Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
2024 Plans
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J is Keep Up The Momentum in 2024
28. A book related to sea - Completed 01/02/2024The Luck of the Bodkins by P.G. Wodehouse 4 ✮
First book of the year! Kind of a safe fall back is P.G. Wodehouse, and I needed it after a few stinkers at the end of 2023. I was surprised to find that this was the immediate follow up to a book I read in 2023, Heavy Weather. So, it could have been used for week 2, week 26, or week 33 as well.
49. A book with a senior citizen character - Completed 01/02/2024The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie 4 ✮
Getting a good head start on the year, with 2 books in less than 4 days. That will help when I get into the longer books. (I always try to read at least one >1000 page book for the challenge.)
Definitely a cozy read (week 52), I opted to put it into week 49, as that seemed harder to fill. I managed to solve most of the mysteries. But there were a few points that I didn't quite have right, so I grabbed onto the wrong villain. Of course, that was certainly Dame Christie's intent - to give us some false trails to get lost down. So, I've got to give this one to her.
6. A book with wings on the cover Completed 01/09/2024Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin 3 ✮
After finishing the 2023 list a bit early, I started targeting books that I had given up on during that year. A task which proved successful, as I added two more books at the end, that might have been left on the nightstand, had I not given them that extra push.
This book, though, was one I had given up on quite a few years ago. It's one of those books, given by a friend that knows you like to read. And you feel obligated to read it, but struggle to get through anyway.
I am glad that I read it. It's good to know the history that proceeded A Song of Ice and Fire. But I sort of wish I'd just read the cliff notes. Or better yet, watched a video where someone summarized the key points.
It did have nice pictures, though. It was just painfully boring... whenever there weren't dragons fighting each other, or murdering their cousin, or hooking up with their sister, or murdering their sister while hooking up with their cousin on the back of a dragon.
52. A cozy mystery - Completed 01/10/2024The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie 2 ✮
I'm pretty disappointed by this one. I have a certain expectation for Dame Agatha - she writes good mystery novels with complex crimes that can be worked out logically.
This one, though, could have been written by anyone. It has some big plot holes, which seem to be there just to mislead the reader. At the end, I felt like I'd just watched an episode of 'A Pup Names Scooby-Doo'; there was a big reveal of the villain using a mask removal and the protagonist kept blaming it all on Red Herring.
29. A book related to air - Completed 01/13/2024A Fall of Moondust by Arthur C. Clarke 5 ✮
What a blast! Too often, a book being called Hard Sci-fi just means that it is long and boring, with poor if no actual science. But here is a book that actually qualifies for the sub-genre name while still being a fun read.
The plot is science based. The conflict is science based. The characters use science to overcome their challenges. Amazing.
38. Two books with similar covers: Book 1 - Completed 01/14/2024Slapstick, or Lonesome No More! by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 3 ✮
I'm a big fan of Mr. Vonnegut. So, I certainly enjoyed this book. It is funny, humorous, thought provoking, and quick paced. Still, I graded it compared to other books by the same author and it is one of the weaker ones I've read.
I wouldn't want this to be anybody's first taste of Kurt Vonnegut Jr., but if you are already a fan, like me, then it will do just fine.
4. A book related to something mentioned in the lyrics of What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong - Completed 01/17/2024Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! by Fanny Flagg 4 ✮
I wasn't too keen on this topic, when I first read the list for this year. The song is alright, I guess - if it doesn't get played too often. But I've never been all that into overly positive songs.
But what this topic did do is push me a bit out of my comfort zone. I read Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe way back in high school - and loved it!
And yet, I have never gone ahead and read another book by Fannie Flagg. I'm glad to say that I have now corrected that error.
43. A book by an Edgar Award-winning Author - Completed 01/19/2024Firestarter by Stephen King 4 ✮
Good but flawed. I wish that I was the writer on a film version of this book. With a couple of changes, this would really be solid. Especially with this solid of a premise.
Or perhaps I'm just a sucker for a story about persons in opposition to a corrupt overreaching government.
9. A book with fewer than 2024 ratings on Goodreads - Completed 01/25/2024The Falling Star by Scott J. Young 4 ✮
I actually spent a bit of time trying to find a book to fill the week 9 topic. It's a pretty low number to stay under. Then I remembered this book, written by a friend of mine, that really hasn't been discovered by that many people.
A fast paced, fun read with a very humorous robot. It was a good fit for my schedule at this time since I haven't read much sci-fi yet this year and the one I did read was hard sci-fi realistically speculating on the near future, while this one is more of a fun adventure space opera type.
27. A book related to land - Completed 01/26/2024Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie 3 ✮
This book was one that I had planned to read in 2023. But when my number finally came up at the library, it turned out that I had booked the radio play version. So, I had to redo the hold and it didn't become available again until now. Which wasn't the best time to read yet another mystery.
This time the point goes to me. I had a suspicion early on, and while I considered all the possible suspects, the evidence only really pointed to the one character. Then it was just a matter of waiting for the protagonists to figure it out.
30. A book set in a country bordering the Mediterranean Sea (Spain) - Completed 01-30-2024For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway 4 ✮
I'm definitely on a Hemmingway kick and still plan to finish his novels/novellas this year (there are not that many), but this one was not as good as those I read last year.
Personally, I like his decision to write the book in grammar that is trying to directly translate the Spanish. I speak Spanish and think he did a passable job of showing how language can affect how one thinks about and sees the world.
But the one choice that didn't work for me, at least it wore thin by the end, was the choice to censor all of the expletives. It's a bit like watching a Tarantino film on a network channel. Why even have the cursing if you are not going to have the cursing?
35. A science or science fiction book - Completed 02/01/2024The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin 4 ✮
I'm glad that I went into this one having no idea what it was about. If I were to describe it, I'd say that it's a Philip K. Dick book that happened to be written by Ursula K. Le Guin.
Funny. The whole time I was reading this was thinking of looking up when it had been written. But I was too into the story to stop, and I didn't want to accidentally stumble upon a spoiler of any kind. Then when I did finish and looked it up, it came as quite a shock. Le Guin was just that far ahead of everyone else, culturally, that she could have been a time traveler.
32. A book with a number in the title - Completed 02/03/2024The Second Book of Swords by Fred Saberhagen 2 ✮
I am so glad to be done with this book. It's pretty obvious that a book is bad when you are doing everything to avoid reading it. This was holding up my progress.
So bad.
Ooh! 13th book completed for the year. I am now over a quarter of the way through the list.
48. A second book that fits your favorite prompt - Completed 02/09/2024Standing in the Rainbow by Fannie Flagg 4 ✮
It is curious. The Louis Armstrong prompt was not one that I thought particularly highly of, when starting to plan this year. But as I closed in on picking books for each prompt, I managed to find an interesting choice for that week on one of the lists.
That being this book; Standing in the Rainbow. Such an interesting title and I love the author. But when I realized that it was the second book in a series, I knew I had to at least find a place for the first book. That's when I realized that they could both work for the same prompt, and fortunately it is possible to do one of the prompts twice.
This book focuses in more on the more interesting/funny characters from the first book. What it doesn't seem to have is a plot - and I'm not sure how I feel about that. But it was a fun read and all of the myriad characters had story arcs.
My favorite character from both books, Aunt Elner, is supposed to feature even more heavily in the third book. So, looking forward to that.
25. A book involving a crime other than a murder - Completed 02/10/2024The Great Train Robbery by Michael Chricton 5 ✮
My second five star rated book of the year. This was a blast start to finish. It could well be the grandaddy of the heist storytype, and it's based on a true story.
Loved the setting, loved the characters, and especially loved the dry English wit.
26. A book by an author known by their initials - Completed 02/13/2024The Mating Season by P.G. Wodehouse 3 ✮
Wodehouse was my first thought, when considering authors who go by their initials. The Mating Season was just the next book in the Jeeves and Wooster series that I had not yet read.
I'm certain that Wodehouse was a big influence on the American sitcom. And like a sitcom, you know what you are going to get when you tune in. I might have enjoyed this more had this been the first book in the series I came across, but to me it just seems more of the same. And when I compared this plot to those of previous works by the same author, it doesn't fit together as well as it probably should. Some plot lines are just tied up quickly in order to be done by the end of the book, while others that seemed resolved in previous books are untied just to create more plot and then put back where they started by the end.
31. A book related to “Going for the Gold” - Completed 02/16/2024King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard 2 ✮
Not too impressed with this one. I had read reviews where people talked about the issues with this classic book, and I thought those issues wouldn't bother me. But they did.
Still, it's not a total loss. The final 25% (when they actually get to the mine) was pretty exciting and there is a really cool fight scene.
18. A book with a botanical cover - Completed 02/17/2024The Autumn of the Patriarch by Gabriel García Márquez 4 ✮
I was looking to fit in some books by Gabriel García Márquez and I'm glad I did. I do love his writing style. Especially here, it more resembles a painting done with words than a story.
A challenging read. I didn't like it quite as much as One Hundred Years of Solitude. It didn't really have a plot or as strong of a message. The formatting was creative but made it hard to read and I think that it could have been done differently to be more accommodating to the reader without losing the flow.
46. A book related to night - Completed 02/18/2024Night Shift by Stephen King 5 ✮
This book was a good reminder of why I love early Stephen King. He must have not been wearing pants when he wrote this because his balls were out.
There were a few stories, toward the beginning, that had a hard time catching my interest until they were at their end. I really like Gray Matter and Battleground and it continues to pick up from there. The later stories (especially The Ledge and Children of the Corn) go all the way to 11.
42. A book with a sound-related word in the title - Completed 02/19/2024Ring for Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse 2 ✮
I'm pretty surprised to find myself giving low marks to a Wodehouse book, especially one featuring Jeeves. But this just wasn't the stuff.
Keeping Jeeves but dropping Wooster and replacing him with a lot of uninteresting characters. This book was based on a stage play, and it feels like a stage play. There is an attempt to use as few settings as possible and all of the characters over act.
But more to the point, none of their decisions make any sense other than to set up or resolve the plot. I realize the intent is to have the romantic partners get together in the end. But if the girl is against gambling and finds her significant other gambling - it's time to drop the blighter. Don't marry him so he can take all your money to the derby.
J - I like your summaries and your choice of books! We have some similar reading interests. I plan to read Autumn of the Patriarch this year and added A Fall of Moondust to my TBR AND am now thinking about rereading For Whom the Bell Tolls based on your Spanish language comment. I also enjoyed the Lathe of Heaven. I will def be checking your thread throughout the year! Hope you have a lot of 5 star reads. 😀
Pam wrote: "J - I like your summaries and your choice of books! "Thanks Pam!
For Hemmingway, I think For Whom the Bell Tolls was my least favorite of his books (what sort of metal head am I?) I'm not sure what other books by him you have read, but I wouldn't recommend starting here.
Someday, I'm going to need to read Gabriel García Márquez in the original Spanish. I am curious if Patriarch is formatted differently in its original form, or if they were loyal to the author's intent.
Ursula has never done me wrong.
I was glad that A Fall of Moondust was so good. It reminded me of the earliest Arthur C. Clarke books I had read. His later career seems a bit phoned in, by comparison.
J - I think I read For Whom the Bell Tolls years ago but I can’t remember! I’ve only read one other book by Hemingway - The Old Man and the Sea. Do you have one you recommend? Did you know there is a new (rediscovered) Gabriel Garcia Márquez book, Until August, coming out on March 12?
Pam - That is tough. I gave full marks to both A Farewell to Arms and To Have and Have Not.I had not heard about a new book by GGM! And here's me with nothing yet planned for Week 51...
3. A book that fits a suggestion that didn’t make the final list - Completed 02/22/2024The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King 4 ✮
A bit underrated for a King book. Perhaps people just aren't ready for him to write Fantasy. This one was a light (YA) fast paced read with an exciting ending.
I'm a bit disappointed that it doesn't have a sequel. I mean, unless you count The Dark Tower series.
33. A book involving travel - Completed 02/26/2024Can't Wait to Get to Heaven by Fannie Flagg 5 ✮
Here I am, now, three books into the series and we are only two months into the year. I definitely enjoyed this series from the beginning, and I love the way the Flagg writes. But from that first book the standout character has always been Aunt Elner. So, I've been looking forward to this book, which focuses in on her.
Sometimes, a good supporting character doesn't make a good main character. But I'm happy to say that that is not the case here. This was the best book in the series, so far,
39. Two books with similar covers: Book 2 - Completed 02/27/2024Timequake 2 by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 4 ✮
I always enjoy reading Vonnegut. They are humorous and well written with a few bits of deep insight tossed in.
This one, his last novel, is admittedly about how he is running out of ideas and questioning whether or not he is losing the ability to write. Even if Vonnegut doesn't think that Timequake 1 was good enough to publish, I think I'd like to read it and see for myself.
14. A book with a main character who is Black, Indigenous, or a Person of Color - Completed 02/28/2024Noor by Nnedi Okorafor 4 ✮
I had this book listed as my week 22 (a book by an author from an African country) pick, but upon completing it, I see that it doesn't actually qualify. I'm certain that I grabbed it from a list - but that list was wrong. And interestingly, I noticed that the topic for week 22 actually talks about Nnedi Okorafor not qualifying, but I haven't read all of those threads.
Not really a loss, though. I already liked the author and was looking for an excuse to read more of her books. So, I just needed to find a different topic where it did qualify.
By putting Noor into the week 14 slot, though, I have bumped one of the books from the Remembrance of Earth's Past series. What's interesting about that is that I already bumped one of those books in favor of Iron Widow - which is the Sword and Laser group's March read.
I feel a bit conflicted on Noor. There is a lot that I really liked. I liked the world (Okorafor's vision of a future Nigeria); I liked the main character (a disabled girl, born with multiple disabilities who has had those issues corrected using technology); and I absolutely loved the wizard character and the magic herb. But for whatever reason I had a hard time getting into the book.
At the end, I reread the first three chapters because I didn't recall much of what had happened there, and then reread the last two to get a better idea of how the whole book tied together. But that's what has me thinking. What could be done differently to engage the reader from the start and make it clear where the story is headed. I had a similar issue with The Falling Star. There are some great reveals along the way, and I do now see the overall story, but when I was in it I felt a bit lost in the market crowd.
23. A book related to Boats, Beaches, Bars, Ballads, or Jimmy Buffett - Completed 03/04/2024The Girl on the Boat by P.G. Wodehouse 3 ✮
Plum always writes very well, no matter the content. There are plenty of jokes here that had me chuckling. But my issue with this one, as I had with Ring for Jeeves and The Mating Season is the story itself.
The characters are hateful people who do terrible things. And that's fine, that's how comedies like Seinfeld and It's Always Sunny in Philidelphia worked. But there, they knew that the terrible person shouldn't win out in the end and get the girl, even if she is also terrible, their actions have hilarious consequences that leave them miserable.
What is interesting is some of the tropes that are used. I grew up seeing these old standards of comedy run into the ground. But this book, from 1922, is likely where they started. So, while it hasn't aged well, it is interesting from a historical perspective and of course there was the Plum whit to keep it fun.
15. A book whose author’s name includes one of the 4 least used letters in the alphabet (JQZX) - Completed 03/06/2024Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao 5 ✮
This book was one of many that I was hoping to eliminate from my TBR list this year. But I was surprised when, after checking a copy out from the library, I realized that I already owned it on my Kindle.
Then I was further surprised when I realized why. The author is a YouTuber that I like (who talks about Chinese culture and how well/poorly it is portrayed in media). The book itself is all but targeted directly at my demographic - whatever that may be. Anthropology + Mecha = More Please Mistress.
As for the book itself. I am quite impressed. Every time that I thought I had it figured out exactly how the story would go it headed off swiftly in a different direction. That and the main characters aren't afraid to do villainous things to reach their goals (thank you!)
Can't wait for the sequel to drop. I already purchased it.
Also: 26th book read this year, we are now half the way there.
Looking at how I've done so far...I was trying to space things out, reading varied genres and different author's. The plan has me reading 6 Stephen King books, and so far I have read 3 - which is great.
But I have read 3 Agatha Christie and 4 P.G. Wodehouse. Those are certainly the easiest to get ahold of, but I might have made things harder in the latter half.
I already read three of the five books that I was concerned I wouldn't like; Fire & Blood, The Second Book of Swords, and King Solomon's Mines. That leaves Wizard's First Rule and House of Chains for the second half.
I've read:
Fantasy: 3
Sci-Fi: 5
Horror: 2
Mystery: 3
Historical Fiction: 1
Modern: 3
Classic: 8 (easier to get ahold of)
34. A book related to the name of one of Snow White's seven dwarfs (Sleepy) - Completed 03/07/2024Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk 5 ✮
Rule #2: We do not talk about Fight Club.
1. A book with a title that ends in A, T or Y - Completed 03/13/2024Pet Sematary by Stephen King 5 ✮
Maybe I've been lucky with my pulls this year, but this is top tier King. Never underestimate Stephen King when it comes to the ending. He will pull out the best one possible.
22. A book by an author from an African country - Completed 03/19/2024The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes 4 ✮
The momentum is starting to slide a bit. I knew that, once we got into the spring, my schedule would get busier and the pace of reading would step back. There's also the factor of reading bad books.
Though, that certainly isn't this one. I'm impressed by the author who writes in a very easy and approachable style. That works especially well when you are writing about dark topics and/or the supernatural (see: Stephen King). The one negative comment, from me on this book, I think she could have done more with the time travel mechanic.
I found this book because one of my Goodreads groups (The Sword and Laser) read it this year. But I didn't read along with them (it didn't sound that good from the description) - until I realized that the author was from South Africa.
An interesting thing happened to me, while reading this book. The app I use (Libby) kept losing my place and as a result, I read the chapters completely out of order. Sometimes I ended up reading the same chapter multiple times. But due to the format of the book, I couldn't tell if that was the intent of the author and it may have helped my appraisal of the book.
16. A book related to the phrase "It's Raining Cats and Dogs" - Completed 03/24/2024Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Other Stories by Truman Capote 4 ✮
A good fit for this topic - I just pulled it from one of the lists. But it is one of those books that I've always meant to read. At least, ever since that song by Deep Blue Something.
I've never seen the film, so I can't make any comparisons there. There is a great scene, in the book, where the narrator makes a connection with Holly Golightly where they both know and like one piece of media, only for him to realize that while he is talking about the book, she is talking about the film.
Also, some great symbolism regarding the empty bird cage, the STD, and of course - the cat. In fact, this would have been a five star read except the other stories just don't hold up to the famous one. I would improve this book by making it have 4 novellas - much as King did with Different Seasons. All of the stories (except BaT) ended way too soon.
19. A book connected in some way to any of the flavors of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream - Americone Dream - - Completed 03/27/2024The Whole Town's Talking by Fannie Flagg 4 ✮
There it is, the final book in the Elmwood Springs series. But I don't think I'm done reading books by Fannie Flagg for the year. It reminds me of 2016, when I got on a Maya Angelou kick. These books are so easy to read and entertaining. This one helped me push through a bad book (which I still haven't finished) and now I need to find something else to cleanse my pallet.
This book could have qualified for week 6, week 10, week 11, week 25, week 36, week 37, 38/39, week 40, week 42, or week 49.
But then you'd have to read the rest of the series.
12. A book that has been on your TBR for over a year - Completed 03/29/2024Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner 2 ✮
It's a larger goal of mine to eliminate books from my TBR, so a lot of my picks for this year's topics could have been for week 12. But I was a bit confused as to why this book was even on it.
Given, it won a Hugo Award. But by default, I consider all winners of that award to be TBR. So, they never need to be on the list.
And I hated it. This was an absolute slog to get through. (This is the book that I've been alluding to that was costing me momentum.) The world is interesting but that's never enough for me. In fact, all of the dressing and embellishments were good but the story within all of that was very thin and not at all interesting.
And, of course, I always have a hard time with books that have underlying racist or misogynistic tones. But the big thing everyone says about this book is that it's so impressive that it predicted the future!
It did not. In fact, it completely misses on pretty much everything. Really, the author just took how things were in the 60's and moved it forward slightly. For some reason he felt that everything could move forward while very much staying exactly the same. For instance, if you want to interface with a computer you had better be very high up in a company and/or government because they are extremely exclusive.
Then that does beg the question: is it a 1 star book or a two star. For me, the 1 star is a book that I hated and think that nobody should ever have to suffer through. A 2 star is one that does have some redeeming qualities that could make it worth reading. This one is interesting in what someone from the 60's thought the future would be like.
But if anything it reminded me the most of Brave New World. Where they fail isn't in an inability to predict the future, they do get close. It's that both automatically assume that all of the changes will be a bad thing.
47. A book with a two-word title beginning with THE - Completed 04/04/2024The Testaments by Margaret Atwood 5 ✮
It's been over a decade since I read The Handmaid’s Tale and I recall, at the time, being rather surprised that it didn't have a sequel - despite being very popular and quite old.
But then, when I got to the end, I really appreciated both how it ended and that there wasn't a sequel. It is left up to the reader to decide what happens next, and the implication being that the way we choose to vote could decide how things will go.
So, I was a bit wary when a sequel was announced, It absolutely wasn't needed but I knew it would happen once the tv show became quite popular. It should come as no surprise that Margaret Atwood didn't simply churn out a sequel because the demand was there, but instead waited for a story to present itself.
Following two young girls as they are growing up within Gilead and just outside of Gilead, is the obvious direction for a sequel. But what makes this book great was the decision to also have Aunt Lydia as a POV character. It both allows us to see how Gilead came to be the way it is and also to see the inner workings of the dystopian state.
Plus, she absolutely steals every scene. It's funny how the men who think that women are inferior or, at least, that they can be placed into a place of inferiority always overlook the strengths that women have. Aunt Lydia is the Anti-hero that we need at a time when we most need her.
7. A book with a pronoun in the title - Completed 04/06/2024Why Didn't They Ask Evans? by Agatha Christie 3 ✮
A fun read, certainly, it seems to me that Dame Agatha thought she would write a mystery novel involving a set of Wodehousian characters. That does add to the entertainment, but they aren't much for sleuths. They keep their whole cards out, face-up on the table the entire time. It's rather fortunate that the criminals were just a bit dumber.
Still, for the second time this year I see a clear influence on the Scooby Doo cartoons I grew up on. In this case; Frankie is Daphne, Bobby is Fred, and Badger is Shaggy.
And they would have gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for the meddling kids. The whole thing would have been a lot shorter had they simply asked Evans.
I've mentioned a few times about a side challenge I have going, but I think it could be a good time to talk about in greater detail. Back in 2017, I was frequenting a message board and found a discussion on films which asked how many different years everyone had seen films from. What I found was, I do quite well until things go Black and White and then it gets very sparse.But that made me think about doing the same thing with books. At that time, I was building out my 2017 ATY challenge, and so I filled in 1964 (with Martian Time-Slip) and 2017 (with Norse Mythology) to have everything from 1950 to present (at that time.)
Since then, I have been working on filling in more of the past while trying to move things forward a bit (I'm terrible about reading new books). When making this year's list, I found I was missing just 1928, 1931, 1935, 1944, 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2024 - to have everything completed after 1920. From 1900-1919, I only have half of them. But I'm surprisingly doing quite well on the last couple decades of the 19th century.
Here's where I'm at: (Completed as of 6/2/2024)
1928 - The Mystery of the Blue Train
1931 - The Floating Admiral
1935 - The Luck of the Bodkins
1944 - Death Comes at the End
2018 - Fire & Blood
2019 - The Testaments
2021 - Iron Widow and Noor
2024 - Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands
37. A book that is part of a series - Completed 04/11/2024The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin 4 ✮
It's a bit funny to me that this book managed to get bumped from its week on the plan, only to make a come back and get read for a different week. I no longer had it scheduled in, and I was way, way back in the wait line at the library. But I had never cancelled the hold, so one day it showed up. And I really wanted to read it.
I'm glad I came in with no idea what the book was about. That's a great way to approach a book. it's enough to know that it is a well regarded (Hugo Award winning) sci-fi novel. But somehow I expected it to be a bit more like Ursula K. LeGuin than Arthur C. Clarke.
Still, I'm glad to see that Hard Sci-fi can be done right on the occasion. And I am very much looking forward to reading the other books in the series. Perhaps they will fight hard to get their spots back.
This book could have worked for week 3, week 4, week 11, week 14, week 15 (where I originally had it), week 17, week 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, or week 40,
45. A book that is not a novel - Completed 04/12/2024The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke 4 ✮
While it didn't quite match up to the amazing Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, it is still an extremely well written book. I almost burned through it in a single day - I was enjoying it so much. But alas, there were other things that needed to be done (like work).
A great fit for this prompt, as it is a short story collection. And like a lot of short story collections, some stories were stronger than others. The better ones were amazing and the lesser ones were fine. I wish she had done a bit more with the Rumpelstiltskin tale, it's been done a lot so it would take a real big reimagining to make it worthwhile. The Neil Gaiman influenced story was interesting in that the ending was anti-climactic - as though she were homaging him and sending him up at the same time.
36. A book featuring a character in education - Completed 04/14/2024Harold by Stephen Wright 4 ✮
A hilarious book that I had the benefit of listening to as an audiobook read by the author. It absolutely nails what it's like to be that kid that daydreams in class.
But I did feel like it was missing something. It's a good forum for Stephen Wright's type of humor and it pulls off exactly what it sets out to be. But I think it needed a plot or some sort of character growth. That's tricky, since it all takes place in one day, but it was pulled off successfully in And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, so it is doable.
20. A book with a single word title - Completed 04/17/2024Thinner by Stephen King 3 ✮
Starts out fast paced and exciting and then slows down to a crawl. My suspicion is that King started this tale with the intent of it being a short story or a novella, and when it started to go long, then decided to pad it out to novel length.
It's a good story, but there isn't quite enough to justify the length. Had it kept up that initial pace, it might have been more comparable to the very solid The Running Man.
24. A book with a secondary color on the cover - orange - Completed 04/19/2024Death Comes at the End by Agatha Christie 3 ✮
This point goes to me. Dame Christie lined up all the clues and I followed them to the right conclusion. It was a nice change to have the setting so far into the past and without the standard Dame Agatha protagonists. But one flaw of this book is that I never really cared about the characters. I had no investment in their lives, so when people start dying - couldn't be arsed.
I did have a side theory, that seemed like a long shot but would have been better ending (could be used in a different book). The correct solution was the one I had ranked top in my list. But with Roger Akroyd, it had been my 'not at all likely but would be cool' theory that turned out to be the right one, so I was hopeful until the end that this one would have a bigger twist.
Glad to be at 75% completion on the challenge. This last bit has gone fast. After the halfway point, I booked all of the books that had long wait lists and then, for some reason, they all came up within a couple weeks.
So, I started with the one that was due the soonest and started working through them. The next book, Blood Meridian, has just a few more days until it's due back and that will be the last of the big push. After that, they all have no wait list or are books that I own - which will be nice.
10. A history or historical fiction book- Completed 04/23/2024Blood Meridian, or, the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy 4 ✮
I wasn't expecting a western. Somehow, I thought that this book would take place in the 1920-1940s. This is only the second book I've read from Cormac McCarthy, and I came in with big expectations. So, it's fair to say that it disappointed.
The writing was great, that's not unexpected. The violence is so overwhelming that you just become numb to it, and I had no investment in the story (was there a story?) or the characters.
The only thing that kicked it up from a 3 star to a 4 star was that its written partially in Spanish - and it doesn't translate the Spanish!
Finally.
41. A book with a chilling atmosphere - Completed 04/26/2024If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino 5 ✮
Whoa! It blows my mind that Italo Calvino somehow knew that I would read his book and also knew what would happen to me that week, whilst reading it.
An absolute blast to read. I couldn't put it down. The only downside is that I now have quite a few books that I've started that I'll need to finish. Though those were also very good books, so not much of a downside.
I finished one more book for April, a reread of Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold. Completed 04/29/2024 4 ✮ This book is even better, after having read the whole series. it's the perfect place to start, sure, but there's so much more depth once you know who all the people and places (and history) are or will be. A solid series was built on the foundation set-up here.
Unfortunately, this book doesn't work for any of the topics that I have left. On the bright side, I'm not in any danger of not finishing the list. So, this will just have to count toward what I have planned after the 52.
8. A book by an author from Canada, Australia or New Zealand - Completed 05/01/2024Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood 3 ✮
I had initially planned to read The Blind Assasin for this prompt, but it proved challenging to get ahold of. Plus, way too many of the books that I have left are available to me, for free, as physical books and I need more audiobooks to balance. But I still wanted to read Atwood, so I opted for Oryx and Crake.
Got to say, I'm pretty disappointed. Not surprisingly, the writing is very good and there were many great quotes. But I wasn't at all interested in the story or the characters, and the science was terrible.
That's really what put me off on the book. If an author doesn't have a good understanding of the science, they should leave the details a bit vague. The more Atwood told us about how the science worked the more it felt like magic or alchemy.
This is a big flaw of a lot of science fiction writers. Start with what you want to happen, grab the new en vogue science and then say that it was done using that. If it's the 19th century; they did it with electricity. Early 20th century: nuclear. Late 20th century: nanotech. Early 21st century: genetic engineering.
Unfortunately, this reader is a geneticist.
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
State of Fear (other topics)Eleanor & Park (other topics)
Scarlet (other topics)
Scarlet (other topics)
Holes (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Michael Crichton (other topics)Marissa Meyer (other topics)
Stephen King-Hall (other topics)
Louis Sachar (other topics)
Louis Sachar (other topics)
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THE 52 TOPICS OF THE 2024 ATY READING CHALLENGE
✔ 1. A book with a title that ends in A, T or Y - Completed 03/13/2024
✔ 2. A book connected to something you read in 2023 - Completed 05/03/2024
✔ 3. A book that fits a suggestion that didn’t make the final list (A book related to the year of the wood dragon) - Completed 02/22/2024
✔ 4. A book related to something mentioned in the lyrics of What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong - Completed 01/17/2024
✔ 5. A book set in one of the 25 most beautiful cities in the world (Venice) - - Completed 05/25/2024
✔ 6. A book with wings on the cover - Completed 01/09/2024
✔ 7. A book with a pronoun in the title - Completed 04/06/2024
✔ 8. A book by an author from Canada, Australia or New Zealand - Completed 05/01/2024
✔ 9. A book with fewer than 2024 ratings on Goodreads - Completed 01/25/2024
✔ 10. A history or historical fiction book- Completed 04/23/2024
✔ 11. A book with an X connection- Completed 05/20/2024
✔ 12. A book that has been on your TBR for over a year - Completed 03/29/2024
✔ 13. A book that is on a Five Books List; reader’s choice of which list - Completed 05/23/2024
✔ 14. A book with a main character who is Black, Indigenous, or a Person of Color - Completed 02/28/2024
✔ 15. A book whose author’s name includes one of the 4 least used letters in the alphabet (JQZX) - Completed 03/06/2024
✔ 16. A book related to the phrase "It's Raining Cats and Dogs" - Completed 03/24/2024
✔ 17. A book involving intelligence - Completed 05/29/2024
✔ 18. A book with a botanical cover - Completed 02/17/2024
✔ 19. A book connected in some way to any of the flavors of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream - Americone Dream - - Completed 03/27/2024
✔ 20. A book with a single word title - Completed 04/17/2024
✔ 21. A book with a title containing 6+ words - Completed 05/27/2024
✔ 22. A book by an author from an African country - Completed 03/19/2024
✔ 23. A book related to Boats, Beaches, Bars, Ballads, or Jimmy Buffett - Completed 03/04/2024
✔ 24. A book with a secondary color on the cover (orange, green or purple) - Completed 04/19/2024
✔ 25. A book involving a crime other than a murder - Completed 02/10/2024
✔ 26. A book by an author known by their initials - Completed 02/13/2024
✔ 27. A book related to land - Completed 01/26/2024
✔ 28. A book related to sea - Completed 01/02/2024
✔ 29. A book related to air - Completed 01/13/2024
✔ 30. A book set in a country bordering the Mediterranean Sea - Spain - Completed 01/30/2024
✔ 31. A book related to “Going for the Gold” - Completed 02/16/2024
✔ 32. A book with a number in the title - Completed 02/03/2024
✔ 33. A book involving travel - Completed 02/26/2024
✔ 34. A book related to the name of one of Snow White's seven dwarfs (Sleepy) - Completed 03/07/2024
✔ 35. A science or science fiction book - Completed 02/01/2024
✔ 36. A book featuring a character in education - Completed 04/14/2024
✔ 37. A book that is part of a series - Completed 04/11/2024
✔ 38. Two books with similar covers: Book 1 - Completed 01/14/2024
✔ 39. Two books with similar covers: Book 2 - Completed 02/28/2024
✔ 40. A book involving a wild animal or endangered species, in the content, title, or on the cover - Completed 05/05/2024
✔ 41. A book with a chilling atmosphere - Completed 04/26/2024
✔ 42. A book with a sound-related word in the title - Completed 02/19/2024
✔ 43. A book by an Edgar Award-winning Author - Completed 01/19/2024
✔ 44. A book with a touch of magic - Completed 05/13/2024
✔ 45. A book that is not a novel - Completed 04/12/2024
✔ 46. A book related to night - Completed 02/18/2024
✔ 47. A book with a two-word title beginning with THE - Completed 04/04/2024
✔ 48. A second book that fits your favorite prompt - Completed 02/09/2024
✔ 49. A book with a senior citizen character - Completed 01/02/2024
✔ 50. A book posted in one of the ATY Best Book of the Month threads in 2023 or 2024 - Completed 05/12/2024
✔ 51. A book published in 2024 - Completed 05/23/2024
✔ 52. A cozy mystery - Completed 01/10/2024