Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
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[2023] Wild Discussion
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As much as I was thinking fiction/ non-fiction I've been convinced it should be "two different genres" and let people decide fiction and non-fiction or fantasy and literary fiction or memoir and YA.... too many non-fiction haters out there!
What about "two different genres connected in some way"?
Lindsay wrote: "My suggestions for a multi-week prompt: Week 1) A subject you know a lot about
Week 2) A subject you know little about
Or
Week 1) A book set in the country you live in
Week 2) A book set abr..."
I like both of these suggestions Lindsay.
Shannon wrote: "What about "two different genres connected in some way"?"This could go a lot of ways Shannon, which is nice. I think it could be easy, but also easy to make interesting.
Lindsay wrote: "My suggestions for a multi-week prompt: Week 1) A subject you know a lot about
Week 2) A subject you know little about
Or
Week 1) A book set in the country you live in
Week 2) A book set abr..."
I like both of these!
Ann wrote: "still trying for an open ended prompt. How about...read a book you feel you should read. I really want a prompt that you can't do a listopia for ."Would something like this fit the bill?:
'A book connected to the phrase “things are not what they seem” '
I tried looking this up on Listopia, but didn't come up with much. There was an Alternate History list, but that was as close as I could find.
I was thought of this idea after reading the summary for "The Strange Journey of Alice Pendelbury by Marc Levy. If you read the summary you may see what I am thinking of.
dalex wrote: "Pamela wrote: " I think finding a book to cover 3 centuries would be tough unless you're doing nonfiction."If you read a goodly bit of historical fiction it's super easy. At least, it would be fo..."
I assume the intent was to read a different book for each century, just like the country prompts this year. Some people had a different interpretations this year, so I wanted to bring it up before it was actually suggested. I agree that there aren't many fiction books that cover three different centuries in one book anyway (Possibly Sea of Tranquility, The History of Bees, and Greenwood.)
I like both historical fiction and time travel, so I would really enjoy this prompt.
I don't think it's too easy for everyone. A lot of people wouldn't reach for an 18th or 19th century book unless it's for a challenge or group. If we all picked the current century for one prompt, that one week would be easy. I think many of us would choose a theme to connect the books. Maybe that could be part of the prompt? To read a different book for three different centuries, all connected in some way. (It might be a similar genre, setting, author, plot or subject matter.)
Is the OP planning to submit it tomorrow?
Pamela wrote: "Thomas wrote: "It really is hard to gauge what people will think. Too specific it will put some people off too broad and other people dismiss it as a freebie. I actually think topic and subject are..."Pamela, I like that rule. My dad told me to always do what you think is the right thing to do. You can't always wait to ask for permission, but you can ask for forgiveness afterwards. (Of course that advice might get someone fired in some companies.)
Pamela wrote: "dalex wrote: "ETA: Is it three centuries in one book or is it three books each set in a different century? I thought it was three books, thus my comment about it being easy."I meant 3 centuries i..."
Oops. Now I'm confused. I missed this post before I wrote the one above about 3 centuries. Pamela, was it your prompt idea? I could only think of a few books that covered three centuries. Which ones were you thinking of?
Pamela wrote: "Robin P wrote: As far as books I "should" read, it reminds me of when I used to go to the video store (back when those existed) and think I "should" watch Schindler's List but I would leave with a ..."The comments on Sweetgrass and Tookie (from Louise Erdrich's book) remind me that I really really hope to see an indigenous people prompt this year.
Robin P wrote: "I'm not aware of any group that has such an open process for determining prompts. I'm sure nobody devotes literally months to it, like we do, but I think it's great!Some groups have one or two pr..."
I agree Robin. I love the way the mods manage this group.
Mod
I mean..."
Not my idea-- my idea is the books on related themes in two different genres ('m the OP on that one, but if I forget to log-on tomorrow evening to suggest, anyone can feel free to put it up)
I would like to see a 2 week prompt that relates to opposites. No clue how to word it. In general I am leaning towards a 2 week prompt rather than 3 or 4 for some reason.
Lindsey wrote: "For a multi-week prompt, what about two books with homophones in the title?"I would vote for this one, since it's a step up from the usual 'same word in title'
Multi-week prompt idea:"1 book set in a cold climate, 1 book set in a hot climate"
Lindsay wrote: "My suggestions for a multi-week prompt: Week 1) A subject you know a lot about
Week 2) A subject you know little about
Or
Week 1) A book set in the country you live in
Week 2) A book set abr..."
I would vote for either of these...If I have to pick one...I like the Own Country/Abroad/another planet the best
Examples?Does anyone need help - with workshopping wording?
Does anyone have the wording of the opposites/pairs/matching ideas?
Other ideas?
Angels and Demons (good guys, bad guys)
City mouse - Country mouse (apparently I'm channeling the memory of cartoon)
Lindsey wrote: "For a multi-week prompt, what about two books with homophones in the title?I also liked the idea someone brought up before about a fiction and non-fiction book on the same subject, but I think th..."
I had no idea there were so many homophones! This list certainly opens up the idea beyond the 'usual suspects': https://engdic.org/1000-homophones-ex...
Of course if someone is doing this prompt outside the English language this list would not be helpful...
re Homophones: This one could be a lot of fun, and may be more challenging than we think.
Some of these are funny, and must be based on regional accents. Boat and bought? I live on the US/Canadian border, and we hear "about" pronounced like "a boot." We each get to decide what sounds like a rhyme to us.
Added - Son and Sun is the easiest pair I spotted.
NancyJ wrote: "dalex wrote: "Pamela wrote: " I think finding a book to cover 3 centuries would be tough unless you're doing nonfiction."Is the OP planning to submit it tomorrow?
..."
No. I'm the OP. I can never submit because the threads are posted in the middle of the night in my time zone
So please submit for me!
Oh Tracy - The other tree book is by Suzanne Simard - Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest. A friend in my local group (he's really into botany) says she's the real deal. Ted Talks. Simard is in North America, Wohlleben is in Germany, so they talk about different trees.
Meg wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "dalex wrote: "Pamela wrote: " I think finding a book to cover 3 centuries would be tough unless you're doing nonfiction."Is the OP planning to submit it tomorrow?
..."
No. I'm the ..."
It's going to be later tomorrow if that helps - I think it's 5pm Central, 6PM EST.
Meg, what are your wording choices?
If I can't do it, I'm sure someone will.
It's 5:45 pm CST right now. Sometimes they go on for hours. This one might have more US members too, logging on after work.
NancyJ wrote: "Oh Tracy - The other tree book is by Suzanne Simard - Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest. A friend in my local group (he's really into botany) says she's ..."Thanks NancyJ!
NancyJ wrote: "re Homophones: This one could be a lot of fun, and may be more challenging than we think.
Some of these are funny, and must be based on regional accents. Boat and bought? I live on the US/Canadi..."
I like that you stretched this just a bit more, adding accents in. I know there are books about boats, I wonder if there are any about boots... (I'm sure there must be in some way).
NancyJ wrote: "Meg wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "dalex wrote: "Pamela wrote: " I think finding a book to cover 3 centuries would be tough unless you're doing nonfiction."Is the OP planning to submit it tomorrow?
..."
..."
Thanks NancyJ:
Three books set in three different centuries
I might be able to get in if it lasts a few hours, but more than happy for someone else to suggest it!
Pamela wrote: Not my idea-- my idea is the books on related themes in two different genres ('m the OP on that one, but if I forget to log-on tomorrow evening to suggest, anyone can feel free to put it up) .
Shannon wrote: "What about "two different genres connected in some way"?"
@Pam and @Shannon
Do you have a final wording? Does this work?
"Read two books from two different genres, that are connected in some way."
Examples:
*A romance novel with a woman in STEM (The Love Hypothesis), and a non-fiction book with a woman in STEM? (Lab Girl)
*A fantasy book set in early 1900s New York City (The Golem and the Jinni) and a mystery/detective novel set in early 1900's New York City (book:Murphy's Law).
*A fiction book about trees (Greenwood or Overstory) and a non-fiction book about trees (Finding the Mother Tree).
Is someone else submitting a Fiction/Non-fiction pairing? I think you'd prefer to avoid overlaps if possible.
Mod
That's gorg! We're going this way rather than fiction/ non-fiction so the non-fiction haters won't kill it.
I would really like to see both the centuries and the paring one in the poll so am happpy to suggest or second either
Mod
This could look like three 2-week prompts, two 3-week prompts, one 4-week and one 2-week prompt, or anything that equates to less than 6 weeks total.
This will NOT affect the number of votes you get during voting, but it may be something you want to consider when voting.
Thank you for the warning Emily. As a former politician I will be sure to vote tactically
Emily wrote: "As a reminder: We will be limiting the amount of weeks that will make it to the top of the Multiweek Poll to 6 weeks maximum.This could look like three 2-week prompts, two 3-week prompts, one 4-w..."
Will you still have 15 suggestions?
My suggestions for a multi-week prompt: Week 1) A subject you know a lot about
Week 2) A subject you know little about
Or
Week 1) A book set in the country you live in
Week 2) A book set abroad
Week 3) A book set on another planet / alternative planet Earth
I'm in the UK so I'll be asleep when the suggestions for the multi-week open. If anyone likes these suggestions please feel free to suggest/second them as I probably won't be able to!!!
@NancyJI'm happy with "Read two books from two different genres, that are connected in some way." although I'm not the original suggester.
6pm EST is midnight where I am, so I won't be able to suggest/second this round, I hope someone suggests this one, I also like
3 books, 3 different centuries
Homophones
City mouse - country mouse
Own country/abroad/other planet
There are some others that I can't remember right now :)
Mod
This could look like three 2-week prompts, two 3-week pr..."
Yes, and we won't limit the week counts for suggestions (someone can suggest a 6-week prompt if they like, or we can get all 2-weeks, etc.). All will be the same as previous polls, but the mods will be limiting the number of prompts that make it to the top.
I have an idea to run by everyone. Warner brothers (owners/producers of Bugs Bunny, Scooby Doo, Justice League, etc) celebrates their 100th anniversary on April 4th 2023. I was thinking of doing a three week prompt:Week 1: A book related to a Warner Brothers animated film
Week 2: A book related to a Disney animated film
Week 3: A book related to ????
I would want week three to be related to an animated film company that is hugely popular overseas. Does anyone have any ideas for the third?
°~Amy~° wrote: "I have an idea to run by everyone. Warner brothers (owners/producers of Bugs Bunny, Scooby Doo, Justice League, etc) celebrates their 100th anniversary on April 4th 2023. I was thinking of doing a ..."I found a site that has a few ideas but I'd still like input from others in the group.
Studio Ghibli - Japan
Aardman - England
Cartoon Saloon - Ireland
Les Armateurs - France
Mod
Week 3 could be Studio Ghibli
However, 3 weeks related to animation is too much for me personally. I would do one but not 3. Also Warner Brothers is way more than animation.
°~Amy~° wrote: "I would want week three to be related to an animated film company that is hugely popular overseas. Does anyone have any ideas for the third..."The most obvious one would be Studio Ghibli, although I do believe Disney own a stake in it now.
There's also Aardman in the UK who make Wallace and Gromit but don't know how big they are internationally.
Pamela wrote: "°~Amy~° wrote: "I have an idea to run by everyone. Warner brothers (owners/producers of Bugs Bunny, Scooby Doo, Justice League, etc) celebrates their 100th anniversary on April 4th 2023. I was thin..."The books themselves wouldn't have to have anything to do with animation though, but they certainly could. I restricted it to animation just because there were so many choices if it included non animated films that the prompts would be essentially three freebies.
Mod
The wording we vote on in the polls may not be the exact wording for the final list when it comes to MW prompts. For example, with Amy's suggestion, we would put it on the final list as
A book related to a Warner Brothers animated film
A book related to a Disney animated film
A book related to ???? animated film
But for voting, in order to fit it in the survey without it being too confusing/long/disorderly, we may put
3 Weeks: A book related to a Warner Brothers animated film, related to a Disney animated film, and related to a ???? animated film
I'll also make this clear on the voting form so that people who don't read the discussion will see that note as well.
In the past, I think our copy-straight-from-poll approach has limited us when it comes to ideas like this, that are related but also separate from each other (rather than saying "Three books related to a Warner Bros film, a Disney film, and a ??? film", which implies you could read three related to Disney to fulfill the three prompts).
Does that make sense? I always assume I'm overthinking things lol but I wanted to make sure everyone understood before suggestions started.
I like the 3 week "movie" prompt idea. I wonder if the ??? should be BBC as there are lots of books and pop culture that would apply to this. I do love manga and Studio Ghibli but I am not sure it would be as popular with people who don't watch animation.
Edited to include links:I considered BBC. I was afraid that was a bit too selfish since I happen to own a collection of a couple hundreds Doctor Who books. lol
Maybe I should drop the "animation" part of the prompts since it seems to be tripping people up. Maybe this instead?
Week 1 Read a book related to a Warner Brothers Film
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_o...
Week 2 Read a book related to a Disney Film
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
Week 3 Read a book related to a BBC Film
https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?co...
The BBC isn't really a film company, most its output is for TV and radio. I know they do a few things in collaboration with filmmakers but I'd struggle with think of a BBC film in the same sense as a Disney film. Maybe it could be a BBC drama or show.
Ellie wrote: "The BBC isn't really a film company, most its output is for TV and radio. I know they do a few things in collaboration with filmmakers but I'd struggle with think of a BBC film in the same sense as..."I thought the same Ellie, I thought it was Channel 4 that made all the good British films, but I've just looked it up and there are quite a lot of BBC films: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Film
Ellie wrote: "The BBC isn't really a film company, most its output is for TV and radio. I know they do a few things in collaboration with filmmakers but I'd struggle with think of a BBC film in the same sense as..."I found a list of 531 BBC films. Is that helpful?
https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?co...
I just saw that they made We Need To Talk About Kevin into a film. I've been looking for a push to read that book. Interesting.
Reposting my message from poll 3 “ Is it just me or did a ton of posts just disappear. I go from NancyJ’s post on July 16 and the next new post showing is Pamela’s from 1 hour ago.
I tried refreshing and am on my phone but reading using the desktop version of GR. “
I don’t think any posts are missing from this thread.
Edit: I think, I got the voting and results threads mixed up (I had double checked that I was not on the suggestions thread but missed checking those two out).
Well it's a shame they don't let us watch all 531 "BBC films" under our TV license.
What if the third was just an indie or other movie studio?
°~Amy~° wrote: "I have an idea to run by everyone. Warner brothers (owners/producers of Bugs Bunny, Scooby Doo, Justice League, etc) celebrates their 100th anniversary on April 4th 2023. I was thinking of doing a ..."I'd be very happy with "a book related to a Studio Ghibli film" (or just "a book related to an anime film") because I can easily think of many books directly related because they were the basis for the movies. Kiki's Delivery Service has only recently been released in English, and I haven't read it yet. And of course you can branch out and read about the environment, or airplanes, or cats, or wizards, or witches, or bakeries, or mermaids, or the ocean, or tides, or robots, or castles, or dragons, or a dystopian, or any SFF if you don't mind a very loose connection.
But I have no idea what I would read for Warner Brothers. I guess a Justice League graphic novel?
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Around the Year in 52 Books
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Week 1) A subject you know a lot about
Week 2) A subject you know little about
Or
Week 1) A book set in the country you live in
Week 2) A book set abroad
Week 3) A book set on another planet / alternative planet Earth