Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
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[2022] Wild Discussion
Fee wrote: "I love the prompts so far and would also like to contribute with a few ideas. English being only a second language for me, I have a hard time with the wording. But maybe you can help :) What do you..."I like all of these, especially the last two - author in a story, and community.
A book about a STEM subject was my favourite prompt a couple of years back, so I'd love a variation of it. Or just a plain repeat, though I had so many options would be good to narrow it down.
Ellie wrote: "A book about a STEM subject was my favourite prompt a couple of years back, so I'd love a variation of it. Or just a plain repeat, though I had so many options would be good to narrow it down."Do you have any ideas of how to vary the prompt? I would love to suggest it (or if someone else wants to) but nothing is coming to the top of my head of how to narrow it down.
Mana, I think your idea of "A book where the protagonist is a woman in STEM" is worth suggesting.
About protagonists, and main characters come to that, I seem to have been reading more memoirs and biographies recently and have counted the central figures as protagonists. I can live with myself for doing that but is it cheating really?
Joyce wrote: "About protagonists, and main characters come to that, I seem to have been reading more memoirs and biographies recently and have counted the central figures as protagonists. I can live with myself ..."I'm with you on this - I'd rather see it worded "by or about a woman in STEM" to leave it more clearly open to nonfiction.
Is there a rule that says protagonists only apply to fiction and not also narrative non-fiction? I guess I'm less likely to use non-fic for character prompts but I wouldn't think it was cheating.Just a thought, "by or about" widens the prompt to not read about STEM because a lot of authors have day jobs that are not necessarily the same as what they write about. It could simply be "about a woman in STEM".
I would think "about a woman in STEM" would work for fiction and non-fiction. I don't know that non-fiction will always work for character prompts, but for this one it definitely does. If it has "protagonist" in the prompt, that changes my opinion on this, as protagonist implies fiction. But "about" fixes that problem.I agree that I'd rather it not be "by or about" for the reasons Ellie said.
Ellie wrote: "Is there a rule that says protagonists only apply to fiction and not also narrative non-fiction? I guess I'm less likely to use non-fic for character prompts but I wouldn't think it was cheating...."
Yes, the common definition of protagonist is the main character in a fictional story. I don't know if it's a "rule" per se, but it's what a lot of people will interpret the word to mean.
I would prefer it with ‘by ‘ in. Yes , a lot of authors have day jobs but taking out ‘by’ also eliminates a lot of non fiction by women writing in their fields
I like the prompts about About a Woman in STEM - Could include memoirs, bios, or fiction
Main character who isn't Human
Community Plays a Role
Underground. The boys who were rescued from the cave.
I'm planning to suggest
A book concerned with Mental Health
A novel about an author or poet - examples would be helpful.
Cats could work for a main character who isn't human. If it's about cats as pets, I would include other pets too.
I guess it depends on what people want out of the prompt.* The protagonist is a woman in STEM - restricts to fiction about women in STEM
* By or about a woman in STEM - could be fic or non, but doesn't have to be about STEM. e.g. a woman who is an mathematician could write a book about rabbits and it would count.
* About a woman in STEM - could be fic or non, author doesn't matter, just that the book focuses on a woman in STEM.
I personally would prefer the third one.
Juliet Brown wrote: "I would prefer it with ‘by ‘ in. Yes , a lot of authors have day jobs but taking out ‘by’ also eliminates a lot of non fiction by women writing in their fields"Agree, I would much rather read about the science than about the woman. And if someone chooses to read a non-science book by a woman in STEM, so be it (as a college science teacher I know there are people who would rather do just about anything other than read about science or scientists).
I recently learned that 2022 is the 50th anniversary of The Godfather (making me feel old).Do you think a prompt related to The Godfather would be too restrictive?
I prefer ABOUT a woman in Stem. I think the idea behind these types of prompts is to promote women in the sciences, not to read a book about a woman who studied science but decided to write a book about knitting. Just my opinion.
Laurel wrote: "I recently learned that 2022 is the 50th anniversary of The Godfather (making me feel old).Do you think a prompt related to The Godfather would be too restrictive?"
What would be some examples outside of crime families/mob/mafia and/or troublesome family dynamics?
I prefer the third wording as well: * About a woman in STEM - could be fic or non, author doesn't matter, just that the book focuses on a woman in STEM.I enjoy reading memoirs and would like to have the option to do so.
Laurel wrote: "I recently learned that 2022 is the 50th anniversary of The Godfather (making me feel old).Do you think a prompt related to The Godfather would be too restrictive?"
Books about shows or celebrities haven't been doing very well, but the big anniversaries might help.
"For the 50th anniversary of the Godfather, read a book about organized crime or family business."
I will probably miss the suggestions tomorrow, but if anyone wants to put in "a book with a paranormal or supernatural character" please feel free - it was a close call a couple polls ago, and I intended to resubmit it this time but will be teaching a class. If not, I'll get to it next time!
Thank you everyone for your feedback! I love the idea of changing it to “Read a book about a woman in STEM”. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to submit it myself tomorrow. So, if anyone else wants to, please feel free to suggest it! If not, I’ll suggest it on the next round.
Kelly wrote: "as a college science teacher I know there are people who would rather do just about anything other than read about science or scientists..."I wouldn't try and sell the prompt as a book about science, lots of people will realise they enjoy books with characters who have a STEM job but would not pick up a science book.
Eg. game dev, astronaut, doctor, robot engineer, biologist, zoologist, hacker, mechanic, mathematician, paleontologist, forensic anthropologist.
I found this list of every popsugar challenge from 2015-2020. I thought it would be good to get some ideas for suggestions here (they have been "borrowing" a lot of our rejects in the past couple of years so it's only fair!Popsugar 2015-2020
I am getting this error on Goodreads today. I'm trying to link to the Popsugar site directly. We do this all the time in the suggestions. Is this new, or just a glitch? I'm hoping it isn't a change because of all the scammers on GR lately sending comments redirecting people to other sites :(1 error prohibited this comment from being saved:
For the safety of our members, href links to other sites are not allowed in comments. Please edit your comment and try again.
Edit: I just tried posting again with a link that worked in the Poll 9 Voting thread for Bibliofile. I got this same error when I tried to post it :(
Amy m, GR is changing what they allow from outside websites. You should be able to copy the website but can no longer create a hyperlink.
Well that sucks. They have disabled external links in comments, but I didn't think that would include discussions.https://help.goodreads.com/s/announce...
Jillian wrote: "Amy m, GR is changing what they allow from outside websites. You should be able to copy the website but can no longer create a hyperlink."I understand why they are doing it after the scammers ruined everything but this change is going to make the suggestion thread a mess :(
Pearl wrote: "Laurel wrote: "I recently learned that 2022 is the 50th anniversary of The Godfather (making me feel old).Do you think a prompt related to The Godfather would be too restrictive?"
Books about sh..."
From my perspective, prompts related to shows or movies are close to automatic downvotes, particularly so if they are for movies or shows I have never watched. Please no movie/show prompts.
In 2020 for the Pop Sugar prompt a book by or about women in "Stem" I read, Girl Code: Gaming,Going Viral, and Getting It Done by Andrea Gonzales,Sophie Houser. This is shelved on Good Reads as Teen, Middle Grade. It is nonfiction. The story is about getting girls into "Stem Sciences" especially coding. They weren't adults but I felt it was important to include girls in this prompt.
I wonder if “by or about a woman in STEM” would appeal more than just “about a woman in STEM”.I have read some interesting nonfiction oceanography books in the past couple years that were written by women but not about women. I don’t know if that is necessarily the goal of the prompt either.
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I understand why they are doing it after ..."
Ugh... it's going to make things impossible! There must be a workaround!
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There's some really good ones! And some that make me want to stab my eyes out!
Wait, what happened with scammers? I'm out of the loop?Edie, is there a reason you don't like movie/tv show prompts? There doesn't have to be, just wondering.
Alicia wrote: "Wait, what happened with scammers? I'm out of the loop?"They were leaving comments on reviews with a hyperlink saying "more" like you would get on Goodreads to expand it, but that link was going to whatever website they were trying to get you to go on. It was really easy to fall for.
Ellie wrote: "Alicia wrote: "Wait, what happened with scammers? I'm out of the loop?"They were leaving comments on reviews with a hyperlink saying "more" like you would get on Goodreads to expand it, but that ..."
Oh... I didn't know about this.
Btw... if I am awake when the suggestion thread opens I am thinking of suggesting 'A non-fiction book about subject you find interesting'. What do you guys think about this?
Harini, wouldn’t that be the same as “read a nonfiction book”? I only mention it because sometimes thinking what might interest you can overwhelm people, similar to your favorite. But I’m guessing people don’t pick up nonfiction books that don’t interest them.
I think I would choose to interpret the non fiction idea as a book that you learn something about a subject from. To me that would exclude things like memoirs. So maybe kind of similar to the prompt we have this year?I get what you mean though, Alicia.
I have thought about suggesting a similar prompt before but maybe with a little bit more focus, like a school subject or similar.
Pamela wrote: "°~Amy~° wrote: "I found this list of every popsugar challenge from 2015-2020. I thought it would be good to get some ideas for suggestions here (they have been "borrowing" a lot of our rejects in t..."There are a lot of both, and many MANY repeats. I think a lot of ATY52 people here also do Popsugar and hence the reason there is a lot of grumbling about "repeat" prompts. Between the two lists it seems the same basic prompts get rehashed over and over every year. If you've done both every year since the beginning (2015) it's a bit draining. I gave up Popsugar two years ago and started doing 6 months of free reading because of prompt burnout.
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I have read some interesting nonfiction oceanography books in the past couple years that were written..."
I think that was discussed above, that there might be a woman who is a doctor who wrote romances or something unrelated, which would go against the original purpose. I think a book by a woman in STEM about a STEM subject could be a KIS option.
NancyJ wrote: "Fee wrote: "I love the prompts so far and would also like to contribute with a few ideas. English being only a second language for me, I have a hard time with the wording. But maybe you can help :)..."I'm reading The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend which would work. Books like Olive Kitteridge with many character studies from a town?
I was thinking about a book where the protagonist or narrator is a member of the adoption triad (adoptee, birth parent, or adoptive parent). I'm trying to figure out how to word it so that both fiction and non-fiction would be included. Does "narrator" make it clear that I'm talking about non-fiction too? Do we even like this idea?
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Is that too broad? Who would read a non-fiction book about something that bored them?
Last year I suggested (can't remember the exact working) a non-fiction book about a subject you became curious about reading a book this year (or last). I liked the inspiration idea.
I read lots of n-f but boy, there are some people here who are very anti
Not sure, but would a book about adoption cover that? Would there be a lot of books about adoption where the main character isn’t one of those?
Alicia wrote: "Harini, wouldn’t that be the same as “read a nonfiction book”? I only mention it because sometimes thinking what might interest you can overwhelm people, similar to your favorite. But I’m guessing ..."I get what you mean and I do agree. But I also feel that any non-fiction prompt isn't really a favorite here. So I thought a prompt that is already related to something they love might give a non-fiction prompt a better chance. My initial idea was to recommend a non-fiction with elements of nature.
Beth wrote: "I think I would choose to interpret the non fiction idea as a book that you learn something about a subject from. To me that would exclude things like memoirs. So maybe kind of similar to the promp..."A book with school subject actually sounds better than mine.
Alicia wrote: "Not sure, but would a book about adoption cover that? Would there be a lot of books about adoption where the main character isn’t one of those?"My preference would be "a book about adoption", it's nice and concise and means exactly the same thing as the longer version
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That could be, people are getting conflated. I only do this one (so I know the old person prompt we just picked is a repeat from last year). The way I feel about repeat prompts, which is the same rule I use for repeat books in my book group, is members change and might as well try and see if the current crowd is interested. Some prompts can be repeated cause they have so many choices, others not really.
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Yes I would vote for this even if I didn't want to read books like this. Just by searching for possible books, we will learn about possible career paths for women. We ALL need to know about these, because small comments we make within a child's hearing can either expand or diminish their perceptions of their future possibilities. Whether you are a student, a father, mother, grandmother, teacher, aunt, neighbor, writer, or health care professional, you might have an unknown influence on someone's life.