Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

@ I, too, don't see the appeal of reading middle grade books.

Robin P wrote: "Book Concierge wrote: "On first glance, I have 10 down votes .. YIKES!"

I also have more downvotes as opposed to last week when I had all up. But I would be ok with anything really at this point!"

I feel now that we are on the final votes, I need to vote for ones I really want, rather than "that's ok" which was more likely to vote for early on.

Is there a listopia for books in the book of the month please?

Michelle wrote: "I guess I'm an outlier, I have no interest in reading middle grade books in my 30s. Yes I enjoyed them, when I was also middle grade..."



I'm sure you're not alone. I had no interest in middle grade or YA books when I was in my 30s, either. Then in my 40s, I re-discovered YA! And it wasn't just me, plenty of my friends were reading it, too. Now, in my 50s, I've found I enjoy a middle grade book now and then. I only read one or two a year, and I admit I'm hesitating a bit at the restriction that it be nominated for an award, so I'm not sure about that one. (Mostly because I want to read Kelly Yang's Front Desk sequels, and the sequels did not seem to win any awards!) If it gets in, there will probably be something good I can find.

Right now I've got 5 upvotes and 6 downvotes. I'm not sure what I'll do!! I need to apply for special dispensation to use 11 votes ;-) (j/k!! I just need to decide which three I don't really care that much about one way or the other.)

Thomas wrote: "Is there a listopia for books in the book of the month please?"

2022 - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

2023 - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Dubhease wrote: "Thomas wrote: "Is there a listopia for books in the book of the month please?"

2022 - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

2023 - https://www.goodrea..."

Thanks

Emily wrote: "THOUGHTS AND IDEAS FROM THE SUGGESTIONS THREAD

1. A book with a sound-related word in the title
Examples: quiet, silent, thunder, hear, screaming, whisper, music, piano (which means quiet in the c..."

Can you change the Las Vegas prompt to "incorporates" instead of "related to"?

Thnaks!

Some excellent middle grade books on audio are the Bloody Jack series (about a girl who disguises herself as a boy and runs away to sea in the Napoleonic War era) - Bloody Jack. Also terrific are The War That Saved My Life and its sequel The War I Finally Won. Again, the audio was stellar. The story was complex, people who experience trauma don't just bounce back, but they can learn to move on and appreciate life. And of course Harry Potter is in this age group.

In YA, I loved Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe and Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World. Those audiobooks were brilliantly narrated by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Apparently he loved them so much himself that he decided to produce a movie, which has just opened in theaters.

The YA I don't like are books where teenagers have to fight each other, like The Hunger Games (which I never read because I thought it was too dark for adult me!)

As mentioned above, many classics like Treasure Island, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, Little Women are considered children's books but can be of interest to adults.

Robin wrote: "Emily wrote: "THOUGHTS AND IDEAS FROM THE SUGGESTIONS THREAD

1. A book with a sound-related word in the title
Examples: quiet, silent, thunder, hear, screaming, whisper, music, piano (which means ..."

And while you're in there... can you please capitalize 'through' in the Alice in Wonderland prompt in Message 1? - thanks!

Pam wrote: “Challenger Deep” is the first book th..."

Challenger Deep - This is going on my new shelf for books to listen to with my son in the car. He taught me all about the Marianas Trench when he was young and he likes this author.

Janet Frame is perfect for NZ. I watched her bio and need to read something by her.

Book Concierge wrote: "On first glance, I have 10 down votes .. YIKES!"

You can't go by first impressions here (or anywhere). When I dig into the links or discussions I end up with 5+ upvotes every time.

Rachel wrote: "First impressions (before reading anything in this thread):

1. A book with a sound-related word in the title - I like this a lot! Possible upvote

2. A book related to the theme of a Las Vegas ho..."

What challenge has Fish-out-of-Water this year! I'd like to check it out.

Any book with an immigrant would work for it.

Nadine in NY wrote: "Michelle wrote: "I guess I'm an outlier, I have no interest in reading middle grade books in my 30s. Yes I enjoyed them, when I was also middle grade..."
."

I read Front Desk for an immigration theme this year and I really liked it! I got the audio and I had no idea it was a middle grade book. The story was quite intelligent, with great characters, a redemption story and more. I even loved her business idea at the end. This is about a family of immigrants and it fits Middle Grades, Fish out of water, and the immigration prompt I almost submitted today.

The Trials of Morrigan Crow, and Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow are also very engrossing reads that fit middle grades and Fish out of Water.

Another Resource for Fish Out of Water
The Fish out of water list needs to be updated. If anyone can help I'd appreciate it.
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

This Immigration link might also be helpful.
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/immi...

KP wrote: "Pam wrote: “Challenger Deep” is the first book th..."

Challenger Deep - This is going on my new shelf for books to listen to with my son in the car. He taught me all about the Marianas Trench when..."

KP, Challenger Deep is an excellent book, but it is NOT about the Marianas Trench (even though the synopsis sounds like it is). Pam did mention it in a discussion about books involving mental health, and this is what Challenger Deep is actually about. I couldn't tell from the mention of your son how old he is now, but you might want to preview the book if he isn't at least in high school.

A book posted in one of the ATY Best Book of the Month threads in 2023 or 2024 - Please vote this in. Goodreads Choice awards was rejected, so we need this one.

Love Story: I always have some summer books without a prompt, so I would love this prompt for 2024.

For Mental Health and cognitive challenges
I recommend Everything Here Is Beautiful, and I'm Glad My Mom Died
Peri-menopause (and menopause) was the hot topic in my office this week and I'm glad to see it's an out in the open here too. I need some book recommendations please.

Suggestions For Fish out of Water:
If I Survive You - Jamaican Character.
Everything Sad Is Untrue - Includes a child character. NPR
Babel: An Arcane History

I'm also leaning toward upvotes for:
Las Vegas OR Leap
Child character and/or Book awards
Possibly Alice, Addams, or Horsemen - I'll look at the lists.

Tracy wrote: "KP wrote: "Pam wrote: “Challenger Deep” is the first book th..."

Challenger Deep - This is going on my new shelf for books to listen to with my son in the car. He taught me all about the Marianas ..."

Thanks Tracy. He likes the author already, and it seems like he knows more than we do about mental health awareness.

I started watching Wednesday last night and there are so many Edgar Allen Poe references in it, so if you're a fan of Poe, that could be one way of doing the Addams Family.

Voting is open: https://forms.gle/iTz6aF7Yqr6SiJrU7

Mathematically this could be it mathematically we could have 7 more after this but I’d say based average so far two more after this one

Michelle wrote: "Just to add, I'll never understand why adults want to read middle grade fiction. I already had to do this once for a challenge and yeah, as an adult reading middle grade fiction, it's so juvenile. ..."

49 years old and I enjoy reading middle grade occasionally. It's very interesting to see how the middle grade genre has changed over the years to include more adult themes. My personal favorites deal with children of immigrants (or who are themselves immigrants) and how they adapt to life in a new country, deal with bigotry and handle life in general as a pre-teen/early teen.

I downvoted the majority of the "related to" prompts just because we already have so many. And in my opinion the two word "The _______" prompt is entirely too similar to the one word title prompt.

I'm hopeful for middle grade and the ATY List since there are so few awards and lists in the prompts.

Weirdly, I'd like the "fish out of water" prompt if the wording didn't use the idiom. I'm on the spectrum and idioms are a struggle for me.

Up voted 7 downed one.

At first look I was feeling a little negative about this list. Then I looked again, and actually found so much to like! So 6 upvotes, 2 downvotes.

Upvotes:

2. A book related to the theme of a Las Vegas hotel - I really liked this the first time around, and I still like it now. A lot of flexibility here!

3. A main character that is mad, bad, or dangerous - This could be a lot of fun. I’m thinking a romance novel with a rake protagonist, but you could do a lot of things with this one.

4. A book related to Alice in Wonderland/through the Looking-glass - At the very least I can reread Alice in Wonderland. But there are a lot of other fun options! An Isekai fantasy novel would also fit the ticket here.

7. A book that includes a love story - As a romance novel lover, this is an automatic upvote for me

11. A book related to one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse - Again, a lot of fun flexibility and creativity here. At the moment I think I’m planning for a crime novel with a murder in it (violence/death), but we’ll see.

15. A book posted in one of the ATY Best Book of the Month threads in 2023 or 2024 - Another automatic upvote. The books I’ve used for this prompt the past two challenges have been some of my favourite reads, while really pushing me!


Downvotes:

6. A middle grade book that was nominated for or won an award such as the Newbery, Caldecott, or Carnegie
14. A book with a child character

Siobhan wrote: "At first look I was feeling a little negative about this list. Then I looked again, and actually found so much to like! So 6 upvotes, 2 downvotes.

Upvotes:

2. A book related to the theme of a Las..."

I love your name - I've heard it pronounced in Irish (or is it Scottish?) and it's such a beautiful name. 💜

Siobhan wrote: "At first look I was feeling a little negative about this list. Then I looked again, and actually found so much to like! So 6 upvotes, 2 downvotes.

Upvotes:

2. A book related to the theme of a Las..."

You read isekai!

Awesome to see another isekai reader.

Siobhan wrote: "15. A book posted in one of the ATY Best Book of the Month threads in 2023 or 2024 - Another automatic upvote. The books I’ve used for this prompt the past two challenges have been some of my favourite reads, while really pushing me!"

I'm afraid these are always automatic downvotes for me, although given that they keep getting voted in, I accept I'm in the miniority.

For me, the problem is that the way they're set up at present, I find having to go into each monthly thread and seeing if there's anything I'm interested in kind of a pain. I'd like them more if we had ATY-specific "best books of 20xx" listopias, which were added to each month.

Does results day seem longer and longer with each poll? (I was looking up when the results would be posted before voting even began).

This is not my favorite poll but I was still able to go back to my 4/4 voting. I kinda wanted to go 3/5 to balance out last weeks 5/3 votes. (There are really only 2 that I don't want. One I may have to use a wild card for the 1st time).

Jillian wrote: "Does results day seem longer and longer with each poll? (I was looking up when the results would be posted before voting even began).

This is not my favorite poll but I was still able to go back t..."
I think Emily opened voting earlier in the day than usual so it feels longer

@Trish there is a listopia for each year that is updated regularly.
I’m on my phone so not sure if this will work but this is the 2023 one.
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Book Concierge wrote: "On first glance, I have 10 down votes .. YIKES!"

That feels a lot like my first impression. There are a couple a like, but lots more I don't like (which is rare for me).

dalex wrote: "I downvoted the majority of the "related to" prompts just because we already have so many. And in my opinion the two word "The _______" prompt is entirely too similar to the one word title prompt.
..."

My youngest son has Asperger syndrome and as a child he really struggled with idioms. Now he has learned the most common ones but he never uses them himself.

Trish wrote: "I'd like them more if we had ATY-specific "best books of 20xx" listopias, which were added to each month."

There are listopias for the ATY best books of the month.

The mods add books from the discussion and people add directly to the listopias.

2023

2022

It’s been a prompt since 2020. The yearly prompts always have listopias.

Michelle wrote: "Just to add, I'll never understand why adults want to read middle grade fiction. I already had to do this once for a challenge and yeah, as an adult reading middle grade fiction, it's so juvenile. ..."

Great middle grade books are well worth reading, better, IMO, than a lot of adult books. My book for the "is witchy" prompt was recommended by my 10 year old granddaughter who is a voracious and very critical reader.

If anyone does books for multiple prompts then you could do Australian Middle school award winners with Children's Book Council of Australia book of the year awards in the Younger readers category. https://cbca.org.au/previous-winners

Nike wrote: "My youngest son has Asperger syndrome and as a child he really struggled with idioms. Now he has learned the most common ones but he never uses them himself."

I’ve learned to recognize and understand commonly used ones but they still make my brain do somersaults. Trying to find a book for “fish out of water” - I understand the concept but my brain sort of gets fixated on the words instead of the concept. It’s difficult to explain but it’s exhausting and frustrating. The whole idea of idioms is so weird to me. Why not just say the right thing instead of using a phrase that is supposedly somehow connected?

I upvoted the following:

1. A book with a sound-related word in the title

3. A main character that is mad, bad, or dangerous

4. A book related to Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking-glass

8. A character that is a fish out of water

10. A book related to the Addams Family

11. A book related to one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse

12. A book with a character dealing with mental health or cognitive challenge

15. A book posted in one of the ATY Best Book of the Month threads in 2023 or 2024

dalex wrote: "Nike wrote: "My youngest son has Asperger syndrome and as a child he really struggled with idioms. Now he has learned the most common ones but he never uses them himself."

I’ve learned to recogniz..."

It's a good question but I guess it's like painting with words. If that makes any sense at all.

I'm in my 70s .. I read middle-grade books so I can connect with the younger set among my friends / relatives. (And know which books to give as gifts.)

I love the delight in a child's eyes when I tell them I read a book they recommended, and ask them to discuss it with me.

Edie wrote: " Great middle grade books are well worth reading, better, IMO, than a lot of adult books.”



I completely agree.

I think I’m starting to get together a list of votes now. The only prompt I’m really not sure about is the one about ludo. I know Pam had some thoughtful ideas in post 16, but they seemed difficult to fill from my TBR and unsatisfactory somehow. I just can’t seem to fully understand how the game ludo can relate to a book.

The Goodreads shelf (https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...) wasn’t any help.

I did have the thought of the author or a character being named Ludovic, but that’s incredibly niche!

If the original proposer is here, are they able to give some more context to their idea? Was there a particular title, theme or genre they had in mind?

Book Concierge wrote: "I'm in my 70s .. I read middle-grade books so I can connect with the younger set among my friends / relatives. (And know which books to give as gifts.)

I love the delight in a child's eyes when I ..."

That's so beautiful ❤️

dalex wrote: "I downvoted the majority of the "related to" prompts just because we already have so many. And in my opinion the two word "The _______" prompt is entirely too similar to the one word title prompt.
..."

In my lit class, Fish out of water was also called "the Other." I will read a book about immigrants. If you want to read about Colonialism and language, Babel: An Arcane History is excellent and fits this prompt.

I wish we had more awards and lists.

Verity wrote: "I think I’m starting to get together a list of votes now. The only prompt I’m really not sure about is the one about ludo. I know Pam had some thoughtful ideas in post 16, but they seemed difficult..."

1-2 weeks ago someone joked about throwing in meaningless prompts at the end because they already had too many good ones. It might have been an impulsive idea. I don't mind.

Katie wrote: "1-2 weeks ago someone joked about throwing in meaningless prompts at the end because they already had too many good ones.”

True, maybe it’s a meaningless throwaway prompt and I’m trying too hard to get meaning out of it!

Trish wrote: "Siobhan wrote: "15. A book posted in one of the ATY Best Book of the Month threads in 2023 or 2024 - Another automatic upvote. The books I’ve used for this prompt the past two challenges have been ..."

They must have heard your wish. They're added to the listopia every month.

Nike wrote: "Siobhan wrote: "At first look I was feeling a little negative about this list. Then I looked again, and actually found so much to like! So 6 upvotes, 2 downvotes.

Upvotes:

2. A book related to th..."

Thank you! It's Irish, at least in my case. I'm English, but I have majority Irish ancestry so my parents gave both me and my sister Irish names!

Mandy wrote: "Siobhan wrote: "At first look I was feeling a little negative about this list. Then I looked again, and actually found so much to like! So 6 upvotes, 2 downvotes.

Upvotes:

2. A book related to th..."

Atm I admittedly watch it a little more than I read it, but I love it in whatever medium. It's just such a cool concept! I've loved it since I was a kid, love it even more now I'm an adult.

Nike wrote: "Pam wrote: "ATY Book of the month is a downvote for me but everything else I’m open to.

For the Ludo game, based on what Wiki states about it, some ideas are a cross on the cover (or if you turn ..."

I would say yes to that cover! That's a great example Nike.