Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

The results are in!

Winners:
- A ghost story
- A science book OR a science fiction book
- A book with an unique format/writing structure
- A short book (your interpretation)

Bottom:
- A military book
- A book with a connection to the Wizard of Oz
- A cyberpunk book
- A "Cli-fi" book (climate change fiction)
- Reread a book that made you fall in love with reading

Polarizing:
- A classic everybody has read except you
- A cross-genre novel that combines fantasy with major elements of at least one other major genre (excluding umbrella terms like fiction or YA)
- An epic book or a book with an epic element

Close Calls
- A book with a supernatural character (vampire, werewolf, witch/wizard, zombie, ghost, etc.)
- A book with an elderly person as a main character

A new round of suggestions will open Tuesday, September 5 at 12:00pm EST

I am happy that A ghost story made it! Regarding the rest of my top four, one is between the polarizing and one is a close call.

The fourth is not even mentioned, I thought the work of fiction about art would be more popular :( It's a pitty, it was an interesting list.

About the winners , the one I am not so excited is A book with an unique format/writing structure, because the last time I read one of those, the book seemed more focused in the format than in the story ... anyway, I saw interesting titles on the list of suggestions, we'll see :)

Nooo! I was really interested in the Cli-fi idea. I thought it was a neat spin on sci-fi grounded with a little more realism. Oh well. I'm happy with all of the winners. Only the ghost story was in my top picks, but aside from my 3 bottoms, I was interested in or really liked all of the others.

My other two top picks were either polarizing (epic) or close (elderly person).

I really hope some of the ideas from this poll get resubmitted - I think this poll has had the highest volume of really great topics so far.

So happy with the results! I've been antsy all day waiting to see what would win.

Silvia, I liked the art one too; there were just so many good prompts this time. Maybe a reboot of that one without the fiction requirement would fare better?

Very happy with this -- two things I voted for made the top, and three of my dislikes made the bottom! I agree with the previous commenters who wanted the art one, and Jackie has a good idea to be more open in the format, allowing either fiction or non-fiction. It's worth a try!

I am so intrigued by the unique format books! Several of those could also fit other prompts, so I may make 2018 the "year of the unique" and read other unique books as they fit various topics. :)

I'm happy with the results. Two of my top choices ended up in the top (ghost story and science/sci-fi) and I am pleased with the other two. One of my top choices was a close call and one wound up in the bottom.

Of my bottom choices, two wound up in the bottom.

I'm very excited about the ghost story and sci-fi categories. And I've found a good choice for unique format.

I'm happy with these results too given there were heaps of great topics. My bottom 4 didn't make the top (although the classic was polarizing - I just do not enjoy classics). Only one of my top 4 made the top (ghost story), but I also picked epic which was polarizing and supernatural which was a close call. My other top was the cli-fi which was bottom. I have a trilogy - )actually it's four books - what's a series of 4 books called?) chosen that fits 3 out of the 4 elements topic, and the 4th book was going to fit into this topic! Oh well, will just have to read it anyway (given it's the 2nd book and I need to read it to get to 3 and 4 which fit other topics).

Bit disappointed. We already have an award winning short story, and now we have another one.

It doesn't have to be a short story. The length is left up to the interpretation of each participant. The books I'm considering for this topic aren't short stories but they are all under 200 pages.

Two of my top two (ghost and sci-fi) made the top. Two of my tops made the bottom. All of my bottoms were either in the bottom, or polarizing.

The two that made the top that I did not vote for are ones that I am find with. I mentioned last week that I wanted more short reads so I obviously am happy with that. It won't be a short story, but more a book under 150-200 pages which is a short, quick read for me. The unique writing topic had quite a long list of books so I am sure that I will find something to read for that without much problem.

I think this is the first time none of my top have made the top. Two of mine were polarizing, one was close call, and the other isn't listed. Two of my bottom were in the bottom, one was close call, and one wasn't listed.

I'm ok with most of the topics as I have pretty good options for 3 of them. I am sad that the science/sci fi topic made the top as I hate both so I'll have to dig to find something I can tolerate or I'll have to use my wild card. I was hoping thar if sci fi made it it would be the sci fi fantasy option so I could do fantasy which is more my speed.

I really like these. The science / sci-fi prompt is good for me as I used to enjoy popular science books but I haven't read one for a while. The unique format prompt will be fun, I have no idea yet what I'll read for that.

The only one I'm not as happy about is the ghost story as I don't normally like scary books. I'll have to see what other people pick for this one and hope I find some inspiration. It's good to read something a bit outside my comfort zone too.

Peter wrote: "Nooo! I was really interested in the Cli-fi idea. I thought it was a neat spin on sci-fi grounded with a little more realism. Oh well. I'm happy with all of the winners. Only the ghost story was in..."

I wanted Cli-fi too! But since I never knew that topic really existed I'll be visiting that list to see what to read on it for other categories and side reads.

I'm happy with the results though. There are some great choices. I'll probably read John Steinbeck - The Pearl or something like that for the short one.

I'll probably see what others come up with for A Ghost Story and then copy off someone. Although I've been wanting to read The Haunting of Hill House.

I hoped that the art suggestion would be in the list, but I can see how it's not appealing for people (it's not something I'm leaning to, but I usually love stories including some kind of art, especially drawings or music).

2 of my tops made it and I'm totally fine with the other two as some sequels will fit very nicely in them, so great week!

I'm so pleased that 'A Ghost Story' made it in. It was in my top picks and I loved that it was suggested (especially as I was going to suggest it myself but wasn't sure how others would feel about it, clearly I had nothing to worry about!).

The other winners weren't in my top four but they also weren't in my bottom four so I'm fine with those and can find something for all of them.

A book with a supernatural character was in my top four so I'm interested to see that it was a close call. Maybe if it's resubmitted it will make it in. One of my other top votes was the 'a fantasy book with elements of another genre...' book. I really liked that suggestion and thought it was really interesting. I'm not sure if I'm surprised or not that it was polarising.

I can't actually remember my other top vote just now but it's not one of the ones listed.

Good suggestions this week and good winners. I think I'm most interested in unique format even though I didn't vote for it. what's most interesting to me is that all 4 of my bottom four were in the bottom this time. I guess I was really in sync with the group this week.

My suggestion made a final list! I can die happy and come back and haunt you all ! (my suggestion was the ghost story)

I have no idea what I will read for it, I haven't read many 'scary books'but I take part in challenges to broaden my reading so hoped it would get through.

I'm very glad the ' elderly person' category didn't get through. At my age I might be classed as elderly by some of you so I was prepared to be offended by other people's book choices! I get that a lot of this group is quite young and read a lot of books with MC that are young too. So an older character would be out of their comfort zone, so a good challenge. I just think it's one of those prompts that it's difficult to know if a book fills it til after I've read it, which I'm not keen on.

Shame about Cli Fi, I thought it was a bit more interesting if I have to read something in the science fiction genre! I'm really interested in the unique format prompt, it's going to be hard to stop myself reading some of those before the challenge starts!

To me the whole point of doing a challenge is reading/finding books I might otherwise have missed, so I don't really mind what gets voted through. If the list was all my choices I might as well just read my existing TBR pile in whatever order takes my fancy. Which is still fun, but lists are better!

Thanks for voting for Ghosts story 👻

Hahaha I can't imagine how you feel. I just seconded the ghost story, but I felt so happy to see it in the final list that I guess you must be shining of happiness right now :D

I like all four of the winners, but ... none of my choices made the top four, AND two of my top choices are in the bottoms, which makes me feel like I'm completely out of step with this group.

Funny, I didn't like this list as much as the last but I'm happier with the results. The top four and bottom four work just fine for me,

I must have been in a funky mood when I voted & said I was underwhelmed with the choices, because I know I was excited by the suggestions as they were being offered last week, and after I voted, as I revisited the list a couple times, I grew excited about them yet again. When I was voting, I had a large group of top choices that I felt would be okay, and a definite bottom four. Again, at the time of voting, I was just not feeling it, I guess, but as the results got closer & closer to being revealed, I got more & more excited about my choices, and even the other options that I had to narrow out of the top four, and I am very happy with the results.

For the first time so far in this process, three of my top four made the final list, and the other one was a close call (supernatural character - I agree with Francesca, maybe if it is resubmitted in the future, it might make it?), so I feel pretty happy with that. The only one I'm a little unsure of is the unique format/writing structure. At first glance through the lists of suggestions, I didn't see anything that jumped out at me, but I'm sure if I go back through the lists more closely, I'll be able to find something that appeals to me.

Also, of my bottom four, three of those made it to the bottom (another first for me), and the other one wasn't mentioned, so I'm also pretty happy with those results.

As for those people who are not happy about the ghost story because you don't like reading scary stories, I think it will be a little more work to find a non-scary ghost story, but it shouldn't be too hard. Just glancing through some lists on Goodreads, I found the following possibilities - A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (you know this one, surely), The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (told from the ghost's perspective, hoping to see her murderer brought to justice & watching her family try to come to grips with her death - not scary, but sad), any books from The House on Tradd Street series by Karen White or from the Haunted Home Renovation Mystery series (first book is If Walls Could Talk) by Juliet Blackwell (both series seem to be more like cozy mysteries), Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol (YA graphic novel, maybe a coming of age story), First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones (MC is a grim reaper, says it's suspenseful, but also very funny), etc. Hopefully you can all find something not too spooky to read!

As for the art/artists fiction book, I agree with the people who said to may resubmit it without the "fiction" part & see how that works. We seem to have some strong nonfiction lovers and some equally strong nonfiction haters (well, at least nonlikers), so maybe if you opened it up to both fiction & nonfiction, it would be more likely to get picked. I was the one who suggested the science book OR the science fiction book, because I didn't think either was likely to get picked on its own, due to the wide range of likes/dislikes. I know there were still some people who weren't happy with either option, but I think there are many more who can find a book they like since it's open to a nonfiction science book, a fiction science book, or a science fiction book.

I liked the art fiction prompt a lot, but there were others that edged it out to make my top 4. I think if it were a book about art or an artist, so that it included nonfiction or fiction, I definitely would've voted for it. It's funny to me because I've always loved nonfiction, but I'm on such a nonfiction kick right now. It'll probably pass in a few weeks & I'll only want to vote for fiction prompts. Guess I'm a mood reader & a mood voter.

Thanks for the ghost story ideas Nicole. I'm one of those who doesn't usually like scary books so I'll have to check out some of the books you suggested.

Bryony wrote: "Thanks for the ghost story ideas Nicole. I'm one of those who doesn't usually like scary books so I'll have to check out some of the books you suggested."

You're welcome! :) I just saw another cozy mystery type series and that is the Southern Ghost Hunter Mystery series by Juliette Sobanet. The first book is Southern Spirits. It is also on this list I found on Goodreads that I think are mostly cozy mysteries, but some of them may be more just mysteries, as well as some YA.
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Did the next suggestion poll time change since Tuesday, September 5 at 12:00pm EST was over 5 hours ago?

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

Here are some more options for non-scary ghost stories:

Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier

I'm sure there are lots more available. I'm planning to read Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife myself.

On the other hand, if anyone is looking for a scary ghost story, I'd highly recommend Little Girls. I never read scary stories, but I really enjoyed this one!

Amanda wrote: "Here are some more options for non-scary ghost stories:

Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Graveyard book is a great choice, it's FULL of ghosts!

Some (mostly) non-scary, romancey-type books:
The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley (and other books by Kearsley)
An Inquiry Into Love and Death by Simone St. James (and other books by St James)