[2020] Voting for 7th Mini Poll

[Chinook]

One thing to contemplate when looking for an independent bookstore is that there are some that cater to specific genres. Offhand, I know there’s a romance one in the US somewhere. There’s https://www.bakkaphoenixbooks.com in Toronto for SFF. A Different Booklist in Toronto specializes in African and Carribean Kit. There are a decent number of women’s bookstores or LGBTQIA bookstores, like Glad Day in Toronto. And I’m sure there are probably art bookstores and religious bookstores.

So you could search for something that matches your interests and go from there.

[Sophie]

Voting is now open here (link also in the first post of this topic): https://www.surveymoz.com/s/MFS66/

[Johanna]

Emily wrote: "Here's the wikipedia for floriography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languag...
There's a (albeit limited) section on floriography in literature.

There's also this GR list for nonfiction ..."

I had a specific book in mind for this prompt when I saw the suggestion. The Language of Flowers is a novel where somebody uses flowers to convey different messages.

[Stacey]

I just found a nice list of books for the floriography category on the Penguin Random House book site: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/th...

[dalex]

Sharing my "twisted" ideas for the Olympics prompt in case it might help those who might be opposed to the idea of a book about sports or Japan....

a book that has an Olympic sport word in the title, such as Swimming Lessons for swimming, All the Pretty Horses for equestrian, Bird Box for boxing, Sailing to Sarantium for sailing, The Dive From Clausen's Pier for diving

a book that has something related to an Olympic sport in the cover art, like a horse or a swimming pool

a book related to Japanese culture, like The Last Samurai or a book with a teacup on the cover

a book set in Washington state (because the capital is Olympia)

a book about Greek mythology (because Mount Olympus was home to the Greek gods)

a Star Trek tie-in novel (because Star Trek has an Olympic class of starships)

a book set in any country that has hosted the Olympics

a book in which a character travels (because people travel to participate in the Olympics)

a book that takes place in several different locations (because it is a global event)

an author named Olympia, like Olympia Vernon

a book with a character named Olympia

[Angie]

I haven't decided what I'm voting for yet, but if the Olympic prompt goes through, I might read Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life in honor of surfing being one of the five new sports added in 2020.

[Jill]

Stacey wrote: "I just found a nice list of books for the floriography category on the Penguin Random House book site: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/th..."

I was going to read Peony in Love for this year's Far East Asian book , but think I may save it now , in case the Floral prompt gets voted in

[Hannah]

I’m on my phone so I’m not sure if the links will work properly, but here are a few more lists with books related to social justice.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/b/book...

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

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

https://www.goodreads.com/list/tag/so...

https://bookriot.com/2017/02/23/100-m...

[Edie]

All upvotes for me this time. There were several prompts I loved (really rooting for independent book stores) and some I just liked a lot. There were prompts that didn't particularly excite me, but none of them justified a downvote. Now the WAIT for results.

[Nadine in NY]

Angie - I had been thinking I would read Barbarian Days if the travel memoir category had won!

[dalex]

The Bellwether Prize "was created to promote fiction that addresses issues of social justice and the impact of culture and politics on human relationships" so that might give some ideas for the social justice prompt.

[°~Amy~°]

dalex wrote: "Sharing my "twisted" ideas for the Olympics prompt in case it might help those who might be opposed to the idea of a book about sports or Japan....

a book that has an Olympic sport word in the tit..."

All great ideas that I hadn't thought of. Thanks Dalex!

[Angie]

Nadine wrote: "Angie - I had been thinking I would read Barbarian Days if the travel memoir category had won!"

It sounds like a great read!

I wound up going 6/2 this time around. There are a few categories I really like, and one I absolutely love.

[dalex]

http://iss.scdsb.on.ca/Documents/Libr...

This document lists examples for all these categories of social justice

 Access to natural resources
 Agism
 Child labour
 Civil war
 Domestic violence
 Education
 Family dysfunction
 Gender inequality
 Government oppression
 Health issues
 Human trafficking
 Immigrant issues
 Indigenous issues
 LGBTQ+ issues
 Mental illness
 Organized crime
 Poverty
 Racism
 Religious issues
 Right to freedon of speech
 Right to justice
 Social services and addiction

(Sorry about the formatting. Phone.)

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads)]

dalex wrote: "http://iss.scdsb.on.ca/Documents/Libr...

This document lists examples for all these categories of social justice

 Access to natural resources
 Agism
..."

Thank you! I love some of the KIS (and also just plain suitable) options this opens up:

Agism: The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax

Child Labor: Oliver Twist

Government Oppression: any dystopian, especially the more realistic ones

Mental Illness: in case you end with more than one book you want to read for the neurodiverse prompt

Right to Justice: Les Misérables (it kind of spans some categories, but I think it fits here most nicely)

While I liked this prompt in theory it was easy to to just file it as "I'd have to find a book on racism to read", and now I feel like I have plenty of books on my TBR that would fit in some way.

[Martha]

A list to fit both social justice and noir crime novel prompts: https://crimereads.com/activist-noir-...

I read one of the Kwei Quartey novels this year and would recommend that series.

[Perri]

Also Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI being made into a movie for Native American injustice

[Anastasia]

I like the LGBTQIA+ , indigenous woman, Olympic and noir prompts. List prompts are not that interesting.

[Chrissy]

I downvoted five this time, and could have made it eight but there were a few I wanted to support. Not really feeling this batch for some reason.

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads)]

I ended up with 7 upvotes again, and there are several more that I won't mind if they win, I just wasn't as excited about them. I'm surprised by the dislike for the 1000 books by women list, as I thought there was a lot of variety in the options--I guess if it happens to hit a couple of different niches I like that doesn't mean there's truly something for everyone though...

[Chinook]

I had a 4/4 this time.

Raquel - I love that 1000 women list, but it didn’t really fit my overall theme. It had a book on it, so I didn’t downvote it, but for my purposes it would have been restrictive. I voted the 100 books lists up because that one had several options I could use.

[Kim]

This is the first time that all 8 of my votes were up votes. Lots of interesting choices!

[viemag]

Ick! These prompts are not my taste..8 down votes for me...

[Ellie]

Raquel wrote: "I'm surprised by the dislike for the 1000 books by women list, as I thought there was a lot of variety in the options..."

The overall impression is of a serious reading list, which isn't for everyone. I was a bit disappointed when I found a few non-fiction books that looked interesting to find they're not published outside the US. I could manage if it got in but it's not filling me with excitement.

[Nadine in NY]

My only complaint about the 1000 books by women is that some of the books look like they are hard to find, or out of print. But out of 1000, that still leaves hundreds of other books! I think I voted for it. (I scribbled down my votes, but I don't have that paper w/ me right now.)

[Sara]

On the 1000 Books by Women list, I could have had several choices within the first six pages, so I would be fine with that list making it.

[Nadine in NY]

This seems like SUCH a good list - there are location topics, author topics, subject topics, list topics, genre topics, character topics, scavenger-hunt-type topics ... I’m excited to find out the winners, odds are good I’ll be happy no matter what. There have been some lists where I was not enthused at all, so it’s funny that some members feel that way about this list. :-) You can never please everyone, we all have such different interests!!

[Edie]

Nadine wrote: "This seems like SUCH a good list - there are location topics, author topics, subject topics, list topics, genre topics, character topics, scavenger-hunt-type topics ... I’m excited to find out the ..."

I'm with you on this one. It is a great list. I know I have read 33 of the books, another 12 or so, I think I have read. Several dozen of the books are on my TBR list and there were books by authors I love that I hadn't heard of. Finally, I am reading The Luminaries (long but oh, so good) which is on the list.

[Sara]

Nadine wrote: "This seems like SUCH a good list - there are location topics, author topics, subject topics, list topics, genre topics, character topics, scavenger-hunt-type topics ... I’m excited to find out the ..."

Exactly right, which is why I don't get upset if the ones I would choose don't make it...next round I will get one I like and someone else will be disappointed.

[Jillian]

It is probably just me and my aversion to lists with the 1000 books by women. It is slow to have to got through 25 pages of covers and the other option was to hit print and read through a tiny typed infinity scroll list of all the books. Neither way of searching inspired me so I did not vote either way with that list.

[dalex]

I read a lot of female authors and feel that I’m pretty knowledgeable about books even outside my areas of interest so I was quite surprised how many books on that 1000 list I’d never heard of. And it’s a weird mix of books with a lot of authors featured more than once. I don’t really get the point of the list. I found like half a dozen titles I could read but I agree that it’s not something I’m super excited about.

[MJ]

dalex wrote: "I read a lot of female authors and feel that I’m pretty knowledgeable about books even outside my areas of interest so I was quite surprised how many books on that 1000 list I’d never heard of. And..."

The creator of the list says at the top: I dedicate this list to a friend who said we hadn't had a book in our book club by a woman yet, because there are just not enough books by women.. I guess that's as good a reason as any to make a list??

It makes me wonder who exactly it is who made the list.

I've been noticing lately that I already seem to read more books by female authors than by males. The prompt doesn't really excite me and I'll probably choose a book from the list that will fit into one of my other challenges.

[Chinook]

Some of the books on the list seem to overlap with the list in 500 Great Books By Women. It’s an eclectic list and I’ve read a few of the books from that list that I’d never heard of before, which is why they stuck out for me. Most of them, even if rarer, have been available used on Amazon, which is how I’ve picked them up.

And then I noticed a few of the authors that had multiple books were Canadian authors and wondered if maybe the list maker was Canadian and inspired by the above book.

[Pam]

I don’t usually vote for lists but I did vote for the 1000 Books by Women. I only got through the first 5 pages but found books that I have never heard of to add to my TBR, several on my TBR soon list. Also, the ones I have read were all very good!

[Kelly]

What does it say about me if I use almost all my votes in prompts that I don't want to do?? …. LOL... but there were plenty that I like but definitely some that would be very annoying for me to satisfy if they win.

[Rachel]

I ended up with 4 and 4 again this time, but I have to say that I wasn't particularly enthusiastic about anything this time around. I voted for social justice because it fits well with a lot of books that I'm very interested in reading, the 2020 Summer Olympics because I loved that one last time and was disappointed it didn't get in, and the first book in a series I haven't started yet because it fits with my personal goals. I have several series I want to tackle next year. I also voted for the Florence Nightingale one although I find I personally struggle sometimes with the "related to" wording unless the relationship between the book and the topic is very clear (ie. a modern hospital setting to me has very little to do with Florence Nightingale, even though that's probably what I'd pick)

I downvoted the 1001 books to read before you die list because we have that exact prompt already this year (and I already wasn't enthusiastic about it). I also downvoted the laureate prompt because that is just not my taste, and the indigenous women prompt because I have a hard enough time finding books that interest me by indigenous authors already, without additional restrictions. I also downvoted the Egypt prompt (after much deliberation) because even though I have a few books that might fit, none are books I'm strongly interested in reading right now.