[2021] The Wild Discussion Showing 1,201-1,250 of 2,279

[Juliet]

I agree, once you throw ‘roses’ in you have all KINDS of options, there are ones named after Agatha Christie and Alexandre Dumas, and almost all of David Austin’s roses have literary inspired names ( Tess of the D’Ubervilles, The Prince, Jude the Obscure, etc)

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

Tons of options, with the words "dog", "moon", "snowflakes", "winters", "springs", "ponies", etc.

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

"girls in white dresses" could go either romance or gothic horror, lol, though the blue satin sashes would narrow things a bit.

I like the energy of this prompt

[Avery]

Oh I love this - would vote for it! Jealous I didn’t come up with it haha!

[[deleted user]]

i definitely love that song choice! so many options and i love prompts that are easy to KIS/BIO

[Irene]

I also LOVE the idea of doing My Favorite Things!! I voted against all of the previous song lyric ones because I didn't know or like the song/artist. This one is great because it is NOT specifically about contemporary events (although you can make it related if you want!), and is such a classic C:

Someone please please please suggest this one in the next poll!

[Ellie]

I am fine with the idea of the prompt but is it just me or does "inspired by" make it it sounds like the author had to be inspired by the song to write the book, not that I am inspired by the song to pick a book that is related to it?

[[deleted user]]

Ellie wrote: "I am fine with the idea of the prompt but is it just me or does "inspired by" make it it sounds like the author had to be inspired by the song to write the book, not that I am inspired by the song ..."

definitely! the final wording should make reference to using the lyrics specifically

[dalex]

I think the Favorite Things song prompt could be really fun!

Suggested wording -

a book related to a word or phrase found in the song My Favorite Things

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

dalex wrote: "I think the Favorite Things song prompt could be really fun!

Suggested wording -

a book related to a word or phrase found in the song My Favorite Things"

That sounds good to me. Whoever suggests it could put a link to the lyrics. I think this song is more likely to be known by an international audience than the others that have been suggested.

[Kelly Sj]

I know some other randomly-generated book/author prompts have been suggested but not voted onto the list. But I like the idea - what about this one?

https://www.whichbook.net/

I haven't spent a lot of time on it, but you can choose by emotion/mood, by character/plot characteristics, by a map, or by starting with a bestseller.

It's going to destroy my TBR if I explore too long, but I already have 800 books on it so why not more?

[Stacey]

I am loving the 'My Favorite Things' prompt - great imagery and ideas here. Weirdly enough, though I love scavenger hunts for prompts, as I'm loading them and a quick pick of Listopia books into my spreadsheet, I'm finding too many of the same books come up for various prompts. A deeper dive is needed, but I do like the idea of the Whichbook generator. Like you Kelly, I have 500+ books on my TBR and I'm game for more.

[Pam]

When I read through the lyrics, the first book that came to mind was Doctor Zhivago because of the word sleigh bells.

[Stacey]

Kelly wrote: "I know some other randomly-generated book/author prompts have been suggested but not voted onto the list. But I like the idea - what about this one?

https://www.whichbook.net/

I haven't spent a ..."

On my first pass with the generator, I tweaked 4 of the "sliders" under the "Mood & Emotion" tab and found a whole new list of books, some I'd heard of and others were totally new. Some folks may find it overwhelming, but I really like exploring new and possibly, underrated, titles. Love that there are four different categories and various combos within each that you can choose from, as well. Kelly, you should definitely nominate it for our next poll!

[Ellie]

I am finding Whichbook a bit too random, cannot really work out how to make it give me suggestions I would like. I'd rather have the random word generator personally.

[Joyce]

dalex wrote:

Suggested wording -

a book related to a word or phrase found in the song My Favorite Things"

That sounds good to me. I’m happy for anyone to submit it as I don’t always see the polls. I had thought of just copying the lyrics into the suggestion as they are quite short, just repeated twice.

[Sara]

Love the Favorite Things idea. Definitely an upvote for me.

Tried out the whichbook and like it as well. It might even be helpful in finding a book for some of the other prompts. Lots of books and authors I have not read.

[Kat]

Loving the world map option on Which Book. I'm trying to read from a few more countries and this is giving me lots of new options.

[Kathy]

I liked the WhichBook also. Many I haven't read before.

[Serendipity]

I’m also loving Whichbook. Very helpful for my goal of reading around the world. Using character I’m getting a nice mix of books I already have on my radar and titles I’ve never heard of. Thanks for bringing this site to my attention. I’ll be using it regardless of how it does on the polls.

[Martha]

I loved Whichbook and bookmarked the site for future use whether it is chosen for a prompt or not. It's a great site for mood readers.

I liked "Favorite Things" too.

[Pam]

Thank you Kelly for the Whichbook link! It’s an fun way to search for books tailored to your interests. I found the same book with several different queries. It’s a book I own, randomly picked it up at the Dollar Tree, and have never seen it mentioned anywhere. I think it’s a sign for me to finally read it! 😀

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

I am fine with the Whichbook but we have some people who only want to read books they already own or already have on their TBR. Possibly the tool would remind them of something they own, but otherwise they might object.

[Angie]

I like Whichbook. The first time I tried it, I wasn't getting much. After I got home and played with it again, I found some cool stuff.

[Mary Beth]

I'd like to suggest an update to the prompt from 2019

A book from an author you enjoyed reading in 2020.

I know its the same prompt but I'd pick a different author this year

[Sara]

Robin P wrote: "I am fine with the Whichbook but we have some people who only want to read books they already own or already have on their TBR. Possibly the tool would remind them of something they own, but otherw..."

There are always going to be people who don't like a prompt. I always have a few on the list that I didn't want at all, but then it spurs me to find something I can use, and sometimes those are the best reads of the year. I also marked the site as one I can use whether the prompt makes its way in or not.

[Pam]

Mary Beth - I like your suggestion. I also like a book you meant to read in 2020 or a book you read because of something you read or heard in 2020. I like those types of prior year referenced prompts better than annual lists.

[dalex]

I tried multiple things on whichbook and always came up with books I've never heard of that have like a 2.31 rating on goodreads! Haha.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Mary Beth, I like this a lot better than the "meant to read in 2020" prompts. I'd probably vote for it again.

[Sara]

dalex wrote: "I tried multiple things on whichbook and always came up with books I've never heard of that have like a 2.31 rating on goodreads! Haha."

Wow, Dalex. I did a setting with the mood sliders and the books that came up included books I have read and given 5-stars and books on my TBR already, and three books I had never heard of that I checked at random and all three had 4-5 stars.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

ICYMI: Our next Read-a-Thon starts on Saturday, and the individual challenge comes with a prize of getting to pick one prompt for the 2021 list!

You can get more info here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

As a reminder, you do not have to participate in the team challenge to do the individual challenge (and vice versa). More info coming later this week, but I wanted all of you to be able to mark your calendars!

[Rachel]

I can't seem to figure out how to use Whichbooks, at least not in such a way that it gives me books that actually interest me. I've played around with a variety of different settings, and mostly get books I'd never heard of and don't really care to try.

[Nadine in NY]

Rachel wrote: "I can't seem to figure out how to use Whichbooks, at least not in such a way that it gives me books that actually interest me. I've played around with a variety of different settings, and mostly ge..."


Whichbooks didn't do much for me, either. It's just pages of books. I didn't see any "sliders" - when I click on the bestsellers page, it looks like i should be able to scroll right or left to see more titles, but I can't - I'm wondering if it matters which browser you're using? I'm currently using Chrome.

[Pam]

Nadine- I’m accessing the site from my iPhone. The only category with sliders is Mood and Emotion. For Bestsellers, you click on one book that you liked and it gives you a selection of others you might like.

[Chrissy]

Has the drawing of a summer reading challenge participant to pick a prompt happened yet? When will we know what they chose?

[Stacey]

Nadine, while the other three topics don’t have sliders, they each have a way to customize one’s choices. For the World Map, click on a country or region on the map and the generator suggests books from that country. For Character & Plot, there are five filters you can adjust (or not) to read about the type of characters you enjoy. With Best Sellers, you can choose a book you previously enjoyed and the generator offers up similar books, à la “if you liked Normal People, you’ll love...”.

The downside is that the filters are a bit limited (for instance, you can only choose one race at a time when choosing characters), but still, it’s fun having a whole new set of books to choose from.

[Jill]

I'm glad I am not the only one who just found books that I have never heard of on the Whichbooks. I think I'd be better just picking a random number from my TBR list.

[Nadine in NY]

Pam wrote: "Nadine- I’m accessing the site from my iPhone. The only category with sliders is Mood and Emotion. For Bestsellers, you click on one book that you liked and it gives you a selection of others you m..."



Oh I guess I'm not missing anything. It looked like there were arrows to scroll bestsellers, but maybe not. I didn't like any of the choices they show, so nothing for me to find rec's for. I'll go back and play with Mood and Emotion I guess.

[Irene]

Jill wrote: "I'm glad I am not the only one who just found books that I have never heard of on the Whichbooks. I think I'd be better just picking a random number from my TBR list."

I'm having a bit of trouble on Whichbooks as well. I think most people here have pretty extensive TBR shelves, so I like the idea of choosing from our own TBR lists, although I can't think of a specific prompt for it. Maybe something like reading a book listed at a number with "2" and "1" on our TBR? Like reading the 12th, 21st, 111st, or 219th books on our shelves, with the freedom to order our TBR any way we want? (I usually do it by date most recently added but it's fun to play around with that).

KIS could be just that it needs the "2" OR "1" in the number the book is listed at instead of requiring both.

[Alicia]

I also must not be putting in the right things. I tried bestsellers, country and race and only found one book I had ever heard of, and that was only still choosing white as the race.

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

Chrissy wrote: "Has the drawing of a summer reading challenge participant to pick a prompt happened yet? When will we know what they chose?"

The winner has been contacted, but we are waiting to hear their selection. We should be able to make an announcement this weekend.

[Ellie]

I found setting the mood slider all the way to larger than life and then scrolling for ages gave me some recent SFF I had heard of. I just don't find it very fun using the site.

I think the bestsellers page is broken, it definitely looks like it should rotate through a selection but the arrows don't work on any browser (I tried).

[Wendy]

Jill wrote: "I think I'd be better just picking a random number from my TBR list."

Um...I'd vote for that challenge on the list!

ETA: find a number generator online that let's you adjust a range equal to the number of items on your TBR, then have it randomly pick 1 or 3 or 5 of those items, then you pick the book you most want to read.

[Nadine in NY]

I love the idea of a random number generator. Everyone can modify it to suit the size of their chosen list, and you can choose the book now (for planners) or leave it to the last minute (for serendipitous readers).

[Stacey]

Great idea, Nadine. I’d just suggest that if we vote on this prompt, we expand the wording to say something like, “any random book generator you prefer, including random number generators to select from your TBR list”. I happen to like Whichbook, but a quick search on Google offers up a bunch of different kinds of book generators that could be appealing.

[Aimee]

Stacey wrote: "Great idea, Nadine. I’d just suggest that if we vote on this prompt, we expand the wording to say something like, “any random book generator you prefer, including random number generators to select..."

This seems like a great compromise - those who like Whichbook can use it, but it has an alternative for others.

[dalex]

I think books chosen randomly (via a number on your TBR list or a generator or whatever) is just a freebie prompt.

And I don't like how it's just this weird personal prompt. There's no group continuity. It's meaningless to me what anyone reads for the prompt because it just some random thing.

Just my penny's input, for what it's worth. :)

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I tend to agree with dalex, mostly because I know myself and I know I'd just keep randomly generating numbers until I found a book I wanted to read lol. It would definitely be a freebie for me.

[Kat]

I have so many books added to my TBR because I like the sound of them but can't actually read them as my library doesn't have a copy. This has been made harder having to rely on digital only while my local libraries are closed.

I tried to use my TBR for the 20th on a list prompt this year but none of the options were available to me.

[Sara]

I also agree with Dalex. I prefer some limits to the prompt. It is the reason I dislike the huge "list" prompts. When there are a thousand books to choose from, it becomes "read a book".