Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

I'm pretty confident that this prompt is a direct result of this group. It was suggested as "an epistolary novel" and I had to look that up. You guys are so awesome!

I recently listened to the audio of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which works for this category perfectly. This may be the year I finally knock The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society off my TBR.

I am planning to read My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams.

Other books that will work:

Letters from Skye
84, Charing Cross Road
The Screwtape Letters
Love, Rosie

I'm sure there are plenty more!

Juanita wrote: "This may be the year I finally knock The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society off my TBR..."

It's been on TBR for a while too, but I'm not sure I'll get to it this year. I'll be watching for your review ;)

I've never read Dracula and I think I'm going to give it a go for this prompt.

Letters from Skye is amazing. Just putting that out there.

Attachments
The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt
The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet <- I'm pretty sure this is the book I'm reading
Where'd You Go, Bernadette
Dracula

I recently finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society; I did the audiobook, which has multiple actors, and I enjoyed it. Give it a go! (It would also fit for the "set in wartime" prompt.)

I also read The Screwtape Letters this year, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I'm glad because I suggested epistolary fiction too.
For Epistolary, this list could help: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...
Personally, I'll read Dracula

I've had Dracula on my TBR list forever, mostly because each time I start reading it, I think "whoa, this is way too dry" and go read something else!

I recently discovered that my favorite science fiction author, Gene Wolfe, has an epistolary novel: The Sorcerer's House so I think I'll be reading that.

Could this be interpreted as literal alphabet letters instead of correspondence? I have had Ella minnow pea on my list for a while and would like to use that.

Brandy wrote: "Could this be interpreted as literal alphabet letters instead of correspondence? I have had Ella minnow pea on my list for a while and would like to use that."

That's a judgment call. For me, I actually feel guilty if I veer too far off the intended category, and I think this one was intended to be an epistolary novel, so I personally would not feel comfortable interpreting this so creatively. But the beauty of these challenges is that they are what you make them, so your challenge can be changed to fit your needs. There are no actual "requirements" here!

ETA: it IS subtitled as an "Epistolary Fable " ... so you could make the case for it fitting in the intended spirit. You could also use it for "book with a subtitle" or "subgenre you've never heard of" (assuming you've never heard of the "oulipo" subgenre)

Brandy wrote: "Could this be interpreted as literal alphabet letters instead of correspondence? I have had Ella minnow pea on my list for a while and would like to use that."

The beauty of this challenge is interpretation, I would have never thought of it until you suggested it! I love it.

Brandy wrote: "Could this be interpreted as literal alphabet letters instead of correspondence? I have had Ella minnow pea on my list for a while and would like to use that."

If I remember correctly Ella Minnow Pea: A Progressively Lipogrammatic Epistolary Fable is actually made up of just letters and notes from Ella and her friends/family so it would totally work.

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. Then you can read Lila by the same author for your book about an interesting woman- wait, does she have to be real?? The books together are phenomenal. Gilead won the Pulitzer Prize a few years back as well.

My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams OR Posterity: Letters of Great Americans to Their Children

I read Dracula this year and frankly IF someone would cut it down from 400 pages to 250, I think it would be an improvement. It is very slow until the last 50 pages.

I'm looking at either Dracula or Miss Manners Guide to Excrutiatingly Polite Behavior, which is a book that is majority responses to letters Judith Martin received.

Depends if I need a fiction or non-fiction.

I have Why We Broke Up as one.

I really enjoyed Why We Broke Up.

I think Lady Susan could fit right in.

The Guernsey literary and the potato peel society. Lovely book!

I know a lot of you are choosing this for a person of color, but I'm going to finally read The Color Purple!

Yay for getting hard-to-pickup books off my TBR.

I haven't yet seen these recommended. I enjoyed them both, but two totally different kinds of books.

As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto: Food, Friendship, and the Making of a Masterpiece (Also an interesting woman, and has pictures.)

Sorcery & Cecelia: or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot (Also multiple authors)

Brandy wrote: "Could this be interpreted as literal alphabet letters instead of correspondence? I have had Ella minnow pea on my list for a while and would like to use that."

I loved Ella Minnow Pea! And it's a book of letters in both senses -- about the letters of the alphabet, but it's also an epistolary novel.

I recommend Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher. It's a laugh-out-loud funny novel written in the form of letters by a disgruntled professor. Another one to try is As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto: Food, Friendship, and the Making of a Masterpiece by Joan Reardon. It's long, but interesting -- not just about cooking, but also about the McCarthy era in the US.

I'm assuming books that consist of e-mails, tweets, Facebook posts, etc. would also qualify?

I was looking at Save as Draft, which is written in e-mail form.

As always, Julia is on my physical book shelf so I will do that one for sure!

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and The Screwtape Letters have both been on my TBR for a while. So I'll probably go with one of those.

Though if I need some light reading I might pick up ttfn/ttyl instead. It was on an epistolary books list I found online. It's text messages, not letters, but these days that should count!

Juanita wrote: "I'm pretty confident that this prompt is a direct result of this group. It was suggested as "an epistolary novel" and I had to look that up. You guys are so awesome!

I recently listened to the aud..."

Guernsey is a FABULOUS book. Read it in a day!

I'm going with either As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto: Food, Friendship, and the Making of a Masterpiece, like many others are saying, or Jane Austen's Letters. I'm a big Jane Austen fan and slowly working my way through her lesser-known stuff!

Clare wrote: "Brandy wrote: "Could this be interpreted as literal alphabet letters instead of correspondence? I have had Ella minnow pea on my list for a while and would like to use that."

If I remember correct..."

Great book! I highly recommend it to everyone. I was coming to this thread just to suggest it. lol

Brenna wrote: "I'm going with either As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto: Food, Friendship, and the Making of a Masterpiece, like many others are saying, or [book:Jane Aust..."

I was struggling with this category, not looking forward to it much and then I found the letters from Julia Child. And they were on sale. This always works for me.

Juanita wrote: "I'm pretty confident that this prompt is a direct result of this group. It was suggested as "an epistolary novel" and I had to look that up. You guys are so awesome!

I recently listened to the aud..."

I have wanted to read The Perks Of Being A Wallflower

You could also use any of the PostSecret books I would think. They would also fulfill the book with pictures prompt.

My Secret: A PostSecret Book

Skeleton Creek is a "children's horror mystery" series. It's the journal of Ryan, who records everything. He communicates with his BFF Sarah through notes. She records her messages on camera, uploads them and sends him a link. You, dear reader, must go to that link and put in the password to see her messages. It's a fun format and pretty stinkin' creepy!

Meg Cabot is great for this category.

She has all the "Princess Diaries" series, but also the Boy series, that is all written in letters, messages, e-mails etc.
The Boy Next Door
Boy Meets Girl
Every Boy's Got One

If someone is looking for something short, there is also Tainaron: Mail from Another City. Btw, that city is a city of insects.

I really need to learn to pay attention to all the books I already have. I was looking through a few the other day and realized I had a book of letters by Louisa May Alcott. After looking here on Good Reads, it looks like there are a few. I'm sure they are free to those who read on a Kindle.

I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives is a great read.

Lyndsay wrote: "I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives is a great read."

That is a very good one!

I just finished a book that would be perfect for this prompt:

Letters from Father Christmas. By JRR Tolkien.

He wrote his children letters each year as Father Christmas and had other characters come along for the ride (North Polar Bear, his newphews, Iberath the elf). He writes of northern lights and goblin wars, of the hijinks of North Polar Bear (whose always getting into trouble). Most of the letters include pictures that he's drawn as well.

This was a super fast read but I couldn't put it down

Tanelle wrote: "I just finished a book that would be perfect for this prompt:

Letters from Father Christmas. By JRR Tolkien."

Added!

Tanelle wrote: "I just finished a book that would be perfect for this prompt:

Letters from Father Christmas. By JRR Tolkien. "

Also adding! I was going to use Letters of Note: An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience until I saw the clarification.

For those of you who are reading to kiddos during the challenge, Dear Mr. Blueberry is a great children's book.

Betty wrote: "For those of you who are reading to kiddos during the challenge, Dear Mr. Blueberry is a great children's book."

Dear Mr. Henshaw by my favorite author of all time, Beverly Cleary, might be a good option as well. Just a hint though it deals with divorce.

If you're looking for a super quick book, there is Griffin and Sabine. It's a little odd but it's under 50 pages and fits the category. There are even pull out postcards and letters, making it like an adult pop-up book. It'll make you want to read the rest of the series but it gets even weirder as the books go on. Maybe stick with the first three if you tackle it.

I just found Dear Mr. Knightley which is a retelling of Daddy-Long-Legs. I haven't read either of them, but the premise looks interesting.

Someone mentioned Meg Cabot's Boy series. The first one The Boy Next Door was the best in my opinion. She recently wrote a new one that I couldn't get into, but maybe that's just me.

Another one mentioned that was great was Love, Rosie. That's a fun roller-coaster romance that was even made into a movie not too long ago.

I can personally vouch for Ella Minnow Pea and 84 Charing Cross Road if you go the epistolary letter route - they were delightful reads. As is Daddy Long Legs. More of a challenge is Herzog by Saul Bellow. A unique possibility would any of the for Griffin & Sabine books by Nick Bantok - magical.

On my possibles list is also Dear Dr. Knightley by Katherine Ray.

Or you can go the non-fiction wrote and read actual collection of letters - those exchanged by John and Abigail Adams, James Joyce's letters especially the lusty ones written to his wife, or even the acclaimed 'The Rainbow Comes and Goes' which is a correspondence between journalist Anderson Cooper and his mother, fashion designer Gloria Vanderbilt.

Should it be all letters? Attachments is, like, 50% emails, which I would argue counts as letters.

Such great suggestions above. I'm floating between Screwtape Letters and Jane Austen's Letters.

Stephanie wrote: "Should it be all letters? Attachments is, like, 50% emails, which I would argue counts as letters."

That would count, Stephanie.

If I can find a copy of C.S. Lewis' Letters to Children
I would read that. It is letters he wrote to children answering questions about the Chronicles of Narnia, mostly.