Play Book Tag discussion

Trim 2026 – Planning and Organization Thread; Welcome and How it Works:

What is It – How Does it Work?

PBT is continuing to hold an unofficial challenge for the community, meant for old and new members both. This challenge emerged from one of the yearlong challenges in 2019, and we liked it so much, that we are still continuing it. It’s meant to be something that new or old members can join in, and join in at any time. My role in this, is to make sure it gets a good strong organized dynamic kickoff, and then just to keep up excitement and morale.

This is not an official PBT challenge, and is meant to be secondary to the yearlong challenges. You do not have to participate, you can drop or enter participation at any time. You can switch your books, you can read them earlier or later than you were “supposed” to, or not at all. You can substitute, change your list completely, throw it out and start over. There is complete flexibility. This is the ultimate easy extra. You will not receive any extra points for books that you read, but you should put them in the monthly or other folders to get points, as well as if they fit into particular challenges. It is for fun. And for some, the fun is creating Buddy Reads that we can read something together.

This is how it works. You create a list of 24 books that are on your TBR and that you would like to get to. Each month, over a two year period, a participating member will randomly pick (or we’d never know if you picked decisively) a remaining number from 1-24, and we all read the number on our list, thus ensuring that this book comes off your TBR. And for some, creating the opportunity to do a Buddy Read together. And no pressure with the Buddy Reads either. Just because you signed up to read something does not commit you in any way to do so. In the past, some people have put more than one book choice on their list – feel free. The reason some people choose to have more books added to their lists is because they either want to have choices, or participate in more than one buddy read. Or folks will talk together and switch a number, so they can do more than one without it being the same month. Again, totally flexible, and I will continue to add and help arrange the Buddy Reads as they evolve.


How Do I Join? How to Construct A List

You pick 24 books that you would like to someday somehow get to, and you number them 1-24. In this thread, that is our organization and planning one, members will post their lists of 24, and we can move them around as needed if you want to put the same book on the same number to read them together. I will assist in helping find good slots for people to be able to match up on a number. For example, a large group of people are reading The Bastard of Instanbul for this December 2025, because all of us who wanted to, chose that on the same number (6). Plenty of people change their lists around to accommodate buddy reads or to add themselves to someone else’s book choice on a particular number.

Creating these lists and joining a potential buddy read does not mean you have to continue to participate in them, it’s merely offered as a guide as old and new participants are together constructing lists. But I will post the master list of existing buddy reads as they emerge, so folks can see them, and will add to them as new ones arise. As we post our lists, I will help us arrange them on the same numbers and repost the emerging buddy reads.

Moving Forward

As the challenge begins in 2026, there will be a 2026 Community and Announcement Thread. The Trim Picker for the month will announce the number to read after the monthly tag or challenge is announced, what the number of the month will be. Again, there is no pressure to read or finish your book, or to do so on time. I envision the ongoing 2026 thread as one where we can announce the number, chat and connect, but not really for reviews. We can always refer back to this thread if new members join the challenge midway or we want to go back to one another’s lists.

Evolving Buddy Reads

As they evolve will be posted here:

2. Becoming Madam Secretary (Amy, Melanie Joy)
4. The Good Night (BnB, KateNZ)
5. Buckeye* (Amy, JenK, Sue)
6. Six of Crows (KateNZ, Melanie Joy)
7. The Invisible Library* (JenK, Theresa)
8. Wild Swans (JoyD, BNB)
9. Rodham (BnB, KateNZ, JenK)
13. The Thousand Names (Joanne, KateNZ, JenK)
14. The Mad Wife (Amy, BnB)
14. The Fortunate Ones (Jason, Amy)
15. What My Bones Know (Amy, Sue)
17. Dark Earth* (BnB, JenK)
21. The Blood of Flowers (JoyD, BnB)
22. The History of Bees* (BnB, JenK)

Participating Members and Trim Picker List

As people post their lists, I will add them to our list of participants. The Trim Picker List will be developed from the randomizer, and if there are more than 23 people, they will sub in as needed. The first Trim Picker will pick in late December.

Amy
Theresa
Algernon
KateNZ
Joanne
Olivermagnus
Jen K
LibraryCin
Rachel N.
BooknBlues
Linda C.
Diana
Sue
Jason
JoyD
Melanie Joy

Amy’s 2026 Trim List. (*** Denotes a Buddy Read)

1. The Astral Library – Kate Quinn
2. Becoming Madam Secretary – Stephanie Dray*****
3. Boleyn Traitor – Philippa Gregory
4. The Book of Lost Hours – Hayley Gelfuso
5. Buckeye – Patrick Ryan****
6. The Dearly Beloved – Cara Wall
7. The Eights – Joanna Miller
8. The Faculty Lounge – Jennifer Mathieu
9. The Forty Year Kiss – Nicholas Butler
10. Heart the Lover – Lily King
11. The House at Riverton – Kate Morton/****My Dear Hamilton
12. The Last Russian Doll – Kristen Loesch
13. The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes – Chanel Cleeton
14. Mad Wife – Meagan Church*****/The Fortunate Ones******
15. The Memory Library – Kate Storey/What My Bones Know****
16. The Names – Florence Knapp
17. Novel Love Story – Ashley Poston
18. One Woman’s War – Christine Wells
19. The Other Side of Now – Paige Harbison
20. The River is Waiting – Wally Lamb
21. What Kind of Paradise – Janelle Brown
22. Where the Lost Wander – Amy Harmon
23. Where the River’s Merge – Mary Alice Monroe
24. The Underground Library – Jennifer Ryan

Theresa's 2026 Trim List

Mix of 1st in series and next in series, mix of genres. All are among the oldest sitting on the shelves.

1. Orange as Marmalade
2. It Happened One Autumn
3. Dangerous Admissions: Secrets of a Closet Sleuth
4. Enemies at Home
5. Staying Dead
6. Faithful Place
7. The Invisible Library
8. Whispers Underground
9. Pelican Point
10. The White Mirror
11. Lowcountry Bribe
12. The End of the Ocean
13. Murder at Lowry House
14. Finally Home
15. Pennyroyal Academy
16. Pearls and Peril
17. The Billionaire's Gamble
18. Murder on the Ballarat Train
19. Unleashed
20. When It's Right
21. The Heir of Night
22. The Lady Travelers Guide to Larceny with a Dashing Stranger
23. Garden Spells
24. Stalking Ground

I love making lists (even if I'm not very good at keeping to a schedule), so here is my ambitious trim plan for the next 2 years:

- 01 - Gilbert Sorrentino – Mulligan’s Stew
- 02 - Jess Walter – The Cold Millions
- 03 - John Boyne – The Elements
- 04 - John Marco – The Bloody Chorus
- 05 - Michael Scott Rohan – Chase the Morning
- 06 - Niall Wiliams – This is Happiness
- 07 - A S Byatt – The Children’s Book
- 08 - Marguerite Duras – Little Horses of Tarquinia
- 09 - Algernon Blackwood – Ancient Sorceries
- 10 - Haruki Murakami – 1Q84
- 11 - Catherynne Valente – A Dirge for Prester John
- 12 - Eiji Yoshikawa – Musashi
- 13 - Richard Powers – Playground
- 14 - W G Sebald – Austerlitz
- 15 - Sherwood Anderson – Winesburg, Ohio
- 16 - Thomas Ligotti – Songs of a Dead Dreamer & Grimscribe
- 17 - Frances Hardinge – The Lie Tree
- 18 - Louis de Bernieres – The Dust that Falls from Dreams
- 19 - Peter S Beagle – The Secret History of Fantasy
- 20 - Valerie Perrin – Three
- 21 - Matthew Kneale – English Passengers
- 22 - Ron Rash – The Cove
- 23 - Bahíyyih Nakhjavání - The Saddlebag
- 24 - Eowyn Ivey – To the Bright Edge of the World

I’m back in this year, Amy! Trimming the digital TBR…

1. The Will of the Many
2. Backstitched and Stabbed
3. Crimson Lake
4. The Good Knight
5. Endeavour: The Ship and the Attitude that Changed the World
6. Six of Crows
7. The Glassmaker's Daughter
8. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
9. Rodham
10. The Gown
11. Cloud Cuckoo Land
12. Sweet Revenge
13. The Thousand Names
14. My Name Is Lucy Barton
15. Jeoffry: The Poet's Cat
16. The Dark Queens: The Bloody Rivalry That Forged the Medieval World
17. Still Just a Geek: An Annotated Memoir
18. Imperial Woman
19. The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep
20. Different Seasons
21. A Grave Magic
22. Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica's Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night
23. Malibu Rising
24. The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

JoAnne


1 Duchess
2 Templar by Jordan Mechner
3 Treason
4 Fatal Crossroads: The Untold Story of the Malmédy Massacre at the Battle of the Bulge
5 In the Hurricane's Eye: The Genius of George Washington and the Victory at Yorktown
6 Mustard Seed
7 Heresy
8 Cloudbearer's Shadow
9 The Voyage of the Morning Light
10 The Spymaster of Baghdad: A True Story of Bravery, Family, and Patriotism in the Battle against ISIS
11 A Worse Place Than Hell: How the Civil War Battle of Fredericksburg Changed a Nation
12 Hereward
13 The Thousand Names (Buddy read with KateNZ
14 Smoke Jensen: The Beginning
15 Diamonds and Deadlines: A Tale of Greed, Deceit, and a Female Tycoon in the Gilded Age
16 Things Past Telling
The Lion
17 Armored
18 Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England
19 Hudson's Kill
20 A History of Burning
21 The Wind Knows My Name
22 The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins, MIT, and the Fight for Women in Science
23A Wild and Heavenly Place
24 Undermajordomo Minor

ZOlivermagnus 2026 Trim List

Read the first book of the many series that have been languishing on my TBR.

1. 44 Scotland Street - Alexander McCall Smith
2. The Agincourt Bride - Joanna Hickson
3. At Risk - Stella Rimington
4. Dead White - M.K. Coker
5. A Death at Seascape House - Emma Jameson
6. Deep Freeze - Lisa Jackson
7. The Eight - Katherine Neville
8. Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone - Benjamin Stevenson
9. A Guide to the Birds of East Africa - Nicholas Drayson
10. Helen of Sparta - Amalia Carosella
11. The Hippopotamus Marsh - Pauline Gedge
12. The Kremlin Conspiracy - Joel C. Rosenberg
13. Leave No Trace - A.J. Landau
14. Lights Out - Elise Hart Kipness
15. Malicious Intent - Kathryn Fox
16. Medicus - Ruth Downie
17. Murder with Peacocks - Donna Andrews
18. No Mercy - John Gilstrap
19. Palace Walk - Naguib Mahfouz
20. The Physician - Noah Gordon
21. Sharpe's Tiger - Bernard Cornwell
22. A Test of Wills - Charles Todd
23. To Catch an Heiress - Julia Quinn
24. Venom in the Blood - Tracy Buchanan

Reserving a spot. I love making up my list by picking out potential buddy reads from others' lists.'

1. Benediction
2. Brotherless Night
3. Coldwire
4. Wreck
5. Buckeye* (Amy)
6. If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English
7. The Invisible Library* (Theresa)
8. Lab Girl
9. Rodham* (KateNZ, BnB)
10. Vacationland: True Stories from Painful Beaches
11. The Big Sea
12. The Johnstown Flood
13. The Thousand Names* (KateNZ, JoAnne)
14. Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas
15. Heads of the Colored People
16. Gods of the Upper Air: How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century
17. Dark Earth* (BnB)
18. The Checklist
19. Roommaid
20. Chasing Stardust
21. The Anti-Heroes
22. The History of Bees* (BnB)
23. My Friends
24. Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments

I don't do the buddy reads, but I'll set up my list in the next couple of weeks.

I'm going to join in with books I own. I'll be back later with my list

Here is the first draft. I will probably adjust as I spot possible body reads. I already have a few.

1. Nettle & Bone
2. A Girl Is a Body of Water &/or Becoming Madam Secretary(Amy)
3. The French Cookery School
4. The Good KnightKate NZ
5. The Republic of Love
6. The Moon Is Missing
7. A Catalog of Birds
8.Girl Waits with Gun & orWild Swans: Three Daughters of China(Joy D)
9. RodhamKate NZ
10. The Flight Attendant
11.My Dear Hamilton Amy
12.The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century
13.The Promise of the Pelican
14. The Mad Wife(Amy)
15.How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House
16. The Wild Inside
17. Dark Earth -Rebecca Stott
18.Who is Ma Kemah?
19.Fast Girl: A Life Spent Running from Madness
20. Follow Me to Africa &/or The Physician(Olivermagnus)
21.Babeland/or The Blood of Flowers(Joy D)
22. The History of Bees
23. Where the Crawdads Sing
24. Three Sisters

Extras:
Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions
Sisters in Arms
Darkness Falling
Burning Down George Orwell's House

Linda C's Trim List – 2026

As a couple others have done – I have included some titles which are next in series – what a great way to move these along. Everything on this list has been on my TBR pile for 10 years or more!

1. Grace Under Pressure – Julie Hyzy
2. Cutting Loose – Susan Andersen
3. Heart Quest – Robin D. Owens
4. Murder is Binding – Lorna Barrett
5. Master of the Night – Angela Knight
6. Unleashed – C. J. Barry
7. Medusa Rising – Cindy Dees
8. Your Planet or Mine? – Susan Grant
9. The Tale of Holly How – Susan Wittig Albert
10. Wintertide – Linnea Sinclair
11. Better Read Than Dead – Victoria Laurie
12. Pearl of China – Anchee Min
13. The Elephant Vanishes – Haruki Murakami
14. The Scent of Rain and Lightning – Nancy Pickard
15. Bright Eyes – Catherine Anderson
16. The Double Comfort Safari Club – Alexander McCall Smith
17. The Pub Across the Pond – Mary Carter
18. On Rue Tatin: Living and Cooking in a French Town - Susan Herrmann Loomis
19. Ginger, My Story – Ginger Rogers
20. A Gentle Magic – Emma Craig
21. She Wore Only White - Dörthe Binkert
22. The Cryptographer - Alice Wallis-Eton
23. Big Sky Country – Linda Lael Miller
24. Ryan’s Return – Barbara Freethy

BnB - Adding Myself to My Dear Hamilton on Number 11!

Amy wrote: "BnB - Adding Myself to My Dear Hamilton on Number 11!"
Hurray! I have been wanting to read it forever and it kept getting bumped off my monthly reading.

I'm definitely in! But I'll wait to see more lists and potential buddy reads before I compile my own.

I'm in for another round of Trim! I'll come back with my list.

Linda C wrote: "As a couple others have done – I have included some titles which are next in series – what a great way to move these along. Everything on this list has been on my TBR pile for 10 years or more!..."

I love that you are working on books that have been on your tbr that long! I have some like that, too.

I'll take (most of) mine from ones I have saved in emails - the oldest ones I can get via the library. Most are ones I just saved there -- without adding them to my LT tbr where they would come up in searches to fill monthly challenges.

Just checked - looks like those will be mostly from 8 years ago.

I might add some physical books that have been lying around for a while, as well.

1) Peace Like a River - Leif Enger
2) A Beautiful Mind - Sylvia Nasar
3) The Untouchables - Eliot Ness
4) Too Close to the Falls: A Memoir - Catherine Gildiner
5) American Eclipse: A Nation's Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the World - David Baron
6) One Day at Fenway: A Day in the Life of Baseball in America - Steve Kettmann
7) Letters From Iwo Jima - Kumiko Kakehashi
8) The Glory of Their Times: The Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men Who Played It - Lawrence S. Ritter
9) The Lost Boys of Sudan: An American Story of the Refugee Experience - Mark Bixler
10) Boy Racer - Mark Cavendish
11) Mysteries of the Rectangle: Essays on Painting - Siri Hustvedt
12) The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency - Chris Whipple
13) The Scramble for Africa: The White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912 - Thomas Pakenham
14) The Fortunate Ones - Ellen Umansky
15) An American Family - Khizr Khan
16) Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin - Hampton Sides
17) The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League - Jeff Hobbs
18) Apollo 8: The Thrilling Story of the First Mission to the Moon - Jeffrey Kluger
19) Joshua: A Brooklyn Tale - Andrew Kane
20) The Beauty and the Sorrow: An Intimate History of the First World War - Peter Englund
21) Why My Wife Thinks I'm an Idiot: The Life and Times of a Sportscaster Dad - Mike Greenberg
22) Travelling to Infinity - Jane Hawking
23) The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision - Fritjof Capra
24) 12 Strong: The Declassified True Story of the Horse Soldiers - Doug Stanton

Jason - I LOVED Joshua: A Brooklyn Tale!!! I think that one was a treasure! I think I might join with you for the Fortunate Ones.

I hope # 24 gets called for you Jason, I enjoyed that book

I will join again!

1 The Lola Quartet Emily St. John Mandel
2 A Voyage Long and Strange Tony Horwitz
3 Dark Renaissance Stephen Greenblatt
4 Storm of Steel Ernst Jünger
5 Gould's Book of Fish Richard Flanagan
6 The Undoing Project Michael Lewis
7 Radiance Catherine M. Valente
8 Wild Swans Jung Chang
9 The House of Mirth Edith Wharton
10 Who They Was Gabriel Krauze
11 Twilight of the Gods Ian W. Toll
12 Wintering Peter Geye
13 La Tercera Gina Apostol
14 Reading Genesis Marilynne Robinson
15 The Female Persuasion Meg Wolitzer
16 The Borrower Rebecca Makkai
17 A Word Child Iris Murdoch
18 A Manuscript of Ashes Antonio Munoz Molina
19 Smart Baseball Keith Law
20 Let Him Go Larry Watson
21 The Blood of Flowers Anita Amirrezvani
22 The Reindeer Hunters Lars Mytting
23 What Is the What Dave Eggers
24 The Lightkeeper's Daughter Jean E. Pendziwol

Joy D wrote: "I will join again!

1 The Lola Quartet Emily St. John Mandel
2 A Voyage Long and Strange Tony Horwitz
3 Dark Renaissance Stephen Greenblatt
4 Storm of Steel Ernst Jünger
5 Gould's Book of Fish Rich..."

Joy, I've added Wild Swans and Blood of Flowers to my list. They are both DTB which I've had for well over a decade.

I will join again too! I will formulate my list in a little bit.

Amy I'm interested in joining join for Becoming Madam Secretary!
KateNZ I'm interested in joining you for Six of Crows! That's been on my TBR for TOO LONG

LibraryCin wrote: "Linda C wrote: "As a couple others have done – I have included some titles which are next in series – what a great way to move these along. Everything on this list has been on my TBR pile for 10 ye...

LibraryCin wrote: I might add some physical books that have been lying around for a while, as well."

All of these books are physically on my shelves along with all the rest in the series (if the book is part of a series). I have soooo... many books in my house!

Linda C wrote: "All of these books are physically on my shelves along with all the rest in the series (if the book is part of a series). I have soooo... many books in my house!..."

I don't have a lot of physical books, but I was getting more than I wanted lying around, so I did start putting some of the physical ones on my trim lists (I have one other in addition to here). It has helped.

I do get the bulk of what I read from the library, though.

Here's my trim list:

1. All That I Dread
2. The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing
3. Shattered Silence
4. The Jackal's Mistress
5. Buckeye (buddy read)
6. Big Dumb Eyes: Stories from a Simpler Mind
7. The Sorrows of Others
8. A Comedy of Nobodies: A Collection of Stories
9. James
10. Good Material
11. Whiskey Tender: A Memoir
12. This Is Not Miami
13. Roses Are Red, Violets Are Stealing Loose Change from My Pockets While I Sleep
14. A Place Called Home
15. What My Bones Know
16. Out of the Shadows: A Memoir
17. Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience
18. The Passion
19. Friend of My Youth
20. Leonard and Hungry Paul
21. The Vanishing Half
22. The Elements
23. You Like It Darker
24. Without Fail