[2017] Voting for 5th Mini-Poll [Closed]

[Jody]

If the over 60 topic gets chosen, I'm going to choose one from a list that I found of recommendations by Stephen King. He's over 60 and he recommended them to the general reading population, so that counts as far as I'm concerned (good enough for me in any case).

[Francesca]

Ooh, that's a good option Jody! I would take King's recommendations any day!

[Francesca]

My only problem with the grandparent one is that one of my Granddad's lives in Canada and I don't have a lot of contact with him. One of my Nan's is not in a great frame of mind and when we visit her (a couple of times a week) we can barely get a word out of her let alone a book recommendation. My other Granddad I could possibly ask but I don't think he's a big reader, and my other Nan only reads Mills and Boone books which I have absolutely zero interest in reading.

I don't really know anyone else over 60. My parents are only 51 and 50.

[Aglaea]

My mom is turning 70 soon yet doesn't feel old. She reads Jojo Moyes and loves those books, but I haven't read but a short story by Moyes yet :) She's also read all the Galbraiths and I have none, and the list goes on.

I think the Stephen King list suggestion is fabulous, because we don't have to get stuck in one interpretation of a reading prompt but can use our gorgeous creativity when choosing books. Too literal an interpretation and soon we find ourselves making up "rules" instead of having fun.

[Barbara]

Rachel wrote: "Amy wrote: "Jill wrote: "I don't see why people here think someone over 60 is going to read differently from the books you read. In some cases maybe, but on the whole I think books are read by peop..."

It would be very weird asking to someone a recommendation. But are they supposed to know it is because of their age? Do you usually post the title or the reason for reading your books?
I do but none of my relatives speaks English so I'm fine with that lol

Besides that "700+ pages" all the topics are fine to me. I'm very surprised with the suggestions.

[Katie]

I thought people gave a really good mix of suggestions this time. It seems like people are naturally branching out in their suggestions without it having to be mandated. I don't think that the prompts I voted for will win since I voted for 2 that are nonfiction, and I get the impression that overall this group prefers fiction. I love fiction and nonfiction and try to always be reading a nonfiction in addition to novels I'm reading. I'm enjoying the love I'm seeing for microhistories. It's one of my favorite genres, so I'm really hoping it will win. Though realistically I don't think it will.

[Katie]

Also the discussion about reading diversely gave me an idea for the next poll, so I kind of hope it doesn't end up being a repeat suggestion poll.

[Rachel]

Babitix wrote: "Rachel wrote: "Amy wrote: "Jill wrote: "I don't see why people here think someone over 60 is going to read differently from the books you read. In some cases maybe, but on the whole I think books a..."

In my case, I do post my reason for each book, just because some of my friends have expressed an interest in what I'm choosing and why. So for me, it would be a bit awkward to ask a relative who is on my Facebook list to recommend me a book, and then have them see that it was because of their age. I do think it's an interesting topic, but not one that I personally would vote for because of the practicality issues it poses for me, and also because in general, I don't really like being forced to ask for recommendations.

[Kathryn]

Katie wrote: "I love fiction and nonfiction and try to always be reading a nonfiction in addition to novels I'm reading."

Part of my personal challenge this year has been fitting in a few nonfiction books to the categories. I managed to fit A Brief History of Time into the book mentioned in another book (it was mentioned in I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban), and am going to read Branded by the Pink Triangle for my identity book. I'm also about to start Flesh & Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy, which is a young adult book, probably for my wildcard. I'm going to try to fit a few more in as the year goes on.

[Elizabeth]

That one challenge I didn't vote for which is a book recommend by your grandma or grandfathers,that would be difficult for me to have done since both of passed way a long while back , .also I can't wait to see which ones won and was added to the list.

[Kathryn]

I wish I did something similar to the grandmother challenge when I was a kid or a teen. I only remember her reading romance novels, but I can imagine she probably read a lot of good books when she was younger. If that category wins, I plan to ask my aunt, who is 70 and always has loads of book recommendations!

[Elizabeth]

Unfortunately that's still one challenge I won't be able to do , since I'm the only one in my family that reads, my mom who lives with me and my sister doesn't read, and while there is an Aunt who's my dad's only living sister,will lets just say we aren't close or even speaking.right I'll take that back there is one book series I know we both like ,

[Kirsten]

Elizabeth wrote: "Unfortunately that's still one challenge I won't be able to do , since I'm the only one in my family that reads, my mom who lives with me and my sister doesn't read, and while there is an Aunt who'..."

You could borrow someone else's grandparents.

[Aglaea]

Kirsten *Dogs Welcome - People Tolerated" wrote: "Elizabeth wrote: "Unfortunately that's still one challenge I won't be able to do , since I'm the only one in my family that reads, my mom who lives with me and my sister doesn't read, and while there is an Aunt who'..."

You could borrow someone else's grandparents."

Yes this. I'm not sure why anyone would have to interpret anything as a Rule of any sort, which only makes life harder, when creativity like this could just as easily be applied to allow for easier book picking.

Nobody will police anyone else's choices after all and nobody will be thrown out from the group because of "cheating", since one can't cheat if one feels a particular book fits a particular prompt. And if someone indeed would feel like book policing another member, I'd simply tell them to get a life and concentrate on their own challenge.

[Jody]

It doesn't have to be grandparents either - you could even find a 60+ year old librarian and ask for a recommendation. I'm pretty sure that's a big part of their job. :)

[Silvia]

I understand the point in asking for a recommendation to parents or grandparents because you are looking for something that other generation than yours could read, but I don't like how everyone insist in mention an specific age (i.e 60 years old). If you are 60 that could result offensive, don't you think? I am not 60, but I am probably one of the older in this group and I enjoy YA, SciFi, graphic novels and a lot of things that people of my age could consider childish... yeah, I am childish :P Anyway, I think we should consider this category as "Ask to a person of a different generation than yours" and this can apply perfectly to a grandparent or any person that compared to you can be old.

[Jody]

I don't see it as offensive at all. I see it more that someone who is 60 or older has had a hell of a lot of life experience & could be a great source of information about a lot of things - books included.

[°~Amy~°]

I don't find it insulting, but I do find it an awkward and pointless category for the older members of the group. I am 42 and someone over 60 doesn't necessarily have any different tastes in reading than I do, they aren't even necessarily in a different generation as I am really. If the point of the task is to find books enjoyed by another generation than the age (60) needs to eliminated from the equation all together.

How about something like 'a recommendation by someone from your grandparent or grandchild's generation?" Then I could find someone who is 80 to recommend a book and someone who is 60 (since their grandparents generation has most likely all passed) can look for a book recommended by someone under 20? Sticking with generational vs age might clarify this topic a bit for people.

[Silvia]

Yes, probably my selection of words was not the best :) I completely agree with your "generational vs age" point of view.

[Rachel]

I think the reason so many of us are fixated on the "grandparent" aspect, or even the "over 60" limit is because that's how the original prompt was phrased. I like Amy's suggestion of modifying it to someone of a different generation.

Like Algaea said, nobody's going to police each other's choices, but I think it comes down to how people want to interpret the challenge for themselves. Some people (myself included) are a lot more picky about sticking as close as possible to the original prompt.

[Kirsten]

I think that many of the people fixate on the choice literal description. Many of these can work if you take these a lot less literally. There isn't really any enforcement of these choices. I think a lot take these too seriously.

That being said, I do think some of these can be cruel to some. What if you posited one for a book recommended by your significant other? Some of us may be widowed or divorced. I have never been married.

I think if you want to do something like a book recommended by a previous generation, why don't you do something like say a book that was published 25 years before your birth.

Just a few thoughts...

[Aglaea]

Kirsten *Dogs Welcome - People Tolerated" wrote: "I think that many of the people fixate on the choice literal description. Many of these can work if you take these a lot less literally. There isn't really any enforcement of these choices. I think..."

I'm divorced and happy to say "good riddance" at this point, but family etc. prompts can be very hard for people for various reasons. Some have practically been disowned because of "choosing" the "wrong" kind of sexuality or such, but in their case friends might be the real family, so hopefully the suggestion is worded such that many interpretations are acceptable.

And yes, I don't think a figurative rather than literal interpretation is any less correct. In fact the King list was a fantastic example of working with the prompt, aka making it work outside of an initially narrower wording.

[Barbara]

Amy wrote: "I don't find it insulting, but I do find it an awkward and pointless category for the older members of the group. I am 42 and someone over 60 doesn't necessarily have any different tastes in readin..."

Your point of view is great!It could be someone 30+ older than you or something like that. That's awesome!

[Aglaea]

I'm not sure about furor? Can't things ever be discussed without someone automatically assuming people are fighting simply because various opinions are being exchanged. I just can't if it's to be like that. People inevitably will disagree on something at some point, and my discussing something certainly doesn't translate to my being pissed off about it.

[Jody]

I'm curious to know if people feel asking someone over 60 for a recommendation is any different to having a prompt to read a book written by someone over 60 (which was one of the prompts in the BookRiot challenge last year - it was actually over 65, but close enough).

[Jody]

Also, I'm curious why people assume that the over 60 prompt is due to differing tastes in books. I still personally viewed it as asking someone who's had a lot of life experience and could have a lot of great suggestions.

[Aglaea]

Jody wrote: "Also, I'm curious why people assume that the over 60 prompt is due to differing tastes in books. I still personally viewed it as asking someone who's had a lot of life experience and could have a l..."

Me too, but the ageism card has been thrown, so that's that I suppose. Funnily enough, those older people I know and would consult all happen to be content with their age and gained wisdom, rather than keep celebrating their 25th birthday over and over, but clearly age is a difficult topic, so much so that some feel insulted when it is discussed. God, I'd much rather be 50 than my insecure teenage/20+ me ;)

[Nicole]

I love the +60 suggestion, not because I want an older person's opinion, but because I love getting book recommendations. I haven't decided if I'd ask my grandparents, a librarian, an aunt or uncle, or the Stephen King suggestion list yet! So many choices!!

For those that are uncomfortable with that prompt because they think it is insulting, maybe you could write a Facebook post saying that you are doing a book challenge with one of the prompts being "a suggestion from someone age 60 or older." Then write "if anyone is over 60 and would like to suggest a book, I would greatly appreciate it." That way you're not singling anyone out, people can choose to volunteer. Or you can tell someone over 60 about the prompt and then ask if they know anyone over 60 that could help you. They'd totally be flattered that you thought they weren't 60 yet ;)

[Kirsten]

Excellent idea, Nicole! I think with some of the challenges we need just this kind imagination and not look for reasons we can't/won't do them.

[Zaz]

And maybe, the suggestion won't be in the final list ;)

[Katie]

Yeah, my guess is that it won't be chosen, but I can't wait to see the results of this poll. I'm also doing the Popsugar reading challenge this year, and one of the prompts is "a book recommended by someone you just met." It was totally awkward for me to ask a new coworker for a book recommendation, even though I knew he was an English major and loved reading. I don't know why it felt so awkward. I guess that's why I tend not to favor the recommendation prompts, unless its recommendations from a famous person, because internet.

[Aglaea]

Katie wrote: "Yeah, my guess is that it won't be chosen, but I can't wait to see the results of this poll. I'm also doing the Popsugar reading challenge this year, and one of the prompts is "a book recommended b..."

Ha, my interpretation of that one was to ogle book choices made/reviews written by my newest Goodreads friends here. If they used words like "I really recommend this" or such, that was good enough for me.

[Sophie]

Goodreads is a good place to find people who can give you recommendations. It is definitely a good way to fill the prompts when you don't have readers in your physical life. That's what we're all here for after all... ;)

Fellow group members over 60, prepare recs for people doing the reject challenge if it doesn't make the cut!

[Kirsten]

Katie wrote: "Yeah, my guess is that it won't be chosen, but I can't wait to see the results of this poll. I'm also doing the Popsugar reading challenge this year, and one of the prompts is "a book recommended b..."

Yeah, that was awkward for me too. Then I decided to ask my newest "friend" on Goodreads. It worked out, too, since the book she gave me was great!

[Kathy]

I'm 60 and not at all insulted. Sure, Sophie, I'll give recommendations!

[Elizabeth]

I hope I didn't insult anyone when i said I didn't vote for + 60 if I did I'm so sorry,I actually did like that one but when it comes to talking to people even if its about books I become really really shy, even here on Goodreads I'm like that.

[Silvia]

The original suggestions is not to ask a 60 year old person, but a recommendation from our grandparents. The problem is to assume that both things are the same. A person of 60 can give a recommendation, but who are they going to ask? I am 48, I need to look for somebody of maybe 90+ to be equivalent to my grandparents age, because all of them are gone. That's why I thought that a change in the category to "Ask a person of a different generation" was a good idea.

If the category is chosen, I will think of something :) but it's not an easy category.

[Anastasia]

My daughter actual wanted to suggest asking a person of a different generation. She was thinking some people may wish to read something their children suggest or vice versa.

[Nicole]

Anastasia I think that's a wonderful suggestion! Or if you (and by "you," I mean the collective "you") want a recommendation from someone who may have a different point of view, having a category that requires a recommendation from someone 20 years your senior or junior might be interesting.

Or if you want to be really crazy, you can require the suggestion to come from someone who's age is a prime number!

[Anastasia]

Nicole wrote: "Anastasia I think that's a wonderful suggestion! Or if you (and by "you," I mean the collective "you") want a recommendation from someone who may have a different point of view, having a category ..."

LOL- an age with a prime number. I do not know if I would go that far.

[Marta]

I like "different generation". I am 48 with teenage daughters, and both grandparents or grandchildren would be difficult for any middle-aged person. My parents are dead but my husband's are not, and they give great recommendations - so do my daughters! That would be a lovely prompt :)

[Kirsten]

I like the idea behind the challenge. I think the spirit is that it would expand your reading choices as well as getting you to talk to someone instead of just looking at your pc/smartphone.

But I think it causes issues by saying grandparents. Better might be to say someone 20 years older than you, a co-worker, someone of a different ethnic group or religion, neighbor...

Just thinking out loud.

[Francesca]

I'm so impatient when it comes to the results. I find myself hovering round this section of the boards to see if the results have been posted yet.

[Katie]

I am totally with you, Francesca. I've definitely been lurking on the Projects section of the group for the past few weeks!