Read by Theme discussion

Do you have a suggestion for future themes? This is the place to float your ideas!

A book set in Japan.I would love to re-read 'Beyond the Blossoming Fields', based on the life of Gingo Ogino, Japan's first female doctor.

Great idea. :) I've added it to the Master List of Themes.

This one's a bit subjective, but I just finished A Prayer for Owen Meany last month and thought a good theme might be, "Great First Lines." Books where the first line grabs you and keeps you reading more than most. We'd have a great first discussion in introducing what we're reading by quoting the first line.

Another interesting idea, though potentially harder to implement; on one level, it works well for people who browse books in stores/libraries or have an unread collection at home and can pick out their favorite line. But, on the other hand, for people who get their books offline and/or order through the library, it's harder to gauge what will and won't have a first line that "clicks" with them.

So, I'll add that one to the Master List and keep a note somewhere that it'll probably needs some links when it rolls around so people can get a selection of well-loved opening lines and take their pick from that if they need help. Sound good?

I see your point. If we ever do this one, I'll help with some links.

I found some lists of the type through Google and started a Listopia list on the subject drawing on some of the ones that caught my eye. Feel free to contribute to it, and hopefully by the time this theme wins a poll*, we'll have it as another potential source to draw from. :)

*At the moment, my notes have this scheduled to appear on the October poll.

Maybe books you read as a child that had an impact on you.

Books about the future
Books in a series
Books you have heard good things about

Ana wrote: "Maybe books you read as a child that had an impact on you."
Added as "Revisiting Childhood Favorites".

Ana wrote: "Books about the future"
Added as "The Future (Settings Fiction/Nonfiction)"

Ana wrote: "Books in a series"
I'm thinking we could break this one up into a few different themes, actually. For starters, I've added "Start a New Series" and "Revisit a Series You Gave Up On". Any more I should add on the subject?

Ana wrote: "Books you have heard good things about"
Branching from this idea, I've added "Goodreads Recommendations", "Referred by a Friend", "Join the Hype". Does that cover most of what you were thinking on that one, or is there anything I've missed?

And thanks for the suggestions! :D

This doesn't really have to do with any of the other suggestions but books you started but never finished

Oh, I like that one, too. Added as "Give It a Second Chance".

Great, I can't stop, what about classics

Oh romantic, nonfiction about WW1.

We actually already have Classics on the Master List.

Added WW1 and WW2 under "Eras and History".

By romantic, did you mean romance (that's on the Master List in the genre section), or was that part of the WW1 suggestion, or am I being a dunce and it meant something else entirely? ;)

Oh stories from Alaska, cover with tree, book with some one lost, animal stories, title with smart in the cover

Oops, I ment on the cover when I said title with smart in the cover.

Location: Alaska, Cover: Tree(s), Conflicts: Lost, and Title Keywords: "Smart" added.

When you say animal stories, are you thinking of something specific? All-animal casts of characters, for example, or conflicts based on animal rights/welfare (as another example), or just "Animals" as a general theme?

I really meant romance romance but that would be interesting WW1 romance like a romeo and juliet type book maybe that would be cool.

I think that might be getting a little too specific, so how about the more general "Historical Romance" genre?

Animals of a general theme, I was thinking of books like Black Beauty and Marley and Me.

What about covers that look really crazy.

Amara wrote: "I think that might be getting a little too specific, so how about the more general "Historical Romance" genre?"

Ok yeah

In that case, I've added Genre: Animals. We already have Protagonist: Nonhuman Animal, but I'll also add Conflicts: Animal Rights Issues.

Ana wrote: "What about covers that look really crazy."

"Crazy Covers" sounds like a good idea, though it's another one that's going to need some links to get people started. ;) I found one Listopia on the subject, but it was mostly NSFW.

Edit: Added as Covers: Weird/Trippy/Crazy

Asian horror
Book title that starts with a Q/W/Y/Z
Travel vicariously
A novel with two authors
A book that everyone hates that you think you might love
Written from the POV of an animal

Added:
•Genre: Asian Horror
•Titles A-Z (One Letter per Month)
•Genre: Armchair Travel (I think that adequately covers "Travel vicariously", but tell me if you had something else in mind!)
•Authors: Two Authors
•Miscellaneous: Ignore the Haters (for "A book that everyone hates that you think you might love")

I think "Written from the POV of an animal" is adequately covered by Protagonist: Nonhuman animal, but feel free to dispute that. ;) And thanks for the suggestions!

Thanks for organizing the themes and coming up with cuter tags, Amara :)

Of course! ;)

What about books that were made after the movie
cover that has nothing to do with the book
scary cover
cover with cartoon on it
title with numbers in it
book that has to do with art
biography of someone dead

published NaNoWriMo novels

I'll add these to the list as soon as I get back home from the library. :) Added:

Miscellaneous: Movie Novelizations
Covers: "What's That Got to Do With This?"
Covers: Eerie/Scary/Disturbing
Covers: Cartoon-style*
Titles: Numbers
Theme Keywords/General Themes: Art
Genre: Historical Biography
Miscellaneous: NaNoWriMo novels

*If anyone can come up with a better name for this, I'd love to hear it!

You could have themes like: American Authors, British Authors, Canadian Authors, Australian Authors... That could be fun and perhaps makes everyone discover new authors! =)

Also, there is that Dystopia type of book that is trending right now, perhaps this could be an interesting theme as well!

Dystopia is definitely trending, so is steampunk (or is that slightly out of fashion?)

Added:
Genre: Dystopian
Genre: Steampunk
Genre: Cyberpunk*
Genre: Apocalyptic/Post-Apocalyptic*
Authors: American
Authors: British
Authors: Canadian
Authors: Australian
Authors: Someone You've Never Read*

*My own brainstorms based on your suggestions. ;)

How about books featuring a character that shares your first name? Or the name of a friend/loved one, if you have a particularly uncommon name.

Added Protagonist: Your First Name and Protagonist: Your Favorite Name

I'll be sure to make it clear if/when "Your First Name" comes around that a close friend or family member's name can suffice in the case of unusual/uncommon names. ;) Acceptable?

Medieval
18th century
19th century
Oldest book on your TBR shelf
Over 500 pages
Short story collection
Author's pseudonym
Time travel

Added:

Setting: Your State
Title KeywordS: Your State
Holidays: Christmas
Genre: Spinoffs, Sequels, and Parodies of Classics
Genre: Military Fiction

Melanie wrote: "movie novelizations - how far back would we go or would that make a diff?"

I'm thinking that should be up to the reader. Argues for/against, anyone?

Melanie wrote: "Question: does the length of a book in pages make it a novel?"

Is that a question you're asking, or something you're proposing as a theme? ;)

Also Added:

Eras and History: Medieval
Eras and History: 18th Century (1700's)
Eras and History: 19th Century (1800's)
Miscellaneous: Read It, Already! (Oldest Book on Your To-Read Shelf)
Miscellaneous: 500-Page Behemoths
General Themes: Time Travel
Authors: A Pseudonym

As for "short story collection", I think we've got that in "Genre: Anthology".

Just wanted to throw in my two-cents.
How about:
-Banned Books or Controversial
-Break out of your comfort zone and read your least favorite genre
-Ugliest cover you can find or Most beautiful

Added:

Miscellaneous: Banned Books
Genre: Your Least Favorite
Covers: Hideous
Covers: Beautiful

And thanks for the suggestions! :D

I like the Hideous cover idea a lot! I normally never go for ugly covers... But I might be missing masterpieces by judging the novels by their covers!! :P

Marie-claude wrote: "I like the Hideous cover idea a lot! I normally never go for ugly covers... But I might be missing masterpieces by judging the novels by their covers!! :P"
I love that idea great thinking!

Rachel wrote: "How about books featuring a character that shares your first name? Or the name of a friend/loved one, if you have a particularly uncommon name."

Great, thanks!

Melanie wrote: "Sorry - it's a question. I'm not a writer and don't aspire to be one - too many good books for me to read so I'm not about to muddy the waters. But I've seen novels at 200 pages and novellas at 150 - so just wondered."

I think this explains it better than I could. :)

Note: I've changed the thread title to "Theme Suggestions" to make the purpose more obvious from the homepage.

I was reading a book synopsis from the newspaper today and it gave me an idea for a theme. What about reading books from a foreign language?! You know, that has been translated. There could be lots of different choices... Like a book originally written in French, German, Spanish, Arabic, Russian... It could be interesting?

Great idea!

Added:
Miscellaneous: Translated

Totally not as creative as all of these, but easy for everyone to find something: Title with the first word "The."

Eh?? Eh?? LOL!