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[2022] Wild Discussion
I’d personally be more inclined to vote for something like ‘an ocean related book’ than literary fiction. But I hate literary fiction.
I'm not super-interested in another title prompt yet, but I'd definitely like to see another cover prompt. I thought the handwriting one was really creative and would definitely vote for that again.
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I would like some more original where we can think a bit out of the box with the books we pick. Outside of Here Be Dragons, I feel like the others are very straightforward and don’t leave a lot of room for creativity.
Alicia wrote: "I would like some more original where we can think a bit out of the box with the books we pick. Outside of Here Be Dragons, I feel like the others are very straightforward and don’t leave a lot of ..."I agree... all of this year's prompts are straight forward. Even the coup of fun prompts didn't really work out in our favor.
I am someone who isn't a fan of cover prompts but I did like the handwriting prompt.
I had an idea scribbled down for a book related to "blood is thicker than water" but thought people might find it a bit morbid. The phrase is used to describe close family ties but could also be about vampires, bloody murders, royal bloodlines, etc.
@Ellie I was thinking of that one too. Or "Abandon all hope ye who enter here."
I like and have voted for many of the more creative prompts. But, I think some members are looking for purely scavenger hunt types of prompts. They don’t want to look for connections or themes, especially if it requires researching people, movies, pop culture etc. This may be why the more generic ones get in. Re: title prompts, I still like the writing in the title one. Someone has suggested a ? In the title. Maybe a question mark or exclamation point would be good. How about the use of onomatopoeia in the title? I saw that one many years ago and haven’t seen it since.
I think you may be right Pam. It is easier for me to put a word in my search list and come up with the possibles which I intend to read anyway, than to research characters gender, religion etc. This maybe because we have now had over two months of voting and the novelty has worn thin.
Pam wrote: "Someone has suggested a ? In the title. Maybe a question mark or exclamation point would be good."I have 200+ "owned and unread books" and not a single one of them has a punctuation mark in the title. This leads me to think this would most likely be a very difficult prompt. (We had a similar prompt a few years ago and I remember it being one of the hardest prompts of that year for me.)
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Emily wrote: "I'd vote for any punctuation over just a ? or !"Yes, any punctuation would be more doable. I wasn't thinking of commas when I said I didn't have any books that would fit a punctuation prompt.
Funny that you loved this prompt previously, Emily. Goes to show what diversity there is amongst the group!
Dalex- I agree that those 2 punctuation marks in a title are not real common, other than kids’ books, manga, and cartoons. I have one - Krik? Krak! and I can think of a few others. If it was expanded to include all punctuation marks, it would be a lot easier!
Robin P wrote: "We have 4 title prompts already and 2 cover."It really is 5 title prompts since one of the title prompts is a 2 week multi-week prompt.
I would like to see another cover prompt get in. I have liked a lot of the ones submitted already, especially the symmetry one.
Goodreads seem to think there are 1,150 books with question marks https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...
I quite like the idea of "blood is thicker than water"! That would be the perfect opportunity to read My Sister, the Serial Killer for anyone who hasn't yet.
I like the idea of blood is thicker than water too.It's frustrating that the comments mostly want more creative prompts (I do too) but they're not getting in.
I think that I'm not going to vote for another title prompt, but I would vote for one more cover.
I would like to see another author prompt but not limited to a woman or new-to-you or an identity. Some of you like a tie-in to the year 2022. How about an author whose first and last names have 2 syllables? Or, a name with double letters?
I like the creative prompts or prompts connected to 22 as well. I've been voting for those, and I'm hopeful the tarot cards will make it in this time. Before voting first started, I did some quick Google searches related to events from 1922 (which is how I came up with the female detective prompt - first female FBI agent was commissioned in 1922). I found a few more that I will throw out here. If anyone particularly likes them, you're welcome to suggest them!
1. The first commercial plane crash happened outside of Paris in 1922, so I thought about "read a book related to/featuring a plane crash." I think there was some concern that this might be kind of specific, but it could be fiction or non-fiction, so I think there should be plenty to choose from. Just off of my own lists, I found Dear Edward, Clap When You Land, Before the Fall, Code Name Verity, The Last Flight, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11, In the Unlikely Event, Into the Abyss: How a Deadly Plane Crash Changed the Lives of a Pilot, a Politician, a Criminal and a Cop, How to Walk Away, The Marriage Lie, The Book of Two Ways, and The English Patient.
2. In the US, there was a railway workers strike, so my initial thought was "a book in which trains or railroads are a prominent element" but, as others pointed out, with the right wording, it could easily be broadened to include something more like labor, labor unions, and workers' rights.
3. Also, 1922 marked the first use of insulin in the treatment of diabetes, so we could maybe have a prompt related to that? Either with a diabetic character or something to do with cutting edge medical treatments/technology, medical research and discovery?
Because I'm a numbers nerd I did some calculating and this is what we have so far:Title: 5
Cover: 2
Theme: 3
Setting: 6
Character: 4
Genre: 3
Author: 4 (3 of these are diversity)
Publishing: 2
GR & Recs: 2
Awards & Lists: 2
Other: 4
Note these don't add up to 35, which is the number of prompts so far, because some are in more than one category, e.g. all 5 vowels in title/author's name is both a title and an author prompt.
I like both of those author ideas - first and last have two syllables and double letter in the name. For double letter a BIO would be that both names have to have double letters, e.g. Gilly Macmillan or Hannah McKinnon.
The BBC was founded in 1922. I have no idea if or how that could be turned into a prompt, or if it's too UK-centric for the majority to be interested in, but there are things like the World Service and BBC America that make it a bit more international.
I really liked the mental health prompt that did not make it. I was thinking maybe if we broadened it a bit, it might get in. I am thinking something like this:2021 has a been a year that reminded us that we cannot take our health for granted. Read a book with a character experiencing a health crisis – physical, mental, or spiritual.
Marie wrote: "The BBC was founded in 1922. I have no idea if or how that could be turned into a prompt, or if it's too UK-centric for the majority to be interested in, but there are things like the World Service..."maybe any book that was filmed by the BBC? The best I can think of I'm afraid.
Marie wrote: "The BBC was founded in 1922. I have no idea if or how that could be turned into a prompt, or if it's too UK-centric for the majority to be interested in, but there are things like the World Service..."I like this one! I think you could do a lot with it - anything related to journalism/journalists/reporters, maybe the BBC and/or a specific news story is mentioned in the book, or books where the delivery of news/new ideas is a central theme (i.e. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, Giver of the Stars, News of the World).
Shannon wrote: "I really liked the mental health prompt that did not make it. I was thinking maybe if we broadened it a bit, it might get in. I am thinking something like this:2021 has a been a year that reminde..."
A lot of feedback has been that people just don't want health related prompts. I voted on mental health, healthcare professional, etc, but I am not sure I would vote on a prompt that specifically wanted a storyline about a health crisis.
I like Thomas' suggestion of a book that was filmed by the BBC.
Lindsey wrote: Before voting first started, I did some quick Google searches related to events from 1922..."My first thought with the planes and trains was that those are both Monopoly pieces so those types of books would fit that prompt. Really not the same, but it does feel repetitive to me.
Nancy wrote: "Because I'm a numbers nerd I did some calculating and this is what we have so far..."I've noticed over the years of voting that people don't like cover prompts because of all the questions. Which cover do I choose? What if the copy I get from the library has a different cover? Does this particular shade of blue count? Etc. I don't really get all the anxiety but, well.
And a large number of people hate, loathe, and abhor list and award prompts.
What are you thoughts on the following prompt: Book with a character in a career that is most often filled by the opposite sex
Male nurses, female engineers, stay at home dads, female scientists, etc
Maybe we could reword it to make it a theme versus a character prompt. Ideas?
I was also thinking of trying "Birds Eye View" one more time but changing it to a cover prompt. Maybe:
Read a book that has a cover representing a "birds eye view"
or I could reword it as:
Read a book that has a cover with a view from above
Thoughts?
I love prompts that relate to the specific year or number as we won't get the opportunity to do them again. It turns out BBC books is a thing https://www.penguin.co.uk/company/pub...
There is the 100 books that shaped the world
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/arti...
I also watched an interesting programme recently where Richard E. Grant visited places in Italy, France and Spain and talked about books set there.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/arti...
There is also between the covers where famous people recommend books.
Graham Norton has a book club on Audible.
I would like the filmed by the BBC. That can include movies, tv shows, documentaries, and news specials (to get non-fiction of historical events).
The main issue with lists and awards is that there is no room for creative interpretation. I enjoy seeing the links people make to specific prompts and you can't do that when you have to choose from a specific list. Both prompts that have made it have so many options available. I usually go for the default goodreads cover but it can be confusing. I read most of my books on Libby and sometimes the cover on the site is different to the one that gets downloaded. I don't understand why books have so many different covers.
I also like the filmed by BBC prompt. I feel there is enough variety that people would be able to find something that fits their tastes.
Kat wrote: "The main issue with lists and awards is that there is no room for creative interpretation. I enjoy seeing the links people make to specific prompts and you can't do that when you have to choose fro..."My feelign preciesly Kat
I don't mind awards and lists prompts because they help me get through my to-read list, which is one of the reasons I do these challenges. There's rarely a list that doesn't have something I've marked as to read. The outlier is the Warwick Prize, because I don't read a lot of books in translation, but that fits into another reason for doing the challenges, which is to expand my reading world (I don't want to say break out of my comfort zone because I feel like I've done that already after doing several years of challenges, but I would like to broaden my horizons more).
Nancy wrote: "Because I'm a numbers nerd I did some calculating and this is what we have so far:Title: 5
Cover: 2
Theme: 3
Setting: 6
Character: 4
Genre: 3
Author: 4 (3 of these are diversity)
Publishing: 2
GR..."
This was interesting to see!
I am thinking if a major event gets voted in this time, I could tie it to the BBC if that prompt never makes it.I also like the author with two, two syllable names.
I'm one who does not like lists, in general, because I like being able to figure out if a book fits a category just by looking at the book, I don't like having to consult another resource. BUT there are some lists I really like! (Eg: this year's "are you well-read in International literature?" of course, I still haven't read a book from that list this year, but I really like that list)So, it depends on the list!
Deborah wrote: "What are you thoughts on the following prompt..."I like bird's eye view as a cover prompt, and I think leaving it as that phrase gives people the opportunity the read a book with a bird on the cover if they can't find one with a view from above?
Juliet Brown wrote: "I’d personally be more inclined to vote for something like ‘an ocean related book’ than literary fiction. But I hate literary fiction."We already have a Set on the Water prompt.
I can't find a good source of info on BBC book adaptations but if someone is keen on suggesting it I can start off a listopia and add all the ones I can think of.
Ellie wrote: "I can't find a good source of info on BBC book adaptations but if someone is keen on suggesting it I can start off a listopia and add all the ones I can think of."I will suggest it.
I'd be hesitant to start a list for the BBC prompt because it will look like just a "classics list" prompt, when the BBC works on so much more. For example, BBC hosts RuPaul's UK Drag Race. So, there could be a book about drag queens that would fit the prompt.
Oh. I thought people were suggesting an adaptation prompt, not related to any BBC show? If it's just related that is pretty much a freebie. They have shows on everything if you look hard enough.
Around the Year in 52 Books
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The Tidal Zone is literary fiction. I hope it will be resubmitted.