Alicia’s Comments (group member since Dec 25, 2019)

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

Ok I tried BookTok but I hated how every post was either the non-spine side and then just switching quickly to the spines with no other context besides “January” or that they all do selfie mode so the titles are backwards.

I’m too old to be an influencer for anything but melatonin, but even I would make sure the name was facing the correct way.

Kendra wrote: "Just for comparison, here's the list of the top songs in Canada for 2000.

Blue - Eiffel 65
What a Girl Wants - Christina Aguilera
I Knew I Loved You - Savage Garden
Show Me the Meaning of Being Lo..."

Backstreet Boys!!! lol

Jackie wrote: "I like to connect the books I use for a multiweek prompt so it'll be fun coming up with a connection - maybe three mysteries set on land, sea, and air? Maybe three nonfiction? Don't know but excite..."

Same Jackie! We'll have to share ideas. For this year's century prompt I did it based on royalty. But land, sea, air will require more thought.

For any romance readers, I think the cover one will be fairly easy. There's this trend of a one or two color background and the two people on opposite sides lol



and many many many more

Well Nadine, I sure hope Thong Song didn’t scar you lol.

I just assumed Sisqo released that “gem” and decided his work was done. So I also never knew about Incomplete.

Now I want to do a prompt related to the 1892 songs “daddy wouldn’t buy me a bow wow” and “the Virginia skedaddle” lol

Oh I definitely meant any hit song anywhere in the world. At that time in my life the Backstreet Boys were my and my best friends future husbands, which is why I thought that immediately.

Ooh I forgot Santana dominated in 2000. That was the first time he won a Grammy!

Personally, I’d do one based on that and maybe read a Mexican author or book set in Mexico

Arms wide open is about parenthood.

I agree with Thomas, independent woman is female empowerment

Lonestar I think you could do a western or set somewhere in the “country” or Texas the Lonestar state

Aaliyah you could read a mystery/thriller where someone young dies

For a song prompt, we could do related to a gif song from
24 years ago. That would be any hit song in 2000 and wouldn’t make anyone feel pressured with picking a year related to themselves.

Also BSB was at their peak, so I would love it.

I actually work in privacy in tech, and I do recommend being careful with your data in general, but to be really honest, even if you never put in your actual birth year, city name, gender, sexuality, etc algorithms for EVERY company are so good now that they could figure it out anyways

This sounds very Debbie downer, but if you really want to see your birth year song, go for it. Just generally be thoughtful when signing up for anything new.

Also, for those that don’t want us to know their age, you don’t ever have to tell us what book you would use for that prompt or even if you did what song it connects to.

I may be in the minority but a second book of a favorite prompt is one of mine that I would prefer to never see again. I feel like there are so many good prompts that we could put in that spot instead of doubling up on one prompt.

I really like the prompt Jennifer and would vote for it.

I feel like I have a good idea of what classics would be for black authors (i.e. Beloved, Kindred, Invisible Man) as I'm half-black.

But I'd be nervous naming a classic for another culture. For Japan, I would think books by Haruki Murakami, but wouldn't want to offend anyone if that isn't considered a classic.

I could also be totally overthinking this and no one actually knows what we read for the challenge anyways.

TL;DR I think it would be helpful to have a listopia prepped for people to reference when voting

Nadine, I’m same as you. I would downvote all those prompts, except the tv/movie 🙈

That said I totally understand why people dislike it and it’s definitely corny.

I like the prompt no matter how it’s worded, but I think “in honor of Leap Year” would be broader because then someone could a read a book published in a leap year. I think inspired by could drive some down a rabbit hole of whether leap day could have been an inspiration for the novel.

First, The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi fits a lot of these prompts if anyone is interested.

A couple questions about Fourth Wing:

1/ does a dragon count as a vehicle since the book is about riders in battle and they fly dragons

2/ does the coming of age novel have to be an LGBTQIA+ coming of age? I think of it as someone young discovering who they are and what they want in the world. This book is about a 20 year old who thought she was going to be a historian but is forced into the war quadrant instead.

Also for athlete/sports I'd recommend Carrie Soto Is Back. I know I know it's TJR, but it's probably one of my favorites of hers.

Totally get it, I wasn't really worried. Just curious about how many voting members we have. Shows how small the number of people that post compared to how many vote

How many votes do we usually get each round?

I actually love multi-week week. I make it my own BIO option each year and add one of my favorite prompts that didn’t make it to narrow it down. Because of that I like some that are a bit broader in how they can be interpreted, but still new and creative.

As for strategy, I treat it the same as any other week.

I’m worried solid, liquid, gas will conflict with land, sea, air. But maybe it’s just me. When I saw solid, liquid, gas I immediately thought earth for solid and air for gas. So a bit torn on which to vote for.

I think the same names could be a KIS option, but they still technically rhyme. I think if we were looking outside of names, we’d consider deer and dear to rhyme or pitcher (baseball player) and pitcher (drinking container).