Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

The results of our second mini-poll are in!

Top 2:
- In honor of the 200th anniversary of the discovery of Antarctica:
A book set in a place or time that you wouldn't want to live (dangerous, inhospitable, etc)
- A book by the same author who wrote one of your best reads in 2019 or 2018

Bottom:
- In honor of the 100th anniversary in the US, a book about women's suffrage
- A book by a transgender author or with a transgender main character (including nonbinary)

Results are calculated by subtracting the number of voters who put a prompt in their bottom 4 from those who put a prompt in their top 4 (top 4 - bottom 4). The totals are then compared to find the top result(s).

The next round of suggestions will open tomorrow, Thursday, June 20 at 6:00pm EST.

Love both those! Super flexible so there should be something for everyone.

I'm surprised there are only two winners, and no close calls! There were lots of great suggestions. I'm happy with these two though, especially the inhospitable place since I really wanted that one but somehow forgot to vote for it!

Polls like this do make me wonder if some prompts do worse just due to what prompts they're up against in their particular poll.

There was a very, very clear preference for the two winners but, like Rachel said, there some other great ones.

I would love to see some of them re-submitted.

I voted for both of the top 2 so that's another great week. There are several others that didn't make it in this time that I hope to see pop up again in future polls.

The KIS/BIO list is updated. I'm curious what you all will come up with for these two prompts!

The community spreadsheet is updated!

I upvoted both of the winners and downvoted one of the bottom choices, so yay!

I definitely think there were a lot in the field this week that could have gotten in, so I guess the rest of the votes were spread thin between them.

Happy with these. Very easy to fill. Sorry about the suffrage one though, seeing as it is an anniversary.

Disappointed but not surprised about the suffrage prompt. Wonder if it would do better if it was widened and worded like the Antarctic prompt i - in honour of the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in the US, a book about women’s rights. Those keen on the suffrage prompt could go that route but others who felt it was too narrow might be happier.

I like these prompts but I was expecting more to win also.

I really like these winners! It's kind of a relief since none of the prompts I *really* liked won last round.

Hmmm - I upvoted 8 prompts and NONE of them made the list. These are okay, but I am disappointing that some of the more interesting (and challenging) prompts didn't make it. It will be easy to find something else by an author I liked in 2018 or 201. However, I can find easy reads without being part of a challenge.

Lots of good options for the inhospitable setting prompt; if anything, I tend to read more books set in places I wouldn't want to visit than places I would. I love to travel, but comfort is important to me.

The other winner will give me a nice kick in the pants to actually follow up on reading more books by the authors I discover this year. I feel like I often put those books on the back burner in favor of books I've had on my tbr longer.

I really like these prompts but like everyone else I am surprised there were only two winners.

Edie wrote: "Hmmm - I upvoted 8 prompts and NONE of them made the list. These are okay, but I am disappointing that some of the more interesting (and challenging) prompts didn't make it. It will be easy to find..."
Similar for me, upvoted 5 and none were winners. I didn't downvote them at least so that's something.
One of the ones I downvoted was in the bottom.

Serendipity wrote: "Disappointed but not surprised about the suffrage prompt. Wonder if it would do better if it was widened and worded like the Antarctic prompt i - in honour of the 100th anniversary of women’s suffr..."
Good point. Women’s rights is much broader than women’s suffrage. I would be hesitant having to look for a book so specific as suffrage, but I do read books that discuss women’s rights, or more broadly, gender discrimination/bias.

Marta wrote: "Serendipity wrote: "Disappointed but not surprised about the suffrage prompt. Wonder if it would do better if it was widened and worded like the Antarctic prompt i - in honour of the 100th annivers..."

The women's suffrage prompt was a bottom vote for me because it seemed so limiting, but I would potentially be more interested in something a bit broader.

None of the 5 prompts that I voted for made the list, which was a bit of a surprise since the discussion seemed to indicate a few prompts that were pretty popular. I wonder if it was a matter of too many good options splitting the votes somehow.

While I'm fine with the winners, nothing I voted for made it through. Kind of a bummer. Hope to see some of those resurface.

So to get this straight

Hypothetically, using simple numbers, if 50 people upvote the same author from last year prompt and 2 people downvote it, it would have 48 votes essentially? And make it one of the winners because it would have been the highest? And maybe women’s suffrage had 20 upvotes and 30 downvoted, it would be -10 so in the very bottom??

Why are people say they are surprised there are only two winners? Is there a score it would have to beat to be a winner or do you just take the top two? Am I even understanding this all right? I haven’t been able to figure out how many usually make it onto the list each voting round and how many weeks we’ll vote. 😬

I upvoted 8 prompts but none of them won. The prompt about A book by the same author who wrote one of your best reads in 2019 or 2018 could potentially be a problem for me. I gave very few books 5 stars in 2018 and it looks like the same is happening this year. Nothing really stands out as a favorite. I am trying to read more books outside my comfort zone, so that may be part of the problem. I really don't mind the other one, but any dystopian/post apocalyptic would fit and that is the reason I did not vote for it.

I'm newish here, so I might not have all the details right, but from the explanations I've seen around, your math on how the votes work is exactly right.

There doesn't seem to be a set number of prompts that win, just however many have a clear majority. Just like if we were all voting yes/no on all the prompts, it wouldn't be a set number that would win, it would be as many as the majority voted yes on. It's just a more complicated calculations this way.

I'm not sure what the numbers end up looking like, but if say the top two had around 100 net upvotes and the next three had around 65 and so on, there would only be two clear winners. If there were three with around the same high number of upvotes, there would be three winners.

And I assume we vote as many weeks as it takes until we have enough prompts for the year?

I voted for inhospitable place so I'm glad that made it. The other one's fine but I do hope we get some more focused prompts as time goes on. Maybe we're all at a point in this year's challenge where we're craving easy things!

Nicole, also if a prompt has a lot of both top and bottom votes it will be listed out as polarizing on the results. So you can tell the ones that divided opinion.

Rachel wrote: "Marta wrote: "Serendipity wrote: "Disappointed but not surprised about the suffrage prompt. Wonder if it would do better if it was widened and worded like the Antarctic prompt i - in honour of the ..."

It was a down vote for me too. I may be female but there has been so much on women's rights etc over here and there are so many women only scholarships through unis I am just over everything remotely linked to it. It seems if you work hard and are a boy you have to pay full for a science degree and if you are a girl you get to go almost free. I know this is a tiny thing in the grand scheme but it just gets my goat big time. I appreciate what women did in the past to give us opportunities but it seems to have swung the opposite direction now.

I hope road trip comes around again. I voted it down and now I wish I hadn't.

Raquel wrote: "I'm newish here, so I might not have all the details right, but from the explanations I've seen around, your math on how the votes work is exactly right.

There doesn't seem to be a set number of ..."
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Nicole wrote: "So to get this straight

Hypothetically, using simple numbers, if 50 people upvote the same author from last year prompt and 2 people downvote it, it would have 48 votes essentially? And make it o..."

You're both correct :)

We have had much larger response numbers this year compared to previous years so that has affected the numbers. But usually we like to see a large gap between the top prompts and the next set. If there's a smaller gap then that would be a close call.

Your -10 example would be closer to being polarized than being in the bottom. But with that much of a difference it would probably not be listed in the results at all.

They have to have a much large number of 'bottom' votes to be placed in the bottom results.

I think I downvoted both of the prompts that are on the bottom. Women's suffrage/women's rights is not really interesting topic to me. As for second prompt, gee, even though I'm not really against that prompt, I guess my laziness took over me, because when I imagined how troublesome would be to find something for that I would be interested in, I instantly noped.

I have to say, I find it incredibly sad to see the transgender prompt as a bottom vote. That’s a rough result to read.

I actually used all eight of my votes to downvote prompts this time because I felt pretty strongly opposed to some of the suggestions. But if I had upvoted it would've been for the ones that did make it so I am pleased with the results. I think the "time or place you wouldn't want to live" is a super interesting prompt!

Chinook wrote: "I have to say, I find it incredibly sad to see the transgender prompt as a bottom vote. That’s a rough result to read."

I know what you mean, but I'm hoping it's only because people aren't aware of the authors and books rather than a desire to avoid them. Are bottom prompts excluded from being resubmitted? I wonder if we work on an excellent list that some people might be swayed later on in the process...

I agree it’s incredibly disheartening to see the trans author/character prompt in the bottom! I was very concerned that would happen as soon as it was suggested, and it’s so disappointing to see the group prove my initial fear right....

I think part of the problem is that the prompt is extremely limiting. It has two stipulations, requiring a transgender author and a transgender character. I would think that is more likely the reason it is in the bottom than anything else as we've had similar prompts on past lists.

Peter wrote: "I think part of the problem is that the prompt is extremely limiting. It has two stipulations, requiring a transgender author and a transgender character."

No, it was one or the other - "transgender author or with a transgender main character."

I think the transgender prompt is very difficult. I have almost 1800 books in my tracking database and I only have tagged 12 of them as transgender.

Also, a lot of the authors/books that would fit this prompt - including the examples in the prompt suggestion - are obscure books or are self-published and just aren't going to be of interest to most people.

Maybe if it was broadened to include everything on the GLBTQ+ spectrum if would have more appeal to voters?

Serendipity wrote: "Disappointed but not surprised about the suffrage prompt. Wonder if it would do better if it was widened and worded like the Antarctic prompt i - in honour of the 100th anniversary of women’s suffr..."

That still seems too restrictive. What about in honor of suffrage, a book featuring a strong women? It can be translated as a strong woman involved in suffrage or for those who want to be looser, any strong woman.

Rebecca wrote: "I agree it’s incredibly disheartening to see the trans author/character prompt in the bottom! I was very concerned that would happen as soon as it was suggested, and it’s so disappointing to see th..."


It's way too limiting, especially as it is a relatively new identification so if you are being strict about it, you can only choose fairly recent books (although to be cheeky I probably would have read something with J Edgar Hoover) and the majority of those books are YA. I won't vote for any category I don't think will have a large number (at least 500) number of choices.
And just because something doesn't win doesn't mean one can't read it anyways.

I missed that. I thought it was both the author and character. My mistake. I still think it's extremely limiting. In my experience with books that have characters from nonbinary orientations, I don't like how their sexual identity is often the sole focus of the story without developing the character beyond that. It is difficult to find a book with a nonbinary character in which the plot does not have something to do with their sexual orientation especially when their identity is noted in the synopsis. This amounts to a lot of YA, romance, or stereotypical stories. The prompt becomes difficult to plan for if you're looking to avoid stereotypes because it's harder to find books that feature LGBT characters, but don't use their identity as a focus of the story, when it's not noted in the synopsis.

One series that does an excellent job is the Shades of Magic series by V. E. Schwab. One of the characters is bisexual, but the story isn't about that. That is part of the character which is part of the story, but his sexuality isn't the focus. I really enjoyed that aspect because it breaks the mold that nonbinary characters have to have a story surrounding their sexuality rather than just be a part of a story that has nothing to do with how they identify.

Unrelated, but what's all the "in honour of...." for? All that preamble is pretty unnecessary and irrelevant and doesn't really have anything to do with the actual prompt. People have been calling it the antarctic prompt, but if you took that part away the prompt stays exactly the same. Ultimately the prompt has nothing to do with the antarctic and is just a book about a place you wouldn't want to visit/live.

Same with the women's suffrage prompt. Why include "in honour of women's suffrage" if, for example, the suggestion is going to end up being "a book about a strong woman".

It just seems unnecessarily wordy, and long winded for what really is not that complicated.

In the wild discussion we were wanting to do more prompts that were relevant to 2020.

But the prompt itself has nothing to do with 2020.... The part about the anniversary of the discovery of the antarctic doesn't factor into the book selection at all.

Maybe the mods can trim it for the final list but I think the anniversaries were relevant for voting, based on the discussion we had. I will be leaving in my explanation when I get round to submitting my NASA prompt because I think it explains why it's there even if it doesn't matter by the time people are selecting books.

Peter wrote: "Same with the women's suffrage prompt. Why include "in honour of women's suffrage" if, for example, the suggestuon is going to end up being "a book about a strong woman"...."

With regard to the suffrage prompt, the original suggestion was for a book about women's suffrage. Changing it to a book about a strong woman or about women's rights were simply suggestions by others as a way to broaden the scope and perhaps get more interest from the group if resubmitted.

I was pleased with the 2 that made it in as I upvoted both but was disappointed in the bottoms since I also upvoted both of those. I am not surprised because of how many people expressed their concern about them being too restrictive.

Personally, I don't mind a few prompts being restrictive, especially when they are about (what I consider) important subjects but I understand everyone is looking for different things when it comes to the challenge.

I agree with Peter . The prompts are being changed so much from the original ones

Peter - was the character bisexual and non-binary? Those two things aren’t necessarily related.

The comments critiquing a sexual identity as being the focus of story read poorly to me, I’m going to say that outright. Straight romantic relationships are present as a given in almost all of literature. They form plots and subplots. I don’t see people writing off books because there are straight couples in them.

I wonder if you read these books as being so focused on identity because it’s outside of your norm? And that when you read books where straight characters do the same thing you don’t feel that emphasis because that’s just so prevalent in our culture?

While I am fully aware that plenty of people in this group won’t be allies because it is a reading challenge based group, what I was getting at more is that it saddens me to see that prompt come up as a bottom because it’s a hard thing to see.

And maybe it was just a very jarring disconnect during Pride month.

Chinook wrote: "I have to say, I find it incredibly sad to see the transgender prompt as a bottom vote. That’s a rough result to read."

I down-voted this suggestion because I really don't care about the author's background or lifestyle. That's not how I choose what to read. I just want a book to be interesting to me and preferably one that is available to be checked out through my libraries ebook collection.

ETA: I enjoy research, but need a nudge to get started. I started the challenges as a way to find books that were slightly off the beaten path or that I might not have considered otherwise. I'm not looking for prompts that are controversial in nature. Give me flowers, letters, publication dates, color of cover, geographical locations, etc!

Jette wrote: "Chinook wrote: "I have to say, I find it incredibly sad to see the transgender prompt as a bottom vote. That’s a rough result to read."

I down-voted this suggestion because I really don't care abo..."
I down-voted it too for the same reason. I don't care about the author's religion, sexuality, or colour. As long as they write a good book to read in my opinion, is all that matters.

Chinook wrote: "I have to say, I find it incredibly sad to see the transgender prompt as a bottom vote. That’s a rough result to read."

Do you mean you think people voted against the prompt because they are prejudiced against trans people? I’m just trying to understand why it’s a disappointing result for some people, not debating the reason. :-)

I am someone who actively works to read diversely, but I downvoted the transgender prompt for being too restrictive. I try to read an LGBTQ+ book once a month, so I’m always searching for books in the genre that tempt me, and I have yet to find a book with a transgender character that has interested me. I tend to read more mainstream books, so that could be why, but I think if it was an LGBTQ+ book (rather than trans specifically), I would have upvoted it.

I don’t think that this prompt ending up in the bottom necessarily means we aren’t allies or we aren’t interested in reading more by LGBTQ+ authors... it’s just difficult to fill when it is such a tight restriction. Maybe (hopefully!) there will be more options to choose from in the future.

Chinook, my point was that people are more than just their sexual identity. I find it frustrating when LGBT characters are in a book or story and reduced to just being about their sexual identity. There are straight romances (which to be honest I don't enjoy) but the characters are not defined by their sexual identity. There is nothing wrong with having LGBT relationships and romances. They have been part of books I've thoroughly enjoyed. What I don't enjoy is when an LGBT character is typecast or present solely to add conflict with their identity.

Why can't an LGBT character just be part of the novel/world/universe in which their story takes place without their identity being the focus?

My point was not that I don't enjoy reading stories with them present, I find it frustrating that they aren't just part of the story and instead become defined by their identity. Straight characters exist in a novel without their sexual identity being a focus, so why does an LGBT character need to be reduced to theirs? Why can't they be a powerful magician, a warrior, genius or whatever other character who happens to be LGBT rather than a character defined by their sexual identity.

Here is some real world relevance of what my point was. The process of "coming out" unfairly forces non heterosexual people to identify themselves by their sexual orientation; For example, my brother is gay, I am not. When he came out, he struggled with it because he had to come up to me and our other brother and explicitly tell us. He also had to explicitly tell our parents. I didn't have to do that. There was never a point in my life where I had to tell people close to me "hey, I'm straight". I never had to reduce my identity to my sexual identity. My brother did. He was very fortunate to have a family that does not care and love him for who he is, not who he is attracted to. So when I see that kind of thing occur in novels I take issue with it. There is no reason a novel cannot just have an LGBT character exist without them being forced to confront their identity, using their identity to create conflict, or having their identity the sole focus of their character. For sure there are definitely books that will be appropriate in. But not all and it upsets me when so dew LGBT characters are more than their sexual identity within novels.

Peter wrote: "Why can't an LGBT character just be part of the novel/world/universe in which their story takes place without their identity being the focus?"

Because that's reality. Struggling with identity is a huge deal for most LGBTQ+ people. Straight people just go about life with no thought to the fact that they're straight. Queer people live with constant fear of losing family, friends, jobs, homes, etc. They live with the fear of being bullied or worse. They live with the constant daily reminder that they are a minority. For most queer people, their identity IS their life story.

Dalex, I agree and again that's part of my point. They are forced to live that on a constant basis and it's not fair. And it is important for media (books, movies etc) to highlight that. But at the same time media has the powerful ability to portray LGBT characters as people beyond just their sexual identity.

It is important to recognize that people struggle daily with their identity and in many places are victimized for it. But if characters are constantly portrayed as defined by their sexual identity it normalizes the idea that their sexual identity takes priority over other aspects of who they are. Media can change that by having diverse characters who come from a variety of sexual identities without that being the focus of the character.

At first, I had the same *sigh* reaction as Chinook when seeing that the transgender prompt was in the bottom. Now I understand that it's too limiting for most of the group, although I do think it's important for us to add some kind of diversity prompt in our challenge.

Peter, your point is very interesting and eye-opening. I'd never thought about this issue in this light, so thanks for sharing it.