Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
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[2021] The Wild Discussion
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dalex wrote: "Yay people! Good morning!An article popped up on my fb that recommends genres based on your Myers-Briggs personality type. I thought that could be an interesting prompt. Thoughts? Opinions?
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That's kind of fun, and it suggests a genre I like for mine (but I like a lot of genres, so it's hard to miss with me): mystery.
I admit I’m one of the people likely to downvote that one. I don’t know my personality type and I’m not interested in taking a test to find out. To me it seems like a newer version of ‘what’s your sign?’
I read in order this year to avoid overthinking things, but I allowed myself to do side reads if I felt I needed to, with the idea that I could bail and switch to random order and plug those side reads in where I could if my reading pace got derailed. I will probably do the same next year and see how it goes! I agree that there were some heavier periods in the middle of the list this year, but I generally found it to be a very thoughtful ordering of the prompts, both with respect to the calendar and potential for reader fatigue (thank you, mods!) I love the ideas for timing so far, I'll try to take a look and see if I can add anything.
Juliet wrote: "I admit I’m one of the people likely to downvote that one. I don’t know my personality type and I’m not interested in taking a test to find out. To me it seems like a newer version of ‘what’s your ..."It's funny because it totally is like the zodiac to me, but I get a kick out of reading the personality descriptions for both! But I'm borderline on two of the Myers-Briggs axes (maybe because I'm a Libra ;) ) so recommendations like this are hard for me to do much with--I probably wouldn't vote up or down on this, and it would basically be a freebie for me.
I didn't read in order this year because I'm at the mercy of the library and hold times, but maybe next year I'll make more of an effort to stay in order. Since I do Pop Sugar too I tried to balance out my books between the two, I have 4 more for PS and 6 more for ATY for this year.
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Good point, this year a lot of people had to rethink their reading order when libraries were closed. I finally read some of the ebooks I had forgotten I had.
Nancy wrote: "I didn't read in order this year because I'm at the mercy of the library and hold times, but maybe next year I'll make more of an effort to stay in order. Since I do Pop Sugar too I tried to balanc..."This is my third year of reading in order and fitting Popsugar and book club books in between. As I mostly try to read from my physical TBR, it worked pretty well for me this year, and I have read my AtY books in order and in the correct week all year - the first time I have achieved this! I now have 13 AtY and 9 Popsugar books to go, and am already excitedly planning next year's reads.
Our town library is still closed and has been since March.I’m both a planner and a library bunny so I’ve had an unusual amount of re-jigging to do this year. My last book also fits Popsugar’s “Read a banned book during Banned Book Week” which seems to have taken ages to come around but I’m now about to finish both challenges.
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Normally at this time in the voting, we'd be reminding you about certain types of prompts we are short on, but... carry on, I guess!
I have thought of another idea for a prompt based on the '21' theme - either a book title or an author where the first word has two syllables, and the second word has one syllable (ignoring A or The in titles). I came up with 18 authors and 13 titles just from my physical tbr. Some examples of authors: Amor Towles, Robert Burns, Ernest Cline, Roald Dahl, Robert Drewe, Freya Stark, Patrick Gale, Annie Proulx.Titles: Adam Bede, Lorna Doone, Shanghai Girls, Moby Dick, Nickel Boys, Shipping News, Little Life, Tiger's Wife.
I suggested the 2-1 syllable title prompt a few weeks ago but it didn’t make it in—I’d love to see it resubmitted!
I'll vote for the 2-1 if it gets to voting :)
dalex wrote: "Yay people! Good morning!An article popped up on my fb that recommends genres based on your Myers-Briggs personality type. I thought that could be an interesting prompt. Thoughts? Opinions?
http..."
I like my result (fantasy) so I will like this prompt :)
Bree wrote: "I suggested the 2-1 syllable title prompt a few weeks ago but it didn’t make it in—I’d love to see it resubmitted!"Sorry Bree, I missed that! I will try to resubmit it with the option of title or author, which gives more options to those reading in translation, though I think languages that have authors with long names also tend to have complex words for titles.
With 3 winners today + the individual challenge winner, I think this puts us at 37 prompts so far, right? That mean 15 to go. If we're able to get 3 a poll, that's 5 more polls we need. We might have our final poll around the US election day! (which I just realized is my anniversary this year....)
Steve wrote: "With 3 winners today + the individual challenge winner, I think this puts us at 37 prompts so far, right? That mean 15 to go. If we're able to get 3 a poll, that's 5 more polls we need. We might ha..."I make it 39 - are you missing the "books published in 2021" and "winner / nominee from the GR Choice awards" prompts?
Aimee wrote: "Steve wrote: "With 3 winners today + the individual challenge winner, I think this puts us at 37 prompts so far, right? That mean 15 to go. If we're able to get 3 a poll, that's 5 more polls we nee..."I see what I did. I counted the bullet points here but forgot that one bullet is 3 books: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Good to have lots of winners this time. I've been looking at the list to try and work out what to suggest in the next round but nothing is really jumping out. It's a really well rounded list so far and I'm really looking forward to it.
Steve wrote: "Aimee wrote: "Steve wrote: "With 3 winners today + the individual challenge winner, I think this puts us at 37 prompts so far, right? That mean 15 to go. If we're able to get 3 a poll, that's 5 mor..."Ah glad you sorted it out! I was worried that I'd accidentally included two random prompts.
I have not given up on my second chance idea. I had originally submitted it this way:Since so many things have been cancelled or postponed because of the virus (i.e. the Olympics), a prompt dealing with second chances. Could be a plot that involves a second chance (divorce, relocation, going home again, any major change in life), a book you failed to finish that you are giving a second chance, or one you are reading a second time, or an author you are reading for the second time.
but when it came to the voting, it just said "book related to a second chance"
I think a minor change was made to the wording and someone else resubmitted. I was wondering if some of you who are so good at wording things might suggest how it could be reworded to give it a better likelihood of getting through?
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I liked the second chance book too, but it seems like many people interpreted it as a re-read on the last go-around. I think the wording was changed to "read a book you want to give a second chance", but yeah, I prefer your broader interpretation, Sara.
Me too, I much prefer "second chance" as a theme within the book option.
I like “related to second chances”The latest revision of that was “book that deserves a second chance”.
But if it’s related, it can cover all the topics you listed above. I would think a “second chances book” wouldn’t cover those we had to postpone or want to reread.
I like the "second chance book" because it also includes a popular romance trope: the "second chance romance."I also liked Anastasia's idea a few polls ago of "a book with a plot about the forbidden" - by the time I read the suggestions for that poll, it was closed, so I didn't get a chance to second it. Maybe it was over-looked because the wording needs to be polished?
I down voted the Second Chance book because of the way it was worded. I think I got stuck on the idea of giving a book I DNF'd a second chance (ie: try reading it again). Since I rarely DNF I only give up on a book if I really don't like it. So that is where I was stuck with the "Second Chance" I like the idea of the theme of the book being a second chance (ie: Divorce, going home again, etc).
But I think a lot of people decide they don't like an author or a particular book so they have no desire to try again.
I think I voted for related to second chance and downvoted deserves a second chance. I do like "related to" because of the multiple interpretations - plot about a second chance, or if someone wants to try a book they DNF'd again, they still could.
I would vote a for a "related to second chances" prompt.I have more books I want to read than time to read them, so I am not so keen on giving ones I've previously dismissed another chance, not until I've caught up... 🤣 But I think "related to" covers both ways of approaching second chances.
Random Question: Is there a way to sort Listopias by what's on our shelf? Or is that one of those randomly basic features that Goodreads should offer but doesn't.
Alicia wrote: "Random Question: Is there a way to sort Listopias by what's on our shelf? Or is that one of those randomly basic features that Goodreads should offer but doesn't."That would be such a helpful feature! Sadly, I don't think it exists.
Thanks for the feedback about the personality/genre prompt idea. It seems that opinions about it are pretty much evenly divided so I may or may not suggest it.
I have the same Myers-Briggs as my favorite Harry Potter character, Snape. ISTJ's for the win!!
Would people be more open to it if it was related to various "personality types". This could include Myer-Briggs, horoscopes, introvert/extrovert, etc?
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Because we don't have many actual Close Calls, this poll will be a mixture of named Close Calls and prompts that would have been in the top or been a Close Call if it were in a different poll (for example, if it went up against some really strong contenders, but had decent numbers, it may not have made it in Poll 7, but would have won/been a Close Call with comparable numbers in Poll 8).
We will have 15 in this poll like normal polls, and voting will be the same (8 votes to cast as you'd like). We will release the list before suggestions for Poll 17, but I wanted to give everyone a head's up before suggestions open for Poll 16.
Oooh I LOVE the Close Calls poll. There were a lot of good prompts in that group!
Emily wrote: "Just wanted to give everyone a heads up that we will be having a Close Calls poll that will run concurrently with Poll 17. We will wait until after Poll 16 to announce which prompts will be on the ..."That’s a great idea. It will help people decide whether to resubmit suggestions or not, and some might not need to be resubmitted at all if they appear on this one.
I resubmitted the second chance prompt last time and intentionally copy and pasted the original wording, but I think it got changed a bit because someone else got there first with slightly different wording.I would definitely upvote "related to a second chance" or similar wording, but would not vote for it if it only involved giving a book/author I've read a second chance. I like that it can encompass all those options above.
As I am following this thread it made me chuckle that we are going to have a close call poll-- Which I am in favor of-- While we are discussing second chances as a possible prompt.
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ISTJ's for the win!!
Would people be more open to it if it was related to various "personality types". This could inclu..."
I think this is a pretty much American thing. A lot of us have done the test but it's not so common elsewhere. You have to pay to take the official test or you can find it in various books but not everyone knows their type. Same for horoscope, I think it's a US/Western European thing. There is also the Chinese system like year of the Rat, Dog, etc. So maybe you could include all that.
Because I am between the T (Thinking) and the F (Feeling) in Myers-Briggs, I am often conflicted. The T says that there should be a clear rule so things are fair, but the F says we don't want anyone to be left out or feel bad. The T side of me is very decisive about what prompts I want but the F side wants to vote for other prompts just because I can tell they are really important to some other members.
I'm ENFP so I'm up for anything :DI took the test online, it's possible to find an online free version, just don't pay to get the private consulting afterwards.
I actually think astrology is bigger in Eastern Asia (China and Japan specifically) and India than it is in the US. Which was why I suggested expanding it out from Myers-Briggs. In America we generally know our signs, but most people don't know the full details of their personality as it relates to those signs. We don't generally choose actions, spouses, etc based on these readings.
While I believe it's less popular now in the Asia regions, these used to be a regular part of life before making decisions. I have an Indian colleague who is in the process of being set up in an arranged marriage and astrology is a big portion of who she is ultimately matched with.
Thanks everyone for the input. I also did not like the prompt after it was changed because I did not intend it to restrict itself to reading something you dnf'd and that was how it sounded on the resubmission. I will try to get "a book related to second chances" submitted on the next poll. I believe that leaves it open to the book being about second chances, or for those who wish, giving the book itself a second chance.
I really get into the Myers Briggs stuff (I don't find it like horoscope which seems randomly assigned), and find it's often creepily accurate for me. I do think it can be difficult to type yourself, as we tend to have more idealistic ideas about ourselves, and people who mistype tend to find it (not surprisingly) inaccurate. I am an INFP, and I work closely with an ENTJ. Knowing our types has helped us figure out our working relationship *immensely* because it helps us understand what the other person values and how they prefer to go about a task (she: very methodically and with a complex plan. me: winging it but bringing in crazy ideas that she can often use to improve the Plan. synergy!)Anyway, I'd definitely do an MBTI prompt.
Robin P wrote: "Because I am between the T (Thinking) and the F (Feeling) in Myers-Briggs, I am often conflicted..."This made me laugh. I've never done the test in a professional capacity (we did something else once with colours) but whenever I've done the free versions I bounce between different "types". It annoys me a bit that they assume you can't be thinking AND feeling.
I'm always IN but my mental state can influence the last two. I did a quick test to see what my genre would be and some of the questions were asking me about things that I do when my anxiety is bad, but not when it isn't.
My manager in a previous job made the whole department do Myers-Briggs; she even brought in a consultant to do it with us. I was on the fence for pretty much all of them except for a strong preference on N (iNtuition). I agree with Ellie that it changes depending on my anxiety and the situation I'm in - I'm a lot more E at work, where I have to give presentations etc, and a lot more I at home where I just want to read books on my own!
I think it's pretty normal to have a "work type"--sort of a front--but it's my understanding that your preference at home when you are acting only for yourself is your "true" type. In school i used to type as INTJ, but the TJ was due to how i'd "turn up the dial" on my thinking and judging at school. That's what *they* value, and I would try to be that. but the older i get, the more i sink into being INFP all the time...
That would be one of the problems I have with the prompt. My "type" might change on any given day. I took the online "test" and it came up with a genre I do not prefer at all. So, I'm thinking I know more about what genre I like than this test does. Therefore, it becomes a "pick your favorite genre" prompt for me.
Have we ever done a prompt around Found Family? Throughout the pandemic, my friends have become more important than ever.Here is a listopia of Found Family Books
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Around the Year in 52 Books
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Yup :) though my reading habits fall more along contemporary fiction, historical fiction, and fantasy. That said, I do plan on reading The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women next year, which is different from my usual.