[2021] The Wild Discussion Showing 301-350 of 2,279

[Ashley]

Emily wrote: "Ashley, we do have a prompt involving non-traditional families on the 2020 list, so I'm not sure people would vote for it again."

Oh, I didn't even realize that. Never mind then.

[Sara]

I am hoping for new prompts or at least a few years since we have had it. I like the idea of the medical prompt. There was an attempt to get that through for the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth this year, but it failed. Maybe the COVID angle will make it more attractive to some.

[Ellie]

I like the ideas of medical and second chances.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

Medical is good, it could include characters who work in the field, someone dealing with a medical issue, of course any kind of plague, including in sci-fi. Someone mentioned having more non-fiction options, and there would be plenty here. There are probably lists already of medical-themed books.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

I had a couple ideas that have to do with titles

A title with a negative in it - that is a word like No, Not, None, Nobody, Never, Can't, Don't, etc. -

or

A title with a form of the verb "to be" - for example, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, We Were the Mulvaneys, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

[Ashley]

Robin wrote: "I had a couple ideas that have to do with titles

A title with a negative in it - that is a word like No, Not, None, Nobody, Never, Can't, Don't, etc. -

or

A title with a form of the verb "to b..."

The negative could go into a multi-book prompt. A title with a negative and a title with the positive. Yes, Always, Everyone, Do, All, etc. Just an idea if you wanted to expand. Totally up to you.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I like the negative one better than the form of the verb "to be" because I feel like the negative one will translate better to other languages, for our members who don't read English books as their default. Plus the negative is so creative!

[Sara]

I like the negative as well and even the idea of a multi-prompt with a positive. I was thinking about "a book with an adjective in the title" but I like the negative better.

On the medical prompt: This would also open the doors to a slew of biographies.

[Jill]

I really like the negative one and/or the negative/positive. I would definitely vote for either of those.

[Rachel]

I really like the "negative word" one because I love that kind of scavenger hunt, and would potentially be open to that as a multi-week (even though I'm not a huge fan of multi-weeks generally). I also really like the second chance idea.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

Ashley wrote: "Robin wrote: "I had a couple ideas that have to do with titles

A title with a negative in it - that is a word like No, Not, None, Nobody, Never, Can't, Don't, etc. -

or

A title with a form of ..."

Good point about the "to be" - some languages don't use it in simple sentences. I liked the negative better anyway and I think that would translate in whatever language.

[Jill]

Sara wrote: "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, relocat..."

I love this prompt idea!

[Irene]

Steve wrote: "Irene wrote: "How about reading the 21st book on your TBR shelf? Sorted any way you want (by date added, original publication date, custom order if have it arranged a certain way, etc)

Got this id..."

Oh, I see, I'm not doing this year's challenge so I missed that. And it sounds like people really don't like the idea anyway, so I'll withdraw the suggestion!

[Irene]

Sara wrote: "I didn't like the prompt either, Robin. Same reason, it just wasn't nailed down enough. I checked the book that was 20th at the time the prompt was elected, then I read books and it changed. It has..."

I see what you mean! The 21st book on my TBR shelf doesn't change when I add new books (because I sort by date added) so I didn't consider that for some people it would constantly change and become a "freebie" prompt.

[Jill]

I was thinking about suggesting: A book with a day of the week or month in the title.

[Sara]

Jill wrote: "I was thinking about suggesting: A book with a day of the week or month in the title."

I like this. Lots of variety of genres there.

[Khara]

Sara wrote: "I am hoping for new prompts or at least a few years since we have had it. I like the idea of the medical prompt. There was an attempt to get that through for the anniversary of Florence Nightingale..."

I was thinking of suggesting something in a similar vein but more from the perspective of "Read a book related to healing". Doesn't HAVE to be medical but very easily could. Either way I like the idea of having a prompt like this in the mix.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Khara, I like "a book related to healing" better. You could include people healing from trauma, or characters who are doctors but the medical stuff may not be the main focus, or you could do self-help books. The more I think of it, the more I like it!

[°~Amy~°]

I have a couple ideas for suggestions for tomorrow:

For a light fun reads: A book shelved as Brain Candy on Goodreads (brain candy is a fun, not intellectually stimulating read, basically relaxing, enjoyable fluff). There are 15,162 options listed but I think reading whatever you consider Brain Candy or Fluff for yourself counts!

OR

For a potentially more serious read: A book shelved as Mental Health Books on Goodreads. There are 31,191 books listed but again, whatever book speaks about mental health to you would work as a KIS option.

Thoughts?

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I like the Brain Candy one... I have so many read and to read on that list. I would just make sure you clarify your prompt when you suggest it (for the mental health one too). Does it have to come from the list of books tagged? or is it anything you'd consider adding to the list?

There's a big difference between A book shelved as Brain Candy on Goodreads and A book you'd consider Brain Candy or fluff

(I personally like the one with the tag, but I know people don't always like lists.)

[Lin]

I would like to suggest a book with an animal on the cover. The book doesn't need to be about the animal, it just needs to appear on the cover. This could work for a fiction or non-fiction reader.

In the last year or so I've read and

Goodreads has a bunch of list with different animals
Favorite Animal - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
Butterflies - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...

[Ellie]

I feel like a book related to healing is a bit vague. And can I really read a palliative care nurse's memoir for it? Probably not.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

Ellie wrote: "I feel like a book related to healing is a bit vague. And can I really read a palliative care nurse's memoir for it? Probably not."

Interesting, I would say that is fine. Healing doesn't have to mean someone is literally cured of a physical ailment. The reason I like this group's challenges more than others I have tried is that there is more scope for interpretation with a lot of them. It's no more vague than "a book dealing with time" which we have this year.

[°~Amy~°]

Emily wrote: "I like the Brain Candy one... I have so many read and to read on that list. I would just make sure you clarify your prompt when you suggest it (for the mental health one too). Does it have to come ..."

I'm not usually much of a list person either but when a list includes 15,000+ books, I'm pretty sure I can find something that will work for me :-)

[Ellie]

Robin wrote: "Interesting, I would say that is fine. Healing doe..."

I just personally don't think all medical books would fit healing in my interpretation, I would feel that healing needs to be the focus of the book otherwise, like you said, it becomes a read anything book, like the time one if you don't try and find a focus. My gut instinct would be to vote for medical but not healing. Maybe further into voting I'd be more desperate to get books that I like in though... :)

[[deleted user]]

i don't if this has been said already but i realllllly think the medical one is probably going too triggering and/or difficult for some people with this current pandemic

[Stacey]

When I suggested the medical prompt, I was thinking of a really broad prompt. While it could definitely include medicine/nursing in a non-fiction sense, one could also chose fiction, like a mystery, involving medicine in some way, perhaps with survival as a theme (although that’s one of this year’s prompts).

[Ellie]

I do feel for people who are now scared to go to the doctor, but maybe reading about health in a positive manner could be helpful. Not all medical books are about death and illness. I did take a break from reading about medical things late last year because I had terrible health anxiety which turned out was being caused by an actual condition. But also during that time I had no problem reading about crime-solving doctors or made up diseases. I just didn't want to read about things that felt like might be wrong with me!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I think "A book relating to medicine" would be an okay prompt, even in the scope of things. You could be really literal with it (takes place in a hospital, features characters with illnesses, post-apocalyptic, etc.) or you could leave it a bit looser in interpretation (character is a doctor but that doesn't play a huge role, a medical thriller, a character who takes medicine, books featuring mental health issues, etc.)

[Kayleigh]

I love the idea of a medical themed prompt in honour of the great people who work so hard to keep us all going, great idea.

[ladymurmur]

The discussion around the medical theme and prompts inspired by the pandemic started me thinking - what about a prompt related to the front-line or essential workers? Not only the medical professionals, but those folks who were and are out there, keeping the world going so others can shelter at home - grocery workers, bus drivers, janitors, pharmacists, bank tellers, postal carriers, delivery drivers, etc.

Or perhaps a prompt related to someone (a person, a group, a role, a job) for whom you have a new appreciation for after this COVID-19 experience.

[Jill]

ladymurmur wrote: "The discussion around the medical theme and prompts inspired by the pandemic started me thinking - what about a prompt related to the front-line or essential workers? Not only the medical professio..."

I really like that idea.

[°~Amy~°]

I think any reference back to 2020 is probably going to be a hard sell in the voting. I know that I want to use the list as an escape and a learning opportunity, not a reminder of open wounds. Maybe in 4 or 5 years I'll be ready to reminisce and reflect, but 6 months from now, probably not.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

A prompt around a job could be more general like "a book about a job you appreciate" or "a book about a job you would like to have" or "a book about a job you would never want to have".

[Irene]

Robin wrote: "A prompt around a job could be more general like "a book about a job you appreciate" or "a book about a job you would like to have" or "a book about a job you would never want to have"."

I kind of love "a book about a job you'd never want to have" because it's so unique!! Or "a book about a job you appreciate" because there's a lot of overlap between those two when thinking about it in the context of COVID19.

For example, I would never want to be a politician personally, and the pandemic really drives that home for me because of the decisions they have to make regarding public health and all that, and being blamed for problems.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Yea I would definitely steer away from directly mentioning 2020 at all in this list 😂 I like the "job you would enjoy having" or "job you would never want to have" (which feels a bit like our place you'd never want to live this year)

[Kelly Sj]

There haven't been many (or any?) prompt suggestions related to characters in the voting yet. I know character prompts are difficult - maybe something like "a character that is similar to you in some way" could work? That would leave open options for career, hobby, lifestyle, identity, age, family, etc...

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

I like the 'job you would never want to have'; I think popsugar had a prompt a couple years ago about a book where the main character has the same job as you. It was freaking impossible by the way unless you're like a teacher or a lawyer, because most authors don't write about people who just have normal office jobs. This seems way more achievable.

[Jill]

I have found that there are I lot of people I never really appreciated before all this lockdown started. Our binmen (I think you call them trash collectors) have come every week to take away people's soiled rubbish. The newsboy has left a paper every day so we could know what was happening. The cashiers in the supermarkets have gone into work so that we were able to buy our essentials. The transport workers have been there to get people into work for those that couldn't work from home. So maybe the prompt should read A book about a group of people doing a job we normally take for granted.
This could be either fiction or non-fiction

[Joyce]

When "We Didn't Start The Fire" was suggested last year I immediately thought of REM's "It's The End Of The World As We Know (And I Feel Fine)" as another contender for lyrics with a lot of choices.
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/rem/i...

Since Don McLean is clearly problematic maybe it's another contender. However, even though it came back into the charts in the UK recently, it's not everyone's idea of a song for our times.

[Suzanne]

Towards the end of the list creation last year, I had suggested a prompt related to a google doodle. See:
https://www.google.com/doodles. I was thinking of suggesting it again like this: A book related to a person featured in a Google doodle in 2020. It is similar in some ways to the song lyric prompt from this year.

[Sara]

I like that idea, Suzanne. They put some pretty interesting things in the google doodles.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

A good BIO (or maybe just to limit the prompt a bit) can be a doodle from an important date for you (birthday, anniversary, date you adopted your dog, etc.)

[Steve]

Suzanne wrote: "Towards the end of the list creation last year, I had suggested a prompt related to a google doodle. See:
https://www.google.com/doodles. I was thinking of suggesting it again like this: A book r..."

I don't know if I mentioned it at the time, but last year, one of my students won the state of NJ for Google's studnt Doodle contest. He was then a top 5 finalist. I got to coordinate the ceremony at our school with Google. It was awesome!

Here's his drawing: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com...

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Steve, that is SO COOL.

[Sara]

Yes, Steve, super cool.

[Serendipity]

Robin wrote: "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. ..."

[Serendipity]

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 really need to post in that thread. I see I've read at least a couple of the countries that haven't been read in two years.

[Serendipity]

I'm still working on my prompt idea playing off this year's "book nominated for one of the ten most coveted literary awards". I was originally going with "a book nominated for a lesser-known literary prize" but then a wording change to "A book that won an award that you had never heard of” was suggested.

Now I'm thinking of combining them to "A book nominated for a lesser known (by you or others) literary prize".

Any thoughts or comments are welcome. I've got a long list of prizes and awards, with plenty of options that aren't American or literary fiction.

Posted is all drafted - just ready to cut and paste in, hopefully in round 3.

[Ellie]

I definitely would prefer it not to be "never heard of" as otherwise I have to go hunting for something obscure. I'm happy for people to determine what counts as lesser known for themselves.