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 afternoon of Wednesday, September 6 and results will be posted in the morning of Sunday, September 10 (CST time).

How it works:
- When the voting opens, follow the link to the mini-poll that will be added at the end of this post
- You have a total of 8 votes this poll to spread across your favorite and least favorite prompts (you can also use less than 8 votes)
- You can find examples of acceptable voting practices on the Introduction thread.
- The prompts with the more favorable votes (comparing top votes to bottom votes, and looking at the overall number of votes it received) will be added to the final list

We are asking people to include their Goodreads profile address when they vote. To find this, just go to your own profile and then copy the URL/web address. If for some reason you can't link to your Goodreads profile, please post your full Goodreads name with enough identifiable information that we'll be able to access your profile.

Possible Prompts:
1. A book related to Boats, Beaches, Bars, Ballads, or Jimmy Buffett
2. A book related to mushrooms
3. A book connected to Anne of Green Gables
4. A book from the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards (winner or nomination)
5. A book by an author known by their initials
6. A book by an author from an African country
7. A book set in autumn
8. A book related to your birth month
9. A book with a character who works with animals
10. A book with a poem in it
11. A book posted in one of the ATY Best Book of the Month threads in 2023 or 2024
12. A book with 'guide' in the title
13. A book with a family member in the title
14. A book with a character whose name that starts with a letter in the phrase LIBRARY CARD
15. A book with a hand(s) on the cover, but no torso

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

VOTE HERE: https://forms.gle/YRPrtL8TbJ3RYD2w7

THOUGHTS AND IDEAS FROM THE SUGGESTIONS THREAD

1. A book related to Boats, Beaches, Bars, Ballads, or Jimmy Buffett

2. A book related to mushrooms
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/tag/mu...
It can also be books with a cover with a mushroom-like object

3. A book connected to Anne of Green Gables
Such as:
Set in Canada
A main character is an orphan or a red head
Main character or author called Anne

4. A book from the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards (winner or nomination)

5. A book by an author known by their initials
J.K. Rowlings, CJ Sansom, MC Beaton
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

6. A book by an author from an African country

7. A book set in autumn

8. A book related to your birth month
set in that month, month is in the title, involves a holiday set in that month, published in that month, author’s birthday is in that month, etc

9. A book with a character who works with animals
Examples: Veterinarian, Farmer, Knight, Magician, Volunteer at an animal shelter, medical researcher

10. A book with a poem in it

11. A book posted in one of the ATY Best Book of the Month threads in 2023 or 2024

12. A book with 'guide' in the title
This can be a non-fiction actual guide (travel guide, how-to's, etc), but there are also many fiction titles that follow the "X's guide to Y" format:
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
- A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking
- A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
- The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires
- A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

13. A book with a family member in the title
e.g. son, daughter, wife, uncle

14. A book with a character whose name that starts with a letter in the phrase LIBRARY CARD

15. A book with a hand(s) on the cover, but no torso
I hope this a) is less repulsive than my original wording using “disembodied”, and b) is clearer that an arm is acceptable, but it should not include the rest of the body

Will research before voting at the moment I’m heading for a lot of downs which I don’t want to do

lots of fun prompts this round!

That was fun!

There’s a listopia for hands which might assist with the last suggestion: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

I like so many of these, it will be no downvotes for me.

9. A book with a character who works with animals
Examples: Veterinarian, Farmer, Knight, Magician, Volunteer at an animal shelter, medical researcher

~~Animal Trainer
~~Jockey
~~Cowboy
~~K-9 Officer
~~Butcher (a bit morbid, but, hey, it works)
~~Zookeeper

4 definite ups, no downs for now. Need to figure out my other 4 votes.

Will upvote
Poem
Initials
Anne
Library card
Down
Goodreads awards ( I never like this one as it restricts to this year and only a few at that)
Birth month ( harder for some people than others)
Mushroom ( despite best efforts of people I can’t see how I’d do it)
African ( ditto)

It would be good to have some explanation of this prompt:

1. A book related to Boats, Beaches, Bars, Ballads, or Jimmy Buffett

I googled Jimmy Buffett and see he was a singer, so ballads, but what is the connection with the other words?

I like "Boats, beaches, bars and ballads..." You don't need to know anything about the album or Jimmy Buffett for this prompt, but he does add a special vibe. If someone doesn't know about Jimmy Buffet, there are news videos online right now with clips that will give you an idea of atmosphere or flavor of his music and events.

We seem to really like water related prompts in this group, and this is a nice variation. A lot of beach reads and summer books would also fit. The Unhoneymooners

Rosemary wrote: "It would be good to have some explanation of this prompt:

1. A book related to Boats, Beaches, Bars, Ballads, or Jimmy Buffett

I googled Jimmy Buffett and see he was a singer, so ballads, but wha..."

i believe it is an album title by him. if i was reading the wild discussion correctly.

I have to narrow down my up votes!

Possible Prompts:
1. A book related to Boats, Beaches, Bars, Ballads, or Jimmy Buffett - I plan to read a lot about Belize and from Belizian author's this year and Buffet owned a resort there :)

2. A book related to mushrooms - The Secret Life of Fungi: Discoveries From A Hidden World is already on my tbr

3. A book connected to Anne of Green Gables - love Anne and there are a lot of possibilities here, possibly an author from Prince Edward Island?

5. A book by an author known by their initials - on my tbr: J.S. Dewes, A. G. Riddle, M. R. Carey....

6. A book by an author from an African country - I really want to explore Nigerian Sci fi (ex. Tade Thompson next year

7. A book set in autumn - a cozy mystery to cleanse the palate 😊

8. A book related to your birth month - not usually find of prompts related to myself but next year will be my 50th birthday so I feel a prompt to celebrate that is fitting 😊

9. A book with a character who works with animals - non fiction for sure, We Bought a Zoo comes to mind

14. A book with a character whose name that starts with a letter in the phrase LIBRARY Card - such a different prompt than we usually have on the year long challenge and only moderately challenging to fill

Looks like I have to shave one off the list. Hm, choices choices.....

For 15. A book with a hand(s) on the cover, but no torso

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

Examples
(intention is that more arm is allowed than shows in most of these, just not past shoulder):



(this one has a small hand on the pot art)

mushrooms options:

Mushroom cloud - nuclear bombs

Books about fungi
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/th...

books with mushroom hunting/growing/cooking

“treated like a mushroom — kept in the dark and being fed bullshit” book about someone being lied to or having a secret kept from them?

books similar to The Last of Us video game interpretation of cordyceps. You know zombie apocalypse caused by mutant mushrooms. Zombie mushrooms are real.

The metaphorical mushroom of romances

the good ol' magic mushrooms of yesteryear

Star trek Discovery use of spore drive on a Mycel Network (the 'roots' of a mushroom)

Fairy Rings
A fairy ring, also known as fairy circle, elf circle, elf ring or pixie ring, is a naturally occurring ring or arc of mushrooms. Fairy rings are the subject of much folklore and myth worldwide—particularly in Western Europe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_ring

Yes, the Buffett prompt is an album title, actually a 4 CD box set of some of his greatest hits. He was very much an island, beach bum, drink your cares away kind of guy. He loved to sail and spent much of his life on boats (he died from a very rare form of skin cancer that spread to lymphoma).

I thought boats, beaches, bars, ballads worked well as a way to honor him while also being accessible to those not familiar with him or his music.

Robin wrote: "9. A book with a character who works with animals
Examples: Veterinarian, Farmer, Knight, Magician, Volunteer at an animal shelter, medical researcher

~~Animal Trainer
~~Jockey
~~Cowboy
~~K-9 Offi..."

Bugs are animals too so bee keepers will work.

Characters like Hagrid from Harry Potter or other books with tamers of mystical beasts.

Here is a list of mushroom books for the ones who like crime novels:
https://www.goodreads.com/search?utf8...

And here is for those who are interested in reading about the use of mushrooms in shamanic and other rituals throughout history:

https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=ma...

Mandy wrote: "mushrooms options:

Mushroom cloud - nuclear bombs

Books about fungi
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/th......"

I love this Mandy! Thankyou for your great support! 🍄🥰

I like a lot of these suggestions, especially author known by their initials (from my bookshelves- J.M. Coetzee, PKD, E.M. Forester, J. G. Farrell, C.S. Lewis) and a poem in the book (the bilingual edition of Surrender Tree by Margarita Engle is one of my favorite books and I love rereading it). I feel like I read a lot of novels that contain poems. This prompt would be one I feel like I would find serendipitously rather than planning. The only 2 I don’t like are GR Choice awards and the ATY monthly favorites. I need to think about the other 11 choices!

I will upvote:

Mushrooms (of course) 🍄🍄🍄

African 🇨🇬 🇿🇦 🇪🇷 🇧🇼 🇨🇩 🇦🇴 🇧🇮 🇩🇯

Autumn 🍁🍂🍃☔

Character who works with animals 🐁🐂🐃🐅🐎🐐🐒🐖🐘🐞🐙

ATY Best book of the month 📚📘📒📙📖📕📗📚 📆

Family member 👩‍👧‍👦🤱👵🤰👶👴

Name/Library card 📚📘📖 💳

and

Hand 🖐️🤚👋✋

None of the others are bad, I could vote for all of them if it was possible but these eight are my favourites.

Already changing my mind. I’m fical I guess

Robin wrote: "9. A book with a character who works with animals
Examples: Veterinarian, Farmer, Knight, Magician, Volunteer at an animal shelter, medical researcher

~~Animal Trainer
~~Jockey
~~Cowboy
~~K-9 Offi..."

Zoo-keeper made me think of Bee-keeper 🐝🍯

And fisherman and hunter must qualify I guess?

I want to like the Jimmy Buffet prompt. It can be interpreted as a summer book, beach read, and a book about vacations or tropical places. We do have a few prompts that do fall into these same general categories.

I will always vote for Anne. She is my girl.

We need another character prompt, and even though it will be difficult for me to fill, I will vote for works with animals.

Nike wrote: "Robin wrote: "9. A book with a character who works with animals
Examples: Veterinarian, Farmer, Knight, Magician, Volunteer at an animal shelter, medical researcher

And fisherman and hunter must qualify I guess?"

It's a stretch, but I guess if that was their job, yes. I wouldn't include the sportsman though.

But that's me...there are no rules

For works with animals, dragon rider, or someone whose coworkers are shape shifters would also work, for those who like fantasy books.

And I went with tried to word the prompt so it wouldn't limit it to just people who had a job working with animals. So fishing to feed yourself = work, fishing to relax = not work.

For the "Boats, Beaches, Bars, Ballads, or Jimmy Buffett" prompt:

His best know song is "Margaritaville". Named for the cocktail margarita, with lyrics reflecting a laid-back lifestyle in a tropical climate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margari...

Nike wrote: "Mandy wrote: "mushrooms options:

Mushroom cloud - nuclear bombs

Books about fungi
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/th......"

i just did a search in wild discussion for mushrooms and pooled it here.

i like mushrooms. poisonous plants are my jam.

not that i would poison real people. characters in my forays into writing on the other hand . . .

6. African authors - I really liked Happiness, Americanah, Binti and I want to read more by these authors. This list looks good.
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/5...

10. A book with a poem in it. Does anyone have some favorites to share, or a list or link? I love a little poetry in a novel. I liked:
What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon - One of my favorite books set in Ireland.
Still Life by Louise Penny - this mystery series includes a character who is a poet, and there is a little poetry in every book.
Crazy Brave by Joy Harjo (Indigenous memoir)

9. Character works with Animals - Does anyone have some favorites to share, or a list?

For "Guide" I have a lot of serious work related books I no longer need, a diet book, some YA and silly stuff, and almost nothing in between. Heidi's Guide to Four Letter Words was quite funny.

This looks interesting: An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

Mandy wrote: "Nike wrote: "Mandy wrote: "mushrooms options:

Mushroom cloud - nuclear bombs

Books about fungi
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/th......"


Ah, like me then. I also write (horror short stories for example) and I got ideas about stories where death comes with poisonous herbs and mushrooms as well, fantasy/horror stories.

We had a book set in Autumn last year in Popsugar and I really struggled to find a book to read. For the people who are excited about this one, are there particular books you recommend?

Here's the listopia we created last year. There is literally not one single book on this list that is also on my TBR.
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Nadine in NY wrote: "We had a book set in Autumn last year in Popsugar and I really struggled to find a book to read. For the people who are excited about this one, are there particular books you recommend?

Here's the..."

From that list I'd like to recommend the books by Ray Bradbury: The Halloween Tree and Something Wicked This Way Comes.

And here is another list: https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/2...

Nike wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: "We had a book set in Autumn last year in Popsugar and I really struggled to find a book to read. For the people who are excited about this one, are there particular books you r..."




thank you!!! there are a few books on that blog post that I want to read, so I can change my vote from "no" to neutral on autumn.

I completely missed the nominations. Not sure how I'm voting yet.

A book related to Boats, Beaches, Bars, Ballads, or Jimmy Buffett - I really want to upvote this, although I'm not sure what to read. Maybe one of the musician biographies on my list.

A book connected to Anne of Green Gables - I am such a fan. The connection to 2024 is that it's the 150th anniversary of Lucy Maud Montgomery's birth. If this doesn't get in, this is the prompt I'm doing as my "prompt that didn't make it"

A book by an author known by their initials - So many options

A book related to your birth month - At least it's not published in your birth month. That one (in 2020 when libraries were closed) was the bane of my existence. The kids and I looked up every book we owned, and now I'm in a 15 book series because there was one freaking book published that month. Not sure I'm voting for it, but authors are easy.

A book with a character who works with animals - if this gets in, I'm treating dragons as animals.

A book posted in one of the ATY Best Book of the Month threads in 2023 or 2024 - This is the one list prompt we all seem to agree on.

A book with a character whose name that starts with a letter in the phrase LIBRARY CARD - This is a gimme, but a really cute, original gimme

Incredibly narrow prompts for which I can't seem to find a book:
A book related to mushrooms
A book with 'guide' in the title
A book with a hand(s) on the cover, but no torso

Nadine in NY wrote: "We had a book set in Autumn last year in Popsugar and I really struggled to find a book to read. For the people who are excited about this one, are there particular books you recommend?

Here's the..."

Was it PopSugar where we had a listopia for all the seasons? I remember fall and winter having a lot of overlap because of the tension being the fall starts Sept 21/22 and ends Dec 21/22 people and the fall is about fall things people. Is a book about the start of the school year a summer book or fall book? Is a book about Christmas shopping in the snow in the first two weeks of December a fall book or winter book?

Dubhease wrote: Was it PopSugar where we had a listopia for all the seasons? I remember fall and winter having a lot of overlap because of the tension being the fall starts Sept 21/22 and ends Dec 21/22 people and the fall is about fall things people. Is a book about the start of the school year a summer book or fall book? Is a book about Christmas shopping in the snow in the first two weeks of December a fall book or winter book?
."
And depends on location. Christmas is definitely in Summer here and school starts in January so again, summer.

I was a no on mushrooms as fungi, but as mushroom cloud and related to the Manhattan Project, I can find something for sure. Right now I'm listening to The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner and I'm really liking it (and it's short if that helps!). Also this year, I read The Great Halifax Explosion: A World War I Story of Treachery, Tragedy, and Extraordinary Heroism and that explosion also created a mushroom cloud (it was the largest explosion in history until the atomic bombs).

Bec wrote: "And depends on location. Christmas is definitely in Summer here and school starts in January so again, summer. ..."

You are absolutely right that everyone forgets about the southern hemisphere like this year's "A book released in the spring" and a "a book released in the second half of 2023". Everyone was concerned about books released in January to March, and then someone from Australia pointed out that the spring is in the second half of 2023.

Buffett was also an author in his own right and I recommend most of his books:

Where Is Joe Merchant? (this was his first novel and my least favorite)
A Salty Piece of Land - fiction
Swine Not?: A Novel Pig Tale - fiction
Tales from Margaritaville - short stories
A Pirate Looks at Fifty - memoir

There's also Herman Wouk's Don't Stop the Carnival, which Buffett wrote an album based on, and there was also a short-lived stage play.

For people asking about other PEI books:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Or Nova Scotia books (where Anne was born and did 4 years of university)
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

Dubhease wrote: "I completely missed the nominations. Not sure how I'm voting yet.

A book related to Boats, Beaches, Bars, Ballads, or Jimmy Buffett - I really want to upvote this, although I'm not sure what to re..."

Dubhease — re: the A book with a hand(s) on the cover, but no torso prompt, I wasn't able to get the list and book covers I wanted to use as examples into my suggestion thread, so I added them in Message 14 above in this thread (https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...).

The Listopia I included has 191 suggestions. And if you look at this message on your computer (as we know the app has display issues), then you can see several examples I included as well. You might be surprised once you see the examples. I suppose it depends on your reading, but the whole reason I even came up with this idea was that I was browsing my TBR and noticed how many hands (without bodies) were on my book covers :)

I like the works with animals prompt - lots of different ways to approach it. Like obviously there's a lot of animal-related professions but you could also come at by looking at books where people have service animals:

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

After all, they are working with an animal all the time!

I don’t know if it’s on any of the mushroom lists but Strange Weather in Tokyo (also published as The Briefcase) by Hiromi Kawakami is really good! There’s a mushroom hunting scene.

I’m warming up to the Jimmy Buffett prompt. I didn’t know he had published any books. The short story one sounds good! Don’t Stop the Carnival by Herman Wouk sounds good also. That’s a nice tie-in.

Nike wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: "We had a book set in Autumn last year in Popsugar and I really struggled to find a book to read. For the people who are excited about this one, are there particular books you r..."

I read Something Wicked This Way Comes earlier this year and it was excellent.

Tracy wrote: " A book with a hand(s) on the cover, but no torso prompt, The Listopia I included has 191 suggestions. And if you look at this message on your computer (as we know the app has display issues), then you can see several examples I included as well. You might be surprised once you see the examples. I suppose it depends on your reading, but the whole reason I even came up with this idea was that I was browsing my TBR and noticed how many hands (without bodies) were on my book covers..."

Is there a way to select a different cover when you try to add to a listopia? This year I read The End of the Affair (which I don't actually recommend, but ymmv). The copy I read has a hand off to the side of the cover:
, but the version that shows up when I try to add it to the listopia just has a wedding ring on the cover.

Lots of novels start with a poem. Off the top of my head:

Where the Crawdads Sing
Little Women
The Cruel Prince this series
For the Wolf this duology

Poetry collections obviously work like a charm but so do musical books with song lyrics.

What Moves the Dead and The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales work for the fungi prompt.

I think What moves the Dead's sequel will also count.

First impressions:

As much as I loved last week's suggestions (I had 6 upvotes and only 2 downvotes last week, and even those 2 were more things that I was tired of, not necessarily that I very strongly didn't want), I'm really not a fan of this list of options at all.

1. A book related to Boats, Beaches, Bars, Ballads, or Jimmy Buffett - I have no idea what this means, or what the connection is between all the options. I have no idea who Jimmy Buffett is. Strong downvote.

2. A book related to mushrooms - I don't love it, but I could be convinced if I saw enough options that interested me.

3. A book connected to Anne of Green Gables - I like Anne, but I'm not particularly interested in the prompt, I think because it's open to so many different options that it's hard to pinpoint something that would feel "close enough" to count as connected to me.

4. A book from the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards (winner or nomination) - This almost never gets in, but I vote for it every time anyway. I always find something good to read from the awards and it baffles me that people are so thrown off by it being a "popularity contest" when that's clear that's what it is.

5. A book by an author known by their initials - A little prompt fatigued, but I have some good options for this so I might upvote.

6. A book by an author from an African country - Not particularly interested. I'm a little burnt out on prompts that try to push authors from various countries since they come up in some form every year.

7. A book set in autumn - I find it strangely hard to find information about what time of year a lot of books are set in (unless it's a very obvious summer or winter book), so I feel like this could be hard to research

8. A book related to your birth month - Not particularly interested, but since it's open to books published in my birth month and there tend to be lots of new releases in mine (October), I'll probably leave it neutral

9. A book with a character who works with animals - I'd need to see options. I don't have anything in mind off the top of my head, but I won't necessarily downvote

10. A book with a poem in it - Again, this seems hard to research unless I choose a novel in verse or poetry book (which I don't really read). Not sure if I'd downvote, but definitely not an upvote

11. A book posted in one of the ATY Best Book of the Month threads in 2023 or 2024 - I am very, very behind on these threads but I'd consider upvoting if I see enough things on the list that I'm interested in reading soon

12. A book with 'guide' in the title - The only books I know of on my TBR with this word in the title are books I'm planning to read this year, so I'd have to look at options. Not particularly interested, but I could at least be convinced to leave it neutral

13. A book with a family member in the title - By all logic I should be prompt fatigued with this, but I have tons of thrillers that fit so it's an easy one for me. Upvote.

14. A book with a character whose name that starts with a letter in the phrase LIBRARY CARD - A solid maybe. I've never been the biggest fan of these kinds of challenges even during readathons, but I'm not sure why. But, it's a unique spin on a character prompt and easy enough to fulfill, so I won't downvote.

15. A book with a hand(s) on the cover, but no torso - Still not the biggest fan of the wording although I do prefer it over the "disembodied hand" wording. Probably not an upvote, but definitely not a downvote either.