Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
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Dixie's 2026 ATY Challenge and more
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2026 Rejects Challenge: Science, Social Issues, and A Sense of Placehttps://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
1. A book that includes a “forbidden” topic in polite conversation, such as sex, money, religion, politics, or personal issues. (Poll 13)
Predisposed: Liberals, Conservatives, and the Biology of Political Differences
2. A book featuring a feat of engineering (Poll 15)
How the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Were Built (not on Goodreads!)
3. A book that takes place in a country/place along the path of totality for the 2026 solar eclipse: Spain, Portugal, Greenland, Iceland, the Arctic, and the Atlantic Ocean (Poll 14)
An Iceland Fisherman
4. A book related to observation, experimentation, or inquiry (Poll 13)
Measuring the World
5. A book that relates to a river (Poll 12)
Walking The Wharfe: An Ode to a Yorkshire River
6. A book about wildlife or nature conservation (Poll 9)
Elegy For a River: Whiskers, Claws and Conservation’s Last, Wild Hope
7. A book related to medical science or health, or a medical memoir (Polls 8 and 11)
The Lady's Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness
8. A fiction or non-fiction book that could be considered a microhistory (Poll 10)
A Fish Caught in Time: The Search for the Coelacanth
9. A book about women crossing borders, boundaries, or barriers (Poll 10)
Walking with the Great Apes: Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, Birute Galdikas
10. A book related to psychology, mental health, or neuroscience (Poll 10)
Adventures in Memory: Exploring the Science and Secrets of Human Memory
11. A book set in a country bordering the Indian Ocean (Poll 7)
The Cat's Table
12. A book with a “green” topic or character (Poll 2)
When the Earth Was Green: Plants, Animals, and Evolution's Greatest Romance
13. A book connected to the Middle East in some way (Poll 2)
An Unnecessary Woman
14. A book nominated for an award that values peace, cultural understanding, and related social issues (Poll 6)
Gods of the Upper Air: How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century (Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards),
15 A book related to a planet other than earth (Poll 7)
A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?
16. A book about perceptions of reality or alternate realities (Poll 12)
Island in the Sea of Time
Note: NancyJ added three more prompts to this list that I think are particularly relevant to the title topic(s). So I have added them here. Feel free to include them, skip them, or add your own prompt choices.
17. A book about nature, climate or the environment
Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid: The Fraught and Fascinating Biology of Climate Change
18. A book that deals with the 'fish out of water' trope (migrants and refugees)
On the Move: The Overheating Earth and the Uprooting of America
19. A book about a social, political or environmental issue you care about
Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?
2026 Rejects Challenge: Awards and Lists 0/10https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
1. A book nominated for an award that values peace, cultural understanding, and related social issues (Poll 6)
The Burning Earth: An Environmental History of the Last 500 Years (Dayton)
2. A book shortlisted for a Dublin Literary Award (Poll 8)
https://dublinliteraryaward.ie/the-li...
All the Lives We Never Lived
3. A book that won an international literary award (Poll 15)
The Warwick Prize for Women in Translation
Three Summers
4. A book that was nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award in any year (Poll 13)
Crosstalk
5. A book posted in one of the ATY Best Book of the Month threads in 2025 or 2026 (Polls 15, 17, plus more)
Wild Dark Shore
6. A book from the NPR “Books We Love” lists (Poll 14)
The Stardust Grail
7. A book on one of Obama’s reading lists (Poll 12)
Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future
8. A book listed in any ‘Best Books’ list of 2024 or 2025
NYT
The Bluestockings: A History of the First Women's Movement
9. A book that has been long-listed for the Tournament of Books in any year
The Glass Hotel or The Overstory
10. A book from any widely recognized list of your choice
Hugos
The Tainted Cup
A few for fun!1. A book with a title that contains the name of a professional sports team (Poll 5)
Brentford FC: The Bees The Bees
2. Two books, where the second book's title provides a response to or continuation of the first book's title (Poll 4)
Zorba the Greek Sharing a House with the Never-Ending Man: 15 Years at Studio Ghibli
3. A book that fits 3 other prompts
4.. The mods! (Poll 3)
Jackie:
Lives in Wisconsin, USA. I'm a scientist, a mom, and a dog lover. My favorite genres are mystery, history, and nature books. Other hobbies include baking, DIY projects, and video games.
Ingredients: The Strange Chemistry of What We Put in Us and on Us
Robin:
I can speak and read French.
I grew up on a sheep farm but always lived in cities as an adult.
I am retired but I have a paying gig where I speak about lesser-known women from history.
I like cats, chocolate, and tea.
Madame Restell: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Old New York's Most Fabulous, Fearless, and Infamous Abortionist
Pamela:
I live in Salem, Massachusetts. I've worked my whole career in museums-- I started as a military/aviation curator but currently work at the House of the Seven Gables-- so here's your excuse to read Hawthorne. I wish I was a fashion curator though. I also knit and travel extensively. I read a lot of paranormal romance and try to balance it out with non-fiction, classics, and literary fiction. I've just started Moby Dick again- if anyone wants to use this prompt to shame me into actually finishing it, feel free.
I do love the beach!
The Great Big Book of Museums: A visit to 13 spectacular museums from around the world
Trish:
I live in London. I work as a financial editor and proofreader. I have cats. I'm the wrong side of 60. I enjoy reading, photography and like to cook.
London Orbital
Emily:
I'm a "retired" high school teacher of English, economics, personal finance, and journalism who now works with her husband at our CPA firm. I was also a college counselor and academic advisor, cheerleading sponsor, and yearbook sponsor. I have a toddler and another baby on the way. I started a book club 12 years ago and we vacation together every summer I also enjoy running and eating sweets haha!
Emily: (here's a link to all of the books we've read in our book club: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1c...)
All Our Wrong Todays
Rocky Horror Picture Show challenge 20261. Dr. Frank-N-Furter - a book with a scientist or doctor The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination: Original Short Fiction for the Modern Evil Genius
2. Brad and Janet - a book with an engaged couple
Ayesha at Last
3. Riff Raff and Magenta - a book with domestic servants or a brother and a sister The Mystery Guest
4. Columbia - a book with a groupie/musician or a redhaired character The Dictionary of Lost Words
5. Rocky Horror - a book with a creature Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary, together with Sellic Spell
6. Eddie - a book with a murder How to Solve Your Own Murder
7. A book set in New York City (for the midnight showings) Dash & Lily's Book of Dares, Butterfield 8 (Penguin Drop Caps) by John O'Hara (26-Dec-2013) Hardcover
8. A book where characters dress up in costumes Girl in Disguise
9. A book connected to the lyrics of Science Fiction/Double Feature When Worlds Collide (Bison Frontiers of Imagination) by Edwin Balmer (1-Oct-1999) Paperback
10. A book connected to the lyrics of Time Warp The Day Tripper
11. A book connected to the plot of the movie The Invention of Morel
12. A book with an LGBT character How to Repair a Mechanical Heart
2026 Rejects Challenge: All the Ships At SeaA book where being on a boat is important to the story.
1. Love, Lists, and Fancy Ships
2. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
3. Sinkable: Obsession, the Deep Sea and the Shipwreck of the Titanic
4. The Crab With the Golden Claws
5. Tress of the Emerald Sea
6. Towing Jehovah
7. Cinnamon and Gunpowder
8. The False Inspector Dew
9. Atlantic Britain: The Story of the Sea a Man and a Ship
10. Moby-Dick: or, The Whale
11. The Log from the Sea of Cortez
12. The Cat's Table
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
The Glass Hotel (other topics)The Overstory (other topics)
DallerGut Dream Department Store (other topics)
Darkest Light (other topics)
Into the Deep (other topics)
More...
1. A book from a genre that starts with A, T, or Y
A Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art (autobiography)
T Island in the Sea of Time (time travel)
Y Emergence (YA)
2. A book with a primarily red, green or blue cover
Red
Green
Blue
3. A book that fits a prompt suggestion for this year that did not make the list: A book with a desert setting. Jim Henson's Tale of Sand
4. A book by a new-to-you author
Endling
5. A book you want to read because of something you read in 2025
Oh, I Do Like to Be
6. A book related to blood, sweat, or tears
Blood The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper
Sweat Daughter of Daring: The Trick-Riding, Train-Leaping, Road-Racing Life of Helen Gibson, Hollywood’s First Stuntwoman
Tears It Ended Badly: Thirteen of the Worst Breakups in History
7. A book with a character who appears in more than one book
The West End Horror
8. A book set in Africa, Asia, or Australia
Africa Mean and Lowly Things: Snakes, Science, and Survival in the Congo
Asia The Bangalore Detectives Club
Australia Into the Woods: the Battle for Tasmania's Forests
9. A book with a number, ordinal, or iterative numeral in the title
Number All in One Basket
Numeral 108: An Eco-Thriller
Iterative The Once and Future Me
10. An award winning book
Winners of the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing:
The Lost Rainforests of Britain
11. A history or historical fiction book
History Gods of the Upper Air: How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century
Historical fiction Euphoria
12. A book with cover text that is NOT black or white
13. An author's second/sophomore book
Lives of Girls and Women
14. A book related to a painting by Vincent Van Gogh
Tin Man
15. A book you've wanted to read for a long time
A Woman of Independent Means
16. A book featuring a character with a similar occupation to one of the Clue/Cluedo characters
Colonel Mustard: military officer Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War
Mr. Green: clergyman (UK), businessman (US) War in Heaven, The Glass Hotel
Professor Plum: academic, professor The Professor's House
Mrs. White: domestic servant (maid, housekeeper, cook, etc) The Mystery Guest
Mrs. Peacock: widow, socialite Aunty Lee's Delights
Miss Scarlett: a femme fatale Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Three Stories
17. A book set in the wellness or beauty industries
Wellness Who Is Wellness For?: An Examination of Wellness Culture and Who It Leaves Behind
Beauty Permanent Waves: The Making of the American Beauty Shop
18. A book with a location in the title
A Writer's House in Wales
19. A book related to yesterday
Catrin in Wales
20. A book related to today
Finding Violet Park
21. A book related to tomorrow
The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax
22. A book by a Korean or Korean-diaspora author
Korean DallerGut Dream Department Store
Diaspora Folklorn
23. A book with a road trip or long journey
Road trip Amy & Roger's Epic Detour
Long journey A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka: A Memoir
24. A book that is either frothy or gothy
Frothy A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping
Gothy The Woman in White
25. A book from the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list
Midnight's Children
26. A book with a Z in the title and/or author name
Title Fuzzy Nation
Author's name Dreadful (Caitlin Rozakis)
27. A nonfiction book
Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her
28. A book related to a resistance, rebellion, or revolution
Resistance Letters to a Young Contrarian
Rebellion William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope
Revolution A Tale of Two Cities
29. A vacation book
Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip
30. The most recently published book by an author and a book from that same author's backlist: Frontlist Book
When the Moon Hits Your Eye
31. The most recently published book by an author and a book from that same author's backlist: Backlist Book
An Election
32. A novella of 100-250 pages
The Invention of Morel
33. A book with an Indigenous character or author
Character Two Old Women: An Alaskan Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival
Author Heat and Light
34. A book with a window on the cover
35. A book where all or part of the action takes place in a library, a museum, a school, or another public building
Nour's Secret Library
The Great Big Book of Museums: A visit to 13 spectacular museums from around the world
Special Topics in Calamity Physics
The Case of the Terrified Typist
36. A book with a primary character who is a woman over 40 Do Not Go Gentle. Go to Paris.: Travels of an Uncertain Woman of a Certain Age
37. A book that includes a science topic
The Tree of Life: Solving Science's Greatest Puzzle
38. A book that's part of a series
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within
39. A book connected in some way to the "Queen of Crime", Agatha Christie Orient Express
40. A book that has a punctuation mark in the title
Who Sent Clement?
41. A mystery or true crime book
Mystery Wild Dark Shore
True crime Newton and the Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective Career of the World's Greatest Scientist
42. A book set in an isolated location
The Loneliest Girl in the Universe
43. A book involving survival
Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues
44. A book with a symbol of death on the cover
45. A book connected to "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen
Oliver Twist
46. A book that is not a novel
The Mind Electric: A Neurologist on the Strangeness and Wonder of Our Brains
47. A book with "this", "that", "these", or "those" in the title
This One Day All This Will Be Yours
That All That We See or Seem
These These Memories Do Not Belong to Us
Those Those Beyond the Wall
48. A book with something edible in the title Automatic Noodle
49. A second book for your favorite prompt
My favorite prompt is always A book that fits a prompt suggestion for this year that did not make the list
A book with a setting that provokes the question, "Why did you go there?" Don’t Go There!: From Chernobyl to North Korea—One Man’s Quest to Lose Himself and Find Everyone Else in the World’s Strangest Places
50. A book with a bird on its cover
51. A book published in 2026 Daggerbound
52. A book related to the name of one of Santa's reindeer
Dasher Runaway Ralph
Dancer Dancing Barefoot
Prancer The Perfect Horse: the Daring U.S. Mission to Rescue the Priceless Stallions Kidnapped by the Nazis
Vixen Dark Star: A Biography of Vivien Leigh
Comet Lucifer's Hammer
Cupid The Austen Affair
Donder Thunder on the Right
Blitzen Picnic Comma Lightning: The Experience of Reality in the Twenty-First Century
Rudolph The Invisibility Cloak