Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Happy results day! We have FOUR winners!

Top
A book from the 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards
A book that is a collaboration between 2 or more people
A book by an author you've only read once before
A fantasy book

Bottom
A book outside of your comfort zone
A book related to your guilty pleasure
A book with a character who is pregnant

Close Call
A book related to a tarot card
A book set in Asia

Polarizing
An atmospheric book
A book where a character spends time in jail or prison

There are 2 spots remaining on the 2020 list. The next suggestions thread will open at 7 AM EST on October 16th.

I voted for 3 of the top 4, so I'm very happy! I can't believe there are only 2 spots left!

I would have liked to see the Book outside your comfort zone winning, because I always try to read a couple of those books every year. Other than that I am happy with the winners. I don't think I will have a problem finding books to read for those.

If these same results happened next week, what would happen with only 2 spots left? Would the 3rd and 4th "top" choices be excluded even though they "traditionally" would be added to the list if there were still spots available?

Four winners! I voted for 3 of them and considered voting for the fourth, so I am quite happy.

I made an educated guess about what would be up for a Goodreads Choice award this year, so I am very excited to see how good my guessing game is. We should know what's nominated in a little over 2 weeks.

I have tons of great authors who I've only read once. This might be an opportunity to read another Murderbot book or something else by Nnedi Okorafor.

I have tons of great ideas for collaboration. I'm still thinking about doing an audiobook, as there are some truly magical collaborations between author and narrator. I'm also considering a translated work.

And fantasy! Woot! I will be using my Epic Fantasy booklist for that one. I had intended to use it for the "prompt that didn't make it" prompt, but now i can open that up to Western or something else.

Was there a reason for not announcing this poll? Did you want to limit the voters to only the most active members? I know some groups do that. Does it result in more winning suggestions?

Rosemary, I think the mods just forgot and no one noticed either. I don’t think it was intended to affect the votes. Just something that was overlooked. I doubt it had much effect on the results but I could be wrong.

I am happy with the top 4! I voted for 3 of them and the other one is good too. All my down votes ended up in the bottom or polarizing. I’m looking forward to the list being complete and hope we get two winners next week.

Rosemary, that was an accident! We posted them as we said they would post, but I forgot to update the announcement thread. We had the normal amount of voters, so we didn't think anything of it. I'm sorry if you missed voting because of it!

All four of these are great! Not too open ended, which is a plus in my book.

I just read Clean Sweep which was a delightful fantasy book. I thought it was going to be a medieval setting, but turned out to be contemporary small town central Texas. Anyway, it's a husband/wife collaboration as well as an online group project, thing? I'm going to pencil them in for the collaboration book, if I don't finish the series before hand.

Glad to see several winners this week and I think I voted for 3 of them. I've probably got more authors I've only read once than I expect, so I'll have to go make a list for that one. Maybe it'll be a good place for a 2020 release.

When are the Goodreads Choice Awards usually posted?

Entropia wrote: "When are the Goodreads Choice Awards usually posted?"

Last year the opening round started on 30th October.

Entropia wrote: "When are the Goodreads Choice Awards usually posted?"

This year's schedule:

Opening Round Oct. 30 - Nov. 4
Semifinal Round Nov. 6 - 11
Final Round Nov. 13 - 26
Winners Announced Dec. 4

I actually downvoted two of the four prompts that made the list. :/ I am not a fan of the Goodreads Awards and only ever read a few, if any, of the books that are nominated. I was glad that it wasn't automatically put on this year's list but, alas, here it is. I will most likely be doing a wildcard for that one.

"Fantasy" and "read before" are super easy, at least for me, and therefore rather uninspiring. And I'll have no problem finding a translated book for the collaboration one.

I'm excited that we have almost completed the list!

I was thinking about putting the GR Choice prompt in May or June. Is this late enough for the library users, but early enough to be relevant?

Emily wrote: "I was thinking about putting the GR Choice prompt in May or June. Is this late enough for the library users, but early enough to be relevant?"

Apart from Louis Theroux's audiobook for some reason (I feel proud about getting in the front of the queue there), everything at my library seems to be available before May, so I think that's about the right timing, for UK libraries at least.

Thanks Ellie. We had a few people in the Wild Discussion asking for it to be earlier in the year, but I want to give people time for holds.

Here are the lists for this poll. I will hold off on the GR choice list until after the first round of nominations are announced!

Collaboration: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
Author You've Only Read Once: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
Fantasy: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

I'm very happy with these results! I voted for 3 of them. The only one that I didn't vote for was a book by an author that I'd read only once before, but that was at the upper end of my middle votes anyway, so I'm fine with it.

I'm also very interested in Steve's question above about what happens in the next poll, if there are more than 2 winners? I've always wondered about the logistics of something like that. I can't remember what we've done in the past.

Pleased to see 4 winners. 2 were my up votes , and the others are good. All 3 bottoms were my 3 down votes. I'm assuming the next poll will only take the 2 highest scorers.
Can't wait to get started on the planning proper of next year's list.

I imagine if we have a tie in the next poll that would lead to more than 2 winners we would have a mini-tie breaker poll. In a previous year's multi-week poll when there could only be one winner and the top 2 had the same amount of votes the mods created a tie-breaker poll between those two choices.

“Author I’ve only read once” is surprisingly limiting for me, which I am pleased about! Soooo many books on my tbr are authors I read a lot or authors I’ve never read. I’m not sure how useful a Listopia will be for this, since it will vary by reader :-)

FOUR! One day we might have a list...

Nadine wrote: "“Author I’ve only read once” is surprisingly limiting for me, which I am pleased about! Soooo many books on my tbr are authors I read a lot or authors I’ve never read. I’m not sure how useful a Lis..."

Well, you have 14 months to discover a new author who has written more than one book!

dalex wrote: "I actually downvoted two of the four prompts that made the list. :/ I am not a fan of the Goodreads Awards and only ever read a few, if any, of the books that are nominated. I was glad that it wasn..."

I like the goodreads prompt as it often takes me out of my normal comfort zone- I apparently don't read what the people who vote for those awards do but I have discovered some good books with this prompt.

Whereas fantasy will probably be my wild card week. I can't stand that genre! It's why I hate genre prompts, it pigeonholes too much.

Jillian wrote: "I imagine if we have a tie in the next poll that would lead to more than 2 winners we would have a mini-tie breaker poll. In a previous year's multi-week poll when there could only be one winner an..."

That would make sense in case of a tie when 2 had the same number of votes, but I think the original question (and definitely my question) was more along the lines of if we had 4 clear "winners" with enough of a gap between them and the next items on the list, but those 4 were also very close.

So for example, if the top choices had (randomly choosing these numbers) 100, 99, 97 and 96 votes, and the next highest had let's say 80. In a normal poll, that would make those 4 the Top 4, but with only 2 spots left, would we just take the Top 2 and leave the others as close calls?

Nadine, I have the opposite problem. Basically all of the authors on my list are authors I've read only once... I'm so bad about following up with authors I love! It will almost be a freebie for me.

I assume that we would choose the top two prompts that make it in. I haven't talked to the mods about it, but I'm assuming voting will work the same way... we would just take the top two (hoping that there are two clear winners).

It's important to remember that we also have downvotes. So if a prompt has 100 upvotes but 50 downvotes, it is less likely to make it in than a prompt that has 75 upvotes and 0 downvotes. (Hypothetical numbers, of course, but you get the drift).

Rachel, I think that is what would happen the top two would make it (after looking at up and down votes) and then the others would be close calls if there was just a small margin.

Nadine wrote: "“Author I’ve only read once” is surprisingly limiting for me, which I am pleased about! Soooo many books on my tbr are authors I read a lot or authors I’ve never read. I’m not sure how useful a Lis..."

You can always combo it with 1st book in a series prompt (if you pick up author you haven't read before for it) :3

It makes me sad that A book outside of your comfort zone didn't even tally as Close Call or Polarizing, but actually Bottom. It would only be one book of 52+, and each reader could decide how far out to go. *sigh*

Allegra wrote: "It makes me sad that A book outside of your comfort zone didn't even tally as Close Call or Polarizing, but actually Bottom. It would only be one book of 52+, and each reader could decide how far o..."

In my case I find that some of the prompts already take my outside of my comfort zone, and that is fine, but I don't actually want to choose something myself

Really pleased for fantasy. Was hoping tarot cards would make it but you can’t always you’d like :-)

Pamela wrote: "Whereas fantasy will probably be my wild card week. I can't stand that genre! It's why I hate genre prompts, it pigeonholes too much."

You can see a list of fantasy subgenres HERE at Worlds Without End. If you click on the "+" symbol it will give you a definition of that subgenre and if you click on the name of the subgenre below the definition it will give you a list of books that have been tagged that subgenre.

Fantasy is not all wizards and goblins and quests! It's a HUGE genre with a ton of options.

Allegra wrote: "It makes me sad that A book outside of your comfort zone didn't even tally as Close Call or Polarizing, but actually Bottom. It would only be one book of 52+, and each reader could decide how far o..."

I downvoted comfort zone because I was wracking my brain trying to come up with a genre or type of book that i don't read fairly regularly already. I read children's, middle grade, ya, new adult, adult, non fiction, fiction, nearly every genre in both, poetry, plays, Manga, graphic novels, short stories, long books, series, stand alone, audio, ebook, paperback, hardcover..... basically the only things I don't read are a few genres that I have tried and just don't like. So, for me reading outside my comfort zone would mean reading something that I am highly likely to dislike. Maybe because of my age (45) I have had the opportunity to explore a lot. I don't know if others are like that too maybe?

Pamela, I took a look at your TBR List and these books would all qualify for "fantasy." I didn't even go through your whole list!

The Bear and the Nightingale
Gods of Jade and Shadow
The Starless Sea
Caraval
The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock
The Essex Serpent
The Lonely Hearts Hotel
Lanny
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
The Probable Future
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Witchmark
The Heavens
The Penelopiad
Freshwater

A quick scroll through my TBR didn’t immediately reveal anything that was a collaboration between 2 or more people. Although thinking about it I’ve probably got a few books in translation there. But I had a brainwave. Surely most audiobooks (so long as the author didn’t narrate) would work? Author + narrator=two person collaboration.

Serendipity wrote: "A quick scroll through my TBR didn’t immediately reveal anything that was a collaboration between 2 or more people. Although thinking about it I’ve probably got a few books in translation there. Bu..."

I know I have several that would work for collabs with two authors but Goodreads certainly doesn't make them easy to find. They only list one author on our bookshelves. For instance, with Illuminae my bookshelves show only Amie Kaufman as the author when in actuality it was co-authored by Jay Kristoff. You can't see that without clicking into each individual book which we all know is a hassle. I wish GR would add a column for a second author. It would make searches like this much easier!

Pamela, I also really enjoyed The Bear & the Nightingale.

Serendipity wrote: "A quick scroll through my TBR didn’t immediately reveal anything that was a collaboration between 2 or more people. Although thinking about it I’ve probably got a few books in translation there. Bu..."

Without checking, I'm pretty sure the prompt was changed from two authors to collaboration precisely for that reason. The new wording allows for audio, translations, and graphic novels.

Emily wrote: "Nadine, I have the opposite problem. Basically all of the authors on my list are authors I've read only once... I'm so bad about following up with authors I love! It will almost be a freebie for me..."

When I gave my example above, I meant the hypothetical numbers I mentioned to be final numbers after downvotes were taken into account, since that's how we know whether something is a close call or not in general.

I also would assume that whatever the top 2 are would be what makes the list, it just seems like a shame if there are others very closely behind them, lol

Well poop. I was really hoping the tarot card prompt would make it! I had this plan to use an app to select a random card and then that would be the card I had to relate my book to. Five of pentacles? Fifth book in a series about witches. Two of swords? Murder mystery with two deaths by dagger. You get the idea.

Oh Jackie that's such a cool idea!

I'm very happy with the results! Maybe I will finally read The Lord of the Rings trilogy! For the collaboration prompt, I want to stick with the idea of 2 or more authors but I'm not ruling out other collaborations like translators or illustrators. I have plenty of ideas using just author collaborations, including the Dune series continuation by Frank Herbert's son Brian and Kevin J. Anderson.

Oh poop, is right! I'm bummed about these boring results and was really looking forward to the tarot card prompt, too.

For the collaborative prompt, I'm assuming we also have the option of choosing something like a Granta quarterly or a short story anthology made up of multiple contributors.

I love 3 of the top 4 but I down voted author you have only read once. I just didn't know how I would know that. But I guess if I check my 'read' list on Goodreads I can just choose one from since I've been tracking.
Edited to say I just ordered my read list by author and there are plenty I've only read 1 book from...so this will end up being an okay one for me.

I haven't been voting but I've been planning lol. I just checked these results and wished the tarot card prompt had made it through also. I had my cards read this weekend and it was so much fun I just ordered a deck :-)
Maybe someone will submit it again??

I know a lot of people dislike the 2019 GR choice prompt, but it's one of my favorites every year. I always keep a list of the books from all the categories that I want to try and get to.

°~Amy~° wrote: "Allegra wrote: "It makes me sad that A book outside of your comfort zone didn't even tally as Close Call or Polarizing, but actually Bottom. It would only be one book of 52+, and each reader could ..."

I had the same feelings as Amy about finding a book out of my comfort zone, but that I actually want to read. Plus, I have already challenged myself to read a zombie book for the genre prompt and I horror books land outside of my cozy zone.

This prompt & the guilty pleasure prompt both felt mushy to me. Since I was going to end up treating them like wild cards, I didn't vote for either.

It’s definitely something we’re going to have to play by ear. It’s been unusual to get 4 winners this year so it seems unlikely we’d get extra. The only thing that comes to mind would be to give people 4 votes total instead of 8.

I also liked the tarot prompt and voted for it.

Keep in mind that we all have the wildcard plus the prompt “A book that fits a prompt from the list of suggestions that didn't win”

Laura wrote: "I also liked the tarot prompt and voted for it.

Keep in mind that we all have the wildcard plus the prompt “A book that fits a prompt from the list of suggestions that didn't win”"

OOOOH.....good reminder. I liked the book about a marine animal prompt so I had something planned there, hard decisions....

Already thinking about a reject challenge and I haven't come close to finishing this years list LOL.