[2019] Voting for 7th Mini-Poll

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

Voting is now open!

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 August 10
- One vote per poll per user

- see the suggestions thread for more details on some entries.

Helpful Lists:
Walter Scott prize: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walte...
Bill Gates blog: https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books#All

Poll Entries:
1. A "light" book (easy, fun, entertaining) and a "heavy" book (deep, thought provoking, or dark)
2. A book with a character who has the same personality type as you
3. A work of social/political satire
4. A book recommended by Bill Gates
5. A book by an author who has a form of punctuation in their name
6. A book from a new/emerging genre (Cli-fi, bizzaro, interactive fiction...)
7. A book in which a character uses a disguise or a false/fake identity
8. 2 books from 2 different sides of an issue/event/perspective
9. A Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction winner or shortlist
10. A book related to food (i.e. title, cover, plot, etc.)
11. A book written by a Far East Asian author or set in a Far East Asian country
12. A book about a relationship other than romantic (parent/child, sibling, friendship, human/animal, etc.)
13. A Bildungsroman (coming-of-age story)
14. A book related to one of the 12 Zodiac Chinese Animals (title, cover, subject)
15. A book with a monster or "monstrous" character

Survey Link

[Rosemary]

The link says it's just a preview and won't save our responses ...?
Fixed now, thanks Laura!

[°~Amy~°]

Rosemary wrote: "The link says it's just a preview and won't save our responses ...?"

I also got that message

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

I was having some weird technical issues. Should be working now.

Sorry about that!

[Chinook]

This is a great group. I only marked one bottom. I was torn on my last slot for tops, though. But overall, I’d be happy with any of these.

[Ana A]

I couldn't even choose a bottom for this poll.

[Jillian]

I think, I’m only going to put one in my bottom. There are a few others that I don’t care for but they would be doable. I’m trying to limit my bottom votes this year just to suggestions I really don’t like. I have narrowed my top down to five. I have a clear top three but there are two that are tied for my 4th spot so I’ve got to think a bit before voting.

[Sabrina]

Might not even vote for my own suggestion lol. Nearly all of these suggestions are awesome!

[Liz]

Agreed. These suggestions are great!

[Sofia]

I had some time and did some research about the threat “A book related to one of the 12 Zodiac Chinese Animals”. There are tons of books with those animals and some are far more popular than others (oxen, goats and roosters were hard to find), but I think that is a very open prompt.

Rats
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...
https://www.theguardian.com/books/200...

Tiger
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...

Rabbit
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...
http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/blog...

Dragon
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Snake
https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_...

Horse
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Goat
https://karlwebster.com/a-brief-histo...

Monkey
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

Roaster
http://www.chickensinliterature.com

Dog
https://www.bookbub.com/blog/2018/02/...

Pig
https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...

https://bookriot.com/2017/11/09/100-m...

[Rachel]

I guess I'm in the minority here, since I found it hard to find a Top 4 until the very end, when two of my favourite prompts from previous polls were suggested again. Most of the prompts are ones I'd be okay with, but nothing that I strongly wanted. I had my Bottom 4 picked long before my Top in this case.

[Jillian]

I figured out my top 4 though I doubt some of them will make the top. I also decided to have 4 bottom votes while 3 of them I could do, I’d rather not. Now the long wait for results.

[Erica]

This is the first time I didn’t put any in the bottom! Great ideas!

[Lisa (the.running.bookworm)]

Made my vote, but after seeing Sofia’s list re: Chinese zodiac animals feel I should have voted that in my top now. I was torn and went for something else. So many good prompts this round!

[Anastasia]

At first this vote looked difficult but after writing the prompts out it was easier to choose.
The ones I voted for will probably not be popular though

[Steve]

A couple of links to the lists: Here is the Walter Scott shortlists and winners: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_...

And here's a compilation of Bill Gates' suggestions (it's missing the ones from this summer it appears): https://qz.com/1285629/99-books-recom...

[Clare]

I’m with you Rachel. I did not like most of the prompts this time!

[Bryony, Circumnavigation Mod]

Thanks for the links Steve. I think Bill Gates’ blog has his most up to date suggestions if people want to see the latest recommendations too: https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books#All

[Steve]

I'm looking to be in the minority, too. I had only 3 tops but 4 bottoms. After seeing the lists, I thought the Walter Scott prize prompt will be too limiting as it's only been in existence since 2010 so we're only looking at 57 books to choose from it looks like.

I also voted no to the "same personality as you" prompt because, let's face it, a book with me as the main character would suck :)

[Nadine in NY]

I wasn't loving these categories either. A few I strongly NOPED, but I could live with most of them, I guess.

The personality one seems to lend itself to ensemble casts. Most of the books in those links are big series with lots of characters. My personality type is shared by mostly jerks! Gandalf, but also Saruman, Draco Malloy, Prof Snape, and, thankfully, Rupert Giles (who was always my favorite!), so if that one wins I guess I could read a Buffy comic.

[Cheri]

I thought this was a really good list and I hope ones that don't make it get re-nominated. This is the first time I've put only 2 in my bottom list. Yay!

[Rachelnyc]

I actually liked or at least didn't strongly dislike any of the categories this time.

For top, I went with 2 books from each perspective of an issue, Food related, Far East Asian author or setting and Monster. It seems most of my tops have been polarizing recently so we'll see if that happens again.

I almost didn't choose any bottoms since even the ones I didn't love would be relatively easy to fill but I chose the author with punctuation since I am not a fan of arbitrary author/title prompts and the coming of age since I have had my fill of those.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I was concerned about the personality test prompt, mostly because the lists I found were all ensemble lists (like all of the characters from Harry Potter ranked). And as an ISTJ, I would feel not quite precise in using one of these books to count for the prompt unless the main character was my personality type (and they never are... I'm usually the smart sidekick... or Snape.)

But I found this blog and it helped me! I still don't think I will be voting for it, because my choices are so limited, but I'm not going to downvote it either.

https://parchmentgirl.com/istj/ (That's my type, but she has links to all the personalities at the bottom of this post.)

[dalex]

You can also see a list of the Bill Gates recommendations
HERE. This website organizes the books by topic. (The blog doesn't have a list, just links to blog posts about the books.)

And THIS is the gr list for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I love historical fiction, but I downvoted the Walter Scott prompt because the list is so small. I had two DNF and 2 I plan on reading this year on the list, but that’s all.

I would have absolutely voted for a historical fiction genre prompt, so in the coming rounds, if this one doesn’t get on the list this round, maybe we can find a historical fiction prompt that offers a bit more choice.

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

I knew pretty quickly what my top 4 were this week. I had a clear bottom 3 as well. I debated for a while putting something else in the bottom but decided not to. Everything else on the list I'd be ok with if it makes it.

[dalex]

This round of suggestions just really didn't work for me. I had four prompts that were absolute definite bottoms and two of my top four were repeats from previous rounds. Oh well. As long as my bottoms don't come out on top I guess that's all I'm hoping for at this point.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

dalex, I felt the same! I love the monster prompt, and the fake identity one seems so intriguing to try and find books for (since you obviously don’t want to spoil any twist you may come across).

My other two tops were the light and heavy books (because I love following up one with the other) and the relationship other than romantic (because I loved Firefly Lane and I want to read more books about friendship).

[dalex]

The Walter Scott Prize was originally my suggestion and I honestly had no idea the list was so short because I love the prize so much. All of the books I've read from the list were 4 or 5 Stars and I have at least 2/3 of the remaining books on my TBR List. But I can see why people would find the list too limiting, especially if one doesn't like historical fiction or that particular style of historical fiction.

[Steve]

Emily wrote: "dalex, I felt the same! I love the monster prompt, and the fake identity one seems so intriguing to try and find books for (since you obviously don’t want to spoil any twist you may come across).
..."

I’d put disguise in my bottom for that reason actually! I feel like it either lends itself to an undercover spy/detective novel (which isn’t my cup of tea) or a book being spoiled. Or a Shakespeare comedy.

[Chinook]

dalex wrote: "The Walter Scott Prize was originally my suggestion and I honestly had no idea the list was so short because I love the prize so much. All of the books I've read from the list were 4 or 5 Stars and..."

It’s a short list, but since I assume it’s going to be the best of the genre, that doesn’t bother me so much. I used to read a lot more historical fiction about a decade ago, but for some reason it just doesn’t seem to be something I pick lately, so I’d be happy if that one won. If I feel I’m not reading a particular genre, I do tend to look at award lists to dip my toe back in.

[°~Amy~°]

I struggled to narrow down a bottom 4 and struggled even longer with picking out a top 4. I think I decided on East Asian, the disquise, monsters and the zodiac for the top.

We seem to be all over the place on this poll already. It will be interesting to see how it turns out.

[Rachel]

I'm wondering if we'll have less polarizing topics this time around, since several people have already commented about not having any Bottom 4 at all. It would be great to get a poll with 4 results.

[Perri]

I"m in awe of you with the fortitude to not use all your votes. I have to fill them all. If I had to pick top and bottom 14 I would do it! :)

[Pam]

I didn't down vote the Walter Scott Prize since there are 3 books on it that are on my book shelf. But, I feel that it is too limiting for many people. For another week's poll, I would go for a historical fiction prompt that has won ANY prize OR with some other parameter (e.g. specific continent or time frame) OR tying it to another book you have read.

I think we have a nice mix to choose from this week! It's anyone's guess what will go through.

[Jill]

3, I definitely didn't want , but found another I I'm not keen on. 4, I would like to see , would have been stuck if the last two suggestions had not have made the list in time.
I too, didn't like this poll as much as the others we've had.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I think this poll definitely had some interesting and unique options. I didn't feel super strongly about them, but I generally like the title and cover and genre prompts more than the character and content prompts. Even my bottom votes are doable if they get in, so I'm looking forward to the outcome of this poll.

[Angie]

Voted. I had one definite NOPE and two others that I was meh about. I downvoted the Walter Scott one. While I like historical fiction sometimes, the choices seemed really limited and not that appealing to me.

Emily wrote: "I was concerned about the personality test prompt, mostly because the lists I found were all ensemble lists (like all of the characters from Harry Potter ranked). And as an ISTJ, I would feel not q..."

Thanks for the link. I found the MB personality one a bit overwhelming. This gives me some ideas if it goes through.

[Sophie]

I kinda like when I’m not following the suggestion thread, then reading the survey is like opening Christmas presentable “ooh”, “aaah”, “urgh”, “hard, but interesting” 😄

I voted for the Far East Asia prompt to help with my Around the World challenge, for the personality type because as a psychologist I couldn’t help it and for the fake/false identity to get more character-based prompts.

The new/emerging genre was the one inciting the “hard but interesting” reaction. I like different and trends are always at their best before they become trends, aren’t they?

I down voted the satyre because I hated the few I’ve read, the punctuation in the author’s name because I think we have enough author based prompts, the coming-of-age story because although I’m sure they’re not all YA, I guess most are and that doesn’t appeal much to me and the monster character because to be honest I’m a bit fed up to see it.

As a side-note, I think a resubmission has far more chances to win if it comes back later in the voting process than 3 polls in a row.

[dalex]

Sophie wrote: "I down voted....the coming-of-age story because although I’m sure they’re not all YA, I guess most are and that doesn’t appeal much to me."

Actually, there are a ton of literary fiction, historical fiction, and classics that are coming-of-age stories. I hope people aren't thinking it has to be YA because that is very not true.

[Pam]

When suggesting a Bildungsroman, I was thinking of classics like Of Human Bondage and The Magic Mountain, Gone with the Wind, rather than YA. Although both work. I see the genre as being more than what we now think of as “coming of age”. (That phrase was added to my suggestion for clarification.) It’s a story of the character’s moral and/or spiritual growth. Wiki has a list of examples, most if not all are considered classics, and others like Middlesex are popular contemporary novels.

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

I apologize if the addition made it seem more YA. That definitely wasn't the intention. I just know I had no clue what it was until I googled it so I didn't want it to be down-voted just because it was unfamiliar term.

[Pam]

That’s ok Laura! I know it’s not a common term, that’s why I added a definition. Coming of Age is commonly used to describe it. I just wanted to point out that it’s a much broader category than a lot of people might think, including myself. When I looked at Wiki I was surprised at the book examples. So many good ones!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

For those wanting a link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bildung...

There are so many books on that list that I want to read! I didn't vote for it (it was my #5), but I'm hoping it makes the list.

[Katie]

I remember learning about bildungsroman in college. I have some weird prejudice against "coming of age" stories, so if something's billed as that, I'm usually turned off. I was ready to put it in my bottom 4, but then I looked at the wikipedia page and realized I had a lot of options, just from that list alone, so I ended up neither voting for or against it.

[Steve]

Bildungsroman was the topic for the 2013 AP Lit third question. You can see their list of suggestions for the students on the final page of this PDF: http://media.collegeboard.com/digital...

Since it’s AP they’re of the classic variety.

[Rachelnyc]

Thanks for clarifying that Pam. Now I feel bad for downvoting Bildungsroman! I understand that not all coming of age stories are YA but just the term "coming of age" rubs me the wrong way.

I don't know if it's just me but the phrase just seems so trite and overused. If it's not chosen this week perhaps it should be resubmitted using the spiritual/moral growth terminology? I know for me that would have appealed more.

[Peter]

I voted for the Bildungsroman but I don't see it as just YA. While coming of age definitely skews towards YA, I think a key difference is that it's actually about the "formative years" (I think the original poster mentioned this). Formative years don't necessarily have to be during teenage years but refer to the time when one develops their beliefs and values and often the experiences that shape who they are as a person. I tend to enjoy books like that despite not reading many. I read The Caine Mutiny last year and ended up loving it. It would fall under the concept of the main character's formative years but it is definitely not YA.

[Sophie]

Thanks for your view on the Bildungsroman guys, I regret putting it in my bottom votes now 😒 At least I have started a discussion on this prompt!

[dalex]

Sophie wrote: "Thanks for your view on the Bildungsroman guys, I regret putting it in my bottom votes now."

Whenever I think I might be persuaded or dissuaded about a prompt, I usually wait a few days before voting to see if discussion will pull me one way or the other. I generally have pretty strong opinions about my bottom votes but often discussion will cause me to move a prompt from 'maybe" to 'yes' or vice versa.