Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Hey everyone!

I've seen a lot of chatter on individual plans and posts, discussing what ideas people have for 2020 and how they plan on tackling their challenge.

As a mod team, we are always looking for ways to spice up the group and keep everyone interested and motivated, and what better time to kick off new projects than at the start of the year?

We have a few plans up our sleeves, and we hope to keep some of the successful projects around (like the Read-A-Thons and the list-creating process), but we want your opinion.

So, a few questions to get us started:
Don't feel like you have to answer all of these.. just a jumping off point for discussion!

- Why do you do a yearly challenge like this one?
- What sets this group apart from others that you participate in?
- What is your favorite activity in this group? (Examples: Read-A-Thons, 24B4Monday, Book of the Month, creation of next year's list, the fun and games folder, monthly newsletters, etc.)
- What is your least favorite activity and/or the activities you are NOT interested in participating in (and why)?
- What activities would you like to see added in to the mix?
- Any other suggestions or concerns?

Can't wait to hear what y'all are thinking about!

I do a yearly challenge because it helps me read more books, find new books, and it's a fun guide to choosing things off my tbr that might otherwise have rotted away on there. I love the planning, but the best is that little hit of endorphins when I check off a prompt.

My favorite thing about this group is that we make the list. It's a collaborative effort from the people who actually participate in the challenge, not just a list handed down from a magazine editor or blogger. Everybody can be as involved in the process as they want to be and I love that people are invested in making the list as awesome as possible. I love the prompt threads and seeing all the ways people interpret the prompts too.

In terms of activities, besides the list creation, I tend to most reliably participate in the readathons, which are always a nice reading boost. I duck my head in to the fun and games threads every once in a while. I've never done the 24B4Monday because I just don't really have the time. Book of the Month I think I've done once...I just am not interested in the book chosen most of the time, but that's just a personal preference.

- Why do you do a yearly challenge like this one?
2020 will be my first year doing reading challenges in quite a while. I've realized that challenges make reading a priority for me and I need to start doing them again.

- What sets this group apart from others that you participate in?
When I decided to start doing reading challenges again I searched/joined a lot of different challenge groups. I ended up deciding on this one though, because it's active, I like the ATY challenge premise and I like how there's other things also going on within the group. This is now the only group I'm a part of :)

- What is your favorite activity in this group? (Examples: Read-A-Thons, 24B4Monday, Book of the Month, creation of next year's list, the fun and games folder, monthly newsletters, etc.)
Since I'm still newer to the group I haven't done a lot yet, but I do enjoy Read-A-Thons.

- What is your least favorite activity and/or the activities you are NOT interested in participating in (and why)?
I've never enjoyed structured group reading like Book of the Month/Buddy Reads etc

- What activities would you like to see added in to the mix?
x
- Any other suggestions or concerns?
x

- Why do you do a yearly challenge like this one?
I think a challenge like this one reminds me to keep reading when electronics start taking over my life. I need that little extra reminder/push sometimes.

- What sets this group apart from others that you participate in?
I don't really use any other groups because they all tend to be more strict about what books work for prompts and what book don't. I don't want to argue, I just want to read.

- What is your favorite activity in this group? (Examples: Read-A-Thons, 24B4Monday, Book of the Month, creation of next year's list, the fun and games folder, monthly newsletters, etc.)
I enjoy the individual readathon and the list making process. The monthly newsletters are helpful reminders for me when the readathons and voting is happening. Oh, and I enjoy making the KIS/BIO list so I hope that others enjoy that too.

- What is your least favorite activity and/or the activities you are NOT interested in participating in (and why)?
I don't use the A to Z folders, the spreadsheet, the maps (when we have one), etc.....I used to but they just seem like more work and things to remember to do every time I finish a book and it got overwhelming.

- What activities would you like to see added in to the mix?
I'm kind of happy with how things are now. I can't think of anything else that I would want to see here.

- Any other suggestions or concerns?
If I had a "concern" it would be that we only have 4 mods at the moment and I am concerned that you all will get burnt out with the growing group. But I'm sure that you all will figure that out if it becomes a problem. I'd hate to lose any (more) of you!

- Why do you do a yearly challenge like this one?

I like check off list and the challenges are so creative. Though the updating is starting to be come too much so I'm cutting down on challenges for 2020.

- What sets this group apart from others that you participate in?

The group creation of the list.

- What is your favorite activity in this group? (Examples: Read-A-Thons, 24B4Monday, Book of the Month, creation of next year's list, the fun and games folder, monthly newsletters, etc.)

The weekly topics folder, even though I don't participate much in the discussions. I love all the different suggestions found in them.

- What is your least favorite activity and/or the activities you are NOT interested in participating in (and why)?

I don't use the A-Z folder or book of the month. As much as I enjoy reading, I don't enjoy discussing the books I read. If I have to discuss a book, I tend to read more critically and it creates a negative experience.

- What activities would you like to see added in to the mix?

I enjoy interactive challenges in other groups but I don't necessarily think that this group needs one.

- Any other suggestions or concerns?

I think you all are doing good so no concerns.

Hello All,
2020 will be my first year doing the ATY challenge. 2019 I did BR Read Harder Challenge & POP Sugar. I saw so much on ATY from other readers I thought I would try it. I love doing book challenges because they make me read different genres & keep me out of a reading rut. I feel connected to other readers by participating in weekly check ins & posting books I have finished.
I like the read-A-Thons. I use the book of the month for suggestions for hard to fill prompts. I haven’t participated in discussions. I plan to participate in 24 B Monday in 2020.

- Why do you do a yearly challenge like this one?
I found it keeps me motivated to read. I like check lists - there's a sense of completion. I like seeing what others are reading and getting ideas for prompts.

- What sets this group apart from others that you participate in?
Group creation of the list. Although other groups have member input, our input has more discussion, which is a positive but can also be a downside. For the most part I like the discussion until it gets contentious!

- What is your favorite activity in this group?
- Weekly updates and the spreadsheet. I prefer just tracking on the spreadsheet since its much easier than keeping a thread updated.
- Now that I've quit the Seasonal Reading Challenge group, I like the seasonal challenge. Before, it was too much for me trying to do 2 seasonal challenges plus several year-long challenges.

- What is your least favorite activity and/or the activities you are NOT interested in participating in (and why)?
- Read-a-thons and 24B4Monday- While I like the idea of read-a-thons, it's more time spent tracking which I don't like doing. And, unlike others, I do more reading Mon-Thurs, when my husband is at work, than on the weekends!
- Book of the month group read- They are usually not books I'm interested in reading or ones I've already read. I think it's hard to pick a book for a diverse group like this one. Also, we are not all reading in order so the prompt-based selection method doesn't necessarily work for everyone. I participate in group reads in other groups so its not a priority for me in this group.
-A through Z- It's too hard to find a book, scrolling through page after page! And, its not really a discussion since there can be gaps of years between commenters.

- What activities would you like to see added in to the mix?
I think we have a good mix.

- Any other suggestions or concerns?
I would prefer a shorter time period for the list creation. It's fun at first but starts to drag towards the end, after we have had so many great ideas not accepted. I think it would require a slight revamping off how we suggest, vote and determine winners.

- Why do you do a yearly challenge like this one?
They help me push myself to form a plan and to explore books/genres/authors I might otherwise not read.

- What sets this group apart from others that you participate in?
The list is created by the group.

- What is your favorite activity in this group? (Examples: Read-A-Thons, 24B4Monday, Book of the Month, creation of next year's list, the fun and games folder, monthly newsletters, etc.)
Creation of next year's list, weekly topic threads. I will participate in the Book of the Month options if they are books that appeal to me.

- What is your least favorite activity and/or the activities you are NOT interested in participating in (and why)?
I don't do 24B4 Monday or Read-A-Thons. I have too many challenges in too many groups to pile more onto my plate.

- What activities would you like to see added in to the mix?
I can't think of anything else at the moment.

- Any other suggestions or concerns?
I think we should have a shorter period between suggestions and voting right from the start. I think we started with seven and later went down to five. I say start out at five days between suggestions and voting.

- Why do you do a yearly challenge like this one? It's a fun way to pick out what my next read will be, and sometimes to discover books I might not have otherwise ever read. Also, I love the planning aspect!
- What sets this group apart from others that you participate in? It's a member chosen list and has more of a feeling of community.
- What is your favorite activity in this group? (Examples: Read-A-Thons, 24B4Monday, Book of the Month, creation of next year's list, the fun and games folder, monthly newsletters, etc.) Quarterly read-a-thons! They are fun and a great motivator for me to finish up all the half read books I started in the previous two months 😂 I also enjoy the list making process and subsequent planning.
- What is your least favorite activity and/or the activities you are NOT interested in participating in (and why)? I like discussing books, but I never seem to be able to get my reading life organized enough to participate in the Book of the Month. Also, I participated in the last 24B4Monday, but it wasn't that engaging to me so not sure if I will again.
- What activities would you like to see added in to the mix? I'm not creative enough to think of anything haha.
- Any other suggestions or concerns? Nope, you mods do a great job here! Thanks for all your hard work!

Why do you do a yearly challenge like this one?

I like that it directs my reading - the first six months of 2016, before I discovered this group, I was attempting to read 52 books for the year for the regular Goodreads challenge. I would waste a lot of time trying to figure out what to read next, but not in an enjoyable way. Finding AtY gave me a way to plan what I'm going to read in a way I enjoy (I love the puzzle solving/treasure hunt aspect), and then takes away the pressure when I'm actually reading of choosing what's next.

What sets this group apart from others that you participate in?

It's the only group I participate in, so I don't know. I'd never heard of a prompt-based reading challenge before I found AtY, and I've never felt the urge to stray to another group.

What is your favorite activity in this group?

My favourite is definitely the list making, the Wild Discussion as well as the suggesting and voting process. I've also really enjoyed the seasonal challenges.

The listopias and the spreadsheet are both great, and I enjoyed the movie version of the AtY prompts, it motivated me to watch a lot more films this year.

I like idea of the map, but tend to check the list of countries more than the map itself. There was a thread where we discussed books we love for a few weeks, I enjoyed that but it seemed to fizzle out quite quickly.

What is your least favorite activity and/or the activities you are NOT interested in participating in (and why)?

I don't do the more intense reading activities - the readathons and the before Monday thing. I don't have the time, and I don't read fast enough.

I've never participated in the A-Z, though I have a look every now and then if I've loved or hated a book and I want to see if anyone felt the same. I've done the Book of the Month once, but because I read in order from a pre-planned list it would be rare that I'd be reading the same book.

What activities would you like to see added in to the mix?

I love voting. I think there used to be more polls up at the top of the Group, but they only seem to be used for Book of the Month and Readathons now. I'd like to see that used more.

I don't know if it would be realistic, or just far too time consuming for the mods, but I'd also be really interested in stats - which books the group read most in a year, which authors wrote most of our reads, that kind of thing.

No other suggestions, and definitely no concerns.

Why do you do a yearly challenge like this one? I like to get book ideas from others and a yearly challenge motivates me.
- What sets this group apart from others that you participate in? I like a book a week. Others I've done are a book a month. Too lax
- What is your favorite activity in this group? (Examples: Read-A-Thons, 24B4Monday, Book of the Month, creation of next year's list, the fun and games folder, monthly newsletters, etc.) Ease of spreadsheet both for my books and to read others
- What is your least favorite activity and/or the activities you are NOT interested in participating in (and why)? Book of the month etc... because my book never wins and I don't always like the genres of others
- What activities would you like to see added in to the mix? A better way of discussing the books we read from each prompt. Let's face it, the A to Z doesn't work.
- Any other suggestions or concerns? I wish each prompt appeared at the correct time and that there was more discussion for each...after the books were read, not what I plan to read.

- Why do you do a yearly challenge like this one?
I do yearly challenges primarily to help me decide which books from my owned unread books to read.

- What sets this group apart from others that you participate in?
The interactive list making process is unique compared to other groups I'm in. I also like the way the read-a-thons are set up in this group.

- What is your favorite activity in this group? (Examples: Read-A-Thons, 24B4Monday, Book of the Month, creation of next year's list, the fun and games folder, monthly newsletters, etc.)
I love the list making process. I like the read-a-thons as well because there are multiple ways to participate in the read-a-thon throughout the week. Also, the monthly newsletters are great.

- Activities I'm least interested in (and why)?
- Book of the Month - Since I plan my reading in advance based on my owned TBR list, I don't generally read Book of the Month books unless the book really catches my attention.

- seasonal reading challenges - too much to plan for on top of my other challenges (AtY and others)

- Fun and Games - I'm just not interested in this area.

- 24B4Monday - It's too intense a challenge and even if I set a lower goal, I don't like to force myself to read if I don't feel like it in the moment.

- A-Z folders - I don't use this area - I always go directly to the prompt thread if I need a book recommendation for the challenge.

- What activities would you like to see added in to the mix?
Nothing to recommend at this time - there's already a good variety of activities in the group.

Pam wrote: "- Why do you do a yearly challenge like this one?
I found it keeps me motivated to read. I like check lists - there's a sense of completion. I like seeing what others are reading and getting ideas ..."

I basically want to say “ditto” to what Pam posted! I do the challenge as motivation to read, especially things I wouldn’t normally read. I love the creation aspect and the spreadsheets to track. But I really don’t participate in much outside of that. I don’t do any of the read-a-thons or other “timed” challenges because I don’t have the time to dedicate to them.

I did the summer challenge but haven’t touched the autumn or winter challenges. I think the difference is that summer had a tangible prize of value, and that I have more free time in the summer. I may go back to the winter challenge in January and plug in what I’ve read where I can. But I’m not reading with the intent of filling slots on the challenge.

Like I mentioned in another thread recently, I’m probably going to go rogue for awhile. I’ll read whatever I want and then go back and slot them into the 52 challenge. Later this year I’ll worry about filling gaps. But for now, there are so many good books out there to read... I’ll focus on that!

Why do you do a yearly challenge like this one?
It's a way to help me narrow down what to read as well as a push to read outside the box here and there. I also like the gamification of reading aspect, I get a little bit of joy from ticking things off lists!

- What sets this group apart from others that you participate in?
I don't participate in many other groups tbh.

- What is your favorite activity in this group?
I love the list making process and I also enjoy having the community spreadsheet which I feels keeps me accountable.

- What is your least favorite activity and/or the activities you are NOT interested in participating in (and why)?
I don't do the group reads,but that's mostly because my choice of books doesn't tend to align with the majority.

- What activities would you like to see added in to the mix?
I think the weekly check ins that happen in the Popsugar group are a good way to discuss what we are reading in a less formal manner. It always gives me an extra push to finish something so I can report on it! I'd prefer to see that here that the a-z folders. It wouldn't have to just be for people reading in order, but a place where we can pop in and chat once a week.

Ellie wrote: "Why do you do a yearly challenge like this one?
It's a way to help me narrow down what to read as well as a push to read outside the box here and there. I also like the gamification of reading aspe..."

I agree with the weekly check in idea! 52book.reddit.com posts a weekly “what are you reading?” thread. I like participating in that because I can see what others are reading and hear opinions.

I do worry, though, that it’ll be just another spot for us to comment. We already have the A-Z threads (but like others have said, it’s disjointed as it’s used a few times a year), the topic threads, and our own planning section topics. But, because so many of us are reading out of order or are reading things unrelated to ATY, the weekly “what are you reading?” could be a good source of discussion.

Why do you do a yearly challenge like this one?
I started doing the challenge because I wanted to read more books throughout the year. My goals for doing the challenge have fluctuated a little over the years, but at this point it's a combination of reading a higher number of books than I would without it, broadening my reading scope and challenging me to read outside my comfort zone and keeping me motivated by having a plan (I find if I don't have an idea of what I'm reading next, after I finish a book I can fall into a slump, but knowing what's coming next keeps me focused on getting to the next book).

What sets this group apart from others that you participate in?
For sure, our list creation is unique among other reading groups. As well, the informal approach is really different from any other groups I've seen. I like that we have a loose structure in the list, but that everyone is free to interpret those prompts the way they see fit and tackle the list in the order that wish. Other groups I've seen are rigid and often harsh when people step outside the guidelines. I like that we embrace everyone's own perspective and take on the list.

What is your favorite activity in this group? (Examples: Read-A-Thons, 24B4Monday, Book of the Month, creation of next year's list, the fun and games folder, monthly newsletters, etc.)
When I joined, my absolute favourite part was the discussions. I loved hearing how a book or character made someone feel and sharing my thoughts on the writing or twists. I enjoy talking about my favourite books and seeing other people's favourites. That aspect of the group has really declined in the last few years. It's been something I've really missed over the last year. (**see below)

What is your least favorite activity and/or the activities you are NOT interested in participating in (and why)?
Honestly, my least favourite part is the weekly topic "discussions". For me, they lack any substance or discussion. I find everyone just chimes in what they are reading for that week, or asks for recommendations if they can't find something. I don't find it interesting to just read a list of comments about what people are reading for each week that aren't really linked in any way. Each comment is almost completely isolated from the others and there really isn't any talking going on, it's just "I'm reading X for Y" x 52.

What activities would you like to see added in to the mix?
I really want to see book discussions come back into the mix. I get that it's not something everyone wants to participate in and I've done a lot of thinking about how we might be able to get a little more discussion and (friendly) debate going for the people that do want it. I don't think the A-Z folders are working. When we started that's how we tracked our books, but the group has evolved and grown and expanded beyond the parameters the A-Z folders provide; some people don't enjoy talking about the books they read, others have difficulty finding the books they are posting about, and even more just feel like adding their thoughts to a thread that hasn't seen activity for two years is pointless. Now we can track our reading in the spreadsheet, our plan, and the weekly topics. At this stage, it's probably best to eliminate the A-Z folders altogether. They are bloated and spread over 26 folders + the multitude of individual threads. Obviously many people use and enjoy the weekly topic posts. They are useful for getting ideas if someone is stumped for ideas, or looking to talk about the prompt itself more than the books so I think they are important to keep. Rather than the A-Z folders, I would suggest condensing and replacing them with a single "Book Discussion" folder. That way if someone reads an incredible book and needs to share their thoughts with everyone or they want to talk about anything specific to the book they can post in there. I would also eliminate the need for people to post in the "Title, Author" format, as well as searching for and adding comments to existing threads. I would just leave it as an open discussion space - let people talk about what they want to. Title the threads with something relevant to the desired discussion, but no required format for the thread titles. That way people can choose to take part in discussions but it's not as daunting a task. Maybe it will bring back some talk about our favourite books. Maybe it won't. But it won't be quite as cluttered or chaotic as the A-Z folders. I would also suggest maybe archiving discussions each year to keep the space less cluttered but that wouldn't necessarily be needed with an open discussion format where people don't have to look for old threads to post their thoughts on a book.

Any other suggestions or concerns?
Overall I think the mods do an excellent job here and I really enjoy the reading challenge

Peter, I love your idea. So you were thinking of creating a folder that's just titled "Book Discussions" and people can post about independent books on their own thread? For example, if I'm reading Pachinko, I could just start a thread related to the book (while doing away with the A-Z folders)?

Or would you think it would be more along the lines of recommendations and things like that, where people post asking for maybe "cozy mystery" recommendations or "books that made them cry"? Or were you thinking it would be a mixture of both?

We are considering implementing a weekly or monthly book discussion thread, where people could post books they were planning on reading, how their progress with the challenge was going, and monthly round ups if they wanted to do that. So I just want to make sure we aren't overlapping too much between those and these book discussion threads.

I also miss the book discussions. I find I’m not really all that active any more, and a lot of it is due to the fact that we just don’t talk about books any more. I don’t really see a functional way to increase this though. One discussion thread seems too chaotic (especially for mobile users who can’t reply to individual comments) but the A-Z folders don’t really work any more either (they’re fine to search for on the website, but again not app-friendly).

Almost half the year is taken up with list creation, which I personally think is crazy, and that tends to dominate the conversation (admittedly I dislike this process and the inevitable nastiness that comes with it, so I’m biased against it!). I think that process needs to be streamlined & the times reduced. I don’t think a week is needed for each voting period. I even think five days is too long. If people really want to vote, they’ll make time for it.

I think the Book of the Month could probably go. Such a small percentage of the group vote for it, and even fewer participate. December had 0.4% of members vote - 29 people out of over 7000 members.

Emily wrote: "Peter, I love your idea. So you were thinking of creating a folder that's just titled "Book Discussions" and people can post about independent books on their own thread? For example, if I'm reading..."

I think a combination of both. Just to clarify though, I don't mean to have a single "book conversation" thread. I think it should be a "Book Conversation Folder" with people able to post threads within it. Sort of like how we have A-Z folders now - all the "A" topics are posted in the "A" folder. Rather than separate them by letter though, just have one folder for all the discussion threads. I don't think we will end up the number of threads being created as with the A-Z folders - a huge number of those are just "tracking" with people saying "I read this book for this prompt" and no other responses. Seriously, there are a lot of threads that have single posts. I think a lot of those threads would be eliminated because unless you have something to say or share about the book, there's no point in posting it because there are other better ways to track the books we've read in the group (plans, weekly topics, spreadsheet, map, etc.)

I would leave the conversations as open as possible. If someone wants to post about a specific book, like Pachinko as in your example, they could discuss the book. But if someone wanted to post about top 5 books that made them cry, or their all time favourite/least favourite book, or compare the best wizards from different fantasy books, that would all work too. I think just having a space dedicated to talking about the books rather than simply tracking what people read for each prompt may stimulate discussions. I would maybe suggest asking for recommendations is maybe best kept to the weekly topics threads, but I also wouldn't put a restriction in there not to talk about or ask for recommendations either.

At the same time, if someone reads Pachinko in January and the discussion dies down by March, but then someone reads it in September and wants to post about it, I think we should eliminate the "look for old posts and continue them" guideline. It is impossible for app users to do, and even on a computer can be confusing. That way the conversations can happen a little more fluidly and naturally. I think it would be worth archiving conversations at the end of the year, but that presents the issue of killing off ongoing conversations. So maybe rather than archiving all conversation at the end of the year, mods could archive conversations that haven't had activity in 6 months or so? Whatever they feel is sufficient time to consider the conversation "over" for that particular thread.

Peter wrote: "Emily wrote: "Peter, I love your idea. So you were thinking of creating a folder that's just titled "Book Discussions" and people can post about independent books on their own thread? For example, if I'm reading..."

I think a combination of both..."

I don't mean to butt in here, in case I'm misunderstanding, but maybe we could do something like a "question of the week" topic that would be independent of the weekly prompt? I did the PopSugar group last year, and in the weekly check-in post, there was also a question of the week that the group members could discuss. Stuff like "Who's the best fictional mom?" or "What are you reading for the holidays?" or "Where do you do most of your reading?" I always enjoyed that aspect of the group because everyone could add their input, even if they weren't reading something at the moment, or tend to read less popular books, etc.

(I apologize if this is already a feature of this group, and I just haven't realized it...)

I love the ideas of the updates and the more general book discussions. Part of the reason I don't use the a-z folders is that it feels a little fruitless to go looking for a specific book thread. I think more loosely organized threads within a folder will feel more accessible and therefore see more use. Plus, like Peter said and Kelly suggested, we can have more general chats about say books with awesome characters vs just threads about individual books. Those would still be possible but wouldn't be the only things around.

Also, just going to throw this out there: there are *a lot* of people including myself who are members of both the Popsugar and ATY groups. I love the weekly updates, but I do not relish the idea of reading a bunch of the same posts twice. I would like to suggest that the updates over here are either on a different time scale (biweekly, monthly...) or are significantly offset from the Popsugar group (monday vs thursday) so that people are less inclined to copy paste.

Jackie wrote: "I love the ideas of the updates and the more general book discussions. Part of the reason I don't use the a-z folders is that it feels a little fruitless to go looking for a specific book thread. I..."

We were thinking of doing monthly reading threads instead of weekly 🙂

- Why do you do a yearly challenge like this one?
I think this is my 4th year doing list challenges and I don't even remember how I got started, but it all started here :-)
I love the list making process (honestly making book lists is the highlight of my year and I will make a list for challenges I have no intention of completing haha), and the push to read outside my comfort zone. I have found so many great books and have new favorite genres that I had never considered before. Annnnnnd....thanks to all of you my TBR here is now pushing something close to 3000 books. If I could figure out emojis on this damn chromebook there would be a laughing/crying face inserted here LOL.

- What sets this group apart from others that you participate in?
The members :-)
I love my virtual friends. For awhile I had quit the other challenge groups because they weren't very welcoming. Lots of Book Nazis over there (my finger is pointing directly at Book Riot and its still going on) insisting you follow prompts to the letter, no bending or stretching prompts (God forbid) and I was afraid to even post for fear that someone would criticize my choices. It got really nasty sometimes.That doesn't happen here and I love that about our group. I also like being involved in the list making process rather than waiting for a list to come out, which is unique to this group.

- What is your favorite activity in this group? (Examples: Read-A-Thons, 24B4Monday, Book of the Month, creation of next year's list, the fun and games folder, monthly newsletters, etc.)
Love Love Love the read a thons. I love the idea of 24B4 but I haven't participated yet, and I like hopping in to some of the games,TPBM and a few others, once in awhile just to feel connected to others in the group.

- What is your least favorite activity and/or the activities you are NOT interested in participating in (and why)?
Never use the A to Z folders. I agree they aren't working and I wish they were, because lets face it, a lot of us are reading the same books

- What activities would you like to see added in to the mix?
I agree with the idea of a weekly or biweekly or monthly check in thread. This is one of the reasons I became so active in Pop Sugar this year. I agree that it shouldn't be the same format (copy/paste and half of us will be reading the same thing we're reading over there) but it was a great way for me to get to know the members since it was like a combo check-in/ prompt update and also people would check in about what was going on in their lives in general. I felt like their was a lot of camaraderie and I got to know the group members, support them, be supported and made some new bookish friends. Also I got so many great book recommendations.

- Any other suggestions or concerns?
Nope. I love this group and I think the mods are doing a great job!!

Why do you do a yearly challenge like this one?
I find it helps me narrow down the books I want to read and prioritize the ones that I most want to get to soon. I also just seem to love crossing things off lists, lol

What sets this group apart from others that you participate in?
I think it's the most interactive, and the most community-like of all the groups that I participate in. It's the one group I can count on to have interesting and active discussions happening.

What is your favorite activity in this group? (Examples: Read-A-Thons, 24B4Monday, Book of the Month, creation of next year's list, the fun and games folder, monthly newsletters, etc.)
I love the list-making process. I know every year we complain about negativity or get into arguments about the prompts, process, etc. but I love that this is a list that is really compiled by the people who are planning on doing it. I love the creativity of the ideas. I think the read-a-thons are generally pretty fun too.

What is your least favorite activity and/or the activities you are NOT interested in participating in (and why)?
Ideally I'd love to be able to participate in BOTM, but I rarely end up actually doing that. The 24B4 events are a fun idea but end up feeling like a lot of tracking and work for very little reward.

What activities would you like to see added in to the mix?
Nothing that I can think of right now

Any other suggestions or concerns?
I'd be a bit sad to see the A-Z threads go, but I can understand why. I personally find it very overwhelming to have just one general "book discussion" thread where all books are discussed together. As it is, I have trouble keeping up with everything and I think for me, having multiple discussions of different books in the same thread would make it hard for me to follow. I don't know if it's been discussed previously, but I still like the idea of individual threads for specific books/series.

Rachel, what I suggested above isn't a single thread for book discussions. It's a single folder for all the discussions. Right now we have book discussion "threads" happening in 26 different "folders", divided alphabeticaly. I'm suggesting we collapse those discussions into a single "Book discussion folder" that anyone who wants to talk about a book posts their "thread" into. If people want to discuss Harry Potter books they would start up a thread in the book discussion folder. But so would someone who wants to talk about Agatha Christie's novels or the Percy Jackson series. My thoughts are that it'll eliminate a lot of the single post threads common in the A-Z folders right now.

When the group started the A-Z fooders were a combination of discussion and tracking for what people read but now there are other more commonly used ways of tracking the books we read for the challenge. If we change up the format and move away from them being a way to track what people read for each prompt and towards a more relaxed conversational format, my hope would be that it stimulates a little more talk for those that want to talk about the books and characters rather than the prompts. That way as well, a discussion doesn't have to be about a single book. Maybe people want to talk about the differences between the Game of Thrones novels and the TV series or the best book to movie adaptations. That kind of discussion isn't really facilitated by the A-Z folders right now. I'm just suggesting a tweak in the format to differentiate the "book discussion area" from the "prompt discussion area" a little more. Hope that calrifies what I meant. I completely agree having a single thread would not work out well.

Something I would love to see added to the group - a list of links that would serve as a map of sorts to the various threads, posted as a sticky at the very top of the group in the Mod Corner.

The list could include big things (like the main challenge, the seasonal challenges, current read-a-thons) as well as smaller things (like new topics and the hot discussions atm).

Even as someone who spends a lot of time in the group, I sometimes find it difficult to find threads (what is it called and which section is it in?) so I suspect that at least a few newcomers feel a bit lost by all of the allness that this group is.

Thanks dalex! We are rolling out some new features and getting rid of old ones, so I’ll be updating the Mod Corner folder at some point today (when I can tear myself away from this book haha!)

I do yearly challenges because it stretches my reading a bit, and I enjoy the process. I do find it widens what I might read otherwise, especially when prompts have to do with personal TBR/book list related things.

I like the ATY challenge because it is flexible without being too broad - it is almost never hard to find a book for a challenge, and yet it does push me to explore a bit.

I like making the next year's list, and the spreadsheet! I loved the map when I could find it, but it wasn't as easy to track this year (did you do it?) and so I didn't do that.

I'm honestly not a big fan of the read-a-thon or book of the months aspects - essentially, I use this to expand my reading, and when it requires too much interaction online, I don't feel like it helps that much.

I am interested in seeing how the new book discussions work, as I would like to see that more.

I am also wondering if there is a way to link books to any prompts they qualify for?. That way, someone could find a book they are interested in and see all the prompts it fits in instead of having to go through each prompt individually.

Emma wrote: "I do yearly challenges because it stretches my reading a bit, and I enjoy the process. I do find it widens what I might read otherwise, especially when prompts have to do with personal TBR/book lis..."

I've been thinking of how we can incorporate your last point, about knowing what books fit where, better, but I don't know what the answer is. Right now, the only thing I've really found is doing a ctrl+F on the spreadsheet for the books I'm interested in. But that's not perfect, especially at the beginning of the year when only a small percentage of books are in the spreadsheet.

Steve wrote: "I've been thinking of how we can incorporate your last point, about knowing what books fit where, better, but I don't know what the answer is. Right now, the only thing I've really found is doing a ctrl+F on the spreadsheet for the books I'm interested in...."

Yeah, I don't have a great solution - I used to see it a lot on the A-Z pages, but that was clunky and obviously not widely used. I'm not sure I would use the spreadsheet that way, but it is good to know its possible.

We used to have group bookshelves that Laura managed, but it was super time consuming and not widely used, so we switched to the Listopias.

Something you could do is start a thread on the Book Discussions folder and ask for tips on what prompts a specific book fits in. People who've read the book can chime in with suggestions!

My only comment would be that the list making process takes too long. I love the set up except the amount of time between activities. I think some above me have commented similar so I'll leave it at that.

I enjoy this challenge because it helps me to plan my reading more effectively. I always plan ahead in an attempt to get through my large physical TBR, and have enjoyed reading in order, which makes me start on books that I otherwise want to read but find myself putting off. Over the past couple of years I have also enjoyed taking part in the voting process, but like many others, become a bit fed up with those that have specific agendas. The challenge usually has a few prompts that I find difficult to fill, but then I often read an excellent book as a result, and this is part of the enjoyment. I also take part in the Popsugar challenge but didn't finish that one last year (only 5 books short) as it just had a few too many prompts that didn't interest me. I always use different books for all of the AtY and Popsugar prompts, but then slot those books into other challenges (season challenges, classics, alphabet, women's, etc) to keep track of how widely I'm actually reading.
I have found that the pressure of the challenges has made me avoid very long books to some extent, so this year am deliberately placing some long ones in, including War and Peace, which I am reading in a group over the year (1 chapter a day), and A Game of Thrones. I occasionally engage in discussion (reading in order group, 500+ group), but not all that often.
I do often feel there is a US/northern hemisphere assumption on the part of many posters (I am in Australia), but I guess that is inevitable, and is not a big deal - just occasionally irritating.
Overall, I do love this challenge/group!

I just found this thread. I think I joined the group sometime in January and I'm very impressed!

I like challenges because I have always liked getting little rewards for things I do. I also like the creativity of figuring out what fits where. Unlike many people, I don't do it to read things "out of my comfort zone". I already read a lot of different genres and authors and at 67 years old, I think life is too short to read anything I don't really want to read. When I did other challenges (such as Book Riot), I found the books I read just to fulfill a prompt struck me as "meh" and I wished I hadn't spent the time. I think I would have felt differently when I was young and didn't really know what I liked to read. I like the flexibility of the group in how you can interpret the prompts, I think that was the main thing that led me to join.

What sets this group apart is the amount of activity by a lot of people and the amazing work by the Mods. It takes a lot of time and thought to create the various challenges, spreadsheets, readathons, etc. Also of course that the participants choose the prompts - I joined after that happened but I am already jotting down ideas for next year.

I really liked the Readathon. I had never done one before because in other groups, each person just read randomly and reported the number of pages, which didn't seem interesting to me. Here I was really motivated by being part of a team and wanting us to succeed.

It sounds like some of the least liked features have been eliminated or changed. It's true that there isn't a lot of book discussion as such, but I am in other groups for that.

Robin wrote: "It's true that there isn't a lot of book discussion as such, but I am in other groups for that. "

I'd love if you could share what groups you are in with lots of book discussion - that's what I always loved about this group, but it's really lacking now. I miss it.

Jody, I find that the group ‘Play Book Tag’ is quite lively on book discussions. ‘Cathing up on Classics’ as well, but I haven’t found the time to participate so much there. I also enjoy my little group reading through 1001 books, ‘Reading 1001’. I’ve also heard that ‘The Mookse and the Gripes’ is a good and active group, but I haven’t really poked around there yet myself. Hope you find something you’ll enjoy 😊

Jody wrote: "Robin wrote: "It's true that there isn't a lot of book discussion as such, but I am in other groups for that. "

I'd love if you could share what groups you are in with lots of book discussion - th..."

The group I am in that has the best discussion is The Readers Review which reads classics from about 1750-1920. We will read a book by Dickens, Hugo, etc. over 4-12 weeks so that it's only about 50 pages a week and that leads to more discussion. I am also in a group called Retro Chapter Chicks which reads mostly historical fiction and has a decent amount of discussion. I have tried multiple other groups where people just said "I liked it" or "I didn't finish it" and that is frustrating. As a literature major, I usually have a lot to say and I enjoy hearing other people's views.