Play Book Tag discussion

Goals and Aims - Have fun with my reading, by reading what I want, when I want

1. Buddy Read Kate Quinn books with Amy.

2. Read all books on my Trim list.

3. Read all the books that remain from my Subdue Boards.

4. Catch up on series.

5. Complete ATY.

6. Read at least 5 'Fat Summer Reads'.

1. Buddy Read Kate Quinn books with Amy:

✔️ 1 - Daughters of Rome
2 - Mistress of Rome
3 - Empress of the Seven Hills
3.5 - The Three Fates
4 - Lady of the Eternal City

2. Read all books on my Trim list:

1 - January:

Another Country
Violeta
✔️ A Tangled Mercy

2

The House in Paris
Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers
Supporting Cast

3 - August:

✔️ Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
Prince of Spies
Ich Fühl Mich So Fifty-fifty

4 - February:

White Noise
✔️ Murder at the Brightwell
Six Foot Six

5 - June:

Their Finest Hour and a Half
The Unquiet Dead
Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me

6 - April:

The Cactus*
✔️ Murder at the Mayfair Hotel
The Collective

7 - March:

Where We Belong
The Boy at the Door
✔️ My Name Is Leon

8 - July:

The Room on Rue Amelie
Run Girl
A Modern Family

9

Mr Norris Changes Trains
The Boyfriend Project
The Woman at 1,000 Degrees

10

How Long 'til Black Future Month?
How to Find Love in the Little Things
Small Pleasures

11

✔️ Cider with Rosie
The Things We Left Unsaid
The Trick to Time

12 - May:

✔️ A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal
✔️ Gallows Court
March: Book Three

3. Read all the books that remain from my Subdue Boards:

✔️ The Kindly Ones
✔️ The History of Tom Jones
The Love Songs of W E B Du Bois
The Hemingses of Monticello
Human Traces
✔️ Testament of Youth
Fallen Skies
The Time in Between
September
The Valley of Amazement
White Mughals
✔️ Sophie's Choice
The House by the River
The Shell Seekers
The Patriots
✔️ Judas 62
✔️ Redcoat
✔️ The Ecliptic
The Spanish Game
✔️ Captive Queen
✔️ The Last Green Valley
The Well of Loneliness
HHhH
Jackdaws
✔️ An Officer and a Spy
Operation Mincemeat
Our Game
The Observations
✔️ The Dark Clue
✔️ Peach Blossom Spring
Double Cross
The Teahouse Fire
Funeral in Berlin
The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach
Burnt Shadows
China Dolls
Leaving Berlin
Waiting for Sunrise
✔️ Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line
My Year of Meats
The Beautiful Visit
✔️ Agent Zigzag
Sister
The Last Time I Saw Paris
Wives of War
The Siege of Krishnapur
Typhoon
A Woman is No Man
The Ambassador's Daughter
The Woman on the Orient Express
Salvation of a Saint
The Go-Between
Rainbirds
Solo
A Hidden Affair
The Comedians
The Man Who Forgot His Wife
At the End of the Matinee
Tar Baby
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
The Accidental
Die Laughing
The Devotion of Suspect X
Where Wild Peaches Grow
A Fools Alphabet
The Things We Cherished
Something in Disguise
Malice
The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida
The Eye in the Door
Vernon God Little
How to Be an American Housewife
The Silver Music Box
The Pale Criminal
House of Names
The Vibrant Years
White Rose, Black Forest
A General Theory of Oblivion
The Photograph
Sputnik Sweetheart
The Ministry of Fear
Don't Tell Alfred
Desperate Characters
After Dark
Wigs on the Green
The Moonlight Palace

4. Catch up on series:

Cleopatra Fox Series - C.J. Archer
- Murder at the Polo Club

Kate Burkholder Series - Linda Castillo
- Hallowed Ground
✔️ - An Evil Heart

Alec Milius Series - Charles Cumming
- The Spanish Game

Daisy Dalrymple Series - Carola Dunn
- Die Laughing
- A Mourning Wedding
- Fall of a Philanderer
- Gunpowder Plot
- The Bloody Tower
- Black Ship
- Sheer Folly
- Anthem for Doomed Youth
- Gone West
- Heirs of the Body
- Superfluous Women
- The Corpse at the Crystal Palace

Mrs Pollifax Series - Dorothy Gilman
- A Palm for Mrs Pollifax
- Mrs Pollifax on Safari
- Mrs Pollifax on China Station
- Mrs Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha
- Mrs Pollifax and the Golden Triangle
- Mrs Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish
- Mrs Pollifax and the Second Thief
- Mrs Pollifax Pursued
- Mrs Pollifax and the Lion Killer
- Mrs Pollifax Unveiled

Phryne Fisher Series - Kerry Greenwood
- Death Before Wicket
- Away with the Fairies
- Murder in Montparnasse
- The Castlemaine Murders
- Queen of the Flowers
- Death by Water
- Murder in the Dark
- Murder on a Midsummer Night
- Dead Man's Chest
- Unnatural Habits
- Murder and Mendelssohn
- Death in Daylesford
- Murder in Williamstown

Yellow Crocus Series - Laila Ibrahim
- Golden Poppies
- Scarlet Carnation

Bernie Gunther Series - Philip Kerr
- The Pale Criminal
- A German Requiem
- The One from the Other
- A Quiet Flame
- If the Dead Rise Not
- Field Grey
- Prague Fatale
- A Man Without Breath
- The Lady from Zagreb
- The Other Side of Silence
- Metropolis

Crazy Rich Asians Series - Kevin Kwan
- Rich People Problems

Montague Siblings Series - Mackenzi Lee
✔️ - The Gentlemans Guide to Getting Lucky

Rei Shimura Series - Sujata Massey
- The Flower Master
- The Floating Girl
- The Bride's Kimono
- The Samurai's Daughter
- The Pearl Driver
- The Typhoon Lover
- Girl in a Box
- Shimura Trouble

Perveen Mistry Series - Sujata Massey
✔️ - The Bombay Prince
✔️ - The Mistress of Bhatia House

The Seven Sisters Series - Lucinda Riley
- The Storm Sister
- The Shadow Sister
- The Pearl Sister
- The Moon Sister
- The Sun Sister
- The Missing Sister
- Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt

High Society Lady Detective Series - Sara Rosett
- The Egyptian Antiquities Murder
- Murder in Black Tie
- An Old Money Murder in Mayfair
- Murder on a Midnight Clear
- Murder at the Mansions

The Cemetery of Forgotten Books Series - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
- The Angel's Game
- The Prisoner of Heaven
- The Labyrinth of the Spirits
- The City of Mist

Bess Crawford Series - Charles Todd
- An Impartial Witness
- A Bitter Truth
- An Unmarked Grave
- The Walnut Tree
- A Question of Honor
- An Unwilling Accomplice
- The Maharani's Pearls
- A Pattern of Lies
- The Shattered Tree
- Casualty of War
- A Forgotten Place
- A Cruel Deception
- A Hanging at Dawn
- An Irish Hostage
- The Cliff's Edge

Josephine Tey Series - Nicola Upson
- Fear in the Sunlight
- The Death of Lucy Kyte
- London Rain
- Nine Lessons
- Sorry for the Dead
- The Dead of Winter
- Dear Little Corpses
- Shot with Crimson

Amory Ames Series - Ashley Weaver
- A Most Novel Revenge
- Intrigue in Capri
- The Essence of Malice
- An Act of Villainy
- A Dangerous Engagement
- A Deception at Thornecrest

The Wicked City Series - Beatriz Williams
- The Wicked Redhead
- The Wicked Widow

5. Complete ATY:

1. A book set in a location that begins with A, T, or Y - The Sandcastle Girls
2. A book by an author you read in 2022 - Paper Wife
3. A book that fits a suggestion that didn’t make the 2023 list - Lady Clementine (A work of fiction based on a real person)
4. A book with an interracial relationship - Just Like You
5. A book with 4 or more colors on the cover - The Vanishing Half

6. A book where books are important - The Librarian Spy
7. A book with ONE of the five "W" question words in the title - When We Left Cuba
8. An author's debut book - Acts of Desperation
9. A book nominated for an award beginning with W - The Dictionary of Lost Words

10. A book related to one of the Spice Girls' "personalities" - Carrie Soto Is Back (Sporty)
11. A book about a person/character with a disability - The Housekeeper and the Professor
12. A book connected to birds, bees, or bunnies - Born Survivors
13. A book that has an object that is repeated on the cover - The Disappeared

14. A book with a con, deception, or fake - The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War
15. Three books, each of which is set in a different century: Book 1 - The Long Song - 1800s
16. Three books, each of which is set in a different century: Book 2 - Dawnlands - 1600s
17. Three books, each of which is set in a different century: Book 3 - Secrets of a Charmed Life - 1900s

18. A book related to science - The Other Einstein
19. A book related to the arts - The Printmaker's Daughter
20. A book with a cover or title that includes a route of travel - A Train to Moscow
21. A book by an Asian diaspora author - Honor
22. A book with a faceless person on the cover - The Shadow King

23. A book with a body of water in the title - Murder on the Red River
24. A character that might be called a Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, or Spy - Rogue Heroes: The History of the SAS, Britain's Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War
25. A book with a tropical setting - The Garden of Evening Mists
26. A book related to pride - Less

27. A book by an author from continental Europe - The Winners
28. A book that is dark - Nightcrawling
29. A book that is light - Call of the Penguins
30. A book related to a chess piece - The Bronze Horseman
31. A book found by inputting a favorite author on https://www.literature-map.com - The White Lady

32. A book set in a UNESCO City of Literature - Raisins and Almonds (Melbourne)
33. A book by an author with a first name popular in 1923 - The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax (Dorothy)
34. A novella - Signal Moon: A Short Story
35. A book with a school subject in the title - Pigeon English

36. A book that has been translated from another language - City of Angels or, The Overcoat of Dr. Freud
37. A book with the theme of returning home - The Seven Sisters
38. A book with the sun, moon, or stars on the cover - Terra Nullius
39. A western - Woman of Light

40. A book with a full name in the title - A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal
41. A book from the NPR “Books We Love” lists - Behold the Dreamers
42. A book related to a ghost, spirit, phantom, or specter - A Dangerous Collaboration
43. A book that involves a murder - The Hidden Man
44. A book where the cover design includes text that is not completely horizontal - The Blessing

45. A book whose author has published more than 7 books - The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax
46. A title that contains a word often found in a recipe - Black Cake
47. A book related to a geometric shape - The School for Good Mothers
48. A book with an unusually large version of an animal in the story

49. A book posted in one of the ATY Best Book of the Month threads in 2022 or 2023 - Passing
50. A second book that fits your favorite prompt - Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers (A book published in 2023)
51. A book published in 2023 - Homecoming
52. A book with an unusual or surprising title - South of the Border, West of the Sun

6. Fat Summer Reads:

Must by 600+ pages, and have been on my TBR 2+ years.

Options:

✔️ 984p - The Kindly Ones
✔️ 975p - The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling
798p - The Hemingeses of Monticello
793p - Human Traces
✔️ 688p - Testament of Youth
640p - Fallen Skies
615p - The Time in Between
613p - September

August Priority Reads

Based on a discussion that I think Anita started about her TBR, I realised that actually by having such a big TBR I was not always getting to the books that I really wanted to read. So I decided to make a list of about 60 that I want to prioritise getting to in August. I won't get to anywhere near all of them, but it will hopefully help me to stop feeling overwhelmed with choice.

There books are a mix of books I need to get to as they are due back at the library, books I've been meaning to get to be been putting off, fat summer reads, TRIM books, book that might match the monthly tag, books that were on my Subdue lists that I didn't get to and books I want to read before voting for the Top 100 Fiction books.

I will still read other books that aren't on this list depending on my mood, but I'm going to try this as a starting point, and if it works, I might do it for each month.

Rogue Justice
A General Theory of Oblivion
✔️ Internment
The Wind Knows My Name
✔️ Old God's Time
Carnegie's Maid
✔️ Testament of Youth
✔️ Songs in Ursa Major
The Island of Sheep
✔️ The Best We Could Do
Medusa
✔️ Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
✔️ When We Left Cuba
The Senator's Wife
✔️ Judas 62
Birds Without Wings
Corelli's Mandolin
The Time in Between
The Night Watchman
Their Finest Hour and a Half
Human Traces
✔️ The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
✔️ Peach Blossom Spring
The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family
Fallen Skies
A Time to Kill
The Room on Rue Amelie
A Brief History of Seven Killings
✔️ Bloomsbury Girls
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
✔️ Unsheltered: Author of Demon Copperhead, Winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction
Ordinary Grace
Babel: An Arcane History
✔️ The Gentleman’s Guide to Getting Lucky
The Kindly Ones
Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies
Mother Daughter Traitor Spy
The Davenports
The Bombay Prince
Deacon King Kong
Once There Were Wolves
✔️ Gilded
✔️ Black Butterflies
✔️ My Father's House
Sing, Wild Bird, Sing
My Year of Meats
✔️ Daughters of Rome
Mistress of Rome
The Storm Sister
The Things We Cannot Say
A Thread of Grace
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
✔️ The Island of Missing Trees
Three Daughters of Eve
Sophie's Choice
✔️ Remarkably Bright Creatures
Cutting for Stone
One Woman's War
✔️ All Systems Red
The Dark Clue
✔️ Still Life
✔️ Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow