[2026] Poll 4 Voting (Multiweek)

[Amy]

Pamela wrote: "I already voted, since I had to test the voting thing, but I'll say the one prompt that I poo-poo'ed when it was nominated but have really grown to like is the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Mo..."

I was hung up on lions but remembered The Lions of Fifth Avenue on my TBR. I think any book related to the New York Public Library would be a fun way to fill that prompt for those of us who are more library than big scary animal people!

[Pearl]

I need ideas for right or wrong. I can think of books for wrong, and books about both. What about right?

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

You could do a book with Right in the title, an arrow pointing right on the cover, or a book about meeting “Mr. Right”.

[Dubhease]

I kind of like the multi-week prompts because it moves the number of prompts we've chosen forward (Otherwise we could be voting into November) and it often leads to more creative book prompts (or at least it isn't prompts I've seen a bunch of times.)

I don't do the prompts in order, so the multi-weeks never seem like a chore to me.

[Pearl]

Thanks Emily. If it doesn’t get in now, it could be suggested as a single prompt.

[Pearl]

My favorite is this one:
6. Two books where the first word of the second title is the same as the last word of the first title

Copied from the wild discussion. By Nancyj Robinp and Charlsa

As a game, we could try to make a chain of them.

All Systems Red
Red, White & Royal Blue
Blue Sisters
The Sisters Brothers
The Brothers Hawthorne
The Hawthorne Legacy
Legacy
Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA
The CIA Book Club: The Secret Mission to Win the Cold War with Forbidden Literature

Red Dragon
The Dragon Republic
The Republic of Thieves
Thieves' World
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
The Poppy War
War and Peace

No One Is Talking About This
This Is How You Lose the Time War
The War of the Worlds

This Time Tomorrow
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

More Than This
This Tender Land
Land of Milk and Honey
Honey Girl
The Girl on the Train
Train Dreams

Gone Girl
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
The Tattoo Murder Case
The Case of the Left-Handed Lady
Lady Tan’s Circle of Women
Women Who Run With the Wolves
Wolves of the Calla
Calla Falling
Falling Up

To continue after Falling Up
Falling Up
Up in the Old Hotel
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Sweet Dreams
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (ignore subtitles)
Father Sky and Mother Earth
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things
Things Fall Apart

Continuing from Things Fall Apart:
[book:Apart From Love
The Love Wager
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
Murder at Gulls Nest

To continue after Falling Up
Up in the Old Hotel
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Sweet Dreams
Dreams from My Father: A Story..

[Pearl]

More

My Friends
Friends with Benefits
The Benefits of Being an Octopus
The Octopus Museum
The Museum of Extraordinary Things
The Things We Leave Unfinished
An Unfinished Story
The Story of a New Name
The Name of the Wind

Remarkably Bright Creatures
All Creatures Great and Small
Small Great Things
The Things We Cannot Say
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
Nothing to See Here
Here One Moment

[Bea]

For the first 3 polls, I had positive votes more than negative ones. In fact, I think I had had only 2 negative votes up to now.

But, this one did not excite me. I couldn't find 8 that I felt strongly enough about to vote for or against. I think I ended up with 5 positive and only 2 negative...and decided to let that last vote go...and finding 5 positive was a push.

I might feel better once the multi-weeks are determined, but right now...blah.

[Edie]

Pearl wrote: "My favorite is this one:
6. Two books where the first word of the second title is the same as the last word of the first title

Copied from the wild discussion. By Nancyj Robinp and Charlsa

As a ..."
Wish I had seen this before I voted.

[KP]

Edie wrote: "Pearl wrote: "My favorite is this one:
6. Two books where the first word of the second title is the same as the last word of the first title
Copied from the wild discussion. By Nancyj Robinp and Charlsa

Wish I had seen this before I voted
.."

I saw it just in time. It’s great.

Maybe you can vote again and ask them to ignore the first one.

I went 4 up, 4 down.

[Vicki]

For those who aren't getting the Call and Response suggestion, here are some further examples:
People in Glass Houses + Don't Look Down
The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend + The Haunted Bookshop
The Woman in Cabin 10 + Kills Well with Others
A Taste for Death + With Bold Knife and Fork
The Sun Also Rises + East of Eden
The Master and Margarita + Report to Greco
The Railway Children + On the Blue Train
Can You Keep a Secret? + I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
I Have Some Questions for You + Why Didn't They Ask Evans?
Here I Stay + Waiting for Godot
Where There's Smoke + Tobacco Road
The Incredible Journey + West With Giraffes

[Tracy]

I love this one Vicki (prompt #8 aka Call and Response)! Thanks for all your great examples. I hope it gets in — it’s one of my three favorites.

[Deborah]

Pearl wrote: "More

My Friends
Friends with Benefits
The Benefits of Being an Octopus
The Octopus Museum
[book:The Museum of Extraordinary Things..."

I'm glad you liked it and thanks for all the great examples

[Deborah]

Vicki wrote: "For those who aren't getting the Call and Response suggestion, here are some further examples:
People in Glass Houses + Don't Look Down
[book:The Readers of Broken Wh..."

Thanks for all the great examples

[Dixie]

I have a suggestion for the Mods. Would it be possible to put a link to the discussion on the voting page, with something like "Click here for prompt suggestion details and examples"? Between Edie's comment above, and the mix-up in wording the musical notes suggestion, it seems as if this might be helpful, and give a better chance to some of the more creative suggestions that would benefit from examples. (I mean this as a longterm suggestion; I realize it's probably too late to do it for this round.)

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

We talked about it, Dixie, but in order to get to the poll, you have to open this thread, so everyone who is going to the poll already knows this thread and discussion exists. There's no way that I know of to get to the voting poll without opening this thread first, and as much as you can lead the voters to the discussion, some people will not read it lol. I think for Edie, the comment just came after they submitted their vote.

The musical note one was a mix up in suggestions (I'm assuming?). It's written as it was suggested and approved in the suggestions round. There may have been something different in the Wild Discussion for the original intention of the prompt, but we can only go by what is suggested and seconded.

[Pamela, Arciform Mod]

Rachel wrote: "I'm also not a fan of multiweek prompts in general. I often find myself putting them off and not really wanting to tackle them because of the "commitment" to read multiple books in a row without the option to just mood read what I feel like or tackle other prompts in between. I know I can space the books out if I want, but to me that defeats the purpose of it being "multiweek"."

Interesting... I rarely read the weeks together!

[Dixie]

Emily wrote: "We talked about it, Dixie, but in order to get to the poll, you have to open this thread, so everyone who is going to the poll already knows this thread and discussion exists. There's no way that I..."

Ah okay. Thanks for clarifying.

[Deborah]

Emily wrote: "We talked about it, Dixie, but in order to get to the poll, you have to open this thread, so everyone who is going to the poll already knows this thread and discussion exists. There's no way that I..."

No you don't have to open this thread to vote. The direct link is on this page: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Pamela, Arciform Mod]

Dixie wrote: "I have a suggestion for the Mods. Would it be possible to put a link to the discussion on the voting page, with something like "Click here for prompt suggestion details and examples"? Between Edie'..."

I did this time! I went a bit rogue.... but we have no way of knowing if it mattered or helped or anything.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Ah we usually post the link to the voting thread on the announcements, not the direct link to the poll.

In my experience, people generally skip over reading the description to the poll and skip straight to the questions, so we typically link the discussions thread on the announcements so it forces you to open the thread before getting to the poll. Pamela switched it up this time (linking the poll, but putting the GR discussion in the description), but we honestly have no way of knowing if that's helped or not lol.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

My only hesitancy to adding it to the poll is because it creates a bit of extra work for the Mod creating the poll, without it driving more traffic to the thread since people generally have to come through this thread to get to the poll. I don't want y'all to think I'm being hard-headed about this :) just trying to balance the workload on the mods with the usefulness to the group.

[Pamela, Arciform Mod]

Emily wrote: "My only hesitancy to adding it to the poll is because it creates a bit of extra work for the Mod creating the poll, without it driving more traffic to the thread since people generally have to come..."

And there is ALOT to remember is setting those polls up! Thank god I had you behind me cause I forgot all sorts of things!

[Dixie]

Pamela wrote: "Dixie wrote: "I have a suggestion for the Mods. Would it be possible to put a link to the discussion on the voting page, with something like "Click here for prompt suggestion details and examples"?..."

I see it now! Awesome, Pamela!

But I totally understand everything you're saying, Emily. No worries, I was just trying to think of some way to encourage people to read descriptions rather than just suggestion lines. But I think you all do a magnificent job, and you're so right that you can lead a voter to the discussion, but you can't make them read it.

[Pamela, Arciform Mod]

Dixie wrote: "But I totally understand everything you're saying, Emily. No worries, I was just trying to think of some way to encourage people to read descriptions rather than just suggestion lines. But I think you all do a magnificent job, and you're so right that you can lead a voter to the discussion, but you can't make them read it."

I refuse to say how many times I voted and then read this thread... although I always looked at the explanation post(s) if I needed clarification of a prompt. But rarely.... IMHO, if a prompt needs explanation, is it a well worded prompt?

One of the multiweeks this year was my idea, but I give 100% credit to the folks in the Wild Discussion to word-smithing it to be clear and concise.

[Mary]

Lol i started to write up feedback and i think i'm also totally maybes---so gonna just vote...ended up with 6 up and 2 down.

[Misty]

There are some interesting ones for the multi-week prompts. I had to vote down the C. S. Lewis one though. He was a raging misogynist. Even though I enjoyed the Narnia books, I can't stand him as a person, and I am not interested in celebrating him in any way.

I know it's easy, but I like the yesterday, today, and tomorrow one. I also really like the water and earth one.

[Martha]

I am struggling with this year's multiweek prompts. I used to like the multiweek prompts but I'm finding them harder and harder to fill. I This poll I voted 3 up, 5 down. I don't like title prompts. I'm not into reading games. I liked yesterday, today, and tomorrow, world quadrants, and most recent book by an author and something from author's backlist.

[J]

These are all so good. I want a few f=of them to make it.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

It’s true that sometimes these discussion threads get long and refer to multiple prompts, so it can seem like a lot for someone to read all at once. I think the discussion is very valuable.

Some people find the whole voting process too complicated but for many of us, it’s a highlight of the year. It’s the only challenge I know where the members determine all the prompts.

[NancyJ]

Martha wrote: "I am struggling with this year's multiweek prompts. I used to like the multiweek prompts but I'm finding them harder and harder to fill. I This poll I voted 3 up, 5 down. I don't like title prompts..."

I’m glad you like the quadrants, I’m not sure it has a chance, but I know a lot of us like to read the world. Otherwise we’ll just have to keep proposing single location prompts. I like the water earth one too because they fit my content interests.

I don’t always like title words either, especially if they’re random words. But the last+first word match was really easy and fast using the add book window. I found books on my tbr already and it’s easy to find words that are relevant to my interests.

I think I’m reading the yesterday, today, tomorrow prompt too literally. I know it’s supposed to be equivalent to Past present future, but my mind snags on the words. The dual time frame trend might help or hurt. Idk, I like several others too.

[NancyJ]

Pearl wrote: "More

My Friends
Friends with Benefits
The Benefits of Being an Octopus
The Octopus Museum
[book:The Museum of Extraordinary Things..."

Thank you for posting the examples. I love that you found matches to unusual words. Octopus! Lol.

[Charlsa]

Dubhease wrote: "I kind of like the multi-week prompts because it moves the number of prompts we've chosen forward (Otherwise we could be voting into November) and it often leads to more creative book prompts (or a..."

I agree. I like the multi-week prompts for the same reasons. I think they are especially creative this year.

[Tracy]

I normally vote pretty "top" heavy. This time I was very balanced: 4/4.

My favorite TOP vote was for #8. - 2 Weeks: Two books, where the second book's title provides a response to or continuation of the first book's title. I worry about this one, since describing it is tricky, and as we've discussed a lot, not everyone reads the full discussion and list of examples. I think it would be very fun!

For my BOTTOM votes I could find books for all the possibilities; they just weren't books I was interested in reading. And for the case of 2. - 2 Weeks: Two books where the last name of one author is the first name of the other. I realized that this (for me) was a bit limiting, especially since with standard naming conventions that means that the second author would most likely be male (Johnson/John, Stevenson/Steven, Williams/William or Bill, etc.). I do read from all genders, but I don't want have to choose a book BECAUSE the author is male.

I also discovered that I appear to like 2 week prompts best. And although I don't always mind when 2 week prompts are interdependent (like the last name/first name mentioned above), I can see where multi-week prompts where finding that you don't like one of a duo/trio does not mean that you have to rethink the rest would be easier for people to UP vote.

[Pam]

I'm not feeling as interested in multi-week prompts as I used to. I voted 2 up and 6 down. I like yesterday, today, tomorrow and most recent book and backlist. There were a few others I thought were interesting, but I left them neutral. This is a hard week to predict the winners!

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

Even if the response prompt doesn’t get in, you could try to read 2 books that work for other prompts and still form a sentence, question/answer, etc.

[Tracy]

Thanks RobinP - great idea :)

[Vicki]

Perhaps for the lion element in "lion, witch, and wardrobe" desperation could lead one to reading any title in which you "see" a lion:
Dandelion Wine, by Ray Bradbury
Millionairess, by George Bernard Shaw
Cotillion, by Georgette Heyer
Vermilion Drift, by William Kent Krueger
The Black Stallion, by Walter Farley