Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
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[2023] Wild Discussion
Gail wrote: "I have a topic very dear to my heart that I hope to be able to suggest tomorrow - banned books. I know it's been done before, but this has reached critical mass. I follow the American Library Assoc..."I went through the list and there's nothing on there that I have on my TBR list, so I wouldn't upvote it.
I have read several of the books on that list, bestsellers, and a couple of classics, and can't for the life of me think why they were banned.
Louise wrote: "Okay a bit off topic but.... I am reading Elif Shafak's contribution to Browse: The World in Bookshops and she writes:"When you opened an old Ottoman book, you could see a prayer ..."
That is cool!
NancyJ wrote: "Is anyone planning to submit any genres tomorrow? Genres, concepts, topics, themes? We seem to be very heavy on titles and covers, plus we have many other "related" prompts that could easily be u..."
LOL title & cover prompts are some of my favorite types of prompts!! I would not be unhappy if the entire challenger were made up of title / cover / author prompts.
Mod
Pretty much every book someone tries to ban these days... I would say it's a meaningless term except for the fact that people think they can ban books which is not meaningless
Perhaps a book about censorship, rather than reading a banned book itself?
Ellie wrote: "I'd heard about all the LGBT+ book banning, but are they are also on a mission to stop kids reading about vampires? And I am baffled at one state managing to ban the first volume of Saga but none o..."The triggers include anything LGBT, including the slightest suggestion of sexual content in an LGBT book, even the suggestion that a gay kid might be the least bit interested in sex someday (Lawn Boy got some local parents in my area REALLY worked up - I haven't read it, but apparently the teen boy main character thinks about sex with another boy?), sex in general, drugs, and curse words especially in books by BIPOC authors (I've seen The Hate U Give challenged sometimes solely because of the curse words - ridiculous)
With Saga, I actually get the point - that first volume was more explicit than any successive volume (more explicit that almost any comic I've read, including Sex Criminals!), there was full front nudity, masturbation, violence, and the TVhead guy taking a dump. I love that series, I own the first 3 omnibus collections, and I'm happy to let my kids read that series, but I can understand why parents might not want that in a SCHOOL library.
Nadine in NY wrote: "With Saga, I actually get the point - that first volume was more explicit than any successive volume..."I am sure there is explicit stuff in the other volumes. I wasn't saying it should be in schools, just if you're gonna remove it, remove all of it. If you find volume two you're gonna go look for volume one?
I think perhaps instead of a banned book the prompt could be a book that is about a topic that often gets a book challenged: race, gender, sexuality, and drugs. Hopefully, someone can phrase this idea better.
I personally, try and read a banned or challenged book each September but I’m not sure that I want a prompt that is a banned book. The town I grew up in had a Harry Potter book burning several years ago and the ignorance behind it and other book censorships has made me a stronger support of reading challenged books.
Ellie wrote: "... if you're gonna remove it, remove all of it. If you find volume two you're gonna go look for volume one? "Oh yeah! good point!!
NancyJ wrote: "Is anyone planning to submit any genres tomorrow? Genres, concepts, topics, themes? We seem to be very heavy on titles and covers, plus we have many other "related" prompts that could easily be u..."
I love, love, love "A book about a fish out of water." 10/10 will upvote.
I had mentioned that I was working on a listing of diversity awards for a prompt suggestion. This is it! SUGGESTION:
A book that has won a diversity award in the 21st Century (2001-present)
I am amazed at the number of diversity awards!!
This prompt combines the desire for diverse books AND a book from an award listing!
Diversity Awards:
Although I used 4 main links to research the individual awards, these two contained so many individual awards that I could not list them all:
https://libguides.uwf.edu/diversebkaw...
List of Literary Awards honoring women:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
These are the other 2 main links:
(These included more scholarly/academic awards.)
https://eiu.libguides.com/diverse-boo...
https://clemson.libguides.com/dei/boo...
INDIVIDUAL AWARDS:
African Studies Association:
*ASA Best Book Prize Winners: https://africanstudies.org/awards-pri...
*Bethwell A. Ogot Book Prize: https://africanstudies.org/awards-pri...
*Distinguished Africanist Award: https://africanstudies.org/awards-pri... (either authored by or about?)
*Paul Hair Prize: https://africanstudies.org/awards-pri...
American Indian Library Association (AILA) Awards: https://ailanet.org/activities/americ...
Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards: https://www.anisfield-wolf.org/winners/
Arab-American Book Award: https://arabamericanmuseum.org/book-a... (scroll down for winner listings by year)
Asian/Pacific-American Award for Literature: https://www.apalaweb.org/awards/liter... (scroll down for winner listings by year)
Associations for Asian Studies Book Prizes: https://www.asianstudies.org/grants-a... (scholarly publications)
Association for Queer Anthropology, the Ruth Benedict Prize: http://queeranthro.org/awards/the-rut...
Barbellion Prize: https://www.thebarbellionprize.com/wi...
Before Columbus Foundation America Book Award: https://www.beforecolumbusfoundation....
Black Caucus of the American Library Association Literary Awards: https://www.bcala.org/bcala-awards/li...
CABA (Children’s Africana Book Award): https://cfas.howard.edu/CABA/winners-...
Carter G. Woodson Book Award (by the National Council for the Social Studies: https://www.socialstudies.org/get-inv...
Consortium of Latin American Studies Program (CLASP) Awards: http://claspprograms.org/pages/detail...
Coretta Scott King Book Award: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coretta...
Dayton Literary Peace Prize: https://www.daytonliterarypeaceprize....
Disability History Association: https://dishist.org/?page_id=291
Hurston-Wright Foundation Legacy Awards: https://www.hurstonwright.org/2021-le...
IPPY Outstanding Book Award-Multicultural Fiction: https://www.ippyawards.com/146/medali...
Jane Addams Book Award: https://www.janeaddamschildrensbookaw...
Jewish Book Council: https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/awards
John Steptoe Award for New Talent: https://www.ala.org/rt/emiert/cskbook...
THE LAMMYS: https://lambdaliterary.org/
Middle East Studies Association (MESA) (academic): https://mesana.org/awards/category/me...
Modern Language Association (MLA) Awards (academic): https://mesana.org/awards/category/me...
Multicultural Adult Fiction Award: https://www.forewordreviews.com/awards/
Nautilus Book Awards: https://nautilusbookawards.com/nautil...
Pen/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction: https://pen.org/pen-bellwether-prize/ (link for previous winners down the page)
Pen Open Book Award: https://pen.org/pen-open-book-award/ (link for previous winners down the page)
Rainbow Book List: https://glbtrt.ala.org/rainbowbooks/
The Schneider Family Book Award: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schneid...
Skipping Stones Book Awards: https://www.skippingstones.org/wp/boo...
Stonewall Book Awards: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewa...
The Sydney Taylor Book Award: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_...
Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom%C3%...
Women’s Prize for Fiction: https://www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk/
(Added per Thomas' message.)
Interesting add-on:
In May 2014, Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction launched the #ThisBook campaign to find out which books, written by women, have had the biggest impact on readers.[19] Nineteen "inspirational women" were chosen to launch the campaign and then thousands of people from the "general public" submitted their ideas via Twitter.[20] The 20 winners were announced on 29 July 2014.[20] The organisers noted that nearly half (eight) of the winning books were published before 1960.[20]
To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) Harper Lee
The Handmaid's Tale (1985) Margaret Atwood
Jane Eyre (1847) Charlotte Brontë
Harry Potter series (1997) J. K. Rowling
Wuthering Heights (1847) Emily Brontë
Pride and Prejudice (1813) Jane Austen
Rebecca (1938) Daphne Du Maurier
Little Women (1868–69) Louisa May Alcott
The Secret History (1992), Donna Tartt
I Capture the Castle (1948) Dodie Smith
The Bell Jar (1963) Sylvia Plath
Beloved (1987), Toni Morrison
Gone with the Wind (1936) Margaret Mitchell
We Need to Talk About Kevin (2003) Lionel Shriver
The Time Traveller's Wife (2003) Audrey Niffenegger
Middlemarch (1871–72) George Eliot
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969) Maya Angelou
The Golden Notebook (1962), Doris Lessing
The Color Purple (1982) Alice Walker
The Women's Room (1977) Marilyn French
Lynn wrote: "I had mentioned that I was working on a listing of diversity awards for a prompt suggestion. This is it! SUGGESTION:
A book that has won a diversity award in the 21st Century (2001-present)
I a..."
For clarfication is the lsit below jsut examples? Just I would argue The WOemns Prize For Fiction is a diveristy award and I don't see that on your lsit
Thomas wrote: "Lynn wrote: "I had mentioned that I was working on a listing of diversity awards for a prompt suggestion. This is it! SUGGESTION:
A book that has won a diversity award in the 21st Century (2001-..."
Thanks for this! There is no way I could list all awards. I'll add that one since I didn't see it on any of the 3 main links. There are just too many. So I guess my answer is "Yes. This is a representative/sample listing." I'm sure there are many more and they can be added...
Thomas wrote: "Lynn wrote: "I had mentioned that I was working on a listing of diversity awards for a prompt suggestion. This is it! SUGGESTION:
A book that has won a diversity award in the 21st Century (2001-..."
And that led me to a whole new listing of literary awards honoring women which is now one of the main links! :)
I like this idea a lot, Lynn. Thanks for putting together a great list! It is definitely a prompt I would consider voting for once I look through to make sure I have a few options on my TBR.
Jillian wrote: "I think perhaps instead of a banned book the prompt could be a book that is about a topic that often gets a book challenged: race, gender, sexuality, and drugs. Hopefully, someone can phrase this..."
I like that suggestion Jillian, thanks.
Thomas wrote: For clarfication is the lsit below jsut examples? Just I would argue The WOemns Prize For Fiction is a diveristy award and I don't see that on your lsitThe Womens prize for fiction is the last one on the list.
Shannon SA wrote: "Thomas wrote: For clarfication is the lsit below jsut examples? Just I would argue The WOemns Prize For Fiction is a diveristy award and I don't see that on your lsitThe Womens prize for fiction ..."
In fairness, I added it after Thomas' message. :)
Shannon SA wrote: "My apologies :)"Just wanted to make sure Thomas got credit for helping! :)
Lynn wrote: "Shannon SA wrote: "My apologies :)"Just wanted to make sure Thomas got credit for helping! :)"
thank you.
Mod
SUGGESTION:
A book that has won a diversity award in the 21st Century (2001-present)
I a..."
Maybe it's my field, but for me, a "diversity award" is something one is given in recognition of efforts towards diversity and inclusion. Those awards are more awards given to a specific traditionally marginalized group of authors.
Pamela wrote: "Lynn wrote: "I had mentioned that I was working on a listing of diversity awards for a prompt suggestion. This is it! SUGGESTION:
A book that has won a diversity award in the 21st Century (2001-...
Maybe it's my field, but for me, a "diversity award" is something one is given in recognition of efforts towards diversity and inclusion. Those awards are more awards given to a specific traditionally marginalized group of authors"
There are some geared more toward "diversity and inclusion" as well as the more targeted ones.
Because we don't have much in the "Recommendations" section, and also because some of use are actively trying to reduce our TBRs (I have just as much fun enlarging mine), I thought of this:"Read one of the top 10 GoodReads rated books in your TBR."
Go to ‘Your Books’. Filter for ‘to-read’, sort by average rating (highest to lowest) and pick from the top 10 books.
a) would this count as a "Recommendation"?
b) does this sound like a good idea to anyone?
EDIT: I'd be ok changing the number of top books to consider, if 10 seems too restrictive. Or it could be "choose from any of the books that have a rating of 4.60 or higher" (4.6 because it's twice 23 for 2023).
Tracy wrote: "Because we don't have much in the "Recommendations" section, and also because some of use are actively trying to reduce our TBRs (I have just as much fun enlarging mine), I thought of this:"Read ..."
Not to me ebcuase I have evry few TBR and most of them becuase they are already in my list for this year
Lynn wrote: "I had mentioned that I was working on a listing of diversity awards for a prompt suggestion. This is it! SUGGESTION:
A book that has won a diversity award in the 21st Century (2001-present)
I a..."
WOW that list is overwhelming. Are there a few that stand out that you can just show as an example? Because I don't even know where to start with that list - I clicked on a few, and found one book I have on my TBR - I know there are more, I just didn't click on the right awards.
Mod
"Read ..."
I like that idea- I like the prompts that make me look at my TBR list in a different way (mine never gets reduced, I add at a much faster rate!)
Thomas wrote: "Tracy wrote: "Because we don't have much in the "Recommendations" section, and also because some of use are actively trying to reduce our TBRs (I have just as much fun enlarging mine), I thought of..."Wow, you are very disciplined Thomas! I have over 1800 books in my TBR. These are not owned, just show interest. I should probably go through them to weed out books that I'm not as interested in any more though...
Tracy wrote: "Because we don't have much in the "Recommendations" section, and also because some of use are actively trying to reduce our TBRs (I have just as much fun enlarging mine), I thought of this:"Read ..."
I don't really use my TBR list to pick out books so it would be a down vote for me. I like many of your other ideas better.
Jillian wrote: "Tracy wrote: "Because we don't have much in the "Recommendations" section, and also because some of use are actively trying to reduce our TBRs (I have just as much fun enlarging mine), I thought of..."Thank you Jillian :) This was more about beefing up some of our lesser used categories in a new way.
Nadine in NY wrote: "Lynn wrote: "I had mentioned that I was working on a listing of diversity awards for a prompt suggestion. This is it! SUGGESTION:
A book that has won a diversity award in the 21st Century (2001-...
WOW that list is overwhelming. Are there a few that stand out that you can just show as an example? Because I don't even know where to start with that list - I clicked on a few, and found one book I have on my TBR - I know there are more, I just didn't click on the right awards."
Geeminy, Nadine! LOL ;)
I could start linking to some appropriately tagged Goodreads Listopias. Would that help? I guess I could start listing individual books...
Tracy wrote: "Because we don't have much in the "Recommendations" section, and also because some of use are actively trying to reduce our TBRs (I have just as much fun enlarging mine), I thought of this:"Read ..."
as someone with over 2000 books on my TBR list, I like this! I don't always use my TBR to pick a book, but I enjoy playing with the list sometimes to pick a book like this. Automatic upvote from me.
I just tried it, though, and A LOT (more than ten) of the top books are books that aren't even published yet, just some yahoos went in and gave them five stars, so they have a perfect rating of 5.00 right now.
Obviously, I can skip these. Perhaps a qualifier of "top ten published books"? Or just trust everyone to figure it out. Or I can just choose one of those not-yet-published books and wait :-)
Nadine in NY wrote: "Tracy wrote: "Because we don't have much in the "Recommendations" section, and also because some of use are actively trying to reduce our TBRs (I have just as much fun enlarging mine), I thought of..."What do you think about "choose from top 10"? Too limiting? Maybe "choose from top 23" both to open it up a bit, but also to bring in 2023?
Tracy wrote: "Because we don't have much in the "Recommendations" section, and also because some of use are actively trying to reduce our TBRs (I have just as much fun enlarging mine), I thought of this:"Read ..."
I like the 4.6 or higher twist!
Tracy wrote: "Because we don't have much in the "Recommendations" section, and also because some of use are actively trying to reduce our TBRs (I have just as much fun enlarging mine), I thought of this:"Read ..."
Tracy I'd vote for any variation of something relating to our TBR, since I'm trying trying to cut mine down!
I wouldn't vote for the 4.6 rating though because of the 500+ books on my two TBR shelves, only 1 book has at least a 4.6 rating (I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jeannette McCurdy, which has a 4.67). That seems far too restrictive.
I like choose from top 10/top 23 rated books in your TBR. I checked for books rated 4.6 and over and I only have 3/300 which meet this criteria. So I’d vote no for that wording.
Lindsay wrote: "I like choose from top 10/top 23 rated books in your TBR. I checked for books rated 4.6 and over and I only have 3/300 which meet this criteria. So I’d vote no for that wording."
It may not be practical, but it's still cool! ;)
Lynn wrote: "Tracy wrote: "Because we don't have much in the "Recommendations" section, and also because some of use are actively trying to reduce our TBRs (I have just as much fun enlarging mine), I thought of..."My second thought about 4.6 is, would that be a problem for people who are attracted to books that aren't popular with the masses? What if you don't have anything rated at least 4.6?
Maybe it could be like warranties on cars: good for 50,000 miles or 2 years, whichever comes first. So "rated 4.6 or above, or your top 23 rated books, whichever gives you more options"? Although that is a very long prompt description...
Tracy wrote: ""Read one of the top 10 GoodReads rated books in your TBR."This assumes that everyone has a TBR List on Goodreads. I, for one, do not. I have several TBR Lists in several different places but Goodreads is not one of those places.
Lynn wrote: "I had mentioned that I was working on a listing of diversity awards for a prompt suggestion. This is it! SUGGESTION:
A book that has won a diversity award in the 21st Century (2001-present)"
Your list is very impressive. And incredibly overwhelming.
I clicked on two prizes at random and one was for nonfiction and one was for kids books. I'm not interested in either. Maybe if the list was categorized by genre it would seem more doable?
Thumbs up for the top 10 or 23 rated books on my TBR list. Although my list is a puny 667 or so, this is cool way to reduce it a bit.
dalex wrote: "Tracy wrote: ""Read one of the top 10 GoodReads rated books in your TBR."This assumes that everyone has a TBR List on Goodreads. I, for one, do not. I have several TBR Lists in several different ..."
@dalex - what if it was worded so that it could be the 23 top rated book on whichever TBR list you use? Of course that would be harder if your list is on paper... Or this could end up being a wildcard for you. Any suggestions? I've just never focused on reducing my TBR, and thought this would be a good way for me (and others) to do that.
Irene wrote: "Tracy wrote: "Because we don't have much in the "Recommendations" section, and also because some of use are actively trying to reduce our TBRs (I have just as much fun enlarging mine), I thought of..."Yes, I've changed my mind about the list based on the actual rating, realizing that not everyone is lucky enough to have many options that are highly rated. Many of my high rated books are non-fiction (coincidence?), and I know that is not everyone's favorite to read.
Tracy wrote: "Lynn wrote: "Tracy wrote: "Because we don't have much in the "Recommendations" section, and also because some of use are actively trying to reduce our TBRs (I have just as much fun enlarging mine),..."Maybe of the top 46 books? to expand it but not complicate it? It is very difficult to satisfy everyone...impossible, in fact. :)
Lynn wrote: "Tracy wrote: "Lynn wrote: "Tracy wrote: "Because we don't have much in the "Recommendations" section, and also because some of use are actively trying to reduce our TBRs (I have just as much fun en..."haha, so true...
46 or 23? I might not be able to make up my mind with 46, but 23 I could probably manage.
Mod
I checked for books rated 4.6 and over and I only have 3/300 which meet this criteria. So I’d vote no for that wording."
I have 950 books on my list and none are 436 (on my overall list, Harry Potter Ranks up there)
Top 23 though, there's some good books there! Clearly this prompt sucks for people who don't use Goodreads TBR, but they have their own workaround already.
dalex wrote: "Lynn wrote: "I had mentioned that I was working on a listing of diversity awards for a prompt suggestion. This is it! SUGGESTION:
A book that has won a diversity award in the 21st Century (2001-...
I clicked on two prizes at random and one was for nonfiction and one was for kids books. I'm not interested in either. Maybe if the list was categorized by genre it would seem more doable?"
I could try though some award both fiction and nonfiction... :)
I realize not everyone approaches such prompts the way I do. I delight in clicking and creating a listing of books I might want to read from each link. Then I determine what I might actually own, etc.
Lynn wrote: "I had mentioned that I was working on a listing of diversity awards for a prompt suggestion. This is it! SUGGESTION:
A book that has won a diversity award in the 21st Century (2001-present)
I a..."
OMG Lynn - what a tremendous amount of research! Thank you :)
This looks really interesting, and I would definitely upvote it!
Sorry I have to leave this discussion fro a time. at the mo every time I see my ntofications flash I think its the suggestions opening. Will return later
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Around the Year in 52 Books
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"When you opened an old Ottoman book, you could see a prayer on the first page dedicated to Kebikec - the name of the djinni that was supposed to protect books from dust and destruction. "
I googled it and read that they would even write it in ink that was poisonous to insects - how cool is that???