This week Becky opened things up and let participants decide on posting from two options:
Option 1: Write a post (or leave a comment) with suggestions for future weekly geek topics! Share as many ideas as you'd like! Be as creative as you want. Or if you can't think of any "new" topics of your own, consider listing your top five topics from the past, from our archives.
Option 2: Write a post about your genre prejudices or your genre allergies. (I tend to be allergic to westerns, for example.) Are there genres that you haven't read that you avoid at all costs? Are there genres that you don't take seriously? Would you be willing to try something new? (Or someone new!) Consider asking for recommendations and challenge yourself to get outside your comfort zone a bit. Alternatively, you may want to write a post about one of your favorite genres and recommend titles to newbies. Which books would you recommend to those readers who are new to that genre?
Seven geekers took up the challenge this week...and choosing both options was a popular choice:
Gautami provided some great ideas for future posts, including a poetry-focused challenge, and creating a book-related collage (go to her post to see all her terrific ideas). She also shared that her book allergy is YA fiction, and she would like to read science fiction.
Serena also picked both options. Her ideas for future posts included several focused on poetry (I especially liked this one: "Video yourself reciting a poem and post it or find a YouTube video of a poem being read and post that.") - again, visiting her post will let you see all of her suggestions. Serena's book prejudices include westerns, self-help books and nonfiction written like textbooks...
Bookworm's post suggestions were fantastic - one of my favorites: Play Matchmaker and get two of your favorite literary characters together on a date. Her biggest book allergy? Harlequin Romance, followed by Self-help books.
Kimberly shared some of her top favorite Geek posts which included literary tatoos, romancing the tome, and Christmas wish lists. She has a few allergies too: romances, westerns, and mystery novels. She'd like suggestions in these genres which might change her mind. And, she also shared her favorite genres which include fairy tale re-tellings and YA dystopian novels.
Bibliophile talked about "red flag subjects" in her reading...I found her discussion about pirate protagonists interesting (she writes: "I enjoy reading about the lives of real pirates, and will pick up a book where pirates are the bad guys without a second thought, but to me pirates and privateers always invoke the image of violent murderers and robbers and therefore I have never been able to suspend my disbelief sufficiently in order to enjoy a tale in which a pirate is the hero."). Read all her thoughts here.
Becky also chose to address both options. She would love weekly topics that include lists ("lists, lists, more lists. I like topics that give me an opportunity to write and share lists with readers.")...and she listed several other really good ideas, which can be found here. She admits she used to have an allergy to mysteries - but now it is her favorite genre! Becky also gave recommendations for other readers who might want to cure their allergy to mysteries.
Finally, Corey played Weekly Geeks this week by addressing not only her literary allergies (boy fantasy, stream-of-consciousness, and poetry), but gave plenty of recommendations for her favorite genres (Historical Fiction, Books about Books, and Classic Literature). Don't miss her post - it is full of wonderful stuff!