Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
Weekly Topics 2020
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18. A book by an author you've only read once before


I would contribute that I really enjoyed The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell, whose most popular book is Cloud Atlas.



I have *so many* options for this prompt it's ridiculous. I'm terrible at following up on series.


Other author possibilities include Ron Chernow, Nnedi Okorafor, Haruki Murakami, or Martha Wells.

Not to discount his story, but I have read horror stories about slaves (esp. women) and didn't find his story as bad as most.

Five Quarters of the Orange
Her Fearful Symmetry
Little Fires Everywhere
The Heart's Invisible Furies
This Is Not about Me
What Alice Forgot
Where Angels Fear to Tread


I picked up The Girl in The Woods due to its size (for me the bigger the book, the better) with no knowledge of the author or what the story was about.
I found the characters to be fully developed with back-stories that were mentioned but not delved into. I looked the author up and discovered she has a whole series of books with these characters.
Normally I would find the first book and read the whole series in order but I found The Ice Child at a book sale and I had to get it. I guess I'll be reading this series from the end to the beginning lol.


2. What work had you previously read by this author?

3. Did you enjoy this one as much as the first one you had read?
I actually think I liked this one more but the ending sucked.

Second Hand Curses
2. What work had you previously read by this author?
NPCs
3. Did you enjoy this one as much as the first one you had read?
I liked these books equally the same, but I think I liked NPCs just a little better. Hayes definitely has some unique story ideas, and I love the wit and humor he brings into his writing. I am happy to keep reading the stories he puts out. One thing I enjoyed about Second Hand Curses is how he incorporated lesser and well know fairy tale characters into his plot, but not as the central character(s).


2. What work had you previously read by this author? I read A Cookbook Conspiracy (A Bibliophile Mystery, #7) in 2015
3. Did you enjoy this one as much as the first one you had read? Apparently, more - since I gave the previous book 3 stars and this one 4 stars.

I read Arrest the Bishop? by Winifred Peck
What work had you previously read by this author?
The Warrielaw Jewel
Did you enjoy this one as much as the first one you had read?
I liked this as much as the first one. I wouldn't say they were among the best of the Golden Age mysteries but they were enjoyable. This author only wrote the two mysteries, but she did write other books, which I do intend to try at sometime

Romola by George Eliot
2. What work had you previously read by this author?
Middlemarch
3. Did you enjoy this one as much as the first one you had read?
I liked it but not at much as Middlemarch. This one was set in 1490s Florence so it was a little harder to understand since I don't have the background knowledge.

The Splendid Outcast: Beryl Markham's African Stories
2. What work had you previously read by this author? (one of my favorite books I've ever read) West with the Night
3. Did you enjoy this one as much as the first one you had read?
Parts of it yes but mostly no -- the beginning section of stories were as good as anything in West with the Night, but the drippy wartime romance stories were definitely not up to par

The growing season by Helen Sedgwick Read: 16 Feb 2020
What book did you read before?
The Comet Seekers - also amazing

I read Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill
2. What work had you previously read by this author?
I had read Dreams and Shadows, which I did not love.
3. Did you enjoy this one as much as the first one you had read?
I was not actually a big fan of the first one, but "Sea of Rust" sounded so intriguing that I had to pick it up. And I'm glad I did, because I adored it.

The Nickel Boys
2. What work had you previously read by this author?
The Underground Railroad
3. Did you enjoy this one as much as the first one you had read?
I did. I believe I gave both 4 stars.


2 previously read What She Left Behind
3. I enjoyed the previous book more. Some of this was really drawing emotionally and i was very disappointed with the ending.

Wild Seed was what I read for this prompt. I really enjoyed it. Now I just have to figure out how to make the rest of the series fit into some of the prompts



Misconduct by Penelope Douglas
2. What work had you previously read by this author?
Birthday Girl by Penelope Douglas
3. Did you enjoy this one as much as the first one you had read?
Not the same as the previous book.



2. What work had you previously read by this author? The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
3. Did you enjoy this one as much as the first one you had read? I wasn't a big fan of the Circumnavigated one and I hadn't realized until searching for this prompt that the were the same author. THe styles are completely different. Like insanely different and I would never have put them together. I think that actually leads into why I wasn't a fan of either of them, because felt like the author was trying way to had to emulate the style of someone else. For Circumnavigate it felt a lot like A Wizard of Earthsea and Space Opera just screamed Hitchhiker's Guide. She really needs to find her own voice and not strong arm stories into whatever she feels is the "appropriate" voice.
I have one more book of her's in my TBR list and I'm not sure if I want to try it.

I read Death by Jack-o'-Lantern by Alexis Morgan
I had previously read Death by Committee which was the first book in the series.
/review/show...
I read The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys. I started 2019 off by reading Salt to the Sea, which I really enjoyed, but I think I enjoyed The Fountains of Silence even better!

2. What work had you previously read by this author? Think of England
3. Did you enjoy this one as much as the first one you had read? I enjoyed it more. A traditional country house murder mystery with delightful protagonists.



18. A Book by an Author You've Only Read Once Before: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
It was a quick and easy read, my first book by Wilde was the picture of Dorian Grey.

2. What work had you previously read by this author? I read and enjoyed The Woman in Cabin 10.
3. Did you enjoy this one as much as the first one you had read? They were both very good. I read both for my book club, not my usual "go-to" genre.

2. What work had you previously read by this author? The Talented Mr. Ripley
3. Did you enjoy this one as much as the first one you had read? Not as much, but it was still a solid read.

I am reading Eve of Man by Giovanna and Tom Fletcher
2. What work had you previously read by this author?
So I'm not sure if I'm cheating by doing this, but I've never read anything by Tom Fletcher (unless you count song lyrics lol). I have, however, previously read Billy and Me by Giovanna Fletcher
3. Did you enjoy this one as much as the first one you had read?
I've only just started this book so I can't say for sure, but I definitely like the premise of this book better

2. What work had you previously read by this author? All the Ugly and Wonderful Things
3. Did you enjoy this one as much as the first one you had read? In both cases I had an appreciation for Bryn Greenwood's writing. All the Ugly and Wonderful Things was the perfect name for the book it was ugly and hard to read but also pretty wonderful to read. The Reckless Oath We Made was less intense and sort of romantic but still had a little bite to it, I really enjoyed it.



The Red House Mystery by A.A. Milne
2. What work had you previously read by this author?
Winnie-the-Pooh
3. Did you enjoy this one as much as the first one you had read?
I mean, considering that Winnie-the-Pooh is one of my all-time favorite stories and characters, that would be a difficult feat to achieve. So, no, I didn't enjoy this one as much, but I still did enjoy it!
I was very curious to read a mystery written by the creative genius behind Winnie-the-Pooh, and it didn't disappoint! Would recommend to fans of Agatha Christie and the likes. 4 stars.

I didn't enjoy this one at all. The writing's great, but I really didn't like the plot. It made me anxious, so I just wanted to get it over with, but at the same time was avoiding reading it. I've got the final one in the trilogy later in the year, and I'm not really looking forward to that now, which is disappointing.

The Cafe by the Sea
2. What work had you previously read by this author?
The Bookshop on the Corner
3. Did you enjoy this one as much as the first one you had read?
This was a little slow to take off and catch my interest but once it did, it was really good.
Books mentioned in this topic
The Bishop's Man (other topics)Punishment (other topics)
Bruny (other topics)
Waiting (other topics)
Olive's Ocean (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Linden MacIntyre (other topics)Kevin Henkes (other topics)
Lisa Jewell (other topics)
Lisa Jewell (other topics)
Sally Britton (other topics)
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Suggestions:
Because this is a highly personal prompt, it's hard to give suggestions. If you aren't sure which authors would qualify, try going to your Read list and scrolling through the authors. You can sort your Read shelf by author, so the books you've read by each one will group up.
ATY Group Listopia
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Optional Questions:
1. What are you reading for this category?
2. What work had you previously read by this author?
3. Did you enjoy this one as much as the first one you had read?