Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
Archives
>
[2022] Wild Discussion
message 401:
by
Thomas
(new)
Jun 24, 2021 03:08PM
Sorry got my dates mixed up
reply
|
flag
The discussion over in PrePoll Voting got me thinking about what I look for in a prompt, and from this reading challenge in general. I wasn't sure if it would be off topic over there, so I'm moving over here. I love prompts that:
*give me 'scavenger hunt' through my TBR. (How many authors on my TBR have a certain letter in their name? How many pairs of books share a word in the title? Why do I not own any books with flowers on the cover??? lol)
*nudge me to read a book (or from a category of books) that I have an interest in but tend to put off reading
*make me think about my TBR from a different direction (What counts as a genre I haven't read before? DO I ever read books with criminals as the main character?)
*give me specific objective in my general interest to read books from a perspective I haven't experienced (as long as it's not ruled out by something listed below)
I dislike prompts that:
*would force me to read a book I have no interest in
*are very tedious to research
*force me to read something I find very distasteful or immoral (These generally don't get through voting anyway, but if something like 'a book focused on body horror' or 'a book about someone having an affair' were up for voting I would downvote with extreme prejudice.)
I feel ambivalent toward 'freebie' prompts. I certainly don't mind having a few prompts that are naturally getting filled with my normal reading. There are 52 prompt after all! If five, or even ten, are easy to fill, that still leaves me dozens to research and plan and agonize over. :-D I rarely find a 'freebie' prompt interesting enough to vote for though, so there's that.
I'm curious what everyone else likes and dislikes in prompts! I know some people have generally mentioned before that they 'want a challenge' or 'want to diversify reading' but I'd love to hear all the details of what makes you upvote or downvote a prompt!
My only big dislike is picking from a list because I like some discretion about my choices
I definitely keep my TBR in mind when voting on prompts, but I also don't mind prompts that push me out of my comfort zone and require reading a book I wouldn't normally. An example is this year's Warwick Prize. It took some digging to find a book that interests me but I'm excited to read it, even though I haven't gotten to it yet. I typically don't mind lists as long as they're expansive enough to have a lot of options.
I don't like prompts that are too subjective. PopSugar has prompts this year for book from your TBR with prettiest cover and with ugliest cover. And I'm really struggling with those, especially ugliest cover.
I mostly use challenges to relieve decision fatigue - they tell me what to read next so I don’t have to decide! For that reason, a good mix of types of prompts that also allow for diverse genres, authors, and formats is great. I use my TBR and lists of upcoming releases to give myself several options for each prompt (mostly) and use the library and my libro.fm subscription for most of my reading. Rarely do I buy print books. If one of the books in an upcoming prompt isn’t available in the month I want to read it, I have other options to choose from. I’m grateful to have a public library with a great selection and a high limit on how many holds I can have - my system wouldn’t work otherwise.
I really love cover prompts but I know they are not very popular here so I get my fill in other group’s challenges. I like when prompts are open enough that I can read a book that I want too but are not so broad that it feels like anything can work. I also really dislike lists prompts. I could want to read all the books on the list but I strongly dislike having to scroll and pick one to read. A lot of the websites for lists seem very cumbersome to use.
My only issue with cover is they are a pain if you read kindle which changes the covers sometimes
I’d say that my favorite type of prompt is the kind that highlights a particular angle of a book - I like them because I feel like they influence the way I read the book and make me think about it more. So for example, I really liked the prompt last year that was two different books with opposites in their titles. I read Possession by A.S. Byatt and The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin and it made me think much more about the titles and the role of possession and ownership in each story than I otherwise would have.As for what kind of books I like to choose, my favorite is when a prompt encourages me to read a book off my long TBR that I otherwise might not have gotten to for years. I’m reading Midnight’s Children right now for the Muslim author/character prompt and even though it’s been on my TBR for several years, I know I wouldn’t have read it this year if not for that prompt.
Thomas wrote: "My only issue with cover is they are a pain if you read kindle which changes the covers sometimes"It drives me crazy when they change covers especially when I liked the first cover better. Though, I count either kindle edition or GR default cover as working.
Mod
It drives me crazy when they change covers especially when I liked the first cover..."
The worst are movie/TV tie-in covers!
Mod
This is great, how you thought this through, Raquel! I agree with all your conclusions. There are always several prompts where I only decide while reading a book that it is perfect for that one. For instance, I had a lot of trouble with the Egyptian museum one. But I randomly read a contemporary family story where the main male character was a professor of archaeology, including Egyptian. I had no idea that would part of that book.
I tend to read what I feel like, and what is required for my multiple online and in-person groups and then make them fit. But the different prompts do help me choose from my too-large TBR. I get some good ideas from the threads of what other people are choosing.
I don't like the list prompts much because I have to go online and look through them and maybe write down some possibilities. (Some of the lists are a pain because they are over many screens.) It's not like cover, subject, author, etc. where I can go to my bookshelves and scan them because I know I'm looking for a certain kind of book.
Robin P wrote: " The worst are movie/TV tie-in covers! "Yes, I wonder if the people who create those covers actually read books. I guess, they are to draw in people who mainly watch movies.
Yep their job is to sell the movie and persuade people who loved the film to read the book
I don't mind list prompts - I've never encountered a challenge list that didn't have a few books on my TBR on it, and I kind of like the process of going through a list to find a book I recognize. I like that feeling of "oh, excellent, X book I've been meaning to read is on this list!"
Raquel wrote: "The discussion over in PrePoll Voting got me thinking about what I look for in a prompt, and from this reading challenge in general. I wasn't sure if it would be off topic over there, so I'm moving..."Your list of likes/dislikes pretty closely matches mine. The one biggest dislike that I'd add is that I don't like feeling "forced" to read something, so any prompt where I can only find one option that even remotely appeals. This is pretty rare since I can usually find a couple of things that would fit, but if I research a prompt and really struggle to find anything I'm actively interested in reading, I'm very likely to downvote it. My TBR on Goodreads has over 4000 books on it, so I think I can reasonably expect to find something on there for anything.
That's the main reason I don't like a lot of lists/awards prompts. Many of them seem to offer the same few options, and when I've already read the ones that I'm interested in, I'm left with very few to pick from and it annoys me. I can usually find books on my TBR on most lists, but they are rarely books that I have a strong and current interest in trying. Or any prompt that's too narrow, where my options are very limited already. If none of the limited options appeal, it ends up feeling like a chore.
The most important factor for me in choosing a book for any prompt is that I must have something that interests me. That's part of why I struggle so much with nonfiction prompts, I think. I generally don't find those books that interesting and it's so rare that I'm actually motivated to try one. Using audiobooks has definitely helped me try more nonfiction, but it's still not something I'd actively seek out.
Raquel wrote: "The discussion over in PrePoll Voting got me thinking about what I look for in a prompt, and from this reading challenge in general. I wasn't sure if it would be off topic over there, so I'm moving..."For me, I like doing challenges as a game - read what you want and see which prompts they fill after. So I hate any prompt that requires a lot of research/pre-reading work. But I personally like a list with a nice balance of easy to fill prompts vs. hard to fill prompts. List prompts are okay, so long as the list is varied and has lots of options.
I like prompts that allow me to have fun choosing/searching for books from those that I already own, or are at least on my TBR. This includes cover prompts (my favorites!) and stuff with options, like the NATO alphabet prompt. I really dislike prompts that are too specific, like Popsugar's Women's Prize prompt since there are only 25 books that fit the prompt and I have only ever heard of 3-4 of them. I don't like new release prompts like a Goodreads Choice nominee or book published in 2022 because it means I have to buy a recently-published book and can't choose from my huge backlist of books I already own.
And like Kendra, I hate prompts that require me to research books for info beyond what can be found in the book itself.
That said, I do prefer prompts that aren't too easy because the challenge of part of the fun! I'm probably in the tiny minority of readers who dislikes freebie prompts. Ironically, I get stressed when I have literally hundreds of options for a prompt, such as the cross-genre, elements of magic, and comfort reading prompts. My sweet spot seems to be when I have about 5-10 books that I'm already interested in that fit a prompt.
No I think your clearly in the majority for not liking freebies
Although one person’s freebie is another person’s challenge. If there was a prompt “book connected to dormice” I would have dozens but a prompt like “a blue cover” I’d find more challenging as the library is just as likely to produce a surprise pink version of the book I picked.
Absolutely, Joyce! So there’s no way to avoid freebie prompts even if we wanted to. (Do you raise dormice? That’s so interesting!!)
Mod
Emily wrote: "Results are posted for the pre-poll!"were any of the tohers bottomed?
Mod
Mod
I think it is perfectly fair to use any cover in GR for a book you read. You read the book and it has that cover, even if your copy didn't look like that.
Emily wrote: "See comment I left on the results thread! Putting a prompt in the bottom disqualifies it from being resuggested in later polls."Great cos I had a simialr one to the isnpired prompt although with slighly difeerent wording.
Idea for prompt. Book without e in the title or authors name
Not a single book I've read this year would qualify, I don't know that I'd vote for it. Why that letter? Typically letter prompts are A, T, or Y.
Nancy wrote: "Not a single book I've read this year would qualify, I don't know that I'd vote for it. Why that letter? Typically letter prompts are A, T, or Y."We ddi that last year. E is a common letter so avoiding it would more of a challenge. My other idea is one with three or more different vowels in the title.
Nancy wrote: "Not a single book I've read this year would qualify, I don't know that I'd vote for it. Why that letter? Typically letter prompts are A, T, or Y."About 10% of my books this year would work which I guess makes it the right degree of challenge for me. I can’t think of any more A T Y combos...
This year we did " U " in both title and author as it is the 21st letter . Maybe next year we should go for" V " for the 22nd letter in the alphabet
I looked back and also saw these suggestions:Conny suggested a book with the letters T and V in the title (the 20th & 22nd letters of the alphabet, to coincide with the year 2022)
Deborah suggested a book with the letters V & E in the title (the 22nd letters of the alphabet going forwards and backwards)
I also thought I remembered (but can’t find in my brief skim of the first few pages) someone suggesting a book with the words “Around “ or “Year” in the title as a nod to the group, since we’ve kind of exhausted the ATY letters options. Of course, there’s nothing that says we can’t go back and revisit one of the letter options, as well. 🤷♀️
I would vote for any of those options! Much less difficult than no E in title or author. That is extremely limiting.
The no 'e' is difficult but not impossible. I found ~10 books on my TBR that would fit.I like the letters that connect to the group or year. The words in the title is a good option but might be quite limiting?
I have 7 on my TBR. Which is 2%. Extremely difficult, in my opinion. And "e" has no meaning to ATY. I actually have more books with "year" in the title than with no "e."
Nancy wrote: "I have 7 on my TBR. Which is 2%. Extremely difficult, in my opinion. And "e" has no meaning to ATY. I actually have more books with "year" in the title than with no "e.""
Okay but we had the author and title contain u this year. That also has nothing to do with aty.
"u" has to do with 2021, it's the 21st letter in the alphabet. I just like the letter prompts to relate to the year, or ATY. "e" is arbitrary.
Nancy wrote: ""u" has to do with 2021, it's the 21st letter in the alphabet. I just like the letter prompts to relate to the year, or ATY. "e" is arbitrary Well we will have to disagree. I also think a book without an,a or the. in the title Would be fun to do
Mod
Emily wrote: "I mean, I find that “e” is arbitrary, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be voted on. I personally wouldn’t vote for it, probably, because that is super restrictive based on my TBR, but I don’t thi..."Thanks. I willc ertianly suggest no an,a or the and see what happens.
Mod
I like that one, no an, a, or the - that still leaves plenty to choose from.
I'm not saying it shouldn't be suggested! Just that I wouldn't vote for it. Of course the letter prompts don't have to be tied to the challenge, but I would be much more likely to vote for one that was. "No an, a, or the" is one I would likely vote for.
I like Thomas’s suggestion of a title without an E. It’s a challenge since it’s the most common letter in the English language but it’s doable! I don’t feel like the prompt has to be related to the year or ATY. It’s just a random prompt. I did a quick search of my physical bookshelves and found 35 books, mostly 1 or 2 word titles. Many are classics but some are contemporary. A few examples- Nana, Black Boy, Babbitt, Zoli, Friday Black, Hadji Murad, Spin.
It seems like one year we had no ‘e’ in the title and it was fun but challenging. I think no ‘e’ in the title or author would be a little too challenging for me. The ‘u’ prompt this year was really hard for me so I’d like something easier for 2022.
Pam wrote: "I like Thomas’s suggestion of a title without an E. It’s a challenge since it’s the most common letter in the English language but it’s doable! I don’t feel like the prompt has to be related to the..."Do those books have no "e" in title AND author? That's the part that makes it a lot harder.
I think the intention was for no 'e' in the title and author, like this year's prompt with 'u'. I guess no 'e' in the title only could be a compromise?
I really like the idea of the vowel prompt Thomas brought up. I think something like this could be fun:A book that uses all five vowels in the title and/or author's name.
For example:
Just the title (bring-it-on option):
The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed M. Masood uses A, E, I, O, and U in the title alone
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman uses A, E, I, O, and U in the title alone
Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield uses A, E, I, O, and U in the title alone
The Idea of You by Robinne Lee uses A, E, I, O, and U in the title alone
Just the author's name (bring-it-on option):
Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour uses A, E, I, O, and U in the author's name alone
The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory uses A, E, I, O, and U in the author's name alone
Our House by Louise Candlish uses A, E, I, O, and U in the author's name alone
Title/author name combination (keep-it-simple option):
This Time Next Year by Sophie Cousens uses A, E, and I in the title, and O and U in the author's name
The Charmed Wife by Olga Grushin uses E in the title and A, I, O and U in the author's name
A few other authors with all 5 vowels in their names:Suzanne Collins
Leigh Bardugo
Kira Jane Buxton
Hallie Rubenhold
Avery wrote: "I really like the idea of the vowel prompt Thomas brought up. I think something like this could be fun:A book that uses all five vowels in the title and/or author's name.
For example:
Just the ..."
Oh, that's kind of fun! I'd vote for that. And you can search your goodreads TBR using "a e i o u" to find options pretty easily (the title/authors without a certain letter are so much harder to search for).
The scavenger hunt type prompts become less fun for me if they get too restrictive. I do half of Book Riot's challenge because even though they are super restrictive I still feel like there's some reason behind them. So I don't mind challenging prompts but I prefer if they are pushing me to read a different type of book or author rather than a random book that happens to fit.
Raquel wrote: "The discussion over in PrePoll Voting got me thinking about what I look for in a prompt, and from this reading challenge in general. I wasn't sure if it would be off topic over there, so I'm moving..."I'm still fairly new, and I really love the variety of prompts. I like the ones that help me to find great books that I might not otherwise read. I prefer to focus on the content of the book, and I have fun exploring lists that I wouldn't otherwise pay attention to. I like the lists that members create for each prompt, and I like the awards lists. The Warwick prize prompt was one of my favorites this year and it has helped me to broaden my international reading (which was a major goal this year). I'm also challenging myself to read books from other awards lists this year.
Some of the prompts were puzzling at first, and I loved to hear how other people interpreted them. The Lists created by members were great. I think this is my favorite type of prompt, because it gets me to think of the themes in a book that I just read. I picked a lot of books this year that could fit multiple prompts, and I'm still shuffling them around.
I also really like making conceptual connections between books, so any prompts that encourage this will be of interest to me. They might look too vague at first so I have to remind myself of the potential to discover connections later.
The prompts about covers or letters in the title were probably my least favorite, because I don't normally pay attention to stuff like that. I mostly use ebooks and eaudios, so I only see the covers online. However, they did make me look through my tbr lists more closely, which was a good thing. I'm also becoming more observant to what the covers can tell me about the type, genre or age of a book.
I would like to see more prompts that encourage us to read a variety of genres, and some non-fiction. Non-fiction books are the easiest for me to put off, so I need challenges to give me a little push. There are some amazing new books related to 'science' and 'history,' but if I didn't see the lists, I might be turned off by those headings. Biographies too.
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold (other topics)Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans (other topics)
Among Others (other topics)
Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks (other topics)
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Renée Ahdieh (other topics)S.A. Chakraborty (other topics)
Stacy Reid (other topics)
James Ellroy (other topics)
Ta-Nehisi Coates (other topics)
More...
