Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
2019 Plans
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Emily's Reading-In-Order Plans + Rejects
This is one seriously impressive thread! I totally ran out of organizing steam when I was preparing for 2019, and I’m feeling reasonably inadequate now. 😂Love, another 👵🏻
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Love, another 👵🏻"
Bahaha! Well, if I compare your year three thread to my year three thread, I may be the one feeling inadequate! I know I won't be able to keep this up forever (hell, I'm hoping I keep this level of reading and organization up through the summer...) but I wanted distraction from work in November, and I certainly found it 😂
Hahahaha! Yes I think I might have peaked in 2018 in all things reading. 😂
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My first read of 2018 was Eleanor as well and it remains one of my favorites of the year.I just finished There There and is another great one. Hope your first (and all) your 2019 reads are great ones.
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I just finished There There and is another great one. Hope your first (and all) your 2019 ..."
You too, Rachel!
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Bonus Fact: The two books I read this year both had 378 pages exactly. What are the odds?!
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That was a 5 star read for me too. Truly amazing and inspiring story.
I really feel the urge to head straight to the library to pick that one up immediately. So many good books...
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Granted, my kitchen is a mess, I'm backed up on laundry, and the only class I have lesson plans for is my English class (because I planned as I read The Graveyard Book).
But who cares? I'm ahead on my Goodreads goal!
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I added This is How it Always Is after seeing your review. It sounds great. Also, who cares about laundry as long as you're exceeding your reading goals!
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So far, I have 4 best books. And how does one choose when they are all so different?
Nonfiction -Educated by Tara Westover
Psychological Thriller/Mystery - The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Historical Fiction - Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
Contemporary Fiction (LGBT+) - This is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel
All so different, but all outstanding in their own genres.
Good to hear your positive comments on "This is how it is" My IRL book club is supposed to read it this year. It will be interesting to hear their thoughts. Most of them are of an older generation.
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My IRL book club is supposed to read it this year. It will be interesting to hear their thoughts. Most of them are of an older generation."
I think that because it is told from the parents' points of view, it is much less controversial. I was actually impressed by how neutral the book was -- it will spark great discussion, no doubt, but probably not outrage. The overarching message is that all parents just try to do what they think is best for their kid... and sometimes they get it right and sometimes they get it wrong.
That is great. It sounds perfect for a book club of diverse ages.
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Also, I got caught up in a YA trilogy (darn those!) and so now I'm just "On Track" for ATY, which shouldn't make me nervous, but it does! I do NOT want to fall behind!
Go Emily! You're totally kicking goals this month. 🎉I'm going to have to give Educated a go. I have been umming and ahhing over it, because I've heard it compared to The Glass Castle which I haaaaaaated, but your glowing review has definitely won me over.
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I really liked her storytelling in Educated though. It was more like short vignettes that give you a sense of where she came from without being too blatant, and I thought it read like a really great fiction novel, except it was horrifying because it's nonfiction. Definitely try it out!
EDIT: I just went read the summary for The Glass Castle, and I can say that there is probably a lot less sap in Educated -- there's no romanticization of her childhood... it seems a bit more real than The Glass Castle? Again, haven't read it so I don't really know, but just based on the summary.
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I'm caught up on ATY Official, and I'm 1/4th of the way done with my Rejects Challenge already, which is surprising.
I'm going to try to finish one more book before the end of January to make it a nice 15, but... whew. And so many good books!
Emily wrote: "I just finished my 14th book of January and I am astounded at myself! I have never read this many books in one month, and there are still two more days! Whattttttttttttt.I'm caught up on ATY Offi..."
That’s awesome! I may hit 10...double digits would be great!
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I'm calling it the end of January because I just don't think I'll finish that 15th book tonight. BUT I READ 14 BOOKS! HOLY MOLY!
Overall, it was a great reading month. I read some outstanding books, so much that I'm not sure how any month will top this one.
Among my top favorites:
- Educated by Tara Westover
- This is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel
- Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
- The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
I also hit my POC goal (When Dimple Met Rishi), LGBT goal (This is How It Always Is), and my nonfiction goal (Educated).
And! I have succeeded in reading ATY in order, through Week 4. I was saving my Week 5 for my LGBT read for February, so I didn't work too hard to get ahead this month, but I'll probably aim for that next month, just in case I get in the weeds in the upcoming months.
Overall, VERY proud of myself (my husband would swipe a finger through the dust in my home and disagree), and I'm hoping for a successful February as well!
FEBRUARY OUTLOOK
I'm starting February with The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue for Week 5, and I'm really, really excited about it. I'll hopefully follow it up with the sequel.
I plan on reading The Clockmaker's Daughter with the rest of the group for Week 6, and it will be my first 500+ page book of the year, so I'm glad to add that bit of diversity to my reading.
I'm planning on reading Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness and Still Alice for Weeks 7 & 8, connected by the theme of mental illness, nonfiction and fiction.
I haven't picked my book for Week 9 yet, but that will probably be a mood read, since I often pick up romance or crime/mystery on a whim. I own quite a few that fit here, so I'll grab something randomly.
As for my diversity goals, my POC book will hopefully be On the Come Up, which I just ordered from Book of the Month club and I'm super duper excited for! For nonfiction, I'll have Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, and for LGBT, it will be The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue.
I'm only aiming for 6 or 7 books next month, because I feel like January was a fluke, but we will see... no pressure, right?
Yay Emily! Go you good thing!I'm going to read The Clockmaker's Daughter too, I think, with the group - looking forward to exchanging notes. 😁
I'm impressed, Emily with your January reading! Who cares about dust??!I'll be listening to The Clockmaker's Daughter with the group, too.
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I'll be listening to The Clockmaker's Daughter with the group, too."
My husband... he seems to care about dust haha!
I'm glad so many of us are reading The Clockmaker's Daughter! It's going to be fun for the Book of the Month discussions!
I hope you enjoy Still Alice. I loved it when I read it last year- I thought it was beautifully written and it was a really sensitive look at a heart-breaking topic.I would like to read The Clockmaker’s Daughter with the rest of the group, but I’m 15th on the waiting list for the ebook and my hold on the audiobook isn’t due until 14th March.
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I would like to..."
I feel your pain on those waiting lists... I happened to grab this one from Book of the Month Club, so I don't have to deal with holds for this one. But I'm currently #57 waiting on Becoming and it's driving me nuts... I want to read it now!
Wow, Emily, that's an impressive month of reading! Congrats!
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Thanks Anna!
Great job this month!I I have ebook hold issues with The Clockmaker's Daughter as well so I probably won't get to it until March. I was number 2000+ for Becoming in December but fortunately I received a physical copy for Christmas. I haven't gotten to it yet but will this month. Can't wait!
Becoming. Is. Amazing. I hope you both love it too!
To dust or to read????? I say read!! You're doing awesome!
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If the dust bothers your husband so much, he can pick up a duster and do it himself. 😉
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Hahaha I agree! It is tax season though, and he is an accountant, so he's working 13-15 hour days for the next three months. He picks up more of the housework during the rest of the year, but I try to take on more during these months to lighten his load a bit. I am between books at the moment, so maybe I'll get a bit of cleaning done today... Maybe.
Tax season must be a nightmare for accountants! But maybe he’ll be too busy to notice the dust. 🤞🏻
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They were so cute. They felt very Shakesperean-comedy-esque, in the randomness of events, mistaken identities, star-crossed lovers, sarcastic commentary, and happily ever after. I really enjoyed them! (Plus, for you chunksters, the first book has 501 pages, and reads SO QUICKLY. And the narrators for the audiobooks are excellent.)
Also, I've managed to keep up my pace for the year with a book every other day, which was not a goal of mine but seems to be what I'm doing here. I'm sure that The Clockmaker's Daughter, which is next on my list, will slow me down a bit, but I'm ok with that.
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About to start Part 3 of the book, which is 75% of the way through the book, which makes this book the longest I've taken to read any book this year. Ah well.
Emily wrote: "Yikes! I'm going to have to avoid going to the ATY homepage until I finish The Clockmaker's Daughter, because it says I'm 1 book behind and that stresses me out!About to start Par..."
I am one book behind also, and it also stresses me out. But I am ahead for other challenges, so that makes me feel better.
I understand that stress very well!! I’m only aiming for twenty AtY books this year so the stress is off me for 2019. 😁
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Emily wrote: "I did it! I finished The Clockmaker's Daughter. It was a winding road, for sure, and I ended up giving it 2.5 stars (rounded up) because I felt like the ending just... lacked. I was..."Haha, winding road.
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I used it for the ATY reject of the lesser-known list, but it would work for a name in title or a multi-generational book.
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I originally picked Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness and Still Alice because both feature themes of mental illness, but there's definitely more in common between them.
They both featured surprise diagnoses. They both were written in first person. They both featured women and both showed the full progression of their disease.
And I really, really enjoyed both of them. They were scary and poignant and showed the impact of the disease on the individual and on the people around them. They had just the right amount of medical terminology without being overdone, and they were both written by people who had an intimate knowledge of the disease they presented (Brain on Fire being a memoir, and Still Alice being written by a neuroscientist).
I do feel like I need a lighthearted book after reading these two though.
I also read and enjoyed both of them, especially Still Alice. The movie of Still Alice is also nice.
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Oh well! Even more time to read today!
I'm starting with Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys, which has been recommended to me over and over and over again. It won a ton of awards, including a GR award, but I chose it because it won the Carnegie Medal for YA fiction.
I tried to limit my options to YA because I don't really like award winners for genre writing - like the Hugo or the Walter Scott Prize, but I wanted to stay as true to the prompt as possible, which means the book should have won an award specific for a genre (as opposed to a general fiction award that can go to any genre, like the National Book Award or the Man Booker).
Anyway, I'm hoping to start the new year off on a good foot -- 2018 started with Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, and that's hard to top!