2025 Reading Challenge discussion
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2022 Yearly Theme Nomination Thread
I nominate the theme - Follow the SCIENCEbecause Science is what makes the world go round - No pun intended :)
The theme touches so much of fiction and non fiction as well. Science could cover Biology, physics, Chemistry and even psychology and social sciences if one may.
We can have challenges around fiction as well as non-fiction.
It includes all Medical fiction,
Forensic thrillers,
Sci-fi,
Space travel,
Codes and cryptics,
Artificial intelligence/robotics related,
Thrillers related to almost so much of biology and physics (eg most books by Michael crichton)
and even all fantasy about apothecaries :)
Science is just the context or a prop in the story (or it could be the core) - It would be about any of the core values and emotions and storyline such as emotions, relationships, memoirs, etc.
I am sure it'll cover a lot of ground and give us great fun varied challenges.
And in the process we all get to learn so much as well.
I nominate the theme - Love and by love I am in not thinking romance novels, although naturally that would be a part of it.Love encompasses family, friends, passions that we have in life, areas in psychology and philosophy (including in fictional form) and much more (and don't forget the "flower child" era of peace and love for one example of a historical trend) and it will easily lend itself to both fiction and nonfiction challenges.
I got this idea because in ancient Greek (perhaps in modern, I have no idea!) there were different words for different kinds of love including
1. Eros, or sexual passion
2. Philia, or deep friendship (valued far more highly by the Greeks than the first one)
3. Ludus, or playful love
4. Agape, or love for everyone (selfless love)
5. Pragma, or longstanding love
6. Philautia, or love of the self (two different types. Narcissism which is unhealthy and a healthy version which widens your ability to love others.
I'd like to nominate the theme 'Cycles'. This can refer to many different things such as the mode of transport (bicycles, unicycles, motorcycles etc) but also lifecycles, cycles of the reasons and many other interpretations that are out there! I think it would be fun as a theme!
I would like to nominate: Make Every Day CountWe have had so many losses and disappointments over the last 2 years. I know I've been reminded to be grateful for every day! I'm looking to do some really fun challenges and move in a positive direction. The theme of Make Every Day Count could include:
* special days, such as birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, and those "designated days" like National Sci-fi Day and International Family Day,
* gratitude or thankfulness,
* exploration,
* learning,
* hopefulness,
* love or loved ones,
* friendship,
* new beginnings,
* fun,
* the seasons,
* adventure,
* magical or miraculous things,
* looking forward.
And probably a lot more!
I just feel a real need to throw out the bad and get on board with the good!
I nominate Shine the Light Some ideas:
... Mysteries, thrillers, Shine the light on on the clues and bad guys
... Music (the song Philadelphia Freedom) so, any type of book with music or freedom
... Discoveries of any kind...history, medicine, aliens, etc.
... Books about hope
... Movies (the Rolling Stones documentary) so, books to movies or vise a versa, biographies, documentary, use any of the Rolling Stones songs
... Law (California Shine the Light law about sharing personal information) so, books about law, secrets, spies
... Song (Shine the Light by Sugarland) Use lyrics to match up with books
... Light vs dark, this would for any genre
I would like to nominate:FABULOUS FESTIVALS
Worldwide, there are festivals celebrating cultures, seasons, religion/faith, music, film, art, books, love, agriculture, holidays, and more. Throughout the year, we could focus on celebrations by:
◾ timeframe - festivals occuring worldwide within a certain month/quarter
◾ geographical region - festivals celebrated throughout the year in a certain area
◾ type of celebration - film festivals worldwide, such as Sundance, Cannes, etc.; or pre-Lent celebrations around the world, like Mardi Gras in USA, Rio de Carnival in Brazil, or Carnevale in Italy
◾ closer look at a long standing festival - floating lanterns, Thailand, Buddhism, celebrations then and now
Here's a small sampling to show the wide variety:
◾ International Book Festival (Scotland/BOOKS!)
◾ Oktoberfest (Germany/beer)
◾ Glasto (England/music)
◾ Rio Carnival (Brazil/Lent)
◾ Holi (India/love, colors, spring)
◾ Cherry Blossom (Japan/flower viewing)
◾ White Nights (Russia/midnight sun, dance, music)
◾ Verona in Love (Italy/St. Valentine's Day)
◾ Floating Lanterns (China/Chinese New Year)
◾ Sundance (Utah, USA/film)
I nominate birthdays so for that theme you’d choose someone with that birthday and read an author with their first or surname. Could be someone you know or a celebrity
TerryJane wrote: "I would like to nominate:FABULOUS FESTIVALS
Worldwide, there are festivals celebrating cultures, seasons, religion/faith, music, film, art, books, love, agriculture, holidays, and more. Througho..."
I LOVE this idea!! This sounds so fun, TerryJane!
I feel it'll be very difficult to find good worthy books to read on this theme though :D eg. 2 of the very important cultural festivals in India are Diwali and Holi, and there are no good books on that. Most fiction revolve around one festival I know of and that's Christmas :)
Bailey ✰ wrote: "TerryJane wrote: "I would like to nominate:FABULOUS FESTIVALS
Worldwide, there are festivals celebrating cultures, seasons, religion/faith, music, film, art, books, love, agriculture, holidays, ..."
I absolutely love this idea too and it would be a lot of fun!
Bibliophile wrote: "I feel it'll be very difficult to find good worthy books to read on this theme though :D eg. 2 of the very important cultural festivals in India are Diwali and Holi, and there are no good books on ..."For Diwali, one could read a book set in India; fiction or nonfiction written by an Indian author; with a lamp/flame/candle on the cover; or with a Hindu, Jain, Sikh, or Buddhist character.
For Holi, we could use the setting or author, of course, but could also work with love, spring, colors, or good over evil type things.
Sorry if I wasn't clear in my original post. 🤗
Yeah this will broaden the book ideas for sure then :)
Hola! 🙋♀️I nominate MYSTERIES OF THE WORLD
Here I include all kind of mysteries, from mystery fiction (detective, true crime, cozy, legal thriller, police procedural, howcatchem, hardboiled, historical, locked-room, etc.) to supernatural/paranormal (angels, demons, gods, spirits, magic, extrasensory perception, spiritualism, ghosts, UFO's, cryptids, etc.), without forgetting enigmas, unsolved mysteries, conspiracy theories or X-files.
P.S.: I love all the nominations so far 🤷♀️
Just my thoughts and opinion - We should have a theme that's NOT too general to practically be twisted to include almost any book. Because if it can, then what's the point of even having a theme :) readers will simply try to find ways to fit in their own TBR into it and we wont necessarily broaden our horizons (sorry for that cliche hehe ;))
That's just my thought on it dear. maybe we can find ways to make it less generic I suppose. This wasnt for you or anyone in particular, but more for the moderator to polish the idea for us all :) so we can benefit most from the yearly challenges :)
I am really drawn to Carol & Debra Digs' challenges. The world needs light and hope and positivity for sure.
Bibliophile wrote: "That's just my thought on it dear. maybe we can find ways to make it less generic I suppose. This wasnt for you or anyone in particular, but more for the moderator to polish the idea for us all :) ..."I like the broadness. I'm one of those people who tries to fit books I read into challenges because that's how I have fun. I read to have fun, not necessarily always broaden my horizons (though I do read a mix of genres). If it wasn't broad then I probably wouldn't participate as much as I do. The benefit of broadness is that it can work in favour for people who would like more specific things AND those who prefer broad. Limiting it would only benefit one group of people which means less participation.
The themes exist to inspire challenge ideas etc which this year HAS inspired some great challenges imo! I've loved them and doing them and the fact that they're so open.
I certainly wouldn't enjoy a whole year where the theme was narrowed down to purely 'Non-fiction' or something like that in the sense that you could ONLY read non-fiction books for a year. But a broader interpretation of that theme where challenges have been inspired from it, makes.it a whole lot more enjoyable!
That's just an altering opinion in favour of the broadness of themes.
I agree with you, Ashleigh - I have the exact same view on the broadness of a challenge/theme.For those who like it to be be more narrow and specific, would it help if you put your own limits to which books you can choose for your participation?
In another group they use 2 variants:
KIS (keep it simple) which allows for a broad interpretation
BIO (bring it on) which is more restrictive and challenging
But it’s all up to the individual participant (I usually mix it up, where I can). That way everybody can have fun with it 🤗
And there is already some great themes on the table - looking forward to see, which gets chosen 🤞
I nominate the theme of JOURNEYS. This can be interpreted in many ways:* a journey through time
* a journey to different places as you read (real places and fictional)
* a journey to discover something about yourself
* a journey of learning (the return of a Diverse Education would fit here)
* a journey through life e.g. hitting certain milestones.
* decision making
* travel for fun or a purpose
etc
I love the idea of Journeys! Great suggestion!
I'm going to go with two throwback nominations from : - literary awards
- classics through the ages.
I've already posted my idea for a theme, but I thought I would explain my philosophy on the idea of a "yearly theme". It seems to me that a yearly theme is used to set the tone and direction of all the separate challenges that are developed. Obviously, some themes are too general -- for example, "We Love Books" would give no guidance at all! But other themes might be too specific. I think the yearly theme should be the thing that ties all of the individual challenges together, not something that forces them into a particular mold. This year's theme "A Better World" is the perfect example of one that ties them all together. --- I hope this makes sense...
I'm just a little fish in this big pond of readers, but I love the fact that we're all able to voice our opinions and get treated with respect! This group is the greatest!!!
Absolutely Carol. Your understanding is On point :)
I nominate ‘Utopias and Dystopias.’All genres of Litterateur (fiction and non-fiction) have produced great and horrific visions of what our world/universe can be.
It’s been a rough couple of years for a lot of us. A worldwide pandemic, rampant racism and equal rights issues, political unrest and (especially in the US) a great deal of anger and division. I would love to see a theme about acceptance, love and unity. We can use our love of books to bridge differences with our neighbors and those around the world.
- Love is Love is Love
- United in Books
- Degrees of Separation (we all have more in common than we think)
- Expand Your Limits
- Diversify Your Mind
Something along those lines.
Thanks for the opportunity to weigh in!
I like the idea of the festival/Holiday theme it would be cool to find MG fiction where the main character celebrates a holiday I dont know much about especially if it was own voices. But I do agree with previous comments that the theme needs to be broad to cover all the challenges in the group and each kind of reader like fiction readers.
The follow the science theme seems too narrow most of what I read is not at all related to science. It feels like only non fiction or the fiction genres of mystery and sci fi would fit this theme.
How about a theme like
Community this could empass any book as scientists are part of a community among themselves, and diverse people like people who celebrate diffrent types of holidays/festivals, etc
D.L. wrote: "I am really drawn to Carol & Debra Digs' challenges. The world needs light and hope and positivity for sure."Agreed! I really like "Make Every Day Count" and "Shine the Light"!
We walk together Walk could be replaced with read
This theme would be about coming together and followimg the light, celebrating festivals and following the science all in one beautiful theme.
For a yearly challenge how about reading an extremely long book over 500 pages? Maybe a Big Book, Big Ideas challenge.
Terry,I really like this idea. We can learn so much more culturally, from Mozambique to Morocco to Greece, but also hoping for long ago historical traditions and festivals that may include countries of our families origins that we may have no idea about: Ireland, Iceland, Greenland, and smaller, less known countries.
TerryJane wrote: "I would like to nominate:
FABULOUS FESTIVALS
Worldwide, there are festivals celebrating cultures, seasons, religion/faith, music, film, art, books, love, agriculture, holidays, and more. Througho..."
I love all your ideas for next years theme
Karin wrote: "I nominate the theme - Love and by love I am in not thinking romance novels, although naturally that would be a part of it.Love encompasses family, friends, passions that we have in life, areas i..."
I LOVE this theme, pun unintended.
I nominate the theme “DIVERSITY”!“Diversity” literally means that it makes us diverse and therefore different from each other, yet it’s something we all have in common.
It’s 2021, 2022 is coming up and fortunately, acceptance towards people who are “different” from what’s mainstream is growing.
We should celebrate that with books!
We can read documentaries on discrimination or simply people who are different from us and majorly unheard of. We can read books with Main Character of different sexualities, ethnical backgrounds, spiritual beliefs, physical conditions, et cetera.
We’re reading books to experience something “almost first-hand”. So let’s dive into the lives of people whom we haven’t dedicated enough attention to and simultaneously educate ourselves! :)
I was going to suggest a theme of "Take Me Away", which I am sure all of us would love to just get away especially at times of lockdowns. But I also saw the theme- Journeys- in the thread and that would be a very similar theme
How about "Ages of Discovery"? I can think of many different challenges covering all sorts of genres based on this theme - when you combine a time element like "ages" with expansion of knowledge through discovery there's a lot of scope with a theme like this!
Ashleigh, I love this idea! A great theme for 2022
I nominate "When Will it End?".Because you know why.
I'm really enjoying everyone's thoughts on next year's yearly theme as well as on "what makes a good yearly theme."Keep it up, you amazing people! 🧡
I like the love theme and the Diversity theme. I personally would enjoy a theme that has little to do with whats going on in the world or at least a theme based around Hope.
That was the theme last year :) A Better World.
AurorainBookland wrote: "I personally would enjoy a theme that has little to do with whats going on in the world ."
Yes, me too! This is why I suggested love. So many things can be incorporated with that as well because it's a universal human concept/emotion/etc
@Karin I like that theme idea too.
I'd like to nominate a Dungeons & Dragons theme. For those of you that aren't familiar with it, Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game. There are so many possibilities for challenges with this theme. The obvious ones would be fantasy-based challenges but there are also other options.
Diversity Challenges - there are many different races within the game
Geographical Challenges - there are many different locations and places in the game- the possibilities are really endless
Many reading genres could be incorporated since the game deals with all manner of different ideas like court intrigue, battles, magic, mystery, and more.
Some genres off the top of my head that could be used in challenges: fantasy, paranormal, science fiction, mystery, horror, action and adventure, romance, and more!
♛Vanessa♛ wrote: "I'd like to nominate a Dungeons & Dragons theme. For those of you that aren't familiar with it, Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game. There are so many possibilities for cha..."
Cool but isnt Dungeons & Dragons a copyrighted name? lets go on an adventure theme would be along the same line but avoids the potential copyright issues, some authors dont like fanfic so Im not sure how Wizards of the Coast would feel about their game name being on the groups front page.
AurorainBookland wrote: "♛Vanessa♛ wrote: "I'd like to nominate a Dungeons & Dragons theme. For those of you that aren't familiar with it, Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game. There are so many pos..."
That's true, but the Give Us A Clue challenge is also based on a copyrighted board game and there hasn't been a problem with using its structure for the challenge. I've seen many different groups use different board games, movies, and television shows as the inspiration for their challenges and I've never seen a problem arise from it. If anyone thinks that using the name would be an issue then the theme could be modeled after the game and we could call it something else that's fitting. Whatever works, really. =)
Reed wrote: "Reading through time⏳"Reed, this was the theme for 2018. The top post -- the original post requesting member ideas -- specifically states this. Copied and pasted below.
Previous themes are not eligble for nomination:
2017 Around the World
2018 Reading Through Time
2019 Books to Stage & Screen
2020 Myths, Legends & Fairy Tales
2021 A Better World
Wow we already did Myths, Legends and Fairy Tales and 'A better world'. This year then we should do "Follow the Science" :) Everything happening on the planet is some form of science. It virtually will cover all genres : even psych-thrillers and forensic mysteries ( Psychology and Chemistry is science). <3
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Hi Everyone!
Preparations for 2022 have begun and we need your help to choose our next yearly theme! Throw your ideas down below! The nomination will run until October 31st and I will make a poll for you all to vote on.
If you like a theme and suggest something that would be included in that theme, we will likely only put the original theme in the poll (e.g., If there are suggestions for Rainbow and Yellow, we will use Rainbow because it includes Yellow). Good yearly themes are broad enough to be able to create quarterly and possibly monthly themes throughout the year.
Previous themes are not eligble for nomination:
2017 Around the World
2018 Reading Through Time
2019 Books to Stage & Screen
2020 Myths, Legends & Fairy Tales
2021 A Better World