Alert- your book might belong in the 21st century folder

[NancyJ]

I noticed that a lot of the posts in the "other" thread are on the 21st tag list - several are right on the first page. . As far as I can tell, most people used this tag for any book written after 1999. Now that it's 2019, the tag might be less relevant, and many are challenging themselves to read books that have the 21st century as a topic, or to read books that were just recently published.

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

[Barbara M]

I also think that books set in the 21st Century would be within the spirit of the tag. I was glad you caught my book as a 21st Century one!

[Jgrace]

I am thinking of moving my review of I Am the Messenger out of the 21st century folder. It was published in 2002, but was probably set in the '80s. It has been tagged 21st century, but that's not how I use the tag.

[Joy D]

I tend to put books where I feel they most belong based on content and not publication date. Frankly, I am often baffled by how books are categorized on those lists. People use categories in all sorts of ways, but I like to remain internally consistent in my tags.

[NancyJ]

Jgrace wrote: "I am thinking of moving my review of I Am the Messenger out of the 21st century folder. It was published in 2002, but was probably set in the '80s. It has been tagged 21st century, but..."

I think that could be true of many of the books near the top of the list (other than fantasy books). The Book Thief was set during WWII and it's on the first page of the tag list. Many people used the tag for your book, so I would feel comfortable using it too (and I might still fit it in). But of course, it's up to you.

I like that we're free to use our own criteria for a tag (except for challenges) but it might be awkward if some earn 1 point and others earn 2 points for the same book. Using Joy's terminology, that would lack External consistency (and external equity).

In any event, Hunger Games is #1 on the list, so I hate to see someone losing points they've earned.

[Jgrace]

NancyJ wrote: "Jgrace wrote: "I am thinking of moving my review of I Am the Messenger out of the 21st century folder. It was published in 2002, but was probably set in the '80s. It has been tagged 21..."

I'm not really concerned with points. But, this is a book that's also works for the horizons challenge. I wouldn't want anyone else to feel they couldn't get the bonus points. It won't be tagged 21st century on my own shelves.

[Nicole R]

Many people do not file book reviews in a way that is consistent with other members because they use their own method. So, they are not really “missing out” on participation pints as they know they are getting 1 point instead of 2 but prioritize sticking with their personal guidelines.

And the admins are totally fine with either way—maximizing participation points or sticking with a narrower personal definition. Or, even adding a new and appropriate tag to a book that was not previously tagged as 21st century!

All is fair game so long as people stick to the spirit of PBT and read books that logically fit the tag for them.

[[deleted user]]

This is interesting - I've started writing at the bottom of my reviews whether I think the book fits the tag or not! For example, my book for 21st century was The Golden Age of Detective Fiction (also my TRIM), and was tagged 21st century on page 3, but takes place between the 2 world wars. So although I've put it in the 21st century folder, I've written that I don't think it belongs there in my review.

[Amy]

This tag was way too broad for me personally. I guess (for myself), I didn't feel anything written or set in the 21st century qualified. I went for two political climate books, 21st century personalities who have an impact, and I remember there was a lot of talk about climate change books. I suppose futuristic makes sense, and I can even even buy Harry Potter as a 21st century phenomena. I just moments ago bought the argument that living with Autism is a 21st century phenomena, like stem cell replacement might be. I can buy the man booker list argument, because they were books that maybe were written about a time long ago, but became impactful now. I might even buy a best seller like a Gone Girl, as a phenomena that impacted our life and culture. But that's just me. A lot of Goodreads users have first page lists of things that (to me) clearly don't belong. Its hard if you think per se that a book tagged London is going to be there more than a few chapters, and you've picked it and they were barely there. So get the point since you chose it for the month, but at least own it. Ship of Brides made me learn not a thing about Australia. The setting could have been anywhere. Its just the fun of going for a book that fits the tag, that you might not have picked up. I enjoy the fact that I am the busiest person i know, and that I have never missed a month or challenge since February of 2016. We can't the tags so seriously that its a stress for us. But in my opinion, the stretch can't be ridiculous either.

[Joanne]

Agree Amy-I was 150 pages into Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before, when I put it down. Not because I wasn't enjoying it, but it really was not in Australia, per se. Now I have Shame and the Captives, and both enjoying it and feeling comfortable that it will not take me around the South Pacific instead of Australia.

[Theresa]

I'm more likely to, like Amy, choose my monthly theme picks along relatively narrow lines than others, or even sometimes a bit eccentric lines! The key is that it works for you and you own that.

For me with the 21st Century tag, simply reading a book published since 2000 was just not going to cut it. The story itself had to somehow seem uniquely 21st Century. And the book had to be something already lurking in my library unread. Or being read for another challenge. I ended up with Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, which I actually had pulled to read in July, because it deals with racism in our 21st Century world. I was able to count Guy in Real Life because it was very much a 21st Century YA book belonging to a relatively new sub-sub-SciFi genre called LitRPG (I was reading it for Pop Sugar Challenge), and the world of the book was unmistakeably contemporary 21st Century. Then of course the one that I joined a buddy read for: The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland which can only be 21st Century.

I did not count as 21st Century the 2 dystopian books I read in August (Malevil and 1984) or the set in space one (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) -- because even though futuristic, they are set in a future 20th Century. All were read for challenges.

And that was a lot of SciFi genre and subgenres for someone who does not really care for that genre! I decided to just go with it and get them all out of the way when my Trim turned out to be Malevil!