Emily’s Comments (group member since Jan 04, 2017)

Emily’s comments from the Around the Year in 52 Books group.

It is now time to vote for our ANNIVERSARY LIST: Throwing it back to 2023!

For more information about this special Anniversary List, see this thread.

Voting will open in the morning of Sunday, September 8 and results will be posted in the morning of Friday, September 13 (CDT time).

How it works:
- When the voting opens, follow the link to the mini-poll that will be added at the end of this post
- You have a total of 8 votes this poll to spread across your favorite and least favorite prompts (you can also use less than 8 votes)
- You can find examples of acceptable voting practices on the Introduction thread.

We are asking people to include their Goodreads profile address when they vote. To find this, just go to your own profile and then copy the URL/web address. If for some reason you can't link to your Goodreads profile, please post your full Goodreads name with enough identifiable information that we'll be able to access your profile.

As this is an ANNIVERSARY LIST poll, only ONE prompt will make the final list. Use your votes wisely!

Poll Prompts:
4. A book with an interracial relationship
10. A book related to one of the Spice Girls' "personalities"
11. A book about a person/character with a disability
12. A book connected to birds, bees, or bunnies
14. A book with a con, deception, or fake
21. A book by an Asian diaspora author
24. A character that might be called a Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, or Spy
26. A book related to pride
27. A book by an author from continental Europe
30. A book related to a chess piece
37. A book with the theme of returning home
42. A book related to a ghost, spirit, phantom, or specter
43. A book that involves a murder
45. A book whose author has published more than 7 books
46. A title that contains a word often found in a recipe

VOTE HERE: https://forms.gle/249pTmtjnA9CAcMb8

Kendra wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "I thought I knew how I was going to vote, but now I realize I need to take a closer look at the prompts that were already voted in. I’ll have to look for the category breakdowns on t..."

It should be fully updated!

It ended up being 55! Not reading for the upvotes that got in, but like.. if going for gold was voted on three times and got in on the third time, but I upvoted it the first two times it was nominated, I'm reading it two extra times for my rejects challenge.

That being said, I haven't updated my plans in a while so I don't really know where I stand. It's more that it helped me feel better about all the side reads I was doing (I'm reading in order so I have a lot of side reads lol).

Edit: I'm currently at 41 upvotes that didn't get in so... I don't think I'll be doing the same thing next year lol

I did the same thing with my rejects challenge for this year, and I'm just doing the same prompt multiple times (I've read books on the GR Choice awards 3 times now lol).

I agree Dixie, and when you lay it out like that, I guess that's what frustrates me when people talk about the list being bland. For one, I much prefer the crossword puzzle type prompts... the prompts that are wide open (like the tarot card prompt) frustrate me because I end up just reading any book and then figuring out how to slot it in after, which is not why I do challenges. (I know the same cannot be said for everyone, of course, but I like to use my challenges to direct my reading, with less decision making on my part lol). This is probably why my favorite prompts are lists and awards haha!

Second is that, yes, we do have a wild discussion, but all in all, these are the prompts people are voting in. These are the prompts they want. There's really no gaming the system with any one singular vote - people should only vote what they want to see on the prompts list, and in this case, those "bland" prompts appeal more widely and are more accepted by our group than some of the more "wacky" ones (using quote marks as I know that these descriptions are subjective). And, again, I don't think our list is bland! We have some really unique suggestions that have made it to the list, even if they are title or author prompts (like this one). These are prompts you won't find on Popsugar or Read Harder because they are created and voted in by the group as a whole.

For reference, we have roughly 50-75 people that may comment on the wild discussion, 200ish people who vote, and over 400 on the community spreadsheet - which means that the silent majority is definitely running the voting.

I'll get off my soapbox lol. I should know better by now... this conversation comes up every year around this time in the polling, and then January rolls around and everyone is excited about the new list and forgets all the voting woes.

Voting is open!

https://forms.gle/qQPtcrhPrYT1zdPs6

Voting is open for Poll 12!

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

They can only be as "wacky" as what made the list in those years lol. I'm actually surprised by what has gotten in for each year in the anniversary list - they've been some of the more unique prompts. This is a prompt I've never seen anywhere else, and it's never been proposed any year but 2022. That seems pretty special to me, even if it is a title/author name prompt.

Results are posted for the 2022 anniversary list prompt!

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

The next round of voting will open on Sunday.

And on our Anniversary List for 2022 is...

37. A book that uses all five vowels in the title and/or author's name

The next round of voting will open on Sunday!

JessicaMHR, you did vote already!

(psst. we will get the summer reading challenge prompt with our poll 12 results!)

Admittedly, I am not someone who is a super stickler for the prompts. I'd probably just ignore some of those open ended prompts (like the 2016 one, or if the prompt-that-didn't-make-the-list gets in) and just focus on it not fitting the cover/title/setting/character type prompts.

But I absolutely understand that is a KIS option!

THOUGHTS AND IDEAS FROM THE SUGGESTIONS THREAD

1. A book with a main character who is an outsider
This idea is similar to the "fish out of water" suggestion last year, but maybe a bit broader.

From Pam's original post: "It could be someone who just has ideas that aren’t mainstream or a competitor/applicant who is seen as a long shot. More obvious examples are people who are new to a community (school, city, country, planet, workplace), have a disability, don’t speak the primary language, an alien or robot, etc. (A mid-grade book with a movie coming out later this month, The Wild Robot, just came to mind.)"

2. A book with a character dealing with death
That could for example be a killer, a funeral undertaker, a people writing obituaries, a pathologist or a person who is dying. It could even be Death itself as a character

3. A book where something has disappeared or is disappearing
Migrations- An ode to a disappearing world
The Husbands - Husbands go into an attic and abruptly disappear
The Violin Conspiracy - A violin has disappeared
Kindred - Human disappears from one time to another
Guilty Creatures: Sex, God, and Murder in Tallahassee, Florida - Husband disappears while duck hunting

4. A book with a road trip or long journey
ex, West with Giraffes, HItchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Grapes of Wrath, On the Road...

5. A book connected in some way to any collective noun for animals
A collective noun is a word used to represent a group of people, animals, or things, e.g., a herd of cows.


Some examples of collective nouns for animals and how they might be used:

Murder of Crows (murder mystery)
School of Fish (campus story)
Parliament of Owls (political drama)
Flamboyance of Flamingos (over the top character or drag queen)
Skein of Flying Geese (cozy mystery in a yarn shop)
Mob of Kangaroos (gangster/gang story)
Conspiracy of Lemurs (Area 51 or other conspiracy story)
Colony of Ants (colonialism story)
Quiver of Cobras (Robin Hood - arrows)
Confusion of Wildebeest (amnesia story)
Congregation of Alligators (revolves around a house of worship)
Lounge of Lizards (character works at or frequents bars)


A few list sources:

https://list.fandom.com/wiki/Animal_C...
https://www.grammar-monster.com/list_...
https://www.thewildlifediaries.com/co...
https://www.yourdictionary.com/articl...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
(be sure to check the column headers on this one)

6. A book that fits a suggestion that didn't make the final list
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

7. A book with a partial face on the cover
Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? by Crystal Smith Paul
Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
Swiped by L.M. Chilton
Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors
The Paris Gown by Christine Wells
Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney
It Ends with Us (It Ends with Us, #1) by Colleen Hoover

8. A book that was a finalist, runner-up, or winner of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize
The Dayton Literary Peace Prize, inaugurated in 2006, is the first and only annual U.S. literary award recognizing the power of the written word to promote peace. The Dayton Literary Peace Prize invites nominations in adult fiction and nonfiction books published within the past year that have led readers to a better understanding of other cultures, peoples, religions, and political points of view.

Listopia: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

9. A book with an antivillain
According to Scribophile (https://www.scribophile.com/academy/c...) an antivillain is an antagonistic character who displays heroic or sympathetic attributes. These characters almost always believe they’re doing the right thing, or doing the best they can under the circumstances, even when their actions are irredeemable

14. A book that is the last in its series
For series readers who need an oomph of motivation to finish!

15. A book by an author from a predominantly Spanish-speaking nation, territory, or commonwealth
Spain, Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, Equatorial Guinea, Andorra, Belize, and Gibraltar

It's now time to get ready to vote for our next set of prompts! The thread will be open for at least 24 hours before the poll gets posted. This is a good opportunity to ask any question you may have regarding the prompts, do some research, or ask for recommendations.

Voting will open in the morning of Friday, September 6 and results will be posted in the morning of Tuesday, September 10 (CST time).

How it works:
- When the voting opens, follow the link to the mini-poll that will be added at the end of this post
- You have a total of 8 votes this poll to spread across your favorite and least favorite prompts (you can also use less than 8 votes)
- You can find examples of acceptable voting practices on the Introduction thread.
- The prompts with the more favorable votes (comparing top votes to bottom votes, and looking at the overall number of votes it received) will be added to the final list

We are asking people to include their Goodreads profile address when they vote. To find this, just go to your own profile and then copy the URL/web address. If for some reason you can't link to your Goodreads profile, please post your full Goodreads name with enough identifiable information that we'll be able to access your profile.

Poll Prompts:
1. A book with a main character who is an outsider
2. A book with a character dealing with death
3. A book where something has disappeared or is disappearing
4. A book with a road trip or long journey
5. A book connected in some way to any collective noun for animals
6. A book that fits a suggestion that didn't make the final list
7. A book with a partial face on the cover
8. A book that was a finalist, runner-up, or winner of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize
9. A book with an antivillain
10. A book connected to the quote, "Give me liberty, or give me death!"
11. A book from a Nobel Prize winner
12. A book that doesn't fit any of the other 51 prompts
13. A book where the character has a job or career you find intriguing or would love to have
14. A book that is the last in its series
15. A book by an author from a predominantly Spanish-speaking nation, territory, or commonwealth

Feel free to discuss the prompts below, but please remember to be respectful to the other group members.

VOTE HERE: https://forms.gle/2rkA4oeZeGxNzc2L8

CLOSED

1 spot remaining

3 spots remaining

ooooooooh what a challenge Isabel! I'll second it.

Jill, you can suggest or second something else!