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[2023] Poll 16 Voting
Mandy wrote: "Literary fiction is so not my genre."your profile is private so I don't know what you usually read, but if you want ghosts, aliens, SFF in general and you have to read "literary fiction" - the following would fit:
Perdido Street Station
Kraken
The Shadow of the Torturer
Soldier of the Mist
Neverwhere
The Fifth Season
California
The Plague of Doves
Find Me
The Third Hotel
The Shining Girls
Broken Monsters
We Could Be Heroes
Central Station
Alif the Unseen
Sorcerer to the Crown
The Left Hand of Darkness
Zone One
Underground Airlines
The Reign of the Kingfisher
The Trees
The Stars Are Legion
Ancillary Justice
Black Leopard, Red Wolf
The Girl with All the Gifts
Piranesi
Spinning Silver
... you get the idea. Most of those books are solidly genre, but they are written in the "literary fiction" style.
For more inspiration:
https://themillions.com/2017/03/case-...
https://best-sci-fi-books.com/31-best...
Tracy wrote: ". Maybe try Fredrik Backman?.."Is Bachman literary fiction? I haven’t read his books but for some reason I always assumed he was more commercial fiction than literary fiction. I guess my assumption is based on his enormous popularity. Commercial fiction tends to be more accessible and have more mass appeal than literary fiction.
Literary Fiction versus Commercial Fiction“Literary fiction is usually more concerned with style and characterization than commercial fiction. Literary fiction is also usually paced more slowly than commercial fiction. Literary fiction usually centers around a timeless, complex theme, and rarely has a pat (or happy) ending.
Commercial fiction, on the other hand, is faster paced, with a stronger plot line (more events, higher stakes, more dangerous situations). Characterization is generally not as central to the story. The theme is very obvious, and the language not as complex.
The biggest difference between literary and commercial fiction is that editors expect to make a substantial profit from selling a commercial book, but not necessarily from selling literary fiction. Audiences for commercial fiction are larger than those for literary fiction. Tom Clancy, John Grisham, and Stephen King are all prime examples of commercial fiction authors.”
https://www.writersdigest.com/write-b...
Lynn wrote: "A book that has won a diversity award in the 21st Century (2001-present)I am amazed at the number of diversity awards!!
This prompt combines the desire for diverse books AND a book from an awar..."
Here are a few more for Native American and Indigenous authors
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_...
High Plains Book Awards has an award for indigenous authors
https://www.highplainsbookawards.org/...
This is a list of many awards (not just diversity), including some Jewish, Chicano and Native American awards.
https://americanwritersmuseum.org/lit...
dalex wrote: "Tracy wrote: ". Maybe try Fredrik Backman?.."Is Bachman literary fiction? I haven’t read his books but for some reason I always assumed he was more commercial fiction than literary fiction. I gue..."
Thanks for your explanation, both in message 53, and the more expanded message 54.
I have never heard of 'commercial fiction' as a genre. Initially I was going with genres listed for him both in Goodreads and Amazon. I don't know if there is a more reliable source for this.
Although Fredrik Backman is accessible in that he's not hard to read (aka, not dry), and moves at a reasonable pace (not slow, but not overly quick either), I feel that his work is deeper than what I'd put into this new-to-me 'commercial fiction' bucket. I think he does a great job looking deeply at people, what motivates them, who they are inside, and how they learn from what's going on in the story. I feel like I have learned something about the human condition, but in a slightly more light-hearted way than most literary fiction, from Fredrik Backman's work. I think it's literary fiction in commercial fiction clothing
Although Backman has a huge following, I wouldn't put his writing in the same place as Tom Clancy, John Grisham, and Stephen King. Like most things in life, within a category there are gradations (e.g., autism spectrum disorder, and as we have been learning in a more open way recently — gender). I think Backman may be somewhere near the border between literary and commercial fiction.
Mandy wrote: "dalex wrote: "Mandy wrote: "I need something other in the book. ghosts, magical realism, fantastical, aliens, anything not about real life. i don't read to read about real life...."Literary fiction with ghosts, witches, magical realism, fantasy...
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
There are many literary authors who are writing fantasy, and vice versa. These are all cross genre. These books are shelved literary fiction as well as literary fantasy, fantasy, etc.
Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman
Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Mexican Gothic
The Golem and the Jinni
Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield
Midnight Library by Matt Haig
The Bear and the Nightingale
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel
His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik
The Night Circus
Circe by Madeline Miller - gods, creatures, mythology
The God of Small Things
Probably more literary than fantasy:
The Bone Clock by David Mitchell
Maddaddam series by Margaret Atwood
Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich (ghosts)
Sing Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward (ghosts)
I also second Tracy's suggestion about Frederick Backman, he is very popular AND literary.
Other authors with literary fantasy and literary fiction tags.
Catherynne M. Valente - has some literary fiction tags.
John Connolly
Harkness - Discovery of Witches
I agree Backman is definitely literary fiction, especially with dalex’s definitions. But also not miserable, sad endings. Great/happy things aren’t happening, but I’ve left Anxious People and Beartown smiling.
@nancy, I also love Joe even if I know I shouldn’t. But I just watch the show. I couldn’t get into the book.
The prompt isn't "Read a literary fiction book", I think the choice of "shelved as" gives enough wiggle room that you don't need to go for a strict interpretation of the genre - "shelved as" just means someone on Goodreads put it on their literary fiction shelf, it doesn't mean that they were correct when they did that. The other genre prompts are tighter, but if you give me room for interpretation, I'm going to use it :) I've not decided how I'm voting yet, but I'm more positive about genre prompts that give me a bit more freedom like this.
I'm very confused about how to tackle the Goodreads ratings prompt. When I sort my list as specified in the prompt, I mostly get books that haven't been released yet that have a 5 star average based on a couple of people who have somehow already rated it, or books that are coming out soon with high ratings based on very few ratings that I assume are of ARCs. Is there a more efficient way to sort the list to filter some of these out?Other than that, it's a pretty good list overall. I can definitely work with everything, but there are some that I want a lot more strongly than others. I love workplace, villain perspective, and probably fish out of water. I'm actually planning to vote for the romance since I have a ton of adult contemporary romances on my shelves, and it's a genre prompt that I don't think I've ever seen on a challenge list before.
I don't love the book related to a poem because I'm really not familiar with poetry at all, and I feel like I'd struggle to find something that feels related "enough" for my brain to accept. I'm also not really a fan of a second book to fit a favourite prompt since I do multiple challenges and can generally fit the books I want elsewhere without too much problem. I'm also not too keen on the genre that inspired/rekindled my love of reading since those are the genres I typically read the most anyway.
Diversity award is theoretically interesting, but I'm a bit put off by how much work/research is involved just to find a book that fits. I don't really follow awards so I'd have to check each of the awards individually to see lists of winners and hope that I see a book that I want to read, I guess?
There are no hard lines between all these categories and genres. Literary fiction is somewhere between literature and general fiction. Literary fiction tends to be very well written, without all the predictable tropes you might find in many genres. The books aren't all destined to be called great literature or classics decades from now. I think all the category definitions are approximations or generalities, and they're shifting. No one could persuade me that Margaret Atwood isn't a literary author, even if some of her books can be described as speculative, sci-fi, fantasy or historical true crime. Some literary authors like to include fantasy, romance, or other genres elements, but they don't follow the predictable rules or tropes in those genres. There are plenty of happy endings in literary fiction, but not like the ones in romance novels. I think literature professors must give F's to stories that end with an HEA wedding.
Rachel wrote: "I'm very confused about how to tackle the Goodreads ratings prompt. When I sort my list as specified in the prompt, I mostly get books that haven't been released yet that have a 5 star average base..."Regarding the work -that's what some people said about the W-Awards, but there will always be people here who are willing to do a huge chunk of that work for you. We found a lot of great books for the W-Awards, and I'm pretty sure someone added notes to each award to let you know if it was for historical fiction, fantasy, female authors, etc.
I'm going to focus on the Native American indigenous awards/books unless someone else gets to it first. If the diversity awards prompt doesn't get through, there are probably going to be some diversity prompts next week.
Rachel wrote: "I'm very confused about how to tackle the Goodreads ratings prompt. When I sort my list as specified in the prompt, I mostly get books that haven't been released yet that have a 5 star average base..."That's a very good point. I have a lot of these. Some giveaways have only a handful of ratings, but they're all 5's - presumably friends, family, or very loyal fans. On the other hand, if a book has a lot of ARCs I think they're good estimates. If you have political books on your TBR, you can count on them having a ton of bogus ratings.
For the top 23 books on your tbr, you could just skip over the future releases or books with fewer than say 100 ratings (for now), in order to see if the prompt will be worthwhile for you. If it's an author you know well, you could estimate the ratings (for now). As you get closer to when you'll read the book, you can check again. You could also set a rule for yourself to only count books with more than X ratings, or books that were published before a certain date.
This prompt will be a lot more work for me than the others, because my TBR is in desperate need of heavy pruning. I always start with the books with the fewest ratings. This prompt might actually be a good motivator for me to make some cuts. I'll ask myself - do you really plan to read this book in 2023 or sooner? If not, it's gone.
Nadine in NY wrote: "Mandy wrote: "Literary fiction is so not my genre."This is great, you and I just did the same exercise, and we have only one overlap - Piranesi. I skipped over Spinning Silver because I didn't spot the literary fiction tags, but it does have 11. I focused on the Literary Fantasy tag list.
Literary fiction usually has better writing than general fiction, and it's more accessible to people (easier to understand) than some books considered to be literature.
NancyJ wrote: "Rachel wrote: "I'm very confused about how to tackle the Goodreads ratings prompt. When I sort my list as specified in the prompt, I mostly get books that haven't been released yet that have a 5 st..."Thanks @NancyJ. This is what I was going to suggest to you @Rachel. Just skip those books that you think are temporarily artificially highly rated on your TBR when you go to choose your book.
Robin P wrote: "Mandy wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "Mandy wrote: "Literary fiction is so not my genre."Did you see the list? You might be surprised."
I did and at most of them, I am literally cringing. Hopefully, some..."
@Robin @Mandy - I think you're talking about Oprah Book club books, women's literature (break-ups), and world books written about people living in war zones. That's not the same as literary fiction. For literary fiction, I think of authors like Ann Patchett, Sue Monk Kidd, Virginia Woolf, Margaret Atwood, Fredrik Backman, and Taylor Jenkins Reid. Though I do love book-club books too, especially when they are also literary fiction - such as Olive Kitteridge, The Gentleman in Moscow, The Light between Oceans, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, and True Biz (these last two have more literary fiction tags than I would have expected).
I love literary fiction. I checked the list and I have loads of these in my TBR. It made me laugh when someone described these books to be like country songs! I also love magical realism. It’s a huge genre in Latin American writing. I’d highly recommend Isabelle Allende to anyone who has not read her.
I don’t understand the idea of ‘tactical voting’. I upvote any prompts I love/could easy work with, and down vote any prompts I’d have a massive struggle with. I’d much rather use upvotes than downvotes, as we are trying to find prompts to inspire our reading.
I currently could upvote 12 of these prompts! I have more thinking to do!!!!
Mod
Tracy wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "Rachel wrote: "I'm very confused about how to tackle the Goodreads ratings prompt. When I sort my list as specified in the prompt, I mostly get books that haven't been released yet t..."I get that, I was just wondering if there was a more efficient way to use the settings to filter those out? I have close to 5000 books on my TBR in total, so it would take quite a while to go through all the pages to find where the "real" top rated books are, especially if I have to weed out all the ones in between. If there were a way to organize the list by two features (ie. rating + number of ratings) that would help a lot, but I would guess that's a bit too advanced for Goodreads.
Rachel, if you sort by average rating (highest on top) do you have so many new/low volume books that it takes pages to get to 23 larger volume books? If so, you have your finger on the pulse of a lot of soon to be published titles!
Does Shakespeare count as a Poem for prompt #4? If so, I think all the October Daye books will work.The Ramayana, The Iliad, & The Odyssey are all poems, so anything inspired by them would work.
I doubt I will change anyone’s opinion on romance, but I will say the genre is much broader than I originally thought. I am not a fan of bodice rippers. (If Fabio is on the cover, it can stay on the shelf.) But, an author I liked had an event at The Ripped Bodice romance bookstore in LA, so I had a look at their website. (therippedbodicela.com) It turned out that I enjoyed a ton of books they carry. The ones I like tend to focus on interpersonal relationships. If books by Sarah Kuhn and Mary Robinette Kowal are considered “romance”, count me in. Bookriot always has some kind of romance on their reading challenge. That doesn’t mean that AtY needs to follow suit, but they have a great write up as to why they do that. I could probably track it down, if anyone was interested.
Every time magical realism comes up for a challenge, I try and read a proper magical realism book and am underwhelmed. But I see the genre page for it is full of fantasy, so if it gets in I'll just use some random Goodreads user's definition of it.At least with "shelved as literary fiction" you don't have to worry if that person doing the shelving is right, because the prompt doesn't require to actually read literary fiction, just it be shelved that way.
As a mostly SFF reader I loved Our Wives Under the Sea, How High We Go in the Dark and Sea of Tranquility. I'm currently listening to Stone Blind: Medusa's Story, I'm surprised it's not been shelved as literary yet because people do that with the myths, and it's got plenty of humour in it. I love Natalie Haynes' narration.
Alicia wrote: "@nancy, I also love Joe even if I know I shouldn’t. But I just watch the show. I couldn’t get into the book."Do you ever listen to audiobooks? Because the You audiobooks are phenomenal! Santino Fontana IS Joe, even more than Penn Badgley (and I love Penn Badgley as Joe).
The show really veered off of the book plot lines in late season 1, and it's two different stories now. Every now and then is an echo of what happened in the book, but just an echo. Which is nice, I get to enjoy the book, and then I get to enjoy the show because I have no idea what's going to happen. That whole thing with Love and the bakery in the small town and the hottie Theo next door and the meddling town folk ... none of that was in the book!
NancyJ wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: "Mandy wrote: "Literary fiction is so not my genre."This is great, you and I just did the same exercise, and we have only one overlap - Piranesi. I skipped over Spinning Silve..."
I saw that! It's pretty impressive that we both came up with a long list and managed to come up with mostly different books!
Rachel wrote: "... If there were a way to organize the list by two features (ie. rating + number of ratings) that would help a lot, but I would guess that's a bit too advanced for Goodreads. ..."right?!! If I exported my list to an Excel file, I could easily sort it every which way. I could have four different ways I'm sorting, all at once. But GR? nah. we're lucky we can sort at all.
Marie wrote: "The prompt isn't "Read a literary fiction book", I think the choice of "shelved as" gives enough wiggle room that you don't need to go for a strict interpretation of the genre - "shelved as" just m..."Good point. The book doesn't really have to be literary fiction to count for the prompt. As long as someone somewhere said it's literary fiction, than you can use it!
This actually happens a lot with genre prompts. People find it on a listopia or a goodreads shelf and they count it. This is especially true for "murky" genres. I am quite certain that in the Land of Goodreads there are thousands of books tagged or shelved or listed as magical realism or literary fiction that are absolutely not that.
Tracy wrote: "I think Backman may be somewhere near the border between literary and commercial fiction.
Thank you for your in-depth answer. I agree that the line between literary and commercial can be quite blurry. Some books are very obviously one or the other but other books? Not so much.
You've almost convinced me to give Backman a try. I love literary fiction but do not read much commercial fiction. I am now intrigued about Backman, though.
dalex wrote: "Marie wrote: "The prompt isn't "Read a literary fiction book", I think the choice of "shelved as" gives enough wiggle room that you don't need to go for a strict interpretation of the genre - "shel..."I’m glad you are thinking about giving Backman a try. For me, I either love or dislike his books. There are some that are my favorite and others that I don’t care for at all so if you don’t like the first one you might like others.
Mod
I'd definitely agree his books are more character-centric than plot-centric, which is how I distinguish literary fiction from commercial. He's one of the few straight male authors I read that I feel can truly portray a wide range of emotions in a single character. (No dig at male authors, I just don't read a lot of them lol)
A really fun set of prompts this time! Upvoted 6, downvoted 2.Up:
5. A book told from the villain’s perspective - This is a fun one, and would make me get quite creative! I could just read a romance book with a formerly villainous hero, or I could stretch myself. Either way, fun!.
6. A romance novel - Romance is my favourite genre, so of course I was going to upvote this one!
7. A second book that fits your favorite prompt - I really loved this one when it was brought up in the wild discussion thread. A lot of flexibility for deciding what my favourite prompt is!
9. A book from a genre that inspired, or rekindled, your love of reading - This is a lot of fun also. I’d probably read another romance novel, but it’s a prompt that’d require a bit of thought and I like that.
10. A book about "a fish out of water" - This one is also a lot of fun to me. A wide range of ways you could interpret this.
14. A book by an author you read in 2022 - I’m very much a butterfly reader. I do like certain authors, but I tend to flutter around reading a bit of everything. This would be a great opportunity to get back to some of my favourite authors!
Down:
8. A book shelved as literary fiction - I’m sure there’s some very good literary fiction out there! But I can stand basically none of it. My least favourite genre, and I’d rather not force myself to read a book from it.
13. A book that is one of the top 23 Goodreads rated books in your TBR - I just don’t really like most of the elements of this prompt, I’m afraid. I’m not a big fan of tbr prompts, and I don’t trust goodreads ratings very much.
Mod
Pamela, I advise upvoting all the ones you really like. I'm much happier with the results when I use mostly all upvotes. I only downvote ones that I cannot work with. And sometime..."
LOL--I seem to downvote winners and upvote ones that don't make it! Thus my thinking how to work the system!
Mod
I am friends with an author one might call "commercial fiction" and I can 100% guarantee she would never call her books that.
Mod
There is a listopia for books with titles taken from poem. Even if you know poetry, you don't always link titles to it. I'm reading Skin of a Lion and apparently it's a title taken from the Epic of Gilgamesh, a poem.
For option #3 A book that has won a diversity award in the 21st Century (2001-present)Here is a more detailed and targeted listing of sources as requested.
(I have removed the few academic/scholarly links.)
I have added everything I could without making the message too long to post...
The nerd in me is having so much fun with this! ;)
INDIVIDUAL AWARD EXAMPLES:
American Indian Library Association (AILA) Awards: https://ailanet.org/activities/americ...
Fiction & Nonfiction—Picture Books, Middle Grade, Young Adult
Recognizes the very best writing and illustrations by Native Americans and Indigenous Peoples of North America.
Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards: https://www.anisfield-wolf.org/winners/
Fiction & Nonfiction & Poetry (Adult)
Recognizes books that have made important contributions to our understanding of racism and our appreciation of the rich diversity of human cultures.
Arab-American Book Award: https://arabamericanmuseum.org/book-a... (scroll down for winner listings by year)
Adult Fiction, Adult Non-Fiction: The Evelyn Shakir Non-Fiction Award, Poetry: The George Ellenbogen Poetry Award, Children’s/Young Adult Literature
To honor outstanding books written by or about Arab Americans
Asian/Pacific-American Award for Literature: https://www.apalaweb.org/awards/liter... (scroll down for winner listings by year)
Adult Fiction, Adult Non-Fiction, Youth Literature, Children’s Literature, Picture Books
To honor and recognize individual work about Asian/Pacific Americans and their heritage.
Barbellion Prize: https://www.thebarbellionprize.com/wi...
Can be Fiction, Memoir, Biography, Critical Non-Fiction from around the world (English, in translation, traditionally or self-published)
Dedicated to the furtherance of ill and disabled voices in writing. Awarded to an author whose work has best represented the experience of chronic illness and/or disability.
Before Columbus Foundation America Book Award: https://www.beforecolumbusfoundation....
Fiction & Nonfiction
To provide recognition and a wider audience for the wealth of cultural and ethnic diversity that constitutes American writing. The term “multicultural” is used as a definition of all American literature, not just a description of an aspect of American literature.
Black Caucus of the American Library Association Literary Awards: https://www.bcala.org/bcala-awards/li...
Fiction & Nonfiction & Poetry & First Book
Recognizes excellence in adult fiction and nonfiction by African American authors published in 2019.
(No awards listed other than those awarded in 2020)
Children’s Africana Book Awards (CABA): https://cfas.howard.edu/CABA/winners-...
Fiction & Nonfiction for Young Children, Older Readers, and Young Adults
The Center for African Studies works to consolidate and expand the legacy of Howard University as a leader for America and the global community in relation to the study of Africa.
Carter G. Woodson Book Award (by the National Council for the Social Studies: https://www.socialstudies.org/get-inv...
(Link would not work, I had to copy and paste the URL into my browser)
Fiction & Nonfiction—Children’s and Young Adult
Honoring the most distinguished social science books appropriate for young readers that depict ethnicity in the United States.
Consortium of Latin American Studies Program (CLASP) Awards: http://claspprograms.org/pages/detail...
Fiction & Nonfiction—Children’s and Young Adult
To encourage and comment authors, illustrators and publishers who produce quality children’s and young adult books that portray Latin America, the Caribbean, or LatinX cultures in the United States.
Coretta Scott King Book Award: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coretta...
Fiction & Nonfiction—Children’s and Young Adults
Recognizes outstanding books for young adults and children by African Americans that reflect the African-American experience.
Dayton Literary Peace Prize: https://www.daytonliterarypeaceprize....
Fiction & Nonfiction—Adult
Recognizes the power of the written work to promote peace—books that have led readers to a better understanding of other cultures, peoples, religions, and political points of view.
Hurston-Wright Foundation Legacy Awards: https://www.hurstonwright.org/2021-le...
Fiction & Nonfiction & Poetry
Honors the best in Black literature in the United State and around the globe.
IPPY Outstanding Book Award-Multicultural Fiction (Independent Publisher): https://ippyawards.com/81/medalists
Fiction & Nonfiction & Poetry (Very unique books)
To recognize and encourage the work of publishers who exhibit the courage and creativity necessary to take chances, break new ground, and bring about change, not only to the world of publishing, but to our society. Honor books exemplifying this daring spirit—the most heartfelt, unique, outspoken, and experimental.
Jane Addams Children’s Book Award: https://www.janeaddamschildrensbookaw...
(Link would not work, I had to copy and paste the URL into my browser)
Fiction & Nonfiction—Younger and Older readers
Commended titles are books in which young people feel seen, celebrated, valued, and empowered to question, discuss, and act.
Jewish Book Council Awards: https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/awards
Fiction & Nonfiction—Children’s through Adult
Recognizing outstanding literature in the field and aim to encourage authors to continue to write on themes of Jewish interest.
John Steptoe Award for New Talent: https://www.ala.org/rt/emiert/cskbook...
Goodreads Listopia: https://www.goodreads.com/award/show/...
Fiction & Nonfiction—Children’s through Adult
Recognizes outstanding books for young adults and children by African Americans that reflect the African-American experience. Authors/illustrators cannot have more than 3 published works and cannot be acknowledged by the Coretta Scott King Award in the same year.
The LAMMYS (The Lambda Literary Awards): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambda_...
Fiction & Nonfiction & Poetry—Children’s through Adult
Recognizing the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world. Celebrating the very best in LGBTQ literature.
Forward INDIES Book of the Year Awards: https://www.forewordreviews.com/awards/
Fiction & Nonfiction—Children’s through Adult
Representing the best in Independent Publishing.
Nautilus Book Awards: https://nautilusbookawards.com/nautil...
Fiction & Nonfiction—Children’s through Adult (38 Categories)
“Better Books for a Better World”
Pen/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction: https://pen.org/pen-bellwether-prize/ (scroll down for previous winners’ link)
Fiction
Established by Barbara Kingsolver in 2000. A career-founding prize which promotes fiction that addresses issued of social justice and the impact of culture and politics on human relationships. “Socially engaged fiction may describe categorical human transgressions in a way that compels readers to examine their own prejudices. It may invoke the necessity for economic and social justice for a particular ethnic or social group, or it may explicitly examine movements that have brought positive social change. Or, it may advocate the preservation of nature by describing and defining accountable relationships between people and their environment.”
Pen Open Book Award: https://pen.org/pen-open-book-award/ (scroll down for previous winners’ link)
Fiction & Nonfiction & Poetry
Formerly known as the Beyond Margins Awards, committed to racial and ethnic diversity within the literary and publishing communities. Recognizes authors of color whose work was published in the United States.
Rainbow Book List: https://glbtrt.ala.org/rainbowbooks/
Fiction & Nonfiction—Children’s through Young Adult (includes graphic and manga)
An annual annotated bibliography consisting of quality LBGTQIA+ literature intended for readers from birth to age 18.
The Schneider Family Book Award: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schneid...
Fiction & Nonfiction—Children’s through Young Adult
Recognizes authors and illustrators for the excellence of portrayal of the disability experience in literature for youth.
Skipping Stones Book Awards: https://www.skippingstones.org/wp/boo...
Fiction & Nonfiction—Children’s through Adult (Categories: Multicultural and International, Nature and Ecology, Teaching Resources)
Recognizes works that “promote an understanding of cultures, cultivate cooperation and/or encourage a deeper awareness of nature, ecology, and diversity. They foster deep respect for multiple viewpoints and closer relationships within human societies.”
Stonewall Book Awards: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewa...
Fiction & Nonfiction—Children’s through Adult
Three literary awards that annually recognize “exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience” in English-language books published in the U.S.:
(1) Stonewall Book Award-Barbara Gittings Literature Award, (2) Stonewall Book Award-Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award, (3) Stonewall Book Awards-Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award.
The Sydney Taylor Book Award: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_...
Fiction & Nonfiction—Children’s through Young Adult
Recognizes the best in Jewish children’s literature—outstanding books that authentically portray the Jewish experience.
Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom%C3%...
Fiction & Nonfiction—Children’s through Young Adult
Recognizes authors and illustrators whose literary work depict the Mexican American experience whose portrayal/representations of Mexican Americans are accurate and engaging, avoid stereotypes, and reflect rich characterization.
Women’s Prize for Fiction: https://www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk/
Fiction (DUH! )—Adult
Honors a female author of any nationality for the best original full-length novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom in the preceding year.
BONUS! Meet “The Futures 10”: https://womensprizeforfiction.co.uk/a...
Interesting add-on:
In May 2014, Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction launched the #ThisBook campaign to find out which books, written by women, have had the biggest impact on readers. Nineteen "inspirational women" were chosen to launch the campaign and then thousands of people from the "general public" submitted their ideas via Twitter. The 20 winners were announced on 29 July 2014. The organisers noted that nearly half (eight) of the winning books were published before 1960. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%2....
Pamela wrote: "I am friends with an author one might call "commercial fiction" and I can 100% guarantee she would never call her books that."So what genre does she use to market her books?
There is absolutely nothing wrong with commercial fiction. It is wildly popular and sells like crazy so it is obviously what a large percentage of the population loves!
Mod
There..."
She used to be literary, she's moving to true crime,
People don't like "commercial", it makes them feel less artistic.
In the end I downvoted diversity, poem, TBR, echo, romance, fish out of water, literary fiction and upvoted author read in 2022
Mod
dalex wrote: "Tracy wrote: "You've almost convinced me to give Backman a try. I love literary fiction but do not read much commercial fiction. I am now intrigued about Backman, though.@dalex: Thank you for being open minded! If you DO try Backman, I hope you enjoy him. I find him to be very emotionally intelligent. A Man Called Ove I've only seen as a movie (loved it, cried, laughed). So far I've read Anxious People (and seen the movie) and My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry I think "...Grandmother..." is my favorite of the two that I've read.
I've also heard very good things about Beartown. On the outside it appears to be a book about small town hockey and a violent act, but I've heard that really it is a study of the people in the small town. From the description on Amazon, "...even more about loyalty, commitment, and the responsibilities of friendship; the people we disappoint even though we love them; and the decisions we make every day that come to define us. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world."
I found the list about poetry-inspired titles, if anyone else was wondering: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...
Eujean2 wrote: "I doubt I will change anyone’s opinion on romance, but I will say the genre is much broader than I originally thought. I am not a fan of bodice rippers. (If Fabio is on the cover, it can stay on th..."As a romance "hater" I am probably not going to change my mind on the genre, but I am open to trying books if they seem not too sweet and syrupy. I think in general it does women a disservice by planting the idea that romance is the be-all and end-all in life. The HEA endings are just so unrealistic. I get that people read them as "escapes," but I just cannot seem to feel that way. I also hate reading sex scenes, so that's a personal issue.
I will check out the authors you mention, as I am fairly certain all the romance fans will be voting for it. If anyone has ideas for something on the order of "literary romance" I'd appreciate suggestions.
If not, I can always use a wild card.
Emily, I have a huge favor to ask! Could you please post the content from message #86 (starting with INDIVIDUAL AWARD EXAMPLES...) in the THOUGHTS AND IDEAS FROM THE SUGGESTIONS THREAD for option #3 A book that has won a diversity award in the 21st Century (2001-present)?
In other words, message #86 content from INDIVIDUAL AWARD EXAMPLES would replace that content currently listed for option #3 in the THOUGHTS AND IDEAS FROM THE SUGGESTIONS THREAD.
I never know if the way I am describing something is clear to anyone but me! Hence, my repetition. :)
Thank you immensely if you can do this and if not, that's okay. At least I have tried. :)
Emily wrote: "I don't know that anyone markets as "commercial" but rather within specific genres -- mystery, romance, thriller, etc. Literary is often marketed as literary, but it can also be marketed within the..."I have seen books marketed as "best sellers" which probably is the same thing as "commercial." Pretty much any genre can be a best seller. Obviously, lots of people like them. I trend toward literary but read my fair share of commercially successful books.
If some miracle occurs, and "literary fiction" wins, I can easily offer many, many suggestions that are not "doom and gloom" or horribly sad or tragic. Many I've enjoyed end on an element of hope.
I think it’s rarely the author who decides what it’s marketed as. It’s mainly publishers.
Thomas wrote: "I think it’s rarely the author who decides what it’s marketed as. It’s mainly publishers."That is definitely true! So many authors I've met and or watched interact in interviews, etc., have commented that this is the case...
Tracy wrote: "dalex wrote: "Tracy wrote: "You've almost convinced me to give Backman a try. I love literary fiction but do not read much commercial fiction. I am now intrigued about Backman, though.@dalex: Tha..."
Just can't resist stating Backman is one of my all-time favorite authors!
Joy D wrote: "I think in general it does women a disservice by planting the idea that romance is the be-all and end-all in life. The HEA endings are just so unrealistic...."I think you are discounting women's intelligence. I am a big genre reader. I enjoy romance, mystery, thriller, sci-fi, fantasy, horror when it's not too gory. They are ALL unrealistic. Your average guy is not like the hero in an espionage thriller. Your average guy does not have super tech skills like in a sci-fi novel. Your average guy is not the detail-oriented detective in many mysteries. Your average guy is not saving the world with his magical skills. But no one is saying "these books do men a disservice by planting the idea that being {xyz} should be their goal in life. It's so unrealistic." No one says that because everyone understands that the thrill of these books IS their out-sized protagonists and over-the-top plots. And it's the same exact thing in romance.
You don't have to read them and you don't have to like them, but don't think they are planting unrealistic ideas.
Nadine in NY wrote: "Joy D wrote: "I think in general it does women a disservice by planting the idea that romance is the be-all and end-all in life. The HEA endings are just so unrealistic...."I think you are disco..."
Well-stated. I would agree.
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
The Magic Faraway Tree (other topics)The Vanishing Half (other topics)
The Complete Fiction of Nella Larsen: Passing, Quicksand, and The Stories (other topics)
Airs Above the Ground (other topics)
Nine Coaches Waiting (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Mary Stewart (other topics)Amanda Quick (other topics)
Jayne Ann Krentz (other topics)
Fredrik Backman (other topics)
Andrea Penrose (other topics)
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I'm not trying to push you into doing something you don't want to do @dalex, but if you only reason is that you "can't", maybe we can figure it out (even if you don't vote for it and it gets in). I only used the Goodreads TBR and ratings because I assumed everyone in this group probably used it. If your TBR system has ratings, then please feel free to use those ratings. If you just have a notebook, then of course that won't work. But you could still use the spirit of the prompt and maybe see which book on your TBR you are most excited to read and check on GR to see if it has a pretty high rating on GR - maybe 4.5 or higher?
If you just aren't interest, then that's fine too.