Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

The Call of the Wild? The Revenant? Help me with this one. Would A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail qualify?

I think so. I live along the Appalachian Trail and though I haven't hiked it I can tell you there are places where it is quite remote. I also thought of Little House in the Big Woods for this one :)

Ooh, Little House on the Prairie is a great idea! I've had the boxed set of that series since I was a kid and never made it past the 4th book. I've set a goal to read them in the next year or so.

I have no idea what I'm reading for this one!!! I've already read Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail and A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail and The Call of the Wild and White Fang and The Snow Child. I'm surprised at how stumped I am, actually.

I believe that "Wilderness" needs a specific definition as it relates to this challenge. I have some interesting "Western" themed books that would be interesting to read. I just wonder if they would fit into this category.

Patricia wrote: "I believe that "Wilderness" needs a specific definition as it relates to this challenge. I have some interesting "Western" themed books that would be interesting to read. I just wonder if they woul..."

What do you have? I'm hoping to find inspiration!

I think "wilderness" means "no settlements or sign of civilization" - so a National Park could work, if it's remote enough (I might use one of the Nevada Barr mysteries, if I can't find anything else). Or stranded on an island could work (Robinson Crusoe). Or up in the Yukon (The Call of the Wild). Or walking the Pacific Crest Trail or the Appalachian Trail, as mentioned above - they pass through towns, but for the most part they are alone with nature.

If it's about someone struggling to survive alone in nature (or even about a small group in nature), I think it could count. I would count The Snow Child, because so much of it is about how she is almost feral and lives alone in the woods, even though the family has a cabin and farmed fields. This book is a grey area for this challenge.

I'm planning to read To The Bright Edge of the World . It's by the same author as The Snow Child. It's about exploration in Alaska. I believe it's told in the form of letters between a husband and wife.

Margie wrote: "I'm planning to read To The Bright Edge of the World . It's by the same author as The Snow Child. It's about exploration in Alaska. I believe it's told in the form of letters betwee..."

Thank you! That is on my TBR list and I didn't even think of it!

I am interested in The Indifferent Stars Above, which is a novel about the Donner Party. It would probably be a good fit for this one.

I was wondering if the Tarzan books would qualify for this category.

Jamie wrote: "I was wondering if the Tarzan books would qualify for this category."

yes I think the first one would - I've never read the rest of them.

I suppose if you found a book set somewhere without cell phones or television or internet service, that would qualify.

I will probably read Under Dark Waters which features the Canadian wilderness. It is one of my TBR books that has been staring at me for over a year.

Oxford English Dictionary: "an uncultivated, uninhabited, and inhospitable region"

Dictionary.com: "a wild and uncultivated region, as of forest or desert, uninhabited or inhabited only by wild animals"

I think a cowboy and his horse out on the vast, empty prairie would count. A cowboy in town, not so much.

Patricia wrote: "I will probably read Under Dark Waters which features the Canadian wilderness. It is one of my TBR books that has been staring at me for over a year."

Wow, that book sounds wrenching! Let us know how it is when you read it, I just added it to my TBR list. (Looks like it might also work for "interesting women" since the poet she is tracking was a real person.)

I'm trying to decide between Into the Wild and Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster, both by Jon Krakauer. I wasn't sure though if Into Thin Air would really qualify since there are base camps and what-not, but at the same time, what is more inhospitable than the top of Mt. Everest?

Nadine, I'll be sure to review it. It does sound good.

I have read a few lesser known books that would probably work for this:
Two in the Far North
Wapiti Wilderness (written by two authors also)
A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains

The Call of the Wild or White Fang both by Jack London

Tisha: The Wonderful True Love Story of a Young Teacher in the Alaskan Wilderness & A Schoolteacher in Old Alaska: The Story of Hannah Breece are both about women who went to Alaska to teach and both lived in very remote areas.

Michener's Alaska and John Muir's Travels in Alaska and Two in the Far North and Looking for Alaska

This is a great excuse for me to re-read Little House in the Big Woods!

I found The Girls of No Return. The goodreads blurb says it is set within a glorious 2-million acre wilderness area. That's good enough for me.

Megan wrote: "I found The Girls of No Return. The goodreads blurb says it is set within a glorious 2-million acre wilderness area. That's good enough for me."

Oh that looks good! I added it too.

Adding The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon to the list.
One of Stephen King's shorter novels!

I think I'm going to try and get a copy of Dan Simmons' The Terror for this one.

I'm planning on reading The Quality of Silence by Rosamund Lupton for this category.

I'm reading Alive by Piers Paul Reed for this category, but Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident Donnie Elchar (this one came highly recommended from a friend of mine who likes to read a lot of the same books I do and vice versa) would also work, I think.

This year, for another challenge, I read Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing and still can't get it out of my mind. It is unbelievable, yet very true. I'm looking forward to seeing a movie because I just can't let this book go. No doubt it was 5 stars.

I am planning on reading Serena by Ron Rash. It could also count for the book whose title is the character's name.

Therese wrote: "This year, for another challenge, I read Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing and still can't get it out of my mind. It is unbelievable, yet very true. I'm looking forward to..."

That book looks AMAZING, Therese! (Two friends who are quite picky about books gave it a five-star rating.) I'm slotting it in, as I was struggling to pick a book here.

Kelly wrote: "Adding The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon to the list.
One of Stephen King's shorter novels!"

Ooooh, good one, Kelly. I wouldn't have even thought of that one.

Anna wrote: "Therese wrote: "This year, for another challenge, I read Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing and still can't get it out of my mind. It is unbelievable, yet very true. I'm lo..."

I'm really looking forward to seeing how you feel about it. It drags in places, but I still can't get it out of my mind. I was lucky to pick up the 3 disc DVD set for something like $6 and am looking forward to watching it tonight.

Serena is a Book Perk deal today. for $1.99. And it has the word "wilderness" in the description. This one might be too dark for me.

Also looks to be a forthcoming movie based on the cover with Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper.

The Serena movie has already been released in 2014. It is on Netflix-US. I never got to the book, I only watched the movie....I finally had to admit I will never be able to "let me read the book first".

Megan wrote: "I found The Girls of No Return. The goodreads blurb says it is set within a glorious 2-million acre wilderness area. That's good enough for me."

That book looks good! I might read it for this prompt too! Thank you!!

Nadine wrote: "I have no idea what I'm reading for this one!!! I've already read Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail and A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the App..."</i>

[book:A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail looks interesting! I might read it for this prompt! Thank you!

I'll be reading Walking by Henry David Thoreau, a classic and only 60 pages!

I wanted to read something about the Amazon forests and I googled up on this. I am going to choose one from the list below:
https://www.rainforestcruises.com/jun...
Goodreads also has a list of books set in Amazon rainforests. Link is:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...

I hope you don't mind me bringing up some Finnish books. Being such a small nation they are not that well known but some have been translated to other languages, even English.

Living in Finland wilderness is never that far away and I could probably pick any Finnish war novel from WWII (or anything set in Lapland) because a lot of the war was fought in the wilderness, more or less, especially when it came to long-range reconnaissance patrols my great-uncle took part. But few have been translated, luckily one classic was recently translated for the second time and this time faithfully: Unknown Soldiers. It's about ordinary "wilderness warriors" like they call themselves and based on the author's own experiences. (You can see for yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oWvK.... No wonder both Soviets and Germans were afraid of those woods but for Finns the forest has always been a friend that has offered protection.)

Seven Brothers is another classic (the first novel ever written in Finnish) where the brothers escape the civilized society into the woods and start to live there.

Sharmon wrote: "The Serena movie has already been released in 2014. It is on Netflix-US. I never got to the book, I only watched the movie....I finally had to admit I will never be able to "let me read the book fi..."

I haven't read it or seen it, but just found a used copy of "Serena," so that is what I will read for this category.

Euphoria is an historical fiction novel loosely based on the life of Margaret Mead, the anthropologist who studied the tribes in papua new guinea. I absolutely loved that book when I read it for this year's challenge!

Joanna wrote: "Euphoria is an historical fiction novel loosely based on the life of Margaret Mead, the anthropologist who studied the tribes in papua new guinea. I absolutely loved that book when I read it for th..."

I loved Euphoria too!

For this prompt I'm going to read Those Who Wish Me Dead, a thriller that takes place in the wilderness.

If pioneers qualify, The Snow Child is beautiful. Wolf Winter is also very good.

Charlotte wrote: "I'm trying to decide between Into the Wild and Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster, both by Jon Krakauer. I wasn't sure though if Into Thin Air w..."

I would DEFINITELY count Into Thin Air. I read it earlier this year and even at the base camps it was a battle to survive. It was fun reading it in Spain on the way to do a 7-mile hike along a canyon in the mountains. I got to the disaster portion of it right before the hike and had fun talking about it with my classmates on our walk.

They didn't like me that day.

Highly recommend it. I'll be reading Into the Wild myself.

The Gilmore Girls revival got me on the Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail train for this one! For those of you that have read it, is it worth reading? I see a lot of other great recommendations on this thread and I'm having second thoughts.

Wild was good but not great, in my opinion. It's about her thoughts and coping abilities and how hungry she is, but not a lot about wilderness. But yeah it's worth reading.

Danielle wrote: "The Gilmore Girls revival got me on the Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail train for this one! For those of you that have read it, is it worth reading? I see a lot ..."

I just finished it not long ago and would recommend it. I didn't think I would like it and only picked it because it's on one of Oprah's reading lists. I ended up enjoying it very much. It's not a hiking manual. She's going on the hike as kind of a walk-about so there's a lot about her life and choices she's made.

Danielle wrote: "The Gilmore Girls revival got me on the Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail train for this one! For those of you that have read it, is it worth reading? I see a lot ..."

I listened to the audio book and then watched the movie right after finishing. I didn't love it but it definitely fits this prompt.

Thanks so much Nadine, Patricia, and Megan! I'll be interested to see what I think of the book after reading it and hearing your opinions. Seems like a worthwhile read for sure, and I'll be glad to check it off my TBR.

Don't overlook Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, or even Ann Patchett's State of Wonder. Even Thor Heyerdol's Kon Tiki would work. There are also a number of books by or about Gertrude Bell who explored Iraq before it was Iraq. Or any books written by Stanley or Livingstone about their explorations of Africa. I'd also suggest Jules Verne - 20,000 Leagues and Around the World in 80 Days, getting back to fiction.

I don't think this has been mentioned, but for the non-fiction lovers, I highly recommend The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring. It is one of my favorite books of all time and I think would definitely qualify.