Play Book Tag discussion

Unofficial Trim 2022 – The Tradition of Fun and Community Continues!

PBT is continuing to hold an unofficial challenge for the community, meant for old and new members both. This challenge emerged from one of the yearlong challenges in 2019, and we liked it so much, that we are still continuing it. It’s meant to be something that new or old members can join in at any time.

This is not an official PBT challenge, and is meant to be secondary to the yearlong challenges. You do not have to participate, you can drop or enter participation at any time. You can switch your books, you can read them earlier or later than you were “supposed” to, or not at all. You can substitute, change your list completely, throw it out and start over. There is complete flexibility. This is the ultimate easy extra. You will not receive any extra points for books that you read, but you should put them in the monthly or other folders to get points, as well as if they fit into particular challenges. It is for fun. And for some, the fun is creating Buddy Reads that we can read something together. This is how it works. You create a list of 24 books that are on your TBR and that you would like to get to. Each month, a participating member will randomly pick (or we’d never know if you picked decisively) a remaining number from 1-24, and we all read the number on our list, thus ensuring that this book comes off your TBR. And for some, creating the opportunity to do a Buddy Read together. And no pressure with the Buddy Reads either. Just because you signed up to read something does not commit you in any way to do so.

This is the planning and organizational thread. There will be a new thread at the start of the challenge. Each member posts their potential list of 24 here. Obviously, I will start us off with my list of 24. If you see that someone has picked something you want to read, shift your books around to match the same number, and point it out to me on the thread. In the past, people have been great about communicating opportunities to switch numbers around to align with one another. I will be compiling lists of buddy reads right in the first message, so you can easily find them, if you want to see what books people are choosing to put on the list to potentially read together. I will also try to see if I can catch ones you may have missed. Serious hard work to pull together, but after the beginning it runs easy. My role in this, is to make sure it gets a good strong organized dynamic kickoff, and then just to keep up excitement and morale.

In the past, some people have put more than one book choice on their list – feel free. For four of my numbers I have listed two book choices. The reason some people choose to have more books added to their lists is because they either want to have choices, or participate in more than one buddy read. Or folks will talk together and switch a number, so they can do more than one without it being the same month. Again, totally flexible, and I will be able to help make the lists match up.

Following the announcement of the January 2022 tag, I will post the Trim 2022 Community thread. We will have randomly preselected Trim Pickers for 23 months, chosen from our challenge participants. If you post a list to play, you have a very good shot at being a Trim Picker. The first Picker will announce the choice with the Official Thread as the Challenge starts, and the list of rotating pickers will also be in that first kickoff thread, along with the Buddy Reads. The regular thread is not intended to be for reviews or personal lists, more meant to be a community building thread. To jump in later, or look at the original lists, its best to check back here. To start us off with the excitement, here is my proposed list of 24!


Emerging Buddy Reads as they arise will be posted here, as well as lists of participants as they sign on.

Amy’s Proposed Trim 2022-2023 List:

1) The Last Flight (Clark)/Lady Clementine
2) The Lake House
3) The Gown/The Stranger in the Lifeboat
4) Dark Tides/When Stars Go Dark
5) Hidden Palace
6) Chateau of Secrets/The Botanist's Daughter
7) Meg and Jo/The Last House on the Street
8) Mrs. Hemmingway
9) The Lincoln Highway
10) The Soulmate Equation/The Love Hypothesis
11) My Lovely Wife
12) Ghosts of Harvard/Clockmakers Daughter
13) Three Hours in Paris
14) Who is Maud Dixon
15) The Social Graces
16) A Most Clever Girl
17) A Fire Sparkling/When We Believed in Mermaids
18) The Lost Jewels
19) The Lager Queen of Minnesota
20) The Booksellers Secret (Gable)/The Paris Architect
21) The Maid/Forty Rules of Love
22) The Arrangement (Harding)
23) Midnight Train to Paris
24) The Hour of the Witch/Once There Were Wolves

Four of mine are doubled…. 4. 7. 10, 17

Participating Members (so far; will continue to add)

Amy
BooknBlues
Theresa
Library Cin
Jen K
Jen
Jenni Elyse
Kate NZ
Joanne
Olivermagnus
JoyD
Sue
Heather Reads Books
Sally
Book Concierge
Diana H
Charlotte
HayJay
Kelly
Heather
Punxygal
Meli
Nancy

Buddy Reads (so far; will continue to add)

1 – Aperigon (Jen, KateNZ, Nancy, JenK)
1 – Lee Child’s books (Kelly, Charlotte)
1 – One of Us is Lying (Kelly, Diana)
1 – Lady Clementine (Hannah, Amy)
2- Euphoria (Theresa, Diana, Sally)
3 – Dear Mrs Bird (HayJay, Theresa, BnB, JenK)
3 – Stranger in the Lifeboat (Kelly, Amy)
4 – Rules of Civility (BnB, Sue)
5 – Nine Perfect Strangers (Charlotte, BnB, Jenni Elyse)
6 – West With Giraffes (BnB, Oliver)
6 - Wolf Hall (Diana, Jen, HeatherR)
6 – The Botanist’s Daughter (HayJay, Amy?)
6 – The Cactus (Hannah, Kelly)
7 – The Narrowboat Summer (HayJay, BnB)
8 - Mrs. Hemmingway (Amy, BnB, HayJay)
8 - Long Bright River (Diana, Sue)
9 – Lincoln Highway (Charlotte, Amy, HayJay, Kelly)
9 – An American Marriage (BnB, KateNZ, JenK)
10 - Anxious People (Diana, Jenni Elyse, Charlotte)
10 – Project Hail Mary/Andy Weir (BnB, Oliver, Theresa, Sue, Kelly, Nancy, Sally, JenK)
11 - Autumn (Diana, KateNZ, BnB)
11 – All Adults (Charlotte, Kelly)
12 - Clockmakers' Daughter (Amy, KateNZ, Charlotte, HayJay)
12 – Unlikely Adventures Shirgirll (BnB, KateNZ)
14- Black Company (Joanne, HeatherR)
14 - The Last Thing He Told Me (Diana, Heather, Charlotte)
15 - Klara and the Sun (Sue, Lynda, Oliver, Heather, Diana, Sally)
15 - The Social Graces (Amy, Joanne)
18 - The Lost Jewels (Amy, Joanne, HayJay)
19 - The Escape Artists (Joanne, JoyD)
19 - Ready Player Two (Diana, Jen, Charlotte, JenK)
20 - The Paris Architect (Amy, Theresa, Joanne, BnB. Hannah)
20 - Constant Princess (Diana, Jenni Elyse)
20 – The Bookseller’s Secret (Amy, Kelly)
21- Forty Rules of Love (Amy, Sue, Nancy, JenK)
21 – Giver of Stars (HajJay, BnB, Nancy)
21 - The Widows (Oliver and Joanne)
22 – Firefly Lane (Charlotte, Kelly)
22 – The Song of Achilles (Hannah, Joanne)
24 – Once There Were Wolves (Diana H, Oliver, Amy?, JenK)
24- The Tuscan Child (Hannah, Joanne)

Amy wrote: "Unofficial Trim 2022 – The Tradition of Fun and Community Continues!

PBT is continuing to hold an unofficial challenge for the community, meant for old and new members both. This challenge emerged..."

Amy, I am holding off posting my list, but I do own Mrs. Hemingway and you know what a fan I am of books about Hemingway and his wives, so I'm putting that at my number 8 spot.

I am in!

UNOFFICIAL TRIM 2022

1. Dance to the Piper by Agnes De Mille or The Wedding Girl
2. Euphoria
3. Dear Mrs. Bird
4. La Petite Fadette or The Magic Circle
5. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters or The Secret of Santa Vittoria
6. Kitchen Essays by Agnes Jekyll
7. The Making of a Marchioness, Part I and II
8. Go Tell It on the Mountain or The Death of Mrs. Westaway
9. The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
10. The Martian
11. Our Spoons Came from Woolworths
12. Good Evening, Mrs Craven: The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes
13. Gingerbread
14. The Santa Klaus Murder
15. The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers or Paris by the Book
16. Kafka on the Shore or Grand Hotel
17. Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy
18. Lab Girl or The Masterpiece
19. The Summer Before the War
20. The Paris Architect
21. Murder on Capitol Hill
22. Leavin' Trunk Blues
23. A Long Time Coming
24. Summer at the Garden Café by Felicity Hayes-McCoy or The Girl Who Played with Fire

I have some doubles which may become singles if I finish my must finish in 2021 chunksters with a few days, and work eases off as the holidays near. The Masterpiece by Fiona Davis is the first of those which I hope to squeeze into Christmas week as it is my December pick from current Trim!

Put it at number 9 with Theresa and I. I think that's where mine is, right?

Whoops its 8. Lincoln Highway at 9 was the possible Theresa Match. Mrs. Hemmingway will be Buddy Read number 1, (at #8)

Theresa - no Lincoln Highway?

Hayjay and I are trying to read the Masterpiece with you last week of December.

I put your Paris Archictect on my number 20 as well.

This is my list:

1. Don’t Throw it Out / Lori Baird
2. A Book in Every Hand / Don Kerr
3. 13 Ways to Kill Your Community / Doug Griffiths, Kelly Clemmer
4. Chief Piapot: I Will Stop the Train / Vincent McKay
5. David Copperfield / Charles Dickens
6. The Second Life of Samuel Tyne / Esi Edugyan
7. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly / Jean-Dominique Bauby
8. Next of Kin / Roger Fouts
9. Tituba of Salem Village / Ann Petry
10. The Only Alien on the Planet / Kristen D. Randle
11. Lucky / Alice Sebold
12. The Son of a Certain Woman / Wayne Johnston
13. The Courts of Love / Jean Plaidy (Victoria Holt)
14. Memories of Anne Frank / Alison Gold
15. All Around the Town / Mary Higgins Clark
16. All My Patients Are under the Bed / Louis J. Camuti, Marilyn Frankel, Haskel Frankel
17. A Cabinet of Wonders / Renee Dodd
18. The Greatest Traitor / Ian Mortimer
19. A Cat Named Darwin / William Jordan
20. Journey Toward Justice / Dennis Fritz
21. The Big Book of Irony / Jon Winokur
22. Titanic Survivor / Violet Jessop
23. The Traitor's Wife / Susan Higginbotham
24. The Ha-Ha / Dave King

Excited to keep joining this one as well! I probably won't manage my list until after Christmas since I'm visiting family all next week and desperately wrapping gifts and trying to catch up on work today.

Amy wrote: "Theresa - no Lincoln Highway?

Hayjay and I are trying to read the Masterpiece with you last week of December.

I put your Paris Archictect on my number 20 as well."

Too long. Plus it needs to age in my TBR. I do not put recent publications in Trim lists.

LibraryCin wrote: "This is my list:

1. Don’t Throw it Out / Lori Baird
2. A Book in Every Hand / Don Kerr
3. 13 Ways to Kill Your Community / Doug Griffiths, Kelly Clemmer
4. Chief Piapot: I Will Stop the Train / V..."

David Copperfield is one of my favorite Dickens, and I have reread it multiple times. BBC did an excellent adaptation a few years ago that starred as the young Copperfield an unknown child actor named Daniel Radcliffe. That role brought him to attention of the HP casting, and the rest is history. He was wonderful as the young David Copperfield.

Well, even though I completely sucked at Trim in 2021, I'm going to join again. Maybe this year and next will be my year, lol.

1. Mistborn: The Final Empire
2. My Plain Jane
3. Eleanor and the Iron King
4. A Spy in the House
5. Nine Perfect Strangers
6. Winterkeep
7. Sean Griswold’s Head
8. Water for Elephants
9. I am the Messenger
10. Anxious People
11. Fangirl
12. Soul of Smoke
13. Lady Midnight
14. The Last Voyage of Poe Blythe
15. The Constant Princess
16. To All the Boys I've Loved Before
17. The Hundredth Queen
18. Broken
19. Crown of Midnight
20. Stalking Jack the Ripper
21. Scarlet
22. Vampire Academy
23. The Spymaster's Lady
24. The Society of S

Right - here is a completely random list of books that are sitting in piles around the place (and most of which have been on Trim lists before lol). Leave me out of trying to align for buddy reads for now, folks - I’m starting a new job and probably won’t be organised enough to join in!

1. Apeirogon - Colum McCann
2. Daughters of Sparta - Claire Heywood
3. Daughters of Night - Laura Shepherd-Robinson
4. The Immortalists - Chloe Benjamin
5. The One Cent Magenta - James Barron
6. Shotgun Lovesongs - Nikolas Butler
7. The Diary of a Bookseller - Shaun Bythell (if I don’t read during this month for the tag)
8. A Little Hatred - Joe Abercrombie
9. An American Marriage - Tayari Jones
10. Priestdaddy - Patricia Lockwood
11. Autumn - Ali Smith
12. The Clockmakers Daughter - Kate Morton
13. Anne Frank’s Diary: the graphic adaptation
14. Zucked: waking up to the Facebook catastrophe - Roger McNamee
15. Beartown - Frederik Backman
16. The Bone Sparrow - Zana Fraillon
17. Exactly - Simon Winchester
18. The Feather Thief - Kirk Wallace Johnson
19. The Miniaturist - Jessie Burton
20. The History of Bees - Maja Lunde
21. Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout
22. Flat Caps and Mufflers: the art of being a Yorkshireman - Ian McMillan
23. The Other Bennet Sister - Janice Harlow
24. A God in Ruins - Kate Atkinson

Shocked I didn't already have clockmakers daughter on my list. I am adding it to my number 12, as a buddy read.

Count me in. This is subject to change when I see something good on someone else's list.

1. The Conqueror's Wife: A Novel of Alexander the Great - Stephanie Marie Thornton
2. A Killer Harvest - Paul Cleave
3. We Run the Tides - Vendela Vida
4. Exodus - Leon Uris
5. The Masterpiece - Fiona Davis
6. West with Giraffes - Lynda Rutledge *
7. Great Circle - Maggie Shipstead
8. Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption - Bryan Stevenson
9. Her Dark Lies - J.T. Ellison
10. Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
11. Meet Me in Monaco - Hazel Gaynor
12. The Flying Troutmans - Miriam Toews
13. Jubilee Trail - Gwen Bristow or Calico Palace - Gwen Bristow
14. Katherine of Aragón: The True Queen - Alison Weir
15. Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro *
16. Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty - Patrick Radden Keefe
17. Matrix - Lauren Groff
18. Centennial - James A. Michener
19. Hostage - Clare Mackintosh
20. The Feast of Roses - Indu Sundaresan
21. The Widows - Jess Montgomery *
22. The Women of Troy - Pat Barker
23. The Cloud Roads - Martha Wells
24. Once There Were Wolves - Charlotte McConaghy *

No list yet, but I am in

KateNZ wrote: "Right - here is a completely random list of books that are sitting in piles around the place (and most of which have been on Trim lists before lol). Leave me out of trying to align for buddy reads ..."

That is essentially my list evolution - added criteria was it had to have a layer of dust on it.😝

KateNZ wrote: "Right - here is a completely random list of books that are sitting in piles around the place (and most of which have been on Trim lists before lol). Leave me out of trying to align for buddy reads ..."

The Feather Thief was wonderful! I hope you get it this year

And I am going to put Daughters of Sparta on my list and we can buddy read!

Think happy thoughts towards the number 18 for me then, JoAnne!

Hahaha, Theresa - spot on. To the extent that I have my inhaler in my pocket today!

Theresa wrote: "I am in!

UNOFFICIAL TRIM 2022

1. The Martian
2. Euphoria
3. Dear Mrs. Bird
4. La Petite Fadette or The Magic Circle
5..."

I have The Paris Architect, which you sent me so I will put it on my list too

I will put you in for #20, even before the rest of the list comes out.

Olivermagnus wrote: "Count me in. This is subject to change when I see something good on someone else's list.

1. The Conqueror's Wife: A Novel of Alexander the Great - [author:Stephanie Marie Thornton|..."

I love Jubilee Trail! Have read it a few times. My fave though is Calico Palace.

Joanne wrote: "Theresa wrote: "I am in!

UNOFFICIAL TRIM 2022

1. The Martian
2. Euphoria
3. Dear Mrs. Bird
4. La Petite Fadette or [book:The Magic..."

Yay!

I agree on The Feather Thief.

KateNZ wrote: "Right - here is a completely random list of books that are sitting in piles around the place (and most of which have been on Trim lists before lol). Leave me out of trying to align for buddy reads ..."

OMG! History of Bees! I have been recommending that book since it came out! Author gave a talk at Scandinavian House in NYC right after it was published so my copy is autographed. Such a good but also educational and thought- provoking book. She did a ton of research for it. The second in the quartet deals with diminishing water resources inEurooe and came out in US not long ago. 3rd is out in Scandinavia.

Theresa wrote: "I love Jubilee Trail! Have read it a few times. My fave though is Calico Palace. ..."

I bought Jubilee Trail, Calico Palace and Celia Garth last summer but haven't been able to fit them in yet. I have to read Jubilee Trail in 2022 so I might substitute Calico Palace if it doesn't get picked next year.

Booknblues wrote: "Amy wrote: "Unofficial Trim 2022 – The Tradition of Fun and Community Continues!

PBT is continuing to hold an unofficial challenge for the community, meant for old and new members both. This chall..."

I am new - as I understand this, I am to put books on my list that I have NOT read but which I want to read. peace, janz

Count me in! I am planning to read non-fiction for the 2022 TBR Trim, but I will substitute a different book if one on this list works for the History Walk.

1. The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II - Anne R. Keene
2. Supernormal: The Untold Story of Adversity and Resilience - Meg Jay
3. Disappointment River: Finding and Losing the Northwest Passage - Brian Castner
4. The Light of the World - Elizabeth Alexander
✅5. Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell - 10/24/22 - 4* - My Review - selected for October
6. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir - Haruki Murakami
✅7. The People of the Abyss by Jack London - 7/22/22 - 4* - My Review - selected for July
✅8. The Shadow King: The Bizarre Afterlife of King Tut's Mummy by Jo Marchant - 6/8/22 - 4* - My Review - selected for June
✅9. Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions by Johann Hari - 5/20/22 - 2* - My Review - selected for May
✅10. Pandora's Lab: Seven Stories of Science Gone Wrong by Paul A. Offit - 1/5/22 - 4* - My Review - selected for January
✅11. The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell - 3/29/22 - 4* - My Review - selected for March
12. The Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts - Julian Rubinstein
13. The Vanishing Velázquez: A 19th-Century Bookseller's Obsession with a Lost Masterpiece - Laura Cumming
14. I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death - Maggie O'Farrell
✅15. Memoirs of an Addicted Brain: A Neuroscientist Examines his Former Life on Drugs by Marc Lewis - 8/11/22 - 4* - My Review - selected for August
16. Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World - Mark Miodownik
✅17. Fire and Brimstone: The North Butte Mining Disaster of 1917 by Michael Punke - 12/28/22 - 4* - My Review - selected for December
✅18. When Books Went to War: The Stories That Helped Us Win World War II by Molly Guptill Manning - 2/14/22 - 4* - My Review - selected for February
19. The Escape Artists: A Band of Daredevil Pilots and the Greatest Prison Break of the Great War - Neal Bascomb *
✅20. 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea by Jonathan Franklin - 4/17/22 - 4* - My Review - selected for April
21. Good Enough to Dream - Roger Kahn
✅22. Fermat's Enigma by Simon Singh - 9/25/22 - 4* - My Review - selected for Sept
23. Korea: A Walk Through the Land of Miracles - Simon Winchester
✅24. Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen - 11/14/22 - 3* - My Review - selected for November

* Buddy Read

Theresa wrote: David Copperfield is one of my favorite Dickens, and I have reread it multiple times....."

Classics are hit or miss for me, so we'll see what I think. And this is a LONG one! It's been on my tbr a long time, though. When I added it here, I was planning to get the audio from the library so it doesn't "push out" other books I'll be reading whatever month it comes up. Within a couple of days, I got a Christmas gift in the mail - "David Copperfield"! LOL! It's small but very very fat!

Jenni Elyse wrote: "Well, even though I completely sucked at Trim in 2021, I'm going to join again. Maybe this year and next will be my year, lol...."

Might as well plan for it, otherwise it definitely wouldn't happen! Good luck! I hope 2022 is a better year for you, all around!

Peacejanz wrote: "I am new - as I understand this, I am to put books on my list that I have NOT read but which I want to read. peace, janz..."

Yes! Each month, someone will choose a number (randomly or not) and we all read that number on the list. That's the idea, anyway.

Given that it's an unofficial game, you can just decide to trade it out or whatever you want to do, but the idea is you read that number that month that it is chosen.

Here's my list. So far I think I have just one overlapping book - Klara and the Sun - which I put at #15 to match Lynda's spot.

More than happy to move books around for potential buddy reads.

1. The House of Special Purpose
2. The View from the Seventh Layer
3. Everything I Never Told You
4. Rules of Civility
5. Bloodchild and Other Stories
6. How Long 'til Black Future Month?
7. Midwives
8. Long Bright River
9. Flights
*January 10. Artemis
11. Perdido Street Station
12. The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters
13. Mr Loverman
14. Pastoral
15. Klara and the Sun
16. Olive, Again
17. From Sand and Ash
18. Vintage Munro
19. Lean Fall Stand
20. Sway With Me
21. The Forty Rules of Love
22. Malibu Rising
23. Attrib. and other stories
24. Sankofa

Interesting how many of us have an Andy Weir on our list...different ones...

I added Forty Rules of Love to my list too at #21. But I am recognizing that sadly my eyes are bigger than these books. Lucky the thing is organized to be flexible. For all I know, I will read these before the numbers even come up anyway.....

@ Joy, I am going to put The Escape Artists: A Band of Daredevil Pilots and the Greatest Prison Break of the Great War at # 19, have wanted to read this for a awhile now.

1.Judgment Ridge: The True Story Behind the Dartmouth Murders
2.A Good American
3. The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West
4.A Rising Man
5. Daughter of the Blood
6.Once Night Falls
7.Cinder
8. The Boat People
9. The Convert
10. The Last Collection: A Novel of Elsa Schiaparelli and Coco Chanel
11. No Man's Land: The Trailblazing Women Who Ran Britain’s Most Extraordinary Military Hospital During World War I
12.The Great Rescue: American Heroes, an Iconic Ship, and the Race to Save Europe in WWI
13. Magic Casement
14. The Black Company
15.The Social Graces
16.Saints for All Occasions
17.Blood & Ivy: The 1849 Murder That Scandalized Harvard
18. The Lost Jewels
19. The Escape Artists: A Band of Daredevil Pilots and the Greatest Prison Break of the Great War
20. The Paris Architect
21. The Widows
22.The Song of Achilles
23.The Stolen Lady
24.The Tuscan Child
.

Joanne, I have the Social Graces at 15, and the lost Jewels at 19. Sound like you want to do escape artists at 19. What if you switch them, 15 and 18, lost Jewels and Social graces, and i will see If I can move my lost jewels to #18.

I made that switch and posted your three buddy reads at the top!

Amy wrote: "I added Forty Rules of Love to my list too at #21. But I am recognizing that sadly my eyes are bigger than these books. Lucky the thing is organized to be flexible. For all I know, I will read thes..."

I'm so glad you caught that! And no worries if you end up reading before the number is called, or don't read it at all. I'm also hoping I haven't gotten too far ahead with planning for 2022!

Sue wrote: "Here's my list. So far I think I have just one overlapping book - Klara and the Sun - which I put at #15 to match Lynda's spot.

More than happy to move books around for potential buddy reads.

1. ..."

Hope we get to read it soon. It gets such great reviews.

Joanne wrote: "1.Judgment Ridge: The True Story Behind the Dartmouth Murders
2.A Good American

I changed The Widows on my list so we have it as the same number. It's been on my TBR since 2018.

Please explain "buddy read" is it just that two (or more) people read the same book during the same time period and talk about it together, excluding the rest of us? Kind of like a little book club for two or more? Thanks, peace, janz

I'm in!!!!! List to come!

OKAY after much hand-wringing, here's what I've got. Two entries for each to fit the 24. A lot of history and historical fiction on here which I hope will come in handy for one of next year's challenges.

Also willing to switch some stuff around for buddy reads, but I was already trying not to let two very similar genres overlap for each entry, so it might take some finagling...

Trim List 2022

1. Circe by Madeline Miller; The Templars: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God’s Holy Warriors by Dan Jones
2. The Lives They Left Behind by Darby Penney; Matrix by Lauren Groff
3. Packing for Mars by Mary Roach; Soviet Milk by Nora Ikstena
4. A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara W. Tuchman; Bewilderment by Richard Powers
5. Madam by Phoebe Wynne; The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
6. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel; A Brightness Long Ago by Guy Gavril Kay
7. In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado; Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
8. The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon; Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age by Annalee Newitz
9. Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb; It Ended Badly: Thirteen of the Worst Breakups in History by Jennifer Wright
10. Imposter Syndrome by Kathy Wang; The Once and Future King by T.H. White
11. Realm Breaker by Victoria Aveyard; Slavic Folklore: A Handbook by Natalie Kononenko
12. The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott; The Court of Broken Knives by Anna Smith Spark
13. The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien; My Sweet Girl by Amanda Jayatissa
14. The Black Company by Glen Cook; The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
15. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro; 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric H. Cline
16. Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny; The Maidens by Alex Michaelides
17. Fire and Blood by George R.R. Martin; The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
18. The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber; A Master of Djinn by P. Djeli Clark
19. Power and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages by Dan Jones; From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout
20. Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis; Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
21. The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro; Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone
22. Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia; Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
23. The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz; Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies of Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeen Century England by Keith Thomas
24. Intimacies by Katie Kitamura; She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth by Helen Castor

ETA: Moved some stuff around to get Klara and the Sun at #15 for the buddy read. Also saw someone with The Black Company? Haven't noticed any other overlaps so far, but I admittedly was only doing a skim of everyone's...

Amy wrote: "Joanne, I have the Social Graces at 15, and the lost Jewels at 19. Sound like you want to do escape artists at 19. What if you switch them, 15 and 18, lost Jewels and Social graces, and i will see ..."

Done

Olivermagnus wrote: "Joanne wrote: "1.Judgment Ridge: The True Story Behind the Dartmouth Murders
2.A Good American

I changed The Widows on my list so we have it as the sa..."

Wonderful Oliver-been on my shelf since 2019

Peacejanz wrote: "Please explain "buddy read" is it just that two (or more) people read the same book during the same time period and talk about it together, excluding the rest of us? Kind of like a little book club..."

Exactly Janz, we don't exclude anyone-even if you are not reading a long with us you can jump into the conversations

@ Heather- I have The Black Company at # 7-I can switch it to your 14 if you want to buddy read

Joanne wrote: "@ Heather- I have The Black Company at # 7-I can switch it to your 14 if you want to buddy read"

That would be great, Joanne, thanks!!

Peacejanz wrote: "Please explain "buddy read" is it just that two (or more) people read the same book during the same time period and talk about it together, excluding the rest of us? Kind of like a little book club..."


The nice thing about buddy reads is that, even if only two people read it, others may have read it and want to talk about it. I often have no interest in a book, but when I browse the buddy read thread I become intrigued and add it to my already gigantic TBR.

Joanne wrote: "@ Joy, I am going to put The Escape Artists: A Band of Daredevil Pilots and the Greatest Prison Break of the Great War at # 19, have wanted to read this for a awhile now."
Awesome, Joanne, I hope it comes up!

OK - I hope I got them all so far. This is getting fun. Let me know if I missed any.