Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Results for Poll 9!

Top:
A book connected in some way to any of the flavors of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream
A book with fewer than 2024 ratings on Goodreads
A book set in a country bordering the Mediterranean Sea

Bottom:
A book with a character who could appear on the X-Files
A book where a dream plays a role
A book that has a character with a non-traditional name

Listopias:
A book connected in some way to any of the flavors of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream
A book with fewer than 2024 ratings on Goodreads
A book set in a country bordering the Mediterranean Sea

The next round of suggestions will open on Thursday, August 24 at 3:30 pm CST.

Great results! I love when we get three prompts in.

This is the first time this year that I had a prompt I voted in the bottom make it to the list, and it happened with two prompts. I'll make them work, but I'm not super excited about it lol

Wow! My votes were in line with results! How interesting!

So relieved Anne didn’t get bottomed

The top votes include one that I voted UP.
The bottom votes include one that I voted UP ... and two that I voted DOWN.

Emily wrote: "This is the first time this year that I had a prompt I voted in the bottom make it to the list, and it happened with two prompts. I'll make them work, but I'm not super excited about it lol"

I think it's the first bottom on the list for me too...and one of my favourites in the bottom. Yay for ice cream at least.

I'm glad three made it in this round. I like them all. I'm surprised the X files is in the bottom. I expected it to get be in the top. I didn't care that prompt because I only watched a couple of episodes of the series although I was planning on reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X if it made it.

I’m surprised with the bottoms. I didn’t vote either way for any if them. I voted 2 of the winners and will be able to make the ice cream work. I voted for countries boarding Mediterranean but afterwards thought there is a bit of duplicate with beautiful cities - but probably because I had Paris/France down for both.

I am disappointed that we don't have many charcter prompts yet. Most of the prompts revolve around a theme so far.

I am surprised that the summer reading list did not make it in. The options meant it could be adjusted for where the person is located rather than being country specific. While I don’t like lists, it was an easy one to work with.

Thomas wrote: "So relieved Anne didn’t get bottomed"

Justice for Anne! She needs to come back- tanned and rested to fight another day. Well, as tanned as a red head can get.

I was afraid the X-Files prompt would get bottomed ... it usually happens with the more "outlandish" prompts (which I enjoy the most), and I "blame" the people who don't follow any discussions but simply vote based on the Google form with no background info whatsoever.
(I put "blame" in quotes because obviously everyone is entitled to their vote and their opinion etc. etc., it's just frustrating to see carefully workshopped prompts bottom out due to people who don't really participate in the group).
Rejects challenge it is for me, then^^

Emily wrote: "This is the first time this year that I had a prompt I voted in the bottom make it to the list, and it happened with two prompts. I'll make them work, but I'm not super excited about it lol"

LOL- this is the first time what I voted for wasn't in the bottom!

I like 2 out of the 3 results. I also am not planning to read 52 books next year, which makes it easy to skip prompts U consider hard to fill.

The dream prompt could have been cool, but I'm happy with the other two bottoms.

I upvoted all 3 top, and also one of the bottom. The other two bottoms I was neutral. I am disappointed X Files didn't get in, I've never actually watched the show but there were a lot of fun things that could have been done with it. At least B&J is a fun one that got in.

Oy. There's already several books on the listopia for less than 2024 ratings that aren't published yet. I mean, a person can count whatever they want for their own challenge but the listopia should exclude those, imo.

I'm really looking forward to seeing all the different ways people apply the Ben & Jerry's prompt!

It's always interesting to me what people put on a Listopia. I personally only add books I've read and can recommend but I know others add books they want to read.

Connie - I don’t think it’s accurate to “blame” members who don’t read the Wild Discussion. I read it and participate and used to watch the X-Files and still down voted it. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how many book options there are, the prompt just doesn’t resonate with a person. Also, just because members don’t comment on the thread doesn’t mean they don’t read it. Lastly, sometimes workshopping a prompt too much can result in less interest. I like to come up w my own creative ideas.

Charlsa wrote: "Just found this short list of B&J ice cream inspired by books.

I don't think these are real flavors?

The article says: "In keeping with the Ben & Jerry’s tradition of dreaming up intriguing ice cream flavor combinations, Quirk Books, an independent book publisher based in Philadelphia, has invented a few Ben & Jerry ice cream flavors of their own based on book themes."

Charlsa wrote: "Just found this short list of B&J ice cream inspired by books.

https://friendseat.com/blog/new-ben-a..."

Love it! LOL! I may do Oliver Twist!

dalex wrote: "Charlsa wrote: "Just found this short list of B&J ice cream inspired by books.

I don't think these are real flavors?

The article says: "In keeping with the Ben & Jerry’s tradition of dreaming up..."

I think they are real flavours - quote from the article: "The 6 new Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor concoctions are inspired by the world’s most loved books!"

Is there a list out there with B&J’s full 98 flavors? I was Googling it earlier, but can’t find one complete listing. This will be a fun BIO pick, i.e., Animal Money for The Tonight Dough, or Mexico-themed for the churros flavor, etc. Lots of great choices.

dalex wrote: "Oy. There's already several books on the listopia for less than 2024 ratings that aren't published yet. I mean, a person can count whatever they want for their own challenge but the listopia should..."

Agreed. I suspect most of the books on this list will have more than 2024 reviews by the time we get to 2024. You almost have to pick something very obscure or a book just coming out from a new author.

Shannon SA wrote: "dalex wrote: "Charlsa wrote: "Just found this short list of B&J ice cream inspired by books.

I don't think these are real flavors?

The article says: "In keeping with the Ben & Jerry’s tradition ..."

Sorry. I'll remove. I saw them other fakes flavors or flavors based on TV or movies, but I missed it here. Thank you for letting me know.

This is the list of their current flavors from their website.

https://www.benjerry.com/flavors


Here is the list of retired flavors or as they refer to them, the dearly de-pinted, from their Flavor Graveyard. I think I had originally posted it in the wild discussion.

https://www.benjerry.com/flavors/flav...

For the 2024 ratings, a lot of non-fiction fits that category. I have 18 books I own (and have on my GR TBR) that have under 100 ratings. Some are GR giveaways that I never read and a few of them I had to add to GR. So, I will probably do a BIO option and read something w less than 100 ratings. That will push me to read one of them!

Nancy wrote: "It's always interesting to me what people put on a Listopia. I personally only add books I've read and can recommend but I know others add books they want to read."

I find adding books I want to read to the listopias can be a handy reminder for when I get stuck next year. I add recommendations for prompts that seem like people might need help with, but otherwise they are usually just books I want to read and maybe that means someone else might too and not realise they work for the prompt.

I upvoted 5 of those prompts.

I don't love having to find a book with fewer than 2024 goodreads ratings, though. I find a lot of indie books have very few ratings, so maybe I'll pick up something from SPFBO.

Edie wrote: "You almost have to pick something very obscure or a book just coming out from a new author...."

Clearly a lot of British authors are very obscure 🤣

Yay, I upvoted all 3 of the top ones! And voted for none of the three in the bottom either. Very excited for the list now!

Nancy wrote: "It's always interesting to me what people put on a Listopia. I personally only add books I've read and can recommend but I know others add books they want to read."

I do both, but I usually give higher rankings to books I've already read and liked. There are some lists where I know a book would fit perfectly and I don't add it because I gave it one or two stars and don't want to recommend it to people.

Italy was my initial thought when thinking about a country bordering the Mediterranean Sea. But I googled countries to see what all there is and I forgot how many countries actually border the sea. I'll post them here. A BIO option could be to choose a country that isn't as popular in literature or one of the least populated of the countries listed.

Northern shore (from west to east): Spain, France, Monaco, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Turkey. Eastern shore (from north to south): Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Egypt. Southern shore (from west to east): Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt.

I agree with @Pam on workshopping. I do read the discussions, and sometimes post, but once something gets too workshopped, I skip over. I don't necessarily disregard the prompt but I do find excessive suggestions tend to put me off rather than encourage me. I also think other suggestions tend to be steamrolled or difficult to find if there's a lot of discussion revolving around one suggestion.

What about island nations in the Sea (i.e. Malta, Cyprus)? Does those technically not count as bordering?

Joanna wrote: "What about island nations in the Sea (i.e. Malta, Cyprus)? Does those technically not count as bordering?"

I personally think they should count but I wasn't sure the intent of the prompt. I'm sure the intent is probably a country with a border on the Mediterranean Sea.

This list is more inclusive of countries on the Mediterranean Sea. Did I miss any?

Gibraltar (a British Overseas Territory)
Spain
France (specifically Southern France and Corsica)
Monaco
Italy
Malta
Slovenia
Croatia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Montenegro
Albania
Greece
Cyprus
Turkey
Syria
Lebanon
Palestine
Israel
Egypt
Libya
Tunisia
Algeria
Morocco

Although I'm happy with the results, I'm a little surprised by two of them, based on the online discussion (which I know doesn't include everyone). I for sure thought that "less than 2024 ratings on GR" would not make it, and I was fairly sure that "X-files" would! TBH, I don't remember how I voted on those two, but I know I considered keeping each of them.

And beyond that, all I can say is "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!"

To Emily (or other mods who might be in charge of updating the official list on "ATY 2024 > [2024] Reading List Introduction, Schedule, & Rules":

When you add the upvoted prompts from this poll (9), can you also please add the upvoted prompts from polls 7 & 8? They were missed. By my count we should have 29 prompts now, once polls 7, 8, & 9 are added — more than half way!

Joanna wrote: "What about island nations in the Sea (i.e. Malta, Cyprus)? Does those technically not count as bordering?"

I would count them.

This was a bit surprising but should be able to make it work. It's the fourth poll in a row with none of my up votes making the list.

I didn't vote for the Mediterranean countries as I was hoping for a different geographic prompt after having continental Europe this year. I'll have to be strict with myself and focus on the Asian or African countries.

The Ben & Jerry's prompt hurts my brain as there are so many options. We don't have as many options in the UK so I might just pick one that's familiar to me.

I wasn't enthused by the ratings as it isn't something I ever pay attention to. It turns out there are a few British crime series I like that aren't highly rated so that's doable.

Conny wrote: "I was afraid the X-Files prompt would get bottomed ... it usually happens with the more "outlandish" prompts (which I enjoy the most), and I "blame" the people who don't follow any discussions but ..."

Not everyone has the time or gumption to join the Wild Discussion (it took me a few years! It's daunting!) but still want to vote. If a prompt needs to be discussed in order to be understood, I would argue it's not a very good prompt.

Edie wrote: "Agreed. I suspect most of the books on this list will have more than 2024 reviews by the time we get to 2024. You almost have to pick something very obscure or a book just coming out from a new author."

Last time we did it, I picked a book and accepted by the time I read it, it might have more. But I picked it in good faith!

These are good results, but I had actually started picking out books with chairs on the cover, and now what do I do with that little list I created?!

Nadine in NY wrote: "These are good results, but I had actually started picking out books with chairs on the cover, and now what do I do with that little list I created?!"

Resubmit the prompt idea! It didn't get bottomed. :)

Stacey wrote: "Is there a list out there with B&J’s full 98 flavors? I was Googling it earlier, but can’t find one complete listing. This will be a fun BIO pick, i.e., Animal Money for The Tonight Dough, or Mexic..."

BIO will be to eat the flavor while you read the book!

Nadine in NY wrote: "These are good results, but I had actually started picking out books with chairs on the cover, and now what do I do with that little list I created?!"

If you're lucky, Popsugar will steal it for next year.

Pamela wrote: "Stacey wrote: "Is there a list out there with B&J’s full 98 flavors? I was Googling it earlier, but can’t find one complete listing. This will be a fun BIO pick, i.e., Animal Money for The Tonight ..."

Haha! Love it!

Nancy wrote: "It's always interesting to me what people put on a Listopia. I personally only add books I've read and can recommend but I know others add books they want to read."



I think when this group first started creating Listopias, the idea was "please include the books you plan to read for this category" so that's what I do. And if I know of a few books I've read that fit perfectly, I'll add them, too.

Nadine in NY wrote: "These are good results, but I had actually started picking out books with chairs on the cover, and now what do I do with that little list I created?!"

Wait a couple rounds and resubmit. I'm going to do that with the summer reading list (or anyone else can)

Pamela wrote: "Stacey wrote: "Is there a list out there with B&J’s full 98 flavors? I was Googling it earlier, but can’t find one complete listing. This will be a fun BIO pick, i.e., Animal Money for The Tonight ..."

I like the way you think. I've been looking for a book that will go with either Chunky Monkey or Cherry Garcia.