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 September 7
- One vote per poll per user

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

Poll Entries:
1. A book about a person who travels to another country as a vacationer, an expatriate, an immigrant, or a refugee
2. A book where the author’s name contain A, T, and Y
3. The winner or nominee for a literary prize in a country other than your own.
4. A book that spans a week or less
5. A book of short stories, essays, or poems.
6. A book that none of your Goodreads friends have read/ rated
7. A book written by a man with a female main character or written by a woman with a male main character
8. A book with a quest or treasure hunt
9. 2 books linked to the voting for the 2019 ATY challenge - one for a prompt that was polarizing and one for a prompt that was in the bottom
10. A book that was a finalist or winner for the National Book Award for any year
11. A book you think you should read
12. A book told from multiple perspectives
13. A book that reminds you of your youth
14. A book with revenge or vengeance as a theme.
15. A book from one of the top 5 money making genres (romance/erotica, crime/mystery, religious/inspirational, science fiction/fantasy or horror)

Survey Link

Top 4 10, 13, 8, 5
Bottom 4, 7, 6,11

I know this was already starting to be discussed in the suggestion thread, but I am confused why so many prompts overlap with current 2018 prompts or ones that have already been voted in for 2019. For this reason I down-voted many of the ones I found overlapping.

Bottom:
- Quest/Treasure Hunt – I see too much overlap with the journey prompt for 2019.
- Youth – we already have the children’s classic and the school setting prompts for 2019.
- Short Stories/Essays/Poems – short story collection is a current 2018 prompt.
- Polarizing and Bottom Prompt – we already have the polarizing prompt in the 2018 list.

For my tops, I liked the Expatriate, Spans a Week or less, Male Author Female Protagonist (vice versa), and Revenge. Though I'd be happy with many others as well, like the award lists, top five genre, multiple perspectives, and book you should read.

I'm having a tough time coming up with four!

I might put the A,T,Y author in my tops. I'd been worried that it would be difficult to find a good book, but I've got lots of authors on my TBR who qualify. For example:
Sayaka Murata
Sally Thorne
Jay Kristoff
James Smythe
Amy Stewart
Taylor Jenkins Reid
Yann Martel
Anthony Horowitz
Michael Twitty
Beth Ann Fennelly
Laini Taylor
Viet Thanh Nguyen
Jodi Taylor
Tiffany Jackson
Courtney Milan
Kwei Quartey
Cormac McCarthy
Catherynne Valente
Bethany Griffin
Sherry Thomas

I was happy with most of these -- only put 2 in the bottom!

I agree about the quest/treasure hunt being too close to the journey prompt and the short story collection since we already have it this year.

However, I really like the polarizing/bottom (although I wish it were bottom OR close call) because there really have been some fantastic prompts in those categories and as of now, my reject challenge has more prompts than the actual challenge!

For my tops, I went with the prompts that I thought were the most unique and interesting. For my bottoms, I mostly went with ones that are just too much like prompts that are already on the list.

Rachelnyc wrote: "However, I really like the polarizing/bottom (although I wish it were bottom OR close call) because there really have been some fantastic prompts in those categories and as of now, my reject challenge has more prompts than the actual challenge!"

This makes sense, I actually wouldn't mind if these types of prompts were automatic shoo-ins at the beginning. Although I know people voted against it in the pre-poll, so I just wish it didn't show up again during a regular poll when there are other unique prompts that I'd rather vote for.

Some other authors with A, T, & Y in their names:

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Catherine Ryan Hyde
Stephanie Dray
Penny Watson
Elizabeth Keckley
Rayven T. Hill
Marta Perry
Andrea Twombly
Holly Patrone
Kathy Reichs
Kay Dew Shostak
Hillary Adrienne Stern
Carolyn Hart
Amy Gentry
Traci Tyne Hilton
Christy Barritt
Karly Kirkpatrick
Amy Tan
Liane Moriarty
Anthony J. Franze
Kathryn Hughes
Cynthia Ellingsen
Patrick Yearly
Austin J. Bailey
Heather Day Gilbert
Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
Emily St. John Mandel
Cynthia Todd
Mary Jane Hathaway
Lyn Hamilton

I am going to come back to the vote later today and actually give this one some thought!

I have some ideas on a book that “reminds you of your youth”. I am interpreting it very differently than a childhood classic.
Here are a few ideas:

1. setting - where you lived or vacationed
2. the times/news/history (e.g., For me, a non-fiction book about Patty Hearst or Watergate, popular news stories in the 70s)
3. A similar relationship that was important to you - grandmother, friend, dog, etc.
5. favorite genre or author when you were younger. Or, an author you disliked (forced to read in school) but are willing to try again.
6. Child as the main character or coming of age story
7. Biography on a popular actor, musician, politician, athlete etc.
8. Sports related, if you were an athlete or a spectator
9. Hobby or activity related

I think there are lots of ideas for this prompt and I like it, now that I’m thinking through the possibilities!

Thanks for that Pam! It definitely opens up the possibilities for me.

I found this great list of National Book Award winners, sorted by category:
http://www.nationalbook.org/nbawinner...
(Annnnnd now I have a new list on my ever-growing spreadsheet...)

Here is a list of winners and shortlisted books for
Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young Adult/Children's. The YA/Children's could be a good place to look for the children's classic prompt as well.

I really like this list a lot. There's so much diversity! I'm thinking I'm going to vote for this one over the award winner from another country prompt.

If an author with A, T and Y in their name wins I am already sorted. Terry Pratchett for me all the way!

I know some people have commented on some of the suggestions this week being similar to prompts that have been selected for 2019 or were included in 2018. From my perspective, as people’s choice of book for a prompt is always a matter of interpretation it’s difficult to “police” suggestions to exclude ones that are similar to existing prompts. Of course each member of our group is welcome to vote against any that, in their opinion, are too similar to existing prompts, and if enough people feel that way then the prompts won’t be selected.

For example, personally I think the “book that reminds you of your youth” prompt is quite different to either childhood classic or set in a school. I was thinking I might read a book by an author my mum used to read a lot when I was a child as it reminds me of childhood. Or I might read a book set at the seaside as I grew up on the coast and have lots of happy memories of playing on the beach and the sea.

Well, the results of this and the ensuing discussion should be interesting ;-)

I only put 3 in my top and 3 in my bottom..... I just couldn't figure this week out.

I think this will be an easy voting week for me since there are 4 that stand out but I think I'll still wait a day or two and see if the discussion sways me.

I agree that the youth prompt is very different than the childhood classic and the more ideas that pop up, the more I like it.

Pam, I recommend American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst if this prompt makes it.

I'm going to make a pitch for the story/essay/poetry collection. Most of us have no problem reading majority novels for every prompt, and for me at least it can take a little nudge to get me out of what's easiest. There are a ton of poetry and essay collections, not to mention short story collections, that I keep meaning to read but not getting around to, and more coming out every year that look good but don't fit other prompts. It's a way to incentivize me to get more diversity in my reading.

Yes - I like the short story/essay/poems prompt because I find it easy to fall into a year that’s all non-fiction or novels. It’s good to have some variety of forms as well.

And I was somewhat against the youth prompt, but I like that expansion of what it could be. I problem won’t cite for it, but I won’t down vote it either.

Bryony wrote: "I know some people have commented on some of the suggestions this week being similar to prompts that have been selected for 2019 or were included in 2018. From my perspective, as people’s choice of..."

I know it says that some polls could have rules to address some categories of prompts that are lacking. The list seems like maybe it could use that now? I’m curious, when in the process is that sort of thing looked at?

Chrissy wrote: "I'm going to make a pitch for the story/essay/poetry collection."

It seems quite a few people dislike the short story prompt this year. I like that the prompt currently up for vote is broader and encompasses other not-a-novel formats as well so maybe it's more appealing for the non-short-story readers amongst us. (But, seriously people, short stories are AWESOME.)

Also, for poetry you could do a verse novel or an epic instead of a collection of poems.

I like the short story/essays/poems prompt also. I have several short story collections and they are sometimes hard to fit into challenges. There are some books (fiction and non-fiction/memoirs) that are really vignettes that I would include in this category.

I'd be really happy to have the polarizing/bottom one so that we all get a chance to do some of our favourites that didn't make it.

I will definitely be putting "should read" in my bottom, I rebel against those kind of books and I feel I will already have something like that from the 1001 books prompt.

I love that wording, dalex, "not-a-novel format." That would be a fun prompt on its own. Read something that's not a novel.

I love poetry and I'd be really thrilled if one of the books of poetry I read could count toward the challenge!

my top 4 are 11,13,15 and 4
my bottoms are 3, 1, 4 and 7
did we already throw some classics in the mix? and even some American classics vs. European classics, modern classics vs. ancient classics? LOL

Dalex, I totally agree.... I'm glad that essays are included because many memoirs would fit in as "essays". I generally hate the short stories and poetry prompts. I liked the short stories I read this year (they weren't award winning, but I counted it), but I wouldn't want to repeat.

Christine, we have a 20th century classic in there, and the 1001 list is mostly classics.

I mean I suppose you could read a single poem, essay or short story and call it a day if you wanted. If it’s not your thing and it’s too much of a stretch for you, I don’t see why not. It still diversified your reading to read just one if otherwise you wouldn’t read any.

Ellie wrote: "I will definitely be putting "should read" in my bottom, I rebel against those kind of books and I feel I will already have something like that from the 1001 books prompt."

There are many possibilities beyond the Western Canon-type books for that one though. Like Kathy Jo suggested when she nominated it, you could read:

A classic
A book you started but DNF
Everyone is talking about
For work/ school
Someone gave you as gift or loan

I would add to that:

The next book in a series
A book you meant to read in 2018
A book that's been on your TBR for a very long time
A winner of an award that you like
A book recommended by a friend
A book blurbed by an author that you like

This was an easy round of voting for me; I knew exactly which ones I was sticking in the bottom and the top didn't take long to narrow down either.

I mean, nobody ever complains that we had to read a novel last year, so its repetitive to read one again! I get that argument for narrow categories, but in this case it seems not only pretty wide for different tastes but also orthogonal to the most of the rest of the prompts we've already chosen. In other words, one book can overlap with lots of categories if they all could apply to novels, but it is less likely they would apply to nonfiction essays or poetry.

For my top I decided for
- 2 books linked to the voting for the 2019 ATY challenge - one for a prompt that was polarizing and one for a prompt that was in the bottom, just because there were so many I liked and couldn't make it to the top.
- A book that reminds you of your youth, I know this is kind of an open category, but it's the kind I enjoyed just deciding which book I will read
- A book you shoul read.
- A book told from multiple perspectives, this is a repeated category, but I really enjoyed this kind of book.

For my bottom, I decided just for two, because I am Ok with most of the categories.
- A book that spans a week or less
- A book that none of your Goodreads friends have read/ rated .. I don't want to spend time just checking what my friends had not read that I want to read :(

I agree that there are all kinds of books that could be classified as "should read", not just classics. Personally, I don't like the use of the word "should". I don't believe there is any book that a person "should" read. If you don't want to read it, then don't feel guilted into reading it. I voted it down for that reason alone.

I especially love the National Book Award - so many good books on it!

I'm sure this will be another interesting vote! Every time I think I know how the vote will go, it goes a different way.

I am voting for:

A book where the author’s name contain A, T, and Y
I really enjoyed the ATY prompt this year with the title, so I think I could enjoy finding books that fill this prompt.

A book that was a finalist or winner for the National Book Award for any year
I was debating about this one and the other award list, but I really like so many books on this list, so I just committed to this one instead of doing all of the research into other country's lists. (If the other one wins, I'll probably end up doing the Man Booker Prize, which is on my rejects list anyway.)

A book about a person who travels to another country as a vacationer, an expatriate, an immigrant, or a refugee
I like the possibilities of this prompt! It's so open to a variety of experiences, while still being somewhat limiting.

And I'm now trying to decide between a book of short stories, essays, or poems or a book that reminds you of your youth.
I could very easily use one of the memoirs or nonfiction books I have on my 40 Before 40 list for the essay prompt, but I would like the chance to reread a book I loved long ago, or do more research into things that I heard about when I was younger but never really grasped on to. So... debating.

My bottom four were pretty easy and straightforward to me.

I agree with the previous comments that there were quite a few prompts here that seemed similar. They were different enough that I can see how they'd both be included, but I think it might split the votes a bit.

The revenge/vengenace one stood out to me immediately, and so did the book that none of my Goodreads friends have read or rated. I have a lot of books on my TBR that don't seem as well-known, so it might be a fun kind of scavenger hunt. The same goes for authors that have A,T and Y in their names.

I'm actually a bit disappointed that the multi-week prompt was shortened from 3 weeks to 2 weeks, because I found it much more appealing before. I looked at the list of polarizing prompts, and there was nothing that I wanted very badly, and I had only one prompt that I had voted for that was in the bottom.

This was a tough one to find a bottom 4 though, since there was nothing I outright hated. I ended up downvoting the prompts that I would find hard or irritating to fulfill.

I was able to quickly pick my top four:
--a book about a person who travels to another country as a vacationer, an expatriate, an immigrant, or a refugee

-- the winner or nominee for a literary prize in a country other than your own

--a book of short stories, essays, or poems

--a book that was a finalist or winner for the National Book Award for any year

I only chose two for my bottom vote.

I felt pretty ambivalent about many of these prompts. Most would be okay but are similar to others and nothing really stood put. Since I am aiming to broaden my reading horizons I voted for number 3 and number 5, as well as 9 since many prompts I liked from earlier rounds never made it.

I love the multi week prompt about the writers and main characters being of opposite gender. I always notice when male writers are writing women, so I think it would be so fun to have a chance as a group to talk about whether we think the authors are successful at writing the other gender.

Katie wrote: "I love the multi week prompt about the writers and main characters being of opposite gender. I always notice when male writers are writing women, so I think it would be so fun to have a chance as a..."

Excellent book by a male author writing a female character is She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb

Katie wrote: "I love the multi week prompt about the writers and main characters being of opposite gender. I always notice when male writers are writing women, so I think it would be so fun to have a chance as a..."

Katie, I suggested it as a single week as I thought people might think multiple weeks was too much.

I read The Woman in the Window recently and noticed the author had initials. I assumed it was a woman, but turns out it was a man, which made me wonder why I had that assumption. I went back through the books I read this year, and sure enough, only about 10% of the books I read this year were written by authors of the opposite sex of their main characters.

So I thought it would make a good prompt, not too easy, but not too restrictive. It’s a bit of the opposite of “own voice”. Some of my favourite books had a mismatch between authors and their main characters (A Thousand Splendid Suns, Harry Potter). Like you, Katie, I thought the discussion might be interesting as to how successful the authors were.

Oh, I thought it was one of each. But either way, I love it, and definitely voted for it. I had a similar experience last year reading a thriller by an author with initials. I assumed it was a female author, probably because it was a female main character, but it was a male author.

Elise wrote: “There are many possibilities beyond the Western Canon-type books for that one though. Like Kathy Jo suggested when she nominated it, you could read...”

At that point it become too open a prompt for my taste, like saying I should read it because I want to read it!

I went for linked to voting, authors with ATY (because it’s a fun link to the challenge), takes place in less than a week and short story/essays/poems. I need a nudge to read short story collections but there are several I love. I also think there are a lot of interesting essay collections about these days.

I had to down vote the one about goodreads friend not having read/rated because, even though I like the idea of reading less popular books, I have a lot of GR friends with varied tastes which would make this difficult to find something.

It was hard picking my top as there were so many good ones. I ended up choosing a book of short stories, essays, or poems; a book where the author's name contains A, T, Y; a book told from multiple perspectives; and a book written by a man with a female main character or written by a woman with a male main character.

I was on the fence about the short stories, etc. book but the discussion persuaded me to vote for it. I like the scavenger hunt aspect of finding an author with ATY in their name and multiple perspectives can be very good. The female/male book seems very interesting and could make for good discussion on stereotypes,etc.
The only one I voted against was the book that none of my friends have read. I think it may be too difficult to find one, as some of my friends are very prolific readers.

I downvoted the GR friends one too - that was a rejected prompt last year that I put in my personal Hard Mode challenge this year. I ended up reading a bread-baking cookbook (which I did want to read) because it was so hard to find anything else! 😂

That is so interesting. I end up reading a ton of books that none of my GR friends have read. Maybe I just read weird stuff, haha.

I really enjoyed the prompt this year to read a book that your friend rated 5 stars, so I thought this would be a fun spin on that prompt.

Katie wrote: "That is so interesting. I end up reading a ton of books that none of my GR friends have read. Maybe I just read weird stuff, haha."

I was thinking the same thing, but I wonder if it has to do with how many books people have in general on their TBR. I have well over 2000 books on mine, so it's not really surprising that I'd have plenty that others haven't read. I know a lot of people like to keep their TBR list more limited, so maybe that's a factor.

I have a lot of GR friends, and some of them read A LOT, and they are different, some read new books, some read genre fiction, some read non-fiction, etc. They really cover the span! So it would be really difficult for me to find a book that NONE of my GR friends had read! So I also downvoted that one, just out of fear that I could never fulfill it.

Yeah I think it depends also on who you're friends with. I have a lot of bloggers or booktubers on my friend list so since they read so much they pop up on almost all the books I look at. But if you're friends with more everyday readers then you'll probably run across more books that haven't been reviewed by friends.

I didn't downvote the "a book none of your gr friends have read" prompt but I do see it being problematic for a multitude of reasons:

1. It's time consuming to research to find qualifying books.
2. It's almost impossible for those who pre-plan because one of our friends could read the book between when we plan the book and when we actually read the book.
3. It's not balanced in fairness because
a. it's a much easier prompt for the person with 10 gr friends than it is for the one with 500 gr friends
b. it's a more difficult prompt for a person who really likes to read popular books as opposed to the person who seeks out the obscure titles
4. It's not going to lead to reading a book that promotes discussion amongst group members because it's based on each person's list of gr friends rather than something collective.
5. Ultimately, it's just a super simple "fill in the blank" prompt because you can technically throw in any book you want to read because no one is going to police your choice.

Katie wrote: "I love that wording, dalex, "not-a-novel format." That would be a fun prompt on its own. Read something that's not a novel."

I'll definitely keep that in mind for a future prompt if the short stories etc. prompt doesn't get voted in! Not-a-novel could cover so many things (stories, poems, plays, graphic novels, essays, memoirs, self-help, coffee table books, cookbooks, text books, tech manuals) that I think it might be a rather popular prompt.

dalex wrote: "I didn't downvote the "a book none of your gr friends have read" prompt but I do see it being problematic for a multitude of reasons:

1. It's time consuming to research to find qualifying books.
2..."

I agree with your list. Though if I preplan something and it qualifies at the time, I wouldn’t worry about someone reading something and changing its status.

Chinook wrote: "dalex wrote: "I didn't downvote the "a book none of your gr friends have read" prompt but I do see it being problematic for a multitude of reasons:

1. It's time consuming to research to find quali..."

I would agree with that too. I've had a few prompts in the past where something qualified at the time I picked it, and it changed in the course of the year.

Otherwise, I agree with dalex about it being a little imbalanced based on how many Goodreads friends you have, but I disagree on the other points, especially about leading to discussion. I think reading lesser-known books can lead to great discussions and at the very least recommendations. Seeing someone else read a book you have on your TBR but have been hesitant to try might push you to finally give it a chance. It also seems like a natural extension of that list we compiled earlier in the year of lesser-known books.

I personally did not find it time-consuming at all, but again I think that has to do with having a massive TBR list. Another way to look at the prompt is to be the first of your friends to read a new release, before others on your friends list had a chance to read it.

I don't see it as a "freebie" prompt because while dalex is right that there is no challenge police who will check (or even who can check, since no one can see which of your friends have read it), it wouldn't really be in the spirit of the challenge to do that. People can do what they want with their own challenge, but I think the same could happen equally for almost any prompt. Maybe not for something that is very specific (a book is either in a genre or it's not), but any prompt that has any room for interpretation can be made into a freebie depending on how loosely you stick to the prompt.