Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
2018 Plans
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Bryony's 2018 challenge - the grown up edition
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Books and authors I want to prioritise & general goals for the year
General goals:
🎊 Complete the AtY challenge (of course!) (28/52)
💯 Read at least 100 new books (50/100)
🌍 Start the "Around the World" challenge and read books set in or by authors from at least ten different countries
📚 Read at least five non-fiction books (15/5) ✔️
🗓 Read at least five books published in the 19th century or earlier (3/5)
📰 Read at least five books on the (1/5)
Books to prioritise (books I planned for 2017 but didn’t get around to):
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
Swing Time by Zadie Smith
The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
Authors to prioritise:
Salman Rushdie
Sebastian Faulks
Ian McEwan
Iain Banks
Series to continue with:
The Wallander series by Henning Mankell
The Hercule Poirot series by Agatha Christie
Extra ideas for my plan - topics 1-26✔️ Rest, Play, Grow: Making Sense of Preschoolers (Or Anyone Who Acts Like One by Deborah MacNamara
Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids by Kim John Payne
The Danish Way of Parenting: What the Happiest People in the World Know About Raising Confident, Capable Kids by Jessica Joelle Alexander
Playful Parenting by Lawrence J. Cohen
Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby's Brain by Sue Gerhardt
Whatever Happened to Tanganyika?: The Place Names that History Left Behind by Harry Campbell
The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
The Racer: Life on the Road as a Pro Cyclist by David Millar
The Continuum Concept: In Search Of Happiness Lost by Jean Liedloff
On the Road Bike: The Search For a Nation’s Cycling Soul by Ned Boulting
✔️Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby's Brain by Sue Gerhardt
What Mothers Do: especially when it looks like nothing by Naomi Stadlen
The Chimp Paradox: The Acclaimed Mind Management Programme to Help You Achieve Success, Confidence and Happiness by Steve Peters
Artemis by Andy Weir
✔️ Beartown by Fredrik Backman
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative by Florence Williams
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Walk the Lines: The London Underground, Overground by Mark Mason
The 32 Stops: The Central Line by Danny Dorling
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
Ten Days that Shook the World by John Reed
Guerilla Days in Ireland: A Personal Account of the Anglo-Irish War by Tom Barry
The African Dream: The Diaries of the Revolutionary War in the Congo by Ernesto Che Guevara
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
Night by Elie Wiesel
The Accountant's Story: Inside the Violent World of the Medellín Cartel by Roberto Escobar Gaviria
True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey
The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor by Gabriel García Márquez
✔️ News of a Kidnapping by Gabriel García Márquez
Britt-Marie Was Here
Beartown
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
A Wallander novel (Henning Mankell)
✔️ The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor by Gabriel García Márquez
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
✔️ Frankenstein: The 1818 Text by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Dracula by Bram Stoker
🍎 The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
🍎 Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
🍊 Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
🍎 The Color Purple by Alice Walker
🍊 The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
🍊 The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene
🍊 In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
🍊 The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
✔️ Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
🍊 White Teeth by Zadie Smith
Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor
✔️ The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
🍊 White Teeth by Zadie Smith
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
The South by Colm Tóibín
Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
12. A book set in Africa or South America
Death in the Andes by Mario Vargas Llosa
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez
✔️ The Spy Who Came In from the Cold by John le Carré
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré
Our Kind of Traitor by John le Carré
One of Ian Fleming’s Bond novels - depends where I’m up to in the series
14. 4 books linked by the 4 elements: Book #2 Fire
🍌 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman
The Heather Blazing by Colm Tóibín
15. A book with an unique format/writing structure
🥝 Multiple Choice by Alejandro Zambra
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
S. by J.J. Abrams
Yeats Is Dead!: A Mystery by 15 Irish Writers by Joseph O'Connor
✔️ The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
🍎 The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
18. A book with a location in the title
19. A book nominated for the Edgar Award or by a Grand master author (books & authors)
Agatha Christie
Graham Greene
Elmore Leonard
Stephen King
20. A book rated 5 stars by at least one of your friends
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
23. A medical or legal thriller
John Grisham?
24. A book with a map
Pole to Pole by Michael Palin
Full Circle
Sahara by Michael Palin
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Extra ideas for my plan - topics 27-5227. A book about surviving a hardship (war, famine, major disasters, serious illness, etc)
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
28. 4 books linked by the 4 elements: Book #3 Water
Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
29. A book with a "Clue" weapon on the cover or title (lead pipe, revolver, rope, candlestick, dagger, wrench)
30. A short book
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
31. A book set in a country you'd like to visit but have never been to
32. An alternate history book
11/22/63 by Stephen King
33. A book connected (title, cover, content) to a word "born" in the same year as you (link)
34. A suggestion from the AtY 2018 polls, that didn't win but was polarizing or a close-call (link)
35. A book featuring a murder
Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin
A Poirot novel, to choose depending on where I’m up to in the series.
36. A book published in the last 3 years (2016, 2017, 2018) by an author you haven't read before
37. A Women's Prize for Fiction winner or nominee (link1, link2)
38. A science book or a science fiction book
Why Does E=mc²? by Brian Cox
The Quantum Universe: Everything That Can Happen Does Happen by Brian Cox
The Canon: The Beautiful Basics of Science by Natalie Angier
39. A book with a form of punctuation in the title
40. A book from Amazon's 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime list (link)
41. A book by an author with the same first and last initials
Philip Pullman
Bill Bryson
Brené Brown
Bertolt Brecht
42. A book that takes place on, in, or underwater
Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
43. A book with a title that is a whole sentence
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman
44. A ghost story
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
45. A book that intimidates/ scares you
Finnegans Wake by James Joyce
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
46. 4 books linked by the 4 elements: Book #4 Air
Dead Air by Iain Banks
47. A book where the main character (or author) is of a different ethnic origin, religion, or sexual identity than your own
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
48. A book related to one of the 7 deadly sins (pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, sloth)
49. A book from one of the ŷ Best Books of the Month lists (link)
50. A book with a warm atmosphere (centered on family, friendship, love or summer)
51. An award-winning short story or short story collection
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
Something by Raymond Carver
52. A book published in 2018
Progress checksJanuary - 8 books
Rest, Play, Grow: Making Sense of Preschoolers (Or Anyone Who Acts Like One by Deborah MacNamara
It's a Don's Life by Mary Beard
Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby's Brain by Sue Gerhardt
The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie
The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor by Gabriel García Márquez
This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor by Adam Kay
The Scandal by Fredrik Backman
Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
February - 5 books
A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond
News of a Kidnapping by Gabriel García Márquez
No One Writes to the Colonel and Other Stories by Gabriel García Márquez
Fudge Cupcake Murder by Joanne Fluke
Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Finnegans Wake! Man, that's taking the James Joyce intimidation to the next level. I'm planning on Ulysses for that topic. Though I have to put in a good word for The Sound and the Fury. Faulkner is my favorite author!
Hi, Byrony -- Raymond Carver for the short stories is a great idea! There's a wonderful scene in the old Mary Tyler Moore show where Lou Grant reads from one of Carver's stories. I saw it years ago and still remember it. Found it online:
I'm thinking about reading order next year as well, but I haven't fully decided or made any thoughts on books so far.I really hope you'll enjoy The House of the Spirits. It's still one of my favorite books read in 2017.
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter will be on my priority list next year. Maybe we could start a buddy-read.
I suspect that Finnegans Wake is going to be just a bit too intimidating for me, but I've optimistically listed it anyway. It's great to hear your recommendation for The Sound and the Fury Katie, as I think that's most likely to be what I read for that week. Still intimidating, but not so intimidating I can't even bring myself to borrow it from the library! That's such an interesting article Cheri. I've never even seen that show before (I live in the UK so that may explain why).
Marina, I'm definitely interested in a buddy read for The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. It's been on my TBR for years so I'd really like to get around to reading it next year.
I started The House of Spirits a few years ago and just wasn't in the right mindset to finish so I put it down. I'm thinking I may read in for the South America prompt this year since I've seen so many glowing reviews. I hope you enjoy The Heart is a Lonely Hunter better than I did. I read it a few years ago and really didn't enjoy it. I usually speed through books but that one took me forever to get through.
I can heartily recommend The Sound and the Fury. That's the book that made me fall in love with Faulkner.
Week one updateI wrote monthly updates on my plan thread in 2017 but it often ended up taking quite a long time to write about everything I read in a month so I’m going to experiment with weekly updates for at least the first few weeks of this year.
I had a slower start to the year than I’d planned, partly as I had less reading time than usual due to visiting family. I read two books and unusually for me they were both non-fiction:
Rest, Play, Grow: Making Sense of Preschoolers (Or Anyone Who Acts Like One was a five star read and a great start to 2018.
It's a Don's Life was okay, but a little disappointing. I didn’t think the format - collecting blog posts into a book - actually worked very well, but nonetheless it was interesting to get an insight into a career that’s quite different to my own. This was a side read for my Popsugar challenge.
I struggled to choose my next book which will be for prompt two, but I've finally decided I’ll read Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby's Brain by Sue Gerhardt. That will make it three consecutive non-fiction books for me. I’m actually looking forward to starting my first fiction of 2018 after that.
Good luck with your new approach to updates. I'm trying to figure out how I'll do mine for this year too.Yay for the nonfiction! I read a book last year that was a compilation of blog posts, and I also thought it didn't make a successful book. The author repeated some stories over and over, and that would've been okay in blog posts, but I thought it could've used serious editing to turn it into a book.
I’m enjoying my venture into nonfiction but I’m not sure I could manage a whole nonfiction challenge like you Katie. I think some good editing would also have improved the blog collection I read. Another reason I think I struggled with it was that the blogs often commented on events taking place at the time they were written which meant the writing feel quite dated despite being published fairly recently.
Week two updateI finished three books this week, one for ATY and two side reads for my Popsugar challenge.
For ATY I read Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby's Brain by Sue Gerhardt. I was so disappointed in this. It’s been on my TBR for over a year and I was really looking forward to it but I didn’t enjoy it at all. I think my main problem was that the author just didn’t seem very good at explaining the issues she was discussing. It was also very disjointed and repetitive, and it felt very much like the author had made up her mind about the topic long ago and then sought out only evidence to support her views which meant it was hard to have confidence in her arguments.
Fortunately I really enjoyed my other two books. The Murder on the Links was another great Agatha Christie mystery, full of twists and turns and very engaging. And The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor by Gabriel García Márquez was beautifully written and captivating. I think Márquez is becoming one of my favourite authors.
Next up: The Scandal by Fredrik Backman (for ATY week three), and possibly another Poirot book as I’m just enjoying them so much at the moment.
Week three updateI read two books last week and my plan to read in order is still going well. I finished The Scandal for week three and I’ve started Unaccustomed Earth which I’m reading for week four.
I had really mixed feelings about The Scandal. I found the subject quite upsetting so I didn’t really enjoy the book, but on the other hand I did think it was well written and had some great characters so I ended up rating it four stars.
I also read This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor as a side read for Popsugar. I did enjoy this, but it was a little bit spoiled for me by the author’s judgemental and sarcastic attitude towards people who had different opinions or experiences to him.
Surprisingly I’ve just realised I’ve reached my 2018 goal of reading five non fiction books within the first three weeks of the year. I’m not usually a nonfiction reader so this is very unusual for me. I think it’s because two of the books have been quite easy nonfiction, whereas my usual nonfiction reads tend to be more challenging popular science, history or politics books. While interesting they do tend to take me weeks and weeks to read and then make me feel apprehensive about starting another similar book.
Wait a minute......I'm so confused.Is The Scandal actually Beartown under another name???
Haha, yes. Depending the country, Backman's books have different names. I saw that for My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry, also named My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises :)I hope I'll enjoy Beartown, good to know that the characters were great.
Zaz wrote: "Haha, yes. Depending the country, Backman's books have different names. I saw that for My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry, also named [book:My Grandmother Sends Her Reg..."Yea....so I had read the blurb for Beartown and was intrigued can't wait to read it.....but then I looked at the scandal , read the blurb...thought it was about the same town (kind of like Stephen King writes almost all of his books set in Derry) then saw the alternate covers and thought Dang! That blurb felt like a HUGE spoiler. I knew some kind of tragedy happened but thanks to the scandal I already know what it is :-(
I hope you enjoy the book Zaz, it seems to get amazing reviews so I’m probably unusual in not having enjoyed it so much.Tracy, do you mean the first paragraph of the GR description for The Scandal? That starts �'Late one evening towards the end of March, a teenager...�? If so then don’t worry! It’s not really a spoiler as that event is described in the first chapter and the rest of the book is about how that happened. Sorry if I’ve totally misunderstood.
Mod
Just gotta get through the hockey part... I could stomach the rest of it (though it was more upsetting and dark than I expected from Backman, especially after reading A Man Called Ove), but the hockey part was such a bore.
Bryony wrote: "I hope you enjoy the book Zaz, it seems to get amazing reviews so I’m probably unusual in not having enjoyed it so much.Tracy, do you mean the first paragraph of the GR description for [book:The ..."
Yes! Bryony thats exactly what I meant. Good to know that its not a spoiler and theres more to it. It's one of my most anticipated books for this year :-)
So, I’ve been in a massive reading slump for pretty much the last two months. I’ve been trying to work out why and I think that I’ve been so strict with myself about reading in order and reading books that fit into one of my challenges that I’ve taken all the fun out of reading. I’ve also been getting really stressed about library hold lists as I never manage to get books I have planned for my challenge in the weeks I’m due to read them, and that’s making me see reading as a source of stress instead of a source of enjoyment.In an attempt to rescue my reading year, from now on I’m going to abandon reading in order, focus on a smaller number of challenges (AtY, Book Riot and one other ŷ challenge group), and hope that I get my reading energy back soon. The read-a-thon starting on Saturday should also give me a push in the right direction.
And I’m attempting to kick start my new approach by reading my ultimate guilty pleasure, one of the Hannah Swensen cozy mystery series.
Wish me luck!
Update: read Sugar Cookie Murder (the Hannah Swensen cozy mystery I mentioned yesterday) in a matter of hours. It was pretty awful, I’m not sure I’ll read more of the series after that.I think I’m getting my reading energy back though as I haven’t finished a book so quickly in weeks.
Next stop is an author who I can normally rely on for a good page-turner, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie.
July updateI haven’t posted an update for months, but I had a good month in July and I’m finally back on track so time to start updating my plan again!
I read eight books in July:
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne
The Summer Seaside Kitchen by Jenny Colgan
Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading by Lucy Mangan
Gray Mountain by John Grisham
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondō
All my books were for AtY so I’ve now read 34 of 52 books for our challenge.
And my plan for August is...
Currently reading:
Macbeth by Jo Nesbø
Next up:
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Montessori Read Write: A parent's guide to literacy for children by Lynne Lawrence
And then probably one of these:
The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
Wow, that was a great month!I'll be interested to read what you think of Macbeth since that is one I'm considering for the Shakespeare prompt next year.
I highly recommend A Gentleman in Moscow. It is beautifully written and the main character is fantastic.
Curious to see your thought on Macbeth. I won an ARC but lent it to a friend first! I might save it for 2019, especially since it’s already been published. I wasn’t in the mood for it when I received it. I feel like I should read the original Macbeth first. Or maybe not since it may ruin the suspense!
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Brunel: The Man Who Built the World (other topics)Escobar: The Inside Story of Pablo Escobar, the World's Most Powerful Criminal (other topics)
Lethal White (other topics)
Lethal White (other topics)
The Turn of the Screw (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Steven Brindle (other topics)Robert Galbraith (other topics)
Henry James (other topics)
Emily Brontë (other topics)
Pat Barker (other topics)
More...
I'm planning to read approximately in order, but I won't be super strict about it as I'm sure library wait lists etc will send me off track a few times.
Progress: 52/52
✔️ = completed
� = currently reading
🔜 = borrowed from library, reading soon
⭐️ = rating (out of 5)
2018 plan
✔️ Week 1 (January 1):
A book with the letters A, T & Y in the title
Rest, Play, Grow: Making Sense of Preschoolers (Or Anyone Who Acts Like One) by Deborah MacNamara
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 2 (January 8):
A book from the first 10 books added to your To Be Read list
Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby's Brain by Sue Gerhardt
⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 3 (January 15):
A book from the 2017 ŷ Choice Awards
The Scandal by Fredrik Backman (included in the awards under its US title: Beartown)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 4 (January 22):
4 books linked by the 4 elements: Book #1 Earth (in title, cover, content, setting, author...)
Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 5 (January 29):
A book about or inspired by real events
News of a Kidnapping by Gabriel García Márquez
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 6 (February 5):
A book originally written in a language other than English
No One Writes to the Colonel by Gabriel García Márquez
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 7 (February 12):
A gothic novel
Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 8 (February 19):
An "own voices" book*
The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 9 (February 26):
A book with a body part in the title (heart, bones, teeth, skin, blood, etc)
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 10 (March 5):
An author's debut book (their first book to be published)
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 11 (March 12):
A literary fiction
Autumn by Ali Smith
⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 12 (March 19):
A book set in Africa or South America
Oroonoko by Aphra Behn
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 13 (March 26):
A book with a plot centered around a secret (forbidden love, spies, secret societies, etc)
The Spy Who Came In from the Cold by John le Carré
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 14 (April 2):
4 books linked by the 4 elements: Book #2 Fire
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 15 (April 9):
A book with an unique format/writing structure
How to Break Up with Your Phone: The 30-Day Plan to Take Back Your Life by Catherine Price
⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 16 (April 16):
A narrative nonfiction
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 17 (April 23):
A book you expect to make you laugh
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 18 (April 30):
A book with a location in the title
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 19 (May 7):
A book nominated for the Edgar Award or by a Grand master author (books & authors)
The Big Four by Agatha Christie
⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 20 (May 14):
A book rated 5 stars by at least one of your friends
Candide, or Optimism by Voltaire
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 21 (May 21):
A book written in first person perspective
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 22 (May 28):
A book you have high expectations or hope for
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 23 (June 4):
A medical or legal thriller
Gray Mountain by John Grisham
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 24 (June 11):
A book with a map
Pole to Pole by Michael Palin
⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 25 (June 18):
A book with an antagonist/villain point of view
This is hidden because it’s only revealed at the end that the narrator is the villain.
(view spoiler)[The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie (hide spoiler)]
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 26 (June 25):
A book with a text only cover
English Literature: A Very Short Introduction by Jonathan Bate
⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 27 (July 2):
A book about surviving a hardship (war, famine, major disasters, serious illness, etc)
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 28 (July 9):
4 books linked by the 4 elements: Book #3 Water
Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids by Kim John Payne
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 29 (July 16):
A book with a "Clue" weapon on the cover or title (lead pipe, revolver, rope, candlestick, dagger, wrench)
Brunel: The Man Who Built the World by Steven Brindle
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️Week 30 (July 23):
A short book
The Day of the Owl by Leonardo Sciascia
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 31 (July 30):
A book set in a country you'd like to visit but have never been to
Macbeth by Jo Nesbø
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 32 (August 6):
An alternate history book
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 33 (August 13):
A book connected (title, cover, content) to a word "born" in the same year as you
Escobar by Roberto Escobar Gaviria
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 34 (August 20):
A suggestion from the AtY 2018 polls, that didn't win but was polarizing or a close-call
A book by an author who uses initials
The Sandman by E.T.A. Hoffmann
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️ Week 35 (August 27):
A book featuring a murder
The Duchess Of Malfi by John Webster
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✔️ Week 36 (September 3):
A book published in the last 3 years (2016, 2017, 2018) by an author you haven't read before
Klopp: Bring the Noise by Raphael Honigstein
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✔️ Week 37 (September 10):
A Women's Prize for Fiction winner or nominee
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
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✔️ Week 38 (September 17):
A science book or a science fiction book
Home by Nnedi Okorafor
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✔️ Week 39 (September 24):
A book with a form of punctuation in the title
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
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✔️ Week 40 (October 1):
A book from Amazon's 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime list
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
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✔️ Week 41 (October 8):
A book by an author with the same first and last initials
Shakespeare: The World as a Stage by Bill Bryson
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✔️ Week 42 (October 15):
A book that takes place on, in, or underwater
Attention All Shipping: A Journey Round the Shipping Forecast by Charlie Connelly
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✔️ Week 43 (October 22):
A book with a title that is a whole sentence
Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit
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✔️ Week 44 (October 29):
A ghost story
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
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✔️ Week 45 (November 5):
A book that intimidates/ scares you
Lethal White by Robert Galbraith
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✔️ Week 46 (November 12):
4 books linked by the 4 elements: Book #4 Air
Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve
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✔️ Week 47 (November 19):
A book where the main character (or author) is of a different ethnic origin, religion, or sexual identity than your own
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondō
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✔️Week 48 (November 26):
A book related to one of the 7 deadly sins (pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, sloth)
Othello, the Moor of Venice by William Shakespeare
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✔️ Week 49 (December 3):
A book from one of the ŷ Best Books of the Month lists
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
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✔️ Week 50 (December 10):
A book with a warm atmosphere (centered on family, friendship, love or summer)
The Summer Seaside Kitchen by Jenny Colgan
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✔️ Week 51 (December 17):
An award-winning short story or short story collection
“Speech Sounds� by Octavia E. Butler
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✔️ Week 52 (December 24):
A book published in 2018
Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading by Lucy Mangan
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ATY books in reading order:
Other books in reading order: