Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

It's now time to get ready to vote for our first set of prompts! The thread will be open for at least 24 hours before the poll gets posted. This is a good opportunity to ask any question you may have regarding the prompts, do some research, or ask for recommendations.

Voting will open in the afternoon of Saturday, September 24 and results will be posted in the morning of Wednesday, September 28 (CST time).

How it works:
- When the voting opens, follow the link to the mini-poll that will be added at the end of this post
- You have a total of 8 votes this poll to spread across your favorite and least favorite prompts (you can also use less than 8 votes)
- You can find examples of acceptable voting practices on the Introduction thread.
- The prompts with the more favorable votes (comparing top votes to bottom votes, and looking at the overall number of votes it received) will be added to the final list

We are asking people to include their Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ profile address when they vote. To find this, just go to your own profile and then copy the URL/web address. If for some reason you can't link to your Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ profile, please post your full Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ name with enough identifiable information that we'll be able to access your profile. We’ve introduced this for two reasons:

1. On a few occasions in each poll, people have used more than the allotted number of votes, either because they aren’t familiar with the rules or just by mistake. When this happens our only option is to disregard the vote as we can’t identify the voter to ask them to resubmit. By asking for your profile address we’ll be able to message you and ask you to vote again if you’ve accidentally used more than the allotted number of votes.

2. Unfortunately a very small number of people have voted more than once per poll and so we are asking for this information to prevent duplicate votes.

As a reminder: You have a total of 8 votes to use among your top and bottom votes. The mods have access to each individual vote, so we can see if you use more than 8 votes. If you use more than 8 votes in the poll, your vote will have to be deleted, so please make sure to follow the directions so your voice can be heard.

Possible Prompts:
1. A book found by inputting a favorite author on
2. A book not set on (our) earth
3. A book involving friends, family, or a found family
4. A book by an Asian diaspora author
5. In honor of Queen Elizabeth II, a book set in Kenya, South Africa, or Scotland
6. A book related to one of the Spice Girls' "personalities"
7. A book with an eye-catching title
8. A book club read
9. A book with a cover or title that includes a route of travel
10. A book where the cover design includes text that is not completely horizontal
11. A book that provides a view of the future
12. A book with a door on the cover
13. A book from a genre that starts with any letter in your name
14. A book one of your Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ friends is reading
15. A book featuring a blog or a podcast

Feel free to discuss the prompts below, but please remember to be respectful to the other group members.

VOTE HERE:

THOUGHTS AND IDEAS FROM THE SUGGESTIONS THREAD

1. A book found by inputting a favorite author on
You put it an author you like and the site shows you a grouping of authors with the distance between them supposedly showing how similar or different they are.

3. A book involving friends, family, or a found family
This could include a family drama, family vacation, family reunion, a trip with friends, or every day life with friends or family. Found family involves a group of friends who substitute for a biological family.

Found families are most relevant for people whose families disapprove of their sexual identity, roommates and neighbors who don't have family nearby (single people, students, people who work together).

/genres/family
/genres/frie...
/shelf/show/...
/list/show/1...

4. A book by an Asian diaspora author
In honor of fighting Asian hate (ongoing due to the pandemic), read a book by an author who is a member of the Asian diaspora (diaspora refers to “the dispersion of any people from their original homeland,� either voluntarily or involuntarily). This would include American authors of Asian descent as well as, say, a Korean author living in Japan, or an Indian author living in Hong Kong. It also includes authors of Asian descent regardless of if they themselves are immigrants/expats or are the children/grandchildren/etc of immigrants.

This does not include Asian authors living in their home countries, where they are not minorities, which was covered by this year's "Asian or Pacific Islander author" prompt.

Note: I can only speak for Asian-Americans, but we don't consider "diaspora" a negative word, and use it very frequently to refer to ourselves.

Some Asian diaspora authors include:
- Kazuo Ishiguro (English novelist of Japanese descent)
- Salman Rushdie (Indian-born American-British novelist)
- Ocean Vuong (Vietnamese-American poet)
- Celeste Ng (American author whose parents immigrated from Hong Kong)
- Jhumpa Lahiri (American author of Indian descent)
- Michelle Zauner (Korean-American author and musician)
- Jenny Han (American author of Korean descent)

(If you’re unsure is an author is a member of an Asian diaspora, it will generally say in the first line of their bio what their nationality is, like "So-and-so is an American novelist..." Books that have been translated to English are generally not by Asian diaspora authors.)

5. In honor of Queen Elizabeth II, a book set in Kenya, South Africa, or Scotland
Countries are relevant because: Kenya - where she became Queen, South Africa - where she made an important speech, or Scotland - a favourite area of hers and where her reign ended

6. A book related to one of the Spice Girls' "personalities"
Examples could be:

Scary: /list/show/2...
/list/show/3...

Baby: /list/show/1...
/list/show/7...

Ginger: /list/show/1...
/list/show/1...

Posh: /list/show/4...
/list/show/2...

Sporty: /list/show/1...
/list/show/1...

8. A book club read
This could be either an actual book club you/ someone you know attends, an online book club or a celebrity book club.

Few examples





10. A book where the cover design includes text that is not completely horizontal
Anything that is not entirely horizontal, where the cover designer had to purposefully change the text so it was not “straight-out-of the-box� typed text would count. Some is subtle, some is VERY obvious.

(Covers in your TBR best viewed in Grid format.)

You might need to click on these links to clearly see these covers, especially in the 'Subtle' category

Obviously "not horizontal" examples:
by Natasha Pulley
by Will Dean
by Danny Trejo
by Richard Antoine White

Subtly "not horizontal" examples:
by Patricia Williams
by Angie Thomas
by Sophie Anderson

11. A book that provides a view of the future
This could be a science fiction book set in the future, a time travel book that goes to the future, or a non-fiction book that describes or predicts a future. The non-fiction book might include cultural trends, financial or job forecasts, climate change consequences, or other projections.


/genres/futu...
/genres/time...
/shelf/show/...
/list/show/1...
/list/show/1...

/list/show/9...



13. A book from a genre that starts with any letter in your name
Genre list:

Examples for NANCY:

Non-fiction
Nautical adventure
Noir
Nordic noir

Adventure
Adventure fantasy
Apocalyptic
Amish romance
Autobiography

Children's
Classic
Coming-of-age
Comedy
Crime fiction
Cozy mystery
Cyberbunk
Cookbook

Young Adult

14. A book one of your Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ friends is reading
(Go to your friends list and select the tab that says “books my friends are reading.� Read a book on this list)

If anyone doesn't have GR friends, you can look up anyone in this group to see if they accept friends (most do) and you can compare books to see if you like the same authors, even get a percentage of how similar you are.

For #11

/genres/futu...
/genres/time...
/shelf/show/...

/list/show/1...
/list/show/1...

/list/show/9...


also


For Teckies
- very technical

I found a list of suggestions for a book club read:
/list/show/4...

Original message here states voting to begin on Monday, September 12, with results posted Friday, September 16.

I think those need updating... :)

I think it would be helpful to provide a definition of "diaspora" in case some people are not aware of what it means at first glance.

A listopia for doors: /list/show/8...

Y'all are quick today lol I just finished updating the information from the suggestions thread.

Joy D wrote: "I think it would be helpful to provide a definition of "diaspora" in case some people are not aware of what it means at first glance."

Joy, the definition of diaspora is in the description underneath the prompt, along with some examples. What would you suggest adding to make it more clear for people who are unfamiliar with the term?

I definitely have my favorites from this list, but it is the first time I don't have a "have to down vote" prompt (usually only 1 or 2 anyway). Good list!

Kenya:
/list/show/1...

South Africa:
/list/show/1...

Scotland:
/list/show/9...

I’m going to be using the discussion to help me figure out my votes. I have one definite up vote and 2 down votes. I have a few leaning towards up voting and a few leaning towards down voting but I’m not sure how I want to vote.

Alternative lists for books about Family, Friends, or Found Family

What a strange family!
/list/show/8...

Books about friendship for adults.


Non-fiction books about friendship

LOVE the spice girls prompt!

Looks like I'll have a lot of upvotes this week.

Last week, I couldn't stand a lot of the prompts. This week, I have 6 automatic upvotes without even thinking about it.

I've never done a side challenge in my life, but if that Spice Girls prompt doesn't get in, I'm doing a 5 week side challenge.

Dubhease wrote: "Last week, I couldn't stand a lot of the prompts. This week, I have 6 automatic upvotes without even thinking about it.

I've never done a side challenge in my life, but if that Spice Girls prompt ..."

They are more upbeat.

Scary Spice is the only spice girl I know. I can read a scary book for that.

Haha just realized I put Cyberbunk instead of Cyberpunk in the genre post. Oops.

I think the Spice Girls prompt is primarily going to be appealing to those in a certain age bracket. I barely know who the Spice Girls are. Haha.

I love the Spice Girls prompt lol. It's so fun!

I have never upvoted 8, and I don't plan on it this week, but when I went through and marked the ones I'd like to upvote, I hit 8. Wild! Hopefully we have a robust group of winners from this poll.

Nancy wrote: "Haha just realized I put Cyberbunk instead of Cyberpunk in the genre post. Oops."

Thanks for providing all those suggestions just for me. 😃
I would add Nature for N.

The literature map is fun, but both that prompt and something a gr friend is reading kind of feel like "read a book" type prompts to me. It takes the honor system idea to the extreme.

Also, this wording bugs me, "A book one of your Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ friends IS reading." Does that mean at the exact same time I am reading it? Or at the time I add it to my reading plan? Or ... what? I just feel like it should be " a book that one of your gr friends HAS read."

A Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Asian diaspora shelf: /shelf/show/...

Nancy wrote: "Haha just realized I put Cyberbunk instead of Cyberpunk in the genre post. Oops."

Bunk, punk - same thing.

If Journalism isn't a real genre, I don't like my options for Judy. I could look at ITH.

NancyJ wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Haha just realized I put Cyberbunk instead of Cyberpunk in the genre post. Oops."

Thanks for providing all those suggestions just for me. 😃
I would add Nature for N."

Haha you're welcome. Those are just suggestions, not every possible genre for the letters.

Martha wrote: "A Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Asian diaspora shelf: /shelf/show/..."

Interior Chinatown is pretty good, about an Asian American actor who played kung-fu guy roles.

dalex wrote: "The literature map is fun, but both that prompt and something a gr friend is reading kind of feel like "read a book" type prompts to me. It takes the honor system idea to the extreme.

Also, this w..."

I had the same thought about "is reading." I would use a book recommended by a friend for that one.

Judy wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Haha just realized I put Cyberbunk instead of Cyberpunk in the genre post. Oops."

Bunk, punk - same thing.

If Journalism isn't a real genre, I don't like my options for Judy. I cou..."

I = Indigenous?

Nancy - wasn't there a long genre list posted somewhere?

Irene wrote: "Joy, the definition of diaspora is in the description underneath the prompt, along with some examples. What would you suggest adding to make it more clear for people who are unfamiliar with the term?..."
Looks good Irene. I must have seen the post before the description was added.

Judy, I’m going with journalism and if people don’t like it , they can count it as a wild card.

Love Spice Girls you don’t have to know them to see the variety available

Thomas wrote: "Love Spice Girls you don’t have to know them to see the variety available"

I agree.

A list of bookish podcasts (lots of these, just the first I came across:

Aren't those podcasts as opposed to books featuring a podcast? Or am I confused.

So I’m familiar with a lot of podcasts about books (thanks for the additional options though!). But I’m finding very few BOOKS that feature a podcast (or blog). I like the prompt in theory, but I hope we can find some more titles than I’m seeing so far.

Oh, that changes everything! I thought it was a book featured in a podcast. I am not aware of a book that features a blog or podcast.

I would be interested in seeing a list. The few examples provided in the other thread are extremely limited.

NancyJ wrote: "Nancy - wasn't there a long genre list posted somewhere?"

There was a link to the category list that Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ has but I decided I only wanted to include actual genres, not what Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ users tagged the books as. That could be a KIS option.

Also, for those of you without a lot of options, you can always use your last name.

Joy D wrote: "I would be interested in seeing a list. The few examples provided in the other thread are extremely limited."

I didn't see what was suggested already, but off the top of my head A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay has a blog, as well as the Newsflesh series by Mira Grant.

The literature map says it's based on users submitting multiple authors they like. The more people who enter the same authors together, the more likely those authors will be matched on the map. So it doesn't necessarily mean those authors are similar in terms of style, genre etc., it's just reader preferences.

You can contribute to it here:

Here are the suggestions I made on the other thread:

Six Stories (there are six books in this series about a paranormal investigation podcast)
Acts of Violet
A Head Full of Ghosts
Video Palace: In Search of the Eyeless Man
Sadie
Girl, 11
Are You Sleeping
I Know You Know
The Book of Cold Cases (judgement call; it's a true crime website)

Here are the only Listopias I've got so far:
Fiction Featuring Podcasts
Bloggers in Romance Novels
A Book Involving Social Media (this would take some sifting)

Here are a few articles on the podcast angle:





I am running into the issue of the search being clogged with books that have been recommended by blogs and podcasts. I absolutely love this prompt, but I suspect most people in the group are going to find it too narrow for their tastes. (Maybe in a few more years we'll have more books?)

I know I've read a few books recently that had a main character with a blog and/or podcast. One to Watch is one.

The MC in Big Summer is an Instagram influencer, not sure if that counts.

Podcasts and Blogs

/list/show/1...











*Books with bloggers as characters
*Books with podcasters as characters
*Authored by a blogger or podcaster
*Memoirs of podcasters/bloggers
*Craft, cookbook, self-help, true crime books written by bloggers or podcasters.

Beth wrote: "The literature map says it's based on users submitting multiple authors they like. The more people who enter the same authors together, the more likely those authors will be matched on the map. So ..."

Nice! That makes it much more interesting for me. I got very different results for Barbara Kingsolver after I posted one or two other authors in between. I think Robin must have posted this in the PBT group too, because many of the authors in our 2022 tournament of authors are showing up. I'm sure other people in the tournament are submitting some of the same names. I think we might be skewing the results a little.

I won't try my husband's authors on the same computer.

Note - for anyone with vision issues or migraines, do NOT watch the board as the names are moving around.

dalex wrote: "The literature map is fun, but both that prompt and something a gr friend is reading kind of feel like "read a book" type prompts to me. It takes the honor system idea to the extreme.

Also, this w..."

I think you make it work however you do your challenge. The link on the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ page says "Books My Friends Are Reading". I don't preplan my books. So if I were to choose that prompt I would view all the books my friends were reading and choose one at that time. If you are a person that preplans all your books for the year, I think it would be fair to choose your book at that moment from the list and read it when you get to that prompt.

I think the entire challenge is the honor system. I'm not interested in policing how people do the challenge. I just thought this would be a fun way to find a new book to read!

Judy wrote: "Alternative lists
What a strange family!
/list/show/8...
Books about friendship for adults. ."
Great lists!

I really like the Strange Family listopia and friendships for adults. I would love to see what other people come up with for Strange Family. I like that some are serious, some are paranormal. and some are just plain funny.

My books clubs seem to come up with a lot of books about strange families.

Jill wrote: "Judy, I’m going with journalism and if people don’t like it , they can count it as a wild card."

@Jill @Judy @Joy etc

I looked at the wikiipedia lists. One had a huge genre category called "Journalistic Writing" Japan and Jewish were other options for J. I would count Journalism or journalistic writing as a genre.

Judy, if you're a Judith, you have history, historical fiction, and indigenous. Jill, I wish I had an L in my first name. I would read literary fiction

Anyone with N in their name has some good choices. If you hated all of them you could really stretch the meaning of the prompt with N=Novel. Ahem, not that I would ever do that. Same with F =Fiction.

Ooh lots of good ones this round!

I can’t get that literature link to do anything. Keeps taking me to a list of what people I know on Goidreads are reading.

Michelle wrote: "I can’t get that literature link to do anything. Keeps taking me to a list of what people I know on Goidreads are reading."

The link does not work for me from the app. I had to use my phone’s web browser or my laptop. In case, that is the difficulty you are having.

Demetra wrote: "dalex wrote: "The literature map is fun, but both that prompt and something a gr friend is reading kind of feel like "read a book" type prompts to me. It takes the honor system idea to the extreme...."

If the challenged was policed, it wouldn’t be fun. This is supposed to be enjoyable/interesting/challenging uniquely for the person doing it.