Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
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[2021] The Wild Discussion
Alicia, you could use it for set on an island (Manhattan) maybe?
Usually mid to late November. Partly depends on whether they do the sneak peaks again
Rachel wrote: "Does anyone remember around when PopSugar comes out with their list? I usually don't start fully planning until I see both our list and PS's, but I can never remember when it is!"The mods in the PopSugar group started posting the indivdual threads on November 18 of last year (I only looked at three threads but they all had the same date).
Alicia wrote: "Does anyone have suggestions on where I can fit in Rules of Civility I just can't figure it out. I've been to NYC, I'm using King of Scars for monochromatic cover..."
Besides Beth's idea of island, it could be your Past book of the Past, Present, Future prompt. Or if you don't have your prompt that didn't make it yet, some of those could work!
Alicia wrote: "Does anyone have suggestions on where I can fit in Rules of Civility I just can't figure it out. I've been to NYC, I'm using King of Scars for monochromatic cover..."
It’s historical fiction so it could go for the “Past” book for Past Present Future multi-week prompt.
The GR award 1st round will start on October 27.I saw the date posted in the GR librarian group under the awards folder, in case anyone wants more information.
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I just can't figure it out. I've been to NYC, I'm using King of Scars for mono..."
Also Love Story and set on an island - Manhatttan and I think Long Island. I read this some years ago so I'm a little vague. If you read & liked A Gentleman in Moscow in 2020, you could use Author of one of your best reads from 2020.
I couldn't quite tell if it fully hit love story so that is great. Unfortunately, I read Gentleman in Moscow when it first came out, and this has been on my TBR for the longest. It needs to be read!Thanks all!
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does anyone know when the popsugar for next year will be announced? is it normally november?
It does change all the time Annie but usually mid to late November. They said in their Facebook group they're finalising it and asked about opinions on the advanced prompts a few days ago. Hopefully not too much longer
thansk franzi. i thought it was later in November but i'm keen to do more planning and hoped it was sooner haha!
is popsugar decided by group vote too? i don't know much about it tbh
is popsugar decided by group vote too? i don't know much about it tbh
annie wrote: "thansk franzi. i thought it was later in November but i'm keen to do more planning and hoped it was sooner haha! is popsugar decided by group vote too? i don't know much about it tbh"
Nope, the Popsugar team puts together the list. BUT, they do always source some prompts from reader suggestions although I'm not sure what percent of their prompts are from those suggestions (maybe half?)
Yeah they ask for suggestions but there is no formal vote. They tend to favour more whimsical suggestions. I suggested my female villain prompt last year but it didn't get. In this group by popular vote it is
Irene wrote: "Nope, the Popsugar team puts together the list. BUT, they do always source some prompts from reader suggestions although I'm not sure what percent of their prompts are from those suggestions (maybe half?)"
from the facebook or goodreads group? like i said, i know nothing about it really. i just find the list online and try and join in haha
from the facebook or goodreads group? like i said, i know nothing about it really. i just find the list online and try and join in haha
annie wrote: "Irene wrote: "Nope, the Popsugar team puts together the list. BUT, they do always source some prompts from reader suggestions although I'm not sure what percent of their prompts are from those sugg..."They ask for suggestions from both but it seems they take more suggestions from the Facebook group. I won't be doing it this year cos this one is enough for me. Especially since i have now decided to brave the long and not use my wild card for that one.
I think they follow the aty voting process as well. Last year I noticed some of the prompts from aty that didn't make it in, were on the ps challenge.
Mod
Well I gave them a turn this year next years it your go
i haven't actively participated in any rounds but i have attempted to complete the list in the past. i'm interested casually more for the planning tbh than the community or reading challenge itself. i'm happy here!
I decided to try Popsugar this year since they had so many of our rejects that I liked. But, I’m finding it’s too much effort tracking 2 big challenges plus several smaller ones. And, some of the prompts that sounded so interesting are not appealing to me now! For 2021, I’m planning on doing just ATY and NATO. I have some personal goals to read more non-fiction and classics, with a focus on Russian literature. If anyone has any favorite Russian authors/specific books, please feel free to share them on my challenge thread! I have some ideas listed on post #4. I want to try to read 5-10 different Russian authors.
Franzi wrote: "It does change all the time Annie but usually mid to late November. They said in their Facebook group they're finalising it and asked about opinions on the advanced prompts a few days ago. Hopefull..."Really? I must have missed that. I'm in their Facebook group, but I don't keep up with it very well
There was a poll with options for the advanced prompts, it's still there if you want to vote.I do plan to do both again next year, I've been doing PS since it started and I would feel weird not doing it! I also do the ATY seasonal challenges but allow for some overlap there, where I don't between the regular ATY and PS.
annie wrote: "from the facebook or goodreads group?"The mods on the FB group say they take suggestions from both, but definitely more from Facebook! (Probably because there are way more suggestions there!)
Nancy wrote: "There was a poll with options for the advanced prompts, it's still there if you want to vote.I do plan to do both again next year, I've been doing PS since it started and I would feel weird not d..."
I'm doing the exact same thing as you!! I've been doing PS for at least 3-4 years now so I'm definitely going to keep doing it. But since ATY and PS is a lot (>100 books!) and I don't overlap between the two, I've overlapped a ton on the seasonal challenges because they're still so fun to do!
I've also been doing the PS challenge since forever, and in my first year, not only did I disallow any re-reads (except when specified as such by the prompt), I also only counted only ONE book from any series I was reading. I ended up reading 110 book or so that year and counting less than half of that for the challenge. That was before I discovered this group :)Last time I tried PS and ATY together, I did not allow any overlaps either, but ended up not finishing the ATY (short by five books), because there were re-reads and new releases I read in that year that didn't fit either challenge (reading 102 books was not the problem^^).
This year I am allowing double-dips, but trying to keep it to a minimum. I have eight books left for PS and thirteen for this one, so I should probably get a move on :D
Last year PS took forever to post the challenge; the year before, it always came out before November 10.
Conny wrote: "I've also been doing the PS challenge since forever, and in my first year, not only did I disallow any re-reads (except when specified as such by the prompt), I also only counted only ONE book from..."Conny, that's hilarious because I thought I was the only one who counted 1 book per series for these prompts!! (aside from the more standalone-type series like Hercule Poirot or James Bond). I may have to give that up next year since I'm pretty behind on all my challenges as well...
Edit: I do count rereads though! I try not to, but for some reason I'm more okay with that than counting the 2nd and 3rd books in trilogies hahaha
Conny wrote: "I've also been doing the PS challenge since forever, and in my first year, not only did I disallow any re-reads (except when specified as such by the prompt), I also only counted only ONE book from..."It was later last year cos of the sneak peaks thing. I have no idea if they will do that again. I am trying to avoid rereads for this one next year but I making an exception for comfort reading as I am weird and can't be sure I will find it comforting unless I already read it.
My rule is I count re-reads if I would have re-read them anyway (e.g. if a new book in the series is coming out) and they just happen to fit the prompt. I won't re-read a book just for a prompt.
Quite a few of the GR group suggestions make it into the PS list, I don't think the majority come from fb unless they are just suggesting the same things as us! One of mine was picked for this year and I know a lot of rejects from here get mentioned there and then end up on the list. The FB suggestions have a lot of repeats and not very well thought out ideas if you ask me... Though I expect indigenous author and translation will make it based on the amount of times they've been suggested.
I started doing the PopSugar challenge in 2015 but now I just do a partial challenge since I started doing the AtY challenge in 2019. I go through the PS prompts to see which ones I like and then set a goal based on that. I also allow for overlap between the 2 challenges. I just don’t read enough books in the year to finish both, but I still like to do something with PS.
I enjoy doing the Popsugar challenge because the facebook group is so interactive. (I love the ATY challenge but often feel like everyone is off doing their own things.) Next year I only plan to do the PS prompts that I can complete using the books I’ve chosen for the ATY challenge even if that means I don’t finish the challenge.
dalex wrote: "I enjoy doing the Popsugar challenge because the facebook group is so interactive. (I love the ATY challenge but often feel like everyone is off doing their own things.) Next year I only plan to do..."Yes, I agree. This year was the first time I did ATY and I was a little disappointed that the threads for each prompt aren't as active as in PS. I like the PS FB group but get a little tired of the repetitive posts (if I see one more "do audiobooks count as reading" post I'm going to get stabby).
Also, there are only so many prompts so there's going to be overlap between the two. Especially since so many people are active in both challenges, so there were definitely suggestions there from people I know post here too.
I had wondered whether there could be a Facebook group for this challenge. I’d be happy to set it up but I wouldn’t want to do it if the mods didn’t want that
This is one of the very few times I’m sad I don’t have Facebook. And Nancy, I’m not even part of the group, but I HATE when people try to tell me the audiobooks don’t count as reading. Unsurprisingly, they are usually people that barely pick up one book a year.
Mod
And Nancy, I’m not even part of the group, but I HATE when people try to tell me the audiobooks don’t count as reading. Unsurprisi..."
There's intensive discussion about that on the Audiobooks group here on GR (a really good group to get recommendations and notice of bargains.) Studies show that audiobooks do confer the same benefits as print reading. Personally I learn well from hearing and I often retain more from a well-done audiobook than in print.
When they first became popular in the 1990's, they were on cassette and very expensive, so many of them were abridged. Also I think the marketers thought that audiobooks were for people who didn't really like to read. A lot of the early ones were self-help and business oriented. But now we are in the golden age of audiobooks, with many of them free through libraries or inexpensive through multiple services, great quality, professional narrators.
Someone in another GR group made the ridiculous comment that it was wrong to listen on audio to classic writers like Charles Dickens. They picked maybe the worst example for that argument. Not only did Dickens initiate the tradition of an author reading from his works (in his case, acting them out as well), but many people were exposed to his works from a family member reading them aloud.
I also love print books but audiobooks have doubled my reading by adding books to drive time, housework, and exercise.
I'd love a Facebook group for the ATY challenge. I think it would just improve the challenge.Another question : Can anyone tell me which 2021 prompts Mexican Gothic would fit? Many thanks in advance!
🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽 a thousand praise hands emojis Robin. I’ll have to join that group. Completely selfish reason, but I wouldn’t want a Facebook group because I’m not on Facebook. I’d hate to feel left out and I like that this is a pure Goodreads group. I know I have the option of joining Facebook, but I work in privacy law so I will never sign up for Facebook again. It’s too disturbing for me.
Mexican gothic is great! You can do for below Tropic of Cancer , BIPOC author you never read (if you have read her previous book, mystery/thriller, a country you haven’t visited (if you’ve never been to Mexico). Then some looser ones: age travels to this place, the family she stays with would be immigrants to Mexico, and I’m sure it’ll be a goodreads chiice nominee and probably a best book under the ATY challenge.
Alicia wrote: "Completely selfish reason, but I wouldn’t want a Facebook group because I’m not on Facebook. I’d hate to feel left out..."I'd worry about interactions being taken away from this group too. I have a Facebook account but I barely use it. I don't want to have to be exposed to the rubbish on there more than necessary, so I'd be sad to see this become a FB based group.
I only went on the PS fb group to see what people were suggesting for next year and some people were pretty aggressive. It doesn't make me want to use it at all for discussions.
Ellie wrote: "Alicia wrote: "Completely selfish reason, but I wouldn’t want a Facebook group because I’m not on Facebook. I’d hate to feel left out..."I'd worry about interactions being taken away from this gr..."
Yeah but supposedly interaction tails off nayway. tahts what I thoguht people were saying above.
In my experience, the "audiobooks don't count" people have never listened to an audiobook. It's an argument my husband and had for years and I finally convinced him to try them, and he now agrees. I have Mexican Gothic slated for cross genre.
As a children's librarian who often encounters dyslexic children I am firm advocate of "listening to audiobooks IS reading" (and you don't have to be dyslexic, vision impaired, or have a neurological problem to indulge in it).I've found a certain type of flowery, weaving writing, works very well for me on audio, on print not so much.
For me this year I dropped off Goodreads for a few months because of the pandemic. So yeah I can imagine that happened for other people too. I have felt group interactions have been fine though, there are readathons and monthly threads that have things going on...
Mod
And Nancy, I’m not even part of the group, but I HATE when people try to tell me the audiobooks don’t count as read..."
I think that’s the most important point when it comes to audiobook. It all depends on how you learn and take in info. I have to have just the right audiobook since I’m a very visual learner and often lose focus with audio. But many others are the opposite. Do we shouldn’t devalue that type of learning :)
What do members think could be gained from Facebook vs. GR?
I would have concerns with splitting focus and, like Ellie said, GR is a nice “escape” from all the things that come along with FB. I’m wondering if we could accomplish some of those positive things here.
One of the biggest things lacking with GR, for me, is image sharing. But we could possibly tie up with an image sharing site of some sort so that we could still maintain focus here. Just as an example.
I would agree with Laura that having a facebook group would split the focus too much. I also don't tend to utilize FB groups often. I might pop in and read them once in a while but I rarely contribute anything whereas I am on Goodreads at least once a day.
I just find groups like The Napping Bibliophile let me discuss books where as here I am confined by the thread headings. But as it’s clear the rest of you don’t want it consider the matter dropped
Do any of the threads in the Off-Topic section work for your book discussions?
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I just looked that up a few days ago. I think it was around Nov 18th last year