[2023] Wild Discussion Showing 3,051-3,100 of 4,060

[Thomas]

Tracy- it would not be intrusive. I just struggled with the meaning of the term. It seemed from what I could gather to basically mean close friends who call themselves a family for no apparent reason. If anyone can explain it better I’m all ears

[Bec]

dalex wrote: "Just curious, does anyone else track their voting throughout the process?

So far, for the prompts that have made it into the 2023 challenge, I have upvoted 11 (28%), downvoted 5 (13%). and was ind..."

I just checked mine and was pleasantly surprised with my upvotes getting in. Of the prompts that have made it I have upvoted 20 (54%), downvoted 1 (3%) - but it's multi-week so really 3 weeks worth! and indifferent to 16 (43%).

In total I have upvoted 64 and downvoted 42.

[Alicia]

Found family is usually close friends, but I characterize it by someone who either doesn’t have a family (in the traditional sense) or whose family doesn’t accept them. For example, my niece has a LGBTQ friend whose family had cut her out of their lives after high school. So she moved in temporarily with my aunt until she could get out on her own.

It’s much deeper than friends and usually also consists of that person not having a traditional family or not being understood/accepted by them.

[Tracy]

Thomas wrote: "Tracy- it would not be intrusive. I just struggled with the meaning of the term. It seemed from what I could gather to basically mean close friends who call themselves a family for no apparent reas..."

According to the New York Public Library: The "Found Family" or “Family of Choice” trope refers to a device in literature and media where a group of characters find themselves united in a family-bond based on shared experiences, mutual understanding, and interpersonal connection.

In life I find it to mean a group of people that you are not biologically related to, but who you are very close with and can depend on as if they are your family, with unconditional support. This often happens if: a) you don't have a family or they are very far away, or b) you have a biological family that does not accept you, a position that many LGBTQ+ people find themselves in.

One great example I can think of in recent literature is The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune. If you have read this, then maybe that will help too.

[Pam]

My first thought of found family is Clan of the Cave Bear! I don’t know if the rest of the books in the series work. Maybe/probably?

[Tracy]

Pam wrote: "My first thought of found family is Clan of the Cave Bear! I don’t know if the rest of the books in the series work. Maybe/probably?"

I read those over 30 years ago, so not exactly fresh in my mind. Sorry can't help with this.

[Joy D]

Dubhease wrote: "It depends what kind of books you like to read. Romances tend to end happily. Most epic fantasy that is a clash between good and evil have good win in the end. Jane Austen books end happily. I'm sure there are certain other authors who want their books to end happily.
.."
I don't read romances or epic fantasy so that's my issue. I've read all of Jane Austen's books. Most of the books I read have open endings, but I'm sure I could find something if it gets in. I just wouldn't vote for it.

[Dubhease]

I could have used Divergent for found family since you were supposed to put your faction over family. It's also about war, so your fighting group becomes like family.

The orphan is used a lot in fiction. By the end, most orphaned characters have a found family. The House in the Cerulean Sea and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children are great examples because the "kids" stay in their respective houses and find family with the other kids.

Found family is also is a trope that gets used a lot in fantasy. The epic quest bonds them like family. (And there are often orphaned characters too.)

[Juliet]

"Thomas wrote "
As found family was one of many reasons I didn’t do Popsugar this year it would be a big down for me I’m afraid."

reply | flag
"

I did Popsugar this year and used The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet but I agree with you that the term feels pretty squishy and is hard to pin down

[NancyJ]

I’m behind on reading this thread but I wanted to mention 2 points before I forget them.

I had a house guest this week who had some thoughts about books on addiction. (He’s very active in AA and has education in addiction counseling.). Books or movies about people partying can be triggering, but books written for addicts are designed to not be. But the person might have meant it would trigger feelings of guilt, or it could feel like being nagged.

It’s an important topic though because people are still dying from it.
———————

[NancyJ]

A book about friends, family, or found families.

Re found family… I always liked the term, but for me the priority is to make room on the list for books about friendship and family. Found family is both. I also like the twist of the term to include family you found through dna testing or ancestry research.

I don’t do pop sugar and I don’t know how people feel about using the same prompt. I know that the term won’t be many mentioned in many book descriptions, so I’d rather include the bigger concepts that are universal.

A book about friendship, family or found families.
A book involving friends, family, or found families.
A book involving friends or family

A book involving friends, neighbors..
A book with a sense of community
A book involving a community
This might be the spirit of what people wanted from the apartment house prompt.

[NancyJ]

Tracy wrote: "Thomas wrote: "Tracy- it would not be intrusive. I just struggled with the meaning of the term. It seemed from what I could gather to basically mean close friends who call themselves a family for n..."

I have a friend who is single, with no close family. Over the years she nurtured a group of friends who became like family to her. It started with a group of single friends who got together for thanksgiving and other so called family events. It grew into more. This group really stepped up for her when she needed an organ transplant.

In books it often develops with neighbors.

[Shannon SA]

dalex wrote: "Just curious, does anyone else track their voting throughout the process?

So far, for the prompts that have made it into the 2023 challenge, I have upvoted 11 (28%), downvoted 5 (13%). and was ind..."

Dalex, I have a spreadsheet where I note how I voted, I will go check on numbers :)

[Lindsay]

I've checked my voted for the ones that got in:
I voted for: 17
I voted against: 2 (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy & Ghost, Spirit or Spector)
The rest I didn't for/against or ones where I didn't take part in the votes.

[Kayleigh]

I really like the idea of
"A book with one of your favorite tropes"
Plus the found family idea would be covered by this.

[Shannon SA]

Of the ones that got in, I voted 18 up and 2 down :)

[Thomas]

The only problem with favourite tropes is I get the impression some people don’t like prompts that make listopias difficult

[Thomas]

I must admit so far I’ve done relatively well with prompts, only two I can’t stand and obviously I can WC one do just one to deal with.

[dalex]

Thanks everyone for sharing your voting numbers! I find this information so interesting.

[dalex]

Robin P wrote: "Very impressive! Not only don't I track, but I often forget what I voted for immediately after doing so - except for those few I really feel strongly about for or against"

I use a spreadsheet. I have a tab for each week with the list of prompts and how I voted and then a tab with formulas to track all the calculations. It was quick to set up and only takes a few minutes to update it for each poll.

It's really helpful in deciding my votes because I write in the titles of books that will fit each prompt. The more options there are, the more likely I am to upvote it. Matching books to prompts is a bit time consuming but I absolutely love doing it.

Having the list of possible books for a prompt is helpful if a prompt comes up for another vote or there's a prompt that's similar to a previously suggested prompt because I don't have to repeat my research.

[dalex]

Tracy wrote: "Anyone interested in a book involving the idea of "cold"?"

We had a cold related prompt in 2021. It was just called "Ice!"

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

[Tracy]

Ah! I forgot to check my list of old prompts when I thought of “cold”. Thanks

[Pamela, Arciform Mod]

NancyJ wrote: "This might be the spirit of what people wanted from the apartment house prompt.."

I loved the apartment house prompt.

[Eujean2]

Since I don't log into GoodReads as often as I like and I usually miss the nomination thread, I will mention a possible prompt that has been rattling around in my head. If anyone likes it, feel free to run with it.

A book with a title that is a "mouthful."
That could be something really long, something with words you might trip over, or one where it takes awhile to get the words in the correct order.
Some examples:
- A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet
- Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
- Afro Puffs Are the Antennae of the Universe
- The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
- Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask
- The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter
- Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life
- Most of the Better Natural Things in the World
- Please Don't Sit on My Bed in Your Outside Clothes: Essays

I could go on! This prompt could be good for those who read children's books or books with subtitles.

[LeahS]

I quite like it, but this year we had a book with 22 letters or more in the title which is somewhat similar.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

Eujean2 wrote: "Since I don't log into GoodReads as often as I like and I usually miss the nomination thread, I will mention a possible prompt that has been rattling around in my head. If anyone likes it, feel fre..."

This is fun, it reminds me of the prompt we had of "You read what???"

[Nadine in NY]

Eujean2 wrote: "A book with a title that is a "mouthful."..."


I am opposed to this for the pettiest of reasons. "More than a mouthful" is a phrase I associate with the restaurant chain Hooters, so I find it crass, because they are definitely aiming for the double entendre.

[Amy (Other Amy)]

Oh, I like that prompt. I would go less with length and more with something that has a title that is fun to say, or a title with a weighty feel and resonance, or a title with alliteration or other sound play. I just like the sounds of titles sometimes and I think it would be fun to have a prompt that picked by that.

(ETA: I also loved the apartment prompt. It was unusual and just specific enough.)

[Nancy]

I like any of the prompts around friendship - found family, featuring friends, friends who live together, it's all good to me.

The found family prompt is one that can be a little hard to know ahead of time, for Pop Sugar I read a book and then slotted it into that prompt. Also having had it for PS this year would not stop me from voting for it in our challenge.

[Joy D]

Eujean2 wrote: "Since I don't log into GoodReads as often as I like and I usually miss the nomination thread, I will mention a possible prompt that has been rattling around in my head. If anyone likes it, feel fre..."
I like this idea. I've definitely read some books with unusual or quirky titles.

[Tracy]

Nadine in NY wrote: "Eujean2 wrote: "A book with a title that is a "mouthful."..."


I am opposed to this for the pettiest of reasons. "More than a mouthful" is a phrase I associate with the restaurant chain Hooters, s..."


Maybe we can just come up with different wording for the same idea?

"A book with a title that is difficult to say or remember"?

[Thomas]

The title one is reminding me of when Popsugar did “ a book with an eye catching title”

[Joy D]

I wonder how many of the ATY members also do Popsugar? For me, since I don't do Popsugar, I have no issues with a similar prompt.

[Thomas]

Joy D- quite a few. I never done both at the same time cos the two years I’ve done this one I didn’t like the Popsugar list

[Tracy]

Thomas wrote: "The title one is reminding me of when Popsugar did “ a book with an eye catching title”"

Thomas, I like this version better. It has a more positive spin than "difficult to say or remember".

"A book with an eye catching title" doesn't even have to be long or difficult to say/remember. First thing that comes to mind is My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite.

"A book with a title that gets your attention" could be a variation on this if we don't want to use exact phrasing form PopSugar.

[Amy (Other Amy)]

I don't like the 'eye catching' (not because it copies Popsugar so much as because the eye vs sound thing bothers me). I can get with 'title that gets your attention' although I'm worried people might decide that is too vague. (I very much do not have my finger on the pulse of this group so to speak though, so don't mind me.)

[Nadine in NY]

Joy D wrote: "I wonder how many of the ATY members also do Popsugar? For me, since I don't do Popsugar, I have no issues with a similar prompt."



My very unscientific survey of the ten most recent members active online shows 60% are also part of the Popsugar group. That does not mean that they are actively doing the AtY OR the Popsugar challenge, it just shows which GR groups they belong to.

[Jill]

In 2019 we had A book with a weird or intriguing title. Which seems to me a lot like a mouthful. I don’t see why we can’t have that again

[Thomas]

Jill I like that

[Amy (Other Amy)]

I also like that.

[Jill]

I keep missing the suggestions so feel free to submit it if you catch them.

[Nancy]

I do both challenges. The only time I will be against a prompt that PS did is if it was difficult. Some examples from this year would be onomatopoeia in the title, and palindromic title. Especially palindromic was very narrow and there was a lot of discussion about what makes a title palindromic. Does Run Rose Run count? What about Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow? (IMO, yes, to both of those).

If the prompt is one I enjoyed, or there are a lot of options for it, I will not be against it just because PS had it.

One more comment from me here - we have 5 title prompts already, and many people have said they won't vote for another. Just some food for thought.

[Pam]

I like a book with an intriguing title.

[chysodema]

Eujean2 wrote: "Since I don't log into GoodReads as often as I like and I usually miss the nomination thread, I will mention a possible prompt that has been rattling around in my head. If anyone likes it, feel fre..."

I love this prompt idea! It might be tricky for me to find something, but I would enjoy the hunt. I agree with others that the wording isn't quite enough to convey your meaning without the examples given (which I know some voters don't read) but unfortunately I don't have any better thoughts for alternate wording.

[Jillian]

Now that we are not so heavy on title prompts, I no longer feel the need to automatically down vote them. I’d prefer prompts that are open to being applied to subject/title/cover rather than strictly title.

[Rachel]

I use a Word document to keep track of my votes every week, and I colour code them. If a prompt makes the list, it's green. If it didn't, it's red. If it's polarizing, it's blue. I don't mark close calls although I probably should.

Excluding the most recent poll since that is still in progress, this year I upvoted a total of 56 prompts (including the prepoll). Of the prompts that I voted for, 16 have made the final list, 3 were bottom votes for the group, and 2 were polarizing.

I also downvoted a total of 53 prompts. Of those, 8 made the final list including a multi-week. 9 of them the group agreed were in the bottom, and 3 were polarizing. To be fair, I didn't check for any duplicates but I'm pretty sure Tookie's list was polarizing both times and I downvoted it both times.

[Thomas]

Yes please NOT a palindrome title.

[Mahi]

I slogged through Life After Life for that one and will gladly never see palindromes in relation to books ever again.

[Alicia]

Palindrome and omnopaetia are why I’m not even trying for Popsugar this year. I’d be too strict on myself with both and the prompts started to stress me out.

[Traci]

Palindrome was difficult because there were so few options, I ended up reading Aya.

Onomatopoeia was difficult on a whole different level for me. I kept questioning if it really worked and saying words over and over again in my head. Then there were words like ring that are onomatopoeia if used as a verb, but not as an object - ugh! I finally settled on a couple that would work but it was a STRUGGLE.

Since we vote on prompts, I'm guessing prompts like these wouldn't get in even if they were available to be voted on. Sometimes they could sound fun, but when you really think about it, it's tough.