Announcing the August Tag

[Amy]

I thought I would be behind you! I decidedly decided never to read it - sigh!

[Meli]

Ellen wrote: "I will finally get to "Educated", I am quite possibly the last person on the planet to not have read this one yet."

Nope, we're the last 2 :P

[Joanne]

MaryAnn (EmilyD1037) wrote: "My choice is : Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks"

Marvelous book! Enjoy!

[Meli]

Michael wrote: "Booknblues wrote: "I'm thrilled with this. I think I put extra points down for it. I'm not sure at all what I will be reading, but I planned on reading something on the Booker Long list...."

https..."

So Black Leopard Red Wolf didn't make it!?

I know that book was quite challenging for most of the general public, and it was for me as well, but I love it and I think Marlon James is brilliant 😍

[Idit]

I will read Boy Swallows Universe for Horizon
also - for a real Horizon I just got from the library the french lie with me

For my other challenge it will be very good if I finally read something published in 2003, 2008 or 2010

And there's the climate read...

There are so many books for this tag it's almost pointless to recommend one and not another.
I'm with Theresa regarding The Sellout. I thought it was brilliant.
Americanah is both good and very 21 century (very hipster and the hero is a blog writer)

[Jgrace]

Ellen wrote: "I will finally get to "Educated", I am quite possibly the last person on the planet to not have read this one yet."

We are the two last persons then, Ellen. The really sad thing is that I've had it checked out of the library twice (!) without getting to it before the due date. I'm back on the long waiting list again.

[Hebah]

Jgrace wrote: "Ellen wrote: "I will finally get to "Educated", I am quite possibly the last person on the planet to not have read this one yet."

We are the two last persons then, Ellen. The really sad thing is t..."

I haven't read it either. Library hold list hasn't quieted down, so I'll get around to it when that dies down, maybe.

[Joy D]

Amy wrote: "For those of you who were musing about Poet X, I discovered last week that there is 9th grade Summer Reading (PoetX), and 11th grade reading (Educated)..."

I know what you mean. I always read anything assigned to my son so we could discuss it. I ended up reading things I may never have picked up on my own.

[Doughgirl5562]

Well, my cousin will be happy because I am finally going to read the copy of Where'd You Go, Bernadette that she gave me two years ago for Christmas LOL.

And I have two recommendations - two less well-known books that really fit the 21st Century tag well:

- The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland - Really interesting.

- Marathon by Brian Freeman - This was a 5* read for me, and I don't give 5* easily. My book club almost unanimously chose this book as our city-wide read last year because it is a very well written and thought provoking mystery. It deals with issues that are extremely relevant to the 21st century. See my review in the link.

[Barbara M]

Jgrace wrote: "I use century tags to indicate fictional settings, not publication dates.
So far most of the 21st century books on my 'read' shelf are those split timeline books that share some of the storytellin..."

I'm like you, I use the century tag for the time period of the book I'm reading, not for the publication date. I'm going to try to stay within that. So far I'm thinking The Hate U Give and Educated. There might be one more but that's close to all I can handle for the tag with the Trim and Horizons challenge too.

[Nicole D.]

HELL YES! I will be reading booker noms. But I highly recommend Lost Children Archive as a book both written in 21st century and dealing with the border crisis.

[Theresa]

Johanne wrote: "Oh I had not connected the dots! Maja Lunde is also a children's author and I have read some of those. I haven't read a history of bees yet, but her next book 'blå' (blue) was out in Danish last au..."

Happy to oblige! I treasure my autographed hardcover of History of Bees -- I discovered it and Maja when she was in NYC promoting the English translation and participated in a Q & A at Scandinavia House in NYC - that was late 2017 I believe. Such a good book.

[Theresa]

@Amy - I feel your pain! My Trim is a bit of a doorstopper, does not fit 21st Century, and my reading time has shrunk significantly due to work. I'll probably keep Horizons to a Kerry Greenwood Miss FIsher mystery which will be quick and light - and I have an unread one on my Kindle!

@Doughgirl - the suggestion of The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland is absolutely an excellent suggestion for 21st Century, one I have in a pile by my sofa - still not read (but that may be more about my avoidance of all things 9/11, although I did see and love Come From Away). As I recall, it is also pretty short.

@all Educated readers - I only read it last month -- and was very skeptical. Ended up really enjoying it, found it was a page turner. I'm still thinking about education and just what it is our educational system is supposed to give us == something that the second half of the book triggered. A friend of mine who just read it for her book club says that most in her book club did not like it because they found Tara herself cold. Ooookay...granted she's not someone I believe I want to sit down and have dinner with, but that she is socially awkward and aloof, emotionally removed -- yeah, you definitely get that from reading the book and it is totally understandable (and leads in part to my mental musings about formal education and the purpose of attending 'school' from a young age).

[LibraryCin]

Ellen wrote: "I will finally get to "Educated", I am quite possibly the last person on the planet to not have read this one yet."

I've not read it. We had it nominated for our book club for January, but the person who nominated it changed her mind.

[LibraryCin]

Doughgirl5562 wrote: "- The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland - Really interesting..."

YAY! Seconded! Some of you may have seen my recent review.

[Joi]

Idit wrote: "I will read Boy Swallows Universe for Horizon."

This is a great double whammy with Australia.

Also, I've been wanting to read The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland for a while, this month might be the chance!

[DianeMP]

MaryAnn (EmilyD1037) wrote: "My choice is : Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks"

This is a wonderful book, one of my favorites. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

[Barbara M]

Jgrace wrote: "Ellen wrote: "I will finally get to "Educated", I am quite possibly the last person on the planet to not have read this one yet."

We are the two last persons then, Ellen. The really sad thing is t..."

Nope, I haven't read it either but am planning on doing it this month.

[Barbara M]

Joi wrote: "Idit wrote: "I will read Boy Swallows Universe for Horizon."

This is a great double whammy with Australia.

Also, I've been wanting to read [book:The Day the World Came to Town: 9/..."

Ohhhh, I forgot about that one!

[Susan]

Joanne wrote: "Hebah wrote: "Since such a broad tag won, I'm going to take that as permission to read whatever I want this month since I tend to read fairly current and I now have 19 years of stuff to choose from..."

The first graphic novel I became aware of (which doesn't mean the first one out there) was Maus, by Art Spiegelman in the 1980s. But I believe they've become much more popular in the 21st! Good idea.

[Susan]

Jgrace wrote: "I use century tags to indicate fictional settings, not publication dates.
So far most of the 21st century books on my 'read' shelf are those split timeline books that share some of the storytellin..."

Ooh- a new Jackson Brodie. Must look that up!

[NancyJ]

Jgrace wrote: "I use century tags to indicate fictional settings, not publication dates.
So far most of the 21st century books on my 'read' shelf are those split timeline books that share some of the storytellin..."

I haven't read anything by Ali Smith yet, so I was thinking of reading Autumn too. It seems to be getting a lot of praise, so maybe others will want to join in.

I have a Kate Atkinson book for my carryover book - it matches both London and 21st century.

[NancyJ]

Ellen wrote: "I will finally get to "Educated", I am quite possibly the last person on the planet to not have read this one yet."

Not at all. It's had long library wait lists so some are waiting, and there are still people who haven't heard of it. I'm sure there are others who see the title and think it must be boring. I hope you love it as much as I did. You won't like all the characters, but you won't be bored.

[NancyJ]

annapi wrote: "Michael wrote: "Good opportjnity for me to catch up on etgalley offeri gs of new books:
This Tender Land--William Kent Kruger..."

I got all excited about a new Krueger until I saw ..."

I didn't notice it on the giveaway list either. Maybe netgalley? (I haven't tried netgalley yet.) I'm going to read some of the books I won from goodreads.

[NancyJ]

Doughgirl5562 wrote: "Well, my cousin will be happy because I am finally going to read the copy of Where'd You Go, Bernadette that she gave me two years ago for Christmas LOL.

And I have two recommendat..."

The Day The World... Sounds perfect for this. I really loved Bernadette. It's quirky and the characters are really interesting (even if you don't always like them).

[Book Concierge]

I just finished this excellent book for my F2F book club:
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond ... Winner of the Pulitzer for Nonfiction (2017)
5***** - HIGHLY recommended

Another nonfiction I'd recommend is Madeleine Albright's Fascism: A Warning

And ... I just picked up Michelle Obama's memoir - Becoming .... so that's what I'll be reading.

[Karin]

Amy wrote: "For those of you who were musing about Poet X, I discovered last week that there is 9th grade Summer Reading (PoetX), and 11th grade reading (Educated). As you guys know I swore i wouldn't read Edu..."

I might be reading Educated as well, although I have mixed feelings about reading it. I had returned it, but somehow another one showed up with my holds. I must have put holds on both the hardcover and the audio, because it was the audio that I returned without listening to it. I think there were many holds ahead of me and I was going to read it for another group's group read or something like that.

[NancyJ]

Book Concierge wrote: "I just finished this excellent book for my F2F book club:
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond ... Winne..."

Evicted sounds interesting. Since you highly recommend it, does that mean that there may be some surprises (and dare I say hope) there?

I really admire Madeline Albright, but I'm already too aware of this danger, so I fear that reading it would make me feel even more hopeless about my own country. Does she have suggestions for what regular people can do about it? (Something that wouldn't get us tossed in jail?)

[Book Concierge]

NancyJ wrote: "Evicted sounds interesting. Since you highly recommend it, does that mean that there may be some surprises (and dare I say hope) there?

I really admire Madeline Albright, but I'm..."

Evicted is a bold eyes-wide-open look at the social issues that lead to (and are caused by) eviction. It's a pretty bleak picture, but the author does provide some hope.

Albright's book is interesting in that she does NOT blame only "the right" and she points out how small, incremental changes in policy can lead to a point where a society wakes up to find themselves caught in a fascist regime. Staying fully informed is our best defense.

[Charlotte]

I may take the easy way out on this and go with a very broad definition of this prompt. I think this I'm going to use this as a way to knock out a handful of books that have been biding their time on my TBR that I've wanted an excuse to get to.

[Joanne]

Lucky Day! While sorting donations at my library today I came across a copy of The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland-Looks like a quick read and you all have been saying how good it is. So for right now, that's my first read for the tag. Hoping though to get to Tony Horwitz too.

[Joi]

Joanne wrote: "Lucky Day! While sorting donations at my library today I came across a copy of The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland-Looks like a quick read and you all have be..."

I'm going to try my darndest to join you with this one!

[Holly R W]

I've also ordered the book from the library. Crossing my fingers that it will come in on time!

[Theresa]

Joi wrote: "Joanne wrote: "Lucky Day! While sorting donations at my library today I came across a copy of The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland-Looks like a quick read and ..."

Still didn't find my copy of the book - it was not in the piles by the couch where I last saw it. GRRR. Still have time to find it though.

[Joanne]

OK! Buddy read for The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, NewfoundlandI will set it up in footnotes on the first!

[NancyJ]

Joanne wrote: "OK! Buddy read for The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, NewfoundlandI will set it up in footnotes on the first!"

I might join this read toward the end of the month. I have a bunch of new (7 day) books that are just coming in now. I remember when I first heard this on the news. It filled me with hope for the world.

[Darci]

Still not sure what I'll read for this one. Probably either Angels & Demons or Before the Fall. Both of these look like they take place in the 21st century, but I haven't been able to tell for sure.

[Joanne]

Darci wrote: "Still not sure what I'll read for this one. Probably either Angels & Demons or Before the Fall. Both of these look like they take place in the 21st century, but I haven't..."

Before the Fall was a great book!

[Theresa]

I just want to say that the header this month is terrific!

[Charlie]

The best books written in the 21st century I’ve read and would highly recommend are:

Station Eleven
The Imperfectionists
The Forever War
Netherland
A Visit From The Goon Squad
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
Small Mercies
Redeployment
The Coldest Night
Saturday

Ones I’ve not yet read but would like to include:

Bel Canto
The Corrections
The Road
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
Savage The Bones
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
Half of a Yellow Sun
Where Did You Go Bernadette

[Idit]

Charlie I’m glad you mentioned The Forever War that is waiting on y phisycal shelf for me to finally read (and I need it for a sci-fi for bingo challenge.

The corrections is a wonderful book
Half of a yellow sun is not only fits by year of publishing. It is all set in the 60s - the Biafra war time. (Not that there’s something wrong with that. I’m reading now 2 books that are written in 21 century but are about 20 century. If you are a purist and want a 21 century plot, Americanah (if the same author) is very current (with blogs and hipsters and Obama mentioned and what not