I want reading prompts!

[oulfis]

This year was my first year since perhaps elementary school that I didn't have a school-mandated list of books to shape my reading habits. Obviously I couldn't live without rules, so I've been doing the Popsugar Reading Challenge! I've finished most of the 50 prompts and have really enjoyed figuring out creative ways to fulfill the prompts[1] (especially finding obscure 18thC titles for them![2])

However, I am not really as excited for the 2019 prompts. Several of them look really similar to this year's.[3] And in general, I think I might have gotten what I wanted out of the Popsugar experience. I didn't really spend time chatting in the forums, so it didn't matter to me that other people had the same list; all I really wanted was something to make a spreadsheet about, and something to search Eighteenth Century Collections Online for.

THEREFORE, I am thinking of making my own list, and seek wacky prompts from you, yes, you! What kinds of books should I try to find?

I particularly enjoy prompts like "a book with X word in the title": what are some words I should go on a scavenger hunt for this year?


[1] My proudest prompt-fill is The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making for "A book that involves a bookstore or library," for which the library in question is a dragon.

[2] The best 18thC find is "The Effects of Tyranny & Disobedience!" by Lawrence Lovesense, for "A book by an author with the same first or last name as you." (Yes, it's true, my last name is Lovesense. Please don't doxx me.)

[3] "Nordic Noir" this year and "a book set in Scandinavia" next year; "a book set on a different planet" this year and "a book set in space" next year...

Comments

[greywash]

Have you ever done a theme chain? I used to do this with playlists, but it's fun with books too: you want the part of one to match part of the next, but you can't reuse the matching part. So: Northanger Abbey -> The abbey Psalter : the book of Psalms used by the Trappist monks of Genesee Abbey -> Awful disclosures, by Maria Monk, of the Hotel Dieu nunnery of Montreal -> Mount Royal: There's Nothing Harder than Love -> The Royal Hunt of the Sun -> The Sun Also Rises.

THIS IS A DUMB EXAMPLE, but they're super fun (and as you have probably gathered, WorldCat search by title is your friend if you get stuck). You can do titles, like that example; or first-and-last lines, or author's names can be fun, too--just pick a rule and do, say, a four- to six-book chain.

[oulfis]

I've never heard of these, but this sounds like a REALLY fun way to come up with title keywords! I really enjoy just poking through book databases seeing what comes up for random queries (hence: this whole shebang; also, my entire academic career) and this is perfect for that. Thank you!