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[2023] Poll 11 Voting
I read lots of genres including non-fiction. But I feel like a lot of these prompts get voted with 1 book in mind to the voter. A lot of them are very narrow and don't allow for a lot of genres or choices (Tookie's for example). Some require too much effort to find a book (the W prize prompt). Some are too confusing.I didn't get a chance to vote last year but I am almost finished with this years challenge. You can see on the spreadsheet that the more complex prompts are rarely completed. And yes because of my work schedule I've never been able to be there for the suggestions thread although I've voted on most of the rounds this year.
I get that there's no rule to re-entering a prompt but I don't see the point? If people didn't like it once they're not going to suddenly like it again. That language prompt had to be downvoted 3 different times... just seems silly to me, personally
The language prompt was only nominated twice, and it was substantially reworded the second time. Lots of folks have explained to you why renominating isn't silly and often works, so I don't understand why you keep on this issue?
Could someone who is excited about "a wacky book" describe how they are thinking about this? What kind of book would you choose?
Mod
To be fair, the use of the spreadsheet does tend to die down as the year goes on, and some people save their hardest prompts until the end, so the spreadsheet is a... moderate... way of judging who is completing which prompts. I learned my lesson a few years ago and now I try to space out my most difficult prompts so I'm not stuck reading all the prompts I've avoided in December lol.
Typically, we say that if a prompt has been submitted on a poll 3 times and not voted in, that prompt is disqualified from being resubmitted unless it is substantially changed. The language prompt was substantially changed in this most recent iteration. And, as other members have pointed out, the mods encourage resubmissions of prompts that members feel strongly about because they do have a better shot of making it in during later polls (once the fervor of the suggestions dies down a bit). We saw that with the repeated object on cover prompt.
Hollywood/Disney/Oz IdeasThese three new books will be somewhere on my 2023 plan. They fit multiple prompts.
Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra
Siren Queen
The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family by Ron Howard
*Fiction set in Hollywood, Oz, or a Disney location (fictional or real) -
Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra
Siren Queen
All the Stars in the Heavens by Adriana Trigliani
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Finding Dorothy
Dorothy Must Die
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
*Screen to book: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino
*Book to Stage to Screen: Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,
*Book to Screen: (Some upcoming films, in case you have friends who are movie buffs.)
The Rosie Project,
Where the Crawdads Sing, Dune
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI,
All the Bright Places ,
The Nightingale,
Virgin River,
Persuasion
* Novels with Hollywood characters (real or fictional)
The Chaperone
Station Eleven
Heidi's Guide to Four Letter Words
*Nonfiction, memoirs
The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family by Ron Howard
Brave by Rose Gowan
Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years by Julie Andrews.
Sin in Soft Focus: Pre-Code Hollywood
The Only Woman in the Room
Books with new or upcoming movies/shows 2019-2022 and pre-production
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls024497893/
https://www.vulture.com/2022/08/book-...
Emily wrote: "To be fair, the use of the spreadsheet does tend to die down as the year goes on, and some people save their hardest prompts until the end..."I have some of my most championed prompts left to go! It's good to save some of the ones you love till the end, I would never finish if I left the hardest till last.
Another thing about re-submissions is that some people vote as soon as the link opens. Then, two or three days into voting someone says something that could have changed your mind. So, you might change your vote the second time.
Nadine in NY wrote: "Michelle wrote: "Again more rejects that keep getting voted, just for us to reject them again. Why???This will be mostly downvotes for me. I actually upvoted the disability prompt, but I really d..."
I understand both points of view here but I wonder if the people who vote but don't post are feeling like Michelle... who I think was brave to post as she did. Sometimes I get annoyed when something I downvoted, and then am relieved to see didn't get in, turns up again in the very next poll. It feels like I'm being bashed over the head with it. Maybe if people could wait a little longer before resubmitting unsuccessful suggestions, they would have a better chance?
Maybe even a rule that suggestions have to wait two or three polls before being resubmitted? *ducks and runs for cover*
Alicia wrote: "Sorry if this is obvious, but what does PITA stand for?"You are not alone. I had no idea what it meant.
Rosemary wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: "Michelle wrote: "Again more rejects that keep getting voted, just for us to reject them again. Why???This will be mostly downvotes for me. I actually upvoted the disability p..."
It seems most resubmitted prompts have waited at least one poll. I think, they have a better chance if they wait a bit but I don’t think making a rule a prompt has to wait so many polls makes logistical sense. Some members cannot participate in every suggestion poll also it would be extra work for the mods on which prompts could be resubmitted in which poll. I think they already have a lot to do with just running the polls. (Once we had a rule that you could only suggest or second every other poll and it got quite confusing).
@Michelle, I can't speak for anyone else but as someone who prefers the more specific/narrow prompts, I never vote with a single, already-planned out book in mind. In fact, I haven't even started looking for books yet for the 2023 challenge, and I upvoted my favorite prompts from this poll (popular first name in 1923, widow/wallpaper/woman scorned, etc) because I found them interesting and original. My downvotes are similarly based on my level of interest rather than (in)ability to find a book that fits. 500+ pages is already on this year's list, and I don't care for prompts related to page number unless they're connected to the year somehow (even then, I don't find them super original).
Edit: I also don't update the spreadsheet super often because a lot of times I have books that fit different prompts so I don't finalize where they go until the end of the year.
Beth wrote: "Another really good round of suggestions! I will probably end up voting for all of the awards/list prompts and I also love the popular name idea. The character trope prompt is a little different an..."Beth, you downvoted the same two that I did!
Mod
Me too, I just pick what interests me. And even during the year, I only have tentative suggestions. I belong to an in-person book group and several on GR and they may pick something during the year that fits. And often I find a book fits better in another category than I first thought. I change my mind multiple times during the year. But I understand the planners like to get everything in place, especially if they are reading in order.
Also it sometimes happens that a prompt I thought I would like turns out to be hard to fill and one I didn't like works great.
I'll add that I have no idea what I will read for underground/underwater and I do think it's a hard prompt. But I also find it really interesting, so it's an upvote for me. I just voted and my upvotes were: Tookie, underground/underwater, W award (I really enjoyed the Warwick Prize), and popular name. I actually don't have any books picked for any of these.
I also get what Michelle is saying though, I feel that way every time I see an adventure/exploration prompt. I just remind myself that I have my say even if I do downvote it 90% of the time and hope the chips fall where they may. If it makes it in, I know I'm still going to love this challenge and will make it work next year!
I'll also echo that the community spreadsheet isn't as up to date. I usually forget to update regularly and then add 10 books at once. I'm sure others are the same
°~Amy~° wrote: "I kind of like all the prompts! I almost immediately thought of possibilities for every suggestion which is VERY unusual for me!1. A book about a person/character with a disability
[bookcover:Dis..."
Amy, now I want to try this too.
The Wallflowers idea seems to call for a Regency romance, though there are modern widow stories, and revenge books about women scorned. I went to an author talk last month, and she mentioned a woman she met at the college reunion (years ago) who said she "just" wrote romance novels. Later on she told us that woman was Julia Quinn. I think I was the only one who laughed at the joke until she mentioned Bridgertons.
This is embarrassing because although I’m one of these people who much prompts which allow creativity and nearly always downvote this prompts ( just my opinion I’m not saying everyone has to agree) I actually sometimes do vote for prompts because they fit a book I want to read, usually I have a few I want to read and work hard to assign them. Sorry if that offends
I rarely have any idea what I will read for a given prompt and tend to fit in as I go. The exception there is list prompts because the books have to be on the list (and is why I generally downvote those) . That said the result of that is I am more favorable to prompts that I see working well for the genres I prefer
Mod
I might vote thinking "I can read x" but I rarely actually read it. And if I can only think of one thing I would read for the prompt, I won't vote for it, However, if pretty much every book on my TBR list can fit, I also won't vote for it. I like prompts that narrow my choices but not too much
Mod
I agree, I liked it till it went into the whole Australia Oz idea. If it doesn't get through, I would love to see it resubmitted as two- one for Hollywood in honor of all those centennials and then a book related to Oz, the Wizard or Australia.
The 23 years before you were born can be difficult depending on your age too.
I essentially voted with my first instinct on this list, and ended up going 4 and 4, although there are really only 2 that I strongly don't want. I tend to look at my downvotes as "what am I not *actively* interested in reading?" as well as "what would be most difficult/limiting for me?"My upvotes were:
- disability - I will basically always vote for this kind of prompt
- Millions Most Anticipated - I was surprised to see how many books I had on my TBR from this year and last year alone, so I should have plenty of options
- Goodreads Choice Awards - personally I'd limit it to the 2022 awards only, but this is a prompt I always like
- Widow, Wallflower, Woman Scorned - my favourite of this batch, and fit very well with the kinds of books I read
My downvotes were:
- 23 years before you were born - does not fit very well with what I'm currently interested in reading
- Tookie - I haven't read The Sentence yet so I have no connection to this list at all, but after looking through it in detail, there's very little on it that appeals to me
- Award beginning with W - it's definitely doable, but I always have trouble finding/navigating awards lists and this seems like a lot of effort just to check if a book fits
- Hollywood/Disney/Oz - I'd likely vote for it if it was just one of the three, but it feels like 3 completely separate ideas mushed together to me so I don't really know how I'd approach it without feeling like I'm ignoring 2/3 of the prompt
Pamela wrote: "Siobhan wrote: "12. A book connected to (100 years of) Hollywood, Disney or the land of Oz - I like the theory of this prompt, but the actual grouping itself seems a little random. I think if it wa..."It's not about Australia! That was just one person's interpretation.
I see the three of them as very connected. They have influenced one another, and connected in numerous ways. They inspired and built on one another. All three have had a deep affect on popular culture through their timeless characters, and numerous artistic and technological advances. Disney has built a unique empire, and it's had an enormous effect on the way organizations approach innovation, customers, organization culture and leadership. The Wizard of Oz inspired many other movie makers, authors, musicians, broadway shows, and even leadership trainers. The legacy is still continuing with the upcoming Wicked film.
If you have an interest in reading about one or more of these topics - see message #106 - please vote for it now. I don't know if either Hollywood or Oz will have good change later given how vocal some have been about repeated prompts.
Thomas wrote: "This is embarrassing because although I’m one of these people who much prompts which allow creativity and nearly always downvote this prompts ( just my opinion I’m not saying everyone has to agree)..."I'm a bit the same.....I have a TBR heaps long and I like the prompts to help me decide which books to read on my list - not find new books (which is always what happens :P).
I also read heaps of ARCs so need some flexibility to fit those books in if possible.
Pamela wrote: "Siobhan wrote: "12. A book connected to (100 years of) Hollywood, Disney or the land of Oz - I like the theory of this prompt, but the actual grouping itself seems a little random. I think if it wa..."Yes, definitely! I'm excited about all three individually and could definitely find books for them. So I hope we see them again in later polls, just a bit more separated out.
NancyJ wrote: "Pamela wrote: "Siobhan wrote: "12. A book connected to (100 years of) Hollywood, Disney or the land of Oz - I like the theory of this prompt, but the actual grouping itself seems a little random. I..."I think they might have a reasonable chance! I'd definitely vote for them if separated out. I just do feel like the grouping together of them is a tiny bit arbitrary. I mean... Yes, all of them are technically cinema. But I think what's tripping me up is that the actual Wizard of Oz movie came out in 1939, so my brain is seeing it as two movie prompts mixed in with a literature prompt, if that makes sense (it probably doesn't, today is not a great day for my brain power).
I have a planning spreadsheet for the challenge. When the list of suggested prompts is posted I add them to the spreadsheet. I sort them initially by what I think I like and don’t like. Then I go through my Owned and Unread Book List and slot books into prompt suggestions. I then vote based on how many books I was able to slot. Every once in awhile I’ll dislike a prompt so much that I won’t even bother to see if I have anything that will work. By the time the challenge list is completed I have books assigned to the prompts. I stick to the plan about 85%. Sometimes I’ll discover a book that fits a prompt better while I’m reading it and shuffle things a bit. Or I’ll learn about a book I absolutely have to read it and switch it out for a preplanned book.
Every once in awhile life goes sideways and I don’t have as much reading time as usual and the plan just won’t work. That doesn’t happen often, thank goodness. This year has been one of those years. We bought and renovated a house, moved, and I started a new position at work. My reading plan is a shambles.
I think they might have a reasonable chance! I'd definitely vote for them if separated out. I just do feel like the grouping together of them is a tiny bit arbitrary. I agree. Hollywood/Disney are huge cultural institutions that I don't mind being grouped, but Oz is just a single movie, so it feels a little unbalanced to me with all three being included.
POINT OF ORDER ADMINS! If for any reason the Hollywood, Disney, Oz prompt is bottomed would removing the Oz be enough of a revision for a resubmission to be allowed ( I’m just getting the impression the whole prompt may fail based on that part)
Not a big fan of this rounds prompts - 3 ups and 5 downs for me. I love the GR choice awards one and even when it doesn't get it the final list, I usually use the prompt from previous years to fit it in!
At the end of suggestions I had two ups and six downs, but now I've done some research it's switched to three definite downs and six potential ups so I've got some thinking to do. I definitely vote based on what I've got on my TBR that fits, unless I think a prompt is so good that I wouldn't mind buying something to fit it. A few times I've voted for something when I just have one book that's a perfect fit (Stephen King's It had to be a book that intimidates me a few years ago!). I have even suggested prompts in the past with one specific book that I wanted to read in mind! Generally though, I won't vote for something that gives me less than five options or that's so open I get bored of listing the books that fit.
For me as I go through this early process I put all of the books in my TBR that qualify in a spreadsheet. Since it's only 2 or 3 prompts a week it's not a big deal. Once the list is complete I'll go through and assign books to weeks going from least options to most to get a feel for which prompts I only have one real option and which books qualify for half the list so they definitely need to be read. Over the course of the year the list will generally get thrown out (most years I end up reading a sugary sweet series all the way through) but it's really helpful to at least know what books and prompts I need to focus on and which can be filled by accident. I ended up voting 4 up and 4 down. If the author name with syllables gets in I look forward to the inevitable discussion of accents, what exactly constitutes a syllable, and who speaks english good.
Haha I didn’t think about that, but the syllables battle will occur. How many syllables in fire 🤯
Mod
Nothing embarrassing about your approach, it totally makes sense and many of us have similar reasoning. A lot of us have so many books that we already own or say we plan to read and we want to use the challenge to get to them. I always think I am going to do that but often get distracted by new releases/recommendations.
I'm impressed by those of you with spreadsheets and other organizational tools! Generally I just type in next to the challenge an idea or two. I have sometimes used the planning sheet on the
Community Spreadsheet but then I forget to go back and look at it.
Alicia wrote: "Haha I didn’t think about that, but the syllables battle will occur. How many syllables in fire 🤯"How many syllables in Barbara? I pronounce it Bar-Bra, so it's two syllables. I might not win that argument.
Mod
Yes, that would be enough of a revision.
Ok I went 5 up, 3 down, which is a change from my initial reaction of 4/4. So my opposition to the Hollywood/Disney/Oz prompt is twofold. First, I think it's WAY too broad. There are just so many options it would be hard to narrow down.
Second, I don't get the connection of Oz to 100 and have yet to see anyone give one. Baum died in 1919, the movie didn't come out until 1939. I literally just searched his Wikipedia page for 1923 and there's nothing. While the movie itself had a big influence on the film industry I don't think that's enough of a connection to the other two.
I DO like the idea of Oz being Australia or The Wizard of and I would totally vote for that.
Mod
Wow... I feel very fly by the seat of my pants. I will look at listopias and such for prompts and as long as I see a couple things that look interesting, I'm good with them. Then when the list is done, I copy it into word and since my book group annual list is done about the same time, I find prompts for each of those books. Then I look and if there are prompts that only have a few choices or are tough, I figure those out. Then I make myself walk away. I only plan about 20 prompts at a time and by the end of the year, the plan is all caput with the vicissitude of the library hold system and new releases anyways. And that book that was PERFECT for the prompt and you hated and quit it.
Mod
Although I'm one who didn't like the overall grouping, I didn't vote against it. And the opinions stated in voting threads rarely equal the final vote. Who knows. Although I would love the two prompts!
Pamela wrote: "... And that book that was PERFECT for the prompt and you hated and quit it ..."LOL!! I feel seen!!!
Mod
LOL!! I feel seen!!!"
I quit 3 books this week meant for prompts that were tough! One I made it to 70% so took as a completion but the others, I now have to find new books for the prompts!
Judy wrote: "Alicia wrote: "Haha I didn’t think about that, but the syllables battle will occur. How many syllables in fire 🤯"How many syllables in Barbara? I pronounce it Bar-Bra, so it's two syllables. I mi..."
@Judy - I have a lot of "Barbara" experience. Besides growing up watching/listening to Barbara Eden, Barbara Mandrell, and Barbra Streisand (she spells it in a most definite 2 syllable way), I also have more personal connections. Both my mother and my mother-in-law are Barbara, and I live in Santa Barbara. Although I can see someone not familiar with the name thinking it might be a 3 syllable name, I have never heard it pronounced that way. Maybe with different accents, like how in the American South some words seem to be shortened and some lengthened from the way I would say it?
I think it comes down to our adage, "your challenge, your decision". Count they syllables the way YOU pronounce the name. And if it's a name you aren't sure you know how to pronounce, you can often search for name pronunciation in YouTube.
Ah, I have found my people LOL. My planning strategy is that I have a list of books I absolutely want to read for the year... and then I just read completely different books.
This is my first year doing the reading challenge, but for most of it I read the book first and fit it into a prompt afterwards. The past two months, as I've got to the last handful of prompts for me, I've started planning a little more. But even then, I'd say I've only picked up 4-5 books to fit specific prompts.I think I'm going to try to stick to that next year too. If I try to plan out my reading too far in advance I inevitably end up getting bored and giving up on the plan, as I have learned from experience!
Pamela I appreciate but I thought it would be worth knowing firstly just in case but also for future similar situations
Nancy wrote: "I DO like the idea of Oz being Australia or The Wizard of and I would totally vote for that."I agree!! I don't know or remember the 23 Oz connection (if there is one -- I thought there was) but I do love the idea of using this prompt for an Australian book where other people could choose something Wizard of Oz-related. A perfectly flexible prompt, imo, and it feels a little cheeky (in a good way).
As for voting, for narrower prompts (like underground/-water or lists), I tend to glance at the listopias and see how many "options" I have and then kind of just do a gut check on if it's enough.
I know I've said this in other posts, but I'm doing Popsugar along with ATY this year, and dislike how restrictive some of the prompts are, because I (like many here) generally want to read books from my ungodly long TBR, not have to seek out brand new books just to fit a category.
Like many others have said, though, at the end of the day, I'll make the prompts work. ATY has been naturally better at fitting in books I want to read so far since I started it in 2021, and I imagine since it's a democratic process, that will continue to happen. And if all else fails, I'll get creative about a prompt in a way that I feel like I am not cheating, but maybe interpreting it differently than anticipated. I've never used a wild card so far, but this is probably why.
(As an example from Popsugar this year, I used The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street for the "A romance novel by a BIPOC author" prompt because that whole book is basically a love letter from a family to their apartment. I could have slotted in another actual romance book, like Get a Life, Chloe Brown, and did consider doing that and shuffling things around, but so far this one has stuck)
Doing a challenge keeps me on track with reading while juggling everything else in my life, so it's important to me to have some sort of guardrails/goal, but I've come to find that something like Read Harder or even Popsugar at this point takes some of the fun away by making it too restrictive and feel like homework.
My favorite part of this challenge is getting to the final list and then slotting in books immediately that I will shuffle and rework a thousand times during the year. I don't know why it's so satisfying, but it is, and I'm glad I'm not alone! :)
Mod
Like Katie, I enjoy reading challenges because it helps me focus on what books to read, instead of me going days between books because I can't decide what to pick up next.
I find it really hard to pre plan as I'm too much of a mood reader but I do jot down a few ideas. When it comes to voting I don't really think about what I will read just how I feel about the prompt. By the time a prompt comes around the following year I don't often remember how I felt about it originally.This year I decided to use only books that I own to try and reduce my owned pile. With around 300 books to choose from there have been several options for most prompts so far. Unfortunately, I've ended up getting more new books than I've read for the challenge so there should be plenty of options for next year.
i planned both my popsugar and aty with books. some prompts had multiple options. I can tell you that I've dumped many of the original options for books I actually read on both challenges. I've kept a list of all the books I've taken off the challenges just to see how many i didn't read.
thankfully, quite a few of my of my read books can be double dipped into both challenges.
I try to list 2-3 options for prompts, though sometimes I find the perfect book for a prompt. This year for Pop Sugar I only planned one book per prompt because they were so narrow.I also keep track of the books I had planned and don't read, and then next year try to use those books. Often they're books that have been on my TBR forever and I really want to read them. I also sometimes use them for rejects challenges if I do one, this year I'm working on a Close Calls challenge. I abandoned the tarot one as I found it difficult.
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Notes from the Underground (other topics)Olive (other topics)
Get a Life, Chloe Brown (other topics)
The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street (other topics)
It (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Stephen King (other topics)Quentin Tarantino (other topics)
Ron Howard (other topics)
John Scalzi (other topics)
Brandon Sanderson (other topics)
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I seem to be in the minorit..."
Not in the minority, Nancy! I've been mostly going up 5 down 3 in the polls, but this was a 4/4 week for me, and I could have done more down than up but the 4 upvotes were enough to keep it at 4/4.