2018 Group Read Prompt Discussion

[Sara]

Here is the place to suggest prompts for the monthly group discussions. NOTE: This is not the place to vote for specific books. We are only identifying the prompt for each month. Book title voting is phase 2.

Mike has identified 28 prompts that will work for this (and I'm hoping he's going to jump in with the list!).

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Post your recommendation below using the following template:

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December


ETA: Nominations have been closed effective 11/7. The final list is available here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Mike]

The 28:

True Crime
A Book Involving a Heist
Nordic Noir
A Novel Based on a Real Person
A Book with a Time of Day in the Title
A Book About a Villain or Antihero
A Book About Death or Grief
A Book with a Female Author Who uses a Male Pseudonym
A Book with an LGBTQ+ Protagonist
A Book that is Also a Stage Play or Musical
A Book About Feminism
A Book About Mental Health
A Book by Two Authors
A Book About or Involving a Sport
A Book with Alliteration in the Title
A book About Time Travel
A Book with a Weather Element in the Title
A Book Set at Sea
A Book with an Animal in the Title
A Book Set on a Different Planet
A Book with Song Lyrics in the Title
A Book About or Set on Halloween
A Book with Characters who are Twins
A Book Mentioned in Another Book
A Book from a Celebrity Book Club
A Book that's Published in 2018
A Past Goodreads Choice Awards Winner
A Book that Involves a Bookstore or Library


I think that's 28. The other 12 prompts are subjective in some way.

[Mike]

My nominations copied from my post in another thread:

I'll start with a list of nominations. If I don't have a reason next to the prompt, I just threw it in because I couldn't find any inspiration for that month.

There were 28 prompts available in the Main Challenge that aren't subjective. A lot of the celebratory months are admittedly American-influenced.

January-A Book With a Weather Element in the Title
February- A Book About or Involving Sport (Winter Olympics)
March-A Book About Feminism (Women's History Month)
April-A Book that Involves a Bookstore or Library (National Library Month)
May-A Book About Mental Health (Mental Health Awareness Month)
June-A Book with an LGBTQ+ Protagonist (2018 Pride Month)
July-A Book Set at Sea
August-A Book with Characters who are Twins (National Twins Day is August 3rd)
September-A Book that is also a Stage Play or Musical
October-A Book About or Set on Halloween (Halloween is October 31st)
November-A Book About Death or Grief (All Souls Day is November 2nd)
December-A Book that's Published in 2018 (seems to be a tradition to put this one in December. Allows for the maximum number of new releases to actually be released)

[Anabell]

Mike wrote: "My nominations copied from my post in another thread:

I'll start with a list of nominations. If I don't have a reason next to the prompt, I just threw it in because I couldn't find any inspiration..."

That is brilliant Mike. Love that it matches with the different celebrations in each month.

[Tara]

I love mikes suggestions but I wouldn't mind maybe changing one to Nordic Noir because I don't know much about it and it would be nice to read something with the group. Maybe January?

[Nadine in NY]

I vote for Mike.

Tara wrote: "I love mikes suggestions but I wouldn't mind maybe changing one to Nordic Noir because I don't know much about it and it would be nice to read something with the group. Maybe January?"

There is a tradition of reading mysteries around Easter time, and giving books for Christmas, so we could sub Nordic Noir in for April (or December)?

[Brooke]

Mike's list is great!

[Tara]

Doesn't matter to me at all :) I just thought that one might be good to get group input but it's purely selfish lol

[Megan]

I vote for Mike's suggestions!

[Heather]

January Nordic Noir
February A Book with a Time of Day in the Title
March
April
May
June A Book with an LGBTQ+ Protagonist
July
August A Book About a Villain or Antihero
September
October A Book About or Set on Halloween
November
December A Book that's Published in 2018

These are the prompts I'm most interested in doing as a group. I agree that Halloween would be good in October and a book published next year should be the last group prompt.

[Chrissy]

I mostly like Mike's nominations, but made a couple of changes:

January-A Book With a Weather Element in the Title
February-
March-A Book About Feminism
April-A Book that Involves a Bookstore or Library
May-A Book About Mental Health
June-A Book with an LGBTQ+ Protagonist
July-A Book Set at Sea - I want a group read of Moby Dick!!
August-
September-
October-A Book About or Set on Halloween
November-A Book About Death or Grief
December-A Book that's Published in 2018

I would also like to do:
*villain/antihero
*set on another planet
*involving time travel
for group reads because I think they would make for good discussion about deeper themes, but I don't think it matters much which month.

[Theresa]

I decided to be a bit contrary, out of the box, or mayhap just being a renegade, with my suggestions:

January -book with song lyrics in title (Grammy Awards given)
February - book involving time travel - because love transcends time
March - book made into a movie you saw (Oscars awarded)
April - book about death or grief - after all acc/t TSEliot, 'April is the cruelest month.'
May - book written by a woman using male pseudonym (honoring Mother's Day)
June - book also a stage play or musical (Tony Awards awarded end of June)
July - book by an author with a different ethnicity than yourself (Independence Day and honoring our country as a melting pot)
August - book published in year you were born (my birthday is in August - it's a reason 🙄
September - book about feminism (Miss America pageant)
October - book with weather element in it - because with change of seasons you can have every kind of weather
November - book involving a heist - well Christmas is coming and you need to organize presents
December - True Crime - because with holiday and year end stress, we narrowly avoid murdering someone

Mike has s ome good options too.

[Kristina]

January A Book with a Weather Element in the Title
February A Book with an Animal in the Title
March A Book About Feminism
April A Book that Involves a Bookstore or Library
May A Book About Mental Health
June A Book with an LGBTQ+ Protagonist
July A book About Time Travel
August A Past Goodreads Choice Awards Winner
September A Book About a Villain or Antihero
October A Book About or Set on Halloween
November True Crime
December A Book that's Published in 2018

[poshpenny]

I vote for Mike's list

[Patricia]

I vote for Mikes list and I’ll add the other prompts in between the group reads.

[Rebecca]

I like Mike's list but with Tara's suggestion of swapping in Nordic Noir for January.

[Nicole]

Oh, I like Mike's list and Theresa's list! I don't know which one I like more. At the same time, I do like the idea of doing Nordic Noir in January. I'd say partially because I don't think it's my thing & I'd like to get it over with early so I don't have to dread it, and partly because I think it would be easier to read with others so that I have a reason to keep going. Now, saying this, I'll probably discover that I love NN or something, and want to read lots of them. I guess only time will tell.

[Sara]

Ok, so how should we handle finalizing the list? I can't remember what Juanita did last year. The overwhelming majority here voted for Mike's list (with a subset that wants to use Nordic Noir for January).

What do you think about adopting Mike's list as a whole, but we can do a poll for January's prompt?

[Mike]

I had no particular inspiration for January, July, and September, so I vote for putting Nordic Noir in January instead.

And Theresa's suggestions for July and September look good! Except I already have "Feminism" for March.

[Sara]

Mike wrote: "And Theresa's suggestions for July and September look good! Except I already have "Feminism" for March. ..."

Using the different ethnicity for July wouldn't work for a group read since there are a variety of ethnicities represented here (though I love the reasoning Theresa gave!)

So do we want to do Mike's list except sub in Nordic Noir for January? Feminism for March or for September?

Do we need an official poll or can I just proclaim the list complete?? ;)

[Tara]

Do it Sarah most people who have responded have been generally ok with mikes :)

[Melissa]

Sara wrote: "Mike wrote: "And Theresa's suggestions for July and September look good! Except I already have "Feminism" for March. ..."

Using the different ethnicity for July wouldn't work for a group read sinc..."

Sounds good, and getting the Nordic Noir out of the way would be great. It's my least favorite prompt for sure this year...I vote March for Feminism as it is National Womans Month.

[Megan]

Sara wrote: "Mike wrote: "And Theresa's suggestions for July and September look good! Except I already have "Feminism" for March. ..."

Using the different ethnicity for July wouldn't work for a group read sinc..."

I think you can just make the final call and make the list complete.

[Mike]

Sara wrote: "Mike wrote: "And Theresa's suggestions for July and September look good! Except I already have "Feminism" for March. ..."

Using the different ethnicity for July wouldn't work for a group read sinc..."

Duh. (bonks forehead). I forgot to follow my own list of 28.

[Christy]

I also really like Mike's list, but with Nordic Noir in January! My only quibble is I was hoping to get True Crime done in a group read because it is not my wheelhouse. Perhaps if there's a book a lot of people want to read for that topic, it will end up being an informal group read. :-)

[Tara]

Christy I'm a bit of a True Crime junkie lol but I'm planning on ticking off several that I've been meaning to read forever including devil in the white city, black dahlia, the stranger beside me and helter skelter and I'd be happy to do a side group read of any of them if you are interested in any :)

[Sara]

Christy wrote: "I also really like Mike's list, but with Nordic Noir in January! My only quibble is I was hoping to get True Crime done in a group read because it is not my wheelhouse. Perhaps if there's a book a ..."

That would be entirely doable if a group of people want to read a true crime book together!

[poshpenny]

I'm fine with NN in Jan but keeping feminism in March

[Anabell]

Sara wrote: "Mike wrote: "And Theresa's suggestions for July and September look good! Except I already have "Feminism" for March. ..."

Using the different ethnicity for July wouldn't work for a group read sinc..."

It sounds like a plan Sara AND thank you for all the work you do for the group :-)

[Mike]

Yes, thank you Sara!

Not going to lie...Visiting this thread is an ego boost. Thanks everyone.

[Melissa]

Christy wrote: "I also really like Mike's list, but with Nordic Noir in January! My only quibble is I was hoping to get True Crime done in a group read because it is not my wheelhouse. Perhaps if there's a book a ..."


I have quite the list of True Crime, but was thinking of Stranger Beside Me since Anne Rule original wrote it under a male pseudonym
I would be down for a sub group read for a nonfiction book. I used to read it in m Teens.

[Christy]

Looks like we could put together a group read of Stranger Beside Me pretty easily, just based on this thread! I'm feeling a lot less dubious about this category now.

[Tara]

Let's do it! I'm definitely reading it for some prompt so that'd be great

[Gayle]

Rebecca wrote: "I like Mike's list but with Tara's suggestion of swapping in Nordic Noir for January."

Agree

[Tara]

Sara when are you closing nominations for the 3 that are open?

[Tara]

Never mind I used my brain and read to the end of the posts lol