Play Book Tag discussion

I was surprised manga didn't garner more support, but the clear winner for next month is:

cultural

Please share your reading plans and recommendations below.

Remember, for the regular monthly reads, the book can be shelved as "cultural" on Goodreads, or be a book that is not yet shelved that way but you feel should be.

One way to find books to read for this tag is to please visit:

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

We encourage people to link to additional lists below if they find them.

Happy Reading!!!

I had a hunch that cultural would win and it is right in my wheelhouse.

I already had a number of reads planned August for other reasons which fit in the cultural tag:

The Performance
The Elegance of the Hedgehog
The Transit of Venus
Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald
The Sweetness of Water
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

I will come back and make recommendations.

I have been wanting to get to Disappearing Earth for the last couple months for my fly the skies.... maybe this month. I have a lot of "cultural" on my tbr, just depends what I can fit in with fly-the-skies and book club.

This is a very broad tag, should satisfy any reader.

I'm not mad about this. I have a handful of book that would work on my real life bookshelf.

The YA book I was planning to read will also fit this tag, so I'm good.

I am between Transcendent Kingdom, The Henna Artist and The Space Between Us. Any recommendations??

Anita wrote: "I am between Transcendent Kingdom, The Henna Artist and The Space Between Us. Any recommendations??"

I can't speak to the other 2 but my F2F bookclub read Transcendent Kingdom and it was a big hit. I was kinda on the fence about it... just 3 stars for me.

Anita wrote: "I was surprised manga didn't garner more support, but the clear winner for next month is:

cultural

Please share your reading plans and recommendations below.

Remember, for the regular monthly re..."

My first choice, so obviously, I'm happy :)! This will work for my Fly the Skies book as well as some other reads I have, and other than Manga, I have read quite a few on the shelves.

There are many great choices on the cultural shelves.

Anita wrote: "I am between Transcendent Kingdom, The Henna Artist and The Space Between Us. Any recommendations??"

I liked both of the first two. Transcendent Kingdom is more literary than The Henna Artist, and I found it very thought provoking. It has some similarities to Real Life, but the tone is different. The character visits Ghana but most takes place in the US.

Joy, Joanne, BC, and Cin all reviewed The Space Between us, and wrote great reviews. I bought The Secrets Between Us, and I might read it next month.

I threw 10 pp to YA, but can live with Cultural also. It's a pretty broad tag.

I have read quite a few on the cultural shelf-a few recommendations

Fiction:

Homegoing
Cutting for Stone
City of Thieves
The Map of Salt and Stars
The Red Tent
In the Time of the Butterflies

Non-Fiction:
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
Ghosts of the Tsunami: Death and Life in Japan’s Disaster Zone

Lots of great recommendations for AAPI reading on our AAPI thread in the Footnotes section. I imagine any of these should/could count for cultural. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Here's my contribution I posted over there as well:
This list was created by user @vanreads on instagram (not me).

Books with Commentary on Race/Identity
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning
The Sympathizer
Interior Chinatown
The Equity Myth: Racialization and Indigeneity at Canadian Universities
Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping

Books with Asian Feminism
White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color
Asian American Feminisms and Women of Color Politics
Know My Name
More Than Serving Tea: Asian American Women on Expectations, Relationships, Leadership and Faith
Whiter: Asian American Women on Skin Color and Colorism
Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars

Books with Immigrant Experiences
Chop Suey Nation: The Legion Cafe and Other Stories from Canada’s Chinese Restaurants
The Son of Good Fortune
How to Pronounce Knife
Nights When Nothing Happened
Front Desk
The Most Beautiful Thing

Books with Asian Histories
The Garden of Evening Mists
Pachinko
The Mountains Sing
Do Not Say We Have Nothing
Green Island
How We Disappeared

Books with Asian American Histories
The Making of Asian America: A History
Obasan
Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans
How Much of These Hills Is Gold
Last Night at the Telegraph Club
The Jade Peony

Books with Diaspora Experiences
Yolk
Patron Saints of Nothing
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
Ghost Forest
Two Trees Make a Forest: Travels Among Taiwan's Mountains & Coasts in Search of My Family's Past
Little Gods


And I'll add my own category- Asian adopted Expereinces
All You Can Ever Know
A Long Way Home

Doughgirl5562 wrote: "I threw 10 pp to YA, but can live with Cultural also. It's a pretty broad tag."

There is a lot of overlap, so I'm sure you'll find something you'll love. Check out the voting thread because there were many good recommendations for YA/Cultural books. Are there any countries you'd like to visit in August? We might have some ideas.

I find it more interesting to read about a child or teenager from a country other from my own. There are plenty of cultural books like this, even if they don't have a YA tag. I read Cinder (YA) after I saw it at the top of the Beijing tag list, and I'm glad I did.

Totally in my wheelhouse too! And of course I’ve got plenty of cultural books to read, it’s just a question of which one am I going to use for my Fly, and which ones are extras. I was waiting for the trim number to be announced, so I could get a good plan going. But I have quite a few in mind….

Definitely works well with my FtS destination in August and I have several books in my TBR Towers already, both print and ebook.

However, that does not mean any of them have been tagged 5 times as CULTURAL.

Anita wrote: "I was surprised manga didn't garner more support, .."

I wasn't surprised by that. Someone said once that the tag that is discussed the most doesn't win. (Though this wasn't true last time.) I plan to read a Manga book for the cultural tag, because it is a largely Japanese art form. I really enjoyed the Japanese books I read in the last year. They have a different type of energy and writing style.

I think I might need a B12 shot to get the energy I'll need to read all the books I want to read in August. (Do they still do that?) It's going to be a busy month for me anyway.

I LOVE cultural - books from different countries, immigration & race books (cross-cultural), and especially "own voices". (If they also have some artsy culture or organization culture, that would be a plus.) I have more than enough books already on hand or on hold to keep me busy.

I will read one Manga, a book for FTS (Spanish Irish or Scottish), Asian and immigration books (some are on Joi's list), and at least one book from my target/goal lists (such as a translated book, an award winner, or a book about revolution). I have a regency book I didn't get to on the French Revolution. A buddy read would be nice.

Possibilities:
The Art of Hearing Heartbeats
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
The Satapur Moonstone
The Garden of Evening Mists
The Necklace
The Secrets Between Us
The Hidden Palace (Golem and Jinni 2), New
Once There Were Wolves - August Preorder by Charlotte McConaghy. I loved her Migrations

Some favorites/recommendations:
💛 Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead. I read it a few months ago but forgot to post a review. It's different, compelling, translated from Polish, and won many awards. I loved it, and many here will, but it's not for everyone.
Euphoria - Anthropologists, Papua New Guinea
A Tale for the Time Being Japan
The Sympathizer Vietnam
The Golem and the Jinni NYC Syrian, Jewish communities
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress - Chinese Cultural revolution.

I would love more novels about the cultural revolution in China.

Joi wrote: "Lots of great recommendations for AAPI reading on our AAPI thread in the Footnotes section. I imagine any of these should/could count for cultural. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/......"

This is a great list, Joi! There are several on there that I have been wanting to get to, and All You Can Ever Know continues to stare at me from my end table.

Yay, I'm definitely excited by this one!

I have a lot of books that I could read for this one. I'm not sure how many I'll get to, since I'm moving at the beginning of the month and then starting the academic year at the end of the month, but we'll see! A few that would be nice to get to are The Satapur Moonstone, any Isabel Allende, The Travelling Cat Chronicles, Under the Udala Trees, or Latitudes of Longing.

I have been hearing excellent things about Crying in H Mart so that is currently topping my list.

Joi, is this one on your radar? It seems like one you would enjoy and the author grew up in Oregon so you have a Pac NW connection!

What countries are you all visiting in August?

I was most excited by my Asian books this year - Japan, China, Malaysia. I have more recs if you need some ideas.

I'm leaning toward one of these:
The Romanov Empress: A Novel of Tsarina Maria Feodorovna / C.W. Gortner
We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir / Samra Habib

NancyJ wrote: "Joy, Joanne, BC, and Cin all reviewed The Space Between us, and wrote great reviews. I bought The Secrets Between Us, and I might read it next month...."

I was going to say that that's the only one of the three options I've read. I really liked it at 4 stars, but in all honesty, I don't remember it now (it was 6 years ago that I read it!). One thing that might be appealing though, is (I mention this in my review) that she does a good job with the character relationships.

Joi wrote: "Books with Immigrant Experiences
Chop Suey Nation: The Legion Cafe and Other Stories from
How to Pronounce Knife..."

I do have both of these on my tbr (they are both Canadian authors).

Also love cultural as a tag. Possibly half of my reading is cultural anyway. The hardest part will deciding which ones to read.

My Trim book is Small Country which will fit well. Other possibilities:

If I Had Your Face
The Girl in the Tree
The Only Good Indians
America for Beginners

The Travelling Cat Chronicles and The Housekeeper and the Professor are short, uplifting books set in Japan and tagged Cultural.

NancyJ I can recommend The Garden of Evening Mists - read it earlier this year and it was one of my first 5 star reads!

Jenny wrote: "NancyJ I can recommend The Garden of Evening Mists - read it earlier this year and it was one of my first 5 star reads!"
That's great to hear. I used an audible credit for it based on strong reviews.. earlier this year. 😊

Jen K wrote: "Also love cultural as a tag. Possibly half of my reading is cultural anyway. The hardest part will deciding which ones to read.

My Trim book is Small Country which will fit well. O..."

You and me both. I have so many that I stopped using the cultural tag. I've had Small Country and If I had your Face on my radar for a while now, and America for Beginners sounds good too. I look forward to your reviews and might fit one of those in too.

The Only Good Indian is def not for me. (I had nightmares as a little kid about cowboys coming to kill me, and I didn't even know my ancestry then.)

Robin P wrote: "The Travelling Cat Chronicles and The Housekeeper and the Professor are short, uplifting books set in Japan and tagged Cultural."

Those are both very appealing. I l really liked the Housekeeper and the Professor. That was the one where a man puts post-its on things to remember them, right? I keep thinking of that when I forget the word for something common.

I absolutely loved The Travelling Cat Chronicles and in fact gave copies to all my family members for Christmas the year I read it.

Theresa wrote: "I absolutely loved The Travelling Cat Chronicles and in fact gave copies to all my family members for Christmas the year I read it."


It does sound charming. I have it on my "to read in 2021" shelf so now would be a good time.

I’m pretty sure that HayJay and I are going to read What the Wind Knows in August, which is both Cultural and Good for Fly! I think I remember that others wanted to read this book together too. So it would be great if you would like to join us. Wouldn’t it be fun to be in to buddy reads with Joanne this month!

Amy wrote: "I’m pretty sure that HayJay and I are going to read What the Wind Knows in August, which is both Cultural and Good for Fly! I think I remember that others wanted to read this book together too. So ..."

I'll join in, I read it twice (it's my "comfort read").

I haven't written a review yet, but I thought of you when I read The Songbook of Benny Lament. The format reminded me of Daisy Jones, but set in the early (and late) 1960's with a Radio show retrospective interview of the songwriter/ musician at the end of the decade. The audio narrator did a perfect job with the radio voice. I loved all the song lyrics, plus it has some cultural/race issues.

I knew you loved it and would be following closely! Right now I’m reading Mary Jane, which other people are going to Daisy in style and feel. I’ll put the book you mentioned on my list. I do think I’ve heard of it.

Amy wrote: "I’m pretty sure that HayJay and I are going to read What the Wind Knows in August, which is both Cultural and Good for Fly! I think I remember that others wanted to read this book together too. So ..."

I just read What the Wind Knows a few months ago. I have a feeling you are going to love this one Amy. Very "Outlander" like

I'm going to go to Antarctica with Fly the skies next month. Any other month it would have been easier to combine ...

I'm happy with this tag. I have a few that I can do.
I'll probably start off with Last Train to Istanbul since it will also fit for Fly the Skies. Other possibilities are:
The Tiger Mom's Tale
The Tea Planter's Wife
Dreams of Joy

For recommendations, I would say:

A Thousand Splendid Suns
The Help
Shanghai Girls

Joanne wrote: "I have read quite a few on the cultural shelf-a few recommendations

Fiction:
Homegoing
Cutting for Stone

I loved Cutting for Stone. I hope you read it.

NancyJ wrote: "I think I might need a B12 shot to get the energy I'll need to read all the books I want to read in August. (Do they still do that?) It's going to be a busy month for me anyway.

I LOVE cultural -..."

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats was among my favorites of the year when I read it. I also just finished The Hidden Place and loved that one too. You've got some good things on your list.

Here are some of my favorite books, I expect that they should fit the cultural tag.
Apeirogon,
Women Talking,
Indian Horse,
Medicine Walk,
What We Owe,
There There,
Go, Went, Gone,
Sing, Unburied, Sing,
Consider This, Señora,
Do Not Say We Have Nothing, Homegoing
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena

I have more, but those should do for now.

~*Kim*~ wrote: "I'm happy with this tag. I have a few that I can do.
I'll probably start off with Last Train to Istanbul since it will also fit for Fly the Skies. Other possibilities are:
Th... </i>

I read [book:Last Train to Istanbul not long ago and really liked it. It is a very different perspective on and story from WWII, which was refreshing. I gave it 4 stars.

6 in the first 25 pages of the shelf which I have on my currently reading shelf.......
This means I picked them up read a little bit then got distracted by something sparkly and new. Hopefully them fitting the tag means I finish at least 1.

~*Kim*~ wrote: "I'm happy with this tag. I have a few that I can do.
I'll probably start off with Last Train to Istanbul since it will also fit for Fly the Skies. Other possibilities are:
[book:Th..."

I second A Thousand Splendid Suns and Internment is also on the list so 2 of my few 5* reads.

OK - here is my plan for the Month. My Fly book is going to be A Long Petal to the Sea, which will take me to Chile. (From Iraq). I will read Time After Time with Joanne and possibly others, for the Trim pick, I will read What the Wind Knows with HayJay and anyone else who wants to join. Out from the library includes, the Rose Code, the Good Sister, the Woman with the Blue Star, and Who is Luis Valdez. And the pick for the Jewish Book Club for August, is Last Summer at the Golden Hotel. I am going to try to get to as many of these that I can, and its only because its August, that there is a chance I might get to them all. A few are thinner, but I believe Rose Code is a Clunker, Same with Time, and Long Petal. We shall see. Sally, you in for any of these? I am going to have to look for her, because I think its time for a Sally read as well.

I think you will fly throughA Long Petal of the Sea and What the Wind Knows, Amy. Both 4 stars reads for me and pretty sure will be on my top ten of the year.

Let me know what your plan is for Time After Time. I am pretty loaded down right now, but do want to fit it in. I need to get from my library, so I need a time frame to schedule a pick-up. No sooner than mid-month though

Amy wrote: "OK - here is my plan for the Month. My Fly book is going to be A Long Petal to the Sea, which will take me to Chile. (From Iraq). I will read Time After Time with Joanne and possibly others, for th..."

I gave A Long Petal of the Sea 4 stars--it's well written and I think you'll like it.

Jo - because I own it, I can see getting to it like somewhere between the fifth and tenth, but I will wait for you. There’s a third, possibly a fourth with us right? I was going to look.

just found this:

https://www.waterstones.com/category/...

Booknblues wrote: "I had a hunch that cultural would win and it is right in my wheelhouse.

I already had a number of reads planned August for other reasons which fit in the cultural tag:

[book:The Performance|5473..."

I thoroughly enjoyed Major Pettigrew's Last Stand. You've got a great list here to choose from.