Play Book Tag discussion

How is it time to vote again, lol???

Please vote for the tag you would most like to read for September at the following link:

https://forms.gle/v4hMuMmDfwhZASgr8

Here are the lists of books for each tag:

Olympics: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
sad: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/sad
true crime: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

Remember, you may cast up to a total of 10 participation points for your choice. Every PBT member gets one vote for free so please vote even if you don't have any participation points!

You can see how many participation points you currently have in the spreadsheet below.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Happy voting! Please cast your votes by noon EST on 8/22.

I assume Olympics is the one suggested by one of us, too much of a coincidence otherwise. I can't think what I would read for it, though I do recommend The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

True Crime is a genre I just don't read, Sad would be easy for BWF and looking at the list, there are books that contain sadness but have positive sides, like A Man Called Ove. So I guess I favor that.

Whew! These are some tough choices. I guess I will vote for the one I least hate. I have been looking forward to reading The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession so I guess true crime it is.

These are UGH!

Is a "write in ballot" available? 😅

I love true crime! And I am sure I could find many under "sad" that I would be excited to read...

Olympics!? Not so much into non-fiction usually, and sports non-fiction even less.

John wrote: "Whew! These are some tough choices. I guess I will vote for the one I least hate. I have been looking forward to reading [book:The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession|..."

I'm with you on True Crime. The Wager is on my massive pile I want to find time to read. Can't deal with sad right now as just had yet another bereavement knocking out reading for the last month or so. Olympics I don't have anything so it would be a hunt to find something which I don't have the energy for.

WHAT?!

How many Olympics tagged books can there be???? Seems so odd.

True Crime isn't a genre I can tolerate reading more than a book now and then - I can definitely recommend The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century for example.

sad .... just so not in the mood!

Joanne wrote: "These are UGH!"

LOL. My husband got his wish. He’ll get his wife back next month. I can find a few books for all of these, but not 25.

I'm with you Theresa - only so many true crime books I can read at once. A whole month would be too depressing!

Awful. Just awful.

Olympics is impossible. Sad is … sad and I don’t need sad right now (though there are some excellent books on that list). True crime is the most interesting in theory, but I have very little on the TBR and I don’t want to read about murders which most of them are.

Some books on the Sad list that aren't overall sad:

Beartown
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry
Anxious People
The Song of Achilles
Circe
Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World
Station Eleven
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Hamnet
The Color Purple
Remarkably Bright Creatures
Small Things Like These
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Babel
Six of Crows
The Help
Pachinko
and several Harry Potters

Robin P wrote: "I assume Olympics is the one suggested by one of us, too much of a coincidence otherwise. I can't think what I would read for it, though I do recommend The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans an..."

I’m not in the mood for sad, but you’re right about Ove. A lot of my favorite books started out sad, but ended up happy or at least hopeful.

I find true crime very sad sometimes too though. People can do such awful things to one another, and it sticks with you because you can’t dismiss it as fiction. I liked The Art Thief (which wasn’t violent at all), but the ending was depressing. I really liked Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice by Bill Browder. It might have true crime tags.

Also, SAD is the only one which is mostly fiction.

I have a lot of 'read' books on the first pages of SAD tag and I would never have tagged most of them SAD --- I don't have such a tag personally. I do have a problem with the concept of reading 'sad' books. Not where I choose to go with my reading at all.

Robin P wrote: "Some books on the Sad list that aren't overall sad:

Beartown
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry
Anxious People
The Song of Achill..."


I was surprised to see some of these on the sad tag list. They all boosted my mood when I read them.

Project Hail Mary
Beach Read
City of Thieves - PBT 100
People We Meet on Vacation
Because of Winn-Dixie
The Seven Year Slip
Cinder , lunar series.
Heartstopper: Volume Three
Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood
Firekeeper’s Daughter

LOL, I have to laugh. The first book I find on the TRUE CRIME list that I have either read or have on my TBR is The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold which I read just a couple of months ago, gave it 5 stars, loved it - and it took me a week to read it - and I read fast. It also filled my quota for true crime reading for the year! 😄😛

I'm a fiction reader to boot. I think I know where I land.

I love true crime, lol. Was all excited when I saw it was one of the choices, but based on everyone's reaction, I'm guessing that's not happening. Probably just as well because I'm all into the Booker longlist right now.

However, I can definitely steer people toward some great true crime reads if it comes down to that. Like not grisly ones.

To quote Scrooge, "Bah, humbug!"

We just had crime earlier this year, but primarily the timing is a bit difficult on the heels of this reveal of what I should have realized was inevitable, a huge hack that leaves all Americans' information exposed (all addresses, SSN's, etc) and of course my Aspie has never taken care of locking her credit reports since she hasn't got any but that might not stop identity theft (she had a full ride to university, thankfully.)

Olympics--so sated with that

Sad--just had too much of it IRL in the past year and a half

However, I'll take a gander and might be surprised.

I have plenty of sad and I love to cry while reading a book, so I imagine that if I just read what I want to read I would find a sad book.

True Crime has a book that I've really been wanting to read and this would give me the opportunity to do so.

I have no want to read in the first 5 pages of the Olympics, but I saw a couple of books I would be interested in. I don't think Coming Home by Brittney Griner is tagged Olympics, but she does have 3 gold medals, so it could be and it was excellent.

So having said all that, I would be good with any of them.

If Remarkably Bright Creatures is on the Sad list I highly recommend it. It has plenty of high moments and it is just the most delightful book. I just saw that they are making a movie with Sally Field! The director is the one who did Where the Crawdads Sing and was so true to the book.

Over the years, a lot of my favorite books have been tagged as "sad" on that list. I'm sure I can find more. I never use that tag because many books can have sad elements but still be uplifting.

This is an odd assortment of tags this month. Two would be difficult for me - Olympics and True Crime. I do tend to read a lot of books which have sadness in them, but like Theresa, would never purposely seek out a book because it is sad.

Barbara M wrote: "Over the years, a lot of my favorite books have been tagged as "sad" on that list. I'm sure I can find more. I never use that tag because many books can have sad elements but still be uplifting."

I have some favourite books on that list as well.

I just put a book on my TBR that is Olympics. Got some neat letters too. I believe that book was that summer in Berlin. it takes place in the 1940s pre-war spy but it also has an Olympics theme. I don’t do sad either, but if there were a bunch of books that are tagged that way, that I could tolerate……. And I’m really not interested in true crime. Not in the least. I tend to avoid that. What’s a girl to do? Research obviously. Let’s see if any of these categories hold a surprise for me.

Olympics sounds fun (not sure if i have anything on the tbr, but it's possible).

Have to admit I'm hoping for true crime, though I suspect that's the least likely.

Hmmm .. will this be the month when I do not vote at all?

Having just worked the polls for our primary this past Tuesday, I noted a couple of ballots where the voter marked a party affiliation but did NOT mark any of the candidates, nor the constitutional amendments referenda. I wondered why and someone else said "Wanted to be sure they were kept on the registered voter list. If you skip x number of elections in a row your name gets dropped. This way the voter is shown as having cast a ballot, even though they really didn't vote for anything.

Amy wrote: "I just put a book on my TBR that is Olympics. Got some neat letters too. I believe that book was that summer in Berlin. it takes place in the 1940s pre-war spy but it also has an Olympics theme. I ..."

Amy, I have a really strong feeling about what you will decide after doing about 5-10 minutes of research.

Nancy, we will have to see if you are right!!

Amy wrote: "Nancy, we will have to see if you are right!!"

I agree with Nancy!

Did anyone read The Boys in the Boat? It is a very good book and it fits for the Olympics. I think. I don’t know if it is appropriate to suggest it here or not, but just in case.

I haven’t read ‘The Boys in the Boat’, Dosha, but it’s supposed to be great. I have read ‘Unbroken’ which was excellent.

Dosha (Bluestocking7) wrote: "Did anyone read The Boys in the Boat? It is a very good book and it fits for the Olympics. I think. I don’t know if it is appropriate to suggest it here or not, but just in case."

It's a very good book--I gave it 4 stars and am not normally into books about sports. I did vote for one of the options. I wonder if that was the same Olympics Louis Zamperini ran in (for those who don't already know, he's the man in Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption

Dosha (Bluestocking7) wrote: "Did anyone read The Boys in the Boat? It is a very good book and it fits for the Olympics. I think. I don’t know if it is appropriate to suggest it here or not, but just in case."

It’s absolutely appropriate to suggest. I loved the book. The psychology topics fascinated me on top of everything else. I gave it to a friend who just had open heart surgery. He loves boats and the timing was right.

Dosha, you automatically get one vote every month to start. All the reviews you write this month will earn you extra points to go toward extra votes next month. 2 points for books in the 5 stars folder- e.g. Ember in the Ashes. 1 point for books that don’t fit the monthly
Tag.

You have until next Thursday to vote, so take your time and look at all three tags before you decide.

Dosha (Bluestocking7) wrote: "Did anyone read The Boys in the Boat? It is a very good book and it fits for the Olympics. I think. I don’t know if it is appropriate to suggest it here or not, but just in case."

I loved Boys in the Boat. I was actually surprised at how much I enjoyed it. On the surface its a "sports" book, but the story ended up being about so much more than the actual sport.

I also loved the movie. I actually had to stop myself from air-rowing with the crew during the race scenes.

I looked at the spreadsheet and noticed that my name was not on it so I thought I was not supposed to vote yet. I only wanted to suggest that book. I don’t really get what to vote for yet. But I’m coming along slowly but surely. I am in no rush.

My research gave me literally almost nothing. That has never happened before. I may need you guys to give me a suggestion no matter what wins.

I enjoyed Boys in the Boat much more than I thought I would too. I have to admit, I did a little bit of air rowing myself, lol.

Dosha (Bluestocking7) wrote: "I looked at the spreadsheet and noticed that my name was not on it so I thought I was not supposed to vote yet. I only wanted to suggest that book. I don’t really get what to vote for yet. But I’m ..."

PM Anita and alert her to missing from Spread sheet and just submit a ballot - click on the first link in the first email in this thread. Follow instructions. You get 1 vote automatically so you can at this point vote 1 vote for a first place tag and a 2nd place tag.

As you read and review books that match the tag each month, you earn points which you can then spend voting. It doesn't take long to amass points. But you always can vote 1 vote for the monthly tag.

Dosha (Bluestocking7) wrote: "I enjoyed Boys in the Boat much more than I thought I would too. I have to admit, I did a little bit of air rowing myself, lol."

Just vote. You should be able to if you are on spread sheet or not.

If you can't we will get it fixed.

I’m not on the spreadsheet and that is okay. I’ll probably be on it next month. No worries.

I love that this group pushes me sometimes to read something that I would not normally pick up. And I have found some great books that I did not expect to be great.

I don't usually read sad or true crime books, but who knows. A Man Called Ove is a great book. For Olympics there are a lot of non-fiction (not everyone's bag) books about Hitler and the 1936 Olympics so good if you are into history/WWII but not athletes. I would definitely recommend The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Same Michelle. If it were not for this group, I would not be reading Ember in the Ashes. I really enjoy reading the posts and opening my mind to new and seldom read genres.

Dosha (Bluestocking7) wrote: "I’m not on the spreadsheet and that is okay. I’ll probably be on it next month. No worries."

The August review points will be added early next month. If you’re not there next month at this time just speak up. (If you wrote any PBT reviews in July, then ask Anita to add you now.)

Hi Nancy, I don’t yet know how to write PBT reviews. I’ll figure it out. For the time being, I am writing them the normal way on my reading challenge. For some reason, copy and paste does not work using my iPhone, which is all I have. I forgot my laptop in GA.

Dosha, just start a new topic (either in the tag of the month or other books folder) with the name of the book, author and star rating and give just a brief description of the book and what you liked about it.

Okay.

I recommend we take a Mulligan and regenerate three new options. Just saying.

Charlie wrote: "I recommend we take a Mulligan and regenerate three new options. Just saying."

I agree! Or in cards, it's a misdeal.

Charlie wrote: "I recommend we take a Mulligan and regenerate three new options. Just saying."

Nice try ;)

I voted.