Play Book Tag discussion

After a very close vote, the tag for February will be:

life

Please share your reading plans and recommendations below.

Remember, for the regular monthly reads, the book can be shelved as life 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/...

I'm really interested to see how people interpret this tag!

I feel like I have a lot of choices that fit the tag, but the two I am most likely to read are: 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos or Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. I feel like I already own 12 Rules, and for some reason, it's very controversial so I'm curious to see exactly what that is . . .so that will probably be my choice. I'll be sure to report back, lol.

In terms of recommendations, I know this won't be up everyone's alley, but A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose really changed my outlook on life for the better. I have had a lot of anxiety in the past, and this book helped me with it and also made me enjoy mundane days so much more than I did before. It's not a book that can be read quickly, but I thought it was a very valuable read.

Hey all! I have class and then my IRL book club but I will post the Trim number and the Culture theme before I go to bed tonight!

I’d forgotten about “Bird by Bird”! I own it and I’ve never read it. What a perfect thing for this month! I have to get started on my book writing (law text, folks - nothing exciting) so that book could be useful on a number of levels.

My other books for ‘life’ will probably just be novels that say something about life in general, or biographies. But PBT is always eager to push me out of my comfort zone, so watch this space ;) Also this might be the month to finally read ‘Being Mortal’.

I have a choice of:
A People's History of the United States
Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood
Lolita
Mrs. Dalloway
The Goldfinch
The Grapes of Wrath
The Shadow of the Wind
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Very Good Lives: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination

However, at least 11 of the books on my Trim the TBR list will work for this tag, so this may all be thrown out the window!

I did notice that His Majesty's Dragon was on the list, so maybe the final one will fit too? (I think it's Amy who will be interested in this!)

Marie Kondō it is!!
I'll be reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

One of my New Years Resolutions is to get rid of one item per day for the year. So far it's mostly been purging on the weekends, but we've gotten rid of at least 4-5 bags of clothes, and 2 goodwill boxes. I've watched a couple episodes of the Netflix special, but this seems like the perfect opportunity for her book.

I should save the review of the book I just read... LOL!

To me this tag is so broad I don't really know what it means. If anyone has a good definition for this tag I'd love to hear it. Every fiction book is really about someone's life. I'm a biologist so to me pretty much every book is about life, I can even see how books like Salt: A World History could be tagged life since we need some sodium to survive. I plan on reading Fangirl since it's on my tbr and has the tag. At this moment in time I do not want to read any nonfiction books about how to improve my life. I have too much going on right now and I think this kind of book would make me more stressed not less. If my trim or horizons book is tagged life I'll count it too but otherwise I'm not going to stress about this tag.

I going to read as it will fit in with some other challenges I'm in

I was really not expecting this to win, but I have several options. I might tackle Walden, but I think I will first try the Tao Te Ching. I just discovered standardebooks.org, where I found both for free, as they are in the public domain.

My #1 recommendation would be When Breath Becomes Air. Secondary would be Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, both of which I believe EVERYONE should read.

Jenny wrote: "I have a choice of:
A People's History of the United States
Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood
Lolita
Mrs. Dalloway
[book:The ..."

Thanks for the recommendation for Very Good Lives-not for me, but my daughter, I think she could use that right about now!

It's me who is on the final Majesty Dragon book-Amy needs to read # 2!!!

Joi wrote: "Marie Kondō it is!!
I'll be reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

One of my New Years Resolutions is to g..."

And I am thinking of picking this one up too! My husband and I are trying to clean out 30 years of life-daunting! (we are not splitting, just trying to regain out space!!!)

Rachel N. wrote: "To me this tag is so broad I don't really know what it means. If anyone has a good definition for this tag I'd love to hear it. Every fiction book is really about someone's life. I'm a biologist so..."

I am with you Rachel-I don't need anyone telling me my life is a mess right now🤣! And I agree-that tag is overly broad and just about anything(well maybe not zombies..)would fit

Lolita fits under "life"?
If so, that is on my list to-read (not my TBR list though).
I just don't know if I can fit it in... I'll think on it.

Meli wrote: "Lolita fits under "life"?
If so, that is on my list to-read (not my TBR list though).
I just don't know if I can fit it in... I'll think on it."

I went through the lists linked to in the poll when it was time to vote and noted down which ones fitted my tbr - I was a bit surprised to see it there too!

Joanne wrote: "Jenny wrote: "I have a choice of:
A People's History of the United States
Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood
Lolita
[book:Mrs. Dalloway|149..."

Well I knew someone needed to read it! Your two reviews made me buy the first one a couple of weeks back when it was 99p on amazon uk kindle store!

Damn! I was really hoping for graphic novels. I should have thrown more votes at it. Oh well. I think the graphic Anne Frank fits under life anyway. I think everything can be moulded to fit really!!

KateNZ wrote: "I’d forgotten about “Bird by Bird”! I own it and I’ve never read it. What a perfect thing for this month! I have to get started on my book writing (law text, folks - nothing exciting) so that book ..."

Oh, if you read it that makes me lean toward reading it too! Please let me know once you decide for certain.

And yes, Being Mortal would be PERFECT for this month, and absolutely highly recommended.

Jenny wrote: "I have a choice of:
A People's History of the United States
Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood
Lolita
Mrs. Dalloway
[book:The ..."

Oh, I also own People's History of the United States . . .I feel the other two books I've identified probably fit the tag a bit better, but this book is also tempting.

Well, looks like "life" is a broad enough category to fit a lot. I saw quite a few of my TBR choices in there, so hopefully the random number generator chooses one of them for me.

I'm still reading YA and middle grade stuff for work, so I should be able to shoehorn some of those things in. Things I have marked TBR that fit include We Are the Ants, Smile (or really any of the graphic novels in that similar coming of age vein), They Both Die at the End, The Distance Between Us, Ask the Passengers, Everything, Everything, To All the Boys I've Loved Before, I'll Give You the Sun. Honestly, given that a lot of YA and MG novels deal with coming of age and learning tough lessons, I can probably count most of what I'm reading.

Jenny wrote: "I have a choice of:
A People's History of the United States
Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood..."

Oooh, Born a Crime! Uh oh, better go check to see if it is on my Trim the tbr 36...

Rachel N. wrote: "To me this tag is so broad I don't really know what it means. If anyone has a good definition for this tag I'd love to hear it. Every fiction book is really about someone's life. I'm a biologist so..."

I can't speak for how others might interpret this tag (agree it is certainly not the clearest), but for me, the following concepts seem to fit. I put these in the order that I personally would ascribe this tag.

1. Books that address the meaning of life
2. Books that give advice or insights for how to live life or how to enjoy life
3. Memoirs that discuss end of life
4. Books addressing the biology of life
5. Memoirs that address aspects of how to live life
6. Straight up biographies

A couple things that I saw in the tag and can recommend are 30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans, which I read years ago and still think about from time to time, The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade (written by a mortician and poet, it's a beautifully written meditation on life and death), any of Caitlin Doughty's writing on death positivity, and on a completely different note, Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir.

Joanne wrote: "Joi wrote: "Marie Kondō it is!!
I'll be reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

One of my New Years Resolut..."

I just went through this (without Marie's help unfortunately). I have only one piece of advice:

1-800-Got-Junk

Susie wrote: "Damn! I was really hoping for graphic novels. I should have thrown more votes at it. Oh well. I think the graphic Anne Frank fits under life anyway. I think everything can be moulded to fit really!!"

I was hoping for graphic, too. But there is nothing to say that a graphic cannot be life as well!
Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant?
Honor Girl: A Graphic Memoir
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened
Hey, Kiddo
March: Book One March: Book Two March: Book Three
American Born Chinese
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
The Complete Maus

Rachel N. wrote: "To me this tag is so broad I don't really know what it means. If anyone has a good definition for this tag I'd love to hear it. Every fiction book is really about someone's life. I'm a biologist so..."

It sounds like you picked a fun book. A science pick that I might consider is The Gene: An intimate History.

The link really helped, but it's clear that the people who used this tag were using very different interpretations of the tag. I remember trying to describe a novel once that had a strong impact on me, and I wanted to just say "it's about life." For some, it's the great novel that transports you, or reveals something important about the human condition. A book that makes you forget all about your own problems for awhile. There are many great beloved classics on the list, and some cultural reads that I hope will match the culture theme.

Kate, it sounds like you're all set, but for others, I would highly recommend any of these:

A Tree Grows is Brooklyn
The Art of Racing in the Rain (it has a dog, if that helps for anyone)
A Thousand Splendid Suns
A Man Called Ove
Persuasion by Jane Austen (though I can't say why it's on the list)
The Kitchen House
The Color Purple
Language of Flowers
I know this much is true (long?)
Pillars of the Earth (long)

I'm interested in reading:
Educated
Ordinary Grace
Where the Crawdads Sing
The Shadow of the Wind
Still Alive - I mean "Still Alice"
A Gentleman in Moscow

Meli wrote: "Lolita fits under "life"?
If so, that is on my list to-read (not my TBR list though).
I just don't know if I can fit it in... I'll think on it."

So, sometimes you have to be careful with these Goodreads lists. For example, Lolita was tagged with the word "life" by 8 people. So that's not nothing, but it's also a pretty small number in the scheme of how many people have read Lolita.

All that being said, you get to decide! But sometimes if you are thinking to yourself, "hmmm, why does that have the tag?" . . .your instincts might be right on the money!

Anita wrote: "Meli wrote: "Lolita fits under "life"?
If so, that is on my list to-read (not my TBR list though).
I just don't know if I can fit it in... I'll think on it."

So, sometimes you have to be careful..."

That makes sense, thanks for the clarification.
I think I will save Lolita for another time.

KateNZ wrote: "I’d forgotten about “Bird by Bird”! I own it and I’ve never read it. What a perfect thing for this month! I have to get started on my book writing (law text, folks - nothing exciting) so that book ..."

I really liked Bird by Bird when I read it a couple of years ago. It's funny, very funny. Yet there is good stuff there.

I'll have to check around my apartment's piles of books and see what I come up with. I'm bound to have something!

I really wanted graphic novel - but I think perhaps one of the two I own may fit this category, actually. So possible win/win.

I would like to recommend a book I just finished reading The Caregiver by Samuel Park.

Looking at the Life books, 2 that I saw on the first page which have been on my list forever are The Fault in Our Stars
and Eat, Pray, Love, so I may be reading one of them.

Jenny wrote: "Joanne wrote: "Jenny wrote: "I have a choice of:
A People's History of the United States
Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood
Lolita
[book:Mr..."

YIp!!!! You are gonna love it!

Anita wrote: "Joanne wrote: "Joi wrote: "Marie Kondō it is!!
I'll be reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

One of my Ne..."

Lol-My husbands words exactly!!!!

Definitely on for ‘Bird by Bird’, Anita. It would be great to read it at the same time as you.

I have ‘Every Note Played’ sitting on the kitchen counter as well. Lots of PBT folks seem to rate it well. I suspect there’s a lot in that about choices about how you live your life, and challenges when diagnosed with a devastating illness.

The list has The Book Thief on it and I need that for another challenge...that's definitely in-Also thinking about
All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

Theresa wrote: "I'll have to check around my apartment's piles of books and see what I come up with. I'm bound to have something!

I really wanted graphic novel - but I think perhaps one of the two I own may fit t..."

Persepolis is on both lists. To Kill a Mockingbird has a Graphic novel. If graphic novel won, I was planning to read this on the recommendation of a librarian: Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? I didn't look to see if it's tagged Life, but based on the subject matter, it should be.

Joanne wrote: "The list has The Book Thief on it and I need that for another challenge...that's definitely in-Also thinking about
All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten"

I have The Book Thief on my Trim list, so I'm hoping it comes up. It's also on my Great American Read challenge.

Holy broad topic, Batman! Ive been sitting on Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind for a while and that fits very conventionally in this tag. Ive also just started reading The Nightingale which might count, what do people think?

Ok, so I am going to attempt to do two books. One of this is my Trim the TBR which is also a life book Driving Miss Norma: One Family's Journey Saying "Yes" to Living and also Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End.

Hopefully I can get through both of them. One is a physical read and the other will be an audio.

Joanne wrote: "Also thinking about
All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten"

I've read almost all of Robert Fulghum's books of essays, including this one, and I think they're delightful. They're humorous, a little sassy, and definitely full of life.

Anita wrote: "After a very close vote, the tag for February will be:

life ..."

Well, sigh....

But, not really surprised. Not only did I not think that graphic novel would win, the most chatter about it in the voting thread almost ensures that! LOL!

The closest I have that might "legitimately" (in my head) fit is:
An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield.

Or, at least I hope it would fit in my way of thinking.

Oh, I found another:
Natural Causes: An Epidemic of Wellness, the Certainty of Dying, and Killing Ourselves to Live Longer by Barbara Ehrenreich

I feel like this one fits better, but I've had the Hadfield longer, so it would be nice to get to it... We'll see.

Here are some of my thoughts for this month. They all emerge straight from my TBR

Dare to Lead - Brene Brown
Eternal Life - Dara Horn
The Life She was Given

Thank you for Being Late - Thomas Friedman
Behind the Beautiful Forevers
The Book of Tomorrow

Life is such a strange category. But I do have books on my TBR that fit so I'm excited.

When Breath Becomes Air
My Sister's Keeper
Big Little Lies
What Alice Forgot
Nineteen Minutes
The Time Traveler's Wife

Now that I have listed these I need to make sure they are not on my Trim the TRB list. I cannot remember my list for the life of me. Why? Because my TBR is just too long!

Moke wrote: "I would be open to doing graphic novel in another month, LibraryCin - sorry I missed the vote! ..."

Have to admit, I was impressed that it was top 2!

Hannah wrote: "Holy broad topic, Batman! Ive been sitting on Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind for a while and that fits very conventionally in this tag. Ive also just started reading [book:Th..."

Sapiens is definitely "life". I have it on my trim list.

I didn't notice Nightingale in the link, but it makes sense to me. The Book Thief and A Thread of Grace have the life tag, so I wouldn't be at all surprised. They're all dealing with life and death issues, major life changes, and the books illuminate important parts of the human condition - which I think are reasons why someone might give it the life tag.

Anita wrote: "Meli wrote: "Lolita fits under "life"?
If so, that is on my list to-read (not my TBR list though).
I just don't know if I can fit it in... I'll think on it."

So, sometimes you have to be careful..."

Yeah, Lolita doesn't seem like a fit to me, but it might make sense to someone else.

Booknblues wrote: "I would like to recommend a book I just finished reading The Caregiver by Samuel Park.

Looking at the Life books, 2 that I saw on the first page which have been on my list forever ..."

Thanks, Caregiver is perfect for me. I am one, and I won the book (though the font size is a bit challenging). I made a commitment to read and review more giveaways this year. I won a lot of books last year, but I didn't have time to read them all.

Have a box of tissues ready when you read The Fault in our Stars. I loved it. I was a little surprised my husband loved it too. Oh, it's also a book about books.

Amy wrote: "Here are some of my thoughts for this month. They all emerge straight from my TBR

Dare to Lead - Brene Brown
Eternal Life - Dara Horn
The Life She was Given

Thank you for Being Late - Thomas Frie..."


"Thank you for being late" You're very welcome! Ha, I should look at that book.

NancyJ wrote: "Booknblues wrote: "I would like to recommend a book I just finished reading The Caregiver by Samuel Park.

Looking at the Life books, 2 that I saw on the first page which have been ..."

I thought it might be a tear-jerker. It has been highly recommended. Just one of the ones, I've been putting off.