Play Book Tag discussion

Please vote for the tag you would most like to read for June at the following link:

https://forms.gle/2RLqq3erAHCB2UeQ7

Here are the lists of books for each tag:

dragons: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
LGBT: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
modern: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

Remember, you may cast up to a total of 10 participation points for your choice. Every PBT member gets one vote for free so please vote even if you don't have any participation points!

You can see how many participation points you currently have in the spreadsheet below.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Happy voting! Please cast your votes by 12 noon EST on 5/22.

I think I need help in understanding what "modern" is before I vote. I assumed modern meant "Contemporary." Like Present Day. Like it could happen between 2000 - now. Like there are cellphones and skyscrapers, and Internet and things that relate to or would be happening right now. But from the 25 pages, this does not appear to be the case. It is filled with historical fiction and fantasy. Even Outlander is there. (Its always there.) There is all kinds of freakish other world or past situations or both. I couldn't get a sense of what the category actually was. In the meantime, it's clearly a genre I like, because I have read about 40% of its first 25 pages. Every page is filled with books I have greatly enjoyed, yet none give me a clue to this category. Even wierder, there are 25 pages filled with books I have read, but not a single one where one of my 400 books on my TBR made the list! How odd! I am sure I could come up with something to read for this tag, but first I have to understand what it means. Can anyone help? Are other people also confused by what this is?

Oh ... June is Pride Month ... my choice is clear.

What!?! Already? I think that every month :-P

I think I will vote LGBTQ, but love the dragons tag as well. I'm torn!

I've noticed that books with any LGBT character at all get tagged as LGBT. It's a pretty big catch-all tag.

Easy peasy choice for me! LGBT all the way!

Amy wrote: "I think I need help in understanding what "modern" is before I vote. I assumed modern meant "Contemporary." Like Present Day. Like it could happen between 2000 - now. Like there are cellphones and ..."

The books on the first couple pages are often called modern classics. GR has been around for a long time, so many of those books could have been tagged modern years ago.

A lot of these are on my tbr.

If Dragons wins, I could easily read a couple Temeraire books.

If LGBT wins, I would start with a Sarah Waters book in my audible library. I probably have more in my tbr, but I no longer use the tag unless I have reason to think it's truly relevant.

Sue wrote: "I've noticed that books with any LGBT character at all get tagged as LGBT. It's a pretty big catch-all tag."

I know. It's hard to tell which books are truly representative. I think some authors are starting to arbitrarily make a supporting character gay without changing anything in the story. Or they use it as a way to show why a teenager feels different, when the story could just as easily be about shyness, depression or lack of money. I understand why people would prefer books by gay authors, because they're more likely to reflect authentic experiences ("own voices"). At the same time it's offensive to ask an author to self-identify because it violates their privacy and possibly creates a safety risk (hate crime).

Nancy - I think you captured my thoughts exactly. I would much rather read an authentic experience.

If that tag wins, I'd be looking for something beyond a surface 1-dimensional supporting character who "happens to be" gay. And there are a ton of good choices out there - just need to look beyond the tag.

NancyJ wrote: "Sue wrote: "I've noticed that books with any LGBT character at all get tagged as LGBT. It's a pretty big catch-all tag."

I know. It's hard to tell which books are truly representative. I think som..."

I'm glad I'm not the only one who is seeing the arbitrary inclusion of gay characters in recent books. It's a sensitive issue. While it's a positive trend that queer characters are acceptable, in some cases it feels opportunistic, even exploitive. It is an excellent field for great book discussions.

As far as what the tag means, unfortunately on GR, tags actually "mean" nothing. They are assigned by human readers who have all kinds of reasons for why they label the book. Some tags work pretty well for us, like Detective, but others are so vague that they can mean anything. The person who tagged a book as Modern may have meant the book was written in the last 20 or 50 or even 100 years, regardless of setting or subject.

Amy wrote: "I think I need help in understanding what "modern" is before I vote. I assumed modern meant "Contemporary." Like Present Day. Like it could happen between 2000 - now. Like there are cellphones and ..."

'Modern' and 'contemporary' do not mean exactly same thing. Modern Art typically starts in 19th Century with Contemporary Art starting about 50 years ago. Modern History acc/t a history professor friend starts back many centuries - just after Medieval more or less. Contemporary history is post industrial.

Hemingway, Sartre, even Balzac are Moderns. Contemporary era writers are those in present day. Contemporary is essentially a subgenre of Modern.

But who the heck knows what anyone was thinking when they tagged a book 'Modern'?!

The more I look at the Modern list, the more I think that this tag was used by many people as a shorthand for "modern classics." There are a lot of really good books on this list, by many of the authors that get discussed in our group (and our favorite authors list). There are a lot of good LGBTQ books on the list on the list too.

I agree with Theresa and Robin that it could include a fairly wide range of time. One of the big classics groups on gr would consider books by Steinbeck, Wolff, Bradbury, or Patchett to be Modern Classics. (When I think of modern art or modern furniture, I think of 1960's.) It's clearly not the same as contemporary or 2020's. If this one wins, I would read something already tagged modern. There are enough books there that I already want to read.

I compared the list to the contemporary tag, and while there is some overlap, contemporary has a lot more NA, YA and lightweight books. Modern has a lot of books that I've been meaning to read for a long time, such as East of Eden.

Lincoln Highway had modern tags too.

Surprisingly, this tag list isn't as broad as LGBT.

Book Concierge wrote: "Oh ... June is Pride Month ... my choice is clear."

Nice! This is the one I'm hoping for.

Amy wrote: "I think I need help in understanding what "modern" is before I vote. ..."

I haven't looked at the list, but if it wins (I'm hoping not - way too broad!), I will interpret it as you have - contemporary. Probably something set in the 21st century.

I'm not really wanting dragons, either (fantasy), but I managed the first time we read for dragons... way way way back in our first year of existence!

For interest:
September 2008: Dragons: 67 books read

I am thrilled to see LGBT! And for Pride month when many here will be reading books with a gay pride LGBTQ gender choice focus.

I don't remember seeing any similar tag option since I became a member in 2018. It is long overdue. Lots of great genre options for it too.

But dragons....oh so tempting. So fun.

In the end, it comes down to what on your TBR do you think fits the tag, not what someone else may have arbitrarily tagged it.

Modern fiction emcompasses the most on my TBR list.

I was planning on reading an LGBTQ book for June and will whatever the choice. I have a few which I can recommend that I have read over the past few years.

So many already read in the modern, so I will be sure to find something. Dragons is one of those rare occasions which I have nada.

Any author who is writing about the period in which s/he is living is writing "contemporary" works. Jane Austen's works were all contemporary in their time. Ditto most of Dickens, Agatha Christie, Hemingway, etc, etc, etc.....

Modern, on the other hand, I would consider only from the beginning of the 20th century. But that is MY definition.

As Robin mentioned about, we have no idea why anyone tagged anything with any tag. (Though I can probably guess about someone using the "made-my-panties-go-poof" tag.)

Book Concierge wrote: "Though I can probably guess about someone using the "made-my-panties-go-poof" tag.."

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

NancyJ wrote: "Sue wrote: "I've noticed that books with any LGBT character at all get tagged as LGBT. It's a pretty big catch-all tag."

Agree-I think this tag is heavily misused

@ Amy-agree the Modern Tag is so ambiguous

Also looking at "Dragons" and "LBGT" and the books that are on both lists-I have read a lot of them and there are no Dragons to be seen and if there was an LBGT character, they were not significant enough for me to remember

There is a new book out called When Women Were Dragons. If it should win I am reading that.

Jgrace wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "Sue wrote: "I've noticed that books with any LGBT character at all get tagged as LGBT. It's a pretty big catch-all tag."

I agree Jgrace-I think this tag is misused

Book Concierge wrote: "Any author who is writing about the period in which s/he is living is writing "contemporary" works. Jane Austen's works were all contemporary in their time. Ditto most of Dickens, Agatha Christie, ..."


😅😂

Okay, I think I'm going to vote the tag modern:)

I wasn't sure which I wanted but I was swayed by comments here to choose LGBT. I have multiple books I can choose from.

Voted.

I voted too.

My vote is in.

Amy wrote: "I think I need help in understanding what "modern" is before I vote. I assumed modern meant "Contemporary." Like Present Day. Like it could happen between 2000 - now. Like there are cellphones and ..."

Yes, Modern Classics, but in the fine arts Modern is a period in the early 20th century--well, in art music (aka classical music) it is. What is being composed in that genre now is Contemporary or Post-Modern, Avante Garde (not so much of that now, of course), etc.

I have NO IDEA if anyone would shelve based on that, but given my background and my son's pursuit, I thought of that first!

I have a ton of Modern LGBT Dragon books on my TBR, so I was hoping for this combo of options so I’ll be happy with any of these!

Charlie wrote: "I have a ton of Modern LGBT Dragon books on my TBR, so I was hoping for this combo of options so I’ll be happy with any of these!"

LOL!

Charlie wrote: "I have a ton of Modern LGBT Dragon books on my TBR, so I was hoping for this combo of options so I’ll be happy with any of these!"

Ha!

Charlie wrote: "I have a ton of Modern LGBT Dragon books on my TBR, so I was hoping for this combo of options so I’ll be happy with any of these!"

LOL, I guess we know whose tbr to look at if we need ideas.

For those trying to cover all bases:
Many of John Boyne's books have both Modern and LGBT tags, they all fit our author challenge, and many of his books are historical fiction for our History Lane challenge.

The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne
- Has Modern and LGBT tags,
- Fits both of our annual challenges.
- Historical fiction including social/political changes for gay men in the last half of the 20th century.
- Fits several Around the Year prompts (continents, loving same-sex relationship, >22 letters, hisfic, others?)

Charlie wrote: "I have a ton of Modern LGBT Dragon books on my TBR, so I was hoping for this combo of options so I’ll be happy with any of these!"

Thanks for the laugh! There are dragon/LGBT books, though, and probably modern/LGBT.

I'm still mulling this over.

Voted