Play Book Tag discussion
2021 Activities and Challenges
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Announcing the 2021 PBT Challenges!
For those concerned about finding their “hometown” book, remember it is ONE BOOK of the whole challenge. ONE. With the plethora of negative comments about it, you would think we asked you to find dozens! Lol.
This should not be the thing that prevents you from participating in the challenge. If you are having problems or need some more flexibility, then PM me. I always will work something out!
We’ll get you home next holiday season! 😉
NancyJ wrote: "Nicole, I found something on goodreads that might be a supplement/alternative to the genre tags for pbt skies. It's called "places." I got to this spot by doing a google search, but I can see that ..."@Nancy, can you explain how to access the "Places" links for GRs? They will be very helpful in finding international books to read. Thanks.
@Nicole, my comment was not meant to be negative, it was more a case of surprise. I have no problem using Denmark as a tag and then I'll still read a book set in my hometown, since that seems right :)Thanks for all the work you do, and thanks for being flexible.
Johanne wrote: "I don't tag books with places either. Maybe it's time to remedy that."If we all go in and add location tags maybe there will be more books to read for some locations 😂
I never use location tags either... I don't even think I have ANY location tags.
Nicole R wrote: "forsanolim wrote: "Just a quick question for Fly the Skies--assuming that everything works out covid-wise, I'll be doing a cross-country move this summer. For the challenge, should I plan to "fly o..."Could you remind me--can we fly home to the nearest international airport even if it is in another state, or should it be one in our state? Either is fine, but it might be fun to read something for the smallest state in the USA for this (not sure if there is anyone living in RI in this group anymore :) ).
Jen K wrote: "Karin wrote: "There is nothing set in the town where I live, but that's okay, because I am going to sail off from the former big whaling centre, New Bedford, MA, even though this won't add extra mi..."Late last night I remembered that it's the tags, so this doesn't qualify. I just don't know if I have any Boston books I want to read, and am not sure if I can fly from the closest airport because it's out of state.
Back to the drawing board.
ETA Nantucket has plenty of books that might count, and it's by the sea, so perhaps I'll sail from there. I need to leave and return from different places here.
Meli wrote: "Johanne wrote: "I don't tag books with places either. Maybe it's time to remedy that."If we all go in and add location tags maybe there will be more books to read for some locations 😂
I never use..."
Hey, if y'all decide to help out some members and read books set in their hometown and appropriately label then as such throughout the year, then that would be a nice holiday gift for them next December! lol
@ Nicole I think we all just like to plan. I'm quite sure everyone who wants to play will be able to get home for Fly the PBT skies.@Joanne I'm considering both Detroit and Michigan for final destination, mainly because I've already read a lot of the Detroit books.
I do tend to tag my books with the country or state they are set in and sometimes the city. I've done a few other challenges involving reading books set in specific locations which got me in this habit.
Karin wrote:Could you remind me--can we fly home to the nearest international airport even if it is in another state, or should it be one in our state? Either is fine, but it might be fun to read something for the smallest state in the USA for this (not sure if there is anyone living in RI in this group anymore :)
You should fly home to your state. The only exception to this that I have made so far is for someone living in the DC metro area. She is flying home to DC even though she technically lives in Maryland because of the oddity of DC.
Think of it as returning to where your physical home is located, not just to an airport where you still have more travel to come. The trip is over when you kick off your shoes and settle back in to your own furniture!
Nicole R wrote: "Karin wrote:Could you remind me--can we fly home to the nearest international airport even if it is in another state, or should it be one in our state? Either is fine, but it might be fun to read..."
Thanks, that's what I thought. It won't be a problem, since I am now starting from Nantucket and it will be really easy to find a Boston book or some other landing place.
NancyJ wrote: "Charlotte, there was a bestseller (maybe 10 years ago) that was set in Seattle and the main character goes to work at a research center in Antarctica. I'm blanking on the title right now, but it wa..."Where'd You Go, Bernadette ... read it, super cute especially the working at Microsoft part of it since at the time I was a vendor for Microsoft and working on their campus daily.
I was hoping for a Christmas/Seattle one to hit both Seattle and Fall Flurries... but no worries... there are still a bunch of books to choose from for the area and I already own several. Hopefully one will align with December's tag next year and that'll be what I read.
I'm always trying to close out the year for my Popsugar challenge, so I try to find as many books that tick as many boxes as possible in Dec.
Rachel N. wrote: "@ Nicole I think we all just like to plan. I'm quite sure everyone who wants to play will be able to get home for Fly the PBT skies.@Joanne I'm considering both Detroit and Michigan for final des..."
I read Bootstrapper: From Broke to Badass on a Northern Michigan Farm for Polls(Farming) and it is also tagged Michigan by 24 people. It was a 3 star read for me and pretty easy reading, if you are looking for something different.
I've decided on San Francisco instead of Sacramento, because I know I will find a book set in San Francisco and even though Sacramento is closer, I've flown from San Francisco, as well.
I have my first couple of destinations planned out! Lots of living room travelling for this gal in 2021 ;)
NancyJ wrote: "Ha! I knew someone here would speak up about that! People in this group (and others like us) are more diligent in tagging books than "most people."..."Good point! I'm also not only a librarian, but a cataloguer. :-)
Just a note for Nicole (not that I'm eligible for prizes or anything, but...). I just checked, and it doesn't look like there is even one book tagged "Alberta" 5 times. The max looks like 4 times, so I'll have to use the extremely broad "Canada" get home.
ETA: Looked again: Of the three books tagged "Alberta" 4 times, I have read them all. Of the one book tagged 3 times, I have also already read it! (And I bet I was a tagger in most, if not all of those?! One of them was not me - it was before I joined shelfari, so I wasn't tagging books then.)
Ok, this is the dumbest question ever considering the name and purpose of the group, but how do I "tag" a book? What I have done in the past is "add book to shelf", such as Want to Read or Winter Challenge, for instance. Is that the same thing? The categories I have are for my own use and wouldn't be helpful to others. I have noticed that others have tons of categories on their profiles. I do see how this could be helpful for future challenges, for instance, I would have some books in place by location, genre, or whatever. But it seems like a lot of clutter. Not sure why I feel that way, it is just the same on my cell phone, where I only want to add people I will be in touch with regularly, while my husband has basically recreated the old White & Yellow Pages on his phone by adding every number he ever calls. But if what I do has some benefit for others, that would make a difference to me.
Robin P wrote: "Ok, this is the dumbest question ever considering the name and purpose of the group, but how do I "tag" a book? What I have done in the past is "add book to shelf", such as Want to Read or Winter C..."No worries, Robin. They are the same thing. GR was just cute with naming them shelves instead of tags. Every other site that allows people to tag things how they want just calls them tags.
Robin P wrote: "But it seems like a lot of clutter. ..."And for me, it's a way to organize what I've read. It makes it easy to see what I've read that I've tagged "historical fiction" or "young adult" or "horses" or "alberta" or whatever.
If it helps, I've been doing a reading challenge for Europe this year so have just tagged all my books that I've read for those countries. I'm doing Asia and Canada next year so just about to tag them too!
LibraryCin wrote: "Just a note for Nicole (not that I'm eligible for prizes or anything, but...). I just checked, and it doesn't look like there is even one book tagged "Alberta" 5 times. The max looks like 4 times..."
Wow, I know you did a good job, but I was so flabbergasted I just checked a number of things I could think of, and it's amazing how seldom anything Alberta comes up! But you are close to BC, so if this might count, both British Columbia (which is really close to you) and Vancouver have books that have been shelved 5 or more times. I am not sure about Vancouver Island. I tend to just shelve Canadian books by province if they are set there. I may have read some set in Alberta but even if it's not cheating for me to shelve them that now, I don't know that they would make it 5. I haven't printed the rules of the challenges, and until I have them in a hard copy I really won't learn the rules well quickly.
My home area in BC had nothing until earlier today, but I don't live there and neither does anyone else in PBT that I know of (plus only shelved one time each and most of them you can't get in the States).
Amy wrote: "OK - There will definitely be a buddy read for Anxious People set in Sweden, whether Mental Health wins or not. Its also 2019 as Kelly pointed out this morning, for those finishing Bingo. Nancy, we..."I will join in the discussion.
I have used location tags for virtually every book I've read in the last couple of years. The only exceptions would be a fantasy or sci-fi with no location in the real world (e.g. Binti) or books that covered too many different locations (e.g. Around the World)
LibraryCin wrote: "Just a note for Nicole (not that I'm eligible for prizes or anything, but...). I just checked, and it doesn't look like there is even one book tagged "Alberta" 5 times. The max looks like 4 times..."
Cindy, have you read The Outlander?
I found this page as well: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...
Booknblues wrote: "Cindy, have you read The Outlander?..."
I have read "The Outlander". (And the other two that were tagged "Alberta" 4 times. And the one tagged "Alberta" 3 times!)
I will look at the list you provided, but given that they didn't come up on the list of Alberta tagged items, I'm not sure if they'll work.
Karin, maybe British Columbia is the better way to go than Canada as a whole! (If Nicole will permit it.)
Booknblues wrote: "I found this page as well: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3......"I feel like there is a series on that list that might appeal to Nicole! LOL! Maybe a couple of series... and a couple of stand-alones. Who knew there were so many romance books set in Alberta!?
Theresa might like those, too. :-) Notice the cowboys!
LibraryCin wrote: "Booknblues wrote: "I found this page as well: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3......"I feel like there is a series on that list that might appeal to Nicole! LOL! Maybe a couple of series... ..."
If I understand this right with this challenge we can help each other out by tagging., especially to get home to those places not tagged. I've read the Outlander so can easily tag it Alberta.
It is a while before you need to come home so keep us in touch with your plan.
Assuming fictional town in a real country doesn't count?Also, do we use the place name 'tag' as the place name in the distance calculator or is that flexible? For example, All Our Shimmering Skies is set in Darwin, Northern Territory. It is only tagged 2x Darwin but 14x Australia so only 'Australia' is qualified as tag to be used for this challenge. However, to calculate distance, do I use the city setting (Darwin) or even the state (Northern Territory) or do I have to stick to the tag's name that's used to claim this book (Australia)?
Not many Australian books are tagged enough times under capital cities...
Nicole R wrote: "Hey, if y'all decide to help out some members and read books set in their hometown and appropriately label then as such throughout the year, then that would be a nice holiday gift for them next December! lol"Nicole, so does that mean there are no restrictions on tagging books that we need for the game, or getting others to tag them for us?
Robin P wrote: "Ok, this is the dumbest question ever considering the name and purpose of the group, but how do I "tag" a book? What I have done in the past is "add book to shelf", such as Want to Read or Winter C..."It IS a lot of clutter, but I find it very useful to tag books I might want to read for a future challenge, or to help remind me of why I'm interested in a reading a book. I use Bulk Edits to save time in some tasks. I'll be cleaning up my shelves soon to delete those I no longer need, such as those for old challenges.
Replying to Tien:Fictional towns do not count. BUT, if you are reading a book set in a fictional town, but that book is still tagged with the real state or country, then you can use it!
This is a totally hypothetical example and I have not checked the tags or anything, but take my favorite book of all time Oryx and Crake for example. It is a dystopian book, and to the extent it took place in a city I think it was made up (it has been a while since I read it!) BUT, I can see it being tagged “Canada” because of Margaret Atwood. Because it is tagged “Canada” I can use it to go there!
Does that make sense? But, it does have to have some kind of real place tag so the distance calculator knows where to do.
Replying to Tien:The exact tag of the “location” you are claiming is used in the distance calculator. Even though your intention is to go to Darwin, if the book is tagged with the broader “Australia” then that is the destination you use for the calculator.
Chiming in to Cindy—British Columbia is the name of a Canadian territory, right?
If that is the case (as opposed to just a geographic description like “New England”) and the distance calculator recognizes it, then it is permitted!
Replying to Annapi:We are not monitoring for this game who tagged the book you read with the “location” you are claiming. That was an absolute nightmare in Poll Ballot Tally for me! Anita and I thought 5 taggers was high enough to ensure that it was a reasonable tag and that some non-game players had tagged it as such.
Having said that, if you have a burning desire to go back and tag books you have read with their ACCURATE geographic location or want to commit to doing that for upcoming reads, then that is totally up to you.
As always, we work on the honor system. So I think a good rule of thumb is to keep any new tagging you do to books you have actually read and please use accurate tags. Don’t just go in and tag every single Harry Potter book with Antarctica because you or someone else wants to go there but also just wants to read Harry Potter. Lol.
Also, @ Tien—I am surprised that the “Darwin” tag isn’t more prevalent as associated with Charles Darwin!
Nicole R wrote: "Also, @ Tien—I am surprised that the “Darwin” tag isn’t more prevalent as associated with Charles Darwin!"
Ooh, that's an interesting wrinkle. There could be some place names that are also names of people or things. Kind of like "cheese" for Wisconsin where most tags were because the book was "cheesy". There are probably towns somewhere named "Christmas", "Saga", "Freedom", etc. Maybe a town named "Long" after an early settler with that name but the tag refers to long books.
Robin P wrote: "Nicole R wrote: "Also, @ Tien—I am surprised that the “Darwin” tag isn’t more prevalent as associated with Charles Darwin!"
Ooh, that's an interesting wrinkle. There could be some place names th..."
Or the number of books tagged "western" that are classics like Dickens. Proust had a western tag!
Booknblues wrote: "I've read the Outlander so can easily tag it Alberta...."Thank you for your help, but I've read it already.
Nicole R wrote: "Chiming in to Cindy—British Columbia is the name of a Canadian territory, right?
If that is the case (as opposed to just a geographic description like “New England”) and the distance calculator..."
BC is the next province over beside Alberta to the west. (Vancouver, Victoria...). So, Alberta is not in BC, but it's the province beside.
I could have asked about Saskatchewan, too (the province to the east of Alberta), but there are probably fewer books tagged Saskatchewan than tagged Alberta.
Karin wrote: "BC is far too large to be recognized by the distance calculator since it's bigger than Texas. .."Australia is even larger and IT is recognized. I think Nicole, as the official moderator, should answer these questions in any case.
Book Concierge wrote: "Karin wrote: "BC is far too large to be recognized by the distance calculator since it's bigger than Texas. .."Australia is even larger and IT is recognized. I think Nicole, as the official moder..."
Wow, I had no idea that areas that large showed up!!!!!
British Columbia, Australia and The United States are all recognized by the distance calculator. It uses a point in the center of the region.I live in a very small hamlet, and the distance calculator correctly located my location on the map.
I was planning to enter my actual home town in the distance calculator, for both the beginning and ending of my trip - regardless of what airport I would use, or the tag or exact setting of the book I read at the end. I think this is the only fair way to do it. I am one of the many people who will have to use my state, rather than the nearest city, when picking a final book based on the tags. It would give me an unfair advantage if I were able to measure the distance of my trip based on the setting of the book (or even the center of my state) rather than my home. I could inflate the distance of my trip by hundreds of miles if I used the tag location rather than my home town.
LibraryCin wrote: "Just a note for Nicole (not that I'm eligible for prizes or anything, but...). I just checked, and it doesn't look like there is even one book tagged "Alberta" 5 times. The max looks like 4 times..."
Cin ... Under This Unbroken Sky takes place in Alberta ... It's a marvelous book (I rated it 5*****). I tagged it Canada, but will now happily tag it Alberta as well. One other person has so tagged it Alberta, so that would make TWO.
But even if you just used the CANADA tag (which is has plenty of), it IS set in Alberta, so I think it should count as getting you home.
Perhaps other PBTers will want to read it for the generic "canada" tag throughout the year and tag it Alberta for you as well.
Also, please be aware that some US (and New Zealand, probably other countries as well) share place names with the UK so you may need to add the country as well as the state. For example, Birmingham in the UK and Birmingham, Alabama.
And there's a Georgia in Europe as well as the US state!
And there's a Georgia in Europe as well as the US state!
Jenny wrote: "Also, please be aware that some US (and New Zealand, probably other countries as well) share place names with the UK so you may need to add the country as well as the state. For example, Birmingham..."Sure, I have been to several Londons (England, Ontario--lived in that one for a couple of years--New London, CT) and live in New England where most place names are in England as well.
This goes for many names. Most people here Ottawa and think of the Canadian capital, but there are a few of these. There are 11 in the United States, but as far as I know, there is only one in Canada, but I haven't tried that one on the distance calculator.
Where I grew up in north central PA, there is a tiny village called Rome (not the NY one, which is bigger) and a town named Athens. Theresa knows these! I didn't look up if there are tags, since I don't live anywhere near there anymore, but oddities like that may come up.
I guess there's another part to my earlier question. I know how to find the tags under a book. But where would I go if I have a tag and want to find books for it? I see where I can browse by genre but that's not really it.
Robin P wrote: "I guess there's another part to my earlier question. I know how to find the tags under a book. But where would I go if I have a tag and want to find books for it? I see where I can browse by genre ..."The way I do it is through a page like this: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/... . It'll get you all of the books that have been tagged for a particular location as well as how many people tagged them!
NancyJ wrote: "British Columbia, Australia and The United States are all recognized by the distance calculator. It uses a point in the center of the region.I live in a very small hamlet, and the distance calcul..."
Nancy, the rules of the game are that you are to enter the exact location tag you use into the distance calculator. So, unless you read a book that is tagged with your exact hometown to get home in December, then your final miles will not be calculated to there.
I understand that it may give you more miles because you overshot your hometown, but that is how Anita and I have chosen to structure the game so that the same rules apply to everyone. We figure over the course of the year, this will all even out in the end.
Play Book Tag
Books mentioned in this topic
Still Life with Bread Crumbs (other topics)Shotgun Lovesongs (other topics)
Under This Unbroken Sky (other topics)
All Our Shimmering Skies (other topics)
The Outlander (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Edvard Hoem (other topics)Debbie Macomber (other topics)
I’m grateful for all the questions.
I’d like to participate in both challenges. I may utterly ..."
Jennie, you want to see massive failure look at my list of failures for 2020 (In Nicole's thread https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...) And yet, I still had a fabulous year!