Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
Archives
>
[2023] Poll 13 Voting
message 101:
by
Ellie
(new)
Sep 12, 2022 08:59AM
I looked up that five languages of love book, and it sounds so sexist. So while the prompt would be easy enough to fulfil I decided to downvote it.
reply
|
flag
Martha wrote: "Regarding a book about a battle. Would legal thrillers or legal justice issues count as a battle? I'm currently reading Wastelands: The True Story of Farm Country on Trial and it is..."If fits the definition and "battled" is in the description. A battle in court, a battle in the community. This is an upvote for me.
I decided on 6 up, 2 down.Up:
- honoured by the queen (limited but I have a couple of authors on my TBR)
- NPR (it's a repeat but I love browsing their lists)
- journalism (I have a few non-fics by journalists I would like to get to)
- fits 5+ prompts (love this idea, I'm sure I will have a few options!)
- senses (another interesting idea - not sure what I would pick for it but would be fun to research)
- author with 7+ books (I tend to read newer books by authors with few books. This would encourage me to reach for some older books/authors I never get to)
Down:
- female athlete (too difficult for me)
- set during a holiday (this always comes up and I always downvote it. I rarely read anything set during a holiday)
There were a few others I wanted to up/down vote but as usual ran out of votes!
I'm also mainly downvotes this round. Only one upvote (Queen Elizabeth) and seven downvotes. I may have upvoted more, but there were enough I really didn't want that I ran out of votes.
4 up, 4 down for me. I'm getting more picky as the rounds go so prompts I would have been neutral on earlier, I'm now downvoting.
dalex wrote: "KP wrote: "The Queen honored high quality sci-fi and fantasy authors."That's a very dismissive statement about many well regarded and talented authors."
That's not what I meant at all. Someone said the list was too limited and the queen didn't like sci-fi and fantasy, and people pointed out examples of sff books. I made a list of the books I saw, for all the sff fans in the group. It's an impressive list. I wasn't dismissing anyone, and neither was the queen. I used the word quality to show my respect for the authors. I wasn't saying anyone else was low quality. When you compliment one person or group, are you insulting every one else?
Pam wrote: "I think the “banished” prompt is especially good for non-fiction, if banished also includes exiled. book:The Immortal Irishman: The Irish Revolutionary Who Became an"Thanks Pam, I added this book. The author is also a journalist, and the book involves political or war battles. That's 3 prompts.
The Immortal Irishman: The Irish Revolutionary Who Became an American Hero by Timothy Egan
Ellie wrote: "I looked up that five languages of love book, and it sounds so sexist. So while the prompt would be easy enough to fulfil I decided to downvote it."The author is a conservative evangelical Christian, which I think is strongly reflected in the book, so that is an automatic turn-off for me.
Edited to make my comment at least slightly less offensive to anyone!
Mod
There has been some controversy around the author and his beliefs, which is fine to comment on, but I ask that you respect the members of the group, who may be of this same religion and feel differently from the author.
Having read this book with my (now) husband the first week we started dating, I found the ideas in the book to be pretty insightful and lacking any religious slant or inherent sexism, despite the author's later controversy.
Pam wrote: "I posted this comment on the Wild Discussion erroneously, so here it is again.Here are a few links to novels with characters who are journalists:
https://booktrib.com/2021/07/29/break......"
BREAKING NEWS: Books With Reporters as Main Characters
Great headline.
Mahi wrote: "I didn't write that but I think the intention was to say that the list isn't lacking in good sci-fi and fantasy authors (like the previous comment was saying), not to insult the authors not honored..."Thank you for saying so. That's exactly true.
(Sorry for any formatting issues - on mobile because my internet is down again this week after being out last week. Gotta love fiber lines getting mangled during other work..)This is in reference to a note by Amy (I believe) about not knowing if chapters are named due to being an ebook/audiobook reader, so I just wanted to note that I do this all the time while also reading almost all of my books as ebook or audiobook loans from my library.
In the old Goodreads book page format, there is very often a Preview Book link for the most popular edition of the book, and you can often see chapters there.
In the new page format there’s an option to read/buy on Amazon and that will allow you to see the book preview on Amazon itself (which is what the old page format is essentially doing, but on the Goodreads page).
I seem to get each type of page format still with no rhyme or reason as to why, and while I prefer the old view, the new one at least lets you access the same information, albeit less nicely.
I imagine this isn’t a perfect system if the book has a super long introduction or something so you can’t get to the first chapter in the preview, but I believe Amazon does show the chapter listings pretty often if they’re included in the beginning of a book (which seems more common with books where the chapters are titled).
The Libby app also typically allows users to read a sample of a book even if it's not available to borrow, which should have similar information available.
So maybe not quite as satisfying for some people as flipping through a physical book, but I think comprehensive enough (using Goodreads as a resource) to be able to validate it on a book you're interested in reading.
The only type I can't see working would be brand new books before they're released, but they wouldn't be available in stores or libraries at that point either to verify.
Re: voting, I only had one upvote this time (NPR list), which kind of surprised me. There are plenty I'd be fine with getting through, but apparently it was a better week for trying to weed out the ones that don't appeal to me.
I must have been in a grumpy mood when I first looked at this list. I ended up with 6 up votes and 2 down.
Emily wrote: "Hey dalex, this group is made up of members of widely varying backgrounds and religious affiliations. Please do not make those generalizations so that we can keep this space safe...."Many apologies. Sincerely. It's a trigger topic for me and I didn't censor myself prior to posting (and I know better!).
KP wrote: "That's not what I meant at all."Thank you for clarifying. I read something that you didn't say, which is inherently a problem with communicating online! I'm sorry if you were offended by my misunderstanding.
Ellie wrote: "I looked up that five languages of love book, and it sounds so sexist. So while the prompt would be easy enough to fulfil I decided to downvote it."I didn't read the book so I can't say. I read a summary online and it didn't seem sexist at all. It didn't stereotype either gender, or blame either gender. Another blogger might have summarized it differently.
KP wrote: "I didn't read the book so I can't say. I read a summary online and it didn't seem sexist at all..."Each to their own but I read from several sources things that were red flag to me. I'll be avoiding anything that references them personally. Like I said if the prompt gets in I can do it, but I don't want to promote that work by voting for it.
Katie wrote: "(Sorry for any formatting issues - on mobile because my internet is down again this week after being out last week. Gotta love fiber lines getting mangled during other work..)This is in reference..."
That's good advice. I always listen to audio samples, but I forgot about ebook samples. Chapter headings can add clarity or set the stage for what is to come, or add humor. Some books jump around so much, providing a date/location/person would make a world of difference to an audio reader.
Yesterday someone said thank you for a list, but I couldn't find it. (Speaking of jumping around. I can't seem to read these threads in order.) If anyone has it can you post it?
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China. Malibu Rising, and David Sedaris are a few books that I remember as having interesting chapter names or headings.
Jaime wrote: "The 52 Book Club challenge had a chapters with titles prompt this year: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...."
Nancy is this what you were looking for if so it is message 40.
I repasted the link so it is a good link to follow.
Sorry but the 17th is Saturday so is it Friday 16th or Saturday 17th for the results?
Mod
Pam wrote: "I posted this comment on the Wild Discussion erroneously, so here it is again.Here are a few links to novels with characters who are journalists:
https://booktrib.com/2021/07/29/break......"
Excellent lists.
https://booktrib.com/2021/07/29/break...
BREAKING NEWS: Books With Reporters as Main Characters
Great headline. Great female friendly list.
https://electricliterature.com/12-nov...
About the power of journalism, older books
https://pressgazette.co.uk/18-pandemi...
2022 list to help us escape. More humor and thrillers
I added
Why we lie - Amy Impellizziri
Beyond the Headlines
The Truth -Pratchett
Sailboat
The Poet
The Boys on the Bus 1970's
Jillian wrote: "Jaime wrote: "The 52 Book Club challenge had a chapters with titles prompt this year: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...."
Nancy is this what you..."
Thanks so much! Yes that's great. Those books jolted my memory. I noticed a Jamie Ford on the old list, and I realized that his newest book fits the prompt too. The Many Daughters of Afong Moy
When I first saw the prompt about wives and daughters I cringed a little because I'm tired of those titles. But there are a lot of great books I could recommend for it - Including Afong Moy (female) I don't blame the books for the publishing trend. I don't think they're all sexist, but some do reflect the sexism inherent in the time (which might include today actually).
I really loved The Many Daughters of Afong Moy. It's about multiple generations of women, beginning with Afong Moy - a Chinese woman from a carnival show in 1800's America, moving to the future. If you like multiple genres and settings, this might be for you. It also covers multiple centuries but it wasn't too hard to follow. It has a little genetics sci-fi, based on epi-genetics which sounds more like magic. (Sorry Tracy, I couldn't think of it last week for the genetics prompt.)
Thanks KP for expanding on my journalist post! I wrote down 25 books from those 3 lists. I have only read 2. I don’t dare add them to my TBR. It’s completely out of control (>4K, I think). So, I’m starting to keep paper lists for books for suggested prompts. I definitely want to look into some non-fiction options also.
Emily wrote: "Hey dalex, this group is made up of members of widely varying backgrounds and religious affiliations. Please do not make those generalizations so that we can keep this space safe for anyone who wan..."Thanks Emily. That almost made me question my judgment (or memory) about it. I'm glad you found that discussion useful with your husband too. It was very helpful to me later in my marriage. I had two of his books and I actually talked about it in training classes - with HR people even. This group was super sensitive to sexism and not shy about speaking up. (I seriously miss those days.) Many had already read it and nodded in agreement. It's a great topic for any couple to talk about. Even friends, parents, children, etc. Parents might treat two kids the same, but one will feel loved and the other doesn't. Just because each person needs different things.
I also like the Five Languages prompt because it gives people another way to fit in rejected prompts or wished for topics.
Books on language, linguistics or the Spoken word would fit #1 or the whole topic.
Books about people in jobs that need compassion would fit service, and maybe the other 4.
Books about Athletes. Someone mentioned Coaches for #1.
Touch - I thought of Princess Diana getting so much press for touching an AIDS patient. Some people are absolutely starving for touch, and we might see it in a book.
NancyJ wrote: "Emily wrote: "Hey dalex, this group is made up of members of widely varying backgrounds and religious affiliations. Please do not make those generalizations so that we can keep this space safe for ..."My husband is almost militaristically athiest and he has no problem with it. For him, it was extremely helpful in understanding that his family's love language is giving and receiving gifts, and his is not. At all. It makes dealing with Christmas and birthdays easier.
Katie wrote: "(Sorry for any formatting issues - on mobile because my internet is down again this week after being out last week. Gotta love fiber lines getting mangled during other work..)This is in reference..."
Going through all the samples of books on Amazon is a lot. Guess on a book I want to read, look it up, wait for the sample to load, hope it shows at least one chapter header....nope, do it again for any number of tries until I finally hit on one that has what I am looking for. That is too much struggle for me. Also, my library uses Overdrive, not Libby. OD does not have a preview option.
I suggested the female athlete prompt.For people who are saying this is hard or they do not read those kinds of books, consider that “athlete” does not necessarily mean professional athlete. It could be a character in a novel who likes to run. Or someone who plays soccer in their spare time. Fictional literature is full of female athletes whose stories are about something other than athletics. The listopias have a ton of these books listed.
On the "wives/daughters" topic:If you look at the second listopia in the suggestions - for daughter - you will notice quite a few books that do not reference the father of the daughter. Some reference the mother, some reference the city, one in particular that I absolutely loved when I read it was Daughters of the Night Sky, a historical fiction that tells the tale of the female pilots in Russia who were sent out each night as decoys for the Germans. Another is Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak, which tells the story of three women now living in Istanbul and tells a story of the period between 1980 and 2016. It was my first introduction to the area (AFTER visiting it.) I loved it.
There is a much broader sense to the term than "the female progeny of a man."
°~Amy~° wrote: "Katie wrote: "(Sorry for any formatting issues - on mobile because my internet is down again this week after being out last week. Gotta love fiber lines getting mangled during other work..)This i..."
@°~Amy~°, if you use your Kindle to view samples, yet, it is a lot. But if you use your computer (or even your phone) in Amazon.com (but NOT in the Amazon app), you can use the "Look Inside" feature on most books. The graphic/link is at the top right corner of the picture of the cover, and it allows you to "flip" through the first many pages of the book. Here is a sample. As it happens, the book I chose to show you this feature DOES have named chapters:
https://www.amazon.com/Sentence-Louis...
Dubhease wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "Thank you thank you! I really appreciate that digging. I'll take both descriptions and I'll consider him qualified. I love poetry in very small doses, but I have yet to be able to re..."Thanks for the information. I grabbed a CD from the library today while I was there, and I ordered some of his books from the downtown branch. This is the week for reminders about authors I always meant to read.
Shannon wrote: "I suggested the female athlete prompt.For people who are saying this is hard or they do not read those kinds of books, consider that “athlete” does not necessarily mean professional athlete. It cou..."Good point. I can think of three books with women (in diff occupations) that loved to surf. It wasn't part of the major plot, but the surfing scenes were very memorable. I never liked to run, but I met a woman who wrote a novella about a marathon and it was really enjoyable. There was also a book about a woman white water rafting on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. I'm starting to see a trend here. LOL. I will never do any of those things. but I experienced the meditative or exhilarating aspects of their experiences. Solitude can be very peaceful and even transformative under the right circumstances.
You're not helping me to narrow down my uplist though!
I think I am resistant to an 'athelte' prompt in any sense because living in the United States, it feels like we as a country give atheletes so much hero worship as a cultura that I resent any attempt to focus even more of my attention in that direction
For the female athlete prompt, I suggest the 4-book Track series Ghost / Patina / Sunny / Lu (YA) by Jason Reynolds. I’ve only read the first one Ghost. The main character is a boy but I think there are girls on the track team, too. If not, the 2nd book Patina is about a girl on the track team. With this being an option, I may vote for this one since I want to finish the series. Another option, on the non-fiction side, is Swimming to Antarctica: Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer by Lynne Cox.
Shelley wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "Emily wrote: "Hey dalex, this group is made up of members of widely varying backgrounds and religious affiliations. Please do not make those generalizations so that we can keep this ..."Same here Shelly. We're pretty boring when it comes to gifts, so I'm going to have to remember this topic when my kids start thinking of marriage. It could be a real disappointment to a new family member to get socks for Christmas. (I'm kidding, mostly.)
Mod
You don't have knitters in your family! Socks are extremely popular in my family!
Tracy wrote: "°~Amy~° wrote: "Katie wrote: "(Sorry for any formatting issues - on mobile because my internet is down again this week after being out last week. Gotta love fiber lines getting mangled during other..."Thanks for helping clarify that, Tracy! I should have put in my original response that I do this on my phone all the time and it's quite quick. I was able to find a decent number of books with chapter titles that way in maybe five to ten minutes yesterday just going down my TBR.
Gail wrote: "On the "wives/daughters" topic:If you look at the second listopia in the suggestions - for daughter - you will notice quite a few books that do not reference the father of the daughter. Some refe..."
I will definitely take that route if the prompt gets through
Shannon wrote: "I suggested the female athlete prompt.For people who are saying this is hard or they do not read those kinds of books, consider that “athlete” does not necessarily mean professional athlete. It cou..."You bring up a great point. I am a sci-fi reader so my struggle was that there aren't many team sports in sci-fi so how does "athlete" of any gender fit into that genre? Now I am thinking that many of the female leads in the books I read do some sort of martial arts or physical training that could be considered athletic. I'll go that route with it if it gets through. Thanks!
Alicia wrote: "Popsugar had the journalist prompt in 2020. Here is their listopia: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1..."Thanks Alicia, I thought I would down-vote this but now its a up-vote.
8 upvotes for me. None of them were topics I'd hate, so no downvotes this week. I've been researching the prompts more as the weeks go on, so more of them appeal to me. I think I might make a rejects challenge for next year based on my favourite prompt for each vote (which doesn't get into the main challenge). Has anyone tried doing that before?
Pamela wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "It could be a real disappointment to a new family member to get socks for Christmas. (I'm kidding, mostly.)."You don't have knitters in your family! Socks are extremely popular in ..."
If I was a knitter socks would definitely be a better gift. Yours are gorgeous.
Lindsay wrote: "8 upvotes for me. None of them were topics I'd hate, so no downvotes this week. I've been researching the prompts more as the weeks go on, so more of them appeal to me. I think I might make a rej..."
I'm going with 8 upvotes too. I agree that the research helps a lot. Especially for topics like journalism. Alicia, Pam and Judy posted different lists, that are all useful. This topic has a good genre page with new releases.
This year I'm doing a close calls challenge. We don't have that many close calls for 2023 yet, which is odd.I have been tracking my top votes that didn't get in, not sure if I'll do it as a challenge next year. Maybe if I don't do PopSugar.
Mod
I know, it's crazy! We've had 9 close calls, and 2 of those went on to become top votes in later polls!
Bec wrote: "I can use The German Midwife for book with 'wife/daughter' in the title right?"Bec, I've made those leaps in other prompts. The word is in there, so in my opinion, yes. Go for it!
Gail wrote: "Bec wrote: "I can use The German Midwife for book with 'wife/daughter' in the title right?"Bec, I've made those leaps in other prompts. The word is in there, so in my opinion, yes...."
Makes me more likely to want to vote for it....I downloaded this book for this year's prompt with a language in the title but read something else instead...so still want to read it!
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
The German Midwife (other topics)The German Midwife (other topics)
The German Midwife (other topics)
Ghost / Patina / Sunny / Lu (other topics)
Patina (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Jason Reynolds (other topics)Elif Shafak (other topics)
Kazuo Ishiguro (other topics)
Louise Erdrich (other topics)
