First of all, let me just say, "WOW!!" keli and I were both blown away by the amount of categories suggested this year. Last year, we struggled to get to 31 categories and this time--even after much combining of similar suggestions--we ended up with a whopping 67 categories. Thank you to everyone who posted suggestions.

Here's the list:

1. Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Supernatural/Paranormal/UF




2. Horror




3. 100k+ Word Fanfic




4. Biography/Autobiography/Non-Fiction




5. Number or Color in the Title




6. Country or City in the Title




7. A Classic




8. Anthology of Short Stories




9. By a Female Author




10. Romance




11. Less than 100 pages long




12. Less than 200 pages long




13. More than 600 pages long




14. Audiobook/Ebook




15. Poetry/Play




16. Comedy/Humor/Satire




17. Diverse Reads (LBGTQA and/or POC characters or LGBTQA and/or POC author)




18. A Book with a Disabled Character




19. Hero Vs Villain




20. Title Starts with the First Letter of Your Name




21. Author from Your Native Country




22. Set in the Future




23. Fairy Tale/Fairy Tale Retelling




24. Favorite Childhood Book




25. Book that is Part of a Trilogy




26. Book that is Part of a Series (4+ books long)




27. Historical (fiction or non-fiction)




28. A Book Not Originally Written in Your Native Language




29. Myths and Legends




30. Comic/Graphic Novel




31. A Book Recommended to You




32. Published This Year (2019)




33. At or Near the Bottom of Your TBR Pile




34. Book from BBC's list of “100 Books to Read Before You Die” [Link]




35. A Book that Won an Award




36. An Author's Debut Novel




37. Mystery/Crime/True Crime




38. A Banned Book




39. Book from a Detective Series




40. A Second Chance Book (A book you gave up on once upon a time)




41. Animal on the Cover




42. TV Tie-in/Turned into a TV Show




43. Movie Tie-in/Made into a Movie




44. A Book Published or Set in the 20^th Century (1901-2000)




45. Action/Adventure




46. Children's/YA Book




47. One Word Title




48. Cookbook/Food Memoir/Lifestyle




49. First Person POV




50. A Travel Book




51. Title is at least 6 Words Long




52. Set in a Country/Place You'd Like to Visit




53. Unreliable Narrator




54. Unusual format (second person POV, through letters/Epistolary, through text messages, etc.)




55. A New-to-You author




56. Spinoff/Shared Universe




57. Inspired by/Based on Social or Political Issue – Past or Present




58. An Author Famous for Something Else (YouTuber, Celebrity, Blogger, Sportsperson, TV Presenter etc.)




59. A Book You Wanted to Read as a Child but Never Did




60. Book by an Author who Shares Your Initials




61. A Self Help Book




62. A Book You Chose Based on the Cover




63. A Book Set in Your State or Country or Written by a Local Author




64. A Book Written by an 80's Star (ex Alison Arngrim from Little House on the Prairie)




65. A Book You Read in a Day




66. A Favorite Re-Read




67. A Book Set on or Near a Holiday

And here's the slight change: keli and I have discussed this, and since there is such a huge amount of categories to vote for, we decided to use a random number generator to whittle the list down to 45. I'm in the process of getting the first round voting post up which will have that list included.

BUT...I will let you all in on a new rule that we're implementing for 2019. In addition to the two wildcards, the 2019 game will also include two square substitutions.

Those will work like this:

We will post a substitution list at the start of the year. It will be comprised of 8-10 categories not included on the final card. If you are having trouble with a square and don't have a wildcard to use or would rather save your wildcards for a later date, you can choose a category from the list and swap it out with a square on the card.

Example: Say that I'm having trouble filling the "Animal on the Cover" square and I've already used my wildcards, I can look at the list and choose one of the categories--say, "A Favorite Re-Read"--and swap it for the "Animal on the Cover" square.

Wildcards will work the same as they do this year. You can read any book of your choice and fill a square.

The substitutions list will be chosen from the above posted list of 67, excluding the categories that make the final card, of course.

Any questions, please ask.

1st round voting post will be up shortly!