Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Happy results day!

Top:
A book that fits a prompt from the 2016 ATY list
A mystery or true crime book

Bottom:
A book about the “civil rights” or “human rights” of a group with which you are less familiar

Close Call:
A book whose cover, title, or author’s name relates to SANDWICHES
A book with a title that is only a name or nickname

Polarizing:
A book involving a fork in the road or a life changing decision
A book featuring a circus, amusement park, or fair

The next round of suggestions will open at 8 am CDT on Friday, July 19.

(Called the results a few hours before it became Thursday as my husband is having surgery early tomorrow morning and the results were pretty clear!)

Thanks, Emily, I like he the first one. The second one is not exciting, but doable. I hope 'sandwiches' will be resubmitted

Hope all goes well with your husband's surgery.

Emily wrote: "(Called the results a few hours before it became Thursday as my husband is having surgery early tomorrow morning and the results were pretty clear!)"

I wish the surgery goes wonderful 🌺

Thanks y'all. It's minor oral surgery, but early in the morning and we could be tied up for a while so I didn't want y'all waiting on the results when they were so clear already!

I'm really excited for the multiweek poll on Friday!

The link for 2016 doesn't work.

Oops thanks. It's fixed.

I voted for both of these, but they feel very "safe"

I’m disappointed that name/nickname didn’t make it. That was my favorite.

I’m happy with the two winning prompts, the fork in the road and Sandwich prompt were also in my top. (I’m also relieved the circus/fair one didn’t make it).

Glad to hear your husband’s surgery is not serious, but still wishing him well.

Thanks for keeping us in mind!

I had to laugh! Rewording the "civil rights" and "human rights" prompt is living proof that you can please some of the people some of the time but you can NEVER please all the people!! Ever!! LOL 😉

I cannot believe a simple genre prompt like true crime/mystery made it. Not that I'm complaining since that is a definite "gimme" for me!

2016 list offers so many possibilities!

Anxious for multi-week prompts on Friday!

One of my friends at the gym is ferrying her husband around early tomorrow morning for a surgical procedure as well! Here's hoping both husbands are okay in the aftermath!!

Ooh I didn't upvote either of those, but only because they are gimmes, so that's okay! :) I really hope the sandwich one gets submitted again. I like the weird ones like that lol.

Wishing your husband a smooth and successful surgery and a quick recovery. :)

Darn. I had started to get excited about the Sandwiches prompt. I hope it is suggested again.

Kendra wrote: "Darn. I had started to get excited about the Sandwiches prompt. I hope it is suggested again."

I thought it was this year's Ben and Jerry's prompt

Emily wrote: "(Called the results a few hours before it became Thursday as my husband is having surgery early tomorrow morning and the results were pretty clear!)"

Hoping the surgery goes well.

Kendra wrote: "Darn. I had started to get excited about the Sandwiches prompt. I hope it is suggested again."

Agreed.

Maybe we'll have enough Close Calls this year to have a Close Calls poll!

I think the rewording of the human rights prompt made it more complicated and put people off... (I voted for it the first time but not the second, didn't downvote it either).
I think something like "a book about someone fighting for their rights" would make it less clunky.

Two of my upvotes got in! Haha, I'm having a great run of it this year. :D

A little disappointed that the human rights prompt got bottomed, but do agree that the rewording made it less appealing/more complicated. It was a strong upvote last time, but I was neutral on it this time.

Hope the surgery goes well, Emily!

Like the 2016 list, mystery/crim not the most exciting of prompts, but I did upvote both of them, so good to go. Hope the sandwich one gets submitted again.
Best of luck with the surgery :)

The only one I really wanted out of this poll was sandwiches.

I was sorry to see that Sandwiches did not make it, but I am satisfied with the two that did.

Emily-i hope his surgery goes well. Thx for posting it early. One that i wanted got through-some of my other ones were bottom, polarizing and close call lol!

Emily wrote: "Oops thanks. It's fixed."

🌺��

Wow I liked all the suggestions so much, I had 7 up votes, and yet my ONE downvote is a winner LOL

One of my upvotes got in for the 3rd poll in a row. That must be a record for me. They are both quite easy for me so I hope to see something a bit more interesting and different coming up in the next polls.

L Y N N wrote: "I had to laugh! Rewording the "civil rights" and "human rights" prompt is living proof that you can please some of the people some of the time but you can NEVER please all the people!! Ever!! LOL 😉..."

My husband’s best friend is getting triple bypass surgery this morning. It was such as shock. I hope everyone’s surgery goes well today.

I wasn’t part of ATY in 2016. Loving the simplicity of all the prompts from that list.

A couple of questions about the process that the moderators might be able to help me in answering:

1. The sandwiches prompt was a close call. Do close calls have an opportunity to be reintroduced for consideration this year? Are the rock bottom vote gatherers dead for the reintroduction or can they be reworded and reintroduced?
2. Although I didn't vote for "A book featuring a circus, amusement park, or fair," I was curious why this one was polarizing?

I'm sending positive vibes to the people having surgeries today!

John wrote: "A couple of questions about the process that the moderators might be able to help me in answering:

1. The sandwiches prompt was a close call. Do close calls have an opportunity to be reintroduced ..."

Close calls can be resubmitted (the only prompts that cannot be resubmitted are bottom, though if the prompt is a changed enough in the wording they can be resubmitted (but it is a mod call if it is different enough).

For us, polarizing means that the prompt got many up and down votes.

John wrote: "A couple of questions about the process that the moderators might be able to help me in answering:
"

1. Close calls can absolutely be re-submitted, and that's why we highlight them. They did well, just not quite well enough to be in the top. So we recommend waiting a poll or two and trying it again.
2. The bottoms can't be resubmitted without substantial changes (not just minor rewordings). So for example, in the case of the civil rights prompt, a new prompt on that topic could be submitted but not just the earlier version of this prompt without the added clause.
3. The polarizing category is for prompts that got a lot of votes that were evenly split between up and down. As to why people felt so split about the circus/amusement park/fair, I have no idea!

I think polarising for the circus prompt probably means half of us went "yay that sounds fun", and the other half went "I have no books for that".

Ellie wrote: "I think polarising for the circus prompt probably means half of us went "yay that sounds fun", and the other half went "I have no books for that"."

Thank you and Jackie in responding to the newbie. I thought it was on an issue that would be divisive. I was racking my brains on what the issue would be for this, e.g., people who are prejuduced against clowns, elephant's etc.

John wrote: "I was racking my brains on what the issue would be for this, e.g., people who are prejuduced against clowns, elephant's etc.."

LOL

Jackie wrote: "John wrote: "A couple of questions about the process that the moderators might be able to help me in answering:
"

1. Close calls can absolutely be re-submitted, and that's why we highlight them. T..."

I remember one year an author of Nobel Peace Prize was in the bottom and it was allowed to be resubmitted at Nobel Peace Prize in Literature (it was allowed since it was considered a narrower decision). That is the only time that I recall, but I still remember being disappointed that it was allowed.

I personally hate books related to the circus. I don't know what is about them that I can't stand.

A book about books was on the 2016 list! I'm a happy girl lol.

So many great prompts, IMO, and only one of them got in. Nothing against mysteries so fine to have on the list and original it is not.

This is why I'm sparing with my upvotes. A prompt I'm only okay on could edge out a prompt I'm really excited about. I don't mind either of the prompts that made the list, though. I thought this was a strong batch overall. I hope to see a couple of re-submissions before this is all over!

I don't know why circuses was so polarizing, but circuses/amusements parks/etc are polarizing in real life, so it kinda makes sense. I think I was neutral on that one because there are some AMAZING books set at circuses (hello, Geek Love, one of my favorite books of all time!), but so often, authors rely on the setting to do the heavy lifting & drop the ball on plot/characterization. I'm usually disappointed by books set at the circus, writing-wise.

Pam wrote: "I’m disappointed that name/nickname didn’t make it. That was my favorite."

This prompt is on the 2016 list
20. A book with a first name in the title

Ellie wrote: "I think polarising for the circus prompt probably means half of us went "yay that sounds fun", and the other half went "I have no books for that"."

Circus
There seem to be a lot of dark books with those settings I wonder if knowing that would change people’s votes at all. I was in the “no books for that” camp. I read two circus books this year - one was a reread I loved (though the cruelty to both animals and people was worse than I remembered), and the other was a depressing WWII story. When I was into dark fantasy I read a few horror stories set in amusement parks.

Pirates
Last year I didn’t upvote Pirate related prompts because I didn’t think I would find many. This year I read Fable for a tag, and I liked it. I read two more, and I have one book left in the series. I used it for the similar covers prompt. They don’t call themselves pirates, but readers tagged the books pirates.

Ciara wrote: "This is why I'm sparing with my upvotes. A prompt I'm only okay on could edge out a prompt I'm really excited about...."

That is a really good point and I'm going to be more careful with mine in the future, upvoting only what I really want rather than what I would be okay with. With 8 votes it's tempting to use them all, but overvoting is probably why we don't get more of the unique prompt ideas through, at least in part.

Jillian - Yeah, I saw that on the 2016 list and it’s one of my top 4 picks. It’s not exactly the same prompt (more restrictive in one way but less in another way) but I like it! My favorite prompt from 2016 is a book mentioned in another book. I like tracking books that are mentioned in books I’m currently reading.

Sibylle wrote: "I think the rewording of the human rights prompt made it more complicated and put people off... (I voted for it the first time but not the second, didn't downvote it either).
I think something lik..."

But I would still downvote it. I have to admit I don't want to read books about human rights, as much as I actively support them in real life. It's too close to the bone for me right now, with what's happening politically in the US. I understand that everyone needs to know about these issues, understand them, and fight for them, and I do. But that isn't what my leisure reading time is for.

Jillian wrote: "Pam wrote: "I’m disappointed that name/nickname didn’t make it. That was my favorite."

This prompt is on the 2016 list
20. A book with a first name in the title"

It's not quite the same prompt. A book with a first name in the title could be ANY book with a first name in the title: Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone, Margo's Got Money Troubles, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, etc etc. None of these would count for a book with a title that is just a name/nickname. It's more of a BIO challenge.

Ciara wrote: "Jillian wrote: "Pam wrote: "I’m disappointed that name/nickname didn’t make it. That was my favorite."

This prompt is on the 2016 list
20. A book with a first name in the title"

It's not quite th..."


It was just a suggestion.

NancyJ wrote: "L Y N N wrote: "I had to laugh! Rewording the "civil rights" and "human rights" prompt is living proof that you can please some of the people some of the time but you can NEVER please all the peopl..."

Good luck to your friend and her husband. Definitely a serious surgery, but they can go quite well. My grandfather had QUADRUPLE bypass surgery in 1976, and he lived another 20 years! I can only assume techniques have improved by now so that recovery is easier and outcome maybe even better. ❤️‍🩹

The circus prompt was a downvote for me because I'm terrified of clowns. I don't ever go to the circus or amusement parks and don't really want to read a book set there. I also do the challenge by only using books I own so I would have to spend money on a book that I most likely wouldn't enjoy.

Nadine in NY wrote: "Wow I liked all the suggestions so much, I had 7 up votes, and yet my ONE downvote is a winner LOL"

That's so funny! I used all 8 of my votes to upvote prompts this time around. Really trying to only use upvotes...

Jackie wrote: "John wrote: "A couple of questions about the process that the moderators might be able to help me in answering:
"
2. The bottoms can't be resubmitted without substantial changes (not just minor rewordings). So for example, in the case of the civil rights prompt, a new prompt on that topic could be submitted but not just the earlier version of this prompt without the added clause."
LOL It won't be me rewording and resubmitting. I tried and I'm done with this one. 😃