BingoDOG 2021 planning thread

The cards have been made!
See this post for the cards: https://www.librarything.com/topic/325298#7312061
See this post for instructions on how to use the cards: https://www.librarything.com/topic/180134#4971850

As you're playing, add what you're reading to the wiki: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2021_BingoDOG

Submit your suggestions for a BingoDOG square here! I will accept suggestions for about a month, or until we've decided on the CATs, whichever comes later.

Title-related squares
Read a book with a title that describes you
Read a book with the name of a building in the title (updated per feedback: famous might be a stretch, but a generic type of building might be easier)
* Read a book with a number in the title
a book with a seasonal word in title or a seasonal theme
The words "dark" or "light" are in the title
* A one word title used in 2016 and 2017
A title that makes you smile
A title that reminds you of childhood
Title contains something from Space (e.g. sun, star, a planet, moon, a constellation)
* title contains a musical reference
Question mark and/or exclamation point in title
- Classical element in title (Western: earth, water, air, fire, aether/void. Chinese: wood, fire, earth, metal, water.)

Author-related squares
a book by an author under 30
a book by an author over 70
* By an author you haven't read before ("author new to you" used in 2018 and in Woman BingoPUP in 2016)
* a book with an Indigenous author / character (suggested in 2020, also used before 2018)
A book with two or more authors

Content-related squares
a funny book / a book that made you laugh
a book about nature / the environment includes previous suggestion of "book about plants"
a book of history / alternate history
a book about philosophy, religion and/or spirituality
a book set at sea / about the sea
a book with / about magic
a book about politics (real or fictional)
a book about war (also real or fictional)
by or about a marginalized group broadened from original suggestion of "author or character has a disability" and second suggestion of "about disability", which would cover books about people who identify as disabled or about issues such as accessibility, universal design, or specific medical conditions that are treated by society as a disability
Microhistory (e.g. salt, semicolons, drunkenness, bees... )
Illustrated
Feel-good book (could also put this under "Squares related to the reader", because what constitutes "feel-good" may differ from one reader to the next)
* autobiography or memoir
* About a writer (fiction or nonfiction)
* focus on art
* features a theater
Games & sports
Buses, trains, or trucks - anything to do with it
"Women's work" - fiction featuring characters of any gender in female-dominated professions / occupations & unpaid labor usually performed by women, or nonfiction concerning same
Time - anything to do with it
Rural life - fiction or not
Book with a love story in it

Cover-related squares
Book cover with only one colour

Character-related squares
Read a book with a character you think you'd like to have as a friend
* senior citizen as the protagonist
* main Character's job/hobby you want

Squares related to the reader
All in the Family: Read a book that somebody else read to cover a bingo square
a book you've read before
set somewhere you'd like to visit
suggested by a person from another generation
a book you heartily recommend
Set in your city or locality (combined with "local author/setting") (if this makes the cut, please interpret "locality" as broadly as you need to to maintain privacy)
A book from the year you graduated (from elementary school, high school, university, college... any educational institution)
* published before you were born (combined with "book written or published more than 100 years ago", because nobody here is 100, as far as we know :D LOL Helenliz)
Impulse read: picked because of the title or the cover (combines previous suggestions of intriguing, beautiful, stops to make you think title squares and the squares relating to beautiful covers or books you bought just for the cover)
A book you share with 20 or fewer other members on LibraryThing, at time of reading. (Or some other low-ish number)

Other squares
Set in, or author from, the Southern Hemisphere
* with less than 200 pages
Tea. (Book about tea, book contains scene with tea, title or cover contains tea/tea paraphernalia, etc..)

I've deleted the following suggestions, which were used on the 2019 bingo card (in >1 rabbitprincess: I'd said squares from 2018 or earlier were fair game): debut book, food, in translation, mentioned in another book, alliterative title.
I've kept "alliterative author name", because *that* wasn't used :)
I also deleted "title contains wordplay", because the 2020 card has "title contains a pun", which is very similar.

As a general guideline, I would recommend not suggesting anything that was used on last year's bingo card. Squares that were used in 2018 or earlier are fair game.

I'm also going to presume that we're all OK with "Read a CAT" being the middle square, as is tradition ;)

I've got a couple, just to kick off.

Read a book with a character you think you'd like to have as a friend
Read a book that is mentioned in another book you have read
Read a book with a title that describes you

Read a book with the name of a famous building in the title.

Read a book with a number in the title
All in the Family: Read a book that somebody else read to cover a bingo square

Here are some, a mixture of my own and ones I have stolen from Seattle Public Library's cards.

a book with a beautiful title
a funny book / a book that made you laugh
a book by an author under 30
a book you've read before
a book about nature / the environment
a book about plants
author / character has a disability
local author / setting (where you live, where you were born)
set somewhere you'd like to visit
suggested by a person from another generation
a book of history / alternate history
a book about philosophy, religion and/or spirituality
a book with an Indigenous author / character
a book with a seasonal word in title (or a seasonal theme)
choose a book by its cover / a book with a cover you love
read a book out loud (to a person, animal, plant, microphone...)
a book written more than 100 years ago
a book you heartily recommend
a book set at sea / about the sea
a book with / about magic
read a story first published online
a book about politics (real or fictional)

-Feel good (I think we all need this right now.)

-Microhistory ('Cuz who doesn't want to know the in-depth stories behind paper or the semi-colon or bees or drunkenness?)

-Illustrated (Yay, pictures!)

-Monochromatic bookcover (An easy one color, visual prompt.)

I've got a couple:

: The words "dark" or "light" are in the title

: A book with an intriguing title

Set in your city or locality. Also mentioned in >5 amaranthe:.
A one word title.
By an author you haven't read before.
Title or author's name is alliterative.

I love these suggestions! Nothing I want to add here, but this will surely be an intriguing and fun BingoDog. Thanks all!

AWESOME suggestions y'all! I will put them up top.

>3 MissWatson: Haha you anticipated my Talking Heads-influenced suggestion of "Read a book about buildings or food" :D

Some form of the below -
set in a prison, penal colony or form of servitude
climate change
Bildungsroman
family saga
metafiction - a book within a book
retelling

I'm not good at coming up with new ones (though I enjoy new ones!), so what came to mind first was the "nature/environment" one.

Here are some we used in the past, prior to 2018:

title contains a musical reference
senior citizen as the protagonist
autobiography or memoir
About a writer (fiction or nonfiction)
About/by an indigenous person
in translation
title uses wordplay
published before you were born
focus on art
debut book
food is important
main Character's job/hobby you want
with less than 200 pages
features a theater

Book with a title that made you stop and think

Great suggestions! This weekend I will start sorting them into rough categories (squares based on title, on cover, on subject matter, on author) to see how much overlap there is.

>15 rabbitprincess: Thanks RP.

A title that makes you smile
A title that reminds you of childhood

I wonder if we need some happy prompts. Which probably says more about my mood than anything else.

Title contains something from Space
e.g. sun, star, a planet, moon, a constellation

Set in, or author from, the Southern Hemisphere

>15 rabbitprincess: Thanks for doing this. I am excited to get started. I guess I needed a new project to think about, to get my mind off the news reports lately. Anxiety has been getting the better of me.

>17 Helenliz: Yes, I am all about happy prompts.

Sounds like a great year of BINGO Dog. >15 rabbitprincess: Thanks for sorting/organizing.

>17 Helenliz: Agreed! Cheers for a few happy prompts. :-)

A book you bought for the cover
A book from the year you graduated

Wow, we have a lot of suggestions to work with! I've grouped them into rough categories in hopes of identifying some candidates for combination. Some of them could theoretically fit in more than one category, but I made a bit of a judgment call. I've put these up top as well.

* indicates a square from before 2018

Title-related squares
Read a book with a title that describes you
Read a book with the name of a famous building in the title
Read a book with a number in the title
a book with a beautiful title
a book with a seasonal word in title (or a seasonal theme)
The words "dark" or "light" are in the title
A book with an intriguing title
A one word title
Book with a title that made you stop and think
A title that makes you smile
A title that reminds you of childhood
Title contains something from Space (e.g. sun, star, a planet, moon, a constellation)
* title contains a musical reference
* title uses wordplay

Author-related squares
a book by an author under 30
local author / setting (where you live, where you were born)
By an author you haven't read before
author / character has a disability
* a book with an Indigenous author / character (suggested in 2020, also used before 2018)
* debut book (I put it here because it would be the author's first book)

Content-related squares
a funny book / a book that made you laugh
a book about nature / the environment
a book about plants (could combine with "a book about nature" above)
a book of history / alternate history
a book about philosophy, religion and/or spirituality
a book set at sea / about the sea
a book with / about magic
a book about politics (real or fictional)
Microhistory
Illustrated
Feel-good book (could also put this under "Squares related to the reader", because what constitutes "feel-good" may differ from one reader to the next)
* autobiography or memoir
* About a writer (fiction or nonfiction)
* in translation
* focus on art
* food is important
* features a theater

Cover-related squares
choose a book by its cover / a book with a cover you love
Book cover with only one colour
A book you bought for the cover (could be combined with "choose a book by its cover")

Character-related squares
Read a book with a character you think you'd like to have as a friend
* senior citizen as the protagonist
* main Character's job/hobby you want

Squares related to the reader
Read a book that is mentioned in another book you have read
All in the Family: Read a book that somebody else read to cover a bingo square
a book you've read before
set somewhere you'd like to visit
suggested by a person from another generation
read a book out loud (to a person, animal, plant, microphone...)
a book you heartily recommend
Set in your city or locality (could be combined with "local author/setting" above)
A book from the year you graduated
* published before you were born

Other squares that don't fit neatly in the above categories
a book written more than 100 years ago
read a story first published online
Title or author's name is alliterative
Set in, or author from, the Southern Hemisphere
*with less than 200 pages

I've added notes in italics to indicate which squares I think could be combined. Let me know if you have any other thoughts on squares that could be combined. The eventual goal is to get 24 squares (with "Read a CAT" being the free space).

Could I suggest that we exclude anything that's a repeat of a square this year? With the exception of the central Read a CAT, of course.

That would maybe remove some from the list.
* title uses wordplay could be similar to this year's title contains a pun

A book with an intriguing title is quite similar to this year's Read a book with a wierd title.

A book from the year you graduated is very similar to this year's book published the year you were born. Restricting to a single year can be very limiting (a I found to my cost)

Read a book with the name of a famous building in the title has some cross over with this year's Read a book with a proper name in the title. But might be different enough.

We should probably only use one of
* published before you were born
a book written more than 100 years ago
(not that I'm suggesitng any of us is nearly 100, even if there are days it feels like it!)

A book you heartily recommend surely requires a re-read? As does a book you've read before Not sure how people feel about one or both of those. I'd certainly suggest that they should not both be used.

I'm not sure how readily available a book for "read a story first published online" would be. This year's similar square of Read a book self published or published by a small press may have been less restrictive.

And I can't imagine I'm alone in wanting to veto using "a book about politics (real or fictional)" as a square. After the last few years, if I never read about politics again it would still be too soon!

Hope that helps spark some discussion and we can whittle the list to 25 (from the over 50 we seem to have right now!!)

>24 Helenliz: Great thoughts! I was thinking we would whittle down to 24, rather than 25, because the free space has traditionally been "read a CAT" (or KIT).

For the year thing, I take that point. I personally tweak squares that involve using my real name or birth date. One year I read a book by someone who had the initials PR (reverse "RP") to avoid using my own initials, and for the birth year square on the 2020 bingo I'm using any of the birth years of the members of The Tragically Hip, because they're the theme of my challenge.

I don't think the heartily recommend necessarily requires a re-read... I'm sure most of us have had books we've read for the first time and are like "YOU MUST ALL READ THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW" because it was so amazing.

>25 rabbitprincess: I hadn't read the prompt that way. OK, not quite as similar as I'd first thought.

I think everything you've done is great. if you can't whittle down to 24, I suggest pulling from a hat. (or pick the ones you like the best :) )

>24 Helenliz: Could I suggest that we exclude anything that's a repeat of a square this year? With the exception of the central Read a CAT, of course.

This was going to be my first suggestion, as well!

I agree with most of the other suggestions made by >24 Helenliz:

A few added comments on that:

Although I also often have trouble with single years, I don't mind this one as much: A book from the year you graduated. At least it's more recent, and hopefully then easier to find a book!

This one: >24 Helenliz: Read a book with the name of a famous building in the title has some cross over with this year's Read a book with a proper name in the title. But might be different enough.
I think it's different enough, but I do see it as being a tough one.

I agree with >25 rabbitprincess: I don't think the heartily recommend necessarily requires a re-read... I'm sure most of us have had books we've read for the first time and are like "YOU MUST ALL READ THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW" because it was so amazing.

Me, personally - I wouldn't mind seeing this one at all:
>24 Helenliz: And I can't imagine I'm alone in wanting to veto using "a book about politics (real or fictional)" as a square.
For Canadians, I have a wonderful humourous political book I could recommend. Actually there are two by the same author, one is a sequel to the other. :-)

Sorry... editing is not entirely working. I pointed to the incorrect post a couple of times above, but it's not saving my edits.

>28 LibraryCin: please no books about politics!

>27 dudes22: I have the vague idea that if we're filling 24 squares, there should be no more than 6 squares from a given category as indicated above (to avoid a title-heavy card, for example). Random.org will probably be helping me out with making the final picks :)

>28 LibraryCin: I'd agree with not repeating squares similar to this year, so I would delete intriguing title and wordplay title for sure. Year you graduated, we'd have to make it clear that it doesn't necessarily mean university -- it can mean elementary, HS, college, or any other school. (I automatically read it as university, because I have an undergraduate degree, which is why I'd want to clarify.)

I agree that famous building might be hard to do. A book with a generic type of building in the title might be easier. What does everyone think?

Are the CanPol books The Best Laid Plans and The High Road? :D

And I'll take this opportunity to remind everyone that if your square doesn't make the cut for the final card, many of them would make excellent RandomCAT suggestions if we end up doing that again ;)

>23 rabbitprincess:. Thanks so much for sorting the suggestions into broad categories. I have some suggestions for additional topics to be starred (including ones used in 2018) since that year will be 3 years ago

Under time related:
Number in title. Used in 2018
### One word title. Used in 2016, 2017

Under author related:
### Author you haven't read before equals New to you author: Used in 2018, in Woman BingoPUP in 2016

Cover related:
Choose a book by its cover, a book you bought for its cover (etc.) = Beautiful to you cover: used in 2018

Other squares:
Book written more than 100 years ago = book published more than 100 years ago: 2018

Those indicated with ### were on a card prior to 2018. I think the Woman BingoPUP card should also be counted since it was a challenge which many people participated in. We had that card since the CATWoman had been narrowly voted down several years straight. After that, we decided that people could created their own challenges by used women authors for the regular BingoDOG cards. So far, no square has been "written by a man."

>31 rabbitprincess: Year you graduated, we'd have to make it clear that it doesn't necessarily mean university -- it can mean elementary, HS, college, or any other school. (I automatically read it as university, because I have an undergraduate degree, which is why I'd want to clarify.)

Good thought! I automatically thought high school (although I have an undergrad and a master's degree!). It could count for any, which gives a bit more leeway, as well.

And yes, those are the two "political" books. A bit of lighthearted humour added in to politics!

I like your idea about a generic type of building.

I was also going to suggest picking "out of a hat" so to speak once we narrow things down. Good thought about choosing a certain number from each category, though.

>30 Tess_W: I'll be drawing the squares out of a hat, or rather through Random.org, so if that does end up on the card, I would interpret it to cover books about politics that *aren't* right now or that are about politics in a fictional country... I certainly wouldn't want to read about politics in this millennium, myself :)

>32 sallylou61: Excellent, thanks for the additional sleuthing! I'll update the list accordingly. Are there any others from the Woman BingoPUP that are duplicates?

>33 LibraryCin: OK, I will tweak that suggestion to "book with a building in the title".

>34 LibraryCin: I'll probably draw from a hat for each category. But I'll do that after the CATs have been finalized.

Oh and I'm going to combine the "book about plants" with "book about nature / the environment", because they seem fairly similar.

Updated square list with everyone's feedback so far. I think once we've made the 2021 BingoDOG I will make a spreadsheet on Google Docs for us to use in future years :D

Title-related squares
Read a book with a title that describes you
Read a book with the name of a famous building in the title updated per feedback: famous might be a stretch, but a generic type of building might be easier.
* Read a book with a number in the title
a book with a beautiful title
a book with a seasonal word in title (or a seasonal theme)
The words "dark" or "light" are in the title
A book with an intriguing title
* A one word title used in 2016 and 2017
Book with a title that made you stop and think
A title that makes you smile
A title that reminds you of childhood
Title contains something from Space (e.g. sun, star, a planet, moon, a constellation)
* title contains a musical reference
* title uses wordplay

Author-related squares
a book by an author under 30
local author / setting (where you live, where you were born)
* By an author you haven't read before "author new to you" used in 2018 and in Woman BingoPUP in 2016
author / character has a disability
* a book with an Indigenous author / character (suggested in 2020, also used before 2018)
* debut book (I put it here because it would be the author's first book)

Content-related squares
a funny book / a book that made you laugh
a book about nature / the environment
a book of history / alternate history
a book about philosophy, religion and/or spirituality
a book set at sea / about the sea
a book with / about magic
a book about politics (real or fictional)
Microhistory (e.g. book about salt, semicolons, drunkenness, bees... )
Illustrated
Feel-good book (could also put this under "Squares related to the reader", because what constitutes "feel-good" may differ from one reader to the next)
* autobiography or memoir
* About a writer (fiction or nonfiction)
* in translation
* focus on art
* food is important
* features a theater

Cover-related squares
* choose a book by its cover / a book with a cover you love "beautiful to you" cover used in 2018
Book cover with only one colour
A book you bought for the cover (could be combined with "choose a book by its cover")

Character-related squares
Read a book with a character you think you'd like to have as a friend
* senior citizen as the protagonist
* main Character's job/hobby you want

Squares related to the reader
Read a book that is mentioned in another book you have read
All in the Family: Read a book that somebody else read to cover a bingo square
a book you've read before
set somewhere you'd like to visit
suggested by a person from another generation
read a book out loud (to a person, animal, plant, microphone...)
a book you heartily recommend
Set in your city or locality (could be combined with "local author/setting" above)
A book from the year you graduated (from elementary school, high school, university, college... any educational institution)
* published before you were born (could be combined with "book written or published more than 100 years ago", because nobody here is 100, as far as we know :D LOL Helenliz)

Other squares that don't fit neatly in the above categories
* a book written more than 100 years ago "book *published* more than 100 years ago" used in 2018
read a story first published online
Title or author's name is alliterative
Set in, or author from, the Southern Hemisphere
* with less than 200 pages

I think "drawing from a hat" or some other randomized way to select them is how it was done in the past if there were too many choices once the ideas were combined or edited.

>37 LadyoftheLodge: Yep, my plan is definitely to use Random.org, with some balancing beforehand to make sure we don't have too many title-based squares, for example. I may also further sort into "new squares" and "previously used squares" to give it a bit more variety. So not truly random, but organized randomness ;)

>31 rabbitprincess: Year you graduated, we'd have to make it clear that it doesn't necessarily mean university -- it can mean elementary, HS, college, or any other school. (I automatically read it as university, because I have an undergraduate degree, which is why I'd want to clarify.)
In the UK we don't use that terminology, we only graduate from University, you simply leave school or college. Meaning that I read that as being a single year - assuming you'd graduated from university. We had 3 squares that specified individual years on the 2020 board and I still have 2 of them left... It's self interest, pure & simple. >;-)

I would prefer not to have squares that turn on some personal thing, but I can adjust to them as rabbitprincess does.

>39 Helenliz: Ha! OK, how about "year you finished school"? Would that cover leaving and graduating? ;)

>40 NinieB: We cross-posted! I strongly endorse tweaking personal squares to preserve privacy if necessary.

It also occurs to me that we did have the "book published in your birth year" square in 2020, and "published before you were born" also hinges on a birth year, so we could keep "published more than 100 years ago" instead.

>39 Helenliz: Same in Australia. And in my own self-interest, I'm reading mainly ebooks during the pandemic, so Illustrated is difficult and so is choosing a book by its cover.

What's microhistory? A beautiful title?

Thank you for doing this, rabbitprincess.

>43 pamelad: A microhistory is a book dedicated to a single, very small topic. The examples given (which got lost, I'll put them back up) were salt, semicolons, drunkenness, bees...

That is a good point to take into consideration, the books we have available to us at this time.

It is my very great pleasure! The BingoDOG plays a large role in helping me put together a pool of potential reads every year, so I'm glad to be helping to set it up.

Some thoughts on deletion/combining:

I'd be inclined to delete the "first available online" one, on the grounds that it could be tricky to fill.

Intriguing/beautiful title could be combined. It could even be combined with "title makes you stop and think".

We could *further* combine the intriguing/beautiful/stop to think title with "picked based on the cover" and call it an "impulse read" -- a book you've read because the cover called to you or because the title called you for whatever reason. I think that might help make it a bit more accessible if you're reading mostly ebooks and not seeing the covers.

>45 rabbitprincess: Yes, yes, and yes. :-)

I have another suggestion for a square: Related to war. I don't think that we have done this topic yet. In the BingoPUP, which we only had one year, one of the squares was women in combat which was much too narrow in my opinion. If we used Related to war, the topic could be considered very broadly including such topics as fighting (combat), treatment of injured persons (doctors, nurses, those picking up the wounded, etc.), victims or prisoners of war (including people sent to detention camps, administrators of those camps), people helping targeted victims escape (such as protecting Jewish people from the Nazis), conscientious objectors, people working in manufacturing, etc. while men away at war, etc.

I love BingoDOG! So excited to see it getting started for another year, and I want to say thanks to everyone involved in the planning.

Lots of wonderful suggestions here. Personally, I'd prefer not to read anything about politics or "related to war" -- those are just about the only subjects I generally avoid. But I imagine I could "tweak" the topics enough to be doable.

>45 rabbitprincess: I like impulse read and could fill it with a Kindle Daily Deal - those books on my Kindle that I don't remember buying.

>48 jlshall: I love BingoDOG too but I don't envy RP's job of handling so many suggestions. I don't remember ever having so many before. Thanks, RP.

I love politics but the books I put on hold this year were returned unread. Even my daughter-in-law wouldn't read them and she loves politics even more than I do.

I agree with most of the suggestions as discussed above but I haven't seen "Read a book out loud..." mentioned. This is one square that would never be filled on my card.

>50 VivienneR: I’d also like to see read a book out loud gone. Also the disability one because it doesn’t seem quite right, for nebulous reasons.

>49 pamelad: Yes! And one could use it for those books bought randomly at used book sales.

>50 VivienneR: I think it's better to have lots of choices than not enough :) I'll put whatever we have through the randomizer when the CATs are finalized.

It is true that "read a book out loud" is a bit of an honour-system square...all of them are, to a degree, but this one is especially so.

>51 pamelad: Is it the placement of the square suggestion? I put it under author because that was the first element of the suggestion. Would it work better as "relating to medical condition or disability"?

I know it still wouldn't catch everyone, but could the "read a book out loud" also include "or listen to an audio book"? Or something along those lines?

I can't see myself reading a book aloud these days so I love >53 LibraryCin: suggestion to add listening to an audio book to that one.

>SOOOO many suggestions! Rabbitprincess, you are a wonder for organising all this - thank you.
I don't mind what squares we have - I always love BingoDOG.

>52 rabbitprincess: Could be that we the readers, who are outsiders, are choosing what to define as a disability. I've read about paralympians who wouldn't describe themselves as disabled, and people who experience discrimination because the disability is all people can see e.g. being in a wheelchair and having people talk to them as though they're children.

Love the idea of an "impulse read"! And I fully agree that "famous building" might be hard to fill, so a generic building is much better.

>55 JayneCM: Agreed, that sounds good. Or maybe "have a book read aloud" -- whether by you, by an audiobook narrator, or by someone you know ;)

>56 pamelad: It is true that disability is not just about impairment: it's also about environment (accessibility needs being met or not met) and self-identification, as well as societal perception of disability, as your second example touches on. The Ontario Human Rights Commission, for example, considers discrimination based on perceived or anticipated disability as grounds for a human rights complaint: http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/policy-ableism-and-discrimination-based-disability/2-wh...

To avoid imposing a definition of disability on someone who does not identify as being disabled (which is a valid concern), I'd suggest reading a book by or about a person who self-identifies as disabled. Or if we broadened the square to be "about disability", one could read about universal design, accessibility, disability rights cases, and so on, not necessarily about a particular person. Under a broader square like that I would count books such as Volume Control or Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language.

>1 rabbitprincess:. It looks as if you updated the list this afternoon. I do not yet see the topic I suggested in >47 sallylou61:. Related to war, which I proposed late afternoon/early evening. Just because one person immediately said she did not want it should not keep it from being put into the mix, in my opinion. I tried to define it very broadly. I suggest it be added under Content related squares.

Thanks for all the hard work you are doing on this challenge.

>58 rabbitprincess: Or maybe "have a book read aloud" -- whether by you, by an audiobook narrator, or by someone you know ;)

I like that!

I also like this idea from >58 rabbitprincess::
Or if we broadened the square to be "about disability", one could read about universal design, accessibility, disability rights cases, and so on, not necessarily about a particular person.

>58 rabbitprincess: Thanks. We could consider broadening the square even further to something like, by or about someone from a marginalised group. Oliver Sacks wrote books that would fit into your new definition.

>48 jlshall: You wouldn't have to read a book about battles. You could choose something something like A Month in the Country, where the main character is a returned WWI serviceman, or something by Angela Thirkell for example, set during WWII, about the people at home.

>59 sallylou61: The only reason it wasn't there was that I forgot to add it. This is what happens when I start updating, get distracted by internet squirrels, then save and close an hour later without finishing updating. It's there now.

>60 LibraryCin: May have to tinker with the wording on the audio one to make it fit a square, but that's the principle ;)

>61 pamelad: OK, I'm glad that suggestion works :) I'll implement it. By or about someone from a marginalized group is also a good possibility.

>61 pamelad: That's true. I did say the topic could be tweaked, and that's one of the fun things about BingoDOG.

Awesome discussion here - I apologize for coming in once and then disappearing for a week and then returning with a gigantic wall of text. rabbitprincess you are doing an amazing job of facilitation!

>53 LibraryCin:, >54 DeltaQueen50:, >58 rabbitprincess: Great ideas, I love "books aloud". I personally can't deal with "listen to an audiobook" by itself, and I can see lots of people not being into reading aloud, so combining that with "read a book aloud" is brilliant. Unless someone can't deal with either? On reflection, such a hearing-oriented square is not very inclusive of Deaf people? But then, they use the "read aloud" topic at SPL, which has a wider audience than this group...

>48 jlshall: and >30 Tess_W: and everyone else who doesn't want to read about "politics" or "war" - I TOTALLY get that, and am fine with vetoing one or both of those. I will note that I did intend my politics suggestion to be very loosely interpreted - I wouldn't read a book about real politics myself just now, but I can get into fiction about politics in realistic settings like Red, White, and Royal Blue, featuring wish-fulfillment American liberal politics, or the fanfic We Are Young (I'll Carry You Home Tonight) which has realistic British politics in the Harry Potter universe. I also like politics in imaginary settings, like in The Goblin Emperor or the Honor Harrington series. Ditto war - I don't read a lot of real war stories, except the occasional historical fiction like Blackout/All Clear, but there are plenty of fictional/fantastical wars to choose from and also suggestions in >47 sallylou61: and >61 pamelad: for different war-related topics.

>45 rabbitprincess: On "online original" aka "first available online" or "story first published online" : "online original" or "online original story" may be better wording as it is far broader and the former allows for nonfiction as well as fiction. I don't think it would actually be hard to fill, even restricted to "stories," although it could require leaving one's comfort zone, depending on how narrowly it's interpreted. (Which is part of the point of book bingo, isn't it?) The "story" topic covers amateur writing like fan fiction, which I've been reading a lot lately and which I've found has a ratio of greatness to rubbish, just like any genre. (There's far more rubbish fanfic than great fanfic, because the threshold for publication is so low, but on a site like Archive Of Our Own you can easily figure out which ones are the most popular). The topic also covers original stories that are exclusively posted online. There are a number of themed sites for amateur fiction, and some writers use their blog or website to publish their own work. For example, the writers at Mythcreants publish shorter works of speculative fiction on their site (in text AND audio). "Story" also includes narrative webcomics like Skin Horse, some of which are extremely good. Broadened to include nonfiction, the topic includes blogs and non-fiction webcomics that are originally published online and later collected into print, like Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded and Hyperbole and a Half, as well as blogs/webcomics/long articles/whatever that aren't in print but that you spend time reading and enjoying, so why shouldn't they fill a bingo square?

There are a number of traditionally published or self-published novels that began their lives as online fiction, such as Captive Prince, which is an example, I haven't read it myself, definitely don't read it unless you like that kind of story. The topic could even arguably include ebooks that are traditionally published, but aren't available in print. The advantage of this topic is that there is a lot of quality fiction and nonfiction available online (much of it free), so it is more accessible during a pandemic, and I assume that anybody participating in this game has Internet access. THAT SAID, if we have participants who never read anything of any length online, it would actually be hard to fill because you'd have to find a book, short story, blog, etc that originated online and moved into print later on. Not impossible, but much more difficult.

>61 pamelad: I like the suggestion to read a book by or about a person from a marginalized group. Most of the time, it seems that squares related to marginalized identities are narrower than this, so it would be interesting to see what people do with a more broad topic. Maybe make it about reading outside your own experience, i.e. by/about a marginalized person from a group to which you yourself don't belong. "Marginalized - outside your experience?" Trying to make it short enough...

Rabbitprincess's original request was to not repeat squares from 2019-2020. In that vein, and based on the current state of post >1 rabbitprincess:

"Debut novel" was used in 2019, = "debut book" is on the current list. We could switch it to "author's final book" although that might be tricky to research? (Like, I am not sure what Terry Pratchett's final book is off the top of my head; I think it's The Shepherd's Crown but there might have been additional posthumously-published works since then that were probably written earlier... a bit of a headache.)

"About a writer" and "focus on art" : we had "artistic character" in 2019, which I interpreted very broadly to include writers, but I realize not everyone probably did that. They're similar if not identical. I did like that square; I wouldn't actually mind having one or both this year.

"Food is important" = we had "food-related title or topic" in 2019.

"in translation" = We had "book in translation" in 2019.

"Mentioned in another book" was used in 2019.

"All in the family" = quite clever, and I wouldn't be horrified to see it on the card, but it is narrower than 2019's "book bullet" and therefore more difficult to fill, especially if you don't have similar tastes to everyone else who is participating.

"Alliterative title" used in 2019.

Whew, that is all for now...

I wasn't going to comment on the suggestions, as I realize one person's problematic bingo square might be another person's ideal bingo square.

As a general comment, I sometimes skip topics that take a lot of time to research or are restrictive. A few that might be problematic are an "online original/story first published online" or "a book by an author under 30." Other squares I might skip are those that require me to give away personal information such as "set in your city or locality." If a prompt includes a specific year (such as "Published in Your Birth Year" for the 2020 BingoDOG), I just randomly chose a year. That kind of defeats the purpose though.

As for "political" books, in agreement with some previous comments, I am really tired of the subject. If it was chosen, I might read a graphic novel on the subject or short satire but that's about it.

I really am not trying to force the issue of removing any suggested prompts but more stating my POV as to why I find some topics problematic. I think it is possible to have a Bingo card that expands our reading horizons, while using prompts that are fairly self explanatory and don't take too much time to research or require the disclosure of personal information.

To end on a positive note, I really appreciate all the thoughtful suggestions and enthusiasm here. Looking forward to seeing what the "randomizer" comes up with for our final version. :-)

>64 amaranthe: Haha no worries! This is a very helpful wall of text :)

That is a good point about the audio square. The SPL might do it, but the thought might not have occurred to them either! I'm on the fence about it now.

And yes, I totally agree with fictional politics or war being valid choices for that square. Or an element of politics or war. History of democracy in ancient Greece, anyone?
And I'd consider a biography or memoir of someone who is known for being involved in politics or war to count for that square, myself.

I think an online original is going to require a bit more research than some of the other squares on the board, so I would be inclined to leave it out. But I do appreciate the examples you gave.

OK, going to broaden the about disability square to by or about a marginalized group.

And thank you for going through and comparing the list against the 2019 bingo card! I'll remove the straight-up duplicates (debut book, food, in translation, mentioned in another book, alliterative title) but will leave all in the family because I think it's just different enough from book bullet to be worth doing.

>65 This-n-That: Thanks for your comments! I take the point about squares that require disclosure of personal information. I'd interpret "locality" fairly broadly if necessary, expanding it to state or country... or continent if you want to be really anonymous :)

OK, I think I've incorporated all of the feedback up to >66 rabbitprincess:. Let me know if I've missed anything.

* indicates a square from 2018 or earlier

Title-related squares
Read a book with a title that describes you
Read a book with the name of a famous building in the title updated per feedback: famous might be a stretch, but a generic type of building might be easier.
* Read a book with a number in the title
a book with a seasonal word in title (or a seasonal theme)
The words "dark" or "light" are in the title
* A one word title used in 2016 and 2017
A title that makes you smile
A title that reminds you of childhood
Title contains something from Space (e.g. sun, star, a planet, moon, a constellation)
* title contains a musical reference
* title uses wordplay

Author-related squares
a book by an author under 30
* By an author you haven't read before "author new to you" used in 2018 and in Woman BingoPUP in 2016
* a book with an Indigenous author / character (suggested in 2020, also used before 2018)

Content-related squares
a funny book / a book that made you laugh
a book about nature / the environment includes previous suggestion of "book about plants"
a book of history / alternate history
a book about philosophy, religion and/or spirituality
a book set at sea / about the sea
a book with / about magic
a book about politics (real or fictional)
a book about war (also real or fictional)
by or about a marginalized group broadened from original suggestion of "author or character has a disability" and second suggestion of "about disability", which would cover books about people who identify as disabled or about issues such as accessibility, universal design, or specific medical conditions that are treated by society as a disability
Microhistory (e.g. salt, semicolons, drunkenness, bees... )
Illustrated
Feel-good book (could also put this under "Squares related to the reader", because what constitutes "feel-good" may differ from one reader to the next)
* autobiography or memoir
* About a writer (fiction or nonfiction)
* focus on art
* features a theater

Cover-related squares
Book cover with only one colour

Character-related squares
Read a book with a character you think you'd like to have as a friend
* senior citizen as the protagonist
* main Character's job/hobby you want

Squares related to the reader
All in the Family: Read a book that somebody else read to cover a bingo square
a book you've read before
set somewhere you'd like to visit
suggested by a person from another generation
Books Aloud: Read a book out loud or in audiobook form originally "read a book out loud"; updated to include audiobooks as an option, per feedback
a book you heartily recommend
Set in your city or locality (combined with "local author/setting") (if this makes the cut, please interpret "locality" as broadly as you need to to maintain privacy)
A book from the year you graduated (from elementary school, high school, university, college... any educational institution)
* published before you were born (combined with "book written or published more than 100 years ago", because nobody here is 100, as far as we know :D LOL Helenliz)
Impulse read: picked because of the title or the cover (combines previous suggestions of intriguing, beautiful, stops to make you think title squares and the squares relating to beautiful covers or books you bought just for the cover)

Other squares
Author's name is alliterative
Set in, or author from, the Southern Hemisphere
* with less than 200 pages

I've deleted the following suggestions, which were used on the 2019 bingo card (in >1 rabbitprincess: I'd said squares from 2018 or earlier were fair game): debut book, food, in translation, mentioned in another book, alliterative title.
I've kept "alliterative author name", because *that* wasn't used :)

And thank you everyone for your contributions to the discussion! I know we're going to have a great Bingo card :) I'll put the final list through the randomizer when the CATs are final.

If you're interested in designing the card itself, please let me know. I believe LittleTaiko and maybe christina_reads have designed cards in previous years -- do you have any tips for would-be designers?

>68 rabbitprincess: I'm happy to design the cards again, unless someone else would like to learn! I can forward along the info I received from LShelby. Basically, I've been using her template to design the cards, but then I've sent her the designs so that she can set them up with her code that creates the markers.

My only tip, as far as design goes, is to choose background images that aren't too busy -- you want to be able to read the words on the squares. And it's fun to do two or three cards with different designs, so that people can choose the one they find most aesthetically pleasing.

>67 rabbitprincess: Awesome! Thank you for updating so faithfully. :) I am fine with removing "books aloud" because it's not inclusive and several people have taken issue with it.

I do think "online original" isn't as hard as all that; "research" could easily consist of
asking around. Especially if it isn't interpreted too narrowly (includes stuff that is currently online as well as conventional books that originated online). I wanted to respect good writers that are mainly or entirely published online. I swear some of those fanfics are as good as any genre fiction I've read... Maybe the topic is too vague?

Similar, more narrow topics:

- Derivative work (includes fanfic and plenty of allegedly more respectable works!)
- Webcomic (search Google for webcomics or lists of webcomics)
- Discover a blog (maybe ranging too far from "library"... I have fanfic in my library atm, but not unbound blogs)

More random suggestions... I don't think they're repeats of anything; certainly not the last two years.

- Games & sports
- Tea. (Book about tea, book contains scene with tea, title or cover contains tea/tea paraphernalia, etc..)
- "Women's work" - fiction featuring characters of any gender in female-dominated professions / occupations & unpaid labor usually performed by women, or nonfiction concerning same
- Rural life - fiction or not
- Time - anything to do with it
- Question mark and/or exclamation point in title
- Classical element in title (Western: earth, water, air, fire, aether/void. Chinese: wood, fire, earth, metal, water.)
- A book you share with 20 or fewer other members on LibraryThing, at time of reading. (Or some other low-ish number)
- Romance novel, or any book with a romance in it
- A book with two or more authors
- Buses, trains, or trucks - anything to do with it

>70 amaranthe: I do think "online original" isn't as hard as all that; "research" could easily consist of
asking around. Especially if it isn't interpreted too narrowly (includes stuff that is currently online as well as conventional books that originated online). I wanted to respect good writers that are mainly or entirely published online. I swear some of those fanfics are as good as any genre fiction I've read... Maybe the topic is too vague?

I think how hard it is depends on how you read. I get most of my books from the library or my shelves. I have catalogued just shy of 1000 books on LT and ONE of those has been read online. I just don't read that way. And while I'm all for stretching out of my comfort zone in terms of subject matter, there are limits. I'd prefer the audio prompt to this one.

>71 Helenliz: Fair enough! Let's leave it off then, and I'll stop arguing about it :)

>70 amaranthe:, >71 Helenliz:. Also, some of us are elderly or have some limitations about reading online. I'm elderly, and have had a couple of concussions the past 1 1/2 years and am supposed to try to cut down on my computer time. This makes it difficult with reading anything long online -- and going to zoom classes featuring looking closely at something such as art work.

>67 rabbitprincess: Feel free to reject alliterative author. It's very narrow.

Please no first published online. Too many of these books are rubbish so it would require a lot of research to find a good one.

>70 amaranthe: I love these random suggestions and am totally adding all of them :D

Just had an idea for the online works suggestion. How about running a year-long thread for them, like we do with audiobooks and short story collections?

>74 pamelad: Cross-posted! I will delete alliterative author.

Suggested squares

* indicates a square from 2018 or earlier

Title-related squares
Read a book with a title that describes you
Read a book with the name of a famous building in the title updated per feedback: famous might be a stretch, but a generic type of building might be easier.
* Read a book with a number in the title
a book with a seasonal word in title (or a seasonal theme)
The words "dark" or "light" are in the title
* A one word title used in 2016 and 2017
A title that makes you smile
A title that reminds you of childhood
Title contains something from Space (e.g. sun, star, a planet, moon, a constellation)
* title contains a musical reference
* title uses wordplay
Question mark and/or exclamation point in title
- Classical element in title (Western: earth, water, air, fire, aether/void. Chinese: wood, fire, earth, metal, water.)

Author-related squares
a book by an author under 30
* By an author you haven't read before "author new to you" used in 2018 and in Woman BingoPUP in 2016
* a book with an Indigenous author / character (suggested in 2020, also used before 2018)
A book with two or more authors

Content-related squares
a funny book / a book that made you laugh
a book about nature / the environment includes previous suggestion of "book about plants"
a book of history / alternate history
a book about philosophy, religion and/or spirituality
a book set at sea / about the sea
a book with / about magic
a book about politics (real or fictional)
a book about war (also real or fictional)
by or about a marginalized group broadened from original suggestion of "author or character has a disability" and second suggestion of "about disability", which would cover books about people who identify as disabled or about issues such as accessibility, universal design, or specific medical conditions that are treated by society as a disability
Microhistory (e.g. salt, semicolons, drunkenness, bees... )
Illustrated
Feel-good book (could also put this under "Squares related to the reader", because what constitutes "feel-good" may differ from one reader to the next)
* autobiography or memoir
* About a writer (fiction or nonfiction)
* focus on art
* features a theater
Games & sports
Buses, trains, or trucks - anything to do with it
"Women's work" - fiction featuring characters of any gender in female-dominated professions / occupations & unpaid labor usually performed by women, or nonfiction concerning same
Time - anything to do with it
Rural life - fiction or not
Book with a love story in it

Cover-related squares
Book cover with only one colour

Character-related squares
Read a book with a character you think you'd like to have as a friend
* senior citizen as the protagonist
* main Character's job/hobby you want

Squares related to the reader
All in the Family: Read a book that somebody else read to cover a bingo square
a book you've read before
set somewhere you'd like to visit
suggested by a person from another generation
a book you heartily recommend
Set in your city or locality (combined with "local author/setting") (if this makes the cut, please interpret "locality" as broadly as you need to to maintain privacy)
A book from the year you graduated (from elementary school, high school, university, college... any educational institution)
* published before you were born (combined with "book written or published more than 100 years ago", because nobody here is 100, as far as we know :D LOL Helenliz)
Impulse read: picked because of the title or the cover (combines previous suggestions of intriguing, beautiful, stops to make you think title squares and the squares relating to beautiful covers or books you bought just for the cover)
A book you share with 20 or fewer other members on LibraryThing, at time of reading. (Or some other low-ish number)

Other squares
Set in, or author from, the Southern Hemisphere
* with less than 200 pages
Tea. (Book about tea, book contains scene with tea, title or cover contains tea/tea paraphernalia, etc..)

>75 rabbitprincess: Yes! I could run it myself and only the people who have an interest would need to look at it. If I'm the only interested person, no harm done!

>78 amaranthe: One of my favourite books started online, The Martian. I read it as a book but was most interested to learn of its origin. I would be interested in exploring online publications more.

>70 amaranthe: Thanks for those additional random suggestions. I like a lot of those too. I agree with the edits and the rationales for them. I like BingoDOG to be fun and interesting, but I do not want to work too hard to find my books.

>78 amaranthe: Excellent! I'll be interested in following along too :)

I've been following. Life is consuming my time. Looks like 2021 bingo card will definitely be different. I have struggled this year to complete my card. I am for making cards that are not too difficult. Thanks for the hard work.

I'd also like the card to be not too difficult so that one could have fun doing it. Or, since there are so many suggestions, make two cards of different difficulty.

>82 Kristelh: >83 sallylou61: I am planning to put all of the suggestions in the randomizer to give me an initial list of 24. I will make adjustments as necessary to ensure there aren't too many title-related squares, for example, or too many that would require a great deal of research.

Just realized I still had "title contains wordplay" in the list. I've deleted it on the ground raised by >24 Helenliz:, that it's similar to 2020's "title contains a pun".

I think just to make the numbers a wee bit more manageable, I'll combine about a writer, focus on art, about the theatre, and games and sports into to "arts and recreation" like the November 2020 nonfiction CAT.

I'm also summarizing "buses, trains or trucks" as "book about transportation" if that's OK (I'd want to include boats and planes!).

>85 rabbitprincess: Sounds like a good plan. :-)

>85 rabbitprincess:. I agree with all of your changes. I think all forms of transportation should be covered including cars, bikes, motorcycles, etc.

Thanks for all of your hard work.

>85 rabbitprincess: Whatever you end up with, it sounds like it'll be a fun challenge. Thanks for all the work putting it together!

Thanks for the hard work. Looking forward to what gets shot out of the randomizer.

I haven't yet sign up as a member, but I'm thinking seriously about it. You've got a book by an author under 30. How about a book by an author OVER 70. There a lot of them still round (authors over 70). They often have a lot of experience and can spin a yarn.

>90 weird_O: Oh yes, we can definitely add it to the list! No guarantees that it *or* the under-30 one gets picked, because I'm using a randomizer to do the hard work of winnowing the list down, but suggestions are always welcome.

I'm in for this year! Maybe post at the beginning, how to get the card on our challenge. I know I've done it before, but I can't remember how!

>92 mysterymax: Yep, I can post the instructions again once we've made the card!

Merci!

I used random.org to reorder the list of squares in >1 rabbitprincess: and give myself a starting point for building the final card.

Here are the top 24 as originally presented. The middle square, as always, is "Read a CAT (or KIT)".

Book set at sea / about the sea
Time in title, subject
Set in or author from the Southern Hemisphere
Book with or about magic
Features a theatre
Classical element in title (Western: earth, air, wind, fire, aether/void. Chinese: wood, fire, earth, metal, water)
Book with the name of a building in the title
By or about a marginalized group
Senior citizen as the protagonist
Suggested by a person from another generation
A book about nature or the environment
A title that makes you smile
A book that made you laugh
Focus on art
Book about philosophy/religion/spirituality
Book with a title that describes you
Book you heartily recommend
Feel-good book
Main character has a job or hobby you want
One-word title
Book with a character you think you'd like to have as a friend
Dark or light in title
Games and sports
Tea (book about tea, book contains scene with tea, title or cover features tea or related paraphernalia...)

Looking at this list, I made a few changes to reduce overlap:

- Removed "title that makes you smile" -- this could be covered by "book that makes you laugh".

- Filled the open space with #25 on the list: Book you share with 20 or fewer other members on LibraryThing. The page "Vous et nul autre" in your stats will tell you how many of your books are shared with 5 or fewer members: https://www.librarything.com/profile/rabbitprincess/stats/vousetnulautre# I thought this might be just enough challenge without requiring *too* much research.

- By extension, removed "feel-good book" because a book that makes you laugh makes you feel good. Replaced it with #26 on the list, "an author you haven't read before".

- Merged the art, theatre, and games and sports suggestions to make a single "arts and recreation" square. I had actually intended to do this per post >85 rabbitprincess:, but apparently I didn't act on this because squirrels.

- Filled the two open spots that this merger created with #27 and #28 on the list, "set somewhere you'd like to visit" and "book with a love story in it".

Next, I made a hard choice or two about content:

- As much as I love the "tea" suggestion, that might be a bit niche for the bingo card. And anyway you could make an argument for putting it under arts and recreation. I've skipped down the list a fair bit and replaced it with "book by two or more authors".

- The list gave us all three of the character suggestions, which seemed like a lot proportionally, so I decided to remove one. I've opted to remove "main character has a job or hobby you want", because theoretically you'd want to be friends with a character who has a job or hobby you want. But don't fear, I've replaced it with what I hope is a simple alternative: an impulse read :)

- Given that the official CATs this year are RandomCAT, GenreCAT, and HistoryCAT, I thought it would be appropriate to replace the "philosophy, religion, and spirituality" square with "book about history or alternate history".

- I love books set at sea or about the sea, but again, I think it could be covered by the "book about nature or the environment" square (at least the books ABOUT the sea). For a bit of variety, I've replaced this square with "book less than 200 pages".

This gives us the following list:

1. Book less than 200 pages
2. Time word in title or time is the subject (I'd include time travel in this square!)
3. Set in or author from the Southern Hemisphere
4. Book with or about magic
5. Arts and recreation (would cover the original suggestions "focus on art", "features a theatre", "games and sports", and "about a writer")
6. Classical element in title (Western: earth, air, wind, fire, aether/void. Chinese: wood, fire, earth, metal, water)
7. Book with the name of a building in the title
8. By or about a marginalized group
9. Senior citizen as the protagonist
10. Suggested by a person from another generation
11. A book about nature or the environment (includes the sea)
12. A book that made you laugh
13. Book you share with 20 or fewer members on LT
14. Book about history or alternate history
15. Book with a title that describes you
16. Book you heartily recommend
17. Author you haven’t read before
18. Impulse read!
19. One-word title
20. Book with a character you think you'd like to have as a friend
21. Dark or light in title
22. Set somewhere you’d like to visit
23. Book by two or more authors
24. Book with a love story in it
25. Read a CAT or KIT

I hope this list is a good balance and that if squares pose a challenge, it's the fun kind of challenge rather than the frustrating kind.

Looks good to me!

Love it! Some fresh and fun options. Off to figure out which book title describes me. 😀

I'm happy with this!

The fact that you took this on is awesome. Thanks - great squares.

>97 LittleTaiko: I'm afraid I had one in mind before I even suggested that as a square!

I reckon there's a couple that will stretch me out of my comfort zone, but that is the point.
Thanks for the picking and sorting.

Looking forward to seeing the cards next. *never satisfied*

Thanks to everyone for making all the suggestions! We had lots of excellent ones to choose from.

>97 LittleTaiko: >100 Helenliz: That square will give us a head start on the year-end "describe yourself in books" meme! ;)

Thanks for all your hard work, RP. I am so looking forward to our 2021 Bingo Card. :)

>95 rabbitprincess: Thank you!

>95 rabbitprincess: Thanks for doing all this work! I'm sure it will be great. And no doubt we will each be stretched one way or another!

>104 NinieB: I have a feeling the magic one is going to stretch me the most! I tend to read sci-fi more than fantasy. But I'm looking forward to seeing what I can dig up :D

>105 rabbitprincess: Maybe a non-fiction book about a famous magician?

>106 DeltaQueen50: Yes! Or I just remembered there's the Great Merlini series by Clayton Rawson (his Death from a Top Hat was recently reprinted by American Mystery Classics). I've read that particular book but I may be able to get others.

How does one know if a book makes you laugh until you read it? About ten years ago, I invested in a new hardcover book by George Carlin, who I always thought was wicked funny. I got not even halfway through; this isn't funny, I said to myself, it's mean-spirited.

>108 weird_O: I was thinking about that, too. And what about "Book you heartily recommend" and "Book with a character you think you'd like to have as a friend"? If it's a book you haven't already read, how would you know if it fits the category?

>108 weird_O: >109 jlshall: You do not have to pick a book for a square in advance. You can read a book and fill the square after the fact, when you realize that it fits.

For the heartily recommend square, you could absolutely read a book you've already read. In fact this is how I will likely fill that square. Either that or it will end up being a book I discover by chance next year.

For the friend square, as an example, if you read a series because you like the characters, a new installment in that series would fit the square.

I would also consider the subject of a biography, autobiography, or memoir to be the main "character", so if you're reading about a real person you admire and would want to have as a friend, I'd count that.

Okie dokie. I can work around with a work-around.

>111 weird_O: Flexibility and fun are the hallmarks of the Category Challenges.

>110 rabbitprincess: Oh, I realize you don't have to pick your books in advance, but I'm an inveterate planner and one of the things I love about this challenge is matching books to topics. That's just part of the fun. It was only a thought, and I'm sure I can "work around" it. Just makes it more of a challenge, and that's probably a good thing.

>113 jlshall: I understand, I like to plan too! The Bingo card does go a long way to building up my own pool of potential reads for the year -- I've already started doing that :)

So, I"m probably being a bit dense, but can somehow explain the building in the title square? Does it mean a specific building like The Empire State Building or something more general like house, skyscraper, barn, etc...?

Is it imagination, or will BingoDOG 2021 be much easier than this year has been? I could possibly fill all of the squares with my regular reading.

Planning ahead is fun for me, too-- regardless of how much plans change-- but I think I'll just look back every month for what matches up.

>115 LittleTaiko: The more general option (house, skyscraper, barn).

>117 rabbitprincess: - Thanks! That definitely makes things easier. :)

>110 rabbitprincess: You do not have to pick a book for a square in advance. You can read a book and fill the square after the fact, when you realize that it fits.

I do this all the time. I think many of these are broad enough that you should be able to find something!

I'm also a planner. I think that this is going to be the most difficult BingoDOG of all, mostly because of most of the topics already mentioned. I doubt if I will do two BingoDOG challenges as I usually do -- one with any writer and the other only female authors. However, I've said that before and ended up doing both.

Okay y'all it's me, your handy Bingo utility author, checking in again to say that I have received the Bingo cards for 2021. :)

Here are your magic codes:

<img src="http://www.lshelby.com/Utilities/Bingo/bingocardC.php?type=CAT2021-A&color=blue&markers=9-13-20-5-24-6">


<img src="http://www.lshelby.com/Utilities/Bingo/bingocardC.php?type=CAT2021-B&color=fuchsia&markers=2-13-19-7-22-15">


<img src="http://www.lshelby.com/Utilities/Bingo/bingocardC.php?type=CAT2021-C&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! :)

Woo hoo!!! :D

>121 LShelby: Hurrah! Thanks for those. Excellent, as always.

>121 LShelby: Thanks so much for your help, as always!

Hurray to christina_reads for designing the cards and LShelby for making the utility work! You've honestly made my day :D

>121 LShelby:. Thanks. The cards are lovely. And they are different each year.

>121 LShelby: Oh, these are gorgeous! Thank you so much!

>121 LShelby: Thanks so much. Lovely!

>121 LShelby: - You're the best!

>121 LShelby: - This makes me want to try and fill all three bingo cards next year - so hard to choose just one.

Thanks! All three are lovely.

Thank you RP, Christina and LShelby! The cards are gorgeous and I am looking forward to filling them in!

Beautiful! Thanks to Christina and LShelby!

Really lovely. Thank you for the cards.

Thank you Christina, LShelby and rabbitprincess!

thanks for all the hard work on such beautiful cards. It is going to be hard to decide on one.

Thank you!!!

Oh, the cards are gorgeous! Thank you, Christina, LShelby and rp!
I really need to finalise my plans so I can set up my thread.

Thanks for the gorgeous cards! Another reason to be back for 2021. :)

Lovely cards! Thanks!

It doesn't look like a wiki has been set up yet. I can do it if no one else has.

>141 sturlington: That reminds me I probably didn't add everything from 2020 to the wiki. I must check on that later.

To fill the Cat or Kit square do you have ro do the full years worrh ir is it just 1 book?

>143 BBGirl55: Just one book.

Ok thank you

Here is a link to the wiki: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2021_BingoDOG

How dose the 20 or fewer spuare work

>147 BBGirl55: There is an explanation by rabbitprincess with a handy link in message 95.

Book you share with 20 or fewer other members on LibraryThing. The page "Vous et nul autre" in your stats will tell you how many of your books are shared with 5 or fewer members: https://www.librarything.com/profile/rabbitprincess/stats/vousetnulautre# I thought this might be just enough challenge without requiring *too* much research.

Edited: I should add the link goes to the stats for rabbitprincess, so that is just an example. Please make sure you access the stats through your own profile, using the 'stats and memes' link at the top of your home page or profile page. Then click on the 'vous et nul autre' link on the right side of the page. I hope that makes sense and is helpful.

>148 This-n-That: Ok thank you

>148 This-n-That: The number of members who own a book is also listed next to the head icon on your "Your books" page.

>148 This-n-That: Thanks for reposting! I will provide more detailed instructions as well:

1. In the top menu bar, click the Home button.
2. On the home page, in the menu bar just below the top menu bar, click "Stats/Memes".
3. On the Stats/Memes page, in the sidebar on the left-hand side, click "Vous et nul autre".

>151 rabbitprincess: Thank you for adding that. I was in the middle of editing my original message, lol. :-)

>152 This-n-That: Haha no problem! Your reposting the instructions made me realize that that key element was missing ;)

>148 This-n-That: there's a trick to creating a generic link to a personalized page on LT. Here's one of those links, for "Vous et nul autre".

https://www.librarything.com/profile/MEMBERNAME/stats/vousetnulautre#

Thanks everyone this was very much a help there where more book than I thought

>154 aspirit: Thanks for adding that. I'll try to tuck that trick away in my memory. :-)

>156 This-n-That: someone showed me the trick maybe a year ago. I think the info is finally sticking in my memory!

>151 rabbitprincess: I just noticed another little snafu with the "Book you share with 20 or fewer other members on LibraryThing" square, although it might not impact many people.

I don't add many books to my "to-read" shelf. I only have one book showing up in my "Vous et nul autre" stats and unfortunately, I have read that book. I am not sure what to do, other than to add a bunch of books to my to-read shelf, which I'd prefer not to do. Any ideas?

If you search for a book you're thinking of reading, you can see how many members already have it, you don't need to add it to do that.

>158 This-n-That: If you have a few specific books in mind then you can click through to the book's main page and the number of times it's listed on LT is under the "Members" header (top left ish).

I started a January thread here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/327885

>159 Helenliz: >160 spiralsheep: That's a great alternative to the Vous et nul autre page! Thanks for pointing it out :)

Could someone tell me what is meant by "classical element". Is that like last years? or is it different? Never mind, I did find it above. Thanks tho.

>159 Helenliz: >160 spiralsheep: Thank you. I will try that technique. It might be more time consuming but hopefully I'll come across a book of interest that not many other LT members have added/read.

Thank you >1 rabbitprincess: >69 christina_reads: >121 LShelby:, the selection & cards turned out AWESOME! Looking forward to playing!

Would it be possible to add a quicker to find link to the wiki? Maybe add it to the first post?

>166 susanna.fraser: Excellent idea! Done. I've also added links to the post with the cards, and to LShelby's instructions on how to use the cards.

>167 rabbitprincess:

Thanks!

>167 rabbitprincess: I noticed earlier that the BingoDOG wiki isn't linked from the 2021 Category Challenge group page yet either (yes, I know it's only 1 Jan and everyone is busy). :-)

>169 spiralsheep: Added! Thanks for pointing that out :)

Does a bookshop count as a type of Buliding?

>171 BBGirl55: Yes!

>171 BBGirl55: For sure! One of the best, I think.

I'm joining in! I'm not sure I fully understand some of the items, so I may need to read the thread from top to bottom. That's what I get for joining late!

>174 LoisB: That is okay, glad to see you are here. Others who are BingoDOG-ers can help too.

Is this on purpose? I'm not seeing "Read for a CAT or KIT" in the BingoDOG wiki... Am I missing it? Thanks!

>177 LibraryCin: I didn't see it either. I guess they think most everyone is participating in one of those and consider it a free space.

>177 LibraryCin: On my card, it is in the center square.

>179 sturlington: Same for me, it is the center square or "free space" on my Bingo card.

>179 sturlington:, >180 LadyoftheLodge:. We are not talking about the bingo cards, we are talking about the bingoDOG wiki. Although I've not looked at the wiki today, the last I looked, it was not there. As I recall, it has been on the wiki all the other years. Personally, I enjoy seeing what others are using for that space.

>181 sallylou61: I agree. I remember adding mine previously.

>181 sallylou61: Ooops, misunderstood! I set up the wiki page, so I'll add it for you.

>183 sturlington: Thank you!

(And thank you to >181 sallylou61: for explaining better. :-) )

>183 sturlington: Many thanks. Already three of us have added our reading for that square!

(>184 LibraryCin: You are welcome. I noticed that you are one of us who has already posted on it.)

>185 sallylou61: Yup! Just as soon as I saw it had been added! :-)

I started a new thread for February: http://www.librarything.com/topic/329356

I started a new thread for March: https://www.librarything.com/topic/330259

May thread here:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/331888

I have a question about the square for "classical element in title (Western: earth, water, air, fire, aether/void. Chinese: wood, fire, earth, metal, water)". Would it be reasonable to count "spirit" as a fifth Western element along with aether/void? I admit I'd never heard of void as an element and assumed it was aether/spirit until I rechecked.

>191 spiralsheep: In my way of thinking, you can use it. I think we are all about flexibility here.

>192 LadyoftheLodge: Thank you. I've read an "earth" title and a "water", and I have an "air" to read, so I could look for a "fire"... but I already have a book with "spirit" in the title on my shelf so I thought I'd ask people's opinions. Maybe I should look for a book with "aether" in the title though because I don't think I've ever read one! :-)

Would "forever" be acceptable as a "time word"?

>194 VivienneR: Certainly.

>194 VivienneR: I'd vote yes! :-)

>195 pamelad: & >196 spiralsheep: Glad to hear it! I started Ian Fleming's Diamonds are Forever before choosing a category.

June thread here:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/332608

:-)