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[2024] Poll 2 Results
Two polls in and two flexible prompts bottomed. I guess people want to be challenged
I was just organising my ATY 2024 options in Google Docs and seeing this makes me so happy! I love the Snow White's dwarfs prompt and the one word title one! <3
Mod
Well, my feeling was that Author We Lost was too challenging and 247 pages not challenging enough.
Robin P wrote: "Thomas wrote: "Two polls in and two flexible prompts bottomed. I guess people want to be challenged"Well, my feeling was that Author We Lost was too challenging and 247 pages not challenging enough."
I didn’t fancy author we lost myself but the other would be ideal for those like me who have a TBR they need to get in. But hey democracy
Mod
Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, happy the Dwarves prompt made it!
Well I'm glad I don't have to hope more authors die this year so we have a better list to choose from.I have big mental block about the last letter thing, like I can't really think of any off the top of my head, but obviously there must be thousands. I would have preferred any other A, T or Y prompt.
all 3 winners were in my 4 up votes, so super happy reader over here!
Mod
I know the suggester's intent for the one word title was to exclude subtitles, but since it doesn't specifically say that in the prompt, you could allow a book with subtitles if that's what you need to do. (For instance, Babel: An Arcane History) I think including subtitles would be a KIS option.
Ellie wrote: "I have big mental block about the last letter thing, like I can't really think of any off the top of my head, but obviously there must be thousands."I felt the same at first, and then I realized there is a TON of titles ending in -Y on my TBR alone^^ Think of anything ending in -ity or the color gray, or "stay" ... :)
Wow, 3 more prompts. I don't remember so many getting through each round last year. I am happy with the ones that are tops and bottoms. 247 pages is way too easy as I usually read books that are 300 pages or more. I am also with others who mentioned not wanting more people to die this year :)
I upvoted all the tops and bottoms lolBut still happy with the votes. Definitely understand why the bottom two didn’t appeal to people.
Conny wrote: "Ellie wrote: "I have big mental block about the last letter thing, like I can't really think of any off the top of my head, but obviously there must be thousands."I felt the same at first, and th..."
I'm adding to the listopia, but a few words that I'm seeing on repeat:
Story
History
Sea
America
Spy
Secret
Boy
City
Met/Meet
Night
Conspiracy
I had a ridiculously easy time finding 100 titles ending in A, T or Y to add to the listopia. The BIO choice of course would be to go with A but even then there are a lot of choices if you consider place names like: China, America, Florida, Africa, Australia etc.
I saw a lot of Spanish and Italian words (eg The Last Cuentista The Villa) on my tbr as well.
I'm a little bummed We Didn't Start the Fire didn't make it this time, I may suggest it again later.What happens if things are "close"? I haven't done this before, are there run-off polls or something? (prompt battle royale?? :)
It's not that I don't know words ending in A, T or Y! It's just a visualisation problem.
Lol, I wasn't trying to imply you didn't! I was just making suggestions of some common words I'm finding hoping to jog your memory of books you might already have on your radar! :)
Jennifer W wrote: "Lol, I wasn't trying to imply you didn't! I was just making suggestions of some common words I'm finding hoping to jog your memory of books you might already have on your radar! :)"It's OK. When I design my spreadsheet for next year I'll just extract the last letters. More reliable than my brain at this point, since I didn't think of that straight away. 🤣
Mod
I voted neither for or against the dead authors prompt but thought it was pretty restrictive and not one I wanted to become less restrictive as the year went.
Ellie wrote: "Well I'm glad I don't have to hope more authors die this year so we have a better list to choose from.I have big mental block about the last letter thing, like I can't really think of any off the..."
Me too. I don't remember the last words. It's very tedious looking through so many pages of books. I might just rely on the listopia to help me get started
It would be helpful on the Seven Dwarfs list if people mention why the book fits. Books with "Happy" or "Grumpy" or whatever in the title are obvious. But, for example, why is How the Penguins Saved Veronica on the list?
Nadine in NY wrote: "It would be helpful on the Seven Dwarfs list if people mention why the book fits. Books with "Happy" or "Grumpy" or whatever in the title are obvious. But, for example, why is [book:How the Penguin..."There was a prompt last year where I suggested that people use the "why you selected this space" and I had feedback that some brand of phone makes it hard to find it.
Dubhease wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: "It would be helpful on the Seven Dwarfs list if people mention why the book fits. Books with "Happy" or "Grumpy" or whatever in the title are obvious. But, for example, why is ..."good point - I know that Listopias are hopeless on the iphone app, you can't really access them or add to them at all on the app. (Unless this has changed? I gave up on the GR app and I haven't used it in ages.)
Nadine in NY wrote: "It would be helpful on the Seven Dwarfs list if people mention why the book fits. Books with "Happy" or "Grumpy" or whatever in the title are obvious. But, for example, why is [book:How the Penguin..."From the book blurb "A curmudgeonly but charming old woman, her estranged grandson, and a colony of penguins proves it's never too late to be the person you want to be in this rich, heartwarming story from the acclaimed author of Ellie and the Harpmaker." so it sounds like a "Grumpy" to me.
But I agree, it would be helpful if people added a note to say which dwarf they were thinking of.
Mod
I put that on because it is one of many books with curmudgeons, Veronica seems grumpy at first before you know her story, same as A Man Called Ove and a number of others, maybe Eleanor Oliphant? I forgot we could put notes to explain why we added it. I also added a couple with doctors for Doc.
Ooh, 2 that I voted for in the top 3! And the other one looks fairly fun too. :)
I also learned today that a surprising number of Patricia Highsmith titles end in Y!! The Talented Mr. Ripley
The Boy Who Followed Ripley
The Two Faces of January
Little Tales of Misogyny
The Tremor of Forgery
A Suspension of Mercy
Edith's Diary
Those Who Walk Away
The 3 in were my upvotes, so I’m happy. Like one of the dwarfs.
I only upvoted 3 and all of them made the top - didn't expect that! :)
None of the prompts I was most excited for made it, but I upvoted two of the top and that's perfectly lovely. Our list for 2024 is shaping up really beautifully so far!
I had 7 upvotes, including the top 3. So, I can't be upset. I am disappointed that "X marks the spot" didn't make it in. Perhaps, it needed more "selling"
Mod
What happens if things are "close"? I haven't done this before, are there run-off polls or some..."
The mods have a fancy spreadsheet that does some crazy math that basically tells us who is in the top. It has to do with averages and standard deviations and other things that Jackie's brain can do that mine cannot lol. From there, if we see that a prompt is close but isn't quite in the top (based on net votes - up minus down), they get the Close Call designation. It serves no purpose other than to let people know that it has a higher chance of getting in on a later poll.
All that being said, when it's a group of prompts like this that are all pretty popular, it's worth resubmitting a prompt if you like it. We generally recommend waiting a few polls before suggesting it again.
Hope that answers your question! In previous years, we've done a "Close Calls" poll towards the end of the list making process, but we haven't had enough Close Calls in the past two years to be able to have one.
I upvoted all 3 in the top and downvoted one of the bottom. I'm excited for all 3 that made it in and have so many options for all of them.
Emily wrote: "I mentioned this in the Wild Discussion just now, but tossing it here too:I know the suggester's intent for the one word title was to exclude subtitles, but since it doesn't specifically say that..."
Same here, re: I replied to Emily's explanation in Wild Discussion as well:
========================
Well, I learned something about presenting suggestions. In my own notes for A book with a title that is a single word, I included that A, An, The, and subtitles should not be present. But I guess I self edited when I actually suggested it and those things ended up being notes, and not part of the prompt. So, no more self-editing.
Re: the example of "Babel" vs "Babel, An Arcane History" — I researched and found that "A Novel" is not considered a subtitle, and I would think that "An Arcane History" is a similar idea. HOWEVER, the extended subtitle for this same book "Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution" WOULD count as a subtitle.
Happy with the results. I upvoted 6, and all three winners were in that list. Even better, I have several books I already own that fit at least 2 of these (and maybe more if I look more closely).
I was also going to ask about subtitles. I suppose the wording leaves it up to personal interpretation. There are quite a few books I was going to add to the listopia because I thought they were one word titles and then Goodreads shows a subtitle. e.g Mythos by Stephen Fry
Mod
Kat wrote: "I was also going to ask about subtitles. I suppose the wording leaves it up to personal interpretation. There are quite a few books I was going to add to the listopia because I thought they were on..."It depends on the edition too; for instance I spotted Frankenstein on the listopia but my copy says "Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus". I checked and GR has the second part on some editions but not all.
I personally don't count subtitles for challenges because they are all over the place and often change between the hardback and paperback editions, even from the same publisher.
Tracy wrote: "Emily wrote: "I mentioned this in the Wild Discussion just now, but tossing it here too:I know the suggester's intent for the one word title was to exclude subtitles, but since it doesn't specifi..."
“A novel” doesn’t count as a real sub-title. It’s usually added in computerized records to reduce classification errors.
There are so many books that qualify for this prompt already, I don’t plan to use a novel with subtitles. If we don’t get enough prompts for non-fiction though, I would use one.
@Ellie - good point about subtitles being all over the place, as I’m learning now. Thanks for your comment.
Just opened up my TBR to look for long titles, and found this one with a subtitle that seems to have no point: “The Man With The Electrified Brain: Story of a Man with an Electrified Brain”. (By Simon Winchester)
Unless the point is that having an electrified brain makes you repeat yourself?
Tracy wrote: "Just opened up my TBR to look for long titles, and found this one with a subtitle that seems to have no point: “The Man With The Electrified Brain: Story of a Man with an Electrified Brain”. (By ..."
I think that subtitles should count when a. it is what is stated counts and b. it was part of the original title, not something someone decided to add later, often by inept entries made on GR or a bug on Amazon. From the looks of the cover, etc, it seems that the subtitle for The Man With the Electrified Brain is a mistake and it may have been added here by Amazon software if it was self-published (some of the places that do that aren't that savvy, but I know for a fact there was a bug last year and some books had two author and book entries, one each for the kindle and the print versions.)
Some Subtitles are an integral part of the title from the start, such as Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption, but reprints of classics often lose them over time, such as with Frankenstein.
However, I didn't include any subtitles in the three listopias I voted on and added books to since I wasn't sure if there was a stipulation about that on ATY.
The Man with the Electrified Brain has a different subtitle and I'm off to fix the entries since people have made mistakes in adding it. Grrr...ETA
By the time you read this it might be corrected to this The Man with the Electrified Brain: Adventures in Madness. I fixed them, but it takes up to 15 minutes to show. Someone made a wrong entry on at least one edition on Amazon (or some thing.)
Karin wrote: "The Man with the Electrified Brain has a different subtitle and I'm off to fix the entries since people have made mistakes in adding it. Grrr...ETA
By the time you read this it mi..."
Thanks Karin. That’s funny.
Which of the dwarfs did you have in mind for The Soulmate Connection?
Judy wrote: "Karin wrote: "The Man with the Electrified Brain has a different subtitle and I'm off to fix the entries since people have made mistakes in adding it. Grrr...ETA
By the time you r..."
Grumpy--it's on lists of books with grumpy/sunshine romances, plus I found a Grumpy shelf on GR and checked to see if I'd read any. I didn't want to vote for A Man Called Ove even though I liked it because so many people voted for it and it's fun to have choices.
I usually just fill most things in with books I'm reading anyway and then go looking for books I need to. Do we have to use the Listopia? I was thinking it's more for suggestions.
Karin wrote: "Judy wrote: "Karin wrote: "The Man with the Electrified Brain has a different subtitle and I'm off to fix the entries since people have made mistakes in adding it. Grrr...ETA
By t..."
Thanks, I knew it was a romance but I couldn’t tell.
No we don’t have to use the listopias. If you’re lucky, you’ll see a book that’s already on your tbr, or you’ll find your next favorite book.
Karin, we just like making lists! There's no requirement to use the listopias if you don't want. I sometimes find them helpful to remind myself what books I had in mind if I get stuck in a year's time.
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race (other topics)Exit West (other topics)
Angela’s Ashes (other topics)
The Man with the Electrified Brain: Adventures in Madness (other topics)
The Man with the Electrified Brain: Adventures in Madness (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Frank McCourt (other topics)Patricia Highsmith (other topics)
Top:
A book with a title that ends in A, T or Y
A book related to the name of one of Snow White's seven dwarfs
A book with a single word title
Bottom:
A book related to or by an author we lost in 2023
A book with at least 247 pages
Listopias:
A book with a title that ends in A, T or Y
A book related to the name of one of Snow White's seven dwarfs
A book with a single word title
The next round of suggestions will open around 10 am CST on Thursday, July 13.