Here are my thoughts on categories if we do go with the "bunch of lists" approach:
January:
Second Chance - Make it easy on
WT Sharpe in December
February:
Published Last Year - Wonderful new category suggestion
March:
Classics - Opposite of February
April:
Action/Adventure - Need some action after the classics
May:
Science Fiction - Just like some people's term papers
June:
Non-Fiction - Getting out of school, need to keep up our education
July:
Free-For-All - Middle of the summer let's make it easy on ourselves
August:
Mystery/Crime - It's a crime to have to go inside with weather like this.
September:
Fantasy - Start of school we need some escapism
October:
Thriller/Suspense - Horror should be thrilling
November:
Napoleonic Era Naval Fiction - Let's see if you are paying attention, leaving this open for now
December:
Short Stories - December is a busy month so let's keep it short
Reasoning:
- I know romance is the most popular genre overall, but I haven't seen evidence that romance is actually a favorite of anyone here, so it is out in favor of JSWolf's suggestion of something published in the last year. Moving it to February makes sure everything from December can be included. If it is in January that causes problems for WT Sharpe in December and also doesn't allow us to nominate books that get published right at the end of December.
- Horror is a very specific sub-set of either Fantasy/Science Fiction/Thriller/Suspense depending on what type of horror you read, so I substituted the general "Thriller/Suspense" in its place.
- Humor is also a difficult one to define - there is humor in all types of books. Even text books. I just don't care for the category that much.
- I have left November open but was thinking either YA or Historical Fiction unless one of the three above needs to be put back in.
- December is very busy so short stories seems like a good fit, but it is hard to justify SS given the recent participation. I am very ok with it going away.