Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
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[2017] Voting for 9th Mini-Poll
It was difficult to choose my top 4 this time... I liked many of the options! :)I have a question with "A book written by at least two authors". I undesrtand it as a book which is written by two or more authors, like Will Grayson, Will Grayson, but could be possible also understand it as a collection of short stories for different authors, like Let It Snow or My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories ?
I was really uninspired by the suggestions from the 8th mini poll, I'm not sure why. So I'm excited to see a lot more that I'm interested in for this poll. There were 9 suggestions that I really liked and would be happy to see win, so it was hard to narrow it down to 4.I'm really excited that Lieke submitted "a book by multiple authors" because I totally was planning to submit that one with my next chance. Now I don't have to use up a suggestion on that one & will have to think of something new to submit for the 11th poll. I like it because it could be a book with multiple authors collaborating or it could be an anthology or collection. I think this would work well for all those people who were disappointed that a collection didn't make it in the last poll. Since the collection one was polarizing, picking a book with multiple authors could satisfy both sides, I think.
I'm loving these prompts that focus on different locations. I really like the idea of focusing on the Mediterranean, but since we already had southern hemisphere & scandanavia win, I decided not to pick this. I'm doing an around the world challenge, so I'm trying to branch out in terms of setting anyway. It's been really fun.
I have trouble with prompts that require anything involving my initials just because there aren't a ton of words that start with K. But my last name starts with B, so I could do biography. That wouldn't be bad at all.
It's funny to see how much more excited I am to see the results when I have submitted a prompt. I did the Year in the Life memoir, which might be way too specific for people, but when I started researching that genre, I was surprised to see how many books fit this category, and the topics they write about are quite varied, from a year in prison (Orange Is the New Black) to a year without shopping (Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping) or sex (Chastened: The Unexpected Story of My Year without Sex), to years living in different locations. I hope you all will do some research on this one.
At least I have the Read-a-Thon to keep me occupied until the results are in.
Silvia, I totally see that one as incorporating collections/anthologies as well.
I had a pretty clear top two but the rest were hard to place because I really liked a lot of these prompts. I had a bottom three because they were the only ones I wasn't interested in but I still wouldn't mind if any of them were chosen.I've kind of already decided that for my 'a topic from another challenge' prompt, I'm probably going to pick one of our prompts from our rejects challenge next year because there are so many good options in it.
Katie, you could read Künstlerroman hahahaI liked a lot of categories, but none really made me think: yeah I want this in the challenge!
I love it, Sophie. That's definitely what I'm choosing if it gets picked. Plus that will also count for a subgenre I've never heard of before. I would totally read a number of books from that list. Now tell me, was that a genre you already knew about or did you find it somewhere?
Katie - Kaiju would work for you and sounds fun! I might pick that if we end up with an unknown genre. I mean Godzilla, giant sharks, gargantuan spiders....what isn't to love? :-)
My top 3 were pretty clear. I had two that I wavered between. My bottom four were pretty clear, ones that I felt were far to open mostly. The rest I marked as liking but not loving on my personal notepad so I guess I won't be unhappy unless my bottom four gets picked. What's the chances though, right? Right? Oh boy. lolLooking forward to the results.
Mod
I was thinking of flipping my votes cause whatever I vote for never wins and what I say are my least favorite seem to always win.
I'm on the not a fan of the your name prompts either (although there is paranormal fiction...). Several of the ones this round also seemed to be repeats of 2016 prompts.
Silvia wrote: "...I have a question with "A book written by at least two authors". I undesrtand it as a book which is written by two or more authors, like Will Grayson, Will Grayson, but could be possible also understand it as a collection of short stories for different authors, like Let It Snow or My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories ?"I never thought about that possibility although I voted for the collection prompt. But it involves at least two authors so it qualifies in my eyes.
Katie wrote: "...I'm really excited that Lieke submitted "a book by multiple authors" because I totally was planning to submit that one with my next chance...."
I'm glad I could help.
I got my inspiration from a comment by Aglaea in the wild discussion topic :)
I'm not a fan of name prompts or things that include initials but I started researching sub genres in search of options for the sub genre I've never heard of and the sub genres that starts with the first letter of your name/ surname and found there are so many options out there I never knew about. I just posted some links in the big links thread if anyone is interested.
I really love the "genre you've never heard of" prompt, but I am very hesitant to vote for it now because of a similar one that made it in the last poll (a subgenre of your favourite genre). On the other hand, if it got chosen, I could pick two radically different subgenre.
The only sub genre I could find for J was journals and as we already have an epistolary book I voted against it. Purely selfish.
Clear top 3 on my side and I'm pretty sure none will make the list. I'd several options for the 4th, so I'll be fine if those are picked. My bottom 4 was easy to choose but with what won before (last year and this year), maybe one of them will be on the top.I agree that "A book written by at least two authors" can work for collections, but I prefer collections by one author, so "A collection" is less restrictive for me.
Katie wrote: "I love it, Sophie. That's definitely what I'm choosing if it gets picked. Plus that will also count for a subgenre I've never heard of before. I would totally read a number of books from that list...."When I suggested this topic, I completely forgot the genre prompt was voted in last poll (yeah I know, short memory), so out of guilt I found something for you ;) I'm glad you're interested in it!
Jill, I found for you Jiangshi fiction or Juvenile fantasy ;)
There are several links to subgenres in the Big Links section. I made a spreadsheet and alphabatized one large list. I can post it here on goodreads if it is ok with the mods. It is quite a large list.
When does voting end? In the original post it says August 20, but I'm assuming it was an oversight from a previous posting.
I really like the challenges with the initials, maybe not first and last but first certainly. I happen to think those are a fabulous way to have to stretch your self out of your comfort zone. If there's only one or two choices you have to stretch . The same with genres and sub-genres that you've never heard of before. I had heard of 98% of the subgenres i looked up but the 2% I hadnt heard of are just kooky enough to be interesting. These are probably some of the topics that I've been most excited about so far this year.
Rachel wrote: "I really love the "genre you've never heard of" prompt, but I am very hesitant to vote for it now because of a similar one that made it in the last poll (a subgenre of your favourite genre). On the..."I don't think they are similar at all. A subgenre of your favorite genre is definitely inside your confort zone, I mean, is your favorite. A genre/subgenre that you have never heard before, you really don't know what you could find if you choose something like Ergodic literature or Metafiction :D.
Manda, it's usually around one week after the opening of the poll :)
Mod
Silvia wrote: "Rachel wrote: "I really love the "genre you've never heard of" prompt, but I am very hesitant to vote for it now because of a similar one that made it in the last poll (a subgenre of your favourite..."I think it's in the way I interpreted it. To me, a subgenre of your favourite genre implied a subgenre that I'd never read/heard of before, but that may be because I had the other suggestion still in mind at the time. I can definitely make it work if they are both on the final list.
Like with the last poll, I had a hard time choosing because there weren't too many that really jumped out at me. My Bottom 4 was pretty easy -- there was two topics that really didn't interest me at all, one that I thought was very similar to things we already had (not the subgenre one), and then the last one I picked because I thought it would be too hard to find books for.
My Top 4 was tricky because I had 7 or 8 categories that I liked, but none jumped out at me as something that I'd be upset if it didn't make it. I actually doubt that most of my top choices will get picked.
We definitely seem to be very focused on diversity this year, at least in a geographical sense. It's kind of making me consider resubmitting my "book by or about a person who has a disability" suggestion that didn't make it previously. I strongly considered voting for the Mediterranean suggestion, but since we already have two other geographical categories, it seemed like a bit too much to me.
Just out of curiosity, does anyone know how the categories for Book Riot or PopSugar challenges are chosen?
I had a very hard time picking my bottom 4. 2 were checked right away, but I had to really weigh the pros and cons to choose the other two.My top 4 were actually really easy to pick. I may not have voted for the more popular ones, but i was voting for things we really don't have already. Guess we'll see what comes out on top.
What I find fascinating is the many different approaches to the voting that people take. - vote for what you want to read
- vote for what you think others like
- vote for what is missing on the list
- vote for what I can easily find books for
- vote for what I can NOT easily find books for
- Some combo of the above
None is right or wrong, it's just interesting. Myself, I vote for what I want to see on the list. I know what my other reading challenges next year will be so I eliminate options that easily fit both. And I like topics that are harder to fill. My personal preference is for challenging topics. How does everyone else pick their tops/bottoms?
Mod
- vote for what you want to read
- vote for what you think others like
- vote for what is missing on the l..."
That's funny you boiled it down that way! You're probably right!
I vote for what I think there will be a good variety of books to choose from, but it won't be too easy. I want a challenge but a choice of more than one or two books at the end of the challenge research! I vote against what I think will be too restrictive in # of choices- like the author with your name or the movie prompt a few rounds ago- or where I just hate the idea of reading a book in that category (sorry romance fans!). I guess I should start paying more time to things not on the list.
My big challenge is not to start planning 2017 based on what has already been chosen!
Amy wrote: "What I find fascinating is the many different approaches to the voting that people take. - vote for what you want to read
- vote for what you think others like
- vote for what is missing on the l..."
I usually vote for categories I can related to books I want to read, but also if someone mention an interesting category like a new genre or dual timeline, I vote for them even if I can't think of any book with those conditions :)
I generally vote for prompts that I find interesting - some of these I might know that I can easily find books for, and some of these I know I will have to go hunting. I tend to avoid voting for prompts that are exact repeats of this year's challenge, or last year's. I also tend to avoid anything that I know will be too restrictive or difficult to fill (like anything using my initials or first name).
I tend to put romance and comics in my bottom 4 as I don't like either of these (sorry to people who do) but I do try to go for prompts we haven't had.
Such a great question, Amy. These are the things I try to think about when I'm deciding on which to vote for. I think I mostly go for what I find interesting, and for me interesting tends to be new. I almost never want a repeat prompt. I don't think much about what we've already added to the challenge or what is lacking from out list. I just go with the prompts that seem interesting. I also don't consider the books I'll read or do too much research about topics before I pick them.
Jody wrote: "I generally vote for prompts that I find interesting - some of these I might know that I can easily find books for, and some of these I know I will have to go hunting. I tend to avoid voting for pr..."The more interesting the better in my opinion! If I can avoid prompts from previous years unless I really REALLY loved that particular topic.
Jill wrote: "I tend to put romance and comics in my bottom 4 as I don't like either of these (sorry to people who do) but I do try to go for prompts we haven't had."I was the same way about comics until this year. I have found some YA horror graphic novels that I have actually really loved. It is so odd because I HATE horror novels, movies, etc but in graphic novel form, I love it! I thank these challenges for opening my eyes to graphic novels.
Romance is something I easily put in the HATE column as well, but then again some of my favorite sci-fi/paranormal novels do have a romantic element to them, enough so I would count them as a 'romance' if that genre was picked. Too much icky stuff though and I am done. I tend to skim sex scenes. I prefer reality to make-believe in that particular area. :-)
Katie wrote: "Such a great question, Amy. These are the things I try to think about when I'm deciding on which to vote for. I think I mostly go for what I find interesting, and for me interesting tends to be new..."I think one poll that has to be all new topics, nothing we have ever seen on a reading challenge before would be very interesting. It would probably take days to come up with a list of 20 ideas though! With so many challenges out there, it would be near impossible to come up with 20 new ideas I think.
Ha, how true Amy! It might take longer than 2 days to come up with ideas that have never been used. I sure can't think of any off the top of my head at the moment.
Jennifer wrote: "Ha, how true Amy! It might take longer than 2 days to come up with ideas that have never been used. I sure can't think of any off the top of my head at the moment."How about:
Fiction books about cheese
Nonfiction book about vampires dating witches
Your grandmother's favorite book in first grade
Ok, those would be awful! lol
Mod
That's my question- are there any prompts that get automatically repeated? Like book you meant to read last year, a Goodreads annual awards winner (can't remember the proper name), or a book published this year? Those are ones that while repeats, would have totally different choices each year
My sister and I came up with reading challenges for each other a few months ago and chose random topics. Actually one of the ones she picked for me was the one I submitted in this poll: a year in the life memoir. Some of her other out there topics were:
-A book with a main character named Frances or Francis
-A book where the main characters have to pretend to be in love with each other
-A fictional book about a famous mathematician
How's that for crazy topics?
Amy wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "Ha, how true Amy! It might take longer than 2 days to come up with ideas that have never been used. I sure can't think of any off the top of my head at the moment."How about:
Fi..."
Oh geesh, now your really thinking outside the box. Those would definitely be hard ones to locate, especially a book my grandma read in 1st grade, lol.
Amy, here's a fiction book about cheese that I actually want to read: Blessed are the Cheesemakers by Sarah-Kate Lynch. Who knew it would be that easy to find?
Is that a real book, Katie?? Love that title! It's a Monty Python reference! XD
Katie wrote: "My sister and I came up with reading challenges for each other a few months ago and chose random topics. Actually one of the ones she picked for me was the one I submitted in this poll: a year in t..."I love those topics but I don't think they would be incredibly popular in the group. What a fun thing to do with your sister though :-)
When I vote, I first look for any topics that really jump out at me immediately. This could be anything from something that seems very creative/different, or something that I know instantly fits something that I really want to read.I do to some degree look at what fits with the list we currently have, because I get bored when there are too many topics that are very similar (ie. too many of the same genre). I'm also planning on doing PopSugar and BookRiot, so it can be tricky to try and figure out what will add variety when it's impossible (at least, as far as I know) to predict what categories will be in those challenges.
I also tend not to vote for prompts that I've done before in other challenges, or ones that I think would be overly restrictive. I like prompts have a good balance between having a lot of options, while still being limited enough to pose a bit of a challenge.
Initially, I go over the list to see which ones appeal to me. I check off all the ones I am interested in, and then if there are more than 4 I like, I eliminate others based on how I think they would fit into the rest of the list for balance. A few times, there's just a topic I really like or have a book that I want to read that fits it well and in those cases my vote is sometimes purely self-serving, lol.I'm enjoying the way the list is shaping up at this point.
I don't know if I've a true pattern for the top, I think it depends on the suggestions. For some polls, I voted for categories I really liked or found interesting or fun, for others I voted for the ones that would help to add diversity to the list. I usually don't vote with books or authors in mind.Bottoms are easier to decide. Most of the time, I vote for narrow categories we already did, for categories almost impossible to fill for half the members (names, family, town...) or things we already have in the list (for example historical fiction + historical character + based on true event are almost all the same for me).
I agree, the bottom is almost always easier to decide. There are usually a few topics that either don't make sense, are very restrictive and difficult to fulfill, or I have absolutely no interest in reading (erotica...).
Zaz wrote: "I don't know if I've a true pattern for the top, I think it depends on the suggestions. For some polls, I voted for categories I really liked or found interesting or fun, for others I voted for the..."Definitely agree about the votes for the bottom. I have a lot of trouble with any categories that involve my initials (which surprises me a bit, I would have thought "RA" would be easy), I have no interest in books from my hometown, and I have trouble getting recommendations from people for some reason.
I also thought historical fiction, historical character, and based on a true event were basically the same. I was actually a bit surprised that historical fiction made it in since we already had the category about a historical character.
Zaz wrote: "Bottoms are easier to decide. Most of the time, I vote for narrow categories we already did, for categories almost impossible to fill for half the members (names, family, town...) or things we already have in the list (for example historical fiction + historical character + based on true event are almost all the same for me). "This exactly describes how I chose my bottom 4. I usually check the ones where I would have a hard time finding a book (or would loath any choice available), then repeated or too broad topics.
For the good topics, I agree with most so far. I like topics that are challenging and original, but their are usually a lot to choose from there. So then I look at what I might be able to pick for them and choose based on potential books for interesting topics.
I also agree with Rachel. I don't like asking for book recommendations. I also don't like books that have to do with a specific year.
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Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Orange Is the New Black (other topics)Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping (other topics)
Chastened: The Unexpected Story of My Year without Sex (other topics)
Will Grayson, Will Grayson (other topics)
Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances (other topics)
More...
The 2017 Reading Challenge will continue the concept of this year's challenge, with 52 weekly topics. Users then choose a book fitting each topic in order to complete the challenge.
The Process:
The topics for the 2017 RC list will be determined through around 13 mini-polls. Suggestions for each poll will be open until 20 suggestions are received and then opened up for voting for one week. Each user will vote for their top 4 and bottom 4 topics in each mini-poll, resulting in 4 challenge entries from each (13 polls x 4 topics/poll=52 weekly topics). This timeframe allows for a completed list in October-November.
The Rules:
- Voting ends September 1
- One vote per poll per user
Reminder of Current Challenge Themes:
A book by an author you haven't read before
A book in the middle of your TBR list
A book from someone else's bookshelf
A book with a strong female character
A book from the Goodreads "Top 100 YA Books"
A category from another challenge
A book that you've owned for a while but haven't gotten around to reading
A book with an animal on the cover or in the title
A book about a famous historical figure
A book based on a myth
A book from the Goodreads Choice Awards 2016
A novel inspired by a work of classic literature
A book with an unreliable narrator
A best book of the 21st century (so far)
A book set in a fictional location
A book from the BBC The Big Read list (link)
A Penguin modern classic
A book with at least 2 perspectives (more than one main character and point of view)
A book with a long title (5+ words, excluding any subtitles)
A book written by a person of color (i.e. someone who isn’t white)
An epistolary fiction book
A title that doesn't contain the letter "E"
A book set in or by an author from the Southern Hemisphere
A mystery
A dual timeline novel
A book being released as a movie in 2017
A book written or set in Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland)
A banned book
A historical fiction
A book that is a subgenre of your favorite genre
Helpful Links:
A "Year in the Life: memoir: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
A book about gender and/or sexual orientation: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
A Hugo Award Winner: https://www.goodreads.com/award/show/...
A book with metaphysical theme: https://www.goodreads.com/genres/meta...
Survey Link