Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Comments welcome.
For someone who does not like planning, this feels very planned already. I want to read all the books listed here NOW. Come January 1, I’ll lose interest. This is known.

When I finish a book, I will erase the prompt from this list, and add it to the appropriate quarter in the comments below:

THE 2024 LIST

5. A book set in one of the 25 most beautiful cities in the world
Daughter of Fortune

27. A book related to land
The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler-Colonial Conquest and Resistance, 1917-2017

41. A book with a chilling atmosphere
Delicious Monsters
42. A book with a sound-related word in the title
Music of the Ghosts

Reserved

First Quarter

January
47. A book with a two-word title beginning with THE
The Cartographers
1. A book with a title that ends in A, T or Y
Lawn Boy
44. A book with a touch of magic
Come Tumbling Down

February
45. A book that is not a novel
Trail of the Lost: The Relentless Search to Bring Home the Missing Hikers of the Pacific Crest Trail
21. A book with a title containing 6+ words
A Guide to the Birds of East Africa

March
30. A book set in a country bordering the Mediterranean Sea
The Porcelain Moon
17. A book involving intelligence
Remarkably Bright Creatures

Second Quarter

April
51. A book published in 2024
The Boy Who Cried Bear
3. A book that fits a suggestion that didn’t make the final list
(A biography, autobiography, or memoir
Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World
49. A book with a senior citizen character
The Reading List
12. A book that has been on your TBR for over a year
See What I Have Done
10. A history or historical fiction book
The Pull of the Stars
20. A book with a single word title
Homecoming

May
25. A book involving a crime other than a murder
Looking for Jane
50. A book posted in one of the ATY Best Book of the Month threads in 2023 or 2024
The Book of Doors

June
52. A cozy mystery
The Word is Murder
8. A book by an author from Canada, Australia or New Zealand
The House at Riverton

Third Quarter

July
31. A book related to “Going for the Gold”
The Phoenix Crown
Title is in gold. Gold is also in the crown
14. A book with a main character who is Black, Indigenous, or a Person of Color
The Reason You Walk
23. A book related to Boats, Beaches, Bars, Ballads, or Jimmy Buffett
The Night Ship
18. A book with a botanical cover
The Matchmaker's Gift
33. A book involving travel
Have You Eaten Yet? Stories from Chinese Restaurants Around the World
26. A book by an author known by their initials
Open Season
38. Two books with similar covers: Book 1
Before the Coffee Gets Cold

August
36. A book featuring a character in education
The Story of the Trapp Family Singers
28. A book related to sea
The Sea Gate

September
48. A second book that fits your favorite prompt
The Invisible Hour (#4 a touch of magic)
46. A book related to night
Night
15. A book whose author’s name includes one of the 4 least used letters in the alphabet (JQZX)
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
24. A book with a secondary color on the cover (orange, green or purple)
Death at Morning House
4. A book related to something mentioned in the lyrics of What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong
Slow Dance
37. A book that is part of a series
The Thursday Murder Club

Fourth Quarter

October
11. A book with an X connection
Making It So
2. A book connected to something you read in 2023
You Deserve Good Gelato: New York Times Bestseller
7. A book with a pronoun in the title
Her First Palestinian
16. A book related to the phrase "It's Raining Cats and Dogs"
Chicken Soup for the Cat & Dog Lover's Soul: Celebrating Pets as Family with Stories About Cats, Dogs and Other Critters
19. A book connected in some way to any of the flavors of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream
The Lost City of the Monkey God
34. A book related to the name of one of Snow White's seven dwarfs
The House of Mirth

November
40. A book involving a wild animal or endangered species, in the content, title, or on the cover
Whatever You Do, Don't Run: True Tales Of A Botswana Safari Guide
13. A book that is on a Five Books List; reader’s choice of which list
Bright Young Women
32. A book with a number in the title
Two Trees Make a Forest: Travels Among Taiwan's Mountains & Coasts in Search of My Family's Past
22. A book by an author from an African country
Things Fall Apart

December
6. A book with wings on the cover
Somewhere Beyond the Sea
29. A book related to air
Ill Wind
9. A book with fewer than 2024 ratings on Goodreads
The Rarest Bird in the World: The Search for the Nechisar Nightjar
43. A book by an Edgar Award-winning Author
Happiness Falls
39. Two books with similar covers: Book 2
Tales from the Café

I’m rather pleased that I’ve already fit in four (maybe five) birding books into this list, and I still haven’t filled the endangered species or the science prompt! 2024 promises to be a birdy year, at least in books!

Slow start to the year, but we spent the first three weeks of 2024 traveling. I finally finished my first book The Cartographers for
47. A book with a two-word title beginning with THE

I really enjoyed it. Who doesn’t love maps and magic?

I spent a year looking forward to reading Happiness Is a Rare Bird: Living the Birding Life for

9. A book with fewer than 2024 ratings on Goodreads

Because the author is a local birder, but I forced myself through the first 37 pages. I’ve read several excellent books written by bird nerds about their birding escapades, but this one was like pulling teeth. I will be leaving this prompt for now, and work on Two Trees Make a Forest: Travels Among Taiwan's Mountains & Coasts in Search of My Family's Past, which isn’t really pulling me in either. I think I’ll be able to finish it.

I’ve read some really good books this year, but these two have slowed me down :(

I’m not thinking I’ll finish this year, but I’m going to try until the final hours.

Just started Tales from the Café for
39. Two books with similar covers: Book 2

I will definitely finish it before the year ends, but I’m not sure if I’ll finish another in time. I’m 2/3 of the way through The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler-Colonial Conquest and Resistance, 1917-2017 but I’m setting it aside to finish in the new year. It’s a heavy read and worth the effort.

I haveDaughter of Fortune and Music of the Ghostson my bedside table as next reads. I *may* finish one, but not both.