ŷ������

Welcome to Play Book Tag!

We are delighted you've decided to stop by and check us out.

Each month, we select a "tag" or theme, and we all read different books that fit the theme. We share our perspectives and help each other find great new reads. From time to time, we have challenges, games, book swaps, and auctions.

We love having new members join us - - please don't hesitate to ask any questions you may have!

Hi Anita. I would like to join Play Book Tag but I can't seem to figure out how. Could you please help me out? Thanks.

Hello Gretchen.....It looks like you have already joined the group, so welcome!

If you look under Community/Groups, the list on left says “My Groups�� and you should see PlayBook Tag listed.

We are a fairly active, but low pressure group and you can chose to participate as much as you want. Each month, we select a tag or theme. For March, we are reading autobiographies. Each month, there will be two folders created. One for the tag and one called Other Books. Members then read and post their reviews in the appropriate folder.

The reviews can be as simple as I liked or I didn’t like it because.... or they can be as detailed as you like. You can also look through and comment on others reviews. Sometimes we go off topic, but that’s part of the fun. It’s fine if you read the same book as someone else....right now for autobiography there are several folks reading Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood which was on our groups 10 ten list in 2017.

We just announced the April tag of “strong women�� - the tags are actually shelves on GR, so that can be a first stop in looking for a book with the monthly tag. In the announcement post, member often share recommendations and their own reading plans.

We also have two longer challenges going: a decathalon challenge to celebrate our 10 year anniversary and a listopia challenge. Both are optional activities.

Feel free to post questions......members are very helpful.

Welcome, Gretchen! So glad to have another new member.

Gretchen wrote: "Hi Anita. I would like to join Play Book Tag but I can't seem to figure out how. Could you please help me out? Thanks."

Welcome, Gretchen! You are definitely a member here (I double checked) so congratulations on joining us successfully.

If there's any additional help we can give you to get your started with your first review, please don't hesitate to ask! All questions are welcome. It takes a little bit to get oriented, but we are here to help.

Maybe start off with picking a book to read for April that fits our upcoming theme of "strong women".

You can share your reading plans with the rest of us on this thread:

/topic/show/...

Welcome, Gretchen! Jump right in, this is a fun group!

Hi Anita. I'm new to the group, and new to ŷ������, so I'm just learning how things are done. How does one "file" books for the monthly tag to collect points?

Heather wrote: "Hi Anita. I'm new to the group, and new to ŷ������, so I'm just learning how things are done. How does one "file" books for the monthly tag to collect points?"

Hi Heather, welcome to PBT! You can "file" a book review for participation points using two different methods.

1) From the PBT homepage, click on the folder where your review will go. For example, if I am posting a review for an autobiography I read in March, then I would click on the folder "March 2018: Autobiography." That takes you into the folder where you will see a lot of different threads posted, starting with "Directions for Posting a Review." Then, at the top of that list on the right hand side, it says "new topic." Click that and it takes you to a place to write a review. Once you have it done and you save it, it will automatically be filed in that folder.

2) From the PBT homepage below the general information and just above where the threads all start, there is the label "Discussion Threads." Follow that over to the right and there are a few small links, one of which says "new." If you click that, then it take you to a place to write a review. BUT, if you do it this way, then below the line of the topic, you will see the label "folder" with a drop down arrow. Click that arrow and a list of all of the PBT folders will show. Simply select the folder where you want your review to go and when you save it, that is where it will be filed. The folders for each month are always at the top of that list so you can easily find them.

Remember that if you read a book that fits the monthly tag, write a review, and file it in that folder, then you get 2 participation points for each review.

If you read a book that does not fit the monthly tag, we still want to hear about it! Write your review and file it in the monthly "Other books" folder (for example, "March 2018: other books") and you will get 1 participation point per review.

Anita calculates the participation points each month and then will post a link to the spreadsheet so you can follow along and keep us honest ;)

I will just add something. Not necessary, but it does help me out a bit. :-)

If you read something for the monthly tag (this month "autobiography"; next month "strong women"), you can add the book to our group bookshelf.

To do this:
- near the top right of the group page, you'll see a few links, one of them is "bookshelf".
- click that
- on the top left, there is a search box underneath text that says "add books"
- type in the title
- choose the book and click the button that says "add to group"
- I believe a pop-up window will open (if it doesn't you can click the "Edit" button)
- click "choose shelves", and find the proper month's tag
- add a checkmark to the check box for the month's tag if there's not already one there.
- click "Save group book" at the bottom of the pop-up window

We also have shelves (aka tags) on the group bookshelf to represent our annual challenges, Listopia and PBT Decathlon, so you can also add your books from those challeges and add the shelf/tag for those, as well.

Please only add the ones read for the monthly tags during that month. Or, the annual challenges if you read it for that challenge.

Again, not necessary, but it does help me out. :-)
Thanks!

Welcome, Heather. Just jump right in and have fun.

Welcome, Heather! You'll find this is a fun group!

Hi Heather!!! So glad you decided to join us. I think my co-admin answered your question, but please dont hesitate to ask for any clarification you may need!!

Welcome Heather....hope you enjoy our group. There is also a frequently ask question folder that helps to orient people to how the group works.

Happy Reading...

Hi! I'm brand new and not sure where to start... I've recently renewed my love of reading and have been a bit obsessed. I've been using a couple of other groups on ŷ������ to help me branch out into new genres and authors and I've been having so much fun. Now I'm constantly on the look out of something new to add to my TBR list.

I already have several books that I'm going to read for April that fit with the 'Strong Women' tag and was wondering if I've read books prior to now that fit for the previous months tags, can I submit those? Or should I start fresh?

My overall goal is to read 100 books this year but I'm on pace to read 160... I will probably land some where in the middle as it is almost hiking season and I'll be getting out more on the weekends. (Seattle rain is perfect for cozy reading by the fireplace in the winter and early Spring).

Welcome Charlotte! I can tell you’re gonna love us. Believe me, if you’re looking for a great books you’ll have zero trouble finding some wonderful reads.

Charlotte wrote: "Hi! I'm brand new and not sure where to start...."

Welcome, Charlotte!

First of all, please do not worry about going back and posting past reviews. Instead, it is bet just to start fresh with what you are reading right now!

Books read each month
The best place to engage with PBT is by posting reviews in the monthly folders.

So, the next book you finish during the month of March, you can post your review either in:
March 2018: Autobiography if it fits the March tag
-- or --
March 2018: Other Books if it is any other book.

Want instructions on how to post your review in those folders? Check out Post 17 in our my FAQ thread (there is other great info there as well!)

On April 1, Anita will put up new folders for the April reads. But, she doesn't tally up the March reads until a few days after the start of the month so that you can catch up on reviews.

Participation Points
Why post reviews at all? Well, other than letting us know what you are reading and spurring great discussion, we award Participation Points: 2 per review that fits the monthly tag and 1 per review for all other books. Learn more about participation points on Post 13 in our my FAQ thread

Official PBT Challenges
Then, once you get that under your belt, you can check out the two official PBT Challenges:
PBT 10th Anniversary Decathlon
--and--
Listopia

The very first post in each of those threads has instructions on how to participate. Even though you are a little late getting started on each of them, they are designed so that you can join in at any time! And, given your rate of reading, you will not have a problem catching up!

Whew! That seems like a lot!
We welcome you to participate at any level. We have many members who just post reviews for books that fit the monthly tag all the way up to members who participate in anything and everything!

If you still have questions, just ask! Everyone here is very friendly and helpful.

Welcome Charlotte. I. Sure that you will find some great adds to your TBR.

We don’t back-date any of our reads. Our group runs on participation points which allow you to vote on the monthly tags. We calculate the points at the end of the current month, 2 points for the monthly tag, 1 point for any other book you’ve read and reviewed during the month.

We also have 2 challenges. For the decathlon, there are rules explained to do the previous month task. For listopia, you also start fresh once you pick your list. Even if you’ve read books this year from the list, you can only count books read after choosing the list.

Nicole R wrote: "Charlotte wrote: "Hi! I'm brand new and not sure where to start...."

Welcome, Charlotte!

First of all, please do not worry about going back and posting past reviews. Instead, it is bet just to s..."

Thank you so much to you and the others for the warm welcomes!! I look forward to getting started!! :)

Welcome, Charlotte! Just jump right in and don't be afraid to ask questions. This is a pretty easygoing group and anyone will be glad to help. Have fun!

Welcome, Charlotte! It sounds like you have really embraced your love of books. This is a great group to help you find new and different titles.

I think I've figured it mostly out... my only question is... say I read a book that is an autobiography and illustrated today/tomorrow would that count for both the March decathlon (I finished Gold Bug and other Tales, a Poe classic yesterday) and the March monthly since it's an autobiography? Or would I need to read an autobiography for each?

Charlotte wrote: "I think I've figured it mostly out... my only question is... say I read a book that is an autobiography and illustrated today/tomorrow would that count for both the March decathlon (I finished Gold..."

We fully support doubling down! You can count that autobiography for both!

Nice!! Thank you!

Charlotte wrote: "Hi! I'm brand new and not sure where to start... I've recently renewed my love of reading and have been a bit obsessed. I've been using a couple of other groups on ŷ������ to help me branch out i..."

Hi Charlotte! I just wanted to add my welcome to those of our other members and administrators. Hope you enjoy PBT!!

Hey Charlotte, I’m new as well and have just been reading all the comments so I can navigate this next month. I’m really excited to find such an active group. So many good books!

Rachel wrote: "Hey Charlotte, I’m new as well and have just been reading all the comments so I can navigate this next month. I’m really excited to find such an active group. So many good books!"

Welcome, Rachel! You will be our second (active) Rachel here. I really hope you enjoy the group. Thank you for your kind words.

Hello, Rachel, welcome to the group, We have so much fun here and I'm sure you will fit right in!

Welcome, Rachel! Glad you are jumping right in!

Hello everyone! I'm Nina and I'm new here and glad to have found a group with so many nice and active people (and great books of course).
I have a question, maybe it's a bit stupid but I'm curious if you can add a book to your own shelf without marking it as "read"? I'd like to make a shelf for myself with the books I own but haven't read yet, but it doesn't work.

Nina wrote: "Hello everyone! I'm Nina and I'm new here and glad to have found a group with so many nice and active people (and great books of course).
I have a question, maybe it's a bit stupid but I'm curious ..."

Hi Nina! Welcome to the group. To add books to your shelf that you own but have not read you can add a new exclusive shelf. An exclusive shelf means that it is a shelf that each book can only be on one of. The "Read" and "Currently Reading" shelves are exclusive shelves - you can not have both selected at the same time for the same book.

Assuming you are on a desktop computer and not a phone here are the steps....

1. Click on "My Books" in the menu at the top of every page.

2. On the left side of the page is a list of your shelves. Next to the heading "Bookshelves" is a link that says (EDIT). Click on that link.

3. Add a new shelf by typing the name you want it to have (maybe owned books, I use TBR on hand) into the field at the top of the page and clicking the button that says add.

4. Find your new shelf on the alphabetical list on that page. On the columns to the right of the name of the shelf, select the check box in the exclusive column. A warning pop up will open letting you know what exclusive means and make sure you want to continue. Click OK.

5. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the button that says "I'm Done."

6. It should take you back to your book page and you will now see your new shelf at the top of the list (where you find read and currently reading). If you move a book to your new shelf, it can not be on the read shelf or the currently reading shelf.

Welcome, Nina! Glad you asked that question as I learned something new from Cora - I didn't know about that exclusive function for the shelves!

Welcome Nina and thanks Cora for the great instructions. There are some other similar tips in the FAQ and Member Tips and Tricks thread.

I personally have 6 exclusive shelves. The three that everyone on GR has and then one that is own-tbr, dnf (did not finish) and reference. I use reference to mark cookbooks and knitting books that don't really get read cover to cover.

One advantage of having exclusive shelves is that whenever GR generates a list of books (displaying books on a specific shelf, browsing genres, or listopias), the button next to the book will show you if it is on one of your exclusive shelves. If the book is NOT on one of your exclusive shelves, then it will just be a green button that says "want-to-read" which puts it on the GR default shelf of "to-read".

Thank you very much Cora! (and JoLene)
That really helped me :)

very new here. does anyone do videos based on the tags

Stephanie wrote: "very new here. does anyone do videos based on the tags"

Hi Stephanie,

First, welcome to PBT!!!

Second, great question . . .to my knowledge, no one does that, but I LOVE that idea . . .maybe a member will chime in that they do this, but I feel like I would know about it as an administrator if they did . . .

Hi everybody , this is Sharon here...So,what's the theme for May? Looking forward for discovering some awesome books and having interesting discussions about books

Sharon, welcome. This is a fun and vibrant group and I know you will have a great time. We are currently voting for May. I think if you join you already have a free vote. One of the mods will get on and share more. I just wanted to say a quick hi.

Welcome Stephanie and Sharon! How nice to have more new members.

Sharon wrote: "Hi everybody , this is Sharon here...So,what's the theme for May? Looking forward for discovering some awesome books and having interesting discussions about books"

Welcome Sharon!!

We are voting on the May theme right now - - you are just in time to get your voice in the mix!

Here's the link for voting.



We use a participation points system here so over time you will be able to cast more than one vote, but for now, please go ahead and cast one!!

Welcome, Stephanie and Sharon!

Welcome, welcome.....
For the new members, even if you don’t read this month’s tag of strong women, you can still post reviews of any other books in the April: Other Books thread. This will also earn you particiTion points for voting for the June tag.

So I'm still fairly new to the group and was just wondering is there a way to go back and find what book we said we would read. I put a book down when we were in the discussion stage of strong women and I was behind on reading and did not request it from library. Now I'm read and can't remember what I said.

Robin wrote: "So I'm still fairly new to the group and was just wondering is there a way to go back and find what book we said we would read. I put a book down when we were in the discussion stage of strong wome..."

Hi Robin,

There's a couple of ways to do that, but I basically went and pulled the message for you. Here's what you wrote:

I'm going to kill two birds with one stone as I'm also working on books that have been on my TBR the longest for another group I'm part on and going to read Orphan Train.
Will also try
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.
All the Light We Cannot See
Three to Get Deadly

The easiest way for you to find that message was probably to look in the folder for this month's tag (strong women) and find the thread called "Announcing the April tag" and look through the messages to find yours.

The way I did it, was I looked under "Members" for PBT. Found you, and there, I can see ALL of your comments in the group. I am not sure if non administrators can do that? Maybe someone else will tell us. I just skimmed through your comments and found the one I believe you were interested in revisiting.

Hello Robin,
In addition to what Anita says, there are a couple other ways.

First, when you go into any group, there will be a search box on the right side of the page called “Search Discussion Posts��. It is under all of the Group links. If you type your name, it will pull up all of your posts.

You can also use your browsers search function if you have an idea when thread it was under. In the example from Anita, most people put reading plans and recommendations under the Announcing thread. You can go into that thread and hit ctrl-F (works for chrome, Firefox) and type your name. When you hit enter, it will show how many times your name is on that web page. If it is there more than once, it will scroll through each instance. This is only searching the current web page, you may need to go to multiple pages to find it. Note you can also use this method to find a book on a shelf (it’s a bit slow going). You can also do this in safari, but you type in what you’re searching for in the URL bar and then scroll down and there is an option to search this page.

Anita wrote: "Robin wrote: "So I'm still fairly new to the group and was just wondering is there a way to go back and find what book we said we would read. I put a book down when we were in the discussion stage ..."


Thanks, I will give it a try. I am currently reading Orphan Train and knew one had something to do with light, but totally forgot the other two.

JoLene wrote: "Hello Robin,
In addition to what Anita says, there are a couple other ways.

First, when you go into any group, there will be a search box on the right side of the page called “Search Discussion P..."

Thanks I will give it a try.

can a guy like me join in too here?

Eric wrote: "can a guy like me join in too here?"

We would love to have you, Eric! Despite the fact that this month happens to be focused on "strong women", we normally address a wide range of themes. We have a (very) few active men who are great contributors, and we certainly welcome more!!!

Welcome, Eric, jump right in and have fun!

Welcome, Eric. We're happy to have you here.