Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

Hello readers!

I must admit that I am very sad that today is the last day of July. The summer is flying by and I'm not ready for it to end.

This week, I read Charlotte's Web for a book from my childhood. It was lovely. In fact, I tried to read it to my children but my daughter, 5, decided she "hated" it and hid it from me. But I persevered and read it anyway. Hope she'll let me read it to her soon or will find it on her own.

I am at 42/50 prompts.

How about you? Have you read anything interesting? Anything I should read?

Happy Friday.

Check-In number 30 and I'm 30 prompts complete. So far right on track.

I completed book published in the year you were born. I think I mentioned last week that it was a struggle and the ending didn't make up for it. Bummer.

Currently reading Pulitzer prize winner. Its better than I expected. Hope to finish that up and then move on to book set in the future. Both are due back at the library at the same time so I have my work cut out for me on finishing those!

Have a great week. Hopefully there is sunshine where ever you are as we go in to August!

I have completed 42 of 50 as well! I just finished The Book Thief as my book I started but didn't finish. I have to admit that, as excited as I was to read it, I really struggled to finish it.

Currently I am reading Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania. It was going to be my book published in 2015, but then I ended up reading The Nightingale. Still, I really want to read this one.

I am also listening to Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. Jury's still out, but this should take care of my book with antonyms in the title.

I finally finished another book for the challenge. I've been reading but have many that just didn't fit.. I read The Hundred-Foot Journey for a book made into a movie. I really enjoyed this book.

So now onto The House of Seven Gables and Housekeeping. Both of which will fill a category.

I have currently completed 39/52 prompts. Right now I'm reading "Live and Let Die" by Ian Fleming for my antonyms prompt. I just want to say his novel is starkly different from the film version. I'm used to seeing an oversexed, gadget weilding Bond from the movies and the books are simply standard espionage fair.
Anyhow, I'll be finished this one by tomorrow afternoon and I'll start "This is Where I Leave You" for my movie prompt. This was trickier prompt for my to nail down simply because there are too many choices. I narrowed it down to 3 books, and I chose this one because I haven't seen the movie version and I'll go into it unspoiled by any previous knowledge of specific plot twists or spoilers.
I've really enjoyed this challenge. It's actually kept me focused on reading yearlong at a steady pace. Before this I only read a book a month, and now I'm on pace for a book every 5 - 7 days. It also allowed me to read books I normally wouldn't pick and broaden my horizons.
I also want to thank the group for their suggestions and input. And thank God for Amazon for finding some of the more obscure titles.
I've rambled on long enough. For those of you, like myself, still knee deep in the challenge, good luck.

I just finished Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple. One of the best books I've read this year. I was as entertained throughout as I am watching an episode of Modern Family. I will definitely be reading Semple again. I used this book for the 'bottom of my reading list' prompt.
I am at 30/50 prompts. I will be back to work this week for the new school year. I probably won't finish many more prompts this year. I'm not giving up but being realistic.

I have seriously slacked off the past few weeks! Started A Game of Thrones 4 weeks ago and I'm still not finished. Not reading as much as I have been daily and sometimes not reading at all for days at a time have brought me down.

I did read Alice in Wonderland to my daughter and I'm counting that as my book with nonhuman characters.

I think I may be able to get back on track once I get through this book as none of the others I have picked are really long. I'm at 26/52 finished.

I finally finished Outlander (book your mom loves) in the wee hours of the morning, but I'm gonna go ahead and consider it finished on Friday, because I need something to report for this week. It was a fantastic read, and I can't wait to get my hands on the next book in the series.

Now that Camp NaNoWriMo is over, however, I need to focus more on catching up with the challenge, as I've only completed 26 books. If I stay away from books as large as this one (for a few weeks, at least), I should be fine.

I think I'm going to try tackling the trilogy next. Hopefully it's a good one, and I'll catch up sooner than I think.

This week I've only read one book- the second in The New York trilogy. Not a super progressive week but I finished 6 books in July, my best for the year!

This week I finished two very good books. The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler and Attachments by Rainbow Rowell. I loved them both! I don't think I have a prompt left for The Book of Speculation, but I'm using Attachments for my funny book. I did make me laugh out loud a few times, but it is also wonderfully touching. And after having read Eleanor & Park earlier this year, I am officially a Rainbow Rowell fan!

I am at 39/52. It's getting a little harder because I have lots of books I want to read that don't work for any of my remaining prompts. And my remaining prompts are not for books I typically read (a play? a memoir? non-fiction?). Anyone else having this problem?

Alycia wrote: "I am at 39/52. It's getting a little harder because I have lots of books I want to read that don't work for any of my remaining prompts. And my remaining prompts are not for books I typically read (a play? a memoir? non-fiction?). Anyone else having this problem?"

Yes! Yes! And yes!
I'm pretty much where you are and the prompts I have left are not interesting to me (a play? I've been trying to read Romeo & Juliet and keep re-reading the same page. *sigh*)

My joke from a few weeks ago was the Venn Diagram of "books I want to read" and "prompts I have remaining" is very sad. :)

But I'll power through even if I do re-read "Are you there God? It's me, Margaret." for the book released the year I was born. :)

Oh, and I just read Eleanor & Park last week at Ray's recommendation (he's a member of the group) and loved it. It didn't fit a prompt. But I loved it!

Juanita wrote: My joke from a few weeks ago was the Venn Diagram of "books I want to read" and "prompts I have remaining" is very sad. :)
..."

Yes! the venn diagram - a perfect illustration :)

And I'll power through as well. Never thought I would make it this far, so I have to finish now.

Ugh, July was not a good reading month for me. I did not finish a single book for the challenge. I cut way back on my reading time to try to get some things done and none of the audiobooks I have for challenge books were appealing to me. (I like to use audiobooks to get some reading time in while still getting things done.) So I listened to 4 Harry Potter audiobooks instead. Enjoyable, but not productive, challenge wise.

Yesterday I finally finished The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics for my "book set in your hometown" prompt. That puts me at 27 books for the year, so I need to catch up!

Boys in the Boat was really excellent and I highly recommend it. I know part of what I enjoyed about it is the look it provides into the history of my alma mater (University of Washington) and the place I live, but I think anyone would enjoy it. It has the excitement you expect in a great sports story, a likable central character struggling to overcome adversity, the Great Depression, and Nazis. Good stuff :)

This week I am working on To Kill a Mockingbird for my "book that won the Pulitzer prize" prompt and in preparation for reading Go Set a Watchman. They are both relatively short and I am hoping to power through them both this week so I won't fall farther behind. I have the audiobook of Mockingbird (read by Sissy Spacek) which should help.

I had slotted GSaW in as my "book published this year", but I may switch it to "book with bad reviews". I didn't have one for that prompt and since I am planning to read it regardless of the reviews, it will save me from figuring out what to put in that place. Finding another book I want to read that was published this year would be much easier.

Beth wrote: "Boys in the Boat was really excellent and I highly recommend it. I know part of what I enjoyed about it is the look it provides into the history of my alma mater (University of Washington) and the place I live, but I think anyone would enjoy it. It has the excitement you expect in a great sports story, a likable central character struggling to overcome adversity, the Great Depression, and Nazis. Good stuff "

I agree! I really enjoyed that book and I have no connection to the colleges or the sport! I especially liked the audio version.

I finished Outliers: The Story of Success this week. It counts for "a book you were supposed to read in school." I read two other books as well, but neither counts for a prompt. I'm definitely with the earlier posters on running out of prompts that I care about! I'm leaning towards just reading what I want for the rest of the year and if it meets a prompt then great. But I have way too many books on my to-read list, so I want to knock some out!

Katherine wrote: "I finally finished Outlander (book your mom loves) in the wee hours of the morning, but I'm gonna go ahead and consider it finished on Friday, because I need something to report for th..."

Did you win Camp?

I'm currently at 36/52 list books for the year, but I've also been going renegade for...several...books. Just got back on track with Frankenstein (more than 100 years old) and Dune (over 500 pages) from the library. I think I'll be sticking with the sci-fi theme for another book and read Armada, probably for book set in the future.

Ariel wrote: "Did you win Camp?"
I did! My goal was 30,000 words! It was a bit of a rookie mistake giving myself such a high word count for my first NaNo experience - especially since I kind of gave up for the second and third weeks - but I hammered out almost 25,000 words in the final week. Procrastination is bad, kids.

Juanita wrote: "I'm pretty much where you are and the prompts I have left are not interesting to me (a play? I've been trying to read Romeo & Juliet and keep re-reading the same page. *sigh*)"

I originally had planned to read a Shakespeare play for that prompt. Finally it dawned on me that Oscar Wilde's plays are lighter and much easier to read, especially if you don't typically read plays. I read "The Importance of Being Earnest" which I enjoyed.

I took my Shakespeare-obsessed niece to see a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream over the weekend, and I am definitely more of a fan of a Shakespeare performance than just reading them :)

Sara wrote: "I originally had planned to read a Shakespeare play for that prompt. Finally it dawned on me that Oscar Wilde's plays are lighter and much easier to read, especially if you don't typically read plays. I read "The Importance of Being Earnest" which I enjoyed.

I'm trying to make my way through the list of 100 books to read in a lifetime too. I may have to pick another play to your point.

Katherine wrote: "Ariel wrote: "Did you win Camp?"
I did! My goal was 30,000 words! It was a bit of a rookie mistake giving myself such a high word count for my first NaNo experience - especially since I kind of gav..."

Congrats! I also won mine. ^-^

I've checked off thirty-three categories so far!