Play Book Tag discussion

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

https://forms.gle/1TsV9RaXvV7SGhGy6

Here are the lists of books for each tag:

arab: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
book club: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
humor: 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 10/22.

I already voted:D

Arab is far too narrow for me. * (Middle east would be much easier.)

Book Club is very broad, but easy enough.

I'm not sure about Humor. I know there are some humorous Thanksgiving books.

*I have several middle east books on my tbr, but most are set in Turkey, which is not Arab. (Neither is Afghanistan). My Name is Red has a few tags, but unless there is something I don't know about the book, those tags are mistakes. Same with Elif Shafak books. There are a few I would recommend, but none that I want to read right now.

I'm delighted by how much Edward Said is on the "arab" shelf. Orientalism in particular is SUPER enlightening, though it's not exactly light reading. Said was a cornerstone of my graduate research into Islamophobia a few years ago tho, so I had to come here and stan him :D

Wow! November already?!? Voted

I can't believe we are already voting for the next tag! With all the crappy ads and junk mail lately, I'm looking forward to reading something that will make me light-hearted! Bet you know my vote. Though I did check my TBR and I have reading for any category.

Done

@Heather - Edward Said was still teaching at Columbia when I was at Barnard, and just as Orientalism was published to great controversy. I have read a lot of the fiction listed in Arab tag and it is fantastic! I still have so much on my TBR. I also highly recommend Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia by Janet Wallach not just to read about an extraordinary Victorian woman who traveled alone through the Middle East, but was an active participant in the formation of the Middle East. It is a great book to understand the Mideast today.

@NancyJ - Turkey absolutely is arab as well as 'western' and there is longstanding internal conflict history over the western leaning and arab leaning. Not to mention the internal armenian conflicts.

I caution all on thinking 'arab' only applies to countries declared as Arab States. The Arab World is large and global.

I have books for all three but looking at Arab, specifically ... even the top book has only 17 tags, and by the bottom of the first page there are only 5 taggers for the book. While the other two choices show books with thousands of tags for "book club" or "humor."

I voted - I'll be fine with any of these three - I have some TBR options for all three tags.

I know that I'll have less time and ability to concentrate as the holiday season moves in. I'll need something light and easy. There are some challenging books on the Arab list. I'd rather tackle them when I have the time and energy.

Theresa wrote: "@Heather - Edward Said was still teaching at Columbia when I was at Barnard, and just as Orientalism was published to great controversy. I have read a lot of the fiction listed in Ara..."

Are you referring to the Arab diaspora? I agree that a book about an Arab character living in the US, Brazil, Turkey, or anywhere else would probably work for this tag. The Arab World seems to be more consistently and strictly defined as 22 (some sources list 19) specific countries. They exclude Turkey and Afghanistan.

If this tag wins, I have at least one Egyptian book that would work.

Theresa wrote: "@Heather - Edward Said was still teaching at Columbia when I was at Barnard, and just as Orientalism was published to great controversy. I have read a lot of the fiction listed in Ara..."

Omg, that must have been a wild time!! By the time I was studying Said he was long dead, unfortunately. Some of his later lectures are available on YouTube, though, and they're very engaging. He was brilliant, and I appreciated he was coming at social science from the humanities side, which is still not all that common. We both have a background in English literature, so I always felt like I "got" what he was saying on a deeper level than most of the other stuff I had to read in grad school.

I have tbr books on the first page of all of these, so any work for me, but there is one I hope won't be chosen.

As someone mentioned Bookclub is very broad, but does provide many choices.

As I perused the choices for Arab, it does seem that many people use the term interchangeably with middle eastern.

Heather Reads Books wrote: "Theresa wrote: "@Heather - Edward Said was still teaching at Columbia when I was at Barnard, and just as Orientalism was published to great controversy. I have read a lot of the ficti..."

It absolutely was a wild time - 1973 - 77. Watergate hearings and Nixon's resignation dominated the news and our conversation, as did Roe v, Wade,ending the Vietnam War, the bankruptcy of NYC, and many many social and civil rights issues, also upheaval with Columbia. Interestingly, the Barnard classes graduating since 2016 have found the alumnae from the mid-70s experienced economic, civil rights, and social turbulance most similar to what they experienced while at and immediately after Barnard.

As usual I'm hoping for the most narrow tag, and really don't want the broadest tag where just about anything could fit!

I looked around the internet to see what countries are considered Arab, and these are listed as having a predominantly Arab population (if that is the criteria you wish to use):

Algeria
Bahrain
Egypt
Iraq
Jordan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Libya
Mauritania
Morocco
Oman
Palestine
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Sudan
Syria
Tunisia
United Arab Emirates
Yemen

"An Arab country is a country in which most of the population is of Arab origin and/or speaks the Arabic language."

I am sure the Arab diaspora contains a much broader interpretation, as Theresa points out.

Just trying to help, as some of the listed countries on the Listopia on Goodreads includes countries that are probably tagged based on a western understanding of Arab. (The "stans" should not be included nor Iran, as NancyJ points out).

I found all this interesting information. Not trying to sway anyone. I still haven't decided what I'm going to vote for. I can make any of them work.

When I initially saw the tag for book club; therefore, I was leaning toward humor as my first choice. However, when I review the books under each, I realized that "book club" wasn't book highlighting book clubs but rather books frequently read by book clubs, I realized that this was a better option. Would books not on the provided list but selected by any of my face-to-face book clubs or online book clubs count?

I voted this morning. I have something for all of them. Funny that I wasn’t drawn to humor.

I like humor within mysteries, romances, etc, but rarely read whole books of it.

@John - you can read any book you want that YOU consider fits the monthly tag. It does not have to be on any list that exists or even tagged ever by anyone by that tag.

voted

I randomly have a lot of books coming up set in Egypt and Lebanon,

I just read The City of Brass and want to read the next in the series The Kingdom of Copper and to continue the djinn rabbit hole, A Master of Djinn.

I also plan to read The Wrong End of the Telescope though set in Greece, the MC is Lebanese. I recommend also the author's An Unnecessary Woman.

Would also like to read As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow set in Syria.

Also recommend any book by Hala Alyan if you didn't read her for the favorite author challenge. House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East is also an interesting memoir set in Lebanon written by a journalist.

The other tags work well too!

Jen K wrote: "I randomly have a lot of books coming up set in Egypt and Lebanon,

I just read The City of Brass and want to read the next in the series The Kingdom of Copper and t..."

@Jen, I'll be very interested in what you think of The Wrong End of the Telescope. It's so unusual. I read it at a difficult time and didn't make it all the way through.

Like you, I would heartily recommend the books by Hala Alyan.

That said, I'm unsure about the tag I'm voting for.

Holly R W wrote: "Jen K wrote: "I randomly have a lot of books coming up set in Egypt and Lebanon,

I just read The City of Brass and want to read the next in the series [book:The Kingdom of Copper|3..."

@Holly, it has been on my holds list for a while. I like the author and hope it works for me.

Even with all my Arab choices, I do agree with whoever said that they are definitely heavier topics than may be wanted in November.

Jen K wrote: "I randomly have a lot of books coming up set in Egypt and Lebanon,

I just read The City of Brass and want to read the next in the series The Kingdom of Copper and t..."

My Feminerdy Book Club has been reading the Daevabad Trilogy this year, discussed The Kingdom of Copper at our September meeting. The Empire of Gold is scheduled for our January discussion. We love the series and find much to discuss. We also discussed A Master of Djinn this year.

Did you know S.A. Chakraborty just published more - a collection of stories - set in the Daevabad world? The River of Silver: Tales from the Daevabad Trilogy.

I love a broad tag, so I would lean more toward the book club option. Probably a crap load of those books on my tbr.

Meli wrote: "I love a broad tag, so I would lean more toward the book club option. Probably a crap load of those books on my tbr."

Me too, I have the most books for that one, though I've also read a ton of them. There is a lot of literary fiction but also various genres. Of course some people marked it book club because their group was reading it, and the group could have been a sci-fi or other type of group.

@Theresa, thanks I've added that one to my list! I'm quite enjoying the series so far. She also has another book coming out in 2023- The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi.

Robin P wrote: "I like humor within mysteries, romances, etc, but rarely read whole books of it."

I've read (and listened to) some really terrific humorous mysteries. I can recommend Janet Evanovich who had me laughing out loud when in places where people looked at me strangely (airplanes, drs office waiting rooms).

I'm looking forward to picking up another Chet & Bernie series book. And the Andy Carpenter series both featuring dogs.

The Spellman files is a short series that's pretty funny too.

There there's anything by Fannie Flagg, I love her books that are both heartwarming and funny. I've heard good things about Sederis and have had Me Talk Pretty One Day on my list for a long time. The two autobios by Carol Burnet are a treat to listen to as she is the narrator.

Amy wrote: "I voted this morning. I have something for all of them. Funny that I wasn’t drawn to humor."
A bit of irony here ;)?

Jen K wrote: "@Theresa, thanks I've added that one to my list! I'm quite enjoying the series so far. She also has another book coming out in 2023- The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi."

Had not spotted that! Thanks for the tip!

I have a shelf for my F2F bookclub reads.
Who else does?
If bookclub wins, would love to read one from someone's bookclub shelf.

Here's mine:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Shelly wrote: "I have a shelf for my F2F bookclub reads.
Who else does?
If bookclub wins, would love to read one from someone's bookclub shelf.

Here's mine:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...?..."


This is such a great idea! I only have one F2F bookclub - only bookclub really - and I have a shelf for it: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

It is Feminerdy Book Club and dedicated to a deep dive into femiism and gender in fantasy and scifi. My shelf includes what we have already read, including what was read before I became a regular member and possible future reads (which of course grows regularly).

I shelf books under a tag for book clubs, but because I didn't understand how tags worked they are very specific, like 2nd Flight Book Club (which is the name of my local indie book club) or Rogue Book Club (which is an offshoot of the local indie bookstore book club).

A couple of the choices are a little too narrow for me. I voted for the one that is not.

Voted. Diane MP

I love that some of us prefer broad tags while others prefer narrower ones.

The broad tags insure something to read for everyone and the narrow a more focused look.

Truthfully, I like the narrow tags when they are in one of my areas of interest, so while I may be an eclectic reader, I am not all that eclectic.

I'd be okay with any of these three. I have a preference, but I think it would be good to go outside my comfort for this one.

I also think that some books not already tagged as "arab" would work. For example, Tahereh Mafi (YA author) wrote an autobiographical fiction story about her experience as a Muslim American after September 11. She was born in Connecticut. However, her parents are Iranian immigrants so I'd think her book qualifies.

I too had a hard time choosing between broad and narrow. Although ultimately one took the lead. I actually have some thing for everything, but like many I don’t actually prefer the broad tax because it doesn’t feel like I’m reading for the month. It just feels like it’s helping me knock off my list that I was reading anyway. Book club feels a lot like that. And for Arab, I have four books that are on my list. Crazily enough, I really wanted to read rooftops of Tehran for favorites, and I know that Joy D and Anita rated that highly, I think also Nicole D. I actually didn’t get to it in time, so I returned it to the library. But it’s one of my four books that if Arab gets picked I’m reading that. Also Aperigon is a great choice. That said, I’m not sure if I voted for book club first. Or Arab. Because I might’ve gotten myself into a place where because it’s November it’s easy to knock off books that I was reading anyway. Like it’s an easy tag to fulfill. If I’m being honest with myself, I think I wanted to put Arab first, and possibly may have choked in the moment. And maybe regretted that. As I said, I have learned so much from the narrower tags, and have picked up things I would never read. That is one of the many but central reasons I love this group so much.

A Map of Home has Arab, Book Club and Humor tags.

Here's a surprise - I spotted The Netanyahus on the Humor tag list. The "Most read this week" section.
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/most...

It's the most recent winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. I don't know if the humor is light or dark, but I figured I give it a try if the tag wins. I then discovered that there are many other Pultizer Prize winners with Humor tags. (I have a goal to read the winners/nominees of certain awards each year. )

Book-club tag - Most read this week:
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/most...

I read The Netanyahus. There is light humor in the book as part of the storyline. I gave it 3 stars. I don't think I had the right background to fully appreciate it. In case anyone is interested, here's My review.

I guess I prefer the broad tags because I am doing several challenges in other groups and I always hope some of them will fit.

Robin P wrote: "I guess I prefer the broad tags because I am doing several challenges in other groups and I always hope some of them will fit."

I want broad tags because it just gives you more options. If I have to seek out something that is not on my want-to-read list or tbr it's more work and I am lazy 😂

Meli wrote: "Robin P wrote: "I guess I prefer the broad tags because I am doing several challenges in other groups and I always hope some of them will fit."

I want broad tags because it just gives you more opt..."

I used to want narrow ones to get me out of my regular reading but now prefer ones that aren't too narrow since I have read so many types now I don't feel a big need to find new genres--most overlap. That said, I do still like to read things out of my comfort zone at times.

How interesting that the Netanyahus would be tagged Arab. I mean all Middle Eastern tagged as Arab makes absolute sense to me. Except for the Israeli's. Who are of course brothers and sisters genetically to the Arab nation, but who are so inherently culturally distinct. Its a semantic thing perhaps, but I am reminded of the fraternal twins Jacob and Esau, fathers to these dual nations, who even from birth were descriptively and culturally different. A divergent thought from the thread perhaps, but that struck me this morning as worth of the digression.