Play Book Tag discussion
2016-19 Activities & Challenges
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Time to Vote for the Top 10 PBT Books for 2019 . . .and the Decade!
Top 10 for 2019Flight Portfolio - Oringger
Lethal White - Galbraith/Rowling
The Museum of Modern Love - Rose
The Dutch House - Patchett
Lanny - Porter
The Women of Copper Country - Russell
The Penelopiad - Atwood
The Silence of the Girls - Barker
The Aeronaut’s Windlass - Butcher
Spinning Silver - Novik
Almost made the list
City of Girls - Gilbert
Strange the Dreamer - L.Taylor
Daisy Jones and the Six - Reid
Anansi Boys - Gaiman
My absolute least favorite was The Flanders Panel by Perez-Reverte; tedious plot, terrible characters.
I'll have to get back to this after I figure out my 30 top favorites for the decade. (There's not a chance that I'll get it down to 10)
Anita wrote: "Lol, Cindy - - so I just got my Goodreads year in review, and my average rating was 3.8 versus 3.6 last year - - which is strange because I thought last year was a much better reading year than this one, lol. I must be getting soft in my old age. ..."LOL! I've found I do seem to go through spurts where I don't feel like I'm being as tough a rater as usual. Haven't seen my year in review yet, so I'll have to see where I landed this year once I do.
Top 10 of 2019Harry Potter - Rowling
The Most Fun We Ever Had - Lombardo
The Dutch House - Patchett
A Woman Is No Man - Rum
Daisy Jones and the Six - Reid
A Ladder to the Sky - Boyne
The Great Believers - Makkai
Queenie - Carty-Williams
Last Days of Night - Moore
Red, White & Royal Blue - McQuiston
Okay, my listing of Harry Potter generally is kind of cheating, but I doubt it makes our Top 10 of the year so I am sticking with it! If I need to narrow it down, then Prisoner of Azkaban remains my favorite of those books. But, I adored my reread this year.
In years past, I have had more nonfiction on my list, but I don't have a single nonfiction this year! Instead, literary fiction really dominated.
I am not doing a top 10 of the decade. I just can't. lol. I cannot even wrap my brain around it! Well, maybe I will...perhaps I will think of it as the most impactful books of the past decade and not just my favorite. Which totally means that TWILIGHT would make the list! lol
For those of you who are still pondering the best of the decade, please either use a new message, OR don't forget to alert me if you are editing an existing message. I'm compiling as the postings come in and don't want to miss your additions.
So hard to do.Top 10 for 2019-No order
Upstairs in the White House: My Life with the First Ladies - West
Lanny - Porter
The Nickel Boys - Whitehead
Lost Children Archive - Luiselli
Women Talking - Toews
Bones of the Earth - Pattison
The President's Gardens - Muhsin
The Women of the Copper Country - Russell
The Invisible Bridge - Orringer
UnBranded - Masters
Tie for worst -A Transcontinental Affair -Jodi Daynard
Preparation for the Next Life - Atticus Lish
So many excellent books which didn't make my list.
Now for Decade: So many great reads. I tried to only include books published in this decade. I had 19 and honed it to 10, no order:
Doc - Russell
The Orphan Master's Son - Johnson
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena - Marra
The Tsar of Love and Techno - Marra
Exit West - Hamid
Sing Unburied Sing - West
Medicine Walk - Wagamese
The Underground Railroad - Whitehead
Women Talking - Toews
The Overstory - Powers
Anita wrote: "so I just got my Goodreads year in review, and my average rating was 3.8 versus 3.6 last year - ..."So, my average rating this year was 3.4. I switched years all the way back to 2016 and my average rating has been the same all the way through! (However, without GR doing 1/2 stars, really my average should be higher...)
ETA: Went a bit further back and it stayed 3.4 average from 2014 up to and including this year (so far!). In 2013, my average was 3.5.
Top 10 for 2019Sergeant Rex: The Unbreakable Bond Between a Marine and His Military Working Dog-Mike Dowling
My Life Among the Underdogs: A Memoir-by Tia Torres
Say Goodbye for Now-Catherine Ryan Hyde
The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto-Mitch Albom
The Island of Sea Women-by Lisa See
Fated for Felony-Victoria Laurie
As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride-Cary Elwes
You Look Like That Girl: A Child Actor Stops Pretending and Finally Grows Up-Lisa Jakub
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood-Trevor Noah
All the above books are five star book but the stand out book is The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto-Mitch Albom.
Least favorite title of the year-The Life We Bury-Allen Eskens
I can't believe I finished it.
Top 10 of the Decade
Moloka'i-Alan Brennert
Where the Heart Is-Billie Letts
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption-Laura Hillenbrand
The Leisure Seeker-Michael Zadoorian
Second Hand-Michael Zadoorian
Tidewater: A Novel of Pocahontas and the Jamestown Colony-Libbie Hawker
Educated- Tara Westover
The Martian-Andy Weir
The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto-Mitch Albom
Lottery-Patricia Wood
Here are my favorites from 2019:The Song of Achilles - Miller
Circe - Miller
A Ladder to the Sky - Boyne
The Martian - Weir
Skeletons at the Feast - Bohjalian
Nothing to See Here - Wilson
Where the Crawdads Sing - Owens
The Portable Veblen - McKenzie
The World According to Garp - Irving
Pride and Prejudice - Austen
I read some great books this year and tried to mix in some of the classics that I somehow missed in high school/college. I'm reminded why the classics are in fact "classic".
I think my biggest surprise was Skeletons at the Feast. I love Chris Bojalian's books, so I added one to my "Trim the TBR" list. I hadn't really realized this was a WWII book - and I've been avoiding those. I think WWII has been written into the ground. But in the spirit of trimming my TBR I picked up Skeletons and found myself completely engrossed by the story, the characters, the writing. Everything I love about Bojalian's books. I also appreciated some of the moral ambiguity - generally absent in WWII books - that gave depth to the characters and the story.
Absolute worst book of the year: The Emigrants - Moberg. This book is the first in a 4-part series describing a group of Swedish families migrating to the United States in the 1850's. The book wasn't a total loss - I feel like I had almost first hand experience at how long, monotonous, boring and deadly the Atlantic crossing was at that point in time. I was ready to throw myself overboard by the end of the book. Needless to say, I won't be reading books 2, 3 or 4, and don't recommend book 1 to anyone.
For the decade, I'm enjoying looking back. So many good books to pick from! To make it easier, I left out 2019 (since I have 10 of those above).
The Girl Who Played with Fire - Larsson
The Kite Runner - Hosseini
Life After Life - Atkinson
The Valley of Amazement - Tan
Gone Girl - Flynn
The Sandcastle Girls - Bohjalian
A Gentleman in Moscow - Towles
The Night Circus - Morgenstern
The Hearts Invisible Furies - Boyne
The Gray House - Petrosyan
The biggest surprise was The Gray House. I got this for free on one of Amazon's World Reading days. Looking through reviews, there was a common theme: when the book was finished, many people started back at the beginning to read again (or expressed a desire to read again at some point). I can say I had the exact same thought at the end of this book. It's not for everyone, but it was one of my favorites from last year.
AJ, I am so sorry that 2019 was a hard year! I knew your engagement had ended and that you had a new baby brother, but was completely unaware of everything else! I knew I was seeing you less on PBT but chalked it up to handling the end of your relationship, which can be so hard. I am glad you are in a healthier relationship now and that things with your family seem to be improving. I truly hope you have a better 2020...starting with getting into the volunteer program you applied for!
Lots of hugs!
That's a lot to carry, AJ, sending hugs to you. Broken relationships are hard enough, but to have all the other emotional drains pile up is doubly tough! You sound like you are strong and resilient, though, and I wish you all the best, especially for the New Year!
AJ, I am sorry to hear about all of your troubles. Best of luck to the New Year for you.
AJ, you are a Strong Woman! I’m so sorry for your tough times. Congratulations on getting through it with such a positive attitude- clearly your little brother was a huge blessing.
AJ, I knew only some of these things before now. I am sorry for all that you have had to endure and hope that 2020 will be better :) !
Looks like only one person cites a non-fiction read. Didn't we submit selections of nonfiction in the past? Sort of like apples and oranges to combine, plus we end up with such a limited selection of nonfiction when so few include them. Jusr a thought.
We just do one list, Michael, containing both fiction and nonfiction. A few years ago we did the PBT top 100 fiction and nonfiction, and those were separate lists. Perhaps you are thinking of that.
AJ, sending you love! May 2020 go from strength to strength. May it be a good year for you and all of us here.
AJ wrote: "Personally: at the beginning of the year ..."Oh, AJ. I knew about a couple of those things, but not about most of it. I'm so sorry it's been such an awful year for you. It sounds like things are improving already and I hope they continue to do so.
2019 Night Boat to Tangier - Kevin Barry
The Wall - John Lanchester
The Man Who Saw Everything - Deborah Levy
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong
The Heart's Invisible Furies - John Boyne
My least favorite was: 10 Minutes, 38 Seconds in this Strange World (or as I like to call it, the 5 People You Meet in a Gutter in Istanbul)
That's it ...
For my decade list, I went back to my trusty Shelfari spreadsheet :) .... I wanted to pick one book per year, but it didn't work out like that. Mostly I picked the book of that year (except 14 and 19) that has left the most lasting impression or changed my reading in some way ... without further ado ....
The End of Alice - A.M. Homes
Super Sad True Love Story - Gary Shteyngart
Will Grayson, Will Grayson - John Green
Franny and Zooey - J.D. Salinger
The Orphan Master's Son - Adam Johnson
The Shock Doctrine - Naomi Klein
The Autobiography of Malcolm X - Malcolm X
Hot Milk - Deborah Levy
Autumn - Ali Smith
Milkman - Anna Burns
2010 - The End of Alice - A.M. Homes I read this book twice in 6 weeks. It's not something I can widely recommend, but it showed me that a topic and be horrifying, yet a book still great.
2010- Super Sad True Love Story - Gary Shteyngart A cautionary tale, and so prescient (though probably close to fully realized at this point!)
2011 - Will Grayson, Will Grayson - John Green I have recommended this book to so many people. It's Green's best in my opinion. Also one of the best audio's I've ever heard.
2012 - Franny and Zooey - J.D. Salinger Changed the way I think of classics (recent classics?) Salinger is so brilliant I've even been willing to read short stories.
2012 - The Orphan Master's Son - Adam Johnson Frequently recommended. It was such an immersive cultural experience.
2013 - The Shock Doctrine - Naomi Klein I refer to this all the time, and I recommend it all the time. Completely changed my thinking and understanding of the way the world works (spoiler alert: It's money)
2015 - The Autobiography of Malcolm X - Malcolm X Another book I recommend all the time and another book that completely changed (and challenged) my thinking and understanding about being black in America ... yes, even today.
2016 - Hot Milk - Deborah Levy Levy is such a fantastic writer. This book is one of the reasons I'm so excited by the Booker prize every year.
2017 - Autumn - Ali Smith The only thing I can say about this is ... Ali Smith!!!
2018 - Milkman - Anna Burns - So sorry Anita ... this book opened my eyes to the darkness in Irish authors.
Nicole D. wrote: "2011 - Will Grayson, Will Grayson - John Green I have recommended this book to so many people. It's Green's best in my opinion. Also one of the best audio's I've ever heard. ..."Agreed!
While waiting for the cake I baked to cool for a party tomorrow, I finally have time to do this!It was not as stellar a top reads year as last when they were constantly popping into my mind and being referred. Actually, the bad reads, my leadt faves, were far more interesting as conversation pieces.... but here goes:
Theresa's 2019 top 10
Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia
- Janet Wallach
A Hundred and One Days: A Baghdad Journal - Åsne Seierstad
The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise - Julia Stuart
Cheerful Weather for the Wedding - Julia Strachey
Venetia - Georgette Heyer - a reread of an old fave but even better on every read.
Rules of Civility - Amor Towles
The Leopard - Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
To Keep the Sun Alive - Rabeah Ghaffari
The Bookshop - Penelope Fitzgerald
The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
Least fave...has to be Memoirs of a Geisha - so mediocre and so over hyped.
Theresa's Top 10 for decade... as did not start keeping track until 3 or 4 years ago, this is skewing recent. But here are what come to mind:
The Last Watchman of Old Cairo - Michael David Lukas
The Word Is Murder - Anthony Horowitz [could easily have been [book:Magpie Murders|32075854] but chose this one as it truly is a highly original traditional detective story]
A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles
The Weight of Ink -Rachel Kadish
The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
Appetite for America: How Visionary Businessman Fred Harvey Built a Railroad Hospitality Empire That Civilized the Wild West -Stephen Fried
The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise - Julia Stuart
The Book of Emma Reyes - Emma Reyes
The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland - Jim DeFede
The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal - Lily Koppel
AJ, it is really nice to see you here and I'm sorry to hear that you've had such a rough year. May 2020 bring you wonderful things. I look forward to sharing reading experiences with you. xAJ wrote: "The Other Woman - Jones
Big Magic - Gilbert
The Best Yes - TerKeurst
Heroine - McGinnis
Far From the Tree - Benway
What Alice Forgot - Moriarty
Misery - King
We Should All Be Feminists - Adichie..."
Shield your eyes Anita! The word Milkman has been mentioned in a 'best of' list! AAAHHH! Lol. Nicole, I love your top reads of 2019, minus The Wall, AND we share the same least favourite of the year. I suppose I can forgive you Milkman. ;-) Nicole D. wrote: "2019
Night Boat to Tangier - Kevin Barry
The Wall - John Lanchester
The Man Who Saw Everything - Deborah Levy
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong
The Heart's Invisible Furies - John Bo..."
Theresa, will you please edit your post so it is formatted the same as Amit’s example in post 1 (or maybe post 2)? You need to replace the “by” with “-“. Thanks!
Nicole D. wrote: ".Milkman"Eeeekkkkkkk.
Just kidding, but I'm starting to wonder if I like Irish authors. First Milkman, then Night Boat to Tangier. Usually we agree, but maybe here is where we part ways.
Although I love John Boyne so there's that.
And excited to see Hot Milk on there.
Nicole R wrote: "Theresa, will you please edit your post so it is formatted the same as Amit’s example in post 1 (or maybe post 2)? You need to replace the “by” with “-“. Thanks!"It's actually okay. I sort on title so as long as there aren't numbers in front of the title, I'm fine. Numbers in front of the title are a big problem.
Thanks for looking out for me though!!! Hugs.
Michael wrote: "Looks like only one person cites a non-fiction read. Didn't we submit selections of nonfiction in the past? Sort of like apples and oranges to combine, plus we end up with such a limited selection ..."People can definitely submit non-fiction titles (and currently there are a couple in contention), but this is the top 10 for PBT, and I think we are mostly fiction readers so the non-fiction is probably pretty representative of us as a group.
We do it the same way each year so it's consistent at least.
But maybe we'll do a big non-fiction round up next year since it has been a while since we revised our non-fiction top 100 of all time.
Susie wrote: "Shield your eyes Anita! The word Milkman has been mentioned in a 'best of' list! AAAHHH! Lol. Nicole, I love your top reads of 2019, minus The Wall, AND we share the same least favourite of the yea..."I didn't shield my eyes fast enough, Susie!
What's so interesting is how much more consensus there is for the decade than for the year. I would not have expected that.
"All the Light We Cannot See" seems to be on a lot of our lists, including mine. I think it's interesting too.
Nicole R wrote: "Theresa, will you please edit your post so it is formatted the same as Amit’s example in post 1 (or maybe post 2)? You need to replace the “by” with “-“. Thanks!"NP! Sorry about that. Overwork has severely stunted my attention to details.
My top 10 for the year:Cilka's Journey - Heather Morris
Tattooist of Auschwitz - Heather Morris
Educated - Tara Westover
Stay With Me - Ayobami Adebayo
Skeletons at the Feast - Chris Bohjalian
Under One Roof - Barry Martin
The Mother-In-Law - Sally Hepworth
To Night Owl From Dogfish - Holly Goldberg Sloan
Ask Me Why I Hurt - Randy Christensen
Whiter Than Snow - Sandra Dallas
Least favorite book of the year:
Veronika Decides to Die - Paulo Coelho
I will have to give a great deal of thought to my top 10 of the decade.
This was tough for me... only a couple really stood out and I had a hard time figuring out the rest of the 10.Favorites for 2019:
Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things - Jenny Lawson
The Nightingale - Kristin Hannah
The Map of Salt and Stars - Zeyn Joukhadar
It's a Long Story: My Life - Willie Nelson
Braving the Wilderness - Brene Brown
In Pieces - Sally Field
The Tattooist of Aushchwitz - Heather Morris
It - Stephen King
Daisy Jones & The Six - Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Great Alone - Kristin Hannah
I'm going to pass on coming up with books for the decade. I didn't keep the best track early in the decade and then I stopped reading for a while.
I only read 14 books this year, so I don't even have 10 favorite but these are the ones I liked the best:Dads' Maybe Book - TIm O'Brien
There There - Tommy Orange
The Ninth Hour - Alice McDermott
The Friend - Sigrid Nunez
Call Sign Chaos - Jim Mattis
My favorite for the decade are as follows:
The Imperfectionists - Tom Rachman
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet - David Mitchell
There There - Tommy Orange
A Visit From the Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan
The Coldest Night - Robert Olmstead
The Forever War - Dexter Filkins
Redeployment - Phil Kay
What It Takes - Richard Ben Cramer
West by West - Jerry West
Pleading Guilty - Scott Turow
Went with ones published in 2019 and in decade, helping me in struggles in choices.Year
Olive, Again - Elizabeth Strout
This Tender Land - William Kent Krueger
Girl, Woman, Other - Bernardine Evaristo
The World That We Knew - Alice Hoffman
Frankissstein: A Love Story - Jeanette Winterson
Transcription - Kate Atkinson
The First Stone - Carsten Jensen
The Women of the Copper Country - Mary Doris Russell
The Nickel Boys - Colson Whitehead
Quichotte - Salman Rushdie
Decade
A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles
Doc - Mary Doria Russell
Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout
Lincoln in the Bardo - George Saunders
This Tender Land - William Kent Krueger
The Overstory - Richard Powers
Lila - Marilynne Robinson
Do Not Say We Have Nothing - Madeleine Thien
All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr
A Man Called Ove - Fredrik Backman
AJ wrote: "AJ, Some of these years we just want to hide under a pillow and let someone call us out when it's safe. I hope your next year will be wonderful and just easy going and refreshing
Michael wrote: "Went with ones published in 2019 and in decade, helping me in struggles in choices.Year
Olive, Again - Elizabeth Strout
This Tender Land - William Kent Krueger
Girl, Woman, Other - Bernardine Eva..."
I love your selections - - especially Olive, Again!
I've read a lot of very light books this year, so my average rating is down on the normal. But there were some outstanding books and some very good 4 star also-rans ...If I finish Michelle Obama's book this year, it will almost certainly displace one of these, but here's my list for now.
Daisy Jones and the Six - Reid
A Ladder To The Sky - Boyne
Into Thin Air - Krakauer
The Silence of the Girls - Barker
The Lost Man - Harper
The Dry - Harper
The Red Garden - Hoffman
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen - Bujold
A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived - Rutherford
The Friend - Nunez
My decade list (with apologies to several of you for one of them!):
Daisy Jones and the Six - Reid
The Heart's Invisible Furies - Boyne
A Ladder to the Sky - Boyne
Circe - Miller
Wolf Hall - Mantell
Cloud Atlas - Mitchell
Constellation of Vital Phenomena - Marra
The Tsar of Love and Techno - Marra
Lab Girl - Jahren
Educated - Westover
There were so many wonderful books that it's hard to choose ten, but I've picked ones that really grabbed me or that broadened my thinking about writing.
Kate, I LOVE your decade list. Is it Wolf Hall you are apologising for? I’m still determined to read it again and like it! Now seems the time, with the impending release of the the third installment in 2020.
I have been thinking about this, and seeing the notifications for this thread pop up, both causing a little anxiety because I cannot do my decades list :( I just haven't tracked well enough for that. BUT, I can share my best of 2019! Top Ten for 2019 (in no particular order):
They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us
Girls Burn Brighter
Pachinko
The Great Believers
Black Leopard, Red Wolf 😈
Mostly Dead Things (I didn't rate this a 5, but it is one of those books I couldn't stop thinking about and I might even read it again)
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
The Nickel Boys
The Hunger
Frankissstein: A Love Story
Kate-happy to see The Friend on your list-I had a serious argument, with myself, on that one- but in the end I had to cut itWolf Hall....ugh *as she bays at the moon*-but this is what makes this group wonderful, all the different opinions, so I digress.
Susie wrote: "Kate, I LOVE your decade list. Is it Wolf Hall you are apologising for? I’m still determined to read it again and like it! Now seems the time, with the impending release of the the third installmen..."I was thinking she was apologizing for "Cloud Atlas"! :-)
LibraryCin wrote: "Susie wrote: "Kate, I LOVE your decade list. Is it Wolf Hall you are apologising for? I’m still determined to read it again and like it! Now seems the time, with the impending release of the the th..."Ah, I missed that one-I hated it too!
It was ‘Wolf Hall’ I meant (or ‘Wolf Snore’ as it got christened round here!) Nearly everyone in PBT hates it, with Theresa and Anita at the head of the pack! But I’d forgotten that ‘Cloud Atlas’ is nearly as polarising ... Now all I have to do is read ‘Milkman’ and love it, so I have the trifecta... But I agree JoAnne - that’s what makes this group great. Wildly different reactions to a book are interesting not challenging, and are fodder for some fabulous teasing, and running jokes!
Lol, I gave Wolf Hall three stars . . .didn't seem to write a review. I must say it wasn't the most scintillating to me, but so much better than Milkman.
There you go - three stars is positively respectable! Definitely aiming for the trifecta now 😂😂
Barely got through Wolf Hall. Didn't near Milkman because of everyone's warnings.
I loved Cloud Atlas, and although I wasn't blown away by Wolf Hall when I read it, I've been meaning to go back and give it a second chance ever since being very impressed by Mark Rylance in the BBC adaptation - so now I'm thinking I should try Milkman... 😂
I also loved Cloud Atlas so there's that . . .
Play Book Tag
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A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II (other topics)
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When All Is Said (other topics)
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Silence of the Girls - Pat Barker
Watchers - Dean Koontz
11/22/63 - Stephen King
Here Be Dragons - Sharon Kay Penman
Nefertiti - Michelle Moran
IQ - Joe Ide
Vicious - V. E. Schwab
Fi..."
I read Five Smooth Stones when I was a teen. I'm glad you liked it, because I remember it as being excellent.