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

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

I just finished my R (The Rosie Effect) so I just have my two O's and an I as well.

Whoops. I've adjusted the first post of this thread to say ratings instead of reviews! I've also gone through the listopia's first few pages and removed any books that had passed the threshold. I said I wouldn't be keeping up with it, and I definitely won't be, but I may go in every now and then to adjust.

Nevermind! I just realized two of the books I picked up from the library last week will work!

How You Grow Wings by Rimma Onoseta
XOXO by Axie Oh

Anyone have any good options for O? I picked DREAMING OF SNOW but now I'm stuck on both of the O books.

No, it's something that slipped by me! I'll post the link again here and work on the wrap up this week. I hope to have it posted by the time the February newsletter goes out so we can mention it.

Here's the link if anyone hasn't submitted a response yet: https://forms.gle/6P113nQULFGFB8Gu5

Pat, I was considering Let Us Descend for the wings prompt, but I have Salvage the Bones on my shelf and queued up for February, so I don't want to get burnt out on Jesmyn Ward. I did hear Descend was excellent though!

I've thought it through and figured out my February plans (now that it's officially in the last 1/3 of January lol). I usually try to intentionally include Black authors in my reading for February, but I'm also reading the Tournament of Books list, so that's what drove these decisions, mostly.

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

I've also finished through Prompt 5. I don't mind getting a prompt or two ahead, but I haven't quite decided what book I'll read for Prompt 6 with wings on the cover.

I had The Bee Sting slotted in, but I still have a few weeks on the hold for both ebook and print, and I was thinking I may do The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing, but I want to do that on audio and the wait is pretty long.

I own... zero books... with a wing on the cover, surprisingly. So. I have some decisions to make. At least I have plenty of other books to read in the meantime.

Listopia updated!

REJECTS CHALLENGE
Containing all prompts that I voted in the top of the polls which didn't make the final list in their poll

Completed: 49/55

Cover or Title - 4/5
A book where something on the cover is tilted or upside down
✔️ A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow

A book with a divided, or split, cover
✔️ Thicker than Water: A Memoir by Kerry Washington

A book with gold on the cover
✔️ Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

A book with a person on the cover and you can’t see their whole face
✔️ This Could Be Us by Kennedy Ryan

A book with a divided, or split, cover


Character or Setting - 8/14
A book featuring a person who works in one the jobs that Barbie has had
✔️ The Woman in Me by Britney Spears
Musician

A book with character who is a fish-out-of-water
✔️ The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose

A book with a character who is neurodiverse
✔️ The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

A book with a main character who is a bookseller, writer, journalist or librarian
✔️ The Auburn Conference by Tom Piazza

A book with a character whose name that starts with a letter in the phrase LIBRARY CARD
✔️ The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing by Lara Love Hardin

A book with more than one main character
✔️ Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

A book with a character who is marginalized
✔️ The First to Die at the End by Adam Silvera

A book with a child character
✔️ Skye Falling by Mia McKenzie

A book with an ex
✔️ Funny Story by Emily Henry

A book with a character dealing with mental health or cognitive challenges
✔️ Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

A book with dragons
✔️ Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

A book with a character that could be described as one of the classes in Dungeons and Dragons
✔️ Buried Deep and Other Stories by Naomi Novik

A book that features at least three generations of a family

✔️ When the World Tips Over by Jandy Nelson

A book with a child character

Award, List, Recommendations - 8/15
A winner or nominee from the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards
✔️ Used for Prompt 3 in ATY Challenge

A book on a banned books list
✔️ Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

A book from the NPR “Books We Love” lists
✔️ Open Throat by Henry Hoke

A book featured on a list for a media or celebrity book club
✔️ Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

A book that is an Audie award winner or nominee
✔️ None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell

A book from the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards
✔️ Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

A book from the NPR “Books We Love” lists
✔️ The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict

A book by a female or non-binary author which won an award that's also open to male authors
✔️ Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward

A book that is on a Five Books list
✔️ Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

A book posted in one of the ATY Best Book of the Month threads in 2023 or 2024
✔️ Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe

A book longlisted for a Booker Prize
✔️Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

A book posted in one of the ATY Best Book of the Month threads in 2023 or 2024
✔️ The Echo of Old Books by Barbara Davis

A book nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award
✔️ The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune

A book on a summer reading list
✔️ A Separate Peace by John Knowles

An Audie award winner (in any format)


Genre - 2/4
A book shelved as literary fiction
✔️ Blackouts by Justin Torres

A book involving magical realism
✔️ The Husbands by Holly Gramazio

A book that includes a love story
✔️ How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang

A book shelved as literary fiction
✔️ James by Percival Everett


Page Length or Pub Date
A book you could read in 24 hours
✔️ Boys Weekend by Mattie Lubchansky

A book that is between 400-600 pages
✔️ The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

A book over 500 pages
✔️ The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty

A book over 500 pages

Other, Random, Year Related - 6/13
3 Weeks: Three books related to the lines in a Roses Are Red poem
✔️ Interesting Facts about Space by Emily R. Austin
Red Cover

A book related to Going for the Gold
✔️ You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

A book for leap day/year
✔️ The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
Finished on leap day

A book related to Going for the Gold
✔️ Hey, Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing by Emily Lynn Paulson

A book related to X marks the spot
✔️ Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice by Elle Cosimano

A book related to the British rhyme about Henry VIII's six wives: "Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived"
✔️ Spitting Gold by Carmella Lowkis

2 Weeks: Two books that are part of a series
✔️ Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
✔️ Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross

A book related to summertime blues
✔️ Counting the Cost by Jill Duggar

A book related to the year of the wood dragon
✔️ Calypso by David Sedaris

A book that helps you reflect or recharge
✔️One-Star Romance by Laura Hankin

Yes, I fixed the issue and removed the post! Thanks for looking out, guys. It was a minor issue.

Bea, my book club read that a couple of years ago and it was very polarizing. Half of the group felt the same way as you, and the other half couldn't stomach it and gave it 1 star. I was in the 5 star category and I still think about it!

Katherine, my library doesn't have Boys Weekend, which I'm ok with after reading the synopsis. Same for Brainwyrms, especially since Brainwyrms is going up against Chain Gang and I currently want Chain Gang to win the whole thing!

Unless you superrrr love Herman Melville, you aren't missing anything with Dayswork lol.

I just finished Chain-Gang All-Stars and wow it was so good. I already know it will be in my top 5 books of the year.

I understand that feeling Brooke. I just went through my holds/requests again and realized I had never requested Open Throat (one I really want to read) and The Bee Sting (which has a million week wait). We will see if I get to those before the tournament starts... I'm hoping so, even if I have to read them in formats I wasn't intending.

Posting this here as a tracking post to see what I've read and what I predict will win in the first round.

✔️ means I read it
Strikeout means I won't get to read it due to library constraints

✔️ Blackouts by Justin Torres
✔️ Boys Weekend by Mattie Lubchansky
WINNER: Boys Weekend

✔️ Dayswork by Chris Bachelder
Cold People by Tom Rob Smith
WINNER: Dayswork, but I hope it also gets out quickly lol

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
✔️ Open Throat by Henry Hoke
WINNER: TBD

✔️ Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
The Lost Journals of Sacajewea by Debra Magpie Earling
WINNER: Big Swiss

✔️ The Guest by Emma Cline
✔️ The Shamshine Blind by Paz Pardo
WINNER: The Shamshine Blind

✔️ Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt
WINNER: Chain-Gang All-Stars

Play-In Winner: TBD
✔️ What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama
WINNER: TBD

✔️ Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova
✔️ American Mermaid by Julia Langbein
WINNER: Monstrilio

The play-in round:
✔️ The Auburn Conference by Tom Piazza
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
✔️ The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt
WINNER: TBD

I love this Amanda. I will never read this book (horror is a hard no for my scared butt) but I enjoyed seeing your processing of it lol

Wow Barbara, you have an excellent January lined up!!

Joanne, I saw that there will be a sequel coming out for The Space Between Worlds. I feel like I read that book a long time ago but I remember enjoying it!

Halfway update to my 40 Before 40 Challenge:

I turn 35 this year (halfway to 40!) and I just hit 20/40 on my list, which feels like a huge accomplishment. Some have been great, some have not been, and I've used a couple of alternates along the way.

I got rid of my entire nonfiction section... now that I'm reading more nonfiction (at least one a month), it's gotten easier to slot in good NF in my life and I didn't feel the need to go back and read older ones.

Looking forward to my next read from the list!

Same. I think I'm going to stick to the months (a bit... maybe I'll let myself get ahead by a book or two depending on library holds), but I'm not worried about week to week.