Group Project: Making the 2019 Challenge More/Less Restrictive

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

A book featuring an elderly character
BIO: Must have an elderly protagonist

A book about reading, books or an author/writer
BIO: Nonfiction about reading, books, or an author/writer
KIS: Reading, Books, or Author/Writer in the title (without being central to the story)
KIS: Includes journalists and news stories (not just book writing)

A book set in a school or university
KIS: Portions of book is set in school or university (without it being the majority setting)
BIO: Only setting is at school or university (no traveling, flashbacks outside of school, or home life)

[°~Amy~°]

Thank you Emily. Very good suggestions.

[Pam]

Book featuring an elderly character
BIO- 1: nonfiction about the aging process; 2: elderly character and an elderly author

[Liz]

I love reading all these ideas!

[dalex]

Good job, Emily, with coming up with some options for those prompts. They are pretty straightforward without a lot of room for lateral thinking - someone is old or they are not, there's a school in the book or there isn't.

[Pam]

BIO for school setting: additional requirement that the cover includes a campus scene

[Chinook]

For the Shakespeare prompt, here’s a photo that has phrases we got from him:

https://www.goodreads.com/photo/user/...

[Pam]

Chinook wrote: "For the Shakespeare prompt, here’s a photo that has phrases we got from him:

https://www.goodreads.com/photo/user/..."

I like that, a lot Chinook!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Ooooh. I do have Brave New World on my list. That could work!

[Nadine in NY]

A great book that took its title from Shakespeare is "On Such a Full Sea" - it's a fantastic example of "literary dystopian."

[Chinook]

That’s on my TBR. Good to know.

[dalex]

A book related to food

an author with a name that is a food-related occupation like Baker, Miller, or Butcher
an author whose name is also a food brand name, like Campbell or McDonald
a book with a title that is related to acquiring food, like a title with "garden/gardening" or "hunt/hunting"
a book that has a food item in the title but the book isn't about food at all
a book with a food item on the cover but the book isn't about food at all

[dalex]

A book with a monster or a monstrous character

Some ideas:
Classic monsters, like vampires, zombies, etc.
Mythological creatures, like the ones on this list
Man-made creatures, like golems, robots, scientifically altered beings
Demons, ghosts, etc.
Serial killers, mad scientists, villains, gangsters


A book that relates to classic monster fiction, such as The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club Series or Mary Reilly.

[Milena]

dalex wrote: "A book with a monster or a monstrous character

Some ideas:
Classic monsters, like vampires, zombies, etc.
Mythological creatures, like the ones on this list
Man-made creatures, like golems, robots..."

Thank you for these ideas. The follow-up to The Golem and the Jinni is supposedly coming out in 2019. How timely!

[Elise]

I think the only way I'll be able to fulfill the food prompt is to read a classic involving farmers of some kind.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Elise wrote: "I think the only way I'll be able to fulfill the food prompt is to read a classic involving farmers of some kind."

There's a lot of ways to get around the food prompt without actually reading about food (like dalex mentioned above)!

[Elise]

Those are all great ideas, but I don't seem to have anything on my to-read-soon list that would work for them. It took me a bit to realize that I could go with food production rather than consumption or a food in the title though, so I figured I'd add that one to the suggestion pile.

[Sarah]

dalex wrote: "A book with a monster or a monstrous character

Some ideas:
Classic monsters, like vampires, zombies, etc.
Mythological creatures, like the ones on this list
Man-made creatures, like golems, robots..."

If anyone wants to read multiple monster books next year, I would count humans as food for the likes of zombies etc.

[°~Amy~°]

Great ideas Dalex.

Sarah, that suggestion is really great (slightly disturbing) but great lol

[dalex]

Elise wrote: "I think the only way I'll be able to fulfill the food prompt is to read a classic involving farmers of some kind."

It certainly does not have to be a classic. There are a lot of recent publications about farms/farming. Here are just a few I found with a quick search:

The Other Side of the Bridge
A Thousand Acres
Prodigal Summer
Mudbound
Plainsong
The Mammoth Cheese
A Map of the World
Cold Mountain
Tallgrass
Solace

[dalex]

Sarah wrote: "If anyone wants to read multiple monster books next year, I would count humans as food for the likes of zombies etc. "

Bahahaha!

Milena wrote: "The follow-up to The Golem and the Jinni is supposedly coming out in 2019. How timely! "

I did not know this! I adored The Golem and the Jinni.

[°~Amy~°]

Well, it's taken me all day to cut and paste and reformat our KIS/BI
O list but it is finally done!

I personally like the changes but please let me know your thoughts. Also, if you see a suggestion that I missed, please let me know!

[Kathy]

Thanks for doing this, Amy! Looks good.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

KIS for Far East prompt could be an author who is of Far East descent (rather than being a current resident or native of that country). An example of this would be Kazuo Ishiguro, who is considered to be a British author of Japanese descent.

[Pam]

BIO for Chinese Horoscope:
1) limit to your animal
2) Title AND cover

[°~Amy~°]

Thank you Emily and Pam. Your suggestions have been added.

I also made a couple of additions:

Chinese Zodiac:
KIS - a children's book containing one or more of the zodiac animals

Far-East Asia:
BIO - Author must have been lived their entire lives in that region

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

KIS for A book related to reading can be a book with a book on the cover (without actually being about reading)

for example

[dalex]

If anyone wants to stretch the Chinese zodiac prompt to somewhat ridiculous lengths, there is the option of the Rooster Prize, an award given by the online magazine The Morning News. The prize is awarded to the best book of the previous year, chosen through a bracket elimination process.

You can see the list of books that have won the award here. And the nominees:
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014

[Tracy]

I'm struggling a bit with the food prompt because there have been a few food related prompts over the last few years in several challenges I've done ( or tried to do, to be accurate). I can only read so many Bios about Chefs, and non-fiction food books just don't really interest me that much, SO, I chose to read about the avoidance of/ obsession with food and picked a memoir with an anorexia/bulemia theme.....Stretching it there lol.

[Liz]

Tracey, that sounds like a great take on the prompt!

[Jody]

I love that idea, Tracey! I think it’s a brilliant suggestion.

[Chinook]

Like Water for Chocolate would be a good fiction choice for the food prompt. Or Joanne Harris tends to write books that would fit. I think I’d like to read something more along fiction lines, by we’ll see.

[°~Amy~°]

Other good fiction options:

Always the Baker, Never the Bride
Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder
Sexing the Cherry

We also have the option on our list here to use a food related author name rather than an actual book about food. That opens up a whole world of possibilities :)

[Pam]

4 books inspired by the wedding rhyme.
BIO:
1- Link all 4 books in some manner (e.g., genre, author. topic, country)
2- AND include 1 or 2 non-fiction (for those of us who like the fiction/non-fiction connection) OR
3- Link 2 options & the other 2 options
4- add Fiction/non-fiction for option 3

The options are broad enough that it is not that hard to link 4 books but it takes a little bit of planning.

For example, I am thinking about doing a King Arthur theme (since it didn't make the cut) and including a non-fiction on Druids.

[Kathy]

I'm linking all 4 books by requiring that they be from the first 10 books I've added to my TBR.

[Pam]

Kathy wrote: "I'm linking all 4 books by requiring that they be from the first 10 books I've added to my TBR."

That's a great idea! I'm also thinking about linking to an author, like Annie Proulx. Something about linking the 4 books makes it much more interesting to me!

[Rachelnyc]

I love the idea of linking the multi-week in some way. I didn't do that with this year's elements and they just basically felt like 4 separate prompts to me.

[Pam]

Rachel - I think this year’s prompts were much harder to link but old, new, borrowed, and blue are much easier. I would be curious if others are going to link them, what their plans are. The more I think about it, the more ideas I get!

[dalex]

I debated about using four novels by Anne Tyler for the multi-prompt (but decided not to).

Something old: The Tin Can Tree pub 1965
Something new: Clock Dance pub 2018
Something borrowed: Vinegar Girl borrowed from Shakespeare
Something blue: A Spool of Blue Thread

[Liz]

I love the idea of linking the multi-week prompt after hearing these creative ideas! I'm going to have to give more thought to this, & I would LOVE to hear others' ideas.

[Chinook]

dalex wrote: "I debated about using four novels by Anne Tyler for the multi-prompt (but decided not to).

Something old: The Tin Can Tree pub 1965
Something new: Clock Dance pub 2018..."

I like that! It works with Margaret Atwood, too.

Something old: The Circle Game
Something new: Angel Catbird, Volume 3: The Catbird Roars
Something borrowed: Hag-Seed or The Penelopiad
Something blue: Bluebeard's Egg

[Tracy]

Chinook wrote: "dalex wrote: "I debated about using four novels by Anne Tyler for the multi-prompt (but decided not to).

I decided not to link the prompts again and just fit in either books I've been meaning to read for awhile or already have sitting on my shelf, or in the case of the "new" prompt, an author I really enjoy

Something old:Sabriel (The Old Kingdom #1)
Something new:Nine Perfect Strangers, a NEW release coming out from Liane Moriarty
Something borrowed:In a Dark, Dark Wood Borrowed from my sister in law but still sitting on my shelf unread
Something blue: Faithful own it, Blue cover

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

A multi-generational saga
BIO: Must be 500+ pages to qualify as saga

A children’s classic you’ve never read
BIO: Award winning children's classic
KIS: Allows for contemporary classics (like Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and The Hunger Games)

A book featuring indigenous people of a country
BIO: Written by an indigenous author with indigenous characters
BIO: NOT historical fiction
KIS: Written by indigenous author about whatever (not necessarily indigenous characters/setting/plot)

A book that includes a journey
BIO: Must be a physical journey taking place

[Pam]

4 book Multi-prompt
BIO: 1st book your choice, link 2nd to 1st, 3rd to 2nd, 4th to 3rd. How you link can be general or specific.

[Liz]

Pam, that’s a fun idea!

[Nadine in NY]

Pam wrote: "4 book Multi-prompt
BIO: 1st book your choice, link 2nd to 1st, 3rd to 2nd, 4th to 3rd. How you link can be general or specific."

I like it!!

[Jody]

KIS for children's classic - a picture book

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

BIO for a book published in 2019: Pull from a "Best Of" list (currently looking at the Tournament of Books, but you can look at the Goodreads award nominees, NYT best sellers for the year, or other Best Of lists)

[°~Amy~°]

list updated 8/19/18 @ 8:47pm

[°~Amy~°]

Ok, the winners this week might be a bit tough to choose bio/KIS options for but here goes :

- A book you have owned for at least a year, but have not read yet
Kis: book you have wanted to read the longest (but may not actually own yet)

Bio: book you have owned the longest

- A book with a strong sense of place or where the author brings the location/setting to life

Kis: a travelog about a real location

Bio: a fantasy novel or fictional location where the author "builds" a new world within the story

- A book with a criminal character (i.e. assassin, pirate, thief, robber, scoundrel etc)
Kis: any minor character can be a criminal

Bio: the main character must be a criminal

Any other ideas?