Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
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[2022] Wild Discussion
Mod
Y is a hard one for the beginning of the name, but I don't read enough fantasy to know for sure."
It currently says "starts with A, T, or Y", which isn't hard, since most people will find an A or a T. But if the original suggester wants to change it, please post on the Poll 15 Suggestions thread what you would like to do.
I don’t think it’s too much to keep both prompts. Some of us might prefer one over the other. If both get in, that’s fine too.
I’m pretty sure the Italian alphabet does not contain the letter Y with the exception of foreign words.
"OR"! I missed that. So much easier. And duh, we don't have many characters with 3 initials. I appreciate your clear head!Jillian, all I can think of is Yves (Saint Laurent) and Yvonne. Or Yolanda Vega! Which might actually start with a J.
Chinese names will help.
I'll suggest the bees prompt for Joyce
I just put in the isms suggestion… now open for seconding…
I like them both I can second one.
Help - any thoughts on one of Shannon's other ideas, or my song idea? I'm thinking of suggesting her unlikely friendships or my Beatle's Song
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1. A book relevant to the Beatle's Song "I get by with a little help from my friends." Note: By "relevant" I mean a book about friendship, or how a little support from people really helps, a book about a deep act of kindness, or a book about groups or teamwork. Or a book about the friendship between the Beatles themselves.
2. A book about friendship
3. A book relevant to the theme of a song from the Beatle's ____ Album.
4. A book relevant to the theme of a John Lennon song. (Lots of peace)
5. A book relevant to the theme of a Beatle's Song.
- Do you think any of these would work? Does anyone else have a pending song idea?
Was there already a friendship Suggestion?
Sorry guys, prednisone is making my heart and my mind race.
Mod
Relax, if it doesn't happen this week, there is always next week.
Sorry, guys. I had friends over for dinner this evening and missed the discussions and the beginning of the suggestions. I was able to get in A book about an unlikely friendship just now, but it needs to be seconded. Thanks for suggesting the prompt about an "-ism."I really like the Beatles song idea. The Beatles are universally loved. To not have two prompts suggestions about friendship though, could be maybe just say "a book related to the lyrics of a Beatles song?" Or something like that. I think maybe just choosing one song might seem too limiting for some people. I can think of several different options that are related to different songs. They have so many great songs. It could be a book about a friendship, but you would also have a lot of other options available.
I hope someone suggests the Beatle song prompt! <3 <3 Just a few prompts left to go!
Oh shoot did anyone second Unlikely friendship?
NancyJ wrote: "Oh shoot did anyone second Unlikely friendship?"Not yet.
Mod
Yes!
I love the teamwork! I'm all messaged out.
Lizzy wrote: "https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...The above is a Goodreads listopia for the ism suggestion."
Wow this list has a ton of votes. We have this year's listopia too that will show the books that were most popular with our members.
Glad I managed to get "within a year" in! I was in line to check out at Costco and remembered. Thursdays are tough because I have to transport my son from one activity to another so wasn't sure I'd make it.
Mod
(Maybe this is a little selfish because I'm thinking of reading in order and that makes my list making decisions a bit harder on myself lol)
Looking at the prompts currently on the list, do you. have any suggestions on placement on the list?
Emily wrote: "Now that voting in Poll 15 is underway, and we only have 7 more prompts to vote in, I'm taking suggestions again for ordering of the prompts. (Maybe this is a little selfish because I'm thinking ..."Maybe the woman in STEM in international women's month.
I could see "Here (There) Be Dragons" as the first prompt of the year.Both Asian Pacific Islander heritage month and Jewish heritage moth are in May.
Latinx heritage month is Sept. 15-Oct. 15 so that might be a good time for the Latin American author prompt.
Gothic elements might be good in October because of a spooky element.
LGBTQIA+ for June Pride month.
I can see light on the cover in winter time.
Wildfires, tornadoes and hurricanes overlap their seasons in June so maybe inclement weather then?
I realize my thoughts are based on US rather than international celebrations. It would be nice to expand my ideas internationally so I might look into that next.
Mod
Flora and fauna could be good springtime prompts.
Mod
I'm not sure about Here Be Dragons going first, although there are many directions to go with it, some of our literal-minded members may feel they have to read something with a dragon or exploration theme only and may get stopped. I think a more general prompt for the very first one would be encouraging. (I love the dragon idea myself, just wondering how it will go over.)
RachelG. wrote: "I realize my thoughts are based on US rather than international celebrations"The heritage months you mention aren't ones we have over here (I'm in the UK) but I wouldn't have any objections to the prompts being tied to them.
June is Pride month for us too, and I think several other countries, so that works out fine.
For some reason, I like the idea of the 5 vowels in the title or author’s name prompt being at the beginning. It’s an unambiguous prompt (no one will ask why a book does or doesn’t fit), has a great medium-level difficulty, and reminds me of beginnings since I associate the 5 vowels with the alphabet. It doesn’t restrict any genre and isn’t intimidating. I also don’t think it’s a polarizing prompt at all since I don’t think any one type of reader would dislike it (unlike, say, cover or list prompts). I love Here Be Dragons, but I agree that it might not be great start for readers who’ll take it literally and feel like they’ll have to read a fantasy book that actually features dragons. (If you don’t read the full description, you might not know about the map and exploration-related possibilities).
Mod
That being said, we have also opened the year with the ATY prompt, so if the one this week gets in, I may go that route instead.
I also have the suggestion that didn't make it in and the book connected to something you read in 2021 in January, since those prompts kind of fall away from relevance the further you get away from the previous year.
I do have published in 2022 in December.
I think it’s a good idea to keep the “connected to something you read in 2021” prompt in January so it’s fresh in our minds. I know by this time of the year, I have no recollection of what I read last year! I don’t even remember what I read in the first quarter of this year.
The ATY best book of the month choice should be near the end of the year so you can take advantage of most of the years choices.
Kendra wrote: "The ATY best book of the month choice should be near the end of the year so you can take advantage of most of the years choices."I second that
Mod
If the book that takes place within one year prompt passes this week, that should come at either the beginning or end of the year.
Do you know what time you'll start the suggestions next time?
If you're looking for month-relevance, women in STEM could be in November, because the Society for Women Engineers holds their annual conference in November.
I've already started mine. But Iv'e noted the date and will make sure I finsih within a twelve month period.
Mod
It will be around 10 am Central Time on Wed Sep 29
This is probably off topic, but I have been trying to think of the best way to approach the challenge next year. For most of the prompts I have several options and this year I read in order and when I had multiple books for the prompt I just read them all before moving on to the next. I am not sure if I want to do that again or use a number generator to vary what I am reading. How do you approach the challenge?
Mod
My first year I read exactly 52 books and just randomly slotted in what I was reading into prompts. Kinda sucked at the end because I was stuck reading books for prompts I had put off, so it was not a fun November and December for me.
My second year, I read in order. I planned 5-10 books for each prompt, then chose one of those (or an unplanned book) as the weeks came up. It was tough, but it was also the first year I read 100 books, because I used side reads to supplement my challenge books. I'm a mood reader, so it was important to have some flexibility in what I was choosing, even reading in order.
My third year, I decided to randomly pull prompts from a jar. That worked through April, then it was 2020 shut down, so I gave up on it when the libraries closed. I ended up focusing on books I owned for the whole year and I really enjoyed it. My library was only closed for two months, but I never picked up the jar habit again, unless I was really stuck on what I wanted to read.
This year, I decided to just read and assign like I did in the first year, but I ended up finishing the challenge hella early, so now my goal is to finish it twice through. I'm currently 3 books ahead on what will probably be my highest reading year ever (aiming for 104, my highest is 101).
All that being said, there was no one year that I thought was better than any of the others. They were all fun and challenging, and I think it depends a lot on your personal circumstances.
I'm thinking next year I will read in order again. Having it wide open like it was this year was great for the year I've had, but I like having a bit more guidance when I'm reading (that's why I do challenges), so I'm going to try reading in order again, now that I'm more used to reading 100+ books a year.
Hi Rachel, the first few years I read in order whatever vook was available at my library that fit the prompt that I actually wanted to read. This year I read what I wanted and fit them to the.prompts. I chose to fill the harder prompts first so that I would not be stuck at years end with books I did not really want to read.I know others have many strategies for completing the challenge. Some make it more difficult by selecting on overall theme. For example one year I only read Canadian authors. Some have only read LGBTQ or long books, classics etc.
Anastasia wrote: "Hi Rachel, the first few years I read in order whatever vook was available at my library that fit the prompt that I actually wanted to read. This year I read what I wanted and fit them to the.promp..."I am trying to gender baalnce this year
The only time I slotted books in after the fact was when I found the challenge at the end of the year. I was able to make almost all books fit, and then finished the rest of the prompts. I don't really have a strategy. I make a plan, usually with 2-3 options per prompt. I look at what's available in my library, or that I already own, and go from there. I'm a big audio listener so often whatever is available on audio is what I go with. Sometimes when there are a lot available, or at the beginning of the year, I get stuck, and then I just kind of pick one and go with it.
I may try reading in order next year though. It's harder to do when most books come from the library, and I also do Pop Sugar, and I don't have overlap. So that's 102 books. I also do reviews, and I try to slot those in when I can, but they don't always fit. I also like to read certain books at certain of the year, so summer books in the summer, scary/creepy books in October. So that makes it hard to read in order too.
RachelG. wrote: "This is probably off topic, but I have been trying to think of the best way to approach the challenge next year. For most of the prompts I have several options and this year I read in order and whe..."I always have several options for each prompt and usually start out reading a few planned books and slotting them into the most difficult prompts. Then I read what I want and fill them in wherever they fit. By this time of the year, I have to start thinking about books that fit the remaining prompts. I like the idea of pulling a number and reading for that prompt but it's hard to do if you are participating in book club or GR group reads or waiting on library holds. One strategy I use is that I create a physical book shelf with books from my plan. This way I can pull a book off of that shelf knowing it fits one or more prompts.
Interesting. Last year and this I planned one or two books per prompt, and read out of order. Now I'm in that position where the books I have left to finish the challenge are the ones I'm not really crazy about.For next year I'm planning to use only books I already own, and to read in order. I'll plan several books per prompt to choose from though.
I am trying to read books I already own. But I also have other challenges I am trying to do, such as the Abe's 100 Women Authors and there is a top 100 children's books, and just a list of books I would like to read. So I try to slot those in where I can.
The next book series prompt might be best towards the end of the year to give us a chance to start a series if necessary.
Like Shannon, I am going to try to read only books I own next year. Maybe I will try reading in order? I might finish quicker since I wouldn't be starting 5 books and only reading 1. I've never seriously considered it since I like flexibility.I have found that even when I leave the prompts I like the least for the end, I always find something really good. The right book just appears!
I don't like planning out books at all. The last year I did both ATY and Pop Sugar, I only counted a book for one of the challenges but I could move books around spots. Moving books around causes me a ton of anxiety so my only firm rule is once a book has been placed in a spot for over a week it stays there. In 2020, I read in order and of course Covid happened. I was in the middle of the challenge and all my books I wanted to read were too heavy and I ended up reading books just for prompts and did not enjoy the books or reading much. This year, I read what I wanted and then placed the books. I'm not thrilled with the list this year and am not even sure if I'm going to do the challenge or just a reject challenge. I have never done the reject challenge, but there were many prompts I really liked but never made it on the list. I'm also thinking of trying to pair a reject prompt with one on the list. Hopefully, I will feel more positive in January.
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Y is a hard one for the beginning of the name, but I don't read enough fantasy to know for sure."
Eek now I feel guilty. I can remove my suggestion for the fill in the blank if people aren't interested in seeing it or think it's too much with the character one as well.