BingoDOG Planning Thread

It's that time of year again -- time to start thinking about next year's Bingo card! If you'd like to contribute suggestions for one or more of the Bingo card squares, please post your suggestions to this thread, or send me a private message if you prefer.

Suggestions will be open until November 15; this date should correspond to the end of the CAT voting, which may affect what people want to suggest for Bingo. At that time I'll collect all the suggestions, combine any duplicates, and post the complete list for everyone's consideration. If there are more than 24 suggestions, we'll find a way collectively to narrow them down. I'm hoping to have two or three Bingo cards ready no later than mid-December.

I hope you're as excited about the BingoDOG as I am, and I look forward to seeing your suggestions!

Official list of BingoDOG squares:

1. Book that's in a Legacy Library
2. Book written by an LT author
3. Book published in 1820 or 1920
4. Book published in the year of your birth
5. Book published under a pen name or anonymously
6. Book set in Asia
7. Mystery or true crime
8. Book involving a real historical event (fiction or nonfiction)
9. Book about books, bookstores, or libraries
10. Book with at least three letters of BINGO consecutively in order in the title (BIN, ING, NGO, GOB, OBI...the letters can cross words but must be in order and be consecutive)
11. Red cover, or red is prominent on the cover
12. Title contains a pun
13. Book about birth or death (childbearing, midwifery, human aging -- this is a combo of the "childbearing" and "human aging" suggestions)
14. Book with a proper name in the title
15. Book published by a small press or self-published
16. Book published in 2020
17. Epistolary novel or collection of letters
18. Book by a journalist or about journalism
19. Book not set on Earth
20. Mythology or folklore
21. Weird book title
22. Book with "library" or "thing" in the title or subtitle
23. Book with a periodic table element in the title
24. Book by a woman from a country other than the US/UK
25. Read a CAT

BingoDOG Wiki:

Please post your 2020 BingoDOG reads to the wiki! https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2020_BingoDOG

Read a book with a number in the title.

A book that's in a Legacy Library
A book written by a LT author

just surfing by, take it or leave it :)

Title first published in 1920. (Using title instead of book to include other genres such as individual plays, essays, etc.) — or title first published in year ending in 20 to include 1820, 1720, etc.

A book with a river or lake in the title, or where a river plays an important role.

A book published the year of your birth.

A book that is part of a series (this would be an easy square, I know).

>7 EBT1002: It's good to have a few easy squares, in my opinion! :)

>8 christina_reads: I think so too!

Here's another (perhaps not as easy but still with lots of possibilities): Read a book in translation.

ETA: I should probably add that I can get a bit manic on things like this -- I love to brainstorm. I'm certainly not wedded or emotionally invested in my suggestions making the final cut. :-)

A children's book
A book featuring an animal

A book about nature.

A book published under a pen name or anonymously.

A book set in Asia.

For the moment, I'm commenting to follow along. I may or may not come up with something to add! :-)

>1 christina_reads: Would you change Work published in 1920 to work published in year ending with 20 (1920, 1820, 1720, etc.).

Thanks

Read a book bullet (not that I have very many that would fit this category - oh no!)
Read a book by a woman
A book of short form works (stories/essays etc)

>9 EBT1002: me too, I could come up with a load of ideas, so feel free to ignore me at any time >:-)

>15 sallylou61: Sure!

Thanks, everyone -- some really great suggestions here!

A book involving food or cooking
A mystery
A book involving a historical event (fiction or nonfiction title)
Fave book from childhood
Book by/about Jane Austen

Winner of a major prize.

A book involving music
A book about books, bookstores or libraries
A book with an LGBT topic or character

A book with at least three letters of BINGO consecutively in order in the title.

BIN (not bad)
ING (easy)
NGO (hard to tell)
GOB (um...)
OBI (the letters can cross words but must be in order and must be consecutive)

I'm loving all the creative suggestions! I've added one of my own: a book with a red cover, or where red is prominent on the cover.

Looks like we are going to have more than enough choices to create the Bingo cards! :)

>22 christina_reads: I like this, red is my favourite colour.

>21 EBT1002: Oh, I love that idea!

Thank you so much Christina for setting this up. I love the Bingo Dog and look forward to it. Looks like we have loads of great suggestions!

Book featuring a party - birthday party, cocktail party, etc.
Book becoming a movie in 2020.
A debut novel.

We have so many great ideas here, and many that I had not thought about. I love the red cover idea, and also the books/bookstores idea.

A few more thoughts:
Book by an American author
Book by a British author
Title contains a pun

A fictional book with an actual event used as part of the plot.

Example: The Dressmaker is set on the Titantic.

Book concerning human aging. Could be about the biological aspects of aging, psychology of aging, written by an older author (say over the age of 65 or so), primarily featuring an elderly character, etc. I got this idea from the topic suggested for a CAT, which turned out to not be about human aging at all. I thought of suggesting it for a CAT, but could not think of enough aspects to last for a whole year.

>30 sallylou61: I do think it sounds like a good category for BingoDOG!

>29 cyderry: I love this idea! One of my categories for next year is novels based on real people, so similar.

True crime, book about child bearing (midwife, non-fiction, etc.) book you have seen somebody (unknown to you) read in public

I took the suggestions above and compared it to the BINGO card for 2019 and found these that we have already done. I highlighted the description on the 2019 BINGO CARD.

Book with a number in the title
Book that's in a Legacy Library
Book written by an LT author
Work published in a year ending in "20"
River or lake in title (or plays an important role)
Book published the year of your birth
Part of a series Part of a series
Book in translation Book in translation
Children's book Children’s/YA book, or reread a childhood favorite
Book featuring an animal Animal on cover/in title/plays a significant role
Book about nature
Published under a pen name or anonymously
Book set in Asia
Book bullet Read a book bullet
Written by a woman
Book of short-form works (short stories, essays, etc.) Short stories or essays
Book involving food or cooking Food-related title or topic
A mystery
Book involving a real historical event (fiction or nonfiction)
Favorite book from childhood Children’s/YA book, or reread a childhood favorite
Book by or about Jane Austen
Winner of a major prize Prize-winning book
Book involving music
Book about books, bookstores, or libraries
LGBT topic or character
Book with at least three letters of BINGO consecutively
Red cover, or red is prominent on the cover
Book featuring a party (birthday party, cocktail party, etc.)
Book becoming a movie in 2020 Book made into a movie
Debut novel Debut novel
Book by an American author
Book by a British author
Title contains a pun
Book concerning human aging
True crime
Book about childbearing (midwife, non-fiction, etc.)
Book you have seen somebody (unknown to you) read in public

So of the 37 suggestions (so far) 11 seem to be duplicates of this year.

>34 cyderry: So, even if we cut out the duplicates from this year, we have more than enough already!!

A book with a proper name in the title.

Inspired by Ordinary Grace and Alias Grace. But there are so many more!

>34 cyderry: It may have been 2018 but I think we've done "Book you have seen somebody (unknown to you) read in public" before, too. I don't mind but it is harder for those of us in more rural areas. I remember riding on the light rail in Seattle (where I lived in 2018) and trying to see what other commuters were reading. :-)

If we look at the 2018 BINGO card the following are again in this year's list:

River or lake in title (or plays an important role) (2018 - body of water)
Book in translation - 2 yrs in a row
Book about nature - (2018 - book about environment)
Book involving food or cooking - (2018 - food was important)
Book involving music - (2018 musical theme_)
LGBT topic or character - (2018 LGBT Central Character)
Book with a number in the title - (2018 Book with a number in the title)

Here are 7 more duplicates. If we eliminate these, then we still need a few fresh ideas.

I personally prefer not to have translation, LGBT, short stories, or music.
They're just areas that I don't read so I've never been able to fill the BINGO card.
I think that old, old books also could be a problem for some, maybe not having access to that number of books.

>37 EBT1002: Agree, it's a nice idea, but I remember people having a problem with that one. Finding someone reading a book in public is fairly rare if you don't take a form of mass transport regularly. I know I resorted to a book someone else had seen being read in public.

I'm not sure that duplicates are necessarily a bad thing. There are only a limited number of ideas out there; if we can't re-use them, we're going to make the Bingo card increasingly difficult to fill with ideas, let alone books.

The re-used topics are the ones which fit best into our reading habits, I suppose, and can therefore be easily filled. But I think quite a few of the newly suggested ones also fit that bill, so we could try to avoid repeats.

I don't mind some repeats, but maybe not two years in a row. I like that some squares will stretch my reading into books/genres I might not normally read.

This is a useful discussion! Obviously we're going to have to narrow down the list, since we already have more than enough suggestions to fill a Bingo card. (Unless we want to do two Bingo cards with different squares?) So I guess the question will be HOW we narrow it down. A few ideas:

- Eliminate squares we've done in 2019
- Eliminate squares we've done in any previous year
- Vote on which squares we'd like to omit
- Eliminate squares randomly
- Come to a general consensus without officially voting (which is what we did for the 2019 Bingo)

Any other suggestions for a limiting strategy? I figure we can vote on the best way to narrow down the list. But I want to wait until all the suggestions are in on 11/15 before we start eliminating any.

I like the idea of eliminating squares that we just did in the last year, but after that allow them to go back into rotation. I hesitate to the voting for each square, it takes so much time - I think we can agree to a general consensus through discussions and then allow Christina to fine tune the final result. I am also not in favor of more than one Bingo Card per year.

>43 DeltaQueen50: I'll second that.

>43 DeltaQueen50: Sounds like a good strategy, ditto all the ideas.
I also have a hard time with translation, LGBTQ, (I just don't read those categories often) and the one about seeing someone else reading a book. I also do not use mass transit unless I am flying, so it is hard to get this one.

Would it be possible to weed out the suggestions that were on 2019's card?

Two suggestions:

A book published by a small press

A book published in 2020

We have had BingoDOGs since 2015, and in 2016 we had two since we had a Woman's BingoPUP. A number of the suggestions keep popping up. Do you think that we should examine the wikis, and eliminate any category that has appeared say three or more times (if there are any). I'm willing to do such a comparison and report back.

If the number of suggestions ends up being more than 25, I'd be happy if you just put them in a hat and pulled out 25. (or 24 if the middle square is still "read a Cat" or a free square). I agree that voting takes too long.

I might duplicate some above and if I do I apologize.

Ideas:
epistolary or collection of letters
A book by a woman author who won an award in 2019
A book by a journalist or about journalism
A book not set on earth
A book on LT with fewer than 100 reviews.
A book with an animal in the title
Mythology or folklore

I also would prefer to not have to have LGBTQ as a category. A person can put that into any category, same with translation. I also do not use mass transit and seldom fly.
I do like a book published by a small press

I would also be in favour of not having the same prompts two years in a row. I guess we all have our favourites and those we like less. Contrary to others, I would gladly take "in translation" every year, but I will happily leave it out for a year or two or three if it means that we also leave out the ones I like less (i.e. "food", "animal" and "made into a movie").

>43 DeltaQueen50: I like the idea of eliminating squares that we just did in the last year, but after that allow them to go back into rotation.

I agree with this. It's hard to eliminate every one we've ever done.

>47 sallylou61: eliminate any category that has appeared say three or more times (if there are any

This is a good idea, too.

>46 RidgewayGirl: A book published by a small press

Could this also include self-published? Just a thought.

>43 DeltaQueen50: I agree with this too. I am not too fussed if there are repeats as there are always different books to choose for the same category. However it comes, it will be great!

I agree that I don't mind repeats although I think it makes sense not to repeat a prompt in two consecutive years. For me, one of the pleasures of BingoDOG is that it has a small number of challenging prompts embedded in a card that fits relatively easily with my usual reading habits.

I also agree with >43 DeltaQueen50: to let Christina ("let"? is that the right word?) finalize the card based on input. It's a lot of work so I hope it feels like a privilege to choose based on Christina's own preferences and enthusiasms, too. I would also prefer not to have more than one card/set per year.

>55 EBT1002: Having said that bit about letting Christina choose, I want to add this:

Christina, whatever makes your life easier, I think the rest of us can go with. If you'd like to set up a voting thing, I will participate. I trust you and want to support you in leading our next BingoDOG; if choosing from the long list of possible prompts just feels like a chore and there is a way to have us help you, I am all for that!

>55 EBT1002: >56 EBT1002: Thanks, that is so nice! :) My goal is to make it fair for everyone, so I'm basically trying to get a sense of what most people prefer. It seems like most people are OK with (1) eliminating Bingo squares we did in 2019, and (2) not having an official vote, because it's a long and unwieldy process. I'm very happy to go along with both of those ideas! Right now I'm thinking about eliminating the 2019 Bingo squares and then randomly picking 24 squares from the remaining suggestions. But I'll continue to follow the discussion here to see how we're all feeling when it's time to finalize the list.

I"d like to withdraw my suggestion of a book in translation because it will be difficult for those of us who do not read translated work therefore unfair, considering how we all like to get a full card.

I think dropping squares so that they are not used in consecutive years is reasonable when we have a long list to choose from. But I wouldn't want to exclude ideas just because we have used them before.

I'd like to suggest that we don't end up with too many that are too closely related on the the card.

* We have a number that are related to a word in the title.
Book with a number in the title
Book featuring an animal/animal in the title
Book with a proper name in the title
Maybe don't use all of them, 2/3?

* Can I suggest that "book by a woman" and "book by a woman author who won a price in 2019" are not both used? Maybe we could meet in the middle with "book by a woman who won a prize"

* And I'd also suggest that a British or American author is too similar and rather too trivial to be duplicated.

>59 Helenliz: Excellent points!

I love the idea of having 24 (or at least close to it) new challenges on the BINGO card.
Running the BINGO Dog is not the easiest and I agree that allowing Christina the opportunity to choose what is the most convenient method for her is the way to go.

I've been playing the BINGO DOG since 2015 and have yet to finish, maybe 2020 will be my year!

>59 Helenliz: I agree, it's good you noticed that.

>57 christina_reads: I'm getting very excited about the new card! Thanks for setting this up, Christina.

>47 sallylou61:, >52 LibraryCin: The following have been used at least three times since BingoDOG began in 2015.

Book in translation -- 4 times (2015, 2016, 2018, 2019)
Animal -- 3 times (2015, 2017, 2019)
Short stories or short stories or essays -- 3 times (2016 PUP, 2017, 2019)
Debut book, work, or novel -- 3 times (2016 book, 2017 work, 2019 novel) -- first two could be nonfiction

Eliminating anything from 2019 would take care of all of these.

Just thought of one more (not that we need any more suggestions!) after hearing everyone talking about Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? - weirdest book title.

>64 JayneCM: - Ooh, that would be great, especially since I have that book. Think I'll hold off on reading it just in case it gets picked as a square.

>65 This-n-That: - I don't think that's been used before. Fun idea!

>65 This-n-That: Can they be part of a subtitle?

>65 This-n-That: I love that one! I hope it is picked.

>65 This-n-That: I love this, too!

I love >65 This-n-That:, as well!

One more and then I'm done! I know we already have way more than we need but this is on another challenge I was doing and I liked it.

Book with an element in the title.

I know I already have a few with silver or gold in the title on my TBR, but I'm people can find more obscure ones than that!

>72 JayneCM: - Element as in periodic table of elements? I think there was a random(?) one time that used earth, wind, fire, and air as elements. Or maybe I'm getting ahead and will wait until it goes in a block to get a better explanation.

>73 dudes22: Yes, periodic table.
I should have put that in the description - I didn't think of the elements of nature.
There should be lots of books to choose from.

I see the English author and American author on the list...but how about book by a woman from another country? Hmmm will that even fit on a card??

I'm excited to have a new card coming soon!

>59 Helenliz: I am not sure what you mean about a British or American author being too trivial??

>76 LadyoftheLodge: I'm not going to be one to object to there being some easy squares, but those two on the same bingo card would be two squares that most of us (as English speakers) would be able to fill without even having to think about it. That's what I meant by too trivial to both be included.

If we were to have a square of author's nationality, I think the suggestion in >75 clue: is a better one.

>77 Helenliz: Okay, thanks, I see what you mean.

Wow, what a list!

Maybe some of the suggestions that are dropped can be used next year.

I can't wait to see what is chosen.

I'm wondering if we should consider the block with "Library" or "Thing" an idea for the center block as suggested in #65.

>82 dudes22: I like that idea.

>82 dudes22: I like that idea, too.

>82 dudes22: Ooh, me too! Although I do think it would be a harder square to fill than "read a CAT," so that might be something to consider. Would anyone be opposed to replacing the "read a CAT" square with a "read a book with library or thing in the title" square?

Just a reminder that Friday, November 15, is the last day to suggest squares for the Bingo card! We already have more than enough suggestions, but if there's something you're dying to do that isn't already listed at >1 christina_reads: above, there's still time!

Moreover, the 2020 CATs have now been chosen: looks like we'll have the RandomCAT, a GeoCAT, and a NonfictionCAT. Does anyone want to add or subtract a square suggestion based on this info?

>85 christina_reads: You are right, that will be harder to do, although it is a neat idea. . . .

>85 christina_reads: I'm happy to have the library or thing title square. But happy with anything that is decided!

At my son's basketball there are signs up saying things like 'Don't like the way the game is being referreed? Volunteer here to ref the next game.' I totally agree! So absolutely delighted with anything that any organisers decide, re Bingo, CATS and KITS, whatever. And thank you for organising.

Same here, happy to participate no matter what is decided. This is one of my fave categories. It always challenges my reading choices.

Hi again, everyone! Just a reminder that today is the last day to submit square suggestions for the Bingo card. Tomorrow I'll compile and consolidate all the suggestions, and we can discuss how to narrow them down. I believe we've already agreed to eliminate anything we did for the 2019 Bingo, but I think we'll still have too many squares! Check out >1 christina_reads: to see what's already been suggested.

I think if you just do a random draw from the remaining ones, that will work to narrow them down.

>92 LadyoftheLodge: I think a random draw is probably easiest too.

>91 christina_reads: I think once you've excluded repeats from 2019 and excluded any obvious duplicates, then a lucky dip is probably as good a way of narrowing down as anything. Looking forward to it.

OK everyone, we have our master list of Bingo square suggestions! Below is a slightly narrowed-down list. I've excluded all the squares we've done in 2019, combined a few, and suggested a few more to delete because they seem either too easy or too hard.

Square Suggestions
Book with a number in the title
Book that's in a ‪Legacy Library‬
Book written by an LT author
Work published in a year ending in "20" (e.g., 1920, 1820, 1720)
River or lake in title (or plays an important role)
Book published the year of your birth
Book about nature
Published under a pen name or anonymously
Book set in Asia
A mystery or true crime
Book involving a real historical event (fiction or nonfiction)
Book involving music
Book about books, bookstores, or libraries
LGBT topic or character
Book with at least three letters of BINGO consecutively in order in the title (BIN, ING, NGO, GOB, OBI...the letters can cross words but must be in order and be consecutive)
Red cover, or red is prominent on the cover
Book featuring a party (birthday party, cocktail party, etc.)
Title contains a pun
Book concerning human aging
Book with a proper name in the title
Book published by a small press or self-published
Book published in 2020
Epistolary or collection of letters
Book by a woman author who won an award in 2019
Book by a journalist or about journalism
Book not set on earth
Book on LT with fewer than 100 reviews
Mythology or folklore
Weird book title
Book with "library" or "thing" in the title or subtitle
Book with a periodic table element in the title
Book by a woman from a country other than the US/UK

***

Done in 2019
Part of a series
Book in translation
Children's book (“children’s/YA/childhood favorite”)
Book featuring an animal/animal in the title (“animal in title, on cover, or plays a significant role”)
Book bullet
Book of short-form works (“short stories or essays”)
Book involving food or cooking (“food-related title or topic”)
Favorite book from childhood (“children’s/YA/childhood favorite”)
Winner of a major prize
Debut novel

Combinations
True crime (combined with mystery)

Too hard/specific?
Book by or about Jane Austen
Book becoming a movie in 2020 (we also did “made into a movie” in 2019)
Book about childbearing (midwife, non-fiction, etc.) (or we could combine this one with “book concerning human aging” and call the square “birth and death” or “life stages” or something)
Book you have seen somebody (unknown to you) read in public

Too easy?
Written by a woman
Book by an American author
Book by a British author

***

First of all, does anyone object to getting rid of the squares I've suggested? And secondly, assuming we do eliminate all those squares, we still have 32 suggestions remaining! Which means we need to get rid of 8 more. At this point, I'm thinking I will use a random number generator to select those last 8 to eliminate...but if anyone else has other suggestions, feel free to let me know!

Tomorrow, based on everyone's feedback, I will create and post the final list of squares. Then the planning can begin! :)

I like eliminating the ones you suggest and the use of a random number generator.

>95 christina_reads: Thanks for your careful thoughts and hard work. I like eliminating the ones you suggest. I also suggest eliminating the duplicates from last year (2018) listed in >38 cyderry:. A couple of these have already been eliminated being also on the 2019 card. The remaining five for elimination would include the key words: river or lake; nature; music; LGBT; and number in title.

That would still leave a few more to be eliminated.

>95 christina_reads: I agree with your combinations, and I like this suggestion:
Book about childbearing (midwife, non-fiction, etc.) (or we could combine this one with “book concerning human aging” and call the square “birth and death” or “life stages” or something)

I also agree with your too hard/easy ones.

>95 christina_reads: I would go ahead and eliminate the 5 from 2018, then random number out the rest. It's not a have to for me, I'll be satisfied if you don't eliminate the 5 in this way but it's just a clean way of eliminating.

I very much appreciate your doing this!

>95 christina_reads: I agree with your ideas, and also with eliminating the five suggested, then random the rest. Thanks so much for working on this.

Definitely agree!

I like all the suggestions you made, Christina, and however you want to reach the final 25 is absolutely fine with me.

I’m definitely fine with random generating the squares and with the elimination of the five from 2018. Excited to see the final selections!! Thank you for organizing.

I like your ideas, Christina, and I will be happy with a random selection. This is gonna be fun!

Any way you want to do it! It all sounds great and I think no matter what the options, there will always be a book (or many!) that will fit. I find it is all part of the fun, finding something to fit, as it often isn't something I would normally pick up. Thanks so much for organising!

One suggestion for a combo: Combining "Written in a year that Ends in 20" with "book written in 2020", since a book written in 2020 already ends in 20. Unless of course you want a separate square for 2020, and then a book written in 2020 would fit both squares!

>95 christina_reads:, >106 kac522: . I suggested Work published in a year ending in "20" (e.g., 1920, 1820, 1720) meaning an old work. Many of the titles for other squares are probably relatively recent. Especially since the phrase was so long, let's shorten it to published in 1820 or 1920. It should not be combined with a book published in 2020.

Hi, everyone! I'm sorry for not checking back in this weekend...I got unexpectedly busy and it totally slipped my mind! But I see you've been having a productive discussion without me. :) Looks like most people are fine with eliminating the 2018 Bingo squares, then using a random number generator to get down to 24. So that's what I'll do, and I will post the final, official list later today!

>107 sallylou61: Thanks for the clarification on your square -- I will change it to 1820/1920 and not combine it with "book published in 2020."

BingoDOG: The Final List

Using the method described in >108 christina_reads:, I've created the final list of BingoDOG squares! Check it out:

1. Book that's in a Legacy Library
2. Book written by an LT author
3. Book published in 1820 or 1920
4. Book published in the year of your birth
5. Book published under a pen name or anonymously
6. Book set in Asia
7. Mystery or true crime
8. Book involving a real historical event (fiction or nonfiction)
9. Book about books, bookstores, or libraries
10. Book with at least three letters of BINGO consecutively in order in the title (BIN, ING, NGO, GOB, OBI...the letters can cross words but must be in order and be consecutive)
11. Red cover, or red is prominent on the cover
12. Title contains a pun
13. Book about birth or death (childbearing, midwifery, human aging -- this is a combo of the "childbearing" and "human aging" suggestions)
14. Book with a proper name in the title
15. Book published by a small press or self-published
16. Book published in 2020
17. Epistolary novel or collection of letters
18. Book by a journalist or about journalism
19. Book not set on Earth
20. Mythology or folklore
21. Weird book title
22. Book with "library" or "thing" in the title or subtitle
23. Book with a periodic table element in the title
24. Book by a woman from a country other than the US/UK
25. Read a CAT

I'm excited about this list -- looks like there are going to be a lot of fun and challenging squares to fill! Next up is creating the actual Bingo cards...I'll get to work on these soon, and I should have two or three options for you by mid-December at the latest. In the meantime, I'll be searching my TBR shelves for books that will count toward my Bingo!

Thanks! I am excited to get started.

Lots of fun options!

Great bingo card!

Hooray!

*Wanders off to see if anyone's written a book with dysprosium in the title for #23...*

ETA: Yes. Yes they have. I, however, will NOT be reading U.S. Strategic Material Supply Chain Assessment: Select Rare Earth Elements: Dysprosium, Erbium, Neodymium, Terbium, and Ytterbium next year. Or ever.

Love almost all the squares although there are a couple I think might give me trouble. oh well - I just wait til people post to the wiki and get ideas from them.

Nice collection of topics. Looking forward to playing Bingo again next year. Thanks for all your hard work, christina-reads.

I see opportunities to move some old timers off the TBR. Thanks again for your time and effort!

Excellent work there! Adding this to my thread now and trying not to start filling in titles already...

Hooray! I know what I am going to be doing today! Thanks, Christina.

Excellent!

There will be a few tricky ones for me, and I can guess which will be the hardest for me to fill!

I agree, it is not going to be an easy Bingo next year.

>113 casvelyn: Cracked me up! I won't be reading that one, either.

I agree with others that this BingoDOG will be a bit more challenging than some. It does have some easy squares but several that will stretch my boundaries a bit. I'm not opposed to that!

>109 christina_reads: Thanks so much for setting this up! I'm still finishing up 2019 but am confident I will get all the squares filled! I love 2020's - lots of squares that we will have to think about a bit to find a title. Love it!

>113 casvelyn: Ha ha!! I suggested that topic so before I posted it as a suggestion, I had a look on Goodreads for some of the more obscure elements. Weirdly, I could find a book for just about every element but a lot of them were not terribly exciting reading unless that is your area of expertise!
Polonium and the Wolf looks like a good fiction read for one of the more obscure elements.

>113 casvelyn: *giggling insanely*

Oh, there are some challenging squares in here! I think this time I need to look up titles in advance. Can't wait for 2020 to come around.

>113 casvelyn: Here a few ideas that might help (from a retired science teacher):

The Oxygen Murder by Camille Minichino
The Boric Acid Murder by Camille Minichino

Copper, Gold, Silver are obvious choices too.

>113 casvelyn: there's a memoir by Oliver Sacks that's titled Uncle Tungsten. Which would meet the requirements of the challenge and be a book on my TBR pile.

I've marked The Silver Gun for this square. It's a historical mystery set in Chicago in 1936.

I've got quite a few books with Iron in the title, as well as Silver and Gold. Then there is The Hydrogen Sonata altho I'm not that far in the Culture series.

>126 LadyoftheLodge:, >128 Helenliz: Nice! I've made it my unofficial goal to read "a book with the most obscure element in the title that still an interesting book" or something like that. Although I'm tempted to read The Periodic Table: A Very Short Introduction and say it counts because all the elements are in the title. :)

But hey, I work at a federal depository library, so I could actually check out the dysprosium book if I wanted. Which I don't.

>131 casvelyn: If we're allowing such tactics (and I'm not going to judge) then there's Primo Levi's Periodic Table which is along the same lines. Each chapter is named after an element.

I half find myself wondering about a project to read a book for every element in the periodic table... then I take a sensible pill and remember I have a habit of severely overcomitting as it is!

>132 Helenliz: I think we should be as flexible as possible.

I am reading He Knew He Was Right for Helium. Don't say No!

>134 pamelad: I think that works!

I am going to read A Is For Arsenic as it sounds interesting and I want to get around to reading all the Agatha Christie books one day. I hope there won't be too many spoilers though!

I think that in Gratitude by Oliver Sacks, he talks about celebrating your birthday by the periodic table. So you could read it too. It's short and very good.

>132 Helenliz: I may speak for several of us when I say that *planning* that reading project sounds like enormous fun.

>136 JayneCM: Oooh, book bullet!

>137 Kristelh: That sounds intriguing. I am trying to think what he can mean by that, so I guess I will have to read it and find out!

>139 NinieB: Hope you enjoy it! I was just typing periodic elements into my library catalogue and it popped up.

>140 JayneCM:, here's an example, "He kept those little emblems on his writing desk, and they included a piece of thallium (element 81) given as a gift for his 81st birthday, and a piece of lead (element 82) for his just-celebrated 82nd birthday."

I think that quote is from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/26/opinion/my-periodic-table.html?smid=tw-share&...

But I think it must also be in that book because I know I read it and that was the last book by Sacks that I read.

>141 Kristelh: Sounds very interesting - it is now on my reading list. I wonder where you even get some thallium?! And as it is extremely toxic, why you would keep it on your desk?! I guess as long as you don't touch it.

I have to say that I think the periodic table element prompt is quite a bit easier than "title contains a pun." Thoughts about that one?

>143 EBT1002: Agreed! I have been thinking on this one and come up with - not much!

I am thinking maybe Eats, Shoots and Leaves and A Broom of One's Own may suit. Is that the sort of thing that is meant? Or maybe Jasper Fforde's series, such an First Among Sequels?

>144 JayneCM: Yes, I would say that's exactly what the prompt is about. I believe many cosy mystery series use this tactic.

>143 EBT1002: >144 JayneCM: Here's a list from Buzzfeed that has more than just cozies: https://www.buzzfeed.com/isaacfitzgerald/little-punny-foo-foo

One of the reading challenges I did this year had a prompt for a book with an element in the title, and I read Tin Man by Sarah Winman, which was excellent.

>142 JayneCM: I think that's pretty much covered by every single cozy mystery ever written.

>147 katiekrug: Don't forget I for Iodine, so that opens up lots of possibilities.

>144 JayneCM: There are lots of cozies that have puns for titles, such as A Cup of Holiday Fear and Last Writes.

I need suggestions for Not Set on Earth. I do not read or own SciFi, so where to go with that one??

>150 LadyoftheLodge: - What about something mostly set in the sky - e.g. Death in the Clouds by Agatha Christie or Flight of Dreams by Ariel Lawhon?

>150 LadyoftheLodge: The little Prince, non-fiction, fantasy

>151 katiekrug: Oh yeah! I intended to read more of Agatha Christie in 2020, so that works!

>152 EMS_24: I have that one on my shelf, so that works too.

I agree the pun one seemed a bit daunting to me.

For me the "Pun in the Title" was the hardest to find a match for as I don't read cozy mysteries. Luckily I found a book on my shelves called Gone With the Windsors by Laurie Graham, a humorous take on the Duke and Duchess of Windsor that will work.

The pun square is definitely a slam dunk for anybody who does read cozies. I have several options on my shelves - Pane and Suffering, Importance of Being Urnest and Second to Nun to name a few.

My struggle will be with the mythology/folktale square.

For the mythology/folktale square, I am choosing a Rick Riordan book. I read The Lightning Thief a few years ago, but never finished the series. I have not read any of his other series, although I have two on my shelves, and I think a couple on my Kindle.

I didn't have a cozy that would work for pun in the title. Then it occurred to me to look at the next title is in the Potting Shed Mystery, I get them from Overdrive, and yahoo, it's Best-Laid Plants by Marty Wingate.

If I've done it right, this should be the link to the BingoDOG wiki: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2020_BingoDOG. Once you start reading books for the BingoDOG, please post them to the wiki, so we can all see what we're reading and gain inspiration from each other!

>146 NinieB: Thanks for the list!

>150 LadyoftheLodge: How about any of the books from the Narnia series? I would choose one of them, but I just re-read the whole series this year. Lots of middle grade/young adult fantasy would fit the bill as they lots of them are set in 'other worlds'. I have The Land of Roar on my TBR for next year.

>155 DeltaQueen50: I'm not really a cosy mystery reader either and most of the options did come up as those types of books. I have heard that Red, White and Royal Blue is a fun read.

For the pun square I'm looking for a short story by Fredric Brown - Nothing Sirius.

Found it. It's in the collection Space on My Hands.

I know that people have been writing about having difficulty coming up with readings for specific squares. However, CATWoman was the first runner-up not to be chosen for a CAT. This is understandable since there was a relatively big break in the number of votes between the first three and it. Some of the candidates with slightly fewer votes are being considered for KITs. I'm not suggesting another KIT; I think we already have plenty of KIT options. Once in the past we had a women's BingoPUP for books written by women authors. A goodly number of people did both the BingoDOG and BingoPUP. One way anyone could have a slightly more difficult BingoDOG challenge would be to limit your DOG reading to only books by female authors. I have done this at least once in the past. This is an alternative option to having a woman's separate BingoPUP.

>164 sallylou61: That's a great idea! For those of us who like the added level of difficulty.

>162 JayneCM: I have the Narnia books! great idea, thanks!

>167 This-n-That: I like this idea.

>163 pamelad: It's also in The Best of Fredric Brown.

>167 This-n-That:, I like that idea!

>147 katiekrug: Ooh, good nod, Katie. I have Tin Man on my shelves. I will save it for 2020.

>171 This-n-That: Very much okay! I will appreciate being able to get (and give) suggestions for specific squares.

Okay y'all it's me, your handy Bingo utility author, checking in again to say that I have received the Bingo cards for 2020. :)

Here are your magic codes:

<img src="http://www.lshelby.com/Utilities/Bingo/bingocardC.php?type=CAT2020-1&color=blue&markers=9-13-20-5-24-6">


<img src="http://www.lshelby.com/Utilities/Bingo/bingocardC.php?type=CAT2020-2&color=fuchsia&markers=2-13-19-7-22-15">


<img src="http://www.lshelby.com/Utilities/Bingo/bingocardC.php?type=CAT2020-3&color=orange&markers=5-8-17-15-21-1">


Don't forget that you can change the color of the markers to any of the following:
aqua, black, blue, fuchsia, gray, green, lime, maroon, navy, olive, orange, purple, red, silver, teal, white, and yellow

If you haven't used my cards before, instructions on how they work can be found at:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/180134#4971850

If there's any technical problems, drop me a note on my profile.

And, as always, have fun playing BINGO! :)

>173 LShelby: These are gorgeous! Thank you so much. I'd love to fill all three.

>173 LShelby: Thanks so much for these beautiful cards. I can't wait to start filling them.

Fabulous Bingo cards, as ever. >:-)

Thanks from me too, I was so excited I copied the link and started to go to my thread and paste it when I remembered I hadn't even done a thread for next year yet!

Love the cards!

>173 LShelby: . Thanks so much for the cards again. They are lovely. It's amazing how you come up with cards with different designs each year.

thanks so very much for the lovely cards!

Thanks for the cards. I might switch during the year so I can use them all.

>173 LShelby: You're the best! Thanks again :D

>173 LShelby: Thank you! They look great.

>173 LShelby: Thank you. And your instructions were a great help.

These are beautiful! Thanks!

Thank you for making the Bingo cards! I won't likely be starting my thread until the Christmas break at some point, but will come back and choose one then.

>173 LShelby: Oooh, thank you!

Thanks for the cards. I haven't started my thread yet but it is great having them ready. So hard to pick one.

>173 LShelby: Gorgeous cards! Thank you!!!!! It will be hard to choose which one to use.... :-)

>173 LShelby: Yay, thank you for posting these!

Is there a wiki for the Bingo yet? Did I just miss the link?

ETA : Never mind, I found it in the first message.

>194 dudes22: Thanks for bringing that up! I've asked to have the wiki link added to the group's info page, so hopefully it will be easier for folks to find.

Also, I've set up a thread to discuss our BingoDOG reads for January. Check it out here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/315168.

>195 christina_reads: Thank you! I have been looking for it, thinking I must have missed it!

>195 christina_reads: Thank you! I have been looking for it, thinking I must have missed it!