Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

It's now time to get ready to vote for our next set of prompts! This thread will be open for around 24 hours before the poll gets posted. This is a good opportunity to ask any question you may have regarding the prompts, do some research, or ask for recommendations.

Voting will open in the morning of Monday, July 26 and results will be posted in the morning of Friday, July 30.

How it works:
- When the voting opens, follow the link to the mini-poll that will be added at the end of this post
- You have a total of 8 votes this poll to spread across your favorite and least favorite prompts (you can also use less than 8 votes) - You can find examples of acceptable voting practices on the Introduction thread.
- The prompts with the more favorable votes (comparing top votes to bottom votes, and looking at the overall number of votes it received) will be added to the final list (usually between 2 and 5 depending on how the votes are spread)

As a reminder: You have a total of 8 votes to use among your top and bottom votes. The mods have access to each individual vote, so we can see if you use more than 8 votes. If you use more than 8 votes in the poll, your vote will have to be deleted, so please make sure to follow the directions so your voice can be heard.

Possible Prompts:
1. A book that involves alternate reality, alternate worlds, or alternate history
2. A book that won an award from Powell's list of book awards
3. A book related to one of the individuals shown on the cover of the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
4. A book that is considered a classic or icon of genre fiction
5. A book with gothic elements
6. A book with the word “cloud” or an image of a cloud on the cover
7. A book from one of Obama's reading lists
8. A book about or involving ritual or ceremony
9. A book about doing something forbidden
10. A book with furniture on the cover
11. A book whose cover shows your favorite kind of weather
12. An autobiography, biography, or memoir
13. A sequel
14. A book related to a rabbit
15. A book with a character who loves books

Feel free to discuss the prompts below, but please remember to be respectful to the other group members.

VOTE HERE: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/OZ8NYZ/

IDEAS FROM THE SUGGESTIONS THREAD

1. A book that involves alternate reality, alternate worlds, or alternate history
Related tags: quantum fiction, portal fantasy, historical fantasy, steampunk. Quantum theory might be used to explain it (along with the story of Schrodinger's cat). It might involve time travel, doorways, magical technology. Can be found in fantasy, sci-fi, historical fiction, romance, mystery, thrillers, and YA.

Examples: A Tale for the Time Being, Outlander, The Midnight Library, This is How you Lose the Time War, The Eyre Affair, Dark Matter, Recursion, His Majesty's Dragon, Underground Railroad, The Book of Two Ways, Harry Potter, Neverwhere, City of Bones, Life after Life, Every Heart a Doorway, Maybe in Another Life, My Lady Jane, Cinder, Golem & Jinni, the Chosen and Beautiful, Rodham, Hidden Palace, What the Wind Knows, Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels, Stardust.

Alternate Reality: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
Alternate World: https://www.goodreads.com/genres/alte...
Alternate History: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
Quantum Fiction: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
Portal Fantasy: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

Almost any fantasy book and/or magic related
Harry Potter, Red Queen series, Grishaverse, fairy tales and/or retellings
Cruel King series
Magic Burns (and any other book in the series)
A space between worlds
Girl of paper and Fire
Game of thrones
Addie Larue
Piranesi
Anything with a vampire/werewolf/zombie/fairy

2. A book that won an award from Powell's list of book awards
https://www.powells.com/awards

It could be a winner of any of these awards. I like how the award list has literary fiction but also nonfiction, poetry, children's books, and a couple genre fiction books. Also, if you click the link on the website, it takes you to a list of all of the winners of the awards.

3. A book related to one of the individuals shown on the cover of the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Here's a link to the Wikipedia page that shows it and lists all the people in it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...



4. A book that is considered a classic or icon of genre fiction
Think things like The Maltese Falcon in mysteries, Asimov’ I , Robot or Gibson’ Nuromancer in sci-fi, Ann Rule’s Stranger Beside me in true crime, etc.

6. A book with the word “cloud” or an image of a cloud on the cover
Any image of a cloud works. If you use the word cloud instead, the word can be in the title/subtitle, author's name, series name, or any additional writing on the cover, and can be imbedded in a word, such as clouds, cloudy, cloudless, redcloud, and Cloudstreet.

Thought bubbles are often shaped like clouds so you could use that as well.

7. A book from one of Obama's reading lists
https://bookriot.com/obama-book-recom...
https://bookriot.com/barack-obama-fav...
https://www.instagram.com/p/CRHh9MtNZ53/

8. A book about or involving ritual or ceremony
Examples: religious/spiritual practices, oaths/curses/hexes, "secret" clubs, pagan/wiccan rituals, coronation/inauguration, weddings, funerary rites, rites of passage/coming-of-age, ritualistic serial killer

This should work for either non-fiction or fiction, and just about every genre. A few books I've read recently that include ritual or ceremony: Firekeeper's Daughter (indigenous spiritual practices), Ninth House (secret clubs), Red at the Bone (coming of age ceremony), From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death (funerary).

9. A book about doing something forbidden
Eg. visiting a place you are not allowed to go. Owning a forbidden object. Eating or drinking something forbidden.

13. A sequel
"According to the Oxford Dictionary, a sequel is:

“ a published, broadcast, or recorded work that continues the story or develops the theme of an earlier one”
or
“something that takes place after or as a result of an earlier event”"

So although most might choose to continue a series by the same author, a KIS option could be to read a fiction/nonfiction work by the same or different author that describes an event that follows another event that you have already read a book about.

Does anyone have any more examples for #4 - 'A book that is considered a classic or icon of genre fiction'? I'm struggling a bit with that one since I don't read much genre fiction.

I saw that next year will be the Velveteen Rabbit's 100th birthday, so would be the perfect year for the rabbit prompt to get in. I was weirdly thinking about this prompt the other day as I'd bought Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead which has a rabbit on the cover and I keep seeing a book called Rabbits around.

I was hoping for more examples on that one as well, Beth.

I have a lot of narrowing down to do this week... all of these prompts are either love them or hate them so I currently have 7 up and 7 down right now haha! Looking forward to discussions.

Beth wrote: "Does anyone have any more examples for #4 - 'A book that is considered a classic or icon of genre fiction'? I'm struggling a bit with that one since I don't read much genre fiction."

Using "classics" or "essential" in a search with a genre usually provides multiple lists:

Sci-Fi: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1..., https://www.abebooks.com/books/featur...

Mystery: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

Fantasy: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...

Historical Fiction: https://www.abebooks.com/books/featur...

Thank you, Kelly. I was confused by the prompt.


As of right now, I have 5 prompts that I’m pretty sure are definite down votes and 2 up votes. I don’t have any idea where I’ll use my last vote.

Kelly wrote: "Beth wrote: "Does anyone have any more examples for #4 - 'A book that is considered a classic or icon of genre fiction'? I'm struggling a bit with that one since I don't read much genre fiction."

..."

Thanks! I wasn't sure if there was a specific group of books that would be considered THE 'iconic' books of a genre or if it would come down more to interpretation. I will do some browsing through those lists.

Beth wrote: "Does anyone have any more examples for #4 - 'A book that is considered a classic or icon of genre fiction'? I'm struggling a bit with that one since I don't read much genre fiction."


Mystery:
Raymond Chandler eg The Big Sleep or The Long Goodbye
James M. Cain eg The Postman Always Rings Twice
Jim Thompson eg The Grifters
Chester Himes eg A Rage in Harlem
and of course Doyle, Cristie, et al

Sci-fi
H.G. Wells eg The Time Machine
Jules Verne eg The Mysterious Island
Ursula K. Le Guin eg The Dispossessed

I'd like some more examples on books involving ritual or ceremony, and books involving something forbidden. I'm drawn to both categories but I have no idea if I could really find something I'd like, so I'm not sure if I'll vote for them.

For "forbidden" all I can think of is Tampa which was great! but I already read that.

Beth wrote: "Kelly wrote: "Beth wrote: "Does anyone have any more examples for #4 - 'A book that is considered a classic or icon of genre fiction'? I'm struggling a bit with that one since I don't read much gen..."

I'm sure there are shorter lists out there that would be considered "THE icons" but each list would be different depending on who makes it! I'd feel safe choosing a book that appears on multiple "best of/classic/essential" lists of the same genre. Lists like these are how most of my TBR came to be, so this prompt would be an easy one for me.

My upvotes:
a character who loves books (tactical)
Gothic elements
related to a rabitt
classic of genre
Downvotes
Award list
Obama lsit
Favourite weather
ritual or ceromony

I was also thinking of forbidden love. An LGBTQ+ book could fit as well since it is illegal in some countries. I can not think of actual book title but travel to the Forbidden City.

Nadine wrote: "I'd like some more examples on books involving ritual or ceremony, and books involving something forbidden. I'm drawn to both categories but I have no idea if I could really find something I'd like..."

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/b/book...

https://www.alibris.com/search/books/...

The ritual/ceremony doesn't have to be the main focus of the book. A book with a wedding, funeral, quinceanera, bar/bat mitzvah, etc. could be used. Or where the characters have tea (tea service could be considered a ritual). Spells are sometimes considered a form of ritual, so you could extend the prompt to books that include witchcraft. I worded this prompt to allow multiple interpretations, and I look forward to seeing what books others would suggest!

An easy choice for a ceremony is a wedding. My first thoughts were My Brilliant Friend (with a wedding scene on the cover) and Crazy Rich Asians.
Here are 2 lists of books with wedding scenes (watch for spoilers in the narratives!):

https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/20...
https://www.flavorwire.com/457869/the...

Another ceremony is a bar/bat mitzvah. There is a GR list for those books, probably mid-grade/kids level. I’m sure there are lots of fantasy and horror books that also have rituals and ceremonies.

Forbidden brings to mind Prohibition or forbidden romance (star crossed lovers etc.) Also brings to mind something like Bluebeard. Whatever you do, don't open the door etc. That crops up in Harry Potter and Beauty and the Beast and I'm sure a lot of other things that aren't coming to mind right now.

Kelly wrote: "Or where the characters have tea (tea service could be considered a ritual)..."

I highly recommend A Psalm for the Wild-Built for anyone wanting a book about the ritual of tea!

Also, clouds are my favourite weather so I'm a bit torn with those two.

Nadine wrote: "I'd like some more examples on books involving ritual or ceremony, and books involving something forbidden. I'm drawn to both categories but I have no idea if I could really find something I'd like..."

Books with indigenous people will often have rituals and ceremony in them. Firekeeper's Daughter the main character had a simple daily ritual and There There centered around travel to a Powwow. Books with with witches or magic societies may also have ceremonies - I thought of Ninth House.

For forbidden, some easy ones would be affairs and murder. Other books like My Dark Vanessaand These Violent Delights are about inappropriate relationships between teachers and students. The House of Mirth and I am sure other classics where women try to live outside of societies restraints could work as well.

I found this for secret clubs
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

At the moment I have 4 up and 4 down but that most likely will change.

Kat wrote: "Also, clouds are my favourite weather so I'm a bit torn with those two."


Yes it's really unfortunate that they are both on the same list. It might mean that neither one makes it, but I'm really hoping for CLOUDS!!!

I have 6 up and 3 down right now. Need to figure out which one of those I'll drop.

As of now I'm not voting for any of the cover prompts but it is unfortunate that those two are so close. I would vote for the clouds over favorite weather though.

Nadine wrote: "Kat wrote: "Also, clouds are my favourite weather so I'm a bit torn with those two."


Yes it's really unfortunate that they are both on the same list. It might mean that neither one makes it, but ..."

I prefer clouds over favourite weather, because while I really like moody weather depicted on book covers, it is not my favourite kind of weather!

Nadine wrote: "I'd like some more examples on books involving ritual or ceremony, and books involving something forbidden. I'm drawn to both categories but I have no idea if I could really find something I'd like..."

For the forbidden one, my first thought is there's a lot of fantasy/dystopias where people are forbidden to go somewhere like "beyond the city walls" or "into the scary woods" (usually because the people in charge are hiding something)
It could be something smaller like a kid breaking the rules at school or at home.
There are travel books about people going where they weren't supposed to like North Korea or the Darien gap (which is probably the route I would go).
It could be a minority group rebelling by doing something they weren't allowed to fight for their rights (like the suffragettes or civil rights movement).
There are fairy tales where people are forbidden to do things (like Bluebeard) or mythology (like Pandora's box) which probably have retellings

The forbidden one immediately made me think of the romcom trope of falling for someone forbidden - you're best friends sibling, you're ex's sibling, you're enemy etc.

I'm definitely voting for that one and the gothic one cuz that ones sounds fun, but a little more out of my usual. I also think I'll vote for the Powells one because that's a list prompt I can handle. (I would be just as happy with no list prompts, but some people love them and therefore we should have a few of them)

And I will be downvoting the Obama one because I've looked through those before and they never have anything I'm interested in. Other than that, I'm not sure how I'll vote yet.

Jillian wrote: "Thank you, Kelly. I was confused by the prompt.


As of right now, I have 5 prompts that I’m pretty sure are definite down votes and 2 up votes. I don’t have any idea where I’ll use my last vote."

I have a feeling this will be a common response to this prompt by those who don't read all our brilliant thoughts and examples before voting, they will either be stopped by the word "classic" or by the word "genre". But I could be wrong, it will be interesting to see. I'm fine with this idea myself.

Robin, it was ‘icon’ that confused me.

I love covers with blue skies and white fluffy clouds! Most of my books have stormy cloud covers, which I also like. Some of the books I’m looking at: On the Road by Jack Kerouac (the comic style cover), The Blue Guitar by John Banville, The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andríc, and The Waves by Virginia Woolf. Also, for a title interpretation, I am interested in reading about the Sioux leader Red Cloud.

The other prompts I like are alternate reality, Powell’s list, and autobiography. Gothic is a maybe/leaning yes, at this point.

Yikes, I think the awards one is the only clear upvote for me. Obama probably too since his lists usually match up with my reading tastes.

And I have a strong feeling both of those are going to fail based on trends over the years of being anti-award, anti-celebrity list. But I hope I’m wrong!

Steve, I'm the same... I love list prompts, and these two are pretty easy ones. I'm upvoting both of them!

Both of the lists prompts are my only up votes.

For some reason this list of 15 seems so random for me, and I love it. Furniture, weather, classics, rabbits, Beatles...

Immediate Upvotes
- character that loves books (I got you Nancy!!!)
- gothic element
- Obama list (one of the only lists I follow in real life)

Not sure where my other votes are going to go this time. While I love how diverse the list is, I don't feel a particularly strong connection either way with the rest of the prompts.

Just wondering on 8. A book about or involving ritual or ceremony
should there be an ‘a’ add between ‘involving ritual’ so it would say ‘involving a ritual’

I appreciate the ideas for this one at first it seemed too limited but now I can see options.

Steve wrote: "Yikes, I think the awards one is the only clear upvote for me. Obama probably too since his lists usually match up with my reading tastes...."

Steve - I am glad you made this comment since it encouraged me to take another look at the Obama lists. I found several books that I own plus quite a few on my TBR, plus some that I added. Of the books I've read, they were all excellent. Can't argue with his recommendations! I like that he has an assortment of genres. And, in 2022, we will have more to choose from, if he continues with his lists! If the list doesn't make it, it could be a good BIO option for the 3 continents prompt. Many of the books are set in the US but I found some set in South America, Africa, and Asia.

Alicia wrote: "For some reason this list of 15 seems so random for me, and I love it. Furniture, weather, classics, rabbits, Beatles...

Immediate Upvotes
- character that loves books (I got you Nancy!!!)
- got..."

:-D

It is totally random, and I also love it. Glad to see rabbits make its appearance and I'd love for it to get in!

I like both list prompts but I don't think I'll vote for both. I just can't decide which one I do want to vote for.

I'm thinking of voting for rabbits just because it has such stalwart champions in this group. I read Year of the Hare last year, and Watership Down a really long time ago, so I have no idea what I would read, but it is quirky.

I'm not a fan of list prompts in general, and I've read most of what I want to read from the ones given. Not sure if that sounds like bragging that I read a lot or the opposite, that there are so many that I don't want to read. I probably won't vote them up or down.

I enjoy picking from lists so the Powell’s lists and Obama’s lists will be upvotes from me. I was just commenting to a friend earlier that Ulysses is now the holder of the “Classic I haven’t read yet that most intimidates me” title and James Joyce appears on the Sgt Pepper cover so perhaps I will be a sadist and vote for that.

Both lists are down votes for me. I have read what I have wanted to read from from the awards lists and I'm not interested in what books an ex-president likes to read.

Jillian wrote: "Just wondering on 8. A book about or involving ritual or ceremony
should there be an ‘a’ add between ‘involving ritual’ so it would say ‘involving a ritual’


Leaving out "a" was intentional, so it can be interpreted more generally, rather than "a" (particular) ritual or ceremony.

So sorry about suggesting the favorite weather prompt!! I woke up at 7 am and saw the thread was open and suggested it without reading the other prompts, so I didn't realize there was a cloud prompt! :( Again, really sorry about that.

As for #4, in the Wild Discussion the OP said the intent was to specifically exclude "school curriculum classics" and to distinguish between literary fiction and genre fiction since this prompt is about genre fiction only. A bit of a grey area because a lot of literary fiction does fit into genres, like 1984, Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, Romeo and Juliet, Frankenstein, etc. Hoping she'll chime in to further clarify!

Beth wrote: "Does anyone have any more examples for #4 - 'A book that is considered a classic or icon of genre fiction'? I'm struggling a bit with that one since I don't read much genre fiction."

I read a lot of classics in the last five years and I found it hardest to warm up to classic sci-fi and fantasy, though I like newer books in these genres. Many romance and gothic classics are also considered literary classics, which I prefer I might have resisted Pride and Prejudice when I was younger, but I love it now. Gothic has grown on me, but it took a while.

I wanted to read the truly iconic books, partly for cultural literacy. There are some books that are so widely read, that people use the titles or characters as a shorthand to express certain ideas. Examples: Strangers on a Train, 1984, Frankenstein, Pride and Prejudice, Fahrenheit 451, Handmaid's Tale, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Lord of the Rings.

There is another prompt suggestion for Gothic. I really appreciated Rebecca and The Picture of Dorian Gray more after discussing them with others. When I read Dorian Gray with an eye to the gay subtext, I found it to be quite powerful, rather than just horrific.

I think the top 5-10 on these lists will be found at the top of many other lists too.

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

This set of lists is interesting because it includes many sub-genres, but they aren't necessarily classics.
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...

Other people mentioned noir mysteries, which have a unique "voice" that people either love or hate. The same might be true for gothic. There was a character in Dorian Gray that was hard to take.

ADDED - I forgot about historical fiction, which people might not think of as genre fiction anyway. These two are different, but the books at the top of each list deserve to be there in my opinion.

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

Anastasia wrote: "I was also thinking of forbidden love. An LGBTQ+ book could fit as well since it is illegal in some countries. I can not think of actual book title but travel to the Forbidden City."

I thought of an LGBTQ book for this one as well. Everything else I thought of was romantic melodrama, or too disturbing (incest/child abuse).

I thought of The Picture of Dorian Gray for gothic, iconic classic and forbidden love. When I saw the film, it was a dramatic horror story (but the censors cut a lot out). When I read it, knowing that the author was arrested for being gay, I saw it very differently. I started thinking of how a young gay man would feel in that society (and many today), and what the shame and secrecy would do to him. I found it surprisingly moving.

Irene wrote: "So sorry about suggesting the favorite weather prompt!! I woke up at 7 am and saw the thread was open and suggested it without reading the other prompts, so I didn't realize there was a cloud promp..."

I liked it. I immediately thought of full moon on a summer night - which "feels" like weather to me. I'm a night owl and I burn easily in the sun, but summer nights are glorious. I was up every hour or two last night with my sick mother, but it was still a nice night.

I'm regretting the time I spent last week searching through my tbr looking for light sources. I realize I'll have to do it all again with new prompts. I'll know better next time.

NancyJ wrote: "Irene wrote: "So sorry about suggesting the favorite weather prompt!! I woke up at 7 am and saw the thread was open and suggested it without reading the other prompts, so I didn't realize there was..."

I'm a serious night owl too! So sorry about your sick mother though, I hope she'll feel better soon :(
I also always end up going through my TBR shelf after every poll, I'm surprised I don't have all the covers memorized by now!

As for #4, in the Wild Discussion the OP said the intent was to specifically exclude "school curriculum classics" and to distinguish between literary fiction and genre fiction since this prompt is about genre fiction only. Hoping she'll chime in to further clarify!

reply | flag *
"
I suggested #4 and I havent given up trying to explain it, I just work weekends. The wording of it was a bit tricky but what I wanted was to give people who DO read a lot of genre fiction (like me ) a chance to pick up some of the 'I really should have read that by now" books and encourage those who dont to pick up some of the books that cause people to fall in love with a particular genre.

For people who DON'T read a lot of genre fiction it's easier than it seems to find the iconic or classic books, because, largely speaking, they are the ones you have heard of.

For people of have read a lot of a particular genre (I'm going to use scifi as my example here because it is what I read) we may have read a lot of the 'Classics of Scifi' as a wide thing, but can dip into subgenres like cyberpunk or space opera that we may not have gotten to. I included 'iconic' in the wording to sweep up some of those newer subgenres that may not have established 'classics' yet but do have a few books most people interested in them have read

Re: the genre classics, what about Westerns? E.g., Louis L’Amour, Zane Gray, Larry McMurtry. Also, thrillers/espionage - John Le Carre and Alistair MacLean. Another fantasy classic I didn’t see listed is The Gormenghast Trilogy by British author Mervyn Peake.

Juliet Brown wrote: "As for #4, in the Wild Discussion the OP said the intent was to specifically exclude "school curriculum classics" and to distinguish between literary fiction and genre fiction since this prompt is ..."

I agree that they're pretty easy to recognize once you've seen enough lists. You'll see the same titles near the top of a lot of lists. I would avoid the publisher's list and bloggers who are focused on new books. I posted some lists above. I forgot to look for historical fiction though.

If someone hasn't already read much in a genre, it might be easier to read the books that are considered both genre classics and literary classics. If someone has a favorite genre, the distinction might not matter to them.

Pam wrote: "Re: the genre classics, what about Westerns? E.g., Louis L’Amour, Zane Gray, Larry McMurtry. Also, thrillers/espionage - John Le Carre and Alistair MacLean. Another fantasy classic I didn’t see lis..."

Yes, absolutely all those, not genres I read as much, so I couldn't use them for subgenre examples, is all. Also romances, true crime (like In Cold Blood or The Stranger Beside Me)

Basically I was looking to avoid that sort of literary and contemporary fiction that most people tend to immediately think of the when they hear the word 'classic'

Pam wrote: "Re: the genre classics, what about Westerns? E.g., Louis L’Amour, Zane Gray, Larry McMurtry. Also, thrillers/espionage - John Le Carre and Alistair MacLean. Another fantasy classic I didn’t see lis..."

Good call. I loved Lonesome Dove. It might be good for the long book prompt this year. It's long but riveting.