Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

I don't know about your day but my workday has been insane thus far. Example: It's 11:38 a.m. and I still haven't eaten my breakfast. Awesome! Point being, this will likely be a short post. ;-)

I don't have much progress to report. I've started One Hundred Years of Solitude for my Oprah book. I'm about half-way through it. I'm not loving it as much as I'd hoped to. I also have the audio and have been enjoying the audio more than the reading of the book (I have both).

I am still holding firm at 34/41.

Question of the week: Who has read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child? If you haven't read it yet, is it on your TBR?

Join the discussion that is going on over in the Book Discussions folder if you are reading it. Thread is here.

I am planning to read it and might even do so next week. Having just finished the final three books in the original series, I'm having a bit of a Potter reading year. ;)

How about you? How has your week been? And have you eaten your breakfast yet?

Hello from Kansas, where it is hot hot hot today! Juanita, I hope you've gotten to eat something by now :)

I finished two more books toward my total this week, bringing me to 35/41.

For "a book set in your home state," I read Go Set a Watchman. I posted last week that I was pleasantly surprised by it, and then the book immediately went off the rails. I definitely thought Scout and Atticus seemed like believable extensions of the characters in To Kill a Mockingbird, and I ultimately came down on the side of being glad it was published, but I can see why it was re-written. 3/5 stars.

For "an autobiography," I absolutely tore through Lindy West's Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman. (It's probably more of an essay collection than a true autobiography, but it's enough about her life that I felt comfortable using it for this task.) Such a great book - hilarious and serious and smart, and I loved learning more about her involvement in the fat acceptance movement! 4/5 stars.

I also read My Name Is Lucy Barton, which I thought was lovely, for another challenge I'm doing.

I've got Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad up next, for "a book from Oprah's Book Club." I got about 30 pages into it and put it down; it's going to require more focused reading time than I've got right now, but I'm excited to go back to it when things are a little bit slower.

QOTW: It's on my list! I think I'm hold #47 or something at my local library.

I'm up to 31/41.

I feel your pain - I'm currently covering for a lady who is on a two and a half week vacation. Doing her job and my job is exhausting.

I finished my book set during summer by reading Keeping the Moon. It was cute. I've had the paperback book on my shelf at home forever and I'm glad I had a reason to read it.

I'm currently reading my book with my occupation. I'm using Double Standards because the girl is a secretary which is a very boiled down version of what I do (admin, phones, accounts receivable, project manager, tax work... there was no way I would ever find that out there). I can't say that I am particularly enjoying this as this girl has probably the worst case of insta-love I've ever witnessed. And that's saying a lot since I read a ton of YA. I have a lot of other good books rented out so I really hope that I can finish this quickly and it doesn't put me in a reading slump.

QOTW Read it! It was fun going to the store to buy a new HP book.

It's been a week for me too. Keep trying to catch up on work in the evenings, but I've been staying up watching the olympics one night, family stuff the next and Pride and Prejudice last night. I need a good night's sleep tonight!

I did read the new Harry Potter this week. That was one of two books finished. The other was a reread of Bread and Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes which is such a wonderful book! I needed something comforting and Shauna Niequist's writing is just what I needed.

I am annoyed, though, that Goodreads STILL hasn't come up with a way to adequately record multiple readings of one book that maintain separate completion dates. I read Bread and Wine for the first time last year, but since I marked it as "read" again this week it took the book of my stats for last year and added it to this year. I should say it's no big deal, but honestly I want to be able to view my reading stats from year to year and not have to remember which books were read twice!

I'm working on a few other books:

How To Be a Heroine - this is my "first book seen in a bookstore". It's a pretty easy read.
As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride - another reread. And seriously, if you haven't read it yet and you love The Princess Bride it's a must read. Also, this is Audible's deal of the day! I read the book when it first came out, but everyone keeps saying how great the audio is so I jumped on it!
Cold Tangerines: Celebrating the Extraordinary Nature of Everyday Life - continuing with my Shauna Niequist trend

Hope everyone's having a great week!

My week has been an emotional rollercoaster and I'm just trying to avoid an emotional breakdown. My vacation next month can't come soon enough.

Reading wise, I finally finished Edge of Eternity for my book from the library. At 1098 pages, it took me nearly a month to read it. Very political and didn't quite stand up to the previous two books in the series, though I think I finally understand what Watergate was all about!

QOTW: I read Cursed Child already and I loved it. It has it's flaws, of course, but I enjoyed the new medium of it being a screenplay. I already checked in on the discussion and added my two cents.

Sara wrote: "It's been a week for me too. Keep trying to catch up on work in the evenings, but I've been staying up watching the olympics one night, family stuff the next and Pride and Prejudice last night. I n..."

I use different editions when I rate books I have re-read and that seems to work. Like a cover change or a different format. That's the only work around I've found and I think it still leaves that book in prior challenges.

But before I figured out that I just created book shelves "Read in 2014"... "Read in 2015" pretty much for this reason. I needed some way to track re-reads!

Megan, I've used the different editions trick in the past, but even though this books has different formats it still only tracks one read date. when I have used that before it has always been on classics where you actually do have different editions and covers. I will look at it again, but I couldn't make it work for me earlier. Thanks!

So now that I'm back at a desktop computer I looked into this a bit more. Apparently the changed the way the multiple editions works. I found this helpful: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

So I clicked on a different edition of my book and added a different read date in the review. It looks like it worked! Thanks Megan!

I've been on vacation and reading a ton (but not getting enough sleep, my kids have me up late and my dogs get me up early). This week I've read three books set during summer: Racing the Sun (Halle), which was dreadful "New Adult " I hated it! this would also fulfill "set on an island" ... Rampant (Peterfreund), which was a complete disappointment from a YA author that I usually love, this one would also fulfill "set in Europe" .... and A Hundred Summers (Williams), which is very nice and enjoyable, but the heroine is a bit unbelievably dense.

Oh! And QotW: I have not read Cursed Child, and I'm not really wanting to because the HP series felt complete, except it's got a lot of hype and I'd like to know what everyone is talking about. I was going to buy it for my daughter this week, but it's $30!!!! I can't bring myself to pay that much. We're on hold at the library behind 200+ other people.

I don't buy books very often, are they all this expensive nowadays???

Finished The Art of Happiness for my Recommended by a Family Member. Not my cup of tea at all. Took forever to get through.

I am THIS CLOSE to finishing my monthly challenge, Black Like Me for Haven't read since high school. I'll have to include that one next week.

31/41

QOTW: We own it, but I haven't read it yet because I'm letting my wife and children have first crack at it. Looking forward to my turn!

Trivia: I have an uncle named James Potter, so when people ask if we're related, I tell them that Harry is my cousin.

(my last name is also Potter in case that's not showing up by my name).

Nadine wrote: "I was going to buy it for my daughter this week, but it's $30!!!! I can't bring myself to pay that much. We're on hold at the library behind 200+ other people.

I don't buy books very often, are they all this expensive nowadays???"

Nadine, I don't buy books very often either and especially not new releases. When I do, though, I usually buy through Amazon. My HP cost $16.99. I also pre-ordered it so I was guaranteed the lowest price.

I still like to browse at Barnes and Noble because my city is sadly lacking in other bookstores, but I can't handle the prices! If I buy anything at all it's either a bargain book or a classic. Can't even imagine paying their prices for new releases!

Mike wrote: "Trivia: I have an uncle named James Potter, so when people ask if we're related, I tell them that Harry is my cousin.

(my last name is also Potter in case that's not showing up by my name)."

This is hilarious, Mike!! I have a unique last name, but I don't have such a fun little book tie-in. My last name is Kilpatrick.

I ate breakfast on time yesterday and will today, because I'm starving!

Last week I finished my poetry book, Stag's Leap: Poems. I have never been a poetry person, but these were enjoyable. They were about a woman's divorce, and I did have to wonder if her ex-husband ever read them!

I started my set in Europe book, The Longest Day, in preparation for our visit to Normandy this year. Thus far, it's fabulous! I also started Ready Player One as my sci-fi book. It's also very good so far, but kind of feels like a long list of '80s references. I just think I'm not far enough in.

I probably won't read the new HP. I love the originals, and I'm kind of stubborn in that I want to just let the series be what it was, the seven original books.

27/41, The end feels like it's getting so close!

I read Wildflower for my book written by a celebrity. Drew definitely had some interesting stories to tell, but I was not a fan of her writing style.

I read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in a day on 8/1 which was the day after it came. I'll have to jump over to that thread if I haven't already!

Hello All!

This is my first time posting but I have been following the discussions the whole year :) I am at 30/41 but recently read an incredible book I had to share.

Confessions

I used Confessions as a book translated to English (from Japanese) but it could obviously fit into many other categories. The main character is a Middle School Teacher.

I could not put this down...it's an incredibly dark tale told from multiple perspectives.

Hands down the best book I read for the challenge so far. My other favorite was I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh. I Let You Go . A slow building mystery.

Happy Reading and Friday!

I thought I'd have more time this summer to read, but I actually ended up with less. I am still quite ahead of what I could do for this challenge so I'm not worried. Just surprised. We just moved and I am still unpacking.

I am currently reading Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides for my book in a culture I'm not familiar with. I have to admit, I'm having trouble getting into it. I'm only about 50 pages in, so I'm hoping it'll grab me soon.

QotW: I bought Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and it's sitting on my shelf. Both my daughter and I plan to read it soon. I am holding out until I am all done with this challenge as it will be my book that brings me joy selection. :)

This week I've finished Salt to the Sea, which was absolutely fantastic. Highly recommended WWII story from a unique perspective. Like the above poster, I'm somehow finding myself with less time on vacation! Actually, the two next books I'm wanting to read are only available in audio format so I guess I'll be doing a lot of that in the next few weeks.

Q of the Week: I'll probably read the book but it's not too high on my list. I am actually rereading HP as it fits into my challenge so I'll wait until I'm done those :)

Nothing to report this week, but I should have at least one more book completed by next checkin. Progress!

QOTW: Yes! And it was awesome! As I said last week, I do have some complaints with regard to plot holes and character development, but overall, it was fun being back in the Wizarding World.

Nothing to report as well. I finished Scarlet that I was reading for fun.

Juanita, I am also reading One Hundred Years of Solitude for the challenge. I'm not finding it as glorious as the critics. I'll carry on and maybe I'll have an epiphany.

QOTWI plan to read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Parts One and Two but not anytime soon. Next year probably.

Jenna wrote: "Hello All!

This is my first time posting but I have been following the discussions the whole year :) I am at 30/41 but recently read an incredible book I had to share.

[book:Confessions|19161835..."

I took your advice and read Confessions. You were right - great book! I think I'll try your other recommendation too!

Down to my last 1-2 books of challenge. Read " I am Legend" for fun and "Decision Points" as my Political Memoir