Play Book Tag discussion
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Time to Vote for PBT's Top Ten of 2021
Kelly, your list so warms my heart! We are so twins in every way. Half of those have been on my Top Ten lists of the Past, one of them is in my current top ten, another my number 11, and another in my top ten for life! Four I haven't read, but three of them are in my highest tier to be read immediately in 2022. Really, this list gives my heart such joy! Especially Faithful, which I adored. And the Thirteenth Tale, really all of the,. Paper Palace. What a fabulous list!
Robin P wrote: "I can't help wondering why you read more than one Moo U Hockey Romance after one was bad? It looks like they are different authors though. It's not a genre I'm familiar with!"The genre is romance. Sarina Bowen created the series True North, then invited other authors to play in the world, so there are 4 series that spun off from True North, and I've been slowly working my way through them. Each story is by a different author. I've discovered a few new authors I enjoyed, a few real duds, though most of them were okay. Of the series, Vino and Veritas has had the best writers and Moo U the worst, both with a few exceptions. Busy Bean and Speakeasy have been generally rather mediocre. It's been fun overall.
Amy wrote: "Kelly, your list so warms my heart! We are so twins in every way. Half of those have been on my Top Ten lists of the Past, one of them is in my current top ten, another my number 11, and another in..."Amy - I am so glad you liked my list! I admit I will be looking at your Top Ten for ideas to read in 2022. It is fun to have a reading partner who enjoys the same books!
Firekeeper's Daughter - BoulleyThe House in the Cerulean Sea - Klune
Will - Smith
Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement - Burke
Honey Girl - Rogers
The Family Upstairs - Jewell
A Woman is No Man - Rum
The Inheritance Games - Barnes
The Rural Diaries: Love, Livestock, and Big Life Lessons Down on Mischief Farm - Burton Morgan
Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot - Kendall
I feel bad because some of the ones that I read at the beginning of the year didn't end up on this list because the feelings didn't stick with me.
I would say my Honorable Mentions are:
A Deadly Education - Novik
Binti - Okorafor
The Last Flight - Clark
Ninth House - Bardugo
Project Hail Mary - Weir
The Heart's Invisible Furies - Boyne
Dear Edward - Napolitano
Mexican Gothic - Moreno-Garcia
And even thought I wasn't a fan of The Kiss Quotient, I LOVED The Bride Test - Hoang!
I have four books that I rated 2 stars:
The Phantom Menace - Brooks (I'm finding I follow Star Wars better if I read the books too, and my husband read them all so it is something we can connect on)
A Bend in the Road - Sparks
People Like Her - Lloyd
Modern Comfort Food - Garten (Every recipe has chili or alcohol... a LOT of them have alcohol, and I stopped drinking and can't eat spicy foods. But it was also the stories... the fell flat for me)
My average rating this year is higher than it's ever been! I had a TON of books that I rated 5 or 4 stars, so it was hard to pick a top 10. Overall, it was a really good reading year for me! So many good books!!
The Boy - HoagTamarack County - Krueger
The Sandcastle Girls - Bohjalian
Fallen - Castillo
Little Faith - Butler
The Push - Audrain
Hamnet - O'Farrell
The Heart's Invisible Furies - Boyne
This Time Next Year We'll Be Laughing - Winspear
You Don't Have to Say You Love Me - Alexie
Magic Lessons - HoffmanMy Dear Hamilton - Dray
The Price of Paradise - Rubio
West with the Night - Markham
Sing, Unburied, Sing - Ward
The Starless Sea - Morgenstern
Lab Girl - Jahren
Salt to the Sea - Sepetys
Magpie Murders - Horowitz
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Kesey
Honorable mention: Swimming to Antarctica - Cox
Most disappointing: Leave the World Behind - Alam
Jenny wrote: "The Garden of Evening Mists - Twan EngThe Turtle of Oman - Shihab Nye
Crippled - Ryan
The Ravenmaster - Skaife
Memoirs of a Geisha - Golden
The Wahhabi Code - Ward
Cosmic Flow - Strange
The Great ..."
I read the Red Tent many years ago and still love that book.
Four Winds - HannahA Promised Land - Obama
Home - Morrison
Living in the Rain - Ormsby
Red, White, & Royal Blue - McQuiston
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Ford
The Paris Wife - McLain
The Lost Man - Harper
All the Right Notes - Andrews
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - See
Lyn wrote: "Magic Lessons - HoffmanMy Dear Hamilton - Dray
The Price of Paradise - Rubio
West with the Night - Markham
Sing, Unburied, Sing - Ward
The Starless Sea - Morgenstern
Lab Girl - Jahren
Salt to the ..."
Sing, Unburied, Sing, made my top 10 the year I read it.
Ellen wrote: "The Boy - HoagTamarack County - Krueger
The Sandcastle Girls - Bohjalian
Fallen - Castillo
Little Faith - Butler
The Push - Audrain
Hamnet - O'Farrell
The Heart's Invisible Furies - Boyne
This Tim..."
Ellen, I just read Little Faith and liked it a lot. I looked at your bookshelf and saw we like a lot of the same authors, so I sent you a friend request!
MigrationsBeartown
The Henna Artist
Bridge of Sighs
The Soul of an Octopus
Us Against You
Pachinko
Anxious People
Eva Luna
Fruit of the Drunken Tree
Subject to change if I finish a book before 2022. I' just starting The Little Paris Bookshop but in a bit of a reading slump so who knows if I will even finish it!
The Chequer Board - ShuteAnxious People - Backman
Eleanor & Park - Rowell
The Gilded Hour - Donati
Beartown - Backman
Astrid & Veronica - Olsson
Becoming - Obama
Call of the Wild - London
The Lincoln Highway - Towles
The Four Winds - Hannah
The distant dead - YoungLater - King
A madness of sunshine - Singh
Holmes on the range - Hockensmith
Murder on astor place - Thompson
Wundersmith - Townsend
Jade dragon mountain - Hart
A conspiracy of faith - Adler-olsen
Six of crows - Bardugo
The cabinets of Barnaby mayne - Hart
Worst book of the year: A Gathering of Shadows. I really liked the first book so I was very disappointed in this book.
Sallys wrote: "MigrationsBeartown
The Henna Artist
Bridge of Sighs
The Soul of an Octopus
Us Against You
Pachinko
Anxious People
Eva Luna
Fruit of the Drunken Tree
Subject to change if I finish a book before 20..."
Sallys, could you please add the authors.
The Best of All Possible Worlds - LordRing Shout - Clark
The Hidden Palace - Wecker
Death in the East - Mukherjee
The Strange Library - Murakami
Bookburners: The Complete Season 1 - Gladstone
Cowboy Angels - McAuley
Locke & Key: Heaven and Earth - Hill
Once and Forever - Miyazawa
My Sister, the Serial Killer - Braithwaite
All 4 stars this year, with a distinctly dark vibe.
Booknblues wrote: "Sallys wrote: "Migrations McConaghy
Beartown Backman
The Henna Artist Joshi
Bridge of Sighs Russo
The Soul of an Octopus Sy Montgomery
Us Against You Backman
Pachinko Min Jin Lee
Anxious People Backman
Eva Luna Allende
Where the Crawdads Sing Owens
Subject to change if I finish a..."
I am struggling a bit this year with my list, but here's my thinking:Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed - Gottlieb
A Swim in the Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading and Life - Saunders
Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover and Me - Brodeur
Oh William! - Strout
Second Place - Cusk
Crossroads - Franzen
When We Cease to Understand the World - Labatut
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Reid
China Room - Sunjeev
Pipe Dreams: The Urgent Global Quest to Transform the Toilet - Wald
For anyone looking for a science book, the Labatut and Wald would both fit.
Gottlieb's book was definitely my favorite to read. I love memoirs, and this one hit all the right notes . . .
Hamnet was a favorite of many this year, but China Room had some parallels, and I enjoyed the story more.
Anyone interested in writing, just pick up A Swim in the Pond in the Rain. It's deeply insightful and like taking a university class with an amazing professor.
I definitely had a few clunkers this year, but I think most disappointing was Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay. I loved her book, Hunger, and so was surprised how much I didn't care for this one.
It was fun having three of my fave authors publish new books this year. Franzen and Strout lived up to my expectations for them. I really enjoyed Lahiri's Whereabouts too, but I think a lot of people won't really relate to it.
I am in the midst of a book now called Finding Freedom: A Cook's Story; remaking a life from scratch that could breakthrough into my top 10. It's a memoir (love them), and so far, so good. We will see!
Anita wrote: "I am struggling a bit this year with my list, but here's my thinking:Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed - Gottlieb
A Swim in the Pond in the Rain..."
I didn't like Bad Feminist either. Whereabouts really grew on me. I read it quickly over the summer, and then again with my bookclub this fall. I watched two interviews with her and gained additional insights that were helpful.
NancyJ wrote: "Anita wrote: "I am struggling a bit this year with my list, but here's my thinking:Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed - Gottlieb
A Swim in the Po..."
Whereabouts absolutely spoke to me! It is one of the few that I would really like to reread, helps that it is short. I will have to look up the interviews with Lahiri.
Making these lists are tough. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed - Gottlieb
How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America- Smith
Orwell's Roses- Solnit
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents- Wilkerson
A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance- Abdurraqib
Hamnet- O'Farrell
The Heart's Invisible Furies- Boyne
Home- Robinson
Scythe- Shusterman
Anxious People- Backman
Honorable Mention: With the Fire on High - Acevedo
Pew - LaceyThe Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck
Bewilderment - Powers
The Promise - Galgut
My poor poor pandemic brain. That's all my favorites noted through the year. I just looked through my list and can't really say I'd put anything else on there. Interesting to me is that these are all books I've read vs. listened to. I feel like last year was opposite.
Most disappointing read for me was: Great Circle
Nicole D. wrote: "Pew - LaceyThe Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck
Bewilderment - Powers
The Promise - Galgut
My poor poor pandemic brain. That's all my favorites noted through the year. I just looked through my list a..."
I feel your pain. I am excited to see The Grapes of Wrath up there though. I thought that book was outstanding and cements why Steinbeck is one of my all time favorites.
Yes, Grapes of Wrath is wonderfully written and unfortunately still very relevant.
I'm glad that Maybe You Should Talk to Someone has gotten a couple votes! I absolutely loved it when I read it last year.I think my list is basically ready, and I'll probably post in the next couple days. (I was holding off to see if anything would change - I got Cloud Cuckoo Land for Christmas and fully expect to love it, but I don't think I'll be able to finish it before the new year.)
Anita wrote: "Nicole D. wrote: "Pew - LaceyThe Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck
Bewilderment - Powers
The Promise - Galgut
My poor poor pandemic brain. That's all my favorites noted through the year. I just looked..."
I echo Grapes of Wrath love. We will not discuss just how many decades ago I read it...I was YOUNG! But it is as alive in me now as if I just read it. Definitely one of my top lifetime reads.
Add me to the Steinbeck fan club. One of my all-time favorite authors.
Dune - HerbertThe Vanishing Half - Bennet
Pym - Johnson
The Book Thief - Zusak
The Virgin Suicides - Eugenides
The Lost City of Z - Grann
A Feast For Crows - Martin
A Dance with Dragons - Martin
The Last Wish - Sapkowski
Sword of Destiny - Sapkowski
(Honorable mention: Without You, There Is No Us - Kim)
Least favorite: Children of Blood and Bone - Adeyemi (still reeling from how that was even allowed to be published in the state it was in!)
Book Concierge wrote: "Add me to the Steinbeck fan club. One of my all-time favorite authors."His more whimsical books like Cannery Row are wonderful too (and short).
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - SchwabMemorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir - Trethewey
Leonora in the Morning Light - Carter
Cloud Cuckoo Land - Doerr
Bewilderment - Powers
Go Tell The Bees That I Am Gone - Gabaldon
The Thursday Murder Club - Osman
Project Hail Mary - Weir
The Lincoln Highway - Towles
The Library Book - Orlean
Honorable mentions :
Network Effect - Wells
Klara and the Sun - Ishiguro
Born a Crime - Noah
Six of Crows - Bardugo
Crooked Kingdom - Bardugo
Most disappointing
Opium and Absinthe - Kang
Voted! This is going to be interesting to follow, I think.
I suspect I will only figure out how points and votes can accrue as I go. I think the voting and pushing my personal fave along will be what interests me most whike reading books of some of these authors that are dusty members of my TBR Towers.
Theresa wrote: "Voted! Wrong thread Theresa
My Top Ten for 2021:Mrs. Dalloway - Woolf
Beach Read - Henry
Exhalation - Chiang
Brown Dog - Harrison
Mothers, Tell Your Daughters - Campbell
Lake Like A Mirror - Fong
A Gentleman in Moscow - Towles
The Bear - Krivak
Firekeeper's Daughter - Boulley
Anxious People - Backman
Life After Life - AtkinsonNature Obscura - Brenner
America is Not the Heart - Castillo
Transcendent Kingdom - Gyasi
The Heart Principle - Hoang
The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England - Mortimer
Honey Girl - Rogers
The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics - Waite
Project Hail Mary - Weir
Billion Dollar Loser - Wiedeman
My most disappointing read was probably A Lady's Formula for Love, which (as a science-themed historical romance) I'd expected to be up my alley but found really underwhelming.
My Top Ten for 2021 (** denotes a re-read) - History of Loneliness, A - John Boyne
Lost Children Archive - Valeria Luiselli
Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian - Sherman Alexi
Weight of Heaven, The - Thrity Umrigar
Shuggie Bain - Douglas Stuart
Whale Rider - Witi Ihimaera
Circe - Madeline Miller
Out of Africa - Isak Dinesen **
Cutting For Stone - Abraham Verghesse **
Being Mortal - Atul Gawunde **
And here are the re-reads that got 5-stars but didn't make the 10 cutoff:
Winds of War, The - Herman Wouk
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress - Dai Sijie
Handmaid's Tale: The Graphic Novel - Renée Nault / Margaret Atwood (*technically not a re-read as I'd never experienced the graphic novel before)
Anxious People - BackmanThe Housekeeper and the Professor - Ogawa
The Puma Years - Coleman
Kitchens of the Great Midwest - Stradal
Mrs. Benson's Beetle - Joyce
Next Year in Havana - Cleeton
The Heirloom Garden - Shipman
Exile Music - Steil
Passing - Larsen
Mansfield Park- Austen
Honorable Mentions:
Beartown- Backman
The Queen's Gambit- Tevis
The Lions of Fifth Avenue- Davis
Least Favorite Read:
Mary Jane- Blau
Six of my top 10 were read for the Fly The Skies challenge and 3 were buddy reads with wonderful Amy.
I know Mary Jane was popular with many, but I found all the adult characters to be bland and hard to distinguish from each other. What kept me reading that one was Mary Jane's voice as narrator and her relationship with Izzy.
Hayjay315 wrote: "Anxious People - BackmanThe Housekeeper and the Professor - Ogawa
The Puma Years - Coleman
Kitchens of the Great Midwest - Stradal
Mrs. Benson's Beetle - Joyce
Next Year in Havana - Cleeton
The He..."
I love seeing you list Mansfield Park as a top 10! Too many consider it their least favorite most boring Austen. But I have always been a minority singing its praises and it actually vies for #2 with Pride & Prejudice on my personal Austen rankings. Persuasion is forever secure in the #1 spot.
Daughter of Fortune - AllendeBare en mor - Jacobsen
Mors og fars historie - Hoem
A Town Like Alice - Shute
The House of the Spirits - Allende
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest - Kensey
Adventsstjernen - Stranger
The Sixteen Trees of the Somme - Mytting
The Big Sleep - Chandler
The Sun Sister - Riley
Writers & Lovers - KingSix of Crows - Bardugo
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents - Wilkerson
The Rose Code - Quinn
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone - Gottlieb
Hidden Valley Road - Kolker
Wolf Hall - Mantel
Empire of Pain - Radden Keefe
Crossroads - Franzen
The Love Hypothesis - Hazelwood
The above are in no particular order, but my favorite book of the year, hands down, was:
Empire of Pain
Worst book of the year:
The Exiles - Baker Kline
A few of these books came from GR group reads, such as the oft neglected classic The Wedding by Dorothy West (there is another book with this name, but this is from the 1950s.My five best books long enough for pbt plus 5 excellent 4 star ones
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry - Backman
When Crickets Cry - Martin
Chasing Fireflies - Martin
The Wedding - West
Connect the Stars - Santos
The Color of Water - McBride
A Long Petal of the Sea - Allende
Black No More - Schuyler
Silver Sparrow - Jones
The Mountains Sing - Nguyễn
My worst 2021 reads- 9 got one star and the last one I rounded up to 2, but I know was more like 1.5:
Crossing the Line - Elkeles
Oksana, Behave! - Kuznetsova
The Bromance Book Club - Adams
Sula - Morrison
The Scorpion Rules - Bow
Smitten - Evanovich
Upon a Winter's Night - Harper
Without a Trace - Coble
The Godwulf Manuscript - Parker
Women in White Coats - Campbell
Nicole, I also put the Rose Code in my Top Ten, and I’m about to start the Love Hypothesis. It was really that good? I was expecting it to be unremarkable fluff, but now I’m excited!
The Dutch House-PatchettThe Kite Runner-Hosseini
The Haunting of Hill House-Jackson
Where the Crawdads Sing-Owens
House of Spirits-Allende
Interpreter of Maladies-Lahiri
Where'd You Go, Bernadette?-Semple
Moloka'i-Brennert
To Kill a Mockingbird-Lee
Bridge to Terabithia-Paterson
Hollow Kingdom-BuxtonGods of Jade and Shadow-Moreno-Garcia
With the Fire on High-Acevedo
Ark-Roth
Binti-Okorafor
One of Us is Lying-McManus
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children-Riggs
Mexican Gothic-Moreno-Garcia
The Hunger Games-Collins
Emergency Skin-Jemisin
The only book I DNF'd this year was All the King's Men, so I'd say that was my least favorite. Of the ones I actually finished, definitely Outlander.
Good Neighbours - LanganThe Drowning Kind - McMahon
Buses Are a Comin’ - Person
Local Woman Missing - Kubica
The Meat Racket - Leonard
The Lost Dogs - Gorant
The Guest List - Foley
Woman in the Mists - Mowat
The Overnight Guest - Gudenkauf
Women in White Coats - Campbell
The above favourites had one 4.25 star and the rest are 4.5 or 5 star books. I think five of them were 5 stars, which is more than I often end up with. And yes, many are thrillers. I seem to have changed many of my favourites from historical fiction to thrillers the past couple of years.
Honourable mentions (the rest of the 4.25 stars):
The Escape Room / Megan Golden
The Invited / Jennifer McMahon
The Other Side of the Night / Daniel Allen Butler
The Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England / Ian Mortimer
Dishonourable mentions (2 stars):
The Richest Woman in America / Janet Wallach
Late Nights on Air / Elizabeth Hay
No One Goes Alone / Erik Larson
The Last Star / Rick Yancey
Murder at Monticello / Rita May Brown
And I'm not sure if any my top 10 will overlap with anyone else's! It seems a rare thing when it does... And I can no longer say it's because I don't read new books. I do with some being Netgalley books, but again, many of those are thrillers. I think at least half of my top 10 were Netgalleys.
@ Cindy- From the looks of things the top 10 winners are only going to have 2-3 votes a piece from what I can I see. Such a wide variety this year!
I’ve seen a ton of anxious people and four winds.
Amy wrote: "I’ve seen a ton of anxious people and four winds."🤣🤣🤣
@Amy - because you are no doubt on the terrible app and cannot link to the books, it looks like you are commenting that those in PBT posting are anxious with gas! ROFLMAO!
Half my problem is the phone, the other half was driving through the mountains with spotty reception! Made it to Denver, flying home tomorrow!
Little Black Lies - BoltonAll Your Perfects - Hoover
Outlander - Gabaldon
Gone Girl - Flynn
Firefly Lane - Hannah
Come Sundown - Roberts
All the Ugly and Wonderful Things - Greenwood
Vox - Dalcher
Great Alone - Hannah
The Kiss Quotient - Hoang
Honorable mentions:
Where'd You Go, Bernadette - Semple
Honolulu - Brennert
The Paid Companion - Quick
And They Called It Camelot - Thornton
Flowers for Algernon - Keyes
Dishonorable mentions:
Ask Again, Yes - Keane
Someone I Loved - Gavalda
Breakfast at Tiffany's - Capote
The Girls - Cline
Love and Other Perishable Items - Buzo
Play Book Tag
Books mentioned in this topic
The Wedding (other topics)Cannery Row (other topics)
A Gathering of Shadows (other topics)
The King's Other Body: María of Castile and the Crown of Aragon (other topics)
Cutting for Stone (other topics)
More...
Children of Blood and Bone- Tomi Adeyemi
Internment- Samira Ahmed
Rise: A Newsflesh Collection: The Complete Newsflesh Collection- Mira Grant
The Binding- Bridget Collins
The Fireman- Joe Hill
VOX- Christina Dalcher
Project Hail Mary-Andy Weir
The Good People-Hannah Kent
The Hatching-Ezekiel Boone
Some of these authors had a couple at the same rating from me this year so I shared the nominations out and put the first book I read at that rating, by that author, for the year so there is more variety.