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 morning of Monday, July 8 and results will be posted in the morning of Friday, July 12 (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.

Possible Prompts:
1. A book title or author’s first or last name starting with J
2. A book suggested to you by an AI model (ChatGPT and Co.) based on any prompt you give to it
3. A book whose title has ten or fewer letters
4. A book published in a quarter-century year (e.g. 1925, 1950, 1975, 2000, 2025)
5. A book that fits prompt no. 25 of a previous year's ATY challenge
6. A book with an East-West connection
7. A book with a primarily red, green or blue cover
8. A book by an author with a common noun in their name
9. A book with a negation in the title
10. A book where the word “ten” is in the author’s name or title
11. A book where science or technology has gone wrong
12. A book set before 1900
13. A book with dungeons, donjons, or in high dudgeon
14. A book related to "The Great Gatsby"
15. A book involving the pursuit of happiness

Feel free to discuss the prompts below, but please remember to be respectful to the other group members.

VOTE HERE: https://forms.gle/XVDHVqG2hXCH5vqB6

THOUGHTS AND IDEAS FROM THE SUGGESTIONS THREAD

1. A book title or author’s first or last name starting with J
As this is the 10th letter of the alphabet

2. A book suggested to you by an AI model (ChatGPT and Co.) based on any prompt you give to it
Because it seems there is no escaping AI now and forever. I think it would be fun to give AI any prompt no matter how general or specific about a type of book you'd like to read and see how well it does and how much you end up liking the book it recommends you. Everything is turning AI now, it seems the perfect time to have an AI prompt.

You can use a more strict idea of what AI is, like ChatGPT, or you can ask Alexa or Siri for recommendations

3. A book whose title has ten or fewer letters
Emma
Persuasion
Hamnet
Weyward
Piranesi
S.
Beheld
Coraline
The Maid
Dhalgren
Little, Big
The Furies

4. A book published in a quarter-century year (e.g. 1925, 1950, 1975, 2000, 2025)
The person who proposed it thought this could be a way of having a second book published in 2025 as an option while opening it up a bit for those of us who are too behind to read new releases. It also highlights an element unique to 2025 (being a quarter-century year.

Examples of books that qualify include:

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
’Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
Shōgun by James Clavell
Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
The Duke and I by Julia Quinn
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Storm Front by Jim Butcher
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
White Teeth by Zadie Smith

5. A book that fits prompt no. 25 of a previous year's ATY challenge
Ex.:
2024: A book involving a crime other than a murder
2023: A book with a tropical setting
2022: A book less than 220 pages OR more than 440 pages
2021: A book set on an island
2020: Related to the arts
2019: Inspired by the wedding rhyme: Book #3 Something Borrowed

6. A book with an East-West connection
East *meets* West theme - examples
- a friendship or relationship between people from east vs west cultures
- westerner traveling to Asia
- immigrants from Middle East to Canada
- a friendship between students from different parts of the world (e.g. Japan + Britain, or U.S.+ India
- romance, marriage, family with mixed cultures
- diplomats, spies, alliances, multinational organizations,
- a book involving East-west geography, exploration, mapping, cooperation, settlements, politics
A book set in Istanbul

An East *versus*West idea -
- A book set far east or west from where you live
- the Berlin Wall, East vs West Germany, Europe, reunification
- Cold War spy thriller or romance
- East - west conflict, war, terrorism
- Or a creative interpretation relevant to you

8. A book by an author with a common noun in their name
examples:
C.J. Box
Allison Brook
Jeff Wheeler
Martha Wells
Rivers Solomon
Joe Hill
Jasper Fforde
Dara Horn
Geraldine Brooks
Walter R Brooks
Max Brooks
Claire North
Kelly Link
Stephen King
Wolf Haas
Mira Grant
Oliver Sacks
Karen Lord
Carrie Fisher (animal)
Bruce Fisher
Hilary Knight
Jonathan Swift (bird)
Gene Wolfe
Ellery Queen
Stella Gibbons
William Bridges
Reginald Rose
Michael Bond
Lynne Reid Banks
Alexander Key
Jane Louise Curry
Peter Beagle
Howard Moss
Anne Rice
Barbara Vine
Jared Diamond
Elizabeth Moon
Elizabeth Berg
Tony Hawks
Greg Bear
Steve Martin (bird)
Leonie Swann
Molly Peacock

BIO-first and last full name is a noun
Mark Twain
Mark Frost
Robin Lane Fox
Lily King

KIS-noun is found within the name
Sarah Winman man
Barbara Kingsolver bar or king
Naomi Alderman alder or man
William Egginton egg
Dave Eggers egg
Michael Ende end
Beatrix Potter pot
John Kennedy Toole tool
Fredrik Backman (Backe (Slope) and Man) Fred (Peace) and Rik (Rich)

KIS- nicknames
Authors named John (toilet)

KIS- occupational last names
Smith, Alderman, Potter,Octavia E. Butler, R.C. Sherriff, Neil Postman

9. A book with a negation in the title
This means: no, none, nobody, nowhere, never etc.
don't, hasn't etc.
and pre/sufffixes like un-, dis-, -less, de-, in- or mis-

11. A book where science or technology has gone wrong
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

13. A book with dungeons, donjons, or in high dudgeon
Dungeons - from fantasy to sex, includes prisons, oubliette, vaults.
Donjon - part of a castle, usually the tower or inner keep.
In high dudgeon - a person very unhappy or angry

14. A book related to "The Great Gatsby"
In honor of the 100th anniversary of publication of the novel
Careless People: Murder, Mayhem, and the Invention of The Great Gatsby
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

15. A book involving the pursuit of happiness
I think this could go many ways:
• someone in therapy
• anyone working toward a goal: education, athletic, political, business, starting a family
• a romance
• someone seeking freedom from: slavery, unjust incarceration, a bad relationship

Argh! I just clicked on the suggestions thread as it was closing! lol, not that I had anything to add...

I like a lot of these, I think my favorite is "ten" in the title or author's name!

A book suggested to you by an AI model (ChatGPT and Co.) based on any prompt you give to it

Can someone give me some suggestions/guidance on where to go online to look for this please?

ChatGPT.com will pull up ChatGPT, and you can type in a prompt for recommendations. You can also use Siri on your phone (or Alexa, or Google, or whatever AI your phone has) if that's more accessible.

Could prisons, oubliette, vaults be added to dungeons please?

I won't be doing the generative AI prompt if it gets in. It's been trained on data without permission, uses huge amounts of energy, is often just wrong, and threatens people's jobs. Of course there are serious applications that might be justifiable, but I don't think asking it for not very good recommendations is worth the harm.

Mandy, I would say that would be an applicable KIS version of that prompt.

It’s on my original post.

Ellie wrote: "I won't be doing the generative AI prompt if it gets in. It's been trained on data without permission, uses huge amounts of energy, is often just wrong, and threatens people's jobs. Of course there..."


Me neither. If it gets in, I'll just read any book.

message 907 has the hyper-links for authors with nouns

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I think this is the wrong description for this suggestion:
"11. A book where science or technology has gone wrong
This means: no, none, nobody, nowhere, never etc.
don't, hasn't etc.
and pre/sufffixes like un-, dis-, -less, de-, in- or mis-

I'm not a fan of AI, either (I think most of us have read at least 1 sci-fi book where the technology turns against us!), but even when I do a google search now, it gives me the AI answer.

Oh sorry Mandy, I must have missed that edit. I've updated.

I wish this would have been on the last poll instead of just 2025:
A book published in a quarter-century year (e.g. 1925, 1950, 1975, 2000, 2025)

My initial impression is 3 up and 3 down votes.

Thanks.

hit post before I realized I didn’t add those seconds later.

Jillian wrote: "I wish this would have been on the last poll instead of just 2025:
A book published in a quarter-century year (e.g. 1925, 1950, 1975, 2000, 2025)

My initial impression is 3 up and 3 down votes."

I thought so too, but then the post mentioned that this would allow us to read TWO books from 2025!

Emily wrote: "ChatGPT.com will pull up ChatGPT, and you can type in a prompt for recommendations. You can also use Siri on your phone (or Alexa, or Google, or whatever AI your phone has) if that's more accessible."

Thank you Emily :)

I’ve created a Listopia for a book where the word “ten” is in the author’s name or title. Please feel free everyone to add your favourite tens!

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

Most popular books

2000 https://www.goodreads.com/book/popula...

1975 https://www.goodreads.com/book/popula...

1950 https://www.goodreads.com/book/popula...

1925 https://www.goodreads.com/book/popula...

1900 https://www.goodreads.com/book/popula...

Jennifer W wrote: "I'm not a fan of AI, either (I think most of us have read at least 1 sci-fi book where the technology turns against us!), but even when I do a google search now, it gives me the AI answer."

There are search engines that don't use AI. I still use Google but they don't return AI results for me, maybe I turned something off or they aren't using it in all countries. I wouldn't carry on using it if it goes full AI because I do my best to lower energy use and I'd rather read the original text, not a weird mashup.

Dixie wrote: "I think this is the wrong description for this suggestion:
"11. A book where science or technology has gone wrong
This means: no, none, nobody, nowhere, never etc.
don't, hasn't etc.
and pre/sufff..."

Went too fast lol fixing now!

At first glance I will have all upvotes

🔅1. A book title or author’s first or last name starting with J - maybe
2. A book suggested to you by an AI model (ChatGPT and Co.) based on any prompt you give to it
🔅3. A book whose title has ten or fewer letters - maybe later
✴️4. A book published in a quarter-century year (e.g. 1925, 1950, 1975, 2000, 2025)- 1925 was a good year
✴️5. A book that fits prompt no. 25 of a previous year's ATY challenge
✴️6. A book with an East-West connection
7. A book with a primarily red, green or blue cover -maybe later
🔅8. A book by an author with a common noun in their name- maybe
🔅9. A book with a negation in the title - maybe. this was harder than I expected when we had it 2 or 3 years ago. Though the prefixes make it easier.
🔅10. A book where the word “ten” is in the author’s name or title - I want to read the first book on the list.
✴️11. A book where science or technology has gone wrong - Oryx and Crake.
🔅12. A book set before 1900- easy
13. A book with dungeons, donjons, or in high dudgeon
14. A book related to "The Great Gatsby"
✴️15. A book involving the pursuit of happiness -

1. A book title or author’s first or last name starting with J: I'm fine with that one. Not a favourite bit there's nothing wrong with it . I did vote for it
2. A book suggested to you by an AI model (ChatGPT and Co.) based on any prompt you give to it.
This one's intriguing because first I thought to myself "Absolutely not! I'll downvote it for sure. Then after a while I thought "Well, maybe". And now a few hours afterwards I feel "Yes, I might even vote for this one"! I neither upvoted or downvoted
3. A book whose title has ten or fewer letters Yes!
4. A book published in a quarter-century year (e.g. 1925, 1950, 1975, 2000, 2025) Why not. Neither for or against it
5. A book that fits prompt no. 25 of a previous year's ATY challenge No, I thought the ones listed were quite boring. Downvoted
6. A book with an East-West connection Neutral
7. A book with a primarily red, green or blue cover Maybe . Upvoted
8. A book by an author with a common noun in their name Yes
9. A book with a negation in the title Yes, I like this one!
10. A book where the word “ten” is in the author’s name or title Maybe, why not
11. A book where science or technology has gone wrong I don't mind at all but this is Sci Fi and we already have that prompt so I don't know why we need this one. But since I like sci fi and fantasy I could use the other prompt for reading fantasy and this one for reading sci fi.
12. A book set before 1900 Probably yes, I love literature from the 19th century. Upvoted
13. A book with dungeons, donjons, or in high dudgeon I'm not sure, I would like to see a list of books.
14. A book related to "The Great Gatsby". I don't know. I like that book a lot but I can't think of anything to read which is related. Downvoted
15. A book involving the pursuit of happiness Maybe, I don't know

I'm a bit surprised. I really liked the suggestions for the last poll but I must say that I find most of those quite boring at a first glance. I like the Negation-prompt and The Title of ten letters or less best.

I just think AI is silly. I have turned off Siri on my phone. When I use Google to look something up, I sometimes avoid the first answers that come up. I know AI is our future and has some promise in medicine and other fields, but I am concerned about it replacing authors, editors, musicians. even customer support/tech support people, which was my career for 30 years.

Verity wrote: "I’ve created a Listopia for a book where the word “ten” is in the author’s name or title. Please feel free everyone to add your favourite tens!

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2......"

Verity, The listopia makes it really easy to find books that fit in your to-read list. I went to ‘Add books to this list’ and put ten in the search box. I got several pages of books that fit.

I do not think that the AI prompt will get my vote. I am generally not for most AI usage in my everyday life, especially my searches. Too much like intrusive. Yet, my blog sometimes has AI suggestions for improving the blog post. I will consider them and use if the suggestion fits what I want to say more clearly.

A book with a negation in the title, is a down vote for me since I had a really hard time with the prompt before. I thought, I'd share the listopia we made before so others can see if they have books or not.

[ATY 2021] - Title Contains a Negative
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

I’m a no for the AI prompt. I don’t need any more book suggestions from any source! There are 5 suggestions I really like. I think that East-West could be interesting with some different ways to approach it.

Was there a discussion somewhere about some ideas related to The Great Gatsby? Other than rereading the book itself (which I might do, it's been several years and I really liked it), all I can think of is a book with a character named Daisy, daisies on the cover, or someone throwing a huge party.

There’s also retellings like Self-Made Boys: A Great Gatsby Remix

Jillian wrote: "A book with a negation in the title, is a down vote for me since I had a really hard time with the prompt before. I thought, I'd share the listopia we made before so others can see if they have boo..."



thanks for the list! I'm surprised how many books I have on my TBR that are showing up on that list!! Maybe that one will become an upvote for me.

You could extend The Great Gatsby to crooked business dealings (Nick thinks Gatsby is a bootlegger), jazz age, anything related to car crashes (cheerful, I know), things related to eyes (the poster that dominates the area) , run-down, industrial or post-industrial areas, corvids (Jay Gatsby), even eggs (West Egg).

At the moment I'm 6 up and 2 down A1 and Gatsby down ( I hated Gatsby)

Since it came on the public domain, there have been lots of retelling published, and I’ve loved every one of them that I’ve read lol.

Jennifer W wrote: "Was there a discussion somewhere about some ideas related to The Great Gatsby? Other than rereading the book itself (which I might do, it's been several years and I really liked it), all I can thin..."



I didn't see one. If it gets in, I figure I'll look for a book set in the early 20th Century, ideally NYC in 1920s. Beatriz Williams has a series set in 1920s NYC, and I haven't read the third one yet (The Wicked Widow). Harlem Renaissance books are another option.

Ellie wrote: "I won't be doing the generative AI prompt if it gets in. It's been trained on data without permission, uses huge amounts of energy, is often just wrong, and threatens people's jobs. Of course there..."

I'm glad you said something, because that's exactly the way I feel about AI. It has great medical uses, but mostly it seems to be used for stealing from hardworking people and hurting the environment. Perhaps it is inevitable, although people said that about NFTs and look where they've ended up, but I refuse to have anything to do with it if I can at all help it.

A couple of Gatsby retellings I know about are Wild and Wicked Things and The Chosen and the Beautiful. I would think any book about the bright young things of the 1920's would fit. I don't really like the original Gatsby but I don't dislike the prompt.

Jennifer W wrote: "Was there a discussion somewhere about some ideas related to The Great Gatsby? Other than rereading the book itself (which I might do, it's been several years and I really liked it), all I can thin..."

I guess any book dealing with the golden twenties would fit as well.

Found some more:

5. A book that fits prompt no. 25 of a previous year's ATY challenge
Ex.:
2024: A book involving a crime other than a murder
2023: A book with a tropical setting
2022: A book less than 220 pages OR more than 440 pages
2021: A book set on an island
2020: Related to the arts
2019: Inspired by the wedding rhyme: Book #3 Something Borrowed
2018: A book with an antagonist/villain point of view
2017: A book about a famous historical figure
2016: A book whose main character is in a profession that interests you

2018 had the best one, IMO.

Jillian wrote: "A book with a negation in the title, is a down vote for me since I had a really hard time with the prompt before. I thought, I'd share the listopia we made before so others can see if they have boo..."

Lots here from my TBR list - an upvote for me!

For the ‘science and technology gone wrong’ prompt, it doesn’t have to be fiction. There are plenty of real world examples that are written about in non-fiction.

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring for example.
Here’s a non-fiction list that could work:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

LeahS wrote: "You could extend The Great Gatsby to crooked business dealings (Nick thinks Gatsby is a bootlegger), jazz age, anything related to car crashes (cheerful, I know), things related to eyes (the post..."

Yeah, after I posted my question and stepped away from my computer, I remembered the eyes. That might be what I would do, an eye prominent on the cover.

Jennifer W wrote: "Was there a discussion somewhere about some ideas related to The Great Gatsby? Other than rereading the book itself (which I might do, it's been several years and I really liked it), all I can thin..."

This is a listopia of retellings:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

There was a list of YA retellings also included in the original suggestion post.

Other options: books set on Long Island

Ellie wrote: "I won't be doing the generative AI prompt if it gets in. It's been trained on data without permission, uses huge amounts of energy, is often just wrong, and threatens people's jobs. Of course there..."

I agree! I will be down voting this suggestion.

AI and Gatsby are big down votes for me. Although if Gatsby gets in, it won’t be a difficult prompt. I really like the common noun in the author’s name prompt but the rest are just okay to me.

J wrote: "Found some more:

5. A book that fits prompt no. 25 of a previous year's ATY challenge
Ex.:
2024: A book involving a crime other than a murder
2023: A book with a tropical setting
2022: A book less..."

I really like these #25 prompts. Every year we get suggestions for Villain POV and occupations. I still have a lot of books set on islands and tropical areas I want to read. A #25 prompt would give people lots of choices.

Jennifer W wrote: "LeahS wrote: "You could extend The Great Gatsby to crooked business dealings (Nick thinks Gatsby is a bootlegger), jazz age, anything related to car crashes (cheerful, I know), things related to ey..."

One could also do non fiction releated to F Scott Fitzgerald , I've got A Drinkable Feast: A Cocktail Companion to 1920s Paris on my TBR and would likely use that

MJ wrote: "For the ‘science and technology gone wrong’ prompt, it doesn’t have to be fiction. There are plenty of real world examples that are written about in non-fiction.

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring for..."

Excellent point MJ. Pretty much any book about the environment or climate change will have examples of scientific advances that set us back in other ways. Books about extreme weather often link to science too. Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid: The Fraught and Fascinating Biology of Climate Change is very entertaining (imho). The Death and Life of the Great Lakes is the book that first got me interested in reading about the environment. It’s one of the best books I’ve read about how small changes can have unanticipated outcomes. It’s particularly interesting if you live near one of the lakes. Paradise Falls: The True Story of an Environmental Catastrophe occurred near Niagara Falls.

Right now though I’m in the mood for a Blake Crouch type of thriller. All his books would fit this prompt. There must be some new books about genetics gone wrong. Or Benjamin Labatut.

I just got an ARC of Blake Crouch’s new book that’s coming out in October and I am THRILLED. He’s a must-read for me.