Announcing the April Tag

[Anita]

Nicole R wrote: "Anita, I’ll read Piranesi with you!! I need a break before the third Cromwell books for sure."

Oh YAY!!!! Would love that.

I borrowed it already from the library so definitely going to try it out.

[Joi]

I'm thinking Plain Bad Heroines.
Or the "I always say I'm going to read it but never do" book- Rebecca.

[LibraryCin]

I did think it odd when, the last time I checked (about a week ago), "Mexican Gothic" was available at the library. Now there are longish holds. Sigh...

Will have to find something else.

[LibraryCin]

Ok a couple of alternate options for me:

- A Prayer for the Dying / Steward O'Nan
- The Witch Elm / Tana French

Not sure if the French one will come in time, either (like "Mexican Gothic"), so it will likely be the O'Nan that I read.

[Anita]

Joi wrote: "I'm thinking Plain Bad Heroines.
Or the "I always say I'm going to read it but never do" book- Rebecca."

Rebecca was so good.

[[deleted user]]

NancyJ wrote: "I need some help from the gothic experts!

I don't have as much time to read now, so I want to check a couple of boxes with each book. (Notice that I didn't mention killing anything with a stone!)..."

A quick Librarything tagmash provided me with Snow Flower and the Secret Fan for China.

[Robin P]

Remember that the book just has to fit Gothic in your mind, it's only for the year-long games that it has to actually have the tag.

[Book Concierge]

Robin P wrote: "Remember that the book just has to fit Gothic in your mind, it's only for the year-long games that it has to actually have the tag."

I think that's why Nancy wanted help in finding a "gothic" book set in China ... Fly the Skies. So it will have to have a minimum of 5 people tagging it as "gothic." That may be a hard combination to achieve.

[NancyJ]

Jenny wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "I need some help from the gothic experts!

I don't have as much time to read now, so I want to check a couple of boxes with each book. (Notice that I didn't mention killing anything..."

Thanks Jenny,
It sounds sort of gothic to me - Women secreted away in a large old estate. Not ghostly but secretive. As if the Bronte sisters were writing secretive letters to one another.

Does it have gothic tags in librarything? It could use more gothic tags here, so if you think it fits...

[Meli]

LibraryCin wrote: "Ok a couple of alternate options for me:

- A Prayer for the Dying / Steward O'Nan
- The Witch Elm / Tana French

Not sure if the French one will come in time, either (like "Mexican Gothic"), so i..."

Wow, The Witch Elm is "gothic"?
I have that one too, but it is very long.
I think it will be too difficult to fit in :(

[NancyJ]

Robin P wrote: "Remember that the book just has to fit Gothic in your mind, it's only for the year-long games that it has to actually have the tag."

Book Concierge wrote: "Robin P wrote: "Remember that the book just has to fit Gothic in your mind, it's only for the year-long games that it has to actually have the tag."

I think that's why Nancy wanted help in finding..."

Yes, that's it exactly. I need 5 tags for Fly the Skies. I want to go to China, but Korea, Mongolia or nearby countries for Fly the Skies. (I'm in South America now.)

I might read The Ghost Bride or The Night Tiger. I found another possibility from a blog entitled "Chinese Gothic."

I have other China books I want to read this year too.

[Cora]

The Girl from the Well and The Graveyard Apartment are both tagged gothic and Japan...not China, but the right continent.

[Kimber]

I considered reading The Blind Assassin for the tag and the sky flying but have decided to go with Mexican Gothic - it appears there is only a 2 week wait for the library e-copy, and it is one of my face-to-face book club pics within the next few months. Plus it looks really good!

Since this is one of my favorite genres (maybe most favorite?) I'll probably read more than just the one for the tag. Other possibilities:
Things in Jars
Four and Twenty Blackbirds
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
The Witch of Painted Sorrows

Two recommendations (these are both also tagged London):
The Crimson Petal and the White
Possession

[LibraryCin]

Meli wrote: "Wow, The Witch Elm is "gothic"? ..."

I don't really know but someone tagged it that way over at LT.

And 6 people here have tagged it gothic.

[NancyJ]

Cora wrote: "The Girl from the Well and The Graveyard Apartment are both tagged gothic and Japan...not China, but the right continent."

Thanks Cora, I read a few Japanese books already this year, but I liked them, so I could read more if I can't find a good Chinese book.

[[deleted user]]

NancyJ wrote: "Jenny wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "I need some help from the gothic experts!

I don't have as much time to read now, so I want to check a couple of boxes with each book. (Notice that I didn't mention ki..."

It has gothic tags on Librarything, and I've added the tag to it on here! It hasn't got 5 people tagging it as such on here yet so if people could tag it for you, that would be great please!

[[deleted user]]

NancyJ, a couple more tagmashes for you from Librarything! I haven't checked on Goodreads so they may not all have the correct amount of people tagging it as such for location or gothic, but I think you'd be safe with The Moonstone and the majority of the Russian ones!

Searched 'Mongolia, gothic, fiction'
The Stone Council by Jean-Christophe Grange
Path of the Eclipse by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
A Feast in Exile by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

'Korea, gothic, fiction'
The Tarot Café, Volume 1 by Sang-Sun Park
The Tarot Café, Volume 2 by Sang-Sun Park
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel (P.S.) by David Wroblewski
The Tarot Café, Volume 3 by Sang-Sun Park
The Tarot Café, Volume 4 by Sang-sun Park
Arcana, Volume 1 by So-young Lee

'India, gothic, fiction'
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins - can recommend this one! It's not all set in India but it starts and ends there, if I remember correctly.
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
Rebel Angels by Libba Bray
The India Fan by Victoria Holt
The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray

'Laos, gothic, fiction'
The Lost Goddess: A Novel by Tom Knox

'Nepal, gothic, fiction'
Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions by Neil Gaiman - I doubt this one because of location but thought I'd give it anyway!

'Pakistan, gothic, fiction'
Possession: A Romance by A. S. Byatt - I doubt this one because of location but thought I'd give it anyway!
Death in Kashmir by M. M. Kaye

'Russia, gothic, fiction'
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Day Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko
Notes from Underground / The Double by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol by Nikolai Gogol
The Secret History of Moscow by Ekaterina Sedia
Diary of a Madman, and Other Stories by Nikolai Gogol
The Brothers Karamazov (1/2) by Fedor Mikhaïlovitch Dostoïevski
The Double by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Invitation to a Beheading by Vladimir Nabokov
Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov
The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley
Last Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
Twilight Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Tales of Belkin by Alexander Pushkin
Darker Jewels by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Sleepwalker in a Fog by Tatyana Tolstaya
The Brothers Karamazov (2/2) by Fedor Mikhaïlovitch Dostoïevski

[Johanne]

So, I'm going to Zimbabwe or Botswana in April with fly the PBT skies. Gothics taking place there, anyone? This is a long shot, but you never know.

[[deleted user]]

Johanne wrote: "So, I'm going to Zimbabwe or Botswana in April with fly the PBT skies. Gothics taking place there, anyone? This is a long shot, but you never know."

Apparently these two for Zimbabwe (according to Librarything tagmash!)

The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing
The Devil's Feather by Minette Walters

Botswana provided me with A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens! I don't think so, somehow!

[Johanne]

Jenny wrote: "Johanne wrote: "So, I'm going to Zimbabwe or Botswana in April with fly the PBT skies. Gothics taking place there, anyone? This is a long shot, but you never know."

Apparently these two for Zimbab..."

Oh, thank you!
The Fifth Child ALMOST meets the FLY requirements of 5 tags for both Zimbabwe and Gothic. Zimbabwe only has 4 tags, but how are the rules if I tag it Zimbabwe, and thus hit the 5 tag mark?

Yeah, I don't see the connection between A Christmas Carol and Botswana ? ...

[Book Concierge]

Jenny wrote: "'Korea, gothic, fiction'
The Tarot Café, Volume 1 by Sang-Sun Park
The Tarot Café, Volume 2 by Sang-Sun Park
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel (P.S.) by David Wroblewski..."

Edgar Sawtelle takes place in northern Wisconsin and is a retelling of MacBeth. Definitely gothic in nature, but the only thing it has to do with Korea is that the uncle serves there during the war. (I think)

[Book Concierge]

Johanne wrote: "The Fifth Child ALMOST meets the FLY requirements of 5 tags for both Zimbabwe and Gothic. Zimbabwe only has 4 tags, but how are the rules if I tag it Zimbabwe, and thus hit the 5 tag mark? ..."

You cannot tag it yourself to meet the 5-tag minimum.

[Meli]

Went through the list last night and unsurprisingly I have a lot of gothic.
I was surprised at some of the titles tagged gothic though.
Now I just need to figure out page count and potential mileage for fly the skies.

This ended up being a more exciting tag than I was expecting.

@Johanne - that's too bad about The Fifth Child.
This is on my physical TBR and it has a low page count :(

@Book Concierge - You CANNOT tag yourself to get to 5?
I thought you could, but I keep getting the rules all backwards 🤪
I'm kinda bad at following directions.

[[deleted user]]

Book Concierge wrote: "Jenny wrote: "'Korea, gothic, fiction'
The Tarot Café, Volume 1 by Sang-Sun Park
The Tarot Café, Volume 2 by Sang-Sun Park
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel (P.S.) by David Wroblewski..."

Edgar..."

Yeah, I wasn't sure about this one as I haven't read it, but thought I'd include it just in case!

[[deleted user]]

Johanne wrote: "Jenny wrote: "Johanne wrote: "So, I'm going to Zimbabwe or Botswana in April with fly the PBT skies. Gothics taking place there, anyone? This is a long shot, but you never know."

Apparently these ..."

Have tagged it Zimbabwe! ;-)

[Johanne]

Haha perfect Jenny! Then that's what I'll read :)

[Johanne]

... oh it's on the short side I think. 133 pages, books need to be 150 right? I keep forgetting

[Meli]

Johanne wrote: "... oh it's on the short side I think. 133 pages, books need to be 150 right? I keep forgetting"

Was literally just coming in here to ask the same thing!
My copy is only 146 pages. :(

[Nicole R]

Did the admins say that you could not tag the book yourself to get to the 5 tag minimum? That does sound vaguely familiar and like something the admins would say. Some members actually remember rules better than I do and I come up with and post them! Lol

I know we have always said that you can recruit members to tag a book for you if you both think it fits so hopefully that helps people get from 4 to 5 tag gets on truly deserving books without actually tagging it yourself. So, we’ll stick with that.

I also have trouble following the rules, Meli! 😜

[Nicole R]

The 150 page length minimum only applies to challenges.

But, if you are reading it for the monthly tag then we are more flexible. We generally go with the “no kids books” (aka no books you would read to your toddler and blow through 5 in a night at bedtime or short beginner reader chapter books that are like 50 pages with huge print). But I know that we have some people read novellas and such and we do allow people to sometimes read a series of short books to get one participation point. I know someone one year was reading Caldecott Medal winners and posted like 5 for one point or something along those lines.

Right? Anita, correct me if I am wrong. I fully admit that my brain is mush these days.

[Johanne]

Thanks for taking your time answering, Nicole, and I hope you're alright.

[Johanne]

I meant taking the time, not your (just realised that might be interpreted as if you took a long time, that's not what I meant).

[NancyJ]

Jenny wrote: "NancyJ, a couple more tagmashes for you from Librarything! I haven't checked on Goodreads so they may not all have the correct amount of people tagging it as such for location or gothic, but I thin..."

Thanks Jenny. I should check out library thing sometime. I always thought it was strange that you can't search goodreads tags this way. There is so much wonderful information in this data base, it seems like a terrible waste that we can't search for more.

[Karin]

Johanne wrote: "I meant taking the time, not your (just realised that might be interpreted as if you took a long time, that's not what I meant)."

One of the challenges of being bilingual (although you are probably more than bilingual given where you live) must be remembering these sorts of linguistic differences.

[Johanne]

@Karin, yes. Add to that written communication where you don't hear tone of voice and see body language.
Yesterday, my colleague answered an email ironically, we quickly discovered that doesn't work :D

[Theresa]

Johanne wrote: "@Karin, yes. Add to that written communication where you don't hear tone of voice and see body language.
Yesterday, my colleague answered an email ironically, we quickly discovered that doesn't wo..."

My friends and I constantly say there needs to be a sarcasm font....

[Johanne]

Brilliant Theresa!

[NancyJ]

Robin P wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "I need some help from the gothic experts!

Hundred Secret Senses ."

Great suggestion. I already read it and I gave it a gothic tag in case someone else is also going to China for fts.

[NancyJ]

Jgrace wrote: "I noticed something on the Gothic shelf page. Half way down on the right side of the page there's this note:

The following shelves are listed as duplicates of this shelf:
dark-romanticism, gothic-..."

Everyone makes up their own tags, so there are tons of similar tags. I never noticed a list of duplicates though. I think it's helpful for our purposes, except when we need an exact match.

[NancyJ]

Did anyone read Shadowplay by Joseph O'Connor yet? It's gothic, and it's on the longlist for the Dublin Prize. A few of us were going to read it last month. I got sidetracked by a new work project, but I might try to read it in April. It sounds so good.

[Booknblues]

NancyJ wrote: "Did anyone read Shadowplay by Joseph O'Connor yet? It's gothic, and it's on the longlist for the Dublin Prize. A few of us were going to read it last month. I got sidetracked by a n..."

I just finished it. Definitely gothic.

[Theresa]

Booknblues wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "Did anyone read Shadowplay by Joseph O'Connor yet? It's gothic, and it's on the longlist for the Dublin Prize. A few of us were going to read it last month. I got sid..."

Good to know. I had planned it as part of Dublin Literary Prize reading in March. Not happening but April possible.

[Meli]

I think I am going to read Rosemary's Baby. I have always loved the movie, never read the book. I have a physical copy, it fits the tag, it's shorter (274 pages I think) and gets me a shit ton of miles going from Australia back to the US!

[Mary]

You guys have already mentioned so many GREAT books - The Crimson Petal and the White, Rebecca, Northanger Abbey, The Haunting of Hill House, etc. I'm just going to add two more recommendations. My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier. It's as good as Rebecca and often overlooked even though I think the misogyny she's describing makes it a very worthwhile read. I'm also going to strongly urge everyone to read The Monk by Matthew Lewis. It should be free since it's very easily in the public domain. A friend read it for a gothic literature class in college and demanded I read it. When I finally did... oh it was a treat. Don't expect much from it. It's terrible, but in the best possible way. Just picture a 19 year old trying to write the worst things he could possibly imagine on the turn of the 19th century in the most overwrought, melodramatic ways. I loved it more than I can say. It deserves monuments!

[Barbara M]

Robin P wrote: "Hmm, I mostly don't care for Gothic. I don't like horror, werewolves, vampires, witches (not for any religious reasons, just find them overused.)

But I loved The Name of the Rose tho..."

Way back when, someone described Gothic to me as a book where the female protagonist is running away from a large dark castle / mansion / house. That's a bit simplistic for sure but Gothic doesn't have to include any of the elements you described here! I'm planning to start with The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. Any of Morton's would probably apply.

[Kimber]

"Robin P wrote: "Hmm, I mostly don't care for Gothic. I don't like horror, werewolves, vampires, witches (not for any religious reasons, just find them overused.)
Barbara M wrote:
Way back when, someone described Gothic to me as a book where the female protagonist is running away from a large dark castle / mansion / house. That's a bit simplistic for sure but Gothic doesn't have to include any of the elements you described here! I'm planning to start with The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. Any of Morton's would probably apply..."

Agree, Barbara.

Also, I read The Forgotten Garden recently and really enjoyed it. I would definitely put it in the gothic category, and was thinking about reading some other Morton for this tag, once I finish Mexican Gothic (which I'm reading first). Hope you enjoy The Forgotten Garden!

[Karin]

Meli wrote: "I think I am going to read Rosemary's Baby. I have always loved the movie, never read the book. I have a physical copy, it fits the tag, it's shorter (274 pages I think) and gets me a..."

The movie--I liked that when I was a teen, but it's too dark for me to enjoy now. Mia Farrow was fabulous in that.

[Meli]

Karin wrote: "Meli wrote: "I think I am going to read Rosemary's Baby. I have always loved the movie, never read the book. I have a physical copy, it fits the tag, it's shorter (274 pages I think) ..."

Yeah, I've always liked the movie, very curious about the book. I think I've heard it is even creepier, but I would expect that with books since they can express so much more.

There is a Son of Rosemary's Baby or something like that as well. Like a part 2.

[Karin]

Whatt is wrong with Goodreads?! I am in desktop mode and hate having the messages backwards. Is this for real?

[Robin P]

Karin wrote: "Whatt is wrong with Goodreads?! I am in desktop mode and hate having the messages backwards. Is this for real?"

Maybe you already saw this response in one of the other threads, but at the top of the page where it says "date" and "newest", there is a little triangle by date and it might have gotten flipped. You should be able to switch it back.