Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
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[2023] Wild Discussion
Also the way it’s currently worded allows a slot for those who may read books originally written in English in another language
Alicia wrote: "I guess my issue with the language prompt is that it heavily favors non-fiction and I just don’t want to read another non-fiction about language. Has anyone found a fiction list that isn’t sci-fi..."
Not a list, but the first book that popped into my head when I saw that prompt was Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters. Of course, I already read that, so it does me no good. I can't really think of any books I want to read that would fit this category.
There are a few novels that I’ve read about the development of a dictionary. And a newer book, The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams. If I find the other two dictionary related books that I read I’ll get back to you.
What about something related to authors that didn't start writing until later in life?
I had been thinking about something like that. I didn’t get to the research yet to see how much variety there might be in later in life first authors.
Since we have been discussing banned books, I just read this article about how two books are now being put on trial in Virginia for being obscene. It is pretty crazy that the petition was not thrown out but we live in crazy times. https://slate.com/culture/2022/08/boo...
I think is hilarious and ridiculous. Hilarious because Virginia has clearly not read any books past a court of mist and fury if they are worried about those sex scenes.
A few fiction books about or featuring language or linguistics that I can think of offhand:The Great Passage
The Sparrow
Project Hail Mary
The Book of Strange New Things
Embassytown
The Beauty
The Translator
The Eyre Affair
Watership Down
Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters
The Hakawati
Monteverde: Memoirs of an Interstellar Linguist
An Unnecessary Woman
I bet collectively we could come up with a nice listopia for it if it wins.
Joy D wrote: "A few fiction books about or featuring language or linguistics that I can think of offhand:Looking just at books I've already read (and can guarantee count), there's also:
- A Memory Called Empire and A Desolation Called Peace
- The Invisible Library
- The Yield
- Sadie (this one might be a bit of a stretch but one of the plots is about the development of a podcast)
I'm also very keen to read Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan which is about an audiobook narrator.
Thank you all, I’m definitely becoming more open to the idea. Should we maybe post these to the voting thread
Alicia wrote: "Thank you all, I’m definitely becoming more open to the idea. Should we maybe post these to the voting thread"I cross-posted them to the voting thread.
If someone wants to go the sign language route for the language/linguistics prompt, Nell Pattison has a series of thrillers featuring a main character who is a sign language interpreter working with the police to assist with crimes involving the Deaf community. The first book in the series is The Silent House.
Do you ever feel like there is a book that is meant to be read for a list?I had planned on reading The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell for the 2020 ATY, of course that was the year I had decided to do the challenge in order and was unable to borrow the book due to the library shutting down. I ended up buying the book used January 2021 and it has sat unread next to by bed. When looking prompts it seems like The Sparrow will work on at least half so perhaps I will finally read it next year.
Jillian wrote: "Since we have been discussing banned books, I just read this article about how two books are now being put on trial in Virginia for being obscene. It is pretty crazy that the petition was not throw..."They're going after Gender Queer??? (which has one NON-EXPLICIT masturbation panel!) But they're ignoring books like Bear, Ice Planet Barbarians, and Pounded in the Butt by My Own Butt???????????
And it really says something when all the local circuit court judges recused themselves from the case.
Nadine in NY wrote: "Jillian wrote: "Since we have been discussing banned books, I just read this article about how two books are now being put on trial in Virginia for being obscene. It is pretty crazy that the petiti..."Bookriot has been keeping track of all the groups and idiots trying to ban books and it’s horrifying to see. So many books (mostly lbgt+ books and anything they think is “inappropriate”) are being challenged. School and public libraries are almost under siege right now. It’s disgusting.
Mod
Don't they realize by banning the books they make kids want to read the books more??
Plus, a book ain't gonna make anyone anything. I mean, they read the Bible and clearly it's not made them good people.
Not to sound crazy, but this is how dystopian books always start. Controlling books and information, discrediting facts for a different narrative, and isolating people. Similar to what happens in countries like China, Cuba, Palestine, etc.
@Pamela - good point about the Bible (not in every single case of course) and how much books affect your behavior.
I try and avoid the news at the weekends now, a break for my mental health, so I was surprised to see people were talking about Rushdie's persecution after 30 years. Then I caught the news last night. How awful, especially since he'd felt his life had got back to normal.For a prompt, an author whose life has been threatened would be a bit more open because that would include life-threatening injury/illness, death threats, war, etc. I wouldn't vote for a prompt that was specifically persecution for their writing. It's not something I want to do research on, so I would be limited to famously persecuted authors and that doesn't appeal to me.
Sure always trash the Christians. I’m sick of tired of it. You know what I’ve got better things to do than listen to this garbage.
Mod
I don't think anyone wants to condemn a whole group. We generally stay away from political topics but it's hard when books and writers suddenly are in the news. Please try to stay generous toward each other in this group.
Thomas, I don’t think anyone was trashing Christians or discrediting them. All that was said was reading isn’t indicative of who people are. Whether that’s reading LGBTQIA novels which doesn’t make you gay. There are many people that are Christians and read the Bible and are wonderful people. There are also people that use the Bible/religion to hurt and discriminate against others. That’s true in EVERY religion, not just Christianity. As Robin said no one tries get too political here, but I can assume none of us want books banned no matter where we stand on the political spectrum. This group is full of wonderful people that love to read. I always go under the assumption that people in this group are coming from a place of good.
P.S. As RuPaul says, “reading is what?? Fundamental!”
We're low on cover prompts right now, I had a couple of ideas. It's hard to come up with something that hasn't been done but isn't really hard.1. Furniture on the cover
2. A writing implement on the cover
3. Something broken on the cover (PopSugar did this recently but I think it's a really good one)
Letters to spell out your first name on the cover?
Nancy wrote: "We're low on cover prompts right now, I had a couple of ideas. It's hard to come up with something that hasn't been done but isn't really hard.1. Furniture on the cover
2. A writing implement on the cover
3. Something broken on the cover (PopSugar did this recently but I think it's a really good one)
"
I'd have to think about furniture (it might be too easy for me but it is not one I'd down vote).
I like the writing implement ( I just downloaded a new cozy mystery series that this would be perfect for) though it might need to be searched to makes sure there are enough options it might be an idea that sounds interesting but is to narrow.
I don't do PopSugar so I really like the idea of something broken.
I was thinking a book with a typewriter or typewriter font on the cover.
Louise wrote: "Letters to spell out your first name on the cover?"Love this idea!
It seems like "personal" prompts don't often get in, but I would love to see something like this make it. :)
Nancy wrote: "We're low on cover prompts right now, I had a couple of ideas. It's hard to come up with something that hasn't been done but isn't really hard.1. Furniture on the cover
2. A writing implement on ..."
I had a REALLY hard time finding a book for "something broken on the cover"!! It seemed like it would be pretty easy, but when it was time to pick a book, it was quite difficult for me. So I would downvote that.
I liked a book with an element of symmetry on the cover that was suggested last year, but didn't make the list.
I second the symmetry prompt. I was sad that didn't make it in
Cover prompts are my favourite. I like an excuse for a bit of a treasure hunt, especially when it's a bit tricky. I still remember how happy I was when I found a noose on the cover of The Hanging Tree for the clue weapon prompt!I don't officially do PopSugar, but I like to see how many of my AtY books I can fit to their prompts. For something broken on the cover I used Artificial Condition, because technically Murderbot is broken :)
I was surprised neither something orange on the cover or a purple cover made it, they seemed to both be nicely in the middle for the number of books on my TBR that would qualify, and quite easy to look for.
I actually have quite a few books on my TBR with something broken, which is why I mentioned it again. E.g. Sarah Addison Allen's newest, Other Birds, has a bird with a head that's separated from the body, so I would count that. 
I liked the symmetry one too, I would vote for that again.
For a Cover Prompt, how about something like "a book where at least some of the text is NOT horizontal"?Examples:
On an angle:
In the round:
Around the perimeter:
Tracy wrote: "For a Cover Prompt, how about something like "a book where at least some of the text is NOT horizontal"?Examples:
On an angle:
In the round: [bookcover:Tre..."
Love this one too! :)
Katie wrote: "Tracy wrote: "For a Cover Prompt, how about something like "a book where at least some of the text is NOT horizontal"?Examples:
On an angle:
In the round: ..."
Thanks Katie - although I just realized I should edit the prompt a little bit to make sure it is obvious that it is the text ON THE COVER, and not inside...
Maybe "A book where the cover includes text that is NOT horizontal"? Is that still clear what the intent is without reading the discussion?
Mod
And it's such a good book! I stayed up well past my bedtime the other night to finish it and then was resentful it was over.
I started it last night, I'm only a few pages in but so far so good. I just love her writing and am so happy she has a new book!
Mod
People are so anti-cover prompts! I read mostly e-books and yes, I never see covers. But people work together to make lists of books that meet the criteria so you have choices without wandering looking through a bookstore!
The Clue weapon was a good prompt. I like multistage prompts like that.
Tracy wrote: "Katie wrote: "Tracy wrote: "For a Cover Prompt, how about something like "a book where at least some of the text is NOT horizontal"?Examples:
On an angle:
..."
Maybe "A book where the cover contains non-horizontal text" to make it slightly clearer?
But I would think that makes sense without reading the discussion.
Katie wrote: "Tracy wrote: "Katie wrote: "Tracy wrote: "For a Cover Prompt, how about something like "a book where at least some of the text is NOT horizontal"?Examples:
On an angle: [bookcover:The Rewind Fil..."
Thanks Katie - that's a definite improvement. As you might be able to tell from my prompt suggestion, I'm a visual person. Crafting a good sentence is not my top skill.
What if instead of a single color for a cover prompt, we did something like a book with 4 or more colors on the cover? Some examples would be:
I don't downvote orange or purple, but I also don't usually upvote it because I know I have a ton of books that fit.
As a note: personally I consider black and white to be colors, but a BIO option could be to not include them
What about a book with a mode of transportation on the cover? Ship, train, car, horse and buggy, and so on?
Alicia wrote: "What if instead of a single color for a cover prompt, we did something like a book with 4 or more colors on the cover? Some examples would be:
[bookcover:Togeth..."I like 4 or more colors.
Mod
I believe we had that in 2021, but maybe it was longer ago, and it would still be good. There's lots of options, I had one with a horse and wagon and one with a bicycle to choose from.
Robin P wrote: "T. wrote: "What about a book with a mode of transportation on the cover? Ship, train, car, horse and buggy, and so on?"I believe we had that in 2021, but maybe it was longer ago, and it would sti..."
The closest I could find in 2021 was "A book whose cover shows more than 2 people" and "A book with a monochromatic cover". I also didn't find ANY of the past prompts that mention color (using the actual word "color" anyway) except for an author prompt being a "person of color".
Jillian wrote: "Do you ever feel like there is a book that is meant to be read for a list?I had planned on reading The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell for the 2020 ATY, of course that w..."
The Sparrow is incredible. I haven't read the sequel yet. I think it would fit for the same books.
Or maybe a cover that contains all the colors of the rainbow?
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Around the Year in 52 Books
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Also I think just adding “another language” is repetitive. I don’t think anyone in the US or UK interprets it to read Harry Potter just because it’s eventually been translated into different languages. I think it’s clear the intent is translated from a language not your own.