Challenge your TBR with the June Bookish Bingo Board!
If you share a completed bingo in the comments below before July 1, youāll receive 20 bonus points!
Click here to read the rules and download your Bookish bingo card below. Make sure you share your progress with us by using #BookishBingo on social media. Let us know what books youāre reading for each prompt below! When you get a bingo, shout it out here.
June Bookish Bingo prompts: Set during the summer, Sun on the cover, LGBTQ+ book in your favorite genre, Author with three names, Published in June, Disability rep, Title begins with J, Highly-anticipated read, Direction in the title, Jewelry on the cover, Read by the author audiobook, Characters hike or camp, Free space, Set in a different country, Trans protagonist, Title includes a number, Paperback book, Audiobook rec from a friend, Flag on the cover, Authorās name begins with J, Features your favorite trope, Musical protagonist, Set in a royal court, On your TBR for 6+ months, Road trip
How did you all interpret the task ādirection in the title?ā I immediately thought North, East, etc. I was thinking Southern, Western, etc might work as well? While trying to find a book that fit, I looked up a list of book titles with a direction in the title and it included words like right, left, up, and down. Now Iām curious how everyone else interpreted the prompt. What words do you think fit? Can you think of others that I didnāt mention here that youād count?
I am stumped for a book that covers road trip. Can i use Lord of the Rings or does it have to be a strict road trip-esk story that involves a car being the main mod of transportation?
I have a few questions about interpreting the prompts this month as well.
What does Disability rep mean?
Also when it says āSet in a different countryā does it have to be a real country or does it count if it is a country in a made up world? I have been reading a lot of fairy tale retellings and they are frequently in a made up world so I wondered if they would count?
Hi courtvader & crystal_dark - Just thought Iād comment that Bookish First doesnāt usually pop on to give clarification or rules. I think they leave it mostly to our discretion. I asked the question about directions to see how other participants interpreted the task. I am not the decision-maker, but here are my thoughts on your questions:
re: Road trips - I usually try to stay as close to the task as possible, so I would go with a book that has people driving or traveling a long distance via a roadway. However, that is my preference and they certainly do travel quite a distance in LotR, so if you want to interpret it that way, itās probably fine (Side note - The thought of hobbits traveling by road made me giggle. Would have been a much easier journey!)
re: Disability rep - This means that a character in your book has a disability such as a missing limb or blindness / deafness., etc. The rep stands for representation.
re: Set in a different country - as above, I personally try to stick to the task as much as possible, but I also donāt read a ton of fantasy. So, I would think any country where you donāt live would count. It doesnāt specify a real place, so I guess made up countries would work too.
Basically, I donāt think Bookish First is very stringent with their tasks. So, if you think a book fits, it likely does.
Thanks for your opinion and clarification about Disability rep meaning. I thought rep meant representation but wasnāt sure. As for my question about being set in another country I was also curious how other participants interpreted it and not expecting a conclusive answer from a decision-maker so I appreciate your opinion. I usually try to stick as close to the task as I can as well and usually air on the side of caution when deciding whether or not to count a book.
Hope you find many great books to read this month and good luck with your board.
I would count a fantasy country honestly. Itās different! Personally I feel the story would need to mention the country name though (which is fairly common in fantasy).
I agree that the country name would need to be mentioned before I would count it and maybe even have the character travel from one mentioned country to another mentioned country to air on the side of caution.
finished diagonal bingo left top to bottom right. am having wifi shortage just now so will be short on details but there were 4-6 graphic novels (including the Nathan Hale series graphic bio about Harriet Tubman(flag on cover) and one called Camp Spirit, and the Sy Montgomery Birdology ebook, and a manga called Just Friends. would recommend any of those. happy June, bookish people!
re: deciding what counts. Given that all that is truly at stake here in 20 points, which is fairly small potatoes, I have always considered these prompts fairly open to interpretation. I like to do my own twist on the challenge by fitting every book I read in a month into a prompt with no doubling up & trying not to use the free space, which can require some creative interpretation sometimes since I might read 20 books in a month & Iām not reading TO the prompts; Iām just reading what I want, more or less.
To wit, hereās my BINGO!
features my favorite trope: Green Dot - Madeleine Gray. Another fine addition to the canon of books about sad girls who make bad decisions, one of my two favorite genres (the other is speculative utopias that devlove into dystopias, with a dash of cult-iness).
musical protagonist: The Ministry of Time - Kaliane Bradley. Commander Gore plays the flute quite ably!
set in a royal court: You Dreamed of Empires - Ćlvaro Enrigue. An alternate history of the first meeting of Moctezuma & Cortes in the imperial palace of Tenochtitlan.
on my TBR for 6+ months: The Reformatory - Tananarive Due. I put it on hold at the library in November & finally got it this month!
road trip: James - Percival Everett. Okay, obviously there are no cars in this book. & the travels depicted are not exactly a free-spirited lark full of mix tapes & sexcapades. But I challenge anyone to make a coherent argument for how this book DOESNāT stake a claim as an important piece of road trip literature, responding as it does to a founding document of road trip Americana, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Can anyone suggest a quick read for flag on the cover? Itās the last one I need for a bingo but Iām not finding anything that sounds even remotely appealing for it. (I mostly read fantasy but Iām open to pretty much anything)
I read Dread Nation for that same task a few years ago. I remember it being really good. Itās historical fiction with zombies. It is a little long (about 450 pages), but written in a way that was quick to read.
