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[2023] Poll 5 Voting
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3. A book that includes a ritual or ceremony
Such as a wedding, tea ceremony, coming-of-age, witchcraft/spells, secret society induction, etc
Also funeral, baptism, graduation, for instance
4. A book with one of the four seasons in the title
https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/2...
5. A book with a character who is an orphan
This can be fiction or nonfiction, any genre. The character can be any age.
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...
6. A book with an interracial relationship (friendship, romance, family)
In honor of the 60th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr's I Have a Dream Speech and his vision that "one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers"- read a book with an interracial relationship (friendship, romance, family).
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
7. A book with ONE of the five "W" questions ( who, what, where, when OR why) in the title
As w is the 23rd letter
For anyone reading the mystery series about Sebastian St. Cyr by C.S. Harris, every title begins with one of those words
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
8. A book with a pronoun in the title
Eg. they, their, them, she, her, he, his, it, you, we, our, my, I, etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronoun
I hope this is OK for our bilingual members, to me it seems like pronouns are widely used across languages, but I don't know how common they are in non-English titles.
https://blog.duolingo.com/what-are-pr...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...
9. A book related to one of the 12 Western astrological signs
The 12 signs are:
• Aries (the ram)
• Taurus (the bull)
• Gemini (the twins)
• Cancer (the crab)
• Leo (the lion)
• Virgo (the maiden)
• Libra (the scales)
• Scorpio (the scorpion)
• Sagittarius (the archer)
• Capricorn (the goat)
• Aquarius (the water bearer)
• Pisces(the fish)
10. A book set in a UNESCO City of Literature
List of 42 cities can be found here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of...
I looked at the Wikipedia page for the UNESCO literary cities and found pages for each of the cities mentioned. When I clicked on the city links they took me to sites maintained for the city with festivals, books featured during the festivals, etc. The one I specifically looked at was the one for Barcelona. Since one of the requirements for the applying cities is to show efforts to translate works, this opens up this prompt to select a book of translation.
11. A book involving Hope or Hopepunk
Some of the most satisfying books I've read involves challenges, tragedies, pandemics, illness, loss, heartbreak, or other threats to life as we know it. The best of these also provide a legitimate reason for hopefulness. Hopepunk is hope's edgier activist sister who fights for what's right.
Hope: https://www.goodreads.com/genres/hope
Hopepunk: https://www.goodreads.com/genres/hope...
Hopeful: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
Optimistic: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
Hopepunk listopia: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
13. A title that contains a word often found in a recipe
Examples could be Add, Fold, Mix, Stir, Blend, Chop, Crush, Measure, Pour, Bake, Heat, Melt or ingredients such as Flour, Sugar, Water, Milk, Eggs, measurements such as Cup, Teaspoon, Half
14. A book with a main character who is an athlete
Fiction:
Carrie Soto Is Back (tennis)
Playing for Pizza (football)
Gold (cycling)
Evvie Drake Starts Over (baseball)
Always Only You (hockey)
Non-fiction:
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption
Seabiscuit: An American Legend
The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
Athlete memoirs
15. A book that is eye-opening or thought provoking
"Eye Opening Listopia search results": https://www.goodreads.com/search?utf8...
"Thought Provoking Listopia search results: https://www.goodreads.com/search?utf8...
Here are some tag/genre pages:
Eye-opening: https://www.goodreads.com/genres/eye-...
Thought-provoking:
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
For the more relevant listopia pages, you might need to page through to find only the lists that match, or try different search terms.
Here is another list I found for Eye opening books:
A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times: Stories by Meron Hadero
A Tiny Upward Shove: A Novel by Melissa Chadburn
African Town by Irene Latham and Charles Waters
Ancestor Trouble: A Reckoning and a Reconciliation by Maud Newton
The Baby on the Fire Escape: Creativity, Motherhood, and the Mind-Baby Problem by Julie Phillips
The Books of Jacob: A Novel by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft
Canopy: Poems by Linda Gregerson
Companion Piece: A Novel by Ali Smith
Customs: Poems by Solmaz Sharif
Davos Man: How the Billionaires Devoured the World by Peter S. Goodman
Disorientation: A Novel by Elaine Hsieh Chou
The Family Chao: A Novel by Lan Samantha Chang
Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho
Glory: A Novel by NoViolet Bulawayo
Goliath: A Novel by Tochi Onyebuchi
Hell's Half-Acre: The Untold Story of the Benders, a Serial Killer Family on the American Frontier by Susan Jonusas
The Immortal King Rao by Vauhini Vara
In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss by Amy Bloom
In Sensorium: Notes for My People by Tanaïs
Lost & Found: A Memoir by Kathryn Schulz
Memphis: A Novel by Tara M. Stringfellow
Mother Ocean Father Nation: A Novel by Nishant Batsha
Nasty, Brutish, and Short: Adventures in Philosophy with My Kids by Scott Hershovitz
Nuclear Family: A Novel by Joseph Han
Our Last Days in Barcelona by Chanel Cleeton
Paradais by Fernanda Melchor, translated by Sophie Hughes
The Peanutbutter Sisters and Other American Stories by Rumi Hara
The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward by Daniel Pink
Present Tense Machine: A Novel by Gunnhild Øyehaug, translated by Sophie Hughes
Rainbow Rainbow: Stories by Lydia Conklin
Recitatif: A Story by Toni Morrison
Red Paint: An Ancestral Autobiography of a Coast Salish Punk by Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe
Scattered All Over the Earth by Yoko Tawada, translated by Margaret Mitsutani
The School for Good Mothers: A Novel by Jessamine Chan
Scoundrel: How a Convicted Murderer Persuaded the Women Who Loved Him, the Conservative Establishment, and the Courts to Set Him Free by Sarah Weinman
Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Thank You, Mr. Nixon: Stories by Gish Jen
The Third Person by Emma Grove
To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
The Treeline: The Last Forest and the Future of Life on Earth by Ben Rawlence
The True Account of Myself as a Bird by Robert Wrigley
True Biz: A Novel by Sara Nović
Under The Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation by Linda Villarosa
Violets by Kyung-Sook Shin, translated by Anton Hur
We Carry Their Bones: The Search for Justice at the Dozier School for Boys by Erin Kimmerle
What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo
I'd be happy with any of these on the list, even the athlete one. I'm not into sporty books but something like Heartstopper would still work because Nick's a rugby lad. I'm sure I can find similar if the final volume doesn't appear next year 😭I really like the recipe words one, it's fun!
Would love some recs on India/Pakistan that don't focus on poverty. My old book club had someone that kept picking the most depressing books ever set in that part of the world.
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, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka.
Mod
I can live with all of the suggestions so it’s going to be a hard vote for me! I think it will be all Up votes this week. For the athlete prompt, Fredrik Backman’s 3rd Beartown book (hockey) is out in English, finally, this September! GR already has a giveaway. I know this group has a lot of Backman fans. I’m def voting for my backlist prompt since I have so many that are staring at me every day!
I think, I’m going to go with two up and six down votes. There are quite a few repeat prompts for me that I have not liked in the past. So, I’m not really interested in having them again.
I’ve got four clear up votes, but none that I really dislike. I might not use all my votes this time!
Ellie- Vaseem Khan writes mysteries set in India. He has a new series with 2 books, so far. I’ve read the first, Midnight at Malabar House, and really enjoyed it. It has a lot of historical details and features a female detective, which was a breakthrough career in 1950 Bombay.
Ellie wrote: "I'd be happy with any of these on the list, even the athlete one. I'm not into sporty books but something like Heartstopper would still work because Nick's a rugby lad. I'm sure I can find similar ..."Ellie, I've really enjoyed The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters
Jillian wrote: "I think, I’m going to go with two up and six down votes. There are quite a few repeat prompts for me that I have not liked in the past. So, I’m not really interested in having them again."Same with me Jillian. But I may wait to vote a couple days in case something changes. Or maybe I'm just in a bad mood because its Monday.
Pam wrote: "I can live with all of the suggestions so it’s going to be a hard vote for me! I think it will be all Up votes this week. For the athlete prompt, Fredrik Backman’s 3rd Beartown book (hockey) is out..."At first I wasn't interested in the Athlete prompt, but then I saw the suggestions of Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption and The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which are both more biographical (but I thought read like novels). And then @Pam, you mentionedBeartown. So between an option for a Fredrik Backman book (Beartown series at least), and a possible memoir/biography similar to Unbroken or The Boys in the Boat, I'm much more interested now!
At first glance. I have two that I very strongly want, and one or two that I strongly don't want.There's also a few I'll have to research a bit, like hopepunk. I looked at the lists provided, and just got more confused about what it really means.
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..."I'm guessing because Pakistan was part of India until the partition in 1947.
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..."Pakistan and India were both once part of British India, while that was being dissolved there was separation along religious majority lines and a great deal of forced migration. The entire history is , of course, very complex, but relating the two countries is far from random
Alicia wrote: "Ellie wrote: "I'd be happy with any of these on the list, even the athlete one. I'm not into sporty books but something like Heartstopper would still work because Nick's a rugby lad. I'm sure I can..."Yes, I was going to suggest that one.
Pam wrote: "Ellie- Vaseem Khan writes mysteries set in India. He has a new series with 2 books, so far. I’ve read the first, Midnight at Malabar House, and really enjoyed it. It has a lot of historical details..."Also the Perveen Mistry historical mystery series by Sujata Massey. The first one is The Widows of Malabar Hill.
I am on my phone and have no India on how to reply.But Alicia... India and Pakistan were one nation. After independence from the British the country was split into two, India and Pakistan (there's a lot of histroy there). We share the same history and lot of things are common between both the countries. So putting these countries together makes perfect sense.
Ellie wrote: "I'd be happy with any of these on the list, even the athlete one. I'm not into sporty books but something like Heartstopper would still work because Nick's a rugby lad. I'm sure I can find similar ..."I'm so glad you mentioned Heartstopper!! I'm not voting for "athlete" but if it gets in, at least I know I can read that book.
I have not read very many books set in India! And of the books I have read, most of them are mysteries.
The Widows of Malabar Hill (I did not care for this)
The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra (this was silly but cute - I'd happily read more in this series)
The God of Small Things (one of my favorite books - but you've probably read this already)
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (this rambled on too much for my taste, but you might like it!)
Dark Road to Darjeeling (not my favorite of this series)
and I've got this on my TBR
The Palace of Illusions
@Ellie I can come up with a list of books that don't concentrate on poverty. Both India and Pakistan (India mostly as I have read more literature from my country) have such rich literature and it would great if this prompt gets it. I am travelling currently, so give me a day or two as I would need a better connection. Hopefully Masai Mara(Kenya) will have a decent connection.
I've got one vote left to play with. I'm intrigued by the "eye opening" category, but I don't feel like I really understand it, so I'm hesitant to vote for it if I can't really get a grasp of it. What was the intent? Are we looking for books that are surprising? Like, oh! I did not know that about eels!! (The Book of Eels: Our Enduring Fascination with the Most Mysterious Creature in the Natural World)
or books that tackle established beliefs? (God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything)
or books that just teach interesting tidbits? (The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements)
or books that have big plot twists? (eg: Gone Girl)
or books that increase our empathy by opening our eyes to other experiences? (The Color Purple)
I thought "eye-opening" meant the first thing, but most of the examples in the lists seem to be aiming for the last thing.
How about romances set in India/Pakistan? I know they're not to everyone's taste, but they likely won't focus on poverty. I enjoyed A Holly Jolly Diwali recently.
Milena wrote: "How about romances set in India/Pakistan? I know they're not to everyone's taste, but they likely won't focus on poverty. I enjoyed A Holly Jolly Diwali recently."and that would let me read A Bollywood Affair - I assume that's set in India?
Mod
..."
All of the above!
Mod
Milena wrote: "How about romances set in India/Pakistan? I know they're not to everyone's taste, but they likely won't focus on poverty. I enjoyed A Holly Jolly Diwali recently."Unmarriageable is retelling of Pride & Prejudice set in Pakistan.
Lindsey wrote: "Milena wrote: "How about romances set in India/Pakistan? I know they're not to everyone's taste, but they likely won't focus on poverty. I enjoyed A Holly Jolly Diwali recently."[..."
Yes, I enjoyed that one too. I rarely come across books set in Pakistan. Would love more recs for those specifically.
I remember Reading Women's last reading challenge had a prompt based on the https://www.thejcbprize.org/about-the.... It has a list of books that might appeal. There may be other Indian literature prizes that Harini could recommend.
I love the Pakistan/India prompt and really hope that gets in, it's an area of the world that I'm definitely lacking.I came up with the athlete on a whim, and then started looking for books to add to the thread, and while there are tons of options for non-fiction, most of the fiction I found are romance. Hopefully people like the idea anyway! I figured a character who is an athlete would be more appealing than a book about a sport/sports since you're not restricted to sports books.
Nadine in NY wrote: "and that would let me read A Bollywood Affair - I assume that's set in India?"It looks like it's set in Mumbai and Michigan.
Nancy wrote: "I love the Pakistan/India prompt and really hope that gets in, it's an area of the world that I'm definitely lacking.I came up with the athlete on a whim, and then started looking for books to ad..."
Fiction books with athletes that are not romances. A challenge. I can't think of any off the top of my head, but will try to come up with some.
How about Firekeeper's Daughter? There's a hockey team.
Mod
Liane Moriarty also came out with Apples Never Fall which had A LOT of tennis in it. It was not my favorite, but I know some people who enjoyed it.
I haven't read it yet, but Taylor Jenkins Reid has a new one, Carrie Soto Is Back, and it's about a tennis player.
I am having a tough time deciding how to vote this round.
Nadine in NY wrote: "Ellie wrote: "I'd be happy with any of these on the list, even the athlete one. I'm not into sporty books but something like Heartstopper would still work because Nick's a rugby lad. I'm sure I can..."Also A Rising Man and the others in the series. I really enjoy these.
Nadine in NY wrote: "I've got one vote left to play with. I'm intrigued by the "eye opening" category, but I don't feel like I really understand it, so I'm hesitant to vote for it if I can't really get a grasp of it. ..."
@Nadine in NY: My intent was more along the lines of your examples involving 'eels' (Did you read that book? I did — it was surprisingly fascinating!), 'books that tackle established beliefs' — so we can try to think differently about things we already KNOW and 'books that increase our empathy by opening our eyes to other experiences'. Basically "Books That Make You Go Hmmm".
The other two ideas (unremarkable trivia, and plot twists) were NOT my intent, but as we say here, Interpretation Is Up To You".
Emma wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: "Ellie wrote: "I'd be happy with any of these on the list, even the athlete one. I'm not into sporty books but something like Heartstopper would still work because Nick's a rugb...Also A Rising Man and the others in the series. I really enjoy these"
that's even on my TBR already! It looks really good!
Tracy wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: "I've got one vote left to play with. I'm intrigued by the "eye opening" category, but I don't feel like I really understand it, so I'm hesitant to vote for it if I can't really..."I DID read the eel book!! I was even lucky enough to win a copy in a giveaway (or I might not have read it). It was wonderful. And I also know a lot more about eels now than I ever even knew there was to know.
Milena wrote: "Nancy wrote: "I love the Pakistan/India prompt and really hope that gets in, it's an area of the world that I'm definitely lacking.I came up with the athlete on a whim, and then started looking f..."
Emily wrote: "I really liked Gold by Chris Cleave... the two protagonists are Olympic athletes and best friends. Definitely more of a friendship book than a love story.
Liane Moriarty also came ..."
Maybe some of these? These are on my TBR, so I can't swear they're not romances, but from the descriptions, I don't think that's the main focus.
The Knockout Queen
You Will Know Me
We Came Here to Forget
The Swimmers
The Swell
They'll Never Catch Us
Astonish Me
Florence Adler Swims Forever
Ones I have read and can vouch for as primarily not a romance:
We Ride Upon Sticks
Eat and Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
And would also second the Beartown series and The Firekeeper's Daugther.
Nadine in NY wrote: "Tracy wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: "I've got one vote left to play with. I'm intrigued by the "eye opening" category, but I don't feel like I really understand it, so I'm hesitant to vote for it if ..."THAT'S the feeling I am intending to elicit with this prompt!
Those are great suggestions Lindsey, thanks! Another one I thought of while reading those is Shiver, which is about snowboarders.
Milena wrote: "Nancy wrote: "I love the Pakistan/India prompt and really hope that gets in, it's an area of the world that I'm definitely lacking.I came up with the athlete on a whim, and then started looking f..."
i believe that firekeeper's daughter is Ojibwe in North America and not from India.
I think Firekeeper's Daughter was suggested for the athlete prompt, not the India one.
I know everyone doesn’t live middle grade, but I recently finished The Night Diary in which a young girl chronicles how India became India and Pakistan in 1947 and how there was forced migration for Hindus to move to one area and Muslims to move to another, and how many were killed during these travels, and how they had to immediately leave all their belongings to relocate. The family in the story is half Hindu and half Muslim, which is rare and causes more confusion for the young girl documenting their story and trying to learn who she is. It was a beautiful book.
Michelle wrote: "I know everyone doesn’t live middle grade, but I recently finished The Night Diary in which a young girl chronicles how India became India and Pakistan in 1947 and how there was forced migration fo..."Sound interesting Michelle! And sometimes middle grade or YA books are helpful in trying to understand unfamiliar and complicated topics, without getting bogged down in too much detail for a first foray into a topic.
I like setting-based prompts so the UNESCO cities prompt is my favorite this week. I’ve already read 3 books and started 1 this year that would work. And, all of them are in different cities! Some of the cities would be challenging but others aren’t too difficult. Prague, Melbourne, and Dublin would be my top choices.
Ooh I had no idea about India and Pakistan!! Now this has turned into an upvote, and if someone knows a good non-fiction book about this, please let me know
Not sure if we need one, but here is a listopia for orange covershttps://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...
Two other recs for athletes: Indian Horse, fiction about a First Nations boy who is sent to residential school and ends up a hockey player - so good, and under appreciated at least in the states.Why We Swim, nonfiction mix of memoir, history, and just really lovely. If you like the water at all, read it!
I don't think it's clear in the prompt suggestion that hopepunk is a subgenre of sci-fi and fantasy "about characters fighting for positive change, radical kindness, and communal responses to challenges." It was proposed in 2017 by author Alexandra Rowland as the opposite of the grimdark subgenre.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopepunk
I'm assuming the "about hope" was added to the prompt so it's not strictly a genre prompt or to appeal to those who don't like sci-fi and fantasy?
Around the Year in 52 Books
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Melody Razak (other topics)Jhumpa Lahiri (other topics)
Voting will open in the morning of Tuesday, July 26 and results will be posted in the morning of Saturday, July 30 (CST time).
How it works:
- When the voting opens, follow the link to the mini-poll that will be added at the end of this post
- You have a total of 8 votes this poll to spread across your favorite and least favorite prompts (you can also use less than 8 votes)
- You can find examples of acceptable voting practices on the Introduction thread.
- The prompts with the more favorable votes (comparing top votes to bottom votes, and looking at the overall number of votes it received) will be added to the final list
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1. On a few occasions in each poll, people have used more than the allotted number of votes, either because they aren’t familiar with the rules or just by mistake. When this happens our only option is to disregard the vote as we can’t identify the voter to ask them to resubmit. By asking for your profile address we’ll be able to message you and ask you to vote again if you’ve accidentally used more than the allotted number of votes.
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Possible Prompts:
1. A book by an author who is still writing but not the author's latest release
2. A book set in India or Pakistan
3. A book that includes a ritual or ceremony
4. A book with one of the four seasons in the title
5. A book with a character who is an orphan
6. A book with an interracial relationship (friendship, romance, family)
7. A book with ONE of the five "W" questions ( who, what, where, when OR why) in the title
8. A book with a pronoun in the title
9. A book related to one of the 12 Western astrological signs
10. A book set in a UNESCO City of Literature
11. A book involving Hope or Hopepunk
12. A book with orange on the cover
13. A title that contains a word often found in a recipe
14. A book with a main character who is an athlete
15. A book that is eye-opening or thought provoking
Feel free to discuss the prompts below, but please remember to be respectful to the other group members.
VOTE HERE: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/FWZATP/