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[2020] Voting for 3rd Mini-Poll
Here’s some examples for number 17 also if you want to add it to the main prompt! I love this one and will definitely be upvoting it!! 
There are so many good prompts in this one I’m gonna need the discussion to help me narrow down my top picks! I love so many of them:
- Experiment
- Other-worldly presence
- Time
- Comfort Zone
- Humorous fiction
- NASA mission
- nostalgic
- friendship
- bad idea
- Authors name larger than title
Yes, this is a very good crop. Much more inspired than the previous one in my opinion... and I would love to see many of them!
The idea for the weapon prompt was brought up in the Wild Discussion and there was some concern expressed that people would think it would be difficult to find something in a genre other than mystery or fantasy. But, as I shared in that thread, there are definitely some books with weapons on the cover in other genres, such as these that have guns...
and this one with a spear (or something)....
Or you could do a book with a weapon in the title that is not actually referencing a weapon such as...
A Spear of Summer Grass
The Joy Luck Club
The Flamethrowers
The Poison Tree
Just something to think about as you consider your voting choices! :)
There is flexibility in the food prompt. In addition to the titles which contain a food word in them or books with food pictured on the cover, there is the option of food memoirs, novels like Cooking for Picasso, Elizabeth Wells' teatime mysteries or Laura Childs' Tea Shop mysteries, or that most quintessential food book the cookbook.
I feel like #7 (A book set in a scarcely populated area) is going to be difficult to research. Anyone have ideas?
I also don't like the prompt where the author's name is bigger than the title. It makes me think of authors whose books sell because their name is on it, and then it makes me wonder if it's even really that good!! I read a Jodi Picoult book and it was good, but it wasn't THAT good. And every time I see James Patterson I roll my eyes and feel sorry for the dude that wrote the book with him who won't really get any credit. Am I the only one that feels that way?
Nicole wrote: "I feel like #7 (A book set in a scarcely populated area) is going to be difficult to research. Anyone have ideas?"There's a whole list here: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
It doesn't surprise that I've read the first five books on the list and another 12 out of the first hundred. I would have no problem with this prompt! :-)
This may be the first time that I vote for 8 prompts with no down votes. Even at that, it will be hard to choose!
Nothing I hate which is great. Although the nostalgia prompt feels like I’ve done it relatively recently - the perils of doing multiple reading challenges each year. I’m slowly reading my way around the world so the global cities (Dubai since I haven’t read UAE yet) and population under a million appeal for that. But I worry about difficulties finding books for the small countries. I live in New Zealand and am surprised how difficult it is to find books by Pacific Island authors in the library system. I’ll definitely vote for the child’s perspective. Food and friendship should be easy for me to fill if they get selected. Not sure if I’ll vote for them or not. Today they feel too easy and I’m possibly feelings my perverse. Good thing I can’t vote just yet😉
I guess I'm in the minority. I have about an equal number of prompts for Top votes and Bottom votes right now. I generally find I'm not interested in any prompts that are focused on geography, and this batch has quite a few of those. I'm not necessarily downvoting all or even any of them since they are still possible to do, but it's not something that I tend to gravitate toward.
Nothing I would dread but I would love the NASA one (who knew there had been so many missions) and the experiment and the sparse/rural area. So many on my TBR for all those and it is getting out of control at 500 (on GR alone never mind the ones on my shelves I haven't read yet).
First reaction, I'll upvote:Latin American author
NASA mission
Friendship
I like the location ones too. Global cities is as easy or hard as you want it to be (not a year goes by where I don't read books set in London). I like rural settings too or I could use that to fit in some nature writing. Non-fic about a place is great too. These could all really help read the world folks!
I also like otherworldly presence and experiment.
I don't think the author/title size one is that limiting to commercial bestsellers. Had a quick look on my TBR and they range from Booker prize shortlisters, modern classics, YA, fantasy, non-fiction... I know that Leigh Bardugo's first adult book will have her name in huge font. I'm probably not voting for it but I wouldn't mind it for those reasons.
Actually I don't even think I need to downvote anything this time.
Serendipity wrote: "I live in New Zealand and am surprised how difficult it is to find books by Pacific Island authors in the library system."I used to live in Auckland and am still subscribed at the library there and I was also quite surprised to see the lack of books (mostly ebooks) by Pacific Islanders. If they're not in Auckland, where would they be?!? 😰
Pam wrote: "This may be the first time that I vote for 8 prompts with no down votes. Even at that, it will be hard to choose!"
Same here!
I really like a lot of these prompts (bad idea, friendship, children's perspective, otherworldly presence, weapon, time, rural).Weirdly, I have six books that would work for the rabbit prompt! :lol: I added them to my TBR List when looking for a book for this year's Chinese Zodiac prompt.
The population with less than a million seems very difficult. I looked up some book ideas over on Around the World in 80 Books and there are options but they seem to be mostly obscure books that I'm not interested in.
I do not like the non-fiction one or the humorous one because I don't read non-fiction or funny books. I don't know that I will downvote them, though. If they make it on the list, I'd probably just use a wildcard or something like I did when they were part of the 2018 challenge.
As it stands at the moment, I have 8 to upvote and none that I want to downvote. That's never happened before. I like:
Child's Perspective
Experiment
otherworldly
time
NASA
population < a million (though I do know from my Around the World research that these are a challenge)
Bad idea
Latin America (also need these for around the World)
I know that I am in the minority, but only two prompts look good to me. Sparsely populated setting, which can include fantasy. space or small towns, and a book that makes you nostalgic. The last can be a mood read that does not need to be planned. I am not really interested in writers who sell with their name and not content. The Latin authors I have read I do not like. Doing something you know is a bad idea is the plot of most books. Most books take place in large well known cities. I really dislike the rabbit prompt.
NASA maybe interesting, just feels like a giveaway after looking at the list of names. Almost anything can fit.
Sorry to be the downer this time.
Anastasia wrote: "Doing something you know is a bad idea is the plot of most books."I think this says more about what books you're drawn to than the general selection available. I read mostly books about people who are either going along in their everyday life and something bad happens to them they have to deal with, or people who go on a quest to rid the world of evil (I suppose a bad idea in terms of safety, but not a bad idea by any of my definitions).
I actually tend to avoid books that make me go 'why would the character even do that?' when I read the synopsis, though that's not enough to make me down vote the prompt. I think if it gets through, it will be non-obnoxious nudge outside my comfort zone.
WRT the rural setting prompt, a few books come to mind: Montana 1948 by Larry Watson, Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury, and Moonshadows by Julie Weston, a 1920s mystery set in a small Idaho town. For this prompt, I would probably read a book and then realize that it fits the prompt, which is what I wind up doing most of the time anyway. The more I think about this prompt, the more I like it! These types of books could possibly fit the nostalgic prompt also, which I also like.
The only one I dislike here is 'book you picked for the cover' because I never pay attention to covers, always pick for content. There's nothing I'd really mind if it got through and my favorites are these:
A book set in a global city
A book related to time
A book set in a rural or sparsely populated area
A book related to a NASA mission name
A book with a weapon in the title or on the cover
A book set in a country with a population of less than one million
I may also vote for this one, though it would mess with my 'read only already owned books' strategy if I wanted to do that again next year:
A book by an author born in a Latin American country
Oh, and if the NASA mission one feels too easy, what I often do with these prompts is pick one option (in this case a mission name that appeals to me most) before starting the challenge and commit to reading a book related that that specific one. That way, even if I change out which book I read as I go, the prompt is still narrowed down and doesn't fit every book I read.
Nicole wrote: "I also don't like the prompt where the author's name is bigger than the title. It makes me think of authors whose books sell because their name is on it, and then it makes me wonder if it's even re..."I felt the same way, until I looked at that Listopia list that I posted. I was surprised that there are quite a few books on that list that I want to read. it's not all James Patterson and Jodi Picoult! (confession: I've never read a book by either of those authors)
Marta wrote: "Yes, this is a very good crop. Much more inspired than the previous one in my opinion... and I would love to see many of them!"LOL I had six strong YES votes in the last poll, but in this one I'm mostly: "meh ... maybe ... meh ... maybe ... yeah I guess ... I wouldn't mind that one ... meh" I'm lukewarm on all of them and it will be a struggle to find eight that I feel strongly enough to vote.
Raquel wrote: "Nicole wrote: "I feel like #7 (A book set in a scarcely populated area) is going to be difficult to research. Anyone have ideas?"There's a whole list here: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/136..."
That's not an inspiring list, it's most old tired classics, and I have only two books on my TBR (Hound of the Baskervilles and My Antonia - and is Hound really set in a rural area?? I thought Holmes was based in London ...) Are there any more inspiring lists to sell this prompt??
Nicole wrote: "I feel like #7 (A book set in a scarcely populated area) is going to be difficult to research. Anyone have ideas?"10 Great Novels of the Rural
Top 10 novels on rural America
9 Books Where Small Towns Are Gigantic Characters
10 of the best novels about life in rural France
A Look at Contemporary Rural Fantasy
@Nadine, Holmes is usually in London but not in that book. I enjoyed it when I read it but it was a while ago. If you like the other Sherlock stories then you will probably like it
Nadine wrote That's not an inspiring list, it's most old tired classics, and I have only two books on my TBR (Hound of the Baskervilles and My Antonia - and is Hound really set in a rural area?? I thought Holmes was based in London ...) Are there any more inspiring lists to sell this prompt?? I do not have a list per say but these are books I have read just recently
The Mosaic
City of the Lost
The Winters
Fuzzy Nation
I Am a Truck
Summer Hours at the Robbers Library
Son of a Trickster
The High Mountains of Portugal
The Cherry Cola Book Club
The End of the World Running Club
Moon of the Crusted Snow
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
Monkey Beach
Peace Shall Destroy Many
The Broken Girls
HTH
I'm really torn about what I am going to do with my votes this week. There are several that I like but also several that are either the same or too close to prompts from this year or last that I am tempted to downvote. I also don't like title/cover prompts so I am also tempted to downvote those even though I know they are popular with others.I will definitely be researching and following the discussion for the next few days before rushing to vote.
More rural area ideas:The Dry
A Morbid Taste for Bones
The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax (Half the book or so is in a city in Mexico, but moves to a rural area.)
The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (I think I would count any of the old 'country house' murder mysteries--even though there are a lot of people in the house, the area is rural.)
Eragon
Princess of Thorns
The Wendy
Swallows & Robins - The Guests In My Garden
And some children's books:
Winnie-the-Pooh
The Bridge
Miss Pickerell on the Moon
#7 you could read anything by Wendell Berry as he sets his books in the small rural farming community of Port William. Excellent writer and lovely books.
Based on all the discussion of 7. A book set in a rural or sparsely populated area, I've decided to add it to my top choices. Finding it hard to narrow down my choices this week, because I'm feeling ambivalent about most of the options. I also like:
9. A humorous fiction book
15. A non-fiction book about a place
Does anyone have any suggestions for a character involved in an experiment, aside from the ones already mentioned above? I really like that prompt in theory, but I feel like it will be hard to research.
Some thoughts for "A book related to time".....The word “time” in the title
A word like “midnight” or “dawn” in the title
A word like “hours” or “year” in the title
A word like "past," "present," "before," or "after" in the title
A time keeping device in the title - clock, watch, sun(dial)
A month or a day of the week in the title
A book in which a character spends time in prison - “doing time”
A book that covers a very short span of time, like one day
A book that covers a very long span of time, like a character’s entire lifetime
A book that captures the mood of a specific time period, like the Jazz Age or the Victorian Age
A book in which time is altered - time travel or alternate history
Rachel wrote: "Does anyone have any suggestions for a character involved in an experiment, aside from the ones already mentioned above? I really like that prompt in theory, but I feel like it will be hard to rese..."I'm very boring and plan to read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde if that category wins.
Some fiction books I've read:
Providence
Origin (this has two sequels, too)
The Lost Girl
Spiral
Non-fiction would be easier, I think, since many science books involve experiments.
That's not very many, is it? And searching for it is tough, because you just get lists of "experimental fiction" rather than novels that involve an experiment.
Nadine wrote: "Raquel wrote: "Nicole wrote: "I feel like #7 (A book set in a scarcely populated area) is going to be difficult to research. Anyone have ideas?"There's a whole list here: https://www.goodreads.co..."
It also had The Hunger Games on it ??? So I guess I am confused here on what a sparsely populated area would be. This list says rural. Although, I do think maybe books set in a post-apocalyptic setting could work (aka The Walking Dead type stuff.) Even so ... not sure.
Rachel wrote: "Does anyone have any suggestions for a character involved in an experiment, aside from the ones already mentioned above? I really like that prompt in theory, but I feel like it will be hard to rese..."I just read a really interesting one called Girls with Sharp Sticks that I think counts. I also read a book called Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful and also a book called The Similars that would work. All three YA sci-fi. They aren't focused primarily on an experiment but everything that happens to the characters in all three books was a result of scientific experimentation.
I know loads of novels are city based but rural doesn't mean deserted. I live somewhere rural but the town has 26k people. Anything that it set in a farm, small island, country house etc would work.
First I thought the country with less than a million inhibitants would be a problem, till I remembered how many Icelandic authors there are (and books set in Iceland).
An author I discovered recently who writes books set in the rural south is David Joy. I've read all three of his books, and I think they're excellent.
Mod
I haven't researched book since I rarely do but that was a quick pick for me.
Mod
At first glance, I'm not as excited about this round as I was last round. I have a few I'm thinking about downvoting: small town (these types of books are like southern lit to me -- I lived through it and I have no urge to read about it haha), the food one (I'm having a hard enough time having it on the list this year), and small country population (just not interested?).
I also have a few I'd like to vote for, on first glance without researching at all: nonfiction about a place, NASA, humorous fiction, and global city.
So that would leave one vote to put up or down... I'll probably do more research tomorrow (after some sleep) and finalize my votes.
I voted all eight up. I had seven clear up votes and decided to just pick one more since nothing screamed down vote at me. I’m a bit bemused at the rabbit one, but I think it would be sort of a laugh to go looking for rabbit books, though I have no idea how I’d go about that. I really like geographical prompts, which this week had in spades and they are all really fun imo.
A book with a rabbit in it to me screams Alice and Wonderland haha I can't get it out of my head and wouldn't be against reading another take on the story. I've enjoyed the retellings I have read of Alice.
In the end I split my vote 4-Up 4-Down. I could live with any of the others that I did not vote down. Sorry, but I didn't want to look for a rabbit book--just no appeal for me.
I didn’t vote for it but, if the rabbit prompt wins, I would read one of the books in John Updike’s Rabbit Angstrom series.
Seluxes wrote: "For rabbits, there's always: The Relaxed Rabbit: Massage for Your Pet Bunny. 🐇"My nieces have a bunny, so that would be practical.
Upvoted:1. A book in which one of the main characters is involved in an experiment. (Yay to Sci-Fi)
2. A book set in a global city. (Yay to learning about new countries!)
3. A book written by an author born in a Latin American country. (Yay to diversity and potentially learning about someone else's experience/upbringing or traditional stories from other countries).
4. A book featuring an otherwordly presence. (Yay to mythology! Also want to look into books based on dreams. Thinking of Beyond the Black Door)
5. A book related to a NASA mission name (Yay to anything space related! I know that this seems like a freebie because there are so many different names. But still, what a fun challenge! It's really not a freebie. You still have to look through the names and do some research! :D)
Downvoted
1. A book set in a country with a population of less than one million
(This could be very difficult, require a lot of research and possibly force me to read a book I am not interested in. I found a website that lists countries by population though in case anyone else wants to look. Scroll down to 160 Djibouti and it starts there and gets lower in population as you scroll down. https://www.worldometers.info/world-p...)
2. A book with a cover where the author's name is larger or as large as the title. (I just don't like when authors put their names that big on a book. It's like watching a youtube video where they push you to subscribe to their channel before watching the content. If your book is good, I'll remember your name!)
3. A book about food or with food on the cover (we did this already this year and I did not enjoy the challenge.)
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
The Relaxed Rabbit: Massage for Your Pet Bunny (other topics)The Gilda Stories (other topics)
The Relaxed Rabbit: Massage for Your Pet Bunny (other topics)
Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery (other topics)
The Buried: An Archaeology of the Egyptian Revolution (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Sarah Winman (other topics)Julia Stuart (other topics)
David Joy (other topics)
Wendell Berry (other topics)
Voting will open on 6/22 and results will be posted on 6/29.
How it works:
- When the voting opens, follow the link to the mini-poll that will be added at the end of this post
- You have a total of 8 votes per poll to spread across your favourite and least favourite prompts (you can also use less than 8 votes)
- The poll will be open for a week (until the 20th of June), so you don't have to rush and vote straightaway
- The prompts with the more "positive" votes (top minus bottom) will be announced shortly after the end of the poll and added to the final list (expect between 2 and 5 depending on how the votes are spread)
As a reminder: You have a total of 8 votes to use among your top and bottom votes. The mods have access to each individual vote, so we can see if you use more than 8 votes. If you use more than 8 votes in the poll, your vote will have to be deleted, so please make sure to follow the directions so your voice can be heard.
Poll Entries:
1. A book from a child's perspective
Links
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...
http://www.amreading.com/2016/11/25/7...
http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/read...
http://bookanista.com/child-narrators...
2. A book in which one of the main characters is involved in an experiment
Examples:
3. A book set in a global city
Global cities are defined at the Wikipedia link below: London, New York City, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney, Paris, Beijing, Shanghai, Dubai,
Tokyo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_...
4. A book by an author born in a Latin American country
5. A book featuring an otherworldly presence (alien, ghost, god, character from a dream, monster, person from another realm, etc)
6. A book related to time
7. A book set in a rural or sparsely populated area
8. A book that takes you out of your comfort zone
9. A humorous fiction book
10. A book related to a NASA mission name
https://www.nasa.gov/missions
11. A book that makes you nostalgic
12. A book with a weapon in the title or on the cover
13. A book set in a country with a population of less than one million
https://www.worldometers.info/world-p...
14. A book about friendship
15. A non-fiction book about a place
Could be a building, street, city, country or region
16. A book about something that seems like a bad idea
Examples: crime, bad life decisions, potentially dangerous relationships,
anything that makes you think "that's not going to end well."
17. A book with a cover where the author’s name is as large or larger than the title
18. A book you picked just for the cover
19. A book with a rabbit
20. A book about food or with food on the cover or in the title
Vote Here:
3rd Mini-Poll