[2022] Wild Discussion Showing 651-700 of 2,340

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

The idea of books recommended by world leaders might be too broad. Maybe Obama could be part of a prompt along with several other celebrity book clubs/lists. But they are generally very U.S. oriented and do include a lot of literary fiction and nonfiction on current social issues.

[Ellie]

Robin P wrote: "The idea of books recommended by world leaders might be too broad..."

Boris probably only recommends his own books 😭

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

Ellie wrote: "Robin P wrote: "The idea of books recommended by world leaders might be too broad..."

Boris probably only recommends his own books 😭"

Yes, the first thing I thought of was Mao's Little Red Book that everyone was required to read. I think Castro might have had one too.

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

LOL my mind also immediately went to some world leaders who probably only recommend their own books or things like "The Art of War".

Celebrity book lists have been on the challenge before and I think generally people might be a little tired of them. However I have been surprised by the results before and I will be again.

[Beth]

I quite like the Obama lists (I have a few of the books on my TBR and the ones I have read I have enjoyed) but understand why not everyone would. I'm not sure if the 'world leaders' wording would be that appealing as others have mentioned.

Celebrity book clubs etc. don't bother me as I view them as any other kind of list prompt but from what I recall they seem to have gotten a negative reaction from the group in recent years.

I'm wondering if there's a way to reword a prompt like this to interest more people.

[Juliet]

I suspect the list prompts meet so much resistance because they aren’t possible to ‘bend’ if they don’t interest you. Either a book is on a list or it’s not

[Nancy]

I'm not against list prompts as long as they have a wide variety. I can almost always find something from my TBR on a list. Even Obama's from last year and this summer has books I've been wanting to read.

[Sherri]

I haven’t been following the discussion on the Obama summer reading list closely. When I saw it suggested my first thought was to also include his list of favorite books for 2021 which comes out toward the end of the year. Then I thought why not include any book from his previous years list? Another thought regarding the world leader suggestions was Camilla,Duchess of Cornwall has a book club. She is definitely not a world leader but would be considered more of a celebrity I guess.

[Nadine in NY]

Obama suggests interesting and thoughtful books. I'd be open to choosing his lists, if they were in a Listopia type of format so it's easy to see them all together.

[Alicia]

Here they are in Listopia form, despite being in four different Listopias:

2009-2017: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

2018: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

2019: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

2020: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

[Jill]

There are a few there I have marked to read, mainly from the old list but I am really not interested in celebrities lists, regardless if they are world leaders or just tv shows. I'd take more notice of someone I work with or a neighbour than a celebrity.

[Sherri]

There is so much there on the list of Obama’s reads I can work with.

[Pam]

I can’t say I would vote for it, since I usually downvote lists, but I might since there are quite a few books on Obama’s lists that are on my TBR and the ones I have read, were all exceptional! I also found one, Sharks in the Time of Saviors, to add to my TBR. It reminds me of my all-time favorite prompt that DIDN’T make the cut - related to a marine animal!

[Hilde]

Lots of great books on those Obama lists, especially the 2009-2017 list. I would vote for it.

[°~Amy~°]

I am curious what people are thinking for the multi week poll (next week?) My lame thoughts of the moment:

3 Ring Circus (three books related to the circus)

Hear no Evil, See no Evil, Speak no Evil (books related to hearing, sight and speech)

Rock, paper, scissors

Books set on 3 different continents

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads)]

I found one book from my TBR on the Obama lists and a couple more I’m vaguely interested in reading. (Plus Project Hail Mary from his most recent list that was shared earlier, but I hope to get to that long before next year!)

My experience with the books from the list I’ve already read is very mixed as well, so I would probably end up downvoting it.

I will say though, to be fair, there is some genre fiction sprinkled in , so it’s not just literary stuff, and there’s even a picture book to fall back on if nothing else worked, so it’s not a terrible or unfair/lopsided prompt, just not one I’d personally enjoy much.

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads)]

Ooh, I like Rock Paper Scissors for multi week!

[Nadine in NY]

Alicia wrote: "Here they are in Listopia form, despite being in four different Listopias:

2009-2017: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

2018: https://www.goodre..."




Thanks, that's really helpful, and I see plenty of books on those lists that I would like to read.

[Nancy]

I like rock, paper, scissors for multi week, and hear no/speak no/see no evil too.

I am not a fan at all of circus books although there are other ways that could go so I might vote for it.

[Jillian]

I really like rock, paper, and scissors! I just read a book called Paper, Scissors, Death (though it was just a so so book).

I don’t like circuses at all so it would be a down vote on that one.

[Joan]

Alicia wrote: "Here they are in Listopia form, despite being in four different Listopias:

2009-2017: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

2018: https://www.goodre..."



Thank you! I was trying to find these!!!

[Joan]

I really like Obama's list just because they are so eclectic. I thought it might be good for a book list to work off of for a prompt.

I might end up suggesting it since there was some positive feedback.

[Jill]

I like the Three wise monkeys one and the rock paper scissors.

[Pam]

I like Amy’s idea of 3 different continents. The other 3 suggestions I don’t care for, especially the circus one. Maybe if it was 3 different types of entertainment venues, one of which could be a circus. Others could be a sporting event, movie, theatre, concert, festival, etc.

A variation on the 3 continents is 3 contiguous countries (e.g. Canada, US, Mexico) or 3 non-contiguous.

A possible cover prompt: 3 books, 3 different cover color; when you combine 2 of the covers it makes the 3rd (e.g. blue, red, purple or blue, yellow, green or red, white, pink).

[°~Amy~°]

Pam wrote: "I like Amy’s idea of 3 different continents. The other 3 suggestions I don’t care for, especially the circus one. Maybe if it was 3 different types of entertainment venues, one of which could be a ..."

When I was thinking circus, I was thinking of books with circus type animals or books with performers, maybe books with magic? Books directly set in a circus are pretty rare I think. I'm not sure how to make it about three different venues without getting super wordy.

Rock, Paper, Scissors is interesting but what would fit for scissors? I can only think of a book with something cut on the cover or a book with a hairdresser or seamstress character.

Rock could be a diamond, stone or even the moon on the cover, or a theme of music (Rock n Roll, punk rock, etc)

Paper: I have a couple books with PAPER in the title, an epistolary book with letters or diary entries would fit. A cover with a newspaper or paperdolls on it would fit too. Maybe a book written by a journalist?

Any thoughts for scissors?

[Pam]

Amy - I like a broader definition of circus, like including the animals or types of performers. I was thinking very narrowly to just the setting. The podcast Strong Sense of Place did an episode on books with circus settings. Here is the link to the blog/transcript. https://strongsenseofplace.com/podcas....

Re: scissors as a prompt, maybe a science topic that is “cutting edge”, handicraft topics, sharp or cutting in the title. There are books titled (The) Cutting Edge.

[Jillian]

I found the Wikipedia entry on Rock, Paper, Scissors interesting. Scissors also looks like the peace sign so that is another direction it could go. I think, this one could be fun to see how different members interpret it.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_...

[°~Amy~°]

Jillian wrote: "I found the Wikipedia entry on Rock, Paper, Scissors interesting. Scissors also looks like the peace sign so that is another direction it could go. I think, this one could be fun to see how differe..."

The peace sign angle would be an interesting way to go with it. "Cutting edge" is also a great idea.

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads)]

What about for scissors a cover with a sharp (not blurry or softened) image, or with a sharp (acute) angle on it?

[Kim]

Paper could be a book about books too, right? Set in a bookstore or something else centred around books?

[Nancy]

I was also thinking books for paper. I love books about books.

[Alicia]

I feel like Nancy and I bonded last year over our love of books about books (or it was all in my head….). But I too love them so any excuse to read one is an upvote for me.

I do think the scissor part is tricky though! I’ll need to think more on what I could do with that without feeling like I was cheating.

[Jillian]

There could also be a play on the phrase running with scissors for a character prompt of be reckless or living on edge.

[Nancy]

Alicia we definitely did! I suggested it as a prompt but sadly it didn't make it. So I would totally use it for a rock, paper, scissors prompt.

For scissors I would look for a book with an mc that's a hairdresser or seamstress, I think. Rock should be fairly easy.

[Shannon SA]

I would vote for rock paper scissors. Some quick thoughts to add to the suggestions above, nurses always carry scissors in their top pockets, manicurists, gardeners, tailors. some might be a stretch, but quite a lot to work with here I think.

[Tina]

I like the hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. It'd work well as a prompt for books about disabilities

[Chrissie]

Regarding the Rock Paper Scissors prompt, I have this book on my TBR list which I would probably use for the scissors prompt, as the others seem easier to find elsewhere.

[Shannon SA]

That looks intriguing! Add another one to my tottering pile, *sigh*.

[Ellie]

I really like rock, paper, scissors as an idea, even if scissors might need a bit of creative thinking.

In the game scissors cut paper so covers where something has been cut could work?


I have seen a few books with scissors on the cover too (often a tiny bit of the design).


There's also a thriller called Rock Paper Scissors

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I love this discussion. My brain went to scissors = cut = stab = murder, so you could go with a thriller type book for scissors.

I'd probably do a book about books for paper, a long book for rock (doorstopper), and a thriller for scissors.

[Ellie]

Emily wrote: "I love this discussion. My brain went to scissors = cut = stab = murder, so you could go with a thriller type book for scissors..."

Should we be worried? 🤣

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

😂😂😂 maybe I’m just feeling stabby this morning

[RachelG.]

I also like the rock, paper, scissors idea and hope to see it suggested. I read a lot of cozy mysteries and that genre would be easy to fit the prompts.

[Joyce]

Our library has Rock Paper Scissors and Scissors, Paper, Stone plus a slew of people murdered with scissors.

[Nancy]

There are several books with variations on the title. It would be fun to read 3 different books with the title of Rock Paper Scissors!

[Jill]

Ellie wrote: "I really like rock, paper, scissors as an idea, even if scissors might need a bit of creative thinking.

In the game scissors cut paper so covers where something has been cut could work?
[bookcover..."

Thanks for this, I really want to read The Silent Companions So if the rock, paper, scissors makes it in, that is the book for me. Doubt if I would have seen them.

[Brooke]

Scissors could also be cutting someone or something out of your life, so that could include several genres and usually that is mentioned in the book's description. It could also include self-help.

[Shannon SA]

Emily wrote: "😂😂😂 maybe I’m just feeling stabby this morning"

Love that expression, "feeling stabby" today :) :)

[Beth]

Rock, paper, scissors is a fun idea. I usually prefer to be literal with this kind of prompt but I feel like Unfollow: A Journey from Hatred to Hope would be perfect for the 'cutting ties' interpretation of scissors.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I also really like the three separate continents idea. You could go relatively easy and do North America, Europe, Australia, but it could be a push to read a book from Africa or South America... or Antarctica!