Play Book Tag discussion

I was a little curious about which tags were our very favorite and which we didn't like. So here's my little analysis.

Top Tags of All Time:

Mystery - 233 books read
Chick Lit - 221 books read
Female Author - 219 books read
Suspense - 212 books read
Young Adult - 211 books read

Least Favorite Tags of All Time

India - 38 books read
Time Travel - 39 books read
China - 39 books read
Futuristic - 41 books read
Historical Romance - 47 books read


Any surprises? I thought the most popular were not surprising. But definitely surprised by the least favorite.

I agree, the most popular don't seem surprising at all.

And I have to say I'm not really surprised by the least popular, either: some of them I don't enjoy myself (e.g. historical romance), others may be difficult (e.g. China).

I like this kind of stats!

I'm not sure if number of books is a good metric for determining our least or most favorite tags. I think number of books reads is sometimes contingent on how broad is the specific tag. I would have loved India and China and hated chick lit. I've posted quite a few bestseller books this month but it's probably one of my least favorite tags to be selected since I joined (because it doesn't challenge me to select carefully or differently).

That said, it's interesting to see tags and stats and I appreciate you posting.

Also, some tags are faster to read. I can probably read 4 YA books in he time it takes me to read 1 nonfiction book.

Sorry being an obnoxious researcher (hard to break out of that professional mode) by over analyzing what these stats mean :)

I'm assuming this analysis is of the books posted by PBT members for the given tags .... vs your own personal books read, Anita.

I'm not too surprised that Futuristic or Historical Romance would be low. In the years I've participated in PBT, I don't see too many books reviewed (either fitting the tag, or NOT fitting the tag) that would fall in these categories. I'm a little more surprised that India and China were so low. I would have thought that many more PBT members would welcome the "push" to read books with those tags.

I think its important to also remember this is different books read by PBT members. So if nearly everyone read The Time Travelers Wife for time travel for instance it would still only count as one book read. I'm not really surprised by the numbers but I think I was around for all of these tags. I have a fondness for China because it was the first time I won the monthly raffle.

Interesting. I do think the broad tags do get more books read because people can often make books already on their TBR fit the tag. That's what I often do with those types of tags. The narrower tags are harder.

Great points! I should have said "most read" and "least read" tags . . .I love the tag of India myself, but clearly participation was low that month for whatever reason.

Jen wrote: "I'm not sure if number of books is a good metric for determining our least or most favorite tags. I think number of books reads is sometimes contingent on how broad is the specific tag. I would hav..."

I completely agree with Jen. I would have thought "best sellers" would have been a favorite for me. However, it is very had to find a book that is listed as best seller because most of them really aren't, they are just shelved that way by users. Plus I've read all but one on the first page. It really has turned into my least favorite and I do love tags that challenge me.

I also do as Jenni Elyse does - choose from my TBR when the tag is broad.

Now I would add that we have been growing every single month. So we have far more members now then we ever did. So those least popular titles, not one of them has been in the last 13 months since I joined, and I've gotten to be kind of an Oldie now. At least a few of the ones that were her favorites, we're more recent. So I think if the numbers are group members stayed the same, this would be a more accurate analysis.

Thanks, Anita, this is interesting.

Jen wrote: "Sorry being an obnoxious researcher (hard to break out of that professional mode) by over analyzing what these stats mean :) ."

I do that and I am mostly a "stay at home Mom." :) I also think about things like page density even outside of y/a, since some books in a tag will have significantly more words than others, but if it's a number of pages contest, it can't possibly be taken into account.


Amy wrote: "Now I would add that we have been growing every single month. So we have far more members now then we ever did. So those least popular titles, not one of them has been in the last 13 months since I..."

Yes, that also makes a significant difference.

I would also add that time of year makes a difference as well, since in some parts of they year many of us read less than at other parts, aside from individual changes (eg Nicole R with her law school schedule).

I wonder what would happen if you overlay that with the time of year and also do a comparison against how many member we had, but of course that's probably too complicated to bother with, I would think, since we are all busy.

Rachel wrote: "I think its important to also remember this is different books read by PBT members. So if nearly everyone read The Time Travelers Wife for time travel for instance it would still only count as one ..."

I think this is a key point. As just one example, there ended up being at least four or five of us that read In the Woods for the Ireland tag. I would assume India probably had a similar occurrence.

Rachel wrote: "I think its important to also remember this is different books read by PBT members. So if nearly everyone read The Time Travelers Wife for time travel for instance it would still only count as one ..."

Good point, Rachel. Yes, I'm sure that the "time travel" month had several people reading The Time Traveler's Wife and/or Outlander

Thank you, Rachel, for pointing out that if multiple people read the same title, it only counts once!

Also, I thought I'd add in the month/year of each of these tags...

Top Tags of All Time:

Mystery - 233 books read (December 2008*)
Chick Lit - 221 books read (February 2009)
Female Author - 219 books read (April 2016)
Suspense - 212 books read (May 2009**)
Young Adult - 211 books read (August 2011***)

Least Favorite Tags of All Time

India - 38 books read (December 2013)
Time Travel - 39 books read (July 2015****)
China - 39 books read (September 2012)
Futuristic - 41 books read (October 2014)
Historical Romance - 47 books read (March 2014)

ETA: Replace "historical romance" with
Ireland - 43 books read (March 2017)

*Mystery/Thriller was also read in March 2016, but only 121 books were read for that month.

**Suspense was read again in 2012, but only 158 books were read that month.

***Young adult was also read in March 2008 - that was only our 2nd month of existence! - with 103 titles read.

****Time travel was also read in June 2009, when 73 titles were read.

So, three of the top five were read in our first year and a half of existence.

All of the lowest seem to be in the middle of our time in existence.

Jen wrote: "I think number of books reads is sometimes contingent on how broad is the specific tag...."

I agree! I think the biggest determinant is how broad the tag is. Also making a difference can be the timing, if it's a month where people tend to be busy with other things, as well.

One of of the top five was toward the end of the year (Sept-Dec), and 3 of our lowest five was toward the end of the year.

I think there are just a lot of different factors, overall, though.

I wonder if that could be from more membership versus more readership from members? Probably a combo of both.

LibraryCin wrote: "***Young adult was also read in March 2008 - that was only our 2nd month of existence! - with 103 titles read...."

And that was the first month I joined in! I actually joined in the last week of Feb that year, but by then I just didn't have time to read for the first tag: historical fiction.

LibraryCin wrote: "Thank you, Rachel, for pointing out that if multiple people read the same title, it only counts once!

Also, I thought I'd add in the month/year of each of these tags...

Top Tags of All Time:

My..."

Interesting! Now there are even more factors to consider.

Joi wrote: "I wonder if that could be from more membership versus more readership from members? Probably a combo of both."

Yes, I think so, too.

I've just done the shelving for March (Ireland), and it will kick off "Historical Romance" and #5 on the least list at 42.

Of course, there were quite a few people who read "In the Woods" by Tana French.

Jen wrote: "I'm not sure if number of books is a good metric for determining our least or most favorite tags. I think number of books reads is sometimes contingent on how broad is the specific tag. I would hav..."

I have to agree with Jen as well that a high number of books does not necessarily mean a favorite tag. Mystery or suspense is a tag I would read a number of books for every month. But as a tag to read for I find it rather boring, since it does not challenge me at all. India or Ireland on the other hand make me do research and pick up some books I would otherwise not have noticed. So even if they do not get read that particular month, they will still be on the radar screen for later.

JGrace caught an error on my part. We are down to 42 books read for Ireland in March. Still puts it in 5th place.

Apparently, we aren't fond of spending a month in one country

:) I know March was a flat month for most of you, but I read 2 excellent books for the tag, so I'm happy.

My second book did not make it - I finished on April 3rd. But both of them were very good books.

And every one of the "least favorite tags" are the kind of tags I think of as favorite tags.

You know, I think there are some wonderful books on each of the cities and countries. Maybe this time around we didn't each strike it lucky. I would enjoy China, India, Russia, even Ireland again. I'd just choose a better book.

Amy wrote: "I would enjoy China, India, Russia, even Ireland again. . ..."

I would love a month of Russia! I chose it as Step 2 for Climbing the Stairs. I'm am currently listening to my 2nd book for that stair.

Broad and narrow tags certainly contribute as well as unique books. It shouldn't be surprising that female author would be high because there is a 50-50 shot that a book would qualify and given the large pool, there were probably a lot of unique books.

For the narrower tags, I definitely rely more on the recommendations thread and if others do, we are reading a lot of the same book.

It is interesting to see though.

LibraryCin wrote: "Of course, there were quite a few people who read "In the Woods" by Tana French."

Precisely.

LibraryCin wrote: "Amy wrote: "I would enjoy China, India, Russia, even Ireland again. . ..."

I would love a month of Russia! I chose it as Step 2 for Climbing the Stairs. I'm am currently listening to my 2nd book f..."

I have several books I really want to read that would fit a Russia tag - same with Africa.