Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
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[2024] Poll 13 Voting
Perhaps if cozy mystery doesn’t get voted in it could be redone to include more genres. Maybe something like “a book from a feel-good genre.”Cozy mystery
Cozy fantasy
Hopepunk (sci-fi)
Uplit (contemporary/literary fiction)
Romance
Personally I do not like feel-good books but I’m more likely to upvote it if I can choose a genre.
Thinking out loud:1. A book with a warm or heated atmosphere. I need more info, but would think this would include a summer book.
2. A book another ATY group member gave 5 stars. Neutral.
3. A second book that fits your favorite prompt. I don't have a favorite prompt, so I would need to search for that first.
4. A book with a bilingual character. Interesting. Would probably need a list to stimulate ideas.
5. A book related to the Addams Family. Not a fan.
6. A book related to “Going for the Gold”. Oh, no...not again. Perhaps it should get in just for the author's persistence!
7. A book nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award. Neutral.
8. A fiction book with a reference work in the title. Interesting. Might need a list or suggestions to stimulate my thinking.
9. A book set in a group living situation. Not a fan.
10. A book with a divided, or split, cover. Do I have any on my TBR?
11. A novel disguised as a guide or manual. Could be fun.
12. A book for a prompt that was used in a previous year. Is this a sneaky way to recycle a favorite prompt?
13. A book longlisted for a Booker Prize. Yes.
14. A historical fiction book that takes place before the 20th Century. I could find something for this as Historical Fiction is a fav.
15. A cozy mystery. Most definitely.
Trish wrote: "If the "Another ATY group member gave five stars" prompt gets in, would it be possible to build a listopia, which everyone can add one or two recent five star books to? That would be easier than ..."
Yes, that must be it I hope.
Ellie wrote: "I'm reading Happy Place at the moment and the main character reads a lot of cozy mysteries, so they're doing a great job of explaining things:“I’m sure that wasn’t your first antl..."
LOL those are some crazy coincidences!! I'd say she is spying on us except of course her book was published before this list started. (I have Happy Place borrowed from the library right now!! it's a race against time now because I have too many books borrowed and not enough time, so I'm not sure if I'll get to it)
Rachel wrote: "Joy D wrote: ""Jackie wrote: "Oh Addams family I'm thinking of leaning into gothic, large family in a creepy house vibes. Anybody have some good recs that involve a loving family? Cuz most of mine ..."Aubrey McKee. I have this book by Alex Pugsley. Thanks for the idea!
Sonia wrote: "Trish wrote: "If the "Another ATY group member gave five stars" prompt gets in, would it be possible to build a listopia, which everyone can add one or two recent five star books to? That would b..."
Good idea!
Dixie wrote: "Sonia wrote: "Trish wrote: "If the "Another ATY group member gave five stars" prompt gets in, would it be possible to build a listopia, which everyone can add one or two recent five star books to? ..."A listopia is a good idea. I might have to limit to my absolute favorites though. I have 3k read books.
Sounds a good idea. Perhaps limit to a certain number per person?
Mandy wrote: "3 up 5 down. First time ever."Same here.
LeahS wrote: "Sounds a good idea. Perhaps limit to a certain number per person?"Personally I would rather have a huge listopia to draw from than a limited one.
Listopias are already limited to 100 entries per person I think.
Verity wrote: "Listopias are already limited to 100 entries per person I think."Yeah, it is.
My list is easy, all my five stars are at the front
Mod
A couple of options might be limit it to 5*s in 2023, only, or perhaps two or three per person
Thomas wrote: "My list is easy, all my five stars are at the front"
Mine's sorted by date finished, which would make it much harder to find anything for everyone.
On the voting, I'm afraid the Booker Prize and Goodreads Choices ones were automatic downvotes for me. I've done both so many times across so many challenges. For the Bookers, especially, I always find it really hard to find a book I actually want to read, and when I do read it, more often than not I'm disappointed with it.
Regardless of how you personally have your list sorted, someone can view it sorted how they choose.
Bea wrote: "Thinking out loud:1. A book with a warm or heated atmosphere. I need more info, but would think this would include a summer book.
2. A book another ATY group member gave 5 stars. Neutral.
3. A se..."
Bea, warm or heated atmosphere definitely includes a summer book!
Mandy wrote: "3 up 5 down. First time ever."Ditto, but I'm not sure if it was the first time.
Trish wrote: "If the "Another ATY group member gave five stars" prompt gets in, would it be possible to build a listopia, which everyone can add one or two recent five star books to? That would be easier than ..."
What I did yesterday, in order to see how I liked the 5 Star ATY prompt, was start with my Friends List - granted you have to know who on your Friends List is in ATY52 for this to work.
Go the right column of your Friends List and choose "compare books". When you do this you get some statistics that show how many books you have in common, how books you both rated compare in their ratings, etc. The most important statistic (for me) is the overlap in taste, which is indicated by percentage discussed below the purple and green circles near the top left of the page. This number represents the percentage of times your ratings and your friends ratings were the same/close.
The reason I like this method is that someone can give a book 5 stars, but it might be a book that is completely not YOUR taste. So by picking a Friend who has similar tastes you are more likely to be happy with a book that they rated 5 stars. Sometimes this doesn't work because you may have already read all the books that they gave 5 stars, but this is true of any method. I have three people I'm considering to start (one has a 90% match, the others in the high 80s%). And if somehow I don't find something I like there, I have a few other friends in low-mid 80s%.
Tracy wrote: "What I did yesterday, in order to see how I liked the 5 Star ATY prompt, was start with my Friends List - granted you have to know who on your Friends List is in ATY52 for this to work...."This is a very scientific method, and I LOVE it!! If this prompt gets in, I'll do the same thing you're describing. To start, I looked up how many friends I have in this group. By complete coincidence, I have 52 friends in this group!
Glad you like the idea Nadine! And since you have 52 friends maybe you can pick each of your books all year from a different friend (well, that might be pushing it…)
For anyone stuck on the Addams Family prompt, but who enjoys biographies, I just found a biography of Charles Addams (of course the creator of The Addams Family): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9...Maybe there are others? Or maybe a memoir if you prefer those like I do. Didn’t have time to look further.
Tracy wrote: "For anyone stuck on the Addams Family prompt, but who enjoys biographies, I just found a biography of Charles Addams (of course the creator of The Addams Family): https://www.goodreads.com/book/sho..."A friend of mine has an old hardback copy of Chas Addams's cartoons, that the show is based on.
Definitely more mixed feelings on this week's prompts. In the end I went for 3 upvotes, and 5 downvotes.Upvotes:
3. A second book that fits your favorite prompt - I loved the flexibility of this one this year, and I’d be very excited to see it again.
12. A book for a prompt that was used in a previous year - Again, this could be extremely flexible and extremely fun. I think I’d have a great time digging through all the previous prompts!
14. A historical fiction book that takes place before the 20th Century - This is a slight freebie for me, as basically every historical fiction book I read does take place before the 20th century. XD But I really love this one!
Downvotes:
2. A book another ATY group member gave 5 stars
7. A book nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award
9. A book set in a group living situation
11. A novel disguised as a guide or manual
13. A book longlisted for a Booker Prize
Tracy wrote: "Trish wrote: "If the "Another ATY group member gave five stars" prompt gets in, would it be possible to build a listopia, which everyone can add one or two recent five star books to? That would b..."
I always do this before I add a friend or accept a friend request. But it would be much more fun - at least according to my opinion - to look through a listopia with a lot of books from a lot of ATY members incl all of those you haven't got as a GR friend. That would be like an exciting treasure hunt to me.
When you go to someone's read shelf and sort it by ratings you can see right away if you have it on a shelf--it will either say edit shelves or add to shelves.And even if someone has all of their 5 stars at the front, it generally goes to your default setting.
Nike wrote: "Tracy wrote: "Trish wrote: "If the "Another ATY group member gave five stars" prompt gets in, would it be possible to build a listopia, which everyone can add one or two recent five star books to? ..."I like the Listopia idea too! Maybe I'd use the Friends List as a backup to see if the book that caught my eye in the Listopia was from someone whose tastes align with mine too.
Juliet Brown wrote: "I think the general guideline is a ‘historical novel’ was written at in the past when it was that time ( I E Jane Austen books) while ‘historical fiction’ looks back at the past"Thanks Juliet. I didn't know that. I've been calling them classics. Would you call all historical novels classics, or only the better ones?
Voted all 8 upvotes, since there was nothing I couldn't live with. There are 2 or 3 I'd rather not make it in, but I could still work with them.UPs:
1. A book with a warm or heated environment: I like this parallel prompt with "chilling atmosphere".
2. A book another ATY group member gave 5 stars: a way to encourage this resource of what other like minded readers have already read.
3. A second book that fits your favorite prompt: I usually have more than one book that I want to use for prompts I like, and it's frustrating to have to choose!
4. A book with a bilingual character: Bilingualism is not as common a trait in the US as it is most other places. For a lot of people, even if you learn a second (or more) languages, it seems like there aren't many opportunities to use it, except if you are in certain professions. I just like the idea of representation of this skill.
5. A book related to the Addams Family: I didn't choose this becasue I'm a big fan (I'm a fan, but not a BIG one), more because of the many directions you can take it, some of which are ones I've been wanting to use — like Found Family.
9. A book set in a group living situation: my suggestion. I chose this to suggest because those kind of close contact relationships are different than those found in a standard family living situation. They all are living together for a specific reason other than choosing the person (incarceration, school, being a circus performer, joining the military or taking religious vows, etc.)
10. A book with a divided, or split, cover: I'm a visual person so I always love a cover prompt. Plus I had a few in my TBR with this design. I had never recognized this design style before - thanks to whoever suggested it!
12. A book for a prompt that was used in a previous year: similar to 3. A second book that fits your favorite prompt, but for me, it's also a chance to use prompts from the past that I didn't get to use since this year (2023) is only my 2nd year with ATY.
Tracy wrote: "For anyone stuck on the Addams Family prompt, but who enjoys biographies, I just found a biography of Charles Addams (of course the creator of The Addams Family): https://www.goodreads.com/book/sho..."I recently listened to the audiobook of his biography, and it was very interesting! And I say that as someone who usually doesn't care for non-fiction
There's also The Addams Family: An Evilution which collects all of the cartoons, with some text sections talking about Charles Addams, the creation of the comics, etc. It's a quick and easy read!
Also, Nike, I definitely did notice your love for the Addams Family! In my comment above where I said I was glad to see another Addams fan, I meant in addition to both of us!
Well, my niece's two dogs are named Pugsly and Wednesday ... so I might read a book with a dog in it, or a niece..... (stretching, I know but it's all in fun...)
Book Concierge wrote: "Well, my niece's two dogs are named Pugsly and Wednesday ... so I might read a book with a dog in it, or a niece..... (stretching, I know but it's all in fun...)"Personally I'd consider dog a stretch, but it reminded me that the family did have a host of unusual pets, including a lion/cougar (depending on version) named Kitty Cat, an octopus named Aristotle, a spider named Homer, and probably a few more.
Actually, in the Addams Family Reunion movie (a straight-to-VHS sequel that really wasn't very good, unfortunately), Uncle Fester had a dog named Butcher so I guess a dog works too!
Ellie wrote: "I'm reading Happy Place at the moment and the main character reads a lot of cozy mysteries, so they're doing a great job of explaining things:“I’m sure that wasn’t your first antl..."
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Mod
,
To me they look like the Addams Family house.
Rachel wrote: "Tracy wrote: "For anyone stuck on the Addams Family prompt, but who enjoys biographies, I just found a biography of Charles Addams (of course the creator of The Addams Family): https://www.goodread..."I hope we can find some more members - and then we'll create our own Addams family here 🖤🤌🦇🧟♂️👻🐙🧙♀️🖤 - I really do hope this prompt will win.
Book Concierge wrote: "Well, my niece's two dogs are named Pugsly and Wednesday ... so I might read a book with a dog in it, or a niece..... (stretching, I know but it's all in fun...)"I love this 💜! Give her a compliment for her choice of names from an Addams Family fan!
I have to watch them now, both the old black & white series and the newer movies. When I was a child Morticia Addams was the woman I wanted to become as a grown up, I have to start working on that now! First I need some tentacles for feet.
Tracy wrote: "4. A book with a bilingual character: Bilingualism is not as common a trait in the US as it is most other places. For a lot of people, even if you learn a second (or more) languages, it seems like there aren't many opportunities to use it, except if you are in certain professions. I just like the idea of representation of this skill."I'm really surprised bilingualism isn't common in the US. I feel like in most US TV shows I watch, there are several characters who speak another language (e.g. a Latinx character who speaks Spanish and English). Is that just a TV thing that doesn't reflect reality, or is it different across each state, e.g. states that have more immigration from outside the US and those that have less?
dalex wrote: "Perhaps if cozy mystery doesn’t get voted in it could be redone to include more genres. Maybe something like “a book from a feel-good genre.”Cozy mystery
Cozy fantasy
Hopepunk (sci-fi)
Uplit (con..."
dalex wrote: "Perhaps if cozy mystery doesn’t get voted in it could be redone to include more genres. Maybe something like “a book from a feel-good genre.”
Cozy mystery
Cozy fantasy
Hopepunk (sci-fi)
Uplit (con..."
Dalex, what you’re describing is accomplished in prompt#1 Warm or heated atmosphere. Hopepunk, cozy fantasy, good witches, A Psalm for the Wild-Built fit one interpretation. Or read about global warming, or hot places.
First impressionsFavorites
1. A book with a warm or heated atmosphere
9. A book set in a group living situation
14. A historical fiction book that takes place before the 20th Century
6. A book related to “Going for the Gold”
Considering
2. A book another ATY group member gave 5 stars
7. A book nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award
3. A second book that fits your favorite prompt
12. A book for a prompt that was used in a previous year
4. A book with a bilingual character
Mod
Modern children or grandchildren of immigrants are often bilingual but for Americans who grow up in a unilingual house and are not in places where other languages are spoken, not. Even if they can speak another language- my Italian is really good, but I don't call myself bilingual.
When I was growing up in the 70s, PBS had a bilingual kid's program so that english speaking kids would learn some spanish. Clearly didn't work!
I voted for this prompt, but since I'm trying to read more Indigenous authors, I'll take it that way.
Most kids take a language in school but very few become fluent to the point of being bilingual.
Mod
I love people with themed dog names! My dad names all his dogs after his favorite basketball players/coaches and my husband and I have a plan to name ours after beer styles. We currently just have Porter, but future dogs could include shandy, hops, ipa, stout...
Jackie wrote: "I love people with themed dog names! ."All great dog names Jackie!
Our cats are named after sci-fi / fantasy characters; the first was Gandalf (he was grey with a white belly, so he was Gandalf the Grey most of the time and Gandalf the White when he rolled over) and currently have Jonesy from the Alien films and Logan after Big Hat Logan from the Dark Souls video game. Also Hamish, my fluffy ginger baby who was meant to be called Apollo after the Battlestar Galactica character but the name just didn't stick for some reason so he's the only one who doesn't fit the theme.
My dog is Rizzo, and the dog we lost last year was Sandy. We didn't intentionally start with the Grease theme, Sandy was named because of her coloring. When we got a second dog I pushed for Rizzo. She fits her namesake for sure!Jackie I have a friend whose animals were named for alcohols. They had Guiness, Buie (short for Drambuie), others I can't remember. And I have a Canadian friend whose dog was Molson!
Thank you Nancy and Pearl for explaining before I got a chance to. 😊Exactly my thoughts. Immigrants and children of immigrants tend to be bilingual out of necessity. For Americans who grow up speaking English in their homes, a second language is hard to really become fluent in. Most/all high school require 2 years of language, but a) this is not enough to become fluent, and b) with out a lot of chance to practice it the skill gets lost.
My impression is that in Europe 2nd languages are taught throughout school years (maybe not all countries? Europeans?) and that you have better proximity to practice them — assuming you are learning another European language. In the US we only have the neighbors of Canada (so mostly English - maybe bilingualism is different if you live near the French speaking regions), and Mexico. I’m not sure how many Mexicans speak English to US tourists, but for Mexicans in the US it seems like only a few Americans make the effort to speak Spanish, and probably Mexicans who can speak as much English as possible. It doesn’t help that English seems to be the language of business, so it is often learned by non-English speakers for that reason.
Pamela wrote: "Aimee wrote: "I'm really surprised bilingualism isn't common in the US. I feel like in most US TV shows I watch, there are several characters who speak another language (e.g. a Latinx character who..."It's similar over here (UK), most kids will take French or German at school and a growing number of schools are offering Spanish, but not to the point of fluency. I just thought the US was different for some reason.
Although I'm British, I grew up in France and went to a bilingual school (some subjects were taught in French and others in English) and it was a very international community so most of my friends spoke three and sometimes four languages. I grew up thinking that was normal and had a bit of a reverse culture shock when moving "home" to the UK when I was 14.
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
A Psalm for the Wild-Built (other topics)Dead Wrong (other topics)
Pumpkins & Poltergeists (other topics)
Happy Place (other topics)
The Addams Family: An Evilution (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Rhys Bowen (other topics)Alyssa Maxwell (other topics)
Jim Lavene (other topics)
Cleo Coyle (other topics)
Tasha Alexander (other topics)
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I completely misunderstood that your prompt meant “a novel with a misleading title that implies that it's a guide or how-to manual" or I wouldn’t have suggested reference book in the title. Apologies.