[2022] Poll 13 Voting

[Alicia]

That was the thing for me Ellie. It wasn’t so much that I had to plan ahead. It’s that I thought I would come across a great line at some point, but I never really did. So then I started agonizing, well I guess it’s an ok line. But then feel like I’m cheating. I think ultimately I cheated because I’m just not generally impressed by first lines. Or I put too much pressure on them that year.

Nancy, I love the idea of a “bumped” list! I also don’t plan every book and definitely switch things out. But the planning is the really fun part for me in December. I get excited, make new GR lists, explore various listopias and sites. Some I can’t plan, which is fine. That doesn’t stop me from voting on a prompt I like.

[Jill]

Ellie wrote: "You'd think it was easy to just stumble on a great first line but I didn't find it worked out that way. But then I don't even think Rebecca's opening line is that amazing and that's always on the l..."

Oh good I'm not the only one who thinks that

[Shannon]

Alicia wrote: "But the planning is the really fun part for me in December. I get excited, make new GR lists, explore various listopias and sites. Some I can’t plan, which is fine. That doesn’t stop me from voting on a prompt I like."

This is me exactly. I get SO excited in December planning my list. I usually pick 5-10 options for each prompt (some much fewer if it is a tough prompt) and delete/add to them throughout the year as new books come out and get bumped to the top of my to-read list. I enjoy the research almost as much as I do the books!

[Jill]

I like the trawling through my TBR list and finding books I had forgotten. The trouble is I want to read them now, not wait for the prompt to come up some time in the year.

[Nadine in NY]

Jill wrote: "I like the trawling through my TBR list and finding books I had forgotten. The trouble is I want to read them now, not wait for the prompt to come up some time in the year."


Yes this happens to me! Last year I was so excited by the books on the "Are You Well Read in International Literature" list that I ended up reading a book from that list immediately. I STILL haven't circled back to read another one for this Challenge. I'm not even sure now if I'll fit it in during 2021.

[Kendra]

My downvotes:

GR best books - NO MORE LISTS PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!
Organized crime or families - This was too random and open.
Best first line - I just did this last year and while I loved the book I read for it, I still didn't like the prompt. It was irritating and took away from my enjoyment of the books to have to assess if it's first line was great or not.

My upvotes:

Ozymandias - I'm not a fan of the poem, but I am so tired of all the boring prompts getting in so I voted for it because it was the most interesting prompt this time around.
Prophecy - So many options on how to interpret, so much fun.
Secret society - Ditto
Medical/health - Ditto
Journalism related - I wasn't going to vote for any of the prompts that were on the popsugar list last year just on principle, but the wording on this one actually improves it.

[Rosemary]

Robin P wrote: "As far as the opening line, to me that is one I wouldn't plan ahead for. I would just be reading something, and think, "Wow, a great opening line! I guess I'll use this." But I know many people lik..."

This one is tough for people who read in order. You might settle down to read a book you were really looking forward to and think, "Oh no, a great opening line! So I can't read this for another x weeks" ;)

Or you might arrive at the week for this task without having put anything aside. Then you would have to go through a lot of books comparing their opening lines. Maybe this would be fun in fact... but I wasn't thinking that when I voted.

[Irene]

I also love planning all my next year's reads in December! I absolutely don't stick to it, and moving books around is part of the fun. But I like to have a full plan just for some framework because I dislike having holes with no options for certain prompts. It's always so much fun to comb through my shelves to find options, and I usually make a list with all the books I already own that fit each prompt, which is usually 3-5 per prompt unless it's super broad.

[Gem ~ZeroShelfControl~]

The day the full list is out I spend nearly all day planning, and its weirdly therapeutic. It was harder for me this year as I had to use only books I already had as I was on a year long book buying ban but some of my already owned books have been amazing. Why do we put some titles off for so long?!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

The real question is why do we not read the books we BUY for ourselves, knowing we will probably enjoy them? I love when I get in a phase of reading my owned books.

[Gem ~ZeroShelfControl~]

Emily wrote: "The real question is why do we not read the books we BUY for ourselves, knowing we will probably enjoy them? I love when I get in a phase of reading my owned books."

one of life's mysteries :D

[Katie]

I am sure this won't sway anyone's votes, but for the great first line option, I have found success either googling (there are a lot of lists of "great first lines" you can look at) OR, if you have some books you want to read, using Goodreads's preview function to look at the first line of a book that way (I am a library reader so I don't often have physical copies around of unread books to look through).

I understand getting caught up in the "is this a great first line?" conundrum, but I chose to interpret it more as unique/interesting/great in that way (definitely not "the greatest" first line -- that's too much pressure) when I did the Popsugar challenge and used Beartown to fill it.

Anyway. Figured I'd drop that in here just in case it helps anyone. :)

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

My mind immediately went to Beartown when I saw this prompt, Katie!