Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
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[2020] Results for 18th Mini Poll
Glad the list is finally complete! Looks like no close-calls which is satisfying considering it's the last poll! In hindsight, I should have changed a down-vote to the previous ATY prompt! There were so many great and creative options this year - it's a bit boring to me to do a super broad prompt like pick any older prompt from previous years. But I am looking forward to reading a book that makes me think "what was I thinking putting this book on my TBR?!"
Mod
Hooray, we did it! I love the list-making process, but I also love when he have a completed list and can start really planning for next year. Who else is excited?!As for the results, I voted for both of the top two, so that's great. I also voted for one of the bottoms and two of the polarizing, but we knew there could only be two winners this round, so I'm good with it.
Emily wrote: "I agree about the ATY prompt, Avery, but I think I'm going to restrict myself to the 2016 list, since that is the only year of ATY I haven't done. I came in during the list making process of 2018 a..."That's what I was thinking, too. I didn't do the 2016 or 2017, so I'm going to look for one a pick from one of those. I'm leaning towards 2016, just because it's further removed.
Emily wrote: "I agree about the ATY prompt, Avery, but I think I'm going to restrict myself to the 2016 list, since that is the only year of ATY I haven't done. I came in during the list making process of 2018 a..."Good Idea - I also came in during the 2018 process, and went back and added 2017 prompts to my 2017 books after the fact. I think I'll use 2016 as well then.
I'm currently reading my last two books for this year's challenge so the timing is excellent! I'm a bit ambivalent about the winners this week, one's a freebie and the other one kinda disallows anything I'm really excited for. I'll probably just a buy a book "on a whim" for that one nearer the time. Or I need to stop tidying up my wishlist every month so I've got some forgotten things on there.But yay for list completion!
I’m glad the list is complete. I’m surprised that the previous ATY prompt made it. It was in my middle. I also did not do the 2016 list so I will probably pick a prompt from there.
I’m thinking of restricting myself to the 2016 list since it’s the one year I didn’t participate. It’s definitely a freebie so I’m disappointed in that respect. Or, to make it challenging, I might draw a number and restrict my choice to that prompt from any one of the years. Glad the list is finalized! I already have a 2020 bookshelf set up.
Mod
Pam wrote: "I’m thinking of restricting myself to the 2016 list since it’s the one year I didn’t participate. It’s definitely a freebie so I’m disappointed in that respect. Or, to make it challenging, I might ..."With that in mind, I suppose I could do the 20th Prompt from any ATY list!
Yay! the list is complete. And a suggestion I made, made it to the list! (the TBR one). And sorry to all you non-random people who will find it difficult (Ellie et al.), but tweak it so it works for you.
Hah Johanne, it's fine, it's an excuse to go book shopping.
Ellie wrote: "Hah Johanne, it's fine, it's an excuse to go book shopping.":) Then I don´t feel bad at all.
I'm actually glad that these last two prompts are broad and easy because I had only a few books left on my reading plan to slot into the challenge and it would have taken a good bit of re-arranging if the final prompts were very specific. For the prompt from a previous ATY challenge, you could choose something that there isn't much of on the 2020 list, like a genre or character prompt.
So excited for January 1st!
I’m thinking of doing a BIO version of the previous prompt and trying to find one book that fits a prompt from every past year.
Mod
I do that with Pop Sugar when they have a prompt for past prompts, one for each year. Because I read so much at random, I often fill those up in the first half of the year with things that just don’t fit anywhere else.
That's a really good idea. I was thinking about doing a multi-week for the suggestion that didn't win, but this feels like a more satisfying way of getting a few extra books in that I want to include next year.
Emily wrote: "So basically reading 4 books for this one prompt? Or finding one book that fits into at least one prompt for each year?"I am going to try to use one book that fits a prompt for each of the four years something like:
Over the Top: A Raw Journey to Self-Love
2016 - autobiography
2017 - author I haven't read before
2018 - title with AT&Y
2019 - related to a tv show
Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, and Advice for Living Your Best Life
2016 - non-fiction
2017 - by a person of color
2018 - make you laugh
2019 - non traditional format
I like Dalex’s idea for the previous ATY prompt, to pick a prompt that’s not represented this year. I’m thinking non-fiction or an illustrated book, maybe? I also like the idea of picking a prompt before Jan 1 and sticking with it. That’s more challenging!
Whoo hoo we have a list! Should be fun and only a few that make me grit my teeth - and I have to say sometimes those force me to be the most creative and read things that I may not have otherwise stumbled accross. Thanks mods and team for all the hard work!
dalex wrote: "I'm actually glad that these last two prompts are broad and easy because I had only a few books left on my reading plan to slot into the challenge and it would have taken a good bit of re-arranging..."Though generally I like more specific prompts, I'm also glad they are broad and easy due to the restrictions I've put on my list for next year. Towards the end of voting, there have been some I've wanted to vote for, but then thought that the book I would want to read for it would make me have to juggle around a few other prompts.
I’m a bit underwhelmed by the winning prompts. Don’t hate them just find them underwhelming. This week I’ll be going through all the prompts that didn’t make it and coming up with my rejects list. What I’m hoping I can do is then find books for the prompts that excite me on that list but also slot them into those prompts I find less exciting on the actual list. When it comes to planning I’m all about the exciting, novel or interesting prompts but when it comes to the actual reading it’s all about the books. And prompts I like and books I like often don’t correlate. I’m in the minority in that I’m a bit sad the list making is done. I enjoy the process so thanks everyone for your contributions,
I was thinking I'd have a huge rejects list this year, but as the planning process has ended and the books have already been placed in order, I realize I like the 2020 list a lot and will probably not do a rejects list after all. This was a creative suggestion year and I'm grateful to those who made suggestions and to the moderators who kept the process running smoothly.
For these last prompts that made it in, I’m planning to choose books that I want to read which suit the category, rather than the other way ‘round. And this year, for some reason and despite 500+ books on my TBR, I’m coming up with the same book lists that fit multiple prompts and that’s not good. Ugh. Still and all, thanks to everyone for their suggestions and votes. Now on to the best part — choosing those books!
I wanted to give a huge shout-out to the mods for all the work they’ve put into the process. I’m sure it can be stressful and feel like a thankless task at times. But I’m really appreciative of your efforts. And I know I’m not the only one.
Ditto what Serendipity said -- Thank you mods!
I´m not sure what "A book from your TBR/wishlist that you don't recognize, recall putting there, or put there on a whim" is. May be I don´t translate it correctly. Can anyone explain it to me please?
TBR is to-be-read, and is any list or pile you have with books you want to read. A wishlist is where you can mark books you are interested in, if you use an online store, or your library might have one. That can also be a physical wishlist of course. Or you might have a hold on a library book you forgot about. So it's for those books (if you have any) where you think: 'I don't remember putting that there' or 'why did I find that interesting'. If you don't do this you can stumble upon a book, like Ellie suggested (pick it up at a bookstore or library without prior knowledge of the book for example). I hope this answers your question?
Mod
The idea is to take a look at the books that you put on a want to read list (either here on goodreads or elsewhere), and look for one that you can't remember why you added it. Maybe it's a book you don't remember anything about, or maybe it was something that you thought looked pretty, or a book that you added so long ago that you've forgotten why you want to read it.
Just wait about a week and there will be a whole thread of people talking about how they're planning to tackle this prompt!
A bit underwhelmed by the results, but both are fine. Neither were prompts that I voted for, but I didn't vote against them either. I'll probably use the "on a whim" prompt to pick up a book that's been on my TBR for ages, although I go through my TBR fairly often so I don't know if there's any that I don't recognize at this point.The past ATY prompt will take some thinking about. I've done the challenge every year, so it will definitely be a repeat for me. My inclination is to pick one prompt per year, and one book per prompt, but I also don't want to overwhelm myself with too much. I'm going to wait until PopSugar comes out before I start to officially plan anything, because I want to see how many of my rejects list end up on that challenge instead, either as the same or a very similar prompt.
Eujean2 wrote: "Emily wrote: "So basically reading 4 books for this one prompt? Or finding one book that fits into at least one prompt for each year?"I am going to try to use one book that fits a prompt for each..."
That's a really fun idea! I may have to try that myself. :)
And, yes, thank you to the mods for making this process so fun and keeping it running so smoothly. We really appreciate all you do!
Excited to have a finalized list too! Thank you to the mods for all the coordinating!Now the fun of planning and convincing myself I CAN wait a few months to start reading the books I have in mind!
I see a lot of people are already planning their 2020 reads to fit the prompts :) May I ask what happens to your plans when you buy new books during the year? That's when my plans go out the window and my TBR gets larger. And I can't envisage going a year without buying new/more books!
Shannon wrote: "I see a lot of people are already planning their 2020 reads to fit the prompts :) May I ask what happens to your plans when you buy new books during the year? That's when my plans go out the window..."Oh, I don't stick to my plan, it's just there so that I have some ideas of what I could read for each prompt. I read a lot more than 52 books in a year so it's not a problem when I want to read other books outside the challenge. My TBR is enormous and I've pretty much given up on keeping it to a reasonable number, I just add books with abandon now, I've got about 1700 books on it right now, I know I won't live long enough to read all these books! And I rarely buy books, I use the library for 95% of the books I read.
Shannon wrote: "I see a lot of people are already planning their 2020 reads to fit the prompts :) May I ask what happens to your plans when you buy new books during the year? That's when my plans go out the window..."I'm like Nadine, I don't stick to my plan, but it is the books that occur to me at the moment. Unlike Nadine I do not use the library, but actually own all the books (around 3,000) and need to get as many read as possible, but know I will probably only make a slight dent in that number.
As the year goes on, I find other books I feel more in the mood for and just substitute them on the plan.
I make my plan and stick to it, there'll be no changes. The books I buy in 2020 will be for 2021, or after, except for the one for the published in 2020 prompt.I'm trying to reduce my TBR, so I made a rule for myself this year that I can only buy one book for every two that I read. I'll probably be over by a couple of books this year, but that's not bad. I have an awesome second hand bookshop, but it's a bit of a trek to get to, so it's an occasional treat not a routine thing, and that helps me keep it under control.
Shannon wrote: "I see a lot of people are already planning their 2020 reads to fit the prompts :) May I ask what happens to your plans when you buy new books during the year? That's when my plans go out the window..."My plan is more of a back-up plan in case I don't buy books that fit the prompts next year! I'm also trying to fit in new releases into reading in order, which is proving challenging. I 100% will not stick to my plan.
Interesting, the different plans :)) I do know that we'll all enjoy our reading! I'm off to start my 2020 plan-that-won't-be-stuck-to now :)
I love Emily’s 2020 goal of reading all the books she bought in 2019, so I decided to do the same thing. I went through my kindle & Amazon purchases, as well as my Books of the Month to figure out all the books I bought this year & still need to read. Turns out that I bought 45. 45!! I’m lucky if I read 40 in a year. 😬🤦🏼♀️ I need to get things under control or dedicate more time to reading. In theory, I would love to read down ALL the books I own, but so many new & shiny ones come out or are recommended that steal my attention. Help me!
Liz wrote: "I love Emily’s 2020 goal of reading all the books she bought in 2019, so I decided to do the same thing. I went through my kindle & Amazon purchases, as well as my Books of the Month to figure out ..."I don't think anyone here can help you, as we all suffer from the same complaint.
Haha! The extra problem is that out of those 45 books I bought this year (so far), I've only read 6 of them! "Squirrel!" I need to sort out my issues. lol
Mod
Buying fewer books? Not this group ;)
Shannon wrote: "I see a lot of people are already planning their 2020 reads to fit the prompts :) May I ask what happens to your plans when you buy new books during the year? That's when my plans go out the window..."I am a big library user, so the books I buy are a treat. I will buy the new releases in the two series I follow (which are included in my 2020 reading list) and probably only a couple more.
I will shuffle my planned reading list around a little during the year, but not too much. I really like the research and planning part and I draw primarily from my TBR, so I theoretically already know I want to read all these books. What I have right now is an early draft as I haven't seen the Pop Sugar or Read Harder Challenges yet.
Shannon wrote: "I see a lot of people are already planning their 2020 reads to fit the prompts :) May I ask what happens to your plans when you buy new books during the year?"That's easy.....I don't buy books that aren't on my Reading Plan! :) And I generally only buy books that I am not able to get from the library or interlibrary loan. I make some exceptions for favorite authors or books in a series; I'll most likely buy those even if I could them through a library resource.
Mod
Liz wrote: "I love Emily’s 2020 goal of reading all the books she bought in 2019, so I decided to do the same thing. I went through my kindle & Amazon purchases, as well as my Books of the Month to figure out ..." I also decided to read primarily from my stack at home, even if I have to tweak them a little to make them fit the prompt. I managed to get 45 of them on the list. The rest I will allow to come from the library, but NO buying. Ha. See how long that lasts.
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Over the Top: A Raw Journey to Self-Love (other topics)Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, & Advice for Living Your Best Life (other topics)
Top
A book from your TBR/wishlist that you don't recognize, recall putting there, or put there on a whim
A prompt from a previous Around the Year in 52 Books challenge (Link Here)
Bottom
A book that could be retitled with one of the Star Wars titles
A book that inspires or motivates you
A book that contains one of the top 10 female or male names in your region
A book that takes place in sister city of the city you live or lived in
Polarizing
A book related to a tarot card
A book related to a Google Doodle from 2018, 2019, or 2020
Read a book on a topic we've been told to avoid: sex, politics or religion
Our list is complete! Over the next week, the mods will be posting the final order of the prompts, opening 2020 planning threads, and posting the weekly threads for you all to comment on and join!