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 evening of Saturday, August 13 and results will be posted in the evening of Wednesday, 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. We’ve introduced this for two reasons:

1. On a few occasions in each poll, people have used more than the allotted number of votes, either because they aren’t familiar with the rules or just by mistake. When this happens our only option is to disregard the vote as we can’t identify the voter to ask them to resubmit. By asking for your profile address we’ll be able to message you and ask you to vote again if you’ve accidentally used more than the allotted number of votes.

2. Unfortunately a very small number of people have voted more than once per poll and so we are asking for this information to prevent duplicate votes.

As a reminder: You have a total of 8 votes to use among your top and bottom votes. The mods have access to each individual vote, so we can see if you use more than 8 votes. If you use more than 8 votes in the poll, your vote will have to be deleted, so please make sure to follow the directions so your voice can be heard.

Possible Prompts:
1. A book celebrating the entertainment industry.
2. A book where someone is captured, taken hostage, trapped or imprisoned
3. A book from your TBR list in a position numbered by a combination of digits from 2023 (ie 02,03 22, 302,etc.).
4. A book where faith is a major theme
5. A book with a character who time travels
6. A book that has been translated from another language
7. A book involving aspects of language, linguistics, or the spoken word
8. A book from the “100 Years of Popular Books on Goodreads” list
9. A book with one of the 7 most used verbs in English in the title: be, have, do, say, get, make, go
10. A book posted in one of the ATY Best Book of the Month threads in 2022 or 2023
11. A book set in more than one country
12. A book with a person who travels
13. A book related to "soul"
14. A book where an architectural element is central
15. A book by an author from continental Europe

Vote Here: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/OBWELD/

THOUGHTS & IDEAS FROM THE SUGGESTIONS THREAD


1. A book celebrating the entertainment industry
This would be a book about theater, film, fine art, dance, opera, music, literary publishing, television, or radio.

Entertainment industry
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/ente...

Nonfiction books about entertainment
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...

Pop Culture Fun Books
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Books about musicians, singers, and bands
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...

Show Biz memoirs and biographies
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Genre: Film
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/film

Genre: Radio
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/radio

Genre: Dance
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/dance

Genre: Music
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/music

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

Fine Arts
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/fine...

Art
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/art


Art & Artists in Fiction
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

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

Theatre
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/theatre

2. A book where someone is captured, taken hostage, trapped or imprisoned
It could be during a war, climate disaster, by zombies, terrorists or during a prison sentence.

Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian
Twelve Years a Slave
Kalakuta Republic
Allison Hewitt Is Trapped
Robinson Crusoe

Books set in fictional prisons
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

4. A book where faith is a major theme
This could be about religion, struggle with faith, religious study, or a character named Faith, faith in someone you trust, a faithful dog!, a character with a spiritual profession (monk, nun, priest), etc,

Vicars, Priests, Abbots, etc.... (It also includes Buddhists, Rabbis, and Sisters)
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...

Books with religious characters:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... ..

Religion tag list:
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

Religious-character-or-topic tag list
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

5. A book with a character who time travels
https://www.theuncorkedlibrarian.com/...
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/time...

7. A book involving aspects of language, linguistics, or the spoken word
Popular Language:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
Books Where Spoken Words Have Power:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
Language as a Plot Device:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

8. A book from the “100 Years of Popular Books on Goodreads” list
https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/2...

10. A book posted in one of the ATY Best Book of the Month threads in 2022 or 2023
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... (updated through June 2022)

13. A book related to soul
This could be a book with the word soul in the title, books good for the soul, about our souls, soul music, soul food, etc.

Soul in the Title:
The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness
Our Souls at Night..
Soulless (Parasol Protectorate)
A Discovery of Witches (All Souls #1)
The Souls of Black Folk
Inés of My Soul

Good for the soul:
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

The Midnight Library
A Man Called Ove
The Gifts of Imperfection
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Soul-Searching Books:
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

About our soul:
The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Siddhartha
The Tao of Pooh
The Screwtape Letters
Mere Christianity
The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom
Anatomy of the Soul: Mind, God, and the Afterlife

Soul Music:
Higher Ground: Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield, and the Rise and Fall of American Soul
Otis Redding: An Unfinished Life
The Influential Legends of Soul Music: The Lives of Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, and Stevie Wonder..
Soul Train: The Music, Dance, and Style of a Generation

Soul food:
Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time.
The Taste of Country Cooking
The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South

14. A book where an architectural element is central
Examples:
The Pillars of the Earth
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
For Whom the Bell Tolls (bridges)
The Dutch House
The House on Mango Street
Mexican Gothic
The Maze Runner

15. A book by an author from continental Europe
So many books are written by American or British authors and since we did Latin American and Asian/Pacific Islander authors this year, it might be nice to read an author from the European continent for diversity.

The idea is to read an author who is not from the UK/Ireland. There was a question about Northern Europe/Scandinavia and we agreed that will be included. I just checked on Russia and it is considered in both Europe and Asia.

Here is a listopia for translated books that contains 945 books that have been translated.

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

I love the imprisonment prompt, although it bothers me that its wording is not really in line with how we usually have things on the list, lol. So far, I also really like language/linguistics and the verbs in the title (although we have a lot of title prompts already).

Not really a fan of the 100 Years List. I've already read the majority of the books that strongly interest me from that one, and the remaining books I have on my TBR are not things I'm very strongly drawn to. I'm also not so into the TBR position prompt. Translated book is likely a downvote for me just because it's a prompt that's been overdone in the challenges I do, and I'd rather have something else.

Shannon wrote: "Here is a listopia for translated books that contains 945 books that have been translated.

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7... "

Here is the genre page, which also shows the most read this week
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/tran...

Imprisonment, just off the top of my head:

Fiction:
The Count of Monte Cristo
The Man in the Iron Mask
The Widows of Malabar Hill (women kept in confinement)
Chess Story
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
The Red and the Black
Jane Eyre
Kindred

Nonfiction:
Orange Is the New Black
Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
In Cold Blood
A Long Walk to Freedom
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
Solitary: Unbroken by Four Decades in Solitary Confinement

I don't know if I have a single upvote.

I also missed the suggestion thread so I'm confused by some of them:

(7) this one also really throws me. I immediately thought of Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism which based on the links I think would count. But I still don't fully understand what it means. I liked that book, but then I can't really think of any other books I'd want to read on it. I also don't know what would count in fiction.


Others I'm downvoting because I'm a bit sick of seeing come up/get voted in all the time: TBR position, time travel, translation, country, travels (I'm assuming in a non-time way). Also wouldn't (12) person who travels encapsulate (5) a character who time-travels?

I love several of these and I might have to upvote too many so I can leave the downvotes to others :)

- Faith (mine, duh)
- Imprisonment - so many possibilities!
- continental Europe - so much amazing literature that we tend not to notice: French, Russian, German, just to name the giants, and so many others (I could read that Hungarian book)
- architecture: love this, also tons of possibilities - houses, castles, bridges, churches, pyramids!, etc.
- language or linguistics
- soul

Two Book Riot 100 books to read about religion lists: https://bookriot.com/novels-religion/

https://bookriot.com/100-must-read-bo...

Rachel wrote: "I love the imprisonment prompt, although it bothers me that its wording is not really in line with how we usually have things on the list, lol. So far, I also really like language/linguistics and t..."

You're right about the wording, Rachel. I have changed that prompt slightly to match our usual format better. I also fixed prompt 15, which had a couple different wordings.

I like this group of prompts, I’ll have to look closer at the list but my initial impression is just two down votes.

Alicia wrote: "I don't know if I have a single upvote.

I also missed the suggestion thread so I'm confused by some of them:

(7) this one also really throws me. I immediately thought of [book:Cultish: The Langu..."

I feel the same about some of the suggestions. I don't hate anything on this list (except maybe the 100 List because there's so little of interest to me on it) so I'd be fine with whatever gets in, but there are some that I'd really just not be excited to see again. I wish we'd have a bit more of a different spin on some of these more common prompts, especially translation or countries.

Robin P wrote: "THOUGHTS & IDEAS FROM THE SUGGESTIONS THREAD
.."

The goodreads link for #5 time travel doesn't work.

(7) this one also really throws me.
I actually really like this prompt, though I do see how it will take a bit of extra research compared to many others. From a non-fiction perspective I think it could cover any books about the history and context of languages or particular words, books about how we communicate, books about how we use grammar and organise words (such as Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age). For fiction, it could include books about a character learning a new language, or characters trying to communicate without a shared language.

If anyone wants a suggestion, I loved Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch which is about the development of the unique ways people communicate on the internet.

Alicia wrote: "I don't know if I have a single upvote.

I also missed the suggestion thread so I'm confused by some of them:

(7) this one also really throws me. I immediately thought of Cultish "

One of the language links explains it pretty well. Did you like Cultish? The author wrote Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language. It looks great. The SF list too. Stories of Your Life and Others

The Faith idea has the most surprising books. I added more to my TBR

Kahlia wrote: "(7) this one also really throws me.
I actually really like this prompt, though I do see how it will take a bit of extra research compared to many others. From a non-fiction perspective I think it c..."

Thanks for the recommendation. One of my professors mentioned Because Internet. Other students in my class took linguistics, and I think I should pick up one of the language books now.

Just throwing out a few fiction ideas for the language prompt -

Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution (magic system runs on translation and linguistics)
The Fellowship of the Ring (or any LotR book, Tolkien's Elvish language is definitely one of the more complex and thorough fictional languages out there)
Pale Fire (the story is told in part through a long poem, and in part through a scholar's annotations on the poem, exploring translation and poetic language) (tbh anything by Nabokov probably fits the bill)
Stories of Your Life and Others (the title story in this collection is the original of the movie Arrival; narrated by a linguist, it's about alien communication)
The Word Is Murder (as the title suggests...wordplay is particularly relevant to this mystery)
The Castle of Crossed Destinies (travelers arrive at an inn where they find they can't speak, and use tarot cards to communicate and tell their stories)
Queen of the Tiles (YA mystery about a Scrabble competition, with a lot of focus on words, etymology, anagrams, etc., as you'd expect from the Scrabble setting!)

Just to name a few that sprang to my mind, to suggest ways in which fiction can fit the prompt, as well as all the great nonfiction titles that have already been mentioned!

Edited to add: sorry if these seem redundant with the listopias included for this prompt, I just wanted to mention specifically how some of these titles are relevant, and having just finished Babel about an hour ago, the topic is on my mind!

Roxana wrote: "Just throwing out a few fiction ideas for the language prompt -

Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution (magic system runs on t..."

Thanks I'll check that out too. Lists are great, but personal recommendations are even better imo.
-Language is an upvote. I found more choices.
-I wanted an arts prompt, so I'll upvote the entertainment suggestion even though the title doesn't match the description. I hope the voters know that it's not just Hollywood and pop culture.
- The Faith idea can be serious or fun, so that's a definite upvote.
- Soul can be serious or fun, and I love soul music, so upvote.
- Continental Europe - upvote.
- Maybes - two countries, travel, prison.

I only have two potential downvotes - the title prompt and the TBR numbers.

admin - could you please add the 15 prompts for vote 8 to the 2023 tab on the community spreadsheet. I always use this to plan how I'm going to vote.

I'm going to need to do some research before I vote as I don't have many strong feelings on this list.

This is the link for the 2022 ATY best books of the month listopia
(it's only updated until the end of June)

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

All the examples for architectural elements are titles, is it meant to be a title prompt? Because it reads as if an element needs to be central to the book, and I don't consider a whole house to be an element.

I might have voted for related to faith but having it determine it be the main point of the book puts me off.

At the moment the only one I really want is the ATY best books.

Mostly I feel like it’s a lot of uninspired prompts that are frequently used in reading challenges. I don’t know that I’ll have any upvotes. I admit I am kind of disappointed in the challenge so far this year.

Not a fan of the soul or language prompt. the first because it's too vague and I feel like none of us really know what that means. Also I'm not into feel-good books. The second because it's very limiting, and I don't like the books on the list.

The tbr one is going to end up being a freebie for me if it wins. I don't have a numbered tbr list and I bet many others don't either.

Not a big fan of the faith one but I guess I can read a cult-ish book for it.

Ellie wrote: "All the examples for architectural elements are titles, is it meant to be a title prompt? Because it reads as if an element needs to be central to the book, and I don't consider a whole house to be..."

It's not intended to be a title prompt; it just happens that in a lot of books where the element is central, it's named related to that feature, and when asked for examples last night, those are the ones that quickly came to mind at 10PM in my brain. To me, houses are architectural elements/pieces, but you’re welcome to interpret it however you wish.

I guess if I use my understanding of "element" as being a smaller part of something then I can't think of books that fit.

From Wikipedia: Architectural elements are the unique details and component parts that, together, form the architectural style of houses, buildings and structures.

Prompts I like the most from this list are imprisonment, linguistics (my degree subject which I never read about!), ATY best books, author from continental Europe.

The only ones I am considering downvoting is time travel - it's just not something I like to read about, plus it could also be covered by #12 in this poll - a person who travels.

Translated seems to come up so often. I enjoy reading books in translation but I won't vote for it either way as I'm hoping for some more original prompts.

Ellie wrote: "I guess if I use my understanding of "element" as being a smaller part of something then I can't think of books that fit.

From Wikipedia: Architectural elements are the unique details and componen..."

Thanks for the definition. To me, elements includes the structures. If the prompt fails this time, perhaps I’ll nominate with structure instead of element in the phrasing.

I had never heard the term continental Europe before. To take it very literal, it would exclude the Atlantic and Mediterranean
islands like the Canaries, Crete and Sicily. I’ll probably vote for it since I like to read European authors.

I'm a bit confused about the first prompt - a book celebrating the entertainment industry.

To celebrate means:
1. acknowledge (a significant or happy day or event) with a social gathering or enjoyable activity
2. perform (a religious ceremony) publicly and duly
3. honor or praise publicly

Does the prompt really mean any book that features an aspect of the entertainment industry, like a character who is a musician or the setting is the theater?

Any thoughts and opinions about what "celebrating" means in this context? I'm just wondering if there's something I'm missing and there's a reason that particular word was chosen.

Judy wrote: "Robin P wrote: "THOUGHTS & IDEAS FROM THE SUGGESTIONS THREAD
.."

The goodreads link for #5 time travel doesn't work."

Thanks, fixed!

Dubhease wrote: "This is the link for the 2022 ATY best books of the month listopia
(it's only updated until the end of June)

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1......"

Thanks, I've added that. Of course, many more books will be added in 2022 and 2023!

I'm not finding the link to the voting on poll #8.

Ed wrote: "I'm not finding the link to the voting on poll #8."

The voting link probably won’t be posted until around 8 pm CST.

Ellie wrote: "All the examples for architectural elements are titles, is it meant to be a title prompt? Because it reads as if an element needs to be central to the book, and I don't consider a whole house to be..."

No, it's not meant as a title prompt. For instance, For Whom the Bell Tolls involves bridges, but that's not obvious from the title. Those are just some books that people came up with on short notice. Feel free to add more. Similar to The Pillars of the Earth is Sarum: The Novel of England, which covers the building of a cathedral.

dalex wrote: "I'm a bit confused about the first prompt - a book celebrating the entertainment industry..."

Just reading the prompt in isolation I would assume it would be a positive view on entertainment, not a Me Too expose or about how it ruined someone's life.

dalex wrote: "I'm a bit confused about the first prompt - a book celebrating the entertainment industry.

To celebrate means:
1. acknowledge (a significant or happy day or event) with a social gathering or enjo..."

Good point, but the impression of those in the Suggestions thread was that it was meant more in the sense of general acknowledgment of its importance. More like some of our prompts that say, "in honor of the UN Year of. . " We can see if the original suggester wants to change it, as a non-literalist, I didn't even notice!

Lindsay wrote: "admin - could you please add the 15 prompts for vote 8 to the 2023 tab on the community spreadsheet. I always use this to plan how I'm going to vote.

I'm going to need to do some research before ..."

Which tab are you looking at? I see one that only includes poll results and one which only includes rejects.

Lindsay wrote: "admin - could you please add the 15 prompts for vote 8 to the 2023 tab on the community spreadsheet. I always use this to plan how I'm going to vote.

I'm going to need to do some research before ..."

Just woke up and added them!

I don’t really expect the language prompt to win but it is an area of personal interest and I’m glad too see it. I’ll likely read a non-fiction book so I’m not much help to those who want something fiction.

With the European prompt, I believe the goal was to exclude books from the UK since so many Europe books take place there and focus on other areas of Europe.

I wish we didn’t have time travel and travel in one poll. I will definitely be voting for the broader prompt travel.

We had a few overlaps on themes like language and travel. If they don't make it, they would be worth submitting again.

I've looked at the list for the first time and I'm surprised at some of the overlap in the prompts... I feel like that may make it more difficult to get those prompts in.

Time travel, travel, and set in multiple countries could have a lot of overlap there (I know it's not perfect overlap, but you could see books that would fit multiples of those.

Faith and soul, which again, I know aren't a perfect overlap but could distract voters from voting for one over the other.

Not sure how I'll be voting on this one! Definitely for the ATY Best Books list (it's a pet of mine), but not sure outside of that. I seem to upvote more when I follow the suggestions thread than when I jump in to the voting thread after the fact.

I prefer soul over faith, firstly the wording of the prompt allows for a bit of creative interpretation, and secondly it's a good fit for supernatural stories. I just read The Monsters We Defy (which totally works for Harlem Renaissance and I understand it a lot better now!) And that has a lot about souls in, but wouldn't work for the faith prompt.

The one with numbers on the TBR would just be a freebie for me, I would try different combinations till I found one I felt like reading. I don't care for the 100 Years of Goodreads, much prefer the ATY Best Books. I feel like we have enough title prompts for now, so I won't vote for any more of them for a while, even if they are great ideas.

I like language/linguistics and architectural element, because it is different. For the architectural element, it could be one part of a structure, like a tower, gate, door, etc. if that is central to the book.

@Ellie I was thinking of Soul in the same way. It could be used as an art/music prompt or a religious prompt.

Yea, Robin, my first thought for architectural element was The Once and Future Witches, which centers around a tower that went missing and they are trying to call back. Definitely fits the prompt, even if you wouldn't know it right away.

Fiction with architecture as a main element https://crimereads.com/architecture-i...

This has some non-fiction and fiction language books. The non-fiction are posted first.

https://allthingslinguistic.com/post/...

Robin P wrote: "dalex wrote: "I'm a bit confused about the first prompt - a book celebrating the entertainment industry.

To celebrate means:
1. acknowledge (a significant or happy day or event) with a social gat..."

I guess I used the word "celebrating" to mean honor. I wanted a prompt that shows how the entertainment industry brings me joy and the word celebrating seemed like a positive word. I don't care if the wording is celebrate or honor. To me they are the same.

On the language/linguistics idea, someone mentioned "learning a new language" would work. I recently read Inside Out & Back Again which involves a refugee family moving to the US from Vietnam and the struggles of learning a new language. This is, of course, a book for children, but there are likely other stories of refugees that aren't children's books.