Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
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[2023] Wild Discussion
This is only my first year doing the challenge but I have a concept that I'm not sure if it's been done or if it needs some fleshing out. I want to have something along the lines of "A book in a format that's different than you usually read".
This could be like physical book vs. digital vs. audio or the way that the book is laid out like poetry or a book in verse vs. more traditionally written novels vs. a graphic novel.
My goal is to not make this prompt inaccessible if people can only do reading or only audio but I like the idea of getting into something that's outside of my comfort zone.
I could use some help with this idea for a future week:A book with someone living "on-the-road"
-I was thinking this could be someone who is a migrant or refugee (American Dirt).
-Someone living in a camper (Nomadland) or their car.
-An itinerant worker (if I'm using the term correctly), such as farm workers, traveling temp workers, traveling sales people, consultants, campaign workers, comedians or singers who travel from one gig to another. (The People we Keep),
-In other eras or locations they might be called nomads, travelers, vagrants, hobos, Oakies (The Four Winds), or people who ride the rails (Lincoln Highway sort of fits).
Or it could be book about Jack Kerouac.
It might also apply to travelers on long trips (such as backpacking across Europe or South America) - just in case there are no good travel prompts later on.
Another idea:
A book that touches on a religious or spiritual topic.
Or a book that involves (includes?) a religious character or topic. I'm thinking of books like The Sparrow, Agatha of Little Neon, The Year of the Flood. I'll need examples from different genres.
I hate to be negative Nancy. But Pop Sugar had that last year and it was really difficult for me.I read books in print, on Kindle, and listen to audiobooks. I can't read graphic novels, I have difficulty following them. I ended up doing a book in verse, which I ended up enjoying, but I really struggled with the prompt. There were a lot of people on the PS Facebook group who had the same issue. I would not vote for it if it made a poll.
@NancyJ I like your idea, and the number of ways you listed that someone could be considered "homeless". Sounds like you were looking for a different term to use though - right?
How about "a book involving someone without a permanent address"?
Nancy wrote: "I hate to be negative Nancy. But Pop Sugar had that last year and it was really difficult for me.I read books in print, on Kindle, and listen to audiobooks. I can't read graphic novels, I have di..."
Thanks for this feedback, I haven't paid attention to Pop Sugar or other reading challenges so I was not aware of this.
Madelynn wrote: "This is only my first year doing the challenge but I have a concept that I'm not sure if it's been done or if it needs some fleshing out. I want to have something along the lines of "A book in a ..."
If you dropped off the word format - Just a book that is different from what you normally read, it might work better.
I have never been a part of this process before and am very overwhelmed and confused. Should be interesting to see how this plays out and if I can ever catch on. 😂🤞
Michelle, welcome! It can be overwhelming and confusing at first but you'll catch on. My first year I was totally lost for a couple of rounds of polls.
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Wow. I did not realize it was time already! How exciting!
i was kind of hoping crossing over into another world would make the list. Isekai novels are great.Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children, Volumes 1-3: Every Heart a Doorway, Down Among the Sticks and Bones, Beneath the Sugar Sky would definitely fit.
A Curse So Dark and Lonely
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass
Peter Pan
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
Moon goddess sound interesting.Something related to an ecological catastrophe would also interest me.
Maybe some historical fiction/non-fiction related to a science discovery.
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Something related to an ecological catastrophe would also interest me.
Maybe some historical fiction/non-fiction related to a science discovery."
Or something to do with the moon-- can read non-fiction about the moon landings, fiction about werewolves, books about people who live on moon like Sea of Tranquility. Or books with moon in the title like Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI or with the moon on the cover (https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...)
Even just a moon book https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...
I love anything I can read a space race book for!
@NancyJA book that touches on a religious or spiritual topic.
Or a book that involves (includes?) a religious character or topic. I'm thinking of books like The Sparrow, Agatha of Little Neon, The Year of the Flood. I'll need examples from different genres.
I love this idea for religious or spiritual topics. It would also allow people to read about cults or yoga groups as they are normally built around spiritual beliefs. The book I read this year that would fit is In the Days of Rain: A Daughter, a Father, a Cult.
Or books about Henry VIII as he was involved in the reformation of the church in England.
My suggestion for a prompt is: 'A banned book or a book about something which has been banned'
This would allow people to read a book which has been banned eg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of... or https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/f...
OR to read about something that was allowed but has now been banned such as abortion (in parts of USA) or advanced education of girls/women (in Afganistan)
Lindsay wrote: "My suggestion for a prompt is: 'A banned book or a book about something which has been banned'
This would allow people to read a book which has been banned eg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..."
I admit I am not a fan of banned book prompts partly because it comes up a lot and partly becuase I personally feel its only banned if its a crime, which menas I have to trall threw a lot of banned book lists fidning msot of them are there cos of a high school or public libray. Adding something that is banned is however is a different dynamic. It would include anything set in a bar as some countries now have alchol bans
on a side note anyonne got any prompts for diveristy? The suggestion in this poll seems dead in the water
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I like the idea of a 'book that touches on religion', including stories with lesser known religions like Sikhism, or Bahai.Another very important one is 'historical fiction about unsung women from different cultures'.
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Are there that many choices? Does it have to be an actual woman or just women as a group since women as a whole go unsung? I think the word "unsung" is tripping me up.
I’ve never suggested a prompt before, but saw that 2023 is the 60th anniversary of MLK’s “I Have A Dream” speech and thought a prompt related to dreams or dreaming would be cool - just trying to find the right way to phrase it.
Michelle wrote: "I’ve never suggested a prompt before, but saw that 2023 is the 60th anniversary of MLK’s “I Have A Dream” speech and thought a prompt related to dreams or dreaming would be cool - just trying to fi..."I like the idea of that prompt if it included books that promote hope rather than doom and hopelessness about the future or books that promote ideas and dreams rather than giving up. I'm not trying to hijack your idea, but I would certainly vote for that prompt if it included such books.
The problem I see with the not CIS, white, and male prompt is I don't really see it as much of a diversity prompt in today's publishing age. As others have said the vast majority of books I read are by women, and I've read that it's increasingly difficult for new white male authors to get published because women read more than men, and prefer female authors.Now, if it were not CIS, white, OR male, then that's definitely a diversity prompt. Or, not CIS, white and male that was published before 2000 or something.
Or just "An author who is not cis and white." and leave male/female out of it.
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Could I ask if it is common that authors disclose whether or not they gender-identify with their birth sex ("cis")? This seems to be the crux of the issue for me. It seems to me this is very personal info. and I would not want to go looking to see which authors have disclosed this and which have not.
Joy D wrote: "Could I ask if it is common that authors disclose whether or not they gender-identify with their birth sex ("cis")? This seems to be the crux of the issue for me. It seems to me this is very person..."A lot of authors openly identify as transgender or nonbinary or genderqueer, but you can also satisfy this prompt by reading any author who is not white.
https://bookriot.com/books-by-trans-a...
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/th...
https://booksandbao.com/transgender-s...
https://strandbookstore.medium.com/co...
Thanks, Nadine. I have read some of these authors, but never investigated their personal "identification."
NancyJ wrote: "We still need 4 more suggestions. Is there anyone hanging around who has not yet suggested or seconded a prompt?I'm likely to miss most of the nominations as the posts usually go up in the dead of night my time, but one of my original ideas was "a book related to a Time Magazine person of the year", if someone else wanted to suggest a similar prompt on my behalf.
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I'm likely to miss most of the nominations as the posts usually go u..."
That’s interesting. A couple times it was odd things like the Computer or Women. It would be great to attach a link to a list., such as https://public.opendatasoft.com/explo....
It doesn’t have to be the person only, for instance, Greta Thunberg won, so you could read about climate change.
Joy D wrote: "Thanks, Nadine. I have read some of these authors, but never investigated their personal "identification.""while your point is valid isn't that also true of any pormpt invovling trans or non binary authors? I just feel that prompts on this issue are going to come up
I had thoguht of an alternative for the future: A book by an authro who is female and/Or BIOPIC. Now I going to either suggest that won a literary award ( women authors are indeed very prominant now but until the last few years often udner represented at the major awards) or "at leat 50 years old" which would be a better caveat?
Joy D wrote: "Could I ask if it is common that authors disclose whether or not they gender-identify with their birth sex ("cis")? This seems to be the crux of the issue for me. It seems to me this is very person..."I read an article last year that said that many groups are avoiding LGBT (especially transgender) author challenges, because it could be an invasion of their privacy or even a safety risk. They recommended focusing on characters or topics, or giving a choice of character or author.
I would probably vote for this: Read a book with a transgender or non-binary character or author. This is broader than just an author prompt, but it still might be too narrow for some readers.
There are a few trans or non-binary authors (such as Kacen Kallender), who are selling a lot of books due to their disclosure, but it's a really hard decision for most authors.
I would probably vote for this: Read a book with a transgender or non-binary character or author. This is broader than just an author prompt, but it still might be too narrow for some readers. I'm not sure how I feel about it ethically. (It feels wrong to encourage an author to risk their privacy/safety in order to sell more books.)I like this iteration of the prompt! For those that did want to read a book by a non-cis author, there are enough authors who are out these days that you could find something to read without being invasive of people's privacy (or at at least there are in the science fiction/fantasy space, I know not all genres have as many openly trans and nonbinary authors)
Kahlia wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "We still need 4 more suggestions. Is there anyone hanging around who has not yet suggested or seconded a prompt?I'm likely to miss most of the nominations as the posts usually go u..."
I LOVE this idea. It might help to have some book titles or links.
The list Robin posted shows some great themes - Peacemakers, Silence breakers, Whistleblowers, Endangered Earth. The Protestor. Women.
I agree that Greta Thunberg represents Climate Change, so we could read any book on climate change. (I read a book of her speeches this year.) I would still love to see Climate Change as a prompt on its own, but the Time prompt would enable people to pick their own favorite topics or people from the list - such as "women."
I would love to see a list of books related to the Silence Breakers. I assume this refers to breaking the silence about sexual assault. I know there are at least a few. I just re-read Beartown, and I was impressed by how well it was handled (by an author that is so easy to read).
I don't remember the Protester issue, but the Whistleblower issue was huge for me. It had a big impact on how I did my job.
I would really love to see some examples of books for each of the big themes, and some of the leaders. I can update my climate change list. Is anyone else interested in taking a topic?
NancyJ wrote: "Kahlia wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "We still need 4 more suggestions. Is there anyone hanging around who has not yet suggested or seconded a prompt?I'm likely to miss most of the nominations as the pos..."
Poetentially but I need to look through the topics first.
I prefer Thomas's wider term "not cis, white and male" to the narrower "transgender or non-binary......"
Kahlia wrote: "I would probably vote for this: Read a book with a transgender or non-binary character or author. This is broader than just an author prompt, but it still might be too narrow for some readers. I'm ..."The links Nadine posted are really helpful. I particularly like the list of books by adult authors (versus YA authors).
Shannon wrote: "I prefer Thomas's wider term "not cis, white and male" to the narrower "transgender or non-binary......""Thnak you Shannon. Howeevr tbh I have other things I want to suggest so I proably won't propose this one again, at least not for a few polls (obviosuly it gets bottomed not at all)
Each year, I half-heartedly try to throw in a prompt about a cat. But my kitty just died so now I want to actually work hard to get it in!I was thinking "a book with a cat featured in the story, title or cover"
Thoughts? I also considered a book "connected to" or "related to" but know people aren't fans of those phrasings. Is "featured" too much? Should I just do "a book with a cat in the story, title or cover"?
Any other ideas?
I'm so sorry about your kitty! I would vote for "a book with a cat in the story, title or on the cover".
Alicia wrote: "Each year, I half-heartedly try to throw in a prompt about a cat. But my kitty just died so now I want to actually work hard to get it in!I was thinking "a book with a cat featured in the story, ..."
I am so sorry about your cat. I would vote for anything that is remotely related to animals.
Sorry to hear about your cat Alicia. I always vote for the animal ones , so would upvote a cat one. I'm still waiting for the rabbit.
Jill if no one puts it in poll 2 I will put it in poll 3
NancyJ wrote: "I read an article last year that said that many groups are avoiding LGBT (especially transgender) author challenges, because it could be an invasion of their privacy or even a safety risk. They recommended focusing on characters or topics, or giving a choice of character or author. ..."I've seen some articles saying that, too, but I don't understand it. I'm not invading anyone's privacy. A lot of authors openly identify as part of a group (ethnic group, religious group, sexual orientation group, disability group, etc) and I can just choose one of those authors when prompts specify it. It's not like I'm a PI prying into their trash to find out.
The only connection I can see is that publishers might pay attention to reading challenges and pressure their authors to openly identify in an attempt to increase sales. And I know publishers do sometimes pressure their authors to "out" themselves, which is awful, but I doubt reading challenges like this are the cause.
Publishers are looking at sales figures. If they see LGBT authors $$ rising, they want more LGBT authors. The only way to prevent that pressure, then, is to not buy LGBT authors, but that doesn't seem like a good solution.
Something written in or near your home town/city/state.
This is my first year participating in the challenge (or any book challenge). I think I am putting these ideas for next year in the right place in the right format?- A book with "hope" in its title, theme, or genre (e.g. "hopepunk")
I figured we could all use some hopefulness right about now.
- A book set in the furthest place you (the reader) have ever been from home
- A book that started as fanfiction
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The pre-poll prompts are all so good, if it's not too soon.
Other ideas:
A book set in a location that begins with A, T, or Y (Joy)
A non-fiction book
A book with an indigenous character or author
A book set in the future
A book set in a large city