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[2021] Poll 10 Voting
Mod
2. A book for which you are (or were) not the intended demographic/audience
Examples:
- Any book published before you were born (or of an appropriate age, such as adult books published when you were a child)
- Any book published originally in another language or country
- Reading middle grade if you are an adult (or YA if you're past your 20s), reading chick lit if you don’t identify as a “chick,” etc.
- Nonfiction books that are targeted at a specific audience you don't fit into, especially self-help/advice books (As a kid, I used to read a lot of horse care books despite never coming within a mile of one. Presumably the intended audience was horse-owners, not little kids!)
4. A book with a Clue/Cluedo weapon on the cover
Rope, Dagger/Knife, Pipe, Candlestick, Revolver, Wrench
5. A book that uses something other than consecutive numbers to designate chapters
Examples include chapters titled by date, time, pictures, character name, sentences, etc. This can also be used for nonfiction books with sections.
6. A book related to a person featured in a Google doodle
http://www.google.com/doodle
7. A book involving a power struggle
This could include things like: historical fiction about wars, political nonfiction, fantasy/sci-fi, romance where there's a power struggle between the main characters, etc.
8. A book related to the Roaring Twenties
Examples
1. a book written or set in the 1920s (e.g., Great Gatspy)
2. a book about the suffrage movement
3. a book about dancing
4. a book about jazz
5. a book about the art or fashion of the time
6. celebrities or sports personalities from the period
7. new technologies like cars, planes, radio, phones, movies (all of these became big in the 1920s, so any book related to any of these topics would work)
see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roaring... for other ideas
10. A short book (<210 pages) by a new-to-you author
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
https://lithub.com/the-shortest-novel...
https://booklistqueen.com/short-class...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...
11. A book by an author who uses at least two initials
For example:
E B White
L M Montgomery
C S Lewis
George R R Martin
J R R Tolkien
Here is a list, though some only use one initial: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_...
12. A book that concerns something or someone mentioned on the wikipedia page of your birthday
Either a person who was born/died that day, if they were an author their work, or an event
14. A book with a "heroic" character
This could be a book with a nurse/doctor/emt, firefighter, police officer, soldier/veteran, superhero, character that does something heroic in the book itself, etc
Hero
noun
1.
a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities
15. A book involving non-European royalty
There are several historical and current monarchies outside Europe, and in fantasy/sci-fi too
You know, I think that Wikipedia birthday one is pretty cool. I'm excited about how many options there are for that one.I think this is a great round of suggestions. There aren't any that I feel like I really need to downvote. There are a few we've had before that I probably wouldn't want to have again, but only for that reason.
I don’t think I really understand the google doodle idea.
Mod
Google puts up new doodles as their logo to commemorate special events in history.
http://www.google.com/doodle
So this would mean to find a google doodle about a specific person that speaks to you then read a book about them or featuring them or set in their country or whatever else "relates" to them.
For colonies, are we talking about past or current colonies? Also, I think most are islands. Is this a little too similar to the set on an island prompt?
Mod
As for the island connection, I'd say that would be up to you. I probably won't vote for it because we did a former British colony prompt this year (with the Canada, Australia, New Zealand author) and I'd like something new.
I think the dates are wrong for the poll:Voting will open in the morning of Wednesday, August 19 and results will be posted in the morning of Sunday, August 23 (CST time).
😊
Jillian wrote: "I don’t think I really understand the google doodle idea."It was previously suggested in Poll 6. You might find some additional info and ideas in the discussion thread for that poll.
This is what I said in that discussion thread about the prompt -
"Here's a suggestion for what I did to narrow things down a bit...
1. I thought of a common theme in books I enjoy reading - strong female characters.
2. I googled and found a list of ten women who were pioneers in some way.
3. I searched the google doodles archive for each of those ten women. Four of them have google doodles.
Now I know I can use any book with a strong female character, knowing it relates to a doodle. Or I can be a bit more specific and choose something connected to one of those women - a suffragette, a surgeon, an environmentalist, a political activist."
I don't really love this set of prompts. There are only a couple I find that interesting (Wikipedia & not intended audience. Maybe the chapters one too)Hopefully the discussion will bring up some more interesting ways to interpret the others.
Alicia wrote: "For colonies, are we talking about past or current colonies? Also, I think most are islands. Is this a little too similar to the set on an island prompt?"Most of Africa, Central and South America, and parts of Asia were colonized by European countries at some point, so most countries on those continents would be "former colonies"
I like this prompt, I had plans to suggest "a book set in pre-colonial times of a colonized country" but if this one makes it through, pre-colonial times could be a BIO option. And #ownvoices could be a BIO too.
I think the colony prompt is pretty broad. It doesn't specify British colonies, so there are a lot of islands, but there are also many countries in South America, Africa & Asia. Here's a pretty thorough list, just of European colonies across the world. Think of places like Brazil, India & South Africa, just to name some major ones.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
Kelly & I were on the same wavelength. :)
Mod
Voting will open in the morning of Wednesday, August 19 and results will be posted in the morning of Sunday, August 23 (CST time).
😊"
Whoops forgot to edit my copy and paste!
Emily wrote: "It's now time to get ready to vote for our first set of prompts! The thread will be open for at least 24 hours before the poll gets posted. This is a good opportunity to ask any question you may ha..."Emily, I think you've got the last votes' dates on the first post :)
Does anyone have book suggestions for the "non-European royalty" prompt? I'd prefer fiction.
Angie wrote: "Does anyone have book suggestions for the "non-European royalty" prompt? I'd prefer fiction."Here's a Goodreads list of royalty in fantasy books:
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
Historical fiction:
Asia historical fiction (would have to check which ones have royalty): https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
Africa historical fiction (again, would have to read titles/descriptions to find royalty): https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...
Thinking off the top of my head here: Cleopatra, Anna and the King of Siam (The King and I), Egyptian pharaohs, Aztec, Maya, Inca, there are quite a few monarchies in Oceania/Pacific islands, and in some places they use different titles (not king/queen, but emperor/empress, or others).
And if you want to keep a bit of European monarchy flair, go with Russia!
Hope that helps!
Mod
For non-European royalty I also thought of fantasy, but Japan would work too. The ruler was called Emperor instead of King but he was considered divine, can't get much more royal than that.
I wasn't super excited about the Wikipedia birthday option, because I have a birthday that is a major holiday so I kind of gave an eyeroll to that because it's easy to find books set on that holiday. BUT. I went to Wikipedia to look, and all sort of interesting things happened in history on that date! So now I'm kind of intrigued. I'm still not sure.
It's a bit depressing how many countries are former colonies, we left no corner unsullied. I was thinking that we had done all the continents except Africa as setting prompts, so this would cover that, but maybe it's too wide.I don't really know what to vote for out of these, there's nothing I couldn't work with. Though I wish the short book one included authors I'd read as I like places to slot all those Tor novellas.
I don't think the Google Doodle one is any harder work than the Wikipedia one. It's just scrolling through a list till you get an idea. It's a bit more flexible than the birthday one where you are stuck with what you're given for your day. Like the US always rudely hold their elections near mine. 😉
Angie wrote: "Does anyone have book suggestions for the "non-European royalty" prompt? I'd prefer fiction."I know we already have a related to Egypt prompt, but the first thing that came to my mind was Egyptian pharaohs.
Is there a reason for the short book being under 210 pages and not just 200 pages? Is it 210 because that correlates to the number/year 21?
Kelly wrote: "Angie wrote: "Does anyone have book suggestions for the "non-European royalty" prompt? I'd prefer fiction."Here's a Goodreads list of royalty in fantasy books:
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/sho..."
These lists are helpful, because I was feeling stumped.
Last year I read The Moon in the Palace, and next year I could finally read the sequel for this category: The Empress of Bright Moon
I really like the short book category. Thanks to last poll's winner, I was browsing the "Well Read" list and found Fatale. I never heard of this author, but I love noir crime novels and I like to branch out and read authors from other countries. It's only 97 pages! My library has an e-copy! I'm ... reading it right now. That same List Challenge site has a list of short books, for some more ideas:
https://www.listchallenges.com/200-bo...
Avery wrote: "Is there a reason for the short book being under 210 pages and not just 200 pages? Is it 210 because that correlates to the number/year 21?"yes that was my reasoning ☺️
Well, for my birthday there's this - "2020 The World Health Organization declares COVID-19 virus a pandemic."Ugh.
I really dislike the "at least two initials" prompt, because it limits your choice basically to an English language author. In most other languages/countries using more than a middle initial is really uncommon and even one initial is quite rare compared to the English speaking world. Even tho I have a few books in mind, I could read if it gets through, this bothers me immensely.
Ellie wrote: "I don't really know what to vote for out of these, there's nothing I couldn't work with. Though I wish the short book one included authors I'd read as I like places to slot all those Tor novellas."I had even Tor novellas in my mind when I suggested the prompt. I thought it was a good idea to give a new author a chance (instead of reading only another Murderbot novella 😅)
Mod
dalex wrote: "Well, for my birthday there's this - "2020 The World Health Organization declares COVID-19 virus a pandemic."Ugh."
dalex, that is rough!
I wish the Royalty prompt was non-British, as I think non-European is really too narrow. I would have voted for it otherwise. My first thought went to Cleopatra also, but that's something I'd have read for the Grand Egyptian Museum prompt then.
Alicia wrote: "For colonies, are we talking about past or current colonies? Also, I think most are islands. Is this a little too similar to the set on an island prompt?"Countries that have been colonies, off the top of my head, that aren't islands (or Canada, NZ or AUS)
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Congo, Somalia,Sudan, South Africa, Ghana, Algeria, Tunisia, Marocco, Nigeria, Greenland, Brazil, Peru, Argentina
Kelly wrote: "Angie wrote: "Does anyone have book suggestions for the "non-European royalty" prompt? I'd prefer fiction."Here's a Goodreads list of royalty in fantasy books:
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/sho..."
If anyone is looking for a good book on Cleopatra, I highly recommend Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff. If you aren't a fan of non-fiction it reads like a novel.
Avery wrote: "I wish the Royalty prompt was non-British, as I think non-European is really too narrow. I would have voted for it otherwise. My first thought went to Cleopatra also, but that's something I'd have ..."There's also The Last Days of the Incas, which is fascinating. Mayans, Aztecs, and Hawaiians would be other major civilizations with royalty.
A quick look at my bookshelf shows Dune and Cinder are some more un-orthodox approaches.
I immediately thought of Hawaii for the non-Euro royalty. China had royalty as well. I agree with Katelyn that Cleopatra: A Life was a great read.I like a number of these prompts, particularly would like to see either the Wikipedia one or the Google one make it. I'm fine with the initials prompt, but I can see how it might be limited if you want someone who is not English language.
I'm hoping the short book by a new-to-you author gets through. I've been meaning to start the Murderbot series.
I also like the short book idea, but wish it wasn't a new-to-you author. I was actually thinking of this prompt this weekend, because there are a lot of prequels and small side stories in the different fantasy series I read. However, they wouldn't count for this prompt and for some reason I feel like it's cheating to include them for other prompts.
I think I would go down the fantasy route with non-European royalty, either as a keep it simple any royalty or find something not based on European history.
TBH I don't love either the Google Doodle or Wikipedia prompts, my birthday has a ton of events but nothing that really speaks to me so I'd have to do a lot of research. The Wikipedia one will also make it really hard to use a Listopia. For the Google Doodle, you can search for authors, and Octavia Butler was featured, so if this gets in I'd go with her.
Other authors that jumped out at me are Lucy Maud Montgomery, Leo Tolstoy, Sylvia Plath, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Louisa May Alcott, Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, Maya Angelou, Virginia Woolf. And of course dozens of others I'm not familiar with.
Hm. Maybe I will vote for that one!
Nancy wrote: "For the Google Doodle, you can search for authors, and Octavia Butler was featured, so if this gets in I'd go with her."Keep in mind that the prompt is "related to" so you don't have to find a book and/or author with a google doodle. You can be as creative with the prompt as you want to be. That's why I love "related to" prompts!
Avery wrote: "I wish the Royalty prompt was non-British, as I think non-European is really too narrow."Technically Russia is in both Europe and Asia so you could include Russian royalty (even though that would be stretching things quite a lot).
dalex wrote: "Keep in mind that the prompt is "related to" so you don't have to find a book and/or author with a google doodle. You can be as creative with the prompt as you want to be. That's why I love "related to" prompts!"I know.... but sometimes I find that makes them harder. The prompt is also "a person" not just any GD, which also adds to the complexity, IMO. So I guess I'd go with what I'd consider a KIS option for this one and just use an author.
dalex wrote: "Nancy wrote: "For the Google Doodle, you can search for authors, and Octavia Butler was featured, so if this gets in I'd go with her."Keep in mind that the prompt is "related to" so you don't hav..."
It is that "related to" that turns me off the prompt. It is just a freebie honestly. According to Ranking.com there have been 1234 people with their own google doodles. So that is 1234 people I could read about. OR, I could read about their jobs, another 1234 options. OR I could read about the country they lived in, another 1234 options, OR I could pick someone with a similar hobby, another 1234 options, Or I could pick something with a the same first or last name....2468 options (at least) . The possibilities go on and on forever. Any book I pick up will fit somehow. I like broad prompts, but that it just too broad for me. I would have preferred "a book BY or ABOUT a person featured in a google doodle"
°~Amy~° wrote: "I would have preferred "a book BY or ABOUT a person featured in a google doodle"Yes. Exactly my thoughts.
°~Amy~° wrote: "It is that "related to" that turns me off the prompt."And this is why there is such diversity in the voting. :)
"Related to" prompts are my absolute favorite. I love to see how creative and out-of-the-box I can get. Like, the related to NATO alphabet prompt. Why would you use a book with hotel in the title (for example) when you can do something far more interesting?
I have a bunch of great options for my birthday, including Guy Faukes and the 13th amendment. Very inventive idea for a prompt! Other countries with royalty that I don’t think have been mentioned: Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bhutan, Thailand, Brunei.
I think my upvotes this week will be:- A book for which you are (or were) not the intended demographic/audience I have a few middle grade and a couple YA books to read so it will be good to slide those in somewhere.
- A book that uses something other than consecutive numbers to designate chapters I just find odd chapter headers to be fun. I can think of one I own that is all dates as chapter headers, and the book is structured so that the dates run backwards. Love that.
- A short book (<210 pages) by a new-to-you author I just love a short quick read, especially those TOR novellettes others have mentioned
- A book with a "heroic" character I think this is a nice fun prompt that relates back to 2020 without being in-your-face-traumatic about it. I don't read many books with medical professionals or firefighters in them anyway so this prompt would be a good opportunity to get those in.
- A book featuring a ghost, vengeful spirit, or lost soul AND A book with a nonhuman character(s) are both right up my alley. I love ghosts, aliens, AI, etc. LOVE THEM! lol
I honestly don't know what I will downvote. As I said before, Google doodle is just too broad for me. I don't like prompts that have to do with me personally (birthday), and I can not think of anything for the roaring 20s except the Great Gatsby which I have already read. Hm. That would be 9 votes total, so I guess I have some decisions to make before I vote!
I'm just not a very creative and out-of-the box person. I need specific directions to go in or I flounder. Which I why I'm using The Glass Hotel for the NATO prompt, and would just use an author if the Google Doodle prompt gets in.
Mod
In most other languages/countries using more than a middle initial is r..."
I think this is a really good point. We should be aware of prompts that are too Anglophone-centric. Obviously no one meant to have an exclusive category when they suggested it and I don’t at all mean to criticize. But it’s a good example of how we can all perpetuate what we think of as “mainstream “ culture without realizing it.
Around the Year in 52 Books
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Authors mentioned in this topic
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Robert K. Massie (other topics)
Voting will open in the morning of Tuesday, August 25 and results will be posted in the morning of Saturday, August 29 (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 set in a place that was once colonized, other than the United States and Canada
2. A book for which you are (or were) not the intended demographic/audience
3. A book from a genre or sub-genre you don't read often
4. A book with a Clue/Cluedo weapon on the cover
5. A book that uses something other than consecutive numbers to designate chapters
6. A book related to a person featured in a Google doodle
7. A book involving a power struggle
8. A book related to the Roaring Twenties
9. A book featuring a ghost, vengeful spirit, or lost soul
10. A short book (<210 pages) by a new-to-you author
11 A book by an author who uses at least two initials
12. A book that concerns something or someone mentioned on the wikipedia page of your birthday
13. A book with a nonhuman character(s)
14. A book with a "heroic" character
15. A book involving non-European royalty
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/MEWRKV/