[2022] Pre-Poll Voting

[Nancy]

I also picked my suggestion that didn't make it ahead of time, it was the trapped together prompt. And then Project Hail Mary came out and I switched it to set in space. Although I guess one could argue it does fit trapped together too, sort of.

This year I've been doing a lot of NetGalley reviews, and using those books for prompts. So I've bumped quite a few books and replaced them with new ones.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

Or even an old book that someone recommends or I see at the library or thrift store!

Embarrassing but true - When I think that someday I will no longer be living, the saddest thing to me is not that I won't see my family anymore but that I will miss out on all the books I never got to read and all the new ones coming after!

[Steve]

Nancy wrote: "I also picked my suggestion that didn't make it ahead of time, it was the trapped together prompt. And then Project Hail Mary came out and I switched it to set in space. Although I guess one could ..."

Reading Project Hail Mary right now! About 250 pages in and I’m loving it.

[Bana AZ]

Steve wrote: "Reading Project Hail Mary right now! About 250 pages in and I’m loving it."

That's good to know, Steve! Project Hail Mary is on my radar. I just finished one of Andy Weir's super short stories and got reminded that I really love his work.

[ladymurmur]

Thanks, Emily & Robin P!

[Bec]

Robin P wrote: Interesting, I have used it more as a freebie. When I have read a book that doesn't seem to fit anywhere in this year's prompts, I start looking through the rejects and can always find something. Why would I read a book that doesn't fit any prompts? Because I belong to too many groups, both online & off, and other people have the nerve to pick books that weren't on my list.."

I'm the same. I read so many books that don't fit a promts as they are ARCs, or I read one in the series they want to finish the series, or just because people recommend them to me or I just want to read that book. So I tend to find a prompt that fits the book - so I guess for me it is a freebie...but I like it!

[Nadine in NY]

Robin P wrote: "... Embarrassing but true - When I think that someday I will no longer be living, the saddest thing to me is not that I won't see my family anymore but that I will miss out on all the books I never got to read and all the new ones coming after! ..."



LOL now that I'm well past the mid-point of my life, I have this thought more often than I'd like to admit.

[Jill]

I realise that there is no way I will get to read the books that I have already got, let alone any that keep turning up to join them.

[Joyce]

I have liked the prompts that didn’t make it as, for the last two years, they have given me the perfect book fit.

2020 with a book found not in a traditional way gave me Dubliners from a Little Free Library in a public toilet in the French Alps.

2021 and the 21st something gave me my 21st birthday present which still lets me be The White Woman On The Green Bicycle

[Bana AZ]

Robin P wrote: "Or even an old book that someone recommends or I see at the library or thrift store!

Embarrassing but true - When I think that someday I will no longer be living, the saddest thing to me is not th..."

Woah, I have never even thought about all the books that will come after I'm gone. What a sad thing to think about...

[Edie]

Thomas wrote: "Beth wrote: "I'm also with Nicole on those prompts!

I feel like the suggestion that didn't make it is the ultimate freebie so I'm not going to vote for that one. For the book you were meant to rea..."
I agree. Freebies are fine. A book published in 2022 is also a freebie. How many committed readers won't want to read at least one book published in the current year?

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

And for those concerned about availability/cost of new books - a book that comes out early in 2022 will usually be easily available in libraries by late in the year. It's true it doesn't tackle the current TBR, but we have all the other prompts for that. Many of us are reading series where a new installment will come out that we will want to read.

[Thomas]

Robin P wrote: "And for those concerned about availability/cost of new books - a book that comes out early in 2022 will usually be easily available in libraries by late in the year. It's true it doesn't tackle the..."

I actually didn't vote for ti either way> I always fidn it a scramble tof find a new book but Ruth Ware intends to ahve one out this year. but it was still aso so for me ( not a downvote but not up either)

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads)]

Edie wrote: "Thomas wrote: "Beth wrote: "I'm also with Nicole on those prompts!

I feel like the suggestion that didn't make it is the ultimate freebie so I'm not going to vote for that one. For the book you we..."

Not a freebie for those with limited access to books though!

Even though I have good library access, I just barely decided not to downvote that prompt. Until I started spending time in the online reading community a couple years ago, I didn't follow any current authors, and most of my books came from either the library (where I only rarely browsed the new books section) or used book stores/sales.

Now that I have a few favorite authors who are still actively publishing, joined NetGalley and get some free ARCS, and signed up for Kindle FirstReads through Amazon Prime, I figured I have no real reason to downvote it. I still find the backlist and old classics are my happy place though!

[Beth]

Agree that published in 2022 is not really a freebie. I'm lucky to finally have access to an amazing library but when I lived in the UK my library didn't have many new releases at all. I would have struggled to find something from my TBR without having to buy it which is something I try to avoid.

[Thomas]

Beth wrote: "Agree that published in 2022 is not really a freebie. I'm lucky to finally have access to an amazing library but when I lived in the UK my library didn't have many new releases at all. I would have..
Maybe we jsut need to stop throwing around freebie like its a dirty word. We all have prompts we don't like some peopel don't like pormpts that require research and other peopel clearly want prompts that take effort to fill. Soem peopel love pickign from a lsit I can't stand the idea. We need a mixture

[Nancy]

My only complaint about published in 2022 is it makes it a little harder to plan, and I hate having that empty spot in my spreadsheet! Otherwise as a library reader in the US I do find it a freebie, as long as I plan ahead and request books before they're published. But I get why others wouldn't find it a freebie.

[Thomas]

Nancy wrote: "My only complaint about published in 2022 is it makes it a little harder to plan, and I hate having that empty spot in my spreadsheet! Otherwise as a library reader in the US I do find it a freebie..."

Yes I feel the same.

[Beth]

Thomas wrote: "Beth wrote: "Agree that published in 2022 is not really a freebie. I'm lucky to finally have access to an amazing library but when I lived in the UK my library didn't have many new releases at all...."

I don't think anyone is saying it's a bad thing, it's just offering a different perspective on what might appear to be an easy prompt for some being not so easy for others. Of course we need a mixture of easier and more difficult prompts and those might be different for different people which is why we need the discussion.

[Thomas]

Beth wrote: "Thomas wrote: "Beth wrote: "Agree that published in 2022 is not really a freebie. I'm lucky to finally have access to an amazing library but when I lived in the UK my library didn't have many new r..."
My point is that several have just said "I can't vote for thsi, its a freebie" (esepcially with suggestions prompt) obvisouly everyone is entitled to their opinion but i really would like to know why a freebie is a bad thing.

[Samantha]

Thomas wrote: "Beth wrote: "Thomas wrote: "Beth wrote: "Agree that published in 2022 is not really a freebie. I'm lucky to finally have access to an amazing library but when I lived in the UK my library didn't ha..."

As a rule follower I have struggle with wondering if I am following the intent of the prompt or if I am cheating. I know that know one is checking on me but just weird human behavior. I have been doing this for since 2015 and have relaxed a bit but still have that at the back of my head.

I also enjoy having to find things that fit the prompts so when it is just anything that is less fun.

I should add I don't think they are bad but just hard for me so avoid.

[Thomas]

Samantha wrote: "Thomas wrote: "Beth wrote: "Thomas wrote: "Beth wrote: "Agree that published in 2022 is not really a freebie. I'm lucky to finally have access to an amazing library but when I lived in the UK my li..."
I have a simialr problem

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

So funny how we have different approaches. I am generally a rule-follower in life (and critical of others who aren't doing things "right"), but maybe because books are my area of expertise, I like being flexible in my interpretation of the prompts.

This group is great because you can set the level of challenge for yourself. We have the Keep it Simple and Bring It On options, or you could choose on your own to add something to the ones that seem like freebies to you. Like maybe for book published in 2022, you would add that it has to be an author new to you, or an author from a different country, race, religion, etc.

Some other challenges are more specific. I stopped doing the Book Riot one because it had too many prompts with books I didn't own and was unlikely to read. That is actually their point, as their Read Harder challenge is set up to encourage readers to try new things. I would have loved that when I was in my 20's and had no idea what to read. (There was no internet with GR and other sites!) But now I have so much backlog and life is too short to read things I didn't really want to.

[Kat]

I only usually read library books (physical and overdrive) as I can't afford to be buying books. It's a small library group that tends to get older books in as they are cheaper and easier to access. I usually have a few new releases on hold but it can take months for them to come through. It's currently 18 weeks for One Last Stop. It makes it hard to plan as you never know if the book will be added to the library or if it will arrive before the end of the year.

It turns out I've read 8 published in 2021 so far this year but only one of those was planned (birthday present). The rest just happened to be and I didn't realise until I had finished and logged them.

There is also the difference in publication dates for hardbacks and paperbacks to think about. Many of this years big releases won't make it to paperback until early next year.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I think people have used new editions as a KIS options for this prompt in the past. It's a good workaround if you need it to be.

I'm a member of Book of the Month Club, so I get at least 14 new release books every year. That being said, I just checked my stats, and 12/51 books I've read so far this year were published in 2021... and it's only June. I wouldn't say this prompt is a freebie (although I certainly have nothing against freebies), but it's one that I usually fill last because the books I read that were published recently get slotted into harder-to-fill prompts. I only have 5 books to go on ATY round one, and one of the prompts I haven't filled yet is published in 2021.

[Nancy]

22 of the 65 books I read this year were published in 2021! But the majority of those were from NetGalley, only a handful are books I would have read if not for review. I'm trying to back off on NG requests so I can get through Mount TBR and read some older titles.

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads)]

I just checked my stats and 5 out of 93 books I've read this year were published in 2021. 😂

Two of those were picture books, the other three I got as ARCs (and one of those I only got because a friend was kind enough to send it to me after she read it!).

I do really want to read Project Hail Mary though, so I'll be getting that from the library before too long hopefully!

[Nancy]

I loved Project Hail Mary!

[Hannah]

It’s funny that we all are so different regarding new releases! I almost never read new releases and always struggle a bit to fill that prompt. I don’t know why - I guess that I often add books to my TBR only after hearing them talked about by several people so it takes awhile after a book is published for me to know if I’m interested or not.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

Being a member of Audible totally changed how much I consume new books. I used to wait for paperback versions/sales/library availability. I still very rarely buy a full-price new print book. At Audible (or other services like libro.fm), all books are one credit, whether they are new or old, so I have listened to many as soon as they come out. Of course, it's still an expense and nobody should feel obligated to spend any money to do this challenge.

Emily's idea is an interesting one, that we could choose a new edition, such as a paperback that came out a year or more after the original hardcover, or even a new edition of a classic that was released this year.

[Stacey]

I voted for the first four, but I really enjoy all of these prompts. For “meant to read in 2021”, I already have a specific book in mind that I’ll likely never get to this year!

[Anastasia]

I am a voracious reader with an average of 200 books a year. I would be a very poor reader if not for the 3 libraries I belong to. Luckily between all 3 I may be able to read new releases. It does make that prompt a challenge though.

I do think that we do have to understand that not everyone has access to the same types of books as others. This can even depend on where you live in the world.

[Irene]

Thomas wrote: "How many committed readers won't want to read at least one book published in the current year?"

I don't plan to buy any new books next year if I can help it! My backlog of books I want to read is far too long and I want to prioritize the books I already own. (That said, I do usually end up reading a few new releases, but they're usually free and not books I intended on reading or have a particularly strong interest in).

Edit: just checked and only 2 books I've read this year were published in 2021, and both were free ebooks. Last year, I only read 4 books published in 2020 (one was a picture book and 2 were free).

[Nadine in NY]

I am a library user and I read a lot of new books published that year. I generally read about 50 new books each year. So far I've read only 12, but it's only June. As the year goes on, there are of course more new books published in that year, and any holds I've been waiting on for books published earlier in that year come in.