[2020] Voting for 5th Mini Poll

[Katie]

It's now time to get ready to vote for our next set of prompts! But as we discussed before the process began, we are going to open the poll one day after we've gathered 20 suggestions. This is a good opportunity to ask any question you may have regarding the prompts, make some research or ask for recommendations. I'll try to add the relevant info to the prompt descriptions below as the discussion goes.

Voting will open on 7/9 and results will be posted on 7/14.

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 related to Earth Day
(for the 50th anniversary of Earth Day)

2. A book that has illustrations or pictures that isn't a picture book or graphic novel

3. A book featuring magical realism
https://bookriot.com/2017/10/17/100-m...
https://shereads.com/magical-realism-...
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/magi...

4. A book related to the arts
(eg. literature, performing arts, visual arts)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_arts

5. A book published in the last three years (2018, 2019, 2020) that had a lot of buzz

6. A story with a curse

7. A book by one of the National Book Foundation's '5 Under 35' authors
https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-p...

8. A book with a theme of discrimination, persecution or prejudice
(eg. race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity)

9. A book related to a museum

10. A book related to a marine animal

11. A book from a TED summer reading list 
https://ideas.ted.com/teds-giant-summ...
https://ideas.ted.com/88-books-to-enj...
https://ideas.ted.com/101-books-to-di...

12. A book from the Texas Library Lariat lists
https://txla.org/tools-resources/read...

13. A book published before 2019 with less than 2000 reviews on Goodreads

14. The 20th book
(eg. on your TBR, in a series, by an author, on a list)

15. A book related to 20/20
(eg. vision, sight, eyes, blindness, viewpoints, insights, hindsight)

16. A book with an "-ing" word in the title

17. A book recommended by Reese Witherspoon or Oprah Winfrey

18. A book set in space or about space

19. A book from a school's summer reading list
http://loomis.libguides.com/sr/home

20. A work of/inspiration for fan fiction

Vote Here:
https://www.surveymoz.com/s/ALH6O/

[Entropia]

that went fast :o

[Nadine in NY]

I really like the prompts for Earth Day and Texas Lariat list, but I’m out of votes already between other up and down votes, so if they don’t win this time, I hope they show up again.

[Martha]

Can someone give me an idea of some books related to a curse? I had 4 top and 4 bottom choices until I started researching. The easier the topics are to research, the easier it is to change my mind. I now have 6 tops and 2 bottoms.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Martha, my first thought goes to sci-fi/fantasy where someone or something is cursed. I'm not a fan of the genre, but Spinning Silver is one I read recently and loved, and it would work.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

My first instincts say downvoting the fan fiction one and the 20th one, while upvoting magical realism and the book with buzz.

So now I just need to decide on my remaining 4 votes... I'm going to try to stick to 4 up and 4 down, but I may end up 5/3 with all of these good lists. I really like the TED lists, I voted for the Lariat list last year, and the 5 under 35 has some interesting choices... might end up voting all of them up and picking one more down.

I really like the book with buzz one because it encourages you to read something that everyone else seems to be reading... and the years being open like that mean that the library waits might not be as long. I already have a ton from this year that I could read for this prompt, so I'm hoping it gets in.

EDIT: I also think that the Reese/Oprah prompt could be covered by the buzz prompt, since the books they pick usually go straight to being best sellers.

[Sarah]

I was intrigued by the under 35 list but I can't find a single one of those authors on my library's database so that's going to have to be a down vote for me.

Also summer reading lists aren't something we have over here (at least not in the school I went to or my nephew's school) so I'd love to see more example lists if anyone has a link?

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Sarah, did you look through the various years? There a few pretty popular ones on there.

Here's a Goodreads list for the summer reading list: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...
And here's the shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

Lots of classics, but some newer contemporary stuff as well.

Also you can look at the AP Literature list, which has a wide variety and is all of the books that have appeared on the AP test: https://blog.prepscholar.com/ap-liter...

(I'm an English teacher, in case you couldn't tell lol)

[Martha]

Yes, the high school summer reading lists are broad and I'm always interested in seeing what schools choose for their students. Here are a couple that aren't from specific high schools, but I see the books on high school lists frequently:

http://www.whatkidscando.org/features...

https://slate.com/human-interest/2019...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/educat...

Edit to say that the Washington Post has been doing their summer reading list for multiple years and there are links to their past lists.

A reading list I found from UC Berkeley for incoming students. Other years are in their archives on this site: http://reading.berkeley.edu/index.html

[Martha]

Emily wrote: "Martha, my first thought goes to sci-fi/fantasy where someone or something is cursed. I'm not a fan of the genre, but Spinning Silver is one I read recently and loved, and it would ..."

Thanks, Emily.

[Nadine in NY]

I liked the idea of the 5 under 35 list, but I looked at every list from the beginning and only found 2 on my tbr (and several books that I've already read and really enjoyed ... and one that I hated). Of course I only need ONE so I'm fine if it wins, so I'm not down-voting, but I'm not inspired enough to up vote it.

[Pam]

Martha wrote: "Can someone give me an idea of some books related to a curse? I had 4 top and 4 bottom choices until I started researching. The easier the topics are to research, the easier it is to change my mind..."

When I queried "books that carry curses" I found the following books: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, The Amityville Horror, Nightbird, Dracula, and One Hundred Years of Solitude

[Jillian]

I currently have a top 6 and a bottom 5 so now to figure out where to make some cuts.

[dalex]

Some lists of books with curses

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/07/bo...

https://electricliterature.com/the-8-...

https://rivetedlit.com/2019/01/11/4-b...

https://www.tor.com/2016/04/14/five-b...

https://www.bustle.com/p/13-ya-books-...

(Sorry about not creating proper links. It’s not easy to do on the phone.)

[Traci]

For the fan fiction prompt, I think it would be good to post the link that was provided in the suggestions poll for those who don't look at that.

I don't fully understand what fan fiction is. I found this definition: fiction written by a fan of, and featuring characters from, a particular TV series, movie, etc. What I'm not sure of is exactly what fits the definition. For example, I've read some retellings of pride and prejudice, do those fit this genre? Would they have to use the character names or be an extension of the story rather than just a retelling to fit?

[Martha]

dalex wrote: "Some lists of books with curses

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/07/bo...

https://electricliterature.com/the-8-...

https://rive..."

Oh dear! Thanks Pam and Dalex. Looks like I'm changing my mind about this one now. I'm currently up 7 and down 1. If curses doesn't make it and we end up having a choose a book based on cover prompt, I'm going to revisit the Bustle link. There were some gorgeous covers there!

[Nadine in NY]

Traci wrote: "For the fan fiction prompt, I think it would be good to post the link that was provided in the suggestions poll for those who don't look at that.

I don't fully understand what fan fiction is. I f..."


Fanfiction is generally written by amateurs and available for free. (There are some exceptions, when a particularly good fanfic gets picked up by a publisher, names changed, and released for sale.)

Look at https://www.fanfiction.net/

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

That's interesting Traci. I had originally thought of only amateur writings or things that had gotten popular like Fifty Shades or After... but I like the idea of a retelling counting.

Surely the author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies had to be a fan of Pride and Prejudice in order to write it? I wouldn't go so far as using fairy tale retellings though...

I'm not voting for this one, but I would probably use this interpretation if it did get in (or I'd just use my wildcard).

[Traci]

Nadine wrote: "Traci wrote: "For the fan fiction prompt, I think it would be good to post the link that was provided in the suggestions poll for those who don't look at that.

I don't fully understand what fan f..."

Thanks Nadine! I had looked at https://www.fanfiction.net/ but was trying to figure out how to find the books/stories and didn't realize the text was available on the site.

[Joanne]

My first pass through, I came up with 6 upvotes and 6 downvotes. Going to be hard to narrow down.

Can anyone give me any idea what type of books could be used for this prompt?

"A book that has illustrations or pictures that isn't a picture book or graphic novel".

I can't think of any books that would work other than a biography with picture insert in the middle.

[Marie]

We had something similar a few years ago, so that progress thread might be a good place to start:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Melanie]

I'm definitely going to be downvoting the fic option. I actually read quite a lot of it, but I consider it entirely separate from original fiction AND I know a lot of fic authors don't like the fact that people put up their fic on Goodreads without their permission.

[Edie]

Joanne wrote: "My first pass through, I came up with 6 upvotes and 6 downvotes. Going to be hard to narrow down.

Can anyone give me any idea what type of books could be used for this prompt?

"A book that has i..."

I just finished The Woman's Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote which is about the fight in Tennessee to be the 36th state to accept the 19th Amendment which gave women the right to vote in 1920. It has two sections of pictures of the women and politicians who played a role in getting the amendment passed. Other historical books I have read have similar sections of pictures.

Also Michele Obama's Becoming had pictures as do a number of memoirs.

[Jette]

@Emily Bourque

I'm still fairly new to ATY. What is the wild card you mentioned?

TIA

[Jette]

Joanne,
My first thoughts went to great illustrated classics. I thought I might actually get through Pride and Prejudice that way. (I've tried many times and just can't seem to make it out of the first chapter.)

[Deborah]

In terms of the illustrations prompt, I read a couple YA books recently that I think would work. Save the Date has a few cartoon strips between sections of the book. Starry Eyes has some maps in the text drawn by one of the characters. The Illuminae series has some graphics interspersed as well I think?

I think a lot of memoirs will have photos as well. I thought of The Greatest Love Story Ever Told which did and I think also Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls.

[Martha]

I bought Nature Anatomy this weekend at a local children's bookstore. I liked it so much I bought it for myself to keep in a collection of books for my grandsons as they grow. Here is a list of more books like Nature Anatomy: https://www.goodreads.com/book/simila...

I saw new books with gorgeous illustrations and that aren't picture books for The Hobbit, Wind in the Willows and The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.

I admit that this is a hard prompt to understand, but if it makes it in I do have some options.

[JoDee]

Joanne wrote: "My first pass through, I came up with 6 upvotes and 6 downvotes. Going to be hard to narrow down.

Can anyone give me any idea what type of books could be used for this prompt?

"A book that has i..."


Some other fiction/poetry ideas that include illustrations or pictures:
Lost ChilLost Children Archive
Austerlitz
Darling, I Love You: Poems from the Hearts of Our Glorious Mutts and All Our Animal Friends

I'm sure there are many more examples but I'm not sure how to search for them.

[Pamela, Arciform Mod]

Edie wrote: "Joanne wrote: "My first pass through, I came up with 6 upvotes and 6 downvotes. Going to be hard to narrow down.

Can anyone give me any idea what type of books could be used for this prompt?

"A ..."

I'm currently reading Ninth Street Women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement That Changed Modern Art and it has lots of photos in the middle. Course, it's also 944 pages! (I'm reading it for the number prompt)

[Pamela, Arciform Mod]

Seluxes wrote: ""Should every edition be illus]trated, or would it be okay for a certain edition to be illustrated, like a special edition published by a small house, i.e. Cemetery Dance? ."

Good question- I have special anniversary editions of West with the Night and The Right Stuff but I would probably not read those actual books as they're kinda large and hard to read. Or if you are a kindle reader and sometimes pictures don't make it to kindle

[Jillian]

I read quite a bit of fantasy and middle school books and those tend to contain illustrations. Some book chapters also have illustrations which I think would count.

[Avery]

I like a lot of these prompts!! Here are some of my thoughts for a few of the prompts that I like.

A book that has illustrations or pictures that isn't a picture book or graphic novel: I'm a geographer and I love any book with maps. There's tons of novels that have maps of the locations in them, but if anyone wants actual books about maps, here are some of my favorites:
- Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks
- Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics
- On the Map: A Mind-Expanding Exploration of the Way the World Looks.

I also really like the Earth Day prompt because, again, I'm a geographer :)

A book recommended by Reese Witherspoon or Oprah Winfrey: I personally love Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine book club picks, so I'll be upvoting this one for sure. However, if it doesn't get through, perhaps rewording it to be "A book recommended by Reese Witherspoon, Oprah Winfrey, or another public figure" would appeal to more people (but also you could stick with Reese/Oprah only for a BIO option).

A book from a TED summer reading list: I could see myself stretching the TED prompt to be any book inspired by a TED Talk as a KIS option. I also like the options on the Texas Library Lariat List, but not so much on the 5 Under 35 List.

A book published in the last three years (2018, 2019, 2020) that had a lot of buzz: I like this one because I can knock off those everyone-has-read-but-me books.

I like the Outer Space prompt, but I think there's too many setting prompts, and I'm actually surprised we didn't exclude setting prompts yet.

[Ellie]

Are there links for Reese and Oprah recs? I'm a bit fed up of celebrity related prompts, I'm probably downvoting it. The 5 under 35 lists are mostly full of authors I've never heard of, even going back through the years, so I suspect they will not be easily available outside the US. I wouldn't mind a more general prompt to pick off any rising stars list.

First thoughts are that I like Earth day, TED, discrimination and curse.

I need to look through the Texas lists properly, there are a lot I read already and liked... But I need to find some I haven't read that appeal.

I don't really get the 20/20 one. I mean I know it means perfect vision but I wouldn't read a book about blindness for that? Maybe it's just because I'm reading this before my first coffee of the day!

[Ellie]

Went back to the 5 under 35 and realised I recognised some of the books, just not the authors, but they don't really appeal to me other than the two I already plan to read for this year's challenge.

[dalex]

Ellie wrote: "Are there links for Reese and Oprah recs?"

Reese Witherspoon
Oprah Winfrey

[LukasmummyReads]

Joanne wrote: "My first pass through, I came up with 6 upvotes and 6 downvotes. Going to be hard to narrow down.

Can anyone give me any idea what type of books could be used for this prompt?

"A book that has i..."

Chris Ridell's Goth Girl books have beautiful illustrations in them but they are aimed at a younger audience, although he released a collab with Neil Gaiman in a similar style I think the book was called odd and the frost giants. I'd also say anything that includes a drawn map, schematic, plan would work but I don't have any names to hand right now sorry. There are also some lovely Kindle In Motion books including the Harry Potter series if you don't mind an ebook - https://smile.amazon.co.uk/s?k=kindle...

[LukasmummyReads]

Pam wrote: "Martha wrote: "Can someone give me an idea of some books related to a curse? I had 4 top and 4 bottom choices until I started researching. The easier the topics are to research, the easier it is to..."

I've just finished the Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde pretty sure he referred to both the picture and his beauty as a curse

[dalex]

Ellie wrote: "I don't really get the 20/20 one. I mean I know it means perfect vision but I wouldn't read a book about blindness for that?"

a character who is blind
a character who is psychic (able to see the future)
a character who has an occupation that requires them to be visually observant, like an artist
words like "see" or "vision" in the title
something related to seeing in the cover art - glasses, telescope, etc.
an abstract idea, like a character who isn't able to "see the truth," like a mystery where they are unaware that their spouse is a serial killer

[Nadine in NY]

I would like to read a book with a blind character, so I plan to vote for 20/20 and I hope it wins. Off the top of my head, the only blind characters I could think of were in All the Light We Cannot See, The Young Unicorns, and The Arrangement.

This review of The Arrangement has a GREAT list of other romances with blind heroes and/or heroines. She is a GR friend and I trust her judgment so I'll be reading one of these.

[Pam]

I don’t know if there are any lists of books with illustrations. It’s probably a prompt where you have to look for recommendations or happen upon a book. I know I have several on my shelves, including classics, a memoir, and YA. When I get on the computer, I will link them. I love illustrations so this is one I will vote for!

[Nicole]

Martha wrote: "Can someone give me an idea of some books related to a curse? I had 4 top and 4 bottom choices until I started researching. The easier the topics are to research, the easier it is to change my mind..."

Here are a couple Goodreads lists for curse books:

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

Like Marie said, we did a book with illustrations in 2017.

I remember being excited about it but I ended up not enjoying the search as much as I expected. I ended up just reading a graphic novel. I think because I was expecting to find a good novel with illustrations here and there and just didn't find one that intrigued me.

[Nicole]

These books are not cheap, but they are illustrated versions of many popular books. I had never heard of this site before, but now I think I will bookmark it for special gifts for friends & family, or maybe a wish list for myself!

https://www.foliosociety.com/usa

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

Seluxes wrote: ""A book that has illustrations or pictures that isn't a picture book or graphic novel".

Should every edition be illustrated, or would it be okay for a certain edition to be illustrated, like a sp..."

I think it's fine as long as the edition you personally read has illustrations.

I don't think it counts if another edition other than the one you read has illustrations.

[Chinook]

To add to what Laura said - sometimes I’ll listen to the audiobook and then just flip through the ebook to see the pictures. To me, that would be sufficient to fill this prompt.

[dalex]

I'm confused by "A book that has illustrations or pictures that isn't a picture book or graphic novel."

Is the idea here like a kids chapter book that is primarily text but with a few illustrations?

What exactly is a "picture book"? Like a coffee table book with photos of nature or animals or whatever? Or a book for toddlers that is pictures with just one word or maybe a short sentence?

Would something like Bibliophile: An Illustrated Miscellany or Plotted: A Literary Atlas fit this prompt?

[°~Amy~°]

I guess that I am in the minority this week. I do not like lists or recommendation type prompts for several reasons. Same with Buzz-y books. I find that when I do grab that book that "everyone" is reading, I don't like it once I read it. That, or the book is brand new or obscure ($$$). It's just not my thing. That bias against lists and buzz puts me at 7 downvotes. :(

The three I do like are Earth Day, Discrimination and 20/20. I like that all three of them can be interpreted in many different ways.

I'm going to need 10 votes this week. Ugh.

[Pam]

Dalex - Picture books is another term for toddler books. Personally, if this prompt is chosen, I wouldn’t consider photographs as illustrations. But, I would include drawn maps. There are lots of adult books with illustrations, especially maps, sometimes small ones at the beginning of a chapter. I think that readers may not even notice them. The first one that comes to mind is George RR Martin’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms illustrated by Gary Gianni who drew Prince Valiant comic strips.

I think there is a GR list for illustrated novels. Maybe someone can link it. I’m on my phone and can’t link.

Amy - I also don’t like lists. I can always find something on them and many times I wind up adding books to my TBR from the list but I just don’t like being restricted to other people’s favorites or winners. I probably won’t downvote them, though.

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

I think "illustrated novels" was the key term. Interesting how even a small change in wording can result in so many more options.

Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...

Bookstr: https://bookstr.com/list/picture-this...

Riveted: https://rivetedlit.com/2017/07/17/7-a...

[Pam]

Thank you Laura! 🏆