Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Voting is now open!

The entire Around the Year challenge list is generated by the group members. We enjoyed the process so much in the past two years that we are creating another list for 2018.

The Process:
The topics for the 2018 RC list will be determined through around 13 mini-polls. Each user will vote for their favorite 4 topics in each mini-poll). Suggestions for each poll will be opened until 15-20 suggestions are received+seconded. Then a poll will be opened for voting for four days so you can select your 4 favorite suggestions. The process has been unpredictable this year but we are striving for a completed list in November.

The Rules:
- Voting ends September 4.
- One vote per poll per member

Poll Entries
- A classic everybody has read except you
- A cross-genre novel that combines fantasy with major elements of at least one other major genre (excluding umbrella terms like fiction or YA)
- An epic book or a book with an epic element
- A ghost story
- An oral history (with testimonies, etc)
- An art or artists in fiction (a work of fiction about art or artists)
- A science book OR a science fiction book
- A book with an unique format/writing structure
- A book related to the Olympics - athlete, sport, etc.
- A short book (your interpretation)
- A genre you feel will take you out of your comfort zone
- A military book
- A novel set in medieval times
- A science fiction or fantasy standalone
- A book with a connection to the Wizard of Oz
- A book with a supernatural character (vampire, werewolf, witch/wizard, zombie, ghost, etc.)
- A cyberpunk book
- A book with an elderly person as a main character
- A "Cli-fi" book (climate change fiction)
- Reread a book that made you fall in love with reading

Helpful Links:
- Cli-Fi: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
- A cross-genre novel: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
- Science/Science Fiction Book: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
- An epic: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
- Art/artists: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
- Oral history: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
- Unique format/writing structure: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
- Connection to Wizard of Oz: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
- Cyberpunk: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...
- Elderly main character: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

Survey Link

The link isn't working or me.

Tough choice for me this time....there are lots I would like to pick (and a few I'm very happy to put in my bottom 4). I've chosed based on books I already have in my TBR.

The link isn't working for me, either. It doesn't say "Survey Link" either, like usual. Can you try to re-do the link, Laura? Thanks!

It doesn't work for me either.

Should be working now... sorry about that, everyone!

Laura wrote: "Should be working now... sorry about that, everyone!"

Thanks, Laura! It's good now. :)

This was a hard one for me, too. As the list was being put together, I kept thinking, "Oh, that's a good one!" or "That one sounds like a great prompt!" but then when I started going through the list to make my picks, none of them really jumped out at me.

There weren't any that I just thought I had to have in my top four. Instead, there were several that I thought would be okay, so I kind of narrowed them down based on what I have on my Kindle or TBR list. I'm happy with my picks, but I won't be devastated if they don't make it and some of the other okay prompts do.

As for the bottom, I had stronger feelings about the ones I didn't want, and had more than four for that, as well. Again, I ended up narrowing them down by seeing what prompts I could make work if they won based on what was already on my Kindle/TBR list versus what prompts wouldn't work so well because I didn't have anything on my Kindle/TBR that fit & didn't like the options I saw on Goodreads for possible books to read. I do hope that none of my bottom choices make it to the top!

I feel the science or science fiction and the science fiction or fantasy prompts are a bit too similar. I didn't vote for either but would be happy with either winning with a slight preference to the one including fantasy.

So many great prompts. I would not mind at all if most of these get voted in. There were only a couple I really dislike. The rest made me itch to start a list of books to match them.

There was a lot I liked this time. I was too busy at work to participate in the suggestions but was happy when I saw the list this morning. Excellent job everyone!

Yeah, I was curious about how people would vote science/sci-fi versus sci-fi/fantasy. There's overlap with sci-fi, but the huge difference for me (being someone who doesn't prefer sci-fi or fantasy) is that the one that includes science would allow me to read a nonfiction book. I voted for that topic because a bunch of the science books on the list provided look really interesting to me.

I was really impressed with the genres that people came up with. I'd be happy with most of them. There were just 2 that I really don't know what I would read if they won. One that really caught my attention was a ghost story. I love that idea for some reason. Another was the oral history. I didn't realize how many options there were for that topic, and I've had Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets on my TBR for a while, so that would be a good fit for that topic.

Interesting batch, for once I just had a bottom 4, I'll be fine with all the rest.

A poll where I like a lot of the options. There were only a few that were easy to pick my bottom 4, and hard to narrow the top 4 because I would be okay with most of them. I love science books and as a gerontologist, I often read books with older adults as the main character so I think I'll read those as other category options even if they aren't chosen as the top in this poll. The Wizard of Oz category and classic everyone has read but me really caught my attention and I would like to see those in the final list!

I only had a bottom two this time around and even those aren't that bad. There are a few that I fear a little but think would push me to discover something new. Great suggestions everyone!

My top 4 was pretty easy. I went with the sci-fi/science option of the two sci-fi topics because it felt like there would be more options there. But, I would be happy if either one won. A Ghost story and the cyberpunk book are both right up my alley reading wise so I obviously chose those. And I like the Wizard of Oz topic the more I think about the options there, so that got my vote (no, I don't always vote for the topics I suggest, but this time I did.)

In the bottom were 4 options that I just aren't fond of. I didn't hate them, they just aren't my taste. Those were the classic, the epic book, the military book and the reread.

Everything in the middle was just ok for me. I can make any of them work.

This was a tough poll for me, in a good way. I liked almost all the suggestions and had very few where I felt like I would have a hard time finding a book. I had a terrible time trying to narrow down my top 4.

Top
A book with an elderly person as a main character
Because I know I have multiple books on my TBR list that fit this prompt.
A science book OR a science fiction book
I enjoy sci-fi but not fantasy so I opted for this prompt over the other but I'd be fine with either one winning.
A book related to the Olympics - athlete, sport, etc.
I like the idea of timing this to coincide with the Winter Olympics next year.
A book with a unique format/writing structure
These books look interesting and a brand new thing to me so I'd like to give them a go.

Bottom
An oral history (with testimonies, etc)
I've read a few books in this genre and not really enjoyed any of them so I'm hoping it doesn't win.
An epic book or a book with an epic element
Just not my thing.
A cross-genre novel that combines fantasy with major elements of at least one other major genre (excluding umbrella terms like fiction or YA)
Not a fan of Fantasy and crossing it with another genre doesn't really appeal to me either.
An art or artists in fiction (a work of fiction about art or artists)
This was the toughest choice and the one I would have the least problems with if it made the top 4.

I had a lot that I liked and I am pretty good with all, so I only picked two for the bottom, even those I was not really against. I don't really like the wizard of Oz or ghost stories.

I really want a science book, love medieval history, and artis cool... but really, I liked 10 others just as well.

Quite a few here I thought were very similar. My top 4 were easy to pick and the bottom 4 were easy also, although there are a few I hope don't make it. To me life is just too short for rereading something while there are so many books out there to read.

This was so tough. Lots of great prompts. I would be happy with most of these. There was only one prompt I strongly disliked.

I only found 2 to down vote and one of those would have been sufficient. Very solid set of topics this time around.

I would be happy with almost any of these too. I know some of them are similar to each other, but I hope some of the ones that don't get picked get resubmitted because there were a lot of really great ideas in this round. There were only a couple I wasn't interested in, but even those were not an absolute no, they just had very few options or weren't interesting to me.

I was really happy to see a few genre and writing style ideas!

The suggestions were so good this time around!! I love that there were so many sci/fi and fantasy related ones and hope that at least one of them wins. While I've read a few cli-fi novels, I hadn't realized it was actually a genre. And I had only vaguely heard of cyberpunk so I enjoyed looking at the suggestions lists for those. I didn't vote for either because I figured I could easily fit them into one of the more general categories.

A lot of really great suggestions this time around. I had a hard time picking my top 4. I'm sure I'll be happy with the winners this time because there were lots of prompts I loved. There are lots I would like to see submitted again if they don't win but I'll wait and see whether they are close calls.

Also the voting happened very quickly this time because the suggestions got seconded so fast.

There were some great suggestions this time so I hope the ones that don't win get suggested next time! I was especially intrigued by the unique format prompt -- in looking at the list I found I have read a few but have quite a few on my TBR already.

I'm excited for the unique format prompt too! I wanted to suggest something like it but didn't know how to word it. I LOVED House of Leaves and would love to read other unique books.