Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
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[2022] Poll 15 Voting
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https://www.mappit.net/bookmap/places... I hope the above link works. I want to read more books set in Niagara Falls which is a natural world wonder.
I am going to vote for under 5,000 k ratings. Looking at my TBR I have quite a few under 100 ratings, so it will definitely be doable.
@Nancy I really enjoyed the descriptions in that book. It feels like standing right there.
I looked through my TBR and I have pages and pages of books under 50 ratings so 5000 is not a problem! I have one book (from Russia but in English) with zero ratings that I added. I still plan to read it! So, this prompt will be an upvote for me.
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Well shoot, I already read Alice Hoffman's Blackbird House! I would read it again....
Lizzy wrote: "Hi Shannon- I was the one who ended up posting this... but it was meant to be done on your behalf.. Please request it be formatted the way you would like."Thanks, Lizzy! If I had posted it, I would have just said "A book related to an -ism." The list I gave was more of a set of examples. My thought originally was that it would have been related to a bias or discrimination, but capitalism or consumerism or even Buddhism would be perfectly fine with me. I just thought it was a fun prompt to think about the -isms we encounter day to day.
Some others I thought of for the -ism category that have not ben mentioned are: alcoholism, autism, tourism, heroism, fascism, egotism, elitism, narcissism, existentialism, feminism, pacifism, activism, futurism, terrorism, mysticism, eroticism, skepticism, lesbianism, radicalism, nationalism, conservatism, individualism, expressionism.Here is a list of all of the English -ism words: https://www.thefreedictionary.com/wor...
I think it would be fun to pick one and find a book related to that -ism. It's pretty wide open, but also not a prompt we've had before.
Emily, would it be possible to try to add in the wikipedia link for the Twilight Zone suggestion? I wasn't able to add the external link but if you could that would be awesome!!
Can we add this to the second post for #11, A book that takes place within a year? I was on my phone and in Costco when I suggested it so just did a quick post and then didn't get a chance to update.There are many non-fiction books about a year of doing something:
The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun
The Year of Magical Thinking
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
Year of Yes
A Year in Provence
But also lots of fiction with a similar theme:
My Year of Rest and Relaxation
Your Perfect Year
My Oxford Year
And a lot of books take place over the course of a school year, like the Harry Potter books, The Magicians, the Percy Jackson books...
Of course the prompt is within a year so any book that takes place over the course of a day, week, month, summer, etc, would work.
Pamela wrote: "Joan wrote: "At one point I was going to suggest a prompt relating to a Beatles song. I was going to try and do something on the cover related to one of their songs. Blackbird first comes to mind f..."I can highly recommend One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow by Olivia Hawker.
Emily wrote: "I'm not a huge fan of the wording of the Beatles song one, but I'm not a big Beatles fan so I don't know if I'm missing something. Could it be reworded as "A book relevant to the theme or lyrics of..."I was going with a much narrower option first, but changed it at the last minute to avoid conflict with another idea. (I was waiting to see if we'd get another song.) I was going to provide a sample of specific songs and edit it, but my husband was injured on a boat last night and needed some attention.
I think if you just take out the word specific, that would sound better. I didn't want it to be this wide open, and I will provide some specific examples. I'm really sick right now, so I don't know how fast it will be.
What time is the voting opening?
This is a great round of prompts! I'm most likely going to do 8 upvotes, and the ones I'm considering are:1. A book with pictures or illustrations- I usually read at least one graphic novel each year, or I could finally read The Night Country, which has fun chapter illustrations
3. A book with an academic setting and/or with a teacher that plays an important role- I read quite a few "dark academia" this year, so I wouldn't mind reading more in this genre or something else with this theme
4. A book set in a library or bookstore- again, I've read quite a few I've enjoyed with setting
5. A book related to the wonders of the world- I actually really like the prompts that require a bit of research, so this is right up my alley!
7. A book with a main character whose name starts with A, T, or Y- This one is a fun spin on the previous ATY challenges, and I could either keep it simple by picking "A," or find a main character whose name starts with the letter Y!
10. A book connected to bees- I just think this one is cute, and it gives me an excuse to recommend Bone Gap
12. A book about an unlikely friendship- again, I think this one is sweet!
15. A book connected to liminality/transitions- This one interests me the most out of all of them, and I think it would be a good balance to the "golden years" prompt, since I would probably choose a coming of age or new adult pick for this one
Jill wrote: "Emily wrote: "I'm not a huge fan of the wording of the Beatles song one, but I'm not a big Beatles fan so I don't know if I'm missing something. Could it be reworded as "A book relevant to the them..."Jill, that's exactly right. I'm having a hard time right now, and specific examples would be very appreciated. I didn't want it to be really wide open, and I didn't want people to interpret it as "any love song."
Even people who aren't big Beatles fans might be touched by some of the stellar lyrics and find a book that fits it well. I hope people give this one a chance. The people who like looking for meaningful connections between books might also get into this if they dig a little. Some of the themes of the song are really core to themes we see in literature as well.
Examples :
Let it Be – A book about someone who is comforted by the memory of someone they lost. (Paul's mother Mary died when he was young).
Eleanor Rigby - a book with a non-sentimental view of a solitary life.
Yesterday - a book with a primary regret or breakup story
Sexy Sadie – A book about a sexual predator or inappropriate religious figure. This song was initially titled "Maharishi" about a hypocritical religious leader who was a sexual predator. (Based on a visit by the Beatles with Mia Farrow and her sister Prudence.)
Dear Prudence – A book about a women who is overly impressed by someone who is not who he seems to be.
Mod
Sorry you are dealing with so much right now. I'll contact Emily to change the posting above to take out "specific", since she is the one who posted it. She wanted to delay the voting a bit in order to leave 24 hours of discussion, but I'll check on timing. We should be able to change it on the poll.
NancyJ wrote: "Jill wrote: "Emily wrote: "I'm not a huge fan of the wording of the Beatles song one, but I'm not a big Beatles fan so I don't know if I'm missing something. Could it be reworded as "A book relevan..."NancyJ - I hope that members will give this one a chance too! We tried a few years ago to get a Beatles prompt in and it failed. I don't know if these types of song prompts are too broad (some call it a freebie) or people aren't interested in making connections or researching songs. I listen to The Beatles station on Sirius XM so I hear them a lot and wouldn't need to do any research unless I wanted to make it more challenging and find a more obscure song. I really like the idea of taking a line from a song and connecting it with a book. I'm seriously thinking about doing a side challenge for this prompt.
Not sure how I'll vote yet, but my thoughts right now are:Probable upvotes:
1. A book with pictures or illustrations
2. In honor of the classic second season episode, "Twenty Two," a book related to The Twilight Zone
7. A book with a main character whose name starts with A, T, or Y
13. A book with fewer than 5000 ratings on Goodreads
Other stuff:
I am confused/on the fence about the -ism one. The prompt makes it sounds like we are restricted to bias-type prompts. Would other -isms like Romanticism, Realism, etc. be included?
A book with a pleasant word in the title: This seems arbitrary to me. I understand the intent, but without parameters to limit it a bit, it feels like a freebie.
The two setting prompts: A lot of what I read is set at a bookstore or a school, so they would be easy, but we already have so many setting prompts.
Everything else I'm neutral about.
I love the academic setting prompt, and character with A,T, or Y as the first letter in their name. There were a couple of other prompts I really liked yesterday, but now I'm on the fence.I wasn't a fan of bees or Twilight Zone the first time and I'm likely going to downvote them again. I'm also not really a fan of wonders of the world because I think we already have enough setting prompts. I guess academic setting is also technically a setting prompt, but for some reason it doesn't quite feel like the same thing to me as picking a book geographically.
Also, this may be a bit petty since I was the one who originally suggested Disney, but it bugs me a bit that people thought the Disney prompt was a freebie, but the Beatles one isn't. They are fairly similar to me, just a different batch of songs. If anything, I would say Beatles is even more of a freebie since it's related to lyrics and not just song titles. On the other hand, I might just be a little burnt out on the Beatles -- my work just did a Beatles theme for our annual Art Show, so we've been listening to their music non-stop all year and I'm kind of over it for now.
Rachel - I wasn’t excited about the Disney prompt at first since I couldn’t think of any songs and haven’t watched any Disney movies in decades. BUT, after looking up songs, I found a bunch of great options so I did vote for it! And was really disappointed it didn’t get in! I don’t think either Disney or Beatles are freebies. You can always add your own limitations like a specific movie or album or year, etc.
Pam wrote: "Rachel - I wasn’t excited about the Disney prompt at first since I couldn’t think of any songs and haven’t watched any Disney movies in decades. BUT, after looking up songs, I found a bunch of grea..."Absolutely agree that you can tailor them both how you want! Personally, I find Beatles a lot more of a "freebie" in general since there are so many lyrics to pull from. I'm already going to do Disney on my rejects challenge so I don't care either way about another song prompt.
I agree with Rachel that the academic setting feels different to the more geographic oriented setting prompts we have already. Same goes for the library/bookstore one. I will definitely be voting for the academic setting but probably not library/bookstore because I think it's a bit too limited.
I agree with some others that there are a lot of prompts here that are a bit too broad for me. The ones I'm not a fan of are:- pleasant word: seems so broad and arbitrary. It also reminds me of the comfort reading prompt in a way that I don't love
- -isms: I understand it not being just about discrimination -isms, but then opening it up to others makes it so broad. Like any romance book could fit under romanticism.
- A,T,Y character name: this isn't a hard one to find, it's just a bit tedious for people that like to plan as I'd have to individually click into each book to read the description.
- within a year: I think most of the books I read fit this category
- Beatles: I actually really dislike the Beatles. I was raised in a small beach town where we were taught from a young age that the Beach Boys were better and Paul was the only talented Beatle. No idea if that is true, because I think I've only heard a handful of Beatle songs in my life.
- liminality/transitions: It may be the word liminality that bothers me with this prompt, but I also think most books deal with some sort of transition.
I really like library/bookstore and bees. So those are definite upvotes.
I also take back my statement on 5,000 being low for ratings. Turns out no matter how many times I try to get it to sort properly, Goodreads won't do it by rating. It'll jump from 1,000 ratings to 8,000 to 200 to 18,000 and so on. So I'll definitely be able to find something.
Don't most people click into books to read the descriptions, at least some of the time for prompts? I can see where it's tedious to specifically remember to look for names that start with a certain letter, but I would have thought most people look at the synopsis of a book before choosing it. How else would you know that it fits a prompt, or that it interests you?There's also the very easy option of finding a character whose name is mentioned directly in the title for the ATY character name prompt, so no need to click into any descriptions. For example, Tom Sawyer would be a fit (and even has all three of the letters in it, for those who like to go that extra mile!). I'm genuinely confused about why people think this prompt is so difficult? But maybe my methods of choosing books are different.
Just as an experiment, I opened up the synopsis for each book on the first page of my Goodreads To Read shelf, and I was a bit surprised to find a few that didn't mention a character name at all! A couple of synopses were written in first person without saying the character's name, and others referred to a group without naming each person, which is something I've never noticed before!
For me, I generally remember what the books on my TBR are about so if it’s something like theme, setting, villainous character, I don’t need to click into each book to see if it fits. If there are a couple I can’t remember or think may be a toss-up, I can click in those but it’s not clicking into every book to see what the characters name would be. But that may just be very specific to me.
Alicia wrote: "For me, I generally remember what the books on my TBR are about so if it’s something like theme, setting, villainous character, I don’t need to click into each book to see if it fits. If there are ..."Oh, that makes sense! My TBR on Goodreads has literally thousands of books on it, some that I remember more than others. I basically use it to mark anything that looks interesting as a reminder to check it out at some point. So of course, I won't remember details of every single one. I know a lot of people have much more limited TBR lists though, I guess I just didn't think of it that way.
Rachel wrote: "Don't most people click into books to read the descriptions, at least some of the time for prompts? I can see where it's tedious to specifically remember to look for names that start with a certain..."I'm a bit confused by this comment. Who are you referring to when you're asking, "why people think this prompt is so difficult"? Maybe I missed something in the wild discussion because there isn't a single comment in this discussion saying that it's difficult. In fact, some people have said it's a freebie. And, nobody has said it's hard to remember the general synopsis of a book.
Alicia and I both mentioned the extra step of having to click on books one-by-one to see if they fit. I think this is realistic for most people without photographic memory - I might remember the vague premise or synopsis of every book on my TBR, but I remember zero main characters' first names. You yourself said you found that some synopses didn't mention a character name at all. You're right that you could skip the whole process by reading a book with the character's name in the title, but for me that just becomes another title prompt.
I don't dislike the prompt at all, but it's a scavenger hunt for something that doesn't excite me. I wouldn't mind at all if it got voted through though since there are probably a lot of books with a "A" name, like Sydney said.
Anastasia wrote: "https://www.mappit.net/bookmap/places... I hope the above link works. I want to read more books set in Niagara Falls which is a natural world wonder."
I didn't see Niagara Falls on the list of natural wonders. I liked that book too.
Beth wrote: "I did wonder if some people might find under 5000 ratings too difficult. I was toying with 5k or 10k when I suggested it but found I had almost too many to choose from under 10k so that's why I wen..."I found more than 1000 books, so I will find it very easy to find great choices. For people who don't have a ridiculously large TBR, I would recommend that they:
*Look at the ATY member poll of favorites/hidden gems that was done a few weeks ago
*Search tags or listopias for indie authors, hidden gems, and lesser known books.
*Look for blogs or articles about those things, plus topics like "the best fantasy (or your favorite genre) books you never heard of."
*I'll try to read giveaways as soon as I get them.
For those who like to plan far ahead, I would caution that new highly anticipated books or very popular authors might quickly exceed the cutoff.
Rachel wrote: "I love the academic setting prompt, and character with A,T, or Y as the first letter in their name. There were a couple of other prompts I really liked yesterday, but now I'm on the fence.I wasn'..."
Rachel, I know how you feel. I was disappointed we still don't have a song, so I suggested Beatles in the hopes that something will resonate with enough people. I hope you will support it if you also want a song in, or try to build support for another musical idea next week if this one doesn't get in.
I'm attracted to the academic setting also. Sometimes I really miss it. The last book I read about a college professor was so far off I had to laugh. But laughing is good too. I thought ATY in a character name would be hard at first, but I think it will be easy enough. I won't try to plan ahead for it, because chances are good that my local bookclub will consider many books that could fit.
Robin P wrote: "Ellie wrote: "Will #9 just be shorted to a book that involves an ism if it gets on the list? The examples suggest it needs to be about prejudice, but I think it could also be used to read about soc..."Sorry I didn't see this earlier. This was Shannon's, and I think she was able to communicate what she wanted. I like both options - discrimination isms and all isms. I don't think it's too broad at all.
I saw a comment about a misconception about 'romanticism" and I hope someone can help correct that. As far as I recall it was an 1800's movement, and it wasn't about love per se. It might be more relevant to Frankenstein than to modern romance novels. I wonder if Possession would fit.
Romanticism was an art movement but it can also mean being romantic. Which is why I said it can apply to just about every romance novel.
Irene wrote: "Rachel wrote: "Don't most people click into books to read the descriptions, at least some of the time for prompts? I can see where it's tedious to specifically remember to look for names that start..."My comment wasn't directed at anyone in particular. I just remembered seeing comments somewhere (maybe in the Wild discussion? I'm not sure) about this prompt being difficult to fulfill because it involves an extra step of finding the character's name. That's why I found it confusing -- in most cases, the character's name is very easy to find just on the synopsis, although as I discovered earlier, that is not always the case.
I'm like you in how I remember most books. I might have a vague idea of what it is about or why I added it, but I definitely don't remember character names off the top of my head. Even after reading a book, I'm unlikely to remember the character's name.
If you're not a fan of the prompt/the scavenger hunt for this particular thing, then fair enough. My comments weren't directed at you or anyone in particular, just an overall vibe I was getting from reading the threads yesterday and today that people were finding this prompt difficult, and I was having trouble figuring out why when, as we've both agreed, there are many characters with names starting with A or T and that most of us likely don't remember specific details of books on our lists, so clicking on them to open a synopsis seems (to me, anyway) a natural part of the process unless you already have a specific book in mind.
The amount of time the synopsis has a spoiler in recently has been aggravating, I'd rather just know the vague gist of a book before I start it. Not what happens two thirds in, and definitely do not tell me there's a twist at the end... So, I am one of those weird people who don't read synopses. I know I would just stumble on a character sooner or later that would fit but it would not be a prompt I would enjoy planning for.
There are always the incredibly helpful listopias that would provide options.
Rachel wrote: "Irene wrote: "Rachel wrote: "Don't most people click into books to read the descriptions, at least some of the time for prompts? I can see where it's tedious to specifically remember to look for na..."No worries, I was just also confused because I didn't see anyone saying it was too difficult, or that they didn't read descriptions of books. Must have been in a different thread!
Kat wrote: "There are always the incredibly helpful listopias that would provide options."I am not much of a fan of the find a letter type prompts in general. If it gets in, it's fine, just not fun for me.
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https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/FGBH5S/
have voted. In the end I downvoted bees but the other 7 were upvotes
I’m not fond of find a letter prompts either so will be downvoting the ATY character name. Bees are not resonating with me either. A broader topic of insects would’ve worked better for me.
NancyJ wrote: "I didn't see Niagara Falls on the list of natural wonders. I liked that book too."It's considered the 8th natural wonder. Also I guess I didn't think of the wonders of the world prompt as a setting prompt because it's "related to" but I guess it can be. Like, you could do one of the mythology wonders and do a mythology book. But most of the others would be setting.
I voted for Disney so I'm definitely not one who thought it was too broad. I too am not a fan of the Beatles, not for any specific reason but their music just isn't really my thing and I've never really understood the obsession with them. I understand why they are important historically but I just don't love their music.
I do have to say I will be irritated if "set in a library or bookstore" gets in but "character who loves books" didn't!
Mod
Bees and Unlikely friendships were my upvotes this week. I had 6 downvotes.Nancy CoCo writes a bee related cozy mystery set in Oregon. The first book in the series is Death Bee Comes Her. The second book is due out next year.
Mod
Exactly this. Also character who loves books was a close call, so it wasn't that far off. People may just rather a setting prompt over character prompt as well.
Nancy, some of us are likely to upvote both but as Robin pointed out sometimes it just depends on what else is on the list.I did not vote for it the first time but I have 2 different series going with librarians and a person who owns a bookstore so it made sense to start upvoting it last time and this time.
All upvotes for me, but I really wish I could have upvoted the Beatles twice. I’ve been a fan since I was a toddler. I’d almost be tempted to do a side challenge where every book I use for the other prompts would also be connected to a Beatles song in some (perhaps tenuous) way. I’m also keen on libraries/bookstores, bees, wonders of the world, and books with less than 5,000 ratings.
Emily wrote: "My day got incredibly hectic yesterday and I didn't get home until almost midnight! Ah! Here's the voting link:https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/FGBH5S/"
Emily, I thought that the ISM prompt was changed per discussion between Shannon and Robin.
Nina wrote: "All upvotes for me, but I really wish I could have upvoted the Beatles twice. I’ve been a fan since I was a toddler. I’d almost be tempted to do a side challenge where every book I use for the othe..."You're not alone there. Maybe a group of us could work on a side challenge either way.
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Fox and I: An Uncommon Friendship (other topics)A Skeleton in the Family (other topics)
Straight Man (other topics)
Changing Places (other topics)
Changing Places (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Ronan Farrow (other topics)Craig Rice (other topics)
Most everything else I'm fairly neutral on, but I'm definitely downvoting the Beatles prompt: agree with others that the discography is so vast it's basically a freebie and I'd really like more challenging prompts. Love the song prompts, but this one I'd want to be narrower.