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So 2016 started well, then the wheels fell out around Spring Break.
But I'm back, got a plan and some friends doing this with me so I'm determined to get to 52!

The list is very vague now - got lots of options open on some categories and nothing on others.

1. A book from the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Choice Awards 2016 - The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer

2. A book with at least 2 perspectives (multiple points of view) - The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley

3. A book you meant to read in 2016 - The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

4. A title that doesn't contain the letter "E" - A Bollywood Affair by Sonali Dev

5. A historical fiction - Highlander Most Wanted by Maya Banks

6. A book being released as a movie in 2017 - The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

7. A book with an animal on the cover or in the title - The Language of Silence by Peggy Webb

8. A book written by a person of color - The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

9. A book in the middle of your To Be Read list - The Intern's Handbook by Shane Kuhn

10. A dual-timeline novel
- The Betrayal of the Blood Lily
- The Witch’s Daughter
- Daughter of Time, by Josephine Tey

11. A category from another challenge (A book with a title that’s a character’s name) - The Dalai Lama's Cat by David Michie

12. A book based on a myth - The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

13. A book recommended by one of your favorite authors - Once Burned by Jeaniene Frost

14. A book with a strong female character
- Assuming Names
- Oracle Glass
- Beauty by Robin McKinley
- Daughter of the Forest
- Grave Mercy
- Rebecca
- The Rosie Project
- The Secret Life of Bees
- The Year of the Flood

15. A book written or set in Scandinavia - The Farm by Tom Rob Smith

16. A mystery
- Drood
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night
- The Historian
- Rebecca
- Daughter of Time
- Alias Grace
- Mistress of the Art of Death

17. A book with illustrations - Interview with the Vampire: Claudia's Story by Ashley Marie Witter

18. A really long book (600+ pages) - The Gamble by Kristen Ashley

19. A New York Times best-seller - My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman

20. A book that you've owned for a while but haven't gotten around to reading - Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains by Catriona McPherson

21. A book that is a continuation of a book you've already read
- The Year of the Flood
- The Darkest Touch
- The Darkest Torment

22. A book by an author you haven't read before
- A Bollywood Affair
- Agyar
- Angels Bleed
- Chocolat
- Drood
- Fantasy Lover
- Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings
- Grayson, by Lisa Eugene
- Hearts in Darkness
- Honor Bound, by Brenda Novak
- Ill Wind, by Karen Perkins
- In a Dark, Dark Wood
- Lamb
- Master of Crows
- Neverwhere
- One Bloody Thing After Another
- Poughkeepsie
- Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton
- Running with Scissors
- Shadowman, by Aaron Dennis
- The Historian
- The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie
- The Smoke Thief

23. A book from the BBC "The Big Read" list - Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

24. A book written by at least two authors - Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

25. A book about a famous historical figure - The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson

26. An adventure book
- Neverwhere
- A Criminal Magic
- Mr Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore
- Thunderhead by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

27. A book by one of your favorite authors - To Be a Woman by Piers Anthony

28. A non-fiction
- Broken Music
- Geography of Genius
- Are You Fully Charged?
- How to Have Your Cake and Your Skinny Jeans Too

29. A book published outside the 4 major publishing houses - Immortal Matchmakers, Inc. by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

30. A book from Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Top 100 YA Books - I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

31. A book from a sub-genre of your favorite genre - The Loneliest Alpha by T.A. Grey

32. A book with a long title (5+ words, excluding subtitle) - One Bloody Thing After Another by Joey Comeau

33. A magical realism novel - The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

34. A book set in or by an author from the Southern Hemisphere
- Island Beneath the Sea
- The Rosie Project

35. A book where one of the main characters is royalty - The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

36. A Hugo Award winner or nominee - The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

37. A book you choose randomly - The Highlands by Sia Nix

38. A novel inspired by a work of classic literature - Briar Rose by Jane Yolen

39. An epistolary fiction - Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown

40. A book published in 2017
- The Night Bird
- Dark Protector
- Miranda and Caliban
- If the Duke Demands
- The Bastard Billionaire
- No Other Highlander
- You are Here: An Owner’s Manual for Dangerous Minds by Jenny Lawson
- Devil You Know by L.A. Fiore
- The Highland Duke
- The People We Hate at Weddings
- Daughter of the Pirate King
- The Darkest Promise

41. A book with an unreliable narrator - The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

42. A best book of the 21st century (so far)
- The Secret Life of Bees
- Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime
- Eats Shoots & Leaves
- Fingersmith
- Let the Right One In
- Year of the Flood
- Julie and Julia

43. A book with a chilling atmosphere (scary, unsettling, cold) -And Then There Were None

44. A recommendation from "What Should I Read Next"
- Pleasure Unbound
- Eternal Rider
- Mr Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore
- Johannes Cabal the Necromancer
- The Golem and the Jinni
- The Rook, by Daniel O’Malley

45. A book with a one-word title - Horns by Joe Hill

46. A time travel novel - Convergence by Joseph Gellene

47. A past suggestion that didn't win (Book with a number in the title) - The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

48. A banned book - The Giver by Lois Lowry

49. A book from someone else's bookshelf
- Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut
- How to Have Your Cake and Your Skinny Jeans Too

50. A Penguin Modern Classic - Anthem by Ayn Rand

51. A collection (e.g. essays, short stories, poetry, plays) - The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter

52. A book set in a fictional location - Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

You need to read «The Night Circus»! It's one of my favorite books of all time! :D
You also gave me ideas for some topics, haha!

This is awesome, I've seen a few of these lists going around Facebook, but I think I'm going to give this a try.

I just finished The Girl with All the Gifts and was really surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I found it really hard to put down! But ... And Then There Were None was brilliant.

I'm in the minority with The Time Traveler's Wife, I absolutely loathed it. I found it "icky" (although I can't explain why without spoilers) and I hated both of the main characters.

Jody and I have sometimes very different opinions (hello Moby-Dick and The Name of the Wind ;) ), but we totally agree on The Time Traveler's Wife! I really didn't like it and wonder how I was able to finish it!

My husband read the Time Traveler's Wife and I asked him if he thought I'd like it - he said I wouldn't so I'm leaning away from that one.

Started Crazy Rich Asians last night and already hated it. I switched to Convergence and will try that one later (or another one - I've got tons in both categories I have that one in)

I'm definitely putting stars next to all your recommendations!

So I've updated my list - as of this morning (April 27) I'm half way through my list and still going strong!

I've had some good ones and some REALLY painfully bad ones. But I think I'm getting something out of all of them!

Great progress, congrats! Which were the painful ones, so I can avoid them? ;)

Hmm...

Well, The Gamble was painful, very single dimensional characters made even worse by being so very long.

I did not enjoy the Bloody Chamber - not sure why, but it was an effort to get through and was supershort

Devil in the White City was interesting, but there were so many random asides, I really felt like the author had done all this research and then had to get every last scrap of trivia he'd uncovered into the book.

On the other end, I really loved Night Circus, Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo and Language of Silence

Finding some interesting and unintended trends thus far - I'm 30 books in...

* 3 books involving (at least to some extent) domestic violence
* 2 books involving circuses (although I knew this going in)
* 2 involving "artificial women" seeking recognition as "real"
* 2 with dystopian futures with the subjugation of the individual self as central
* 3 set in Sweden - one intentionally but the other two I had no idea until I got about a 1/3 of the way into each. Apparently, I really love Swedish authors! Who knew!

Kiki wrote: "Hmm...

Well, The Gamble was painful, very single dimensional characters made even worse by being so very long.

I did not enjoy the Bloody Chamber - not sure why, but it was an effort to get throu..."

I've read two other Eric Larson books but not The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America and I feel like he gave all the random information in those books as well. I do find his books interesting but it can be tough to get through some of those details if you aren't interested in them. I'm probably still going to read The Devil in the White City though. In In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin he listed all of the china pieces the Ambassador ordered. I really really did not understand the point of that.

Joan wrote: "...and I feel like he gave all the random information in those books as well."

Good to know, guess that's part of his style. Not personally a huge fan of it - reminds me (painfully) of reading Moby Dick in high school; really didn't need to know THAT much about whaling and what you can do with all the whale parts!

Add yet another "artificial woman" book in The Golem and the Jinni.
All so very different...