Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
Weekly Topics 2022
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04. A book that fits your favorite prompt that did not make the list
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'Close calls' and 'polarizing' are not ones that made the list. When we announce the poll results we have winners (ones that made the list), close calls (near the top but not quite enough to be winners), polarizing (lots of votes evenly split between up and down), and bottoms (prompts that got so many down votes they're not allowed to be resubmitted that year). Close calls and polarizing are listed so people can decide if they want to resubmit that prompt or if they want to tweak it a bit first or whatever.
Joan wrote: "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 re..."
I'm reading that for the food prompt this year
I read Crying in H Mart. It was in Poll 5 for an autobiography, biography or memoir.
It was a re..."
I'm reading that for the food prompt this year
I always do this one backwards- wait till I read a book that doesn't fit in anywhere and then find a prompt here
A book about breaking barriers: The Chiffon Trenches by Andre Leon Talley (first black editor of Vogue).
A book about breaking barriers: The Chiffon Trenches by Andre Leon Talley (first black editor of Vogue).
I decided to choose a book with a journalist author, journalist character, or journalism topic. I read We Are Not Like Them. One of the two main characters is a journalist.
Pamela wrote: "I always do this one backwards- wait till I read a book that doesn't fit in anywhere and then find a prompt here":) That's kind of what I do. "Hey - I want to read this book. Let's see if it fits one of the rejected prompts!" :)
I went with A book connected to a song. I enjoy music-related prompts, but I especially like ones that have a bit of freedom to them, rather stating a specific song or artist it has to be connected to, so this definitely fits for the "favourite" part of the prompt. I've been working my way, slowly, through the Harry Potter books, and one of my favourite bands has a song called Voldemort, so it was easy to choose Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
The rejected prompt that I selected was "A book by an author with 3 names," and the book that I read to fulfill this prompt was The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd,
I like this prompt:A book with a theme of exploration
So I read:
Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica's Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night by Julian Sancton - 5* - My Review
The "unchosen prompt" that I chose was "A book related to Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock" and I read Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney.This was a 'thriller'. I only gave it 2 stars. The average rating was about 4 stars. Maybe I'm not a thriller person - it isn't a genre I normally read. The characters felt very two dimensional. And there were just too many weird coincidences that the author had to include to make the story work. Maybe this is standard thriller stuff? Maybe this is the definition of 'plot driven' and I'm more of a 'character driven' fan?
If you ARE a thriller fan, I guess I can say that the first twist genuinely surprised me, but the ones after that just became too much. It was like someone wrote the life of this person to conveniently fit the story they wanted to tell, rather than an author writing about a life that 'happened' to this person. Does that make sense?
It was pleasant enough to read, but I didn't feel like I got anything out of it, which is something I prefer to feel at the end of a book. This happened to me with another book recently. Maybe I need to look at how I picked my most recent books and not do THAT again. Pretty sure I picked this one just because the title fit the "prompt that sounded interesting". Lesson learned.
I chose 'A book without the words "a", "an" or "the" in the title' just because it fit in with a book I had read at that time of the year :-)
Misty wrote: "Pamela wrote: "I always do this one backwards- wait till I read a book that doesn't fit in anywhere and then find a prompt here":) That's kind of what I do. "Hey - I want to read this book. Let's..."
@Robin, Pamela and Misty - I'm doing this too. I'm more or less finished with the first round, so I'm focusing on the rejected prompts now. I have a lot of the rejected prompts listed in my plan, and I'm staring to make notes. It's very messy though, and I wish I had a clean list without all the duplicates. (Let's be real. all my lists are messy.)
Is there another discussion thread for these, or am I thinking of a different side challenge?
I chose a nonfiction book by a BIPOC author and read You Got Anything Stronger?: Stories by Gabrielle Union.
I had hoped to not have to shuffle any books this year but I’m doing it anyway. I have to make every book count! I’m moving my Beatles-related book to prompt #20 and swapping it out with The Lola Quartet by Emily St. John Mandel. It fits the prompt of having an instrument (trumpet) on the cover. I probably suggested this prompt so it’s wone of my favorites.
I used E.R. Nurses by James PattersonMy favourite prompt is the one that fits a book i havent used for another topic. The prompt was: A book without the words "a", "an" or "the" in the title
My last for ATY 2022! I chose a book related to one of the individuals (author Lewis Carroll) shown on the Beatles' album cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass. Pretty brilliant - and frightening - at the same time.
Books mentioned in this topic
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass (other topics)E.R. Nurses (other topics)
Babel (other topics)
Abhorsen (other topics)
You Got Anything Stronger? (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
James Patterson (other topics)Gabrielle Union (other topics)
Julian Sancton (other topics)
Jenny Diski (other topics)
Alan Bradley (other topics)
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I wondered this in past years but figured I wouldn't get to the prompt in the past, hopefully I'll do better this time around.