Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Let's get on with the results!

Top 3
- A book related to the 2020 Olympic Summer Games in Japan
- The first book in a series that you have not started
- A book from the New York Times '100 Notable Books' list for any year

Bottom
- A book written by or about a laureate
- A book related to floriography (the language of flowers)

Close-call
- A book featuring an LGBTQIA+ character or by an LGBTQIA+ author
- A book from the "1000 Books by Women" list

Results are calculated by subtracting the number of voters who put a prompt in their bottom 4 from those who put a prompt in their top 4 (top 4 - bottom 4). The totals are then compared to find the top result(s).

The next round of suggestions will open tomorrow, Wednesday, July 31 at 8 am EDT/12 pm GMT. It will be a multi-week prompt only.

The close-calls were really close, but we decided not to add them because of a significant amount of downvotes. We however love these prompts and would be partial to them being resubmitted later with a bit of lobbyism to convince people to add them 😜

Two of my choices actually got in? Whoa! I didn't vote for the Olympics prompt, but I'm glad it got in because I found the perfect book for it.

Glad to see a list on the board finally, Now I hope we can get a couple of genre prompts.

I hope to see the close call prompts resubmitted.

Super happy the 2020 Olympics one got in. I'll be reading something Japanese or maybe something I can connect to their opening ceremony. I think it's rare for me not to try an new series/trilogy in a year so that's OK.

The NYT was the best of the lists this time, so I'm glad it's that one that got in and not the others, even though I'm a bit irked it's behind a paywall. I didn't even think I'd looked at the site at all this month but it's saying I have no articles left. Can someone with a subscription confirm the Goodreads lists are accurate?

One of my up votes got in and I down voted both the bottom two. Happy with all the top three.

Upvoted six prompts, none made it to the top, boo. At least one was close call. None of these three were the two I downvoted but still pretty indifferent. Think I’m not really gelling with the group this year.

I would like to suggest that the 2020 Olympic prompt be set on a week during the 2020 Olympics (July 24 - August 9)!

And perhaps the first book in a series be set on a week in the beginning of the year, so we can continue the series throughout the year if we'd like!

Wow I Up-voted EIGHT (never did that before!) and only one of them made it in! But I really liked all of the ideas so I’m happy with the winners.

Community spreadsheet is updated!

I think this is the first time (definitely this year) that one of my top votes ended up in the bottom (laureate), but I'm happy with the three that got in, especially the list prompt. I'm also hoping the LGBTQIA+ prompt gets in eventually, since it was such a close call.

Ellie, I'll take a look at the lists... I'm not behind a paywall (even though I'm not a subscriber), but it may be a US/non-US thing.

I voted for 1 one of the top 3 (Olympics) but am fine with the other two. I’ll save Lord of the Rings or the Gormenghast Trilogy for next year, since I don’t read many books in series!

Ok so I went through 2017's GR list and there were 16 that weren't on the actual NYT list. I posted which ones were on there erroneously in the comments, so at least you can reference that. I'll go through the rest of the years as I have time to do them!

(I ended up having to clear my cache and cookies to access the lists... if you do that, it doesn't register that you've been on the website before and you can access your 10 free articles all over again. Just be warned that when you do that, it will log you out of everything!)

EDIT: Here's the link to the 2017 list that I edited: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

EDIT AGAIN: Chrissy was able to go delete the extras on the 2017 list! So it's back to 100 books! And it looks like the rest of the lists are right at 100, so they should be accurate.

Emily wrote: "Ok so I went through 2017's GR list and there were 16 that weren't on the actual NYT list. I posted which ones were on there erroneously in the comments, so at least you can reference that. I'll go..."

Thanks Emily! I thought NYT might be more sophisticated than that, but if they're just doing a cookie check I can access it via incognito mode.

Ellie wrote: "Emily wrote: "Ok so I went through 2017's GR list and there were 16 that weren't on the actual NYT list. I posted which ones were on there erroneously in the comments, so at least you can reference..."

I hadn't even thought of incognito mode 🤦🏻‍♀️

Nadine wrote: "Wow I Up-voted EIGHT (never did that before!) and only one of them made it in! But I really liked all of the ideas so I’m happy with the winners."

Ditto... 8 upvotes and only one made it in. Sad the "Independent Bookstore" prompt didn't get in.

As a non-list person, there were several lists in the last round of suggestions I really liked, and none of those actually made it in... Oh, well, I'm sure the NYT lists have some great books on them, it's just a lot harder to use my preferred BIO list option of books I already own with that one.

I am happy that the Olympics prompt made it in this time though! And I'm always starting plenty of series, so that prompt won't be a problem for me.

Both 1st in a series and A book featuring an LGBTQIA+ character or by an LGBTQIA+ author were in my top. I’m happy with the bottom. During, the read-a-thon the book I picked for the Olympics set in Japan prompt was awful. I’m hoping that with more time I can read a better book but not feeling enthusiastic about doing the prompt again.

Normally I look forward to results day all voting period long, but having to see the queer prompts lose over and over is definitely sucking out the fun.... Today I was genuinely excited enough people didn’t hate it that it could be a close call, and that’s a pretty crappy feeling. I love getting to plan in little chunks throughout the year, but I’m starting to think I should just wait for the final list.

I was really hoping a book featuring/by an LGBTQIA+ character/author was going to make it. I'm really curious why people would down-vote that one.

Edit: Especially since a prompt like this hasn't been included in any of the past years.

I was disappointed that the LGBTQIA+ did not make it through. There are quite a few on my TBR. I know that they will fit other prompts but it would be nice to see this one make it on.

I voted for the Olympic prompt. The other prompts are okay, just not inspiring enthusiasm.

Really really disappointed that the NYT prompt got through. I wish there was some kind of rule against paywall suggestions. I guess that’s my wildcard if I do the 2020 challenge.

Marin wrote: "Really really disappointed that the NYT prompt got through. I wish there was some kind of rule against paywall suggestions. I guess that’s my wildcard if I do the 2020 challenge."

Well, the lists are available as GR lists, so it shouldn't pose a problem.

Marin wrote: "Really really disappointed that the NYT prompt got through. I wish there was some kind of rule against paywall suggestions. I guess that’s my wildcard if I do the 2020 challenge."

NYT Lists on Goodreads

I'm happy with the top three even though I only voted for one of them.

I voted for LGBTQIA+ but regardless of that, I do think maybe, if the close calls were "really close" as Sophie said, then maybe they should have been added in anyway, given how strongly many people in the group feel about them. Or at least the one. It's too late now that feelings have been hurt again though, I guess. :(

I like how the voting panned out this time. I voted for the NYT and Women's list just to get a list in that I can use. Just assumed there would be something on the NYT list for me, since I coudln't access the list, so happy to see it's on GR for later.

The Women's list might have been handicapped with the way you had to scroll through pages to see the choices. I suggested it, and only got part way through before I got bored. I don't think there's the same list on GR, though

The LGBTQIA is a tough one. I voted for it, and read from this genre, but I can understand how it's not everyone's cup of tea. Happy that is was a close call, and would vote again

We debated whether or not to pull a "mod's choice" on the LGBTQIA+ prompt, but it did have more down-votes than what we would normally accept for it to be listed as a winner. It received a lot of up-votes, but had it been any other prompt we wouldn't even have considered to add it, but we really want to to make the final list 😉

Honestly it’s sort of feels worse knowing the mods considered adding the queer prompt and didn’t. From other mod choices I’ve seen, they seem to be totally arbitrary. I know this one had numbers to “support” it, but not knowing what they are, it still feels like the group as a whole is anti-queer, but also that a select group of people sat down with that specific question and said “yes, after much consideration, we agree books with queer characters or queer authors aren’t worth reading.” That’s a pretty yucky thing to see.

Rebecca wrote: "Normally I look forward to results day all voting period long, but having to see the queer prompts lose over and over is definitely sucking out the fun.... Today I was genuinely excited enough peop..."

My reading for the 2020 list is going to be so queer. I fully intend to read each prompt AND have the author and/or character also be transgender. So far I’m having no problem sourcing options - lists are harder but I’ve always had at least one option and the only prompt suggested so far that I can’t find a single option was the laureate one.

For real, I haven’t been this excited about a reading plan in absolutely years. I’m finding so many interesting sounding options! For some of the prompts I may even read multiple books - like for the Japan 2020 one, I have two great options for Japanese author, two for sports in general and one with an Olympian as a character. I’m tempted to just read them all.

I was really inspired by people saying they thought the prompt was not flexible enough. Challenge accepted! I’m finding that nothing could be further from the truth! In fact, as it stands right now, I won’t even have to buy a single book between my own collection and my library options!

Rebecca wrote: "Honestly it’s sort of feels worse knowing the mods considered adding the queer prompt and didn’t. From other mod choices I’ve seen, they seem to be totally arbitrary. I know this one had numbers to..."

I think you're severely misconstruing the thoughts of the mods here. As you can see in Sophie's comments, they WANT the prompt to be part of the list. They're just being very respectful of the group as a whole and not letting their own preferences outweigh the preferences of the group. That's noble, in my mind.

Rebecca wrote: "Honestly it’s sort of feels worse knowing the mods considered adding the queer prompt and didn’t. From other mod choices I’ve seen, they seem to be totally arbitrary. I know this one had numbers to..."

Rebecca, I'm really sorry you feel this way. We didn't conclude at all that these books aren't worth reading, as I said multiple times, we'd love for this prompt to make the final list. However, in a spirit of fairness to other prompts, we had to treat it like we would have any other results.

Chinook, that's an amazing project and I'm so looking forward to add tons of books to my TBR watching what you're reading 😉

Rebecca, could you say which mod choices you’re referring to please? I’m hesitant to speak for the other mods, but I think I’m safe to say we all simply aim to ensure the list we end up with best reflects the opinions (expressed via the polls) of our group members.

also that a select group of people sat down with that specific question and said “yes, after much consideration, we agree books with queer characters or queer authors aren’t worth reading.” That’s a pretty yucky thing to see.

I can’t even begin to tell you how far from the truth that is. I actually find it offensive that someone who knows nothing about me would suggest that I believe such a thing. We didn’t include the prompt because of the balance of up and down votes it received. That’s all. It had nothing to do with any belief about the value of writing by LGBTQIA people. We even discussed how we would all personally have liked to see the prompt included but we didn’t feel we should over-ride the opinions of the group.

Incidentally, we left out the books by women list for exactly the same reason. That doesn’t mean we’re misogynists who don’t think women’s writing is worth reading, it means that we accepted the opinions expressed by the group as a whole.

And, with respect, I would ask that you not imply that the mods, or anyone else, have made decisions based on prejudice without any evidence to suggest this was the case. I’m someone who has spent much of their life and career opposing prejudice and discrimination and I find it frustrating to be accused In this way.

Well said, Bryony. Thank you.

Liz is right. Well said Bryony! I am very grateful for the work the mods put into making this list for everyone.

It would be have to be one thing just to say the prompt was a close call (as the results are normally handled), but it felt like an extra slap in the face to make sure we knew it was specifically discussed and *still* kept out. Maybe it would be easier to take it less personally seeing numbers but just knowing it was “really close” doesn’t help. And I can recall at least one instance where a tie was broken by a very literal mods choice by picking the one they (I have no memory of who it was) liked better, which has made me pretty skeptical of other subjective choices.

I didn’t mean to cause any offense to the mods specifically, but I’m also not about to apologize for being hurt the prompt’s exclusion needed to be rubbed in.

Rebecca, when was a tie broken by the mods? I've been in this group for 4 voting cycles now and I can't remember ever seeing that happen.

I don't know if this is comforting at all, but I have downvoted prompts like the LGBTQIA in the past because I really hated the idea of giving "credit" for diverse reading for a prompt that will represent less than 2% of someone's reading for the year when the share of the population is significantly higher than that.

I didn't downvote this specific one (turns out I really have it in for paywalls), but I'm sure at least some of the downvotes were coming from that viewpoint.

Ugh I am not a fan of series... That one will be a pain to fill. Oh well.

I didn't vote for LGBTQIA+ one way or another because I already read so much of it that it felt a little too open for me... which is not to say that I wouldn't like it on the list! I just didn't vote for it because it wouldn't have challenged me much.

What do you mean by multi week prompt? Is it a prompt like read two books with the same title?

Rebecca wrote: "It would be have to be one thing just to say the prompt was a close call (as the results are normally handled), but it felt like an extra slap in the face to make sure we knew it was specifically d..."

I said it was really close to motivate people to resubmit it and encourage the discussion and sharing of recommendations so that we have less down-vote next ime. "Rubbing it in" definitely wasn't my intention and I'm sorry if it's what my message did make you feel.

viemag wrote: "What do you mean by multi week prompt? Is it a prompt like read two books with the same title?"

A multi-week prompt is a set of prompts (2 or 3 or 4 prompts total) that are connected in some way -- much like the 4 wedding rhyme prompts this year or the 2 prompts connected by genre, subject, etc.

I didn't vote for LGBTQIA+ or down vote, but I was pretty sure it would be voted for because of all the trouble it has caused here. I don't specifically look for it in books, but if it is in a book I want to read, it wouldn't put me off either.

I don’t think it was these polls - maybe a Book if the Month? It was some part of the group I don’t participate in, so it must be something where a group message was sent out so I knew about it. But I specifically remember there was a tie and instead of doing any number of things to resolve it (random number generator/allow a revote on just those two choices), the mods picked the one they liked best and in my opinion it had a very “nbd” vibe about it. Even though I wasn’t participating in whatever it was, it left a bad taste in my mouth and has made me very skeptical of any decisions made on mod judgment. If one tie can be broken based purely on mod preference, how can I trust more aren’t like that?

Not that I’m trying to say the mods are regularly (or ever) rigging polls, but knowing it happened once makes it hard to just accept it couldn’t/wouldn’t happen again. I think these polls can be even harder to trust since there’s no bright line. (Which I think makes perfect sense, but it’s an issue of the system being both subjective and non-transparent.)

Correct me if I’m wrong Rebecca, but it sounds like you might be referring to our October 2017 Book of the Month.

2017 was an interesting year for Book of the Month! We ended up having two books as February BotM and three as April BotM as the votes were tied. Back then, the mods would always read the book first and post discussion questions. After the February and April votes, a new rule was added that in the event of a tie the mods could choose the winner. This was clearly stated in the Book of the Month suggestion thread.

I think it’s quite unfair that you have interpreted this as the mods “rigging” a poll. I think I can speak for all the mods when I say that’s absolutely not something we have ever done or will do. We all feel very proud of the fact that our reading list is chosen entirely by group members and we would not do anything to undermine this.

I think of this as a very friendly, supportive and welcoming group and I’ve never had the impression that people suspected the mods of rigging polls as you suggest. After all, it would be very strange if we went to the effort of gathering suggestions, creating a poll, inviting people to vote, then calculating the results only to pick the suggestions we like best anyway!

I’m sorry you interpreted the suggestion that the prompt be resubmitted as “rubbing it in” and found this hurtful. As Sophie has already said, this was not the intention at all. I must say I also found it hurtful to be accused, without any foundation, of thinking LGBTQIA authors or characters aren’t worth reading.

Just so everyone knows, all prompts that are tops, bottoms, close calls & polarizing are discussed by the mods. It is not a matter of only one prompt being discussed by us.

We are a group that solicits feedback from the members & makes changes to our group based on responses. We have changed the way we have done book of the month in the two years since the referenced incident happened. We are always looking to make things better for the group.

We have never once in the years I have been involved as a mod changed the poll results based on what we wanted the results to be. To even suggest that we would do that & that we make completely arbitrary choices in regards to this group is extremely frustrating. The results are not always cut and dry, and we have to interpret them, but we're really trying to reflect the overall will of the group, even when it might not match our own opinions.

Rebecca wrote: "Honestly it’s sort of feels worse knowing the mods considered adding the queer prompt and didn’t. From other mod choices I’ve seen, they seem to be totally arbitrary. I know this one had numbers to..."

My personal opinions on a prompt don’t affect how I make choices when I look at votes. If you need evidence of that, I voted for the floriography suggestion and it’s in the bottom.

The question wasn’t whether the books are worth reading, the question is what the group as a whole prefers, as represented by their votes. It’s purely a numbers game. We looked at it more because it was so borderline in the vote numbers (Due to bottom votes) so we considered bumping it over the edge in order to recognize a goal for diversity. Simple as that.

All mods confer and agree before we post results. Given the number of current mods, I think that makes it a little less ‘arbitrary’.

Now excuse me while I finishing reading the thread. I suspect I will comment again :)

Emily wrote: "I didn't vote for LGBTQIA+ one way or another because I already read so much of it that it felt a little too open for me... which is not to say that I wouldn't like it on the list! I just didn't vo..."

This thought process is largely why I personally chose to hold off and allow it, or a similar prompt, to be re-submitted. I think if people down voted it, it was likely due to the wording of the prompt. If that’s the case, I would much rather fine-tune it and get a prompt that is liked by the majority, than push through the current wording just for the sake of including a diverse prompt. I have respect for our list and want the best prompts possible.

As Sophie said, the goal is for it to be re-submitted. That’s why we said it was close.

Chinook wrote: "My reading for the 2020 list is going to be so queer. I fully intend to read each prompt AND have the author and/or character also be transgender. So far I’m having no problem sourcing options - lists are harder but I’ve always had at least one option..."

This sounds like a great project! I would be really interested to see all of the books you are finding - I'm always looking for amazing books to add to my TBR, if you wouldn't mind sharing your options?

Rebecca wrote: "I don’t think it was these polls - maybe a Book if the Month? It was some part of the group I don’t participate in, so it must be something where a group message was sent out so I knew about it. Bu..."

The decision you’re referring to was a book of the month. The primary issue back then was that the mods read the books and posted questions. So sometimes we were in a bit of bind, trying to get the book read before the month started. That can obviously be a problem if the mod doesn’t want to read it, is busy, or is reading something else. The BOTM is also not incredibly popular in the group. If memory serves, we chose the book that the mod wanted to read. Honestly, given the importance of an optional group feature, I don’t think it was a big deal (to use your language).

Now that we have changed the approach to the process, keeping it entirely informal, without guiding questions, we have just had multiple winners.

No conspiracy there either ;)