Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
note: This topic has been closed to new comments.
Archives
>
[2021] The Wild Discussion
I was thinking we did found family this year but that's just because I used a found family book for non-traditional family.I like a theme of opposites.
So I was thinking of expanding my "set in a library or book store" but I'm not sure how to word it. I want the prompt to be about books, does "a book about books" work? I was thinking books like The Bookish Life of Nina Hill or Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore that do involve a book store, but I would also want to include books where the character is an obsessive reader - The Overdue Life of Amy Byler, e.g. She's a librarian but the book takes place while she's on an extended vacation. In The Grammarians the characters are obsessed with language and books and one becomes a copyrighter and then editor. I can think of so many books where the main character loves books. And then of course there's Fahrenheit 451.
This would work for non-fiction too of course, if it's about books in some way.
Nancy wrote: "I want the prompt to be about books, does "a book about books" work?"I love books about books but it's a prompt that it's been a lot (in this challenge and in others) so I fear people might not like it for that reason.
Opposites would be fine with me. I can think of dozens of directions to go with that.
dalex wrote: "I love books about books but it's a prompt that it's been a lot (in this challenge and in others) so I fear people might not like it for that reason."I admit I had checked previous years for this challenge for the book store/library prompt but not about books so I wasn't aware. Last year was my first year with this one. The only other challenge I've done is Pop Sugar, and they haven't had a prompt like this (this year had about a book club), though they actually did "involves a book store or library" 2 years ago.
Anyway. I'm still pondering.
Edit: I just checked and "a book about books" was done in 2016 and last year had about reading, books or an author/writer. Point taken. So maybe I'll stick with setting.
I like books about books so I don't mind it being a repeat prompt across challenges.
I like opposites and always love books about books
Nancy, I love books about books!! Here is a listopia with that exact title: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/5...For opposites, wasn't that the multi-year prompt for this year?
Thank you! You've all convinced me to submit it. I was going to look for a Listopia but that pesky work thing is getting in the way!I think this year's prompt is different enough that I would vote for a prompt for a book of opposites. I've been needing an excuse to read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil!
Love books about books / set in bookstore/library - please submit, Nancy!
Shannon wrote: "Love books about books / set in bookstore/library - please submit, Nancy!"Same! I vote for this kind of prompt every time.
I think a theme of opposites in a single book is different from this year's multi-prompt because it focuses on the dynamic of the opposing forces/ideas/personalities/etc. within a single book, whereas you don't necessarily get that interplay between 2 different books.
I like both ideas- books about books (yes, it’s been done before but it’s still a good one) and opposites within a book!
How about a book related to the movie 21. The movie is a fact-based story about six MIT students who were trained to become experts in card counting and subsequently took Vegas casinos for millions.The film was adapted from Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions
examples: MIT, Gambling, College Students, Vegas, Massachusetts
more abstract examples: stealing, gangsters/mafia, true-stories
Mod
I’m still working out what character in a pack of cards means
Thomas wrote: "I’m still working out what character in a pack of cards means"The most straightforward answer would be a book with a King, Queen, or courtier character, but it could be extended to include a book with a character named Jack, a book with an asexual (ace) character, a book with a character referred to by a number instead of a name, etc.
Thomas wrote: "I’m still working out what character in a pack of cards means"As well as the ideas Hannah mentioned, I think during voting for this prompt it was suggested that it could refer to tarot cards as well as playing cards so you could choose a character from those too. I know nothing about tarot cards but this Wikipedia page might be a starting point.
Also, the latest Cormoran Strike book, Troubled Blood, has tarot cards as part of the plot (not a spoiler) so that might be an option for anyone who likes that series.
Hannah wrote: "Thomas wrote: "I’m still working out what character in a pack of cards means"The most straightforward answer would be a book with a King, Queen, or courtier character, but it could be extended to..."
an outside the box one is to use a fool, like in King Lear, or in Christopher Moore's Fool series, to connect to a joker in a deck.
A few days ago, it was suggested that the prompt: A book related to “The End” be the last one of the year. If that is the case, it would be fitting to have a corresponding prompt at the beginning of the year to serve as the other bookend. Here are 2 ideas:
1. A book related to “Once upon a time...”
This could include any historical fiction or nonfiction.
The prompt would be very fitting as many fairytales begin this way. However, this prompt would likely overlap significantly with the prompt about the past that is already voted in.
So instead, what about :
2. A book related to “In the Beginning...”
This could involve a book about the birth of a child, birth of a nation, rebirth, immigrating, new/fresh start, a move, falling in love, a trip, a new life, the start of an adventure/quest, first book of a series, a debut novel.
There is also a wikipedia page related to this expression used in many contexts (the bible, other books, movies, tv shows, music) which could give other ideas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_...
What do people think?
Ooh I like “In the beginning”. Especially with the Wikipedia. For tv shows it could be a book with a serial killer (Dexter), fantasy and/or vampires (Supernatural and True Blood), LGBT love (Dante’s Cove), or sci-if (Secret Adventures of Jules Verne)
Sophie wrote: "A few days ago, it was suggested that the prompt: A book related to “The End” be the last one of the year. If that is the case, it would be fitting to have a corresponding prompt at the beginning o..."LOVE this idea and am strongly in support of option #2. I really like the parallelism of "in the beginning"/"the end" and I think it would help the prompt a lot more in the polls if it was clearly meant to correspond to the prompt that we already have. I really like the idea of having an easy way to fit a trilogy into next year's reading using these two prompts, but I also just think it could be a wonderful chance to read about fresh starts at the beginning of a year that I'm sure many of us will be wishing for one.
Mod
Someone suggested putting “My favourite things “ at the beginning but I was thinking later in January. Isn’t the third Friday in Jan meant to be the most depressing day of the year? That would fit with the cheering-up intention of the song.
Sophie wrote: "2. A book related to “In the Beginning...”"
love that! it could even be the first book in a series or a preque. or even the first book in a prequel series, like Clockwork Angel
love that! it could even be the first book in a series or a preque. or even the first book in a prequel series, like Clockwork Angel
I like that. There are also books that have that as a first sentence "In the beginning ..."
Thomas wrote: "I’m still working out what character in a pack of cards means"I looked at this website that gives the meaning for each tarot card. I then matched the meaning with a book, like it would be the card that would be drawn for the protagonist(s).
For example, the Star card means "hope, faith, purpose, renewal, spirituality." I matched that with The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman, which is about a group of Jewish women surviving the Roman siege of Masada in 70 CE.
Or a simpler way to use tarot cards would be to just use the name of each card. For example, in Fortune's Pawn the characters travel in a spaceship called the Glorious Fool so that would match the fool tarot card or Sisters of the Vast Black is about nuns in space so that would match the hierophant card.
Or read a book with a magician (for the magician card) or a love story (for the lovers card) or a recluse (for the hermit card).
I love the tarot card meanings. Similar to how some are doing a separate prompt for NATO, I think I’m going to do one with all the different tarot cards. Then save our deck prompt for Umbrella Academy.
I know this won't be a popular thought, but the card/tarot card becomes "pick a book" for me. You can pick ANY book and then retrofit it into this prompt. The only way it works for me is if I shuffle and blind pick a card and then chose a book based on that. You have demonstrated that everything fits into such a broad prompt.
If you find it too broad you don't have to use a tarot deck? I worded it to allow tarot for those who would feel the usual playing cards would be too narrow, but I suppose I can't win with everyone :) I'm certainly not looking up the meaning of all the cards, but going along the lines of, oh it has a priestess or a Jack, that will work.
I don't think it's too broad. I'm going to read something with a card I know beforehand, like 'death' for tarot, or king, queen, ace for ordinary cards. I like how it's a creative prompt.
Alicia wrote: "Then save our deck prompt for Umbrella Academy...."I missed this! How does The Umbrella Academy fit the deck of cards?
Sophie wrote: "A few days ago, it was suggested that the prompt: A book related to “The End” be the last one of the year. If that is the case, it would be fitting to have a corresponding prompt at the beginning o..."I really like "In the beginning" - I am thinking about reading several trilogies and duologies next year and this would be a good way to fit in a first book, but I also have a book of creation stories from cultures around the world that's been on my shelf for years and this prompt could get me to finally read it! In the Beginning: Creation Stories from Around the World
Johanne- I like the idea of randomly picking a card, especially tarot, before selecting a book. I think I will do that and just use the Major Arcana, which excludes the number cards.
Nadine wrote: "Alicia wrote: "Then save our deck prompt for Umbrella Academy...."I missed this! How does The Umbrella Academy fit the deck of cards?"
Because the kids are named #1, #2, ..., #7, I thought it was a creative way to use the tougher cards, numbers, in the deck. Their other names were given later by their "robot mother", but their dad still calls them by their number names.
Alicia wrote: "Nadine wrote: "Alicia wrote: "Then save our deck prompt for Umbrella Academy...."I missed this! How does The Umbrella Academy fit the deck of cards?"
Because the kids are named #1, #2, ..., #7,..."
ohhhhhh that is very clever!!! Especially since Five tends to just go by "Five" - I think maybe he left before Robot Mom gave out names?
I LOOOOOVED season 2, sooooo much better than season 1. I still haven't read volume 2 of the book, so that's a good option for me. Thanks for pointing that out!
Exactly! Five is the best example for this!I loved both seasons so much, and have never read the books. I have never read a graphic novel, so I'm glad this will be my first!
There's also the character Four in the Divergent series if people want YA dystopian (I think he's in all the books, but can't remember 100%).
Traci wrote: "There's also the character Four in the Divergent series if people want YA dystopian (I think he's in all the books, but can't remember 100%)."Yes he's in all the books, and there's even a collection of shorts from his POV. Good thought!
In this vein there's also 'I am number four' and the rest of the series by Pittacus Lore.
For the card prompt I'm thinking of going with Rival Queens: The Betrayal of Mary Queen of Scots (about Mary QoS and Elizabeth I) because I can definitely see the queens in the decks being rivals. I actually didn't think of using the numbers at all for some reason! My mind went straight to jack, king, queen, ace.
For cards there are so many options. The suits in themselves are open to all sorts of options Hearts:- Romance, friendships , families ect. Clubs :- Any sort of club Book club, gym, sports club. Diamonds :- jewel heists, bank robberies, diamond mines, smugglingSpades:- gardeners, gravediggers, copses buried in foundations
So here's what I get pedantic. The prompt is "A book with a character who can be found in a deck of cards." I don't consider hearts, clubs, etc, to be characters, unless the character's name is one of those, which is of course possible. But a book about book club or a gym, or a romance, or a jewel heist, IMO, doesn't fit the prompt. Now if it were "related to a deck of cards," then yes. But not where the character is in the deck. It's even bothering me that the Listopia has a book with a playing card on the cover, but maybe one of the characters does have a name that fits.
The Umbrella Academy or Four from Divergent totally work for the reasons mentioned already.
Nancy wrote: "So here's what I get pedantic. The prompt is "A book with a character who can be found in a deck of cards." I don't consider hearts, clubs, etc, to be characters, unless the character's name is one..."Oh sorry about that. I am so used to the prompts being "related to" that I suppose I automatically read it like that.
Nadine wrote: "Traci wrote: "There's also the character Four in the Divergent series if people want YA dystopian (I think he's in all the books, but can't remember 100%)."Yes he's in all the books, and there's..."
Good to know! I've owned Divergent for a couple of years so maybe I'll finally read it next year.
I just learned what choose-your-own-adventure books are and I was thinking of a choose-your-own-prompt version. Something like “a book related to the 21st_____”. Then people can plug in their own category: birthday, Century, element (Scandium), Amendment (prohibition), book on their TBR, etc.
Thoughts?
I like it. Similar to "the 20th book" we had this year, but different enough. And I think it would be easier than the 20th book, which I struggled with.
Mod
This topic has been frozen by the moderator. No new comments can be posted.
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Mistletoe and Mr. Right (other topics)The Tourist Attraction (other topics)
Mistletoe and Mr. Right (other topics)
Hannibal (other topics)
The Beauty of Your Face (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
S.E. Hinton (other topics)P.D. James (other topics)
V.E. Schwab (other topics)
J.K. Rowling (other topics)
Bruce Alexander (other topics)
More...
I’m thinking good vs evil, opposites attract romance, unlikely friendship, etc.