Play Book Tag discussion

Since we are in mid-November we are inching closer to the end of the year. Listening to Eric Karl Anderson on youtube, I found these questions:

Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish?
Do you have an autumnal book to transition into the end of the year?
Is there a new release you're still waiting for?
What are three books you want to read before the end of the year?

Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish?
Yes, I have several challenges that I still need to finish and quite a few books in progress.

Do you have an autumnal book to transition into the end of the year?
Yes, I participate annually in the PBT Fall Flurries, so I tend to read a book about Fall or Veteran's Day. This year, I read The Liberator by Alex Kershaw.

Is there a new release you're still waiting for?
No. I do not tend to worry much about new releases. I would have read Fortune Men, since it was on the Booker shortlist, but it is yet to be released. Since the winner was already announced, I may or may not read it. If I do, it probably won't be this year.

What are three books you want to read before the end of the year?
- Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (for the Unofficial PBT Trim)
- Sky Burial by Xinran (for a challenge)
- A book to finish up the PBT Fly the Skies - TBD depending on the tag selected for December

Ha ... there are always books I need to finish and more that I need to start!

I rarely start a book and set it aside for a later finish. Probably because I get most of my books at the library. But I do have a copy of The Winds of War that's been sitting on my kitchen table since September and that I've been S*L*O*W*L*Y plowing through whenever I take a few moments to sit at the table. I really want to finish it this month!

Good subject as I have been thinking about this and looking at what I need to get to ASAP and stop frittering away time on Hallmark Christmas Movies.

Books started and need to finish - oh yes, I still have 4 books to read to finish the 2021 Popsugar challenge. I also have my November flurries to finish (this weekend please!), and whatever I am reading in December for Monthly Tag, Fly the Skies and Pursue it. Oh and I have 4 books from Trim to read...

Transition - for me it is moving into reading as much Christmas settings as I can fit into my life. I'm sure that's no surprise to any of you! 🤣 I do participate in Fall Flurries each month but it's not something I feel is a transition in my reading, just another challenge.

New Release - I don't think so and I don't read them all right away anyway. It's more I am waiting to own it. New books need to lose that fresh crisp new book smell a bit and acquire a touch of dust before I get to it.

Three books by year end: Well, I actually have 4 - all for Popsugar.

A Suitable Boy - for PS longest on TBR in pages (150o or so - I've read 50.
The Closing of the American Mind - for PS seen on a friend's bookshelf -- and we plan to discuss it once I've read it.
Grand Hotel - It's only about 150 pages and its a DNF of 2 or 3 years standing so it's for PS prompt - book you DNF -- reason for not finishing relates to starting to read it right after I saw movie or theater adaptation - which are practically word-for-word from the book. It's now been at least 2 years since I've seen an adaptation and I want to finish it!
Crashed - PS book I got for free - from publisher goody bag.

Interesting questions that fit right into our challenges....

I need to finish the Upward Spiral and Amazon Wisdom Keeper, both books I am reading with two of my patients. In AWK, my patient already finished it and is waiting for me to finish. I am at 70%. In the Upward Spiral, its soon due at the library. So I just have to pump it out.

This autumn, I meant to read the Autumn Throne, which is third in the trilogy of Eleanor of Aquitaine. But instead I am reading the Gates of November by Chaim Potok, and it is the pick for November for the Jewish Book Club.

Books I want to get to before the end of the year.... The Motzah Ball and Eight Perfect Hours for holiday. The Strawberry Thief, fourth in the Chocolat series, finally completing the third of my three personal challenges for the year. Author, Series, Remarkable Person. I'd like to get to The Most Beautiful girl in Cuba. Also, God Shot, Eva Luna, Writers and Lovers, and the Masterpiece.

New Releases: Atlas, for sure! Just out or soon include Apples Never Fall, Lincoln Highway, Wish You Were Here, the Booksellers Secret, A Most Clever Girl. All of these are on my current got to get to list, and you should expect to see all of these plus more on my Trim list.

Great Questions!

I rarely feel a need to complete reading any book EXCEPT when book club discussion is coming up. In my old age, I have finally solved that I hope. As soon as we finish one book and another is coming up, I try to push it up to the top and read it now. I have had folks in good groups say, I just finished this last night or I was reading this with my breakfast. I want to finish reading the book and solidify (in my mind) any questions that I might have and decide the purpose of the book: what did the author want me to learn, think, or think about? One thing that I urge all people in book groups to do is -- have a notepad beside you and make notes as you read. The name of the sister, neighbor, husband, in-law- specific situations or who she argued with, what the child did that made him so angry. Make a note, then you do not have to go back 100 pages later to find out who Sally is. Sometimes the notes do not matter - but sometimes they help you immediately clarify who is in the room; is this an enemy or a friend? This is a very small thing and it just takes a pad of paper tucked in inside the back cover. People have thanked me for this. Others have told me that they wish they had done this. Try it. You might like it.
Otherwise I decide what I will read based on the library due date (especially if this is a current popular book - they probably will not let me renew it) and how long I have I had the free book that I promised to review. Nothing special for any holiday but I always go back to Dickens around Christmas time. God bless you every one.
I just realized that I put no books in a special "must read" category. I just read what I want - if I really want it I buy it. But since I am old, I try not to buy any more books. There are hundreds that are here that I want to read or reread. Retirement is wonderful for reading what you want. peace, janz

peace, janz

Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish?
I'm currently reading 3 which I need to decide if they will go to the DNF pile or if I am going to finish them, The White Tiger, Long Division and The Sound of the Sea: Seashells and the Fate of the Oceans

Do you have an autumnal book to transition into the end of the year?
Like many of you, I have been reading books for the Fall Flurries.

Is there a new release you're still waiting for?
No, but I have been thinking about reading State of Terror
What are three books you want to read before the end of the year?
Lily and the Octopus, When the Stars Go Dark and A Fatal Grace

Joy D wrote: "Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish?
Yes, I have several challenges that I still need to finish and quite a few books in progress.

Do you have an autumnal book to tra..."

Ooh! I decided several months ago that I would read Let the Great World Spin to bring me home to New York for Fly the Skies! Do you want to read it together! If it doesn't fit the tag, I can read another New York book for tag. I love New York during the holiday seasons, especially if a love story is a part of the plot.

I need to review my 2021 goals.
Offhand, I think I still need to read something from Obama's list, so plan to read The Three-Body Problem. I

I need one or two more 2021 books to meet my goal to: Read 21 2021 books in 2021.

The Sentence (2021) by Louise Erdrich just came out, and I'm next on the wait list. I've been meaning to read her for years and years. The Night Watchman is also waiting for me at the library.

I'll add more after dinner.

Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish? Everything I have going right now I need to finish before year end, and I probably will. It is all the books I will start in November/December that may prove troublesome😂

Is there a new release you're still waiting for? For sure waiting on Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone, which I am #7 on the list. So no telling if I will even get it before January. Also waiting on Ken Follet's new one Never # 2 on that list and Evanovich's Game On: Tempting Twenty-Eight # 5 on this wait list.

What are three books you want to read before the end of the year? Mrs. Everything for FTS. I have been trying to read Cold Mountain since July, keep picking it up and putting it down. I really want to finish it. And, I hope to get at least one of three mentioned above read.

I have already finished my yearlong challenge. I have another one that goes by quarters, which means I want to finish some books by Nov 30. Those are The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family and Sea of Poppies, which I am currently reading, also listening to An Innocent Client. If I have time in November, I will read the short books Disgrace and How Stella Learned to Talk: The Groundbreaking Story of the World's First Talking Dog.

In December I will finish The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker with my GR classics group and read The Silent Patient with my local book group. Peacejanz mentioned reading the next book for her group as soon as possible rather than waiting. I try to compromise. We meet the 3rd week of the month so I try to read it around the first ten days of the month. I hate to take notes, though she is totally right about how helpful it is. This is especially true with an ebook or audiobook where it's harder to turn back to check something.

I am giving a presentation on January 9, which may be on Lucy Stone, the suffragist, (not the Lucy Stone in a seres of cozy mysteries!), in which case I will read the fictional Leaving Coy's Hill and a nonfiction biography. However, I just got the book Daughter of Boston: The Extraordinary Diary of a Nineteenth-century Woman, Caroline Healey Dall. This is one of my favorite subjects, unknown women who turn out to have fascinating stories. So I may talk on her instead.

There aren't any new releases I am specifically waiting for. There are series where I will eventually get to the next book, but I'm not in a hurry.

Robin P wrote: "I have already finished my yearlong challenge. I have another one that goes by quarters, which means I want to finish some books by Nov 30. Those are [book:The Hemingses of Monticello: An American ..."

That sounds like a great topic. Is it for a women's group? Educators? History buffs? Before covid and other changes, I was thinking of trying to find someone to speak on the change management methods used by activists in the suffrage movement. Or find the resources to do it myself. I never did find anyone who was knowledgeable in both topics. (The audience was a group of change management and organization development professionals.)

Re book clubs. I need to read a book fairly close to the deadline because otherwise I might forget key information, especially if I read several other books in between. I don't want to take notes either. For upcoming bookclub meetings I have Harry's Trees, and a book about the WPA mulepack librarians programs. I can read one or both of: Book Woman of Troublesome Creek and/or Giver of Stars. I read them both long ago.

NancyJ wrote: "Ooh! I decided several months ago that I would read Let the Great World Spin to bring me home to New York for Fly the Skies! Do you want to read it together! ..."
Yes, I would enjoy reading it together!

Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish?
- No, not yet. My currently reading today is Aristotle and Dante Discovers the secret of the universe, I think it was good for 1-month reading.

Do you have an autumnal book to transition into the end of the year?
- I haven't thought of it. Since we don't have an autumn season in here. But we have a rainy season and a dry season.

Is there a new release you're still waiting for?
- Yep, and that was bloom 2 by Kevin Panetta.

What are three books you want to read before the end of the year?
- I think the Night circus, Meet me at the cupcake cafe, and What Happened to Goodbye

Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish?

The Marriage of Opposites, and some health related books have all been hanging around a long time for short dips. Otherwise I still have my regular monthly reading, flurries and my last fly book. Plus local bookclubs.

One of my goals this year was to read between 120 and 140 books for the year. The upper limit is there to encourage balance (and family time during the holidays), and it looks like I'll end safely in the range.

Do you have an autumnal book to transition into the end of the year?
Hmm. I read some witchy books in October if that counts. My next bookclub read is Harry's Trees. It seems like an Up-Lit book so it fits the Thanksgiving-Holiday vibe.

Is there a new release you're still waiting for?

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

What are three books you want to read before the end of the year?

Harry's Trees, Let the Great World Spin, and maybe The Firekeeper's Daughter.

I really want to read The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki. I'd like it to be the last book of 2021 or the first book of 2022.

**Sorry this probably belongs more in the KaffeeKlatch but since NancyJ asked me about it . . .

As far as my talks, it all started back in the '90's when my Unitarian church used to have members speak once a month on a famous Unitarian from history. We have a lot, from Thomas Jefferson through Emerson and Thoreau and recently people like Rod Serling of Twilight Zone fame and Ray Bradbury. Some of these talks were interesting and some were totally boring. And they were pretty much all on men. So I decided to do one where nobody would fall asleep. I did a program on Margaret Fuller, who has been called America's first feminist. She was an essayist, translator, journalist, even war correspondent in the first half of the 19th century. She said women should not only vote but hold office, and have any job, "even sea captain". She taught herself multiple languages while taking care of younger siblings and helping with a household. In her '30's she married an Italian revolutionary, had a baby and died in a shipwreck at only 40 years old. A very dramatic story. I dressed up as her and used a lot of quotes from her writing, plus some comments I thought she might make on present day. It was a hit and I ended up doing it for multiple groups. From there I branched out to many other lesser-known women from the 18th to 20th centuries. I also have talked on some topics from literature, including "Does reading make you a better person?", "The Hero Myth", and "Humanist Fiction".

After this many years, I keep finding new women that nobody has heard of, including me. My latest is the Black abolitionist and suffragist Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. She joined the Unitarian church because of their activity in social causes, but I had never seen her in the posters and lists we had of famous Unitarians, even though she was one of the best-known poets and speakers of her day.

I do these talks for my own Unitarian Universalist society for free but I also speak at a smaller place that has no minister but hires people to give talks 4-6 times a year. I can't believe I get paid to do this, because I enjoy it so much. I feel like it is a sort of mission for me to make these women better known and appreciated. Some are women that we have heard of but there is a lot more to their story, like Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Louisa May Alcott, Julia Ward Howe, Lydia Maria Francis Child, Elizabeth Gaskell, among others.

That sounds like fun, and it's a great mission. I like your reading topics too. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley is fascinating, though two of those names are new to me.

Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish?
After borrowing my sister-in-law's giant all in one trilogy of Kristin Lavransdatter about 5 years ago, I made it a goal to return to her at Christmas this year. I still have on of the three books remaining.
Do you have an autumnal book to transition into the end of the year?
No, not really though I do enjoy the Fall Flurries focus.
Is there a new release you're still waiting for?
None that I know of that are waiting to be released. I do have a few waiting for me when I'm ready.
What are three books you want to read before the end of the year? The Cross, my trim book Last Night in Nuuk and still need to decide on a home book for Fly the Skies.

@ Theresa - good luck on Popsugar! I'm on my last one... a book randomly chosen.

Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish? My last book for the Popsugar challenge, Ask and It Is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires, it's for a book randomly chosen from your TBR. I don't remember putting it on my TBR, but it's been an interesting read so far.
I also want to clean out the books in my currently reading list: The Book of Longings, The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, The Bad Muslim Discount, and a few others.

Do you have an autumnal book to transition into the end of the year? More of a Christmas book... I'll read something by Debbie Macomber.

Is there a new release you're still waiting for?Nope... not at the moment... I think the one I'm waiting on comes out next year... The Final Gambit

What are three books you want to read before the end of the year?
1. Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah (Fall Flurry and gets me back home for PBT skies)
2. Ask and It Is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires by Esther Hicks (To close out Popsugar challenge)
3. Something fun... maybe How to Marry Keanu Reeves in 90 Days

Oh and I'll be reading Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan for my Dec IRL book club.

@Patricia - The Night Circus is one of my favorite reads! Such a wonderful magically evocative world created. I hope you enjoy it.