Play Book Tag discussion

Primary reading goal: 200 books (GR Goal)
Secondary Goal - read some of the oldest books on my TBR pile - those added in 2012/13
- 2020 read 25 books added in 2012/13

PBT Challenges:
Monthly Tag
Fly the PBT Skies
Pursue It! Book It! Track It!
Unofficial Trim Challenge
Fall Flurry of Holidays

PBT Monthly Tags

January: Mental Health
Secret Sisters – Jayne Ann Krentz (4 stars) 1/5/21

January Bonus: Historical Fiction
The Bridal Quest (The Matchmaker, #2) – Candace Camp (4 stars) 1/7/21
Rules of Civility – Amor Towles (3 stars) 1/17/21
Just Like Heaven (Smythe-Smith Quartet, #1) – Julia Quinn (4 stars) 1/19/21

February: Family Drama
What She Left Behind – Ellen Marie Wiseman (4 stars) 2/17/21
In a Holidaze – Christina Lauren (4 stars) 2/18/21
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill – Abbi Waxman (5 stars) 2/24/21

March: Africa
Washington Black – Esi Edugyan (3 stars) 3/9/21
Pole to Pole With Michael Palin: North to South by Camel, River Raft, and Balloon – Michael Palin (4 stars) 3/19/21

April: Gothic
Kraken – China Mieville (2 stars) 4/1/21
What Angels Fear (Sebastian St. Cyr, #1) – C. S. Harris (4 stars) 4/8/21

May: Short Stories
Jump and Other Stories – Nadine Gordimer (4 stars) 5/24/21

June: Beach Reads
Sisters and Secrets – Jennifer Ryan (3 stars) 6/7/21
The Likely Resolutions of Oliver Clock - Jane Riley (4 stars) 6/13/21

July: Regency
Saving Lord Verwood (The Three Disgraces #3) - Elena Greene (3 stars) 7/25/21

August: Cultural
The Man in the Tent: My Life under Canvas - Getting Started in Spain (The Man in the Tent, #2) – Tony Beardsall (4 stars) 8/5/21
Disappearing Earth – Julia Phillips (4 stars) 8/29/21

September: Made Me Cry
Astrid and Veronika – Linda Olsson (5 stars) 9/3/21
The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell – Robert Dugoni (4 stars) 9/8/21
The Vanishing Half – Britt Bennett (3 stars) 9/16/21

October: Feminist
Year of Wonders – Geraldine Brooks (4 stars) 10/3/21
Mistress Suffragette – Diana Forbes (5 stars) 10/9/21
The Four Winds – Kristin Hannah (5 stars) 10/21/21

November: First in a series
Portuguese Irregular Verbs (Portuguese Irregular Verbs, #1) – Alexander McCall Smith (3 stars) 11/5/21
Opposites Attract (First Comes Love, #1) – Camilla Isley (3 stars) 11/7/21
Murder in Galway (Home to Ireland Mystery, #1) – Carlene O'Connor (4 stars) 11/13/21

December: Books about Books
The Last Bookshop in London: A Novel of World War II – Madeline Martin (5 stars) 12/29/21

Fly the PBT Skies
Hometown: Webster, NY (near Rochester, NY)

Distance Calculator

-book must be tagged at least 5 times with the name of the location
-one book/location a month
-bonus 500 miles if the book is also tagged the monthly tag by at least 5 GR users!

Format for monthly entry:
Starting location: NAME
Destination: Location name including the link to the book's tag page to verify it has been tagged as such by at least 5 GR users
Miles: as calculated by the official miles calculator
BONUS Miles (if applicable): 500 plus the link to the book's tag page to verify it has been tagged with the monthly tag by at least 5 GR users
Book title and review (or link to review): the standard stuff

January: Webster, NY to Sana'a, Yemen = 7062.49 miles
The Fox Hunt: A Refugee's Memoir of Coming to America - Mohammed Al Samawi (4 stars) 1/13/21

February: Yemen to Los Angeles, CA = 8836.84+500 = 9336.84 miles
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill - Abbi Waxman (5 stars) 2/24/21

March: Los Angeles, CA to Madagascar = 11029.87 + 500 = 11529.87 miles
The Aye-Aye and I – Gerald Durrell (3 stars) 3/23/21

April: Madagascar to Hawaii = 11010.59
The Aloha Quilt (Elm Creek Quilters, #16) – Jennifer Chiaverini (3 stars) 4/30/21

May: Hawaii to South Africa = 11798.57 + 500 = 12298.57 miles
Jump and Other Stories – Nadine Gordimer (4 stars) 5/24/21

June: South Africa to British Columbia, Canada = 10094.62 miles
A Tale for the Time Being - Ruth Ozeki (3 stars) 6/21/21

July: British Columbia, Canada to Antarctica = 10475.5 miles
An Antarctic Mystery by Jules Verne (3 stars) 7/24/21

August: Antarctica to Kamchatka, Russia = 10838.51 miles + 500 = 11338.51 miles
Disappearing Earth – Julia Phillips (4 stars) 8/29/21

September: Kamchatka, Russia to Patagonia = 10,138.21 miles
In Patagonia - Bruce Chatwin (5 stars) 9/29/21

October: Patagonia to New Zealand = 5285.92 miles
In Too Deep (Stewart Island, #1) – Tracey Alvarez (3 stars) 10/7/21

November: New Zealand to Ireland = 11650.63 miles + 500 = 12150.63 miles
Murder in Galway (Home to Ireland Mystery, #1) – Carlene O'Connor (4 stars) 11/13/21

December: Ireland to Upstate New York = 3114.43 miles
In the Bleak Midwinter (The Rev. Clare Fergusson & Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries #1) – Julia Spencer-Fleming (3 stars) 12/4/21

Mini Challenges:

1. Visit all seven continents over the course of the year!
✔North America - Los Angeles, CA; British Columbia, CAN; Hawaii
✔South America - Patagonia (Argentina & Chile)
✔Africa - Madagascar, South Africa
✔Europe - Ireland
✔Asia - Yemen, Russia
✔Australia/Oceania
✔Antarctica
2. Travel to a place you've actually been before. Note this in your review. Limit of doing this THREE times throughout the year.
1) Hawaii - April - The Aloha Quilt
2) British Columbia - June - A Tale for the Time Being
3) Russia - August - Disappearing Earth
3. Travel to your original birthplace or where your family is originally from. Note this in your review. Be sure to tell us if it was you or another member of your family who is from there. (Limit of ONE)
1) Ireland - Murder in Galway - grandmother born in Tipperary, Ireland
4. Submit a guess in advance for the most visited continent (secretly). You can PM either me or Anita with your guess no later than January 10th! (Done)

Pursue It! Book It! Track It! part 1

Format for Reporting:
Item Collected: name the item that you found
Location in Book: describe where you found the item. This may be something specific like a page number if you have to collect something like a specific location, or a really brief description. For example, if contemporary romance is the tag, you may have to find something like "friends to lovers." A brief description may be "lifelong friends Jack and Jane kiss at midnight one New Year's Eve and realize they may be more than just friends!"
Number Collected: E.g., 1/4, 2/4, etc. This just helps me as I score to be sure I didn't miss anything.
Book title and review (or link to review): the standard stuff

-One participation point per item found, with a bonus point if you collect all 4 items!
-You can only collect each item once.
-Items can be found in any book read that month not only the monthly tag.

January:
1- Prozac (exact word)
2- group therapy (exact words or situation)
✔3- suicidal ideation (exact words or situation-thinking about, considering, or planning suicide)
Secret Sisters – Jayne Ann Krentz (4 stars) 1/5/21 - p.294 "Xavier suffered a mental breakdown. He stole a boat, took it out into open water, and killed himself by setting the vessel on fire."
4- coping skills (exact words)

February:
✔1- Divorce (exact) - Have His Carcase (Lord Peter Wimsey, #7) – Dorothy L. Sayers (4 stars) 2/5/21 - LOC 3717 "He won't divorce her, and I'm not worried."
✔2- Bigamy (exact or situation) - Have His Carcase (Lord Peter Wimsey, #7) – Dorothy L. Sayers (4 stars) 2/5/21 - LOC 3671 "I fancy I left them with the impression it has something to do with bigamy."
3- Sibling rivalry (exact or situation)
4- Come/coming/came out (exact, but with any form of the verb “come”) and must discussed in the context of coming out to parents

March:
✔1. Safari (Exact and character must GO ON a safari, not just talk about it) - Pole to Pole With Michael Palin: North to South by Camel, River Raft, and Balloon – Michael Palin (4 stars) 3/19/21 - p. 209 "We were on what is known as the 'Out of Africa' safari - one up from the 'Hemingway', which is one up from the 'Kenya Under Canvas'."
✔2. Equator (Exact) - Pole to Pole With Michael Palin: North to South by Camel, River Raft, and Balloon – Michael Palin (4 stars) 3/19/21 - p.201 "...it also averts potential anti-climax, for the Equator line, marked as it is by power-cables, a main road and an electric sub-station, could just as well be in Croydon as Kenya."
3. Ebola (Exact)
✔4. Habitat destruction (Exact or Situation) - Pole to Pole With Michael Palin: North to South by Camel, River Raft, and Balloon – Michael Palin (4 stars) 3/19/21 - p. 196 "From being almost an endangered species elephants are now in danger of damaging a fragile environment."

April:
1- Pointed arch (exact or description of one in architecture)
✔2- Graveyard/cemetery (person must visit this place. Either went in the past and describes it in the book or goes in the “present” book time) - Kraken – China Mieville (2 stars) 4/1/21 - p.223 "Billy relaxed a little when they entered the graveyard where they had their rendezvous."
✔3- Lights turning off unexpectedly (situation) - Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut (3 stars) 4/21/21 - p.188 " At that moment there was a power failure. Every electric light in San Lorenzo went out."
✔4- Raven (exact) - Kraken – China Mieville (2 stars) 4/1/21 - p.153 "It started small... something about the hours some magus was making his ravens work."

May:
✔1-pulp fiction (exact) -- Anna
The Book of Forgotten Authors - Christopher Fowler (4 stars) 5/19/21
"The value of pulp fiction has been reassessed and rises according to market demands." p.67
✔2-urgent travel (exact or situation) -- Anita
Warrior (Doppelganger, #1) – Marie Brennan (4 stars) 5/21/21
"The inn's in an uproar, and men from both sides are all over this area of town, looking to cause even more trouble. If we don't get out of here, we're going to find ourselves blamed for Avalanche's murder." p. 122
"We get the horses, then, and get out of here."
✔3-storytelling Storytelling: a character/person in the book is telling a story to another character/person (this has to be explicitly stated but can be past, present or future.) -- Cindy
Dead in the Family (Sookie Stackhouse, #10) – Charlaine Harris (3 stars) 5/4/21
"Judith began her story by asking me a question." p.263
✔4-letter (exact) -- Nicole
Dead in the Family (Sookie Stackhouse, #10) – Charlaine Harris (3 stars) 5/4/21
"By the way, I have a letter for you." p. 58

June:
✔1- surfing (situation - could be surging waves or the internet) -- Anna
The Likely Resolutions of Oliver Clock - Jane Riley (4 stars) 6/13/21
p.158 "..I got caught in a rip...before my fear turned to panic I was picked up by a surfer. He paddled me back to shore... face down, on the surfboard..."
✔2- sunburn (exact) -- Anita
The Likely Resolutions of Oliver Clock - Jane Riley (4 stars) 6/12/21
p. 158 "Rather like Dad, my fair skin was prone to sunburn..."
✔3- sandcastle(s) (exact) -- Cindy
The Bridge Tender (Sunset Beach, #4) – Marybeth Whalen (3 stars) 6/11/21
p. 5 "Sure enough they found the house, its foundation sinking into the sand as the waves lapped at its edges like a child's abandoned sandcastle."
✔4- beach (situation - person/character has to visit a beach) -- Nicole
Scones & Bones (A Tea Shop Mystery, #12) – Laura Childs (2 stars) 5/6/21
p 242-243 "..the great expanse of Bone Beach spread before them. It was white sand strewn with bleached driftwood as far as the eye could see. ...She was starting to enjoy the lap-lap-lap of the water... "

Pursue It! Book It! Track It! part 2

Format for Reporting:
Item Collected: name the item that you found
Location in Book: describe where you found the item. This may be something specific like a page number if you have to collect something like a specific location, or a really brief description. For example, if contemporary romance is the tag, you may have to find something like "friends to lovers." A brief description may be "lifelong friends Jack and Jane kiss at midnight one New Year's Eve and realize they may be more than just friends!"
Number Collected: E.g., 1/4, 2/4, etc. This just helps me as I score to be sure I didn't miss anything.
Book title and review (or link to review): the standard stuff

-One participation point per item found, with a bonus point if you collect all 4 items!
-You can only collect each item once.
-Items can be found in any book read that month not only the monthly tag.

July:
✔1- Ball -- someone must attend a large, formal dance (situation) -- Cindy
Song of the Forever Rains (Mousai, #1) – E. J. Mellow (5 stars) 7/22/21
p. 51 "The applause subsided, and the ball resumed its murmurs and music as the Bassettes descended the stairs..."
✔2- Gretna Green - must mention in the context of an elopement (exact) -- Anna
Saving Lord Verwood (The Three Disgraces #3) - Elena Greene (3 stars) 7/25/21
p.132 "I took her all the way to Gretna Green, thinking I might convince her to marry me there."
✔3- Rake (exact) -- Nicole
Saving Lord Verwood (The Three Disgraces #3) - Elena Greene (3 stars) 7/25/21
p.5 "Pen was not the sort of fool who thought it romantic to reform a rake."
✔4- Hyde Park (exact) -- Anita
Heart of Brass (Clockwork Agents, #1) – Kate Cross (4 stars) 7/8/21
p. 183 "First to the factory and the to Hyde Park."

August:
✔1- immigration (situation) -- someone must arrive in a new country for the purpose of permanently living there -- Cindy
The Lass Who Lost a Shoe (Highlander Ever After, #1) – Caroline Lee 8/6/21
Kindle LOC 2064 - "I was glad to have the opportunity to come to the Highlands and make my own life." - Max was a cowboy in Wyoming sent by a wealthy businessman to Scotland to manage his engraving business. Since his biracial background (freed slave) was difficult, he wanted a fresh start.
2 - religious ritual (situation) -- must reference a religion and a ritual associated with it -- Anita
✔3 - food (situation) -- must include a foreign recipe or a description of how to cook a foreign food -- Anna
Quinn (The Scottish Outlaws, #2) – Lily Baldwin (3 stars) 8/28/21
p. 93-94 Description: "Now for the bannock. ...she reached for the sack of (oat) flour and scooped a heaping handful into Freya's wooden bowl. Then shaped her hand in a ladle and scooped fresh water on top. ...working the flour and water together...to make a simple dough." p.117 she makes it again when they reach a village but this time they tell her to use the fattening version. "with some cream and butter...shaping the cakes and placing them on the hot stone, pausing only to add more peat to the fire."
4 - culturally significant location (situation) -- person/character must visit a location that has a historical/cultural/religious significance in a foreign country -- Nicole

September:
✔1- Kleenex (exact) -- Cindy
The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell – Robert Dugoni (4 stars) 9/8/21
p. 141 "Mrs. Cantwell stood alone, a balled-up Kleenex in her hand."
✔2-onion(s) (exact) -- Anna
Astrid and Veronika – Linda Olsson (5 stars) 9/3/21
p. 83 "His hands as he expertly cracked eggs, chopped spring onions, sliced tomatoes."
✔3-wedding (situation) -- characters/people in the book must attend a wedding -- Anita
Astrid and Veronika – Linda Olsson (5 stars) 9/3/21
p.92-93 "The church was so full there were people standing in the back.... I walked up the aisle with my father and my hand on his sleeve was numb.... Guest threw rice over our heads and I could see their smiling faces, their moving lips, but I heard no sounds." - Astrid's wedding
✔4-college (situation) -- character/person must move our of their family's home to go to college; can be told from the departing college student or remaining family's POV -- Nicole
The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell – Robert Dugoni (4 stars) 9/8/21
p. 323 "I began to see Ernie and Mickie less and less as they prepared for college. The night before their departures, I planned what I sacrilegiously referred to as our last supper. " (said by Mickie's boyfriend-MC) (Next day upon going to Mickie's house) p. 333 (Mickie's sister) "She's not home. .. She went to college" (boyfriend) "She left already?"


October:
✔1- suffrage (exact) -- Cindy
Mistress Suffragette – Diana Forbes (5 stars) 10/9/21
p.83 "Framed suffrage mementos lined the beige walls..."
2- Elizabeth Blackwell (exact) -- Anna
✔3- birth control (situation) -- call be any reference to the Pill, IUD, using it, planning for it, getting it from a doctor, etc. -- Anita
Poppy Done to Death (Aurora Teagarden Mystery, #8) – Charlaine Harris (4 stars) 10/2/21
p. 212 " So you're not on the pill?... But you are using birth control?"
4-second-wave feminism (or second-wave feminist) (exact) -- Nicole

November:
1- sequence (exact) - Cindy
✔2- backstory (exact) - Anna
Beach Read – Emily Henry (4 stars) 11/6/21 - p. 55 "When we got the backstory about his mother's ties to the USSR..."
3- to be continued (exact) - Nicole
4- cliffhanger (situation) - Anita
Note: for "cliffhanger", please use the spoiler tag < spoiler > blah blah blah < / spoiler > (without spaces) or set is apart in some way like:
*******SPOILER*******
blah blah blah
*******END SPOILER *******


December:
1- primarily set in or about a library (situational) -- Cindy
2- bibliophile (exact) -- Anna
3- collected works (exact or situation) -- Anita
✔4- a main character is a writer (situational) -- this could be books, journalism, blogs, etc. -- Nicole
First Case (A Writer's Retreat Mystery, #1) – Kathi Daley (4 stars) 12/5/21 - MC is a journalist

Secondary Goal - read some more of the oldest books on my TBR pile - those added in 2012/13
- 2020 read 25 books added in 2012/13 - Beat this number!

1. The Bridal Quest (The Matchmaker, #2) – Candace Camp (4 stars) 1/7/21 - added 7/3/12
2. Just Like Heaven (Smythe-Smith Quartet, #1) – Julia Quinn (4 stars) 1/19/21 - added 7/3/12
3. Snowbound – Janice Kay Johnson (4 stars) 1/25/21 - added 9/26/12
4. Mine to Possess (Psy-Changeling, #4) – Nalini Singh (4 stars) 3/24/21 - added 7/20/13
5. Kraken – China Mieville (2 stars) 4/1/21 - added 2/21/13
6. Morning Glory - LaVyrle Spencer (4 stars) 4/10/21 - added 7/3/12
7. Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury (4 stars) 4/13/21 - added 7/26/12
8. Hostage to Pleasure (Psy-Changeling #5) – Nalini Singh (4 stars) 4/28/21 - added 7/26/12
9. Montana Sky – Nora Roberts (4 stars) 5/11/21 - added 3/26/13
10. Turnip Blues – Helen Campbell (3 stars) 6/17/21 - added 2/25/13
11. Heart of Brass (Clockwork Agents, #1) – Kate Cross (4 stars) 7/8/21 - added 10/1/13
12. The Medusa Project (The Medusa Project, #1) – Cindy Dees (5 stars) 8/21/21 - added 9/26/12
13. The Silver Boat – Luanne Rice (3 stars) 9/25/21 - added 6/19/13
14. Montana Morning – Jill Limber (3 stars) 9/26/21 - added 7/20/13
15. Year of Wonders – Geraldine Brooks (4 stars) 10/3/21 - added 8/19/13
16. Lessons in French – Laura Kinsale (4 stars) 10/4/21 - added 7/3/12
17. A Lady Like Sarah (A Rocky Creek Romance, #1) – Margaret Brownley (3 stars) 10/12/21 - added 9/12/13
18. A Perfect Stranger (Titanic, #1) – Anne Robins (4 stars) 10/28/21 - added 7/20/13
19. Portuguese Irregular Verbs (Portuguese Irregular Verbs, #1) – Alexander McCall Smith (3 stars) 11/5/21 - added 9/26/12
20. The Promise of Jenny Jones – Maggie Osborne (4 stars) 11/22/21 - added 9/26/12
21. Stormwalker (Stormwalker, #1) – Allyson James (4 stars) 12/17/21 - added 7/3/12
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.

PBT Unofficial Trim Challenge Continuation -last of original reading list

Remaining to read from 2020 list:
✔September #11 A Study in Silks - Emma Jane Holloway
✔December #10 The Bridal Quest - Candace Camp

✔1. A Confederacy of Dunces -John Kennedy Toole
✔2. Rules of Civility - Amor Towles
✔3. The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy - Rachel Joyce
✔4. The Good Husband of Zebra Drive - Alexander McCall Smith
✔5. Alien Proliferation - Gini Koch
✔6. Train: Riding the Rails That Created the Modern World-from the Trans-Siberian to the Southwest Chief - Tom Zoellner
✔7. The Silver Boat - Luanne Rice
✔8. The Obsession - Nora Roberts
✔9. Falling Together - Marisa de los Santos
✔10. Left Neglected - Lisa Genova
✔11. A Lady Like Sarah - Margaret Brownley
✔12. The Road - Cormac McCarthy

PBT Unofficial Trim Challenge 2021

Remaining to read from 2020 list:
✔September #11 A Study in Silks - Emma Jane Holloway
✔December #10 The Bridal Quest - Candace Camp - (4 stars) 1/7/21

✔January: Rules of Civility - Amor Towles - (3 stars) 1/17/21
✔February: The Obsession - Nora Roberts - (4 stars) 9/14/21
✔March: The Silver Boat - Luanne Rice - (3 stars) 9/25/21
✔April: Alien Proliferation - Gini Koch - (3 stars) 9/20/21
✔May: Train: Riding the Rails That Created the Modern World-from the Trans-Siberian to the Southwest Chief - Tom Zoellner - (3 stars) 10/10/21
June: The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy - Rachel Joyce
✔July: The Road - Cormac McCarthy
✔August: A Lady Like Sarah - Margaret Brownley - (3 stars) 10/12/21
September: Falling Together - Marisa de los Santos
October: Left Neglected - Lisa Genova
November: A Confederacy of Dunces -John Kennedy Toole
December: The Good Husband of Zebra Drive - Alexander McCall Smith

Fall Flurry of Holidays Challenge

October - Halloween/fall/Canadian Thanksgiving/Columbus Day/etc.
1. Year of Wonders – Geraldine Brooks (4 stars) 10/3/21 - woman is drowned as a witch test
2. Tales of the Peculiar (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children #0.5) – Ransom Riggs (3 stars) 10/19/21
3. Shifting Shadows (Mercy Thompson shorts) – Patricia Briggs (4 stars) 10/25/21 - several of the stories feature a witch

November - Thanksgiving/fall/Veterans Day/etc.
1.
2.
3.

December - Christmas/Hanukkah/winter/etc.
1.
2.
3.