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 three years that we are creating another list for 2019.

The Process:
The topics for the 2019 RC list will be determined through around 13 mini-polls. Each user will vote for their favorite 4 topics in each mini-poll, which will then add up to the 52 topics (13 polls x 4 topics/poll=52 weekly topics). Suggestions for each poll will be opened until 15-20 suggestions are received+seconded. Then a poll will be opened for voting for one week so you can select your 4 favorite suggestions. This timeframe allows for a completed list in October-November.

The Rules:
- Vote for your TOP 4 and BOTTOM 4 - You are allowed to vote for less than 4
- Voting ends August 28
- One vote per poll per user

- see the suggestions thread for more details on some entries.

Poll entries:
1. a book you have owned for at least a year, but have not read yet
2. a book with a strong sense of place or where the author brings the location/setting to life.
3. two books - one inspired by the word high and one inspired by the word low (eg title, author, setting, # of pages, highbrow/lowbrow)
4. a portal fiction
5. a book that is “good for you”
6. a book with a criminal character (i.e. assassin, pirate, thief, robber, scoundrel etc)
7. a 20th century classic
8. a book from The Millions' Most Anticipated lists
9. two books: A book with a female protagonist & a book with a male protagonist who are in the same profession
10. a book with a circus/carnival/amusement park setting
11. a book that names a drink in its title
12. a book related to social justice
13. a book set in extreme weather (cold, heat, rain, drought, etc.)
14. a a book about royalty (fiction or non-fiction)
15. a book about or related to immortality
16. an experimental book
17. a book set in or written by an author from a country with a red, white and blue flag other than US and UK
18. a book by, or about, a current or former journalist
19. a Bildungsroman
20. a Victorian or neo-Victorian related book

Survey link

It was easy for me to decide on four bottoms, but I've got NINE top votes. Two are sure things, but how do I choose just two from the other seven????? I'll have to mull this over for a while.

Agreed! There are so many wonderful options. I almost didn’t nominate something because there were many that I would love to do already. But I still love mine. ;)

This is the first time I am going to wait a few days before voting, so I can see if the discussion sways me! I pretty much like half the prompts and dislike the other half.

Right now, my favorites are 1) sense of place and 2) owned for at least a year. I feel like these are the most versatile, especially since I usually know what I want to read first (what I already own, library availability, book club picks), and generally pick the prompt after I read the book.

I don't think I will vote for 1) by/about a journalist and 2) a drink in the title. For me, both of these are too similar to prompts that have already been chosen for 2019. I was already planning to use a book about a journalist in the reading/writing prompt. And the drink one I would propose we just group with the food prompt... Or can we at least expand the drink prompt to include cover/plot/content, to be parallel with the food prompt? The wording would be "A book related to a drink (i.e. title, cover, plot, etc.)"

This is the first time I've only had two bottoms. There were some others that jumped out at me as topics I didn't have any interest in, but then when I looked at lists of possible books, I ended up having lots of them already on my TBR, so I didn't down-vote those.

I did narrow it down to a top four pretty easily, but I would really be okay with most of the options. I thought there were a lot of good choices this time!

My tops were two books - high/low, Millions' Most Anticipated list, two books - female/male protagonist in same profession, and immortality. I know I voted for two two-book choices, but I really like them both. I'm sure they won't both make it, but if I can help push at least one of them to the top, I'll be happy.

My two bottoms were 20th century classic and circus/carnival/amusement park setting. I am not really interested in the 20th century classics list, and I have never found a book set in a circus or similar setting that I have liked.

Agh, this is a tough one.

I really love the experimental fiction prompt but I wonder if people will think it's too much like the "unusual format" prompt we have this year so I don't know if I want to put it in my tops.

I like the extreme weather one but neither "climate/climate change" or "weather phenomena" have been voted in so, again, I don't know if I want to put it in my tops.

I love three of the prompts that are re-noms (different gender/same occupation, bildungsroman, immortality) but I hate to waste my vote if people are just gonna not choose them again.

The Millions Anticipated list is almost too easy. There are - literally - like a million books to choose from. But it might be nice to have a category I can just throw anything at and it'll (probably) stick.

I'm torn about the "book you owned 1+ year" one. I get about 90% of my books from the library so I don't really have anything that qualifies. But...an excuse to book shop? I've been on a book buying ban for quite awhile so. Hrm.

I am definitely gonna have to let this vote stew in my brain for awhile, methinks.

Posting this here for the people who don't follow the suggestions thread! (The more I look, the more I love the Bildungsroman prompt!)

For the Bildungsroman prompt, here are some interesting links that were sent in the Poll 7 Voting Thread:

AP Question 3 (for Classics)
6 Coming-Of-Age Novels for Grownups
10 Coming-of-Age Novels for Adults
7 Amazing Coming-of-Age Novels
10 Coming-Of-Age Novels for Summer
Coming of Age During Wartime

And for those of you who like Listopia

Coming of Age for Adult Readers
Best Bildungsroman Books
Female Bildungsroman Books
Bildungsroman: Ultimate Coming of Age Books

We have quite a few title prompts, as well as set in a specific place. We only have 2 real character prompts with very little about identity. A couple more of those would be nice.

Here are a few lists for strong sense of place, or a book that brings the location to life. Although, this prompt could include any book that immerses you, or even non-fiction/travel books where the author uses vivid descriptions of the location.

https://www.thebooktrail.com/books-wi...

https://www.bustle.com/p/9-young-adul...

http://www.washingtonindependentrevie...

https://www.theguardian.com/books/top...

https://www.tor.com/2015/10/12/five-f...

http://www.downthewriterspath.com/201...

This was the most difficult vote for me yet! Having said that, I spent maybe 5 minutes before deciding. I go on a gut feeling of what I know that I like and what I am willing to challenge myself with finding. The only one I don't like is a book you've owned for over a year. For me, that is WAY too easy and doesn't help me narrow my choices. I've never done a Rejects Challenge but I'm starting to think about it now, with so many interesting prompts!

Victorian & neo-Victorian ideas:

Neo-Victorian shelf
Victorian shelf
Nonfiction Books on the Victorian Era
Famous Victorians
Victorian (& Regency) Mystery Novels
Gothic Novels

I would have been happy with so many of these prompts and it was very hard to narrow down my top choices. I hope there are more than 4 top choices again for this poll.

My tops were Sense of Place because I love a book where the setting is a character; a book by/about a journalist because I have a few books in this category already and I love in-depth investigations by journalists (plus journalists need a bit of love right now); a book from The Millions list because a year without reading a new release would be a disappointing year of reading for me; and the last top choice was a Bildungsroman because I love this genre.

I'm not going to list my bottom choices because most were not strong negatives for me. I'd be able to find books for anything submitted for this poll.

So. Many. Choices.

My top choices and why (and maybe writing about them will help me narrow them down):

A book you've owned for a least a year: My owned-but-not-read pile is out of hand at the moment, so one of my personal goals next year will be to either read or donate all of the books on my shelf... so this prompt is perfect for that!

A book with a strong sense of place: I'm generally a plot reader (and skim the descriptions... not on purpose, but because I'm excited about the plot), but I read The Night Circus this year and I was enthralled. So, I'd like to read more books like it!

Two books inspired by high and low: I just love the options for this one... I'd probably end up using "high literature" and "low literature" (a take on the heavy/light prompt that didn't make it in), or I would use it for high page count book, since we don't have one of those prompts yet, and a low page count book.

A 20th century classic: *looks at 40 Before 40 list...*

Two books with protagonists of opposite genders in the same job: I actually downvoted this one a few polls ago, but I've gotten a lot more ideas since then, and would probably use it to read about the Elizabethan era (kings and queens)... or maybe not? I do think this would be an easier one to fill, especially if you go the detective route.

A book from the Million's Most Anticipated List: I haven't looked through the list extensively, but I noticed that a lot on the Early 2018 list were also Book of the Month Club picks, and I tend to read a lot of new releases... so this would be a fun one. And I love picking from lists (unlike so many of you haha!). We only have one list, so this one would be a good balance

A book about royalty: See two books with same profession. I love Philippa Gregory and I'd like to read more from her.

A book about immortality: I voted for this one last poll, and I really just like the prompt. I also think it fills a hole we have in the list with character-based prompts.

A Bildungsroman: I seconded this one, and I have so many from these lists that I'd like to read! This is one of my favorite types of books...

What a mess. How will I choose?

Is neo-Victorian similar to Gothic literature? Most of the books I'm seeing were books I was considering for gothic lit this year, so I was just wondering if there was a lot of overlap there.

This is going to be another tough one so I am going to hold off on voting until I do some research and follow the discussion. The good news is there are really only a couple that I don't really like so no matter what, I expect I'll be happy with the results.

Oh and to whomever suggested The Million's most anticipated, thank you for helping me fill a couple of hours of time I should have been working today and for the rapid expansion of my TBR list!

This was a hard poll. I liked so many of them. I went with weather, the male/female protagonists, portal, and I can’t tecall now if I went for social justice or strong sense of place in the end.

I downvoted the circus setting and the Millions list - it’s so hard to get new releases on Overdrive in a timely fashion, so for me having a second prompt about reading a new release would make it hard if I decided to read in order again.

Emily wrote: "Is neo-Victorian similar to Gothic literature? Most of the books I'm seeing were books I was considering for gothic lit this year, so I was just wondering if there was a lot of overlap there."

Neo-Victorian just means a modern book set during the Victorian era as opposed to Victorian which means a book written during the Victorian era.

Some neo-Victorian and Victorian books are gothic, but not all gothic books are neo-Victorian or Victorian.

dalex wrote: "Emily wrote: "Is neo-Victorian similar to Gothic literature? Most of the books I'm seeing were books I was considering for gothic lit this year, so I was just wondering if there was a lot of overla..."

Ah! Thanks for the clarification dalex!

Kelsey, I love your high/low interpretation!

For neo-Victorian you can go the genre fiction route - gaslamp for fantasy or steampunk for sci-fi.

Gaslamp fantasy
Steampunk

There is a bit of overlap between the two and the distinctions can be a bit murky but those lists at least give you sort of an idea of the types of genre books that could fit this prompt.

There were quite a few I didn't want but so many I did. Managed to narrow them down to 4 each way, so just see what happens now

Oooh I would be happy with most of these tbh, I will have to have a think about my choices.

I love the high/low one, it has so many possible interpretations and I love that someone suggested high/low fantasy for it or elevation (maybe one underground or at sea, the other in a mountainous region).

Whilst I have a lot of options for books I've owned more than a year, I realise a lot of people are library users so it may not be do-able for everyone, so I might down vote on that basis. I also don't particularly like experimental fiction, seems too much style over substance most the time.

Decisions, decisions. Do I vote for a category that I know will let me read something I know I will enjoy (bildungsroman) or something that will push me out of my comfort zone (experimental)? One of the reasons I love reading challenges is that they force me out of my reading ruts and get me to read books I wouldn't except for the nudge of a category from a reading challenge. But I wouldn't want all the categories to push me hard.

Dalex & Emily, as far as the Victorian prompt goes, because gothic was a popular genre during the time, I think gothic in general would be fine for this prompt. But there were plenty of other types of works as well - Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Elizabeth Gaskell, Charles Darwin, Oscar Wilde.

Even doing a biography or historical fiction about people who lived during that time - Florence Nightingale, William Wilberforce, Millicent Fawcett, Queen Victoria (obviously). . . .

There are the subjects of feminism, abolition of slavery, railways, industrialization, evolution, women's right to vote, social reform (the poor, orphans, urban middle-class). . .

Ok! I've voted. I have been waiting a few days to vote in the previous polls, but I feel like I know these prompts well enough and I'm going to go with my gut this week.

In my top, I put:
- A 20th century classic
- A book related to immortality
- A book with a strong sense of place
- Two books inspired by high and low

In my bottom, I put:
- A book with a criminal character (I read Six of Crows this year, and I just couldn't sympathize with the criminal characters!)
- A book set in extreme weather (That's just anxiety for me -- I like a more internal conflict)
- An experimental book (I cheated this year on a book with a unique structure, and I'd probably end up cheating on this one too lol)
- A book set in a circus/etc. (I read The Night Circus this year and nothing will ever live up to it.)

I was really, really torn between my tops, but my bottom votes were pretty easy. Apparently I don't like setting prompts? Except for the "strong sense of place" lolol. I guess strong sense of place is more open to interpretation than the specifics of a circus or a hurricane.

I also ended up going for the 20th century classic over the list (even though the list was SO TEMPTING) because I feel like I read from that list often... almost all of my TBR is on the list from one of the years haha. And, since I plan on reading my entire physical bookshelf next year, I don't need that prompt either. So I ended up with the extra push to read a classic.

Serendipity wrote: "Decisions, decisions. Do I vote for a category that I know will let me read something I know I will enjoy (bildungsroman) or something that will push me out of my comfort zone (experimental)? One o..."

Same!! I vote for topics that I think will nudge me a bit, but not too far.

Very tough choosing my top four because I like so many of the options this week. I only had a bottom three:

- The carnival setting, because I've already read Nights at the Circus and know I don't have anything else that would fit.
- Drink in title, because we have enough title-based topics, and it's too similar to the food one.
- About/by a journalist, because it seems like a narrower version of the writer prompt, and I can't think of anything already on my TBR for it.


For my top, I went with:

- Sense of place. I like that this encompasses detailed landscape descriptions, a city playing a role in a plot, haunted houses, SF/F worldbuilding, etc.
- Criminal character. I like noir, but I could also be pushed to try more fantasy with this.
- High/low. So many ways to interpret it with a fun challenge of finding a pair of opposites.
- Male/female profession. Again, the right balance between open and challenging.

Ok that was tough.....there are quite a few that I would be happy with, could find books for but are not on my current TBR (which is huge, so I'm trying to read them rather than add to it), so these books didn't get voted for either way. In the end I voted for:

*A book you have owned for at least a year but haven't read - my kindle is full of books I've owned for years...good chance to read one!
*two books - one inspired by the word high and one inspired by the word low - plenty of flexibility here but I thought it would give me a chance to get back to my Robin Hobb books and count this as a book with high page count and then read a short book to counter it.
*a book about royalty (fiction or non-fiction) - I have had Red Queen on my TBR list for some time so would like the push to read it!
*a book about or related to immortality - I seconded this and voted for it last time so figured I should vote for it again. Lots of options!

Ohhhh Bec! The Red Queen series is one of my favorite YA series that I’ve read in the past couple of years!

There really are so many great suggestions. I think I’ll be happy with whatever wins. I would love if the high/low prompt wins.

That was tough! I wound up going with 2 books with the same profession, high/low, portal, and Victorian/neo-Victorian.

I would be happy with a lot of them, though. Good list of prompts!

This was so difficult , I can't even remember hours later what I ended up voting for??!! Immortality, since I resubmitted it, portal fiction ? i love that one, sense of place, and i don't know what else.... There were too many I liked.

My bottoms: the drink, experimental ( I think) and i also think maybe criminals and the professions.

I'm definitely going to have to try for a rejects challenge for 2019.

Probably will drop PopSugar and Book Riot since I never seem to finish them anyways.

I say that now, but in reality I know I'll end up planning the lists for them because its therapy for me :-)

Really tough round.... I almost didn't want to vote at all...

Tracy wrote: "Probably will drop PopSugar and Book Riot since I never seem to finish them anyways...."

I know that Book Riot's is meant to be hard, but I get grumpy about reading things I don't really feel excited about and don't finish the challenge. I'm pretty much decided that I'll do ATY instead of Read Harder next year.

For my tops I went for:
High/Low
Portal
Extreme weather
Immortality

And in the bottom:
A book you have owned for at least a year, but have not read yet
A book that is “good for you”
20th century classic
Experimental book

On the subject of doing several challenges - do you fit books in prompts across challenges? I mean, if a book fits a prompt in one challenge and another prompt in another? I kind of like the idea that books can fit across challenges, but I´m not sure if it would feel like cheating. But I´m not going to be able to participate in two challenges if I don´t - between my workrelated assigned reads and non-challenge reads I´m not going to be able to read 104 challenge books. (if I do both Popsugar and AtY). I can see I´ve kind of answered the question myself, but just wondering if you guys do that?

Johanne wrote: "On the subject of doing several challenges - do you fit books in prompts across challenges? I mean, if a book fits a prompt in one challenge and another prompt in another? I kind of like the idea t..."

I fit my books across challenges where I can, I think most of the Read Harder ones I've managed to tick off this year have been because I read the book for PS. I usually read 100-120 books a year so I wouldn't want everything I read to be challenge related.

Johanne wrote: "On the subject of doing several challenges - do you fit books in prompts across challenges? I mean, if a book fits a prompt in one challenge and another prompt in another? I kind of like the idea t..."

I just went through my lists and figured out where I can fit my PopSugar and Bookriot reads into ATY prompts if need be, because that is my priority challenge. If I run behind I know I'll be able to finish even though its not my original plan. I did the same thing last year.

I know at least a couple of people here will use the same book for multiple prompts. I consider it, but then I just end up adding what I don't finish to my infinity list.

My dream is to one day finish all three without any crossover, but really I just enjoy planning the lists ( I'm planning a rejects list for 2019 as we speak) and as long as I complete ATY I'm happy. I am hoping to pull off all 3 of my ATY challenges this year though.

Thanks for your answers. I´m in an ambivalent mood about the challenges: I really want to participate, and I feel like doing both PS and AtY next year, but then I´m not sure if I´ll finish, and I don´t know how to feel about that. And I´m also like you Ellie: I don´t want all my reads to be challenge reads (especially since I also have workrelated assigned reading), but I still like to be pushed to read, and I can see I´ve read several this year that have been on my radar or TBR for a long time, that I probaly wouldn´t have gotten down to without challenges.
Oh well I´ll figure it out... Or just go along and see how it goes.

I find fitting a book for several challenges is half the fun, and a challenge in itself. I enjoy the hunt, and the satisfaction when I'm able to fit a book several places:) That said, I normally read about 40 books a year as I seldom have time for more, so I would never be able to complete both ATY and PS if I had to read 104 separate books! I will even consider double-dipping a book when we get to the end of the year if I see that I am too far behind 😂

This is the first year I’ve read more than 60 books (or even come close to that!). I’m doing all of ATY and I took 15 prompts from PopSugar that I thought would challenge me but wouldn't be too hard, so I have ATY and that mini-PS without overlap. If I were doing the whole PS, I’d probably have to overlap some.

That’s an option if you feel like overlapping is cheating! Just shrink one of them!

Okay it´s not cheating! Yes, Hilde, I like the idea of the creativity and treasure hunt in finding books that fit several prompts. And maybe mix the challenge prompts up with picture books, children´s books and graphic novels, that I like to read anyway, and they don´t take as long to read. Emily - I like your idea as well. I´ll go with one of those options.

@Johanne - I guess that's personal choice, just like deciding if one book can check off multiple categories in one Challenge.

For me, it's one category in a challenge per book BUT if a book can fit categories in both challenges, I do it. (I've found that my personal maximum is TWO challenges per year! Three or more challenges make me crazy so I dont try that any more.) Often there is overlap (this years examples include: anti-hero, takes place on water, based on real events/person, to name a few), and I don't always want to read two if the same kind of book, so I'll count that one book towards both challenges.

Nadine wrote: "@Johanne - I guess that's personal choice, just like deciding if one book can check off multiple categories in one Challenge.

For me, it's one category in a challenge per book BUT if a book can f..."

Yes, the outburst was me making a decision for myself (which can sometimes feel like a heureca moment, it happens so rarely ;)).

I´m also quite strict (with myself) on the one book pr challenge prompt, but I like the idea of using them across challenges. And it doesn´t have to be a similar-looking prompt: I looked at the AtY prompts this year, and for example, my "ugly cover" prompt from PS is written in first-person, so that fits AtY as well.

I felt guilty at first about overlapping books between two (or more) challenges but, like Hilde, I decided to look at it as a challenge in itself to find books that fit multiple categories.

I'm about to start Beneath a Scarlet Sky which I'm using for the air prompt here and also for the favorite color prompt on Popsugar.

I used to overlap books in my AtY/PS/BR/Rejects, but this year I’m not. That said, I’m not bothered about finishing any of them either - I just enjoy the treasure hunt aspect.

For the journalist category, what exactly is a journalist? Do any of the following count as a journalist:
Senior editor
Analyst
Contributor
Regular commentator on TV news
Columnist

Do people like Stephen Colbert, Nicholas Kristof, Norm Eisen, Anne-Marie Slaughter, Nada Bakos, Rebecca Skloot, Truman Capote, Chuck Palahniuk qualify as "journalists"?

Nadine wrote: "For the journalist category, what exactly is a journalist? Do any of the following count as a journalist:
Senior editor
Analyst
Contributor
Regular commentator on TV news
Columnist

Do people like ..."

The Office of National Statistics (UK) recognises the following as journalists:
art editor, broadcast journalist, columnist, commentator, communications officer, copy editor, court reporter, critic, diarist, editorial director, editor, editorial manager, feature writer, freelance writer, journalist, listings editor, leader writer, foreign correspondent, newspaper correspondent, newspaper editor, news editor, news writer, picture editor, political correspondent, production editor, press representative, publications officer, radio journalist, reporter, sub-editor, sports writer, technical
correspondent, turf correspondent, writer

So... yes.

Nadine wrote: "For the journalist category, what exactly is a journalist? Do any of the following count as a journalist:
Senior editor
Analyst
Contributor
Regular commentator on TV news
Columnist

Do people like ..."

I would probably end up counting those as journalists. Definitely Stephen Colbert, Rebecca Skloot, anyone who does investigative reporting. Maybe commentators, not so much? They are the sources that journalists use, but they aren't really journalists themselves.

Two of my top 4 are resubmit, so I hope they have better luck this time. I voted for a portal fiction and bildungsroman. I also voted for a 20th century classic and set in circus/amusement park. Joyland was awesome and in general my experiences with books with those setting have been good, so why not?

My bottom 4, a book I have owned for at least a year and haven't read.... too many !!! but I am sure that eventually I will read them; a book that is good for me ... not a fan of self help books and can't think what other kind of book to fit here; a book about royalty , just because we had it recently and there was nothing that appealed to me, I finished reading a graphic novel for that category :P and finally, an experimental book, just because it scares me hahaha

Oh noes, two downvotes for my prompt, a book that is good for you. But then again, I did make it sound like a vegetable--it's healthful but you wouldn't want to eat it if there's something tastier on the table.

But to clarify, "good for you" isn't just self-help, it can be educational like a book about something you'd like to know more about, spiritual, must-reads, a book someone's been telling you is life-changing, etc. It's unlikely this will reach the top, but there are so many other good choices that I find that don't mind at all.

---

For the Millions Most Anticipated list, we don't have to choose a new release do we? It can be from a list of their previous years, right?

Ana A wrote: "Oh noes, two downvotes for my prompt, a book that is good for you. But then again, I did make it sound like a vegetable--it's healthful but you wouldn't want to eat it if there's something tastier ..."

I liked your good for you prompt very much! I voted for it!

I liked the “Good for You” prompt too but didn’t vote for it. There were too many other ones I liked!