This topic is currently marked as "dormant"—the last message is more than 90 days old. You can revive it by posting a reply.
1jbd1
Okay, we'll be posting here about the most-picked books for SantaThing 2011. If you don't want to know, don't read this thread :-)
So, four books were each picked six times. Any guesses, to start with?
So, four books were each picked six times. Any guesses, to start with?
2anglemark
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson?
3jbd1
>2 anglemark: - Nope.
4keristars
I'm going to throw in again my wild guess for Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, if only because it's a hot book and was apparently wildly popular for the ER. I imagine that it's on the radar for people picking *and* it's new, so a good chance it hadn't been read yet.
5jbd1
>4 keristars: - Picked twice!
7jbd1
>6 phranchk: - Also picked twice!
9PhoenixTerran
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
10jbd1
>8 phranchk:/9 - twice again
11_Zoe_
Hmm... Preliminary guesses:
In the Bleak Midwinter
Anansi Boys
The Giver
The Help
Room
Cutting for Stone
(oops, I was supposed to guess four books, not six. Oh well.)
ETA: And I see The Help has already been guessed, too.
In the Bleak Midwinter
Anansi Boys
The Giver
The Help
Room
Cutting for Stone
(oops, I was supposed to guess four books, not six. Oh well.)
ETA: And I see The Help has already been guessed, too.
15KarenElissa
I remember A Rose for the ANZAC Boys, A Canticle for Leibowitz, and The Book Thief all being recommended a couple of times at least.
17jbd1
>15 KarenElissa:/16 - Two down!
The Book Thief and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks are two of the four. Hint on the other two: they're both by the same author.
The Book Thief and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks are two of the four. Hint on the other two: they're both by the same author.
22Jenni_Canuck
Game of Thrones and A Dance with Dragons
23jbd1
>18 kgodey:-22 - Nope!
24lahochstetler
I'm guessing that the author was Neil Gaiman, and I think one of the two must be The Graveyard Book
26jbd1
>24 lahochstetler: - Indeed, it's Gaiman, and The Graveyard Book is one of the pair. Three down, one to go!
28lahochstetler
And I'll add on and guess that the other was Good Omens
31jbd1
>28 lahochstetler: - nope, although that does happen to be one of my favorites :-)
32jbd1
>29 phranchk:/30. Bingo! American Gods was the fourth. Well done, all!
33jbd1
We can keep going: five titles were picked five times apiece, and only one of them has been guessed so far ...
35jbd1
Sorry, heh. The one that's been mentioned is Good Omens. So, four more to go from the picked-five-times titles. A couple of these I'd never guess in a million years, but maybe you all will!
36keristars
26> HA! I guessed Gaiman back in the other thread, but figured it was too easy to guess in the Official Guessing Thread.
I almost feel like there must be something off with me that I don't actually care for his work much. (Just Good Omens, which of course is something like 60% PTerry, if I'm remembering the interview correctly.)
For the 5x5 - Eat Pray Love? And why the heck does the Ryan Murphy film version come up first on touchstones.
I almost feel like there must be something off with me that I don't actually care for his work much. (Just Good Omens, which of course is something like 60% PTerry, if I'm remembering the interview correctly.)
For the 5x5 - Eat Pray Love? And why the heck does the Ryan Murphy film version come up first on touchstones.
38jbd1
>36 keristars: - nope!
40jbd1
>37 laytonwoman3rd: The Tiger's Wife had 4, but the others aren't near the top.
42thornton37814
Still Life by Louise Penny.
43jbd1
>41 phranchk:/2 - Nope.
45jbd1
>44 lahochstetler: - Nope
47jbd1
>46 lindapanzo: - Nope :-)
56jbd1
>55 laytonwoman3rd: - nope
58lindapanzo
#57 Good guess. I'd think that one would be popular.
59jbd1
>57 bluesalamanders:/8 - Picked three times!
61jbd1
Nope. The non-fiction book was originally published in 2006, as was one of the fiction titles. The other fiction title's from 2008.
63jbd1
>62 strongstuff: - Nope.
67jbd1
>64 Mareofthesea:/5 - Nope
71jbd1
>69 Mareofthesea: - Nope, nope, nope
76jbd1
>72 phranchk: - nope. Let's see, a hint on the non-fiction title: it's about a particularly nasty epidemic disease, one rarely seen today.
77jbd1
>73 kgodey:-5 - Nope.
79jbd1
>78 readafew: - Nope
83jbd1
>81 _Zoe_: - Bingo!
Three down, two to go. Both fiction, one first published 2006 (and is the first of a historical fantasy series); one first published 2008
Three down, two to go. Both fiction, one first published 2006 (and is the first of a historical fantasy series); one first published 2008
84_Zoe_
Oh, I hope it's His Majesty's Dragon!
86jbd1
>84 _Zoe_: - also, is it good? I'd never heard of it before I saw it on the list!
87_Zoe_
>85 jbd1: It's a good thing I was just looking at a list of popular 2006 books for the last one ;)
91lindapanzo
#90 Something about being obsessed, perhaps?
96jbd1
>94 _Zoe_: - nice - indeed! Well done.
>95 majkia: - that was one of the top ones, picked five times.
>95 majkia: - that was one of the top ones, picked five times.
97jjmcgaffey
86> Yeah, it's good. Unfortunately, it's the best of the series (in my opinion) as well as the first - it's a great world (dragons in the Napoleonic wars) but...somehow they got less interesting as it went along. A little repetitive. Which doesn't mean I'm not reading them, just not wildly excited for the next one.
98AnnieMod
>97 jjmcgaffey:
Reading one of those per year kinda works though. Reading the whole series in a row... repetitive is not even close to describing them in some instances...
Reading one of those per year kinda works though. Reading the whole series in a row... repetitive is not even close to describing them in some instances...
99_Zoe_
I quite enjoyed the first five, on the whole, despite reading them straight through; it was only the sixth that was actively disappointing.
100AnnieMod
I still like them for the interesting world they are building and I would recommend the series:) Does not change the fact that they felt repetitive a lot (or maybe I just read a few of them in between non-series books so it just stood up..)
101staffordcastle
I've enjoyed the Temeraire series, but I've read them as they came out, so there were long gaps between. My husband got tired of them because they were warping history too much (he's rather an Age of Sail fan), but I didn't mind that.
102jjmcgaffey
Huh. I was thinking, for Black Powder War, that you really needed to be a Napoleonic War buff to get a lot of the in-jokes (I'm not, and was mildly bewildered throughout. Who was that? Why did he/she say that? Must be a reference to the real world.). I hadn't thought of how it might be annoying if you knew what really happened...
103staffordcastle
Yeah, it does help!
104Lobstersurvivor
This was great fun, because there are a lot more books to look up.... and Jeremy... I think you were having the most fun by saying "nope" :)
105jbd1
>104 Lobstersurvivor: - Guilty as charged :-)
106jbd1
>97 jjmcgaffey:-103 - Thanks! I'll have to check them out!
107staffordcastle
>106 jbd1: Let us know what you think!
108_Zoe_
I'd love to see a summarized list of all the top books, even going a bit farther than we did here, if you happen to have a bit of spare time.... ;)
109jbd1
>108 _Zoe_: - Yeah, we'll pull a page together after a bit.
111jbd1
>110 keristars: - roughly, sure. There were a few that had to be changed during or after ordering, and those wouldn't be caught in the db. But I can put together an approximate count.
114lorax
@staffordcastle:
So your husband is willing to accept dragons in the Napoleonic Wars, but not that they'd change history? That's interesting; most of the objections I've seen have been more along the lines of the implausibility of there being an England, let alone a Napoleon, with dragons. But the books are just so much fun that I don't really care. I can't take them seriously for an instant, but I adore them (at least the first five. The last was dull.)
So your husband is willing to accept dragons in the Napoleonic Wars, but not that they'd change history? That's interesting; most of the objections I've seen have been more along the lines of the implausibility of there being an England, let alone a Napoleon, with dragons. But the books are just so much fun that I don't really care. I can't take them seriously for an instant, but I adore them (at least the first five. The last was dull.)
117staffordcastle
> @lorax
Yeah, I couldn't figure it out either. Maybe he just thought that history was changed too much. Oh, well, if he's not interested, I don't need to compete with him to get it first! :-)
I haven't read the last one yet, it's sitting on the bedside table waiting for me to have more reading time - this is a busy time of year, but it will get better soon.
Yeah, I couldn't figure it out either. Maybe he just thought that history was changed too much. Oh, well, if he's not interested, I don't need to compete with him to get it first! :-)
I haven't read the last one yet, it's sitting on the bedside table waiting for me to have more reading time - this is a busy time of year, but it will get better soon.
118jbd1
I just have to dive in here to say that I'm in the middle of (and LOVING) His Majesty's Dragon. So good. Thanks for the recommendation, all! :-)
