Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Another round with lots of opinions!

Top:
A book with a character dealing with death
A book connected in some way to any collective noun for animals

Bottom:
A book that was a finalist, runner-up, or winner of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize
A book with an antivillian
A book connected to the quote, "Give me liberty, or give me death!"
A book by a Nobel Prize winner
A book that doesn't fit any of the other 51 prompts

Close Call:
A book that fits a suggestion that didn't make the final list

The next round of suggestions will open around 7 am CDT on Wednesday, September 11.
*Note that Hurricane Francine is literally passing over my house tomorrow, so I may be a bit MIA in the next couple of days. If you need anything, reach out to Jackie or Robin!

SUMMER READING CHALLENGE WINNER

Turid was our winner for the Summer Reading challenge, and she picked...

A book featuring adult friendships

Her rationale: My thought process was that a lot of books for children are about friendship, while books for adults tend to focus more on family and romantic relationships. So I would like to read more about adults being friends (or looking for friends, or struggling to find friends, or not seing the point of friendship at all, or growing apart from their childhood friends, etc).

Love these!

@ Stay safe, Emily.

My preliminary plan for either of these was to do a murder mystery/who done it. Now I need to decide if I actually want to treat them as the same prompt or not. If the murder prompt gets in for 2023, I'm going to laugh.

Oh no! Antivillain was bottomed. :(

But! My downvotes were also bottomed, and I really love the two upvotes. So a slightly mixed week, but on the whole I'm quite happy. :D

Stay safe, Emily!

(I've edited the first post to also include the summer reading challenge winner's prompt choice!)

I like these prompts!
I already decided that if the collective noun prompt won I would look up a group of turkey vultures since I've been seeing them frequently near my house. Apparently, they are a venue of turkey vultures, so I might look for a book with a wedding.

Oooh, I also like the summer reading challenge prompt. Might be challenging for me, with my romance novel addiction, but sounds like a fun challenge.

I voted for both the winners, and I like found family so adult friendships should be easy to find.

Depending on what happens with the rest of the list, I might go with a memory of elephants. I also like a pandemonium of parrots, but sadly I've already finished M.R. Carey's Pandemonium books.

I'm happy to se a suggestion of mine getting upvoted. I like the prompt about adult friendship. When it comes to collective nouns for animals I must confess I haven't quite understand what it's about. I would have guessed it had to do about herds for example but when I 've read all the comments about it, people have talked about governments and towns with T-shirts and all sorts of things and I'm afraid I'm missing some American proverb or saying or something like that. I would love to have it explained to me. With examples of titles.

I like the winners, but I sure am sorry to see "antivillain" in the bottoms, I was looking forward to that one.

Nike wrote: "I'm happy to se a suggestion of mine getting upvoted. I like the prompt about adult friendship. When it comes to collective nouns for animals I must confess I haven't quite understand what it's abo..."

Collective nouns are words like herd (for horses) or flock (for sheep), but some animals have creative collective nouns.

This article has some explanations behind different collective nouns:
https://www.discoverwildlife.com/anim...

And a more comprehensive list of collective nouns for animals:
https://www.thewildlifediaries.com/co...

Congratulations to Turid for winning the challenge! Adult friendship is a great prompt. I had another challenge with a friendship tag and found many great books. [It’s easy to lose touch with old friends when you’re busy with your career and family (or comfy at home with a good book). This is a nice reminder to nurture those friendships. ]

I’m happy with the results of poll 12, but my rejected prompt list is getting longer, so I hope the close call gets in later.

Ellie wrote: "Nike wrote: "I'm happy to se a suggestion of mine getting upvoted. I like the prompt about adult friendship. When it comes to collective nouns for animals I must confess I haven't quite understand ..."

Wow! As I wrote I thought it would be about herds but this "murder of crow"-thing that I've seen through out the comments didn't mean a thing to me and therefore I didn't get why murder mysteries ended up on the listopia since it had nothing to do with animals.

Thank you so much! I've never come across this before. It doesn't exist in my language and I haven't understood one thing about it in the Wild Discussion. This is so enlightening!

When I was young there was a very popular book for wordsmiths, An Exaltation of Larks: The Ultimate Edition listing many of the animal group words. I don't know if it's still in print.

Nike wrote: "Ellie wrote: "Nike wrote: "I'm happy to se a suggestion of mine getting upvoted. I like the prompt about adult friendship. When it comes to collective nouns for animals I must confess I haven't qui..."

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

It's at the bottom of this Wikipedia. My understanding, which is kinda backed up by this, is that the English aristocracy took it from the French and then it became part of the normal person's language as a way to make fun of them. Most of these phrases are never actually used.

A murder of crows is one of the few that people know just because it allows for some really good jokes (what do you call 2 crows? an attempted murder)

I like the 3 new prompts! I love the rationale behind the adult friendship. I will probably save book #4 in the Neapolitan series for this one. The Story of the Lost Child I was planning to read it this year but could make it my first book for 2025. I'm disappointed, but not surprised, that the 2 prize prompts were bottomed. I still plan to read books from these lists and fitting them in elsewhere.

Good ones!!

I think antivillian getting bottom shows how few voters read the thread. I hated it too when I saw it (too close to antihero which IMO is overdone) but once I saw the explanations and understood it, I really liked it. Oh well.

Nike wrote: "I'm happy to se a suggestion of mine getting upvoted. I like the prompt about adult friendship. When it comes to collective nouns for animals I must confess I haven't quite understand what it's abo..."

There are various names for groups of all kinds of animals. Herds is a common one for some animals, but there are so many others. The prompt calls for a book related in some way to any one of those collective nouns. Here is a list: https://arapahoelibraries.org/blogs/p...

Pleased with all the chosen ones, including the summer challenge winner's choice. So many were bottomed! And only one of them was among my 8 downvotes. Well, we definitely need "suggestion that didn't make the final list" again, maybe near the very end of voting (or in a close calls poll).

I'm very happy with the winners this week and the the Summer Reading Challenge prompt. Congratulations, Turid. I'll use the Thursday Murder Club series for adult friendship.

For the Animal Collective I will use 'a grumble of pugs'. I love books featuring an elderly curmudgeon and will look for one of these. I'm thinking about completing the "Elderly Woman" trilogy for this prompt.

A character dealing with death will fit with the final Nir Tavor book with a character present at the massacre at the Nova music festival.

I enjoy weeks when I have series and/or books that I know I enjoy that I can use to fill prompts.

Very happy with the results, and I like the adult friendships prompt as well.
The collective noun prompt has so many options, it'll be fun to find something that meets it.

Pamela wrote: "Good ones!!

I think antivillian getting bottom shows how few voters read the thread. I hated it too when I saw it (too close to antihero which IMO is overdone) but once I saw the explanations and..."

I read the thread and I downvoted it. I loved the idea in theory but had no idea what would qualify, so it had to be a downvote.

Wow, I was just adding books to the listopias and dang, I never realized how few books I read are based on adult friendships. Families, childhood friends, romantic partners, sure but friends? Wow...

Although the death list is becoming a list of murder mysteries.

eta- I thought your dates for the next nominations was wrong but no, alas, it's only Tuesday!

Nike wrote: "When it comes to collective nouns for animals I must confess I haven't quite understand what it's abo..."

Nike - Most of these terms aren't even known by English speakers. It's common to just use the words group, pack, herd, pod, flock and school. For whatever reason, a lot of people do know the phrase "a murder of crows". I've read, though, that ornithologists just refer to a group of birds as a flock.

Here are some words for hippos:
A group of hippos is called a bloat. Several lesser-used names: a thunder, a herd, a sea, a school, a pod, a dale, a crash, and a siege.

Some book ideas:
Bloat - Anti-bloat diet books!
Thunder - Honeybees and Distant (Also works for a coastal setting)
Pod - Pod the obvious choice for me since it has a pod of dolphins on the cover and is about dolphins
Dale - Any book with Valley in the title or set in a valley, since a dale is a valley: The Valley of Horses, How Green Was My Valley, Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family
Siege - The Besieged City, The Siege of Krishnapur, Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad
War books about sieges like Leningrad or Saigon

Here are a few others for that I like:
A PADDLE of Platypus (I am reminded of the American classics An American Tragedy and The Deerslayer)
A COMPANY of King Parrots
A WISDOM of Wombats

Ooooh humorous post-apocalyptic books would work for dealing with death. I read Galapagos and I have Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend on my list.

I didn't expect the dealing with death prompt to make it in but I like it. 3 of my upvotes ended up in the bottom. I was pretty sure they would but wanted to support them anyway.

I'm thrilled that the super fun and creative collective noun prompt made the list!

(I think we need two listopias for the prompt - one for all the "murder of crows" and one for everything else. Haha.)

Love all three this week, but I’m sad antivillians was bottomed. I’ve been wanting to reread A Monster Calls, so the death prompt will be the perfect spot for that.

Decidedly 'meh' about the winners. (One was a DOWN vote from me.)

Really like Turid's suggestion of a book featuring adult friendships.

None of my up votes made the final list (either up or bottom), but the close call was one of my up votes.

Three of my DOWN votes made the bottom list

Emily stay safe!

Turid - love you choice, thank you!

Well the top were not my favorites but I warmed up to noun and upvoted. The Dealing with Death one is triggering for me so still struggling with seeing it on our list that but will find something easy enough.

I was a fan of the Dayton Prize so a bit disappointed it was in the bottom.

Some interesting prompts and adult friendship is a different and good idea. I did vote for the Dayton Prize but without much hope, so much as I expected.

Good luck, Emily, keep safe.

Samantha- Due to the focus of the Dayton Literary Peace prize, I’m sure that many of the books have characters dealing with death. One possibility is Brother, I’m Dying by Edwidge Danticat. I plan to pick a few books off this list and fit them into prompts. I might pick this one since it also checks the non-fiction box for me.

Demetra wrote: "Love all three this week, but I’m sad antivillians was bottomed. I’ve been wanting to reread A Monster Calls, so the death prompt will be the perfect spot for that."

That's a hard reread! Although the book has such a necessary moral. I've recommended it to so many people.

LOL. I now have more reject prompts on my list than there have been selected for the regular challenge. I may have to drop out of another group's challenge to fit them all in.

Shelley wrote: "Nike wrote: "Ellie wrote: "Nike wrote: "I'm happy to se a suggestion of mine getting upvoted. I like the prompt about adult friendship. When it comes to collective nouns for animals I must confess ..."

Lol! 😅

I voted for dealing with death (and I added some books to the listopia that specifically aren't murder mysteries). I was neutral on animals. My first thought is a book about or by someone who does a podcast- for dolphin pod. (random thought- dolphins communicate, do you think they do "pod"casts???)

Can we talk about the listopia for the death prompt? If people are going to count murder mysteries, and books about serial killers, vampires or ghosts, the listopia is going to get out of control fast. Can we discuss guidelines, or at least labels to help us each find what we want?

I understand that some people might not want to read a book that primarily focuses on dying or grieving (or assisted suicide, hospice, or end of life care), though I am. (My first choice is a book about a death doula. )There are also books about people who work in funeral homes, forensics, or cemeteries, and some of these are unique, in-depth or even funny. Personally I would consider most murder mysteries to be a KISS option, but we each get to make our own decisions about where to draw the line. The problem is that there are just so very MANY murder mysteries out there.

I added a note on many of the books I added to the listopia, to indicate the subject matter, and I’m wondering if others can do the same thing.

NancyJ wrote: "Can we talk about the listopia for the death prompt? If people are going to count murder mysteries, and books about serial killers, vampires or ghosts, the listopia is going to get out of control fast. Can we discuss guidelines, or at least labels to help us each find what we want?..."



That's the thing about Listopias, once created, they're set free and anything can happen. There is no way to control who adds things to them or what other people add.

I'm wishing people would specify why they added books to the "groups of animals" list, some people have added notes but not everyone.

I'd suggest having multiple listopias. If we make one for murder mysteries and similarly filter out common things, then would could have ones more focused on the topic someone is looking to read.

I personally was planning on looking for a book about someone dealing with death (as in literally making a deal with the personification of death), but someone else might want to read a book about grief - I suppose.

The mods general list several specific listopias in the prompt’s weekly topics threads. The group’s listopia represents the books members plan to read or books they think count. It is still helpful when member add a note why a book counts, but I think the ATY listopia should be broad.

I personally, think I will go with death as a character.

NancyJ wrote: "Can we talk about the listopia for the death prompt? If people are going to count murder mysteries, and books about serial killers, vampires or ghosts, the listopia is going to get out of control f..."

I agree- there can be links to vampire and murder listopias.

I've also added the reason for all the books I added to notes

eta- the notes will also help people determine what aspect the book deals with

Stay safe Emily and everyone else in the path of Hurricane Francine!

I love the two that got in! And I downvoted or thought of downvoting 4 of the bottom 5.

The adult friendship is kind of weird, but I'll see what others put on the listopia.

I added quite a few books to the "dealing with death" list that are not murder mysteries. I don't read murder mysteries, so I figured there would be others in the same boat.

For once, I ways almost perfectly aligned with these results! Both winners were in my upvotes, and the bottom ones include several of my downvotes.

This is also the first time I remember actively being excited for a winner's chosen prompt (although there maybe some I don't remember)! I remember some feeling a bit narrow or difficult because they were just not my taste, but this one has such a great range of options!

I’m excited about the two on top (voted for them) and very pleased with Turid’s choice of her Adult Friendship prompt!

I upvoted one winner and downvoted the other.
I really like Turid's choice. I just read Daisy and Kate earlier in the year which fits nicely!

The bottoms I either downvoted or left neutral so I'm not sad they are bottomed.

The Covenant of Water is a good fit for Dealing with Death, I find - I'm 3/4 of the way through, and is not a murder mystery.

NancyJ wrote: "Can we talk about the listopia for the death prompt? If people are going to count murder mysteries, and books about serial killers, vampires or ghosts, the listopia is going to get out of control f..."

The vampire book I added is set in a funeral parlour, so I think it still counts.

Happy with the prompts, relieved about some of the bottoms, surprised about the close call. Maybe that one will get in during one of the last rounds?

Congratulations @Turid for winning the summer challenge and thank you for the interesting prompt! I'll be happy to find something for that and I really like your reasoning.