Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

The results are in and our 2019 list is complete.

Winners:
A book with more than 500 pages
A book you stumbled upon (i.e. serendipitous, found in library/bookstore, unplanned, etc.)

Bottom:
An extreme book (eg. extremely long, extremely short, about extreme sports)
A book you connect to your ancestry/heredity

Close calls:
A book with less than 200 pages
The first book on your TBR, sorted by whichever criteria you choose
A book set in a small town or village

Polarising:
A book about a disaster
A book connected to a cultural appreciation month (such as Black History Month, LGBTQA Pride Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Month, Native American Month, Women's History Month, etc)

The mods are currently working on putting the list in order and it will be posted once finished.

Yay! Happy with both!

I'm a Planner so for now I'm going to pencil in some books that I remember putting on my TBR after stumbling upon them (the two in particular that I'm thinking of I found in a bookstore but didn't buy them then because of money/carrying capacity issues). I'll probably replace it with something that I find this year, but it will make me feel better for now.

Hooray! Both of the top two were in my top votes! That's a great way to end the voting. Can't wait to see the final list in order soon. Thanks, mods, for all your hard work throughout this process! :)

Woo hoo! I choose both of these too. Great list everyone!

Not super excited about the serendipitous book, but I'll manage. I'll just read something already on my bookshelf that I don't remember buying (which is most of them, tbh). Excited by the page length one though!

I screwed up on my list. I keep coming up with 51 topics. I just went through all the results and I am missing something and it is bugging me! GRRRRR!

Can I get some clarification on the book you stumbled upon? I feel like I don't really understand it.

If I add a book to my TBR just because a friend gave it a good review, does that count?

If I listen to a great audiobook and then go seek out all other audiobooks read by that person, does that count?

If I add a book to my TBR just because I like the cover, does that count?

If I pick a book off of a "read before you die" type list, does that count?

If I'm looking for a book by an Asian American author for a cultural appreciation month (because I haven't given up on that!) and I pick a book I've not heard of before, does that count?

If I see a new movie is coming out that looks good, and it's based on a book I haven't read yet, so I go read the book, does that count?

Tammy wrote: "I screwed up on my list. I keep coming up with 51 topics. I just went through all the results and I am missing something and it is bugging me! GRRRRR!"

Check out the community spreadsheet and compare the two! Look at the 2019 Plans tab!

Nadine wrote: "Can I get some clarification on the book you stumbled upon? I feel like I don't really understand it.

If I add a book to my TBR just because a friend gave it a good review, does that count?

If I..."

Here's how I'm going to interpret it...

I'm not looking at books added to my TBR. I'm looking at books I chose (audio, digital, or physical) that I picked up randomly. So I would say that the Asian American author one would work, the new movie one would work, the read before you die type list would work.

But the TBR ones wouldn't work because you added them to your TBR, so you already considered reading it and you know about it before you actually get the book.

That being said, I'm probably going to use a book on my bookshelf that I purchased on a whim (from our library sale or a sale at the bookstore). I have like 20 to choose from, and most of them I don't even know what they are about!

Nadine wrote: "Can I get some clarification on the book you stumbled upon? I feel like I don't really understand it.

If I add a book to my TBR just because a friend gave it a good review, does that count?

If I..."

I personally wouldn't count any of your examples.

I would say the book needs to be something that you weren't planning on reading and you weren't intentionally looking for anything related to the book. So if you're intentionally seeking out the book (based on author, movie, prompts, etc.) then you didn't stumble upon it.

I would count books that you happened to find in a news article, blog online, youtube video, etc. as long as you weren't trying to find books. So if you're reading a news article and it happens to mention a book and you look it up then I would say that's stumbling upon it. Or if you're walking through a bookstore without looking for a specific book and like a cover or book description then that would be stumbling upon.

I think it comes down to initial intention. If you're looking for a book then you probably didn't "stumble upon" it.

Oh that's a good point Laura. The books I plan on using were all found from randomly picking them up at the bookstore or winning them as a gift (not Goodreads giveaways, because that's intentional, but in gift exchanges and such).

For the serendipity prompt, I interpret it more like what would NOT count (i.e. books already on your radar)

What I wouldn’t count as stumbled upon:
- a book by your favorite author (because you already know their style or already know it’s coming out)
- a book to screen adaptation that you want to read because it’s becoming a show or movie
- a book someone gave to you as a gift
- a book you have been waiting for to come out
- a book already on your TBR
- a book chosen for you (by a book club or book Instagram you follow, or a required reading for class)
- a book you actively sought out


What I would count as stumbled upon:
- a book that you found at a library sale or yard sale
- a book you have no idea how it ended up on your shelf
- a book you picked randomly from the library or book store
- a book that caught your eye just by the cover
- a book that you saw someone reading on the bus and got curious about

When I think of stumbling upon a book, my interpretation is more in line with what Laura mentioned. Maybe you go to the library or the book store looking for a specific book/books, but while you're there, a display catches your eye, and a book looks interesting, so you buy/borrow it. That would be a book you stumbled upon.

Also, I don't usually come to Goodreads to find recommendations for books. I usually log in to keep up with the challenge prompts or log my reading. When I happen to see a book in my thread that I haven't heard of before, and decide to check it out & add it to my TBR at that point, I would consider that I stumbled upon it.

ETA: Avery - yes! I think I was typing as you were posting yours. Those all seem like great examples of books that do & don't qualify for the serendipity prompt.

When the idea of the serendipitous prompt first came up in Wild Discussion, my idea of it was this: "Every once in a while it seems like I see a book mentioned everywhere...and not because it's that one book that is super crazy popular at the moment. After seeing a book mentioned like five times in five different places, I'll put it on my TBR List (because obviously there is some reason the Universe has kept putting it on my radar)." So I plan to use a book that I came across in this way for the prompt.

I have a few books with 500+ pages on my 2019 reading list but I'll most likely use those books for more interesting prompts. (I'm doing a "Half Prompts Half Rejects" challenge so I won't be doing all 52 prompts.)

I am constantly looking for books and adding books to my TBR, and I am such a planner, so this "stumbled upon" category is a real monkey wrench for me! Sometimes that's a good thing.

I think first week of January I will walk into the library and grab a book off their "NEW" shelf and call it done.

Margaret wrote: "...In the middle of reading Don Quixote (started in July, 15% finished) I vowed that after I finish the dozen or so 500+ page books I currently own, I will never buy or check out another."

Margaret - I feel your pain! I'm 8% in to Don Quixote and wondering why did I start this book and cursing my husband for pushing me to read it! However, I have several 500+ page books that I know I can get through. It really depends on the author for me. Good luck with DQ!

I’m going to use a book I stumbled upon in the past, I think. The prompt doesn’t require that it happened within the year. So I came across books by Olivia Manning in a used bookstore in Seoul and I mostly bought them because I like old penguin copies of books. So I’ll likely read one of those.

Though to me the serendipity aspect is pretty different than stumbled upon. Sometimes you read a book that references something you’re going through and it makes you feel better or you happen to read a book that references something in the book you read previously or something like that. You didn’t stumble across the book, necessaryily, but by happy chance it relates to something else in your life.

So I don’t personally think the book is what happens to be stumbled upon.

I can't believe it!!! Hahaha I voted 6 top and not one made it. I really didn't wanted the 500 pages because I don't want to discard a book because it has 499 pages :(

I stumble upon with most of my books here in Goodreads (not sure if I have understood the meaning of this category :P)

The most extraordinary thing happened to me last week. A fellow passenger in the train I took was reading a book and finished it before the stop where he left the train, leaving the book behind. I called after him that he was forgetting his book, but he answered: "That's allright, you keep it."

And so my book for the serendipity prompt will be: The Lost Library by A.M. Dean.

I just finished Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides... all 529 pages of it. I highly recommend it for those looking for a book to fill the 500 page prompt in 2019. I loved this book and while I don't necessarily agree with the person who said it was 500 pages too short, I could easily have read more pages.

For the serendipitous prompt I chose Viper Wine by Hermione Eyre. It’s been on my TBR list for quite awhile and I’ve continually ignored it. But the Universe keeps nudging.

As we’ve gone through the process of choosing prompts for the 2019 challenge, this book has come up no fewer than 10 times as a qualifying title for a prompt: “Chinese zodiac, STEM, historical figure, speculative fiction, Walter Scott Prize, ATY list, drink in title, book recommended by a favourite author, new genre, none of your GR friends have read.”

Plus, I’m pretty sure I saw it on a few of the various lists I’ve looked through for challenge prompts. And I read an article somewhere over the summer where the book was mentioned, and it has come up on two different occasions recently in an online book group.

I've put it on my 2019 plan and have given myself strict instructions to leave it there. :)

How exciting that we're done!

I didn't vote for the stumbled upon prompt at all, so I'm a little stuck. I think I'm going to use my phone photos, bc when I go into a bookshop and find a book that looks interesting but that I wasn't planning on buying, I take a photo of the cover as a "bookmark". Hopefully this counts… otherwise I'll be cheating this prompt hahaha.

eta: just reread the prompt and this totally counts lol, I'm sorted

One of my favorite past times is to go to the library and browse with no books in mind and finding something I hadn't planned to pick up. I love having an unplanned prompt. I want more of those in my life.

I must admit book length is one thing I weigh haha in my reading choices, especially with challenges to conquer, so I'm glad this one made it. As far as stumbling, most of my TBR list I can't remember how they got there. I'll have to think on that one.

Stumbling upon books is an easy one for me! I rarely look for specific books or, if I do, I come across something else more interesting! I do have one specific book in mind that was such a bizarre find at Goodwill. I couldn’t even find it at first in GR to look it up. It’s by a Polish author and there are only 35 ratings!

If not knowing how it got on my TBR is all it takes to qualify for "stumbled" then I'm all set!! Hahaha I have no idea why most of them are there.

Looking at you 4 3 2 1 for more than 500 pages (I have the 968 page edition sitting around waiting for me).

Last year I bought Monstress, Vol. 2: The Blood because I loved the artwork. I just picked it up and bought it, and didn´t even notice it was the second in the series :) I´m not going to read that, but that´s the kind of thing I will do for this challenge (I may have books I didn´t read that happened to come in my possession like this).

There are sometimes those "press the button and see which book you end up with" kind of things on fb etc. That´s also a way to stumble upon a book.

You could also give yourself a task like: Go to your favourite section of the library/bookstore, pick up the third book from the right on the bottom shelf. pick up the one left to that if you've read it or it's a series and not the first etc.

Sooooo....how soon will the 2019 Projects folder be created? ;)

dalex, my guess is that once the final list is out (with all the prompts in proper order), they will open the topic! I'm ready to put my plan together... it's getting difficult to navigate on the spreadsheet!

I'm very happy with both! I'm so excited to have the list completed & can't wait to see the final order everything is put in!

Margaret wrote: "Fourevver wrote: "The most extraordinary thing happened to me last week. A fellow passenger in the train I took was reading a book and finished it before the stop where he left the train, leaving t..."

This exact thing happened to me. I stumbled on one of those little libraries while walking around the garden district in New Orleans in April, and took a book that I had never heard of but sounded good. Of course I haven't read it yet. The stumbling doesn't have to happen in 2019, does it?

I know some think this option mentioned by Nadine doesn't count: "If I see a new movie is coming out that looks good, and it's based on a book I haven't read yet, so I go read the book, does that count? "

But I think it does, You are not planning to read that book, maybe you even didn't know about that book, but you see a trailer and think : Mhm, it looks good! Is it based in a book? It is! Let's look for the book! For me, that is stumble on, please correct me if I am wrong.

Yay for a book you stumbled across serendipitously. Boo for a book over 500 pages. Perhaps I need to grab the large print version of books I want to read. That must up the page count ;- ) What's likely to happen is I'll read and really enjoy a book, get to the end and then discover it had 500+ pages. What I found this year is that the correlation between prompts I liked and the likability of the book I read for the prompt was far from perfect! Last year (I think) I was excited by a prompt for a book with a family member in the title (Can't remember if it was here or elsewhere). I struggled to find something to read for it and then didn't like the book I finally picked. Luckily it wasn't 500 pages! On the flip side (and this is one of the appeals of reading challenges for me) is that some prompts that I don't like lead me to books I wouldn't otherwise have picked that I end up really enjoying.

Right now, I have 11/22/63 in my “stumbled upon” prompt. I had never heard of the book before this year, when it kept being mentioned by many of you during the voting process, and it looks very interesting. So thank you to those who discussed it so much!

dalex wrote: "Sooooo....how soon will the 2019 Projects folder be created? ;)"

It seems like last year the order of the list came out pretty fast but it was a bit until the individual prompt threads opened up. It seems like they came out as the mod working on them had them ready maybe over a few weeks. I cannot remember if originally they were locked or not.

I'm happy to see the list finished, it was a long process this time! Thanks to the mods for the work :)

It seems I wasn't in sync with the group this year, there's only 21 prompts that I voted for that made the final list (the 4 wedding rhyme are included). It'll totally change how I deal with the challenge next year, I'm thinking of doing a half challenge or something like this.

Overall, it's an interesting list, even if it isn't enough appealing for me to do a full 5th year. I hope people will have fun with it :)

You did better than me Zaz, I only got 9! I'm still not entirely sure if I'll do the challenge next year - I feel like I need a year off from yearly challenges after doing them since 2015. It could just be my reading slump talking though, as I have no doubt once I see everyone start planning and posting their lists, I'll be sucked right back in again.

Zaz, I hadn't thought to look. I'm at 25/52, just under half of the prompts (including the multiweeks), that I voted for. That's a pretty fair percentage, I'd think.

Oh, I hadn't counted mine, either. I only voted for 14 of the 52 finalists. There were some that made it through that I like though, so I think I might do a half-&-half challenge or something. Just all the prompts I voted for and/or liked that made it on the final list for one half, and then my rejects list for the second half. I'll either have to narrow down my rejects list, or maybe I'll make it like 1/3 for the challenge and 2/3 for my rejects. :)

I just checked my stats: I voted for only 19 of these winners. But I don't feel completely out of step, because I'm okay with many winners. I only voted against 5 of the winners, so that means there are 47 that I don't hate! Not bad :-)

I hadn't thought to track number of prompts I voted for that made it either but it's 21/52, including the multi-week prompts. I'm mostly just excited just to have a final list and also glad that two of my suggestions made it on!

I didn't find the group until the current challenge was underway so I just slotted in what I had read so far and didn't spend a ton of time planning so I am looking forward to having the time to research and plan for 2019, even though I am sure I will continue to make changes throughout the year!

Johanne wrote: "You could also give yourself a task like: Go to your favourite section of the library/bookstore, pick up the third book from the right on the bottom shelf. pick up the one left to that if you've re..."

I love this idea Johanne -- I think I'm going to make my choice that way.

After not being thrilled by the 500 page prompt I've taken the time to scroll through my TBR list and discovered I have several to choose from. I had no idea 11/22/63 was so lengthy! But I'll keep that for the number in title prompt and go with The Hearts Invisible Furies. I was going to request that from the library this week but will hold off until next year.

Haha, it's fun to see that some of you also had near a half tops (Jody, your score is fascinating!). The previous years, I was near 40 tops, so it's a big gap for me.

Lizzy wrote: "Johanne wrote: "You could also give yourself a task like: Go to your favourite section of the library/bookstore, pick up the third book from the right on the bottom shelf. pick up the one left to t..."

Thanks, serendipity appeals to me :)

It's interesting to hear people's stats for how many they voted for that made the final list. If only my memory was good enough that I could recall which prompts I had actually voted for :P

Silvia, I wouldn't count it since it's not completely random of a selection. The person would already be aware of the book to the extent that they knew the movie and sought out the book, similar to someone knowing they like the author and seek out another of their books. But I do think an argument could be made so I suppose it be one of the 'keep it simple' interpretations.

dalex wrote: "For the serendipitous prompt I chose Viper Wine by Hermione Eyre. It’s been on my TBR list for quite awhile and I’ve continually ignored it. But the Universe keeps ..."

Dalex, I am thrilled that you picked Viper Wine! I loved this book, which I stumbled upon at the library a few years ago. I wound up reading it for the 2017 GR challenge magical realism prompt. Loved it so much I also added it this year's ATY Group Recommendations list (which I'm using for the 2019 polarizing/close call prompt) . Please keep me posted on what you think - I hope you enjoy its uniqueness as much as I did.