Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
Weekly Topics 2020
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03. A book that you are prompted to read because of something you read in 2019
What are you reading for this category? Dear Fatty by Dawn French What prompted you to read this book? I picked this because of reading Happy Fat: Taking Up Space in a World That Wants to Shrink You by Sofie Hagen last year, and wanting to read more from the perspective of a woman living in a fat body.
I hadn’t intended to start my reading for 2020 with a string of memoirs by well-known faces, but this is my third in a row. Dawn French is by far the most well-known (and well-known to me) of the three I’ve read. I wouldn’t really class myself as a fan, exactly. I like her, I like her work and I’ve been aware of her since childhood, but I don’t follow her in any sense. I have, however, always had a warm feeling towards her and a sense that she is a woman to be admired. This very honest, rich and deep memoir has confirmed all that. French has structured this book around the people she loves, writing each chapter as a letter to someone she cares about (oh, and Madonna). This approach made the whole thing feel so much more personal, with raw emotion and reflection colouring each of the memories she recounts. She had such an interesting childhood, and this book focuses much more on her formative years (and her formative years in comedy) than it does her later career. As someone who was reading this out of interest in the person rather than the personality, I appreciated that. Of course she mentions many famous friends, but as a genuine part of her life rather than name dropping or kiss-and-tell (though there is a brilliant list of all the people she’s snogged). I think I probably picked this book up more for its title and that French is a prominent plus-sized woman, as I am always keen to learn from those who seem to be comfortable in their own skin. She does talk about living in a fat body, but contrary to my pre-reading assumptions Fatty is not French, and her body is not central to this book. Just as things should be, I suppose – she is so much more than her outward appearance, after all. She is obviously very funny, but she is also driven by love, values and the power of the relationships she holds so dear. I don’t think this will encourage me to follow her work any more closely, but I know I’ll appreciate what I do come across more now that I understand the woman behind it.
I read The Subtle Knife - 2nd book in the His Dark Materials series. I read The Golden Compass last year (before I knew there was a TV series in the works)! I'll finish out the 3-book series with the fantasy prompt.I'm enjoying reading the books and watching the show simultaneously.
Alexx wrote: "1. What are you reading for this category?I am reading The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 by Garrett M. Graff
2. What prompted you to read this book?..."
I think it works for the prompt (and not just because I had similar reason for choosing my book for this prompt).
What are you reading for this category? The Spy with the Red BalloonWhat prompted you to read this book? I read The Girl with the Red Balloon last year and it was one of my favorites. This book was a prequel and not quite as good, but still an enjoyable read.
Laurel wrote: "I'm a librarian at a university, and as part of my job, was looking through some original documents related to the Native American tribes in my state. I went down a real rabbit hole and ended up wi..."FYI - it was just announced that Indian No More won the 2020 American Indian Literature Award for Best Middle Grade Book.
1. What are you reading for this category?Onheilsbode (Deverry #6) by Katharine Kerr
2. What prompted you to read this book?
I read book 1-5 in the series last year so I'm continuing the series this year, I think I managed to find prompts for 5 of them.
frankestein after reading The Outsider
I read Dissolution and most of the Shardlake series last year. Didn't finish the series, so I could finish it, or I'm also inspired to read about some of the historical figures featured in it.
1. What are you reading for this category? Foundation and Empire2. What prompted you to read this book? I read the first book (chronologically), Foundation, in the series in 2019.
I read Thereby Hangs a Tail. I read book one in the series, Dog on It last year and really enjoyed it so thought I would continue the series.
Last year I read The Things They Carried after watching the Ken Burns documentary about the Vietnam War (which I very much recommend). I was discussing it with a friend and they asked if I'd ever read The Sympathizer, so that's my choice for this prompt.
I am reading Half a Life by Darin Strauss. My justification is slightly odd - its because I started it in 2019 and kind of abandoned it about a third of the way in. I am working my way through the old Literary Disco podcasts which is what had prompted me to start it in the first place.
So I read a bit in 2019, and am going to go back and read the whole thing now!
1. What are you reading for this category?I read Death is a Welcome Guest by Louise Welsh
2. What prompted you to read this book?
It is the second book in her Plague Times trilogy. I read the first book toward the end of 2019.
1. What are you reading for this category?I read Feel Free: Essays by Zadie Smith for this prompt.
2. What prompted you to read this book?
I have been reading a lot of Zadie, and I picked up this collection of essays to get some insight into her thoughts on other topics (and her own writing some).
1. What are you reading for this category?I read The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz.
2. What prompted you to read this book?
I read The Word Is Murder in 2019 and absolutely loved it. The author embeds himself into the stories which is a concept I have not encountered before. Besides, I love a good mystery so The Sentence is Death was one of my most anticipated releases for 2020.
Matthias wrote: "1. What are you reading for this category?I read Feel Free: Essays by Zadie Smith for this prompt.
2. What prompted you to read this book?
I have been reading a lot ..."
I love Zadie Smith. She's one of my favorite contemporary writers
I ended up picking up the most recent book in Becky Chambers sci-fi series, Record of a Spaceborn Few. I really really enjoyed it.
1. What are you reading for this category?I read Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology by Leah Remini
2. What prompted you to read this book?
Last year I read Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief and absolutely loved it. Scientology is incredibly fascinating and hearing the story of someone who grew up in it was entertaining. I've never watched this actress in anything, but I appreciate that she is very outspoken about the cult now.
3. A book that you are prompted to read because of something you read in 2019☒America Dirt By Jeanine Cummins Finished: 01/23/2020
What prompted you to read this book? I came across this book from reviews on Pinterest. After that all the hype made me read it as soon as it published in United States.
1. What are you reading for this category?Doctor Sleep
2. What prompted you to read this book?
I finally read The Shining last year, and LOVED it, so I figured Doctor Sleep would be perfect for this prompt. I did see the film version when it premiered last year, however, so I had an idea of what would happen in the book.
Solid 4🌟 read for me, however, I do, in fact, prefer the film of Doctor Sleep. Completely opposite of my opinion of The Shining, not a huge fan of the film personally.
For this challenge, I finally read The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. In November of 2019, I read the first several pages of this book compliments of Random House's First Look Book Club emails and wanted to finish it.
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1. What are you reading for this category?Regular: I read Once Lured
ABC: I read Cruel and Unusual
2. What prompted you to read this book? Both of them are the next in a series I have been reading. I enjoyed both books and authors.
What are you reading for this category?I read The Burglar in the Closet by Lawrence Block
What prompted you to read this book?
Last year I read the first book in this series and really enjoyed it , so I chose this as it is the second
Jill - I love the Burglar Who...series. I’m on his mail list, and he (finally) wrote a new one. It wasn’t even in Goodreads yet.
Lizzy - I really like his humour and his plots are quite complicated for the size of the books. Good to know he is still writing them. Thanks
1. What are you reading for this category? I read Where the Line Bleeds by Jesmyn Ward2. What prompted you to read this book? I had read Sing, Unburied Sing in 2019 and wanted to read more books by Jesmyn Ward.
1. What are you reading for this category?The Risk by Elle Kennedy
2. What prompted you to read this book?
I read the previous book and wanted to continue reading what happens to the characters.
Back when it first came out in the 80s, I DNF'd Arrows of the Queen, and over the years dozens of people have recommended that I pick it up again, and I finally did in 2019. It was tedious, but these same people told me that the series got better, so I gave Lackey another chance and read the sequel, Arrow's Flight. Not better. Lackey had three strikes, and she's out. (But it did count for this category, soooo.... *shrug*)
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2. What prompted you to read this book? Last year I read Ayesha at Last and Unmarriageable. This is the third of the Muslim Pride & Prejudice adaptations that came out last year,. I liked the other two but I think this was my favorite. And a sequel is coming out soon! Based on Persuasion.
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I read a lot of good reviews about this book in 2019. It was on everyone’s Best Books of 2019 lists. Won Goodreads 2019 Historical Fiction.
I read The First Four Years. I have been reading this series and started in 2019 and am now nearing the end.
1. What are you reading for this category? Always and Forever, Lara Jean2. What prompted you to read this book? I read the first 2 books last year so this was the perfect opportunity to finish the trilogy.
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But this one blew me away. I read it in two sittings! I loved Elizabeth as a character, and it stayed true enough to the original novel so that all the events seemed plausible. I just really liked it.
1. What are you reading for this category?
by Dorothea Benton Frank2. What prompted you to read this book? I was looking for something light and this is an author I can't count on for that!
I'm reading A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka for this category, prompted by last year's headlines on all those krazy characters hailing from Ukraine.
I read Bird Box by Josh Malerman because of the movie. I may be a monster but I preferred the movie.
1. What are you reading for this category?Obsession in Death
2. What prompted you to read this book?
I am behind in the series, so this gave me the perfect excuse to read the next one.
1. What are you reading for this category? The Girl from the Metropol Hotel: Growing Up in Communist Russia by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya
2. What prompted you to read this book?
In 2019, I read A Gentleman in Moscow. The main character lives in the Metropol Hotel under house arrest.
The Girl from the Metropol Hotel: Growing Up in Communist Russia did not actually include much about the Metropol Hotel which was a disappointment.
1. What are you reading for this category?I read Fake Truth, the 3rd in a series.
2. What prompted you to read this book?
I had won and read Killer Thriller, the second book in this series, in 2019.
I read Barbara Kingsolver, Small Wonder, an essay collection which Kingsolver compiled soon after, and partly in response to, 9/11. I read - actually, devoured - two collections of essays by Kingsolver last year. This one was equally impossible to put down.
3. A Book that You are Prompted to Read Because of Something You Read in 2019: Fahrenheit 452 by Ray BradburyI read this classic this week, it was mentioned in a book I read last year and though I knew the plot of Fahrenheit 452, it was my first read of it.
The book I chose came from a book review I read in 2019. I was so excited to finally listen to the book Faith Is Not Blind by Bruce C. Hafen when Deseret Book added it to their Bookshelf+.
I just finished reading Us Against You by Fredrick Backman for this prompt. I chose this because I read Beartown in late 2019, and wanted to read the follow up.
1. What are you reading for this category? Mrs. Pollifax and the Lion Killer2. What prompted you to read this book? to finish another challenge. This is a series in which I am almost to the end.
1. What are you reading for this category?Stalin's Daughter: The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva
2. What prompted you to read this book?
In another GR group, this book was suggested for their non-fiction group read. I seconded it and started reading it, in hopes that it will be selected! The 2019 connection is that I read Gottland: Mostly True Stories from Half of Czechoslovakia which had stories set during the Communist bloc era. In one of the stories, there is a competition in Prague to design the world's largest statue of Stalin.
I read A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green, the sequel to An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, which I read last year. This was a pretty difficult prompt for me, actually - I wasn't doing this challenge last year and I didn't have that great a reading year in general. Didn't read a ton of books and a lot of the ones I read were pretty meh. And for some reason, the wording of this prompt really made my inner literalist come out! I know that we could come up with any kind of "prompting," that I could have just chosen a book with a similar theme or by the same author, but for some reason I felt very strongly that it would only count if I had decided in 2019 that I was going to read a book directly because of a book that I had just read. And only this one fit that very specific circumstance! Luckily I really did want to read it and I enjoyed it a lot.
Jo wrote: "I read Bird Box by Josh Malerman because of the movie. I may be a monster but I preferred the movie."You know, I haven't seen the movie, but I was struck by the weird feeling while I was reading Bird Box that it was written as though the author was imagining it as a movie. The concept makes way more sense as a movie and plays on movie thriller tropes in a way that doesn't really translate that well to a book, in my opinion.
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (other topics)Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay (other topics)
A Happy Death (other topics)
Rubyfruit Jungle (other topics)
The Stranger (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Agatha Christie (other topics)Albert Camus (other topics)
Alison Bechdel (other topics)
Rita Mae Brown (other topics)
C.J. Sansom (other topics)
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I am reading The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 by Garrett M. Graff
2. What prompted you to read this book?
Part misunderstanding of the prompt, and partly because I didn't actually read all that much last year so I didn't have any books that I was interested in reading for this year. Basically, I spent quite a significant amount of time last year researching 9/11, reading articles, and watching documentaries, etc. So when I saw that this book was due to be released, I thought it fit the prompt perfectly because I never would have picked it up had it not been for me researching it. I didn't necessarily misunderstand the prompt, I just took my own spin on it. It works, I think...