I realised I forgot we had been discussing genre's for our second monthly group reads.....
So for OCD purposes, and to keep the topic within clicking reach, I thought I would start a thread for us to talk about what genres we would like to vote separately for.

This coming month, June, I chose Classics, just because it seems this is the time of year where most book stores stock up on them, and display them. Not to mention people seem to have more free time to read, and tend to stray towards the classics....

So what other genre's would you like to see be voted on, and why? Are there certain genre's that fit certain months better?

I know the horror genre worked well in October, and the Christmas theme was a hit.... so what can we do for the next upcoming months?

I think someone else at some point mentioned ww1/2 as a theme and a crime/mystery theme which I whole heartedly agree.

Although I think crime always makes me think of a colder weather read for some unknown reason. I guess it's just the dark ominousness of a dreary night.

WW2 maybe good for a November read although I really don't want to wait that long - but it would then coincide with remembrance day.

Historical (including period historical stuff) would be another really good one.

Uhm... Horror for Halloween.

p.s I think classics was a great choice and I see no reason why we couldn't recycle that one again.

Some theme/genre ideas:

Fat books/Skinny books - Perhaps designate one month to have Cat. 1 be thick books (500+ pages) and Cat. 2 be novellas (or shorties).

Mysterious Doings - A category for mysteries and/or true crime (possibly November??).

Worlds of Wonder - A category for books that are science fiction, fantasy, or dystopian/utopian.

Bio/Autobio/Memoir - A category for the famous, infamous, or not-so-famous.

Short Takes - A category for short story collections.

The Book is Better Than the Movie - A category for books with movie adaptations.

School Days - A category for books that appear on school required reading lists.

Prize Winners - A category for books that have won major literary prizes.

I agree with Fiona about mystery being a cold weather theme.

I like Historical Fiction. Don't have any idea when is the right time for it.

Maybe a school setting style book for September? Not really a genre, but lots to choose from.

yeah, it seems like the classics theme was VERY popular, I think we should recycle it sometime!

I think a "school" setting is a really cute idea for September too, there is such a wide range of things we could read for that.

so...no new original ideas, I'm awesome.

I absolutely LOVE Charity's Worlds of Wonder idea for the sci-fi/dystopian genre! Also, the short story collections would be cool. I haven't read too many short stories, but that would be a great way to find out some good ones that are out there!

How about a Pultizer/Man Booker/Nobel Prize winner one?

These are great ideas.

Ooh, I second dystopia!

How about YA... just kidding :) (no stone throwing)

Maybe just a strictly non-fiction theme.

Since September is the home of Banned Books Month, I think Category 2 in September should be made up of nominations from the Most Frequently Banned Books List.

Angela, some very quality YA fiction is being produced these days which would be worthy of discussion. For example, The Book Thief, Little Brother, Nation

How about a comedic fiction category? Seems best for the summer months when sometimes we need something light and fast to read to squeeze in with all those summer activities.

I like Historical fiction for the colder months. It just seems like they make cozier reads.

Jen, we did YA this past month, and Humorous/Comedic was back in April for April Fools... That seemed to work well too!!!

Looks like ones to stick to so far would be

February - Love/Romantic
April - Humorous/Comdian
June - Classics
October - Horror
December - Christmas themed

New ones to try
September - Banned books or school required reading
November - Mystery/Crime
January - Historical Fiction

Months we need to fill in:
March - Stick with the Irish author or Irish themed?
May - Ya again?
July - Sci Fi or Dystopia?
August - Book/Movie pair?

Let me know your thoughts....

For July, how about a patriotic read or historical fiction, since it's our Independence Day? I love the book/movie pair idea for August.

Jensownzoo, I was just kidding. I love YA! I was referring to all the ruckus one particular thread had about YA... sorry for the bad joke :)

I would definitely like a month for speculative fiction. That genre includes science fiction, fantasy, dystopia, utopia, etc.

I think Charity's suggestions are fantastic!

The Sept, Nov, and Jan "new ones" seem perfect. Also looking forward to the **hopefully** upcoming SciFi and Book/Movie categories.

Another theme idea:

Around the World: A category for books that have been translated into English or written by authors outside America/UK

Book/movie looks great. We could even have a thread about the movie in addition to the clean and dirty threads.

I love all those ideas but I do say for the new catagories I love the September - Banned books or school required reading
November - Mystery/Crime
May - Ya again
July - Sci Fi or Dystopia
August - Book/Movie pair.

Another thought for some month is to read from the New York Best seller list for that month or for the year we are on?

I think it would be fun to do a silly topic month, meaning everyone nominates somewhat oddball topics and we vote on them

Topics could be things like "Books with an inanimate object as a major character" or "Books you bought cause the cover was really cool" or "Books you love but are too embarrassed to admit it" and crazy stuff like that.

I really like book/movie pair. In fact, I nominated a similar thing in the Summer challenge thread.

Perhaps we could also do atheme for Black History Month and the like.

I think a "Weird Titles" could be fun; but I don't want to see it every year.

Perhaps we should leave a month open for themes that may occur to us later?

Kandice wrote: "I agree with Fiona about mystery being a cold weather theme.

I like Historical Fiction. Don't have any idea when is the right time for it.

Maybe a school setting style book for September? Not..."

maybe september would be good for a non-ficton as it is the beginning of school which is about learning...

We dont even have to nail any down.. Im just trying to get an idea of what we want so we arent scrambling for it at nomination time... plus I want to get everyones say in it.

I dont want to be the catagory nazi.. you know? Like the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld... No Catagory For You!

haha! I love that! NO SOUP FOR YOU!

I would definitely agree with Liz to have February have a black author chosen since it is Black History Month.

For July, maybe a book with a summer word in the title?

Let's discuss JULY since we will be nominating for it in a few weeks...

Who likes the Sci-fi/Dystopian/Apocalyptical theme?
How about War/Patriotic theme?
How about a summery, light read, like chick lit or (excuse the term)dick lit?

I like Sci-Fi

How does the group feel about short stories? Maybe that could be considered light read(s) for July and there are so many really good collections of short stories out there.

Lori wrote: "Let's discuss JULY since we will be nominating for it in a few weeks...

Who likes the Sci-fi/Dystopian/Apocalyptical theme?
How about War/Patriotic theme?
How about a summery, light read, like..."

I'm apparently no help here. I looked at all of those options and said "Yes" to all of them. :)

I also like short stories as suggested by Diane.

I like Who likes the Sci-fi/Dystopian/Apocalyptical theme or the summery theme for July.

Lori wrote: "Let's discuss JULY since we will be nominating for it in a few weeks...

Who likes the Sci-fi/Dystopian/Apocalyptical theme?
How about War/Patriotic theme?
How about a summery, light read, like..."

I'd go for the war theme.

Sci-fi/Dystopia for July.

El.. ha ha! You're right, thats really not much help :)

Me,personally, I'm currently knee deep in Sci-fi heaven so of course that's my preference!

Lori wrote: "Let's discuss JULY since we will be nominating for it in a few weeks...

Who likes the Sci-fi/Dystopian/Apocalyptical theme?
How about War/Patriotic theme?
How about a summery, light read, like..."

I like the idea of war!

Diane wrote: "How does the group feel about short stories? Maybe that could be considered light read(s) for July and there are so many really good collections of short stories out there."

I think it might be a good idea because maybe then I will read some short stories that make me like them. I seem to get a weird feeling about them. Maybe it is because I love huge books with one story...

I'm all for sci/fi or the light read. :)

I like sci-fi or fantasy. I'm not a fan of short stories.

I'd like either the patriotic or science fiction.

Just personally feel in the mood to laugh and be picked up with a light hearted story. Summer time joy is in me I guess!
Sharon

As far as short stories go, I prefer when they're all written by one author. Anthologies and collections with a variety of authors isn't as much fun to sit and read - they're more exciting to peruse over the course of a year.

And as for the patriotism task, would we then hold a vote for which war to read about?

no, it would be any war-related novel, fiction or non-fiction....

These are just themes, I'm not planning on going into great detail, just throwing a topic out there and see what gets nominated for it....

I like the short story option, but I agree with El, I prefer collections by a single author to anthologies. And we haven't done a short story collection yet.

light read or war theme

El wrote: "As far as short stories go, I prefer when they're all written by one author. Anthologies and collections with a variety of authors isn't as much fun to sit and read - they're more exciting to peru..."

When I inquired about the short stories, I was definitely thinking of a collection only written by one author, such as Jhumpa Lahiri, Grace Paley, Tobis Wolff, Chitra Banerjee Dirakaruni.

I like the short story option too, and I know exactly what book I would nominate for it.

Short stories sound fine to me!

We seem to be splitting down the middle of all three.
And here I thought there would be a clear and obvious favorite :)

Lori wrote: "We seem to be splitting down the middle of all three.
And here I thought there would be a clear and obvious favorite :)"

Oh but that would make life too easy!

I would have given a nod to the sf/fantasy category, but we've already had several group reads that fell into that genre.

I'm all for repeating it again in the (near) future, don't get me wrong, but I thought we should give different category/genre a nod next month.