Behind the Name Book Club discussion

This is now the thread where we will discuss challenge themes for 2017.

ETA: Here are the 2017 monthly themes and links to lists for suggestions for each!

February - Damsels in Shining Armor & Dudes in Distress https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3... (voted for by the group)
March - Memoirs/Autobiographies/Biographies about/by women https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2... and https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... (suggested by Rachel)
April - Humor https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3... (suggested by Rachel)
May - Best Sword & Castle Adventures https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4... and https://www.goodreads.com/genres/medi... (suggested by Shannon)
June - Crime/Adventure Set in the 19th Century in the United States https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2... (suggested by Shannon)
July - Novels that Take Place in China https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2... https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... (suggested by me)
August - Storms! https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7... http://www.barnesandnoble.com/b/books... (suggested by me)
September - Best School Assigned Books, make it a real challenge by reading one you haven't before! https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7... (suggested by Rachel)
October - GoodReads for Autumn https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/6... (suggested by Rachel and myself, i.e. horror and general reads with autumn settings)
November - Bombs and Explosions! https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9... https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3... https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9... https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/... (suggested by me)
December - Murder Most Cold, murder mysteries by Scandinavian authors https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8... (suggested by me)

I like how specific the ones to choose from for Feb were. I can only think of more generic ideas. Like Western, Chick Lit, Medieval Historical Fiction, American Historical Fiction, Nonfiction, Gangster, Western, Family Mystery... I dunno. I could come up with books for any of those since I'm just thinking about ones on my list anyway! ha. Surely there are premade lists out there in the world for this sort of thing though?

Just kind of general theme-y ideas here, I'm not super invested in anything. The holidays are American dates:

March is Women's History month, so...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/5...


April = April Fools
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...
or Holocaust Remembrance Week
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

May = Mother's Day
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...

June = Father's Day
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

June/July/August = Beach reads? There's a bunch of lists for this

September = Back to School
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...

October = Horror for Halloween
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

Either June (LGBT pride month) or October (LGBT history month) =
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

November = Veteran's Day (because nothing on the Thanksgiving list looks good)
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/6...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

I don't have anything for December; I don't want to suggest Christmas books, it's too obvious ;p

@Shannon, that's how we came up with more specific (yet still general :P) themes! Love down to certain ideas or tropes. We could do the same for your suggestions I'm sure; like you said there are tons of lists out there haha

@Rachel, lots of great suggestions! I especially like the ones for March and think any one of those would be perfect for this group honestly. I was looking at the same sort of ideas lol Though we don't have to go too theme-y for each month of course! A few others I thought of:

April or August:
Storm! (as a theme) - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...


July:
Best Novels That Take Place in China (a combination of 4th of July/summer celebration and the fact that the Chinese invented fireworks) - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
Great Chinese Historical Fiction - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

November (with Guy Fawkes/Bonfire night in mind):
Historical Fiction 1600-1700 - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...
Books that Rage Against Society - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...
Bombs/Explosions - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...

Winter Months/December:
Books to Read When Snow is Falling - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...
Books About Blizzards - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...
Sunny Christmas: Holiday Romances set in the Southern Hemisphere - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...
Murder Most Cold - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...
Cold-Colored Covers - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

So many great suggestions! We're going to be spoilt for choice :)

So I decided it would be best to get the themes for the year settled now, so the discussion doesn't clutter the themes page for the rest of the year and so we can make our 2017 challenge shelves.

This is what I'm thinking currently:

March - Memoirs/Autobiographies/Biographies about/by women https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2... and https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... (suggested by Rachel)
April - Humor https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3... (suggested by Rachel)
May - Best Sword & Castle Adventures https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4... (suggested by Shannon)
June - Crime/Adventure Set in the 19th Century in the United States https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2... (suggested by Shannon)
July - Best Novels that Take Place in China https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... (suggested by me)
August - Storms! https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7... (suggested by me)
September - Best School Assigned Books, make it a real challenge by reading one you haven't before! https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7... (suggested by Rachel)
October - GoodReads for Autumn https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/6... (suggested by Rachel and myself, i.e. horror and general reads with autumn settings)
November - Books That Rage Against Society https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2... (suggested by me)
December - Murder Most Cold, murder mysteries by Scandinavian authors https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8... (suggested by me)

We'll discuss it for a few weeks before settling on it, so if anyone would like to change anything or has other ideas, please share!

I love that list!! Nice variety and lots of choices for every theme!

Excellent list - well done!

I decided to change November's from social protest to the more general bombs and explosions after a more careful look at the list and an uninspired search for similar reads. We can consider the theme again for 2018 if there's strong interest but as of now the choices appear limited and pretty meh.