Around the Year in 52 Books is a Goodreads group that creates a user-generated reading challenge each year. This listopia is dedicated to one of our 2023 prompts. Please do not vote on these lists unless you are participating in our reading challenge!

Prompt: A book related to a chess piece

The chess pieces are:
The Pawn
The Knight
The Bishop
The Rook
The Queen
The King
1

by
3.90 avg rating — 311,857 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
4.18 avg rating — 141,358 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
4.09 avg rating — 64,788 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
3.98 avg rating — 117,895 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
5

by
3.97 avg rating — 44,826 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
4.33 avg rating — 1,396,806 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
7

by
3.67 avg rating — 13,482 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
3.84 avg rating — 159,153 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
4.33 avg rating — 1,064,544 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
10

by
3.91 avg rating — 242,116 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
3.98 avg rating — 1,208,126 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
3.99 avg rating — 57,978 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
4.02 avg rating — 567,018 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
4.24 avg rating — 219,732 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
15

by
4.16 avg rating — 82,859 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
3.76 avg rating — 1,904,637 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
17

by
4.59 avg rating — 1,075,827 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
3.65 avg rating — 15,303 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
19

by
4.35 avg rating — 692,602 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
4.62 avg rating — 1,541,883 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
4.35 avg rating — 855,485 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
4.26 avg rating — 187,213 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
3.91 avg rating — 14,797 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 48,524 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
3.76 avg rating — 81,094 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
26

by
4.28 avg rating — 465,348 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
27

by
4.03 avg rating — 1,080,252 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
4.31 avg rating — 60,910 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
3.81 avg rating — 132,943 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
4.45 avg rating — 2,791,384 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
3.78 avg rating — 40,667 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
32

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 145,308 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
4.24 avg rating — 3,206,784 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
4.14 avg rating — 10,238 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
35

by
4.33 avg rating — 1,022,525 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 9,435 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 7,468 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
38

by
4.22 avg rating — 28,072 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
4.27 avg rating — 1,134,237 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
4.42 avg rating — 1,042,269 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
41

by
3.87 avg rating — 107,924 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
3.88 avg rating — 28,924 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
43

by
3.91 avg rating — 78,853 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
44

by
4.13 avg rating — 214,536 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
3.73 avg rating — 62,479 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
4.28 avg rating — 147,009 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
3.51 avg rating — 31,372 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
48

by
4.35 avg rating — 850,566 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
4.06 avg rating — 120,395 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
50

by
4.14 avg rating — 403,631 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
51

by
3.84 avg rating — 3,669 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
52

by
3.84 avg rating — 28,978 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
3.98 avg rating — 99,551 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
54

by
3.97 avg rating — 33,780 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
3.71 avg rating — 50,101 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
3.84 avg rating — 67,007 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
4.66 avg rating — 710,193 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
58

by
3.83 avg rating — 79,469 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
58

by
3.44 avg rating — 12,502 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
3.90 avg rating — 6,237 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
61

by
3.96 avg rating — 184,579 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
62

by
4.49 avg rating — 374,367 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
63

by
3.97 avg rating — 221,164 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
3.99 avg rating — 139,946 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
4.06 avg rating — 18,058 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
66

by
4.04 avg rating — 6,180 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
67

by
3.87 avg rating — 14,837 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
68

by
3.73 avg rating — 19,425 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
69

by
4.26 avg rating — 164,909 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
70

by
4.51 avg rating — 1,164,865 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
3.89 avg rating — 1,046,508 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
72

by
3.93 avg rating — 47,148 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
72

by
4.05 avg rating — 12,244 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
3.96 avg rating — 57,092 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
3.81 avg rating — 6,535 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
4.12 avg rating — 1,134,017 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
3.59 avg rating — 17,808 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
3.82 avg rating — 16,376 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
3.92 avg rating — 4,651 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
3.97 avg rating — 10,554 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
4.26 avg rating — 424 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
3.78 avg rating — 62,893 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
3.97 avg rating — 76,600 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
3.69 avg rating — 22,577 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
3.95 avg rating — 27,017 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
3.75 avg rating — 80,882 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
3.72 avg rating — 2,890 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
88

by
4.18 avg rating — 657,422 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
88

by
3.91 avg rating — 2,071 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
90

by
4.13 avg rating — 71,817 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
91

by
4.10 avg rating — 492,916 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
91

by
3.56 avg rating — 7,718 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
93

by
4.36 avg rating — 80,658 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
3.87 avg rating — 308,051 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
3.78 avg rating — 9,878 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
4.08 avg rating — 9,513 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
4.04 avg rating — 5,603 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
98

by
4.25 avg rating — 162,958 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
98

by
4.16 avg rating — 17,452 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
100

by
3.64 avg rating — 4,523 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
720 books · 101 voters · list created August 29th, 2022 by Emily Bourque (votes) .
5 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


dalex 539 books
52 friends
Louise 4554 books
104 friends
NancyJ 13388 books
230 friends
Sydney 547 books
17 friends
Hélène 3093 books
34 friends
°~Amy~° 2645 books
65 friends
Pamela 2372 books
97 friends
Marie 3971 books
11 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-8 of 8 (8 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Mandy (last edited Aug 29, 2022 09:47AM) (new)

Mandy here are some other names for pieces.

Minister, top, lady, tower, vizier, horse, officer

A link for finding international piece names. unfortunately, unless you can read the language, google translate will be your friend.

www. schach-chess. com / chess-pieces .htm


message 2: by NancyJ (last edited Aug 29, 2022 12:43PM) (new)

NancyJ I think it's too big a stretch to include words with "king" imbedded in a title word or author's name - eg. working, mockingbird, looking, Kingfisher, etc. This prompt is already very broad.


message 3: by Dubhease (new)

Dubhease Rooks are sometimes called a castle, a tower, and an elephant in various cultures.


message 4: by Emily (new)

Emily Bourque NancyJ wrote: "I think it's too big a stretch to include words with "king" imbedded in a title word or author's name - eg. working, mockingbird, looking, Kingfisher, etc. This prompt is already very broad."

Totally understand if you don't want to include those books in this prompt, NancyJ (I personally don't plan to) but I'll allow them to remain on the listopia for people who may want to broaden the prompt to that.


BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Dubhease wrote: "Rooks are sometimes called a castle ... in various cultures."

Agreed


BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Mandy wrote: "here are some other names for pieces.

... horse ..."
I so agree


message 7: by Ketutar (new)

Ketutar Jensen OK... The Count of Monte Cristo?
A Discovery of Witches?
11/22/63?
Writers and Lovers?
Euphoria?
The Uncommon Reader?
Rosemary and Rue?
How are these related to chess pieces? People should be motivating their votes here, too.

And, no, words with -king on them shouldn't count. I know this is just a reading challenge and not serious or so, but why would people join a reading challenge if they don't plan to challenge themselves in any way? I mean, I can accept "royals", and "rookie", but there are TONS of books with "king", "queen", "horse" and "tower" to choose from, without needing to go that far out to fish. One could just as well select any 52 books and then come up with far-fetched motivations.

BTW, in Finnish the pieces are called the King, the Queen, the Messenger, the Horse (Steed), the Tower and the Soldier
in Swedish: king, lady, runner, horse, tower, peasant
in Estonian: king, flag, spear, horse, wagon, forerunner


message 8: by Emily (new)

Emily Bourque A reminder, Ketutar, that everyone approaches the challenge in a different way. We encourage people to put notes on their votes explaining how the book fits, but at the end of the day, it is up to each person using the listopia to decide if a book fits for them or not. We aren't here to judge how or why someone chooses to complete our challenge.

I appreciate your listing the different words used in different languages! That's very helpful!


back to top