Where Does This Book Fit? the 2022 edition

[Nadine in NY]

The NYPL just floated an article from last year about "found family" books, and Upright Women Wanted was the first book on their list, and I thought of this discussion!!! I know Lexi already pointed out that it works for that, but I wanted to come back and reiterate...

[Rita]

My goal for next year is to read my shelves. I get so many books from the library and my own books end up neglected. Here’s my list from my bedroom shelf. I would love suggestions for prompts. I may be back again with my other bookshelf finds. Oops. So many books…

The Vanishing Half - Brit Bennett
The Prophets - Robert Jones, Jr
Leave the World Behind - Rumaan Alam
Ariadne - Jennifer Saint
A Good Neighborhood - Therese Fowler
The Four Winds - Kristin Hannah
No Exit - Taylor Adams
Daisy Jones & the Six - TJR
An American Marriage - Tayari Jones
The Sun Down Motel - Simone St James
No Exit - Taylor Adams
The Firekeeper’s Daughter - Angeline Boulley
Valentine - Elizabeth Wetmore

[Erica]

I might use The Vanishing Half for the mirror image prompt. Although Firekeeper's Daughter works better.

Daisy Jones & The Six is perfect for about a band

[Alicia]

A Good Neighborhood could fit misleading title.

Vanishing Half would fit double life or a book with two POVs (advanced prompt). Also some of the book is set in the 1980s

Valentine has more than two POVs, so depends on how you interpret that prompt.

[Alicia]

Oh also Daisy Jones is becoming a tv show on Amazon prime.

[Laura]

I want to read:
The Paper Palace
The Island of Missing Trees
Apples Never Fall

Do any of these fit in any prompt?

[Nadine in NY]

Rita wrote: "My goal for next year is to read my shelves. I get so many books from the library and my own books end up neglected. Here’s my list from my bedroom shelf. I would love suggestions for prompts. I ma..."


I bet a bunch of these are BookTok recommendations.

Vanishing Half has a secret and someone leading a double life (a Black woman passing as white).

Firekeeper's Daughter has a sort of mirror image on cover, and it's sort of a romance written by a BIPOC author, and there is a secret that the protagonist is working to solve.

I can't find a single category for An American Marriage!

Sun Down Motel involves ghosts, so maybe that works for "afterlife" (if you think ghosts are a sort of afterlife, of course). It's also two POVs in two different timelines (and the "historical" timeline is in the 80s). It's a mystery, so it's about a secret.

Valentine is maybe a misleading title. The key event (a rape) takes place on Valentine's Day, and he calls her "Valentine," but obviously the victim is not feeling like his "valentine."

Those are the only books I've read.

I haven't read Daisy Jones but I think it's about a band.

[Dedra ~ A Book Wanderer]

Rita wrote: "My goal for next year is to read my shelves. I get so many books from the library and my own books end up neglected. Here’s my list from my bedroom shelf. I would love suggestions for prompts. I ma..."

An American Marriage could work for:

-A book that takes place during your favorite season (If I remember correctly, it covers every season.)
-A book about a secret
-A book set during a holiday (It features Thanksgiving and Christmas.)
-A book with a quote from your favorite author on the cover or Amazon page (Quotes on Amazon by Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama, Jaqueline Woodson, Michael Chabon, Amy Bloom, Tom Perrota, and Edwidge Danticat
-A past Popsugar prompt (It features letters.)
-Some of the book is set in Atlanta, Georgia which has many 'sister cities' that could fulfill the advanced prompt.

[Joshua]

I'm looking to maybe read all of the Winternight Trilogy;

The Bear and the Nightingale
The Girl in the Tower
The Winter of the Witch

Any suggestions on these?

[Alicia]

M, moscow is good for major sister cities if you have another book in London, Beijing, Tokyo, Paris, Athens and more.

They would also all count for witches, parallel reality, and if winter is your favorite season.

Bear and the Nightingale has constellations on the cover.

Girl in the Tower could work with double life, man made disaster or a secret.

[Pritha]

Please help me out with these books I wanna fit in the 2022 Challenge.

The Portrait of a Mirror
The Nickel Boys
The Secret History
The Picture of Dorian Grey
The Silent Patient

[Alicia]

I f you read Secret History or Silent Patient after Nickel Boys, you could do the title the starts with the last letter (unless you are counting “the” fir the prompt, which I’m not). If you are, you can read these after Silent Patient

For Silent Patient you can do secret or double life.

For Nickel Boys you could do social horror.

[Alicia]

And the mirror prompt for Portrait of the Mirror

[Olive]

Pritha, the silent patient could be a book about a secret. The portrait of a mirror could be reflected image on the cover or mirror in the title. The Nickel Boys could probably work for social horror. Oscar Wilde was gay and there are undertones in a picture of Dorian grey (and its has actual LGBTQ+ rep if you read the released uncut edition) so that could probably work for own voice SFF. And the Secret History is set in the 1980s. Hope this helps!

[Pritha]

Thank you so much Alicia, Olivia, it helps a lot. ^^

[Rachel]

Pritha, the Silent Patient is also two POV. Loved this book!

[Heather L]

Pritha wrote: "Please help me out with these books I wanna fit in the 2022 Challenge.

The Portrait of a Mirror
The Nickel Boys
The Secret History
[book:The Picture o..."

Dorian Gray also works for Vic Lit.

[Joshua]

Alicia wrote: "M, moscow is good for major sister cities if you have another book in London, Beijing, Tokyo, Paris, Athens and more.

They would also all count for witches, parallel reality, and if winter is your..."

Oh my gosh, so it does! Very excellent! I was fudging that category a bit, so it's nice to know exactly what to grab. Thank you!

[John]

Where would the book Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers fit?

- The afterlife?
- A book with a misleading title, e.g., Curious Lives...Cadavers?

[Alicia]

I think you can do afterlife. It’s not ghosts, but it’s certainly after life. I don’t know if the title is misleading. More of an oxymoron.

But I bet it would be easy to pair it after a book with a title that ends in “s”

[poshpenny]

John wrote: "Where would the book Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers fit?

- The afterlife?
- A book with a misleading title, e.g., Curious Lives...Cadavers?"

Most obvious prompts from past challenges:
female author
nonfiction
a popular author's first book
book with a subtitle
book you picked because the title caught your attention
at least a four-star rating on Goodreads

[Shubhi]

Anyone know where The Island of Dr. Moreau would fit, if at all? Planning to read The Album of Dr. Moreau this year and figured it would be more enjoyable if I know the original story

[Olive]

Shubhi, the Island of Dr. Moreau is only 150 ish pages, so if you're a fast reader it could work for read in one sitting.

[Heather L]

Shubhi wrote: "Anyone know where The Island of Dr. Moreau would fit, if at all? Planning to read The Album of Dr. Moreau this year and figured it would be more enjoyable if I know the original story"

It was published late in the Victorian era, and I think you could also argue that it fits the social horror category as well, based on the following from Wikipedia:

“At the time of the novel's publication in 1896, there was growing discussion in Europe of the possibility of the degeneration of the human race. Increasing opposition to animal vivisection led to formation of groups like the National Anti-Vivisection Society in 1875, and the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection in 1898. The Island of Dr. Moreau reflects the ethical, philosophical, and scientific concerns and controversies raised by these themes and the ideas of Darwinian evolution which were so disrupting to social norms in the late 1800s.”


(Vivisection is the practice of performing operations on live animals for the purpose of experimentation or scientific research.)

[Joshua]

Sorry, I need to ask one more before the new year. A Court of Thorns and Roses series; where would that all fit?

A Court of Thorns and Roses
A Court of Mist and Fury
A Court of Wings and Ruin
A Court of Frost and Starlight
A ​Court of Silver Flames

If any of their covers fit any of the cover prompts, that will also work for me. I have the latest covers if that matters.

[Alicia]

Thorns and Roses is set during a holiday and featuring a party

Anything after Thorns and Roses can count as found family.

Frost and starlight is set in Winter (if it’s your favorite season) and during a holiday

Silver Flames has two POVs

[Catherine]

“A Man Called Ove” is definitely a good “found family” choice.

I think at least part of “The Great Alone” is set in the 1980’s, but it’s been a while since I read it.

[Britt]

I just found this group and I’m excited to join it for 2022. The first book I was planning to read this year is The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. Any ideas of which prompt this fits into would be super helpful! Thanks!

[Nadine in NY]

Britt wrote: "I just found this group and I’m excited to join it for 2022. The first book I was planning to read this year is The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. Any ideas of which prompt this fits int..."



Welcome! Part of The Underground Railroad is set on a train (there is a literal underground railroad in this book).

[Robin H-R]

Britt wrote: "I just found this group and I’m excited to join it for 2022. The first book I was planning to read this year is The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. Any ideas of which prompt this fits int..."

A book set in Victorian times

[Amber]

Rachel wrote: "Books currently on my TBR shelf:
It Ends With Us - Colleen Hoover
Everything We Didn’t Say - Nicole Baart
The Maidens - Alex Michaelides
The Two Lives of Lydia Bird - Josie Silver
The Nightingale ..."

100 Years of Lenni and Margot is a book about found family!

[Kat]

Project Hail Mary?
A Monster Calls?

[Sara]

Okay, I have a bookshelf full of TBR... hopefully at least a couple of these will work for 2022.

A Court of Thorns and Roses
A Game of Thrones
A Lesson in Vengeance
Ace of Shades
Amber & Dusk
Bone Crier's Moon
Brave New World
Caraval
Daughter of the Siren Queen
Devil in Ohio
Dorothy Must Die
Four Dead Queens
Girl, Serpent, Thorn
Girls of Paper and Fire
Heart of Iron
Hunting Prince Dracula
Illuminae
Incendiary
Jade Fire Gold
King of Scars
Lakesedge
Legendborn
Lord of the Flies
Lore
Mirage
Red Rising
Scarlet
Scavenge the Stars
Shadow of the Fox
Sisters of the Snake
Star Daughter
Sweet & Bitter Magic
The Gilded Ones
The Guinevere Deception
The Kingdom of Back
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
These Violent Delights
This Poison Heart
To Kill a Kingdom
Unravel the Dusk
The Whisper Man
Wolf by Wolf

Sorry there's so many! It's kind of embarrassing. Most of them I got in old owlcrate boxes... so the genres are all very similar. Any help would be much appreciated!!!

[Nadine in NY]

Sara wrote: "Okay, I have a bookshelf full of TBR... hopefully at least a couple of these will work for 2022. ..."



That's a lot of books! I bet you can find homes for quite a few of those!!

At a glance ...

Wolf by Wolf and These Violent Delights are each book one in a duology.

A bunch of those books are by BIPOC authors and shelved as "romance" as well as "fantasy" etc, so you could use one of them for the romance by a BIPOC author. (eg: Sisters of the Snake, Star Daughter, Shadow of the Fox - I'm sure there are more) and I bet at least one of them has a character on the ace spectrum.

I don't know anything about it and I'm just guessing from the title, but maybe Four Dead Queens involves a nonpatriarchal society?

Illuminae could count for "man made disaster" since the action starts when the opposing government attacks a planet.

One of Scarlet's main characters is Cinder, who has a prosthetic foot, so that could count as using a mobility aid.

I'm sure there are a lot more that will work for various categories.

[Heather L]

Brave New World and Lord of the Flies would both work for social horror.

[Dubhease]

Sara wrote: "Okay, I have a bookshelf full of TBR... hopefully at least a couple of these will work for 2022.

A Court of Thorns and Roses
A Game of Thrones
[book:A Lesson in Vengea..."

Brave New World is a book about a secret
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle features a party

I didn't read the rest

[Knight]

i'm currently reading Parable of the Sower but i don't think i'll be able to finish it this year. would this fit any of the 2022 prompts?

[Brandon]

Sara wrote: "i'm currently reading Parable of the Sower but i don't think i'll be able to finish it this year. would this fit any of the 2022 prompts?"

If you like it well enough to read the sequel, you could use it for the duology prompt. The author did plan for at least one more book in the series, but none were ever published before she passed.

Also, the graphic novel adaptation won a Hugo this year, so if you stretch the prompt a bit, that could work for a Hugo winner.

[Erica]

Sara wrote: "Okay, I have a bookshelf full of TBR... hopefully at least a couple of these will work for 2022.

A Court of Thorns and Roses
A Game of Thrones
[book:A Lesson in Vengea..."

You could use Game Of Thrones for board game because game is in the title.

Star Daughter, Girl Serpent Thorn, Girls of Paper and Fire could all be SSF own voices

Girls of Paper and Fire is sapphic.

Lore would fit secrets, found family, double life and you could stretch it into afterlife.

Girl Serpent Thorn fits the secret prompt.

Star Daughter works for the holiday prompt, party prompt, double life maybe parallel reality.

[K.L.]

Erica wrote: "You could use Game Of Thrones for board game because game is in the title."

There are also several Game of Thrones board games on the market, including editions of Monopoly, Settlers of Catan, and Risk.

[Kaia]

Pritha wrote: "Please help me out with these books I wanna fit in the 2022 Challenge.

The Portrait of a Mirror
The Nickel Boys
The Secret History
[book:The Picture o..."

The Picture of Dorian Grey is a book about a secret and I think it was set in the Victorian era, but it's been more than 20 years since I read it, so don't quote me on that.

[Juliet]

I just started Bellweather Rhapsody and really want to fit it into my 2022 challenge. Where might it fit?

[Joshua]

Juliet wrote: "I just started Bellweather Rhapsody and really want to fit it into my 2022 challenge. Where might it fit?"

It says it's a Mystery it's probably about a Secret of some kind.

[Joshua]

Alicia wrote: "Thorns and Roses is set during a holiday and featuring a party

Anything after Thorns and Roses can count as found family.

Frost and starlight is set in Winter (if it’s your favorite season) and..."

Thank you Alicia! I super appreciate it!

[Amber]

Sara wrote: "i'm currently reading Parable of the Sower but i don't think i'll be able to finish it this year. would this fit any of the 2022 prompts?"

I think Parable of the Sower could also fit with found family.

[[deleted user]]

I've been given The Eye Of The World, the first Wheel Of Time book, for Christmas, and I'd like to fit it in somewhere. Any ideas?

[Olive]

eye of the world would probably work for found family

[Reed]

Where would War and Peace fit

[Alicia]

War & Peace would fit the Victorian era. Also a good part of the book is based in Moscow which is a great city to use for sister cities (London, Athens, Paris, Tokyo, Delhi, Beijing)

[Ron]

George wrote: "I've been given The Eye Of The World, the first Wheel Of Time book, for Christmas, and I'd like to fit it in somewhere. Any ideas?"

Well for pretty much all of The Wheel of Time books I've listed them in these categories.

-ABOUT A SECRET
-AFTERLIFE
-NONPATRIARCHAL SOCIETY
-PALINDROMIC TITLE
-PARALLEL REALITY
PROMPT FROM PAST CHALLENGE (MAP)
-NAME OF A BOARD GAME IN THE TITLE (Dungeons & Dragons)