2015 Reading Challenge [Closed] discussion
2016 Challenge Suggestions
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Thanks Jody for this looong list! How many topics are there?I'm feeling inspiration, we could maybe add:
- a book someone gave you
- a book you bought in a place where you don't usually buy books (eg if I mostly buy them online, I'll buy it at the supermarket)
- a book you saw someone else read (like on the train, in the airport...). This one would be more for the end of the year so people can pay attention and note down when they see one.
- a hyped book you swore you would never read
- a book you would like to see turned into a movie or tv show
- a book with a word play in the title
- a book about music
- a book you would normally read on holiday (and you wouldn't read it on holiday obviously)
- a book set in a forest (or with a forest on the cover)
Mod
This one is like "a book that makes/made your cry", you can't know before reading it if it will fit in the category, so it's not convenient.
For me this challenge can also be about re-reading books without your guilt saying "there are so many incredible books, you should not re-read" ;) But I understand if people won't re-read.
Awesome list. I'm excited to find out what makes it to 2016.
A book with an author the same age as you could be difficult for some younger people. I think it would be nice not to repeat challenges eg we have a memoir on this years list.
Such a great list, it will be so hard to choose!
Some more to add if they aren't already there!
- a book set at Christmas time
- a book by an author born in your country
- a book about an alien invasion
I'm all for a book based on a video game, being a gamer myself! Lol
If that's too hard you could also expand it to a book about video games :)
I think maybe ask people to submit their ideas by a specific date & then work out how to choose them.
Going over my list for this year & I notice there's already a Christmas themed book! LolI'm glad though, it will be good to read something Christmassy!
What a list! It will be fun voting to narrow it down.
Nicole wrote: "Going over my list for this year & I notice there's already a Christmas themed book! LolI'm glad though, it will be good to read something Christmassy!"
There is a category about reading a book on holiday, that could work for any holiday, everyone could pick their favorite holiday than.
That's a great idea Jennifer. It would also add a little diversity, given that some countries have holidays that others don't.
This is the first year I have participated in challenges but I am loving it and can't wait until next year. Here are a few more ideas. Sorry if there are any that have already been suggested,- a true crime book
- a horror novel
- a sci fiction novel
- an urban fantasy
- a book made into a Disney film
- a book turned into an animated film
- a retelling of a classic fairy tale
- a Newberry Award Winner
- a Man Booker Prize winner
- a National Book Award winner
- a Printz Award winner
- a book by an author who writes under more than one name
Yes to a true crime book Charity! My favourite genre! I also really like the challenge about the author who writes under more than 1 name
Mod
- A book with time travel
- A book recommended by a member (we could do a topic where everyone asks "I want to read this genre or a book with this theme" and selects one of the answers)
A book recommended by a member is a great one. You could ask any one in any group you're in or just ask someone from your friends list.
Some ideas I have-The first book on your to read list
-The last book on your to read list
-The book off your to read list that matches your age(ie: if your 25, then it would be the 25th book on your to read list.)
historical biographysports team/athlete biography
celebrity biography
political biography
"choose your own adventure" book
book recommended by teacher/librarian
poll the group for their favorite books under several different genres, and read the "winners" or maybe one of the top five
A book read by another member of the group during one of our read-a-thons
Sophie wrote: "A book read by another member of the group during one of our read-a-thons"I like this idea!
Choose your own adventure is a cool idea Katie. Also like the sports star biography. You could also do a musicians biography as well
One set of topics I am doing for another challenge that I really enjoyed finding books for was for a set of 7+ books based the years my mother, father, sibling[s] (this could have multiple books if you have multiple siblings), paternal grandmother and grandfather, and maternal grandmother and grandfather were born. This could go even further to include great grandparents, if you wanted.I loved finding books for my grandparents birth years, because admittedly I have not read a lot of older classics, outside of what the schools required, and it was nice to see what books were popular during those years. For me I also enjoyed finding a books from my sibling's birth year because my brother is nearly 10 years older than I am and it added some more variety to my list. With these 7 topics I ended up with books that covered the 1930s to 1970s.
A book whose title describes you or your life!
I think at this point we are just going to continue building a larger and larger list and make our job of narrowing down our topics more and more difficult.I think we need to stop "compiling" and start weeding topics out. Or rather, deciding on final topics. It's lots of fun to come up with all sorts of interesting ideas, but with a list this long, statistics say most people will tire of reading the entire list, and the topics listed early in the list will receive more votes just because people will see them first. Further to that, each member rating their top 52 choices out of a list this large will become extremely tedious for both the members rating each topic and whoever gets stuck with the task of weeding through the results. A 52 point scale is just WAY too large - larger scales with more choice make decisions more difficult which is why most surveys rarely have a scale of more than 10 points in range. Even 10 is often too much variance.
I think the best way to narrow down our list is to have multiple "mini-polls" based on number of votes. Open a thread to allow suggestions for a limited amount of time. Topics added to the thread get put into a poll/survey. I would perhaps put a hard cap of 20 suggested topics per poll, otherwise we will likely end up with absolutely MASSIVE polls (like the current list of 121) with too many options. Anything over the first 20 suggestions within the time period for that poll's suggestion thread could be automatically carried over to the next poll.
Multiple polls allows for a number of things:
1: If a member misses the deadline to post their topic suggestion, there will be another chance in the next poll.
2: If a topic suggestion does not get chosen at the end of a poll, it can be resubmitted for a further poll as long as the member submits it during the next deadline. This means that topics will be rated against each other so a well-liked topic that is not selected but comes close is not immediately discounted; it might still have a chance to be selected in a later poll.
3: Multiple polls means if a member comes up with a really good idea later in the year, it can still be included one of the later polls.
4: Multiple polls means if a member misses the vote on one poll, they will still have the opportunity to vote on others maximizing member input, but allowing for members to miss a few votes without forfeiting their opinion on the majority of topics.
I think the qualtrics survey was the best out of the ones suggested but the biggest issue is that anything outside of an email-linked poll means members are on their honour to vote only once. An email linked-survey, through gmail for example, poses the issue of being exclusive to anyone without a gmail account.
I think an honour based poll will work, and the qualtrics survey allowed for a very clean and sleek poll system that appears easy to set up, manage and analyze. Further to that, multiple polls will minimize the effect of anyone abusing the honour system to cast multiple votes in a poll by spreading the deciding power over a number of different polls. It makes it much harder to skew the results over all of the polls. The results of a few polls could be skewed by vote abuse, but that will be countered by the fact that well liked topics can be suggested and voted on again.
I've done a little bit of math. 52 doesn't really divide very well....but 52 divided by 4 is 13. This means if we have 13 mini-polls, the top four topics can be selected and added to the 2016 final list. We have roughly 121 topics/ideas right now (according to Jody who has been keeping tally of them all). Divided among 13 polls that's roughly 9-10 per poll, which is totally a reasonable number to tackle at one time (with a hard cap as I suggested above so they don't get too large). I don't think we will have this problem, but if not enough topics get suggested, whoever is controlling the suggestion thread can extend the time period in order to get enough to make the poll.
Rather than have members rate their choices from most to least liked, I would keep it simple with a basic vote system, very much like the "listopia" vote system on here. As the four topics with the most votes will become a weekly topic for the 2016 list, allowing 4 votes per person in each mini-poll seems reasonable. The four topics with the most votes at the end of the voting period make it on to our 2016 list.
If we start the mini-polls on week 20, we would have the full list for 2016 compiled by the beginning of November (week 44). I think that allows ample time for someone to design the basic poll in whatever system desired, and also means there is time at the end of the year to hold further polls if for whatever reason there is a poll that gets missed, skipped or delayed (holidays or something else).
I can offer assistance in organizing/setting this up, however I have an extremely irregular work schedule so it can sometimes be difficult for me to be available at the same time every week.
EDIT: That ended up being a lot longer than I planned...
Mod
My only worry is to have enough participations for the votes, so 2016 won't be decided only by 10 persons (which could be ok, but it could lack variety or unusual ideas).
Week 20 seems good, it will let us time to organize and adjust if the first topics/polls are messy and need some changes.
BTW, your post is huge :p
Peter wrote: "I think at this point we are just going to continue building a larger and larger list and make our job of narrowing down our topics more and more difficult.I think we need to stop "compiling" and..."
I like your idea. Very organized, I think.
I like the idea of having poetry, detective stories (just bought the complete Sherlock Holmes), book of short stories, Science Fiction, Fantasy. Also anything that works for the classics (Dickens, Austen, Bronte, Hugo, Chekhov), Horror(Rice, King) The weeks about books relative love or books written in the year you were born drive me crazy and I have a tendency to select alternates for if I can't find a title or list fairly quickly.
Zaz wrote: "Peter, I think the point of the week suggestions is to have new ideas. When you read something, it can give you a new interesting idea... So, I've no problem with a never ending list and we could d..."Yea, I know it ended up being a lot longer than I anticipated, lol. Sorry about that.
I also had concerns about participation and the topics being chosen by only a few. I think even if that is the case, we can mitigate it a little bit by promoting the polls to choose the topics? Even if a few of the polls have low participation, I'm hoping if we post about them enough in the "Announcements" thread or if the mods put in under the announcements section at the top of the group page, along with making the times/dates for topic submission and voting very prominent we can increase participation.
I was thinking about it, and our other option would be to keep the voting part open for a longer period of time. I would keep the submission time frame for each poll pretty tight - no more than a week at the most, but the actual voting could be left open for a much longer period of time. That will theoretically increase participation, but also increases the chance of vote abuse.
I think one thing to keep in mind is not to choose too many topics that lead to a specific type of book. For example, saying that one should read a book of poetry or a fantasy book. It takes all the pleasure out of reading if someone doesn't like those genres...So, the topics should not be tied to a specific genre (as much as possible). It should allow the person to choose a book from a genre they like, but that still fits the goal, like “a book with a long title”.
I understand that is not always easy, because this is for a lot of people with a lot of different tastes. And there could always be 1 or 2 specific topics, of course, but not a lot more than that.
I think that the point the challenge is to make people read things they don't normally read. I know I've read some books this year that wouldn't be my normal genre but I ended up really liking them. Categories can also be interpreted by the reader. For example If there was a category for fantasy and you normally read YA you could choose a YA adult fantasy that more fits your reading tastes. Also, just because there are 52 categories doesn't mean you have to do all 52. I am doing the read harder challenge in another group and I know I won't read a self help book so I just set my goal to include the topics that I would read.
Mod
We need to start doing the 2016 list, so if there are people available... ;)
The following suggestions are from BookRiot's "A Summer Reading List for College Freshmen" by Cassandra Neace:1. One of Shakespeare's plays
2. The biography of a historical figure
3. One book about a historical event or a period in history
4. One "classic" novel (pre-1910)
5. One "modern classic" (post-1910)
6. One dystopian novel
7. One young adult novel
8. One nonfiction title re: science, medicine, or technology
9. Something political (ideally, a book that represents an opposing viewpoint)
10. A graphic novel
"A book you swore you'd never read", I love it!
The list has been updated! Sorry I've been a bit slack ... I've also separated it with the genres suggested at the bottom.
A book about an alien invasion
A book about an animal
A book about music
A book based around a library or bookstore
A book based around a medical condition
A book based on a fairytale, myth or folklore
A book based on a video game
A book based on people from a religious text
A book based on true events
A book by a Nobel Prize-winning author
A book by an author who uses initials in their name (eg. J.K. Rowling, F. Scott Fitzgerald)
A book by an author who writes under more than one name
A book by an author your age
A book by or containing an LGBT individual
A book considered a 'classic'
A book considered a 'modern classic'
A book from a series
A book from one of the "Must Read" lists
A book from Oprah's book club
A book from the 2015 challenge
A book in a genre you don't usually read
A book in a less popular genre - eg. Steampunk, Slipstream/Interstices Fantasy
A book involving an addiction
a book involving politics
A book involving religion
A book involving royalty - a king, queen, prince, princess etc.
A book involving war
A book made into a Disney film
a book made into an animated film
A book nominated for the Goodreads Choice Awards
A book of poetry
A book on the Moden Library's 100 best novels list - http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/...
A book originally written in a minor language (ie. NOT English, Chinese, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian)
A book out of the author's comfort zone
A book picked for you by someone else
A book published the year you graduated
A book published this year
A book read by another member during a Read-a-Thon
A book recommended by a group member
A book recommended by a teacher or librarian
A book recommended to you by Goodreads
A book set at Christmas time
A book set in the forest
A book set over 100 years ago
A book set somewhere you love
A book set somewhere you've travelled
A book someone gave you
A book soon to be made into a movie
A book that a relative or friend loves
A book that came out the year you … ?
A book that centres around a career that interests you
A book that everyone is talking about
A book that has a real person as a character
A book that involves recipes or cooking
A book that starts with the same initial as your name
A book that takes place in a college/university setting
A book that takes place on a continent other than Europe or North America
A book that was originally written for NaNoWriMo
A book that you couldn't fit into the 2015 challenge
A book that's been adapted into a musical
A book that's less than 300 pages long
A book that's Number X on your to-read list
A book that's out of your comfort zone
A book where a major character dies
A book where the main character has the same name as you
A book with a cover that drew you in
A book with a creative title
A book with a fruit or vegetable in the title
A book with a hero from a different ethnic group than yours
A book with a long title
A book with a magical creature
A book with a metaphor in the title
A book with a person's name in the title
A book with a plant on the cover
A book with a short title
A book with a simile in the title
A book with a strong female lead
A book with a strong male lead
A book with a title that describes your life
A book with a title that has more than five words
A book with a word play in the title
A book with alliteration in the title
A book with an antihero
A book with an unappealing cover
A book with green on the cover
A book with names in the title
A book with talking animals
A book with the name of a place in the title
A book with the point of view of more than one character
A book with time travel
A book with two or more authors
A book with views you don't agree with
A book with weather in the title
A book with zombies
A book written as a diary
A book written before 1800
A book written by a man with a female main character
A book written by an author born in the same month or year as you
A book written by an author of your nationality
A book written by an author with a part of your name (first, middle, last, maiden, nick-)
A book written by a politician
A book written from a child's perspective
A book you borrowed
A book you bought in a place you don't normally buy books
A book you bought secondhand
A book you could use as a doorstop (ie. 700+ pages)
A book you own but haven't read
A book you saw someone else read
A book you swore you'd never read
A book you would normally read on holiday
A book you're embarrassed to read in public
A book you're excited about
A book you've already read
A book you've always wanted to read but haven't
A book you've been putting off reading
A children's picture book
A classic children's book
A contemporary novel
A controversial book
A famous book
A forgotten classic
A free e-book
A happy book
A Harlequin novel
A humorous book
A meta book
A novel written by an expert in their field
A novella
A paranormal book
A play by Shakespeare
A psychological book
A satirical book
A self-published book
A short story (under 100 pages)
A sports-based novel
A Terry Pratchett book or short story
An ancient book (think Homer, Sophocles etc.)
An award-winning non-fiction book
An award-winning novel
An epistolary novel
The book on your To-Read list that matches your age
The first book on your To-Read list
The last book on your To-Read list
Genres
Biography, Autobiography or Memoir
Choose Your Own Adventure
Detective Novel
Dystopian
Fantasy
Graphic Novel
Historical Fiction
Horror
Manga
Science Fiction
True Crime
Urban Fantasy
Western
Young Adult