04. A book that fits your favorite prompt that did not make the list

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

For those of us members who have been around since the list-making process last year, you know it can get heated, and we always fall in love with prompts that just can't seem to make it on the list. This week is your chance to comb through those "rejected" prompts and find one that speaks to you. Maybe you're looking for more diversity? Maybe you want a super challenging prompt? Maybe you're just looking for an excuse to read that one book on your bookshelf that has been there the longest? Whatever your methods, this week is for you.

List of Prompts That Didn't Make It: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
ATY Listopia: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

What are you reading for this prompt, and what rejected prompt is it connected to?

[Pam]

I plan to go with the Beatles prompt since I was a strong proponent of it and have already set up a personal side challenge. I plan to read The Winter Station by Jody Shields. (Lyric- “Picture yourself on a train in a station” from the song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.)

[dalex]

I’m planning to do the NPR list of 50 favorite sci-fi and fantasy books of the past decade. I’ve read - and mostly loved - about a third of the list. And about a third of the list is on my Owned and Unread pile so I have plenty of books to choose from.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I'm going for the GR Choice Awards... because I'm reading in order, I'm anxiously awaiting to see which books are nominated so I can start planning what I'll read for this prompt in January, but I'm assuming I'll own a few already because I'm a bit behind on my Book of the Month Club books and they are very likely to be on the nominations.

[Sydney]

I'm going to be using the Taylor Swift prompt for this one, since I've been a fan of hers since the Fearless album came out, and I was disappointed that I missed the voting round when the prompt was suggested. There are so many good choices that I actually think that I'm going to double up for this prompt too! The first book I'll be reading is The Scarlet Letter, which is referenced in her song "Love Story," and the second that I want to read is The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, which I've heard many Taylor Swift fans compare to her song "The Lucky One."

Honestly, I'm tempted to do a Taylor Swift related side challenge in 2022 and try to read a book that correlates to each of her albums, but we'll see where the year takes me!

[Angie]

I will do the fantasy novel prompt from the last poll for this one, as we don't have many genre prompts. My top contenders are:

The Sword of Shannara
The Time of Contempt
The Eye of the World

[RachelG.]

I plan to read one book that relates to each:
rock- Stone Cold Case
paper- The Glitter End
scissors- Death at a Country Mansion (hair salon owner)
lizard- Death on the Night of Lost Lizards
spock- Star Trek or Collision Course

[D.L.]

I like this task best: A book related to the year you or someone in your family turned 22.

I am choosing my mom. I just need a book from when she was 22 (1980). I am thinking: Congo

[Nancy]

It should surprise no one that I'm using a book that fits my two favorite prompts - book about books and character who loves books. I have The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections from NetGalley so plan to read it for this prompt.

[Kendra]

I'm going to do a Goodreads choice nominee for this - so I have to wait for the list to be released.

[Rebecca]

I really like the bee prompt and I am thinking of either Small Favors or Telling the Bees and other Customs: The Folklore of Rural Crafts which looks super interesting to me.

I read predominately fantasy though so if all else fails, I can easily use the fantasy prompt for this one.

[Ellie]

I'm going for a book related to It’s the End of the World as We Know It. Either using it as a genre prompt (apocalyptic) or picking something out of the lyrics like "birds and snakes" (A Lesson in Vengeance has both on cover) or "aeroplanes" (Falling).

[Katie]

I really liked the "A book where the title and author name are in two different colo(u)rs" prompt, and it works for The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, so I think that's what I'll do!
In this case the title is multiple colors, some of which don't match the author and some do, but it checks the box for me!

[Dana]

Not sure what I am going to pick yet, as I have many prompts I would like to get done, but I will come back when 2022 is ON.

[Kathy]

I have plans to use this prompt from Poll 3:
A book by an author with 3 names
My Dark Vanessa - Kate Elizabeth Russell
Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
The Month of Borrowed Dreams (Finfarren #4) - Felicity Hayes McCoy

Or this prompt from Poll 1:
A book whose title includes the word “Around” or “Year”
A Year in Provence - Peter Mayle
A Year by the Sea - Joan Anderson
Don't Make Me Turn this Life Around - Camille Pagan

[Jillian]

Katie wrote: "I really liked the "A book where the title and author name are in two different colo(u)rs" prompt, and it works for The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, so I think that's what I'll do!
..."

I thought The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey was an excellent book.

[NancyJ]

Does anyone know when the Goodreads Choice Awards 2021 voting begins? Link? I haven't seen any announcements.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

In our 2021 Reading Discussions thread, someone (sorry, I forgot who!) said that GR tweeted that the first round of voting will open on November 16.

[Sofia]

I'll with a prompt :
A book without the words "a", "an" or "the" in the title
My pick is Vicious by V.E. Schwab

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

I always do this prompt backwards. I read a book for a local book club or whatever reason and it doesn't seem to fit one of the 52 prompts. So I just look through the rejects till I find one that works. In the past 2 years, I did the whole ATY challenge twice, but this year I think if I finish early, I will make up another challenge of 26, or 52 prompts from the rejects.

[Kelly Sj]

I'm going with "parallel novel or spin-off of a well-known story"

The Beekeeper's Apprentice (Sherlock Holmes)
and
The Heiress: The Revelations of Anne de Bourgh (Pride & Prejudice)

[Kim]

Is there a list somewhere of prompts that didnt make it? The listopia is a list of books but that doesnt help. It days to put the prompt in notes on there but i dont see notes for each book?

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

Not everybody puts notes for their picks on the listopia, but here is the list of Prompts That Didn't Make It: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Dana]

Dana wrote: "Not sure what I am going to pick yet, as I have many prompts I would like to get done, but I will come back when 2022 is ON."

I will like to get done something for "A book you meant to read in 2021".
So I can slowly get rid of the unfinished books and TBRs.

Morrighan by Mary E. Pearson

[miss.mesmerized]

A book about breaking barriers: Nella Larsen – Passing
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[dalex]

Kim wrote: "Is there a list somewhere of prompts that didnt make it? The listopia is a list of books but that doesnt help. It days to put the prompt in notes on there but i dont see notes for each book?"

On the listopia click on the number of people who voted for a book. That opens a pop up window that shows who voted and their notes. Or you can scroll to the bottom where it shows everyone who voted on the listopia. Click on their name to see their list and notes.

Most people do not include notes, though.

[Ellie]

A winner/nominee from 2021 Goodreads choice awards:

Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney

Very excited for this book, I really loved Normal People and did not like Conversations with Friends so will be interesting to see how I like this one.

[Laurel]

I read The House of Shattered Wings by
Aliette de Bodard

My favorite prompt was a book related to Shelley's poem Ozymandias. The shattered city of Paris in this urban fantasy reminded of the desolation described in the poem.

[Samantha]

A book related to Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock was probably the one that I liked the most that didn't make it on our list and Rock Paper Scissors was pretty much the perfect fit! It was mostly enjoyable if not a little slow at times.

[Roxana]

I decided to use the prompt "related to a Taylor Swift song or album", and read A Special Place for Women, connected to the song The Man for thematic/plot reasons.

[Sherri]

I used a book with a competition as a major plot element. Sprinting through No Man's Land : Endurance, Tragedy, and Rebirth in the 1919 Tour de France by Adin Dobkin.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Like Ellie, I'm reading Beautiful World, Where Are You for the GR Choice Awards prompt! Ellie, I'm interested to see what you think about it.

This is my first Sally Rooney book (well, I got a few pages into Conversations with Friends before DNF'ing it, but I don't count it as I don't think I made it 15 pages lol). Her writing style is definitely an adjustment... the arial view of the characters would normally make me feel really disconnected, but I'm actually enjoying it more than I thought I would. We will see where it lands, but I'm pleasantly surprised at the moment.

[Jenna ✨DNF Queen✨Here, Sometimes...]

Robin P wrote: "I always do this prompt backwards. I read a book for a local book club or whatever reason and it doesn't seem to fit one of the 52 prompts. So I just look through the rejects till I find one that w..."

Ha this is pretty much exactly how I use it, it's fun to figure out where things might fit that otherwise couldn't be read!

[Udari]

I read Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg so I went with "A book published the month of your birthday". I always enjoy a birth month prompt. It's not what I expected from a book published in the 80s.

[LeahS]

I used the prompt 'Book related to bees' and read Peterloo: Witnesses to a Massacre by Polyp and others.

It's a brilliantly illustrated graphic novel using quotes from the time to tell the story of the Peterloo Massacre in 1819, when soldiers were ordered to attack a peaceful suffrage protest of men, women and children. The incident took place in Manchester UK, which uses the symbol of the bee (industry and community).

[Adam]

A book with a character who loves books.

Reading Ascendance of a Bookworm: Part 4 Volume 6. Continuing on from sixth book of the fourth arc.

This series is great. It’s about a girl who was utterly obsessed with books to the point she got crushed by her unshelved collection and reincarnated into another world. Unfortunately, the world she wakes up in is medieval and doesn’t really know the concept of libraries or reading for leisure, so she decides to make her own and introduce literacy to another world.

[Madelynn]

I did a book related to bees and read The Bees

I loved this book, it's got a lot of actual things that bees do while making the main character Flora really compelling.

[Misty]

I read Shatter Me by Tehereh Mafi for "A book related to the dystopian film classic "Soylent Green," which is set in 2022." This book is also a dystopian novel. I usually enjoy post-apocalyptic novels, but I really didn't enjoy this book at all.

[Sydney]

I ended up ditching The Scarlet Letter for the Taylor Swift prompt and read Ninth House instead! There's a snake on the cover that relates to one of the motifs from the Reputation album, and "ninth" could be a nod to the nine original studio albums that she currently has out.

[Kati]

I'm behind but I did start reading For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten which was on the Goodreads fantasy nominees for 2021. Hoping to get it finished this weekend. It is good; I'm just distracted by the Olympics now.

[Anne]

I will be reading 'Five Dead Canaries' by Edward Marston. It is related to the prompt 'A book with an orange cover' .

[Marie (UK)]

I am using the prompt " A book in a genre generated by a random generator"
My random Genre was "Steampunk"

The book I read was The Paper Magician 05/02/2022

I don't read a lot in this genre although it's other genres hit my reading list more often e.g. Young adult and Fantasy

[Joanne]

I usually always just read whatever and then look for a prompt it fits, but this year I chose my prompt in advance. Because "A winner or nominee from the 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards didn't make it, I went with that one.

I read The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin which I had never heard of until it came up a few times in discussion during the voting process for this group actually. I'm glad I decided to add it to the tbr because it turned out to be a really good book.

[Kathy]

I chose the prompt: A book by an author with 3 names from Poll 3. I read The Month of Borrowed Dreams by Felicity Hayes-McCoy. It's book 4 in the Finfarran Peninsula series, which I enjoy because of the Ireland setting and they're upbeat. Just what I need in cold February.

[Diane L]

I chose: A nonfiction book with no subtitle.
I read The Federalist Papers by Hamilton, Madison and Jay as part of my ongoing personal study of American history.

[Joan]

What are you reading for this prompt, and what rejected prompt is it connected to?

I read Crying in H Mart. It was in Poll 5 for an autobiography, biography or memoir.

It was a really good book. I'd recommend it. I listened to it on audio.

[Severina]

I read One Day All This Will Be Yours by Adrian Tchaikovsky for the prompt: published the month of your birthday. It was actually published on the DAY of my birthday!

[Jill]

What are you reading for this prompt, and what rejected prompt is it connected to?
I read The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley
Child Protagonist Poll 3

[Anna]

For this prompt I read Skating to Antarctica by Jenny Diski
This is connected to the rejected prompt: A book with a theme of exploration. The book is about a trip to Antarctica but also an exploring yourself.

[Dana]

Eventually I chose A book about doing something forbidden:

And I read The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken. Basically they escaped from the camps and they are on the run, something which is forbidden for them.