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[2021] Poll 14 Voting
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Robin P, Orbicular Mod
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Sep 17, 2020 07:01PM
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For workplace or office, i might end up picking a police procedural where they spend a lot of time at the station, like The Trespasser.And oh! Thanks for the reminder, Steve--I've had Then We Came to the End sitting on my shelf for years lol. It's supposed to be a satirical take on corporate america so maybe I'd use that just to clear it off finally.
The Devil Wears Prada is set in an office. Attachments too, an underrated Rainbow Rowell book.Looking through the books I've read this year, these would work for workplace:
The Silent Patient - therapist's office, psychiatric hospital
Convenience Store Woman - the convenience store
My Sister, the Serial Killer - a hospital/clinic
Twenty-one Truths About Love - a book store
The Sun Down Motel - the motel's office
I think just about any book that shows the main character working fairly regularly would work for the office or workplace prompt. There are lots of books about nannies/au pairs, stay-at-home-moms (or dads), and housekeepers/butlers/chefs/etc. where the home would be considered a workplace. Many political books, whether fiction or non-fiction, are set mostly in the offices of the main character/subject, so the Oval Office/West Wing for a book about a president or the Capitol Building for Senators or Representatives, etc. Many books about crimes or justice are set mainly in courtrooms and/or the offices of attorneys, judges, and in police stations. There are lots of books about doctors and nurses where much of the action takes place in hospitals or nursing homes. I feel like this would be a fairly easy one to find books for, while still being specific enough that it’s not a freebie.
Rachel wrote: "Personally, I struggle a bit with the vague "related to" wording in a lot of cases, unless the book I pick has a clear and obvious connection to the prompt. That's throwing me off a bit for the musical prompt, since I don't necessarily see certain books as related even when it probably should be (ie. a book about witches should logically connected to Wicked or The Wiz, but something like The Babysitters Coven doesn't "feel" like it connects to me). "I guess this is one of those things where you decide how strict you want to be, and stick with it. For me, the "related to" prompts must hold a clear connection. I imagine it like this: If I were to tell somebody else "I'm reading a book X because it's related to Y", they should go, "Oh, yeah, good choice" (or similar) and not "How is that related to Y exactly?" I should not have to explain the relation. If I had to explain it, it would be too obscure or far-fetched. Does that make sense?
Random example: for a book related to, say, a circus, "Water for the Elephants" or "The Night Circus" or something about P.T. Barnum would be obvious. A book that just happens to have a scene where a character visits a circus, even if something substantial happens there (recovering evidence, interviewing a witness, discovering a dead body ...), would not. Someone who has not read that book would never know because the circus component is not essential to the book. (If you're struggling with the prompt, you could of course extend it to include the above.)
Similarly, I would not just count any book featuring witches or wicca or witchcraft as filling the usical prompt because it kinda-sorta relates to "Wicked". That would be like saying I'll read a book set in France because it relates to "Les Misérables" -- to broad a relation. For a "Wicked" relation, I'd look for a Wizard of Oz connection or perhaps a book centered on the friendship of two women who are polar opposites, or a character who goes gren in the face :D For a "Les Miz" connection (apart from, well, reading "Les Misérables" :D), I'd look for books set in France during the 1832 Paris Uprising, or featuring a reformed criminal, or a setting of someone relentlessly hunting someone else.
Seeing as there are so many musicals based on books (From "Les Misérables" to "War and Peace"), it should not be too hard to find something fitting that prompt even with a very narrow definition.
Hannah wrote: "Anyone have any suggestions for books set in an office? I can't think of many and google searching didn't really turn up anything appealing. The two I can think of are Eleanor Oliphant Is Com..."</i>[book:Severance is set partially in an office.
Roxana wrote: "There are plays other than Shakespeare, by the way 😂 just throwing that out there. As someone with an MA in dramaturgy and a professional interest in both seeing and reading plays."Yes I know, I used Romeo and Juliet as an example, doesn't mean I don't know of the existence of other plays, that I also would prefer to see performed.
Laughing at people for only knowing Shakespeare is also not a good way to make people vote for the prompt, if that was the case.
There are lots of workplaces. Factories, shops, warehouses, hospitals, markets,churches. lt doesn't have to be an office.
Jill wrote: "There are lots of workplaces. Factories, shops, warehouses, hospitals, markets,churches. lt doesn't have to be an office."Not to mention: police stations and PI's offices :D
I've been reading a lot of crime fiction lately so I immediately thought of police station. There's also schools, vets, restaurants, museums, libraries, theatres etc. I was initially struggling with the idea of an office setting but when you widen it out to workplace there are plenty of options.
There are at least two types of readers who do reading challenges.1. The person who uses the prompts to help them decide what to read and like to find a book that very closely fits the prompt.
2. The person who has a list of books they want to read and enjoys finding the most out-of-the-box way to make those books fit the prompts.
I'm very a #2. I think it's great fun to have to explain the clever way I've thought of to match a book to a prompt, when it isn't at all obvious. As an example, a recent prompt was to read a book related to Shakespeare. Because Lennox is a character in Macbeth, I read The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell.
I'm definitely planning to do all the letters for the NATO alphabet prompt as a side challenge. I've had such fun hunting for books for each of the letters, some with the most tenuous of connections.
Jill wrote: "There are lots of workplaces. Factories, shops, warehouses, hospitals, markets,churches. lt doesn't have to be an office."and bookshops! Lots of good books set in a bookshop/ bookstore.
Mod
dalex wrote: "There are at least two types of readers who do reading challenges.1. The person who uses the prompts to help them decide what to read and like to find a book that very closely fits the prompt.
2..."
Oh, I'm curious about this one: so it has to somehow relate to the "letter"/"word" like Alpha, Bravo, etc.?
Steve wrote: "Oh, I'm curious about this one: so it has to somehow relate to the "letter"/"word" like Alpha, Bravo, etc.?"Yes, I made some sort of connection between each word and a book.
You can see my listopia of books choices and explanations HERE.
One of my favorites is Lima. I plan to use The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. Why? Because Lima is the Roman goddess of doorways and this book is about doors and keys.
Emily wrote: "dalex, I always love seeing the connections you make lol. Even though I'm pretty literal in my choices, I think it's amazing how you can connect random books with the prompts!"
Aw, thanks! :)
I have 3 definite downvotes. The rest I can live with. The Tonys prompt is interesting to research so I’ll probably vote for it. I feel like I’m getting a little burned out on the voting process. I hope several get through this time!
Alicia wrote: "I would have preferred an "or" for brains/brawn/beauty, and I would argue that Rhett is the brawn in Gone with the Wind while Scarlett is both the beauty and the brains. This is my first year with the prompt, but I'm curious to hear why those that have been around longer dislike it so strongly...."I wrote this suggestion as an AND because it had come up before as an OR and people thought it was too broad. Personally I think that any ensemble book would fit, authors tend to have one of each of these stereotypes of characters in a group cast. And I thought if people could extend the words to the cover, title, subject, characters and size of the book it would be more accessible.
I think you are right about Gone with the Wind, it certainly fits.
I don't know why some people are so against the BBB prompts in general. I know that as a three week prompt and as an OR prompt I also downvoted them for being too broad. Maybe people are just having a knee jerk reaction to seeing it again instead of really thinking about how the AND makes a huge difference to the prompt? Anyway, my prompt ideas are getting trashed recently, not just discussed but trashed so I think I may be done suggesting for this year. :(
Amy that makes total sense. I on the other hand have voted for BBB for the multi week, the “or” and will likely do so for the “and”. I can assure you I like the prompt so keep suggesting!
Ellie wrote: "Roxana wrote: "There are plays other than Shakespeare, by the way 😂 just throwing that out there. As someone with an MA in dramaturgy and a professional interest in both seeing and reading plays."..."
It wasn't my intention to laugh at you, or at any of the people mentioning Shakespeare plays (since it wasn't only you, and I wasn't addressing you specifically), merely to point out how many other options there are. The options include many, many plays that one is unlikely to have the opportunity to see instead of perform, especially now in the middle of a pandemic, whereas Shakespeare is relatively easy to find in film or recorded stage performance, so the dichotomy of "see vs read" seems like a false one to me; also to point out that the range of options includes many plays that aren't as inaccessible, linguistically, as Shakespeare is for many.
I'm going to refrain from participating in these discussions in the future, and simply vote.
Roxana wrote: "Ellie wrote: "Roxana wrote: "There are plays other than Shakespeare, by the way 😂 just throwing that out there. As someone with an MA in dramaturgy and a professional interest in both seeing and re..."Roxana do you have any suggestions for modern plays that would be a good read for this prompt? I'm the first to admit, I'm not very familiar with plays outside of Shakespeare and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two =)
I'm not seeing the link for the poll. Could someone please post it in response? Thanks
Ed, usually they give us about 24 hours to discuss the possible prompts then they post the link. I would guess it’ll show up sometime in the afternoon.
Alicia wrote: "Ed, usually they give us about 24 hours to discuss the possible prompts then they post the link. I would guess it’ll show up sometime in the afternoon."ok....thanks. I didn't see that explained with the post said that voting would begin today.
There are opportunities to see plays online these days. I don't live in a city to see a play in person costs a lot of money, but the National Theatre had plays available for free during lockdown which was lovely and inclusive to lots of people who wouldn't normally access them.It is just my opinion that I don't want to read them, not that I don't want people to read them if they want to or as a substitute for seeing them. I am sorry if you thought I was suggesting otherwise.
Alicia wrote: "Roxana wrote: "Ellie wrote: "Roxana wrote: "There are plays other than Shakespeare, by the way 😂 just throwing that out there. As someone with an MA in dramaturgy and a professional interest in bot..."If this prompt wins, I may read The Laramie Project again; I've probably read it 5-6 times, not counting the times I re-read it as part of helping to stage it. The quick synopsis: members of the Tectonic Theater Project went to Laramie, WY and interviewed people (including the murderers) about the murder of Matthew Shepard; the play is drawn from the interviews and their journals about the experience. It's powerful.
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Just a note from the mods: Please be respectful in your tone and understand that tone written online may translate differently than what you intend to express. We are a user-generated list, which means that each prompt is submitted by a real human person. While we don't discourage you expressing why you aren't voting for a prompt, we expect that you do so with humility and the understanding that not everyone feels the same way you do.
There's Waiting for Godot, which is a quick, if very weird, read. I read it when Pop Sugar had a play as a prompt.
Alicia wrote: "Roxana wrote: "Ellie wrote: "Roxana wrote: "There are plays other than Shakespeare, by the way 😂 just throwing that out there. As someone with an MA in dramaturgy and a professional interest in bot..."Off the top of my head, here are some:
Playwrights with lots of plays that might be of interest:
Arthur Miller
Tom Stoppard
Sarah Ruhl (my personal favorite playwright - I especially love her adaptation of Virginia Woolf's Orlando)
Neil Simon
Tennessee Williams
George Bernard Shaw
Sam Shepard
Lynn Nottage
Paula Vogel
David Lindsay-Abaire
Rajiv Joseph
David Henry Hwang
August Wilson
Theresa Rebeck
Christopher Durang
Edward Albee (especially Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?)
And some specific titles by other playwrights-
Anna in the Tropics (Nilo Cruz), 'Art' (Yasmina Reza), Between Riverside and Crazy (Stephen Adly Guirgis), The Children's Hour (Lillian Hellman), Crimes of the Heart (Beth Henley), Doubt (John Patrick Shanley), Proof (David Auburn), A Raisin in the Sun (Lorraine Hansberry), Red (John Logan), Stop Kiss (Diana Son), Trifles (Susan Glaspell - this is a short one), Wit (Margaret Edson), Zoot Suit and Other Plays (Luis Valdez)
Many of these I've found in libraries and on Libby, and picked up copies in secondhand bookshops; I've stayed away from listing really new plays that are less likely to be freely or easily available (Shaw, for one, is mostly available in public domain, even). If this prompt does make it into the list, I'll add these & others to the listopia for it.
For those who would rather not read plays that were meant to be viewed & heard, may I suggest closet dramas? These are plays that were never intended for stage performance, but to be read either alone or with a small group of readers, so, perfect for a reading challenge - Goethe's Faust is one of the more famous.
Edited to add links.
Mod
I quite enjoy reading plays but my nana was an English teacher so I was encouraged to read and enjoy them from a young age. When reading them alone it's often easier to focus on plays with a smaller cast as it's easier to imagine the different characters and act it out in your head.
Good suggestions I can think of are:
Pygmalion
Hobson's Choice
A Doll's House
A Streetcar Named Desire
The Crucible
The Manga Shakespeare series is a good way of accessing his plays but still managing to understand what is going on with such a large cast. I have used this version for some of the more difficult tragedies.
I have read two plays that I loved, one being A Raisin in the Sun and the other being Death of a Salesman. I highly recommend both.
I was planning on downvoting Plays but, after the discussion, I think I will vote for it. The one book I own that works and I've been meaning to read is Boris Godunov and Other Dramatic Works by Alexander Pushkin. One I would like to read is Days of the Turbins by Mikhail Bulgakov. I like the random word generator prompt. I've done this one before. I would likely go with the original 10 words I generated today. (I would suggest that you set the limit to 10 and use one of them. You should get one decent word out of 10.) My first two words were Collection and Photograph, which are perfect for me! Ironically, two other words were Office and Job and a third - Redundancy.
For the office/workplace prompt, the first book I thought of, that I haven't seen mentioned, was The Post-Office Girl by Stefan Zweig.
Here's a website on the Putting the Band Back Together trope. There are links to different media including literature.https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
Pam wrote: "Here's a website on the Putting the Band Back Together trope. There are links to different media including literature.https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph..."
I wonder if Ready Player Two is going to have this trope.
this book has a lot of good prompts, fingers crossed for lots of winners!
I read "The Importance of Bein Earnest" by Oscar Wilde for the "classic" prompt this year and had a good laugh. While I was involved in theatre back in the day and still read plays quite easily, I would recommend this one to anyone and esp. as an entry-level play for people unfamiliar with reading this sort of text.
I went with neutral on the play after reading the discussion. It wasn’t an upvote or a downvote for me. I think if it gets through I’ll research which plays are audiobooks. I don’t tend to choose audiobooks for ATY but it seems like a good fit here. My favorite from this list was non-fiction that relates to a fictional book I read. I did this a few times this year and it really enhances my reading experience. The one that comes to mind from this year was Beartown and Missoula. I just finished The Great Believers and have been contemplating finding a nonfiction book about the start of the aids epidemic. I realize I know so little about that time since I was a young kid.
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https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph..."
I had thought of one of those - Twenty Years After. Lonesome Dove also is about old-time comrades getting back together. Also some of those “person returns to small town” stories might work.
Bec wrote: "I don't really get the random word generator. I can see me just putting in heaps of words or just keeping on spinning until I get a word I like so I feel it's a freebie."
you can set the generator so it produces a list of words (and limit the number) rather than just a single word, so you have more options! just fyi if you didn't realise
you can set the generator so it produces a list of words (and limit the number) rather than just a single word, so you have more options! just fyi if you didn't realise
i think i'll vote for the 'you read WHAT?' prompt (even if i'm not sure what i'll read for it yet), a book involving getting 'the band' back together (because i think Kings of the Wyld will count for that), related to folklore (because i love retellings), workplace or office (because The Hating Game is one of my favourite romances and i don't mind reading another office romance), and the random word generator.
i can't say i'm in love with the play prompt but i don't mind stretching myself out of my comfort zone occasionally!
i can't say i'm in love with the play prompt but i don't mind stretching myself out of my comfort zone occasionally!
I’m totally over award/list prompts. I feel like we have a lot of them already do those are automatic downvotes for me. I just don’t like looking up a list and seeing what’s on it. I’ll be downvoting play (even though I love theatre) and non fiction. Upvoting random word and folklore. I’ll have to think more on the rest.
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I've just gone down a Wikipedia wormhole looking at Tony Award winning musicals. There are so many ways to interpret it and some great options to think about. I really miss going to the theatre and this could be a fun way of staying connected when we don't know how long it will be before we can go back.
Mod
Yes, that is the thing I miss most. I don't care about going to movie theaters or eating in restaurants but I had to miss seeing the touring productions of My Fair Lady and Come from Away and several operas. At least Hamilton came to my town last fall.
I downvoted the play and musical prompts because I really don’t follow the Tony’s and reading a play just doesn’t sound fun. I was going to downvote adaptation because I also dislike classics and reading those, but I decided I could work in any book in a series into that prompt. I guess technically it could be any book written by the same author you’ve read. Peter Swanson wrote three stand alone novels that all feature the same detective. I upvoted the “You read What?!?” prompt of course. I also upvoted the BBB prompt because it was one of the first unique prompts I ever suggested way back when... but I do feel bad for those that dislike it and keep having to downvote it. I hope it just gets in now that way we don’t have to keep suggesting it!
I was going to downvote the nonfiction prompt, just because we already have a nonfiction prompt on the list, but decided I liked the idea of it enough and actually ended up upvoting it! I hope that if we end up with two nonfiction prompts that we get some fiction genres on the list too to balance it out - so I also voted for the domestic thriller!
Random word generator - way to broad and everyone’s books would be so random and I wouldn’t be able to look at what people read to help me decide what to read and how it fits.
I was actually wondering whether there would be a listopia at all if the random word won.. :)
Emily wrote: "VOTE HERE: https://www.surveymoz.com/s/5XA81M/"I don’t know if it was just my phone, but the finish survey button was hard to find for me because it was dark on dark. Don’t know if others are experiencing that and if there’s a way to change font color on it so it’s white.
It's interesting to me that people are shying from the Tony awards because it's an award prompt, I don't see it that way at all. It's not a list of award-winning books, it's books related to award-winning plays and I don't consider them the same thing.I do agree with the person above who thinks play, based on a musical, or adaptation could be one prompt and I would probably vote for that. FWIW (I didn't vote for any of these this time).
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
No More Peace (other topics)Where the Crawdads Sing (other topics)
Death on the Nile (other topics)
The Woman in the Window (other topics)
I Know This Much Is True (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Kerry Greenwood (other topics)Stefan Zweig (other topics)
Mikhail Bulgakov (other topics)
Alexander Pushkin (other topics)
Erin Morgenstern (other topics)
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