clothing (scarf, hat, warm coat etc) on the cover.
c. Read a book that is between 89 and 128 pages long (you can ignore the 100 page requirement for this task).

2. December birthdays: Jane Austen

a. Read a book written by a female author. The Price of Water in Finistère by Bodil Malmsten
b. Read a novel set in the 19th century.
c. Read a romance novel.

3. The Holidays

a. Read a book related to a holiday that happens in December. (Some examples: Rosa Parks Day, National Cookie Day, Dewey Decimal System Day, Nobel Prize Day, Kwanzaa, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, Hanukkah, etc.) - Family Matters
b. Read a book that has one of the gifts referred to in The Twelve Days of Christmas shown on its cover (ignore the numbers - eg a book with a gold ring works, you don’t need a book with five gold rings!)
c. Read a book that features a family gathering.

4. Winter sports: yukigassen

a. Read a book by an author whose first and last initials appear in YUKIGASSEN.
b. Read a book in a series that is at least 7 books long - Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children #1)
c. Read a book set in a country where yukigassen is played (Japan, Armenia, Canada, China, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, or Slovakia).

JANUARY

1. Happy New Year!

a. Read a book by an author who is new to you. - The Double by José Saramago
b. Read a book from a genre that is new to you (you can use a sub-genre, eg urban fantasy, historical romance, etc if you already read books from most genres).
c. Read a book in which all the words in the title have the same number of letters (eg The Bat, Ninth House, The Old Man and the Sea).

2. January birthdays: Haruki Murakami

a. Read a book set in Japan.
b. Read a book that features a cat in some way - Let It Bleed
c. Read a magical realism novel.

3. New Year Resolutions

a. Read a book where the first letter of each word in the title can be found in NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS (the title must be at least three words long for this option)
b. Read a book that looks into the past (historical fiction, history, etc) or a book that looks into the future (science fiction, fantasy, etc). - Still Life
c. Read a book that will help you keep one of your New Year resolutions OR if you don’t make resolutions then read a book related to one of the top ten New Years resolutions. Tell us what your resolution is when recording this task as completed.

4. Winter sports: bobsleigh

a. Read a book set mostly in a location that begins with a letter in SWITZERLAND.
b. Read a book in which a conflict between characters is a major part of the plot. Tell us what the conflict was (using spoiler tags if necessary) when recording the task as completed.
c. Read a book that is fast-paced. - Certain Dark Things

FEBRUARY

1. Valentine’s Day

a. Read a book with Romance listed as one of the top five genres on its Goodreads page.
b. Read a book by an author whose first and last initials appear in VALENTINE’S DAY.
c. Read a book written in or set in the Medieval period (usually defined as the 5th to 15th centuries). - Everything Under the Heavens (c12)

2. February birthdays: Laura Ingalls Wilder

a. Read a book set in the American midwest.
b. Read a novel that features the wilderness.
c. Read a coming of age story. - The Smell of Other People's Houses

3. Winter sports: Ski jumping

a. Read a book that is at least 253 pages long.
b. Read a book published in a year in which the Winter Olympics took place - Verity (2018)
c. Read a book where the plot “jumps” about (a non-linear narrative as it’s normally called).

4. The Shortest Month of the Year

a. Read a literary fiction novel.
b. Read a book that features a ghost.
c. Read a book that starts with a letter in the word SHORT - Oystercatchers