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[2024] Poll 14 Voting
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1. A book by an author from Canada, Australia or New Zealand
2. A book that has an X in the title
To search your tbr, go to My Books, and enter the letter X in the small search bar.
3. A book involving a wild animal or endangered species
This can be anything but tame animals that are often pets.
It can be a cover, topic, title, or your own interpretation.
Examples:
Animals
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/animals
Wolves
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/wolves
In Decline
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...
Before it's too late...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...
4. A book that is on a Five Books List; reader’s choice of which list
https://fivebooks.com/
5. A book with a pet in the story
https://www.goodreads.com/list/tag/pets
6. A book adapted by Masterpiece Theatre
Masterpiece Theatre is a public television show that began in 1971 and has been around ever since in various incarnations. It has adapted hundreds of books of all sorts into often award-winning television shows and series, as well as creating original programs.
Check out the Listopia of titles here: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... The list includes adaptations from the show’s spinoffs: Masterpiece Mystery, Masterpiece Classic, Masterpiece Contemporary, and Mystery!
The books on this list include lots of classic novels and lots of mystery novels, plays, and short story collections. It also includes contemporary novels, funny novels, kids' books, biographical works, and books about travel and social issues
7. A book by an author born between 1965-1980 (Generation X)
8. A book with a strong sense of place
9. A book with an anti-hero as a main character
Examples:
Starter Villain by John Scalzi
Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain by Richard Roberts
Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
A Deadly Education (a series) by Naomi Novik
The Librarian's Vampire Assistant by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff
Artemis Fowl (a series) by Eoin Colfer
Small Miracles by Olivia Atwater
Sign Here by Claudia Lux
Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
The Continental Affair by Christine Mangan
Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots
Some Listopias:
A Page of Listopias: https://www.goodreads.com/list/tag/an...
Maybe ALL the Anti-Hero Books (>14k): https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
Manageable Listopias:
Anti-heroines: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...
Literary Villains: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
Anti-heroes and Villains: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
It’s Good to be Bad: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
Fairy Villain’s Romance (Fairy tale retelling in bad guy's point of view) : https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...
10. A book over 500 pages
11. A book with the name of a spice in the title
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
12. A book involving Intelligence – AI, espionage or abilities
Intelligence, artificial intelligence, Intelligence as in the Central intelligence Agency, emotional intelligence, practical intelligence, books about the brain, etc.
Intelligence: https://www.goodreads.com/genres/inte...
Artificial intelligence:
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/arti...
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
Brain:
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/brain
Espionage: https://www.goodreads.com/genres/espi...
13. A book with a pronoun in the title
For example: I, you, she, he, they, we, my, his, her, our, their
List of English pronouns: https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Lis...
Book examples:
You by Caroline Kepnes
It by Stephen King
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
Listopia for more examples:https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
14. A book with more than one main character
15. A book with an insect in the title or on the cover
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...
Will downvote 500 pages ( not something I do well) and spice ( bad memories of popsugar). I’m leaning the same way on sense of place but may be persuaded otherwise. I will definitely upvote 5 books, and the three countries one I proposed plus theatre. So that’s 2/3 votes I’m still open to persuasion on
I'm excited that we have a book with an 'x' in the title! I was thinking of suggesting that one as well, hoping it gets in :D
Do "wild animals or endangered species" have to be real? Could we count mythological or fantastical creatures? I know I can do whatever I want with a prompt but I'm wondering if others think this would be a legitimate interpretation.
dalex wrote: "Do "wild animals or endangered species" have to be real? Could we count mythological or fantastical creatures? I know I can do whatever I want with a prompt but I'm wondering if others think this..."
IMO only as a KIS option
Mod
But there was one I was pretty against but for some reason I looked at the utopia and found multiple books that have been on my "someday" list so going to vote for it to get me reading them!
dalex wrote: "Do "wild animals or endangered species" have to be real? Could we count mythological or fantastical creatures? I know I can do whatever I want with a prompt but I'm wondering if others think this..."
Yes. As long as they're real to the people in the world in the book. An animal on a distant planet that is being endangered by space travelers fits the concept. A child imagining a monster in the closet does not.
Thomas wrote: "Will downvote 500 pages ( not something I do well) and spice ( bad memories of popsugar). ..."when did Popsugar have "spice in the title"?
dalex wrote: "Do "wild animals or endangered species" have to be real? Could we count mythological or fantastical creatures? I know I can do whatever I want with a prompt but I'm wondering if others think this..."
In one of my book series dragons were endangered. It probably is more of KIS option but I’d count it.
Nadine in NY wrote: "Thomas wrote: "Will downvote 500 pages ( not something I do well) and spice ( bad memories of popsugar). ..."when did Popsugar have "spice in the title"?"
It had a similar one in 2019 and I just couldn’t do it
Nadine in NY wrote: "when did Popsugar have "spice in the title"?"2019 had 'a book with a title that contains salty, sweet, bitter, or spicy.' That's the closest thing I could find.
KP wrote: "Yes. As long as they're real to the people in the world in the book. An animal on a distant planet that is being endangered by space travelers fits the concept. A child imagining a monster in the closet does not."That's a well thought answer. Thank you.
dalex wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: "when did Popsugar have "spice in the title"?"2019 had 'a book with a title that contains salty, sweet, bitter, or spicy.' That's the closest thing I could find."
Yes that one. I ended up not finishing the challenge it was so awful
If anyone is interested in podcasts, there is an excellent one called Strong Sense of Place. This podcast is the one that opened me up to appreciating how writing can bring the setting alive where you feel like you have an understanding of the landscape, the culture, and the people. It’s not just any city or place. I’ve found some really good books by listening to their podcast!I like this week’s suggestions a lot! There are maybe 2 I’m wishy-washy on. Insects is one of them. Technically, a spider isn’t an insect so that rules out the one book on my list- Kiss of the Spider Woman. I could find something with a bee, though. Probably will be a rare all up votes this time!
Thomas wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: "Thomas wrote: "Will downvote 500 pages ( not something I do well) and spice ( bad memories of popsugar). ..."when did Popsugar have "spice in the title"?"
Yes that one. I ended up not finishing the challenge it was so awful
..."
That was the year, I decided to be done with Pop Sugar. I still follow the FB group for book ideas, but don’t participate in the challenge.
Does anyone who likes sense of place have a good listopia? It is one of those prompts I don’t really understand. I can only think of one book that I have read that works. Probably because I read it in a college class and we thoroughly discussed it.
Jillian wrote: "Does anyone who likes sense of place have a good listopia? It is one of those prompts I don’t really understand. I can only think of one book that I have read that works. Probably because I read it..."I’m with you Jillian except I don’t want a listopia so much as someone who can give me an idea of meaning
For the "book with a strong sense of place" prompt there is the Ondaatje Prize, an annual literary award given by the Royal Society of Literature for a book that evokes the spirit of a place.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ondaatj...
This prompt has come up somewhere before, and I always find it quite difficult, because you don't know if a book is going to work for you until you start reading it. I'm currently reading The Bees which is set in a hive, and I think any book set in a confined area might work. Otherwise, a book with a lot of description of landscape - books by Thomas Hardy for example. I will probably downvote this one, just because I find it difficult to plan.
I'm starting to get picky with my votes. We already have two prompts related to number or letter in the title so I'm more likely to vote for a word in the title, so I think pronoun will be the one. We already have author from Africa so I'm not likely to vote for a similar prompt. Right now I have 6 up and 1 down but I'll be honest that my initial reaction to these was a bit meh.
At the moment it is a 7 up 1 down for me
Thomas wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: "Thomas wrote: "Will downvote 500 pages ( not something I do well) and spice ( bad memories of popsugar). ..."when did Popsugar have "spice in the title"?"
It had a similar ..."
I don't see this prompt on the 2019 Pop Sugar list?
Shannon SA wrote: "Thomas wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: "Thomas wrote: "Will downvote 500 pages ( not something I do well) and spice ( bad memories of popsugar). ..."when did Popsugar have "spice in the title"?"
It..."
It was a little different " title that contains salty, sweet, bitter, or spicy"
I cannot believe that salty, sweet, bitter, spicy prompt is four years old, I could have sworn it was only a year ago 😭 Where has time gone?
dalex wrote: "For the "book with a strong sense of place" prompt there is the Ondaatje Prize, an annual literary award given by the Royal Society of Literature for a book that evokes the spirit of a place.http..."
Thanks for this
Put my phone on to charge and missed the whole suggestion thread. Pronoun in the title was on my list to suggest so will definitely vote for that. Unsure about a lot of the others for now.
I found these definitions/explanations for sense of placeA well-developed setting, or strong sense of place, can make the difference between you enjoying a piece of writing and being fully immersed in it. Setting can be a geographical location, such as a city, or a fictional universe created entirely by the author.
Sense of place is the feeling your readers get as they read your novel that they have left their place behind and entered yours.
Jillian wrote: "Does anyone who likes sense of place have a good listopia? It is one of those prompts I don’t really understand. I can only think of one book that I have read that works. Probably because I read it..."The books that I think of with a strong sense of place are ones that make the place come alive rather than you remember the plot but could care less where it was set or it could be set anywhere! (For example, just because a couple have a romantic meeting at the Eiffel Tower doesn't mean that you get a taste of Paris culture. They could have met at the Space Needle and had basically the same story.) I like books where they include some of the local language/slang and their customs. Several of the Latin American classics I read this year had scenes with voodoo or magical realism or clashes between different classes or nationalities, and local food dishes - details that you likely wouldn't see in books set elsewhere. The books can be in any genre or setting. Here are a few examples, in my opinion, from different countries:
The Tsar of Love and Techno - USSR (Chechnya, Leningrad, Siberia)
The Beartown series - rural Sweden
I Must Betray You - Romania
Victory City - India/South Asia
The Covenant of Water - India
The Shootist- Texas (old west days)
My Brilliant Friend - Italy
Miguel Street - Trinidad
Masters of the Dew - Haiti
Dune - planet Arrakis
The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep - New Zealand and Dickensian London
Amor Towles books
The Night Circus - the circus itself can be a setting
Louise Penny books, perhaps - Quebec
Shannon SA wrote: "I found these definitions/explanations for sense of placeA well-developed setting, or strong sense of place, can make the difference between you enjoying a piece of writing and being fully immers..."
That's a great explanation! Thank you Shannon!
Thank you but I’m still getting the impression I’d have to read something and see if the place coming alive for me
Pam wrote: "If anyone is interested in podcasts, there is an excellent one called Strong Sense of Place. This podcast is the one that opened me up to appreciating how writing can bring the setting alive where ..."Pam - you beat me to recommending the Strong Sense of Place Podcast! I especially like that they don't just do geographical places, but also things like Circuses, Newrooms, Amusement Parks, Restaurants, etc.
The couple who do it are a lot of fun, so consider listening to the podcast, besides using their website as a source of ideas. https://strongsenseofplace.com/podcasts/
Tracy wrote: "Pam wrote: "If anyone is interested in podcasts, there is an excellent one called Strong Sense of Place. This podcast is the one that opened me up to appreciating how writing can bring the setting ..."Tracy - I listen to a lot of literary/book podcasts and that one is my favorite still! I also like the facts and stories that they tell about the place and that Dave always has a non-fiction pick.
Thanks for the examples. I think, it is just not something I relate to/ notice. The examples I have read, I don’t associate the books to the places. If the prompt gets in I’ll just pick a book that is on the group’s listopia.
I missed the nominations again. (I can never get the timing right as it seems to happen between 9AM and 6PM). Initial thoughts:1. A book by an author from Canada, Australia or New Zealand
I'm a Canadian and I think this prompt is weird and possibly insulting. Even "Read a book from Canada" is weird to me. Possibly the ultimate gimme.
2. A book that has an X in the title - I'm always down for an X prompt. Upvote
3. A book involving a wild animal or endangered species - Neutral, although if it gets in, I'm using dragons.
4. A book that is on a Five Books List; reader’s choice of which list - I voted for this prompt last time. I think this is a list prompt with something for everyone.
5. A book with a pet in the story - - Neutral, although if it gets in, I'm using dragons.
6. A book adapted by Masterpiece Theatre - I'm upvoting.
7. A book by an author born between 1965-1980 (Generation X) - Upvoting. I want an X prompt.
9. A book with an anti-hero as a main character - I read Hench. I disagree with some of the anti-heroine books on the listopia, but I don't think it would be hard to do.
10. A book over 500 pages - I hate when a series lures you in with books that are 400 pages and then they start ballooning as the series goes on. I'm mad at how easy this prrompt would be to do.
11. A book with the name of a spice in the title - This seems so narrow.
13. A book with a pronoun in the title - I like this one.
14. A book with more than one main character - I like this one too
15. A book with an insect in the title or on the cover - This title and cover makes this an upvote. Although I''ve never figured out what to do when their is a cover that fits the prompt, but you own or borrow the book with a different cover. For example, my copy of "Metamorphosis" doesn't have a bug on the cover, even though I think it would be perfect for the prompt.
Dubhease wrote: "I missed the nominations again. (I can never get the timing right as it seems to happen between 9AM and 6PM). Initial thoughts:1. A book by an author from Canada, Australia or New Zealand
I'm a C..."
Why do you consider my prompt insulting? ( just for future reference)
Pam wrote: "Jillian wrote: "Does anyone who likes sense of place have a good listopia? It is one of those prompts I don’t really understand. I can only think of one book that I have read that works. Probably b..."Thank you for the explanation, that made it much more clear.
Thoughts>1. Canadian, Australian or New Zealand author. I don't agree this is weird; these are countries which often get overlooked in favour of the UK or the States. If you're from one of these countries, then it won't be so interesting, I agree. I will upvote this.
2. X in the title. We already have author with X in the name, so I am not excited about this, but wouldn't downvote.
3. Wild or endangered animal - neutral on this one.
4. Book on 5 books list - upvote.
5. Pet in the story - we had this for PopSugar this year, and it wasn't that easy to fill. I think I could use it but I'm not excited by it.
6. Masterpiece Theatre. I moaned about this in discussion, but I've found something that will work, and there are good choice, so an upvote.
7. Author born between 1965- 1980. I could care less when an author was born. Quick edit - while this is true, I see I already have two 1969 vintage authors planned, so might be useful if I want to swap around.
8. Strong sense of place - not one for me. I like to plan in advance, and how do I know until I've read a book whether it fits my idea of a strong sense of place. I think it's such a subjective thing. Downvote.
9. Antihero - not that keen, but could find something.
10. Over 500 pages. I am happy to read long books, but I don't want to read a book just because it's long.
11. Spice in the title. We had the Spice Girls and a word in a recipe this year, so I'm not enthused.
12. Intelligence - wide enough to work. Hovering between neutrality and an upvote.
13 Pronoun in title - an upvote, lots of choices.
14. Book with more than one main character - I like this.
15. Book with insect in title or on the cover. Yes, I like this.
I thought originally that I had lots of upvotes for this one, but obviously not.
When it comes to the first prompt I suggested the other day that I thought it would be better if it included other countries where English is the official language, like South Africa, India, Jamaica, Ireland and so on. I would personally have liked it better then and I believe the original idea with this suggestion was to read books from other English-speaking nations than UK and US. By only choosing these three countries I find that it doesn't achieve its own goal.But there are too many suggestions I'd love to upvote anyway so it'll be tough choosing and there won't be room for downvotes.
@Duhease, re: your disagreement with some of the anti-heroine books on the Listopias I provided — I agree, the Listopias aren’t perfect, I provided them just as a way to get a few suggestions out there. But I included even the less-than-perfect ones mostly to show that there’s actually a lot to choose from.Hopefully if we get the chance to create our own Listopia for anti-heroes/anti-heroines it will be more accurate.
Thank you also for using the term “anti-heroine”. I’ve gotten into the habit of not using the feminized version of jobs, etc. — e.g., all people who act are actors, not actors and actresses. Not sure if that’s actually a good thing or not. I think it is? It’s not like saying “mankind” instead of “humankind”. And I definitely think it’s preferable to call a woman who is a doctor a “doctor” and not a “lady doctor”. But I liked your use of anti-heroine as a way of reminding us that not all of these people are men - women can be dastardly too!
I'd have probably downvoted anti-heroes in the past but I want to read Starter Villain and Assistant to the Villain, and I saw last week Ava Reid is writing a Lady Macbeth book...so maybe I'm coming round to anti-heroes.
I'll upvote3. Wild or endangered animal
4. Book on 5 Books list
7. Author born 1965 - 1980
12. Intelligence
13. Pronoun
15. Insect
and then I'll choose from
2. X in title
6. Masterpiece Theatre
8. Strong sense of place (Thanks to Pam's explanation) and
11. Spice in title
I won't upvote 10: More than 500 pages, since I 've already got so many long books for my 2024 planning and it's always difficult to read them all in time.
Nike wrote: "When it comes to the first prompt I suggested the other day that I thought it would be better if it included other countries where English is the official language, like South Africa, India, Jamaic..."Nike- I like that idea as a part Irish I like that idea. Maybe I will try that next time ( unless this one is bottomed in which case I will have to see if the mods consider it enough of a variation)
Mod
We had this a prompt a couple years ago, so there should be that listopia. I found a sense of place list on the NYPL website I used to answer the prompt- I read The Witches of New York
Pamela wrote: "Jillian wrote: "Does anyone who likes sense of place have a good listopia? It is one of those prompts I don’t really understand. I can only think of one book that I have read that works. Probably b..."When I did a search on listopia I didn’t find any when I typed “sense of place” except what looked liked a subgenre of romance books.
I don’t think there’s anything on this list I would be bummed about. Mainly upvotes for me!
Tracy wrote: "Pam wrote: "If anyone is interested in podcasts, there is an excellent one called Strong Sense of Place. This podcast is the one that opened me up to appreciating how writing can bring the setting ..."Thank you Pam, I'm going to check out the podcasts and the website :)
Jill wrote: "Found this for sense of placehttps://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/..."
Thanks, most of the books I’ve on that shelf I have liked and see a few on my TBR list.
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Voting will open in the morning of Monday, September 18 and results will be posted in the morning of Friday, September 22 (CST time).
How it works:
- When the voting opens, follow the link to the mini-poll that will be added at the end of this post
- You have a total of 8 votes this poll to spread across your favorite and least favorite prompts (you can also use less than 8 votes)
- You can find examples of acceptable voting practices on the Introduction thread.
- The prompts with the more favorable votes (comparing top votes to bottom votes, and looking at the overall number of votes it received) will be added to the final list
We are asking people to include their Goodreads profile address when they vote. To find this, just go to your own profile and then copy the URL/web address. If for some reason you can't link to your Goodreads profile, please post your full Goodreads name with enough identifiable information that we'll be able to access your profile.
Possible Prompts:
1. A book by an author from Canada, Australia or New Zealand
2. A book that has an X in the title
3. A book involving a wild animal or endangered species
4. A book that is on a Five Books List; reader’s choice of which list
5. A book with a pet in the story
6. A book adapted by Masterpiece Theatre
7. A book by an author born between 1965-1980 (Generation X)
8. A book with a strong sense of place
9. A book with an anti-hero as a main character
10. A book over 500 pages
11. A book with the name of a spice in the title
12. A book involving Intelligence – AI, espionage or abilities
13. A book with a pronoun in the title
14. A book with more than one main character
15. A book with an insect in the title or on the cover
Feel free to discuss the prompts below, but please remember to be respectful to the other group members.
VOTE HERE: https://forms.gle/SQbmPyoani2pkDbw9