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[2017] Voting for 12th Mini-Poll
Difficult vote for me, I had a clear top 3 and bottom 2, but no strong opinions for the rest. I never heard the term "techno-thriller" (I've read some!) so I improved my vocabulary :)I really enjoyed the simplistic cover idea, it's a nice change from the previous cover suggestions and one not too easy to fill.
This is the first time I have not been excited about voting. There weren't very many choices that really stood out as something I really wanted and there were more than 4 I'd like to have voted in the bottom. Don't get me wrong I don't mind resubmissions but when most of them have already been in the bottom 4 I feel it just takes away a suggestion of something that could be really good.
I'm with you Zaz, I had a lot that I were in the middle for me. I had two there were immediately in my top and two that were in my bottom. One that surprised me was the group pick. When I first read the suggestion all I could think about is what kind of nightmare that would be to arrange that. But the more I got to thinking about it, the more I loved the idea of it. If it wins and you guys need any help with organize it, I would love to help out. I'm also trying to think about how this could work for those of us who are doing the discard challenge. This is going to be fun!
On the settings for the group, there's an option "non mod can create polls". I don't know how it works, but we can eventually use this setting and delete the polls when the votes end. I like the idea but on another hand, what a pain for those who do the challenge without being active members :D
Zaz wrote: "On the settings for the group, there's an option "non mod can create polls". I don't know how it works, but we can eventually use this setting and delete the polls when the votes end. I like the id..."Very true. I do wonder what this would mean for members who are not active? would this encourage them to be more active, become active for this one thing, or would they cease participation/opt out of that week, etc.?
Oh wow, I totally didn't realize how many of the suggestions are repeat suggestions until I just went back and looked. Haha. And I actually voted for two of them. I feel like it's getting so hard to think of new fun topics! I am trying to think of something good to submit for the next poll. I hope I can come up with something good!
I had two clear top choices and two clear bottom choices and the rest were hard to pick from. I'm not sure what made it hard to pick, I think it's because the rest of them I just didn't really mind if they made it or not.
Katie wrote: "Oh wow, I totally didn't realize how many of the suggestions are repeat suggestions until I just went back and looked. Haha. And I actually voted for two of them. I feel like it's getting so hard t..."That's why I voted for the group pick, it's so original! (at least for me, I never saw something like that)
Sophie wrote: "Katie wrote: "Oh wow, I totally didn't realize how many of the suggestions are repeat suggestions until I just went back and looked. Haha. And I actually voted for two of them. I feel like it's get..."We have something like this in another group. We call it Pick It For Me. We do it every month.
I really liked the group read prompt, although I don't see exactly how it works.I looked at the list for the dream prompt, and I've found several which aren't on it, (and it can be expanded thousandfold, this was a quick search in Google) books especially for those who like Fantasy:
- The Lives of Christopher Chant (Chrestomanci #2) by Diana Wynne Jones
- Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente
- Pawn's Dream by Eric S. Nylund
- Dreams and Shadows(Dreams & Shadows #1), Queen of the Dark Things (Dreams & Shadows #2) by C. Robert Cargill
- Firehurler (Twinborn Trilogy #1) by J.S. Morin
I also found a Wikipedia page that lists dreams and dreamworlds in literature, films, comic books etc:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_w...
Here is an example of how Pick it for me is done in our other group:https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...
I also checked the previous suggestions and can't believe the child as main character was suggested 4 times! I totally agree with Zaz that a suggestion can lose once and win another time, depending on the other suggestions in the poll, but if it doesn't pass in 3 polls, it's time to abandon...
I don't mind suggestions being made more than once, but I agree with Sophie, if it didn't make it in after the 3rd try, it's time to nix it. Oh, I had some trouble voting with this one. I had a very hard time picking a top 4 because there were about 12 that I really liked. On the other hand, I had a clear bottom 3 and just picked one that I really didn't like as much for my bottom 4.
It will be interesting to see which ones win this week.
Sorry Sophie and Jeninifer, hadn't realised it was 3times. Suggest you put it in bottom 4 or ignore it . Thought I'd seen some that kept coming up but obviously I was wrong. Can't remember it being in bottom 4 , thought it was one that just didn't make the top 4 . Coming up with 260 different suggestions is quite a task but expect it can be done. ( The first time it was not my suggestion just thought it was a good one)I have gone back and checked and it never made tha bottom anything, so possibly it was somewhere in the voting, we just don't know. However a script was in the bottom chosen in one of the polls.
Bottom 4 were easy but top 4 took some time
Mod
I've noticed repeat suggestions from the same people. I thought if something was suggested, esp by you, and it did not win, it could not be nominated again except on the resubmit polls.
And having spent my afternoon interviewing for a job at a town historical society, let me say yay to whoever did the local history suggestion!
Only problem I have with local history is some people may find it easier than others. Luckily I live very near one of the 3 sites of the Manhattan Project. But some may have a harder time.
Mod
Oooo- have you read The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II?
I hope whoever nomninated it means it to be interpeted creatively. Few towns have exciting histories (even the one where I interviewed, I read the town history book and yawn!) but there might be interesting regional or state histories. I live in northern New England and we have lots of mill towns, so I might be creative and read a history of textile mills. It might require creativity and flexibility for people. It would be nice if fiction books were included for more choices.
I suggested the history one. I meant it to mean anything about the state you live in or a site/city close by because I live in a little town in the middle of nowhere so there is nothing out there written about where I live.
Zaz wrote: "Difficult vote for me, I had a clear top 3 and bottom 2, but no strong opinions for the rest. I never heard the term "techno-thriller" (I've read some!) so I improved my vocabulary :)I really enj..."
Techno-thrillers are one of my favourite subgenres. Jurassic Park is perhaps one of the best know techno-thrillers out there, but anything to do with technology going awry or the misuse or dangers of technology falls into this subgenre.
I wasn't familiar with the term techno-thriller either, but I recently read Dark Matter, which was pretty interesting and I think would fit into that genre. Also, good luck with the job, Pamela. I hope you get it.
Mod
Thanks! I hope so too- this was a final round so we'll see! I will have less time to read though!
Mod
My hero!
Pamela wrote: "Kirsten *Dogs Welcome - People Tolerated" wrote: "Only problem I have with local history is some people may find it easier than others. Luckily I live very near one of the 3 sites of the Manhattan ..."It really deals with other places like Oak Ridge and Los Alamos. They always got more attention than Hanford. We produced the fuel that they put in the bomb.
Mod
Yeah. But there are plenty of books about Hanford and our area too. It's just some people that live in smaller towns may not be so lucky.
I am more surprised at A child As A Main character, has not been voted in.. Scout... To Kill A Mockingbird, my fav of all time. Not to mention all those Harry Potter books. I did like the pick 5 idea.. I hope that doesn't turn into a nightmare for the mods.. That would however increase activity within the WHOLE group. Great Idea!
I had a very hard time voting on this poll because to be honest, nothing stuck out to me either way. As the suggestions were going up, I kind of had the impression that as a whole, we're kind of running out of new ideas since it took much longer than usual (at least in my view) to collect the list of 20. I also noticed a lot more repeats of previous suggestions both from this year and last year. I have no problem with resubmissions at all. I've resubmitted my suggestion twice in the polls, but after it lost both times, I gave up and will either submit again in the final poll or just use it myself as a previous suggestion that didn't win. At the same time, I can't really complain that we're not suggesting anything new when I can't think of anything to suggest myself!I do find it a bit strange that suggestions that have been nominated more than once are back again, although I have to say that I voted for at least one of those as my Top 4 in a previous poll where it appeared. I think sometimes it's just a matter of what the book is up against when it is suggested.
I personally don't like the Group Pick suggestion, just because of my own aversion to group work (thanks, college!). Maybe I'm overcomplicating it in my own mind, but I forsee it being quite messy to organize and to actually follow through on. For example, at what point during the year do we open the votes for this topic, since so many of us read the list out of order? And at what point would the list close? We've seen from the BOTM posts that the book that is the frontrunner for a long time does not always win. And what happens if, for whatever reason, no one/only 1 or 2 people vote on someone's list? On the other hand, I think it's a great idea to encourage discussion and participation. I personally voted against it, but I can see the value. If it gets chosen, I'll go with it.
I also don't really like anything to do with my local history, books from my hometown, etc. The subject just doesn't interest me at all. I'm sure my city has an interesting history since it is a major Canadian city, but I'm a bit burnt out on non-fiction and Canadian history has never appealed to me much.
Advanced technology seems interesting, although I may have a hard time finding a book to read for that. Not many sci-fi books really grab my interest.
Personally I voted for the group pick. I think it's a neat idea that is out of the box but still allows us to read a book we are interested in. It is less random than just having someone recommend a book as we come up with the shortlist and other members pick for us. I think it could be done quite easily in a few ways. First, as Zaz mentioned there may be an option for each member to create their own polls. The mods can add a dedicated board (similar to the alphabetized categotries) for these polls and people can add them there. Alternatively, we can dedicate a discussion board and when people are ready they can just open a thread. Rather than an actual poll we can all just count of the number of times other members "choose" one of our options and pick the one that gets the most. I think it can be done easy enough and for the less active members that don't partake in the discussions, it's a drive good incentive to join in, use the wild card, or even just assign your options a number and roll a die to decide.Rachel as for the advanced technology, it doesn't necessarily need to be sci-fi. While technology definitely lends itself to that genre and technothrillers are definitely a sub genre, technology covers a vastly broad range of topics. Technically speaking, fire is a form of technology. So are many art forms (music, painting etc) and even agriculture and manufacturing.
For example, Jurassic Park is considered a techno thriller, but is well outside the realm of traditional sci-fi and The DaVinci Code is a techno thriller but is most definitely not scifi. Looking at some classics, The War of the Worlds, Frakenstein, and even The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn could be considered. If it wins, I will personally probably use it for a scifi option, but I worded it the way I did so that it was open to a wide range of genres and content and "advanced" does not need to be from today's perspective.
I don't have any problem with the resubmit except maybe when they have been a bottom. I also like the idea of the group pick, but at the same time I can see many problems with that one, so it was not on my top.
I like the boy as a main character and I have voted for that one all the other times, not this time because I liked other categories better, but I hope it has better luck now
We can double the group pick (if it wins) with A lucky pick (something like "for those who prefer, select 5 books, write their titles on 5 papers, put them in a bowl and pick one of them without looking").I'm totally against local prompts because I've to choose country books for them and not local (and 90% of them are related to Paris). Local is very nice for countries with a strong publishing industry (aka English countries), for the rest of the world it sucks. I'm not interested in reading history (especially for my country, I'd that during more than 10 years at school), so it's one of my bottom.
Peter > yeah, I read many Crichton's books, so I'm familiar with lots of books in the techno-thrillers lists.
Mod
I was pretty against the local prompt in the past but I did realize that I have Cleveland in my state. It would be interesting to find a book about the progress of race relations in the city or something along those lines but I don't know if that book even exists.
Zaz wrote: "We can double the group pick (if it wins) with A lucky pick (something like "for those who prefer, select 5 books, write their titles on 5 papers, put them in a bowl and pick one of them without lo..."I like that idea - if it wins of course. But it means it's still easily completed for members that are doing the challenge but may not take part in the discussions very often.
Mhm no, sorry. but the more I hear about the group pick, more complicated seems to me, although it sounds interesting too.
If it doesn't win, we have to find a solution for people doing the reject challenge anyway...
I was interpreting "local history" to include historical fiction, and "local" can be as wide as needed to find a book. So, for example, I live north of Syracuse NY, but I could pick "The Last if the Mohicans" which was set near Albany and the Hudson Valley - way east of me, but close enough.
I think the group pick idea sounds so cool! I misunderstood it initially. I thought it was one group read that everyone votes on and then everyone reads that one book. The idea that it's individualized makes it really awesome. I didn't vote for it, but now I wish I had. I hope it wins, even without my vote.
maybe this well help more to understand the group pick , this is how we do it in my Goodreads group A Life Of A Book Addict :you make a shelf and name it PIFM. This means pick it for me. You put at least 10 books under that shelf and sign up under the challenge. I will pick two partners and you both get together and pick one book off each others shelf and then post them on the thread.
that's one way of doning it and here's other way that we do it at the The Challenge Factory where we call it The Dusty Bookshelf:
Please only post no more than 10 books that you would like to read this month.
*I would say minimum 4 books.
2) An assigned person will pick TWO BOOKS from your post series.
3) You have one month: OCTOBER 2016 to try to read one of the chosen books
its actually a fun away of having some else pick books for because you don't know what their pick
Elizabeth wrote: "maybe this well help more to understand the group pick , this is how we do it in my Goodreads group A Life Of A Book Addict :you make a shelf and name it PIFM. This means pick it for me. You put ..."
That's actually a really nifty idea and seems a lot cleaner and easier than creating individual polls and having the mods worry about deleting them after a set time. In the progress post for the group pick category, people can post a link to their PIFM bookshelf and from there people can nominate books. It shifts a lot of the effort away from the mods (who do an incredibly job, but are likely very busy already) and makes it easy to maintain for each individual member.
*EDIT - obviously pending this category winning.
I personally prefer the poll option rather than bookshelves, since it would encourage more people to vote. I'm not sure on a technical side for the mods what organizing these polls would mean, so if it's too much work, I don't want to add more to their already full plates. I also like the "lucky pick" option as an alternative, where we pick a book randomly from a hat.
In "The challenge factory" there is another way, where the person who posts under you choose from your list of 5 books, also places his list so that the next person who posts choose.Example: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Vanessa wrote: "In "The challenge factory" there is another way, where the person who posts under you choose from your list of 5 books, also places his list so that the next person who posts choose.Example: http..."
I like this idea a lot! I've done a few 'what should I read next' polls on the group 'polls for our souls' and really like them but I think on this group the polls may become a nuisance for the mods and for those who aren't fussed about polls (people in groups dedicated to polls, including myself, obviously love them but other people who deliberately aren't part of those groups would probably find the notifications for them annoying). I think that idea is great! It would be easy, it would be inclusive, it would get people involved, and it would keep it all in one place where the mods wouldn't have to worry about it.
Rachel wrote: "I personally prefer the poll option rather than bookshelves, since it would encourage more people to vote. I'm not sure on a technical side for the mods what organizing these polls would mean, so i..."you don't have to have a bookshelf , if it wins you can just post the five books you want to read, that's how its done in the Challenge Factory's Dust Bookshelf, all we do is post the book covers an assigned person will pick a book from your post series. its that easy .
Vanessa wrote: "In "The challenge factory" there is another way, where the person who posts under you choose from your list of 5 books, also places his list so that the next person who posts choose.Example: http..."
I really like this idea too, the only downside is that the book is chosen by only one person. I would like more votes!
Peter wrote: "Elizabeth wrote: "maybe this well help more to understand the group pick , this is how we do it in my Goodreads group A Life Of A Book Addict :you make a shelf and name it PIFM. This means pick i..."
it is fun because wither way you don't know what book is picked for you until its actual been picked
Mod
One way to save time for counting vote would be creating a small Google Form, easy and real quick if you already have a Google account.
I agree with Sophie, I don't think I like the next person who posts because it's decided by only one person. I like the idea of more than one vote.If this topic wins and we create a "section" for this topic, I wouldn't mind manually tallying up votes in my own thread.
You should do it like they do in my other group. You put up the books and then you have a time limit for votes. Whichever gets the most votes in that time period wins. It's not that hard to keep track of. You have one thread for the book choices. One thread for book voting.
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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 October 3
- One vote per poll per user
Reminder of Current Challenge Themes
--- Title & cover ---
A book with an animal on the cover or in the title
A book with a long title (5+ words, excluding any subtitles)
A title that doesn't contain the letter "E"
A book with a one-word title
--- Reading List/Goodreads/People/Recommendations ---
A book in the middle of your TBR list
A book from someone else's bookshelf
A book that you've owned for a while but haven't gotten around to reading
A book recommended by one of your favorite authors
A book you meant to read in 2016
A recommendation from "What Should I Read Next"
--- Inside & theme ---
A book with a strong female character
A book based on a myth
A novel inspired by a work of classic literature
A book about a famous historical figure
A book with an unreliable narrator
A book set in a fictional location
A book with at least 2 perspectives (more than one main character and point of view)
A dual timeline novel
A book set in or by an author from the Southern Hemisphere
A book written or set in Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland)
A book with illustrations
A book with a chilling atmosphere (scary, unsettling, or cold)
--- Genre ---
A Penguin modern classic
An epistolary fiction book
A mystery
A historical fiction
A book that is a subgenre of your favorite genre
A nonfiction book
A book of magical realism
--- Author & publishing---
A book by an author you haven't read before
A book written by a person of color (i.e. someone who isn’t white)
A book set in or by an author from the Southern Hemisphere
A book written or set in Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland)
A banned book
A book written by at least two authors
A book by one of your favorite authors
A book published in 2017
--- Awards, challenges, adaptations, lists, etc ----
A book from the Goodreads "Top 100 YA Books"
A category from another challenge
A book from the Goodreads Choice Awards 2016
A best book of the 21st century (so far)
A book from the BBC The Big Read list (link)
A book being released as a movie in 2017
A Hugo Award winner
A past suggestion that didn't win
Helpful Links/Clarifications
A book about dreams (fiction or non fiction): https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...
A genre fiction written over 50 years ago: Generally, it's not literary. I meant this as a way to read older examples that were not necessarily considered as classics.
An adventure book: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
A book about advanced technology: could be fictional in the form of sci-fi, techno thriller, or even a fantasy book about an emerging technology or a non fiction about a real world technology
A Bram Stoker Award winner or nominee: http://thebramstokerawards.org/
A xenofiction book: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Survey Link