[2023] Wild Discussion Showing 3,701-3,750 of 4,060

[Tracy]

Thomas wrote: "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"

Thomas, come back! It's time :)

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Suggestions are open!

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Pamela, Arciform Mod]

Thomas wrote: "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"

THEY'RE OPEN!!!

[L Y N N]

Poll 16 suggestions thread is open!

[L Y N N]

Tracy 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-...

OMG Lynn - what a tremendous amount of research! Thank you :)

This looks really interesting, and I would definitely upvote it!"
We'll see if it even gets seconded. I have my own word document now for Diversity Awards and will just keep adding direct links to it for my own resource! :)

[Nadine in NY]

Tracy wrote: "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 enlargin...

Maybe "choose from top 23" both to open it up a bit, but also to bring in 2023?"


that's cute and clever and I like it

[Meg]

The suggestions go so quickly! I find it impossible to get in

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

It was crazy today. I missed the whole thing, which was fine, as I didn't have a particular idea to promote. When I came back to my computer, I saw that whole thread, plus this one had 47 new messages! I will miss this thread when we have all the prompts selected.

[Judy]

Nadine in NY wrote: "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 S..."

People are resistant to this because they've done it before in other challenges. What is happening now is different. It's an organized attack by political and fundamentalist groups. It's like 1930's Germany.

How about? Read a type of book that is currently under attack by political and fundamentalist groups.

The types of book might change, and they might be region specific. The group on 60 minutes was focused on LGBTQ+ (especially trans), and books about black leaders and black lives matter.

[Amy (Other Amy)]

I just finished adding 100 books to the banned/challenged list Gail made. They really do seem to be trying to keep any hint of sex or violence (school shootings and police brutality in particular) completely out. And several I cannot for the life of me figure out what the strategy is, like a children's book about Ada Lovelace. If anyone else wants to help add, the list is here:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

And the spreadsheet is here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

And it should take about 12 of us adding 100 different books to get the whole list on there. (I know it's a project, but I hope a worthy one.)

[Nadine in NY]

Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "I just finished adding 100 books to the banned/challenged list Gail made. They really do seem to be trying to keep any hint of sex or violence (school shootings and police brutality in particular) ..."



When the list is this long, it's hard to see at a glance what is there and what still needs to be added. How do you know which books have been added to the list already? so you're not just "voting" on books but actually adding them?

[Amy (Other Amy)]

I either add what I want to add and then unvote the ones someone else has voted for when I'm done and add some more (which is what I did here since there are so many yet to be added), or I have another tab open and I look up the book and scroll to the bottom and click into the lists it's on to see if it's been added to that list.

Freely admit it's a little clunky, but it becomes a kind of rhythm when you get going. Not sure if Gail owns the spreadsheet? We could highlight to show what is on the list.

[Tracy]

Judy wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: "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 ..."

I would support this idea. It sounds more current and relevant than 'banned books' somehow. Maybe for the reasons you mentioned.

[Mandy]

Here is the latest bookriot banned books article.

https://bookriot.com/groups-banning-b...

have you heard that libraries are getting bomb threats now too?

[Tracy]

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 ..."

I love this!

And on a same/but different note: I've started keeping books I want to try to read sooner rather than later in an 'ottoman' we have that has storage in it. When I was trying to get my husband to start reading more during covid lockdown this piece of furniture became known as "the Magic Ottoman" because of the wonders held inside!

[Joy D]

Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "I either add what I want to add and then unvote the ones someone else has voted for when I'm done and add some more (which is what I did here since there are so many yet to be added), or I have ano..."

I'd be happy to add 100 books if there was an easier way to know what has already been added. Scrolling gives me vertigo.

[NancyJ]

Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "I just finished adding 100 books to the banned/challenged list Gail made. They really do seem to be trying to keep any hint of sex or violence (school shootings and police brutality in particular) ..."

Amy if this doesn't get in as a prompt, I think this would be a great side project. I'm in another group (Play-Book-Tag) where we have a folder called "footnotes" which would be a handy place to share what we're reading on a special topic like this. I think that group would like to hear about this too.

I can understand parents wanting to protect their young kids from reading too much about violence, but if the parents are threatening the schools or librarians with violence, they lose all moral authority.

Thanks for doing all this.

Amy, I voted for 100 books with 1 vote each, so that frees you up to add more.

I can't believe that people are trying to ban so many great books! I just read Before the Ever After, and I can't imagine why they would want to ban it. It's about a kid whose father (a football player) is slowly damaged by all the concussions he suffered on the field. It was a gentle way to explain it. Maybe they think it's attacking football?

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

Those who are censoring books rarely are bothered by violence, it's issues about US history (anything that doesn't make the country look great) or about gender issues. My take is that if they say any book that mentions a gay couple is out (because it is talking about sex!), every book where straight people fall in love, get married, or have children would also need to be blocked. Just kidding, but it shows how ridiculous the ban is. Also in this day and age, kids of the age for these books can find lots more stuff on the internet.

[chysodema]

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 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."

I love this idea! I think we can all have the wisdom to skip over books that aren't published and stuff like that. One thing I especially like about this prompt idea is that the stuff up there at the top of my TBR (when sorted by average GR rating) is maybe more intellectual, more thought-provoking, or more rarely read (some books have only a few high ratings from their biggest fans and no one else has ever heard of them). And I do sometimes need a nudge to read books in those categories, rather than just gulping down my usual book-candy, so this prompt would be great for that.

[Lindsay]

For the banned book prompt, I understand that this is a current topic in America, however if the wording of the prompt limits it to books banned in America then I wouldn’t vote for it.

As lots of the group are from other countries maybe it would be fairer to say ‘in America or your own country’ then the list you guys are working on would still be relevant. And a second list could be group generated for books banned other countries.

I tried to find the current wording but I was limited about how far I can scroll on my phone.

Just an idea of how to make the prompt more relevant to all of the group members.

[Thomas]

Finding books banned in my country would be hard as the term banned is rarely used unless we mean it’s actually illegal. A school board or library not stocking it would not be called banned

[Shannon SA]

Hi Thomas, this is interesting - how would a book become illegal in the UK? Do you have any examples of books that are illegal in the UK?

[Thomas]

Currently illegal not many, but in the past we banned for example Lady Chatterlys Lover and Lolita were banned for periods of time

[Ellie]

We actually still have various archaic obscenity laws in place in the UK regarding books and comics, just no one is prosecuted for them any more, because no one really cares.

I guess something like the Anarchist's Cookbook is illegal and might get you in trouble.

I am not sure there are any recent cases of mass book banning in schools and libraries here, just individual cases, which really doesn't amount to a ban. A library is allowed to curate its own shelves, even if I don't agree with their choices. A banned book prompt is nearly always "read something off ALA's challenged books list" for me.

[Thomas]

I think also because at least in England we have fewer set texts we tend to update the list every few years so it would be easy to remove a book considered objectionable without announcing it as a problem, it just didn’t happen to be in the latest list.

[Jill]

I think you are probably right Thomas. Also the amount of libraries that have been closed, makes me think the establishment think people don’t read anymore .

[Shannon SA]

Thank you all for the responses, it's very interesting.
And the closing of libraries anywhere is very very sad, as is libraries that remain open but because of limited/no funding, no new books are taken in.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Meg wrote: "The suggestions go so quickly! I find it impossible to get in"

This year has been such an anomaly! In previous years, by poll 16, we were practically begging for enough submissions to get to 15 prompts, but this year I feel like the suggestions threads have only sped up.

[Nadine in NY]

Mandy wrote: "Here is the latest bookriot banned books article.

https://bookriot.com/groups-banning-b...

have you heard that libraries are getting bomb threats now too?"



NPR had a piece on this recently - they interviewed a librarian in Florida who spoke out against banning books, saying libraries are for everyone, and her opponents turned to social media, creating memes that were inflammatory lies about her, claiming she supported teaching little kids about explicit sex acts, etc. Which isn't at all what she said. So now she's getting threats to her and her family, all because she spoke out saying libraries are for everyone. I just heard it a few mornings ago, but I can't find an article on line. I could have some details wrong, maybe it wasn't Florida.

[Nadine in NY]

Thomas wrote: "Finding books banned in my country would be hard as the term banned is rarely used unless we mean it’s actually illegal. A school board or library not stocking it would not be called banned"



yes, in the US, "banned" no longer means the book is literally banned from the entire country. I think ALA and other groups started using the word "banned" to get attention, and gradually the meaning changed to: "removed from a library somewhere because parents or administrators didn't like it"- so the book is still available to be purchased, but it's unavailable to people whose sole book source is the school library. It doesn't just mean the book is not present in the library, it means it was ONCE present, and then it was removed. I also see "banned" used to describe books that are removed from classrooms, but still available in a larger library in the area. It also gets used to mean "a book some parents complained about" even if the book is still present in the libraries.

[Mandy]

Nadine in NY wrote: "Mandy wrote: "Here is the latest bookriot banned books article.

https://bookriot.com/groups-banning-b...

have you heard that libraries are getting bomb threats now too?"



NPR had a piec..."

There have been threats in Denver and Hawaii and a couple of other places. And Canada is starting to get banned book groups too. I don’t think much has come from it though.

[Thomas]

Yeah a complaint seems a stretch to far, I also have sometimes seen the term “banned or challenged”

[°~Amy~°]

The next batch of prompts up for discussion (with the additional prompt that I forgot earlier!)

15. A character that might be called a Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, or Spy
Baseline: “tinker would be someone who travels for a living, or someone who 'tinkers around', perhaps a mechanic or hobbyist. Tailor - anyone working in the fashion industry, or involved with concerns around fast fashion. Soldier and Spy are pretty self-explanatory but fairly wide, and Spy could include anyone involved with surveillance”

16. An author's debut book
Baseline: “the first book an author has every published, as well as an author's first book in a new genre (an adult fiction author publishing their first YA book, or a nonfiction author publishing fiction for the first time, for example)”

17. A book that involves a murder
Baseline: Fiction or non-fiction book that involves a murder either as the main focus of the book or as a minor part of the story

18. A book related to science
Baseline: fiction or non-fiction including topics such as: nature, biology, environment, genetics, oceans, medical topics, mental illness, chemistry, physics, psychology, neuroscience, climate change, evolution, extinction, health sciences, space, astronomy, etc.

19. A book with a school subject in the title
Baseline: “Examples of School Subjects: Math, Science, Chemistry, Physics, English, Spanish, French, History, Geography”

20. 3 Weeks: Three books, each of which is set in a different century
Baseline: Self-explanatory?

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[MJ]

Mandy wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: "Mandy wrote: "Here is the latest bookriot banned books article.

https://bookriot.com/groups-banning-b...

have you heard that libraries are getting bomb threats now to..."

In small, conservative religious towns, libraries just have collection policies that cater to their constituents. If you self censor when buying new books, nobody has to complain to get them banned.
(This is from my perspective as a Canadian, who looks at library policies when I’m looking at library jobs. There are a lot of small town libraries where I’d have trouble working.)

[Pamela, Arciform Mod]

Thomas wrote: "Finding books banned in my country would be hard as the term banned is rarely used unless we mean it’s actually illegal. A school board or library not stocking it would not be called banned"

In America, a "banned" book is defined as " one that has been "removed from a library, classroom, etc." That is different from other countries where is it a crime to possess a book (in college we used to paste copies of Satanic Verses into other books so my Indian roommate could take them home for people who wanted to read it) Actual "banning" was done in the old days, like William Pynchon's book about the Puritans (see Damnable Heresy: William Pynchon, the Indians, and the First Book Banned (and Burned) in Boston) but it's more a pr and local censorship issue these days. Heck, if I were a kid, I would order any book banned from my local library from Amazon and pass it around

[Karen]

Hi again, I don't know if my idea just got lost in the previous week's discussion or maybe there's just no interest, but let me toss it out there again, this time with some lists.

I’d like to suggest: A book with the theme of returning home

I think this has a lot of possibilities. I’m thinking of, for example, people who return to their hometowns, prodigal sons/daughters, immigrants or refugees who return to their home country, people who return to the country of their ancestors, soldiers returning after war, etc. I think there should be a lot of options for fiction - literary, crime, mystery, romance, other genres - as well as nonfiction, memoirs, etc.

Here are some lists I found:

Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/6...
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

Other lists online:
https://celadonbooks.com/booklists/bo...
https://lithub.com/on-leaving-and-ret...
https://crimereads.com/10-crime-novel...
https://www.theguardian.com/books/boo...
https://electricliterature.com/10-gre...

[Pamela, Arciform Mod]

Nadine in NY wrote: "NPR had a piece on this recently - they interviewed a librarian in Florida who spoke out against banning books, saying libraries are for everyone, and her opponents turned to social media, creating memes that were inflammatory lies about her, claiming she supported teaching little kids about explicit sex acts, etc. Which isn't at all what she said. So now she's getting threats to her and her family, all because she spoke out saying libraries are for everyone. I just heard it a few mornings ago, but I can't find an article on line. I could have some details wrong, maybe it wasn't Florida"

that is horrible! I hate this attacking of individual people!
When I was a kid, my dad took us to the library every week. You picked your books and when he was ready to go, he would go through your pile. I know he said no sometimes, normally that it looked too advanced for me or would give me nightmares. But he did his parenting. He didn't leave it to the librarians. It seems these parents want society to do their jobs for them.

[Thomas]

I really like the idea of returning home. I really hope it will get some proper discussion

[Thomas]

Just noticed this could be our penultimate poll (I know it could our last but I’ve never seen six get in)

[Amy (Other Amy)]

Joy D wrote: "I'd be happy to add 100 books if there was an easier way to know what has already been added. Scrolling gives me vertigo."

If you want to go in and vote for the books I voted, I will move my votes to add books still not on the list.

NancyJ wrote: "Thanks for doing all this."

To be perfectly clear, Gail and Ellie did the original work! I'm just trying to get more books on the list. Thanks for covering the votes I had; I have added more books.

Robin P wrote: "Those who are censoring books rarely are bothered by violence, it's issues about US history (anything that doesn't make the country look great) or about gender issues. My take is that if they say a..."

On the whole, that's true, but I really am surprised by how many school shooting and police brutality books are on this particular list.

Thomas wrote: "Finding books banned in my country would be hard as the term banned is rarely used unless we mean it’s actually illegal. A school board or library not stocking it would not be called banned"

I really love the Wikipedia list of books banned by governments for books that have been censored outright:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...

However, it's not complete, especially not in the face of the issues we are having right now in the US. Several states HAVE passed laws banning these books from the educational system if they are challenged by any parent. And now public as well as school libraries are facing attempts to suppress books. I have in the past usually come down the same way you do, Thomas. But I am really alarmed by the trends we are seeing at the local level right now over here.

https://news.northeastern.edu/2022/03...

[Thomas]

Normally when I have to read a banned book I just reread Alice in Wonderland

[Amy (Other Amy)]

An excellent choice!

[RachelG.]

Emily wrote: "We are down to just 9 prompts remaining to add to our list, and I've started working on building out the final order.

Help me place the prompts! Any recommendations on where prompts should go on t..."

I have a selfish request for a prompt placement. I would love to have debut novel near the beginning. I am thinking of reading the first in a series and this way I can do so near the beginning of the year. I just thought of this today as I was in a bookstore.

[NancyJ]

Lailah 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..."

Isn't this the same as the current prompt to read the 23 books in your TBR with the highest ratings on goodreads?

[NancyJ]

RachelG. wrote: "Emily wrote: "We are down to just 9 prompts remaining to add to our list, and I've started working on building out the final order.

Help me place the prompts! Any recommendations on where prompts ..."

An author's first book, for the first week of the year. Sounds good to me.

[Tracy]

NancyJ wrote: "Lailah 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'm not seeing this anywhere NancyJ. Maybe in your other group? I'm sure we don't have any prompt to READ 23 BOOKS.

EDIT: Or maybe its a BIO option to fill the prompts using the top 23 rated books in your TBR?

The prompt I suggested isn't to read 23 books, it's to choose from the 23 top rated books in your TBR.

[Thomas]

Tracy- there is a suggestion in the current poll to read one of the 23 highest rated books on your TBR

[NancyJ]

Karen wrote: " I’d like to suggest: A book with the theme of returning home"

I like this idea a lot. I agree that this prompt could give us many choices of styles or genres. Romance, mystery, immigrant experience, serious issues, women's lit, war, and literary fiction. The GR tag lists have many books that appear to heartwarming or sweet (with happy endings) and one of the blog lists is mostly literary fiction. I love this mix because sometimes I need a happy ending, and sometimes I want something edgier.

The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson sounds perfect for October. I really enjoyed his book Nothing to See Here. (And Ann Patchett talks about this author in a couple of her books.) The Marilynne Robinson books are beautiful, but they're not light reading.

[Tracy]

Thomas wrote: "Tracy- there is a suggestion in the current poll to read one of the 23 highest rated books on your TBR"

Yes Thomas, that was MY suggestion. I believe that NancyJ thinks there is a duplicate, but they way she worded it, the prompt she is thinking of is to read ALL 23 of your top rated TBR books, so definitely not my current suggestion.

[NancyJ]

Tracy wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "Lailah 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..."

LOL. Add "one of" to my comment above. I was commenting on a post above that said: "Read one of the top 10 GoodReads rated books in your TBR."

Prompt #13 in Poll 16:
13. A book that is one of the top 23 Goodreads rated books in your TBR

I don't know who suggested what, but I made the comment in case someone was thinking of suggesting. It might have been a "how to" example, with a mistake in the number, not a prompt idea. This thread is hard to follow.