Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

A collective noun is a word used to represent a group of people, animals, or things, e.g., a herd of cows.


Some examples of collective nouns for animals and how they might be used:

Murder of Crows (murder mystery)
School of Fish (campus story)
Parliament of Owls (political drama)
Flamboyance of Flamingos (over the top character or drag queen)
Skein of Flying Geese (cozy mystery in a yarn shop)
Mob of Kangaroos (gangster/gang story)
Conspiracy of Lemurs (Area 51 or other conspiracy story)
Colony of Ants (colonialism story)
Quiver of Cobras (Robin Hood - arrows)
Confusion of Wildebeest (amnesia story)
Congregation of Alligators (revolves around a house of worship)
Lounge of Lizards (character works at or frequents bars)


This is such a fun prompt, because you can go as wide open (like murder of crows = murdery mystery) or as detailed (quiver of cobras = Robin Hood) as you'd like!

For more collective animal names, check out these lists:
https://list.fandom.com/wiki/Animal_C...
https://www.grammar-monster.com/list_...
https://www.thewildlifediaries.com/co...
https://www.yourdictionary.com/articl...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
(be sure to check the column headers on this one)

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

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

Fifth Business - Robertson Davies (a business of ferrets)
The School at the Chalet - Elinor M. Brent-Dyer (a school of fish)
If We Were Villains - M.L. Rio (a cast of falcons)

Of course, "a murder of crows" is always in reserve!

I love this prompt!

For a cauldron of bats, I am planning to read The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke.

I'm going with "a memory of elephants" to read a book about memory. Some of my options: The Memory of Animals, The Strange Case of Jane O., Time Shelter, Murder by Memory.

A group of bears is called a sleuth, so I've chosen The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz. The main character is a private detective, and it has a perfect sleuth on the cover:

I'm reading Troubling Love for 'a troubling of goldfish', and then taking the easy route with 'a murder of crows: The Woman in Cabin 10.

I wish I had thought of a ROMP of otters for this prompt. Maybe I will change my selection later, but for now I'm going with a murder of crows and using Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz.

I have way too many books on my TBR list with murder in the title.

I plan to read Pod by Laline Paull. I wanted to read it this year but am running out of time so next year it is! And, the book is actually about dolphins.

Pam wrote: "I plan to read Pod by Laline Paull. I wanted to read it this year but am running out of time so next year it is! And, the book is actually about dolphins."

I loved her book The Bees. I like that you’re matching both the animal and the collective noun, and with the content of the book, not just a title word.

This is just too hard LOL. There seems to be 400+ terms and animals to choose from! The only one I will absolutely rule out is murder. It’s just too easy.

Is anyone doing a side challenge with this? To make it a little more challenging (but with less reading), it might be fun to find books that fit this prompt PLUS another one.

It would have been so easy for me to go with "murder of crows" since mysteries are my favorite genre. So I chose "conspiracy of lemurs" because I loved the sound of it! Plan is to read The Yellow Room Conspiracy by Peter Dickinson, it's still a mystery but supposedly with a different twist (and of course, the word "conspiracy" is in the title and I already own it!)

I'm going to go with a pod of dolphins and link it with a book about or based on a podcast.

So far, I've found Almost Surely Dead.

This is a great prompt! My current ideas are:

The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy: What Animals on Earth Reveal about Aliens – and Ourselves (a galaxy of sea stars)
Stand on Zanzibar (a stand of flamingos)

Here’s another link with collective names: https://arapahoelibraries.org/blogs/p...

I love Shadow of Jaguars and know I have books with that word in the title.


A Prickle of Porcupines is making me crack up!

Kittens are the most adorable animals. They are kindles. I will read this book I just got on my kindle:
100 Cats Who Changed Civilization: History's Most Influential Felines

I will be reading Colony by Anne Rivers Siddons. Colony refers to a group of ants.

For this one I read The Menagerie by Tui T. Sutherland to my son. He enjoys this author's Wings of Fire series, so we thought we'd try this one. I wasn't initially into the story, but my son quickly got into it, and his interest pulled me in -- and the fun banter among the delightfully funny creatures was fun to read aloud. Looks like we'll be starting the sequel soon.

A group of bats is also called a cloud - thinking about Cloud Atlas.

A group of doves is called dule - mourning, grief, sorrow, sadness

a group of ferrets is fesnyng, which is a ghost word - appears first in a dictionary due to misprint and/or copying errors - one could read a comedy of errors, maybe even the original one :-D The Comedy of Errors

21. A book connected in some way to any collective noun for animals
A GOOD GIRL’S GUIDE TO MURDER, a group of crows

I read The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie (murder of crows)

I read Onyx Storm and you can take your pick of which collective noun you want to apply.... thunder of hippopotami, horde of gnats, shadow of jaguars, army of caterpillars, flight of pigeons. There are definitely more too.

The Words In My Hand is based on the true story of the philosopher Descartes and Helena Jans, the Dutch maidservant with whom he has a long affair. It involved both Helena's own search for education and literacy as well as Descartes' work. I used it for 'a wisdom of wombats'.

My 'published in 2016' read was The Woman in Cabin 10. I was originally planning this for 'a murder of crows', but it would also work for 'a sleuth of bears', as the MC does a lot of investigating into a presumed murder.

Both were good twisty thrillers, which kept me guessing.

A Murmuration of Starlings

I’m reading Mozart's Starling by Lyanda Lynn Haupt

Apparently starlings are despised by North America birders, as an invasive species. The author saved a new chick that was about to be destroyed, and raised her as a pet. She loves her starling bird, and she likes to watch the murmurations in the sky.

ADDED- This is an engaging and relaxing book about Mozart, songbirds, language, and the author’s life. I would love to have a bird that could sing a melody by Mozart.

I was reading down the list of collective nouns and spotted 'a host of sparrows' which immediately made me think of Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney.

For this prompt, I read:
Flight of Dreams by Ariel Lawhon - 3.5* - My Review

Some suggestions for this prompt from Lila Bowen:
Wake of Vultures, Conspiracy of Ravens, Malice of Crows, and Treason of Hawks.

I know we’re not required to read about the animals as well as the collective nouns, but I’m finding too many animal books this year to ignore them. I read Pod, Mozart's Starling, and I started The Music of Bees. Bees has chapter titles that include collective nouns “hive” and “swarm.” I like it so far. I might do one more.

I read:
Summons to Murder by J.C. Briggs

REJECT: A book with (at least) 25 chapters (50)

Finished: 04/05/2025
Rating: 4 stars

Book #9 in the Charles Dickens/Sam Jones series. This one is a labyrinth of clues and characters. Excellent plot. A very good series.

I read The Pride by Tony Park for this topic (Read April 18th; 4*)

I just discovered that a group of cardinals (the birds) can be a radiance, a conclave, or (my favorite), a deck.

At any rate, considering the happenings in the Vatican this week, I opted to read Conclave by Robert Harris in which a conclave of cardinals (the non-avian kind) elect a new pope.

My review can be found here.

Wendy wrote: "I just discovered that a group of cardinals (the birds) can be a radiance, a conclave, or (my favorite), a deck.

At any rate, considering the happenings in the Vatican this week, I opted to read [..."

Wendy wrote: "I just discovered that a group of cardinals (the birds) can be a radiance, a conclave, or (my favorite), a deck.

At any rate, considering the happenings in the Vatican this week, I opted to read [..."

Wow this fits perfectly. I like the title of the book given the dual meanings of cardinal.

I read the 4th book in the Andy Carpenter series, Sudden Death by David Rosenfelt, for "murder".

NancyJ wrote: "A Murmuration of Starlings

I’m reading Mozart's Starling by Lyanda Lynn Haupt

Apparently starlings are despised by North America birders, as an invasive species. Th..."

I really enjoyed this book when I read it a couple of years ago. And I think a murmuration of starlings is one of the world's most amazing sights. I have pulled my car over and sat, thrilled, when seeing one in person. Anyone who reads this post and hasn't seen one, please look up a video.

Wendy wrote: "I just discovered that a group of cardinals (the birds) can be a radiance, a conclave, or (my favorite), a deck..."

This made me laugh out loud. A conclave of cardinals is great, but a deck is so funny!

I watched the film recently that I assume was based on this book, and enjoyed it.

Dixie wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "A Murmuration of Starlings

I’m reading Mozart's Starling by Lyanda Lynn Haupt

Apparently starlings are despised by North America birders, as an invas..."

Yes! It’s awesome to see.

I read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and it was one of her best

I read The Last Mrs. Parrish with a connection to a richness of martens.

I read the e-book 100 Cats Who Changed Civilization: History's Most Influential Felines. Related to a KINDLE of kittens (baby cats and I read it on Kindle)

I read The Wedding People - venue of turkey vultures

@Pearl - nice use of an unusual collective noun!

I just finished The Birds of Pandemonium: Life Among the Exotic & the Endangered. A group of parrots is called a pandemonium.

It's been driving me crazy, because I knew for a fact that a society was a collective term for group of animals, but I couldn't find it on any of the websites with terms like herd, pod, etc. In frustration, I looked it up in a dictionary and want to pass this on. I feel vindicated :) I must have learned this in university. Yes, this does include animals, thanks for asking, because all animals are organisms.

noun Biology A colony or community of organisms, usually of the same species.


The way this challenge is worded means this counts ;)

I found a new to me mystery series that fits this prompt perfectly. I read A Murder of Crows by Sarah Yarwood-Lovett.

All of the books in the Nell Ward series have collective nouns in their title.

I read The 'Peyton Place' Murder: The True Crime Story Behind The Novel That Shocked The Nation