Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
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[2023] Poll 5 Voting
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I'm excited for the City of Literature prompt because I live in one, so I'd definitely read a book set in my own city!
I've voted but I found this one a struggle. I just didn't feel strongly about any of them - not positive or negative just meh....I went with 5 up 3 down.
Pamela wrote: "Dubhease wrote: I am too lazy for that. I have a "Cabin 10 rule" (based on a screw up years ago with The Woman in Cabin 10 - that I didn't discover until I was on an airplane.) The Cabin 10 rule is..."Generally I go with the good faith approach. Especially for things like ratings or 23rd on your TBR list or something.
That said, I read Andorra for my around the world challenge. I don't feel bad spoiling it by saying that the book ends with the main character sailing away into the ocean. From Andorra. Land locked, mountainous, Andorra. I'm still furious because do you realize how hard it is to find books about Andorra? I just can't bring myself to count it.
Shelley wrote: "That said, I read Andorra for my around the world challenge. I don't feel bad spoiling it by saying that the book ends with the main character sailing away into the ocean. From Andorra..."OMG. I kinda feel like the point of a read the world challenge is to learn about countries so I wouldn't want to count one by someone who had blatantly never been there either.
I liked this group of prompts, especially the World City of Literature, HopePunk, and the Word in a Recipe. I only had 2 down votes: Western Astrological Sign (seems like we've done Eastern Astrology, tarot decks, etc. so much lately) and orphan as a character (just not something I want to focus on). I'll be fine with these two if they make it, but overall it is a pleasant group of possibilities.
I might be in the minority, but this was the easiest vote for me so far. I only had one strong reaction for a down vote. I became an adult orphan two years ago, so that's just not the prompt for me. However, I do appreciate that it's something different, and if it gets in, I'll just use it as my wild card. I also downvoted hopepunk because I didn't see much on the lists that interested me that I haven't already read. I'm sure I'd be able to find something, but it seemed like it would be more of a hunt and I have tons of books already on my TBR that would fit the prompts I upvoted - both India/Pakistan and UNESCO (I love setting prompts), orange on the cover (I have way more on my TBR than I would have thought), athlete main character (same), interracial relationship, and author's back catalogue. I also liked several others (5 Ws, recipe word in the title, ritual/ceremony) but I just ran out of votes. I hope a lot of these will get in and/or be resubmitted because I feel like this was a strong week!
I'm sorry for your loss Lindsey. It doesn't matter how old you are when you become an orphan. I was newly married when I became one, so I had surrogate parents, and a found family.I want books for both my head and my heart. I like eye-opening/thought-provoking, hope, and orphans with found-families for that. I learned about hopepunk here last summer and I like it.
The author and pronoun prompts are too broad, but I have nothing for Interracial relationship, astrology, or rituals. The seasons, India, UNESCO, athlete, and W's would all be fine. I ran out of votes too.
I'm behind on this discussion so I'm sorry if someone has already covered this but is there any reason why the India/Pakistan prompt excludes Bangladesh? Bangladesh is the modern name for East Pakistan so it comes off as a bit strange to exclude it. It's like having a prompt that's "read a book set in England, Scotland, or Northern Ireland" without Wales - nothing intrinsically wrong about excluding Wales, but it would be unusual to do so. In a similar way, it's strange to exclude East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in a Pakistan and India prompt. I mean, 100 million Indians speak Bengali and the whole idea of Indian reunification is to reunify India with Pakistan and Bangladesh, which were partitioned from British India in 1947.
Any chance it was left out by accident? Perhaps the person who suggested it didn't know that East Pakistan was renamed Bangladesh or that these 3 countries are usually spoken of together?
Not sure how to vote on it because I'd like a version that includes Bangladesh.
Irene wrote: "I'm behind on this discussion so I'm sorry if someone has already covered this but is there any reason why the India/Pakistan prompt excludes Bangladesh? Bangladesh is the modern name for East Pa..."
The prompt evolved quickly (it started with Bollywood I think), and I'm sure the proposer(s) didn't mean to exclude it. Many of us don't know (or remember) much about geography in other regions of the world, esp involving things that happened before we were born. So this whole discussion is improving our knowledge.
I would feel very comfortable reading a book set in Bangladesh for this prompt, since it used to be called Pakistan. (I wouldn't feel like I was cheating.) I think Emily would probably want to keep the prompt as is, but on the weekly prompt page, the mods would probably be willing to include a link to a map with the history, as well as links to books set in each country or area.
I hope people don't downvote it for this reason. This is a good prompt, and there are many excellent books set in the region. The culture and history are rich, and there is a lot of literary talent.
Is there a more concise term that would include the whole area? (Like UK in your example, or "the former Yugoslavia.") I saw the term Indian Diaspora, which I believe includes culturally related people all over the world.
NancyJ wrote: "Is there a more concise term that would include the whole area? (Like UK in your example, or "the former Yugoslavia.") I saw the term Indian Diaspora, which I believe includes culturally related people all over the world...."We used to call the area the Indian Subcontinent (this includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) but I believe this is considered a colonial term and South Asia would be more correct. However people voting might not understand what counts as South Asia.
Indian diaspora would be people of Indian descent who live outside India.
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I agree (plus I don't know a whole lot of Bangladeshi writers!). It came from the Bollywood idea and I think someone added Pakistan to be more inclusive. I don't think it was meant as a South Asia prompt as much as a "wouldn't Bollywood be fun" but then some people didn't think it would be so it was expanded to be a country prompt. Maybe it should have just been left at India.
I started an Indian diaspora book this morning! I feel like I've read a lot of them (the whole Sonali Des Raj family series) so I really like a prompt that will make me read a book that actually takes place in the country.
I literally just finished listening to I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban yesterday and that would count for the India/Pakistan prompt if no one has mentioned that one yet.
Just remembered to vote - 3 up this week and 5 down. I am very intrigued by "a word from a recipe." That sounds like a lot of fun. I like that there can be a lot of different choices, yet the topic isn't too broad or too narrow to make it impossible. Also upvoted India/Pakistan and Interacial Relationship, as I like that version of the nod to MLK's speech and it is also leaves room for interpretation.
NancyJ wrote: "The prompt evolved quickly (it started with Bollywood I think), and I'm sure the proposer(s) didn't mean to exclude it...."Thanks for the explanation! I didn't realize it started off as India-focused and that Pakistan was added in later on; I thought it was a prompt about the region and that Bangladesh was accidentally left out. You and Ellie are right that there doesn't seem to be a single word/term that is used to refer to the 3 countries (before the partition, it was all just India but "former India" sounds wrong because India still exists). South Asia is probably the most accurate if people are open to adding neighboring countries like Sri Lanka and Nepal, but I get that that's different from the spirit of the prompt so it could be something to consider if it doesn't get voted in this time.
Favorite prompt this time around is "a word often found in a recipe" for its creativity! Also definitely voting for interracial relationship.On the fence about:
- the ritual/ceremony because it seems a bit hard to look up (I struggled a lot with Popsugar's 2019 prompt about a book with a wedding in it because the first few books I read for it had the wedding occur off-screen or not at all)
- eye-opening/thought-provoking because I wouldn't be able to make that judgment until after finishing the book (I don't read a lot of non-fiction)
Irene wrote: "Favorite prompt this time around is "a word often found in a recipe" for its creativity! Also definitely voting for interracial relationship.On the fence about:
- the ritual/ceremony because it s..."
I'm hoping the recipe one makes it this time! I suggested it last year and it didn't pass, but I'm encouraged by the comments in here so far!
I voted yesterday, but forgot to post. It was a struggle because I had several that I liked but didn't necessarily love strongly enough to vote for.I ended up voting for: ritual/ceremony, orphan character, interracial relationship, pronoun in the title, and recipe word. Most of those appealed to me because I hadn't seen them on other challenges before (or at least not often). It came down to pronoun or 5 W word in the title for my last upvote, but I ended up going for pronoun mostly on a whim.
I downvoted India/Pakistan and UNESCO because I really don't like picking my books based on geography. I had very few options on my TBR set in India or Pakistan, and the UNESCO cities weren't particularly appealing either. I also downvoted hopepunk (although it took a very long time to come to that conclusion) because I didn't feel that I had a strong enough conception of which books would fit, and the listopias didn't really help narrow anything down. I wanted to be able to look at a synopsis and feel confident that a book would fit, and I didn't think that would be the case for me with that prompt.
Steve wrote: "I'm hoping the recipe one makes it this time! I suggested it last year and it didn't pass, but I'm encouraged by the comments in here so far!..."I hope so too! It's not as narrow as one might think at first because it could include food names, flavors/descriptors, and maybe even colors (which are common in baking recipes). Words like "season(s)," "rise(s)/rising," and "dust" are also common in recipes. Maybe even "sea" for "sea salt"?
Edit: just realized that a lot of recipes from around the world also use bones (for broth, or for deboning fish, etc), organs (like hearts), and body parts like eyes.
I just looked through my TBR and found only one book with a recipe word! I'm sure I missed some though, like I didn't think about season being a recipe word even though it obviously is.
Steve wrote: "I'm hoping the recipe one makes it this time! I suggested it last year and it didn't pass, but I'm encouraged by the comments in here so far!..."I was excited about it last year, and I'm still excited about it this year!!!
Golden, green, pink and black are all common enough recipe words too.
Nancy wrote: "I just looked through my TBR and found only one book with a recipe word! I'm sure I missed some though, like I didn't think about season being a recipe word even though it obviously is."The first time I looked through my TBR I only found a couple but when I went through it again I found about a dozen! Not sure how I missed Tender Morsels or the titles with glass and paper in them.
Nancy wrote: "I just looked through my TBR and found only one book with a recipe word! I'm sure I missed some though, like I didn't think about season being a recipe word even though it obviously is."I glanced at your TBR list and saw several books with the word one, I also saw beef, poultry, coconut (?) and almond. I think, any of those words would count.
Ellie wrote: "Golden, green, pink and black are all common enough recipe words too."Oh I MUST know! What kind of recipe references "pink"?
I can see: bake until golden brown, steam green beans, and brew black coffee, but I can't figure out pink. Oh! Is it referring to shrimp?
I hate to say this, but the discussion of the cooking words isn't helping. Not just "body parts like eyes" lol. When a prompt gets so broad that it could include almost anything, it's not as much fun to me. I would stick to the more common terms, such as favorite food ingredients, and cooking verbs.
Nadine in NY wrote: "Ellie wrote: "Golden, green, pink and black are all common enough recipe words too."Oh I MUST know! What kind of recipe references "pink"?
I can see: bake until golden brown, steam green bean..."
I just went to allrecipes and typed in pink and got several drinks, desserts and sauce recipes.
My guess for pink would be in reference to meat like a rare steak?
Nadine in NY wrote: "Oh I MUST know! What kind of recipe references "pink"?All our prawn recipes say to cook until pink. And often lamb recipes ask for it to be pink in the middle. Or warnings about uncooked chicken!
I thought of pink Himalayan salt for pink
NancyJ wrote: "I hate to say this, but the discussion of the cooking words isn't helping. Not just "body parts like eyes" lol. When a prompt gets so broad that it could include almost anything, it's not as much f..."I think those are more of KIS option. I like how the recipe can be fun and it would be interesting to see what word different members pick.
I was thinking of shrimp too, or chicken recipes that say cook until it's not pink anymore.
Jillian wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "I hate to say this, but the discussion of the cooking words isn't helping. Not just "body parts like eyes" lol. When a prompt gets so broad that it could include almost anything, it'..."I agree. I think we are verging on it becoming a prompt that nearly every book fits at this point. If it gets in, the listopia will be a nightmare. :(
°~Amy~° wrote: "Jillian wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "I hate to say this, but the discussion of the cooking words isn't helping. Not just "body parts like eyes" lol. When a prompt gets so broad that it could include almo..."I would imagine that the listopia would be more limited while anyone can use whatever (like on any other prompt). Personally, I’m thinking of using salt.
When making something with ground beef - “cook until no pink remains.” That was my first thought of pink. I love how creative the recipe prompt is but it would be very very difficult to choose a word because there are so many possibilities.
Jillian wrote: "°~Amy~° wrote: "Jillian wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "I hate to say this, but the discussion of the cooking words isn't helping. Not just "body parts like eyes" lol. When a prompt gets so broad that it co..."I think I would start with the listopia we used for food and drink this year. There were many that sounded good and they might have cooking words. It will be easy for people who like cozy mysteries. There are many series with titles all themed around food and cooking.
I haven't voted yet. I'm still undecided about a lot of the prompts.Unesco cities. I wanted a broader big city prompt, but I would be happy with this prompt. The focus is more manageable. I picked a few cities to see what books were set there, and the options are very appealing. Dublin so far is my absolute favorite. I've read at least 10 on the first 2 pages, and I see many more I'd like to read. It's full of books by Tana French, Maeve Binchy, Sally Rooney, Roddy Doyle and John Boyne. The Heart's Invisible Furies is just incredible (LBGTQ book set in Ireland, Copenhagen, and New York).
Seattle and Quebec both have many books I like. I read an Armond Gamache mystery every year, set (usually) in Quebec. Reykjavik, Milan, Barcelona and Sydney each have at least a couple books I want to read. The cities are all over the world, in different languages, which some of our members might really appreciate.
So I'm upvoting Unesco. I'm also rooting for India, Hope/Hope-punk, Thought Provoking, and the MLK prompt. I know there are a lot more books about interracial friendship we can add to the lists. Eye-opening and thought provoking books are very satisfying to me. I liked the 5 W's early on (it has the "23" advantage), but all the title prompts could be interesting. I wasn't sure about the pronoun one, but I already found some good options and added a bunch to the listopia.
NancyJ wrote: "I hate to say this, but the discussion of the cooking words isn't helping. Not just "body parts like eyes" lol. When a prompt gets so broad that it could include almost anything, it's not as much f..."Nancy, apologies for my comment!! I was thinking of KIS options to broaden it beyond stuff like "mix, bake, stir, heat, tablespoons," and other words that I think would come to mind first. I certainly still don't think it's easy, out of the hundreds of books on my TBR I only found about a dozen even when stretching the prompt. I don't think this prompt is broad at all compared others on our list, like books set in the 20th or 21st century, books related to light, etc. or this year's book without a person on the cover which I had hundreds of options for.
Irene wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "I hate to say this, but the discussion of the cooking words isn't helping. Not just "body parts like eyes" lol. When a prompt gets so broad that it could include almost anything, it'..."LOL. No need! I thought it sounded hard at first, and then too easy. (And all the references to "pink" chicken and meat triggered memories of food poisoning.) It's probably just right. Before I vote I'm going to look through some of lists to see what I can find.
I'm reading Eat a Peach right now by the owner of Momofuku.
Added - Butter Honey Pig Bread is a novel that gets rave reviews. (A recipe might ask you to bread the chicken, add butter, etc.) Breasts and Eggs is another possibility.
Very glad to be done with the multi week prompts. I like the title and cover prompts the best so easy voting for me
There are a lot of recipe words, but I think when you start to look for them in titles, they're not as common as you might think. Honey, water and burn seem to be the ones that crop up the most for me.
I actually have a book on my to-read list about the partition in India and Pakistan. I'm going to read it anyway, so that made this one as up vote for me. :)Moth by Melody Razak
I went through my shortest TBR looking for recipe words. I found:A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking
Zombie Bake-Off
The Vegetarian
Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs
Jar City (occasionally a recipe calls for a jar of something)
The Cold Dish
The Epic Crush of Genie Lo
The Chestnut Man
House of Salt and Sorrows
Blanche on the Lam (technically, "Blanche" contains "blanch")
A Drink Before the War
A Girl Is a Body of Water
Storm in a Teacup: The Physics of Everyday Life
A Deadly Inside Scoop
Flame of Sevenwaters
Blood Orange
Donut Fall in Love
Of Women and Salt
The Fisherman
The True History of Chocolate
Fake It Till You Bake It
Something So Sweet
A Cold Day for Murder
Chilling Effect
City of Orange
Arsenic and Adobo
Lemon
Cold Enough for Snow
Salt Magic
A Rising Man
(Obviously I tend to read a lot of SFF & mystery & romance)
That's a good-sized list, not too small, not too long. I could make it more challenging for myself by eliminating common words like "salt, fish, water, cold" and any books actually about food, and I'd still have a nice selection. And it's fun!
Nadine in NY wrote: "I went through my shortest TBR looking for recipe words. I found:A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking
Zombie Bake-Off
The Vegetarian
[book:Heating &..."
LOL Nadine, where do you find recipes that call for fishermen, and vegetarians?
Fisherman contains the word fish. Vegetarian is in the name of many recipes; the prompt could include titles, ingredients, directions.
NancyJ wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: "I went through my shortest TBR looking for recipe words. I found:A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking
Zombie Bake-Off
[book:The Vegetarian|2548..."
hahaha I have a lot of recipes that are titled "Vegetarian ..." so that one is in the title of the recipe. And "fisherman" is just because it includes the word "fish" (as Dalex pointed out!!)
Alicia wrote: "What is the intent with pairing Pakistan and India? Is there a specific tie together that was intended? Otherwise it seems a bit random. Sure they are next to each other, but so are Nepal, Banglade..."Maybe that Pakistan was separated from India in 1947?
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Zombie Bake-Off (other topics)A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking (other topics)
Zombie Bake-Off (other topics)
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking (other topics)
The Vegetarian (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Melody Razak (other topics)Jhumpa Lahiri (other topics)
I like calling it that!
Mine depends on where I am in the year and how hard the prompt is. I know a couple years ago I was reading a book I really wanted to read that was on a listopia for a book but despite that, it didn't. I really wanted to read the book and enjoyed it but it was in the final 1/4 of the year, so I counted it. I figure if you did it in good faith, then it counts (like I picked a book tor the under 5000 ratings and between picking it and reading, it's picked up more than 5000 but Im sticking with it)