Yes indeed – the Book Bingo cards are LIVE and ready to go!
Many thanks to all of you who offered up suggestions for the categories and special thanks to Carole for her feedback and testing.
If you click on “Summer 2021 Book Bingo” (on the header menu) you’ll get whisked to a page that includes a link to the card generator and all the “rules”. We are getting back to our Summer Bingo roots this year. Books you finish between the Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend and Labor Day count for a square. We don’t get to start until May 29, but we have until September 6 to finish – 101 days!
As always, you get to interpret the square; the intent is to encourage reading and be fun.
A couple of themes surfaced in your input on the categories. The updated list is still nearly 90 categories and reflects these changes:
- remove genres, except for poetry and biography/memoir.
- remove things about “when you were born” or “the state where you live”.
- remove anything about “should” or anything quirky (e.g., non-human protagonist, written in the 2nd person).
- add more prizes (the list now specifically includes Pulitzer, Booker, Women’s, and Aspen Words prizes – and the text doesn’t say this for space reasons but the intent is “from any year”)
- add more diversity in terms of authors and subjects.
The Women’s Prize short list was announced on Wednesday and I’m planning to read all of them (yes, I will finally be reading Transcendent Kingdom!), so I wanted to be sure I got the new “Women’s Prize finalist or winner” square. It took about two dozen refreshes, but I finally got it!
and I must say, this is maybe the best card I’ve ever had. I’m excited. and hope y’all are too!
Here’s to an amazing season of books and reading, and sharing about books and reading!
mere-et-filles 
A wonderful Friday thing! I actually printed two cards because they were both full of spaces that match up with my reading goals. Thanks again for doing this and for getting it out so we can all start planning.
I got the Women’s Prize on my first try! And I’m pretty happy with my card, too. Hooray for summer reading! Thank you for setting this up again for all of us.
Yay, I’m so excited! I don’t think I’ll fill two cards this year, considering the shorter time frame, but a cover-all is still my goal!
What great categories you’ve come up with this year! There are so many and so much variety that it is tempting to particpate, but I am not a very good Book Bingo-er (and it might be a busy summer here). But I will be cheering on all participants from the sidelines. Happy Summer Reading!
Oooh, it’s here!!! Hooray and thank you! I know what I’m doing on our rainy Sunday… 🙂
I’m sad to see some of the quirker catagories go, if only because they pushed me to read beyond my normal circuit. But blackout summer, here we come!
Looks like some really good categories and looks like everyone is enjoying. Like Bonny, I am not very good a book bingo (feels too much like a chore to me), but I sure do enjoy participating from the sidelines and also gathering excellent recommendations from all. Thanks for doing this Mary!
I am excited for this! I will have to play with it later on this week! Thank you so much for hosting this, Mary!
I’m ready for a summer of book bingo and got a card that suited me on my 3rd try!
Thank-you Mary!!!! Looking forward to another fun summer.
I will admit I used the create your own card thing to do my card. I spent 2 hours today creating a spreadsheet with options for most of the 25 squares with 2 other options if needed. Trying to use books I own or can borrow plus one brand new book that will be arriving in June. My goal for myself is at least 1 bingo as I don’t want to get stressed out trying to do too much and I’ve picked a few long books. I’m excited to read the books I’ve chosen.