Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
2019 Plans
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Group Project: Making the 2019 Challenge More/Less Restrictive
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- A book with a title, subtitle or cover relating to an astronomical term KIS: a book with stars, moon, planet or sun on cover
BIO: a book about astronomy
BIO: a story connected to one of the constellations
Published before 1950....I think some time periods are KIS and some are BIO.Vintage lit (early 20th century) and Victorian lit (19th century) would be KIS.
The older time periods would more likely be BIO - classic lit (18th century), renaissance lit (16th and 17th century), medieval lit (5th - 15th century), and ancient lit (pre-5th century).
It really depends on whether or not a person likes "very old books" but I think vintage lit and Victorian lit books/authors are more well known and, to some extent, more readable.
Another BIO idea for "published before 1950" would be to limit your choice to a book/author that isn't super well known or included on required reading lists or whatever. Like, not Dickens or Collins or Austen or Bronte or Fitzgerald or Hemingway or Woolf or Faulkner. Virago Modern Classics and New York Review Books are two sources I know of for finding lesser known books/authors. I am certain there are plenty of other publishers, lists, etc.
List is updated 10/15/18 @ 8:17am ESTJust waiting on the new winners that will be announced later today
This week's winners have been added. They may be an especially difficult bunch to assign KIS/BIOs to. Looking forward to all your ideas!-A book from one of the polarizing or close call votes
- A book related to something cold (could be theme, title, author, cover)
- A book featured on an NPR Best Books of the Year list
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BIO: Choose a polarizing or close call prompt you voted against including on the list
BIO: Choose a polarizing or close call prompt that you feel is particularly difficult
BIO: Use a multi-week prompt (requiring you to read multiple books to fill one ATY prompt)
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BIO: Choose from 2018's list only
BIO: Choose from a category/genre that is out of your comfort zone
NPR List BIO: Choose a book from a list that also has the letters N, P, and R in the title or author’s name.
The final two challenge prompts have been chosen. They are :A book greater than 500 pages
A book discovered serendipitously
The second one is for me a freebie but the 500 page book will be interesting to narrow down from my tbr. Do I go with a KIS option and read one of my graphic novel volumes or go BIO with a classic doorstop? Hm, choices choices. I'm curious to see all your kis/bio ideas for these two.
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BIO: Up the requirements to 700+ pages
BIO: Read a book older than 1950 that is 500+ pages
KIS: Read a series or multiple volumes of a book that total 500+ (for example, multiple books in the Hercule Periot series by Agatha Christie)
Stumbled Upon Book:
BIO: A book you had never heard of until you picked it up from the library (or purchased it randomly)
KIS: A book that was recommended to you by friends or Goodreads that you may not have picked up otherwise
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Thanks for making this interesting thread. I shall spend time looking at this more closely. :)
I am a little behind on the list but I will update it and put it into order to match our final 52 week challenge list as soon as I can! My hope is that will be by Monday at the latest.
Updated 10/27/18 @6pmI believe everything is up to date and in the final order. Please let me know if I missed anything or if the formatting is off anywhere. I'm getting a bit cross eyed after staring at the screen and shuffling topics all afternoon! :)
Margaret, that is a very valid point. The short stories I use are always ones that I know are listed on goodreads individually (thank you Levar Burton Reads podcasts!) but I have had times in the past where I wanted to read just one story out of a collection and could not post it on goodreads as such. Anyone else have any ideas?
You could just add the short story onto Goodreads?
You actually aren't supposed to unless it was actually ever published as an individual story. A podcast counts like an audiobook. Anything that doesn't have its own individual isbn # will get deleted by a GR librarian pretty quickly.
Good idea Margaret about using a short story! Some of them are listed in GR. I think the ones I found, though, were all ones that I listened to on Levar Button Reads. You could also read novellas, mid-grade, or a poetry collection. Sometimes I’ll go to the library and just look for really thin books! Surprisingly, I’ve found some good ones by this method.
You could also mark the short story collection as read (assuming it's been published) and make a note to yourself stating which short story you read, so you can keep track. It will mess a bit with your pages read stat, but if you listen to audiobooks it already is (often 1 hour audio is stated as one page).
And as others have stated lots of great picture and children's books. And no, they don't have less quality literary content (they are not all fantastic but that goes for other books as well). Actually the shortness and text-picture interaction means picture books are often awesome. *children's librarian rant over*
Margaret wrote: "Pam wrote: "Good idea Margaret about using a short story! Some of them are listed in GR. I think the ones I found, though, were all ones that I listened to on Levar Button Reads. You could also rea..."Oh, I saw Sea Prayer at my local bookstore a couple weeks ago when it first hit the shelves and I snatched up a copy without even looking at the price. I rarely buy new books (they stock used as well) but I had to have this one. It's so beautiful and touching, heartbreaking.....simply amazing. I hope you enjoyed it too.
Side note: I also will go through the bookstore or even my shelves at home looking for short books. Sometimes with a tough prompt, or during a reading slump, short books are just the best way to get through.
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I threw a ton of YA, dystopia, thrillers, short story collections and Graphic novels on my plans this year. I enjoy them all and it will make it a little easier to have variety.
Since having children, I’ve been purposefully seeking out shorter books and graphic novels because I like having the satisfaction of finishing a story fairly regularly and I have less reading time. I don’t necessarily avoid longer books and I’ve read some 800ish page ones this year, but I like to read a few shorter ones in between anything longer.
Some of the stuff I've done to put a twist on the wedding prompts:24. Book #2 Something New
A book set in a place with "new" in the name — New York, New South Wales, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, New Spain (old name for Mexico I think), etc.
25. Book #3 Something Borrowed
Book about or set in Hong Kong — was "borrowed" by Britain for 99 years. Not sure if any other countries / territories have been in a similar situation
26. Book #4 Something Blue
A book that has a character with red hair (a "bluey")
28. A book related to something cold (could be theme, title, author, cover)
A book whose cover is mainly a "cold" colour (green, blue, violet)
A book which involves knives, daggers, swords (cold steel)
A book about a "cold case"
I have no idea if these are KIS or BIO options, though, sorry! Especially since with the "new" one a book set in New York is for me personally easier to find / access, whereas a book set in PNG or NZ would not be.
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eleen ✨ wrote: "26. Book #4 Something BlueA book that has a character with red hair (a "bluey")"
As a redhead, how is it possible that I did not know that Aussies call us "blueys"?
Also, all of these suggestions are fabulously creative!
Thanks Emily! I definitely agree, now that you've put it that way. BIO for them all!Dalex, I could definitely be wrong (despite being Aussie I grew up 100% overseas) but I don't think it's very common now. If you're interested, I thought this tidbit was neat, re: the origins of "bluey" and more related slang (and thank you too!).
I am thinking of linking the wedding prompts by folk/fairy tales, so: Old folk tales could be The Arabian Nights, The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales etc.
New folk tales: New releases with classic folk tale structure, like The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic (I´ve read that, but there are others).
Borrowed: a book that borrows from a folk tale, like A Court of Thorns and Roses
Blue: This is not so obvious, but folk tales with a blue cover or blue in the title or something like that.
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KIS: Read from the "Best" category (of winners from the past 10 years)
BIO: Read only from the 2018 nominees/winners
°~Amy~° wrote: "For those of you who are concerned that any one topic (or all of them!) might be "too easy" or "WAY too difficult" we have come up with some ideas to help you out. For topics you might want to ma..."
Sorry to be nasty pointing out something... but, and I quote;
"If you are feeling like a topic is too difficult to fill, the BIO options are the "Bring It On" option, for when you really really want to challenge yourself"
Should it not say... If you are feeling like a topic is too EASY to fill.... etc etc ?
Getting my head around it. ;)
It looks a terrific challenge !! Can't wait ! Thanks for creating it.
Ruth wrote: "°~Amy~° wrote: "For those of you who are concerned that any one topic (or all of them!) might be "too easy" or "WAY too difficult" we have come up with some ideas to help you out. For topics you ..."
Yes, just an error when cutting, pasting and editing the lead-in paragraphs to adapt to the new board placement. I will edit it when I get back on my laptop.
I doubt I will actually use this next year, but I'm going to enjoy writing out a list of books that fits all the difficult prompts.
I'm getting ready for the 2019 challenge after thoroughly dropping the ball in 2018. I'm really liking the idea of KIS options for the more challenging books! I don't mind getting out of my comfort zone sometimes, but some of the sometimes its really hard to find a book I want to read for a category.
Your last BIO!!! Do you have a plan other than this one or is this "PLAN"!?!?!28. BIO - Story is related to surviving the cold or living in the Arctic Circle/Antarctica.
Celeste wrote: "Your last BIO!!! Do you have a plan other than this one or is this "PLAN"!?!?!28. BIO - Story is related to surviving the cold or living in the Arctic Circle/Antarctica."
Sorry it took me a bit to get to it Celeste, but your ideas have now been added to the list. Thank you for those!
As far as the plan from here, I think this post will remain at the top of the main 2019 folder where it is now so everyone can access it whenever they like. I hope it comes in useful for people. It was really fun creating the list either way!
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Emily wrote: "Thanks for starting it, Amy! I've already used it in my planning!"Oh that is great Emily. I'm glad it is useful!
I just found out that 2019 is actually the International Year of the Periodic Table!!Here are some ideas which I stole from my dad's new 2019 calendar:
• The word carbon is derived from the Latin carbo or “coal” / “charcoal” (Internet says both coal and charcoal).
• The word sodium is derived from the Arabic word suda which means headache. (Because “sodium compounds were used in early periods for its headache relieving properties”.)
• The word phosphorus comes from the Greek word "phosphoros", meaning "bringer of light". So potentially a book with religious themes (Lucifer?) or Venus (the planet), would fit this prompt.
• For Venus the goddess, “copper gets its name from the Latin word Cuprum, meaning from the island of Cyprus. In the Ancient Roman world (whose common language was Latin), most copper was mined in Cyprus. Copper used to be the symbol for the Roman goddess Venus, to whom the island of Cyprus was sacred.”
• For platinum: “the metal looks like silver, and the Spaniards at first thought it an inferior sort of silver, hence the name platina . It was first obtained from Spanish colonies in Mexico and Colombia, brought to Europe in 1735, and identified as an element 1741.” — so perhaps a book set in Mexico, or in Colombia.
Some more word origins here. Originally posted on the prompt thread.
eleen ✨ wrote: "I just found out that 2019 is actually the International Year of the Periodic Table!!Here are some ideas which I stole from my dad's new 2019 calendar:
• The word carbon is derived from the Lati..."
Wow, great info Eleen. Thank you!
Looked at my comment and totally wasn't clear. Are you going to put your books read on this plan, which seems now to an idea holder for the whole group? Or do you have another plan that will have your personal reads on it?
Celeste wrote: "Looked at my comment and totally wasn't clear. Are you going to put your books read on this plan, which seems now to an idea holder for the whole group? Or do you have another plan that will have y..."I have my own plan on another post. This one is, as you said just ideas to help others create their lists. :)
I made a change to the Goodreads Choice Award KIS/BIO. For KIS I would encourage people to choose from the Best of the Best nominees since there were SO many of them and they span every year of the awards. For the BIO, I would AVOID the Best of the Best category because it does make it so much easier to find a book.
I hope everyone is enjoying their 2019 planning!
This should make everything more manageable -- and fun. Thanks
Around the Year in 52 Books
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Dennis Lehane (other topics)Kazuo Ishiguro (other topics)
Guy Gavriel Kay (other topics)
Jim Butcher (other topics)
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KIS: stars/sun on the cover
BIO: Title/Subtitle has astronomical term AND the cover is astronomical
BIO: Name of a constellation in the title
Before 1950:
BIO: Nonfiction before 1950
KIS: Children's book before 1950