2016 Book Club CATEGORY Vote
 

Please help us pick the categories that the MobileRead Book Club will use in 2016.

The poll will be open for 7 days. In which case of a tie for the the final slot there will be a run-off poll. This is a visible poll: others can see how you voted. It is http://wtsharpe3.com/Pictures/Multiple-Choice_C3.gif You may cast a vote for each category that appeals to you.

Here are your choices in alphabetical order:

• Award Winners (fiction)
• Biography and Memoirs
• Classics
• Contemporary
• Fanfiction
• Fantasy
• Food (food theme, not cookbooks)
• Gay/Lesbian
• Historical Fiction
• History
• Horror
• Humor
• Inspirational Stories
• Music
• Mystery
• Non-Fiction
• Originally Non-English
• Our Favo(u)rite Books
• Patricia Clarke Memorial Library
• Romance
• Science
• Science Fiction
• Sequential Art (graphic novels, etc.)
• Short Stories (same author)
• Short Story Anthologies (various authors)
• Sports (Non-Fiction & Fiction)
• Thriller, Suspense & Crime
• Travel & Adventure
• War
• Young Adult & Children's

Thanks for doing this! Do we have a limit on votes?

There is no limit on the number of selections you may choose.

This might take me a while to figure out. I know some obvious ones I'm voting for and obvious ones I'm not, but there's lots of grey in my decision process right now.

I was going to vote for Food but missed clicking it, to my intense chagrin :smack:

I voted for 11, so at least one of mine is guaranteed to lose. :D

:popcorn: This poll is going to be fun to watch. And ditto to what HIMS said.

I made a spreadsheet to figure out what I want to vote for. Then I made a prediction of what would win and I figure I'll vote for about four categories that make it to next year.

The six through fifteen places are going to be very close. How many run-offs do you think we'll need to sort out those last few categories?

Boo war. :)

I know what I won't vote for but not sure which ones I want!!

Me too! :) I'm just happy there is no vote limit so I didn't have to play the hedge-my-bets game. I figure the competition is really only between about four categories. But it will be blood-thirsty.

As it stands about a third of the way through voting, figuring around 35 to 40 voters if it follows historical participation in voting, we'd have a runoff of Biography versus Short Stories for the last entry. Science would be a somewhat surprising inclusion.

But it's early and the math geeks tend to vote early.

I'm commenting so that I can see updates.

I voted for only six, and only one is doing well so far!

Ooh, that was hard. I voted for 11 or 12, some of which clearly won't make it but I felt they deserved a vote. There are only a couple of categories that I have NO interest in, but most I'd be fine with, though they might not be a first choice.

There's a lot of scope in that category. A few examples:

History of the Peloponnesian War
The Iliad
The Anabasis
Marching Upcountry by John Ringo
The Afghan Campaign by Steven Pressfield
War and Peace
Master and Commander

^I know there is lots of scope, but I'm just not that interested in war as a topic. Just one of those things.

Boo history as well. :tongue2: :rofl:

I predict that both war and history will make the final ten based on what I know about the group.

I'm surprised that history is doing so well; but it's early days yet.

^There's a lot of members interested in history. I expect we're about halfway for number of voters now with sixteen.

I'm a little surprised at the votes for War so far as well. Blood thirsty group. :rofl:

I'm pleasantly surprised at how well History is doing. Even more so for Science. The "made in the shade" choices so far I'm not surprised at though. Anyway I'm going to wait a while to see how things progress before casting my votes. With the surfeit of choices I want to be selective in helping my most favored.

Now Master and Commander, certainly that's war, and an excellent series I might add. But I suspect March Upcountry is pushing it. Great book, wonderful series, but those who voted for the category might think that MilSF isn't really what they meant. :)

I suspect that if many of these typical "non-fiction" categories win, the fiction-lovers among us will be pushing the envelope each month...

Go my selections go!!
Boo others :):rofl:

To quote the Simpsons: "Go dryer!"

Wow, it's like you read my mind! :D

In many ways, the Empire of Man series is a retelling of The Anabasis, except for four-armed fighters (fiction is stranger than truth :D) I've always thought of it more as MilFic than MilSF.

Yeah, I am watching it :). In fact I am sure I can read every mind here.

We have enough about war in the news. We don't need to specifically read about it. I feel sorry for those who voted for war.

If science wins, we can read science fiction that has science in it even if the science is not real.

I love war. Reading about it, that is. Except for the carnage part, which is appalling. But the rest? The causes, the effects, the politics, the economics, the social and cultural aspects? Fascinating stuff, among my very favorite reading.

I voted only for categories I didn't think had a chance or those I would never naturally read from. In any given year I'll read mystery, sci fi, fantasy, award winners, biography, history, etc. of my choice. But, what I love about the clubs is that now I frequently commit to read things I would never think of or choose to read and I've been edified by so many over the last couple of years. So bring on the Gay/Lesbian, Horror, Inspirational, Music, etc. books I'll never reach for. And I really love the idea of having people nominate their favourite books.

Hey JS, noticed you supported children/youth books. I can't wait to nominate The Cat in the Hat. :D

I really wish we would have let kyteflyer chime in on the Short Stories issue before this went live. Or at least changed the one that she didn't vote for to just short stories since everyone who voted for that one agreed to the change. Kyteflyer's input was before it was established that one was single author and one was various author, so it is very unclear which she would have wanted. :( Any chance that if one of them wins it can be changed to just short stories?

Based on the vote, so far, it seems clear (by 2 to 1) that more people are interested in same author stories than anthologies, especially since everyone has had the opportunity to vote for both, if so inclined. I'm not sure why the categories would have to be combined.

I would have preferred just one category for Short Stories and would have supported it if looked like it might push out a category that I was less interested in. As it stands, if there is a tie for the 10th spot, I'll shy away from the Short Stories.

Most short story anthologies from various authors contain stories that are part of a series. What I'd like to know is can anyone actually find enough short story anthologies from various authors (that have no stories that are pat of a series)? I'm asking because I don't see this actually working.

I do see short stories from one author working much better. It is easier to find a collection from one author that's nothing to do with any series.

Yout ten categories as it stands right now are:

• Science Fiction
• Fantasy
• Mystery
• History
• Thriller, Suspense & Crime
• Humor
• PCML
• Biography and Memoirs
• Science

With a three way run off for the tenth spot between:

• Historical Fiction
• Short Stories (same author)
• War

Still lots of time and closeness in voting for this to change dramatically.

http://www.amazon.com/Hugo-Award-Sho...rds=Hugo+award

http://www.amazon.com/Lightspeed-Yea...rds=Lightspeed

I didn't look if they were part of series, but I don't really care. :)

And how many do we actually need? By the time we run out, we'll probably have changed categories multiple times for the MR book club. :)

Also, couldn't an anthology by a single author contain series references?

I never said a short story collection by one author would not contain stores that are part of a series. But, it's a lot easier to find a book from one author that has no series stories.

Come on Historical Fiction! It's a great category!!

But the current vote doesn't have a combined category so we don't know which one would have been favored in that case. I don't think they have to be combined but the only reason we didn't combine them was because of an assumption after-the-fact about which way kyteflyer wanted things to go (when she first nominated short stories it didn't have the same/various authors attached to them). We never got clarification from her so we don't know what her intention was.

I think a combined category may have had more interest than the smaller categories since it is less restrictive and therefore will have more options for nominations when/if it comes to it.

Of the three categories currently in the running, I also would like to see historical fiction get the win.