Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Happy results day!

Top
A book related to a word given by a random word generator*
A book that features siblings as the main characters
A book that might cause someone to react “You read what?!?”

Bottom
A play
A book involving getting ‘the band’ back together, either literal or figurative
A book that has beauty, brains, and brawn

Close Call
A non-fiction book on a topic inspired by a fiction book you've read

Polarizing
A book you picked up because of an adaptation of it or a related work

The next suggestions thread will open tomorrow, Wednesday, September 23.

*Wording for this prompt was edited by the mods to make it more properly formatted for the list. URL listed in the original prompt will be linked in the weekly thread for the prompt.

Listopias:
A book related to a word given by a random word generator
A book that features siblings as the main characters
A book that might cause someone to react “You read what?!?”

Oh, thank goodness! I had five down votes this round (the first time this year that I’ve had more down votes than up votes), and none of them made it in the top. Phew! I think I voted for the “you read what?!?!” prompt, and I’m fine with the other two, so overall I’m happy with these results. I had very strong feelings about my down votes, so I’m very grateful they didn’t make it! Can’t wait for the next round to start! 😊

I’m the most excited about the random word generated prompt. When it was being discussed in the wild discussion thread, I initially generated 8 words which I took a screenshot of and will be using one of them. Since, I got a great list of words.

Damn, I was looking forward to the "getting the band back together" prompt. Guess I'll have to re-watch Blues Brothers instead. I do like the prompts that won!

I had three upvotes and two of them are in the bottom and two of my bottom votes are in the top. Not a great week for me but I will make do :(

I wasn't sure about the random word generator, assuming I would cheat and keep trying if I didn't like the words. But I just tried it with 5 words and got: chemistry, dinner, lead, witness, and narrow. Chemistry works for almost any romance and witness for legal/detective stories. Lead (as a verb) could relate to stories from the military, business, fantasy, etc. and the other words aren't that difficult either.

It looks like we now have 35 total prompts.

Plus one prompt coming in from the individual challenge in the Read-a-Thon. We should get that one within a week. So we are at 36/52 prompts.

I don't know if I want to lock in my word so early, but I just got "witch" out of the random word generator so tempted to go with that and fit in one of the many witch books I've stumbled across this year for the witches prompt.

I was prepared to get some prompts I didn't like this week, so I am super happy about the "you read what?!" getting in too, I read several books a year that applies to.

I didn't vote for siblings but I am pretty sure I can find lots to read for it.

Kelly wrote: "Damn, I was looking forward to the "getting the band back together" prompt. Guess I'll have to re-watch Blues Brothers instead. I do like the prompts that won!"

Have you read Kings of the Wyld? It's the first book I thought of when I saw this prompt as it would have been perfect. If you like the prompt you'd probably enjoy it!

I admit I didn't like the random word generator, because it sounded too wide-open. I also didn't try it, until just now, I asked for 5 words. I got:
translate
bless
sick
chimpanzee
colon

So I guess I can read a translation!! good thing, because I have no idea what I'd do with the other four words.

I went with 10 words because I am indecisive lol. The second word that came up was "number" so I will probably go with a number in the title, assuming I keep this list and don't regenerate my list again before the new year starts.

Nadine wrote: "I admit I didn't like the random word generator, because it sounded too wide-open. I also didn't try it, until just now, I asked for 5 words. I got:
translate
bless
sick
chimpanzee
colon

So I gues..."

You could read something by Jane Goodall, she has written some very interesting books about chimpanzees (if you like non-fiction).

Bless fits with books involving, priests, nuns or ministers. Plenty of sick people in all kinds of books. I must say colon is a bit weird, although it has the punctuation meaning as well as the anatomical one. But I think I would go with "translate" also.

Nadine wrote: "I admit I didn't like the random word generator, because it sounded too wide-open. I also didn't try it, until just now, I asked for 5 words. I got:
translate
bless
sick
chimpanzee
colon..."

😂 Good thing you didn't need to use all of them... the translated blessings of a sick chimpanzee colon!

°~Amy~° wrote: "I had three upvotes and two of them are in the bottom and two of my bottom votes are in the top. Not a great week for me but I will make do :("

I'm starting to think I should switch and put my upvotes in down and vice versa cause my upvotes always lose and down always win!

Nadine wrote: "I admit I didn't like the random word generator, because it sounded too wide-open. I also didn't try it, until just now, I asked for 5 words. I got:
translate
bless
sick
chimpanzee
colon

So I gues..."

You could always do a book with a main character who is sick like cancer or AIDS. Or a book you're sick of hearing about (I just put sick in listopia and mostly got those lists)

Stoked for the you read what?! prompt! Here's the original Listopia that inspired the prompt if anyone feels like perusing it. This list is only non-fiction, but our ATY Listopia can encompass fiction as well!

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

I was going to read a classic Russian play for the Play prompt but I will just read if for the You Read What?! prompt. So, that works for me! I like the random word generator prompt since I’ve got 2 good words to work with. I don’t think we need a Listopia, though, unless we want a list of random titles! BBB is not my favorite but I’ll see what others are considering.

Oops, I just realized that BBB is in the bottom so ignore my comment! 😀 That’s what happens when I try to respond on GR and watch my grandson at the same time!

I thought about not making a listopia for the random word generator prompt, Pam, but I figured that it wouldn't hurt to expose us to new books that might fit multiple words.

I'm so excited my sibling prompt made it! :)

Ellie wrote: "the translated blessings of a sick chimpanzee colon!"

Now that would be a good book for "you read what??"

I had only 3 upvotes this week, and they were the 3 winners this week, so that is kind of amazing to me. And exciting. The last 2 polls I've voted for all 6 of the prompts that got in.

Siblings was one of my upvotes so I'm glad it made the list. I downvoted the random word generator but it's an easy prompt to do even if I don't really like it. As always, I'm disappointed that so many prompts that I thought were great didn't make it through.

Aimee wrote: "Have you read Kings of the Wyld? It's the first book I thought of when I saw this prompt as it would have been perfect. If you like the prompt you'd probably enjoy it!"

I have not! I will add it to my TBR list 😊

I tried the random word generator before the vote, getting one word on each of three tries:
be
in
of
I voted for the prompt anyway because I figured eventually I'd get a "real" word, though I suppose "be" has some philosophical implications that I could use! :)

Random suggestion, probably won't happen... But what if the Listopia for the random word generator was just for a select 5 random words that the mods rolled for. Then readers could choose to use books from that list that all make sense for that Listopia (and it could be fun to have a large chunk of readers read random books related to one or several of those 5 words). But of course readers can also roll their own randomly generated word too, but keep those off the Listopia?

Not thrilled with this batch. I upvoted one of the top choices and one of the bottom choices. My winning upvote was the sibling prompt - lots of options for that.

I didn't vote for "you read what?!?" but I almost did, so I can work with it.

I dislike "random" prompts, so that was a downvote for me. I keep getting words like "administration" and "computer." Well, I'll figure it out.

I also downvoted the beauty, brains, and brawn one and the prompt about getting the band back together, so I'm fine with those being bottom choices. At first glance, I liked the idea of getting the band back together because I like the trope in TV and movies. But I couldn't find any books for it that I hadn't read and wanted to read.

I got tension, solve, operational, kidney, band. Shouldn't be too hard to get something here - a mystery and/or thriller covers the first two. Band would be fairly easy too if I decide to go in that direction.

I got
Number of Words:
5
Word Type:
All
First letter:
Last letter:
Word size by:
Syllables Letters

Equals

9
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detective
education
speculate
earthflax
entertain

Pleased with these but have no idea what earthflax is, so off to look it up

You can change what type of words you get from the random word generator (nouns, verbs, adjectives).

I'm just not happy about the word generator. I'm a mood reader. I think I would have to hit the word generator 50 times to find a book I was in the mood for. But it says a book the word is related to so maybe it wouldn't be that bad. Plagiarize came up for one word when I was playing with it.

Siblings I think is easier than I think it is. I'm sure many young adult books would qualify for that. And actually I have some sister books on my shelf. I still haven't read My Sister's Keeper and I have Jefferson's Daughters: Three Sisters, White and Black, in a Young America on my list.

You read what - should be somewhat easy. Although I read the perfect one for that this year - Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? Big Questions from Tiny Mortals About Death - I'm sure I can find something just as fun.

Okay, these are the words I'm choosing from. After like 20 or so spins... I decided I was just sticking with these regardless of what they were. It's one of the more doable lists I've gotten.

Freedom
Importance
Music
Midnight
Owner

Emily wrote: "I thought about not making a listopia for the random word generator prompt, Pam, but I figured that it wouldn't hurt to expose us to new books that might fit multiple words."

I can't argue with your logic Emily!

Avery wrote: "Random suggestion, probably won't happen... But what if the Listopia for the random word generator was just for a select 5 random words that the mods rolled for. Then readers could choose to use bo..."

Avery, I love this idea. Maybe we can start a separate thread about it with a separate listopia... that way, people can read what they want based on their own spins, but if they don't want to (or don't trust themselves to stick to their own) roll, they can use that listopia.

Emily wrote: "Avery wrote: "Random suggestion, probably won't happen... But what if the Listopia for the random word generator was just for a select 5 random words that the mods rolled for. Then readers could ch..."

Maybe it could be a BIO option

I got presidency with my first attempt so think I might just work with that. I don’t like prompts that are really broad so that narrows it down. Luckily I like history and politics so I will be able to find something good. There are a couple I have been meaning to get to this year so might just delay them to next year.

My eight words were: econobox, emotion, difficult, meadow, authority, theft, ring, and snow.

I have been slowly doing a reread by listening to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. In the beginning of the year, I'd like to listen to The Return of the King. I think, I'll use it for the random word prompt.

I set the number of words to 7 and used all words. This is the list that I came up with:

brink; siege; packet; style; random; pasture; strap

I was very pleased and will probably use this as a title prompt unless there is a book that I'm dying to read and can't fit in anywhere else. Then "random" will come in handy! LOL

I'm also thrilled about the "You read WHAT?" prompt and only 'meh' about the sibling prompt. I'm an only child and this sorta seems like a freebie. I am glad that we had 3 top choices this week.

I decided to do the random word generator and got "phone". Okay, I'll think about it.

When i was searching for it, I stumbled across a random phrase generator and gave it a try. I got "you can't judge a book by it's cover" and I'm SO tempted to use that instead! Hmm, unless that's fodder for another category...

Also, really happy that "you read what?!?" made it in this time! Infinite Jest it is!

I like all three prompts and am please we got three again.

My 10 words (I did 10 so I have enough or else I'd cheat)
insurance; contrary; relation; missile; attract; to; constitutional; stadium; tactic; opponent

I'll probably use "attract" and find some romances!

This has been my worst week so far, as far as my personal votes winning. But that's ok! It's a challenge for a reason and there's always some prompts I'm not in love with.

Wendy wrote: "I decided to do the random word generator and got "phone". Okay, I'll think about it."

I would recommend Landline by Rainbow Rowell for phone.

Storm wrote: "This has been my worst week so far, as far as my personal votes winning. But that's ok! It's a challenge for a reason and there's always some prompts I'm not in love with."

Don't despair! I joined in January this year so all the prompts were set. There were several where I thought I didn't have anything for them but as I read a book, I found it fit, for instance The Authenticity Project turned out to be related to the arts, though that wasn't obvious from the description. My method is to pretty much read what I want and figure out where it goes, especially at the beginning. But as we are going along, I have been doing some juggling, replacing some I had already assigned and moving them to other prompts.

This is the first poll where I audibly groaned.

I may have bad luck but previously my first two words (pre-voting) were wall and salmon. I just checked again and now my 5 are crosswalk, peanut, floor, accept and eyebrow.

I know we're getting to the end, but I'm hoping for more challenging prompts. I now feel like I have 5 freebies on the list, as I'll clearly need to keep rolling until I find something that sticks.

But I am so excited for You Read WHAT?!?!? I'm going to read one of my books about bees!

Ellie wrote: "Nadine wrote: "I admit I didn't like the random word generator, because it sounded too wide-open. I also didn't try it, until just now, I asked for 5 words. I got:
translate
bless
sick
chimpanzee
c..."

Ellie, your comment made me laugh out loud.

I voted for 2/3 of the winners again so happy with that. I didn't vote for the 'you read what?' but I'm sure I have a few obscure sounding books on my TBR so that shouldn't be difficult to fill.

I rolled the word generator and got:
ceiling
earthwax
retired
cap
parade

I have no idea what 'earthwax' is. I think 'retired' might be my best one to go with as I have a few books with older characters.

I'm going to need more on the "You Read What" listopia... I have exactly one book on my TBR out of that whole list so far!

A book that might cause someone to react “You read what?!?” seems really difficult because I can only think of a few politician related books that would make someone I know exclaim "you read what?!?" and there is no way I will subject myself to them. I probably just need to imagine talking with people I wouldn't normally talk to about books.

I thought it would be fun to find a book that fit the beauty, brains, and brawn but alas it isn't meant to be.

Samantha, you can also think about talking to people that you normally wouldn’t talk to about books. They would probably be more shocked.

Emily wrote: "I'm going to need more on the "You Read What" listopia... I have exactly one book on my TBR out of that whole list so far!"

I had a quick look at your TBR and when I read The Pull of the Stars I got a few surprised reactions that I was reading about Spanish flu during a pandemic. Also This Is How You Lose the Time War is a hard one to explain and I thought what?! when I saw I Can't Date Jesus: Love, Sex, Family, Race, and Other Reasons I've Put My Faith in Beyoncé.