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

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I love that Cheri!

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

Just in case people wanted to discuss the pre-poll prompts I thought I'd repost them over here.

A winner or nominee from the 2020 Goodreads Choice Awards
A book published in 2021
A book you meant to read in 2020
Reader's choice
A book that fits a suggestion that didn't make the list this year
A book that fits a category from another challenge

Anybody have any guesses about which ones will make it in? I think almost certainly the first two and then a total coin flip for any of the others.

[Johanne]

What is meant by reader's choice? Is it a free spot to use any book, or something else?

[°~Amy~°]

Jill wrote: "Amy, I appreciate your KIS/BIO lists. I haven't contributed to them but do find them very helpful."

Great, as long as they are useful, I absolutely will be doing it again. :-)

[Cheri]

Sara wrote: "The Grand Egyptian Museum, described as the largest archaeological museum in the world, is expected to be completed in 2021. I was trying to think of a prompt around that...
Book set in Egypt, in a..."

Love this idea!

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

Johanne wrote: "What is meant by reader's choice? Is it a free spot to use any book, or something else?"

Yep, just a free spot to read whatever.

[Johanne]

Thanks Jackie.

[Steph]

Cheri - I love that idea! Maybe a nonfiction and a fiction book that relate to the same topic?

[[deleted user]]

Steph wrote: "Cheri - I love that idea! Maybe a nonfiction and a fiction book that relate to the same topic?"

love this!

[Marie]

I would suggest, or reinforce the idea if it's already been mentioned (I'm pretty sure I've looked at all the posts so far), of a book relating to music. I don't remember this being a prompt since I've been taking part in the challenge.

I know it's a fairly general prompt in this form, but it would appeal to those who prefer nonfiction and those who prefer fiction, those who want to base it off the title or cover, or those who want to do a little more research into the actual story and how it relates to music.

While the specific prompts can produce some wonderful reading choices, I tend to enjoy broader ones more because I'm almost always sured to be able find something I already own or my local library has. Even with interlibrary loan (back in pre-COVID days) I would often have to go to choice E or F before finding a book I could get when trying to fulfill more specific prompts.

[Serendipity]

Cheri - I love that idea too or even Steph’s modification. The fiction/non fiction on the same topic was suggested but didn’t make it this year. I’ve included it in my rejects challenge. I’m about to start a biography of the poet Edna St Vincent Millay and then have a fictional account of her life to follow up with. I know some people don’t like non-fiction and five might be too many, Perhaps ‘two(or three) books connected to the same topic’ might have broader appeal?

[Serendipity]

Most of the pre-poll prompts can be summed up as read any book you like. So absolutely fine but no real interest or challenge. I’ll probably downvote to Goodreads Awards one since I’ve frequently read all the ones I’m interested in and the winners often seem a little dubious. I won’t be devastated if it wins - just probably my least favourite prompt.

[Anastasia]

The only automatic prompt I like is a suggestion that did not make it in this year. We get so many great suggestions that do not make it.

The rest are just give aways. We also have a wild card so they really seem unnecessary.

[Jill]

I thought any book for any of the prompts was the "reader's choice " only slightly pushed in a particular direction.

[Cheri]

So glad to hear there's some interest in the books-on-the-same-topic prompt! I agree it should be only 2 books (at most 3, but I'll suggest 2). I don't want to do a fiction/non-fiction pair because too many people freak out at the thought of reading non-fiction. If it's left open, people can do it that way if they wish, but no one has to.

[Kayleigh]

I like the sound of the multi-week-topic prompt, could be really interesting, I hope it makes it through.

[Stacey]

Cheri wrote: "So glad to hear there's some interest in the books-on-the-same-topic prompt! I agree it should be only 2 books (at most 3, but I'll suggest 2). I don't want to do a fiction/non-fiction pair because..."

Love your idea, Cheri. Sara's, too. What a good way to become a topic "expert". It's giving me some good ideas.

[Rachel]

Jill wrote: "I thought any book for any of the prompts was the "reader's choice " only slightly pushed in a particular direction."

I see it the same way generally, although I guess there might be some cases where people might feel they don't have much choice (ie. a list prompt)?

Maybe I missed it, but I saw we are getting Top and Bottom votes for the pre-poll, but is there a none of the above option? Based on the comments so far, it looks like some people might like to not have any.

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

Rachel wrote: "Jill wrote: "I thought any book for any of the prompts was the "reader's choice " only slightly pushed in a particular direction."

I see it the same way generally, although I guess there might be ..."

You could use all four of your votes as bottoms if you wanted, or if you're indifferent you can just skip the prompts entirely and just answer the multi-prompt question.

[Chelsey]

Popping in with some of my thoughts. I would down-vote a reference or how-to book. It's just not my thing. I think with so many of us doing popsugar the prompt for something you know little about wouldn't do well but i could be wrong. I wouldn't down-vote it but I wouldn't up-vote it either. If that makes sense. I'm not a huge fan of the pre-poll prompts as well. I'd rather see new fun prompt ideas from members.

I would love a book set in Egypt or related to Egypt. That sounds fun.

[Rachel]

Jackie wrote: "Rachel wrote: "Jill wrote: "I thought any book for any of the prompts was the "reader's choice " only slightly pushed in a particular direction."

I see it the same way generally, although I guess ..."

Right, but I didn't think 4 downvotes would count as the same thing as saying an outright no. To be fair, I'm likely to upvote at least a couple of these myself. I guess what I'm wondering is how the results would be interpreted, or what happens if there is no "clear" winner?

I just wondered because I remember a discussion last year about multi-week only polls presume that people would want at least one multi-week at all, unless there was a "none of the above" option.

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

For the multiweek prompts, there is an option to say no entirely to multiweek prompts. The multi week prompt question is separate from your 4 votes.

If there's no clear winner(s), there will be no winner. We could have multiple of these suggestions become the first 'rejects'. None of these are guaranteed to get in; it's just that they come up year after year and tend to be very popular so we try to get them out of the way ahead of things.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Just like in our normal polls, if a prompt doesn’t receive enough upvotes, it will not make the list, so we could easily have a “no winners” week if people are very against automatically putting these in.

[Ashley]

I have a few ideas for prompts but have never suggested any. I like the ones that have a few different options with each prompt.

I was liking of proposing something and would like some feedback if anyone is willing.

Here it goes: A book about or involving a team or organization.

[Pam]

Ashley- I like your suggestion! It’s not one I’ve seen before.

[Kelly]

Ashley wrote: "Here it goes: A book about or involving a team or organization."

So like... you could do the obvious and read something about a sports team, but you could also interpret the prompt as a book about a secret society, or business, or political group? That sounds really cool! And would allow for a lot of creative interpretations...

[Ashley]

exactly. I like prompts that are open to interpretations and have different options.

[Sara]

It would work for me. I also like prompts with depth. When they are too narrow, I usually vote them down.

[Ashley]

thank you all for the input.

[Shannon SA]

Cheri wrote: "I was in a challenge once that had us read 5 books related to any topic of our choosing. I chose China as my topic and read a couple works of fiction translated from the Chinese, a book about the d..."

I really like that for a multi-week challenge :)

[°~Amy~°]

The 2021 KIS/BIO list is live! You can find it HERE in the 2021 Reading Challenge folder.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the list, here's a rundown for you!

What is it? Basically whenever a poll ends and the winning prompts are announced, I add those prompts to the KIS/BIO list. The group then gets together to brainstorm ideas on how to make the prompts easier or more difficult.

Why do we do this? Well, it helps us look at prompts in a broader sense. Sometimes a prompt feels super restrictive and we can only think of one or two books to fit the challenge. KIS options help us see ways to expand on the prompt to give us more freedom in our choices. The BIO options on the other hand are for people who want to narrow down their choices to just one or two for a greater challenge.

How do we use it? That part is easy! Members can use KIS options for each and every prompt, or they can use the BIO options each time. Or you can bounce back and forth. I think the majority of us work through the challenge as it is and only jump over to the KIS/BIO list when we are struggling with a prompt. You don't have to commit to using either part of the list, or any part of it, just have fun with it!

How do you participate? Visit the KIS/BIOthread, read it over and post your own ideas for discussion. We welcome all input!

Enjoy!

[Irene]

My first comment in this thread, so to sum it up, I really like a lot of these prompt suggestions, and the healthy discussion surrounding them!

Personally, I love the idea of multi-week prompts as well as the idea of centering multiple books on a theme of choice (although 5 seems a bit much; I think even 2 is fair). I enjoy prompts that a lot of books can fit, as I try to complete them from my existing book collection first. (For this reason, I don’t like prompts that ask you to read from a specific list, including the Goodreads choice winners, but I can see why they’re popular!)

While I love Egyptian mythology and historical fiction, it seems a bit odd to single out Egypt as a specific country to read a book about. Why not North Africa as a whole, or the Arabian peninsula, if the point is to diversify what we read? It would be like doing “Read a book about Laos” instead of “Read a book set in Southeast Asia,” which would give a lot more options to readers and not favor one country over another. If the angle was supposed to highlight the history of Egypt, then perhaps I’d suggest “Read a book about or set in any Ancient Civilization”.

Just my two cents on what’s been discussed above. Sorry if I’m late to the conversation!!

[Juliet]

Normally I would agree with you on picking a specific country, but I think Egypt is an exception. The OP’s point was to tie our list to an event happening this year ( the opening of the Egyptian Archological Museum). Normally I like a spread of countries because it can sometimes be hard to find a book in a genre I like but there is SO much set in Egypt I don’t think that will be a problem for anyone

[Sara]

Yes, I was tying it to a specific event...but that event would allow for reading a book set in Egypt, written by an Egyptian, set in a museum or about a museum, related to archeology. Maybe others as well, since some others here are better at widening the range than I am. I think it would allow for a pretty broad range of genres and number of book choices.

[Chelsey]

I agree that some areas wouldn't work for a specific prompt but think Egypt does and love this prompt.

[Ashley]

continuing on what Sara said, even a book that involves something associated with Egypt or Egyptians. for example, pyramids. there are some in Mexico i believe so these are in a book, it could also fit this prompt. just a suggestion to widen the possibilities

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

Sara wrote: "Yes, I was tying it to a specific event...but that event would allow for reading a book set in Egypt, written by an Egyptian, set in a museum or about a museum, related to archeology. Maybe others ..."

I agree, it's like the prompt this year about the Olympics in Japan, some went with books set in Japan, others with the sports side.

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

I would still love to see a prompt related to the group reading map, just because that project has really shown the areas that tend to be underrepresented.

It’s been exciting seeing South America fill in a bit because of this year’s prompt.

Right now, Africa, particularly central Africa continues to be very underrepresented. There’s also a list of countries in the thread that haven’t been read in the past two years (those that are italicized)

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Hannah]

I agree, Laura! I started my own reading map this year (though I filled it in retroactively) and I know that there are some countries that it's unlikely I'll get to in the course of my normal reading. I'd really like the encouragement to fill some of those tricky areas in!

[Nadine in NY]

I got excited when I saw Announcement updates. When do we see the results of the pre-poll?

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Jackie will post them later this morning!

[Shelley]

I've been tracking my world books for a few years now. I'm at 73 countries total, 9 from this year so far, with another 10 already penciled in from my TBR. It should come as no shock that Caribbean and Oceanic islands are by far the hardest to find. Any time I can work in another country onto my list I'm happy and will always vote for those.

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

Prepoll results have been posted! Hold on to all those great multiweek prompt ideas because you *will* get to suggest them, just not tomorrow :)

[Traci]

Laura wrote: "I would still love to see a prompt related to the group reading map, just because that project has really shown the areas that tend to be underrepresented.

It’s been exciting seeing South America..."

I agree! The map has caused me to focus my reading on different settings (I love to watch the map fill in). Some countries are tricky to find books of interest that also are at my library and fit a prompt, so having something catered to the map would drop the last of those 3.

I liked your idea from last year about reading a book set in a country that had fewer than x reads on the map, but that got a lot of debate going, so I don't know if people would be amenable to something like that. Focusing on just one area based on the map might be a better way to go.

[Shelley]

Traci wrote: "Laura wrote: "I would still love to see a prompt related to the group reading map, just because that project has really shown the areas that tend to be underrepresented.

It’s been exciting seeing..."

How about a country from the bottom half of country population? Or by Country area?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...

Looking at it, I think by area would be a bit easier because there's much fewer islands clogging it up. Also a smaller chance of the list suddenly changing halfway through the year

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Just a head's up for you planners, the community spreadsheet is updated with the 2021 list making tabs, including one page for planning for the 52 prompts and one page for rejects. Go ahead and add your name, and let the planning begin!

[Rachel]

I'm not such a fan of a prompt connected to the map, but I guess it would depend how it's formulated. I don't really like picking books geographically for some reason, and looking at the map, the places that have not been read are places I'd really struggle to find something that actually interested me and was also accessible.

To be honest, I never use the map because I always forget to keep track of where my books are set, and it just became one too many things to pay attention to and record. I think if anything, I'd be most open to a prompt around countries that had fewer than x number of books read, and not just ones that haven't been read from yet.

[Deborah]

How about read a book that's been part of an library ebook vendor community read program? I know Overdrive and Hoopla have done them.

[Irene]

I see what you guys means about Egypt!

I guess I just thinking about how Egypt is SO over-represented in Western literature/media compared to other countries in North Africa and the Middle East, or even Africa the continent (and while a big event is happening in Egypt in 2021, lots of events are happening in other countries that western media is giving less attention to).

I really like the idea of making the prompt more open, like read any book related to archaeology, museums, ancient civilizations, etc instead of focusing on just Egypt. That way people who want to read more about Egypt could still do so - there’s certainly no shortage of books centered around/set in Egypt - but it would broaden the types of books people could read as well if they wanted to push themselves to diversify their reading.

If this is an unpopular opinion, then that’s fine and I’m enjoying this discussion at any rate!

[Sara]

As a celebration of the opening of the museum, that would open the prompt up, if you so desired, to books related to archaeology and museums in general. For instance The Goldfinch is not set in Egypt, has nothing to do with archaeology, but it does center around a work of art taken from a museum--so you could use it.