Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

The entire Around the Year challenge list is generated by the group members. We enjoyed the process in 2015 so much that we have decided to create another list for 2017.

The Process:
The topics for the 2017 RC list will be determined through around 13 mini-polls. Suggestions for each poll will be open until 20 suggestions are received and then opened up for voting for one week. Each user will vote for their top 4 and bottom 4 topics in each mini-poll, resulting in 4 challenge entries from each (13 polls x 4 topics/poll=52 weekly topics). This timeframe allows for a completed list in October-November.

The Rules:
- One suggestion per poll per user
- Suggestions close after 15 total suggestions
- If you made a suggestion in the second round, please wait two days before making a suggestion in this one (Friday at 10PM EST)
- New rules may be added as the polls progress so please be sure to check the rules in each post!

A link to the poll will be posted in a new thread as soon as 15 suggestions are received.

So sorry for the late start everyone! The last two episodes of Orange is the New Black got the best of me. So many feels...

I thought I was gonna be asleep... but I made it!

Suggestion: a book about a famous historical figure (fiction or non-fiction)

A book with illustrations (fiction or non-fiction)

A title that contains a palindrome.

A title with an adjective.

Oh, I'm going to retract my suggestion because it looks like Nadja and I were on the same line of thinking.

I'll replace it with:

A book based on a myth.

A book with your mother or father's first name in the title or is the author's name.

A book with the black death theme.

A book with a child as main caracther

author's first name starts with "J"

A book with a title that contains a musical term

A book from the Goodreads Choice Awards 2016

a novel inspired by a work of classic literature

A book with a male or female noun or pronoun in the title.

One spot left

Leonor, can we switch to "A book with a plague theme"? I googled a little the black death and it seems there are few books focused on it (unless you have a good list?).

play or script

A book with a one word title

^Really solid set of suggestions, guys. I'm glad I couldn't add one -> didn't even need to.

Now for the vote! (I might have to forgo the 'bottom 4')

Zaz wrote: "One spot left

Leonor, can we switch to "A book with a plague theme"? I googled a little the black death and it seems there are few books focused on it (unless you have a good list?)."

Just my two cents, but a book with a plague theme sounds really interesting. I see a lot of zombie and dystopian possibilities there in addition to the historical ones.

Also... 'cause I'm curious... Manda, you're not looking for the whole title to be a palindrome, I assume? Like a title that can contain a single palindrome word? Anna Karenina, for example? Or The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender? Or The Eye of the World?

I was thinking in terms of the more loose fitting explanation. For example, a title might be "Adventures in a Kayak" or "Hannah the Great". Both Kayak and Hannah are palindromes. However, if someone wanted this subject could be fitted so that it is the entire title, providing more of a challenge. It's pretty flexible.

Brilliant suggestions ... it's going to be really difficult again to choose my top four this week.

Perfect. That clarifies for me. Thank you!

I think I have to disagree with what people have said about the topics in this poll....

There are very few topics I actually like in this batch. In fact, there are only 4 I'm even remotely interested in. Honestly, I'm starting to have the same worry that someone else posted after the last poll; that there aren't going to be any topics that push us to explore different genres, themes or topics. Most of these suggestions are superficial about the appearance of the book or something in the title and have nothing to do with the content. I don't want to play "I spy" with my books. I'm more interested in topics that have something to do with what is in the book rather than what is on the cover...

I don't say this to diminish anyone's contribution to these discussions. I'm willing to ride it out for a bit longer and see how things go in the next few polls, but maybe the mods can consider posting a poll or two restricting topic submissions to thematic, genre, character, and content specific ideas rather than the way a book looks or if it has a certain letter or word on its cover?

A book that is more than 750 pages

A book about a famous historical figure (fiction or non-fiction)
A book published the year you were born
A book with illustrations (fiction or non-fiction)
A title that contains a palindrome (ie a word you can read in both ways, ex « Hannah »)
A title with an adjective
A book based on a myth
A book with your mother or father's first name in the title or is the author's name
A book with the black death theme / A book with a plague theme
A book with a child as main character
An author with a first name starting with "J"
A book with a title that contains a musical term
A book from the Goodreads Choice Awards 2016
A novel inspired by a work of classic literature
A book with a male or female noun or pronoun in the title
A play or script

Ugh. So upset I missed this. I set an alarm and everything but eventually had to go to bed as I couldn't wait longer.

Yay I'm excited to vote on these!

I had the opportunity to suggest a theme. but then I checked and there was already a very similar suggestion to the one I had thought, so I didn't suggest anything but I feel like I did :-D

I'm also pleased with the suggestions, there are more than 4 I'll be very interested in and that are different from what we did these past 2 years. It will be more challenging to choose my bottom 4, none is a "no no".

Peter >we have only 8-12 categories for the moment, there's plenty of time to add very challenging ones.

I do apologize to those who missed the poll since I was got it opened late. If it's any consolation, I will be doing more polls at this time.

I'll be posting the poll shortly :)

Peter wrote: "I think I have to disagree with what people have said about the topics in this poll....

There are very few topics I actually like in this batch. In fact, there are only 4 I'm even remotely interes..."

I am feeling the same way Peter!

The Book Riot "Read Harder" challenge is a good alternative if you're looking for something more challenging. I find the categories in there both this year & last to be more content based.

I'm also having trouble choosing what I'll vote for in this poll, since there are only a few topics that interest me. Like Peter said, I don't want to diminish anyone's nominations because I think most of them are pretty creative.

What was the reason we limited to 15 this time, again?

I would be open to restricting the polls to certain types of themes but I do think we should wait until we're at at least the 10th poll. That would give us an idea of what may be missing and whether or not we even need to make restrictions.

I also think it's important to remember that it's a lot easier for individual members to make a prompt more challenging in their personal challenge than it is for people to make a prompt less challenging without feeling like they're compromising the challenge.

I feel kinda of the same way as Peter, which is why I haven't decided yet if I'm joining the group next year.
But for those looking for more difficult challenges there are lots of other groups, where you can find all sorts of challenges some harder than others. So maybe a combination of this group and another group could be a solution.

Ohh, and we haven't seen yet which of these suggestions will actually make it.
Personally I think Emm's and Kirsten's suggestion sounds like a real challenge, and who knows... Maybe the'll run off with all the votes :-)

I agree with Peter that we are lacking content-based suggestions. Maybe we could have a poll focused just on content?

Myth and plague are content :D

(I've to read Percy Jackson and I want to read something with a plague, so my opinion is absolutely not biased :p)

Zaz, I'm with you on having to read Percy Jackson.

Marina H wrote: "Ohh, and we haven't seen yet which of these suggestions will actually make it.
Personally I think Emm's and Kirsten's suggestion sounds like a real challenge, and who knows... Maybe the'll run off..."

I wouldn't think so. There's Megan Shepherd's YA trilogy The Madman's Daughter, PD James wrote a mystery featuring the Darcys, Louis Bayard wrote a thriller with the character of Dicken's Tiny Tim.

I've been wanting to read The Madman's Daughter so I'll have to keep that one in mine if the theme wins :)

Marta wrote: "I agree with Peter that we are lacking content-based suggestions. Maybe we could have a poll focused just on content?"


I say this as the person who suggested the palindrome title, but I agree with you and Peter. I felt this way last year also. I remember suggesting things that I thought would would provide a challenge or something different, along with some other people, but those topics never get picked up. As a group we tend to cluster around generic topics that can be really flexible, providing little challenge to those who don't want it, but can be "beefed up" to those who want something more substantial. I think it is odd that we can't even agree on the subject of "a genre out of your comfort zone".

For those making suggestions, I think it seems safer to stick with cover suggestions because they'll be taken seriously withing the group as a whole. I know I will continue with the group next year, because I've learned with this group (for me at least) it's not about the challenge as much as it is about the group discussions. But I can really seen why there is a lot of frustration already with the lack of sustenance with the topics already.

I personally love the prompts having to do with a title because it feels like you have a puzzle to solve to get to the book you read. That's one reason I'm doing a title keyword challenge where each month I have to choose a book that has a randomly assigned word in the title.

As far as genre & theme based prompts, it's interesting to me that so many people are requesting that. I'm working through the "rejects" list from last year, and there are a TON of genre/theme prompts on that list. That makes me think that people made those suggestions, but that people weren't as interested in voting on them. I know the nominators & voters aren't the same as last year, so maybe it will be different this time around. I enjoy the genre based prompts, but I think that sometimes people find that too limiting who don't as much like to read outside their preferred genres. I enjoy reading a lot of different genres in both fiction and nonfiction, so I probably wouldn't find a genre/theme prompt as limiting.

I would not want only content-based categories - I just feel that to have proper variety, we could look at the list and focus on areas occasionally that are lacking. Right now it is content... maybe later on it would be title or author or age. For instance, I thought it would be nice to have a book from a certain decade, but I am quite sure that it would not be voted top, even if people would like one or two out of 52 that are like that.

Laura wrote: "I would be open to restricting the polls to certain types of themes but I do think we should wait until we're at at least the 10th poll. That would give us an idea of what may be missing and whethe..."

I'm not looking to make the topics more challenging, just less about what the way the book looks. I don't mind a few topics with the appearance of a book, but I don't think find X on the cover/in the title of the book are very interesting. And we've all heard the adage don't judge a book by it's cover.

Zaz wrote: "Myth and plague are content :D

(I've to read Percy Jackson and I want to read something with a plague, so my opinion is absolutely not biased :p)"

Yes, they are content specific, but those along with the historical figure are only three ideas out of 15, and there's no guarantee they will be chosen.

I don't understand why people think content specific prompts are restrictive. Again, I don't want topics that make it hard for people to find a book to fulfill them. I suggested the first person perspective in the first poll. That's content specific, but not difficult to fill and can be filled using a variety of genres or subjects. Other things like themes of magic, overcoming a significant challenge, or achievement, or subject matter like books about war, adventure, or a murder mystery again are specific to content, but are very flexible in what is used to actually fill them.

Even a specific genre like historical fiction has a wide range of writing styles, time periods, and subject matter than can be used to fill the topic.

Spoiler alert: It's likely that at least one of the content based prompts in the current poll will be in the final list ;) Unless the poll takes a sudden turn.


At this point, I think it's a good idea if people comment on the results thread, specifying what they find lacking so far. Then I can guide the suggestions in the next round, without making it strictly devoted to a type of theme. If we're still concerned after poll 10 then we can start pinpointing some dedicated polls for the last couple.

Peter, for what it's worth, I really liked the "first person perspective" nomination in the first poll and I was disappointed that it didn't win.

I agree that we can all tailor the challenge however we want to increase/decrease how "challenging" it is for us. I think part of the reason people tend to steer away from content or genre-specific themes is because they don't think those kinds are likely to be voted for. There's so much variety in this group in terms of which genres people tend to read, so it's hard to figure out what would be outside of people's comfort zones.

Haha, thanks. It would have been cool to have submitted a suggestion that got chosen, but I'm not upset it didn't get picked. The main reason I suggested it was because generally I am not a fan of first person for novels, but I've read a few this year that I really enjoyed and there are a couple on my TBR list I want to read next year. I might resubmit it in a later poll, but I have a couple other ideas I'd like to toss in first.

I guess that reasoning makes sense. It's sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy type problem though - if no one suggests topics about the content to start with because they are worried no one will vote for it, then no one is able to vote for them.