[2019] 1st Mini-Poll Results

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

Our list is slowly building and we now have 6 total prompts! The winner of the multi-prompt poll is:

- Four books inspired by the wedding rhyme: something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue

Results are calculated by subtracting the number of voters who put a prompt in their bottom 4 from those who put a prompt in their top 4 (top 4 - bottom 4). The totals are then compared to find the top result(s).

The closest result to a close call would be:
- Three unrelated books that are linked only by having the same word in the title

Bottom:
- Four books, one for each of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: pestilence, famine, war, and death
- Five books that can make up a poker hand
- A book related to each of the 4 Hogwart's Houses (Harry Potter)

The second round of suggestions will open tomorrow, June 19, at 8:00am EST.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Yay! That one was in my top! Such a fun prompt.

Just wondering: This was posted on the voting...

Something old: a book written more than 50 years ago, or with the word “old” in the title
Something new: a book published within the last 12 months, or with the word “new” in the title
Something borrowed: a book that borrows a setting or characters from another writer. This could include retellings, homage, etc. (I think a book you borrowed from someone else is too much like a free choice.)
Something blue: a book with a blue cover, or the word “blue” in the title

Are these just suggestions on how to fill the prompt? Or are these the guidelines for the prompt?

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

Emily, I think that could open for discussion on how other's interpreted the suggestion. But I would say it was just suggested guidelines so give people an idea of what could potentially work.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Ok! I was thinking Old and New could also be applied to your TBR (old on your TBR, new on your TBR), which would probably be better for me since I have a looong TBR and zero classics on it haha.

[Jody]

I like the idea of it being open to interpretation - I'd love to see how creative people are with how they fit books into the prompts.

I'm glad this one made it in - it's a fun one.

[Nadine in NY]

Oh I really liked that one! I didn't vote for it, but it was in my top five picks.

[Angie]

Very happy with the selection. It was one of the ones I voted for. :)

[Cheri]

Great, I really liked that one, and I especially liked the suggestions that came with it. They got me thinking about how to think about books to fit. Yay!

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

There were so many good ones that I would have been happy with nearly any of them. It'll be fun to think of how to find books for this one.

[Silvia]

This was one of my top choices, so I am very happy it won!! I have already a couple of ideas for the something borrowed and for the something blue :)

[Veronica]

Yay this was one of my top picks as well! This will be fun to pick books for!

[dalex]

Just like so many, this was one of my top picks. This whole process is so fun!

[Rachelnyc]

Yay, this is one of the ones I voted for. I think this will make a fun discussion since there are so many ways each one can be interpreted.

[Rachel]

So glad this one was picked. It was one of my Top 2, but for some reason I had a strong feeling that the continents would win. I like this one because it immediately struck me as very creative, but it's also open enough that each prompt can be treated essentially separately.

[Bec]

Ohhh yay.....I picked this one too.

[Erica]

I didn’t vote for this one, but it was in my top 3 so I’m glad it got chosen.

[Jill]

Yay!!!! This was one of my top picks!

[Rachel]

Out of curiosity, will we get to see the stats at all in terms of how many voters, etc.? I remember someone asking about it in another thread, and I think it would be so interesting to see.

[Alex]

I'm really glad this won, it was my favourite :)

[Katie]

It was my favorite too. I love how it obviously goes together, but it's perfect for choosing different kind of books.

[Rachel]

Wow, I'm surprised the four horsemen was in the bottom! It was the one that immediately jumped out to me since it seemed so creative, but I was pretty sure it wouldn't win because I thought people might find the topics a bit too depressing. I personally don't mind reading about those topics, and I thought it was very open to a bunch of different genres. I really didn't think it would be in the Bottom 4 either though!

[Jillian]

Rachel, for me the four horsemen one was too heavy to have to cover all four. I would not minded it as single prompt though like we have the 7 deadly sins this year.

[Bec]

Jillian wrote: "Rachel, for me the four horsemen one was too heavy to have to cover all four. I would not minded it as single prompt though like we have the 7 deadly sins this year."
I agree, I put it bottom 4 also as I thought it was too much to read 4 books on those topics.
My other bottom 2 made the bottom list also.

[Angie]

Jillian wrote: "Rachel, for me the four horsemen one was too heavy to have to cover all four. I would not minded it as single prompt though like we have the 7 deadly sins this year."

I have to agree. As one prompt, it could be interesting and challenge, but all four would make for some dark reading.

[Peter]

I didn't vote for the horsemen because I liked others better, but I wouldn't have had a problem with it.... I realized last year that most of the books I read tend to have darker themes and found it hard to come up with books to recommend when someone asked for happy books, lol.

[Rachel]

It's interesting, since I didn't think it would seem that dark. 4 out of 52 books is such a small percentage of the overall year, and could easily be spaced out so it wasn't too overwhelming.

I also thought it could be pretty broadly interpreted to include a variety of genres (ie. reading about a zombie outbreak for the pestilence prompt, war could easily encompass most fantasy/dystopians, etc.)

[Jody]

I tend to prefer my books on the depressing side, but I agree with the others. I can’t remember what I voted for, but I think those are four potentially very heavy subjects, and may turn off a lot of people. I’d also love to see it as a single prompt. (I think I’d also struggle to find a book on pestilence that I would want to read!)

[Kelly]

I can live with that one!! But more important for me my bottom 4 are at the bottom!! ;) just nothing I have interest in!! 👌🏼

[Charity]

I voted the four horsemen one in the bottom as well. I agree with everyone else the subject matter seemed very depressing. I thought it was too much to be forced to 4 books with such dark subject matter.

[dalex]

I am not a fan of Harry Potter (I know, I know) but surprisingly that one was not in my bottom four because when I looked into it the houses are associated with colors, animals, etc. so it was actually rather doable. I think with a little more explanation more people might have voted for that one.

The four horsemen could've been done in a not-quite-so-dark way (something medicine related for pestilence, a love story set during wartime, etc.) but I agree that overall it just seemed like a very gloomy set of prompts.

[Marie]

I put the four horsemen in my bottom two for the same reason everyone already said - too gloomy for four prompts. Though if it'd won I'd happily have taken the opportunity to re-read some totally ungloomy Discworld. I'm contrary like that! I'd probably vote for it as a single week prompt.

I put the poker hand in my bottom two as well, purely because I thought five was too many for the linked prompt.

The Harry Potter one I didn't mind one way or the other, it seemed pretty flexible.

[Katie]

That's funny, dalex, because I am a HP fan, but I put that prompt in my bottom 2. I didn't think of the color/animal aspect of it, which I like. I thought about how each house has a set of characteristics & then trying to find a book associated with those characteristics seemed a little too nebulous for me.

I actually thought the four horsemen prompt was pretty cool. I just had too many other ones I liked.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I know we usually don't allow the ones that are in the bottom to resurface in later polls, but these could be reworded into a one-week prompt, right?

[Nadine in NY]

Katie wrote: "That's funny, dalex, because I am a HP fan, but I put that prompt in my bottom 2. I didn't think of the color/animal aspect of it, which I like. I thought about how each house has a set of characte..."

Same! I took one look at that and NOPED because I didn't want to be twisting myself in knots trying to figure out if a book would appeal more to Ravenclaw or Gryffindor ... If I had thought of the color/animal themes, I would have been a lot more interested!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

In the 2018 list making process, we had a prompt "A book you would associate with your favorite Hogwarts house" as a close call book (or maybe it was polarizing?). I was going to use it for the ATY polls prompt this year, but I ended up slotting something else in.

Having it as a one-week would be a good way to bring this prompt back (with a bit more understanding and ideas on the prompt).

[Marina H]

I know absolutely nothing about Harry Potter or the Hogwarts houses and I'm not really interested in doing that much research for a single prompt.
I know a lot of people love Harry but there's also a lot of people who haven't read the books, so I don't like the idea of prompt based on a specific book or series. Even though I love A Game of Thrones and that series I would feel the same about a prompt based on it.

[Kelly]

I am glad I am not the only bookish person who doesn't like Harry Potter! Most times it feels like he is everyone's childhood favorite!!

[dalex]

Kelly wrote: "I am glad I am not the only bookish person who doesn't like Harry Potter! Most times it feels like he is everyone's childhood favorite!!"

If Harry Potter had been around when I was 10 years old I probably would've loved the books, right alongside Narnia and Alice. I tried to read the first book when it became so hugely popular but quickly realized I was too old to appreciate a story aimed at middle grade readers. It makes me a little sad, honestly.

[Jill]

I did love Harry Potter when he first came about and read every one of the books as they were published, but I'm not interested in pursuing the imaginary life of one character outside these books. I don't think anyone is ever too old for certain books but there are so many great books out there that I can't see why a huge number of people get hung up on this series and not others

[Silvia]

I have read all the Harry Potter books as an adult and enjoyed them as if I was a child :D For a while I was really craz'y with this world. I made lines to buy the books at midnight!!! hahaha .... however there were so many good categories that HP didn't make the cut :P

[Rachel]

Just to jump back to the four horsemen topic for a second -- I agree that there are plenty of ways to make it less gloomy. Here's how I was thinking of it:

Pestilence - zombies possibly, or some kind of sci-fi plague
Death - I probably would have picked Sheets, and if I hadn't already read Anya's Ghost I would pick something like that. There are characters who are ghosts, but the story itself doesn't seem too heavy. There are also tons of YA contemporary options about people grieving or trying to move on after a death, so although the stories are partly sad, they tend to become fairly uplifting
War - Tons of different options. There are many fantasy books that focus on fictional wars or battles, and I tend to find these feel less dark than reading about real wars. It's also open to historical fiction or non-fiction.
Famine - Admittedly, this is a hard one not to be heavy. Something like The Hunger Games would work, and I'm sure there are other fantasy options that are set in worlds facing problems with resources/food supply

[Jillian]

Rachel, those are good ideas. It hope it makes it on a single prompt list.

(In general, there were several multi-week prompts that I'd like to see modified into a single prompt. Since they were too much for me for the multi-week but I really liked the idea).

[Stacey]

When does voting begin for the 2nd poll?

[Manda]

Stacey, it’s already underway. If you go to the tab “Projects” you’ll see a post titled “Voting for the 2nd Mini Poll” (or something very similar to that). It has a link to the poll and all the suggestions that were nominated & seconded.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

For you Book of the Month club members, Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik is a choice this month, and it's a retelling of Rumplestilskin -- perfect for the "something borrowed" prompt!