Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
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[2023] Wild Discussion
Edie wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "Mahi wrote: "Nancy wrote: "I would rather the India/Pakistan prompt be resubmitted, with the addition of Bangladesh. Combining India with China seems arbitrary."What if we said Ind..."
Islands are included in continents/subcontinents.
I love the Indian subcontinent idea. It's very clear and easy, because you can list the exact countries that fit. Islands are included in continents/subcontinents.
I love the ghosts/undead prompt, and I'm hoping apartment/house also gets resubmitted at some point. Personally I wouldn't vote for Indian subcontinent because I'm extremely burnt out on geography-related prompts right now.
For cover prompts, I'd love to see A book with yellow, red and white on the cover suggested again. It was relevant to the year, and it was JUST challenging enough to be fun, without being impossible.NOTE: some googling is showing that 2023's lucky colors will NOT be yellow, red, and white, but rather they will be white, blue, green, and black. OR they will be red, pink, purple, and blue. I can't find any websites that agree on what the 2023 lucky colors will be for the year of the water rabbit.
Perhaps someone here is more knowledgeable and knows what the lucky colors will be??
Mahi wrote: "What’s the relevance to the year?"It's the "lucky colors" based on the Chinese zodiac. But I'm finding all sorts of different "lucky colors" depending on website. So maybe it's not a good solid connection to year.
I know "purple cover" was suggested and didn't go anywhere. Perhaps we can revisit that one in a future poll, since the Pantone color of the year for 2023 is "digital lavender"
I don't mind another geography prompt, the one we have currently is author and the Indian one would be setting. But I like geography prompts. I also like ghosts/undead, and totally agree they don't have to be scary. Other Birds, for example, has ghosts and it's definitely not scary.
I also like the apartment setting (Other Birds fits that too! It's quite the versatile book!).
I love all geography prompts - one of my reading goals is seeking out authors from different places, so I never get tired of them. (For similar reasons, I'm always happy with a "translation" prompt.)
I hope we get more character prompts.
A spicy read - title must include a spice - salt, pepper, cinnamon, chili etc
Louise wrote: "A spicy read - title must include a spice - salt, pepper, cinnamon, chili etc"We already have a title prompt with a word often found in a recipe.
Louise wrote: "A spicy read - title must include a spice - salt, pepper, cinnamon, chili etc"If you do this, I would specify a spice in the title. Otherwise, I read this as it could be a fiery, sassy, spicy character/story/setting/etc
Louise wrote: "A spicy read - title must include a spice - salt, pepper, cinnamon, chili etc"I kind of like just "a spicy read" because it COULD be another title prompt, or it could be a nonfiction book about the spice trade, or it could be a sexy romance novel, etc etc.
Yes, agreed Nadine. I won't vote for another title prompt (unless I LOVE it) and this is too close to the one we already have. But I like just "a spicy read" that is open to interpretation.
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I also like ghosts/undead, and totally agree they don..."
I feel like for every prompt I'm all "read Other Birds"! But look at my reading sheet for this year, and it's in my "other books" list. Maybe I should put it in the released in 2022 slot.
Mod
Blue, green, and black are my favorite colours, so I'm rooting for them! Seems a lot of colours for one year! But I like it as a prompt cause one colour is easy for those who want easy but using all 3 is a good challenge
?? A book connected to one of the 6 chess pieces: Queen, King, Knight, Bishop, Rook (Castle), Pawn. ??Mostly this could be a character prompt, but using Rook could be a setting prompt also (haven’t read it, but maybe Howl’s Moving Castle might also be a character?)
Intended to be any interpretation of each piece:
Queen: royal, drag Queen, Queen bee
King: royal, drug king pin, “Mattress King” (any cheesy local business type character, King of Rock and Roll
Knight: actual knight - of old, or modern recognition of achievement, Dark Knight, any rescuer
Bishop: clergy, Joey Bishop, anyone with that name
Rook/Castle: set in a castle or rookery?
Pawn: a manipulated person
ETC…
Pamela wrote: "I feel like for every prompt I'm all "read Other Birds"! But look at my reading sheet for this year, and it's in my "other books" list. Maybe I should put it in the released in 2022 slot."Right? I plan to add it to so many Listopias. I realized if I'd waited a couple of weeks I could have used it for Flora and Fauna but then decided I didn't want to wait to read it!
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I just did Geraldine Brooks's Horse for that and the other I'm holding for a book group book in Nov. Unfortunately the only week I don't have something penciled in is the Jewish author cause I figure that's a gimme.
Deborah wrote: "Louise wrote: "Letters to spell out your first name on the cover?"I like this...but it might be a hard one for people with long first names."
I like this version of the 'name game'. I like the idea of finding a title with the letter J in it. Very creative and I would vote for it.
Jette wrote: "Deborah wrote: "Louise wrote: "Letters to spell out your first name on the cover?"I like this...but it might be a hard one for people with long first names.""
You could also do an author with a name that has J in it, since author name is generally on the cover
Another idea, probably for the "Other" category:"You saw the movie/TV series/play, now read the book."
This is intended for "book first" titles.
Just a start on the Books Made Into Movies: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...
For Books Made Into TV Series, I know there were several mini-series, or what's called Limited Series now, in the 1970s (and maybe 1980s) such as Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley, The Thornbirds by Colleen McCullough and Shōgun by James Clavell. I'm assuming there have been more recent Books to TV titles.
Re: Plays, maybe some of you have heard of "Hamilton" (haha) originally from a book by Ron Chernow, who happens to be a cousin of someone in my IRL book group.
Does this sound appealing? Do you think there is there a better way to word the prompt?
I think it’s a cool idea, but I probably wouldn’t vote for it because I think mostly the version you experience second is worse, no matter what it is objectively, so I don’t want to sign up for a book like that.But that might just be me! It definitely a creative prompt.
Mahi wrote: "I think it’s a cool idea, but I probably wouldn’t vote for it because I think mostly the version you experience second is worse, no matter what it is objectively, so I don’t want to sign up for a b..."Thanks Mahi.
I've always heard that "the book is better than the movie" though, and I can't say that I've ever found that to be untrue. The Harry Potter movies do an amazing job, and I find them lacking only in that you can't possibly have all the detail of a book hundreds of pages long all fit into 90-120 minutes. But what a great job they did bringing the books to life. I'm still glad to have read the books though.
The Princess Bride movie is better than the book. The book isn't terrible, but the movie is just better.
The exception that proves the rule!Thanks Nancy, I haven’t experienced either, but I hear good things :)
Nancy wrote: "The Princess Bride movie is better than the book. The book isn't terrible, but the movie is just better."Agreed - that movie was amazing. I also liked the Stardust movie better than the book. Same with I Am Legend - I didn't LOVE that movie, but wow I HATED the book. Same for the Bridgertons show!! I am really enjoying the Netflix show, but I wasn't a fan of the books and stopped reading Julia Quinn because of them (long before the show).
Well, glad I started with the Netflix version then!
Oooh Stardust, I would say I loved them equally. I read the book first so maybe that's why.I knew there was another one - Practical Magic. Movie is WAY better than the book, and in that case, I did read the book first. There's just a lot of rambling in the book and I liked the direction the story took better in the movie.
Nancy wrote: "The Princess Bride movie is better than the book. The book isn't terrible, but the movie is just better."The only exception to the book being better that I know is "Shrek". The book is a preschool picture book with terrible illustrations and maybe 200-400 words of text. Getting a 4 movie franchise that my children loved from one "meh" book was a testimony to what movies can achieve.
Ok, I’m getting the impression I’ve had better ideas…
So, Tracy, I don't hate the idea. However, it is one that I feel has been done to death in challenges, and it's not one I would like to do again. That's just my opinion though!
I never ever never read the book after watching the movie or TV show. I either wait to watch the movie or TV show or I don’t read the book at all. So just based on that wording I wouldn’t vote for that prompt. Maybe something book/movie related but honestly that concept has been done to death in challenges imo
Thanks Nancy and Dalex. This is only my second group challenge ever, and I have not seen it. BUT I can easily see how it could have been done before.Next…
I do like to read the book after I’ve seen the movie, usually happens when I didnt realize it was based on a book. I have a shelf on GR where I keep track of this. Examples: Kiki’s Delivery Service is a book I want to read! (In this case, the book was not available in English back when we saw the movie.)
If I have the book, I never watch the film as in the films that I have watched, I find I get annoyed because so much of the stories are left out.
Read a book whose movie/ tv adaptation you’ve seen was on the Read Harder list for this year and I actually found it very hard to fill because I usually read the book before seeing a movie/show. I DID finally read Breakfast at Tiffany’s , but it’s not a prompt I would vote for
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I knew there was another one - Practical Magic. Movie is WAY better than the book, and in that case, I d..."
Amen! I was so disappointed when I read the book of Practical Magic! I like she shifted the rest of the series to be mnre like the movie.
I always put The Martian on this list. It was too much scientific discussion for me so when the book just told the story and focused on people, I liked that!
I always like the movie book prompt. But I seem to be one of the few.
Well also Practical Magic the movie is just an all-around excellent movie! I grew up wanting to be a witch that flew off the roof and drank margaritas at midnight. I still want that.
I watch very few movies, so it would need rewording to work for me - something like a book made into a movie (not that I had to have watched it).
I was looking through the suggestions that didn't make it since I joined in the middle, and "A book involving genetics, genealogy, traits, heredity, or heritage" was a cool one. It was in two polls and still didn't make it so it's probably not going to be in the list this year though.
That was my prompt. I decided not to try again with improved wording because we voted in Science, so I figured if you wanted to read about genetics it could go there. Glad you like the idea though!
Chrissy wrote: "Nadine - to me, one easy way to tell if a novel would fit is if a character is a linguist, interpreter, or language learner. If that is mentioned in the synopsis, then it is likely important enough..."I love this prompt! It made sense to me how you worded it, but that is probably because this topic is one I look for in books both fiction and nonfiction. I have been thinking about ways to reword it that may be more clear to people who don't have linguistics on the brain.
What about :
"A book about the power of words."
I know it cuts out several of the directions your original prompt could go. But it also leaves open a lot of possibilities like the spoken word magic angle (Carry On, Lexicon), dramas in language history (The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary, The Liar's Dictionary), even an MLK I Have a Dream anniversary tie-in for powerful speeches that changed the world. I can't think of books featuring interpreters and translators off the top of my head, but presumably if that's the character's job words have power in their world.
I thought maybe this would be pithy and more graspable in just a few words.
Robin P wrote: "Lailah wrote: "Question for folks who have been doing ATY for a while. This is my first year doing ATY as a challenge, as well as participating in the discussion here and voting for prompts. Lookin..."Thank you to all who answered my process question about the ebb and flow of prompts being chosen or not chosen and what kinds of feelings may arise at this point in the process. I really appreciate all of the insight!
I understand much better the presence of the "favorite prompt that didn't make it" prompt, now! I have attachments :D
Tracy wrote: "?? A book connected to one of the 6 chess pieces: Queen, King, Knight, Bishop, Rook (Castle), Pawn. ??Mostly this could be a character prompt, but using Rook could be a setting prompt also (haven..."
I like this idea, especially if the royal family prompt doesn't get in. I like that it overlaps with that prompt but also includes the castle/bishop/knight/pawn, in case you're less interested in strictly royalty stories. Like you say, it gives the opportunity to do a medieval/fantasy setting with a castle, or even something more symbolic (a character who is used as a pawn, maybe? Or a book like The Rook, where chess pieces are used as code names).
@Tracy, I love the chess piece prompt (it's exactly in the same vein as the prompts I previously listed as my favorites: monopoly token, nato alphabet, major arcana cards, etc) and would definitely vote for it! This makes me want to downvote the royalty prompt we have in Poll 9 because I like the chess piece idea much better.I was actually considering suggesting "a book with an adaptation you've seen" so I'm also a fan of your movie suggestion, but I get that it might be hard for people who don't watch a ton of movies (which includes me, ironically). How about rewording it to "a book with an adaptation"?
Edit: Some more ideas for the chess piece prompt:
- a book related to religion or a religious leader (bishop)
- a book with a soldier, fighting, war, etc (pawn)
- a book related to horses (since the knight piece is a horse)
- a book related to chess itself, literally or symbolically (Breaking Dawn has a chess-themed cover, for example)
Irene wrote: "@Tracy, I love the chess piece prompt (it's exactly in the same vein as the prompts I previously listed as my favorites: monopoly token, nato alphabet, major arcana cards, etc) and would definitely..."@Hannah, @Irene, and @Rachel,
So happy you support this idea, and thank you also for the additional ideas of where this prompt can take us!
*A book about space/astronomy/astrophysics, set in space, or about ‘making space’ for someone or something. The first light of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile is anticipated to occur in February 2023 with full science operations beginning a year later
Lynn wrote: "*A book about space/astronomy/astrophysics, set in space, or about ‘making space’ for someone or something. The first light of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile is anticipated to occur in Fe..."
If you suggest this and it gets voted in I just found a book a couple of days ago that sounded interesting (if you are ok with non-fiction) and would fit: A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing by Lawrence M. Krauss. It would also fit our already voted in prompt for the 5 W Question Words.
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What if we said Ind..."
Per google "The Indian subcontinent, or simply the subcontinent, is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka."