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[2022] Wild Discussion
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2 books connected to a famous pair
Black Beauty and White Oleander
Left Behind and The Right Swipe
A book with the protagonist as a "good" guy and one with the protagonist as a criminal or morally gray character (good and evil)
Two Romeo and Juliet retellings
I was thinking for the good, the bad, and the ugly, for the bad I wouldn't do a bad book or one I'd DNF'd (if I DNF if it's for a reason and I almost never go back to them), but more likely a "bad" character like a villain or a criminal. I find the ugly harder, while an ugly cover would work I've been struggling with that one for Pop Sugar this year. So I would probably do either a character described as ugly, or one whose behavior is ugly - rude, mean, etc.Flora and fauna is a good one for two, and I really like the "one if by land...." idea too.
Emily wrote: "Linda, would that be a multi-week prompt? Or just workshopping a one-week prompt for later polls?"Emily, my concept is to include the "dynamic duo" in one prompt.
But... if any part of the idea sparks something... it's great!
I am intending to suggest the prompt "Two books connected to Real & Fake" That way you could read 2 books on the same subject, 1 fiction, 1 non fiction. Or you could read a book set in the 'real' world and one set in a made up place. Or one book with all fictional characters and one historical fiction feature 'real' people. Or 1 book with a photograph on the cover and one with a drawing. Or just read two books with plots that revolve around forgers or imposters.
Question for the mods: When on Monday will the suggestion thread be open?
@Nancy may I suggest Six-Gun Snow White for Ugly. It is a twisted fairytale that is very twisted.
Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads) wrote: "Two week ideas: Read 2 books related to—
Black and white
Male and Female
Famous twins (the idea being that each reader picks their own set of famous twins, and reads one book related to each of ..."
Flora and fauna is clever, because it's a common, well-known phrase, and it lends itself quite well to a variety of books (books w/ an animal or plant on the cover, an animal or plant name in author's name, about an animal & about a plant ...) I feel like it's been suggested in the past and inexplicably did not do well?
Another way to look at the Good, the Bad and the Ugly is to read 3 books that relate to the movie itself - the setting (American Civil War, American old Southwest), movie filming locations (Italy and Spain), the characters (outlaw, gunslinger, hit man), themes of greed and deception, acts of robbery, gunfights, hangings, or searching for gold. I would probably take the easy way out and make it a cover prompt: good (interesting/unusual), bad (boring/plain), ugly (hate seeing that cover).
I know this has been done before, but I would really like something like this:A view of the Past and a view of the Future. One book about the past, and one book about the future. I would try to link them with a similar genre, theme, or setting.
The past could be - history, historical fiction, a biography, a classic, alternative history, medieval fantasy. It could also be set in the near past, about a character's ancestors or past secrets.
The future could be non-fiction, predictions about where we are going, climate fiction, science fiction, fantasy, or involving a character who travels into the future. It might also be the near future or a fantasy that feels futuristic or prophetic.
According to numerology 22 means both Disorder and chaos and Master Builder (building great things or great ideas), which suggests a time of change. So I've been thinking about different views of change. I think all change involves disorder and chaos before things get better:For a single prompt: Read a book involving change (positive, negative or both).
OR
Read a book about a time of great change (positive, negative or both (This could a time in history, recent history, or a predicted future - realistic or fantasy.)
A two book prompt (it might also work for a single book):
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."
Read two books (set in the past, present or future), one that shows a positive world (or way of life) and one that shows a negative or violent world (or life). The two books could be related by time, genre or setting. You can find both views in historical fiction, contemporary fiction, nonfiction, fantasy, or science fiction. It could also be used to show different views of our potential future.
The Victorian era in London comes to mind, with some books showing a beautiful glamorous life full of concerts and balls, and others showing abject poverty, child labor, and people digging in the river mud for items to sell. Actually, almost any city, or country has both.
Alternatively, you might find both in the same book - such as a book with time travel or alternative realities, one in which the character has a happy life, and the other reality was awful. (Dark Matter comes to mind). You could also find both views in non-fiction books, about the past, or books with predictions of the future. Climate fiction and non-fiction scientists are making all sorts of predictions for our future.
Revolution vs Evolution Read a book about disruptive change, and a book about gradual change.
Stories of revolution are plentiful in fantasy, and science fiction, as well as history, historical fiction, and war-time fiction. In recent history there are stories about terrorism, civil wars, even on small island countries. (The Chinese cultural revolution is very interesting.)
This could apply to more personal stories as well, such as a character who dealt with massive disruptions in their life (e.g. the death of their family (Dear Edward), or being pulled into a totally new reality (Binti).
Evolution is gradual change, and could include non-fiction, historical fiction, or a family saga. It might show the gradual changes in England through the world wars, when the aristocracy gradually lost power and relevance. It might include one of the many current books about biology, Darwin's theories, new evidence on evolution, and the interconnectedness of trees.
Personal stories could involve coming of age stories, redemption stories, recovery, or any story or growth or change. There are many non-fiction books on this as well.
Others:
Tearing down and building up.
Conflict and cooperation
Mod
A view of the Past and a view of the Future. One book about the past, and one book about the future. I would try to li..."
We have 3 books relating to past, present, future this year. It might be considered too similar.
Emily wrote: "It could be fun to turn the "A book related to a famous pair" into a 2 week prompt....2 books connected to a famous pair
Black Beauty and White Oleander
[book:Left Behind..."
I’m more than ok with that being suggested as a multi-week. I was planning to re-nominate it again down the road as a single week prompt.
Have we ever done anything involving Yin and Yang? I think I saw that earlier in this thread.This is way out there - How about "Schrodinger's Cat." It's been mentioned in many fictional stories in recent years including one of the Outlander books, The Book of Two Ways, and A Tale for a Time Being. I found the correct term - quantum fiction (for quantum physics).
This is broader:
Read a book involving alternate reality or alternate history.
Related subgenres: Alternate universe, alternate world, quantum fiction, steampunk. It might involve time travel or magical technology. There are books that would suit readers of fantasy, sci-fi, historical fiction, romance, mystery, and thrillers.
Examples: The Midnight Library, Lost in a good book, Dark Matter, Recursion, His Majesty's Dragon, Underground Railroad, The Book of Two Ways, Harry Potter, Outlander, Neverwhere, City of Bones, Life after Life, Every Heart a doorway, Maybe in another Life, My Lady Jane, Cinder, the Invisible library, Golem & Jinni, the Chosen and Beautiful, Rodham, Hidden Palace, A Tale for the Time Being, What the Wind Knows, Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels
alternate reality https://www.goodreads.com/genres/alte...
alternate history https://www.goodreads.com/genres/alte...
quantum fiction https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
alternate universe https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
steampunk. https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
Oh! I know the specific sub genre prompts have a hard time getting through, but I like the idea of quantum fiction as a prompt! Related to Schrodingers Cat might get more votes though, since you could go more directions with it.
NancyJ, I love your revolution vs evolution and 'it was the best of times, it was the worst of times' prompts, I hope you submit one :)
Mod
Thanks Raquel,Quantum fiction and Schrodingers Cat go together, and the alternate reality ideas have been incorporated into nearly every genre (including historical fiction, romance, and women's fiction- Jodi Picoult). Maybe we can find a pithy way to phrase it to include it all. I really want to keep alternate history in there. The easy choice for people might be a book with a cat on the cover.
Another option. There are other new sub-genres that many of us have never heard of. Quantum fiction, Climate fiction (cli-fi), neuro-diversity, regency romance, space opera, portal fiction. I would love to explore new ones. These subgenres might be well known to people who have a favorite genres, but unknown to the rest of us. What if we had a prompt like this:
Read a book from a sub-genre of fiction that casual readers might not know about. These might be well known to fans of the main genre, but not to others. Examples: Portal fantasies, climate-fiction (cli-fi), regency romance, quantum fiction, steampunk, cozy mysteries, hate-to-love, space opera, etc. We can choose to push ourselves to read outside our comfort zone, or dive deeper into a favorite specialty.
This could be expanded to nonfiction too I suppose. In self-help, neuro-science is an exploding area.
What is the term for books that delve deeply into something very specific, but they turn out to be very interesting to a lot of people? micro- something?
Can you think of other examples?
On other topics -I love love love the three continent prompt. I would want to read three continents other than my own, but I think it's fine to allow people to use their own. Or if you count your own continent, pick a different country (I might pick Mexico).
I also love the lists. The lists in the ATY challenges are partly what hooked me in the first place last fall. I was in a book slump and these challenges perked me up. I loved finding new authors from different demographics, and the awards lists stretched me when I needed to be stretched. The Warwick challenge this year was hard but I feel better for having read those books.
I am all in favor of a prompt about Obama's recommended lists (if we include multiple lists), or the New York Times Notables (more than one year), or the NPR lists. They all include both easy and challenging books so there is something for everyone. If Obama alone is sensitive because of politics, maybe include two or three lists.
I like awards lists as long as we can use a longlist, or there are multiple years to choose from. I found some good Pulitzer and Nobel prize books this year. I had good luck with the women's prize and the Dublin Awards lists. I'm not really fond of Booker. I don't even follow the US list (and I'm blanking on the name).
Perhaps we could have a prompt that gave people a choice of three or four literary awards. (maybe include a mystery or fantasy award as well as a strictly literary award).
I think the TED list is probably too academically oriented right now.
Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads) wrote: "Two week ideas: Read 2 books related to—
Black and white
Male and Female
Famous twins (the idea being that each reader picks their own set of famous twins, and reads one book related to each of ..."
I think my favorites are City/Country, and Flora/Fauna. There are a lot of books on my TBR that would fit, including books about Paris, New York City, nature, extinction, and climate change. Depending on how they're framed, I might also vote for Male/Female, or even Beauty/Brains. I have to admit that some books just seem too "male" or too "female" to me. I realized that last night when I was looking at Audible's sales list. Some cultures are considered Male vs female, so I might view it that way. It also jives with Yin and Yang. I like the idea about improvement vs contentment or acceptance in a character driven book. I also like to read about different occupations.
I also like Land/Sea - especially with Paul Revere to add another direction. "Land" might be too easy on its own.
Kendra's idea on real/fake is also good esp with her examples. I love it when I can find a fiction book and a non-fiction book that fit together some how. I also have a book on art forgeries on my tbr.
I like the phrase Good, Bad and Ugly, but mostly the good :D More examples would help on the voting page, as no one wants to purposely read a bad book. I might pick a WWII or dystopian book for Bad, and a redemption or found-family story for good.
Wonder would fit for ugly and it's a very sweet book.
I also like the sound of "rock, paper and scissors," but I'm blanking on book ideas. Rock and scissors make me think of Princess Bride with men jumping on rocks waving swords. Paper could be "books about books" and I would love that as a single prompt.
I like the idea of giving a choice of two of four things - as in East West, North or South. Four of anything might be too much.
I like the idea of three branches of science, especially with Raquel's extra examples. I wouldn't have thought of them so broadly. There are more than three branches of science (e.g. social sciences, tech.), and I would be thrilled to death to see even a one- book prompt related to some aspect of science.
Tina wrote: "NancyJ, I love your revolution vs evolution and 'it was the best of times, it was the worst of times' prompts, I hope you submit one :)"Thanks Tina. Do you have any examples or phrasing suggestions?
Emily wrote: "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..."One of my favorite books this year was partly set in Antarctica. Migrations. If it wasn't for a challenge I wouldn't have discovered it.
Mod
I like the best of times/worst of times and flora and fauna ideas.I think I'd downvote the good, the bad and the ugly because I feel like ugly is a mean word. There is an ugly cover prompt for Popsugar this year and I felt bad enough calling some person's work ugly. If you try and interpret ugly as a non-visual thing, it's too close to bad.
I suggested flora or fauna in author's name to popsugar a few years back so there's a listopia for that (obviously lots more ways to interpret it but a good one for someone not wanting to read about animals or do a cover prompt):https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
Robin P wrote: "How the Penguins Saved Veronica and Where'd You Go, Bernadette both have large sections in Antarctica as well!"Did you review the Penguins book in pbt? It sounded great. The spunky old woman sounded like a great character. I'd like to visit Antarctica again (in a book since I could never go in real life). I will hit all seven continents this year, and I'd like to do it again.
Ellie wrote: "I suggested flora or fauna in author's name to popsugar a few years back so there's a listopia for that (obviously lots more ways to interpret it but a good one for someone not wanting to read abou..."That's a great list. I would never have thought of that angle. For fauna, I could read a Virginia Woolf book. I preordered Once There Were Wolves but I won't be able to wait for January. I hate to use the word ugly too, but I don't like the cover of this book.
I admit I really don't like award catergories. So limitng
Mod
Did you review the Penguins book in ..."
Yes, I did. I listened to it on audio, and that contributed a lot.
Mod
I'm also not crazy about list prompts, especially if they have many pages to look through, as a couple did this year. The books themselves may be great, I am just lazy about the research process
Ellie wrote: "I like the best of times/worst of times and flora and fauna ideas.I think I'd downvote the good, the bad and the ugly because I feel like ugly is a mean word. There is an ugly cover prompt for Po..."
I know what you mean about ugly, but there are other ways to look at other than "not pretty." Behavior can be ugly, both individually and as a group. e.g. a book about the holocaust could be used for ugly.
I would also argue that ugly in behavior doesn't necessarily mean bad. A Confederacy of Dunces comes to mind. Someone could be a jerk or obnoxious but not necessarily a bad person.
There are also lots of books with "ugly" in the title.
Nancy wrote: "I know what you mean about ugly, but there are other ways to look at other than "not pretty...."I just think it's uncalled for calling kids like the one from Wonder ugly, so I would not use the disfigurement definition at all. I don't particularly enjoy reading about characters with ugly personalities either. Sorry. Maybe ugly means something different to me.
Some books have intentionally ugly covers:
With Popsugar having this as a prompt this year the Listopia may feature a bunch of these if the Good, Bad, Ugly prompt gets through.
°~Amy~° wrote: "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 E..."
°~Amy~° wrote: "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 E..."
I like the prompt: read books set on 3 different continents.
Nancy wrote: "Ellie wrote: "I like the best of times/worst of times and flora and fauna ideas.I think I'd downvote the good, the bad and the ugly because I feel like ugly is a mean word. There is an ugly cover..."
As a person born with a facial deformity I would HIGHLY discourage anyone from using a physical deformity for" ugly". That is very hurtful to anyone with a disability or difference. 😔
I think now would be a good time to mention a great non-fiction book related to how people with differences are portrayed in Fairy Tales and why it is so harmful to them. I highly recommend everyone with any interest in this are read Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space
Linda wrote: "How about a book featuring a "dynamic duo" (or "popular pair"?)? This is similar to the two week idea, but with one book. I thought of this because the year "22" has a pair of number "2"s. A "dyna..."
This sounds quite similar to Steve's idea of a book related to a "famous pair" - it seemed to have a good pre-poll reception, but it didn't make a showing in the results. I know I was initially unsure what I could read for it, so maybe other people were, too?
I was thinking of a three week prompt of by land, by sea and by air. It is a reference to World War 2 as well as world travel opening up again.
@Amy thank you for putting yourself out there to point out problems with a prompt. It is difficult to do that. Ugly is a problematic word from our collective past that probably should be avoided in this context.
Any thoughts on the phrase Good, Better, Best. Could be about a good deed, a good endeavor, a good friend, a good result. Better could be someone recovering from an illness, or bad relationship, Best could be a wedding (best man), a best buddy, a winner,the best book you have read in a while. Pretty sure they must be in titles if that is a preference, or covers.
Nadine wrote: "Linda wrote: "How about a book featuring a "dynamic duo" (or "popular pair"?)? This is similar to the two week idea, but with one book. I thought of this because the year "22" has a pair of number ..."I noticed only after I suggested it that it's essentially the same prompt!
I originally brought up this prompt idea 6 weeks ago and intended to suggest it for the multi-week poll, but I honestly like so many of the ones that have been mentioned in the past few days that I don't know if I should! This was my original post:
Read two books with the same word in the title, excluding articles and conjunctions.
Examples:
The Silent Patient and The English Patient
The Alice Network and Still Alice
A Game of Thrones and The Hating Game
The Light Between Oceans and The Ocean at the End of the Lane
P.S. I Love You and Love in the Time of Cholera
A KIS option might be to include series names in the title, so you could do:
Any book in the Chronicles of Narnia series, then The Travelling Cat Chronicles
BIO option - read two books of the exact same title
°~Amy~° wrote: "As a person born with a facial deformity I would HIGHLY discourage anyone from using a physical deformity for" ugly". That is very hurtful to anyone with a disability or difference. 😔"Amy, I apologize. I edited my comment to remove those references and will not include them when I suggest the prompt.
Nancy wrote: "°~Amy~° wrote: "As a person born with a facial deformity I would HIGHLY discourage anyone from using a physical deformity for" ugly". That is very hurtful to anyone with a disability or difference...."Thank you
Oh Irene, I really love that prompt! Please suggest it.
I love that same word idea too. I feel like that happens to me unintentionally all the time, even with back to back books. It would be fun to plan it out.
Mod
I like the same word prompt, I'd vote for it!
Irene wrote: "I originally brought up this prompt idea 6 weeks ago and intended to suggest it for the multi-week poll, but I honestly like so many of the ones that have been mentioned in the past few days that I..."I'd definitely vote for this. I've been doing my own little mini-challenges where I read books with "Salt" in the title, books with "The Good" in the title, books with "American" in the title, books with "Beasts" in the title ...
How about three books - eat, drink, and be merry?
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I agree that I’d rather have duos. I also can’t think of any famous twins where I could read one book about each.