[2022] Wild Discussion Showing 801-850 of 2,340

[Juliet]

The suggestion thread is active, you will want to post this there

[Irene]

Thank you all for the feedback! Glad I saw this in time so I can suggest it right now!! (@Robin those are great BIO/KIS ideas, will add them to my post!)

[Nicole]

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 really like this one a lot! I would definitely vote for it if it was on the poll.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

So I was looking up awards or lists that we could possibly use (I know these prompts are hit or miss, but I love them, generally).

I came across this list from Powell's bookstore about awards, and I was wondering if this would be too broad:

A book that won an award from Powell's list of book awards

https://www.powells.com/awards

It could be a winner of any of these awards. I like how the award list has literary fiction but also nonfiction, poetry, children's books, and a couple genre fiction books. Also, if you click the link on the website, it takes you to a list of all of the winners of the awards.

If everyone thinks it's too broad, I'll continue on my way, but I thought I'd throw it out there. I limited it to only winners because I figured nominees would be way too open.

[Steve]

Emily wrote: "So I was looking up awards or lists that we could possibly use (I know these prompts are hit or miss, but I love them, generally).

I came across this list from Powell's bookstore about awards, and..."

Oh, that's a useful link! Adding it to my spreadsheet/bookmarks as a resource!

I can see issues with it in voting because some people won't realize that if you click on the award title, it gives you even more books that won the award. Some people might just look at the main page and think "it's limiting because there's only like 20 books here."

[Sherri]

I like your suggestion Emily. There are a lot of books there I plan on reading so it would be nice to use them in the challenge.

[Ellie]

Emily wrote: "So I was looking up awards or lists that we could possibly use (I know these prompts are hit or miss, but I love them, generally)...."

Believe it or not I find that selection a bit limiting - I've read a lot of award winners apparently, and the rest seem a bit too literary for my tastes. I think I'd prefer it left open to any award winning book, so that I could pick one of the many UK awards that aren't listed. I am always interested in the Wellcome and Wainwright lists for example.

[Sue]

Ellie wrote: "Emily wrote: "So I was looking up awards or lists that we could possibly use (I know these prompts are hit or miss, but I love them, generally)...."

Believe it or not I find that selection a bit l..."

I also find it a bit limiting - I follow the Miles Franklin and Stella awards - the major Australian literary awards

[Juliet]

I’m usually a person who will immediately downvote any list prompts, but there is enough variety here that I actually like it. Especially since it includes the Newberrys AND the Hugo/Nebulas so there is enough here for those of us that would rather gouge our eyes out than read literary fiction to find something easily

[Kat]

The Powell's list is such a useful resource. I'm working through a few side challenges at the moment and this will definitely come in handy.

I usually like list prompts and would love to see a couple make it onto the final list. I think it's always better to have a lot of options to avoid making it too narrow for those who may have already read some of the books or just aren't interested.

[Beth]

I really like the Powell's list. I don't think it's too broad as it's restricted to winners only.

[Jillian]

The Powell’s list seems pretty narrow for me but there are enough books that I won’t down vote it. The Broken Earth series is on the list and someday I would like to read it so I might up vote it.

[Hilde]

I really like that list, fun that it combines several awards. I would vote for it!

[NancyJ]

Emily wrote: "So I was looking up awards or lists that we could possibly use (I know these prompts are hit or miss, but I love them, generally).

I came across this list from Powell's bookstore about awards, and..."

I love it. I think it has a lot of value because it exposes us to great new resources, especially for new genres. The results might be broad because you can read any genre (which is fine by me), but it might have a longer lasting benefit for heavy readers. It might be especially useful for people whose tastes are changing (dare I say improving).

[Nancy]

Over in the Poll 4 voting thread we've been discussing the prompt A book about books. It was a close call last year, partly because people who've done this and other challenges feel it's been overdone. I, however, love it, as does Alicia and I'm sure there are others.

2016 ATY had that prompt with those words, and 2019 had A book about reading, books or an author/writer. For PopSugar people, 2018 had A book that involves a bookstore or library.

Does anyone have any ideas for a new way to present this prompt? I mean, 2016 is long enough ago, in my opinion, that we can do it again next year. But I want people to be excited about it too.

[NancyJ]

Nancy wrote: "Over in the Poll 4 voting thread we've been discussing the prompt A book about books. It was a close call last year, partly because people who've done this and other challenges feel it's been overd..."

I love it. Those other prompts sounds different enough, and maybe there are some new ones, or some that didn't fit the other categories. Can we generate a list of the newer or best ones right here? There might be some that would help people decide.

[Alicia]

I’ll say I’m not a fan of the “reading, books, author/writer” wording. It feels a bit clunky. I’ve found some good resources (listopias and others) that I can add later tonight to help

[Juliet]

I like including the ‘author/writer’ part. I think that opens up the options a lot more for people who have done some variation of ‘about books’ a few times

[Thomas]

A book with a story within a story maybe? It would cover about reading but give people who don’t like that the option of reading a book with a framing story

[Nicole]

With the ones we already have I'm missing a genre prompt.

Any Ideas in that area?

I really like those prompts that make me look into small or new genres that I wouldn't normally even know about.
Popsugar has normally (sadly not this year) a prompt like that in its Advanced part, like cli-fi, LitRPG, cyberpunk.

Any one here into not so well known niche genres that would make a nice challenge?

[Jillian]

I won’t down vote the books about books. There is always a mixture of members who are new to challenges and those who have done them for a while. I don’t know how long I have been doing challenges or how many groups I have done challenges in. So while I’m personally not interested in it, it is a popular theme. I don’t know if rewording would help or not but you might as well give it a shot.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Nicole, I typically prefer my genre prompts to be more broad (like our mystery or thriller, or historical fiction last year). That being said, those prompts tend to make it on the list in later polls once other areas have filled up a bit more, so I wouldn’t be discouraged that there’s none on there yet.

I was trying to think of a genre I wanted, but, again, I like more broad genres so I can’t really help you out lol

[Joyce]

Thinking about Nancy’s post that included authors as well as books, I had been considering suggesting a prompt of a book by an author you would like to meet. Maybe this could be expanded to by or about an author you would like to meet.

In my original musing about this suggestion I wasn’t only thinking of authors whose company you might enjoy but also those who you might want to advise (what about rehab Dylan Thomas? Drop the court case Oscar Wilde) or those you would like to give a piece of your mind (be nicer to your wife Thomas Hardy)

[Nancy]

Thomas wrote: "A book with a story within a story maybe? It would cover about reading but give people who don’t like that the option of reading a book with a framing story"

That's not what I'm looking for here. I want a book about books (reading them, selling them, writing them, rolling around naked in them if that's the main character's thing), not a story within a story. Books could almost be a character in the story.

I'll come up with some ideas later tonight.

[NancyJ]

Nicole wrote: "With the ones we already have I'm missing a genre prompt.

Any Ideas in that area?

I really like those prompts that make me look into small or new genres that I wouldn't normally even know about. ..."

I am currently passionate about Cli-fi myself. I'm planning to vote for flora and fauna because the books I have all involve plants and animals in some way). Flora and fauna is a very broad category but few people mentioned it. (There are 80000 books in goodreads just with the word dog. And that's just one of the many animals that falls under fauna.)

I love the new term "Quantum Fiction." It's fiction based on the Quantum Physics theory that there are alternative realities at all times. Books about alternate realities, alternate history, alternate worlds, alternate universes. The story of "Schrodinger's cat" is often mentioned (even though experts say it's not the best example) .
Quantum fiction:
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

Dark Matter
Midnight Library
Recursion
Life after Life
The Book of Two Ways
A Tale for a Time Being

Most of the books would fall under fantasy or science fiction genres, or time travel or portal fantasies. Some romance books use it too. (e.g. Holidaze)

"Portal Fantasies" - this is nice subgenre of fantasy itself I think. I have Every Heart a Doorway on my phone (but it's a bit young for me).

[Jillian]

Nicole, as Emily mentioned we don’t normally get genre prompts until later. I think, it will need to be fairly broad to get enough support since genre prompts are hard to get to begin with.

The only thing I can think of is something like read a book that is a sub-genre of mystery, sub-genre of fantasy etc. That would still have the focus being on a sub genre but members could choose the sub genre. If the prompt was a sub-genre of mystery someone might choose a cozy mystery while someone else might pick noir.

[NancyJ]

Nancy wrote: "I want a book about books (reading them, selling them, writing them, rolling around naked in them if that's the main character's thing), not a story within a story. Books could almost be a character in the story
.."

Nancy, I like that description. The books were like characters in these books too:

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry - This made me want to run out and buy every book recommended by Fikry.
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress - This made me want to read all the books they hid from the communists.
All the Light We Cannot See the girl was reading Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

I still like the term "books about books"

Here is a list from 2016 with both fiction and non-fiction. I deleted most of the bottom, but here is the link. I need a more uptodate list.

Must read Books about Books. (from 2016)
https://bookriot.com/100-must-read-bo...

1. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie - just read. I loved it.
2. The Bestseller by Olivia Goldsmith
3. The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
4. The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler
5. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
6. The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald
7. The Bookstore by Deborah Meyler
8. Booked to Die (Cliff Janeway #1) by John Dunning
9. The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton
10. The Case of the Missing Books (Mobile Library Mysteries #1) by Ian Sansom
11. The Children’s Book by A. S. Byatt
12. The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
13. The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next #1) by Jasper Fforde
14. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
15. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
16. First Impressions by Charlie Lovett
17. The Forgers by Bradford Morrow
18. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer
19. The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley
20. If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
21. Ink and Bone (The Great Library #1) by Rachel Caine
22. Inkheart (Inkworld #1) by Cornelia Funke
23. The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
24. The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George
26. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
27. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
29. The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffenegger
30. Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier
37. The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay
38. The Shadow of the Wind (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books #1) by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
39. The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
42. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
44. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
45. An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine
48. 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
61. The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe
75. My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead
82. The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester
83. Rare Books Uncovered: True Stories of Fantastic Finds in Unlikely Places by Rebecca Rego Barry
87. Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
*96. When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II by Molly Guptill Manning

Favorites?

[Alicia]

Juliet Brown wrote: "I like including the ‘author/writer’ part. I think that opens up the options a lot more for people who have done some variation of ‘about books’ a few times"

To be clear, I actually consider books about authors and writers to be books about books. For example, Beach Read is a book about two authors writing books, and I think it's a great example of a book about books. The reason I said I didn't like that prompt was because I consider reading, writing, authors to all fit into the broader category.

Here are a couple links:

- Goodreads has it's own section that is updated regularly with New Releases, Most Read, Listopias, and more on "Books about Books": https://www.goodreads.com/genres/book...

- 100 Books About Books (updated June 2021): https://the-bibliofile.com/books-abou...

- 30 Books About Books (Sept 2020): https://mindjoggle.com/books-about-bo...

- From The Guardian (Nov 2020): https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...

- Barnes & Noble (Sept 2020): https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/b...

[NancyJ]

Awesome. Thanks Alicia.

Ellie posted this today on a different thread - 30 new reads for very bookish people:
https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/2...

I liked Beach Read too. There are many great choices no matter how someone wants to define it. I'm happy there are many new ones too to re-spark interest.

The Plot reminds me of Ladder to the Sky by John Boynes (which is thrilling).

There are many more Books about books than I expected. I just spent 2 hours researching and updating my tbr, as if I my list wasn't long enough.

I found this little list of "If you like X, you'll like Y:"
https://bookriot.com/books-about-book...

[Juliet]

Alicia wrote: "To be clear, I actually consider books about authors and writers to be books about books."

And many people will agree with you, but just as many wont think of it that way. Including 'authors' in the wording also opens up biographies for people who want nonfiction or are tired of this sort of prompt

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

Thomas wrote: "A book with a story within a story maybe? It would cover about reading but give people who don’t like that the option of reading a book with a framing story"

It's often hard to know that a book has a story within a story until you read it.

[Nancy]

Here are some others I'd add (and I agree on Beach Read, I had it in this list but took it out since it's been mentioned):

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires
Twenty-one Truths About Love
The Jane Austen Society
The Giver of Stars
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill
Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore
Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks
Maggie Finds Her Muse

[Shannon SA]

Jillian wrote: "Nicole, as Emily mentioned we don’t normally get genre prompts until later. I think, it will need to be fairly broad to get enough support since genre prompts are hard to get to begin with.

The o..."

I like your idea, Jillian, gives people a good choice.

[Shannon SA]

I love and would definitely vote for A Book About Books. I think it can be as narrow or broad as people want to make it?

[Kat]

The issue with genre prompts is that it can be very off putting for people who don't want to read a specific genre. I remember doing cli-fi in the past and hated it as it is very limiting and not open to interpretation.

Broader ones like mystery still leave wiggle room for people who don't like traditional mysteries. I read a lot of urban fantasy and they usually have a mystery plot but aren't a traditional mystery.

[Kat]

I may be in the minority but books about books just aren't my thing. I've looked through a lot of the lists provided and found very few that I read and enjoyed or am interested in reading. Adding the author part might make it a little easier.

[Thomas]

Not my thing either. That’s why I suggested a compromise

[Ellie]

I'd be happy with a book about books in the list every year, it really spans a lot of genres. We all love books here, right?

NancyJ I would vote for cli-fi and quantum fiction but there are people here who are very anti anything they suspect to be science fiction, so I think you'd need to show the contemporary/literary options for each. Even then some will just see the prompt and immediately dismiss it sadly. At least if you suggest, I can have them on my rejects challenge!

Maybe something wider to do with the climate? Then people can read cli-fi, non-fiction or something with a less obvious connection. With all this extreme weather the world is seeing, I think it's an important topic and not just "the world has ended" scenarios.

[Ellie]

I think a story within a story is a much narrower prompt than a book that has something do to with books in general.

[Steve]

Robin P wrote: "Thomas wrote: "A book with a story within a story maybe? It would cover about reading but give people who don’t like that the option of reading a book with a framing story"

It's often hard to know..."

I’m trying to remember: did we have a frame narrative prompt in the last few years? Or maybe it was another reading challenge.

[Joyce]

For a sort-of genre prompt how about “a book with a touch of the gothic”.

Thinking aloud, if you didn’t want to go full-blown horror there are lots of parodies from Northanger Abbey onwards plus less scary YA options. Also gothic architecture (lots of churches) or furnishings on the cover or a black cover or a gothic typeface. Then there are modern characters who are goths or you could read a book from the original Goth homelands in Scandinavia. Or a book by an author who writes gothic novels but not exclusively like Sarah Waters.

[Ellie]

Joyce wrote: "For a sort-of genre prompt how about “a book with a touch of the gothic”..."

I like this. I am often not sure how to describe gothic fiction, other than a feeling, but the British Library has a good article explaining some of the common motifs: https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victo...

[Jill]

Joyce wrote: "For a sort-of genre prompt how about “a book with a touch of the gothic”.

Thinking aloud, if you didn’t want to go full-blown horror there are lots of parodies from Northanger Abbey ..."
I would definitely vote for that. We seem to have not touched on gothic for a long time now.

[Thomas]

How a book that mentions another book, covers all books about reading but if that’s not your thing you can do a scavenger hunt

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Thomas, I'd disagree there. Books about books typically means that reading or writing or bookstore owning plays a significant role in the plot... it's about much more than just mentioning a couple books that the protagonist reads.

[Steve]

Thomas wrote: "How a book that mentions another book, covers all books about reading but if that’s not your thing you can do a scavenger hunt"

Emily wrote: "Thomas, I'd disagree there. Books about books typically means that reading or writing or bookstore owning plays a significant role in the plot... it's about much more than just mentioning a couple ..."

I think that's a difficult one to accomplish because you don't know going in that a character is going to mention a book. Sure, you can assume it if the book is about say a writer or a librarian, but otherwise, it'll just be something "stray" that comes up.

[RachelG.]

I like the idea of “a touch of gothic”. That is not usually what l read but I really enjoyed Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia earlier this year.

[Thomas]

Emily- I know about books is more that. But given recent results I’m getting the impression a lot of people vote down a book about books so I’m trying to find a way of phrasing to allow those people an alternative option while letting people who want it read a book about books

[Ellie]

I think "a book related to books" keeps the original intention but would allow some more wriggle room for things like types of book in the title. However some people don't like related to prompts either, you can't please everyone!

[Jillian]

Sometimes trying to please everyone just ends up with no one pleased.