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- 5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
So many! But I will give special notice to What Moves the Dead, which might take my spot for best book of the year
- Any twists on the challenge? (ie in order, all nonfiction, all picture books, etc)
I did it in order by month; so the prompts 'belonging' to each month had to be completed before moving on.
- My most creative twist on a prompt
Finding Everett Ruess: The Life and Unsolved Disappearance of a Legendary Wilderness Explorer for a 'western'. It's nonfiction, but it's got such a focus on the american southwest and Ruess' life and works have taken on a legendary quality.
- The prompt I "cheated" on
I totally just played around with the literature map until it gave me the name of an auther I wanted to read.
- My favorite prompt
A book related to a ghost, spirit, phantom, or specter - though admittedly the book I read didn't end up actually having much of a ghost.
- My least favorite prompt
I didn't dislike any of the prompts but I got stuck on the UNESCO City of Literature for a long time.
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
The last book I grabbed for this challenge was an available-now audiobook from my library app that I hadn't heard of before but went with based on the title and the fact that it was a mere 3 hours long. Tanqueray: stories from the life of one of NYC's most famous burlesque dancers. If that intrigues you, I recommend it as well worth the time.
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
I'd Rather Be Reading: A Library of Art for Book Lovers - I would have dnf-ed this if not for the challenge.
And now I can finally allow myself to plan for ATY 2024 :)
2023 done :)Ready for 2024 :)
- 5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
Demon Copperhead
The World Played Chess
Lessons in Chemistry
Behind the Seams
- Any twists on the challenge? (ie in order, all nonfiction, all picture books, etc)
No
- My most creative twist on a prompt
None, I think
- The prompt I "cheated" on
None, I think
- My favorite prompt
3 books set in different centuries
- My least favorite prompt
Don't really have one
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
Lessons in Chemistry
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
Drive Your Plough Over the Bones of the Dead
Not that I wish I hadn't read it, but I disliked it
Hooray! I have been doing this challenge for 4 years and I just finished for the first time!The best books I read for this were:
We Are Not Like Them
Crenshaw
This Time Tomorrow
Killers of a Certain Age
The Kaiju Preservation Society
Pet
Babel: An Arcane History
I highly recommend all of them.
Jen wrote: "Hooray! I have been doing this challenge for 4 years and I just finished for the first time!"Hooray! Congratulations!
I just finished, but also see message 99 for my picture book only completion. - 5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
Legends & Lattes
Lost in the Moment and Found
Nettle & Bone
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking
You Look Like a Thing and I Love You: How Artificial Intelligence Works and Why It's Making the World a Weirder Place
Magic Tides
Magic Claims
The Poisoner's Ring
What Makes Us Mighty
Flight Risk
Grave Reservations
In the Lives of Puppets
Backpacking Through Bedlam
About Time
A Catalogue of Catastrophe
- Any twists on the challenge? (ie in order, all nonfiction, all picture books, etc)
No
- My most creative twist on a prompt
can't think of one.
- The prompt I "cheated" on
none
- My favorite prompt
A book with an unusual or surprising title
- My least favorite prompt
A book nominated for an award that starts with a W.
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
Etiquette & Espionage
Light Years From Home
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
none of the final ones I counted were under 3 stars.
I finally finished the challenge with a week to spare. - 5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
- Any twists on the challenge? (ie in order, all nonfiction, all picture books, etc)
I finished each book in order and only used books that I already owned or bought in 2023.
- My most creative twist on a prompt
I like to make a theme for the multi week prompts so for the 3 centuries I did nonfiction books about events in 3 consecutive centuries
- The prompt I "cheated" on
I find the prompts quite flexible so didn't need to deviate from the spirit of the prompt
- My favorite prompt
I can never limit it to one
A book connected to birds, bees or bunnies
A book with sun moon or stars on the cover
A book connected to a Spice Girls personality
- My least favorite prompt
A western (I don'tlike being forced to read a genre I don't like)
A novella (I just find them unsatisfying)
NPR list (I don't like the website and repetition of prompts)
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
The prompts this year led to me reading a few nonfiction books that I've owned for awhile so it was nice to finally read them.
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
There were a few books that I probably wouldn't have finished if not for the challenge
Mod
📚 2023 Reading Challenge 📚Finished: Dec 25, 2023
5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
My most creative twist on a prompt
"A book that is dark". I used a book that has a dark vibe.
Vampire Mountain by Darren Shan
The prompt I cheated on
None
My favorite prompt
"A book with 4 or more colors on the cover". Because I love colorful book covers.
A Storm of Wishes by Jacqueline West
My least favorite prompt
"A book with the theme of returning home". I don't think is a topic I really enjoy reading about yet.
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
Los Crímenes del Lago by Gemma Herrero Virto
I used this book to complete the prompt "A book with a body of water in the title", and I'm so happy I did because otherwise I wouldn't have read it.
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
"A book with a school subject in the title". I was bored the whole time I was reading this book.
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
I'm done.Finished a while ago
- 5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
I don't rate
- Any twists on the challenge? (ie in order, all nonfiction, all picture books, etc)
None
- My most creative twist on a prompt
I used matching titles for the book that is dark and book that is light: The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games and The Light Fantastic
- The prompt I "cheated" on
For A book found by inputting a favorite author on https://www.literature-map.com, I just used an author that someone posted in the the thread that they found using an author that I also like. Someone found it, good enough for me.
- My favorite prompt
A book that fits a suggestion that didn’t make the 2023 list
- My least favorite prompt
A book with 4 or more colors on the cover
That's almost every book I read so difficult to choose which book to slot here.
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
March
Marmee would never!
-5 Star books that I read for the ATY ChallengeNo Land To Light On; Cloud Cuckoo Land; Tales From the Cafe; Before Your Memory Fades
- Any twists on the challenge? (ie in order, all nonfiction, all picture books, etc)
No
- My most creative twist on a prompt
Found in a recipe: HAMnet by Maggie O' Farrell
- The prompt I "cheated" on
large animal: the whale in the Whalebone Theatre was not particularly large for a whale, but a whale is a large animal
- My favorite prompt
3 different centuries and a school subject
- My least favorite prompt
Spice girls personality and Large version of an animal
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
None I read for the challenge in particular, but I am glad I read No Land to Light On which I used for a refugee
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
None, but I did read some books for book clubs I wish I hadn't read and used them for ATY prompts: The Housemaid, Verity, The Housemaid's Secret, Heart and Hand
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Jen wrote: "Hooray! I have been doing this challenge for 4 years and I just finished for the first time!The best books I read for this were:
We Are Not Like Them
Crenshaw
[boo..."
Congratulations. Jen! I hope you had fun! (It sounds like you did!)
I'm done! This legit feels like one of my biggest accomplishments of the year.- 5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
The Secret History, Gods of Jade and Shadow, The Hollow Places, The Hacienda, The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, Thistlefoot, Daughter of the Moon Goddess, The Kaiju Preservation Society, His Majesty's Dragon, Girl, Interrupted, I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban, When the Moon is Low, Emma
- My most creative twist on a prompt
I wouldn't say it was creative, but I did use Wuthering Heights as a debut novel.
- The prompt I "cheated" on
A western. I read The Hunger and...I'm not sure it really counts, but it does take place on the Oregon Trail.
- My favorite prompt
A book with an unusually large version of an animal. This is just so fun and creative. And who doesn't love a good animal friend? I read Cackle.
- My least favorite prompt
A book related to a geometric shape. I really struggled to find a book I was interested in that would fit this. I ended up stretching it by reading When the Moon is Low. Moon = circle = shape.
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban. It's crazy to think this book came out 11 years ago and I had yet to read it. It was turning into one of those books that was on my shelf, but because I thought I already knew the story, I didn't feel it calling to me. Worth the read, even now.
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
The Elegance of the Hedgehog. Just...the most insufferable characters.
Mod
No Land To Light On; Cloud Cuckoo Land; Tales From the Cafe; Before Your Memory Fades
- Any twists on the challenge? (ie in order, all nonfiction, al..."
Ha ha, I love the idea of Hamnet for a recipe!
- 5 Star books that I read for the ATY ChallengeLong Way Down
Legion
Skin Deep
The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot
Carrie Soto Is Back
An Ember in the Ashes
Scythe
Lonesome Dove
- Any twists on the challenge? (ie in order, all nonfiction, all picture books, etc)
Nope
- My most creative twist on a prompt
None, really. They were all pretty straight forward.
- The prompt I "cheated" on
I read a series of novellas. I counted them for the author map, the novella, and the favorite prompt repeated. Not cheating, but definitely working the system.
- My favorite prompt
I like the ATY Best Book of the Month prompt. I enjoy looking through other people's favorites to find something new to read.
- My least favorite prompt
A book with an unusual or surprising title. I didn't enjoy finding the book for this. It felt too subjective.
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
Lonesome Dove - I never would have read a western. But I loved this book. I'm so glad I read it!
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
Jaws So bad. Just horrible. 1 star and I NEVER rate books 1 star.
5 Star books that I read for the ATY ChallengeThe Old Man and the Sea - Christine - Matter - To Have and Have Not - Needful Things - The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes - A Farewell to Arms - Coraline
Any twists on the challenge? (ie in order, all nonfiction, all picture books, etc)
I started the challenge in August, having only read 3 books before that (which I did count) – moderate handicap.
My most creative twist on a prompt
I was trying to do a cool thing with the ‘3 books from different centuries prompts. I tend to read a lot of Fantasy and Scifi, where the former doesn’t have a century and the latter is some distance made up number in the future. So, I excluded those entirely – deciding to read one book that took place in the 19th, on in the 20th, and one in the 21st century.
But then I realized that they could be Sci-fi, it was just more challenging. For instance, Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon is about scientists devising a way to get to the moon but also takes place in the 19th century. H. G. Well’s The First Men in the Moon is about scientists devising a way to get to the moon but also takes place in the 20th century. So, what I needed to complete the trio was a book that took place in the 21st century and was about scientists devising a way to get to the moon.
That is going to be hard to come by, but I was able to find one in Arthur C. Clarke’s A Fall of Moondust. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get ahold of that book in time to complete this sub-challenge and had to substitute in a regular/boring 21st century book.
The prompt I "cheated" on
I read Welcome to the Monkey House for the Week X prompt, but it isn’t Vonnegut’s first novel (which is Player Piano) but it does include a few of his short stories that were published before Player Piano, including his first ever published work.
Note: I actually did this by accident, since I copied the prompt down wrong.
My favorite prompt
I liked week 3: Choose a Topic that Didn’t make the List. It’s essentially a wild card, but I find it fun to look through all these topics and pick one that seems interesting.
My least favorite prompt
I didn’t like the Spice Girls prompt, which I have noticed is a bit controversial. The trouble I had with it is that it is too vague and almost any book could ‘fit’. So I added my own stipulations to it, making it suddenly very challenging to complete (is that really a fault of the prompt).
Firstly, I don’t know much about the Spice Girls. Their big year of fame begins in my sophomore year and ends mid-way through my junior year of high school – and I wasn’t in their target demographic. Still, they are big enough that I knew what their ‘personalities’ were.
However, I put in the extra work and actually watched a documentary about them. So that I could understand them better. And unfortunately, their real personalities don’t really fit the advertised ones. I would pick up a book thinking that the main female character fit and then while reading the book change my mind and decide that they were nothing like any of the spice girls. Then I’d grab another book, and another, while finally just going with the easy way out and reading a ‘scary’ book.
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
I'm Glad My Mom Died Again, way too young to know who Jennette McCurdy is, but my daughter is a fan of hers and I had heard that the book was good. This is definitely the book most outside my comfort zone.
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
Oh, I don't know - even the really bad books are worth reading. If for no other reason than to establish what to avoid later.
Finished the challenge a couple of days ago :)My top reads:
1. Perdido Street Station
2. Rebecca
3. The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II
4. Pet Sematary
5. Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures
6. Klara and the Sun
7. All Quiet on the Western Front
8. The Martian
9. Charlotte's Web
Finished yesterday!- 5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
- Any twists on the challenge? (ie in order, all nonfiction, all picture books, etc)
I tried to go in order, but I'm at the mercy of my library holds.
- My most creative twist on a prompt
Didn't really get creative with any of them
- The prompt I "cheated" on
Technically not cheating, but I originally had a longer book set for the "reward beginning with W" prompt, and swapped it out for a graphic novel because I was running out of time.
- My favorite prompt
A book where books are important
- My least favorite prompt
A book that has been translated from another language
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
Historical sports fiction is not a genre I typically gravitate to, but I really enjoyed this book.
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
I don't necessarily wish I hadn't read it, but it was my least favorite of the 52 books I read for this challenge. Mysteries just aren't my thing.
Finished the challenge! Going in order definitely slows me down and stretches it to a truly year-long challenge, lol.- 5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge:
Hell Bent, Bunny, Divine Rivals, Happy Place, Emma of 83rd Street, He Who Drowned the World, Starling House, Greek Lessons, Mammoths at the Gate, Curious Tides, The Tainted Cup.
- Any twists on the challenge?
In order, no rereads, nothing under 100 pages (I did have a 106-page book for the novella prompt), no comics or plays (which are absolutely totally real and valid reading! I just read plenty of them quickly, and was looking for more restrictions to challenge myself more).
- My most creative twist on a prompt
I always like to make the multiweek prompts more connected, so I made the 3 different century books each be the last in a historical mystery series I wanted to catch up on. For dark + light, I used two books both set on Catalina Island, one a grim, violent thriller, the other a cute romcom.
- The prompt I "cheated" on
I don't think I cheated or stretched any prompts, actually. Is it a kind of cheating that I used the litmap to give me an author I already love & a book I was going to read anyway?
- My favorite prompt
Chess (that's the one I repeated), school subject, and recipe. Interesting prompts with a lot of room to play and scope for the imagination, but not so easy that anything I read fit.
- My least favorite prompt
The NPR prompt - I just really dislike being given a list of specific books I have to choose from, I find it boring - and the litmap website.
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
Greek Lessons. I used it for the school subject prompt after DNFing my original choice (Lessons in Chemistry), and I absolutely loved it.
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
Everything I read on this list, I probably would have read anyway for one reason or another. I might have DNFed The Pumpkin Spice Cafe (I had an ARC, but I thought it was pretty mediocre right off the bat...) but it fit the recipe prompt so well, I powered through for the sake of this challenge.
Yes! I've finished! With just a smidge of cheating - 5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
These were my stand out favourites
My First White Friend: Confessions on Race, Love and Forgiveness
The Midwich Cuckoos
Lessons in Chemistry
The Remains of the Day
The Colony
Where the Crawdads Sing
Half of a Yellow Sun
The Beekeeper of Aleppo
The Book of Form & Emptiness
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Queen's Gambit
Pride: The Unlikely Story of the Unsung Heroes of the Miner's Strike
Beartown
True Grit
Daisy Jones & the Six
Us Against You
- Any twists on the challenge? (ie in order, all nonfiction, all picture books, etc)
My aim was to try and have at least half of the books for the challenge from my tbr list, and half by Female Authors. I didn't quite manage that with 24 from tbr and 25 by Female Authors, but I came pretty close.
- The prompt I "cheated" on
My final 2 books were not my intended reads for those prompts, I instead read a couple of short stories which I actually really enjoyed.
42. A book related to a ghost, spirit, phantom, or specter
The Collectors by Philip Pullman
37. A book with the theme of returning home
And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman
- My favorite prompt
19. A book related to the arts
I should definitely read more of these, maybe a goal for next year?
- My least favorite prompt
I want to start by saying I loved the idea of this prompt, it was just so hard researching for it.
48. A book with an unusually large version of an animal in the story
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
These are the ones that were not on my tbr or my radar, that I selected purely because they fitted the prompts and absolutely loved them.
The Colony
The Book of Form & Emptiness
Pride: The Unlikely Story of the Unsung Heroes of the Miner's Strike
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
I never wish I hadn’t read a book but I did not enjoy these ones as much as I hoped I would. Again neither were on my tbr or radar.
The Edible Woman
The Discworld Graphic Novels: The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic
Just made it before the end of the year, phew5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
(Some of these replaced my initial, lower rated, plans for the prompts, I hope that counts)
Land of Shadows, Rachel Howzell Hall
The Last Remains, Elly Griffiths
A Beginner's Guide to Murder, Rosalind Stopps
My Heart is a Chainsaw, Stephen Graham Jones
I'm a Fan, Sheena Patel
Weyward, Emilia Hart
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, Shannon Chakraborty
Rhode Island Red, Charlotte Carter
Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan
The prompt I "cheated" on also My least favorite prompt
I found it difficult to find a book I wanted to read for "with a school subject in the title" so used Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements because "movement" was listed as a subject by others. But I am uncomfortable about it.
My favorite prompt
"involves a murder" as I read lots of mysteries and thrillers so there were many options.
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
I read Flatland by Edwin A. Abbot for "Related to a Geometric Shape" which I would never have found if not researching for the prompt. I didn't love it but it was very unique and an interesting experience.
Rosalind wrote: "I found it difficult to find a book I wanted to read for "with a school subject in the title" so used Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements because "movement" was listed as a subject by others. But I am uncomfortable about it.."That actually sounds like a class I would have signed up for, in college.
J wrote: "That actually sounds like a class I would have signed up for, in college."I'd definitely be interested in a class on radical movements
Finished with 13 hours to spare :) The timing was deliberate, I've dragged out the final book for over a week just so I could finish today. There was a point where I thought I wouldn't make it, so it's satisfying to be able to relax and take my time at the end.5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss
Any twists on the challenge? (ie in order, all nonfiction, all picture books, etc)
Not really, but I did double up on some of the prompts so I read 57 for the challenge instead of 52.
My most creative twist on a prompt
I filled the geometric shape prompt with The Affair by Lee Child, because Reacher is sent on a mission by The Pentagon, which was quite satisfying.
The prompt I "cheated" on
I wildcarded the book published in 2023
My favorite prompt
I like the prompt that didn't make it, this gives me the opportunity to use a prompt that doesn't work for the majority but that I really love
My least favorite prompt
Published in 2023, but I'm also not a fan of the NPR list or the ATY Book of the Month
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
I choose from my TBR so would've read everything eventually, but I've had Yes Man by Danny Wallace for years and I'm happy it pushed me to read it at last
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
I bought The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt for a dollar a few years ago, just in case we ever had a western prompt, because I'd heard it was good especially if you don't like westerns. I absolutely hated it!
Now to find something to do for the rest of the day, it's so tempting to start today - is it 2024 somewhere yet?! ;)
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...- 5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
The Door
Elena Knows
The Trees
An Officer and a Spy
The Martian
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon
Us Against You
- Any twists on the challenge? (ie in order, all nonfiction, all picture books, etc) - no
- My most creative twist on a prompt - for the large animal I picked a book with large alien life forms
- The prompt I "cheated" on- same
- My favorite prompt - Tropical settings, NPR - I used at least 7 NPR books to fill other prompts.
- My least favorite prompt - Title word found in a recipe
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!). The Door and other translated books.
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!) I wish I didn’t read Legends and Lattes, but I can’t blame the challenge for that.
Thank you to the mods and group members for a great year.
I read 50 of the prompts https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...- 5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge:
A Ballet of Lepers: A Novel and Stories
Something Rotten
The Silver Chalice
The Darkest Dark
Daisy Darker
Leaf by Niggle
- Any twists on the challenge? (ie in order, all nonfiction, all picture books, etc) - just a focused prompt of the month
- My most creative twist on a prompt - geometric shape - I put The Starless Sea there because there were shapes of hearts, etc in the book and it was all circular to me.
- The prompt I "cheated" on - A book with a tropical setting - I put Selected Poems of Pablo Neruda It's a partial WC. But he did live in but Burma, India and Mexico, and one famous poem was about Peru)
- My favorite prompt: I liked the Spice Girls Prompt and Chess board because they were creative
- My least favorite prompt: Western. I could be a ghost reading in a library for 500 years and I still wouldn't read a western.
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!) - Daisy Darker (book with a full name in the title)
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!) - The books that disappointed me this year, I can't blame on ATY as they were on my TBR list and I merely found a prompt for them. "Alice" for A book connected to birds, bees, or bunnies was overly gory and had a lot of human trafficking.
I figured out this afternoon that I am finished (figured out a book I hadn’t counted would work). I’ll post my details in the next day or two. Yay — that was close!
Squeaked in just under the wire!5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge:
- Clap When You Land
- Firekeeper's Daughter
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- Trainspotting
- The Things They Carried
- They Both Die at the End
- Circe
- The Hate U Give
- Get a Life, Chloe Brown
- The Queen's Gambit
- Becoming
Any twists on the challenge? Just that I could only use a book to fulfill one prompt vs several
My most creative twist on a prompt: I read Solutions and Other Problems for "A book with an unusual or surprising title", as I thought the juxtaposition of words was surprising
The prompt I "cheated" on: None
My favorite prompts: "A book set in a UNESCO City of Literature" and "A book with an unusual or surprising title"
My least favorite prompt: "A book with a faceless person on the cover" (I dislike vague prompts for which I have to comb through book covers to determine what counts as "faceless")
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!): Firekeeper's Daughter
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!): How to Walk Away
I finished Round 2 last evening! Pretty excited that I was able to get through this 2x this year!Five star books from this round include:
Prompt I cheated on: I played around with the author map until I got an author I wanted to read.
My favorite prompt: I still like the NPR list, and the 3 centuries prompts.
Least Favorite Prompt:I had difficulty finding one related to a shape, and one set in a UNESCO city of literature.
A book I might not have read without the ATY Challenge (but I'm so glad I did!) Definitely The Hunger and In the Woods.
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY challenge (and wish I hadn't) The Girl Beneath the Sea and Stone Blind. I would have DNFed both of these, except I needed them to complete the challenge.
Thanks to everyone for a great year - moderators and members alike!- 5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
Mad Honey by Jody Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
This is How it Always Is by Laurie Frankel
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Beartown by Fredrik Backman
Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest by Suzanne Simard
True Biz by Sara Nović
Scythe by Neal Shusterman
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill
Babel, Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translator's Revolution by R.F. Kuang
Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body by Rebekah Taussig
Us Against You by Fredrik Backman
Greenwood by Michael Christie
Th1rt3en by Steve Cavanagh
The Sealwoman's Gift by Sally Magnusson
- Any twists on the challenge? (ie in order, all nonfiction, all picture books, etc)
No twists, other than sliding in to home at the last minute!
- My most creative twist on a prompt
Not terribly creative, but for 29. A book that is light, I didn't pick a "light" book, but a book with a word in the title that is a form of light — Phosphorescence: On Awe, Wonder and Things That Sustain You When the World Goes Dark by Julia Baird
- The prompt I "cheated" on
Didn't exactly cheat, just rearranged a couple of titles at the end so that I could finish on time. One was a book chosen by my IRL book group that I didn't think would fit at all. I found that I could use it under "A book by an author who has published at least 7 books" and move the book I had had there to "A book with the theme of returning home" based on one other group member putting it in this Listopia. Phew!
- My favorite prompt
I really liked several prompts (non-horizontal text on cover, chess , Spice Girls, translated, unusual title), but my favorite might be Birds, Bees or Bunnies. I think this is because I didn't see the draw to it in the beginning, and now I have SO many books on my TBR that would fit and that I still want to read!
- My least favorite prompt
48. A book with an unusually large version of an animal in the story (my apologies to the person who chose this one — I did end up enjoying the book I read. It was just hard to find one!)
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
The Sealwoman's Gift by Sally Magnusson. I loved it — but if it weren't for needing to be sure to read in different centuries, I'm not sure I would have picked a book set in 17th Century Iceland and Algeria!
- A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
(not counting books I DNF'd) The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill. I read another of her books this year and loved it, so this was a particular disappointment. The only upside is that I read 2 books for this prompt (unusually large animal) and LOVED the other one, and also, this book that I didn't love was short...
Despite the return of local social rhythm, I managed to read more books this year than ever. I nearly missed completing this challenge in time, however, for I misremembered my final prompt and had to scramble to find an appropriate selection.***2023 ATY CHALLENGE SURVEY***
5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
---Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch by Rivka Galchen
---Scythe by Neal Shusterman
---Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy
---A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
Any twists on the challenge?
I had so many books on my physical shelves yet to read that I tried to match them to the prompts.
My most creative twist on a prompt
Prompt 26, a book related to pride, was a prompt that left itself wide open to interpretation. I viewed it as family pride in which a character strives to regain it.
The prompt I "cheated" on
I think that I took some liberties when using a child’s illustrated book, Big Tree by Brian Selznick, as a book with four colors on its cover and when using The Grip of It by Jac Jemc as a scary book.
My favorite prompt
Prompt 42, a book related to a ghost, spirit, phantom, or specter, was one of my favorite prompts. I particularly love a snarky spectral.
My least favorite prompt
Prompt 32, a book set in a UNESCO City of Literature, was challenging to fulfill.
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer was a lengthy book that I was hesitant to begin. The person who recommended it to me gave no hints about its content. She only enthusiastically stated, "You should read it!"
As it turns out, she was absolutely correct, but I would not have discovered that fact had it not been for this challenge!
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
While I enjoy satire, Not Forever, But For Now by Chuck Palahniuk was so disturbingly twisted that any attempt to discern reason was nearly lost.
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants (other topics)Blood Meridian, or, the Evening Redness in the West (other topics)
A Passage to India (other topics)
Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch (other topics)
Big Tree (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Patrick Rothfuss (other topics)Lee Child (other topics)
Danny Wallace (other topics)
Patrick deWitt (other topics)
Charles Dickens (other topics)
More...
5 Star books that I read for the ATY Challenge
★The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty
★The Thicket by Joe R. Lansdale
★The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad
★The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
★David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
★Death in Venice by Thomas Mann
★To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway
★The Shadow Patrol by Alex Berenson
★Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga
★The Life and Death of Harriett Frean by May Sinclair
★The Sea by John Banville
Any twists on the challenge? (ie in order, all nonfiction, all picture books, etc)
No. I had fun switching out what book would match what prompt all year. In November, I paid attention to choosing a few books to match the remaining prompts. It was a fun game!
My most creative twist on a prompt
For #28, A book that is dark, I chose After the Sun by Jonas Eika. I was amused at fulfilling that prompt with a book whose title mentioned the sun.
The prompt I "cheated" on
Using Colorful by Eto Mori as #19, a book related to the arts. I kept this one because the connection, "colorful" to the visual arts, made me smile. I read other books this year that might have logically connected to this prompt, but let that one stand.
My favorite prompt
#51, a book published in 2023, had me grab a new book that I then got to recommend to a number of people (The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi ).
I also appreciated #39, a western, because it was a stretch for me! I read The Thicket , and that was a 5-star read for me!
My least favorite prompt
#41, the NPR "Books We Love" list. I like the idea but I don't like the interface for searching those lists.
#5 (4 or more colors on the cover) seemed overly easy?
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (but I’m so glad I did!)
The Thicket by Joe R. Lansdale had been languishing on my To Read list, and I am so glad I finally read it! I am now eagerly awaiting the film version that Peter Dinklage is heading up and starring in!
A book I might not have read if not for the ATY Challenge (and I wish I hadn’t!)
Nothing really. I see that I did use the worst book I read all year, I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes, to fit a prompt, but I really could have chosen differently.
Thank you to our wonderful moderator and to everyone who worked on the 2023 challenge and/or has worked in the 2024 challenge. What a great, fun reading game!