Play Book Tag discussion
August 2024: 5 Stars
>
Announcing the August Tag
I am taking 5 star recommendations. Or if you have a 5 star bookshelf, please share the link.
So excited! So many books I have lined up to read fit this tag! Plus a very diverse set of reading -- fitting any mood.
Jason wrote: "I am taking 5 star recommendations. Or if you have a 5 star bookshelf, please share the link."My "Favorites" shelf contains my 5-star reads:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
Joy D wrote: "Jason wrote: "I am taking 5 star recommendations. Or if you have a 5 star bookshelf, please share the link."My "Favorites" shelf contains my 5-star reads:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/50..."
Thank you, Joy! I don't have a shelf like this, but I imagine yours has lots of books I'll be interested in.
Gwen wrote: "I would love to recommend:The All-American by Susie Finkbeiner.
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens read this three times now and ..."
I have never heard of The All-American, but I love baseball so the description definitely catches my attention!
Anita wrote: "Joy D wrote: "Jason wrote: "I am taking 5 star recommendations. Or if you have a 5 star bookshelf, please share the link."My "Favorites" shelf contains my 5-star reads:
https://www.goodreads.com/..."
I think I'm going to read Homegoing. I already own it, AND it is on your shelf. Do you think I'll like it, Joy?
Gwen wrote: "I hadn’t either Anita until I found it at the library. While it is tagged “ Christian fiction”, I felt it was very light on the Christian tag. Just in case some readers see the tag and might shy ..."
Thanks for the warning! I'm not Christian, but it doesn't worry me. I probably won't get to it this month, but I did add it to my toppling TBR for future.
@Jason, while looking at my own 5 star reads, I found a book that might appeal to you. Where I Come From: Stories from the Deep South is a book that was poignant, funny and interesting. I loved it when I read it.
This is one of those tags that for the monthly theme you should just go with books you feel are 5 stars, and you can also add books you tag less if they have been tagged by others 5 stars. It's all so subjective. It's only for the year long challenges that it needs to be tagged 5x.
I mean look how many have tagged Wolf Hall 5 Stars - 37 - yet I gave it 2 stars and am a proud member of the Hate Wolf Hall Club. Were I reading it now and giving it 2 stars, I could still post it for monthly as it is so heavily tagged that I will reluctantly concede that it is to many a 5 Stars read.
Also don't be afraid to consider that romance or cozy mystery you read as worthy of the 5 star theme. Or just pick a book you have been wanting to read off the lists being posted.
Jason wrote: "I am taking 5 star recommendations. Or if you have a 5 star bookshelf, please share the link."I do not have a 5-star shelf ... BUT
You can go to any member's bookshelves and sort by rating. You'll get all their 5-star reads first. Whether or not they have the tag is another story. But as Theresa said, as long as you are NOT reading for one of the year-long challenges that required "five actual tags," any of those books would work!
I do have a "favorites" shelf, but not all of them are rated 5 stars.
Good point BookConcierge!Some of my personal 5 stars genre reads:
The Narrowboat Summer - contemporary, travel
All the Sinners Bleed - crime
The Mask of Mirrors -fantasy - first in series
Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table - memoir
My Sister, the Serial Killer - crime/contemporary fiction/Nigeria/Debut
The Martian - scifi
Blind Your Ponies - contemporary - sports
The Turn of the Key - crime/gothic
Anita wrote: "I think I'm going to read Homegoing. I already own it, AND it is on your shelf. Do you think I'll like it, Joy?..."Yes! It is well-written and thought-provoking.
Theresa wrote: "This is one of those tags that for the monthly theme you should just go with books you feel are 5 stars, and you can also add books you tag less if they have been tagged by others 5 stars. It's all..."Good point, Theresa. I wasn't overly excited about the list. I'll go through it once more to see if there is something that I really want to read on it.
I'm going to have to do a bit of research to figure this out.
If anyone is looking for recent releases in literary fiction, these 2 are 5-stars for me:The Road to the Country and
My Friends
Joy D, Holly R W, and Book Concierge, I did find a "compare books" link when I go to your profile page. Click on More, and then Compare Books. It will show all the books that are on our shelves (even TBR) and shows each others ratings and how they compare.
I am 77% similar with Joy and Holly in our ratings and 75% similar with Book Concierge. So I will look at these lists and find one that y'all rated 5 stars and is on my TBR.
Holly R W wrote: "@Jason, while looking at my own 5 star reads, I found a book that might appeal to you. Where I Come From: Stories from the Deep South is a book that was poignant, funny and interest..."I just added this book to my TBR and hopefully I will get to it next month.
Gwen wrote: "I would love to recommend:The All-American by Susie Finkbeiner.
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens read this three times now and ..."
I would not be inclided to read The All-American without a recommendation, but like Anita, I do love baseball. I have added this and the Dickens book. I just realized; I have never read an unabridged Dickens book. Thank-you
I want to make sure I understand this month's tag. Any book is eligible if another member considers it a 5-stars read or a book that we believe should be a five-stars read even if others don't agree. Correct?
Anita wrote: "Anita wrote: "Joy D wrote: "Jason wrote: "I am taking 5 star recommendations. Or if you have a 5 star bookshelf, please share the link."My "Favorites" shelf contains my 5-star reads:
https://www...."
I have read it Anita, and I loved it. I did take issue with the ending of it, but it was still a worthy 4 stars for me
John wrote: "I want to make sure I understand this month's tag. Any book is eligible if another member considers it a 5-stars read or a book that we believe should be a five-stars read even if others don't agre..."Yes, that's correct for any tag, John ... EXCEPT when you are playing a challenge that requires a specific number of exact tag matches.
Some of my 5-star readsIsaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History
Girl in Hyacinth Blue
Welcome to Paradise
A Thread of Grace
In the Time of the Butterflies
City of Thieves
Island Beneath the Sea
I have a favorites shelf and all except one earned 5 stars from me. https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
Anita wrote: "Anita wrote: "Joy D wrote: "Jason wrote: "I am taking 5 star recommendations. Or if you have a 5 star bookshelf, please share the link."My "Favorites" shelf contains my 5-star reads:
https://www...."
Anita - it is on my TBR and is certainly one I anticipate being a contender as a 5 star read, even if ends up lower. Don't know if I will get to it as I have a lot of travel in August. Will be eager to see your thoughts on it.
I am reading Americanah for sure. I have slipped down a bit of a Ghana and Nigeria rabbit hole this summer so I should read both!😅
Jason wrote: "Joy D, Holly R W, and Book Concierge, I did find a "compare books" link when I go to your profile page. Click on More, and then Compare Books. It will show all the books that are on our shelves (..."
You can just go the member's profile.
For example I went to YOUR profile ... then right under your name in bold is "JASON'S BOOKSHELVES" ... I clicked on that bolded title and your shelf came up. THen I clicked on rating to sort by that column and your entire shelf is sorted beginning with those books you gave 5 stars to.
Many of my 5 star ratings are chunksters (Middlemarch, Team of Rivals and The Mists of Avalon, for instance) but here are some more approachable ones, which also match the letters for those playing Books with Friends: The Shipping News
The Colour - Rose Tremain
Snow Falling on Cedars
The Time Traveler’s Wife
Cyrano de Bergerac - Edmond Rostand
Driftless - David Rhodes
The Bear and the Nightingale - Katherine Arden
This Tender Land
The River We Remember
The Thursday Murder Club
The Appeal
Small Things Like These
Still Life or Still Life
Regeneration
Restoration
Small World
Muppets in Moscow: The Unexpected Crazy True Story of Making Sesame Street in Russia - Natasha Lance Rogoff
Tress of the Emerald Sea
Lucy by the Sea - Elizabeth Strout
Gwen wrote: "I would love to recommend:The All-American by Susie Finkbeiner.
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens read this three times now and ..."
Yes Gwen, let’s have a buddy read for The Red Tent. I can probably start soon after the first of the August. How about you?
Here is my 5 stars shelf. I’m overwhelmed by all the options. The Red Tent is my only definite August book so far. https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
I’m going to try to find books that work for the new Olympics Steeplechase challenge, AND 5 stars.
Lisa wrote: "Actually, I haven't rated many books 5 stars, other than classics like The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Two more recent standouts for me are Foster by [author:Claire Ke..."Finding Dorothy is my next F2F book group read. I am looking forward to it even more now.
After careful review I may read one or more of these:Someone Else's Bucket List
Open Water
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry
My Brilliant Friend
Girl, Woman, Other
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
Sense and Sensibility
All Systems Red
Circe
Ready Player One
Babel
Our Wives Under the Sea
Crying in H Mart
Atonement
Booknblues wrote: "After careful review I may read one or more of these:Someone Else's Bucket List
Open Water
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry
[book:M..."
That’s a nice mix. I think I’ll join you in reading Sense and Sensibility.
Jason wrote: "I am taking 5 star recommendations. Or if you have a 5 star bookshelf, please share the link."I don't have a 5-star or favourites shelf, and you've read the Backman novels I gave 5 stars to :). Perhaps one day this week I'll start a favourites shelf for my 5 star books, or soon. If so, I'll come back and post the link. For someone who rarely gives them out I am often surprised at how long the list of 5 star books I have read is.
NancyJ wrote: "I think I’ll join you in reading Sense and Sensibility..."Sounds like a deal let me know, when you would like to read it.
Booknblues wrote: "After careful review I may read one or more of these:Someone Else's Bucket List
Open Water
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry
[book:M..."
I recommend Circe for you~
So, the book that I'm currently reading, The Picture of Dorian Gray, is a debut and 5 star book. It may or may not be fished by August.
Booknblues wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "I think I’ll join you in reading Sense and Sensibility..."Sounds like a deal let me know, when you would like to read it."
Great. I own it, so I can read it anytime in August. I wonder which of my remaining steeplechase tags or grab bag tags will fit.
Is anyone else interested in a buddy read of Sense and Sensibility in August?
NancyJ wrote: "Booknblues wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "I think I’ll join you in reading Sense and Sensibility..."Sounds like a deal let me know, when you would like to read it."
Great. I own it, so I can read it any..."
I reread Sense and Sensibility a year or so ago, no desire to read it again. If there is a buddy read, however, I will chime into discussion if there is a buddy read because my reaction was different from prior reads and it changed my personal ranking in my favorite Austens.
NancyJ wrote: "Booknblues wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "I think I’ll join you in reading Sense and Sensibility..."Sounds like a deal let me know, when you would like to read it."
Great. I own it, so I can read it any..."
It is one of those dtb which have long been on my shelf. I could do it mid month or when it is convenient for you but don't want to start the month with it.
So far these are at the top of my list (for tag or letter match)The Red Tent - (early August) buddy read with Gwen
Sense and Sensibility - (mid-month) buddy read with BnB
Half a Soul
Their Eyes Were Watching God
What Strange Paradise
After Annie
The Imperfectionists
Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers
Lady Tan’s Circle of Women
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
The Murmur of Bees
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn IF I get to James this month
I have others in addition, but I also decided to wait on what I'm planning to read for my next Steeplechase book, since it also fits "5 stars":White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism
Maybe this will finally get me to read Babel, which I've been planning to read for ages and just never got around to!
Here is a shelf I've made of books I've tagged 5 stars. While I did include picture books, rest assured that I didn't put include any 5 star music method books or Bible translations (you're welcome.)https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
Flo wrote: "Maybe this will finally get me to read Babel, which I've been planning to read for ages and just never got around to!"Babel was a 5-star read for me.
It's August 1st and I have a few books on my radar for this month's theme. I also welcome anyone who would like to do a buddy read.Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Room by Emma Donaghue
The Stand by Stephen King
Liz wrote: "It's August 1st and I have a few books on my radar for this month's theme. I also welcome anyone who would like to do a buddy read.Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
[book: The Help|4667..."
So many great options on your list, Liz! I love love love The Stand! One of my all time favorites. But the only one I haven't read, is the Ness book. I think all of these are worthy of their 5 stardom.
NancyJ wrote: "So far these are at the top of my list (for tag or letter match)The Red Tent - (early August) buddy read with Gwen
Sense and Sensibility - (mid-month) buddy read with Bn..."
I decided to read James since it was nominated for the Booker prize. It's wonderful so far (and I've never read Huckleberry Finn so not really necessary to read that first to appreciate it though I hope to do the audio soon).
LOVE the banner! Anna - you are so creative!
I may re-read A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter includes discussion of novel & a film version of The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay and Diaries: Bringing Jane Austen's Novel to Film. May also re-read A Fine Brush on Ivory: An Appreciation of Jane Austen. Really enjoyed creativity & humor in novel imagining modern versions of 3 young Austen heroines, The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls which transforms 18th Century society meeting place Pump Rooms in Bath, England into 21st century public swimming pool during hot summer in Delaware town.
Delightful novel is about how books can influence readers, like character in Austen's Northanger Abbey.
Mother-daughter book club reads from AP English assigned list including Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus.
Love what girl's physician says: "Dr Ramson smiled. "The tormented doctor! I think it inspired me to apply to medical school. Of course, the cadavers we worked with didn't have to be brought to life, so our job was simpler."
One girl seems re-imagining of feminist girl genius Mary Shelley, along with mysterious young man who might have strayed out of Wuthering Heights. Because harder to guess, will say another is hilarious re-interpretation of Fanny Price in Mansfield Park.
For those who picked Sense and Sensibility, not sure whether to recommend also viewing movie version of The Jane Austen Book Club (different from novel of same title), which I have soft spot for as one scene shows just a little of late great bookstore I miss wandering thru, bookcase maze that was ACRES OF BOOKS (Essay "I sing the bookstore eclectic" by Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451 about the fun of getting lost there, was re-posted on Reddit.)
BTW, recently posted (long) review of one of this summer's hot title The Rom-Commers which I'm sure is re-imagining of Jane Austen's Emma--as well as tribute to many classic movies (I literally cite dozens).
If she lived now, "Jane" might be Hollywood screenwriter I imagine like Helene Hanff, author of 84, Charing Cross Road (Austen did turn novel Jane Austen's 'Sir Charles Grandison' into a play).
I remember 1990's ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY poolside photo depicting Austen with cell phone & copy of Variety included in round up on https://austenblog.com/2010/05/09/a-c... Does anyone recall more recent magazine photo mentioned using same concept?
LOL Thanks Theresa, but I can't take credit for creativity as I just go and find pretty pictures!
Play Book Tag
Books mentioned in this topic
A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter (other topics)Jane Austen's 'Sir Charles Grandison' (other topics)
A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter (other topics)
The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls (other topics)
The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay and Diaries: Bringing Jane Austen's Novel to Film (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Charles Dickens (other topics)Susie Finkbeiner (other topics)
David Rhodes (other topics)
Natasha Lance Rogoff (other topics)
Rose Tremain (other topics)
More...
The tag for next month is:
5-stars
Please share your reading plans and recommendations below.
Remember, for the regular monthly reads, the book can be shelved as "5-stars" on Goodreads, or be a book that is not yet shelved that way but you feel should be.
One way to find books to read for this tag is to please visit:
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
We encourage people to link to additional lists below if they find them.
Happy Reading!!!