Emma’s Comments (group member since Jan 05, 2017)

Emma’s comments from the Around the Year in 52 Books group.

February Update - February is a shorter month right? Also, I had a lot going on. See below for books read and challenges met!

1.) 39 - Our Lady of the Nile by Scholastique Mukasonga - I had a few choices for this one, including prompts 4, 21, 27, 29, 31 and 40, but ultimately went with 39 (an author whose name you don't know how to pronounce). I'm honestly not sure why I landed on that one, and it may change at some point

2.) 18 - My Neck of the Woods by Louise Dickinson Rich - There wasn't a clear choice here, but I ended up picking it for prompt 18, which was a book by an withor you have only read once before, in part because the first book by Louise had such a huge impact on me so it seemed like a perfect fit

3.) 5 - The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin - I was always going to pick a book by N.K. Jemisin for the series prompt, so when I picked this one up, it was the perfect fit for prompt 5 (the first book in a series)

4.) 52 - How Long 'til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin - In part because this is a book that bounces around through time, and in part because of the title which referenced both a length of time and a unit of calendar time, I chose this for prompt 52, a book related to time.

5.) 9 - Just Kids by Patti Smith - My plan for prompt 9 (a book you can read in a day) was always to choose a book that I actually did read in a day. I started this in the morning and it was a super compulsive read that I was done with in time to cook dinner, so it was pretty perfect

6.) 21 - This Will Only Hurt a Little by Busy Philipps - I found this book on the ATY book list for prompt 21, a book with an emotion in the title, and so when it came up on by audio-books feed I figured it was a good fit

7.) 20 - The Plover by Brian Doyle - When I got the list for this year, I figured it would be fun to just have the 20th book I read this year fit into this category, both to give myself a freebie, and just to see what it was. The Plover doesn't really fit anywhere else either, so I was happy about this fit

8.) TBA - Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid I thought about using this for 35, a book with a geometric pattern on the cover, but it wasn't a perfect fit, so I will wait and see what I can figure out. It may end up being one of the choices for 13 or 49 as well

9.) 12 - Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn - While I love the Expanse series, which I had origininally planned to use for this prompt, the final book, which is due to be released this year, doesn't even have a title yet, so when I picked this up and saw it was a collaboration, I figured I would put it in for the collaboration between 2 or more people prompt.

10.) 33 - The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin - This was another "read in a day" book, but since that was already taken, and since it was about a very unorthodox adoption, I figured the nontraditional family prompt was a logical choice

Overall, it was a fine month, if less productive than last month but I got some good reading in and took care of some more daunting prompts.

I was definitely going to use James S.A. Corey for this one (they are a writing pair), but then Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn came up on a Book of the Month, and I don't know if they will get the next Expanse book out this year, so I changed it up!

I ended up going with the 20th book I read in 2020, mostly because it didn't fit into any empty prompts, and I thought it made a lot of sense to use it that way.

I chose The Plover by Brian Doyle

What about this? I feel like it is borderline, but it feels abstractly geometric to me?

I went with The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin. I had read another series of hers, and really liked it.

I will likely read the next ones at some point, but wasn't totally blown away!

I went with Our Lady of the Nile by Scholastique Mukasonga, who is from Rwanda, but grew up in France. She was a new author to me, and it was an interesting read.

I read The Alienist by Caleb Carr and it wasn't too difficult - I had about 15 books to choose from.

Queen of the Flowers by Kerry Greenwood was set in Melbourne, Australia and is in the Phryne Fisher series, which is hilarious, trashy and fun!

I chose The Library Book by Susan Orlean. I had a few other options that fit in, but not too many - it was a weird mix of books.

I usually hate these kinds of lists. It might encourage me to pick up a book I already heard of, but I rarely chose anything off these just because they make the list.

This was an easy one for me - I went with Andy Catlett: Early Travels by Wendell Berry.

I feel like Port William, Kentucky is the quintessential fictional rural location, and I really love pretty much everything Berry has written!

I had quite a few on my TBR that fit this prompt, but ended up going with Home by Marilynne Robinson

I ended up picking up the most recent book in Becky Chambers sci-fi series, Record of a Spaceborn Few. I really really enjoyed it.

I'm going with This Will Only Hurt a Little by Busy Philipps!

I have it on my want to read list and have a guilty pleasure soft sport for celebrity memoirs narrated by the authors.

I've got some fun international ones so far this year!

Rwanda - Our Lady of the Nile
Italy - Romeo and/or Juliet: A Chooseable-Path Adventure
India - Gun Island
Egypt - The Buried: An Archaeology of the Egyptian Revolution
Mongolia - Rough Magic: Riding the World's Loneliest Horse Race
Australia - Queen of the Flowers


States:
Ohio - Sula
Port William, Kentucky - Andy Catlett: Early Travels
Los Angeles, California - The Library Book
New York, New York - The Alienist
Maine - My Neck of the Woods

January Update - This past month I made it through 12 prompts! It is always easier to start strong when there are so many prompts to choose from for each book. See below for how I fit the books I read into the challenge.

1.) 46 - The Buried: An Archaeology of the Egyptian Revolution by Peter Hessler - This could have fit into a few prompts, and I played around with it a bit. It could have been 4, 8, 10, 13, 23, 29, 31, 40, 46, 49 or 52. I ended up choosing 46 (A book related to Billy Joel's song We Didn't Start The Fire) because that prompt scared me and I wanted to get it out of the way

2.) 22 - Romeo and/or Juliet: A Chooseable-Path Adventure by Ryan North - This book was an easy one - I am sure it fits into another few, but the fact that this is basically a choose your own adventure tale where the reader is trying to find an ending where Romeo and Juliet survive made it a perfectly funny and enjoyable book to fit with 22 (A book with a mojor theme of survival).

3.) 45 - Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit - I didn't love this book, but since I picked it up right after finishing another Solnit book at the end of 2019, and I had just added that book to my top 10 of the year, I picked it really quickly for 45 (A book by the same author who wrote one of your best reads of 2018 or 2019).

4.) 6 - Rough Magic: Riding the World's Loneliest Horse Race by Lara Prior-Palmer - I debated for a long time whether or not to make this 6 (A book with a mode of transportation on the cover) or 50, because of the subtle horse silhouette, and eventually decided that the form of transportation might be harder in the long run. Plus as I am trying to do this more in order, I am trying to prioritize lower numbers.

5.) 47 - Sula by Toni Morrison - I had no idea what I was going to do with this book when I started it, but it was an easy choice. I don't often read a lot of classics, and I didn't want to feel beholden to a prompt like this later in the year, so this was the perfect book to use! It could have also been 4, 13, 14, 16, 36, probably 42, 49.

6.) 2 - Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh - Sometimes at the beginning of the year, I try and knock out challenges I don't have too many books for. However, in this case, I was so overwhelmed by the sheer volume of books I could use for prompt 2 (A book by an author with a one syllable last name) that I just wanted to get the absurdly long list of books off my possibilities list.So even though I should have used it for 7 or 28, I used it to make my life easier.

7.) 16 - Andy Catlett: Early Travels by Wendell Berry - This was an easy one, because when I can, i like to pick books that are perfectly within what a prompt is asking, and what is more emblematic of rural America than Wendell Berry and his Port Royal series?

8.) 30 - The Library Book by Susan Orlean - So full disclosure, I find the prompts like 30 (A book from the New York Times '100 Notable Books' list for any year) the most difficult at the end of the year when I just want to read whatever, because sometimes these lists just are not interesting to me. Therefore, one of the first things I do with any book I don't have a good fit for is to look at these prompts and see if they happened to be chosen for one of these lists. This one helped me knock this prompt out quickly!

9.) 3 - Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers - I basically start looking at the top of the list for every book I read, and because I devoured the first two books in this series in 2019, it was the perfect fit for 3 (A book you read because of something you read in 2019), and that was an easy choice

10.) TBA - A Place on Earth by Wendell Berry - This is the first book that doesn't fit super easily into any category. I considered it for 4 (A place or time you wouldn't want to live) simply because it is set during WW2, but it felt like an imperfect fit. I will likely end up using it for one of the "previous/didn't win" prompts like 13 or 49, or something similarly broad, but I will decide later.

11.) 1 - Home by Marilynne Robinson - I love getting the first prompt out of the way ASAP, and with a short title, Home was the perfect choice. (Prompt 1 is "A book without the letters A, T or Y in the title") Plus, it is so insular, I don't think it would have fit with anything else.

12.) 7 - Queen of the Flowers by Kerry Greenwood - I have been tearing through the Phryne Fisher mysteries recently, and it is highly likely they will be used for a few prompts (A mystery, and author from Australia, the 20th book, etc.). However, in my effort to work my way down the list, number 7 (A book set in the southern hemisphere) was the first to be eligible.

13.) 8 - The Alienist by Caleb Carr - This is another example of a book that ticked off a prompt I didn't have a lot of options for and one that was higher up on the list. 8 (A book that starts with the word "The") was a prompt I had less than 10 books to read for it from my TBR, so it was a good one to get out of the way early.

Overall, it was a strong month, and I made it almost a quarter of the way through the challenge, knocking off some of the more difficult prompts on my way!

1. What are you reading for this category?
Gun Island
2. Who is the author?
Amitav Ghosh
3. Have you read books by this author before?
Yes - He has a beautiful trilogy I still need to finish, but this came up first on my library holds list

1. What are you reading for this category?


Rough Magic: Riding the World's Loneliest Horse Race by Lara Prior-Palmer

2. What transportation did it have on the cover?

This book has a horse on the cover, and is about a horse race

3. Do you typically pick books based on their covers?

Sometimes - this one definitely stood out to me.

Steve wrote: "I've been thinking of how we can incorporate your last point, about knowing what books fit where, better, but I don't know what the answer is. Right now, the only thing I've really found is doing a ctrl+F on the spreadsheet for the books I'm interested in...."

Yeah, I don't have a great solution - I used to see it a lot on the A-Z pages, but that was clunky and obviously not widely used. I'm not sure I would use the spreadsheet that way, but it is good to know its possible.

I do yearly challenges because it stretches my reading a bit, and I enjoy the process. I do find it widens what I might read otherwise, especially when prompts have to do with personal TBR/book list related things.

I like the ATY challenge because it is flexible without being too broad - it is almost never hard to find a book for a challenge, and yet it does push me to explore a bit.

I like making the next year's list, and the spreadsheet! I loved the map when I could find it, but it wasn't as easy to track this year (did you do it?) and so I didn't do that.

I'm honestly not a big fan of the read-a-thon or book of the months aspects - essentially, I use this to expand my reading, and when it requires too much interaction online, I don't feel like it helps that much.

I am interested in seeing how the new book discussions work, as I would like to see that more.

I am also wondering if there is a way to link books to any prompts they qualify for?. That way, someone could find a book they are interested in and see all the prompts it fits in instead of having to go through each prompt individually.

This is totally a tongue in cheek, but I am going with Romeo and/or Juliet: A Chooseable-Path Adventure by Ryan North.

It is YA choose your own adventure book based on the Shakespeare play, and so finding a way to survive a fairly death-heavy plot is a challenge.

I'm in the middle of it now, and it is a super fun, entertaining little read.