[2022] Wild Discussion Showing 1,751-1,800 of 2,340

[Samantha]

I like Ozymandias better because it is fun to say but think both are fun suggestions.

[NancyJ]

Nadine wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "It makes me think of the Robert Frost poem The Road Not Taken

I wonder if The Road not Taken - or the Road Less traveled would make a good theme. (Frost said his poem was about regr..."

Nadine, please suggest your poem. I'll skip the Frost idea or wait until a later week. I would want to find some more books first anyway. I think I would choose completely different kinds of books for each poem, but I agree that they feel similar.

[NancyJ]

Nadine wrote: ",,, Djinn.. "


I've been meaning to read that book too. What other books do you think might fit?

Roxana wrote: "I'd vote for either the Frost or the Ozymandias, or both, but if I had to choose, I do prefer the Ozymandias prompt - not least because a series I often reread is significantly inspired by that poe..."

Which series is that Roxana? Let's help the prompt get in by coming up with great examples.

[Roxana]

NancyJ wrote: "Nadine wrote: ",,, Djinn.. "


I've been meaning to read that book too. What other books do you think might fit?

Roxana wrote: "I'd vote for either the Frost or the Ozymandias, or both, but if I h..."

It's the Otherland quartet by Tad Williams; the first one is City of Golden Shadow. They're rather long books, but very worth it, and excellently read in audio as well.

[Nadine in NY]

NancyJ wrote: "Nadine wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "It makes me think of the Robert Frost poem The Road Not Taken

I wonder if The Road not Taken - or the Road Less traveled would make a good theme. (Frost said his poem...



Nadine, please suggest your poem. I'll skip the Frost idea or wait until a later week. I would want to find some more books first anyway. I think I would choose completely different kinds of books for each poem, but I agree that they feel similar."



Okay it's a plan! (Now the trick is to be sure I'm at my computer when the next round of suggestions starts!)

[Pamela, Arciform Mod]

dalex wrote: "One year (maybe last year?) there was a suggested prompt for a cover that included the Pantone color for that year. As I recall it wasn't very popular because the color isn't revealed until Decembe..."

As long as people aren't too strict "the colour of the year is Panetone 473" and go with "it's yellow" (2021 is grey and yellow)., it would be a fun prompt. And since there's 2 colours of the year, it has some space.

[Pamela, Arciform Mod]

I would say since 2022 is a Shelley anniversary, maybe do it as connected to him or one of his poems? That opens up all sorts of other connections- well past Byron and Mary Shelley.

Just saying that because every year I plan to read the bio on Mary Shelley and her mother and it gets moved to next year.. it's still on this year for the long book week, but I could see having to move it to 2022.

[Sunny]

I've only been a member of this group a couple of weeks or so; and this year simply went through the list and matched up what I had already read with the prompts. I'm looking forward to starting with the list for 2022 and finding books to read that match the prompts rather than coming in late and doing it the way I did this year. And maybe next year, I won't have to use as many wild cards as I did this year.

The prompt suggestions are really interesting and no matter what ends up on the final list, I'm sure I will find myself reading books that I might not have read had I not become a part of this group.

[NancyJ]

Sunny wrote: "I've only been a member of this group a couple of weeks or so; and this year simply went through the list and matched up what I had already read with the prompts. I'm looking forward to starting wi..."

Hi Sunny. Welcome! I did the same thing at the very end of 2020 and this is my first time participating in the planning. Now you have a chance to have some input, so speak up about what you like.

[NancyJ]

Pamela wrote: "I would say since 2022 is a Shelley anniversary, maybe do it as connected to him or one of his poems? That opens up all sorts of other connections- well past Byron and Mary Shelley.

Just saying t..."

Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley. It's a fascinating book, and you won't soon forget it. It's time consuming, so I split it up. I listened to Mary Shelley's story - and parts of it had a dreamlike quality. Or maybe I was actually dreaming idk. I read it at bedtime every night.

You should put it on the list for this prompt. Lord Byron is in the book too so it would work for mad, bad and dangerous. The whole story about him and Mary's sister is in it. I'm not sure about his daughter Ada.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

NancyJ wrote: "Pamela wrote: "I would say since 2022 is a Shelley anniversary, maybe do it as connected to him or one of his poems? That opens up all sorts of other connections- well past Byron and Mary Shelley. ..."

I really liked that book too, but I got confused because she goes back and forth between the two Mary's. So I read all the chapters on Mary Wollstonecraft first, then went back and read the others.

[NancyJ]

Robin P wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "Pamela wrote: "I would say since 2022 is a Shelley anniversary, maybe do it as connected to him or one of his poems? That opens up all sorts of other connections- well past Byron and..."

I think I did the same thing after the first couple chapters. It really disrupts the momentum when I have to keep switching. I had a similar problem with Homegoing, alternating between the Africa chapters and the American chapters.

[NancyJ]

Earlier in this thread we talked about social issues (and fiction versus non-fiction). I just read American Dirt about migrants making their way through Mexico to try to get to the US. It was eye-opening and riveting. It kept me turning the pages quickly.

"Read a book about an important social issue" I'm thinking of things such as immigration, poverty, racism, violence, human trafficking, drugs, or some combination.

[Alicia]

I think it would depend on how many people also do Popsugar challenge. A book about a social justice issue is a prompt this year. Since I do both, I likely wouldn’t vote for it for next year.

[Ellie]

I would prefer a prompt linked to a specific poem rather than connected to Shelley. I feel I would have to research him before doing the prompt. My one Shelley fact is that I know where his heart is buried, but that's because I worked round the corner from it for years!

[Jillian]

I just saw the listopia thread has the summer winner posted.

[°~Amy~°]

Jillian wrote: "I just saw the listopia thread has the summer winner posted."

It's been there a couple days. I didn't say anything because I thought it was a secret! lol

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

About to announce it with the Poll 12 results lol.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

With only 13 prompts left to go for the list, now is the time the mods want to know where you think we should place prompts on our final list order.

I have a few already mentioned (flora & fauna in April for Earth Day, the author diversity prompts in their respective heritage months), but I'd love to hear what y'all think!

[Pamela, Arciform Mod]

Ellie wrote: "I would prefer a prompt linked to a specific poem rather than connected to Shelley. I feel I would have to research him before doing the prompt. My one Shelley fact is that I know where his heart i..."

Cause they burned his body but the heart didn't burn!

[Nancy]

I want to submit another author prompt, 3 names was a close call the first time but was no designation in the last poll.

Someone last week mentioned an author with double letters (for 22) so I want to suggest that but don't want to step on any toes... I was thinking double letters in both names, which is surprisingly not as hard as it sounds, I found several looking through my TBR, but that could be a BIO option.

[Kelly Sj]

Nancy wrote: "I want to submit another author prompt, 3 names was a close call the first time but was no designation in the last poll.

Someone last week mentioned an author with double letters (for 22) so I wan..."

I like the two sets of double letters for '22, but maybe anywhere in the name (rather than specifically one set in each of first and last name - although most of the authors that would fit this on my TBR do have a set of double letters in each name).

[Nancy]

Oh I like two sets of double letters anywhere. I'll come up with some ideas for when I suggest it. Although I'll be out and about all day tomorrow so depending on time I may not be able to suggest it at all.

[Nadine in NY]

What does "two sets of double letters" mean? Does it mean in the first AND last author name, or anywhere? Do the letters have to be together, like Brit Bennett & Robert Jackson Bennett ? Or just letters that appear more than once in the name, like the "L"s in Zakiya Dalila Harris (plus the "R" in Harris)? Or do the letters both have to be together in first & last name, like the N & R in Rosanna Warren

[Beth]

I would vote for this kind of author prompt but some clarity would be needed. I would have interpreted it as the letters need to be next to each other like in Bennett and Harris but I could be wrong.

[Nancy]

Double letters means they are together, not just more than once in the same name.

So two sets would be like Rosanna Warren, but Brit Bennett would also work because Bennett has two sets.

So Zakiya Dalila Harris does not work because it only has one set of double letters, the "RR" in Harris.

[Kelly Sj]

Nadine wrote: "What does "two sets of double letters" mean? Does it mean in the first AND last author name, or anywhere? Do the letters have to be together, like Brit Bennett & [author:Robert Ja..."

Where the letters are together - whether two sets in the same name (BeNNeTT) or one set each in first and last (RosaNNa WaRRen).

Some other examples if anyone wants to suggest this:
TeRRy PratcheTT
DEEpa AnaPPara
JeFF VandermEEr
MaurEEn MaTTugh
RebeCCa SchaeFFer
MoLLy GrEEley
BiLL McKiBBen
BriTTney MoRRis

FYI I will be at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival tomorrow (yay nerdy fun!) and will also miss the suggestion poll.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

Suggestions for Poll 13 will open at noon Central Time tomorrow.

[Nancy]

Ok that should be doable for me unless it's a lightning-fast round.

[Pamela, Arciform Mod]

Kelly wrote: "Nadine wrote: "What does "two sets of double letters" mean? Does it mean in the first AND last author name, or anywhere? Do the letters have to be together, like Brit Bennett & [a..."

That's not too long a list. Maybe just one set of double letters? Two seems really tough and restrictive.

[Nancy]

Some others from my TBR:

Cadwell Turnbull
Kimberly Llewellyn
Hannah McKinnon
Sally Rooney
Audrey Niffenegger
Ann Patchett
Bonnie Blodgett
Jeannette Walls (she has 3 sets!)
Rebecca Makkai
Gabrielle Donnelly (also 3)
Siddhartha Mukherjee
Kathleen Finn
Paddy O'Reilly
Gillian Flynn
Sarah Addison Allen
Allison Leotta
William Sutcliffe
Jennifer Hillier

[Jillian]

I agree that 2 sets of double letters seems to restrictive, out of the 91 books I have read this year only 3 authors (4 books) would work.

[Pamela, Arciform Mod]

Jillian wrote: "I agree that 2 sets of double letters seems to restrictive, out of the 91 books I have read this year only 3 authors (4 books) would work."

Of my 61 books, there's one (Kerry Greenwood). More than half have one set of double letters, so maybe it's too broad.

I really liked the 2 words- 2 syllables title prompt this past round but apparently I was the only one. It seemed like a good 2 2 idea.

[Nancy]

Pamela I liked the 2 2, but not as a title prompt because we already have so many. It works for author too...

[Beth]

I don't think 2 sets of doubles is too restrictive but I guess it could be difficult if you don't have a long TBR. I found 12 on my TBR of 250-ish.

I think one set is too broad - there are soo many on my TBR (close to half I would say), way more than I expected.

[Nadine in NY]

All I need is two books for a category to be doable for me. I'm good with the two sets of double letters, now that I understand what it means, I've got at least seven books to choose from, probably a lot more.

[Jillian]

I’m with Nancy the problem with the syllable prompt is there are so many title prompts already not the actual prompt.

[Thomas]

Well what type of prompts do we not have enough of

[Nancy]

Here's my numbers nerd update:

Title - 5
Cover - 3
Theme - 3
Setting - 6
Character - 4
Genre - 3
Author - 4
Publishing - 2
GR & Recs - 3
Awards & Lists - 3
Other - 5

Here's what we have for this year (2021):

Title - 5
Cover - 3
Theme - 4
Setting - 4
Character - 5
Genre - 4
Author - 7
Publishing - 1
GR & Recs - 2
Awards & Lists - 4
Other - 14

I'd like to see at least one more author and character, and maybe a genre.

[Pamela, Arciform Mod]

Beth wrote: "I don't think 2 sets of doubles is too restrictive but I guess it could be difficult if you don't have a long TBR. I found 12 on my TBR of 250-ish.

I think one set is too broad - there are soo man..."

I would say, the nomnator should encourage people to look at their TBRs- I was against the idea but found plent on just the first 5 pages of my 31 page TBR list

Dorothy Dunnett
Lynne Zacek Bassett (3!)
Kathleen Tessaro
Joanna Trollope
Ottessa Moshfegh
Suzanne Rindell
Gerri Russell
Bill Clegg

[Beth]

Pamela - yes agreed. It sounded difficult at first but when I scrolled through I found enough good options to choose from.

Nancy - it's interesting we have so many 'other' prompts on the 2021 list. I guess they are the more creative types that have struggled to make it through for next year. I would also like to see another author, character and maybe genre prompt. I would have liked some more interesting ones to get through but it's getting more difficult as the weeks go on.

[Jill]

Goodness Double letters is a lot easier than I thought.

[Nancy]

Whew, I'm glad there's so much support for two double letters! It does seem hard but it didn't take long to build up that list. Only one set would be way too easy.

If I'm able to get in to suggest it I'll have a few examples and will mention to check TBRs.

And yes we do have a lot of Other this year! 3 of those are the multi-week, but definitely some I consider "fun" like My Favorite Things, Grand Egyptian Museum, the random word generator, NATO, and "you read what?!" - and that last one took a couple of tries to get in last year, IIRC.

[Kathy Jo]

I mentioned double letters a few weeks ago. Maybe someone else did, too. It's fine by me if you want to suggest two sets of double letters.

[Shannon]

I like the two sets of double letters. A single set feels too easy. A quick look at my TBR list found dozens. I'd like it to be a little trickier.

[Alicia]

Out of the 73 books I've read this year, none have double letters!

That said, I actually still like the prompt because it is a bit tougher and I would upvote it.

[NancyJ]

Thanks Nancy. I see we only have three themes and 3 genres. I think we need more of both of those too!

Which themes and genres were suggested that might have a good chance. Which came in close?

What genres are we missing?

Think about your favorite books from the last few years. Are there any that would NOT fit in one of the prompts?

Travel - if the Shelly poem doesn't get in with Poll 13, we can try the Frost poem, or a simple travel prompt.

Biographies - People who changed the world? Women who changed the world?

Non-fiction - Are there prompts that would work for NF books on society, health, mental health, history, technology, environment, popular culture?

I thought the sub-genre prompt might offer something for everyone, but I don't know if it even came close in the voting. Feedback?

[Alicia]

I’d prefer not travel, since we have “a book with a travel theme” on this years list.

I’m always down for non-fiction and really loved the true crime prompt. They are just tough to get in.

[NancyJ]

Close calls

Characters with a Disability
Character who is a book lover
Literary Fiction
Women in STEM
Women who changed history
Bees
Paranormal powers - might be covered by non-human characters
Bohemian Rhapsody

[Irene]

Alicia wrote: "Out of the 73 books I've read this year, none have double letters!

That said, I actually still like the prompt because it is a bit tougher and I would upvote it."

I agree with this 100%! Of the 65 books I've read this year, only 2 have double letters and that's because they're by the same author! (I also think it's a lot more difficult if you exclude Anglo/European names). Going forward, I'm going to vote for all the challenging prompts because while I really like a lot of the prompts we already have, I think they're skewing a little towards the easy/freebie side for me.