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[2019] Voting for 2nd Mini-Poll
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I'm keeping track this year of what I voted for because I realized last year that by the time the results came out I had often forgotten what I actually voted for. Anybody else?
Jackie, near the middle of the polls last year I started keeping track of my votes. My third and forth top votes were normally narrowed down between several I liked and then if I didn’t keep track I’d forget which I voted for.
This is my first time participating in voting but I have been keeping track of my votes since I’m curious to see how well my tastes align with the group. So far so good since the multi-week winner was one of my top two!
This one is going to be tough since there are 10 that I really like.
Easy bottom four but much harder to pick top four. I also hope some of these suggestions come again . I always keep a record of my votes.
Several I wanted, but there were three slam dunks for me. For the bottom picks, I just went with things I thought would be harder to fill.
I'm disappointed with my post war suggestion. I love the concept of it, and was really hoping to find some great books (both fiction and nonfiction), but as I've been researching books I am struggling to find much. I've found some decent possibilities for NF, but overall it's pretty slim pickings.
On this poll there were some that I’m not sure if I like them or don’t 🤷♀️. I went ahead and just voted for two top and bottom ones since I could not decide.
Agreed - That was tough. I don't normally have a hard time picking, but there are a lot I would have no problem with on the list with only a few I didn't really like.
Jackie wrote: "I'm keeping track this year of what I voted for because I realized last year that by the time the results came out I had often forgotten what I actually voted for. Anybody else? ..."
I always forget, too, so yes this year I've decided to keep track. I'll see if it matters to me in the end.
I only voted for three bottoms because the rest were fine with me, and my four tops were pretty easy.
This was so hard. I had so many I liked so I hope they get resubmitted again if they don’t win.
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That was a tough vote! I had 3 very clear top choices initially (4 in the end), but about 6 very clear bottom votes. It was hard to narrow down which ones I was most against.I do keep track of my votes. I keep a word document where I only list my Top 4 and Bottom 4 for each poll, and I highlight in different colours when the results come in (green if it made the list, red if it was a bottom 4, and blue if polarizing). Mostly it's just for my own curiosity of how closely my votes match with what the rest of the group is interested in. It was interesting that in 2017, I seemed to be pretty closely aligned. Last year, it was a bit more scattered, which might be because that was the first time (I think?) that we started tracking close calls and polarizing topics.
Just curious since we didn't show the Bottom 2 last week -- are we still going to see which suggestions were in the Bottom 4 each time? I found it helpful to know which ones weren't so popular so we didn't keep resubmitting them.
Also - for sake of clarification, what separates speculative fiction from other sci-fi or fantasy? The lists I've found seem to include just about anything in those genres.
Rachel wrote: "Also - for sake of clarification, what separates speculative fiction from other sci-fi or fantasy? The lists I've found seem to include just about anything in those genres. ..."
I've always thought that "speculative fiction" is a broad umbrella that includes fantasy and science fiction as well as alternative histories, possible near futures, magical realism, dystopians, etc.
Mod
I can also go back and look at that for the multi-prompt if people are interested. I didn’t think it was as relevant for a special poll but I guess some may want to get inspired from those topics for the regular polls.
Rachel wrote: Also - for sake of clarification, what separates speculative fiction from other sci-fi or fantasy? The lists I've found seem to include just about anything in those genres. This might help.
http://annieneugebauer.com/2014/03/24...
It's a good diagram that is mostly self explanatory, but the article gives some good examples too.
I liked the one with the author with the same birthday, but after looking for authors, I ended not voting for it ... it would had been easier just including the month, but i t really sounded nice.
Manda wrote: "I'm disappointed with my post war suggestion. I love the concept of it, and was really hoping to find some great books (both fiction and nonfiction), but as I've been researching books I am struggling to find much. I've found some decent possibilities for NF, but overall it's pretty slim pickings. "Actually there are tons of books that fit this prompt. This website enables you to search for historical novels by date. For example, this is a list of novels that take place in Europe post WWII.
And there are more recent wars. Like Girl at War takes place after the civil war in Yugoslavia in the 1990s and The Kite Runner is set in the 1970s during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
Plus you can think out of the box for this list. Many post apocalyptic books take place after a war. And a lot of fantasy books include war and the aftermath.
Silvia wrote: "I liked the one with the author with the same birthday, but after looking for authors, I ended not voting for it ... it would had been easier just including the month, but i t really sounded nice."That one was a clear bottom for me. It's way too limiting in my opnion. I found three authors with the same birthday as me and the only one I knew was Ray Bradbury and I've already read Fahrenheit 451 and I'm not interested in reading anyting else by him.
Laura wrote: "Yes, I will be including the bottom topics and the polarizing ones. I can also go back and look at that for the multi-prompt if people are interested. I didn’t think it was as relevant for a special poll but I guess some may want to get inspired from those topics for the regular polls. "Yes, please!
There were about a dozen prompts that were competing for my Top Four! So many excellent choices.For my bottom votes, I pretty much went with things that I felt were too restrictive and not open to interpretation (like a book about a serial killer) or that seemed very difficult to research (like an author's birthday).
I'm excited to see the results of this poll and definitely hope the prompts that don't make the cut this week will be coming up again in the voting process.
dalex wrote: "There were about a dozen prompts that were competing for my Top Four! So many excellent choices.For my bottom votes, I pretty much went with things that I felt were too restrictive and not open to interpretation (like a book about a serial killer) or ..."
I actually thought the serial killer could be open to interpretation, for example, fiction or non-fiction, about a serial killer or police involve with a serial killer murder. Classic detectives as Sherlock Holmes or Hercules Poirot have had to investigate serial killers at least once. Many mystery books revolve around serial killers. That said, I am not a fan of the theme :P
Peter wrote: "Rachel wrote: Also - for sake of clarification, what separates speculative fiction from other sci-fi or fantasy? The lists I've found seem to include just about anything in those genres. This mig..."
Thanks that was a great blog site, I just spent far too much time there!! I like her aesthetically appealing diagram, but I think she should have included an overlap between historical & fantasy (think: Mists of Avalon) and historical & science fiction (steampunk & all its cousins). But that is the nature of diagrams, they are fun to argue about.
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I agree with other members’ comments about the prompt of an author with the same birthdate. It is too restrictive. I found 2 for my birth date, per a list on Bookish.com. But, I would be open to using the entire month or year, if that is proposed in a future poll.
dalex, what a great resource for the books set after war prompt. Thanks for sharing that.
Yes, thank you dalex for all these interesting ideas! I shared Manda's opinion about her postwar suggestion : first it seemed appealing, but then when I looked for books on my TBR, I couldn't find any that fit the bill. But there are many great suggestions on the sites you shared, dalex. Now I wish I could change my vote... Manda, if your suggestion doesn't make it this time, I hope you will resubmit it for another poll! :-)
Hélène wrote: "Yes, thank you dalex for all these interesting ideas! I shared Manda's opinion about her postwar suggestion : first it seemed appealing, but then when I looked for books on my TBR, I couldn't find ..."If it does not make it and you'd like it you could also resubmit it.
(I cannot remember if there is a rule against resubmitting your own ideas again.)
I agree with Silvia I thought the serial killer was a very open prompt. I also liked the book after a war prompt and was interested.
dalex wrote: "Manda wrote: "I'm disappointed with my post war suggestion. I love the concept of it, and was really hoping to find some great books (both fiction and nonfiction), but as I've been researching book..."This is awesome, thank you! I was searching GR and doing countless Google searches and was coming up short. This is a game changer though :)
Glad I was able to help people find some possible reads for the post-war suggestion! :)I could be wrong about how restrictive the serial killer prompt is but it is definitely not as open to interpretation as the similar one on this year's list - a book about a murder.
Thanks, Laura, for the update on the 1st mini-poll.
I don't understand 'A book you'd recommend to a fictional character you like'. Is that just really a book you would recommend? Whats the addition of 'to a fictional character you like'? And if it's a book you would recommend so it has to be a book you have already read?
Bec wrote: "I don't understand 'A book you'd recommend to a fictional character you like'. Is that just really a book you would recommend? Whats the addition of 'to a fictional character you like'? And if it's..."It didn't suggest the prompt, but my assumption is that the recommendation should make sense for the character. So if it is a character who is going through some quest, maybe you would recommend a book about a hero that is also going through a quest. If you have a character who is a romantic at heart, maybe you would recommend a romance. That's how I'm interpreting it.
Nadine wrote: "Peter wrote: "Rachel wrote: Also - for sake of clarification, what separates speculative fiction from other sci-fi or fantasy? The lists I've found seem to include just about anything in those genr..."You're right, I think there is room for a lot of the circles in the diagram to overlap in different ways. Even though she drew it that way, she does acknowledge at the end of the blog that it's more of a fluid concept with the circles constantly changing where they overlap.
I’m a lucky one with the author’s birthday prompt, as I share a birthday with Edgar Allan Poe. 😁 But I agree, it’s pretty restrictive.
Jody wrote: "I’m a lucky one with the author’s birthday prompt, as I share a birthday with Edgar Allan Poe. 😁 But I agree, it’s pretty restrictive."Richard Ford is the only author I share a birthday with. Thankfully he has a vast amount of works to choose from, is an author I've never read before (yay for discovering new authors), and I'm somewhat interested in his genres (in the right mood).
Regarding speculative fiction....there's this super simple definition:a broad literary genre encompassing any fiction with supernatural, fantastical, or futuristic elements
All great polling suggestions. After the fact, I found a bunch of poets, writers and other personalities who might have written books and with whom I share a bday. I simply googled authors born on my bday. Now I wish I had voted for this category!
I'm glad you didn't, Stacey - my birthday is February 29 and there are a lot less of us :(
Rosemary wrote: "I'm glad you didn't, Stacey - my birthday is February 29 and there are a lot less of us :("Me too... I found a list of people born same day as me. I knew very few people on that list and I don't imagine Howie from Backstreet Boys has written a book. 😁 If he has I don't think I want to read it...
Same here - there are no authors with my birthday, unless you expand that to include celebrity memoirs, and I'm not interested in reading that.
I also struggled to find any authors with my birthday so had to put that one in the bottom too. It's a shame because I liked the idea of it, maybe birth month could have been a less restrictive option?
Beth wrote: "I also struggled to find any authors with my birthday so had to put that one in the bottom too. It's a shame because I liked the idea of it, maybe birth month could have been a less restrictive opt..."I agree that birth month would be less restrictive. I could only find a couple of very obscure authors for my birthday. So obscure in fact that I don't believe I could have realistically found anything by them in print. I think it would be worth resubmitting that one with the month restriction in a later poll.
The problem with the birthday idea is that you either have to choose an author who is popular enough to make some list of famous birthdays or you have to try to hunt down the birth dates of authors you want to or plan to read. Even making it just birth month rather than month-date doesn't really make this an easy prompt.
dalex wrote: "The problem with the birthday idea is that you either have to choose an author who is popular enough to make some list of famous birthdays or you have to try to hunt down the birth dates of authors..."Agree!
Librarybooklists.org/literarybirths has a over 100 authors listed for my birth month. I just read a really good book by an author born on my birthday without even knowing it. I think the idea of the ATY challenge is to compel us to read things outside of our comfort zone. Sure we can usually find books that are on our to be read lists that fit themes, but the real goal is to find something new and wonderful that we never would have tried if we hadn't done the challenge.
Tammy wrote: "but the real goal is to find something new and wonderful that we never would have tried if we hadn't done the challenge."That's not the goal for everybody. People participate in the challenge for different reasons so what's the goal for some doesn't apply for others.
Tammy wrote: "Librarybooklists.org/literarybirths has a over 100 authors listed for my birth month. I just read a really good book by an author born on my birthday without even knowing it. I think the idea of th..."Oh that is a great resource Tammy. Thank you so much for digging that up for us.
The wonderful thing about our challenge here is that it can be as difficult or as simple as we want to make it. If a prompt is "too easy" we can add to it to make it more challenging for ourselves. For instance, I could decide that I want to stick to my birth day only because the month has too many options. On the flip side, if something is "too restrictive" we can loosen up the requirement to make it easier on ourselves. For this topic in particular, if I really didn't like any of the choices I had on my own birth month, I might do my child's birth month, or my mom's, my spouses, etc. If that didn't work for me then I certainly would have no qualms just using my wild card and avoiding the topic all together. No one will judge us here no matter how we decide to go about it. It's all about enjoying the process. :)
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Moving Pictures (other topics)A Boy in the Doghouse (other topics)
A Dog for Jesse (other topics)
Watership Down (other topics)
Girl at War (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Carl Hiaasen (other topics)Janet Evanovich (other topics)
Terry Pratchett (other topics)
The entire Around the Year challenge list is generated by the group members. We enjoyed the process so much in the past three years that we are creating another list for 2019.
The Process:
The topics for the 2019 RC list will be determined through around 13 mini-polls. Each user will vote for their favorite 4 topics in each mini-poll, which will then add up to the 52 topics (13 polls x 4 topics/poll=52 weekly topics). Suggestions for each poll will be opened until 15-20 suggestions are received+seconded. Then a poll will be opened for voting for one week so you can select your 4 favorite suggestions. This timeframe allows for a completed list in October-November.
The Rules:
- Vote for your TOP 4 and BOTTOM 4 - You are allowed to vote for less than 4
- Voting ends June 27
- One vote per poll per user
- see the suggestions thread for more details on some entries
1. A book with an occupation in the title or a book in which a person's occupation is central to the plot
2. A book about the arts
3. A Man Booker Prize Winner or Nominee.
4. A book with a story trope you love or hate.
5. A book with a type of metal (gold, silver, bronze, brass, iron, etc) or something made from metal in the title.
6. A book related to your zodiac sign
7. A book set after a time of war (ie: post WWII).
8. A book featuring an ancient civilization
9. A book about a dog
10. A book about serial killer
11. A book dealing with memory (amnesia, eidetic memory, PTSD etc.)
12. A book off of the 1001 books to read before you die list
13. A book from "The Great American Read"
14. A book written by an author that has the same birthday (not including year) as you.
15. A book you'd recommend to a fictional character you like
16. A book by an author from an island.
17. A book with an abduction or a kidnapping
18. A book that was written by a Nobel Laureate
19. A book with a non traditional family
20. A speculative fiction (ie fantasy, scifi, horror, dystopia)
Survey Link