2019 Bookshelf Rereads

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

You've touched upon the bane of Anna's life! She, as spreadsheet wizard, had made a workaround. When she gets back, I'll nudge her to post the leaders :)

[Anthony]

Thanks!

[Gabi]

On a tablet it doesn't work.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Google re-e-e-eally doesn't like having ~150 options on a poll lol. But it's the only site we've found that even allows us to do that, so, sorry! It's suboptimal. We're always looking for something better.

[Anna]

I’ll post when I’m back home!

[Chris]

What is the max for the Goodreads polls?

I was thinking of some scheme where a random number (e.g., 20) of eligible books from the shelf are put on the poll, and people vote on those. I know that GR polls can handle at least 12, so if 20+ isn't possible, maybe 12 SF in one poll and 12 fantasy in another poll. Random without replacement would be like shuffling a deck of cards, so over time, every shelf book would get on the poll once before any book repeated.

Another possibility is using a GR list. I know that lists aren't limited to group members, but most lists have few voters, so it might work. We could put a statement asking people to vote only if they are in this group and are committing to read the books they vote for, if those books win.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

We did think about GR's capabilities before we took it offsite. I think the max is pretty high for GR polls, the issue is that you can only vote for 1. So, the top 6 might be pretty low in the votes and guarantee only 1 book per person's interest. If we do a smaller poll, it's the same issue but with the possibility of very little interest. The list would have to be reset every time we voted which would be...a huge PITA.

The google poll creates an "instant runoff" type deal, so we know which books are actually most appealing, rather than just the first book to call out to you. The results are ugly and it's offsite, but it gives us a better pulse without hours and hours of work multiple times a year.

GR keeps saying they'll allow multiple votes per poll at some point, and if they do, even if we have to limit it to some number of options per poll, that'd be infinitely more helpful.

[Anna]

This is where we're currently sitting:


Ancillary Justice 14
Kindred 13
Natural History of Dragons 13
Hundred Thousand Kingdoms 12
Lathe of Heaven 12
Lions of Al-Rassan 12
Nine Princes in Amber 12
Wild Seed 12
Summer Tree 11
Alif the Unseen 10
Flowers for Algernon 10
Altered Carbon 9
Black Company 9
City of Stairs 9
Cold Magic 9
Darker Shade of Magic 9
Doomsday Book 9
Embassytown 9
Forever War 9
His Majesty's Dragon 9
Last Wish 9
Leviathan Wakes 9
Perdido Street Station 9
Red Mars 9
Uprooted 9

[Anthony]

Thanks! On my tablet, I can’t see half of these titles in the results screen, so this is super helpful. We are picking 6 now, correct? What would you do in the case of ties?

[Anna]

Yes, top 6! If there are ties, I think we'll discuss it here to see which one has most interest, since not everyone is voting.

[Anthony]

And then how does it get determined which books are read in which month?

[Anna]

The mods will suggest a tentative schedule, and we'll finalize in the BR thread. Or here, but in any case, everyone gets a say, and we'll go with what suits most people.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

The tentative schedule usually tries to balance book length, genre, and seriousness of subject matter. So, we wouldn't want to put, say, Jonathan Strange and Seveneves in the same month as that'd be almost 2000 pages of reading which is just too silly.

We decided to let y'all weigh in this year to try Chris' brilliant "treat it like a BR" idea.

[Anthony]

Sounds most excellent!

[Silvana]

Anna wrote: "The schedule will be posted by the end of the month, but I’ll post the winners here as soon as we close voting."

Got it. I want to make sure I would not commit to too many BRs at the period just in case my picks win (I see two in the top six now)

Edit: well, now it's only one ;p

[Dawn F]

Oh, thanks for the list, Anna! I was also annoyed I couldn’t see the preliminary result on my phone and kept forgetting to check when I have my laptop.

[Wen]

I finally reset the password and voted…

[Beth]

Dawn wrote: "Lol sorry for spamming everyone’s feed, seems you can’t quietly and unobtrusively add books anywhere 😅"

If you're doing a lot of library wrangling, you can go into your profile and press the X next to whatever entries you don't want to have show on others' feeds.

One of my choices is in the top 6. I'm so excited.

[Tomislav]

Is the plan to select the top 6, or the top 3 each of scifi and fantasy?

[Anna]

Top 6 is the plan.

[Anna]

Some changes so here's an update:


Ancillary Justice 17
Hundred Thousand Kingdoms 14
Darker Shade of Magic 13
Flowers for Algernon 13
Kindred 13
Lathe of Heaven 13
Natural History of Dragons 13
Wild Seed 13
Alif the Unseen 12
Doomsday Book 12
Lions of Al-Rassan 12
Summer Tree 12
Altered Carbon 11
Cold Magic 11
His Majesty's Dragon 11
Last Wish 11
Nine Princes in Amber 11
Black Company 10
Childhood's End 10
City of Stairs 10
Color of Magic 10
Red Mars 10
Caliban's War 9
Cat's Cradle 9
Day of the Triffids 9
Embassytown 9
Forever War 9
Foundation 9
In the Night Garden 9
Leviathan Wakes 9
Perdido Street Station 9
Prince of Thorns 9
Ship of Magic 9
Terror 9
Uprooted 9

[Jemppu]

Anna wrote: "...Flowers for Algernon..."

I'm so giddy for this doing well. For some fifteen gosh-darn years I've been meaning to read this!

[Anthony]

I think I was around 15 years old when I read it. I LOVED it.

[Jemppu]

Anthony wrote: "I think I was around 15 years old when I read it. I LOVED it."

This is most promising. Most promising. It's starting to feel burning hot in my Library now. So long I've put it off... am I going to fold now 15 minutes before the possible RR?

[Alex]

Am I allowed to vote for six? I voted for six.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

I think I voted for 20 or so. 6 shows remarkable restraint or a life well read 😉

[Rachel]

Oooh I’ve still got one in the top 6! Yay

[Alex]

I was trying to keep it to the number I thought I could read in addition to new books.

[Dawn F]

@Anthony @Jemppu I have the ebook ready so regardless of how this voting goes, bring on the BR!"

[YouKneeK]

Alex wrote: "I was trying to keep it to the number I thought I could read in addition to new books."

Since only six will win, it really doesn’t matter how many you vote for if you have time to read 6 because you’ll never get stuck with more than that. :)

I voted for 28 myself! And none of them are in the top 6, but I’m still holding out hope. On the most recent list Anna posted, the only ones I voted for are Embassytown and Terror. I’ve read 22 out of the 35 books on that list. There are a couple series starters that I might consider joining in on if they win, depending on where they end up on the schedule. I’m going to finish Hobb’s Elderlings series before I read any other series.

Regarding the comments on Flowers for Algernon, I read the original short story in 7th or 8th grade and loved it. I read the full-length novel about 2 years ago and really enjoyed that also. Reading it as an adult gave me a much different perspective on the story than what I’d had as a child, maybe partly because the full-length version fleshed out the middle parts more.

[Dawn F]

I did wonder why there were two versions and now I know! Should I read the longer version, then? Or both? Knowing myself I’ll most likely read both versions 😅

[YouKneeK]

LOL :) Somebody who read them both as an adult might be better qualified to answer. I felt like I got a lot more out of the longer version, but I was also about 30 years older. :)

[Alex]

I read Flowers for Algernon at some point in high school. I remember enjoying it immensely, but I've forgotten a lot of the details. I'd love to read it again!

[Jemppu]

Dawn wrote: "@Anthony @Jemppu I have the ebook ready so regardless of how this voting goes, bring on the BR!""

Yass!

[Meredith]

Nothings stopping anyone from going back to the poll and voting for MOAR books.

just sayin'

[Tomislav]

My perspective is that I've already read 94 of the 136 books on the bookshelf tagged as "sci-fi", leaving 42. Of those 42, 31 are in the poll, and I voted for all 31.

Only one of them made it onto the list of top 35 vote-getters. Maybe my remaining 42 books will never bubble up under this mechanism because they are just not that good. I would like to find good new science fiction reads, any ideas?

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Tomislav wrote: "My perspective is that I've already read 94 of the 136 books on the bookshelf tagged as "sci-fi", leaving 42. Of those 42, 31 are in the poll, and I voted for all 31.

Only one of them made it onto..."

Mining the polls we put together gives ~5 a month (albeit themed every other month of course). Otherwise, I'd head to the recommendations folder and help narrow down what it is you'd like to find in a book! I'd also be happy to link you to some of the websites I use when I'm looking up ideas for books for the random polls if you don't get the answers you want and are stuck researching (or like researching!)

[Anna]

Update:


Flowers for Algernon 18
Ancillary Justice 17
Darker Shade of Magic 16
Hundred Thousand Kingdoms 16
Kindred 15
Color of Magic 14

Alif the Unseen 13
Doomsday Book 13
Lathe of Heaven 13
Natural History of Dragons 13
Summer Tree 13
Wild Seed 13

Altered Carbon 12
His Majesty's Dragon 12
Lions of Al-Rassan 12
Nine Princes in Amber 12

Black Company 11
Childhood's End 11
Cold Magic 11
Day of the Triffids 11
Foundation 11
Last Wish 11
Leviathan Wakes 11
Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet 11
World War Z 11

Cat's Cradle 10
City of Stairs 10
Dispossessed 10
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 10
In the Night Garden 10
Red Mars 10
Ship of Magic 10

[Dawn F]

Oooh, since Flowers of Algernon is s possibility, which version are we talking about? It looks like there’s both a short story and a novel version and I have no idea which one I should go for.

[Anna]

The reread is for the novel which is on the group bookshelf. Obviously it's fine to discuss the short story too, if someone has read both.

[DivaDiane]

I just found this thread and VOTED!! I checked all the books that I currently own and have not already read, which isn’t to say I wouldn’t join in discussion or even reread (but So. Many. Unread. Books) if none of my choices make it in.

In fact, I’m thinking Flowers for Algernon will def get a reread one way or another. I read the short in 7th grade and it blew my mind. Read the novel in my 20s and saw the movie in my 30s. It’s due for a reread.

[Gabi]

Great (not!) Flowers for Algernon seems to have the same fate as Word for world... I know, I owned the book once, read it two times, but can't remember enough - and can't find it anymore. Seems that during my moves all the wrong books got lost.

[Tomislav]

Allison wrote: "Mining the polls we put together gives ~5 a month (albeit themed every other month of course). Otherwise, I'd head to the recommendations folder and help narrow down what it is you'd like to find in a book! I'd also be happy to link you to some of the websites I use when I'm looking up ideas for books for the random polls if you don't get the answers you want and are stuck researching (or like researching!)"

Well, I'll gratefully look at whatever resources you are willing to share. I have found that the polls for bookshelf reads and for books of the month contain mostly re-reads for me. Sometimes I like to re-read but it's not the same as new-to-me. Rosewater, for example, was a great find!

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

You bet! It might be a little because I have to track 'em all down again, but I'll start an email with all the resources I can muster :) Stand by! And feel free to use the recommendations folder! I know some folks have had great luck with that.

[Anna]

Update:


Ancillary Justice 18
Darker Shade of Magic 18
Flowers for Algernon 18
Hundred Thousand Kingdoms 18
Altered Carbon 17
Kindred 16

Color of Magic 15

Alif the Unseen 14
Doomsday Book 14
Natural History of Dragons 14

His Majesty's Dragon 13
Lathe of Heaven 13
Leviathan Wakes 13
Summer Tree 13
Wild Seed 13

Day of the Triffids 12
Lions of Al-Rassan 12
Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet 12
Nine Princes in Amber 12

Black Company 11
Cat's Cradle 11
Childhood's End 11
City of Stairs 11
Cold Magic 11
Dispossessed 11
Foundation 11
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 11
In the Night Garden 11
Last Wish 11
Library at Mount Char 11
Red Mars 11
Station Eleven 11
World War Z 11

[Anna]

Not much change, but this is where we're at with one week left to vote:


Ancillary Justice 20
Darker Shade of Magic 19
Altered Carbon 18
Flowers for Algernon 18
Hundred Thousand Kingdoms 18

Color of Magic 16
Kindred 16

Doomsday Book 15

Alif the Unseen 14
City of Bones 14
His Majesty's Dragon 14
Library at Mount Char 14
Natural History of Dragons 14
Wild Seed 14

Cat's Cradle 13
Day of the Triffids 13
Foundation 13
Lathe of Heaven 13
Leviathan Wakes 13
Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet 13
Nine Princes in Amber 13
Summer Tree 13

Black Company 12
Elantris 12
Lions of Al-Rassan 12
World War Z 12

[Anna]

Voting will close sometime during Monday, so make sure you get your votes in before midnight on Sunday (GR time).

Here's the current sitch:

Ancillary Justice 21
Altered Carbon 20
Darker Shade of Magic 19
Hundred Thousand Kingdoms 19
Flowers for Algernon 18
Kindred 18

Color of Magic 16
Doomsday Book 16

Alif the Unseen 15
His Majesty's Dragon 15
Wild Seed 15

City of Bones 14
Library at Mount Char 14
Natural History of Dragons 14
Summer Tree 14

Cat's Cradle 13
Day of the Triffids 13
Elantris 13
Foundation 13
Lathe of Heaven 13
Leviathan Wakes 13
Lions of Al-Rassan 13
Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet 13
Nine Princes in Amber 13

[Silvana]

Cool, I have Ancillary Justice in line for January as well.

[Gabi]

I finally found my "Flowers for Algernon" version! The German title is "Charlie" - No wonder I didn't see it the first two times on my bookshelf.

[Tomislav]

"Charly" is the name of the film that was adapted from "Flowers for Algernon."