[2023] Wild Discussion Showing 501-550 of 4,060

[Ann]

Lailah wrote: "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 tit..." Both HOPE and farthest from home are great suggestions

[chysodema]

NancyJ wrote: "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 livin..."

I really like your "living on the road" idea. I think the way you've worded it is good as long as the supplemental examples you gave make their way over as well.

[Tracy]

Lailah wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "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). ..."

Earlier I had suggested that NancyJ use the phrase "A book involving someone without a permanent address". Do you think that would be a good way of explaining all the great examples she gave in a concise way?

[Kendra]

Lailah wrote: "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 tit..."

Are there that many books that started as fan fiction? The only ones I can really think of are the Fifty Shades books. And I am not reading those things.

Maybe a better prompt is "A book by an author who got their start writing Fanfiction."

[Pam]

Alicia- I like your wording Re the cat prompt! I read 2 books with a cat character this year that I would recommend. So sorry about your kitty.

[Ellie]

I think The Love Hypothesis and Winter's Orbit were fanfiction, but I agree, there's not a huge amount of choice if you're looking for something that was once fanfic and is now traditionally published.

[Thomas]

I agree started as fan fic is quite limiting

[Nadine in NY]

Tracy wrote: "Lailah wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "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 (A..."




I think "someone living on-the-road" explains it perfectly and concisely.

[Pamela, Arciform Mod]

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..."

What else might be cool but I have not a clue how to do it, but a book that either features his death or the speech. I'm reading Come Fly the World: The Jet-Age Story of the Women of Pan Am and a couple of the women just went to hear the speech.

I feel it pops up every once in books but there's probably not a list or anything,.

[Pamela, Arciform Mod]

Russio wrote: "Something written in or near your home town/city/state."

I always love that prompt and people always poo-poo it. But I'll vote for it!

[Pamela, Arciform Mod]

Jill wrote: "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."

2023 is the Year of the Rabbit in chinese astrology

[chysodema]

Tracy wrote: "Lailah wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "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 (A..."

I think some of the examples I liked from Nancy's idea - traveling salesperson, touring performing artist, extended road trips - would be excluded by the wording "someone without a permanent address." I personally find "living on the road" to be evocative phrasing (and a cute side reference to there being an actual book by that name) and then the examples flesh out what a broad range is covered by the topic.

[chysodema]

Kendra wrote: "Lailah wrote: "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 "h..."

In addition to a couple of recent novels I read last year that I was surprised to find started as fanfiction, I was thinking of my stepdaughter's passion for Arthurian legends, which she has describes to me as "essentially all fanfiction" because all these writers like Sir Thomas Mallory were writing their own wishful-thinking versions of things based on the original Welsh oral tales. Maybe that definition, while fun and cheeky, ends up with too much crossover with retellings? I know the retellings challenge gets done a lot.

Here's an article that lists Paradise Lost as Biblical fanfiction immediately followed by a book (Point Pleasant) that started as fanfiction for the show Supernatural. https://illogicalscript.com/fanfictio...

I do agree that this might be tough for folks who don't read in YA or romance, two of my main genres.

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

[Pam]

I’ve been thinking about a couple of ideas. 1) A book with a color in the author’s name or title. 2) A type of terrain in the title. I’ve seen a list w 14 and one with 24. E.g. canyon, forest, mountain, desert, etc. I know it’s similar to the bodies of water prompt but I still like it.

[Thomas]

Lailah wrote: "Kendra wrote: "Lailah wrote: "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?

-..."v
On a similar note I have seen Lord of the Rings describes as Beowulf fanfiction. However I do not fully agree with that definition but more to the point I really do feel the comments suggests most peoples impression of a prompt is largely defined by the heading So even if there was description saying are definition of fan fiction was this a lot of people would still assume it meant like the Grey books

[NancyJ]

Lailah wrote: "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 tit..."

- A book with "hope" in its title, theme, or genre (e.g. "hopepunk")

I love this idea! And hopepunk.

This is the right place for the discussion. Once you're ready (with the exact words and links with examples), you'll need to post it on the suggestion post when it opens, or ask someone to post it for you.

@EMILY - Does the wording above work for you, including "hopepunk"

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Yes, though we will probably remove the ( ) for voting and the final list. We can leave it in for the examples, though, and I'd be happy to hear any other genre suggestions that have "hope" in it.

[Shannon SA]

Of these recent suggestions, I wouldn't vote for fanfic
I would vote for -
Someone living on the road
A type of terrain in the title
Hope
The Rabbit :) hope this is it's year :)

[chysodema]

Emily wrote: "Yes, though we will probably remove the ( ) for voting and the final list. We can leave it in for the examples, though, and I'd be happy to hear any other genre suggestions that have "hope" in it."

Thanks for your helpful comments, all! I like this workshopping space, this is fun.

For my hope idea, I rescind the inclusion of genre, since hopepunk is the only codified one I know of, and I looked around a bit and didn't see others. Generally if a book is classified as hopepunk, it can be argued that hope is a theme of the book.

I did find a Goodreads list of books with the main character named Hope; given such a list already exists that could be added to the prompt if it seemed fun? I am still getting the hang of what goes into a good prompt.

- A book with "hope" in its title or theme

or

- A book with "hope" in its title, theme, or main character's name

One thing I have enjoyed while researching for this idea is that hope is so subjective. Some find horror the "genre of hope." Some have put The Hunger Games on their list of hopeful books, while for me that's a book where I need to go find something hopeful to read afterwards to restore my faith in humanity. Some people turn to self help or spirituality/religion for hopeful reading, others to history, others to science fiction. I think that says a lot! Here are some lists and articles:

Main Characters named Hope: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Shelved as Hopeful: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

Shelved as Hopepunk (a speculative fiction subgenre): https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

Optimistic books: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

YA Dystopias with Hope (though I personally don't resonate with many of these choices): https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/6...

Uplifting Adult LGBTQ (so important and not actually that common!): https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Books that Inspire Hope: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Hopepunk Listopia: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Books About Tragedy and Hope: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...

Shelf for Theme Hope: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

An article about writers naming a book that gives them hope in a dark time, so perfect for what I was thinking with this prompt. I love the quote, "Books are not supposed to just “give hope” as if they were cheerleaders in print. Books should disturb, complicate, and make things uncomfortable in order to push the reader to create their own understanding of reality and their own sense of hope." https://lithub.com/14-writers-choose-...

This article about hope in literature was interesting, though I admit I have only skimmed it so far: https://literacle.com/literary-hope/

Here's the podcast where a horror author talks about why horror is the genre of hope. I'm not sure I agree with all his points, yet another example of hope being subjective: https://www.theindyauthor.com/134---h...

[chysodema]

Pam wrote: "I’ve been thinking about a couple of ideas. 1) A book with a color in the author’s name or title. 2) A type of terrain in the title. I’ve seen a list w 14 and one with 24. E.g. canyon, forest, moun..."

I like both these suggestions, Color and Terrain. Color in particular feels full of possibility to me.

[Shannon SA]

Lailah wrote: "Emily wrote: "Yes, though we will probably remove the ( ) for voting and the final list. We can leave it in for the examples, though, and I'd be happy to hear any other genre suggestions that have ..."

Thanks for this, Lailah, I really like this and am encouraged to explore further :)

[Martha]

Lailah wrote: "Emily wrote: "Yes, though we will probably remove the ( ) for voting and the final list. We can leave it in for the examples, though, and I'd be happy to hear any other genre suggestions that have ..."

Thanks, Lailah. I love this prompt!

[Lizzy]

I really don't want to confuse things... but I noticed the MLK I Have a Dream related suggestion earlier in the conversation, and was wondering if Hopes & Dreams might go together?

[Joy D]

I have never heard of "hopepunk" but books about hope or hopes and dreams sounds like something that would be nice as a break between the more tragic or depressing books I tend to pick up.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

Hopeful books overlaps with “up lit” and there are lists for that. I am always looking for books like that. When you are in book groups, a lot of the books turn out to be about war, oppression of various kinds and dysfunctional families. While these are important topics, after while it can get depressing. I compiled a list which I called “a ray of hope” and it was published in Bookmarks magazine. I only had about 10 books. The books might have dark subjects but the overall theme is of cooperation, love, etc. One example is Station Eleven. There is a pandemic and lots of problems, but most of the people try to help each other and even make art.

Two very different authors who have an overall positive view of human nature are Nevil Shute and John Scalzi. I am away from my home computer (I went out of town and meanwhile my husband got covid, so I am exiled for a while). But eventually I will find and post that list.

I wouldn’t care for fan fiction because it is a relatively small selection, and probably nothing I own. But another way to put it could be “a book based on/inspired by another book.” This would include modern versions of Jane Austen, Sherlock Holmes, etc, retelling of fairy tales, etc.

[Ann]

I am finishing up this year by trying to read from the LIST prompts. I looked up books both in Powells list and the NPR radio and they are a lot the same books. Even some appeared on the Times YA prompt. I think next year we need to be careful about lists so they are not so similar. Either less of them or really check them out to make sure they are not the same. Feeling a little disappointed.

[Thomas]

I would love fewer but it’s not going to happen because a lot of people think it’s not a real challenge without them. The difficulty is that in order to compromise people suggest broad list prompts which give more options so they are restricting so while I understand the frustration with overlap I feel the only alternative is very short lists.

[Kahlia]

Robin P wrote: "I wouldn’t care for fan fiction because it is a relatively small selection, and probably nothing I own. But another way to put it could be “a book based on/inspired by another book.” This would include modern versions of Jane Austen, Sherlock Holmes, etc, retelling of fairy tales, etc"

I would vote for this prompt, which I think would be fun. If people wanted a fanfiction element we could say "inspired by another book or story" which would allow for reskinned fanfiction, as well as myth retellings etc.

[Joy D]

I agree that it needs to be broader than "fanfic" due to the relationship of that term with "poorly written" (at least it is for me).

[Rachel]

Thomas wrote: "I would love fewer but it’s not going to happen because a lot of people think it’s not a real challenge without them. The difficulty is that in order to compromise people suggest broad list prompts..."

I would love to get rid of the idea that we "must" have a list prompt. I don't mind some lists if they have a good range of options, but I often find that lists/awards either have the same few options, or sometimes a ton of books that I've never heard of and don't catch my interest.

I just feel that we tend to get locked into the idea that list prompts are a need, and I personally don't think that's true. I think list prompts can be very fun and helpful, but I'd rather not try to force one for the sake of saying we have x number of list prompts, if that makes sense.

[Kendra]

Everybody has different tastes when it comes to prompts - some people love list prompts and would be happy if every single prompt was a list prompt. Some people love the cover, or title prompts. I personally love the 'related to' prompts. By having quotas for x number of each type of prompt, the mods try their best to keep things balanced so everybody gets a few of their favs and nobody is too unhappy.

[RachelG.]

I am a person who is not a huge fan of list prompts but I sure enjoyed the NPR concierge this year because there were such a variety of books to choose from.

[Lindsay]

I love the idea of a fan-fic challenge as I read the chalet school books and there have been several books for the series which were not written by Elinor M Brent-Dyer.

[Ellie]

RachelG. wrote: "I am a person who is not a huge fan of list prompts but I sure enjoyed the NPR concierge this year because there were such a variety of books to choose from."

I agree, something from every genre (I read horror book from it) and there are ten year's worth of books. I think there's always gonna be overlap with awards because they're trying to pick out the highlights of the year. I see they have added on 2022 titles already!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Yes, NPR published a mid-year list last week for the first time and it has some of my favorite books of the year on it!

I personally love lists, and clearly they get voted in each year, whether people think we "need" them on the list or not. I suggested the Powell's one last year because I thought it had more diversity than most award lists (since it included a lot of genres and publication dates), but I can see how it would be tough for people who don't read award winning books often and/or are in a lot of reading challenges that require books that have won awards or are on best seller lists.

[NancyJ]

Robin P wrote: "Hopeful books overlaps with “up lit” and there are lists for that. I am always looking for books like that. When you are in book groups, a lot of the books turn out to be about war, oppression of v..."

Rays of Hope - I love the title. Congrats! The link should be added to Lailah's already impressive supplemental lists. I wonder if Dear Edward would fit. It starts with a tragic place crash, but I found it very hopeful. (We need the dark to see the rays of hope?)

Re Up-lit, I finally read How the Penguins Saved Veronica, and I loved it. Thanks for the recommendations for this and Nevil Shute's books. I'd like to see Up-lit on the prompt next to hope-punk. (Or at least one of the extra lists.)

I'm sorry you're exiled! I hope you're someplace nice and not too expensive! When my husband got it, he was exiled to the basement and we cancelled mother's day. No one else got sick. (btw, how is your daughter?)

[NancyJ]

Would newer books with Sherlock Holmes as a character be called fan-fic, or something else? Laurie King has a great series.

I can think of only one other book I read that might fit fan-fic: Death Comes to Pemberley was written by a very well established mystery author, who was also a big fan of Pride and Prejudice.

I met a Literature professor who claimed that Pride and Prejudice has inspired more books than any other novel. He claimed the whole romance genre was in debt to her (especially Regency romance and the "hate-to-love" trope. (Mansfield Park might get credit for the friends-to-lovers trope.)

I would be more likely to vote for a fan-fic prompt if it was combined with 2-3 related terms such as "Retellings"

[Juliet]

I definitely prefer the wording ‘inspired by another book or story’ over ‘fanfic’. As has been mentioned ‘fanfic’ carries a connotation of poor writing for a lot of people which might make it a hard sell in voting

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I also think of "fanfic" as something written by an amateur or something self-published, published online, etc. A retelling of a classic (like The Chosen and the Beautiful, which is a spin on The Great Gatsby) doesn't feel like "fanfic" to me, it feels like a literary retelling.

"Inspired by" would allow for both types of stories, in my mind. I'd probably upvote "inspired by" and downvote "fanfic".

[Nancy]

I didn't feel the Powell's and NPR were very close at all, but I also chose a book from a category in Powell's that wasn't likely to have NPR books either. I wouldn't say I love list prompts, but I definitely like that we have at least one.

Someone above said that people poo-poo books that take place in your hometown, and that's because many people just don't have any option for that. If you expand it too much then it becomes too broad.

[Mandy]

Nancy wrote: "I didn't feel the Powell's and NPR were very close at all, but I also chose a book from a category in Powell's that wasn't likely to have NPR books either. I wouldn't say I love list prompts, but I..."

like me. i live in a town that's so small most people don't know we exist. there are a lot of those types of towns in nevada.

[Nancy]

There's also the question of what constitutes home town. The town where I grew up definitely has no options. Where I live now has more, but still not a whole lot.

[Thomas]

Another challenge a few years ago ( not this group) had a book set somewhere you have lived Which would include country. I’m still not sure about that but definitely an improvement

[Joy D]

Emily wrote: ""Inspired by" would allow for both types of stories, in my mind. I'd probably upvote "inspired by" and downvote "fanfic".

Me too.

Mandy wrote: "like me. i live in a town that's so small most people don't know we exist. there are a lot of those types of towns in nevada...."

Yup! Right there with you, my Nevada neighbor. I've had problems with other challenges with this type of prompt.

Country seems too broad, especially for US. State / province / region might work.

[Pamela, Arciform Mod]

Thomas wrote: "Another challenge a few years ago ( not this group) had a book set somewhere you have lived Which would include country. I’m still not sure about that but definitely an improvement"

I agree, country might be too broad. Maybe keep it broad and say "home" and let people define their own home area? Although I would call New England home and that is extremely broad.

[NancyJ]

Ann wrote: "I am finishing up this year by trying to read from the LIST prompts. I looked up books both in Powells list and the NPR radio and they are a lot the same books. Even some appeared on the Times YA p..."

Ann, you timed this really well. The brand new 2022 NPR "Books We Love" list just came out last week! We had more than 1000 books to choose from with all the years, and now you have 167 more. And you only need one for the prompt!

https://apps.npr.org/best-books/#view...

There will always be some books that end up working for many different prompts, and some books that everyone is talking about (or giving awards to). But the Powell and NPR lists overlap by only a small percent, and they both have sections that cater to specific genres, or niche interests. So I wonder if you were looking at a different (radio?) list, or only the first page of Powell's.

[NancyJ]

I don't have a lot of options for local books either, though I recently found one by accident written by an author 60 miles away. That's about as close as I could get for a "Local Book" square in a challenge. My favorite local author came out with a new book, but it turned out to be a children's book.

I can't find the original suggestion, but I thought there was a suggestion to read a book as far away from your home as possible. The farthest point from my home is in the ocean near Perth Australia. (If you're in New Zealand it's Spain.) I was in a challenge last year that required the use of a distance calculator. I learned a lot about world geography.

[NancyJ]

Nancy wrote: "I didn't feel the Powell's and NPR were very close at all, but I also chose a book from a category in Powell's that wasn't likely to have NPR books either. I wouldn't say I love list prompts, but I..."

I agree. They were very different. I like both of those lists, and they are great tools to help me find books for other challenges. I'm working on my extra side challenges now, and I'm sure they will help.

[Dubhease]

I hate list prompts and will always downvote them. That said, Powell's and NPR were easy to do for me.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

NancyJ wrote: "Robin P wrote: "Hopeful books overlaps with “up lit” and there are lists for that. I am always looking for books like that. When you are in book groups, a lot of the books turn out to be about war,..."

Thanks NancyJ
Here’s an update. Not really the right thread for this, so feel free to skip this if you are looking for book and prompt ideas. The online GR community has been extremely valuable to me for support through the last couple years, and some of the ATY members are in other groups with me.

Some of you know that my 40-year old daughter, who lives 6 hours from me, has been dealing with cancer for almost 3 years. It was pretty much under control till a few months ago. Since then I have made the trip several times. I came last week for a standard procedure which was fine, but that night, a different crisis came up which led to me being up all night with her in the emergency room. That was the day my husband, back at home, tested positive for covid. He had gone on his first choir trip in over 2 years, and even though they had precautions, that must be where he got it. Luckily for me, I had only seen him for about an hour before I left. I have taken 2 tests a few days apart, both negative. But I feel exiled. It will be at least a few days till he’s not contagious, and we have a very small house with one bathroom. I always assumed that if one of us got sick, we would just both get it. I did bring several books and have plenty on ebook and audio. You all know how terrible it would be to lack reading material!

I don’t want to hijack this thread so if you want to respond, feel free to send me a message. Shoutout to the other Mods who took over the July newsletter on short notice.