Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

It's now time to get ready to vote for our first set of prompts! The thread will be open for at least 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 afternoon of Thursday, October 6 and results will be posted in the morning of Monday, October 10 (CST time).

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

We are asking people to include their Goodreads profile address when they vote. To find this, just go to your own profile and then copy the URL/web address. If for some reason you can't link to your Goodreads profile, please post your full Goodreads name with enough identifiable information that we'll be able to access your profile. We’ve introduced this for two reasons:

1. On a few occasions in each poll, people have used more than the allotted number of votes, either because they aren’t familiar with the rules or just by mistake. When this happens our only option is to disregard the vote as we can’t identify the voter to ask them to resubmit. By asking for your profile address we’ll be able to message you and ask you to vote again if you’ve accidentally used more than the allotted number of votes.

2. Unfortunately a very small number of people have voted more than once per poll and so we are asking for this information to prevent duplicate votes.

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 by an Asian diaspora author
2. A book where the cover design includes text that is not completely horizontal
3. A cultural book that depicts a place or time and its culture
4. A book with the theme of returning home
5. A book from a genre that starts with any letter in your name
6. A book that was shelved as literary fiction
7. A book that could be used for at least five of the 2023 challenge prompts
8. A book that has won a diversity award in the 21st Century (2001-present)
9. A book from your favorite sub-genre
10. A book related to first contact
11. A book told from the villain’s perspective
12. A book that is one of the top 23 Goodreads rated books in your TBR
13. A book set during a revolution or uprising
14. A book about the environment or nature
15. A book about "a fish out of water"

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/UMC4MG/
Note: Because there are only three slots remaining on the 2023 list, no more than three prompts will be allowed to make it in the top of the results. However, voting protocols will continue on as before, with 8 total votes allowed for up or down votes.

NOTES AND IDEAS FROM THE SUGGESTIONS THREAD

1. A book by an Asian diaspora author
In honor of fighting Asian hate (heightened due to the pandemic), read a book by an author who is a member of the Asian diaspora (diaspora refers to “the dispersion of any people from their original homeland,” either voluntarily or involuntarily). This would include American authors of Asian descent as well as, say, a Korean author living in Japan, or an Indian author living in Hong Kong. It also includes authors of Asian descent regardless of if they themselves are immigrants/expats or are the children/grandchildren/etc of immigrants.

This does not include Asian authors living in their home countries, where they are not minorities/discriminated against for their ethnicity, which was covered by this year's "Asian or Pacific Islander author" prompt.

Listopias shared by other members:
12 Books by Writers of the Asian Diaspora (note: one of these books is by a Japanese author living in Japan, so it doesn’t qualify per Irene’s description)
NYPL Chinese Disaspora:

Some Asian diaspora authors include:
- Kazuo Ishiguro (English novelist of Japanese descent)
- Salman Rushdie (Indian-born American-British novelist)
- Ocean Vuong (Vietnamese-American poet)
- Celeste Ng (American author whose parents immigrated from Hong Kong)
- Jhumpa Lahiri (American author of Indian descent)
- Michelle Zauner (Korean-American author and musician)
- Jenny Han (American author of Korean descent)
- Mike Chen
- Chang-rae Lee
- Susie Yang
- Marie Lu
- Julie Kagawa
- Amy Tan
- Sangu Mandanna
- Zen Cho
- Maurene Goo
- Courtney Milan
- Sherry Thomas
- Cathy Park Hong
- Ted Chiang
- Maxine Hong Kingston
- Chen Chen
- Ocean Vuong
- Thanhha Lai
- Charles Yu
- Jenny Zhang
- Steph Cha
- Ling Ma
- Kevin Kwan
- Thi Bui
- Madeleine Thien
- Gene Luen Yang
- Lisa Ko
- Ali Wong
- Mohsin Hamid
- Robin Ha
- Alma Katsu
- George Takei
- Kelly Yang
- Loan Le
- Nayomi Munaweera
- Mary H.K. Choi
- Susie Yang
- Kirstin Chen
- Mia P. Manansala

2. A book where the cover design includes text that is not completely horizontal
Anything that is not entirely horizontal, where the cover designer had to purposefully change the text so it was not “straight-out-of the-box” typed text would count. Some is subtle, some is VERY obvious.

(Covers in your TBR best viewed in Grid format.)

You might need to click on these links to clearly see these covers, especially in the 'Subtle' category

Obviously "not horizontal" examples:
The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley
Dark Pines (Tuva Moodyson Mystery, #1) by Will Dean
Trejo's Tacos Recipes and Stories from L.A. by Danny Trejo
I'm Possible A Story of Survival, a Tuba, and the Small Miracle of a Big Dream by Richard Antoine White

Subtly "not horizontal" examples:
Rabbit The Autobiography of Ms. Pat by Patricia Williams
The Hate U Give (The Hate U Give, #1) by Angie Thomas
The Girl Who Speaks Bear by Sophie Anderson

3. A cultural book that depicts a place or time and its culture
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/cult...
Books shelved as cultural involve:

*Culture and society - social media, popular culture, societal issues, politics, media.
*Culture - values, religion, beliefs, norms, and social behavior.
*Culture change and trends.
*Cultural Diversity - books set in a culture or sub-culture, e.g. black, indigenous, people of color, Asian, religious groups, immigrants, organizations.

The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World
The Many Daughters of Afong Moy
A Feather on the Water
The Candid Life of Meena Dave
As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow
The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Monsters Born and Made

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...

4. A book with the theme of returning home
I think this has a lot of possibilities. I’m thinking of, for example, people who return to their hometowns, prodigal sons/daughters, immigrants or refugees who return to their home country, people who return to the country of their ancestors, soldiers returning after war, etc. I think there should be a lot of options for fiction - literary, crime, mystery, romance, other genres - as well as nonfiction, memoirs, etc.

Here are some lists I found:

Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/6...
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

Other lists online:
https://celadonbooks.com/booklists/bo...
https://lithub.com/on-leaving-and-ret...
https://crimereads.com/10-crime-novel...
https://www.theguardian.com/books/boo...
https://electricliterature.com/10-gre...

5. A book from a genre that starts with any letter in your name
Genre list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...

Examples for NANCY:

Non-fiction
Nautical adventure
Noir
Nordic noir

Adventure
Adventure fantasy
Apocalyptic
Amish romance
Autobiography

Children's
Classic
Coming-of-age
Comedy
Crime fiction
Cozy mystery
Cyberpunk
Cookbook

Young Adult

Also my last name has a T and and an L, which adds:

Thriller
Literary Fiction
Locked-Room Mystery

9. A book from your favorite sub-genre
(e.g.,
“fine art” mystery – 10 Art-Mystery Books to Snuggle Up to This Winter - Art Zealous
Comedy thriller - Best Comedy Thriller Books (12 books) | Goodreads
Cyberpunk fantasy - Cyberpunk Fantasy: A Simple Guide (fictionlit.com)
Cattle drive western - Cattle Drive Books | Goodreads
Inspiring women historical fiction- 31 Kick-Ass Women In Historical Fiction | The Uncorked Librarian

Or one of million you might have discovered you like yourself!)

10. A book related to first contact
Could be a sci fi book about contact with aliens or if sci fi isn’t your thing you take it as your first contact with this author
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...

11. A book told from the villain’s perspective
I did a challenge about 3-4 years ago with this prompt, and it was a lot of fun.

I read Hook's Tale: Being the Account of an Unjustly Villainized Pirate Written by Himself
by John Leonard Pielmeier that particular year.

13. A book set during a revolution or uprising
https://bookriot.com/books-about-revo...

14. A book about the environment or nature
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/nature
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/envi...

15. A book about "a fish out of water"
A book about someone who is living or working with people who seem to be in a different culture. A book about someone who feels like an alien in their new surroundings.

This could be someone:
who is seen as an alien, feels like an alien, or IS an alien in a new place (or planet)
who moved to a place with a very different culture or lifestyle.
who is living, working, or going to school in a new country or region.
who escaped from a war-torn area and is now living in a detention camp or shelter
who married into, or whose parent married into a family from a new culture/group/sub-culture
working on an international assignment,
traveling, spying or lost in another country.
like a mermaid trying to survive on land.
who is suddenly around people of a different race, religion, life-style, economic status, sexual identity, political views, ethnicity, etc.
who is working with a visitor from another world/culture
a liberal working in a conservative company, or vice versa
A rich person suddenly poor or vice versa

8. A book that has won a diversity award in the 21st Century (2001-present)
This prompt combines the desire for diverse books AND a book from an award listing!

Diversity Awards:
Although I used 4 main links to research the individual awards, these 2 contained so many individual awards that I could not list them all:
https://libguides.uwf.edu/diversebkaw...
List of Literary Awards honoring women:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
You are welcome to explore!

INDIVIDUAL AWARDS:
American Indian Library Association (AILA) Awards https://ailanet.org/activities/americ...
Fiction & Nonfiction—Picture Books, Middle Grade, Young Adult
Recognizes the very best writing and illustrations by Native Americans and Indigenous Peoples of North America.
Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards https://www.anisfield-wolf.org/winners/
Fiction & Nonfiction & Poetry (Adult)
Recognizes books that have made important contributions to our understanding of racism and our appreciation of the rich diversity of human cultures.
Arab-American Book Award https://arabamericanmuseum.org/book-a... (scroll down for winner listings by year)
Adult Fiction, Adult Non-Fiction: The Evelyn Shakir Non-Fiction Award, Poetry: The George Ellenbogen Poetry Award, Children’s/Young Adult Literature
To honor outstanding books written by or about Arab Americans
Asian/Pacific-American Award for Literature https://www.apalaweb.org/awards/liter... (scroll down for winner listings by year)
Adult Fiction, Adult Non-Fiction, Youth Literature, Children’s Literature, Picture Books
To honor and recognize individual work about Asian/Pacific Americans and their heritage.
Barbara Jefferis Award https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara...
(awarded biennially since 2012)
Any Genre and can be set in a location other than Australia
Recognizes the vest novel written by an Australian author that depicts women and girls in a positive way or otherwise empowers the status of women and girls in society.
Barbellion Prize https://www.thebarbellionprize.com/wi...
Can be Fiction, Memoir, Biography, Critical Non-Fiction from around the world (English, in translation, traditionally or self-published)
Dedicated to the furtherance of ill and disabled voices in writing. Awarded to an author whose work has best represented the experience of chronic illness and/or disability.
Before Columbus Foundation America Book Award https://www.beforecolumbusfoundation....
Fiction & Nonfiction
To provide recognition and a wider audience for the wealth of cultural and ethnic diversity that constitutes American writing. The term “multicultural” is used as a definition of all American literature, not just a description of an aspect of American literature.
Black Caucus of the American Library Association Literary Awards https://www.bcala.org/bcala-awards/li...
Fiction & Nonfiction & Poetry & First Book
Recognizes excellence in adult fiction and nonfiction by African American authors published in 2019.
(No awards listed other than those awarded in 2020)
Carol Shields Prize for Fiction: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_S...
To be presented for the first time in 2022
Fiction (DUH!)
Recognizing literature published in English (including translation) by North American women or non-binary writers.
Carter G. Woodson Book Award (by the National Council for the Social Studies) https://www.socialstudies.org/get-inv...
(Link would not work, I had to copy and paste the URL into my browser)
Fiction & Nonfiction—Children’s and Young Adult
Honoring the most distinguished social science books appropriate for young readers that depict ethnicity in the United States.
Children’s Africana Book Awards (CABA) https://cfas.howard.edu/CABA/winners-lis
Fiction & Nonfiction for Young Children, Older Readers, and Young Adults
The Center for African Studies works to consolidate and expand the legacy of Howard University as a leader for America and the global community in relation to the study of Africa.
Consortium of Latin American Studies Program (CLASP) Awards http://claspprograms.org/pages/detail/68
Fiction & Nonfiction—Children’s and Young Adult
To encourage and comment authors, illustrators and publishers who produce quality children’s and young adult books that portray Latin America, the Caribbean, or LatinX cultures in the United States.
Coretta Scott King Book Award https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coretta_Sc
Fiction & Nonfiction—Children’s and Young Adults
Recognizes outstanding books for young adults and children by African Americans that reflect the African-American experience.
Dayton Literary Peace Prize https://www.daytonliterarypeaceprize....
Fiction & Nonfiction—Adult
Recognizes the power of the written work to promote peace—books that have led readers to a better understanding of other cultures, peoples, religions, and political points of view.
Hurston-Wright Foundation Legacy Awards https://www.hurstonwright.org/2021-le...
Fiction & Nonfiction & Poetry
Honors the best in Black literature in the United State and around the globe.
IPPY Outstanding Book Award-Multicultural Fiction (Independent Publisher): https://ippyawards.com/81/medalists
Fiction & Nonfiction & Poetry (Very unique books)
To recognize and encourage the work of publishers who exhibit the courage and creativity necessary to take chances, break new ground, and bring about change, not only to the world of publishing, but to our society. Honor books exemplifying this daring spirit—the most heartfelt, unique, outspoken, and experimental.
Jane Addams Children’s Book Award https://www.janeaddamschildrensbookaw...
(Link would not work, I had to copy and paste the URL into my browser)
Fiction & Nonfiction—Younger and Older readers
Commended titles are books in which young people feel seen, celebrated, valued, and empowered to question, discuss, and act.
Jewish Book Council Awards https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/awards
Fiction & Nonfiction—Children’s through Adult
Recognizing outstanding literature in the field and aim to encourage authors to continue to write on themes of Jewish interest.
John Steptoe Award for New Talent https://www.ala.org/rt/emiert/cskbook...
Goodreads Listopia: https://www.goodreads.com/award/show/...
Fiction & Nonfiction—Children’s through Adult
Recognizes outstanding books for young adults and children by African Americans that reflect the African-American experience. Authors/illustrators cannot have more than 3 published works and cannot be acknowledged by the Coretta Scott King Award in the same year.
The LAMMYS (The Lambda Literary Awards) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambda_...
Fiction & Nonfiction & Poetry—Children’s through Adult
Recognizing the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world. Celebrating the very best in LGBTQ literature.
Forward INDIES Book of the Year Awards https://www.forewordreviews.com/awards/
Fiction & Nonfiction—Children’s through Adult
Representing the best in Independent Publishing.
Nautilus Book Awards https://nautilusbookawards.com/nautil...
Fiction & Nonfiction—Children’s through Adult (38 Categories)
“Better Books for a Better World”
Pen/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction https://pen.org/pen-bellwether-prize/ (scroll down for previous winners’ link)
Fiction
Established by Barbara Kingsolver in 2000. A career-founding prize which promotes fiction that addresses issued of social justice and the impact of culture and politics on human relationships. “Socially engaged fiction may describe categorical human transgressions in a way that compels readers to examine their own prejudices. It may invoke the necessity for economic and social justice for a particular ethnic or social group, or it may explicitly examine movements that have brought positive social change. Or, it may advocate the preservation of nature by describing and defining accountable relationships between people and their environment.”
Pen Open Book Award https://pen.org/pen-open-book-award/ (scroll down for previous winners’ link)
Fiction & Nonfiction & Poetry
Formerly known as the Beyond Margins Awards, committed to racial and ethnic diversity within the literary and publishing communities. Recognizes authors of color whose work was published in the United States.
Rainbow Book List https://glbtrt.ala.org/rainbowbooks/
Fiction & Nonfiction—Children’s through Young Adult (includes graphic and manga)
An annual annotated bibliography consisting of quality LBGTQIA+ literature intended for readers from birth to age 18.
The Schneider Family Book Award https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schneid...
Fiction & Nonfiction—Children’s through Young Adult
Recognizes authors and illustrators for the excellence of portrayal of the disability experience in literature for youth.
Skipping Stones Book Awards https://www.skippingstones.org/wp/boo...
Fiction & Nonfiction—Children’s through Adult (Categories: Multicultural and International, Nature and Ecology, Teaching Resources)
Recognizes works that “promote an understanding of cultures, cultivate cooperation and/or encourage a deeper awareness of nature, ecology, and diversity. They foster deep respect for multiple viewpoints and closer relationships within human societies.”
Stonewall Book Awards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewa...
Fiction & Nonfiction—Children’s through Adult
Three literary awards that annually recognize “exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience” in English-language books published in the U.S.:
(1) Stonewall Book Award-Barbara Gittings Literature Award, (2) Stonewall Book Award-Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award, (3) Stonewall Book Awards-Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award.
The Sydney Taylor Book Award https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_...
Fiction & Nonfiction—Children’s through Young Adult
Recognizes the best in Jewish children’s literature—outstanding books that authentically portray the Jewish experience.
Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom%C3%...
Fiction & Nonfiction—Children’s through Young Adult
Recognizes authors and illustrators whose literary work depict the Mexican American experience whose portrayal/representations of Mexican Americans are accurate and engaging, avoid stereotypes, and reflect rich characterization.
Women’s Prize for Fiction https://www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk/
Fiction (DUH! )—Adult
Honors a female author of any nationality for the best original full-length novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom in the preceding year.
BONUS! Meet “The Futures 10”: https://womensprizeforfiction.co.uk/a...
Interesting add-on:
In May 2014, Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction launched the #ThisBook campaign to find out which books, written by women, have had the biggest impact on readers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%2...

Poll 17. The one where everyone re-submits their favorite prompt that hasn't gotten voted in yet.

Haha.

I thought I recognized that pattern…

This feels like a poll of my down votes 🫤

I have a few up votes but hoping that we have at least one more poll.

I'm doing mostly upvotes, 6 or 7. Aside from there being so many great prompts to vote for, I'm excited to have this list finished.

Definitely a poll of repeats! A few of them I have voted for previously and will likely do so again. I haven't downvoted any of the repeats before but might move some of my previous neutrals to downvotes as they somehow seem less appealing on a second poll.

I feel like I'll be upvoting a bunch of prompts that I upvoted before, but probably also downvoting some that I downvoted before. I'm glad to see returning home made the list though!

Not many inspire me! I know I'm not like everyone else, I'm looking for the last few prompts to push me in my book choice.

I hope we have one last poll- maybe there can be a rule of no repeats. I'll be doing very few upvotes for this reason.

Jillian wrote: "This feels like a poll of my down votes 🫤

I have a few up votes but hoping that we have at least one more poll."

LOL - it feels like a poll of my up votes! I'll be doing more upvotes than I have for any other poll so far. :)

Although, I would just give all my eight votes to the Asian Diaspora one if I could. :)

I feel like I down voted a lot of these before but the more i think over them.. I'll probably be upvoting some of my previous down votes. Hoping Villain perspective gets in this time as it's one of my faves! Excited and sad for the voting to come to a close.

If we had a no repeats rule their would be no point having a “ bottom” category. I suppose it’s unsurprising that so many are repeats at this stage. But if I didn’t like them before I’m not going to vote them in now

At least some of the repeats were close calls, I’m guessing during weeks when there were a lot of strong options.

Emily wrote: "NOTES AND IDEAS FROM THE SUGGESTIONS THREAD

1. A book by an Asian diaspora author
In honor of fighting Asian hate (heightened due to the pandemic), read a book by an author who is a member of the ..."

Hey Emily!
It looks like the links for the Asian diaspora author prompt all got cut off/truncated somehow.
I didn't check all the others on the post(s) but the ones I did seemed okay, just these seem to have that issue.

Wanted to make sure those get updated because otherwise they just take you to really random pages.
Thank you in advance! :)

Thomas wrote: "I suppose it’s unsurprising that so many are repeats at this stage. But if I didn’t like them before I’m not going to vote them in now."

The idea with repeating prompts is to give a prompt a chance against a different group of contenders.

Maybe in Poll #5 you liked Prompt X but felt stronger about Prompt A, Prompt B, and Prompt C so you used your upvotes for those prompts.

But in Poll #17, Prompt X comes back and in this poll it's your absolute most favorite of all the options. So it gets your upvote.

I agree I sometimes get weary of seeing the same prompts over and over instead of new and creative ideas but statistically it's just fair to allow prompts to have another chance.

Thanks Katie. I caught the other prompts but missed that one.

Emily wrote: "Thanks Katie. I caught the other prompts but missed that one."

Similarly, the links for 2. A book where the cover design includes text that is not completely horizontal didn't get there at all (better than bad links?).

@Emily: Can I send you the links so that the support info for this prompt can be updated to include the cover links?

dalex wrote: "Thomas wrote: "I suppose it’s unsurprising that so many are repeats at this stage. But if I didn’t like them before I’m not going to vote them in now."

The idea with repeating prompts is to give a..."

I don't know why you are picking on me. I'm not the one who asked for a ban on repeats

Thomas wrote: "I don't know why you are picking on me.."

I'm not. I was responding to your post, which I quoted in my response.

dalex wrote: "Thomas wrote: "I suppose it’s unsurprising that so many are repeats at this stage. But if I didn’t like them before I’m not going to vote them in now."

The idea with repeating prompts is to give a..."

I agree that it can be tiring, but it’s difficult to come up with original prompts that appeal to the majority. There are also some people who don’t like seeing prompts repeated from previous years. I think repetition is inevitable.

I don't mind the repetition at all. It's not like we have the same prompt every poll, and it's capped at 3 times per suggestion anyway. There have been several cases of a prompt getting in on a second attempt, because like dalex said, it's often more about the competition than the prompt itself.

I actually quite like the idea of a poll only made up of repeats but it seems I'd be in the minority there! We don't have enough for a close calls poll this year, which continues to surprise me.

I don't have a problem with repeats. I just wish there were the ones I liked.

Yeah a close call would be great but somehow very few. At the same time last year we didn’t have a close call poll because the mods didn’t want the final poll to not have new ideas and now this year we may have come very close to that. Like Jillian Id vote for them again if they were the ones I voted for before though

Wow this is basically a list of everything I've downvoted in the past few rounds.. not happy.

As there’s no point upvoting more than three:
Fits five prompts
First contact
Environment
Will downvote
23 TBR
Diversity award
Not horizontal
Sub genre

Fits five prompts has to be an extremely limited list of books...

Michelle wrote: "Fits five prompts has to be an extremely limited list of books..."

No, it's pretty easy to find books that fit five. Almost all of my books I've looked as so far can meet it. (Some of our other prompts are really broad.)

Michelle wrote: "Fits five prompts has to be an extremely limited list of books..."

I guess it depends on your books. I have at least a dozen books that fit 7 or 8 prompts and multiple others that fit 5. Some prompts seem to fit a ton of books on my TBR List, like a cover with 4+ colors, NPR list, W award, debut author, and geometric shape.

Some prompts, like Literature Map, second book for a prompt, and favorite prompt that didn’t make the list are almost freebies and can easily give you 3 of the 5 prompts.

Thomas wrote: "Yeah a close call would be great but somehow very few. At the same time last year we didn’t have a close call poll because the mods didn’t want the final poll to not have new ideas and now this yea..."

This is not true. We opted not to have a close calls poll last year for the same reason as this year -- we don't have enough prompts that aren't already on the list or weren't put forward on later polls. It has nothing to do with not wanting reoccurring ideas on polls.

I personally don't mind if prompts get repeated on polls... we have our process in place and if people don't want the same prompts, it is their responsibility to suggest or second new prompts rather than the repeats.

Tracy wrote: "Emily wrote: "Thanks Katie. I caught the other prompts but missed that one."

Similarly, the links for 2. A book where the cover design includes text that is not completely horizontal didn't get th..."

Tracy, I removed the links because they were broken (like the ones for the first prompt were!). Feel free to repost them here.

I don’t know how I plan to vote. There are 11 that I dislike

I'm going 4 up 4 down this week, and if one of those 4 upvotes gets onto the list, I will have gotten one of my upvotes to the list on every poll this voting session, which is wild! (assuming this is the final poll...)

So many I liked returning, and a few good new ones. I think I'll have 8 upvotes.

Ok I just made a whole list of not horizontal books, so although I downvoted it before, I'm probably going to strategically upvote it to try and decrease the risk of getting prompts I really don't want. First contact is always fun but no one will pick it because of our science prompt. Same for environment.

Here are three books on my TBR List that fit at least five prompts, as an example:

Writers & Lovers by Lily King
1. books are important
2. related to arts
3. NPR list
4. ATY list
5. geometric shape (love triangle)
6. 4 colors on cover
7. related to chess (author name)
8. reject prompt - GR Choice Awards

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
1. set in ATY location
2. set in tropical location
3. NPR list
4. ATY list
5. Sun, moon, stars (cover)
6. Geometric shape (cover)
7. 4 colors on cover
8. author has written 7+ books

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
1. pride (MLK, black pride)
2. NPR list
3. ATY list
4. Sun, moon, stars (cover)
5. geometric shape (Circle Award)
6. faceless person on cover
7. debut author
8. reject prompt - related to poem, Millions Most list

Visual examples (with links) for
2. A book where the cover design includes text that is not completely horizontal:

Anything that is not entirely horizontal, where the cover designer had to purposefully change the text so it was not “straight-out-of the-box” typed text would count. Some is subtle, some is VERY obvious.

(Covers in your TBR best viewed in Grid format.)

You might need to click on these links to clearly see these covers, especially in the 'Subtle' category

Obviously "not horizontal" examples:
by Natasha Pulley
by Will Dean
by Danny Trejo
by Richard Antoine White

Subtly "not horizontal" examples:
by Patricia Williams
by Angie Thomas
by Sophie Anderson

I have plenty of books that fit at least 5 prompts. That one is definitely an upvote for me.

As for first contact, I wouldn't vote for it if it was sci-fi alone but I really like the other interpretation given of your first 'contact' with a new author.

First contact will be one of my upvotes.

Emily- sorry I must remember incorrectly, I was sure one mod ( which may not have been you) said you ( as in the mods as a whole) didn’t want people to not have the opportunity to submit new prompts on the final poll, I wasn’t trying to suggest anyone had said you had an objection to resubmission per se

The first thing that came to my mind with “first contact” was first meeting of Europeans with Indigenous people on the various continents ships landed on. This is probably what I’ll go for if that prompt gets in.

There are never enough science prompts for my liking! Just one in a list is so paltry! Science is just an umbrella term for SO MANY areas of study, especially if you include the social sciences. You could probably do a BIO option for the whole year doing just science books and not overlap in subfields.

To me, many of today’s suggestions seem to be trying to fill the gaps in diversity and genre prompts. I’m going to try to remember this next year, and try to get big topics in earlier.

I suggested a cultural book today when I realized that we don’t have any other prompts like it. I wanted it for my rejects challenge if nothing else.

MJ- that would certainly work for first contact to. I should have thought of that for the description

Interesting collection of prompts, a number of them prompts I voted for previously which didn't make it.

First Contact! I submitted that last year and had completely given up on it. Thanks to whoever resubmitted it (or independently came up with the idea, of course!)

I’m a bit confused about the culture prompt. Doesn’t every book depict a culture? Even if it’s a book about a middle class family in suburban America, that’s culture, isn’t it?

Hannah- I submitted it. I had vaguely remembered it from last year and thought it was worth another shot

I plan to go with 8 upvotes because I can't find anything on this list that I dislike.

I voted for science, but also plan to upvote Environment (cli-fi please) and First Contact (aliens, always!) Now to decide where my other 6 votes are going :)

Emily wrote: "I'm going 4 up 4 down this week, and if one of those 4 upvotes gets onto the list, I will have gotten one of my upvotes to the list on every poll this voting session, which is wild! (assuming this ..."

This is the same for me! At least one upvote on the list every poll. I only had one upvote be a bottom. And I did not downvote any that made it in!

I'm at 5 up, 3 down at the moment.

Returning home and Asian diaspora are two definite up votes for me. I change my mind on up and down votes for the six votes I have left. I shifted my preferences between now and the last time many of these prompts were chosen (i.e., I would vote for literary fiction except I can make any prompt we have a book of literary fiction) and I like all the diversity prompts, but I'm leaning toward cultural diversity instead of awards. I think I'll wait to vote over the weekend to see if I continue to shift my opinion about options. This poll feels weighty since it's the last time to vote. It's bittersweet because the 2023 selection process has been my favorite to date, but I'm eager to see the order of the final list and to start planning.