Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
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[2021] Poll 17 Voting
My favorite part of Goodreads is Tuesday's "great books hitting the shelves this week" and today's has Magic Lessons which totally works for "In the Beginning." I've never read Practical Magic even though I love magical realism and now I really want to so I think I will read it for a book with elements of magic.
I love the parallelism of having an In the Beginning to go with the End, but even with the suggestions of types of books listed, I am not feeling very inspired. What are you guys thinking about as far as ideas for that prompt?
Mod
An easy way to do In the Beginning is to read the first book of a series. You could also read about the founding of a country, company, group, etc. (and the group could be anything - a bunch of superheroes if that's your thing.) You could also do a book that features childbirth or childhood as an important factor. Something ancient, like a retelling from the Bible or Greek/Roman myth, I think would also work.
I went with 6 up and 2 down. The only 2 prompts I really don't have an interest in are the fat-positive and handcrafting, mostly because I don't know what I would read. I'm listening to more audiobooks so I would be interested in listening to one that is an Audie winner. I know the narration makes a HUGE difference in the enjoyment of the book.
Mod
I agree, I quit doing the Read Harder challenge because of the specificity of some prompts. I think I would have felt differently when I was in my 20's-30's and had no idea what to read next (and there was no internet to get ideas!) Now that I am in my 60's, the last thing I want is someone trying to broaden my horizons. I read pretty widely as it is and the great thing about ATY is the flexibility. Some of the prompts I've enjoyed most are those I didn't plan. I would be reading a book for another book group or because it just looked good to me and I would realize it was a great fit for a prompt.
Johanne wrote: "Kat wrote: "I really don't like prompts that require a specific genre. The wonderful thing about the ATY prompts is that everyone can read what they like and find a way to make it work. Mine have m..."I am woth you Johane but i suppose that is the problem with doing so many prompts each year Popsugar had already done thriller so to get something new along those lines they had to be more specific.
Mod
As of right now, I only have one definite upvote (mystery or thriller)."
No, I'm with you. I only did 2 upvotes.
And it's not because I love this process and voting (which I do!) and don't want this process to end- cause I also love getting the list and thinking of books!- its just I felt uninspired,
Katie wrote: "I love the parallelism of having an In the Beginning to go with the End, but even with the suggestions of types of books listed, I am not feeling very inspired. What are you guys thinking about as ..."I'm in the same boat - I like the idea of bookending the year with beginning & end, but I'm not sure what I'd read. I have a lot of mystery series that I want to try out, so I could read the first book in one of those series. It almost seems TOO easy!
I do like how the wording is open enough that if I stumble across a book about a discoverer / inventor / founder of something, I could read that and it would also count.
Mod
That is the most dangerous feature! Second only to that monthly Goodreads e-mail "out next month from your favorite authors."
I'm 2 hours into Magic Lessons and liking it, wish I had had it last week for the drive to Salem. I will say, I don't like the book Practical Magic as much as the movie.
My partner likes reading books about how companies started out and grew, I think that kind of thing works for in the beginning too.I would probably just read a first in series book or a prequel (not that I can think of any I have outstanding right now).
I have a couple of books on my TBR with "beginner" in the title - Matchmaking for Beginners and A Beginner's Guide to Free Fall. Just searching on beginner in GR pulls up a lot of options too - Sushi for Beginners, Happiness for Beginners, Joy for Beginners. "Beginning" also has a bunch of options.Anything related to birth, too. The Birth House, e.g. or Call the Midwife: A True Story of the East End in the 1950s, which the BBC show is based on.
First in a series for sure would be a KIS option.
I feel like there are so many options for this one.
When 'in the beginning' was first mentioned in the wild discussion there was some mention of the similarity to 'once upon a time' so fairytales or retellings might work. Quest type books like Fellowship of the Ring would work as well as it involves beginning a journey.
I immediately thought of the bible verse "in the beginning was the word" which made me think of The Word is Murder so you could make it a title prompt. For non-fiction there are 'a beginners guide to' type books.
Ideas for "in the beginning" - Character begins a new phase of life -starting college, starting a career, getting married, having children, life after divorce, moving to a new location, etc.
A book about childbirth
A book about an invention or discovery
A book about a pivotal event in history, like women’s rights or civil rights
A book about a trailblazer i.e. the first to do something
A book with indigenous characters
A book about ancient history, first civilizations, etc.
A book about explorers, navigators, mapmakers
A book about a Biblical character
A classic book that’s considered the first (or one of the first) of its genre
A type of book that you’ve never read - a specific genre, a format (such as graphic novel or play), a type of nonfiction, etc.
“Beginnning” in the title
“First” in the title
Author’s first book
First book in a series
I have a book to read called This is the End of the Story which is the beginning book in a trilogy. Where to put it....?
As cranky as I was when I first saw the list, I am leaning toward going 6/2 or 5/3 now that I've seen some discussion and have done some research.Definitely upvoting:
A book in which the title starts with the same letter as its genre (ignoring a, an, and the) - researching was fun and yielded some cool match-ups
A book related to an element of your favorite film/tv show - I like this sort of prompt.. my three favorite shows right now are The Walking Dead, Yellowstone, and Teen Wolf. My favorite movies are Casablanca and a slew of horror films. No telling what I'll come up with!
A work of fiction with a reference book in the title -- Not sure what I'd read, but it's a fun, scavenger-hunt kind of prompt. I like those.
A mystery or thriller - I have two unread Riley Sager books waiting for me, so this is a good category for one of them.
Thinking about:
A book related to “In the Beginning...” - Can I wait that long to read Magic Lessons? The discussion gave me a lot of good ideas, though.
A book with more than one primary setting - I like this one in theory, but I'm still coming up with options. I have some, but do I have enough? Fantasy recommendations (besides my beloved Tolkien) are welcome.
My weird little thing is that I like to have five solid options (or more) for each prompt in case something is unavailable or doesn't work for some other reason. I'm also trying to avoid having too much crossover. I am failing miserably. I have Homegoing listed for several prompts already, and I can only use it for me.
Chronic reader problems, lol.
I'm not loving the music prompt, because I still haven't filled the "related to the arts" prompt for this year yet. I like fat-positive in theory, but all I keep finding are YA and romance books. Or non-fiction, which I don't want.
EDIT: Hmmm. I haven't looked at this very well yet, but it might prove useful to some: Plus Size mystery protagonists.
Haha good one Joyce ;DFor the beginning I want to read a book with some verion of 'in the beginning' as the first sentence. I haven't got any particular one in mind, but I come across those sometimes. This approach obviously works best if you are not a planner.
I feel like defending the music prompt. I had tried to leave it as open to interpretation as possible. It could be used for a book where the mc is a musician, where the author gives a playlist for the book (or a playlist of what they listened to while writing), it could have a musical term in the title, it could have a music notes on the cover, or it could be a memoir/biography of a composer/musician/singer etc.
I like the music prompt a lot and voted for it. There are lots of memoirs/autobiographies I've been wanting to read (Me, Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years) or I'm sure I can find a novel where the protagonist plays music.
I would like to defend the music prompt also! In addition to the other ideas there are lots of books with musical terms in the title or musical instruments on the cover. One of the oldest books I own that I haven’t read yet is The Accordion Crimes by E. Annie Proulx. Rose Tremain has some books that sound good- Gustav Sonata and Music and Silence. I had suggested this prompt last year and it didn’t make it. I really hope it gets through this time! There are so many possibilities.
Mod
For the beginning I want to read a book with some verion of 'in the beginning' as the first sentence. I haven't got any particular one in mind, but I come across those somet..."
For this prompt, I keep thinking of the novel How It All Began. I don't remember if the first sentence actually says something about beginning.
Mod
My weird little thing is that I like to have five solid options (or more) for each prompt in case something is unavailable or doesn't work for some other reason.
I will pick some possibilities but I won't lock anything in until I actually read it and sometimes not even then. I don't read in order and I have shifted some books around in categories as the year went on. But I am sure I will just read some books because I feel like it and then figure out where to put them (easier at the beginning of the year.) For sure some new books will come out that I don't even know about now. That is a good thing about this group's challenge, it works whichever way you prefer.
Am I the only one reluctant to vote here until the results of the close call prompt are in? I don't think he results will influence my choices - I'm not thinking I'll vote for this if that one doesn't get in or vice versa - but it is still making me slightly twitchy.
Kat wrote: "When 'in the beginning' was first mentioned in the wild discussion there was some mention of the similarity to 'once upon a time' so fairytales or retellings might work. Quest type books like Fel..."
Fellowship of the Ring was my idea - if this prompt gets in I'll read the whole trilogy, using Return of the King for "the end" prompt!
Joyce wrote: "I have a book to read called This is the End of the Story which is the beginning book in a trilogy. Where to put it....?"LOL I guess you have options there!!! Same for Sanderson's "Mistborn" series, the first book is The Final Empire
I love the background for this poll!I ended up going 2/6. Despite that, I actually didn't have strong feelings about most of these.
I upvoted: in the beginning and Audie Award because I love both and about 50% of my books every year are audiobooks.
I downvoted: handcrafting and reference book in the title because they were the only two that I really didn't like.
The other 4 downvotes were for prompts that seemed a bit too easy. Wouldn't be mad if they were included but would like something that I can't randomly slot anything in
Hannah wrote: "Fellowship of the Ring was my idea - if this prompt gets in I'll read the whole trilogy, using Return of the King for "the end" prompt!”And you can use The Two Towers for “a book with a building in the title”. I had intended to read this trilogy this year and may steal this idea for 2021.
I decided to go 5/3.Up:
- a fat-positive book: I like inclusive prompts in general and this one is different from the usual. I saw The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency on some of the Goodreads lists, which I own, so I'll probably go with that unless I find a good non-fiction book instead.
- a book that you think will make you smarter: I'd read a non-fiction book for this. I've been interested lately in reading more about feminism from the black perspective and so would probably read either Bad Feminist or Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot (since I know I won't get to them this year).
- a book about the forbidden: I just like how this sounds. I don't know what I'd read for it yet but I know I have something that would fit.
- a book related to "in the beginning": I don't read in order, but I still like the idea of bookending the list with "the beginning" and "the end." Also, I have this first book in a series called Genesis Code that fits in multiple ways.
- I went back and forth between related to colonialism and related to music and at the last moment voted for music. I won Hollywood Park: A Memoir in a Goodreads Giveaway earlier this year that would fit (memoir of a musician).
My down votes were a book with a title that starts with the same letter as its genre, a book related to an element of your favorite film/tv show, and a book with more than one primary setting. Since I rarely watch tv shows or movies in general, I prefer not to link my reading to them. The other 2 prompts just didn't capture my interest as much as others.
Mostly keen on the prompts this round and some I'm not fussed about either way. I can't remember if I had 8 ticks or not but I hope i didn't go over. I really love the reference book prompt, hope that one gets in :))))Also not to jump the gun but I'm so stoked for the final list to come together.
Nadine wrote: Conversely, I expect ALL of the books I read to be five stars! I wouldn't read them otherwise...This is exactly how I feel!! I go into every book I read hoping it's a 5 star read so this would be a freebie prompt for me.
Mod
Thomas wrote: "I’m getting notifications again"And me.
Once I voted I found there was more I liked than I didn't like. I wasn't thrilled with the colonialism one so I downvoted that. I did upvote the fat positive one. I thought that was a different prompt that I hadn't seen before.I wasn't sure I could really find anything for handcrafting either.
Nadine wrote: Conversely, I expect ALL of the books I read to be five stars! I wouldn't read them otherwise..."
i'm really enjoying everyone's different reactions to this prompt! i go into every book hoping it's going to be a four-star read. five-star reads are so rare for me that it's always a surprise and saved for those extra special books. so this prompt was maybe too related to my personal reading tastes? idk but i have a feeling it's going to be in the bottom so sorry in advance everyone
i'm really enjoying everyone's different reactions to this prompt! i go into every book hoping it's going to be a four-star read. five-star reads are so rare for me that it's always a surprise and saved for those extra special books. so this prompt was maybe too related to my personal reading tastes? idk but i have a feeling it's going to be in the bottom so sorry in advance everyone
Jette wrote: "Hannah wrote: "Fellowship of the Ring was my idea - if this prompt gets in I'll read the whole trilogy, using Return of the King for "the end" prompt!”And you can use The Two Towers for “a book w..."
Brilliant idea! Okay, I'll definitely do this then - if the beginning prompt doesn't get in, I'll fit Fellowship into the "elements of magic" prompt that we've got.
I am also very much hoping for the music prompt to make the final list!Fo those who don't necessarily need non-fiction treatises on classical music, thriller author Jeffery Deaver has several books related to music; most notably, XO (centered around a country singer who has a stalker; Deaver even wrote a few songs and accompanying album), The Burial Hour (killer is obsessed with music), and the collaborative thriller The Chopin Manuscript (exactly what it says in the title).
Seeing as Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme character is quadriplegic, this series also lends itself to the physical disability prompt, should it get in.
I didn't vote either way on the music prompt but I don't mind it because it's a related to prompt, and I think I have plenty of books with something musical in the title. Or I have Slay on Tour on my TBR which is about a demon-slaying boy band.
Ellie wrote: "...Or I have Slay on Tour on my TBR which is about a demon-slaying boy band."That sounds entrirely too cool!
Mod
I ended up going 5 up, 3 down on this one but there is really nothing that I'd hate. I voted for:
- Fat positive - it's a prompt that I've never seen before and I have several books on my TBR that would easily fit
- Predicted 5 star read - I make 5-star predictions each year anyway for my blog, so it will be good to be able to fit in a book that I really want but might not be able to fit elsewhere
- Mystery/thriller - One of my favourite genres
- "In the beginning" and "forbidden" - Both were kind of on a whim, because I liked the idea. Don't really know what I'd read for either of them, but they jumped out at me when I first saw the list
Downvotes:
- Handcrafting and reference book in the title - options seem relatively limited for both. I'm sure I could find something if I had to, but they felt like they'd be the most annoying for me to research
- Audie award - I prefer reading physical books over audiobooks because I tend to find I don't process audiobooks as well (as in, I make quick progress through them but don't always feel like I've absorbed much). Like someone said above, I could read a physical version of a book that won the award, but to me that feels like it misses the point of the prompt
Robin P wrote: "Now that I am in my 60's, the last thing I want is someone trying to broaden my horizons. I read pretty widely as it is and the great thing about ATY is the flexibility. ..."Agree completely! I like to use the prompts to help me search my TBR, and I also find as I'm reading things on my own I can often slot them into a prompt. When I want to branch out, flexible/broad prompts let me do that, too, but I don't like being forced.
Mod
Finally voted. I only upvoted three. There were more I would be okay with (many would be easy fills for me) but I left them, hoping we would get prompts I was more excited about next time. And I didn't vote down the two title prompts. In fact I nearly voted for the genre/title one but worried it would be too difficult. I was leaning towards the reference book it title too since I have two books on my TBR that would fit. But I'm more than likely going to end up reading them this year.
Next time? I thought this was the final poll?
There’s technically 19 on the schedule, but we keep going until we fill all 52 prompts. We have 7 left to go and it’s unlikely we’ll have 7 tops. Hopefully, we’ll finish in the 19.
Alicia wrote: "There’s technically 19 on the schedule, but we keep going until we fill all 52 prompts. We have 7 left to go and it’s unlikely we’ll have 7 tops. Hopefully, we’ll finish in the 19."thanks. Is it 52 pormpts or 52 books? This is my first year
52 prompts = 52 books - 1 book per prompt
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
In Dublin's Fair City (other topics)Oh Danny Boy (other topics)
Slay on Tour (other topics)
The Burial Hour (other topics)
XO (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Jeffery Deaver (other topics)Riley Sager (other topics)
Roxane Gay (other topics)
Lindy West (other topics)
I actually dropped the Popsugar challenge because there's no way I'm in a mood to force myself to read a medical thriller this year. But I like genre prompts if they are broader, like thriller would have been okay, or suspense.