Emily’s Comments (group member since Jan 04, 2017)

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

Did it this morning before checking my notifications! Thanks for pointing it out!

The Measure was one of my top reads of 2023! Highly recommend, Robin!

I started my year with My Friends and it's 5 stars immediately so I got that out of the way lol

I started an IRL book club in 2013 with some of my friends, and it's evolved over time to focus on one genre each month! We do a poll to find which genres we are interested in reading, then I assign each month a genre (with some repeats, for the popular genres), and then each member votes on which month they want to pick a book for. It's created a lot more diversity in our book picks, rather than when we were just picking a random book each month.

Tracy, I think what she meant was that the book doesn't have an athlete character to put in that spot.

Not a great way to start the year, dalex!

The Three Lives of Cate Kay

2. A prompt suggestion for this year that did not make the list
3. A book connected to something mentioned in the Do Re Mi song
5. A book with a weird or intriguing title
11. A book set in a fictional location
15. A book of secrets, lies, or deception
16. A book that fits a prompt from the 2016 ATY list
21. A book connected in some way to any collective noun for animals
23. A book that involves art, music, dancing or acting
24. A book with a main character who is a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, or a criminal

Yesica, here are some that I've read the last few weeks and have planned for the next couple of months that fit!

Anita de Monte Laughs Last
Cleopatra and Frankenstein
My Friends (comes out in May)
Liars

dalex, I'm incredibly jealous. I am buddy reading an ARC of Fredrik Backman's new book right now with some teacher friends, and since I'm no longer a teacher, I am currently at work while they are all at home blowing through it. Trying to remind myself that if what I miss most about teaching are all the days off, it was probably a good time for a job switch for me lol.

Hm. Are you doing it on your phone our on a computer? If you’re using your phone, you’ll need the Google Sheets app. I’ll take a look at it today!

I did that last year... read Monstrilio and American Mermaid at the same time and it was fun to have direct comparisons (though I didn't know they would go head to head when I was reading them).

I read The Wedding People back when it came out in the summer and found it just fine, not great. I'm hoping for Liars to win the play in.

I hate that The History of Sound is going against Orbital... maybe the judge will be one that is against a popularity vote.

The brackets are live! You can see the matchups at the bottom of the shortlist:

https://www.tournamentofbooks.com/the...

I have zero opinions because there is not one matchup where I've read both books (yet!)

Yes! Think of the main 52 prompts as the MAIN CHALLENGE and everything else (including the Anniversary List) as a side quest. You can overlap them if you want or need, or you can treat them as an extension of the 52 prompts and keep them separate.

I'd probably end up double dipping - counting a book for both a 2024 prompt and a 2025 prompt - if I was someone who read around 52 books in a year and needed all the books to count for this year.

As I generally read around 100 a year, I'd probably just finish 2024 before moving to 2025, since I know I would have the flexibility.

I'd say yes to both! Candle flames are absolutely fire, and generally we say 100 pages for a book to count.

dalex, I've heard really great things about When the Moon Hatched. Hope it's a good start for your year!

All Fours

1. A book with a cover that has an image of something that starts with A, T, or Y
2. A prompt suggestion for this year that did not make the list
3. A book connected to something mentioned in the Do Re Mi song
5. A book with a weird or intriguing title
9. A book that has been long-listed for the Tournament of Books in any year
11. A book set in a fictional location
15. A book of secrets, lies, or deception
16. A book that fits a prompt from the 2016 ATY list
24. A book with a main character who is a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, or a criminal

I'm doing the first 26 prompts, then the second (only because I like to post my books on my instagram template and it's divided that way lol). After reading in order, this seems super easy.

First print book I have up for 2025 is a buddy read with some friends who all got approved for an ARC of Fredrik Backman's My Friends! I'm using it for the arts prompt.

Then I just realized I'm about to go for a run and I have no audio in progress, so I grabbed Colored Television. It will likely go in the TOB longlist prompt, since I have a book slotted in to all the other prompts it fits (I seem to be reading a lot of arts books this year...)

Jillian, here's what I saw for Colored Television (could be more, and I limited it to the first 26 prompts):
2. A prompt suggestion for this year that did not make the list
5. A book with a weird or intriguing title
9. A book that has been long-listed for the Tournament of Books in any year
15. A book of secrets, lies, or deception
16. A book that fits a prompt from the 2016 ATY list
23. A book that involves art, music, dancing or acting
24. A book with a main character who is a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, or a criminal

Colored Television

2. A prompt suggestion for this year that did not make the list
5. A book with a weird or intriguing title
9. A book that has been long-listed for the Tournament of Books in any year
15. A book of secrets, lies, or deception
16. A book that fits a prompt from the 2016 ATY list
23. A book that involves art, music, dancing or acting
24. A book with a main character who is a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, or a criminal

For those of you who have been around for the voting portion of our year, you know we have a beloved Wild Discussion thread that gets thousands of comments over the course of voting.

This is your 2025 year-round Wild Discussion! It can be prompt brainstorming, chatting about life, and catching up with other group members. Use this as a space to hang out.

As always, please be respectful of all group members, and assume good intent.