Play Book Tag discussion
May 2019: Beautiful
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Announcing the May Tag
Doughgirl5562 wrote: "For me, the Beautiful tag primarily means the beautiful (i.e. really good) writing. So many classics fall into this tag. But it could also just be a beautiful story which leaves me feeling really..."
I agree! Especially your note about a beautiful idea or concept. For me those ideas might include - redemption, or the power of friendship to heal, or everything is connected. I got shivers from the first couple chapters of The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World, so I'm attracted to books like The Overstory.
Theresa wrote: "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 ..."
You put that very well, and I think that is an apt assessment. Perhaps similar to what my husband tried to explain to me but I wasn't able to capture here as eloquently.
I am not sure if he has read Despair, I will have to ask!
I think Bel Canto is perfect for this tag.There's also a book called Beauty - it's some sort of fantasy combining Sleeping Beauty with time traveling between (if I remember correctly) middle ages and current day.
I'm not sure what I will read yet. Maybe something with Helen of Troy - a war over beauty fits just right.
It will be cool if beauty is a motif in the plot. (bel canto and Perfume: The Story of a Murderer both work that way).
Or maybe I'll read something by Milan Kundera.
One last recommendation - the book The Kites. Something about Ludo's love for Lila (and the writing) is just beautiful
Joanne wrote: "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..."
I'll be reading Once Upon a River for the tag beautiful. But, sadly it's not officially identified as "beautiful" so I cannot count it under the Trim the TBR. Rats!
DianeMP wrote: "Joanne wrote: "DianeMP wrote: "Joanne wrote: "May is going to be such an outstanding month of books and reviews".."
Diane I was considering Once Upon a River (Settenfield), and I saw 2 Beautiful tags on page 3 or 4, and some single related terms such a beautifully moving. I added it to my TBR based on reviews from pbt members, maybe in december.
DianeMP wrote: "I'll be reading Once Upon a River for the tag beautiful. But, sadly it's not officially identified as "beautiful" so I cannot count it .."Page 7 of the tags shows 2 people have tagged it "beautiful".
Three books I've already got on my May TBR that could work for beautiful are On Beauty, Everything Here Is Beautiful, and Sparrow. The first two work for word in the title, and the last one has a really beautiful cover. Going through the beautiful shelf, it looks like I've got a bunch of other books on my TBR that could work. These include:
- The Shadow of the Wind
- Middlesex
- The Knife of Never Letting Go
- The Tea Dragon Society
- An Ember in the Ashes
- Americanah
- The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
- Spinning Silver
- Homegoing
Not sure how some of these ended up tagged beautiful, but I've definitely got a lot of options this month!
I really am struggling with this tag for some reason. I considered Lauren's suggestion of Everything Here is Beautiful because I own it, but leaning toward Beloved by Toni Morrison.
I read "Everything Here is Beautiful" last year and loved it. Not only does it have Beautiful in its title, but the author's writing is beautiful and original. The main character has a mental illness and so, it may not appeal to some readers. Still, I'm hoping that some of you might read it for the tag. I would love to see your reactions and discuss the book with you. ** For someone who is dealing personally with this, the book may be too upsetting to read.
Thank you, Holly, for chiming in! Your endorsement will definitely have me reconsider that title.
Well, shoot. My library does not have my first choice. I've requested it via ILL, but those don't usually arrive for a couple of months, so my second choice it will be...North of Beautiful
ok. I looked around & I think I got few other ideas:I was thinking on the theme of beauty (and sometime and youth):
the most obvious choice: The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Bluest Eye
Death in Venice (novella)
Arcadia (play)
and thinking of other beautiful things
Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling (about the sistine chapel)
so I might read one of these.
The Pope's also works for the pop sugar challenge
@idit, I just read The Picture of Dorian Gray in a group and we had a really interesting discussion about what it all means (and who/what the characters represent). The desire for beauty and youth is central to the plot, and it's certainly well written. You probably already know it's often shelved in the horror genre, and the story gets quite ugly and cynical at times. (It's not as scary as most horror.) I hope you enjoy it.I didn't finish Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling this month. Parts of it were interesting, and I'm glad I learned how they made fresco paintings, but then I kept nodding off. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow.
oh how interesting. I'm looking forwards to this tag.Currently about to start:
First Family: Abigail and John Adams Joseph J. Ellis Which aside from being a beautiful book IMO is about a truly Beautiful Marriage in the truest sense of the word.
Murder in Mesopotamia Agatha Christie centres around the murder of a very beautiful woman who is so attractive that this ends up being a motive for all of the darker emotions of the human experience: intimidation, duress, jealousy, cupidity, humiliation and greed in the people around her.
that will be a start for me
Jemima wrote: "oh how interesting. I'm looking forwards to this tag.Currently about to start:
First Family: Abigail and John Adams Joseph J. Ellis Which aside from being a beautiful ..."
Inspired idea about using Murder in Mesopotamia for May's tag! I reread it in January and your description fits it perfectly!
Anita wrote: "Well, this month we had a clear winner, And that winner is:
beautiful
Non-fiction had a lot of people voting for it, but beautiful was the most popular and had the most participation points use..."
I would love to read the book and join the discussion, but Goodreads does not list a book by this name - Beautiful/beautiful. Could you supply the author so that I might find it? Thanks.
Nancy wrote: "I would love to read the book and join the discussion, but Goodreads does not list a book by this name - Beautiful/beautiful. Could you supply the author so that I might find it? Thanks."Hi Nancy! I believe you are new to PBT, is that right? If so, welcome! At PBT, we do not all read the same book. Instead, we all read for the same theme—which is beautiful for the month of May.
This is a tricky tag to jump in on as it is a big ambiguous and open to interpretation, but you will see that people are selecting books with the word "beautiful" in the title, that have beautiful covers, or have beautiful writing, to name a few.
Need some ideas on where to start? Check out the shelf for the tag "beautiful" here at GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
I hope you find something to read! Or, feel free to scan other people's suggestions in this thread as well. Something might strike your fancy!
was a bit confused about the theme at first but i saw the goodreads list and ahhhhhh i see what it meansnight circus, all the light we cannot see, the giver, the book thief...
this one's right up my alley! gonna be careful about picking a book because i've read/know a lot about most of the books on this list and wanna try something new this month. if anyone has good recommendations in the magical realism/historical fiction genre please do share <3 i love those
Nayana wrote: "was a bit confused about the theme at first but i saw the goodreads list and ahhhhhh i see what it meansnight circus, all the light we cannot see, the giver, the book thief...
this one's right u..."
Hi Nayana and welcome I can recommend Abundance for HF and Island Beneath the Sea for a little MR and HF-Good luck finding a great book-this a wonderful group, I know you will enjoy!
I think this is one of our more broad and subjective categories, sometimes they are much narrower. But they are all fun and we are a great dynamic and welcoming group. We love new members to add new richness and warmth.
Nayana wrote: "was a bit confused about the theme at first but i saw the goodreads list and ahhhhhh i see what it meansnight circus, all the light we cannot see, the giver, the book thief...
this one's right u..."
For magical realism/historical fiction - but not set in Italy -- have you read The Master and Margarita - Bugakov's classic comic satire, considered one of the great works of magical realism? There are several different translations of varying qualities due to Russian censorship issues when initially published, but you can read about that here: https://orangeraisin.wordpress.com/20...
Theresa wrote: "For magical realism/historical fiction - but not set in Italy -- have you read The Master and Margarita - Bugakov's classic comic satire, considered one of the great works of magical realism? There are several different translations of varying qualities due to Russian censorship issues when initially published, but you can read about that here: https://orangeraisin.wordpress.com/20... ."I read this last year for our magical realism tag and it was amazing, but my translation sucked, so I got a new one and might try to read it again this year.
Theresa wrote: "Nayana wrote: "was a bit confused about the theme at first but i saw the goodreads list and ahhhhhh i see what it meansnight circus, all the light we cannot see, the giver, the book thief...
thi..."
Just to clarify, you're recommending Master and Margarita as "beautiful" book, correct?
Nayana wrote: "was a bit confused about the theme at first but i saw the goodreads list and ahhhhhh i see what it meansnight circus, all the light we cannot see, the giver, the book thief...
this one's right u..."
Nayana, these are my favorite types of books. Here are some from my list of beautiful books. These are all either historical fiction, or have magical realism, or both.
Circe
Leaving Time
Garden Spells
Light Between Oceans
Memoirs of a Geisha
Their Eyes Were Watching God
My Antonia
Gilead (Robinson)
Secret Life of Bees
Persuasion
Sing, Unburied, Sing
Like Water for Chocolate
Sophie's Choice
Enchanted April
Magic of Ordinary Days
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Quietly beautiful contemporary:
The Caregiver (also fits the Brazil tag)
A Man Called Ove (and most others by Bachman)
Here is my "beautiful" shelf to click on any of these titles or to see more:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
Nayana wrote: "was a bit confused about the theme at first but i saw the goodreads list and ahhhhhh i see what it meansnight circus, all the light we cannot see, the giver, the book thief...
this one's right u..."
Historical fiction--one book with beautiful writing is Snow Falling on Cedars--set in the 1950s with flashbacks to the 1930s and 1940s.
NancyJ wrote: "Theresa wrote: "Nayana wrote: "was a bit confused about the theme at first but i saw the goodreads list and ahhhhhh i see what it meansnight circus, all the light we cannot see, the giver, the bo..."
correct...and in general.
Meli wrote: "Theresa wrote: "For magical realism/historical fiction - but not set in Italy -- have you read The Master and Margarita - Bugakov's classic comic satire, considered one of the great works of magica..."Which translation did you read?
Nayana wrote: "was a bit confused about the theme at first but i saw the goodreads list and ahhhhhh i see what it meansnight circus, all the light we cannot see, the giver, the book thief...
this one's right u..."
The Shadow of the Wind is historical fiction incorporating magical realism, and is beautifully written. It's also shelved as "beautiful" so it works for this month's tag.
I just joined this group and I'm not sure if I can just use beautiful in the title. If so I will be reading Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction
Lisa wrote: "I just joined this group and I'm not sure if I can just use beautiful in the title. If so I will be reading Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction"Yes definitely! If you go to page one there are a stack of lists which are relevant to the tag. Beautiful in the title was one of them.
thank you everyone for the recommendations!snow falling on cedars has been on my TBR for a little while so I'm considering reading that one soon.
i've also heard of the master and margarita but never really got around to reading it. it sounds like it has a fascinating history though, what with the censorship and multiple translations you mentioned, so maybe it's worth reading up on! i have a long summer break upcoming so that'll be a good time to sit down and focus a bit more on my reading.
i'm also considering bridge of clay by markus zusak for the may tag. i trust him to write emotional and beautiful stories, and i've been looking for an excuse to buy this book anyway, so it'll be a good one i think :)
Theresa wrote: "Meli wrote: "Theresa wrote: "For magical realism/historical fiction - but not set in Italy -- have you read The Master and Margarita - Bugakov's classic comic satire, considered one of the great wo..."Picador UK edition, but the new one I bought is First Vintage International edition ...
Moke wrote: "It is so interesting that so many of the books on the Beautiful shelf are YA...I am going to read a book I just got from the library Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima.
Is i..."
That looks like a beautiful book. I'll be interested to hear what you think of it. It doesn't matter if the book isn't tagged beautiful. We don't have a fixed requirement when a book is read for the monthly tag. If you feel it fits the tag, read and post your review. Sometimes there are games or challenges with a prize at completion and the rules are more restrictive about which books can be used.
:( Sad to say, I don't think there's any way to make a shelf search more efficient.
Anita and anyone else who likes short stories...I stumbled across a short story collection that is described as achingly beautiful. Memory Wall by Anthony Doerr (author of All the Light we cannot see).
NancyJ wrote: "Anita and anyone else who likes short stories...I stumbled across a short story collection that is described as achingly beautiful. Memory Wall by Anthony Doerr (author of All the ..."
I gave that collection 5 stars. I love his writing.
Here's my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I also enjoyed his other short story collection, The Shell Collector The title story definitely qualifies as beautiful.
My review of that one:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I'm going to be reading Impulse by Ellen Hopkins this month :)Really haven't read much poetry at all so far, so I think it'll be an interesting experiment because I'm planning on commenting on beauty in terms of the writing style and genre itself
I clicked one of the links and found
on one of the beautiful lists which was also in my list of want to read books so I am going with that for this months tag!
A friend took me yesterday to the new location of NYC The Center for Fiction - now in Brooklyn across the street from BAM in brand new space. In addition for Member Only library (to borrow books), writing desks, reading lounges, and many meeting rooms, it has a public cafe and bookstore. One of the gems of the bookstore: they carry the British imprint, Persephone Books. Talk about beautifully bound and presented books! These are paperbacks, but very high quality, of forgotten women (mostly) authors and works. I came away with 3 and plan to read at least one for this month's theme. Many of the authors and works are available to read for free on Project Gutenberg, but these particular imprints are a distinct pleasure to read in print.
If you are not familiar with these books, here's a link: www.persephonebooks.co.uk.
Thank you Theresa! You always share the best links!
Has anyone read The Great Alone? I'm reading it for a book club, and I have such a strong sense of dread, I'm getting a stomach ache. I know just enough about the book to make me apprehensive. It's funny, I can handle violence in books or movies, but I don't like horror because it builds up the fear. Someone please tell me if it's worth it in the end.
I don’t think spoiling the end of the book will help. But I can say this. The writing is beautiful in a weird way, and while there is violence in the book, there is also tenderness and plot and intrigue in the book. I wouldn’t approach it with dread. That never helps. I would just let it be what it is, and see if there something to appreciate in the book. I imagine that you will find that there is.
NancyJ wrote: "Has anyone read The Great Alone? I'm reading it for a book club, and I have such a strong sense of dread, I'm getting a stomach ache. I know just enough about the book to make me apprehensive. It's..."Nancy, I say if it's giving you a stomach ache-put it down, or away, just stop!-Full disclosure, I have not read it for this very reason
NancyJ wrote: "Has anyone read The Great Alone? I'm reading it for a book club, and I have such a strong sense of dread, I'm getting a stomach ache. I know just enough about the book to make me apprehensive. It's..."At the time that I read it, I rated it 3.5 stars. In hindsight and thinking on it more, I should have rated it lower.
I think if you have a sense of dread about it then definitely set it aside! You can always come back to it if you want, but no reason to force yourself to read it.
Thanks for the comments. Interestingly, the audio has the same narrator as Educated (which I read last month and loved). The father's voices are identical, which makes it harder because I hated the father in Educated (though he wasn't violent).
I was just thinking about the conversation I’ve been having with myself and Joi, about Nine Perfect Strangers. We all love good reads. I would dare say were all addicted to it. But I wonder if it times it’s useful not to know too much about a book right here other people‘s experiences of it before you go in. On one hand, there are books I might never have picked up. For instance, I wasn’t drunk at all to the cover of the hearts invisible furies. And that’s a book that thanks to good reads, I am so glad I have read in my life, and a new author for me to enjoy. On the other hand having too many preconceived notion’s of a book can really destroy it, and I mean positively or negatively. I really did try to erase all of that when I went into nine perfect strangers. And I think it definitely enhance my appreciation of it, to really let it be it’s own experience and forget what other people have said about it. And I actually liked it a lot more than most people did. Funny, that I won’t read educated when everybody says that would be such a loss not to, but that’s one of those situations where the pre-conception is very high. I’ll tell you what’s going back on my TBR at some point, is where the crawdad sing. That has been yo-yoing on my TBR for forever, and I’m finally convinced again then I’m going to love it. Where is it? Of course it’s somewhere near the bottom of the extensive phone list - lol.
Amy wrote: "I was just thinking about the conversation I’ve been having with myself and Joi, about Nine Perfect Strangers. We all love good reads. I would dare say were all addicted to it. But I wonder if it t..."I agree Amy. I felt that way about Once Upon a River, and I put it on then off then back on(just my TBR shelf here, I have no secret phone list)-I waited for the hype to die down, did not read anymore reviews on it, and I ended up loving it-even though it was way out of my wheel-house.
You know what I do have though is a list on my Library's site, but I do believe all those books are on my TBR shelf here.....now you are making me wonder if I can I have a secret list there at the library...
Joanne wrote: "Thank you Theresa! You always share the best links!"Glad to oblige, Joanne!
I have way too many beautiful books to read this month and I'm having a hard time prioritizing them. I am anxiously awaiting the 15th, to determine which books I might be able to put off until next month. Songs of Achilles got bumped twice before I actually read it. Does anyone else do this?
Play Book Tag
Books mentioned in this topic
Once Upon a River (other topics)Once Upon a River (other topics)
Inside My Heart: Choosing to Live With Passion And Purpose (other topics)
Once Upon a River (other topics)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Robin McGraw (other topics)Ellen Hopkins (other topics)
Yukio Mishima (other topics)
Joseph J. Ellis (other topics)
Joseph J. Ellis (other topics)
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And that winner is:
beautiful
Non-fiction had a lot of people voting for it, but beautiful was the most popular and had the most participation points use..."
Interesting, since I used 10 points for non-fiction, but I like beautiful. I just didn't vote for it because I'd read far more books on the first couple of pages of that one.
I recommend All the Light We Cannot See and also My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry.
I'm not sure if this is on there, but the writing is beautiful in Snow Falling on Cedars!!
I'm already planning to reread Northanger Abbey for a group read because it fits with my Rebellious Reading whatever I feel like year and it's on there. There is another shelved there 5 times I probably wouldn't call beautiful I may read, Stars Above.