Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Another big round of results!

Top:
A book whose author’s name includes one of the 4 least used letters in the alphabet (JQZX)
A book with a touch of magic
A history or historical fiction book

Bottom:
A book with twins in it
A book relating to a catchphrase

Polarizing:
A book with a character who is neurodiverse

Listopias:
A book whose author’s name includes one of the 4 least used letters in the alphabet (JQZX)
A book with a touch of magic
A history or historical fiction book

The next round of suggestions will open around noon on Sunday, August 6th.

The one i most wanted in and the two I was dreading not in for now. So happy this time. I am however once again surprised at what gets bottomed twins seemed fairly innocuous.

Delighted with tops and bottoms :)

I have an awful lot of authors with J on my tbr :)

Happy with these. The authors with J is very easy for me, and now got me wondering if it is the J in my name that attracts me to them. I was going to vote up the magic but at the last moment changed it to twins, but won't miss them. The catchphrase, I felt was too wide, so that was a down vote.

We're whizzing through the process this year! I don't think any of these are the kind of prompts I'm excited to plan for but they are decent list fillers. Easy to fill but I won't waste my time making lists for them 🤣

Such a bummer. There were some really cool prompts in this round, and all that made it were the boring broad prompts.

Can I ask why Chain-Gang All-Stars is on the historical fiction list? I bought it today and I thought it was set in the future?! Or is it alt history?

The J will be so easy. A BIO would be X or Z, like Zen Cho


I was really hoping for the full moons. Maybe that will be suggested again later.

3 prompts in and I didn't vote for any of them. That's got to be a first. I also seem to have a lot of J's on my TBR so I might limit it to surname only. The other two will be incredibly easy as fantasy and history are 2 of my most read genres.

Ellie wrote: "Can I ask why Chain-Gang All-Stars is on the historical fiction list? I bought it today and I thought it was set in the future?! Or is it alt history?"

That might have been me lol. I thought it was historical fiction so I added it but didn't read the synopsis first. I'll go remove!

We are already at 22/50 prompts that will be voted in (since one prompt is chosen by our summer reading challenge winner and another is chosen by our fall read-a-thon winner). Almost halfway done with the voting process and it's only poll 6!

Sheena wrote: "Such a bummer. There were some really cool prompts in this round, and all that made it were the boring broad prompts."

Sorry you feel that way. I’m actually happy this week but have certainly felt like this in other weeks

JQZX will be a BIO for me I think, because J is so easy.

I love magic and historical fiction so am happy with these, though I'm disappointed phases of the moon didn't get in.

I'm surprised catchphrase is in the bottom, based on how much excitement there was for it in the voting thread.

Nancy wrote: "JQZX will be a BIO for me I think, because J is so easy.

I love magic and historical fiction so am happy with these, though I'm disappointed phases of the moon didn't get in.

I'm surprised catchp..."
The voting thread often doesn’t reflect the full vote

I was considering requiring two of the letters (instead of just one) as a BIO option for the author's name.

I'm also surprised catchphrase was bottomed. I think I downvoted it (once I hit send, it vanishes from my brain!) because I felt it was too open-ended. I actually loved the idea, but, for me, it needed to be narrowed down. Or be a seasonal challenge or something.

I also feel like the ones that got in are less challenging than some of our other prompts, but I'm good with that. Everything doesn't need to be a brain buster! :)

I'm fully aware of that Thomas, and the voting definitely makes it clear.

I like the idea of two letters for a BIO.

I started adding books from my Historical Fiction shelf to the Listopia and realized I could be there all day. Definitely my favorite genre.

Decent prompts. Not super excited for historical fiction, but I usually read a couple of those a year so I'll be able to fill it anyway. Sad catchphrase was bottomed- one of my favorite prompts but can't wait to see what the next poll brings!

Yes, 2 of the less common letters would be good for BIO, especially if you left out J - so Q & Z or X & Z, etc.

My guess is that the reason catchphrase didn't win is the same one so many good ideas don't win. The voters didn't read any descriptions, just said, "I'm not sure what that is" and voted it down, or passed it by. It's not easy to have a really original creative prompt that can also be clear in a very short description.

And for my friend Book Concierge who proposed it - I think the reason neurodiverse was polarizing is that several challenges, including this one, have had the same or similar prompt in the last few years. Obviously some people wanted it, as it got both up and down votes.

And for touch of magic, interpret it as you wish - a light touch or a heavy touch! Those who wanted magical realism could certainly read that here.

The thing is, if I can't understand the prompt, why would I or most people vote for it? Also I don't like prompts where you basically have to figure out what is an acceptable catchphrase on your own.

Michelle wrote: "The thing is, if I can't understand the prompt, why would I or most people vote for it? Also I don't like prompts where you basically have to figure out what is an acceptable catchphrase on your own."

Exactly - no disrespect to those who came up with the idea and all the examples. I think we heard that as many as 200 people vote and only a small number of us follow the whole discussion.

Emily wrote: "We are already at 22/50 prompts that will be voted in (since one prompt is chosen by our summer reading challenge winner and another is chosen by our fall read-a-thon winner). Almost halfway done w..."

I may be wrong but I thought we were at 23 prompts (at least that is what I have in my list). 😊

We don't know why people who don't participate in the discussion vote the way they do and we shouldn't be assuming they don't understand prompts. I don't feel the need to explain every down vote, people get defensive and it's just how I feel about the prompt so I'm not going to trigger an argument about it. It's certainly not because I don't understand the prompt or haven't read the discussion.

Ellie wrote: "We don't know why people who don't participate in the discussion vote the way they do and we shouldn't be assuming they don't understand prompts. I don't feel the need to explain every down vote, p..."

Agreed Ellie. It’s like when I’m told because I don’t like a particular character I need to read the book again

While none of my votes made it in, I am very happy my bottom votes didn't.

I’m disappointed moon phases didn’t make it but otherwise happy. I only upvoted touch of magic, but I did like JQXZ because it can be an easy prompt for those that want to go with J or harder with the other letters/combinations.

Did we have this many prompts by poll 6 last year?

I liked the idea of a book related to a catch phrase, but I did not vote for it, because there are SO MANY possibilities, it’s basically a “read any book” category. And I’m one of those people who likes categories to be more specific or challenging than that.


If we had a multi prompt challenge that was several different catchphrases, and you had to read one book for each specific phrase, I’d LOVE it, but that opportunity is gone for this year.


Someday!!! It’s a good idea to remember for the future.

I had all up votes this week and only one was on the top. The other two should be easy to fill.

I always have an adverse reaction to historical fiction but that mostly is about war related books that seemed to be the only thing I could find a few years ago. I have been really enjoying books set in the 60's, 70's and 80's.

I can see why people might have voted down the bottoms but sad that catchphrase didn't make it.

I'm happy with the results. I actually did down vote the history/historical fiction one only because I've been bored of that lately but it's easy to fill. One of my upvotes was the twins but I wasn't expecting it to make it in. Selfishly I have a twin book I want to read. I usually hate the prompt. I did upvote the catchphrase. I thought that would have been fun.

Sad catchphrase was in the bottom, but it would make an amazing mini challenge. Same with the full moon names. X marks the spot didn’t make it for the second time, so I’m letting it go , though I really liked it.

I do like the ones that made it in.

Only one of my favorites got in this time. Oh well. I can't complain. I said I'd be happy with any of them, and I am.

I'm happy that history/historical fiction got in. I wasn't sure it could after Thomas suggested it might be like Marmite to some people.

I really liked Catch phrase and full moons, and I had hope that one of them might make it in (or summertime blues). I think we could have used title words, but we can't just do a keyword search, or look at a tag list. So for people coming from other types of challenges, or literal minded folks, that might be frustrating. Even many regulars expressed frustration over these prompts.

Fantasy didn't get in, magical realism didn't get in, but a touch of magic covers it all. OK then! I didn't vote for it, but I'm happy with it. So, learning from that, what bit of linguistic magic could we use to make room for science fiction (or books that play with the concept of reality)? How about psychology or mental health? And how could we make climate change, dystopian, or post-apocalypse less scary?

Robin P wrote: "Yes, 2 of the less common letters would be good for BIO, especially if you left out J - so Q & Z or X & Z, etc.

My guess is that the reason catchphrase didn't win is the same one so many good ide..."

I don't think we've had a neurodiverse prompt since I joined, but I could be wrong. We had a really hard time just getting a broad disability prompt in last year. So I think it might suffer from the fear of sad topics, or a sense that they've already read the (few) high profile books on the topic. There are a few people who've sad that they don't vote for social justice or topics that will make them feel bad.

Samantha wrote: "I had all up votes this week and only one was on the top. The other two should be easy to fill.

I always have an adverse reaction to historical fiction but that mostly is about war related books ..."

@ Samantha - I would be interested in the 1960's - 1970's too. It was an exciting time.

Very happy with these! Two of my upvotes got in, and I really don't mind the touch of magic one.

NancyJ wrote: "So, learning from that, what bit of linguistic magic could we use to make room for science fiction (or books that play with the concept of reality)? How about psychology or mental health? And how could we make climate change, dystopian, or post-apocalypse less scary?.."

A book about what comes next could be sci-fi, next in a series or non-fiction on topics like climate change or the kind that try and find solutions to current issues.

Looking Ahead could be climate change, sci-fi, solving current issues, or things that people are looking forward to in their own lives, like having a baby, retiring, changing career.

Jill wrote: "Emily wrote: "We are already at 22/50 prompts that will be voted in (since one prompt is chosen by our summer reading challenge winner and another is chosen by our fall read-a-thon winner). Almost ..."

You're right. I hadn't separated the two similar covers into two books on my list since they will share a weekly thread!

We definitely did not have this many... I'll have to go dig in the archives to see where we stood.

Edit: We were at 20 prompts after poll 6 last year! So we are 3 prompts ahead of where we were last year.

Ellie wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "So, learning from that, what bit of linguistic magic could we use to make room for science fiction (or books that play with the concept of reality)? How about psychology or mental he..."

I have thought of that first contact prompt that was touted in previous years. It’s mainly sci fi but could also be done as first contact with the author or series

That's a good idea.

Emily wrote: "Edit: We were at 20 prompts after poll 6 last year! So we are 3 prompts ahead of where we were last year..."

It's weird I thought we were going much faster than last year. I suppose all our one or two result weeks were in the second half of voting.

The term first contact also (perhaps originally) had to do with anthropology, when people first had contact with another culture.

Many of the sci-fi books now focus on communication and culture difference when meeting beings from other planets. Project Hail Mary is awesome. I love the Xenogenic (lilith's brood) series by Butler.

Another sci fi topic that has become reality is artificial intelligence. This could be a nonfiction or sci-fi topic I'm sure it can be framed in a different way, with different words to make it more accessible.

I goofed in the wording last year of a cultural prompt, so I might try that again this summer.

First Contact sci fi is a very specific and narrow subset of SFF. I love SFF but I might not vote for that one, unless I saw some good examples of books I haven’t read yet.


“What’s yet to come” or similar, referring to the future, is a much broader category. It’s funny normally I’m complaining that categories are too broad!! But in this case a broad category might be the way.

I didn't downvote all three of the ones that got in, but this definitely wasn't my voting round! But that's how it goes. The only reason I didn't upvote (but I didn't downvote it, either) the letters one is because J is very common in author names even if it's not common in regular words.

James
John and variations (these are popular in almost every European language in one form or another.)
Jane
Joanne
Johnson and variations
etc etc

LeahS wrote: "Looking Ahead could be climate change, sci-fi, solving current issues, or things that people are looking forward to in their own lives, like having a baby, retiring, changing career."

I really like Looking Ahead - full of possibilities.

Samantha wrote: "
I always have an adverse reaction to historical fiction but that mostly is about war related books ..."

Me too! For a few years it seemed like the only historical books around were about World War II and I just got so burned out on war books. I decided to start reading non-WWII historical fiction books and have been enjoying them much more. I read a few by Michelle Moran that were from ancient times so those were a nice change.

I’m glad to see that the listopia has more variety than just wartime books.

NancyJ wrote: "Samantha wrote: "I had all up votes this week and only one was on the top. The other two should be easy to fill.

I always have an adverse reaction to historical fiction but that mostly is about w..."

Yes, interesting times! I realized that those years are part of historical fiction when reading The Final Revival of Opal & Nev. It helped change my person historical fiction.

Kathryn wrote: "Samantha wrote: "
I always have an adverse reaction to historical fiction but that mostly is about war related books ..."

Me too! For a few years it seemed like the only historical books around we..."

I don’t know if there has been a shift away from WWII historical fiction or if I am just seeing more variety but like you said it’s great to see more options.

Samantha said interesting times.

It reminds me of the saying “may you live in interesting times”, which may or may not be a Chinese curse. There’s no record of it. But I find the saying fascinating.

Pleasantly surprised by these results! The least used letters prompt was one of my upvotes, and the other two winners were both ones that I very strongly considered voting for but didn't.

I am shocked that catchphrase is in the bottom! I voted against it, but I fully expected it to win or, if not, then at least be polarizing.