New Leaf Themes Redux

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

I'm open to any suggestions people have.

How about:

Let's be Meta: Books about Books

or

How Meta is That? Books about Books

ETA: I've updated the second post with the list of themes and while it says official, it's all still tentative. Tweak, improve, change as you will.

(It might be nice to finalize it by the end of May, so we go into June able to look to the next round.)

[Victoria]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Wonder if the first/last theme could be combined in one vote for two months' reading choices--each nomination would be a pair of books, and we'd read the first one one month, then the last one the next month.

Originally Posted by gmw

I think that could be really interesting.

I do too! It’s a neat idea, and could generate interesting discussions.

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

I'm open to any suggestions people have.

Originally Posted by gmw

As it was written: Books about books

or

And so it was written: Books about books


(Not perfect but maybe closish?)

I like them both. You could also play with something like “Written Right: Books About Books”. Or “Right Write: Books about Books”

[Victoria]

Originally Posted by issybird

How about:

Let's be Meta: Books about Books

or

How Meta is That? Books about Books

ETA: I've updated the second post with the list of themes and while it says official, it's all still tentative. Tweak, improve, change as you will.

(It might be nice to finalize it by the end of May, so we go into June able to look to the next round.)

What fun - these are great

[Bookpossum]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Wonder if the first/last theme could be combined in one vote for two months' reading choices--each nomination would be a pair of books, and we'd read the first one one month, then the last one the next month.

I must confess that I really don’t like this idea for “my” theme. Of course it could well work out that people nominate books by the same author in both themes, but I would rather the two themes were separate (and separated by a few months preferably); not locked together like this. It seems too prescriptive to me, and narrows the possible interpretations too much.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by issybird

[...]
ETA: I've updated the second post with the list of themes and while it says official, it's all still tentative. Tweak, improve, change as you will.
[...]

Thinking about mine (Better Together: co-written) and some of the comments... maybe the minor refinement of:

Better Together: Collaborations

might be better? Removing "co-written" hopefully makes it clearer that I don't really care how the participants collaborated (original/translation, text/drawing, text/text whatever) ... I guess it also leaves open the interpretation that people may choose a character collaboration, which may not be what I wanted, but we can't always get what we want, and "collaboration" is still a fairly strong suggestion of the intent.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by gmw

Thinking about mine (Better Together: co-written) and some of the comments... maybe the minor refinement of:

Better Together: Collaborations

might be better? Removing "co-written" hopefully makes it clearer that I don't really care how the participants collaborated (original/translation, text/drawing, text/text whatever) ... I guess it also leaves open the interpretation that people may choose a character collaboration, which may not be what I wanted, but we can't always get what we want, and "collaboration" is still a fairly strong suggestion of the intent.

I dunno--I'm not seeing a lot of practical difference between Better Together: Collaborations and It Takes Two to Tango: Intense Connections.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I dunno--I'm not seeing a lot of practical difference between Better Together: Collaborations and It Takes Two to Tango: Intense Connections.

So do you think "co-written" - being more explicitly about the creators - is better (more distinct)? Or is it equally bad either way?

[CRussel]

I like collaborators -- in the spirit of wildly mis-queued book suggestions, I'm immediately thinking of the Reginald Hill book, The Collaborators. Not what you had in mind. But the beauty of themes.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by gmw

So do you think "co-written" - being more explicitly about the creators - is better (more distinct)? Or is it equally bad either way?

I think "co-written" is indeed more distinct, but the more I look at these two suggestions, the more they seem to overlap. A writing collaboration could surely be considered an intense connection.

Oops, I just looked back through the thread and noticed that I already raised this issue re both themes being about duos. So I won't rehash.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I like collaborators -- in the spirit of wildly mis-queued book suggestions, I'm immediately thinking of the Reginald Hill book, The Collaborators. Not what you had in mind. But the beauty of themes.

Which is fine except that it proves Catlady's point, such an interpretation is going to make both themes the same.

Originally Posted by Catlady

I think "co-written" is indeed more distinct, but the more I look at these two suggestions, the more they seem to overlap. A writing collaboration could surely be considered an intense connection.

Oops, I just looked back through the thread and noticed that I already raised this issue re both themes being about duos. So I won't rehash.

But I think I see your (and others) point a bit better now. The intent is different, but our super-flexible interpretation of themes means that intent goes out the window and does indeed make these two effectively the same. I did have another idea the other day, now I just have to remember what it was...

[Bookpossum]

I do like both of them, but I too see them as very similar. So if you did have another brainwave, gmw, that could be the best solution.

[gmw]

I remember now. The other idea I had was about books that I just want to talk about because I felt as if I missed something; that I didn't get the author's point.

I recently read a science-fiction book called The Great Wheel by Ian R. MacLeod. I really like his writing, and I liked the setting and the characters, but at the end of it I felt as if I'd like to talk to others who had read the story in order to really understand it. I assume I am not the only one who occasionally hits a book that feels like something that needs to be talked about. (Incidentally, the novella that originally inspired my "co-written" idea also falls under this heading.) So all I need is a way to phrase it. Some initial ideas for theme phrases include...


Help me understand: I didn't get it

Puzzlers: Help me understand


Better options would be welcomed.

[Bookpossum]

Puzzlers: What's it all about?

It could be fun.

[issybird]

I'd like to see this flipped and have Puzzlers come after the colon. It would be more in line with our typical style.

[gmw]

Okay, so what about:

What does it mean: Puzzlers


I'm tempted to borrow from Shrek:

Books like onions: Layers