Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
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[2019] Voting for 3rd Mini-Poll
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This one is a lot harder for me to narrow down my top and bottom. I'm going to have to wait and think about how I want to vote this time.
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https://www.buzzfeed.com/erikaturner/...
https://www.bookish.com/articles/21-m... (Not all by transgender authors, but feature trans themes)
https://www.theguardian.com/childrens...
Going through my options for the prompts, I'm surprised how many books I have with names and numbers in the titles, and how few black or ugly covers I have. There might be some subconscious method to my choice of books!
Emily, that is the same thing I'm running into. The ideas that I have pending for my top I like okay but I'm not very excited about them. My bottom I have finally narrowed down to 6.
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Jillian, it definitely took me longer to narrow down my bottom than my top.
I ended up putting protagonist enters another world, ATY scramble, number in the title, and person's name in the title for my top. My bottom has written by a woman (nearly every book I read has a woman author, so I felt like it was too broad), a new to you book by an author you just discovered (I rarely read the same author twice), a book set where I grew up (I hate southern lit), and the translation one (that was the hardest for me this year).
I was debating about down voting the alliteration one, because it's on PopSugar this year, but I found this great thread so I ended up not putting it in my bottom 4.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Done. Cast my vote before deliberating too much and changing my mind 20times! Found the bottom four a hard pick this time. There are so many I really wouldn’t mind at all x
My bottom two were super easy. But there were about a dozen that I could've happily chosen for the top four. Marie wrote: "Going through my options for the prompts, I'm surprised how few ugly covers I have."
When I add books to my catalog I purposely use the cover I find most appealing so looking through my TBR I have no way of knowing if a book may or may not have a truly hideous cover. :lol:
I’m happy to know it’s not just me that didn’t have a lot of top choices. There were actually quite a few I didn’t care for so narrowing down the bottom was harder. I usually make lists of possibilities and then vote based on that but some of these I didn’t even bother to research in hopes that they don’t make the top.
Done! My top choices were easy, and as usual, my bottom choices were mostly things I had difficulty finding books for when I searched.
Again, I seem to be in the minority here. I found many that I wanted to vote for in my top 4, but only 4 for the bottom. I almost considered only 3 for the bottom, but then I read through the list one more time & saw one that I had been skipping over, probably because I didn't like it & my brain was already subconsciously steering me away from it! :)
I only had three bottoms. I could happily have chosen 5-7 tops, but it wasn’t that hard to narrow it down to four.
Glad to hear I'm not the only one who wasn't as excited about this week's suggestions. The fact that there were fewer that I was excited about made choosing my top 4 pretty easy.Still narrowing down my bottom 4 but it will probably include the ones that are on this year's PopSugar challenge since I didn't care for them to begin with.
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Still narrowing d..."
That's why I didn't vote for ugly cover. I left alliteration out of my bottom 4 because there are so many options, but I'd rather if it wasn't chosen.
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Looking forward to seeing how this one shakes out.
Tough vote! A lot that are: too hard to search for, too hard to find something I'll want, too broad.
Nadine wrote: "Tough vote! A lot that are: too hard to search for, too hard to find something I'll want, too broad."Well said! I had a tough time picking because there were very few that gave me a strong impression of something that I just had to have on the list. Many of them were "I'd be fine with this, but I don't really care if it doesn't make it either." There were some that were a cool idea (ie. the word scramble) but seemed like a lot of extra effort.
I had an easier time with my Bottom 4, since those were mostly ones I've done multiple times before or that I just couldn't find options that I liked.
I really liked one option and the rest feel over done or just not my bag. I think I'd like to see some more character prompts in 2019.
I thought it was a hard vote. There are a lot I'm ok with but nothing special there and a couple I really don't want.
Yea, I found it hard because I just didn't have strong feelings one way or the other about very many of them.I agree with Jessica, I'm interested in getting some character or plot driven topics, so I'm working on coming up with some interesting ideas to toss in to the next couple polls.
I am definitely interested in more character and plot driven topics and look forward to seeing the next round of suggestions.
Ohh wow... I don't see one prompt I really like but there's quite a few I wouldn't like to see one the list and the rest are just blah. I need to think about this batch for a day or two before I decide.Maybe I've been in this group for too long when there's no longer just one prompt that excites me?!?! 🤔
Marina H wrote: "Ohh wow... I don't see one prompt I really like but there's quite a few I wouldn't like to see one the list and the rest are just blah. I need to think about this batch for a day or two before I de..."I was wondering the same thing and trying to figure out being in the group for a few years is playing a part in my excitement, apathy and dread for some prompts.
In particular the dread comes so easy when the prompt is close to something I had a hard time with in the past.
Makes me wonder if I should leave the prompt selection up to others and just appreciate the result presented to me.
Sometimes for me it's purely timing - I put choosing a book for a fictional character in my bottom last week. Couple of days later I read The Martian and Amazon had a book on special that was perfect for Mark Watney, I ended up being disappointed it wasn't a winning prompt.On the other hand, I voted for epigraph last year and it's still one of my picks this time round. I know I'll enjoy an excuse for sitting on the floor, pulling books off the shelf when I'm looking for my options.
Working out the puzzle for the scramble would be fun too, and I'd be interested in seeing what other people do with that prompt, if it wins, so it's not just about what book I can pick for myself.
I choose a top 4 but there were only 2 that I really didn't want to read so I only choose 2 for the bottom.
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Emily wrote: "Marina, I was just looking over last year's prompt suggestions (the close calls, polarizing, bottoms, and the ones who just didn't make it on the list), and some of the choices for this poll are pr..."Yeah, I've had the same thought. I've been in the group from the start and many or most of the suggestions are similar to suggestions from the previous years so to me it just gets a little repetitive. I know it's difficult finding new suggestions when they still have to be broad and not too limiting but that just means that for me this challenge isn't as fun and exciting anymore.
I haven't even voted yet... Maybe it's better to leave it up to others and finding out in the ending of the year if I'm still doing the challenge :-)
I feel a lot like you Marina. As I have said before even the so called new prompts seem like old ones reworded.
I am in the same boat as some of you who have mentioned being here since the beginning. I have felt a little blah about the voting as well. To make things a little more exciting for myself, I started a list over in the OFF TOPIC section of ways to make the topics that we have so far either easier, or harder, depending on my mood. It's a work in progress and I would appreciate any input. If you'd like to check it out, it's over here:https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
I’m a bit the same, but I think I might be a bit fatigued with year long challenges as they start to get a bit stale after a while, with some prompts sitting there for months on end. I’m not sure what to do.
For those who are interested, I have updated the More/Less Restrictive thread (or the KIS/BIO thread as it were) over in the Off Topic section of the group.
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 July 6
- One vote per poll per user
- see the suggestions thread for more details on some entries
- A book set by an author from a Mediterranean country or set in a Mediterranean country
- A book by an author best known for writing something else
- A book where the protagonist enters another world
- A book with at least one word in the title that can be found in our group name (scrambled)
- A book written by a woman (including those who identify as a woman)
- A book with alliteration in the title
- A new to you book by an author you recently "discovered"
- A book that was nominated for or won the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction
- A book with an ugly cover
- A book with an epigraph
- A New York Times Best Seller
- A book by a transgender author
- A book set in the city, state or area where you grew up
- A book with a number in the title or on the cover
- A book set after a time of war
- A book with a person's name in the title
- A domestic thriller
- A book with a (mostly) black cover
- A book in translation originally written in a language you haven't read a translation from before
- A novel that won or was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize
Survey Link