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[2021] Poll 7 Voting
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1. A book related to "the end"
Could be a book literally ends with "the end" but could also include:
the last book an author wrote
The last book in a series
Title include last, final, end, etc
The end of an era, the end of life
Dystopian- the end of the world as we know it
2. A book related to a codeword from the NATO Phonetic Alphabet (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie...)
Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliett, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_ph...)
Examples:
- Characters or authors named Charlie, Mike, or Victor
- Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet)
- Set in India, Canada (Quebec), or Peru (Lima)
- Set during November holidays like Election Day or Thanksgiving
- Features a father-child relationship (papa)
- Related to golf, baseball (yankee), or dancing (foxtrot, tango)
- Character in the military (uniform)
- Related to sorority/fraternity (alpha, delta)
- Related to a TV show broadcast on Bravo TV
4. A book nominated for a lesser-known literary prize
I’m meaning this to be a counter to this year's “a book nominated for one of the 10 most coveted literary prizes in the world" prompt. So no Booker, Women’s Prize, Hugo, Nobel, Pulitzer or National Book Award etc. But other than that there are heaps of options from the mainstream to the niche.
Some examples (I've got more if anyone wants them)
1. A book prize from a country other than your own eg New Zealand, Canada, or Australia - Many countries have more than one.
2. Aspen Words Literary Prize - for an influential work that illuminates a vital contemporary issue
3. The McIlvanney Prize - for best Scottish crime writing.
4. Lord Ruthven Award - for vampire literature
5. The Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Award - for comic literature
6. Reading the West Awards - for books set in or with authors from the US’s western states (Lots of different categories)
7. The Orwell Prize - for political writing has fiction and non-fiction categories
There are awards for authors of varying ethnicities (Britain’s Jhalka Prize or the International Latino Book Awards), books published by an independent press (Firecracker Awards), good storytelling in contemporary fiction (Glass Bell Award), bad writing (Bad Sex in Fiction Award) odd titles (The Diagram Prize) and all sorts of genres (The Agatha Awards for cosy mysteries and the RITAs for romance writing).
7. A book that is related to a book you loved as a child
It could be the setting - I liked Madeline so I would read a book set in Paris
It could be the theme - I liked Betsy-Tacy about girls who are friends so I would read My Brilliant Friend
It could be the genre - I liked fairy tales so I would read Uprooted
It could be the author - I liked The Hobbit, or There and Back Again so I would read The Fellowship of the Ring
Or some other interpretation, these are just suggestions
8. A book you once started but never finished
Includes any of those books in school you never actually read and the things that have been lingering on your shelves for years...
Maybe a book you borrowed from the library/a friend but never got around to reading, a book you lost before you finished reading it, a book that expired (from a subscription service or the library) before you could finish it or maybe a book you only skimmed read or flipped through & didn't read completely before (like if it was for school/work & you ended up sparksnote-ing it or something like a nonfic guide or cookbook you only read certain chapters of)
10. A book with a large-scale disaster or tragedy
It could be a plane crash, terrorist attack, pandemic, hurricane or other natural disaster, etc. Fiction where the tragedy or disaster plays a large part in the story or non-fiction would both work.
11. A book whose title refers to a person or persons, fictional or real, without naming them explicitly
This person does not have to be the protagonist! Some examples:
The Alchemist
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (because of Sorcerer's)
Girl with a Pearl Earring
The Magicians
The Aviator's Wife
12. A book related to the name of a professional sports team
This isn't a sports related prompt, just using team names for an association. Some examples from US Major League Baseball: MN Twins (twins), Kansas City Royals (royalty), Chicago Cubs (bear), Seattle Mariners (sailor, ocean adventure), etc.
15. A book related to the bingo call for 21 "key to the door"
It could have a key or door in the title or on the cover, have a key or door important to the storyline, appear in the authors name etc.
Here are a few examples but there are lots more.
Title/cover- Locke & Key, Volume 1: Welcome to Lovecraft, Duma Key, The Woman Next Door (The 'insert word here' next door seems to be used quite a lot)
Storyline- The Secret Garden, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: A Graphic Novel, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Author- Daniel Keyes, Marian Keyes, John Maynard Keynes
All the words that rhyme with Ellie are making me think of silly kids books... Jelly in the Smell Welly! I think that prompt won't work for everyone's names.I'm glad the bingo one was suggested, ever since it came up in discussion I've seen lots of keys on covers, but I like that it could also work for portal fiction, and door-related books which I seem to have plenty of.
The adjustment to the communist state prompt is an interesting one as I heard that science fiction writers were often left alone in the Soviet Union because they were writing about made up stuff, not criticising the state, when they often were. It definitely makes the prompt a bit more flexible than just current communist countries.
Most of these I'm fine with, but I don't go back to unfinished books, I generally don't finish them for a reason.
I completely missed suggestion thread. Not that I wanted to suggest anything, I'm just surprised. O__oSo many prompts I'm excited about, that I might use all my votes for upvotes.
Mod
I’m a bit confused about the “lesser-known literary prize.” Is this just prizes for literary fiction or does it include genre fiction awards also (such as Hugo for sci-fi, Edgar for mystery, Rita for romance, Spur for western)? And how do we define “lesser known”? I honestly don’t know that there are many awards I’ve never heard of. I recently did a personal challenge to read award nominees and winners so I’m pretty familiar with book awards.
Ellie wrote: "All the words that rhyme with Ellie are making me think of silly kids books... Jelly in the Smell Welly! I think that prompt won't work for everyone's names.I'm glad the bingo one was suggested, ..."
I was struggling to find words that rhymed with my name. I found this website that helps, but I don’t agree with all of the options they have come up with. Maybe if I had an American accent they might rhyme ...
https://www.rhymezone.com/
What are some books with unusual/counterintuitive structures? My mind went straight to All the Missing Girls which is is written backwards. I could see maybe multimedia or dual timeline falling into this category, but to me they’re not unusual anymore. Would love to hear other suggestions!
I just looked up Zulu (from the phonetic alphabet prompt) because I thought it could be interesting to read about the southafrican Zulu people and there are so many interesting possibilities there.There are
INDIGENOUS Zulu People, who speak the Zulu LANGUAGE, breed Zulu SHEEP and live in the Zulu KINGDOM, a former african MONARCHY.
There is a (very small) place in INDIANA, an ASTEROID (1922), a MOTORCYCLE engine, a JAVA implementation (Azul Zulu), 2 MOVIES, a SONG by BLINK182, a RECORD STORE in VANCOUVER and a HIP HOP organization called Zulu Nation.
Several ZAMBIAN and one SOUTH AFRICAN SOCCER PLAYER, a zambian POLITICIAN, a BOXER and a female NIGERIAN PLAYWRIGHT named Zulu.
Its also a TIME STANDARD used in civil AVIATION,
also a NATO code name for a certain SOVIET SUBMARINE class, 3 SHIPS of the ROYAL BRITISH NAVY, a SOUTH AFRICAN DEFENSE FORCE unit and a U.S. NAVY carrier task force designation.
I feel like you could find something that fits here in just any book you want ;)
Avery wrote: "What are some books with unusual/counterintuitive structures?"My first thought was the Goldsmiths Prize, which is given to “fiction that breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form.”
https://www.gold.ac.uk/goldsmiths-prize/
Avery wrote: "What are some books with unusual/counterintuitive structures?."I was thinking something like Hopscotch, where there’s two ways to read the chapter order. I think other books with unusual structures like House of Leaves or S. would work too.
I've seen a few books in two halves where you have to read from the back from for the second half. The only one I can think of right now is Replica.
Mod
Avery, my first thought was Survivor, which is also written backwards (I think?). I know the pages are numbered so that it counts down to one. You could also think of books that have nonlinear timelines or are written in a variety of forms (like A Visit from the Goon Squad, which has a whole chapter in powerpoint form).
I think I will only up-voting this time, which would be a first! I really like the NATO and sports team suggestions. I think they will be easy to fill but also fun to search. Thanks everyone for your creative ideas!
Mod
I'm glad the bingo one was suggested, ..."
The prompt says "part of your name" so I supposed for Ellie, you could just pick the "ell" part and have smell, fell, hell, bell, well, etc. Much easier if your name is Ann or Sue! I think this one might not work so well for some non-English names.
As a former French & English lit major, I love books that have unusual structures, but I know some people aren't crazy about multiple timelines or ambiguous stories. A famous one is Cloud Atlas. You could say a book that shows the same event from 2 points of view, like Gone Girl is unusual. If you define "usual" as a character or the author telling a story in chronological order from one or a few viewpoints, anything else would be unusual. There are some books that start in the present and work backwards, and there are many books with 2 or more timelines. A book with an unreliable narrator could also fit here. You think you are getting a standard story and somewhere there is a twist. Also there are some recent books written in the 2nd person "You" instead of "I" or He", which is unusual.
For the prompt, a book nominated for a lesser-known literary prize, I found this list on Wikipedia. List of literary awardsMany opportunities here.
I think changing the communist prompt allows people to have some more freedom and I've been brainstorming fictional communism and cam up with these.. maybe I'm wrong that these wouldn't be The Hunger Games
The Handmaid's Tale
Fahrenheit 451
Avery, that was the only book I thought of for the unusual structure. I love that book so much.I think the rhyming name one is fun, but that's probably only because my names are really easy to find words to rhyme with.
Socialist, communist, anarchist, or otherwise leftist science fiction and fantasy https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
Emily wrote: "dalex, I would say that a lesser-known prize isn't necessarily a prize you don't know about, but more that people outside of the literary world may not have heard about, or awards that don't get a ..."Thanks Emily!
So, the prompt means any book award, not an award for a literary book. And it’s up to us to determine whether an award is well known. Hrm.
Avery wrote: "What are some books with unusual/counterintuitive structures? My mind went straight to All the Missing Girls which is is written backwards. I could see maybe multimedia or dual timeline falling int..."Here are some ideas I've come up with so far:
I have a book of poetry on my shelf that is written as a series of multiple choice questions (Multiple Choice by Alejandro Zambra)
Manga is read from back to front
Here's a Goodreads list of "reverse chronology" https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...
And a list of "experimental books with unusual formats" https://www.bustle.com/articles/93068...
Last year I read The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson and the stories were related by characters who were reincarnated throughout a series of time periods and locations.
Avery wrote: "What are some books with unusual/counterintuitive structures? My mind went straight to All the Missing Girls which is is written backwards. I could see maybe multimedia or dual timeline falling int..."In Oona Out of Order, Oona lives her life out of order!
Reincarnation Blues - the main character is reincarnated many times
Trying to think of things which rhyme with my name that might be in a book title. Scarer? Bearer? Wearer?My middle name is Louise so maybe something about cheese
Avery wrote: "What are some books with unusual/counterintuitive structures?"For me those came to mind:
House of Leaves
Nest of Worlds - novel inside of a novel
Dictionary of the Khazars - lexicon novel
The Archive of Alternate Endings a lot of different timelines, probably the rest of Lindsey Drager's books would fit too
Cyclonopedia: Complicity with Anonymous Materials - horror written as research papers
The Old Axolotl: Hardware Dreams - not my favorite of Dukaj to put it midly, but heavy use of hypertext and the fact the book was designed to be read on eBook reader, I guess makes it count.
Life and Death are Wearing Me Out - reincarnation
I wasn't thrilled with the unusual structure one but the more I think about it, the more options I've thought of.Oona Out of Order is a good idea, any time travel book would probably work. The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, for example, as much as I disliked that book, or The Time Traveler's Wife if there's anyone left on earth who hasn't already read it, lol. Kindred. They're not linear so therefore unusual.
Another reincarnation book is Life After Life by Kate Atkinson.
One prompt I've thought about is a serial book, where different authors continue the story. I'd think that would work for an unusual structure too. Naked Came the Stranger is the most well-known of these. A book that breaks the fourth wall could also work.
Ooh, a Choose Your Own Adventure!
Ok now I really hope this prompt makes it.
Sarah wrote: "Trying to think of things which rhyme with my name that might be in a book title. Scarer? Bearer? Wearer?My middle name is Louise so maybe something about cheese"
Try https://www.rhymezone.com
Sarah wrote: "Trying to think of things which rhyme with my name that might be in a book title. Scarer? Bearer? Wearer?My middle name is Louise so maybe something about cheese"
I was thinking things like "air, fair, dare, hair, rare" for just the first syllable of my (our) name.
Nancy wrote: "I wasn't thrilled with the unusual structure one but the more I think about it, the more options I've thought of.Oona Out of Order is a good idea, any time travel book would probably work. The 7 ..."
Haha I have not read The Time Traveler’s Wife yet! Maybe I’ll slot it in for this prompt if it makes it. I guess I viewed out of order/time travel books more of an unusual plot vs an unusual writing structure. I’m sure that’s me overthinking the prompt! I’m going to vote for it either way :) thanks for all the suggestions everyone!
I am giddy for the prompts this round! I really hope we get multiple winners or my reject list is going to end up bigger than my challenge list. I also think I'll be using all my upvotes this week. So far my favorites are:
~ A book related to "the end"
~ A book related to a codeword from the NATO Phonetic Alphabet (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie...)
~ A book of poetry or short stories by a single author
~ A book that is related to a book you loved as a child
~ A book with a large-scale disaster or tragedy
~ A book related to the name of a professional sports team
~ A book related to the bingo call for 21 "key to the door"
I really hope the poetry one makes it. I know it's genre-specific which makes it tough, but I had already put Sylvia Plath and Emily Dickinson complete poems on my list for 2021.
Also, with one extra vote and nothing I would downvote, I may vote later this round to see how the discussion of the prompts go.
I hope the Phonetic Alphabet prompt makes it through, although I already started coming up with books for each of the letters... I may have to make it it's own 6 month prompt in 2021 haha.Alpha - Rush - Greek life
Delta - The Flight Attendant because Delta is an airline
Echo - The Echo Wife
Hotel - A Gentleman in Moscow because takes place in a hotel
Mike - World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War because my fiance "Mike" really wants me to read it
November - November 9
Quebec - The Innocents takes place in Canada
Tango - We Came Here to Forget because one of the characters is a tango teacher
Avery wrote: "What are some books with unusual/counterintuitive structures? My mind went straight to All the Missing Girls which is is written backwards. I could see maybe multimedia or dual timeline falling int..."I loved Oona Out of Order!
I read How to Be Both by Ali Smith. The book contained two stories. Some books were printed with the "Eyes" story first, some with the "Camera" story first.
When listening to the audio, I like to have an ebook or print book also. The audio had one story first, the book that the second one first.
Alicia wrote: "I really hope the poetry one makes it. I know it's genre-specific which makes it tough, but I had already put Sylvia Plath and Emily Dickinson complete poems on my list for 2021."Would the mods consider adding "essays" to the prompt? I have some books of essays that I'd love to read and maybe this would appeal to more people then.
Avery wrote: "Alicia wrote: "I really hope the poetry one makes it. I know it's genre-specific which makes it tough, but I had already put Sylvia Plath and Emily Dickinson complete poems on my list for 2021."W..."
I love essays too. I wouldn't mind that addition since it seems still in the spirit of the prompt.
I’m excited for a genre prompt, and it is hard to fit in poetry to most other categories! I am not sure about unusual structure, but if it gets in I highly recommend 4 3 2 1!
Dalex, if it helps you get more concrete with the “lesser known”, you could put it in opposition to the top 10 awards from this year. If an award is not on that list, then it is lesser known than them!
I love essays and short stories. I always try to read one of each every year. I was going to downvote unusual structure, but when I looked for a Goodreads shelf I found one and there were many books on the list I want to read: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/.... This prompt will be an up-vote for me.
I also love a book that is related to a book you loved as a child, the NATO phonological alphabet (love books about hotels), and a book related to "the end."
I'll most likely be voting 4/4 this time.
I'm struggling a bit here, I have 7 I want to upvote and 3 I want to downvote. Can we make it 10 votes for this round? ;)
I suggested the poetry and short stories prompt, and would be fine if essays was added!
So far, I have two probable upvotes and two probable downvotes. Lots to research before voting. Lesser-known awards is most likely and upvote. I had fun researching it last night. I found one I hadn't heard of, and it had a lovely selection of books. Poetry, short stories (and essays, if added) will probably be an upvote, too.
Mod
Oona Out of Order is a good idea, any time travel book would probably work. The 7 ..."
A book about repeating lives that should be better known is Replay. It was written before most of the famous ones.
I like at least 7 of these prompts!
Mod
Jackie wrote: "Ok, I'll make the change to include essays to the poetry and short stories prompt. My preference is always for the original suggester to weigh in or I get nervous that we're destroying someone's cr..."Sounds good - thanks Jackie!
Robin P wrote: "A book about repeating lives that should be better known is Replay. It was written before most of the famous ones."It's funny, I have never heard of this book, and I saw it twice today, the other time was in the Book Suggestions Subreddit on a thread about time travel books. As a bonus, it won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel so works for the lesser known literary prize too if that one makes it through!
I'm not really sure what to make of the book with an unusual or counterintuitive structure. Would a book of letters count as unusual? Like Letters to a Young Poet or I have a book of Love letters by famous people on my TBR.
What about Julie Otsukas The Buddha in the Attic, written completely in the first person plural?
Mod
Is it only me who would never normally go looking for a book containing a large-scale disaster or tragedy? If it becomes a prompt I imagine I’ll look for something unemotive (I have the second part of Stalin’s biography The Court of the Red Tsar to read and he was pretty disastrous) or something that doesn’t take itself too seriously like Good Omens.
The rhyming one is harder than you would think, but then you can feel bonded to the book because it rhymes with part of your name. When I said "part" I meant syllable as well as middle name or last name, so someone named "Sarah" could read Where the Crawdads Sing and someone named "Julie" could read Me Before You. I was planning on Fifty Shades of Grey because my middle name is "Ray."
Mod
But I totally understand that sometimes reading about those disasters makes today's disaster feel less like a disaster, so I get why some people would vote for it.
Joyce wrote: "Is it only me who would never normally go looking for a book containing a large-scale disaster or tragedy? If it becomes a prompt I imagine I’ll look for something unemotive (I have the second part..."I think that's why I like it so much. I like when the challenge pushes me to read things I wouldn't think about or choose normally.
Here are some Listopias about different possible topics: Non-Fiction, Natural Disasters, Apocalyptic Fiction (which usually comes after a large scale disaster), and I'd include any books that are set in a war environment.
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Daisy Jones & The Six (other topics)Before Now (other topics)
Illuminae (other topics)
How to be Both (other topics)
The Swans of Fifth Avenue (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Ali Smith (other topics)Lindsey Drager (other topics)
Daniel Keyes (other topics)
Marian Keyes (other topics)
John Maynard Keynes (other topics)
Voting will open on Friday, July 7 and results will be posted in the morning of Tuesday, August 11 (CST time).
How it works:
- When the voting opens, follow the link to the mini-poll that will be added at the end of this post
- You have a total of 8 votes this poll to spread across your favourite and least favourite prompts (you can also use less than 8 votes) - You can find examples of acceptable voting practices on the Introduction thread.
- The prompts with the more favorable votes (comparing top votes to bottom votes, and looking at the overall number of votes it received) will be added to the final list (between 2 and 5 depending on how the votes are spread)
We are asking people to include their Goodreads profile address when they vote. To find this, just go to your own profile and then copy the URL/web address. If for some reason you can't link to your Goodreads profile, please post your full Goodreads name with enough identifiable information that we'll be able to access your profile. We’ve introduced this for two reasons:
1. On a few occasions in each poll, people have used more than the allotted number of votes, either because they aren’t familiar with the rules or just by mistake. When this happens our only option is to disregard the vote as we can’t identify the voter to ask them to resubmit. By asking for your profile address we’ll be able to message you and ask you to vote again if you’ve accidentally used more than the allotted number of votes.
2. Unfortunately a very small number of people have voted more than once per poll and so we are asking for this information to prevent duplicate votes.
As a reminder: You have a total of 8 votes to use among your top and bottom votes. The mods have access to each individual vote, so we can see if you use more than 8 votes. If you use more than 8 votes in the poll, your vote will have to be deleted, so please make sure to follow the directions so your voice can be heard.
Possible Prompts:
1. A book related to "the end"
2. A book related to a codeword from the NATO Phonetic Alphabet (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie...)
3. A book set in a communist state (current, past, or fictional)
4. A book nominated for a lesser-known literary prize
5. In honour of Wikipedia's 20th birthday, read a book related to a featured article on Wikipedia, or one selected by clicking "random article"
6. A book of poetry, short stories, or essays by a single author
7. A book that is related to a book you loved as a child
8. A book you once started but never finished
9. A book where any part of the title rhymes with any part of your name
10. A book with a large-scale disaster or tragedy
11. A book whose title refers to a person or persons, fictional or real, without naming them explicitly
12. A book related to the name of a professional sports team
13. A book with an unusual or counterintuitive structure
14. A book by an author you discovered using gnooks.com
15. A book related to the bingo call for 21 "key to the door"
Feel free to discuss the prompts below, but please remember to be respectful to the other group members.
VOTE HERE: https://www.surveymoz.com/s/6OU6U2/