Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

As the days get shorter (in the northern hemisphere) and the weather gets colder (in the northern hemisphere), we often to turn to fire as a source of warmth and comfort.

This week, you are looking for a book related to fire. Maybe it's on the cover or in the title. Maybe it's an important plot point. Maybe it's a metaphorical fire with a slow burn romance.

Fire on Cover: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...
Books about Fire:
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/fires
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
Books with Firefighters: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
Slow Burn Romance: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
Books with dragons: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
Explosions and eruptions:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...
The desert: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

ATY Listopia: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

What are you reading for this prompt, and how does it fit?

Dragons! I have about a dozen dragon books to choose from for this prompt.

Emily the fire link above is focused on covers, not content. Could you add this first link as well?

Books about fires
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/fires
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

Books with firefighters
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

Not about fires at all, as far as I know, but I've been waiting for an opportunity to read The Blazing World for a prompt, and this is it.

Slightly more relevant is my second round choice, The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race.

A House for Alice, which I read this year, starts with a house fire and also references the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

I'm probably going to use a book in the Inheritance series for this.

My plan is either:
Fiction - Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
Non-fiction - There Will Be Fire: Margaret Thatcher, the IRA, and Two Minutes That Changed History by Rory Carroll

A couple of book-related fires: The Library Book and The Shadow of the Wind.

Probably another nonfiction for me - A World on Fire: Britain's Crucial Role in the American Civil War by Amanda Foreman. Another one that’s a possibility is Daughter of Fire by Sofia Robleda. Both have been hidden in my Kindle black hole for a while.

No warmth or comfort for me, I'm going for arson in Night Shadows by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir.

Thanks, NancyJ. I've updated the first post with your links!

I'm planning to read the Library Book next year so it will probably go with this prompt

Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love by Samaa Habib

Last year, I read and quite enjoyed The Rage of Dragons, enough that I picked up the sequel, The Fires of Vengeance. Think that will fit nicely here.

Emily wrote: "Thanks, NancyJ. I've updated the first post with your links!"

Thanks Emily!

Some options:
Pale Fire - Vladimir Nabokov
The Fire Engine That Disappeared (Martin Beck #5) - Maj Sjowall
Signal Fires - Dani Shapiro

I share your book choice Pam but I’m reading There Will Be Fire for 48.” A book with a character dealing with death” although my British version is rather more brutally titled Killing Thatcher

For this prompt I’m hoping for a bit of light relief with Relight My Fire.

I can't decide what direction to go in, I have so many fire-related books.
Djinn: The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah
Forest fire: The Time of the Fire by Emma Kavanagh
Dragon-roasted coffee The Baby Dragon Café by A.T. Qureshi
Volcanoes: Mountains of Fire: The Secret Lives of Volcanoes by Clive Oppenheimer

All of Mariana Enríquez's short story collections work here:


(That last one might be a stretch, but mirrors can start fires, and the sun arguably is a fire, and it's a yellow cover like fire, so I'm leaving it.)

One that immediately comes to mind is A Burning by Megha Majumdar.

I've just finished The Book of Fire by Christy Lefteri, this is a haunting and unsettling read about surviving a wild fire in Greece with themes of guilt, blame, forgiveness and finding a way to heal. A five star read for me.

I read The Canopy Keepers by Veronica G. Henry.

I had a hard time with this prompt as I live in a very fire prone area and have had to evacuate due to wild fire 6 times or more. I thought I'd read this one because 1) it seemed to be primarily about the idea of the fungal/mycielium network that links all trees together, and 2) my husband has already read it and said that the fires are a small portion. The active part is small, but the impact is very important to the story. Unfortunately the many LA wildfires started the day after I started to read this — I live only about 1.5-2 hours from that area and have several family members who live there (everyone is safe!).

It could also be used for:

-Author with a common noun in name: "veronica" is a plant native to New Zealand (maybe this is not "common" as it is a genus name?), "henry" is the unit of measure for inductance.

-Cover with an A, T, or Y image: tree

-Sci-Fi/Fantasy by a woman

-Setting mostly in nature


Among the other books I considered were:
Fire Country: How Indigenous Fire Management Could Help Save Australia

Nothing to See Here


I enjoyed the book, but while reading it I wished that I had chosen a "fire book" didn't involved wildfire, like Nothing to See Here above...

I'm planning to read The Flame by Leonard Cohen. That's where the light gets in.

I read Fourth Wing, its a dragon book so fire. This is everywhere and seems so loved that I thought I would give it a go. Books like this hard hard for me to rate/recommend because they are fun and easy but also kind of lacking.

I would recommend:

I read The Flower Sisters by Michelle Collins Anderson. It involves a fire in a nightclub in Missouri in 1928, and how it affects the town. It's inspiration was a similar fire in the author's home town.

I finished The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley

In addition to the fire on the cover, there is a fire central to the plot in the story.

I read Dresden: A Survivor's Story, February 1945 and The Ashes of London, two books in which cities burn.

The first book is a first person account by a British soldier caught up in the firebombing of Dresden. It doesn't deal with the background to the bombing in any detail but is a powerful rendering of the event and its horrific aftermath.

The second book is an historical mystery set during and immediately after the Great Fire of London. The mystery aspect was fine, but most interesting were the descriptions of the city and people. It's common knowledge that in sixteen hundred and sixty six, London burned like rotten sticks but what happened to the citizens and how rebuilding started is not really discussed in history lessons, so this was the most interesting part of the book.

I used The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo.
A magic fire spell is part of the story, and of course the Spanish Inquisition, heretics burned on the pyre...

I read When Women Were Dragons in one session I simply could not put it down

I read The Fireman by Joe Hill for this prompt. Seemed like an obvious pick.

For this prompt, I read:
Dark Fire by C.J. Sansom - 4* - My Review

I read The Burning Girl by Claire Messud for this prompt. The only relationship to fire is the title. The book was okay.

I read By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land by Rebecca Nagle.

I was going to read a book that is primarily *about* fire, but I haven’t yet. I realized I already read a surprising number of books that included a fire (natural disaster or arson) as a plot point.

The Last Days of Night by Moore
The Light Pirate
The Puma Years
Empire of Wild
City of the Lost
The Night Masquerade by Nnedi Okorafor
The End of Drum-Time
Cloud Cuckoo Land
The Book Censor's Library - book burning
Wild Dark Shore - flashbacks
James - fire set as a distraction
Dept. of Speculation
Feral Creatures
The Wee Free Men - (magical fire)

Nonfiction
Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America - kkk actions
The Devil's Element: Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance - scientific discussion
A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them - kkk actions

I read One Dog Night by David Rosenfelt. The mystery involves a man accused of setting a fire that killed over 20 people.

I read Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World. 5 stars.

I read:
Ashes by Sharon Gloger Friedman

REJECT: A book about someone fighting for their rights

Finished: 07/07/2025
Rating: 4 stars

From Goodreads:
Meticulously researched and rich with beautifully drawn characters that bring 20th-century New York City to life, Ashes is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, and a haunting elegy to the young women whose suffering inspired changes to the working conditions in the garment industry.

I skipped ahead to this prompt to get caught up on a series before the newest book came out. I always enjoy the books in the Kate Burkholder series by Linda Castillo

The Burning did not disappoint. Definitely a book that kept me up late!

I read Into the Flames by James Delargy for this topic (Read August 25th; 3*)