Announcing the May Tag

[Rachel N.]

I think I'll read either Stardust or The Book of Speculation. Both are on my TBR list and are on at least one of the lists posted by other helpful PBT members.

[Nikki]

Hi, a quick recommendation: I don't know whether it's actually tagged as beautiful on here but I just stumbled across some of my pre-Goodreads book notes and noticed that I described Border Songs, which I loved, as "beautiful".

[Nikki]

Getting thoroughly sidetracked now: I got curious so searched my old notes to see whether I'd described anything else as beautiful & found two: The Sorrows of an American & The Hours, both of which I also loved. No joy with my attempt to search my Goodreads reviews though - the only result was a match in the title A More Beautiful and Terrible History, which I would also recommend, but wouldn't describe as beautiful! Does anyone know whether there's a way to search the text of your own reviews on here?

[Meli]

I might fit in The Tradition poetry collection for May beautiful tag. Beautiful cover, beautiful poems, it has to count right?

[Joanne]

Meli wrote: "I might fit in The Tradition poetry collection for May beautiful tag. Beautiful cover, beautiful poems, it has to count right?"

I say yes

[Barbara M]

Jgrace wrote: "I will finish this one tonight, without a doubt, I recommend it for the 'beautiful' tag.

Leonardo da Vinci"

Certainly a man responsible for a lot of beautiful art! Seems right to me.

[Meli]

Joanne wrote: "Meli wrote: "I might fit in The Tradition poetry collection for May beautiful tag. Beautiful cover, beautiful poems, it has to count right?"

I say yes"

Excellent! :)

[Critterbee❇]

Uh, oh how to choose for Beautiful?!

On the linked list:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
The House on Mango Street

[Hebah]

OK, now that I've had a chance to look through options...

I might re-read Seanan McGuire's Every Heart a Doorway since it's something I would tag as beautiful for its prose.

Little Fires Everywhere also comes up, and considering that Celeste Ng will be in my town mid-May and husband and I are going to her event, that's a good time to read it.

I'm working through Strange the Dreamer as a readaloud with my husband right now, so if we finish that in a timely manner, I'll try to get to sequel Muse of Nightmares.

Amusingly, several people tagged Wallbanger as beautiful, and honestly, Clayton's books catch my eye every time I see them on the shelf, so I'm requesting it as a hold.

Plenty of options, but I think these are the most likely culprits for me.

[Joanne]

May is going to be such an outstanding month of books and reviews

[DianeMP]

Joanne wrote: "May is going to be such an outstanding month of books and reviews"

I agree with Joanne, it will be an outstanding month. For my beautiful tag I'm going to be reading books with beautiful writing. My TBR book, #24, is Once Upon a River. I read The Thirteenth Tale a few years back and absolutely loved it. I love her writing, that and the fact that it also contains magical realism, sold it for me.

[Booknblues]

NancyJ wrote: "I love the titles of those books. They're cracking me up. "

? I think they are basically self-explanatory titles, but I'm glad you get a kick out of them.

[Joanne]

DianeMP wrote: "Joanne wrote: "May is going to be such an outstanding month of books and reviews"

I agree with Joanne, it will be an outstanding month. For my beautiful tag I'm going to be reading books with beau..."

I am reading Once Upon right now-I am more than 1/2 way through so I wouldn't feel right saving it for May-But it would definitely fit the beautiful tag! I know you are going to like it, enjoy!

[Book Concierge]

Hebah wrote: "Little Fires Everywhere also comes up, and considering that Celeste Ng will be in my town mid-May and husband and I are going to her event, that's a good time to read it...."

Hebah ... where do you live? I ask because Ng is coming to my town on May 15 (I'll miss her appearance, however, because I'll be in Texas for my niece's graduation).

[Hebah]

Book Concierge wrote: "Hebah wrote: "Little Fires Everywhere also comes up, and considering that Celeste Ng will be in my town mid-May and husband and I are going to her event, that's a good time to read ..."

Kansas City. She'll be here the 16th, I think. Bummer that you'll miss it.

[Darci]

Any book I read also needs to be on my list of books for the PopSugar challenge. So, I'm going to go with A Man Called Ove. It's been tagged beautiful, covers a prompt for the other challenge, and I already own it.

[NancyJ]

May tentative plan
Neverwhere - for Trim and Tag
The Air You Breathe - for Brazil, maybe tag
Gilead - Bookclub and Beautiful Tag
The Great Alone - bookclub *
What the Wind Knows - Beautiful Tag

Potential continuations from April
The Count of Monte Cristo - continuing
The Song of Achilles
Huck Finn - book club
Italian/Art books - I might retry one of my DNFs

maybe
The Hour of the Star - Brazil
Where the Forest Meets the Stars - tag
The Bear and the Nightingale
The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World

*Has anyone read The Great Alone. Would you call it beautiful? (I'm not looking forward to it)

[NancyJ]

Darci wrote: "Any book I read also needs to be on my list of books for the PopSugar challenge. So, I'm going to go with A Man Called Ove. It's been tagged beautiful, covers a prompt for the other..."

Good choice!

[Meli]

Hebah - please report back on Celeste Ng's event, I would love to hear about it.

[Nicole R]

Hebah, did I know that you live in KC? I live in New England now, but I am from St. Joseph (Just North of KC) and my whole family lives in the KC area—independence, Liberty, Blue Springs, Lee’s Summit, Shawnee.

[Susie]

This thread is so hilarious! I had to go and get my laptop out just so that I can reply to several comments!

[Susie]

Meli wrote: "You know what this means - trim announcement coming soon! What I look forward to every month >:-)

Great tag. I feel like I have so much that can fit here.
I'll have to ruminate on this a lil."

I love the trim announcement too! It's the highlight of my month!

[Susie]

Joanne wrote: "I am going with 2 that are on my TBR, the list for Beautiful and also need to be read for another challenge

Bel Canto
Howl's Moving Castle (can't believe it is on a list fo..."

Oo! I've got Bel Canto on my ereader, and I do love her writing. That's a good idea.

[Susie]

AJ wrote: "I swear Outlander is literally on every tag"

Ha! I thought that too! How are you going with it?

[Susie]

Nicole R wrote: "I am totally interpreting "beautiful" to mean a book with a hot man on the front. In this case, the man is attractively hot and perhaps literally hot as he is a firefighter.

You know it is going t..."

Haha! That is so you!

[Susie]

Meli wrote: "Another one... although it includes his profile and no abs, but 😍
I've actually seen this on some best of lists, so it might be good.

"

I laughed so loud when I clicked on that link that my husband wanted to know what was so funny from another room!

[Susie]

Joanne wrote: "Nicole R wrote: "I am totally interpreting "beautiful" to mean a book with a hot man on the front. In this case, the man is attractively hot and perhaps literally hot as he is a firefighter.

here ..."

Haha! I totally want to read Hard Justice.

[Susie]

Doughgirl5562 wrote: "Some recommendations (sorry, I don't know how to do links):

- The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald --- One of the main points of this classic novel is the contrast between an aspirational and illusional..."

I have a beautiful copy of Stardust on my shelf, so that would mean it's a beautiful beautiful book. Sold!

[Susie]

Meli wrote: "I got a really neat copy of Lolita from my husband for Christmas, it has extensive foreword and intro and notes section, but I am saving it for summer."

What a wonderful gift Meli. I have been meaning to read Lolita for the longest time but never get to it. Perhaps next month is the month.

[Nicole R]

Susie, I really want you to read Hard Justice just so I can read your review! Lol

[Susie]

Nikki wrote: "Hi, a quick recommendation: I don't know whether it's actually tagged as beautiful on here but I just stumbled across some of my pre-Goodreads book notes and noticed that I described [book:Border S..."

Thanks Nikki. That sounds like my kind of book.

[Nicole R]

And, Meli and Susie, add me to the group of people who has always wanted to read Lolita but never seems to get to it.

[Nicole R]

Susie, Stardust sounds like a great option!

[Amy]

Just a little report: Amazing year, with just a number of stunning five star reads! Trimming my TBR like wildfire, even though I am slowly adding a few more! Have read 10 of my 14 priority reads this year, Cut my TBR by 25, learning about countries, and and blowing it out of the water on the challenges. Great reads!

[Susie]

Nicole R wrote: "Susie, I really want you to read Hard Justice just so I can read your review! Lol"

Maybe I'll surprise you all and read it!

[Susie]

Nicole R wrote: "Susie, Stardust sounds like a great option!"

The trouble with this thread is that every month I decide what I want to read, and then I want to start it immediately but have to wait!

[Susie]

Amy wrote: "Just a little report: Amazing year, with just a number of stunning five star reads! Trimming my TBR like wildfire, even though I am slowly adding a few more! Have read 10 of my 14 priority reads th..."

You are having a fabulous year!

[NancyJ]

Nicole R wrote: "And, Meli and Susie, add me to the group of people who has always wanted to read Lolita but never seems to get to it."

I read it when I was a young teenager, and I thought it was incredible. I wasn't too shocked at the time (it wasn't graphic), but the age difference seems much more shocking to me today.

[NancyJ]

DianeMP wrote: "Joanne wrote: "May is going to be such an outstanding month of books and reviews"

I agree with Joanne, it will be an outstanding month. For my beautiful tag I'm going to be reading books with beau..."

That's my goal too. There are so many to choose from! I have that book on my trim list, so I'll have to wait. But the closer we get to July, the more tempted I will be just to go ahead and read one of my tbr36.

[Meli]

Sounds like Lolita is one of those tsundoku books!

My husband really loves Nabokov and he doesn't interpret the text of Lolita literally. It's something we've talked about at length, especially after the true crime book The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel that Scandalized the World was released last year. So I am really interested in being able to engage in that discussion after I actually read the text.

Susie, if you do get to it in May I look forward to your review!

[Tracy]

I loved Nabokov’s writing. It’s so lyrical and truly beautiful. However, for me, Lolita was best read before kids, or after they were adults. I started it and threw it against the wall many times before my kids were grown - the whole pedophile thing- I just couldn’t deal with preteens/teens in the house.

[Barbara M]

Adding another book to my possibles. I'd gotten it for the History and/or Italy challenge but won't get to it in time. But, with this title I think it can fit beautiful. Besides, right now I'm totally into the early history of Italy with reading Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love. So, even though it pre-dates Galileo, Sarah Dunant's Blood & Beauty: The Borgias should fit in pretty well with the tag and my current obsession.

[Joanne]

Barbara wrote: "Adding another book to my possibles. I'd gotten it for the History and/or Italy challenge but won't get to it in time. But, with this title I think it can fit beautiful. Besides, right now I'm tota..."

I loved Blood & Beauty: The Borgias gave it 5 stars

[Meli]

Tracy wrote: "I loved Nabokov’s writing. It’s so lyrical and truly beautiful. However, for me, Lolita was best read before kids, or after they were adults. I started it and threw it against the wall many times b..."

That totally makes sense!

[NancyJ]

Barbara wrote: "Adding another book to my possibles. I'd gotten it for the History and/or Italy challenge but won't get to it in time. But, with this title I think it can fit beautiful. Besides, right now I'm tota..."

I started Sarah Dunant's In the Name of the Family without realizing it was a sequel to Blood and Beauty. Lucrezia was a fascinating woman. Galileo was in the Passion of Artemisia, and he was a wonderful friend to her. I love the Renaissance period. It's a worthy obsession!

I must have 10 books on Italy from the library still, mostly non fiction. I read 50 pages from many of them before deciding to dnf them. It wasn't a waste of time though since I learned something interesting from each one.

[Theresa]

Meli wrote: "Sounds like Lolita is one of those tsundoku books!

My husband really loves Nabokov and he doesn't interpret the text of Lolita literally. It's something we've talked about at length, especially a..."

I read Lolita a very very long time ago - in my late-teens. I certainly found it a tad shocking. It was definitely considered a bit risque back then, but the movie had somewhat diminished the 'age difference' issue because the actress who portrayed Lolita was just not that young. The movie 'Pretty Baby" with a very young Brooke Shields was creating waves and Lolita got pushed aside. I also remember reading some literary criticism reading that Nabokov's intent and focus with Lolita was not so much about the sexual relationship as it is a satire about American culture at the time.

Whatever, I think this is a book to read and make your own analysis. It's not necessarily only what you think it is.

[Meli]

Theresa wrote: "Meli wrote: "Sounds like Lolita is one of those tsundoku books!

My husband really loves Nabokov and he doesn't interpret the text of Lolita literally. It's something we've talked about at length,..."

That is a sentiment similar to my husband - in that it isn't what it seems on the surface. He was of the opinion that it is an allegory (?) for Nabokov's relationship / love with the English language (since he was not native).

I am anxious to bump this up on the list with all the feedback but I am still reading Black Leopard, Red Wolf. I can only read short or light books during that.

[Hebah]

Nicole R wrote: "Hebah, did I know that you live in KC? I live in New England now, but I am from St. Joseph (Just North of KC) and my whole family lives in the KC area—independence, Liberty, Blue Springs, Lee’s Sum..."

I don't know if I knew that. Do you ever come back to visit? I'd be down for a book store and coffee meet-up next time you're around.

[Nicole R]

I get back at least once a year at Christmas time. Sometimes twice if I can swing a summer visit!

I am going to be home in June, but only for like 36 hours! I am flying in for a good friend’s wedding and the turn around and leave 😂

[Theresa]

Meli wrote: "Theresa wrote: "Meli wrote: "Sounds like Lolita is one of those tsundoku books!

My husband really loves Nabokov and he doesn't interpret the text of Lolita literally. It's something we've talked ..."

Interesting - I think it's perhaps referencing his seduction by the brash youthfulness of America and its commercialism - motels, drive-ins, etc. Especially compared to 'old Europe'. Lolita = America in the 1950s and Humbert Humbert is the stuffy older Europe that has endured for centuries. Or a satire perhaps more than an allegory.

What does your husband think of Nabokov's Despair - about someone meeting his doppelganger -- which I started and DNF'd? I did some research and learned that Nabokov often kept editing new editions of his work, especially this one. And it is meant to be humorous.