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[2020] Voting for 15th Mini-Poll
I did not suggest the category so I might have it wrong, but I understood it to mean: the person telling the story is not the person the story is about. For example in Wuthering Heights, Lockwood tells us the story (and the story is told to him by Nelly), but the story is not about him, it’s about Catherine & Heathcliff.
Like Edie, short story and essay collections are not my go-to genres either. But, I have a bunch of short story collections sitting on my shelves collecting dust that are waiting to be read, including a REALLY interesting looking one - Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. My favorite short story author is Andrea Barrett. Her topics usually have a nature/science element and her writing is terrific! I also have several Best of the Year Science Fiction collections. So, I’m definitely voting YES for this prompt!
I found these two short lists with the keyword "vanishing narrator" and "nameless narrator." There aren't that many books, but it's certainly a POV that appeals to me: https://www.goodreads.com/search?utf8...Edit to add a longer list with a search with "unique narrator." It still confuses me, but I think I'm catching on. I just don't feel I have very many choices for this type of book that I haven't already read: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...
I read quite a few ARCs. I think I have 4 authors who I'm on the ARC list for. Each time they write a new book they send it out to read and review. I found them on Facebook. There are heaps of author groups with ARCs on Facebook.
First off, does anyone have suggestions for addiction or animal-like personality? Not sure how I'm going to vote yet, but here are some general thoughts:
* I like the literary prize option, as it gives me some options, and I'm working my way through both Pulitzer and Hugo winners.
* Unconventional narrator, if I'm understanding it correctly can be either a non-human narrator or a human narrator who is unconventional...? Or am I way off? If this wins, I'll probably just do xenofiction.
* For POV that is not the protagonist... the first one that came to me was Sherlock Holmes, and as I have The Complete Sherlock Holmes waiting for me, I'm on board with it. I think a lot of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple books would work, as would The Name of the Rose.
* Coexistence is an ideal topic for me. I think it would lend well to some of the sci-fi I read.
* A book that has character or is a character also screams Sherlock to me. And Luna Lovegood. And Snoopy. Nothing say "is a character" quite like a dog that pretends to be a WWI flying ace, lol.
* If I'm understanding the "up lit" category correctly, it's basically just a book that has an uplifting message or character, right? It sounds a lot like a movement in sci-fi fantasy called hopepunk, which is all about optimism in the face of challenges.
* Still not sure about the 20th word/20th page prompt. I did a bunch of them and my first two attempts got me "the" and "a." I can work with it if it gets in, though.
I enjoyed the book How to Grow an Addict, Angie. Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction was good too.
Mod
It is also posted in the first message of this thread.
For addiction, I don't want to give anything away about the books, but I can recommend these books as having characters or themes of addiction either from drugs or alcohol:Misery
The Poppy War
There There
The Princess Diarist
Sing, Unburied, Sing
The Girl on the Train
Ancillary Justice
No Great Mischief
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction
Tweak: Growing Up On Methamphetamines
coexistence ideas:Religious differences:
My Name Is Asher Lev
The Rapture of Canaan
The Dovekeepers
Enemies:
East of Eden
Romeo and Juliet
The Nightingale
The Butterfly Garden
Paranormal in the human world or vice versa:
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
A Court of Thorns and Roses
The House of the Spirits
Mystery:
Murder on the Orient Express
Before She Knew Him
Still Life
Culture Differences:
Girl in Translation
Miracle Creek
The Painted Veil
Nature:
The Overstory
The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative
Uprooted
Power:
The Hunger Games
Red Queen
The Power
Thanks Tracy and Peter. Those suggestions helped me decide. :)
Mod
Mod
Not sure how I'm going to vote yet, but here are some general thoughts:
* I like the literary prize option, as i..."
Yes, that’s wha]t I was thinking with unconventional narrator. Xenofiction is a bit more common in challenges so I thought I would expand it to include non conventional human narrators.
Laura wrote: "Yes, that’s what I was thinking with unconventional narrator. Xenofiction is a bit more common in challenges so I thought I would expand it to include non conventional human narrators."
Thanks Laura!
Wanted to let the mods know that I was unable to vote from the app like I usually do. I tried several times but wouldn’t get a submit or finish survey button. I was able to go to the website and vote but I know some people have commented in the past that the app is there only option.
This was a tough one. There were ten I wanted to upvote, and one I really did not want. I wound up going 7 up and 1 down, but it was hard to narrow it down. I surprised myself by upvoting one I originally planned to downvote (addiction).
One fabulous book I recommend for the addiction prompt is Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese.
Pam wrote: "One fabulous book I recommend for the addiction prompt is Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese."Thanks, Pam. Definitely adding that to my list. :)
Angie wrote: "First off, does anyone have suggestions for addiction or animal-like personality? ..."I was stumped by this one too... animals can have all kinds of personalities, but I wonder if it was meant to be traits that are often associated with an animal, eg. stubborn as a mule?
Liz wrote: "coexistence ideas:Religious differences:
My Name Is Asher Lev
The Rapture of Canaan
The Dovekeepers
Enemies:
East of Eden
[book:Romeo and Jul..."
I read The Overstory recently, can recommend.
I love this discussion time, I didn't plan on voting for the political theme, but now I'm going to! Keep the recommendations coming hehe
Thanks everyone for the suggestions on how to get books in non traditional ways. I think I will join a couple of groups in the hopes of getting some early giveaways.
Here are some thoughts for the addiction topic. Addiction does not have to be the main theme of the book and it can be any character in the story. Trainspotting
Any Sherlock Holmes book would work(Lots of fictional detectives have addictions)
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian
The Plague Year (Zombies on Meth)
On the Road
Dune
The Mayor of Casterbridge
The Abstinence Teacher
Brave New World
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
The Circle (social media addiction)
Tender is the Night
Kill Your Friends
The Shining
Less Than Zero
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Lucky Jim
Good Morning, Midnight
Bright Lights Big City
NW
Strangers on a Train
Under the Volcano
Requiem for a Dream
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Rachel's Holiday
Junky
Candy
Infinite Jest
Filth
The Girl on the Train
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Brideshead Revisited
Choke
Postcards from the Edge
Barfly
Factotum
Valley of the Dolls
Fight Club
Oscar and Lucinda
Dostoevsky's Last Night
I’ve got 3 up votes and 3 down votes and I don’t know what to do with my last 2 votes! I’m feeling very wishy-washy this week.
I opened up GR this morning and see a friend’s review of a book about a person with a gambling addiction- Dostoevsky’s Last Night By Cristina Peri Rossi, translated from Spanish. I love The Dune suggestion for this prompt! I didn’t even think about the spice addiction. That’s really thinking outside of the box!
Thanks Tammy for all of those great suggestions for the addiction prompt! I voted for it, not having a specific book in mind, but now have several! I voted 6 up and 2 down.
Some other books with addiction:The Glass Castle
Mommie Dearest
Wishful Drinking
Even If Your Heart Would Listen: Losing My Daughter to Heroin
More, Now, Again: A Memoir of Addiction
Watches and Warnings
Coreyography
Go Ask Alice
Overall, I found many of the suggestions confusing/difficult to research this round. I ended up voting 2/6.
Pam wrote: "I opened up GR this morning and see a friend’s review of a book about a person with a gambling addiction- Dostoevsky’s Last Night By Cristina Peri Rossi, translated from Spanish. I love The Dune ..."
That gambling addiction comment just made me think of Oscar and Lucinda, too! I'll add those to the list.
Minority Report is another science fiction book that would work for the theme.
Mod
Has anyone else had problems voting from the app?
I voted on the app and it was fine. The “Finish Survey” button was grey text on a grey background so it was a little hard to see, but it’s there, and it seems to work fine (assuming my vote registered?!)
Got my vote in. I ended up with 5 up and 3 down. Now to wait...
Meh on these; too many seem like a rehash of prior themes. I can come up with a few to vote for, but anything social media/technology-related wins my no vote. And though I lurv animals, like Raquel, I have questions on ID'ing animal-like traits in characters. Since I don't read 'up lit' too often, I'll probably up vote it, plus the political and prize winner, at least. I do love the book obtained non-traditionally, too.
I immediately thought of downloading ebooks and audiobooks as ways to obtain books non-traditionally. This may very well be an age thing.Everyone really came through with character prompts this time around, which are harder to research. I'm very excited about unconventional narrator and character with addiction. Also up lit, because I very rarely read it and could probably stand to read more. Short stories/essays is a yes because I have a lot of these on my TBR.
I think the discussion persuaded me not to downvote the political theme. At first I thought it overlapped too much with the news story prompt, but the ideas people posted made me think I'd have good options.
Not sure where my other votes are going to go.
I found these lists for a character that is a character:Best eccentric characters: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...
Eccentric Heroines: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
9 Delightfully Weird Characters: https://www.bustle.com/p/9-books-to-r...
I echo what someone said in the nomination thread, the animal traits prompt just makes me think of shapeshifters. I haven't figured out another way to research this one. There are several shapeshifter books on my list, so that works for me. Though, when it comes to voting, those books would also fall into the paranormal/supernatural prompt.
Marin wrote: "I immediately thought of downloading ebooks and audiobooks as ways to obtain books non-traditionally. This may very well be an age thing.It's interesting how we are all so different hey! As for me this is pretty much the only way I read books (ebooks) so definitely traditional.
I had a hard time voting because there were so few prompts this time that really stood out to me either way. I have to agree with what Jillian said above about finding many of the prompts confusing or hard to research. That was definitely the case for me. For example, I liked the co-existence prompt in theory, but just couldn't wrap my head around how to find books that would fit, so I ended up either voting for nor against it.I voted for the own voices and unique narrator because those are prompts that I've really enjoyed in the past. I also voted for my social media/technology suggestion, and "up lit" because that was a suggestion I really liked last year that didn't end up making it.
I downvoted the animal-like personality traits because even after it was clarified, I still don't really get it (sorry, Laura!) so I thought it would be too hard for me. I also downvoted the 20th word prompt because after multiple tries with multiple different books, just to see what kinds of words I'd get, I ended up getting mostly things like "a" or "the." I know I could just keep trying until I get a better word, but it seems a bit frustrating to me.
I struggled for a while with deciding whether to upvote or downvote more, but ultimately decided to downvote the two that interested me least. To be honest, I'd be fine if any of my four downvotes got in, but they were the least exciting to me. I downvoted the character who is or has character, just because it seems like two completely separate prompts to me, and I also downvoted the collection of short stories or essays because it's one that I've done many times before in various challenges.
Fourevver wrote: "I think The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman could also work for the animal traits prompt"Definitely.
And Sarah J. Maas is always describing her (non-animal) characters as preening their feathers or purring or growling or having cat-like grace, etc.
Mod
Oh, that wasn’t my suggestion, Rachel, I just helped with wording.
I suggested the unique narrator :)
Laura wrote: "Rachel wrote: "I had a hard time voting because there were so few prompts this time that really stood out to me either way. I have to agree with what Jillian said above about finding many of the pr..."Oh, oops! That's what I get for reading the thread so late at night, lol.
I had a really hard time voting for this one...At first glance there weren't a whole lot that I was super excited about but when I came back a few days later they seemed more exciting or more of a challenge for some reason haha! I ended up using a lot of my votes for upvotes! Which is unusual for me, I'm generally split more evenly and I generally know how I feel about a prompt one way or the other right away.
Some of the prompts are prompts I've seen and done before so those were less exciting to me and I didn't vote for them either way. I'll be fine if they get in but I prefer new prompts that make me consider what books could work. Part of the enjoyment of the challenge for me is figuring out what books could work for which prompts so repeat prompts sort of take that aspect of the enjoyment out of it for me!
Nadine wrote: "And Sarah J. Maas is always describing her (non-animal) characters as preening their feathers or purring or growling or having cat-like grace, etc."I don't think the prompt has to be quite this literal. Analyze a character and decide what animal they seem like. An adorable character could be a kitten. Or a scary serial killer could be a grizzly bear. Or a lackadaisical character could be a honey badger. Or an eccentric character could be a platypus.
In fact, I think you could make just about any book work. And that's really why I don't like the prompt very much. It's creative and could be fun to choose a book for (and see what others choose) but it's really not related to the book exactly, if that makes sense.
I suggested the animal like character. I did it because we were looking for more character prompts. Finding new ideas is getting hard, so much has been done before. Character prompts are difficult. It is flexible and a lot of the books I read compare the characters to animals. And there are some books that have the comparison, sort of, in the title.
The Wolf of Wall StreetThe Clan of the Cave Bear
Foxy Lady
American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House
The White Tiger
No matter how the voting turns out, here's a link to 1 of 2 videos on how the pronounce often mispronounced author's names. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV_Xq... I stumbled on it when checking on how to pronounce Jhumpa Lahiri's name.
Edie wrote: "No matter how the voting turns out, here's a link to 1 of 2 videos on how the pronounce often mispronounced author's names. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV_Xq... I stumbled on it when checkin..."Wow did I ever get Jo Nesbo’s name wrong (apparently pronounced more You Nesba)
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Foxy Lady (other topics)The White Tiger (other topics)
American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House (other topics)
The Clan of the Cave Bear (other topics)
The Wolf of Wall Street (other topics)
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Isn't this basically third person point of view?
For some reason this prompt is perplexing me."
Same... I thought I was upvoting it, but after reading the discussion and thinking about it more, I think I'm going to pull it out of my top votes.
I'm hesitant about it if I can't use a book with a villain POV. Also we have non-protagonist POV and unique POV which I think could have been merged into one prompt.