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The 2018 List

1. A book with the letters A, T & Y in the title - The Day of the Triffids or Battle Royale

2. A book from the first 10 books added to your To Be Read list - Battle Royale or The Day of the Triffids

3. A book from the 2017 Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Choice Awards

4. 4 books linked by the 4 elements: Book #1 Earth � A Wizard of Earthsea

5. A book about or inspired by real events � The Naked and the Dead

6. A book originally written in a language other than English - 1Q84 or The Castle

7. A gothic novel - Rebecca or The Phantom of the Opera

8. An "own voices" book* � Americanah or The Fifth Season

9. A book with a body part in the title (heart, bones, teeth, skin, blood, etc) � Dragon Teeth

10. An author's debut book (their first book to be published) � The Carpet People

11. A literary fiction � The Wasp Factory or Beloved

12. A book set in Africa or South America � Love in the Time of Cholera or King Solomon's Mines

13. A book with a plot centered around a secret (forbidden love, spies, secret societies, etc) � Cycle of the Werewolf or Love in the Time of Cholera

14. 4 books linked by the 4 elements: Book #2 Fire � Firestarter

15. A book with an unique format/writing structure � If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

16. A narrative nonfiction � In Cold Blood

17. A book you expect to make you laugh � A Confederacy of Dunces

18. A book with a location in the title � The Lathe of Heaven or Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder

19. A book nominated for the Edgar Award or by a Grand master author (books & authors) � The Sittaford Mystery

20. A book rated 5 stars by at least one of your friends � Fight Club (Jennifer Lynn)

21. A book written in first person perspective � The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

22. A book you have high expectations or hope for � God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater or Slapstick, or Lonesome No More! or The Stars My Destination or Stand on Zanzibar

23. A medical or legal thriller � The Terminal Man

24. A book with a map � The Tombs of Atuan

25. A book with an antagonist/villain point of view � Dearly Devoted Dexter

26. A book with a text only cover � Survivor

27. A book about surviving a hardship (war, famine, major disasters, serious illness, etc) � Stay Alive, My Son

28. 4 books linked by the 4 elements: Book #3 Water � The Farthest Shore

29. A book with a "Clue" weapon on the cover or title (lead pipe, revolver, rope, candlestick, dagger, wrench) � And Then There Were None

30. A short book � The Metamorphosis or The Old Man and the Sea

31. A book set in a country you'd like to visit but have never been to � The Three-Body Problem

32. An alternate history book � The Difference Engine

33. A book connected (title, cover, content) to a word "born" in the same year as you � Oryx and Crake (Autism Spectrum Disorder)

34. A suggestion from the AtY 2018 polls, that didn't win but was polarizing or a close-call

35. A book featuring a murder � Dexter in the Dark

36. A book published in the last 3 years (2016, 2017, 2018) by an author you haven't read before � All the Birds in the Sky or Ninefox Gambit

37. A Women's Prize for Fiction winner or nominee � Half of a Yellow Sun

38. A science book or a science fiction book � The Stars My Destination or Stand on Zanzibar

39. A book with a form of punctuation in the title � God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater or Slapstick, or Lonesome No More!

40. A book from Amazon's 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime list � Beloved or Invisible Man

41. A book by an author with the same first and last initials � The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden

42. A book that takes place on, in, or underwater � Sphere

43. A book with a title that is a whole sentence � How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

44. A ghost story � Beloved or Rebecca or A Stir of Echoes

45. A book that intimidates/ scares you � It

46. 4 books linked by the 4 elements: Book #4 Air � The Other Wind or Castle in the Air

47. A book where the main character (or author) is of a different ethnic origin, religion, or sexual identity than your own � The Dark Forest

48. A book related to one of the 7 deadly sins � Lolita (lust)

49. A book from one of the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Best Books of the Month lists â€� 1Q84 or Station Eleven

50. A book with a warm atmosphere (centered on family, friendship, love or summer) � American Knees

51. An award-winning short story or short story collection � Paingod and Other Delusions or The Wind's Twelve Quarters

52. A book published in 2018 � The Winds of Winter

Now accepting suggestions for the unfilled topics.

The cycle of the werewolf was the only Stephen King book I liked. It was very good. It would also fit under short book.

You seem to have a few books by Michael Crichton on your list, so I'd maybe suggest Dragon Teeth for the body part topic. I haven't read it, so I can't say if it's any good or not, but I'm reading it for that week.

You're being very optimistic with The Winds of Winter, lol. I have hopes it will come out too, but I left it off my list for now and will swap it in if it gets published, haha.

We have several in common... Rebecca, Half of the yellow sun, and in cold blood! I am not so sure about Rebecca.. that Gothic themed book is gonna be a real hard one for me to get thru I fear!

We have several in common... Rebecca, Half of the yellow sun, and in cold blood! I am not so sure about Rebecca.. that Gothic themed book is gonna be a real hard one for me to get thru I fear!

@Anastasia - A short Stephen King book! That is unconventional. I've been wanting to find a good werewolf book, and hopefully that is it. But really it's only on the list because I'm coming into the mid-80's in my Stephen King read through. Glad to hear it worked for you.

@Peter - That's a great suggestion for the bodypart topic. I've added it to the plan. Now we have even more books in common for next year. TWoW mainly acts as a procrastination. I don't have to pick a book for next year until I've seen what everyone else thinks of them, and if it does come out, it will definitely bump anything else.

@Kelly - Always glad to share reads with other people, as it is fun to discuss them, even when there is disagreement (that might even be more fun) on quality. I have high hopes for Yellow Sun and In Cold Blood, even though I haven't read anything from either of those authors. Rebecca has piqued my interest because it seems so popular within this group. I hadn't even heard of it before a year or two ago, and like you I tend to be wary of books beyond a certain age, though this one is still pretty modern.

Love your reading plan -- I've read some of them and have others on my list for this year. I thought The Fifth Season was great, way beyond my expectations. I also read a couple interviews with the author about it and those took me deeper into the rationale behind the characters. If you end up reading it, I hope you enjoy it!

Kelly wrote: "We have several in common... Rebecca, Half of the yellow sun, and in cold blood! I am not so sure about Rebecca.. that Gothic themed book is gonna be a real hard one for me to get thru I fear!"

If you are looking for an easy, interesting gothic story I suggest Shirley Jackson's "We Have Always Lived in the Castle". I read it this year and really enjoyed it. I read Rebecca something like 30 years ago, so I don't remember much about it!

Great list, J! I see you have the Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K LeGuin on it. I loved those books. The Three-Body Problem and Stand on Zanzibar look interesting.

^Yeah they do. 3Body was given to me for free, by TOR as one of their monthly freebies but I expect they'll be getting my money for the sequels. Stand on Zanzibar appears on a lot of best of classic sci-fi lists, but what bumped it up was its appearance in this YouTube video:

Firestarter! Now why didn't I think of that. I might have to add it as an option.

Great list! Quite a lot of good choices. I have quite a few of these on my TBR.

Lots of writers on this list that I dig! I'm a fan of Murakami, so I hpe you'll read 1Q84 just so you can let me know how it is. You seem to have picked a lot of books that I haven't read by authors I enjoy...Palahniuk, Vonnegut, and Morrison. I have Battle Roale and The Wasp Factory on my list, too, so I look forward to your posts.

Good list!
I also have How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe in my TBR so if you end reading it, it'll be interesting to know what you think about it. I (finally!) planned Castle in the Air, I hope I'll enjoy it as much as Howl!

J wrote: "Stand on Zanzibar appears on a lot of best of classic sci-fi lists, but what bumped it up was its appearance in this YouTube video: ..."

Thanks, J, that's an amazing video. Of the ten books mentioned I've only read Brave New World, but the others sound interesting too, I'll check them out. I've seen the movie They Shoot Horses, Don't They? but I can't remember reading it.