Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
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[2023] Wild Discussion
I like helping figure out if books fit for others. (Though I kind of fell off the earth for several months this year.) Here is the ATY thread for does it fit:https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
I don't mind "does this fit" questions. If you haven't read a book you don't always know. What drives me nuts on the PS FB group though is "I have this stack of books, what prompts do they fit?" Part of the fun for me is figuring that out.
Or worse - "I just read this book. What prompts does it fit?" Like, dude. You just read the book. Can't you figure it out?
Joy D wrote: "Alicia wrote: "I like reading the different opinions of the discussions because I don’t usually make up my mind till a couple days into voting. And both perspectives help me. But I’m understanding ..."@Thomas - thank you for clarifying your idea of "non-traditional family". That is my understanding as well, but you never know if it is the same in different countries.
@JoyD - I don't think "non-traditional families" and "found families" are the same idea at all, except that it is a group of people who love and support one another.
"Non-traditional families" are considered "legal families" for tax and family rights reasons (not sure if there is a better way to explain that families have legal rights to determine educational decisions for children, medical decisions for children and spouses, etc.). Thankfully this right has finally been recognized in the US for Same Sex Families as well.
"Found families" are not legally designated. They would not be recognized as having "family rights". They are a group of people who have chosen to support each other in a way that is just expected within a traditional family, but have no legal rights as a group.
It is possible to have "traditional/non-traditional families" that are PART OF a "found family". My family (husband and kids) were part of a "found family" that was comprised of several nuclear "traditional/non-traditional families", and a few single people. We met every Sunday for dinner for over 20 years. We attended the weddings of those who married after being part of the group, celebrated birthdays and holidays together, took refuge in one another's homes when evacuation was necessary due to wildfire (without question - we just showed up when a safe place was needed), and took care of one another through extreme sickness.
Although I'd be happy to read about "non-traditional families" as well, I DON'T think it belongs in the same prompt as "found families".
Thomas wrote: "Can I ask a question. Are you guys okay with “ does this fit” questions, I know it’s you say it fits it fits but I do sometimes like reassurance. I’m asking because there’s been some rather nasty c..."Absolutely okay with asking. Yes, I subscribe to the if I think it fits, it fits school. And sometimes I would like others' opinion. During the recent read-a-thon I asked that question about a book I was reading.. and was fine with hearing, "no it did not fit."
Emily wrote: "We have a whole thread for this one, Thomas!https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/..."
Wow this Goodreads refresh thing is really getting out of hand! I would have sworn there was no other comment! Once again you are so fast, Emily! LOL.
Tracy wrote: "... a title that stands out in a crowd..."Yes!!! I will always vote for a prompt like this!!
Right now, I'm about to start reading Didn't Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta. That would definitely fit !!!
(Of course it won't work for me since I'm going to read it this month, but that's okay, there will be others with eye-catching titles)
@ Tracy, thanks for the clarification of found families versus non-traditional families. I had never heard the term found families before. I would be interested in reading about either or both of these.
I do not mind questions of "does it fit" and glad we have a thread to discuss it.
Nancy wrote: "Oh, and since we're discussing titles and PopSugar. This year they had "A book with a misleading title" and it's one I didn't love. You may not know the title is misleading until you read the book ..."Yeah I didn't like that one either, and I don't feel good about the book I used for it, but I didn't know what else to read so I stayed with Wife of the Gods.
I didn't dislike it as much as the palindrome or "title begins with the last letter of your previous read" (which I still haven't picked anything for - I just don't know what to do with that one)
Oh I didn't like that title one either. I have multiple books going at once and I really struggled with it.
Nadine in NY wrote: "Tracy wrote: "... a title that stands out in a crowd..."Yes!!! I will always vote for a prompt like this!!
Right now, I'm about to start reading [book:Didn't Nobody Give a Shit What Happened t..."
Another great example Nadine!
Thomas wrote: "Can I ask a question. Are you guys okay with “ does this fit” questions, I know it’s you say it fits it fits but I do sometimes like reassurance. I’m asking because there’s been some rather nasty c..."Absolutely. Other people might have the same questions, or we haven't thought of them yet. I found questions helpful when writing prompts too, especially the tropics prompt, and now with found family.
I know what you mean about the answer that you can interpret it the way you want. I wonder if it really means, "No, I don't think so, but it fits if you say it fits." If I'm going to pick a KIS option, I want to know that's what I'm doing.
It's also interesting to hear what other people think. I love that "lightbulb" moment when you see a prompt a whole new way.
Nadine in NY wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "What are some types of books that you like to read - genres, themes, topics, regions - that might be hard to fit into the prompts we have so far?New to me authors
BIPOC centered st..."
That's great! I didn't even mean that to be a list of my favorite types of books, but I guess it was. I'd really like to know what "holes" we have in our current list. What types of books would people miss if they weren't on the list? We're getting down to the wire.
We have no genre prompts. And I'd like another Goodreads/Recs prompt.
Nancy wrote: "We have no genre prompts. And I'd like another Goodreads/Recs prompt."I'm embarassed that i only just noticed that.
I’m terrible at wording, but what about a prompt from the same genre that inspired your love of reading. Clearly, that’s terrible wording but I always loved reading as a child, but fell into a bit of a funk for a few years in college. Then I started reading some YA Fantasy and was hooked on reading again across genres.
Now that I’ve written it out this may be a prompt not everyone can relate to
Alicia wrote: "I’m terrible at wording, but what about a prompt from the same genre that inspired your love of reading. Clearly, that’s terrible wording but I always loved reading as a child, but fell into a bi..."
I think it's fine, as long as people don't get too attached to it being the start of their reading as a child. It could be the genre that got you back into your current reading journey.
To help counteract that, maybe "Read from the genre that inspired, or rekindled, your love of reading"?
I have suggested a genre prompt that would stretch the genres you read, but several people are VERY broad readers, and didn't want to have to read a genre they already knew they don't like. I think your idea (with a small amendment) would allow people to choose — possibly — from a few genres, as it could be their 'first love', or any of a number of newer inspirations to keep reading.
Thomas wrote: "Nancy wrote: "We have no genre prompts. And I'd like another Goodreads/Recs prompt."I'm embarassed that i only just noticed that."
I think that's because it's not a category listed on the Reading List page that keeps track of all the prompts that we've collected so far.
Alicia & Tracy - I really like this:"Read from the genre that inspired, or rekindled, your love of reading"
It doesn't "force" someone to read a genre they don't like but it's still a genre-related prompt.
We could use a random book generator and find a book in the same genre of the random pick.I just got Dangerous Liaisons and Goodreads shows the genres as Classics, Fiction, France, French Literature, Romance, Historical Fiction, 18th Century. So then those would be the genres I could choose from.
https://www.generatormix.com/random-b...
Alicia wrote: "I’m terrible at wording, but what about a prompt from the same genre that inspired your love of reading. Clearly, that’s terrible wording but I always loved reading as a child, but fell into a bi..."
Alicia, I love this prompt idea! I was a voracious reader in elementary school, didn't read much in middle and high school, and then started reading again for fun in college because I fell in love with some beautiful covers and ended up buying a big stack of books. I would love to read another YA/Fantasy book that I choose based solely on the cover, lol.
Samantha wrote: "We could use a random book generator and find a book in the same genre of the random pick.I just got Dangerous Liaisons and Goodreads shows the genres as Classics, Fiction, France, ..."
I also love this! For those of us who like more narrow/challenging prompts, we can limit ourselves to the first generated book and maybe only its primary genre. For those of us who prefer more open prompts, we can keep re-generating a book until we find one with genres we like!
Tracy that is perfect wording! Thank you.
I really hope someone submits the random book idea it at least deserves a try
Samantha wrote: "We could use a random book generator and find a book in the same genre of the random pick.I just got Dangerous Liaisons and Goodreads shows the genres as Classics, Fiction, France, ..."
although I'm not sure how this would work as a prompt, thanks for introducing me to this site. Seems like a fun way to find a new book to read
Alicia wrote: "I’m terrible at wording, but what about a prompt from the same genre that inspired your love of reading. Clearly, that’s terrible wording but I always loved reading as a child, but fell into a bi..."
Well, I don't want to read Dr Suess, but I get your meaning.
I got really excited about reading again a few years ago when the monthly tag was "Literary Fiction." I like fiction with great writing, topics that are deeply human, and not overly contrived. The kind of writing that you'd see on the Women's Prize for fiction. I liked some (but not all) of the Booker Prize nominees. (Both are British.) I went from reading a few books a month, to 10-20.
The definitions are all over the place. The books with the most literary fiction tags include:
The Goldfinch
The Secret History
Station Eleven (even though it's also tagged sci-fi)
The Vanishing Half
Little Fired Everywhere
Kite Runner
Where the Crawdads Sing
Handmaid's Tale
Remains of the Day
The Dutch House
Sing, Unburied, Sing
Circe
All the Light we cannot see
A Man Called Ove
A Gentleman in Moscow
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
The Book Thief
Hamnet
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
Last week I had my first 'book high' in a long time after reading an emotional and magical book by Alice Hoffman, The World That We Knew. Books by Sarah Addision Allen, Amy Harmon, Fredrik Backman, Jesmyn West, Ruth Ozeki and others also gave me that feeling.
Alicia wrote: "Tracy that is perfect wording! Thank you."Glad to help :)
Samantha wrote: "We could use a random book generator and find a book in the same genre of the random pick.I just got Dangerous Liaisons and Goodreads shows the genres as Classics, Fiction, France, ..."
I had no idea there was such a thing! Cool - thanks for the introduction :)
NancyJ wrote: "Alicia wrote: "I’m terrible at wording, but what about a prompt from the same genre that inspired your love of reading. Clearly, that’s terrible wording but I always loved reading as a child, but..."
I knew there would be someone who remembered their initial inspiration for reading (Dr. Seuss in your case) and that it would not be a good choice for them now! haha — This is exactly why I thought adding "or rekindled" was necessary.
Thanks for pointing out how you would use the 'whole' prompt and not get stuck on the first part.
I’m trying to think of the book that started my love of reading. The first book I remember reading culminated in my being made to take a nap cos I was so hysterical. Luckily my reading experience improved
Mod
I just got Dangerous Liaisons and Goodreads shows the genres as Classics, Fiction, France, ..."
There's another site like that which lists authors in a sort of map and when you put in one you like, it shows you a bunch that readers of that author also like.
https://www.literature-map.com
We could have a prompt using one of those sites. I had that in one group and found I did own a book from an author recommended that way, I just hadn't gotten to it yet. So people might still be able to read from their TBR.
I tried the generator. I cycled through it a few times to see what it considered "classic" and what it considered "Thriller". Albert Camus is definitely not my idea of a thriller writer. :)
Station Eleven rekindled my interest in reading about art, music and theater. I hesitated to read it because of the science fiction label. It's a book about actors, musicians, and the importance of the arts in people's lives. " The Traveling Symphony: Because survival is insufficient.”
Robin P wrote: "Samantha wrote: "We could use a random book generator and find a book in the same genre of the random pick.I just got Dangerous Liaisons and Goodreads shows the genres as Classics, ..."
I've never seen the literature map before. What a great tool. Thanks!
I like the random generator to select a genre better than the "inspire/rekindled my reading" I also like "found family" better than "non-traditional family"
The one I really hope gets suggested is the eye-catching/unusual etc.. title one :)
I'm loving Literature Map and the Random Book Generator. I think a prompt based on one of these would be great fun.
A "fun" prompt doesn't have to be a light fluffy book - e.g. a serious book can have a quirky title or come from the literature map.
My reading origin story involves Meg and Mog, though childhood memories being what they are I don't really know if this is true, but it's what I tell people. That's easily identifiable as a fantasy.NancyJ wrote: "Station Eleven (even though it's also tagged sci-fi)..."
And Circe is fantasy, and Hamnet is historical fiction. It just depends whether you choose to define the books by style or content.
Sorry but I just googled Literature Map, it seems to be a sight where you choose an author and see what genres they write so how would that work for a prompt?
Thomas wrote: "Sorry but I just googled Literature Map, it seems to be a sight where you choose an author and see what genres they write so how would that work for a prompt?"On the site that Robin linked to, if you put in an author it gives you similar authors, not genres. So a prompt could be a book by an author suggested on literature-map.com... with some sort of filtering. Like a favourite author, or author of a book you read in 2022. I'm not sure what the intention was but the site returns lots of authors I'm interested in when I put in names, so I think it has potential.
Oh I see! So it would be like pick an author on the same map as your favourite?
NancyJ wrote: "Well, I don't want to read Dr Suess, but I get your meaning."I think for this prompt you'd go beyond the time when you were reading "kids books" and started reading books that could be categorized by genres.
When I was about 12/13 I devoured gothic romances. Books where the cover featured a woman on a windswept moor with a castle in the background and lots of dark sky and stormy clouds. Haha. An elderly neighbor lady distributed them to everyone and anyone in a paper grocery sack after she'd finished reading them. I still love gothic novels, though not so much romance.
https://www.fictiondb.com/covers/0449...
Well I really hope the random book is put forward. It deserves its day in court
I love both the random Genre and the Literature Map. Great suggestions that give the opportunity to both read in your interest areas and explore at the same time. Keep it Simple options could be multiple 'spins' for the random generator or following a trail of authors through the map. A Bring it On option would be to either 1 spin or type in one author and select from the ones displayed.I like to explore both genres and authors (mainly because I enjoy the hunt and I've finally learned that life is too short to read books that I don't like. DNF has become my friend)
Tracy wrote: "I think that's because it's not a category listed on the Reading List page that keeps track of all the prompts that we've collected so far."Theme/Genre is a category. But everything in there so far is just theme.
I read a ton of Judy Blume as a teen. And a lot of Danielle Steeil, that's what my mom always got from the library so I read it too. I fell off reading during college and picked it back up after that when I got into Stephen King. So I would probably use one of his books I haven't read yet, or something similar.
I like either random book generator or the literature map.
We don't have a lot of diversity this year. What about "A book by a BIPOC author in a genre you enjoy?" (I was going to put favorite but people (including me!) often don't like favorite)Or, since we do have interracial relationship, an LGBT+ author in a genre you enjoy.
I really like the Literature map site and think that it gives enough choice to find a book. Not sure how I would word a suggestion however. "A book by an author on the literature map" is the best I have come up with.
Nancy wrote: "We have no genre prompts. "Yes, I want a genre prompt. A few have been suggested, but none have been voted in yet.
Nancy wrote: "We don't have a lot of diversity this year. What about "A book by a BIPOC author in a genre you enjoy?" (I was going to put favorite but people (including me!) often don't like favorite)Or, since..."
I think if we are going to do identity prompts, that characters are sometimes easier than authors. Not every author wants to talk about their ethnic make up, religious beliefs, or sexuality. Characters often tell you more about themselves than their authors do.
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