[2021] The Wild Discussion Showing 1,001-1,050 of 2,279

[Nadine in NY]

Avery wrote: "Read a book in which someone might respond with “you read a book about WHAT?!”..."


I would like that. I have a bunch of microhistories on my TBR ... cod, milk, bananas, paper clips ...

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

Plenty of fiction works for "about WHAT?!" - such as We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves or Nothing to See Here, which might seem like standard literary fiction but have very unusual elements. Or a recent favorite, In the Distance. A GR friend described it as "a 19th century Swedish boy is sailing to New York with his big brother but he gets separated and ends up on a ship to San Francisco instead. When he gets there and understands what happened, he decides he will just walk East." This was on a Zoom call and the rest of us said, "What!" A number of us read it, and it actually gets weirder from there but we loved it.

[°~Amy~°]

I like the chapter names that aren't numbers prompt. I have several that use dates or countdowns for the chapter headers.

[Avery]

Robin, Nothing to See Here is a great fiction example for that... “you mean to tell me you’re reading a book about combusting children?!”

[Milena]

Nadine wrote: "Avery wrote: "Read a book in which someone might respond with “you read a book about WHAT?!”..."


I would like that. I have a bunch of microhistories on my TBR ... cod, milk, bananas, paper clips ..."

I love microhistories!

[Lizzy]

Avery wrote: "Okay I was looking for listopias that may work for the Non-Fiction (exclude biography/memoir) prompt and I came across this one, which I thought was funny.

You read a book about what?!
https://www..."

I love this Avery!

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

The book about what?! is also a chance to include something on a hobby or interest of yours. I love word games and have read several books on both Scrabble and crosswords. My daughter likes weird geography- ghost towns,oddly named towns, unusual islands, etc., also books about bridges and weather .

[Nancy]

I love the "book about what?!" idea, I've been wanting to read Stiff by Mary Roach for years. And it would be a great way to get a non-fiction book in for those who want to, but fiction would work too.

[Avery]

Glad some other people are liking this option! In an effort to get the best wording before suggesting the prompt, does anyone have better suggestions for the “you read what?!” suggestion? Right now I have:

Read a book in which someone might respond with “you read a book about WHAT?!”

Capital letters too much? Haha

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

Avery wrote: "Glad some other people are liking this option! In an effort to get the best wording before suggesting the prompt, does anyone have better suggestions for the “you read what?!” suggestion? Right now..."

I like the idea of the list just coming along to say like number 18 and it just says "you read what?!" lol

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

The capital letters are the best part! You could attach a link to that list and also give other examples, such as the fiction ones mentioned above.

[dalex]

Avery wrote: "Glad some other people are liking this option! In an effort to get the best wording before suggesting the prompt, does anyone have better suggestions for the “you read what?!” suggestion?”

I would suggest something like - a book that might cause someone to react “You read what?!?”

[Jillian]

I am currently asking myself “you are reading what?” while listening to The High Mountains of Portugal by Yann Martel. This one is pretty out there for me and I read some weird books. Fortunately, I’m almost done and the narrator is great even if the book isn’t.

[Chelsey]

What does everyone think about

Read the book with your favorite cover art on your TBR.

[Irene]

Chelsey wrote: "What does everyone think about

Read the book with your favorite cover art on your TBR."

I love cover prompts so I'd upvote it! I'm obsessed with books with beautiful covers.

But I have a suggestion: I don't think you need the word "art" in there because that threw me off for a second. Some people's favorite book covers might just have words on them, or photos, etc.

[Chelsey]

Irene wrote: "Chelsey wrote: "What does everyone think about

Read the book with your favorite cover art on your TBR."

I love cover prompts so I'd upvote it! I'm obsessed with books with beautiful covers.

Bu..."

Good point.

Read the book with your favorite cover, on your TBR.

[dalex]

Chelsey wrote: "What does everyone think about

Read the book with your favorite cover art on your TBR."

Often people dislike “favorite” prompts because it’s so absolute. I’d suggest something like “a book with a cover that you find visually appealing.”

[Hannah]

What do we think about "A genre or subgenre you've never read before"? I know there's a certain contingent that doesn't like reading outside of their preferred genres, but this wording could allow you to choose a subgenre within a genre you already know you like - like maybe you love science fiction but have never read a cyberpunk or an alternate history, or here's a whole list of super specific fantasy subgenres along with suggestions: https://reedsy.com/discovery/blog/fan.... Here's another list with a bunch of genres and subgenres: http://www.cuebon.com/ewriters/genres.... Is "never read before" too strong? I'd really like to encourage myself to try some new things next year!

[dalex]

Hannah wrote: "What do we think about "A genre or subgenre you've never read before"? I know there's a certain contingent that doesn't like reading outside of their preferred genres, but this wording could allow ..."

I think the “never” part makes this prompt sound super hard. I’ve read pretty much every genre at some point in my life so I’d have to do a lot of researching into subgenres to find anything that would fit the prompt.

[Hannah]

dalex wrote: "Hannah wrote: "What do we think about "A genre or subgenre you've never read before"? I know there's a certain contingent that doesn't like reading outside of their preferred genres, but this wordi..."

Yeah, that's what I was worried about. What about "a genre or subgenre you're unfamiliar with?" Surely regardless of how widely a person has read, they would be less familiar with some genres than others.

[Irene]

Hannah wrote: "dalex wrote: "Hannah wrote: "What do we think about "A genre or subgenre you've never read before"? I know there's a certain contingent that doesn't like reading outside of their preferred genres, ..."

I think that wording should be flexible enough to work for most people! There are so many specific sub-genres that I doubt anyone is very familiar with all of them.

I'm also thinking of suggesting a genre prompt, such as this one:
A book for which you are (or were) not the intended demographic/audience

Examples:
- Any book published before you were born (or of an appropriate age, such as adult books published when you were a child)
- Any book published originally in another language/country
- Reading middle grade if you are an adult (or YA if you're past your 20s), reading chick lit if you don’t identify as a “chick,” etc.
- Nonfiction books that are targeted at a specific audience you don't fit into, especially self-help/advice books (As a kid, I used to read a lot of horse care books despite never coming within a mile of one)

Completely open to suggestions on tweaking and improving the wording!

[Nadine in NY]

Hannah wrote: "Yeah, that's what I was worried about. What about "a genre or subgenre you're unfamiliar with?" Surely regardless of how widely a person has read, they would be less familiar with some genres than others. ..."


Even that wording is difficult. For those of us who have been following reading challenges for a few years now, we've tackled challenges like "a subgenre you've never heard of" - which means we've at least familiarized ourselves with hundreds of subgenres now in the course of picking past books.

I love genre prompts and I'd like to see this one win, but I think wording needs to be even more flexible, such as: "a subgenre you don't read often."

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I agree with Nadine here. I like "don't read often" as it allows me to revisit some of the genres I've liked in the past but don't pick up as frequently.

Irene, I also really like that prompt and will 100% vote for it, especially if YA doesn't make it in this round.

[Hannah]

Nadine wrote: "Hannah wrote: "Yeah, that's what I was worried about. What about "a genre or subgenre you're unfamiliar with?" Surely regardless of how widely a person has read, they would be less familiar with so..."

Oh, I definitely intended "unfamiliar with" to mean "hadn't read much of or at all," not "had never heard of," but I see the ambiguity! I'll reword - yay genre prompts!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Just a quick reminder to go vote on the poll for when you would like to have the next Read-a-Thon. There will be a 2021 ATY list prize associated with this one, so you'll want to make sure you're available!

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

[Nancy]

I'm with the genre "you don't read often" people. There are definitely subgenres I've now been exposed to that I've never heard of that I'd like to dive into more.

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

"don't read often" would work well for me; I've done the "never heard of before" versions of this prompt and there's some genres I would definitely like to go back to. In the past couple of years of doing reading challenges, I feel like I've discovered a lot of great authors and subgenres that I enjoy but I don't think I've done a good job on following up on those discoveries.

[Molly]

I haven't been following this thread super closely but has anyone thrown out the idea for "A book that inspired a Netflix original series"?
A few come to mind right off the bat like The Umbrella Academy, Vol. 1: The Apocalypse Suite, The Last Wish (The Witcher series), Stealing Home (Sweet Magnolias), The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events), and Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables).
I can see how making it an original series could be limiting so it could be changed to "A book that inspired a TV series you can watch on Netflix", what do you all think?

[Aimee]

Molly wrote: "I haven't been following this thread super closely but has anyone thrown out the idea for "A book that inspired a Netflix original series"?
A few come to mind right off the bat like [book:The Umbre..."

Just a thought, it might be hard to do a Listopia for this as different things are available in different regions (e.g. someone might add a book which has a TV adaptation available on US Netflix, but it wouldn't technically count for me in the UK).

[dalex]

Molly wrote: "I haven't been following this thread super closely but has anyone thrown out the idea for "A book that inspired a Netflix original series"?."

Personally I think it sounds super limited. But I wouldn’t mind a repeat of the “a book related to a TV show” prompt that we’ve had before.

[Alicia]

I like the idea, but I think Netflix may be too limiting as not everyone may have a Netflix subscription. I would agree a book related to a TV show may be best.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Or even "A book that inspired a TV show" if you wanted to make it more specific than just "related to".

[Nancy]

I like "inspired" better than "related to." I usually prefer broader terms but in this case "related to" is too broad, IMO.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Yea, I think the last time we had this prompt ("related to"), I used a book off of the Rory Gilmore challenge, which was fine, but probably not what you're going for in this prompt.

[Hannah]

I really like the "book that inspired a TV show" idea and I feel like I have a bunch of options: Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, The Handmaid's Tale, Outlander, Wolf Hall, Normal People, His Dark Materials, the Miss Fisher mystery series, Sharp Objects, A Game of Thrones...

Some of those books I've read and some of those shows I've watched, but I feel like it would be fun either way! Either read the book for a show I love or reread the book and then watch a new show.

[dalex]

Emily wrote: "Or even "A book that inspired a TV show" if you wanted to make it more specific than just "related to"."

That’s doable and I like it. I have at least 4 books on my “Own & Unread” list that fit this prompt.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

The TV show option seemed narrow to me till I remembered all the classics and mystery/detective shows done by BBC/PBS/Acorn TV. For instance, just about every Dickens and Jane Austen have been done, also Call the Midwife, All Creatures Great and Small, Miss Fisher mysteries, etc.

[Aimee]

Robin P wrote: "The TV show option seemed narrow to me till I remembered all the classics and mystery/detective shows done by BBC/PBS/Acorn TV. For instance, just about every Dickens and Jane Austen have been done..."

And pretty much all of Agatha Christie's back catalogue!

[Jill]

We did have this prompt in 2019, but depending on the other nominations I would be willing to vote for it again

[Molly]

Thanks for all the feedback! I don't think I'll submit it this next round but when we get to the last couple of polls I might throw it in there if we seem to be having trouble coming up with prompts.

[Sarah]

I'm rather new to this challenge (2020 is my first try) and haven't read all the discussions so please let me know if this is old news:

"A book with a building in the title"

Lots of options such as The House of the Spirits, House of Leaves, Murder at the Vicarage (A. Christie), christmas/romance books with "cottage" in the title, fantasy/science fiction like The Two Towers (Tolkien), The Dark Tower (King)...

Anyone up for this?

[Hannah]

Jill wrote: "We did have this prompt in 2019, but depending on the other nominations I would be willing to vote for it again"

The 2019 prompt was a little different, as it just had to be related to a TV show or movie, not directly inspire a TV show. I had fun with that prompt finding books that were referenced in TV shows and movies, but I like that this one limits it a bit further while still leaving a bunch of varied options.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

That's an interesting idea, there is also Castle, Fort, Mansion, Factory, Station, Airport, Store, Shop, Library, Hall, Abbey, and even School.

[°~Amy~°]

Sarah wrote: "I'm rather new to this challenge (2020 is my first try) and haven't read all the discussions so please let me know if this is old news:

"A book with a building in the title"

Lots of options suc..."

I think that is an interesting idea

[Ellie]

Leigh Bardugo's fantasy books are getting a TV show too, so I could save one of her story collections. I don't watch many TV shows so I googled some lists that might be helpful to others like me.

https://www.stylist.co.uk/books/best-...
https://www.ranker.com/list/best-tv-s...
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
https://www.aarp.org/entertainment/te...

[Nancy]

Would you be willing to include "or on the cover?" I was just thinking yesterday that there are a lot of books with houses on the covers.

[Pam]

Sarah - I like the building in the title idea. I’ve seen a building on the cover prompt before but I like your idea better. There are lots of options in a variety of genres.

[°~Amy~°]

Nancy wrote: "Would you be willing to include "or on the cover?" I was just thinking yesterday that there are a lot of books with houses on the covers."

I am one of those that doesn't like prompts that have an 'OR' in the wording. It feels like trying to squash two different prompts together.

[Pam]

Sorry Nancy! I didn’t mean to discount your idea! I was posting at the same time as you.

[Nancy]

°~Amy~° wrote: "I am one of those that doesn't like prompts that have an 'OR' in the wording. It feels like trying to squash two different prompts together."

That's fair. I'm always thinking of ways to expand prompts but in this case maybe that's too much.