Play Book Tag discussion
September 2016: 2013
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Announcing the September Tag: Share Your Reading Plans and Suggestions
Jgrace wrote: "I am often frustrated with Goodreads and I will forever miss Shelfari, but I just realized that I can add publication date to the settings on my book page. This allows me to see what books I read w..."Great advice! I'm checking it out.!
Anita wrote: "Sara wrote: "I own several books for this tag, so I will read one (or more) of the following:The Luminaries
The Golem and the Jinni
[book:The Girls of Atomic City:..."
I'll try for Burial Rites
My recommendations:
(so that's a yes for Susie)
(Anita, I'm having second thoughts about you and night film. we'll have to see what you think of House of Leaves)
Also -
Road Ends
The Childhood of Jesus
On deck for me:
Burial Rites
Jgrace wrote: "I am often frustrated with Goodreads and I will forever miss Shelfari, but I just realized that I can add publication date to the settings on my book page. This allows me to see what books I read w..."Thank you, Judith! I have adjusted my settings for publication date (and added page count to the settings, too.)
Jgrace wrote: "I just realized that I can add publication date to the settings on my book page. This allows me to see what books I read w..."This is good to know! Thanks for the tip! I wasn't sure how easy this was going to be!
@NicoleR, I've got Narrow Road as Sept 2013?
Aha! Published in Australia in 2013, US 2014.
Sara, really?! Because I gave it a three. The strength is the historical aspect and the way in which the author brings life in Iceland to life. So, I didn't hate it. I just didn't love it as much as others. I hate the app won't allow us to respond directly to comments,
Someone mentioned Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged HospitalI had serious issues with that book. I've no idea how it won awards. So badly written.
A couple excerpts from my review
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
-> The writing: 2 stars
The author's motivation and agenda: -1 stars
An in depth detailed look at the chain of events through multiple interviews and much research: 5 stars.
-> How did such a horribly written book make it past the editors? That it won awards. ... I attribute it to the research and frankly the very high profile of Katrina. In short, it was a "gimme".
I should update, writing = 1 star. Now that I've been writing more conscientious reviews, it really was that poor.
I liked Five Days at Memorial but had one major issue...I thought the topic was devastating but thought provoking. The topics of natural disasters, euthanasia, and legal issues in the medical field all came together. I did not find it poorly written, but it is nonfiction so a bit on the drier side.
However, the author was completely biased. The story centers around Dr Pou and whether she was guilty of killing patients with DNR orders. It is not a spoiler to say that the author clearly thought she was guilty and wrote from that perspective. It was a bit off-putting.
In the end though, I thought the topic carried it to 4 stars.
Hmmmmm. I was planning on reading 5 Days. Now I'm uncertain.
Regina, I still have it 4 stars. Knowing how much you enjoy nonfiction, I would recommend you read it. I do not think it will be your favorite book ever, but I think it will be well worth your time and you will be glad you read it.
Jgrace, I LOVED The Supremes at Earl's All You Can Eat!! I highly recommend it to readers who liked The Help.
Sara wrote: "I have read it and really enjoyed it at the time, especially the historical storyline, but it wasn't anything spectacular. "My assessment exactly. But definitely pleasant reading . . .one could do worse . . .
My top two reads from last year were Night Film and A Constellation of Vital Phenomena.I felt the same as Nicole R on Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital, but I also lived in New Orleans for several years so I had might be a bit biased.
I own Americanah and The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II, so I think I'll try to get them read.
A couple of people have commented on GR shelves not being accurate for these broader tags, but I seem to recall that we had the same problem with these types of tags on Shelfari. Anytime you give people the ability to make-up and assign an attribute without any rules, This problem will occur because people have different priorities -- like wanting to use the year to indicate when they read the book, rather than when it was published.
We did have the same issue on Shelfari, and I contribute to the problem because I tag all of my books with the year I read them! Lol
I don't think I would have found Burial Rites without this group, it sounds very good. I love reading books that some people love and others are kind of middle of the road about. It sounds great (and not too long). I'm going to try to get my f2f book club to read it too actually.
And I tag all my books with the year I read them too... Sorry.
I'm really disappointed we didn't get Vampires. All those nice recommendations and now they're just going to add to the tbr...
Regina wrote: "Sara, really?! Because I gave it a three. The strength is the historical aspect and the way in which the author brings life in Iceland to life. So, I didn't hate it. I just didn't love it as much a..."I know, I know, but I am reading so many big books right now that I want something a bit easier. It will be fun to read with Anita and Nicole too. Plus Susie liked it, which is a good bet I will too.
I totally agree with Nicole's assessment of 5 Days at Memorial. I thought about recommending it, but didn't because of the bias. It's a worthwhile read. Hard for humans not to have at least a little bit of bias.
No need to be sorry, I do as well, but I use 2013-read :-DI think someone was asking about Orphan Train and I enjoyed it. My bias is I like quick reads highlighting historical stories -- it wasn't the greatest written work and I definitely the historical story better than modern one.
Looks like I haven't read much from 2013, so I will recommend Six Years by Harlan Coben, and read The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian and the Orphan Train if I can get my hands on it.
Nicole R wrote: "We did have the same issue on Shelfari, and I contribute to the problem because I tag all of my books with the year I read them! Lol"I do too.
Jennifer wrote: "I liked the Orphan Train! It switches back and forth between "modern" day and the 1930s? 1940s? I prefered the older time period but I really liked the story. Another thing I had no idea even happe..."I didn't like Orphan Train for many reasons; you can read them here:
My Review
Anita wrote: "So of course the one I most want to read, Tenth of December, is one I don't own. Grrrr.I have some great choices that I already own:
Burial Rites
The Son
Anyone have any thoughts - - pros or cons on those? ..."
I recommended Burial Rites in my post, for me it was a five star read.
I think you would like it, it's kind of a dark book.
I have The Son on my list forever, but I think it's long and since I'm planning on The Goldfinch I don't think I can do two big books in one month.
Ladyslott wrote: "I have The Son on my list forever, but I think it's long and since I'm planning on The Goldfinch I don't think I can do two big books in one month. ..."It is almost 600 pages. I may be taking on a lot with The Son and Americanah, which I think it also long.
Jgrace wrote: "I am often frustrated with Goodreads and I will forever miss Shelfari, but I just realized that I can add publication date to the settings on my book page. This allows me to see what books I read w..."I loved The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat and Seven for a Secret. Good recommendations!
Sara wrote: "Nicole R wrote: "Pretty sure that [book:The Little Paris Bookshop just came out last year..."I thought that too, but Goodreads said it was originally published in 2013."
The book was originally published in German in 2013.
GoodReads says And the Mountains Echoed was first published in 2012, but I can't find any English publication before 2013 so I'm going with that date.
Ladyslott wrote: "Sara wrote: "Nicole R wrote: "Pretty sure that [book:The Little Paris Bookshop just came out last year..."I thought that too, but Goodreads said it was originally published in 2013."
The book wa..."
So are we saying only books published in English in 2013, or does this one count? I doubt I will get to it, but the clarification might be good.
Here are three that are on my "priority TBR" list ... who know if I'll get to them in Sept, though.Mrs. Poe by Lynn Cullen
Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls by Anton DiSclafani
Friends, I am beyond pleased! I was really sweating this one. I didn't expect this one to pull through, but I am delighted. I feel like I deserve it after the commitment of Outlander. I am going to read Americanah, possibly with Jolene and Nicole R. I might also add the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Susie, I loved Orphan Train and I think you will too! I'm hoping my luck with the tag also means there is a giveaway book waiting for me at home. I'll keep you posted!
Sara wrote: "So are we saying only books published in English in 2013, or does this one count? I doubt I will get to it, but the clarification might be good. ..."There still is no hard-and-fast rule for PBT, so I think published in any language is fine if that is what you want to go with.
We just thought for some of these broad tags that we would make a suggestion on how to narrow them so we have a bit more targeted discussion and potentially more challenging tag.
I am breaking that though if I get to Devil in the Grove. Looks like it was published in 2012 but it won the 2013 Pulitzer so that will count for me.
2013 was a good reading year for me. Recommendations include:We Need New Names
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
The Good Lord Bird
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
And the Mountains Echoed
The Lowland
The Signature of All Things
Hild
A Beautiful Truth
TransAtlantic
Bunker Hill: A City, a Siege, a Revolution
A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea
I may read one of the following in my possession or something else entirely:
Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald
What She Left Behind
The Infatuations
My Life My Africa: An Untamed Soul-Searching Adventure
Indiscretion
Ghana Must Go
Life After Life
Amy wrote: "I might also add the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks...."YES!!! READ HENRIETTA LACKS! Plus, it is being made into a show.
I'll recommend something different:
- this is the first of four heavy tomes (each 500+ pages - but don't worry its sequential art) about the history of Japan during the Showa era and coincidentally during most of Shigeru Mizuki's life. He combines his country's history with his own, to paint a fascinating portrait of Japan during most of the 20st Century.Or any one of these:
As for me I'm thinking of
I'm going to listen to My Story by Elizabeth SmartThe book I want to recommend is the third book in a y/a trilogy, Shades of Earth by Beth Revis. There might be something else published that year I really liked but I'm not sure how to find them.
Here are my suggestions:If you like regency romance, I recommend Blackmoore by Julianne Donaldson.
If you still want to read a vampire book, I recommend Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black. This is YA.
If you like memoirs and you're curious about one person's journey to leaving the faith he grew up with as well as how he deals with having Tourette's Syndrome, I recommend The World's Strongest Librarian.
I know The Golem and the Jinni are on a lot of people's TBRs. It was published in 2013.
If you like Ruta Sepetys and historical fiction, I recommend Out of the Easy.
I also highly recommend Wonder by RJ Palacio. It's a middle grade book, but it's wonderful and I think everyone should read it because of its topic.
Ok, I think I've picked out a few more likely options: - Born of Illusion / Teri Brown
- Belle Epoque / Elizabeth Ross
- Dead Ever After / Charlaine Harris (if the hold comes in for me in time)
- Grumpy Cat: A Grumpy Book :-)
Either of the first two will also fill a Shelfagories theme for me.
I'm going to recommend One Summer and Empty Mansions. One Summer is in contention as my favorite Bryson (high praise indeed) and the poor guy sitting next to me on the train in India as I read Empty Mansions knows I kind of liked it.... I would pause frequently to fill him in on the madness. And yes, both non-fiction. I'm incorrigible. I'm reading the Boys in the Boat now but am sure it will be done before September.
A friend really wants me to read the Goldfinch. I read a chapter and realized I had no idea what was going on... Is it going to be worth it?
I also might consider the Luminaries or the Interestings. Anyone have thoughts on which was better?
And there's a very small chance I'll finally get to the Cuckoo's Calling, but after the Cursed Child, I don't think I would get over it if it was bad.
Sushicat wrote: "I'm really disappointed we didn't get Vampires. All those nice recommendations and now they're just going to add to the tbr..."So true Sushicat! I think I added a couple to my TBR too. However, I'm glad not to be reading vampires just yet - they'll still be on my TBR when the time comes!
Mary, I really liked The Goldfinch but it is indeed a marathon! The audio is great.
Nicole R wrote: "Amy wrote: "I might also add the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks...."YES!!! READ HENRIETTA LACKS! Plus, it is being made into a show."
Amy, I'm with Nicole - read Henrietta Lacks. I listened to it on audio and it was good in that media too!
Sushicat wrote: "I'll recommend something different:...You have Ghost Bride on your list and I've read that - actually listened to it I think. It's quite different than I expected but I did like it. I wrote a review if you want to check it out.
I just realized that The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend was published in 2013 and I own that one too, so its another possibility.
Jenni, you had me at regency romance...
Play Book Tag
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I am leaning towards Burial Rites if you are up for it, just because I want something a little smaller given I am reading a doorstopper and planning to start Anna Karenina as well.
Regina,
I will keep that in mind. I think I bought the book on the strength of your review.