Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

It's now time to get ready to vote for our next 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 Tuesday, August 13 and results will be posted in the morning of Saturday, August 17 (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.

Poll Prompts:
1. A book about a strong woman
2. A book by an author that uses 3 names
3. A book involving a "group" with at least 4 members that's not a family
4. A book title that could be a country song
5. A book connected to butterflies or moths
6. A satire, comedy, or humorous book
7. A book that relates to things the bunny says goodnight to in "Goodnight Moon"
8. A book with a cover that features a single body part
9. A book with a unit of measurement in the title
10. A book connected to a wood species or tree
11. A book about someone fighting for their rights
12. A book with a well-crafted villain
13. A book where at least part of the story is set in an country that starts with a letter in the word ANNIVERSARY
14. A book featuring your favorite color on the cover
15. A book from an animal or child's point of view

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

VOTE HERE: https://forms.gle/w31o8CSEZQfx2vTH7

THOUGHTS AND IDEAS FROM THE SUGGESTIONS THREAD

1. A book about a strong woman
This is inspired by Kamala Harris officially becoming the Democratic Presidential Nominee.



This could easily be fiction, historical fiction about a real person, or non-fiction.


A page of Listopias: https://www.goodreads.com/list/tag/st...

There are books literally titled Strong Female Character:
Strong Female Character, 
Strong Female Character, Strong Female Characters, Strong. Female. Character.,

Maybe a BIO option would be a strong woman who is also multiracial?

2. A book by an author that uses 3 names
Examples:
William Kent Krueger
Taylor Jenkins Reid
Emily St. John Mandel
Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Mary Kay Andrews
Kristy Woodson Harvey

3. A book involving a "group" with at least 4 members that's not a family
Could be:
A book club or social club
A band, choir, orchestra
A sports team
A travel group
A gang
A prayer group
A military unit or squadron
A committee or tribunal
A jury
A congregation or flock
A troop or troupe
An association or organization
A domestic staff
A faculty
A cast of a play or movie

5. A book connected to butterflies or moths
As well as some obvious books such as:
Whisper of the Moon Moth
The Butterfly Effect
Flight Behaviour

many butterflies and moths have funky names. Here are some UK examples:

Butterflies

Purple Emperor
Red Admiral
Grizzled Skipper

Moths

Deaths Head Hawk Moth
Elephant Hawk Moth
Footman
Chimney Sweep
The Mouse
Old Mother Shipton (a witch)
Puss moth
The drinker
The conformist
Beautiful Snout

7. A book that relates to things the bunny says goodnight to in "Goodnight Moon"
A reading of this book: https://youtu.be/1ZTnwKLKVhc?si=Mgcgx...
the little toy house: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...
the young mouse: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
the comb & brush: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
the bowl full of mush: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
the red balloon: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...
the moon: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...

8. A book with a cover that features a single body part
Hand, head, torso etc.
Hands: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
Hands or Feet: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...
Head: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
Or my favorite listopia title: Where's my body!: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...

9. A book with a unit of measurement in the title
Hour, year, day, minute, second, yard, fathom, league, mile, stone, hand, shot, etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperia...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...

10. A book connected to a wood species or tree
https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/wo...
It can be the title, the author's name, or an important in the plot

12. A book with a well-crafted villain
https://lithub.com/40-of-the-best-vil...
Female: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...
Male: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...
Unspecified Gender: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...
Shakespearean: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...

Emily wrote: "4. A book title that could be a country song"

I love this one because I think it could result in a hilarious discussion thread.

I'm just sitting here, reading the titles of the books that I have read this year and thinking what sort of country song they could be.

I love the following prompts because I think these have a lot of great possibilities and aren't things I've seen before:
3. A book involving a "group" with at least 4 members that's not a family
4. A book title that could be a country song
7. A book that relates to things the bunny says goodnight to in "Goodnight Moon"
8. A book with a cover that features a single body part

Maybes:

1. A book about a strong woman - easy to fill, but not exciting.

2. A book by an author that uses 3 names - easy, but not exciting

5. A book connected to butterflies or moths - possible downvote. I can't think of a book to read for it.

9. A book with a unit of measurement in the title - we had that cooking prompt last year, which wasn't easy.

10. A book connected to a wood species or tree - can't think of any books. I wish there was a listopia I could quickly check. It's at least unique.

12. A book with a well-crafted villain - This would be easy to do. Well-crafted is subjective.

13. A book where at least part of the story is set in an country that starts with a letter in the word ANNIVERSARY - I'm not sure I'd vote for it, but I am reading a series set in Ireland, so I'm covered

14. A book featuring your favorite color on the cover - I could literally assign almost any book to this prompt

15. A book from an animal or child's point of view - I liked non-human better. This prompt could have benefitted from a listopia too. Do I have any books from a child's POV on my TBR list?

What does “well-crafted” entail? For me, a villain is a villain.

From the Lit Hub list:

what exactly does “best” mean when it comes to bad guys (and gals)? Well, it might mean any number of things here: most actually terrifying, or most compelling, or most well-written, or most secretly beloved by readers who know they are supposed to be rooting for the white hats but just can’t help it. It simply depends on the villain. Think of these as noteworthy villains, if it clarifies things.

Duygu wrote: "What does “well-crafted” entail? For me, a villain is a villain."

I understand it as a well chiselled character where the author has really put a lot of work into describing the characters many features even psychologically.

Too bad, I like the butterfly prompt but am not voting for any prompts with "connected" in it.

I'm with Dugu, why "well-crafted" for a villian? How do I know and what does it mean?

Some lists for the animal and child:

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...

I take it to be a well developed villain verses a one dimensional villain. I personally, think Robin Hobb writes great villains.

Jillian wrote: "I take it to be a well developed villain verses a one dimensional villain. I personally, think Robin Hobb writes great villains."
But how will you know that before starting the book? Unless you just pick and author like you have suggested that generally writes well developed villains.

I think my favorites are 4 (country song) and 7 (Goodnight Moon). Selfishly I want to vote for 2 (3 names) because I have a lot of Emily St. John Mandel to read, but some of these are just way too easy. Like, my favorite color on the cover isn't Every book I read, but it's enough to where that's a throwaway book. Same with strong female character and fighting for their rights books since I read a lot of historical fiction. Got a lot of neutral ones on here for me.

For wood species or trees, fruit trees are probably the easiest to find, especially apple, lemon, and orange. There’s also Poisonwood (yes, I still have Tbe Poisonwood Bible on my TBR!) If you use content, there are a lot of books where trees are important to the story (e.g. Barkskins by Annie Proulx, The Trees by Percival Everett, The Overstory, etc.) There’s a GR tree list with over 150 books. I like this prompt and will probably vote for it!

I’m glad someone suggested the author with 3 names. That’s a definite upvote for me! I just bought 7 books this past week and 3 of them go by 3 names. Plus, I know I have others also.

Bec wrote: "Jillian wrote: "I take it to be a well developed villain verses a one dimensional villain. I personally, think Robin Hobb writes great villains."
But how will you know that before starting the book..."

I might do a reread, or an author I have high expectations for. If ultimately the villain doesn't live up to my expectations, I'd still count it.

Here is a listopia of the Best Villains https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

I'm really loving the Goodnight Moon prompt. It's creative and opens up a lot of possibilities. I might use Flowers for Algernon for that one, but there are a lot of good options on the listopias listed as well.

I also love the satire, comedy, or humorous book prompt. The New York Times came out with a list of the 22 funniest books since Catch-22 (https://www.listchallenges.com/the-ny...), which suggested some authors already on my TBR. I've always had an affinity towards humorous books, especially dark ones, ever since reading the Series of Unfortunate Events in my youth. Some recent funny reads I enjoyed were The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Wellness, The Princess Bride, and The Good Lord Bird.

A book where at least part of the story is set in an country that starts with a letter in the word ANNIVERSARY is also appealing to me since we haven't had any setting prompts voted in yet.

That's 3 upvotes for me so far. I'll have to do a little digging to find applicable books for the other unique prompts on this list. I might downvote the "too easy" prompts.

I like settings prompts but ANNIVERSARY is really broad! It includes 71 countries. I’d rather it was narrowed down to a region or a handful of countries.

First impressions:

1. A book about a strong woman - A strong maybe. There are a lot of different genres where this may apply, so that helps

2. A book by an author that uses 3 names - I'd have to look at the options, since I can only think of one or two off the top of my head

3. A book involving a "group" with at least 4 members that's not a family - Love this! Definite upvote.

4. A book title that could be a country song - I'm not a country music fan so I'm not sure I'd easily be able to tell which titles seem long song titles

5. A book connected to butterflies or moths - I might vote for this if I have enough options on my list, but I like the "connected to mushrooms" prompt better

6. A satire, comedy, or humorous book - I find it really hard to tell in advance which books are going to be funny (except maybe some graphic novels) so this kind of prompt tends to be annoying for me

7. A book that relates to things the bunny says goodnight to in "Goodnight Moon" - I have absolutely no memory of ever reading or hearing this book (although my mom insists that I have), so it's not something where I have enough of a connection to really want it

8. A book with a cover that features a single body part - I find the wording weirdly off-putting somehow

9. A book with a unit of measurement in the title - Maybe, I'd have to look at my options

10. A book connected to a wood species or tree - I can't think of any books that I have on my TBR that would fit this at the moment, but I might be convinced if I had enough to choose from

11. A book about someone fighting for their rights - Most likely an upvote. I have quite a few YA books that I already own that would fit, and plenty more options on my TBR

12. A book with a well-crafted villain - I really like this, but I'm hesitant to vote for it because I'm not sure how easy it would be to plan in advance

13. A book where at least part of the story is set in an country that starts with a letter in the word ANNIVERSARY - Not a fan of setting prompts, and I don't really love the extra step of double-checking the letters beforehand

14. A book featuring your favorite color on the cover - I like this one. I'd consider upvoting, but not sure if I want it that strongly either

15. A book from an animal or child's point of view - I'm burnt out on this one, although I could be convinced if I found enough exciting options that might work

Rachel, there is an old joke about the topics of country songs. I think they included heartbreak, cheating, drinking, trucks, mama and prison. Love, missing people, being on the road, blues, family, god or country. I might look for a sassy title about a man who “done me wrong”.

The single body part wording isn’t as off putting to me as “disembodied “ was last year.

I have come around on the tree prompt - I have a couple of tree books.
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

It turns out I do have a lot of child narrators, mostly because people are counting teenagers as children.

First impression- I could find something for any of these.

Poll Prompts:
✴️1. A book about a strong woman. I always like these
🔅2. A book by an author that uses 3 names. Easy enough. Sara Addison Allen is another one.
🔅3. A book involving a "group" with at least 4 members that's not a family. - I like ensemble casts of characters
✴️4. A book title that could be a country song - I know I must have many that could fit. This could be fun
✴️5. A book connected to butterflies or moths - I just bought a book with a title that fits, or I could read a book about MIGRATION
🔅6. A satire, comedy, or humorous book - I need more humor in my reading.
7. A book that relates to things the bunny says goodnight to in "Goodnight Moon" - idk but I loved this book.
🔅10. A book connected to a wood species or tree - If I can’t find something more specific, I know I have books with trees.
🔅11. A book about someone fighting for their rights - very easy.
✴️13. A book where at least part of the story is set in a country that starts with a letter in the word ANNIVERSARY - I love country prompts. I want 2025 to be a global year for me.
🔅15. A book from an animal or child's point of view-

The villain and body part ideas are also starting to grow on me.

A country song title could also be just a women’s name like the songs Amanda, Jolene, Lucille, Fancy, My Maria, Elvira. Lots of options there! Streets of Laredo by Larry McMurtry is an option that actually is a Western/folk song. I think it could be fun to look for a title!

Andrea wrote: "I'm really loving the Goodnight Moon prompt. It's creative and opens up a lot of possibilities. I might use Flowers for Algernon for that one, but there are a lot of good options on th..."

@ Andrea - Thanks for mentioning Good Lord Bird. I had no idea it was funny. I really like this author.

Woke up to suggestions done and dusted LOL. Great list, lots of originals and creativity. I have The Good Lord Bird, thanks Andrea, and if the animal/child POV comes in, The Wind in the Willows awaits.
So many prompts sound fun - The Goodnight Moon - I'll read the book for an idea, Trees are good, ANNIVERSARY a definite, butterflies, yes, so many good ones.
I'm currently reading Our Man in Havana - would fit the humour one. Hoping for lots of winners this round LOL!

I’ve found some butterfly lists for the butterfly and moth prompt:


Butterflies
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...

YA Butterflies
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...

Butterfly Covers
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...

Trapped Butterfly Covers
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...

Could they be added to the blurb for this prompt before voting opens? Afraid I’m not sure how it works - I should have been more on the ball last night.

Pamela wrote: "Too bad, I like the butterfly prompt but am not voting for any prompts with "connected" in it.

Is there a better way to put it?

I was thinking of submitting a butterfly prompt, so I have some extra bits of research.

The butterfly effect:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

Characters who are social butterflies

Some more species names:
Monarch
Painted Lady
Gatekeeper
Adonis Blue
Peacock
California Sister
White Satyr
Small Wood Nymph
Soldier
Great Arctic
Blue Triangle
Ulysses Swallowtail
Scarlet Jezebel
Moonbeam

I don't want to be a downer on people's fun, so I'm not downvoting it, but if the country prompt gets in, you're gonna have to help me out. I know a grand total of four country song titles, and I can't discern a pattern from them.

Ellie wrote: "I don't want to be a downer on people's fun, so I'm not downvoting it, but if the country prompt gets in, you're gonna have to help me out. I know a grand total of four country song titles, and I c..."

Haha, same here :D I figured I'd just collect some titles that sound like they could be about "love, heartbreak, and the pursuit of happiness" (a definition I found online) and try to picture them sung by Johnny Cash or Garth Brooks :D

Not into country music at all, but I LOVE the creativity and tongue-in-cheek nature of the prompt and will definitely upvote it! (Also would upvote if it said "rap song" or "heavy metal song" or "opera aria" instead—absolutely love the idea!)

I'm also hoping the three name sprompt gets in. I have almost the entire work of Mary Higgins Clark sitting on my Kindle unread, because even though I've never read a book of hers that I didn't enjoy, they're quick reads for me that I fall back on when I don't have anything else, and with two challenges in parallel for the past five years, I haven't had much time to spare for spontaneous non-challenge reads :D

Thanks Ellie!

There is a list of books people have shelved under “moth”

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

but I don’t understand the connection for half of them. There seem to be a lot of classics.

A couple more obvious ones I thought or are:

The Mothman Prophecies
The Silence of the Lambs

P.S. I love the country music prompt too.

Here are some titles of country songs to give you an idea.

5 days in May
After the Rain
Bad Timing
Bullet Proof
Diamond Mine
Rose-Coloured Glasses
As the Thunder Rolls
Bottle Up Lightening
Make a Life, Not A Living
Bridges
Casualties of War
Downtown
The Silver-tongued Devil and I
Everyday's the Weekend
Happy Anywhere
I'm in a Hurry
Friendship

Dubhease wrote: "I have come around on the tree prompt - I have a couple of tree books.
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

It turns out I do have a lot of child narrators, mostly because peop..."

That's a really good list, didn't even think to look for one. Great!

A few of my ATY 2023 titles that remind me of country songs:
Prayers the Devil Answers
The Lincoln Highway
Never Let Me Go
Reckless Girls
The Boys from Biloxi
Sweet Tea and Sympathy
A Bad Day for Sunshine

The main elements that make these good potential country song titles are Sweet Tea (house wine of the South), Boys/Girls (images of a group either defying or fulfilling expectations, usually wild, carefree, rebellious), counter-intuitive ideas (bad day/sunshine, prayers/devil), Undying love, lonely highways.

I'm voting for this prompt in honor of a friend who says that all of life can be found in a country song.

Voting is open! https://forms.gle/w31o8CSEZQfx2vTH7

NancyJ wrote: "Rachel, there is an old joke about the topics of country songs. I think they included heartbreak, cheating, drinking, trucks, mama and prison. Love, missing people, being on the road, blues, family..."

My wife left, my truck broke, and my dog died is what every country song is about.

If this wins (I didn't vote yay or nay on it), I would probably read Dolly Parton's Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics cause she discusses her lyrics. And she is a god.

Joyce wrote: "Pamela wrote: "Too bad, I like the butterfly prompt but am not voting for any prompts with "connected" in it.

Is there a better way to put it?"

More specificity. I feel people are using "connected" this year to avoid committing to more, like they're afraid to make something a cover, title, or topic prompt because someone might not like what they chose.

I had 3 upvotes, 2 down. I liked the group of 4, body part, and satire/comedy prompts.

I liked this group of prompts, particularly the country song title. 4 and 4 for me this round:

Up votes,:
Group with at least 4 members not family - The Thursday Murder Club series is my first option for this prompt.
Book Title that Could be a Country Song - I love the creativity here
Goodnight Moon - I read this repeatedly to both of my babies and hope it gets in
Wood Species or Tree - just a unique idea that is woodsy and unrelated to fungi :)

Downvotes: Nothing particularly off-putting about these...just not my taste
Butterflies or Moths
Cover featuring Single body part
Someone fighting for their rights
Animal/Child point of view

I did 2 up, 6 down. Which guarantees a bunch of prompts will pass through this week!

For me this is the opposite of last week. Last week I had 7 downvotes, this time I used 8 upvotes, which I have probably never done in my 5 years here! Kudos to all who came up with interesting prompts.

could be a country song, goodnight moon, wood species/tree, and anniversary were my upvotes! really like most of these, only had 2 downvotes.

I ended up 5/3. I originally had 4/4 and right before hitting submit I moved one of my down votes to a top vote. There really is only one that I hope doesn't make the list, but I kinda have a feeling that it will be a winner.

Robin P wrote: "For me this is the opposite of last week. Last week I had 7 downvotes, this time I used 8 upvotes, which I have probably never done in my 5 years here! Kudos to all who came up with interesting pro..."

Yes this was a much better list to choose from. Last time I was 2 up, 6 down, and this time it was 6 up, 2 down.

All upvotes for me. I like so many of these prompts, I could have used a couple more votes. Probably my favorite list of prompts so far, no clear downvotes and few ho-hum options.

Also 6 upvotes, 2 down.

Jette wrote: "A few of my ATY 2023 titles that remind me of country songs:
Prayers the Devil Answers
The Lincoln Highway
Never Let Me Go
Reckless Girls..."

Jette - these are some great book titles that I can see as country songs. I can especially imagine "Prayers the Devil Answers", "The Boys from Biloxi", and "Sweet Tea and Sympathy".

I voted 3 ups and five downs. I voted up the prompts on a strong woman, a humorous book, and one with a well-crafted villian. I have always been drawn to protagonists that are strong women rather than the helpless female stereotyped in past horror movies. I also enjoy astute antagonists paired against a Sherlock Holmes hero.

Regarding my down votes. I didn't care for the favorite color or country song prompt since both would require little effort to find one. I also voted down the three-name author since I have read most of the ones I choose to read. The unit of measurement seemed to restrictive. No interest in the one fighting for ones rights.

Agree that this is the opposite of last week in many ways, 7 upvotes and only one downvote!

Upvotes:

1. A book about a strong woman - This was already going to be an upvote for me, but the Kamala link definitely pushed it over! :D

4. A book title that could be a country song - I don’t like country much as a music genre, but it does have some cracking song titles. I feel this could be such an interesting prompt!

5. A book connected to butterflies or moths - I really like the ideas provided for this, and think it could be such a fun and inventive one.

6. A satire, comedy, or humorous book - I do have a fair few comedy books on my tbr, mainly Discworld, so this seems like a really fun idea!

7. A book that relates to things the bunny says goodnight to in "Goodnight Moon" - Again, I just really like the inventiveness of this! I think there are so many options here.

12. A book with a well-crafted villain - I love a good villain!

14. A book featuring your favorite color on the cover - This seems like such a fun idea for a cover prompt, and really flexible too!

Downvotes:

15. A book from an animal or child's point of view

6 up 2 down also for me