Emily’s
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(group member since Jan 04, 2017)
Emily’s
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from the Around the Year in 52 Books group.
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Listopia updated through here!
Listopia updated through here!
I have BIG GOALS for February, as it's Black History Month, and it's the month before the Tournament of Books begins, so I have lots of TOB books to finish and books by Black authors that I'd like to get to.My plans for ATY are:
Prompt 6 - wings on cover - How You Grow Wings
Prompt 7 - pronoun in title - I'm Not Dying with You Tonight
Prompt 8 - Canadian author - The Librarianist
Prompt 9 - less than 2024 ratings - The Lost Journals of Sacajewea OR Family Family OR The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard
Book club pick for the month: The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
Nonfiction for the month: Thicker than Water: A Memoir
Other TOB books to read:
The Librarianist
The Bee Sting
Blackouts
Cold People
Other books I'd like to read:
Salvage the Bones
XOXO (for the winter challenge)
River Sing Me Home
It's time for the shortest month of the year (though it's a bit longer this year thanks to leap day!)Somehow, my TBR plans for February manage to be longer than January's, despite having less days to achieve them... hm.
Use this thread to share how you did in January, your plans for February, and discuss books you've read or are looking forward to reading!
Listopia updated through here!
Listopia updated through here!
150 people!
I'm someone who has been hyping up Chain-Gang, but I full acknowledge the bleakness of it. I think what I loved so much about it was the thematic elements and way that it gave a point of view on the prisons system without specifically being about our current day prison system (outside of the footnotes). I found it incredibly powerful, if bleak. I just picked up Open Throat today! I haven't read Heaven & Earth yet (it's my book club's pick for February), but it's another one that I hope will live up to the hype - my book club haven't been fans though.
Here are the results from our 2023 reading survey!
Of the people that completed the survey:
- 77% completed the entire 2023 ATY challenge
- Nearly 9% completed a rejects challenge
- 10% completed the challenge in order (or nearly in order)
The favorite book of the year was a tie between Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver and Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros.
Other notable favorites included:
- Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
- The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty
- Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
- Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
- The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune (the third year it is on this list!)
- Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (the second time it is on this list!)
The top three favorite prompts of 2023 were:
- Three books, each of which is set in a different century
- A book where books are important
- A book found by inputting a favorite author on https://www.literature-map.com
The three least favorite prompts of 2023 were:
- A western
- A book with an unusually large version of an animal in the story
- A book related to one of the Spice Girls' "personalities"
Hope you enjoyed this look back at 2023!
Listopia updated through here!
Chrissy, I read American Mermaid at the same time as Monstrilio, and I found myself wanting to keep listening and not keep reading, so that may be why I have an unfavorable view of Mermaid!Katherine, I was surprised at how short some of these books are. The Auburn Conference is only 181 pages, Open Throat is also SUPER short, I read Boys Weekend in a couple of hours yesterday. I think the three you listed are probably the longest on the shortlist lol.
Oh man, the fact that you gave Dayswork BY A LANDSLIDE means that I will not enjoy Cold People because whew, I hated Dayswork lolol.Milena, I'm with you on The Guest. It was not good lol. If you skip any of the 4 you mentioned, I'd skip American Mermaid. It was more tedious than it should have been and Monstrilio was outstanding and will hopefully knock it out first round!
My current favorites are (in order):
Chain-Gang All-Stars
Monstrilio
Boys Weekend (a surprise!!)
What You Are Looking For Is in the Library
But there's quite a few (like The Bee Sting, Open Throat, Heaven & Earth, etc...) that I have a feeling I will enjoy so I'm excited to continue on this journey!
I'm now at 9/16 read! With all of the others (minus Brainwyrms) checked out from the library. Here we go on a marathon of shortlist reading!
I agree Anastasia. I've changed my book for the wings on cover prompt 6 times now based on library availability - some of them coming too early, some with longer wait times than I expected. I don't mind having to hunt for more! Bea, I'd probably do a side read - a read that is not for ATY - in the meantime. A book you want to read now but that doesn't necessarily fit a prompt for now.
Oh Kathryn you have some good ones on your lineup!
Listopia updated through here!
Title: Chain-Gang All-StarsAuthor: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Rating: 5 Stars
Format: Print
ATY Prompt you used it for: I'm reading in order, so I used it for the prompt that didn't get in (GR Choice Award), but it would work for a ton of other prompts as well!
Brief reason why it was the best:
This book was brutal. But man... it did an amazing job of showing the gray area. The main characters were women who had committed some serious crimes, but you were able to see their humanity past "the worst thing they had done" and I was deeply impacted by it. I don't normally commit to my best book so early in the month, but this one will be in my top 5 for the year.
We are about to wrap up the first month of the year! Let's talk about the best books we've read this month!Answer the following questions:
- Title
- Author
- Rating
- Format (Print, eBook, Audio)
- ATY Prompt you used it for (if applicable)
- Brief reason why it was the best
Best Books Listopia
Hey Wendy! That was actually a suggestion this year!
