Play Book Tag discussion

Here's to a great new year of reading and listening.

PBT Monthly Tag

January
History:
A Test of Wills - Charles Todd
Lady Clementine - Marie Benedict
The Facemaker - Lindsey Fitzharris
This Side of Murder - Anna Lee Huber
A Duty to the Dead - Charles Todd

February
Love
The Last Bookshop in London - Madeline Martin

March
Diversity
Front Desk - Kelly Yang
Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping On a Dead Man - Jesse Q. Sutanto

April
Nature
Odder - Katherine Applegate
The Wild Robot - Peter Brown

May
Sports
The Incredible Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League - Anika Orrock

June
Secrets
What I Saw and How I Lied - Judy Blundell
Wild Dark Shore - Charlotte McConaghy
No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson - Gardiner Harris

July
westerns
Dark Sky - C. J. Box
Shadows Reel - C. J. Box

August
Asia
The Joy Luck Club - Amy Tan
Go - Kazuki Kaneshiro

September
Law
Deadly Justice - William Bernhardt
Storm Watch - C. J. Box

Read 130 books

1. A Test of Wills - Charles Todd
2. Lady Clementine - Marie Benedict
3. The Facemaker - Lindsey Fitzharris
4. This Side of Murder - Anna Lee Huber
5. Read Between the Lies - Jesse Q. Sutanto
6. A Duty to the Dead - Charles Todd
7. Aftershock - Judy Melinek
8. The Cartographers - Peng Shepherd
9. Broken Bayou - Jennifer Moorhead
10. Almost Surely Dead - Amina Akhtar
11. The Crash - Freida McFadden
12. Mission Flats: A Novel - William Landay
13. The Last Bookshop in London - Madeline Martin
14. House of Glass- Sarah Pekkanen
15. The Seventh Sinner - Elizabeth Peters
16. City of Women - David R. Gillham
17. Five Found Dead - Sulari Gentill
18. The Paris Express - Emma Donoghue
19. Front Desk - Kelly Yang
20. With a Vengeance - Riley Sager
21. Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect - Benjamin Stevenson
22. 4:50 from Paddington - Agatha Christie
23. The Railway Children - E. Nesbit
24. All the Other Mothers Hate Me- Sarah Harman
25. A Talent for Murder - Peter Swanson
26. St. Albans Fire - Archer Mayor
27. Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret - Benjamin Stevenson
28. Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping On a Dead Man - Jesse Q. Sutanto
29. My Friends - Fredrik Backman
30. A Forty Year Kiss - Nickolas Butler
31. Home Before Dark - Riley Sager
32. Odder - Katherine Applegate
33. The Wild Robot - Peter Brown
34. The Cat Who Saved Books - Sosuke Natsukawa
35. The One and Only Bob - Katherine Applegate
36. Making Rounds with Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat - David Dosa
37. Basketball (and Other Things): A Collection of Questions Asked, Answered, Illustrated - Shea Serrano
38. Missing in Flight - Audrey J. Cole
39. 24 Hours in Ancient Rome: A Day in the Life of the People Who Lived There - Philip Matyszak
40. The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley - Shaun David Hutchinson
41. Fight Night - Miriam Toews
42. The Moving Finger - Agatha Christie
43. And Then You're Dead: What Really Happens If You Get Swallowed by a Whale, Are Shot from a Cannon, or Go Barreling over Niagara - Cody Cassidy
44. The Housemaid- Freida McFadden
45. The Incredible Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League - Anika Orrock
46. Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy - Mary Roach
47. The Hidden Life of Trees: A Graphic Adaptation - Peter Wohlleben
48. Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism - Amanda Montell
50. Someone We Know - Shari Lapena
51. A Conspiracy in Belgravia - Sherry Thomas
52. Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection - John Green
53. The Saturday Night Ghost Club - Craig Davidson
54. Firestorm- Nevada Barr
55. The Swiss Family Robinson - Johann David Wyss
56. The Littlest Library - Poppy Alexander
57. What I Saw and How I Lied - Judy Blundell
58. A Murder for the Books - Victoria Gilbert
59. The Lost Library: A Kid-Friendly Mystery - Rebecca Stead
60. Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library - Amanda Chapman
61. The Proving Ground - Michael Connelly
62. The Memory Library - Kate Storey
63. Wild Dark Shore - Charlotte McConaghy
64. No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson - Gardiner Harris
65. Dark Sky - C. J. Box
66. Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus
67. Mr. Popper's Penguins - Richard Atwater
68. Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? - Frans De Waal
69. Get Well Soon: History's Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them - Jennifer Wright
70. What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust - Alan Bradley
71. Forge - Laurie Halse Anderson
72. The Boyfriend - Freida McFadden
73; The Ending Writes Itself - Evelyn Clarke
74. Still Life with Bread Crumbs - Anna Quindlen
75. We Solve Murders - Richard Osman
76. The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness - Sy Montgomery
77. I See Life Through Rosé-Colored Glasses - Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella
78. Shadows Reel - C. J. Box
79. Have a Nice Guilt Trip - Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella
80. Good Girls Lie - J. T. Ellison
81. The Joy Luck Club - Amy Tan
82. This Book Kills - Ravena Guron
83. Dolley: A Novel - Rita Mae Brown
84. Dear Committee Members - Julie Schumacher
85. Old School - Gordon Korman
86. Ground Zero - Alan Gratz
87. Go - Kazuki Kaneshiro
88. Astonish Me - Maggie Shipstead
89. The Librarians - Sherry Thomas
90. A Dark Path: And Other Kate Burkholder Short Stories - Linda Castillo
91. Past Due for Murder - Victoria Gilbert
92. A Time to Stand: The Epic of the Alamo - Walter Lord
93. The Cats of Silver Crescent - Kaela Noel
94. Deadly Justice - William Bernhardt
95. Starter Villain - John Scalzi
96. Storm Watch - C. J. Box
97. The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World - Abigail Tucker
98. Cat Out of Hell - Lynne Truss

52 Book Club 20261
46/52

✔ 1. Set In An Ancient Civilization - 24 Hours in Ancient Rome: A Day in the Life of the People Who Lived There - Philip Matyszak

✔ 2. Kangaroo Word On The Cover - Home Before Dark - Riley Sager

✔ 3. Written Without Quotation Marks - Fight Night - Miriam Toews

✔ 4. Has A Dust Jacket - A Talent for Murder - Peter Swanson

✔ 5. Featuring A Conspiracy - With a Vengeance - Riley Sager

✔ 6. Title Starts With The Letter "O" - Odder - Katherine Applegate

✔ 7. Title Starts With The Letter "P" - The Paris Express - Emma Donoghue

✔ 8. A Three-Syllable Word In The Title - Lady Clementine - Marie Benedict

✔ 9. Featuring A Natural Disaster - Aftershock - Judy Melinek

✔ 10. Spans A Decade Or More - A Duty to the Dead - Charles Todd

✔ 11. Requires Suspension Of Disbelief - Almost Surely Dead - Amina Akhtar

✔ 12. A Genre-Defining Read - City of Women - David R. Gillham

✔ 13. Bookface - Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping On a Dead Man - Jesse Q. Sutanto

✔ 14. Includes A Character List - The Moving Finger - Agatha Christie

✔ 15. Subtitle With A Comma - And Then You're Dead: What Really Happens If You Get Swallowed by a Whale, Are Shot from a Cannon, or Go Barreling over Niagara - Cody Cassidy

✔ 16. Deus Ex Machina - The Housemaid - Freida McFadden

✔ 17. Author's Bio Mentions Their Dog - Broken Bayou - Jennifer Moorhead

✔ 18. Provokes Strong Emotions - Read Between the Lies - Jesse Q. Sutanto

✔ 19. A Nosy Neighbour Character - Someone We Know - Shari Lapena

✔ 20. Day Of The Week In The Title - The Saturday Night Ghost Club - Craig Davidson

✔ 21. Written In The 1800's - The Swiss Family Robinson - Johann David Wyss

✔ 22. Spotted In A TV Series Or Movie - Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus

✔ 23. Grumpy Sunshine Trope - The Littlest Library - Poppy Alexander

✔ 24. Uneven Number Of Chapters - Shadows Reel - C. J. Box

✔ 25. Includes A Red Herring - The Boyfriend - Freida McFadden

✔ 26. Title In A Serif Font - The Memory Library - Kate Storey

✔ 27. Two Or More Authors, One Pseudonym - The Ending Writes Itself - Evelyn Clarke

✔ 28. From A Series At Least Eight Books Long - A Test of Wills - Charles Todd

✔ 29. Set In The Arctic Or Antarctic - Wild Dark Shore - Charlotte McConaghy

✔ 30. Author Related To Another Author - I See Life Through Rosé-Colored Glasses - Lisa Scottoline

✔ 31. Author Related To Author In Prompt #30 - Have a Nice Guilt Trip - Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella

✔ 32. Publisher Starting With The Letter "B" - What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust - Alan Bradley

✔ 33. A Standalone Fantasy Novel - The Cartographers - Peng Shepherd

✔ 34. Inspired By The Top-Grossing Movie The Year You Were Born - Astonish Me - Maggie Shipstead

✔ 35. Character With A Secret Identity - Five Found Dead - Sulari Gentill

✔ 36. Award-Winning Book From Last Year - My Friends - Fredrik Backman

✔ 37. Started On The 26th Of The Month - The Crash - Freida McFadden

✔ 38. Domestic Fiction - A Forty Year Kiss - Nickolas Butler

✔ 39. A Book That Cost You Nothing - This Side of Murder- Anna Lee Huber

✔ 40. Authors First And Last Name Start With The Same Letter - The Last Bookshop in London - Madeline Martin

✔ 41. A Guide To... - Basketball (and Other Things): A Collection of Questions Asked, Answered, Illustrated - Shea Serrano

✔ 42. Includes A Handwritten Interior Font - House of Glass - Sarah Pekkanen

✔ 43. A Goodreads Recommendation For You - The Librarians - Sherry Thomas

✔ 44. Literary Device: Personification - The Cats of Silver Crescent - Kaela Noel

✔ 45. Biographical Fiction - Dolley: A Novel - Rita Mae Brown

46. Non-Fiction About Character In Prompt #45

47. A Diacritical Mark On The Cover

48. Related To The Word "Nemesis"

49. In The 800's Of The Dewey Decimal System

50. Set In A Castle

✔ 51. Includes A Map - Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect - Benjamin Stevenson

52. Published in 2026

ATY 2026
40/52

✔ 1. A book from a genre that starts with A, T, or Y - House of Glass - Sarah Pekkanen
✔ 2. A book with a primarily red, green or blue cover - Mission Flats: A Novel - William Landay
✔ 3. A book that fits a prompt suggestion for this year that did not make the list - Home Before Dark - Riley Sager
✔ 4. A book by a new-to-you author -A Test of Wills - Charles Todd
✔ 5. A book you want to read because of something you read in 2025 - Firestorm - Nevada Barr

✔ 6. A book related to blood, sweat, or tears - No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson - Gardiner Harris
✔ 7. A book with a character who appears in more than one book - A Duty to the Dead - Charles Todd
✔ 8. A book set in Africa, Asia, or Australia - Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect - Benjamin Stevenson
✔ 9. A book with a number, ordinal, or iterative numeral in the title - The Seventh Sinner - Elizabeth Peters

✔ 10. An award winning book - My Friends - Fredrik Backman
✔ 11. A history or historical fiction book - Lady Clementine - Marie Benedict
✔ 12. A book with cover text that is NOT black or white - The Last Bookshop in London - Madeline Martin
✔ 13. An author's second/sophomore book - The Littlest Library - Poppy Alexander
✔ 14. A book related to a painting by Vincent Van Gogh - Still Life with Bread Crumbs - Anna Quindlen

✔ 15. A book you've wanted to read for a long time - Aftershock - Judy Melinek
✔ 16. A book featuring a character with a similar occupation to one of the Clue/Cluedo characters - Dear Committee Members - Julie Schumacher
✔ 17. A book set in the wellness or beauty industries - Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy - Mary Roach
✔ 18. A book with a location in the title - The Paris Express - Emma Donoghue
✔ 19. A book related to yesterday - A Forty Year Kiss - Nickolas Butler
20. A book related to today
21. A book related to tomorrow
22. A book by a Korean or Korean-diaspora author

✔ 23. A book with a road trip or long journey - The Swiss Family Robinson - Johann David Wyss
✔ 24. A book that is either frothy or gothy - The Saturday Night Ghost Club - Craig Davidson
25. A book from the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list
✔ 26. A book with a Z in the title and/or author name - 24 Hours in Ancient Rome: A Day in the Life of the People Who Lived There - Philip Matyszak
✔ 27. A nonfiction book -The Facemaker - Lindsey Fitzharris

✔ 28. A book related to a resistance, rebellion, or revolution - City of Women - David R. Gillham
29. A vacation book
✔ 30. The most recently published book by an author and a book from that same author's backlist: Frontlist Book - Read Between the Lies - Jesse Q. Sutanto
✔ 31. The most recently published book by an author and a book from that same author's backlist: Backlist Book - Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping On a Dead Man - Jesse Q. Sutanto

✔ 32. A novella of 100-250 pages - Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret - Benjamin Stevenson
✔ 33. A book with an Indigenous character or author - Almost Surely Dead - Amina Akhtar
34. A book with a window on the cover
✔ 35. A book where all or part of the action takes place in a library, a museum, a school, or another public building - The Cartographers - Peng Shepherd
✔ 36. A book with a primary character who is a woman over 40 - Fight Night - Miriam Toews

✔ 37. A book that includes a science topic - Odder - Katherine Applegate
✔ 38. A book that's part of a series - Front Desk - Kelly Yang
✔ 39. A book connected in some way to the "Queen of Crime", Agatha Christie - Five Found Dead - Sulari Gentill
✔ 40. A book that has a punctuation mark in the title - 4:50 from Paddington - Agatha Christie

✔ 41. A mystery or true crime book - Broken Bayou - Jennifer Moorhead
✔ 42. A book set in an isolated location - The Crash - Freida McFadden
✔ 43. A book involving survival - With a Vengeance - Riley Sager
✔ 44. A book with a symbol of death on the cover - What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust - Alan Bradley

45. A book connected to "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen
✔ 46. A book that is not a novel - Making Rounds with Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat - David Dosa
✔ 47. A book with "this", "that", "these", or "those" in the title - This Side of Murder - Anna Lee Huber
48. A book with something edible in the title
49. A second book for your favorite prompt

✔ 50. A book with a bird on its cover - Mr. Popper's Penguins - Richard Atwater
51. A book published in 2026
52. A book related to the name of one of Santa's reindeer

The Rabbit Hole

January
WWI:
A Test of Wills - Charles Todd
WWI = 9 History = 17 (2 points)
Lady Clementine - Marie Benedict
WWI = 18 History = 51 (2 points)
The Facemaker - Lindsey Fitzharris
WWI = 14 History = 351 (2 points)
This Side of Murder - Anna Lee Huber
WWI = 13 History = 7
A Duty to the Dead - Charles Todd
WWI = 22 History = 20
1 pt per book = 5
1 pt to match tag = 5
5 pts for 5 books in same rabbit hole = 5
Total for January = 15 pts

February
Capital cities
Mission Flats: A Novel - William Landay
(Boston)
The Last Bookshop in London - Madeline Martin
(London) Tagged love x5 times
House of Glass - Sarah Pekkanen
(Washington D.C,)
The Seventh Sinner - Elizabeth Peters
(Rome)
City of Women - David R. Gillham
(Berlin)
1 pt per book = 5
1 pt per matched tag = 1
5 pts for 5 books in same rabbit hole = 5
Total for February = 11 pts
Cumulative Total = 26 points

March
Trains
The Paris Express - Emma Donoghue
With a Vengeance - Riley Sager
Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect - Benjamin Stevenson
4:50 from Paddington - Agatha Christie
The Railway Children - E. Nesbit
1 point per book = 5
5 books in same rabbit hole = 5
Total = 10

Personal Rabbit Hole
Mystery
All the Other Mothers Hate Me - Sarah Harman
A Talent for Murder - Peter Swanson
St. Albans Fire - Archer Mayor
Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret - Benjamin Stevenson
Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping On a Dead Man - Jesse Q. Sutanto
5 books in personal rabbit hole = 10
total for March = 20
Cumulative total = 46

The Rabbit Hole

April
Animals
Odder - Katherine Applegate
The Wild Robot - Peter Brown
The Cat Who Saved Books - Sosuke Natsukawa
The One and Only Bob - Katherine Applegate
Making Rounds with Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat - David Dosa

April Fool's
Basketball (and Other Things): A Collection of Questions Asked, Answered, Illustrated - Shea Serrano
Missing in Flight - Audrey J. Cole
The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley - Shaun David Hutchinson

April total = 15
Sum Total = 61

May
Science
Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy - Mary Roach
science x 444

Trees
The Hidden Life of Trees: A Graphic Adaptation - Peter Wohlleben
trees x 6

Sociology
Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism - Amanda Montell
sociology x 429

Victorian
A Conspiracy in Belgravia - Sherry Thomas
victorian x 16

Mother May I?
The Second Mouse - Archer Mayor

Anthropology
Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection - John Green
anthropology x 18

April total = 11
Cumulative total = 72

June
Libraries
The Littlest Library - Poppy Alexander
library x 52

A Murder for the Books - Victoria Gilbert
library x 36

The Lost Library: A Kid-Friendly Mystery -Rebecca Stead
library x 70

Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library - Amanda Chapman
library x 13

The Memory Library - The Memory Library - Kate Storey
library x16

June total = 10
Cumulative total = 82

The Rabbit Hole

July

Penguins:
Mr. Popper's Penguins - Richard Atwater
penguins x 52

Biology:
Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? - Frans De Waal
biology x 261

Disease:
Get Well Soon: History's Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them - Jennifer Wright
diseases x 31

Historical Mystery:
What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust - Alan Bradley
historical mystery x 25

Oceanography:
The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness - Sy Montgomery
oceanography x 5

5 books = 5 points
1 in each rabbit hole = 5 points
July total = 10 points
Running total = 92 points

August

School:
Good Girls Lie - J. T. Ellison
boarding school = 35

The Joy Luck Club - Amy Tan
school x 496
Asian x 368

This Book Kills - Ravena Guron
school x 16

Old School - Gordon Korman
school x 11

Ground Zero - Alan Gratz
school x 26

August total:
5 books - 5 points
all five in 1 rabbit hole = 5 points
1 with monthly tag = 1 point
Total = 11 points
Running total = 103 points

September:
cats
The Cats of Silver Crescent - Kaela Noel
cats x 8

Starter Villain - John Scalzi
cats x 189

The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World - Abigail Tucker
cats x 101

Cat Out of Hell - Lynne Truss
cats x 40

250 Anniversary Challenge

1776-1796:
Forge - Laurie Halse Anderson

1796-1816
Dolley: A Novel - Rita Mae Brown

1816-1836
A Time to Stand: The Epic of the Alamo - Walter Lord