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 Wednesday, August 25 and results will be posted in the morning of Sunday, August 29.

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 includes a mental health topic
2. A book from historical fiction genre
3. A book with a non-human as one of the main characters
4. A book where a community plays an important role
5. A book with handwriting on the cover
6. A book about a woman in STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths)
7. A book (or any book in a series) mentioned on NPR’s list of 50 Favorite Sci-Fi And Fantasy Books Of The Past Decade
8. A book with a morally grey main character
9. A retelling with a BIPOC main character
10. A book with a word or phrase in the title that describes you
11. A book about a character on a journey
12. The next book in a series
13. An autobiography, biography, or memoir
14. A banned book
15. A book that has a comedic aspect

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/X8SB8C/

IDEAS FROM THE SUGGESTIONS THREAD

1. A book that includes a mental health topic
This could be fiction, non-fiction or a memoir. It could include a fictional story with mental health as a side topic.
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/ment...
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

3. A book with a non-human as one of the main characters
It could be an AI, cyborg, alien, vampire, mythical creature, animal, clone, supernatural character, etc.
Examples:
Klara and the Sun
The Art of Racing in the Rain
The Golem and the Jinni
Cinder
A Closed and Common Orbit
Dead Until Dark
All Systems Red
We Are Legion (We Are Bob)
The Call of the Wild
Lilith's Brood
Circe
This Is How You Lose the Time War

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

5. A book with handwriting on the cover
Could be as part of the cover decoration:


Or just a title font that looks like handwriting:


6. A book about a woman in STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths)
It could be fiction or nonfiction and covers a wide range of careers and topics

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
https://www.stemwomen.co.uk/blog/2019...

7. A book (or any book in a series) mentioned on NPR’s list of 50 Favorite Sci-Fi And Fantasy Books Of The Past Decade
https://www.npr.org/2021/08/18/102715...
Listopia: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

8. A book with a morally grey main character
Here's one list with some examples: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

You could obviously go with fiction, but for non-fiction you could use memoir, biography, etc.

10. A book with a word or phrase in the title that describes you
Examples:
Your name (The Rosie Effect, The Alice Network)
Your nationality (American Royals, The Dutch House)
A relationship you are (Class Mom, It's Always the Husband, His Only Wife)
Your job (The Flight Attendant, The Perfect Nanny, The Last Librarian)
A adjective you associate with (Happy: Happy & You Know It, Curious: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time)
A noun or phrase you would describe yourself as (The Dreamers, Early Morning Riser)

11. A book about a character on a journey
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon
The Unlikely Thru-Hiker: An Appalachian Trail Journey
Into the Wild
Any of the Chronicles of Narnia
Any of The Hobbit or the Lord of The Rings
Watership Down
The Phantom Tollbooth
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
Shantaram
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
The Alchemist

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...
https://www.foldmagazine.com/top-ten-...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

15. A book that has a comedic aspect
This can be a comedy subgenre, satire, a funny character etc

First thought is 5 up, not sure if I'll use the other 3. I'm lukewarm on most of these, TBH, but I can be convinced.

I really hope the non-human one gets in this time, I have so many options for it.

8. A book with a morally grey main character

Does this mean your not sure if the character is good or bad?

There are 2 choices I really like - STEM and word/phrase that describes you. The rest I’m ok with. I usually just go with my gut feeling at the time I vote.

Jillian wrote: "8. A book with a morally grey main character

Does this mean your not sure if the character is good or bad?"

I think it could be someone who you think is BOTH good and bad (which to some degree describes everyone). Maybe you agree with what they're trying to do, but don't like their methods, or the reverse. Some characters are easy to root for even though you know what they did is wrong.

Could I have some suggestions for a retelling with a BIPOC main character?

Angie wrote: "Could I have some suggestions for a retelling with a BIPOC main character?"

If you like Jane Austen, Sonali Dev has 3 books Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors, Recipe for Persuasion & Incense and Sensibility and then there is Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin which is also a Pride & Prejudice retelling.

Angie wrote: "Could I have some suggestions for a retelling with a BIPOC main character?"

So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix (retelling Little Women)
A Clash of Steel: A Treasure Island Remix (Treasure Island)
Pride (Pride and Prejudice)
Within These Wicked Walls (Jane Eyre)
The Mirror Season (The Snow Queen)
The Chosen and the Beautiful (The Great Gatsby)
Polite Society (Emma)
Sex and Vanity (A Room with a View)

There are plenty more (I’m more familiar with retellings of classic novels than of myths or fairy tales, for instance), but these are a few off the top of my head.

I like the mix of topics here, and it was fun to be surprised by some of them. I already explored many of the articles and lists, and I found many great options. The Women in STEM books look interesting. I probably have something on my tbr for all of these suggestions, though it might take a while to find them (my tbr is ridiculously huge).

I was most pleasantly surprised by the Top 50 in Sci-fi-fantasy (past decade). I sometimes think I'm in the wrong demographic for these books, but some of the books on the list are among my absolute favorites in any genre. One of the panelists is the author of This Is How You Lose the Time War - which I loved, and I liked what she had to say.

I also really like the personal prompt -#10. I sometimes feel very personally connected to a book that doesn't fit other challenge categories. I don't think I'll try to plan ahead on this one, I'll just let one come to me. (I won't be looking for Nancy in the title.)

The Community prompt really appeals to me, because it aligns with my values and my work. I immediately thought of Life After Life, and The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz. I might get inspired by one of the examples in Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, Human kind: A Hopeful History. Otherwise a disaster book might work. Small town books would be easy.

Other clear upvotes are Mental Health, Historical fiction, and Non-human character. I don't gravitate to biographies but I usually love them when I find the right one.

The hardest one is "A retelling with a BIPOC main character." If there is a listopia or tag for this already, please post it.

Angie wrote: "Could I have some suggestions for a retelling with a BIPOC main character?"

Some more titles that I found online while looking for a retelling by a BIPOC author (so would need to double check character for some):
Of Curses and Kisses
Ash
Forest of a Thousand Lanterns
Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix
A Blade So Black
Unmarriageable
Cinderella Is Dead
Never Look Back
These Violent Delights
Boy, Snow, Bird
Home Fire
Re Jane
Out of Darkness

Text Form: Of Curses and Kisses, Ash, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns, Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix, A Blade So Black, Unmarriageable, Cinderella is Dead, Never Look Back, These Violent Delights, Boy Snow Bird, Home Fire, Re Jane, Out of Darkness

I think apartment houses-fiction might work for a book about community. I searched and found this list from Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/b/book...

I would add Women of Brewster Street and The Yacoubian Building as two that weren't mentioned in this list.

Hi Guys! I have missed most of the suggestions/voting threads but I found myself at the right place/right time for this one! I came up with the "word/phrase that describes you" prompt on a whim! I know that sometimes "personal" prompts are a little contentious, but this one feels like more of a scavenger hunt with the title aspect.

I think the examples are self explanatory/simple, but I like the idea more unique descriptors!

For example:
Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny could be a book for someone who is an early bird and wakes up early!
Last Summer at the Golden Hotel by Elyssa Friedland could be for someone with 'golden' blonde hair.
The Bride Test by Helen Hoang if you're getting married next year!
Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke if you are a writer/editor.
The Fourth Child by Jessica Winter if you're the fourth child!
The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson if you love gardening.
Most Likely by Sarah Watson if you won a high school superlative :)
Back in the Burbs by Tracy Wolff if you just moved to the suburbs.
Talk Bookish to Me if you are a bibliophile!!

I'm generally underwhelmed by this batch too, but there is at least nothing that I outright hate either.

At first glance, I really like community, retelling by BIPOC author, and morally gray character. I like mental health, historical fiction, and non-human character too, but I'm not sure I want to vote for them either since I've done them all several times before.

I'm leaning toward downvoting banned book and autobiography/biography/memoir, because again, these are prompts that I've seen so many times over the years and I'd rather make room for something new.

Avery, I generally dislike prompts about myself, but this is a fun one!

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone! I need to check those out. Some of them sound great!

I'm still thinking on this list, but overall, I like a lot of the options. At present, I'm not sure how I will vote.

I don’t like retellings in general so I will probably downvote that one plus banned books. I don’t want to look through any more banned book lists. I would most likely go with a book banned in China or Russia rather than the US.

Does anyone have any more options for a written title? I only found 4 books on my shelves. Two of them are: Tuesday Nights in 1980 and The Invention of Exile by Vanessa Manko. I like to have a few more options but I do like that it’s different and a challenge so I’m on the fence unless I see some titles I really like.

I really like:

1. A book that includes a mental health topic
I have been meaning to read The Power of Different: The Link Between Disorder and Genius for a while.

3. A book with a non-human as one of the main characters
I will read anything with vampires and/or werewolves, preferably humorous - I enjoyed Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series - and would also be interested in a ghost story that is neither scary nor romantic.

8. A book with a morally grey main character
The Game of Thrones series comes to mind, but I would look forward to other ideas as a back-up plan.

10. A book with a word or phrase in the title that describes you
My dad was a pharmacist, so The Apothecary's Daughter would be perfect.

15. A book that has a comedic aspect
I planned too many serious books this year and want to lighten it up next year. I love Carl Hiaasen, Allie Brosh, Christopher Moore, Julie Schumacher, Terry Pratchett, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., and the previously mentioned Gail Carriger, among others.

Avery wrote: "Hi Guys! I have missed most of the suggestions/voting threads but I found myself at the right place/right time for this one! I came up with the "word/phrase that describes you" prompt on a whim! I ..."

I love it. I'm definitely upvoting it.

I like your examples too. Thanks for the reminder of the Fourth Child. I think it might be based on a murder (of an abortion doctor) that occurred in a Buffalo suburb many years ago. My son had a friend that lived in the neighborhood.

Kelly wrote: "I really like:

1. A book that includes a mental health topic
I have been meaning to read The Power of Different: The Link Between Disorder and Genius for a while.

3. A book with a..."
'
I added The Power of Different, it looks good. I especially want to read about work-arounds for the workplace or changes in job design/staffing. There was an excellent 60 minutes show a few weeks (or months) back about jobs that many people on the autism spectrum can do, that other people can't. ADD seems to run in my family, so I always like to hear about jobs where that is an asset rather than a liability.

Martha wrote: "I think apartment houses-fiction might work for a book about community. I searched and found this list from Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/b/book......"

Thanks Martha, I never heard of this category before. It reminds me of Interpreter of Maladies which is a wonderful short story collection. There are two different stories involving apartment buildings, with very different communities. The contrast suits this prompt nicely.

I love BIPOC retelling. It didn't make it last year so I added it with another prompt to do it.

Here are some examples:
- Goodreads Shelf (I think I know who created this shelf, but I'll let them take credit if they want since it's not highlighted here): https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
- Read Harder List: https://pima.bibliocommons.com/list/s...
- 23 BIPOC Retellings: https://akernelofnonsense.wordpress.c...


For the rest of the prompts, I like a lot of these ideas.

On first glance my upvotes will be: STEM, BIPOC retelling, word/phrase that describes you (I also generally don't like ones related to me but like this one)

And my downvotes will be: NPR and journey, both because I feel like they are too similar to prompts we already have on the list: NPR Book Concierge and Here There be Dragons. I'll also probably downvote banned books, only because I think I've read all the banned books I would want to and already started expanding to different countries. I feel like this is the prompt that I see the most often yet I don't feel like the list of options grows like other categories.

My other 2 votes will be based on the discussions.

I agree with Alicia, I've read a lot of the famous banned books.

Historical fiction and next in a series are gimmes for me, I would read those no matter what, so I probably won't vote for them. I like community. STEM, and journey since they are more thematic.

Journeys - has more than I expected.
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/jour...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...
https://www.foldmagazine.com/top-ten-...

I didn't realize how many great novels were about journeys. I want to read: Signature of All Things, Throne of Jade, The Salt Path, Grapes of Wrath, and maybe something else from the fold list.

I recommend: This Tender Land, Migrations, The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, News of the World, A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World, Into the Wild, Station Eleven, and the Binti series.

One last idea for books about community is to read a book from a library's One Book program. The concept for this program is to build community through books. This is a past selection list from the Seattle Public Library (where the concept originated). https://www.spl.org/programs-and-serv...

Colleges often do this for incoming freshman and I imagine there are lists with these books, too.

Robin P wrote: "I agree with Alicia, I've read a lot of the famous banned books.

Historical fiction and next in a series are gimmes for me, I would read those no matter what, so I probably won't vote for them. I..."
Robin P wrote: "I agree with Alicia, I've read a lot of the famous banned books.

Historical fiction and next in a series are gimmes for me, I would read those no matter what, so I probably won't vote for them. I..."

I'm going to need to cut back on my reading, so I'll take some gimmes for core categories such as historical fiction or world reading. I've been disappointed by most sequels lately, so that would be a good category for me to cut back on.

These might be a handy categories though for those who tend to read 52 books a year. I'm curious if most people here read more than 52, or use 52 as a stretch goal. We have a lot of young people here, and I'm amazed by how much reading they're able to do. I think there were some years in my 20's and 30's when I barely slept, and read next to nothing for pleasure. It was all for work or school- I even brought work reading to the beach.

I read 100-120 books a year, and do ATY and Popsugar, so if I don't double up most my reading is for challenge prompts. I don't want 52 hard prompts that mean I can't read any of the books I'm excited for. I don't mind a handful of those prompts. I do really like genre prompts, as lots to choose from but helps me narrow down what to read next.

NPR make good lists it seems. I usually hate best of SFF lists but that has a lot of good books on it. I've read half of them, and some of the remaining ones I want to read have been earmarked for other prompts, so not sure if I'd vote for it.

The only one of these prompts I don't want is banned books. There are not many genuinely banned books that I haven't read that I have much interest in. I get a bit irritated by the suggestion that a library doing curation is banning a book, even if I disagree with their reason.

Definite upvotes to women in STEM, historical fiction, BIPOC retelling and mental health. I'd like a few more cover prompts but need to go look how prevalent handwriting is.

Like others said the title that describes you is a personal prompt I can get behind, since it can be as generic as woman or daughter, so no one is really at a disadvantage.

When I was working and when I was raising kids, I was probably lucky to read 25-30 books a year. After my kids were gone, it went up to more like 50. Once I started regularly doing audiobooks, it went up to around 75 because now I could "read" while driving, doing housework, etc. After joining GR, I got up to 100 a year for many years, so a 52-book challenge still leaves me room for other choice. In 2020 and 2021 I have been breaking all records, because so many things were canceled and I'm home almost all the time. Only good thing about the year was getting more involved with GR groups.

Thanks to everyone who gave such good suggestions for BIPOC retelling - I was originally thinking to downvote that because I couldn't think of what to read! But it's looking more like an upvote for me now.

Finally had a chance to sit and look at our options this week, and I feel like I will probably not be voting with the group on this one lol. As much as I love historical fiction and memoirs, I read them all the time, so I'm probably going to go neutral on them.

The ones I'll upvote are the ones that will push me a bit, like BIPOC retelling and the Sci-Fi/Fantasy list.

Haven't seen much discussion on the handwriting prompt yet, but I'm really rooting for it and hope people vote for it! I might be biased because I love cover prompts, but I think we need more (I believe we only have one so far). This one stands out to me as a great one because it's:
(1) not vague and unspecific (some people, including myself, dislike prompts with too many options)
(2) not personal (like a favorite/least favorite cover)
(3) does not seem too difficult at all as there are many if you include fonts that looks like handwriting/cursive
(4) it's unique and not a repeat. It's not another object or color on the cover. And it also doesn't feel super random.

Aside from this prompt, I also love the word or phrase that describes you since I like personal prompts.

The rest of the prompts I'm either not very excited about (another NPR list seems redundant to me), are too easy for me personally (historical fiction, next in series, non human character), or are repeats of prompts I've done several times before.

Will probably downvote:
- banned books: feels like another list prompt because I have to look up what books were/are banned
- morally grey characters: to me the phrasing sounds like the character has to neither be "good" nor "bad," not mostly-good-but-with-faults or vice versa. This is easy if it's a supporting character, but more difficult with major characters since they seem to be either written as sympathetic or not to the reader.
- comedic aspect, because I don't really enjoy comedic books, and since I'm a pre-planner, it doesn't help much if I unexpectedly find a comedic aspect in a book while reading it

Anyone have suggestions for BIPOC retelling that is not young adult and/or romance? That seems to be all I can find for that topic and I am not a fan of either. If you have recs for adult fantasy, sci fi, or historical fiction that would be fantastic!

Emily wrote: "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..."

Just a small correction that it is Wed Aug 25, not 26

Ellie wrote: "... The only one of these prompts I don't want is banned books. There are not many genuinely banned books that I haven't read that I have much interest in. I get a bit irritated by the suggestion that a library doing curation is banning a book, even if I disagree with their reason. ..."


I am not interested in a "banned book" category for that same reason. Most books on "banned books" lists aren't "banned" at all, they were just taken off of a classroom reading list.

dalex wrote: "Anyone have suggestions for BIPOC retelling that is not young adult and/or romance? That seems to be all I can find for that topic and I am not a fan of either. If you have recs for adult fantasy, ..."

dalex, I'm so happy to see you back in the threads!

I hope people aren't automatically downvoting the NPR list because they've already seen "NPR" in this challenge!

The NPR concierge is a database of popular recent books, sorted and linked by type.

This particular "NPR list" is a list of the best recent SFF books, it was their attempt to balance the unfortunate homogeneity of their past "best 100 SFF books of all time" list. They reached out to their audience and asked people to vote for their 3 or 5 favorite SFF books from this century, and then they collated & curated the results to make their list.

It's just a coincidence that NPR was involved in both lists. I don't know for sure, but I don't think the same minds at NPR created both lists.

Emily wrote: "dalex, I'm so happy to see you back in the threads!"

Thanks!!! Happy to be back!

I was really pleasantly surprised by the NPR list. I was going to downvote it, but I took a look at the list and there are a ton on there that I've loved, and another large group that I have on my TBR. Definitely take a look at the list before downvoting!

Nadine wrote: "I hope people aren't automatically downvoting the NPR list because they've already seen "NPR" in this challenge!"

Thanks for pointing this out. When I suggested the prompt I didn't even consider that people might think that this list and the NPR concierge list are similar. They are two very different things.

dalex wrote: "Anyone have suggestions for BIPOC retelling that is not young adult and/or romance? That seems to be all I can find for that topic and I am not a fan of either. If you have recs for adult fantasy, ..."

Yeah, can't think of many outside those categories, maybe:

She Who Became the Sun
Love in Colour: Mythical Tales from Around the World, Retold
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau
The Ballad of Black Tom

I just noticed on that NPR list, a lot of the entries are the series not the individual books pictured. So I'm not sure if they're suggesting that only the first book in each series is "the best" or if they intend for it to include any book in the series?

The NPR list has a couple of series on the list that I'm in the middle of so the prompt would work for me. Plus there are a lot on there that I want to read.

I like the non-human one and the handwriting. I started the Virgin River series so community would work for a book in that series. I'm not normally a romance series reader but it's fun for a diversion. I like the characters.

Initially I wasn't excited when I first saw the prompts but once I looked into them and thought about them a little more I saw that I had a lot of books that I could use for them.

Ellie wrote: "dalex wrote: "Anyone have suggestions for BIPOC retelling that is not young adult and/or romance?"

Yeah, can't think of many outside those categories..."

Thanks!

Ellie wrote: "I just noticed on that NPR list, a lot of the entries are the series not the individual books pictured. So I'm not sure if they're suggesting that only the first book in each series is "the best" o..."

I'm not certain about the intent of the list but I worded the prompt to include any book from a series so people would be able to continue with a series they'd already started, if they wanted to.

dalex wrote: "I'm not certain about the intent of the list but I worded the prompt to include any book from a series so people would be able to continue with a series they'd already started, if they wanted to...."

Oh yes! Helps if I actually read the prompt.

Would this count as a retelling?

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

Nadine wrote: "I hope people aren't automatically downvoting the NPR list because they've already seen "NPR" in this challenge!

The NPR concierge is a database of popular recent books, sorted and linked by type..."

My issue with the NPR prompt isn't just that it says NPR twice, it's that at the end of the day it's a similar list from the same source just narrowed down to a genre. Same reason I downvoted the Hugo list prompt after we had the Powell Awards List.

Also, we do already have two list prompts. I'm not generally a list prompt fan as there's no option to be creative. It's just picking a book that is there. But also, I generally don't like critically acclaimed, award winning books. Having three of these prompts would be a bit of a bummer as I don't just want to be told what to read multiple times in a challenge.

When looking at the Powell List, NPR Concierge, and NPR Sci-Fi and Fantasy listopias, sure there are differences, but for me it's all the same few books I would want to read over and over on each list. It doesn't seem to be bringing anything new or unique to the challenge that we don't already have on the two existing list prompts

There are nine series on that NPR list that I'm not up-to-date with, so I feel it's a different enough prompt for me because of the series aspect. I am definitely reading Where the Drowned Girls Go, Fevered Star, The Martian Contingency and the next Dead Djinn book when they come out. Plus I need to get caught up with Murderbot.

I'm torn on the title prompt, because I really don't want another title prompt. But I also really like this one. I may just go neutral and let the chips fall where they may.

I think I will downvote banned book for the same reasons everyone else mentioned.

I already have so many series going that I really don't want to start a new one, and it's highly likely none of those series are on the NPR list (I have 2 left in Murderbot but already have those slated for something else). I don't think I'll downvote it, but won't be an upvote for sure. I tend to agree it's a subset of the concierge.